Category: minutiae

I think my job is going to be ever so keen. The people are awesome, the product is very beneficial, and I’ve got access to all the Diet Coke I want. Yay!

We are continuing in the fun horror genre this week. Tomorrow night, I’m going with Rob, Ryan, and hopefully Jeremy (pesterpester) to the midnight showing of Evil Dead II. So, a few years back, Jeremy was at a special screening of Army of Darkness in a theater with a balcony. Oh, yeah, and Bruce Campbell was there, too. I think Jer was sitting at the front of the balcony area, and at some point in the movie, he yelled out, “Get that man an Oscar!” To which the reply from below was, “I can see you!” And it was Ash himself. That’s so cool. And I think I told that story in the worst way possible. Whatever, good story, Sarah.

I need to cook tomorrow or something.

And now I do have a job! How excellent. I start… tomorrow. Kind of sudden, I know. Their current receptionist’s last day is tomorrow, and they want her to give me some training before she leaves. It’s a temp-to-hire position, so we’ll see if I get a formal offer three or four months from now.

Now that I have a job, it’s time to start pruning my Tivo season passes. A lot of things are going to go to “first run only.” Goodbye, Good Eats reruns! I think I’ll miss you most. Well, you, Deep Space Nine, and Farscape.

So, there was this race, and it was pretty darn amazing. I really enjoyed watching The Amazing Race these past months, and I highly recommend it to you all when it comes back at midseason (or whenever).

D&D last night was fascinating, even though I didn’t get to beat on anything at all. We had the problem of our company being stuck 100 feet below the battle. Heh, “battle.” It was our cleric, Joanna, against four mindflayers and a construct. If any of us had actually made it up there, we would have gotten stunned and had our brains sucked out very quickly indeed. (I tried to go up, but the rope was cut, and I fell. Again. But only forty feet or so.) Joanna’s got a killer Will Save, so she was able to shrug all the stunnings off. Well, all except one. The only way she failed was to roll a one on a d20. Thankfully, we were able to get our wizard invisibled and up there to teleport her back out.

I know I have no qualifications to give out any music advice to people, except maybe about which recording of Shostakovich’s Sixth Symphony is the best. (Conclusion? Save your money. I haven’t found a great recording yet. Almost every recording plays the second and third movement too fast. Or the piccolo uses far too much vibrato. Or the xylophone isn’t loud enough in the second movement. Or… I could go on.)

Anyway, after a long hiatus (seriously- ten years or so), I’ve started listening to the radio again. I turned it on in my car a few months ago when I was bored of my CDs. The first song I heard was from a group called Franz Ferdinand. I cracked up when I heard the band name. I don’t know if anyone else besides my family remembers this, but on a old episode of Saturday Night Live (Roseanne hosted, I believe), there was a sketch called “Comedy Killers,” or something along those lines. It was a Jeopardy-like game show, where the questions dealt with topics that are never, ever funny (I think Kevin Nealon played the host). The final question was, “What is the Ultimate Comedy Killer?” I can’t remember all the answers the constestants gave, but Roseanne’s was about making fun of the American flag. However, everyone was wrong. Why? Because the Ultimate Comedy Killer is the Archduke Franz Ferdinand (cut to a very solemn sepia-toned picture). Mom, Jon, and I laughed so very hard. It must have been something in the execution, because no one we ever told about it thought it was funny. But I guess that makes sense, Ultimate Comedy Killer and all.

Anyway, I’m listening to the Franz Ferdinand on the radio (yeah, it was “Take Me Out”), and they’re getting a crapload of airtime. Not that it’s a bad thing, I like the songs. I remember telling Jon that the stations seemed to play their music a lot, and that, “It’s fun music, but I imagine it’d be pretty difficult to arrange for an a cappella group.” (For those of you who don’t know, Jon’s an a cappella arranger and a damn good vocal percussionist. He got me into the genre when I was in high school, prompting many people to smack me when I said, “I’ve got a really great a cappella arrangement of that!” Because I didn’t listen to the radio, you see [the reception sucked where we lived], and so it happened a lot that the first time I would hear a song would be in an a cappella arrangement. And sometimes, when I heard the real version of a song, it would be disappointing [I’m looking at you, Evanescence].)

So I issue a challenge to the a cappella arrangers out there. I’d like to hear if “Take Me Out” can be done well.

This ended up a lot longer than I was planning.

Mm, leftover pizza. The family got together and went out last night to celebrate Dad and Ryan’s birthdays. And Jon and Ryan’s anniversary. And… my half-birthday, why not. We brought the ricotta-lemon cake and raspberry coulis to the restaurant, and they were very cool about us serving ourselves and eating not their food. I wasn’t expecting their coolness.

