A blog that used to chronicle my Philadelphia eating life, then life working on a sheep farm in the PNW, and now life in rural Virginia.
Friday, August 31, 2007
Salmon Crazy
Hash Browns
Thursday, August 30, 2007
I Like
I found this at salon.com. I like it.
And this one. I love scrabble.
And this one. I love scrabble.
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Lunch c/o Koon 9
Today I had a job interview. Thoughts on the interview and the direction of my life will be shared in a different post. After the interview I decided I was entitled to eat lunch that didn't consist of the chicken soup I have been faithfully eating for the last week (it's good but after 7 days it gets a bit, well, tiresome). So I went to Koon 9 for a change of pace. I'd never been before but had noticed it, across from the brown line Wellington stop, on the occasions that I was watching the dogs (they live relatively nearby). Financial ruin be damned! The place is cute and at 11:40 pretty quiet. There were, in addition to me, two other tables with people at them. I ordered the Tom Yum soup, chicken satay, white tuna and pickled radish maki and, surprise, surprise, one wasabi tobbiko.
The soup tasted as it ought. It had big chunks of tomato, onions and pepper that I could do without but it also had lemongrass, straw mushrooms and a proper spicy kick that has been lacking in a few of my most recent tastes of Tom Yum. The satay wasn't stellar but there wasn't anything fundamentally wrong with it. The chicken was tender, it just didn't have much of a flavor going on. I think it would have been better if the meat had been a bit salted and maybe even grilled a bit more for that charred look that is so in these days. The peanut sauce that accompanied the chicken was equally okay. But the cucumber salad, again, gave me faith that I do know what to expect from Thai restaurants. Basically this experience has been confirmed as being the worst meal ever.
I'm always skeptical of "Thai-Japanese" restaurants. It just seems like you should stick to one cuisine. And, if you're actually from one of the two countries (usually Thailand), you might as well stick to what you really know. There are plenty of examples of why this thinking is wrong (Hama Matsu is run by Koreans and includes a few Korean dishes) but, generally, I think there's no shame in that food game. To that end, my sample of sushi was not all that fantastic. I took a little of the fish out of one of my rolls and it didn't have that distinctive buttery feel and taste I've come to expect of white tuna. The wasabi tobbiko was properly wasabi-ized but very shallow, yielding a very large rice to roe ratio. Rati-roe? Hee hee.
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All in all, I'd go back and try a Thai noodle dish. My meal, with tax and tip, cost $20. Which, though I have no money to spend on such things, isn't so bad for the quantity and overall quality of the food. You could easily eat lunch here for $10 if you just settled on a main entree or soup and appetizer kind of deal.
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Pets Watched, Television What?
Dinner At Adobo Grill
Monday, August 27, 2007
Two
Last month the lady friend of my mother's that I helped a bit in June (or was it July?) sent this photograph of a cake her friend's son made. It has bananas in it which means, technically, that I find it disgusting. But it looks good...something to do with ice cream sandwiches! It was kind of cool getting to see a 13 year old boy's efforts in the kitchen. So I thought I'd suggest that others send photographs of things they've made and feel proud of. Which I will. Though first I'll need to get another email account. Which I will. Eventually.
A former professor (you should read her books) also sent this to me. The caption is: "Who Brought The Cat?". Personally I think Photoshop brought the cat.
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Linky Dooo
Friday, August 24, 2007
Blogger, Every Once In A While, Makes My Life Easier
Like when it lets me upload a video directly to it...as opposed to going through youtube. Though it's still uploading and may end up, well, screwing me. It's been a number of minutes now. All's I want to do is share the crazy, verging on tornado-like weather, the Chicago area experienced yesterday. Sheesh. Well, while I'm waiting I can tell you about other things I've been meaning to share. Like how I've started watching Clark and Michael and how funny it is and how you, too, will think it's funny (start with episode one). I think I have Chuck to thank for coming across them. Five minutes later, still no video. Hmm. What else? Oh yes, I've been checking in with Ross the Intern's blog every few days for about three weeks. I first checked it out after he was on the Jay Leno show and mentioned his blog with the same kind of enthusiasm that I have when trying to encourage a skeptic to start reading my blog. Of course, I don't have a job with the Tonight Show, nor am I a squeaky voiced gay man...though it seems I went to college with someone he went to high school with...not that I actually knew her, oh no of course not. The video thing just said it couldn't do it. Well, I'll give it one more try.
