SPAM SUBJECT LINE HAIKU
(it's been a while)

Upcoming Events
Million dead in Chinese quake
3 Days Left to Save

We're taking it off
Gemma Hayes Night in Pictures
Power in your Pants

This is a Warning
licensed Online Pharmacy
Biggest tool on earth!

****

My great friends James Wallis, doing what my great friend James Wallis does best - amaze people:



****

On his blog, Michael Ruhlman posed the question (paraphrased greatly here) "What are your go-to, everyday dinner recipes?"

Here are those I'll fall back on, on a time and time again, if I've no time to think about something special.

Most of these come originally from my favorite cookbooks, but have gotten to the point with me where I'll seldom if ever go back and look at the cookbooks when making them. Most have evolved slightly.

John's go-to recipes:

Jalapeno Black Bean Soup
(Gleaned from the Whole Chile Pepper cookbook)
Mushroom Soup
(Gleaned from the Les Halles cookbook)
French Onion Soup
(Gleaned from Le Cordon Bleu at Home)
Potato and Leek Soup
(Gleaned from Le Cordon Bleu at Home)
Sweet and Sour Soup
(Gleaned from Soups and Stews)

Spaghetti Arabiata
(A simple sauce that can morph into many different sauces with additions. I think I originally found it in Bugialli on Pasta - it reminded me of the sauces I had when my dad worked in Milan)
Fettucini Carbonara
(Gleaned from the Silver Spoon cookbook)
Risotto (Either mushroom or gorgonzola, but whatever's on hand)
(again, using the basic Silver Spoon recipe)
Pizza
(Trying to match the Neapolitan style as best as possible)
Lasagne or Canelloni
(A variation on my mom's recipe, with the America's Test Kitchen twist on canelloni)
Holupki
(From my Grandmother's church cookbook)


Chicken Picata or Milanese
(Gleaned from watching my mom and grandma make it)
Tacos, rice and Beans
(Gleaned from Rick Bayless' Everyday Mexican)
Pan-fried Trout
(When available and fresh, of course)
Grilled/roast fish (usually Sea Bass)
(From a L'Etoile class I once took)
Catfish, coated in flour and pan-fried
Moules Marnier
(And all the variations this can lead to. Cleaning the mussles is a pain, though...)
Curries
(Using curry pastes, but I'm learning how to create my own)
Roast Chicken
(Gleaned from Thomas Keller's recipe)


Looking back over the list, I see it's it's odder and more eclectic than I'd have guessed...

Today's Dork Tower is up...



Click here, there or anywhere to see it.

Of the three readers of this blog, perhaps one will get it. Which is OK by me. Seriously, I don't EVER want to know how I come up with stuff like this...

****

In the vocal stylings of "Alvin? ALVINNNN!"

Carson? CARSONNNNN!

Floodwaters breach Mississippi River levee: Muskrat holes blamed.

****

And just in case you missed last night's insomniac post...

****

Was supposed to drive down to Wizard World Chicago today. Not sure if I'm feeling too sleepy now.

Spit.

****

Speaking of conventions I'm not at...

robin_d_laws, he of The Birds fame, and he whom I now hate because he's getting to go to Australia, dammit (All Cheese Twisties CAN be sent to: John Is A Shameless Beggar, Box 45063, Madison, WI 53711), shot some footage at last year's GenCon.

"If you were a sea creature, what kind of sea creature would you want to be?" he asked, apparently anticipating Barbara Walters' next prime-time special.

Anyway, he cornered three folks whom I consider good friends.

Apparently, I befriend people who have a thing for cephalopods...


(Some mildly NSFW language from...well, you guess who.)


stannex:


angusabranson


iamnikchick


Two more good friends, less octo-sessed.

princeofcairo


Michelle Nephew


More pals can be found here.