Category: minutiae

Sure, it’s a bit “too long; didn’t read,” but this blog post is fascinating (well, for small, Sarah-like amounts of fascinating). Last week in the East Coast food blogging community (not going to use the word blogosphere), there was apparently quite a to-do about a chef serving a blogger with a cease and desist because he took pictures of her food. This is his wife’s account of what happened. There’s also a thread on eGullet about the whole thing here.

I think the only time I’ve taken pictures in a restaurant was in a restaurant in Florence called Gustavino. The food was too damn pretty not to do so!

Well, that was utterly vile. That ginger drink thing did not work AT ALL. Ew.

I made baguettes… not really. I made my normal bread recipe, then shaped it into two long skinny loaves because I wanted to use my new pan. They turned out very tasty, but totally not baguette-ish. So I went to the library and picked up Baking Illustrated and Crumb & Crust to check out their techniques, information, and recipes. Sadly, they didn’t have Artisan Baking. J and Barbara May have that book. It’s really good.

Friday night- went out to dinner at Bangkok Bay with J, Barbara May, and Barbara Jo. Kind of disappointed by their duck special, but the tilapia special was mind-blowing. The eggplant, panang beef, and lemon mushroom soup were fantastic as always.

Saturday night – went out to dinner at Clarke’s with Jer and Cass. Had a tasty burger. Then we all went to see Match Point with Liz. Scarlett Johansson’s hair is fabulous in that movie and I want it. I think I maybe could pull it off. Maybe. Then I hung out with R☆ and Jer and we watched the first five episodes of Gunslinger Girl. Not really my kind of show.

Sunday night – Zack and Lydia came over, and we went out to Left Bank. Fondue? Excellent. Mussels? Tasty. Bisque? Disappointing! We should know better than to try new things there. If we go there again, it’s fondue-mussels-frites-STOP. Also, I think I ate a bad mussel or something, because I was prodigiously sick in their bathroom while we were waiting for our check. That was unpleasant. Then we went to Ikea and bought some stuff (and got hot dogs and frozen yogurt).

Tuesday was the annual Gingerbreadfest. It was a smaller affair this year, which was perfectly fine. I actually finished my house, which I didn’t do last year. Pictures should be forthcoming. I’ve already had to pitch it because of some bug issues and the fact that it was falling apart (Twizzlers aren’t very fond of verticality).

Tonight is Barbara May’s baby shower. I’m working on a couple of new hors d’oeuvres recipes for it. I hope they turn out well.

Happy holidays, y’all.

I’m at the parents’ house, preparing for the festivities. Jon and Barbara May and her family (John, Rose, and Barbara Jo) are all coming over tonight for Christmas Eve fun-ness.

I went out to Best Buy and the mall this morning to pick up some last-minute gifts. I thought someone already had something that I was getting the rest of as a present, but it turns out they didn’t, so I needed to go get it. Also, I decided to upgrade one of my mom’s presents from something amusing to something amusing that she would connect to more. Yeah, along those lines. The crowds weren’t terrible (of course, I did go at 8:30am) and the freeways were empty.

I made a pasta dish last night that was pretty okay. Penne with bacon and arugula. It ended up being super-vinegary, though, by no fault of my own. Or my mom’s, really. She was making marinated artichoke hearts, and even though she washed and dried the pot she used, some vinegar somehow remained in there. It was ultra-tart. The arugula was mega-tasty, as was the bacon (Nieman Ranch applewood smoked).

I still have presents to wrap and clue! Argh!

I got a wonderful Christmas present at work. As you might have heard via my relentless bitchings about it, I have a crappy computer at work. It was as old (possibly older) as the computer I got when I went to college. 1998. That is a long friggin’ lifespan for a computer. It HATED me. “You want me to run Eudora, Firefox, IE, Filemaker, Excel, AIM, Acrobat, and Word all in one session? Bitch, please.” Slower than molasses, this computer was. But thanks to my wonderful boss, I got a new computer yesterday! I was just hoping for a less-old one, but this thing is brand new. It’s nice. And QUIET. It’s kind of freaky.

I need to clean my house. It’s a mess. Presents and wrapping paper and crap everywhere. I need to get everything in order so that I can mess it up with new stuff next week.

