Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Food Adventures #11: Crepes and Steakhouse Pizza

(Though not at the same time)


First up, crepes: we had a delayed Mardi Gras this year- the Missus got buried with Clinicals, as Nursing Students so often do, so we celebrated a day late (technically on Ash Wednesday) and I attempted to make crepes for the first time. After some swearing (nothing seemed to be where I needed it to be- most of which, the Missus will tell you, is probably my fault in the first place as I have this tendency to put things in the most convenient place in the kitchen and then forget where that is-) I got the batter made, greased up my pan and set about making my crepes.

They're easy enough in concept: make batter, scoop batter, spread super thinly on your pan. Let 'em solidify for a couple of minutes then flip. Maybe flip once more until golden brown and then you're done. I ran into some logistical issues right away. First there was the recipe: I have this tendency to stick like glue to the recipe- especially when I'm doing something for the first time ever. Crepes were no exception- except the recipe I pulled from All Recipes.com or something of that nature told me to use 1/4 cup of batter per crepe. WHICH WAS WAY TOO SMALL! As a result, I ended up with these mini crepes- and way more than the 8 the recipe said a batch of the batter would make.

Oh well- you live and learn, right? Although there's no pictures of the condiments- we departed from the usual Cigar Family tradition of sugar and lemon juice and went the banana route. I sautéed up a banana in whipped cream vodka and brown sugar (amazing boozy goodness) and then we cut up another one and smeared Nutella all over the crepes and topped them with whipped cream. Perfect Mardi Gras goodness- with no beads involved. (As I've said before: I used to be willing to do the 'taking the shirt of thing' for beads- but then people saw how hairy I was and would usually give me beads to stop. Or run away screaming...)

Next up: steakhouse pizza...


This was another adaptation from a wonderful recipe I found over at The Pioneer Woman- (here's her version). For the sake of time and, well, money- I adapted it a little bit, using canned pizza dough (which worked perfectly fine) and good old fashioned sirloin instead of the skirt/flank steak that her recipe called for. The results were amazing as promised! The secrets:

Throw some balsamic vinegar and Worcestershire Sauce into the marinara sauce you use for the base. Flavors it right up! And... use a red onion (I'm seriously becoming a fan of red onions- so much more flavor that white or yellow ones) and sautee that up in butter and balsamic for oniony goodness as well.

Cook dough, marinara, onions and a sprinkling of mozzarella for about 15 minutes then when it's all crispy and golden brown, throw on the steak, drizzle with steak sauce, top with parmesan, cut and eat. It's awesome.

Albums2010 #50-56: The Quiet Man's Techno Extravaganza


The world of techno is one that I'm pretty much totally unfamiliar with. I know what techno sounds like but if you sit me down and ask me to compare trance with techno or house or acid or any of the other variety of subgenres upon subgenres in the world electronica, I think I'd be totally lost. Over the years, The Quiet Man has burned me many CDs attempting to introduce me to a genre that he's very very familiar with and I have been neglectful- shamefully so, in actually listening to them the whole way through- so I decided to sit down, grab all the ones I could find and listen to them to see if I could figure out just what this techno thing is all about. As you can see, though, this sort of took on a mind of it's own and from the original 3 Quiet Man contributions, it expanded a bit...

Anyway, if you're planning your next rave and need inspiration- I can now safely recommend the following:

Northern Exposure, John and Sasha Digweed: This one is a collection of various tracks that I'm assuming the Digweeds remixed into their own brand of techno awesomeness. Overall, it's a lot more of the thumping beats and driving speeds that I expected techno to be. And I swear the first track (Superstring by Cygnus X) was on Midnight Club 3- which brought back some very good memories. Even if I'm wrong (which I probably am.) Pounding throbbing beats blend seamlessly the whole way through this album culminating in a severely awesome track called Blue Fear by Armin. That pretty much capped off a nice little package of techno goodness.

Ex Machina, Aril Brikha: This CD picked up in the back half in a big way. The Missus (not a fan of techno) thought the earlier tracks had just a touch, just a feel of late night Skinemax Porn about them and I was inclined to agree. (The Quiet Man's take: 'it's SO much better than that...') But by the time track 7 and track 9 rolled around I was start to get my groove on a little bit. The first half of this CD was way to mellow for my liking- it sounded so similar that it was hard for me to differentiate between some of the early tracks, but more diversity creeps in the further along you get.

David Guetta, Nothing But The Beat: The most Top 40 friendly artist of the bunch Guetta is solid club music with some impressive tracks of solid techno thrown in for good measure. Turn on any radio station and you'll run into Guetta somewhere. Head to a bar with a decent dance floor and you'll get the same thing, but it's his straight electronica tracks that impressed me the most, 'Lunar' and 'Sunshine'- other than that, there's a multiplicity of collaborators for his more mainstream stuff, including Nicki Minaj for 'Turn Me On' Usher for 'Without You' and will.i.am for 'Nothing Really Matters.' Overall, if you've got a groove to work out of your system, Guetta will get you on your feet and jamming out.

