He Puts What in What?

British reality host (Simon Cowell or Gordon Ramsey): Demean in demeanor.

sad Mexican: Sombre in sombrero.

scorned lover: Fuse in refuse.

erectile dysfunction: Eager in meager.

a linebacker: Tack in tackle.

Vatican Hotel: Amen in amenities.

for an ex: Oath in loathe.

Oat in oath.

bigwig: Lout in clout.

From The Simpsons: "We put the fun in funeral."

just inappropriate: Cont in continue.

Please share any you've thought of, or improve my applications of these memes.

Dinner Roast Day

Sunday will be Turkey Day when the folks come down from SD this weekend. Today the featured protein was Dinner Roast. I made mashed potatoes, Easy Baked Cheese & Vegetable Twist, and brought cheese buttons I'd made for a Midwestern Classics potluck last Monday.

Oh and I made another apple pie with grains of paradise. This one was better because I used a teaspoon instead of a tablespoon and since my sister said the first one didn't taste like apple pie because it was missing something, I added a quarter teaspoon of cinnamon. I think I might have hit the mark now. It was a Granny Jazzy Crisp pie since I used Granny Smith, Jazz, and Honeycrisp (thank you University of Minnesota).

Late With Daniel

I'm not sure if I went on the record here about my tastes in late night talk show programming (there will be another post discussing programs vs. shows).

I used to catch Conan every wohniclee (sorry but that is once in a while) when he was on at 11:30. He had the hipper musical guests and there were often super funny moments during his guest interviews. I never enjoyed Jay Leno, so I watched Letterman if I was watching a show, but normally it depended on who the guests were, musical and otherwise. I usually like Craig Ferguson, but don't watch him. I like his email segment and the "What Did We Learn on the Show Tonight, Craig?" at the end.

This brings us to the big shift when Leno was bumped for Conan. I have the new Tonight Show on season pass since the beginning. Conan's monologue usually isn't that great, but he understands this and isn't below mocking it to get laughs. He still has fun moments with his guests, but probably not as outlandish as before.

When I first saw Jimmy Fallon's show, I was not impressed. He still can't keep a straight face, and his interviews are either sycophantic, or with his cast mates from SNL and very buddy buddy. I do appreciate a couple things about his show though. The Roots are a really great house band. And from the little I've seen from The Steve Allen Show, mostly from PBS documentaries on the Pioneers of Television, Fallon has a lot of similar games and fun with his guests like Allen did. I admire this. I think if Fallon is given the freedom to explore this goofy side he might be more comfortable, and you'll get a better overall show.

olid gold.

I watch Top Chef, and a couple of the "cheftestants" are brothers well-versed in "molecular gastronomy" (the Voltaggio brothers). This basically means they use technologically advanced techniques to change the texture and temperature of food to challenge how eaters approach food. Wylie Dufresne is a popular chef of this school (his restaurant is wd~50). Another chef and restaurant of this ilk is Grant Achatz and Alinea. I see his recipes on the blog Alinea at Home, and it seems they always start with pureeing, straining, and turning a food into a gel with agar agar or some other thickening agent.

In addition to gels, there are also foams and airs. Sometimes a spice smoke is trapped over a dish with plastic wrap and then you cut the plastic with a knife to release the air (and the experience). This got me to thinking about the essence of things, and which is the purest form.

Gas, Liquid, Solid, Plasma?

Is the soul of popcorn the corn saturated steam? Is an herbal infusion distilled to an extract the best way to capture a spice? Is a diamond the purest expression of carbon?

In the movie Cold Souls, they extract the soul and store it in glass containers not dissimilar in shape and size to the vacuum tubes at a bank drive thru. Paul Giamatti's soul is the size, shape, and color of a chickpea.
*drop cap by Jessica Hische

Medical Beer

Jeff Evan's A Beer a Day entry for the day talks about a time of Medical Beer:

But there was another branch of American society that was also hindering the country from staying dry – declared temperance campaigners – and that was the nation’s medical fraternity.

