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Archive for December 2012

Hedonists climb the Peak

Dec31

Restaurant: Saddle Peak Lodge [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

Location: 419 Cold Canyon Rd, Calabasas, CA 91302 (818) 222-3888

Date: December 27, 2012

Cuisine: Modern American

Rating: Great ambiance and terrific game oriented food.

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For the last Hedonist dinner of the year, we return to Saddle Peak Lodge. It’s pretty much the perfect venue for a winter food and wine blast, with charming lodge interior, a crackling fire, game driven food, and awesome wine service. For those of you who don’t know, Hedonist events have amazing wines (each diner brings at least one bottle) and this event has several 100 point blow out wines.


Saddle Peak Ranch used to be a game lodge back in the early part of the 20th century. The rich and famous used to come up and hunt Malibu’s finest, such as this poor fellow. Now the deer are just served up on the menu.


The gamey interior has a lot of charm.


Our lovely little private room. The menu can be found here.


We open with this champagne. The NV Brut Rose is a pretty, gracious wine. Freshly cut roses, red berries and spices take shape nicely in the glass as the wine shows off its understated, timeless personality. Billecart-Salmon’s NV Brut Rose is a reliably tasty wine.


Pretzel bread.


Carrot soup. Tons of cream, which gave it a fantastic richness like a lobster bisque.


A bit of salmon on blini with creme fraiche and caviar.


Burghound 91-94, “Power, size and weight to the concentrated and mineral-driven broad-shouldered flavors that possess excellent length on the bone dry and overtly austere finish. This should be a classic Latour Corton-Charlemagne in time.”

Pan seared Maine scallops with Nueske ham, sautéed brocolini, leek-potato cream, parsley gremolata and sweet potato crisps. The ham and cream factor added some serious richness to this dish.

First in a pair of top flight red Burgundies.

Parker 93-95 and Burghound 91-93, “The 1999 Clos de Tart is certainly outstanding and potentially exceptional. It displays a gorgeous nose of rich plums, sweet black cherries, candied blueberries, and loads of spices. Medium to full-bodied and opulent, this is a lush, deep, and fresh wine. Its velvety-textured flavor profile is crammed with blueberries, red cherries, and blackberries that seem to burst in the mouth, revealing their sweet, refreshing juices, in a way not dissimilar to the finest 1996s. It also displays complex nuances of spices, oak, and hints of orange zest. This marvelous wine should be at its peak of maturity between 2005 and 2012. Bravo!”


Caesar Salad with garlic croutons and Parmigiano-Reggiano.


From my cellar: Parker 94, “The profound Echezeaux is one of the best examples I have tasted from this grand cru vineyard, which has a tendency to turn out light wines. This 1990 displays a super nose of sweet black-raspberries, toasty new oak, and violets. In the mouth, there is full body, a generous yet gentle, expansive richness, an unctuous texture, and an explosively long, lovely, impeccably well-balanced finish.”

Belgian endive salad with roasted Pink Lady apples, St. Agur blue cheese, shallots, candied pecans, watercress and white balsamic vinaigrette.


From my cellar, the 1973 Mouton Rothschild. The year Mouton was officially made a “first-growth” was celebrated by a beautiful label done by Pablo Picasso. This is an example as to storage variation and rating. Parker considers this wine long gone, but I found two bottles from the same original cellar at an event where we were tasting one of them. That bottle was excellent so I took a chance on this, which was pretty fantastic too. This isn’t a blockbuster, but had moved into that really interesting secondary stage that characterizes fully mature Bordeaux. Very enjoyable.

Roasted butternut squash soup with maple mascarpone, micro basil and brown butter brioche croutons.

Brown butter yam agnolotti with toasted pine nuts, sautéed purple kale and cranberry white port sauce.


A much younger mature first growth, the 1993 Haut Brion, Parker 90-93, “Quite a surprise in a difficult vintage, a strict selection and the superb terroir of Haut Brion triumphed over a very challenging year that produced many hard, relatively herbaceous wines. The color is a surprisingly saturated deep plum/ruby. Some sweet berry fruit intermixed with menthol, graphite, damp earth, and a hint of mushroom emerges in this medium-bodied, very elegant Haut Brion that is still firmly structured but has sweet tannin and surprising length and ripeness. The wine will always represent a sleeper style.”

Ahi tuna sashimi with Hawaiian papaya, cilantro, red onion, mango, avocado, orange-ginger and pea tendrils.


Because of the next course we cracked this wonderful example of aged Chenin-blanc. Sweet without being cloying, it revealed all sorts of interesting notes.


Fatted liver of a certain fowl, rumored to be on the endangered list. With brioche and black cherry reduction. Yum!


Parker 90-93, “A charming, lush, round, generous Lynch Bages, the 1999 offers plenty of sweet black currant fruit, damp earth, licorice, cedarwood and spicy herb-like characteristics. Medium-bodied, savory and broad in the mouth with no hard edges, this fully mature effort is a somewhat underrated vintage for this estate.”

New Zealand elk tenderloin with brandied cherries, braised cipollini onions, stuffed crimini mushroom and vanilla butternut squash.

Now to go with the meat, two amazing Syrah based wines. This one is one of the best out of the Rhone Valley in France.

From my cellar, Parker 100! “This is a Le Pavilion of mythical proportions. Produced from extremely old vines, some dating from the mid-nineteenth century, with yields averaging under 15 hectoliters per hectare, this is the richest, most concentrated and profound wine made in Hermitage. The 1991 Ermitage Le Pavilion follows the pattern of the 1989 and 1990-it is another perfect wine. The saturated black/purple color is followed by a compelling bouquet of spices, roasted meats, and black and red fruits. Enormously concentrated yet with brilliant focus and delineation to its awesomely endowed personality, this extraordinary wine should age effortlessly for three plus decades. Very powerful and full, yet displaying silky tannin, this is a seamless beauty!”

Grilled Australian lamb racks with Swiss chard, Nueske bacon, golden raisins, piquillo pepper and pommes aligot.


And Ron brought the magnificent 1981 Penfold’s Grange Hermitage. Parker 97, “The 1981 stood out as slightly superior. Winemaker John Duval always felt this was a tannic style of Grange, but the wine has shed its tannins, and this is one of the few vintages where the percentage of Cabernet Sauvignon was above 10%. Sweet notes of creme de cassis, cedarwood, charcoal, and barbecue spices are followed by a full-bodied, opulent wine displaying heady amounts of alcohol, glycerin, and density in its full-bodied, skyscraper-like texture. I was drinking this wine with great pleasure in the mid-nineties, yet here it is nearly 15 years later, and the wine does not appear to have budged much from its evolutionary state. This is a testament to how remarkably well these wines hold up, and age at such a glacial pace.”

Wild Game Trio – the Chef’s sampling of three different, game meats with individual accompaniments.


Parker 95, “I was blown away by the 2004 The Maiden, which out of bottle is even better than it was from barrel. This wine exhibits a rather flamboyant scorched earth, lead pencil, incense, licorice, and blackberry and cassis-scented nose and flavors. The wine has superb concentration and is opulent, fleshy, and very much in keeping with the style of the vintage. Despite its accessibility, I suspect this wine will drink well for at least two decades.”

Grilled buffalo New York with creamed kale vol a vent, bacon-gruyere-potato terrine and horseradish crème.


Parker 98, “this 100% Cabernet Sauvignon exhibits a brooding black/purple color as well as strong aromas of forest floor, creme de cassis, blackberries, vanillin and barbecue smoke. Rich and full-bodied, with a flawless integration of acid and tannin, this amazing wine was aged nearly 30 months in 100% new French oak, all of which is well-concealed.”


Parmesan truffle fries!


A private label version of the Harlan 2007. Parker 100! “The prodigious 2007 Harlan Estate reminds me of a hypothetical blend of the 2002 with a touch of the controversial 1997. Dense plum/purple-colored with sweet aromas of barbecue smoke, blueberries, blackberries, cassis, licorice, hot rocks and subtle oak, it is a splendidly opulent, pure wine with a skyscraper-like texture as well as stunningly deep fruit that expands gracefully across the palate. The finish lasts nearly a full minute. Because of its overwhelming richness and sweet tannins, this brilliant wine seems to be approachable now, but I suspect further nuances and complexity will emerge after 4-5 years in the bottle. This wine will still be going strong at age 25-30. Like the offerings from its sister estate, Bond, these Harlan Estate offerings are uncompromisingly brilliant examples of Napa viticulture and winemaking at its finest. Kudos to proprietor Bill Harlan.”

