N**ger Muslim Terrorists are alright with me...
This video makes me ashamed to be an Ohioan. Seriously people, think for yourselves.
This video makes me ashamed to be an Ohioan. Seriously people, think for yourselves.
Posted by ETL at 4:28 PM | 3 comments
The day you feared would one day happen is finally nigh. Or, actually, has been nigh for about 4 days. That's right folks, yours truly is in culinary school. Strangely enough, however, my only response when people ask me what I've learned to cook is "potatoes," or "vegetable soup," because in Culinary school, they foster the seeds of serial killers with dismemberment fetishes early on.
Basically, we've been peeling vegetables and practicing our dices and cuts, which look a lot like the picture to the left. All kinds of cuts with fancy names, names like "Fine Dice, Small Dice, Medium Dice, and Large Dice" and Unpronounceable French cuts like "Batonnette" which means "French Fry," Julienne (trans: small french fry), and Brunoise (trans: who the f**k wants food this small?).
In addition to this, we've also learned how to chop herbs (fascinatingly easy) and do a Chiffonade (i.e. make rich people think you know what you're doing) chop. And we do it all with a knife that measures about 11" long and it sharp enough to slice your fingernail off if you make the slightest mistake in curling your fingers (*cough* cough, not that I have done that or anything *cough*)
The bane of my existence so far though, is something called the "tourne" cut. Tourne being French for "bend over and take it." Basically, the tourne cut is only used in Classical French Cooking (something with which I would like to have NOTHING to do) and requires the chef to take a relatively round potato--or carrot/cucumber/zucchini--square it off, then take a paring knife to the rectangular shape, ultimately ending up with a 7-sided, football shaped piece of shit that will just end up being boiled/mashed/steamed like all the other, non-7-sided potatoes. For a demonstration, I'll let Chef Negro McManHands show you how it's done:
Please take note, as well, that this knife skill is not NEARLY as easy as he is making it out to be.
Posted by ETL at 4:34 PM | 1 comments
Labels: Fat Kids and Culinary Arts
I'm starting Culinary School on Monday (Monday?! Holy s**t), here's a food-based meme all about food and my food preferences. Feel free to fill me in on your particular food likes/dislikes via the comment section.
What's the last thing you ate?
a ham and cheese sammich and some pretzels at work
What's your favorite cheese?
Extra Sharp Cheddar (with Bree and String Cheese getting silver and Bronze Respectively)
What's your favorite fish?
AhiTuna
What's your favorite fruit?
Oranges (with apples and kiwi close behind)
When, if ever, did you start liking olives?
probably during Christmas; it's a tradition. Dad's side likes green olives, Mom's prefers black
When, if ever, did you start liking beer?
Never really. I'm really just a social drinker and, recently, only have 1-2 at most.
When, if ever, did you start liking shellfish?
In the womb most likely. Mom is a giant shell fish fan and it probably got passed on to me in utero
What was the best thing your parent/s used to make?
Um, mom's not the best cook in the world but she tries hard. Her Chicken Salad or Lemon Poppy Muffins were probably at the top of my list.
What's the native specialty of your home town?
Circleville? Anything Pumpkin (Pie sticks in my mind for some reason)
What's your comfort food?
Sushi . And if I don't have money for sushi, it's Nachos and Salsa.
What's your favorite type of chocolate?
Milk Chocolate.
How do you like your steak?
Medium. Warm, with a pink center
How do you like your burger?
a little more done than my steak. Medium-Well. I generally only eat burgers at friend's houses and I want to make sure they are cooked thoroughly.
How do you like your eggs?
Over Easy or Scrambled. Depends on what I'm having alongside the eggs
How do you like your potatoes?
Any way you want to cook them. I don't really think you can mess up potatoes very badly. I like them cubed w/ butter and herbs, Au Gratin, Scalloped, halved, and with Corn beef and Cabbage. Tubers are pretty versatile.
How do you take your coffee?
2 sugars, 1 cream
How do you take your tea?
SWEET ! Blame my living in Atlanta for that...
What's your favorite mug?
Root Beer? I don't really have a mug. My friend Bennet used to have a giant German beer stein that was pretty cool though.
What's your cookie of choice?
The sugar cookies my grandfather made in his prime were fantastic. Now I like the gas station lemon iced cookies, they're a guilty pleasure.
