the 941

— Venice T.J. Maxx staffers who suffered through Tuesday night’s insane hostage crisis in the store talk more about their harrowing experiences. Other fallout? Turns out the police still don’t know who they’re looking for: “Hours later, Venice police had few leads, saying only that they were pursuing two white suspects. Witnesses could provide little information because the intruders were masked and wore gloves.”

— Community leaders in Newtown — including City Commissioner Fredd “Glossie” Atkins — say a recent uptick in murders in the neighborhood is due to a decreased number of cops on the beat.

— The Tallevast Community Center begins work on a community “wall” garden. Planting in the ground remains off-limits due to the neighborhood’s poisoned groundwater.

— The topic for today’s Tiger Bay Club get-together? Offshore oil drilling. Sure to be lively.

— Richard Swier at Red County Sarasota looks at Sarasota County schools’ FCAT numbers, and wonders if money spent teaching to the test is worth it.

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Here’s the thing about languages that aren’t dead: They grow and evolve (Sorry, Latin — have a neat summer!), most notably by adapting to their contexts. These days, obviously, that context involves the Internet and its trends and memes. Keep that in mind as I point out this headline about the Country Music Awards:

I expect the headline writer hadn’t intended my first thought would be that I had no idea this…

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COVER STORY

— What’s next for Jannus Landing? The life, death and rebirth of a beloved concert venue.

NEWS & VIEWS

— Image of the week: Same-sex marriage supporters March for equality in downtown Sarasota.

— The week that was: Rounding up local headlines.

— .Com-ments: Bahi Hut, El Guaro, local hooch, Safe Sex Halloween Bash.

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“Quern” by B.L. Elkins will be displayed at the Creative Arts Association Fall Art Show Sat., Nov. 21

Ed. note: This piece was compiled by Danielle Favreau.

VISUAL ARTS: OPENING

ALLYN GALLUP CONTEMPORARY ART GALLERY 1419 5TH St., Sarasota (366-2093 or allyngallup.com). William Nichols Enveloped Outside will be on display through Nov. 28.  Normal hours are 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Tues.-Sat. Free.

ARTCENTER MANATEE 209 9th St. W., Bradenton (746-2862 or artcentermanatee.org). On and Off the Wall, an open, juried all media exhibition will be on display through Dec. 4. Regular hours are 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Fri. Free.

ART UPTOWN 1367 Main St., Sarasota (955-5409 or artuptown.com). Laura Avery’s solo show Atmospheric Abstracts will feature her foil on canvas works. Also on display will be Boots Culbertson’s ceramics. Regular hours are 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Fri. and 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Sat. Free.

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I’m not normally a huge fan of cookies. Not that I don’t enjoy a good a good cookie from time to time, because I do. I just don’t go crazy for them the way I do other sweets like, say…ice cream or eclairs. But when I do reach into the cookie jar, it’s a pretty safe bet that there’s oatmeal involved. And, a combination of dried fruits. And definitely, some toasted nuts too. Truth be told, I usually don’t even bother with the cookie jar unless there’s a batch of these lovelies waiting in there for me. I can’t believe I’ve waited this long to tell you about my Scandalously Good Oatmeal cookies!

I call them Scandalously Good Oatmeal Cookies for good reason. They are scandalously good! In fact, they are the best oatmeal cookies ever, if I do say so myself! These little babies are everything a fabulous oatmeal cookie should be – shatteringly crispy around the edges, yet chewy and almost lacy on the inside. They’re made with real butter and brown sugar which makes them caramelize just the slightest bit when baked. And, they’re studded with an assortment of dried fruits and nuts. I found the original cookie recipe in an old issue of Cook’s Illustrated. I’ve played around with the ingredients and tweaked the recipe until I came up with what I think is the perfect oatmeal cookie. (more…)

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Daawat Indian Cuisine
3.5 stars
239 S. Links Ave., Sarasota, 366-4433 or daawatcuisine.com

At the beginning of 2009, Sarasota had one Indian restaurant, Tandoor, the only game in town for a very long time. Now, as 2009 is coming to a close, the local Indian cuisine scene is chock-full of options, with two new restaurants open since the end of the summer. Gateway to India — on Hillview in the Southside dining district — featured a surprisingly tasty lunch buffet and capable dinner, different and a bit better than the fare offered at Tandoor.

