The Iceman Sayeth

And It Goes On...

2007-04-04T09:24:00.000-05:00

As promised, here is my Tuesday night dinner. It was light, summery and delicious:

Penne with Artichokes, Black Olives and Peas

12 marinated artichoke hearts (1 can)
4 tablespoons olive oil, divided
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 shallot, minced
1/2 lemon, cut in thin circles
2 bay leaves
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
2 cups vegetable or chicken broth
1/2 cup black olives, pitted
1/4 cup fresh basil, chiffonade
1 tomato, diced
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup sweet peas
Salt and pepper, to taste
1 pound penne pasta, cooked
1/4 cup grated Pecorino Romano

Coat a saucepan with 2 tablespoons olive oil and place over medium heat. Blot the artichokes dry then add them to the pan. Add the garlic, shallot, lemon slices, bay leaves and red pepper flakes. Pour in the stock, cover, and let simmer for 8 minutes to soften the artichokes. Remove the lid and add the olives, basil, tomatoes and butter, stir to incorporate. Add the peas and remaining oil; season again with salt and pepper. Cook pasta al dente and top with the baby artichoke sauce. Remove the lemons and bay leaves, and sprinkle with grated cheese before serving.
Copyright © 2006 Television Food Network, G.P., All Rights Reserved

This was really a very nice dinner. Doing the prep work ahead of time really works to one's advantage here, since being able to dump everything straight into the saucepan makes this a 30-minute meal. And for someone who didn't enjoy olives and artichokes not so long ago, I say good on me!! :)

Sean and I watched another Icelandic movie last night - Nói albinói. Why do my countrymen feel the need to make such incredibly depressing movies? Who the hell would want to visit Iceland after seeing these depression-fests that pass for movies? Holy crap! I barely want to go there myself now! I think I need to have a serious discussion with my moviemaker cousin about this mess. I need a comedy!!!

Speaking of funny thing... THIS is my favorite thing in a while.

Monday Night Dinner

2007-04-03T12:05:00.000-05:00

I took it easy Monday night and made one of my favorites: White Pizza. That's simply a pizza without any tomato sauce. I had some store-bought dough (I'm not very good with any baking that includes yeast) and I brushed it with olive oil and minced garlic. I then baked that for about 6 minutes to intensify the flavor and bake it really well into the crust. I then topped the pizza with 3 onions that I sliced thinly and caramelized slowly for about 40 minutes. I then topped that with some mozzarella and parmesan cheese, and baked it for another 8 minutes. Delicious! Perfectly baked crust and the cheese and onion were so gooey and tasty... I'm hungry now.

Sean and I played hooky from work yesterday afternoon to partake in the opening day festivities for the Washington Nationals. Translation for Icelanders: It was the first game of the season for DC's baseball team. We met up with some friends to see the hometown boys lose badly to the Florida Marlins. I hope that's not an omen for the season to come. I enjoy going to baseball games. The atmosphere is fun and it almost feels like a vacation.

I'm reading a new book: Timothy Egan's The Worst Hard Time. It's about the Dust Bowl in the 1930s, and the people who survived it. It's really fascinating stuff to read, and a good reminder for those who suggest that mankind cannot adversely affect its environment. The Dust Bowl was the largest, most catastrophic meteorological event of the 20th century - and it was all caused by people.

I've just selected tonight's recipe for dinner. I'll tell you all about it tomorrow!!

Sunday Dinner

2007-04-01T19:51:00.000-05:00

Sean and I discovered a great cooking magazine, Cook's Illustrated. It's very bare-bones and straightforward, and is heavy on instruction and advice. We got one for free in the mail and have been using it a lot. I made the best brownies ever from that, and there's also a recipe for green beans that's better than anything I've ever had before. Tonight, I used their recipe for pork chops with mustard and dill sauce. Their secret to juicy pork chops: Start them on a cold pan, and put a tiny dusting of sugar on one side to get good browning action. It was delicious. Juiciest chops I've ever made, period. On the side, I served brussel sprouts (rosakal). I know, most people hate them, but Sean and I have really come to love eating them. The secret: Blanch them in chicken stock first, then throw them into a skillet with shallots, olive oil, salt and pepper and give them a good cooking. They become soft and super tasty. Finally, dinner was completed with a nice spinach salad with carrots, scallions and toasted pecans. Very balanced, and lots of veggies and herbs.

Last night, we had dinner at one of our favorite restaurants, Lauriol Plaza. The occasion was that my good friends Andrea and Brjann were making a 3-day stop in Washington on their way to Hawaii to get married. It was really nice to see them and we had a fun time, complete with margaritas and that most American of pastries for dessert: Krispy Kreme donuts! They fly to the 50th state on Tuesday, via San Francisco. I hope they'll have a great time, and I can't see how they could not!

I continued my "tradition" of going to see a movie during my free afternoon at Elderhostel. This week I saw The Namesake, based on Jhumpa Lahiri's novel. I really enjoyed it, and had actually been looking forward to seeing it for a while. Also saw Stranger Than Fiction on Netflix. That was pretty good.

