2/27/12

Beer of the Week

Boont Amber Ale
ND Kilmer
Boont Amber Ale, created by Anderson Valley Brewing Company is very unknown to these two young gents. It is brewed in Boonville California in Mendocino County. No one knows where that is. Maybe it's the origin of calling the middle of no where "the boonies"? No one knows that either. Also no one knows where this came from, it just appeared in our fridge after a weekend with both Dan and myself missing from the house. All I can say at this point is that the bottle has a very ideal looking scenes of snowy mountains behind rolling green hills with a crystal blue river complete with what looks like a bearmoose hybrid sipping the water in the foreground. So many unknowns, so with no expectations lets dive into our glass of malt and hops.
http://beeradvocate.com/im/beers/623.jpg
A
Dan: If Professor Oak were a beer he would be this color.
Ben: I'll pass, oh well why not. It looks like beer. It is a pleasant color.
Noah: It looks like the fake wood siding on a car.

S
Dan: That smells good. Hops.
Ben: That smells hoppy.
Noah: Smells stronger than normal beer.

T
Dan: It tastes really watered down. Like an IPA that's been mixed with water.
Ben: Almost a honey taste, but it is so watery. It feels like it should be thicker than it is, but it's not.
Noah: Leaves much to be desired in taste. Leaves no flavor in the back of my throat.

O
Dan: Weak like the Ukraine. 6, good party beer, high shotgunability.
Ben: 8 divided by 2 so 4, I felt like it was half the beer it could have been.
Noah: Taste is all I really care about and it wasn't great. Probably 45 degrees and cloudy.

Krunkability: 5.8% ABV/$10.99 Per 6 pack=.5277525502 another very low beer. Maybe Dan is wrong about the partyability of this brew.* At least we answered one of our questions this evening: the boonies is short for the boondocks!







http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/d/df/TheBoondocksTVseries.jpg/250px-TheBoondocksTVseries.jpg
*Dan's note: I meant that it was easy to drink.

2/26/12

DTLA Rooftop Garden!

Drawing on our grandparent's time of Victory Gardens, when 20 million Americans built gardens in their front and backyards, Farmscape which is a garden installation and maintenance service in LA, and runs a cool blog, just built a rooftop garden in downtown LA!?!?
That's crazy!  This city is making strides in the local, fresh, and organic movement, though in typical LA fashion, this luxury is reserved for the elite members of the Jonathan Club, the private club that commissioned this 200 square foot garden on their roof.  We at Food Justice House commend the JC for taking this next step toward Food Justice but also wish that we could go try some.
They are having problems with aphids ^ the little critters find the roof top garden a wonderful oasis in the otherwise "hardscaped" environment of DTLA.  An article mentioned that they are trying ways to deal with this while staying organic though.  Farmsacpe is currently looking for other interested restaurants as well as options for schools.  This could be the start of something big!

Lame New Format!

Sorry about the super lame format, guys, we've got some sort of problem or something.  We'll have something better/cool soon.

#HUGO #OSCARS_84 #ROONEY MARA GIVENCHY

2/23/12

Haiku Thursdays

Celery you rock
Say hello to my omelet
You are good to eat

VODKA JUSTICE (?)

Здравствуите!

This is FJH ex-pat Gabriel Mathews, reporting in now as Foreign Correspondent from St. Petersburg, Russia! I hope to inform all of our many readers about the ways in which sustainability, eco-friendliness, and FOOD JUSTICE are (not) practiced in the Motherland!

Let's begin with the good: Russia actually seems to have some (possibly accidentally) decent sustainable practices in place. For example, one must pay extra to receive a plastic bag at a grocery store, I have yet to see a single paper towel, and water is not automatically waiting for you when you arrive at a restaurant*! I'm not sure if these are measures designed for sustainability's sake, or if they're simply relics from Soviet rationing, but in any case, Russians seem to like to use only what they need, which is pretty cool.

Things that are not so cool: I'm pretty sure the concept of "eating locally" does not really exist. Not to say that all food was imported into the country—they do grow their own wheat, beef, milk, pork, chicken, cabbage, and potatoes. But if you're looking for anything with vitamins in it, you're probably going to end up buying something that's been shipped long distances, which is most unfortunate. Also, and this is a relic of Soviet rationing, all building heat is on at a constantly high rate, uncontrollable in individual rooms, or even apartments. In fact, I'm fairly sure each block is on it's own system, so basically, natural resources are being used to overheat buildings nonstop. Also, I've noticed that Russians pretty much don't care about wasting water (this realization struck me when the toilet in my apartment broke, so that the water just ran endlessly down the drain, and no one seemed in any sort of rush to fix it).

