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March 31, 2005

Slow on the Update

For those expecting real time updates from London, well, that does not look likely right now. Rest assured though, I will update as soon as I can with entries I've already written and pictures I've already taken.

Posted by Samer at 12:39 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

March 29, 2005

The Future

So we went to the Future on Saturday. Yes, the future is a shiny techno club, what of it?

The reason we went was to see an "old fashioned" burlesque show. The show itself was not too bad, but four sets over a three hour period was just not what I would call value for money. But the people who came out, well, they were the stars of the show.

There was "Bondage Pants" Man. He was wearing a nice pair of black pants with red accents to them. Oh, and they had buckles and belts between each of the legs, making it hard to move. He was dancing like your typical white male: flailing arms and legs going to different beats.

Then there was "Pseudo Army" Man. This guy was dressed in leather pants, an Iraq themed T-shirt and an Australian/desert-type leather hat. And he was dancing like a man possessed. Just not with the music we were listening to.

Of course, no techno party would be complete without a geek boy. Geek Boy was just that: geeky, tall and wearing jeans and a T-shirt. The T-shirt read "Foo" on the front and "Bar" (in big huge letters on the back). Go look it up, but suffice it to say, I'm not geeky enough to wear that.

Lastly, well, there was "Cane Man". Cane Man was walking around looking to all the world like a late 1800's dandy. Longish hair, tapestry for clothing, long coat, and, of course, a cane. He was walking around the entire time having a very long and involved conversation. With himself. It was hysterical, except that he kept swinging the cane and I was worried we'd get hit.

Fun night.

Posted by Samer at 05:57 PM | Comments (0)

March 28, 2005

No Flight Attendants

It must be Monday.

I'm at Hartsfield airport and I hear the following announcement:

"For those of you on Delta Flight 271 to Columbus, OH, I'm sure you are aware that we should be boarding right now. Unfortunately we don't have any flight attendants. As soon as we can locate some flight attendants and get them on the plane, we will begin boarding."

Just the thing you want hear when you've got an hour and half to catch your connecting flight.

A few minutes later: "The flight attendants are in the building. They are in concourse B and should be here [concourse A] in a few minutes."

Posted by Samer at 11:33 AM | Comments (1)

March 24, 2005

On the Road Again

I'll be heading off on another little trip tonight. This time, Atlanta, London and Iceland.

It'll be my first trip to Hotlanta, and hopefully it won't be all that hot. And while I've been to Iceland a few times, this will be my first visit in the spring.

Should be a fun time.

Posted by Samer at 07:13 AM | Comments (1)

March 15, 2005

Lose Your Appetite

In 1974 Weight Watchers published a bunch of recipe cards to help you lose weight. Apparently, they wanted you to lose your appetite as part of the weight control.

The descriptions of the dishes are wonderful, but the commentary is hysterical. Standouts include: Slender quenchers, snappy mackerel casserole, mousse of salmon, and Frankfurter spectacular should tide you over!

Posted by Samer at 10:20 PM | Comments (1)

March 12, 2005

Eye Candy

Tiger is coming out soon and this is a really good example of it's power: an RSS reading screen saver. Download the video and watch it. It's really breathtaking.

Posted by Samer at 08:24 PM | Comments (0)

March 10, 2005

Hold, Please

I'm on hold with Iceland Air and their hold music is hauntingly familiar. They were playing Vac Damon's "On The Street Where You Live". Sung by a woman. In Icelandic.

Very disturbing.

Posted by Samer at 09:23 AM | Comments (0)

March 09, 2005

Paper Chef Winner

The Paper Chef 4 contest is over, and Sam at Becks & Posh has announced the winner: Cocoa-Pomegranate Roast Chicken with Eggplant Stuffing by Fatemeh of Gastronomie. Congrats to Fatemeh for what is a very simple and clean looking recipe. I'm almost tempted to make it, but like I said in my entry, I'm not the biggest fan of eggplant.

To see the full roster of entries, head on over to Domestic Goddess and check out the list.

Posted by Samer at 08:26 AM | Comments (1)

March 06, 2005

Skype Calling

I've just used Skype to make two international phone calls -- one to Lebanon and one to the UK. The quality was passable, the Lebanon call was a bit choppy, though the other side didn't complain of anything. The UK call was fine and I didn't notice anything at all wrong with it.

The best part is the cost: just over $1.50 for many many minutes of talking. Their rates are pretty damn good. I think the service is great, and I'm going to use it a bit more. And calls from one Skype user to another cost nothing.

Posted by Samer at 11:41 AM | Comments (0)

March 05, 2005

Eggplant Inquisition ...

