http://silhouettemasterpiecetheatre.com/

Here's a question for Ed or Adam. When you insert Married to the Sea comics, do you use the code on the side, or do you copy and paste the image. I tried the code but it cropped the image.

8 things

I saw this on the Johnson blog, and Melissa was kind enough to think I might return to blogging (not like you chumps in the tower, or Jay who still hasn't noticed I post again)

So by now most of you are familiar:


Here are the rules:
- Each player starts with eight random facts about themselves.
- Those who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight facts and post these rules.
- At the end of the post, choose some people to get tagged and list their names.


So here are my 8 facts about myself:

1. My middle name is Dean, the same as my Dad. It is a Mennonite tradition, particularly among men, to reuse the name of a father or grandfather, often as a middle name. One of my great, great...grandfathers was Dietrich Dietrich Peters, they actually gave him the same name twice. There was also a Johann Johann Neufeld. Crazy Mennos.

2. I have become a homebody. I'm not sure what it is, maybe just a result of getting older, maybe it is the lack of walkable proximity to friends. Whatever it is, I find myself home alone on a Friday night, blogging.

3. I'm not very interested in going to Rome. This might not be a big thing, but in the insular world of architecture it is blasphemous. That's probably part of why I haven't made it, although I've been to Europe twice and haven't set foot in Italy. Give me the nordic countries any day.

4. I get really nervous about talking on the phone. In fact I hate it. Maybe it has to do with the lack of visual communication, not being able to read body language. Maybe I'm just neurotic.

5. My perception of domestic comfort was shaped by Woody Allen. If you are familiar with his films, you know the interior of a New York intellectual's apartment. When I saw the recent film The Squid and the Whale (not Woody Allen) I was struck by the interiors, they resonated somehow. The other night I watched Husbands and Wives (Woody Allen) and finally made the connection. The tattered rugs, overloaded bookshelves... I can't describe it properly, but it is the picture of comfort. Fortunately my perception of healthy relationships isn't based on Woody Allen...

6. Although that leads to the fact that I have not had a relationship in more years than you can count on one hand. Not that I am opposed, in fact I would really like to meet the right girl. I guess fact 6 is that I am reluctantly single.

7. If I won the lottery, I think I would go to a culinary school. I don't want to work in a restaurant, I just want to be a classically trained chef. It would make for fantastic dinner parties.

8. I don't really like cake. If I ever get married I want to have a wedding cobbler.

Oh, and I'm editing this later cause I remembered something else... I've eaten horse. Yeah, that's right, I said it. Go ahead and hate me if you want. It was in Stockholm, at a recreation of a 16th century meal, and they had horse sausage and headcheese, and I ate both. I've also eaten congealed duck blood and rice on a stick in Taiwan.

Now I'm supposed to tell other people to do this. Um, maybe Sarah Helen if she hasn't?

The Box of Bounty

I finally signed the house up for a CSA (Pioneer Organics), and the first delivery came yesterday. The great thing is that I forgot it was coming, so it was a happy little surprise sitting on my doorstep.
Oh wait, that was my Red Lobster Love Child...


Here's the box, very utilitarian...


And the produce, artfully arranged on the dining room table... I started with the small box, but I feel safe in stepping it up a size or two.


I was particularly fond of this little guy. It doesn't come across so well in the photo, but this is one charming bell pepper.

So what have I made with the harvest? Nothing, yet. But the weekend is upon us, and I fancy a curry....

Muppet Personality Test

You Are Rowlf the Dog

Mellow and serious, you enjoy time alone cultivating your talents. You're a cool dog, and you always present a relaxed vibe. A talented pianist, you can play almost anything - especially songs by Beethoven. "My bark is worse than my bite, and my piano playing beats 'em both."

The Muppet Personality Test

I really want to keep up with the blogging, but I don't have much to say publicly at the moment. I will limit my ramblings to a few thoughts:

I love This American Life, and the fact that they have almost the entire archive available for free online. I listen t it nonstop when I have the office to myself.

My college reunion is coming up, so I've been reading over some emails from my senior year. If you have enough distance from the time, and something to go back to (journal, random scribbles) I highly recommend it. In many ways the exercise is proving cathartic, and hopefully will result in some sort of reflexive reaction. Is that a real term?

