Cocktail Confessions

NASA’s Cassini spacecraft has captured the highest-resolution temperature map to date of Saturn’s moon Mimas, and it found Pac-Man.

Mimas, one of Saturn’s many, many moons, is notable for several reasons. According to Wikipedia, it’s the “smallest known astronomical body that is thought to be rounded in shape due to self-gravitation.” For a sci-fi nerd, Mimas is notable because its singular prominent crater immediately brings to mind the Death Star – that’s no space station, that’s a moon! Now, NASA’s Cassini spacecraft has taken temperature-map photos of Mimas that give it another claim to fame: It’s secretly Pac-Man.

Specifically, it’s Pac-Man eating a dot, as seen here to the right. I mean, that’s unmistakably the classic videogame icon right there. I wonder if they’ll find Inky, Blinky, Pinky and Clyde on any of the other moons while they’re at it?

NASA itself hadn’t been expecting to find the Pac-Man in the Moon, either:

Scientists working with the composite infrared spectrometer, which mapped Mimas’ temperatures, expected smoothly varying temperatures peaking in the early afternoon near the equator. Instead, the warmest region was in the morning, along one edge of the moon’s disk, making a sharply defined Pac-Man shape, with temperatures around 92 Kelvin (minus 294 degrees Fahrenheit). The rest of the moon was much colder, around 77 Kelvin (minus 320 degrees Fahrenheit). A smaller warm spot — the dot in Pac-Man’s mouth — showed up around Herschel, with a temperature around 84 Kelvin (minus 310 degrees Fahrenheit).

As it turns out, Pac-Man is defined by temperatures at a balmy -294 F. No wonder he eats so much – gotta stay warm somehow!

Credit to Escapist.com via G4

“If you watch ‘JAWS’ backwards, it’s a movie about a shark that keeps throwing up people until they have to open a beach.”

This episode was a little fun to do. I started off of a script that I had written out which I thought was pretty good and witty, but upon reading back into a portable recording device, just sounded stiff and un-natural. After a few additional attempts and not liking any of them, I decided to throw the script out the window and record free style…in one take.

The result is something that sounds more real and fluid, although like most, I needs to work on my “um’s” and “uh’s”.

In this episode I start off by talking about a dinner party I was recently invited to by my friend Jon, and avoiding a piano bar party that my wife attended that resulted in chaos (people throwing up, getting thrown out, loosing articles of clothing) to a posh little place called Hush in Laguna Beach, CA. It’s a swank place with very good food (I’d give it a 4.25 stars on a scale of 5), great atmosphere for an intimate dinner party or romantic evening with your significant other. They have a very cool bar that is relaxing on the eyes and a mellow vibe with top shelf liquor.  Hush is a small place, but sometimes smaller is indeed better, and it’s hard to put into words, but the aesthetics is akin to a mash up of modern art meeting an episode of Miami Vice.

Next off we end up at the local chapter of Long Beach’s, “Club Bounce“, which none of us was really prepared for.  This Laguna iteration can be found in a subterranean bar on PCH that doubles as The Main Street Bar.  What I and most of our party didn’t know is that this location is a gay and lesbian watering hole, and needless to say it was quite the eye opener.  I loosened up with some liquid encouragement in the form of Manhattans and ended up dancing the night away, even if I was just a piece of meat in an all girl mechanic mosh pit.  I did learn a few things the next day however: 1) I need to work on my cardio as I was totally out of breath at various points in the evening, 2) my club shirt was the most feminine article of clothing in the joint clearly labeling me as a ‘metrosexual’, 3) cheap whisky and heavy handed sweet vermouth equate to a serious next morning headache.

 - gallery coming soon -

I also finally saw the movie juggernaut that is know as Avatar, but in 2D.  It was good and I enjoyed it, but because maybe I didn’t see it in 3D or IMAX I’m not sure what all the hype was about.  In my personal opinion it wasn’t as good as people made it out to be, and I also understand why some critics call it ‘Dances with Wolves’ in space.  I saw a lot of other, shall we say ‘borrowed’ elements and ideas from World of Warcraft and the Star Wars franchise, especially ‘Return of the Jedi’.

