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| Saturday, December 26th, 2009 |
xpmorgan
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1:50p |
Christmas Dinner in Irvine
contributions of Chef Jackass: • Leg of Lamb roasted to medium rare, garlic infused and herb encrusted after being rubbed with homemade curry powder • Lobster tails with clarified butter sauce contributions of ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) sophonax: • dill-cottage cheese bread • chewy chocolate cookies yes, we rule. and so does the weather – it was 67° and we spent most of our Christmas day wandering on the beach and the jetty at Corona del Mar. Current Mood:  pleased |
kangarau
|
6:10a |
Cooking - and Spouse Helped!/Albany?
Last night I made dinner, greatly overestimating the servings needed. I thought there'd be nine and a third guests (including two-year-old Sammy), when, in fact, only Spouse and his parents were home. As Spouse noted in his blog, Aunt Mary decided not to come in protest (and to punish us heathens) because of what we'd done with her nativity figurines, posing them in X-rated acts. As much as I wish there were a God and heaven, I don't believe in either, and our proud atheism often causes trouble with his devout mom and aunt. But, back to dinner. . . So, I made coq au vin using fourteen pounds (!!) of chicken. The prep work took at least three hours longer than usual, even with my sous chef's help, as each chicken has to be cut into pieces, trimmed, partly skinned (to reduce the fat content of this already-fatty dish), seasoned, floured and browned in rendered bacon fat, and then the frying has to be done in small batches. Spouse is scarily inept when it comes to using large sharp knives, even after I demonstrated proper technique, but he gets an A- for effort! I was equally inept with the flambe - and nearly burned the kitchen down - when I added two cups of brandy and lit it over a too-high flame. Honestly, I came this close to scorching my face off when the flames shot up about three feet from the pot. I immediately covered the pot with the heavy glass lid, and Spouse said, "Well, now, you've completely extinguished the flame; don't think you wanted to do that." "Really?" I said. "Well, sure, you've just cut off all the oxygen." "Oh." Turns out Spouse was 100% wrong (or the lid not tight-fitting enough). When I took the lid off a minute or so later, the flames shot up again. And once again, I just missed getting scorched. Scary!! I then added two whole bottles of pinot noir, tons of fresh herbs and an entire bulb of fresh garlic. Two changes I made to accommodate the onion-loathing, vegephobic Raus was to omit the onions and mushrooms completely. As a result - and to my disappointment - this made the dish unrecognizable as coq au vin. Ah well. . .Still tasty, but not as good. I am still deciding whether to go to Albany. OP has offered to drive me there if I make it up to his place - and this would make for a fun trip, but that's still a lot of time in the car. I'm not concerned about OP's driving skills, but my driving, though much-improved, still makes me nervous. Since that really bad accident coming back from the Maine tourney (wherein I totaled my fairly new Hyundai, and broke my finger), I haven't taken any trip longer than an hour by myself. Albany would mean at least six hours' driving roundtrip, just to get to OP's place. Feel like I'd be rolling the dice no matter how careful I was. I know this may be shocking to some, but I Am a Bad Driver. BUT 2010 seems like a milestone new year, and it would be fun to hoot an' holler with everyone. . .so, maybe. Current Mood: insomniac |
greatscott66
|
12:03a |
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| Friday, December 25th, 2009 |
wisemonkey
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4:32p |
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saganist
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12:48p |
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meezerman
|
12:35p |
My best play from Causeway
Despite a mediocre Causeway tournament, I still managed to play some exciting games and make some great plays. This was my favorite. Quackle chokes on it: ask Championship player during the game and it doesn't even come up, but in the full game report it's listed as the best play, winning 100% of the time, which is wrong also. Sadly, there is, to use chess lingo, a "cook." One of the reasons I thought my play was better than similar plays turns out not to matter, although the winning play on the next turn is a damn tough find, and far worse spread-wise anyway, so my play is still best. For OWL-land readers, you need to know only 2 # words to fully analyze the position. I've listed them after the cut so Collins players can try their hand at it without any help. Finally, Naween (probably) did not miss a bingo when he played BARD--Quackle decided to fill out the rest of his rack for him as it's wont to do on occasion. Edited to actually have the link: http://cross-tables.com/annotated.php?u=5257#22( Read more... ) |
anendlessnight
|
1:11p |
I need recommendations for good iPod touch apps. Anyone? Bueller? |
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gijoel666
|
2:29a |
Pope knocked down by woman at Christmas Eve Mass
