26 posts from September 2007

Video: Show us a clip from your favorite cooking show.

Show us a gadget that's on your wish list.

I just got my wii abd warioware smooth moves, so i'm not currently gadget lusting.

does anyone want to be wii friends?

Show us what the weekend has in store for you.

I went to a vip party at Universal Halloween horror nights.  http://www.halloweenhorrornights.com/orlando/index.html
full set is here flickr

i know i said i was going to make the pumpkin risotto this weekend, but i am too tired.  i've nver made from scratch mac n cheese before, so this is my reminder to try it.

Macaroni and Cheese

Larry king is effing nuts.  i wish i could find video..  the reading of the transcript is making me laugh

KING: Before the program tonight Chef Ramsay and I gathered in the break room off to our right. Well, you watch. One of my favorite foods is bagels and lox and cream cheese. They put out a whole assortment. I have no idea what this is, peas.

RAMSAY: They're called capers.

KING: Capers, green stuff here.

RAMSAY: Chives.

KING: Weird mustard.

RAMSAY: Really nice, wasabi mustard.

KING: Wasabi mustard. Here's how I make it. You take the bagel.

RAMSAY: Yes. We toasted it. See, already you screwed up. It stops it from going soggy.

KING: Correct. They should have tasted it. Is it big in Europe?

RAMSAY: Huge. Absolutely huge.

KING: It's very big here.

RAMSAY: Yeah. OK.

KING: I'm using a spoon because we don't have forks, CNN budget. And then I put that down, and I take a piece of lox or whatever they call it.

RAMSAY: OK. Smoked salmon from Scotland.

KING: Smoked salmon from Scotland, lox from down lower east side.

RAMSAY: OK. First of all, I'll never go to your house, just the way you spread that cream cheese, it's so thin, that means you're mean. You're really tight. You come around, you start crying when the string breaks, you take the money out of the pot.

KING: I do not.

RAMSAY: Let me show you really quickly. Spread it on with a little affection. It's a lot easier to go on, but show a little bit of courtesy and have some fun with it and not be so tight.

KING: I'm not tight. I'm having an unusual moment.

RAMSAY: Trust me; you're as tight as a camel's bottom in a desert storm.

KING: What are you going to put on?

RAMSAY: Just kidding. First of all, some really nice chives.

KING: Chives.

RAMSAY: I'm not going to do anything with raw onion, not good for the breath, not good for the indigestion.

KING: Pass.

RAMSAY: Exactly. Small amount of tomato, lightly. And then from there, some capers. But I'm going to drain the capers from that real horrible solution. And look. And then with the salmon, let me get it around my finger, twist, and just put it on. Because I like to think, if you come to my house for dinner, you'd stay at least two or three hours. If I was at yours, I'd be around for ten minutes. Hold on. We haven't finished.

KING: You're ticking me off. In other words, you're saying it has to look good.

RAMSAY: And taste good.

KING: I'm like you, I spread cheese thin. You're going to gain weight.

RAMSAY: I'll burn it off later. You've got a little bit of cream cheese there.

KING: It would have been better toasted. That was fun. We made bagels, bagels are everywhere.

RAMSAY: Toast them, they won't get so soggy.

Do professional athletes make too much money, or do they deserve every penny?  Why?

I kind of feel both ways about this.  I think it's ridiculous the money these people make.  I can also see that in general their career is very short, so they have to make what they can while they are still viable.  My problem with spots stars is not that they have money, but how they use it.   so much money allows people who don't know what to do with it, becomes bad people.  I mean take Vick, if he wasn't so outrageously rich, do you think he would have been able to get into a place where he participated in animal abuse?  Sure he might have still been a poor treater of animals, but i think the amount of money he had allowed him the freedom to fully explore that with lifestyle, and no one told him no, because he had money.  It's like singers and actresses.  2 names, Lohan and spears.  would either of these 2 girls be in the amount of trouble they are in, if they were poorer and had people who could tell them no?  Not all extremly rich people behave badly, i just think that amount of money allows people to explore their more deviant side, and only stop when they get caught.  do i think all sports stars should be making minimum wage?  no.  There are plenty of sports stars living upstanding lives with a lot of money.  I just don't know why people need to make more than 20 times my yearly salary for a game.