Finally a few tidbits on some of the science fictions shows I’m currently watching such as Lost and FlashForward.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (32.1MB)

Living in southern California has afforded me the ability to try a lot of various cuisines, especially those of ethnic design, and living so close to Mexico, you can assume I have tried quite a variety of south of the border dishes.

One of my favorites, especially when it comes to the fast food or snack like varieties comes in the form of fish tacos.  There are numerous styles and ways of preparation and there is no really wrong way to make fish tacos, it’s all about personal taste.  The recipes and ingredients can be very diverse, and everyone seems to have their own spin.  I have had beer battered, grilled, rubbed, and fried.  Fish can be anything from swordfish to cod to halibut or any other white fish…(even salmon), and I’ve even had calamari tacos.  Styles include Baja and Sonoran as well as Tex Mex, or just plan ‘straight up’ tacos.

Here on the west coast are two popular chains, Rubio’s and Wahoo’s.  That’s not to say they are the only chains or providers of fish tacos, but as far as consistency and brand name recognition, they are the dominant players.  Each has their own fans and detractors for various reasons, and their own unique signature recipes (which are quite different in fact), but I for one just seem to prefer Rubio’s.  You can check out their websites for their interesting “How we originated” stories, and colorful histories.

Anyway, in my quest for trying to obtain fish taco recipes via Twitter pleas, neighborhood inquiries, cookbooks and more, I’m pretty excited that I found a knock-off recipe for Rubio’s tacos on the web.  As I’m a firm believer in giving credit where credit is due, here is the site link which I took this from.

Of course, like most recipes, feel free to experiment a little to make it your own.  Here, I plans on adding a little adobo sauce and cilantro to the white sauce, maybe a little extra spice (say cumin or chipotle powder) to the flour, and maybe some heart healthy substitute for the mayo…..just to begin with.  And pick your own craft beer for flavor.

Also, instead of frying in oil, an even healthier option is to just grill the fish on the BBQ using the appropriate flat grate or tin foil (so as the fish doesn’t fall through and get lost).  I may also add some pinto or blacks beans and top off with a little bit of mexican cojito cheese.

Rubio’s knock-off Fish Tacos:

Ingredients

(6 servings)

-12 Cod or favorite whitefish fillets (1-1/2 oz ea.)
-12 Tortillas, corn, as thick/fresh as possible

BEER BATTER:
1 c Flour
1 c Beer
Garlic powder, pepper to taste

WHITE SAUCE:
1/2 c Mayonaise
1/2 c Yogurt

SALSA:
1 Garlic clove, peeled and minced
6 Tomatoes, ripe, peeled, seeded and diced
1/2 Onion, minced
2 tb Cilantro leaves, chopped, stems removed
2 Jalapeno chiles, seeded and chopped
1 1/2 ts Salt
1/4 ts Pepper
Oil for deep frying

GARNISH:
1 Head cabbage, green, shredded
1 Lime, cut into wedges

Instructions

-Mix flour with favorite spices such as garlic powder, red or black ground pepper. Stir the flour mixture into the beer and mix until well blended. Wash fish by dipping in cold, lightly salted water or water with a little bit of lemon juice added. Be sure fish is completely dry before dipping into batter.
-Prepare salsa; reserve.
-Put the vegetable oil into a deep skillet and bring to 375F. Place fish in a single layer–do not let pieces touch each other. -Cook fish until batter is crispy and golden brown.
-Heat corn tortillas lightly in a skillet or grill until they are soft and hot.
-To assemble, on each tortilla layer the fish fillet, white sauce, salsa and cabbage. Top it off with a squeeze of lime. Fold tortilla over to serve

I’m a big fan of lime juice, so I know I’ll have plenty of limes nearby.  I also like Negra Modelo mexican lager, but go ahead and have a Tecate or Corona beer, or even a nice margarita to go along with it.

By the way, if you have a killer fish taco recipe you want to share or have a suggestion on the one above, feel free to email me.

