Fleet Foxes again. fleeting. foxy. floxes. what?

check out my blog on elephant journal about the fleet foxes... the video is awesome! click HERE.

dreams

so, i am back in ohio hanging with the fam... so i might be doing a lot of blogging in the next 5 days.

first off, i had a crazy dream last night...

i'm in a group with my friends... hanging out and barbecuing... lots of good times rolling. a male and female cop roll up and walk a circle around us. i eye them up... they look suspicious. then, the female cop comes behind me and throw me in handcuffs and arrests me in front of all my friends with no reason at all. 

i am racking my brain why i am being arrested, it's bizarre. then, the cop says it was one of my recent reviews of a restaurant, and her sister owned the place. i must have said something bad, but all i can remember is calling anchor steam christmas ale a bunch of shite.

so, they take me somewhere and everyone is up in arms and calling me guilty and the public has basically proven me guilty for whatever it is i did... SO...

i call a press conference a la disgraced governor blagojevich. and i tell everyone, i am completely innocent, that i will FIGHT these charges, and spend every penny i have to fight these charges. then, my SISTER gets up and says she will use all her resources and money to fight the charges as well... the charges are false!

then i laid in bed, trying to figure out what i said. and i woke up. but i tried to fall asleep again to get back to the dream and figure out what i said... but i never learned exactly what it was. but whatever, i was fighting it! can't keep me down!

crazy.

epic week.

this week has been an epic week. 

i've been hanging out with illustrator/painter/artist matthew doubek. we've been having a great time in his studio drinking beer, doing some painting, and taking photos. i initially went because i was doing an article for elephant journal about him... (which should be done soon!) then it turned into a photo shoot... and dinner with his awesome family and friends.  photo from the shoot below.

And, I am so stoked about my new Matthew Doubek original painting. Yes my friends, it is mine!!! It's called "the Virgin 'g' watches over pirates". As in, the virgin of guadalupe. So stoked to own this piece! It's 20" X 30" inches of original art!

i also made a stop over at my friend bryan's (mixologist / bartender extraordinaire )house. it was great... gave me all the mixing tools and recipes for me to become a true cocktaillian. negroni's and bensonhursts here i come! i also snapped some pix for him.

oh, one thing i will miss in boulder is the abundance of "rubatruths": the sometimes backward bumper stickers usually found on subarus in boulder. this is why my mom probably does not like boulder. i find it highly entertaining. example below.

lots more happened, but i am running out of steam and need to do some work!

globalizing your dinner.

I was just reading an article in the New York Times entitled "So Your Kitchen is Tiny, So What?" and I was stopped in my tracks by this sentence. I actually started this blog before I finished the article. Anyway... here's the line:

"Remember, please, that until a generation or so ago almost no one in the world cooked food that was not part of their personal heritage".

Whoa. Think about that. Talk about how the world has changed in the past 100 years. That is mind-boggling, considering my America where not only are many different types of ethnic food available in restaurants, but also ethnically specific grocery stores. I can and do cook food that is way out of my personal heritage... and it is so natural and I don't think twice about it. 

Funny thing is that it has become my food heritage... it is my food heritage to cook with influences from around the world... from using olive oil, to soy sauce, to curry. 

Amazing to think about... really. The world is small.

My Elephant Blog: The Best Holiday brews!

Hey friends, check out my newest blog in Elephant Journal...  the link is HERE.

If you'd like to help me out, please click on the link, check the reviews, and leave a comment!

 The comments are important for me... 

They help immensely for me and my future well-being as an elephant blogger. 

Comment and show some love for the article, and pass the link on to some friends!

la blogotheque presents...

Fleet Foxes - A Take Away Show from La Blogotheque on Vimeo.

This French magazine/blog Blogotheque puts together a show of live performances that takes the artist to some location and has some play some songs live in an unfamiliar environment. Even though they get a little close to MMJ's territory at times, the Fleet Foxes are way more mellow and folky and less rock and roll. I really like Sun Giant (what a life...), it's a great song.

try watching in HD.

a wall, in boulder.

maybe to cover graffiti, maybe unintentional art?

Repeal Day

In honor of Repeal Day (12/5, the date prohibition ended), I am making some bitters. Actualy, Repeal Day happens to be on the same day I am making the bitters, but, whatever). You know what bitters are... the elusive droplets that are the hallmark of cocktails.

According to wikipedia:

A bitters is an alcoholic beverage prepared with herbs and citrus dissolved in alcohol or glycerine and having a bitter or bittersweet flavor. There are numerous brands of bitters, which were formerly marketed as patent medicines but are now drunk as digestifs.

Bitters are principally used as digestifs and as flavorings in cocktails. While bitters commonly have an alcoholic strength of up to 45%, they are normally consumed in small amounts, added as a flavoring agent (similar to vanilla flavoring which is also dissolved in alcohol.) In the United Kingdom angostura bitters are not classified as alcoholic beverages due to their bitter taste and can be bought by a person of any age.

Common ingredients in bitters include angostura bark, cascarilla, cassia, gentian, orange peel, and quinine. The flavor of both Angostura bitters and Peychaud's Bitters derives primarily from gentian, a bitter herb. Bitters are prepared by infusion or distillation, using aromatic herbs, bark, roots, and/or fruit for their flavor and medicinal properties.

SO, after combining some different recipes I've found, tomorrow is the day to make it happen!

The Theory of 10,000 Hours?

Click HERE to watch the video...

As I mentioned in an earlier blog, there is a new theory out there that says that all people who master a craft have spent at least 10,000 hours practicing. In this video, Malcom Gladwell(Author of the Tipping Point, Blink) takes Fleetwood Mac as an example... super interesting. Check it out.

Thanks to ihatealex.org for turning me onto this.

Matisyahu - Live at the Fox

Here are a couple of my shots from the show. 

Not necessarily the best ones, but some interesting ones.

(photos by rusty ralston, click to enlarge)

hanging hasidic with matisyahu...

here's a photo ofmy friend arlynn and i, hanging with matisyahu. by hanging, i mean we met him for 10 seconds. but we actually did end up hanging out on the tour bus for a while drinking beers and playing dj on the ipod with the band. arlynn and i capped the night off with some gyros... always a good choice. maybe not kosher, but definitely a good choice.

  epic show, and it's 3:47 AM and I should probably go to bed. Concert photos to come...