Variations on a theme.
Dri - Two are One
Metric - Too Little Too Late
Bright Eyes - Gold Mine Gutted
Death Cab for Cutie - Grapevine Fires
12/28/2008
12/23/2008
The trip to Jalu
One day we had to advance in the teeth of the storm, and I saw how it could destroy a caravan. Of course, one has to keep moving slowly. To stop means to be drowned by the sand. The camels instinctively know this and continue to advance in spite of the tormenting blast..
Sometimes, however, toward sunset, when we had been battling for hours against the seemingly interminable bombardment, the wind would stop dead, as if a master hand had given a signal. For an hour or more the fine sand and dust would settle slowly, like a falling mist. Afterward the moon would rise, and under the pale magic of its flooding light, the desert would assume a new aspect. Had there been a sandstorm? Who could remember? Could this peaceful expanse of loveliness ever be cruel? Who could believe it?...
-- A.M Hassanein Bey, Crossing the Libyan Desert. 1924.
Sometimes, however, toward sunset, when we had been battling for hours against the seemingly interminable bombardment, the wind would stop dead, as if a master hand had given a signal. For an hour or more the fine sand and dust would settle slowly, like a falling mist. Afterward the moon would rise, and under the pale magic of its flooding light, the desert would assume a new aspect. Had there been a sandstorm? Who could remember? Could this peaceful expanse of loveliness ever be cruel? Who could believe it?...
-- A.M Hassanein Bey, Crossing the Libyan Desert. 1924.
12/20/2008
Beef Bourguignon Liveblog II: Electric bugaloo
Hi friends, it is Saturday night and I am in the mood to cook. Last night I had plans and intentions and motivations, but instead I made Kraft Dinner (as they call it in Canada -- but they also call a wool winter hat a touque up there so who knows what's up north of the border I say). Tonight, however, I am in the mood for full-fledged cooking, hello.
So I am making beef bourguingnon, even though it is not snowing here or that cold - there is a promise of a dab of freezing rain in the DC area which means of course that you may as well forget about going out because traffic will be snarled even in your driveway and/or apartment complex parking lot and/or life. So thus, it is time for a little relaxing slow cooking situation with beer and red wine and beef and french influence.
And I will be liveblogging the whole situation! What could be more fascinating? Will someone from Australia be refreshing their screens at work to follow along? (Like isn't it 2pm last Friday there or something? Who knows). Anyway. Oh and FYI, this will take a few hours to cook so if you want a fast dish, this is not it.
ps. If you are meat-squeamish, you will want to fast-forward to someplace else. I will be taking pictures of beef cooking. I know, sorry Bossie.
On with the show. First a pix of the necessary ingredients (and a confession that I am stealing this recipe from Jacques Pepin - I'm kinda doing a little cut/paste here to be honest):
# 2 pounds lean beef chuck
# 1 tablespoon butter
# 2 tablespoons olive oil
# Salt
# Pepper
# 1 cup finely chopped onion
# 1 tablespoon finely chopped garlic
# 1 tablespoon flour
# 1 bottle of red wine
# 2 bay leaves
# 1 sprig fresh thyme
# 15 cipollini or pearl onions
# 15 cremini mushrooms
# 15 baby carrots
# 1/4 cup water
# Dash of sugar
# Chopped fresh parsley
Please note: You will also need several Magic Hat #9 beers and music to assist you otherwise you will fail. I'm sorry.
More to come...
1. Cut the meat into 8 pieces.Preheat the oven to 350°. Melt 1 tablespoon of butter with 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a cast-iron pot that is attractive enough for the table (Ed: My pot is neither attractive enough for the table nor is it cast-iron. I shall, however, call it black because I am a kettle and that's what we do). Arrange the meat in one layer in the pot, and season it with salt and pepper. Cook on top of the stove over high heat for about 8 minutes, browning the meat on all sides.
Looks like this:
2. Add 1 cup of finely chopped onion and 1 tablespoon of finely chopped garlic. Cook over moderate heat for an additional 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add 1 tablespoon of flour. Mix in well so that the flour doesn’t form lumps.
Looks like this:
3. Stir in 3/4 bottle of red wine, 1.5 cups beef broth. Add 2 bay leaves, a sprig of fresh thyme, salt and pepper and bring to a boil. Stir well and cover.
Looks like this:
More to come...
4. Place the pot in the oven and continue to cook for about 1 1/2 hours; the meat should be soft and tender and the liquid properly reduced. At this point, you may want a little snack and another beer while you check your email and the weather channel for the next 1.5 hours.
Looks like this:
More to come..
20 more minutes to go. Did you know that every Magic Hat bottlecap has a little saying underneath it?
