"Maria's birthday" written by Joe on estrip.org

02/13/16 06:31 - ID#60420

Maria's birthday

Last night we went out to Coco with (e:mike), (e:dave), Tony and Maria for Maria's birthday.

There was way too much food to be had. (e:terry) and I split a veggie pizza but I don't think we even dented half of it after the frites.

Then we went back to have coffee and cake. I wanted to make a Chetna-styled sponge with white chocolate, lemon zest and curd with raspberry jam - but after cleaning the house all day, we ran out of time and had to buy a coop cake.

For future reference:

The sponge was dry. The baker would not make it on the bake off.

(e:mike) and (e:paul) got her another set of her favorite dishes as a present.

Permalink: Maria_s_birthday.html
Words: 140
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 02/13/16 07:02

Category: allentown

02/13/16 06:31 - ID#60419

Allentown Action

This was an action packed week in Allentown.

On Monday night, right after we went to bed, an ambulance flipped over at Delaware and North after an SUV ran into it.

They really need to take the rest of Delaware down to three lanes. It's too crazy aggressive on the four lane part.

Then on Wednesday, Bill's Deli on Allen was raided by the police. They found crack and guns by the counter. It always seemed so obvious to me - there's always the same few guys who circulate inside and outside the store all day long, always on cell phones, greeting people who drive up.

(In googling for the article, I found (e:tinypliny)'s review of the store)
(e:tinypliny,39934)
Weirdly enough it's still open. It makes me wonder about the other businesses in the building, like the one selling Nintendo 64 games, $5 hoodies and VHS tapes.

Governor Cuomo came to the medical campus to announce a Buffalo billion pharmacy company subsidy at Conventus. There were black SUV's swarming everywhere that day.

And they are now possibly using an old lab freezer as cadaver storage around the corner from the office of (e:paul) and I. We found that out after some real craziness Wednesday night at the office.

Permalink: Allentown_Action.html
Words: 224
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 02/13/16 06:56

Category: going out

02/07/16 02:16 - ID#60416

Goz Gozah and e:robert's birthday

This was a ridiculous weekend. Between Goz Gozah for (e:dianne)'s birthday and (e:Robert)'s birthday Saturday there was way too much crunkness.

The Goz Gozah drag show.

After the dancing was done, (e:paul) and I went to both Thirsty Buffalo and closed out the Pink. This was the most straight night of my life in a long time.

We hung out with Nathan after the pink at our house. He had his own theory of physics that I wasn't really ready for at 5 am - or ever really.

The next day (e:terry) and I went on a long walk around the city and to the coop. He managed to find both a knife blade and chunk of sharp glass within 500 feet of each other on Linwood. Here he is ready to shank someone.

Saturday was (e:robert)'s birthday which was another fun time.

Permalink: Goz_Gozah_and_e_robert_s_birthday.html
Words: 150
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 02/13/16 07:07

Category: poetry

02/07/16 02:13 - ID#60415

Surprise poetry slam

On the way home from work Thursday, (e:Paul) and I went to Cafeology for a coffee.

Something was strange, because they were open for two more hours, but were cleaning up - even though the shop was full of people.

It turned out it was a Pure Ink poetry slam

The surprise art made me feel awkward. I couldn't listen to the first two poems because I was trying not to laugh - by thinking about programming design patterns. I wasn't trying to be an asshole but it was so unexpected I didn't know how to react.

After a few people went up, I calmed down and was able to listen. There was a girl who had a poem about remembering everything men say to her, a poem about Cat in the Hat, and one about the Sunday bike ride. Some just sounded like babbling, and some were actually pretty good. To me, reading poetry seems less about the content than the delivery.

(e:paul) thought about reading his old (e:poetry) but didn't go up. I wish he did.

it made me think I would have no idea how to write a poem. Maybe I could read a program. But then I thought of how I can make up songs about butts, (e:paul) and (e:terry), dogs all the time and I don't even realize it. Maybe I should have recited one of them - could I be a poet and not know it?

Permalink: Surprise_poetry_slam.html
Words: 251
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 02/08/16 01:13

Category: food

02/03/16 01:01 - ID#60411

Dal Tadka

Continuing my Chetna love, I decided to make another one of her youtube dishes with (e:terry). This one is Dal Tadka, or just yellow lentil.

This recipie was also pretty easy but we had to make a few substiutions. Price Rite didn't have yellow lentil nor green chili pepper, so I used red lentil and a green pepper. No cilantro either for (e:paul).

The lentils were cooked with a teaspoon of tumeric and salt, almost into a soup. They became very foamy, I'm not sure if I did something wrong. Consistency was very good though.

The topping is cumin seeds, with chili powder, onion, pepper, garlic and tomato simmered together in a buttered pan. (She used ghee but I thought it'd be easier to use butter)

I wasn't as crazy about this one as the chana masala but it may have been the tumeric is overpowering. I thought it could use a hotter pepper and cilantro for sure, and more topping compared to the amount of lentils.

The rest of the night was spent reading more about domain driven design and event sourcing PHP frameworks. I really want to write about these because I really don't understand them.

Permalink: Dal_Tadka.html
Words: 211
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 02/03/16 01:07

Category: cooking

02/01/16 12:25 - ID#60410

British Bake Off and Chana Masala

At (e:uchina)'s house we watched a ton of baking shows. One was Cupcake Wars. The other was the Great British Bake off. The latter was much classier.

