CafeChatNoir

Got all the posts ported over through April of 2005. Damn, I’ve written a lot the past 5 years.

Helped little bro w/ replacing light fixtures today and as a result of that, I’ll be calling an electrician to do the ones I need to have done at the townhouse – I’ve managed to really screw up my bad shoulder trying to hold things up while we got them attached into the ceiling.

Watching the President totally hose floor trading at the NYSE at the moment. The White House had repeatedly denied that he would be visiting the NYSE after his speech across the street at Federal Hall, but there you go. The Secret Service folks do not seem pleased with this turn of events. (I hope they are at least grateful that the NYSE floor is an exceptionally secure area to start with.)

I’ve got a friend that could be making a mistake and I’ve done my best to give warning. (Not “you’re an idiot” mistake but a “you’ve got bad information, PLEASE double check it” mistake.) I’ve done what I can and now all I can do is hope that things turn out OK. Frustrating to say the least.

Entry migration is still coming along. Everything that has been brought over so far has been tagged and checked for security. Once everything is in, then there will be some minor cleanup still to do, as anything without a subject is automatically assigned a # for the subject and that has to go. Minor, but mildly annoying. Need to figure out how to convert the archive list to a dropdown cause it’s just too long, and there will likely be some category cleanups as well.

It’s been really interested re-reading everything as I’ve been importing it. I’ve found that when things are going badly, I write a lot more. It’s a little disturbing how things are so different for me now than they were just two years ago. Never in a million years would I have thought I’d be where I am today. Even with all the changes, there are a lot of good reminders of “don’t make that mistake again, dumbass” in the older entries.

Tonight, satay, aka Thai-meat-on-a-stick. It’s usually an appetizer, but screw that, it’s good enough on it’s own for me.

Satay

1# chicken, cut into strips (can also use flank steak)
Marinade:
2t creamy peanut butter
1/2 c. soy sauce
1/2 c. lime juice (lemon can be used, lime is just a little better)
2t curry powder
2 cloves chopped garlic
1t hot pepper sauce (I just use thai chili sauce, could pretty much use any hot sauce)

Combine the marinade ingredients, dump in the chicken, cover and refrigerate overnight (if possible – minimum 2 hours)

Put chicken/steak on skewers, grill on high heat 5 minutes on a side. (Same if using broiler inside.)

I also usually cut up a bunch of big chunks of onion and marinate & grill them along with it.

Sauce – you can get the peanut sauce in most grocery stores anymore, if not, just melt some peanut butter in a small saucepan and gradually add red pepper flakes until it gets to your desired heat level.

The import of the older entries is moving along, if a bit slowly. Have to import, review for security and then tag everything. The tagging is the slowest part, but it will be worth it to have all the entries tagged and be able to pull them all up. (I think LJ’s limit is that it only picks up the last 100 entries on a tag.) At least the more recent items should already be tagged when they come in.

It’s interesting to re-read the older entries – been going through some items from when I was working at a Very Large Farked Up Corporation and a lot of the quotes I am pretty sure came from my brother, as he was also working at a Very Farked Up Corporation at the time as well and was always emailing me assorted pearls of wisdom.

The dishwasher is also now completely fixed, which is a very good thing. The last missing part was the grinder, so now I don’t have to obsess about making sure there isn’t any gunk on the dishes before they go in.

Have already had to contact support @ Laughing Squid over something minor, got a quick response back and I loved the signoff. “support ninja” Classic.

The LJ crossposting seems to be working quite acceptably so far. The import function is a little squirrley at the moment, and I’m not sure if it’s just domain lag or something is actually wrong, as categories are updating instantly, but the posts on the backside are not – so I think it would be best if I stop attempting to import and tag things until I figure out what’s going on.

But – overall, not a bad migration so far.

Well, the site migration is finished, with only a very few minor glitches, for which I am quite grateful. I’m already very impressed with my new host, Laughing Squid – apparently this is how a real domain host is supposed to work – they actually have a decent control panel interface, actual tools that I can use to administer the database, real reports on traffic and such and well, damn, it’s nice.

Now that I’ve gotten the site migration done, I can finish with the LJ-to-WP history migration. That may take a little while, but at least I’ve got the working tools to do it now.

The DNS propagation still isn’t 100%, but by the morning it should all be there.

have been updated – just a waiting game now to see how long it takes to kick over.

