Me and Jeff and Shawn Geoff O’Keeffe On Friday, April 14, 2000, I was attending a Goldman Sachs conference in Las Vegas at, if I recall, Paris, Paris. The other tacky theme hotels must have been booked. The topic of the conference was multi-channel retail, being the strategy for a big retailer to have a … [read more]
Humor
Biscuits and Gravy
My first attempt at Edna Lewis’s biscuit recipe. Biscuits and Gravy -Geoff O’Keeffe The premise of this review is that I regard biscuits and gravy as an indicator dish for the overall quality of a good American breakfast joint, much like the role chiles rellenos plays on a Mexican menu, or Quiche Lorraine in a … [read more]
Hamburger Creed
I’m no gourmet. I grew up on fish sticks for Friday dinners, waffles, pan-fried chicken, creamed peas and potpies. I understand a little about good cuisine, but like with wine, where I am very clear what I prefer but know little about it, I am hopeless when it comes to having the encyclopedic knowledge of … [read more]
TSWB by Bob Woodward
Woody at Sierra Designs’ second location, Fourth and Addison,Berkeley, early ’70’s. Almost everyone in my old Berkeley neighborhood had a nickname. There was “Walking Wally” who dressed daily in a safari outfit (complete with pith helmet) and walked a huge Old English Sheep dog all over town for hours on end. His housemate, Eddie, also … [read more]
In the Eye of the Beholder
I am reminded of that financial planning tv commercial with Dennis Hopper, admonishing boomers, “You gotta have a plan, man!” Indeed. Plans are a good idea. Just so I don’t hitch my emotional wagon to them. They are liable to change. Thursday morning I had ambitious plans, but they were not to be. On a … [read more]
Opening Day, 2017
Happy Opening Day! Ahh, baseball. Maddening to the uninitiated, like watching Bergman’s Seventh Seal. To the cognoscenti, a beautifully out-of-square cipher, as Carlin told us, with an arrhythmic cadence, arcane rules, ancient grudges and secret histories. I don’t care what a linebacker’s glove smells like, but a catcher’s mitt? Yes. Which toxic tube snack is … [read more]