Looks like this:
More to come..
5. Combine the onions, mushrooms, carrots in a skillet with 1 tablespoon of olive oil, 1/4 cup of water and a good dash each of sugar, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil and simmer, covered, for about 15 minutes; at this point, there should be practically no water left. Uncover and cook over high heat, sautéing the vegetables until nicely browned on all sides, about 4 minutes.
Looks like this:
More to come..
And because I cannot deny my Midwestern heritage, I am serving this over some egg noodles. Yes this is probably French blaspheme, but life sometimes asks you to improvise a little and my mom was of French Acadian descent in Louisiana (who I did not know were Greatly Expulsed from Canada in 1775! Those bastards!) so I think I should be given special dispensation to blend my culture. I thank you not to oppress my people, Jacques Pepin!
Here is what the finished product looks like - and with that I bid you adieu!
So I am making beef bourguingnon, even though it is not snowing here or that cold - there is a promise of a dab of freezing rain in the DC area which means of course that you may as well forget about going out because traffic will be snarled even in your driveway and/or apartment complex parking lot and/or life. So thus, it is time for a little relaxing slow cooking situation with beer and red wine and beef and french influence.
And I will be liveblogging the whole situation! What could be more fascinating? Will someone from Australia be refreshing their screens at work to follow along? (Like isn't it 2pm last Friday there or something? Who knows). Anyway. Oh and FYI, this will take a few hours to cook so if you want a fast dish, this is not it.
ps. If you are meat-squeamish, you will want to fast-forward to someplace else. I will be taking pictures of beef cooking. I know, sorry Bossie.
On with the show. First a pix of the necessary ingredients (and a confession that I am stealing this recipe from Jacques Pepin - I'm kinda doing a little cut/paste here to be honest):
# 2 pounds lean beef chuck
# 1 tablespoon butter
# 2 tablespoons olive oil
# Salt
# Pepper
# 1 cup finely chopped onion
# 1 tablespoon finely chopped garlic
# 1 tablespoon flour
# 1 bottle of red wine
# 2 bay leaves
# 1 sprig fresh thyme
# 15 cipollini or pearl onions
# 15 cremini mushrooms
# 15 baby carrots
# 1/4 cup water
# Dash of sugar
# Chopped fresh parsley
Please note: You will also need several Magic Hat #9 beers and music to assist you otherwise you will fail. I'm sorry.
More to come...
1. Cut the meat into 8 pieces.Preheat the oven to 350°. Melt 1 tablespoon of butter with 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a cast-iron pot that is attractive enough for the table (Ed: My pot is neither attractive enough for the table nor is it cast-iron. I shall, however, call it black because I am a kettle and that's what we do). Arrange the meat in one layer in the pot, and season it with salt and pepper. Cook on top of the stove over high heat for about 8 minutes, browning the meat on all sides.
Looks like this:
2. Add 1 cup of finely chopped onion and 1 tablespoon of finely chopped garlic. Cook over moderate heat for an additional 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add 1 tablespoon of flour. Mix in well so that the flour doesn’t form lumps.
Looks like this:
3. Stir in 3/4 bottle of red wine, 1.5 cups beef broth. Add 2 bay leaves, a sprig of fresh thyme, salt and pepper and bring to a boil. Stir well and cover.
Looks like this:
More to come...
4. Place the pot in the oven and continue to cook for about 1 1/2 hours; the meat should be soft and tender and the liquid properly reduced. At this point, you may want a little snack and another beer while you check your email and the weather channel for the next 1.5 hours.
Looks like this:
More to come..
20 more minutes to go. Did you know that every Magic Hat bottlecap has a little saying underneath it?
Looks like this:
More to come..
5. Combine the onions, mushrooms, carrots in a skillet with 1 tablespoon of olive oil, 1/4 cup of water and a good dash each of sugar, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil and simmer, covered, for about 15 minutes; at this point, there should be practically no water left. Uncover and cook over high heat, sautéing the vegetables until nicely browned on all sides, about 4 minutes.
Looks like this:
More to come..
And because I cannot deny my Midwestern heritage, I am serving this over some egg noodles. Yes this is probably French blaspheme, but life sometimes asks you to improvise a little and my mom was of French Acadian descent in Louisiana (who I did not know were Greatly Expulsed from Canada in 1775! Those bastards!) so I think I should be given special dispensation to blend my culture. I thank you not to oppress my people, Jacques Pepin!
Here is what the finished product looks like - and with that I bid you adieu!
12/14/2008
Traveling again
In an attempt to change my brain chemistry from negative to positive, I am going to join millions of others today and go look for an Xmas tree with/for The Agent and do a little Xmas shopping. Retail therapy: Just as expensive as real therapy but with less talk/more walk.
