The Bar 2014 Edition

[magicmarty]

Gonna miss you Patsh. See you tonight YG, ELorrum and LF.

Accu Weather does not show rain in Gerlach.

Hugssssssssssssss

[Bin Noddin]

We had a tremendous downpour last night. I noticed that one gutter was overflowing. I can reach the downspout by standing on the back deck railing. So . . . since the rain was so hard that no raincoat or umbrella could keep me dry, I just took it all off, went out the back door and up on the railing. Mission accomplished, water draining, a happy naked dance in the rain.
It's official - I'm the block's crazy old man and I like it.
How about a beer?

[theCryptofishist]

*slides a Pete's Wicked Ale towards Bin and toasts crazy*

[ygmir]

*runs through, waving at Bin and Fishy*

[Bin Noddin]

Cheers! Fishy and
Whoooooshhhhh
What was THAT?

[FIGJAM]

"Who was that mass man???"

[ygmir]

"Who was that mass man???"

must be moving fast, for he's infinitely dense..........

[FIGJAM]

And his faithful sidekick Clyde "Lightning" Tunn!!!

[nilasnake]

killbuck and I will probably arrive at the hof around noon on Saturday.

[lucky420]

The kids and I are shooting for the Hof about 10 on Saturday

[Bin Noddin]

"Who was that mass man???"

must be moving fast, for he's infinitely dense..........

and often taken for granite

[^Rhino!]

"Who was that mass man???"

must be moving fast, for he's infinitely dense..........

and often taken for granite

AH! A geology pun. You rang?

I've been snooping again in the corners of cinematic history again. I didn't realize it, but Detective Charlie Chan movie "The Black Camel" at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mn-VkUp18Dw) was an Inspector in the Honolulu Police Department. It made me wonder whether Steve McGarrett's right hand man Chin Ho, on "Hawaii Five-O", was number one or number two son. Useless thought.

Then, I found out that the movie "The Dirty Dozen" [ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZtDh0d-1IH4 for trailer] starring Lee Marvin, Charles Bronson, Telly Savalas, etc., based on a novel of the same name, was based in turn on a REAL unit during World War II, a platoon known as the 'Filthy Thirteen', and part of the 101st Airborne Division. The platoon leader had a choice: get court-martialed or get sent back to Britain to become a Pathfinder for the division (a suboccupation of paratroops that at the time was taking 80-90% casualties). He became a pathfinder and legendary leader who helped in relief air drops on Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge. Patton would roll up in tanks with the Third Army on Dec. 26th, while the pathfinders moved in with food, supplies, and ammunition on Dec. 23rd, the first to offer relief to those trapped troops. It wasn't Patton that saved Bastogne, it was the pathfinders.

Result of the last doctor's appointment: NO CAVITIES!

(I didn't say the doctor was an MD, instead it was a DDS)

Wish I were joining you at the Hof. I wish many blessings on those who do go there, and those who can't make it.

From the back alleys of Columbia,

^Rhino!

[AntiM]

Sigh. Cat woke me at 0330, puking up hairballs. Quiet out, so quiet I can hear a noise in the distance, but it seems far away, faint, but as though it would be loud close up. Almost like a car horn, but never ending, but not quite. After a while, it seems to fade, but then it becomes stronger... almost like the whirring whine of a computer muffin fan, but much louder and lower. Coming from the west side of the house, but bouncing off the mountains on the east. I close the bathroom door because it is loudest through that window. What the hell? A neighbor's AC unit? The diesel engines down in the railyard? You can hear the trains coupling and decoupling on quiet nights, why not the power plants? Something sleek and supersonic warming up on base? I put in my earplugs because it really is slowly creeping up on the irritating scale. Now it is gone. WTF was that?

[ygmir]

*wanders in, makes CCC*
Hi gang!!!
oh Bin, good pun!!! haha.
and good catch, Rhino!

dang those weird noises, AntiM. I get them sometimes, I know it's just a forest creature, singing off key, but it can be sort of unnerving when half awake.

well, Magic Marty, Elorrum, and LF are here, and slowly getting going, hoping to head out before noon, to set up signs and such on the way in.

wish us luck! well, with good folks such as these, what else can it be?

"Off to the Hof"

[lucky420]

*wanders in, makes CCC*
Hi gang!!!
oh Bin, good pun!!! haha.
and good catch, Rhino!

dang those weird noises, AntiM. I get them sometimes, I know it's just a forest creature, singing off key, but it can be sort of unnerving when half awake.

well, Magic Marty, Elorrum, and LF are here, and slowly getting going, hoping to head out before noon, to set up signs and such on the way in.

wish us luck! well, with good folks such as these, what else can it be?

"Off to the Hof"

See you in the morning. Please don't use up all the fun before I get there...

[MyDearFriend]

Yay for a Hof party! Have a great time y'all and take lots of pix for us!

