Mick Taylor

 

Los Tacos

We have some good Mexican restaurants in Fallbrook, we always have. The late El Jardin and La Caseta had their loyal devotees. Some people love Estrellas, or Mariscos, our personal go to is Rosas, on the strength of their camerones de mojo de ajo and their excellent enchilada sauce. I just had menudo there yesterday.

I am not as big a fan of Las Brisas or Luna or El Parque but they are not terrible, just not my thing. El Parque is always out of something I want to order. I have been eating at Robertitos for ever and have to say that it is getting a little stale for me, everything tastes the same somehow. Still it can be awesome in a late night pinch and the carnitas burritos are excellent. El Toro has raised their prices on their burritos so high I rarely stop there anymore but I like Mohammed a lot.

I haven't done a deep dive on the food trucks or sidewalk joints in town, I confess. I worry about sanitation and the couple I did try were just okay.

So lets talk about local tacos. In my book, for chicken tacos you can't beat Rosas. They are exceptional. For rolled and fish, Robertitos. And that is the end of the story on Fallbrook tacos for me right now.

Because I want to talk to you about the place we now love in the city to the north, Temecula called Los Tacos. 

It is located in the Redhawk Center where Kohls is on 79. 

A very plain and nondescript place from the outside but absolute gold waits within.

Street taco heaven.

There you will get an exceptional taco, without peer in Fallbrook, in fact there is nothing even close.

Flavors are so good, they keep your taste buds happy for hours.

I stopped there the other day coming back from Tucson, had their choriqueso, carnitas and carne asada tacos, all under four dollars a piece.

They serve them with cilantro, lime and radish and some of the most heavenly sauces that you will ever find. 

The sauce on the very left of the setup is called the chilango, ostensibly a Mexico City blend. 

It is a piquant red that is so smoky and complex, one of the best I have ever tasted.

We stopped there this evening after a day of shopping, only gringos in the place. 

Leslie's first time, my fourth, she had a carne asada and a carnitas, then we split a quesobirria taco.

It was one of the very best I have tasted.

Perfect amount of cheese.

They had two green sauces, Leslie loved them both. 

Loved the red too.

There is a lot I still need to try on the menu. 

My friend Kirk told me was there earlier tonight and had a shrimp and garlic quesadilla.

I'm telling you Fallbrook, this place is a gem, check it out!

From the internet

 

I find this hilarious because I know the shop and the dealer in Palm Springs (and Texas) that this resembles and they are so dead on.

Has a throne in his shop in Texas.

More shrimp, Dennis.

Go Sixers

I was chirping to my buddies all morning about the sixers beating the celtics tonight. 

They did. 

Came back from a 3-1 deficit to win game 7, their first series win against their Eastern rivals since 1982. 

Joel Embiid, one of my favorite big men, had a monster night, thirty four points, twelve rebounds and six assists.

I like this team, especially with Paul George and Maxey heating up and think they will be dangerous and gain confidence after this win.

I hope that they can keep it going. Beat the Knicks.

rejoyce

 

Jefferson Airplane reinterpreted by the Tufts Electronic Music Ensemble, Paul Lehrman, director (and bass)

Meanwhile on Terra

 

I watched this video a few weeks ago and was pleased to see how the re-introduction of our largest land mammal to the great north was benefitting the eco system. I was taken aback by the realization that the initial killing and almost complete eradication of the bison herds was planned and executed to starve the Plains Indians out of existence.

Anyway this video reminded me of a video I posted a long while ago on trophic cascades, How wolves change rivers.

I saw another article today on a potential approaching El Nino, California's ocean is in crisis, by Sean Bothwell, which I am reprinting.

The marine ecosystem along Southern California’s coastline is in crisis. Sea surface temperatures are hitting record highs, rivaling the devastating marine heat wave known as “the Blob” that wreaked havoc on West Coast fisheries and ecosystems a decade ago.

Scientists from NOAA, Scripps Institution of Oceanography and University of California’s Agriculture and Natural Resources are warning that a developing El Niño could intensify conditions further. There are steps we can take that would relieve the pressure on these already stressed waters, and it’s past time for California lawmakers and regulators to act.

