For Dinner: Asparagus Terrine

Sometimes I just peruse Good Eats episodes and find things that I might want to make. This was one of those times, with the recent asparagus episode's Asparagus Terrine catching my interest. I love asparagus, but I don't typically use it in ways other than the standard boil/roast.

• 2 teaspoons unflavored powdered gelatin
• 2 tablespoons cold water
• 8 ounces quark or farmers cheese, room temperature
• 8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
• 3 to 5 good quality, jarred anchovies in olive oil, drained
• 7 whole, fresh chives
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 cup roughly chopped flat-leaf parsley
• 1 recipe Steamed Asparagus, cooled, recipe follows
• Toasted French bread slices, for serving
• Special equipment: Spritz bottle filled with water

Quark is a new ingredient to me, and despite Alton's claim that it's available in most megamarts, I couldn't find it. Finding farmers cheese was hard enough, with me getting to the Jewish Refrigerated Foods section before I could find the full fat farmers cheese.

My mother used to eat anchovies out of the can when I was a kid (and probably still does), but like their appreciation for brussel sprouts, it took me a little while before I could appreciate these culinary delights. And while I no longer hold a beef with the sprouts, I've been dodging the little fishies for a while. I kinda tricked myself into trying them - I didn't have any problems with processing a few into my cheese mixture, I was left with 3/4 of a can of anchovies after I was done, and I couldn't just throw them away, could I? So I toasted them with some toast, and ate 'em straight up. I thought there would be at least a little crunch, as I knew I was eating bones, but they were quite soft. The tail was a little pokey, but it chewed up just as well. There was certainly a very fishy taste to them, so I don't know if they were one of my favorite things ever, but I feel stronger for finally bucking up and trying them.

At first, the taste was a little overwhelming - a big cheesy/creamy note, combined with a little bit of asparagus, finished with a distinct fishy note from the anchovies. These first couple of slices I was eating straight, and I was like "ehhhhhhh...", but then I made some toast, and smeared it on that, and it made it a hell of a lot better.

I think I like standard asparagus too much to try this again, but at least I conquered my anchovy hangup.

Android App Spotlight #20 Brody Button

Price: Free
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Android App Spotlight #19: Sipdroid

Price: Free
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Session Initiation Protocol is commonly used to control multimedia streams at the application layer, according to Wikipedia. While there's a little too much on that page to wrap my head around, the most popular app that takes advantage of it, Sipdroid, presents a dead simple interface.









Using it along with several other services, you can do things like this:

I was able to set it up with these instructions and no issues whatsoever. Of course, it defaults to being used whenever I'm connected via wifi, which I don't like, as it isn't as glossy or integrated with the Android interface. You can turn that off, though, so it sits in the background, waiting for a call to your Google Voice number. I wouldn't leave it running all the time, because it probably uses at least a little battery life, and also if you use the integrated Google Voice app, your phone essentially rings twice, and you immediately miss one of the calls. Nevertheless, I was able to make a call this afternoon with no sim in my phone, which might be helpful if you, for example, take a little jaunt over to Qatar in the future.

Android App Spotlight #18: SportyPal

Nike+ is the main reason I purchased an iPod Touch. It was pretty cool to have the software track the distance you've run, and I used it quite a bit after I got it. It was not without its faults, though - the device tracks movement via an accelerometer, which calculates distance via a standard calibrated step, so if your stride varies, it can throw off the measurement. The way the app interfaced with my music was a bit clunky, too, making it difficult to select anything other than a playlist. While the website provides a nice medium for tracking your runs and communicating and challenging other users, the site is absolutely drenched in Flash to the point where it affects usability. It's difficult to share general information, too.

Once I got my Nexus One I realized that there are apps that do a similar tracking to Nike+, though using the GPS, thereby making it quite a bit more accurate, and since multitasking is no big deal, it's easy to leave the running app... err, running, and switch over to the music player with no fuss. It didn't require a special dongle in my shoes, either. The only question then is to choose the best app.

