Feedback / Apr/May 2012
Notes
DR. NOORISTANI AND THE PIER
Dear SLO LIFE,
My sister sent me a copy of your magazine because of the story of Dr. Nooristani (he saved my father’s arm from being amputated this past fall) and the fabulous photo of the Cayucos Pier (my family owned a business there where the Old Cayucos Tavern is now located).
I went online hoping to view the picture of the pier and to share with others I know from the area. Unfortunately, the pier picture was not featured on your website.
I already put a link on my Facebook page to view your magazine but would still like to share the photo. Is there any link you can provide me to post on Facebook. I’ve had a number of friends asking to see the photo.
Thank you,
Lance Young
Tucson, Arizona
Thanks, Lance, we’re glad to hear that your father is doing well. That Dr. Nooristani is quite a guy! Regarding the Cayucos Pier shot, we have received quite a few similar requests so we posted it on our Facebook page where you can access it. The address is www.facebook.com/slolifemagazine
HAVE DONATION, WILL TRAVEL
Hi my name is Paul, I live in San Luis Obispo, my number is XXX-XXXX, I really loved your latest issue, and I wanted to get a hold of the Noor Foundation that you had an article about. Could you call me and leave me their phone number? If you had an address that’d be great, too. I want to make a donation to them. Thanks for the great magazine. Talk to you later. Bye.
Hi again, Paul. It was good talking with you the other day. We thought we should share that information with everyone. Their number is (805) 439-1797, more info: noorfoundation.org
WHAT THE HILL!?
Well, where the hill do we start with this one?... We received more phone calls, emails, and comments about this subject than we have any other. And, clearly we didn’t know what the hill we were talking about in the last issue.
In the Earthen Oven article we made a reference to “Madonna Mountain.” While we ran a story last year [Places – Cerro San Luis, Spring 2011] explaining that the proper name of the hill we all love so much is actually “Cerro San Luis” even though many commonly refer to it as “Madonna Mountain.” The fact is, the proper name is Cerro San Luis.
And, if you are going to make a mistake, why the hill not make it a big one? In the “Choose Your Adventure” piece, our beloved Bishop Peak was referred to as “Bishop’s Peak”… astute readers quickly corrected us on the mistake: there is no possessive in the name. While it’s common to hear people call it “Bishop’s Peak” the actual name is “Bishop Peak.”
We sure as hill did not mean to offend anyone, and promise not to make the mistake again!
CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE
In the last issue’s “The Way We Live” feature we failed to give credit to the photographer who took those amazing shots of Dewey and Georgiana Peterson’s home in Barron Canyon Ranch. So, we would like to take this opportunity to correct the mistake by saying “thank you” to Elliott Johnson for a job well done!
FOOD CONNECTION
It seems that the Earthen Oven story struck a chord with many of you and we were thrilled to have received a letter from Kiko Denzer, who wrote the definitive book on building earthen ovens. She asked us to forward a message on to Roberto, and we thought you would get a kick out of the conversation that followed.
Dear Roberto,
What a gorgeous piece of work! ... a wonderful, wonderful story. It really is the story that connects us all. I mean that generally and specifically. The stories of who we are and where we come from, and the stories of food and fire, hearth, earth, etc.
Anyway, I so liked your story that I wanted to ask if I could post it on my website, where I’m trying to archive oven stories and photos. It would be a great gift.
Right now I’m in MN to help celebrate my own father’s life, which ended recently after nearly 91 years -- I built him and his wife a couple of ovens, which they incorporated into a semi-annual craft fair that they’ve been holding at their pottery studio for years -- they had also lived in Italy for years, where they learned a much different connection to their food than they had had here in the US.
May you always have time and dough for bread/pizza and parties!
best wishes,
-- Kiko Denzer
Blodgett, Oregon
Hi Kiko,
Someone at SLO LIFE Magazine just sent me a note that you wanted to contact me about the earthen oven article in the magazine. I’m a big fan of your books and used the “How to Build Your Own Earth Oven” book extensively while doing research for the project.
After the trip to El Salvador we took the plunge to build the big oven. I hired Jordan at www.ncredibleedibles.com to guide me through the whole process since my wife was nervous about me burning the house down. He was great to work with and very knowledgeable, but I still leaned on your book for many of the more technical details (door height to dome height ratios) and the insulation layer. I’m a mechanical engineer so many your design rules made sense.
The final product came out fantastic. Everyone is in love with the project. My only problem now is keeping up with the demand to hold oven parties.
The time elapsed video is kind of fun also
[you can go to slolifemagazine.com to access the video].
Thanks for reaching out.
Take care,
Roberto Monge
MORE “BLURBS”
We received some more mail from Aileen Lehto/Papiro, who wrote “Chicago, My Kind of Town” in the last issue. There was a note attached to another short story which read:
“HEY SLO LIFE, TNX.MILL. FOR PRINTING MY ARTICLE IN YOUR LAST MAG. I WAS SURPRISED!! AL/P”
And, since many of you commented that you enjoyed reading her fun little “blurb” about Chicago in the last issue, we are going to run another one:
“My Take on Travel - Land, Sea, and Air”
By Aileen Lehto/Papiro
My very first commercial flight was a wonderful experience, discounting my seaplane flight on Lake Superior @ age 14, was on AirFrance from Los Angeles to Paris. It was probably my smoothest, neatest flight ever. Then right off to Madrid, Spain. Everything was lovely and exciting - the scenic beauty, fabulous art gallery and my very favorite, the Prado, the food and the people - loved it all.
The bus trip to Malaga took us thru the gorgeous Costa del Sol area along the beach untouched by high-rises, etc. We hopped on the ferry past the famous Rock of Gibraltar to Morocco. I even rode on a camel - oops! Or was that on another safari when my daughter and I visited the Sphinx and the Pyramids in Egypt?? Fascinating!! This on our trek to Israel, Cyprus, Jerusalem, old Jaffa, Bethlehem, Nazareth, wailing wall, and running barefoot in the Sea of Galilee and the River Jordan. Wow! Awesome!! And inspiring!! But I digress. It was great fun visiting the beach and the city of Casablanca. Next came Marrakech, another awesome city - then came the Capital, Rabat, Morocco. After seeing so many mosques, museums, and the like, I decided to wait outdoors during the tour inside Rabat’s mosque. Instead, I took pictures of Moroccan ants. There was no discernable difference in facial expressions or demeanor from our American ants. I do hope no one was taking pictures of me taking pictures of ants. yikes!
WE REALLY SHOULD TALK MORE
Please note that we have changed or phone number here at SLO LIFE Magazine from 805-553-8820 to 805-543-8600.
