For all of the RNC's lavish spending on Palin in the past month, I just read that Palin's make-up lady was the highest paid person in the McCain campaign during the first two weeks of October. $22,800 for two weeks of make-up expertise.
And let's face it here. It's not like you're trying to make McCain look like George Clooney. This is Sarah Palin. I just imagine if you remove all the make-up that you'd see THIS.
Reagan's out there somewhere ya know, hanging out with Elvis, and Jimi, and Tupac. In some dive bar in Montana, just drinking and laughing with those guys. And Kurt Cobain is there playing darts. And Chris Farley is like the totally funny/big-brotherly bartender guy. But Reagan is definitely the ringleader. Keeping the guys focused for there eventual reemergence as the League of Six: Ultimate Fighting Force! At least that's how it is in Anthony and I's dreams.
Or maybe this. is little more plausible. Zombie Reagan '08!
Friday, October 24, 2008
Friday, February 8, 2008
So I am way behind....
Hopefully today I will be able to catch up significantly to where I am. Keeping up with a blog is hard.
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Recipe Night #3 / Perfecting my bread recipe
1/20/08 - Sunday
Sunday I didn't have Scrabble, so I thought it might be a good day to do some cooking.
I started out with breakfast and made:
- Tofu & Egg Scramble with tomatoes, goat cheese, & mint
- Rosemary Pork Loin Chops
- Drop Soda Biscuits (from my new bread book Beard on Bread)
- Half Grapefruit
The breakfast was good, although my Tofu & Egg Scramble turned out a bit wet because I didn't squeeze the tofu out enough. I have found that if you briefly boil the tofu the press it in a colander lined with a towel to soak the moisture, the tofu gets a distinctive ground meat texture. I just pressed this one with my hands and it was not very satisfactory.
The drop biscuits were very bad because we used baking soda instead of baking powder. Ugh. Maybe next weekend we will try it the right way.
In the evening, I made some Rolled Oatmeal Bread from the above mentioned bread book, that was very delicious despite my messing it up a lot. I didn't really observe my yeast enough when I added it and some sugar to the warm water. Apparently it didn't bubble at all which would have tipped me off right then that the yeast was no longer active. This being the case, I didn't know until the dough didn't rise that there was a problem. We decided to go ahead and bake what we had. What turned out was what you can expect from unrisen bread: a very dense almost doughy bread that retained all of the same flavors it would have had. Thus, it is a very very tasty recipe, but the final result will probably be a much easier to eat bread. that being said though, I will probably still only let the dough rise once as the denseness of the bread appealed to both Katy and I.
1/21/08 - Lamb Redux & Roasted Fingerling Potatoes
Last night I made dinner from the leftover half leg of lamb from cooking Katy's birthday dinner and a dozen or so fingerling potatoes:
- Roasted Leg of Lamb ala Brett
- Lemon Salt-Roasted Fingerling Potatoes
- UberDense Oatmeal Bread
I roasted roasted the leg of lamb in a thrown together sauce of red wine, olive oil, rosemary, mint, garlic, onions and pears. I basted the leg with the sauce and then put the onions and pears on the top to let the juices drip onto the leg.
The potatoes turned out really nice, but there wasn't a whole lot to them. Tossing the potatoes in the butter and olive oil gave them just the right amount of stuff to roast without them being really oily. Also, the spices allowed the potatoes to do there thing and accent their natural sweet flavor.
Sunday I didn't have Scrabble, so I thought it might be a good day to do some cooking.
I started out with breakfast and made:
- Tofu & Egg Scramble with tomatoes, goat cheese, & mint
- Rosemary Pork Loin Chops
- Drop Soda Biscuits (from my new bread book Beard on Bread)
- Half Grapefruit
The breakfast was good, although my Tofu & Egg Scramble turned out a bit wet because I didn't squeeze the tofu out enough. I have found that if you briefly boil the tofu the press it in a colander lined with a towel to soak the moisture, the tofu gets a distinctive ground meat texture. I just pressed this one with my hands and it was not very satisfactory.
The drop biscuits were very bad because we used baking soda instead of baking powder. Ugh. Maybe next weekend we will try it the right way.
