The Big Green House

Wednesday, July 31, 2002

 

My Brain Hurts

I have learned a very important lesson today: never, ever, fuck with your template.

We have commenting available now for your dining and dancing pleasure. Please take advantage of this feature, I beg of you. Validate my frustration.

Also, you'll note a new, amazingly ugly yet slightly more functional template. Any changes which occur in that realm from now on will probably be the work of Science Girl, provided I can properly bribe her.

I've got another project which I really should be working on now, so I may be on the quiet side for a day or two.
bmarkey 7/31/2002 07:29:00 PM

Tuesday, July 30, 2002

 

Creature of Ritual

Lucy and I have a routine we go through every morning, in preparation for her first walk of the day. (I know I said I wasn�t going to post dog stuff but stay with me here, �cause I suspect I may have a point.) We begin in the living room. When I reach for my shoes, she comes over to me; when I actually put them on, she starts jumping around in anticipation. I then pick up her harness from the coffee table where I set it the night before. This is her cue to jump up on the couch & stick her head through the harness and lift her right front leg so I can fasten the buckle. (Really.) We then proceed to the kitchen, where I get a plastic poop bag out of the drawer & she goes apeshit, jumping up on me & making little whiney noises. I hook her leash up to the harness, unlock the back door & step out onto the driveway; she, on the other hand, tear-asses around the corner to bark at the birds at the birdfeeder.

We perform this little dance, with minor variations, every single morning. While I wouldn�t ordinarily presume to speak for her, I think I�m safe in saying that we both find comfort in our daily pre-breakfast ritual. And in the pre-lunch-walk ritual, the coming-home�from-work ritual, the last-walk-of-the-day ritual� These small ceremonies help keep me going through the day, I think. They don�t necessarily mean anything in and of themselves, and I could get by without them easily enough, but I�d be very aware of their absence & wouldn�t feel quite right without them.

I bring this up because I noticed today how many opportunities there are in everyday life for this sort of phenomenon. Or maybe I�m just more susceptible to it. Either way, I notice it and enjoy it, and I think that�s what separates what I�m talking about from mere habit. A habit proceeds under its own power, while a ritual, to be such, needs to be at least a little self-conscious. I like making coffee for Science Girl, and I don�t even drink the stuff myself � it�s the process that I�m into; the grinding of the beans, the heating of the water, pouring the milk into the cup, getting the filter ready. I feel somewhat cheated because I drink tea. (And yes, I�m aware that the Japanese have made an art of the tea ceremony. (Note: that used to read "tea ritual". It was bugging the hell out of me, since it is very definitely a ceremony, so i changed it.) I don�t know why, but making my morning cuppa just never hit me in the way that making coffee does. Go figure.) It�s the same thing with chopping onions; I actually find comfort in it. Unless I�m crying, of course; then I�m only thinking of the scene in Diva where the guy is chopping onions while wearing a scuba mask & snorkel. Some day I�m gonna try that...

bmarkey 7/30/2002 08:35:00 PM

Monday, July 29, 2002

 
If you like the rock & roll, do yourself a favor and check out The Big Takeover the next time you�re at your local magazine rack. It�ll be the mag that�s about the size of a small-town phonebook. It�s all quality content, my friends: in-depth interviews with the likes (this issue) of Social Distortion, Mission of Burma (yay!), Bob Mould, The Damned, Radio Birdman (yay again!), etc., etc., usually conducted by publisher and all-around nice-guy Jack Rabid himself, and more album reviews than you could shake a stick at. (I know; I tried.) It only comes out twice a year, so act fast. Better yet, subscribe! The Big Green House does, and we�re glad of it. (This has been an unpaid, unsolicited endorsement. I just really like the mag. I used to buy �zines for Tower Records way back in the day, and this is just about the only one still publishing from that time. It�s good stuff.)
bmarkey 7/29/2002 11:14:00 PM

 
This used to be a separate post. I have moved it to its proper place, at the end of the previous post. It begins with "Addendum"
bmarkey 7/29/2002 07:17:00 PM

 

Haricots Verts

We had the first of our green beans with dinner last night. Cooking generally defaults to me, since I enjoy doing it a bit more than Science Girl does. It�s a shame, really, because she�s very good. I planned the rest of dinner around the beans, which was a first for me. Usually I�m working around the entree, not vice versa. I steamed them first, then sauteed them in a little butter & olive oil with some minced shallot. It was a nice feeling, eating something that we�d grown ourselves, and one I haven�t had since I was a kid.