Last year, harmful algal blooms led to the illnesses and deaths of hundreds of sea lions, dolphins and seabirds off Southern California. Further north, Dungeness crab shells are dissolving in acidic waters. Fish populations and marine mammals are struggling to survive in growing oxygen-depleted zones that can stretch 50 miles from the coast. Warming ocean temperatures are accelerating all of it.

The critical factor contributing to this crisis within our control is nutrient pollution from wastewater discharges and agricultural runoff. Every day, California’s coastal wastewater treatment facilities discharge partially treated sewage into the ocean. When those nutrient-rich discharges meet warming oceans — waters already pushed to the edge by this record marine heatwave — they trigger harmful algal blooms that create toxic hot spots spanning more than 1,000 square miles of coastal waters. As bacteria break down these blooms, they consume oxygen and release carbon dioxide, driving the twin crises of hypoxia and ocean acidification.

The consequences to wildlife are severe. Available marine habitat compresses dramatically, leaving large swaths of ocean effectively uninhabitable. Tiny sea snails, oysters and baby crabs cannot form shells in acidic water. Anchovies and other forage fish suffocate in oxygen-depleted zones. Marine mammals and seabirds suffer neurological damage from algal toxins, leading to seizures and even death. Southern Californians have watched this play out on our own beaches. Harmful algal blooms have forced repeated closures of recreational shellfish harvesting from Malibu to San Diego, and the sea lion strandings that have become a grim fixture of local news are a direct consequence of these toxic conditions.

The stakes for California are economic as well as ecological. Our state’s coastal economy generates $44 billion annually and sustains thousands of jobs in fishing, tourism and recreation. The Dungeness crab fishery alone generates more than $60 million in good years. The sportfishing fleets out of San Pedro and San Diego, the shellfish growers, the beach towns whose entire identity depends on a healthy ocean — they are all at risk. Los Angeles County’s coastal tourism generates billions in annual revenue, and beach closures and marine die-offs erode coastal health and the reputation that draws visitors here.

By allowing ocean conditions to deteriorate, we are not just failing our marine wildlife. We are undermining an economic engine that supports families and communities the length of the state.

Climate change is driving the marine heatwave. That is a global problem without an easy fix. But nutrient pollution is a local problem with known solutions, and that is exactly where California lawmakers can act. In March 2025, the California Ocean Protection Council called on the State Water Resources Control Board to develop science-based water quality objectives for nutrient pollution. Such standards would establish clear, enforceable limits on what wastewater facilities can discharge into coastal waters. Advanced treatment technologies, which already exist, can remove more nutrients from wastewater before it reaches the ocean, significantly reducing the inputs that lead to toxic conditions.

What is needed now is the legislative will to prioritize this issue. Lawmakers must allocate funding for the State Water Board to develop and adopt an ocean acidification and hypoxia policy with clear, enforceable limits on nutrient discharges, with a firm deadline to complete that regulatory process by 2028. The deadline matters. Every year of delay is another year of untreated discharge flowing into waters already under historic thermal stress.

Future infrastructure bonds should include funding to help coastal wastewater facilities upgrade their treatment systems, investments that protect both the environment and the coastal economies that depend on it. California has 124 marine protected areas up and down our coastline. Those investments mean nothing if we keep fouling the waters around them.

The ocean is warmer than it has ever been, battered by forces we cannot fully control. But it is absorbing pollution we can control. The science is settled and the technology exists. The sea lions, the anchovies, the oysters and the pelicans are not waiting for the next legislative session. Neither should we.

Sean Bothwell is executive director of California Coastkeeper Alliance.

Many of my friends are dismissive of any attempts to right the damage we have done to the ecosystem, it is all in Jesus' hands of course. I have little faith and am quite cynical about our ability to course correct, clearly the money and ignorance is stacked against us.