Apple cinnamon bread pudding served with salted caramel ice cream.

Farmer’s market caramelized pear beignets with crème anglaise.

Daily selection of house made sorbets served on ice. Coconut, Chocolate, and Banana.


And a little liquid black jelly bean to finish.

Chocolate molten whiskey cake with Guinness ice cream and Bailey’s whipped cream.


They juiced it up with this flaming brandy cherry sauce.


On fire.


Woot!


A lineup of just some of the empty bottles!


And our wonderful servers.

This was a total blow out event. The food was impeccable and the service fantastic. Plus we had a really great mix of people and some of the most awesome wines. Not one was even mediocre, it was one blockbuster after the next with the dueling mature Syrah’s (Penfold’s and Chaputier’s) as my standout favorites.

What a way to end the year!

Click here for more LA restaurant reviews,
Or for Foodie Club extravaganzas.

Related posts:

  1. Hedonism at Saddle Peak Lodge
  2. Hedonists Boil Up Some Crab
  3. Hedonists Cook the Goose
  4. Hedonists at STK
  5. Hedonists at La Paella
By: agavin
Comments (2)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Foodie Club, hedonists, Saddle Peak Lodge, Wine, Wine tasting descriptors

Men in Black 3

Dec28

Title: Men in Black 3

Cast: Will Smith (Actor), Tommy Lee Jones (Actor), Barry Sonnenfeld (Director)

Genre: Sci-Fi Action

Watched:  December 1, 2012

Summary: Surprisingly decent

_

I picked this up because of the time travel angle, but it turned out to be a pretty fun film. It’s not high art, and in fact it doesn’t have anything new to say about time travel, or anything else either. It’s also a ridiculous romp. A clear guilty pleasure.

We begin with a good villain: Borris the Animal. He’s plenty zany and has one arm and a face hugger that lives in his remaining hand. He also has it out for Tommy Lee Jones, who locked him up 40 years earlier. When he breaks out of his lunar prison, he wants nothing more than to travel back in time and kill our taciturn hero. Which he does. Will Smith then has to head back himself and put things to right.

Josh Brolin plays “young Agent K” (Jones). The resemblance is uncanny, in looks, in voice, in mannerism. Jones himself isn’t even in the film for more than a few minutes. There isn’t any time travel paradox here. There’s just hunt down the villain and try to kill him. But the film luxuriates in campy 1969 visual gags. Costumes, Andy Wharhol, the Apollo 11 launch, and so on. It’s like Madmen without the drama. The rocket launch really is pretty cool.

MIB puts its money on screen. There isn’t a normal shot in the whole film. Aliens abound. Not exactly realistic. The tech difference over 40 years is handled in the same over-simplified manner as in X-men first class. Everything is the same, except it was bigger then, with 60s styling. Guns: bigger. Memory eraser: bigger. Aliens, definitely bigger (and slimier).

Michael Stuhlbarg (Boardwalk Empire‘s Arnold Rothstein) plays a very amusing four dimensional being. Defiantly found him groovy. I can’t even remember the second MIB, but this one has to be better.

For more Film reviews, click here.

Related posts:

  1. Black Swan
  2. Back to the Future Part III
  3. Untimed nearly here!
By: agavin
Comments (1)
Posted in: Movies
Tagged as: aliens, Barry Sonnenfeld, Film Review, Josh Brolin, Men In Black, Men in Black 3, Tommy Lee Jones, Will Smith

Hunan Chili Madness

Dec26

Restaurant: Hunan Chili King

Location: 534 E Valley Blvd. San Gabriel, CA 91776

Date: December 23, 2012 & August 9, 2015 & September 1, 2017 & August 19, 2018 & June 13, 2021

Cuisine: Hunan Chinese

Rating: Great, spicy, cheap

_

Way back in the day, Hunan Chili King was only the SECOND time I went to the SGV for Chinese food with the Hedonists! And twice in one week, I was invited to head back east into the San Gabriel Valley for some more Chinese (my earlier adventure can be found here).


This time we tackled the hot and spicy cuisine of the Chinese heartland, the Hunan province.


Here is just a sampling of the pickled chillies and vegetables they make here for use in this smokey, earthy, inferno hot style of Chinese cooking.

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The menu on June 13, 2021.


Hunan style cold cucumber salad with marinated cucumber, Wood Ear/Black Fungus, shredded Broccoli stems, Cilantro, and chilies (everything has chilies). This was really tasty, and one of the least spicy dishes. The marinate lent it a slight cool quality.


Hunan spicy chicken. This roast then chopped chicken was served cold. Super tasty and enjoyable, except, perhaps, for that oh so Chinese need to chew around all the bone bits.

This particular dinner was sort of 25% hedonist in that it had some members of my hedonist wine club. There were a lot less bottles than at a full fledged event, and because of the spicy food we went mostly with sweet whites like:

From my cellar: Incorporating fruit principally from Wehlener Nonnenberg, Graacher Himmelreich, and Bernkasteler Johannisbrunnchen, the generic Prum 2011 Riesling Kabinett displays an archetypal Mosel Riesling nose of fresh apple, lemon, and clover allied to faintly cheesy, leesy youthful “stink”; and comes to the palate bright and zippy, with hints of wet stone, and prominent cyanic piquancy of apple pit invigoratingly extending its mouthwateringly juicy, if tart and relatively simple finish.


Lobster head, tofu, meat, and noodle soup. Really yummy, with noodles underneath the broth. After the chillies and the heat of the soup my head was really sweating.

Fried lobster with chilies. A superb lobster preparation, like a spicy version of Lobster Causeway Style.


From my cellar: A fine combination of textural creaminess with refreshment and lift characterizes the Weins-Prum 2009 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Spatlese, which combines lusciously ripe, fresh pear and apple with vanilla and marzipan and finishes with both soothing and stimulating length. This impeccably-balanced, textbook example of its site and style ought to retain its allure for at least two decades.


Flavor intestine. Not my favorite conceptually.


Hunan steamed fish head. This is a Hunan classic. The fish is very soft and full of all sorts of weird cartilage texture.

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Fish Filet with Hot Sauce. Easier (and maybe tastier) to eat than the head. Note that this 6/13/21 version was served in that annoying post pandemic era when many restaurants seem to be using take out containers instead of actual plates.


Sautéed frog. Tasty, lots of bone bits. The Christmas theme to all the food isn’t seasonal, it’s just all the chillies!


A chardonnay someone else brought.


Shredded squid with bamboo shoot. Tasty.


Sautéed whole “crystal prawns,” Hunan style. These were great and an expensive specialty shrimp.

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Hunan chicken (8/19/18). Chicken in a similar mix of red and green peppers. Very tasty.

To go with the meat we step up the intensity a bit.

Parker 91-93, “The extraordinary 2007 Cotes du Rhone-Villages Rasteau offers up aromas of chocolate, black cherries, dusty, loamy soil, scorched earth, garrigue, and spice. This full-bodied, powerfully concentrated, meaty, expansive, substantial wine should age well for a decade.”


Chicken with potato. Also very good with a nice soft texture and mercifully no bones.


Cumin beef with snow peas. Some though the beef itself was too tough, but it did have a lot of flavor.


Cumin lamb. A nice version of this classic dish.

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Braised fatty pork with mountain yam and preserved vegetables (9/1/17). Super tender and really interesting complex pickled flavor.
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Snails with preserved vegetables (8/19/18). This dish was amazing! Sure it’s an “advanced” dish, and incredibly spicy. Hottest dish we had that night by far. Super deep potent heap. The combo of the chewy snails and the unusual pickled green beans (with their crunch) was stunning.

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Sautéed long beans with Pork. Note that this 6/13/21 version was served in that annoying post pandemic era when many restaurants seem to be using take out containers instead of actual plates.

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Sautéed cauliflower. Had a very nice crunch. Note that this 6/13/21 version was served in that annoying post pandemic era when many restaurants seem to be using take out containers instead of actual plates.

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Sautéed Bean Curd with Leek. Note that this 6/13/21 version was served in that annoying post pandemic era when many restaurants seem to be using take out containers instead of actual plates.

