Monday, July 31, 2006

Everything Mashed Potatoes

Last week I decided I wanted to make something different for dinner, and the only things I knew was that I wanted mashed potatoes, and I wanted some kind of sandwich. And then I wanted to make something with coconut milk. I went to the store and improvised, coming out with a bunch of random items. This is what I made:

I heated up some light coconut milk (even light coconut milk has 7 grams of fat per serving!) and added organic chicken broth. Once that heated up, I added some soy sauce, some bay leaves and thinly sliced red peppers (the tiny, hot ones, not the big ones). I added half a lime's worth of juice, 3 cloves of chopped garlic, chopped basil and chopped cilantro, some salt and chopped chicken breast cutlets. I let it cook while I boiled fettucine. It came out like a coconut thai pasta that was pretty good, but the one thing I lamented was having forgotten to buy an onion.

Next, for something completely random, I made mash potatoes by mashing boiled potatoes with the chicken broth and salt. I put the mashed potatoes in the fridge to cool. Then I ripped up small chunks of sharp cheddar cheese and mixed them into the potatoes, and balled the mixture up about the size of an extra large falafel. I rolled them in panko (Japanese bread crumbs), then fried the balls in heated olive oil so they were very crispy on the outside. I put them in a poppy-seed french roll and ate it while it was hot. It's like a hash brown sandwich, but smoother. I really wish I had something spicy to go with it in the sandwich, like maybe spicy buffalo chicken strips or pepperoni.

The next day, I had a roast beef sandwich with sharp cheddar cheese (you've gotta get it thinly sliced from your grocery store's deli) and mash potatoes on top, stuffed inside the poppy-seed roll. It was amazing. Seriously, why isn't mashed potatoes on everything?

In other news, I've bought a Roomba. I had a 20% off coupon to Bed, Bath & Beyond, and anyone who lives near a BB&B and gets these coupons in the mail knows that these coupons will make you buy anything. Well, with coupon at hand and looking to save so much money on this little gadget, plus with Reggie's comment that his friend has one and thinks it's the most amazing thing on earth, I had to buy it. I'll tell you...the Roomba is amazing. It's like a pet. I spent the first few days following around, watching it bump it's way around the rooms, going under beds and grabbing every corner in the most random pattern. It does a good job of moving between hardwood floors and carpet, but if it gets tangled on anything (ie extension cords, sheets, etc), it tries to untangle itself then makes this sound that sounds like an electronic, "Uh Oh." I never thought I would get so much pleasure from emptying a vacuum bin of lint. I probably ran it about 3-4 times a day the first few days, and was always amazed at how much stuff it would pick up, even after the place looked spotless after the first few times. It made me so proud to empty it and see how much it had picked up...kinda made me understand those parents who get really proud when their baby poops. Seriously, if you ever wanted a pet but didn't want to deal with the responsibility, get a Roomba. It'll clean for you and even dock itself to recharge when it's done, and I know it sounds crazy, but when you find yourself spending hours following it around the house just mesmerized, don't say I didn't warn you.

In other news, I went to the premiere of John Tucker Must Die last Tuesday at Mann's Chinese. I've never been in that theater so it was nice, but it was a motley crowd as there were the user Hollywood suits of agents, managers and studio execs, the minor stars (Eva Longoria looks she's made out of paper. She looks like she's about 45 lbs.) and the cast and crew, but Power 106, our local hip hop station, had run a contest inviting listeners to the premiere, so there were a lot of rowdy high school kids. But it was a decent teen flick with funny moments (watch Jesse throw a hissy fit...best part of the movie). I really hope this movie helps Jesse get bigger roles. We met Nelly at the after party who wasn't that tall but was really nice, and 3 key lime martinis had me toasty. I had the bartender make Reggie a drink with Hennessy, Amaretto and a splash of Sprite which I made up on the fly but was pretty good. Afterwards, we were gonna meet Jesse and his friends at Hyde but randomly, we pulled up next to a couple of my coworkers who were driving on Sunset on their way to meet one of our other coworkers who had quit to move to Israel last year. We invited them over to hang out at Hyde with us, but the people at the door wouldn't let them in because only Reggie and I were RSVP'd to Jesse's group and there were more people meeting up with my coworkers. My coworkers decided to head over to someplace more chill to make sure that everyone meeting up with them could get in, and I got irritated about Hollywood bullshit and idiot doormen so we decided to go home instead. Overall, it was a good night out for a Tuesday. Can't stand the Strip.

Saturday found the Michigan gang (Sareet, Thode, Rebecca, Kate & Plumb included) helping to build a house in Glendale for Habitat for Humanity. Considering that Los Angeles has been consistently working with 105+ degree heat, we were relieved to show up and find it overcast, gray and slightly misty at times. We were given the unskilled labor work that involved a lot of cleaning and hammering. I chose a hammering job that somehow turned into a pulling-out-bent-nails-without-heads that the people in a previous week had hammered down into the wood. It was a pretty hard and frustrating job because without the heads, you had to dig at the nail until you got some kind of area to grab onto with pliers, then twist and yank it until it broke off or came out. Sometimes I had to put my entire body into pulling a nail in the opposite directions, and if I slipped or if the nail suddenly came out, the force would send me flying. Luckily, I was on a lesser populated side of the construction so no one saw me fall on my ass. I think. It was a pretty fun day, and I got to learn a lot about my friends...mostly, how much those boys love their Rocky. It was really satisfying to use a hammer and get down and feel like you were building something, but the next day, I realized, all the work that the 20 of us did in an entire day, could have been something that two nail guns could have done in 2 hours. Oh well. I guess that program is as much about giving volunteers the satisfaction of contributing to a greater cause as it is about providing a need for the community. As Ben (who organized everything) said, the problem in the U.S. is that there's a surplus of volunteers willing to help out, but not enough resources.