John Tejada, Parabolas: I think this is techno for the true lovers of techno, the purists, the ones that can find their way through the genres and sub-genres and sub-sub genres that seem to populate the wide world of electronica. I tried with this CD, I really did- all Señor Tejada managed to do was to lull me into a random daze with his hisses, crackles and pops underlying a beat that was way, way too mellow for my liking. Basically, this CD made me feel stoned- but not in a 'happy, laughing' kind of way but in a, 'it makes your mind wander into the next county' kind of way. I can honestly tell you that once you get past track number 1, the CD does pick up a bit but overall, this just wasn't my thing, man... It had me so dazed, I missed the exit to the Coral Ridge Mall and took a long detour through JoCo's Condo Paradise, North Liberty to get to my ultimate destination. It seems to last forever and I'm sure if the mood was right and I needed some random, inoffensive background noise this album would rise to the occasion. But unfortunately, that's what a lot of it seemed to be: random, inoffensive background noise. My thinking ranged from 'elevator music' to 'club scene in a Michael Mann movie that will shortly erupt into unimaginable violence' or 'weird Euro Club from some episode of Alias that Jennifer Garner has to infiltrate in a magenta colored wig.' Overall: if you're a techno newbie, handle with care. Or score a dime bag before listening.

Daft Punk, Discovery: I'd long been a fan of this duo of be-helmeted Frenchmen and so actually bit the bullet to sit down and listen to an album of theirs the whole way through. Unsurprisingly, it kicked some serious ass. Icons of the house genre of electronica, they bring a nice mix of straight up electronica and more radio-friendly dance singles to the album, opening with their hit 'One More Time.' I really like the mix- it seems like the perfect way to bring this kind of music to the masses- and when even the Missus, not the biggest fan of electronica/house/techno music by any stretch of the imagination says that she kind of digs them, they succeed and bridging the gap. I think there are probably a lot of people out there who find electronica/house/techno somewhat remote and if you're looking to get your feet wet with a little genre discovery so to speak, there are worse places to start than with Daft Punk. Overall, there's not a bad track on this album- 'One More Time' and 'Harder Better Faster Stronger' are going to be the ones most people recognize, though unfortunately, the latter is probably due to unfortunate associations with Kanye West more than anything else. 'Digital Love' feels very mid-90s to me for some reason. I can imagine a gang of French hipsters booze cruising around in a Peugeot looking for ladies to this song-- and oddly, despite the cloud of cigarette smoke that would undoubtedly entail I'd be ok with that. 'High Life', 'Short Circuit', 'Face To Face' and 'Crescendolls' are all standout tracks.

LCD Soundsystem, Sound of Silver: This band is the one man brainchild of James Murphy described by wikipedia (the font of all knowledge) as 'dance-punk' was one of those rare flashes of greatness that stuck around for a couple of albums before officially disbanding to go his own way and do his own thing- presumably though, as something other than LCD Soundsystem. There are other albums of his to choice from but this one, I felt fit the whole 'techno extravaganza' theme the best. (Other Tracks Not On This Album To Check Out: 'Daft Punk Is Playing At My House' and 'Drunk Girls'- both brilliant!) This album opens with a low and slow blast of electronica with 'Get Innocuous!' which builds nicely over the course of it's seven minutes... without missing a beat, we drop into 'Time To Get Away' and then, the classic 'North American Scum'. Overall, great ALBUM from a fantastic band that disbanded way too soon- another standout track buried deep in the album: 'Sound of Silver.'

Kraftwerk, Trans Europe Express: In the interest of historical curiosity, I Spotified the Grand-Daddies of them all, Kraftwerk to see what they were about. Hailed as pioneers of any number of genres ranging from electronica to techno and beyond (even house music can probably claim at least spiritual guidance from Kraftwerk. Appropriately enough, they're German. Their music is also... very... German. And odd. But if you're curious, check them out...

Thursday, February 23, 2012

STFU: Thoughts On Social Conservatism

With Rick Santorum's surge in the Republican Presidential race (hopefully nicely dented by his somewhat lackluster, 'I'm going to inexplicably defend Congress, the most unpopular institution in America and their earmarks' performance in last night's debate) there's been a lot of commentary swirling on the interwebs about Santorum, what he's said and some interesting thoughts about just what makes social conservatism so attractive to so many people in the first place.

There has been reams of commentary written about this subject- whole books, in fact, most of which I'm not going to touch on here- what does make this a debate worth weighing in on, for me personally anyway is my stone cold, visceral dislike for social conservatism. I view it as the poison pen in the side of the conservative movement and our political discourse as a whole, one that taints a lot of somewhat sensible things that Conservatives advocate for with a stench of hypocrisy that makes it impossible for me to support most, if not all Republican candidates. You cannot look me in the eye and say you want to shrink the size of government while advocating policies that call for intrusion of government into the most personal aspects of our lives.

Yet there are commentators out there that view social conservatism as something of an inevitability, which is what I find fascinating, because having read a few of these pieces I find myself reluctantly agreeing with some of the analysis presented.

We begin with Andrew Klavan's piece, The Tyranny of Hip. Written (as a lot of these pieces are) in reaction to a NY Times review of a forthcoming book on (what I'm assuming) is the collapse of the American family structure as we know it by Conservative Sociologist Charles Murray. When even the New York Times is forced to concede that the declining rates of marriage are having a deliterious affect on families, then one could assume that the dire warnings posited by social conservatives about the collapse of family values, family morals, etc, etc, etc might have something of a salient point behind it. Murray's overall point is that married folk tend to be better educated, work harder and overall are more economically prosperous that single folk- and that the cultural shifts away from the apparently antiquated notions of marriage, family, etc, etc, are responsible for a lot of societal dislocation we see going on these days. Murray's money graph:
The best thing that the new upper class can do… is to drop its condescending “non-judgmentalism.” Married, educated people who work hard and conscientiously raise their kids shouldn’t hesitate to voice their disapproval of those who defy these norms. When it comes to marriage and the work ethic, the new upper class must start preaching what it practices.