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Special fish in brown chili sauce. Looks almost like a sweet and sour but it was salty and spicy.


Extra chilies, just in case. Fire in the hole!


Chicken fried rice. Really yummy and served nicely to cool stuff off at the end.


Fried banana and fried pumpkin. Really hot (temperature and yummy). Sometimes called “toffee banana” or similar.

But wait, you thought we were done? Let’s start all over with an entirely different array of pepper dishes 2.5 years later (August 2015):

Pickled turnip or potato and peanuts.

One of the few repeats: Hunan style cold cucumber salad with marinated cucumber, Wood Ear/Black Fungus, shredded Broccoli stems, Cilantro, and chilies (everything has chilies). A welcome relief to the heat.

Skewered frog legs with chilis (15 and 9/1/17). Delicious. Really delicious, but lots of little bones. The “sauce” is crunchy chili garlic.

Hunan chicken. The “classic” combo of red, green, and orange with boney bits of chicken. Flavor was fabulous though.

Hunan bacon. Slices of cured pork belly — delicious smoky bacon — with peppers!

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Chili-King Crispy Pork Fat. Like little mini chicharrónes. Great texture. Note that this 6/13/21 version was served in that annoying post pandemic era when many restaurants seem to be using take out containers instead of actual plates.


Giant Hunan fish head. Again.

Hunan frog. More frog, which brings up one of the better quotes of the night, “How many frogs had to die for this dinner?”

Glass noodles with garlic and gizzards. Sounds scary, but this was a delicious dish with a good bit of Szechuan peppercorn heat.

Hunan hotwings. Not much meat, but a lot of taste.

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House Special Duck. Came a bit cold so we had to send it back for some more heating. Tasty, but a touch off-putting. Note that this 6/13/21 version was served in that annoying post pandemic era when many restaurants seem to be using take out containers instead of actual plates.

House special lamb (12? 15, and 9/1/17). A repeat, but a good one. This is one of the better cumin lambs I’ve had. I like how the cilantro is used as a green, almost like a salad.

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Beef with celery. Note that this 6/13/21 version was served in that annoying post pandemic era when many restaurants seem to be using take out containers instead of actual plates.


Cabbage. I loved this, particularly with the sauce from some of the other dishes. Really nice crunchy texture.

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Braised eggplant with garlic (15 and 9/1/17 and 8/19/18). A delicious eggplant with the texture I like, soft but not slimly. Great flavor to the sauce with lots of garlic. Very nice version of this spicy dish. The Hunan version of eggplant. A bit less chili oil than the Szechuan version (which I guess is usually fish flavored eggplant). There was a version with 1000 year-old eggs that would have been even better.


Pork belly and tofu. Thick fatty pork belly and bag like tofu. Not everyone liked the soft mushy type of bean curd — but I loved it.

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Mapo Tofu. A bit of numbing, no obvious meat. Note that this 6/13/21 version was served in that annoying post pandemic era when many restaurants seem to be using take out containers instead of actual plates.


Crab. A little hard to get into, but the body meat on the end could be eaten like a lolipop and had a delightful flavor.

Egg fried rice. Straightforward but cut the heat.

Shredded potato. Nice crunch. I loved this covered in the eggplant sauce.

Lobster. More peppers! Actually we didn’t have this dish, but I saw it and had to photo it.

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Glass noodles with ground pork (8/19/18). Tasty dish with nice textural contrast between the crumbly meat and silky noodles.

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Beef in chili sauce. Sort of a Szechuan dish, but the Hunan variant.
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Noodle soup with fish balls, mushrooms, and meats of an indeterminate nature.
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Spicy pickled eggs (8/19/18). Interesting. Event eggs can get the Hunan treatment! Quite good actually.
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Scrambled eggs with peppers (8/19/18). Usually in China this dish is with tomatoes. Hunan people can’t resist the pepper.

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Cauliflower (8/19/18). Very nice. Not really spicy.


Vegetable buns. Interesting source green flavor, but nice.

Sweet egg drop soup. A sweet soup with goji berries and balls of tapioca. Not bad, for a weird sweet soup.

Sweet bean buns. Chinese desserts. Know them. Don’t love them.
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A variant on a house favorite: Triple Milk Chocolate Cloud (8/19/18) – the base made with Valrhona 40% Jivara Chocolate (usually I use 63%) and then layered with Dark Chocolate Creamcheese Ganache and Belgian Chocolate Thins (3 flavors, for triple on triple action) — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato.

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And some house made butterscotch in case the above wasn’t rich enough.
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Together it’s amazing.
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Grapefruit Aperol Tarragon Sorbetto (6/13/21) — Cold pressed Fresh Grapefruit juice from my garden, Aperol and fresh Tarragon! — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — Unique and bracing — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #sorbetto #grapefruit #aperol #tarragon


This was an awesome pair of meals and very different than your typical Cantonese American. Traffic isn’t bad on Sunday night, but during the week it took me almost two hours to get to this area. Hunan Chili King isn’t where I’d take Chinese food novices. EVERYTHING is spicy. In fact, a few people obviously didn’t read the warnings on the meetup because they couldn’t handle the heat. Someone said of the heat, “I feel like I’m going into menopause.”

The flavors and proteins are a bit weird by American standards. But this is my favorite SGV Hunan so far, and I really like it for the variety compared to some other regional cuisines. At the restaurant itself you have to take some care to end up with different flavors, as there are a lot of dishes with the “usual” tri-color pepper melange (tasty as it is). But great stuff.

And as usual, we even went next door afterward and got a Chinese massage for $15 an hour! Just the perfect thing to work out the hedonistic over-indulgence!

Adding in a note based on 6/13/21, Hunan Chili King was (as of then) still operating in a half “take out” mode with very few people in the restaurant, and using only takeout containers and styrofoam plates with plastic silverware. The kitchen seemed about 90% back up to snuff, but the disposable plating really reduces the enjoyment (and appeal).

For more LA dining reviews click here.

On our August 2015 visit, Totoraku chef and sometime Hedonist joined us. He was not prepared for the heat!

Related posts:

  1. Chili Addiction – The Heartstopper
  2. Margarita Madness – The Mix
  3. Middle Madness
  4. Margarita Madness – Mother’s Day
By: agavin
Comments (4)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Chili pepper, Chinese cuisine, hedonists, Hunan, Hunan Chili King, Kabinett, Mosel Riesling, Riesling, san Gabriel valley, Wine tasting descriptors

Whelping Characters

Dec24

My novel Untimed was conceived as a fusion of ideas. Lingering in my mind for over twenty years was a time travel story about people from the future who fell “downtime” to relive exciting moments in history (until things go wrong). I’d worked out a time travel system but had no plot or characters. Separately, in 2010, as a break from editing The Darkening Dream, I experimented with new voice techniques, especially first person present. I also read various “competition.” One of these was The Lightning Thief (the first Percy Jackson novel), which has an amazing series concept (if a slightly limp execution). I love mythology and history, and liked the notion of something with a rich body of material to mine. I wanted an open ended high concept that drew on my strengths, which brought me back to time travel.
Some of the mechanics from my earlier concept merged well with a younger protagonist, voiced in a visceral first person present style. I started thinking about it, and his voice popped into my head. I pounded out a chapter not too dissimilar from the first chapter of the final novel. Then the most awesome villain teleported into the situation. I can’t remember how or why, but it happened quickly and spontaneously. Tick-Tocks were born (or forged).

Rapier: So bad he's cool

Rapier: So bad he’s cool

The Tick-Tocks are supposed to be mysterious, and I really wanted to reveal their secrets layer by layer. It was even important that by the end of the book, while you understand a lot more about them, you don’t really know exactly where they come from or what their up to. A great nemesis needs this. Think Darth Vader or Professor Moriarty. Their secrets aren’t all on the table to begin with. Additionally, one of my favorite emotions to play with is “creep.” My first novel, The Darkening Dream, is all about creepiness, and I think it’s much more effective and scary than plain horror. So the Tocks are supposed to be creepy. Not exactly horrific, but just mysterious and creepy. That’s one of the reasons they don’t talk. Creepy.

Charlie: Not even his mother remembers his name

Charlie: Not even his mother remembers his name

Charlie’s character derived automatically from his voice, which I tried to make authentically 15. And while he’s sweet, and fundamentally optimistic and good natured, realism demanded a bit of an edge. Teen boys think about shit and sex. Sorry, but it’s true. I rub up on issues that make some squirm, even if I deal with the lightly: teen pregnancy, drinking, slavery, etc. But to sweep these under the carpet wouldn’t do justice to the 18th century – or our own.

