Crappy Day
Well sports fans, today wasn't the most fun in the world. I stayed up too late last night, so this morning I ended up over-sleeping, hella groggy getting my ass out the door today. I knew today was going to suck at work cause one of my guys was going to be out of the office today so I was going to actually do some work today. The only ray of sunshine for the day was going to be at lunch.
Little background, there's this kick-ass restaurant in Half Moon Bay called Sam's Chowder House. This place serves the BEST lobster rolls in the world. These things won the top 5 sandwich award from NBC news. I've had one before, and it was awesome. I found out that this place also has a Mobile Lunch Truck that goes around to different places. Jen told me that they were going to be in San Jose today, and yes, they serve the Lobster Rolls! (among other seafood goodies and their famous chowder) I planned it out with a few of my co-workers so we were going to make the trip down there. The website said they'd be there from 1130 to 1330, so we figured getting there at 1145 would be early enough.
Whelp, we were wrong. First off, the website said they would be on the corner of Market and St. John downtown. We show up, and there's nothing. I call Jen (who's already there) and ask where the F* is this truck. She tells me to come up San Pedro about half a block, and the truck is there. We make it, and we're about 8 people behind Jen and Elizabeth, and about 30 feet from the truck, with about 20 people in line. So the fact that they couldn't get the location right was the bread in the shit-sandwich that was this afternoon.
We kick it for a while and notice that the line is not moving, and someone says as they walk past us that the wait is about an hour. This is not a good sign. We wait some more, move up closer, and then see the door open on the side of the truck and one of the dudes pokes his head out and announces that they are out of Chowder. So of course the chowder was one of the things I was going to get. I was not pleased.
We keep waiting in line, Jen orders her stuff, and we wait some more. I finally get to the front of the line! The guy taking orders finishes up writing the last one and leaves. As I stand waiting, the door of the truck opens up again and the same jack-ass sticks his head out and announces to the line that they ran out of Lobster Rolls. This was the absolutely the worst news ever. The two items I wanted to get all day were sold out. It was only around 1245 and they were OUT! The rage was building up and the only thing preventing me from burning the truck to the fucking ground was the County Sheriff in line behind us.
So I order the fish and chips and split an order of calamari with one of my co-workers. Jen graciously offers me one of her mini-lobster rolls, but I didn't take it 'cause she was going to save it for dinner, and I didn't want to eat one in front of my co-workers. So our food comes, the Fish and Chips were good, but when anticipating the Lobster Roll, it sucked. We spent over an hour waiting around and they didn't deliver. For only being there 2 hours, I thought they would have prepared enough not to run out of stuff.
After the disaster that I called lunch, I officially declare that Sam's Chowder-Mobile is now renamed Sam's Fail-Mobile.
Oh, and the cherry on the shit sundae that was this afternoon, I walked outside on a break and a bird crapped on my shirt.
SPORK?
Hey there sports fans, so it's been a while so I'd like to start with something FUN and EXCITING!
Soooo I bring my lunch to work on occasion and use the plastic Costco silverware the office supplies. I normally use a fork for lunch and a spoon for snack later.
Sometimes I find that the office manager doesn't keep up with inventory control, and spoons normally go first. This doesn't bother me too much since I can still eat lunch, but I do feel like a total Jackass later when I'm trying to eat yogurt with a fork. I eventually get the job done, but I feel kinda "special" while eating it.
This doesn't happen too often, but juuust enough to be a minor irritation. The worst part happens when they run out of forks. I realized this last week when I was forced to eat a green salad with a spoon. I was still able to get the job done, but it took me a lot longer and I was pretty sure each minute it took me to eat it, my I.Q. was dropped one point.
So after this intellectually stimulating and challenging lunch, I decided to find my own silverware to bring to work. I saw some fork/knife/spoon combos at like Container store and stuff, but those cost close 14 bucks a piece. I wanted something a little cheaper, so the Google Gods lead me to this interesting website.
http://lightmyfireusa.com/spork.htmlI was intrigued, complete fork on one end and spoon on the other? No weak-ass tiny tines of traditional Sporks! So I started small and bought a 4-pack of assorted plastic ones,
They haven't come in yet, but if they work as I'm hoping they do, I will upgrade to the Titanium model.
