| I uploaded my Spicy Chocolate Black Bean Dip recipe to the my recipe box on the Food Network web site. I had to read a bunch of stuff about how I was giving up all rights to this or whatever. So, if that's the case, shouldn't I see it indexed on their site?
Maybe eventually. When someone reviews it? Tries it? What's the point of uploading the recipe unless I can go all social networking with it?
I can't log into the LJ Jabber server. I blame the Russians. | comments: Leave a comment   |
| What the hell is up with the fair motto this year? "Seriously Twisted Fun"? It's a reference to the rides, of course, so maybe my reading on it falls under the guise of "thinking too much", but really, I go to the fair to enjoy lots of fun that cannot, by any means, be construed as "twisted". I'm enjoying my fair non-ironically, thank you.
I really went there for the food, though: New York Pizza, Wisconsin Cheese, Philly Cheese Steak, ( wait, what? ) | | comments: 17 comments or Leave a comment |
| Every so often I get/make a chance to cook, and manage to do something pretty nifty. This evening was as much a triumph of logistics as it was other culinary skills. Roasted shallots in a port wine reduction over lentils, Brie baked in a puff pastry (with some chutney on the side), and wilted spinach and garlic were the order of the evening (L. had dessert duty, but our kitchen required that it happen after dinner).
I managed to time everything so that plating was actually one smooth operation just as the brie was coming out of the oven. Chalk it up to careful reading and noting of cooking times as much as anything else. The lentils were a tad underdone (al lente?), and the reduction wasn't quite reduced enough (for my liking). I did, however, forget to turn off the range during dinner and came back to a _very_ thick reduction with the leftover shallots that I had to degrease with (you guessed it) more port. This led to a quite tasty bit of leftovers still cooling in the fridge.
L. cooked a chocolate lava cake that was simply delightful. I'll let her talk about that. | | comments: 3 comments or Leave a comment |
| Anthony Boudrain gives a royal beatdown to the Food Network. Likes the old guard, despises much of the new group, and boggles at the misuse of the greats. Also gives his favorite Iron Chef matchups.
Thankfully, he likes Alton. That alone is enough to make me run out and order "Kitchen Confidential", right there. Alton's engineering-based deconstruction of cooking has helped me more in the kitchen than anything else (mostly in terms of what-not-to-worry-about, and what-to-really-sweat).
I also intensely dislike Bobby Flay, but I can't argue with his skills (at least, as they appear on TV). Heaping abuse on him as they do indeed seems rather uncharitable.
And who knew Giada could cook? You'd never know it from her shows. | | comments: 7 comments or Leave a comment |
| So ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) sylvia_wrath and I played hooky Thursday afternoon to get a headstart on the wonder that is the state fair. Thursday the rides and many of the exhibits are closed, but the food carts are open. We were able to get a lead on our required allowances of fried things.
So: Roasted corn, fries, coke, fried pickles, fried coke, drinks. We got there late, so many of the things that were open for lunch had closed, and despite me birddogging for her, L refused several BBQ sandwich opportunities. the fried pickles were exquisite, the fried coke, less so. If they'd managed to make a sort of fried coke cordial kind of thing, that would have been good. This coke-syrup-in-the-dough thing was sort of... cheating. The fried has to wrap around something.
We then retired to the house and sat around bemoaning our lack of impulse control. | | comments: 7 comments or Leave a comment |
| Got Sean over to help me move the old transmission to the shed and get the new transmission out of the car (since we can't do the swap this weekend). Damn, those things are heavy.
Rockford was closed (they said Kitchen Repairs), so we went to Hibernion. For some reason, not all the tables outside were getting waitressing service, so we booked it to Greenshields.
Now AIM is refusing to accept my login. What gives? | | comments: 1 comment or Leave a comment |
| Sean and I roadtripped to Commerce, GA yesterday. It's about an hour out of Atlanta, so my thoughts of hanging out in Atlanta we kinda squelched. We headed to W.'s place to get a good deal on several car parts both he and I needed. We came back with the Probe about a hundread and change pounds heavier:
Rebuilt C-6 Transmission
289/302 High Compression Cylinder heads
Misc Gasketry
Performance Tuned Roller cams
New timing chain and gears for 429/460
Wheel for the T-bird (since I don't have a spare wheel, much less a tire).