This is a strange point to make, because it simultaneously makes a certain amount of sense to me, while rubbing me entirely the wrong way. Being married and employed certainly has it's benefits at least from where I'm sitting, but arguing that it's the best solution for everyone? Preaching the 'gospel' of marriage and showing up to work on time? Marriage is not for everyone (really, it's not) and people shouldn't have to be preached at about it's virtues and showing up for work on time and doing the best you can at your job, however unimportant or shitty it may be just seems like common sense 101 to me.

But flip that on it's head: my attitude, however rooted in 'leave everybody the fuck alone' it might be means that if I'm not going to get judgey with my single friends then it would be hypocritical of me to get judgey with helicopter parents (the biggest threat to my generation) or any of the assorted purveyors of bullshit out there. It's troublesome. And it's annoying- because I hate thinking that these people might actually have a tiny, salient point to make. Klavan takes Murray's notion and goes on step further though- his money graph(s):
This is so clearly true that the only real question is: why don’t they? If marriage and religion give smart people joy and improve their living standards, why don’t they spread the word?

I believe one reason is the Tyranny of Hip: the unwillingness of grownups to be thought of as uncool. We seem to have a horror of shedding the mantles of the heroes of romance in order to take on the roles of the crusty but wise chaperones. Even when Red State’s Erick Erickson and cultural blogger Dr. Melissa Clouthier among others courageously grasped the nettle recently and took the girls and boys of CPAC to task for dressing like hookers and acting like johns, they were at pains to explain that they were talking about time and place appropriateness not morals — which still didn’t protect them from the usual hail of superior-sounding irony that followed.

OK now this is some truth-telling I can get behind, because the fear of being uncool is exactly the kind of silly-ass bullshit a lot of Baby Boomer/Gen X Parents will preach. They want to be cool... they want to be liked... when, just once every so often, a kid needs a foot broken off in his or her behind. That happened to me when it was necessary and I'm the better for it. This is the kind of bullshit that people should be speaking up about- not necessarily the virtues of marriage or getting all judgey about the lifestyles people choose to live. I honestly believe that individuals know what works best for them. It's not up to me to tell them otherwise- but as a society I think we do need to start calling bullshit on some of this stuff, because it's ridiculous and it's threatening to deliver a generation of half-formed suburban juveniles into the centers of power in this country and that's a truly scary notion.

James Taranto takes a different tack in his piece, Mystification and Triumphalism- taking on the Left's quest to rationalize the seemingly irrational behavior of voters who continually vote against what the Left percieves to be their best interests a la Thomas Frank's What's The Matter With Kansas? (A fascinating book- well worth a read.) While the Left rationalizes and attempts to declare victory in the Culture Wars, Taranto points out (in one of his money 'graphs):
In other words, less affluent Americans are socially conservative because they bear the brunt of the social policies and cultural attitudes that prevail among affluent liberal elites. You can see why it would be difficult for Krugman and Alter, who doubtless pride themselves on their compassion and moral rectitude, to acknowledge or even consider this explanation. They need to be obtuse as a psychological defense.

Oddly enough, this is another point that makes a certain amount of sense to me. Culture, such as it is, is by and large shaped and driven by the presence of media elites on either Coast. These coasts by and large tend to be more liberal and more affluent and their experience is far different than ours here in the so-called 'flyover states.' The magnitude of the problem is immense: our media, business and political elites all live in Ivory Towers on the Coasts and wonder why they're so hated by so many swathes of the country. The rest of the country, in turn, watches these elites preaching their ideals (seemingly of European Social Democracy, though God knows why- that's not working too well either these days) and view their ideals as nothing less than an attack on their primarily Protestant-driven values of family, faith and hard work. That titanic misunderstanding and the arrogant belief on the part of our elites that if they just talk loudly enough the rest of the country will go along with them is, to me, the driving force of the tiresome, never-ending culture wars in this country.

Taranto loses some ground in the back half of his piece, launching into the usual Conservative chestnuts of throwing heat towards the Feminist Movement of the late 60s and early 70s. While I won't deny his basic premise that feminism caused a certain amount of social 'dislocation' as he calls it, I would take the stance that it was for the best and probably something of a historical inevitability. His second money 'graph:
The social dislocation caused by feminism and the sexual revolution demands a political response, and so far the left has nothing to offer apart from bankrupting the country with more entitlements. It's encouraging to see a youngish left-wing feminist like Rosin have an inkling that there's a problem, but until the left starts thinking creatively about solutions, which will require a reconsideration of orthodoxies that date back to the 1960s and '70s, the social right will be the only game in town.

Having the Left start to think at all would be a damn good thing in my book- but the whole point these commentators are trying to make is that the proverbial writing appears to be on the wall: married people have more money and are more prosperous than non-married people. How do you square that with a generation of 'women need men like fish need bicycles' thinking? I believe in sexual equality, I really do- but where I jumped off the Feminist bandwagon (and I sat through a couple of Women's Studies classes just to be sure I had something of a clue as to what I was talking about) is the collectivization of guilt that's thrown in the face of men. That's no way to break down an entrenched hierarchy and I know damn well most men aren't going to respond well to that- so it's not going to get a lot of mileage breaking down patriarchy either.

