Officially, I had "Country Pork and Parsley Crust" for dinner. I would actually call it "Root Vegetable Stew" if it were me. It did contain pork and a parsley-ricotta crust, but really it was a huge hearty stew of root veggies. Rutabaga, parsnips, carrots, and leeks made the bulk of the stew. They were complemented with celery and parsley. It was interesting. I've never used most of those ingredients, much less eaten them! (Review: it wasn't bad. I would make it again, but wouldn't rave about it.) Also - it was good practice for my recent cutting class.

Current Mood: content

So since this summer, friends of ours from San Diego (jawajames) got us into playing Dominion and its companion game, Dominion Intrigue. Tonight, playing with friends of ours locally, we had our lowest-scoring game yet. It ended when both the swindlers and laboratories were purchased, and was a final score of 6-7-8-9. (I unfortunately had 6, so was the big loser.) But the good news is that Monique, new to the game, won with 9. I say that's good news because I find that people like the game more if they can win shortly after learning. What was crazy in this iteration was that so many of the piles of cards were low, because the swindler caused each player to trash their top card in their draw deck, and draw a replacement card of the same value. The swindler was our only 3-coin card (other than silver), and our only 4-coin card was a garden. So it was purchased (and then used) with relative frequency. Plus, we discovered that copper cards could be swindled into curse cards, and 6-point victory cards into gold (later in the game), which kept the scores quite low. There were only two provinces purchased the entire game, which was won because in the last round Monique purchased a Duchy.

This was after a prior unusual game, which I won because I had remodeled two gold cards into provinces. In that game, the witches were causing so many curses to be given out that curses were one of the two piles which ran out (I don't recall the other one, but I think it was something I bought to end the game).

Anyway, fun games tonight, even if they were quite wierd!

Current Mood: happy

So I just spent 20 minutes reading Obama's planned remarks to the Notre Dame graduates (link), and I have to say, I wish I had been there. The speech looked excellent and dignified--respectful and on a tone of acceptance.

So, if you're trying to kill time, go read them. I enjoyed them. And I am disappointed that the Bishop of the Fort Wayne/South Bend Diocese skipped the graduation, that he apparently is among those who felt that only by not attending could he appropriately show his disagreement both with the President's position on one [albeit major] issue and the school's decision to honor this President in spite of that one issue.

Since right around Christmas, I have been trying to figure out how to make tortillas. Specifically I am interested in making flour tortillas, because I prefer their taste. I had been given a recipe which others had found good for making tortillas on The Homesick Texan's Blog. So I tried it out. Unfortunately, while their taste was really good, I have been unable to get them to roll/cook just right. They are too thick, and too small. The smallness is in large part due to the fact that they don't stay rolled out, and when put on the burner, they contract into very small tortillas. For Christmas, I got a tortilla press, hoping that would solve the problem by pressing them instead of rolling them. Unfortunately, the same problem occurred, and I was left with too-small too-thick tortillas. Having seen Alton Brown make tortillas on Good Eats, I endeavored to make them more like his. The key difference seems to be that he was making corn tortillas. So -- following his suggestion, I went to the store (with K) and bought some Masa corn flour, which contained a recipe for making tortillas. The recipe was super-easy (combine the flour with salt and water, mix, form into balls, press, and cook). Unlike the flour tortillas, these don't contract after being pressed/rolled, but rather hold their shape and size, and cooked up nicely.

Unfortunately, they were corn tortillas and not flour tortillas, so I didn't like the flavor as much. But they were surprisingly easy, and were really quite good for corn tortillas.

So, while my quest is still open for a good flour tortilla, I have made progress of sorts (and hey, now I can make my own tortilla chips, too!).

So last night we cracked open our new food processor. This was after working my way through the new Christmas gifts. Previously, we've used the new cast iron griddle/grill pan, which we've used to make burgers, pancakes, and tortillas. Then we've used the rice cooker -- both to steam broccoli and to make rice for stroganof. We also used the cast-iron tortilla press to make the tortillas--though this one will take some more practice before I'll be good at it (the tortillas didn't keep their shape from the press to the pan). And of course, the salad spinner has been used to spin the lettuce for our burgers.

