Cleaning Out My Inbox

Last year at this time, we had so much news it was impossible to keep up. Restaurants were opening everywhere, chefs were moving, rumors were flying. In a telltale indicator of our current economic woes, nothing seems to be happening, or at least nothing I’ve found has been worth reporting.

I’m more than a bit worried by the lack of patrons in Portland restaurants. Places that are normally packed have been awfully quiet. Catering is very slow. As often in a slowing economy, about the only places that seem busy are the liquor stores. Meanwhile, rumors are flying about Restaurants circling the drain; so many I can’t keep up. If things keep slipping downhill, this will be an interesting Spring/Summer. In the meantime, I’ve been going through my inbox, checking out some of the articles people have sent me that I didn’t have space to use.

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Back on February 5th, the New York Times ran an article called “Food Politics, Half-Baked“, talking about the cloning of animals, genetically modified crops, etc.

LAST month the Food and Drug Administration gave the green light to food made from cloned cows, pigs and goats, with the agency’s top food-safety expert, Dr. Stephen Sundlof, declaring, “It is beyond our imagination to even have a theory for why the food is unsafe.” Opponents of biotechnology immediately let out a collective groan of disapproval.

I’ve never had too much problem with cloning. Genetically modified crops bother me a lot more. Most of my fear comes from the idea of large corporations, putting the balance sheet and stockholders before the long-term good of the country. The Times puts it far better than I can:

That patents of transgenic methods are controlled by a few deep-pocketed corporations is also unsettling. One need not be an anti-biotech radical to have problems with a “terminator gene” that prevents crops from producing second-generation seed. Rather than dismiss these concerns (as Monsanto does) or grossly overstate them (as Greenpeace and Mr. Rifkin do), people like Per Pinstrup-Andersen, the former director general of the International Food Policy Research Institute, have asked a profoundly productive question: what are the limits of modern society’s precautionary principle? In other words, knowing that it is impossible to prove a negative, when should a society agree to accept a technology with proven benefits and potential dangers?

Interesting article. I’d be interested to hear what you think.

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The Boston Globe talked about SE Portland in a piece called “The Willamette’s Genuine Side“, covering Lauro, Vindalho, Nuestra Cocina. Pok Pok, and Dots Cafe. It’s good to see this part of the city getting some well-deserved press.

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Finally, for those who just can’t seem to get enough, Michael Hebb is writing for Arcade Journal - Architecture and Design in the Northwest. In an article called “Table Making. Steps 1-8“, he says interesting things like

and then I built a table. and kept manifesting them. I am little uncertain as to why. but it is now a nervous tick — and invades my dreams (and I pace, fidget, even squint “tables”). the tables have been as humble as dirt and sometimes princely, almost royal. thousands of hands have brought food to and from these tables and countless elbows have come to rest on their planks. but I am just beginning — really just at the first stages of the inquiry.

on april 23, 2006, a different kind of music was in the room. indie-rock-heartthrob stephen malkmus was crooning about old wine and rocking back and forth. gore vidal was on my left, my daughter perched on his knee; he was clearly uncomfortable with her landing — but she was a determined four-year-old and thought “mr. vigaal” was a worthy victim. a thought crossed my mind: why not use the table. use it critically, imaginatively, obtusely, politically and occasionally feign artistic intent — but study it. we have lost tables. they seem to have been swallowed up by our concept of “individuality” — the loneliest, most gratifying concept since masturbation. I’ll spare you more speechifying. I make tables happen. and perhaps someday I will be able to say more about “the why.”

As a friend of mine said, “it’s all so ridiculous that a single quotation would be superfluous.”

Somebody please send him a new keyboard with a shift key. No caps is so high-school 2006.

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Finally, for those into such things, The NY Times mentioned Stumptown Coffee while talking about siphon coffee and the much vaunted Clover maker. I know several people that would like to open a siphon bar in Portland, so it can’t be too far away. Check out the photos and article here. If you have an extra $20,000, you can get one of these coffee makers for your house.