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.

21DFF Day 2

So far, the fast is going well. I bought a shit ton of groceries yesterday and am enjoying eating in. Also, since people tend to lose weight on this fast, I weighed myself this afternoon to see where I'm starting from. My weight loss may be offset, however, by the fact that I'm on week two of a six week prednisone cycle my doctor prescribed to treat my Crohn's disease. As I learned yesterday, this shit makes you hungry, suddenly and ravenously. We'll see. Starting weight: 180.8lbs.

21 day financial fast -- Day 1

Katie and I have decided to do Michelle Singletary's 21 day financial fast. The details are laid out here, but basically, for 21 days you only spend money on necessities. the criteria for determining what items are necessary might be a bit foggy (actually I think I need a Big Mac right now) but deep down we know what we can and can't live without.

I don't spend incredibly frivolously, but I tend to drop loot on fast food, booze, restaurants and bars and that adds up quickly. I've also gotten a little, um doughy in the past years, and I attribute that directly to eating out lots (well and just eating lots), so for these reasons I've decided to do this. Hopefully this will give me a bump in the right direction and help me hone some good habits. Today is Day 1. Here we go...

my colonoscopy

so i have a colonoscopy scheduled for tomorrow afternoon, and therefore today i have eaten nothing but italian ice and white grape juice. in about ten minutes, i will begin the cleansing of my colon which involves drinking about a gallon of this solution that will cause me to violently jettison the contents of my bowels for the next five hours. wish me luck.

my new favorite hobby

recently i've decided to entertain myself by providing helpful answers to questions on Yahoo! Answers. the Y!A community has provided me with helpful insight on a handful of occasions, so i decided it was time to give back. here are a few samples of work from my burgeoning career.

His LadyBug

WHAT SHOULD WE NAME THIS KITTEN?!?!?!?
I got my husband a kitten for part of his birthday present after his other cat had to be put down because of health problems. This kitten is so cute and adorable. It's fluffy =) Shes black with a white chest, chin, and feet. She's very sweet. give me some ideas for names. I'm wanting something cute. Thanks!

* 21 hours ago

Additional Details
i was kinda leaning twords the name duckie? lol, what do you think?

21 hours ago
i think that a lot of people asumed it was a boy?? even though I said "she" a few times lol, sorry that I was unclear. But it is a girl.

5 hours ago

i said:

turbo
dicknuts
balls
puffy
stinky
catdick
cockmouth
mittens

if you don't use one of these names you are racist

* 21 hours ago


here is a young lady who wanted to find out how her favorite drink is made:

K

Vodka and lemon. how do you make it?
Its what I always order I love it but how do you make it?

* 1 day ago
* - 3 days left to answer.

david

are you goddamn kidding me?

* 1 day ago

crazy old jedif is looking for the elusive title of that club banga:

Jedif

What is the name of that club song?
one part goes like:
the girls be goin crazy
the 'something' be goin crazy

* 2 days ago
* - 2 days left to answer.

david

oh, it's called "the girls be goin crazy" by 2 krazee

* 2 days ago


james was taking a survey on his favorite reggae legend:

james KuL

I wont to see how many people like bob marley the singer for people who dont know him tell me your fav song?

* 2 days ago
* - 2 days left to answer.


david

that's not even a question.

* 2 days ago

so yes this is how i've been using my time on them internets lately. the awesome part is that there are like 25 more of my insightful replies out there. click here to peruse this ever-expanding encyclopedia of useful answers.

my new album

i just realized that my new header looks like my folk album cover.

street heat

i love my car. it looks pretty good, gets decent gas mileage, is kind of fast when it needs to be, and has a sunroof and working a/c. it's also fairly reliable despite having over 236,000 miles. i recently had to replace the spark plug tube seals and the valve cover gasket, so as a show of respect i decided i would repaint the valve cover.

here is what i did:

removing the valve cover

i pulled the spark plug boots, removed all the hoses that were connected to the valve cover, then removed the valve cover nuts. i lost a nut and it drove me insane. luckily i had a regular nut that fit.

cleaning that shit

this is what the old vc looked like:




as you can see, about half the paint has chipped off and it is greasy and basically looks like some doodoo. to remove the old paint i got a spray can of paint remover from autozone. this stuff is lethal. i've heard people say to leave it on for 24 hours, but it will chew through the old paint immediately. it burns like a bastard if you get it on your skin. i used sandpaper and a toothbrush to get the more annoying crevaces and made sure it was completely free of the old paint.

to make sure it got nice and clean i sprayed it down with engine degreaser and gave it a rinse. i let it dry and was ready to paint.

