Absquatulate

Bread and Coffee: Goat Cheese and Prosciutto Panini

Tired of dogs and burgers on the barbie? Have potato chips become passe in your house? In honor of the holiday weekend here's a recipe for your weekend party. K-dog (half of the Good Drs. Eirich) passed along this intriguing recipe for Goat Cheese and Prosciutto Panini. It's the apricot preserves (!) that caught my eye. Goat cheese and prosciutto? Sure! Figs? Yes! But I never would have thought to add apricot preserves.

I usually eschew the "single use kitchen gadgets" like this panini maker, particularly if they are electric. So I'm certain you can make this on an indoor grill or even over a regular grill with a heavy pan. I'm guessing a nice crisp (emphasis on crisp) sauvingon blanc or if you can get it an ice cold Portuguese vinho verde would go very well with this sandwich. Round out with a light field green salad with a vinagrette and a light lemony dessert. Enjoy and happy Memorial Day weekend.

Corporate Challenge, indeed.

Because I felt that I wasn't doing ENOUGH for my company, I decided to participate in the Chase Corporate Challenge 5k run last night (click for pictures). You know, because somehow running by yourself for 3.5 miles is a company event. Oh wait, it's the beer and sausages afterwards that make it a company event. Anyway, I was stoked for the race. I am not a competitive runner, but according to the treadmill at the gym I could cruise through three miles at a 8.5 min/mile pace.

At least, as of a month ago I could. Then for one reason or another, the hubby and I got slack in our gym going routine. It was much nicer to sleep in on the cool, sunny spring mornings than haul our ass out of bed at the crack of dawn and watch the birth of a new day from the treadmill next to an octogenarian snorting his way through his morning walk.

Regardless, I've discovered that making progress running on a treadmill is quite different from making progress running on concrete. To my credit I didn't stop once during the entire race and I ran an "official'" 10 min/mile.

I say "official" because they time everyone from the starting gun. But what ends up happening is that since there were about 9868 people waiting to run down a two lane road there is the inevitable lag. I think I ended up waiting at least 3, if not four minutes before even crossing the starting line (I didn't have a watch with me, drat.) So while my official time was 35:35 (maybe I should play the lotto?) I think my actual time was more like 31:35 or so.

Chuffed? You bet I am. And I know I owe some of that time to a woman with short hair, pigtails, and a blue shirt who, at the two minute mile, corrected the timekeeper with the megaphone. The official yelled "22 minutes!" and that woman yelled back, "Eighteen and a half by my watch! We really ARE the 9 minute milers!" to which everyone cheered (we all started in the group marked for 9 min. mile runners.) After that I was determined to keep pace with her since I didn't have a running partner.

And we did, through the torrential downpours that had started about 20 minutes before the race and ended about 20 minutes AFTER. And on the last stretch, the last 200m or so, she started to put wood on the fire. At this point I had a stitch in my side, was having a harder time breathing, and could barely see anything with all the rain and sweat in my eyes, but I decided to dig down REALLY deep and race with her. And the both of us were in full sprints crossing the finish line the the few cheers of, "YEAH that's how you finish a race ladies!!!" I never did get the chance to thank her for putting up a fantastic finish and inspiring me to do the same.

So thanks blue shirted gal with the short hair, ponytails, and a watch.

My mistake of the night was scarfing down a hotdog AND a hamburger after the race. UGH, I'm still digesting that this morning. Let that be a lesson for you.

Dear Fashion Industry...

Can you please stop only selling shoes in Rochester with no backs? You see for me it's a double whammy. Not only do I have rediculously flat feet, which I suspect make it difficult to keep those cute kittenheels on without the aid of slingbacks, but I cannot wear even more sensible backless shoes at work. Also, winter here is nine months long, and the other three months are spent in the rain, thereby making backless shoes a sopping wet mess. So you see, can you please stop assuming that everyone in the world is all over this backless shoe thing, and start selling shoes with backs again?

Thanks.
The Management

Campari

On a whim this past weekend I bought a bottle of Campari to try. Oooh, bright red, Italian aperitif, and vaguely retro! I tried it as suggested on the label: on the rocks with a splash of soda water.

