Trub. The sediment of life.

2006-09-12T21:54:00.000-05:00

I heard something really funny today while on my long trudge to work. A comedian on one of the sirius comedy channels said the following, 'Only in America do we consider the obese to be disabled. If you are missing an arm or a leg, then you are disabled. If you are missing a cheesecake, then you are full!' Heh. I know that isn't politically correct, but the whole missing cheesecake thing really made me laugh. They've been playing a lot of John Pinette too. He is hilarious and one of my favorite comedians.

2006-09-11T21:55:00.000-05:00

I avoided the news for the most part today. I don't want to watch it and I don't want to watch some movie that has prompted a whole lot of media coverage. Why would I want to do that? I saw it happen live. I looked up to the sky on the 12th and only saw contrails of our military up there. It was a time of silence.

The morning of September 11th 2001 was a morning like any other. My job was a year and a half past the dreaded Y2K disaster. Things were quite fine. And then it all changed. One of my friends ran over to my desk and told me that a plane had hit the Sears tower. I scoffed because of her source and went to check the news. Nothing worked. The net had simply stopped working. I tried to pull up site after site and then hit bloomberg news which had flames as its video lead in. I thought it was a live cam.

There is a certain comfort in knowing that I didn't see the people jumping to their deaths. I didn't see the first tower collapse. My company wanted us to get back to work like nothing happened. How foolish they were and only recently has that foolishness has come back to bite them in the butt. That's another story though. I'm no longer with the V-Kapow and I'm better for it.

I thought things were going to be locked down and the lessons from my grandparents, who lived through the depression, kicked in and I took out several hundred dollars so I could have liquid cash for a few days at least. That night I watched a video of the second plane that hit the world trade center. I watched it over and over. Each time my eyes blurred with sleeplessness and yet I watched it some more. How could someone do that? I still don't understand.

I heard a clip of Dave Letterman speaking soon after the event and he said he would never understand the religious fervor that caused those people to act that way. I still don't. I have seen beheading videos. Lots of them. I don't look at car wrecks during rush hour, but I could not help but look at those helpless people who died so that a few people could make a statement.

I will never understand how a religion could cause people to hate other people so much.

I promise to return to recipes soon. The new job is taking all of my time and I'm starting at the bottom. There is a great need to make a good impression.

2006-09-03T13:49:00.000-05:00

Yes, it has once again been a long time in between posts. I've been busy with the new job at BigGreen, bringing the yard back to life after the summer heat almost killed it off, and spending as much time with the munchkins as I can.

The new job is quite a change from the old place. On my second day I was in a meeting where we were made aware of a problem and the proposed solution. Fine. I immediately went to the code I could access and formulated a plan in around fifteen minutes. When I asked when the fix needed to go in I was told December. Wow. I've been conditioned to answer a problem as fast as possible while at least one person stood over me and screamed. This is a really big change. I'm sure I'll be a better worker for it too.

Because of all the changes around here, I haven't had a chance to do much cooking at all and the items I do make are recycled recipes. Almost nothing new has come out of my kitchen lately. I intend to change that, though, with the latest book I have from the library. The Best Recipes in the World by Mark Bittman is a must read. I saw that without reading anything past the appetizers. The worldly finds are too good to pass up.

BTW, we have a new fence and a new bedroom set. Pics to follow as soon as I can get the digital camera hooked up to the new macbook pro. Can you say debt?

2006-08-12T14:24:00.000-05:00

My self imposed hiatus is over. My career with V-Kapow is over. This week I accepted an offer from a new company and ended an eight year reign with my old one. It is going to sound silly, but one of the things I like about the new company is that you see their work every day. Sometimes you might see them on the street and other times you might see them on tv, but you do see them. It was always hard to tell people what V-Kapow did or what I worked on because it wasn't a one sentence answer.

I'm getting a little raise, two extra days off, and a new wardrobe for the new gig. It's been a long time since I've been in the shirt and tie world. I think this is going to work out nicely.

One of the reasons I imposed silent running was so I wouldn't tip anyone off. I never talked about the job search or publicly bad mouthed my current employer like others might do. The one clue that I was looking should have been my beard. I have a very heavy beard that requires an electric shaver and then a multi blade razor. Because it is such a pain, I would normally shave every other day. I've shaved every day except two for the past four weeks. Nobody noticed.

SuperWife is also on the road to a new career. The time she has spent home with the kids is about to end when she steps back into the workplace full time again. She needs it and the kids will be fine with a combination of grandparents, preschool, and a local day care provider.
Good luck to anyone else out there who is currently making a job change.

2006-07-21T23:41:00.000-05:00

What's with this crazy weather? Those of you in the STL area know exactly what I am talking about and those of you elsewhere can check drudge or any news source to see that half a million people in the area are without power due to storms that came through a couple of days ago. I joked about the grill taking flight again (this time it hit the air conditioner and bent it up), the fence was blowed away in one section and a few panels in other places, and the tree that was hit by lightning before looks like it was hit again, but I don't recall the crack. We lost power for almost four seconds and then it came back on again.

We are the lucky ones. Most of our utilities are buried deep under ground, so there really isn't much damage when a storm comes through. If we do lose our power, then it is because the bigger grid has gone down. I originally bad mouthed the St. Louis City Mayor, Francis Slay, for engaging in photo ops on any and all available medium. It was only the day after that I realized the power of the storm that ripped through our area. Today another storm hit, but not as bad as the original one. Almost half a million people are again without power tonight. Most have been told that they will get power back my the end of the weekend, but some have been told they won't have service until Thursday of next week. Wow. The ten hours or so we had to spend in the dark seemed like an eternity at the time.

I drove through the dust line twice while running SuperWife's work to her employer. I hit several boxes in mid air on the highway and I even saw part of an Ameren UE property on fire. That was some bad wind. I made it home just before the heavens unleashed their fury on the kids toys and the bbq grill. I might just keep the grill for entertainment. I've never seen a Ducane grill take flight so many times. The thing has been rebuilt many times and it still works. Mother Nature hates it and will take every opportunity to try to destroy it and yet that grill keeps working.

Something tragically humorous happened to me today. At some point I will post about it, but now is not the time. It was the best of times and also the very worst of times today. My newly acknowledged bipolar disorder was kicking in big time today. I can't begin to explain my roller coaster.

2006-07-16T20:29:00.000-05:00

Carnival of Recipes 1-0-0

Welcome the 100th installment of the carnival of recipes. Your humble host, me, will try to guide you through the latest rendition of the juggernaut that is the carnival. My basement flooded and took out a lot of the kids' clothes and toys during the last time I hosted, so let's hope this goes a little smother, no? Step on up and take a seat at the counter and let's see what is on the menu of the World this week.

Some of my most favorite recipes from the previous carnivals include:
The Geezer's Huli Huli Chicken. This stuff is heaven and is the most requested recipe I use from the carnival. People just can't get enough of it!

Don't forget AussieWife's Fish Burritos with Cucumber Salad. MMMMM. I actually lifted this, redid it, and submitted the new recipe to a different carnival.

Let us not forget Rory and his what not to cook series.

On to this week's submissions!

Shawn Lea, the most gracious keeper of the carnival starts us off with a birthday cake in honor of the carnival's 100th installment. I dare you to click on that link and not make one yourself.

She would also like to share Chicken and Smoked Sausage Gumbo. Shhhh! Her secret is that she makes it because it's hard, but not too hard. Most people don't make it from scratch anymore, so give it a try. Your patience in making the roux will pay off big time.

Dr. Fuhrman is up next with a couple of healthy goodies- Rice Pudding with Banana/Apricot Sauce and a Tuttie Fruitie Pita Sandwich. Good stuff.

Marsha at A Weight Lifted brings offers up a trio of Summer Smoothies. These sound great on days when the soars into the triple digits.

The next submission comes from down under. Joanne would like to share Home Made Ice Cream. The site is dedicated to guiding people to a life that is nourishing, healthy, wholesome, and wise.

Riannen would like to point out that her submission for Beef and Pork Sauce is not a stew or goulash. It is a sauce to be used over noodles or with potatoes or potato dumplings. I could eat this with just about anything since I agree with her assessment that "beef and pork together produces a magical flavor."

Peggy Hall at Blabber Heads joins me in walking down memory lane with her fond memories of Cheesy Bacon Green Beans and Potatoes - In a Crock. What part of that recipe doesn't sound yummy? This recipe was originally in a carnival on Practigal.

Imagine, if you are the only person who isn't hot right now, that it's a warm day and you have a place of refreshing Tomato and Mango Salsa in front of you. Wow. Thank Bill at World Famous Recipes for this one.

Kathee brings us Cider Vinegar Chicken. Her site dedicated to chicken recipes has more to keep you busy cooking for weeks.

After developing an intolerance for wheat two and a half years ago our next submitter learned to work around her obstacle with Wheatless Pancakes. Check out this link for a picture.

Now I bring the post of my new hero. This blogger created an index of every carnival submission they have made. Count them. 68 submissions. This person loves to cook.

Who wants to turn the oven on in the middle of summer? Now you don't have to if you still want to enjoy a decadent pie. I present Microwave Chocolate Peanut Butter Mousse Pie from KeeWee's Corner.

triticale brings us a recipe from his foster niece. Check out the Easy Cheesy Potatoes. Yum.

Maureen from Trinity Prep School would like everyone to try some Fresh Brushetta. The garlic soup mix sounds like an interesting twist I'll have to try sometime soon.

Finally, Amy at MomAdvice.com brings us some lovely pumpkin pancakes. They sound good and the top left logo brings back all kinds of memories of bathing my two year old twins.

Thanks to everyone who has contributed to this and any of the previous carnivals. Thanks for sharing your time, taste, and words. Check out homerecipes.org next week to continue your fix.

You can send recipes or links to recipe.carnival@gmail.com by noon CST on Saturday. If you wish to host a future Carnival send a message to the same address with the word host in the subject line. For a line-up of future Carnivals, visit our Carnival of the Recipes page on Blog Carnival. (You can also review all past Carnival of the Recipes there too.)

2006-07-11T08:04:00.000-05:00

Carnival 1-0-0

The 100th Carnival of Recipes is coming this week. Get your favorite recipes in early, and details regarding which carnival it was posted in would be even an added bonus. Let's make this a big one!

2006-07-10T08:23:00.000-05:00

I went from a hero to a pervert in two seconds. The food tour continues. Pirates 2 was a let down. The Carnival or Recipes is here this weekend.

Thursday night I stopped into Victoria's Secret to pick up a couple of things for SuperWife's birthday. I knew the style, shape, color, and so on of what I needed to buy but nothing matched my needs. A sales person came over to offer some assistance, but she was unable to find anything in the either.

When I was checking out the sales person mentioned how nice it was to see a man come in to buy something for a woman because it hardly ever happens. I casually mentioned that it wasn't a big deal for me because I had worked for a different VS store when I was younger. Her look of admiration went to horror in the blink of an eye. It doesn't matter if I only worked there for a few months after my wrist was reconstructed. What could be easier than throwing panties around? The job actually didn't pay well, but it was one of the best jobs I had.

The whirlwind of restaurants continued this weekend. We hit El Maguey on Friday for a quick dinner with the kids. On Saturday we hit Wasabi in Clayton. The food was very good as always and I even went out on a limb and tried the sea urchin. That was the first and last time I'll try that though. Imagine a fishy version of goat cheese. Mmmm.

Last weekend we hit Sidney Street Cafe. The in laws took us, SuperWife's sister and her fiancé, and a former aunt. The steak wasabi was great as always. We've also continue the move to slow food. We hit the farmer's market this weekend- it was the first time in three weeks. My favorite market master, Julie Ridlon, was handing out samples of a yummy peach and tomato salsa, and I was able to quench my foodie thirst.

We also caught Pirates 2 on Saturday night. It was a good swashbuckling comedy, but it didn't really do anything. The end was a mess and it looked like they were just trying to fill time most of the time. That's weird because the movie was over two and a half hours long. How much of a drunken acting Johnny Depp can a person take?

Check back late this weekend for the Carnival of Recipes. I've thrown my hat back into the ring to give something back to all of the wonderful people who contribute to that culinary adventure. If I can only come up with a theme. . .

2006-06-28T12:37:00.000-05:00

The gout continues to grip my feet. This time it was caused by a combination of beer, coffee, stress, and a large microwave that landed on my right foot. Instead of going after the big toe, like gout usually does, it went after the entire right hand side of my foot. I'll have pics to post soon, but they are kind of gross. This definitely doesn't fit into the whole food theme I have been using.

BTW, you can get more info on gout here.

2006-06-23T10:17:00.000-05:00

The crazy things you people search for. I recently checked the site stats to see who has been dropping by my humble abode and how they came about setting foot here. Take, for example the person from Pande India who came here for the sambar recipe. I'm pretty sure there is a closer resource for that person considering the recipe is from that person's country. Gotta love the internet.

The strangest hit I've received in recent memory came from Iran although I can't seem to find it in the logs. That person googled "lips" in the arabic version of google and it hit here. Hopefully that person was looking for the chicken lips recipe and nothing else.

My heart goes out to the person from Atlanta, GA who came here looking for a mostaccioli recipe. GAH! Save yourself from the traditional St. Louis wedding side dish! No proper wedding in St. Louis can be complete without a steam table buffet of a tossed salad, non descript white rolls, green beans with pearl onions and bacon, mostaccioli, carved turkey in juice, and carved roast beast in juice. The only beer served will also be Bud Light and Busch exclusively.

You can always tell a native St. Louisian because they will say musk-a-cholie.

2006-06-22T12:15:00.000-05:00

spice rubbed pork tenderloin steaks with honey-chipotle sauce

This is my adaptation from the recipe in the May 2006 issue of Fine Cooking. I added a few different spices but it is pretty close to the recipe from the magazine. This stuff is good!

