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| Sunday, January 04, 2009 |
| My toaster |
I make toast a lot. I like toast. The perfect setting on my toaster (for me) is a lightly-browned toast, which on my toaster is 2 and a half.
It goes to ten.
So one day, I tried going all the way to ten and this is what happened.Labels: food, joke, stories |
posted by Steve @ 3:40 PM  |
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| Saturday, December 27, 2008 |
| Mandatory New Years' Resolution Post |
Will Take Work on a Daily Basis
- Finish organizing my photo collection (~17,000 photos). Get at least 1/4 of the way through tagging, rating, and eliminating duplicates.
- Get a real start on organizing my old design/writing work files.
- Create a good organizational system for ITP work files.
- Rate 40 days worth of music.
- Average one blog post every 3 days.
- Stay on-budget every month.
- Make some babies~!
- Use my 'power tower' (ugh hate the name) Christmas gift. I have yet to determine actual numbered goals. Get more sexy! This involves about 45 minutes of workout per day in 10, 10, and 25 minute sections.
- Eat well (almost no corn syrum, limited sweets, good snacks like carrots and nuts, more but smaller meals, drinking 2.5 litres of water a day).
- Take 4,000 photographs, including 400 5-star photos. Post the best to Facebook/Flickr.
- Consistently shoot 80% on freethrows.
Will Take Work on a Weekly Basis
- Create a home inventory for insurance purposes, including all photos, reciepts and serial numbers.
- Finish Ignition. This means professionally mastered and with a new website to promote it.
- Start re-learning piano and/or theory (haven't set up specific goals for this yet).
- Go on at least 25 hikes or other outdoor excursions.
- Consistently (at least 2x a month) do little things for my wife that would make her want to date me if we weren't married.
- Stay connected to friends via Facebook. Use it to get together with friends while we're still young and sexy.
- Get a good, highly-productive routine going at work that encourages me to take carpal-tunnel saving breaks and keeps me alert through the day (this relates to the eating and exercising).
Will Take Work on a Monthly Basis
- Begin to learn PHP in depth, preferably through classes that work pays for...
- Set up a long series of doctor's appointments to check for just about everything one can be checked for, to deal with any problems I might have before they're problems. That is - abuse the fact that I have a job with semi-decent medical care.
- Work on some way of respectfully resolving some core differences of belief between me and the in-laws.
- Get out of town 8 times (including at least 5 to family).
- Read a book a month.
- Reaquaint myself with all the outdoors knowledge I had as a Boy Scout.
- Learn to properly tune up my car.
One-Time Events:
Winter:
- Pay taxes by Valentine's Day.
- Visit my co-workers in San Francisco (I work from home 700 miles away and have yet to meet them).
- Use our new toboggan.
Spring:
- For the Prius: Replace scratched rear turn signal assembly.
- Redo my homepage/portfolio again in such a way that it all actually works.
- Create "A Ninja Wedding"
- Create the Impulse Nine TF2 frag video
Summer:
- Get to a water park.
- Write a short (20-page) religous-political treatise.
VW Work:
- January: Scrape off all the tar board from the floors and put down rust-preventing primer. Install aluminum side panels.
- February: Install floor drains. Put down floor lining. Install side brush bars. Install larger brake fluid reservoir.
- March: Create map pocket and cup holder in side panels. Install fire extinguisher holder.
- April: Install Dynamat (weather permitting).
- May: Buffer time.
- June: Begin working with simple fiberglassing by making rear trunk covers.
- July: Replace all the wiring with Jordan, adding circuits for all the new stuff to be installed later. Add gravel guards. Replace turn signal. Install air horn.
- August: Powdercoat rims, bumpers, brush bars, gravel guards, and door panels.
- September: Buffer time.
- October: Replace rims and tires. Raise rear suspension.
- November: Install new headlight system.
- December: Replace door and window rubber.
