How to make Mold Wine

That's right, mold. Not mulled. This twist on a classic Christmas recipe also known as "hooch" is made in prison. According to the Sneeze.com making prison hooch is simple and can conveniently be made right there from your cell toilet. "

"make a strong bag by double or triple-bagging some plastic trash bags and knotting the bottoms. Into this, pour warm water, some fruit or fruit juice, raisins or tomatoes, yeast, and as much sugar as you can get ahold of (or powdered drink mix). Now tie off the top of the bag, letting a tube of some kind protrude so the thing won't explode while it gives off carbon dioxide. Now hide the bag somewhere and wait at least three days. A week is enough."

the article continues by explaining some of the logistical problems of obtaining banned ingredients like yeast and how to work around those issues along with suggestions for hiding your wine and covering the rank smell from your prison guards. There are also recipe variations such as "red" and "white". Both are fermented via an old sock. Anyway, you'd have to check out Steve's article http://www.thesneeze.com/mt-archives/000373.php for exact recipes if you'd like this heinous concoction to make an appearance at your holiday party. At least you probably already have the ingredients in your kitchen.

red wine hooch (top) sock fermentation (bottom)

(pics from the sneeze. com )

Eat Real!! Eat it. Make it. Grow it.

live butcher demo@ eat real (top) tasty falafel(bottom)

For 2.5 hours I served drinks at the Eat Real Fest in Oakland and then ditched my position as Albino/Zin pourer as soon as I realized the vendors were really serious when they said volunteers could not drink, not even discreetly, not one. Honestly I didn’t mind sticking around to help even though we weren’t allowed a complimentary bevi. However when I needed to go to the restroom and was told that breaks were frowned upon by one of the coordinators, that's when I bailed.

Eat Real Fest, the three-day event held in Jack London Square is the home grower’s foodie haven and the place to get a sample of what’s tasty in the bay area from vendors who take pride in the quality of ingredients going into the dish as much as the end result. A place where the woman selling her organic applesauce made from the fruit picked out of her Sonoma orchard uses the two minutes while she rings you up and bags your goods as an opportunity to rant about those other a**holes who claim their sauce is also from local fruit when in fact, “ everyone knows they get their apples from Fairfield”.

Around 3pm I was beyond hungry having already digested the disappointment of my sobriety the only other thing rumbling around my tummy was a double espresso from earlier that morning. So, I gave the venue a quick lap around to scope out the food options and opted for a falafel wrap topped with rosemary peanuts, pickled beets, cabbage and some other unique toppings I had never considered pairing with falafel. I admit, I was concerned when I didn’t see any sign of that creamy sesame goodness called tahini but after the first bite I was an immediate convert to this California twist on one of my favorite Middle Eastern foods. Across from the food truck was a live cooking demo and a large seated grass area where I sat with my meal and a negra modelo. Unable to hear the demo over the conversations and content noshing sounds of the crowd, I was entertained instead by two kids feeding their parent’s food to some pigeons.

Thrifty Manor in St. Helena

Was riding my bike around St. Helena this morning and found the Thrifty Manor tucked behind St. Helena Catholic church. Today was "fill your borsa for $2.50". I filled a paper grocery bag with several items including tshirts and some nicely colored pale green, peachy, and beige jeans that just need to be fitted. Here's a link for a step by step on tailoring your own jeans, it's so easy.

http://www.cutoutandkeep.net/projects/skinny_jeans

(This tutorial talks about skinny jeans but if you want to let those calfs breathe it's simple. follow the instructions but keep the line's a bit wider for a more tailored look.)

You can find business hours on the Thrifty Manor website though you'd have to visit in person to see when they're having sales. I suggest checking in at the beginning of a new season because they have a pretty small space and it seems they regularly need to clear out.

My best finds of the day were a Run DMC shirt and a children's art book about Henri Rousseau. I have a pretty decent sized collection of children's books from my travels, some in English some not, but I especially love kids books about artists they tend to be well illustrated and I don't know, maybe I secretly hope to raise little multilingual bohemians.

Gracias Pedro!

Just a quick note to say muchas gracias to my new amigo Pedro who saw me waiting at the bus stop in front of Castello di Amorosa and offered me a ride to Napa. I ended up spending the afternoon helping him finish a job in Rutherford painting some guy's house and then after lunch we took a drive around the valley where he showed me the beautiful brickwork he's done all over the valley. Such a good-hearted, talented old man with lots of great stories and knowledge he's willing to share.

Here's just a few pics of Pedro's work...

(Quintessa winery)










( Markham Winery)

Recycled Fashion @ Crossroads

Having navigated many of the dusty and musty aisles of goodwills and thrift shops, there's really no competing with the West Coast used clothing store chain,Crossroads Trading Co.,which provides name brand, second-hand goods on the cheap and eliminates perusing through piles of holes, rips, and questionable stains.

Selling your gently used threads is also an option and pretty straight forward. Here I've provided a link to the site where stylist,blogger and long time CR customer goes into detail about selling your clothes for cash or store credit.
http://crossroadstrading.com/buy-sell-trade/tips-for-selling/

Last weekend I visited the Berkeley location off Shattuck, unloaded a moving box worth of Fall/Winter clothing and walked out with a $115 store credit which isn't bad given that most of their items cost between $5-$25.

Dumpster Diva

What’s better than Fashion??? TRASHION! In April Sonoma will host a California Trashion Show where all designers submit outfits made from recycled goods and compete for a $500 first prize.
I'll be supporting Andria and John Falcon,the owners of Salon Novo , “Sonoma’s first eco friendly Salon” and sporting their hairy creation down the catwalk.




http://www.salonnovo.com/about.php