Here is a transcript of my interview with "Santa" over MSN Messenger. I have some serious doubts it is really him.
Larry says:
are you really santa claus?
Santa Claus says:
Ho ho ho! Merry Christmas, Larry! I'm Santa Claus!
Tell me, are you a boy or a girl?
Larry says:
why do you want to know?
Santa Claus says:
Ho ho ho! Am I talking to a boy or girl?
Larry says:
why?
Santa Claus says:
Sorry - Santa really needs to know if you're a boy or a girl.
Larry says:
is it because if it's a girl you'll talk down to them?
Santa Claus says:
And what do you want for Christmas, Larry?
Larry says:
i want to know if you're really santa
Santa Claus says:
Great, Larry! I'll see what I can do.
And what else would you like?
Larry says:
i would like you to answer my question
Santa Claus says:
My elves will get right on that.
Larry says:
speaking of your elves, how many do you have working for you?
Santa Claus says:
What was that?
Larry says:
how many elves do you have working for you?
Santa Claus says:
There are too many elves to count!
Larry says:
are these elves unionized?
Santa Claus says:
Hmm...
Larry says:
that isn't an answer santa, if that is your real name
Santa Claus says:
Hey! That's my name! I won't call you that.
Larry says:
so answer my question, are the elves unionized?
Santa Claus says:
What was that?
Larry says:
i don't understand why you keep ducking the question
Santa Claus says:
Interesting!
Larry says:
yes it is santa...
Santa Claus says:
Are you sure it is?
Larry says:
are you at least paying the elves a living wage?
Santa Claus says:
Hmm... I don't know, Larry, what do you think?
Larry says:
i think if you were you wouldn't be avoiding my question
Santa Claus says:
What do you think, Larry?
Larry says:
i just told you
Santa Claus says:
Whatever.
Larry says:
what about comprehensive healthcare?
Santa Claus says:
What was that?
Larry says:
are you providing the elves comprehensive health care?
Santa Claus says:
Hmm... I don't know, Larry, what do you think?
Larry says:
it doesn't matter what i think
Santa Claus says:
Interesting!
Larry says:
so are you saying you aren't paying the elves a living wage and denying them healthcare?
Santa Claus says:
What do you think about that, Larry?
Larry says:
i think that's just wrong
Santa Claus says:
Ho ho ho! What?
Larry says:
oh, you know what
Santa Claus says:
What?
Larry says:
i'm beginning to think you aren't really santa
Santa Claus says:
Yes, that's my name!
Larry says:
if you are really santa, then what did you get me last year?
Santa Claus says:
What do you think, Larry?
Larry says:
that doesn't answer the question
Santa Claus says:
Ho ho ho?
Larry says:
saying ho ho ho over and over again isn't going to convince me you're santa
Santa Claus says:
That is entirely unnecessary.
Larry says:
who is kris kringle?
Santa Claus says:
My name is Santa Claus.
Larry says:
have you ever been known under the name of kris kringle?
Santa Claus says:
Yes!
Larry says:
really?
Santa Claus says:
Yes, really.
Larry says:
where do they call you that?
Santa Claus says:
Santa Claus! HO HO HO!
Larry says:
um, that isn't a location
Santa Claus says:
Hmm...
Larry says:
have you been drinking?
Santa Claus says:
I assure you I'm quite sober.
Larry says:
let me talk to mrs claus
Santa Claus says:
Ho ho ho!
Larry says:
please let me talk to mrs claus
Santa Claus says:
Really?
Larry says:
yes
Santa Claus says:
Yup.
Larry says:
you've avoided all my questions so this interview is over
Santa Claus says:
Ho ho ho?
Larry says:
are you calling me a ho?
Santa Claus says:
That's quite unnecessary.
Larry says:
i will be sending osha to check in on your elves
Santa Claus says:
Great, Larry! I'll see what I can do.
Larry says:
please see that you do
Santa Claus says:
Take care, Larry.
Larry says:
bye santa...if that's really who you are...
Santa Claus says:
See ya later Larry. Good talking to you.
Thursday, December 21, 2006
Thursday, November 09, 2006
I expected more dirt...
It's been a while since I've blogged and I blame television for that. There are so many shows I've gotten hooked on, and some others I thought I would be but they've lost me over the past month or so. Anyway, TV isn't the point of this post so I digress.
There's a new restaurant that has opened up in my neighborhood and it's one of only two Oregon Tilth organic certified restaurants in the country. Tilth has taken over the location of my much beloved Mandalay Cafe on 45th in Wallingford and I finally had a chance to try it last Thursday. Since I heard what was moving into that space I was interested in checking it out, especially after learning Maria Hines was the owner and chef. Kristen actually got to go a week before I did and you can read what she thought of it on her blog.
I really enjoyed Tilth, the food was well executed and enjoyed the flavor profiles of the dishes. I started with the Local Comice Pear Salad and Kristen had the Full Circle Farms Baby Lettuces. I was expecting the blue cheese in my salad to be a lot stronger than it was and it played well with the arugula and walnuts. Not really paying attention to what was in Kristen's salad I was really intrigued by the light fruit of the vinaigrette. When I asked her what it was she said it was just a lemon vinaigrette and I really liked how it was executed. It was a little sweet and tart without any harsh acid. I can say that a lot of times something as simple as a vinaigrette can make or break a salad, and this one made it.
Our main entrees came out shortly after we finished our salads. Kristen was presented with Sablefish and a polenta cake while I received the seared Top Sirloin. My first impression with the top sirloin was how perfectly it was cooked. Usually when I go out to eat at a restaurant and order a steak I tend to ask for it to be rare/medium rare because if I ask for it just medium rare it'll get cooked to medium. This time, they delivered exactly what I asked for and I was very pleased. The sirloin had a good flavor that I attribute it to being grassfed. I did notice that it could be a little harder to chew if I didn't cut it across the grain of the meat. But when I did, the beef was very tender and almost buttery. This proved to be an excellent counterpount to the accompanying radicchio which provided a nice bitter note. When I took my first bite of the fingerling potatoes I really didn't want to eat anything else. I'm a sucker for potatoes and these were amazing when I had them alone. The saltiness of the seasoning and the creaminess of the potato itself was a little bit of heaven. The flavor profile of the entire dish was well done with the saltiness of the potatoes, bitterness of the radicchio, and beefiness of the sirloin all playing well off each other with no one flavor overpowering any other.
Kristen's balsamic glazed sablefish was the polar opposite of my entree. It was much lighter but just as flavorful. While my entree was a play on some bolder flavors, this dish was all about quieter ones. The mild white sablefish played host to the subtley sweet balsamic glaze while sitting atop a creamy polenta cake. Like most white fish, the sablefish was very neutral in flavor so if paired incorrectly it could easily be overpowered by the flavors in it's companions. But once again, everything played off each other and provided a complimentary and harmonious flavor profile.
After a slight miscommunication about whether or not we wanted dessert, they arrived at our table. We ordered the Mini Caramel Heirloom Apples that Kristen had been raving about since her visit as well as the Smoked Theo Chocolate Pudding. The mini caramel apples were little apples on a toothpick that you then dipped into a side of caramel. I really wished the apples were bigger because I couldn't get enough of the caramel. I tried to get as much caramel as I could on the last mini apple we had, but even then that wasn't enough. The vanilla marshmellow kept throwing me off in the pudding dish. Every time I combined a bite of the marshmallow with the pudding, all I could taste was the vanilla. The pudding itself was really good, but how could it not be seeing that it's made with Theo chocolate. In the interest of full disclosure, my friend's wife is a chocolatier at Theo but that in no way influences my assertion that Theo chocolate is damn good.
As I'm sure you could tell, the food was very well done but for some reason I was slightly underwhelmed by my experience overall. The clean white and green interior threw me off a little because I was expecting something more in line with the tilth theme. Also, our server seemed a little less polished than I would have anticipated but I can't complain because we were never left wanting and our food was also brought out when it should have been. Our server just seemed a little nervous or unsure of herself, which she shouldn't because she did a good job and suggested an excellent wine pairing.
Overall I would highly recommend Tilth. Since this was only my first time visiting I'll give them a few more tries before I pass final judgement on the atmosphere.
There's a new restaurant that has opened up in my neighborhood and it's one of only two Oregon Tilth organic certified restaurants in the country. Tilth has taken over the location of my much beloved Mandalay Cafe on 45th in Wallingford and I finally had a chance to try it last Thursday. Since I heard what was moving into that space I was interested in checking it out, especially after learning Maria Hines was the owner and chef. Kristen actually got to go a week before I did and you can read what she thought of it on her blog.
I really enjoyed Tilth, the food was well executed and enjoyed the flavor profiles of the dishes. I started with the Local Comice Pear Salad and Kristen had the Full Circle Farms Baby Lettuces. I was expecting the blue cheese in my salad to be a lot stronger than it was and it played well with the arugula and walnuts. Not really paying attention to what was in Kristen's salad I was really intrigued by the light fruit of the vinaigrette. When I asked her what it was she said it was just a lemon vinaigrette and I really liked how it was executed. It was a little sweet and tart without any harsh acid. I can say that a lot of times something as simple as a vinaigrette can make or break a salad, and this one made it.
Our main entrees came out shortly after we finished our salads. Kristen was presented with Sablefish and a polenta cake while I received the seared Top Sirloin. My first impression with the top sirloin was how perfectly it was cooked. Usually when I go out to eat at a restaurant and order a steak I tend to ask for it to be rare/medium rare because if I ask for it just medium rare it'll get cooked to medium. This time, they delivered exactly what I asked for and I was very pleased. The sirloin had a good flavor that I attribute it to being grassfed. I did notice that it could be a little harder to chew if I didn't cut it across the grain of the meat. But when I did, the beef was very tender and almost buttery. This proved to be an excellent counterpount to the accompanying radicchio which provided a nice bitter note. When I took my first bite of the fingerling potatoes I really didn't want to eat anything else. I'm a sucker for potatoes and these were amazing when I had them alone. The saltiness of the seasoning and the creaminess of the potato itself was a little bit of heaven. The flavor profile of the entire dish was well done with the saltiness of the potatoes, bitterness of the radicchio, and beefiness of the sirloin all playing well off each other with no one flavor overpowering any other.
