Headlines: Saw these at the NYT, (or did I?):
US Open Blog: US Behind, or Has World Caught Up?
A double-perspective: It works fine except what do we have here?
The World: This War Is Not Like the Others — or Is It?
This post: It is finished, or is it?
Sunday, August 26, 2007
Saturday, August 25, 2007
Vichyssoise and Blanquette de Veau
Vichyssoise! It's supposed to be cold (Holy Batman reference!).
Didn't take a picture of the mise this time but caught the ingredients lounging there all unawares:
It's a nice and simple recipe. If you like onions and potatoes (hash browns anyone?) then you like this soup. It's creamier, it's a bit more work, but it's basically onion and potato soup. Sweat the white part of the leaks, cut the potatoes into cubes, and then dump in with a bunch of chicken stock. Cook until potatoes are mushy, blend, strain, add cream and nutmeg (I forgot the nutmeg), salt to taste, chill. Garnish with some chives and you get:
Nice and easy. Mine came out slightly thick (too many potatoes) but the great thing is you can thin out the soup to the desired texture at the blending stage. Just add more stock! OK, that was easy. On to the Blanquette de Veau.
According to Bourdain, it's all about white. Everything should be white. Well ok, mushrooms won't be white no matter how you cook'em but the sauce should be white so it'll cover parts of the mushrooms. Mise below:
Pearl onions and the button mushrooms will both be covered with water and boiled until the water's gone with a pat (about a tablespoon) of butter. The big onion, celery, carrot, and the bouquet garni (the white cheesecloth package down there) go in to a big pot with all the veal. Shoulder, cut into 2 inch squares. Once the veal is cooked (about 2 hours) and all the scum skimmed off, you'll be left with fragrant veal soup. Yum!
Next step is the sauce: make a roux by blending flour into butter after the butter has been heated and the foam subsided. Don't burn the flour like I did! It'll brown the sauce and then Bourdain will get mad at you and you don't want an obnoxious bastard like him making snarky comments about your roux. He chewed me out RIGHT as my flour hit the butter.
Once the roux is made, mix in a bit of the veal stock slowly to emulsify. Continue mixing and adding in the liquid until it's all blended. Cook until it starts to thicken (not too much!). At that point salt and pepper to taste and add in the pearl onions and mushrooms. Cook for about 5-8 minutes.
When ready to serve, take a bit of the hot sauce and mix an egg yolk and juice from half a lemon into it and then reincorporate back into the sauce. Put some nice white rice on the plate (in a ball if you follow Bourdain's pictures or in whatever fancy schmancy shape you like), some pieces of veal on the plate, and then drizzle with sauce. The pearl onions should melt like a ball of sweet goodness in your mouth and the veal should be fork tender. If you burnt the roux like I did it'll look like this:
Yup. Not quite white. But close. And now I know. Which is half the (culinary) battle. And if also, like me, you made way too many portions for one person, then this is what you'll be eating for the next couple of nights (not that it's a bad thing):
OK, so a bit heavy on the starch. Potato soup, bread, and rice. We've got some protein from the veal and the vegetables? Uhm...onions and mushrooms TOTALLY count. I'll eat more vegetables at other meals anyway.
And yes, two balls of rice look kinda like boobies. You think I didn't notice? Hu hu hu. "Boobies".
Didn't take a picture of the mise this time but caught the ingredients lounging there all unawares:
It's a nice and simple recipe. If you like onions and potatoes (hash browns anyone?) then you like this soup. It's creamier, it's a bit more work, but it's basically onion and potato soup. Sweat the white part of the leaks, cut the potatoes into cubes, and then dump in with a bunch of chicken stock. Cook until potatoes are mushy, blend, strain, add cream and nutmeg (I forgot the nutmeg), salt to taste, chill. Garnish with some chives and you get:
Nice and easy. Mine came out slightly thick (too many potatoes) but the great thing is you can thin out the soup to the desired texture at the blending stage. Just add more stock! OK, that was easy. On to the Blanquette de Veau.According to Bourdain, it's all about white. Everything should be white. Well ok, mushrooms won't be white no matter how you cook'em but the sauce should be white so it'll cover parts of the mushrooms. Mise below:
Pearl onions and the button mushrooms will both be covered with water and boiled until the water's gone with a pat (about a tablespoon) of butter. The big onion, celery, carrot, and the bouquet garni (the white cheesecloth package down there) go in to a big pot with all the veal. Shoulder, cut into 2 inch squares. Once the veal is cooked (about 2 hours) and all the scum skimmed off, you'll be left with fragrant veal soup. Yum!Next step is the sauce: make a roux by blending flour into butter after the butter has been heated and the foam subsided. Don't burn the flour like I did! It'll brown the sauce and then Bourdain will get mad at you and you don't want an obnoxious bastard like him making snarky comments about your roux. He chewed me out RIGHT as my flour hit the butter.
