Cocktail Confessions

possible Droid 'Shadow' seen in the wild.

It’s been a little while since I last did a technology posting here.  As a matter of fact some of my recent free time has been occupied by my continual research into ‘share & shoot’ flash camcorders (but that’s another post).  However, I was squealing like a little school girl today when a few ‘leaked’ images of the upcoming Droid II surfaced on the web today as well as some of its rumored specs.

Now, first and foremost, remember, the keywords here are ‘rumored’ and ‘leaked’ and may not be the final product released.  As happens many times, there are pre-production prototypes shopped around and tweaked before things go golden and make it to the public, but everything I see so far looks very promising.

The only major drawback is that I just got my original Droid back in the late November or early December time frame making my device only about six months old.  When I got my phone, I signed a new two year contract which makes me ineligible for a free upgrade for at least 18 months as of this writing, unless I want to pay a small penalty and upgrade when it does come out ‘possibly’ this summer.

Just when the HTC Incredible made me green with envy, the new Droid, aka ‘Shadow’ looks even more impressive than the current hard to find HTC.  So without further ado, let us all begin to salivate on Droid’s upcoming big brother:

• 4.1 or 4.3″ TFT screen (this replaces Droid’s current 3.7″ screen).
• Possible that the current prcessor will be dropped for either a 1GHz Snapdragon or a 720MHz OMAP3630 which is an upgrade from the current Droid 3430 (this new chip will reduce overall power consumption).
• It’s rumored to be 9mm thick which indicates the physical keboard will now be gone thus making it lighter.  Not sure I like this myself as I tend to fat-finger using the touch screen and often find myself using the slide out keyboard out of habit now.
• Motorola Motoblur will be included which is an intergrated front end UI that melds many of the popular social networking services (Facebook, Myspace, YouTube, etc) into one sign on account.  Also look for an optical trackball like the newer HTC models are sporting.
• It will most likely launch with Android OS 2.2, codenamed Froyo, but if you have a regular Droid or like phone most everyone will be getting this upgrade OTA in the coming weeks anyway, so it’s not really a selling point to me.
• Kinda vague, but I’ve seen reports of anywhere between 2 and 8 GB of internal memory.
• The camera will be upgraded from 5 MP to 8 MP with 720p video recording.
• An exciting new feature is the ability for 1080p output via a HDMI port.

*Note HDMI port and overall thickness.

If it indeed released this summer (meaning next 2-3 months) that will make my current Droid only about 8 or 9 months old.  It’s a pretty significant upgrade and I feel like I was one of the last people to jump on the smart phone bandwagon.  I use my Droid and many of its built in apps daily, especially the maps and GPS functions.  I like Buzz and gmail contacts and messaging a lot, so do I dare spend the money?  But as these things tend to go, and more and more often than before, whatever current flavor of the month is, it will soon be made obsolete by the newest and slickest phone just around the corner.

Anyway, your thoughts?

Eyeballing - Sport of the mentally challenged.

There is apparantly a new trend that has orginated somewhere in the U.K. amongst their crooked toothed teens, and of course not to be outdone, we here in the states seem to have spawned our own home grown collection of idiotic teens.

I came across this news story today about a new fad termed “Eyeballing.”:

Vodka eyeballing. It’s the latest drinking fad on YouTube, and it could cause blindness.

Hundreds of online videos that originated in the U.K. show teens pouring vodka directly into their eyes, straight from the bottle. The videos are getting hundreds of thousands of hits.

Substance abuse expert Mike Gimbel claims kids aren’t eyeballing to get drunk faster, but do it when the effects of alcohol have already set in and impaired their judgment. Eyeballing is more of a prank than a way to become more intoxicated.

“They’re not doing it to get more drunk, they’re doing it as part of a fad. ‘I dare you to do this,’” Gimbel said.

Robert Stutman, president of the Maryland Optometric Association, said eyeballing can be very damaging to the eyes. Vodka is 40 to 50 percent alcohol and can burn and scar the cornea.

“It probably could [cause blindness] if it caused severe enough scarring of the cornea,” Stutman said.

Personally, while I understand the flawed concept of trying to get buzzed quicker, I just cannot imagine anybody in their right mind thinking that pouring alcohol directly into their eyes is gonna turn out good in any form.  For one, you’re just wasting your good booze (or not so good depending on what you have on hand).  How goofy do you look by pouring a shot or more in your eye when 99%+ is just going to spill down your face and into your shirt.  Plus, you can’t taste it, so what’s the point?

The mindset is that you can introduce alcohol quicker into the bloodstream by allowing capillaries close to to the surface of the skin to absorb alcohol directly, therefor bypassing the conventional method of swallowing alcohol down the gullet into the stomach where it is to be processed and then waiting for the intended effects as the alcohol has to travel back upwards to the brain.