A loophole in the 18th Amendment to the US constitution, which introduced Prohibition to America in 1920, allowed doctors to prescribe alcohol as they would any other medication.

In a country where strong spirits were traditionally considered effective methods of seeing off colds and other ailments, this should not be surprising. Even today, the benefits of alcohol – when taken in moderation – are recognised by physicians, as ways of easing stress or reducing heart disease, for instance.

The anti-alcohol brigade didn’t see things the same way. Their hard-won victory for enforced abstinence looked set to be eradicated by doctors liberally handing out prescriptions for booze.

According to a feature in The Smithsonian magazine, it was even suggested that drug stores should be able to supply beer over the counter, alongside the soft drinks they sold to kids. The erstwhile triumphant temperance lobby hit the roof, forcing the Government to back track and reconsider the doctors’ exemption.

Consequently, on 23 November 1921, prescriptions of wine and liquor were made subject to new limitations and it became illegal for doctors to prescribe beer.

Other news I got today is that cherimoya.com now has cherimoya available in season again. For 34.95 including shipping you get five pounds, usually six, of cherimoya. And if available they use fresh lemons as part of the packing material. I find that a half of a large cherimoya serves one nicely, so though they're about 6 bucks each, it's only 3 per serving, and what a tasty serving at that. I very highly recommend them (I've already placed my order). They also have small cherimoya available for free samples if you're pensive.

I realized today that Clint Eastwood will be working with Morgan Freeman for at least the third time. I can think of Unforgiven and Million Dollar Baby previously, and now we have Invictus, with Freeman as Nelson Mandela and Matt Damon as captain of South Africa's rugby team.

Pivot by Lipton with Swank and Apatow

The Key: 1. favorite word, 2. least favorite word, 3. What turns you on?, 4. What turns you off?, 5. What is your favorite sound?, 6. Least favorite sound?, 7. favorite curse word, 8. profession other than your own you'd most like to try, 9. profession you'd never like to attempt, 10. If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the pearly gates?

Hilary Swank

1. infinity
2. crotch
3. passion
4. I'll say inequality right now
5. baby's laughter
6. kinda cliché but things scratching on other chalkboardy things
7. ass
8. photography
9. hair styling
10. "Good effort."

Judd Apatow (By the way, I love that his movies get the adjective Apatovian.)
1. hilarious
2. prick
3. men, I mean Mann, Leslie Mann
4. I guess cruelty, unless it's done right, then it turns me on.
5. the sound of guffaws
6. Silence, 'cause then I have to hear the voices in my head.
7. Fuck-off Mr. Lipton.
8. A monk, like a Buddhist monk, so I could conquer the quiet.
9. Secretary of Defense
10. "Hey, we let in Jews too."

Football

Tonight my sister and I are going to Nebraska's last home football game of the year. If they win, they win their division and get to play in the conference championship, which if they win that game, they'll get to play in the Bowl Championship Series, which means millions more dollars in revenue for the school and conference.

All that said, the game is even more important for Kansas State. It is KSU's last game of their season, if they lose. If they win, they become bowl eligible and win the division and play for the conference championship. So a lot hinges on their play tonight, a game in which they're 16.5 point underdogs.

The Pie

The grains of paradise work. There's this kinda pepper tang at the back of the mouth that lets the apple do its thing on the rest of the tongue. I used a tablespoon of the spice, which might be too much, especially when I looked up Alton Brown's recipe again (on my saved dvr list) and he only used a quarter teaspoon with a combo of salt and maybe one other spice. Another suggestion he had on that show was to use caraway, which according to him is the common spice pairing for apples in Scandinavia.

Music for the Holidays/Gift-Wish List

ne of my default gifts for my mother on Christmas is music. In the past I've given her Chris Rice, Sara Groves, and Breaking Sand from Robert Plant and Allison Krauss. Last year, if I remember right, was a cd of Willie Nelson's Red-Headed Stranger (one they already had on cassette).

