marcy, willy and some PBR...

marcy learned last night when ordering our tall boy cans of pabst blue ribbon at the tractor tavern, to just say "PBR. please..." good to know the slang when drinking in another country...
marcy called me last sunday and suggested we go to seattle friday night and see richmond fontaine and our pal - lead fontaine - willy vlautin. i hadn't seen richmond fontaine for a couple of years - the last time sticking in my head for a variety of reasons - and wanted to see them, so, i agreed...i mean there's nothing i like doing more than heading down to seattle after working all day, and being up since 5:45 am....but i had done it before so what the fuck...
it was really great...we made the border by 7:00 pm, sat around in the customs and immigration for a while while they figured out whether or to let us in...well, mainly me, in...and then we were on our way....side note: another couple sitting next to us and looking very unhappy, were finally brought to the desk and i overheard part of thier conversation with the head honcho border dude as a few other border guards looked on..."we have a zero tollerance policy here...(then some stuff i couldn't hear...) and since it's your first offence...." them kids is having a bad night....
anyhow...after a short stop at trader joe's, just long enough to find out they had closed, literally, three minutes earlier, we headed to the tractor tavern in ballard...
we were early there and sat through a couple numbers by the first act but then decided we needed to go for a walk and try and miss him...i like walking around ballard...you should try it. marcy and i once went to a great mexican restaurant there, a very traditional place called la carta de oaxaca...we walked by last night and it was packed - nice to see they're still there and doing well...
richmond fontaine were great, willy seems well and happy and still has the mouth of a trucker...he told us he's just finished up another novel about horse racing at portland meadows and that it's about the seedy underworld of horse racing...i look forward to reading it...both his other novels have been optioned for films, his first, motel life, by the director of 21 grams, alejandro gonzalez inarritu, and the other by courtney hunt, who made another film called frozen river.
the drive home, which included a short stop at dick's for a burger, was a hard one...very tired...really fucking tired..but we made it, me dropping marcy off at her place at 4:30 am...my head hit the pillow here at 5:00 am and i don't remember much after it hit.
now i'm off to package up my kaws companion silk screens that i sold last week..my pal suzanne from opus is helping me. she's probably much better at that than i am...it'll look pro and make it to wherever it's going all safe and sound...

have a great saturday....

i love you.

g. xo

willy and marcy...

marcy enjoys a PBR tallboy.

we love the tractor...

darryl rocks the roast...

....darryl, and his other brother darryl...he's our shop labourer - guy who keeps everything in order in the shop and neat and tidy, well he can eat like the garbs...in fact, he says his nickname in the construction dept - where he usually works - in SNACKS. and man, he can snack. i think he really likes the thursday roast action - which was today instead of thursday...
and it all turned out very well...rib eye roast cooked with button mushrooms, broccoli, garlic, some beets, turnips in the roasting pan and yams cooking on the racks beside it...and potatoes boiled on the stove and then mashed with the yams and some sweet potatoes as well....grant did a fine job on the mashing..thanks man.
ok...this roast thing is really a good thing i think...
see you..i'm off to seattle...

g. xo

right out of the oven....goodness me.

mashed stuff...

boys hoss-down

scott....

more roger....that asshole....

here he is at his wedding...where he would have had yet another cake....fucker.

g.




and this is a pal of his....the proof being in the pudding here...

look at her go...

this is a picture of roger's girlfriend, julie....making her own cake...why do they need to post the topanga cake recipe if they have their own...? fuckers! if you see her, tell her to stop!

g. xo

friday...the new thursday...

did someone say ribeye?
thursday's roast had to be moved to today as too many of the boys were out doing other things - hopefully next week we can get back on track...
we're trying a new butcher that one of our teamster pals - ramone - has said is the place to go - columbus meats on renfrew and first ave...it's a hefty fucker this rib eye and i've done the usual veggie surround in the roasting pan but have added cloves of garlic and broccoli as well. and as an added bonus today, we're doing a yam/sweet potato/potato mash as well - i've put grant in charge of the mashing.

more as it develops.

g. xo

kneecap

so there's a fly in the ointment. a guy by the name of roger ford - pictured above - a local IT dude it would seem, has decided to 'out' the topanga cafe chocolate cake recipe...how he got a hold of it is under debate but andrew is none to pleased.
yesterday i wrote a polite e.mail to mr. ford and asked him to take it down...
above is mr. ford. if you feel like sending him an e.mail you can do so at:
rford@tenchford.com

and if you see him in topanga...

g. xo

when the going gets tough...