Yvaine: Comes with serious baggage

Yvaine: Comes with serious baggage

As to Yvaine. Well, she’s based in part on the kind of girl I wanted to meet when I was a teenager. This seems odd, considering how messed up she is, but like Charlie, I didn’t have much luck with girls in High School. In the 80s, being a “computer guy” and even worse, into video games, was pretty much the kiss of death (see 16 Candles for reference). Yvaine is smart, capable, and in charge, but she’s also damaged and emotionally needy. I thought the combination worked.

Donnie: If you think the wig is impressive, wait until you see his sword

Donnie: If you think the wig is impressive, wait until you see his sword

Lastly, I’ll talk about Donnie. I’ve noticed that the most effective jerks tend to have some real charisma. Because of Yvaine, Charlie never really likes Donnie, but he maybe could have briefly. Donnie holds his little band together throw a mixture of intimidation, generosity, camaraderie and loyalty. He may be mostly out for himself, but he really sees himself as the protector and leader of his gang, and he acts this way to hold up his own self image. Even in the end, his loyalty to Stump is his own undoing, which is kinda sad – but that’s life. Real villains are heroes in their own stories.

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Related posts:

  1. Untimed Art Finished!
  2. Untimed nearly here!
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  4. Untimed – Two Novels, Check!
  5. Untimed Characters
By: agavin
Comments (2)
Posted in: Untimed
Tagged as: Andy Gavin, Characters, Charlie, Creepy, Lightning Thief, Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, Sixteen Candles, Time travel, Untimed, Yvaine

Untimed officially for Sale!

Dec20

Both the paperback and Kindle versions are available. If your stocking is stuffed with a brand new Kindle, or you already have one, or you read on the Kindle app anywhere (iPad, Android, etc.)…

Buy it now!

The e-book launches at the low, low price of $5.99, certainly a bargain given that it took me a year to write. Plus the book is lavishly produced with a cover by award winning fantasy artist Cliff Nielsen and there are twenty-one gorgeous interior illustrations by Dave Phillips.

For those of you that aren’t Kindle people, in the next couple of weeks I’ll try to get all the other E-Book variants up (B&N, iTunes, etc.). Also, I’m also working on a stunning hardcover edition — just because I can.

About the book:

Charlie’s the kind of boy that no one notices. Hell, his own mother can’t remember his name. So when a mysterious clockwork man tries to kill him in modern day Philadelphia, and they tumble through a hole into 1725 London, Charlie realizes even the laws of time don’t take him seriously. Still, this isn’t all bad. Who needs school when you can learn about history first hand, like from Ben Franklin himself. And there’s this girl… Yvaine… another time traveler. All good. Except for the rules: boys only travel into the past and girls only into the future. And the baggage: Yvaine’s got a baby boy and more than her share of ex-boyfriends. Still, even if they screw up history — like accidentally let the founding father be killed — they can just time travel and fix it, right? But the future they return to is nothing like Charlie remembers. To set things right, he and his scrappy new girlfriend will have to race across the centuries, battling murderous machines from the future, jealous lovers, reluctant parents, and time itself.

So try it out and see what you think. Afterward, please review the book on Amazon. Reviews matter!

Buy Sample Characters Reviews Reviewer Info

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EndGame2_cropped

Related posts:

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By: agavin
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Posted in: Untimed
Tagged as: Amazon Kindle, Amazon.com, Andy Gavin, Cliff Nielsen, E-book, Fantasy art, iTunes, Time travel, Untimed

Hedonists Cook the Goose

Dec19

Restaurant: Sham Tseng BBQ

Location: 203 West Valley Blvd, Alhambra, CA. 626-289-4858

Date: December 17, 2012

Cuisine: Cantonese Chinese

Rating: Awesome goose!

_

It’s time for the next Hedonist adventure, this time out into the San Gabriel Valley for some really serious Cantonese.


The interior is typical of Inland Empire Chinese restaurants.


We had a private room and (for a Chinese restaurant) excellent service.


The menu. Haha. You can find one in English here.


Parker 90. “This 100% Semillon made from relatively young vines in the Haut-Brion vineyard is crisp, steely, with plenty of grapefruit, lemon zest, and white currants in a medium-bodied, fresh, lively style.” Very youthful for a 15 year-old white, it had plenty of mineralogy and floral components.


These peppers were on the table in case things grew too bland.


The NV Brut Rose is a pretty, gracious wine. Freshly cut roses, red berries and spices take shape nicely in the glass as the wine shows off its understated, timeless personality. Billecart-Salmon’s NV Brut Rose is a reliably tasty wine.


c

A bonus wine from my cellar, “Incorporating fruit principally from Wehlener Nonnenberg, Graacher Himmelreich, and Bernkasteler Johannisbrunnchen, the generic Prum 2010 Riesling Kabinett displays an archetypal Mosel Riesling nose of fresh apple, lemon, and clover allied to faintly cheesy, leesy youthful “stink”; and comes to the palate bright and zippy, with hints of wet stone, and prominent cyanic piquancy of apple pit invigoratingly extending its mouthwateringly juicy, if tart and relatively simple finish.”


And another lovely Riesling, this one with more age and sweetness. As I’ve said before, Riesling pairs very nicely with Asian food.


Sliced suckling pig. The layer of fat notwithstanding, this was some delectable stuff. It had the plum based duck sauce on the side too which I love.


Another white, in the Sancerre style more or less.


A vegetarian dish combining mixed Chinese vegetables and this kind of spongy stuff I’ve had lots of times but have no idea what it is. It’s one of those textural Asian ingredients that is a bit weird to the American palette.


Some more whites.


Crispy roast goose with sweet sauce. This stuff was awesome, like Peking duck, minus the pancakes, but even darker and richer. It went perfectly with the sweet sauce too.


Parker 92, “The 2002 Pinot Noir Kistler Vineyard offers wonderful sweet raspberry and cherry fruit with a hint of framboise, a deep plum/ruby/purple color, medium body, and good vibrancy in a medium to full-bodied, feminine style.”

Not bad for a new world pinot, and in the Burgundy style. Of course it’s no Burgundy.


Parker 91-93, “Following the brilliant success of Kistler’s 2007s, Steve Kistler and his sidekick, Mark Bixler, deserve kudos for what they have achieved in the more challenging 2008 vintage. This is the first vintage in which 100% of the fermentations were indigenous, and, fortunately, all their Sonoma Coast vineyards were far enough south that they were not tainted by any of the smoke from the ferocious fires that spread through Mendocino. The 2008s appear to be slightly more fruit-forward, with a touch less minerality than the 2007s.”


Duck tongue in spicy oil. These looked disgusting. The idea is repulsive, but hey, they tasted pretty damn good. Sweet and very fried.


The last of the new world pinots.


Soy sauce crispy quail. Also very good, although there is that high bone to meat ratio that is always the case with small birds.


From my cellar, the first of the “real” pinots. Burghound 95, “A perfumed, complex and mostly still primary nose offers up earthy red berry fruit, underbrush and a touch of animale that can also be found on the generous and quite fleshy flavors that possess excellent volume as well as buckets of dry extract that almost render the firm and ripe tannins invisible on the massively long finish. Wow, this is a stunner of a wine with still plenty of upside potential remaining.”


Shredded potato with dried chili. It is what it is.


This Burg was my favorite wine of the night and, alas, I didn’t bring it. It had mellowed into that wonderful brick colored secondary flavor vibe that older Burgundy gets. Lovely.


Green Mustard greens with garlic in supreme broth.


From my cellar. This puppy was still a bit closed and the fruit was hiding. Nice, but it should have been better.


Deep Fried Crispy Intestine with Fruit Nectar. Okay, this stuff LOOKS nasty. It tasted so fried that you couldn’t really tell what it was. I’m still feeling a little queazy.


Another grand cru. Parker 91-93, “The Bocquenet 2005 Echezeaux – from high up in the Rouges du Bas section, adjoining Les Beaux Monts – exhibits abundant, nose- and palate-filling black fruits, prominent sweet spiciness, formidable though fine tannins, and a long, sweet, smoky, very lightly cooked and caramelized finish that is sumptuous even with the tannins. It will take years for them to round out, but some progress may well be made in tank prior to bottling.”