When I started looking, there were only two main contenders: Buddy Runner and SportyPal. Buddy Runner seemed the most like Nike+ in that it duplicated pretty much all functionality - including the computerized voice telling you the distance remaining - but the interface of both the website and app was not very pretty, and it was hard to share my workouts. I ended up going with SportyPal - it looks quite a bit better, and you can do other exercises, like cycling, rollerblading, down to "exercises" like sailing and surfing. What's better is that you can manually add exercises - so if you do things like weightlifting or running indoors, you can add those to your profile. The thing doesn't speak to you like Buddy Runner, so if that's your thing, you might want to keep looking. The original idea was that I would use SportyPal outside and Nike+ inside, then manually add the run later to my SportyPal profile, though that idea never came to fruition and I sold my iPod two weeks ago because of lack of use.

I haven't had too much trouble working with SportyPal, though apparently the appscape has broadened a bit since I last looked. A Lifehacker poll  says good things about RunKeeper and Endomondo, but I'm not really interested in checking them out. SportyPal meets all my needs quite sufficiently.

Travelog: Mile High Music Festival 2010

My old friend and Del Rio escapee Rob begun seeing concerts together last year when Tool came to San Antonio. After that, we had a fairly successful (though muddy) run in Austin for ACL 2009. We made preliminary plans at the time to check out Mile High Music Festival in Denver, as he was moving to Colorado Springs in a few months, and when the lineup was released in late March, we took a shot in the dark and purchased tickets, hoping that my perpetual state of training would allow we to take some time off to attend.

Though I still have a couple of months before I'm finally out of training, I was able to talk a few days of vacation on either side of the weekend-spanning event in order to comfortably make the 9-hour drive to Colorado Springs. I suppose that I may have been able to make the trip even if I didn't get the Friday and Monday off, but I don't know whether that would have involved an inordinate amount of driving or having to fly out there.


After leaving Colorado Springs for the first time in May of 2008, I thought I would have spent more time away than I have - I've returned every year since, first in April of last year and now again 14 months later. I must have been distracted failing out of Pueblo at the time, because I think this was the first time I've appreciated the wonderful views we had in the city - San Antonio was only a little bit hilly, and Wichita is as flat as the day is long. The city is basically built on top of the shallower parts of the mountains, which becomes obvious when trying to push my car up and over the many steep hills that are consistently featured as part of the Springs' typical roadways. It became a factor for my car, which encountered trouble as soon as I arrived in the city.

I had begun experiencing some light stuttering issues with my car in Wichita, but it was only a rare occurrence when the engine was being heavily tasked in idle (like, for example, running the air conditioning at a stop light). My amateur research online pointed to a possible problem with the fuel system or a spark plug issue. The former being the easiest problem to correct, I purchased a bottle of that fuel injector cleaner stuff you put in your gas tank. It seemed to make the problem better, so I continued to keep an eye on it. Fast forward to me completing the 500 mile trip to Colorado Springs, in which the sputtering was seriously noticeable when idling or driving in first gear. I was lucky I made it to Rob's place, but the next stop was an auto shop.

I was going to take it to a dealer and be content that I was getting consistent service in addition to being ripped off, but I decided to see if I could find a reliable auto shop in town and press my luck. Luckily, it worked out, and not only was I able to get my car fixed, but I did my homework while I waited, and learned how the induction coil increases the voltage from the battery and passes it to the spark plug which sets off the combustion in my engine. I'm interested in learning more about how my car works, but it's difficult without being able to take the thing apart and tinker with it. At least I'm getting some lessons through my mistakes. Now that my car crisis had been averted and I could make it back to Wichita, the focus was back on the vacation.

