Greenish, By Russ

Over the winter the wife talked me into buying compact florescent lights (cfl's) for the downstairs. I was less than enthusiastic about it. I mean our power bill, even in the height of summer, is less than $100 (we'll see if that holds true with the proposed rate hikes), so I didn't see the value in spending $5/bulb versus, maybe, $1/bulb. But they were supposed to last darn near forever and would "pay for themselves" over time.

Flash forward to last week and one of those bulbs is out. I couldn't have put it in more than four months ago. I replaced a standard incandescent in my bed room at about the same time (CFL wouldn't fit in the lamp, another thing the cfl people don't tell you) and it was/is still going strong. Well after griping about the cost of a new bulb and how I'm not supposed to just throw it out (mercury gas is in the bulb) we found out that the dog unplugged the light.

I am not anti-environmentalist by an means. I recycle and compost and all that good stuff. I just don't like it stuffed down my throat. Just remember that the church of global warming (cgm)is brought to you, largely, by the same folks who pushed global cooling back in the 70's. That said, look at things through you economics glasses. Many things that are being advocated by the cgm do make some sense, for some people. A large family and a compact car, not a good fit. (Hell, any family with small children and a compact car is not a good fit.)

I'm not going to go into it, for various reasons, not the least of which is that I'm burning daylight and there is still stuff that needs to be done outside. Maybe I need to start a political blog where I can vent this nonsense without inflicting it upon you gentle reader.

Wiiiiiiii, By Russ

Yesterday found me and the family over at the parents house. I'm bugging my Dad to borrow the truck again, I found an ass-load of rot in some of my raised garden beds and thus need to get landscape timbers to fix them. Mr. B was "playing" golf, i.e. he was flailing a putter at a golf ball on the driveway (no too dissimilar from me, but I at least contain my flailing to the driving range or course), while Miss L was busy spewing on the wife. Seriously, I have no idea how the girl is gaining weight, she blows chunks every time she eats. When I say, "blows chunks" I mean it. She doesn't do a little spit up. Miss L would give Linda Blair a run for her money (no head spinning, thankfully).

After discussing the finer points of gardening with my Dad (he was pushing more plants on me and telling me of his next beer money making scheme), we head inside. What do we find there? A Nintendo Wii! I want to know what happened to my parents! These are the same people who steadfastly refused to buy a minivan or gaming console while my sister and I were growing up.

I could have used one of those while growing up. I was always tall, six foot by the sixth grade, and thus would have my knees in my Mother's back while on car trips. We're not just talking about the quick jaunts to family close by. We went to Maine every summer for a long weekend, six to seven hours each way (Massachusetts is a very long state, you might not think so looking at a map, but just drive it one time, from east to west, or west to east.). That is not to forget the trips from NJ to south Fla. to see my Father's family in Ft Lauderdale. Those trips were multiple days and we logged over 24 hours in a car. So yes a minivan would have been nice. For the record, they have a minivan now. So they can drive their friends around.

Now, they by a video game console. I could never get them to buy one while I was growing up. Hell, I wasn't even allowed to buy one with my own money. This is not to say that I had to go without gaming as a child, we had a TI 99 4/A and an Apple IIe. Neither was really known for its gaming abilities, but it took the edge off, I suppose. (Kind of like self abuse takes the edge off, yep you don't ache anymore but it's not very satisfying either.) Of course, we had to play an "educational" game first, before we could play a fun game.

Oh well, at least they have one now (for their grandkids). I took out my frustrations on my Dad playing Wii tennis. I beat him three games to none and he only score one point (or 15 taking into consideration how scoring in tennis is done).

New Bourbon, By Russ

I've made mention in the past that I am a bourbon drinker. My label of choice is Basel Hayden, but I occasionally branch out and try a new brand. Last time it was Rip Van Winkle 12 year. It was good, but I preferred my Basil Hayden.

Yesterday was really crazy, just busy nothing blog worthy, so I bought myself a fresh bottle of bourbon (it didn't hurt that I was out of booze) and another bottle of Vodka for my wife (still not really keen on vodka, I got ripped up on it once and can't stomach it anymore).

Back to the task at hand. The new bourbon. I picked up a bottle of Prichard's Double Barreled Bourbon Whiskey. The back of the bottle has a label that reads:

"A little known fact is, most whiskies are barreled at relatively high proof and cut to bottle proof with water. 'Your whiskey has been watered down before you even screw off the cork.' Can you imagine how this dilutes the flavor?


Benjamin Prichard's Double Barreled Bourbon has been cut, then rebarreled in charred oak barrels and aged again. This exclusive process restores and enhances the natural flavors bourbon is so noted for."

That kind of intrigued me. (God love marketers.) Since it was a couple bucks less than BH, I picked it up. I'm not going to say it was a mistake, but I've had better bourbon.

I don't usually drink my liquor neat. I need a couple cubes of ice to cool/dilute the alcohol, but the first time I drink a new liquor I always have it neat for the full effect. Well this one started off fine, if a bit more intense than I accustomed to. That was fine, I knew that would mellow with some ice, but the finish was quite bitter. I'm not used to that from a bourbon.

