Breakfast Cake (Chow)

Since my parents are visiting, NDM made a raspberry cream cheese coffee cake this morning. This recipe is floating around on the web, so it won't go up on the Kitchenarium, but here are some photos to show how yummy it is.

Cuddly Mag (Pets)

Mag has just recently begun to be a little bit cuddly, shown here sleeping with her stuffed NDM. She still isn't a malleable pillow like 'Dolon, but it is nice that she is exhibiting more and more normal puppy behavior.

She also has emerald laser eyes of death.

Miscellaneous Cooking (Chow)

I've done a particularly poor job of documenting our last week or so of cooking...
Recently, I've been using a family heirloom pressure cooker my parents passed on to me. Does anyone else have one of these things? I love it! It is so incredibly fast and easy to use. Broccoli (2 minutes tops) and cabbage (6 or 7 minutes) have been my victims so far; when I successfully branch out into something other than plain vegetables I'll write it up.
NDM took the serviceberries we harvested and froze in June and made both jam and jelly out of them. Very yummy, although I've got to say they lack any special unique character -- like a sweet generic berry preserve.
Finally, I had a few eggplants and some big green tomatoes from our garden, and just a tiny bit of leftover polpette di ricotta and sauce. I tried an extremely sleazy and fast baking method with these, one that I won't use again -- the outcome was edible but not notable. In brief, put a very thin layer of light mayonnaise on the quarter-inch rounds, then sprinkled with a 50-50 mixture of parmesan and bread crumbs and baked at 375 degrees until they were done. The tomato came out better than the eggplant, which had a rubbery skin I should have removed before cooking.

Molpe 2007 Kill #10 (Pets)

Looks like shrews are really the only thing on Molpe's table this year. As long as she keeps leaving them for us outside, I'm on board. Mag got really excited about this one; I hope she doesn't start stealing them and rolling in them like some dogs I know.

'Dolon At Rest (Pets)

It is easy for me to forget that 'Dolon doesn't really spend all his time biting, jumping, barking, tugging, or wookieing on or at me. Here is 'Dolon in a more peaceful moment, posing for Delacroix's 1824 study for Odalisque Reclining on a Divan.

Dog Refurbishes Laptop

This brings whole new realms of meaning to the term "bad dog". Thankfully, my puppies haven't done anything this spectacular in a while.

If you ever wondered how many hits the "dog pees on laptop" search would get...

:-P (Reblog)

The Internet sure is full of misinformation. MSNBC misreports that Carnegie Mellon University professor Scott E. Fahlman invented the electronic smiley :-) 25 years ago. Emoticons much more sophisticated than that, but including good ol' :-), were in use on the PLATO system in the '70's. With a monospaced non-ASCII character set that let you backspace and overtype, PLATO users were armed with a vast array of complex smileys.

The Register corrects MSNBC's report. Some PLATO samples are here.

Mmm, Bacon (Reblog)

Vosges has a chocolate bar that should be named after Homer J. Simpson: the Bacon Exotic Candy Bar.

Unfortunately, they are out of stock.

The Bastard Fairies (NSFW Reblog)

I'm not sure how enamored I am by their music...it is tolerable, but has yet to really grab me...but I'm taken by Robin Davey and Yellow Thunder Woman (her real name), who together are The Bastard Fairies. All three of the preceding links may have slightly NSFW chunks. They have an attitude towards pop music I can really get behind, and are giving away their album, Memento Mori, for free on their web site; give it a listen if you are so inclined. Videos for some of their songs are on their MySpace page as well as all over YouTube.

Here is a comment from Yellow Thunder Woman about today's pop music scene (NSFW if read aloud): "There is nothing more I hate than that fucking angsty music about how some whore broke your heart or how the world has been extra harsh to you. I fucking hate that skater boy music, Average Latrine can kiss my ass. Suburban neophytes trying to claim they had a hard life because why? Mummy and daddy had too much money, or your education was too good for your retarded brain, or your healthcare policy meant that you only got a private room with a TV for 2/3rds of your hospital stay when big brother accidentally broke your stupid leg with his motorized scooter. Fuck, no wonder these dumbasses are so desperately trying to sound like someone else, because if they sounded like themselves it would just be one continuous whine." This thought is further mined from its profanity-laced vein in their blog.

