It looks like meat

This did not come out so well but I wanted to post it anyways because I somehow made something that resembles ground beef and yet has no such sort of animal protein products in it at all. Can you guess what it is? I think if i make less, and use more liquids next time, I might be able to make this one work.

My apartment smells so nice...

Return of the Pasta! Haha. I haven't had fettucini in so long. This was a mish-mash cheese, cream, and olive oil sauce spruced up with blended sun dried tomatoes (i tried to chop them but they weren't having any of that) and pine nuts.

http://forums.shoryuken.com/showthread.php?t=125411
This is a dork-centric forum thread about a game developer who worked on the Street Fighter: The Movie: The Game. I don't know the game so a lot of the stuff goes right by me but it is inspirational. I might just start making some memoirs of my game development experiences less I forget them. Thank goodness when you work on a project for over a year, it's a lot easier to remember than what I ate 4 months and 7 days ago.





















And this is me getting lucky. No, that isn't freebie day at the local brothel. I forgot my laundry at the mat tonight and thought I'd just stroll down to see if my clothes were still in there and low and behold, the door is open! Normally the owners come by and close EARLY but this time, it was just my day or something. I let the guy sweeping know I was gonna run and get my bag and swooped in to get all my newly washed clothes. woo to the hoo. Now, I just have to fold all of them. D to the Oh.

ABH Sandwich

I used to regularly eat Peanut butter and honey sandwiches with crushed pecans almost every day at work, around 4pm. A sort of afternoon snack that help keep my metabolism going strong. Those haven't seen the light of day in some time but now I've revived the tradition at home with a healthier alternative, the Almond butter and honey sandwich. I seem to be missing pecans but that can be fixed with a quick purchase from Trader Joe's on Monday. Almond butter has mostly unsaturated fats while peanut butter (this is all according to label viewage) is primarily saturated fats.

Party? Party rhymes with Marty...

It was another one of those impromptu dinner party events.
















Wii-Boxing action shot.





















Wii-Cooking action shot.
















Bread
















Fry
















Serve
































Riccia Umido
















Nat, Jeremy, Dan, Kevin.
I forgot to take a picture of the Mozzarella salad I made. Oh well. It was delicious.














Then Dan and I went on a Gears of War co-op binge and managed to beat the game in one sitting. It's a really ~pretty~ game and lots of fun co-op although I am not a very big fan of the single player experience. I guess online multiplayer is supposed to be fun? Anyways, that's why it's so late. I'm tired. My eyes hurt. Hopefully I didn't get any illness from Kevin. Goodnight.

Music For January

Familiar faces. 1 of 3 openers, Dream Date, aka HRB
















And in artsoscope, Music For Animals!





















This show featured some new songs by MFA. It also featured Super Heroes! They regularly paraded the stage. There are a few behind guitarist Nick. In the beginning of this show, an extremely enthused fan was jumping up and down trying to get the crowd into it. This included elbowing me in the back and shoulders a few times on his downward descents (is there such a thing as an upward descent?) but since he was having fun and didn't really hurt me, I let him be. He eventually went elsewhere. Thank God the weirdo dancer dude who is always at these shows wasn't next to me. He just makes me super uncomfortable.





















Drummer - Ryan
















Somewhat signature balloon appearance at show. They were being held up by a net in the ceiling and pulled down onto the crowd. Unfortunately, the netter was doing his job too well and many balloons remained stuck in the ceiling. Many attempts (some successful, some not) were made to dislodge balloons including throwing wet towels, cups, and plastic bottles. A few of these items got stuck in the net as well.
















OMG. Caption this!
















Bassist - Eli





















Lead singer - Jay
So around this point in the evening, this really drunk girl next to me decides it's time for more balloons and makes one of the many attempts to dislodge balloons with an "empty" plastic cup. She wisely emptied the cup before throwing it but dingus emptied it on my camera which I had put on the front of the stage so I could jump around a bit without worrying about cameras flying around. Thank goodness I was quick to recover and dry off any water before it did any damage but when I confronted her, she 1) had no recollection of any water 2) must of thought I was really pissed because she got really defensive. I knew there was nothing to help the situation and the camera was working so at this point, I'm there to measure her guilt. I'm sure I'll see her in the future. and 3) she got so defensive she said "whatever! i'm sorry (not very convincing). what? you wanna fight? 4) huh? ok, so I realize she isn't drunk, she's plastered like paris. her man friend kindly pulls her aside. And in the encore rally, wouldn't you know it? The same girl is on her friend's shoulder taking her bra off. Since I had my encounter with her, it was really something that was unexciting. But I am happy for MFA for receiving their first "titty flash." I think I was pretty much the only straight guy or person for that matter who was somewhat disgusted by the spectacle but oh well. Decent story?
















