International Night

Hey! Guess what? Its my 50th post! And the topic for the post this evening? SUSHI! (yummy yummy!)

A while back some friends of ours suggested we have International Nights. With the idea of us homecooking an entire ethnic meal, then enjoying it together. The first was a French night, where I learned of the delights of the cheese course. Last week we did a Japanese iteration. So Superwoman and I did the cooking.

At this point I would normally bore you to death with an in depth dissection of the entire meal. But due to the fact we were cooking for 6 adults and 5 kids. I was concentrating on moving the food, and not getting pictures of each dish.

I thought we had a nice menu, which spanned many of our favorite Japanese dishes. To lead things off, we served gyoza, which is one of Superwoman's favorites. Gyoza (often called potstickers) originated in China and hopped the pond to become popular in Japan. (The gyoza is located on the far left of the table)

Next up, Soba soup with tempura vegetables. Soba noodles are similar to angel hair pasta. Deep fried vegetables (that's right Japanese food is yummy) add a lot of depth and flavor to the soup.

Ton-Katsu is essentially a deep fried pork chop. (Japanse food is delicious!) First the pork is pounded out to tenderize it, then it is seasoned with a rub. After that the process is very similar to cooking fried chicken, a flour dredge, an egg wash and then into the Panko. Panko is Japanese bread crumbs. (The Ton-Katsu is on the lower left end of the table)

Sushi (located on the plate on the bottom right of the table) was served throughout the meal, as fast as I could get it out. I did a few different types of rolls, the favorite of the night was the Bacon, Avocado and Tomato roll. (and you thought you didn't like sushi) Well this post is already well too long so I'll wrap this up. (ha ha)

Desert was banana's tempura, which is similar to banana's foster in a few ways, and ginger flavored ice cream. The next international night we will be doing Indian food. I can't wait for curry!

So much for not boring you with the details. I have a hard time stopping once I get on a roll. (ha ha another sushi pun)

Magic Comics

Like Magic? Like Comics? If you do, you can get some free Magic Comics here and here. You can download them if you want, which I did cause I'm 71% nerd.

These comics were released as part of a promotion for Magic's new expansion Time Spiral. So far everything looks really sharp. I can't wait to waste more money on cool looking pieces of card-stock.

Nerd Level

I'm nerdier than 71% of people that have taken the test! (Don't worry I still know how to shower)

Tea Party

I've watched this video enough for it to merit its own post.

BLT's

From a culinary standpoint, I love summer, especially late summer when the gardens come on. Tonight we had great beafsteak tomato, perfect for a BLT. We didn't have any lettuce, but the bacon and tomato sandwiches were divine. I love summer food. If I could just get rid of my stinkin' allergies it would be my favorite season.

Samsung TV

After shopping around, we came to the same conclusion as Dadguy and Bon. Samsung makes a good Television. We ended up getting the 30 inch widescreen model from the SlimFit line. It has great picture. Decent sound for a TV (which I don't use) but it does have sound outputs to pipe the sound to a stereo (which I do use), this is a very nice addition. Piping sound of the TV eliminates the need for a receiver or some other unitasker to split the sound out to the stereo. (and less cables cheer!) The back of the TV is a geeks dream. Two sets of componet inputs, two HDMI inputs, two RCA inputs, USB input, S-video input and RCA (video and sound) out!

I sprung for a progressive DVD player at the same time. While this won't take advantage of the HD resolutions like a Blue Ray or HDDVD will, it will support 480p which is noticeably nicer than 480i. Also BlueRay and HDDVD are kinda in a VHS vs. Betamax type of war. Who wants to be stuck with a bunch of movies in the losing format? (I hope BlueRay loses)

The kids like the new TV to. Its a lot easier for Superwoman to just flip it on for them, than waiting for the computer to start, opening the tuner application and dealing with whatever windows wants to come up with.