2 large pork tenderloins
1 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground black pepper
2 tsp brown sugar
1/2 cp honey
1/4 cp apple cider vinegar
1 small can tomato paste
1 chipotle
2 tbsp adobo sauce
1 tbsp dijon mustard

Trim the pork of all visible fat and slice on the diagonal into one inch steaks. Take something big and heavy and proceed to beat the stuffing out of it until the pork is between 1/4 and 1/2 inch thick and much wider. Once all of the pork has been beaten into submission, combine the chili powder, garlic, paprika, cumin, black pepper, and sugar. Rub the spice mixture on as you would ribs and seal in a plastic bag. Refrigerate for several hours.

Prepare a very hot charcoal fire and add a few apple wood chunks if you are feeling like a party. Grill/smoke the pork for three minutes on one side, flip, and grill again for three minutes. Test for doneness. You want to pull it off the grill when they reach 140F. Transfer to a serving dish and cover for five minutes so the juices redistribute.

While all of that is going on, add the remaining ingredients to a food processor and blend until smooth. Pour into a bowl and serve the tenderloin steaks with the chipotle-honey sauce drizzled on top.

Serve with a classic american red potato salad or a memphis style cole slaw. Chase it down with some freshly cut wedges of watermelon.

2006-06-20T22:45:00.000-05:00

It was a fun weekend. I saw Grant's Farm, called 911, and fell down the stairs while holding a mount-over-the range microwave. I grew up in STL and I've never seen Grant's Farm. There were many times that I drove by on the way to the Affton Ice Rink. The place is really pretty neat. You have to take a mandatory ride on the tram through the middle of no where to get to the main show. There you can feed the goats, see the eagles, smell the elephants or be immersed in any other exercise that will stimulate the five senses. There's also the free beer since this whole place has been built on beer money. I tried the new seasonal summer beer, Beach Bum Blonde Ale, and it was 10:30 in the morning. Ugh.

I also called nine-eleven this weekend again. Some guy who has a child who is two to three years old came to Disfunctional Court to get the kid. The woman, who recently held the Baby Daddy and child hostage with a shotgun, tried to keep the man from taking his kid home. Did I mention he has custody? She also apparently drove off at high speeds up the street with him hanging out of the door. He grabbed the kid seat, with kid in it, and rolled out of the car.

She tried to keep him from getting into his car and going home. At one point she grabbed the tot and ran off. That's when the dispatcher ended our call and sent out the calvalry. I do believe, after pleading his case, the Daddy went home with the child. I only hope that kid has a better chance in life. To see your dad and your mom go to the point of hitting each other is something that should not have to be seen by such an impressionable youth. My thoughts have been with that little guy since then.

I also fell down the stairs this weekend. I was carrying the microwave downstairs because it had been in the garage for a while and was starting to accumulate dirt. We need to mount it over the oven, but I lack the skills to do so. While carrying the beast down the stairs I guess I lost my step and ended up bouncing down a few stairs until I hit the bottom. I don't really know what happened during the fall. The only thing I really know for sure is that I landed with my left foot up by my left ear and a big microwave was on top of me. I have a few bruises and it hurt when I initially landed. However, I did manage to keep the microwave off the walls some how. Go me. It wasn't as bad as the time a 23 cubic fot fridge fell on me while I was working in the warehouse at Circut City.

I also talked to the market master at Clayton's Farmer's Market. She had put together a series of cooking demostrations at a local joint, but it seems like they still haven't signed the contract. I really hope they do because SuperWife wants to sign me up for one of the classes and it is world class. Chef Gerard Craft- Niche.

It work related news it looks like I will probably be out of a job within the next two months because all new work is being sent elsewhere. It's been a long time since I've felt the need to join the job hunt. What fun.

2006-06-15T15:11:00.000-05:00

I have a problem with cookbooks. I went to the local library branch during lunch today in order to find a book I had been waiting on. The book didn't really look as good as I thought it was going to be so I put it back on the shelf. That's when the problem started. I ended up walking out with three other cookbooks I don't have time to read and will probably just return unread. Why? Because I have to have food info at my disposal at all moments.

There are four cookbooks on my desk and only one related to work.

2006-06-12T10:50:00.000-05:00

It's been one whale of a week. I worked longer and harder on something than I cared to and made little progress.

We took the Munchkins out for ice cream on Saturday night. We surprised them after dinner with a trip to Fritz's Frozen Custard. The girl working the window misunderstood our order so we ended up with three things of frozen custard. Meaghan tried to eat her whole thing. Boo at hers so fast that she appeared to have headaches several times. Did that stop her? Nope! She carried on like a trooper and licked the spoon clean. That was right before the thunderstorms rolled in.

There's a rule in our neighborhood. It's not really a storm unless our house has damage. Last year we lost a big bradford pear tree and parts of another tree. Let's call that second tree "Lucky". Later that fall we lost parts of the fence, some siding, and all of the kids' toys flew across the yard. My grill took flight and incurred over a hundred dollars in damages. The smoker also flew and while it still works it looks all bent up.

This spring we have again lost sections of the fence and one gate was torn off. On Saturday night we had one bad storm after another pass over the homestead. In the morning I checked to see the damage to the back yard and fence. Nothing was out of place. Hmmm. That's strange. I looked out the window and, sure enough, there was the damage. Lucky took a strike to one of the limbs that had been cut off last August when the bradford pear hit it. The lightning peeled off a section five inches wide by seven feet long. There are now pieces of wood up to fifty feet away. I can only imagine seeing it in action.

That one strike took out the dsl modem, phone, and probably the DVR. I still think the satellite dishes took a hit as well, but I can't get up there to check. Maybe I'll climb up there. I need to get the wood off the roof anyway.

In other news, Boo sang every word to twinkle twinkle little star on Sunday and Meaghan's grammar continues to be better than her dad's.

2006-06-01T16:09:00.000-05:00

Hell has indeed frozen over. On the way into work this morning I turned on the Sirius 1 (hits) and Rascal Flatts was on. This is the channel that plays Shakira and all of that type of stuff. Rascal Flatts??? Either I'm way out of touch with mainstream music or Sirius is.

It's been a long, hectic month and I've finally found time to update this monster. I had every intention of posting a recipe this week but ran out of time. It will have to wait until next week. I'm on a big kale kick so watch out. The stuff is so yummy and new to me that I'm trying it out in all kinds of ways. $2 buys a big bunch at the farmer's market.

Speaking of food, I've managed to find a really good resource. Julie Ridlon, market master for the Clayton Farmer's Market, caterer, and all around food guru has ignited a new desire to cook local and fresh food for the family. My adventures in food only started a few years ago when I broke out of the mentality that fish sticks and Helper was gourmet food. I've never been to culinary school, I have never worked in a restaurant (except a crappy pizza parlor for all of two months), and I can't run around and eat as many tasty treats since the kids were born. What I can do is read a lot of books and absorb as much as possible from online forums. In other words, I feel way out of my league with chefs and professionals in that industry in general.

I wish I could repay people who have given me a push into the foodie world, and Julie specifically because of her new and fresh ideas. How do you repay someone when you don't really have anything to bring to the table? My family is the big winner in all of this. Because I don't have any outlet besides cooking at home they get to sample a lot of new things. The kale has been the biggest hit. Most kids might balk at veggies, but ours love them. We always try to eat with them as often as possible and our dinners are the same as theirs. Superwife and I set the example so the kids will be more inclined to do like Mommy and Daddy.

In other news, the fence looks like it may finally be coming down to its last days. We are going to talk to the fence co today to see when they can fit us into their schedule. I can't imagine being able to actually use the gates without fear of something falling on me or the dog. All we have to do is get past the neighborhood trustee review and it should be good to go.

2006-05-10T13:46:00.000-05:00

Over the past few months I've begun to see more and more Sirius receivers in other cars. I've been a subscriber for over three months now and I've only resorted to terrestrial radio a handful of times when the satellite wasn't available. Even now I'm streaming it on the internet. The amount of commercials and just plain nonsense on terrestrial radio has made any format impossible to listen to.

I know I sound like some snotty brat that has had a taste of something nice and just bashes the other offerings. I'm sorry about that. You see I don't do the MP3 thing. I did a while back, but during the big RIAA vs. Charter scare I dumped any kind of digital music I had. Sirius gives me the freedom to listen to almost anything I want at any given time. Spa 73 has been playing almost nonstop in my office for the past week. Want something else? Country? Rock? Classics? Pop? News? I've got it in one convenient place and with out all of the morning zoo sounding garbage.

Anyway, at first I saw a receiver a couple times a month or maybe once a week in traffic. They are kind of hard to miss especially at night. Over the past week I've seen at least one receiver a day. I'm sure people are coming over for Howard. Hopefully the rest of the package is good enough for them to stay because I'm hooked and I don't want my service to go away any time soon.

BTW, on a completely different subject, I found a cool new Indian food site.

2006-05-09T14:08:00.000-05:00

While working in my industry I've met all kinds of people from all corners of the world- Siberia, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, China, Illinois, etc. Recently, one of my coworkers brought some sambar in for lunch. I took the only recipe I could find in my cookbooks and made it my own. It's vegetarian and nothing but good for you.

Sambar Dal
1 cp yellow lentils
1 can chopped organic tomatoes
1 cp frozen broccoli
3 cps water
1 tsp turmeric
2 tsp curry powder
2 tsp ground coriander

Put the lentils, turmeric, and water in a saucepan. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to med/low and cook until the lentils are soft. This usually takes around a half an hour. Remove the lid and stir in the remaining ingredients. Heat through and serve with fresh roti, rice, and pickle. I'm a big fan of gongura pickle.

I buy the frozen roti from a local Indian/Pakistani grocer and cook them over medium heat in a cast iron skillet. Flip the roti once and only cook them until they start to brown. The original recipe used cilantro and zucchini, but I prefer the broccoli instead of the zuccini and I hate cilantro.

Grab a fork and be prepared for lots of jealousy if you reheat this for a lunch at work. It smells fantastic.

2006-05-09T13:50:00.000-05:00

SuperWife has returned from Berkeley, CA in one piece. The kids and I had a great time this weekend. Even though they were both really sick they couldn't have been better. Kristin only wigged out once and hit me and then she hit Grandma once as well. Megs broke down Saturday morning and wanted to talk to Mommy on the phone. Too bad it was 5:30 AM her time. I distracted them with a trip to the zoo.

I'm truly amazed at the scope of the zoo every time I visit. I can't believe we have such a wonderful place and it's free to boot! We saw every animal that wasn't in the children's zoo, the monkey house, or the reptile house. I had every intention of going to the children's zoo, but SuperWife took the Zoo Friends card with her to Cali. I can't pay for everything when I know they will be back in a few weeks.

The lack of stress at home and the new lack of stress at work is nice. I'm all alone and on the hook for some production servers, but they seem to be taking care of themselves for the time being.

Lunch consisted of bruschetta. I stole a visit to Trader Joe's and made myself some bruschetta with goat cheese. It was really good. Shoot. I've been meaning to post my recipe for sambar. I guess now is as good of a time as any.

2006-05-02T12:20:00.000-05:00

Dinner at Niche was fantastic. It exceeded all of our expectations and then some. I had a maytag blue salad with field greens, candied pecans, pears, maytag blue, and a champagne vinaigrette. My main course consisted of pork belly braised in amber bock, truffled polenta, and spinach with salsify. Desert was a strawberry panna cotta with strawberry sorbet.

SuperWife had a cheese plate with a soft French cheese similar in taste to camenbert but the texture was closer to port salute. It was served with strawberries, pear slices, spiced nuts, and toast points. Wow. She had roasted halibut with mint rhubarb soubis, creamed cauliflower, and smashed English peas. Her desert was a liquid chocolate cake with B52 ice cream. I can't give this place a high enough recommendation. While the food was outstanding and the space very eclectic, the servers were very down to earth and the place has a comfy feel to it. Do try it if you have the chance. Niche is another gem in the emerging Benton Park neighborhood. It was a lovely accent to our five year wedding anniversary.

I'll try to get my recipe for sambar up this week for the carnival. It's a lovely adaptation of a traditional Indian vegetarian dish.

2006-04-29T07:42:00.000-05:00

So I haven't posted in ages. Sue me. I have a new job with a much higher workload and deadlines than my last job. I'm also the cog in the machine that everyone needs to talk to. So instead of doing my job I spend more times in meetings brainstorming issues. The Munchkins continue to grow and wreck havoc on the house. The two year birthday part was a site to behold. Dozens of little ones running all over our back yard- about half of them were twins. It was like a bad acid trip.

Tonight SuperWife and I are going to be celebrating our five year anniversary with a trip to Niche. It seems like yesterday we were just married and were flying off to Playa del Carmen. Wow. The beach. I won't be seeing her any time soon. Then again it was only a year ago that we were in the Outer Banks with SuperWife's Dad's family.

Less than a week before I have the Munchkins all to myself for about a week. I don't think I'm going to survive it. They are cunning little monkeys!

Recipes to come soon.

2006-03-29T10:08:00.000-06:00

Wait for it. This thing lives.

2005-12-14T21:41:00.000-06:00

The blogger interface? What's that? I haven't seen it in so long that this looks foreign to me. Please forgive my absence. I beg you. I have been working more than a coal miner works to free himself from a collapsed mine shaft lately. I beat most of the office in and leave after 95% of them. Surely things will all work out in the end with my employer and we will all be happy again.

Superwife will be able to quit one of her two jobs when the Co. pays me in a way that is commensurate with my work. I don't make chump change, mind you. Good money comes my way, but not good enough to keep at least one parental figure at home with the twins when they need us. We are by no means in a world of hurt. We have a nice house with two cars and a ton o bills. In the world that doesn't revolve around money, I am rich beyond my wildest dreams. I have a wife a I love and adore, two kids who impress me with their intellect on a daily basis, and a loyal dog. Our network of support really helps us out too. Without them we would be in a world of hurt with our job schedules.

The problem is with my working overtime, and lots of it, for the past three weeks and it should be that way for the foreseeable future, my kids suffer. If Superwife could nix one job and stay at home with them, then they win and so do the armada of baby sitters we are abusing.

On a lighter note I am proclaiming a new position. You might call me an Oracle DBA. You might also call me, java programmer, support grunt, code mover, cvs manager, house cleaner, food cooker, crappy car driver, getting fatter by the minute, guy.

