I have lost my mind

Or that's what some people think (I'm looking at you Katelyn). I have made a challenging decision that will effect* my wallet, my waist line, my social life, and my sanity. Fortunately it will only last one month.

For the month of June, I will not eat out at any restaurant, instead preparing all of my food by hand.

For me, this is madness. I am at my happiest when dinning out with friends, marveling at the unique flavors, and quaffing lustily from pints of sable beer. I get equal delight from poring over a new and exotic menu as I do from ordering a known favorite without consulting the menu, like greeting an old friend. Whether it's swapping a fist of dollar bills for a sack of tacos with the woman high up in a grease truck, or listening, captivated, to the maitre'd orate the specials, I feel comfortable there.

So why make this decision? There are several reasons, really. Primarily, I am soon to be very broke. With graduation meaning the loss of financial aid and no real job prospects, I will quickly run out of money. Observing my current spending habits, I shell out anywhere from one hundred to two hundred dollars a week on food that is not prepared by me. I will save hundreds of dollars by not eating out in June. I see it as a mini stimulus package for surviving the summer. I do worry about the financial hit some of my most frequented restaurants will take, most of which will likely be bankrupt by July.

Too, I have not been cooking nearly as much as would like. It is one of my favorite pastimes, cooking, yet I have hardly put knife to block and pot to flame in the past month or two. Naturally, this plan will force me to be in the kitchen much more, which I look forward to. I will have to think about new recipes and ingredients so that I don't get bored. I am considering exploring the vast number of rice/bean dishes the world has to offer from just about every culture.

Those are the two main reasons for me to take on this challenge. Another, that is not quite as important to me, is the fact that I will probably lose some of these extra pounds I've put on recently. Controlling every bite that enters my mouth will, I believe, dramatically reduce my caloric intake, seeing as I don't commonly cook with the startling levels of butter, cheese, pork fat, and sugar that most restaurants do.

Luckily I still have twenty days of May to enjoy Wong's King, Porque No, Pok Pok, Kenny and Zuke's, Pine State Biscuits, Pho Hung, and all the other places I love before this takes effect.** Wish me luck.


Some pasta I made today


*Please help me, I haven't the slightest clue when to use Affect and when to use Effect.
**Again!


Song of the Day: Street Scene (4 Shazz), St. Germain

Sandwich

So far, 2009 has been the Year of the Sandwich. Well, for me at least. It begun in January with my first trip to Kenny and Zuke's and my subsequent devotion to the Pickled Tongue Sandwich; It continued at Ping with the Ju Pa Bao, an amazingly simple pork sandwich; And all the while bolstered by my obsession with the Turkey and Brie panini at Crema, and healthy respect for the Portabella Mushroom Sandwich at the Gotham Tavern.

2009 continued to be efffing awesome in the sandwich department, yesterday with my regrettably late visit to Meat Cheese Bread. I have heard nothing but good things about this small shop on lower SE Stark, and yesterday found myself with a little bit of time for lunch and remembered this place. Boy am I glad I went.

I left my sandwich selection up to chance, telling the nice woman behind the counter to pick a number. "Three," she said, unwittingly choosing the Smoked Ham Sandwich for my lunch. At $4.95 I was already enjoying the sandwich before the ticket even reached the kitchen.

Let me say this (and please know that I say it without facetiousness or exaggeration, as I am wont to do): The very moment I bit into the sandwich I craved another. Instantaneously! The bun was light yet savory, the meat subtly smoky but not overpowering (as ham can sometimes be), and the Gruyere and Aioli delightfully lubricating the entire thing. Heaven.



Kenny & Zuke's

Ping

Crema

Gotham Tavern

Meat Cheese Bread





Song of the Day: So Far To Go (Instrumental), J Dilla

BIGFOOT!!!

I have always said that there is more evidence that Sasquatch exists than there is that it doesn't. And you all have always scoffed! Weep now as the TRUTH IS REVEALED!

But seriously, holy crap that's bigfoot!

My next culinary goal

Hand pulled noodles.

I first saw Chinese noodle pulling about ten years ago in the opening scene of Jackie Chan's Mr. Nice Guy. I have been fascinated with it ever since. Having done some research it seems that noodle pulling, like many skills, looks very easy in the hands of a master, is very hard for a novice, and through much diligence and practice eventually becomes as easy as it looks. I really want to start practicing this. Nothing is really stopping me, 'cept my own laziness. We shall see what happens.



Song of the Day: Barracuda, Miho Hatori

Gojira

Did you know that Godzilla is my hero? Oh, yes! Godzilla is totally sweet. I mean, check Godzilla out:

A complete bad ass is what Godzilla is! Godzilla is completely unfuckwithable.

I grew up watching the old Godzilla movies. I would go to the neighborhood video store and rent several at a time, enough to fill my whole weekend. The above clip is the trailer for Godzilla vs Gigan, which I own and used to watch over and over. It involves invading aliens summoning the space monster Gigan and the three headed space dragon King Ghidorah to attack the earth. Godzilla teams up with his former enemy Anguirus to defeat the evil monsters while a small group of karate fighting humans take on the aliens. Way awesome.

For several years in early high school I had vivid Godzilla related dreams. Sometimes Godzilla would be my ally, and other times a terrible beast, wreaking ruin upon Portland.




Song of the Day: Godzilla Theme, Akira Ifukube

Grrrrr

So, PSU is having a senior art show that I am putting some work in. Today I went to the print studio to print the pieces and had zero success. I am trying to print five blocks on one piece of paper, which isn't that hard, it just needs a few simple tricks and a little know-how. Anyway, it took me about two hours to figure out the layout, tear down the paper, round the corners (which is something I had to teach myself to do today), ink the five blocks, and prep the press. It's been a little bit since I printed a lino block, so I didn't have the pressure set right, which yielded a muddled gray instead of the nice brown/black I mixed. This made me a tad grumpy. I was really hoping to be in and out of the studio in time for dinner with my family, but this print was just not worth a damn. It did show me though that I was on the right track and that it had the potential to be a good piece.

I decided to try one more time, the template was already there, I just had to transfer it to the next piece of paper and tear it down instead of doing all the measurements first. I re-inked all the blocks, set up the press (this time relying on the pressure setting listed on the wall for the intro class), and ran it through. I could feel the press jumping off the blocks, a sign that the pressure was to tight, and knew that they had slipped. My suspicions were confirmed moments later when I lifted the felts off the bed and saw the print. The ink was the nice, earthy black I had been looking for, but the detail on three of the five blocks was smooshed to one side. completely effed.

I had only thought to buy two of the $8.00 pieces of paper, not expecting two failures, and was feeling tired, defeated, and hungry. I cleaned up, and went home. I will be getting up early to run to the art store, buy more paper, and head to the studio and hope for the best.

Song of the Day: Happiness Is..., Yungchen Lhamo

S F

There is a new SF movie coming out that looks really quite good. District 9. It is made by South African director Neill Blomkamp, with backing from Peter Jackson. The movie is based on an early short film by Blomkamp called Alive in Joberg that you should watch.


EDIT: hmm, I can't seem to get the HTML to work on the second link, here it is:
http://ia300227.us.archive.org/3/items/ALIVE_IN_JOBURG/Alive_in_Joburg_compr480.mov


Song of the Day: Genius of Love, Tom Tom Club