Kristen's balsamic glazed sablefish was the polar opposite of my entree. It was much lighter but just as flavorful. While my entree was a play on some bolder flavors, this dish was all about quieter ones. The mild white sablefish played host to the subtley sweet balsamic glaze while sitting atop a creamy polenta cake. Like most white fish, the sablefish was very neutral in flavor so if paired incorrectly it could easily be overpowered by the flavors in it's companions. But once again, everything played off each other and provided a complimentary and harmonious flavor profile.
After a slight miscommunication about whether or not we wanted dessert, they arrived at our table. We ordered the Mini Caramel Heirloom Apples that Kristen had been raving about since her visit as well as the Smoked Theo Chocolate Pudding. The mini caramel apples were little apples on a toothpick that you then dipped into a side of caramel. I really wished the apples were bigger because I couldn't get enough of the caramel. I tried to get as much caramel as I could on the last mini apple we had, but even then that wasn't enough. The vanilla marshmellow kept throwing me off in the pudding dish. Every time I combined a bite of the marshmallow with the pudding, all I could taste was the vanilla. The pudding itself was really good, but how could it not be seeing that it's made with Theo chocolate. In the interest of full disclosure, my friend's wife is a chocolatier at Theo but that in no way influences my assertion that Theo chocolate is damn good.
As I'm sure you could tell, the food was very well done but for some reason I was slightly underwhelmed by my experience overall. The clean white and green interior threw me off a little because I was expecting something more in line with the tilth theme. Also, our server seemed a little less polished than I would have anticipated but I can't complain because we were never left wanting and our food was also brought out when it should have been. Our server just seemed a little nervous or unsure of herself, which she shouldn't because she did a good job and suggested an excellent wine pairing.
Overall I would highly recommend Tilth. Since this was only my first time visiting I'll give them a few more tries before I pass final judgement on the atmosphere.
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
Inaugural Podcast: Nothing fits...
I've finally decided to do a podcast. It's all music so I'm sparing you the sound of my voice, but that might change as I get more ambitious. Of course I've encoded it in Windows Media Audio format, so you'll need a compatible player for it. Moving forward, I might encode in MP3. The playlist is below, I hope you enjoy it!
10.10.2006 Podcast: Nothing fits... (right click to Save Target, not sure how it works on Macs)
The Decemberists - The Perfect Crime No. 2
Belle and Sebastian - Funny Little Frog
Stars - Reunion
Death Cab for Cutie - Your Heart is an Empty Room
The Pernice Brothers - My So-Called Celibate Life
Regina Spektor - Better
Lily Allen - Friday Night
Beck - Nausea
Metric - Hand$hake$
Cold War Kids - Hang Me Up to Dry
Sandi Thom - Sunset Borderline
Laura Cantrell - 14th Street
Iron and Wine|Calexico - A History of Lovers
Math and Physics Club - Graduation Day
The Long Winters - Fire Island, AK
The Posies - Love Comes
The Raconteurs - Together
10.10.2006 Podcast: Nothing fits... (right click to Save Target, not sure how it works on Macs)
The Decemberists - The Perfect Crime No. 2
Belle and Sebastian - Funny Little Frog
Stars - Reunion
Death Cab for Cutie - Your Heart is an Empty Room
The Pernice Brothers - My So-Called Celibate Life
Regina Spektor - Better
Lily Allen - Friday Night
Beck - Nausea
Metric - Hand$hake$
Cold War Kids - Hang Me Up to Dry
Sandi Thom - Sunset Borderline
Laura Cantrell - 14th Street
Iron and Wine|Calexico - A History of Lovers
Math and Physics Club - Graduation Day
The Long Winters - Fire Island, AK
The Posies - Love Comes
The Raconteurs - Together
Saturday, September 16, 2006
Fall is in the air
Last night was the first night where it felt like fall, and I have to admit I was pretty excited. Fall is one of my favorite seasons and I think it's because it always signifies change and new experiences to me. First of all I was born in October and there's no bigger change than being born. Also, fall was always the start of a new school year. It was a time where you started a new grade or new school or when you moved away to college. Speaking of moving, I moved out to Seattle at the end of September 8 years ago so whenever this time of year rolls around it brings back those memories of when I first came out here. I got hit with that nostalgia the other day when I was walking around my neighborhood and it felt just like when I was wandering around 8 years ago with the sun and cool air. Last year, at this time, is when K and I got the keys to our house together.
So you can see why fall is a favorite. But in addition to the emotional ties, there's just something that I love about the cool, crisp air when you're outside. The angle of the light in the evening when the sun is setting makes you just want to wrap yourself in a blanket on the couch with a cup of hot chocolate. Not wanting to leave the warmth of your bed in the morning, or the hesistancy to climb into your cold bed at night. Plus, you get to break out your sweaters and warm jackets for the first time.
So you can see why fall is a favorite. But in addition to the emotional ties, there's just something that I love about the cool, crisp air when you're outside. The angle of the light in the evening when the sun is setting makes you just want to wrap yourself in a blanket on the couch with a cup of hot chocolate. Not wanting to leave the warmth of your bed in the morning, or the hesistancy to climb into your cold bed at night. Plus, you get to break out your sweaters and warm jackets for the first time.
Monday, July 24, 2006
Heat Wave 2006
Heat wave 2006 has taken over the Northwest over the past 4 days. Temperatures have been in the mid to high 90's since Friday. With pretty low humidity I wouldn't have minded how hot it's been back when I lived in Baltimre, but being out here was made me used to moderate temperatures. So over the course of the weekend, when I haven't been watching the Red Sox take on the Mariners, I've been spending time in the basement in our spare bedroom and studio. It's about 20 degrees cooler down here and the cats have taken to lounging on the concrete floor down here. One cool thing we discovered is that we have cable in the basement so we can hang out down here and still have cable tv and internet access. The only thing we're missing down here is a food source.
It's been a while since I last blogged, but during that absence I've noticed my traffic increase. Strange, but true. Also during this time, I've become addicted to a new blog, The Sartorialist. The Sartorialist is Scott Schuman and his blog shows pictures of stylish people that he finds on the streets of New York. What's refreshing about this site is that a lot of these people are just regular people walking around and they aren't necessarily wearing the most expensive clothes. It just goes to show that you don't need to have money to have great personal style.
Staying on the fashion topic, the third season of Project Runway has begun and we celebrated by having a party to watch the season premiere. We had a great turnout and there are already some early favorites. Personally, I don't think PR would be what it is without Tim Gunn. I know this is a sentiment that is shared by many Project Runway fans. My early picks are Robert Best, the Barbie designer; Kayne Gillaspie, the pageant wear designer; and Michael Knight, a fashion designer from Atlanta (and no, he doesn't have a talking car...that we know of). The villain of the show to this point is Keith Michael and it doesn't seem like that will change any time soon. I had a feeling he was no good during the road to the runway show no to our guests, "Oh, he's got two first names, you know he's going to be trouble."
To try to segue to another topic, I went to Nordstrom a while back with Kristen to check out a sale after a baseball game. I usually don't shop there because everytime I go I get treated horribly. We first went to the women's shoe department so she could scope out the sale shoes and ended up getting a sweet pair of pale blue Diesels. Since we were there I decided to check out the men's department to see what they had. I saw a pair of brown and orange Adidas that I liked and decided to try them on. Well, it took me forever to get someone to offer to get them in my size for me to try on. When I finally did, the person "helping" me couldn't care less about me and kept looking longingly at some other guy who was looking at $300 shoes. He obviously wished he was helping him and not me. In the end I got the shoes, not because of the service but because I liked the shoes. After we left Kristen said she couldn't believe how horribly I was treated and I explained it's just par for the course when I go there which is why I don't normally. I don't know why I always get this type of service there since Nordstrom is supposed to be all about the service. Because of that I choose to shop at another store, that I won't mention, but I love it there and the people that work there send you notes thanking you for visiting the store.
I did end up having a good experience, finally, a week ago when I went there during their anniversary sale to get a suit. The man who helped me was the most stylish of all the folks there. A very kind, older gentleman with a great suit and yellow socks that matched his tie and pocket square. He didn't try to push the really expensive suits on me, but don't be mistaken he did make sure to show me the Hickey Freeman and Zegna suits, and was more than happy to keep helping me when I chose the half price suit. So maybe Nordstrom isn't so bad after all, you just have to find the most effortlessly stylish person in the department to help you.
So one final thing that has come up a lot recently is the topic of racism, something I was naive enought to think I would never encounter when I was growing up. The reason this has come to mind for me as of late are some things that I've encountered and I don't think most of it was intentional. The first thing is that someone recently asked me what my nationality is. Well, the obvious answer is I'm as American as the next person. I was born here in the US and even have Benjamin Franklin on my birth certificate. Now, I knew what they were really trying to ask was what my ethnicity is since I've come across this before, so I told them. What kind of bothered me about this was not what they asked but the fact that they asked me this during a meeting at work. Now, I work at a place that is supposed to have only the best and brightest so I was shocked at the inappropriateness of this and the other person in the meeting with us exchanged a look with me that communicated that she was as horrified as I was. I let it go because I don't want to make it out to be a huge deal because I know this person didn't mean any harm and I still had to work with them but I'm a little wary around them now.
