Don't get me wrong, my hometown of Oroville is one classy little hamlet in the Sierra Nevada foothills. If the Montgomery Street Pub doesn't make you want to put on your best dancing shoes, then nothing well.       The menu of this "pub" features such mouth watering, culinary treats like nachos and hot dogs. I know that's what I think of when I'm wanting pub fare. Screw the whole thing that Liverpool Lil's is trying to do. Roast beef and potatoes is for little prancing princess fairies. A pile of chips with velveeta over the top is solid accompaniment to the tipples that range from Budweiser to Bud Light to Coors to Coors Light with a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale tossed in for that tasty lick of class. By the way, no matter how "ironic" it is to drink Pabst Blue Ribbon, I've never actually seen anyone in Oroville drinking it, despite the fact that we're as blue collar as it gets. Take that hipsters.       But, beyond drinks and food, it's the code of conduct that makes this pub stand out. Some of the better items on the list include, "No yelling @ anyone in anger" and "No fighting / pushing @ all". Also enjoyable are the constant warnings that there is a constantly wet floor in the pub and that shoes are always required because of this. Apparently, if the floor were dry, shoes would be on the table as negotiable for service in the pub. But, the number one item that really makes this a true Oroville establishment is "Personal Hygiene Enforced" and in case you don't know what that means, they continue with "(No Foul Odor)". This little list by itself can be all that you need to enjoy what it is that my hometown offers.

For those unfamiliar with them, roundabouts are a great, modern solution to the traffic light which are actually insanely primitive. They're all the rage in Europe and ever so slowly, they're being built in the US. While a bit confusing to me at first, I've quickly gotten used to them and I like the ever so simple functionality of them, which that Wikipedia article I link to about explains nicely.       In my hometown of Oroville, they've decided to rip out the traffic lights and install one at the corner of Washington and Montgomery. It makes a good deal of sense as this is one of the town's more busy intersections and it allows for a constant, easy flow of traffic. And let me emphasize that they actually understand how to build a roundabout here as opposed to the fake roundabout at Division, Townsend, 8th, and Kansas in San Francisco where people have to stop at a stop sign before they proceed to merge in to the roundabout. Stupid, yes.       Anyways, the Oroville roundabout is coming along well. People are still getting used to it, but it appears to try and maintain the "down home and country" quality of town, they've put up an official sign notifying people to, "Yield to Pedestians". It's quality work that was thankfully pointed out to me by #1 Fan. As a pedestrian, I am a little pissed that this minority pedestian group has managed to secure safety rights at this roundabout while I'm left having to dart in and out of traffic when crossing the street. But, such is Oroville. We bleev in kualty up thir.

On this most recent trip up to the homestead, I made sure to indulge in one of the few things that my birthplace has to offer me beyond motherly chiding, which is olive oil. The area around Oroville, has a climate very similar to that of Mediterranean countries and so naturally foods like olives grow well. In theory, wine would grow well also, but I've as of yet to really find a winery in the area producing anything worthy of writing about, but that will be a future article someday.       It's a funny thing with the olives really because while living in San Francisco, I often encounter all kinds of "exotic" olive oils that will fetch upwards of $75 a liter for their "amazing quality". To quote my country roots, "That's horseshit." At some point along the way, we lost sight of the fact that olive oil, along with wine and cheese making is all farming. It's not a mystic art. It's growing something up out of the earth, processing it with care, and then selling an honest product. It is unlikely to shock the reader that I refuse to pay this $75 a liter for an olive oil. Often I find myself at Trader Joe's buying the stuff that's $8-10 a liter which is perfectly fine and tasty since I use it in cooking more than anything else (don't hate me if I live to 145.) The only issue is that those TJ's oils are from Spain or Greece typically and while there are a great many things right with them, there is the massive issue that I'm not buying locally and I'm incurring massive transportation use to get that oil from Europe to California.       Thus enters the fact that I've finally gotten around to finding proper olive oil from my hometown that is not only reasonable in price, but also quite excellent in taste. It's true that most all of them won't ever beat the European oils as they irrigate too heavily here and the oil is without that potent thickness that those 20,000 km away have. But even still, it's good stuff.       My first Oroville oil was from Lodestar. They have been growing good olives up there and the oil is decent. It's a tad pricey for what it is and it's also lacking a bit in flavor. I'm not sure if they over filter it, but I don't think it's Extra Virgin First Cold Pressed as the color is just too yellow and not enough green to trust its purity. They also like to specialize in dippin' oils and balsamic mixtures which, while fine, are not something you would just to do with a super pure oil as it's a waste of the flavor.       I've moved beyond them though to Butte View, who actually own the presses that Lodestar uses to press their olives. This is a funny family. While we all like to have this perception of these well-bred farmers hand-crafting each and every bottle of oil that they make by rubbing it with a silk towel to polish the label, it just ain't true. The Butte View folks are for lack of a better word, country. They've got cowboy hats, Wrangler jeans, ATV's, dogs, American trucks, and probably a good number of guns. But despite all outward appearances, they are a damned smart family of farmers making one of the best olive oils in California. It amazes me that they can, since their yield is some 10 times per tree of that in Europe, which would make one think that the flavors would be weaker. But, it isn't so. The oils are robust, deep, and delicious. This is so much the case that we bought nearly 12 liters of oil while on this most recent visit. If we use it fast enough, we'll get the 19 liter drum next time.       Sure, these oils may be hard to find wherever you are, but I take great pride in knowing something as basic and necessary to life like olive oil can be produced here, produced well, and made in an affordable manner that still has all the proper taste it should.

