griff.works

March 15, 2026

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Made the Green curry from The Hog Island Book of Fish & Seafood.(p. 196) last night, substituting the Black Cod w/ wild-caught (Chesapeake-invasive) Blue Catfish. Cod is an odd choice for such a ‘Thai’ recipe. Occurred to me while cooking that catfish are far more emblematic of Southeast Asia.

Woke up this morning and continued working on a pair of Bread Bible-inspired and over-hydrated sourdough loaves. Two new variables this week: The starter had been going cold and slow (between 48 and 54’F) since mid-week to develop more lactic acid; also, tried to experiment w/ a ‘sponge’ preferment, but the dough ended up a fair bit slacker that I’d have liked. Decent oven spring gave the bread a fair shape, but we will see how sour it tastes tomorrow morning after the bread has cured overnight.

[Bread was fine. more sour notes; – on the right track. Main area for improvement: consider adding flour near end of bulk fermentation if dough remains slack.]

(memorializing: 40% of the flour and starter to 100% of the water was combined Saturday @~noon -ish followed by 90 miinutes at room temp, and then into the fridge. Sunday morning (18-ish hours later) mixed in the remaining flour and sourdough starter, then the salt and then begin bulk-fermentation @ room temp. A lower hydration or different flour is needed in the future, and I suspect that 100% of the flour into 40% of the water would work far better as a pre-ferment).

Also made these Apple Cider Doughnuts for the first time this morning. Eating them while warm is a wasted move; once they fully cure though they’re quite amazing.

“Les beignets au cidre est un plat qui se mange froid”

50 tomato plants were started this week: Aunt Lou’s Underground Railroad, Mountaineer Delight, and a cherry tomato named ‘Everglades.’ SEEB started a 50-plant flat this week but not sure what’s in it. We should have enough seedlings to put in the ground by the time last-frost arrives (or doesn’t). Still have more seedling trays that can be filled. Still need to pull up more sod. We expanded about 40ft²of vegetable garden plot this week (on Monday). Rain gardens are topic of discussion – probably two in the back yard are in store,. Need to look at sheds still. Need to make a level platform for the recycling/garbage cans still.

Daffodils are blooming. There are buds forming on many of our trees and shrubs Rain is in store next couple of days and a few sub freezing nights are forecasted as well.

currently reading: The Food Lab : Better Home Cooking Through Science, J Kenji Lopez-Alt

last listen: Mer de Revs by How to Disappear Completely (2018) and Fables of the Reconstruction by R.E.M.(1985)

currently watching: The Bear, Season 4 (2022)

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February 22, 2026

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Made two boules today. 13 hours, start to finish. I’ve been under-proofing sourdoughs consistently of late and judged the bulk-fermentation solely on rise today– probably for the first time. It took 7 hours to get to a solid 50+% rise in the bulk stage despite the house being ~70’F. No over-proofing took place though and they had great structure, and solid spring. Best ears I’ve seen on a loaf of mine since California and the dough had all the integrity you want as it was moved from basket to oven.

Watch the rise; not the clock.

(the morning after)

Started 40 Broccoli plants today (Nutri-bud, & Waltham 29s) and 20 Morden Miniature Eggplants. One day there will be jars of makdous that all started as seeds on February 22nd. Set up 2 window sill seed trays with 40 more cells for next steps.. .

last listens: Rant and Rave with the Stray Cats by The Stray Cats (1983), Abattoir Blues/The Lyre of Orpheus by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds (2004), No More Shall We Part by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds (2001), Abbey Road by the Beatles (1969), Break Stuff by the Vijay Iyer Trio (2015)

Last Watched: The Bear, Season 1 (FX)

Currently reading: books on garden design, books on cooking.

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February 22, 2026

Wegmarke

Unimpressed at he Kensington ‘Farmers Market’ today. Found one decent purveyor (King Mushroom) with the remaining 15? merchants selling overpriced, inventory. The dude at the Great Harvest table tried to sell me what appeared to be a questionably competent sourdough (mis-shapen, relatively flat, soft-crusted and sweating inside a plastic bag) for $12. I would very much like to find a farmer’s market worth its name.

Re-visited Beef Bolognese last night. 80% lean/20% fat ground beef made it far better than the version attempted with Impossible (Beyond?) a few weeks ago .This dish reveals the current limitations of fake meat. Additions tonight: garlic, bacon grease. Substitutions: whole milk instead of cream. Notes for next time: no matter how perfect the sauce is throughout the process, once you dump in a pound of rigatoni and cup of heavy cream at the very end, you’re back in blandsville. Adjust (the timing of) the tasting, accordingly. Also, take 2 minutes off ‘Al dente’ next time and finish cooking the pasta in the simmering sauce.

“…respond creatively to what is in front of you.”

-James Hitchmough, presumably speaking of garden problems

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February 10, 2026

Wegmarke

New (One Pot) recipe, cooked: Mushroom Bourguignon

NOTES: Total time was closer to 2.5 hours w/ Fair bit of prep for the mise en place. In retrospect, only the pearl onions (and dehydrated mushrooms if using any) need to be prepared in advance.. Let the mushrooms sit still in the pot so that they get a nice char/texture — use that time to dice the leeks and slice the carrots & garlic. 6 or 7 types of mushrooms used tonight, but the re-hydrated morels ended up browning the best, by far. ‘Bourguignon is basically a stew that does double-duty as gravy, and next time try to make it runnier & take advantage of that ‘gravy’ component. It should be able to just travel the plate… not sit entirely still where placed. I served it over well-seasoned mashed potatoes (w/ skins) tonight; Opt for polenta or porridge next time with minimal seasoning… let the Bourguignon bring the flavor. Also, try something other than a merlot for the wine component and make a really flavorful broth. Store bought broth will have a hard time cutting its way into the dish against the wine.

also: not really a weeknight kind of meal…

currently reading: The Score by C.Thi Nguyen

last listen: Trilogy 3 (Live) by Chick Corea, Christian McBride & Brian Blade (2025)

last saw: Dune, Part II (2024)

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February 9, 2026

Dai sanji 大惨事. (Catastrophe)

On January 19th, a sewage main broke near the C&O Canal near Lock 10 and began discharging raw sewage into the Potomac River. In the first 10 days of the line break, over 300 million gallons of sewage poured into the Potomac River.