Yesterday was St. Patrick’s Day, one of those pseudo holiday’s that we as Americans have hijacked as one of our own in order to justify the act of getting piss ass drunk for no real reason at all and kid ourselves we really do indeed look good in green.

Where as Cinco de Mayo is to tequila body shots and garish ranchero music, St. Patrick’s day is about kissing strangers, copping feels and pinching.  You don’t even need to be Irish or red-haired, just some green accessories such as old Mardi Gras beads, paper top hats, and the requisite “Kiss Me…I’m Irish” shirt…even if you’re more Indian than a tech-support call center employee.

This year, it happened to be on a Wednesday, and I did pretty good job of surviving.  In years past when I lived in Huntington Beach, CA (I was in my mid to late 20’s) the ‘it’ places to be on March 17^th, was the ever popular Malarkey’s, known for their Sheppard’s pie and cheap drinks.  If you were near Costa Mesa, then it was The Harp Inn.  Hennesy’s Tavern of either Dana Point or Laguna Beach were other local favorites. 

All these places had a few things in common: 1) they were ridiculously over-crowded, 2) they often shook you down with a $5-$10 cover charge for no other reason to get a few more bucks out of you, 3) and usually offered some sort of live entertainment in the form of an Irish band.  I remember seeing The Finnegans a few times before they got as big as they are now.  I also drank copious amounts of Guinness or Harp beers, and danced the night away to bag pipes and folk music and was still able to bounce back the next day and make it to work.  I even hooked up a few times as well, but those are stories for another time.

This year I happen to meet some friends over at Rudy’s of Foothill Ranch.  It’s current incarnation is that of a sports bar and it seems to be doing fairly well.  It’s changed names and management at least four times in the last eight years, but I have a feeling Rudy’s may be around a while. 

It was decidedly un-Irish, other than the fact they added food coloring to their beers and cocktails and had reduced pricing on Guinness.  No real decorations, no Irish swag given at the doors, no corned beef and cabbage plates, and the music was satellite radio classic 80’s and 90’s mix.

They happen to have a fairly sizeable patio area, and it was so warm yesterday (I think the high was 88) we chose to sit outside and gab.  I guess you could tell we’re all in our late 30’s and early 40’s now as we were noticeably much more subdued than I can recall from years past.  I had a total of 4 green pints of Bud Light.  Yup, that’s it.  I didn’t hit any hard stuff like whisky or cocktails, although my wife did actually have green Crown Royal on the rocks.  By the way, that green die they use is nasty.  After a few drinks, everyones lips, tongue, and even teeth had a sickly greenish hue to them.  Not appealing unless one has beer goggles I suppose.

Our appetizers included chips & salsa, French fries, and Kobe sliders.  Doesn’t that just scream Irish to you?  Just to let you know, Rudy’s fries are indeed some of the best French fries I’ve ever had in my life.  They are always perfectly cooked, crunchy, and golden.  Their sliders are pretty damn good as well as they use Hawaiian bread for the buns.

Whereas in the past St. Patrick’s Day would keep me out to the very late hours or closing time and begging for a hangover, this time around I was in and out after just two hours.  No, I looked forward to going home, taking a nice hot shower and sitting my duff in front of the boob tube with my dog on my lap.

I think I’m saving myself and my energy for this upcoming weekend.  We plan on having a large BBQ at my house with neighbors and friends to mark the passing of myself into the realm known as being ‘middle-aged’.  The weather has been very nice and I look forward to grilling and sipping on beers with my closest friends.

Just a small update here to let you know what’s been going on the last week for me here.

I just got back from a business trip out in Atlanta, GA where it rained, nay, poured every single day while I was out there.  I was able to take my portable Zoom digital recorder and make some day to day entries in which I plan to assemble and edit sometime this week for podcast episode #16.