I am heading out tomorrow for my final work trip of the year to the great state of Missouri. I enjoyed my last visit there I must say and as you know, I hold no grudges against this red state. For those of you counting at home, I have traveled for work 15 different times this year at an average of 3 days per trip which means that I have spent at least 1.5 months or 45 days away from DC this year. See how I reframed this from something negative (all that travel) into something positive (time spent out of the city)? Baby steps, baby steps.
What's funny about traveling and/or my life is that for the past 15 years or so, I always feel like I am living this Dar Williams song over and over again (click here to download):
I think it started with driving, more speed, more deals, more sky, more wheels
More things to leave behind, now it's all in a day for the modern mind
And I am traveling again
Calling this a ghost town, and where is the heartland?
And I'm afraid, oh, was there any good reason, that I had to go
When all I know is I can never come back.
I suppose it's better than living February again and again. So there's that.
See how this reframing thing works? Strength-based positive outlook, here I come!
I am heading out tomorrow for my final work trip of the year to the great state of Missouri. I enjoyed my last visit there I must say and as you know, I hold no grudges against this red state. For those of you counting at home, I have traveled for work 15 different times this year at an average of 3 days per trip which means that I have spent at least 1.5 months or 45 days away from DC this year. See how I reframed this from something negative (all that travel) into something positive (time spent out of the city)? Baby steps, baby steps.
What's funny about traveling and/or my life is that for the past 15 years or so, I always feel like I am living this Dar Williams song over and over again (click here to download):
I think it started with driving, more speed, more deals, more sky, more wheels
More things to leave behind, now it's all in a day for the modern mind
And I am traveling again
Calling this a ghost town, and where is the heartland?
And I'm afraid, oh, was there any good reason, that I had to go
When all I know is I can never come back.
I suppose it's better than living February again and again. So there's that.
See how this reframing thing works? Strength-based positive outlook, here I come!
12/08/2008
Nothing good ever lasts
A friend of mine, from back in my favorite state, lost her dad today, a bear of a guy who I liked a great deal even though he was a prickly old pear. A farmer who collected old tractors and voted Republican, he was nonetheless a decent man who told a dirty joke or three and appreciated the meatball recipe I would bring to Thanksgiving.
So tonight I am going through four flashdrives, one harddrive, and one old laptop attempting to recover a ton of pictures I took between 04-07 that I have either misplaced or deleted accidentally because I have a touch of the WTF. I'm 73% of the way through a Search and Recover4(tm) on an old desktop harddrive. I kinda need to find those pictures of him to send to her because I know that when you lose someone, a picture becomes a precious thing.
I've been reading this book of collected travel writings from old timey National Geographics, like back in the 20s and 30s when people went places on camel and steamer ships and it wasn't easy to get here or there. I've always been a fan of history, other peoples', yours, mine. Perhaps it's romanticizing something that, at the time, probably felt as unglamorous as the here and now. Heck, I even look back misty eyed on 2006, but I can't say I thought it was all that/bag of chips when I was living it.
Memory is funny, especially these days with digital. Half the time I'm like, did it ever really happen if I don't have a picture of it; other half I don't need a picture to remember anything, it's all imprinted in there deep.
Me being nostalgic me, I drove through my old town over Thanksgiving, just to check things out, see what's changed. And of course to take pictures, to remember. Even though every inch is pretty much etched in my head forever.
Main street in my old town:
My old house:
What I remember most:
So tonight I am going through four flashdrives, one harddrive, and one old laptop attempting to recover a ton of pictures I took between 04-07 that I have either misplaced or deleted accidentally because I have a touch of the WTF. I'm 73% of the way through a Search and Recover4(tm) on an old desktop harddrive. I kinda need to find those pictures of him to send to her because I know that when you lose someone, a picture becomes a precious thing.
I've been reading this book of collected travel writings from old timey National Geographics, like back in the 20s and 30s when people went places on camel and steamer ships and it wasn't easy to get here or there. I've always been a fan of history, other peoples', yours, mine. Perhaps it's romanticizing something that, at the time, probably felt as unglamorous as the here and now. Heck, I even look back misty eyed on 2006, but I can't say I thought it was all that/bag of chips when I was living it.
Memory is funny, especially these days with digital. Half the time I'm like, did it ever really happen if I don't have a picture of it; other half I don't need a picture to remember anything, it's all imprinted in there deep.
Me being nostalgic me, I drove through my old town over Thanksgiving, just to check things out, see what's changed. And of course to take pictures, to remember. Even though every inch is pretty much etched in my head forever.
Main street in my old town:
My old house:
What I remember most:
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