But last night was the time for the food processor. Yes, technically the food processor was not a Christmas gift. But we got it during Christmas break, and it was paid for using Christmas money from Kristina's grandparents, and a gift card from Crate and Barrel which our San Diego friends gave us as a moving-away/housewarming gift.

So we used the food processor to make homemade peanut butter, which I had seen on Food Network's Good Eats (with Alton Brown). It was incredibly easy (add the peanuts, salt, and honey), process, then slowly add peanut oil while processing until creamy. And quite tasty -- we had a peanut butter snack on fresh made bread last night. Yum!

As an added bonus -- another use for the salad spinner is to skin the Spanish peanuts. You rub them between your hands to loosen them, then put them in the spinner to spin them out of the peanuts.

Next, we'll be looking for a way to use the dutch oven!

Current Mood: cheerful

So mercifully, my nieces and nephews let me sleep in until almost 7. Apparently they were up at 4am, and managed to let us sleep until 7. Then we came up and opened our stockings and Santa gifts, and now are sitting around as the family gets ready to go to church. Kristina and I went last night, so we're going to use the time to shower and get ready when the house is all to us.

When they get back, we'll open the rest of the gifts. But from the East Coast, Merry Christmas to all, and to all, a good morning!

Current Mood: pleased

A success. Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

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Current Mood: full

So I noticed today that LJ is now displaying ads when you're not logged in. This kinda bothers me, and I'm beginning to think that maybe I'll switch to blogging (when I actually do, which isn't that frequently) on my own site and not on a hosted site. That site has RSS, so you'll still be able to subscribe. What it would probably do is eliminate the ability to write locked posts which only friends can see (since these mainly work by the common user base).

What does everyone else think?

So I'm now two weeks into my job at Purdue, and thought it a good time to update everyone. In my first two weeks, I've taught 5 lectures. They started off rough, and have gotten progressively better (in my opinion). The good news is that students are still coming to class, so things can't be that bad.

However, lecture planning has taken a large portion of my time. For me to survive as a faculty member, I have to get to the point where lecture preparing leaves me enough time to advise students and do research, too. But it's getting easier, so I'm hopeful soon I'll find time for other activities as well.

We did go see Purdue's season opening game this afternoon against Northern Colorado (which Purdue won handily). It was impressive to see that many students at a game -- much more impressive than any ACC football turnout. I think there were 5 sections of the stadium as student sections, where the entire section was students (and each section had around 80 rows). And they were all in black -- they call that a "blackout". Another impressive thing was how the role of the band differed. At the ACC schools I've been to, the band did a pregame show and a halftime show, and some pep music, but mainly during the game seemed deferential to the other spirit leaders. At the Purdue game, the band stands were at the field level, so band members would regularly be dancing around on the grass (but out of the field of play). Also, it appeared the band led the cheers, not the cheerleaders (who followed with the stuff the band was playing). On the plus side, the band was able to synchronize the whole stadium at once, which was impressive. Two other things which were new to me were:

• Variable speed wave: They started the wave off normally, but at some point converted to a slow-motion wave. Literally, looking at it, I initially though that I was seeing things in slow motion, before I realized that no, they were just doing the wave in slow motion. It was really cool. Then later they started a second, fast-motion wave, which overtook the slow-motion wave


• Lifting students up when touchdowns are scored. Both men and women, being lifted up by the people around them, and tossed in the air (some just lifted, others tossed), some number of times before being put back down. At the height of the game, there were at least 20 people being lifted in this fashion across the student section.
  

(to the tune of "Happy Birthday")
Happy Birthday to You!
Happy Birthday to You!
Happy Birthday Dear Kristina,
Happy Birthday to You!