When people ask me what I do I simply respond with, "Whatever I am asked to do." My job description is very faint and I do what I can to keep my company afloat. I'd say more, but I have already violated my rule of no company talk. Strike Oracle DBA and replace with wood worker. There. All is well with the world.

Remind me to tell you how nice people can be when at the mall. No! That I'm not joking!

2005-11-29T13:05:00.000-06:00

I'd like to thank the person who recommended Cooking School Secrets for Real World Cooks. The library finally came through with it and I could not put it down. This is one cookbook I might actually have to purchase.

2005-11-29T12:18:00.000-06:00

Thanksgiving ended and the fiasco started. Superwife went out early on Black Friday to catch the early bird deals. I still think they are crazy. She was able to get almost all of the shopping done, to her credit. I have a few things to purchase for her, but everyone else has been covered. I also learned the secret of Black Friday. If you have any normal purchase that you absolutely must make on that day then hit the stores after 1pm. All of the early bird specials are over and the shoppers who seek those deals have retreated back to their homes.

I was able to tackle Target for some Christmas lights without any issue. A friendly employee was even waiting at a register with no line. She had no idea why I referred to the day as Black Friday. Ah the young and naive.

The exterior of the house has been decorated with Christmas lights as well. While I was putting them up a crew of what Spanish speaking people were reroofing my neighbors house. I was hanging of the ladder in a vain attempt to look daring when one of the workers sneered at me and walk down the ladder while facing away from it. WOW. I'm not that good. Even so I managed to get the lights on the second story without killing myself. That in itself is a success.

We were also visited by the flood fairy on Sunday night. I knew the heavy rain was on the way so I checked the sump pump. It worked at 10pm when I went to bed. Somehow it failed over night and we ended up with an inch of water in the basement. The good thing, if there is such a thing, was that the shop vac and fans were still in place from the last time the basement flooded. My father was nice enough to go over and vacuum up the water and get the fans going again. This spring I'm going to have to extend the downspouts underground and away from the house. One side of the house will need to be completely landscaped again too. Joy. So if anyone out there has some suggestions I would love to hear them. I'm not looking to do anything fancy like an elaborate French drain, but any relatively cheap solution is welcome. I know this is going to cost a pretty penny, but it's money well spent to avoid another flood. Even a working sump pump would be a good thing at this point.

2005-11-24T20:57:00.000-06:00

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone out there. We had an unusually quiet holidy this year. We only had one house to go to instead of the normal three or four. Mass quantities of turkey was consumed and all had a good time. The Monkeys tried to destroy my brother's house and they even impressed a few people with their ability to count to ten at ninteen months.

I promised to post a pic of the training center I was at last week. Well, here it is. This is the Quilogy site in St. Charles, MO.

It sure was a beaut of a building! I learned a lot and when I came back on Friday I was informed that I was going to be moving away from my old desk location and into my own office. While I'm technically sharing an office with someone I feel like I'm by myself for most of the time because we have a great big divider between us. Maybe I'll take a pic of my new space.

That's pretty much all I have now. The kids are once again healthy and Super Wife is going shopping early on Black Friday so I'll have the kids all to myself tomorrow morning. I have to say I'm pretty proud. Boo would constantly whine in the car for toys or a book. Now she simply says "please" and will tell you what she wants if prompted. It sooooo much better than the whining. Megs has been and is currently the perfect angel. She will play with whatever you give her and be content with the view out of the window.

Have a safe holiday weekend and eat lots of bird! The big bad boogieman Bird Flu might take this away from us next year! Queue the dramatic music!

2005-11-17T09:12:00.000-06:00

Yeah, I'm still in training. The class is going really well and they treat you like a god. Of course they should though. With the money my company is shelling out to them I should get really good coffee as well as all of the knowledge from the class. I'll try to post a pic of the training facility tonight. It's in a really cool old part of downtown St. Charles.

2005-11-09T12:21:00.000-06:00

It's time to put the inflatable Easter Bunny in the front yard. Well, maybe it should be time. I've become numb to the stores starting their holiday push in the middle of October, but I noticed someone with fresh Christmas lights on their house. It was Monday the 7th of November. Christmas lights. I wish I was joking. So unpack your Easter decorations, grab a margarita, and dust off the fireworks for the 4th! Don't forget to put away the Christmas decorations. The season is almost over and you wouldn't want the neighbors scowling at you again because you pushed the end of Christmas light season a little too far.

This also seems to be the season of change in the blogsphere. I hate that word- blogsphere. It sounds so high and mighty. Nevertheless, Chicken Fried Life is going on hiatus, snoozebutton has been in a serious lull and Major Grooves, Aussie Wife, and Jim have all returned from the dead lately. The one constant seems to be Dana. Through it all she continues to shop for the elusive Jimmy Choo.

Look at that sweet link action.

2005-11-08T16:31:00.000-06:00

Could it be? Jim has come back to the blogging world after masquerading as a transvestite and a twit? Those are all of his old posts. . .

2005-11-08T16:30:00.000-06:00

Guess who has blogger access at work again. Go ahead and guess.

It's kind of depressing to look at my site stats. I had major major traffic in September when I hosted the Carnival of Recipes and then I stopped posting recipes, and well I stopped posting in general. Blame it on my general malaise de jur. Let's just say my traffic went into the toilet. I never understood why anyone would read this drivel anyway.

The girls are getting over some nasty colds that had them up at all hours of the day and night. I had it the week before and it knocked me on my butt. Hmm. "One Day I'll Fly Away", sung by Nicole Kidman, just popped on. How appropriate.

Next week I'll be in beautiful St. Charles MO for Oracle training. It's my first step out of the Java world and into the Oracle world. I'd post more about that, but I don't blog about work related stuff unless it is common knowledge outside these walls.

KC was fun. It's a wonder my liver made it through that weekend. My brother likes to drink beer and so do I. When put together it can be a wicked combination. Let me put this into perspective. My brother reported that during his hunting trip last weekend he drank a "heroic amount of beer."

The leaves continue to fall around the house and yet there are none on the lawn. I love living on top of a big hill. The breeze simply takes all of my yard waste and deposits it down the street. I'd feel bad but you can't fight mother nature. Just ask anyone on the Gulf coast.

Super Wife continues to work her second job. Hopefully that will come to an end when I take this new position. Oops! I won't talk about that.

Well it's time to brave highway 270 and commence the daily battle with nitwits.

2005-11-01T22:52:00.000-06:00

It has been a very long time since my last post. This might possibly be the longest hiatus I have ever taken from blogger. Well, maybe not. There was that time I deleted my old blog and left my thoughts to myself for more than six months.

My new work location has increased restrictions on the firewall so I can no longer post before work, during lunch, or during a lull if there is such a thing any more. SuperWife is always on the computer when I am at home, so it has really been difficult to find a time to decompress and vent.

Somehow I have nothing to say. There is a lot going on at work and yet I won't write about any of it. I've not spoken a word about where I work and yet surely my coworkers read this from time to time because I've sent out links to recipes that have appeared here. I'm not saying it's bad. We have been presented with an opportunity, or so my new and long time big boss would say. It's for us to step up to the plate and perform. If that doesn't garner acknowledgement at least it might be resume fodder. Enough about work. It depresses me.

The girls dressed up like a couple of monkeys for Halloween. We saw a few people and they were hits at the STL zoo on Saturday.

Super Wife has been working her tail off with the two jobs. I only wish I could provide more so she could at least cut down on one job. She is doing a fantastic job with the kids and I want her to continue with that. I don't even get home in time to help out with dinner anymore, so she has to do that too. I've given her some good easy and quick recipes to make for us and the kids. Still I feel robbed of a creative outlet. I don't even want to read my cookbooks anymore.

I'll try to keep this more up to date but I can't promise anything. My time will only get more restricted in the future. Thanks again for reading.

2005-10-13T21:46:00.000-05:00

I fell in love with this soup after having it for the first time a few weeks ago. A coworker recommended it and I kind of blew off that advice since this person talks a lot about a lot of things. Boy was that a stupid thing to do. This could be lunch every day but then I'd have to get the spicy noodle as well and there's no way I can afford that habit!

tom kha kai or Thai chicken and coconut soup
16 oz coconut milk
8 oz chicken stock
1/2 lb chicken breast cut into long thin strips
1 tsp grated lime zest (use lime leaves if you have them)
1 inch ginger, grated
2 small pieces of lemon grass, smashed with the side of a knife
3 tbsp fish sauce
1 tsp lime juice
1 tsp chili sauce (rooster sauce)
1 handful wood ear mushrooms sliced
3 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro

Cut up all of your ingredients and heat the chicken stock, coconut milk, fish sauce, ginger, and lemon grass just to a boil. Add the chicken and simmer until the chicken has cooked through. Add the mushrooms, rooster sauce, lime juice, and lime zest. Garnish with cilantro and serve four people.

2005-10-13T08:43:00.000-05:00

Yes, it has been an ice age since I last posted, but I've never gone as long as Grooves. I'll post the new recipe for Tom Kha Kai during my mandatory hour lunch today. BTW, the Monkeys are now counting to five. Those little girls continue to amaze me on a daily basis.

2005-10-06T08:31:00.000-05:00

It's been one whale of a couple weeks. I'll post again soon when I get the chance but it probably won't be until I get back from Kansas City this weekend. Well maybe I'll post a tom kha kai recipe if I get a chance.

Here's hoping your life is less hectic right now.

2005-09-29T22:21:00.000-05:00

I stopped counting at thirty. Thirty buckets of water. Thirty five gallon buckets of water. That's when I stopped counting because I could no longer feel my feet. The sump pump had not kicked on since our torrential downpour the other day. I thought it was because we had escaped another deluge. I was wrong. I jiggled the pump and it spewed forth an awful waterfall. This stuff only runs back towards the house, so I decided to take one of my five gallon beer fermenters and catch the water. I then made the twenty yard walk to the street to dump it. I made that trip twenty times. Twenty five gallon buckets through the freshly cut grass and 50 degree temperature. The stupid pump is still pumping and the bad drainage near our house is still letting it run back to the foundation. I expect this cycle to continue all night. I'm not going back out there though because I can't feel my feet!

I had intended to make beer this past weekend but budget constraints and a lack of time put the kabosh on that project. Maybe I'll be able to make beer once I come back from Kansas next weekend.

There goes the pump again. It's like clockwork when the thing actually works.

2005-09-26T22:30:00.000-05:00

I have finally come up for air.

Work has been hectic and we lost a person who knows a whole lot about our main application at work last week. We move on I guess. People pick up the slack but that doesn't help the transition.

The basement decided to try and flood again yesterday. I found the sump pit almost full and I dumped it out as fast as possible. I really need to make some changes in the landscaping so this doesn't happen again. Who knew the house on the highest point in the whole neighborhood would have drainage issues?

We had fun this weekend. Super Wife's parents took the Monkeys on Saturday night so we could have a date night. We went to a local Mex joint, rented a movie, and then ate Ted Drewes for dessert. I know what you are thinking. No, we don't get out much anymore. The food was ok and so were the margaritas. The movie, Finding Neverland, was really good. Johnny Depp was really good in the role even if Kate Winslet was in the movie. Super Wife had mentioned Depp's acclaim over the kid who played Peter. I was disappointed to see he also played alongside Depp in Willy Wonka. I guess he found someone he could really work with. It's too bad the kid doesn't want to act when he becomes an adult.

Ted Drewes was really good. I had the Dottie and Super Wife had the Peanut Butter with Chocolate sauce. I managed to only gain one pound on the entire night. I'm still down 29 pounds from where I was when the kids were born. I did that without any weight loss plan or diet that I know of.

It's late and I'm tired. I'll try to post again soon. Here I host the carnival of recipes and I have the opportunity to follow up on the massive readership. I didn't post for a long time. Real life calls.

2005-09-17T22:20:00.000-05:00

The sump pump decided to stop working and we have had around 4-6 inches of rain in the past four days. Since out house is situated in a clay bowl none of the water actually runs down through the soil. It either runs off or drains down the side of the basement into the drainage tile. There it is collected by said sump pump and is pumped once again out into the yard. You get the picture. Did I mention we live on the highest point of a 300-400 ft. hill? Who would have thought we would have problems with drainage. I'd hate to be at the bottom of the hill!

For some reason the pump stopped working and it only started working after I cussed at it and pulled one half of the pit cover off. It then ran for over 15 minutes. I ran to lowes to get some corrugated pipe and an attachement that would connect to the sump exhaust pipe and the corrugated pipe. The resulting runoff ran to the street and then down the street. The water finally washed into the storm sewer that was well over a hundred yard away. The flow was constant throughout the day.

The basement was partially finished with a drop ceiling, carpet, and stucko on the basement walls. The carpet is gone and so are most of the boxes that were in the basement. We had wedding pictures, books, and all kinds of other stuff on the floor. My list had a number four item of cleaning out the basement. Well I guess that would be moved up a few notches in the list due to neccessity. Some of our stuff got a little wet but nothing wasn't salvageable.

Lesson learned. When you have a major drought on your hands you should at least check to see if the sump pump is still alive. We went from having no rain to more rain than we know what to do with. The grass seed I put into the yard was all washed away into the neighbor's yard. They can thank me for overseeding their lawns. While I thought I was going to get some rain from the stroms I didn't think I was going to get that much!

2005-09-16T07:00:00.000-05:00

The 57th Carnival of Recipes.

I've been racking my mind all week in an attempt to come up with some clever theme that would befit the previous works. Well since this started out as a beer blog before it became a food blog I figured I'd organize the recipes in relation to the stages of making beer. Since I know you are here to get new and wonderful recipes, I'll forgo all of the pomp and get on with the show.

The first step in making beer is to boil a large amount of water. While we are waiting for the water to heat up I'll wet your appetite with the appetizers, breakfast and side dishes.

Mostly Cajun offers up a recipe for pamper-doo or as most know it as French toast. This is a fantastic recipe Cajun equates to a rich egg custard/bread pudding.

David from third world country brings us Sorta Smores. While he thinks this recipe is too easy to be a carnival submission I have to disagree. We take all tasty recipes!