In the evening, I made some Rolled Oatmeal Bread from the above mentioned bread book, that was very delicious despite my messing it up a lot. I didn't really observe my yeast enough when I added it and some sugar to the warm water. Apparently it didn't bubble at all which would have tipped me off right then that the yeast was no longer active. This being the case, I didn't know until the dough didn't rise that there was a problem. We decided to go ahead and bake what we had. What turned out was what you can expect from unrisen bread: a very dense almost doughy bread that retained all of the same flavors it would have had. Thus, it is a very very tasty recipe, but the final result will probably be a much easier to eat bread. that being said though, I will probably still only let the dough rise once as the denseness of the bread appealed to both Katy and I.
1/21/08 - Lamb Redux & Roasted Fingerling Potatoes
Last night I made dinner from the leftover half leg of lamb from cooking Katy's birthday dinner and a dozen or so fingerling potatoes:
- Roasted Leg of Lamb ala Brett
- Lemon Salt-Roasted Fingerling Potatoes
- UberDense Oatmeal Bread
I roasted roasted the leg of lamb in a thrown together sauce of red wine, olive oil, rosemary, mint, garlic, onions and pears. I basted the leg with the sauce and then put the onions and pears on the top to let the juices drip onto the leg.
The potatoes turned out really nice, but there wasn't a whole lot to them. Tossing the potatoes in the butter and olive oil gave them just the right amount of stuff to roast without them being really oily. Also, the spices allowed the potatoes to do there thing and accent their natural sweet flavor.
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Recipe Night #2
Today is Katy's birthday! Yay!
She unfortunately has class tonight, so last night we stayed in and I treated her to very easy and nice dinner. I used the opportunity to gice her her presents one by one.
Salad: Improvised
The stew had to simmer for 2 hours, so after I got it started I took to making the salad as an appetizer. I love making salads and am a big fan of the dressing-less variety, but you have to have juicy and flavorful things cut into very small or thinly sliced pieces (so that everything is more or less evenly blanketed) to pull it off. Your standard greens and tomatoes just isn't enough. So, my improvised salad contained the following:
- baby spinach (two salad bowls full)
- carrot (shaved) - I used a piece about half the size of my index finger. If you shave a carrot very thin, its moisture really comes out and adds something to the salad. A thick shaving will keep the carrot's hardy and jarring texture. Terrible for a salad.
- 5 prunes (sliced)
- 1/3 pear (thinly sliced) - ate the rest this morning
- half of a tomato (thinly sliced)
- pine nuts (half a handful)
- goat cheese (~1 oz.)
- black pepper (light)
This salad was very awesome. I could have eaten it for dinner, but as it was an appetizer it was perfect with our hardy Russian River Valley Chardonnay. I also served this in a beautiful salad bowl I found at Macy's on super duper clearance (present #1).
Entree: Lamb, Spinach and Couscous Soup
I picked this one because we had a lot of spinach at the house and a few handfuls of couscous left. The lamb was our only major purchase. We went to Whole Foods before hand and grabbed a 3 lb. lamb leg (the recipe called for lamb necks, but WTF), salad stuff, some beer, goat cheese, and we were good.
The recipe looked great, but as I started cooking I started to lose faith. As stews do I guess, it started very thin and wine heavy. Also the foam on top became gritty from the marrow leaching from the lamb leg bone.
Once we removed the lamb leg pieces from the initial broth to cut them into chunks all fears subsided. The lamb had a very distinctive flavor that was not just a leaching of flavor from the broth/wine and a very welcome change to your standard beef/chicken/pork rotation. I think recipe night is definitely going to make me branch out in the meat department.
Anyway, the result was a soup with a great consistency - much hardier that we had anticipated. The only thing I can say is that the soup does take a healthy amount of salt and that more than the 1/2 cup of couscous is too much.
Present #2 was a 6-quart copper-bottomed pan in which the stew was cooked - a theme of very useful kitchen stuffs. And present #3 was a dark wood hand-craved bowl that would have made a great bread bowl if I had remembered to pick up bread while we were at the store. D'oh.
Quinn had just been put down when the soup was done and cooling, so I set the table with linens and our nicer bowls for a intimate meal that really turned out great.
Happy Birthday Katy!
She unfortunately has class tonight, so last night we stayed in and I treated her to very easy and nice dinner. I used the opportunity to gice her her presents one by one.