You know it baby! Titanium SPORK! Take that plastic silverware that makes me feel foolish! So I'll try to remember to re-post when the first ones come in to let ya'll know how they work out. (I say I will try to remember, but I probably won't).
Welcome To The Jungle
Ok so I'm pretty sure you all have heard of the shows Survivor Man and Man Vs. Wild. If not, these are shows on the Discovery Channel that show guys going into the wilderness and trying to survive. They are pretty interesting to see how someone can survive in the different environments. I haven't seen too many of these episodes, but for these, the biggest thing they say is that knowledge will help you survive. After watching one episode, one thing I know is that I'm pretty sure that I would die if I was stranded out in the middle of nowhere.
So I was flipping through the channels last night and came across Survivor Man. This time he was stranded on a deserted island in Costa Rica kinda like Tom Hanks in Castaway. He woke up after the first night and decided to go into the Jungle to look for a trail or something. It was just one guy, a knife and 55lbs of camera equipment he had to lug around. It was weird the way they do this show because it shows him walking around the jungle climbing around stuff, but the way the shots were done, he would have to put the camera down, walk back the way he came, and walked towards the camera again.
He was saying how hot it was in the jungle and how dangerous it was. It came to night and he had to sleep on a log and put the camera on night vision. This is very creepy in the middle of a jungle. Spiders the size of baseball mitts, snakes walking around and lines of leaf cutter ants walking in a line (I know leaf cutter ants are harmless, but VERY freaky at night). He tried sleeping, but couldn't because of the bugs crawling around.
The next day he was lost in the jungle again, he came back on and he was able to kill a small lizard for some food. He made a fire and BBQ'd the hell out of it. He broke up the little burnt pieces and ate it. At this point, I felt really sorry for him, being all alone eating small lizards; but I was hungry so I got some cake, put a little dollop of Cool Whip on it and got a nice glass of milk.
So as I was enjoying my delicious piece of cake, I was watching this guy wander through the jungle. He gave hints about keeping your body temperature low, and the importance of keeping hydrated. He ended up cutting his finger and said how bad it was that infection is the most painful experience out in the wild.
Eventually the guy made it back to the coast and spotted a small village so he made it out. I finished my cake by then and I was thinking about that, and I'm pretty sure if I was stranded out there like it, I would have most likely gone into the jungle and get eaten by wild jungle parrots or something. So it makes me feel lucky to live in California and I sure as hell won't plan on getting stranded on any islands. The main thing needed to survive is knowledge, so now I know, and knowing is what??? (I'll let you answer it)
MEAT!
Hey peoples,
I know it's been a little while so I decided to post about something simple. So the other day I was watching Tyler's Ultimate and he made a really good steak\potato dish so I decided to make it. It was a salt crusted, Ribeye over a baked potato hash brown topped with Bearnaise sauce. It looked easy to make and looked delicious.
We had some steaks in the freezer and I wandered to the store to get the stuff. I started with the steaks. The steaks were to be topped with whipped egg whites, folded with a blend of about 5 different herbs and a bunch of salt. Here is what the steaks looked like after being covered.
I know this looks weird and perhaps a little gross, but it's supposed to insulate the steaks and make a crust on the top. While these are all set up, I started on the baked potato hash browns. This starts with the something all things should start with. BACON! Bacon cooked down with shallots!
While this was cooking up, I had to shred the potatoes. One of these days I need to get a food processor or a mandolin, (or both muhahah) because using a box grater takes a while to shred them. After they are shredded, I put them in a kitchen towel and squeeze out the extra water. Man, I never realized how much water was stuck in a potato. It's kinda gross, but it makes the hash browns crispier.
Once the potatoes are done, they are mixed in a bowl, with Thyme, green onions, salt, pepper, one egg white, and of course the bacon and shallot. Even raw it looks good already.
Once all mixed up, it goes into the pan the bacon was in. (We can't waste any part of the bacon!)