Yeah. Fifteen minutes later and the title of this post should be: Blogger Never Fails To Fail My Expectations. I'll go to youtube, I guess.
Yeah. Fifteen minutes later and the title of this post should be: Blogger Never Fails To Fail My Expectations. I'll go to youtube, I guess.
It Ain't Easy
If you google image search "It Ain't Easy" this is one of the images that pops up. It's a pregnant lady with a shirt that says: "It ain't easy being queazy". I always thought queazy was spelled queasy. And, according to blogger's spell check I am correct.
Here is what's not easy:
1. Learning that the one firm job opportunity you had was gone (the Savannah people decided not to hire me).
2. Searching about for more possible jobs, getting so desperate you apply to something that you wouldn't otherwise apply for, getting a message from that job, thinking (for some unknown reason) that it would be a good idea to google the phone number and finding things like this and this.
3. The ebf coming to Chicago to collect a fair amount of his stuff and generally feeling sad and a bit mad about the whole thing. My feeling sad, not him. Though he was probably sad too.
4. Paying bills and thinking about rent when I have yet to even find temporary employment.
5. Imagining terrible futures involving the inability to ever find work, pay off my student loans, finish my novel, get married, have children, go on vacation or dine out ever again.
On the up side it's stopped raining and things always get better.
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1. Learning that the one firm job opportunity you had was gone (the Savannah people decided not to hire me).
2. Searching about for more possible jobs, getting so desperate you apply to something that you wouldn't otherwise apply for, getting a message from that job, thinking (for some unknown reason) that it would be a good idea to google the phone number and finding things like this and this.
3. The ebf coming to Chicago to collect a fair amount of his stuff and generally feeling sad and a bit mad about the whole thing. My feeling sad, not him. Though he was probably sad too.
4. Paying bills and thinking about rent when I have yet to even find temporary employment.
5. Imagining terrible futures involving the inability to ever find work, pay off my student loans, finish my novel, get married, have children, go on vacation or dine out ever again.
On the up side it's stopped raining and things always get better.
Labels:
Boo hoo,
Rant,
Rumination
The Saga of the Painted Whore
Yet another installment in everybody's favorite game....painted whore or not? This time around it was in preparation for a whiskey event I am, as we speak, writing up for Chicagoist. I wore a new shirt and, for a while in my apartment, the scarf my mother gave me from France.
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You can learn about the event later. But I'll tell you now that I underestimated how hot it was outside. Or how muggy hot it was and how quickly one sweats when walking in muggy hot weather for four or five blocks. It wasn't that bad...but note to self: even if it's cooler than it was two days ago, it's still summer in Chicago so don't wear long sleeved shirts no matter how cute you think they are.
Obviously I didn't do a close up on my eyes this time around...but the paint was on.
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
An Incomplete Account
Since summer began I have watched a large number of movies and read a large number of books. So many that I can't remember them all. But here are some I remember (because they were either recently seen/read or because my netflix queue told me so. This is in no chronological order, simply the order in which I uploaded the image files which was itself arbitrary.
Nanny Diaries: I listened to Julia Roberts read this on tape back when I worked at the sheep farm. It was better listening to than reading. The movie seems to already have deviated greatly from the book. All in all I found it depressing.
I've already stated that I like Harry Potter more than His Dark Materials. I will also say that I liked the final book in the trilogy the best.
Smart, and sometimes cute, British boys talking all smarty like. You can definitely feel that this movie was at one point a play. Relatively interesting and funny even with all the philosophical debate on the best way to educate. Though I did wonder what exactly we were to think about molestation.
Good premise for a documentary but boring in reality. There is hardly any, no wait, there was absolutely no drama in this film that followed a bunch of kids as they went to drama camp. That's all they did, go to drama camp and get into shows. Ugh.