I have defended my dissertation, and filed it with the University. It's formatting has been approved by the appropriate people, and the Dean of Graduate Studies has approved my final paperwork. I believe that officially, I have now completed my Ph.D. Graduation is June 22nd, and my parents, in-laws, and brother-in-law (and of course Kristina) will all be in attendance as my adviser hoods me.

Now it is time for a few brief moments of relaxation and a vacation, then it's time to move on and get started on my career.

Current Mood: accomplished

Well, to those of you following the job saga, it is now over (pending approval by the Provost). After 2.5 months of interviewing all over the country, we have decided to accept a position in the Computer Science department at Purdue University. None of the details are set yet, so don't start asking questions about when we're moving or anything. But sometime prior to August 18th (my start date at Purdue), we'll be moving to the West Lafayette, Indiana area. So when you find yourselves visiting Purdue, Indiana, Indianapolis, or Chicago, let us know!

At this point, the active San Diego Witch fire (the one closest to us) seems to be at the North and East ends of the burn area, which effectively puts us out of danger. (This map http://www.sdcountyemergency.com/newsreleases/10242007_1400hrs_Evac_FirePerem.pdf of San Diego county can illustrate this).

The neighborhoods north of us which were evacuated are now allowing residents to return. My advisor, who had to evacuate early Monday, was able to return to the neighborhood to find his house largely undamaged (broken water line, cosmetic damage, and currently without power). He was very fortunate, many of his neighbors (and in particular his 4 nearest north and east neighbors) were not so fortunate.

The current threats to our area [not to diminish the threat to other areas of San Diego County, who are still battling the front lines of the fire] now is the possibility of power outages and air quality. Several of the distribution lines of power into San Diego are down, so the power situation is very precarious. Also, with the fires, there is a lot of ash and smoke in the air, causing them to recommend we all stay indoors as much as possible, with air purifiers.

I'm back in my office at school today, but the building is still essentially deserted. UCSD is closed for the rest of the week.

Useful links about the fire:

• Union Tribune Firestorm Blog


• San Diego County Emergency Page with maps from every few hours
  


• KPBS Updated Google Map of the fire

So for our September Theatre, we decided to go see Chicago (official site, review) at the San Diego Civic Theatre as part of Broadway San Diego. As a real treat George Hamilton was cast as lawyer Billy Flynn. What I didn't realize was that George Hamilton also played Billy Flynn on Broadway, in 2001 and 2002 revivals of the play. I, however, know George Hamilton primarily from his role in Zorro, the Gay Blade. As it turns out, Billy Flynn has been played by a number of well known actors from the screen. The movie version of Chicago features Richard Gere, and the original 1975 Broadway production of Chicago was played by none other than Law and Order's Jerry Orbach!

The production was exciting, lively, fun, and talented. I thoroughly enjoyed watching George Hamilton in person. Unfortunately, I'm afraid my enjoyment was primarily fed by hype though, rather than an especially talented production. On the plus side, the dancing was quite good -- worth seeing in person. But otherwise, our opinion of the play was that you may be better of watching the DVD. In the DVD, you get better sets, better articulation, closer views. There were many parts of the play in which it was just hard to understand what they were saying. Had I not seen the movie, I think I might have been confused in many places. Other pros about seeing it in person: the puppet scene worked better on stage, and I don't recall the "Mr. Cellophane" song from the movie (it may just have not been as notable). Finally, two notables: First, there wasn't much to the set. It seemed the play was an attempt to do a play within a play. The actors interacted a bit both with the audience and the band, which was itself on stage rather than in the pit. This was a bit interesting to me. Second, there seemed to be places in the play where the audience as a whole felt the need to call out and shout stuff. It didn't seem prompted, and I don't believe it was completely spontaneous. I felt like it was somehow brought in from elsewhere, and that it was simply the way the audience was "supposed" to watch Chicago.