So, given Russia's general disinclination towards intentional eco-friendliness, I was immediately intrigued the first time I saw a bottle of Drova "Ecological Vodka" on the shelves of a продукти. Drova, as far as I can tell (there is very little information available about it on the web) is of Finnish origin, but purports to be bottled in Russia. A Moscow Times article describes it as "organic vodka," but I was unable to continue reading this article, as I am not a subscriber. It comes in three varieties, distinguished by, get this, the type of wood used to make the charcoal through which the vodka was filtered. I can't remember exactly which woods are available, but I know one is birch (I will get back to you on the matter). Drova comes in pretty bottles, designed to look like pieces of wood:



As I am not currently of age in my home country of the US of A, I have not been drinking here in Russia, as it would be against the laws of the country in which I do not currently reside for me to do so, and I am a thoroughly law-abiding citizen. So, unfortunately, I was unable to sample this magical eco-vodka myself. However, I asked my friend, code-named BobbySox for his own protection, to give me a rundown on his opinion of this vodka. I unfortunately cannot remember at the moment which charcoal variant we sampled, but I'll post a comment as soon as I have it figured out.

BobbySox's initial reaction to the lovely taste of Drova was a distinct retching noise, followed by a face of utter disgust. "This tastes like straight rubbing alcohol," he said. "No more! I will have no more!" I have to admit, his empty glass certainly smelled like nothing other than rubbing alcohol, or pure grain ethanol. "How was the finish?", I asked him. "Finish?" BobbySox replied, "I wasn't paying attention. The start and the middle were both too foul." However, despite his assertion that he wouldn't touch any more of the stuff, BobbySox managed to singlehandedly finish off the liter we purchased for only 211 rubles! That's around seven bucks! Vodka is absurdly cheap here.

So what is the moral of the story? Well, I'm not quite sure. Clearly, the Finns, at the very least, understand the current trendiness of claiming to be "ecofriendly" and "organic" and locally produced. Whether or not Drova is actually any of these things remains unclear. The one certainty that emerged from this pretty typical Russian scenario is that BobbySox had a pretty fun night, but a pretty awful morning. And that's why you avoid anything the Russian's don't want to touch.

Until next time:
Comrade Mathews, signing out.


*This last bit is primarily because tap water here is essentially toxic, so any water you're drinking is probably bottled, and super expensive, meaning I spend all my time in a constant state of dehydration, except at my homestay, where my awesome host family has a filtered water tap installed! WATER JUSTICE.

2/22/12

Food Justice: Dumpster Diving, a Drive By, and the Pet House

This weekend was one of the most eventful in Food Justice House history. Hopefully, we will one day have several accounts of this most terrific moment in history, but for now we will have to rely on this lone blogger.

On Friday Dan Crowley, gr8est RA of all time, organized a Food Justice House clean up and reorganization of kitchen space. The kitchen's drying racks and sound system were relocated and now, along with our hanging pots, is half way to being a semi-functional kitchen.* If this was not enough, he also got Res Ed to pay for a wonderful trip to All Star Lanes. The FJH had a wonderful time bowling, with Noah Donnel Kilmer bowling an impressive hundred and something. Ben "the best" Tuthill, while not the best bowler, had an impressive stain on his pants clearly defined by the black light in building.
      Now, for those of you who didn't see Saturday morning's edition of the San Jose Mercury, at approximately 10:30 pm there was a shooting outside of All Star. Wow, that is like...10 minutes after the Food Justice House left? Yup, but that is not all. As FJH drove Zoë's car past All Star there was a kressy police perimeter. There were flares and cops and Noah was screaming in the trunk.
      Oops, I forgot to mention where we were going when we left!!!! After bowling the FJH decided to try out dumpster diving at AN UNDISCLOSED LOCATION(s). After scoping the security situation (of which there was very little), Ben T******l [BLANK] under [A SOMETHING]. Then everyone else realized they could just [BLANK] over [BLANK], so Ben got a little dirty for no reason but whatever. Dan C*****y, world's gr8est [BLANK], ran the food between the [BLANK] and the car as Dylan passed him bagels, bread, sauces, etc. In all, we had about $100 worth of food, none of which was set to expire any time soon. A successful day by my standards! If anyone would like to learn more about dumpster diving there is a wonderful documentary called Dive. It is free on Netflix!
      In other news, we now have a permanent way to set up hammocks, which is delightful. Also, there is a ridiculous proposal for something called the Pet House. FJH is mostly upset about this because for another week in a row the Weekly has failed to do an article on us and had instead chosen to focus on ridiculously far-fetched ideas. We are most upset!
     In conclusion (and mostly to gain views) I should include a photo:

 #Lanadelreyfoodjustice


*so it is now a 1/4 functioning kitchen