Nightcrawler

Originally uploaded by Wandering Eyre

I thought that, after all that mouth flapping about that awesome computer Ries has been building, you might like to see it in all its glory.

Bask in the glory.

Gideon thinks he is the boss of everyone.

In the morning, I usually do my Bible study while Gideon and I eat breakfast. I have experimented with different times for my quiet time, but there is not another consistent time that I can spend studying. Getting up before Gideon is not an option because he already gets up at 5:15 or 5:30 and that is early enough for me.

Sometimes, Gideon finishes his breakfast before I finish my study. When this happens, he gets to watch Animal Atlas. That gives me time to finish up.

This evening, I told Gideon that he could watch Animal Atlas if he wanted. I turned on the TV and sat down beside him on the couch. He pointed to the table and said “Bible.” I was not sure I heard right. “Bible?” I said. He shook his head yes. Then it dawned on me.

“You want me to do my Bible study?”

Yes, Gideon answered.

I guess he really is watching everything I do. He is too smart for his own good. I explained to him that I already did my study today. He obviously did not want my company for Animal Atlas, so I got out my laptop instead.

IMG_0944

Originally uploaded by Wandering Eyre

From our trip to the Texas RenFest, it was Pirate Weekend. Arg!

Giada De Laurentiis is easily my favorite chef personality. If I was a professional chef, I would want to be like Giada, cooking unpretentious, family favorites that are delicious and easy. Her recipes rarely call for random things and almost never take longer than a normal person has to spend on a meal, plus they are fabulous.

At a conference once, some librarian friends and I had a discussion, over beer of course, about who would win in a fight Giada or Rachel Ray. I voted for Giada though admitted that Rachel would have the scrappy advantage (aka be a dirty fighter).

My sister gave me Giada’s Family Dinners for my birthday and this recipe is lifted directly from that. Where applicable, I added my comments in (parenthesis).

Garlic and Citrus Chicken

1 (5 to 6-pound) whole roasting chicken, neck and giblets discarded
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 orange, quartered
1 lemon, quartered
1 head garlic, halved crosswise, plus 3 garlic cloves, chopped (I was feeling lazy and used powder in the sauce)
2 (14-ounce) cans reduced-sodium chicken broth
1/4 cup frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed (we were out of orange so I used apple)
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano leaves (I used dried)

Position the rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 400 degrees F.

Pat the chicken dry and sprinkle the cavity with salt and pepper. Stuff the cavity with the orange, lemon, and garlic halves. Tie the chicken legs together with kitchen string to help hold its shape. Sprinkle the chicken with salt and pepper.

Place a rack in a large roasting pan. (My roasting pan does not have a rack. I omitted this..) Place the chicken, breast side up, on the rack in the pan. (I cooked mine breast side down to keep it moist.) Roast the chicken for 1 hour, basting occasionally and adding some chicken broth to the pan, if necessary, to prevent the pan drippings from burning. Whisk the orange juice, lemon juice, oil, oregano, and chopped garlic in a medium bowl to blend. Brush some of the juice mixture over the chicken, after it has baked 1 hour. Continue roasting the chicken until an instant-read meat thermometer inserted into the innermost part of the thigh registers 170 degrees F, basting occasionally with the juice mixture and adding broth to the pan, about 45 minutes longer. (My chicken was small and only took about 1.5 hours) Transfer the chicken to a platter. Tent with foil while making the sauce; do not clean the pan.

Place the same roasting pan over medium-low heat. Whisk in any remaining broth and simmer until the sauce is reduced to 1 cup, stirring often, about 3 minutes. Strain into a 2-cup glass measuring cup and discard the solids. Spoon the fat from the top of the sauce. Serve the chicken with the pan sauce.

(I wanted to make the sauce, but it was a very long day here at the Smith house, so we did not have the sauce. The chicken was still great without it.)

There is no recipe up yet today because I have not yet decided what to post.

We have been doing a lot of brewing lately so I thought I would share with you what we have here at the Smith Homebrewery.

Ready to serve: Pumpkin Ale. It does not taste like pumpkin, sadly, but it is tasty. It has the fruity flavor of a Trappist Ale but maybe we think that because we just finished off the last of our Trappist Ale. I think this ended up around 5% ABV.

Aging in the Bottle: We bottled a Malted Apple Cider last night and I tasted a bit. It is more sour than sweet with a touch of malt. It should age very well. This was made using English Cider Yeast and it definitely tastes more like an English brew which is just what I was wanting. It is about 7% ABV. I think it should be ready to drink around Christmas. It should age longer but I doubt I will be able to wait much longer than a couple months.