Living in the northern part of the Springs for four years, we spent most of our time hitting up the multitude of chain restaurants that surrounded Academy Blvd., though also by that time I hadn't become interest in food as I am now, so it didn't bother me. This time, though, I wanted to see more of what C-Springs had to offer - less than an hour from Denver, I knew there had to be at least a few places for fine dining that trickled south from the Mile High City, similarly to how Milwaukee's food benefited from having the (much) larger city of Chicago so close, and San Antonio had Austin (not larger than SA by any means, but certainly a lot more creative).

Despite my intentions, my visit to Colorado Springs was bookended by indulgences in nostalgia, beginning first with a trip to Leon Gessi's, a parlor of pizza in which we began many nights eating pies and drinking pitchers of beer. My trip's last stop was Egg and I, a breakfast (now chain, as there was even one in San Antonio, though I never visited) restaurant started in Fort Collins and which I spent many Sundays sitting eating the same Hiker's Benedict and drinking a pitcher of coffee in an effort to reclaim some of my sanity after spending day after day living in a 10x12' room with another dude.

The remainder of my time was peppered with new places, some better than others, but all nice in their own right. Rob having to split time between me and his girlfriend who was leaving for Nebraska the Monday after the festival, combined with me being a relatively early riser, meant that I had the opportunity to splurge and get my fix for fine dining as well as a try a few classic breakfast places. It worked out well, giving me a healthy amount of time to explore the city on my own and not having to worry about the smothering that can happen when a visitor is staying with you for several days.

For lunch the first day we decided to eat lunch in Denver, and I chose one of the highest rated places on Yelp, Big Jim's Hot Dogs, which I didn't realize was featured recently on an episode of Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations. It's a food stand, though, and those can be tricky to find, as we found when we arrived at our supposed destination and found no wieners to be had. I called Big Jim, and was surprised to discover that he was actually serving at the festival! He was in the VIP tent, however, so we tried to get hooked up to no avail. There was a nice little Mexican restaurant nearby that got the job done.

I enjoy going to these things with Rob because he's content to sit at the back of the crowd and chill out for the day. I never liked being one of those people that crowd the stage, for several reasons:

• I didn't pay for these things to look at the artists - it's a music festival, so as long as I can hear, I'm happy.
• I like my personal space.
• I don't dance, so I would rather not stand there uncomfortably for hours.

I reviewed the particulars of the festival already, but with regards to the music, there were more smaller acts that I kinda wanted to see rather than one or two must-see acts. You can see the lineup here, and I made this sampler of songs from the acts that we saw.

ALO was a band I heard good things about when I was really into jambands, but I never got around to checking out. They're pretty mellow, but not Jack Johnson mellow. That's just too damn mellow, if you ask me - that man needs to wear some shoes every once in a while.

Phoenix's Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix was one of the best albums last year, and they were sure to put most of the focus on that album, despite it being their fourth since 2000 (first in the US, though). Many bands don't really add too much to their songs when played live, and this was one of those cases. If I wanted to hear the tracks played note for note for the album versions with crappier acoustics, I would play the CD while wearing hearing protection or something.

I've seen Drive-By Truckers several times by this point, but they're a good live band, which we heard as we were waiting to gain entry into the venue - I accidentally got us there an hour later, as their set was ending. It sounded good from what we heard, though.

My favorite act of the festival was Chris Thile's Punch Brothers, a progressive bluegrass band and my second-favorite bluegrass personality behind Béla Fleck. Aside from their new album, Antifogmatic, being a pretty great album, the bluegrass in Colorado reminds me of the absolute stellar times I've had in Telluride during their bluegrass festival. You can take any of these other music festivals if you must, but I love the few times I've been lucky enough to camp and enjoy some bluegrass music surrounded by the beautiful Rockies. The drive itself is amazing, and it kills me that I've missed it the past two years.

For as many people that came and saw Weezer, they could have easily been the headliner for the first night. I'm a pretty casual fan of Weezer, but I know their better albums are behind them. I think they know it, too, as the set was pretty focused on the older material. Hell, they should just tour featuring songs solely from their first two albums.