Anyway, in bullet form, here are a couple of upcoming things to look forward to:

• Assemble and post podcast #16, my trip to Atlanta.
• Turning 40 this month (tomorrow actually), and what it means to me.
• Looking for a good grilled fish taco recipe that we can post here.  Meaning I’m looking for a nice California or Mexican, or Baja styled grilled fish taco recipe.  Can be swordfish, cod, halibut, mahi mahi.  Also variations on the ‘white sauce’ recipes too.
• Recently went to HUSH in Laguna Beach, and need to both review restaraunt/bar and food.
• How I ended the evening in the gay bar, “Bounce”, much to my surprise and the Manhattan hangover the next day.
• Upcoming 40th birthday beer bash and BBQ.
• Oh, and a new tactic for dieting….I need to shed a few pounds.

Well, here it is, Episode 15.  I wish I could say I’m really happy with the outcome, but in my own humble opinion, it’s “meh” at best.  Why you ask?  Originally, I had sat down last weekend with my friend Brian Liles (yet again) and had made a sweet recording that was a good solid hour plus.  It could have easily been broken into two seperate Podcasts, and I think it was one of our best yet.  There was a myriad of interesting topics on the table as well as we had at least three to four craft beers in us each as we made it.

However, due to the fact that I hadn’t take the time to reboot my computer after some auto-installed patches from Microsoft prior to our recording, it seems that Audacity (my podcast recording software) somehow corrupted the data.  No matter how many times I tried to recover the orphan files after a failed save attempt, I just couldn’t resurect it.  As I say in this podcast, let that be a lesson to all you tech heads out there.  Always reboot your PC after critical patches are downloaded and installed.  I clearly should have known better, so I have no one to blame but myself.

Feeling somewhat pressed to have a new episode ready, I took my portable Zoom to work and made this recording on my lunch break while sitting in my car.  I’m happy with the audio quality, but as you’ll hear, there was really no set agenda for this one.  It’s about 40 minutes of me ranting on some of my political views, Howard Stern, and my upcoming business trip to Atlanta, GA.  Also, I was able to throw in a cocktail recipe, the ‘original’ Texas-tini (not my version from a few weeks back in which I thought I was so clever with the name), and a recipe for grilling artichokes.  Hence the title ‘Smorgasbord’.

In other news, I’m rapidly approaching my 40th birthday (8 days from this writing) and I am clearly having a mild midlife crisis.  I hope its not too evident in my recording, but I’ve been feeling a bit under pressure lately in various personal aspects: financial, work, trying to be a father to a teenage girl, etc. So perhaps that lends to my somewhat dour attitude in if you pick up on it.  Hopefully I’ll snap out of it soon because it really just doesn’t feel like me and I’m very aware of it.

I’ll work on the show notes and recipes contained within later if I get a chance, but suffice to say I will be out on business the next week (starting tomorrow) so I most likely won’t be making any updates here for at least a week. 

As I usually do, I try an pick an intro song that encapsulates either my mood or something that somehow pertains to the audio content of the episode.  Here, I chose “Take this Job and Shove it” by Johnny Paycheck.  I have two comments about this: 1) Yeah, I’m not gonna be quitting my job anytime soon, but the last few weeks, I really feel as if I’ve been holding back my frustration on various career related issues and I’m just not that happy overall, and 2) I really thought Johnny ‘Paycheck’ was a fake name and he was trying to cash in on the name Johnny Cash, especially when you have a song about a job and then shoving it.  Turns out, I was partially correct, as his real name was Donald Eugene Lytle.

Texas-Tini II

• 3 oz whisky (try a sweet or smooth blend like Crown Royal or Canadian Mist)
• 1.5 oz sweet vermouth
• 1/2 oz Blue Curacao (orange flavored liquer, but blue in color)
• Shake all three ingrediants over ice and pour in sugar rimmed martini glass, or mix all three in lowball glass over ice and skip sugar.

