The Truth About New Orleans

If your only source of information regarding the City of New Orleans is CNN you most likely believe the place remains in shambles.

Step #1 – Stop listening to this douchebag:

A handsome fellow to be sure, but he’s full of shit and he and the network he works for need the current narrative to continue…at least until the next epic tale of misery on which he can breathlessly emote....with killer ratings.

Man Can Cook #3 - Italian Porchetta

Many "food blogs" feature serious photography and insight from professionals. I'm neither a photographer or professional chef. I'm just a guy who likes to cook and likes to share what Ive learned with others. All of my food photos are simply taken with my iPhone using available light in my kitchen. So you are seeing exactly what comes out of my kitchen as opposed to lush, artfully composed pictures. The point is that I want to show you what you can do not what experienced pro's can do. Get in your kitchen and cook. It's better for you and for your family in terms of your health and time spent together. 

I love pork. Pig is a miracle beast that gives us more of the things I love to eat than any other animal. Bacon, pancetta, guanciale, lardo are among the myriad of cured forms of the blessed pig. Ribs and pulled pork are among my favorites from my smoker. Then of course there is the king of porcine preparations, the Kalua Pig from a Hawaiian Imu (for another blog entry). In my ongoing pursuit of pig pickin perfection I decided to make Porchetta (pronounced “porketta”) for this years Christmas dinner.

Porchetta has it’s roots in central Italy near Rome. In its most traditional preparation it is a completely de-boned whole young pig that is heavily salted, stuffed with various herbs, garlic, fennel etc then trussed and slow roasted to perfection.

Traditional Porchetta Preparation:

Man Can Cook #2 - Risotto

Many "food blogs" feature serious photography and insight from professionals. I'm neither a photographer or professional chef. I'm just a guy who likes to cook and likes to share what Ive learned with others. All of my food photos are simply taken with my iPhone using available light in my kitchen. So you are seeing exactly what comes out of my kitchen as opposed to lush, artfully composed pictures. The point is that I want to show you what you can do not what experienced pro's can do. Get in your kitchen and cook. It's better for you and for your family in terms of your health and time spent together.

Risotto is awesome. Almost everyone likes it. I mean when was the last time you were in a restaurant where risotto appeared on the menu and someone at your table didn’t react with a, “Ooooh, risotto!” The thing is, in a restaurant it’s often disappointing if you’ve had a good home made version.

It’s usually not the restaurant’s fault. It’s not really a dish that is conducive to that environment because it takes too long to make an individual batch. In most restaurants they prepare a big batch to the point of being “almost done” and it sits…getting all gooey and starchy until you place your order. Then they toss a serving worth into a pan with bit more stock, some butter and parm and finish it before they serve it too you. The flavors will be good, but the consistency will be…meh…because the rice is often overcooked and glutenous.

So if you want REALLY good risotto you have to make it yourself. It isn’t hard, but it takes the right ingredients and a specific technique along with time and attention to get right. Below is my method for a basic risotto bianco with a couple of suggestions for tweaks to make it work with other main dishes. Give it a try…I think you’ll like it.

25 Hours of Thunderhill or; How I learned that I'm getting too old for this stuff.

The last and longest sports car race of the year occurs the first week in December in Northern California. The North American Autosport Association hosts the 25 Hours of Thunderhill each year at Thunderhill Raceway in Willows, CA.

I’ve participated in this race in various capacities for the last four years. This year, I had the good fortune to work with arguably this races most successful participant, MER Racing.

MER is among the finest Mazda Motorsports teams in the country. They have the “Zoom-Zoom” thing down to a science with successful campaigns in the SCCA Pro Racing MX-5 Cup, SCCA World Challenge, SCCA Spec Miata, Redline Time Attack and of course, multiple class wins and an overall win at the 2008 running of the 25 Hour Race.

Another Reason Why...The Dodgers Suck

If you know me at all, you know I am a fan of the San Francisco Giants. You also know that I freaking hate the Dodgers. I mean real, visceral hate. I’m talking about the kind of hate that makes it hard to associate with those who are fans of the Dodgers.

An example; on my first date with my wife I asked her, “You aren’t a Dodger fan are you?”, I continued, “I can handle dating a Democrat….but not a Dodger fan.” Thankfully, she isn’t a Dodger fan, we are now blissfully married, and I am learning to deal with her voting record.

I am able to respect and enjoy the company of fans of any other baseball team. One of my best friends is a lifelong Phillies fan, and while we enjoy a bit of good-natured jousting when our respective teams play one another, at the end of the day there is one thing we can agree on - The Dodgers Suck.