A word that is oft tossed around freely is Balkanization. In its truest form, it refers to the breakup of the country that was formerly known as Yugoslavia. In its most idiotic form, it is used to refer to collection of smaller items that separate from a larger one. I have a crazy idea: stop using this word.       As you can see from the Wikipedia article that I linked to, there isn't really any history given as to how the word came about. Obviously it came in to use as former Yugoslavia started to fall apart, but there isn't any mention as to who was the first person to coin it in to the common vernacular. At this point, it doesn't really matter. What does matter is that it's an offensive word. Why people can't simply say, "breakup", "collapse", or "separation" is the same reason that we use French words for wine varietals, in that one believes one has the air of being educated if one is to use this bigger, fancier word.       Do any of you who use this word think of the people who actually live in this region of the Western Balkans and what this means to them? It would be like saying every time you serve a bad meal that it's suffered "Britization". No one wants that and it's an unfair association to a region that never asked for the word to be used in the first place. And I pick on the British in this example as I suspect them of starting common use of the word, such as in this article on the BBC that's actually about Africa. It's just one of many.       Beyond the offense of the word, there is just the complete blindness to history. Yugoslavia was actually comprised of various states that had been independent at various points throughout history. So, Yugoslavia was an artificial entity that was bound to separate just like countless other larger countries that have broken up over the centuries. Of course we don't say USSRization, Czechoslovakization, British Empirization, or even Austro-Hungarization. No, we say Balkanization and we say it too much. It's a word we need to lose and just revert back to the normal words I mentioned before. Saying Grenache instead of Garnacha may sound "fancier" to some, but saying, Balkanization just shows that you have no true grasp of what you're talking about, leaving you to fumble for large words to attempt to cover that fact up.       This article is cross posted at Čevapija

For those who might have been sitting around wondering, "Huh, did I forget about something happening this last weekend?" you missed out on the SF Public Library Annual Book Sale. I only caught the closing minutes of it on Friday due to work running over too much, but #1 Fan took the bullet and went ahead to scout out proper titles to take home. Naturally, we're very happy with what we came away with, and at $28 for 13 books, you really can't beat that. Some people went a little overboard there, looking like they were stocking up for the next year with reading material. In the end, I'm just thrilled that we now have San Sombrèro to round out the Jetlag Travel Series.       Being that we were up in the hood, we decided to splurge and have dinner at Greens. Yeah, I know, it's vegetarian and that has the potential for overall suckiness, but for starters, this isn't vegan poo dirt they're serving like they do at Millennium. They use cheese and other kinds of goodness. Secondly, these guys just know what they're doing. Toss in the view of the Golden Gate Bridge if the fog hasn't rolled in and you've got one hell of a romantic setting. Even if you're a staunch meat lover (and lord knows I am) you'll have a good meal there. Great wine list too.       But, Greens is old news. The newer news is Crown & Crumpet up at Ghirardelli Square. It's the newest tea salon in San Francisco. At some point, I need to do a tea in SF roundup as I realize that I've been to all but two tea spots in the city. Crown is one of the better ones. They have a well-honed list of teas and the desserts are heavenly, especially the scones. The only two downsides are that a) it's not cheap and b) it's verges on being really girlie. I'm not sure if the prices will change, but if they just got rid of the pink and white floor, it would be great. Judging by how easily it gets scuffed, this might happen, but I won't hold my breath. It's a shame as tea is seen to be such a weakling thing here and this image doesn't help. It also doesn't do much to get the guys to want to go with their women up there as opposed to Tal y Tara out in the Richmond, which takes on a more English edge and no one should be ashamed of being seen at.