Salad: Improvised
The stew had to simmer for 2 hours, so after I got it started I took to making the salad as an appetizer. I love making salads and am a big fan of the dressing-less variety, but you have to have juicy and flavorful things cut into very small or thinly sliced pieces (so that everything is more or less evenly blanketed) to pull it off. Your standard greens and tomatoes just isn't enough. So, my improvised salad contained the following:
- baby spinach (two salad bowls full)
- carrot (shaved) - I used a piece about half the size of my index finger. If you shave a carrot very thin, its moisture really comes out and adds something to the salad. A thick shaving will keep the carrot's hardy and jarring texture. Terrible for a salad.
- 5 prunes (sliced)
- 1/3 pear (thinly sliced) - ate the rest this morning
- half of a tomato (thinly sliced)
- pine nuts (half a handful)
- goat cheese (~1 oz.)
- black pepper (light)
This salad was very awesome. I could have eaten it for dinner, but as it was an appetizer it was perfect with our hardy Russian River Valley Chardonnay. I also served this in a beautiful salad bowl I found at Macy's on super duper clearance (present #1).
Entree: Lamb, Spinach and Couscous Soup
I picked this one because we had a lot of spinach at the house and a few handfuls of couscous left. The lamb was our only major purchase. We went to Whole Foods before hand and grabbed a 3 lb. lamb leg (the recipe called for lamb necks, but WTF), salad stuff, some beer, goat cheese, and we were good.
The recipe looked great, but as I started cooking I started to lose faith. As stews do I guess, it started very thin and wine heavy. Also the foam on top became gritty from the marrow leaching from the lamb leg bone.
Once we removed the lamb leg pieces from the initial broth to cut them into chunks all fears subsided. The lamb had a very distinctive flavor that was not just a leaching of flavor from the broth/wine and a very welcome change to your standard beef/chicken/pork rotation. I think recipe night is definitely going to make me branch out in the meat department.
Anyway, the result was a soup with a great consistency - much hardier that we had anticipated. The only thing I can say is that the soup does take a healthy amount of salt and that more than the 1/2 cup of couscous is too much.
Present #2 was a 6-quart copper-bottomed pan in which the stew was cooked - a theme of very useful kitchen stuffs. And present #3 was a dark wood hand-craved bowl that would have made a great bread bowl if I had remembered to pick up bread while we were at the store. D'oh.
Quinn had just been put down when the soup was done and cooling, so I set the table with linens and our nicer bowls for a intimate meal that really turned out great.
Happy Birthday Katy!
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Beers 6-10
6. North Coast Brewing Co.'s Brother Thelonius - Belgian Style Trappist Ale - 01/06/07
Who knew this would be the weekend of the Belgian-style beers with 3 selections? This was a good weekend cap beer. I laid in bed drank this beer from a wine glass and read a book. The head had a nice soft amber to it, but when it dropped away there was no lacing and the beer seemed a little thin (both in character and consistency). I liked it, but for the money is probably not worth it.
7. Rogue Hazelnut Brown Nectar - European Brown Ale - 01/08/07
Katy and I met Brian after work for dinner and some beers at Feed the Beast on Lincoln. the food here is pretty good, but they have a really tasty beer selection including 2 Rogue beers on tap. Dead Guy is a perennial favorite, but the Hazelnut Nectar I had never had. It did not disappoint. Despite it's name it did not have a overriding hazelnut flavor. In fact I couldn't taste hazelnut at all, which is a good thing in my book. The head was light and didn't hold up for very long and the beer did have a lot of spicy flavors while still maintaining a laid back feel. Like Brian said, "ooo, this reminds me of Winter." Indeed.
8. Abita Turbo Dog - Dark Brown Ale - 01/12/07
Oh man. So good. This is probably my favorite beer of all time. According to the website, it is brewed with "Willamette hops and a combination of British pale, crystal and chocolate malts." Which would explain the chocolate that rides heavy in this beer, while still maintaining a hint of the pale ale to give it a lift from the usually heavy taste of a dark brown ale. Most people say this one is too heavy or dark, but I could drink a twelve pack of this no problem. Not that that is my gauge for drinkability, but I'm just saying. If you need me to prove it, just buy me a twelve pack.
9. Anderson Valley Boont - Amber Ale - 01/12/07
First of all, this is a very cool brewery. The brewery is located in Northern California in an area known for growing hops and now wine. They are very into sustainable production, which I think we can all get behind, and have installed an $860,000 photovoltaic array that provides half of the brewery's energy needs. Also, it operate its own wastewater treatment plant and uses its spent yeast to grow mushrooms and as cattle feed. The beer itself was very bright for an amber and actually had a very overpowering citrus flavor that was delicious, but not what I had in mind. I wouldn't kick it out of bed, but I think I will move on to their other beers before coming back to this one. This definitely shows promise for their whole line though.