Christine at Morning Coffee, Afternoon Tea presents Summer Fruit Dip. While summer might be losing its grip on my area this recipe is not.

Anna at bunny? presents Tempura-Fried Mushroom Thingies of Doom. Heh. "The Husband" is convinced mushrooms are evil and will take over the world some day.

CatHouse Chat's Romeocat presents Broiled Asparagus. This recipe not only includes pictures, but also beer, and a Munchkin that isn't mine!

I'm putting this in the beginning because it's more of a sauce or a topper for others- Cranberry Liqueur Reduction from Allan of inside allan's mind.

Aussie Wife has risen from the dead in the past few weeks and this week she submits something about cakes, or pikelets, or hot cakes, or pancakes. However you refer to it, add a hint of drool because Sweetcorn Cakes w/avocado salsa looks good.

Shawn Lea from Everything and Nothing has offered up Red Potato Salad with Soy Bacon and Fresh Herbs. She does confess to use real bacon or no bacon at all as a substitute to this tasty side dish. It looks good and I can serve it to my vegetarian friends. She would also like you to check out Keep Cookin'. It's a Louisiana base foodie magazine that lost their offices in the hurricane. Click here for more info on how to help.

Punctilious shares a recipe for Mushroom Crostini. The might not be any measuring involved, but who needs that when we have taste buds and a nose? Looks good!

The next step in the process is to add your ingredients to form the mash and sparge it. The result is a sweet smelling wort- it smells similar to baked bread if you are making a wheat beer.

The pragmatic chef at the pragmatic chef presents Gumbo with chicken, sausage and shrimp. Wow. I'm thinking I should have made this a New Orleans themed post. This is another one for the recipe box.

Keewee's Corner brings us BLT Dip. Hold on a second while I go make this so I can finish the carnival. Ok. I didn't toast the bread or cut it into triangles, but wow. This is good. I'll have to call in sick today so I can keep eating.

Dave from The Glittering Eye not only supplies a recipe forShaker Applesauce, but also explains why you should use the freshest apples when making it.

Next we cool the wort, and transfer to the fermenter. At this point the wort will taste like beer, but it will have none of the lovely effects we get from fermentation. Here are some nice main course items to chew on while we ferment.

The Hermit from the Ziggurat of Doom solves a problem. What happens when you have half a meal ready only to realize you really don't have all the ingredients to finish? You improvise and make something tasty like Balsamic Pot Roast.

From Professor Bainbridge on Wine, Professor Bainbridge on Wine gives us Pasta con Filetto alla Crema e Funghi. Wow. I can't impress upon you enough how delicious this looks.

I first thought to put Riannan of In the Headlights dish in the apps section, but it materialized into a main course. Check out her recipe for crepes and how to use them to make crepes with ham and endive.

Mensa Barbie at Mensa Barbie Welcomes You has touched my soul with Petite Legumes et Crabe. What can you say about this besides yum? Mensa Barbie is more than welcomed to cook for me, Super Wife, and the Munchkins whenever she feels like it!

armywifetoddlermom brings us I don't give a hoot wings. These wings are just like Hooters only at home. armywifetoddlermom thinks this is one of those good recipes to have in your arsenal when tailgating or having a football party.

DeputyHeadmistress at The Common Room presents Frugal Emergency Supplies. After seeing the destruction a hurricane can cause we should probably apply these ideas to any sort of disaster preparedness we might need.

Sun Comprehends Glass' Taleena has shared an Americanized version of Chow Mein. Even Super Wife could make this. SHHH! Don't tell her I said that!

ALa of Blonde Sagecity provides us with Moroccan Chicken-Apple Beanpot. Just when I thought I was going to be able to finish this post and go to bed while suppressing my hunger this comes along. Great. Now I'll have to plunder the fridge.

Check out EGO for a great recipe for Pizza with Hungarian sausages. Why must you torture me so?

Want to try Dragon Lasagna? Go check out triticale's post. Hot wings meets lasagna? I should never have volunteered to do the carnival. There should be a disclaimer that you will have to make at least three quarters of the recipes while compiling the post.

Once the beer has fermented we need to remove it from the fermenter, leaving as much of the trub as possible in the fermenter, and bottle the sweet goodness.
Here are some other sweet things.

Sarah AKA Wacky Hermit brings us a fresh peach cobbler. It's made to serve 6-8 normal people who really like peaches. This isn't for kids. It's intended to be fed to real men and their real-man friends.

Finally after another fermentation in the bottle we get to drink all of our hard work. Here are some other things to wet your whistle.

Two Dogs at Mean ol' Meany brings us a recipe from Jackson Mississippi. Frozen Black Irish had me rolling on the floor. This drink isn't for girly drinkin' fancy pants!

Marsha at A Weight Lifted presents Apple-Raspberry Crisp. I don't think I'll show this one to Super Wife or she will have another reason for me to spend the evening in the kitchen.

Elisson weighs in with yet another Cocktail Concoction, one that's sure to raise a few eyebrows. Try it, ye skeptics! The previous sentence came directly from the poster. I could not do this any other justice!

I hope you enjoyed the recipes and the beer making process. Check our matriach's site for more Carnival of Recipes fun. Thank you to everyone who submitted this week and every week. You have increased the size of my waist line over the past year and I thank you for it!

I apologize if I missed any trackbacks.

2005-09-12T22:10:00.000-05:00

I've lost the ability to post while at work, or so it appears. We had a good weekend once again. The girls continue to astonish me with their progress. They point out things I would never see and tell us all about them. Well maybe not. On the way to church this week Kristin saw a wad of balloons over a hundred yards away and had to tell us about them. BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! My children love balloons.

Yes we went to church this weekend. That makes it two trips in three weeks. The people in the nursery have to hate us by now. This time we left the sanctuary to find K-babe on someone's lap while Meg's was in the window with another handler. Uh oh. It seems Kristin wanted to see a clock, but the clock in the nursery just wouldn't do. She needed to be away from the other kids so she could see the clock in the hallway. I don't think our tithes covered that cost. They did sit with us in the sanctuary long enough to see Grandpa sing one song with the chancel choir. They really loved the music. Hopefully they will be following in their mom's foot steps and not in mine. Sure I can sing a tune and repeat any tone presented to me, but I want them to be able to read music like I can't. The notes look completely foreign to me.

Saturday night the grandparents came over to sit for us. We had planned to go to a local festival but they had signs up about no outside alcoholic beverages. Ok then. We left there and went to another near by park so we could eat fried chicken and drink some wine. The wine was School House White from St. James and we chased it down with sausage and cheese. Yes, we are both of German heritage. I wanted mustard to go with it but I was denied. Super Wife must not be as German as I thought!

I spent the rest of the weekend chasing the gout out of my knee and into my foot. I thought I was over the major hump until it went after my foot. I guess this is what I'll have to deal with for the rest of my life. Bloody gout.

We continue to acclimate in the new work environment. The clean room is now a place of loud classical music coming from one person's head phones. I thought it might be annoying, but it really breaks up the silence so I haven't said anything. I'm sure my Iron Maiden leaks out too from time to time. I really need to get more Christmas music into the new place. I love the stuff. I can listen to Christmas music year round if need be. What can I say? I love the uplifting classical stuff. Give me the old stand by music and I'm set. Perry Como or Johnny Mathis will do the trick every time.

2005-09-08T23:02:00.000-05:00

toasted bulgur salad w/corn and tomatoes
1 1/2 cps coarse bulgur
2 3/4 cps water
1 tsp kosher salt
1 tbsp olive oil
2 cps fresh corn cut from the cob
1 pint cherry tomatoes halved
2/3 cp chopped scallions
5 tbsp red wine vinegar

Toast the bulgur over medium high heat for 5-10 minutes or until the bulgur starts popping. Remove the bulgur from the skillet and cool. Bring water to a boil in a medium sauce pan and add the cooled bulgur. Simmer uncovered for 20minutes or until the water has been absorbed. Removed from heat and let it stand for 10 minutes.

Transfer the wheat to a bowl and cool. Cook the corn in a skillet over medium high heat, stirring often, until it becomes tender- 2-3 minutes. Cool the corn and add it to the bulgur along with the remaining ingredients. Chill well until ready to serve.

2005-09-06T21:40:00.000-05:00

The weekend was too short. I wanted to spend as much time as possible with the kids and you never feel like you actually accomplish that goal. Like, for instance, how I spent an hour on the roof yesterday.

What a stupid thing to do. We lost two sections of siding in the August storm and I just now had the time to climb up there and replace the stuff. None of it was damaged so I only had to add more connections to strengthen the hold and put it back in place. If I had to guess I'd say the portion of the roof over the garage is a 10/12 pitch. It's steep! I farted around up there in the middle of the afternoon sun with shorts on. That wasn't one of the best ideas I've ever had. I thought for sure my boots would slip and I'd go tumbling down onto the lawn. The house is back in one piece and I'm alive so it was a complete success.

We went to Belleville this weekend for a funeral that turned into more of a birthday party than a wake. A long battle with cancer ended and the deceased wanted a birthday cake at her wake instead of a lot of tears. She got her wish. The drive over there was really strange. I never drove faster than 64mph in an attempt to save gas. I guess other drivers had the same thought because nobody was passing me. Before the gas crunch you had to drive 70+ or you would be pushed off the road.

This gas price increase has really thrown me for a loop too. I figured the cost of just about everything would go up with the added transportation costs, so when I saw a sale sign in the liquor section of Dierbergs I almost fell over. They were advertising wine for $109. It took a second for me to register the price was for a case and not per bottle. Is a case of wine for over a hundred dollars really a good deal or worthy of a sale sign? Who buys cases of wine from Dierbergs? I'd go to a specialty store like Lukas if I wanted to buy that much wine. Maybe they are going for the impulse buyers. I'll just drop by the grocery store for some bologna, milk, and a case of merlot.

Yesterday we tried to stick around the house and amuse ourselves without using any more gas. Super Wife put up some Halloween decorations- can you tell we are sick of the long hot summer? The house looks good. Since we are so far ahead on this holiday, maybe we could put up the Christmas decorations early next month.

The husband of one of Super Wife's friends just received a promotion and the added responsibility of caring for 2000 hurricane survivors. They are going to be housing them in an unused hanger at Lambert. There are far worse places to be than in an abandoned hanger. Hopefully all will go well and they will be back on their feet sooner rather than later.

2005-09-05T21:41:00.000-05:00

We had a good weekend. We went to a funeral and survived two kids with viral diarrhea. It could be worse. I could be checking this site. It's truly amazing how many people are not only donating to the red cross through their check books but also through more creative ways. This afternoon while on the way to the grocery store I saw two lemonade stands and a car wash for the red cross. Well done kids!

It will be a shame to have to go to work tomorrow. I'll try to post a picture of the kids eating spaghetti some time soon.

2005-09-02T10:25:00.000-05:00

Check out Over There on FX if you haven't seen it already. This is one of the better series I've seen in recent times. While the first couple of episodes were kind of shaky they have done a better job with the realism. You don't see the actors muzzle sweeping each other's heads as much for one thing.

I was kind of second guessing the addition of Zack from Saved By the Bell, but we don't have to worry about him ruining the show anymore, now do we?

2005-09-01T21:35:00.000-05:00

grilled hearts of romaine w/blue cheese dressing

2 hearts of romaine halved & trimmed
4 slices bacon cooked and crumbled
1 cp real mayo
1/2 cp sour cream
1/4 milk
6 oz crumbled blue cheese (more on this later)
1 clove garlic minced
1 tbsp lemon juice
salt & pepper to taste

I stole this recipe from fine cooking magazine. It's really good and I've made this several times since the last issue came out. Take the ends off and halve the hearts of romaine. Take off any leaves that look bad and clean them out with a good wash. Drizzle each half of romaine with olive oil and place over medium heat on the grill. While you are grilling combine all of the remaining ingredients. I tried using a Stilton blue for this recipe but a Maytag really works best. Sorry, but I'm a blue cheese snob and the Maytag really is some of the finer blue I have tasted this year.

Once the lettuce is done remove from the grill and place cut side up on the plate. Drizzle the blue cheese dressing on top, and finish with the crumbled bacon. Add whatever main course you feel is necessary to make the dinner complete.

2005-09-01T11:43:00.000-05:00

Hurricane Relief Funds

I'm not going to try to reinvent the wheel. By now many people have put together lists of charities that are/will be helping with the hurricane relief in New Orleans. I've chosen to link to Instapundit's because I haven't seen a longer list. Please try to give something. Anything will help these people. In a world where we send a zillion dollars in aid because some kid sneezes in Africa we can surely find a way to help out our fellow man in the neighboring states. I'll step off my soap box and return to beer making and recipes.

Check back on September 16th. I think I'm hosting the Carnival of Recipes, but I won't know for sure until I get home to check my email.

2005-08-29T22:31:00.000-05:00

I am the spitting image of health.

I'm recovering from a case of the gout in my knee. That means I should stay away from coffee, red meat, egg yolks, liver, organ meat, alcohol, and especially beer since it breaks down so readily into the compounds that will attack me.

Just a half an hour ago I made my dinner. Ooof. I've been bad. For lunch today I ate a double cheese burger that was the size of my head. Ooof. This afternoon I had a coffee. Ooof. I made dinner for super wife and didn't eat anything. I was still reeling from the meatfest lunch and figured I didn't need to eat anything else.

I haven't taken a gout pill since 2:35 this afternoon.

For dinner I had a plate of home style hashbrowns seasoned with salt and pepper, and a fried egg sandwich with american cheese, frank's red hot, and toasted wheat bread. Ooof. I'm washing it down with a beer. My body hates me.

2005-08-29T21:12:00.000-05:00

Another meme. This time from meagan

List Three
A. List three things on your desk:
1. a can of Miller Lite.
2. a tissue because my allergies are acting up.
3. the baby monitor so I will know if the kids are having trouble sleeping.

B. List three things you are wearing:
1. a cheap Old Navy shirt
2. a pair of gray sweatshorts
3. um. underwear.

C. List the last 3 things you ate:
1. a double cheese burger from Reynold's Roadhouse.
2. a toasted wheat english muffin with grape jam.
3. three handfuls of cheerios

D. List the last 3 people you touched:
1. my wife when I put her to bed. She always gets a good night kiss.
2. my daughter Kristin because it was my turn to put her to bed tonight.
3. my other daughter Meaghan. She held my hand as I led her into their bedroom for bed time.