I for one knew of this concept back when I was a teen myself, but I also know that pouring alcohol into certain tissues causes a horrific burn.  Just watch any old western movie where they use a bottle of whisky to sterilize a gunshot or knife wound.  Hell, I can’t recall one injured cowboy that either didn’t flinch from the pain or got drunk via this shotgun medical practice. 

That being said, I recall from my youth that in biology classes I once took that the area just under the tongue that attaches to your lower jaw is chock full of capillaries and the ’tissue’ is relatively thin.  I also know that there are a lot of medications that are termed ‘sub-lingual’, that is they are intended to be absorbed quickly by the body when placing drops under the tongue.  Back in the day, I used to take a good swig of a beverage and hold it under my own tongue for a brief period of time before swallowing.  I figured even back then that the alcohol could be introduced to my bloodstream much quicker this way, and since its proximation to the brain was relatively closer than my stomach, that I would get buzzed slightly faster.

Now, while I am not advocating or endorsing my own practices, it just makes a helluva lot more sense than dumping a bottle in my eye likes it Visine.

My friend Brian has been on a roll lately of asking thought provoking questions on his Facebook account.  You know, the type of questions that seems easy to answer off the cuff, but if you were to sit back and think about it for a few moments, actually prove harder than you think. 

I suppose at some level they are meant to be thought provoking and somewhat insightful to who you are at your core.  You may even surprise yourself with how many times you change your own answers and the reasoning behind them.  Now if you are really honest, ask yourself if your answers are truly heartfelt, in the moment, or meant to appeal to an audience that you wish either not offend or you’re trying to impress.

One of his recent questions may not be that original, but still, I like it and take on the challenge to answer it.

“If you could take three people out to dinner for a night of conversation, who would they be…and why?”

Well, the easy answers are always Jesus and maybe a close relative, and I’d be lying if the easy ones didn’t come to my own mind too.  But seeing that someday I will hopefully be in the presence of Christ himself, I figure I have all eternity at that point to chat Him up over a pint of heavenly brew.  I also quickly discounted a lot or recent relatives and celebrity types, seeing that most are phony (the celebs, not my family mind you) to begin with, and what could I possibly have anything to talk about with Kim Kardashian or Snooky (although ‘The Situation’ may be a bit funny at first).

1) The first one is somewhat easy for me.  I think I’d like to meet Abraham Lincoln.  It goes so beyond his iconic beard, stove top hat, and beard.  I truly am interested on his thought of politics back in the day.  Many consider him the grandfather of Conservatism, and whether that is true or not, the idea of talking to the man who epitomized the idea of the American dream (being born in a log cabin, educating himself, hard worker, etc.).  I would love t hear his thoughts on politics today, to be around someone who was known to be so charismatic, genuine, and honest.  I’d be spellbound listening to him speak on deciding to go to war with the south, knowing that the future of America as we know it today was in his hands.  How he really felt about brother versus brother as the war report rolled in and the subsequent decisions.  To hear his thoughts on slavery and race relations today, guided from his belief in God and just causation.  Yeah, I’d like to hear about his adventures as a kid, hunting bears, growing up in Illinois, being on the cusp of technological breakthroughs at the time.  I think Abe would be really interesting to share a few shots of whisky with, maybe a good old fashioned fried chicken dinner with blueberry pie for dessert.

The seond one get s a bit tougher.  My first thoughts were George Lucas (because of my love for Star Wars) or maybe William Shatner (KHANNNN!!!!).  Then I began thinking of the sciences and brilliant minds.  Stephen Hawking, Einstein, and Edison were just some of the names that popped in my head.  I started working backwards in time as well, taking into account various era’s in recorded history, world locals, and contributions to society.  I’m not sure the next name is my ultimate second pick, but I keep going back to him based on not only his contributions to science, but to the arts as well.

2) Leonardo da Vinci.  Inventor extraordinaire.  Painter of the ‘Last Supper’.  Musician, sculptor, engineer, mathematician, geologist, botanist, writer, cartographer, scientist, architect, anatomist, etc.  He was like the McGyver of the 16th century.  Absolutely brilliant for his time, logical, and probably the most talented mortal person who has ever lived thus far.  To hear him talk about Rome and the ancient world, to know how he even approaches the things he thinks about.  To see him paint one minute, dissect a human being for science the next, to chart the stars in the evening, and to contemplate machines that would someday be know as the helicopter centuries before it was even possible.  I imagine he’d have a great way of telling stories in ways we couldn’t normally think of.  I’m sure Leonardo knows his wine and operas and would be the superhuman sage at my dinner table.  He is utterly fascinating.  I thinking learning culture from him would be interesting to say the least.