I finished my book, Mayflower, at the hotel last week and didn't bring another, so I was "forced" to go to Barnes & Noble to get a new one. I had intended to get Cormac McCarthy's The Road, but apparently that bitch Oprah just chose it for her book club, so the only available version has her frakking name and logo all over it. No way in hell am I buying that! Instead, I bought McCarthy's last novel before that one, No Country For Old Men. I really enjoyed that one - in fact, I finished it yesterday. Tonight I get to indulge in one of my favorite things to do: Choosing a new book to read. I know. I'm a nerd. I've learned to live with it, and suggest you do the same. :-)

And So It Begins... Again

2007-03-25T19:45:00.000-05:00

Sunday, and my second hotel week began today. I'm feeling pretty good about this one. The group seems nice and I'm in a jolly mood these days. I went to Whole Foods this evening to stock up on stuff for the week, and what is staring me in the face at the check out? A fluffy, yellow little chick, sitting on top of a no. 2 Noi & Sirius chocolate easter egg!!! Needless to say, that found its way into my basket. Yum... a little taste of home.

Speaking of which, I made fishballs this week. I didn't have any Icelandic haddock, sadly, so I made do with New Zealand orange roughy. It was decent, but nowhere near as delicious as the real thing. Sean, however, dazzled with last night's dinner. Italian mashed potatoes (made with olive oil, two kinds of cheese, and lots of pepper), grilled chicken, and homemade spinach pesto. Heaven! I went into a serious food coma that last through all of Saturday Night Live. Ahhh... Sean acquired two new kitchen gadgets this week, so he felt like cooking. One was a potato ricer (all the better to ake creamy mashed potatoes with) and the other was a Wusthof Cordon Bleu paring knife, which is his favorite new toy. He should get together with Ingo - they can geek out over kitchen tools.

We saw Fast Food Nation this weekend. It's based on Eric Schlosser's non-fiction expose of the fast food industry, mainly focused on meat plants and just how cow poop makes its way into one's hamburger. Yuck. I haven't eaten at McDonald's in over four years, and let's just say I'm never eating at any of those places EVER AGAIN! I don't think they really needed to show how a cow gets from being alive to being a hamburger patty (moment of death included), but damn if it didn't do the job. Gross!

I'm sitting in my eighth floor hotel room, looking southeast over Washington. I don't see it from this vanage point often, and it looks beautiful. I wish I could include a pic of it here. There's not a cloud in the sky and the weather is gorgeous, and seeing the lights of the city, the Washington monument, the Capitol dome, the Kennedy Center, all the way down the Potomac and over to Maryland... it makes me think how beautiful this country must have been in its native stage about 400 years ago. Too bad someone had to find it and fuck it up...

My dad's visit is imminent - he'll be here on April 5. I hope he's looking forward to it... I have a long shopping list for him!!! :-)

Alright... good night, folks. Catch you later.

Halfway There!

2007-03-14T18:02:00.000-05:00

Well, hotel week #1 is halfway done at this point. Today is the easy day, when we give free time ater 2:30 pm. As is often the case with these weeks, I'm easily bored, so I make sure to bring a good number of Netflix movies to watch. So far this week, I've watched The African Queen and 12 Angry Men, and attempted to watch Saw III but the disc was busted. I even braved my very first DC Metrobus ride in order to go the movies this afternoon. I saw 300, which is visually stunning but not much else. Even those who can appreciate a beautifully sculpted male body can get a bit tired of an endless parade of unnaturally large and developed abs. Ugh. I'm glad I wasn't munching on popcorn during the movie; all those hardbodies would have sent me on a major guilt trip!

Miraculously enough, I was also able to squeeze in a little actual culture this week! Sean, Peter and I saw Richard III at the Shakespeare Theater last night. It was fantastic! The actor Geraint Wyn Davies, who played Richard of Gloucester, was mesmerizing. The part, as written, is a Godsend for any stage actor, but this man was unbelievably good. We took Peter out to dinner at Jaleo beforehand, since it was his birthday. Now that I've gone to the theater once, I feel a need to go again. I'll have to check what's playing...

I'm waiting for Sean as I write this - he's driving up to the hotel and we're going to get some little dinner and relax in the hotel room (which includes a personal jacuzzi - hello!!!).

Funny but true: The hotel is across the street from the Russian Embassy. Whatever signals - jamming, spying, whatever - they are sending out are so strong that I am unable to talk on my cell phone here without losing reception. Wasn't the Cold War over??!

OK, into the shower now. Hasta luego!

Wrath of Blogger

2007-03-09T19:05:00.000-05:00

Well, I had a post written on Wednesday, but Blogger has been acting up and hasn't let me post anything until now. So my earlier post about how it was snowing and how it was weird to see the white stuff this late here in DC... well, that's just kind of dated now, huh?

Anyways, it was a busy week. I even made it to the movies... twice! Sean and I started the week by seeing Breach, about FBI agent/evil spy Robert Hanssen. It's a perfectly decent thriller (even though it has Ryan Phillipe) made even more fun by seeing how the filmmakers manage to get Washington facts wrong (the movie was shot almost exclusively here in town). Route 50 becomes Wilson Boulevard, Federal Triangle metro station becomes Archives metro station, etc. Us DC folks get a good laugh out of this kind of stuff.

Last night, I saw Zodiac. It's the new David Fincher movie about the 1970s killer in San Francisco. I've always thought it was a fascinating story to begin with, and getting Fincher's take on it was great. He's an excellent director with a real eye for detail. It was like being transported back 30 years. It has a cast of thousands, led by Robert Downey Jr (stretching as a substance-abusing reporter), Mark Ruffalo (as a San Fran cop who was the model for Dirty Harry), and gayboy Jake Gyllenhaal as an increasingly neurotic cartoonist who becomes obsessed with the case. It's hard to believe that Zodiac was never caught, although the movie makes a convincing case as to the identity of the killer.