All in all a good haul. We tried to hit a BBQ joint in Salisbury, but either I was going to the wrong place, or It'd been torn down. We tried to call J. to give us eating places for Greensboro, but couldn't reach her. We settled on the Flying Burrito in Chapel Hill, and plowed through dinner there (we were pretty hungry by that time).
I got home and managed to get my USB Compact Flash reader working without too much pain under Linux. Standards rock. No more fiddling with that stupid serial cable transfer. | | comments: 1 comment or Leave a comment |
| Saturday was a very busy day. Fixed the sink, the back screen door, and then went to the WXDU dance party! Got terribly lost trying to find Ringside, and eneded up parking in a way inconvenient spot. spicyleesh parked there too, so it was fortunate that we were there. Rocked the night away!
As a result, Sunday was a little slow.
L. cooked dinner for me, and it seemed to make her sick, but not me. Go fig. | | comments: 1 comment or Leave a comment |
| OJ: Check
Coffee: Check
Chai Tea: Check
Bagels: (deferred)
Biscuits: (deferred)
Donuts: (deferred)
Champange: Check
Ray of Hope: Check
Time for bed. | | comments: Leave a comment |
| I've got the Thunderbird inspected. It passed! L. and S. and I did the victory lap abd ended up at Ole Time Barbecue. Now I got the registration updated on the DMV website, and I'll be ready to cruise around a lot more now.
Still gotta clean some serious house, though. | | comments: 1 comment or Leave a comment |
| I made cheese sauce (for macaroni) last night. From scratch. It requires much more effort than I'd originally thought. Goodness!
Yes, it was tasty, even L. said so. | | comments: 3 comments or Leave a comment |
| I was supposed to meet this guy.
It wasn't really important that he meet me, see; but I felt that my life would be enriched somewhat if I met him. From what I knew of him and his writings, he seemed like the kind of guy I'd like to meet. Nothing life changing, mind you, but more just something enriching.
Anyway, I didn't get to meet this guy, and ended up in Chicago with a bunch of people, many who'd met the guy, some who hadn't. We were all there because he wasn't going to be meeting anyone anymore.
(In a bizarre twist, there was another event of the same stripe in Raleigh this weekend that I missed because I didn't know about it until just before it happened)
But, as they say, enough of that.
What followed was a weekend of drinking, eating, and carousing that should be present at any event of this nature. Much good food was had (Indian, Swedish, Deep Dish). Beer and liquors were consumed in above average quantities. Museums were trolled. Chicago fell, like so many other cities had before.
I'd do it again in a heartbeat. Sleep tight, V. (and A.). | | comments: 3 comments or Leave a comment |
| Waffle House for breakfast and lunch today (don't tell the other parties involved). Fortuneately, it was two different Waffle Houses. I hope L. doesn't want WaHo for dinner.
Burp. | | comments: 1 comment or Leave a comment |
| My Friends thrw a spiffy little wedding shower thing last night, and so we ended up driving home with like 20 bottles of booze in the car (it was a fill the liquor cabinet shower). Future generations will be drinking this.
Or maybe not.
I ate Waffle House for lunch, and now I've got really bad heartburn. I need to get some club soda in cans for work, or mineral water, to avoid the big caffeene and sugar surge (plus the bizzare chemical soup), that comes with drinking a soda (which seems to make the heartburn go away). | | comments: 1 comment or Leave a comment |
| I saw Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Well worth the 45 seconds of extra footage! Most of the fun was had because it was a group thing. I'd forgotten what it was like to be around a bunch of Python afficianados.
Quick stop at Cosmic Cantina for dinner on the run. Then off to the Brewery to see The Donnas. I'm now in love with their bass player (well, except for the fact that I already have a fiancee). The twisted sister glitter logo iron-on baseball tee-shirt thing gets me everytime (that, and the moody goth thing).
Oh yeah, and they did a Judas Preist cover. Sweet.
I wish now, though, that I'd seen The Butchies on Saturday, so I could have had the compare/contrast thing going on. | | comments: Leave a comment |
| I'm taking the week off, so any local friends who wanna do lunch in Raleigh send me a message and we'll hook up.
Food is such a communal experience for me that I have an actual aversion to eating alone. Drinking alone is another matter.
When I die old and friendless, it will probably be of starvation. | | comments: 1 comment or Leave a comment |
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