The third is very tough.  Since I have two people that primarily cover the intellectual stuff such as politics, philosophy and various sciences, I need someone to balance this all out.  I need some one for a little levity, a bit of comic relief, but also a man’s man who walks the line of ‘bad boy’ but with charm.  Perhaps a comedian?  A cartoonist? An entertainer?

I don’t consider my third guest a throw-away guest.  I have so many choices in my head I could easily find myself enthralled with to one degree or another, but I keep coming back to one name in particular.

3) Dean Martin.  Part of the original Rat Pack, he just embodies everything suave and ‘cool’ to me.  A great entertainer with a quick wit and a great sense of humor.  His crooning and distinct voice coupled with his charming charisma from the hip era of the late 50′s to early 60′s.  Sharp dresser and laid back.  It would seem to me he would have thousands personal of stories to tell, all of them just as interesting as the last.  The kind of guy I’d like to go to Vegas with and hang out at the pool, or have a stiff whisky drink with at some club, or have as a best man or godfather to your child.  Seems like he’d be a “guy’s – guy” and a loyal friend through thick and thin, always looking at the lighter side of things and a being able to turn any situation into a party.

This wasn’t an easy decision, all three of them to be exact, and who knows….if you were to ask me the same question in 6 months or six years, perhaps my picks would change, but for now its a start.  I’d be interested to hear your three picks.

It has been a very productive week for me, although I didn’t get to do everything I wanted to.  My plans were a little bit ambitious now that I look back at them, or perhaps it’s the fact that I am coming to terms that I am getting older and I just don’t have the energy that I used to.

With my wife and daughter out of town this week, I knew I wanted to purge my house of unwanted and unwarranted collectibles that we tend to stash away and forget.  I wanted to make myself an amazing grilled rack of lamb dinner with risotto and stuffed portabella mushrooms.  I wanted to record another podcast, hit the gym, take myself to a movie, straighten up the office, play a few video games, and finally make an account change at the bank.

I didn’t get to do those things.  I was either too tired, too sore, or thought I can push it off just one more day.

But all was not a complete loss.  I did make some progress in projects and other things about the house.  Most of the following stuff took place on Wed. Among them:

• I did steam clean the downstairs carpet.
• Watered plants in the backyard.
• I did vacuum and also mop the downstairs kitchen.
• I loaded, ran, and unloaded the dishwasher.
• I changed out all the burnt out light bulbs in the house.
• I power washed the outside front of our house to comply with an HOA letter regarding some dirty water run off from the rain.
• I was able to do a few loads of laundry.
• I did take my dog Frankie for a long walk, buy him new food, and organize many of his toys to a new storage bin.  I also picked up his dookies in the backyward.
• I was able to work on one of my train models, although I had intended to make more progress than I actually did.
• I did manage to reorganize the upstairs closet, a few drawers in the kitchen, and the coat closet downstairs.  This afforded me to fill our recyclable 55 gallon trash can about 75%.

That last point was liberating.  It feels go to purge and throw out old magazines, various collected take out menus, numerous odds and ends that I have no idea what their use was originally intended for.  I wish I could have gotten rid of more crap, and perhaps I will this weekend.  I have intentions of cleaning out the spare bedroom closest and even culling my 15+ year wardrobe by at least 10%.  Throw in a few more random drawers, and see how many more books and old DVD’s I can put up on Amazon.com to sell.  I actually already sold one DVD for $10 the same day I put it up.  It’s a love/hate chore that seems like a necessity.  It’s a lot of work, it is dirty work, and it’s not very fun.  However, seeing the waste management company take it all away, never to see any of that stuff my return to my house again seems to lift an invisible weight from my shoulders.  It’s like I’m reclaiming a few square feet in my place.  I feel slightly more organized, lighter, more efficient, and not so pack-rat-ish.

The strangest aspect of all this cleaning is my introspective and solo thoughts of what am I going to do with all this stuff one day?  There will be a day where my life will be winding down, and I will contemplate on moving to a smaller house.  I will wonder how to begin the process of giving my stuff away to neighbors and charities because I cannot take it with me in death.  Will I sell some of it to pay for medication?  Will I make a child or collector happy with old toys of mine?  Do I burden my remaining family on cleaning up after me and figuring out what to do with all this stuff after I’m gone?  My grandfather is going through this phase now.  At 90 some years old, he constantly giving things away, and he no longer wants tangible gifts for birthdays and holidays.  He now wants gift certificates to the grocery store, or local restaurants.  He doesn’t want any more things.  He doesn’t want to dust them, move the, learn how to use them.  Someday, I will face the same thing.

