Geeky? maybe. But still totally freakin cool!

Lamb Stew
Since autumn officially started at 11:44am today I figured it was time to break out the fall recipes. This recipe is pretty easy to make, I stole ideas from so many different recipes over the years of making this I think its now officially mine. So first off you need to buy a few things.

3 lbs lamb, with the bones or 2 lbs without.
1 large onion or two small ones
1 lb of carrots
2 lbs potatoes
garlic
Fresh Thyme
Fresh Rosemary
Fresh Parsley
Bay leaves
Guinness
Beef stock
Flour
Oil
Salt
Pepper
Alright first thing:
Crack open a Guinness and start drinking.


Thinly slice the onions. Thinner is better for the texture of the stew.



Peel the carrots, chop them up



Peel and chop the potatoes.



!Warning! Cooking may result in injury (e:paul,45754)



Peel and roughly chop 3 cloves of garlic.



Ok, here is the hardest part. Take the meat and cut it off of the bone. It's kind of a pain in the ass really. The bones really make the stew taste a lot better. But if you are pressed for time or really just don't like to touch meat just them skip this part and buy less meat and cut it into bite size cubes.





Take some flour and season it with salt and pepper. Coat all of the lamb meat and bones with this.



Heat some oil in a large dutch oven or stock pot till its screaming hot.
Take 1/4 of the floured lamb parts and add it to the pot. If you put it all in at once it will turn grey. Once the first batch is done remove it, keep doing this till its all cooked. You might have to add more oil.



Now add the onions, you may have to reduce the heat. You don't want to hear that sizzle sound for very long. Just for the first minute or so. Cook these for 4 or five minutes.



While you are hanging out getting drunk chop some thyme, rosemary and parsley.



Once the onions have given off some juice add the garlic, potatoes, carrots, rosemary, thyme, the lamb and a few tablespoons of flour. Stir it all around till its smooth. Cook for a couple of minutes to get rid of that flour taste and to heat everything up.
Once it starts getting hot add 3/4 cup of beef stock and 3/4 cup of Guinness to the pot.
Stir in a handful of parsley.



Bring to a boil and reduce heat to simmer and cover it. Stir it every no and again. Once the potatoes are soft enough to eat its done. Pull out the bones and the bay leaves and serve it with bread and Guinness if you have any left by the time you are done. Happy eating.

Its currently still cooking. I will update with a final picture in a bit.

So this girl in California has decided to sell her virginity to pay for grad school. My favorite part about this is her undergrad degree is in women studies. What the fuck did she learn in those four years?

I realized today that I currently have in my possession five books that were loaned to me that I still haven't returned nor read in their entirety. Three of them were loaned to me BSE (before September 11th 2001). I took possession of the other two quite some time ASE. It's not that I have no intention of reading any of them. In fact the most recent ones I have read at least a portion of them. But I have to face it, I will never read the other three. Now I face the dilemma of returning these books unread. What will the loaners think of me? Will they want to engage in some sort of book critique? Should I just look for some sort of brief synopsis so I can fake knowing what the book was even about?

So I guess I have been in a blogging rut this summer. I have posted very little lately. But I did manage to steal this from my brothers blog , who originally stole it from this blog

Here's a chance for a little interactivity for all the bloggers out there. Below is a list of 100 things that I think every good omnivore should have tried at least once in their life. The list includes fine food, strange food, everyday food and even some pretty bad food - but a good omnivore should really try it all. Don't worry if you haven't, mind you; neither have I, though I'll be sure to work on it. Don't worry if you don't recognise everything in the hundred, either; Wikipedia has the answers.

Here's what I want you to do:
1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you've eaten.
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.
4) Optional extra: Post a comment here at www.verygoodtaste.co.uk linking to your results.