I don't rape women. I reluctantly share the same biological charateristics as the scum-sucking assholes that do rape women, but I'm not going to lower my gender or my identity as a male by calling them men. Real Men don't rape. Real Men don't hit women and Real Men that do neither of those things shouldn't have to feel like they should apologize for the scum-sucking assholes that do. You can't lump us all in the same boat- and that's what feminism does a lot of the time. (The other thing is this odd notion that women feel somehow stifled by men and can't 'speak freely' around them. What an utter load of shit. I freely admit that I'm an opinionated bugger a lot of the time and if you think I'm throwing down a fresh line of bullshit, then I expect you to damn well say so, man or woman. I can't grow as an individual unless my assumptions are challenged- plus having my face rubbed in the fact that I'm wrong from time to time is honestly good for the soul, I think.)

Bringing us back to Klavan's piece, he hits the nail on the head with this:
No one wants to turn into the old man waving his cane from the porch rocking chair shouting at the young folks to stop all their goldarned canoodling and quit parading around with their hoo-has and what-nots hanging out, for the love of Mike.

And yet the nation hungers for just such behavior. Witness the recent YouTube video of a father punishing his spoiled daughter for a snarky Facebook post by plugging her laptop with a .45. The thing went viral to the tune of tens of millions of viewers. Why? Because it was wonderful to see someone finally step up and be Daddy.

And the Anchoress weighs in with this depressing capstone to the entire debate:
The government, the media and academia are all in the clutches of perpetual 14 year-olds forever chasing times and trends to maintain the aura of hipness that keeps them sitting at the lunch table with the “cool” kids. The spoiled cool kids who think they’re just entitled to everything. Which is generally what 14 year-olds do think
So basically, I think the argument I'm hearing (Taranto's critique of feminism aside) is that social conservatism emerges as a force in our society because people want someone to just stand up and call 'bullshit' on a lot of things in our society? Or is it because we've never really left high school behind as a nation and we're all locked in some nightmarish clique factory, trying desperately to be cool...

It's not quite that any of those things- because it's certainly a discussion worth having. I was named after St. Thomas Aquinas, a deep thinker who didn't say too much until he started writing incomprehensible theological tracts- and that's really how I practice my faith. I believe in God. I believe in a higher power and I pray- probably less than I should, but I do pray. I struggle with it sometimes and I know my faith is far from perfect, which is why it frustrate me when these issues get so tied up in religion. I don't want people getting faith forced down their throats- such actions, whether explicit or implicit will not produce the result a lot of Conservatives search for. Jesus isn't the answer, Jesus is the question- as in, Jesus, what are we going to do with this mess?

So am I a social conservative? Not really. Not in the sense any of these people are describing. I'm not built to be a reactionary. I didn't live the past therefore I have no particular connection to it- I'm built for radicalism, plain and simple. But underlying all of this is the one, salient point I can get behind: there's an awful lot of bullshit being thrown around in our culture and our society and more people need to stand up and call it just that. Whether it's helicopter parenting or the idea that traditional marriage is some sort of societal evil to be opposed (it's not, but it's not for everyone either) or just the sheer amount of drivel that gets shown to kids on television, people need to stand up. We may be locked into this cultural hell of a nationwide high school, but I think these commentators are right: it's graduation day and the country is ready to stand up and say 'shut the fuck up.'

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Hooch, Man #4: Whiskey Infusions

As I write this, an early episode of 'No Reservations' is on the Netflix, the taste of Spicy Sriracha Peas is hanging in my mouth and I have the satisfying aftertaste of fajitas and beer still hanging at the back of the mouth. And, it's Mardi Gras: what better time to sit down and whip out some thoughts on whiskey infusions.

They seem to be everywhere these days- call me crazy, because I'm not in on what's cool and hip in the world of infusions, but they really seem to be pushing the envelope to places it hasn't been before, maybe even places that it shouldn't go at all. Honey Whiskey is one thing: Evan Williams, Seagrams and Wild Turkey got in on that action and Jack Daniels followed suit. Excellent stuff- goes down wonderfully and you can drink it straight. In fact, I'd say Tennessee Honey is probably the only version of Jack that I would drink, period.

Others made sense as well. SoCo and Lime is a common enough drink that SoCo infused with lime shouldn't really raise any eyebrows. But Southern Comfort Pepper?


It was just so weird, so odd sounding that I couldn't resist getting ahold of a bottle. And surprisingly enough, it's not that bad-- and even my Uncle Alf, who only drinks Southern Comfort- at least where his whiskey is concerned had to agree that it really, wasn't all that bad.

It's the smell that gets you though. Open the bottle and inhale deeply. I'll be honest, you're going to sit back and think 'ewwwwww' because it just doesn't smell quite right. But fight through that, pour yourself a dram and then take a sip. What greets you is surprising: the essential smooth, caramel texture of Southern Comfort is preserved nicely- and that sweetness cools the pepper off to the point of making it compliment the sweetness without overwhelming it. You swallow a sip and instead of a searing burn a nice warming sensation follows it down and warms you right up from the inside out.

If you drink Tabasco Sauce for breakfast, then by all means, saddle up and buy a bottle. Or two. Or three or four if that's you're thing. If you're not into drinks that kick you in the back in the mouth, avoid this stuff. It's good, don't get me wrong, but it's radical and unusual. Like Anarchist Philosophy and facial piercings, it's not for everyone.

Moving to the other end of the spectrum, I stumbled across Evan Williams Cherry Reserve which, I think I purchased on something of a whim.


Their American Honey is good stuff- it got me started on my Honey Whiskey kick awhile back so I figured I might as well try the Cherry version and see what it had to offer. Besides: cherries and bourbon sort of made sense to me, in my head. Like peanut butter and jelly or cheese and macaroni, somethings are just meant to be and Bourbon and Cherries- at least the Evan Williams version, can also be added to that pantheon.