(((Bin))) out naked in the rain

[Aurelia]

Hello Dear Ones

still working out the car to get there with; but I think we will be there before dark today
if not, that is okay, what could be bad about Hof ing
if we do get stuck pick us up on the way tomorrow, Lucky
just kidding of course

xoA.

[trilobyte]

Hooray for those heading towards the Hof! We're tethered to SF for the weekend, but I'll put the time to good use to get things ready for a camping thing we're going on next week.

It's funny - for Burning Man I don't need to make a list. It's all just habit, I know what I need to bring. This other campout's a much smaller affair, and here I am scratching my head trying to plot out just the essentials or making smaller structures.

Off I go to storage!

[^Rhino!]

Hooray for those heading towards the Hof! We're tethered to SF for the weekend, but I'll put the time to good use to get things ready for a camping thing we're going on next week.

It's funny - for Burning Man I don't need to make a list. It's all just habit, I know what I need to bring. This other campout's a much smaller affair, and here I am scratching my head trying to plot out just the essentials or making smaller structures.

Off I go to storage!

trilo, I couldn't help but identify with exactly what you said about not having to make a list for Burningman. It HAS become a habit, and no I don't need a list. Year #1 I spent days making a list.
Year #2 I spent $400 on the way getting things I had 'forgotten', or impulse purchases of blinky and stuff.
Last year (my fifth) I spent an additional $80 in Carson City on perishable food, having brought about $350 in dry and prepackaged from home.

Something you always need and get at nearly every stop anyway.....WATER. And I hauled 10 cases and 40 gallons from Columbia last year. I'm trying to decide if I want to go the 55 gallon drum route this year or not. Only if I buy a trailer....lol...with a second empty 55-gal. drum for graywater. Nope. Ain't happening this year.

The hardest thing for me to prepare for is the Midwest regional. I need BIG refrigeration for the 20 dozen or more enchiladas I bring (and salsas, and hot sauces, and the assortment of tequilas......).

Sleeping bag at regionals? Pshaw. I slept two nights sitting up in the truck. Regionals are beginning to HURT a man my age......

[AntiM]

We aren't doing a theme this year at the regional, first time with open camping. We have a large footprint and it gets crowded, should be interesting. Yeah, I do have a list I glance at, because we forget this and that. Trashcan, broom, evap pan, one year the bucket of springclamps. That was awful, we hold together the bits and pieces of camp with springclamps.

Mmm, enchiladas. A wonderful gift! No tomatoes for us, so I have to go the green chile route. I'm thinking of stocking up next time the tamale guy comes through the neighborhood. 12 for $10. If I pre-cook, it will be pineapple teriyaki chicken.

[Aurelia]

Cannot get there before dark so my son says
dawn it is
but it is not my choice ..dark or not I am ready
somehow sleeping out under the stars at the Hof is important for many reasons.
xoA.

[Sunbeam56]

Bacon tamales, AntiM.


I sympathize with the miscellaneous noises at night. I have a chicken that sounds like someone walking on glass. "OW, ow, ow..." Annoying bird.

[^Rhino!]

Mmm, enchiladas. A wonderful gift! No tomatoes for us, so I have to go the green chile route. I'm thinking of stocking up next time the tamale guy comes through the neighborhood. 12 for $10. If I pre-cook, it will be pineapple teriyaki chicken.

Glad you agree! There's a wonderful camp called the "Spice Pirates" and they end up making loads of hot wings for the participants, ranging from the simple Louisiana Hot sauce-infused to the dreaded and deadly "Ghost Pepper Ninja Killers". They took the recipe from my Kervorkian wings and took it up 100 notches. (that's only two points on the Scoville scale, since it's logarithmic like the Richter scale) I must raise a glass to them (and another, and another to put the fire out every time) for their supreme efforts.

I do 5 different types of enchiladas....cheese, chicken, beef, pork, and a veggie enchilada that contains nopales (tender peeled prickly pear cactus) and jicama root as well as the tomatoes, tomatillos, onions, garlic, and whole black beans. I don't know any better, so I treat the jicama root to be like the Japanese radish called daikon, so I cut it into 1/4" by 1/4" strips that are 3 or 4 inches long. A lot of knife work goes into these, and a lotta love for my fellow burners. That last ingredient, the love, is surely what gives me the rave reviews year after year. You never saw piggies scarf garbage like burners can scarf enchiladas.

I'm doing the Delta-style tamales now at home...like they have in the Mississippi Delta, made with orts and less-than-choice cuts of beef and pork.

I'm also about ready to start purchasing the necessaries to turn the kitchen into a regular tortillaria. The problem I have is that hydrated lime + water + corn meal makes a decent tortilla, but I can't find a decent food grade hydrated lime. All the hydrated lime sold locally at the cement plants is for CEMENT (d'oh), and isn't up to the quality standards I'd need. I have no desire to grind my teeth on bits and chunks of partially digested limestone.

