Dave's take on 2001

1. "It's all really good until they kill off Hal. After that it's just one really long compilation of winamp equalizer visualizations circa 1995."

2. He hates how this type of Atheist science fiction author, in trying to write novels that are alternatives to biblical history only ever manage to come up with Space-Jesus stories.

On how George Lucas is a knob, and how I may be an alcoholic

So, here's my theory.

Alec Guinness dies, right? He goes to heaven. Where else would he go, having spent his life working so hard to inspire and enlighten us with his work?

He's all like, "Hey God, look. I worked so hard down there at my craft, and all they care about is this stupid Star Wars movie. It's a bad movie, right? It's this really trope-ridden space drama with an uninspired script that the kids are just nuts for. It's all anyone remembers me for."

And God's all like, "Yeah, it's pretty tragic. You did such good work interpreting Shakespeare and all. Don't worry about it. I'll make it up to you. By the way, thanks for "Lady Killers" and "Kind Hearts and Coronets".

And that's how things like this happen.

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A conversation after having purchased a 1.75 liter bottle of gin and while I am mixing tasty, tasty drinks.

Dave: We don't look like alcoholics. We're just thrifty, right? Because we know that we'll use it within the year...

...or month...

...or week...

Me: Hour.

Captain's Table

2 oz gin
1 oz orange juice
1/2 oz Campari
1 tsp grenadine

Shake with ice. Strain into a collins glass half filled with ice. Add:

4 ounces of ginger beer

Or half a bottle. Fentiman's is best, but if you can't swing it, Presidents' Choice has a nice bite to it. Top with a maraschino cherry, but only if you have the real ones. The fake ones at the grocery store are nasty.

aaaaaand it's bedtime.

decadence

We got a new oven the other day. Our "old" oven, which was only 5 years old or so, totally died. The computer controls weren't turning on the oven elements. It was very sad, because it wasn't under warranty and would have cost a lot of money to fix.
So we got a "new" oven for $30. Thank you, Cragslist! Our kitchen is looking more like the 70's every day.

The drawer isn't in yet, but LOOK! It has wheels so that we can clean around it! And it's tall enough for Dave to cook on without bending over! Brilliant.

We decided that we'd cook a simple meal tonight. Pasta with a pesto asparagus sauce. All you have to do is boil the asparagus for 5-10 minutes, transfer them to a pan, add some pesto from a jar, boil the pasta in the asparagus water, add the pasta to the sauce, and you're done.
We got a bit carried away, once I started. First off, Dave said he wanted some peppers and onions in the sauce, so I cooked those in the pan while the asparagus was boiling.

Then Dave decided that he wanted to barbecue some bread. We had some natural sourdough all ready to be kneaded a second time. Instead of kneading it, I flattened it onto a board covered in cornmeal and covered it in oregano, basil and olive oil.

Meanwhile, Dave got the barbecue heated up. He put it on a cast iron grill (because that's all we had) and smoked it.
We're going to have to pick up a pizza stone. The grill burned the bottom of the bread, but it was a very thin piece of burned bread that we had to slice off, and the rest of the bread was so amazingly tasty.
At this point, he asked me if I still had that chicken in the fridge ready to cook. He covered it in the oil, basil and oregano mix that I'd used to coat the bread and grilled it on the barbecue that was already hot from making the bread. We put it in with the pasta sauce once it was done. It was a brilliant idea.
For this recipe, I chose the giant rigatoni, because the sauce is big and chunky. It is so important to have a supply of many kinds of pastas for many kinds of sauces. For real. Trust me.
While the pasta was boiling in the pot, and the chicken was still grilling, we took a quick break for a rum and coke. We make a point of stocking up on cola that has sugar cane as apposed to corn syrup. Fentimans is preferred, but it's super pricey, so we take whatever we can find on sale at Winners.
That's right. They sell cane cola at Winners. If you're lucky.
When making a rum and coke, or Cuba Libre, I usually go for Gosling's rum, which has a lot of flavour. English Harbour is more subtle, I would say, but the results were just as satisfying.
There was no cheese. I was spoiled living with my parents, because they only ever bought nice parmesan. I either get the nice stuff or go without. It's too depressing to eat the cheap stuff.

As you can see, we have a long way to go with the decor, but at least we eat well. Very well.



I am so stuffed.

Mawwage!

(This is a long post. If you don't intend to read it, just make sure you skip to the end for an amazing cocktail.)

I suddenly have time on my hands.

I don't really have a lot of time, because I've started 50 new projects, and really, I have a lot of things on the back burner that I need to really get a move on, but given the position I find myself in, I just might be able to do them.

However, I'm not interested in talking about those projects. Instead, I'd like to talk about two major lifestyle changes that I've made since my recent marriage that I find quite entertaining.

1. drinking

I like tea. I like it a lot. Several years ago we were at the Richmond Night Market and got a load of Chinese teas, including Jasmine, at crazy discount prices. Our favourite of the bunch was Yun Nan gold tea, which probably has a different name. Dave drove all the way to Richmond, found the tea shop, and talked to the owner for an hour about Yun Nan and came home with all kinds of stuff.
But I've told this story before.

