Non-apology apology from the Carmel Pine Cone

Remember All the Presidents Men, the book and movie about Watergate, and the "non-denial denial"? The Washington Post staff coined this phrase when a politician confronted with some accusation of wrongdoing, would issue a vague statement that sounded like a denial of some accusation or other but actually wasn't if you really thought about the words.

I was reminded of the non-denial denial when I read this week's Pine Cone. In response to a deluge of angry letters from readers offended by the smashed-Prius-at-least-it-wasn't-a-Bentley last week, the  Pine Cone printed a non-apology apology. To their credit, they did print the letters. At the end column, an Editor's Note explains that they thought this was a fun way to "gently poke fun" at the excesses of the Concours d'Elegance, which most people understood, and if you didn't get the joke, that's YOUR fault, you humorless drudge. You're not as smart as their other readers, and since your delicate little sensibilities were offended, well, OK, they apologize.

Here's the thing Carmel Pine Cone, you're not Stephen Colbert. You're not The Daily Show. You can't pull this sort of thing off.  Most of the letter-writers stated that they did understand it was a joke--they just didn't think it was funny.

Yes, comics do joke about tragic incidents (and can be quite funny), but it's really tricky to do well. Unfortunately your attempt flopped. I can see how, sitting around the news room, someone made a comment and it seemed funny. I was just surprised that they actually printed it.

Truth be told, the Pine Cone is not the only entity guilty of the non-apology apology. I see it all the time -- some public figure says something out of line, and when confronted, says "I apologize if anyone was offended."  In other words, I'm not sorry I said it, I don't think it was the wrong thing to say, I'm just sorry that you took offense to it.

We all suffer foot-in-mouth sometimes -- saying something that just doesn't come out the way you meant it. When it happens, just admit it...don't blame the other person.

So we'll let this one go Carmel Pine Cone. Now go forth and sin no more.

Click Read more for the full text

Another day Another salad

Bell peppers are in season and have been on sale, so I've got a bunch of them to use up. Last night I made a brightly-colored salad using red and green peppers and other fresh produce. I call it Fiesta Salad.

For 2 entree-sized salads:

1 head heart of romaine, chopped
1/4 c red bell pepper, cut into strips
1/4 c green bell pepper, cut into strips
1/2 c whole kernel corn
1/4 c carrot, julienne strips*
1/4 c shredded Cheddar or Monterey Jack cheese (or combo)
1/8 c thin sliced red onion, or to taste
handful of purchased tortilla strips, such as Fresh Gourmet salad toppings
fresh ground black pepper

To make it more filling, omnivores might want to add slices of cooked chicken breast, if desired.

Goes great with a red pepper vinaigrette or salsa ranch dressing.

*I like to use a vegetable peeler to quickly make thin strips of carrot

Carmel Pine Cone puts foot in mouth again

This week's Carmel Pine Cone has a front-page story about an averted disaster.  

(Carmel Pine Cone, Vol 99, No. 33, August 16-22)

Apparently a huge tree snapped at the base and fell across Highway 68 near the hospital Wednesday morning. As the article explains, Highway 68 is the main route out of Pebble Beach and is frequented by Pebble Beach residents driving expensive luxury cars. When the tree had the audacity to fall, at least it didn't hit a Ferrari or Rolls Royce...just some Prius. Near the end of the article, the Pine Cone finally remembers to tell us that no one was injured.

Some unfortunate soul had his or her car destroyed (and probably the scare of a lifetime), the highway was closed for hours, and work crews risked their own necks to cut and move the tree, but the important part -- and this is good news -- no luxury cars were damaged.
(If it had been a Hyundai, I suppose there would have been no story at all.)

Remember the "Sluts" controversy a few months ago?  Does anybody at the Pine Cone read the stories before they're published.

For full text of the story, click here.

