Yay! Blog!
Category: Food

A quick update for youz guyz:

• When I muster up the energy to write, I usually write on the Lunch with Brian blog. Today, I wrote up the visit to Perry's Steakhouse we made earlier this month.
• I've changed jobs again. I'm back to doing what I did around 2002... Java programming and general techie data type support. It's a lot less stressful, and I'm sleeping much better at night.
• National Solo Album Month (NaSoAlMo) is just a month away. I'm already getting excited about writing and recording another album!
• I haven't been to Starbucks in a couple of weeks. *GASP!* It's because I started going to The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf. I prefer Starbucks mochas, but the pastries and iced teas at Coffee Bean are far superior. Chocolate chip scones, chocolate croissants and Round Rock donuts plus teas like Japanese cherry, apple roiboos and 10 gallon black. Great way to start the morning!
• A new favorite band is Pomplamoose. They do fun video songs on YouTube. Today's video includes a puppet playing the kick drum on Earth, Wind and Fire's September. They also have a fun cover of Beyonce's Single Ladies that's been making the rounds on the interwebs.
• Next up? October!

I'm thinking about going through the Panda Express drive through for supper tonight. I wanted to look at the menu before I go, so I can consider ordering something different than usual. Drive throughs aren't conducive to thoughtful consideration of menu items.

They must have hired some fancy animated graphics person who knows nothing about good Web design, though, because it's freaking annoying. I wanted one page where I can scan the entrees. What I got, is game-like. There are little bowls that move when you try to click them. Chasing them with the mouse gave me a headache.

I suppose the people who approved of this site don't actually need to USE the site. Screw Panda Express.

I'll still eat there because it's fast, and I like the food. But their Web site sucks a$$.

See for yourself and let me know what you think.

• I got a tiny tree a couple of weeks ago. It started as a stick with roots, but shortly after I planted it in a pot on my back porch, the leaves started sprouting. It was a real joy to see the progress every day. One evening this week, I watered the little tree and marveled out how much growth it had. The next morning, all the leaves were gone. My best guess is that something ate them. It really took the wind out of my sails that day, and I'm not sure that I've recovered. I don't know why it affected me so much.
• My out of the house adventure today will include Waterloo Ice House for chicken fried steak and eggs, and Target for toilet paper and Lipton onion soup mix.
• I watched the pilot of The Unusuals. Amber Tamblyn and Adam Goldberg attracted me to it. It's quirky and looks like it has a lot of potential.
• I wish networks would stagger the television season. There are months when there's nothing new on. And then months when I can't keep up.
• It wouldn't be April in America without taxes and my song Tax Lady Blues.

They've started a program at work where, once a week, a farmer brings seasonal produce to our workplace. We can pay $25 for a crate full. I've participated three times, and it's changing the way I think about meal planning.

We're in winter veggie season, so this week's haul was:

• kale
• mustard greens
• cauliflower
• brocolli
• collard greens
• salad greens
• 3 tomatoes
• 3 grapefruits
• 3 heads of cabbage (red, green and savoy)
• green onions

There were also turnips and some other kind of greens, but I traded those for two of the grapefruits.

I'm really enjoying the program. It's making me cook more and learn to cook different things. For example, I used some of the green onions in a bacon and cheese frittata last night. The night before, I made sweet and sour red cabbage.



The most interesting thing to me, though, is that when I start to plan a meal, I think of the veggies first. I used to always think of the main dish first, and then get stumped on what veggies I want to go with it. Sometimes, I would just skip the veggies. No more skipping the veggies. Veggies first!