I can handle bitter, I drink tonic water, straight, no gin, no ice, no nothing (I get restless legs at night and have a glass of tonic water to help calm my legs), but this was too much. I don't care how good the front end is if the finish is so bitter as to make you forget the good flavors.

So I put a couple cubes in the glass and watched CSI while the ice melted. After the bourbon cooled and diluted it became imminently more palatable. Which makes me wonder, should alcohol be treated like coolant/antifreeze? i.e. you cut the coolant to a 50/50 mixture with water, sure you can buy it pre-cut (for the same price) but why would you double the price for some convenience?

The long and short of it, I prefer my Basil Hayden, but this will do until I finish it. I may try it in a Manhattan, just because I find that the bourbon is almost alway overpowered by the other ingredients and this seems like it should hold its own.

On a side note, I had a post ready for yesterday, but I wrote it while I was buzzing pretty hard and I haven't gone back to look at/proof it yet. I guess I'll just pocket it until I need it later.

Make up your mind, by Russ

I sit here typing while crying like a teenage girl. Nothing bad happened, it is just allergies getting the best of me. The weather was really nice for a few days and we opened up and that was the first bout of allergies. Then it got warm enough for me to justify closing up the house and firing up the AC. I got better (done in my best Monty Python).

Now the weather turned absolutely glorious again. Nights in the high 40's and the days in the low 70's. Far too cool to to justify the AC, and cool enough to open up the house again. So like a dumbass I did. Surprise, surprise, surprise (in my best Gomer Pile) my allergies came back with a vengeance.

So my vanity once again looks like a meth lab and I can barely breath. Perhaps I need to revisit the neti pot to cleanse my sinuses.

On a positive note, I'm heading out to a farmer's market this afternoon. Tonight I'm going to grill some veggies for dinner.

Well, back to my weeping.

Kick Ass Dinner, by Russ

This was to have been yesterday’s post, but it got bumped by the new glasses (which should have been nothing more than a footnote on this post).

Hi, my name is Russ, and I am a foodnetwork-aholic. I watch the channel the way most men watch ESPN, not that I don’t watch ESPN but there isn’t crap worth watching now (sorry Baseball fans and NASCAR fans, but watching grown men play catch or make left turns for four hours doesn’t do it for me). I don’t have to worry about programming on FN either. I guess the biggest concern is: will Giada or Rachel wear something that shows a bit too much cleavage (not that I complain).

Well, while watching Giada De Laurentiis she made a meal that inspired me. I never actually saw her make it, but the finished product did look good (gotta love food porn). So I decided to make it, without looking at the recipe. The meal was, Fillet Mignon topped with goat cheese and a balsamic gastrique. I served it with risotto and steamed asparagus. So while it was inspire by her, I claim the recipe.

The dinner itself couldn’t be much easier. Here’s how I do it:

Food stuffs:

Fillet mignons (one per person)

Goat Cheese

¾ cup Balsamic Vinegar

¼ cup sugar

Risotto (follow instructions and ingredients on container)

Asparagus (I microwave the spears on high for one minute with a tablespoon of water)

Salt and Pepper TT

Vegetable Oil

Non-Food Stuffs:

Cast Iron skillet (you can get away with an oven proof stainless steel, but you get a better crust with cost iron)

Cookie sheet

3 sauce pans (one for gastrique and the other two for risotto)

Cutting board

Tongs

Probe thermometer

Instructions:

Start by combining the balsamic and sugar in a small sauce pan and put over high heat. Stir occasionally. Remove from heat once the gastrique has achieved a very loose syrup (it will tighten up as it cools, should it tighten up too much just add more balsamic a half teaspoon at a time until desire consistency is reached).

Pre-heat oven to 350 and take steak out of the refrigerator.

While the gastrique is reducing, start the risotto per directions on container.

When the risotto is almost done (like when you have one or two more batches of broth to add to the rice), put the cast iron skillet over high heat. Put some salt and pepper on the steak. When the skillet has reached temperature (it should be smoking, literally), brush the steaks with oil and press into the skillet (it is important to make good contact with the skillet for good crust formation). At this point you may want to turn on the vent over the stove and/or open a window. Let steak cook for two minutes (don’t touch it, let it sear), then flip it over. (I use an oven proof probe thermometer for the following part.)

Move skillet to oven and cook to desired temperature (I cook mine to 125, the wife’s to 135, keeping in mind that the meat will continue to cook for several minutes after removed from the heat). Remove from oven and put on cookie sheet (wrap it in foil and you won’t have to wash it later). Turn on the broiler. (Don’t forget about the gastrique and risotto!)

Once the meat has rested for ten minutes, top with the goat cheese and put it under the broiler to melt the cheese. Now is a good time to put the asparagus in the microwave, btw.

When the cheese has melted (it won’t melt like swiss or mozzarella, it keeps its shape, but will soften and brown nicely) remove from oven and serve with the risotto and asparagus. Drizzle the gastrique over the top over everything. Serve with a nice big red wine (we had a J. Lohr Cabernet).

Enjoy!

Ready in an Hour (or two), by Russ

I was ready to wax poetic about the kick ass dinner I made for the wife last night, so I will, later, but now I need to grumble for a moment or two. So with your indulgence, here we go.

