StaggerLee

Thanks!

Thanks.

I'd love to get a tvtorrents invite if anyone's got one. New Homeland and Dexter are out and the Pirate Bay is down.

The Misfits

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I made a pot of this today using ground venison for the meat and cooked some dried red and black beans instead of the canned refried ones.

Chocolate, Stout & Ancho Chili Con Carne

Ingredients:

* 3 dried ancho chiles

* 1/2 cup boiling hot water

* 500 g minced beef

* 1 large onion - diced

* 1/2 bulb garlic - peeled and crushed

* 2 cups passata sauce (crushed tomato)

* 1 1/2 cups Guinness stout

* 1/2 cup water

* 1 tbs brown sugar

* 1 tsp salt

* 1 tbs Worcestershire sauce

* 50 g (more or less to taste) dark chocolate - coarsely chopped

* 2 cans (215 g each) spicy refried beans

* 1 large bunch corander leaves - coarsely chopped

Herbs & Spices:

* 2 tsp ground cumin

* 1 tsp ground coriander

* 1 tsp cayenne pepper

* 1 tsp ground cinnamon

* 1 tsp dried oregano

* 1 tsp sweet paprika

* 1 bay leaf

Directions:

* Toast the dried chiles in a hot pan until fragrant, about 2 mins. Cut the chiles open and remove cores. Reserve the seeds. Place chiles and 1/2 cup of hot water in bowl. Set aside for about 15 mins, until chiles are softened. Blend until smooth.

* Heat up a bit of oil in a pan, add onions, stir fry until softened.

* Add garlic, fry until fragrant.

* Add minced beef, fry until dry and browned (until the meat is frying in its own fats, discard some of the fats if you wish). Break any chunks of meat with a wooden spoon.

* Mix in all the herbs and spices. Fry until fragrant.

* Pour in ancho chile puree, pasata, stout, water, sugar, salt and Worcestershire sauce. Stir to mix.

* Bring to boil, then lower heat to simmer for 15 mins, uncovered.

* Stir in chocolate, cover and continue cooking for another 1 1/2 hrs (or longer). Remember to stir occasionally making sure the sauce doesn't catch on the bottom of the pan. Add more water if the sauce is drying out.

* Add refried beans and leave to cook for a few more mins.

* Season to taste. Add some reserved chile seeds if not spicy enough.

* Stir in coriander and enjoy!

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Gus's pub and The Company House are small but hip bars in the north end that usually have good local music.

Garrison recently released this one:

And it is very tasty. Brewed the day the hops were cut using local hops.

I've got the Artisan model that I picked up on sale for $300. It's great for mixing and whipping and stuff, but it does a shitty job with bread dough and sounds like it's working too hard. I don't have any attachments for it.

More Star Wars ridiculousness:

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I'm a coffee snob.

I grind my beans in a burr grinder, brew them in a Bialetti moka pot, and drink it with a half teaspoon of sugar and warm frothed milk.

I buy Just Us beans alot because they're local, fair trade, organic and relatively cheap. They make some good beans and some bad ones. I love their Sumatran and Ethiopian, but hate their French roast.

Kicking Horse are okay too, but they're not much better than Just Us and they're almost twice the price around here.

Lately I've been buying beans from 49th Parallel. They are expensive, but sublime. For the past few weeks I've been hooked on their Burundi Gatare beans. Check them out.

Nothing says summer to me like the Steve Miller Band.

I had a bottle of Dieu du Ciel's Charbonnière last night. I think I need to drink another to figure out how I feel about it overall, but it was definitely the best smoked beer I've had.

our midwives recommended picking up a bottle of some celebratory something to drink when it's all over, too, and something you'd never drink otherwise but that you'd probably enjoy. I opted myself for amaretto liqueur, and wouldn't you know it, every time I taste it now, it takes me right back.

This is a great idea. I'm going to have to head to the LC for something nice. Six and a half weeks to go before I can crack it open.

