PicoBlog

I often wish pasta came in smaller packages. Sure, I can eat a lot of pasta, and whoever decided one pound serves eight is not from this universe. But I also think 12 ounces—three-quarters of a typical box—is the perfect amount of pasta for a meal (for two with leftovers, or a family of four), making room for plenty of sauce and yummy mix-ins. Which is why so many of my recipes call for that annoying almost-but-not-quite-entire box.

“Now's the time to make up your mind. It's time that people of God make up their mind as to who you're going to serve. You can't serve God on one hand and the world on the other!” The words erupt from the lips of red-faced Preacher Caleb Cowan. It’s November 12, 2023, and Cowan is just a third of the way through a fiery sermon titled, ‘Committing in a Cu…

It’s been over 900 days since we’ve seen an ambidextrous pitcher take the mound in a Major League Baseball game. Back in August of 2019, facing the New York Mets, Pat Venditte, pitching for the Miami Marlins, opted to throw with his right hand against Mets third baseman J.D. Davis. A quick sidenote: if you didn’t know about the ‘Pat Venditte rule’ already, it’s time to educate yourself, folks.

"These people are like innovators and rebels. They deal with changing your consciousness. Their form is not a commercial one. Show me a poet that does it for the money, you know? I still think poets are like, for me, like rock stars. They're kind of magical people. They should just be given whatever they want." - Jim Jarmusch I often contemplate the absurdity of poetry, and the place of a poet in a world ODing on content and glitz.

Some years ago I read a book called Making Rent in Bed-Stuy by Brandon Harris. It’s one of those quintessential first-book essay collections, of the type where the titular theme of the book is effectively explored and then a set of mostly-unrelated essays is wedged in to make the project book-length. My Goodreads review read “When it’s about making rent in Bed-Stuy, it’s good. When it isn't, it’s... less.” I did think there was a lot of good in the book, but I had to sift too much to find it.

The patty melt is believed to have been invented sometime in the 1940s in Los Angeles, CA by Tiny Naylor. Traditionally, a patty melt is a cooked burger patty on toasted rye bread with caramelized onions and Swiss cheese. In working on this recipe, I asked myself (many times) if a patty melt is a sandwich or if it is a burger. To be honest, I am not a huge burger person (shocking, I know).

Paul Bar/Food 3700 E Vista Chino (at Gene Autry), Palm Springs Phone: (760) 656-4082 No reservations accepted. First come, first served at the bar or a handful of two and four-top tables— not really suitable for larger groups. Hours: Open at 4PM Weds-Sun. Closed Monday and Tuesday Website: thepaulbarps.com Our star rating: 4.5 out of 5. “Welcome to Civilization” states the main page of the Paul Bar/Food website. That proclamation certainly belies the location of this consistently popular restaurant, open since 2018, in a super-sketchy strip mall on Palm Springs’ northeast side.

If it weren’t for Paul Butterfield I wouldn’t be here today…. -B.B. King Back in the 1970s when I was in junior high school, I started playing the harmonica. One day, my mom brought home two albums she’d picked up at K-Mart. One by Big Walter Horton and the other by B.B. King. Besides a John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers album I saw in my older brother’s record collection, they were the first two blues records I had ever seen.

Watch full video on Twitter.View most updated version of this post on Substack.Share Paul Williams was one of the founding members of the Temptations and the group’s original lead singer. After leaving the group in 1971 due to declining health, he started work on a planned solo album but was found dead in 1973. Although ruled a suicide, his death was likely foul play. Born and raised in Birmingham, Alabama, Williams and Eddie Kendricks met each other in elementary school, apparently when the two boys started a fistfight after Williams dumped a bucket full of mop water on Kendricks’ head.