Once the roux is made, mix in a bit of the veal stock slowly to emulsify. Continue mixing and adding in the liquid until it's all blended. Cook until it starts to thicken (not too much!). At that point salt and pepper to taste and add in the pearl onions and mushrooms. Cook for about 5-8 minutes.
When ready to serve, take a bit of the hot sauce and mix an egg yolk and juice from half a lemon into it and then reincorporate back into the sauce. Put some nice white rice on the plate (in a ball if you follow Bourdain's pictures or in whatever fancy schmancy shape you like), some pieces of veal on the plate, and then drizzle with sauce. The pearl onions should melt like a ball of sweet goodness in your mouth and the veal should be fork tender. If you burnt the roux like I did it'll look like this:
Yup. Not quite white. But close. And now I know. Which is half the (culinary) battle. And if also, like me, you made way too many portions for one person, then this is what you'll be eating for the next couple of nights (not that it's a bad thing):
OK, so a bit heavy on the starch. Potato soup, bread, and rice. We've got some protein from the veal and the vegetables? Uhm...onions and mushrooms TOTALLY count. I'll eat more vegetables at other meals anyway.And yes, two balls of rice look kinda like boobies. You think I didn't notice? Hu hu hu. "Boobies".
Thursday, August 16, 2007
Error Messages
A lot of VBScripting recently has me seeing all sorts of vague error messages and I've got a thought: why can't they be less vague? For one thing, they're kind of stoic: "End Expected at line 148." Descriptive, but not much fun. For another thing, the syntactical error messages don't always tell you what's really wrong. If you name a function "ILikeBigButts(boolean BrotherLies)" and you accidentally invoke it with "ILikeBadonkadonk( true )" you'll get something talking about a type mismatch.
See that word? Mismatch, meaning that there are two things to match. But the truth of the matter is, there's no match to miss. The ILikeBadonkadonk function simply doesn't exist. Yes, I suppose nothing as a type does not match something but such existential queries probably don't need to be illustrated in the bowels of VBScript.
I suggest we update the error messages to be more colorful. Instead of "Type Mismatch," why not "That Shit Ain't Nowhere, Foo!" Or for "End Expected" we could have "Waiting for Armageddon" (Waiting for Armagodot...). For that matter, every other interface has the concept of "styles" down now, we should be able to customize development environments with error message styles. Personally, I'd go for "Dangerous Ganster Rapper Running from the Law". That'll really put the urgency into those messages.
See that word? Mismatch, meaning that there are two things to match. But the truth of the matter is, there's no match to miss. The ILikeBadonkadonk function simply doesn't exist. Yes, I suppose nothing as a type does not match something but such existential queries probably don't need to be illustrated in the bowels of VBScript.
I suggest we update the error messages to be more colorful. Instead of "Type Mismatch," why not "That Shit Ain't Nowhere, Foo!" Or for "End Expected" we could have "Waiting for Armageddon" (Waiting for Armagodot...). For that matter, every other interface has the concept of "styles" down now, we should be able to customize development environments with error message styles. Personally, I'd go for "Dangerous Ganster Rapper Running from the Law". That'll really put the urgency into those messages.
Monday, August 13, 2007
Adverb Spelling Disease
I saw an insult on the Yahoo Finance boards today and I lawled. You would too if somebody insulted you like this. Imagine somebody getting all up in your face. He's serious and aggressive and he's about to call you some names, you can just feel it. The rage he exudes is palpable and he's going to berate you verbally somethin' fierce. His massive chest heaves up in a great intake of air and he calls you a
I think you should shut up you...
"..miserably systic [sic] fibrosis!"What do you do? What can you do when faced with perfect, beautiful nonsense? In three words we've got an adverb used as an adjective, misspelling, and the misappropriation of a disease as an insult. That sounds like a pretty good idea for an insult formula actually. Let me have a go!
I think you should shut up you...
- Pathetically Pulmonairy Embolism!
- Stupidly Renul Failure!
- Moronically Subdurel Hematoma!
- Quickly Hemerajic Fever!
- Vicariously Sikul Sell Anemia!
Saturday, August 11, 2007
Futures Made of Virtual Insanity
I've been just obsessed with this today. I don't know why but I get on to these indefinite loops. The Russian National Anthem was one. And the latest involves Jamiroquai's Virtual Insanity and, to some extent, Jay Kay. He's a pretty unique performer and Virtual Insanity is a great piece of work. The video is great as well and is a nice visual puzzle for those who like these kinds of things. I'm going to get all multimedia on you guys:
There's a making of video on youtube that explains the movements.
The other thing is I think I have a man-crush on Jay Kay. He's so cute! He's got that hat habit which is much more a geek than a fashion statement. Some of them are pretty ugly but rarely are they boring. He also did an adorable interview on Top Gear a while back that stole my heart for a few reasons: he acts like a happy kid, he set one of the top times for the first generation of Stars in a Reasonably Priced Car, and he's a car man himself. He sounds fantastic live, he's got real musical talent, and he's got these distinct dance moves.