Evenings saw me make spaghetti once, and salmon burgers twice.  I hit the bottle of Jack Daniels a few times, and had my share of ice cream.  I can tell you that I’m wiped out.  Thursday morning my whole body was sore, and it took multiple cups of coffee for me to fake coherency.  Thursday night seen me in bed by 9:30, struggling to keep my eyes open.

My wife and daughter come back home tonight.  I plan on perhaps sitting on the porch with my neighbors sharing a beer, perhaps grilling a bit of dinner, maybe catching a movie on Netflix, and hitting my bed at a reasonable hour.  Tomorrow will be another day and I’m already contemplating on what gets pitched next.

As promised here is part 2 of my grilled portobello mushroom recipes.  First off we have a another somewhat easy recipe with a bit of Asian flair.  Second recipe is a bit Italian inspired but could be adapted for mediterranean tastes easily if you substitute in some black olives and goat cheese.

Asian Flair Portabello Mushrooms

Clean and stem mushrooms.  You can clean the gills out with a spoon by scraping them out and discarding.

In a bowl, make a paste my combining the following: 2 Tbsp soy sauce, 1/2 bunch of fresh parsley (chopped fine), 2 cloves of minced garlic, 1/4 cup of fresh olive oil.  *As an option, you can add a little fresh ginger (oh, say 1/2 tsp or so) and maybe a little bit of Asian sriracha sauce for heat).

Rub oustide of caps with 1/3 the paste you made in the prior step.  With remaining paste, fill inside of caps and season with salt and pepper.

Grill on BBQ over medium heat for 5-10 minutes, or until mushrooms begin to shrivel on edges. Remove and serve.

*Optional: Sprinkle a tiny bit of sesame seeds on finished mushroom for extra flair.

 Serve with a good Japanese beer like Kirin or Sapporro.

Spinich and Sauage stuffed mushrooms (intermediate and adaptable)

Clean 4 large portobello mushrooms (get the biggest ones you can find)

Preheat grill to medium-high heat.  Using a grill safe frying pan (or I suppose you could do this on the kitchen stove as well) heat 1 Tbsp olive oil and crumble in 12oz of mild or hot Italian sausage until brown and then remove to bowl. (*Sub turkey sausage for health conscience diets)

In same pan, add 1 finely chopped white onion and saute for approx. 2 minutes.  Then add 1/2 tsp or more of freshly minced garlic to pan and continue to cook until onion begins to brown.

Add sausage back in along with 1/2 cup tomato sauce or finely chopped tomatoes (*and optional pinch of red pepper flakes) and let simmer for 2-3 minutes.

Add in about 8oz of coarsely chopped spinach leaves, stir until evenly distributed and allow for them to wilt down.

Remove from heat and stir in 1/2 cup mozzarella, and optional 2 Tbsp each of fresh chopped basil and fresh chopped parsley.

Brush gill free mushrooms with olive oil and place on grill face down for about 4 minutes or until they begin to soften.

Remove mushrooms and now carefully stuff with sausage mixture.  Top of with sprinkled mozzarella cheese and place back on grill, stuffed side up.

Grill, covered, for approx 5 minutes or until cheese begins to melt and brown.

Remove and serve immediately.

As I stated at the top of this post you can adapt the above recipe for varying tastes.  Using the same basic principles, how about stuffing with a grilled chicken sausage and pesto filling?  How about instead of using Italian sausage you were to brown minced lamb, and then add in some black olives and goat/feta cheese for something a bit more Mediterranean.  Use your imagination.  Pair with a good Italian red wine.

I do not proclaim to be the neatest or tidiest person in the world.  I don’t lose sleep over an errant jacket not hung up or a loose leaf magazine hanging out on the coffee table, but on rare occasion I reach my very own breaking point where I just can’t take the junk collection anymore.  I often think that I could give Sanford & Son a run for their money, and I tend to skim past the TV show ‘Hoarders’ for fear of recognizing a camera crew standing outside my own house. 

In reality, I’m really not that bad.  However, I do tend to hand on to some things much longer than I think I need to.  And sometimes it’s not even a conscious thing.  Often I place something down or put it away only to really forget about it until it is discovered either months or years later.  And I’m not the only guilty party in my household either.  My wife and step-daughter have their own unique collections to excess, however, whereas my wife will cling on to some useful objects, my daughter retains broken or gaudy junk rather than throwing it out.  Unfortunately, it’s her bedroom floor that tends to be the catchall of this stuff, and worse yet, in my mind that floor is a part of ‘my’ house, ‘ergo’ it’s also my junk by proxy.

Some people, (mostly the fairer sex I presume) get an itch for Spring cleaning, and can can spend an hour here and there culling a closest of yesterday’s fashions, maybe some expired medications, and newspaper articles or magaizines one will never read again (if they even read it in the first place).  I on the other hand get the urge for a purge about twice a year, and it is always amazing to me how much I can indeed clear out.  It’s also amazing that it seems every six months or so we as a family have collectively filled that empty void again with more useless crap.

