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Happy Friday! And happy start of vacation! (At least for me.. I'm living the easy life until the 21st).
If you live in Pittsburgh, you know that the weather has sucked like nothing else this week. Wind and rain leads to floods and power outages.. And a lot of headaches and heartaches. To all my sandbag-happy Millvale friends ('s up, Joe?), hang in there, this too shall pass.
To ward off the bad-weather blues, Alex and I opted for a bright and fruity drink this evening- however our featured slurp is not the booze, but the mixer. Giant Eagle's Market District label makes a Blood Orange Soda that, unlike Crush or Slice, actually tastes like oranges (and isn't so sweet that it overwhelms the drinker). We tried this with both gin and vodka. While Alex enjoyed the vodka-based drink, I much preferred the gin (a little more of that Hendrick's I mentioned previously). Either way, it's great on its own or with any clear spirit of your choice. Cheers!
"I've got my twelve sided die and I'm ready to roll with a wizard and my goblin crew
My friends are coming over to my mom's basement, bringin' funyuns and some mountain dew.
I got a big broadsword made out of cardboard and that stereo's a-pumpin zeppelin
It's that time of the night we turn on the black light, and let the dungeons and the dragons begin...
It's D and D!
Fighting with the legends of yore.
It's D and D!Never kissed a lady before. Nope!"
--Stephen Lynch, D&D
He'll swear otherwise until the day he dies, but my boyfriend, God bless him, is a big ol' geek. Alex may not look like one, but trust me, he's a a video game playing, comic book collecting, sci-fi/fantasy reading, futurama/simpsons quoting, anime-watching, tabletop gaming, IT-employed nerd among nerds. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not knocking geeks- in fact I freely admit that I am one. But when the Dungeons and Dragons books come out from under his desk, I believe I am fully-justified in picking on him and his gamer buddies.
Once a month, Alex and and his friends get together for what they call 'Man Day'. This usually amounts to playing tabletop and video games for 12 hours while killing a case or two of beer and a mountain of food. We're hosting this month, and my contribution is to keep my jabs to a minimum, and whip up some edibles to keep the elves and dwarves from deploying a raiding party on our unsuspecting cabinets. (Sorry, can't help it..).
Cooking for this group can be a bit of a challenge for me.. with the exception of Alex, their palates are somewhat limited. OK, they're a lot limited- think chicken fingers and french fries 24/7. I don't think they'll share my enthusiasm for a watermelon, feta and charred jalapeno salad with ginger-mint vinegarette. Any suggestions, folks? Email me, please!
For those of you who don't know (and if you don't know, you must not know me at ALL), I'm a freak about food. Cooking isn't just an everyday chore for me, it's my hobby, creative outlet, stress relief, passion.. occasionally, it pushes obsession. And nothing will make me happier than a top notch meal- be it at the latest 'it' restaurant, a hole-in-the-wall eatery, or in the homes of my good friends. I've got all the usual magazine subscriptions. I've read everything from Anthony Bourdain's works to Auberge of the Flowering Hearth to Marco Pierre White's autobiography. I've got more cookbooks than I care to count.
Not surprising, I also follow food blogs. One of my absolute favorites is French Laundry at Home, which chronicles one woman's quest to make every recipe in The French Laundry Cookbook. Not only is Carol's aspiration laudable (as these are NOT recipes for beginners), but she accomplishes something terribly rare in the blogger world- she is thoroughly entertaining while being informative. Read her description of cooking soft shelled crabs and I guarantee you'll want to read the whole blog. Unpretentious, warm and very funny, Carol's approach to gourmet cooking is very refreshing- most of us food-freaks take our hobby (and ourselves) way too darned seriously.
Happy Friday, everyone.
Fridays are often associated with happy hour, clubbing and bar-hopping. However, Alex and I are hit or miss when it comes to these pursuits (with the exception of happy hour); the venues are usually too hot, crowded, overpriced and altogether annoying on Fridays. Instead, we prefer to order takeout, watch an off-the-wall movie or two, and shake up a few top-shelf cocktails of our own.
Tonight's spirit of choice is Hendrick's Gin, a small batch gin that hails from Scotland. If you consider yourself a gin freak, this is something you must try.. but be warned, it's curiously addictive. Distilled with the usual juniper, coriander, citrus and other herbs, this blend also includes Bulgarian rose oil and cucumber. It's not like any gin you've had before, and there's a darn good chance you won't want anything else afterward.
How we're drinking it:
Gin and Tonic
In a lowball glass, pour 1.5 ounces of gin over two ice cubes. Add a liberal splash of lime juice and top with tonic water. Garnish with two cucumber slices.
Sidecar
In a cocktail shaker, combine 2oz gin with 1/2oz triple sec, 1/2oz lime juice, and 1/2oz simple syrup. Shake with ice, strain into lowball glass with two ice cubes. Optional: Add a splash of club soda to cut the sweetness.
On the Rocks or Straight Up
This is the best way to appreciate the nuances of the gin. It's also the best way to get blitzed in a hurry. Cheers!
..the personal blog.
Yes, I've mocked those individuals who keep a personal blog for years. Not subject blogs, mind you (like slashfood, gridskipper, etc), which actually serve a purpose. I'm talking about the mindless, self-indulgent ramblings of a single person, the ones that sound the same every day: "Well first I got up and had a piece of toast. Then I brushed my teeth. then I went to the store to buy some fish..."
Or maybe that was an episode of Futurama.
Despite my derision towards these types of blogs, I understand the desire to write, to chronicle one's story (however boring it may be to the rest of the Internet population). It's a way to hold onto those 'little things', the minutiae of everyday life that will never make it into long-term memory. I've been keeping a diary for years, and m inner nerd has been screaming for a digital medium for a while now. As for putting the 'diary' in a public forum, well, the desire to share our thoughts and experiences with others is a critical part of human communication.
..at least that's how I'm going to justify it in my head. Deep down I'm sure that some part of me is convinced that my brilliant musings on life, work, living in sin, cooking, traveling and pretending to be social will be immensely entertaining to the world at large. I guess I'll swallow my pride (and my snarky comments) and capitulate to a little self-indulgence.