And now that Daawat is here, in the space formerly occupied by Canvas Café in downtown’s Towles Court art district, it appears that Sarasota has taken another step in the right direction.

Admittedly, the location gives Daawat an edge over its competition. Towles Court is one of downtown’s last unspoiled pieces of old Florida, a group of bungalows and craftsmen houses away from the bustle of the business district. Housed in one of those converted houses, Daawat’s dining room is a tiny shoebox, easily ignored thanks to two wonderful outdoor spaces. Both the front patio and side courtyard are now covered, with plastic walls that can be rolled down to protect against rain or chill, all with views of the pastoral setting.

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— Local media outlets wrap up Veterans Day events: The Bradenton Herald covers Manatee County ceremonies, the Observer has a slideshow from the Sarasota event and WWSB ABC 7 gives you footage from Venice.

— MC Coolidge honors veterans with a column about her time volunteering at a homeless shelter that housed American vets.

— Lael Hazan (who so graciously blogs for us here at Creative Loafing) just got picked up by Sarasota Magazine as well! Congrats to her! Check out her first blog post — on a very yummy topic — here.

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Creative Loafing Half-Hour Variety Hour: Episode #35 (Part 1)

Creative Loafing Half-Hour Variety Hour: Episode #35 (Part 2)

It’s that time again, folks! Time for more of the best banter on the Suncoast!

This week, Tim and I welcome a very special guest to the 1220 AM and 106.9 FM WSRQ studios: Contributing Writer Robert Johnson!

To kick things off, we chat with Tim about his cover story for this week’s issue, covering two new ways to get your hands on locally produced hooch. Then, in part two, we discuss Robert’s feature this week, updating readers on what’s been happening at the Sarasota Boxing Club since his original tale of the place. Then Tim jumps back on the mic and wraps things up with some observations from a recent Q&A he conducted with Sen. Bob Graham.

Listen up!

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The World Series of Beer Pong — “the largest, longest-running organized beer pong (aka Beirut) tournament in the world, created by beer pong players, for beer pong players” according to the WSOBP website — will start in less than two months, on Jan. 1 at the Flamingo Resort and Casino in Las Vegas.

But you knew that, right? You’ve been single-mindedly training since 2008, when team Chauffering the Fat Kid managed to snatch the suds from an all-but-victorious Iron Wizard Coalition by completing an amazing four straight sinks. Cinderella story? Yes. Biggest come-from-behind victory in the history of sports? Probably.

Don’t get the wrong impression about beer pong, though: it’s not all about beer consumption. (more…)

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Max McCalman didn’t plan on becoming a cheese guy. While working at the famed restaurant Picholine in New York City, the chef asked for volunteers to help him start a cheese program in the restaurant. It fell to McCalman almost by default. Now, 15 years later, McCalman has written two definitive books on cheese, with the new Mastering Cheese ($40, Random House) his third.

Mastering Cheese is somewhat of a departure from the previous two books, however. Instead of a cheese primer, or an encyclopedia of the world’s region’s and styles, McCalman has put together a fairly exhaustive course of study for readers who want to make the leap from cheese fan to true connoisseur. It’s almost laid out like a modern textbook, with dense text, lots of photographs, informative sidebars, and a bullet point recap at the end of each chapter as study guide. No pop quizzes, thankfully.

McCalman’s smart enough to string together the serious work of understanding cheese with plenty of narrative to keep a reader interested. He’s also passionate about his subject, especially when it comes to taking restrictive food regulations that limit the importation or production methods of raw milk cheeses. He’s preaching to the choir in this book, I imagine.

What makes Mastering Cheese so inherently useful, (more…)

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