Finally, as a note to all you theatre goers: DON'T SING THE SONGS ALONG WITH THE CAST OR DO PUNCHILINES WITH THE DIALOG UNLESS SPECIFICALLY ASKED TO DO SO BY THE SHOW. The woman seated next to me had the bad habit of doing parts of the script/soundtrack with the cast. It was very annoying. I glared at her a few times, but I'm not sure she noticed. It certainly didn't seem to bother her.

So here I am, a month late, posting about our August theatre. This post will hopefully be quickly (within a day or so) followed by another, in which I tell about our September play.

So in August we made our way to San Diego's outdoor theatre in the park -- the Starlight Bowl at Balboa Park. This theatre had been built up for us as a cool place to watch a show, because as the planes fly over (which they frequently do), the actors freeze frame when appropriate. (Songs do not present an appropriate time to pause).

The play was the same plot line as the movie. There's not much to report there. Some songs were new, but otherwise it was the same. As to the theatre itself, there were a few things to be desired. First, the actors didn't freeze frame nearly as much as we thought they should, and not stopping during songs was also a significant issue since so much of the play was in song. So that was annoying. But also, the stage crew was a bit less than sensational. In at least two circumstances, curtains fell on plot pieces or people still on stage. As a final issue, though this is I suppose to be expected in such a casual theatre, the seating was not paused during the opening song -- and people found their way to their seats through the whole first song. Unfortunately, we were to the right of an aisle, and these people blocked our view, leaving us to just feel like we were listening to the sound track.

On the plus side, the players weren't bad, and the show was fun. But I don't feel the need to go see another show there anytime soon, at least not for the theatrical expertise.

So I'm a little late in posting about this past weekend, but better late than never.

There were three things of note going on this weekend.

• Muffins. Sunday morning we got up and wanted breakfast. But we didn't want to make pancakes, didn't have any bread made, and didn't have any green pepper for burritos (and anyway, we'd had a burrito at the Zoo Saturday morning and probably would not have wanted another one immediately). So I came up with the idea of making muffins. Of course, we didn't really have anything to put in the muffins, and I don't think we were all that keen on plain muffins. But, upon consulting the cookbook, we discovered a cheese muffin recipe, so we decided to try it out. (We also saw a bacon recipe, but were too skeptical for it). I made two modifications to the recipe. First, I used sharp cheddar rather than american. It's what we had on hand. Second, I forgot the sugar. (Kristina and I were discussing the recipe later, and I denied it called for sugar, knowing I hadn't added any. She corrected me -- oops). They were actually quite good. I was very surprised. Kristina said they were a lot like biscuits, in the shape of a muffin, which is probably a fair description. The sugar might have changed that slightly. But we also decided that they'd be good if we added the bacon to that recipe too -- a cheese and bacon muffin. You should try it sometime.



• Zooloretto. This is a new game we got from my sister for my birthday. We didn't get the opportunity to play it at the beach, so we gave it a try Saturday night. We weren't going to--Kristina and I had already cozied up for an evening in when J and W, whom we had called earlier in the day, were calling to let us know they were free finally, and did we want to do something? So we invited them over for dinner and the game (yes, it was a late 9:00 dinner). It was a neat game. Not too complicated or long, but still satisfying. Others said it was like Puerto Rico in its play, but would not likely suffer the same fate where after a times playing the game would be decided based on a strategic move early in the game. Definitely on the list of games worth playing. And later, J pointed out that on the Zooloretto website, there are free downloads of some additional pieces which can be added.



• Harry Potter 3-d. Since the aforementioned friends were busy earlier in the day Saturday, Kristina and I decided to go see the newest Harry Potter movie (Order of the Phoenix) before it stopped showing in the 3-d IMAX theatre. Overall, we were pleased. No, it wasn't exactly like the book, and yes, it left out some important details/scenes, but hey, we're talking about a very long book after all. The big disappointment for us is that we expected the whole movie to be in 3-d. But instead it was just the conclusion -- the last 20 minutes or so. Granted, that was the primary action, but for it to be made a big deal of, I would have thought the whole movie would be like that. Oh well. Worth seeing, though probably okay if you want to just rent it later.