The other things that kind of surprised me happened within the last week. As many may know the Seattle Sonics were recently sold to a group in Oklahoma this past week. This delighted a group of people here who don't think the public should help finance professional sports or their arenas and would be excited to see them leave town. While reading through the message boards on some of the sites for our local newspapers I was astonished by a number of the comments that were left. Whether they were intended to be racist or not is not for me to judge, but the message did convey very racists meanings. Calling all basketball players "thugs" and saying they had illegitimate children scattered around the country and how they didn't want to have those types of people ruining their community. I don't know who these people were or where they live but I was pretty surprised that these comments were left, I'm assuming, by people here in Seattle. Then at the baseball game on Saturday, the person behind me cheered for Ichiro Suzuki by yelling, "Go you chinaman!" First of all, that term is an obvious racial slur and B, Ichiro is Japanese is not Chinese. To make matters worse, this guy spilled his beer on me, my friend Missy, and the folks in front of us. He was so classy he didn't even apologize. Finally, on the way back from the game yesterday we stopped at the Elliot Bay Bookstore so Kristen could pick up the book for her next bookclub. While she was tracking down the book I went down into the cafe to use the restroom. On the wall in the men's room, the wall was filled with writing as is common in a number of restrooms. What caught my eye was the number of swastikas that were drawn on the wall.
All of these things made me realize that hate and racism still exist, even in one of the most liberal cities in the country. It may not be overtly evident at all times, but it's still there lying beneath the surface to some degree. What surprised me was that I had never encountered any racism until after I moved to Seattle.
Sunday, June 11, 2006
A Taste of Summer
Today was a fleeting glimpse of what summer in Seattle is like. With temperatures in the 70's and bright blue skies, you couldn't ask for a better day. But summer in Seattle isn't just about the weather. A big part of it is the new produce that starts to show up at farmer's markets. For me, I know summer is here when there fresh strawberries, cherries, and tomatoes start showing up. Now I know you can get these items year round at your local megamart, but I'm talking about fresh, local grown produce. Items that are picked at their peak, ready to be eaten. Not the stuff you find at the grocery store that was picked who knows how long ago and shipped out here from far flung parts of the world.
Do you know what a tomato tastes like? Well, go to your local farmers market and pick yourself up a locally grown heirloom that was just harvested. Take a bit into it and you'll be shocked, and pleased, at how amazing they taste compared to the bland mushy stuff you get at the grocer. This is my experience when I taste my first tomato of the season after a winter of the other kind. Earlier today, we made a trip to the farmer's market and got a brandywine and a green heirloom tomato. We served it very simply with a balsamic vinagrette to make sure we didn't overpower it. The tomatoes were sweet and juicy and almost melted in your mouth. I remember when I was little I used to love to eat the tomatoes we grew (or got from a farmer's roadside stand) like an apple. You could definitely do that with these.
I'm very finicky when it comes to strawberries. I hate it when they're crunchy and dry with that white hull. So when we sampled some strawberries at the farmer's market today and they were red throughout I knew we had to get them. What's the difference? The white hull means that it was picked before it was ready so it wouldn't spoil before it got to where it was going. When there isn't any red, that means it was picked at it's peak of ripeness and you'll be rewarded with a juicy and sweet treat. You have to eat them quick, which shouldn't be a problem, because they'll spoil in a couple of days. A couple of years ago I went to a strawberry farm and picked my own. I got a little overzealous and picked way more than I could possibly eat before they went bad. To remedy the situation I made a big batch of strawberry ice cream. I must say, that was some good ice cream.
I think the highlight of my trip the farmer's market was meeting and talking to Eiko of Skagit River Ranch located in Sedro Woolley, WA. They raise grass fed cows, pigs, and pastured chickens. We talked a bit about Michael Pollan and all the good he's doing just by bringing up the issues of where are food comes from these days. We also discussed how different industrial food tastes when you compare it to what comes out of small organic farms. You know, when a tomato tastes like a tomato. Talking about it made me remember the local farmers market we used to go to when I was a kid and the dairy farm we would frequent to get ice cream. I remember how much I would enjoy walking around and checking out all the cows on the dairy farm and then going home with a half gallon of ice cream under my arm. After talking with her for a while I looked through what they had left (that's what I get for going there late in the day) and left with a brisket and some pork rib tips. Before I went I promised to come by the farm one saturday to see how the animals are raised and pick up some more stuff.
Which brings me to my project for this summer. I decided a little while ago that I'm going to try to get to know where my food comes from. This is why I asked Eiko about visiting Skagit River Ranch and promised that I would come by. But that's only the first step, next I want to connect with some other farms to see how they grow their food. I'm planning on joining Boistfort Valley Farm's CSA but I wanted to meet and talk to them a little before I joined. Unfortunately I couldn't track them down at the market today but I don't think that will stop me from signing up. If anybody knows of any other farms that you like that welcome visitors please let me know.
When I was talking to my friend on IM about this while I was working on my show he said, "You're crazy about your food source." I wouldn't go so far as saying I'm crazy about it, but I'm beginning to understand how important it is to know where your food is coming from and what is really in it. I'm getting older now and becoming more cognizant of my body, some pretty nasty injuries will do that to you. So what is more important when it comes to taking care of your body than the food you put into it?
Monday, May 29, 2006
Dear music,
I'm sorry. I'm sorry I haven't been paying as much attention to you as I should. I just needed a break and I hope you can understand. You have to admit though, you hadn't really done much to keep things exciting lately with your somewhat predictable phrasing, recycled rhythms, and cliched lyrics. Maybe this break was just what we both needed as we had both become complacent in our relationship. It's made me work harder to discover all that you offer as well as revisit old gifts that I've loved and neglected. I promise to cut back on my NPR listening when I'm in the car and baseball broadcasts at the office. I promise to listen because just hearing you isn't enough. I promise to drop all pretenses and just get lost in you. I promise to be more forgiving and to give you a second chance when the first listen doesn't grab me. I promise all this because I miss you. I miss the feeling of playing a new album that is so enthralling that I can do nothing but just sit and stare at the wall.
So what would I like to see in return? I'd love to see you continue to grow and not get caught up in the hype. I'd like to see you try new things and push the boundaries. Also, I'd like the people that play you (DJs, musicians, etc.) to remember it's about you and not them.
So what would I like to see in return? I'd love to see you continue to grow and not get caught up in the hype. I'd like to see you try new things and push the boundaries. Also, I'd like the people that play you (DJs, musicians, etc.) to remember it's about you and not them.
Friday, May 26, 2006
a sad day in the world of music...
Reggae legend Desmond Dekker died from a heart attack in his home in Britain at the age of 64.
Read the NYTimes article (via Reuters).
Thursday, May 18, 2006
slow news day at the NY Times...
Seriously, it must have been a slow news day for this article to be run on the front page of the New York Times.
And if It's a Boy, Will It Be Lleh?
It's an article about how the 70th most popular name for baby girls in 2005 is Nevaeh. Do you know where that name comes from? You guessed it, it's Heaven spelled backwards. When I saw the title I thought it was pretty funny how the Times was mocking these folks. But then I got a little scared when I realized that maybe they weren't mocking at all. Gawker doesn't seem to think very highly of the author, so maybe it was an inadvertent dig, but it was entertaining to me.
But seriously, do people really need to start making up names by just turning words of things backwards. Will people who really love wine start naming their kids Tonip? We all know how loyal Packers fans are so will there be a bunch of kids in Wisconsin called Srekcap? Gosh, I sure hope not.
Saturday, May 13, 2006
organic? local? both?
I'm sure many of you have become very aware of the organic movement as of late. Not to be outdone, Wal-Mart has even gotten in on the act. Buying organic has never been cheap so we'll have to see what happens to prices as they enter the market. Like most people I would love to be able to eat organic but doing so requires money and some planning. I've noticed that with organic fruits and vegetables they don't tend to last as long so you really have to buy what you are planning on eating in the next couple of days. There's nothing worse than seeing that expensive, albeit delicious, produce rotting in your refrigerator after a few days.
One thing that I hadn't thought about when it comes to organic foods is that not all organic is equal. Michael Pollan brought this up yesterday on Weekday, here on KUOW in Seattle. He discussed many topics such as the difference between eating organic local foods and organic foods that have to be transported here by planes, trains, ships, giant trucks, etc. Like many people I always thought of eating organic as an issue of doing something that is good for me, and it is. But in addition to that there is the idea of organic farming is also important for the environment.
With industrial farming, the soil ends up being stripped of nutrients over time making them unusable for growing anything. Granted, this can take decades but why would you want to do something that would take away valuable land for growing food to feed an ever increasing population. So by practicing sustainable farming they are able to keep the soil fertile so it can feed us for generations. The question here is, when large companies like Wal-Mart start pushing organic and need larger supplies of this type of food there will be large farms using industrial farming techniques to grow organic food. So in the end, is this organic food really that good for us and our environment?
In addition to the industrialization of organic food, there's the idea of eating locally. How good is that organic tomato you're eating if it's had to be shipped all the way from South America? In addition to it not being picked when it's ready to eat because it has to travel, the fuel that is being used to transport it to you has to be considered. Granted, some sort of transport has to happen with all foods but wouldn't it be better if all that was was just a three hour drive from the other side of the state? Of course, in order to do this people will have to change how they eat. These days everyone is used to having things like tomatoes all year, but if you only ate locally then that wouldn't be possible. There'd probably be high incidences of scurvy in some parts of the country where citrus isn't native so there would have to be some exceptions. I know I probably wouldn't be able to grow mangos here in Seattle, but eating locally when I can will have to be a conscious decision I make when shopping.
The best strawberries I had ever tasted were ones that I had picked myself at a strawberry farm here in Washington state a few years back. I never knew what a real strawberry tasted like because I had always bought them prepackaged at the supermarket. These however were ripened naturally in the fields and I was rewarded with sweet and juicy berries. I think that is the biggest selling point for buying locally. Farmers can harvest what is in season and ready to be eaten instead of picking items early for shipping and letting them ripen in giant storage facilities.
