Van Dyke

On Slate.com's Political Gabfest, Mr. Plotz asked why so many Republicans wear Van Dyke beards. I'm no expert but...

Here's why I wear a "Van Dyke" beard-

1) I'm overweight - As I gained weight over the years, my neck slowly took over and destroyed my "chin line", that natural line that shows where my neck ends and my face begins. I hide the fact that the line is missing by having a beard that specifically says- "My chin is right here!" or at least- "this is where it used to be".

2) I look young when my face is bald - I once read that Andy Warhol prematurely dyed his hair grey in order to appear older. Apparently, youth was not something that was helping him get taken seriously in the art world. It seems, currently, there is a movement towards natural grey hair, but I have a feeling that there are a number of folks that don't want to really appear old, just more "serious". When I shave off my beard, I seem to get ten years younger - everybody I know tells me as much. I have a feeling that there are a lot of "baby faced" gentlemen that need a beard so they don't have to hear "shayna punim" (or whatever the gentile equivalent is) whenever they walk into a room.

3) Van Dykes were hip twenty minutes ago - In the late eighties I had a pony tail. I'm sure a lot of the people that you see with Van Dykes were the same type of people who wore pony tails in the eighties. They are under the illusion that they can look "business" and still be "edgy". This is the same mistake a lot of people with mullets made.

Now, as to the question- Why, specifically, the Van Dyke?

The Van Dyke beard is a well maintained beard- its shape instantly shows that the wearer cares about their appearance. When I grow more of a beard, I start to look like Bluto from the old Popeye cartoons. Very few people actually want to look like Bluto.

Eric Ericsson's Fish Company

On friday, Carole and I drove up to Ventura for the Harvest Festival. If you don't know, the Harvest Festival is a nomadic craft expo featuring "home made" food, furniture and fun. I picked up some banana jam, triple berry jam and peanut brittle. Carole picked up a nice hat, a few gifts and half of the brittle I'd bought.

Right near Harvest Festival was a fish restaurant that we've been wanting to try, Eric Ericsson's Fish Co.



The view of the ocean and pier were lovely and the food was slightly better then it had to be. We started off with the ceviche and chips, which were nice enough, although a little bland.



We then moved on to the main courses- Carole ordered the Salmon Club, hold the bacon, and I went for the Jalapeno Fish & Chips. As we sometimes do, we split the meals in half and shared. The salmon was cooked perfectly, if a little small for the bun (not height, width- the two halves weren't equal, I ended up with a bad fish to bun ratio). The sandwich was served with a nice, sweet coleslaw that had pineapple chunks in it. I liked the coleslaw a lot more then the Salmon Club.



The Jalapeno Fish & Chips were great. They'd put diced pieces of jalapenos in the fish batter, which gave a pleasant kick that really added a lot. Also, the slight heat went well with the sweet coleslaw that came with the Salmon Club. I think that if I was doing the meal solo, I'd order the Jalapeno Fish & Chips with a side of their coleslaw, it worked that well together.



I thought the dessert we ordered was mediocre, though Carole liked it more. It was a Polynesian Roll- which was Cheesecake, caramel and banana wrapped in dough, fried and coated with cinnamon and sugar. There was also a drizzle of caramel sauce to finish the dish. Sounds great, right? Meh. It was sweet, sure, but that's about it.