More and more neophyte pop bands seem to be adopting similar attitudes. I hope this doesn't relegate them to being such marginal commercial concerns that they can't keep making music. As someone who won't give money to the RIAA, such bands are a significant chunk of my pool of available potential new tunes.

Buddha's Fingers (Chow)

We watched an Iron Chef America episode tonight which featured a citrus battle. One of the fruits provided was Buddha's fingers, which I'd never heard of before. This is one awesome-looking fruit! Thinking of buying a houseplant so we can try some ourselves...

In passing, Iron Chef America is certainly several steps down from the awesome original Iron Chef program. Leaving apart their laughable selection of Cat Cora as an iron chef, here are some of their biggest missteps in translating the show for an American audience.

• Eliminating the significant back story at the start of each episode, which provides context for either the challenger, ingredient, or theme. This setup helped lend an epic sensibility to the conflict.
• Not having the challenger call out the Iron Chef of their choice. (This mistake was remedied after the initial Iron Chef America episodes.)
• Minimizing the actual conflict in the battle. In Iron Chef, there was often both conflict between the chefs and conflict with the unexpected and difficult secret ingredient.
  
• Forgetting that the most significant aspect of the conflict should be the chef's articulation of the secret ingredient.
• Not choosing challenging secret ingredients!
  
• Using horrible, horrible, horrible judges who are not competent to talk about food or are just plain distasteful.
• Melodrama, melodrama, melodrama! The melodrama of the original show made it great!

At least they got Alton Brown to announce the show. But, alas, they match him with the execrable Kevin Brauch.

630-310-8665 Disconnected

We ditched our Vonage service today. It hasn't been working for a while anyway, since the last firmware update Vonage pushed to their router -- everything has just been forwarded to my cell. That's worked out tolerably for us, so now we're just down to cell phones.

Getting the service disconnected was of course a trial. Ria, the manager I was talking to, put as many barriers in my way as possible...but I finally wore her down with my charm and rugged good looks. I really feel for the poor retention reps.

The Greenening

Our house's façade is inching its way towards full ivy coverage. I think there is some Virginia creeper in there, too. Our garage's corner is clearly the best environment for the stuff, but I've also had to peel a few runners back from our second story windows. This is three seasons of growth here, so I'm predicting severe window distress in two more years.

I'm not sure why the wife is so excited about ivy. If this stuff was all climbing roses I'd be more into it. (We did have some climbing roses but this spring's weather did them in.)

The Adventures Of Mr. Fly (Reblog)

At the risk of encouraging my wife to want more macro gear... Nicholas Hendrickx has made an interesting macro photo essay starring (some live, some dead) flies.

My Wife The Pioneer

There's been some press coverage of NDM's uterine fibroid embolization of the gorilla Beta this past Tuesday at Brookfield. The Wall Street Journal, Chicago Suburban News, and CBS 2 Chicago have online stories. NDM is in some of the CBS video; she avoided her traditional funny quotes (à la some of the Bubba coverage at Shedd), but wasn't very well lit. She was also interviewed by WBBM-AM.

Free Your Inner Pirate

Arrr, it be International Talk Like A Pirate Day, savvy?

Steeleye Span (Recommendation)

At dinner tonight, SAM reminded me that I had promised him a little more information about the best bits of Steeleye Span after I played some of their stuff during his last visit. Steeleye Span is a British folk-rock group whose best incarnations were built around the talented voice of Maddy Prior, the better fated version of Sandy Denny.

My recommended discography subset, in descending order of importance:

• Please to See the King, for its glorious entirety, although the bonus tracks on the various CD versions are not that glorious.
• Hark! The Village Wait, mostly for" A Calling-on Song", "Blackleg Miner", "Dark-Eyed Sailor", and "Twa Corbies". Along with "Leatherwing Bat", "Twa Corbies" is a traditional song I obsessively collect versions of...
• Parcel of Rogues, for "One Misty Moisty Morning", "Alison Gross", "Robbery with Violins", "Rogues in a Nation", "Cam Ye O'er Frae France", and "Hares on The Mountain".
• All Around My Hat, perhaps their most successful release, for "Black Jack Davy", "Hard Times of Old England", "The Wife of Usher's Well", "All Around My Hat", and "Bachelors Hall".
  