Crimson King

 

Quick political stuff and other whatnot

• MIT Press reader - The whistleblower who uncovered the Big Brother machine.
• Borowitz Report - Don has learned nothing
• Texas Tribune - Talarico leads Cornyn and Paxton in Texas
• HuffPo - Ex-Trump Ally: MAGA Influencers Were Paid To Coordinate Talking Points After WHCD Shooting
• 
  
  
• Al Jazeera -Trump expands Red Snapper fishing while critics warn of overfishing.
• ProPublica - EPA to weaken more chemical regulations
• NPR - Court restricts abortion access across the US by blocking the mailing of mifepristone
• SFGate - Trump proposing massive cuts to National Park Service

Quick Roadie

I just did a very fast drive out to Tucson and back to buy a sculpture and a couple paintings and help an older fellow out with a seat of the pants appraisal.

Took three days, with driving. 

Now you wonder about people that live on the edge of nowhere and what motivates them.

I do too, but it is mostly green where I live, not brown.

I guess it takes all kinds.

Very happy with my purchases and the people I encountered were wonderful.

I got to hang out with my buddy Barry.

I have been busting my ass of late and there are no signs of things slowing down with two shows on the near horizon.

I was thinking today, the most successful people I know work the hardest.

Imagine that?

I have been waiting for my yucca rostrata to bloom.

Still waiting, any day now.

It throws the most beautiful and gigantic bloom.

Glad I didn't miss it.

I did have a hooded oriole male on the Mexican bird of paradise today.

Glad they are back.

Will have to bring the real camera home one of these days soon and do some real shooting.

Mose Allison

 

Chicken piccata

I was in the mood for chicken piccata tonight. I had the option of going heavy cream for the sauce or combining chicken broth and white wine and I went with the latter.

Did you know that this dish is not really Italian but actually Italian American? Who cares, I love it. If that is the case, it makes me proud to be an American. Probably invented in the 1930's by Sicilian immigrants.

I pounded my skinless breast filets between wax paper and dredged them in flour and seasoning. Gave them a nice sautée in olive oil and butter. [Note: Recipes say to go five minutes a side browning. Don't. They are thin. By the time it gets out of the sauce at the end it will be overcooked. Three minutes is fine.]

I removed the (perfectly browned breasts, if I may say so myself) from the skillet and added the tablespoon of capers, garlic, lemon juice, white wine, chicken broth and the zest of a lemon. Brought it to a boil.

Let everything simmer and reduce for about five minutes and added the chicken back to cook for a few more minutes and get up to heat.

Added chopped parsley and fresh parmesan.

Leslie loved it. 

We debated using the heavy cream but she wants to stay away from it for healthy reasons and it really wasn't missed.

Such a nice, easy meal.

Super tasty.

*

I was just saying aloud to my wife that Le Creuset should give me free stuff, I do so much free advertising for them.

She had a better idea.

Kent Borsch, who worked for Le Creuset in college, should give me a few pieces from his huge collection that he honestly never uses. Probably locked away in the closet.

Top rate idea, let's go with that!

Kent used to get on my case for calling it a Dutch oven instead of the more proper French Oven. Oh, those French.

Lets start with the Signature Braiser. 

Any color is fine but I would honestly like to stay with the cerise or flame. 

Having said that, the new Riviera is kind of nice. 

Thank you.

Another one from Barona

 

E.V. Blues

Ken brought his new Tesla over for me to check out the other day. Nice but the white seats wouldn't last a week in my world. 

Truth is, I would love a great electric car but would never put a single dollar in Elon Musk's pocket. I abhor the man on so many levels, from the thai pedo falsehoods to doge, so many areas. I find him truly despicable.

I will have an electric car one day but it may take a few years. We will probably all be driving one.

I would love to try one of the Chinese E.V.'s that are taking over Europe. 

But I can't, they won't sell them here. 

Yet.

Good article on the new E.V. technology in China here.

Ten Years After

 

Goings on...

Sad to hear that Sue Price has retired from waitressing at Main St. Cafe. She has been ably serving us at one place or another for a lot of years. Best of luck to her. 

*

Deb sent these two pictures she took at the Avo Festival.

That's old school Fallbrook right there.

*

My neighbor tells me that there are actually three baby hawks in the nest.

*

I had to go inside Bank of America today to get a cashier's check. Hadn't been in for a while, doing most of my business remotely or from an ATM.

I asked the teller where Rosa was and he told me she had been transferred after twenty five years. I couldn't believe it. First Paulina and then Rosa. Neither wanted to go.

It is obvious, big corporations don't care about their employees or their clients. I will miss seeing her.

*

The blast must be getting devoured by some AI monster too. Huge numbers this month, almost another million. 

Way too fast. Hope I don't short circuit some computer brain. Some of this blast material is pretty incendiary, I take no responsibility for what comes next.

It's alive...

 SM sent this:

 

And from another friend:

Dead Startups’ Slack Chats and Emails Fuel AI Gold Rush, Sparking Privacy Alarms
Your old workplace banter. Every Slack quip, Jira ticket, email chain. It’s now worth thousands to AI labs.

Read in WebProNews: https://apple.news/APKbq32NoOFafrSjnt2YF5A

Gibson was right. And eventually everything anyone has ever put online will be consumed- and noticed 
Shared from Apple News

Timing is everything

Debbie and Jim gifted us two beautiful bone in New York steaks. Not sure why but it was very nice of them. 

Sprinkles were called for this evening so timing was essential if I was to barbecue. 

I went to Major Market and bought cremini mushrooms and green beans this afternoon as well as zucchini and crookneck squash.

I parboiled the green beans and mushrooms for three minutes and then sliced up the squash. I stuck everything in a mixing bowl with olive oil, Worcestershire, black cherry balsamic, salt, pepper, garlic salt, cracked red pepper and Italian seasonings and gave it all a good toss. 

I cooked the giant steaks to about 116° and then went to town on the vegetables.

I scorched the squash and let everything else continue to cook indirectly. I want to do more vegetable grilling, try my hand at fennel and cabbage and all sorts of things.

Leslie got home to a set table and we had a delicious supper thanks to our good friends.

Just missed a little sprinkle. 

Dave Mason and Mama Cass

 

It was the seventies and I was partying in Venice. Used to be a very cool all night private club on Ocean View named the Mirror Go Round with all these crazed Egon Schiele like neon portraits. Serious partying done there.

Anyway it was three in the morning when we decided to leave and go to Zookies, the late deli on 14th and Wilshire to get some food. Dave Mason was sitting in a booth a few feet away with his mother. Didn't talk to him but thought that it was cool that he was there with his mom.

S & G

 

Nasty rockstars

Steve Winwood put out this statement yesterday on the passing of his Traffic co-founder, Dave Mason:

“We were deeply saddened to hear of Dave Mason’s passing.

Dave was part of Traffic during its earliest chapter, and played an important role in shaping the band’s sound and identity during that time. His songwriting, musicianship and distinctive spirit helped create music that has lasted far beyond its era, and continues to mean so much to listeners around the world.

Those years remain a special part of the band’s story, and Dave’s contribution to them is not forgotten. His place in that history will always be remembered, and through the music, his presence endures.

At this sad time, our thoughts are with his family, his friends, and all those who loved him and his music.”

Noble words but my only thought was, why couldn't you have said something this kind and decent to him in the last thirty or forty years? All those who loved him, which obviously doesn't include you.

I loved both musicians but I honestly think Winwood treated Mason like shit. This is Mason's version of what Winwood told him at his dismissal: 

"I don’t like the way you write. I don’t like the way you sing. I don’t like the way you play. And we don’t want you in the band anymore.’  

Purportedly he didn't like Mason's more "pop" songs, like Feelin' Alright, which happened to be very well regarded and successful. Perhaps he considered him an artistic threat?

Winwood insisted that Mason play bass at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame gig in 2004. Mason demurred, saying he had never played bass in his life and declined to play.

I can't find the citation but I remember an incredibly lame thing Winwood said where he completely dismissed Mason's contribution to Traffic by making note of all the great Traffic songs Mason never wrote. Wow.

Mason always had hopes of getting the band back together, for even a show, but it was not to be.

“It’s unfortunate that Steve Winwood can’t get together with me and go out and make one sort of last performance of Traffic. I’m just open to doing it. You know, we don’t even have to talk, you just have to get onstage for an hour and a half.” Dave Mason

I got to see Traffic in 1971, with John Martyn and Free. Dave was already gone of course. Later I saw him solo. He was an amazing player, as good as anybody, very lyrical.