I also like coffee. This is a more recent discovery that I made at a friends house. She made really, really good coffee in a coffee press. Since then, we've purchased a coffee press and 3 bialettis, including this one, which not only makes tasty coffee, but provides entertainment as well!

But now I drink alcohol. Now, I drank before marriage, it's true, but I didn't drink if I had to drive home afterwards, which was a good 99% of the time.
Now I have a glass of something every other day. We started with unique beers and some classic cocktail books, and have since branched out to wine and port. Dave's been buying prosecco and other fizzy wines recently (mainly to mix with absinthe). We watch for sales and we slowly have accumulated a decent bar. I'm in heaven.


2. Personal Upkeep.

Back when I was in school, I promised myself that when I graduated I'd do things like brush my hair in the morning BEFORE I got on the bus. Or at least brushing my hair every day. I never wore make-up. I might wax my legs once a year.

I graduated, but I didn't change my habits. It was just too much effort.

When I was getting married, however, I realized that if I didn't do something I'd end up in not only my own wedding pictures looking like a hag, but also in my brothers', and in the pictures of 4 other weddings I am to attend this year. So I watched at least 10 youtube videos, went to the drugstore, picked up the bare essentials, and got going.
My favourite discovery: Tinted moisturizer. Best idea ever.

After the wedding, I got gift cards for a department store and eventually, with Dave's encouragement, bought a hairdryer and hot curlers on sale.
Now, every morning, I comb my hair after my shower *GASP*, and then, I blow-dry it until it's almost dry. Not totally dry, because I don't have the patience yet. Yesterday I got mousse and applied it to get rid of the fly-aways, and THEN I put the curlers in to try them out.

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So that's how I came to have an amazing day today. I started, eating Nutella on toast with my hair full of curlers, and I ended it with this amazing cocktail:

Port Whiskey Punch

1 1/2 ounces bourbon whiskey
1 1/2 ounces fresh-squeezed orange juice
3/4 ounce fresh squeezed lemon juice
1 ounce simple syrup (although, our port is so sweet, we should have skipped this, or at least used less. Also, agave syrup in a bottle is so much more convenient than making syrup all the time.)
1 ounce ruby port
orange slice, for garnish
lemon twist, for garnish


Combine the whiskey with the citrus juices as well as the syrup in a mixing glass and shake well. Strain into a highball glass filled with ice. Top with port and garnish with the orange slice and lemon twist.

The port settles on top and then slowly spirals down the glass, mixing into the rest of the drink. It looks amazing and tastes divine.

...but, seriously, I got a lot of housework and errands done today, too... Plus, I made a daffodil cake with duck eggs! HELL YES. That is going to be one rich and tasty cake.

No Update

I have so many projects that I'm working on. Slowly they will come together and I will post them. Meanwhile, here is an exchange I had with a young student this week. He is one of my favourite students for saying craaaazy things.

Me: It's great that you did so well on your sight reading.
Student: Yes. Because I suck at sight reading.
Me: Well, you're really good at reading notes, you just have problems paying attention. And playing slowly. And staying calm.
Student: Yes. That is because I am so full of emotion. I am much more emotional than other people my age.

He also at one point, on the subject of classical piano music said, "I love the classics, because they are so beautiful and full of emotion. They are much more memorable than the beats of Justin Bieber."

So true. So true. The best part was that he was comparing Bieber to Clementi and Czerny. Pretty hilarious.

a million pictures of bread

I swore not long ago that I would never buy bread ever again. This is why.



Now the headless figure dressed in an Alpine/Dolomite apron with adorable crochet lining is definitely me, and you might assume that I was the one who made this delicious bread. However, I was not the baker. I have always had a love of baking, and believe I have inspired the baker. In fact, on asking him why he felt that he needed to bake on that particular day, his answer was "you need bread!". Therefore I will leave this picture as it is.


cheese bread.



We also love sourdough. Not just for the tasty bread it can make, but for the tasty CRUMPETS.

Fresh sourdough crumpets grilled on a new fancy griddle. We made these together. They take very little prep time if you don't count all that leaving flour and water to go sour on the counter.



bubbles!



flipped!



served!




Sourdough crumpets consist of:
1 cup sourdough starter
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda

fry in an egg ring. flip. spread with jam. eat.

Bringing Up Baby

Cary Grant: (looking at dinosaur, bone in hand) I think this bone fits in the tail!

Alice: Nonsense, you tried the tail yesterday, and it didn't fit.

Cary Grant: Oh, that's right. I did, didn't I?

Em: I don't think Cary Grant is a very good Dinosaur Scientist.

Cary Grant: Look, a telegram! We're being sent the last bone we need to complete the Brontosaurus skeleton!

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Psychiatrist: (to Catherine Hepburn) Don't worry, we'll take care of you...

me: electroshock therapy!

Em: Lobotomies for EVERYONE!

Grandma: Yes, including us!