I’m on my lunch break at this week’s temp job. Woo. I’ve got another interview tomorrow, so yay also to that. Having money is a goodness.

The review for Shaun of the Dead is up at They’re Coming to Get You, Barbara! It got five severed thumbs, an honor reserved for the cream of the crop like Dead Alive and Killer Klowns from Outer Space. (Those are they only ones I might actually watch, since I’m still a big scaredy-cat when it comes to actually really scary horror films like Cube or Night of the Living Dead. Although come to think of it, Killer Klowns might scare me more. Because, really, they’re not just Clowns, which are by themselves scary, they’re Klowns, which is much scarier. And not only that, but Klowns that Kill. [I think it’s time for a “But I digress.” And… GO!] But I digress.)

Actually, I don’t think I had anything else to write about. I don’t know how much I’m going to be cooking this week- I always find that I cook less when I’m working. It’s probably because of the time needed to relax at home and clean off the Tivo.

I wonder if we’re playing D&D this week.

Oh, wow. If you didn’t catch Semi-Homemade this morning, watch one of the reruns during the week. I don’t think I’ve ever seen one of Sandra Lee’s shows that made me more angry. She humiliated food. It was just amazing. Worst. Episode. EVER.

I made chocolate chip cookies again yesterday. They didn’t turn out well. I blame Jon. After tasting The Thin on Tuesday, he said, “I think if you make these again, you might try reducing the sugar. They’re a little sweet.” I should know better than to listen to my brother about baking issues. The recipe called for one cup of white sugar and half a cup of brown. I reduced these by a quarter (3/4 cup of white and 3/8 of brown). Wow, did that change things. Instead of getting fairly flat, thin and crispy cookies, I got puffy, bready cookies that were not as good. So, I’m going back to the original recipe because changing it sucked. I gave the cookies to Jon. They’re not quite as bad frozen.

I found frozen porcini and chantarelle mushrooms at Trader Joe’s. They were eight dollars a pound, which seemed pretty reasonable to me, so I bought them for Jon. (I was also worried that they might be gone by the next time I went shopping.) I told him he had to tell me when he was making something with them so I could come over.

Last night, I went to see Shaun of the Dead with Rob, Jeremy, and Ryan. Oh, was that fun! We laughed a lot. I think people in the audience must have missed the “Ash” joke, because it sounded like only Ryan and I cracked up at it. And everyone should laugh at an Evil Dead reference. Only communists don’t laugh at an Evil Dead joke.

I made the lemon-ricotta cake again today. I stopped the mixer at medium peaks and beat them by hand the rest of the way. That worked much better. No overbeating! So, yes, it rose higher. Ryan’s going to make the raspberry coulis tomorrow.

We (Jon, Ryan, and I) had chicken for dinner. I tried a little something different. Instead of spreading an herb butter under the skin, I adapted a recipe from Food and Wine that used bacon as the fat. It was good, but butter’s better. I need to post that recipe- it’s the one from a month or two ago that I never finished retyping. I started feeling queasy after dinner, and I was worried that I had screwed up the chicken, but Jon and Ryan were fine. It turned out that I was getting motion sickness from watching Jon play Vice City. So lame!

I think that’s all.

Well, this week has gone down the tubes. I got in an accident yesterday. Everyone involved is fine, our cars are banged up, and I am supremely annoyed with and fairly disappointed in myself.

The week may not end sucking, though. After a long dry spell, I’ve got an interview for an administrative assistant position tomorrow. Woo!

The new Semi-Homemade recipes usually go up on Thursday. This weekend’s show will be a treat. It’s supposed to be Italian food. So, Sandra Lee’s making a Viennese cake. Because, you see, from Venice, right? Oh, you stupid, stupid woman. The thread over at Television Without Pity has speculated that the recipes aren’t up yet because people review them poorly before the show has aired. And maybe that’s unfair, but you know what? It’s totally fair.

Well, two more points for Alton! Both of his recipes I tried today were very good- “The Thin” chocolate chip cookies and braciole. The only quibble I had with the cookies was that the yield was off and that they were done cooking in eight minutes, tops, not the thirteen minutes as stated by the recipe. If I had them in for that long, they would have been burnt beyond recognition. Jon and I ate a few, but there should be plenty for D&D tomorrow. They’re not the most attractive cookies, I have to say, but they’re very yummy.

Oh, the braciole was good. And such a presentation! It’s a very pretty dish. (I should have taken a picture.) And, really, not very hard, although pounding out the flank steak was a bit of a pain. I don’t think I got it thin enough, but it still worked. I need to learn how to truss, though. The way I bound the cylinder of steak was kind of a joke.

