I just found this today on youtube. It's pretty cool, somebody has orchestrated a bunch of old games and set it to a video. Apparently the Buffalo Philharmonic will be performing it this Sunday . Selections include Mario Brothers, Zelda, Tron and Final Fantasy. I would like to go but not certain I want to cough up $29 to see it especially since Rollins is tonight, the New Pornographers are next week Pat Metheny Trio is coming to Buffalo in two weeks. Sorry the video is kinda crappy but you get the idea.

mangosteens on the left, rambutans on the right

I don't recall what these were called, but I needed lots of water after eating one

One of two Durians I devoured

You can almost smell the goodness

After yesterday's fungi adventure I had a craving for some mushrooms in my dinner. This morning I found this recipe from Lidia Bastianich for Bucatini with Chantrelles, Spring Peas, and Prosciutto. I watched her make it a couple years ago on PBS and it looked fantastic. I hit a few obstacles along the way however, apparently Wegmans pasta selection sucks and they don't have Bucatini, so I reluctantly substituted it with Spagettini. Chantrelles are also quite expensive, although not the same price point as Iranian Caviar, but the recipe called for a pound of them and at $20/lb I opted for oyster mushrooms instead. Despite my flagrant butchering of the original recipe it turned out pretty good, although next time I will use regular peas instead of sugar snap peas. I have no idea if this recipe is Tuscan but I had it with a cheap bottle of Chianti and some Tuscan bread. Allegedly this serves 6 people but I would guess more like 8. This was much better than the typical lunches I had this week, which was pretty much just olives, havarti and apple cider.



I love Sundays because I actually have time to cook. It's probably one of the most relaxing things in the world. Taking a couple hours to buy the ingredients and tackle the prep list is therapeutic really. It has to be awesome to be a chef in some great restaurant and have some of the rarest, most delicious ingredients at your disposal. I suppose if this whole school thing at UB doesn't work out I will just move to NY and go to culinary school like I should have 10 years ago.

I went to Delaware Park today to complete a Bio assignment. Actually it was for extra credit, but I could certainly use an extra 10 points averaged into my lab grade. I had to collect different species of Fungi for 1 point each. I found eleven that seemed to be different species, but I suppose I will find out Thursday. It was a pretty nice out when I got there about 11:30am. By the time I left around 1pm, I was soaked head to toe and had dirt halfway up my shins. But I still had fun, it's a nice park but really disappointing to find trash all over the place. It always seems to be shit like empty steel reserve bottles, lottery tickets, and McDonald's bags. I guess it tells you the kind of scum that don't really care to keep the park looking nice. I also found someone's drivers license and state benefit card lying on the ground. I did my good deed for the day and mailed it to him when I got home. I left my return address off though in case he thinks I nicked his wallet.


I feel like a dealer

I blame my brother for my love of older British TV, except for Doctor Who, I really don't like that show much. But I love this show the Young Ones and particularly like this episode that Madness was on.