Kathryn Hill

A Tour of Cherries in Traverse City

2010-07-19T18:44:28Z

Don Gregory holds some fresh Montmorency cherries

Last week, the Cherry Marketing Board invited me and several other food bloggers to Traverse City, Michigan to attend a “Cherry Immersion Trip.” The purpose: to learn all about cherries and have fun doing it!

They took us on a tour of a cherry grove where we got to eat cherries right off the tree and watch the cherries get harvested, then we went to the Cherry Republic and ate cherry pie, had pulled pork with cherry BBQ sauce, drank cherry sodas and tasted cherry wine. We also attended the National Cherry Festival. It was a lot of fun and I enjoyed meeting the other food bloggers.

Left: the beautiful texture of cherry bark. Right: Harvested Montmorency cherries.

It was my first time in Michigan, and I was pleasantly surprised. Traverse City and the area around it is really beautiful. It’s very green and lush, which made me a little homesick for Atlanta, where I grew up. I was a bit disappointed that I didn’t see any fireflies – we don’t have them in California and I miss them.

Sweet Ulster & Gold cherries right off the tree.

The cherry people also took us to dinner at The Boathouse, which in addition to great food also had gorgeous scenery – highly recommended. Their bar has a nice collection of locally-produced cherry vodkas, liqueurs, and cherry ports that they let us all sample. I thought the Grand Traverse Distillery cherry vodka was good, and I also enjoyed the Chateau Chantal Cerise Cherry Port.

Left: Bright red Montmorency cherries. Right: Don Gregory of Cherry Bay Orchards

We also visited the Northwest Michigan Horticulture Research Center where we were given a tour of the grounds and got to sample many different varieties of cherries and hear all about the work they’re doing at the center to develop the most optimal tart cherry.

More cherry bark detail - so gorgeous

There is a culinary movement going on up in that area and I can see why. The farmland was just stunning, beautiful rolling hills covered with grapevines, wildflowers, and fruit orchards, with views of the lakes.

• http://upnorthfoodies.com/
• http://www.ediblecommunities.com/grandetraverse/
• http://www.localdifference.org/

Montmorency cherries

I also met up with a friend who lives in Traverse City while I was there, and we went to Right Brain Brewery which makes a phenomenal Bourbon Barrel Stout, a really good Ancho Chili Double Chocolate Porter and tasty Sun Cup Lemon Wheat. We also went to North Peak Brewery where I enjoyed the cherry wheat beer. I brought back some Michigan beers in my suitcase (Bell’s, Short’s, and Founders.)

Dark sweet cherries

I’ll be posting about this in more detail over at The Kitchn, but I wanted to get this up and share the cherry pictures. It’s impossible to take a bad picture of cherries!

Cherry pie and clusters of sour cherries

I’d like to thank Don & Anne Gregory of Cherry Bay Orchards for the wonderful tour, Bob Sutherland at Cherry Republic for the delicious lunch, pie, & wine, Dr. Wendy Bazilian for the enlightening lecture on the benefits of sour cherries, Dr. Nikki Rothwell at the Northwest Michigan Horticulture Research Center, and of course, the wonderful people at Choose Cherries and Weber Shandwick who put this trip together.

Entrance to the Gregory cherry farm

Gloria, Matt, Nathan, Rachel, Doniree, Dina, and Shannon – great to meet you all!

Shaking the cherry tree

Impossible to take a bad picture

Washing the cherries

Indeed!

Please note: The views expressed in this post are my own honest and fair opinions and this post was not sponsored or paid for in any way by the manufacturer or an agent working on their behalf. The manufacturer and/or agent working on their behalf did one or more of the following: presented me with swag and/or products, paid my travel expenses, and paid for my meals.

RIP Gary Coleman

2010-05-28T19:24:37Z

In 2001 or 2002 I was shopping at the Ralph’s grocery store in my then-neighborhood of Marina del Rey in Los Angeles.

I was walking down the freezer aisle, and I saw a small child climbing into one of the freezer shelves trying to reach the frozen pizzas at the top. Concerned that he would fall down and get hurt, I approached him and I asked him, “Excuse me, where’s your mom?”

The kid turned around and it was Gary Coleman. He gave me this “fuck off” look and I muttered “sorry” and scooted away.

Where In England Is This?

2010-08-30T22:18:18Z

I’ve been digging in my family tree trying to solve mysteries.

My grandmother’s parents came from England. She never said much about them except their names.

In 1986 Grandma went to England “to visit the cousins” but no one seems to remember the names of these mysterious English cousins. The only evidence we have of this trip are these two photos. On the back of both of them they say “1986 England.” Grandma has Alzheimer’s so we can’t ask her for more information.

