From Elias's favorite new show:

[the hbo embed sucks; go to: http://www.hbo.com/conchords/video/index.html]

or, a live version of a funny song:

While It Lasts

Don't you love the expression, "smoke 'em if you got 'em?" We're doing the equivalent with cable (ok dish) television. (Steven King knows what I'm taking about.) We're getting rid of the dish this summer, but we're going to make the most of it until the plug is pulled.

Tonight we enjoyed the most fabulous show. VH1' 40 Most Softsational Soft Rock Songs is soooo good. I only wish Brother Ed and Xui could have been by my side to sing along and deconstruct. Elias was a great partner, of course, but Ed and Xui have the low brow background required to love love love being reminded of good and bad songs that we should be too embarrassed to admit knowing. Brother John saw the show too and says these songs are ones you deny knowing or liking, but in the car alone you sing along to them. So, he can join my sofa club too.

I knew or recalled all of the songs, as I listened carefully to all the AM, FM, and MTV offerings I could as a kid in Northern California in the 70s and 80s. Also, I went to quite a few jr. high and high school dances in Ukiah, Ca, thus my familiarity with Phil Collins and Air Supply.

Highlights for me included hearing the Captain and Tennile sing, "Do that to me one more time, once is never enough" followed by a recorder solo! Roberta Flack and Peabo Bryson singing, "Tonight I Celebrate My Love" was helped by the comedian commentary you always get in the VH1 shows. I never knew those songs were straight up about doing it! It turns out that most of the most softsational songs were.

Excuses

Not posting for over a week is more troubling to me than to anyone else. But, folks, you should get used to it. Next week, Elias and I leave for vacation, and we'll be unable to do any www type things.

Updates

-- We're keeping a dog this week, and next week our dogs will go home with her. It's an exchange that will save us tons in board and care while we're on vacation. I now know that two is our limit, and we are not going to get another dog. Whew what a hand full!

-- We upgraded to a king size bed. Ahh. Heavenly.

-- I found a new dentist, and despite the cost and hassle (they make me pay, and I have to get reimbursed by my insurance), I'm sooo pleased. I love being treated like I'm at an upscale salon with bottled water, coffee, tea, and warm, wet, soothing towels for after. If you're in the bay area, and want a referral, let me know. I received a hand written thank you note from the dentist yesterday, and she included extra business cards.

That is all. If I think of anything else, I'll be sure to post it.

Happy Birthday Elias

Today is Elias's birthday!

This is the photo I'd use to make him a card.



This is the cake I would (and actually did) bake for him.



Aunt Jeanetta's Apple Cake

1 1/2 cup corn oil*
3 cups flour
4 eggs
2 cups peeled, chopped, golden apples
1 cups chopped pecans
2 cups sugar
1 cup (raisins)
1 tsp soda
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt

In a small bowl, sift flour, salt, soda, spices. Set aside.

Mix oil, sugar, eggs, and vanilla.

Add dry ingredients to wet (a bit at a time). The mix will be stiff. Add fruit, nuts, etc.

Bake in greased in bundt pan in pre-heated oven at 325 for 1 hour plus 15 - 25 minutes if necessary.

* I like to bake with butter, but feel free to do your own thing, even fat cutting substitutes if you so desire.

Wishiest List

When we get married, I plan to register exclusively at Sky Mall so I get things like this. After all, we really have all the kitchen stuff we need.

CINEmatador

If you haven't already checked my link to Xui's side project, CINEmatador, you should. He's posting short videos he directs for fun and distribution through the world wide web and The Stranger. He's come a long way from his pre-digital days. I remember he made a spoof of the Blair Witch Project, shot entirely in his communal Seattle home. I wish he'd put that one up on his site! I also remember some other works he created that are best left buried in the past.

So, the work shown at CINEmatador isn't really SFW, as there's both an overt, sex-obsessed, gay male gaze and a raunchy, straight, Seattle boy stench to it all. It's smart and self-conscious in that regard.

Pickles

Lucy 4's recent post about Kool-Aid pickles was interesting, but I can understand how the results weren't so great. No offense, but yuck. Pickles should be crisp, sour, and spicy.

I will be forever grateful to Sacha for hipping me to home pickling. Now, I do it all the time for all sorts of occasions.

Made last weekend for a bbq, photo courtesy of Anna Eng.

This is the super adaptable (as noted in parenthetical notes below) recipe Sacha provided me, and I apologize to whatever cookbook author is failing to get credit:

5-6 lbs. pickling cucumbers, halved or quartered (I always pickle carrots with my cukes)

1 red onion, cut into half moons about 1/2 inch thick (I don't use onion because I don't think it's necessary)

1 head garlic, cloves peels and smashed (I use 2 cloves per jar)

Chopped fresh dill (I've gone without when I couldn't find any)

3 small chiles, slit on the side (I use 2-3 per jar and jalapenos too)

1/4 c. pickling spices (available as a mix, consisting of mustard seeds, pepper corns, fennel seeds, etc.)

3 c. red wine vinegar (or apple cider or white which is what I use)

6 c. water

1/2 c. kosher salt (I think it's too much so I use less)

Everything must be non-metallic! (the garlic will turn green even in enamel covered metal as I discovered recently).

Heat vinegar and water and salt in the microwave until salt is completely dissolved. Pack all other ingredients (vegetables and spices) into canning jars (or saved, recycled, clean jars you have on hand). Pour hot mixture over until it covers everything, and cap the jars with clean lids. Allow to cool and then refrigerate. Good for at least 2 months.

update -- OMG! I can't believe I didn't give a time on the pickles. It's like 1 hour or so. Eat them already!