The entree was sort of made up on the fly at the market. We�d been out visiting relatives all day, and so were not up to creating anything too strenuous. I butterflyed some boneless chicken breasts, spread them with pesto (store-bought, since we put in our basil a little late), sliced a little Monterey Jack onto them, rolled them up & breaded them. Bake �em 25 minutes at 400 degrees & they�re ready to eat. In retrospect I�d probably omit the cheese altogether, or at least cut back on it. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but it ended up overtaking the pesto. And nothing should get between me & my pesto.

To round things out, I fell back on The San Francisco Treat. Lazy, yes, but we were tired. Sometimes cooking out of a box is OK, as far as I can see.

And don�t worry, this isn�t going to be a foodblog. I�m going to write about it from time to time, but I do have other topics in mind.

Addendum:

I just re-read my previous post. Oooh...must remember not to post while in a hurry. I wanted to get that up & out before I left for work. For some (now unknown) reason, that was very important. Your guess is as good as mine.

Anyway, there's certainly nothing wrong with foodblogs. That's kinda the way that came across, and that's not what I was getting at. I merely meant that I will be writing about things other than food. Fortunately, nobody reads this thing but me & Science Girl, so I'm sorta off the hook there...
bmarkey 7/29/2002 01:41:00 PM

Friday, July 26, 2002

 

A Small Victory for the Not-Technically-Minded

I've just finished adding links, as you may have noticed. I'm not fond of the way that they push everything else down on the page, but I must say that I'm pretty pleased with myself for having constructed functional links. A small victory is a victory nonetheless.
bmarkey 7/26/2002 07:13:00 PM

Thursday, July 25, 2002

 

Who the hell am I, anyway?

Well, I'm just a guy. Nothin' special.

The Big Green House is where I live. It's not really that big, I suppose, but having just moved there from that last of a series of apartments, it seems big to me. There's a semi-finished basement and fairly large yard, so there's lots of room to spread out. It's a very nice place to be, if I do say so myself. We�re in a quiet neighborhood in the northern end of town. Nothing on the porch in the morning but the newspaper and a pot of geraniums. The absence of human urine and feces on my doorstep is a real step up from my last place.

One of the nicer aspects of living there, of course, is sharing a home with my lovely fianc�e, AKA Science Girl. (She values her privacy.) She has a bewildering number of degrees in Scientific Things, is infinitely kind, and puts up with my silly obsessions and horrible puns. She is the gardener of the family, which is all for the best, considering my black thumb. We should have carrots, tomatoes and beans in the next week or two, and it�s been a very long time indeed since I�ve eaten home-grown veg. Any nifty visual things that may appear here in the future will be all her doing.

Of course, we have a dog. (You can�t live in our neighborhood without one. It�s some sort of Seattle city ordinance, I think.) Lucy is a Silky terrier, so she�s on the small side. Someone should let her know, since she seems to think she�s a Rottweiler. Absolutely no fear exists in that ten-pound frame � unless there�s a thunderstorm, and then all bets are off. I�ll try very hard not to regale you with Tales of Canine Cuteness, but if I start running out of ideas�

Which brings us to why this page is here in the first place. It�s sort of a public promise that I will (semi) regularly set some ideas down. I need to be prodded to write. It�s a character flaw, I know, but there it is. Not that I really need to write (or I wouldn�t need the prodding), but I feel like I should. In other words, it�s for my own amusement. You are welcome to read along, if you so choose. I won�t promise quantity & wouldn�t dare promise quality, but I�ll do my best. If you don�t like what I�m doing� well, it�s a big internet out there. I�m sure someone else has what you�re looking for.

