The ABCs
This seems to be circulating around the geekish blogs, so I figured why not?
Accent: New York. Not the Brooklyn NY. But I definitely say "bawl" for ball, and "cawfee" for coffee.
Booze: Grappa. I positively adore grappa. (Terrifyingly, it was one of my daughters first words. We were in Italy on vacation when she cut her first molars, and everyone says that rubby a little bit of brandy on the kids gums helps. She loved it, and tried to get more.)
Chore I hate: folding laundry.
Dog or Cat: Both; one small tuxedo cat, and one large golden retriever. I prefer dogs, but do adore both.
Essential Electronics: My powerbook. My ipod. Who could live without those?
Favorite Cologne: I despise all colognes, perfumes, and other stinky things that people put on themselves. Ech.
Gold or Silver: gold. I don't really care much, they're both pretty, but silver is so hard to take care of.
Hometown: I was born in Bound Brook, NJ; grew up mostly in Bridgewater, NJ; four-year stint in Findlay, Ohio in between.
Insomnia: when my wife snores. Also known as "most nights".
Job title: Research staff member.
Kids: Two, one girl 5yo, one boy 3yo.
Living arragements: House on a cliff in Westchester county, NY.
Most admirable traits: wait, I'm supposed to have admirable traits? No fair!
Not going to cop to:
Overnight hospital stays: As an adult, just one, for a nissen fundoplication to fix a pretty-much nonexistent sphincter at the top of my stomach. Not fun, not recommended; but people like me used to die of esophageal cancer; now I just have horrible cramps and trouble swallowing.
Phobias: Crowds.
Quote: "I'm not dumb; I just have a command of thoroughly useless information" -- Bill Watterston.
Religion: Judaism, particularly the Reconstructionist branch.
Siblings: One brother (older), one sister (younger).
Time I wake up: Around 7am.
Unusual talent or skill: Wait, doesn't this sort of connect to that "most admirable trait" thing? Oh, wait, it doesn't need to be admirable, just unusual. Ok. Let's see. I can trip over nothing, is that a skill?
Vegetable I love: Hard to pick one. Either chinese brocolli or snow pea greens.
Worst habit: procrastination. Why do you think I'm doing this?
X-rays: Too many. Mostly abdominal, related to the problem that led to the surgery mentioned above.
Yummy foods I make: Another one with a lot. At one point when I was in grad school, I seriously thought about dropping out and opening a restaurant. A few of my favorite things: rare seared duck breast with ancho-honey sauce; hong-kong style braised fish with tofu; catfish with dashi sauce and soy syrup; brandied chicken risotto w/portabello mushrooms.
Zodiac sign: Leo.
Accent: New York. Not the Brooklyn NY. But I definitely say "bawl" for ball, and "cawfee" for coffee.
Booze: Grappa. I positively adore grappa. (Terrifyingly, it was one of my daughters first words. We were in Italy on vacation when she cut her first molars, and everyone says that rubby a little bit of brandy on the kids gums helps. She loved it, and tried to get more.)
Chore I hate: folding laundry.
Dog or Cat: Both; one small tuxedo cat, and one large golden retriever. I prefer dogs, but do adore both.
Essential Electronics: My powerbook. My ipod. Who could live without those?
Favorite Cologne: I despise all colognes, perfumes, and other stinky things that people put on themselves. Ech.
Gold or Silver: gold. I don't really care much, they're both pretty, but silver is so hard to take care of.
Hometown: I was born in Bound Brook, NJ; grew up mostly in Bridgewater, NJ; four-year stint in Findlay, Ohio in between.
Insomnia: when my wife snores. Also known as "most nights".
Job title: Research staff member.
Kids: Two, one girl 5yo, one boy 3yo.
Living arragements: House on a cliff in Westchester county, NY.
Most admirable traits: wait, I'm supposed to have admirable traits? No fair!
Not going to cop to:
Overnight hospital stays: As an adult, just one, for a nissen fundoplication to fix a pretty-much nonexistent sphincter at the top of my stomach. Not fun, not recommended; but people like me used to die of esophageal cancer; now I just have horrible cramps and trouble swallowing.
Phobias: Crowds.
Quote: "I'm not dumb; I just have a command of thoroughly useless information" -- Bill Watterston.
Religion: Judaism, particularly the Reconstructionist branch.
Siblings: One brother (older), one sister (younger).
Time I wake up: Around 7am.
Unusual talent or skill: Wait, doesn't this sort of connect to that "most admirable trait" thing? Oh, wait, it doesn't need to be admirable, just unusual. Ok. Let's see. I can trip over nothing, is that a skill?
Vegetable I love: Hard to pick one. Either chinese brocolli or snow pea greens.
Worst habit: procrastination. Why do you think I'm doing this?
X-rays: Too many. Mostly abdominal, related to the problem that led to the surgery mentioned above.
Yummy foods I make: Another one with a lot. At one point when I was in grad school, I seriously thought about dropping out and opening a restaurant. A few of my favorite things: rare seared duck breast with ancho-honey sauce; hong-kong style braised fish with tofu; catfish with dashi sauce and soy syrup; brandied chicken risotto w/portabello mushrooms.
Zodiac sign: Leo.
posted by MarkCC at
5:50 PM
RSS
4 Comments:
Like you, my preferred fragrance is Eau de Live Long Day. Just don't overdo it.
By
ruidh, at 5:25 AM
X-Rays: Barium swallow?
By
Anonymous, at 5:14 PM
HOW can you post that and not post the recipes too? Catfish with dashi sauce I can probably figure out, but the rest... erg.
By
Anonymous, at 4:11 PM
anonymous:
I used to have a website that had some of those recipes... But when I changed ISPs, I never got around to reposting it. I'll probably try to get some of my reciples online at some point. But for now, I'll just give you one: the duck.
The duckbreast is really easy: you marinade the duck breast in red wine for a few hours; then salt and pepper it, and throw it skin side down in a pan on medium heat. Let it go for about 4 minutes on the skin side; then flip it, and let it go for about 3 minutes on the other side. (That's very rare for a big duck breast, but that's how you want it.) No oil in the pan - the skin will render more than enough fat.
For the sauce, you take two whole ancho chilies, remove the seeds, put them into a small saucepan with a couple of tablespoons of diced onions, and a clove or two of garlic; cover that with chicken stock (it'll take between one and two cups) and let them simmer for five minutes. Then into a blender, puree the whole mess, and put it through a fine strainer. Take the result, and add salt, honey, and lime juice to taste. (I generally use roughly one lime worth of juice, about 2 tbs of honey, and a generous pinch of salt.)
Slice the duck breast and fan it out onto a plate; then drizzle the ancho sauce over it. Go easy on the sauce - it's very powerful stuff.
By
MarkCC, at 7:38 PM
Post a Comment
<< Home