Labels: basketball, doctor, exercise, food, hiking, holidays, Internet, Leelu, money, mp3, music, organization, photography, Rachel, resolutions, team fortress 2, To-Do, work, Yoshimi |
| posted by Steve @ 9:38 PM |
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| Friday, December 19, 2008 |
| But it's chocolate chip! |
I enjoy shopping when it is relatively focused. Maybe it’s a deep-seated hunter instinct, but I enjoy having a particular goal in mind, and hunting it down. Aimless wandering, window shopping, and similar activities are, on the other hand, very frustrating for me. This is particularly true when there are a lot of other people in the store.
So naturally, there are few activities I can think of that are less pleasant than doing Christmas shopping.
Strangely, I’ve found myself in several typical Chrismas shopping places (Target, Ross, etc.) without doing any actual Christmas shopping, buying random household items. Today, I found myself at Ross, searching for a bag for my new MacBook. It’s no good having a laptop on the road without some sort of case, even if the boss did insist on getting the protection plan.
I was debating the merits of my options with Rachel when a woman with a petulant teenage boy in tow approached me. He was whining about how they hadn’t bought him anything. I asked her if she was just going to get his gift when he wasn’t around to see what he gets. She made a face, leaned over to me conspiratorially and said, “I’m in the business of getting rid of stuff this year. I have too much junk.” She noticed we were going through laptop bags and said, “oh, are you looking for a bag?”
I looked down at the obvious and explained why I was getting one.
“You want one? I have one. I’ll give it to you. I was going to give it to a thrift store anyway.” She gives me her phone number and tells me to call her. I thank her profusely and leave Ross with nothing but a confused look on my face and the watchful gaze of the Resource Protection rent-a-cops.
Our next stop was Walmart, another epicenter of Christmas Hell, to pick up a surge protector for Rachel’s desk. The shopping part of this was pretty straightforward, but as we were driving home, we noticed there was a cookie on our windshield.
It was difficult to concentrate on driving, just because we were so preoccupied with how on earth a cookie ended up on our windshield. I also wanted to know what kind of cookie it was.
As we drove, the debate over whether or not I should it flared. Rachel was adamantly opposed, as we didn’t know where it came from or whether or not it had any extra ingredients – be they the “happy” kind or the malicious. I, on the other hand, was having trouble ignoring the fact that it was a free cookie.
Moreover, it struck me as a test of the 3-Second Rule. You know – that if you drop something on the ground, but pick it up quickly and blow on it, the item is as sterile as a surgeon’s prep room. And if you only have to blow something for a few seconds to make it sterile, then obviously exposing this cookie renders it as fit to eat as you can get.
Rachel was not impressed. I ended up sneaking an extremely small bite out of the corner. It was chocolate chip.Labels: Christmas, crazy people, food, Rachel, shopping, stories |
| posted by Steve @ 4:58 PM |
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| Friday, November 14, 2008 |
| Everything you eat = Organic |
| I bet chemists really get confused or angry when foods distinguish themselves by saying that they're organic. Labels: chemistry, food, joke, organic |
| posted by Steve @ 11:05 PM |
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| Thursday, May 01, 2008 |
| The Heart Attack Special |
Back when I used to work at a smoothie/sandwich shop right on University Blvd., I made
myself all sorts of sandwiches for myself for lunch. I probably saved myself ten grand working at that place by drinking smoothies and eating there two or three times a day. Sometimes when I was feeling particularly meat-loving, I would make what I called the "Heart Attack Special."
When I was 20, and biked or walked everywhere, and ate two smoothies a day, I could have gotten away with a steady diet of nothing but canola oil and beer and stayed skinny, although I'd have died of a blood clot a lot sooner than I almost did (in 2004).
The heart-attack special was a sandwich made on toasted sourdough bread. It wasn't all bad - the "good" toppings were hummus, alfalfa sprouts, red lettuce, and red onion. But it also had four huge slices of cheese (2 Havarti, 1 extra-sharp cheddar, 1 provolone), a sprinkling of grated Parmesan cheese, Caesar dressing, three strips of bacon, three slices of roast beef, a slice of ham, three slices of pastrami.
