Local Blogger Makes Food

That’s supposed to be a pun, by the way, between “food” and “good.” Anyway, I was happy to read that Adriana Martinez (of Long Beach! Yay!) was featured in the March issue of Sunset magazine for her blog “Victory Home & Garden.” She’s a vegan and calls herself a guerilla gardener. Her blog mixes recipes with tips for growing and preparing your own variety of organic edibles. Sprinkled into the mix are fun tidbits about life outside the garden with her husband and her dog and interesting asides about Hispanic dishes and cooking techniques. PLUS she’s got a blogroll of other Long Beach bloggers. Time for me to do a little wading out into the blogoshere again.

Port Tugs Green

By now, you may have noticed I’m a sucker for sea-going vessels—a good fit for a resident of one of the busiest ports in the world. I just learned that the Port of Long Beach is testing a hybrid tugboat, the Caroline Dorothy! All tugboats are inherently cute, but this one is clean and green too. The hybrid design allows it to use diesel power for pushing and pulling other vessels (only about a quarter of its time on the water. When idling or cruising, the boat will use electric power, which is expected to reduce air pollution by 44 percent compared to a traditional tugboat. Foss Maritime, the company that designed and built the Caroline Dorothy, is also working on hybrid retrofits for other tugboats. You can bet I’ll be prowling the docks for a glimpse of this trim new eco-tug.

Are these boots made for running?

I’ve been curious about this group of determined looking women trotting around the edge of Recreation Park early in the morning when I drive to work. Turns out it’s a running boot camp. It’s designed for women of all ages and fitness levels, but you do have to be able to run a mile without stopping. Hmmm….The six-week program meets on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays early enough in the morning so as not to interfere with most work schedules and costs $169. I hate to admit I’ll have to train to even qualify for training, but it could be a good motivation to work up to a half-marathon.

Laissez Les Bons Temps Rouler en Plage Longue

It’s great to know that Long Beach has taken its Mardi Gras celebration to the waterfront. It may not be the French Quarter, but Rainbow Harbor has a lowland feel and seaport ambiance that hints of New Orleans. The event runs from 6 to 10 pm this Saturday and costs $15. There’s music and costumes and beads, beads, beads. What better way to top off the Chocolate Festival than with some Oysters Rockefeller, an authentic King cake (flown in by the Tulane Alumni Association—Go Greenies!) and a Bacardi Gras Hurricane. Wow! I need an Alka Seltzer just thinking about it.

Over the Bounding Main

Yes, I’m starstruck, not by Johnny Depp, but by a ship he sailed on during the filming of Pirates of the Caribbean. Privateer Lynx, a topsail schooner docked in Rainbow Harbor yesterday. This ship is modeled on vessels used during the War of 1812 and is fitted with cannons and other authentic gear. This weekend, February 21 and February 22, the Lynx will be open for tours, and three-hour cruises are also planned for both afternoons. I’m a sucker for the gleaming hardwood decks and soaring white sails. It’s so interesting that previous generations understood the power of “alternate energy sources” long before it’s become so, well, twenty-first century.

On a vaguely related note, I came across this interesting how-to for taking a shower in three minutes. How is it related? The average American uses water to wash with in quantities large enough to float a boat. In addition to all the practical tips here, I would add that just using a timer for a few showers helps you pick up the pace. Water is too precious a commodity to let it slide down the drain.

Awash with Wishes

I’ve been in de-blog mode for a couple of days because I got invited to visit with friends in beautiful Santa Barbara. The drive on Friday got a little dicey because of the rain, but the weather was great for the rest of my two-day stay. We ate and talked and visited the monarch butterfly grove (too cold and windy for much activity) and ate and talked and visited the Botanic Gardens (a refreshing boulder-strewn creek runs through a redwood forest and other exhibits of California native plants) and ate and talked and walked on the beach and ate and talked and walked some more. Cruising down Cabrillo Boulevard (right by the beach) I was impressed by the variety of bikes available to rent, even a tandem recumbent bike. Do we have that many types of wheels to choose from here in Long Beach? I wish I knew.

I also wish I had to the nerve to volunteer to read at the All-Day Read-a-thon on Second Street on March 1 from 9 am until about 6 pm. It’s the kick-off event for Long Beach Reads One Book where people will read the entire book Three Cups of Tea plus a book sale to benefit Long Beach Public Library. I’ve read the book about a mountaineer who’s inspired to help the tribal people in a remote Afghan village after they saved his life and eventually devotes his life to building schools throughout the region, but I plan to be there to watch some of the readers. The Long Beach Public Library Foundation lists other events for the week, including appearances by Greg Mortenson, the mountaineer featured in the book.