I very much liked The Last Mimzy. I didn't find either of the child actors annoying and I felt like the adult actors got to play relatively interesting and not completely non-existent people (ie the perfect parents, the brilliant teacher etc). I was a bit disappointed at the pacing of the movie and a bit of the ending. But, all in all, a good children's movie that is far less sappy than others around.
Funny it was not. It was almost funny a lot of times but every time they got close to it...well, they made it unfunny. Except, perhaps, for the Zooey Deschanel scenes.
The Motel was decent. Artsy and indie and lacking in true dramatic resolution but pretty and quiet to watch.
Widow Of The South is a book. It's a historical novel. I learned about a big battle I didn't know about and one woman's fight to respect the more than 8,000 soldiers who fought and died in Franklin, TN....actually she fought for about 1,500 of them.
Rent A Rasta was billed as a documentary about rich white women who come to Jamaica and pay for sex with native islanders. Rent A Rasta is really a documentary about Rastafarianism (?) and has very little substantive things to say about the sex trade (other than women go there because they're fat, old or ugly and that going to another first world country doesn't change those things while in Jamaica it does). I'm not saying Rastafarianism (?) isn't interesting. I'm saying this movie isn't.
Case Histories is a book by Kate Atkinson. It takes the whole intersecting lives thing in an interesting-ish direction. It's a mystery but it does, somehow, transcend being a genre novel.
Driving Lessons is another movie that could have been funny but wasn't...not even with the same Sufjan Stevens song popping up every fifteen minutes. I think Rupert Grint is a cutie but I don't think he or the director could decide if his character was smart or not. Similarly, the old lady that plays his employer etc waffles between being a crazy alcoholic and a put-together eccentric, which makes the entire thing rather stupid.
The Eyre Affair is another book that is definitely in the mystery category and yet has a charm all of its own. Set in a futuristic world, you know what I have no idea how to explain this book. I suggest you read it. It's funny.
I watched the Jonestown documentary. It was very good and extremely disturbing.
Why I bothered getting Underworld Evolution when I thought the original Underworld was entirely without redeeming qualities is beyond me...I think it had to do with Scott Speedman....he seems so cute when he's standing around but every time he tries to act I can't help but think that he must be very, very unsmart.
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The end of this installment of random things I have watched or read!
Nanny Diaries: I listened to Julia Roberts read this on tape back when I worked at the sheep farm. It was better listening to than reading. The movie seems to already have deviated greatly from the book. All in all I found it depressing.
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The end of this installment of random things I have watched or read!
Chicken Soup
To see how to make a tasty chicken soup (no noodles) go here. And if you live in Chicago and want some of this soup I have jars upon jars available...well, three or four jars.
Monday, August 20, 2007
Monday
Labels:
Chicagoist link,
Dessert,
Dinner,
Dinner In
Artichoke In The City
Saturday, August 18, 2007
Friday, August 17, 2007
Thursday, August 16, 2007
Phad Thai
I am not all that excited to be back in Chicago. It's loud here and full of crazy people and I've forgotten how to walk around the city. The exact position of my eyes and pacing. Basically, in Tennessee I walked with not so many of my guards up. And now all the things to guard against are being remembered. And they're gross. Well, not gross really.
Today I tried doing a transcribing test for a possible job. But these damn fighter jets are practicing for their big airs how this weekend (I assume and plead that it is this weekend) and they really make listening to a focus group discuss cell phones very hard to hear. So, I may try this again when, at least, the planes have stopped their sonic booming.
A Starchy Mess and An Oversized Load
a) are there people who go around thrift stores and junk yards collecting it,
b) if option "a" is true, then what, exactly are the qualifications for that position?
c) if there are no people going around looking for all this shwag does that mean that there are factories and businesses whose entire business is pumping out objects for all the Cracker Barrels, TGIFridays, Applebees and Red Lobsters in the world?
d) if option "c" is accurate...well...it is a stupid world that hosts businesses to make artificially homey objects for absolutely corporate restaurants.
Some Food
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Dinner at Mi Casa and Boredom Photoshopping
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I Have Turtle Eagle Eyes
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