Goose intestine stir fried with green onions.


Parker 93, “Based on the strength of his 1994s, proprietor Roman Bratasiuk was named one of my “Wine Producers of the Year” in issue #108. His skill in turning old head-pruned vines into majestic wines of extraordinary richness and purity has been confirmed with the release of the 1995s. These wines are massive and rich as well as extraordinarily well-balanced and pure. I have never tasted an Australian Merlot that was more concentrated than Penfold’s Grange, a Shiraz-based wine. Clarendon Hills’ 1995 Merlot (250 cases available for America) is an opaque purple-colored wine with a knock-out nose of raspberry liqueur, chocolate, smoke, and spice. The wine is enormously extracted with a density and texture reminiscent of pre-1976 vintages of Petrus. Sumptuous, and almost over the top in its richness and density, this unctuously thick, full-bodied wine is fabulous to smell, taste, and consume. This is great stuff! As youthful as this Merlot is, I have no doubt it will last for 15 or more years. These are amazing wines.”


Crispy tofu with 3 ingredient. This stuff was pretty good. Very soft and fluffy, like tofu marshmallows.


Parker 90,”The 1999 Altagracia, a 100% Cabernet Sauvignon cuvee from estate vineyards, is the debut vintage. The wine is medium to full-bodied, with low acidity, and plump, sweet, pure, black currant fruit intermixed with mineral and licorice notes. This delicious Cabernet is on a faster revolutionary track than its more profound sibling, the celebrated Eisele Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon.”


Crispy fried frogs. They tasted like fry but had all sorts of little bones inside.


Parker 91, “Smoke, cedar, tobacco and earthiness are among the nuances that come to life in the estate’s 1999 Barbera d’Asti Vigna del Noce. Some of the primary fruit has melted away, resulting in a highly complex, engaging Barbera that is very rewarding to drink now.”


Honey BBQ Ribs with Black pepper. Good stuff. Another of my favorite dishes. A tad chewy, but very tasty (and fried).


Parker 93, “This is unquestionably a profound Grand-Puy-Lacoste, but it is excruciatingly backward. It reveals an essence of creme de cassis character which sets it apart from other Pauillacs. The wine is displaying plenty of tannin, huge body, and sweet black currant fruit intermixed with minerals and subtle oak. Massive, extremely structured, and with 25-30 or more years of longevity, this immensely-styled Grand-Puy-Lacoste will require 7-8 years of patience, perhaps longer. A superb, classic Pauillac.”


Goose webs (feet) in brown sauce. Ick!


Another new world red I don’t know much about.


Crispy fried fish. Good, and again, very fried.


One of those Rhone style new non-AOC French wines. Not unlike their Spanish counterparts, these are big, bold, grapey beasts.


Sweet and sour pork. Also really tasty, because of all that fry. There were little bones and gristle bits in here, so you kind of gnaw pleasantly on them.


A big, bold classic Saint-Joseph. A bit rustic, but full of flavor.

Black cod with Ginger, Green Onion & Dry Bean Stick.



This was way, way too young, but it is a raison/grape monster and actually fairly enjoyable. Imagine mixing Welches Grape Concentrate with a 1/4 the water you should.

Parker 94, “The 2009 Bone Rock is a round, enticing red laced with sweet, succulent dark cherries, plums, flowers and spices. It shows remarkable intensity and fabulous balance. Bone Rock is made from the first blocks planted in the James Berry vineyard and is predominantly Syrah, while the James Berry Vineyard (the wine) is Grenache focused. In 2009 the blend was 57% Syrah, 31% Mourvedre and 12% Grenache. The Syrah component was vinified with 100% stems and saw a maceration lasting 50 days. The wine was aged in 60% new oak. Smith bottled the 2009 in May 2011, earlier than the norm (around 30 months), as he wanted to preserve the freshness he had in the tannins.”


Red cod with soy sauce and green onion. Another fish. I think half of this one was actually our fried fish! Pretty typical Chinese whole fish in this prep.


Mango pudding. These were tasty little mango cups. There was some sweetened condensed milk on the side too one could add on top. A nice finish.

Overall, this was fabulous fun, food, and wine. There were a number of really outstanding dishes (like the goose, roast pig, etc) and everything was well executed — even if a few were a little squirmy for my taste (intestines!). Things were very fried, but that’s this cuisine. I actually like many other regional cuisines in China better than Cantonese. Szechuan for example, but that didn’t stop this from being a wonderful meal.

Umm, that goose was so good!

For more crazy Hedonist and Foodie Club meals.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Yes, he’s chomping down on a goose foot!

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By: agavin
Comments (9)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Barbecue, bbq, Chinese cuisine, Foodie Club, Goose, hedonists, Riesling, Roast Goose, Sham Tseng, suckling pig, Wine tasting descriptors

The Hobbit – An Expected Review

Dec16

The-Hobbit-Movie-PosterTitle: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

Director/Stars: Ian McKellen (Actor), Peter Jackson (Director)

Genre: Fantasy

Watched: December 15, 2012

Summary: More is more!

_

On a technical note: I saw The Hobbit at one of LA’s leading theaters in a digital 3D projection (with active glasses) using the new High Frame Rate (HFR) 48 fps recording and with Dolby Atmos sound. This was all pretty damn impressive, and let’s take them apart. I didn’t see it in IMAX, but I find that projecting a normal 35mm image on the IMAX screen results in annoying distortion. I bought my reserved seats 6 weeks in advance and so we were perfectly positioned in the middle of the stadium theatre.

I’m not normally a huge fan of 3D, as it drops the brightness and clarity too much. Not so here. The projection was plenty bright and the image so sharp you could almost count the pores. So sharp that it approached a kind of hyper reality. There was more depth than usual to the 3D, and presumably it was all shot with 3D cameras. Basically it looked great.

The HFR gave everything a flicker-free quality like my 240hz HDTV. As with the TV, this takes some getting used to and initially, while it looks smoother, actually appears slightly fake or cheesy. I’ve been “training” with my TV for 6 months and I’m still only about 50% over a lifetime of conditioning.

According to the Dolby engineer who spoke in front of our performance, Dolby Atmos has 60 speakers! Not that I counted, but it sure sounded good. Even in a loud film like there wasn’t a problem understanding the dialogue and goblin hoots came from everywhich direction.

It was certainly the best looking and sounding film I’ve seen to date, even if the overall effect of the clarity, 3D, and HFR lended a hyperreal quality.

Now, how about the film!

The Hobbit is unusual in so many ways. It’s one of the grand classics of fantasy. Many of us read it at an early age as it’s more approachable than LOTR for elementary schoolers. It’s faster paced and more compact. Then we have this unprecedented production. Not only does Peter Jackson and team truly love the material, not only is no expense spared, but he was even allowed to convert a 95,000 word novel into three very long films, totaling 8-9 hours of screen time! This is totally unprecedented. I myself, in starting to adapt my 75k novel Untimed for the screen, have concluded that I’ll have to cut at least 40%.

Peter Jackson didn’t cut The Hobbit. He added to it.

Borrowing from LOTR, The Silmarillion, and who knows what else, the first third of The Hobbit pads out background on the dwarves, the arrival of Smaug at Lonely Mountain, the orc/dwarf wars, and the rising evil in Middle Earth. This defies every precept of modern screenplay construction.

And it works.

Current practice insists that everything not crucial to the central forward narrative be dropped or left off screen. Backstory, many argue, has no place in a film (or even, possibly, a novel). But so beloved is the world of Middle Earth that this sin of excess can be forgiven, even, perhaps, praised.

The Hobbit is a much smaller story than LOTR. Sure it crosses great distance and includes grand adventure, but the trilogy chronicles the near destruction of the world. But since Hollywood, and even Peter Jackson, like to top their previous works, there is considerable effort made to expand the scope and feel to fully epic scale. A new major villain, the white orc, is added and tied into Thorin’s history and used to drive things forward. The scope of encounters is also significantly beefed up from the source material. This mostly works, although it left me with a slight sense that they were trying too hard.

