Sac Bee digs up the dirt on Whitman

sacbee-meg-whitman

This voter hasn’t really thought much at all about who he’ll vote for in next year’s gubernatorial race. But I am getting the feeling the Sacramento Bee has a suggestion for me. Check out the related articles in one of the articles up on sacbee.com today.

I can’t believe Meg Whitman is still in this race after being linked to the gas leak explosion that killed a Rancho Cordova man, and either the accidental death of a firefighter or the child abuse committed against that woman’s children.

(Note to any Sac Bee folks: I am not being serious. But you might want to tweak those results, lest Whitman take a break from not voting and sue you.)

Sacramento’s Drinking Water Rated Highest in the State

Dec09Food 153The City of Sacramento has the cleanest drinking water of any city in California! It’s time to celebrate by protecting this high-quality resource instead of wasting it needlessly. Let’s all party green together with these helpful tips:

Kings game to be nationally televised

A Kings-sized mixed message
A Kings-sized mixed message

Tonight’s Kings game versus the Washington Wizards will be nationally televised on ESPN starting at 7:30 p.m.

Much has been made about the dollar beer promotion, but times are tough and folks gotta do what folks gotta do, right?

“Our fans’ response to our dollar beverage promotion including beer, water and soda has been phenomenal,” said Kings co-owner Gavin Maloof. “Sacramento and ARCO Arena will look awesome on national TV tomorrow night.”

Hmm, dollar beer night or dollar beverage night? Come on, guys, own it.

NOTE: Fans will be able to purchase 12-ounce domestic draft brews for $1 through halftime and can purchase two at a time. No word on whether this applies to water and soda, too.

Plan B Cafe: Good Food/Poor Contraceptive

I’m still not comfortable with the name, but I’ve become quite a fan of their food. 

In one word: mussels. Plan B Cafe in Arden Town Center knows how to do mussels. With coconut broth, or spicy cilantro broth, or white wine and garlic, or tomato sauce (or as my Nana would say, “tomato gravy”) with herbes de provence, these folks know how to serve up some bivalves.  The rest of the menu ain’t too shabby either, a bit expensive, but delicious and elegant enough to warrant most of the price. The mussels, however, are a steal at $12 (and extra $3 for fries, but trust me, you need the fries).

One of the more whimsical thoughts is that the space Plan B occupies used to be a toy store. I don’t know what that has to do with anything, I just think it’s kind of funny.

Try the desserts, especially anything with a crust — tarte tarin, pear tartlette, anything gallette — but stay away from the bread they bring to the table.  Someone in the kitchen is obviously a talented pastry chef, but not much of a bread maker.

Plan B Cafe- Watt & Fair Oaks in Arden Town Center, Sacramento

Foo ***1/2 Ambiance *** Service ****

KCRA news van burglary highlights growing trend of crime against KCRA

March for Marriage Equality - Sacramento
Creative Commons License photo credit: Annie&John

Normally I wouldn’t joke about the break-in of an unmarked KCRA news van earlier this month. But in this otherwise positive report about homicides being down 42% since 2008, KCRA references the burglary of its van to tie the incident to crime trends that “depen[d] on the neighborhood.” Did the crooks actually steal the vehicle, leaving KCRA able only to report on news that happens at KCRA?

I’m kidding, of course. The vehicle break-in happened in Natomas which today’s report points out is experiencing a major increase in vehicle burglaries.

Farm City: Tales from an Urban Farmer

FoodNov09 458Novella Carpenter compares herself to the witch in Hansel and Grettle, “I fatten things up so I can eat them.” A more apt description might be Charlie from the Chocolate Factory: she’s found a golden ticket to building community through urban farming, and she sure is ecstatic! Carpenter recently spoke about her new book, Farm City: The Education of an Urban Farmer at the Sacramento Natural Foods Co-Op as part of a fundraiser for Soil Born Farms.

Carpenter embodies the passionate social movement surrounding locally grown, sustainable food practices. She’s sharp as a tack, yet laid-back, and comes dressed in her jeans and work boots. She opens by cheering about her afternoon class on backyard chicken farming, “I felt like I was part of the resistance movement. Yeah!” She declares with fist raised, earnest but laughing.

Carpenter takes this work seriously. She lives Continue reading “Farm City: Tales from an Urban Farmer”

How I Met Your Swisher

nick swisher
by Keith Allison, cc

Former beloved River Cat and current evil Yankee Nick Swisher has been cast as himself in the CBS sitcom “How I Met Your Mother,” entertainment blog “The Wrap” reports.

When Swisher drops by MacLaren’s bar, the women all swoon– putting a major crimp in bachelor Barney’s game.

It’s about time an episode centered on how Barney is a ladies’ man. Swisher’s episode airs February 1, 2010.

UPDATE: Rocklin beats Del Oro, wins bowl game berth

Congratulations to the Rocklin Thunder, who with their 21-14 defeat of Del Oro in the rain on Friday night secured a berth in the CIF D-II state championship bowl game on Saturday in Carson, where they’ll play Servite of Anaheim. Unfortunately they apparently lost their star quarterback to an injury at the game, so they’ll hand the ball to a plucky underclassman QB who’ll try to make his small town proud, while trying to keep the hard-livin’ fullback from going off the deep end and also taking care of his gramma. They should make a so-so movie and then a superlative primetime TV show out of this story.

In reality, though, it looks like the replacement QB was actually their starting QB at the beginning of last season, who they lost to an early season injury last year.

Continue reading “UPDATE: Rocklin beats Del Oro, wins bowl game berth”

Going high-tech to defeat the Grinch

Arden Fair
Creative Commons License photo credit: rezlab

This Sac Bee article about the annual increase in retail theft around the holidays includes some interesting details about the work that goes into pulling off a good retail thieving. Another way to describe it might be “detailed instructions for carrying out a retail theft,” including tidbits like lining a shopping bag with foil to block security devices. It also mentions the use of strollers to hide stolen merchandise. Which brings up a question: How long until Arden Fair bans strollers?

I absolutely kid Arden Fair security. People are horrible, and security folks everywhere are doing what they can to stay one step ahead of the horribleness. Things like video monitoring of every inch of the mall and monitoring the parking lot for cars that are reported as stolen. How easy is it to report somebody else’s car as stolen? Could be a fun way to “prank” your friend the next time he is planning to visit Arden Mall.**

**Do not do this.

New Movie Theater Opens with Red Carpet Flare

The Crest, which its grand architectural detail.
The Crest, which its grand architectural detail.
Palladio 16 in Folsom.
Palladio 16 in Folsom.

Last night marked the grand ribbon cutting and opening of the new Palladio 16 Cinemas in Folsom. The event offered much pomp and circumstance, complete with a limo loop to drive attendees from parking lot to red “carpet” (which is actually a sparkly, red, stone addition to the actual sidewalk).

The theater seats are spacious and cozy—they even recline. The digital picture quality was sharp and pristine. The entire place still smells of plastic and new—except for the entrance, which obviously smelled of freshly popping, buttery corn.

Overall, it’s certainly a quality viewing experience. Yet, for the $19 price tag you’ll pay to experience it, you won’t find any of the exquisite character of The Crest with its grand architecture and artistic detail. Aside from the fancy red sidewalk, it’s just a basic, dark, nondescript theater. You won’t be hearing the classic Annie song “Let’s go to the Movies” with images of Broadway tap dancers floating through your head. It’s just another movie theater with an ultra-high ticket price.