In primary fermentation: Friday, we brewed a batch of Holiday Ale. We will rack it this weekend (move it to a secondary fermenter) and then bottle after a week. We are going to label these and give them to deserving parties for Christmas. Are you on the Nice list?

In our dreams: Because we are going to give away or share most of our current batches, we were thinking we should brew one just for us as well. We have a yeast colony from a wheat beer that I would like to try using before it gets to old from languishing in our fridge. If we do brew, it will be soon, so we have some on hand for Christmas and New Year’s.

Ries is right, I have been spending all of my free time the last week or so playing Dragon Age, which I can safely say is the very best game I have ever played. The graphics are astonishing and the plot is nuanced and intriguing. Sadly, unlike Clara, I am not ok with baby-gating in the kid while I play (though I have considered it briefly).

If anyone cares (and why wouldn’t you?!), I am playing a rogue elf from the city caste named Lady. She aspires to be an assassin, is witty, smart, and of course, a serpent in sheep’s clothing.

I have my computer up and running Ubuntu. After a few minor hiccups (the wireless was wonky and I forgot I HATE coding, but luckily with Ubuntu I do not have muck in the innards much), Ubuntu has been fabulous. I will have to give a full accounting of it later. For now, I think I will use nap time to do some library ranting (link up after I write post it).

–Michelle, just wants to play Dragon Age

First off, I want to say, that I am an idiot, but I will get to that later.

I described in an earlier post about how I was having trouble putting Windows 7 on my computer.  I bought Windows 7 Ultimate for $20 through UH, since I am a student there.  However, the disk was only an upgrade version and this was a brand spanking new computer with no operating system ever installed.  Therfore, I went ahead and ordered an OEM (Original Equipment Manufactur, basically it is for computer system builders like Dell, HP, smaller boutiques and others but you can buy it from some e-tailers) version of Windows 7 Home Premium for $110.  That was significantly more than I wanted to spend.

But I did some research.  I found this site, which gave great advice on how to use upgrade disks to do a clean install.  But here was the problem.  You always had to use a product key to validate the software and the disk said on the front “Requires Product Key”.  So, I didn’t have one.  I assumed that meant that if you were updating a version of Windows then you had to use the key from the Windows that you were upgrading.  Makes sense to me.  Since we were wiping Michelle’s computer and putting Ubuntu Linux on it (I’ll let Michelle write a future post on her Linux experience)  I figured it was legal to use that Windows XP key.  It would be like I removed it from there and installed on mine and then upgraded it to Windows 7.  I just skipped the part where I installed the XP on my machine since it would be a pointless step.  All sounds good and legal.  However, the key did not work.  I thought I might have to waste my OEM home edition version to get that key and I hope it didn’t downgrade my version.

So, I called Microsoft.  I hate calling people but I wasn’t giving up so easy.  They said that every Windows 7 has to have its own key and that the XP one would not work.  If I got it through my school then I need to contact them about getting a key.  If I still had problems call them back.  They were actually a pretty good support.  I was afraid they were going to try and accuse me of piracy.

If you have read this far, this is the point where Michelle wanted me to blog because she likes to laugh at me.  Remember how I said I was an idiot?  So I called up the UH software store, Cougar Byte, and told them I bought Windows 7 from them but I didn’t get a product key.  I had the disk with me and my receipt and I was prepared for a possible battle but expected it to be pretty easy.  They would just say, “Oh, here it is…”  But here’s how it really played out.  He asks me, “do you still have the sleeve the disk came in?”  I said, “Yes.”  I already know where this is going, he is going to ask me to look on the sleeve for the product key, but I am thinking okay I’ll humor you with this step because of course I looked on the sleeve.  That is where I would expect it to be, right on the back.  After all, I had just installed Office 2007 with software from them and that is exactly where the key was and exactly where I looked.  So he says to me, “Turn it over.”  I’m like, okay, whatever.   “Holy crap!”  I exclaimed on the phone.  There it was!  Plain as day, a bright yellow sticker on a black background with the product key.  He laughed.  I apologized for being an idiot.  He tried to comfort me by telling me it happens a lot.  I felt like the guy who was told to take his computer back to the store by a support tech because he was too dumb to own a computer when he called asking why his desktop wouldn’t turn on during a power outtage (I think the tech was right).

So, in the end, I had a valid key, I used method #2 described in the link above to get my Windows 7 Ultimate working, and I spent $110 on a copy of Windows that I didn’t need (by the way, since I bought the cheaper OEM version instead of the retail version I can not return it either).