... Or "No One Expects the Eggplant (in a Dessert)".

Ingredients So this month's Paper Chef has some odd ingredients. Odd in that they don't immediately jump to mind as something I'd want to eat together. Eggplant, pomegranate, stale bread and chocolate. Yeah, I wasn't quite sure what I was going to do with that.

My first thought involved a baba ghanouj-like spread. Eggplant, chocolate and tahini (trust me, the two of those go as well as chocolate and peanut butter) spread on a stale bread crostini with pomegranate seeds for garnish. I considered a mole casserole with eggplant and chicken. But in the end, I wanted to try making a dessert with eggplant. Mostly because it's such a silly idea.

Mini Cakes I decided I'd make a quasi-bread pudding with eggplant and a pomegranate chocolate sauce to top it off. I also wanted some pomegranate seeds for garnish, but after hitting four different markets, I found out that pomegranates are not in season, which makes them more of an odd choice.

For the pudding:

Eggplant Inquisition Heat the oven to 350° F. Melt the chocolate and butter in a microwave safe container (~ 1 min at 50% power), then mix thoroughly. Slice the raw eggplant lengthwise and scoop out the meat leaving the skin behind. Pull the crust off the bread and roughly tear or chop the bread into smaller pieces. Add the eggplant, bread and sugar into a food processor and pulse for about a minute or until everything is well mixed. Add the egg and pulse until incorporated. Add chocolate/butter mix, nutmeg, vanilla, salt and rum (if using) and pulse until the liquid is a nicely homogenous.

Butter two individual serving bundt cake pans and sprinkle sugar inside. Fill to just over 3/4 way up with the batter. Place the cake pans on a cookie sheet and place in the oven for 45 mins. Rotate once during baking. Once finished, place pans on a cooling rack and let sit for 15 mins. Overturn and allow to cool to room temperature.

For the sauce:

Eggplant Inquisition Put the juice, chocolate, butter, sugar and salt in a pot and bring to a simmer, constantly stirring. Be careful to watch the pot lest it boil over. Reduce the liquid by half. Take off heat and stir in vanilla and heavy cream. Let cool, then place in dispensing bottle and refrigerate.

For candied eggplant:

Bring water and sugar to a rollicking boil and add eggplant rounds leaving them in for a minute or so. Pull eggplant out and place in a shallow container, pour the syrup over them. Let sit for an hour, then drain the eggplant and place on parchment paper. Sprinkle with sugar and place in a 250° F oven until dry and crunchy.

Tasty!
Plate up the cakes, pour some sauce over cake and into bundt hole. Garnish with candied eggplant, whipped cream and mint. Sprinkle a little confectioner's sugar on top.

Enjoy the Inquisition.

Tasting notes are after the jump.

The texture is crumbly, wet and chewy. It has a very deep chocolate taste that's only helped along by the pomegranate infused chocolate sauce. There's a definite taste of eggplant, but it's very mild and like a weak current in the background. The whipped cream, believe it or not, adds a bit of lightness to the dessert.

It could have used a little less time in the oven. The bottom of it, which was open and on top in the oven, is drier than it should be. I love the crumbly nature of it though. The best way to describe this is like a zucchini bread, only more sweet.

The candied eggplant is surprisingly good. The caramel flavors dominate the eggplant, and the crisp exterior give just slightly to a chewy interior.

Would I make this again? Well, to be honest, eggplant is not my thing at all. I'd probably not go out of my way to make this, unless it was to impress or scare someone. But it is very tasty, nonetheless.

Posted by Samer at 06:29 PM | Comments (5)

March 04, 2005

Sudden Motion Sensor

In the latest PowerBooks, Apple has added a sudden motion sensor. The idea is if the machine senses that it is falling or moving erratically, it will park the heads of the hard disks so as to prevent damage to your data.

Well, Amit Singh over at Kernel Thread, has taken a long hard look at the software that runs this sensor and has come up with some interesting proof of concept programs to use this information. One of the programs creates a "stable" window that stays aligned properly when you rock your PowerBook back and forth.

He admits that these concepts are just teaching tools, but does posit one very interesting idea for actual use: map the movements to keyboard keys, like the right and left keys. Using something like this, you should be able to rock your laptop and scroll web pages or large images or Google Maps.

Almost makes me want to go get a new PowerBook so I can play with it.

Posted by Samer at 02:18 PM | Comments (0)

March 01, 2005

I'm Sorry!

Google B0rked

I'm sorry. It seems I've broken Google. Well, Gmail. Still, I'm really really sorry.

It'll be back. I hope.

Posted by Samer at 08:20 PM | Comments (0)