The Beach is Alive with the Sound of Music

I just received news that the Long Beach Municipal Band will celebrate its 100th anniversary with a gala performance on March 14 in the Grand Ballroom of the Long Beach Convention. The festivities begin at 6:30 include a concert, dancing and a buffet dinner. The dress theme is black and white, but styles can range from casual to formal. Here’s betting that conductor Larry Curtis will show up in tails--unless he can come up with a black and white Hawaiian shirt. The price is $100 per person or $875 for a table of ten. Start recruiting now.

Da-da-da-duh.!Not to be outdone, the Long Beach Symphony Orchestra has announced the schedule for its 75th season, and Beethoven will definitely be in the house. Not one, not two, but all nine Beethoven symphonies will performed on selected dates from October 17 to June 5. Works by other popular classical composers like Handel and Copland will fill out the bill. The orchestra’s official 75th anniversary celebration will take place at the Orchestra Spectacular, a POPS! Event, on November 7.

Man vs Machine--Machine Wins!

Viewing “Picturing Power,” the exhibit of photographs by Paul Shambroom at the CSULB University Art Museum, was exhilarating and at the same time disheartening. Like those YouTube videos of animals attacking each other, the creatures’ energy takes your breath away even as you realize—whether it’s leopard vs wildebeest or lizard vs tree frog—there’s got to be a loser. In these photographs, the soul-crushing power of man’s own inventions—whether it’s mechanical, economic, or political machines—wins every time.

Paul Shambroom’s style draws a lot from his background as a commercial photographer. His bold use of color and geometrics grab you like every full page glossy ad you’ve ever seen. His depictions of industrial setting reverberate with the frenzy of invention, and his office settings are chillingly accurate. Within the slick compositions lies a sensitivity to the anomaly and contradiction of modern life where convenience and efficiency have become life-threatening conditions.

In the Security series, Shamboom often contrasts idyllic natural landscapes—a grove of birch trees, a single lane road—with people in monstrous hazmat suits or other dehumanizing protective gear to beg the question of the need for industrial progress. I found myself most moved by the interior photos. One shot, taken at the Combat Altert Facility for bomber crews at Ellsworth Air Force Base, juxtaposes sunlight flooding an exit ramp like the grace of God with a dimly lit dormitory room complete with a bedside Bible. Another, taken at North Star Steel Company, show a workman sitting in a bleak workroom looking up as if enraptured while just outside his door a cross of steel teeters at an angle and a furnace flares as red as the mouth of hell.

The exhibit runs through April and is well worth a visit—visually and intellectually stunning.

While walking to the CSULB campus where the University Art Museum is located, I encountered some provocative street art near a bus stop on perpetually hectic 7th Street. Scrawled on the side of some "street furniture" (one of those boxes that holds monitors, regulators, or some kind of control device that has to do with the public welfare that you see everywhere on city streets) were three outlines of vehicles piled on top of the word "Humans" and a question mark. As a rule I don't like graffiti, but this one expressed a thought I've had while waiting for the bus. "Get out of your cars and reclaim your humanity!" Little did I know this anonymous work of art was the perfect precursor to the exhibit I was about to see.

Times (and Places) are A-Changing

Owww! I have a serious case of writer’s cramp, but thankfully not writer’s block! My assignment for my novel writing class this week was to write the first chapter! Gulp!

Anyway, I was at it for most of the weekend, and therefore no blogs. This one’s just an update type piece. First, BikeStation, that little gem of eco-friendly community service in the heart of Downtown Long Beach has moved. Don’t worry, it just relocated in a new facility across the street, but I’m looking forward to checking out the new features, maybe even later today. I’m not the only one that’s gaw gaw about the place. Check out the rave reviews on Yelp.

Even better news is that Belmont Shore’s Chocolate Festival has been postponed to February 21, and I don’t work that day! So get there early (it’s from1 to 4 p.m.) because I already have my tickets. The District Weekly had an interesting article this week on Courtney Dudman Donley, the owner of C Salt Gourmet. Her chocolaty concoctions sound absolutely scrumptious—pistachio cherry, OMG. She’ll be offering her treats at the Chocolate Festival in front of Fingerprints, where I plan to begin my tactical incursion. See you there!

Good Day for ducks!

Despite the rain, I headed down to Bay Shore Library for the talk about the history of East Long Beach. It turned out to be more of a reminiscence of Belmont Shore and particularly Second Street. Dr. Gatley had lots of hand outs and slides, which made it worth the trip. He recommended the exhibit on architects at the Historical Society of Long Beach. I got a photo of the spectacular view from Bayshore Library of which I spoke.