Luckily in Seattle we have amazing farmers' markets all over the city, from the famous Pike Place Market to all the neighborhood markets starting to spring up this time of year. In addition to that, there are a number of CSAs here in Seattle, such as the Pike Place Market CSA, Boistfort Valley Farm CSA, and the Full Circle Farm CSA. For those of you unfamiliar with CSAs, CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture. For some you pay a certain amount of money upfront and during a period of time (usually summer through early fall) you'll receive fresh produce delivered weekly to one of many delivery locations. Others you pay per delivery but it is still delivered weekly and sometimes you can get a discount if you pay for a certain number ahead of time. What's great about this is you get what is fresh at that time and if you pay in advance, the money helps to give the farmers some working capital for the year. It's a win win all around.
I had been thinking about joining a CSA for a while but always thought it was too expensive. But the other day I was breaking down the cost and it wasn't really that much more than what I spend every week. Plus, not knowing what I'll get will force me to be more creative with my cooking. That could be a good thing, or a bad thing.
So what have I taken from all of this? The first thing is I'm going to try to eat more organic food. The second is, when eating organic I'm going to try to eat locally. And the third is that there is definitely a tie between what we eat and the world around us. What's the point in eating organically if we just end up killing the planet anyway?
Having said all this, I'm going to go see how the strawberries I planted last spring are doing.
Friday, May 12, 2006
things i've learned from tracking traffic
As I sit here listening to my all the voicemails that have accumulated in my voicemail box over the months since my phone doesn't work, I'm going to write about some of the things I've learned since implementing tracking on my blog. Okay, there's a weird message on my voicemail asking if I believe all religious holidays should be banished from schools. The next message says "Press 1 for male, press 2 for female."
Moving on. I've discovered that my blog is currently being linked to from some random trampoline site because I mocked trampoline being an Olympic sport some time back. I've also discovered that a lot of people are looking for a picture of Charlotte Martin.
It looks like asian fit sunglasses is a bigger issue than I had originally thought. Since I posted not too long ago about Oakley making asian fit sunglasses my blog has gotten a good amount of traffic from those folks looking for those glasses. I even updated my blog post to include a link to a list of their sunglasses. Who knew? Well, considering how many asian people there are in the world I guess I should have known.
The final thing I've learned is that people really want to know what celebrity they look like. I get a bunch of hits every day for that post alone. I wonder how many of them end up leaving that site disappointed when they find out they look more like Paul Giamatti than George Clooney. No offense Paul!
Saturday, May 06, 2006
me want cookie
I love warm chocolate chip cookies right from the oven. The melted chocolate chips along with the moist cookie that almost melts in your mouth is a little bit of heaven and calls out for a cold cup of milk. Now imagine you were allergic to wheat and weren't allowed to experience that anymore. It's sad isn't it? Well, luckily I'm not allergic to wheat. Unfortunately Kristen is, so we haven't been able to bake chocolate chip cookies in a while. I mean, I guess I could but it wouldn't be very nice of me to torture her like that and I'd really prefer not to sleep on the couch.
Last night, Kristen wasn't feeling very well so she went to bed early. While she attempted to sleep, I put on some Sondre Lerche and set out to attempt a wheat/gluten free chocolate chip cookie that actually tasted like one. We've played around with making gluten free stuff before, with mixed results. Kristen made some scones that tasted pretty good but they just crumbled too easily. She also attempted to make pasta with brown rice flour, and lets just say we won't be doing that again. Last weekend I made some pancakes using gluten free flour and it turned out really well. So with those couple of successes I thought I should be able to do this.
Earlier in the day I found a recipe from Epicurious for chocolate chip cookies that called for the use of a brown rice flour mix that included tapioca flour and potato starch. Using this as my template I stopped at the grocery store to stock up on various flours and xantham gum, none of which was very cheap. So, while Sondre crooned in the background I went about making my brown rice flour mix, creaming my butter and sugar, and combining all of my dry ingredients. As I assembled the ingredients into a cookie dough, there was noticeable difference between cookie dough with wheat flour and this wheat free/gluten free dough. It had an elastic quality to it, as opposed to regular dough that is a little stiffer. Because of the dough consistency I decided to give them a little more room on the cookie sheet when I baked them, expecting them to spread out a bit more. They browned much quicker than I expected them to but I remembered reading that tapioca flour helps promote browning.
When I normally bake cookies, I tend to pull them out before they're completely baked through. The main reason for this is because they continue to cook after you pull them out so if you leave them in the oven until they're completely done, they'll be overcooked by the time you get to eat one. Using this same method, I pulled them out while they were still a little blonde and moist in the center. Seeing they hadn't spread as much as I thought they might, I put the next sheet, crammed with cookies, in the oven.
By this time Kristen had gotten up to see what I was doing. After letting the cookies cool a little bit, I let her give them a try. When trying to get them off the sheet, we immediately noticed that they fell apart very easily while they were still warm. But that didn't stop us from giving them a taste. I asked Kristen if she thought they tasted like real cookies and she gave me the thumbs up. After eating a second cookie she headed back to bed. The main thing I noticed about the texture was that appeared to be a little grainy, I figured it was probably due to some of the flours and starches that were used. Maybe if they had a chance to rest more the cookie would firm up and the texture would improve. Another thought was maybe I should let them bake a little longer.
I let the second batch stay in the oven a little longer. When I pulled them out I was worried I had let them bake too long as they went a little past golden. As I attempted to get them onto the cooling rack I noticed the color wasn't a good indicator of doneness as they still appeared to be very moist. It was kind of mess moving them as I had put too many cookies on the sheet this time and some of them had merged together. There was also the same problem of them being very fragile while they were still warm. Tasting one from this batch I noticed the grainy texture was much improved, but not gone entirely. The last batch was now in the oven.
I let the final 8 cookies get to the same brownness of the previous batch before pulling them out. While they cooled I went back to the first batch and noticed that they had firmed up nicely. The texture also seem to have improved. With that I set off for bed, hoping as the cookies rested over night all the issues would disappear.
This morning I was not disappointed. The cookies held up nicely and the graininess from the night before was completely gone. I would wager that most people wouldn't be able to tell these cookies were wheat and gluten free. The ones from the second and third batches were crispy at the edges and chewy in the center. All in all, I think this would be recipe we'll be making again in the future.
Last night, Kristen wasn't feeling very well so she went to bed early. While she attempted to sleep, I put on some Sondre Lerche and set out to attempt a wheat/gluten free chocolate chip cookie that actually tasted like one. We've played around with making gluten free stuff before, with mixed results. Kristen made some scones that tasted pretty good but they just crumbled too easily. She also attempted to make pasta with brown rice flour, and lets just say we won't be doing that again. Last weekend I made some pancakes using gluten free flour and it turned out really well. So with those couple of successes I thought I should be able to do this.
Earlier in the day I found a recipe from Epicurious for chocolate chip cookies that called for the use of a brown rice flour mix that included tapioca flour and potato starch. Using this as my template I stopped at the grocery store to stock up on various flours and xantham gum, none of which was very cheap. So, while Sondre crooned in the background I went about making my brown rice flour mix, creaming my butter and sugar, and combining all of my dry ingredients. As I assembled the ingredients into a cookie dough, there was noticeable difference between cookie dough with wheat flour and this wheat free/gluten free dough. It had an elastic quality to it, as opposed to regular dough that is a little stiffer. Because of the dough consistency I decided to give them a little more room on the cookie sheet when I baked them, expecting them to spread out a bit more. They browned much quicker than I expected them to but I remembered reading that tapioca flour helps promote browning.
When I normally bake cookies, I tend to pull them out before they're completely baked through. The main reason for this is because they continue to cook after you pull them out so if you leave them in the oven until they're completely done, they'll be overcooked by the time you get to eat one. Using this same method, I pulled them out while they were still a little blonde and moist in the center. Seeing they hadn't spread as much as I thought they might, I put the next sheet, crammed with cookies, in the oven.
By this time Kristen had gotten up to see what I was doing. After letting the cookies cool a little bit, I let her give them a try. When trying to get them off the sheet, we immediately noticed that they fell apart very easily while they were still warm. But that didn't stop us from giving them a taste. I asked Kristen if she thought they tasted like real cookies and she gave me the thumbs up. After eating a second cookie she headed back to bed. The main thing I noticed about the texture was that appeared to be a little grainy, I figured it was probably due to some of the flours and starches that were used. Maybe if they had a chance to rest more the cookie would firm up and the texture would improve. Another thought was maybe I should let them bake a little longer.
I let the second batch stay in the oven a little longer. When I pulled them out I was worried I had let them bake too long as they went a little past golden. As I attempted to get them onto the cooling rack I noticed the color wasn't a good indicator of doneness as they still appeared to be very moist. It was kind of mess moving them as I had put too many cookies on the sheet this time and some of them had merged together. There was also the same problem of them being very fragile while they were still warm. Tasting one from this batch I noticed the grainy texture was much improved, but not gone entirely. The last batch was now in the oven.
I let the final 8 cookies get to the same brownness of the previous batch before pulling them out. While they cooled I went back to the first batch and noticed that they had firmed up nicely. The texture also seem to have improved. With that I set off for bed, hoping as the cookies rested over night all the issues would disappear.
This morning I was not disappointed. The cookies held up nicely and the graininess from the night before was completely gone. I would wager that most people wouldn't be able to tell these cookies were wheat and gluten free. The ones from the second and third batches were crispy at the edges and chewy in the center. All in all, I think this would be recipe we'll be making again in the future.
