Last night I made dinner, greatly overestimating the servings needed.  I thought there'd be nine and a third guests (including two-year-old Sammy), when, in fact, only Spouse and his parents were home.  As Spouse noted in his blog, Aunt Mary decided not to come in protest (and to punish us heathens) because of what we'd done with her nativity figurines, posing them in X-rated acts.  As much as I wish there were a God and heaven, I don't believe in either, and our proud atheism often causes trouble with his devout mom and aunt.  But, back to dinner. . .

So, I made coq au vin using fourteen pounds (!!) of chicken.  The prep work took at least three hours longer than usual, even with my sous chef's help, as each chicken has to be cut into pieces, trimmed, partly skinned (to reduce the fat content of this already-fatty dish), seasoned, floured and browned in rendered bacon fat, and then the frying has to be done in small batches. 

Spouse is scarily inept when it comes to using large sharp knives, even after I demonstrated proper technique, but he gets an A- for effort!  I was equally inept with the flambe - and nearly burned the kitchen down - when I added two cups of brandy and lit it over a too-high flame.  Honestly, I came this close to scorching my face off when the flames shot up about three feet from the pot.  I immediately covered the pot with the heavy glass lid, and Spouse said, "Well, now, you've completely extinguished the flame; don't think you wanted to do that."  "Really?" I said.  "Well, sure, you've just cut off all the oxygen."  "Oh."  Turns out Spouse was 100% wrong (or the lid not tight-fitting enough).  When I took the lid off a minute or so later, the flames shot up again. And once again, I just missed getting scorched. Scary!!

I then added two whole bottles of pinot noir, tons of fresh herbs and an entire bulb of fresh garlic.  Two changes I made to accommodate the onion-loathing, vegephobic Raus was to omit the onions and mushrooms completely.  As a result - and  to my disappointment - this made the dish unrecognizable as coq au vin.  Ah well. . .Still tasty,  but not as good.

I am still deciding whether to go to Albany.  OP has offered to drive me there if I make it up to his place - and this would make for a fun trip, but that's still a lot of time in the car.  I'm not concerned about OP's driving skills, but my driving, though much-improved, still makes me nervous. Since that really bad accident coming back from the Maine tourney (wherein I totaled my fairly new Hyundai, and broke my finger), I haven't taken any trip longer than an hour by myself.  Albany would mean at least six hours' driving roundtrip, just to get to OP's place. Feel like I'd be rolling the dice no matter how careful I was.  I know this may be shocking to some, but I Am a Bad Driver.

BUT 2010 seems like a milestone new year, and it would be fun to hoot an' holler with everyone. . .so, maybe.

Current Mood: insomniac

dec 25 2009
dec 25 2008

fugly_baby called earlier. I think I was in the shower.

I need recommendations for good iPod touch apps.

Anyone?  Bueller?

RESERPINE = an alkaloid obtained from the roots of RAUWOLFIA (the initial R comes from rauwolfia)
MAVOURNIN = "my darling" (also MAVOURNEEN)
EMUNCTORY = a cleansing organ or canal (this and EMUNGE# v come from the Latin word for nose-blowin')
PREBENDAL = pertaining to a PREBEND (a clergyman's stipend or pension, not pre-bend as I had always assumed, also PREBENDARY n)
BIRTHWORT = a shrub believed to aid in childbirth
DOLABRATE = pickaxe-shaped (also DOLABRIFORM#)
SAPONATED = combined or treated with soap
SUBCHASER = http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Submarine_chaser
UPSADAISY interj (also UPADAISY#) nice blanagram of PADUASOYS
PASODOBLE = http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pasodoble (literally "double-step")
REDIVIVUS = come back to life; revived. (always used after the noun, e.g. Plato redivivus)

I just saw a commercial for "Worst Cooks in America." Does this write itself? :)

so, I told myself I would stop playing collins speed games when I lost so I could write my grad school apps...unfortunately, I've won like 15 in a row! against low ratings, but still, huh?

merry christmas from saigon!

(or, in my case, post-Malaysia syndrome)

For whatever reason, since coming back to the States I've been in a bad funk. It seems like every day is the same ... around midnight, think I should go to bed early. Instead I play speed games, check Facebook and LJ, engage in other time wasters. Go to bed around 3 a.m., wake up after noon, go to the office and goof around for a while, start yawning and feeling tired around 6-7 p.m., go home, get almost nothing done but that's OK because "I'm going to bed early." Repeat.

And it's not like the stuff going on in LJ-land is this happy escape ... sometimes it just makes me feel more blah.

I've got this professor story to do. Interview was great but rambling, about 20 minutes with some good quotes. I just can't find the motivation to take the time to transcribe it and write the story. I even promised the designer I would have it by X day to make myself do it. Still fell by the wayside. I've gotten on my writers to make deadline more consistently, and for the most part they've responded beautifully. But I can't do what I ask them to do. In that vein: stuff I've wanted to post here and haven't, stuff I've wanted to post to FB/Twitter and haven't. Never filled out a college bowl pool, which I do every year (usually fairly successfully ... although so far this year I would not be).

But, things will make me happy again. "Ugly Sweater Party" with some friends from college last weekend was a hoot, volunteering this afternoon, holiday with the family, Albany Scrabble tourney over New Year's. I'll break out of this funk; it's just annoying at how long it's lasting.

At said "Ugly Sweater Party," we talked about the LJs that are growing dust (mine/ours included). And since my college friends are basically the only non-Scrabblers that read this, I'm thinking about shutting this down and using FB/Twitter for my "life" stuff, as much as I hate the 140-character restriction. Maybe I'll turn this into a sports blog...

Hate to break a two-month hiatus and sound all emo#, but there's my life in the past month. Happy Holidays to everybody!

Jason

(hint: after she visited the Galapagos, srockhop told us that there was "white NANG everywhere.")

So tired.  Can't sleep.  Gotta try again.

Winter Storm Warning.  12-20 inches of snow, maybe more.  Merry Christmas.

New job in two weeks.  Hydrofluoric and perchloric acids.  One eats bones, the other leads to rocket fuel.  Should be fun.

XKCD is God, not Alanis Morissette.

Still in love with Florence + the Machine.

Bihlmeyer is the reason I no longer read CGP.