So today we went to go see Avenue Q. It marks our July trip to the theatre.

Avenue Q is a sort of "adult" tribute to Sesame Street (puppets and all). Not for kids. Not for the easily offended.

Overall, I though the play was very funny. It was definitely lewd and crude at times, though less so than I had thought based on what others had told me (Kristina disagree on this point -- it's pretty much what she expected).

I was pleased that it in fact had several positive themes to it. It also had several parts where video screens dropped in from the top to show segments like would be found in a Sesame Street episode, which was very clever.

Anyway, I really can't do it justice, but we enjoyed it.

Then off to church. Afterwards, to Trophy's, where we celebrated the final night Ray would be in town. Ray is the server at Trophy's we get every time we go, which is probably twice a month, with our friends after church (including Tom). We go often enough that he knows precisely what I order, he just asks me if I want the usual. It will be sad to see him go. Trophy's just won't be the same without him, and the draw to go there will be much less.

Anyway, we finished the last episode of West Wing season 2, so now we're moving on to Alias. I'm watching the pilot now. Pretty good so far. I can see how people who started from the beginning could be wrapped in.

So today was our 5 year anniversary (and on Friday the 13th). A very pleasant anniversary. It was, as were our prior two, spent at the Hotel del Coronado for dinner. Unlike prior years though, it was spent with Kristina's parents, who provided the financial sponsorship of the evening.

It was a very nice dinner, though I'm afraid Kristina was a little disappointed with her pork chop. It was a fine pork chop, we both agreed, but for a really nice dinner, a "fine" meal just isn't really what you expect. But I know she enjoyed both the shrimp appetizer and her Creme Brulee, so overall I think it went fine.

Tomorrow we're headed to Seaworld. Probably our last trip there while we live in San Diego -- Kristina's membership expires on Monday.

As a final note, I've started a new tech blog on my website, one more appropriate for work/school use. I'll post all my personal stuff here, and all my computer stuff there. If you want to read about my tech stuff, you'll have to check that out too. There's an RSS feed, so if you use an aggregator it shouldn't be too hard.

So last night I ventured to try out a new recipe. I sort of loosely followed the recipe in a cookbook for calzones. This meant I made the dough in our bread machine, using a cross between the recipe suggested in the book and the recipe out of my bread machine cookbook. Then, I made a filling by mixing some store-bought pizza sauce with some ingredients from the suggested sauce--peppers and onions, and prepared the chicken pieces mostly as suggested. I stretched the dough as instructed (really cool!) and filled it with chicken pieces, some sauce, and some cheese, then sealed it over and baked it as instructed.

Overall, I was very pleased. I think that I could probably have filled it with more stuff, but it was a lot of fun to put together. The challenge with adding more stuff is getting it put together without spilling everything and making a big mess. The other thing I discovered is that at least on the stoneware, after folding over the calzone it's not easy to move it, so you have to be careful about where you put it down so that you don't run out of space for preparing the others.

So that's all from this Kitchen Edition, tune in next time for more food talk.

So this mid-week event marks the beginning of a crazy season for us. Today we went to a party at a friend's, but she didn't have fireworks plans, so afterwards, we're back at home watching the NY fireworks on TV. I think it's nice, because I think I'm a little tired of seeing mediocre fireworks shows. I miss the NC Symphony in concert with the fireworks.

Anyway, before moving on from the 4th, just thought I'd plug a friend of mine's 4th of July reflections: Independence Day from Tom's blog.

So Friday we've been invited to a wine and cheese party, then have to run off to get my in-laws from the airport, who will be visiting us for the next two weekends (one of which marks our 5th wedding anniversary). Then we'll be in NC for a week at the beach with the 14 of my family as our big family gathering this year. This takes us to early August, when we'll get our next break.

So wherever you are - happy July 4th!