Luckily, we do have a lot of local specialty vegetable growers, including those who do heirloom seed starters. I don't use a 'Big Boy" or a 'Roma' tomato for salsa. We just don't have any growers of Vidalia onions here (they're all in Georgia). Yes, I CAN get a sweet onion, but the Vidalia is far superior to anything I've ever found in years of Mexican cooking. I know the Washingtonese here swear by the Walla Walla onion, and that's a good onion, but I think the Vidalia has a far superior taste. There's also the Texas sweet onion and the Colorado sweet onion, but that's like bronzing a gold standard, it just isn't done.

[trilobyte]

The bacon tamales sound great, but also like they'd be murder to make on the playa. I'm not a tamale expert, but they seem less like quick prep food and more like something that takes hours and hours to make (and I equate long cooks with pain and doom). Pre-cooking for public food service on the playa requires using a commercial kitchen, and that's just been too rich (and too much hassle) for us to consider, even with a team of people to do the work. More power to ya, but whew... seems like it'd be painful.

As for packing, Burning Man has just always seemed like standard event/show prep. Back at my old art collective when we were either prepping for the mutant vehicle or building set pieces or stages we'd just bring along a mobile shop for whatever materials we're working with. I've generally done that for camps as well, so I've got a fairly decent range of tools to be able to get 'er done. Over the year's we've shifted so store just about everything in flip-top bins, and generally keep stuff that goes to the playa in separate bins from things that don't, and the bins are usually coded with tape so it's easy to spot what goes and what doesn't.

Today's been a pain in the ass because I'm picking through bins to grab just a subset of what I'd normally bring. I got most of it pulled out in a few hours, but I'll want to double-check it again to make sure I've got all the parts for the structure I'm going to build and the wall displays. It's probably not a bad exercise to go through, as we're getting ready to make the move into a storage container for the bulk of the camp infrastructure I need to re-think what stuff we'll want to keep handy for year-round needs.

Now to get changed out of these dusty duds and make a drink!

[Bin Noddin]

Yay for a Hof party! Have a great time y'all and take lots of pix for us!

(((Bin))) out naked in the rain

What MDF said to the Hof-bound folks
Loved your "Moonlight" - post a link here? And are all the women in your family so buxom? Except for Thisbe, who is strangely flat - what gives? Walls are generally flat, that I understand.

[Jovankat]

My plan for making things easier to pack was to just not unpack last year. I had two suitcases and I packed one with clothes and real world things I'd need when I got back to Australia and one with everything burning man related. It's still packed minus a few things I've used since...

Theoretically all I should need is a suitcase of clothes again and my tools, so just like I'm packing for a tour. Although this year my baggage allowance is 3 suitcases so I'll probably be filling one with lamingtons and Tim Tams and Iced Vovos for Asparagus Forest's Straya Day event. I might not be camping with them this year but I'm still their mule

Also less than four weeks til I need to be packed and on my way to the airport!

[^Rhino!]

Quoth Trilo:

"The bacon tamales sound great, but also like they'd be murder to make on the playa. I'm not a tamale expert, but they seem less like quick prep food and more like something that takes hours and hours to make (and I equate long cooks with pain and doom). Pre-cooking for public food service on the playa requires using a commercial kitchen, and that's just been too rich (and too much hassle) for us to consider, even with a team of people to do the work. More power to ya, but whew... seems like it'd be painful."

Indeed, they're murder to make at home, too. Most of the folk I know who roll tamales make them by the multidozen on a weekend. There's a recipe for the filling and a recipe for the tamale dough. Then, once the tamales are rolled you have to steam them to hydrate the corn meal. Grainy tamales are no fun. Finally, you steam the finished tamale after it's wrapped in specifically-textured paper(like canned Hormel tamales - YUCK), or in dried corn husks like real pros use. I have no less than 4 varietal recipes for tamales, but when it comes to cooking south of the border I'd rather learn something useful and fun like Sopes de la casa (did that last weekend.)

I keep hearing rumble rumors of 'California burritos' when I talk with some of the local Mexican cooks at the local restaurants. Finally, I saw one available in Springfield, Missouri where the restaurant (and the dish) is known as ;"The Purple Burrito" What is it? BACON in the burrito, along with carne asada and carnitas puerco, along with a little bit of crema Mexicana and cheese. Red enchilada sauce on top. By golly gee it was good.

[southern crone]

I may be totally off base, but would pickling lime in the canning section be what you need, Rhino?

[trilobyte]

That was the kind of crazy prep time I'd been imagining tamales would take. It's definitely an art form, and more power to those who'd want to invest that kind of time, especially on the playa.

There are a few distinct California burrito styles, I think the most famous of them is the Mission burrito. Really good (and amazing) stuff, having enjoyed mexican food all over the US and Mexico I've got to say the worst burrito I've had in this state is better than the best I've had anyplace else. I didn't move here for the mexican food though, it was the bread...er, I meanthe girl

[VultureChow]

I may be totally off base, but would pickling lime in the canning section be what you need, Rhino?

Yep. That should work. Also, i think there's a lime used in gardening that would work. You're basically making a solution to soak the corn, so any remaining solids can be removed from the solution.