It strikes me that Maroon 5 sounds a little like him sometimes. Compare "Sunday Morning" to Virtual Insanity. But as catchy as Maroon 5 is sometimes, Jay Kay seems like a more distinct and interesting artist. OK, sorry for the false alarm on the gaydar, but his image is cute!
Which is why I wonder why he has to keep punching photographers. Chill man! Ignore them and go back home then take a drive in your RS4, or RS6, or DB5, or F355, or the mesmerizing Miura, or the flying F40 AND the F50, or the freaking Flying Spur, or the dangerous Diablo, or the possible Pope Mobile, or the epic Enzo. My point is that I like your cars. Can I come for a ride? Better yet you keep punching photographers and I'll drive your cars. That way everyone's happy.
There's a making of video on youtube that explains the movements.
The other thing is I think I have a man-crush on Jay Kay. He's so cute! He's got that hat habit which is much more a geek than a fashion statement. Some of them are pretty ugly but rarely are they boring. He also did an adorable interview on Top Gear a while back that stole my heart for a few reasons: he acts like a happy kid, he set one of the top times for the first generation of Stars in a Reasonably Priced Car, and he's a car man himself. He sounds fantastic live, he's got real musical talent, and he's got these distinct dance moves.
It strikes me that Maroon 5 sounds a little like him sometimes. Compare "Sunday Morning" to Virtual Insanity. But as catchy as Maroon 5 is sometimes, Jay Kay seems like a more distinct and interesting artist. OK, sorry for the false alarm on the gaydar, but his image is cute!
Which is why I wonder why he has to keep punching photographers. Chill man! Ignore them and go back home then take a drive in your RS4, or RS6, or DB5, or F355, or the mesmerizing Miura, or the flying F40 AND the F50, or the freaking Flying Spur, or the dangerous Diablo, or the possible Pope Mobile, or the epic Enzo. My point is that I like your cars. Can I come for a ride? Better yet you keep punching photographers and I'll drive your cars. That way everyone's happy.
Thursday, August 09, 2007
Boids
My sleep schedule is all messed up. So after a night of weird neurological (possibly?) ticks and vague insomnia, I get a call from the company for tech support. I miss the call itself but caught it on voicemail. It's a bit of an emergency and I'm not sleeping anyway so why not! Drag myself out of bed and start debugging. Nothing like looking at Single Sign On code at 5:30 in the mornin'.
But anyway, my main point is this: I've been hearing birds yapping away intermittently outside my window. I don't know what they're doing but they make some gahdwaful noises at 6AM!
And now I don't know what to do. Stay up? Get to sleep? Eat dinner? Take a nap?
But anyway, my main point is this: I've been hearing birds yapping away intermittently outside my window. I don't know what they're doing but they make some gahdwaful noises at 6AM!
And now I don't know what to do. Stay up? Get to sleep? Eat dinner? Take a nap?
Wednesday, August 08, 2007
IP Address conversion
This took me way too long to figure out. Converts IP addresses from decimal notation to quad dotted form. In ASP.
Function MyHex(ByVal Number)
Dim Sign
Const HexChars = "0123456789ABCDEF"
Sign = Sgn(Number)
Number = Fix(Abs(CDbl(number)))
If Number = 0 Then
MyHex = "0"
Exit Function
End If
While Number > 0
MyHex = Mid(HexChars, 1 + (Number - 16 * Fix(Number / 16)), 1) & MyHex
Number = Fix(Number/16)
WEnd
If Sign = -1 Then MyHex = "-" & MyHex
End Function
Function decToQuad(Byval dec)
HexVal = MyHex(dec)
ip = ""
for i = 0 to 3
temp = Left(HexVal,2)
ip = ip & Eval("&H" & temp) & "."
Hexval = Right(Hexval, Len(Hexval) - 2)
next
decToQuad = Left(ip, Len(ip) - 1)
end function
Function MyHex(ByVal Number)
Dim Sign
Const HexChars = "0123456789ABCDEF"
Sign = Sgn(Number)
Number = Fix(Abs(CDbl(number)))
If Number = 0 Then
MyHex = "0"
Exit Function
End If
While Number > 0
MyHex = Mid(HexChars, 1 + (Number - 16 * Fix(Number / 16)), 1) & MyHex
Number = Fix(Number/16)
WEnd
If Sign = -1 Then MyHex = "-" & MyHex
End Function
Function decToQuad(Byval dec)
HexVal = MyHex(dec)
ip = ""
for i = 0 to 3
temp = Left(HexVal,2)
ip = ip & Eval("&H" & temp) & "."
Hexval = Right(Hexval, Len(Hexval) - 2)
next
decToQuad = Left(ip, Len(ip) - 1)
end function
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