SON MIS LOCURAS

Like I’ve said before, I’m a meat eater.  There is never too much meat on a plate for me.  Periodically, I try to give it up because of the strain it puts on the environment and my health, but after a day or so I get crabby and anything else becomes unsatisfying.  Short-term thinking gets the better of me, so I start having it again. 

But even I have red-meat limits.  I found one of them while reading the NYT today.  In that paper’s pages I came to learn about the Dirty Bull, a meat-flavored martini.

The article describes this drink for the decidedly non-vegetarian as:

[O]ne part vodka, one part olive brine and two parts bull, the last ingredient coming from the dose of veal stock that’s shaken into the drink as well as the garnish of house-made beef jerky that hangs on the rim of the glass. It is an excellent drink for junkie-level carnivores who cannot abide the fact that their pre-dinner martini is so … vegetarian. And probably, owing to its jolt of protein, a blue-ribbon restorative for a hangover. And maybe a decent soup. But definitely a good gimmick.

I’ll stick with carne asada, but for those more daring, the recipe below.

3 ounces vodka.

½ ounce olive brine.

1 teaspoon veal or beef stock.

Cured black olives, thyme sprig and beef jerky, for garnish (optional).

1. Add the liquid ingredients to an ice-filled cocktail shaker and shake 20 times. Strain into a chilled martini glass.

2. Garnish with the olives (speared on a toothpick), thyme sprig and jerky, if using.

Yield: 1 serving

Today is the day.  The only day all football season when I get to root for my alma mater in a game that actually matters to the annals of history for my school. It’s not televised anywhere I can see it, so I rely on the ESPN crawl and mobile alerts for updates.

This year, our game against Yale, is also the game that will determine the Ivy League champion.  We’re both 6-0.  I want a bowl!! Chuckle (ok, maybe not seriously).

I know some don’t care for sports, think there’s too much emphasis on it in the life of a college, think it’s a rough, meaningless physical activity. 

I don’t see that in my life.  I went to four (maybe five) football games during my college career (no snickering from the contingent that would have done the same given the school).  I only knew one football player.  That’s hardly “great emphasis” on football.

But, it does mean something to those who play it, and other sports.  I found this essay by a kid who currently plays Harvard football and who’s also an opera singer.  It’s about why he plays and why it matters to him. 

Maybe someday I’ll sit down and write about why sports matter to me and why I think more should be done to encourage broader participation, but for now I’ll leave you to read the essay by Noah Van Niel. 

Go Harvard!

I like reading instructions.  Mostly it’s because I never think they’re written well enough to follow and I like to fancy that I can do better.  Other times it’s because I’m amused by what people think requires an instruction.  The following instruction from a bag of sunflower seeds falls into the latter category. 

HOW TO EAT DAVID SEEDS

Crack the shell with your teeth, eat the seed and spit the shell.  Experienced seeders pop a handful of seeds in their mouth and store them in one cheek, then transfer a seed over to the other side with their tongue, crack it, then eat the seed and spit the shell.

There you go, a whole year of writing.  I’m feeling less creative lately and like I can’t see interesting things as clearly (someone noticed that the pieces are a lot shorter than a year ago).  I suppose that’s a cyclical problem, I hope it is.

Nevertheless, I’m pretty excited that I’m practicing the writing and watching everything for inspiration.  Thanks to those who’ll continue to read.

I know a lot of you will be cooking for Thanksgiving.  A quick note to think about when you start to use that written recipe you pulled out of a magazine, off the internet, or out of a newspaper.  As this correction in the LA Times reminds, those recipes don’t always tell you exactly what to do. 

Muffin recipe: A recipe for whole-wheat sweet potato muffins in Wednesday’s Food section called for roasting the sweet potatoes, then allowing them to cool and lightly mashing them with a fork. They should be peeled before mashing.

If you’re anything like me, peeling is not always intuitive.

Good luck.

I understand retailers putting out Christmas stuff before Halloween is even over–something about wanting to maximize sales potential makes sense.

An airport Parking Spot playing Christmas music before Thanksgiving even arrives makes no sense.  Grr.

We’re doing an X-Files marathon while waiting for kids to come to the door.  Favorite line so far:

Mulder:  Do you know how difficult it is to fake your own death?  Only one man has done it . . . Elvis.

Happy Halloween!