So happy to be back in the kitchen. Part of it is just being happy to be in the kitchen, the other part being that I don’t feel like crap anymore so I actually feel like cooking again.

Made lumpia tonight – basically Phillipine eggrolls, but much, much better. Had them the first time when we were overseas, and they’ve always been a favorite of mine. The wrappers are thinner and fry up smoother than eggroll or springroll wrappers and well, they’re just better, you’ll have to trust me on this one. Little labor intensive getting them wrapped up, but worth it.

Lumpia (Phillipine eggrolls)

1# ground pork (can use ground beef, half beef/half pork, or the beef/pork/veal mix usually marked as “meatloaf mix” in stores)
2-3 cloves crushed garlic
1/2 c. chopped onion
1/2 c. minced carrot
1/2 c. chopped green onion
1/2 c. thin sliced cabbage
1 t. ground black pepper
1 t. salt
1 t. garlic powder
1 t. soy sauce
~20-25 lumpia wrappers (hard to find anywhere but an asian market, but worth it)

Brown the beef/pork/whatever, set aside to drain, leaving some of the oil in the pan.

Saute the garlic & onion until tender.

Add the beef/pork back along with all other ingredients. Reduce heat to low, cover and let sit 5-10 minutes. Remove from heat, let cool to the point where you can handle it without burning yourself.

Take a lumpia wrapper, put an oversized teaspoon of the filling in and pretty much just wrap it up like you would a burrito. Seal the edges with water. Once everything is wrapped, fry in hot oil (veg is fine) 1-2 minutes until golden brown.

These can be frozen before they are fried up and will do fine defrosted and fried later. Can also be put in the fridge before frying for a day or two.

Sauce – basically nothing more than a sweetened, thickened soy sauce. I usually toss some soy, brown sugar and cornstarch in a small saucepan and let it go on low heat until it’s the way I want. I’ve not used the recipe below, but it looks like it should work:

1 c. sugar
3 c. water
3T soy sauce
3T cornstarch
1.5 t salt

Melt sugar in saucepan. Make pase of the soy, cornstarch, salt and some of the water, then add the rest of the water and add it all to the sugar. (All over low heat.)

OK, got the go ahead from the new host to start mirroring – downloading everything from the old host at the moment and then get to turn around and upload it to the new side.  If I can get it all done tonight, the domain pointers will be changed tonight.  Only other maintenance will be to create the new db on the new side, run the install and then migrate the handful of actual entries over.

Shouldn’t be too hard.  So, why am I hearing decidedly disastrous notes in the background?

Many thanks to Capital Computer Rentals for getting me hooked up with a laptop on very short notice.  As it turns out, got an email from the new domain host just before I left the house and the account is already up and ready for mirroring, so that lag time I was counting on while the other laptop is in the shop on doesn’t exactly exist – so, at least I can continue the migration.  At the rate things are going, the site migration could very well be done by mid-week – the biggest unknown at this point is how long it will take for the domain pointers to be moved overl, so there is going to be some time where it’s pointing nowhere…  Going to try and see if I can get it to happen overnight so there is as little upheaval as possible.

Kentucky Derby Winner Barbaro euthanized after additional complications from his injuries last year.

Oh what a beautiful mooorning…err, well, afternoon. OK, so I didn’t exactly get out of the gates like a rocket this morning, but I also no longer want to throw myself in front of a moving vehicle, so the extra sleep must have done me some good. I also woke up to the tow truck finally taking away my brother’s old car. (The charity we gave it to, not the county impounding it – it could have gone either way.) THANK GOD. The sun is shining, the birds are singing, and all is OK in my little world.

Made a few phone calls and I’ve got a rental laptop waiting for me, so I won’t have to try to work off the server while my laptop is being fixed. If I’d had half a brain in my head I would have thought of the rental option as soon as the DVD died on this one rather than putting it off until I was between classes… Yes, I am just a little bit attached to my laptop, why do you ask?

So, a little more coffee and it’s off to hop about town and get some things done and most importantly – hit the market. I’ve not set foot in the kitchen since Friday cause I’ve felt so lousy and it’s time to cook again, woohoo! This weekend I’ve discovered that my brother can apparently survive on Eggo waffles. Don’t get me wrong, nothing like a good waffle (or just a fast waffle in this case), but the quantities that he can eat these things in as an actual food is impressive and somewhat disturbing. But tonight, the tunes will be cranked, spatulas will be flying and there will be real food on the table.

