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James's Journal

james
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03/27/2009 19:35 #48216

Infused Vodka
Howdy,

I told the good folks in my office that I started this two weeks ago. And I should have, I had the bacon in the fridge. But I didn't have a handle of vodka and just saying I had started it was sure to get me to actually do it. Now that the confession is out of the way...

Let me confess something else. I hate vodka. I mean, the flavor is alright and it mixes well. But it is such a pedestrian liquor. Now I am done confessing...


What happens when you have this
image
image

and you add this
image

why, you get this
image

and this
image


so I am infusing Vodka with a vanilla bean in one jar and bacon and pepper in another. Three weeks in the dark cupboard until it is ready. Expect a future post.
tinypliny - 03/31/09 20:57
All of these look very uncomfortably similar to the jars outside pathology labs...
james - 03/28/09 09:19
OH! You remind me mike that the writer of that song, Thomas Dolby, is coming out with a new album this year!!!! YES!
mrmike - 03/28/09 08:30
You're gonna blind us with science
james - 03/27/09 20:54
I really wanted to infuse a bourbon with bacon. But it has too much flavor on its own for me to judge how I need to alter the infusing process in the future. Boring old vodka is a near tabula rasa.

And saphire. I think I might have me some to get this vodka near-flavor out of my mouth.
jason - 03/27/09 20:47
Damn. Now I really want that Aquavit, which actually has caraway in it as well. It has to by decree of the Swedish government. I look forward to your future infusion posts. More of a Sapphire guy myself, or perhaps a good bourbon.

03/23/2009 21:35 #48173

PriceRite
I bought a whole 14lbs frozen turkey.


FOR $3.98!

The place was so crowded I couldn't even check out the aisles, just the produce, meat, dairy perimeter.

Oh, and I just ate crabs I got there for $4. And I am not talking about the ones I got from the checkout clerk. HEY-OH!!!!

Seriously, that place is crazy awesome.
tinypliny - 03/24/09 19:24
This post totally screams HOGGING! LOL
metalpeter - 03/24/09 19:17
I love the crabs Line, I just hope you passed them onto someone else and aren't hogging them to your self, HA.
jason - 03/24/09 10:57
OH HELL YES to E-Strip BBQ. Why the hell haven't we done that before?
james - 03/24/09 10:09
The crazy thing is, there were clerks unloading bales of ribs into refrigerated cases. Customers would ask "well, how long are these prices going to last?" I heard that question half a dozen times and the clerks responded the same "these are our everyday prices. No sale."

It is now affordable to become a carnivore.

Did I mention I ran into the always delightful James Beatty? We were both fawning over a $20 leg of lamb the size of a keytar.

estrip BBQ
tinypliny - 03/23/09 21:46
Wow - are they going to go out of business because of this sale??!

03/19/2009 09:24 #48117

Stabbings on Elmwood
I was walking home yesterday and saw a bunch of police cars in the parking lot of the Wilson Farms on Elmwood near summer. The trunk of one car was open with a tree branch hanging out of it. A detective was questioning someone in the back of a patrol car. WTF?

Two people were stabbed and were treated at the hospital. But what was up with that branch?

Besides the pair of stabbings, Howard and Grayson were also charged with smashing the windshield of a woman's vehicle at 400 Elmwood and threatening her with a 5-inch steak knife.



I also saw an officer questioning the poor Wilson Farms clerk, from whom they got this hilarious bit of imagery.

They also face charges for fighting with each other around a nearby Wilson Farms store before entering the store and spraying blood all over Slim Jim products inside, police report stated.



Magic.
tinypliny - 03/31/09 21:01
That has got to be "dripping blood all over slim jim" unless they slashed an artery - in which case they would have been spraying blood.
lauren - 03/24/09 11:56
holy hell. i was on my way to work and saw the swarm of police cars...thanks for satisfying my curiosity!
metalpeter - 03/19/09 18:07
Great now all I have to do is worry more on my way home from places that not even that lot is safe when Just Pizza and Wilson Farms is open. In terms of the branch maybe that was what got used to smash the window or what ever was broken.
james - 03/19/09 11:37
Mike: That very pun was made when I told someone else about it.

Ho: That sentence was the whole reason I posted it.

I can't help but see Macho Man Randy Savage (I had to google it. I am not a freak.) jump out of a beverage case and get blood splattered all over him.
hodown - 03/19/09 10:39
"Spraying blood all over Slim Jim products.." Best part of the story.
mrmike - 03/19/09 10:39
He snapped into it
ladycroft - 03/19/09 09:57
Oh delicious.

