For the food and science geek crowd

Tara sent me this link referring to the above product. This is such an out of left field name, yet so perfect. I remember Avogadro from high school chemistry and my engineering classes in college.

Too bad I don't like guac.

No karma tonight at all

So Tara and I are trying to figure out where to eat tonight. Eventually she IM's me via Yahoo (I was in the living room, she was in the bedroom) suggesting Stacy's Smokehouse. It's about 8pm and I thought they close at 9pm. So I get my outside clothes on and go and tell her we probably need to hurry. She wasn't worried, because the New Times review said they are open until 11pm on Sat. Cool.

So we get there at about 8:45pm and there's not a soul or car anywhere near Stacy's. Parking lot is empty, all the lights are off, and all we need were some tumbleweeds to pound the point into our heads. It seemed very odd they'd be closed on a Saturday, especially since only a few days ago they got a rave review in the AZ Republic. So I drive west down Indian School while we ponder our options. I suggest Chompie's in the PV mall, since we've been there well after 9pm before. Tara agrees and we head up.

We arrive at 9:06pm to watch someone locking the doors below the ironically flashing neon "OPEN" sign. The hours on the window confirm they now close at 9pm. So now we're starved and 0-2. I wonder if PV mall made them standardize their house to coincide with mall hours or if they have shorter hours during the summer months. Either way, we're screwed and I'm starting to feel like I'm back home in backwoods Maine again where you can't eat out after the sun sets.

Eventually we end up at CPK in Desert Ridge. They are open till 11pm. I had a half Miso Salad and Tara had a penne pasta dish. We both can't wait until she gets a full-time job again so we could go to the places we really like that are open past 9, like Hana or Benihana (no relation). Or, as our dinner rambling suggested, Capital Grill, Binkley's, Kai...

My other can't wait movie this summer...

I love the post-80s, noirish Batman ushered in by Frank Miller's "The Dark Knight Returns". The early 90s B:TAS had a great visual look (prior to it's WB-ization) and it actually introduced future villains into it's continuity prior to their turn to evil. "Almost Got Him" is one of my favorite episodes.

I loved "Batman Begins". Now comes the first review of "The Dark Knight" from Rolling Stone.

Iron Man (awesome), Wall*E, and TDK.

It's turning out to be a great summer.

Grilled Marinated Chicken breast (and a bit)

I few days ago I stumbled across some food videos on AZcentral.com's Dining area. One of them showed how to make a simple vinaigrette marinade. Apparently vinaigrette's are always a 3:1 ratio of oil to vinegar, plus whatever herbs and spices. Their recipe was for balsamic, oil, garlic, dried thyme and dried basil. Put them all into a blender and mix well. Here is what I used:

1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup olive oil
1 cup vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1 1/2 teaspoons bottled minced garlic (our fresh garlic wasn't so much anymore)

Put all the ingredients into a blender and blend well. I meant to marinate two chicken breasts, but the ones I took out of the freezer ended up being a full-sized boneless breast and one that was barely a tender. I tossed them into a Ziploc and poured enough marinade over them to cover. I still have enough leftover marinade for a second run once the other breasts thaw. I let them soak for about six hours. The video only marinated for 30 minutes, but I like to do it longer.

I fired up the grill, oiled the grate, and put the chicken on. The "tender" cooked in about 7 or so minutes. I took it off and it we tried it. It was really good. The larger piece took about 12-15 min. It ended up very moist and good flavor. Tara made some orzo to go with it. I'll probably try it again tomorrow night (if Tara doesn't mind and the chicken is thawed) or Thursday.

Sneaky Buggers

During my post-gym F&E visit, I was nearly run-down by one of their employees when he grabbed a cart and bee-lined towards their front meat cooler. I did a quick scan and didn't see any 1/2 price stickers, so I started to look at their main meat cooler. As I did, I noticed him rummaging around in the front cooler. In the far back, under a few other packages, he took a 1/2 priced 12-pack of hamburgers. I jokingly commented that they stash the good ones. He then grabbed a SECOND one from back there and said he had been "saving" it for a coworker, but I could have that one. So I got 3lbs of burgers for only $4.51. Not too bad. Tara wrapped them and stashed them in our freezer for future use. :)

Wall*E opens Friday. I can't wait.

I love most of Pixar's movies. While Cars and A Bug's Life are technically (given their respective releases) impressive, their stories didn't enthrall me. The Incredibles is probably my favorite, with the Toy Stories, Monsters Inc, Finding Nemo, and Ratatouille close behind. For kids, you can't go wrong with any of them. My nephews love Cars.

I always look forward to the new Pixar movie. They are masters at the art of trailers. They frequently create exclusive footage for them, like The Incredibles' teaser with Mr Incredible hilariously and heroically strugging with his belt buckle. The Wall*E trailers have done a great job of slowly building up Wall*E's personality first and then expanding the movie's perceived world from Earth to a whole galaxy. Yet I still don't feel like I've seen the whole movie from the trailers, which is frequently the case with most other films.

We probably won't see it opening weekend. I shudder to imagine the crowds of screaming kids who are going to mob the theaters. We'll probably do a late show July 4th weekend or something. The little kid/sci-fi geek/movie buff in me are all chomping at the bit.

Plus Tara's getting sick of me giggling every time I see a clip or hear his name. :)

"As God as my witness, I thought turkeys could fly."

Somehow I only found out today that Bill Dial died earlier this month. Not a name I'd know, except he wrote one of funniest episodes of "WKRP in Cincinnati", "Turkeys Away". TV was pretty desolate in the late 70s, but WKRP was and is one of my favorite TV shows ever. WGN recently ran a slew of episodes on their 70's Night on Sundays, and that was one of the eps. From Les's Hindenburg-inspired narration to Mr. Carlson and Herb battered and covered in feathers, it's a classic. Unfortunately all the great music in the show has been replaced on the DVD sets with generic music, otherwise I'd have them in my collection.

Bill Dial also was involved with "Simon and Simon" and various Star Trek series. Still, I always laugh to myself (usually out loud) when I think about "Turkeys Away".