10. Anchor Steam - Steam Beer - 01/13/07
So, apparently the term steam beer originally referred to a terribly cheap and bad tasting beer brewed in the late 19th C. California for gold-rushers, etc. Anchor Steam is not this beer. They had associations with a small brewery that brewed traditional steam beer in the 50's, but Anchor Steam is a much more finely cultivated, craft-brewed lager (trademarking the "Steam" in 1981). The proper term for this type of modern beer is California Common beer. All of that history out of the way, this is a fine beer that, although a little expensive, is worth drinking. Probably more of a summer drink than a mid-Winter one. For mid-Winter drinking you should definitely find Anchor Christmas Ale. Yum.
Who knew this would be the weekend of the Belgian-style beers with 3 selections? This was a good weekend cap beer. I laid in bed drank this beer from a wine glass and read a book. The head had a nice soft amber to it, but when it dropped away there was no lacing and the beer seemed a little thin (both in character and consistency). I liked it, but for the money is probably not worth it.
7. Rogue Hazelnut Brown Nectar - European Brown Ale - 01/08/07
Katy and I met Brian after work for dinner and some beers at Feed the Beast on Lincoln. the food here is pretty good, but they have a really tasty beer selection including 2 Rogue beers on tap. Dead Guy is a perennial favorite, but the Hazelnut Nectar I had never had. It did not disappoint. Despite it's name it did not have a overriding hazelnut flavor. In fact I couldn't taste hazelnut at all, which is a good thing in my book. The head was light and didn't hold up for very long and the beer did have a lot of spicy flavors while still maintaining a laid back feel. Like Brian said, "ooo, this reminds me of Winter." Indeed.
8. Abita Turbo Dog - Dark Brown Ale - 01/12/07
Oh man. So good. This is probably my favorite beer of all time. According to the website, it is brewed with "Willamette hops and a combination of British pale, crystal and chocolate malts." Which would explain the chocolate that rides heavy in this beer, while still maintaining a hint of the pale ale to give it a lift from the usually heavy taste of a dark brown ale. Most people say this one is too heavy or dark, but I could drink a twelve pack of this no problem. Not that that is my gauge for drinkability, but I'm just saying. If you need me to prove it, just buy me a twelve pack.
9. Anderson Valley Boont - Amber Ale - 01/12/07
First of all, this is a very cool brewery. The brewery is located in Northern California in an area known for growing hops and now wine. They are very into sustainable production, which I think we can all get behind, and have installed an $860,000 photovoltaic array that provides half of the brewery's energy needs. Also, it operate its own wastewater treatment plant and uses its spent yeast to grow mushrooms and as cattle feed. The beer itself was very bright for an amber and actually had a very overpowering citrus flavor that was delicious, but not what I had in mind. I wouldn't kick it out of bed, but I think I will move on to their other beers before coming back to this one. This definitely shows promise for their whole line though.
10. Anchor Steam - Steam Beer - 01/13/07
So, apparently the term steam beer originally referred to a terribly cheap and bad tasting beer brewed in the late 19th C. California for gold-rushers, etc. Anchor Steam is not this beer. They had associations with a small brewery that brewed traditional steam beer in the 50's, but Anchor Steam is a much more finely cultivated, craft-brewed lager (trademarking the "Steam" in 1981). The proper term for this type of modern beer is California Common beer. All of that history out of the way, this is a fine beer that, although a little expensive, is worth drinking. Probably more of a summer drink than a mid-Winter one. For mid-Winter drinking you should definitely find Anchor Christmas Ale. Yum.
Monday, January 7, 2008
Recipe night #1
Last night we had a few friends over for dinner and made a really great meal.
- Honey glazed pork tenderloin with a fennel/herb rub (from A New Way to Cook)
- Simple artichoke heart, tomato and mushrooms salad - with a pinch of salt, dried basil and fresh cilantro. The oil and herbs from the artichoke hearts was all the dressing you need. (no greens)
- Sweet corn muffins - This isn't the exact recipe. We substituted honey for sugar and Katy put honey on top before putting it in the oven which made a nice sugar crust around the crown of the muffin.