I don't have the answers for reform, but i also think having so much money is unnecessary.

about the uproar over this Iranian guy.  I don't like him either, but I despise everyone who calls him Hitler.  and really, what is so offensive about a head of state paying his respects at a memorial?  Is that not the point of a memorial?  UGH. 

And as for the Columbia University hatred, this guy is going to talk, why not listen, why not question?  Our country provides the right to free speech and dissenting opinions, not a freedom people in Iran share.  If we disallow unpopular opinions, pretty sure we don't be allowed to have opinions.  Be careful what you wish for.

Some quotes by wiser people than me that summarize my feelings...

When I despair, I remember that all through history the ways of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants, and murderers, and for a time they can seem invincible, but in the end they always fall. Think of it--always.
    Mahatma Gandhi

We are not afraid to entrust the American people with unpleasant facts, foreign ideas, alien philosophies, and competitive values.  For a nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people.  ~John F. Kennedy

Observe your enemies, for they first find out your faults.
Antisthenes (445 BC - 365 BC)

A wise man gets more use from his enemies than a fool from his friends.
Baltasar Gracian

If you want to make peace, you don't talk to your friends. You talk to your enemies.
Moshe Dayan

We can learn even from our enemies.
Ovid

The First Amendment is often inconvenient. But that is besides the point. Inconvenience does not absolve the government of its obligation to tolerate speech.
Justice Anthony Kennedy

It is no good to try to stop knowledge from going forward. Ignorance is never better than knowledge.
Enrico Fermi

The greater the ignorance the greater the dogmatism.
Sir William Osler

Voltaire:
I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.
There are some that only employ words for the purpose of disguising their thoughts.
  
Think for yourselves and let others enjoy the privilege to do so too. .

this is what i get for reading the guardian, now i have to convert this to American measurements :D

Pumpkin and gorgonzola risotto

Roasted pumpkin is a favourite of mine - in my native Australia, pumpkin soup is almost a national dish. Here it retains its deep flavour and unique texture as it's roasted separately, then added to a basic risotto.

Serves 4

500g pumpkin, peeled and cubed
1 tsp light olive oil
1l vegetable stock
2 tbs butter
1 leek, halved lengthways and thinly sliced
1 garlic clove, chopped
330g risotto rice
50g gorgonzola cheese, crumbled

Preheat the oven to 180C. Put the pumpkin on a baking tray, drizzle with the olive oil and roast in the preheated oven for 30 minutes.

Put the stock in a saucepan and heat until gently simmering. Melt the butter in a saucepan over high heat and add the leek and garlic. Cook for 4-5 minutes, stirring often, until the leeks have softened but not browned. Add the rice to the leeks and stir for 1 minute, until the rice is well coated with oil. Add 125ml of the hot stock to the rice and cook, stirring constantly, until the rice has absorbed most of the liquid.

Repeat this process until all the stock has been used, this will take about 20-25 minutes. The rice should be soft but still have a slight bite to the centre. Add the roasted pumpkin pieces. Remove the pan from the heat, stir in the gorgonzola and serve immediately.

This version of a minestrone is really a meal in its own right. It's packed with lovely winter vegetables and is a 'one-pot wonder' that will improve with age. I consider pancetta, the cured Italian bacon, to be an essential ingredient that should be on hand in every kitchen.

Serves 4

2 tbs olive oil
1 leek, thinly sliced
1 small fennel bulb, cut into small cubes
100g pancetta, cut into small cubes
1 carrot, grated
1 potato, cut into small cubes
1.5l chicken stock
400g canned chickpeas, rinsed and drained
80g fresh spinach, chopped
50g parmesan cheese, finely grated
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Heat the oil in a saucepan. Add the leek, fennel and pancetta and cook for 5 minutes over high heat, until the leek softens and the pancetta really flavours the oil. Add the carrot, potato, stock and chickpeas and bring to the boil.

Reduce the heat and simmer for 20 minutes. Season to taste with sea salt and black pepper then add the spinach. Cook over low heat for 5 minutes, until the spinach has wilted throughout the soup.

Serve with parmesan sprinkled on top.

Next time: Add 100 g small pasta (try the little rice-shaped pastas such as risoni or orzo) instead of chickpeas and simmer until the pasta is cooked through before adding the final few ingredients. This will give you a very thick soup that you may even need a fork to eat!

meltin' cow
Originally uploaded by loungerie

art confuzzles me.

