Archive for May, 2005
May 31, 2005 at 8:22 am
- i kept saying that this weekend was labor day weekend. memorial day, veterans day, labor day. i don’t care what day it actually is as long as i get the day off. so i guess next weekend will be “sway bar day weekend” since i’m getting my sway bars replaced and won’t have a car to drive to work on friday.
- the pulled pork at blue ribbon bbq. smokey, tender, and tasty. go get some.
- i’m officially a published writer. my first article appeared in the boston globe food section last week. and thanks to the article, the bbq line at formaggio was around the block.
- the first grilled pizza of the season. and probably my best ever. practice definitely makes perfect.
- jjp’s memorial day/labor day bbq on sunday. i finally got to see all the little people that my friends are producing at an alarming rate. the winner for most fun baby goes to luke mcgonagle, who looks just like his dad and likes hotdogs. the food was also top-notch as charlie was manning the grill. and for the record, this weekend, i ate pretty much every animal you can eat. pork, beef, lamb, chicken, and octopus.
- yes, those are really grilled baby octopi. and they were damn good.
- primer. if anyone can explain this movie to me, please do. it’s about a couple of engineers who manage to build a time machine in their garage, and it’s one wacky, confusing movie. it was also made for $7000 by a former engineer who taught himself how to make movies, and wrote, produced, directed, and starred in it. very impressive. and very confusing.
- in an effort to see the new star wars, i’m having susanne watch the first 2 prequels with me this week.
- everyone should join me this saturday at the paradise to say goodbye to our friends fooled by april. they’re moving on with their lives, but they leave some great memories and some rocking tunes for us to remember them by. best of luck boys.
- an interview with a fortune cookie fortune writer.
- molto italiano, the new cookbook from our friend mario batali. this thing is huge, and it is now the definitive italian cookbook in our kitchen. if you need a recipe for something great and italian, this thing has it. and we haven’t found a bad dish yet.
Tags: 2005, topten
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May 17, 2005 at 12:53 pm
- a weekend on the cape with tommy and mark. maybe one of these days we’ll actually get a sunny weekend.
- what’s better on a rainy saturday afternoon than some bowling? answer: nothing. i think i set a new personal-best with a 158. people don’t like me when i bowl well.
- it’s sort of fun knowing that even if you’re the vice-chairman of a very large and well-known worldwide consumer products corporation, you still have to do the dishes and clean the garage. you just get to do it in a really nice house.
- so it’s 1:30 on a sunday afternoon, you haven’t really eaten much all day, and you can’t find anyplace to go for lunch. knowing that there’s a baja in your immediate future makes you a much happier person.
- after 8+ years of service in various incarnations, the WOPR has finally been taken down. it served as my portal to the outside world from my office, allowing me to break free from the prying eyes of big brother. petecarpenter.com’s host has removed the need for it, and my desk area was a complete mess. with the addition of the new LCD, it was time for a major cleanup. you will be missed, but not the mess that you made.
- i love season finale week. and i admit it, i watch american idol. admit it, you do too. and you think that bo bice is dreamy.
- use this to find cheap gas in your area. is there anything google maps can’t do?
- konfabulator. OSX-style widgets for your desktop.
- in an effort do download all of the album art from all of my music using this, i’ve been paying every track 1 that i own for about 3 days straight. i gotta admit, it gives you a great playlist of music. i have a feeling that i wouldn’t have the same thoughts about every track 9.
- the first soft-shelled crab of the season. get them while you can. we kept waiting last year for the prices to go down a little bit and before we knew it, they were gone. even if you only get them once this summer, do it. they run about $5-$6 each, and two of them make a fine meal.
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May 16, 2005 at 7:59 am
- i finally broke down and bought a LCD monitor. my 8-year old monitor has been on the fritz for about 2 years, so it was finally time. plus, the deal that let me get it for about half price was just too enticing.
- our second attempt at making sushi was wildly unsuccessful. our experimentation got the best of us, and we were a complete disaster. using nori sheets that were too small, overstuffing the rolls, poor rolling, etc. but yes, we’ll try again.
- dinner with mike and erika. i love that we can invite people over for dinner at 6pm without any idea of what we’re going to make. by 7:30, we’ve planned the meal, gone to the grocery store, prepared everything, and are cracking into the beers.
- ok, i admit it. i have a complete mac obsession. and thanks to styleXP, the OSX-Tiger-VS2 theme, and mobydock, my PC now looks like a mac. i have problems.
- penzey’s spices in arlington. this is the new retail outlet of the famous mail-order spice store. this place is packed with every dried herb and spice you could imagine, and after about 10 minutes, your olfactory senses are completely blown out. seriously, i couldn’t differential smells at all after a while. powerful stuff. we picked up small jars of mexican oregano, ancho chili powder, and dried anise.