For reference, this is a volume greater than the entire Tidal Basin can hold.

Dangerous levels of E.Coli, Staph and MRSA are being recorded as far south as the Georgetown Waterfront as of January 28th, and public safety authorities are advising against any contact with the river at this point — as far south as Prince George’s County as I understand it.

Lock 10 is my home water. I have spent the last two years wading and fishing literally every inch of water from well below Lock 8 to well above Lock 10, including Wade Island, Swainson’s Island, and all the other islands that can be reached from the Maryland shore depending on water level. It is was home to painted turtles, alligator snapping turtles, bluebirds, kites, swallows, egrets, herons, deer — swimming out to the islands — so many different species of sunfish, walleye, native white catfish, invasive blue catfish, smallmouth bass, pike, snakehead, various sculpin species — including the Potomac Sculpin, which can change the. color of its skin like a chameleon to match the rocks or sand in its environment — crayfish, muskrats, agkistrodon species, carp, and at least one black bear — among others,

As I write this, 21 days after the sewage line break, DC is routing the spill into the C&O Canal — literally creating a river of shit — and then sucking it back up into a different line downstream.

This is what progress looks like.

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January 12, 2026

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simply noting: I am at the point where I have to check the authenticity of videos as milquetoast as this (when they show up in my Instagram feed as this one did for example) to trust that they are not DeepFakes/AI disinformation thrown into the digital ecosystem.

I began a sourdough starter last weekend and ended up makiing a pair of sourdough loaves this weekend – the first ones I believe I’ve made since leaving California. They came out better than I expected for having such young starter and having been out of the game so long. Breakfast this morning was smashed avocados on toasted sourdough, and it was on point.

most recent podcast: The Ezra Klein Show: Venezuela, Renee Good and Trump’s ‘Assault on Hope’ (with Masha Gessen)

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January 11, 2026

Sankō (参考)

UME Planting Calendar_EN_v4.0 Download

currently reading: Landscape with Landscape, and Parable of the Sower

last finished: Dead and Alive by Zadie Smith (Audiobook – read by Zadie Smith)

last listen: Seventeen Seconds (Deluxe Edition) by the Cure (1980)

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January 10, 2026

Wegmarke

New (One Pot) recipe, cooked: (Vegan) Cheesy Baked Pasta w Sausage and Ricotta

Substitutions: Kite Hill Ricotta, PlantAhead Mozarella, and VioLife Just Like Parmesan Wedge and Beyond Sausage Breakfast patties (crumbled).

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January 8, 2026

Actualités

Six days ago, the President of the US used the US military to abduct the President of Venezuela and his wife, and killed many Venezuelans in the process. I do not know the number. A day later in a press conference, he said that the staff members who were also on stage would just “run Venezuela” for the foreseeable future.

It should be noted that this is fucking crazy.

Yesterday, Immigration and Customs Enforcement personnel shot a woman three times as she was driving away from them, after having intentionally blocked the road and causing them some delay. Administration officials, including the President, immediately started spinning the shooting as an act of self-defense despite no shortage of footage taken from multiple angles by civilians that show otherwise.

The Washington Post says: “An analysis of video footage raises questions about claims by President Donald Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi L. Noem about the fatal shooting in Minneapolis.“

Raises questions does a lot of wok there and to no good end.

Tokyo Weekender is an online journal I found in the last week or so. Their article on Oosoji fascinated me. SEEB was doing a fair bit of Oosoji at the turn of the new year — and the new year’s period has always been more interesting/important to me than the week of Christmas. It seemed useful to contemplate similar impulses from different cultures.

Last listen: Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat) by Kassa Overall

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December 31, 2025

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```
Meta only shows its users' online friends 17% of the time on Facebook -- and only 7% of the time for Instagram. The majority of time is spent serving viewers "unconnected" short-form videos "recommended by AI-powered algorithms Meta developed as a direct competitive response to TikTok's rise, which stalled Meta's growth."

source: Meta's lawyers in
FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION v. META PLATFORMS, INC. 
```
cool readings:

“…what rough beast, its hour come round at last”.

“The transition from bound volume to infinite scroll represents more than a shift in medium—it fundamentally alters our sensory and cognitive relationship with knowledge itself.”

In praise of Photo Booths: “I have thousands of photographs on my phone snapped without much consideration for form or composition and I rarely look at them. But a strip photo is proof of something, it’s tangible and real. And importantly, these tiny squares don’t tell the whole picture of whatever is happening because there is no background. They aren’t an attempt at capturing an event like other photos are. These are something simpler, a reminder of a mood, a feeling, a connection between us and the people we care about.”

last listen: Silenced: Shostakovich, Bosmans, Gergely Madaras, Hyeyoon Park, WDR Sinfonieorchester (2025)

last saw: Sinners (2025)
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