I realize the following bemusement will be offensive to some readers, but those folks should know they're gonna see something like this from me every once in a while as soon as they put me on their "friends" list, and should also know their offense is not going to concern me. I didn't purposely choose to spoil anyone's birthday commemoration, it's just a coincidence that the event provoking comment happened the same day. (Seems like LJ should also allow creation of an "adversaries" list that you have as much interest in monitoring as your friends.) So anyway, let me get this straight: the woman who knocks the Pope down is automatically labeled as deranged, (according to quotes in news articles from sources close to the incident), for her action, but... ... the guy she knocks down is a former member of the Nazi party, (note coincidental anagram of manger to German), and currently leads what, about a third or more? of the world's population in believing that a human being many of us can agree was probably likable, and wiser than average for his time, also happened to be the progeny of an all-powerful, extra-human, sentient, but probably not animal, entity which has never been and cannot be proven to exist; and by virtue of his alleged genealogy, said human was also endowed with some supernatural abilities or characteristics himself; and that as a result of that human's life, we need to recite Latin verses and burn incense and candles in remembrance, at least partly because the unprovable entity would be upset or disrespected if we don't; and no one, (well, no one but me and a few other non-followers), would have the nerve to automatically label the Pope (not to mention his whole organization) deranged as well? Well, FWIW, Happy Birthday dead guy, and Sam Rosin. I'm not allowing any comments on this post, I don't need to be agreed with any more than I need people to try to start arguments, and what most of you would have to say about it would not be news to me any more than this post should be news to you. |
greatscott66
|
12:06a |
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| Thursday, December 24th, 2009 |
olaugh
|
5:34p |
nines
RESERPINE = an alkaloid obtained from the roots of RAUWOLFIA (the initial R comes from rauwolfia) MAVOURNIN = "my darling" (also MAVOURNEEN) EMUNCTORY = a cleansing organ or canal (this and EMUNGE# v come from the Latin word for nose-blowin') PREBENDAL = pertaining to a PREBEND (a clergyman's stipend or pension, not pre-bend as I had always assumed, also PREBENDARY n) BIRTHWORT = a shrub believed to aid in childbirth DOLABRATE = pickaxe-shaped (also DOLABRIFORM#) SAPONATED = combined or treated with soap SUBCHASER = http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Submarine_chaserUPSADAISY interj (also UPADAISY#) nice blanagram of PADUASOYS PASODOBLE = http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pasodoble (literally "double-step") REDIVIVUS = come back to life; revived. (always used after the noun, e.g. Plato redivivus) |
satireblank
|
4:03p |
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| Friday, December 25th, 2009 | |
magratheazaphod
|
12:16a |
lolol
so, I told myself I would stop playing collins speed games when I lost so I could write my grad school apps...unfortunately, I've won like 15 in a row! against low ratings, but still, huh? merry christmas from saigon! |
| Wednesday, December 23rd, 2009 |
cesarsalad
|
10:07p |
just to be clear...
i didn't go to club today because my sister came to visit us earlier in the morning (i haven't seen her for like a year) and not because i'm sitting on my club lead! as it is, it's not guaranteed yet, but i'll try my best to make it to the final club session on Dec 30 barring any last minute travel... |
redessence
|
9:34p |
Part 1 of My Scrabble Year (in pictures & short blurbs)
 Cannon Beach, OR
January 1st - 3rd, 2009 On the left is a shot of nigelbo, shirrach, wallydraigle, myself, wantonhalo and bbstenniz walking toward Haystack Rock, a landmark of Cannon Beach. Technically this event started in the last several days of 2008, but for argument's sake it started on January 1st. For New Year's, all of us were staying in a cabin that nigelbo's stepdad owns. Our skilled photog j_is_worth8 came out to visit us for a few days. She even got a video of me carrying wantonhalo out to the frigid Pacific Ocean and dropping him in! Judy makes amazing food too, and we were certainly thankful to her for lending us her culinary skills while she was visiting.  We went over our intended Scrabble quota, despite our intention for this trip to be almost Scrabble free, playing regular Scrabble, team Scrabble, phoniez and anagrams throughout the week. We did manage at least one day where no form of Scrabble was played. Highlights of the trip included a day trip down to the Tillamook Cheese factory in Tillamook, Oregon (we had 6 people crammed into a vehicle and almost ran out of gas on the way!), team Pictionary and the discovery of an abundance of NANG by the ocean shore. Question #1