I have quite a history with Dave Matthews Band, and while they maintain an important part of my musical history, I am well aware that they are not infallible. I think I have a four-year streak going on seeing them live, so this worked as fulfilling this year's quota. I don't really like going to a pure DMB concert anymore because the fanbase is pretty douchy and I have to stand the whole time. On the other hand, the band plays it safe with their setlists for festivals, so I can expect to hear the same old crowd pleasers rather than the more interesting stuff they've been doing this tour. We left about an hour into the set - Rob wasn't that big of a fan and worked the next day, and I realized that the set wasn't going anywhere good, and didn't want to get caught in the deluge of traffic at the end of the night. I also remembered that there was a live webcast of the show, which I was able to watch on my phone as we drove back to the Springs. We were walking in the door literally as the last note was being played.



With 11 hours of driving (including the time zone changes) ahead of me, I grabbed that breakfast at Egg and I and drove away. This was certainly one of the more laid-back festivals I've been to, and I was lucky that I was able to score some time off of work to attend. As I thought when moving to Wichita, the plus to living in the dead center of the United States is that I am a day's drive from a lot of cool places, and this proved the point. I hope the lineup for 2011 looks good, because I would love to do it again.

Android App Spotlight #17: Adobe Flash 10.1

Price: Free
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One of the biggest complaints about iOS is the browsing experience is considerably hindered by the lack of Adobe Flash. Yes, there are better solutions for browsing and video on the way, but in today's world, Flash is the background of too many websites to be ignored. This might not be such a big deal on a phone you're using to  quickly check a website, but on a big device like the iPad, it can be very obvious that you're not surfing the "full internet."

Steve Jobs has said that Flash is buggy and a battery suck, but this is also the guy who also insisted the original iPhone not be 3G, there was no need for copy/paste, and the iPhone didn't need apps. Rather than waiting for the very nature of web design to come around to HTML5, Android Adobe were quick to jump on this hot button issue and announced that Flash would be available with Froyo at this year's Google I/O.

Like some of Froyo's other touted features, it doesn't came native to the phone - you have to visit the app store to install it. My guess is that this was done in order to show respect to my Nexus One's precious 512MB of storage space (more developers need to enable the ability to store their apps on SD cards), though I reckon it's not a real consideration if you have a post-N1 phone.

Installation is easy enough, and in usability, it seemed to work fine - just recently I was able to visit a restaurant's website the featured a Flash splash page, while my Flash-less friend was out of luck. I haven't noticed a significant degradation in battery life, either, but that's because of the feature that makes this work so well: in the browser (default browser, anyway) settings, select the "enable plug-ins" option, and choose "on demand." For every piece of flash content you visit, there will be a little green download icon over it - click it, and that piece of Flash content will be opened. This is especially great for avoiding ads, both from having to look at them, and having to use the battery to download them.

I haven't done a lot of long-term testing of Flash videos, but I would imagine sparing use would be required for your battery life to not completely go to hell. Flash on Android is more about removing some of those big barriers to surfing on the go, and with the ability to only activate it when you need it, there's no reason to not download.

Fall Summer Preview

When all the network shows were finishing up in May, I looked at my severely reduced TV schedule for the summer, and saw this as an opportunity to catch up on my backlogs and movie collection "A Criterion a Day!," I promised myself in my head. We are now on the precipice of the fall TV season - only a month to go - and I haven't even been able to catch up with the current releases of Criterions, much less the back catalog. And the TV? It's still a-coming.

Nowadays, when I list my hobbies, I include television amongst them, even though I don't think many people know what I'm referring to. I'm not vegging out on the couch zoning to stupid VH1 reality shows or whatever reruns are playing on the CW (though that's how I spent a large portion of my teens) - this is specific, target watching of artful television. I think that there is TV today that is producing at a quality similar to that of films, and it can be approached similarly. Looking forward to the next few months, there's a daunting 23 shows whose seasons are premiering, and all but four of them are during the month of September.

