tabbouleh

I haven't posted in a while, so here is my family(sort of) recipe for tabbouleh, pics to follow maybe:

Tabbouleh

Let me preface this by saying that I know how lame it is to not use fresh lemons for juicing. As much as I like to cook though, I love to eat that much more, and being a single man I use shortcuts that will result in food going into my mouth quickly.  This is adapted from a family recipe and I like mine really juicy.

4 bunches curly parsley

2 scallions

½ cup dry bulgur wheat

2 medium tomatoes, chilled (refrigerating makes them easier to cut later)

1-2 lemons or bottled lemon juice

1 tbsp. sumac

A few thin-sliced red pepper rings for garnish

Extra virgin olive oil, salt, pepper to taste

Put the bulgur in a saucepan and cover it with water.  Boil it, cover it and set it aside to cool. 

Chop the stems off the parsley.  Wash all the parsley, then chop it finely in a food processor, moving the chopped parsley into a large mixing bowl when each batch is done (you will only be able to get ½ bunch of parsley into the food processor at once, so the chopping will require a few batches). 

Dice the tomatoes and add them to the bowl.   

Finely chop the scallions.  Add them to the bowl.

By now the bulgur should be cooled.  Add it to the bowl. 

Here’s where it gets a little tricky.  Add the olive oil and lemon juice and mix.  I use a spatula to fold all the ingredients together.   I have no set amount of olive oil to lemon juice ratio; you just have to add a little bit of each until you strike a balance that is to your taste.  I prefer a lot of liquid.  Just keep adding a bit more of each until it tastes right to you, continuously mixing while you do so.  Add salt and pepper now too. 

When you have found the flavor that you like, sprinkle the sumac on the top, then add a few pepper rings to garnish.

sketches

Some of my friends have been telling me to do this for a long time, so I finally decided to scan some drawings out of my sketchbook. Most of this stuff is an incongruous patchwork of shit that I felt like drawing at the time, and which ended up on the same page.  Oh, click on the image to see the enlarged version-for some reason blogger is being retarded and the images are not formatting properly.

Fernie, a hockey playing dog, some half-ass attempts at Alex Ovechkin, Brodie with wrench, Kevin preparing to lift

Kevin lifting a lot of weight

Preliminary Kevin sketches for the forthcoming roommate wall portrait project

Me, an unflattering attempt at Brodie, Kevin

Louise, Fernie, Louis, Dave

Bear with shotgun

WTF

Sometimes, communicating with my roommate Jill can be a little confusing. The following conversation is a sample of how things typically go when she and I talk.*

D: "Hey Jill did you get my email?"

J: "Oh yeah, I'm riding to the beach with Michele."

D: "Okay...because your email asked if you could get a ride with us and what time we were leaving."

J: "What is the email?"

D: "Huh?"

J: "I'm riding with Michele to the beach because she's going in the morning and I have to drive my car to her house but I didn't know if there was going to be pizza or if I had to bring sunglasses."

D: "...so you're riding with Michele then?"

J: "Did you get my email?"

*This is a dramatization/interpretation of how our conversations usually transpire and may or may not have actually happened.

my netflix review of "Conan the Barbarian"

"To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentations of their women."

There is a reason that's tattooed across my chest. It's because it is a quote from one of the greatest cinematic achievements of all time. There are roughly seven lines of dialogue in the entire film, but the story and sweeping cinematography tell the tale by themselves, and the use of a cast largely composed of non-actors (a dancer, a professional surfer, bodybuilders, etc.) adds to the awesomeness. There is one main theme at play here-vengeance. The story is simple, and teaches the young that if your parents are murdered and you are enslaved, you must become strong and eventually destroy all who oppose you on your path to vengeance. My 7 year old has seen this movie with me on many occasions, and always tells me that he wants to "crush his enemies". He's so cute. An amazing score by Basil Pouledoris and a surprise cameo by Max Von Sydow just add mead to the mutton table. If you can seriously give this movie less than 4 stars, you should have your Netflix account revoked. I tried to give Conan The Barbarian 121100000000000000 stars but for some reason Netflix technology has not yet caught up with how good this movie is. See it now, or be trampled beneath the sandalled feet of the Cimmerian usurper...

insanity

katie and i have been trying to get back in shape for a while now, and personally, while i have been hitting the gym fairly regularly and not eating a horrible diet, i have not seen the results that i want. i am stronger, and these gains are apparent when i can consistently add weight to a bar week by week and not feel like i'm going to die. but basically, i'm still fat and this upsets me. after doing some research and discovering this p90x thing katie stumbled across another packaged dvd workout program called insanity. unlike the p90x which incorporates free-weights, pull-up bars and other gym equipment into its program, insanity is all body weight cardio/plyo stuff. we started with the fit test-essentially a series of eight or so moves that you perform until failure within one minute. you do this fit test every two weeks and record the number of reps you can do each time to track your progress. during the fit test alone i sweat like a bastard. i found myself having to stop at times and join back in a few moments later. during the first actual session i barfed. you're supposed to do these videos 6 days a week for 60 days. i don't foresee that happening, but i'm okay with at least three of these intense interval sessions per week. i will post some before pics soon...

oh yeah

i guess i never gave a debriefing of the 21 day financial fast katie and i did a few months ago, so i will use this post to do so...

recap: the FF was this financial cleansing thing we read about in the washington post, and was conceived by WP financial columnist michelle singletary. the idea is that for 21 days you only spend money on the essentials-groceries, gas, toiletries, etc.-and cut out frivolous expenses like restaurant meals and clothes.

we started out with pretty good attitudes about this thing, and largely, i think we did well. there were lots of haters, judgers and naysayers, and a few supporters (laura) along the way. the greatest difficulty i encountered was deciding which items to consider a necessity. example: cheese puffs. basically my grocery shopping during the 21DFF was normal. it gets tricky when trying to only select items that are necessities, but i don't usually make extravagant purchases at the grocery store. so i think i did okay. the thing is, how far do you go when drawing the line on necessary items? i mean, if i really wanted to get nasty i could only eat rice and beans for 3 weeks, but that is a different challenge. i just started having to pay back my student loans, so that program might become a reality. anyway, we did a good job of abstaining from luxuries for the 21 days, considering how much we usually eat out. here is a list of definite slip-ups, though:

• delicious subs at jersey mike's
• beer/liquor
• a delicious chick fil-a spicy chicken sandwich

despite these failures, the fast helped make a clearer distinction between the purchasable items that i can and can't live without. i plan on doing it again soon, and i recommend it.

21 DFF Day 7

It's been a while since my last update on The Fast, but I didn't think that anyone would want to read "Today I bought gas, then considered browsing for hockey gear online, then stopped myself and ate a bunch of cheese..." every day. Anyway, Day 7 is winding down and I just want to give a quick recap of how things are going.

I'm enjoying not gorging myself at restaurants, fast food and otherwise, and I feel a little more at ease with the fact that money is not leaving my hands on a daily basis. As last week was winding down, I was a concerned about the upcoming weekend, since this is typically when I end up doing the most unnecessary spending (Bob Evans). Instead of going out, I made an egg, cheese and sausage muffin for breakfast and later K and I had a nice picnic of home made Italian subs at Great Falls. I don't really miss eating out. We're cooking at home more often and have experimented with a few different recipes. I am really appreciating the fulfillment of cooking/eating meals that are cheaper, healthier and sometimes better than restaurant food. Okay, I will stop myself here, lest I lose one of my three readers.

Week 1 assessment: prognosis positive. Weight 178.6lbs.