painting

i shoved masking tape in any holes i didn't want to get paint in and hit it with about three coats of primer, then another three or four of glossy red. it's good to pull the tape off while the paint is still a little wet otherwise some of your paint is bound to peel off where you don't want it to. i sanded down the honda "H" and "honda motor company" lettering, and this is what it looks like now:

our first date part 1 or "the night we met"

as most of my readers know, i've been dating a girl named katie for a few months now. she's cute/smart/funny/quirky and in my opinion, things seem to be going well. we get along, but often find ourselves disagreeing on one particular subject. it seems that there is a discrepancy in the set of facts that either of us presents regarding our first date. i will now use the blog format to resolve this dispute and set the record straight.

it was late december of 2008 and christmas was fast-approaching. our friend bub was having a party at his silver spring house, and kevin, chris and i decided to go. it was a friday night and i wouldn't get home till a little before ten. my friends were accomodating enough to wait for me.

there were only a few people at the house when we got to the party. i started with a strong drink and decided that i would be especially social that evening. as the night grew old i grew very drunk, and my list of people met and ladies charmed grew tall. suddenly i noticed that a little person was talking to me. she was about 4'11", snowy white skin, strawberry blonde hair and very pretty. she looked really wasted and was slurring her speech and falling all over me, but there was something very charming about her, so i stuck around.

"hi, i'm katie" she said. "can i pleeeeease get your number?"

"sure," i replied. "here it is. my name is dave. your beauty has me speechless, unlike the twelve other only mildly attractive girls that have given me their numbers this night. wilst thou now come with me, little one? i have something to give you."

it was the eve of the winter solstice and the full moon above was huge. together we walked through a standing of tall, black, leafless trees and crossed a wooden bridge where we came upon a snow-covered knoll. her eyes were cold and beautiful like the full moon in a frozen river. it was here that i presented her with the Moon Ring that she now bears, anointing her my lover...

dopesmoker

sleep-dopesmoker

i bought this album over a year ago, and i listened to it once or twice, but never gave it a fair chance. i figured it would be good, i just couldn't muster the patience to give it my full attention. the thing with this album is that it is one hour-long song. in the early 90s sleep recorded this album and presented it to their label who rejected the idea of releasing an album that was one giant song. it eventually saw release in its original form in 2003 and i eventually bought it. i decided to give it another listen last night and it is epic. it's kind of like standing in front of a giant monolith at the bottom of the ocean. there are no real parts-you have to listen to the whole album, unlike sleep's holy mountain(awesome) which actually has songs.

more reviews

supernatural

if i were to rename this show, i would call it "tough and tender". just look at that picture of the two main characters. the one on the left is saying "i'm gonna rape you" while the guy on the right is like "...and i'm gonna write a song about it". these are the winchester brothers, dean and sam i think, stars of the WB hit "supernatural". i've at least seen the show enough to know this, i guess. basically these two codpieces drive around in an old impala trying to kill demons. i imagine this show is popular among 10th grade goth girls who dream about these hunky protagonists killing ghosts. the special effects are shitty at best, and i think i wrote better stories in 7th grade. if you want to know what this show is all about, imagine the x-files minus any redeeming qualities.








stargate: atlantis

this is another show i've barely seen, but i must say that i'm kind of into it, given the few snippets of footage i've actually caught. it's like a less mature battlestar galactica (which is an awesome show) which isn't to say that it's bad. the characters are interesting-there's the han solo style col. shepherd, a doctor who looks like alton brown and a few hot girls, one of which looks like jennifer lopez, but hotter and apparently not as awful at life-and the writing seems decent, though i haven't seen too much of it. not as good as battlestar, but still worth watching.

reviews of things that i may or may not be qualified to review

the road cormac mccarthy

the road is cormac mccarthy's tale about a boy and his father trying to survive in the wastes of a perpetually gloomy post-apocalyptic american wasteland. despite mccarthy's strange poetry-as-prose* writing style, it is a pretty easy read. i'll admit that it took me a little while to get into, but i finished the second half of the book in about three days. all the gloom and desolation of the book is redeemed by the ending which almost made me cry. i can't remember the last book to do this-maybe my first reading of lord of the rings? childhood's end? anyway, read this book. they're making a movie out of it now which makes me a little wary, but viggo is in it, so it probably won't be that bad.














mirror's edge xbox360 game

in this game you play as kate or vanessa or something. you are this quasi asian parkour expert who jumps from catwalk to standpipe to rooftop avoiding cops in a city that makes me think that all its inhabitants shop at ikea. it looks pretty cool and everyone seems to like it. while i've never actually played this game, about it i know this: no other game has caused louise more visible infuriation. often times i'll be eating lunch while she's playing when suddenly she drops the controller onto the table and buries her face in her hands, letting out some typed of distressed moan.









kevin's new comic books

while they initially looked like winners at 10 for three dollars, upon further inspection i feel that may not be the case. last night i opened "chesty sanchez". in it, some type of virus is unleahsed into mexico's food supply, and chesty sanchez, luchadora profesional must stop whoever is doing it or solve the case or something. it's a piece of shit. the artwork is bad, the story is bad. in kevin's position however, i would have bought this one too.

my new stick

that beauty you see above is my new stick. it's a nike/bauer vapor apollo composite one piece i bought from hockeygiant.com. actually, i didn't "buy" it per se, but i used my mom's credit card to purchase it in her stead as a christmas gift for me since she doesn't know what the internet is. the best part is that it came to my house today, but i can't use it. i have to give it to her so she can wrap it up and give it to me on christmas. i'm 29 years old.

it was $50-pretty low on the price range for composites. i've seen maybe one or two offered in the $30-$50 range, but most i see are upwards of $100. i'm not saying they're not worth the money-i'm sure they're very good sticks, but what happens when someone takes a hack at your $240 Warrior Dolomite and cracks the shaft? tears.


i had to open the box it came in, because inside was also a jersey-another xmas gift from mom-that i will have to use sometime before christmas. i sliced the box open and there it was, shrouded in only a thin plastic wrap so of course i did what any man would do. i took it out and started messing with it. first of all it's really lite. it's about as lite as the bauer one55 wood stick i use right now, but i would rank that one as one of the lightest i've used. it's got a decent 85 flex which increases in stiffness depending on where you cut the shaft. i've never used a composite stick before, but apparently there's something in the technology called a "kick point" . apparently a lower kick point means that the lower end of the shaft is doing alot of the work in taking a shot and it springs out quicker, resulting in a shorter release time. i hear this is good for wristers and snappers, but not so much for slap shots because the shaft can't load up as much energy as is required for those shots that require a longer release time. this is good for me because despite the fact that i've been playing defense lately, i have no slap shot, but definitely take more pride than is warranted in my wrist shot and snap shot.

by the way, hockeygiant's delivery was quick and accurate. i ordered my stick and a customized jersey on thanksgiving and got it today-the folowing wednesday. maybe fedex is just going extra hard to try and keep the customers they have in this turbulent economy.


so now that i've lost the two people that actually look at this blog, i'll talk about how much i can't wait to use it. my first game after christmas is the 28th. i'm getting all giddy just thinking about cutting it, taping it, waxing it, etc.

fuck.

so i typically try to avoid posts that involve anything really personal because no one wants to read that shit, but tonight i'm making an exception - i am somewhat bummed. it seems like i'm basically failing the two Linguistics classes that i'm taking. i got a "see me" note from the TA on my syntax homework, so i'm going in to her office tomorrow to figure out exactly what that means. i feel like i mostly understand the lectures/reading but when it comes to applying the knowledge in homework/test situations i flounder. i will talk to my TA tomorrow and see what i can do to pass the class.

my other LING class, phonology 1 is beating me up a little too. we took exam 2 today and i also did somewhat shitfully on that. looking back it really pisses me off because i know i had only myself to blame for my poor performance. i vaguely knew everything on that test, but had i studied for like an hour i could have kicked that test's ass. this is one of those instances where i would like to go back in time, slap the wine glass out of my hand and punch myself in the dick for being a dumbass.

fuck.

i'd like to now point out the irony in writing a blog post about not studying enough when i could be using that time to, like study.

goddammit

i have god damned jury duty tomorrow. i have to be there at fucking 7:30 in the morning. it's cool, jury duty, i don't have class and a ton of other shit to do before i go to work, no worries. i actually enjoy getting no sleep and missing classes that i'm already doing shitfully* in to drive to upper fucking marlboro. thanks jury duty. you son of a bitch.

anyway, so i plan to show up in my pajamas smelling like booze. this coupled with my loud phone talking and overt use of my ipod should probably get me off the hook. if these attempts prove futile, i'll have to go to plan B, which involves asking them if i can bring my crossbow into the building in a way that incorporates more racial slurs than normal.

seriously though, what the fuck? i guess it's sort of my fault. i mean, you've seen the way i look-i forget shit. i remembered to call them tonight at like 1, whereupon a pleasant computer voice told me my ass had to report...at 7:30. actually, good looks goes out to my sister. luckily i called her back and during our convo she mentioned something about her friend having to go to jury duty which reminded me of my impending civic duties. otherwise, by tomorrow evening i would probably be in jail or incurring some kind of ridiculous maryland fine for not showing up.

in reality, i will go dressed normal, not drunk or carrying medieval weapons of any kind. i will hate being there and think of other things i could be doing. i might get called and i might not. if i do, it may actually be interesting; if not, i will have had a good excuse for not going to class, i guess.


*shitfully is a word

a note about this post: when doing an image search for "jury duty" i came across alot of screenshots from a porn movie with that very name. my jury experience will not be like that movie.

another note: i have no idea why, but every time i went to spell "jury" it came out "juery".