my man scott took a stick to a face the other night in his game playing for the div. seven or eight or...superstars the canoxy cowboys...he's a tough fucker that scott...a couple of internal stitches and some externals later and he's good to go...corie on the other hand needed to hide a little from the world and decided the alien mask was the way to go...

i on the other hand, have been plugging away and in the off time, working on some toy/art deals that may clean off my visa completely and a large chunk of my line of credit...i wasn't sure i wanted to sell the pieces i did but the offeres were so good i couldn't turn them down...and with the dollar the way it is right now it makes it just that much better...so i've lightened my load art/toy-wise but it's good...now as long as the money goes through like it's suppose to....

rock on....

g. xo

hey lady! easy on the vacuum...

while i am very happy to be back at work...there are a couple things i had forgotten that kinda drive me...we have cleaners that come here once a week, i think, and they love to tidy up my desk...i tell them not to but they can't help themselves. actually, it's the boss that tells them to, and she and i joke about leaving it alone - but if i leave the room, they go at it...last week they took all my paperclips and clipped them altogether like a necklace, but of course said today they didn't do it...but the vacuums going, and jingus all makes me tense...that and having to deal with the phone while all that's going on...and today the accountants were calling as they were vacuuming - still vacuuming as i write this - and then my cell went off and it was neil from the bombers, and....ok...i'm calm now.
yesterday was a busy one...
in the morning i walked up to main street - in the rain (still a nice walk...), well the more hipster doofus area and met up with my french fry pal nathalie and went for a walk farther up main on the way having some coffee at jj bean, where we ran into jj bean chris on his way to work on granville island...he looks more and more like john waters every day. after the truck around it was time for my massage with aimee - pronounced M.A. - she's a doola pal of mine and she's awesome. if you need or want a great massage i'll pass on her info...i'm not a massage kind of guy and am not super comfortable with the whole process but, yesterday was wicked...and after i had a nice walk back home all relaxed and, slightly, happy with the world...
then came bomber hockey where we, collectively, didn't play our game - as they say - and were made to look like a team much worse than we really are by the other team...i know we'll bounce back...i have faith...
my car came back all safe and sound from its weekend up north of pemberton...emilie's a great driver so i was never worried...i did, however, think of the movie jackie brown as i was driving home after dropping emilie off as my stereo sounded kinda weird...the fader had been set so that the sound was coming more from the back of the car than the front...and in jackie brown samuel jackson says to another character - who i can't remember - as he gives him keys to his car so he can wait for him outside in the car, "don't go messing with my settings" when the guy asks if he can listen to the stereo..something like that...it was all easily fixed and i was back rockin' in my world again...

good times...

g. xo

hey...

ok...who has my copy of the sportswriter by richard ford?...

just curious....

g. xo

must be sunday....

....it's raining....

but here's a sunny day photo i forgot to post from last week. i love them socks/tights.

have a great sunday. i'm gonna get a massage and then play hockey.

g. xo

art imitates art....

well, it was a big night in the big city. the first half was spent hanging out with 'he who can not be named on the blog' and megan at the homestead watching hockey and them surfing youtube looking at videos of stupid people doing stupid things...kinda like a video display of the (should be) winners of the darwin awards. there was talk of going and getting, as 'he who can not...' calls it, peanut butter soup - or tan tan noodles which i have been craving lately....but it didn't happen. like the last time we thought about getting noodles. then it was time to go to the art show at el kartel...because i love the art shows...or at least i love the art....
'he who...' went home but megan and i made our way over to the el kartel and checked out the Bandit show...we ran into my pal jane and her man jimmy who i haven't seen for quite a while....nice to see there smilin' faces...i think senor tornack ran into them a few weeks ago at lumiere - them kids get around to all the fancy joints....after being less than thrilled with the big show, megan and i needed a snack and headed over to the hot dog cart and had our dinner...and that, was that...pretty good dog....pretty good day....

good day. and good night.

g. xo

some pics from the big night out...

megan's self portrait.

megan rocks the hot dog.

and the art.

the kids at the art show.


jim looks on seriously.

jane and megan.

jane caught of guard.

that's a decent dog.

um...

sandwiches and frames...south granville style.