So thanks for the nice words Steve. Just a few days too late to make any sense or have real meaning. Why be nice now?

*

And it gets me back to one of my favorite rock star peeves, the "I did it all myself" attitude. Easy to run down the megalomaniacal figures that subscribed to this brand of narcissism. How about Sting, David Byrne, Paul Simon and John Fogerty. Ego trippers all.

They were really good at minimizing the contributions of their bandmates and partners. But I think in every case the band en toto was superior to the solo act. But the leads are so possessed of insecurity that they hate to give anybody any credit. And in every instance the whole was better than the parts.

I loved the Talking Heads but I do not care for David Byrne in the least anymore. I was reading about one of my favorite singers, Johnette Napolitano. 

The Heads were formed by the members of Talking Heads after their unsuccessful attempts to convince lead singer and lyricist David Byrne to return to work with the band. The three remaining members decided to record new material as the Heads and collaborate with various artists who would primarily provide the lyrics and vocals. The backing tracks for No Talking, Just Head, including that which became "Damage I've Done", were recorded in November 1994. Once completed, the band began contacting other artists they wanted to collaborate with, including Johnette Napolitano of Concrete Blonde fame. Speaking to Billboard in 1996, drummer Chris Frantz said, "We had never met her before. We just admired her work. I went to see her show in a club, and I was just amazed at the power she has."

What happened to this cool group of incredible musicians? Byrne sued them.

[Johnette] is one of several vocalists featured on the 1996 album No Talking, Just Head, by The Heads, including the single "Damage I've Done". The group was formed by three members of Talking Heads (Jerry Harrison, Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth). Napolitano was the primary vocalist for The Heads' only concert tour. The Heads was intended to become a full-time band, with further studio albums and tours. A live CD-video of the first tour was planned, featuring performances from many of the album's guest artists and Napolitano on vocals for the songs originally recorded by Talking Heads. David Byrne sued the band, saying their name and presentation was too evocative of Talking Heads. The suit was settled out of court, and The Heads ceased activity.]

Byrne was reportedly irked by the success of the Tom Tom Club and it obviously carried forward. Mr. Ego went out of his way to ensure that his former bandmates missed a payday. All about you, right David?

What a dick. 

Same with Simon. Great player, good singer but his voice will never touch Artie's, sorry. The combination of the two far outweighed the solo efforts. But Simon's ego wouldn't put up with it.

Me, me, me.

Crying to be heard

<

Sad headline

“Last July, Donald Trump demanded that Texas draw five new Republican seats in the middle of a decade, igniting a chain reaction of corrupt MAGA state legislators attempting to rig the midterm elections. While many expected Democrats to roll over and play dead, we did the opposite,”Who would have thought?

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (NY)

I thought it was a real hoot last night listening to GOP talking heads shriek and rend their garments after the catastrophe in Virginia when they wouldn't say a peep when Trump initiated the same practice in Texas.

Republicans air misgivings about redistricting push after Virginia vote.

Business Stuff

 

FedEx just delivered eight large boxes of artwork. 

A man from Florida called me some time ago. 

His grandfather was a painter in the Santa Fe and Taos area in the 1970's. He made friends with lots of good local artists.

His own kids weren't all that interested in the artwork.

I don't know that there is anything earth shattering in the group but it will be fun to break it down on Friday and see what I actually have.

This is one of the paintings, by Dane Clark (b. 1934) an excellent artist who worked both in Hawaii and New Mexico.

*

Speaking of work, I drove to Los Angeles yesterday to pick up a Toshiko Takaezu plate I had purchased at auction. Took about three hours to get there. I left six or seven paintings with my friend John to sell at auction. Was tired of looking at them.

There was an auction going on when I got there and I had bid on a couple things. After I was done speaking with my friend I looked down and saw that I had been outbid on my intended purchase and left to go home.

Was a long trip home on the 91 freeway and I decided to stop at Vincenzo's in Lake Elsinore and have a late lunch. I looked down at my phone and to my consternation saw that I had actually won the item for 2k. I had bid $1600 and they had added the juice.

