Absquatulate

Everyone, please go the f*ck away

I have precious few things in my life that could be considered leisurely.  This is also the first time in almost three years that I've had any leisure time at all to speak of.  I guard it with precious ferocity, schedule it along with homework sessions and my drive to Worcester, and plan on doing karate even when everything else seems to be going to pot (mostly because I am tired of living, breathing, and sleeping speech-language pathology.)  So the precious two hours a week I put aside for the karate classes at the UMass gym are jealously guarded.

I pay lots of money in fees to this univeristy, fees that I can't get waived or get financial aid to think about because well they're FEES not TUITION, to have access to some of the clubs on campus.  Mind you, I've had NO TIME during my tenure here up until this semester to even take advantage of them, and so I feel an extra sort of snootiness about it: UMass has made alot of money off my student activities fee that I never used for three semesters (and I don't even know what the money goes towards.  Grad students still have to PAY to get into sporting events. Wha??)  And with an indignant huff I feel entitled.

When I come home from a long day in Worcester where I pay for the privledge to work in a hospital, or a long day working in the lab then sitting through classes, I want to be able to drive to the gym on the other side of campus, park, and take the fucking karate class.  End of story.  And when I have to spend 15 minutes driving circles through campus trying to find parking I tend to get a little testy.

Usually parking isn't a problem, that is, until there's a basketball game.  Or a hockey game.  And when there's a sporting event going on, a sporting event taking place at a Division I school, everyone turns out.  Freshman, seniors, alumni, and the general public, and it drives me batshit.  Absolute batshit.  I spit at the sight of Lexii SUVs driving around the parking lots with a 60-something couple squinting at the last spot in the lot.  I fume at the tailgaters (!) chugging beer as they make their way to the gym.  I think horrible obscene thoughts as I see them, these visitors, taking away any and all hope of getting any parking anywhere within a half-mile radius of my stupid, little karate class; one of the few things that is keeping me sane until I graduate.

All of you, all of you people taking away parking from those of us who pay to go to this university to study something: go away.  I pay for this goddammed campus and I want to use it.

Savory Oatmeal - Home Cooking - Chowhound.com

Tired of cream, sugar and cinnamon?  Try this one for size:  Savory Oatmeal - Home Cooking at Chowhound.com.  Link courtesy of da xiang.

Rodrigo Y Gabriela

I simply HAVE to get more of their music.  The one song the local station plays is fabulous: Rodrigo Y Gabriela.

:: neutrino designs ::

Gorgeous gorgeous dinnerware featuring physics!  What's not to love??   :: neutrino designs ::.

Happy Birthday Little Brother!

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Originally uploaded by absquatulate.

A big fat embarassing Huzzah to my little bro, for turning 25 today!

(I never really was for 'bumsy', by the way. Just so you know. :)

The Blissfull Glutton Strikes Again

Oh heavens, don't visit the Blissfull Glutton at 9:00pm on a Tuesday when you have a bum broken toe and no place to get a Reuben sammich. Just spare yourself the torture.
/me wipes saliva from keyboard.

Head, Shoulders, Knees and TOES

Candy, darling, this post is about feet. Just for you this post is split into a safe, no feet picture intro, and a feet pictured extended remix below. So unless you, gentle reader, don't mind pictures of a foot and a baby toe in dear need of a pedicure and a doctor please click on through.

Wakin' Bacon

HOW can you go wrong with this?? WakinBacon at /mathlete/.

ORDER OF THE SCIENCE SCOUTS OF EXEMPLARY REPUTE AND ABOVE AVERAGE PHYSIQUE

Now, if the Girl Scouts were anything like this maybe I would have made it beyond three months of Jr. Scouts: ORDER OF THE SCIENCE SCOUTS OF EXEMPLARY REPUTE AND ABOVE AVERAGE PHYSIQUE.

Ten Servers that Changed the World | The Remarketer

Link: Ten Servers that Changed the World.

Bourdain, Doing What He Does Best

I first saw Bourdain on a show he was doing where he goes to restaurants and chats with the chefs and eats their food.  And he makes a relatively boring premise spark because he's so ascerbic and smart and usually dead on.  I then saw him as a guest judge on Top Chef and his characterization of Mikey as the love child of Julia Childs and Charles Manson was perfect!  This guy calls it like it is, and his guest post on Ruhlman's blog is no less delicious.  Read on to see Bourdain call out Food Network for it's glorious suckitude and give props to Emeril for reasons you can't deny: ruhlman.com: Guest Blogging: A Bourdain Throwdown.

Heaven

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Originally uploaded by theblissfulglutton.

One of my favorite parts of Easter isn't so much the chocolate, or the sweets, but rather it is a leg of lamb. Some people I know would be repulsed by this, but I am a die hard omnivore and I don't think I'll ever be able to change my ways, thanks in large part to the amazing deliciousness of lamb and potatoes.

I may have to dig deep into the student loan coffers and get a leg myself and roast it up good just for me. /insert Homer-esque drooling here.

Clicky on picture for instructions. Thanks theblissfulglutton!

Serious Eats: A Valentine's Menu for Hard-Up Lovers

In a pinch for what to do on Wednesday?  Link: Serious Eats: A Valentine's Menu for Hard-Up Lovers.  In particular, a chuckle was had at this little gem: "Champagne might say "I love you," but cava, Prosecco, sparkling Shiraz, and sparkling rosé will say "I respect you as a person enough not to blow the lease on the apartment."