E. List three things you'd love to own:
1. a le cruset french oven
2. a gas cooktop and oven
3. nothing. I don't need anything else.

2005-08-28T23:16:00.000-05:00

Today was the first day the girls had been to church since they were baptized. We took them into the sanctuary for the first quarter of the service so they could see the singing and what not. They loved it. After that we dropped them off at the nursury so we could go back to the sanctuary and they could play. They were supposed to get a snack.

Let me add a bit of back ground by saying our kids stick to a STRICT schedule. They know when their snacks, lunck, snacks, and dinner are. They have become acquianted with this schedule. We read where the kids would have a prayer before the snacks. Either our kids missed it or they knew it was snack time and then pitched a fit because they were hungry. That lead the other kids to pitch a fit as well.

K-babe knew it was time for lunch and she wanted lunch. So the K-babe threw herself about until she received some sort of nurishment. Kristin was born more premature than Megs and she has always been one who you couldn't really touch without permission. I blame part of this on her anxioty when she was a wee tot in the the oxygen box and partly on her dad's desire to not be touched. Megs went along with her sister because she knew something was wrong as well. Once we got them home thet ate like animals. Next time we should go earlier or warn the nursery staff about what they have in their futures.

2005-08-28T23:06:00.000-05:00

I'm sorry it has been so long since I posted. I've been nursing a bum left knee due to gout for the past four days. On Friday I went to see the doc who decided we needed to drain said knee to make sure there were uric acid crystals in the joint. Hello? I've had gout for the past six years and many, many blood tests have shown elivated uric acid levels. So he stuck me with the long needle and wasn't able to draw enough fluid for analysis. I've never had my knee drained and I don't think I will again with this experience to guide me.

He tried, oh how he tried, to get some liquid out of my knee. In the end he gave up and my knee swelled to twice its size by that afternoon. It set me back almost two days of my recovery.

Last night I was making dinner for Super Wife while she was out at a book club event. I went to get the food out of the oven and I burned my right arm on an oven rack. DOH! I ate the food and she came home to go to bed.

Tonight my leg was feeling pretty good so I made Huli Huli Chicken (check the carnival of recipes if you want to know how to cook it) and it was a good as always. However, I stepped on a red hot coal while emptying the chimney starter. Now I have a part of the outside of my left foot that is chared and gone. Joy. What else can happen to me this weekend? I stepped on the coal, felt the horrible pain and tried to rub it off on the concrete only to realize that I had lost the coal and I was rubbing third degree burns on concrete. OUCH! @)()*&)&)^(&)^(#W&@_!

2005-08-25T07:01:00.000-05:00

Apparently the stress was more than I thought. I have gout again and this time it is in my left knee. Shoot. I thought gout in my foot was painful!

2005-08-24T23:28:00.000-05:00

I'd like to apologize for the lack of posts recently. My workplace is now monitoring our web clicks and the new office location has given me a longer commute time. When I get home I only want to walk with my wife and kids. The internet and this blog have taken a seat way back in the priority list. Time has become a very precious commodity to me. Before I drove way over the speed limit and enjoyed more of my free time. At this point I drive 15-20mph on a major highway in a futile attempt to get home to see those most precious to me. When before I knew I had a set commute time that was further away from home than what I have now, I now have a shorter linear commute but the time to travel that distance is the same or much longer because of the office hours we are now keeping. We have an obligation to our client to keep support hours open from 8-5. That means I get to hit the blockade o' traffic at peak times in both directions.

It's no secret I dislike our new office location, but it is what pays the bills. I've been with the company for over seven years so there is something to be said for that. I know the people and I have been involved with forming its culture. We are going through a state of immense change. I should think about that "Who Moved my Cheese?" book and work with it. Old habits are hard to break.

2005-08-23T08:09:00.000-05:00

The previous post was deleted because it was way too whiney.

2005-08-19T08:40:00.000-05:00

Today is the last day of work downtown. Monday morning we start fresh in suburbia. Joy. I'm going to love working off Dorsett. Maybe if I keep telling myself that I'll actually believe it. I hate 270. I quit a job in Westport after three weeks because of the drive. Let's hope I last a little longer this time.

2005-08-16T22:45:00.000-05:00

I have closure. We can now move our offices to the suburbs. There's a homeless man who lives in the downtown STL area whom we call China. We met China years ago while waiting in line for breakfast at the McDonald's in the STL Centre. He was holding a news paper and recounting the days events to one of his fellow homeless friends. His diatribe went like this, "blahblah blah blah blah blah blah blah, grunt, blah blah blah, cough, China." From that moment on this man, with his small cup of coffee and 5 creamer cups, was named China.

His real name is Fred and I assume he has some sort of mental disorder as well as a physical problem. The man has a real bad limp and can barely make it through traffic at Washington and 6th. He once asked a coworker of mine if he could help him with his drooling problem because he knew he had seen my coworker at a local hospital. He was a doctor. My coworker declined and we all moved on. He was drooling like a waterfall.

The last time I saw China was this past November. He was wearing a furry woman's hat and a plaid suit. China was always well dressed. He was never seen in the same outfit. I guess he was a fashion snob. His endless source of clothes must have been the only source of cleanliness he had.

Back to the reason I think he was on the street. China couldn't talk very well and his speech was very incoherent. It was almost as if an institution had lost the ability to house him and turned him to the animal of the streets. China is a good guy. I've never seen him ask anyone for any money or any help beyond the drooling problem. He must be too proud or to crazy to ask for help. With the multitudes of people who demand money from you in the downtown area that is an admiral thing. The man wanted to make his own way.

Today he was sitting on a bench enjoying the sun. He was wearing a neon green hat with a tan jacket, light blue pants, brown shoes, and white athletic socks that had light blue rings. He always brought a ray of color to our otherwise drab environment.

We thought he didn't make it through this past winter when he didn't show up to his regular haunts this spring. Against all odds he did make it through the winter and I'm in awe. He must be well over sixty.

Bless you Fred. Peace be on your journey.

2005-08-13T22:37:00.000-05:00

A nuclear bomb has hit Ballwin Adjacent.

Well not quite. We were hit by a big storm today. How big? Well We were at my parents house, five miles away, and the neighbors lost many parts of their trees. We woke the girls up and took them to the safety of the basement.

I'm a storm fan. Check that. I was a storm fan. I was known to stand outside in the pouring rain to watch the atmosphere. Looking back that might have been stupid or foolish. I was told when I was a young tot that nothing could hurt you in a storm. The thunder was something to be enjoyed and so and so forth.

While we were at my parent's house the wind swirled and dropped. The clouds turned all kinds of different colors and then it was on. It was the closest thing I can compare to a white out. We couldn't see the houses across the street. Once it was over we packed up the Munchkins and made way for home. The power was out everywhere and there were many many trees down in the streets. Most of the downed trees were Bradford Pears, so I feared the worst. Out gigantic Bradford had withstood high winds before and I was hoping it would do so again in this case. I was wrong. The pear split in three parts. Two of the parts appear to have detached themselves from the trunk and flung themselves against the greater whole. Like a sail it flew to the north east and took out part of what I think is an ash.

We lost a tree and a half, parts of the fence, several sections of siding, part of the roof, and some fascia. Woot. We came home, opened the garage door, and found the door from the garage to the house at a 45 degree angle. Something blew it open. I thought this had to be a tornado, but the path of destruction was way too wide for that to be the case.

Not only does most of our neighborhood look like this but also most of the area. This was one bad storm that broke out drought. I guess this is the karma I have to live with after wishing for a hurricane to deliver us from the oppressive dry spell we have been in. We were over seven inches of rain below normal for the year last week. I have no idea how much rain fell on our area today because the rain guage has blown away to some place far away.

What does the front yard look like? Here-

2005-08-08T11:22:00.000-05:00

Beer.

I'm going to make beer this weekend if all goes well. Any ideas for what I should make? I'm open to comments, suggestions, requests, and the like. Of course the first type I thought of was another wheat beer. I love the wheats, but I really need to try something else. I've done all grain, all extract, and mixes of both. The sky is the limit.

2005-08-04T22:10:00.000-05:00

mid-continental fish tacos
Where else would you get a seafood based recipe than from someone in the middle of a continent? This recipe came about as an amalgamation of other fish taco and burrito recipes. I took ideas from all until me, and more importantly, my belly were happy. Without further ado!

1 & 1/5 lbs boneless tilapia fillets
1 package taco sized flour tortillas
1/2 cp cilantro chopped (I hate the stuff but add as much as you like)
4 dashes chili powder
4 dashes cumin
4 dashes tumeric
6 dashes cayenne
several grinds of black pepper
5cps shredded cabbage
1 jicama peeled and julienned
1 cp mayo (the real stuff!)
zest of one lime
juice of half that zested lime
veg oil

Get a skillet working over med-high heat. Add the veg oil. Olive oil's smoking point is way too low for this. We need a high smoke oil for this job so the oil doesn't vanish halfway through the job. Coat the tilapia with the spices. Keep them in one piece as best you can during this stage. Add them to the pan and leave them alone for two minutes. I suggest you use a splatter guard of some kind. After two minutes are up, flip the fillets over and recover. Watch when the center goes opaque. They are done. Remove the tilapia and place in a serving dish. Breaking the fillets up into chunks at this point would be a good thing or they will be really hard to get on the tortillas. While the tilapia is cooking in one skillet heat another skillet over high heat. Add the tortillas one at a time to the skillet and turn once when they start to blister.

Add the zest and juice of the lime to the mayo and chill until you are ready to serve.

Serve the fish on the tortilla, top with cabbage, jicama, and the lime mayo mix. Top with the chopped cilantro if you are my wife. If you are me, then just make a nasty face at the cilantro and munch on the tacos.

2005-08-02T21:51:00.000-05:00

More about the zoo. We hit the western part of the zoo this time. This is the second time this year we've been and we hit the Fragile Forrest on Zoo Friends Day before wandering down to the sea lion extravaganza. The nice thing about being a zoo friend is the ability to come and go without the hassle of worrying about parking prices or food prices. Food is still outrageous, but it doesn't hurt as bad with the discount.

I haven't really seen the zoo in many many years. The last time I was there was back in '90 with a high school photography trip. As you can imagine photos and animals were the furthest thing from my mind. I was a kid full of hormones and stupidity. Before that trip I can't remember the last time I was at the zoo. This place is full of new turns and twists for me.

The river's edge section of the park is really kind of confusing and I don't know why they designed it in like that. I didn't expect to be put on a long walking tour with no bathroom facilities, no food, and very few places to stop and rest. Sure the views of the holding facilities are grand, but most of the animals were hiding in the shade when we visited. The lack of ferocious beasts and the long adventure really left me tired and ready to go home. Somehow I don't think that is the impression the zoo people wanted me to have as a going away present. None of the other sections of the park have this long predefined experience, so why start now?

The kids loved any section that had water or fountains. The floating hippos sure made the girls' heads explode. That thing was a hundred times the size of the dog! That didn't keep poor Kristin from woofing at it though. Have I mentioned my kids are cute? Of course I have!

With its faults we have a wonderful world class zoo in the city. Only Michael Jackson has a better hook up and we know how that turns out in the end, don't we?

2005-08-02T15:26:00.000-05:00

Which one do you think takes after me?

2005-08-02T15:04:00.000-05:00

I'm waiting for the bloody server that makes my stuff pretty to realize I've made a change. This can take a while. . .

The weekend was good. SuperWife and I took the Munchkins to the Clayton Farmer's Market where we bought some goodies. An entry form for the heirloom tomato cooking contest found its way into my hands and I've already come up with my creation. First prize is $100 so keep your fingers crossed.

Sunday we took the Munchkins for a trip to the zoo. It's funny how much you enjoy things when you never get to do them. We were on the train ride. I had Megs and SuperWife had Boo. Both kids were loving the train ride and I must have been beaming from ear to ear. It was so much fun. Things like that are what I live for. There were no thoughts of work, or the impending horrible commute cluttering my mind. It was just me and my family. Obviously I don't get enough of those moments.

One more change to my work has been made and it's waiting time again!

2005-07-28T22:01:00.000-05:00

I haven't come up for air. Sorry. It was 100+ degrees here for most of last week and then I was slammed by work. Tonight I went to a coworker's going away party (he was fired like so many others) and I only had one beer before retiring to the homestead. Good thing too because my wife's friend who was to spend the evening with her decided to do other things. DOH! That means I needed to get home to bathe the kids and put them to bed with Super Wife. Good thing I left early and I only had one beer. The other coworkers can tell me I'm a girl or that I like to take large things up the butt, but I love my kids and my wife. As it is I only get to spend a max of two hours a day with them during the week. They grow up so fast and I have already missed so much.

Tuesday night I watched Terminator 3 on dvd on loan from the library. Thank god I didn't spend the money to watch that tripe. I swear. Arnold was more rigid than he had been in the past two movies. It was also obvious how much padding he wore to make himself look like the terminator of old. He couldn't hid his fat gut though. I sure hope the movie companies don't go forward with another Conan movie. It would be too hard to watch.

So anyway I watched T3. It was bad. Not just your run of the mill bad but bad bad bad. Claire Danes was once this cute teenager in My So Called Life. Well. She grew up to be a man. I spent the first half of the movie watching Claire and wondering how things went so wrong. She not only has a gigantic schnozz. She also has a jaw line and the other physical features of a man. I wish I still had the dvd so I could watch that train wreck again. It was horrible!

Time to sleep. The kids are finally over their colds and they are once again sleeping through the night. We are hitting the clayton farmer's market on Saturday morning, spending time with friends on Saturday night, and then going to the zoo on Sunday morning. It should be fun.

Only three more weeks of working downtown. I'm sure going to miss it. Sure there are the odd few homeless people who will threaten your life, but there is also the fun conventions and the people who work at the eateries downtown. I'm going to miss all of it except the 1% tax they take away from me. Working in Maryland Heights is not going to be the same at all. That place is devoid of culture.

