Month: August 2008

A while back, I wrote about a cache of very old and mysterious letters and photographs that I found in a crawlspace in my apartment (I live in the Haight, in a house that pre-dates and somehow survived the San Francisco earthquake.) I took another look in the crawlspace this weekend, and found dozens of items that are even older and stranger than the first batch. I found a 70-year-old letter from Camp Curry, Yosemite, begging the recipient for cash and urging a response about an undescribed “serious matter.” I also found a vaguely menacing letter, urging the recipient to march in a parade scheduled for Labor Day, 1926. “Remember,” the letter reads. “You will be conspicuous by your absence!” I also found a King of Hearts playing card from the turn of the century, an identification card dated Dec. 31, 1937, an advance advertisement for Steinbeck’s Cannery Row, and…

As of Aug. 2 (Saturday) you will be able to download a podcast of my talk with Evan Kleiman about trail food on KCRW. This week’s program also talks about cupcake fetishes, food allergies, natural wines, chicken curry and more. http://cactuseaters.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default