First, I made pickles today. I wanted to do this for a while. I didn't have exactly the right stuff but I think they came out. I used red wine vinegar instead of the white kind, because it is the only kind I had at home besides apple cider and that kind was too strong.

So the recipe that I totally made up was:

10 cukes (the pickles themselves)

2 cups of red wine vinegar
5 garlic cloves
crushed black peppercorns
some fresh thyme
some mustard seeds
A tablespoon salt
a bit of red onion
a tablespoon brown sugar
2 bay leaves
I HAD NO DILL :( but I bet it would be good

I boiled everything together except the cukes which I cut up into spear. Then I put the spears in the jars and ladled the hot vinegar broth into the jars. They already taste good 5 hours later. I imagine in the next day or two they will be great.



Then (e:terry) and I made a whole Korean style dinner, in which I used the pickles.



Afterwards, we also made fiddleheads. It was the first time I ever made them. I did not use this recipe because (e:matthew) and (e:terry) don't like procuitto but it sounds really good. On a side note do you think it is bad that I have eaten one piece of procuitto almost every day for about 5 months.

Holy crap, i am getting so ripped off on it. Looks like a whole leg of San Danielle Proscuitto is only $224.99 and that is 15 pounds. I pay like $10 for 3 ounces. I seriously am getting that as soon as we get our new fridge when Dave moves out in June. It will last like a year.

FIDDLEHEAD FERN WITH PROSCUITTO

Serves 6

Kosher salt
2 pounds fiddle head ferns, tripped and washed
24 paper-thin slices prosciutto
6 tablespoons brown butter
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1. In a large pot bring 2 quarts water and 1 tablespoon salt to a boil. Fill a medium bowl halfway with ice water. Drop the fiddleheads into the pot and cook for 1 minute. Drain the fiddleheads in a colander, then submerge in the ice water until completely cool. Let the fiddleheads drain well in a colander and wrap them in a clean kitchen towel to dry.

2. Arrange 2 slices of prosciutto on each of 6 room temperature plates.

3. Put the brown butter in a large saute pan over medium heat. Add the fiddleheads and toss gently, adding 1/2 teaspoon salt and the pepper. Heat for a minute or two until they are warm, then divide the fiddleheads among the 6 plates. Serve at once.

There were all these pretty flowers on the tree in the backyard.


Check out how big Basra has gotten.

Today, we went to go work on the front yard at the rental property. The house next store is cleaning out something. I am glad they are cleaning, but the mess looks unreal. Why can't they put he junk in actual bags.



So someone stole our trash bin and to make it even crazier, I think the tenant that moved out, just stole my grandmother's hutch from the attic. There is no one else that could have really gotten into the attic to take it. The downstairs tenants, the only other people with access were home and they did not have it. His apartment is empty since he moved out and the hutch is gone. Really, no one could have taken it but him.

So I called him and he said he didn't know what a hutch was. I described it and he said he didn't take it. Most definately someone did, as it was there the last time I looked in the attic and it was quite large. It makes me really angry. I am not giving him any security deposit now. I guess what that is for, but still its not the same as my grandmother's hutch.

These are some pics of the rooms. It is not too bad and is for rent if anyone is looking for a second floor apartment right next to D'youville Every tenant has a different idea with how the inside should be painted so I am leaving it up to them. I will pay for the paint. The last time I painted all the trim brown with really expensive oil paint and two weeks after they moved in, they painted it gray with cheap flat latex.

The dining room is cute and opens to the living room




3 bedrooms




A kitchen that needs a new floor, I think we are probably doing that before someone else moves in. The floor is very 50s.




The bathroom has the old style tub like in the back bathroom at my house but we added a shower head.

I am totally confused why there is almsot no information about household disposal of chemicals. Since we moved to this house I have collected a vast amount of household chemical from the previous own and put all the containers in totes. They are starting to rust. It is dangerous and I want them to go away.

They refused them when I brought them to the dump. The garbage people don't take them. What the hell am I supposed to do with them. There is no information on that I can find on google about household hazardous waste disposal in Buffalo, NY. I hope by writing this, someone will come forward with an answer and then everyone else who searches for the info will find it here.

This is the container they are in. It is warping from the chemical vapors. Our garage leaks so it is not in ideal conditions. I refuse to bring it in the house.


The containers are now all swimming in some sort of sludge.


How come there is no information about this on the web. Does everyone just throw this shit in the garbage? Is that what I am supposed to do. It seems too dangerous, but I need somewhere to properly dispose of it.

He is now free according to this A.P article. I always wondered how long they would drag this out. I wonder if the whole thing was really good for his career in the end but probably, bad for his blood pressure.

Biomaterial charges against N.Y. art professor dismissed

Apr 21, 2008

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) - A judge threw out charges Monday against a college art professor accused of improperly obtaining biological materials for an exhibit protesting U.S. government food policies.

U.S. District Judge Richard Arcara ruled that the 2004 mail and wire fraud indictment against Steven Kurtz, a University at Buffalo professor, was "insufficient on its face."

Kurtz is a founding member of the Critical Art Ensemble, which has used human DNA and other biological materials in works intended to draw attention to political and social issues. His arrest drew protests from artists in several countries who called the charges an intrusion on artistic freedom.

I just got this from a Linwood Block Club member. It makes me want to buy a gun but I think I am going to settle for some more high tech things like a tazer. I would have no moral qualms with killing people who attempted to touch my electronics.

FYI, our house near West Ferry was burgled yesterday morning.

Our wonderful neighbor Nick scared them off and called the police, but not before they managed to steal some valuables (laptops, digital camera, couple of old cell phones, some jewellery...). Basically anything with recognizable value they could shove into backpacks.

The two thieves he saw were young black boys, wearing hoodies. They were probably PRE-TEENS. They pried open a back ground floor window using a tire iron, and then crawled inside.

There may have been others, because they pulled out just about every drawer in the house and dumped the contents. And they didn't have long in there. I left around 8:30 and Nick saw them about 10 am. They ran east towards Main Street.

So watch your back windows. Ours had the usual sash lock plus an additional sliding security lock (slides into the path of the window so it won't slide up very far). They applied enough force to break the sash lock out of the sash, popped the stops part way out, and then push the sash off its track around the security slider. I suspect they still only got in because they were so small.

Crazy that they we pre-teens, its just like that avanadalism last week at the Massachusetts avenue project. Do you think adults train these children or they do it on their own accord?