I know this is a long shot, but does the entrance of the gated (prison, maybe?) look familiar to anyone?

Click to see larger

I am not sure if the second photo is a house or a hotel, but it says, I think, “Herm House” on it. I googled and didn’t find a “Herm House,” but I found a Herm Island which is part of the Channel Islands, but I don’t think this is on that island because the wikipedia page says the entire island is car-free.

Anyway, on the off chance that someone might recognize these landmarks, I would appreciate any clues that I can work with, which may hopefully lead me to these cousins in England that we’ve lost contact with …

EDIT A few people pointed out the top picture is the entrance to the Jersey War Tunnels in the Channel Islands, as this photo confirms. Now I just need to find out the names of the people in the photo …

Today is HR 3101 Virtual Legislative Day!

2010-04-15T18:53:09Z

Please take a few minutes minute today to help improve accessibility on the Internet.

Backstory: (if tl;dr scroll down to “What’s Happening Today”)
While the Americans with Disabilities Act is a boon for accessibility, it was written 20 years ago and doesn’t cover the Internet. As technology evolves and new tools emerge, there is very little regulation ensuring that they will be accessible. Faster, cheaper broadband access is helping to move media onto the Internet. The world has changed progressively in 20 years. The way we learn, interact, and conduct business today is vastly different than it was 10, 20 years ago.

Examples of issues that this lack of regulation causes include but are not limited to:

• No captioning on Internet videos – even whitehouse.gov doesn’t add captions to their live video feeds, which I found surprising, since during Barack Obama’s campaign in 2008, all videos on his website had captions. And internet videos are not just for entertainment purposes; what about online learning/distance learning courses? Important business meetings conducted online?
• No real-time text support for online emergency services
• No video description for the blind on Internet videos

Last June, Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA) introduced HR 3101 to the House. Full text of the bill can be read here. It is being called the “Twenty-First Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act.”

Disability advocacy organizations are concerned that there are not enough representatives in support of HR 3101. HR 3101 is currently in the House Committee on Energy and Commerce where it is competing against thousands of other bills for attention. The current Congress (111th) will end in 2011, and if HR 3101 doesn’t pass before that, it will have to be reintroduced.

What’s Happening Today
The National Association for the Deaf has called for today to be HR 3101 Virtual Legislative Day and are urging the public to write, call, and/or phone their reps and get them to support the bill, and to re-tweet, blog, Facebook, email, smoke signal, etc about this event to help get attention. NAD is twittering at NADTweets and they’re RTing twitters from people who have been visiting the Capitol in person today and talking to reps, and reporting their progress.

The bill is not limited to new/current technologies and is written in a way that it will expand to include future technologies.

Useful links:

• List of current co-sponsors of HR 3101
• Find Your Rep
• Find your two U.S. Senators
• Information about today’s action day on NAD.org

Rick Boucher, the chair of the House Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet, has a copy of HR 3101 on his desk, but he hasn’t moved the bill. It’s important to contact him and urge him to support HR 3101 as other reps have said they won’t support HR 3101 unless Boucher moves it.

FAQ:

Q: “YouTube? How will that work? Also what is “the internet” do they intend to include all the Chinese, British, French & etc. sites too?”

Q: “Just wondering about the details. Do I have to CC a video if I want to upload it?”

A: The law would include any U.S.-run sites. HR 3101 doesn’t require captions on consumer generated videos on the Internet (e.g., individuals who post videos on YouTube).

Dreams

2010-04-14T15:50:15Z

Hold fast to dreams
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly.

Hold fast to dreams
For when dreams go
Life is a barren field
Frozen with snow.

- Langston Hughes

Bad news for deaf viewers of The Daily Show & The Colbert Report

2010-03-05T20:20:09Z

Hulu recently announced that The Daily Show and The Colbert Report will no longer be streaming on Hulu.com, along with other Comedy Central shows. Viewers have been encouraged to watch TDS and TCR over at their respective sites, TheDailyShow.com and ColbertNation.com.

I preferred watching TDS and TCR on Hulu.com because the closed captions on Hulu were much better than the network captions on Comedy Central via my satellite provider, DirecTV. The network captions contained a lot of spelling errors, missing words, and were often lagging 10 to 30 seconds behind, so most of the jokes fell flat. Hulu’s captions were timed perfectly and were more accurate.