It was so good, in fact, that I cooked with copious amounts of it immediately, inventing my Cherry Bourbon Chocolate Cupcakes (which were awesome, of course.) But even just by itself, it's got a lot to offer. First, I think as with all good infusions, the essential bourbon flavors are preserved but the cherry infusion cools it down to the point where it's pleasant on the palate and goes down smoothly- again, also to the point where you can drink it straight out of a glass- or even a bottle and be happy as a clam. In short, it's delicious.

But here's the question I've got to ask: do all these infusions help bring whiskey to the masses or do they water down the essential nature of whiskey itself? I think it's a bit of both- there's something challenging about whiskey. You've got to do the research and find what you like and occasionally stumbling across a gem that you can't help but almost adore. These infusions are a nice change of pace, I'll admit- they're more affordable, they're less challenging on the palate and sometimes you just want to grab something cheap, quick and dirty and drink it. Infusions are nice for that- they're good for cooking too. But my sojourn is at an end, I feel. I've got a bottle of Templeton Rye to work my way through and then I think a nice, Solera Vat 15 Year Old Glen Livet is calling my name.

Friday, February 17, 2012

The China Syndrome


Chinese Vice President Xi Jingping swept through Iowa yesterday after stopping for high level meetings in Washington. He revisited the lovely burg of Muscatine where he had stayed during a 1985 visit (when, presumably, he was much lower in the Chinese Communist Food Chain than he is now) and continued on to renew his friendship with Our Glorious Leader, the Moustache himself who laid on a state dinner in Des Moines for the guy.

To be honest, I didn't give it all that much in the way of thought. China buys food, we grow food. But after reading The Quiet Man's reaction, I decided to take a step back and really think about it. Do I have a problem with hosting the Vice President and heir apparent of a brutal totalitarian regime that just happens to buy a lot of our shit?

I probably should, but I don't, mainly because I see the PRC as unsustainable over the long term. Amongst China wonks in the Poli-Sci world, this is a popular opinion to hold, but over here in America we only hear about some of the social unrest. There's undoubtedly more that we don't hear about. When Deng Xiaoping (evil douchebag, dictator) took over in 1979, he made the pragmatic calculation that in order for China to be truly great, they needed moola. And fast. So he pretty much said: 'Go get rich, but we run the show.' And it's more or less worked, ever since. (Note that the Soviets went kaput, but the Chinese didn't.)

But income disparity is growing. The flashy wealth of the Coastal Cities isn't to be found in the less affluent interior and while we suffer through a recession, China's white hot growth (at the cost of their environment and with no labor regulations to speak of- is it ironic that you can't form a union in a technically Communist country?) has slowed to a par-broil but hasn't slipped into a recession. How they handle that will be a true test of how well Deng's pragmatism is holding up after all these years...

But I do think that pragmatism is the name of the game, when all is said and done. I don't worry that much about North Korea for precisely that reason: China can just flip off the lights and choke off the oil and the fuel- they probably would have done so long ago, but they're not crazy about a United Korea full of American troops that close to their borders and from a purely geopolitical sense, I can't blame them. Communism has fallen away to be replaced with pragmatism- Vietnam has been liberalizing economically since the early 90s, Burma is taking tentative steps still further as the military regime relaxes it's grip little by little. In a very real sense the Cold War split between Moscow and Beijing is over: Deng Xiaoping and the Chinese won when they put pragmatism ahead of ideology. How deep that goes is something the next few decades will answer: economic growth can't last forever after all.

Perhaps though, The Quiet Man has a point. While hardly a thuggish regime like some out there, the PRC is authoritarian. It does oppress it's own people on a regular basis- why do business with them?

Well, they don't care about our morals, that's for sure. When the Western Democracies get a case of the vapors over some atrocity or another, China studiously ignores them. If they do deign to release a prominent dissident it's usually in time for a visit by someone important from whom they want something. If China pays attention to human rights, it's for it's own reasons- only thing we can do is sell them stuff, buy their stuff and grow a middle class that finally gets tired of it.

Pragmatically speaking, that's the idea.

And while this is neither here nor there, you have to admit, it's getting better than it used to be- say in, for example the late 60s (the Cultural Revolution) or the late 70s (The Gang of Four) or even say, 1989 (Tiananmen). That's not excusing current behavior, but the idea of buying good behavior tends to gain some credence when things incrementally improve over the years.

While it is somewhat ironic that we happily entertained a prominent Communist leader, it shouldn't be all that surprising. We have, after all, done it before:

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Another Fine Waste Of Editorial Space

Oh, Daily Iowan... why do you irritate me so?

Today's threat to Civilization As We Know It comes to us courtesy of idling police vehicles. While this is a good issue to note, I guess and the editorial does acknowledge important things like radios and computers and K9 units all being ready to go at a moment's notice, it gets to be a little much when, out of all the things the Editorial Board could have weighed in on, they weigh in on this.

Let's consider, for a moment, the disproportionate number of students on campus from Illinois. Let us consider further, dear friends, how many of them drive around obscenely large cars in the Escalade-Lexus-Small Suburban Tank type of category. Yes, these are the students of the University of Iowa, some of whom undoubtedly are writing this editorial. There's the faint stench of hypocrisy in the air.

But, some things to throw into the mix- and I'll speak from my experience at UIPD. I know right now, as I'm writing this, I've got two officers on foot. They could be in golf carts or Polarises or even cars. But they're on foot. Saving the Earth and being visible on campus all at the same time. Once the weather gets warmer, we'll be sending out at least one bike unit per shift- also being pretty green. (Iowa City has bike units as well...) So the situation isn't as dire as the DI would have us believe. Sure, somedays people get a bike or foot patrol because there are no cars available- but more often than not, when the weather is good, it's increasingly common to get officers on bikes or foot, just because...

The DI, in it's wisdom, proposes implementing a power saving system that would allow the cruisers to run all equipment without the engine. Immediately, the cost drew comments:
Based on published quotes for other departments, it looks like the units are about $6k up front and some sort of annual cost at some point in the future (initial quotes have free software maintenance). With a 315 vehicle fleet, that is a fairly affordable $1.9M up front. But if the savings is only $100k per year, that is going to be easily 15 years to recover that cost, which is beyond the life of police vehicles. The units probably can be moved to a new vehicle for an installation cost, so the real question is the life of the mobile power units.

So, in other words, it might not save that much money to begin with- plus, the process of integrating a computer and a car is tricky enough as it is... I would bet heavily on there being bugs in the system.

Basically though, I shouldn't be surprised about this kind of thing at all. It's Iowa City, bay-bee... where people bitch about the cops as much as possible- until they actually need them. Then of course, they didn't get there fast enough. All part of the loving, productive relationship between the local citizenry and their various Police Department's. I'm glad the DI is doing their part!

(Plus: if I need a police car, I want them to come right now. I don't want them dicking around with their equipment for 20 minutes waiting for it turn on...)

Sunday, February 12, 2012

Whitney Houston, 1963-2011

Whitney Houston, famed R&B, soul, gospel singer died at the age of 48 yesterday.

Anyone who's turned on a television or gone on Facebook in the past 24 hours already knows this- but I have to say I was taken aback by the outpouring of grief and the level of news coverage her death has gotten. Sure, she died suddenly and relatively young, but at least on my personal radar, she had been out of the limelight for awhile.

I can't say I was a huge fan of her music, but I know it- as does anyone born in the past three decades. I've never seen 'The Bodyguard,' so I'll just take everyone's word for it that it's an awesome movie. (I chose not to see it because it's not really my type of movie and, at the time, they played 'I Will Always Love You' incessently on the radio. Incessently. Like 'Kryptonite' by 3 Doors Down incessently.) For some reason, the song that keeps popping into my head the most is 'I Want To Dance With Somebody.'

To me, Whitney Houston was one of those celebrities you just kept rooting for. She had some problems in her life- highly publicized ones, but you couldn't help but to wish her the best and root for her to get it figured out and launch a comeback that would blow everbody away. Sad to say, she didn't make it- and whatever you thought of her music, her talent was undeniable and she was one of the great, iconic voices of a generation.

She will be missed.

UND's Mascot Fight Continues...

The now long-running battle over the University of North Dakota's nickname is continuing... the NCAA still says 'no-go' on the Fighting Sioux name but backers of a petition to restore the nickname have apparently won a round in this match as it's back- and potentially headed for the North Dakota State Constitution.

First of all, I think we need to point out the fundamental hypocrisy of the NCAA. If there can be the Fighting Illini of Illinois and the Seminoles of Florida State, then why not the Fighting Sioux of North Dakota? If the ban is in place because such mascots are deemed offensive and derogatory towards Native Americans (and it's easy to see how they could be) then, they're all racist and should ALL be banned or none of them should be. Either or. Apparently the NCAA's definition of racism is decided on a case-by-case basis which to me is just plain wrong. If these mascots are offensive and racist then they all are. You can't let FSU and Illinois have their mascots and not let North Dakota have theirs. It just doesn't make sense.

Second of all, I think there might be a couple of creative ways around this. First, drop the logo, but keep the name. (Illinois did this amidst some controversy.) Or you could keep the logo and misspell the name... I mean, the North Dakota Fighting Sue might get you some odd looks but you could always cite the Johnny Cash song... 'A Boy Named Sue' as precedent...

But whatever the outcome, good luck to North Dakota-- I'd imagine you'll get hosed somehow. You're a small school in an even smaller conference which means the NCAA will be in no mood to listen to you. Feel free to sue them to point out the incredible hyopcrisy in exercising this policy on a case by case basis-- either all these mascots are racist or none of them are. The NCAA needs to pick one.

The Townie Bar Challenge: Blackstone


It was my pick this time around in The Townie Bar Challenge, so I decided to start 2012 off with a bang by heading straight to the Best- yes, Blackstone has been voted 'Best Bar' in the Press-Citizen's annual 'Best of the Area' for 2011 so I wanted to see if the good people of Johnson County had gotten it right.

The first impression was that it was a bit awkwardly located out in the boonies near the corner of Rochester and Scott Boulevard. Parking is strange, haphazard and something of a hassle but I do think the owners of Blackstone might well be seen as geniuses ten years from now- the may have chosen a seemingly odd location now, but Iowa City is pushing outwards. In ten years or so, I'd imagine that Taft Avenue is going to be what Scott Boulevard used to be ten years ago- the very edge of town. As a result, the cornfields near Blackstone and the randomness of the place will undoubtedly fade over time as they area becomes more developed. Was it sort of a hassle to park? Yes, but I'm going to give them a pass on it- for now.

I had eaten with the Missus at Blackstone before- but never in the bar area- we've always sat over in the restaurant area. The first thing that immediately jumped out at me about the place was that it kept a very nice, clear division between bar and restaurant. The restaurant side is more intimate and comfy, while the bar side is more open- with ultra modern, sleek, hip decor and a very nice, very long bar that curves around at the end to make a long 'j' shape.

