Food blogging

I don't feel much like writing at the moment, so I thought I'd post a pictorial story of me making dinner tonight. The food tastes much better than it looks, mostly because I'm not a very proficient food photographer. My $30 eBay camera doesn't quite hack it, and I have no idea about how to control lighting and whatnot.

But, anyway, pesto pasta with grilled chicken and tomatoes was on the menu this evening. Because I have a cool little food processor and two big pots of basil, I've been making it fresh all summer. Love it like that. I even make enough to freeze and put in baggies for future meals (thank you for the tip, Giada--please call if you get divorced).

So, without further ado, here's the tale of dinner...

This is my spice shelf. Exciting!

This is basil, which I'm about to cut. Smells good. And the picture you can barely see is of a cool building in the West Village, which I will buy and live in when I'm rich and successful.

Basil in process of being processed.

This is the rice cake I was eating to keep myself from killing my appetite.

In addition to basil, pesto calls for garlic, olive oil, Parmesan cheese, salt, pepper--and pine nuts! I'm toasting them in this picture. That mug had water I drank to keep from getting parched. Cooking is a hard business.

Grilling the chicken. Grill pan + apartment = heaven. I have nowhere to place a real grill, so I use one of these pans, which I cover with a pot cover to radiate the heat on all sides of the meat. Works well. I'm not sure why this is orange-colored.

And, here we go! I added grilled tomatoes coated with olive oil, salt and pepper to the side, which were subtle and very tasty. I threw the pesto sauce on the pasta with a splash of pasta water that I saved. A little dash of Parmesan cheese, and this was ready to go--and good!

Why do girls *do* that?!

You might recall that I was supposed to go to Pittsburgh with a couple friends who are girls. We were going to have a BLAST. We used to act stupid in class and make scenes on the street in NYC, so I was expecting similar shenanigans. I have seen one girl in 18 months. The stage had been set for weeks. It was all planned out. Then I learned today at 5 p.m. we were no longer hanging out. Both of these girls had bailed.

That was when I became pissed.

You see, several months ago I asked a girl out I had met that I thought was extremely cool and I really liked, and we were all set to go to an Indians game. Then that morning I texted her a joke and she texted me back to say she couldn't go to the game anymore. It went downhill after that. Long story, not interesting. But two things were wrong about the situation: I could have already purchased the tickets. I at least deserved a voice call! And, if I hadn't texted her, would she have let me roll into her apartment parking lot like an ass that night?

The link to this story is, I told my friends all about this girl. And then they did the same thing!

Key learning: I don't understand anything.

Lance is back!!

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/09/09/armstrong.returns/index.html

My Unyielding Obsession with Ryan Adams

I finished work at 8 p.m. and walked to my car. And I was all right about it because this morning I rediscovered Ryan Adams. I never forgot about him, but sometimes Ryan and I need a little time off so I can remember how clinically obsessed I am with every single song he has ever written.

There is something magical about the music Adams creates, the way his voice floats out of the stereo speakers, summing it all up with a slight Southern accent and a woeful shout. It's sentimentality at the intersection of idealism and unruliness. It's the belief that things like love and living are supposed to be a certain way, but most of the time they're not. And it's OK to cuss about it.


Oh My God, Whatever, Etc.
Come Pick Me Up
Sylvia Plath

Clouds...Frick!

So, this morning brought with it clouds and rain. No skydiving for our intrepid team of 20-somethings from all over the Ohio and Washington, D.C. We wouldn't learn there would be no skydiving until this morning, though. So, from noon yesterday until we finally passed out this morning were many hours of sitting in front of a bonfire, drinking beers, cracking jokes, comparing receding hairlines and gray hairs, and being accused by the skydive company owner of having an affair with his wife. Zing, look how I just slipped that in there. This crazy old guy seriously came over to our tents at 2 a.m. and started screaming that had made off with his wife and that he was going to kill us if he found out who it was.

Surely this is not a good sign if you intend to drop out of a man's planes. He eventually staggered off, and we were left to contemplate that episode the rest of the night.

Then a random dog came over, smelled my head and barked in my face through my tent. For at least 15 seconds I thought my tent roomie was barking and howling in his sleep and I was incredibly alarmed. It was an amazing time.

o-m-g

Skydiving is really happening. Less than 24 hours. Before that is camping, and I think I may be mocked mercilessly by a horde of guys. Because I don't camp, and I have no idea what to bring. It'll be like an episode of Frazier.

My Week In Review

• TV on Friday nights stinks. Of course, I don't have cable, so TV sort of always sucks. Except Mondays. And Thursdays, I think: Kitchen Nightmares, best show ever.
• Anything with Jeff Foxworthy in it is incredibly annoying.
• I got nothing with my Yanni/Obama joke. I tried it numerous times!
• I'm frustrated that conservation and sustainability are viewed as if they are silly, pointless issues. Why is inflating your car tires a joke? Inflate your car tires, and you'll drive a safer, more efficient car. That's just practical!
• I think this election is going to be dramatown, and I don't have the patience for it. I can only imagine the histrionics that we'll see during a Biden/Palin debate.
• Can't talk to my family about politics for the next several months because I'm voting for Obama. I do vote too, not just a faux-supportive 20-something.
• Well, I didn't expect to be so political tonight!