What's your ideal breakfast?
Canadian Bacon, Hash browns, Light and Fluffy Scrambled Eggs, and some O.J.
What's your ideal sandwich?
Italian Disaster: Salami, Prosciutto, Pepperoni, and maybe some Sopressatta on Rye bread with a little mayo.
What's your ideal pizza (topping and base)?
I like Pepperoni, Sausage, and Black Olives. I've also had some killer Buffalo Chicken Pizzas as well.
What's your ideal pie (sweet or savory)?
I'm from Circleville; I'd get shot if I said anything other than Pumpkin
What's your ideal salad?
Greek salad: some iceberg and Romaine with Feta Cheese, Onions, and Kalamata Olives.
What food do you always like to have in the fridge?
Cheese
What food do you always like to have in the freezer?
Beef, Chicken (Ice Cream if we have coupons)
What food do you always like to have in the cupboard?
Corn, Green Beans, Pasta
What spices can you not live without?
Salt and Pepper are what we have right now; I like to have Parsley, Garlic Powder, and some others too, but they're not essential
What sauces can you not live without?
I can live without sauces really. If it's cooked well, the sauce shouldn't really NEED to be added in most cases.
Where do you buy most of your food?
Wally World in Newark/Heath
How often do you go food shopping?
Whenever what we have runs out. Maybe 1-2 a month
What's the most you've spent on a single food item?
I think I've spent close to 50 on a steak before. 94th Aero Squadron or Cameron Mitchell's M. The Aero Squadron steak was worth it, the M steak was not.
What's the most expensive piece of kitchen equipment you own?
My knife set for Culinary school ran about 180$. Maybe the blender other than that, not really sure.
What's the last piece of equipment you bought for your kitchen?
LOL, a wooden spoon. I go through spoons quickly for some reason
What piece of kitchen equipment could you not live without?
Sharp knives
How many times a week/month do you cook from raw ingredients?
Technically, I'll cook from raw ingredients everyday in Culinary school. That technicality aside, I try to cook from raw food about 2-3 times a week to keep myself in practice.
What's the last thing you cooked from raw ingredients?
Orecchiette (Ear Pasta) with Grilled Chorizo (mngr special at Kroger) and grated cheese.
What's your favorite thing to make for yourself?
seafood, I like making shrimp dishes.
What meats have you eaten besides cow, pig, chicken and turkey?
Fish, Bison, Deer, Lamb, Alligator, Octopus, Eel, Elk/Caribou, Frog
What's the last time you ate something that had fallen on the floor?
Yesterday I think, I was desperate for McDonald's fries
What's the last time you ate something you'd picked in the wild?
This morning I ate an apple that someone ELSE picked in the wild, does that count??
Place the following cuisines in order of preference (greatest to least): (The list is Chinese, French, Sushi, Italian, Indian, Thai.)
Sushi, Thai, Chinese, Indian, French, Italian
Place the following boozes in order of preference (greatest to least): (The list is brandy, gin, rum, whiskey, tequila, vodka.)
Tequila, rum, vodka, brandy, whiskey, gin
Place the following flavors in order of preference (greatest to least): (The list is garlic, ginger, basil, lime, aniseed.)
Garlic, basil, lime, aniseed, ginger
Place the following fruits in order of preference (greatest to least): (The list is pineapple, watermelon, banana, apple, cherry, orange.)
Orange, Apple, Pineapple, Watermelon, Banana
Bread and spread:
Cinnamon Bread with light butter, or Dried Tomato bread with an herb butter
What's your fast food restaurant of choice, and what do you usually order?
McDonalds; Angus Bacon and Cheese or McNugget Meal
Wow. I didn't realize how long this meme was.
What are three of the best dining-out experiences you've had?
Spagio (any time I've been)
94th Aero Squadron (Winter 2003)
Hama (both solitary and group dining)
What's your choice of tipple at the end of a long day?
if you're talking tipple as an intransitive verb, I like to "tipple" red wine at the end of the day
if you're talking tipple as a noun, I prefer tea or cider as my evening "tipple"
Favorite cookbook/s?
The French Laundry Cookbook ~ by Thomas Keller
(though I feel I'm doing chefs everywhere a diservice by not also mentioning Escoffier)
Got any favorite food blogs?
http://sopressatta.blogspot.com
http://1bite7days.wordpress.com
What's the next thing you'll eat?
