"What's more addictive than potato chips?" written by Tinypliny on estrip.org

01/08/10 10:48 - 15ºF - ID#50774

What's more addictive than potato chips?

If you answered popcorn (or nothing), you would be wrong. Utterly, absolutely, WRONG.

It's Kale Chips! The recipe is so ridiculously simple that even I could have made it 4 years back, but didn't.

To make up for that lamentable lapse, I just made and devoured a kilo of kale chips in addition to the kale salad I had earlier. If you see a greenish looking person scuttling about tomorrow, its probably a safe bet to assume that they are not from Ireland.

If you don't put on your coats and boots, rush to the nearest kale selling-store (or your fridge, if you are already a kale-eating monster), make these chips RIGHT NOW, you will have a sad potato-chip-filled or popcorn-filled Friday evening, suckers.

Assuming you now have that kale in hand, wash it, strip the leaves from the stalks, tear the leaves into BIG chip sized pieces, dry it, spin it down, toss in some olive oil, juice from a quarter lemon and a liberal sprinkle of salt. Dry the leaves at around 90 Degree C (yeah, yeah, F it ->

) for 20 minutes or till the leaves are a dessicated dark earthy green.

DO NOT burn them. Do not raise the temperature. The idea is to dry them, not roast them. They taste THAT much better when dried (than roasted). Watch carefully around the 20-30 minute mark. Just drag a chair in front of your oven door and keep staring at the kale. They will transform into junk food craving gold.

I can't quite explain how they taste, they are bizarrely awesome and extremely addictive. If I keep going at this rate, I might just beat out Pizza Hut in Kale consumption.

Permalink: What_s_more_addictive_than_potato_chips_.html
Words: 292
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: grocery

01/08/10 07:01 - 17ºF - ID#50772

Exchange at the grocery store.

Me: (to very happy-looking matronly but slightly intimidating tall Latino (HLMSITL) woman picking out the last piece of odd-looking squash that I wanted to try) Ah, so you like that squash?

HLMSITL woman: (waving the rather sizeable squash about as if it were made of sponge) I do. VERY much.

Me: How, would you say, is it different from Acorn squash or Butternut squash?

HLMSITL woman: Hmm... its firm.

Me: You mean firmer than butternut?

HLMSITL woman: Yes, and also (pointing to the acorn squash) this one.

Me: (persisting in the hope that she may realize that I have never tried it and maybe, just maybe give it away) Firm in what way? More fibrous?

HLMSITL woman: No, firm as in even after cooking you feel like it could get caught in your throat and choke you to death while eating it. (Makes a choking gesture at her neck with both hands and rolls eyes around, manages to look rather alarmingly like she is actually choking.) Like THAT. And I LOVE that, you know?

Me (to myself): Nopes, I definitely don't know.

Me (to HLMSITL woman): Wow. How fascinating! *Smile Smile. Edge away*

Permalink: Exchange_at_the_grocery_store_.html
Words: 193
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: opinion

01/07/10 08:58 - 26ºF - ID#50767

What Lies Beneath...

You just can't deny it [1-5].

References:
1. (e:theecarey,50736)
2. (e:theecarey,50766)
3. (e:theecarey,49743)
4. (e:theecarey,45899)
5. (e:theecarey,35925)

Permalink: What_Lies_Beneath_.html
Words: 20
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: i-tech

01/07/10 06:31 - 26ºF - ID#50765

My Laptop Battery is Dying.

My laptop battery goes from 96% "discharging" to 5% "Critical Battery Level, Shutting down NOW" in 20 minutes flat. This is with the monitor off and on lowest power consumption settings. It never reaches 100% charge, according to the battery monitor. I always see it hovering around 95%. Worse, it takes just 20 minutes to charge to 95% .The laptop and battery are just around 1.5 years old. :/

I guess I am partially to blame for this poor battery performance because I really should have run the battery through the charge-discharge cycle all this time, instead of running it from the AC outlet power most of the time.

Maybe Sanyo makes trash batteries. Who knows... Mine is a
LION NS2P3SZNJ5WR

I have learnt my bitter battery lesson in time for my next Chrome OS powered netbook - which hopefully is just round the corner.

Permalink: My_Laptop_Battery_is_Dying_.html
Words: 139
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: the odes

01/04/10 09:47 - 17ºF - ID#50739

Quirky++

(e:himay), "Ack!"? Really? Think again! ;-)

Permalink: Quirky_.html
Words: 9
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: music

12/27/09 02:54 - 31ºF - ID#50667

Irrational favourite song.

Who knows what miracles you can achieve...
When you believe, somehow you will!
You will, when you believe!

::DOWNLOAD SOUND::

I love this song. I could listen to it on a loop for a solid 1 hour or more. I know, because I have done it. The lyrics are so irrationally and completely positive and that, I think is part of its magic. Of course, the other part is Whitney Houston's smashing powerful voice. Anything she sang turned into an impressive crashing waterfall of sonic gold, back in the day.

Permalink: Irrational_favourite_song_.html
Words: 91
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: eating in

12/26/09 04:14 - 33ºF - ID#50664

Can I grind up pasta to get flour?!

Well, what do you think? I am slowly getting through everything on my grocery shelves. The idea is to completely finish all stored grains, grain products, lentils, beans, rice and other non-perishables in the next 6 months. I am on a clean-up-the-whole-kitchen-and-start-completely-afresh drive.