I love this quote from the San Francisco Chronicle (full article here):

Indeed, there are those who also say that all Jewish holidays, with the exception being the solemn days of fasting, consist of the following basic narration: “A cruel ruler came into power, he tried to destroy and annihilate us, our people held their faith and overcame the foes, triumphing in the face of destruction! Now let’s eat!”

I have been eating with my family a lot recently, and they have been feeding me well. Last Thursday I had dinner with my parents- meat loaf, tater tots, and brussel sprouts. I love brussel sprouts. They’re so good! On Saturday, I ate with J and Barbara May. J had just made a huge vat of sauce. Tonight I went back over to the parents’ house, and we had steak and twice-baked potatoes. Yum! I adore twice-baked potatoes. Also, in a search of my website, I don’t think I’ve actually written down the recipe for them. Mini baked potatoes, yes. But not the full-sized ones (not that it’s all that different). Huzzah! I’ll have a recipe this week even if I don’t make anything new!

I bought some Yamamotoyama tea today. I remember Lydia brewing me up some and it being very good. I hope this is the same stuff. Genmai-cha brown rice tea.

I’ve been talking with my parents about Christmas Eve happenings. Although Hannukah doesn’t officially start until the 26th (ETA: I’m wrong, the first night is Christmas night), we’re going to combine it with our Christmas Eve traditions. In our household, we make hors d’oeuvres- lots of them. Dad is bringing the Hannukah spirit into things by planning to make fried foods- carciofi alla judea and calamari fritti. Oil = Hannukah. Maybe we’ll make latkes, too. I saw a recipe for honey-drizzled chocolate cheese fritters that I’m interested in. The accompanying article said they’d be good for Hannukah (because of the oil) or Rosh Hashanah (because of the honey).

My parents went to Boulevard in San Francisco with some friends a week and a half ago. Read my mom’s review here. Boulevard also has a new cookbook out; it sounded pretty intriguing at least from an aesthetic standpoint.

Also, while you’re over at her blog, check out the personal attacks and wanking done by a few of her commenters (Devereaux and the mouse). Fun stuff. Jeez. Glad I don’t get crap like that. Of course, is anyone going to disagree that vehemently with me about cookware or foodstuffs? Probably not. I did try with my post on foie gras a while ago, but no one took that bait.

I need to make something new! I was thinking about making a zabaglione with strawberries for dessert tonight, but then Mom said I didn’t have to bring anything. And then I remembered that I had already basically written that recipe in the tiramisu recipe. I still brought cookies, though.

Also, I have started playing the oboe a little bit again. I didn’t suck all that badly, which was amazing (only lasted half an hour before my lip gave out, though). But what was really amazing was that my reeds still worked. I mean, damn. Those things are three years old.

My week in food has been pretty unexciting. I bought some hot dogs yesterday and combined them with my extra tube of crescent rolls. I was chowing down on pigs in a blanket for dinner. That was some trashy/wonderful noshing.

This weekend, I’m going to be making lasagna, which I see I have not written about yet. But since what I do is bascially follow the directions on the back of the Ronzoni no-cook noodles box, it’s not terribly exciting. I will be making my own sauce instead of using a jar, though. I actually don’t think I’ve ever done that before for a lasagna.

Oh, and some kind of dessert (we’re having a dinner for my mom’s birthday on Sunday). I was going to make tiramisu again, but for some reason, I cannot find ladyfingers in the grocery stores. It’s quite annoying.

I need to do laundry tonight. I’m going through socks a lot faster now that I wear two pairs during the day and one at night. My feet get cold.

Woohoo, par-teeeee tomorrow night. It’s time once again for Bud and Eddie’s Holiday Hoo-hah, which is one of my favorite events of the year. Great food, strong drinks, and interesting people. Yay!

Alert! The world’s best egg/omelette/crepe/crab cakes/potato pancakes pan is on sale at Amazon today! Even cheaper than it usually is- $17.99! I adore this pan, so does R☆, so do J and Barbara May, so do Barbara May’s parents, so do Barbara May’s mom’s coworkers. Come, join our cult of this pan.

I wouldn’t have thought a rant about stapling could inspire such debate. It’s interesting. I was taking notice of how I staple yesterday- I’m a diagonal stapler.