Author: Craig

Dear Universe:

Please let RIM have to shut down their Blackberry service. The cries and pain of the affected users will be like a supple sound to my ear. Delicious.

So heather has her residency this week (starting Thursday) and I was thinking about coming up friday to visit, leaving on Saturday.

She already has accomodation through another friend who is in the program, but I won’t. To save cash, I was wondering if any friends in Seattle might be able to put me up for the night? Friday Night?

I’d bring a cute puppy with me!

-=C

Hey there everybody (and I mean everybody – yes, you too. 😉 )

News:

Um, not much. I’ve been working and playing City of Heroes [and CoV, thanks, Rob] and cooking lately. and I have a new cooking method that we’re obsessing about: roasting veggies, particularly brussel sprouts. You can thank Orangette, particularly this recipe. I have used this method for roasting potatoes (with garlic, rosemary, salt) before. With veggies? Devine.

The other day I did this with onion, carrot, brocolli, cauliflower, potatoes, garlic. Instead of salt, I tossed them with Mae Ploy red curry and olive oil.
Once cooked, transferred them to a stock pot and added Pacific’s creamy tomato soup in the tetrapak. Delicious.
I usually make this “Tomato Curry Vegatable soup” by cooking the veggies in a bit of curry and olive oil in the pot first. The roasting way is FAR superior in both flavour and time considerations. The carmelized bits add a dimension to the soup that is well received. Yummers.

This weekend we need to put away all the Christmas decorations. I know the house is going to seem bare and lonley once they go away. I’ll have to fill it with the smell of cooking, I suppose.

In other news, I’ve applied for a position at PSU. My exact job description for my IT career-track that I was on previously. It would be nice to be making what I deserve again.

Also, I’ve been extremely tired of the internet culture lately – the idea that “everyone is a critic” and I suppose the underlying idae of criticism and opinion. I think at the base, Opinions are worthless trappings of ephemeral illusionary meaning. I wish we didn’t spend so much time about personal reaction and judgement to external objects (and more precisely what we view those reactions to mean). I just don’t buy that the analysis of a person’s taste has any objective meaning in any sense of scale, grand or small. I guess I’m mellowing and getting more accepting in my old age.

I’d better get back to work here – it is Friday and a some old friends are coming up this weekend to visit. Neither has seen the house since the Tiki Room went in, nor the bathroom. We’ll need to clean up a bit tonight.

Cheers!

Keep your eyes on your own paper
Mind your own beeswax
You can only change others by changing yourself

p.s. if there is something you hate about someone else or some other group, it is really beacuse you hate it about yourself, but must externalize it to be able to address the issue.

I love you, David Cross!

For Christmas, we adopted an orphaned eight-year-old Chihuahua.

I give to you “Sir Percival Elton von Budgerigar I”

Woof!

He’s a sweetie: He is housetrained, polite, & cuddly. We decided to call him either “Budgie” or “Sir.”

Private post: only for Craig, Cin & Heather.

cc:ed to almondtart@yahoo.com as well.

Ingredients:
—————-

Flour 10lbs
Sugar 10lbs
Milk Gallon (whole / homogenized)
Eggs 3 doz at least
Cream 3 quarts
1/2 and 1/2 1 quart
baking powder
Vanilla (extract and bean/s)
Instant Coffee
Cream of Tartar
Unsweetened chocolate – Sharfenberger cacao nibs or dark Ghiradelli or both CHOCOLATE!! YUM
Cocoa Powder
Butter (Unsalted) 3 lbs/containers

Bourbon
Dark Rum (cruzan blackstrap?)
Brandy

Nutmeg nuts/fresh

I stand behind my union brothers in the MTA NYC Strike! So awsome to see unions with some balls.

And the retarded mayor can suck a big one. Workers unite!

Stay HOME New Yorkers. You won’t die if you don’t get to work.

Strike! Strike! Strike! Strike! So proud of them.

It’s a snow day here at Mathom House. We had a surprise snow storm yesterday afternoon. While the rest of Portland is thawing, here in Troutdale we still have freezing rain.

It is gorgeous outside. We’re making cookies and enjoying the day.

Here’s the view from the front door:

Mele Kalikimaka Indeed.

I like my Egg Nog thick.

To make thick egg nog, retailers use their cheap-ass Ice Cream tricks of seaweed gelatin, super stable thickeners. Yuck.
Thickening is the whole point of adding the eggs (as well as their richness, and titular position). Cooking the egg-containing mixture both makes them safe for the paranoid and denatures the proteins to make custard. MMMMMMMMMM. Custard.

If you like a thinner eggnog or if you are a cooking weakling, do not heat your eggs.

If you have made a fresh custard, stovetop creme brulee, or are brave and want to cook like I do (who wouldn’t?) follow my cooking directions.
take your meds before following the cooking directions and have plenty of time and patience. 😉

————–

6 Eggs (or 5 Eggs and 3 Egg Yolks)
1 Cup Sugar (or Vanilla Sugar*)
1 Quart ½ & ½
1 Quart Whole Milk
½ Cup (4 oz) Dark Rum
½ Cup (4 oz) Bourbon
½ Cup (4 oz) Brandy
Fresh Grated Nutmeg

Step 3 below is the optional cooking maneuver to make a thicker (more delicious) Egg Nog.

1. Cream the Sugar and eggs [place eggs in large mixing bowl, break and lightly mix the egg mixture. Add the cup of Sugar and beat with either a baloon whisk or elecric beaters until the mixture has turned lemony-yellow and is smooth and creamy]
2. Whisk or beat in the milk and ½ and ½ into the mixture
3. Transfer the mixture to a 4 qt pot and start on low temp.
3.a While heating, continuously stir mixture.
3.b After minute or so, bring temp to medium heat
3.c When the mixture steams nicely (and reaches about 170 degrees) remove from heat. BE PATIENT :).
4. Add the spirits to the mixture and whisk to encorporate
5. Grate plenty of Nutmeg into the mixture.
6. Transfer Egg Nog to sealable container and refridgerate for at least 2 hours before enjoying.

To serve:

Pour Egg Nog into wide-brimmed punch-mug and liberally dust with freshly grated nutmeg. Enjoy.

————–

* To make Vanilla sugar, score and cut a fresh vanilla pod into pieces. In an air-tight container, add vanilla pod and at least 4 cups of sugar. It will take about 2 weeks for the vanilla to completely scent the sugar. If you are in a hurry, you can scrape the seeds from the pod and pulse with some of the sugar in a food processor. When you take sugar out of the container, add the same amount back to the container. The Vanilla pod will continue to scent the sugar for six months. This is delicious on fruit, toast, and in recipes where you would normally use sugar + Vanilla extract. I like to just smell mine — Heaven.