It was a big damn sandwich.
This comes to mind because nowdays there are so many options out there that make my sandwich look positively good for your arteries. Some of the highlights:
I have a problem with mixing chocolate into breakfast foods or meats. It just seems wrong to me. I maintain that Coco-Puffs and Count Chocula are horrible, and only redeemed in any way by their pop culture impact.Labels: food, frightening thought, health care, true |
| posted by Steve @ 11:03 AM |
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| Monday, April 07, 2008 |
| Expensive sandwiches |
I'm a white guy, and that basically means I like expensive sandwiches. I don't however, like paying five bucks (or $169.73) for a thin slice of dry chicken between dry bread and not enough soda to choke down the disappointment. For that matter, I don't want to wait forty minutes, tip someone, travel, deal with a singer/songwriter barista, or go between the hours of 11 and 12:30pm.
I'm not that whitey.
So lately, I've been toying with interesting combinations that would make me happy at a sandwich shop and even posted a few of the better ones here. To me, though, the hardest part is finding ingredients that won't cost me a fortune, and will last in the refrigerator long enough to actually use them. I swear lettuce goes bad by the time I drive it home from the market.
So here is my rotating list of sandwich ingredients that are good but stay a while and aren't larcenously expensive:
Bread & Dairy:
- Gigantic block o' cheddar
- Smaller block of swiss
- Parmesan cheese
- Port wine cheese and crackers
- Potato or wheat bread
- Chive cream cheese
- Plain cream cheese
- Pita bread
Fruit & veggies:
- Red onion (stays about a month!)
- Alfalfa sprouts (50¢ per package and lasts a while)
- Lettuce (organic in-the-box stuff lasts best for me)
- Applesauce side (OK, my fruit & veggie intake is lacking)
Spreads:
- Caesar dressing
- Sun-dried tomato paste
- Sun-dried tomato pesto paste
- Homemade hummus
- Pesto
Meats:
- Whatever you want, really, but try for the better stuff in the supermarket deli. Don't buy much, but mediocre meat brings down the sandwich. It's still worlds cheaper than eating out, anyway.
Notes:
Hummus is ludicrously expensive when bought pre-packaged. I have no idea why; garbanzo beans are about 50¢ per can for the good stuff. Buy some good olive oil, some sesame seeds (also dirt cheap), fresh garlic, tahini, and lemon juice (plus anything else you want, really) and a good food processor on Craigslist. You can justify the $30 food processor this way: it's the same as buying six of the pre-packaged stuff, and you get to flavor it how you like.Labels: food, health care, Maloney's, money, recipie, white people |
| posted by Steve @ 12:42 PM |
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| Tuesday, April 01, 2008 |
| Recipie: No holds barred flavor fight! |
When I worked at a smoothie bar I'd try to get the most ridiculously tart. I would use mango juice, sorbet, peaches, blueberries, strawberries and oranges. They were awesome. Now, I make similar smoothies, but my sandwiches follow the same tongue-tantalizing route.
Here's a sandwich I made that I thought was particularly intense:
- Wheat bread
- Pesto
- Chive cream cheese
- Thick-sliced cheddar cheese
- Alfalfa sprouts
- Turkey slices
- Cucumber slices
The sandwich itself was pretty zing (although with sourbread it would've been even more so). But the sides really helped: Rosemary & Olive Oil Triscuits with sliced chunks off of a Kaukauna port wine cheese log, and strawberry-apple-kiwi juice to drink. Wow.
 Labels: food, health care, recipie, smoothies |
| posted by Steve @ 6:48 PM |
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| Sunday, March 30, 2008 |
| Recipie: Tart Chicken |
I am still trying to eat well. Rachel's gone kinda-sorta vegetarian, but I don't want to be that kind of paranoid about my food (especially with soups, as they often have chicken or beef in them without it being obvious).