Three years too soon

One of the few good things about living in Rochester was the abundance of relatively well built arts and crafts or four square houses that were reasonably priced. Unfortunately in western MA, those kinds of houses are a little rarer to find. Case in point: thisadorable red bungalow that is a whopping $375+k (although it does have over 2 acres of land, IN Amherst). Maybe in a few years... *sigh*

Message for you, sir

Message for you, sir
Originally uploaded by heather.

in the day and age of instant messaging and the internet, the problem more or less still remains that you can only talk to those you know. In such cases when you don't know to whom you are conversing, Post-Its prove an effective means of communication.

Twitter / Maggie

Happy!  No wonder Mrs. Mason looked chipper post labor:  all hail the epidural :D  Congratulations Maggie and Brian and little Hank.  Link: Twitter / Maggie.

Toto, I Don't Think We're in Kansas Anymore

On a marquee outside a church, on the border of Worcester, while driving on Rte. 9: "Trade in your piece for peace."

YouTube - [official] Pocoyo - Drum Roll Please

YouTube - [official] Pocoyo - Drum Roll Please.

Serious Eats: Eating Pretty

I'm hot and cold on the Amateur Gourmet Adam Roberts:  Sometimes his posts on AG are great and entertaining, and other times they seem to pass me by; it's probably just two different people passing in the blogosphere, nothing more.  But when I read his piece on Serious Eats regarding eating and the reasons why we feel guilty about it I came around and appreciate his writing on this topic.  Take a gander: Serious Eats: Eating Pretty.

chez pim: Tomato Confit: oven-dried tomato in olive oil

This year, rather than pureeing and freezing as many tomatoes as one can pick, I will try this recipe from chez pim: Tomato Confit: oven-dried tomato in olive oil.

Just Hungry | Pondering Japanese food, the food life of an expatriate, healthy eating, and more.

For those of us interested in learning some basics of Japanese cooking, check out Maki's website: Just Hungry | Pondering Japanese food, the food life of an expatriate, healthy eating, and more..

Actually...

From an email:
Leave me your number if you dont mind and I could call you at your convenience.

Um, if I'm leaving you MY number, I think you'd be calling me at YOUR convience, not mine.

Busta' Move

lotsaDairy

lotsaDairy
Originally uploaded by absquatulate.

Okay Internet, you helped Miss Brown pick shoes and glasses and helped the Former Mrs. Kennedy diagnose her swollen nostril. So help me figure out what to make with three packages of cream cheese and a pint of sour cream!

Pro Tip: Eat Food.

Michael Pollan wrote a lengthy (dare I say verbose?) article on food for the New York Times Magazine, and why we are getting continually fatter as the government and food companies try to control and dictate more and more of what we eat. It's chock full of history on food and food manufacturing, but the call to action is towards the bottom and it's advice well worth heeding. An excerpt:

1. Eat food. Though in our current state of confusion, this is much easier said than done. So try this: Don’t eat anything your great-great-grandmother wouldn’t recognize as food. (Sorry, but at this point Moms are as confused as the rest of us, which is why we have to go back a couple of generations, to a time before the advent of modern food products.) There are a great many foodlike items in the supermarket your ancestors wouldn’t recognize as food (Go-Gurt? Breakfast-cereal bars? Nondairy creamer?); stay away from these.

Chicken Apple Sausage with Mushroom Raviolis

I'm starting to use Absquatulate as a repository for my random cooking creations that turn out well. I suppose in the interest of integrity I should post the ones that don't turn out well, but I guess I'll have to work on my ego for that to happen.

So, here's what you do.

• Two or three chicken apple sausages, cut on the bias. I got mine at Trader Joe's.
• One package of portabella ravioli. The ones from TJ's had provolone in them, and that was the perfect bite needed in this recipe. Sure, ricotta may work too, but the provolone added that certain je ne sais quoi.
• Half a container (about 5 oz.) of sliced mushrooms. I only had white mushrooms on hand, but (of course) portabellas would work really well.
• One clove of garlic, sliced.
• One handful each of oregano and parsley, chopped.
• Enough butter to saute the mushrooms in. Oh come on, butter + mushrooms == da bomb. Use oil if you have to, but it won't quite have that same taste.
• Salt and pepper to taste

Put a skillet on a medium-high burner. Add the butter. When the butter is good and melted, but not quite brown, toss in the mushrooms. The idea here is to get them nice and brown, even a little carmelized, so toss to coat with butter and then leave them be. After a minute or two, add the sliced garlic and a little sprinkle of salt and pepper and give everything a good toss every minute or so. Add the sliced chicken sausage and get everything good and browl on both sides, and the mushroom will begin to release the butter back into the pan. Turn the heat down a little and throw in the chopped oregano and parsley, toss, and be sure the herbs don't burn.

While the mushrooms are cooking, start the water for the raviolis and cook according to package directions, but shave a minute off the cooking time a little, because you'll finish them off in the pan with the mushrooms and sausage.

Take just enough of the pasta water to cover the bottom of the skillet and add it to the musrhooms (you can also use white wine for this task, but I didn't have any on hand.) Scrape up all the delicious brown bits on the bottom of the pan. Wait for almost all of it to evaporate then add a little more. Keep adding small amounts of pasta water until you have a little bit of sauce in the pan. You don't want the mushrooms to be drowning in the water and you don't want the sausasges to boil all their taste out, so keep a light hand with the water. You want just enough to coat the raviolis when you add them to the pan.

Take the raviolis out of the pan when they are just done with a regular spoon and add them to the mushroom/sausage mix. Mix everything together, season to taste, top with more parsley, then eat!

Augmentations: Some thinly sliced onion leeks added with the mushrooms, some white wine to deglaze the pan, a bit of bacon or pancetta thrown in with the mushrooms, a tiny bit of sharp provolone to sprinkle on top perhaps. If you try this, what did you do and how did it turn out? Any of your own augmentations to share?