The Emergent Church

I haven't attended church regularly for some time. In fact I have only been a handful of times in as many years. At times I miss the sense of community that should come with church, but not enough to dive back in. What I would like to find is a church that meets in a bar of coffee shop, which of course leads to a discussion of "emergent church."

I've been doing a bit of web research, with mixed results. There are a couple churches in Seattle that fit the bill, but I am wary. Of course there is the Mega church Mars Hill, whose conservative pastor Mark Driscoll (his blog and wikipedia) gives me the creeps. He represents many of the reasons I no longer attend church. Of course he has distanced himself from the emergent church movement, and has ranted against people like Brian McLaren, a rant that he later apologized for.

I've tried to read McLaren, but the ideas that he presented as radical seemed pretty straightforward to me. Maybe that means we are on the same wavelength, which is why my mom sent me the book, but I had a hard time slogging through and eventually gave up. In my recent websurfing I found out that there is a conference coming up in Seattle, Hear-Listen-Connect (snappy name), hosted by a group called Off the Map, with McLaren as one of the keynote speakers. And this leads to my own rant (Adam and Mark Driscoll can't be the only ones).

Int their own words:

"Off The Map explores new kinds of spiritual ideas and practices and seeks to take that information public. That's why we produce Off The Map Live each year. Think of OTM Live as a living lab of new approaches to spirituality. We are not only explorers we are also edutainers and hey, we need an outlet for all our creative juices at least once a year.

Who is this event designed for?
Young thinkers, learners, practitioners of all ages of all ages, pastors looking for validation, acceptance, hope and partnership. We call this group spiritual explorers. Essentially anyone who is searching or wondering and is tired of feeling alone and/or stupid is welcome."

Hey, I'm searching/wondering, and I've been thinking about finding something church-like in Seattle, maybe I should think about attending. Of course "edutainment" raises some serious red flags, red flags with biohazard symbols surrounded by razor wire and savage pit-bulls, but I could always duck out when the worship jam-band strikes up "Our God is an Awesome God".

But here's the kicker... if you are wondering, and tired of feeling alone, all you need to do is plunk down $120 bucks to attend the edutainment. That's for the individual with discount. It can drop as low as $79 each for a group of 3 students. But if you are coming as a group, chances are you aren't tired of feeling alone, being part of a group and all. I know it takes money to put on these big productions (red flag number two), so I understand the need to recoup some costs. But really, if you are charging $120 for an individual, you must realize that you'll be preaching to the choir, so lets be honest. This is for like minded individuals who are already part of the group, in one way or another.

I came across a post about a conference hosted by Zondervan, posted by a guy in Seattle who is part of a house church. He was bothered by the suspicion that much of the hype around the emergent church was created by, or at the least co-opted by the publishing industry. I can't help but share his suspicions. Not to say that there are not some honest, well intentioned individuals involved, but when a movement aimed at attracting the disenchanted/ disenfranchised becomes so large and established, certainly it risks becoming what it sought to replace.

In the end, I have discovered a group that meets somewhere in my neighborhood once a week or so for dinner. Maybe I'll look into it, but I'm still on the lookout for a small group in a bar

Aerials

Adam asked for a couple aerial shots...
The first is where we docked the plane at the island. I'm not sure how much of the project is still confidential, so I won't mention any place names. The bay itself was a little clear pocket, but because of the fog we had to land out a bit farther and have a boat come guide us in.
This is from the return to Seattle. My house is between the water in the foreground (Greenlake) and the patch of water beyond (Lake Union). Its a little overlap of neighborhoods we call Wallingmont (or Freeford, being an amalgam of Freemont and Wallingford). The arterial road running down the middle is Aurora Ave, familiar to those of you in Fresno as 99. Yes, a little lifeline to the valley that I drive on everyday.

I couldn't return to posting without something exciting to post, and here it is! I finally got to take a trip to Canada on a float plane.

After spending half a day at the airport (no complaints here, we were in the "board room" lounge for gold club/1st class with complimentary muffins and a passable bloody mary) Horizon canceled our flight. My boss and I were waiting for a plane when Horizon decided to ground all of the Q400's in the fleet because of the landing gear failure in the Netherlands. So back to the office, disappointed. But then the silver lining, our clients float plane was available, so the next day (after a fog delay) we took off. It was a blast.