A big part of eating well is putting a little effort into making food. You can only go so far when relying on super-quick frozen or ready-to-eat meals. I am terrible at this. I've been known to just not eat anything rather than spend five minutes making a sandwich.
But today I actually made a sandwich -- a brand new sandwich whose primary ingredient is awesome.
Kitchen bits:
Large skillet (depending on how much chicken you want)
A slotted turner (I admit without apology that I had to look that up)
Ingredients:
Frozen boneless chicken tenderloins
Sundried tomato spread
Chicken marinade
Caesar dressing
Alfalfa sprouts
Swiss cheese
Pita bread
How to make it:
Put the chicken into a skillet for ten minutes in the marinade on low to defrost and get the flavor in. While that's happening, get out the ingredients.
Split the pita bread, and spread the tomato paste on one side. When you add stuff, try not to destroy the pita. Put some caesar dressing on the other side, to taste. Keep in mind that both ingredients are pretty tart. Slice up the cheese and put it in there. Flip the chicken over so that it defrosts evenly. Put away the cheese, dressing, and paste: it's nice to not have to clean that after you eat.
Once the chicken is defrosted and properly marinated, take the pan to the sink and dump the marinade carefully while holding onto the chicken with the turner... or just dump it in a colander, whatever. I'm pretty sure it's impossible to do perfectly, so have a paper towel handy to wipe the pan lip. Return the chicken, sans-marinade, in the skillet on the burner.
Start chopping up the chicken so it's in nice little half-inch bits until it's done through. I like mine just starting to brown on the outside, personally. There's nothing worse than chewy chicken.
Stuff the chicken into the pitas. The sprouts will stuff into the corners, which is why they go in last. Arrange in some pretty way or another. Applesauce is a good side, and root beer goes down very well with it.
 Labels: food, health care, recipie |
| posted by Steve @ 11:56 AM |
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| Sunday, February 17, 2008 |
| Meat the New Me |
For the first time in recent memory, and perhaps ever, I came home with an appreciable amount of groceries (~$70) without any meat.
I've never really had a problem with eating meat in general. It's a bit of a cruel fact that animals eat each other all the time, and in the wild it's not even as nice as a quick blow to the head. I do have more of a problem when the source is completely unidentifiable... and even then I sometimes eat it (Rachel won't), and just with happy thoughts. But if the government, activists and corporations can agree that factory farming is ultimately socially destructive (damaging the environment and risking airborne diseases) and not as profitable as they might seem (due to disease and condition control in tight spaces), the meat industry can move ahead with a relatively clear conscience. And so will a lot of other people, myself included.
Of course, with that clear conscience, they should probably still eat a lot less meat. Americans eat far more meat than is really necessary to stay healthy. I wasn't much different for a long while, and am now cutting back a bit.Labels: food, shopping |
| posted by Steve @ 8:58 PM |
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| Sunday, February 03, 2008 |
| The Good Government |
It used to be the people in power could pretty much sit back, have orgies and collect taxes until the Revolution came, and when it did they were treated to a quick death that sure beat syphilis.
Now, the best they can hope for is a blowjob and some kickbacks (although, the above is still true in parts of the Middle East, former parts of the USSR, and most of Africa).
The biggest reason for that is that in developed countries, the citizenry have raised the bar of expectations to levels a 13th-century serf couldn't have imagined: free education, good roads, and food regulations. More recently, free public health care and welfare programs have upped the ante substantially (to mixed success). The government is suddenly there for the common good! But it's not the easiest thing to get people to do what's good for them in the long term, or as a whole, when they can do stuff that benefits them in the short-term but hurts the group as a whole.