The VGT Omnivore's Hundred:
1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile     (does alligator count??)
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects
43. Phaal
44. Goat's milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth �60/$120 or more
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald's Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S'mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs' legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant.
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake

Engrish.com is one of the web sights of my taste. But in addition as for me this one is liked. That translates English in engrish. That when being boring, is large for the sake of. Elizabeth concerning that called to me. Occasionally, the place shows completely nonsense exactly, but other things measure somewhat strange time.

I had not posted the difficult here of the thing which ever since May is believed. I show the image of my dinner perhaps after the tonight.

Well it has been a long few days adjusting back to eastern standard time, starting class and working full time. It was a fun trip and nice to see (e:ladycroft), (e:lizabeth), and (e:john). I was a little worried about how meeting up might work with only one of us having a phone. But despite our lateness at Zagreb airport to meet (e:ladycroft) it went pretty smoothly. Anyway I'll let the pictures do the talking.


On the Danube across from the parliament building


Oh absinthe, the headaches you create.


Phone box and Metro station, Budapest


I love the separate traffic lights for bikers


(e:lizabeth) with cotton candy the size of her head


Szechenyi Thermal Baths at the city park, Budapest


I have no idea what this building is, I just thought it looked cool


view of the Danube from the Citadella


Whats left of my gulyas leves. I was told by the guy who served this to us that Hungarians take a shot of Palinka( which is a fruit brandy) after they eat gulyas leves.


Chain Bridge at night, Budapest


mmmm meggy minifank!! Which is mini doughnuts with sour cherry sauce.


The streets of Tokaj in Northeastern Hungary. Home of the world famous dessert wine Tokaji. And to think I used to hate dessert wine.


Rakoczi Pince, Tokaj. This is the largest and most famous wine cellar in Tokaj. They store and age wines from the Hetszolo Vineyards.


The tasting room at Rakoczi Pince, Tokaj. This is where we sampled some really awesome wines.


Gyomolcsleves, don't ask me to pronounce this, Hungarians couldn't understand me when I tried. It's a cold fruit soup that is served in the summer. It varied everywhere we tried it. Its basically a creamy soup made with sour cream and pretty much any kind of fruit can be added. Towards the end of summer when sour cherries are in season they are used more often than the pears we encountered frequently. This one also had whipped cream, black currents and blueberries. One place we had an awesome one(I don't have a pic), but is was a lime and peach cream soup with mint sorbet, absolutely delicious.


Train ride to Zagreb, to meet with (e:ladycroft)

So I haven't been here all that long, 8 hours including a 1 hour nap. But I have managed to learn a few things so far.

- Cigarettes come in packs of 19

- Do all of your shopping before 6pm

- Saying cheers in Magyar is really fucking difficult

- Don't go into clubs with hot women you meet on the street (not that I have experienced it, Lonely Planet warns of this, and there was a warning posted at our hostel)

- Orange soda officially kicks ass in all of the European countries Ive been to.

- Apparently chocolate and red wine make a fantastic sauce for lamb

- Camembert Cheese is a very popular menu item here.

For 8 hours I would say this is enough. Im currently dead tired and forcing myself to stay awake so I'm not up at 4am. Hopefully I will post some pictures of the (e:trek) soon.

Today I went to go pick up some kaffir lime leaves for my penang curry. I went to A Chau on Niagara street and the guy working the counter told me they weren't allowed to sell them anymore, in fact nobody in town could. Naturally I didn't believe him. So I went to the Niagara St. Asian Market which is only a block away and asked for them and was told the FDA banned them 3 months ago. Apparently they will be fined $10,000 if they are caught selling them! $10,000 for some fucking leaves??? It's bad enough I can't get fresh mangosteens(easily) or durian in this country, but now my lime leaves too?? I am seriously planning a trip to Canada just so I can smuggle a stash of this stuff. Fuck the FDA! I am going to be a one issue voter this year, any candidate that pledges to cut FDA funding will get my vote.

Ok, so does anyone have a really good explanation as to why you aren't supposed to put hot water into a coffee pot?? I'm not certain I believe this, but several people tell me its "bad".