Like the novel, the story takes its time. We revel for a good half an hour in the destruction of Bilbo’s pantry by the dwarves. Still, this is actually pretty funny, and I spent the time oogling the crispness of the onscreen imagery (see technical notes above). The dwarves have an amusing look about them, with their crazy braided hair styles. This isn’t a Hollywood friendly cast of characters. We have 13 heavily bearded men. The production does its best to differentiate them with age, hair color, style, hats, and the like, but few in the audience will be able to connect names with faces. This contrasts with the varied composition and ease of identification of the LOTR fellowship.

It’s also worth noting the near total absence of women in the film. As far as I remember, Galadriel is the only female cast member to speak a word (it’s possible that a random hobbit villager might have). And even the elven sorceress is added material not found in the books. This is a story about a band of brothers. Emphasis on the brothers. Like much of Tolkien’s work, there is an influence from his service during WWI. War isn’t (or at least wasn’t) a women’s gig.

Considerable effort is made to integrate the story more with LOTR. Added scenes reference the building evil. Along with Galadriel, Elrond, Frodo, and Saruman make appearances. Christopher Lee is creepy as usual as the ancient wizard. I did observe (like in Hugo), that he doesn’t walk on screen. He is 90 years old after all!

But if the beginning takes its time, the second half of the film is pretty intense. The goblin sequence alone is worth the price of admission. Jackson brilliantly intercuts the dwarves’ grand escape and battle with Bilbo’s first encounter with Gollum. The battle itself is both comic and breathless. I particularly liked the Goblin King, played by drag queen Dame Edna (Barry Humphries)! The twisting chase sequence is stylistically related to my favorite sequence in LOTR, the part in Moria between the dropping of the armor in the well and the fall of Gandalf. It takes the visuals to a whole new level and even borrows heavily from Jackson’s knack for creative mayhem, first employed in Dead Alive. Bilbo with Gollum is great too. As usual, Andy Serkis steals the show with Gollum/Smeagol’s split personality.

The effects are seamless, and present in every frame. How much is model, how much costume, how much latex, how much CG? I have no idea. Somehow it feels a little less fully green screened than some recent films. Perhaps because New Zealand, with its vast and breathtaking landscapes also stars in the film.

Overall, The Hobbit isn’t flawless, but it is totally captivating and left me burning for more.

For more Film reviews, click here.

Or discover my own fantasy novels.

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the_hobbit_movie-HD

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By: agavin
Comments (25)
Posted in: Movies
Tagged as: Bilbo Baggins, Dolby, Dolby Atmos, High Frame Rate, Hobbit, Ian McKellen, IMAX, J. R. R. Tolkien, Peter Jackson, The Hobbit

Il Grano – Only 19 courses?

Dec14

Restaurant: Il Grano [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]

Location: 11359 Santa Monica Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90025. 310.477.7886

Date: October 27, 2012

Cuisine: Italian

Rating: Modern Italian to die for

_

After my stellar birthday meal at Il Grano, and with the closing of Drago, Il Grano has become one of my favorite westside Italians. Last Saturday, what started off as a “quick Saturday dinner” turned into another epic feast.


The sleek interior space.

2004 Brunello di Montalcino Riserva
From my cellar, Parker 93, “The 2004 Brunello di Montalcino Riserva, from vines in Castelnuovo dell’Abate, is gorgeous, layered and elegant in its violets, tar, licorice and cherries. The finish is long and impeccable, but this is a somewhat ethereal style, with aromas and flavors that are already a touch forward relative to most 2004 Riservas. Ideally the wine is best enjoyed within the next decade.”

Bread at Il Grano
Bread here is very good.

Amuses
A small amuse, albacore tartar on the left, fried mozzarella ball with tomato on the right.

Gazpacho
Sal loves a good Gazpacho (as do I). This is the garnishes.

Gazpacho
Then with the soup itself.

Italian Crudo
Il Grano is also famous for its sushi-like crudos. Right to left: toro with melon caviar. Albacore. Red snapper with blood orange caviar. Hokkaido scallop with olive dust. The white stuff on the plate is frozen olive oil and each fish has its own little sauce.

Wagyu Tartar
Tartar of Wagyu beef with fresh black truffles. A very nice early blend.

Wagyu Carpaccio
A second take on fatty beeef: Wagyu carpaccio with parmesan and olive oil. Good stuff, although I might prefer my beef carpaccio leaner.

Beet Salad
Roasted beet salad with braeburn apple, mixed greens, and goat cheese.

peppers and anchovies
Fire roasted peppers and anchovies. Red torpedo onion, san marzano tomatoes. Yum. This is really a Spanish dish, but it’s one of my favorites.

polenta with lamb ragu
Soft polenta with lamb ragu. This is Northern Italian and a classic rich meat and starch pairing, sort of an Italian take on a super-spud filled with chili. Much better though with a lovely velvety texture.

Zuppa zucchine
Zuppa zucchine. Dairy free & vegan costolata Italian zucchini soup, burrata-zucchini crisp.

Fiori di zucca
Fiori di zucca. A huge squash blossom stuffed with ricotta and marjoram. Which, epically, makes the last appetizer!

Maccheroncini with spiny lobster and black truffle
Maccheroncini with spiny lobster and black truffle! Pacific spiny lobster, cauliflower, shaved black truffle. This was some seriously good stuff.

spaghetti ai funghi
And the pasta flight continues with spaghetti ai funghi. Spaghetti, mousserons & chanterelle mushrooms, pancetta, mushroom stock.

Mezzalua
And Mezzalua, duck ravioli with yet more black truffle! So a trio of awesome earthy mushroom pastas. Duck confit filled ravioli, porcini mushroom sauce, shaved black truffle.

Albacore tuna
Albacore tuna with micro greens.

lamb tenderloin
A lamb special. Sliced lamb tenderloin, perfectly done (or not, as the case is), soft potatoes and reduction. On the right is a crostini coupled with a lamb heart and onion mix that tasted like awesome chicken liver.

Walnut and maple gelato
Walnut and maple gelato.

Apple tart
Apple tart.

Pear tart
Pear tart, which with its soft cinnamon pear-sauce vibe is more to my taste.

Triple chocolate cake
Triple chocolate cake. Chocolate gelato, and three types of chocolate (milk, dark, white).

If you like higher end Italian cooking (and who doesn’t?) you should absolutely rush over here. Make sure you get a tasting menu. I don’t think appetizer and entree selected off the regular menu would do the place the justice it deserves. I’m sure the dishes would be great, but this cuisine is about more than just two notes. I’m not sure why Il Grano isn’t always mobbed, as folks flock to overpriced mid-quality trattorias. I guess people are just clueless.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Or experience my gluttonous month-long journey through Northern Italy.

Sal treats his tomatoes like family

The wine list is top notch, with a real depth in Burgundy

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By: agavin
Comments (4)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Brunello di Montalcino, Dessert, Gazpacho, Il Grano, Italian cuisine, Modern Italian, Molecular Cooking, Molecular Gastronomy, Olive oil, Reserve wine, Sal Marino, Santa Monica California, Wagyū

Crash Live Action Tribute

Dec12

This Crash Bandicoot fan tribute video by 18 year-old Mat Hill  is some really good fun.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MaNMsD8eDAw]

“Homebrew” visual effects have come a long way since I was a kid. Hey, Hollywood visual effects too! Mat did a great job inserting the game elements here. And all very much in the tongue-in-cheek spirit of Crash. Enjoy!

If you liked this post, follow me at:

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By: agavin
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Posted in: Games
Tagged as: Crash Bandicoot, Tribute video, Visual effects

Untimed nearly here!

Dec10

Prepared yourself to launch yourself back (and forward) into history! My new time travel novel, Untimed, is launching on December 19!

Charlie’s the kind of boy that no one notices. Hell, even his own mother can’t remember his name. And girls? The invisible man gets more dates.

As if that weren’t enough, when a mysterious clockwork man tries to kill him in modern day Philadelphia, and they tumble through a hole into 1725 London, Charlie realizes even the laws of time don’t take him seriously.

Still, this isn’t all bad. In fact, there’s this girl, another time traveler, who not only remembers his name, but might even like him! Unfortunately, Yvaine carries more than her share of baggage: like a baby boy and at least two ex-boyfriends! One’s famous, the other’s murderous, and Charlie doesn’t know who is the bigger problem.

When one kills the other — and the other is nineteen year-old Ben Franklin — things get really crazy. Can their relationship survive? Can the future? Charlie and Yvaine are time travelers, they can fix this — theoretically — but the rules are complicated and the stakes are history as we know it.

