portaferry, northern ireland

docking at portaferry after crossing strangford lough.

m.i.a.

six days seven nights, random hearts, what lies beneath, k-19 the widowmaker and hollywood homicide. someone's given up on their career.

grilled radicchio salad with lemon vinaigrette

Vinaigrette
1 1/4 cups extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
1 1/2 teaspoons white truffle oil
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 teaspoon sugar

Salad
6 ounces yellow wax beans
6 ounces green beans
4 heads of radicchio, quartered
1 13 3/4-ounce can artichoke hearts, drained
4 cups mixed baby greens1/2 cup shaved Asiago cheese

For vinaigrette: Whisk all ingredients in medium bowl to blend. Season dressing to taste with salt and pepper. (Can be made 6 hours ahead. Cover and refrigerate. Rewhisk before using.)

For salad: Prepare barbecue (medium-high heat). Place beans, radicchio, and artichoke hearts in large bowl. Add 6 tablespoons dressing and toss to coat. Grill vegetables until crisp-tender and browned in spots, turning occasionally, about 3 minutes. Cut beans in half crosswise. Coarsely chop radicchio. Return vegetables to same bowl. Add greens and Asiago cheese. Toss with enough dressing to coat. Season salad to taste with salt and pepper. Serve warm.

last stand

ted tetzlaff shot 114 films over a 20 year hollywood career (almost 6 films a year), and he would be even less well-known if it wasn't for his astounding work in his final film: Notorious. one of hitchcock's tightest and most suspenseful films, it's also an incredibly modern looking film for 1946. at one point, ingrid bergman wakes from a drug-induced sleep and the viewer sees cary grant inverted through her blurry eyes as the camera rotates around him. "Subjective treatment, putting the audience in the mind of the character, is, to me, the purest form of the cinema." (Hitchcock in Who the Devil Made It by Peter Bogdanovich, 1997)


the greatest scene of the film is highly erotic because the camera work creates an effortless intimacy as grant and bergman wander through their hotel room, embracing, kissing, swooning while the camera dances around them uncut for nearly three minutes. if you can find a better ted tetzlaff film moment, please let me know.

brush with ignominy

bob villa let me down. i grew up watching his pbs show in the eighties and in some small way idealized his easy manner and his command of the jobsite. (notice the conquistador stance atop the lumber) but years of good will were squandered in the london underground in may of 1999 when i stopped bob to ask for a handshake and a kind word. there was no one around. he could have endeared himself to a lonely fan, but the cameras weren't on, so he mumbled something to me over his shoulder and skulked away with his publicist. whenever i see sheetrock i begin to weep.

i have longed to move away

I have longed to move away
From the hissing of the spent lie
And the old terrors' continual cry
Growing more terrible as the day
Goes over the hill into the deep sea;
I have longed to move away
From the repetition of salutes,
For there are ghosts in the air
And ghostly echoes on paper,
And the thunder of calls and notes.

I have longed to move away but am afraid;
Some life, yet unspent, might explode
Out of the old lie burning on the ground,
And, crackling into the air, leave me half-blind.
Neither by night's ancient fear,
The parting of hat from hair,
Pursed lips at the receiver,
Shall I fall to death's feather.
By these I would not care to die,
Half convention and half lie.

-Dylan Thomas

naked icons and a peppery finish

i have never twisted the throttle on a vincent motorcycle or heard the rumbling of its engine, but i know the sound is pure wicked mechanical exhilaration. i do know the sound of a cork being released from a good santa rita hills pinot. Sea Smoke for one. hand-sorted and de-stemmed; no crushing. you likely won't taste that extra human effort, but this is why pinot is popular, not sideways. they have a great label too, which pretty much sells it.

here's the insignia for the vincent. looks like winged victory or nike and he's strangely clasping a caduses. probably because you had better have your physician on speed-dial before you attempt any speed over 35mph. who says you can't tell a book by its cover? i would buy any product associated with these two logos. vincent foot creme? sold. sea smoke dish soap? i'll take three.

supernova remnant N 63A

the vincent

they manufacture new bikes here