The job of cleaning house is both time consuming and laborious, but I always feel a great sense of accomplishment and even

Er...not our house, but you get the idea.

liberation thereafter.  To look at the large 50 gallon trash cans in front of my house on garbage day and know that they are full of stuff I have ‘let go’ gives me a sense of self-satisfaction and I feel my overall house is indeed lighter.  I often think if we had to move one day, that’s 50 gallons worth of stuff’ I don’t have to pack.

I am getting much better at my collections though and what I retain.  I used to keep every single book I ever read, thinking someday I may want to read them again, or may need to pull them out for some trivial information as if I would be just a life-line away from “Who wants to be a millionaire?” contestant.  At one point I had every single magazine issue of Wizard (the guide to comics) from debut issue number 1 though 100.  I have since let go of them and tossed them all, and though it pained me at the time, I have never really missed them since.  My used paperback books?…I know sell them on Amazon.com or donate to the library.

I have a harder time with clothes.  I have shirts dating back to the late 90′s and mid 90′s I just don’t have the heart to ditch, thinking that one day I may fit back into them, or getting rid of a stained t-shirt is sacrilege.  Oh, my wife laughs and mocks me, but she is not better.  If you were to look at her closest she has 50+ pairs of varying shoes in which she’ll be the first to admit she only really wears about 5 pair. 

Same with her hair care products.  In our shower you can count my bottles on one hand, probably 3 fingers: shampoo, conditioner, and some body scrub.  My wife on the other had never has anything less than 5 bottles of shampoo, perhaps 6 bottles of conditioner.  And that’s just the shower folks.  If we look at her vanity, there are easily multiple bottles or canisters of hair sprays, straighteners, body enhancers, stuff to repair split ends or control fizz.  She also has a hard time getting rid of clothing tags.  Whereas I may have a collection of dated shirts, I often find small cardboard tags and the little vinyl attachment spruces all about the house.  Sometimes they will be there for days if not weeks on end until I throw them out myself.

So why the sudden interest in a home cleansing?  Well, my wife is out on business this week, meaning there is no one to watch over my efforts and to tell me what stays and what goes.  My daughter is also gone, and I have free reign to pitch her stuff as well.  I always try and do this when they are not there because it works.  There is no one in my way, no distractions, no second guessing, no arguments.  I look at stuff and make a snap judgement call….if it looks like it hasn’t been used in a year, or looks like it was forgotten, then it’s out.  To this day, I have done quite a few ‘purges’ and not once has my wife come back to me and said “Hey, do you recall that piece of wood decoration we got from the neighbor five years ago I put in a box in the garage?  I need it now.”

Everything on the table...$.50

This round actually got started this weekend.  See, I was looking for some acetate covers for my cell phone I purchased a few months back.  They cost me all of $5 and I misplaced them.  So instead of going back to the store to buy new ones, I began a quest to locate them in our house.  Three hours into my non-stop spelunking sojourn, I had nary an idea where they were, but I did discover bank statements from 2002 (mind you, it is 2010), unopened VHS movies (even though we have a Blu-ray player), about 20 different beer bottle openers we get from various trade shows, and of course directions for appliances we no longer even own.  I spent most of Sunday night just shredding documents that serve no purpose to us today and if I wasn’t looking so hard for my cell phone protector covers these envelops of yesteryear would sit even longer in dust covered stasis.

I know for a fact I have magazines dating back six months still in their protective mylar mailing jackets I have never opened, and I’m sure I can find more questionable gems of crap in my daughters room.  So it looks like tomorrow there will be an excorcism taking place at my house.  I will be staying home, Zune player in back pocket, as I go room to room, drawer by drawer throwing out crap I have deemed crap.  Because if I don’t, I know no one else will. 

As a tease this morning, I opened a drawer in the kitchen and discovered mardi-gras style beads that were accumulated from some software-centric trade show a few years back.  There is no reason to have them.  I have never seen my wife wear these chipped plastic baubles since she unpacked them from her suitcase more than two years ago.  I doubt there will ever be a day or event when wearing beads that say ‘Big Dog inventory software 2008′ will creep back into our lives, or the numerous take-out menus I have collected from fast food joint that don’t even exist anymore will be paramount to our existance.

I wasn’t a big fan of mushrooms as a kid.  As a matter of fact I dreaded just about every dish my mother prepared for my father and I as I was growing up that had anything to do with mushrooms, especially cold, chopped mushrooms in salad.  I’m not exactly sure I can pinpoint why I didn’t care for them.  Perhaps it was a texture thing.  Maybe I thought they didn’t have much of a taste onm their own, or maybe because most of the time they were’nt cooked.