2005-07-28T20:55:00.000-05:00

healthier chicken wings

They're chicken wings. What do you want? Granola and yogurt? You are not going to find that here. I came up with this way of preparing Buffalo wings a while back and decided to share it now since I don't have a better recipe for the carnival. So how do you make these healthier wings?

1.5 lbs assorted frozen chicken wing pieces
2 tbsp butter or butter-like product
1/3 cp franks red hot
10 good dashes cayenne pepper
6 grinds of a pepper mill

That's it.

Boil enough water to submerge the wings. Yes. I said water. We are going to start by boiling these bad boys. Once the water is boiling drop in the frozen wing bits. Don't bother thawing them because that is going to take too long. Once the water returns to a boil turn the knob down to maintain a boil but not a chicken volcano. Cook for 15 minutes or until the wings are soft and cooked through. Remove the chicken from the water and drain it if you must. That won't be necessary when you see the next step. By now you should have heated your grill to a medium high heat. Chuck the chicken pieces on the grill, close the lid and don't touch them for at least five minutes. Once you see a good amount of smoke open the lid and turn the little buggers. Yes smoke means fire, but if you leave the lid down the rendered chicken fat will not cause a fire and burn your wings. That amount of time will also allow the wings to brown and release from the grill.

If you move them too quickly the meat will pull and stick to the grill. That's not good. Leave the wing bits on the grill until it is time to move them. Notice the smoke. It's all in the smoke!

So after five minutes, or until the chicken releases, flip the pieces once and return the grill cover. Leave your charcoal versus gas grill argument at the door. I don't care what kind of grill you use. Something with a good wide searable surface will do. I used my Ducane in this instance, but since I'm not getting residuals, you can use whatever grill you have. Just make sure the fire isn't too high or too low.

Once the wings have been grilled on each side for at least 10 minutes total remove them. OH NO! What do you put them in? By this time you should have put the butter in a large bowl. Microwave it at 50% for 2:15. Add the Franks and microwave again for 30 seconds. Back to the grill! Put the wing bits in the bowl and toss. Add the aforementioned cayenne and toss again. Serve with ranch dressing and maybe some baked fries. These aren't the hottest wings you have ever eaten but since when did heat equal good? Since we boiled them and then grilled them they contain very little fat. The only bad calories you will ingest come from the butter or butter like substance in this case.

2005-07-28T10:36:00.000-05:00

Yes, I've been busy. Yes, I will post. Work has been kicking my ass and I've not had a time to get air let alone post.

2005-07-21T21:07:00.000-05:00

This week's carnival submission comes from a friend of mine. He introduced them to me while tailgating before the Nascar race at Kansas a few years ago. I have no idea where he came up with this recipe. Don't be scared.

armadillo eggs
1 dozen jalapeno peppers
1 package cream cheese (the full fat kind)
1 package grated sharp cheddar cheese
6 slices of bacon, cooked, and crumbled
1 egg
1 cp bread crumbs
1 tsp garlic powder

Cut the stems of the peppers, slice an opening down one side and deseed them. You would be smart to use rubber gloves for this or you might turn out like Rory. Don't rub your eyes! Once this is done mix the cheeses in equal parts. Add the bacon and stir some more. Stuff the little peppers until they are full. Crack the egg and beat it like a rented mule. Dip each pepper in the egg wash, then the bread crumbs and put it on a wire rack in a jelly roll pan. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes or longer if you like softer peppers. Serve, be the hit of the party, and drink their beer while they aren't looking. Oh yeah. Mix the garlic powder in with the bread crumbs. Add some essence too if you fancy yourself to be Emeril.

2005-07-21T07:59:00.000-05:00

Cold. Fever. Snots. How in the world did I get this when it's 100 degrees outside? At least I spent the night shivering away under my covers in my very hot house.

2005-07-18T21:11:00.000-05:00

Super Wife and I have come to the realization that it's time to buy new trash cans. We have had the old plastic bastards for a few years and the trashmen have taken the lids a long time ago. Since lids aren't priced separately from the cans we decided to buy one big monster can that has the lid firmly attached to the can. Our trashcans cost $11 each when we bought them. The new bad boy looks to cost $89. Are you kidding me? There has to be some connection between the supplier and the trashman!

The baby poopy and our daily trash have welcomed a lot of flies. That welcomes a lot of birds and I don't want to remove a bird from our garage again. The last time it took a neighbor and me armed with fishing nets and a leaf blower to get the bird our. I'd rather deal with mice.

2005-07-18T21:00:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was brutal. I mowed the grass for the first time since the middle of May and I forgot how slow the lawn mower moves. The heat was unbearable. Compound the heat with the evaporating moisture from the freshly cut grass and I was gasping. That wasn't the worst part of the day though.

I killed my pet frog. This little fellow had been around the house since spring time when it was a little froggy. I gave it a little pool of water to play in whenever I watered the flowers and even sprayed it from time to time. When I was mowing the grass yesterday I noticed a strange looking leaf around the bottom of the pine tree. I looked closer it wasn't a leaf but it was my frog. I thought for a second it was hiding so I tapped my foot near it. It didn't move. I knew it was dead but I didn't want to think that I did it myself. I thought for sure the rabbits in the area did the deed or maybe a hawk. I kicked it over and realized it didn't have a leg and part of it's head was gone. I killed my pet frog with the lawn mower. It's still out on the lawn where I left it. It was my frog.

2005-07-18T07:00:00.000-05:00

I'm going to miss the city. Last week the folks from reliv were in town for a convention. A little bit of research on the internet revealed it to be a multi-level marketing organization that sells packets of health food. It's funny how most of the "sales force" were overweight and nasty looking. Why is that always the case? If you are going to sell health or fitness you better be in good shape or you aren't going to sell crap.

I'm really going to miss having the conventions next door. I've become really fond of several of the repeating events. The Southern Baptists have to be my favorite group. I love them. While the 7th day Adventists wore a lot of perfume the Baptists are very colorful. The city is alive with color when they are in town. You can look one way and see the most creative hats and in the other direction you can see a lime green suit with matching shoes.

We won't see anything like that in Maryland Heights.

2005-07-14T20:59:00.000-05:00

Tandoori Chicken
5 split, skinned chicken breasts
1 cp plain yogurt
6 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 package Shan Tandoori Chicken spice mix
1 tbsp chili powder
3 tbsp ginger and garlic paste
salt and pepper to taste
3 tbsp veggie oil

Wash chicken and dry. Cut three slits into each breast to help the marinade. Combine chicken with salt and pepper, lemon juice, ginger/garlic paste, yogurt, tandoori spice mix, and cooking oil. Marinate overnight or three hours minimum. Remove chicken from marinade and place on a parchment paper lined jelly roll pan. Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 45 minutes. Turn the chicken breasts over and broil for up to ten minutes or until they look good and done. Do not let it burn.

Serve with lemon wedges, onion slices, and a good basmati rice. I also served this with mango chutney as well as mint chutney because the spice can get away from you if you aren't careful. Be sure to have a cold beverage to wash it down!

2005-07-14T10:42:00.000-05:00

The following is a true story that involves a coworker of mine. This occured in the time it took to walk one city block in STL while on the way to work.

Coworker: *walking*
Bum 1: Gimmie some money.
CW: Nope. Sorry.

Bum 2: Spare a dollar, man?
CW: Nope. Sorry.

Bum 3: That's why we rob ya'll m*ther f*ckers.
Coworker then told the bum to beat it or a butt whooping would be in his future.

2005-07-11T22:34:00.000-05:00

Welcome to STL , Dennis. Please stay a while. Is there anything I can do to make your stay more comfortable?

We need the rain and I'm sorry for the families that had to endure the loss of a loved one and for those who lost their houses. However, we haven't had any significant rainfall in the past four months. We are in the midst of the third worst drought ever on record in STL.

I have been watching Dennis churn from the time it was outside Barbados. I told Super Wife why we need a hurricane to change the weather around here and she, like most people, didn't understand. I kept the hope and watched the predictions. Ten months ago we had the same thing coming our way in Ivan and it stalled and then took a hard turn to the right. We, in STL, had a lovely view of the outer hurricane bands as it drenched areas that were no where near us. We usually get such dynamic views with out the rainfall here.

So why do we need a hurricane to change our weather? The jet stream has gone way north this year so moisture that should have dumped on us landed in Iowa or Minnesota. That means good corn to grill with, but the lawn looks like straw. We are stuck in this pattern and it won't budge without the help of something big. Enter a hurricane.

We need rain and we need it bad. Thank goodness this thing decided to land on us and dump a lot of moisture. Lord knows we have enough humidity in the air to cause something to happen.

2005-07-11T22:06:00.000-05:00

150 pound weight.

I went to the doc today for my two month check up after my physical and all is good. The BP is in the green range and while the cholesterol is 210 I'm feeling ok about that because I'm working on it and it will get down to the acceptable range. The gout has not come back and the hip is workable.

I like my new doctor. He lives down the street from me and just recently (this week) joined the practice I have been going to for a long time now. People say you shouldn't go to a GP you know, but I beg to differ. He knew one of the reasons I came in today and reminded me of it when I forgot. I'm not saying I'm going to go down the street and ask him for free medical advice. The guy is just nice and thorough.

Oh, so the start of this post? You might be wondering about it if you are still reading. I stepped on the DR. scale today and the nurse first moved the bottom weight to 150. I laughed so hard I could almost kiss her. I was 218 this time last year and I had dropped down to the 195 I've been at for the past 6 months. People tell me I look like I have last weight, but I must be converting fat to muscle because the scale hasn't budged. I ate like a bird and it didn't change. I ate everything in sight during our vacation and nothing changed. Bless the woman who thought I was under 200lbs. BTW, I weighed in at 200.5 which is one pound and a half less than I weighed two months ago according to their scale. According to mine I'm still 195/196.

2005-07-08T14:18:00.000-05:00

I had that dream again last night. The kids were in our bed or on the floor and I couldn't find them. I thought I had seen Kristin crawl under the covers. When I called her name she turned and it looked like she had coffee grounds all over her face. I then proceeded to get up and uncover the bed in a frantic attempt to find my child. I had to stop and wake myself up where I was standing in order for the realization to set in so I could go to the restroom and then back to sleep. The little coffee filter on my desk spewed grounds all through my coffee earlier that day so I know where that part of the dream came from. Earlier this week I dreamed the kids were running around the bed, so I had to get up and look all over the room for them before I finally gave up and went back to sleep.

Is that normal? I've had these dreams several times since they were born and they weren't that frequent until lately.

2005-07-07T13:10:00.000-05:00

Fun in the city! Last hour there were more than a dozen police officers, some with dogs, scouring around our building and in the metrolink station just outside. I guess this is the reaction to the London bombings. Two streets down they have closed down a city block because of a suspicious, unattended package.

Picture the scene. There's police tape and officers everywhere. That doesn't stop the people who want hot dogs from the vendor 30 feet beyond the tape. They just lift up the tape and resume their wiener quests. Stupid people.

2005-07-07T09:23:00.000-05:00

Reprinted from the St. Louis Post Dispatch's Quaffology 101: How to savor a beer.

"Oh, you think you know how to drink beer. Grab the bottle from the fridge, pop the top and pour it down the hatch.

That's not drinking beer. It's just getting it inside you."

*ROFL* That just made my day.

2005-07-05T14:02:00.000-05:00

I've made a habit about not blogging work related stuff. I'm going to break that rule. I've been working in a new area where I'm not all the comfortable. Because of my lack of knowledge I've been unit testing the crap out of everything I write. I do not want to fail, so the more testing and troubleshooting I do now the less I'll have to do later. Only the big screw ups get you noticed and I don't want to be noticed when I'm fresh in a new position.

I had written a fair amount of stuff that another person deployed to a new environment. I ran through everything to make sure nothing was lost in translation and sure enough everything worked like a champ right off the bat. I had a silent "YES!" at my desk and then I felt the urge to jot it down here since nobody else at work would appreciate, or care for that matter, what I just accomplished. There. I didn't give away any trade secrets and there wasn't a single harsh word for anyone. That wasn't so hard!

2005-07-01T10:15:00.000-05:00

Tis the season to yell at tourists. Fair St. Louis isn't the only thing going on this weekend. We also have 70,000 7th Day Adventists in town for a 10 day convention. Enter in the problem. Yesterday I was standing in a cross walk so as to block a person who was trying to drive the wrong way down a one way street. She was waving her arms, yelling at me, and continually inching her car towards me as I not so patiently screamed, "It's a one way street you stupid ^#*$&@!" She finally relented and drove off with a dirty look on her face.

This morning was even more fun. As I walked to my building this one of the many people armed with leaflets walked up to me. This was our conversation:

Stupid Leaflet Person:Sir would you like to take. . .
Me: *interrupting* No.
SLP: But, sir. Wouldn't you . . .
Me: *interrupting* Listen. I'll take your flyer if you give me five dollars.
SLP: *dumbfounded look on her face*
Me: *smile*

Another person bites the dust. They really should give these people more direction and at least tell them there are people like me in the city. Don't ask me for money, don't ask me to help your family who you have left with windows closed in a car on a 95degree day, and don't ask me to help you save some building that is going to be torn down. I'll give you directions if I know how to get to the place you are asking about. That's it. Otherwise, just leave me alone.

2005-07-01T09:36:00.000-05:00

kashi heart to heart
This might be my last installment into cereal quest as I've run out of mini cereal boxes to review. Anyway, the Kashi, aside from the heart shapes, looks exactly like Cheerios but tastes much better. The rings have more bite to them that isn't lost to the milk factor even when you let it sit for 15+ minutes. There's a nice honey undertone instead of a obnoxious sugar over tone and that is a major reason why I like it so much. Forget about the fact that 3/4cp gives you 20% of your daily fiber. If I need to turn my colon into a bullet train I'll use Indian food instead, thank you very much. This is some good stuff.

4/5 spoons.

2005-06-27T14:30:00.000-05:00

And now a foodie meme thanks to Major Grooves.