I was really quite pleased with the tomato sauce I used for the braciole. I did not make the recommended sauce, which was the horrible, horrible sauce from Pantry Raid II: Seeing Red. I just don’t have enough hatred for that tomato sauce. Anyway. I used the reduced liquid from two cans of the Muir Glen Fire-Roasted Tomatoes (mixed with a wee bit of adobo sauce). You can’t buy that. I guess the substitute would be just a can of good-quality tomato sauce mixed with some sun-dried tomato paste and some adobo sauce. I’ll post a quasi-recipe later.

Celebrity nearness! The Graham Norton Effect has been asking Leigh to make cakes for their guests. They wanted a werewolf cake for Seth Green, but they asked the week of the show and there wasn’t enough time to design and get it from Colorado to New York. They then asked (far enough in advance) if she’d make one for Cyndi Lauper. So Leigh made a bust of Ms. Lauper that has hair that lights up like a Tiffany lamp. Out of cake. Seriously, the woman’s an artist. It should be on this Thursday’s show (it got a little damaged in transit, but hopefully not too badly). So set your Tivos and VCRs!

Rob was feeling badly this weekend. He thought he had strep (he doesn’t, thankfully), so I made him some Jewish penicillin on Saturday. It turned out okay. There were too many noodles and not enough broth. I had four cups of homemade stock and four cups of broth, but I only ended up using two cups of the broth because I realized that I wasn’t using low-sodium broth. I kept having to add water to the soup because as it simmered, it got incredibly salty. Anyway, I changed some of the quantities in the recipe so it would hopefully turn out a little more balanced.

I’ll finish this later. I’m monopolizing Ryan’s computer.

Okay, then. On Sunday, Lydia and I trekked over to San Francisco for the Japantown Anime Faire. I must say, kind of a bust. I think we would have had as much fun had we just gone for no reason. We ate, we bought silly things at the $1 store, we talked about anime. We ran into a guy I remembered from Fanime in 1999, which was weird. I feel that since then, I’ve grown as a person. He was still kind of freaky. Lydia tried to get me to dress up, but… it’s not really my thing. She looked all sorts of cute, though. She was dressed as Aryll from The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker.

Happy birthday, Dad!

Chicken Noodle Soup

8 oz boneless skinless chicken breasts (2-3)

1/2 onion, chopped

1 celery stalk, chopped

1 carrot, chopped

4 oz egg noodles, medium width

6-8 cups chicken stock, broth, or a combination of the two (if canned, preferably low-sodium)

¼ tsp marjoram

¼ tsp poultry seasoning

¼ tsp black pepper

1 bay leaf

1 tsp lemon juice

2 Tbsp fresh parsley, finely chopped

Salt and pepper

1 Tbsp canola oil or chicken fat

In a large pot, heat the oil/fat over medium-high heat. Add the chicken breats to the pot and cook on each side for 4-5 minutes. Remove from pan and cube. Add the onion, celery, and carrot to the pot and cook in the remaining fat until softened. (If necessary, add a bit more oil to the pan.) When softened, add the stock/broth, marjoram, poultry seasoning, and bay leaf. Simmer for 15 minutes. Taste and adjust seasoning (if you used canned broth, you may find it necessary to add more water). Add the chicken back to the bot and simmer for another 15 minutes. Add noodles and cook for 10 more minutes, or until the noodles are cooked. Remove bay leaf, add parsley and lemon juice, taste again for seasoning, and serve.

Sesame Noodles with Shredded Chicken

3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (approximately 1 1/2 pounds)

1 lb fresh Chinese egg noodles

1 Tbsp salt

2 Tbsp sesame oil

4 green onions, sliced thinly on diagonal

1 medium carrot, peeled and grated on large holes of box grater (about 2/3 cup)

1 Tbsp sesame seeds, toasted

Peanut-Sesame Sauce, or 1/4 cup prepared peanut sauce thinned with 2-4 Tbsp water (heavy cream consistency)

Adjust an oven rack to 6 inches from the broiler element and heat the broiler. Spray the broiler pan top with vegetable cooking spray; place the chicken breasts on top and broil the chicken until lightly browned, 4 to 8 minutes. Using tongs, flip the chicken over and continue to broil until the thickest part is no longer pink when cut into and registers about 160 degrees on an instant-read thermometer, 6 to 8 minutes. Transfer to a cutting board and let rest 5 minutes. Using 2 forks, shred the chicken into bite-size pieces and set aside.

Bring 6 quarts water to a boil in a stockpot over high heat. Add the salt and noodles to the boiling water; boil the noodles until tender, about 4 minutes for fresh. Drain, then rinse with cold running tap water until cool to the touch, and drain again. In a large bowl, toss the noodles with the sesame oil until evenly coated. Add the shredded chicken, scallions, carrot, and sauce. Toss to combine. Divide among individual bowls, sprinkle each bowl with a portion of sesame seeds, and serve.