My best friend Ted is coming to town for the evening. We are going to see the Pat Metheny Trio which consists of Pat, Christian McBride, and Antonio Sanchez. Pat is probably my favorite jazz guitarist of all time. I'm always amused by how much we tend to bring down the average age of a jazz show. Why is it that young people just don't listen to jazz? It certainly isn't for lack of good stuff out there. Maybe its because there is more bad jazz than there is good jazz. Not to take an elitist stance on my taste in music but I always wonder why people flock to buy imnsfho rubbish, and then tell me my choice boring. Is it that many people don't want to really listen to music, are they more interested in singing along with the lyrics and dancing than they are thinking about what is being played? Anyway I guess I don't really care what people think of what I listen to, I just get annoyed when they let me know that it sucks.

But anyway this is the first time I will be seeing the Trio, I have seen the Pat Metheny Group twice now. If you have even a passing interest in modern jazz I would urge you all to listen to some of his stuff, especially either of the two albums Antonio Sanchez is drumming on. Not only is it very well composed but all of the players are professional musicians. I listen to music that is written and played by people I wouldn't necessarily consider professional musicians as well, but sometimes I just need to listen to a symphony orchestra play a complex piece of music.

We will most likely go out to drink somewhere thereafter if anyone is free later tonight. Although it may not be till 10:30-11pm.

Everytime I see this informercial I burst into laughter. Seriously who the fuck is buying this?



Oh god it gets better

Tonight somebody who holds slightly no significance in my life told me something that will change their life forever. It's not that I think nothing of this person, its that I don't really know her. She is around my age with similar circumstances. 27-28 years old pursuing a bachelors degree in (whatever)... and bang!, Pregnant! This makes me really think about where I am in my life. She is one of the most beautiful women I have ever known, but really what the kicker is not how smart she is, but how charismatic she is. She is one of the most genuine people I have ever met. I am worried sick about what the fuck she is going to do.

The dick who put her in this state is gone. She wants nothing to do with him, and I don't blame her. But how is she going to raise this child by herself?? I think I'm reasonably smart and resourceful, but how the fuck would I handle this? Life comes at you so fast sometimes. She is probably much more capable of raising this child by herself than I give her credit for, but I see how my best friend and his wife (in a stable home) deal with the day-to-day challenges of raising children. How is she going to do this while trying to better herself and get ahead?

this is getting ridiculous. My upstairs neighbors decided to leave for a few days and left their two dogs by themselves (well some guy comes to feed and walk them a couple times a day). But I am not exaggerating when I say they have been fucking barking almost non-stop for the last three hours. I'm tempted to hit the ceiling with a broom, but I have a feeling it will only make it worse. So much for sleeping tonight.

For the past couple of weeks I have been drooling over Rue Franklin's fall menu. It all sounds so delicious, but considering they aren't open on Sunday and I wanted to cook it myself, I decided to make an Autumn French meal. I was going to do a three course, but I thought that sounded a bit extravagant for just me. Plus I didn't really have the time to make an Apple Galette on top of the other two things I was cooking. I took both of the recipes from Anthony Bourdain's Les Halles Cookbook. Which I highly recommend for anyone who likes classic French Bistro cooking with a bit of unrefined commentary from the writer.

For the first course I made a pot of Onion Soup. This recipe includes lots of onions obviously, port, balsamic vinegar, a heart attack inducing amount of butter, slab bacon (which Wegmans does not have freaking have!), bouquet garni, crouton, and a mound of Gruyere. I find any dish that requires me to use a butane torch is all that much more pleasurable to make. I have a really shitty gas broiler in my dwelling and the torch is necessary to get that nice brown on the cheese.





Second course was Coquilles St Jacques. Basically this dish is dry scallops, again a ton of butter (this is French food after all), more heavy cream than a human should consume in one sitting, Fumet, shallots, chives and some champagne.





Both of these dishes are quite simple to make. The hardest part really is getting my crummy equipment to cooperate. It's a real PTA to get that nice brown color on my scallops with a beat up sauté pan and gas range that just doesn't put out the required amount of Btu's for the job.