zen.org Communal Weblog

The Accidental Cook

I think I’ve gotten the audio blog stuff to work. Now I just have to figure out how to post it for those of you interested in listening to it. Probably not many people, since I haven’t given out the URL of this yet.

Basically, I used the Engadget way of doing things. Pretty easy, overall. One small hiccup in the import and convert in iTunes…I couldn’t change the bit rate and the sample rate to make the comp happy. So I blew off that part, and it sounded better. But then it compressed down to 1.4M. I don’t know if that’s big or not, for about….44 seconds of audio? I guess I need to know what the hell I’m going to talk about before I start it…make every bit count .

I’m getting addicted to Adam Curry’s Daily Source Code. (Hmmm…just hit a bug. When using WordPress to create the above link, the link itself was under the parameters of the typing window…so it jumped back to the top of the entry.) Anyway, Adam’s funny, and geeky, and all that I look for in a man. Eerrrrrrr…all that I look for in a podcast. Yeah, that’s it. Any guy who will sit there and say “boooiiiiinnnggggggg” for 50,000 people…what a freak. In a good way. I think he’s like Howard Stern used to be when I was 10 and listened to him on AM radio in New York. So Adam’s influenced me enough to try podcasting. And I’m gonna do a cooking show. Somehow. Maybe I can do a videoblog, with separate audio if you need to watch. Or just rant about being a mom. But who the hell would listen to that? Ah, well, *you’re* reading this, so you’re not objective.

One Friday in September 余艾蕾 and I got a high-definition television signal. All was well for a week or two until the cable box broke. For a month or so after that a myriad of unique Comcast employees and contractors filtered through our house replacing this or that, one even thought our 1Ghz line splitter was incorrect and replaced it with a 1000Mhz splitter. Finally the same guy who got us up and running on that Friday in September showed up, click, click on the remote control, and all was working again. He was in disbelief that we didn’t have high-definition for almost a month, and wrote that we should be reimbursed for our missed month. Instead we got high-definition HBO.

In general HBO is horrible, but I was sick a couple of days last week and found The Tuxedo mildly amusing, ★★★☆☆. Usually I turned it on and some horrible move is on that I would rather have a root canal then watch. Then there was Sex and the City; I had never seen Sex and the City before and found that it too is horrible. I left season one of Sex and the City an my Netflix list anyway. Last night 余艾蕾 and I watched the first two episodes of season one, and it is really good! I expect to put season two on my Netflix list too. I just wonder when it is going to get the huge ego the episodes I watched on HBO had. It took Ally McBeal about a season and a half to get horrible, I hope Sex and the City lasts longer.

So I’m still trying to figure out how this blog is different from the LiveJournal blog. I guess it’s just the overall difference of not having the little community. But it’s good, cause I gotta learn to do things on my own, right? RIGHT?! 🙂

B and I are listening to Adam Curry’s Daily Source Code, which is his podcast. I love podcasts, they’re great. I don’t seem to have time to listen to the ones that I’m really into tho. But Adam’s is fun.

Adam just said something about plastic knives and forks on the airplane. It is stupid, considering that a lot of the time the first class does crystal glasses. Which would be a bit more dangerous than a metal FORK.

Zoë, 余艾蕾, and I waited in line just under an hour to vote today. Zoë was awake most of the time, but by the time we got to the booth she was sleeping. Both the Democratic and Republican poll observers came over and ogled at the baby. MoveOn PAC was the only organization with a table at the Yardly-Makefield fire station in Yardley Borough.

While there was four voting booths set up, everybody had to go through a bottle neck of one person to vote. Most of the time only one or two booths where in use. It seemed a bit silly. All went smoothly.

Now it’s your turn, go vote!

The carvery lunch offered in many Irish pubs is a real treat for residents and tourists alike. The choices start at roast beef and continue on to include lasagne, roast lamb, fried cod, paninis & sandwiches, you name it. A simple order of the roast beef is met with the question, “All potato and veg with that?” The meat’s already magically appearing as if you’ve transported yourself to the main hall at Hogwarts, and behind you will be Harry Potter and Hermione waiting to get their chance to order.

A simple “Yes” to the question makes an unbelievable amount of food accumulate. Aside from enough meat for three people, mounds of vegetables appear: vast portions of mashed potato, roasted potatoes, carrots, cabbage, and roasted onions.

He looks up expectantly and asks, “Gravy?” How could he possibly add . . .

Nevermind. It fit, all four huge spoonfuls of it. By the time the serving is complete, you can’t see the surface of your large plate. The food rises up as if on top of a mound of soil for a freshly-dug basement.

Twenty minutes later, anyone walking by your table would see an empty plate but an obviously full tummy sitting across from it. Shaking their head as they make their way to the bar, they can only marvel at the capacity of the human appetite.

Couple your meal with a pint of Guinness and you’re ready for whatever the day may give you.

If you are a registered voter in the United States, make sure you vote tomorrow. I know who I’m going to vote for. I don’t care who you vote for, just vote!

I was listening to WRTI‘s Jazz program this evening and Bradford Marsalis called up and plugged his label, Marsalis Music. I had not heard of his label before, so I spend some time listening to the samples, WOW! I then checked the RIAA member list, not on it. So, if you where wondering what to get me for Yule, any album from there would be good. If I don’t get any I’m getting a few soon after Christmas.

Pagan’s are cool. I spend a good amount of my reading time learning about religions, and Paganism seems to be the only religion that appears to be the result of a thousands of years of looking around. No listening to some hermit living under a tree, no almost sacrificing your son, no nailing anybody to anything, no sacrificing 10,000 humans in four days; just “the last time the sun was over there I should of planted my wheat.”

I was still worried when I noticed The Pagan Voting Project. I expected it to be another liberal vote for Kerry page, or at least an anti-Bush page, but it was just a please register and vote page. Thank you witches of the United States, for trying to be fair.

To, again, quote Witches’ Voice: “when you are in the voting booth on Nov. 2nd. YOU are in Sacred Space. NO ONE will ever know who you voted for. Brand/Party loyalty, family, peer, co-worker pressure and other influences are moot. It’s Your moment, Your truth and Your choice. Vote for whom you believe will be the most honorable and effective leader and who will best represent YOUR needs and interests.”

Perhaps Witches’ Voice needs a sports section. They said it the best Oh MY GODS! – It took a full lunar eclipse of a Blood-Red Moon… but The Sox have broken the 86 year old curse and taken the 2004 World Series. — Freekin’ Sweet!!!