Apple Hill Unpeeled 2008

Another fall has arrived and another crop of appley goodness has been laid out for the intrepid daytripper to consume.  Apple Hill is in full harvest mode, and the weather couldn’t be nicer.  The crowds are bound to be overflowing this weekend and the apple themed desserts, pies, breads, jams, trinkets, colostomies, and hardware will overflow from the folksy establishments in the folksy land of folksy Apple Hill.

It occurs to me, as it does every year at this time, that some of you may never have been to Apple Hill.  Hmmm.  I see.  Ok… Well then… What the f*$% are you waiting for!?!  Someone to spoon feed you ‘Hill info like a mother shoveling thin apple puree in the drooling mouth of an overfed infant?  If that’s what it will take, then I’m game.

Here we go:  Who’s a big boy?  Who? Who?  Who wants some applesauce in his little pouty apple barn?  Hmmmm?  Nevermind, I can’t keep that up. Continue reading “Apple Hill Unpeeled 2008”

What’s your perfect weekend?

I was enjoying the ehow.com recently when I came across this article on “How to Spend the Perfect Weekend in Sacramento” and it got me thinking. What is your perfect weekend in Sacramento? This article does a good job of hitting the mainstream spots. But, what is it missing? I know we like to provide information on specific events here at the Sac Rag, but I’m looking for some every week type things to do that I may not find on the Chamber of Commerce site.

Any suggestions?

River Cats Championship Caravan coming

Dinger
Dinger by Jachdeja on Flickr

Coaches and players from the AAA Champion River Cats will be making some public appearances this weekend to sign autographs and share the love.

Members of the 2008 Triple-A and Pacific Coast League Champion Sacramento River Cats will say “thank you” to the Sacramento community for their passionate support during the team’s championship run with the River Cats Championship Caravan, Oct. 16-18. River Cats players and coaches, including manager Todd Steverson, team MVP Casey Rogowski and team home run leader Brooks Conrad, and Voice of the River Cats Johnny Doskow, will visit River Cats fans throughout the community and will be available to all media outlets for interview throughout the three days.

The first event is this evening from 5:30-6:30 pm at Raley’s in Natomas (4650 Natomas Blvd.) Autographs, raffle and free cupcakes! Then tonight at 7 pm join players and coaches at Palm Street Pub & Grill in Carmichael (6416 Fair Oaks Blvd) to watch the Red Sox take on the Rays in game 5 of the ALCS.

Continue reading “River Cats Championship Caravan coming”

Oktoberfest at SacBrew

This Saturday, Sacramento Brewing Company will host Oktoberfest with eight house-made German beers, oompa bands and authentic German food under a big tent at Fulton and Marconi. If you enjoy any of the above items, you would be a fool not to attend. Festivities begin at Noon and last into the evening. Prost!

This also seems like a good opportunity to point out to readers who have not visited in the past year or two that SacBrew has both a new owner and a new Brewmaster. It is still the same old place, but the quality of both food and beer has improved, especially the beer, which is now jaw-droppingly awesome. I recommend a visit.

One squirrel says to the other squirrel

Here’s the second installment of my five part story on squirrels. Watch out Lisa Ling, I’m coming to getcha!

The cbs13.com reports that Redding firefighters are blaming a flaming squirrel for a grass fire that briefly threatened a home.

Firefighters say the squirrel set off the blaze yesterday when it shorted out a power line, caught fire and dropped into dry vegetation. It took eighteen firefighters and six fire engines 20 minutes to battle the one squirrel blaze.

One squirrel blaze! Badda bing! And the squirrel stock photo they used…very rich. If I didn’t know better I would suggest that cbs13.com is making with the jokes.

UPDATE: News10.net hasn’t thrown their fun hat into the ring with a, er, nutty squirrel photo.

Regional Wine Tasting Guide

Now is a great time to visit our regional wineries, as new releases are being introduced every week and Autumn is beautiful in the vineyards. Plus, crush is over, so the employees and owners are far less stressed and have more time to discuss their craft with you.

