F the man.

So, I have had too much work lately to read the news or watch the tube, so when my students told me about "National Pancake Day," I thought that it was an act of Congress, in the true American tradition of Arbor Day or Flag Day.   I made two types of pancakes, sausage, hash browns, eggs, and real Vermont maple syrup (thanks Mom and Dad-in-Law) for dinner to celebrate.

Can you guess how angry I became when, waiting for a journal article to download, I saw in the newspaper that "National Pancake Day" is an IHOP ***COMMERCIAL***!?!?!?!?!?!?

Sons of bitches. I have seen the sophistication of students PLUMMET in the past ten years. In all seriousness, I have to worry for the future of our civilization when the "best and brightest" (as in accepted to quite prestigious universities on full scholarships) cannot tell the difference between actual legislation and a god**** commercial.

If the Post is wrong and pancake day does exist, I still stand by my above statement.  We are doomed.  DOOMED!

I can't believe I made pancakes today.  What a complete jerk am I.  That is all.

sasquatch burger

My brother made a real good burger the other day.  Grilled cheese sandwiches as buns.  On inside is bacon, fried onions, and a beef patty.  Heart-attack-inducing, this sandwich is literally to die for.  I loved it.  That is all...

Here's the thing with a blog - you've got to devote some time to it. I am infamous in the household for taking pictures of meals and never using them on the blog. So, in an effort to procrastinate finishing my master's thesis (uh oh, two incompletes is the most you can take!) I will try to post some of my photo backlog and talk about some of them... Let's see how it goes.

As a well-known carnivore, it may be surprising that my new favorite chinese dish is tofu! When we first moved to Derwood, we ordered chinese from China Jade, near our kids' daycare. It was awful! I have a secret love affair with General Tso and his chicken, and their version is big fried doughballs in super-duper-sweet sauce. YUCK! So awful was it that for two years, we never ordered there again, instead making the trek to our Germantown favorite, House of Fortune. (Still recommend them for the BEST "americanized" chinese take out).

Recently, however, the WaPo wrote up China Jade as having an outstanding traditional menu. Skeptical, our family visited after the winter concert at the daycare. This restaurant should just discard the "non-traditional" menu.  After ordering from the "traditional" menu, we see the appeal in this place! I had KungPao Chicken (not nearly as sweet off this menu) and Meg had a noodle soup (simple, yet delicious - it had seaweed!) However, the real revelation came when trying to order a vegetarian tofu dish for Meg in our recent take-out. I thought "Ma Po Tofu" sounded great.  Little did I know...

Tofu, ground pork (yeah - not vegetarian...), chili oil, bean paste, green onions, and some kind of seasoning (five spice?) made this a spicy, yet delicious hit.  General Tso, get the hell out of here!  Jerk!

Mardi Gras

So I tried to make a gumbo for Mardi Gras.  It turned out OK.  I read on Wikipedia about gumbo, then decided to just go ahead without a recipe.  How bad can one screw it up with delicious ingredients?

Started with onion and garlic sauteed in butter.  I added flour and made a roux, and cooked it dark, as wiki suggested cajun chefs are wont to do.

Next, a can of diced tomatoes and its juice, plenty of celery, some frozen chopped bell peppers, lots of thyme, parsley, and oregano, a bit of salt, and about 2 cups of frozen sliced okra. 2 bay leaves. Also a can of vegetable stock (wish I had fish stock )o:).

Then a sliced up breast of leftover jerk-seasoned chicken, a bit of leftover ham steak, and simmer for a while.  Bay leaves OUT; Shrimp, sliced tilapia fillet, Chinoteague clams, and plenty of cayanne IN.  Also, the secret ingredient, sherry.  10 minutes more, served over rice. (I promise, it's under there somewhere!)

Now, jerks, onto the desolate season of lent.  That is all.

You've got to be careful with knives.

Here's the story. The kids had not been eating their dinners, so as Papa Jerk I ruled that henceforth there would be no snacks issued after 4:30pm.  One subsequent evening, around 5:30pm, the boy asked Mommy for an apple, which was cheerfully delivered to him.  An animated discussion ensued between Mommy and Papa Jerk, in which Papa Jerk was asked to at least cut a couple of slices for the poor boy who, after all, had not even eaten much lunch.

The cuts were made angrily, their speed and ferocity increasing with each muttered curse, until the bad feelings in the room physically manifested themselves in a fountain of crimson spilling across the cutting board and counter.

The moral of the story is that jerks should only cut in peace (har), not in anger. Also, that fingertips grow back pretty well.  And also that kids don't like apples for a while after their father douses a couple of them in his own blood.  Apparently that sort of thing leaves a pretty strong impression on a kid.  Two months later the kid is still telling me to be careful and not cut my finger each time I pick up a knife.

That is all.

Pizza Time!

OK, so it's been over a month. Signs of a bad blog. Well, there was the holidays and then tragedy.  And I'm a jerk, so please forgive me.

The kids and I made pizza one night. Vita had chunks of fresh mozzarella.  Luca had processed cheese-food slices and tomato.  I had spinach, tomato, fresh mozzarella, black olives, topped with oregano, red pepper flakes, black pepper, and black olives.

Boboli shells are pretty awful, I guess.  But they are pretty easy too, so...

That is all.