Weeds - 16 Aug - Showtime
I've already written a review of the Season 6 premiere, but hopefully Season 6 will get us away from the unfunny Mexican storylines and try something fresh.




The Big C - 16 Aug - Showtime
A new show about an older woman who discovers she has stage 4 melanoma. Stars Laura Linney, Oliver Platt, and Gabourey Sidibe (Precious). Between this, Weeds, United States of Tara, Nurse Jackie, and The L Word, Showtime has a good track record with strong leading ladies.


Sons of Anarchy - 7 September - FX
Though I have yet to watch The Shield, Kurt Sutter has created some great characters, and the writing has kept tensions high throughout all of last season. With the resolution of the Nazi gang last season, I wouldn't be surprised if SoA takes on another season-long storyarc this season.

Terriers - 8 September - FX
A new series costarring the dude who played Renée on the first season of True Blood, it's about a couple of misfits operating a makeshift detective agency. I don't have any reason to believe this will be good other than FX being one of those basic cable channels like AMC which I will try just about anything they put to series.

The Venture Bros. - 12 September - Cartoon Network

With Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! ending last Spring, The Venture Bros. is one of the few remaining Adult Swim shows I follow (aside from ATHF and - hopefully - Check it Out! With Steve Brule). Things got shook up this season, with Brock stepping back from regular status, the death of 24, and Sgt. Hatred pussyfooting all over the place, but there is still plenty of good humor to go around. Plus, I love the into music.

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia - 16 September - FX
After Seinfeld ended, there were a deluge of crappy sitcoms that directly tried to emulate their style, but I believe Sunny features the irrelevant storylines, callous characters, and wild situations to be as close as we dare to get to another Seinfeld while still pushing the boundaries for 2010.

The League - 16 September - FX

Given FX's previous willingness to attach whatever show featuring crude humor it could find to Sunny (I'm looking at you, Testees) I was reluctant to try The League. After becoming familiar with Paul Scheer through Human Giant, and learning that creator Jeff Scheer was a writer, director, and producer of Seinfeld and Curb Your Enthusiasm, I gave it a try this morning. Despite my unfamiliarity with fantasy football, I found a much funnier show than I was expecting, a good pairing for Sunny, and I'm excited to see what a full season will look like.

Boardwalk Empire - 19 September - HBO
A new show from HBO, the first episode directed by Martin Scorcese, starring Steve Buscemi as a mafia boss in the days of 1920s prohibition in Atlantic City? There's no way this can't be good.

Chuck - 20 September - NBC
Chuck is one of those shows that I download but have yet to watch, but there's been enough positive buzz over the past three years, not to mention a Cinderella story with Subway for season 2, and with a failed Jay Leno Show for Season 3, have kept Chuck around for far longer than would be allowed at a more successful network.

How I Met Your Mother - 20 September - CBS

Until I get bored enough to start into The Big Bang Theory, HIMYM is the only CBS show I bother watching. Season 5 was pretty weak, choosing to feature more sitcom-y plots than furthering the story of The Mother, but Barney Stinson is a legen-dary character and the creators give me hope that Season 6 starts turning things around.





Parenthood - 21 September - NBC
Peter Krause, Craig T. Nelson, Mae Whitman, and Lauren Graham give Parenthood some serious television clout, and the first season more or less maintained the balance between the troubles of the families and the feelgood moments.

Glee - 21 September - FOX
The first of two seasons to be ordered by FOX before the show concluded its freshman season, Glee is a hot property right now. While I don't mind most musicals, I don't find the format for television quite as endearing. For the fast storylines and whiny archetypes, I appreciate the quirk, and I champion Jane Lynch's role as Sue Sylvester as the primary reason why I continue watching. She is an amazing comedic talent and it's too bad it's taken this long for it to be recognized.

Modern Family - 22 September - ABC

Tied for best new sitcom alongside Community, there's not much to say about the show aside from it being genuinely funny through and through - though I think it's at its best when the families are co-mingling.






