I'll never look at a tomato...or a cucumber...the same way again!

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 08:13 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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My wife just called to tell me that NewDog (Mark 4.0) pulled a leather-bound copy of The History of the Peloponnesian War (by Thucydides) off the shelf and proceeded to chow down on the leather cover. It was not in its usual place, I was referring to it as I read Donald Kagan's The Peloponnesian War (his one-volume "popular" treatment of his four-volume opus).

"...the first page of Thucydides is, in my opinion, the commencement of real history. All preceding narrations are so intermixed with fable, that philosophers ought to abandon them, to the embellishments of poets and orators." (David Hume)

With this, she has joined a very exclusive club. OldDog (Mark 2.0, readers may recall that OldDog, Mark 3.0 passed away last may) chewed up a omnibus edition of The Lord of the Rings when she was roughly the same age.

I know I can get another copy, heck, I can get it for free from Project Gutenberg. But I had this one for about twenty-five years. Ah, NewDog, you're trying my patience!

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 01:28 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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When making coffee, it helps to put the filter and coffee into the machine before walking away; otherwise you're in for a disappointment.

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 05:27 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Sadly, you can't make stuff like this up.

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 05:15 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Of course, uh, peak performance is predicated on proper pan preparation.

(Alton Brown, Good Eats, "The Trouble With Cheesecake")

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 05:14 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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So on one hand, honey is an amazingly sophisticated and efficient food source; on the other hand it's bee backwash.

(Alton Brown, Good Eats, "Pantry Raid IV: Comb Alone")

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 05:10 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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For those of you who might have grown up in the city, these are cattle.

(Alton Brown, Good Eats, "Steak Your Claim")

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 05:07 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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"Breen. You've managed to import breen from homeworld. How?"

"It .. isn't actually breen."

"But the smell, the taste..."

"It's an Earth food. They are called Swedish meatballs. It's a strange thing, but every sentient race has its own version of these Swedish meatballs. I suspect it's one of those great universal mysteries which will either never get explained or which will drive you mad if you ever learned the truth."

(Babylon 5, Walkabout)

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 11:29 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Marinate some ribs, slap them on the grill, sit back with a gin and tonic...

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 08:08 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Well, too bad I'm not female...but if you are, and need an excuse to drink more coffee!

Of course, once you're done reading all the caveats, etc., you may shrug your shoulders and ignore the article and just drink coffee as usual. Or not. Maybe "balance" is all we need.

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 04:49 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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When Beowulf collides with Dr. Seuss.

Hark and ware, oh Warrior!
Weird of Sven now hear you.
How good Lars he harried,
pestered him with questions.

Late at meadhall light burned;
Lars did strive to largen
belly with a bowl of
boiled fish his mission.

And some chunks of chicken,
cheese and bread and peasoup,
finally pounds of pancakes
paired with lingon berries.

Smallish snack he snuck while
woozy wife lay snoozing.
When inside there wandered
forth a fellow northman.

Lars did greet him greatly
for he knew the gruesome
tales of host who hasten
travellers forth from doorstep.

Lars did ask his name then.
"I am Sven," he mentioned.
"Sven I am," he stated.
"Do you like lutefisk and yams?"

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 08:43 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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No matter how you work it, "ground chicken" and "Italian chicken sausage" just doesn't cook up as well as the real thing for a good pot of tomato sauce.

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 06:11 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I think if I were laying out $1,798.00 for a coffee maker (!!!), I'd expect it to come with a fully-installed firewall.

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 08:22 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Gene Wolfe and Neil Gaiman: A Walking Tour of the Shambles (Little Walks for Sightseers #16) (American Fantasy, 2002, ISBN 0-9610352-6-9; cover art by Gahan Wilson, interior art by Randy Broecker and Earl Geier).

This is a very small book...not sure I'd rate it a book, other than the fact that it is between too covers.

It is also an utterly hilarious book. From the listing of "other books" (all fictional titles) to the amazing sites you'll see in an obscure part of Chicago, to suggestions of what to eat at a restaurant you'll come across on your walking tour...funny stuff. Did you know about the buried Chinese cemetery? How about the tunnels under Lake Michigan? And what about that odd statue with the ruby eye that gets stolen and returns on a regular basis.

Try to find a copy and save your pennies to buy it. Bonus for me, my copy is signed by Wolfe, Gaiman and Wilson (and I'll let you guess which signature I value the most).