Sean and I also saw Hafid (The Sea), an Icelandic movie that's only one of three available on Netflix. In true Icelandic fashion, it's incredibly depressing, but was both agreed it was not boring.

I move into a hotel on Sunday, to supervise the first of three weeks with my old people. Sigh. I'll have to convince myself to look at this like a vacation. At least it's in a new part of town, close to everything, so I'll be able to walk to Whole Foods, nice restaurants, and even go to the movies during long breaks, if I so please. So don't try me at work next week - I won't be there! I'll have Internet access, so I'll be easily reachable.

Only 10 weeks until our Icelandic trip...

Comfy/Loungy

2007-03-02T19:23:00.000-05:00

Ahhh.. the end of a long Friday. I had a program today, which means getting up at 5:30 and crawling, barely conscious, into the shower. I got home at 6:15. Shower, clean apartment, order Chinese food! :) Now I'm just lounging on the couch, waiting for my nice delivery man to bring dinner.

By the way, how can it be March already? Didn't we just have Christmas?

Not much going on here. I watched a classic this week - The Bridge on the River Kwai. I mostly enjoyed it, although someone could have suggested to David Lean that 3-hour movies can get a bit tiring. For the weekend, I have a German comedy, and Icelandic family drama (The Sea/Hafid), and the only Coen brothers movie I have yet to see - The Man Who Wasn't There. Speaking of movies, I really want to go see David Fincher's new movie, Zodiac. Maybe that will be the movie that finally gets me back into a theater. The only film I've actually paid to see this year was Pan's Labyrinth.

OK, my food is here. I have to go dive into a plate of Szechuan Chicken and Crab Rangoon!!!

iPod Update

2007-02-27T13:52:00.000-05:00

I'm so in love with my little iPod Shuffle (thanks for the Christmas present!) I've been able to discover a lot of music I didn't really know before. I never listen to radio here (except for classical music and NPR) so I had complete fallen off the edge of the world, musically speaking. My latest iPod additions: Mika's "Grace Kelly" (thanks to my brother for that suggestion), Röyksopp's "Remind Me" (which I saw in a commercial and couldn't get out of my head), and now, because he picked up Oscar no. 2 in as many years, Gustavo Santaolalla's "The Wings," a.k.a. the theme from Brokeback Mountain. The 6-minute dance mix of that one isn't bad either :-)

Live Blogging the Oscars

2007-02-25T20:28:00.000-05:00

8:30: Here we go. Interesting little montage. Peter O'Toole is really old.

8:35: Ellen!!!

8:40: She is a funny woman. How much $$$ would she demand to wear a skirt?

8:42: Al Gore just got the night's loudest applause. Weird.

8:44: Night's first award. Art direction. Wasn't supporting actor always the first one? Who changed the rules? Nicole Kidman is very pale. And the winner is... Pan's Labyrinth!!! My choice.

8:48: Sci-Tech awards. Snore.

8:49: Dancing? Oh no! Wait... disaster averted.

8:52: Will Ferrell is singing. I'm afraid. Jack Black joins is. I'm afraider. John C. Reilly sings too. "Comedians don't get Oscars?" How about Eddie Murphy? Oh, they're presenting too! Best makeup. And the winner is Pan's Labyrinth!!! I'm 2 for 2!!

8:59: Abigail Breslin and Will Smith Jr. presenting together. Best animated short. The Danish Poet? That looked depressing as hell. Not my choice, but then again, who the hell ever gets this category right?

9:02: The kids also hand out Live Action Short. West Bank Story!! I got it right! Only because the name sounded politically correct. Hollywood people always vote for that stuff.

9:06: I do want to see Letters from Iwo Jima at some point.

9:11: Sound effects salute with a sound effects choir? Weird. But hey... pretty cool, actually.

9:13: Steve Carell and Greg Kinnear! Handing out the sound editing award. And adding sexual innuendo. Letters from Iwo Jima wins! I chose the other war movie, Flags of Our Fathers. Oh, well.

9:17: James McAvoy and Jessica Biel present the sound mixing award. I hate her hair. He's short! The winner is Dreamgirls. Boo! I chose FOOF here also.

9:20: Rachel Weisz shows up, so it's best supporting actor time. For the record, I chose Eddie Murphy for this category, but I'm prepared for an Alan Arkin upset. And it's an Arkin upset!!! Hmmm... does this bode well for a Little Miss Sunshine best pic upset?

9:25: Ellen does comedy with Martin Scorsese. Not as painful as it might sound.

9:30: James Taylor does a song from Cars. I always want to take a nap when I hear his voice. And Melissa Etheridge does her An Inconvenient Truth song.

9:35: Al Gore and Leo DiCaprio do a little environmental plug. Cute. Typical over-earnest Hollywood stuff.

9:42: Best Animated Movie, courtesy of Cameron Diaz. Go Cars! Ick. Happy Feet wins. Grrr... I think it's just too simple of an idea, and sort of riding the coattails of March of the Penguins. But then again, there's no original idea left in Hollywood, right?

9:45: Ben Affleck puts in an appearance. Calling him an "Academy Award Winner" is strange and wrong. A tribute to writers in films? Are they running out of montages?

(Sidebar: I hate Comcast and their intermittently available HD-broadcast!!!)

