Via MetaFilter, I found a neat website called Lifehacker. It bills itself as "Lifehacker recommends the downloads, web sites and shortcuts that actually save time. Don't live to geek; geek to live." Besides saving time, there are some pretty neat ideas, like this one: How to make a Life Poster.
Using iPhoto on a Mac, he shows how to create a 20"x30" photo collage, which actually sounds like a pretty neat gift, if you can come up with 98 interesting photos to fill it with.
Only 4 more days until we're on vacation! Not to rub it in or anything, I just really need this vacation. The first day we're down there, I hope Laura and I go to the spa for a massage. I had one there last time we were down there and, while it was a little expensive, it was very relaxing. Of course, I should add I've only paid for a massage twice in my life. Once at Cesar's Palace, and at this spa in Port St. Lucie.
The lentil soup came out pretty well. It could probably have used a little more simmering, as I'm used to my lentils being a little more mushy. I used a 1/2 cup of red wine, which really gave it some body and character. After cooking it, I stuck it in a thermos and brought it to Barnes & Noble where Laura and I shared a home-cooked lunch. I'll put the recipe up eventually but it was basically this: onion, celery, carrot, garlic, chopped parsely, lentils, and 2 quarts of water. Just to make things interesting, I added 2 hot peppers, and replaced 1/2 cup water with the wine.
Posting has slacked off lately; I've been in sort of a funk at work and at home. Work, while still fun, has become much more political lately, and these things tend to distract me from writing good software. It doesn't help that some of the projects I'm on seem to drag on forever, some two months past their "due date". (Of course, deadlines in software development are notoriously hard to pin down, given the fact that they're usually based on estimates that don't take into account any unforseen difficulties).
At home, I feel like I'm just muddling through. Weekends go by and I feel like I've done nothing. I have the ambition to do something, I just don't know what. Its not necessarily always cooking, although that still is as fun as ever. Cooking-wise, I'm at the point right now where I always want to try new things. I don't necessarily want to settle into any culinary routines, because there's still so much I want to try.
Recently I made some pizza. I made the dough from scratch (flour, cornmeal, yeast, oil, water in the food processor) and made some sauce from a can of crushed tomatoes (plus garlic, red pepper flakes, a little basil and some salt). 8 minutes in the oven with some fresh mozzerella and some olive oil on top. That's good stuff, although the little 8" pizza's I make aren't really enough to fill up 2 people.
On Saturday, I made some poached cod. This was actually the first time I've ever cooked fish, but I think it came out decently. I just watched the poaching episode of Good Eats, and so I made a Court Bouillon (water, white wine, lemon, garlic, onion, celery) as my poaching liquid. After the fish finished poaching, I added a little butter and made a sauce reduction which I served over the fish and steamed rice. I think I had the water a little too hot, as some of the fish was overdone, but most of it was just right.
Today, I'm going to make a lentil soup. This is from a new cookbook that Laura bought me the other day (the result of some returned duplicate Christmas presents), Vegetarian Cooking for Everybody. If the snow lets up, I'm going to bring it over to the bookstore to share some lunch with Laura.
5 days until we're off to Florida! Hopefully the drive will be easy. We'll be hitting DC on a Saturday afternoon, so hopefully the traffic won't be so bad. (It seems, that no matter what time we leave, we always hit traffic on the Beltway, or south of DC. Hopefully being a weekend, it'll be better this time). We'll be taking the new subaru of course, so no more clutch-leg cramps, yay!
Growing up, the best thing that could happen in the sports world for my family was the Redskins winning the Superbowl, which they did twice in '83 and '88. (By the time the '92 season rolled around, I no longer really held any loyalty to the team). I remember stepping outside after the win and hearing people around the neighborhood honking horns and banging pans.
Now, that feeling grows and grows as the Patriots win their 3rd SuperBowl! WOOOHOOO! I couldn't resist honking the horn a few (okay several) times on my way home, and there were pleny of other people doing the same thing. Ecstasy has struck Boston again!
The Beauchamp's hosted another great season, as usual, and last night there was quite the spread of food. I prepared some guacamole, tomato & basil soup (with goat cheese garnish), and some excellent brownies. The recipes will be up shortly!