Then it gets patted down and cooked until the bottom gets crispy. Next comes the hazardous part. I have to flip it over in the pan. Tyler did this all in one wrist flip, but I wasn't quite ready for that. I decided to take the safer route and put a plate over the pan, flip the thing over and then slide it back in the pan.
That was the plan to begin with, but as most plans go, this one didn't quite turn out (get it turn out). I started with the a nervous look,
Then the flip,
And finally the slide from the plate and ONTO the oven! Dammit, stupid potatoes fell down.
So half of the potatoes get flipped and the rest go into the oven. Soon after, the steaks come out with the crust.
While the potaotes finish up, I start with the Bearnaise sauce. Bearnaise sauce is basically a hollandaise sauce with a blend of shallots and reduced wine. So I start with the shallots and wine.
After the wine reduces, it goes into the blender with the egg yolks and then the butter!
With the completion of the sauce, the last things to do is to free the meat,
cut the meat,
Slice the potatoes,
and add the sauce,
So as always, a 40 minute recipe takes 2 hours to complete, a mess on the oven, but oh soooo worth it. It was phenomenal. The only thing that was a bit off, was the crust made the meat really really salty. So next time, I gotta make sure to scrape off more of the crust and do some major blotting. But all in all, this turned out really well and I'll have to work on the potato flipping thing. If you want to see a couple more pictures, I got them on the flickr thingy.
WOW
Ok, last Friday I was driving home and I was listening to the Tom Leykis show on Live 106.9 Free FM. This show basically has people calling in about their relationships and break up stories and things like that, but what got me this day was this particular caller.
This woman named Sue was calling from New Mexico or Arizona and she was telling Tom her story, her story was that she had a one-night stand with a guy and got pregnant. She told the guy but he didn't care, so she had the baby and then went to him for child support payments. He didn't want to pay, but she knew where he worked and got a court order to garnish his wages. He obviously didn't like that, so he quit his job, so she wouldn't get anything. She got pissed off, went over to his house, told him to give her money, he said no, so she shot him.
At this point Tom was very suprised and asked if she killed him. She said stuff like, "Yep, shot him twice in the heart." and "I'm a nurse too, so I knew exactly where to aim." Tom then asked what happened then, were you arrested, and she said "Nope! When the cops came over I told them he was drunk and shot himself, when they did a toxology report they found his blood alcohol level to be three times the legal limit, so they believed me and I never was arrested."
So Tom said wait a minute, and went over the entire story again with her step by step and all the time she was recanting her story, I could tell she was very proud of herself about how she killed this guy and didn't get arrested, but I was also thinking something pretty much along the same lines as what Tom did next. Tom's last recap of the story was that she wasn't arrested or put to trial, so he asked her if she relized that she just confessed to Murder on a nationally broadcasted radio show. He said that if she gets arrested, they can play this recording to a jury and she'll go to jail. She started to say how she didn't think that would happen, but Tom said that she called a 800 number to talk to him, and since they pay for that service, they get a log of every number that calls them. She then said that didn't matter either because she's using a friend's cell phone. He then told her that (obviously) didn't matter because when the police track down her friend, her friend will likely give her up. At that time there was a silence and then a dial tone blared on the speakers.
So she straight hung up on him and he was pretty mad about it. Not about the hang-up, but that she was stupid enough to say on the radio that she killed a guy. He said in his 23 years on the radio he's never heard anything like that, and he was totally prepared to assist the police in any way possible and was telling his producer or someone on the show to get that recording and the phone number ready. Sue was also dumb enough to tell Tom what town she was living in at the time as well. Tom then said on the air that if anyone from that town knew that voice, to call them then the police in the area and have her arrested. He also said that if anyone dropped any info that leads to the arrest and conviction of that person, he would give them $5000.00 of his own cash.
The next 15 mins or so after that was basically people calling in saying how dumb she was and how she'll so go to jail and stuff, so I basically turned the station at that point. I was really suprised that someone was really stupid enough to call in and brag about that. Now I know I hardly know jack shit about the law and penalties past what I've seen on "The Practice" and the occasional episode of "Law and Order", (the original one, not any of the spinoffs), but I do remember that there are no statute of limitations on Murder in this counrty, and this person is very likely going to jail. I also know that the fact that she didn't have a trial, and was not aquitted of any charges mean that she's not protected by "Double Jeopardy".