And as the summer came to a close I also squeezed in one other goal, a bike ride out to Redhook Brewery in Woodenville. My friend Kristina and I made the trip out in a little over 2 hours. Kristina deserves credit for doing it on an old Schwinn in sandals, unlike all the "hardcore" bikers in spandex and clip on shoe pedal things. Chumps!

Other than that, I've been trying to fall in love with riding the bus to work, but the fact that it adds about 1hr20 extra to my round trip has taken a toll. I would probably give up on it if I weren't afraid of my car falling to pieces on the freeway, if the freeway weren't about to close for renovation, and if the defroster worked.

Last but not least, my kitchen is now home to a food processor and a manual pasta machine. Now that the weather is turning I've been harvesting everything from the garden for sauce and ravioli filling.

Not bad for a summer

my absence.... will continue

It has been noted that I haven't posted much lately.

This is true...

and will continue.

it's summer, I spend all day on the computer, pick an excuse. Hopefully as the summer ends (is a coincidence that it is raining today, and I am blogging) I will rejoin the blog world.

here are a few pictures for the time being

Clams from a weekend on the Kitsap Penninsula at my friend Heather's
Colfield serving up the clams, which we all preferred over the mussels we had feasted on down by the water
And if you need more explanation for my absence, I've been reading a lot, in my new chair
After so many years of dreaming, I am the owner of an Eames Lounge Chair, and I love it!

So that's all, I may post again after this weekend's wine tasting trip to Walla Walla, but I make no promises. And for those in Fresno, I will be coming home in October (the weekend of the 14th) for my 10 year reunion at FPU.

A new direction for aufgefallen (retracted)

several weeks ago I said that I was going to start writing more about food, and I am...just not here. I've decided to start another blog focused just on food, drink, etc. The change is mainly because I want to start participating in more food blog discussions, contests, etc, but I don't want to direct people back to this blog. This is more for bantering amongst friends.

So feel free to swing by the new blog, Flour & Fond

I've pulled a few posts over so it isn't empty, but I haven't posted anything new (other than a few pictures of the vegetable garden). I made a sweet pot o chili and a cornbread pudding tonight, so maybe tomorrow I will write it up.

Potpourri

I've meant to put up several posts, but have relied on the stop gap pickle post to keep Adam off my back. So today I'm throwing them all into this grab bag.

First off, Happy Mothers Day! For those of you who know my mom, you may not know that she is leaving FPU, after something close to 30 years. She was offered a job at Quiring, and although she was not looking for a new job, she has decided that it is an exciting opportunity, a new challenge, and all that sort of thing. She will be switching at the end of the month, so if you are around the school swing by and congratulate her.

Another exciting thing in my life is that the wheel of my car almost fell off yesterday. I've heard a clunk recently, so I was planning on taking the car in for service. as I left work yesterday I turned onto a major street, and the car continued turning on its own. At first I thought it was a rut in the road, because I was able to straighten out and keep going. However it soon became clear something was terribly wrong, the car seems to bob around on its own, and when I put the break on it would swerve to the right. I slowly limped back to work and took the bus home. Today a tow truck carted it away, but not before the driver pointed out the unnatural angle of the wheel, and the lack of a bolt that should have held it in place. I know nothing about cars, but it looked like the sort of problem that, had it occurred at high speed on the freeway, would have sent me careening all over the place.

But on to something tastier...

This weekend my roommate Brendan threw a party (which involved creating a fire pit in the backyard) and so I decided it was time to test out a dessert recipe. In honor of the rustic nature of our new fire pit, essentially a hole dug in the grass ringed with bricks, I went with a rustic baked custard called clafouti.

Traditionally clafouti should have cherries, but I don't like cherry, and I had a recipe for apple clafouti. Let me tell you it was delicious, and it smells wonderful. This is the first time I have used a whole vanilla bean... I'm not sure I can go back to the liquid. The best part about this simple dish is that you saute the apples, then throw in the vanilla and sugar, so the kitchen is infused with the earthiest, sweetest smell, people kept coming in to trace it to the source. the second best part is that you make the whole thing in a cast iron skillet, so after you saute the apple and vanilla, you just pour the custard over and chuck it in the oven.

Clafouti also gave me a reason to finally try creme fraiche, a european sour cream closer to buttermilk or half and half. It doesn't have the cloying sweetness of whipped cream, although theoretically it can be whipped in a similar fashion.