9:48: Helen Mirren and Tom Hanks. Can so much class fit on the screen? Best Adapted Screenplay is here! William Monahan gets it for The Departed, and I can check off another correct choice! :)

9:59: Best costume design, presented by Emily Blunt and Anne Hathaway from The Devil Wears Prada. A "fitting" choice, if I may say so myself. Meryl Streep is fucking hilarious! I guessed Marie Antoinette. Let's see... and I'm right!!! Ha!

10:04: Tom Cruise shows up. Hide your vulnerable young women!! Ugh, it's one of those "special" awards. Zzzz....

10:10: Ellen and Clint. Awkward comedy continues. MySpace plug. Did YouTube not pay enough for a mention? Heh... Ellen "directing" Spielberg in taking a picture.

10:11: Gwyneth Paltrow and the "Amazing Left-Sided-Part Hairdo of Doom." From her awkward banter, I'm guessing that she's presenting cinematography. I picked Pan's Labyrinth. How did I do? I'm right!!! Whee!!!!!

10:19: Naomi Watts and Robert Downey Jr. What a random combo. Visual Effects Award. Downey makes a drug joke. Nice. Naomi looks uncomfortable doing pre-scripted banter. Did my choice win? Yes!! Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest pulls it off!

10:23: Catherine Deneuve and Ken Watanabe. Who picks these combinations? Oh, it's Foreign Language Film - no wonder. Again, I chose Pan's Labyrinth... do you sense a theme? Oops, I guess first we do a "50 Years of Foreign Films" montage. Assembled by Giuseppe Tornatore? Doesn't he have better things to do?

10:29: I guess it falls to Clive Owen and Cate Blanchett to announce the actual winner in this category. And Germany gets it! Darn Krauts. But then again, I do want to see The Lives of Others. Mostly I'm impressed that the German director can speak English with such ease... How could Pan's Labyrinth not win here!??!?!?!

10:32: Snakes on a Plane shoutout! Alright!!!

10:33: Clooney strolls in, cool as always. Supporting Actress time! Will they give it to the American Idol reject? They did! I can't fucking believe it. I guess I have to see the damn movie now, huh? What's with the band? Do not even the acting winners get enough time to do their speeches now?

10:38: There's 10 categories left, and only 22 official minutes to finish them. Good luck. Plus, at least 2 musical performances. This might go a little long...

10:41: Eva Green and Gael Garcia Bernal. Tres international! Documentary Short Subject Award. Also known as bathroom break. I chose some enviro-movie, but I was wrong. It's some China genocide thingamajig. Whatever. (Am I sounding unenlightened about this category?)

10:44: Jerry Seinfeld? Umm.. isn't this a MOVIE awards show? Did he get lost on his way to the Emmys last fall? And he's presenting the Documentary Feature Awards... the randomness continues. And of course he does a little standup. You know, I've seen Seinfeld on stage. He ain't that funny. Just sayin'. And the winner is... An Inconvenient Truth. Shocker... not!!!

10:48: Al Gore stumbles onto the stage with the director. You know, why couldn't the 2007 version of Gore run for President in 2000? How much different would the world be?

10:49: Clint! Damn, he's getting kinda old, huh? Ugh... it's the special award for Ennio Morricone. Celine Dion will be singing. Hide your... um... well, everybody just hide!! She'll frighten the kids and annoy everyone else! She looks like freakin' Skeletor.

12:03: Oops, I kind of let my guard down for a second (or hour), huh? Well, Forest Whitaker just picked up his Oscar and Helen Mirren got hers earlier. Big surprise, huh? I just kind of have to brag a bit because I chose correctly in the Best Song category, which I don't think many others did. Melissa Etheridge holding an Oscar is kind of weird. But she did kiss her wife and was followed in rapid succession on stage by Ellen and Jodie Foster. Good night for lesbians, eh? (Whitaker is still kind of creepy, though.) Full disclosure: I got Film Editing wrong - never underestimate the power of Thelma Schoonmaker cutting a Scorsese film.

12:06: Francis Ford Coppola, Steven Spielberg and George Lucas amble out to present Best Director. With this ensemble on hand, how does Scorsese not win? I hope he does. And he does!!! I'm happy for him and so is everyone else, apparently. He's a funny little man, and this was a LONG time coming.

12:13: Diane Keaton and Jack Nicholson declare The Departed as Best Picture of the Year. I got that right, but Little Miss Sunshine could have pulled an upset. Having some anonymous producer accept the award is sort of anticlimactic, but knowing that Scorsese is watching on makes it OK. I guess I better go see it now, right?

12:16: Ellen says good night. And so do I!!! For the record, I got 15 out of 24 categories correct. Not bad!

Funny But Wrong

2007-02-25T18:44:00.000-05:00

Why can't I stop laughing over this story?? I literally still have tears in my eyes...

Food Coma Sunday

2007-02-25T12:44:00.000-05:00

Who knew that I had been missing the exquisite delight that is Burmese food? Last night was absolutely wonderful - both the food and the company. I've rarely had such a wonderful foodie night, and the fact that our host's parents planned the evening with the goal of teaching us how to make these delicious dishes was even better. Everything was home made. Dish one: Egg rolls with sweet and sour sauce. No. 2: Papaya salad. No. 3: Noodles with coconut chicken and fish cakes. No. 4: Grilled beef in garlic-sesame sauce, accompanied by twice-fried green beans in black bean sauce. No. 5: Ginger salad. No. 6: Brownies!! They even gave us some of the more exotic ingredients (dried shrimp powder, ginger salad mix, pickled papaya) so we can make our own. I'm so excited to try it out! And who knew Burmese food had so much in common with Icelandic culinary traditions? Dried fish and fried onions are stapled of this cooking. It's a natural fit for me! :-)

Ome more thing today. I highly recommend an article from today's Washington Post. It's called Failing in Baghdad - The British Did It First, and it's something the current administration should have read about 4 years ago. Here's a sample paragraph:

"Lt. Gen. Sir Frederick Stanley Maude was head of the British army in Mesopotamia when he marched into Baghdad on a hot, dusty day in March 1917. Soon thereafter, he issued the British government's "Proclamation to the People of Baghdad," which eerily foreshadowed sentiments that Bush and his administration would express 86 years later: British forces, Maude declared, had entered the city not as conquerors, but as liberators."