Unfortunately, the shows on TheDailyShow.com and ColbertNation.com do not have closed captions. While I understand why Comedy Central might not want to compete with Hulu for viewers and advertisers, I hope they won’t cut off the deaf fans of TDS and TCR. I hope that someone working for these shows will see this post and implement closed captions on the videos posted to TheDailyShow.com and ColbertNation.com.

Facebook gets a “F” in privacy

2010-02-19T03:27:42Z

I’m pretty careful about what I put on the Internet, or at least I try to be. But sometimes the sites we’re relying on to keep our secrets change the rules without telling us.

I’ve had my Facebook profile set up in a way that only people I’ve friended can see my photos and profile information. I have the “photos of me tagged by others” setting set up so that only I see them. I also had my “Recent Activity” set up so that anything I did on Facebook – whether I “liked” someone’s status update, commented on a photo or a Wall, joined a group, or became a fan of something, it remained private and wasn’t broadcast to everyone. But today I discovered that Facebook removed the privacy setting that enabled users to prevent their “Recent Activity” from being exposed to the world. Apparently they did this months ago, and I only discovered it today. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg already discussed this and defended his decision to remove the privacy settings. I confess, I’m a bit behind in my tech blog reading. It’s been a busy couple of months.

Why is this a big deal? Let me walk you through it.

Let’s say you’re friends with Steven and Christine (fictional people) on Facebook, but they don’t know each other. If you comment on a photo that Christine posts, it shows up on Steven’s news feed. Steven can see Christine’s photo on his news feed, even though they aren’t friended. OK, let’s say Steven is a pedophile and you have absolutely no idea of this fact, and Christine posted a picture of their daughter. Through his Facebook news feed, Steven the pedophile becomes aware of this child, and clicks through the photos and Christine’s profile, discovers they live in the same town, discovers which park Christine takes her daughter to, and starts stalking them. Of course, this is a made-up scenario, but it could happen rather easily. If you’re posting pictures on Facebook, don’t you want the security of knowing that you can control who is seeing them?

Well, you can control this bit.

1. In the top right corner of your Facebook, click “Account”
2. Click “Privacy Settings”
3. Click “Profile Information”
4. Scroll down to “Photo Albums” and click “Edit Settings”
5. Set your profile pictures and your albums to whatever you want – mine are set to “Only Friends.” You can also create custom settings where you can exclude individuals or friends lists.
6. When you’re done click “Save Settings” at the bottom.

The catch with this is, everyone has to do this. If someone decides they don’t care who sees their photos and leaves them on the default public settings, then if you comment on their photos, their photo and your comment will show up in all of your friends’ News Feeds. So before you comment on that photo of you and Joe holding the gorilla-shaped bong with “Oh man, I can’t remember much of what happened last night, that was awesome” think about who you’ve friended on Facebook (Mom? Dad? Coworkers?) and whether you’d like that photo + the comment showing up on their news feed.

The next issue: anything you become a fan of will also show up on your Facebook friends’ news feed. Some seem innocuous enough, such as becoming a fan of Bacon, a fan of Mad Men, or a fan of the Atlanta Braves. But what about more personal items like becoming a fan of Rape Survivors, Adam & Eve Sex Toys, or Narcotics Anonymous? As far as I can tell, there isn’t a way to stop this from being broadcast to everyone anymore. Fail.

Also getting broadcast: your relationship status, when you post on someone’s wall, when you “like” something, who you add as a friend. You can no longer control this. I don’t know about you, but I prefer to keep my Facebook activity private.

I really don’t understand why Facebook took away this feature, but it was a major oversight on their part. Shame on you, Facebook.

Anyway, be careful out there, folks. This is clearly a big enough deal that people formed a group called “We petition to bring back ‘News Feed and Wall’ privacy settings!“

The one time on the plane with my laptop …

2010-02-19T01:19:42Z

This is a story from about five years ago, but I was telling some friends about it the other night and thought I’d write it up here. It’s definitely one for the files of “Misadventures of a Deafie in a Hearing World.” It’s one of my most embarrassing moments ever, but also pretty damn funny.

I was on an airplane flying cross-country and watching a movie on my laptop, a DVD I’d gotten from Netflix that I had not seen before. It was the Todd Solondz film Storytelling, with Selma Blair. Anyway, unbeknownst to me, there’s a scene in the film where the Selma Blair character is having sex with a large black man, repeatedly chanting the whole time, “Fuck me, n***er. Fuck me, n***er.”

A few moments later, the flight attendant came to my seat, looking rather pissed.

Her: “Ma’am, I’m going to have to ask you to turn that down.”
Me: *turning red* “THE SOUND WAS ON?!”
Her: “What is the matter with you!?”
Me: “Um, I’m deaf.”
Her: “Ohhhhh!”