I cannot recommend Clafouti enough! It is my kind of dessert, not too sweat, but with an understated richness. The recipe (below) calls for grappa or fruit brandy, neither of which we have. I used a spanish sherry, Amantillado. I was happy with the results, so I'm not rushing out for grappa. Also, I didn't follow the instructions about pouring the batter through a sieve, I don't have one, and I wasn't to concerned about a few lumps, it was meant to be rustic right? The only thing I would change is to maybe sprinkle some demerara sugar on the top before baking, I think the crunch might be a nice contrast to the baked custard.

Apple Clafouti (from Michael Chiarello)

Ingredients
Batter:
1/2 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1/3 cup plus 2 teaspoons granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Pinch of salt
3 eggs plus 1 egg yolk
1 cup milk

Apples:
1/4 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups peeled and diced Granny Smith apple (1/2-inch dice; about 1 large apple)
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 teaspoon grappa, Calvados, or other fruit brandy
Confectioners' sugar for dusting
1/3 cup creme fraiche

Directions
Preheat the oven to 400oF.
Make the batter: Sift the flour, granulated sugar, cinnamon and salt into a bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs, egg yolk, and milk until well blended. Add about one-third of the egg mixture to the flour mixture and whisk to form a paste, then gradually incorporate the remaining egg mixture. Whisk until well blended.

Cook the apples: With the tip of a knife, scrape the vanilla bean seeds from the pod into an ovenproof 10-inch cast-iron or stainless-steel skillet. Add the pod and the butter and cook over moderately high heat until the butter turns nut brown. Add the apple and cook, stirring often, for about 3 minutes to soften them. Remove the vanilla bean pod and discard. Sprinkle the apples with the granulated sugar, reduce the heat to moderately low, and cook until the apples are about three-fourths done and the sugar has melted and is coating the apples in a light syrup. Add the grappa or other brandy, swirl the pan briefly, then spread the fruit evenly in the pan.
Remove the pan from the heat. Working quickly, pour the batter through a sieve evenly over the fruit.
Bake until the edges of the clafouti are puffed and browned and the center is set, about 15 minutes. Remove from the oven. Put some confectioners' sugar in a sieve and generously dust the surface of the clafouti. Serve warm directly from the pan with a dollop of creme fraiche.

Kool-Aid Pickles

Pretty self explanatory, but if you need the details about this delta specialty, read the article

Food for the future

...by which I mean my future, not our collective futures.


This weekend was the Seattle Tilthe Edible Plant Sale, and although it was not the nicest day, Sunday became gardening day for yours truly.

Twenty five dollars later I walked home with:

Leeks
cipollini onions
savoy cabbage
broccoli
acorn squash
pumpkin of some sort (purchased on accident, thought I grabbed zucchini)
principe borghese tomato (you can leave them on the vine to sun dry)
chocolate bell pepper

I had prepped the garden patch a couple weeks ago, turning over about a foot of soil and mixing in an organic vegetable fertilizer. As a result, several volunteers had sprouted, remnants of last years plantings I assume. I'm not sure what everything is, so I'm posting them here for help.

This is some sort of lettuce, butterhead variety I'm sure, but which one? Maybe Bibb?
So far there are five or six of these.






I assumed this was a weed, so I pulled it. If it's something else, let me know so I don't pull any more.







Tomato?








Carrot? Or maybe an herb?








I don't have a guess on this one. It's pretty tiny, but the leaves are pretty.







Another mystery...

Just replace the water

How simple can it be, just replace the water. This will not, of course, work for every recipe. I can safely bet that it will eventually lead to at least one irrecoverable disaster, necessitating Chinese take-out or frozen pizza. None the less, here lies the path to deliciousness. I’m sure of it.

Experiment one (actually 1.2) Rice with coconut milk. Following the simple brilliance of this experiment, I made Jasmine rice, replacing all the water with coconut milk. The first time I tried this it turned out well, so on attempt two I decided to pep it up a bit, adding fresh chopped mint when I took it off the heat. Just before serving I tossed the rice with the juice of half a lime. The lime was inspired by the quasi-carribean stuffed and roasted pork loin the rice would accompany. The key to the dish is to not worry about the coconut mil burning a bit on the bottom of the pot. It doesn’t really burn, but it does form a lovely crust, called a tahdeeg (Farsi word for the tasty tasty goodness usually resulting from yogurt being added to the cooking liquid). Break the tahdeeg up and stir it into the rice, adding a nice crunchy bit to each bite. Next time I make this I think I may throw in some dried fruit, like sultanas or papaya, at the start of cooking. If I could afford saffron it would definitely be in the pot as well.
Other than rice and coconut milk, any other good suggestions (aside from cooking stuff in stock or broth rather than water)? Maybe fruit juice…I’m thinking pomegranate…can you imagine the horrible shade of pink resulting from chicken poached in pomegranate?!