• First day of winter. That means the days start getting longer, right? So in six months, I can get up when it's light and leave work when it's still light? I can't wait.
• I'm eating bread and butter pickles and drinking spiced tea for supper. Buckeyes and white-chocolate peppermint snowmen for dessert. Maybe some dobosh torte later, too. Ah, Christmastime.
• I watched some movies this weekend and aborted some, too. I aborted Just Friends which I had forgotten I'd aborted before. I also aborted Dream Girls. As much as I love Jennifer Hudson, I can't stand people bursting into song in lieu of a spoken conversation. The movies I got through were The Human Stain and Knocked Up. The former was one of those indie movies I'm glad I watched but don't care to see again. The latter was one I probably could have lived without, but seeing three freaks from "Freaks and Geeks" in the same movie was fun. I sure like Seth Rogan.
• The spiced tea I'm drinking was concocted by a coworker. I think I know which coworker, but I'm not totally sure. We put stockings up on our cubicles Dec. 1, and the coworkers have been sneaking things into them. The spiced tea was a small tupperware-like container containing sugar and spice and lotsa of stuff nice that dissolves in water to make a tasty warm beverage.
• I only have a day and a half left of work before Christmas. I hope it's quiet, and I can catch up on some things. Like organizing my e-mail. It's a disaster. I need to write some procedures, too. Normally, that would be a yucky job, but finding some quiet time to sit and think and write procedures sounds like a dream.

I got some partial lyrics scratched out for one song and some guitar chord progressions worked out for another. I wish I'd played my guitar in October to build up callouses on my fingers. Ouch.

I went to Waterloo for lunch, and wrote some notes about a song idea I have about sweeteners. So far, I haven't used anything in those notes. heh Right now, I'm calling the song "Sugar and the Supersweet Trio: A Folk Opera in 5 Acts." I've got four acts done, and have no idea what to do in the last act. I might punt. Or maybe introduce High Fructose Corn Syrup as the villain... I just thought of that as I typed this.

In non-NaSoAlMo news, I went to Starbucks for a free tall (which is small) cup of drip coffee. I've decided I really don't like regular coffee much. I only like frou frou stuff like chocolatey espresso or caramel drinks. I almost bought a Starbucks Gold Membership which costs $25 and gives you 10% off for a year. It would pay for itself in a little over a couple of months. I didn't buy one, though, because you get a free drink when you buy one, and I was already getting a free coffee. It was a good thing... when I checked the mail this afternoon, I had a postcard saying I'd be receiving a free Gold Card Membership for a year because I'm such a good customer. Yay!

My friend Brian and I went to Cantina Laredo for lunch yesterday. Very, very good food. They have a great gimmick. If you order guacamole, they make it right at your table. It's fantastic!!

The waiter was a little goofy. He didn't have the ability to adapt his chatter to the situation. When he was making the guacamole for us, he started his standard spiel about the menu. He told us that their specialty is guacamole, which they make at your table. I wanted to say, "You mean just like you're doing for us right now?" I held my tongue.

I did a silly thing and ordered apple pie with my meal. That threw him off a bit. After the meal (the apple pie was great), he brought the dessert tray. Dude... dessert has already been served. heh

But seriously... everything we ordered was great!

I almost always have a cup of Starbucks beverage close at hand. I'll buy a drink in the morning, and sip on it all day. When I got home tonight, I was fixing the babies' dinner, and I reached for the Starbucks beverage sitting on my kitchen counter. It tasted kind of good, but not what I was expecting. I thought to myself, "Hmmmm... that's not a mocha." It tasted like cheesecake with sour cream topping. But that didn't make sense because they don't serve "Grande Cheesecake Lattes with Sour Cream." Then I realized the milk was sour. Ick. What happens when you drink sour milk? I'll be able to tell you soon.

Just some stuff:

• I went to Mandola's Italian Kitchen for lunch (first time). I was reading the menu and thought some pesto pasta sounded delicious. Then I thought, "I'd rather get something with meat." I continued to read the menu and finally settled on Eggplant Parmesan. I'm glad no one was holding me accountable for that previous thought about meat. I forgot it about two seconds after I thought it.
• I recommend the Denver Post's "Lyrics Undercover" podcast. Each one is short (less than 10 minutes), and as the site says, "each week Brian gives us ... a podcast that looks behind the words of well-known songs." You don't have to have an iPod to listen. Just download the MP3 file and listen on your computer if you want.
• I also recommend the FX series "30 Days." It's from the guy who did Super Size Me. Each show, Morgan Spurlock or someone else spends 30 Days experiencing something new to them. The one I watched last night had a guy who was laid off from his job due to outsourcing to India go to India and get a job. He got to see how the "new" jobs there are affecting the people of India.