The Mugblog

Good Eats

You guys ever seen a show on the Food Network called Good Eats? Yeah, it's a cooking show, but its also a lot like Mr. Wizard or Bill Nye. While telling you "how" to prepare dishes, it also explains some basic science of the cooking process, and provides supplemental history and scientific information on the ingredients. The host, Alton Brown, isn't a guy I'd hang out with long at a BBQ, but he's amusing and articulate enough to suite for a half hour show.

Here's a recipe from this evenings show, "Going Bananas":

Fried Plantains

2 cups water
3 cloves garlic, smashed
2 teaspoons kosher salt, plus extra for seasoning
1 1/2 cups vegetable or canola oil
2 green plantains

Gmail

1 gig inbox. You've heard of it. If you want it, let me know.

Hump Day

Wednesday again. Week's almost half over and I feel like it hasn't even started yet. Watched Nip/Tuck last night, and all I have to say is: THANK GOD HE ISN'T HER SON!! If you watch it, you'll know what I'm talkin' about. I did sleep through a bit of it, and didn't catch the midnight show, so I'll have to be sure to catch it on Sunday night to fill in some gaps. We're building seven cases as big as refrigerators at the shop, they're due to ship really soon, so I'll be puttin in some extra hours today.

Check this entry out from my buddy Dylan's blog: Ask why, and you may be surprised. Read the whole thing, really, it'll take like 30 seconds..... I promise. I think it has an interesting point.

You won't believe what I forgot...

Weekend's done again. Damn things are short aren't they? Anyway, there's something that happened this weekend that I consider a travesty, a personal embarrassment, and an ugly scar on my near flawless permanent record. I want to go ahead and get it out there, so it doesn't slowly ooze into the public sector, which I'm sure it did as soon as Jenn got to work today. It happened on Friday. I met Jennifer at her office. We were going to see Jack Johnson, G Love and Special Sauce, and Donavon Frankenreiter at Meriwether Post Pavilion in Maryland. Anyway, we hooked up, we left for the show, and I forgot the tickets that I ordered six months ago. Yeah, what a bitch. So we're in the middle of DC 5:30 Friday afternoon rush hour and if we turn around there's a good chance that we're gonna miss the show. Jenn didn't believe me for half an hour until I called my step mom and asked her to try and order us tickets online before we got there. I need to mention that here in VA, DC and the surrounding areas we were awaiting our share of Hurricane Ivan, so it was imperative that we get a seat under the pavilion at what was to be a first-come, first-serve, all general admission show. Yeah, I'm a jackass, but it's out there and the monkey's off my back. Anyway, we got there, got more tickets, and found seats under the pavilion. By the fourth song of Donahoo Frankenstein's set it started raining, hard. Needless to say, by the time Jack played, the people on the lawn were drenched, drunk, and pissed. To assert their discontent they had obviously organized a summit of sorts of their wettest, drunkest, and most pissed to communicate with the staff how "This Sucks!" and "C'mon!" and "It's pourin' out here!". Their pleas fell on deaf ears as the staff firmly held their line and allowed those with wristbands representing pavilion seats to pass freely. Shouldn't have had that last shot of Jager in the lot asshole!!

Here's a link for your funky ass: Famous Bed Wetters

Waiting for the Rain

So even here in the safety of the Valley, far north of where Hurrican Ivan smashed the pahhandle of Florida, we're preparing for the worst. I have to go in to work early and help the fellas put all the goods up out of immediate flood danger. Last week we built a flood wall for across the bay door. Damn sturdy one too. Well, it ended up not being necessary, but it sure looks cool. So we'll probably put that bitch up again this weekend. Did I mention that our shop is located adjacent a small river (The South River), and was flooded 4 feet deep just last year. So yeah, Pete (the owner) is taking precautions.

My Uncle Chris can't wait for some severe weather. He dreams about the shit. If the weather's callin' for the poo to hit the fan, and we just get a steady rain, he's dissapointed. He begs for that big radar swirl to barrel across his yard, and for the thunder to make the hairs stand up on the back of his neck. Of course thats easy to say in Virginia. I don't think he would have wanted to be in Pensacola last night.

My personal preparations consist of: A. the new windshield wipers that I bought yesterday, and B: the new windshield wipers that I bought yesterday.

Take this

So I can ease my toes back into posting, I'm just gonna give you a few links to check out. By the way, NCAA Football is underway, and the NFL is kickin' off their season as I type. So get ready to kick your feet back with a cold one, get that remote thumb in shape, and do some screamin' at the TV for your favorite team. It's football season.

File under "Medical Voyeurism"

File under "Canadian Ninjas doin' their thing

File under "Welcome to the ACC"

File under "Hurricane Tracker"