Take those ubiquitous little plastic shopping bags. About two thousand are made per second (42 billion per year), and a lot of them end up in landfills, but an awful lot end up in forests, streams and sewage systems. It's a little problem, on an individual scale, but when anything is multiplied by millions or billions, things get dicey. This is the kind of problem that governments are ideally suited to fix. Ireland has done a nice job in the way that a government knows best: action through taxes. It charged 33 cents per bag sold (a type of 'sin tax') and suddenly everyone uses cloth bags, putting the plastic bags in the category of social ills like not picking up your dog's poo.
This is how governments can do some real good very easily: appeal to the Capitalist system we use to make it profitable or in people's best interest to do the right thing. Obama wants to charge companies and power-plants for every pound of smog produced, and give the income to subsidize the companies that buck up and use more expensive, non-polluting means.Labels: food, government, history, money, Obama, taxes |
| posted by Steve @ 1:56 PM |
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| Sunday, January 06, 2008 |
| The Creative Omnivore |
It has occasionally occurred to me that humans as a species have historically been amazingly creative (and brave) when it comes to eating. We will eat damn near anything that moves - fish, birds, big lumbering beasts, little ones, you name it - and we'll eat pretty much any part of them, too (haggis is proof positive of this). We'll even get milk from them, or use their poo to make better plants.
We'll eat anything that doesn't move, too. It seems like practically every plant that isn't a completely deadly neurotoxin is used as some sort of seasoning or medicine. We'll even use things we can't even *see* like yeast for bread, or all sorts of mold for cheese.
It gets really crazy when you think about the impossible resourcefulness that's involved in even simple stuff - a sandwich has bread made from yeast, a bacteria (I think), wheat, and just the right amount of heat; then there's the meat of course, and cheese made from a cow's milk and fixed in just such a way with bacteria; a bit of oil and vinegar made from nuts and grapes, probably with cilantro and other bits of grasses.
We've lost a bit of that creativity; I'm a capital offender on this. But I still am amazed at how resourceful we are about, well, finding food.Labels: food |
| posted by Steve @ 4:25 PM |
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| Monday, November 26, 2007 |
| Things of note |
A few random thoughts:
Working from home has lots of advantages and disadvantages, but one small advantage is that when you have lots of Mexican food the night before, only you have to worry about the smell.
Sami and Camille spontaneously decided to use our house for a birthday party, and we had some lovely guacamole and salsa and chips and so on.
My gastro-intestinal system isn't happy about it, but it was yummy!Labels: food, random |
| posted by Steve @ 7:26 PM |
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| Sunday, May 07, 2006 |
| Random thought no. 22: I love this team |
I've been a fan of the Suns since I was a kid. I sort of dropped off midway through college, though, and have picked up in the last 3 years.
And I'm happy to say that it seems that when I'm paying attention, they do really well.
Now, I'm pretty ecstatic about their Game 7 Ass-Whoopin' of the Lakers. I admit I would probably have preferred a 4-0 sweep, boy, the Suns are sure aware that they're in Playoff ball. And what a series, too! Anyway.
I just have to keep in mind that, well, it would be pretty miraculous for the Suns to get to the Finals (much less win them). They don't really have a center. At all. They're always playing against people who are like 6" taller than them. It's amazing they've managed to keep their opponents below 200 points, if you ask me. So while my enthusiasm and hopes are not in any way diminished, I have to mentally prepare myself...
So the fever has hit me so bad that ... well ...
So Rachel asks me to make Mac and Cheese for dinner.
And I think, I ought to make some juice, too, because I'm a good little husband. And I decide on grape juice purely on the merits that I made a meal that reflects my Suns' colors.
I ... I think I've lost my mind. But it's all in good fun. Mostly.
 Currently listening:
Music for Our Mother Ocean: Mom 3
By Various Artists
Release date: 17 August, 1999  Labels: basketball, food, obsession, Suns |
| posted by Steve @ 11:58 PM |
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| About Me |
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Name: Steve
Home: Tucson, Arizona, United States
About Me:
See my complete profile
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