Cougar Town - 22 September - ABC
Scrubs Med School may have flopped, but luckily that wasn't the only show Bill Lawrence had last season. Originally a pretty average sitcom about a woman trying to find sex with younger men, Cougar Town quickly evolved into a suburban ensemble comedy that was much funnier than the title would have you believe. Lawrence tried to change the title over the summer, but alas, we're still stuck with "Cougar Town."

Community - 23 September - NBC
An excellent first season featuring some great comedic talents, Community struggled but ultimately succeeded to straddle the line between pop culture references and storytelling (as well as two very attractive leading ladies). What's next? Keep the streak alive, plus more John Oliver.

Outsourced - 23 September - NBC
Sadly, Parks and Recreation is on hiatus until midseason because of Amy Poehler's baby, but NBC has been doing pretty well the past few years with Must-See TV Thursdays, and presumably they feel strongly enough about Outsourced to place it amongst these veterans. The premise is interesting enough - focusing on Indians who take over an American call center - if the show can set aside cheap "culture differentiation" jokes, if the characters are likable, and if the writing passes muster, it might be something worth watching. (There's a lot of qualifies in that last sentence)

The Office - 23 September - NBC
Last season was pretty weak, establishing and quickly abandoning storylines, and featuring a Michael Scott that was dumb even by Homer Simpsons standards, hopefully the announcement of Steve Carell leaving at the end of the season will spur some more thoughtful and fleshed-out writing for the popular series.

30 Rock - 23 September - NBC
30 Rock may not have had its best season last year, removing some believability from the characters and introducing the boring Wesley storyline, but we can still hope that as the show approaches its 100th episode, it might get a creative shot in the arm.

Eastbound and Down - 26 September - HBO

Though essentially a Ferrell-McKay character stretched to fill a six-episode season, Kenny Powers is an unapologetically great character, and I await Season 2, which will abandon the majority of the cast and setting as Kenny goes to Mexico to play for a local team.




Bored to Death - 26 September - HBO
About as far from Eastbound and Down in terms of theme, Bored to Death's first season was a little light on comedy, a bit heavy on the hipster side of New York, but featured some great performances from Jason Schwartzmann, Ted Danson, and Zach Galifinakis.

The Simpsons - 26 September - FOX
It's been on the air for nearly as long as I've been alive - it wouldn't be television without The Simpsons. As someone who's seen literally every episode, there has been a boon in creativity since The Movie, and I've been getting a good solid laugh or two from most every episode. Not bad for a show in its 22nd season.

In Treatment - October - HBO

Recently announced for October, it takes some damn good writing to carry a 30-minute serial drama that takes place entirely within a therapist's office, and I'm hoping Season 3 will continue to bring the high level of quality despite no longer having the Indian show to pattern itself off of.




Peep Show - Autumn - Channel 4
A long-running UK cult sitcom that is shot entirely from the POV perspective of one of the characters, Peep Show has an everything-goes-wrong element similar to Curb Your Enthusiasm. The entire series is available to watch on Hulu, if you're so inclined.

Good Eats - ? - Food Network
Scripps has no rhyme or reason as to when it shows new episodes of its Nighttime lineup, so I can assume that there will be some episodes shown in the fall, coming off of a sweet 7-week run a few weeks ago. Continuously entertaining and informative even after 14 seasons, I learn something new about cooking in every episode.

Food Wars - ? - Travel Channel
Another hammy food travel show in the vein of Man v Food, I haven't seen Food Wars in months, though I know they're still filming.

A lot of good television to be watched, for sure. This is just a snapshot for the season - there's going to be a dozen more for the midseason and summer seasons, too - but the point is that there is a very large amount of high quality television that is being produced today - you just have to go find it. I'm sure I'll find the time to watch them all, though this is the hardest time of year to keep up, especially given my profession, but I'll enjoy as much as I can. It's a great medium.