I have no idea, maybe some ravioli. We ARE going food shopping tonight however, and I have a strange urge to make Chili
Posted by ETL at 4:06 PM | 1 comments
Labels: Fat Kids and Culinary Arts
Unless you've been living under a rock for the past few months, you are well aware that this is an election year. And, if you bother to cut through all the bullshit: the vitriolic ads, the Fey-driven satire, the Hustler/Palin porn, and the polarized blogosphere, you come to a really frightening conclusion. Despite three presidential and one Vice Presidential Debates, despite both candidates—most likely—stumping within an hour or less of your hometown, your mind is no more made up now than it was about 4-6 years into the Bush Administration (or even sooner if you're a diehard). If you liked Dubya then, you probably like McCain now; likewise, if you hated him then, you're probably putting your faith in Obama. If you're uneducated, you might even be debating over whether you want your president elect to die from a gunshot wound or from natural causes. Or, if you're like me, you're decidedly undecided about this whole process.
So take this post as a sort of stream of consciousness way for me to compare/contrast things, rebut things my peers have written (some of them quite laughable in their naivete) about both of the candidates. I, in addition, will try to refrain from editorializing this post, though, in some cases, it will be necessary for me to inject my own personal opinions. First, Senator Obama:
a peer relates her following issues with the Illinois candidate to me via email:
His middle name is Hussein:
my middle name is Taylor. Jason Taylor plays Professional Football. This must mean I can play professional football too. Sign me up!
His ideas have too much in common with socialism
I'll bet you 700 billion$ that capitalism could use some reform(s), hell...Alan Greenspan doesn't even believe wholeheartedly in the free-market style of economy anymore
Obama wants a relatively immediate troop withdrawl from Iraq
The mission has already "been accomplished," why do we need more troops in Iraq? In all seriousness though. McCain has stated that he is willing to keep troops in Iraq for 100 years if that's what it takes. Also, it's not like Obama is the first person to want a drawback. Bush himself called for a rollback of troops, saw violence in creasing exponentially, then called for a surge. My question to you is this? What exactly are we accomplishing in Iraq right now that couldn't be accomplished without us?
His support of abortion
ok, I'll concede that point
another peer, with whom I went to college has a picture stating the following on his Facebook page:
Obama: He says nothing better than anyone
on the contrary, a high school classmate writes in Barack's defense:
"god forbid john mccain gets elected and dies in office and that completely stupid arm candy he has for a running mate takes over. talk about trouble! and you thought bush was bad! here's the deal. believe what you want on your own time, but when it comes time to elect a leader, don't you want someone who has a greater grasp on the goings on of the world than you do? i know i couldn't run the country with the education i have, and neither could any of you. i believe in obama because he runs on calm, cool logic to make his decisions. if you don't like his policies, that's fine, but the sad truth is that most people probably don't even know what the differences in the policies are"
while another friend from Georgia write in her Xanga:
let's say McCain wins the presidency. John Paul Stevens' old tired ass is not going to be able to stick it out for another four years and he will be forced to retire, which means a Conservative justice will be appointed to the court. Even if McCain lives through his presidency, Palin, as Vice President, will still, presumably, have a good amount of input when it comes to determining who to appoint to the Court to take Stephens' place. If MCain does, God forbid, die while in office, President Palin gets to make this decision all on her own.
Sarah Palin is a strict believer in abstinence-only education. She also believes in no abortions, period, even in cases of rape and incest. I will not touch too much on the fact that Bristol Palin, her 17 year old daughter, is pregnant because Bristol's choices are hers and she is not the one running for Vice President so it's not too fair to attack her; however, it is definitely worth noting that the abstinence-only education that Palin favors, supports, and would no doubt attempt to enforce through legislation were she to rise to the level of either Vice President or President has failed miserably within the realm of her own home, and yet she expects it to work for our entire country.
Here is what I'm afraid of, what truly gave me a fluttery feeling in my stomach a minute ago when it all pieced together in my head and I really contemplated it: Sarah Palin in office, loading the Supreme Court with like-minded individuals who would help her try to strike down Roe v. Wade and related cases/legislation. Sarah Palin ascending to the presidency and, finding herself hopelessly out of her depths when it comes to most foreign and domestic issues, instead focusing her energies on getting abstinence-only education and intelligent design curriculum taught in schools and working with her pals on overturning abortion rulings. That scares me.
