MusicArte, 2010

By Jerrell Sustaita, local artist showing at MusicArte

This weekend Fort Worth hosts the popular MusicArte. The festival highlights music, food, and art of Latinos and is enjoyed by one and all. It starts Friday, October 8, and runs through Saturday night.

Since this is a food blog, here are the highlights from the Sabor page of the MusicArte website.

Sabor! If you think you know Latin cuisine, think again and come to MúsicArte de Fort Worth for a taste of the Americas.

Enjoy the programs and activities our new Culinary Tent, where our first ever Chef's Challenge will take place at 3:00 PM on Saturday! Chefs from Cantina Laredo, the M Crowd (Mi Cocina) and one more surprise chef will take the challenge and will create a featured dish for judging. Wine tasting sessions and culinary demonstrations will take place throughout the weekend as well as tequila tasting each evening.

Feast at our new Pueblo de las Americas, a gastronomical feast near the Sundance Square Stage. Fine wines and beer, seafood with a Latin accent, and native as well as European influences are among many unexpected pleasures Músicarte de Fort Worth holds for the gourmand. Have your fill, then visit Mercado Central and take home the wonderful art of many fine artists.

The chefs at Ocho Rios Jamaican and Caribbean Grill and embargo will serve up great tastes for Músicarte de Fort Worth, preparing familiar as well as unexpected pleasures for a public hungry for Latin fare. And new this year, the families of St. George Catholic Church will prepare their signature tamales for MúsicArte

Details:
October 8 & 9, 2010

Noon - 10:30 PM 

MúsicArte spans 6 blocks in downtown Fort Worth, centered in Sundance Square

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Christine O'Donnell ad. Opinions, anyone . . . anyone . . .Bueller. . . Bueller . . .

I love advertising of all kinds, and since I worked in political advertising for most of my adult life, I am always looking for good political ads. 

From a purely political advertisement point of view, I like this spot. 

I'd be curious to know why a black theme was chosen and the white ghost-like image in the background. Then the pearls, I don't know about the pearls. But she has a winning smile and connects well through the camera. Most importantly, it seems genuine to me.

Any other opinions?

Christine O' Donnell Ad - I'm Not A Witch @ Yahoo! Video

Fuzzy's Taco's. Can't say I'm on board . . .

You have to be careful when you pick on a city-wide favorite restaurant. So, I'll be gentle, but . ..

I visited Fuzzy's/TCU today for the first time in probably 5 years. They have expanded since my last visit and I like the additional space, and I like the atmospherics.

But the shredded beef tacos aren't anything to get that excited about. $5.50 for two tacos with beans and rice is okay, but a few chips and non-Mexican salsa for $2.00? Add a small drink and the bill was $10.25. I could deal with the price if the meal was great, but it wasn't. And the worst part for me was that the flour tortillas, though fresh, were cool to the touch.

We were getting a late lunch, about 1:30 pm, and the place was full, so I tip my hat to their business savvy, but like I say, I just don't get the food.

Somebody help me out here . . .

http://www.fuzzystacoshop.com/

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The Components of a Perfect Espresso

The Wall Street Journal ran a brief but informative article on coffee, espresso, and the components that get it just right. The source for the information was Andrea Illy, CEO of Illycaffe, Trieste, Italy.

Follow the link: wsj.com/article

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Ron Washington. Redemption.

We had just returned from our two year visit to Philadelphia when the news was breaking about Ron Washington, the manager of baseball's Texas Rangers.

I was surprised at the venom I was hearing on the radio talk shows by both callers and hosts. "Fire him... Baseball has to set an example.... He needs to pay for his actions." Phrases like this pretty much summarize the general opinion.

For those who do not follow sports gossip, Washington was on the dock for violating Major League Baseball's substance abuse policy. In a random drug test his came up positive. Washington's thirty years in baseball were about to get washed away through no one's fault but his own (his words). Ron Washington, not unlike many of us, couldn't handle success -- or maybe the pressure that comes with it.

The Texas Rangers hired Washington in 2006 after a bad few years with Buck Showwalter and a decade of pretty bad teams. Part of the frustration expressed on the talk shows was just being tired of losing. The Rangers had not made the playoffs and fans can put up with anything but a loser. The drug offense was a good excuse to get rid of a guy that was following in our losing tradition. That's the way the sports talk sounded to me.

But Rangers management didn't listen the masses. To their credit, Jon Daniels, general manager, and Nolan Ryan, team president, acted differently. They took Washington at his word when he offered a sincere apology -- and declined his request to resign. They stood by him and took a lot of newsroom heat for it. In their view, he deserved another chance. I respect them for facing down the crowd, because that is exactly what they did.

Now, after clinching the division title last Saturday, it seems keeping Washington was a good baseball decision, too.

I do not know if  Ron Washington is a great manager, I do not know how far he will lead this team in the playoffs, but I do know that when a man wants another chance we owe it to him not only to forgive, but to forget. Whether we win or lose. What happened last year is old news, it's time to be moving on.

And another thing: baseball is back. I mean real baseball, not the steroids version of 1990's baseball that turned an at-bat into a home-run derby and a pitch into a radar-gun contest. Steroids, or injecting artificial testosterone, was ruining this great game of skill, strategy, and finesse. But it's back and Ron Washington likes to play it the old-school way -- just seeing a suicide squeeze attempted by the Rangers is exciting, seeing it work makes me giddy.

Anyway, Give 'em hell Ron. Congratulations on your success. And thanks for bringing the great game back to Texas.
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See Tim Brown of Yahoo Sports for an excellent article on Ron Washington

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