OK, TiVo will be the end of my brain to be sure, but it keeps tossing up new things I’ve never seen before. Lots of programs I’ve heard of but never bothered to figure out what channel or when they’re on – but now they just show up on the recorder.

Up until now, I’d not seen any of the Iron Chef shows, but now I’ve seen a few of Iron Chef America and holy crap they’re insane. It really amazes me how these folks can come up with anywhere from 5-7 dishes with the “secret ingredient” and they all seem to be things that you’d at least want to try, even if you’re not drooling over it. My brother says the original Iron Chef shows are better, but the American version is pretty cool. And there seems to invariably be one judge that seems to be a self-important, pompous ass that you want to pop in the mouth. I’ve no doubt it’s by design.

There aren’t a lot of cooking shows where I think, “Damn, I would have never thought of that” – this is one of the few.

Plus, the plating is absolutely gorgeous on everything these folks turn out. I’m lucky if I don’t have half the dish on the counter trying to get it to the plate.

Lordy, I feel like holy hell, there is no other way to describe it. Tomorrow I will find out exactly how much DayQuil you can consume and still remain upright. Ton of stuff to do tomorrow and I’d prefer to be numb while doing it if the way I feel at the moment is the only other alternative.

Watching Gordon Ramsay’s F Word right now, can’t say I’ve seen him look like he was about to cry within the first 30 seconds before… (Get your mind out of the gutter – the F stands for food, despite the fact that his favorite word seems to be fuck.) I’d kill to be able to watch him work in person.

I’ve never seen Hell’s Kitchen so I have no idea if it was similar or not, but this is a good combination between the actual psychosis in the restaurant kitchen and other “human interest” stuff – right now he’s doing a segment on Sunday lunch. “Get off your mobile and get your ass in the kitchen.” (He’s actually quite pleasant in the outside the restaurant scenes, and to me, fucking hilarious in the kitchen…) The stuff they’re cooking isn’t horribly complex, the premise is that it’s something anyone could make at home – but throw folks into a restaurant environment that they’ve never experienced and watch it all implode… (Or hopefully go well.) I know if it were me, I’d be totally screwed. I have no idea how on earth anyplace gets all the timing right without ending up with half the stuff on a warming shelf.

He does actually defend the guys in the kitchen when folks decide they don’t want to pay just because they don’t like what came up on the menu, which is pretty cool – he doesn’t seem to really want anyone curled up in the fetal position in the corner of the kitchen.

Well, the decision has been made. After spending a long night happily geeking out with a test instance of WordPress, I’ve decided I’m going to migrate to it for the site. I’ll still be crossposting over to LiveJournal, but I really like the idea of having the blog actually part of the site rather than being imported from elsewhere. Many thanks to Mortaine for letting me know about WordPress in the first place.

I’ll be switching over domain hosts to boot, since my host only works minimally with WordPress, and there are enough features that I want and will use, it’s worth it to go ahead and make the switch. I’d not been thrilled with my host for a while, but just didn’t have a compelling reason to move until now.

Additionally, it gives me a geek project to work on for a while, which I didn’t realize how much I needed until I was up until all hours last night trying to get the theme and layout the way I wanted. It’s also a great distraction from my ear infection. (As is the big honkin’ latte my brother just brought me. He’s good to have around.)

Eventually the older posts will all be transferred over and everything will be here.

I like having something that is actually in the same domain in my site, so this is nice. Still haven’t been able to find an lj-crosspost plugin that works yet – , if you happen to see this, can you let me know what you’re using for your cross-posting?

Also haven’t been able to locate a working plug-in that provides post security.

But, there are quite literally hundreds of plug-ins, so I think I should be able to find something.

WordPress is up and running! Go figure, the one item in the config file that says “99% chance you don’t have to change this” needed to be changed to get the install to run.

Have to say, it’s pretty impressive to say the least, I could easily spend the whole night just with the configurations.