I have some pasta but I am not very keen on making it because I tend to cut down on my vegetable portions if I eat too much pasta with regular meals. I do want to try my hand at some bread again - so if I take the pasta (white, acini de pepe) and grind it to a coarse powder will that make a good bread flour along with ground bulghur? I am thinking of making some kind of fruit/banana/apple based bread.

Does this sound insane? Well... it does sound a bit weird but still, do you think it might just possibly work? Thoughts?

Permalink: Can_I_grind_up_pasta_to_get_flour_.html
Words: 149
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: art

12/26/09 11:43 - 36ºF - ID#50660

Julie and Julia

Is pitch perfect.

Only, I think Amy Adams was a very poor choice. She is just too goody-shoes to be convincing and absolutely fades in front of Meryl Streep. That actress who played Bridget Jones could have been more effective. The real author could have been a fabulous choice.

The movie was a nice contrast between the 60s and now; a look at just how far we have come in terms of personal freedom of expression without bureaucratic constraints. Evidence is this blog that came to life as the movie.

Of course, being recognized for it in the face of enormous odds of sinking into oblivion, is a fairytale and a real one. But really, that is very thin justification for casting that chirpie unreal disney fairytale fluff woman. I think the movie could have done on the "Julie side" with a lot more grittiness and conviction - would have made it happier, ironically.

Throughout the movie, I wondered about the cooking. If Julia Child's cooking was so iconic here, what influence did she really have on American home-cooking, in general. Could it be that her rich French recipes were slightly misinterpreted across the pond and people ended up with more plaque in their arteries than they could manage? I have never really read her recipes or seen her shows but what were the portion sizes she advocated? Anyone know?

dimartiste writes at 04:17:58 12/28/09 - Comment #54053: Did you get the DVD with the Bonus Disc? It was more expensive,but my mom and I watched it the other night over Chinese Take out. Go Figure! Anyhow. This movie really got me thinking about the courage Julia Child had and what she did for American Cooking. As well as blogging, but I mentioned that in my post. The extras were cool. There was a 90 minute best of the best with Julia Child. Merryl Streep did an amazing job. Rene Zellwiger definately can do train wrecks better than most. Have you seen New In Town? Very funny. I did like Amy Adams in both rolls. Although during the meltdowns a page from Bridget Jones would have made for an intreguing possiblity. Although the real Julie did not seem the same as either might have portrayed her.

tinypliny writes at 12:59:38 12/26/09 - Comment #54022: Hehehe, I didn't say I dislike Adams, in fact I think she was way beyond AWESOME in Enchanted (which I LOVED!) but it is just that the original author of Julie and Julia was not as privileged or "sophisticated" as the real Julia Child seems to be. She was forced to blog at a time when her life was full of negatives.

I know they tried to portray it in the movie, but I am really critical of cooking movies, so I felt something was missing in sarcasm and darkness that goes into cooking usually - on Julie's side. It was too sunny. Sometimes, humour is just dark. Cooking humour is almost 90% dark. I simple HATED that movie "No reservations" because it was terrible in my opinion. I liked this movie but I couldn't identify with any of the cooking or the chefs, and that took away something from the movie. Maybe I had too high expectations... But the movie, on the whole, was beautiful.

The cinematography was amazing, the colours popped everywhere, the sets were detailed and really picture perfect!

mike writes at 11:55:05 12/26/09 - Comment #54016: I'm sorry you are so wrong but Amy Adams was perfect for that movie! I loved the movie and i loved her. But i always love her so maybe i am bias. But i love that movie!

Permalink: Julie_and_Julia.html
Words: 237
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: eating in

12/21/09 07:58 - 28ºF - ID#50619

CSA: First Share Pickings (Thorpe Farms)

My first winter share through the Community Supported Agriculture plan from Thorpe Farms was waiting for me today morning under my office desk - thanks to my wonderful officemates. :) It was quite a surprise. Given that four of us are splitting the share, I wasn't expecting much but I received:

Grapefruit

Florida Oranges

Tangelos

Carrots

Turnips

Beets

Radishes

Garlic

Onions

Parsnips

Brussel Sprouts - on a stalk!

Swiss Chard

Potatoes

I gave away the potatoes because they are banned from my kitchen. I also gave away the garlic for no particular reason.

PS: Just roasted some of these root veggies and they are incredibly tasty! They beat regular grocery veggies by oodles and oodles of awesomeness!

Permalink: CSA_First_Share_Pickings_Thorpe_Farms_.html
Words: 142
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: opinion

12/18/09 06:40 - 22ºF - ID#50598

Christmas Presents

What odd/crazy things are people getting for other people this holiday? I am asking because I need to put together a collection of odd/crazy things for someone and a standard gift-basket seems like a boring thing to do. I already have one apparently nifty thing on my list and one thing that I know the person likes:

a) The scalp massager.
b) Super-Soft Fuzzy Blanket

But that's about it for my list. I can't think of anything else thanks to my completely dead unimaginative brain when it comes to gifts.

What small strangely crazy/useful/fun/weird things did you get or gift that you always remember or had tons of fun with? Any ideas, suggestions for random things are really really appreciated! :)