–Ries, all that’s left is to overclock this bad boy!  (Idiot, idiot!)

New Computer – Check!

Now I need a new game to play on this computer.  Out comes Dragon Age, by Bioware.  I have been tracking progress on this game since it was first announced something like 4 years ago.  I love all things Bioware.  The love affair started with Baldur’s Gate.  Then came  Neverwinter Nights and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic.  I loved those games so I was excited about the new Dragon Age.  They were working in it but couldn’t get a publisher or something along those lines so it wasn’t being pushed.  Then all of a sudden Bioware came out with Mass Effect.  That game was awesome too, but I have still been waiting for Dragon Age.  But now it’s out!  Convenient timing that I just finished building a new computer isn’t it? ;)

I really do enjoy video games.  I would take a month off of work and play video games from wake to sleep every day if I could.  I am always looking to get Michelle to play some games too.  Every once in a while she shows an inkling but her patience / dedication always seem to falter.  I think, subconsciously, the reason I try to get her to play is so that I don’t feel guilty for wanting to play so often.  I am now learning that getting Michelle to play also has its downside.  I got her to create a character and start up in Dragon Age.  It’s all over.  She’s hooked.  Now I have to actually share time playing with her.  That is not easy to do when I have no time as there is.  Not to mention when I have to do actual homework on my computer, then none of us can play.  Plus, who watches that boy of ours when we both want to get sucked into the game.  The dog?  When’s he going to start pulling his weight?  Michelle would probably be blogging about the game herself, if she wasn’t so distracted by playing it.  I’m not even sure that when I leave for work during the day that she doesn’t just lock the boy up and start playing.

So, anyways, I’m not really going to review the game or anything here.  There are plenty of places for that.  Let me just say that so far, it is living up to its hype and I haven’t even really gotten into the heavy plot aspects and I can already see myself playing it over a couple times.  Bioware simply makes the best storied games out there, hands down.

–Ries, can feel myself being sucked in, even from a distance.

This recipe is from a pregnancy cookbook my mom gave me when I was pregnant with Gideon. Ries loves anchovies, but I never really knew what to do with them, other than slapping them on pizza. This recipe manages to be light and delicious, without the anchovies overpowering everything. The anchovies add just the right amount of zing.

This dish sits well and can be served hot or at room temperature.

Penne with Broccoli, Anchovies, and Chile
modified from The Healthy Pregnancy Cookbook

one bunch of broccoli or 2 broccoli crowns
7 oz of pasta, penne or other shape
3 tablespoons olive oil
7 cloves of garlic, minced
dash of red pepper flakes
1 can anchovies, chopped
1 large can of sliced black olives, about a 1/2 cup
2 c. Parmesan cheese
salt and pepper to taste

Trim broccoli and cut it into “trees.” Steam the broccoli until it is tender, then drain.

While the broccoli is steaming, put the water on to boil for the pasta. Cook the pasta until it is just done and not too soft. Al Dente. Reserve a bit of the water from the pasta.

While the pasta and broccoli are cooking, heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat, add the garlic and pepper flakes. Cook for 2-3 minutes or until garlic starts to smell. Add the anchovies, stirring, and cook until they start to break up in the oil. Add the broccoli and 1 tbls of the water from the pasta to the skillet. Stir until the broccoli starts to break up and the water evaporates. Add the olives to the broccoli mixture and stir. Turn the heat off of the burner.

Drain the pasta and add it to the mixture in the skillet with the parmesan cheese. If your skillet is too small to stir everything well, transfer everything into a large bowl to add the pasta. If the pasta was done before you needed it, drain it and stir a couple tbls of olive oil over it to keep it from getting sticky.

Serve immediately.

Every day, I think Gideon learns 5 new words. He is constantly saying things I did not know he knew. This morning he busted out with the word “eggs.” As I was scooping dog food, he counted the scoops before I did, “One. Two. Three. Fhdjsfh.” He just makes this noise for four and if we count above three or four, he just starts over at two or three.

I was going to let him watch Sesame Street this morning, instead of more Animal Atlas, and all went well for a couple minutes… Until Cookie Monster showed up to eat all the oatmeal cookies. Gideon did not like him! Then Elmo and some other puppet thing showed up. Gideon kept shaking his head saying, “No. No.” with a worried look on his face. Even after the “monsters” were gone, he did not want to watch Sesame Street anymore.

It was funny. Ries said it was because he knows those things do not appear in nature and are thus not natural.

We went back to Animal Atlas.