Hoping to stick with what works again this year, there are some new candidates:

Crosby, Stills, and Nash Christmas

And while we're talking about Christmas albums, how about Bob Dylan's Christmas? But my mother was more of a Willie Nelson hippie than a Dylan hippie. One of my many friends on Facebook commented that Bob Dylan is perfect for mondegreens. Which takes me to this post from The Pioneer Woman.

Next up (and including a Dylan Song), Roseanne Cash's The List.

Last Saturday I went to a concert in Omaha, for the opening group Elizabeth & the Catapult (the headliner was Justin Nozuka). I normally try to be on time for concerts, but it seems that often the venue does not. So I thought I had some leeway in arriving at the concert. However, ten minutes late was ten minutes late and I missed half of Elizabeth and company's set. I did catch their music video single and title track, Taller Children, and their cover of Leonard Cohen's Everybody Knows, so it wasn't a complete loss. I also got a cd, which I'm enjoying a lot, signed.

And for me, I think I've mentioned before that I really like Mel Tormé's recording of The Christmas Song. What I didn't know until I was looking for a link is that he was one of the writers. One of the things I like about the song is the end:

Love and Joy come to you and to all your loved ones too, and God bless you and send you a happy new year.

*my drop cap came from Daily Drop Cap by Jessica Hische

The Perfect Burger Condiment and a Tablespoon of Paradise

Tonight on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, he had a NY chef who won a burger cookoff. The chef felt that his key ingredient was a caramelized onion and bacon jam. Then, not twenty minutes of television later, on Last Call with Carson Daly, Carson was at a Culver City bar called Father's Office, with 72 taps and what is considered one of the best burgers in LA. The burger is a special blend of meat with Maytag blue cheese, Gruyere, arugula, and a caramelized onion and applewood bacon compôte. So from NY to LA the way to a great burger is a bacon and caramelized onion jam/compôte. All that is left is for me to find out how to make it.

In more important food news, my grains of paradise apple pie is less than ten minutes from coming out of the oven. If the aroma of the sugar, cornstarch, spice mixture is an indicator, I'm pretty optimistic that it will taste good. Verdict to come.

I have an opportunity for my readers. I make pies quite a bit which requires that put slits in the top of the pie to let steam escape. Because I do this a lot, I thought it would be nice to have a signature pattern. I understand it might be hard to explain, but I would appreciate any suggestions to get me in the right direction.

Catching Up

This morning's Big Band Show: When Melody Was King featured the songs of Dorothy Fields, the other half of The Way You Look Tonight from Jerome Kern. She was also part of the team that wrote the songs for A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. The song from that show that was played on the radio was I'll Buy You A Star ("and not just a star, but the best one" kinda puts the name a star for $50 gift to shame). Another line in that song I liked was "I'll get you a silver chain made from the rain of a Summer afternoon."

Another thing I'm catching up on is that pie. I went home for lunch today just to make the crust, so I could bake the pie tonight. In other food related stuff, that Nicaraguan (that is a tricky word to type) dry-process coffee was very good, and I even kinda miss it, now that I'm grinding another Ethiopian Sidamo dry-process.

Jerome Kern

He died today in 1945. He wrote a lot of great songs amongst the over 700 published in his name. Ol' Man River, Smoke Gets In Your Eyes, I Won't Dance, The Way You Look Tonight.

I knew he wrote a bunch of popular songs, but what I didn't know was that I really like Fred Astaire singing his songs best.

Chad Daniels' Joke

I have "season passes" on my DVR for a bunch of Comedy Central stand-up comedy shows, Premium Blend, Live at Gotham, and all the Comedy Central Presents. The latest comic to catch my eye is Chad Daniels. I'll try to transcribe his joke now:

My name is Chad Daniels. That's a horrible name when I go to the Deep South, cuz I always get that drunk redneck, you know. (in obnoxious drunk redneck accent) "Hey boy, your name Daniels? WHOOOO! (slapping the knee and ankle like the Austrian knee dance) You related to Jack? Ha-ha! (making gun sounds while firing a hand shaped like a gun in the air)" Then I have to explain to this guy, "Jack Daniel's has an apostrophe in it," right? And one guy honestly said, he goes, "You mean he followed Jesus?" Yeah sir, he was one of the Twelve Apostrophes. Way to go. Why don't you go color?