So, I was watching Alton Brown the other night and he did a cheese soup and it just looked really tasty so I decided to make it tonight. Of course, me being me, I didn’t exactly follow the recipe – cut it in half cause I don’t need *that* much cheese soup, dropped the celery and carrots, added some beer, and ended up using a different cheese…but it came out wonderfully. Wegmans had demi-baguettes today, don’t know if it’s new or they just do them occasionally or what, but I grabbed one of those, sliced it up and have been dunking them in the soup…

It’s very rich, but not “heavy” at all. Definitely think I’ll be doing this one again with different cheeses just to see how they come out.

Cheese Soup, adapted from Alton Brown’s Good Eats Recipe

2T butter
1/2 c. diced onion
bit of salt for sweating the onions
3T AP flour
1 14oz can chicken stock/brother, plus a splash of beer to bring it to ~2 c. total. Heat to a simmer.
1 t minced garlic (couple cloves)
1 bay leaf
1/2 c. heavy cream
5 oz. cheese (used a maple smoked cheddar, originally called for fontina, but I couldn’t find it right off the bat and when I saw the smoked cheddar , it just seemed to good to pass up)
1/2 t marsala wine
1/2 t worcestershire sauce
1/4 t hot sauce
1/4 t white pepper

Melt butter, add onions & salt, sweat onions for 5-10 minutes.

Sift in flour and stir in.

Stir in chicken stock/beer, bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, add garlic and bay leaf and let simmer 30 minutes.

Turn off heat, remove bay leaf

Blend in cream.

Blend in cheese, small handfuls at a time to let it melt.

Add wine, sauces and pepper. (I didn’t really much measure on the wine/sauces, just a small splash of each and a little bit of ground cayenne cause I had no hot sauce)

So, little bro had to go to the DMV to get the title on the beater transferred to his name only so we can donate it to charity. He’d already done one title transfer on the other car, went in w/the court docs, death cert and wham, bam, thank you ma’am, shiny new title in his name.

Well, today they insisted that I had to be present to sign the old title as well since my name is also on the court documents. Oh, and that other person, too. Then my brother explained 2 of the 3 names on said document were me, and that f/k/a means “formerly known as” and as such there would only be the two of us at the signing ceremony.

So, I go over there, we get back in line, wait about 45 minutes, get a different clerk and wham, bam, thank you ma’am, he’s got a shiny new title in his name. Please note I did not mention that I did anything besides sit around waiting for 45 minutes with him. I’m not even sure this particular clerk even looked at the court papers. As the clerk is off collecting his change for the transfer, he’s mouthing “I am so sorry!” to me – hell, it was exactly what I expected would happen.

With this spectacular level of consistency, in the same branch no less, how is it even plausible that ID fraud could be occurring in our great state??!?

Yup, I watched it. Didn’t even throw anything at the TV and the wine bottle is still in the kitchen.

9PM this evening, pretty much every channel.

I’m debating whether or not I want to watch it. I think as a semi-decent citizen I should take the time to hear what the President has to say. However, I also think it will probably piss me off so much that I will drinking wine straight from the bottle with a straw by the time it’s halfway through.

A on the final paper, A in the class. Prof even said he learned a few things from it.

So, now I can take my laptop in to get the DVD drive fixed.

Some women who make a habit of venting their anger may be more likely to develop blockages in the heart arteries, new research suggests. Guess it’s time to start bottling up those frustrations again…

Whacking a shark in the head apparently DOES work. Yeah, like I’d remember that while I’m being eaten.

US Warns Iran to back down Does anyone else think “Oh shit, here we go again” upon seeing this headline?

SOTU preview: Pres will call for Americans to reduce their consumption of gasoline by 20% by 2017 Good luck with that one, W.

Yes, the SOTU is on tonight and will likely be dominating every damn channel out there, so get something TiVo’d ahead of time or find a good book if you don’t want to watch. The 2007 SOTU drinking game rules have been posted. If you’re playing a variation with rules about “drink when he lies”, do be careful of alcohol poisoning…

Well, the magician in the plaid pants either didn’t show, or hooked up early and went home… (Backstory) Though everyone did get a good giggle out of the posting speculating who it was written about, though we have no idea who would have posted it.

Gotta say, craigslist is always good for a laugh.

Someone knew I needed some entertainment. (Yes, I cruise craigslist for shits & giggles and the inevitable thread of two people thinking they’re talking to their lost love only to find out they have NO idea who the other person is.)

http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/nva/mis/266729026.html

Aww, snap, it’s been flagged. Funny how a copy has already been printed to give to the bartenders… (The title was “Meet ME tonight! at Glory Days in Burke, TONIGHT! – m4w – 39)

I’ll be dressed in plaid slacks, no underwear beneath (the cold makes me happy inside), polo sweater with my initials on the collar, and a fat smile on my face.