As a side note, I served the dandelion greens with an orange vinaigrette, but they were still far to bitter, I think they would be better added (in small amounts) to a mixed green salad, or served with a really creamy cheese, anything to take the edge off.

I’m not one for getting up early on the weekend, but when I woke up Sunday I nearly jumped out of bed, having decided that I was going to trek down to the Ballard farmers market. I have to admit that I was a little disappointed. The Ballard market is definitely not the type of farmers market I was hoping for, where you can walk away with a grocery bag over-flowing with fresh produce for under ten dollars. As my cash on hand was exactly ten dollars, I came away lighter than hoped, but still excited about my purchases; wild nettles, green garlic, and dandelion greens. I’ve been tempted to yank up a few of the dandelions in my yard, but I was a bit nervous. Until I do a bit more research, I’m sticking with the cultivated leaves. The nettles were by far the most exciting purchase, and the first on the stove. They are the subject of may weekend failure and weekday redemption.

Nettles are a curious vegetable, the kind that makes you wonder “who the hell thought of eating this?” The bag of leaves came bundled up in a plastic bag, tightly tied. These are after all the same little buggers that leave you with a nice red and stinging rash. So how on earth are you supposed to eat them? More importantly, who wrote the Wikipedia entry on Nettle:
“Nettle is the common name for any faggot with abnormally large ears who attends West Forsyth High School. It is hated by all man kind and if you see this creature look away or you will go blind at the sight of the uglyness, after wash eyes for 10 to 15 minutes. you are recomended to run and contact authorities immediately if this zoo animal is spotted. If you see its girlfriend well im sorry because you are already blind beacuse this creature, commonly known as jacque brown, is even more hideous than a nettle. A nettle is a noob at halo, the biggest ass hole in the world, has no friends, and yet he still shows up uninvited to places. The extermination of every nettle will begin tommorrow and will be called the nettlecaust.”



Yes kids, that’s the beauty and bane of open source. Unfortunately it did not explain why cooking leaves them harmless, but I gather it has something to do with the acids.
For this foray I decided to make a Wild Nettle and Chive soup, based on a recipe in Jerry Traunfeld’s The Herbfarm Cookbook. I began by blanching the nettles for two or three minutes, then draining and squeezing out as much moisture as possible. From that point on they can be treated just like spinach. I made most of the soup at home, but held of on adding the nettle and chive until just before serving, at my friend Jeff’s. the recipe says to puree it in a blender, but Jeff doesn’t have one, and I figured why bother lugging a blender around, I have my little stick blender, I’m sure it can do the trick….no, no it can’t. The little guy just wasn’t up to the task of cutting through the fibrous vegetables, and the end result was a stringy, albeit bright, almost grassy springtime soup. Taste=great, texture=frightening, like some sort of alien gruel. I’m sure the bright green color didn’t help dispel the idea that this was something out of Star Trek.


Not surprisingly, I had plenty of leftovers to cart home, so tonight I decided to set things right, and break out the Osterizer. It made short work of the pulp, and after adding a bit more vegetable broth (remember, according to Alton Brown, if it doesn’t have bones, it just isn’t stock) it hit the perfect pureed soup texture. I sautéed a piece of salmon with some of the green garlic and a Hawaiian butter sauce (it had papaya! Not sure how it came to be in the fridge, or which former housemate put it there, but it had clearly been neglected). The end result was a qualified success. I felt redeemed that the soup turned out as it should, or close enough given a few ingredient additions and substitutions.
I think next time I will leave the soup rustic, adding a few potatoes and not blending it at all. Also a bit of roasted garlic or a woodsy mushroom (rather than the white buttons that the recipe called for) would add a bit of earth to the grassy nettle flavor.
Next weekend I’m going back to the market for the fiddlehead ferns!!!



