Notatomato

Via Heckasac, apparently regional business busybodies are busy trying to brand Sacramento in an effort to remain the top busybodies. This is the stuff I’m talking about when I say “There’s an attitude of, ‘It’s not what’s here now, it’s what Sacramento is going to be.'”

I’d like to open up the comments section of this post for “Some other ideas” of Sac Rag devotees. I’ll start the bidding with Big Riv’.

‘Cueing in the Central Valley

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This post is a littled dated but I wanted to share this photo from my Thanksgiving in Merced in the lovely and bountiful central valley. Pictured is a “deep pit” barbecue, which consists of a 6-foot section of sewer pipe dug into the ground like a well. Into the pit goes burning tree branches and kindling, which are allowed to burn down to hot embers. Then goes the meat. Oh-ho-ho, the meat. Huge pieces of anything meaty–whole turkeys, sides of beef, whole pigs, what have you. The meat is wrapped in plastic and towels or burlap, bound with wire, and put in the pit overnight. The pit is sealed and actually covered with a few feet of dirt. The result is hot, juicy, earthy, and if you plan it right, ready just in time to spoil turkey dinner.

In addition to the deep pit I got to see the new UC Merced campus, which looks like a set out of a video game–a slowing rendering blank landscape of earth-toned polygons and then suddenly a futuristic building pops up out of the fog. Only instead of infiltrating some sort of zombie-infested research lab gone haywire you get a … college dorm, okay that’s pretty much the same thing.

Young, Old Hardest Hit

Just in time for rainy season, the News and Review is here to cheer us up with an examination of worst-case flood scenarios, and how they might affect the most vulnerable Sacramentans–the “very young and very old.” Be careful when you read this, because, in the spirit of Orson Welles, much of the emergency sections of it are told in present tense, with only that helpful phrase “as an example” stuck in there at the beginning to save them from being sued by me when I blow my life savings on a giant raft to save my family from the flood waters the paper has assured me are flowing toward my home.

I’m glad SNR had the courage to focus on how those in the community who need 24 hour care and monitoring might fare in such a catastrophe, because usually preschoolers and the elderly can kinda be left alone to figure stuff out.

Speaking of crap detectors

Ok, I can’t hold it in any longer. This “Weeping Mary” thing is just too much. Not sure where to begin. I think I’ll just make a few observations and be done with it.

  • Why is it so hard to find out if she is really weeping blood or not? Did I miss something? Crack that thing open, look for a red food dye pump and call it a day. And we all know there are folks camping out 24 hours a day so no one is climbing up it and placing the tears…oh, and call in the CSI and send those tears to the lab!
  • “Even if it turns out the tears are not real, people at the church said the effect is the same — more people are praying to God and rekindling their faith.” — Hmm, can’t you hear the “who really got hurt? people got back in touch with their religion because of this, it’s a victimless crime” speech in a few days when the truth is revealed?
  • Isn’t the timing of this “story” a little suspect, too? And how soon until this grows to the point of “Red November” status?

Ok, there, I feel better now.

Support Your Local Pizza

Noting the rather cloying abundance of chain pizza places throughout the region, it’s important to revisit the local establishments, whether for good or for naught, making their own special brand of pizzas; all slightly different, but all containing the original pioneer spirit that made Sacramento “The Capital of the West,” or whatever other catchy phrase the Metro Chamber is trying to think up for us. Let’s focus on a few local joints that might offer respite from the likes of Round Table and Papa John’s.
Continue reading “Support Your Local Pizza”

Had to be Wal-Mart

Once again, Sacramento shines brightly as we learn of two carjackers who forced a driver to take them to Wal-Mart to make shopping returns AND out to dinner.

“The truck was still in the parking lot. We brought out the CSI to look for prints from the suspect off the vehicle”, says R.L. Davis of the Sacramento Sheriff’s Department.

The CSI? Jack in the Box?

Anyone else hear their crap detector going off?

Noriyuki “Pat” Morita Passes Away

The Sac Rag sends its condolences to the family of former Sacramento resident Noriyuki “Pat” Morita who died of natural causes yesterday.

After the war ended and the internees were released, there were many more hard years. Eventually the family resettled in Sacramento and opened a restaurant. It was called the “Ariake Chop Suey” (after the area in Japan where Morita’s father was born). They served Chinese food in apredominately black section of town. Morita and his father worked 14-hour-days in the kitchen and his mother, aunties and cousins served the food.

Does anyone know more about this restaurant and where exactly it was located?

UPDATE: It was on Fourth Street.

“Black Friday” Falls Upon Local Retailers

So it’s Friday morning and I have been watching local news stations inform me about “Black Friday” over and over. At first I thought, “Oh no, another catastrophic stock market crash?” Then I realized that this phrase refers to retailers who can move out of the red and into the black with strong sales leading into Christmas. There has to be a better phrase, right?

Historically, the term “black” has been used to describe other disastrous days in financial markets. For example, Tuesday, October 29th, 1929, a day the market fell precipitously, has been coined Black Tuesday, signaling the start of the Great Depression. Additionally, the largest one-day drop in stock market history occurred on Black Monday, October 19th, 1987, when the DJIA plummeted more than 22%.

As chronicled here recently, local folks were willing yet again to wait in a line as early as 4 p.m. yesterday to grab a laptop computer for $400 or a flat panel television for $250. Check that, for a chance to grab a laptop or flat panel TV. I know, I know, as SinghCity pointed out recently, this stuff isn’t really news so I won’t waste your time piling on. That is, until “Cyber Monday” strikes…

Take that, evil donut empire

To get everybody in the mood for irresponsible eating, I’d like to bring your attention to this story about a hole in the wall donut shop at Watt & Arden staying put while the Krispy Kreme next door closes its doors.

I have always felt that the Krispy Kreme Emperor’s new clothes were nonexistent. When I call up the image of “Donut” in my mind, what I picture is what Mike Teselle is holding up in the KCRA video clip, not that teeny undercooked runt of a pastry. Looks like I was not alone in this, as the little guy clearly triumphed here.