Outdoor seating coming to Cafe Trieste

Cafe Trieste will soon have an outdoor seating area, using the two parking spots right in front. This is a pilot project as part of the downtown Monterey revitalization plan. Awesome idea. We have the weather for it, so why not take advantage? Looks like they are just about ready to go.

The little chocolate-toffee cookies are yummy -- don't think about the calories.

Installing glass mosaic tile

Part of our adventure in Monterey living has been fixing up this house, which has turned it more of a project than I think we anticipated. Isn't that always the way?

Finding contractors -- ugh, I hate it. We've had a bunch of them through here. It's not that I've been unhappy with anyone I've used, but they're hard to get hold of and not always available when you need them. Have you had the experience of contacting a contractor and getting no response, then weeks later when they've got no work they call back?  I can procrastinate like crazy on making decisions about a project, but once I have, I want to get going on it NOW.

So I took on the last phase of the kitchen remodel -- installing the glass mosaic tile backsplash--myself. The internet is full of instructions how to do it, but they always install the tile all the way up, from the counter to the bottom of the cabinets. And of course they only demonstrate the easy parts.  Since we just wanted a 4-inch strip along the countertop, I was on my own.

I think it turned out pretty good.

Click the Read more link below to see a few tips and tricks I discovered.

What's happening in downtown Monterey?

The City of Monterey has released a new video describing the new development that is getting underway. Pretty exciting, downtown needs a little revitalizing.

When we arrived here last year, a large section of Alvarado Street was blocked by a large fence with a painted mural. We wondered what happened, but didn't think too much more about it. A few weeks letter we happened to be reminiscing about a restaurant we used to like, and we realized it used to be right there. Turns out there was a big fire in 2006 and the entire building burned down. Then the recession hit, and it was tough to rebuild.

Finally some new development is getting underway, as well as some other projects in downtown. One of the most interesting parts of the downtown plan is that they are going to add a bunch of residential units. Having people live in a downtown area really adds to its vitality, as well as attracting business. If something like that had been available when we moved here, we might very well have considered it. As we get older, maybe we still will. We've always liked living "downtown"...where the action is, with everything within walking distance.

Check it out.  There's also some interesting history on how downtown Monterey got to this point.

I laughed when they guy talks about people complaining about the Trader Joe's parking lot -- I complain about it all the time. It's a tradition -- Trader Joes' always have bad parking lots. I've never been to one that didn't.

Salad!

The Salinas Valley is often called the "nation's salad bowl" with good reason.  Lots of lettuce and other veggies are grown around here.  You'd think it would be cheaper to buy, but I've found lettuce is about the same price I paid in the Seattle area.

Anyway, we had a lovely fruity salad last night. Mixed greens, with fresh raspberries, mandarin orange segments, very thin slivers of red onion, topped with crumbled pecan pieces. Add some grumbled gorgonzola to make it more substantial.

For the salad shown here, I used a combination of romaine hearts and Trader Joe's Herb Salad blend. I like the crispiness of the romaine with the softer wild greens.

Dress with fresh ground pepper and your favorite balsamic vinaigrette. I like Girard's Light Creamy Balsalmic with this salad, though the only place I've been able to find it around here is SaveMart.

Recycling

Nespresso has a new capsule recycling program in California.

We love our little Nespresso machine. For an at-home espresso without all the fuss and expense of a pump espresso machine, the Nespresso makes a pretty decent cup with a nice foamy head. And the Citiz looks pretty cool on the countertop.

But I always felt bad about throwing away the aluminum capsules. They are recyclable, but the only place around here that takes them is Sur La Table in Carmel (in Carmel Plaza, in the village), which is a bit inconvenient to get to. To drive somewhere out of the way to recycle a few capsules seems a bit wasteful.

With this new program, when you order capsules, you can also order a recycling bag (free). Fill it up with used capsules and drop it in a UPS drop box, and they're on their way back to Nespresso for recycling.

We do try to recycle as much as we can, and there are some pretty good resources around here. This new program makes it that much better.