olaugh and i took a cooking class this morning! john's mom got it for us for christmas. we made halibut poached in sorrel, salmon teriyaki, broiled swordfish provencal, bluefish over crispy potatoes and trout amandine. everything was divine and the eastern european instructor was funny and down to earth. there were six other students, most around our age, and john and i were obviously the ones who knew the least about fish, food and cooking. adding to the surreality was that on our way there a man on the train had most unpleasantly harassed us for being upper middle class, and though i tried to put the episode out of mind, i found myself grotesquely imagining what he would say if he were there. anyway, now i am coveting new kitchen implements including good knives and pans, a mandolin (the julienning utensil, not the instrument) and a kitchen timer for perfectly done fish. i sense opportunity in our wedding registry. mwahaha.

some things we learned:
- the fat content and firmness of various types of fish, and what cooking methods best complement each
- do not wash the fish. it won't kill any bacteria cooking won't get, and methods such as searing require a dry piece of fish.
- the internal temperature of meat continues to rise after being removed from the oven, so keep in mind when checking for doneness that it will keep cooking on its own for a couple minutes.
- how to mince. hold a chef's knife with your thumb and pointer on either side of the blade's base, then chop swiftly with the thick end, steadying the pointy end with your other hand. you also want to make a "bear claw" with your other hand when using knives, curling fingers inward so you don't chop them off.

and lots of other neat things. we're going to take another one!

also, it's not too late to join what apparently has become a pre-nationals warmup session at our place tomorrow (today). just let me know and i'll shoot you directions.

Behind the cut is the antelope list with answers in white.


Thank you for your attention.

Brought to you by the SF Scrabble Slakcerz.

 Thanks you all for your patience with the Antelope Lists.

Behind the first cut is the complete list in alphagram order, with various associated words as included in the series. I have included plurals where they are not just a simple S.


The same list with answers in white will follow.

Word of this is probably spreading, but I figured I'd make it official.

I'm not going to Orlando. Between work and preparing for school and Jeopardy! and everything, shelling out the money to make it to Orlando where I would invariably not do particularly well in a really tough Division Two just wasn't quite worth it.

It took me quite a while to make the decision, because I really want to see all my good friends, but my adult sensibilities finally won out.

I'll see you all soon! Kick ass!

It is such a shame we can't see anymore of Heath Ledger's Joker, the character was brilliant and Christian Bale makes the best Batman so far. I won't spoil the plot, but I was saying WTF? to myself often.

So yesterday I went for extra hot yoga, because when it is hot outside it is even hotter in there. It was so hot that I was relieved to feel the "cool" outdoor air after class. I also think I had a breakthru in my half locust pose, I don't think I have ever gone so high before. My goal is to get as high as this:( Read more... )

I thought Greg Norman had retired. Evidently not. And I came to find out this weekend that he recently married Chris Evert. That's cool, really cool. He's only a few years removed from me in age, and now easily linked to me in that Kevin Bacon degrees of separation thing. (My dad went to high school with Chris Evert's dad.)

For him, at 53, to lead the British Open after three rounds is amazing. If he wins the Claret Jug tomorrow I think it will rank up there as one of the great sporting accomplishments of all time.

in case you haven't seen it, it goes away tomorrow:
http://www.drhorrible.com/index.html

also, it's hot. and CA baseball is on too late at night on the east coast, though last night's game wasn't really worth watching, anyway.

we're thinking about renting our house for the next year instead of trying to sell it in this stupid market. stay tuned.

... IF...

... and it's a big IF....

... but if I did decide to look at some word lists on the flight down to Orlando....

... where would be a good place to start and where would I get them?

(I do know the twos and threes, just in case anybody things I never learned anything.) 

And, remember, this is a very big IF.

And IF it happens, the fallout could be nuclear.

I didn't expect 20 replies to that meme.  That's far too much thinking for tonight, considering that I need to be out of the house around 6am to work tomorrow morning.

