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.