You Who?

A few recent dinners

Some time last week:

• Strip Steak with Red Currant Green Peppercorn Sauce - I was very happy with this sauce, which was loosely based on a recipe from Cooking Light, although I did it from memory so I don't know how close it was. It was chopped green peppercorns in brine (well-soaked to cut down on the saltiness), red wine, beef broth, some red currant jelly and a little buerre manie.
• Wine: Umkhulu 2001 Titan (Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Malbec) Stellenbosch, South Africa - I like this a lot, just the right amount of spiciness with a little fruit. My wife liked it but did not find it special.

Sunday 2/6

• Duck Breast with Mustard, Jalapeno and Candied Kumquats - I actually used chicken breast, since I don't like duck. But I love kumquats. Unfortunately the sauce was too sweet, as I should have known just from reading it. I need to find some good kumquat recipes.
• Dessert: Raspberry Clafouti from Desserts That Have Killed Better Men Than Me with my own concoction of Cinamon-Almond Creme Anglaise - I liked the clafouti -- even with frozen raspberries -- and the creme anglaise was good match. Clafouti is somewhere between custard and cake, and it is definitely best warm. After that I think the texture becomes less appetizing. Might be better to do it in individual serving size ramekins or something.

Monday 2/7

• Chicken Scallopine with Herb Bechamel Sauce - Practicing bechamel sauce "by the book" from The Encyclopedia of Sauces for Your Food
• Wine: Louis Jadot 2001 Pinot Noir Bourgogne, France -- Seems like a nice safe solid Burgundy. Good one to keep on hand for cooking.

Thursday 2/10

• Filet Mignon with Madeira Sauce -- An old favorite.
• Wine: Bellmunt del Priorat GR-174 2002 Priorat, Spain -- I picked this up because (a) I've rarely seen Priorat wines in the State Liquor store and (b) the label and name of the wine are ugly (GR-174? isn't that a telecom standard?). My wife and I liked it, although we did not find it to be anything special. A little on the fruity side I think.

Friday 2/11

• Wine: El Paseo 2002 Tempranillo Valencia, Spain - Blech. We really did not care for this at all. Unfortunately I can not remember exactly why, but hopefully I remember not to buy it again...

Saturday 2/12 Breakfast

• Made up my own Potato, Asparagus and Grape Tomato Fritatta which turned out pretty well. Potatoes could have used a little more seasoning on them before the egg went in.

Sunday 2/13

• Orange and Cumin Tomato Soup [Fine Cooking] and pasta. -- I liked the hint of orange in this soup, although I found it a little acidic so it left that mild sting in the back of my throat. Next time I think I will try adding some carrots to cut the acidity an maybe a little garlic.
• Wine: Meeker Barberian 2002 Red Wine -- Mixed reviews on this: I did not really care for it at all. I found it to have an unpleasant bite up front. My wife liked it.
• Dessert: Mint Leaf Chocolate Chip Ice Cream from Desserts That Have Killed Better Men Than Me -- This turned out well, although it has a decidely more spearamint flavor than whatever Minto Chocolate Chip ice cream normally has (is it peppermint?). In any case, definitely worth doing again, except its so unhealthy.

Another week gone

I guess I better just get last weekend down before the next one arrives...

Friday evening: A group of former colleagues (mostly people that got let go as part of the acquisition) got together at Paddy's. It was great to see people again, like our former CEO (who wants to have lunch to bounce some ideas off me!). After that, the wife picked me up and we went to V+S's for dessert and port (read: after the kids have gone to bed) where we had a nice visit and some great port which I unfortunately neglected to take note of.

Saturday we went to Boston to see the BSO perform a program which included one of our favorite pieces: Moussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition (arr. Ravel). Around 3pm I started the futile attempt to reserve a table for that night -- couldn't be done. We ended up walking into Davios and sitting at the "Chef's Bar" which lets you watch the action in the kitchen up close. The Chef's Bar was empty when we got there and might be a well kept secret for last minute dining.

We decided to take the T to Symphony Hall and came pretty close to missing the concert because the first train was packed and we couldn't fit. We made it though, and the performance was great. Then we waited about a half-hour with a hundred other concert-goers to try and squeeze into the train for the ride back.

True Work Stories

I got a panicked voicemail (at my desk and on my cell phone) the other day from someone at headquarters. He said he had "found a bug" on the new web site. He desperately needed to get a file for a customer, but when he clicked on the link for XYZ he would get prompted for a password even though he was already logged in. I took a look at it and it seemed to work for me, so I called him and asked him to walk me through it. He did. No problem. "Oh, you must have fixed it." Well, no, I didn't, but he was happy. Crisis averted.

I was still curious though... I don't like mysterious errors that disappear on their own. I started digging around in the web server logs. What I discovered is that he never actually clicked the link for XYZ -- he clicked the link for ABC above it, and for DEF below it, but never XYZ. And when he clicked the link for DEF, it was a broken link, so he saw a "Page Not Found" error, but never a password prompt. (Re-affriming rule #4 of web design: People do not read.)

The scariest part about this: This guy troubleshoots for a living.

Driving like Miss Daisy

I heard on the radio today that the State is considering a bill to ban driving-while-phoning for people ages 16-21, apparently in light of a recent study which "found that when 18-to-25-year-olds were placed in a driving simulator and talked on a cellular phone, they reacted to brake lights from a car in front of them as slowly as 65- to 74-year-olds who were not using a cell phone."

So what? We let 65- to 74- year-olds drive don't we? So that level of vehicular operation must be acceptable, why do we need to legislate against it? Let's look at the real danger which can be extrapolated from this study: Where's the bill to keep the 65- to 74-year-olds from yakking on the cell?