And there’s one more wrinkle: he can only travel into the past, and she can only travel into the future!

The paperback and Kindle versions will be available at launch, with hardcover and other ebook adaptions to follow. The cover is by award winning fantasy artist Cliff Nielsen and there are twenty-one gorgeous interior illustrations by Dave Phillips.

Meanwhile, read the first two chapters here, free!

Related posts:

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By: agavin
Comments (7)
Posted in: Untimed
Tagged as: Andy Gavin, London, Philadelphia, Time travel, Untimed

Hedonists at Jitlada

Dec07

Restaurant: Jitlada [1, 2, 3, 4]

Location: 5233 W Sunset Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90027. (323) 663-3104

Date: December 4, 2012

Cuisine: Thai

Rating: Gut burning great

_

After a three week break, it’s time for the Hedonists to ride again. Actually, they rode several times without me, but who’s counting?

This time we venture out to Jitlada, an outrageously authentic Southern Thai place deep in Thai-town. The joint gets 27 in Zagat! It’s run by Jazz Singsanong with Chef Tui in the kitchen. The menu can be found here.

You know it’s real because they don’t skimp on either the chilies OR the fish sauce.


Parker 94, “The 2002 Chardonnay Martinelli Road Vineyard has a striking minerality with notes of gravel and hot rocks, a steely backbone, huge body, leesy flavors with good acidity, tremendous ripeness, and a singular terroir character. If California were making a Meursault-Perrieres, this might be an example of that style of site-specific wine.”

By most people’s taste this wine was over-the-hill. I personally, didn’t mind it, but I’m used to drinking old white Burgundy’s. It had mellowed into a caramel-coconut kind of vibe.


Much younger and full of crisp acidity. Parker 94+ “Cool, inward and impeccably layered from start to finish, the 2010 Chablis Montee de Tonnerre impresses for its fabulous sense of balance and poise. Slate, crushed rocks, lime and white flowers are woven together in a fabric of unusual class and elegance. All the elements fuse together impeccably here. This is a gorgeous Chablis, but it will require patience. Today the 2010 is quite reticent, but the pedigree is evident.”

Coco Mango Salad. Green mangoes with fresh shrimp, and dry shredded coconut topped with cashews. Yummy, a bit of sweetness, and a coconut flavor that went very well with the older Chardonnay.

A very nice Kabinett with citrus notes and a good bit of richness and complexity.

As we begin a flight of three Rieslings it’s worth mentioning the red/write debate. About half our compatriots aren’t really white wine fans, and prefer to move on to reds. I myself like a harmonious wine/food pairing and find that reds, particularly big reds, clash badly with Asian food. Spicy Thai is even more extreme, as sweeter Riesling is a tremendous pairing to counter the bracing heat. I’ve noticed that those of us who prefer the soft mouth feel grapes (Pinot, Nebbiolo) over the much brazen grapes (Cabernet, Merlot) fall on my side of the divide.


Crispy Papaya Salad. Deep fried peppers, served with tomatoes, green beans, ground peanuts, and our house spicy lime juice sauce with added fresh shrimp. Also very sweet – and delicious.


The aromatically expressive 2000 Riesling bursts with spicy pears. This oily-textured, medium-bodied wine is feminine, refined, and has outstanding balance. It is armed with great depth. This apricot and apple-flavored wine has a long, pure finish.


Mussel soup. Very tasty broth (and mussels). An initial lack of bowls put a slight crimp in the experience :-).


Parker 90-92, “The Burgundian 2003 Pinot Noir Kistler Vineyard shows a low pH style with high acidity, crisp, red currant, cranberry notes with a hint of rose petal and strawberry. It is Burgundian, medium-bodied, pure, and impressive.”

This pinot went as well with the Thai as any red does, at least until the heavy spice kicked in. I enjoyed it, as it could have passed for a half-decent premier cru Burg, which is rare of new world Pinots. They just don’t do it for me, usually being pale shadows of their Burgundian fellows.


Honey duck. This was pretty awesome, and we should have ordered more. The skin was crispy and sweet, the meat succulent.


Parker 2009, “The 2009 Pinot Noir Pastorale Vineyard is all about focus and length. The Pastorale doesn’t quite have the richness of the Quarter Moon, nor the suppleness of the straight Pinot, but it nevertheless impresses for its fabulous overall balance. Bright acidity provides a lively counter to the wine’s highly expressive dark cherries, plums, licorice, mint, tar and sweet herbs.”


Three Flavored Fish. Whole fried seabass flavored with spicy, sweet and lime sauce. This was darn yummy, sweet and spicy both (you can see all those Thai chilies resting on top).


Just so you can get a look at the size. We killed two of these babies!


From my cellar: Parker 96, “The 2000 Riesling Rangen de Thann Clos St.-Urbain reveals awesome aromatic depth to its botrytis, apricot, mineral, and quince-scented nose. This medium to full-bodied wine is hugely concentrated, densely packed with smoke-infused white fruits, and has exceptional balance. A profound effort, it is complex and displays an awe-inspiring finish.”

Now this is a Riesling (and perfect with the spicy dishes). It would have been nice to have an ice bucket!


Jungle curry. Exotic thai curry with god knows what in it. This stuff was HOT and pretty fabulous.


Parker 90, “This outstanding Syrah is realistically priced given its impeccably high quality and character. The opaque ruby/purple-colored 2001 Syrah Napa exhibits a big, full-bodied, smoky bouquet of roasted meats, licorice, black currants, and pepper. Supple-textured and layered, with well-integrated toasty oak in addition to a rich, spicy, concentrated finish, this powerful (15.1% alcohol) red is both voluptuous and silky.”


Spicy chicken. Turmeric-seasoned chicken. Wow was this hot. It had a really great flavor too, but made one reach for the rice, and more rice, and sweet wine, and start wiping the sweat off the top of one’s head!


Parker 95, “An explosion of blueberry liqueur, black raspberries, and exotic floral scents soars from the glass of the spectacular inky/purple-colored 2002 Syrah Alder Springs Vineyard, a vineyard that is proving to be a tremendous source for many different varietals. Although this cuvee possesses 14.9% alcohol, it is well-concealed by the wine’s full body, awesome richness, great purity, and tremendous sense of fruit as well as place. There is a remarkable vigor and intensity, yet it does not taste over the top or heavy.”


Dungeness Crab in Curry Sauce. Crab meat, shrimp & peas sauteed in a red curry paste. This wasn’t AS hot. It was a little hard to get at the succulent grab meat, but the curry was explosively good too. Compare to the Singaporean classic.


Parker 95+, “The 2004 Syrah Piggott Range (from 40-year-old vines) requires 3-4 years of cellaring. This is a powerful, intense Syrah meant for true connoisseurs who have cold cellars as well as enough patience to wait it out. A perfume of crushed rocks, acacia flowers, blackberries, roasted coffee, pepper, spice, bacon fat, and a subtle touch of eucalyptus is followed by a deep, rich, full-bodied wine.”

These are great Syrah’s but the heat of the food swamps them out.


Lamb Curry. Tender lamb in a mild curry with potatoes and carrots. Really yummy. Really yummy.


Dynamite beef. Oh boy, too bad I was “wafer thin mint” full when this came out. In serious physical pain from all the chillies and the amount of food I’d had. This stuff was like pure red pepper beef. Look at all those pepper seeds!


Cool crabs!


Wash down the dynamite with a big swig of sweet wine!


This 2001 Tokaji Aszu (Hungarian dessert wine made in the style of Sauternes) was a great finish. This wine was really drinking nicely.


Papaya fried rice. The owner whipped this up to try and cool us off. It was a sweet carby mixture.


Mango sticky rice with coconut ice cream. Awesome dessert, even though I was so full, I shoved three helpings down the gullet. This was as good a sticky rice as I’ve had.

Jitlada was hands down the best Thai I’ve had in LA. The menu is enormous and full of goodies. All the flavors are great, the meats succulent, and boy is it hot. You could order sweet, or you could order hot, or both. I’ve had hotter food (I’m thinking of a certain Szechuan restaurant in China), but you certainly don’t WANT it hotter than this. And I’m a guy that puts Haberneos in my guacamole.

One of our number summed up the evening as “eating like Pharaohs,” which is about right. Just way way too much food, and no small dose of other good stuff.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Or for more crazy Foodie Club meals.

