Category Archives: Uncategorized

(Community Matters) Recipes from the American Academy in Rome, chef Mona Talbott revered for the simplicity & authenticity of her twice daily meals. I’ve been lucky enough to enjoy Ms Talbott’s meals a hand full of times over the last couple of years.

I’m uncertain as to the level of collaboration with Alice Waters but know there is one.  “The fifty recipes draw from the four traditional categories of Italian soups: those made with water (aqua cotta), with stock (brodo), with cream (veloute), and soups for the evening meal. The recipes are arranged by seasons.”

(Community Matters) Who is this man who’s recently contributed $10 million in support of Newt Gingrich’s presidential race? NY Times

(Community Matters) I hadn’t heard of David Lennon until commenting on the FB site of my friend, Russ Gregory. We were commenting on the Kirkus review of his new book, Blue – I think it’s a well deserved, good review by the way. Russ’ first novel is outstanding – complexity of plot & characters. I hope it become a series.

anyhow . . . David mentioned getting through the reviews of his first book. I looked him up and realized, noticing that his second book, Echoes, won the 2011 Lambda Literary Award for Best Gay Mystery. Since last week I’ve read 1) The Quarter Boys, 2) Echoes, 3) Second Chance, 4) The Blues Bayou, and I’m looking forward to the Reckoning, being released this April or May. His main character happens to be gay – & of course, I love supporting gay artists.  And, more than that – you can really follow the development of David’s writing style and character development. I especially like his author notes through which readers get a peek into the tent. It’s a bonus that the the first three stories take place in New Orleans (the fourth near Baton Rouge). In the 80s I spent a lot of time in that city and loved it. I’m eager to reacquaint myself and introduce it to Steven.

During Dec I launched into the Vince Flynn’s Mitch Rapp Series. Just found out there are four of eleven I haven’t read and another comes out next week. I’m eager to get back to autobiographies but am enjoying fantasy land.

(Community Matters) received a blast email from Emmet & Lisa Fox (FINO & Asti) about a FINO cook who was evidently randomly attacked downtown. Scott will need rehabilitation and therapy. The restaurant is continuing his pay even while he’s recovering and they sent an email out to customers asking for contributions to help Scott pay medical costs. Heartened to see they’ve already collected over $14k.  More information below the jump

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(Community Matters) what the hell – why not both?  just kidding. Great evening with our dear friends Carla & Jack McDonald at Fonda San Miguel’s last night. I think we literally ate and drank for 4 hours.

Exquisite evening – goes without saying we would have a super evening with these two anywhere, and Fonda is just so over-the-top fantastic. First evening Brad has ever been our waiter – omg, he’s fantastic – a literature teacher at the fine arts academy and a food & wine expert. Loved, loved, loved the Moroccan meritage, though I don’t remember its name but it was great, served a bit chilled and was only $44/bottle.

(Community Matters) Met w/ David Sandal yesterday; we’re co-located at the Center 61 space. David’s a ee, former navy flight pilot, Applied Materials manager turned social entrepreneur, or as he like to call it, someone launching a “for benefit” company – Give As You Get.

David’s reached agreements with heaps of online merchants – they’ll contribute a percentage of your dollars spent (mostly 1% to 5%) to anyone of the nonprofits you select.  Merchants include: Amazon, 1-800-Flowers, Barnes & Noble, Cabela’s, Cooking.com, Expedia, iTunes, Kmart, Office Depot, Petsmart, Petco, Sears, The Container Store, Wine.com – full list here

of course I asked if I could still use one click & our prime account with Amazon – the answer is yes. Not sure why I wouldn’t shop at these online stores through the site – I’m hoping David will add OutYouth as one of the beneficiary organizations.

(Community Matters) Police believe they solved the crime – the murder and suicide were both just blocks from our neighborhood

(Community Matters) Pondering the significance of this Politico posting:

“Davos elite confronts crisis of Western capitalism,” by AFP’s Dave Clark: “Leaders of the global business elite were confronted on Wednesday with the fear that the Western model of capitalism has failed and is about to be shoved aside by emerging powers. Over four decades, the annual World Economic Forum in the Swiss ski resort of Davos has become an emblem of the triumphant market but this year delegates admitted that state capitalism on the Chinese model is in the ascendant. … Four days of public debate and private networking kicked off with a stark warning from a panel of experts that the historic motors of the 20th century global economy will have to reform or die.”

(Community Matters) Have spent a fair amount of time this week reviewing investments performance and imagining the outlook for 2012. Lunch with my friend Eric Price (Price Wealth Management) yesterday where we discussed 2011 relative to 2008 and then more normal years of market performance. Emails yesterday with another investment-smart friend who told me to buy more Apple stock last fall – of course I didn’t but he told me yesterday I still should – and I will.

2011 was a very strange year. The risk of Europe unraveling threatened everyone and everything.

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(Community Matters) Senator Kirk Watson has organized a committee to coordinate the expansion of medical services, education and research in Central Texas. This afternoon, a group of us who have been discussing the quality and comprehensiveness of cancer care in Central Texas agreed to serve as the working group studying and recommending on oncology.

Our first order of business (which we were prepared to do last year but held off until understanding more about the Senator’s initiative) is an environmental assessment.We know there are good assets already here. We don’t know if they are configured optimally nor if we have all that would ensure comprehensive cancer care for Central Texans.

Good overview from Kirk about the initiative. I hadn’t realized how significant a problem we already have re: too few physicians – about 600 fewer than we need to serve the amount of people already here (ie., about 15% fewer than the 3,600 estimated already operating here). This problem will escalate as more people have access to primary care through health care reform.

(Community Matters) Wall Street Journal – Hill Top Views in Austin

(Community Matters)  In a 2010 Pew survey: roughly a third of Americans get their news online, another third from radio and slightly less from daily newspapers. Online jumps to 44% when cell phones, email, social networks and podcasts are added in. Radio and tv have declined precipitously since 1991 (when they accounted for 54% and 56%, respectively). Three quarters of Americans followed the news. Rather than replacing sources, Americans have integrated. More than half of those in their 30s rely on digital platforms for their news.

For some news audiences, such as regular NPR listeners, no single reason [ *]stands out as to why people watch, read or listen: 28% of regular NPR listeners cite several, or all, of the reasons listed, while nearly as many say they listen for the latest news (21%) or for in-depth reporting (20%).

* latest headlines, in-depth news, views & opinions, entertainment, mixed and all

When it comes to radio, Democrats (14%) and independents (14%) are more likely than Republicans (6%) to say they regularly listen to NPR. Nearly a quarter of liberal Democrats (23%) regularly get news from NPR, compared with 10% of conservative and moderate Democrats, 8% of moderate and liberal Republicans and 6% of conservative Republicans. [ the big news here is that 6% of Rs regularly listen to NPR – as opposed to only 14% of Ds and 14% of Independents – thus, Rs are a big demographic of NPR listeners]

Sources: Pew Research Center