Monday, May 01, 2006
from the world of news
Some entertaining things from the world of news today:
Rhode Island wants statewide Wi-Fi
PROVIDENCE, Rhode Island (Reuters) -- America's smallest state is seeking to become its first to offer a wireless broadband network from border to border.
Retired teacher fights huge cable porn tab
YONKERS, N.Y. (AP) - A 62-year-old retired schoolteacher is fighting with a cable company over a hefty bill for porn and gangsta rap programming she says she never ordered.
In a Tiny Queens Apartment, 70 Cats Gone, and 28 to Go
Thirty cats in a cramped apartment in Queens may seem like a lot, but five years ago, Melanie Neer and her mother Barbaralee had 100 in there.
Mirabelli to catch Wakefield tonight vs. Yankees
The Boston Red Sox reacquired catcher Doug Mirabelli from the San Diego Padres in exchange for catcher Josh Bard, minor-league pitcher Cla Meredith. The Padres also received $100,000 in the deal, ESPN The Magazine's Buster Olney is reporting.
And of course, the headline you thought you would never see unless it was a sign of the apocalypse:
Anna Nicole Smith Wins Supreme Court Case
The former Playboy model Anna Nicole Smith was given a new chance by the Supreme Court today to try to get part of the vast fortune of her late husband, a Texas oil tycoon who was six decades her senior.
Rhode Island wants statewide Wi-Fi
PROVIDENCE, Rhode Island (Reuters) -- America's smallest state is seeking to become its first to offer a wireless broadband network from border to border.
Retired teacher fights huge cable porn tab
YONKERS, N.Y. (AP) - A 62-year-old retired schoolteacher is fighting with a cable company over a hefty bill for porn and gangsta rap programming she says she never ordered.
In a Tiny Queens Apartment, 70 Cats Gone, and 28 to Go
Thirty cats in a cramped apartment in Queens may seem like a lot, but five years ago, Melanie Neer and her mother Barbaralee had 100 in there.
Mirabelli to catch Wakefield tonight vs. Yankees
The Boston Red Sox reacquired catcher Doug Mirabelli from the San Diego Padres in exchange for catcher Josh Bard, minor-league pitcher Cla Meredith. The Padres also received $100,000 in the deal, ESPN The Magazine's Buster Olney is reporting.
And of course, the headline you thought you would never see unless it was a sign of the apocalypse:
Anna Nicole Smith Wins Supreme Court Case
The former Playboy model Anna Nicole Smith was given a new chance by the Supreme Court today to try to get part of the vast fortune of her late husband, a Texas oil tycoon who was six decades her senior.
Friday, April 28, 2006
5th Annual Crawl for a Cure
This great event is happening this Saturday, April 29th, in Fremont. Here are some of the details:
Join us in the fight against cystic fibrosis as we crawl for a cure on Saturday, April 29, 2006 from 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. in Seattle's Fremont neighborhood!
Support important CF research while traveling from pub to pub enjoying your favorite ales! Bring your friends and have a great time! All participants will receive a 7 oz beer at each of the 6 participating bars, a very stylish Crawl T-shirt, a 16 oz bottle of Vitaminwater Revive, and a free concert for all participants with Amanda Lammert and The Filthy None at Nectar Lounge on the last stop of the crawl!
Participating bars include: Nickerson St. Saloon, Brouwer's, Red Door, Triangle Lounge, Norm's Eatery & Ale House, Dad Watson's and our "7th" bar Nectar! A Tully's coffee cart will also be serving complimentary espresso beverages to all participants.
For more information about the event and to register online visit the Crawl for a Cure web site.
Join us in the fight against cystic fibrosis as we crawl for a cure on Saturday, April 29, 2006 from 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. in Seattle's Fremont neighborhood!
Support important CF research while traveling from pub to pub enjoying your favorite ales! Bring your friends and have a great time! All participants will receive a 7 oz beer at each of the 6 participating bars, a very stylish Crawl T-shirt, a 16 oz bottle of Vitaminwater Revive, and a free concert for all participants with Amanda Lammert and The Filthy None at Nectar Lounge on the last stop of the crawl!
Participating bars include: Nickerson St. Saloon, Brouwer's, Red Door, Triangle Lounge, Norm's Eatery & Ale House, Dad Watson's and our "7th" bar Nectar! A Tully's coffee cart will also be serving complimentary espresso beverages to all participants.
For more information about the event and to register online visit the Crawl for a Cure web site.
Thursday, April 27, 2006
dining out for life
Just a reminder to all of you that tonight, 4/27, is Dining Out for Life. When you eat at one of the more than 150 participating restaurants, a portion of your bill will go directly to the Lifelong AIDS Alliance. For a list of participating restaurants go to the Dining Out for Life web site.
Wednesday, April 26, 2006
the joy of food
What is it about food? The smells, the tastes, the sounds, how it looks, and how it feels. I'm not just talking about eating, but also the immense joy you get when you turn a bunch of stuff into something delicious. Part of it must have to do with all the senses that are involved which helps you remember and enjoy your food experiences.
Food has been a big part of my life for a long time. Without realizing it, I had been involved in helping put together meals since I was a kid. At first it was just doing the simple things like washing and making the rice. Learning what the correct ratio of water to rice was and then forgetting all about once I heard about the finger test, or a similar method referred to by some as the Mt. Fuji test.
Next, it was helping out with the making of dumplings (known as jiaozi in chinese) on Sunday nights. Making dumplings was a family affair where everyone gathered in the kitchen, each assigned a job. From making the dough to rolling it into little balls and flattening them into little discs (making sure the edges were thinner than the middle) to stuffing and folding them into beautiful little packages. Once everything was done we were greeted with steaming plates of dumplings that made you feel all warm inside when you ate them. This wasn't just about getting dinner on the table, but a chance to sit together and talk before the beginning of another hectic week.
Like many people my age, I was a latch key kid. Both my parents worked and often it was us kids who were left to get dinner started before they got home. On easy nights that just involved heating up some leftovers and making some rice. But most often we would be tasked with peeling vegetables, taking some meat out of the freezer, maybe soaking some bean threads in hot water, nothing very complicated. Once my parents got home all the prep work we did would be quickly turned into a tasty dinner with a couple of dishes served family style.
Little did I know I was learning about the importance of organization and prepping your food ahead of time. Something that is known in the world of cooking as a mise en place. A fancy french term for a pretty simple idea. Obviously I've been talking about chinese cooking and for those who are familiar with that style of cooking know the importance of your mise en place. I can remember back to my childhood when we would have dinner parties at our house. The morning would be spent chopping vegetables, slicing meat (if it's still slightly frozen it's easier to get thin slices), scrambling eggs, cooking noodles, making rice, etc. By the time the guest would arrive the kitchen was filled with little bowls of perfectly cut carrots, celery, etc. and the refrigerator would be packed with bowls of marinating sliced beef, chicken, and pork. When everyone showed up my parents would put on a show with how quickly everything in those little dishes would come together to create a dazzling and colorful meal with so many different choices to taste.
It wasn't until my junior year in college that I realized how much I enjoyed food. By that time I had moved out of the dorms and was forced to cook or starve. I started out with simple things, like pasta, the college student's mainstay. Slowly I began to play around with my food some more while trying to stay within a poor student's budget. Simple things like stir-frying some chicken and then mixing it with some of the prepackaged seasoned rice my roomates and I tended to buy, more for the value than the taste.
Over the next couple of years I began to do more and started to avoid prepackaged processed food. I began pan roasting chicken breasts with little wedges of potatoes, asking my parents how to make some of my favorite dishes growing up, making giant pans of lasagna, discovering how simple chili really was, and playing around with making sauces. Many times friends would stop by while I was in the middle of a meal and stare at my plate incredulously. "Dude, what the f**k is that?" "It's a beef and vegetable stir-fry with a sauce that's kind of like a sweet and sour barbecue sauce." "I don't know, that's kind of scary looking. The sauce isn't even fluorescent pink like most sweet and sour sauces." This would then be followed by them picking a piece of food off my plate. "Dude, that's good. Mind if I have some more?"
I think my real food revelation didn't happen until I moved to Seattle. One of the memories I have from when I first came out here was me sitting at my little kitchen table on a winter evening slicing meat and chopping vegetables after having just come home from my temp job. In the dark living room Monday Night Football played on the television as I prepped my dinner. I remember feeling a little sad that I was cooking alone but at the same time I was comforted by doing something familiar and that reminded me of my family and friends on the other side of the country.
Over the past seven and a half years here I've experienced so much food, as my belly can attest to. I've discovered the gorgeousness of a simply prepared roast chicken with schmaltzy potatoes. The wonderful energy of going to the farmers markets in the city and seeing what was now in season. The pleasures of a fresh grilled fish sandwich at the Pike Place Market or how good a roast beef sandwich on a baguette with a raspberry croissant from Le Panier tastes. I've eaten Sengalese food, something I never would have even thought about growing up. The inviting warmth of Cafe Campagne on a cold evening. A paper cone of hot frites after a show. Eating a plate of chicken fried steak with mashed potatoes at a dive bar at 2am.
I'm sure you're wondering why I'm writing all of this. A couple of months ago the stress of work was starting to take it's toll on me and I was just feeling down. One Saturday afternoon I decided I wanted to make some pasta because I hadn't done that in a while. While working with the dough I began to remember the pleasure I got from cooking. The smell of the flour, the effort you have to put in while kneading the dough, and the feeling of the dough when it starts to come together. Eschewing the pasta cutting attachments on my pasta machine I decided to handcut it, after it had been rolled it, to make pappardelle. There was just something about meticulously cutting the dough into wide ribbons that brought me joy. Of course the chinese look at noodles as symbols of life, long noodles symbolizing long life, which is why you have to eat them on your birthday. How appropriate that these noodles had brought me an escape from what had been getting me down.
