Last night we saw this dude rolling a giant wheel down 6th Avenue. It was sweet.

Wheel Video from Mollie Lauffer on Vimeo.

Our good friend Oran—a.k.a. Cranberry—just published his highly anticipated (by us) memoir, Long Past Stopping. Yes, Oran’s the son of the Chicken Soup for the Soul guy. We remember LPS in its infancy—a mere Word document, rough but already stewing with the tidbits of a—ahem—fucking crazy life. Drugs, juggling, and anarchy made him one of our favorite people. Here’s a video of Oran reenacting page [tk] at the LPS release party last month. Buy this book!

long past juggling from Mollie Lauffer on Vimeo.

Now that you’ve gathered ingredients and supplies, it’s time to start brewing! Ingredients and supplies are listed in Part One of the EZ Kombucha Guide.

Part Two: Fermentation

1. Put your SCOBY aside in a glass bowl. I use a Pyrex measuring cup. Keep it in the fridge until it’s ready to use. No need to cover it unless you’ll be storing for more than the time it takes to cool the boiling water (Step 2) and/or your fridge really smells.
2. Boil 3 1/2 quarts of water in a large pot. I actually have a 1.8-quart Le Creuset tea kettle (right), so I just use two kettlefuls of tap water, which makes for easy pouring later. Distilled water is recommended by some folks, but if your tap water is good, then that’s fine. It’s wasteful to buy bottled water unless necessary. If you have a home filtration system like Brita, then of course use that.
3. Let the water cool until it’s not scorchingly hot, and then pour into the glass jar. Careful! I actually pour the boiling water right into the jar so I can start boiling another kettleful, and I haven’t had any problems at all, but Meatloafing readers may want to use more caution. Fill the jar to the point where it starts to get smaller, near the lid.
4. Add 5-6 tea bags* and let steep for 5-8 minutes (5 if the water’s boiling, 8 if it’s really hot but not boiling). Discard tea. Continue for photos!

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Our good friend Mom bought a motorcycle recently. In her own words:

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While strolling through Soho on Saturday, our friend Shawn noted that lately there seems to be more crazy people in New York. Is it the ecomony? Obama? iPhones? We’re not really sure why, but after running into this guy later that same day, we think he’s right.

You are a unique and beautiful snowflake.

• Our good friends over at Lunchboxr have started a Flickr group. When you add your photos to the group, your lovely lunch appears on the Lunchboxr home page. See, there’s my grilled cheese sandwich from yesterday. Fun!
• Snow is pretty, but wind and rain? No thanks! Get yourself a Nubrella, the revolutionary umbrella that won’t flip inside-out.
• Jesse L. Martin announces departure from Law & Order; the world cries. So much for my JLM–Jeremy Sisto sandwich. (But he’ll be playing Marvin Gaye in the upcoming biopic, so the world cries again, but the tears are made of joy, not sadness.) [Variety]

Urban Outfittters: “One-size” tights are a terrible idea and you certainly shouldn’t be selling them for $20. I have some $4 ones from Old Navy and they sag and it’s not only just weird, it’s uncomfortable and makes me feel like I’m wearing a diaper. So I’m not going to buy your more expensive tights even if they’re really cute. Here’s what our good friend Elizabeth, a fashion design student at FIT, has to say about the subject:

Meatloafing: honestly, would you buy that shit?
Elizabeth: one size fits all?
Elizabeth: depends. sometimes, yes.

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