Read it!

Weekend Update

2007-02-24T16:30:00.000-05:00

Hey everyone - just chilling on my couch on a Saturday afternoon. I've had an excellent week, and today was no different. I woke up early, took a shower, and then Sean and I headed into town for some errands. We ended up an Eastern Market, where we had brunch. He feasted on a french baguette with butter, ham and cornichons, while I had a sandwich with chicken, bacon, mustard, and caramelized onions. Yum. We got back home around 1 and since then have been reading the newspapers, food magazines, and books (more on my new book later). This evening will actually be quite fun. Our friend Nilar, who is Burmese, is inviting us over for a Burmese food feast/cooking lesson with her parents. So not only will we be eating delectable authentic Burmese food but also learning how to make it. Sweeeeet!

I finished my Doctorow novel on Thursday and began a new book: James L. Swanson's Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer. It actually begins with the assassination of Abraham Lincoln and then traces the escape of John Wilkes Booth until he was captured in Virginia 12 days later. It's really well written - almost like a thriller. And strangely enough, the story of the novel I finished ended in early April 1865. This book begins right where the other ended, at the very end of the Civil War.

And now, for my annual fearless Oscar picks for tomorrow's ceremony:

Best picture: The Departed (second choice Little Miss Sunshine)
Best director: Martin Scorsese for The Departed
Best actor: Forest Whitaker for The Last King of Scotland
Best actress: Helen Mirren for The Queen (as I predicted in October)
Best supporting actor: Eddie Murphy for Dreamgirls (second choice Alan Arkin in Little Miss Sunshine)
Best supporting actress: Jennifer Hudson for Dreamgirls (second choice Abigail Breslin for Litte Miss Sunshine)
Best original screenplay: Michael Arndt for Little Miss Sunshine
Best adapted screenplay: William Monahan for The Departed
Best foreign film: Pan's Labyrinth (which I hope wins MANY awards - go see it!!!)

Check back on Monday to see how I did. I, for one, plan to enjoy the awards. Ellen DeGeneres is hosting, and that woman is funny! Which, considering that she's a lesbian, is highly unusual...

OK - hasta luego, amigos. Getting ready for Burmese food!

Lazy Sunday

2007-02-18T19:18:00.000-05:00

I love long weekends. Tomorrow is Presidents Day, so I don't have to report to work until Tuesday. Having three days to lounge around is good for the soul, and it somehow allows you to squeeze more leisure into your off-time.

Friday night, for instance, we had Yvonne, Jen and her friend Nilar over for no other reason than to have fun. We ate good food and laughed a lot. Yvonne is test-driving some essential oil stuff on Sean and myself, so we smell like lavender and peppermint these days. Saturday, we got up early and met some acquaintances at a coffee shop down in Alexandria. Then home to lounge. Cat's boyfriend Bryan had a house-warming party last night so we made an appearance there, of course. This morning, we were up super early to do the grocery shopping for the week. Yes, we shop once a week, and spend no more than $70 or IKR 5000 on a week's worth of food - welcome to America! Niiiiice. Tonight we are heading out to dinner at a very nice restaurant downtown. Tomorrow Cat and I are doing lunch and a movie, and then Sean and I are invited to Jen's for a quesadilla dinner party. Again: I love three-day weekends.

I had the misfortune to see Silent Hill this week. Yuck. Let's hope that watching Cars and Clerks II will wash off the awfulness. Sean and I both want to see Breach, but I think that's because it's a DC movie. They even shot scenes at the building where I work!

Long weekends also allow me to make food to use later in the week. This time, I made two things. Jen brought some asparagus over on Friday. I used those leftovers to make a delicious asparagus soup. I also made some meatballs (ground beef, bread crumbs, tomato paste, garlic, basil, red wine, gorgonzola) and threw them in the freezer. I look forward to having those with some spaghetti and tomato-vodka sauce.

Also, for those who have Skype, please look me up - the screen name is asgeir.and.sean. It's free, so use it!!!

OK - gotta go have some delicious food at the Blue Duck Tavern.

Hump Day - Literally

2007-02-14T14:18:00.000-05:00

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Not much happening here. The weather has caused most employees in DC and the surrounding Virginia and Maryland counties to not show up for work. I was here at 8:30 am. What's wrong with this picture? Anyway, since I've done most of my work and there is no one to actually work with (i.e. no e-mail replies coming today), I'll go home soon. And not a moment to soon, as I have to cook a Valentine's meal: Tuscan Bean Soup with Lamb, Italian Style Baked Beans, and Chocolate Zabaglione for dessert. (Drooling.) Can't wait.

Until tomorrow, faithful readers!!