I found it to be very bitter like chewing on a bitter orange peel. Before you get all "stupid sweet-toothed American" on me I'd like to point out that I will willingly drink sweet or dry vermouth on the rocks, so you know, it's not that I don't drink weird stuff. I was rather unprepared for what it would taste like but I'm not ready to give up on it (since I have a liter of the stuff to finish off.)

Having no experience with Campari at all I'm curious if any of you have some good cocktail recipes for enjoying this exotic liquor. I might enjoy it on the rocks with soda once I've had it more frequently, but until then I'd love to hear some first hand experiences with good Campari cocktails (if there are any. :^)

Maybe the next wacko liquor I'll buy will be Pimms No. 1?

Wedding Fever!

A big cheer and even a huzzah for my sister and her fiancé John. John proposed to Kat on Saturday in Newport RI along the Cliff Walk overlooking the Atlantic. This brings back fond memories of my engagement and the relief that I don't have to go through it again. Just enjoy being engaged Kat and John, and don't let the nosy busybodies make you feel guilty for not having the place, date, colors, and dress picked out yet (and they will!)

I Double Dog Dare Ya

Hadn't this kid ever heard of the popular high school chemistry lab rhyme?

Johnny was a chemist,
but Johnny is no more.
For what he thought was H₂0
was H₂SO₄

Weblogs? THE NEXT BIG CRAZE!

... And here Matt Weiler has to patiently explain the difference between a weblog and a chat room. No kidding, they asked both of us about that. It's like getting a squirrel confused with a mailbox because they're both on the sidewalk.

Go read Poundy's funny breakdown of a local Chicago Fox affiliate attempting to do a report on blogging.

Is my Blog Burning?

I just ran across this wonderful idea at Chez Pim (via the lovely Chocolate and Zucchini): A loosely joined effort in the food-blog sphere where interested folks make a dish based on a theme ingredient and post the results in their blog. This month is rice; I'll have to think of a *good* rice recipe since anything from childhood was RiceARoni or a vaguely remembered Italian rice cake or fried rice balls that my grandmother made (alas, she has passed on so I cannot ask her.) (Un?)(fortunately?) 99% of our rice intake is brown rice and in stir fry concocctions so I'll have to get creative. Hopefully I can put something together in time for the May 23rd deadline. Details on the "Is My Blog Burning" event can be found here.

Aaaaaand.... we're back!

Holy moly was that a pain. Sorry for the few days of no service, it took quite a long time for TypePad's DNS to update.

DNS changes

Ah crud, I transferred my domain but I completely forgot about custom DNS with TypePad, so the site might not be available over the next few days. Thanks.

Jaw Droppingly Ignorant!

In one of the most ill-informed things I've read about blogs lately, Angus Lind from the Times-Picayune claims that blogs are much ado about nothing. I could write a missive dealing blows to this weak attempt to satisfy to a copy editor's deadline, but I'd be interested in hearing from those of you who read this blog. What do you think? Are blogs just a bunch of hooey? If so, why are you here? If not, why do you think blogs are interesting?

By the way, my favorite color is light blue these days, and I'm drinking water from a Nalgene bottle. LOLZ0RS OMG!!!!11!

Neuro Papers Online

A welcome find courtesy of MetaFilter: Neuro-visual research papers from the Wellcome Lab available in pdf format. Plenty of reading to keep me entertained over several lunches. Unfortunately the format leaves something to be desired: this is a great example of where the published format (two column academic paper) is incredibly hard to read online. I'll have to print them out for later. Unfortunately the awkward format will deter some readers who might otherwise be interested in learning more about the visual cortex. A shame on the one hand, but it's nice to find these papers available online for free on the other.

Linky Goodness

• Harvard Sucks
• Infinity. Not for those susceptible to motion sickness.
• (the May 6th post) Corey needs to give us a recipe for that Ou Dong Soup
• Lance's Guide to Man Grooming: Part 1 and Part 2.
• Foodie Blogs enter the mainstream (and this is what a GOOD post on Metafilter should look like. N00bies take note.)
• The reason why my site might be screwey the next few days.