03/17/2009 17:47 #48088

Birthday Party!
Ya, Matthew is having a birthday party this weekend. WHO CARES!

(e:Jim) will be celebrating second annual 29th Birthday! It will be at Bistro Europa on April 7th at 7:30. We will have the whole restaurant reserved for us, so I need to know if you are coming or not. So sign up here.
mrmike - 04/01/09 20:20
I'm in
ladycroft - 03/19/09 09:58
Wish I could but won't be in the neighborhood :(
heidi - 03/18/09 19:34
I'm in!
jenks - 03/18/09 08:35
dammit! I was all excited to say I'd be there (I love bistro europa, not to mention haven't seen any of you guys in ages) and then remembered- I will be in belgium. But happy 2nd annual 29th bday!
james - 03/17/09 18:48
It is a tuesday, the greatest day of all!
janelle - 03/17/09 18:07
Yes. And yes for Drew, who is really typing this.
tinypliny - 03/17/09 18:02
Its a tuesday.

03/11/2009 23:04 #48023

Pope Excommunicates Rape Victim's Family
I try not to talk about how much I utterly detest the Catholic Church (the Church, not Catholics). I feel it puts Catholics on the defensive, and I don't want anybody defending the indefensible. But crap rabbit, this shit just pissed me off all day.

In Brazil, a nine year old girl was raped by her step-father and conceived twins. Abortion is illegal in Brazil, except under certain circumstances. The girl weighed only 80 lbs, and would have probably died had she carried both babies to a team of doctors.

So here we have
1) Rape
2) Pedophilia
3) The life of the mother
4) Incest (sorta)

So, with the blessing of the state an abortion is performed and the life of the girl is saved.

And in steps the Vatican. They excommunicated the doctors for performing the abortion and the mother for consenting to it. "God's law is above any human law" the Vatican spokesbishop said.

This infuriates me for a number of reasons.

First, the life of unborn children is more important than the life of the mother. Rome is saying they would prefer the nine year old would die. All life is precious, the Church argues. But what they mean to say is unborn life is precious, the living isn't.

Second, the church has a right to their own ideology. If they are against abortion, I am fine with that. But the vitriol they have for abortion is unmatched. The mother and doctors were excommunicated. The rapist/pedophile father is, in contrast, is still in full communion with the church. They give a choice to the doctors and mother, either save this girls life or save your eternal soul. The rapist/pedophile is free to rape away until St. Peter welcomes him with open arms into heaven. Do rapist/pedophiles get to spend eternity with their step children in heaven?

The Church has held it up over the last century as the supreme moral authority on earth. More so as it lost its role as supreme political authority in Europe. The church will put the full force of its moral power onto a lifesaving act but will make high positions of authority who deny the overwhelming weight of evidence for the holocaust. Politics is always before morality. Morality is a tool to political ends.

When other denominations are having debates relative to the 21st century, it is upsetting, but not surprising, to see the church having the same debate it had in the 19th century.

If these are the actions used to define you are a moral authority, you do not deserve a seat among those discussing morality.
tinypliny - 03/15/09 19:00
I say good riddance. Soon all that will be left of them will be a bunch of pedophiles and rapists.
metalpeter - 03/12/09 18:48
First of all I agree kinda with what you are saying. First of all the raper should also be excommunicated. I think to excommunicate someone because they are raped and have an abortion is crazy and to do the same thing to the doctors, is really bad. But that being said to "The Church" Abortion is a sin. The circumstances don't change that. The fact that she was raped doesn't change that. A sin is a sin and because you had Just Cause doesn't not make it a Sin. From there point of view in really makes a lot of sense. I don't agree with there point of view myself. But see a lot of the church isn't about Morality, yes I said that it is about following the laws of god. Even though you didn't chose it when you are raped you had sex out side of marriage. Birth Control is a Sin so lets say she was on the pill (not that she would be at 9) and she didn't get pregnant then that would be a sin. I have also heard some arguments like this for breaking laws because based on god they are unjust laws. In terms of this belief system if you repent and do what you have to do, then yes you get into heaven. I still don't get why nothing happened to the guy. I wonder if there is more to this story then what is being reported. How often does a 9 year old have a kid, on top of that by being raped. I know it is Brazil but still. I'm not saying I agree with the church on this because I don't, I just think we don't have all the facts.
james - 03/12/09 15:21
I need to learn how to read. For a few seconds I was trying to think when the church was trying to protect boy-rappers like KrisKross
jason - 03/12/09 14:52
This is the institution that used "canon" to protect boy-rapers, so this comes as little surprise to me.
theli - 03/12/09 09:41
Pretty horrid.