Like an apostrophe would ever follow Jesus, right? They'd have to give up all their earthly possessions, and, hello, their main job is to show ownership.

Every time I tell that joke and English teacher gets their wings.

Chad Daniels (aforementioned joke is among those in tab to the right) apparently got his start hosting karaoke in Grand Forks, ND, so that is nice that a Dakotan type is making it "big."

Music and Food

Egg nog is back in stores, and I got a half gallon of it, like it's going out of style. I might make the next batch myself though, that way I can put the bourbon and fresh grated nutmeg in (not that I can't add it to the store bought stuff, but then I'm just a lush). One of the grocery stores I go to has a new batch of shopping carts, and they run really smooth and clean and improve the shopping experience. The trip this evening was to gather the ingredients for the cheese buttons that were a big hit last holiday season. There is a soup lunch potluck at work on Wednesday, so I'll bring these, which aren't a soup, but they're something.

This morning was one of my favorite radio shows on Lincoln's community owned radio station KZUM 87.3, Dance Bands: When Melody Was King. It's a wonderful way to start the week. Con Good, the host, does a nice job of building shows around a year or an artist, or a band leader. Through him I've discovered or gained appreciation for a bunch of singers and songwriters I wouldn't have had the chance to otherwise. Like Lena Horne was really cool, and Bob Merrill not only wrote The Chicken Song, but Sparrow in a Treetop and If I Knew You Were Coming, I'd Have Baked a Cake.

Another thing I like about the radio show, similar to Mad Men, is that it shines a light on the culture and social mores of the times, just like a radio show of our Top 40 sixty years from now would show how obsessed we were with sex and money. And then you hear old favorites like Billie Holiday sing lines like, "I love my man like a school boy loves pie, Like a Kentucky Colonel--his mint and rye." from St. Louis Blues by W.C. Handy.

But that is not why I brought up the radio show. I brought it up because the show this morning, and a listening to my soundtrack of Sweet and Lowdown last week at work, reminded me how beautifully warm the clarinet can be. Especially in contrast with the sound of water fowl being stomped on at the beginning of Jay-Z's Run This Town.

Dignangely Jimenez, Edith Coxaj

Wants for 2007

I took one of my books into work to lend it, and I went through it quickly to take out any notes or scraps of paper I might have left. There were two things: a library receipt from October 4, 2006 for Blink: the power of thinking without thinking, and a self-adhesive note with a list

Wants for 2007

Desk
Recliner
End tables
non-stick skillet
Chef knife/sharpener
Blender
coffee pot
Bath Robe

Three years and a month later I have some of these things, a recliner, some tables, a non-stick skillet, a blender that also has a food processor attachment, a French press. Once I get the remaining items, my life will be complete. Because I can't think of a more satisfying moment than sitting at my oak desk in my bath robe sharpening my chef's knife.

In other news, I got some Nicaraguan coffee beans today that are dry processed. This was the first time I've seen dry process for a bean outside of Ethiopia. I'm also excited about the size of the beans; they're big like Papua New Guinean beans, but longer instead of rounder. And since I'm trying to blog a lot this month, I'm sure I'll let you know how they compare with my memory of the Ethiopian dry processed coffee.

Becoming

I especially like the second "major grammatical or semantic division" of become in my Shorter OED. And that semantic division is Befit instead of Come --.

7 Accord with, be appropriate to, befit.
9 Of a property, attribute, quality, etc.: suit, look well on or with, (its owner or subject).
10 Of a person: grace (a place, position, etc.); look well in (a dress etc.).

and

becoming adj. Fitting, suitable; characterized by grace or decorum; tending to show the wearer etc. to advantage, attractive-looking.