Apple Help Me: Testimony of a Late Early Adopter

In what can be deemed one of the stupidist things ever written on a blog, I am a self proclaimed late early adopter. I love new technology but I hate buying it; at least on the first pass (okay the first few passes.) New VW Beetles? Loved them! Do I own one? No. TypePad? LOVE THEM. Did I sign up when it first launched? No. Palms? LOVE THEM. I only bought it when it reached Palm V (despite being intrigued by an Apple Newton owner and which I still own and use every day.) iPod?

Sweet Moses, iPod. For a long time I managed to convince myself that I didn't own an iPod yet because it's new technology. I loathe being let down by new technology. Somehow to me, it's DOUBLY disappointing when something new, shiny, and promising elicits even a modicum of disappointment. I want it (whatever it is) to work perfectly, without fault, without stupidity (and regardless of my OWN stupidity.) I've studied enough cognitive science to know that the first iteration of anything is bound to be fraught with bugs and so I wait, like a snake in the bush as an unsuspecting mouse goes by knowing full well a fat rat is on its way.

But only now do I realize that I shun new technology for fear of being washed away in it. I can't get over how WONDERFUL the iPod is. I know, I'm supremely late to the party and 1.5 homemade margaritas into Cinco de Mayo so perhaps my exuberance is unfounded. But it's the same passion I feel for the web (adopted in 1997), or cds (adopted in 1994), blogging (adopted in 2000), or Neverwinter Nights (I can't remember when, but it was several months after it was released).

But what can I say? It's wonderful! It's easy! It's... it's so supremely dangerous. I see iTunes store, tanuting me, flirting with me, flashing me a peek at her pink ruffled underwear. Oh yes, iTunes store, you practically mock me with your availability. "Go on, take a look, down load a...," she pauses, "... free song. You know you want to." I feel the strings tugging at me already. Oh look! Tito Puente. And over there, Carl Orff and Nelly Furtado. I am hopeless. I'm wrapped in her charms and will succumb, along with my bank account, to her wily ways.

Damn you Apple.

Linky Goodness

• Epicurious cooking technique videos
• Brad DeLong, professor of economics at U.C. Berkeley
• Meg has some fantastic musings on eating and writing. And while I'm not ready to chuck cholesterol caution to the wind, I think I need to get that book if my side project is going to become a reality.
• This is one of many reasons why I think the web, particularly blogs, is just the beginning of an information revolution.

Color Theory

Tell a story without saying a word. Absolutely charming! Courtesy of Currently.

Bread and Coffee: Steak Fajitas

After a delightful dinner at the Good Drs. Eirich's house I wanted to try and replicate the fajitas they treated us to after a long day of travel. The only thing I knew was that they'd bought a flank steak. I'd have to make it up from there.

So off to Wegmans to find a flank steak. Found, purchased, but I stopped by the meat counter to ask, "What's the best way to cook a flank steak?" To my surprise the response was, "Braised over low heat."

*blink*

What?

Dammit, well apparently I bought the wrong kind of cut for fajitas. But that didn't sound quite right, so I did a little research.

BAH. Stupid meat counter attendant at Wegmans, you KNOW NOTHING.

Confident in my choice of cuts I went home and proceeded to completely make it up. I mean totally. So bear with the occasional quantity descriptions as "a little" or "some". You'll figure it out.

Ingredients:

• 1 flank steak, however big you need to feed the number of people you have to feed! I figure about 0.5 lbs per person. Yeah that's alot, but it shrinks on the grill and you might have leftovers. MMM.
• 2 green peppers, sliced
• 1 vidalia onion, sliced thin
• A dry rub of your liking. Here's more or less what I used in order of quantity: Cumin, chili powder, fresh ground pepper, a little brown sugar, salt, tyme, cayenne (if you like it spicy!). You can also use Alton Brown's Rib Rub recipe but be warned that it contains alot of sugar so you'll have to watch for burning.
• whole wheat tortillas. Plain will do but I like the flavor of whole wheat better.
• Condiments of your liking, such as salsas, sour cream, freshly grated cheddar, etc.