• Commoner's Crown, for "Little Sir Hugh", "Long Lankin", "Demon Lover", and "Elf Call".
  
• Below the Salt, for "Gaudete", "John Barleycorn", and "Saucy Sailor".

This covers most of what I consider their must-have songs. Only a few really great numbers escape, like "Fighting for Strangers" (from Rocket Cottage) or "Seven Hundred Elves" (from Now We Are Six). A good compilation like Original Masters hits most of those.

War On Science (Recommendation)

Did you have a good night's sleep? Having a great day? Blood pressure too low?

You should read The Republican War on Science. It will put your day back on track for you.

17 Year Genre Marathon Over At Last (Reblog)

Fair warning: I'm a cruel ass in this post.

I was going to write a brief note about how this was the only way the interminable Wheel of Time would ever leak whatever remaining credibility it has to its final flat conclusion. But it turns out that Jordan was actually working on the final book of the series -- who knew? I just assumed after the third book he'd keep shamelessly milking his formula until he died. Which I suppose he did.

Perhaps Mercedes Lackey is available to finish the final book from his notes.

Kitchenarium Updates (Chow)

Normally the wife makes the mushroom stroganoff in our household, but with her being sidelined studying for boards that duty fell upon me tonight. I took the opportunity to document what I did, so it is now up on the Kitchenarium. Note, however, that this is not the recipe for NDM's superlative stroganoff, just my own knockoff.

Thanks For Wiping Your Ass With Our Laws, Al! (Reblog)

Today is the last day that Alberto Gonzales will further sully and betray the office of the Attorney General. Thanks, Al.

Lazy Sunday Lunch (Chow)

Today I was too lazy to even get dressed before lunch time. Since there are a limited number of things I'm willing to cook in my yukata, we had nachos while watching the free Amazon Unbox pilot of the new Bionic Woman show.

Nachos: Tortilla chips, vegetarian refried beans, Mrs. Renfro's salsa, banana peppers, and cheddar cheese with a liberal application of light sour cream after baking.

Bionic Woman pilot: Lackluster and lacking in credibility. The only actor who produced a memorable character was Katee Sackhoff, who presumably won't be a big presence in the show due to her continued role in the new Battlestar Galactica.

Yummy Smoothies (Chow)

We've had a banana problem lately. We don't eat the bananas we buy fast enough to keep them from over-ripening. Enter an old appliance I really love but don't seem to use very much, unless I'm making chutney: my Osterizer.
This is my new banana disposal process. A couple of bananas, a cup or so of frozen blueberries, a splash of 1% milk to help everything blend, and a few cups of crushed ice make smoothies for two.
The dogs thought this idea was brilliant until they realized I wasn't going to let them lick anything out. We have licking issues now with two dogs; many things easily lickable by one dog lead to a failure of diplomacy and deployment of conventional weaponry with two.

No Country For Old Men

This weekend the weather was finally brisk enough I had no viable excuse for not starting on a promised raised bed for NDM in the front yard. A quick trip to Home Depot for 6 8' cedar 1x6s, 2 8' cedar 4x4s, and a box of galvanized screws and there was nothing for it but to dig some holes.
My house was built entirely by unskilled labor, managed by someone who didn't speak the same languages as his workers, couldn't read and write English, and was off-site almost the entire time. What this means for raised beds is that I'm pretty likely to hit construction till immediately under the sod. I used a hand auger with a crowbar for leverage to drill the 4 corner postholes, and I've got to say it is a lot of fun to go through construction till with those tools. Luckily, I only hit an impassable slab of concrete with one post hole -- unluckily, it was the third one I was drilling, so by that point I was committed to its location.

Since I was already planning on using two additional supporting posts at the midpoints of the raised bed's long throw, so I just cut down the impeded corner post (8 subterranean inches instead of 13).
My steam gave out after major construction, but before I put in the two middle posts. With all the trouble my left shoulder has been giving me, I'm getting ready to start officially called it my trick shoulder -- and as expected the raised bed wasn't any help. I think back to when EJB and I threw together all that limestone tiering at my first house in a couple of hours in the rain and am just amazed at how old I am now.