On the other hand, there are those who are so dedicated to McCain that they are willing to hand him the election with no pretense. One forum dweller goes so far as to write:
If anyone went through the torture John McCain did during wartime, I think we should just give him the presidency.
Another writes:
There are just some people in this country who aren't ready for a black president, and I'm taking that into consideration when casting my vote.
At this point, some of you are shaking your heads in disbelief, nodding your heads in agreement, or chuckling in bemusement. That being the case, let's look a little deeper. Here's what I know about Barack Obama:
He believes in…
Equal Pay for Equal Work, (regardless of gender or ethnicity)
Tax Breaks for Small Business owners,
Recruiting teachers from non-education backgrounds,
Communication with Global Leaders regardless of their standing with the U.S.
Relinquishing national power regarding gay-marriage, giving power to states
Secure border, but make illegal aliens pay fine, learn English and pass Citizenship test
A 16 month, phased withdrawl (1-2 brigades/month) from Iraq
In addition to these ideals, it's also well known that Obama has a seemingly endless amount of money with which to propagate his message. I dare say he could almost buy seven houses with all that money were he to have the desire. Among the things he has done with the dough are booking an entire channel on Dish Network to tell Americans about his plans. This channel is on 24/7 until November 4th. Obama also took out a chunk of airtime pre Game 6 of the World Series. No, commercials for baseball don't cost as much as they do for something comparable like the Super Bowl, but I'm guessing they're not cheap. Where does Obama get all this money you may ask? Well, mostly from private donors, but his main contributors come in the form of the following people:
Goldman Sachs (investment banking) $422K
Ubs Ag (Global Finance) $297K
Lehman Brothers (Global Finance, filed for bankruptcy in 9/08) $251K
National Amusements Inc (media & Entertainment, not porn) $246K
JP Morgan Chase & Co (Global Finance) $244K
Harvard University (Higher Education) $172K
University of California (Higher Education) $143K
Google Inc. (Electronics; Google's CEO is also Obama's technical advisor) $153K
So there's a little bit about Mr. Obama. Let us turn our attention now to Mr. McCain. By doing some digging, here's what I know about the AZ Senator:
McCain:
thinks the War in Iraq should be fought to a "successful conclusion" (whatever that means)
Graduated 894th out of 899th in his Naval Academy Class.
Considered the senate's most outspoken critic against unnecessary spending
Is an advocate of free trade (and NAFTA)
Employs, as advisers , 2 individuals crucial to implementing the Iraq war "strategy"
Believes embryos should be afforded full human rights
Supports inclusion of Intelligent Design in schools
Opposes Gay Marriage and adoption by Gay Parents.
Supports Stem Cell research (as long as the embryos are not cloned)
and, for good measure, let's get to know a little about my own personal political standing(s). I was raised by two parents who, for the most part, didn't discuss politics to any great length. I am aware that my mother is Pro-Life, Pro-Education, and Anti-Gun. I also know that my father supports the Anti-Stupid/Lesser-Of-Two Evils Party on a regular basis but tends to straddle the fence and lean to the left at most times. Likewise, I consider myself to be a left-leaning moderate. This is not because, as a fellow student government member in college put it, "people are moderates because they are too chicken-shit to take a stand on any issues," but rather because I believe most political problems are caused by our current system being incredibly entrenched in small-mindedness and polar partisanship. Generally, I'm prone to believing the following:
* being a military leader doesn't mean you'd automatically be good at leading our country. Look, I appreciate our servicemen and women. I even have family and friends serving in the Marines, Army, National Guard, and Air Force. Nonetheless, I wouldn't want ANY of these people being Commander in Chief, wartime or not. I'm sure if you asked most of them, they would tell you that they don't think most of their commanding officers should be in charge of a country either. I particularly feel this way because of our current standing in the world. The army has an "I said it, now do it" attitude with things and this has permeated the American mindset (though not so much now as it did in 2003). We don't need a hawkish leader who sings "bomb bomb bomb Iran." We need a leader who listens as much as he talks.