On my way home, I actually saw ducks crossing at the duck crossing at Colorado Lagoon. I tried to take a picture from the car but the flash went off and reflected back from the windshield. I did get a photo of the Christmas trees that are still floating in the lagoon. Maybe we should just keep them up year-round and put other seasonal decorations on them. The birds seem to like to perch on them.

I made the cut!

Whoo hoo! I got a slot as a volunteer at the phone bank for the pledge drive for KKJZ during the last two weeks of February. I usually put it off until there's only openings in the 7 to 10 a.m. slots, and well, I'm just not a morning person, what can I say? Go to JazzAndBlues.org to sign up while there's still a few night owl slots left.

I'm still licking my wounds from my rejection email from RipRap, CSULB's literary magazine, for the THIRD time. Sigh. Maybe if I send out some of my stories that I don't like, it won't hurt so bad when they get panned. Maybe not.

Who is TED? Correction: What is TED?

My sharp-eyed son spotted the signs yesterday on his way to the Main Library: TED, TED, TED. Brilliant red on a stark white background. Whozat? After searching online, we discovered the right question is whazat? and you have to be invited and pay $6,000 to find out the answer. LBPost has an article on it and this mystery marvel that is gracing our humble shore also has its own website as well as a Flickr steam and a Twitter perch.

You may detect just a tinge of sarcasm here. I am flattered by all the gushing remarks made on the TED website about how hip and happening Long Beach is. Anything that makes the good people of Santa Monica and/or Pasadena the least bit jealous is fine with me. That said, the general tone of the website makes TED sound like a high-tech mutual admiration society. Take the list of speakers--some are pretty understandable, like researcher or anthropologist, but others are mind boggling (my favorite is jazz revitalizer). And why do most of the people in the Flickr stream have the glassy-eyed look of cult followers? Let's hope they have a genius for other things besides self-aggrandizement.

Common Ground

I’ve been putting in more time gardening than blogging this week. Well, not gardening exactly. More like hacking back the ivy that burgeons in the parking strip in front of my house between the sidewalk and the gutter. My camera’s connector cable is on the fritz so I’m using this lovely photo Autumn Ivy by Voxphoto available from the Creative Commons on Flickr.

Even though it’s rarely if ever autumn here in the LBC, a huge magnolia tree grows smack dab in the middle of my ivy patch, and it obligingly drops dead brown leaves year-round for a convincing autumnal effect. In an ongoing battle that I undertake two or three times a year, I chop through the green leaves (ivy) and furrow out the brown (magnolia) much to the amusement of my neighbors and the amazement of their lawn caretakers. It’s about a six hour task which I usually break down into three segments or so. This year, I’m happy at least that I can toss the refuse in my brand new compost bin instead of foisting it on my long-suffering garbage man.

It’s the only time I see some of the people who live around me, and since no one looks for anyone crouching in the gutter in my comfortable neighborhood, I’ve glimpsed a couple of juicy goodbye kisses and one bitching fight between people who are unaware of my presence. I always come across items that have been dropped into the snarls of ivy and lost to the world as we know it. Besides the pretty predictable fast food wrappers and cigarette butts, I’ve come across a waylaid letter (shades of a Thomas Hardy novel!), cufflinks, a doll and a belt. This time, I found a spool of thread hidden down there in the vines. There’s a story there, but I guess we’ll never know it.

Looking Forward, Looking Back

This week has a lot to offer. Tops on my list is the Belmont Shore Chocolate Festival from 1 to 4 this Saturday. For ten bucks you can wander up and down Second Street with all the other chocoholics and sample tasty morsels all the way from Sweet Jill’s to Café La Strada. Alas, I have to work this Saturday, so have an extra hot fudge brownie for me!

I will be able to stop by the e-waste dropout at Kettering School this Saturday. It’s from 9 to 3 at 550 Silvera, and you can bring all household electronics such as TVs, computers, monitors, printers, DVD players and batteries for proper disposal.

If my schedule doesn’t change, I hope to make it to Break at the Bay at Bayshore Branch Library on Friday, February 6, at 12:30. This month, Dr. Lionel Gatley, former president of the Historical Society of Long Beach, will talk about the history of East Long Beach. The library’s located at 195 Bay Shore Avenue where parking’s tighter than a tick, so come early and enjoy the spectacular view of Alamitos Bay from the library’s reading room or snag a free cookie in the auditorium.

I reached a milestone of note, having posted more messages this month than I did for the whole year of 2008. Wish me luck for the coming months and send chocolate!