Mag's Dog Park Acclimatization (Pets)

Mag continues to get more and more adventuresome at the dog park, but even so spends a substantial amount of time hanging out under the picnic table where the humans congregate. Even though she ventured (for brief moments) up to 30 yards away from us and 'Dolon this weekend, the above picture still illustrates her favorite posture.

Her beagle blood is definitely showing, as she's now got some obnoxious barking behavior at the dog park. On and on and on and on and on she barks. NDM denies her to-me-obvious beagle heritage; what does everybody else think?

September Dog Portrait (Pets)

Uncoerced, the dogs posed for some portraits, perhaps the last ones where Mag is still smaller than 'Dolon. Actually, the extra foot of perspective here makes her look even smaller in comparison -- she's only a few inches shorter than he is now.
The back of the couch has become their favorite inappropriate place to play. Mag seems to live on the back of the couch, and even 'Dolon has hopped over it a few times now, which he never did before the puppy. Hey, as long as they aren't wookieing and barking at me, I'm happy!

Play time:

Ukie Comfort Food (Chow)

NDM is in crunch time for her boards, and will be for quite some while. Yesterday I thought I'd make her some comfort food to help with her studying, and took a stab at making pierogi. Of course I had to fiddle around and make my own recipe, which I've put up on the Kitchenarium. They turned out surprisingly well -- well enough that I'm apparently obligated to make a really large batch for freezing now.

I did violate some ancient Ukrainian pierogi code by serving them with something that wasn't white, but I've always been a rebel. (If white beets and cabbage had been successfully genetically engineered, NDM's grandmother would have been able to have an entirely colorless diet.)

Pierogi seem weird to me as a comfort food. My comfort foods are probably chili and anything covered in a really thick, rich red sauce. Oh, and fresh home-made bread. Anybody have a stranger comfort food than pierogi?

Leslie Levings (Recommendation)

Stumbled across these sculptures today by Leslie Levings. Only a few of the things in her galleries are actually for sale, which is too bad, because NDM would have loved one of these cephalopods.

Molpe 2007 Kill #9 (Pets)

It looks like Mag is going to be photographed with most of Molpe's kills from now on. She was happily playing with this shrew when I clued in to what was going on; I'm afraid the shrew was no longer in pristine photographing condition when I recovered it. Luckily, this will almost certainly not diminish Hagar's enjoyment.

Because I'm not the master photographer NDM is, you'll have to peer at the full-sized image to see the shrew. Assuming you're enough of a ghoul to want to.

HTML Lessons (NSFW)

All programming languages should be taught this way.
HTML is a markup language, of course, but you get the idea.
These get more NSFW the further down you scroll, by the way.
Sorry -- I suppose that warning was a bit late! T-Shirt Hell apparently doesn't sell this fine product any more, but Cult Classics Ts still has it if you are interested in helping others learn about HTML.

Dog Weekend (Pets)

To celebrate this weekend's beautiful weather we took the dogs to the dog park. They had a good time, although 'Dolon got a bit shaken up by a mid-air collision with a larger dog that left him whimpering like a puppy. So of course we showered him with lots of additional love -- which requires that Mag get some as well.
This led to Mag's first enthusiastic cleaning out of an ice cream carton. Her head is not quite a half gallon yet.
The dogs also got to enjoy some soft serve off of a plastic spoon. Only one spoonful each, since Mag decided to eat the spoon as well when it was her turn.
Of course Mag can be happy even without ice cream. Here she poses next to the remains of the radishes she harvested from our garden.
She's quite the troublemaker.

Molpe 2007 Kill #8 (Pets)

We nearly missed this kill. We only tracked it down because Mag was playing with it in the yard. Best toy ever!

Australia's Washing Machine (Reblog)

It wasn't a great day for swimming in New South Wales, as it turned out to be the Pacific's laundry day. It apparently has one perhaps once every three decades. From the article:

"Scientists explain that the foam is created by impurities in the ocean, such as salts, chemicals, dead plants, decomposed fish and excretions from seaweed."

Unicode Archaeology (Reblog)

It has been a long time coming, but soon, soon, I will finally be able to compose in Proto-Elamite on my computer. It is such a pain stamping this stuff out by hand; CDLI P008003 in particular (pictured) always gives me trouble.

Then all I will need is a USB clay fab.