If you are new to our local wine scene or are just tired of stuffing 10 different wine maps in your glove compartment, the Sacramento Convention and Visitors Bureau publishes the Official Regional Wine Tasting Guide. It includes maps and phones numbers for both the foothill wineries (Amador, Placer, El Dorado, Nevada and Calaveras Counties) and the valley wineries (Sacramento, San Joaquin and Yolo Counties).

Order your guide today by calling (800) 292-2334. You can also find this information at http://www.sacwineregion.com/.

National Awards for Elk Grove Brewing, and Bon Voyage

The 27th Annual Great American Beer Festival was held this weekend in Denver with several area breweries competing. Congratulations to Elk Grove Brewing Company for bringing home two medals. Head Brewer Bill Wood added to his extensive trophy case with the Bronze Medal for the Bad Dog Brown Ale (category: American-Style Brown Ale) and the Silver Medal for the Bock Lager (category: Bock). The Bock Lager also won the Gold Medal at the 2008 World Beer Cup this year, naming it this year’s best Traditional German-Style Bock in the world. Great job, Bill!

…And now the bad news. Elk Grove Brewing Company became another victim of bad economic times and closed its doors this week. Bill will be going from Old Town Elk Grove to Old Town Auburn, where he will be brewing up at Auburn Alehouse. I’d like to offer my condolences to owner Chris Correa, his family and the rest of the staff. It has been 13 great years of buckets of garlic fries and beer battered fried dill pickles. The Sacramento brew community will miss you.

NorCal Noise Fest XII

Fetch your earplugs, Sacramento, it is Noise Fest time again!

The only way to describe Noise Fest as a whole is to call it f-ing loud, although many acts are experimental, avant-garde, industrial, electronic, and/or hardcore. Hell, some of it can barely be called “music” in the literal sense and is more accurately tagged as “aural art”. My dog is PISSED that I have been listening to a sampling of this year’s artists. If you like music that pisses off dogs, this is your weekend to stay in town.

Forty acts from the West Coast and beyond will perform for three days at Luna’s Cafe and The Space Theater. A pass for the whole shebang is only $25, which is a deafening bargain for the amount of entertainment you’ll get. Check the web site for a complete schedule and links to most of the bands.

Google more silly than local news

Yesterday I saw the Official Gmail Blog post about a new “Mail Goggles” feature, designed to prevent Gmailers from sending that drunken “late night Friday email.” I chuckled, assuming that the jokesters at Google couldn’t wait until April 1 to launch another yuk-fest of a fake feature. I did notice a few news stories about the feature, but I didn’t think much of it.

And then just now on the KCRA morning news I saw Walt Gray report on it. Ha! I thought, just wait until I blog the heck out of this hilarious small town bumble from the gullible yoyos at the local news station. Before I did that, however, I searched again for news stories. Hmm, doesn’t seem like Information Week would fall that easily. Much less Wired. More importantly, the feature does appear in my Gmail settings. It was not a joke at all.

What? This is the dumbest thing I have ever seen. Sure, I suppose it qualifies as “useful,” but it’s just so damn silly–geared for the intoxicated, set to be enabled on weekends only. I’m definitely not saying that because I was duped. Duped into thinking it was a hoax. 🙂 Oh Google, you have bested me this time.

How I Met Your Reservoir

Joe Sacramento (didn’t you move? :)) has a great roundup of the Docks project on the riverfront near Miller Park and the I-80 bridge, including his discussion of what would happen to the Pioneer Reservoir, which I’m not sure I was entirely aware existed–it is apparently a massive sewage treatment plant across the street from the city animal shelter. Anyway it reminded me of when Marshall and Lily buy a house in the chic up-and-coming NY neighborhood of DoWiSiTrePla, only to find out it is a realtor nickname for “Downwind of the Sewage Treatment Plant” on How I Met Your Mother.

Joe claims Heather Fargo has advocated placing a Ferris wheel atop the plant, but I can’t tell if that’s a joke on his part. And that’s more a sad comment on Fargo and this city than it is a dig at Joe’s wry humor…