- i broke our toaster yesterday with a poorly cut bagel and a destructive salvage attempt with a knife. luckily, you can buy a new one for $6.99. $6.99! i think my mom buys a new $80 toaster every year and is never happy with it. i expect this one to last about 10 years.
- it was announced that fooled by april’s june 4 CD release show at the paradise will be their farewell performance. they will be missed.
- the opening of grant achatz’s alinea in chicago and the early reports from egullet about the 24 course, 7.5 hour(!) meal there. this place is off the charts. get to chicago and check it out.
Tags: 2005, topten
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May 9, 2005 at 9:07 am
- the third annual carpenter/charbonneau mother’s day weekend.
- the charbonneau’s first vietnamese experience. and they even used chopsticks!
- we made sushi at home. i have to say that it was surprisingly easy once we tracked down all of the ingredients. who knew that there were so many types of seaweed? and some of it smells, well, like stinky seaweed. others didn’t, and we made a tasty seaweed salad from home hijiki and wakame. i think. we also picked up a little piece of sushi-grade salmon from the japanese market in porter exchange. i would have like to have gotten some nice tuna, but at $45/lb, that wasn’t going to happen.
- i was going to wait until it actually went to print, but on my first attempt, i got an article accepted for publication. Look for it in the Short Order section of the Globe Food section on may 25.
- i really like this guy’s restaurant shots
- after 5 years, i’m finally getting a new computer at work. yes, i’m designing chips that are actually faster than the computer that i design them on. does this make any sense whatsoever?
- coincidentally, after 5 years, jon finally got his too. yes, the all new petecarpenter.com is on its way!
- there’s a stack of about 27 magazines on our coffeetable that have to get read. and yet, we keep subscribing to more. if you don’t hear from me in a few days, you may need to break down my door and help me dig myself out from under the avalance of old issues.
- we’re not what you call avid bakers, but we saw this tart on tv the other day, and we decided to make it for mother’s day. this one is definitely a keeper. just don’t tell anyone that we used a store-bought crust. shhhhhh.
- google web accelerator is pretty cool. i just like how it shows you the exact number of minutes and seconds it’s saving you. i’m sure there are huge security and privacy issues with this, so have fun.
Tags: 2005, topten
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May 2, 2005 at 8:39 am
- what a busy week. we had stuff going on every night for about 8 straight days. This weekend was finally time to relax and catch up on some stuff.
- did i mention that i got my hair cut? even my mom likes it. maybe it’s because we sort of have the same hairstyle now.
- a short visit from big-bro steve. he proposed an intersting challenge to my faithful readers based on my mom’s insane amount of food in her house. she has about 47 cabinets, closets, spare freezers, and i think the garage just overflowing with food. We predict that she can last at least 3 months without ever having to leave the house based on her current supplies. Anyone want to put their mom up to challenge her? they can become the latest reality TV stars!
- dinner with yin and finally meeting his lady. he’s turned into quite the well behaved young man, and for some unknown reason, has put himself on a swimsuit diet. huh?
- ok, so i make a lot of pizza at home. i go through endless variations of doughs, sauces, techniques, all striving to reach the unreachable pizza perfection. Well, this past saturday, I came as close as I’ve ever come. A new dough variation (this time only taking 2 hours instead of the usual 24!), a new cooking technique (i can’t give away my secrets, but let’s just say there was a broiler and some flames involved), and i came as close as i’ve ever come to my ideal: crisp and charred but still chewy crust, nicely melted and bubbling toppings, perfect balance of toppings and sauce and crust. all just in time for grilled pizza season.
- a return to east coast grill. a week after my class, i got to experience the real deal.
- the first ramps of the season have appeared. let the stinkiness begin!
- we finished up our homebuyer’s class. although we sort of skipped out after a half hour of the last class. don’t tell anyone.
- i don’t mean to gloat or anything since it’s still the first week, but i’m currently in first place of my fantasy baseball league.
- if you miss the long forgotten kitchen etc., china fair may just be the place you need. all sorts of fun and cheap kicthen gadgets, dishware, glassware, industrial cookware, and lots of party plates and junk.
- frogurt flavors of the week: fresh strawberry, blueberry.
- i planted a bunch of stuff this week. let’s see if we can manage to make them last the entire season this year. i feel sort of manly carrying around big bags of soil. and then a whole lot less manly when i take out the flowered trowel to plant my herbs.
- i heard the rough mixes of some of the new fooled by april swan song album. it’s gonna be a good one.
Tags: 2005, topten
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