Needless to say, I didn’t dare look the other passengers in the eye for the rest of the flight. When the plane landed and we disembarked, the people behind me were giving me the stinkeye. They had kids with them. Ooops.

To this day, I religiously make sure the volume on my laptop is off!!

Text relay telephone frustration

2009-12-10T21:28:29Z

If I want to make a phone call, I have to go through a relay operator since I am deaf. Sometimes it works if the person I am calling is someone who knows me, but if I have to call a business or make a doctor’s appointment, the person answering the phone often gets confused and hangs up, thinking I am a telemarketer or a spammer. I’m not sure if the problem lies in that people simply don’t understand this is a deaf person calling through a relay operator, or if the relay operator is doing a poor job explaining the service to them during the introductory call. Either way, it is frustrating as hell, and I often choose businesses that have online ordering or email over businesses that don’t so I can avoid having to use a relay operator as much as possible. All of my doctors have online appointment schedulers and my hair stylist & manicurist have email access.

Today was special. I want to make bœuf bourguignon tonight, and I need a solid block of bacon to make lardons from. I wanted to call three butcher shops in San Francisco; Guerra’s, Avedano’s, and Bryan’s. Since they’re all spread far apart and I am relying on pubic transportation, I wanted to call first instead of spending a chunk of my day visiting them in person to see if they have them. Well, I never got to find out if either butcher has what I need, because they all hung up on me before I could ask. Below is my transcript of my call with Guerra’s. As you can see, they hung up on me three times. This is nothing new. I deal with this sort of thing almost every single time I call a business.

I can’t live like this anymore. If someone can tell me how and what I need to do to fix the broken relay system, I will do it. I don’t like whining and complaining. I would like to fix this.

11:07:03 AM Kathryn Hill: call 415-564-0585 ga
11:07:14 AM 711 Relay: Connecting to relay center… to disconnect, type HANGUP or SKSK.
11:07:17 AM 711 Relay: Connected at 2:07pm EST on Thursday, December 10, 2009
11:07:19 AM 711 Relay: Hello! i711.com CA#90003M
11:07:19 AM 711 Relay: THK U DIALING
11:07:22 AM 711 Relay: 415 564 0585
11:07:31 AM 711 Relay: RINGING 1…
11:07:37 AM 711 Relay: (AUTOMATED SYSTEM)
11:07:53 AM 711 Relay: thank you for calling guerra’s
11:07:55 AM 711 Relay: (recording to relay)
11:08:44 AM 711 Relay: holiday hours for christmas week
11:08:48 AM 711 Relay: are as follows monday december
11:08:55 AM 711 Relay: 21st through wednesday december 23rd
11:09:02 AM 711 Relay: are
11:09:06 AM 711 Relay: from
11:09:11 AM 711 Relay: (garbled message) thursday december 24th christmas eve
11:09:19 AM 711 Relay: are from 9am to 4pm and closed
11:09:23 AM 711 Relay: christmas day our location is
11:09:31 AM 711 Relay: on the corner of 15th and taraville
11:09:42 AM 711 Relay: and we are now accepting holiday orders
11:09:46 AM 711 Relay: for christmas to speak to someone or to
11:09:55 AM 711 Relay: place an order please press
11:09:56 AM 711 Relay: 0 happy holidays thank you GA
11:10:01 AM Kathryn Hill: 0 ga
11:10:10 AM 711 Relay: (pressing 0)
11:10:35 AM 711 Relay: please hold while i transfer you
11:10:35 AM 711 Relay: (ON HOLD)
11:10:37 AM 711 Relay: (advertisement)
11:10:37 AM 711 Relay: (M)
11:10:39 AM 711 Relay: (INTRO CALL PLS HLD)
11:11:12 AM Kathryn Hill: hello I am making lardons and I need a block of uncut solid bacon do you have this q ga
11:11:18 AM 711 Relay: hello this is john can i help you qq
11:11:18 AM 711 Relay: (CALLED PARTY HAS HUNG UP)
11:11:18 AM 711 Relay: (ANOTHER CALL Q GA)
11:11:34 AM Kathryn Hill: redial and tell them I am a customer with a question ga
11:11:43 AM 711 Relay: (thank you redialing please hold)
11:11:53 AM 711 Relay: RINGING 1…
11:11:55 AM 711 Relay: (AUTOMATED SYSTEM)
11:11:59 AM 711 Relay: thank you for calling guerra’s
11:12:05 AM 711 Relay: (navigating to a live person)
11:12:27 AM 711 Relay: (ON HOLD)
11:12:32 AM 711 Relay: (advertisement)
11:12:38 AM 711 Relay: (M)
11:12:38 AM 711 Relay: (INTRO CALL PLS HLD)
11:12:42 AM 711 Relay: (relaying instructions)
11:12:58 AM 711 Relay: (EXPLAINING RELAY)
11:13:13 AM Kathryn Hill: please don’t hang up I have a meat question ga
11:13:32 AM 711 Relay: hello this is robert (too fast)
11:13:34 AM 711 Relay: (sounds hurried)
11:13:34 AM 711 Relay: (CALLED PARTY HAS HUNG UP)
11:13:34 AM 711 Relay: (ANOTHER CALL Q GA)
11:13:42 AM Kathryn Hill: nooo
11:13:47 AM Kathryn Hill: why are they hanging up
11:13:49 AM Kathryn Hill: redial ga
11:14:00 AM 711 Relay: (thank you redialing please hold)
11:14:08 AM 711 Relay: RINGING 1…
11:14:14 AM 711 Relay: (AUTOMATED SYSTEM)
11:14:22 AM 711 Relay: thank you for calling guerra’s
11:14:24 AM 711 Relay: (recording to relay)
11:15:05 AM 711 Relay: holiday hours for christmas week as follows
11:15:11 AM 711 Relay: monday
11:15:12 AM 711 Relay: december 21st through wednesday
11:15:18 AM 711 Relay: december 23rd are from
11:15:23 AM 711 Relay: 9am to 7pm thursday december 24th
11:15:29 AM 711 Relay: christmas
11:15:36 AM 711 Relay: eve are from 9am to 4pm and closed
11:15:42 AM 711 Relay: christmas day our location is on the
11:15:50 AM 711 Relay: corner of 15th and taraville and
11:16:00 AM 711 Relay: we are now accepting
11:16:02 AM 711 Relay: holiday orders for christmas to speak to someone or
11:16:12 AM 711 Relay: to place an order please press
11:16:16 AM 711 Relay: 0 happy holidays thank you GA
11:16:43 AM Kathryn Hill: 0 ga
11:16:50 AM 711 Relay: (pressing 0)
11:16:54 AM 711 Relay: RINGING 1…
11:17:00 AM 711 Relay: xxx
11:17:10 AM 711 Relay: please hold while i transfer you
11:17:10 AM 711 Relay: (ON HOLD)
11:17:12 AM 711 Relay: (music playing)
11:17:23 AM 711 Relay: (M)
11:17:25 AM 711 Relay: (INTRO CALL PLS HLD)
11:17:41 AM 711 Relay: hello this is robert
11:17:43 AM 711 Relay: (CALLED PARTY HAS HUNG UP)
11:17:43 AM 711 Relay: (ANOTHER CALL Q GA)