Monday, July 24, 2006

What are all the kids listening to these days, you ask?

We'll, it depends on if you've fucked Alec Baldwin in his ass.

Wednesday, July 12, 2006

Big changes are coming...

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/13830825/?GT1=8307

Very, very cool.

Tuesday, July 11, 2006

Some Quick Reviews Before I Go To Bed (aka Recap of The Last Two Weeks):

NIN (Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre, Irvine):
Trent Reznor is a god amongst men. Trent Reznor is the sexiest fucking thing on this planet. Trent Reznor makes me wanna be a better man. I would pay big money to watch Trent Reznor drench his body in water and rip his emotional guts out in a dark steel-caged dungeon every day of the week. I heart Trent Reznor. If you've never seen him live...there are really no words to describe the passion and intensity that man brings. He makes cacaphony a living, breathing universe of discordance synchronized by the rhythms of a pulsing heartbeat. You don't even have to love his music before you become mesmerized by him live. You'll see...Trent Reznor is a sensory experience.

Superman:
...wears too much make-up. And apparently isn't a very good actor because he didn't have as many lines as you would expect from a lead actor, and they cut away a lot during his lines. But he does look a lot like Christopher Reeves, albeit Christopher Reeves wearing red squishy old-lady orthopedic boots. Kevin Spacey plays an excellent villain, but aren't all gay great villains wonderfully catty? Bryan Singer has a quick sense of humor, injecting the scenes with funny little moments, and the kid who plays Jimmy Olsen is the same one from Not Another Teen Movie who sincerely and wholeheartedly promised to take a dump on a girl's chest. I recommend seeing this film at the IMAX theater because there are approximately 20 minutes of footage in 3D.

X-Men:
Now this was a fun movie. I can't remember much about it so it was pretty mindless, but it's always fun to see the different characters match up with their different superpowers.

Unscripted (HBO):
Great acting, many episodes directed by George Clooney who now seems to rule Hollywood by the grace of his charm and magnetism. I think some of the comic moments are well set up but cut out too early, but the acting teacher is one of the best characters on TV. Actors should watch this show just for some great insight on the theory of acting. Good DVD choice for the cardio machines at the gym.

Getting Promoted:
More commitment to the office job, more time and effort spent at the office job, more money to spend outside of the office job (supposedly). And having to go out of town on more business trips. Will I come to resent Vegas and my constant presence there for trade shows? Not if it means being able to buy a condo for my brother in LA.

The Score:
Jonathan Kranz, composer extraordinaire, is in the final stages of completing our score for the short and now we're just waiting for the sound designer to come back into town next week and finish the sound, and then we've just got the output to go. The music is pretty damn good...like the first season of Lost as requested but with his own signature. You can check out his music at: http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=20354239. He's a really nice guy, a consummate professional, and incredibly talented and easy to work with. Talk to him if you need a good composer. I believe he did the music on the Da Vinci Code trailer. Oh holy shit, he's got our music up on his myspace! Okay, cool...check out our score. ;) Pieces, that's us. His score makes me jump every time.

Naet Treatment:
Michael was visiting me the week before last because he's developed a constant throat-clearing habit that all the specialists up north can't figure out. My neighbor recommended Naet treatment as a way to help distinguish and clear up mysterious allergies that was successful on her three young children. Incidentally, it has a good record with autism. They do a muscle strength test to test reactions to various substances and if the symptoms are very strong like in Michael's case, they use a surrogate. So I got the treatment while holding Michael's arm. It seemed strange, almost like going to a psychic's office, albeit a psychic that knew her stuff about endocrinology and performed lab tests and acupuncture, but I suspect it was because I had no idea what she was doing. But at this point, we're willing to try anything. Incidentally, I've never had allergies before but after the treatment, I suddenly had strong allergic reactions to being outdoors and developed an incessant cough. Probably a coincidence. Hopefully a coincidence. The program is long and Michael will continue it up north. It calls for testing and treatment for several individual substances (ie egg products, dairy, pollen, metals, etc.) and takes a while--they test and treat you for a particular substance, then you have to avoid it for 25 hours and they recheck you to see if you come back more tolerant. She did find a weakness to two of Michael's medications though, so I would be interested to see if those meds or their current dosage levels are actually detrimental to him.

Calistoga Mud Baths:
Went to Napa for 4th of July weekend with the family, and my mom and I decided to try one of their famous mud baths. I think she and I were on the same wavelength in that we thought the mud would be the same stuff as the "mud" masks that you put on your face, this smooth clay (mine is infused with green tea!), but when we showed up, the tubs were filled with literally, what looked like something they had shoveled in from the side of the road then turned into a soupy substance with water. And it STINKS. My mom changed her mind and opted for the mineral bath while I decided to give it a try. You were supposed to get in, then sit down, then wiggle your butt until you sunk in. I wiggled until I could no longer bear the thought of mud in my nether regions, and lay there, noting how the mud kind of formed this quicksand like suction so you felt encased. I lasted about 5 minutes before the knowledge got to me that it was mud-mud, not clean, mud-mask clay mud, so I got out, showered everything off and got in the mineral bath, which is basically a jacuzzi bubble bath with mineral salts and your own individual rubber ducky.

Patrick O'Bryant:
WHY? Why would they do this to us??? Fuck the Warriors. Seriously, I hate you guys.

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
Anyone who says videogames aren't an intense and debilitating psychological addiction is dead wrong. I have wasted entire days of my life. Today I was waiting at a light and I saw a low rider and who I thought was a guy wearing a green do-rag at the wheel, and my immediate thought was that I needed to go drag him out of his car. Video games rot the mind.

Ten Hours of Sleep:
The stuff of fantasies for me.