bmarkey 7/25/2002 11:01:00 PM

Tuesday, July 23, 2002

 
OK. Links appear to be working, and I didn't break anything. This is good. Go me!
bmarkey 7/23/2002 10:27:00 PM

Monday, July 22, 2002

 
Well shucks. My links are non-functional. Did I mention that I have no knowledge of HTML WHATSOEVER? (Although it would seem that I have a handle on the bold tag.) I will consult with Science Girl & see if I can fix the problem. I know you're waiting with baited breath.
bmarkey 7/22/2002 11:01:00 PM

 
Hello. Welcome to the Big Green House.
Not sure how you got here? Me neither.
Not sure what to expect? Ditto.

Well, as long as we�re both here, I might as well give you my recipe for barbecue sauce.
It�s nothing to write home about, but it�s quick, easy, cheap & tasty. Not unlike myself, in some respects�

I should warn you that I don�t generally measure ingredients when working from my own recipe; I just pour whatever it is into my hand until it looks about right. (Unless we�re talking about liquids, of course, but I�ll often eyeball them, too.) So, any measurements given here are approximate. I�ll try to err on the side of caution, since you can always add more & it�s pretty difficult to remove an ingredient once added.

You will need:
One tablespoon olive oil
A shallot (I use about half of one, but they probably won�t sell you just half. Half a small onion would probably work, if you can�t scare up a shallot.), minced
One or two cloves of garlic, minced
One bottle ketchup (or, if you prefer, catsup. I use about 2/3 of the bottle, but maybe you�re going to make more than I usually do. Or maybe you�re going to make some fries, too. Hell, you�ll find a use for the extra stuff. Just be sure to get the salt-free kind; that way, you control what the end result tastes like. And it�s all about control.)
2 teaspoons chile powder
1 � teaspoons cumin
2 teaspoons chipotle powder (This is the one I wish I�d measured, as this is where all your heat is gonna come from. I probably use a little more than that, but I don�t know your tolerance for heat. If you�re unfamiliar with chipotle, it�s smoked jalapeno. I buy it at the local supermarket, but you may have to hunt around for it. If there�s a tienda in your town, start there; otherwise, you can pick it up online. You may substitute cayenne, of course, but you�ll lose the smoky goodness of the chipotle. Your call.)
2 teaspoons dried oregano (Get the Mexican kind if you can, as it has a more robust flavor.) (Hey, it�s my recipe, so I get to spout off like that if I want to.)
One teaspoon dried rosemary (If you�ve got fresh, use it. That goes for the oregano, too.)
Salt, to taste
One bottle of beer (Well, let�s be reasonable here; you�re most likely gonna want more than that, if for no other reason that to wash down the barbecue. I�m just talking about what goes into the sauce; what goes into the cook is your business. I�ve found that this recipe works best with something fairly bitter, like an IPA (scroll down.) If you don�t drink, don�t worry - all the alcohol will be cooked off.)
Something to put the sauce on (Duh.) (I�ve only ever used this on chicken, but I don�t know why it wouldn�t work on ribs.)

And here we go. Heat a large skillet. Add the oil; when the oil gets hot, add the shallots & saut� until they�re transparent. Add the garlic; saut� quickly, so you don�t burn it � say about 20 seconds. Now add your herbs & spices (for those of you who haven�t been paying attention, that would be the chile powder, cumin, chipotle, oregano, and rosemary) and saut� them for about 15-20 seconds or until they start to smoke. At that point, stir in the ketchup. This is a good time to add salt. Once the ketchup has been thoroughly incorporated, pour in about half of the beer, reduce the heat, cover & simmer about 20 minutes or so, stirring occasionally. Give it a taste & adjust your seasonings accordingly. I like to reduce the sauce down to a pretty thick glop, but to each their own.

I usually end up with enough to grill an entire chicken & about as much left over. Your mileage may vary.




bmarkey 7/22/2002 09:36:00 PM