Please Download this Song

I've been a fan of Weird Al since I was 14.(some people say that I'm still there) Anyway, Weird Al has a new album coming out. On it is, "Don't Download This Song", so of course he is offering free downloads of the song from his myspace page. Its the best entry into the Downloading-Music-Debate that I've heard (and laughed at) so far. Check it out.

Edit: Watch the video of the RIAA chasing down a little kid here.

USB Sushi

Here are some cool little Sushi USB thumb drives. Unfortunately these little suckers run about twice the price as a normal thumb drive (comparing storage only) Check out some other wacky little drives in this slideshow.

Television

We had an unexpected windfall. While pretty much all the money will be slapped into savings for a house. Superwoman and I are going to allot a portion of it to replace 36 inch monitor that went out a year ago. We are looking for a CRT for price, lack of burn in, wide viewing angle and product lifetime. We would like to go HD, but we aren't sure if we want to spend that much. ( I hate being an adult) I liked watching DVD's in progressive, but I don't know if I want to shell out the cash.

Thoughts?

Shaolin Soccer

It's kinda cheesy. It's kinda clichè. It's really Kung Fu. It's suprisingly fun. I really enjoyed it. It's Shaolin Soccer.

(I had originally embedded this off of Quicktime's Website, so you could see the trailer within the blog. I'm not sure if they really want us to do this. Does anyone know "the law" on this? I was tooling around on apples movie trailer site, but couldn't find anything.)

DDR:Sparsomix

I mentioned in my first post that I liked playing Dance Dance Revolution. (the rest of the family likes it too) We have been playing DDR:Ultramix, the first in the series for the X-Box, for about 2 years. If DDR:Ultramix has a flaw, it is that there aren't many songs that cater to beginners (and toddlers). So Friday I decided to get DDR:Ultramix2 or DDR:Ultramix3, which have some great beginner friendly modes.

You'd think finding a popular X-box game would be as easy as 2 + 2. (After all I think I saw Progect Gotham Racing 2 at Big Lots.) And where I'm looking for any one of the two sequels you'd think I'd be able to find a copy right way. Not so. I had to go to eleven, yes thats right, 11 stores to find a copy. Over 2 1/2 hours I went to Marios, EB Games, Wal-Mart -shudder-, Game Stop, K-mart, Shopko, Game Crazy, Circuit City, Best Buy, Barnes & Noble (ok ok, I didn't really expect to find it here, its my favorite bookstore and I can never resist going in if I have an excuse) and FYE. Talk about sparse. Everywhere I went I got the same story. "We get 1 or 2 copies of DDR every 2 weeks or so and they sell within 1 or 2 days. We could sell a lot more if they would just send them." I dunno, maybe Konami making enough on their PS2 products that they don't care about the X-box.


Despite the shopping experience. (since when is that fun anyways?) I ended up finding DDR:Ultramix 3. DDR:U3 is the first in the X-box series to include a freestyle mode. Freestyle mode lets you dance however you please, and judges you on your originality, accuracy and timing. The kids love this mode. (As Cookie Monster shows us in the picture) They get to boogie, and gyrate in ways that only kids can, and the game rewards them for it. NICE! DDR:U3 has more music, more gameplay modes, and is more fun than the first. And I got the last retail copy in about 100 miles!

OUTRAGE!

As posted on DadGuy's blog, this is outrageous!

My blood is boiling in anger right now. Anger can be good because it promotes action. The nice thing about America, is that you can make your opinions known. Thats what I plan on doing.

1. I'm writing and calling Debra Kanof to let her know what an IDIOT she is. That is some serious mixed up morality she has going on there. You can find her contact information here.


2. I'm writing to the White House to request pardons for these good men (they have already been convicted, they have a sentencing hearing on Tuesday.) To actually request a pardon from the US Department of Justice (who then arrange and send the requests to the White House) you must be the Accused, or representing the Accused. So I guess the only thing that we can do is write to W and request that he be proactive in granting clemency to these men.

I'm Never Sirius.

I'm a big Harry Potter fan, so this personality test/meme is right up my alley.