Special utensils:

• A grill, lump charcoal fueled perferred, but I won't hold it against you if you've got a gas grill.
• tin foil
• long tongs
• Platter for meat

Directions:

1. Start charcoal grill. You'll want it nice and hot when you put the steak on, so light it about 30 minutes before you plan to cook.
2. Wash and pat dry steak. Sprinke rub over meat and rub in. Repeat on other side. Let steak marinate for at least 20 minutes, if not a little longer.
3. Slice peppers and onions and toss with a little olive oil and some fresh ground pepper. Layer onto tin foil in a single layer if possible and seal like a pouch, leaving a little gap for steam to escape.
4. Prepare any condiments, such as this great pair of salsas, grate cheese, or try this Kickin' Black Bean Salsa on the side.
5. Check the coals. They should be white on the edges and bright orange. Place a lightly oiled grate on the grill.
6. Bring out the steak and slap that sucker on. Smell the meat begin to sear. Hear that fantastic sizzle. Sip on a tasty ice cold beverage. This, my friend, is summer.
7. Wait about 7 minutes, maybe 10 depending on thickness of steak for a medium-rare finish. Flip. Repeat. Watch the meat to make sure it doesn't burn, but I've always liked mine a little on the blackened side.
8. Place tin foil packet of peppers and onions on the cooler side of the grill after you've flipped the steak once.
9. Remove steak from grill and put on clean platter to rest. You should hear the peppers and onions sizzling in the foil packet. Excellent.
10. Take some tortillas and warm them on the hot grill about 15 seconds each side.
11. Remove foil packet, plate and serve! Cut the steak across the grain. Create your fajita masterpeice and wow your friends with this fantastic recipe.

I ♥ NY

I attended the GEL conference in NYC on Friday. But this post isn't about GEL. That will come later.

The great majority of trips to NYC were to visit family and while under the age of 17. Why does that matter? Because it means I was still a ward of my parents, and that means they controlled me, which is understandable. Or, I was on a school trip, which means I was the ward of other adults, which is understandable. It's only been recently that I've had the opportunity and means to travel to NYC on my own for my own purposes, rather than being tethered to familial obligations (and fears.) So for most of my life I would say, "I like NYC, but I could never live there."

This past weekend I liked NYC and I even THOUGHT about what it would be like to live there. That's a big switch for me. I couldn't tell you if my opinions about NYC were colored by where I had previously stayed and visited, or by my father, an Italian who grew up in a Jewish Brooklyn neighborhood and who apparently (he never says it directly) had his fair share of the rough streets in the 50s and so instilled in us kids a sense of caution and hyperalert viligance for our personal well being (even though he's lived in a rural town in New England for over 30 years he still locks the cars in the driveway and there isn't a snowball's chance in HELL anybody could break into our house; the front door is three inches thick and steel.) However this does mean that I have a general idea of how to get around, what to do, and can pretend to be a NYC resident: I walk in front of traffic without fear, I don't look anybody in the eye while passing on the street, I walk with a purpose, and I don't gawk at the skyscrapers.

This past weekend I stayed on the (upper?) west side (near Broadway and 76th) and I loved it. I loved the neighborhoods, I loved the brownstone tennants out on Saturday having a bagel breakfast and planting petunias around the trees on the street, I loved the people, I loved Central Park and I loved the small, out of the way places that I saw in my three hours of walking on Saturday morning: the goofy knick-knack stores, the fabulous diner across the street from my hotel, the shoe stores (OH the shoe stores!) the restaurants, the hubbub, the humanity. While I couldn't imagine settling in NYC, for the first time I could imagine myself living there.

Confidential to NYC: what's UP with all the DOGS!? Big dogs, small dogs, mutts and purebreds. How do you manage dogs while living in apartments!?

Internet Observation #457 and #457.a

Internet Observation 457: The problem with being a famous blogger is that eventually people will meet you in real life.

457.a: Corollary to the above, the problem with being a very unfamous blogger is that people will start asking for your URL.