I am a wearer of glasses. I have been at some level since seventh grade. It started with reading glasses, then went to full time glasses when it was discovered that I had astigmatism. No biggie, I just kept on keeping on and got new glasses as needed.

The last set of glasses I bought was a year before Mr. B was born. Those glasses never stayed on my face. Give them a few moments and they would migrate down my nose. This would happen much more quickly if was active, sweating, eating spicy food, thinking of being active, or thinking of eating spicy food, heck I could just be reading a book. Suddenly I looked like some old codger looking over my glasses at you or down my nose at you. Neither is really me. I don’t have a superiority complex, I’m a stay at home Dad for Pete’s sake (who is Pete anyway?).

That was the long way of saying that the wife and I went to the mall, aka the third circle of hell, (which actually wasn’t as bad as it could have been, kids are still in school) to visit LensCrafters. Picking out the new glasses was fairly quick and painless. Other than the thicker arms, they look much like every other pair of glasses I’ve had since high school. Hey, I find a look that I like and stick with it. They told me it would take about an hour.

An hour later (64 minutes, but who is counting) I arrive back at LC and sign in and begin my wait. I have Miss L in her knock off Baby Bjorn front pack and the wife is doing her soft shoe routine for Mr. B (his nap time was rapidly approaching), the thought being that I would be scene, fitted, and excused quickly. Forty minutes later I find out that one of my lenses didn’t pass inspection and they had to make a new one. They were almost finished, maybe ten more minutes. What was I going to do, leave? It just would have been nice to know that little tidbit of info a little earlier. (What, you didn’t notices the baby on my chest, that you said was so cute, or the two year old on the verge of tears?)

The wife took Mr. B to KB toys (mistake from the start, and I told her that) to placate him. Yep, she took him there, sans purse (left me with that, great…), just so she could say that she couldn’t buy him anything because she had no money. Crap. We will revisit that fiasco in a moment.

Well, I finally get my glasses after countless laps of the store in an effort to keep Miss L quiet/asleep. I made a similar comment regarding the migratory nature of my glasses the fitter, as above, and he said that he would swap out the nose pads. Ok. Three people later the nose pads finally were removed. New ones were installed in their stead. Adjustments were made, and I made like a banana and split!

Over to KB I split. Mr. B saw me first and squealed with joy and grabbed my hand to go back into KB. When I resisted going in, the waterworks began. We tried to get him into the stroller and he would do the arched back thing. We would put him down to make him walk, and he would do the flop around thing. All this because of KB. So to minimize the mounting hysterics, the wife carried him out. A fitting penance.

Alternate Remedies, By Russ

This week has been busier than usual. Throw in some allergies, and Guitar Hero marathons, and you have one schmuck neglecting his blogging duties. It really is amazing the guilt I feel when I don’t post. More specifically, when I take the time to read everyone else’s blog, but don’t contribute a post of my own. So, without any further ado, here is today’s post.

Wednesday is racquetball night and I usually take the wife’s car. My car has Mr. B’s car seat while both cars have bases for Miss L’s carrier. What is the relevance of this, we’ll get to that. On the way out to play Jasper called and we chatted about this that and the other (a regular Seinfeld episode, all about nothing).

I played racquetball exceedingly poorly that night. It must have been because the wife and I started our weight loss regimen. (Perhaps we should start a W8 Loss Wednesday thing like PG and Scott Townsend to keep us on track and accountable to others…) Note to self, don’t lift to exhaustion before going to play a sport. My serve was off and my returns were short, all of this makes for quick, lopsided games. Not much fun to boot.

I apologize profusely to my partner for not being much competition, tuck my tail between my legs and go home. On the way home, I turn the radio up and it is tuned to 107.9 The link. This is the same station that prompted the “Lower Your Seed” post. This time the Cooper Laurence show was on. I don’t usually listen to her since, a) I’m not in the car at that hour (usually) and b) I usually listen to Jazz or a CD to relax after exercise.

Well the wench got her hooks into me early. The topic of discussion was “Alternative Home Remedies”. What could possibly hook me in you ask? How about applying bacon to a laceration? Would that be something you would attempt? Me, not so much I like bacon way too much to do that. I’ll apply bacon to shrimp or scallops. It plays very well with brussel sprouts and collard greens. Or it can hold its own as a side to eggs. As a bandage, it seems a tad expensive, not to mention a different way to get trichinosis or some weird infection that should only affect livestock.

After that, they brought on someone who used Lysol concentrate as a disinfectant for wounds. Yep, hot water and some Lysol, just dip your wound into the mixture and hold it there for five minutes a couple times a day and you won’t need to go to the doctor for the wound. I thought getting a tetanus shot was just for shits and giggles. On a positive note, this dumbass should be leaving the gene pool before too long. I think Darwin might have been on to something.

Between the extended conversations with these mental giants and the commercial breaks that was all I heard on the way home. It was probably a good thing; I wouldn’t want to be tempted to try any of those remedies at home.

Crap, I almost forgot to pimp out Chop. Stir. Mix. They're doing a contest over there, so check it out!