The Dodgers suck for a lot of reasons…too many to catalog actually. But here is one of the biggest reasons.

Man Can Cook #1 - Home Made Pasta

Many "food blogs" feature serious photography and insight from professionals. I'm neither a photographer or professional chef. I'm just a guy who likes to cook and likes to share what Ive learned with others. All of my food photos are simply taken with my iPhone using available light in my kitchen. So you are seeing exactly what comes out of my kitchen as opposed to lush, artfully composed pictures. The point is that I want to show you what you can do not what experienced pro's can do. Get in your kitchen and cook. It's better for you and for your family in terms of your health and time spent together. That said, the following is my first food post on my "not really a food blog"

Pasta is a truly transformative thing. It is the stuff of a million bachelor meals - simply made with dried, store-bought pasta noodles and sauce from a jar. Don’t scoff, you’ve done it, I’ve done it and when you are trying to go easy on the cash to save up for this weekend’s skiing or mountain biking trip it’s a necessity. Cheap eats.

That same simplicity though can yield absolutely glorious, meals (or courses) borne of a few quality ingredients providing luxurious textures and bright, clean flavors. The first element of making the leap from “cheap” to brilliant yet still inexpensive is home made pasta.

A veterans perspective on the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell

The recent repeal of the US Military “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy has been met equally with applause and with invective which in my opinion is a result of people’s personal biases more than any legitimate concern for military effectiveness. This may come as a shock to some who know me but I am in favor of the repeal of this absurd policy. Set aside the fact that it was put in place during the Clinton Administration and the fact that I oppose darn near every policy move made during that sorry-assed 8 year period, I’d have been opposed to DADT regardless of who sat as POTUS at the time. There may have been a time for a policy such as this, however, that time was not 1993 when it was enacted and it certainly isn’t appropriate today.

Let’s get one thing out of the way right from the start for those who may not have served in the US Military; There are homosexuals serving in the US Military today, and they’ve been there for years. These men and women are serving proudly and valiantly right alongside their hetero counterparts. It shouldn’t come as a shock that a goodly percentage of Military Members are gay. 1/10 civilians are gay, it stands to reason that a similar, but probably somewhat smaller ratio would extend to the Military Ranks despite some arcane and stupid piece of legislature such as 10 U.S.C. § 654 or potential UCMJ implications.

The basis for most people’s arguments in favor of DADT is the specious and spurious argument of “Military Effectiveness”. They cite “potential problems” regarding shower and sleeping facilities or they’ll raise the ominous specter of the potential for gay bashing. The final, and most absurd among the arguments is cohesion and trust within close knit combat units. The frequency with which the aforementioned is proffered by those who have never actually served is all one really needs to know about the validity of the arguments. In my opinion they are simply projecting their own biases on those who are actually serving in the Military.

Canoeing Utica Reservoir, July 2010

Kathy and I took another trip to the Sierra Range with the canoe in July of 2010. Different location this time, Utica Reservoir. It's quite a bit less remote than Hell Hole Reservoir. Hell Hole is probably 35mi off the nearest main road (Wentworth Springs, not even a highway), while Utica is only 6mi off of CA-SR4.

The location of Utica Reservoir

It's also quite a popular destination for kayaking and canoeing. So there were a lot more people to be seen at the put-in both coming and going. I had a little bit of trepidation about the popularity of the place since due to a rough few weeks at work I was seeking some serious alone time with Kathy. As it turned out my fears were unfounded, we hardly saw anyone all weekend. Not much story, but here are a ton of photos.

Canoeing Hell Hole Reservoir – May 2009

 Kathy and I took this trip back in May of 2009. It was our first Canoeing / Camping trip. We had an absolute ball at this very remote lake in the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range.

If this is Hell, count me in.

The Annoying Co-Worker Chronicles - Ep1

The early morning quiet fills my workspace as Silicon Valley is just begining to wake.

The rising sun casts a beam of light intermittently into my office reflected off the windshields of passing cars.

I take another sip of freshly brewed coffee (the good stuff I keep in my desk) and in a moment, my peace is assaulted by the smell of pork products and the din of abrading thighs tightly wrapped in polyester as my bosses 350lb admin waddles to her desk.

In her hand, a bag of McDonalds breakfast gut-bombs for her first of many feedings for the day.

The morning solitude has ended and I'm reminded that we call this "work".


Originally written in March of 2002 and published to an H3 list-serve.