I *would* be annoyed, but five hours overtime tomorrow + five hours overtime during the week = lots of beer money for Orlando.

I'll start posting song replies tomorrow, and I'll try to edit the post so that you all can hear them.

The list is behind the cut, but here is picture of the only semi-aquatic antelope. Who would have thought that antelopes would live in swamps. They dive underwater, with just their nose up to breathe, in order to avoid predators.



The SOWPODS list:


Brought to you by the SF Scrabble Slakcerz

grandma died today, so hospice care will be unnecessary. thanks for your well wishes. i don't feel too sad -- it was much sadder to see her shrunken and disoriented.

...What's the matter with your head? yeah...
Hey (hey) 
What's the matter with your mind and your sign?
And-a ooh-ohh?

(These are very important questions.)

Since my address will only be my address for a little while longer (end of Sept.), and since I needed an address for my new driver's license, we settled on my parents' new address. Anyway, got my voter registration card last week. The place where I'm supposed to vote?

Jonas Salk Elementary. Ooo-wee-ooo...

Still looking at when I want to use vacation time. The only tournament for the rest of the year that looks good is this one, and I said that before looking at the awesome Div. 1 field, both in skill level and personality. ftangredi, you in?

Jason, who really must just bite the bullet and look at the Orlando entry list for roto purposes

My plane is going to be flying in to Orlando around 11 PM Thursday the 24th.  I do not as yet have anywhere to stay.

Whoops.

I wanted to wait to post a plea of help on CGP cause, well, cause they're all weirdos. 

Just kidding.

If anyone else is flying in early (or knows someone who is) and might have room on a floor somewhere for a completely normal and clean guy to sleep that would be stupendous.   Or, if anyone else is in the same situation and wants to split a room, let me know.  Reply here or send me an e-mail to aibretty at gmail. 

Any help is very much appreciated.


PS - I could just switch my ticket, but I imagine any option that arises this way will be significantly cheaper than the fee from Southwest.

they are putting my grandma on hospice care and she will probably die in a couple weeks, so john and i will have lost our last grandmas within a month of each other. however, john has recently acquired a new step-grandma, a woman named chubby from his grandpa's retirement community.

i am a descendant of the nguyen dynasty, meaning my forebears were vietnamese monarchs. as a child i assumed this was a "princess" story and was quite surprised to learn it's true. grandma fled vietnam for europe with her five kids after grandma's dad, the emperor, was exiled by french colonialists.

the family, including my mom, lived in france and germany for about a decade, during which time grandma married the man i knew as grandpa and had two more kids. they came to america, where grandma presided as the matriarch, running the households and caring for grandchildren while her kids got education and jobs. she never did learn much english.

my grandparents cared for me while my parents worked, also living with us for a few years. grandma prepared my food, vietnamese stuff mostly but i have strong memories of macaroni and cheese mixed with hotdog pieces. grandpa taught me how to add and took me to the grocery, where we snitched peanuts from the bulk food containers and ate them right in the store. though he never smoked, he died of lung cancer when i was 13.

like many old ladies grandma had intractable ideas, including a deep-seated racism, but she was incredibly loving. she liked shopping, jewelry, salon treatments, visits to the buddhist temple, mahjongg and atlantic city casino gambling. late in life, she was plagued by diabetes and eventually alzheimer's. her life tapered off in a sad way, most of its last years spent in a gloomy, state-subsidized apartment where she clung nonetheless to a deep sense of dignity befitting the royal.

I was surprised yesterday to receive two advance copies of the upcoming Soccer360 magazine in the mail. I was even more shocked to see my name beside two of the three articles I wrote (my first printed bylines!) - considering these two were the same subject matter as the two from the last edition that didn't include a byline. Naturally, I didn't expect one for the 200-word piece about the new cleats.

And earlier this morning, I get an email from a local reporter wanting to do a story on me for Orlando. You're kidding me. The first thing I did was check the reporter's cred from other online stories. OK, she's legit. So the interview is on. Maybe by phone, maybe in person. But definitely before Wednesday.