today i walked over to the garbs and mishi's and, after loading up their computer with some mariachi tunes and soulwax disco goodness, the garbs and i headed off to eyes on twelfth to have another look at my, possibly, new glasses - but, of course, stopped in at meinhardt to have a sandwich first...i love their sandwiches. one thing though, that the garbs and i noticed...they have paper sheets that you write down your orders on, or more to the point, check off what you want on your sandwich...and you used to be able to pick as many spreads, and condiments and you wanted. not any more..now it's two of one, and one of another - or something...we called bullshit and made fun of the new rules and said we weren't having any part of it and scratched out the limits...the young girl behind the counter agreed and loaded them babies up for us...nice work.
after our snack we headed off to see the frames. when we got there the woman working there, who i had not dealt with the previous saturday threw a fly into the ointment and said i should try the shiny black version of the same frames and that she liked them better than the matte black i had been looking at...damn...i didn't need that. so after asking other customers what they thought, i finally went with my first choice...the matte frames...over the last week i have some favorable e.mails and remarks about them so i think i made the right move - finally. (thanks to shauna, k-win, the garbs and mishi for the help...)
tomorrow i'm getting a massage...nice thing to do on a sunday....

g. xo

the garbs loves his sandwich...

garbs loves howe street.

the garbs loves the frames...

or at least trying on frames.

mrs. grant smith ....

we had to dress grant up in a dress today to...um, well, i'm not really sure except we just kinda like seeing him in a dress high in the air...we told him it was important for the shot...maybe it was, maybe it wasn't. corie had a head that spewed blood as well but i missed that part so i just have a nice early spring sundown reflection shot of the nice head on a stake...

it really is good to be back here with the boys...roast thursdays, early morning bull sessions, ethical bean coffee walks...nice. the walk today to ethical bean for my lunch was wicked...so fuckin' nice out.
ok...back to the work at hand...

more as it develops.

g. xo

for the love of good shoes...

it's a long boring story - like most - but i am finally, after long, drawn out ramblings on e.mails, going to get a pair of shoes i have been trying to buy for a while now. due to, amongst other things, shipping costs to canada, visa cards, addresses, and a bunch of bullshit, it just wasn't happening...but thanks to christian voltage, i am now getting them shipped to point roberts...pronto. nice.
i love these shoes. if it all works out, i'm gonna buy a few more pairs. you know, you find something you like...

g. xo

through the floorboards

when that stuff starts to get good, i can smell it through the floor...or so it seems. i open the door from the top odffice to the shop and it floods through, the smell, of whatever's cookin'..today the stuffed chicken - which we/i found out, needs a little more lovin' in the oven than a reg. chicken would. but, that said, i cooked it according to the instructions i was given. but, no big deal, we used the broiler and gave some of the bits that needed a little extra love a little more and ate what was ready. the veggies turned out well again. i love those veggies that way..
next week...prime rib beef roast w/ mashed potatoes and peas.

g. xo


grant gets ready.

mmmmmmm.

more mmmmmmmm.

in ya go mrs. chicken.

more veggies added to the chicken pan, the first veggies already looking good...1 pm will tell the tale...

g. xo

it's thursday! must be time to roast something...

today's roast action are two stuffed chickens we bought at bosa. i know, it's kinda a cheat but, i saw those babies and i just had to try one, or two of them. there's still some prep involved and really, it's about the lunchtime meal with the boys so...i just threw the veggies in the oven first as they'll take longer to cook...and i've just discovered, or realized, how small the stove really is here so there will be some fancy cooking involved to make sure everything's done at the same time.

check out them veggies...

g. xo

our man al...

al decided a while back that he wanted to spend more time with his family and to make that happen he'd have to get a 'real' job...so he applied to bcit and low and behold, al's now a welding teacher/instructor there. he sent me a picture today with one of his classes...he looks so proud.

we love you al.

g. xo

sweetness

one of my co-workers and his wife make honey and have done so for many years...and word is, and i've tasted it but am no honey aficionado, that it's wicked (it's a alfalfa, clover and wildflower honey....)...they live in the interior of b.c. and he comes to town when he's working on a film and when i spoke to him on the phone the other day, before he came down, i told him to bring some honey with him...so...if you're a honey lover i can hook you up...i believe marcy has had this before so you can ask her....

let me know...

11 bux for a big 1 kg jar or 4.00 for a little jar....

goodness from soda creek, b.c.

g. xo

megan says thanks!

megan came by last night and made me a thank-you dinner for being able to use my place as her home office while she was unemployed and looking for work...using my computer, etc....i was glad i could help out...and the dinner was wicked! roast chicken and veggies and a great buttermilk pie....nice. thanks megan. i forgot to take before pics so...

g. xo

this was the veggies....

this is what was/is left of the chicken.

and what's left of the pie...some went over to garbs' and mishi's today...