Where Were You Ten Years Ago?

If you're anywhere near me, you were probably in the dark.

Yep. Ten years ago today was that spectacular blackout across vast tracts of Eastern North America. (Thanks, Ohio.)

I actually have vaguely fond memories of using a bunch of food from the refrigerator on the grill, along with breaking out the camping equipment and the corded telephones.
Yes - we actually have some phones that work from the power in the phone line alone; no need to plug those guys in just to connect with someone else.

It feels a bit odd to be nostalgic about a power outage, but it was an almost-fun time.

Next Time You're in Fairbanks

be sure to visit the University of Alaska at Fairbanks.

We had a wonderful time - actually times - there.

• Once we visited the Museum of the North. This is an excellent museum of Natural History, culture, and art all rolled into one. Extremely well done and highly recommended.
• Next we visited the experimental farm and botanical gardens. What a cool place! Who knew that by being clever about how to irrigate and warm the soil, Alaskans can grow all kinds of crops - including giant cabbages weighing hundreds of pounds, and still worth eating?!
• Finally we visited the LARS - the Large Animal Research Station - to see their herds of caribou, reindeer, and muskox. Again, fascinating stuff that you won't see anywhere else as far as I know.

 Alaska is an amazing state with beautiful scenery, friendly people, great parks and museums (musea?), and excellent beer. I believe we'll make the trip up there again one day.

Everyone Loves a Mystery

(at least I'm hoping a fair number of people do!)

So ...
what do the following have in common?
Joseph of Arimathea, Perceval, Holger Dansk, Harald Bluetooth, the Ardennes forest, the Varangian Guard, the Battle of Hastings, Leifr Ericksson, dog sleds, Louis Riel, Montreal and Winnipeg, and Jerry Lombard.

I'll take out a bit of the mystery by telling you something that ties together these people, places, things, and events. They were all involved in the moving and protection of the Holy Grail and the Spear of Longinus.

Ah, but the mystery remains - how were they involved in that epic task? (and what about those pesky Templars that H2 is always on about?)
Those questions - and many more! - are answered in A Rune With A View, a novel set in the here and now, but spanning centuries.
Go ahead and read it; I dare you!

Coinage du Jour - 05 August 13

pregurgitate (v)

The act of swallowing something before one is actually prepared to swallow.

"You ever had a hard candy in your mouth, and you accidentally swallowed it before it was really small enough? Yep, that's pregurgitation, and it can hurt."

that is all

Carnage du Jour - 01 August 13 (A Taste of Alaska)

Yes, a taste of Alaska. After all, we've been home so long that it was definitely time to remind ourselves just how good the food was there.

Well well well, no halibut, eh? I suppose a nice bit of wild-caught sockeye salmon will have to do. And quite nicely it did!

With fish that fresh and flavourful, there's really not much reason to season much, so all it got was a bit of salt and freshly-ground pepper along with a nice chop of lemon thyme from the driveway.
Into the hot skillet to sear, then back on its skin and then covered with a bit of vermouth (bianco) to give it a little more herbaceous moistness.

Oh dear, it was quite wonderful, along with the roasted poblano mac and cheese and a salad of fresh greens and such.

Quite a nice reminder of Alaska, but now I have to find a source for halibut.

Suggested Reading List - Round One

I know, this took far too long, and it's not even as complete as promised. I will endeavour to put some context around each of these books in the coming days, but at the very least I owed it to my readers to get something other than a recipe up here. (Still, go back and get that swordfish recipe - it really was that delicious!)

At any rate, here is the initial batch of books for your Summer Reading consideration:

• A Canticle for Leibowitz - Walter M. Miller, Jr.
• A Rune With A View - Charlie van Becelaere
• All Hallows Eve - Charles Williams
• An Adventure With Guerrillas - Ethelbirt Crouse (non-fiction)
• Animal Farm - George Orwell
• Blue Like Jazz - Donald Miller (non-fiction)
• Bytes Akimbo - Cybersleuth - Charlie van Becelaere
• Confessions of a Greenpeace Dropout - Patrick Albert Moore (non-fiction)
• Darkness at Noon - Arthur Koestler
• Descent into Hell - Charles Williams
• Doc Sidhe - Aaron Allston
• Many Dimensions - Charles Williams
• On the Road - Jack Kerouac
• Shadows of Ecstasy - Charles Williams
• That Hideous Strength - C.S. Lewis
• The Abolition of Man - C.S. Lewis (non-fiction)
• The City and the City - China Miéville
• The Firebird Trilogy - Kathy Tyers (Firebird, Fusion Fire, Crown of Fire)
• The Golden Man - Philip K. Dick (a collection of short stories)
• The Greater Trumps - Charles Williams
• The Moon is a Harsh Mistress - Robert A. Heinlein
• The Müller-Fokker Effect - John Sladek
• The Place of the Lion - Charles Williams
• The Soil is Dead - Mitch Rycus
• The Unheavenly City, Revisited - Edward Banfield (non-fiction)
• The Year of Living Biblically - AJ Jacobs (non-fiction)
• Tuck Everlasting - Natalie Babbitt
• Turn Right at Machu Picchu - Mark Adams (non-fiction)
• War in Heaven - Charles Williams

That's it for now, but I really do intend to get back here and put some commentary around these books.

Enjoy!

Carnage du Jour - 27 June 2013

I blame the Olive Garden commercial - or perhaps rather I ought to give it some credit.

Let me explain.
We were doing some research on YouTube (hey, I'm not kidding here) when an Olive Garden commercial played, showing me this wonderful dish of shrimp and asparagus.
I said to Patrick, "Man, I hope I have some shrimp at home; that looks really good. At least I know I have some asparagus."

Well, I didn't have any shrimp, but I did have a nice swordfish steak waiting to be cooked. Oh, and I did have the asparagus, so we're well on the way.

But how to cook the swordfish?
How about a blast from the past, adapted to a different protein? Swordfish Liègeois!

This is based on a recipe from the 60 Minute Gourmet cookbook that I've had for nearly thirty years now. Originally a pork chop dish with a nice smear on top made of egg yolk, Dijon mustard, and shredded cheese, it would seem a natural for even another white meat. And so it was.

Good grief this was delicious.
In my grill pan I got nice marks (at 85 degrees apart or so) on each side, after brushing the fish with a bit of oil and sprinkling on a few poppy seeds.
As the second side's second marks were being made, I smeared on my mixture of an egg yolk, a couple tablespoons of Dijon, a teaspoon or so of white wine vinegar, some summer savory, and a few tablespoons of shredded Asiago cheese.
Then under the broiler it went until it got a beautiful brown crust across most of it.

While that was happening, I had simply reheated some leftover asparagus from a couple nights before, and made a big of pasta that got sauced with some lemon, some diced tomatoes with olive oil and garlic, and a bit of blue cheese dressing for creaminess and even more tang.

Again, this was a delicious repast, and I both blame and thank the Olive Garden for how much we ended up eating.

Enjoy!