The next day I decided that I needed a sauce to go with these noodles, sauce in a jar just wouldn't do. So I set out to make a batch of bolognese, based on the bolognese they make at Babbo. I spent the afternoon making my mise en place with finely diced carrots, celery, onion, etc. There was something extremely meditative about cutting up those vegetables into tiny little cubes. After sauteeing the vegetables and throwing in the bacon and other meat I added the wet ingredients and let it simmer for a couple of hours. When it was ready I quickly cooked the pappardelle in some boiling water, ladled some sauce into a pan, and finished the pasta in the hot sauce. This was much better than any therapy I could have received.
So what was so special about that meal? It wasn't like I hadn't been cooking, but I was just cooking the same stuff all the time. I love my roast chicken, but it isn't the most challenging thing in the world to make. The same goes for a lot of the other stuff I was making, I was just on autopilot and not really taking the time to enjoy the experience of cooking. It's hard to do so when you're coming home from work and with just making something simple you won't be eating until 8 or 9 at night. But since then I've tried to do more, mostly on the weekend. Making a light spring salad with shaved fennel, blanched french beans, and tomatoes with a lemon vinaigrette; poached garlic soup; fingerling potatoes boiled and then browned in butter; and hopefully there will be much more. I even took a road trip out to Walla Walla to spend a couple of days away from work just eating great food and drinking amazing wine.
I've decided that no matter how crazy and hectic and stressful things get, I'll take the time to enjoy the simple pleasures of food. Immersing myself in all the great aromas and tastes, as well as the beauty of things like a perfectly roast chicken coming out of the oven. The feeling of flour between your fingers as you start combining the ingredients for some dough and the sound you get when you place a piece of meat into a hot pan or onto a hot grill. Food can really make everything better.
Food has been a big part of my life for a long time. Without realizing it, I had been involved in helping put together meals since I was a kid. At first it was just doing the simple things like washing and making the rice. Learning what the correct ratio of water to rice was and then forgetting all about once I heard about the finger test, or a similar method referred to by some as the Mt. Fuji test.
Next, it was helping out with the making of dumplings (known as jiaozi in chinese) on Sunday nights. Making dumplings was a family affair where everyone gathered in the kitchen, each assigned a job. From making the dough to rolling it into little balls and flattening them into little discs (making sure the edges were thinner than the middle) to stuffing and folding them into beautiful little packages. Once everything was done we were greeted with steaming plates of dumplings that made you feel all warm inside when you ate them. This wasn't just about getting dinner on the table, but a chance to sit together and talk before the beginning of another hectic week.
Like many people my age, I was a latch key kid. Both my parents worked and often it was us kids who were left to get dinner started before they got home. On easy nights that just involved heating up some leftovers and making some rice. But most often we would be tasked with peeling vegetables, taking some meat out of the freezer, maybe soaking some bean threads in hot water, nothing very complicated. Once my parents got home all the prep work we did would be quickly turned into a tasty dinner with a couple of dishes served family style.
Little did I know I was learning about the importance of organization and prepping your food ahead of time. Something that is known in the world of cooking as a mise en place. A fancy french term for a pretty simple idea. Obviously I've been talking about chinese cooking and for those who are familiar with that style of cooking know the importance of your mise en place. I can remember back to my childhood when we would have dinner parties at our house. The morning would be spent chopping vegetables, slicing meat (if it's still slightly frozen it's easier to get thin slices), scrambling eggs, cooking noodles, making rice, etc. By the time the guest would arrive the kitchen was filled with little bowls of perfectly cut carrots, celery, etc. and the refrigerator would be packed with bowls of marinating sliced beef, chicken, and pork. When everyone showed up my parents would put on a show with how quickly everything in those little dishes would come together to create a dazzling and colorful meal with so many different choices to taste.
It wasn't until my junior year in college that I realized how much I enjoyed food. By that time I had moved out of the dorms and was forced to cook or starve. I started out with simple things, like pasta, the college student's mainstay. Slowly I began to play around with my food some more while trying to stay within a poor student's budget. Simple things like stir-frying some chicken and then mixing it with some of the prepackaged seasoned rice my roomates and I tended to buy, more for the value than the taste.
Over the next couple of years I began to do more and started to avoid prepackaged processed food. I began pan roasting chicken breasts with little wedges of potatoes, asking my parents how to make some of my favorite dishes growing up, making giant pans of lasagna, discovering how simple chili really was, and playing around with making sauces. Many times friends would stop by while I was in the middle of a meal and stare at my plate incredulously. "Dude, what the f**k is that?" "It's a beef and vegetable stir-fry with a sauce that's kind of like a sweet and sour barbecue sauce." "I don't know, that's kind of scary looking. The sauce isn't even fluorescent pink like most sweet and sour sauces." This would then be followed by them picking a piece of food off my plate. "Dude, that's good. Mind if I have some more?"
I think my real food revelation didn't happen until I moved to Seattle. One of the memories I have from when I first came out here was me sitting at my little kitchen table on a winter evening slicing meat and chopping vegetables after having just come home from my temp job. In the dark living room Monday Night Football played on the television as I prepped my dinner. I remember feeling a little sad that I was cooking alone but at the same time I was comforted by doing something familiar and that reminded me of my family and friends on the other side of the country.
Over the past seven and a half years here I've experienced so much food, as my belly can attest to. I've discovered the gorgeousness of a simply prepared roast chicken with schmaltzy potatoes. The wonderful energy of going to the farmers markets in the city and seeing what was now in season. The pleasures of a fresh grilled fish sandwich at the Pike Place Market or how good a roast beef sandwich on a baguette with a raspberry croissant from Le Panier tastes. I've eaten Sengalese food, something I never would have even thought about growing up. The inviting warmth of Cafe Campagne on a cold evening. A paper cone of hot frites after a show. Eating a plate of chicken fried steak with mashed potatoes at a dive bar at 2am.
I'm sure you're wondering why I'm writing all of this. A couple of months ago the stress of work was starting to take it's toll on me and I was just feeling down. One Saturday afternoon I decided I wanted to make some pasta because I hadn't done that in a while. While working with the dough I began to remember the pleasure I got from cooking. The smell of the flour, the effort you have to put in while kneading the dough, and the feeling of the dough when it starts to come together. Eschewing the pasta cutting attachments on my pasta machine I decided to handcut it, after it had been rolled it, to make pappardelle. There was just something about meticulously cutting the dough into wide ribbons that brought me joy. Of course the chinese look at noodles as symbols of life, long noodles symbolizing long life, which is why you have to eat them on your birthday. How appropriate that these noodles had brought me an escape from what had been getting me down.
The next day I decided that I needed a sauce to go with these noodles, sauce in a jar just wouldn't do. So I set out to make a batch of bolognese, based on the bolognese they make at Babbo. I spent the afternoon making my mise en place with finely diced carrots, celery, onion, etc. There was something extremely meditative about cutting up those vegetables into tiny little cubes. After sauteeing the vegetables and throwing in the bacon and other meat I added the wet ingredients and let it simmer for a couple of hours. When it was ready I quickly cooked the pappardelle in some boiling water, ladled some sauce into a pan, and finished the pasta in the hot sauce. This was much better than any therapy I could have received.
So what was so special about that meal? It wasn't like I hadn't been cooking, but I was just cooking the same stuff all the time. I love my roast chicken, but it isn't the most challenging thing in the world to make. The same goes for a lot of the other stuff I was making, I was just on autopilot and not really taking the time to enjoy the experience of cooking. It's hard to do so when you're coming home from work and with just making something simple you won't be eating until 8 or 9 at night. But since then I've tried to do more, mostly on the weekend. Making a light spring salad with shaved fennel, blanched french beans, and tomatoes with a lemon vinaigrette; poached garlic soup; fingerling potatoes boiled and then browned in butter; and hopefully there will be much more. I even took a road trip out to Walla Walla to spend a couple of days away from work just eating great food and drinking amazing wine.
I've decided that no matter how crazy and hectic and stressful things get, I'll take the time to enjoy the simple pleasures of food. Immersing myself in all the great aromas and tastes, as well as the beauty of things like a perfectly roast chicken coming out of the oven. The feeling of flour between your fingers as you start combining the ingredients for some dough and the sound you get when you place a piece of meat into a hot pan or onto a hot grill. Food can really make everything better.
Thursday, April 20, 2006
i ain't no fit asian
Did you know that Oakley makes "asian fit" sunglasses? I was looking around on their site earlier today to see if I could find a suitable replacement for the sunglasses I had recently lost due to theft. While I was checking out all the different styles I noticed one that said "available in asian fit." Curious, I clicked the link to see what that was all about. Here is the opening sentence I saw for the description: "Designed to compliment Asian facial anatomy in both fit and comfort." At first I didn't know what to make of it. But then I remembered back to something Margaret Cho had written in her blog some time back about how difficult it was for her to find glasses that actually fit her face and how nobody made glasses that fit asian faces. When I shared the link to a friend, she told me how her fiance hates how he can never find sunglasses.
So I guess Oakley has found a way to address an overlook niche. You can't really argue against it since it helps out a large group of people and I'm sure it isn't hurting their bottom line.
Update: Here is a link to a listing of their asian fit sunglasses
So I guess Oakley has found a way to address an overlook niche. You can't really argue against it since it helps out a large group of people and I'm sure it isn't hurting their bottom line.
Update: Here is a link to a listing of their asian fit sunglasses
Wednesday, April 19, 2006
and it continues...
So, I told them to replace my battery since it wouldn't cost much more than if I bought a new battery and did the work myself. But instead, they totally flaked on that probably because all they heard was don't do the $800+ service. Sweet...
no luck so far...
