Surprise!

27 02 2009

astoria-poetry-workshop-postcard

Well, I guess the novel will be once again in my peripheral vision, however something really great has happened and that is that I will be facilitating this new weekly poetry workshop at the redhare, a gallery and preformance space @ 260 10th street in downtown Astoria, Or. It’s a beautiful space, an ekphrasis goldmine. I’m super excited. Back when I lived in California, I was part of a group of poets that met twice a month to workshop and write new poems and ever since I moved to Astoria, its been my dream to do the same thing here as my experience was such a motivating and inspiring one in Pacific Grove. I talked endlessly to owners of various venues and there was always some issue that wasn’t quite going to work, but I finally found it. So here is the start of something new for me, and the community and I simply cannot wait. This weekend is the Fisher Poets gathering in Astoria, which is a must-see/must-do. For those that may not be hip to it, it’s a preformance series of poets who are also commercial fishermen, and come from all over the world to Astoria to share their wisdom and insight through poetry. I’m hoping that this event makes people excited about poetry enough to be inspired to do it themselves and that they come to try out the workshop.

for more info on the redhare and to get the skinny on the workshop, follow the link below:

http://www.americantowns.com/or/astoria/events/astoria-poetry-workshop





A quick review of Bridgewater Bistro

10 03 2008

While the Bridgewater Bistro didn’t make me the best dinner I’ve ever had, they made

the best dinner I’ve ever had in Astoria.

Dinner started off with the best salad I think I’ve ever had. It had peanuts and pea shoots on it and

I could eat it everyday for a long time before I would get sick of it.

The ”famous” clam and mussel chowder also very good and I was pleased to see something different

from the traditional white cream chowder, living around here, it’s easy to get sick of chowder. Theirs was

rich and tomatoey, the soup had been pureed and it was a three star sort of deal. I was expecting a prix-fix menu,

that was not the case. The menu is ala carte. I wanted a replay of my dinner at the hands of Walter Manzke at L’Auberge in Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA and I did

not get that. That dinner was truly special…(Manzke is no longer at L’Auberge, his sous chef was appointed executive chef in 2007 – his name is Timothy Mosblech.

This is by far, the best restaurant at this time in Astoria.

We had the chili-lime prawns off of the small bites menu which were not that great or exciting, but edible.

We had the ”crabscargot” which was yummy probably because there was a whole hell of a lot of melted butter on it and

toasted hazelnuts. Very rich. However, the presentation of this dish was stupid. Look at the picture. Lame. A big

waste of cilantro and I love cilantro. I don’t know.

I ordered the Coquille St. Jacques, which was good

Will’s salmon with chorizo was spicy and warm and he liked it.

Our waitress was kind. Its a beautiful space and its nice we all have somewhere

new and upscale to go to in town. But what I would like to see in Astoria (besides a

Trader Joe’s, more galleries, rennovations at the college, a better library,

and better nightlife) is a true fine dining experience.

img_0766.jpg

img_0764.jpg

img_0769.jpg

img_0772.jpg

img_0773.jpg





Craves: Membership

3 03 2008

 motelpool1_1watermark.jpg

Membership. We all want to just belong. When I was growing up, if you didn’t belong to the Rose

Garden Pool Association, then you were lame. The pool pictured here is not that pool.

A few months ago I was talking to a friend of mine, who is a professional

writer and I was telling her that I thought it was time that I join some professional associations. I asked her if

she belonged to any, and she said ”No., I’ve thought about it but they’re too expensive, too time consuming, blah,

blah, blah.”

I come to find out today that she has in the interim built a website and joined like four professional associations! I feel outdone.

As I am not one to be outdone,  I have started joining a few places and I’ve decided to start local.

So yesterday I joined the AVA (Astoria

Visual Arts) and I also submitted a request to join Astoria Fog (Friends of the Arts). I feel a lot better now.

The above picture was taken while cruising the back roads of Pennsylvania. Circa 2000.

If you have any suggestions about memberships I should join, feel free to leave them in the comments section.