For years I struggled with teh various dishes presented before me by picking off mushrooms, one by one or pushing them off to the side.  Sometimes my mother would then force me to eat them anyway as she wasn’t having anyone dismiss any vegetables or food she prepared.

The really odd thing is, as much as I hated mushrooms, I did actually enjoy them in two dishes: 1) I love cream of mushroom soup, and 2) I enjoy them on pizzas.  Now I know that doesn’t make any sense, and even today I cannot venture to explain why I would accept them in those two dishes, but would rather die on all the rest.  Perhaps the cheese and sauce of the pizza, or the creamy gravey of the soup helped masked my conception of previous bland encounters.  I dunno.  But like most foods children hate in their youth, often as adults we come to appreciate and even savor them.

Mushrooms are no exception, and even though I still tap dance around them with trepadation when served in salads or plain, I have come to enjoy them in other forms.  I actually make a really good wild mushroom rissoto with shitake and button caps truth be told.  However, it was Bobby Flay of FoodTV Network that helped me change my mind.  And since I like to share BBQ recipes with you all, I’m going to rattle off a few portabella mushroom pleasers that are pretty easy to make, are relatively healthy, and in some cases can be meals in and of themselves.  Some people even describe the taste to have some ’earthy’ undertones, what ever the hell that means.

So what is a portabello mushroom?  Basically it’s a white or button mushroom grown to maturity and averages 5″ to 6″ in diameter.  It’s ‘top’ skin darkens with age, to a flecked or freckled biege color.  It’s gills are dark in color, and the flesh is known to be quite meaty and very high in vitamin D.  It can be usually found in grassy areas and if one were to think it has a season, it would be late spring through autumn.  Anyway, enough of that, lets get to the good stuff:

Basic Grilled Portabello

I think the outcome is very good and most people are impressed by the touch of pine nuts.  I often use this as a side dish, and in some cases am able to cut in half to make two servings along grilled porkchops and potatos.

Take 4-6 large portabello mushrooms and lightly clean under water.  Pat dry with towel and careful not to damage gills if possible.

Using a small pairing knife, cut down the stems so they they are flush with the remaining mushroom.

Being careful, randomly press in fresh pine nuts (arrow side down) into gills until covered all around.  This is the most time consuming part of the whole recipe, and make sure the pine nuts are fresh.  Older nuts can taste funny if the natural oils go rancid.

Brush olive oil on both sides of mushroom and bring to preheated grill.  Season with fresh black pepper and kosher or sea salts.

Using tongs, go ahead and place portabello’s gill side down on either indirect or low-to-medium heat.  Grill about 5 minutes.

Turn mushrooms over and now grill an additional 10-15 minutes to desired color or until mushroom begins to shrivel on ends.  Be careful not to burn and avoid flare-ups from oil.

Serve immediately with main dish, or cut in 1/2 to double prepared servings.

Now, you can do also ditch the pine nuts and just plain grill them and use the finished mushroom like you would a patty in a hamburger.  They are meaty and large enough to be placed on a bun with all the traditional fixings, and thus quite healthy and great if you have any stinking vegitereans at your party.  You know, they’re the ones drinking wine coolers and talking how great Obama is off in the corner.  Serve with a good beer.

Now I only included one recipe here, due to the length of my introduction, but look for part 2 in the coming days with some additional recipes and tips.  Look for part 2 in the next few days!

Quinn's

I don’t usually do a lot of restaraunt reviews, but I thought I’d take the time to tell you about a little place in Old Town Tustin, CA that I discovered on my own a few weeks back.  Plus it doesn’t hurt to get a little extra content and broaden my wings here once in a while, especially when it’s an interesting place and compliments my own website.

Quinn’s Old Town Grill is located at 405 El Camino Real in the historical district of Tustin, CA (see map below).  Old Town Tustin is a few square blocks of early Californian living centered around restored buildings dating back to the 1880′s.  I won’t bore you with all the details, but if you really want to learn more about some of the old town highlights and points of interest on your own, go ahead and click here.  In my own personal experience, you can cover the district in just a couple of hours on foot, so I suppose it could make for a decent afternoon discovery and adventure walk on a nice afternoon.

Anyway, Quinn’s opened up in the heart of old town back in 2007, although the building has been around quite a while longer.  From the outside one would suspect it’s an Irish pub, with its green awnings and beer signs indicating Guiness and Harp are sold there.  But it’s not your typical Irish pub with dartboards and loud rock/Celtic music.  In fact, it’s kind of a throwback to earlier times with decor that looks like it was held over from a cozy bistro circa 1950, complete with period black and white photography of the area.  Inside you’ll find the rustic brick walls, large oak booths, traditional dining tables and a short wall that can seat approx. 15 patrons at the bar alone.

