These are things I've heard in my hometown, Berkeley!

Girls: are you happier now?

UPDATE: No, you are not! 

December 16—Happy Birthday My Dear Ludwig van Beethoven.

I do not have anything to say about Beethoven, the man who freed music, that has not already been said.

I did discover a very interesting site while looking for an image for this post.

Beethoven's Hair

I was introduced to Beethoven in my early twenties by two newspapermen, Ed Frisbie and Fran Ortiz, both of whom worked at the SF Examiner where I was a copyboy. We would sit around the M&M Tavern at 5th & Howard and talk about the late quartets, the Grosse Fugue ... and I would try to soak it up and I'd go buy pieces they recommended ... and I'd listen to them when I tired of Bowie, Roxy Music, and Captain Beefheart.

I am forever grateful to the two of them.

Fran was a great news photographer whose works - four pieces as a matter of fact - were chosen by the New York Museum of Modern Art for their retrospective of twentienth century photojournalistic excellence. He was a gentleman, a kind man, a great cook, and quite the ladies man: he gave me a lamb recipe for the first time I had a woman over for a serious dinner date. It worked. 

But this is not really a story about Fran, or Beethoven, but about Ed Frisbee, one of the most serious drinkers and most entertaining story-tellers I knew in my early life. It was another era. I had a lot to learn about booze.

Sweet fluffy lambs.

On a recent post celebrating Beethoven's birthday, I mentioned a lamb recipe for the bachelor who wants to impress a woman with his prowess in the kitchen. As we know, skill in the kitchen implies a heightened respect and knowledge of les Plaisirs d'Amour. D'accord.

One of our readers requested the recipe. I am including two recipes today. Neither are very demanding, but are delicious, nutritious, and shagalicious. Here is the first:

1. Determine if prospect eats meat and has sex on first date.
2. Get good lamb chops, about 1" thick.
3. Trim excess fat.
4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
5. Sprinkle dried tarragon generously on lambchops. Cover tarragon with coating of gourmet mustard - your choice, hot, sweet, whatever
6. Sprinkle italian seasoning on top of mustard.
7. Put lamb chops on roasting rack and into oven. Cook for 30 minutes. (Vary time according to thickness of chops)
8. Serve with brown rice and raisins. Spinach salad with avocado and tangerine slices and vinaigrette.

You will get lucky.

(Recipe #2 & story on the flip-fl0p)