Archive for June, 2005
- the gigapxl project. and i thought our camera took some nice photos. this thing is insane. check out the gallery and see how crazy the resolution and detail is. i assume the goverment is using these to spy on me.
- the norcent DP-220 Divx DVD player. It lets you play all sorts of video formats without conversion, and it costs less than $50. We’re now finally able to watch movies in our bedroom thanks to this cheap puppy.
- dinner with robert, my main man from formaggio, and his girlfriend on friday night. and my first ever fileting of a fish was 1005 successful. A beautiful red snapper and striped bass from super 88 were the unwitting victims of my butchery.
- is there anything better than a saturday summer afternoon at jon and carolyn’s pool? i don’t think so. I spent plenty of time working on my splash-free dives, playing pool basketball, re-learning how to toss a football like a man, a little frisbee, and a little grilling, and a whole lot of relaxing. and i didn’t get a sunburn, which is always a nice bonus.
- i made my best ever grilled pizza on saturday night. i’ve been making grilled pizza for about 5 years now, but i think it’s taken me almost as long to get it to where i want it. thin, but not too thin. crispy, but still with some chew. slightly charred, but not burned. and just the right amount of toppings so that they cook completely and evenly by the time the crust is done. and it’s all about heat control. use that indirect heat to your advantage.
- an unexpected visit to the bank of america championship at nashautuk country club in concord. what used to be the senior tour is now called the “champions tour”. basically, the golfers that were big back in the early 90’s are now playing on this tour along with some guys who look like your grandfather. except they can still hit the ball a mile. our landlord gave us free tickets along with passes to the Michelob Ultra Hospitality Tent, meaning free food and drink all day. Well, with the ridiculous heat and humidity, you can imagine where we spent most of the day. Still, we walked the course a little bit and got to see some golf. We also saw Arnold Palmer, who, in that heat, I was expecting to keel over at any moment. They should really let those old guys wear shorts.
- finally, experiencing the Chef’s Whim at Craigie Street Bistrot with Gordon and Karen as our sort of good-bye dinner with them before they move to London. A pretty much perfect night with some amazing food and great company. The chef’s whim is something that craigie street does every sunday and wednesday after 9:00pm, but since they were closing for summer vacation today, last night it was all chef’s whim all night. Basically, for $35/person, you get 4 courses of whatever the chef comes up with. Be ready to eat some unusual things and be ready to eat some amazingly creative and delicious food. As you watch the food coming out of the tiny kitchen, you realize that you don’t see the same thing coming out to any table. Yes, pretty much every table is getting something different. Just incredible. And let’s talk about the food. Course One: house cured anchovies with preserved lemon and black olive vinaigrette, baby arugula and arugula flowers. Course Two: buckwheat polenta, sauteed forest mushrooms, farm fresh egg, and spruce shoot broth. Course Three: Slow Braised Fresh Bacon, vidalia onion puree, creamed greens, and spelt. Course Four: Dessert: sour milk pannacotta with local strawberries and strawberry coulis. warm sweet white corn grits, demerera brulée, and honey roasted figs. Local strawberry and peach cobbler with fresh mint ice cream. Holy crap. Everything was just utterly delicious and completely unexpected. Flavors and ingredients that I’ve never heard of or seen before, and we were just blown away. The highlight for me was the fresh bacon. Meltingly tender, flavorful, and not all all fatty-tasting. I’ve read a lot in the last year how so many places are starting to serve this and it’s the “hot” dish right now, but I’d never experienced it before. It’s definitely not for the diet-conscious, but if given the chance, definitely check it out. I’m still thinking about it now. i have a lot to say about craigie street, about the owner and chef, about their philosophy, about the atmosphere, food, and service, but to put it simply, it’s pretty much my idea of a perfect neighborhood restaurant. I wish there were more like it.
- try watching this for 20 seconds on a monday morning without yawning.
- after a 3rd attempt, i’ve finally mastered the art of sushi making. or at least have figured out how to not completely mangle the rolls or overload them with rice.
- the upside of anger
- recently added to my streaming radio station faves: KCRW. i’m sure my company is happy to know that their bandwidth is being put to good use.
- a visit to verrill farm. it’s strawberry time! coincidentally, we went there almost the exact same time last year. us, creatures of habit? nah.
- 4 of 5 attempts after i first tried, including turning the grill into a giant ball of flames, i finally managed to successfully execute chicken under-a-brick. and speaking of which, this guy used to be my camp counselor.
- remember the $7 toaster that we bought about a month ago? yeah, it doesn’t work. Dead-on-arrival. I returned it, and apparently, it was already known to be defective and was marked as such. So we splurged and bought a $10 one. this one has cool sides so we don’t kill ourselves.
- trying to pass along the madness to the rest of our family, we got susanne’s dad an ice cream maker for father’s day. i doubt it will cause the same type of craziness as it did to us, but i’m sure he’ll have some fun with it. speaking of which, this week’s flavors are peach, blackberry-chip, and chcocolate. yes, it’s true that we’ve made every batch of our own ice cream for the past 7 months.
- i’m still leading my fantasy baseball league, but my lead is slipping…
- i don’t care if they’re for chicks. luna bars are damn tasty. i hope i don’t grow boobs or something.
- from morgan spurlock, the creator of super size me, comes the FX series, 30 days. what an ourstanding show. much like the original SSM movie, he puts himself or others in life-changing situations for 30 days. in the first episode, he and his fiancee live on minimum wage for 30 days. eye opening, funny, and completely fascinating.
- in a frightening examination of our monthly magazine subscriptions, we realize that we subscribe to the following: gq, esquire, rolling stone, wired, gourmet, bon appetit, pizza today, us weekly, vanity fair, vogue, in style, lucky, real simple, and boston magazine. and i may be leaving out one or two. and yes, we manage to read them all. although i don’t read in style or lucky. but you can bet your ass that i read US weekly.
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