Wild Nettle and Chive Soup
-adapted from Spring Sorrel and Chive Soup in The Herbfarm Cookbook by Jerry Traunfeld

2 tbls unsalted butter
1 medium onion, chopped
4 cups vegetable broth ( I added another cup on attempt two)
8 oz white button mushrooms, chopped
2 tblsp long grain white rice (I used Jasmine)
large bunch Nettle (don't touch until cooked!)
1 cup snipped chives
pepper
Quark (the recipe called for Creme Fraiche, but I've been experimenting with the European cheese Quark, similar to Ricotta in texture, but a bit tangier)

Sautee the onions, add broth, mushrooms, rice. Bring to a boil, then simmer 30 minutes. During this time bring a large pot of salkted water to a boil, then use tongs, gloves, or just dump the nettle into the water and blanch for 2-3 minutes, stirring. Drain then squeeze out as much moisture as possible and set aside. Puree half the nettle and chive with half the soup, empty to another saucepan and puree the remaining (unless you have a jumbo sized industrial blender, or one of those crazy professional stick blenders the size of a Vespa). Bring the soup back to a simmer, serve and enjoy (adding a dollop or two of Quark or Creme Fraiche- fancy french sour cream)

As I said, I would substitute a woodsier mushroom and perhaps add a bit of roasted garlic.

A new direction for Aufgefallen

I find lately that much of my expendable brainpower is focused on food. I dream up recipes, I read food essays, I Tivo the food network as much as my roommates will tolerate, and I surf a growing list of food blogs. Oh, and I cook, let’s not forget that. To be honest I do not cook as often, as adventurously, or as successfully as I would like, but I think a couple of my dishes are worth repeating. And now I want to start writing about food. To that end I intend to start including recipes, photos and ruminations on all things cuisine.

My first foray into the world of reading food writing (aside from cookbooks and the NY Times) was Julie and Julia, the memoir of Julie Powell, a reluctant New York Secretary who set herself the mission of cooking her way through Julia Childs’ Mastering the Art of French Cooking Vol. One in one year. It is an admirable task, and to her credit she succeeded. I would not be so bold as to try the same, not only because I have absolutely no desire to eat Aspic for several weeks, but because I think the endeavor would send me over the edge. Cooking and eating can be emotional experiences, and I look to cooking as a way to unwind, a sort of meditation. I don’t think I could handle subjecting that pleasure to a timeline and recipe checklist.



This afternoon I spent a couple hours at Greenlake Park reading “A Cooks Tour” by Anthony Bourdain. I have never read anything that made me want to travel to Vietnam, but Bourdain’s ability to look past the poverty and squalor to recognize a pride and tradition that has carried the Vietnamese people through continual occupations comes close. In his words “you cannot help but be impressed and blown away by the hard work, the attention to detail, the care taken in every facet of daily life, no matter how mundane, no matter how difficult the circumstances. Spend some time in the Mekong Delta and you’ll understand how a nation of farmers could beat the largest and most powerful military presence on the planet.” His admiration for the food, the land, and the people comes through in his account. It was from Bourdain that I learned Ho Chi Minh, the Communist leader of Vietnam, was a classically trained French Chef. He had trained as a saucier at the Carleton Hotel (Paris, of Ritz Carleton fame) under the master of modern French cooking, August Escoffier.

I find that my internet browsing has shifted towards food as well. Julie Powell had initially chronicled her MTAOFC endeavor on a blog, which at the time was still relatively unknown (before we all won Time Magazines People of the Year), and the blogosphere is now littered with cool food blogs. A few I would highly recommend are Tastespotting, Becks & Posh, and Habeas Brulee. I recently discovered a wonderful blog called Fancy Toast, and was inspired by her story of an inconsolable brussels sprout. And so I have decided to try posting more about my own culinary adventures, with the hope that a) I will embark on more culinary adventures, and b) I will get back into the habit of writing regularly.

*Notes:
I should note that my former roomie Stiglesworth has started posting her recipes, and while I haven’t tried to recreate any of them, I have enjoyed reading them.

According to Wikipedia, there is little evidence that Ho Chi Minh trained with Escoffier (they say as a pastry chef) but there is a plaque on the building (now New Zealand House, the Carleton was destroyed during the Blitz).