What is your first memory of baking/cooking on your own?
The first time I really did any cooking on my own was when I moved out of the parents house and into the apartment with Super Wife. Neither of us had really cooked that much for ourselves and we started with the basic hamburger/tuna/chicken helper dishes. I hate those things to this day. My wife never had the desire to try anything else so it was up to me to provide healthy dishes we would actually eat. That really lit the fire under my butt to learn how to cook. After many burnt dishes I got the hang of the temperature knob on the stove. Not everything was meant to be cooked on high heat as fast as possible. What a novel concept!

Who had the most influence on your cooking?
My Grandmother. When I was a wee little lad I would stand on a chair next to her at the stove. She showed me how to add just the right amount of flour to the turkey drippings in order to make a proper gravy. I'll never forget being in the kitchen with her when I was so young. It always made me feel so good to be able to make such nice stuff. I'm sure the stuff I made was a nightmare and I have every confidence that she tweaked whatever I made to make it presentable to the rest of the family.

Do you have an old photo as evidence of an early exposure to the culinary world and would you like to share it?
No, and even if I did you wouldn't see it. I grew up in the late 70's and early 80's. Some people might go blind between my clothes and the house decorations.

Mageiricophobia - do you suffer from any cooking phobia, a dish that makes your palms sweat?
Baking in general makes my stomach turn. I'm the kind of cook that doesn't use exact measurements in cooking and that doesn't translate into success when baking. I leave all of the cookies and cakes up to Super Wife. She measures everything out and lines all of the ingredients up on the counter before starting anything else. To her credit she can make some wonderful cookies and other treats with this method.

What would be your most valued or used kitchen gadgets and/or what was the biggest let down?
My Wusthoff santuko knife is my most valuable asset in the kitchen. I love that little knife so much that nobody is allow to use it. Use any other knife in my arsenal, but touch my santuko and it's curtains for you. The toaster oven is my most useless tool. I'd pull it out of the cabinet and throw it away if only I could muster the effort required to do so.

Name some funny or weird food combinations/dishes you really like - and probably no one else!
Sometimes at work when I'm really hungry I'll make what I call Tuna Ramen Surprise. It consists of a can of chunk white tuna, a package of chicken flavored ramen, Frank's hot sauce, and whatever else I can put in. Sometimes it is ranch dressing and other times it might be mustard and garlic powder. That's where the surprise comes into play with the tuna ramen recipe.

What are the three eatables or dishes you simply donÂt want to live without?
Huli Huli chicken has become a must have in my house. There's also a very rare beef filet to consider. Oh, and don't forget Bushmill's whiskey. While it's technically not an eatable I use it to marinade steaks and also myself.

Any question you missed in this meme, that you would have loved to answer? Well then, feel free to add one!
Q: What food can you not stand to see/taste/eat?

Maple syrup. When I was 12 I spent the night at a friend's house. His mom made french toast the next morning. It was swimming in mapsyrupryp, granular sugar, and powdered sugar. It was so sweet I nearly threw up. I've hpancakeskes twice since then and both times I hsuppressess the puke reflex. To this day I still get physically ill when Super Wife makes pancakes or waffles. Just thinking abosyrupryp makes me shiver.

I'm tagging Sarahk from mountaineer musings.

2005-06-27T12:18:00.000-05:00

I'm so sick of Mc Donalds.

Even Chick-fil-a was a welcomed changed from the Mickey D's rut we found ourselves in last week. We went out to eat at two places with the entire group while at the Outer Banks. One of those was GiGi's in Corolla. We should have known we were in trouble when my Father-in-law made reservations and they told him they only had one high chair. We brought our own high chairs into a classy white linen restaurant. I had the fettucini alfredo ($17). It was very light on the cream side and heavy on the garlic side- which I'm not opposed to. However, nothing was really cooked as billed (First Generation Classic Italian Cuisine with Third Generation Flair). They were helpless with kids and a few other families that arrived after us seemed to have the same experience. The server actually said "duh" when taking our orders and she was way out of her element. A low level chain would have been a better place for her to work. You should at least be able to pronounce the names of the specials and wines if you work in a white linen joint.

The other place we ate at was Herron's Waterfront Restaurant. They were more of a family friendly place but the food was a different story. My crab cakes were loosely held together and while they had a nice crab flavor the bread crumbs came to the forefront as well. A shrimp app came to our table and the fishy smell was hard to miss. The kids had chicken tenders and they were overcooked thin slices of chicken. The girls were distracted through the entire dinner by the guy sitting behind them. He was with his family but still wore his sunglasses through the entire meal as well as his wife beater shirt. It was a great look.

We had two surprises while dining on this trip. The first was Applebees in Nag's Head. I usually don't like to go to Applebees, O' Charley's or any other chain that ends in ees. This trip was an entirely different experience from every other trip I've had Our waitress wasn't a pimply faced youth who doesn't know anything about food, but instead she was a middle school teacher making some extra money during the summer. She fawned over the Munchkins and was very attentive to the needs of Super Wife and myself as well. When there was a food mix up she dealt with it expertly and quickly. A+ effort and we rewarded her with a very healthy tip.

The other surprise we had was at Chick-fil-a in Richmond. The gentleman working the counter asked if he could help the next guest, welcomed us to the restaurant, and then thanked us for ordering. I signed the credit card receipt, thanked him, and he responded with, "Oh no sir. It's my pleasure." Say what? We sat down at the table and began to feed the Munchkins when we recognized the lyrics to the song playing through the restaurant. It was all about God and Jesus. The restaurant seems to have this theme. We didn't know that because every Chick-fil-a in the STL area is in a mall. It's only in the south where they have stand alone buildings.

2005-06-27T10:28:00.000-05:00

We're back! Actually we were back at 8am Saturday morning. Who's counting? The ride out to NC was very interesting. We hit the afternoon rush hour traffic in STL and stopped for dinner in Mt. Vernon. We had our first of many experiences of the week at Mc Donalds. Yummy. It was the first time I've been there in well over a year and my body still hasn't forgiven me for it. We put a tv in the car to entertain the kids during the drive but the power converter we bought didn't work. So we bought another one while in Mt. Vernon and it didn't work either. So we didn't have a tv and we still had 15+ hours to go in the car.

The kids finally crashed around 9:30pm and we had three hours of silence until they woke up again in West Virginia. I tried to snack and milk them while my wife drove us down the WV turnpike. Imagine a road similar to a roller coaster. Now imagine yourself backwards in your seat with no seat belt while trying to feed crackers and milk to two screaming children. Yeah. It was that fun. We finally made it through the turnpike and the kids seemed to be calming down again. That's when an ambulance flew by us. It was 3am in the morning near the Virginia/West Virginia border. Some fool had fallen asleep at the wheel, hit the shoulder, and then flipped across the highway. The highway was shut down for almost an hour while they cleaned up the mess. To top if off Super Wife had a very urgent need to go to the bathroom. We were miles away from anywhere. The milky way did look nice from there though.

I managed to make a wrong turn in Charleston WV and again when we were trying to find a place to eat breakfast just east of Richmond. I had been up since 6am the day before and my judgment was not the best in the world. We ended up taking another wrong turn and we ended up in Fort Eustis. A wonderfully helpful MP managed to not laugh at us and at the same time give us directions back to the highway. He did scare the crap out of the kids though when he yelled to hold traffic to his fellow MPs. Hopefully we aren't on the FBI no fly list now. Thankfully the rest of the trip was uneventful.

We stayed at a really nice place in Duck which my father-in-law had rented for he and his wife, us, his wife's sister, and his wife's daughter's family. We squeezed the kid's two cribs into a bedroom while Super Wife and I slept on an inflatable air bed in the living room. I used my last contribution to the Carnival of Recipes to make the pork steaks for everyone on Father's Day. They were a big hit with everyone. We also went out to eat several times, but that's going to be another post. The seafood lunch I made for my wife and I intrigued everyone so much that I ended up making another gigantic pot of it with lobster and scallops on the last night we were there. It's nice to have people compliment you on your cooking when you have no idea what you made or how you made it so well.

The kids did real well with the ocean. We took along a pool for them to play in as well as a truckload of towels. Meaghan stuck to the towels, but Kristin wanted to crawl all over the sand and she even made a break for the surf. Meanwhile, I was standing in the surf because I don't get to make it to the beach all that often. I turned to face the beach to make sure everything was ok and a big wave hit me in the back. Up until then the waves had been at my knees, but this one hit me about waist high. It took my swim trunks and threw them down around my knees. I showed my junk to everyone on the beach including several relatives. That was a whole load of fun! I actually came out of the surf laughing my butt off because there was nothing else I could do at that point. "Hey Cousin Robin, have you seen anything good on tv lately?" Heh.

The kids slept most of the way home on Friday/Saturday which was good. I drove most of the way and we stayed clear of all military bases and towns where people had more teeth than brain cells. At one point Super Wife yelled at me because I was apparently blinking too much and that meant I was tired. What she didn't see was my fingers jammed into my eye because my left contact had gooped over. Fine. I'll stop. We pulled over in the land that time had forgot and hit the BP right next to the interstate. That's when I noticed a sign for Krystal. Krystal is a chain that sells little burgers similar to the White Castles we have here in STL, but the burgers taste better and the have more bread that doesn't disintegrate in the grease like Whities do. Super Wife, who hates Castles, made me eat my Krystals outside of the minivan so I wouldn't stink the place up. Fine. I was able to satisfy my crave (sorry White Castle) at 3:30 in the morning in the middle of Kentucky.

The trip was stressful because we had so many people telling us how we should handle the kids or that we were feeding them too much. We did manage to have a good time when we ventured out of the house to places like the NC Aquarium in Manteo. It was a smaller aquarium, but still cool none the less. I'll try to post some pictures later tonight if I can find my cable.

I'd recommend Duck to anyone. While the southern parts of the Outter Banks are packed with tourists and silly places to spend your money Duck is a nice quiet secluded area where people ride bikes around to get things. The shops all have a small town feel to them and the people are always very helpful and friendly. The seafood at Dockside "n Duck was outstanding as was the produce we purchased from the two market stands. We also managed to find a home at the Duck Cottage. It's a bookstore that also sells really good coffee. Super Wife was addicted to the Mucky Duck coffees by the time we left.

More about the food in the next post.

2005-06-27T10:16:00.000-05:00

Steamed Seafood ala Duck
1 lb mussels
1 lb littleneck clams
1.5 lbs large shrimp in the shell
1 bottle pinot grigio
2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp old bay seasoning
1/3 cp fresh parsley chopped

I came up with this recipe while staying in Duck NC last week. My wife and I were hungry and there was no food to be found, so I hit the local seafood and produce markets for supplies and this is what I came up with. Fill the bottom of a large pot with 1/2 inch of pinot grigio or another good white wine. Bring the wine to a boil and add the butter and old bay. Place the mussels and clams in the pot. Top with the shrimp. Cover and cook for 3-5 minutes. Stir the concoction and check to see if the clams and mussels have opened and if the shrimp has started to change colors. Add another dash or two of old bay and recover for another minute or two.

Remove the seafood to a serving dish and top with the broth and the chopped parsley. Serve with crusty bread and the remaining wine. This will feed three people or two really hungry people.

2005-06-15T15:26:00.000-05:00

This next week we'll be in Duck NC, so here's a going away recipe to keep you company. This is a staple of the St. Louis diet. Just like every wedding reception must have mostacolli a summer isn't complete without consuming at least one pork steak. What's a pork steak? We take the piggy butt and slice through it into steak like portions. You are left with some lovely pieces of piggy that will become very tender with the right amount of heat and sauce applied to the pork while an equal amount of beer is applied to the cook.

BBQ Pork Steaks
4-6 pork steaks
grill seasoning (Montreal, etc)
garlic powder
kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Super Smoker's Championship bbq sauce
Beer (something cheap like Miller Lite or Bud)
1 big aluminum roasting pan
aluminum foil

Season the meat with the grill seasoning, garlic powder, and S+P. You could also use Emeril's if you wanted. Grill the steaks over medium high heat until done. This usually takes 15-20 minutes. Flip only once so you get some good grill marks on the meat. Don't worry if it still has the consistency of rubber. It will get better as time goes by.

Remove the pork steaks from the heat, place the steaks in the roasting pan, and turn the heat to medium. Cover the pork steaks with one part each bbq sauce and beer until the steaks are just about covered. Wrap the top with aluminum foil, place on the grill, cover the grill and don't touch it. Listen every once in a while to make sure the bbq sauce/beer concoction hasn't completely reduced or you will burn the sauce and the steaks. If it does, then just add more beer and bbq sauce. Cook for a minimum of an hour. An hour and a half is better, but sometimes your guests will give you the stink eye if you haven't fed them by then.

Carefully remove each pork steak from the pan and transfer them to plates. The pork steaks might fall apart on you. Watch out for splattering bbq sauce because it will sting. At this point the sauce will have reduced and the slow braise will have tenderized the pork. Grab some sides like grilled corn, potato salad, and a beer. Try to eat your food before the millions of mosquitoes eat you.

2005-06-15T15:24:00.000-05:00

fruit loops
ACK! My mouth has been assaulted by chemicaly created horros! The colors! The colors! For some reason I remember these being better when I was a kid. That was also the same timeframe I thought fish sticks were gourmet cooking. I want to hurl.

0/5 spoons.

2005-06-15T15:21:00.000-05:00

honey nut cheerios
They taste the same as normal cheerios. What gives? I was expecting new coke. My kids like these so 3/5 spoons because they didn't offend me and they didn't leave a sugar slick on top of the milk.

2005-06-14T09:45:00.000-05:00

Frost Flakes of Corn

These babies sure have much more crunch than their rice based cousins I finished a little earlier. They still fall apart just as quickly, but the initial crunch sure is nice. I'm beginning to sense a theme with these Kellogg's cereals. They distigrate really quick once the milk is applied to them. I can't help but think of the Wicked Witch of the West. What a world!

2/5 spoons.

2005-06-14T09:02:00.000-05:00

Special K
The stuff in my bowl looks nothing like the cover of the cereal box. The image on the box looks like frosted flakes. What's the difference? Hmm. Special K has half the calories, a lot more vitamin b, and less than half the fiber. Ok. Fair enough. Time for the milk.

This tastes like a bowl of rice with not much more flavor. No wonder AB uses rice for the base of their beer. There's no flavor! This stuff sucks. I'm sure my body appreciates the vitamins but my tummy does not like this assault. Hold on, my tummy wants to chime in. "Feed me curry." *grumble*

1/5 spoons because it didn't kill me.

2005-06-13T12:13:00.000-05:00

Adventures of a moron.

For those of you near the St. Louis area you will completely understand my story. Let me try to justify it to the rest of you. Here in the Midwest the weather can change on a dime. We can have sun and mild temperatures one day and the next it will be snowing. This is weather in the Midwest. Either you accept it as fact or you move away.

For the past month and a half we have had zero rain. While the jet stream pounded Minnesota with storm after storm we had to sit by and watch our lawns turn an early brown, the flowers wilt, and the dogs spontaneously combust. Late last week that all changed and we have had rain five out of the last six days. Woohoo! The hoses get a rest and the dog can once again venture outside without smoldering. There's just one problem with this- I planned to bbq one of those nights.

I had driven to the grocery store to pick up some supplies and it was sunny. When I came out the sky was green and very intimidating. Don't get me wrong. I love summer storms. I've been known to stand outside with beer in hand and watch the big stuff roll in. On the way home I drove through hail and rain that was coming down so hard I had 12-15 feet of visibility in the car. This was some serious rain. By the time I arrived at the homestead (2 miles away) the sun was out again and the evening looked salvageable. The grill came out, the chimney was filled, and the first beer was opened. WOO! *drip drip downpour* HUH? WTF? It's raining cats and dogs. Quick! Get the grill to the front of the garage and it will stay dry! So I ran around the front of the house carrying my grill and chimney starter. There's one thing about using real charcoal to grill. It smokes and it smokes a lot when you first light it. The neighbors must have thought I was sending smoke signals to the rain gods.

With the grill safely dropped at the end of the garage I leaned against the car and congratulated myself on a job well done. Where's my beer? CRAP! I ran around the house to the back yard and grabbed my beer instead of pulling a fresh one from the fridge in the garage. I then sprinted back around the front of the house to see the entire garage full of smoke. No, it wasn't on fire. It was the chimney starter! What to do? Well it looks like the rain is letting up, so I'll put the grill out back again. This was a small thunderstorm cell after all. Back around the house I wobbled with the grill, starter and beer in hand.

Where was the opened can of beer? In my front shorts pocket of course. So there I stood in the fading drizzle with a smoldering bbq grill, wet clothes, and it looked like I just peed my pants because the beer spilled everywhere. Fine. Whatever. I'll let the neighbors think I have a bladder control issue. They probably think I'm nuts anyway.

I went inside to grab the huli huli chicken and corn. While I was inside I hear *crack boom*. Uh oh. I dropped the food and ran to the computer. It seems there was a big red cell that moved over my house and off to the north. It then came back south and hit us again. I WILL GRILL! We have company and I must prove my culinary prowess to the visitor!

Flash forward 30 minutes. The corn has come off the grill, but the chicken is still on because it doesn't really cook that well when I open the lid and a rainstorm that would make Noah shake in his boots hits the coals. Mental image- I'm standing outside in my white Sarah Fisher t shirt (it was a gag gift I swear!), shorts, no shoes, a beer can in one hand and tongs in the other. There are also several other cans now littering the ground. I smell like a campfire and the lightning is crashing down all around me. Did I mention I was barefoot as well? Just as I was taking the food off the grill I heard the tornado sirens in Jefferson County fire up. What a night. I put the food down for my wife and guest and went straight for the shower and dry clothes. Mother Nature sure has a sick sense of humor. I taunted her with the grill and she unloaded on me. I love St. Louis weather!

2005-06-07T12:28:00.000-05:00

Today I actually read through the few comments the few people who visit here have left and found out I was the RFT's blog of the week (hat tip Dana). They even reproduced the entire cocoa puff post.

Apparently, Cereal Quest '05 was interesting enough for someone to put it in the paper. I don't know if I should laugh or cry. My first food critic like published work and it's about a friggin cereal that looks like deer poopy. Wow.

And now we return to the normal nonsense.

2005-06-07T12:00:00.000-05:00

Holy crap.

This site is the local blog of the week in the RFT. Time to censor some stuff pronto!

2005-06-02T13:54:00.000-05:00

Sweet Grim Reaper,
Please release me from my slinger induced pain. I know I shouldn't have eaten it, at least not in one sitting, but my belly simply can't contain the tasty concoction. You'll find me rocking back and forth in the fetal position under my desk. Look for the smoke like haze.

Thank you.

2005-06-01T11:12:00.000-05:00

Two weeks until we head out to NC for our vacation. My wife can't wait, but I'm really getting nervous about this trip. The mere fact that I'll be driving the minivan deep into Virginia and the wee hours of the morning is enough to scare the crap out of me. Hopefully the kids will sleep through the night and all will be well. Hopefully.

So if you know of any good places to take 14month old twin girls let me know. I think we are staying in the south end of Duck so anything in Corrola, Kitty Hawk, or Kill Devil Hills is game. Shoot. I need to find the spare battery for the digital and get it charged.

I found this blog today which was indirectly linked off instapundit. I like her straightforward approach to blogging. It's what I try to do here not because I like the style, but because I'm not the best writer in the world. Posts that read like a conversation with a neighbor are much easier and enjoyable to read than super grammatically correct ones. Lileks is the king of the easy read.

BTW, I think frippy is my new favorite local blog. She's past dana in my daily reading because dana went on vacation.

I'm off to bask in the sun under the arch.

2005-05-31T15:03:00.000-05:00

Cinnamon toast crunch

What can I say about this experience? The cereal held up reasonably well in the milk, but the crunch factor wasn't the big issue with this cereal. The cinnamon coating on the flakes came off instantly and coated the spoon with some sort of gritty substance. The milk then turned to this cinnamonish flavored nastiness. Because the flakes held up in the milk I'm forced to give it 1/5 spoons because the experience was so bad.

2005-05-31T14:49:00.000-05:00

What a fantastic weekend. Saturday morning the whole family ventured out to the Clayton Farmer's Market where I proceeded to purchase buffalo, goat cheese, and a few other goodies. The gentleman at the Seven Thunder Bison stall was extremely friendly and happy to converse about grass fed animals and whatnot. He was a pleasure to deal with and I'll be back to purchase more tatonka in the future.

That market trip wasn't enough though, so I hit Kirkwood's market that afternoon. The fresh strawberries and arugala looked really good. We played with the kids a little bit, put them to bed and enjoyed some wonderful bison brats for dinner.

On Sunday I went to the local nursery and picked up some badly needed shrubs and flowers for the house. Our house was looking really bare and sad before we planted three oakleaf hydrangeas and many many wave petunias. The mattocks came out a few times to deal with the massive rocks that are in my yard. I ended up breaking a few big boys in half so I could get them out of the ground. My parents came over with a load of mulch/compost and we hit all of the flower beds with that goodness. After a long day of digging almost no food, and more than a few beers it was good to have some bison strip steaks for dinner.

Yesterday we had my wife's new best friend and her family over for dinner. They have twins a month older than ours so we instantly had a lot to talk about. Their kids use signs to tell them if they want milk or more of something. I couldn't help but think about the kid in Meet the Fockers whose first word was asshole.

So in honor of memorial day, and since we had guests, I smoked two slabs of ribs, some corn, and a side of salmon. The salmon was REALLY good and I plan on doing it again. Sam's has it for $3 and something a pound, so it's super cheap and easy to make. They brought some sort of dessert that was wonderful.

2005-05-26T21:24:00.000-05:00

The Best Ribs You Will Ever Eat

1 slab (or more if you are greedy) St. Louis style ribs
Lowrey's seasoning salt
Emeril's Essence
Olive oil
Garlic powder
Coffee
Your favorite BBQ sauce
Apple cider vinegar
Freshly ground black pepper
Kosher salt
Apple wood chunks

Liberally coat your ribs with garlic powder, Lowrey's, Essence, and olive oil. The ribs should look really red at this point. Refrigerate for at least 24 hours. This will allow time to set into the ribs and infuse it with all kids of flavor. Moving on to the critical part of this process- the smoke. I like apple wood because it imparts a lovely smoky flavor without becoming bitter like a long hickory smoke can cause. The apple wood also marries well with the mop sauce we will be using later. Smoke the meat over heat around 225degrees (if you have a smoker with a thermometer) for at least 2-3 hours. My smoker has a water reservoir so everything stays moist during the long process. It's almost like a smoke/steam.

Fast forward 2-3 hours, or as long as you are willing to wait. The ribs should have been turned several times at this point and you should smell wonderful as well. At this point you should make a pot of coffee. Take equal parts coffee and your favorite BBQ sauce. Add in the apple cider vinegar- 1/3 as much of the main ingredients. Take a mop and just dress the ribs. You don't want a very thick sauce here because you want your ribs to be served naked (without sauce). The thin concoction you have created is just enough to flavor the ribs and it will still not mask the real taste you have spent so many hours putting into the rib goodness. They should looked glazed but not sauced.

BTW, I like to soak my apple wood in water and then wrap it in aluminum foil. This works really well with my smoker because it doesn't get enough oxygen to burn flame, allows for easy replacement of the spent wood, and at the same time it imparts a lovely smoke ring in the meat and also makes you smell like a champ.

Remove your ribs from the smoker and slice between each rib. At this point you should be able to pull the rib bones from the meat, but I don't advise that. The rib bones are your utensils in this case. Serve them to your friends with whatever sides you deem necessary and a cold beverage. Grab your plate, thank those you have made your freedom possible, and dig in. It is Memorial Day after all.

This is as good as it gets. Who has more napkins???

2005-05-26T08:22:00.000-05:00

Golden Grahams

They stayed firm in the milk and there was almost no sugar taste to ruin the experience. The overpowering graham cracker taste took me by surprise. I like the healthy taste of this cereal but the graham taste was enough of a turn off to never try it again. Graham crackers belong in the base of a pie crust not in cereal!

3/5 spoons.

2005-05-26T08:16:00.000-05:00

The car decided to blow a heater hose last night and it proceeded to dump all of it's antifreeze on the driveway and on the neighborhood streets. I'm going to try to get it into the shop today, but we'll see how it goes. Since there is no liquid cooling whatsoever I'll be relying on air power. This is going to cost a pretty penny since the hose is in such an unreachable place.

Seeing as the car turned into a dog killing fountain I had to ride the bus in this morning. That's something I haven't done in a while and I remember why. The parslemouth gargoyle was hissing the entire ride in. I'm sure she is a wonderful caring person, but she really needs to stop talking and face forward on the bus. *shiver*

2005-05-25T09:22:00.000-05:00

Frosted Mini Wheats (Bite Size)

MajorGrooves wants me to try Weetabix, but since I haven't been able to find that in the States I'll have to work with the Mini Wheats for now. I'll try to find the Weetabix at a local shop that specializes in world foods.

The wheats were a nice change of pace from the sugar based theme I have been on. The cereal stayed extra crisp and crunchy and it only had a hint of a sugary taste. This has to be my favorite so far simply because it held together and didn't overwhelm me with glucose, fructose, or sucrose. Wait a minute. The second ingredient is sugar and the third is high fructose corn syrup. Well at least the hid it well. Is there any cereal out there that is actually good for you?

It's really strange to actually see a number next to the Fiber column in the nutrition facts section. I might have to pick up a full size box of this stuff.

4/5 spoons.

2005-05-24T15:11:00.000-05:00

Apple Jacks

When did they add the green rings to apple jacks? I don't want green apple jacks. It's just not natural. This cereal is a clone of every other Kellogg's creation. They stayed firm when doused with milk and then did have a good apple flavor even if it was chemically created. Because I'm in a good mood today I'll give it 3/5 spoons.

2005-05-24T15:00:00.000-05:00

What a good weekend. We went down to Farmington, MO for my cousin's wedding. It was a very unique wedding where the bride promised to submit and support her husband while the groom promised to be the big protector. It was all I could do to keep my wife still and quiet. Seeing as I am the protector in the family it was fairly easy. God I hope she doesn't read this. Anyway, they also fed each other communion without any input from the priest/minister/shaman/whatever he was. The guy also asked the bride's father if he was sure he wanted to transfer his role as protector to the groom? Is this the middle ages? What are they protecting her from? Should I have brought the .38 with me? Who knew Farmington was such a dangerous place. It was also a nice moment when the groom lifted her veil as a symbol of her removing her modesty. It's baby makin' time!

The reception was late, but they had an open bar to keep us entertained. We were left with a seemingly bottomless barrel of wine and small appetizers. That's always a good thing when you are an hour and a half away from home. Gimmie the hooch and an empty stomach! Yehaw! Pity there wasn't a Starbucks anywhere in the vicinity of Farmington. I could have used the coffee.

Sunday we took the Munchkins over to my parents' house for lunch and then a nap. We're trying to get them accustomed to sleeping away from home so the trip to North Carolina in the next few weeks won't be a big shock for them. So far they have done really well and it seems they are both ok if the other one is in sight.

The girls have only been apart for one night of their lives when Kristin needed to go to the ER because she was dehydrated. Poor Megs crawled all over the house looking for her sister. It was really sad to see her whimpering while she looked for her sis.

Tonight is grass mowing night. Some parts have really taken off. I wonder why that is since it's been almost two weeks since I mowed last. The several inches of rain we have had in the past week probably has a small part to play in that as well.

I think we are having Sarah's new friend's family over for BBQ this weekend. Sarah still hasn't told me what will be safe to cook. Who knows if these people are adventurous or will want the more traditional burgers and stuff? I'd like to smoke some ribs, but we will see what they say before I get to many ideas cooking in my head.

Two and a half weeks before we head to Duck NC. I can't wait to get away for a week even if I'll be driving over a thousand miles in the dark of night.

2005-05-19T15:21:00.000-05:00

BTW, you can find information about the new Fragile Forest Exhibit at the STL zoo here. Hat tip stlbloggers.com