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July 29, 2008
Episode #45 - now in mp3 flavor!
I upgraded GarageBand, and while poking around in settings, found that mp3 and m4a formats come out to the same size. Since I'm not adding pictures or other stuff to the podcast now, I figured I could start publishing them as mp3s and see how things go.
So, here's #45, almost a month after #44. No excuses, but I try to explain myself in this episode somewhere. Sorry about the moment towards the end where I yell - it was to stop Katey from getting run over.
Podcast #45Posted by zaren at 11:19 PM | Comments (0)
July 04, 2008
Day 4
Happy Fourth of July from a stateside Yank!
It's a day off for me today, so I got to sleep in late and make myself lunch. The wife's still in bed, since she work to stay over at work this morning and didn't get home until almost 10:30 am. (Not that I expect her to make me lunch, it's just something to mention.)
So I hit the fridge, hoping to dig into some of her leftovers. Only, there were no leftovers. There wasn't much of anything, actually - grocery shopping has been put off until today, when my paycheck should show up in our checking account. Thankfully, there was a big bag of shaved ham for sammiches.
I dug out the ham, and some shredded cheese (slices are all gone), and hit the breadbox. I dug out the loaf of bread therein, and... found green fuzz on the first slice. Blech. Well, that's not a problem, I though, I'll just dig further down the loaf... and found more fuzz. In two more locations. I call off the whole loaf at this point, and trash it. I forlornly put the ham back in the fridge, and check the pantry for options.
There's cans of ravioli for the kids, and a few more cans of store brand beef stew for me for work... since it's not work today, I pass on the stew. What else... Ah, mushroom soup! One of my classic comfort foods, and one of my first signs of rebellion as a child. When everyone else was getting tomato soup with their grilled cheese at school on Friday, I was proudly asking for mushroom, please!
I crack open the can, splorp it into a cooking vessel, stir in a half can of water and a half can of milk, and toss it on the stove. Grab a bowl, crumble up some crackers while the soup heats up, stir frequently to break up the chunks... the usual routine. As it starts to steam and bubbles form around the edges, I fish a bottle of Jones Soda out of the fridge and set it on the table. I dump the soup into the bowl, top with more crackers, and stir. Set bowl next to bottle, open the laptop, and write this entry out.
*scoop* *slurp* Ahhhhh, just the right temperature, not too hot, not too cool. Texture's right too - just enough crackers to keep the soup in place, but not turn it into mush. So, if you'll excuse me folks, there's lunch to be had.
Posted by zaren at 01:17 PM | Comments (0)
July 03, 2008
Day 3
I had a horrible chocolate monkey on my back last night.
There was no chocolate in the house, and it was pouring buckets and lightning, so I couldn't go get some. It got so bad, that I tried to make my own. I bug out a container of Ghiradelli cocoa powder, some powdered sugar, milk, butter, and vanilla, and tried to make my own. It went from chocolate milk, to chocolate sludge, to something close to frosting, to something kind of like fudge.
I didn't think I was going to be able to get much more powdered sugar into the mix, so I scooped it onto a sheet of buttered wax paper and chucked it in the freezer to firm up. After a half hour, it was firm, but not solid. It tasted kind of like fudge, but it was still kind of grainy. It was chocolatey enough, but almost too sweet. It's still in the fridge, waiting for the monkey to come back.
Posted by zaren at 08:38 PM | Comments (0)
July 02, 2008
July - Day 2
What a day.
I woke up late, and almost missed breakfast. Thankfully, my wife gave me half of her Egg McMuffin that she brought home from work. Once I got to work, I grabbed some chocolate vending machine donuts. They were kinda nasty and slimy, and not all that tasty.
Lunch was leftovers - macaroni salad with turkey. It was better than the donuts, for sure.
I left work hungry, and looking forward to whatever the wife would be making for dinner. I come home to find out she took the kids out clothes shopping, and only got home 15 minutes before me. So for dinner, I had two leftover chicken nuggets and a bowl of leftover mac&cheese with slices of over-nuked hot dogs.
NOT one of my better meal days. I'm not sure why my stomach isn't rebelling. Tomorrow should be a better day, though. I watched an episode of Alton Brown after dinner where he showed how to make mini-hamburgers, and I learned a god trick for cooking them faster and more evenly. I'll have to give it a try tomorrow or Friday, since I'll have Friday off from work - yay Fourth of July!
Posted by zaren at 09:01 PM | Comments (0)
Episode #44
This is starting to look like a bi-weekly thing, huh? I'm wondering if that might work better... At an rate, here's episode #44 - More Rainy Weather.
Posted by zaren at 12:03 AM | Comments (0)
July 01, 2008
NaBloPoMo for July - Day 1
Ah, crap! I got into editing the podcast and forgot a new month started! Okay, let's see what I can get out in the next... 37 minutes?!? Yikes! And since it's a new month, the new theme is... FOOD.
Okay, I can work with that (but quickly)!
I've recently discovered that the local library has a LOT of Alton Brown's "Good Eats" show on DVD, so I've been checking them out. I've gotten a lot of good tips on cooking, more ideas on stuff I'd like to try to make (yes, I cook!), and a better understanding of how cooking works.
I was even inspired to finally buy some actual cloves of garlic and try them instead of garlic powder. Well, I was inspired, but my wife beat me to it and tried some in some baked chicken. MUCH better than with the powder. We will definitely be adding real cloves to more things we cook. That, combined with real onion instead of onion powder should make for even tastier meals.
The onion was my fault - my mom never cooked with real onion as far as I can remember, so I got wierded out when I started finding it in the food the wife made after we got married. I asked her to stop using it, so she switched to powder. Thankfully, I've seen the light, and she's gone back to cooking with real slices of onion - and now, real cloves of garlic as well. I wonder what else I can learn to like?
Posted by zaren at 11:22 PM | Comments (0)