Apparently Brussels sprout is a “countable noun,” and the plural form is Brussels sprouts. The provenance of Brussels argues against calling it a Brussel sprout, and Microsoft word doesn’t care for the habit either. Look forward to posts on bread pudding, fondant, winter wheat, the Herbfarm, my less than successful attempts to poach and egg, and the new and improved 24-hour breakfast.

Weekend in Fresno

I will be in town this coming weekend, so start planning to wine and dine me.

My tenative plan at the moment is to hang out with the family on Thursday and Saturday, which means that friday is open for friends and well wishers. I will be in town until Tuesday morning, so Sunday and daytime on Monday are also open.

I'm up for anything, but it might be fun to have a barbeque or some other form of potluck.


Any ideas?

comic relief

This is for the archidorks out there, particularly the ones going through thesis this quarter. It is a comic strip blog by a guy named Justin Chin at McGill, about an architecture student and his talking sandwich.... don't judge, who among us asn't heard voices after a 12 hour model making session?

Grooming

And then I lost my patience with the pathetic mustache, which I had been cutting short since I hate them so much.


And after going out for a haircut....

Just in time for Easter

Chocolate Jesus anyone?

It's been a while...

Let me just say, in my defence, that it's been a busy couple weeks.

As always work is busy, but beyond that there have been out of towners, the yard, etc etc. Of course that's no excuse, and when I saw that Ed had added Kendall and Kasey (who I haven't met yet) and threatened to start pulling people from his sidebar, I knew it was time to get typing.

As an update, Jeff has returned from Norway and promptly moved into Ballard, the remnant of a Seattle's Scandinavian Ghetto. I'm glad to have Jeff back in the country. Carly was in town to interview at arch firms, she will be moving back soon (never should have left). for those of you that don't know them, they are UW friends.

The same weekend Carly was in town, Lisa (sister of the Jay) was in town. We got together last Monday and saw Patti Griffin. Good show, but the opener was a bit of a disappointment.

That weekend also included an attack on the blackberry in the backyard. Blackberry is an invasive species, and a bitch to clear when it takes hold. I spent hours ripping it out from the trees along the back fence. By the time I was done the sun had set, so I left the detritus piled in the back yard.


Later that week, Shawna was in town on business, so we had dinner at the Palace Kitchen. This was my first time to one of Tom Douglas' restaurants, and I was not disappointed. I was particularly excited about the cheese menu, so we had a flight of cheese as an appetizer. I think we both agreed that the Humboldt Fog was the best.






On Sunday I went into the yard with the simple aim of cutting up the vines and sticking them in the trash. 5 hours later I had torn most of the plants/weeds/morning glory out of one side of the yard, and made respectable progress on ripping out a holly tree (it was a volunteer). My roommate got the chainsaw out and went to town on a big stump that has been there for years. He got most of it out, but dulled the chain in the process, so we each have a bit more work to do on the next clear weekend.


This week opened with another concert, Sondre Lerche at the Crocodile. I absolutely love Sondre Lerche, particularly the lounge-y Faces Down stuff (if you don't know him, he's a Norwegian singer, indie/rock). the show was great, including the two opening acts. Unfortunately he didn't go on until around 11:30, which means the show didn't end until 1am. By the time I caught the bus home (because I hate trying to park in downtown, and I wanted to have a couple drinks at the show) it was about quarter till 2. I'm a working boy, I can't do that sort of thing. It tuckers me out.


Now here it is Thursday evening, and I'm still worn out. But I've managed to post something, albeit drivel about my daily life. I promise something a bit more thought provoking in the future, but for the time being its this or nothing.

Except to add that the miracle of Netflix, and the informed tastes of my roommate Ted, brought a great documentary to the house. Its called Slasher, about a guy that travels around the country running slashed price sales at car dealership. It was fascinating, I highly recommend it. Also somewhere in there I made a really delicious pork tenderloin en croute, sort of like a beef wellington. It took a couple hours to prepare and cook, but it was worth it.

facial hair update

Here is the latest on the beard experiment. I can't say that I'm really happy with the way things are going. I'm really tempted to just shave it all off, but I'm trying to keep it until I come back to Fresno. Maybe I'll bring the clippers with me and cut it down to a chin strap while I'm there. Note the desperate need for a haircut.

Pi Day

I must say that I am a bit surprised that none of the more, shall we say geeky (in a good way) among you has not mentioned that today is Pi-day. I found the cake above posted at Tastespotting.com which is one of my favorite new must check websites.



I was at the bookstore this morning getting some supplies for work, so I did a bit of childrens book shopping (niece's birthday this weekend). I was excited to see that they have reissued Anatole, by Eve Titus. It is about a mouse who feels guilty about stealing food, so he decides to earn a living by sneaking into a cheese factory (the Manufacture de Fromage Duval) and taste the cheese, leaving little notes like more salt, or add more grated orange peel. I remember that this was one of my favorite books at some point, although I seem to have lost it and nobody in my family knows what I'm talking about when I ask if they know what happened to it. It's like they don't want me to remember it....like I never actually owned it and just imagined the whole thing.... suspicious!
Well I now own it again. Yes I bought a couple books for my niece as well, but this one is staying on my shelves.

Celebrity Look-alike

http://www.myheritage.com

Fresno Visit

I will be in town April 12-16 for the Mennonite High Holy Days of MCC Sale. My family is all leaving town on Easter, so I'm coming back for the sale instead (my first time in 4 years). Maybe we can get the Jay and Becki to come out as well....

Wa(o)nder

The Peripatetic philosophers, a school following Aristotle, may have taken its name from the paripatoi a term for covered walkways such as those at the Lyceum where Aristotle formed his school. The term peripatetic means “one who walks habitually and extensively”. The association with Aristotle also suggests that quality of aimless walking that facilitates reflection and thoughtfulness. I’ve been reading a book called Wanderlust, often at café’s midway through long aimless walks of my own, which examines the history of walking and its social, political and philosophical implications. The section that I just finished discussed the connection between solitary walking and philosophical reflection, particularly the role it played for Rousseau and Kierkegaard. Both relied on walking as a mental exercise, as a time to allow both body and mind to wander freely or to compile, sort and organize thoughts.

I’ve always enjoyed walking, but it seems an odd thing to say. I had to fill out a questionnaire recently that asked for hobbies/ activities, and I wrote walking, but felt the need to add /hiking, as though saying that I walk as a hobby simply didn’t make sense. And in fact I think walking really isn’t the right word, although hiking certainly doesn’t describe the urban wandering either. Perhaps ramble is a better word, the Brits have rambling clubs for people who walk through the countryside as a form of recreation. In fact I think that England was when I really began to ramble in earnest, going for long solitary walks through a small patch of woods or the pastures on the edge of town, as well as aimless walks through the town itself. Those walks are some of my most cherished memories of England, and have nothing to do with castles or clubs or any of the other more glamorous adventures. Likewise many of my happiest times now are when I’m out walking. This weekend I probably walked 15-20 miles (which explains why my feet are tired and I have a blister- converse are not the ideal walking shoe) and found neighborhoods I hadn’t explored before. I also witnessed spring peeking out, with flowers and tree buds popping up everywhere. Obviously I also spend a lot of time looking at houses, but more often than not I’m not really looking at anything, I’m just wandering and allowing my mind to wander in a way it wouldn’t were I sitting at home.

Like my rambles, I'm not sure that this post really has much of a goal. I was struck by my readings and given a new insight into my own love of wandering. It validated my own love of rambling and I thought it would be nice to share. How often do you go out on walks, simply for the sake of walking and looking and thinking. I'm sure for some poeple another activity can be substituted, like biking or cleaning (freaks) or sanding planks of wood or some such. Regardless, I still suggest everyone go out for a walk, an hour minimum. Those of you in the tower, stroll through the neighborhood, maybe down old Van Ness. The Springs folks have a charming neighborhood as well, plus the river to walk along. Get out and ramble.

Sick Day

Sorry for my pathetic lack of posting of late. I've been feeling a bit crappy lately, sick 3 times in a month and a half, with a persistant cough. By the end of most days I'm pretty worn out. I finally went to the doctor this afternoon with a temp of 102.8. They put me on a course of antibiotics and an asthma steroid type of thing. Hopefully this will finally kick it.

The upside is that I am staying home tomorrow, so I promise some sort of posting, stay tuned.

facial hair update

Yes, sorry I haven't posted anything for a long long time. To tell the truth, I just couldn't be bothered. I haven't been very motivated to do much lately, except read and cook. More about those later.

As you can see the beard is coming along. I'm not a hairy guy, I make no apologies. Still, I'm fairly pleased with the way its coming along. I'm going to give it through the end of Feb, then I'll decide if I should keep it or cut it.