The bake off has 12 contestants competing in a weekly elimination in three different baking contests. Inexplicably, they're also cooking in outdoor kitchens on the lawn of a giant British estate. The judges aren't mean, they hug the losers and the host Mary Berry says things like "Your sponge is perfectly moist! Bang on, pussy!"

You quickly come to love/hate most of the bakers real quick. Norm is the boring grandpa you love. Ian is the beardy one. Diana is the cheating grandma, and Chetna is just my absolute traumfrau. She is from India and always has the best sounding dishes (onion and pine nut rolls). She's also the most beautiful contestant, so I'm obsessed.

She has a website where she teaches you how to make all sorts of cakes and desserts but also Indian food.

Terry and I made her chana masala. Suprisingly it wasn't as hard I thought it was going to be. I always was afraid of cooking Indian spices but we followed the video and it turned out amazing.

Browning the onion with coriander, cumin seeds, salt, garam masala, bay leaves, cinnamon and cloves.

(e:terry) chopping up garlic and tomatoes

Cook until brown

Simmer chickpeas in the mix until soft.

Amazing. I was so sad we ate it all

Permalink: British_Bake_Off_and_Chana_Masala.html
Words: 268
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 02/03/16 12:40

Category: rochester

01/31/16 04:07 - ID#60409

Highland Park hike

We did a little less lounging on Sunday and explored (e:uchina)'s neighborhood (I think it's called Highland Park). She has hills near her and I was so happy to climb them.

The temperature was warm. I wish I had brought shorts.

We stopped at a urban yuppie mall for egg sandwiches. There were a lot of soccer moms.

We took a few dog quizzes while walking around. It turns out (e:uchina) is a terrier/dachshund depending on who you ask.

Up at the top of another hill is the Rochester reservoir called Hemlock lake. Water from Hemlock lake flows down to this hill in a creek and is pumped up here. They have a fancy marble pump house and a nice path around the whole lake.

Everyone was on the track when we were walking. A man flying a drone way better than we ever could, a kid possibly spreading ashes on the hill (?! thankfully not in the water, gross), all the dogs you would ever want to spot

The hill has a good view. I wish Buffalo had a steep elevation change somewhere

360 foto for your VR viewing. I really want to get a 360 javascript viewer on (e:strip).

While we were walking around we noticed all these slides on the ground. At first I thought they were going to be someone's photos but it turned out they were old slides with photos of bacteria and a bunch of presentation text. The best was when (e:paul) found one with e. coli stuck in a pile of dog poop D: ::blech::.
Why did they end up next to a public trash can?

A radio transmission tower at the top of the hill

A secret swing. There was also secret mountain bike trails/ski paths

Permalink: Highland_Park_hike.html
Words: 314
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 02/03/16 12:58

Category: art

01/31/16 04:04 - ID#60408

Crafts at e:uchina's

Saturday was a lot of crafts and lounging at (e:uchina)'s.

We went out to brunch and (e:terry) had a giant fried french toast. I had a tofu scramble.

While we were there I tried my hand at crocheting. I am not very good at keeping my hooked holes tight.

Later back at the apartment, we drew a little bit. Masumi made valentine's, Paul made his trippy animals, and I drew an otter. Sometimes I wish I could draw better, but it's low on my list of things to practice. I try to follow those "sketch a circle, and another circle etc" tutorials - is that how people actually draw animals?

This lovely work of art was made by (e:uchina) at a Japanese restaurant near her house. Beautiful! I feel like I'm being swept away at some fancy ball(s).

Permalink: Crafts_at_e_uchina_s.html
Words: 146
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 02/03/16 12:45

Category: dancing

01/31/16 04:02 - ID#60407

Sole Rehab

Friday night we headed up to Rochester to go to our friend Tom's dj thing at this bar called Skylark lounge. We met up with Liz and (e:uchina) at her apartment.

The music was pretty good for house music but I think the best part about the bar was meeting and talking to all the Rochester gays. I think most of the bar was gay.

They also had a "Lord of the Rings" pinball machine. Here's Masumi and (e:terry) getting balls right in the flaming eye hole.

The night wrapped up at Tom and Derrick's awesome house a short walk away from (e:uchina)'s aparment. We frolicked around until 6 am with all sorts of drunken craziness.

Permalink: Sole_Rehab.html
Words: 122
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 02/01/16 03:48

Category: skiing

01/27/16 01:24 - ID#60406

Cross Country skiing

The next day (e:terry) and I went cross country skiing with (e:holly) and Brian. (e:paul) nursed his broken pinky toe at home (a casualty of the living room UFC tournament).

We went down to Byrnecliff Resort out past Wales. It was Brian's first time so we tried to stick to the easy trails - but at one point, a wrong turn had us going down hairpin curve on the hardest trail, which had little snow. It was fun but even (e:terry) fell the whole way down.

I got my skiing bearings by the end - we finished the afternoon with the a medium trail called Rusty Nail. Too bad we couldn't do the steep downhill path called powerline - but maybe another time when there's more snow. I like the isolation of Alleghany better but this is less than half the distance.

On the way home, we stopped to eat in East Aurora at a sandwich shop, before eating a cupcake next door. The food was good - but something drives me nuts about that town. It's all too quaint and suburban yuppie for me - like if you extracted only the expensive food and knicknacks off of Elmwood and dropped it in a place where everyone must drive.

Later we got home and relaxed a little bit. - then continuing on our consumption binge via another (e:paul) birthday dinner. This time it was with my parents and Mary. Birthdays now extend to three days apparently ;).