Overall, it's a very nice place- it's got a clean, sharp, hip vibe to it that is undeniably appealing, but you can't help thinking that it might be just a little too hip for it's own good. This isn't a bar that you could just stroll on in to wearing a pair of crappy sweatpants and an old Smiths T-shirt you found in a box in the back of your parents' basement. (Bonus music of the night: a random cover of The Smiths 'This Charming Man' and 'Fell In Love With A Girl' by The White Stripes.) The clientele of Blackstone seem to be a mix of late 20s-early 30s hipsterish-yuppy types and the upper crusties of the East Side Business class- definately not the 'where everybody knows your name' kind of a vibe and while I could give a shit about what I wear most of the time, trying to relax and enjoy yourself while feeling underdressed kind of bums you out now and again, you know?

Blackstone might feel a little too nice for a lot of people but where it does shine is where it counts for any bar: the drinks. Most bars in town will charge you $8 for a Martini and you can't really shake the feeling that you've been ripped off somehow while you're drinking it. Not Blackstone: not only are their Martini glasses nice and deep (as a posed to pitiful and shallow) but they deliver a variety of $8 martinis that pack a punch and come in sizes made for adults. These are serious drinks for serious drinkers- and although I didn't partake in beer (that was The Quiet Man's department this trip-- these martinis were too good to pass up) the beer list looked fairly impressive as well.

But here's the real question of the night: is it the Best Bar of the Area? At the end of the night, I was forced to withhold judgement. To me, the process of declaring 'best bar' is extraordinarily subjective when you get down to it- something that our little challenge here could be accused of as well- so while I'm sitting on a final verdict until I've sampled all that there is out there, I will say this- Blackstone deserves to be up there in the discussion.

The Cigar's Grade: B

Why?: Although it's not really a t-shirt and jeans type of a dive bar and a touch too high falutin' for my taste, Blackstone has some damn good Martinis that are large and in charge. It's always a plus in my book when you look at soomething and think: 'Damn, that really was worth what I paid for it.' Blackstone, to me, delivers the goods. Best Bar? That's a question we'll have to wait and see about...

Food Adventures #10: Misadventures in Frosting

OK. New goal for the whole cupcake adventure I seem to be on: get the frosting right.

Don't get me wrong: I'm not necessarily a fan of half a ton of frosting on top of a cupcake. I don't think the frosting should be in equal proportion to the cupcake itself- that, to me, risks overwhelming what could be a very delicious cupcake itself. But I would like to actually have my frosting work out, for once...

So, a couple of new piping bags are in order, I think. (Ace Hardware apparently sells them. Check!)

I think some more practice, especially glazing things is also in order. (See below for more details... as you can see, my attempt at a glaze didn't go so well. Well, I guess the things are actually glazed and all, they just don't look quite right, somehow. Not what I pictured.)





But overall, take 2 on Cherry Bourbon Chocolate Cupcakes went extremely well. (Plus, as an added bonus for Nurse Ratchet's birthday, I soaked some glacee cherries in whipped cream vodka and let 'em soak a couple of days before sinking them into the middle of the cupcakes. A delicious burst of boozey goodness resulted.)

Food Adventures #9: Buffalo Chicken Egg Rolls and Crab Rangoons

For some reason I've been having a serious craving for Buffalo Chicken for awhile now- specifically in egg roll form and, as I'd never made egg rolls before, I thought, why not give it a shot? So I minced some green onions, red onions and celery, cooked up a couple of chicken breasts and shredded them up nicely- drowned them in Frank's Red Hot Buffalo Sauce and the following resulted:


Props to the Missus who handled the rolling duties- they say they work best if you seal them up with an egg wash (which we did) and I would also recommend spraying them with just a touch of Pam to get them a little crispy (we baked ours, we didn't fry them...) something that worked really well with the Crab Rangoons. But overall- awesome stuff. Even the Missus liked them and she will be the first to tell you that she is no fan of the spicy anything, much less Buffalo chicken.

Then we turned our attention to these:

You might not be able to tell all that well, because we made a TON of them and they're all piled together on one plate, but those are the first batch of homemade Crab Rangoons. I gotta digress here for a moment: the crab rangoon, to me, is one of the culinary treasures of modern civilization. A perfect one will balance the creamy goodness of the cream cheese and the flavor of the crab perfectly and to be totally honest, the quality of crab rangoons is what I judge pretty much every new Chinese restaurant I eat at by. (I know all the Iowa Citians will probably be jumping up and down and saying 'Jade Sisters! Jade Sisters!' But I have to disagree- the food was well cooked, to be sure, but overpriced and their rangoon failed to impress. Best Crab Rangoon in Iowa City was to be found at Easy Place Chinese Place, which used to be right next to Joe's Place until it burned down- a real tragedy. That food was amazing- so were their ran goons. And they delivered. I lived off that stuff for a whole semester as an undergrad...)

Anyway, these doohickeys were pretty easy to make. Cream cheese, green onions, crab, garlic salt. Mould it all together into a ball, splash a dollop onto a won-ton wrapper (seal it with egg wash again) and when you've got a tray full, spray 'em down with Pam. Crispy awesomeness will result. You want another picture? I know you do...

Here:

Mmmmmm... crab rangoons....

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

On Birth Control

The Obama Administration is set to battle with the Catholic Church over new rules that would require religious organizations to provide birth control, something called 'abortion producing' drugs and cover sterilization procedures for all their employees.