They have daily lunch and dinner specials, and of course have special events centered around holidays such as Mother’s Day, March Madness, Easter and of course St. Patrick’s Day (just to name a few).   In addition to the beers on tap and Guniess and Harp I mentioned earlier, they also serve wine and have happy hour daily from 3pm to 6pm, and Irish Coffee is always $4.95.  On Tuesday evening they also have table to table roaming magician (which will explain the playing cards tacked all over the ceiling).

It’s very relaxing inside and dress is casual, although during lunch hour you’ll see people in business attire from the surrounding area.  On the few occasions I have been there the staff have all been very friendly and personable.  Often the bartender will also serve as a waiter to some of the closer tables and each time they have engaged either me or someone in my party to friendly conversation.

The variety of food is decent and not limited to Irish fare, although if you are looking for that, there are somewhat re-interpreted classics there.  For instance, I had Shepard’s Pie the first time I was there and it was more like a hearty stew topped with mashed potatoes than the more traditional means.  The Shepard’s Pie was good, with fresh ingredients, distinctive lamb, and was served piping hot…however, my carrots weren’t fully cooked that time and were a bit on the raw side, but that was my only real complaint.

The sandwiches are a good portion and fresh as well.  My friend Brian recently tried the Reuben and said it was one of the best, if not the best, Reuben he has ever had.  It did look good and the meat was piled on.  I myself tried The Royal Dublin, a chicken salad like concoction with fresh apples, pistachios and golden raisins blended in on squaw bread.  Served with a little hot mustard on the side (had to have horseradish on it), it was very fresh and good as well.  Brian also tried the soup of the day which was a fish medley that he said was enjoyable as well.  It had fresh prawns, and scrod in it as well as many other ingredients.  Who uses scrod these days?  I just like saying ‘scrod’.  Scrod.  There, I got it out of my system.

Reuben *pic taken by Brian

They have a decent variety of sides as well, including fresh fruit salad (it was fresh), shoestring fries, and salad.  I was disappointed with the steak fries.  They weren’t anything special or seasoned, they just seemed like typical frozen fries.

Of course they have various other foods including Napa chicken, Sand Dabs, Halibut fish & chips, prime rib, and plenty of steak cuts, chops and other selections.  I can’t really do it justice here, so I recommend going to their website

If I were to make one complaint, it would have to be about the appetizers.  They just seem too standard and run of the mill for the rest of the menu, and somewhat pricey for appetizers.  Sure, they are discounted during happy hour and a few of them might seem fine at home, but only at the bar as finger food.  While at the end of the day, it is a just a bistro with an air of Irish flair to it, but just seems odd to have Thai chicken skewers and shrimp won ton present.  I suppose the fresh oysters on the half shell and jumbo shrimp ($ .75 ea. happy hour) may make up for it though.

I also judge places on their ice tea.  A lot of places say they have fresh ice tea, but in reality if the tea is served cloudy it really isn’t fresh.  Also I can always tell if it is from a syrup, concentrate, cheap tea powder, or stored in a metal or glass decanter.  While Quinn’s ice tea isn’t the best I’ve ever had (fresh filtered black Ceylon leaves), it is definitely fresh (i.e. clear) and superior to most establishments.  Always a good sign in my book.

Overall I’m kinda struggling on how to fairly score the place and on what scale.  Taking all things into consideration; friendliness of staff, decor, atmosphere, main dishes and selection, portion size, appetizers and sides, freshness, and bang for your buck I’d think Quinn’s Old Town Grill is a 3.75 out of 5, but easily one of the spotlights in Old Town Tustin.

My empty glass next to my growler of Stone IPA

Yesterday was a tough day.  Hell, it’s been a rough past week.  My job has been down right silly on occasion with all the ‘busy work’, trying to keep aging systems alive that are well past their prime that should have been retired a few years back.  But in the mindset of squeezing blood out of a turnip, my employer (in their questionable wisdom) would rather spend more money in labor costs and time farting around jury-rigging limping equipment  than to actually buy something that was built within the last few years.

In one aspect, I shouldn’t get mired down too much in this backwards thinking.  Their continued inefficiency equates to a certain level of personal job security.  The flip side, however, often leads to long days, frustrating moments and colorful metaphor’s aplenty spewing from my pie hole.  I continually cross my fingers to the deities of abandoned tech should that they smile upon me this day and things start up without a hitch.

By the time I got home from work last night to see my step-daughter once again doing absolutely nothing, (par for the course) I couldn’t have craved an ice cold one anymore than I was at that particular moment in time.  I recalled earlier in the week, my neighbor was gracious enough to offer to fill my growler with Stone IPA as he had toured the brewery with some potential clients.  I pulled a pint glass from the cupboard and poured myself 16 ounces of amber elixir.  Like Pavlov’s dog, I began to salivate.