Me, Jay, Drunk girl's sober friend who was taking pictures and said "yeah, she's crazy." moments before said flashing episode, & Jeremy. I also saw drunk girl spit. Not so attractive! I don't mind spitting in the street where regular rains and cleanings take place by nature and big industrial machines but indoors? People have to clean that and it's just down right undecent spitting indoors.

Wiiiiiinguine!

I made Anchovy & Leek Linguine but since I have that picture on my blog already, I thought I would post Anchovy eating Nat Linguine. Hmm... I should have given him a fork made of leek. Oh well. There's some Pokemon who carries a leek around with him I think.
















Yes my sexy blender, no Wii for you.

Oh hey, It's Sunday! Eek.

In the continuation of Soup Week (a week which only spans 4 days), I've adventured to prepare this Fish Soup. It's quite good. I didn't use so much salt because I don't like such salty soups. If you like salt, you can add it yourself afterwards. This one was roughly based off a recipe from my Korean cookbook. Crushed/Minced garlic is cooked in Sesame oil (which I usually never use to cook). Cut Daikons are added and cooked for some 4 minutes. 4 cups of water. then I'm slowly adding ingredients because I don't prepare them all before hand. Includes small cut pieces of halibut (original recipe calls for cod but the butt works great!), tofu cubes (my addition), and since I couldn't get any watercress at the local produce yesterday (which would have been so good in the soup) I used chinese white cabbage which works well but just isn't as sexy as watercress. Green onions and carrots added in the end for some color. A dash of soy, sake, and pepper, a bit of salt. Hot pepper if you want but i didn't want to mask the flavor on my first try.
















TA-DA





















I've also started playing Star Control 2, the space opus my bosses made back in 1992 and on just about every "All-time Best Games EVER" lists. Quite fun and the dialogue is most amusing. "Greetings and various apropos felicitations!"

Blog it Up.

Vietnamese sandwiches from Cafe Thanh Thanh. This is the same place I got the Chicken Rice Porridge (Xi Fan/Zhou) last time. One BBQ Chicken, one BBQ Pork. It's probably been over a year since I last had Vietnamese sandwiches. We got some back when I was helping out at Shaba. The chicken was rather boring. It looks like they just cooked the chicken instead of really BBQ'ing it. Despite being the lamest Vietnamese BBQ Chicken sandwich, it still was passable. But much like you can't really mess up a club sandwich. The pork was similar ok. I got a tiny piece of bone in one but you gotta let those sort of things slide I guess.





















I will probably be rewatching this movie soon. Relevant for non-company related "research."













Is this my future? Yoshiro Nakamatsu (born June 26, 1928), a.k.a. Dr. NakaMats, is the Japanese inventor claiming to hold the world record for number of inventions with over 3,000, including the floppy disk and "PyonPyon" spring shoes. He has being photographing and retrospectively analyzing every meal he has consumed during a period of 34 years (and counting). The goal of Nakamatsu is to live over 140 years old.

check out the rest of the "class" at http://www.2spare.com/item_65612.aspx

He's probably responsible for half of the Chindogu inventions that appear in Unuseless Japanese Invention books. Such as this Swiss Army Farming "Tool"
















Quite a funny book (I own a copy). Some of my favorites are the shoes with deceiving foot prints (animal prints, backwards walking prints), the half bowl with a mirror in it so it looks like you are eating more (for dieting), and the portable lamp post for those afraid to walk alone in the dark.

Not Pasta

These were new at Trader Joe's. Eryngii Mushrooms. A type of King Oyster Mushroom. I thought I'd try something with them.
















Chicken Stock + Celery + Carrot + Leek + Mushrooms + __________
















We not really... Technically there is pasta. But it's not like regular pasta and sauce. This was a soup and I wanted something like barley in there but without barley, I resorted to orzo. This was a nice hearty meal.

Gamercise

Northgate
















We did this last Tuesday as well. Good exercise. You really break a sweat.





















Chris, on the right, does the songs on crazy mode. Note motion blur.





















Jimmy, on the left, does the songs in Jimmy mode. Note ecstatic pose.
















I said no Pasta but we ended up eating "Italian" food anyways. Not much open late in Marin.

Stop Making Pasta!