Harry Potter Personality Quiz by Pirate Monkeys Inc.

R&R makes me tense

So I've mentioned I think Rachael Ray has about ten shows too many over on the Food Network. I don't hate her, but I'm sick of seeing her. Obviously I'm not the only one, as this hardly scientific poll shows us. (at the time I took it she was ahead with 25% of the vote)

Word is she has a talk show that will be airing this fall. Hopefully this will put a big enough hit on her schedule that she'll have to drop about 5 of her Food Network shows. But, knowing her, she'll drink about 6 more pots of coffee a day, and add another show there too. :P I'm so sick of her. I've got an idea, howaboutz the Food Network puts a few shows about cooking during primetime? Instead travelling and shopping with the-over-caffinated-gidget-lady.

Advent Children

Advent Children is a movie that builds on the storyline from Final Fantasy VII. Final Fantasy VII is one the best RPG's ever. FFVII had a lot of great gameplay elements, but what made it really stand out to me is the story.

Like the game that preceded it, Advent Children has a wonderful storyline. The movie starts up quickly with no recap, so I would recommend catching up on the FFVII storyline. Included on the DVD is a video recap of the story which is very entertaining, but I would read a more in depth recap as well such as this recap. The movie is very Japanese (which means I like it), and it's only English language support is subtitles, which may turn some people off. Advent Children also pulls off stunning, and entertaining, stylized action (matrixy/Jon-woo/jet-li style of action, but AV children has its own flavor) which a lot of movies are doing nowadays and just not pulling off. (cough cough) Ultraviolet-the-worst-movie-I've-ever-seen (cough cough) Its a great movie, not for anyone that dislikes foreign films, everyone else will be happy they saw it.

Another exiting piece of news for FFVII fans. Dirge of Cerberus came out today! I'm now debating buying a PS2 just to play this game. :) (ok so I would like FFX and FFX:2 as well)

Heather wins Hell's Kitchen

Heather won Hell's Kitchen. Heather deserved it.

Congrats Heather! If I could afford it I would eat at your restaurant! If you cut out the ciggys you could have a palette as nice as Virginia's.

In the end it was the leadership that she displayed that won her the competition. (IMHO) She picked the people I would have picked if I were in her shoes. I also think all her experience as a line and a sous chef earned her the people/leadership skills in kitchen. Well it was a good show, I am exited for the next season.

But thats all old news now, I got to go cause now I'm recording Good Eats.

Hell's Kitchen

I love cooking shows, especially competition shows. (although if I see one more sugar showpiece on the Food Network I'm going to throw up)

Anyway I'm about 3/4 of an hour into the finale. Virginia just won the challenge, I hope she wins it all. I don't care much for Heather. I love the show, I hate the profanity, but it must be a good show to make me actually turn the TV to one of the networks (away from my precious cable) during primetime. Although if Rachael Ray gets herself yet another show on the Food Network it may happen more often. I don't need anymore dumb travel tips. (Yuck-O)

Another post coming when I know who wins.

Edit - 1 hour through the show. Its not looking good for Virginia she picked the exact wrong team and then she isn't managing it well. She definately shouldn't have picked Kieth (but she didn't have the benifit of seeing all of the things Keith said to slam on her during the closed room interviews) Keith is going to work against her pretty much no matter what she does. I hate to admit it, but the way she was trying handle the team was less than motivating. I wouldn't be motivated if I was on her team :(.

Civilization IV

You gotta love gateway drugs! Superwoman was downloading shareware for Cookie Monster to play. She ran into Virtual Villagers, Cookie Monster hates it, but it kinda got superwoman's attention. Even though the game has glaring problems Superwoman couldn't stop playing it. She liked the aspects of building up a community. But she hated how dumb the 'villagers' were. The game has a Black and White feel to it. But like Black and White, the feature that is supposed to 'make' the game, breaks it instead. Those that have played Black and White, know how much of a pain pet training could be. Imagine trying to train the whole village! So Superwoman got a little frustrated, and decided to give another game a try.