I don't think there could have been anything else she could say to give away who she was, she said her first name, which could have been fake, but she also said what town she was from, around what time this happened and what profession she was in. That with the "friends" phone number trace from Tom's studio hopefully means that the police will pick her up soon and arrest her for killing that guy. So I'm pretty shocked about this and that the fact that she sounded very pleased with herself when she explained what she did and what she told the police, and that she didn't hang up until Tom explained to her that she could still be prosecuted for this makes me think she didn't make it up.
The End of a Tradition
As many of you might not know, but my Birthday is coming up this Friday. As such, as many of you do know, I normally put together a big dinner and invite everyone I know, some I don't, and everyone in between. I've always enjoyed these get toghethers, as it's always fun to have everyone at the same place hanging out. Getting everyone there always involved lots of planning, annoying phone calls in August, emails, evites and all sorts of modern day communications to organize it. As many others have tried getting large scale parties at the right time at the right place, it is an endeavor, and for me I think most of the fun is in the setup as much as the event itself. I think it's part of my ongoing God Complex.
So you might have noticed that this past few months, none of it has happened from my part. I find it kind of weird that my Birthday, an event that I hold very sacred, is kind pissing by this year. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not feeling depressed or anything, I think I'm just being lazy this year. I'm not entirely sure why I'm not more weirded out by this, but I'm sure it'll hit me sometime this week.
I know I'm being narsisstic about this, and I know that not everyone takes their birthday's differently, some march defiantly into the future denying the fact that they are getting older, others just want it to pass by as another day, nothing special, and some actually get close to forgetting. Not me though, I alwasys think of my Birthday as a grand celebration of the day I entered this world, and another year I've been able to flourish. I enjoy life and any excuse to celebrate the wonder that is Me.
So after reading this over again, I think I'm starting to bum myself out that this year I haven't planned anything. But if anyone out there has any other ideas, let me know, or even any plans or ideas for a fun weekend. I'm going to get going now and get some sleep. I hope my random thought of my birthday don't worry any one else, not should you even think about it 13 seconds after you stop readng this post.
Until next time...
Well, It's Been a While
Hey there kiddies!
As the title states, it has been a while since I've been on the horn here, and I'm not sure where to start. I guess I'd better start with our little addition, Penny! As I'm sure most of you have already seen on Jen's website, we got a new cat last month. She's a little 4 month old Calico kitten. She's really cute, with a lot of white, brown, black spots. I forget how to put a photo in this blog thingy, but I'll figure it out or work on getting that Flickr thing that ya'll seem to love so much. But back to Penny, we got her at the shelter, and for like 150 bucks they were going to throw in the adoption fee, first round of vaccinations, Spaying, and the GPS tracking chip or whatever they call it. I thought it was a good deal until I get the call from them that she is sick with an Upper Respitory Infection and can't go into surgery.
So that totally sucked, as we then had a new sick kitten. We had to give her medicine 3 times a day and make sure she eats and drinks. It took like 3 weeks of back and forth, but she's all better now. After a few visits to the vet, we found that other people who adopted cats at the shelter also caught the Upper respitory infection. Also about this infection, some cases, it's a form of Herpes and the cat can sometimes never recover fully from it. As you can guess, this kinda freaks us out.
But she's all better now, which is good. We keep her in the second bathroom when we sleep and when we're at work. I don't think she like it too much, cause every morning she hears our alarm clocks and starts meowing like crazy until we let her out. The same goes for when we come back from work, as soon as we step in the apt, she starts meowing.
So it's cool that she wants to play with us a lot. She is a little wierd though. We found out that she likes Audrey Hepburn. That's right, Audrey Hepburn. If you've seen that GAP commercial where she dances around against a yellow background to AC/DC's Back in Black. When it comes on, Penny just totally stares at the screen and if she's close to the screen, she paws at it. Another thing she does is attack the cursor on my computer when it's zipping around.
Ugh, it's getting late. I guess I'll update again later.
Until then.