- Pan seared Brussel Sprouts with pancetta
- My grandfather's white beans - which I royally fucked up. This is one of my favorite foods on the whole planet, and I messed it up. D'oh!
- They brought homemade angelfood cake with blood oranges.
An exceptional first recipe meal. Everything complimented each other really well and was the perfect balance of flavor, health, and comfort.
- Honey glazed pork tenderloin with a fennel/herb rub (from A New Way to Cook)
- Simple artichoke heart, tomato and mushrooms salad - with a pinch of salt, dried basil and fresh cilantro. The oil and herbs from the artichoke hearts was all the dressing you need. (no greens)
- Sweet corn muffins - This isn't the exact recipe. We substituted honey for sugar and Katy put honey on top before putting it in the oven which made a nice sugar crust around the crown of the muffin.
- Pan seared Brussel Sprouts with pancetta
- My grandfather's white beans - which I royally fucked up. This is one of my favorite foods on the whole planet, and I messed it up. D'oh!
- They brought homemade angelfood cake with blood oranges.
An exceptional first recipe meal. Everything complimented each other really well and was the perfect balance of flavor, health, and comfort.
Beers 1-5
1. Flying Dog - Classic Pale Ale - 01/01/08 (ringing in the new year with a solid pale ale, but nothing to write home about)
I've been drinking so many IPA's recently that the smoothness makes this one seem a little uninteresting, but the flavor is good. Next time I will drink it out of a glass and maybe get a better idea of it's character.
2. Guinness - Draught - 01/02/07
The classic and unmistakable black gold. It might not be the best beer in the world, but is definitely the best you can sit down in about any bar and be assured to have. This is good, because Anthony and I went to Ricochet's on Licoln which sported almost no selection whatsoever. Guinness you are my saving grace.
3. Chamay Red - Trappist Ale - 01/04/07
The first trappist beer I ever had was St. Bernardus, so Chimay just did not cut it. I drink it if I am looking for something smooth and light with a different flavor than your standard offerings, but it is definitely not the best example of it's genre. Of course, I was drinking it at our favorite restaurant so it was great by association.
4. Unibroue Maudite - Belgian Strong Amber Ale - 01/04/07
This is the best beer of the first group of five that I tasted. It was complex and pretty, with an actual nose and lacing, as opposed to the other selections. The most notable thing about this beer is how much the flavors moved in your mouth. Each sip was an experience with movements and a great after taste. Beer Advocate gives this one an A-, which means it is a solid A in my book. I will definitely revisit this one.
5. Jockamo - IPA - 01/05/07
Abita might be one of my favorite breweries and I aim to try all of their beers before this task is over. The Jockamo IPA just came out in the past few months, so this is not an established beer on their part. It shows. The beer is a good and tasty IPA, with some flavor notes that help it out, but the beer doesn't change much in your mouth like a lot of them do.
I've been drinking so many IPA's recently that the smoothness makes this one seem a little uninteresting, but the flavor is good. Next time I will drink it out of a glass and maybe get a better idea of it's character.
2. Guinness - Draught - 01/02/07
The classic and unmistakable black gold. It might not be the best beer in the world, but is definitely the best you can sit down in about any bar and be assured to have. This is good, because Anthony and I went to Ricochet's on Licoln which sported almost no selection whatsoever. Guinness you are my saving grace.
3. Chamay Red - Trappist Ale - 01/04/07
The first trappist beer I ever had was St. Bernardus, so Chimay just did not cut it. I drink it if I am looking for something smooth and light with a different flavor than your standard offerings, but it is definitely not the best example of it's genre. Of course, I was drinking it at our favorite restaurant so it was great by association.
4. Unibroue Maudite - Belgian Strong Amber Ale - 01/04/07
This is the best beer of the first group of five that I tasted. It was complex and pretty, with an actual nose and lacing, as opposed to the other selections. The most notable thing about this beer is how much the flavors moved in your mouth. Each sip was an experience with movements and a great after taste. Beer Advocate gives this one an A-, which means it is a solid A in my book. I will definitely revisit this one.
5. Jockamo - IPA - 01/05/07
Abita might be one of my favorite breweries and I aim to try all of their beers before this task is over. The Jockamo IPA just came out in the past few months, so this is not an established beer on their part. It shows. The beer is a good and tasty IPA, with some flavor notes that help it out, but the beer doesn't change much in your mouth like a lot of them do.
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