* McCarthyism be damned, I don't believe that Capitalism and Democracy are the be-all, end-all answers that the United States of America makes them out to be. Capitalism, just like Communism and Socialism, has its faults. Personally, I chuckle at people who claim that a free market economy is the best-thing-ever. Well, a free market is dependent on both the buyer and seller engaging in proprietary business practices. I also don't feel one can argue the advantageousness of Supply/Demand at this point. Demand is down, but prices aren't going down accordingly. This is what we call "getting bitch slapped by the proverbial 'Invisible Hand' "
Posted by ETL at 5:14 PM | 0 comments
Labels: I have an opinion about everything, Real Life trumps Made up Life
As the election draws closer, it seems that we’re getting bombarded by people who are devoted supporters of both parties. Here are some helpful ways that you can spot annoying McCain supporters and annoying Obama supporters so you can steer clear of them before they corner you with health care statistics.
ANNOYING OBAMA SUPPORTERS
ANNOYING McCAIN SUPPORTERS
Posted by ETL at 10:28 PM | 1 comments
Labels: I have an opinion about everything, Real Life trumps Made up Life
I recently finished reading "How to Lose Friends and Alienate people," a book I started while lounging around the Easton Barnes & Noble waiting for Rori to get done with a business meeting. And, it was a decent book and I have no doubt it will make more a better than average movie (hello Megan Fox!) it dawned on me that things like this are so popular because, well... pretty much anyone with an opinion and a job (which is harder than ones would think) can write about their job. The only real trick to selling millions of copies about one's job is to work at a place that people speculate about.
Sadly, that bastard Upton Sinclair beat me to writing about Factory Workers... so there goes my idea for quick money. Nonetheless, I will inform everyone of the good news that I do in fact have a job with Yankee Candle where I basically put shit in boxes as fast as I can for 10 hours a day. Even in this grueling hellhole though (which, admittedly, does provide me a decent amt. of $$) there are people to be made fun of --as one might imagine. Take the following characters for example:
Benson
- so named because he looks like the TV character of the same name:
Basically, Benson is my cube-mate. At first, I thought Benson was a nice guy, what with his habit of overpronouncing every word he says. But now, now Benson is just starting to piss me off. Recently we got our quota of how many items we were shipping per hour (quota is 130, or a little over 2 per minute). I got my results from the fairly nice super and was at 174 (top packers average over 200), and was pretty pleased with myself. Benson gets his results and he's at an abyssmal 77 units per hour. of course, this lack of speed cannot possibly be his fault, so for the rest of the day he's continually bitching about how the people who put the items on our shelves are mis-picking his shit and how THAT is the reason for his poor performance. He even gets vindictive enough to snidely comment on my mispicked rack "not gonna be at 174 for long like THAT." Normally, I would have made some black guy joke back to him, but I like having a job, so I decided to get even.
At the end of the day, well.. the end of the day for the African-Americans anyway since they don't believe in Direct Deposit and had to leave 2 hours before we met quota to get to the bank. Benson hands me his sheet and says, "I have to go..my girl is pickin me up soon" (this despite the fact that he had no intention of leaving early until another African American mentioned leaving early to him.) So I feigned a smile, took his sheet, and said "yeah, no problem"... at which point I made sure to go as slow as humanly possible, completing the rest of his measly 78 unit assignment in roughly 2 hours, dropping his unit/hr rate to something around 38. I'm hoping this gets him fired so I don't have to hear him bitch about stupid shit anymore.
In addition to Benson, there are TONS of other characters including, but not limited to:
Tracey Morgan -- the disheveled looking guy who always tries to crack jokes about the names of the Yankee Candle scents
DMX - the African-American ex-marine who wears black sweatpants and a Malcolm X t-shirt to work every day. I'd feel somewhat threatened working next to him, but the guy puts up as many units/hr as I do and busts his ass from open to close. That, and I think he might have a nam flashback at any moment.
Sarah Palin - The twenty something future trophy wife who works in the Limited section of the building. S.P comes in all done up (hair, make-up, etc) and, come 4:30pm will start walking around the warehouse hitting male workers on the head and saying, I want a foot massage goddamit!! Who wants to give me a foot massage!!
so there's that... but hey... it's worth the $$ right??
Posted by ETL at 2:13 PM | 2 comments
Labels: I have an opinion about everything, If only I had health insurance
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