Now I get to make the same six hour drive tomorrow.

What an idiot!

Cheapass

A friend of mine is selling some of his Padres baseball tickets. Really nice seats behind first base. The price? Three hundred dollars for a pair of tickets. Padres are having a good run (have you looked at the Mets record?) but there is no way I could swing it.

I am too cheap.

I don't see how people do it. I started watching the Padres as a kid when they were a minor league team at Westgate Park. I was too young to see them at Lane Field. Probably paid four bucks a ticket. I know that was a long time ago but sheesh.

I don't think I could have fun spending that kind of dough.

Ditto concert tickets.

I was checking out shows at the Belly-Up recently and was astounded by the prices. Here is an example but pretty much par for the course today.

Two hundred bucks for an Eagles tribute band? I wouldn't even pay that to see the Eagles, unless maybe they brought Don Felder back.

I hate to sound like a grandpa but in my day...

Best show I ever saw was Jethro Tull Thick as a brick at the Sports Arena in 1972. 

Paid $4.50. 

Caught the Stones at Madison Square Garden the same year for under seven.

Mick's birthday concert no less.

I know that times have changed but I haven't. I still hate to buy razor blades they cost so much these days and don't even ask about gasoline.

How much is Disneyland today?

The famous San Diego Zoo?

My god. No wonder everybody is broke. Don't even ask about streaming services. How the hell do people afford this?

I am glad that I am comfortable out in nature. My normal recreation is free or limited to a Parks pass. Cheap entertainment is where it is at for me. And a decent meal every once in a while.

God bless all of you that can afford it. Some of these recreational pursuits are so expensive that I would feel guilt ridden the whole time I was there, couldn't enjoy them anyway.

Happy birds

 

Goodbye Dave

 

Coq au Vin

I've made coq au vin several times in the past but decided to up my game a little tonight and do things a bit more properly. I looked at a couple recipes including one from the great Julia Child and went to work.

Leslie bought a giant combo pack of drumstick/thigh sections at Frazier Farms yesterday. Hmm, the Le Creuset stockpot or the dutch oven? I went with the latter. It is a little heavier and heats and sears a bit better.

First thing I did is cut up five bacon strips from Hemplers, our favorite, and cooked them at the bottom of the dutch oven until almost crispy.

I pulled them out and reserved them to a paper towel covered plate for later. 

I then browned and seared the seasoned chicken in the bacon fat, finally pulling them out and putting them on a platter to sit too.

I added a splash of marsala and deglazed the bottom of the blackened bits, not having any cognac readily on hand. 

We don't do onion but I added onion powder and then six cloves of garlic. 

Thirty second cook down.

Chopped up three carrots and put them aside for later too. 

I added three cups of cabernet sauvignon and three cups of chicken bone broth. 

I also added thyme, balsamic vinegar, a touch of sugar, salt, pepper, tomato paste and a bay leaf and brought it all to a boil.

While it was simmering I sautéed mushrooms in a skillet and reserved them as well.

I added my chicken and carrots back to the pot to simmer and started on the beurre manié. 

This is a traditional french sauce thickener made by combining flour and warmed butter and making a mash with it.

I pulled the chicken and carrots out one more time and slowly stirred in the beurre manié. 

I then strained the entire sauce into a mixing bowl so that I could get a clear reduction. 

This is the step I usually skip.

My chef friend Melissa guilted me into doing it the right way for once.

Thanks Missy!

I added the chicken back in and let it simmer. 

Leslie came home and made polenta. 

Right before I plated I added the bacon and mushrooms back into the mix and it was time to eat.

Wish I had fresh thyme but I did not.

Leslie absolutely loved the meal, all the praise I require.

Lot of work, lots of extra dishes to clean but worth it.

Barona Speedway

Jim Ramsey and I went out to the Antique Drag Races at Barona Speedway yesterday. It is an annual affair and our friend Harry was running his 53 Studebaker.

What a great day, breezy, not too hot, the coolest cars and people you could imagine. 

I am just starting to process my pictures, hopefully got some decent shots. 

Haven't shot cars in a long time. 

Very rusty.

I will continue to post as developed.