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 07:42 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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The day started with me spending about an hour swatting spam comments on Ye Olde Blog (frakking bustards), then boiling rice and chopped meat (not for personal consumption; it seems that New Dog had come with, and now has passed to Old Dog, um, "digestive issues"!). Now, I've cleaned the fish tank, I am ready to get cleaned up, finish one military history, maybe start another.

In the meantime, I put on a pot of beans.

The recipe comes from The El Paso Chili Company's Texas Border Cookbook (W. Park Kerr and Norma Kerr). This is one of those cookbooks that I will probably wear out, it has a number of dishes that I make again and again. Their pot beans (Frijoles de Olla) is a favorite that leads to other dishes such as Well-Fried Beans (Frijoles Refritos) as well as being put into various pots of chili.

The author's point out that this is comfort food on several levels. The cooking process is long, but relaxes you. It's nice to know you've got a pot simmering, or waiting for you in the refrigerator. And it is nice to make a batch of frijoles refritos, put them into tortillas with some cheese and maybe some meat, freeze them, and bring them to work for several months afterwards.

Good eats!

I'd love to visit this restaurant. Several times. The cookbook, as I said, is excellent. The only problem I've found is that living in the nether regions, I often have to send away for ingredients or substitute. Things are getting easier, but you still occasionally run across something that causes you to scratch your head. more...

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 08:36 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Grilled cheese. Toasted cheese. Comfort food. Hmmmm...toasted cheese.

A toasted cheese contest!

And...toasted cheese in literature.

'Killick! Killick, there! Bear a hand.'

Killick's voice could be heard coming nearer: 'No peace, no bleeding peace in this barky,' and as the door opened, 'Sir?'

'Toasted cheese for the Doctor, half a dozen mutton-chops for me, and a couple of bottles of the Hermitage. D'ye hear me there? Now, Stephen, give me an A.'

They tuned their strings, that pleasant tentative wailing, and as they tuned he said, 'What do you say to our old Corelli in C major?'

'With all my heart,' said Stephen, poising his bow. He paused, and fixed Jack's eye with his own: they both nodded: he brought the bow down and the cello broke into its deep noble song, followed instantly by the piercing violin, dead true to the note. The music filled the great cabin, the one speaking to the other, both twining into one, the fiddle soaring alone: they were in the very heart of the intricate sound, the close lovely reasoning, and the ship and her burdens faded far, far from their minds.

(Patrick O'Brian, Desolation Island)

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 08:45 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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"Caffeine is a safe and readily available drug and its ability to stabilise the blood brain barrier means it could have an important part to play in therapies against neurological disorders."

Daily caffeine protects the brain? Works for me! Does this mean I can write off my daily intake on my taxes as a health cost?

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 08:07 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Fred's Reading Report (March 200

It was the best of times...oh, never mind!

Reading was impacted by a temporary increase in hours worked. So, I feel like I have not done as well as the first two months of the year.

Books read: 7. Bourdain...A Cook's Tour. O'Brian...Master & Commander. Pournelle...The Endless Frontier, Volume 1. Ramsay...Roasting in Hell's Kitchen. Ringo...The Last Centurion. Ringo...Princess of Wands. Whittemore...Quin's Shanghai Circus.

134 short works read. Goal for the year 365; goal for month, to reach 91; goal for next month...121 (so I'm ahead for the year, so far!)

Current reads, on deck, on Mount Toberead...I'm increasingly shuffling the piles, so it is easier just to list what is finished rather than what is being read!

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 11:45 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I'm putting this under cuisine...ummm...because I don't know where else to put it!

The intertubes once again comes through and presents me with an obscure cultural reference point. And once again shows me an area in desperate need for further research. Let's see if we can erase all those "citation needed" indications!

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 05:53 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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A recent effort. No formal instruction consulted ahead of time, just made up based on past experience.

1 package of stew meat (I used beef, pork would work, I don't know about chicken...might break down too much).
1 16 oz can of stewed tomatoes.
1 can of pitted black olives.
2 cups of beef stock (previously made from scratch).
1 large onion.
1 package of mushrooms, sliced.
Olive oil.
Salt and pepper.
1 bay leaf.
1 bottle of red wine.

1 skillet. 1 crockpot. 1 larger skillet or other stove top pot. more...

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 02:27 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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