I use this one from Rick Bayless all the time:

Roasted Tomatillo Salsa

Salsa Tomate Verde Asado

If all-raw tomatillo salsa is all light-fresh-immediate, roasted tomatillo salsa is richer and more settled, balancing freshness with the sweet caramel of pan-roasting. I love the way it perks up grilled steak tacos or makes a black bean tostada a dish to dream about. And a soft tortilla full of chorizo sausage and browned potatoes plays incredibly well with roasted tomatillo salsa. You can make the base of this salsa in advance—as much as several days. But I'd advise you to add the cilantro (finely chop it) and onion when you're ready to serve.

Makes 1 ½ cups

* 4 medium (about 8 ounces total) tomatillos, husked, rinsed and halved

* 2 large garlic cloves, peeled

* Hot green chiles to taste (I like 2 serranos or 1 jalapeño), stemmed and roughly chopped

* About 1/3 cup (loosely packed) roughly chopped cilantro

* ½ small white onion, finely chopped

* Salt

Set a large (10-inch) non-stick skillet over medium-high heat (if a non-stick skillet is unavailable, lay in a piece of foil). Lay in the garlic and tomatillos (cut side down). When the tomatillos are well browned, 3 or 4 minutes, turn everything over and brown the other side. (The tomatillos should be completely soft.)

Scrape the tomatillos and garlic into a blender or food processor, and let cool to room temperature, about 3 minutes. Add the chile, cilantro and ¼ cup water. Blend to a coarse puree. Pour into a salsa dish and thin with a little additional water if necessary to give the salsa an easily spoonable consistency.

Scoop the chopped onion into a strainer and rinse under cold water. Stir into the salsa. Taste and season with salt, usually about ½ teaspoon.

In the summertime when the tomatoes are good I like this one from the Rebar cookbook:

Fresh-Cut Tomato Salsa:

6 tomatoes, finely diced

1 jalapeno pepper, minced

½ small red onion, minced

â…“ bunch cilantro, stemmed and finely chopped

juice of one lime

1 tsp brown sugar

½ tsp salt, or more to taste

I used Audacity for a while, but now I'm using Sony Acid Pro 7. It's got more bells and whistles than I know what to do with, but it's fun figuring it all out.

On a related note, can anyone suggest some good VST plugins? In particular I'm looking for some decent keyboard sims to play with my MIDI keyboard.

I've got a boy due in 7 weeks. Top of the list at this point is Ezra.

Little Wing - Stevie Ray Vaughn

All Along the Watchtower, Hey Joe - Jimi Hendrix

They've got a new acoustic live album out too. You can listen to it here.

Yikes! That's one hard-lookin' woman.

Carbonara is another quick meal. This is great carbonara:

3 oz / 80 g bacon or pancetta, chopped

2 cloves garlic

2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

a dash of dry white wine

2 eggs

2 oz / 50 g freshly grated cheese (parmesan + cheddar, Gruyère, Sbrinz or similar)

1 tbsp chopped parsley

2 tbsp crème fraîche or heavy cream

7 oz / 200 g spaghetti

salt and black pepper

1. Peel the garlic and squash the cloves a little with the flat of a knife. Heat the olive oil in a frying pan and fry the whole cloves until they are a deep golden brown. Throw them away.

2. Add the bacon or pancetta to the garlic-flavoured oil and cook until it starts to go crispy. Throw in the wine, let it bubble away for a couple of minutes, then turn off the heat.

3. Lightly beat the eggs in what will eventually be your serving bowl; add lots of grindings of black pepper, the parsley, cream and grated cheese.

4. Cook the pasta, drain it and add it to the eggy mixture. Toss it quickly and thoroughly, making sure all the strands are coated with thickening egg and melting cheese. Add the bacon and toss again. Serve it in heated bowls (all the tossing tends to cool the spaghetti quite rapidly).