CSA - AOK

Two years ago, the P90 family did the Breezy Willow CSA. It was delicious and a great deal. The girls loved going each week and selecting our fruits and veggies and they especially loved the breads! We took a summer off from CSA last year, knowing that we'd be doing a lot of beach trips and other travelling and would be getting produce on the shore. On the weekends we were home, we visited the Oakland Mills farmers market.

But this summer, we're back in the CSA game! And since the whole point of all of this is to "eat locally," we decided to go with Gorman Farms, which is less than  two miles from our house.

Today we received our first share. And it’s a week earlier than expected thanks to our overly warm spring. I’ll do my best to post about our share each week and share the recipes and meals we make. To get things started, I think I’ll make garlic scape pesto.

Garlic Scape Pesto
Ingredients:
1 cup garlic scapes (about 8 or 9 scapes), top flowery part removed, cut into ¼-inch slices
1/3 cup pine nuts
¾ cup olive oil
¼-1/2 cup grated parmigiano
½ teaspoon salt
black pepper to taste

Method:
Place scapes and pine nuts in the bowl of a food processor and whiz until well combined and somewhat smooth. Slowly drizzle in oil and process until integrated. With a rubber spatula, scoop pesto out of bowl and into a mixing bowl. Add parmigiano to taste; add salt and pepper. Makes about 6 ounces of pesto. Keeps for up to one week in an air-tight container in the refrigerator.

For ½ pound short pasta such as penne, add about 2 tablespoons of pesto to cooked pasta and stir until pasta is well coated.  hocofood@@@

Mojo Hand Recoil Review

I had a great time with the Mojohand EFX tour box. As I said previously, the Nebula was the star of the show for me, but the Recoil was a close second. If you're looking for a solid, affordable digital delay with analog flavor, you can't do much better than the Recoil.

I have an EHX Memory Toy that I keep around for experimenting, but most of my delay sounds come from a Line 6 M9. I like the M9 because I can get a lot of delay sounds, tap tempo, and expression (for crazy runaway oscillation) in a nice small(ish) package.

The Recoil blows the Memory Toy out of the water. You can use the tone knob to cop the lo-fi tones, but you can also use it to get nice, clear delays. Comparing the Recoil to the M9 feels weird - apples and oranges. In most situations, it sounded better than the M9. And of course, it's smaller, lighter, and cheaper. I missed the tap temp and/or expression features though. I should preface that the majority of my delay use is either for Edge-style rhythmic things or for wacky oscillation stuff. And sure, when you crank the repeats it will freak out and self-oscillate, but I'd prefer not to have to kneel down to do that.

If I were setting up a board for more traditional rock, country, or pop sounds, the Recoil would be my go-to delay. It's great for thickening solos. And with the tone at noon, has one of the best slapback sounds I've ever heard from a pedal.

Some of the real fun with the Recoil came when I used my Danelectrode to power (or in this case underpower) the Recoil. It won’t do anything at 3 volts, but right between 3 and 4 it coughs up a really grainy delay that sort of fades in and out of pitch with the original note and even changes repeat speed slightly as it fades out. It continues to do weird little things like this up until about 5.5 or 6 volts where it starts to add a really nice shimmery chorus. Once you get to seven volts or so, it’s hard to tell much difference from 9 volts.

Wegmans Liquor Part III - Overheard

I made the horrible decision to go to Trader Joe's at 5:00 o'clock on Saturday. Seriously, I should be punched in the head for that bright idea. The parking lot was a war zone, the inside of the store looked like a Soviet bread line, and my three year-old had an EPIC meltdown re: being forced to ride in the cart. As if there was some other option while shopping in what felt like a mosh pit at a Fugazi show circa 1993.

But aside from the sheer hell of it all, I overheard no less than three groups of people talking with excitement about the proposed liquor store slated to open in Wegmans and the hopes that it would move Maryland toward more sensible alcohol laws. I'd be a happy boy buying wine at my local Trader Joe's rather than stocking up when I visit friends in VA. One can dream... hocofood@@@

M. Ward's Pedalboard

I've been chasing M. Wards tone for ages. In fact, it was Never Had Nobody Like You that got me hooked on fuzz and set me on a fuzz journey that is still going strong (10-15 fuzz pedals later). I still can't tell you what fuzz he used on that song. I can tell you that he sounded great at the 9:30 Club last night with a pedalboard full of Boss pedals and an Ibanez delay. All powered by a (wait for the collective gasp from the Gear Page folks) a One Spot.

Here's the list:
Boss TU-2 Tuner
Boss SD-1 Super Overdrive
Boss RC-20XL Loop Station
Boss FRV-1 Fender 63' Reverb Pedal
Ibanez AD9 Delay

Guess I'm going full circle and buying an SD-1. At least it should only be about $35-40. Borderline free compared to some of these fuzz pedals I've bought.

And that's it folks. Take two Gibson Johnny A's (one tuned to D6), add these pedals, and a Fender Twin Reverb, and it sounds amazing.

Where the Wild Things Aren’t

Here's a post that's been bouncing around my head for quite sometime. It's about a little girl who was afraid of Wild Things.

You see, a few years ago, when my eldest was about two and a half, I brought Where the Wild Things Are home from the library. I loved it as a kid and I thought she was at the age where she would really enjoy it.

Bedtime rolled around, I showed her the book, and she began to freak out. “What are those things? I don’t like that book. Those are scary. That’s a scary book daddy!” I tried to settle her down and tell her the book was about a brave little boy. She wasn’t buying it. Things escalated and she continued to freak out. Eventually, she demanded that I get in the car and drive the book back to the library. "That book is scaring me - take it out of my room - take it back to the library!" It was so scary she couldn’t even sleep in the same house as the book.

So I went out and put the book in the car, took a quick lap around the block, and came back inside. I like to think I’m a pretty good dad, but I’m not making a special trip to the library at 8:00 just to get Where the Wild Things Are out of the house.

She continued to talk about the “scary book” for quite a few weeks. Anytime I brought books home from the library she said “You didn’t get the scary book, did you? I don’t like that book!” Eventually she forgot about it.

Then, about a year later, someone gave her and my youngest daughter copies of the book. My youngest loved the book. She like the “monsters.” “Daddy – I like the one with the cow face – he’s like a cow. Daddy – you like the bird face one!” Eventually, my eldest warmed to the book and now we read it pretty frequently.

And that seems like the perfect reaction. Afterall, it's a book about helping kids understand their emotions - anger, sadness, and fear. So, without further ado, let the WILD RUMPUS START!