Grilled Artichoke

• 2 fresh artichokes, stems cut at least 1 inch from base.
• Place artichokes in pot of boiling water with the freshly squeezed juice of 1/2 lemon to reduce oxidation of leaves (prevents leaves from turning brown). (Optional: zest some of the lemon peel and add zest (to taste) to fresh mayo.  Mix, and chill in advance for dipping.  Lemon zest adds a nice fresh, flavorful kick to the mayo).
• Remove after 25-28 minutes of cooking, drain excess water, and let cool enough to handle.
• Preheat grill to medium-low heat/flame.
• With sharp knife, cut artichoke in half, lengthwise and remove choke/heart (purpleish center with bristles) with spoon.
• Brush halves with olive oil and season with kosher or sea salt and fresh ground pepper.
• Place flat side down on grill, cooking approx 2-3 minutes, then turn 45 degrees and cook additional 2-3 minutes or until nice grill marks appear.  In the last few minutes, ‘drizzle’ some quality balsamic vinegar over artichokes for additional flavor and color.
• Serve with fresh lemon zest mayo (above), and/or melted butter and garlic combo.

Show Notes

• Coming soon

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (40.7MB)

More often than I would care to admit to, the usual way our department treats is weekly Friday departmental lunch selection for is like trying to figure out who Paris Hilton is dating this week.  So many times, with all us accepting the ritualized anarchy that is our decision making process, we all stand up from our veal pen like cubicles like prairie dogs and stare blankly at each other as we all begin to say “So, where are we going today?”

It rarely ever comes together smoothly, and there is always someone who inevitably will drop out or complain they don’t like the place we all hoo-humingly decided upon.  “Not that place again.” “Didn’t we just go there two weeks ago?” “Ugh, the lines are too long and I don’t have enough cash.” are just a tip of the iceberg when it comes to the myriad of complaints and excuses we all throw out in trying to agree on a single place.

I get frustrated with this practice a lot as I generally don’t care where we go, or develop an attitude that I must partake in this tired indecisive banter every week.  Sometimes we spend so much time talking over each other throwing out names of tired and not so true places that we end up wasting a good solid ten minutes of our allotted 60 minute window.

Today, we all agreed upon trying a new selection tactic.  Something revolutionary, and yet so simple in practice.  I like to now call out, “Let’s let the wheel of fate decide.” in a determined and stoic voice, my Droid smartphone held up high in the air like Moses bearing the stone tablets before his wary people. “Let us look upon the written word that is (drum roll for effect) URBAN SPOON!”

My friend Brian introduced me to this fine little gem of an app that he had previously downloaded to his phone.  Currently available on both the Android (v2.0 OS and up) and iPhone platforms, Urbanspoon, is like the old Magic 8-Ball sooth-saying toy you had as a child.  Based upon your current location (thanks to the GPS coordinates of where you are standing) you shake your phone to activate the internal accelerometer.  Like a nickel slot machine at an Indian casino without smallpox, three simulated wheels rapidly spin and soon begin to settle upon the categories: city, genre, price.  City is self explanatory, genre is the cuisine type (Japanese, Indian, German, etc), and price is ranked from $ thru $$$$. 

We all agreed today that the ‘Wheels of Fate’ would dictate our lunch plans.  We all huddled in silent anticipation around my Droid, our eyes locked and wide as I shook the phone.  Clickity, clickity, clickity…..the simulated sound began to gradually slow. 

1st up: Tustin.  2nd wheel: Italian.  Finally price: $$  Urbanspoon had selected the “Pizza Shack”….and to our mutual acceptance and nods, we all agreed, no questions asked.  The ‘Wheels of Fate’ had spoken!

With address, phone number, and a 83% favorable review, we drove off to our dictated eatery.  And surprisingly, we all enjoyed it.  Seven of us attended todays outing, each one of stating we had never once been to the Pizza Shack before albeit it was only a mere two miles from the place we had all worked for years.  Sharing four medium pizzas with traditional toppings in an atmosphere not unlike a low rent college sports bar, we all commented on how good it actually was.  Not just the food per-se, but the atmosphere as well.

With this little tale all told, I thank my friend Brian for the the suggestion and highly recommend that if your smart phone can handle it, go ahead and download Urbanspoon.  A little shake of the wrist and a little random luck can break the doldrums that is choosing a place to eat and may lead you to something new and exciting.

Arrgggghhh….I am so bummed. 