When I first thought about this sense of the word, I was fascinated with the idea of transition (the first sense of become) being the beauty/attractiveness, similar to how I'm fascinated with the magic of the gloaming hours, both dawn and dusk. And while my initial thoughts were thwarted once I reached the dictionary, I appreciate this second "semantic division" more now, because there is beauty in the appropriate. Often things are ugly because they don't fit. All the more reason to appreciate the grace/elegance/beauty of those things that are well placed and suited, be they a gesture, a glance, a copse of trees on a hill, eggs in a nest, etc.

Vegas Part Two

Just a skeleton to get my blog in today.

Marcy and I went with Bryant to Red Rock Canyon after breakfast at Roberto's, a Mexican fast food chain in town.

Red Rock Canyon was a cool place and it helped to have Bryant, who works with the USGS on that area and others similar to it.

After Red Rock we went to Torino's, the local Husker Bar for the second half of the football game. It was fun to see 400 people gathered in a bar a long way from Lincoln still feverish about the Huskers.

Then we had tacos at Tacos Mexico. These were very tasty. One of my tacos had buche (pork maws) and another might have been cabesa, which I was surprised in this case was beef cheek instead of brain, oh well.

This is where we made a sorta regrettable decision, instead of going home to take a nap, we "had" to go through some more of the Strip, checking out Paris quickly before picking up our "O" tickets for the 10:30 show that night.

Before the show, we ate at Merkata, an Ethiopian restaurant. My first time at such a place and very delicious and filling. Gotta love that ingera (spongy, sour dough type bread).

So because we didn't take naps, recommended if you are going to a show that starts 12:30 AM in the time zone you've traveled from, I dozed a bit during some of the slower parts of the Cirque du Soleil show. In spite of that I did really enjoy it. While the acrobatics and showmanship were very impressive, I was equally, if not more, impressed with the logistics of raising and lowering the stage with dozens of performers diving into and out of the water without any collisions underwater, or even slips on what I'm guessing was a pretty wet surface.

Brunch the next morning was at one of many Original Pancake Houses. I had a baby German pancake (our family calls them egg pancakes with the basic recipe being four eggs, a cup of flour and a cup of milk baked about twenty minutes in a cast iron skillet at 425 degrees Fahrenheit) and bacon pancakes. Our server April? made some cute comment about how "somebody's hungry" after my order and then another when I had eaten what I ordered about how I "actually was hungry," but obviously, five weeks later, I'm over it. The orange juice was very good here.

I might flesh this out later, but probably only if I can't think of other stuff to blog about.

And if you can't tell by my glowing comments about every experience, I really liked this trip and often (in still silent moments at work) I dream wistfully about going back soon (hopefully this winter after the new City Center is opened).

Namploblomoschlomo

Sorry I've left my faithful readers hanging on that Part II of my Vegas trip. Work has been busy, though that hasn't cut into my routine of coming home, eating ice cream, reading through my 113 blog subscriptions, and catching up on my DVRed programming, with bedtime usually coming around or after midnight. So really I've had plenty of time to blog, but I haven't because I procrastinate on things that mean more to me. Case in point, I got some apples at the last farmer's market October 15 and have yet to make an apple pie with them and the grains of paradise that I got online. Don't worry though, the apples are still keeping nicely in my potato cellar of a dining room.

One of the newer blogs I've added is A Beer a Day which is from a British author, Jeff Evans. He talks about a historical event from the day, a beer that matches that event, and closes with notable births, deaths and events. Today was the finale of the TV show Black Adder. Births were Daniel Boone 1734, Marie Antoinette 1755, and KD Lang 1961. Deaths were George Bernard Shaw 1950, Hal Roach (film producer and director) 1992, and I was sad to find out about this one: Eva Cassidy (singer) 1996.

I first discovered her looking for covers of songs when I was in my mp3 downloading phase. I might have checked out a cd or two of hers from the library after that, but she is a wonderful interpreter of popular music. I especially like her version of Woodstock, written by Joni Mitchell recorded by Crosby, Stills and Nash. But her Somewhere Over the Rainbow is just as moving. So if you haven't heard her and you like the Judy Collins, Ann Murray types, you might check her out under positive recommendation from me.

Now to make those cookies I promised for the student workers.