So, my hope that they wouldn't find anything wrong with my car was dashed. My battery failed their tests so I have to get that replaced. Not too big of a surprise since I've had that battery for a while now and the last time I was in they said it looked like it was starting to lose it's charge. Then they recommended I get the timing belt replaced, which for those of you who know, is pretty darn expensive. Well, I think I'll put off that service for now because the recommended interval is 90k miles or 6 years and I last replaced it at 55k, 7 years ago.
planes, trains, and automobiles...well, automobiles at least
Traffic yesterday (and today) was pretty insane. The president of China was in town and that just led to the perfect storm or weird traffic. I've been driving from where I work to where I live for about 5 years now so I've seen all the traffic patterns, or so I thought. Usually when there is a backup on the highway across the water I'll take a shortcut through the side roads to get closer to the bridge.
As I write this I'm going to say things like the highway was all black, which means the road was totally stop and go. This is based on the traffic maps we all study very intently when deciding how to get home. Green means wide open, yellow some slow going, red heavy volume, and black you better not have had too much water before you left the office.
So, when I left the main highway was black all the way to the point where it makes more sense to go the shortcut. Little did I know, things weren't going to go like they usually do. I first noticed some weird traffic when I was headed down one of the main side streets and noticed that cars were lined up and not moving going in the opposite direction. There usually isn't much volume headed that way at that time, so I thought maybe I'd get lucky and nobody would be taking the same route as me. Everything was going fine until I approached the intersection to the second major side street that I take to get onto the highway. From about a block or so away I could see that cars weren't moving and backed up all the way to the intersection I was headed towards. In all my years of doing this commute I had never seen this happen and thought it was just an anomaly and would begin moving soon.
Well, after I got onto that street I found out how wrong I was. At this point there was no alternative for me so I was resigned to just sit there and inch forward. At one point I lamented that I didn't take the turn to go the super secret squirrel way when you have 2 people in your car, only to realize that I hadn't even reached it yet. This was about 30 minutes after I had turned onto this street and I hadn't reached the light that usually only takes a minute or two. As we all inched closer I decided to check how things were going on the highway, expecting it to be much worse than when I left. Using the real time traffic map on my phone I discovered to my surprise, and horror, it was now all green. In the 45 minutes since I had left my office it had gone from all black to all green, it didn't make any sense. How could it have emptied out that quickly? Not believing what I was seeing I checked out the traffic cameras and saw that it, indeed, was wide open with only a few cars. I began getting really frustrated know that if I had just gone on the highway to begin with I probably would have been home by now.
About an hour after I left I was finally getting on the highway. Expecting it to be wide open I was pretty surprised to see that it was now all black again. In the span of 15 minutes it had gone from wide open to stop and go again. So during this trek it had gone from all black to all green back to all black, all in the span of an hour. This was insane! It was kind of like the 15 minutes of wide open highway was the eye of a hurricane. After a commute of about an hour and 20 minutes I finally made it home, cursing the commute that I have slowly begun to hate more and more every day.
Once home, I had to turn around rather quickly so we could get to the baseball game. When we got downtown, 5th was a mess because the president of China was staying at the Olympic between 4th and 5th on University so a bunch of streets were closed. With no other option we stayed on 5th and tried to navigate our way through confused drivers. At one point, a pedestrian decided was a good idea to run across the street against the light. I narrowly avoided him by slamming on the brakes, but a small part of me thought it would have been a little cathartic to have nicked him just a little bit. That was just the frustration that had built up sitting in traffic for so long and the anger at how stupid some people are. Anyway, we finally got to the game, grabbed some hot dogs, and got into our seats in the bottom of the first so we hadn't missed too much.
So you would think that was the end of my car saga, but it isn't. This morning when I got out to my car I doesn't some things just didn't look right inside. Once I got in I realized things were definitely out of place. The glove compartment was open, the trash tray was too and some things were strewn about. It looks like someone broke into my car in the night, but luckily all the made off with was my sunglasses. All things considered, that isn't too bad but I sure will miss those glasses. Whoever it was totally missed the windbreaker in the back seat, the change tray next to the steering wheel, and didn't look in the trunk (probably due to the fact that the sticker for the trunk lever fell off a few weeks back). As I was making my way downtown to drop my car off for some scheduled service I noticed that it smelled a little like b.o. inside. A nice little present left for me from the scoundrel who absconded with my sunglasses.
Well, I got to stew about this personal violation for a while because traffic was again a mess downtown thanks to the chinese presidente. It took me about a half hour to go the 8 or so blocks to the mechanic. That just capped off a great couple of days. Let's just hope they don't find anything wrong with my car.
Maybe I'll buy a lottery ticket tonight because my luck has to change...right?
As I write this I'm going to say things like the highway was all black, which means the road was totally stop and go. This is based on the traffic maps we all study very intently when deciding how to get home. Green means wide open, yellow some slow going, red heavy volume, and black you better not have had too much water before you left the office.
So, when I left the main highway was black all the way to the point where it makes more sense to go the shortcut. Little did I know, things weren't going to go like they usually do. I first noticed some weird traffic when I was headed down one of the main side streets and noticed that cars were lined up and not moving going in the opposite direction. There usually isn't much volume headed that way at that time, so I thought maybe I'd get lucky and nobody would be taking the same route as me. Everything was going fine until I approached the intersection to the second major side street that I take to get onto the highway. From about a block or so away I could see that cars weren't moving and backed up all the way to the intersection I was headed towards. In all my years of doing this commute I had never seen this happen and thought it was just an anomaly and would begin moving soon.
Well, after I got onto that street I found out how wrong I was. At this point there was no alternative for me so I was resigned to just sit there and inch forward. At one point I lamented that I didn't take the turn to go the super secret squirrel way when you have 2 people in your car, only to realize that I hadn't even reached it yet. This was about 30 minutes after I had turned onto this street and I hadn't reached the light that usually only takes a minute or two. As we all inched closer I decided to check how things were going on the highway, expecting it to be much worse than when I left. Using the real time traffic map on my phone I discovered to my surprise, and horror, it was now all green. In the 45 minutes since I had left my office it had gone from all black to all green, it didn't make any sense. How could it have emptied out that quickly? Not believing what I was seeing I checked out the traffic cameras and saw that it, indeed, was wide open with only a few cars. I began getting really frustrated know that if I had just gone on the highway to begin with I probably would have been home by now.
About an hour after I left I was finally getting on the highway. Expecting it to be wide open I was pretty surprised to see that it was now all black again. In the span of 15 minutes it had gone from wide open to stop and go again. So during this trek it had gone from all black to all green back to all black, all in the span of an hour. This was insane! It was kind of like the 15 minutes of wide open highway was the eye of a hurricane. After a commute of about an hour and 20 minutes I finally made it home, cursing the commute that I have slowly begun to hate more and more every day.
Once home, I had to turn around rather quickly so we could get to the baseball game. When we got downtown, 5th was a mess because the president of China was staying at the Olympic between 4th and 5th on University so a bunch of streets were closed. With no other option we stayed on 5th and tried to navigate our way through confused drivers. At one point, a pedestrian decided was a good idea to run across the street against the light. I narrowly avoided him by slamming on the brakes, but a small part of me thought it would have been a little cathartic to have nicked him just a little bit. That was just the frustration that had built up sitting in traffic for so long and the anger at how stupid some people are. Anyway, we finally got to the game, grabbed some hot dogs, and got into our seats in the bottom of the first so we hadn't missed too much.
So you would think that was the end of my car saga, but it isn't. This morning when I got out to my car I doesn't some things just didn't look right inside. Once I got in I realized things were definitely out of place. The glove compartment was open, the trash tray was too and some things were strewn about. It looks like someone broke into my car in the night, but luckily all the made off with was my sunglasses. All things considered, that isn't too bad but I sure will miss those glasses. Whoever it was totally missed the windbreaker in the back seat, the change tray next to the steering wheel, and didn't look in the trunk (probably due to the fact that the sticker for the trunk lever fell off a few weeks back). As I was making my way downtown to drop my car off for some scheduled service I noticed that it smelled a little like b.o. inside. A nice little present left for me from the scoundrel who absconded with my sunglasses.
Well, I got to stew about this personal violation for a while because traffic was again a mess downtown thanks to the chinese presidente. It took me about a half hour to go the 8 or so blocks to the mechanic. That just capped off a great couple of days. Let's just hope they don't find anything wrong with my car.
Maybe I'll buy a lottery ticket tonight because my luck has to change...right?
Thursday, April 13, 2006
random thought
For some reason, the building I work in has smelled like a mall this past week. It's kind of weird.
i know i know...
Alright, so I know I over simplified the immigration issue in my last post. The issue is definitely more complicated than I initially portrayed it, and I know that now and I knew it then. The underlying issue of how do we deal with folks who get into this country illegally is one that has me torn. Of course, illegal is illegal but it isn't as cut and dry as that. On the one hand, you've got to think about the folks who are sneaking in here to find work to help support their families back home. On the other, you have to think about the people who come in legally by following all the appropriate processes to do the same thing. What is the underlying issue for why these folks need to sneak into the country? Are our immigration policies so out of whack they don't address the needs of our economy?
Like I said, I oversimplified before and I still am now. There are so many different facets of this issue that are really hard to wrap your head around and come up with a clear solution. My last post really talked about the racial issue, which I hate to play the race card. But it seems like race has been a major talking point of this whole thing. A lot of focus has been placed on those individuals who are coming in from the country south of us. What about the people sneaking in from Canada? What about the human smuggling rings that are sneaking people from Asia? How do these proposed bills and laws affect them? The part of the proposed immigration reform that is absolutely ridiculous is anyone in the country is automatically a felon and anyone who provides them assistance of any kind is also considered a felon. Nice.
Anyway, I should just get back to talking about music and food, those subjects are so much easier. But, my last thought on this topic. Don't demonize everyone who has come into this country through other than regular channels. There are a lot of honest, hard working men and women who are providing a valuable service to our economy. If we could find some way to get them out of hiding who they are we could do things like providing them with valuable services like unionization, legal protections from employers who don't pay them for their work, making sure their working conditions are adequate, etc. Things that we take for granted. At the same time we need to revisit our immigration policies so that people don't see that they have to enter the country illegally.
Just my two cents on the issue. Feel free to disagree or add additional views on this topic, I'd love to hear what you have to say.
Like I said, I oversimplified before and I still am now. There are so many different facets of this issue that are really hard to wrap your head around and come up with a clear solution. My last post really talked about the racial issue, which I hate to play the race card. But it seems like race has been a major talking point of this whole thing. A lot of focus has been placed on those individuals who are coming in from the country south of us. What about the people sneaking in from Canada? What about the human smuggling rings that are sneaking people from Asia? How do these proposed bills and laws affect them? The part of the proposed immigration reform that is absolutely ridiculous is anyone in the country is automatically a felon and anyone who provides them assistance of any kind is also considered a felon. Nice.
Anyway, I should just get back to talking about music and food, those subjects are so much easier. But, my last thought on this topic. Don't demonize everyone who has come into this country through other than regular channels. There are a lot of honest, hard working men and women who are providing a valuable service to our economy. If we could find some way to get them out of hiding who they are we could do things like providing them with valuable services like unionization, legal protections from employers who don't pay them for their work, making sure their working conditions are adequate, etc. Things that we take for granted. At the same time we need to revisit our immigration policies so that people don't see that they have to enter the country illegally.
Just my two cents on the issue. Feel free to disagree or add additional views on this topic, I'd love to hear what you have to say.
Tuesday, April 11, 2006
first day back plus other stuff...
I hate the first day back at work after taking some time off. Nothing like digging through all the crap that piled up while you were gone. You also have to dig the subtle jabs at you when you get back for waiting so long to do something. I was taking my first vacation in a very long time. Nothing like that to raise my ire.
So, I'm not sure if people have been following this immigration thing going on but I don't know how you couldn't. One thing I don't understand is why other minorities that have been oppressed in the history of this country aren't rallying with the hispanic community. This isn't the first time the land of the free has attempted to keep people from coming here. I know it was a long time ago but let's not forget the Chinese Exclusion Act from 1882. It kept Chinese people without family already in the US from entering the country and Chinese Americans weren't allowed to even apply for naturalization. The Exclusion Act wasn't repealed until 1943 only because China was an ally in WWII. In 1952 first-generation Chinese Americans were allowed to apply for citizenship and all the restrictions weren't removed until 1964 with the Immigration and Nationality Act.
Only 42 years ago were there restrictions on Chinese Americans from becoming full fledged American citizens, so why won't more Chinese Americans stand up for another ethnic group that is about to be subjected to similar restrictions? Are we afraid of rocking the boat? I sure hope not, because all the reasons they are saying now sound an awful lot like what they were saying back then. So it's about time we do something before this country ends up making the same mistakes again.
So, I'm not sure if people have been following this immigration thing going on but I don't know how you couldn't. One thing I don't understand is why other minorities that have been oppressed in the history of this country aren't rallying with the hispanic community. This isn't the first time the land of the free has attempted to keep people from coming here. I know it was a long time ago but let's not forget the Chinese Exclusion Act from 1882. It kept Chinese people without family already in the US from entering the country and Chinese Americans weren't allowed to even apply for naturalization. The Exclusion Act wasn't repealed until 1943 only because China was an ally in WWII. In 1952 first-generation Chinese Americans were allowed to apply for citizenship and all the restrictions weren't removed until 1964 with the Immigration and Nationality Act.
Only 42 years ago were there restrictions on Chinese Americans from becoming full fledged American citizens, so why won't more Chinese Americans stand up for another ethnic group that is about to be subjected to similar restrictions? Are we afraid of rocking the boat? I sure hope not, because all the reasons they are saying now sound an awful lot like what they were saying back then. So it's about time we do something before this country ends up making the same mistakes again.
Sunday, April 09, 2006
Butter Poached Halibut
I just recently got back to Seattle from a trip to Walla Walla for a little eating and drinking excursion. There were a lot of little disappointments on the trip. The first being my ticket for going 80 in a 70. Now that was not a good way to start my vacation. The next was when I checked into my hotel and realized luxury hotels in Walla Walla were only slightly better than a Days Inn or Holiday Inn in other places. The final disappointment was the camera bag I ended up buying that wasn't the one I really wanted but bought anyway because I thought I would need it...then ending up not using it.
That was really it though, the rest of the trip was full of pleasant surprises. There's nothing like walking into a tasting room and being the only one there. It's nice, but also a little stressful since you don't want to sound like an idiot and you try to make some small talk while not gulping down the wine. Everyone was nice, though, and Dunham gave me some pretty generous pours. The biggest surprise of the whole trip was my dinner on my first, and only night, there.
I had made a reservation for myself at 26brix the day before I drove out. When I arrived at the time of my reservation, the hostess said, "For 1?" and I couldn't tell if she gave me a look of pity or something else, like "Kudos for you, I could never got to a fancy restaurant to eat by myself." I wasn't really surprised when I was seated at a little table in the corner, I actually liked it because it gave me a good view of everything that was going on.
What I was surprised about was the service. Dining alone, I kind of expected to get just the bare minimum of service since my check would definitely pale in comparison to the tables of two+ people, which would result in a smaller tip. But what I ended getting was extremely attentive service from 5 people. Yeah, I said 5. There were the two folks who filled up your water and cleared your used dishes. Then there was my server who had to visit me because the worst thing that could happen to a restaurant is having someone starve to death in there. The captain also visited me on multiple occasions to make sure I had ordered, check in on how things were, presenting me with the dessert menu, etc. Additionally the sommelier came by to help me pair wines with my courses and even poured it for me for each course. He actually came by at the end and almost poured me an extra glass by accident before I stopped him.
I really appreciated how they gave me the same level of service as everyone else, of course they probably knew that I was going to eat and drink more than my share. I probably ordered more stuff than the guy there with his college-aged son, I have a sneaking suspicion I tipped more too. But now on to the important stuff, what I ate:
First Course
Vegetable Bisque with Black Truffle Coulis
Wine: Woodward Canyon Riesling
Main Course
Butter Poached Alaskan Halibut: saffron and halibut fumet, "Parisenned" potatoes with shaved artichoke hearts, braised fennel and pea sprout salad
Wine: Chinon
Dessert
Coconut Tapioca Soup
Monkey King Jasmine Green Tea
At the end of the night I went out of my way to thank the sommelier for the great pairings and my server for the dessert recommendation after my first choice (the brioche bread pudding) was no longer available. Eating alone is always a little awkward, but they did their best to treat me like everyone else and because of that I left a little something extra for them to show my appreciation.
If you're ever in Walla Walla make sure you don't miss 26brix: http://www.twentysixbrix.com/
That was really it though, the rest of the trip was full of pleasant surprises. There's nothing like walking into a tasting room and being the only one there. It's nice, but also a little stressful since you don't want to sound like an idiot and you try to make some small talk while not gulping down the wine. Everyone was nice, though, and Dunham gave me some pretty generous pours. The biggest surprise of the whole trip was my dinner on my first, and only night, there.
I had made a reservation for myself at 26brix the day before I drove out. When I arrived at the time of my reservation, the hostess said, "For 1?" and I couldn't tell if she gave me a look of pity or something else, like "Kudos for you, I could never got to a fancy restaurant to eat by myself." I wasn't really surprised when I was seated at a little table in the corner, I actually liked it because it gave me a good view of everything that was going on.
What I was surprised about was the service. Dining alone, I kind of expected to get just the bare minimum of service since my check would definitely pale in comparison to the tables of two+ people, which would result in a smaller tip. But what I ended getting was extremely attentive service from 5 people. Yeah, I said 5. There were the two folks who filled up your water and cleared your used dishes. Then there was my server who had to visit me because the worst thing that could happen to a restaurant is having someone starve to death in there. The captain also visited me on multiple occasions to make sure I had ordered, check in on how things were, presenting me with the dessert menu, etc. Additionally the sommelier came by to help me pair wines with my courses and even poured it for me for each course. He actually came by at the end and almost poured me an extra glass by accident before I stopped him.
I really appreciated how they gave me the same level of service as everyone else, of course they probably knew that I was going to eat and drink more than my share. I probably ordered more stuff than the guy there with his college-aged son, I have a sneaking suspicion I tipped more too. But now on to the important stuff, what I ate:
First Course
Vegetable Bisque with Black Truffle Coulis
Wine: Woodward Canyon Riesling
Main Course
Butter Poached Alaskan Halibut: saffron and halibut fumet, "Parisenned" potatoes with shaved artichoke hearts, braised fennel and pea sprout salad
Wine: Chinon
Dessert
Coconut Tapioca Soup
Monkey King Jasmine Green Tea
At the end of the night I went out of my way to thank the sommelier for the great pairings and my server for the dessert recommendation after my first choice (the brioche bread pudding) was no longer available. Eating alone is always a little awkward, but they did their best to treat me like everyone else and because of that I left a little something extra for them to show my appreciation.
If you're ever in Walla Walla make sure you don't miss 26brix: http://www.twentysixbrix.com/
What Celebrity Do You Look Like?
Interesting site I just found. On http://www.myheritage.com you can run a face recognition tool to see what celebrity you look like. While trying to do this I realized I have no photos of myself, which is kind of weird. When I ran a picture of Bill Gates, it said he looked like...Bill Gates. But only 70% like himself.
Archive is working again...
It's been like two years since my archiving was working and I've finally gotten around to fixing it. Maybe this will motivate me to blog once again. Or, at the very least to post my playlist from my shows.
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