haircut 2
Archive for April, 2005
stuffed chilis
Tags: 2005, anchovies, capers, chili, food, gherkins, peppers, photos, pickles, stuffed Permalink Comments
4/18/2005
- yes, my 29th year has begun. so far, so good.
- so, i’ve talked about minor miracles that have happened before, but nothing tops this one. the climate control on my car has been wacked for the past couple of months, basically becoming completely uncontrollable. upon further research, i think i figured out what was wrong and what part needed to be replaced. somehow deluding myself into thinking that i could actually do it myself, i ordered the part online (which coincidentally, delivered my part in less than 24 hours for free). saturday i set out to do the work, and to my complete and utter shock, i was able to do it. holy crap. it worked! so if anyone needs help replacing the blower motor resistor on an e46 series bmw, gimme a shout.
- by the way, this is how long my hair is. almost time for a trim.
- i finally got me some sevens
- spring is finally really and truly here. i put down all of the screens in our windows, brought up the deck furniture, and cleaned up the deck to get ready for lots of ourdoor time.
- thanks to the charbonneau’s, i am the very happy owner of a weber rotisserie. the first run was a complete success, and let’s just say that this will be getting plenty of use this summer.
- due to my constant and nagging foot and ankle and knee problems, i decided to finally get some non-trailrunning running shoes. a trip to the new balance outlet yielded me a pair of green 991’s. funky and supportive
- jon and carolyn got me a class at nuestra culinary ventures with my grilling maestro, chris schlesinger.
- speaking of chris schlesinger, i had my last writing class with chris’ writing partner and executive editor of gourmet, john “doc” willoughby last week.
- ray lamontagne, ray lamontagne. check it out. plus all of the bittorrent show bootlegs on the fan discussion board. ah, i remember the days when i used to trade bootlegs. that’s back when we used to actually mail cassettes back and forth across the country. man, the internet has certainly changed that.
- megastructures on the national geographic channel. i am completely fascinated by this show, which details these massive engineering feats around the world. i could watch this show all day long.
- i watched the brit awards the other night, and let me tell you, those brits know how to put on an awards show. they just cut right to the chase, present the awards, have tons of live performances, no stupid shtick, and they let the nominees get all boozed up. i think in a previous life, i was actually a brit.
- the new foodtv show, good deal with dave lieberman. this is the guy who created his own cooking show on yale’s public access station, and got loads of buzz from the nytimes and others. so the food network gave him his own show and cookbook, which is basically the show that i would do if i were to do one. this guy makes my food, dammit!
- i got my knife sharpened at the friendly folks at tag’s. total wait time: 4 minutes.
- one of the guys at formaggio brought one of these kamado grill/smoker/ovens to the store. this thing is unbelieveable, and apparently, there is a pizza stone attachement for it. i don’t care what i have to do, by the end of the summer, i’m commandeering that thing and cooking up some 3 minute pizzas.
- hey, i give him an A for effort, but tom brady hosting SNL was pretty weak. stick to your day job, tommy.
- i’m planning on doing updates throughout the week for links and stories that i find interesting. i’m constantly emailing fun things to people, so i’ll start sharing them here.
4/11/2005
- finally, after 37 years of dating, brett and kelly got engaged
- we were a bit crazy again this weekend. we fully admit that we have a problem. sufficed to say, our house is extremely clean right now, the desk is done, the grill is freshly scrubbed, the windows are washed, the drapes are clean, susanne’s car is fixed, my car is almost fixed, we saw 3 open houses, did grocery shopping, i went for my first run of the spring, and on and on and on…
- my first ever attempt at using my grill as a smoker. and it was a successful one as well. chicken leg quarters rubbed with cayenne, paprika, mustard seed, oregano, salt, pepper, and sugar, and smoked over hickory wood for about an hour and 15 minutes. along with mashed sweet potatoes, sauteed green beans, and homemade cornbread. i think i left them on a little too long, but my neighborhood got to enjoy the smells. the entire street smelled like blue ribbon. there will be more experimenting this summer.
- nerds like to prank each other.
- we’ve started our first time home buyer’s class. not nearly as many really stupid people ask ing stupid questions as i expected, but there were definitely some.
- opening day at fenway. can i get a ring too?
- i turn 29 this week. that sounds almost old.
- the dry stir fried chicken with chili’s at zoe’s in cambridge. i don’t know how they make this, but this chicken cooked with about 7,000 chili peppers, both dried and fresh, is crazy addictive. your mouth burns and your eyes water, but you can’t stop eating it. just watch out for those dried peppers. they’ll knock you on your ass.
- it’s planting season. i’ve already bought a big bag of dirt.
celery root, celery, and blood orange salad
Tags: 2005, bloodorange, celery, celeryroot, cooking, food, photos Permalink Comments
4/4/2005
- gordon and karen’s wedding and a great weekend in chicago
- the best rehearsal dinner ever at lalo’s. featuring a mariachi band, home dvd’s, more songs, stories, great margaritas, and great mexican food. i think about 20 different people got up to speak or sing or dance or juggle.
- lunch at blackbird. the first of our 3 planned chicago lunches, and this was a fantastic start. i figured that when i saw lidia sitting at the front table, we were at the right place. streamlined, minimalist, cool, and a perfect lunch.
- the second lunch of the weekend brought us to frontera grill, rick bayless’ home of authentic regional mexican cuisine. yes, back to back mexican meals, but so worth it. despite my personal feelings about bayless’ shilling for burger king, there’s no denying the impact of his influence on mexican cooking in this country, and the food backs it up. flavorful, simulataneously authentic and original at the same time, and the best guacamole we’ve ever had. i mean this stuff was just from another planet or something. and i think i may have dreamt about the enchilas en mole last night.
- the flower girl, just before walking down the aisle, yelling out “mommy, i need to wipe my nose!” kids always steal the spotlight at weddings!
- “is he dead yet?
- “hey look, there’s oprah!” unfortunately, i never did get to see her. I just enjoyed pointing to random people on the street and yelling that.
- our final lunch at pizzeria due, opened by the same guy who started the originalpizzeria uno. they’re actually around the corner from each other, and they’re nothing like the chains that you find in every corner of the country. this is the real deal, and it was our first true chicago-style deep-dish pizza experience. I was obviously biased due to what passes for pizza at the franchises, but i went into this with an open mind. and i’m glad that i did. it’s one of those true chicago experiences, it was the perfect thing to soak up our wedding hangovers, but it’s just a completely different beast than any other sort of pizza. yes, it takes 45 minutes for your pizza to come out, it’s thick, hearty, loaded with cheese on the bottom, a layer of sausage, and finally the tomato sauce on top. it’s tasty, tangy, a little spicy from the sausage, and a complete gut-bomb. i mean that stuff hits your stomach like a pile of lead. The two of us shared a small and it was more than enough. but it can be called pizza in the same way that quiche is pizza. it’s more about the filling than the crust. at least the crust was a world apart from the prefrozen disasters that most people associate with deep-dish pizza. if you’re in chicago, check it out.
- “you mean you’ve never had ham, or you’re just out of ham today?” ah, these funny midwesterners crack me up.
- manchester airport. one of the easiest flying experiences ever. just an hour from boston, $8/day parking, and people are so damn friendly.
- this whole time change thing is just killing me right now. that along with the time change from chicago is not making for a happy monday.
- our first trip to chicago was a complete success. such a nice city. really cool architecture, well layed out, clean, friendly, lots of great restaurants, an efficient and clean subway system, lots of parking, seemingly very livable, passionate sports fans. what’s not to love?
- um, apparently, opening day was last night. the sox and yanks should just stop playing other teams all together and just play each other 162 times in a row. that’s what people want to see anyways, right?