Super Bad

2007-02-13T11:17:00.000-05:00

Yeah, I know... I've been EXTREMELY bad. For some reason I thought I "took a vacation" from blogging in late November, but now I discover it's been since October! I'm so sorry... my life really isn't that boring. Sometimes you just kind of don't feel like updating this thing. I will try to do better, but we really all know that in 6 months or so I'll take another "break." Such is life. Love it or hate it, nuthin' I can do.

Anyhoo... I've officially entered the iPod age, as of last night. I received an iPod Shuffle from the parentals for Christmas. However, with a 6-year-old computer and an internet connection slower than a fat man on a water slide, I couldn't really do much with it. In the last couple of weeks, however, I have acquired the following: A brand-new swanky HP Pavilion laptop, a wireless Internet connection, Windows Vista, Skype access, and a web cam. I won't say I'm up to 2007 standards, but I've definitely reached 2005 standards. I've become an iTunes aficionado, happily downloading music and (most amusingly) TV shows. Now I don't have to watch TV anymore, I can just buy what I need. I've also discovered that all of the major networks now stream most of their shows FOR FREE on their web sites, beginning the day after they air. So, because I watch 24 on Monday nights, I can catch up on Heroes during my lunch break on Tuesdays just by visiting nbc.com. Sweet! And now I walk around and ride the Metro oblivious to all sights and sounds because I'm listening to Fall Out Boy, Gnarls Barkley and (the shame!) Madonna on my iPod. Ahhh... the isolation technology brings. It brings a tear to my eye.

What would an Asgeir blog update be without a food section? Over the weekend, I finally dug out an Icelandic leg of lamb that had been taking up space in my freezer. I squeezed garlic cloves into the meat and roasted the whole thing for 2 hours. Delicious. Now I can use the leftovers to make a Tuscan white bean and lamb soup tomorrow. And, just because I felt like it, I made steak au poivre out of pork loin last night. You just cut it into beef-like medallions, crust it with pepper and salt, sear it on a pan, and throw it in the oven to finish. Just to be decadent, I topped each medallion with gorgonzola and broiled it to perfection. Sides: creamed spinach and ginger carrots. Not bad for a Monday, eh?

Book update: I don't have space to list all the books I've read since August (nor could I remember all of them!) but I'm currently reading E.L. Doctorow's The March. As I started reading it, I realized I'd never read any of his books before, even though he wrote classics like Ragtime and Billy Bathgate. So far I'm thoroughly engrossed. Other recent books: Hampton Sides' Blood and Thunder, Frederick Jackson Turner's The Frontier in American History, Paul Schneider's Brutal Journey, Kent Nerburn's Chief Joseph and the Flight of the Nez Perce, David McCullough's The Johnstown Flood, and - of course - Lemony Snicket's The End, in which the Baudelaire siblings come to the end of their 13-book journey. Upcoming books include Doris Kearns Goodwin's Team of Rivals, Michael Oren's Power, Faith and Fantasy, and David McCullough's 1776. What can I say? Me likey read-y.

I recently came to the realization that this spring marks my 10-year high school reunion. Yikes. How did I get to be (almost 30)? Sure, I've got some gray hair, but how did this happen? I can barely take care of my plants, let alone a pet or a child. How did my friends decide that it was the right time to produce offspring - in some cases, two of them already? I will refuse to believe that 10 years have passed until the inevitable reunion party where everyone has to leave early to take care of the kids. Sigh... old age looms ominously...

Anyway - here's how I'm feeling this morning:

Food Heaven

2006-10-05T17:15:00.000-05:00

I just have to brag about all the awesome food I've been enjoying lately...

Monday: Homemade hamburgers with sauteed onions and muenster cheese, accompanied by cajun oven fries.

Tuesday: Chicken breast stuffed with cornbread, cayenne and bacon, alongside a cauliflower gratin.

Wednesday: Crab ravioli with lobster claw meat, followed by porcini-and pistachio stuffed quail.

Tonight I'm going to a restaurant I suspect is Greek, but I'm in the dark about it as I'm being treated to a birthday dinner by the ladies.

All in all, an excellent culinary week!

Hi Everybody

2006-10-02T20:45:00.000-05:00

Hey... I know I've been away for WAY too long, and I apologize. This is always a crazy time of year for me, as I'm in and out of hotels for my programs and the few days inbetween are super busy with preparing for the next work plus catching up on all the work that's piled up while I was away. Phew. I have one more week of programming to go, and then I'm done with hotel-stuff until spring. Mind you, then I jet off to lovely Iceland for a wedding and some well-deserved R&R. SD and I have secured a summer cabin out in the countryside for a couple of nights, and we're just going to enjoy the silence, to borrow a phrase from Depeche Mode.

I've been leeping busy at home as well. We're still squaring away the apartment - picking out the artwork for the walls, getting things framed, etc. We've taken up evening walks to clear our heads (and full bellies) before bed. It's nice. The weather is finally cooling down and going for a brisk walk does a body good. I've definitely been sleeping better since.

Thanks to all who wished me a happy birthday! I'm now officially almost old - at 29 - and I'mw waiting for the osteporosis to set in. In all seriousness, by birthday was lovely. I was working, of course, so I spent most of it at the Japanese embassy and the Foreign Service Institute. SD took me to dinner at Indigo Landing that night, and the food was scrumptiously delicious. I had frogmore soup (shrimp broth with bacon and pasta), followed by hanger steak with delicious potatoes and onions. Yum! I was so full I couldn't even fit in dessert - and we all know that never happens! SD also bought me a gorgeous coffeetable-size picture book of Native Americans from the early 20th century. It's amazing - the pictures are incredible. It was a picture-kind of birthday for me, as mom and DPG sent me some great pictures from our Paris trip last year. I'll be in the market for some more picture frames soon :-)

Amazingly, I've been able to do some reading while ensconced in the hotel. I finished Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee - a truly great book. I then dove into Larry McMurtry's The Colonel and Little Missie, an account of Buffalo Bill and Annie Oakley and the commercialization of the Wild West. Fascinating stuff - to me, anyway. Most recently, I finished Ruth Reichl's Garlic and Sapphires, a memoir of her tenure as the food critic of the New York Times. It was hilarious and delicious at the same time. Speaking of books, I visited the National Book Festival on the mall this weekend. I listened to some great authors, including Doris Kearns Goodwin and Taylor Branch, but the only book I was inspired to buy was Marcus Samuelsson's new cookbook, The Soul of a New Cuisine. Samuelsson, the chef at NYC's Aquavit, was born in Ethiopia and adopted to Sweden, and this book is his attempt to rediscover his roots by cooking himself through African cuisine. I'm eally excited about using the book, since this is a part of the world I have completely ignoed in the kitchen.

SD and I have just spent the last few weeks plowing through the first two seasons of The Office - the American version, that is. This is by far my favorite comedy on television now, with the late great Arrested Development now gone to TV heaven. I admit I have not seen the British original (damn my lack of BBC America!) and may therefore be unenlightened as to its merits, but this show is completely freakin' hilarious! Steve Carrell is a comic genius, and everyone else in the cast is pitch perfect. I recommend visiting iTunes and downloading a few episodes.

Before I sign off (it's late), allow me to gloat over nasty, dirty, creepy Florida Republican Mark Foley. I highly recommend you read the transcripts of his IM conversations with 16-year-old male Congressional pages, in which he talks about his cute butt, how often and in which way he "spanks it," and so on and so forth. I do believe Mr. Foley just handed the Democrats the keys to the House after next month's elections. Republicans: We're the party with morals, except when it comes to covering up our pedophiliac colleague in order to keep his congressional seat. Ick.

Good night, y'all. Time for bed.

CATEGORY: GENERAL: Playing Catch-Up

2006-09-06T13:18:00.000-05:00

Hola. I'm barely getting back into the work week after the 3-day weekend. I had a nice relaxing time of it. I even bought a brand new TV!!!! SD and I are now the proud owners of a 26" LCD HDTV. Thanks to the family for the birthday present :-) I will never stop watching TV now! We feasted on burgers and other weekend-type food. After cooking up a mushroom risotto and banana muffins in 90 minutes last Thursday, I needed a bit of time off from heavy cooking. I dove back into those waters last night, with a roasted corn and cayenne chowder, followed by chicken saltimbocca and roasted vegetables. And because I was a good boy - no dessert!

Otherwise, life goes on. I'm working hard on preparing for Sunday, when the first week (of three) of me living in a hotel with old people begins. It should be fine... the groups are smaller than usual and the weather seems to be cooling down, and those are both big pluses. I will of course miss my new apartment and fan-freaking-tastic new television, but I suppose I'll survive (sigh). Woe is me.

I'm reading an excellent book, which is considered a classis here. It is Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown. It's the history of the American West and its conquest by the white man, told from the perspective of the Indians. It's actually historically accurate, and shows the horrible things that were done to the Indians. No wonder they weren't big fans of us. This book is now in my top 15 of all time. I absolutely love it.

I'm currently prowling the Internet to find out whether my man Magni survived today's Rock Star: Supernova elimination show. The spoilers usually come out around this time. I'm pretty sure he's going home, unless the mother country managed to send millions of votes over the Atlantic. Hey - it worked last week, why not now?? Either way, he's done an outstanding job, and I'm pretty sure the house band will persuade him to go on tour with them. Good on ya, mate!

I think I'll go home this afternoon and watch a couple of episodes of the late, lamented Arrested Development - the third season of which I just bought on DVD. Hey, can't a boy give himself some birthday presents???

CATEGORY: GENERAL: My So-Called Life

2006-08-30T12:44:00.000-05:00

I can't belive it's Wednesday already. The best part of this week barrelling towards the inevitable weekend is that fact that Monday is Labor Day so I get a long weekend. Whee! My big bro is also flying in Saturday night (for work, not to see mee, natch), so double whee!

Life is chugging along at its regular pace. Work is getting increasingly more busy as I'll be moving into a hotel with my elders on September 10 for 5 days. And then again on September 24. And then again on October 8. Doesn't my life sound just absolutely impossibly exciting? :-) At least I get to fly to the mother land on October 12 for a nice dose of home.

I had a nice dinner last night. We were out celebrating Cat's birthday and went to Old Ebbitt Grill - my first time there! I chose the clam chowder and trout parmesan, and we very pleased. We all shared a few desserts; my favorite was the butterscotch blondie sundae. Slurp. I love dairy in all possible shapes and forms!! It was nice seeing the now-scattered urban family again. Maura is in Boston, Cat is out in Latinoville somewhere, and Jess has been MIA for some time. Either way, good food is always the most basic element of a good evening as far as I'm concerned.

I'm doing something weird this weekend - I'm attending the Maryland Renaissance Festival for some reason. Apparently, the appeal of wenches, knaves, the King's men and smoked turkey legs is too much for some people to resist. Color me sceptical, but I promise to take pictures of the whole scandalous affair and post them for the world to see.

CATEGORY: TV: Oh, and by the way...

2006-08-24T13:52:00.000-05:00

GO MAGNI!!!

CATEGORY: NEWS: ...and Then There Were Eight

2006-08-24T11:16:00.000-05:00

The International Astronomers' Union has decided to get rid of Pluto - as a planet, that is. That sound you hear is textbook publishers and trivia game authors rushing to change the official size of our galaxy from nine planets back to eight. Yes, the outlier of our solar system has been kicked off the team. Poor Pluto. It never really stood a chance, what with its irregular orbit and small size. We'll miss the barren hunk of ice, which has been relegated to a "dwarf planet" along with Ceres and Xena. (And who knew Ceres was considered a planet of its own in the 1800s?) Just goes to show: Never name your planet after a Disney character! Or a lesbian warrior princess. How can such silly names compare to the erudite classiness of Uranus?

CATEGORY: FILM: An '80s Classic + German Paranoia

2006-08-23T14:39:00.000-05:00

I've been enjoying some Netflix over the last few days. First, I finally managed to see a German film from 2001 that I've wanted to see for a while: Das Experiment. The plot revolves around a psychological experiment: 14 men are picked to spend 2 weeks in a fake jail. Some men are assigned to be prisoners, others are guards. Basically, it's a study on power and submission and how people are usually sadistic assholes on the inside. I really enjoyed it. The performances were good, especially the dude who played the lead guard. That man would fit well into any Nazi movie. I recommend it for those looking for something different to watch.

Recently, I also indulged myself in a repeated viewing of a movie I probably haven't seen in close to 20 years: The Lost Boys. Damn... Kiefer Sutherland in all his teenage vampire badness, the Coreys at their peak, even Jersey Girl Jami Gertz. And I totally forgot that Edward Herrmann is the head vampire! The guy who now makes a living narrating History Channel documentaries... it's all so weird. Time hasn't necessarily been kind to this movie but it's still pretty badass. The music, on the other hand, is atrocious. God... was all 80s music so awful? I thought my ears were going to start bleeding at some point...

CATEGORY: FOOD: Yum, Slurp, Etc.

2006-08-22T13:21:00.000-05:00

I received the latest issue of Gourmet in the mail yesterday, and I wanted to eat the cover. It's the September issue so they are spotlighting typical fall food: corn, apples, pomegranates, eggplant, tomatoes, etc. The cover uses muted shades of red and green and it's just absolutely beautiful. In fact, it's so nice that I wanted to put it here, but it's not online yet. I'll add it when it is.

I've been cooking somewhat lately. When it's this damn hot I'm less motivated, but I crank out some nice things every now and then. Last week I made two pizzas: One was the typical cheese/ham pizza (except I added garlic to the dough and used turkey ham to be healthier) and the other was sans tomato sauce - the toppings were caramelized onions, fresh mozzarella, and sun-dried tomatoes. That was delicious. Last night, I made honey-lime marinated pork chops with two kinds of sweet potatoes: mashed and sweet potato fries. Very nice - tangy and spicy and kind of summery. I'm cooking again tonight, but haven't decided what yet.

Speaking of food, I'm hatching plans to use the delectable Icelandic leg of lamb that's hiding in my freezer. I have visions of a big barcecue grill, garlic cloves, and some brown gravy. Baked potatoes... corn on the cob... yum. I think this will be a good way to say goodbye to summer. Now who will be lucky enough to score an invite to this fiesta??

(I would be remiss if I didn't mention the tastilicious variation on Kung Pow Chicken that SD whipped up this weekend. Who needs takeout when you have someone like that on Chinese food patrol?)

CATEGORY: TV: Fall Season Follies

2006-08-22T08:07:00.000-05:00

It's weird to think that this is my ninth (!!!) fall TV season since coming to the U.S. Damn, I'm old! Anyway, it got off to a pretty good start last night. For some reason, Fox thinks it's OK to start the race this early, and given the lack of good TV over the summer I'm not complaining. First show out of the gate was season 2 of Prison Break. I sort of enjoyed this show last year. It was preposterously written and had plotholes the size of Cleveland, as one smart TV Guide writer suggested, but it was still good, escapist fun. The season premiere smartly decided to ignore the dumbest ideas from last season and sort of reboot the show. Since they're out of prison, I guess that's OK now. There's a heck of a shocker in the last 5 minutes, and I think the show will be better for it. They've also brought on a very good actor, William Fichtner, as the FBI agent in charge of tracking the escapees. Sign me on for another season!

The second premiere of the evening was Fox's new serial drama, Vanished. It's about a Georgia senator's wife who goes mysteriously missing. The season will track just this one case. It's a good idea, but there are problems. For one thing, they made every single person on screen (other than the FBI folks) look suspicious. At this point, even the dog may be the mastermind of this kidnapping. I also have a problem with Gale Harold, who plays the lead. Nothing against him personally, but after watching him for five seasons on Queer as Folk doing nothing but having illicit man-on-man sex while doing copious amounts of drugs, it's hard for me to buy him as a manly FBI dude and family man. For now, this show is a 2-star (out of 5) thing. It might get better, but I'm not sure I'll be around to watch it evolve.

CATEGORY: GENERAL: New blog news

2006-08-21T11:53:00.000-05:00

Hey, y'all. I ran into some glitches and problems with the old blog, so here is a brand-spanking new one! Enjoyez-vous!