See you tonight! Are you the special one for 1/22/07? You’ll never know unless you come on out! No repeat visits please.

Via

Guns for girls & weapons for women

It’s…interesting. Don’t think these will make the cut for my future purchases.

ETA: Link should be functioning now.

Given that I always seem to have a to-do list that is a mile long, despite the absence of 40 hours hijacked by the office, I have to wonder if the amount of things to be done simply expands with additional time available no matter what, or if the list grows because you’re finally acknowledging items that you’ve completely and utterly ignored because there wasn’t any time.

It being Sunday, I’m plotting out what needs to get done this week and hence, the thoughts on the to-do list. Car to the shop tomorrow – decided it would be kind of cruel to call AAA out today in the snow given that it’s not exactly an emergency. Gotta call the potential laptop repair place to make sure they do the repairs onsite rather than shipping it off since it’s not warranty work, and how long it would take to get the DVD drive replaced. More phone calls to make on the estate, which I am actually starting to think may be settled in my lifetime. Townhouse stuff. House stuff. Get Moxley the snow monster to the groomers again. Eliminate poverty. Bring about world peace. Make a million dollars. Wave a magic wand and make everything right for everyone I know.

Sometimes the list is a little overwhelming.

Perfect for lunch on a cold, snowy day: Pulled pork sandwiches. Made it last night and oh my but the leftovers are GOOD.

Finally saw Alton Brown’s Feasting on Asphalt last night. Cross country motorcycle trip in search of road food. What’s not to love?

Hey locals – the chocolate festival is just around the corner – Feb 3/4.

On a completely unrelated note, check out this thread if you’re in the market for a fake ID in the DC area – maybe the answer will eventually appear… Damn, it’s been deleted. Doesn’t everyone post in a public forum asking where to buy a fake ID?

Pulled Pork Goodness

Note: I make no claims of this to be “authentic” of any type or style of pulled pork – it’s just how I make it and it’s tasty. Takes a while, but worth it.

First, I use pork tenderloin. I know lots of folks use pork butt for this, but it just makes too much, and a lot of the time I’m making it w/leftover pork tenderloin from a previous meal, so when I am making it as the first meal, I still stick with the tenderloin cause I know it works.

Brine the pork tenderloin in a salt/sugar brine for 1-2 hours. (about 1/2 c. kosher salt & 1/4 c sugar. Feel free to toss in some peppercorns, garlic, whatever spices float your boat.)

Rinse and rub down with cracked pepper, garlic, onion, thyme, again switch it up to suit your tastes, and then pan sear.

Transfer to saucepan, add enough liquid to cover it about 1/2 to 2/3. I use some beef stock and a bit of wine or dark beer. (Would have used pork stock if I’d had it, but it works.)

Start simmering on low…for a long time. (I think it ended up going about 2 hours in total) Check it every 20 minutes or so to turn things and see if it’s “pullable” yet. As the liquid reduces, I start adding barbecue sauce. Once it’s to the point where you can pull it, start shredding it, keep simmering and adding more barbecue sauce. I think I kept it on about 30 minutes past the shredded stage.

Start eating. (I think it’s great on toasted onion rolls.) Great the next day and freezes well, too.

Life really is a sine wave. Something gets fixed, something else breaks. Someone leaves your life, you get the joy of their return, or maybe someone new comes in. A good night’s sleep may be met with dastardly news in the morning, but a horrible day could end on a very good note.

The hardest part is remembering the high points will come back around and enjoying them when you’ve got them rather than spending the entire time steeling yourself for the next crash.

Not so thrilled that I get to use it.

Went out, ran some errands, and as I am pulling into the driveway at home, the car stalls. That isn’t really a big deal, cars stall sometimes. Restart, put it in gear, get about a foot, it stalls again. Put it back in park, restart and it turns over and then stalls out again almost immediately. Repeat a couple more times for good measure, same results.

I’d say something is definitely broken. But at least it’s broken in my driveway and not on the side of the road somewhere. But damn, this is annoying.

Really, I’m quite ready for the rollercoaster to stop now, thanks.