Berlin Wall, 20 Years Later

2009-11-09T20:49:20Z

I remember the day the Berlin Wall came down. I was 17, it was my junior year of high school, and I was doing my homework when my father came in the room and told me to come watch the news with him.

I sat transfixed for hours watching the graffiti-covered concrete slabs come down, illuminated by camera flashes. I still remember all the people dancing and celebrating, and the ones reaching through holes in the wall to connect with people on the other side. Some people were hacking at the Wall with sledgehammers. I remember feeling a little bit scared for them. I was worried that at any minute the East German guards would change their minds and say “never mind, you can’t have this” and start shooting people. I don’t think it really sunk in that this was happening and there would be no turning back. It was all happening so fast.

The next day, Peter Jennings was standing on the Wall surrounded by happy people. He reached in the pocket of his trench coat and pulled out a chunk of the Wall that someone had given him.

My friend Claudia was living in Berlin at the time and wrote me long letters describing the atmosphere in Berlin. I think I might still have these letters somewhere. She talked about the general celebratory mood that hung over the city for weeks, and about how the subways and shops were crowded.

1989 was an exciting year in history – there was so much change happening in Poland, Germany, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Romania, and Bulgaria. At the end of the year, Bush and Gorbachev declared the Cold War to be over. People of my generation were still students at the time – this gave us an unique perspective on what was happening in the world. Only a year earlier in World History classes we’d learned all about the Eastern Bloc countries. I wrote a term paper that year comparing and contrasting socialism, capitalism, and communism. A year later, everything changed – governments, borders, maps. The books had to be rewritten. How many generations get to witness this kind of history?

I can’t believe it’s been twenty years, either. It doesn’t seem like that long ago.

If you have a Twitter, consider posting a message to the Berlin Wall Twitter. (I’m KathrynLHill on Twitter.)