The Church, needless to say is pissed.

The President, thus far, seems to be holding firm.

This is kind of a tough one for me. I personally think that the Catholic Church's position on birth control is arcane beyond belief and utterly useless when faced with the realities of modern life today. It also contravenes the original spirit of Pope Paul's Encyclical Humane Vitae which officially disapproved of birth control yet put the decision firmly in the matter of the conscience of the individual, where, in my opinion, it belongs. So I can't say I'm totally unhappy about this.

Yet it leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Both President Obama and his predecessor have been busily seeking to grab as much executive power as possible back- reversing a trend that's been around since Nixon nearly crashed the whole damn thing- I don't like executive overreach, no matter that party and ultimately, while the Church shouldn't be dictating on matters it should know nothing about- (if you want to talk to me, have sex. Otherwise, I take no lectures from celibate anybody-) and should leave these decisions up to the conscience of the individual, where they belong- I have to come down on their side on this one. I don't want the government dictating things like this.

That said, I do think there's a limit to religious freedom. If you're a devout Catholic (a lot of Catholics I know freely use birth control btw. Ignoring the Vatican, especially when it makes especially arcane, idiotic pronouncements is part and parcel of being a certain rebellious flavor of Catholic) and you work at Walgreens and try to tell me you have the right to refuse to distribute birth control, well, I'm sorry no. And no, you don't get to lecture me either. I'm giving you money, you better give me the damn pills and thank the Good Lord you're employed- because a lot of people aren't- and even more people aren't making $90K a year as a Pharmacist. So those 'Pharmacists For Religious Freedom'? Yeah, they can go suck it.

It's all about finding a balance. For the Church, this is a matter of principle. For the Administration, it's about asserting the Federal Government's right to mandate what gets covered and what doesn't in the field of health care. It's a preview of some very dicey coming Constitutional attractions over the course of the next few years- but I do think if the Hierarchy expects millions of Catholics to pour into the streets over birth control, they're in for a very big surprise.

Prop 8 Struck Down

I think we can give this news a certifiable 'woot woot!'

That said, this is another one of those things that Conservatives will foam about and I get queasy about. You can't totally ignore the fact that people voted on this issue- lots of them, including, helpfully minorities wanting to vote for President Obama in 2008... on the face of it, it does seem like the courts flouting the much bally-hooed 'will of the people' but it raises an interesting question: what if a state voted in a referendum to ban interracial marriage? Or reinstate segregation? Or any number of other distasteful and frankly hateful things... what are the Constitutional implications of those scenarions. When does direct democracy have to take a back seat to our representative democracy? How do you find that balance, where do you draw that line?

Must Be Nice

...to be the UIHC. Not only are they embarking on a truly obscenely priced long range plan that includes not one, but two new towers, they're kick-starting construction of a new Children's Hospital and a ton of other stuff.

Now they want to make the Hospital more friendly and welcoming by making it more accessible, adding two new roads to connect Hawkins Dr. with Grand Ave. This is confusing me- first, they're proposing to extend the entrance drive past Pappajohn Pavillion and Ramp 4 to Grand Avenue. Either by looping around the Fieldhouse (dumping people in the ETC Parking Lot) or going straight through it. (Which would make even less sense to me, but this is the Hospital after all.)

The second option is just weird. They want to extend the road between Boyd and Colloton through to Grand? By removing a chunk of the building? Are we just kyboshing the entire Carver Pavillion then?

I'm all for reaching for the stars and stuff, but trying to be the Mayo Clinic is just a waste of time and money. Mayo pretty much took over a whole city- and a pretty good sized one as well. It's pointless trying to play catch-up, but I suppose that's what the Hospital game is all about when you get right down to it- and after all, why not go for the brass ring? You're the UIHC- the Board of Regents gives you everything you want and then some...

France Might Blow Up The World

So pay attention- there's a Presidential election over there and if the other guy wins over Sarkozy, it could be curtains for the Euro.

Also, in the continuing theme of 'wanting things back from Britain' Spain has made it's bi-decadal grumble about Gibraltar known. (Though the corollary to this, as someone points out in Via Meadia's comments is that they should probably return their Morrocan enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla.) Interestingly enough, under the terms of the Treaty of Utretcht, the Spanish get a pretty good deal: Gibraltar automatically reverts to Spain should the British want to give up possession.

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Fitness Challenge: January

Goal Weight: 195
Starting Weight: 249.2
Current Weight:

Sit-Up/Crunches: (goal is 100 a day)
xxxxxx

Push-Ups:(goal is 50 a day)
xxxxxx

Mile Walk: (goal is a mile a day)
xxxxxxxx

Rec Center:
xxxxxxx

Weight Room:
xxxxx

Soda Free For: 31 days and counting. (After consultation with the Missus, we decided that since the Hospital defines Sprite, 7UP and Ginger Ale as clear liquids they would not be included in the soda ban.)

This was an odd month. Picked up an elbow infection of some kind which made it swell it up like a balloon so I couldn't do much for a week or so. I'm getting back into rhythm now- slowly- I hope to pick it up and rev back up again in February. In the first half of the month, I think the Missus and I were really good about making smoothies and being extremely conscious of what we ate. I think that fell off a little bit in the back half of the month, so I'd like to get back to that a little more. I just really feel that cooking myself is healthier than eating out. Even if what I want to cook (cupcakes, for instance) aren't that good for me at the end of the day. It's going to be a long road, but I still think slow and steady wins the race.