Archive for December, 2007

December 19, 2007 | Filed under: good eatin'

I’ve been trying to post this video for four days. Apparently there are some signal problems at Time Warner Cable that are affecting upload speeds in my neighborhood. Mega annoying. But the nice man at TWC Tier Three Customer Service said it should be fixed before the weekend. I have my fingers crossed.

A third of the way through NaVloPoMo there was much twitterbuzz surrounding The Truth Fairy’s fantastically rich and butt-widening carbonara recipe (that I’ve made no less than five times since the posting; for Christmas, I’d like new jeans). Cheryl tweeted something like “The carbonara is so good we should do a vlog cook-off!” and then The Truth Fairy tweeted “You think THAT was good you should see my risotto!” and I tweeted “Oh yeah?” and he tweeted “Yeah!” and then I said “Oh YEAH?” and then…

…actually it didn’t go quite like that. But there was mention of risotto and a food challenge so I filled in much of the rest. There’s not much of December left, so get cooking! It’s DecVloRisMo!

(December Vlog Risotto Month! Duh!)

I make this dish all the time so exact measurements have long left my mind. But here’s an approximation of the recipe:

3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 small onion chopped (about 1/2 cup)
1 small shallot finely chopped
1 cups arborio rice
1/4 cup dry white wine
About 3-4 cups of hot chicken stock or vegetable stock
1 small-med butternut squash cut into medium dice (3/4″)
4 slices cooked bacon, in little pieces, but not crumbled. Or 4oz chopped pancetta cooked till crispy.
1/2 cup grated Parmesan, or, if you’re me, way, way more
1 tablespoon unsalted butter (cut into little pieces)

a couple of drops of truffle oil (totally optional)
In a medium-size heavy saucepan, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the onion and shallot and saute until just soft, about 4-5 minutes. Add the rice and continue stirring (use a wooden spoon if you have one) coating all the rice with oil. Add the wine and stir till it has been absorbed by the rice.

Pour in just enough chicken stock to cover the rice, and stir often until all the liquid is absorbed. Add the cubed squash, and continue adding hot broth in small amounts (1/2 cup) and stirring frequently until the rice is creamy and the squash is just tender (don’t over cook it or it’ll be all mush and not cubed at all! Don’t obsess about constantly stirring. If you need to rest your arm or answer the phone or go pee, that’s fine. Your risotto will not suffer.

Add the bacon (mmmmmm…)

Stir in the parmesan and the butter.

Serve in warm bowls for a super fancy effect, and garnish with a sprinkle of additional cheese and little chopped Italian parsley or cilantro. One or two drops of truffle oil go a long, long way.

La Donna e Mobile from Rigoletto sung by Signore Bartolotta recorded on a British Sterling wax cylinder (#531) from 1906. Thanks, Internet Archive! You always have the coolest stuff!

December 12, 2007 | Filed under: vlogalicious, get meta with me!

Why, surely you are headed to Jonny’s Par-Tay over at jonnygoldstein.com, right? That’s where I’ll be hanging out live (!!!) with Jonny and Heath, the Batman Geek! Come by, say “hi” and get vlogsessed!

Did I mention that it’s live? LIVE at 9PM Eastern! What, you were going to watch that idiotic LA multi-disciplinary clinic show? That ‘Private Practice’ doody? Come on, the par-tay will be soooooooo much better than that!!

December 6, 2007 | Filed under: Grrr...arrgh., get meta with me!

Never believe it’s not so!

Oy.

Kids these days…

Kids!
I don’t know what’s wrong with these kids today!
Kids!
Who can understand anything they say?
Kids!
They are so ridiculous and immature!
I don’t see why anybody wants ‘em!
Just you wait and see
Kids!
Kids! They are just impossible to control!
(Soon you’ll be old enough to be)
Kids! With their awful clothes and their rock an’ roll!
(Another teenage delinquent)
Why can’t they be like you were,
Perfect in every way?
What’s the matter with kids to–
Kids!
What the devil’s wrong with these kids today?
Kids!
Who could guess the they would turn out that way!
Why can’t they be like we were,
Perfect in every way?
What’s the matter with kids?
What’s the matter with kids?
What’s the matter with kids today?

December 2, 2007 | Filed under: country mouse

Our little town is cute. Especially when it snows.

But the mayonnaise is expensive.