Just what is it that we discovered when we discovered NANG? (hint: after she visited the Galapagos, srockhop told us that there was "white NANG everywhere.")  Vancouver, British ColumbiaMarch 7th - 8th, 2009The Vancouver tournament is one of my favourites of the year, since it falls on the weekend after my birthday. A vast array of Scrabblers came from afar, including Michael Perl (all the way from Upstate New York, he is the other half of the awesomeness that is the picture on the left), bbstenniz, sophonax and xpmorgan. On the Friday before the tournament, locals frayed_yak & nagekinoki took us all to Granville Island to get some of the best foodz in the Greater Vancouver area. Perl experienced the wonder of the Nanaimo Bar for the first time in his life, and Conrad drank some of Granville Island's best brew legally (he's of age up here in BC). Saturday night we went to Banana Leaf, a local Malaysian restaurant, to celebrate my birthday (the 3rd) and Dion Saldanha's birthday (the 5th). Nadja Rence, marqueous, cesarsalad, dillyroo, spherulitic and srockhop joined in on the fun as well. It's a yearly tradition now! Question #2What different objects was Michael Perl constantly laughing at and taking pictures of while we drove around Richmond? (hint: they were just about always perceived as double entendres) |
| Thursday, December 24th, 2009 |
greatscott66
|
12:06a |
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| Wednesday, December 23rd, 2009 |
jigsawn
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11:51p |
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pilgrim_eye
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10:03p |
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verbophage
|
7:45p |
The tree is standing now. It fell over twice earlier today... nobody in the room the first time. Nothing on it yet, and nothing spatially under (yet) either, so lucky break there. I have suggested a brick or two to weigh down the stand. But that would be a lot of dust. Current Mood:  nervousCurrent Music: beets being peeled |
millcake16
|
2:21p |
Albany matchups
According to cross-tables, nobody has winning percentage better than 60% against the rest of the division 1 field. That's not all that surprising, considering how many really good players are attending. Just for fun, I added Dave Wiegand's name to see his winning percentage against that field, and was quite surprised at where he ranked. I think it says a lot about how much tougher it is to play tournaments in the northeast. Not that there aren't premier players elsewhere, but the lower end of division 1 in tournaments like Albany are noticeably deeper than other parts of the country. Interesting stuff. |
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cuzzakenji
|
8:51a |
sleep deprivation + olskool cartoons...
da shit don't mix...i don't NEED nunna dat funky stuff (da kind u smoke)... Paul Lynde (Uncle Arthur from BEWITCHED) did da voice of da HOODED CLAW in da PERILS OF PENELOPE PITSTOP. da ANTHILL MOB wuzz 7 lil muhfuckas sumpn like da dwarfs or some shit. da leader, CLYDE, kicked it like MOE of da 3 stooges--da muhfucka wuzz FUNNY (i MUST b TIRED cuz i'm STILL laffin at sumpn he said--some shit i'ma use da NEXT ime somebody post a ridiculously easy position. even if dey see THIS, dey probly aint gonna think iss funny...). da GOOFY one's laff remind me of a scrabbler's giggle i'd b ashamed 2 admit i actually RECENTLY heard (anybody else who heard it izz equally sick as i am). da CARTOON NETWORK would b ds shit if dey scooped up BUGS BUNNY... |
xpmorgan
|
12:19a |
file under "best girlfriend ever"
for christmas, sophonax gave me beer. nice beer. she also gave me beer glasses, and a book about the history of beer. seriously, thats like the best girlfriend ever right there. i gave her a baking book and a pizza stone. we must further these bakings of hers. seriously, when she nails down making pizzas, its gonna be the most fuckin awesome thing ever. and now its time for 2 weeks in Newport Beach. damn, this just might be the best xmas on record. Current Mood:  beer! beer! beer! beer! beer!Current Music: the beer song |
anendlessnight
|
1:53a |
So tired. Can't sleep. Gotta try again. Winter Storm Warning. 12-20 inches of snow, maybe more. Merry Christmas. New job in two weeks. Hydrofluoric and perchloric acids. One eats bones, the other leads to rocket fuel. Should be fun. XKCD is God, not Alanis Morissette. Still in love with Florence + the Machine. Bihlmeyer is the reason I no longer read CGP. |
| Tuesday, December 22nd, 2009 |
j_is_worth8
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10:24p |
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j_is_worth8
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9:30p |
All Wet
I went lap swimming today for the first time in over a year ... felt really good to be back in the pool. One of the great perks of my job is access to the Camas Center which is just across the parking lot from the Tribal Headquarters. It is very unexpected to find a fitness center of this size and with these amenities out in the middle of nowhere.The facility measures up to any health club I have ever visited. The lap pool is 25 meters, four lanes. And there are two recreational pools for different aged kids so the adults don't have to share the pool with the kids. The locker rooms have both saunas and steam rooms and are very attractively tiled and outfitted, including hair dryers. All for $28/month! This is a blog from the opening with some photos: http://northwesthistory.blogspot.com/2008/02/at-kalispel-health-center-grand-opening.html |
quinquennia
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9:44p |
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