Penny from Lotus of Siam on the left, Yarom in the center, and Jazz (Jitlada’s owner) on the right

Related posts:

  1. Hedonists Boil Up Some Crab
  2. Hedonists at Dahab
  3. Hedonists at La Paella
  4. Hedonists at STK
  5. Totoraku – Hedonists Beef Up
By: agavin
Comments (4)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: curry, hedonists, Jitlada, Pinot noir, Riesling, Thai, Wine

Losing It

Dec05

Title: Losing It

Author: Cora Carmack

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Read: November 21, 2012

Summary: Great voice, fun, but slightly trite, romp

 

This novel is an indie publishing effort, released just last month, that has shot up the charts. It’s a debut, and the author has no previous platform, so this means its success is based on its own merits — or blind luck. Let’s look closer.

As of this writing, the book is #143 in the Kindle list and #36 in Kindle Contemporary Romance, as best as I can tell, this translates to between 500-1000 copies a day. It’s $3.99 and there is no paper edition. This is really good, and as a side note, reminds me that Romance is hot hot hot as there are 67 OTHER Romances doing better on the Kindle list. Wow! That’s half the top books.

As to Losing It, the novel is without a doubt, totally “publishable” by New York standards. There is nothing particularly amateur about the writing. The cover is decent and the title — even if used by several previous novels — catchy. There are a few typos, particularly omitted trailing double-qoutes from dialog (and no, this is not a case of long dialog that flows from paragraph to paragraph where obscure typographic rules permit an elided middle quote). There is a minor amount of overwriting, but plenty of New York books are guilty of this too.

The story chronicles a female acting student’s final semester at college and her halfhearted efforts to lose her virginity and confused efforts to woo one of her professors (a popular theme lately, as I’ve seen it in Pretty Little Liars and Life Unexpected too).

Fundamentally it’s a fun book with great voice and an adorable protagonist. I read it in one sitting, which is always a good sign. The first 70% was first rate fun. There’s nothing super revolutionary here, and romances, or even books without fantastical elements aren’t my thing, but the protagonist was endearing enough to trump all that. Things moved in a fairly breakneck way and the characters felt defined and real. I enjoyed the final act of the book  a bit less. It wasn’t bad, but it was highly predictable and a little underwelming. For my taste, the whole thing was a bit of a sexual tease. It felt steamy, or at least seemed to promise steamy, but never delivered any real smut.

I can’t say I understand exactly why the book went viral, but it is a well written and enjoyable romance, well worth a read, and far, far above most of the dreck I try to wade through.

For more book reviews, click here.

Related posts:

  1. Tempest
  2. Book Review: Switched
  3. Book Review: Lost It
  4. Kindle Select – The Results
  5. Dreaming Along
By: agavin
Comments (2)
Posted in: Books
Tagged as: Book Review, Cora Carmack, Losing It, romance

Friday Night Lights

Dec03

As part of the annual ThanksGavin celebration it’s traditional for cousin Abbe to cook and host the Friday night dinner. This year she joined forces with girlfriend Jody to whip up this feast.


Our cholesterol unfriendly tradition requires cheese, so here it is, along with some quince spread.

And what would cheese be without wine?

When I arrived, my dad had already opened this wine. It’s not my usual snob fare, but it was very enjoyable.

The 2006 MEANDRO DO VALE MEAO is a pretty nice second wine in this difficult vintage. One reason may be that a lot of declassified juice that would’ve have gone into the grand vin was used for this bottling. On first taste, this seems exceptional, elegant in weight, yet mouth filling and delicious. As with most 2006s, the proof is in the pudding, or rather the aeration. That first taste is not a reliable indicator in this vintage with most wines. After it airs out, it shows more hollowness than seemed initially apparent in the mid-palate and a shorter finish. It doesn’t have the penetration and power of its predecessor, the fine 2005, either. All that said, it tastes awfully good, will be approachable immediately and it is very reasonably priced.

Then from my cellar, reversing the appropriate order, I opened this mature Burgundy.

Ampeau holds their small batch wines in their cellar until they’re “Ready” for release — a la Rioja but by the subjective decision of Ampeau themselves, rather than “DO regulations.”  Robert Ampeau and his son Michelle have never released a wine under 10 years of age, and their twenty-foot high cellar are chock full of un-labelled bottles of wine with chalk scrawling on their base to indicate the vineyard and the cintage.  The Pommard is beautifully aged on the nose with faded flowers and old furniture, mulberry spice and a husk of licorice on the palate with a pine needle and cinammon finish, succulent, and chewy and desipits its tertiarity very young and fresh tasting (think Lopez de Heredia but Pommard!).


A pretty mix of olives and hummus.

This is one of the benefits of my “Italian Mastery” certification, unusual Italians like this! I love me a good Nebbiolo.

Parker 92, “The 2008 Carema Etichetta Bianca wafts from the glass with sweet dried cherries, tobacco, sweet herbs and crushed flowers. A mid-weight, delicate wine, the 2008 is quite typical of these hillside vineyards. In 2008 the acidity is a bit on the high side, which readers should keep in mind when considering food pairings. This is a gorgeous wine from Ferrando.”

Luigi is the man bottling Carema DOC underneath Mont Blanc straddling the border between the Vallee D’Aoste and the Piedmont.  Nebbiolo from Carema strikes the balance between the more Alpinous highland reds and the longevity of Barbaresco and Barolo.  For over 35 years this wine has been a benchmark of their portfolio, surviving the coming and going of Billecart Salmon (no one heard of them until Neal brought them here!), Castell’in Villa, and all the new growers from the North I offered you guys from that Wednesday luncheon tasting which was phenomenal.  I’m giving you this background simply to say that the gold standard for Neal’s palate was, from the very beginning, formed by these wines.


The savory spread this year.


From my cellar: Parker 95, “Between 1978 and 2007, this 1998 is the greatest Vieux Telegraphe that was produced. It has taken a good decade for this wine to shed its tannins and come out of a dormant, closed period. It has finally emerged, and notes of iodine, seaweed, black currants, incense, and sweet cherries as well as hot rocks jump from the glass of this full-bodied, powerful wine. It possesses considerable elegance and purity, along with loads of raspberries and incense, in a round, juicy, rich style that is just emerging from the closet. The wine is still youthful and a pre-adolescent in terms of its ultimate evolution. Approachable now, it will continue to evolve for another 15-20 years. Bravo!”


Herb encrusted salmon.


Yougurt sauce with dill, cucumbers, and pomegranates.


Another contribution from my dad, the reliable but rustic zone of Gigondas is found on the slopes of Mont Ventoux not far from Avignon. The solidly made 2006 Gigondas Romane Machotte is somewhat rustic, with more noticeable structure and tannin. It does not possess the depth of fruit found in its three siblings, but it is a cleanly made, spicy, firm, structured effort.


Cous cous with veggies.


Asparagus, for funky pee.


Spiced meatballs, which intended or not, went well with the yogurt.


Bread.


And for dessert, this cake my mom made.

And a scrumptuous chocolate chip bread pudding. The only thing it was missing was the Crème anglaise.


Abbe and Jody also made Snicker Doodles.

Overall, another great evening, can anyone say “wafer thin mint!”

For more ThanksGavin meals, click here.

Peculiar terra cotta statuette my cousin Doug brought back from Brazil

Related posts:

  1. Friday Night Heights – Shabbat Dinner
  2. Tomato Night at Il Grano
  3. ThanksGavin 2012
  4. Thanksgiving Proper
  5. Peace in the Middle East? – Mezze
By: agavin
Comments (1)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Dessert, Nebbiolo, Pommard, ThanksGavin, Wine, Wine tasting descriptors

Game Shop Crash

Dec02

Game Shop is a cute little episodic SitCom that takes place in a mall video game store. Episode six below is all about none other than Crash Bandicoot!

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQljh1wY5SM]

The production even invited me to cameo as the guy talking about Crash at the end, but alas, I was out of town for the holidays. /cry

If you liked this post, follow me at:

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Latest hot post: War Stories: Crash Bandicoot

Related posts:

  1. Crash Launch Commercials
  2. Game of Thrones – Iceland
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  4. Crash Bandicoot Fan Film
  5. Game of Thrones – Renly’s Armor
By: agavin
Comments (5)
Posted in: Games
Tagged as: Crash Bandicoot, Game Shop, SitCom
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