I found this zen habit blog that i really enjoy.

http://zenhabits.net/

Why Living a Life of Gratitude Can Make You Happy

4 Simple Steps to Start the Exercise Habit

Photo by mikebaird

Every Friday is Health Tip Day at Zen Habits.

I have to admit that I have my ups and downs with the exercise habit.

So I know that it’s not the easiest habit for most people, and most people’s experiences consist of starting and stopping and starting again. Which is fine — don’t beat yourself up about it. The important thing is starting again.

I’ve written before about how to build the exercise habit (and even have a guest post on it), but today I thought I’d revisit the topic for those who still have trouble.

The Main Problems
So why do most people have trouble making exercise a regular habit? Well, there are probably a number of factors, but here are the main ones as I see it:

1. Too difficult. People set out with a lot of ambition and enthusiasm, and start out with a big goal. “I’m going to go to the gym for an hour a day!” or “I’m going to run 30 minutes every day!” The problem is that the goal is too difficult to sustain for very long. You can do it for a few days, but you soon run out of energy, and it becomes a drag to do it.
2. Too many goals. Often we set out to do too much. We want to run, and lift weights, and eat healthy, and quit sweets, and stop drinking soda. Well, those are multiple goals, and you cannot focus on the exercise habit if you’re trying to do all the others at the same time. Or we might start with one goal, but then get caught up in another goal (to stop procrastinating, for example), and lose our focus on the first one.
3. Not enough motivation. It’s not a lack of discipline, it’s a lack of motivation. The most powerful motivators, in my experience, are logging your habit and public pressure. There are many others that help as well.

The 4 Simple Steps
So how do we solve those problems? Keep it simple. Here are the 4 simple steps to start the exercise habit (and keep it going). I should note that you can use these 4 steps to start any habit.

1. Set one easy, specific, measurable goal. There are several keys to setting this crucial goal:
   • Written: Write this down. Post it up. If you don’t write it down, it’s not important.
   • Easy: Don’t — DO NOT — set a difficult goal. Set one that is super, super easy. Five minutes of exercise a day. You can do that. Work your way to 10 minutes after a month. Then go to 15 after 2 months. You can see what I mean: make it easy to start with, so you can build your habit, then gradually increase.
   • Specific: By specific, I mean what activity are you going to do, at what time of day, and where? Don’t just say “exercise” or “I’m going to walk”. You have to set a time and place. Make it an appointment you can’t miss.
   • Trigger: I recommend that you have a “trigger” right before you do your habit. For example, you might always brush your teeth right after you shower. The shower is the trigger for brushing your teeth, and because of that, you never forget to brush your teeth. Well, what will you do right before you exercise? Is it right after you wake up? Right after your coffee? Right when you get home? As soon as you take off for lunch? A trigger that you do every single day is important.
   • Measurable: By measurable, I mean that you should be able to say, definitely, whether you hit or miss your goal today. Examples: run for 10 minutes. Walk 1/2 a mile. Do 3 sets of 5 pushups. Each of those has a number that you can shoot for.
   • One goal: Stick to this one goal for at least a month. Two months if you can bear it. Don’t start up a second goal during that 30-day period. If you do, you are scrapping this goal.
2. Log it daily. This is the key habit. If you can log your workout, you will start to see your progress, and it will motivate you to keep going. And you have to make it a habit to log it right away. Don’t put it off, and say you’ll do it before you go to bed. As soon as you’re done working out, log it. No exceptions. And don’t make the log complicated — that will only make you resist doing the log. Just the date, time, and what you did.
3. Report to others. I think this is key. You can do it on your blog, on an online forum, with your spouse, or friends or family, or a workout partner, or a coach, or a group, or a class. However you set it up, make it part of the process that you have to report your daily workout to other people. It could be using an online log, or on a forum, or through email, or the phone, or just by telling your co-workers what you did this morning. But be sure that they know your goal, and that you are going to report to them, and be sure that they are expecting it every day.
4. Add motivation as needed. The first three steps might be enough for you to get the habit going. But if not, don’t just give up. If you miss two consecutive workouts, you need to look at why, and add a new motivation. Rewards, more public pressure, inspiration, whatever it takes. Read this article for more on this. You can add one additional motivator, and then see if it works. If you miss two more consecutive workouts at any time, add another motivator. And so on, until the exercise habit sticks.