Ok, I really have to take a break from Pasta. I think I'll do good ol' Chinese tommorrow or maybe something from my new Korean or Vietnamese cookbooks. This was an improv act tonight. Penne is what? I cooked some Broccolini 2 minutes and blended in with bechemal, a strip of bacon, grated Parmesan cheese, and some salt. Mushrooms and Pinenuts added. It needed more mushrooms, and maybe less broccolini because I just used whatever was in the package. Looks like too much sauce, right? Prognosis? It wasn't bad! I would want the mushroom flavor to be more prominent. My layered into sauce a bit as well but American mushrooms don't quite have the flavor punch. Well, I'm sure some do but Safeway button mushrooms? They won't do. Less broccolini would have helped too. I bet that diluted everything. Maybe 1/4 the amount I used. Comments. What should I cook next?





















Jack Bauer, what have you done? Boom!

Poop! This Post has no real title.

Sunday...





















Tanpopo in J-town for Ramen
















Assessment. Not bad. Fair price. Good value. Soup base was only slightly saltier than for my tastes but I'm probably a bit more salt conscious than most. Chashu slices was very good. Much better than what I get next door at Blue Fin. The bamboo-esque root in ramen that i don't know the name of had a weird canned or preserved taste. They could have taken more care to wash it or quickly blanche out that unpleasant taste. oh well. minor minor gripes.





















We caught a 1:30 showing of Pan's Labyrinth at the Sundance Kabuki in J-town.















It was an oddly disturbing and creepy fairy tale taking place on the backdrop of the Spanish Civil Wars in 1944. The acting was good. The scene and set designs were crazy. I mean, LOOK at that guy! He's got his eyeballs in his hands! Story worked and was well edited. Didn't feel long despite being a 2 hour movie.





















Back home for some Bruschetta. Sans Basil. I forgot I used it all yesterday. =P
































Turtle Tower Vietnamese Restaurant @ Geary & 21st. Dan said it was North Vietnamese and that the Pho was quite excellent. North Vietnamese is apparently characterized by being simpler. The soup stock was clearer and lighter. There isn't a big basket of basil or limes.
















I went BBQ Pork. It was about the right amount of dry since you eat it with the dipping sauce. Low prices. Good value! Came back and watched the premiere of season 6 of "24." I don't think was so shocking. It was kinda questionable that Jack Bauer was so buff after 2 years of being tortured in China. I thought he'd be thin and malnurished but I guess the plot called for it. We'll see part 2 tommorrow night.

NANA, Pesto, Machinations.

Pesto Campanelle - I used the following entry:
Pine nuts and Parmesan were added for added flavor and presentation.

A sauce for pasta or meat, can be used as an ingredient in a variety of dishes. The classic use is to spread the pesto onto slices of bread which are then toasted. The ingredients are: basil, garlic, salt, pine nuts, olive oil, and parmesan cheese (Parmigiano Reggiano). The sauce did not originally contain basil, instead, cheese and olive oil were the main constituents.

 * 4 oz. fresh basil
* Approx. 8 oz. extra virgin olive oil
* 1/3 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese (Leave the cheese out for vegan pesto)
* 1/4 cup pine nuts
* 4 cloves garlic
* Fresh ground pepper and salt to taste

  1. Preheat the oven to 425°F (220°C).
2. Toast the pine nuts for 10-15 minutes, checking every 5 minutes.
3. In a small skillet, heat 2 Tbsp of the olive oil on medium heat.
4. Crush the garlic and sauté in the oil until soft, about 2-3 minutes.
5. Combine the basil, garlic, cheese and pine nuts in a food processor or blender and chop finely.
6. While the processor is still running, slowly add the remaining oil to reach a paste-like consistency.

Storage: Add a little extra olive oil on top of the filled jar, otherwise the top of the pesto will turn brown as it oxidizes in the air.

Blending... I look like a fuzzy bear man or something with this old Ocean Pacific hoody on.
















Mix into the Campanelle...
















Serving the Campanelle...

Eating the Campanelle...





















We got together and watch the Japanese movie, Nana, based on a Manga by the same name. A story about two girls who meet by coincidence. Both girls are 20 and both girls are named Nana. One is kind of ditsy and the other is a punk rocker. Can you guess which is which (see below)?





















Nana - starring Nakashima Mika & Aoi Miyazaki
















Casey & Akiha

Oh yeah, there was a belated Shaba poker event yesterday. The had a free tournament with Best Buy gift cards as prizes (top 3). I went out sorta early. Very sad. All-in pre flop with K-Q suited and I was called by someone with pocket 2's and lost. So lame! Cash games weren't all that great either as I proceeded down a slippery slope buying in 3 time ($60) but towards the end of the night, I managed to turn it around almost doubling up so hurray! I hadn't done so well playing my cousins over the holidays so it was nice to get some good hands and finally shake off that unfortunate streak.