Over the weekend my buddy Brian came over from Brians4x4adventures.com and we had recorded a raw podcast that was clocking in at about an hour and a half.  We covered a range of topics including our recent visit to Stone Brewery in Escondidio, his recent engagements, past and upcoming roadtrips, a spirited discussion on the Sony Bloggie vs the upcoming Kodak Playsport for your pocket flasmedia camcorder needs, recent natural disaters, slow cooking brisket and more.

Plenty of content that could have been split into two seperate 45 minute episodes.  I was looking forward to editing last night as I had the house to myself and wouldn’t be interupted and possibly getting one of them up today and part II next week.  However, when I fired up Audacity, it appears there was a file corruption that had taken place.  While the header data is there and shows up, the actual content is not, and I cannot recover anything.

I may just record a small filler episode in the next few days or so to tide myself and feel like I am accomplishing something.  Otherwise I am traveling to Atlanta next week for business and won’t be able to update much here officially, although I am starting to settle into Twitter.  Again, you can follow me at @alonedisciple on Twitter.

Sometimes I wonder just how lazy I actually am.  It’s a hard question to really answer both honestly and contextually if I think about it for any given amount of time.  And the only really reason I am thinking about it now is that I am too lazy to do anything else more constructive.  However, since I am actually developing a post in the right here and the right now goes to show you I have enough motivation and energy to devout to such a mundane topic, perhaps I am not that lazy afterall.

I suppose laziness, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder.  Or a matter of opinion and perspective.

My wife was gone on a business trip this last week and left me home alone to fend for myself the last five days.  Now generally speaking I am not a lazy person.  I actually get more done in the early hours of the day, than the average Joe does before finishing his first cup of coffee.  I also try an plan out my free time (i.e. not slaving away at my actual job) to fit in the myriad of chores most men slough off.  I do my own laundry, I vacuum, I mop, I do dishes, I walk the dog, I pull weeds, I pick up dog crap, etc., etc.  I also manage to fit in numerous other tasks on the weekends and still manage to get in some drinks and entertainment. 

This can also leave me exhausted, or too brain numb for the trivial things, such as overlooking the fact if there is enough soap or ‘body wash’ in shower when it’s time to get clean.  Not just once, but two days in a row now, thank you kindly.

See I was in the shower the other day and reached for the soap bottle when I discovered it was empty.  So naturally I reached for the other one (it’s always good to have a back up), only to realize that my backup was also bone dry inside.  How I did not notice the evening before they were both empty and why they were still in the shower is something only my subconscious could answer if it wasn’t marinating in a jacuzzi of hops and barley. 

Now the first thing that came to mind was contemplating if there was a full bottle available in the closet which I am sure there was, but this is where the laziness kicks in:  the thought of getting out of a hot shower, dripping and walking to the closest to retrieve bottle of new soap seemed like a very daunting and bothersome task, even if it only did take 20 seconds.  The whole thought process bouncing around in my noggin, weighing both the pros and cons of such a bold and innovative solution took longer than if I just would have performed the task initially.  And again, the fact I am detailing this all out in this very post is beyond any sane comprehension.

Then another bottle grabbed my attention.  It was blue, very blue in fact, and it isn’t that much a of a stretch of the imagination to realize it also had a faint hint of blueberry fragrance.  What was it?  It was my dog’s specially formulated body scrup/shampoo.  I picked up and scanned the bottle.  I read the ingrediants…seemed all above board and normal.  I took a small whiff…yup…blueberries for sure.  I looked at the price: $14.99.  Surly, if his shampoo costs more than mine it can’t be all that bad. 

So with all the facts and circumstances laid out before me, I am readily admitting that due to my laziness of not wanting to temporarily get out of the shower, I lathered by whole body up from head to toe in my dogs shampoo.

Would it suprise you to learn that the following day, knowing full well ahead of time I was out of body wash stepping back into teh shower, that of course I forgot again?  Well, don’t be.  I did indeed forget the second day, and once again lathered up in my doggy sudz, both of us smelling like blueberries.