I can’t recall the last time a beer had tasted so good and gave me so much satisfaction. I sat before my 42″ plasma TV, remote in hand and allowed myself to sink into my suede recliner until it seemed my phyiscal form melded to every nook and fold offered up.  My IPA was so cold, that even in the room temperature pint glass, the head seemed to be on the verge of crystallizing into a frothy slush. 

The first sip was pure heaven.  I closed my eyes in anticipation and to help block out all offending distractions, (including my daughter).  As the freshly brewed IPA cascaded over my tongue, the distinctive taste of hops danced across my palette and it seemed as if the stress of the preceding days began to dissipate from my body like the morning fog loses to a rising sun. 

The second and thirds sips were just as good.  Hell, the whole glass was fine.  And what made it even better?  I drank it as I watched the season premiere of Friday Night Lights.  It just happens to be the fifth and final season of the show, and I personally think its one of the best and under rated shows on broadcast television. 

And better yet, it’s actually about something other than the 100+ crime, medical, and legal dramas that saturate our airwaves.  It’s about good old fashioned Texas high school football in the good ‘ole all American town of Dillon.  They are able to keep it fresh by bringing in a partial new cast (as many of the students graduated last year), and the head coach has moved to a rival school on the other side of town, better known as East Dillon and their team, the Lions.  It really is a fabulous show, and I am so bummed to know this is the last season.  I’m not super big into sports, but this show offers up enough action and story to feel like you’re actually rooting for your own home team

But can it get any better that beer and football?  Well, yesterday it couldn’t, and I tell you, once in a blue moon a nice cold hand crafted beer can really turn your mood around.  It did mine.

My neighbor Chip (not his real name) has a genuine soul.  Sometimes a bit rough around the edge’s, once you get to know him, he’s just a tattooed teddy bear.  I’ve known him for almost six years now, and he’s just as interesting now as he was on my skeptical first impression.  We’ve talked about doing a podcast together, and it’s juts a matter of scheduling to get him in to sit down.

He enjoys his music, he family, surfing, good conversation, skateboarding, and a mean drink.  I think his drink of choice would be beer followed closely with a tall screwdriver (orange juice and vodka).  We’ve been to bars together, backyard parties, neighborhood BBQ’s, and he always brings a special brand of entertainment, whether he means it or not.

Once you get past the colorful language and initial intimidation factors, you’ll recognize that you want Chip to be your friend.  He’s solid, through and through, very genuine and means what he says.  Granted he’s had a colorful history, his stories of years past raising hell will captivate just about anyone.  But in time, I suppose we all slow down.  His priorities is that of his family first, and to be an excellent neighbor, always willing to lend a helping hand.

However, as I alluded to prior, he can be quite entertaining, especially when libations are involved.  Chip got the nickname ‘Ozzy’, (a nickname I coined for him and take full credit for) one evening after a raucous round of imbibing around the fire that was blazing in the portable pit in my driveway a few years back.  The neighbors had all come down as we collect occasionally on a Friday night after work.  Chip was in rare form (or perhaps not so rare if I think about it) hitting the sauce a lit harder than usual.  Maybe it was just an empty stomach, or the way my wife tends to pour drinks, but as the night wore on, Chip’s speech became more and more incomprehensible to the point where it literally sounds like mumbling from a mouth full of greased up marbles. 

Chip walking home

At one point he tried to walk home down the street, a total of 50 yards or so and it seemed to take all of 15 minutes.  We watched him walk away, trying ever so hard to walk a straight line from point A to point B, his home, however, it looked more like a dashed line that Billy from Family Circus would take.  There were multiple false starts and finishes, bobbing and weaving to the left and then to the right.  Zigs and zags aplenty as we all watched in marvel and he continued to mumble on and on to himself in the quiet of the night. 

It’s as if he were channeling Ozzy Osbourne himself.  A train wreck in comedy that you just cannot seem to take your eyes off of.  And thus when I muttered something in reference to his behavior and that of Ozzy, a nicknamed legend was born.

Not to long ago, the boys had decided to go out for hot wings and a few brews so we all hopped in my car to pick up my friend Jon.  Jon is in the business of IP based security systems, and thus has a few camera’s strategically placed around his house that are always active.  In the videos below, you’ll see a sober Chip discovering one of the camera’s and letting his playful side come out.  How often to get to witness a man in his mid 40′s let down his guard and interact like a little kid making faces and comedic gestures to the camera?

Video #1 (Doesn’t he look like Andy Capp?):

Video #2 captured shortly thereafter: