Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Moving

I'm starting a new blog, simply because I feel like it's time for a change of scenery. This blog has served me as a means to chronicle my odd thoughts and evolving interests throughout my time as an undergraduate student. Well, I've graduated now, and while I don't feel any different, I think it's a nice place to start fresh with something, that something being a new blog.

It's not any different from what I'm doing now. I simply want to try a new platform and use a new design. To be honest, I actually started it almost a week ago, but I've been working out the kinks and getting accustomed to how Wordpress functions before I shared the new address. So yeah. It's here. I know only a small handful of people actually keep up with this thing, so that either means you care about what I have to say, or you're just stalking me. Awkward. I'm still tinkering with the blog overall, but for the most part, I think it's ready for me to share. 



Look, Blogger...it's not you, really. You're a great blogging platform. I've gotten to know you so well over the last three to four years. But I've changed as a person, and I need to explore new things. It's difficult to say all this, but it's time we part ways. I hope we can separate on good terms. If it's meant to be, maybe we'll be together again some day. But we can't predict the future, so there's no telling what will happen. It's been a blast, kiddo. 

Saturday, May 19, 2012

This dog.

What the frick. I never thought I'd be jealous of a dog, but I'm actually jealous of a dog. This dog, in particular because he (she? Don't know if the video specifies) has perfect pitch. Check it out, especially around the 5:28 mark, when the dog plays Ol' Macdonald. Craziness.


Monday, May 14, 2012

Food.3

Well I've officially graduated. It doesn't feel any different, other than the fact that I don't have classes to look forward to come fall! Although I do have to work. Which, I need to find. Hey, I'm working on it, okay?

I see people get all emotional over graduating. Honestly I see it as an inconvenience. There were so many things I was able to do as a student: I could get discounts to things, I could use computers in the SLC, hell, I could use my computer anywhere on campus, and, most importantly, I could still be a part of BPG.

Granted, I plan on taking a class this summer, so technically I'll still be able to do those things, but come on: look at all the things I'm not looking forward to! Heh.

Anyways.

Food.3


Yesterday was Mother's Day, and we decided to make dinner and dessert for our mom. It's actually pretty easy doing things for her on said day, her birthday, or just anything where we should "get her something." She likes flowers and sentimental things with meaning behind them. So yesterday we got her flowers and we made food. Awesome.

We had this Sweet Thai Chili pork loin that we got from Sam's Club. It's delicious, by the way. I took the other one with me back to Athens and I can't wait when I get to have it. I'm saving it for a special occasion. So we seared the pork loin in a cast iron skillet (absolutely love those things. I have one and I cook nearly everything in it. Can get really fucking hot though) and stuck it in the oven where we cooked the rest of it. So tender. So flavorful. Even my sister kind of enjoyed it and she's not a big meat eater (hi, Em).

Veggies wise there was this stir-fried kale/bok choy mixture. I think. Or maybe it was all kale. Kinda fuzzy on the details because I checked out after doing my bit of the cooking.

And then as a starch, we cooked this hand-made, lemon-chive spaghetti/pasta our mom got from the farmer's market earlier last week. It was really tasty. It's very fresh and clean tasting, thanks to the lemon.

Finally, the sauce...the damn sauce for the pasta. I knew we couldn't really do a marinara/tomato-based sauce because I thought the sweetness from the tomatoes would compete with the sweetness from the marinade used on the pork. I decided a cream sauce would be better, like alfredo. However, the alfredo sauces I knew about required cream, or at least half-and-half. All we had was 2% milk. Great. Then our mother found a can of Coconut Milk in our pantry. I know, I was thinking the same thing. "I'm too derpish on cooking still, how the fuck can I make a for-pasta cream sauce from coconut milk?!" I knew the flavor of the coconut milk would go with the pork nicely already - the problem for me was I couldn't figure out if it'd do well as a pasta sauce.

I went ahead and tried to make something happen. And you know what? It worked. I guess.

Coconut Milk-Alfredo Sauce
Makes enough sauce for pasta servings for 3-4 people

  • 1/2 can of coconut milk
  •  2-3 cups freshly grated parmesan cheese 
  • few dashes of chili powder
  • garlic powder
  • salt
  • pepper
  • a dash or two of cumin
Pour 1/2 can of coconut milk into small sauce pan over medium heat. When warm enough, add cheese, stir to melt. Add chili powder, garlic powder, salt, and pepper - all to taste. Add a small shake or two of cumin. Stir. Let simmer/keep warm until ready to serve. 

I was really skeptical about using coconut milk. Again, I was all "wtf am I doing" the entire time. But in the end, it turned out pretty good. At least my mom and sister thought so. It tastes like alfredo sauce, but with coconut milk, which they said had added very Thai taste to it (of course. It's coconut milk). Like, Thai curry, almost. But alfredo. Yeah. Anyways, it paired nicely with the freshness from the lemon-chive pasta, and it complimented the sweet Thai chili pork loin well too. All in all, great success. 

And then dessert. I made strawberry shortcake, all from scratch: the shortcake biscuits, the strawberry topping, and the whipped cream. I followed this recipe. It was so damn good, easily my favorite part of the entire meal. I was especially proud of it. And it was relatively easy, too. You know what this means? I'm totally using this if I want to impress a girl with awesome dessert one day. Hell yeah. 


The only thing I would've gone back and changed about the dessert is that I would've added a few splashes of bourbon to the whipped cream prior to the whipping/blending. Mm. Bourbon-whipped cream on strawberry shortcake. My mouth just watered a little bit.

And I'll close with a picture of the above-mentioned dessert:


So. Good. 


Tuesday, May 8, 2012

How I'll feel when I turn in my crappy script in a couple of hours



Seriously though. I am so done with this. Pretty sure I checked out a week ago, at least. I'm graduating, whatever.

I should've learned my lesson from last semester, that I do not have the stamina to commit myself to a long piece of fiction, be it novel or play. Inspiration and motivation come in short bursts for me and writing, so I'll start out pumped for an idea I have, but then as times goes on, I start realizing "Fuck. This is really complicated now," or "Fuck. This idea sucks. What the hell was I thinking?"

This is what I get for trying to write a murder-mystery stageplay...fuck. What was I thinking?




Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Firefly: On Faith...


[Shepherd Book prepares a meal as he absentmindedly addresses River.]
Book: What are we up to, sweetheart?
River: Fixing your Bible.
Book: I, um -- What?
[Pan over to River, who works on a book with pens, brushes, and loose pages.]
River: Bible's broken. Contradictions, false logistics... doesn't make sense.
Book: No, no. You—you can't...
River: So we'll integrate non-progressional evolution theory with God's creation of Eden. Eleven inherent metaphoric parallels already there. Eleven. Important number. Prime number. One goes into the house of eleven eleven times, but always comes out one. Noah's ark is a problem.
Book: Really?
River: We'll have to call it "early quantum state phenomenon". Only way to fit 5,000 species of mammals on the same boat.
. . .
Book: River, you don't... fix the Bible.
River: It's broken. It doesn't make sense.
Book: It's not about... making sense. It's about believing in something. And letting that belief be real enough to change your life. It's about faith. You don't fix faith, River. It fixes you.

~from ep 7 of Firefly, "Jaynestown." 

Monday, April 30, 2012

And all that Jazz

I'm gonna recommend this 8tracks playlist. 36 smooth jazz covers of very un-jazz songs. It's great stuff. Have a listen.

The person who put this 8tracks list together even uploaded the entire playlist via zip file! So you can download the playlist and have it for your own personal enjoyment and listen to tracks at your own will. Like I'm doing right now.


Aw yeah. 

Wednesday, April 25, 2012