Thursday, June 21, 2007

A detour is a choice between two tasks...

Ok, I had this thing half done, and then screwed up and lost it. So now I've got to start again. I don't know how I did that. Oh well. So here I am at the library again, and all I have to say is...kids are annoying. I'm sure I was annoying when I was a kid at the library, but these kids are truly obnoxious. I guess I'm glad they are at the library instead of roaming the streets or something, but it's not like they are doing anything constructive, like reading here. They are loud, and rowdy. By the way, when I was kid and using the computer at the library, there were two choices, Oregon Trail, or Where in the World is Carmen San Diego. That was it. No YouTube, Myspace, Everquest, or whatever these kids are doing while I wait for my precious hour of internet time. At least Oregon Trail was educational, I bet these kids don't even know what dyssentary is. Oh well, enough of my cranky old man ramblings and on to the regular stuff.

Food -
Dinner for my dad was awesome. I was really happy with how it came out. The only dissappointment was that I overcooked the asparagus. It was still ok, but a bit soggy. The sweet potato fries were great, the steak came out perfect, and the blue cheese with the balsamic reduction was better then expected. The dessert was amazing, I got the recipe from Food & Wine magazine and you can find it here. I suggest you try it out, and it's actually pretty easy. The best part was that my dad not only ate everything on his plate, but had seconds. This may seem like your average dad-like behavior, but my dad is still recovering from cancer treatment and this was the first time he's actually finished a full plate of food, let alone gone back for more. I was truly happy to be able to prepare a meal that he enjoyed so much and was able to finish.
The Firehouse in Old Sac has a new chef. I wish I could afford to check out the new menu because I'm pretty excited by it. I've always enjoyed The Firehouse in the past, it's a Sacramento classic and still one of the finest restaurants we have. However, it hasn't really been keeping pace and I'm hoping that the new chef will instill some life into the menu while maintaining what The Firehouse has always been about. We'll see.

Sports -
I thought Tiger was going to pull it off and win the U.S. Open. He didn't. He finished second. Oh well, he and his super hot wife had a baby the next day.
As for baseball, the Mets finally pulled off a decisive victory and I'm hoping that they are on their way back out of the muck. Of course they lost the next two, so it's still pretty dismal. They still haven't surrendered first place in the NL East, but it's now a really close race with the hated Braves. There are rumblings that the White Sox are going to start selling off some talent, and I think that the Mets really need to pursue Mark Buerle. We need another top level starting pitcher to take some of the pressure off of the young guys. Pretty much all of our starters are struggling right now, which is unfortunate because they had been pitching so well. I wouldn't mind parting with a prospect or two for Buerle. Just not Pelfrey or Humber.
I won in fantasy baseball again this week, keeping me in third place overall. Of course this week I'm playing one of the guys who is tied for first. He's only lost one game this season, but it was to me, and I'm leading right now, barely, so we'll see. I won't be surprised if I lose, but it would be awesome if I won.

TV -
Lots of stuff going on in my TV world this time because, frankly, I've got lots of time to watch tv. I'm trying out new shows that I've heard are good, such as Deadliest Catch, watching plenty of ridiculous judge shows, and expanding my love for reality television.
Top Chef - Top Chef's second episode confirmed what I was thinking from the first episode...other then Clay, all of these people can really cook! There were no disasters, nobody was really in the weeds, the eliminated chef this week was only because she didn't quite follow directions. I guess I agree with the reasoning, I mean, she braised that lobster and didn't really grill anything, but I would have eliminated Howie. His dish was the worst dish. Overcooked, dry, pork loin? And it was his second time in the bottom. I don't think he'll last much longer. Neither will that Joey guy. I'm intrigued by the giant chef, CJ, how does he get along in the kitchen? He appears to be almost seven feet tall, his back must be killing him!
Hell's Kitchen - Well, Aaron had to go to the hospital and was eliminated because he was "very sick". With what? Why didn't they disclose his problem? Was it a nervous breakdown? Lyme disease? What? Other then that, I've gotta give Jen props for stepping up and admitting how badly she screwed up and trying to take Julia off the hot seat. You just can't serve food out of the garbage! Not only did Julia have a really good day and didn't belong on the hot seat, but she's the one who prevented Jen from serving the garbage pasta! Joanne was the right call. She was not very good at all. I'm thinking that Julia will probably go a lot further then she should because Chef Ramsay has taken a liking to her. He seems to have a soft spot for cooks with no culinary training, giving it their all. Remember Elsie from season 1?
Charm School - So they tricked me. Instead of the season finale, it was one of those crappy clip show recaps. Of course there was some "never before seen footage" !!! I don't give a damn. I wanted to see the finale. I'm still sticking with my prediction that Becky will win, but now I have to wait until this weekend. They did have the finale of Celebrity Fit Club, which uses the term "celebrity" loosely. I guess that's not really fair, because I've pretty much heard of everyone that's been on the show. But I'm weird like that. Most people wouldn't be as familiar. Of course this season, I still don't know who the hell Cledus T. Judd is. I think he's some country singer, but I don't have a clue. Anyways, the team with Screech on it won. He acted like a total douche the whole show, and it was obvious he was just being a dick to try to get more camera time and hopefully boost his sad little career. It won't work. He should have gone on Surreal Life.

Politics -
So the big news recently is that NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg has quit the GOP and become an "independent", whatever that means. While I applaud his decision to finally quit the charade of his GOP membership, I think this whole "independent" thing is also a farce. His political stances line up completely with the stance of the Democratic Party, so the only thing I can see that he's doing is setting for a third party run at the White House. Why? What is the point of all this? Honestly, do we not have enough choices yet? The Democrats have EIGHT declared candidates, the GOP has TEN. These are just the actually declared candidates. Waiting in the wings are still Al Gore for the Dems, Newt Gingrich, Fred Thompson, Chuck Hagel, and George Pataki, for the GOP. I'm sure that Greens will run somebody. So will the Libertarians, the Peace and Freedom Party, etc...do we really need an independent candidate? What does Bloomberg offer that I can't already find in the field? It's absolutely ridiculous.

Ok...that's it for now. Thank you Kellyfor my first comment!

No comments: