bob

baratron @ 02:09 : "recipe" tip for the gall bladder-challenged
Or anyone else on a low fat diet.

I had a craving for instant noodles, but the noodles I have here (Sainsbury's vegetable instant noodles, suitable for vegans) are so high in fat that one packet gives you a staggering 26.6 grams of fat! I can't *eat* food that fatty without getting really ill. So I took the flavour packet from the noodles & made it up with normal spaghetti, broken into small pieces. It was good! Would've been even better if the flavour packet was fresh and not expired in 2006 (not a problem from the health point of view, because there isn't enough FOOD in those flavour packets to go off) ;). The original noodles, however, would've been inedible because they're all full of palm oil, which like all vegetable oils goes rancid after a couple of years.

YAY DELICIOUS JUNK FOODS!

Tags: my evil gall bladder, recipes

slashfood_feed @ 23:22 : Extreme Grilling: Go whole hog

http://feeds.slashfood.com/~r/weblogsinc/slashfood/~3/339421456/

http://www.slashfood.com/2008/07/18/extreme-grilling-go-whole-hog/

Filed under: Asia, Pork, Caribbean, Did you know?, Islands, America, Italy, Slow cooking, Head to Tail

As I wrote several weeks ago, a pig pickin' is a North Carolina tradition involving a pig, a converted petroleum drum cooker, a bunch of charcoal and a whole lot of time. But a pig pickin' is not the only way to cook a whole hog - cultures across the world have been spit roasting, grilling and burying pigs in hot ash for thousands of years. In many places, pork is the cheapest meal available, making pig roasts an affordable way to have big festive meals for the whole community. Here are a few whole hog traditions from around the world:

Hawaii: Possibly the most famous whole pig preparation of them all, the kalua pig is a staple of the Hawaiian luau. The pig is "dressed" (gutted, the outer layer of skin and hair removed) and salted and placed in an imu - a banana leaf-lined pit filled with hot stones. The pig is covered in more dirt and left for hours until smoky and falling apart tender.

Cuba: Cubans love their lechón (sucking pig), a Christmas Eve tradition. Pigs are often cooked in backyard roasters made from bricks or cinder blocks. One popular version of the homemade roaster is called a "caja china" (a Chinese box), a rather coffin-like device in which the pig is placed on the metal-lined bottom and a tray of coals is placed on top, cooking the meat through indirect heat.

Italy: At the annual Sagra del Maiale festival of pork, Italians grill whole pigs over a food fire and lovingly dis-articulate them to feed the whole village. Skin becomes crispy and meat is buttery soft and succulent. And not a big of the porker is wasted - even the ears and trotters are fair game. Not headed to Italy any time soon? Some Italian restaurants in NYC and other cities have their own Sagra del Maiale.

The Philippines: The image of the golden-skinned pig spinning on a spit over a roaring fire is a reality here in the South Pacific, where Filipinos adore stuffing the pig's belly with herbs and spices, impaling it horizontally, and roasting it until the skin crackles and the meat is meltingly tender. The dish, known as lechon baboy, is a festival day favorite.

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billyabbott @ 22:19 : Connecticut. Ho. But not at the same time in my hotel.
So, it seems I need practise in spinning drumsticks, if the combined danger to both breakable items in my lounge and the rather fragile joints in my fingers are anything to go by. Luckily my gin is still on the table and intact, my fingers are all working still (despite a mild ache due to using a drum stick as a knuckle hobbler) and Kubrick's Lolita is on the television - all is good with the world.

Tomorrow I depart yet again for the wonderful most United of States, for a week of fun, games, training tiny children (hello tiny children if you are reading this), eating of the meats and drinking of the beverages. And the meetings. So many meetings. As ever, please don't come round and steal my stuff (I like my stuff), however if you do please leave a note. I should probably put up a nice web app to allow burglars to record what they pinch. I could even make it the homepage on my macbook, as I suspect they'll pinch that, as it is easily thievable. Note to self, do not hide the Macbook on the window sill under the equally stealable (and rare) Hot Fuzz bag.

This film is rather good and disturbing in equal measure. It's rather impressive.

So, I'll be in New York on Sunday (spride - you around for a beverage during the day?) and will hopefully find some nice things to take pictures of. I might even brave the world outside of Manhattan, as I suspect that my old boss's admonishment of "Don't leave Manhattan as you will die" might have been a bit of overkill [sic]. I might even go to Coney Island, although I suspect I will hate it. I am a happy chappy, me.

Anyway, here's a picture from the recent camera test I did for What Digital Camera Magazine - check out the front cover of the September issue in a newsagent near you...sometime in August. It's wonderful what a bit of post-processing can do to piccies when you spend a day shooting in the rain...

wilwheaton @ 18:00 : strange as it seems his musical dreams ain't quite so bad

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/wwdn/~3/339300406/strange-as-it-s.html

We've been shooting nights this week on Criminal Minds, and I've worked every single day, which doesn't leave any time to write, or do much of anything else. I got home at 4 this morning, didn't fall asleep until 5, and then had to explain to my dogs that, no, just because I was in bed and the sun was coming up, I'm not interested in getting up to do stuff with them.

So I only got to sleep for seven disturbed hours, and I feel like I'm on the road to Bat Country right now. Luckily for me, I don't go to set until 5:30 tonight, and I don't have any dialog today.

Despite the havoc the last few days have unleashed on my body (which is very confused by the hours I'm forcing it to keep, and [spoiler]) I have loved every second of the experience.

I'm keeping a production diary, which I can't release until my episode airs in October, but I can safely say that working on this show, with this cast and crew, creating this character, has reawakened my slumbering love of acting. I'll have more to say about that when I can really analyze how I feel about it and why. (short short version: I miss the camaraderie of being in a cast, and I'd forgotten how good it feels to discover interesting moments with the director, writers, and other actors. I work best while collaborating, it seems.)

Anyway, I feel so blurry that the doll's trying to kill me and the toaster's laughing at me, so I'm going to sign off. But before I do, a couple of things:

• I missed the Watchmen trailer. It was up and then down while I was at work. Dang. Oh! Wait, there it is on iTunes. Wow, that was awesome.
• 
  
• I am too tired to see Dark Kinght (I didn't correct that, because it illustrates exactly how tired I am. Yes, I misspelled the title of the freakin' Batman movie I've been waiting my whole life to see. Jeebus) today, and probably won't get to see it and the Watchmen trailer until next week, right before Comic-Con.
• 
  
• I did not miss Doctor Horrible's Sing Along Blog, and neither should you. It's absolutely magnificent, the whole cast is outstanding, and my fellow ACME alum Felicia Day is sensational. I want the soundtrack, and I want it NOW! Shane Nickerson said that it's probably the best thing he's ever seen that was made for the Internet, and better than most sitcoms. I totally agree, and wish Shane would stop saying these things before I get a chance to say them.
• 
  
• Wheaton's Books in the Wild at Flickr has 77 members and 48 supermegaawesome contributions. Yay!
• 
  
• This is a reminder to everyone who has tickets that I will be at Comic-Con from Thursday until Saturday of next week. I'm probably going to sell out the second printing of Happiest Days while I'm there. I'll be with my friend Rich Stevens at the Dumbrella booth, which is number 1335. MC Frontalot is going to be there, too, so if you're looking to fill that final square on Nerd Bingo, come and see us.
• 
  
• On Thursday, I'll be on a panel called Star Trek Without a Blueprint: How books and comics keep expanding the boundaries of the Star Trek universe. We'll be talking about the future of Star Trek publishing in room 32AB from 4:00-5:00. I'll be on the panel with Andy Mangels (moderator and Star Trek author), Margaret Clark (executive editor, Pocket Books), Andy Schmidt (senior editor, IDW) and Star Trek authors Kevin Dilmore, Dave Mack, Scott Tipton, and Dayton Ward.
• 
  
• Finally, TrekMovie has the poster we've all been waiting to see. It looks awesome.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

ewtikins @ 21:09 : Leonard Cohen is playing in London on 13th November (a Thursday).

I so want to go.

Tickets are £50 and up.

... and with any luck I'll have to do something for the bloody Performance Department at Trinity that night. No way of knowing at the moment.

*sigh*

sphyg @ 20:59 : On writing
It's Friday and this laptop is playing up, so this is likely to be incoherent...

For those of us who dabble in creative writing, why do we do it? Is it because we enjoy it and/or need a creative outlet to stop our heads getting bunged up with ideas? Or is it because we want to be critiqued and/or published and/or paid? It would be nice if someone read my short stories, and it would be even nicer if they said they liked it. But I don't really care about protecting my 'original work' or making any seemingly measly financial gain. So I guess this is why I find myself a little frustrated that the only centralised places I can find to 'publish' my work are either the 'showcase' zines (e.g. Strange Horizons, Helix, East of the Web) where work must be 'submitted' and 'accepted' or the critique circles (e.g. Critters, CWIL, BSFA Orbiters) whose membership seem to consist mainly of other writers waiting their turn. Would it be so bad to have some kind of ongoing blog/wiki/thing where like-minded people could post their work openly. A Flickr or YouTube for fiction, if you like. Or I am just being naive? Would such a lack of editorial control simply lead to a giant virtual slush pile? Shall I just go back to knitting instead?

Tags: writing

slashfood_feed @ 19:40 : Slashfood Ate (8): Friday pupu plater

http://feeds.slashfood.com/~r/weblogsinc/slashfood/~3/339260510/

http://www.slashfood.com/2008/07/18/slashfood-ate-8-friday-pupu-plater/

Filed under: Slashfood Ate

It's time for another collection of eight interest links from around these interwebs. I've been saving up some goodies for you all week long!

1. First, for those Battlestar Galactica fans in the crowd, I bring you the BG toaster! That's right, you can now be a fanboy at the breakfast table.
2. How's this for a fun one! A Flickr set dedicated to images from vintage cookbooks (spanning 1898 to 1978).
3. On Tuesday, The Kitchn sends out some love to my very favorite cracker, the Ak-Mak. Truly one of the best vehicles for cheese around, they are also delicious topped with turkey and avocado or even crumbled up in some yogurt for a little crunch.
4. Did you know that elephants don't like hot peppers? Farmers in Africa grow it to keep them out of their subsistence crops and now you can buy hot sauce made with those peppers in order to support the work of those farmers.
5. If your local Starbucks is one of the locations on the chopping block, you might be a bit concerned about how you'll get by without a regular cup. In her regular Real Simple blog post, Kim O'Donnel reminds us that we can make quality coffee at home, no 'bucks required.
6. Over at Amazon.com's Al Dente blog, they're ranking the top five fictional foods. Just say yes to dehydrated pizza from Back to the Future II!
7. Apparently, espresso over ice is "not okay." What about "the customer is always right!"?
8. Lastly, the top foods that only Americans could have invented. I don't know about that list. I think the Canadians could have created the S'more!

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owlfish @ 19:45 : End of an era
No more windowsills desperately molding.
No more cracks in the wall as the building settles.
No more all-electric heating.
No more excess of furnishment.
No more decorative rocks to account for in the inventory.
No more potpourri for the same.
No more unusably rusty wok for the same.

No more conveniently living in zone 2.
No more surfeit of hallway.
No more vasty light of floor-to-ceiling windows.
No more watching arrivals from the elevator always looking the wrong way first.
No more convenient restaurants and corner shops just downstairs.
No more friendly local dry cleaner, restaurant manager, cornerstore guy.
No more convenience and friendship of concierge service.

The flat's all clean, made back up as a display piece with made beds and all that potpourri and decorative rocks to fill the decorative vases and pitchers. I handed over the keys this morning. I made my goodbyes. As of today, I don't live there any more.

Tags: moving experiences

slashfood_feed @ 18:08 : A favorite children's foodie book heading to the big screen

http://feeds.slashfood.com/~r/weblogsinc/slashfood/~3/339177799/

http://www.slashfood.com/2008/07/18/a-favorite-childrens-foodie-book-heading-to-the-big-screen/

Filed under: Culinary Kids, Books, Television/Film, Newspapers

When I was growing up, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs was one of my very favorite books. Set in the very fictional town of Chewandswallow, the residents don't have to shop at grocery stores the way the rest of us do. Instead, all their food was delivered by the weather. Morning would start with a drizzle of hot coffee, followed by eggs, toast and bacon. Life was good in Chewandswallow, until the weather becomes unpredictable and the food that comes from the elements becomes life-threatening. Eventually the townsfolk are forced to leave (on rafts made from giant peanut butter sandwiches) and restart their lives in a city where the only thing that falls from the sky is rain and snow.

First published in 1982, Cloudy has been beloved to generations of young readers and now, according to our sister site Cinematical, it's coming to the big screen. The animated film is going to be altered quite significantly from the original book, but hamburgers and donuts will still rain from the sky and the city will still be blanketed by a pea soup fog at times, so that's good enough for me. I really look forward to seeing it when it comes out in 2010.

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scifiwire @ 00:00 : Wire Walks Knight Red Carpet

http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/index.php?category=14&id=57891

http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/index.php?id=57891

SCI FI Wire talked with the stars and filmmakers of The Dark Knight, the sequel to Batman Begins, at the film's red-carpet world premiere in New York on July 14. The movie, starring Christian Bale and Heath Ledger, opens July 18.

scifiwire @ 00:00 : Malthe, Elliott Cast In Mirabilis

http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/index.php?category=2&id=57890

http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/index.php?id=57890

SCI FI Channel confirmed the casting of David James Elliott and Natassia Malthe in Mirabilis, a four-hour fantasy movie.

slashfood_feed @ 16:32 : Cakes so amazing they'd be hard to cut into

http://feeds.slashfood.com/~r/weblogsinc/slashfood/~3/339115225/

http://www.slashfood.com/2008/07/18/cakes-so-amazing-theyd-be-hard-to-cut-into/

Filed under: Dessert, Bakeries, Artisan Foods

I have a co-worker that has the ability to find some of the most amazing cakes on the internet. Knowing that have an unhealthy obsession with anything edible, he is nice enough to send links to those cakes in my direction on a near-daily basis.

The cake you see above is another creation of Zoe Lukas (the woman who was also responsible for the Robert Indiana cookies, the Battlestar Galactica cake and the patriotic wedding cake). She has was charged with making a sushi-themed cake and so came up with a spiced carrot ginger cake with cream cheese icing. She topped the whole thing with fondant and used it as a "serving platter" for her tasty veggie sushi. Coconut stands in for the rice in the pieces and rolls, and she even made pickled ginger out of colored fondant.

After the jump we've got a cake decorated to look like Tom Selleck, as well as another sculpted to replicate the Millennium Falcon (made by the folks at Charm City Cakes, so you know it has got to be good).

Continue reading Cakes so amazing they'd be hard to cut into

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slashfood_feed @ 16:01 : The best chocolate milk you can find in a bottle

http://feeds.slashfood.com/~r/weblogsinc/slashfood/~3/339081415/

http://www.slashfood.com/2008/07/18/the-best-chocolate-milk-you-can-find-in-a-bottle/

Filed under: Dairy, New Products, Hot chocolate

The Fancy Food Show is starting to become a distant memory, as the demands of regular old work and life push their back into the forefront of my mind. However, there are a few products that continue to stick with me and continue to marvel me with their absolute deliciousness.

One such product is Cocio. It doesn't look like much, in fact it's nothing more than chocolate milk in a bottle. However, it is the best chocolate milk I've ever tasted. It is sweet, but not cloying, thick without being sludgy and every so chocolate-y. It is a Danish product that has been around since 1951 and in that country, is often consumed as street food, in conjunction with sausages (at least according to Wikipedia). It is also all natural, made of nothing more than chocolate, sugar (no high fructose corn syrup here) and milk. If you think of yourself as a chocolate milk connoisseur, this is a product to seek out.

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ksta @ 08:49 : Excuse the smugness, normal service resumes asap.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_White_Pelican

Saw one of those on the beach yesterday, while running.

Spot the deliberate mistake:
Every time I go running I put my key in my sock. Every time I go running I want to wade in the sea.
Yesterday I did so, and it made me very happy, till I got back home and... you can see where this is going. Miraculously (the great Pelican in the Sky was smiling down), the key was still there, part submerged in the sand. I only found it after nearly giving up, but just deciding to go a bit further to check.

Phew.


So it was nice, after feeling like a complete imbecile (plus having creative block on the soap opera music), that last night the substitute lecturer was pleased with my work. Shame the really excellent composer wasn't there, hers would have been more impressive no doubt, and most of my class didn't have the work as the lecturer didn't have internet access (our work goes on an iDisk, to be downloaded during the class). So I had an unfair advantage, but I am still over the moon about having been told I can compose, by an outsider/lecturer. It's only taken about 10 years for that to happen! Another step on the ladder to that Oscar. ;)

idiottoys @ 14:22 : *Jingle* Promotional image of the Weeeeek

http://www.idiottoys.com/2008/07/jingle-promotional-image-of-weeeeek.html

It's a Maasai Warrior helping out with the business strategy of a fire alarm company that's based in Petersfield.



Anything seems like a good and exciting idea when you work in middle management at a fire alarm company that's based in Petersfield.

Learn to improve your business strategy from the Great Maasai Warriors

Maasai teaching the pearls of wisdom

As the UK business environment gets

slashfood_feed @ 14:26 : Raising the Bar: Blogging from Tales of the Cocktail

http://feeds.slashfood.com/~r/weblogsinc/slashfood/~3/339033075/

http://www.slashfood.com/2008/07/18/blogging-from-tales-of-the-cocktail/

Filed under: Tastings, Cocktails, Raves & Reviews, On the Blogs, Spirits, Festivals, Raising the Bar, Summer

The boozefest that is Tales Of The Cocktail has been everything I thought it'd be, and I have to admit it's nice, for the moment, to be relatively sober. You see, you can't go very far in New Orleans without being tempted to have a drink. When you throw the world's biggest cocktail and spirit schmoozefest/symposium, it is definitely hard to hold on to your sobriety. Not that any of us want to, of course.

This is just a reminder of something I posted earlier, but should you be interested in following the goings-on at this fantastic event, there is a cocktail blog called, literally enough, Tales Blog. The contributors are bloggers like myself, and we'll be consistently updating the site with differing interpretations. Should this particular site fail to fully scratch the itch, each blogger will also be updating their personal sites, and I strongly encourage you to check them out. They are, in no particular order....

Continue reading Raising the Bar: Blogging from Tales of the Cocktail

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slashfood_feed @ 13:55 : Diary of a Distiller: Chapter Nine - Of Lobsters, Oysters, and Culinary Couples

http://feeds.slashfood.com/~r/weblogsinc/slashfood/~3/338990751/

http://www.slashfood.com/2008/07/18/diary-of-a-distiller-chapter-nine-of-lobsters-oysters-and-c/

Filed under: Diary of a Distiller

As I wrote last week I had several friends in town on vacation. We traveled all over and ate our way up and down the coast. I ditched the camera for awhile so I could stay in the moment so I can't show you most of our meals, except for one day when we stuffed ourselves on local specialties. Maine Lobsters and Glidden Point & Pemmaquid oysters. I had a specific request from Joe Distefano for raw oysters, a favorite of his in hot weather, and it sure has been warm out the past week.

So we took off on a drive to get the best and freshest. We went direct to Glidden Point Oyster Sea Farm and picked up a dozen fresh Glidden Point's that had been in the water just a few hours earlier. Then to Oyster River Lobster Company for some Pemmaquid oysters and eight 1.5 lb. soft shell lobsters. (Remember Oyster River Lobster Company? I wrote about their famous Blue Lobster and their amazing Lobster Pies.)

When we got home I shucked the oysters and steamed up the lobsters and we set down to a feast. Just a word of warning. If you take several guys away from their girlfriends for a week, add in several bottles of cold and crisp white wine, and good food; it can get rather silly out.

%Gallery-27368%

Continue reading Diary of a Distiller: Chapter Nine - Of Lobsters, Oysters, and Culinary Couples

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mrs_leroy_brown @ 13:46 : Butt out! This is between me and everyone else in existence!
Peepshow Paddy's Skylarkin' Shedshow are officially my new favourite band I've never heard of. But will at Truck! I cannot miss them. I really hope banjo and fiddle will feature and I'm not being missold.

Tags: music

idiottoys @ 11:54 : The Aerolatte bespoke battery solution

http://www.idiottoys.com/2008/07/aerolatte-bespoke-battery-solution.html

The branded Idiot Toys promotional battery is one step closer to becoming reality. There's a company out there that will put company logos on batteries. All we need to do is find them, then write off lots of money in the name of doing a joke.



"Please find attached three pics of branded 'Aerolatte' batteries, which came with an Aerolatte milk frother. One of those shiny things you really need

slashfood_feed @ 12:21 : Feast Your Eyes: Chocolate pudding

http://feeds.slashfood.com/~r/weblogsinc/slashfood/~3/338949783/

http://www.slashfood.com/2008/07/18/feast-your-eyes-chocolate-pudding/

Filed under: Feast Your Eyes

Between this and Deb's chocolate sorbet, I am positively dying for a chocolate dessert of some kind (what are you people doing to me!). The chocolate pudding was made by Maya at My Feasts and was part of the the Tuesdays with Dorie cooking challenge. I could go for a big old spoonful right about now!

Thanks to Maya for adding her pic to the Slashfood Flickr pool! Remember to snap some photos of the delicious dishes you cook up this weekend and add them to the group.

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