I've spent many of sleepless nights playing Civilization IV, stumbling through the next day, bleary eyed, only to stay up all night to play again. Superwoman has been patient through all my gaming all nighters. (I started to list all the games I've stayed up all night playing, but the list got way too long) But of all those games, there are two that I've gone back to over and over(all-nighters and all): Morrowind (a subject for another post, or four) and the Civilization Series. So when she was looking for better God game. She decided to give my favorite a try.

It was awesome to come home from work on Wednesday and see my wife exp-eriencing some of my favorite Civ-periences for the first time. The smile the broke across her face when she built the Statue of Liberty is impossible to forget. It personifies so many of my experiences playing the game. As the first non-bejeweled-type game of mine that Superwoman has picked up. I couldn't have planned it better. Civ 4, has everything: awesome graphics, great music, streamlined interface and of course great gameplay. I can't wait to play multi player civ with her. (With a mutual protection pact of course).

Zen Sushi

I was Sushi Surfing and ran across this article, Zen Sushi. This article was really intriguing to me. The style of sushi that Megumi serves is the same style I go for when I prepare sushi, cooked fish and ingredients found in home cooking. I also try to gear the sushi I prepare to a more american audience by using: bacon, beef, chicken and sometimes replacing the nori with lettuce. It was nice to see that I wasn't off in left field with my improvised/fusion style of sushi making, and that japanese transplants offer some very similar styles.

Salmon Kebob

I've making a lot of sushi lately and I have started making my own recipes. Tonight I made up my first non-sushi recipe, Salmon Kebobs. (As seen before cooking, to the right)

I made up my own marinade recipe. It had a Coca Cola base, with Jalapeno and other spices and aromatics in it. It turned out pretty well, (I was afraid I was going to ruin the salmon) but it was a little understated. Next time I make it I have a few things in mind to give the salmon a little more punch.

I also put bacon on the kebob which really livened the salmon and vegetables up! I added a rice ball with chow mien noodles (those are sticking out sides for effect), and we had grilled squash and zucchini from the garden. I think that it turned out really well. I give myself 3 1/2 stars!

Time Spiral

There was some news today on the upcoming Magic set, Time Spiral. Wizards released the art of four out of five of the new booster packs. They also announced the date of the Pre-Release, September 23, 2006. I'll be leaving room on my calendar.


The new sets sounds like it will be very fun. The last block of cards, Ravnica, was stellar. I'm hoping that Time Spiral will be in the same class. I hope you enjoy the picture of (what looks like) the angel. (one of my favorite creature types in the game)

I survived the MS150

June 24-25th was the MS150 for the local chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. It was super hot (96 - 98 degrees on both days)and I pulled a the muscle that runs along the right side of my right knee, but I made it! Despite the hardships a lot of good things came out of my ride.

• I raised (people donated) over $600 to a good cause
  
• Our team (of four, myself, two co-workers and a spouse of a co-worker)raised over $2000
  
• My blood pressure is the lowest its been in 5 years
  
• Saved hundreds of dollars in gas by using bike to commute (I hate paying $3.00 a gallon)

Other than my knee hurting for a couple of weeks after, I had a really good time. I was going to do another tour, ULCER, but due to a recent surgery I'm not in any kind of shape for it :P. There is always next year.

I'm a crappy Blogger.

I haven't posted in MONTHS. I suck.
(Its WoW's fault, I am in no way responsible for my own laziness and or addictions.)

Maybe I'll do a recap log of my activities for the past few months but I really want to share an article I found today.

How to write a good blog post. I haven't been so good at following these particular rules, but I have noticed a lot of blogs are. Especially the blogs that I seem to enjoy. I don't know that I'll ever be able to keep all my posts below 250 words. Heck, if I get going on sushi or M:TG in RL you can't get me to shut up, why should it be any different in my blog? :P

I found this article pretty insightful. Look forward to my future posts where I'm going the rules a shot. (Although I'm sure I'm going to break the 250 word one from time to time.)