Summer all food, fun and drink marathon begins · Friday June 27, 2008 by colin newell
Beginning, well, now we will start the all summer, all food, coffee and fun marathon of blog posts.
I am so done with Olympic rants. I am so done with gas price rants. I am so done with political stuff.
Folks. I just don’t care anymore. I just want to have fun and enjoy life.
For at least 2 months.
So buckle up.
Let’s begin our 60 days of reckless and irresponsible abandon with this little tid-bit: The self-stirring mug. What could be more hedonistic than a mug that stirs itself. Yes, friend – it is true.
There was a time that coffee brewers seemed radical. Now we have devices for stirring. Soon, very soon, we will have surrogates that drink the coffee for us, waving their arms and smoking cigarettes as they become increasingly agitated.
Not for me though. I would rather do my own arm waving.
Welcome to the Summer of 2008.
Seen in passing - coffee time - as the crow flies · Wednesday June 25, 2008 by colin newell
I have coffee at 10AM and 3PM where I work (on a Vancouver Island University campus) – and I generally have coffee with colleagues.
Except today I had a special guest – a good old black crow. A friendly one at that. This one was different. It was banded!
As it turns out, it is from the United States of America – from the University of Washington – another campus in a different country.
The 1st thing that crossed my mind (as I mused out loud to the curious bird)…
“Hmmm – you are a American bird in Canada… I guess you are not on any No-Fly list, huh?”
Nyuk nyuk cackle.
I sat at an outdoor table and shared my multi-grain fruit muffin (make them myself) with the bird – hoping that there was nothing harmful to the creature in the recipe.
Food West Coast Texas Chili Vancouver Island Style · Wednesday June 25, 2008 by colin newell
Did this recipe two nights ago with some fine tuning so I thought it would run it again. Vegetarians (love you dearly): Avert your eyes!
2 pounds AAA Angus Sirloin, Strip loin or whatever is available
2 tablespoon corn oil
2 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
24 fluid ounces of beer, medium ale being the best
2 (16-ounce) container salsa
60 tortilla chips
2 chilpotle peppers canned in adobo sauce, chopped
2 tablespoon adobo or chilpotle hot sauce
2 tablespoon tomato paste
2 tablespoon chili powder
2 teaspoon ground cumin
Place the meat in a large mixing bowl and toss with the oil and salt. Set aside.
Heat a 6-quart heavy-bottomed pot over high heat until hot. Add the meat in 3 or 4 batches and brown on all sides, approximately 2 minutes per batch. Once each batch is browned, place the meat in a clean large bowl.
Once all of the meat is browned, add the beer to the pot to de-glaze the pot.
Scrape the browned bits from the bottom of the pot. Add the meat back to the pot along with the salsa, tortilla chips, chilpotle peppers, adobo sauce, tomato paste, chili powder, and ground cumin and stir to combine. Cover pot. Cook for 40 minutes at medium heat. Serve immediately.
Goes well with more beer and more corn chips.
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Air travel rant #8 Too dangerous to fly - too innocent to arrest · Wednesday June 25, 2008 by colin newell
People speak about Canada’s no fly list…
“hastily and ill considered national security initiatives which are essentially aimed at managing perceptions more than they are in really addressing legitimate and manageable security concerns are not harmless. In fact, they cause disproportionate harm in return for very minor gains in terms of intelligence and law enforcement. “
