Fish Don't Fry in the Kitchen, Beans Don't Burn on the Grill

As part of an on-going effort to become less fat, I have been cooking pretty much all of my own food for the past few weeks. Gone are the days of grabbing a quick bite; I have forced myself to slow down... take a breath... and plan my meals. That's not to say I have sworn off delicacies from joints like Popeye's or Taco Bell, but those occasions will be few and far between. It's been very rewarding, physically and spiritually, to make grocery lists, take my time at the store or the farmer's market, select everything from veggies to meats to seasonings in its natural state and then turn it into something tasty from my very own kitchen. It's kind of zen, really. I recently came across a hellagood marinade for chicken. Here's the recipe for anyone who wants it:

Really F***ing Good Marinade

1/4 cup chopped shallots (shallots are awesome for cooking, I've discovered)
1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary
1 teaspoon grated lemon rind
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon dijon mustard
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme
2 teaspoons soy sauce
6 garlic cloves, minced

Just mix all that stuff together and let the chicken marinate at least overnight (I prefer a couple days). The sugar in the honey makes the chicken breast caramelize slightly on the outside when grilled. Another thing I've learned in the cooking trial and error process is that if something calls for fresh herbs or juices (rosemary, thyme and lemon juice/rind in this case), using fresh as opposed to dried or bottled makes an enormous difference. Huge.

For dinner this evening I took the grilled chicken and cut it into thin strips width-wise, and put it on top of a bed of baby spinach leaves and yellow squash chunks (both raw) with a little shot of bleu cheese dressing.

Good stuff.

Here, Have Some Nostalgia on Me

Hey, remember the sputtering little line-drawn fellow from The Great Space Coaster? I had forgotten all about this strange interstitial segment until this evening. When I was a kid, I thought he was just speaking gibberish. Now, it is quite clear that he speaks in Italian gibberish. How hot is that? Almost as hot as the nightclub jazz playing in the background.

Here's a memory refresher:



And here is more than you ever realized you've wanted to know about La Linea: Wikipedia entry

My Li'l Labor of Gov

Looka here... the site I design and maintain has been mentioned in the local paper! It's the fourth version of the website that I've been responsible for, and I think this version is our best yet.


(click for larger image)

State redesigns alabama.gov

Montgomery Advertiser | 05.30.07
LINK

By RICK HARMON

Alabama's Web site has been ranked as one of the country's top 10 state Web sites for the past three years, and it just got better.

The Web site, www.alabama.gov, has introduced a new layout and a suite of new interactive tools. Included in this year's enhancements are a new interactive picture-in-picture window that provides technology enhancements for images, calendar listings, and featured services. This feature eliminates the necessity to click through numerous screens to find information. Instead it displays the information immediately to the visitor.

The site includes everything from weather reports, including an Alabama hurricane center with up-to-the-minute satellite photos, to Alabama trivia, including a state timeline.

*****
NEWS RELEASE
For Immediate Release
Contact:

Alabama's Official State Web Site Receives a New Look

www.alabama.gov

MONTGOMERY, Ala. May 29, 2007 Ranked as one of the top ten state websites in the nation three years running by the Center for Digital Government, Alabama is striving to continue this trend in 2007 with the release of its new site design and state-of-the-art technology. Previous visitors of the site may notice significant changes to the design elements and may be compelled to spend time exploring the new technologies and tools implemented to enhance the visitor's experience.

With alabama.gov serving as one of the State's largest publications and 24/7 communication tool, the site remains focused on creating efficiencies through the use of technology. The site maintains its established alabama.gov icon, but has introduced a new layout and a suite of new interactive tools. Included in this year's enhancements is a new interactive picture-in-picture window providing technology enhancements for images, calendar listings, and featured services. This feature eliminates the necessity to click through numerous screens to find information, but instead displays the information immediately to the visitor. Additional services such as RSS feeds and Podcasting (syndication feeds), enhanced mapping tools, wireless live help, and language translations have also been added.

"The State of Alabama is excited to unveil the latest version of alabama.gov," said Jim Burns, Chief Information Officer for the State of Alabama. "In addition to providing a new look and feel to the website we have focused on building upon past successes, as well as introducing new and exciting features that will entice visitors to return frequently."

alabama.gov has revolutionized where and how visitors can access information they are looking for and also introduce them to new and innovative tools and information. Through this new design, Alabama hopes that users will continue to associate Alabama's official website with convenience and efficiency.

About Alabama Interactive
Alabama Interactive is the official eGovernment solutions provider for the state of Alabama. The company builds and manages interactive government services on behalf of the state and is a wholly-owned subsidiary of eGovernment firm NIC (Nasdaq: EGOV).

About NIC
NIC manages more eGovernment services than any provider in the world. The company helps government communicate more effectively with citizens and businesses by putting essential services online. NIC provides eGovernment solutions for 2,600 state and local agencies that serve more than 61 million people in the United States. Additional information is available at www.nicusa.com.

An Open Letter to Phil Collins

Dear Phil Collins,

GET BACK BEHIND THAT DRUM KIT. You heard me, get back behind that drum kit where you belong. Nobody is arguing the fact that you are an amazingly talented drummer. Granted, you're no Terry Bozzio or Neal Peart, but you do shine.

Before you took the mic, Genesis were mind-blowing pioneers of the most symphonic and experimental prog rock. Sure, they might have gotten the most of their run as relatively unknown cult sweethearts before you became frontman. And, okay, Genesis didn't have the popularity with Peter Gabriel on lead vocals that it had with you. But there are two reasons for that:

1. Complete removal of creativity and, ultimately, creative edge. Sizzle? Gone.
2. Selling out.

The 80s critically wounded several legitimate, talented musicians. Lionel Richie, Stevie Wonder, Eric Clapton... but you... YOU... you took a whole band down with you. Down into the sludge-laden mire of pith like I Can't Dance and Invisible Touch. And, good lawd, who could forget Don't Lose My Number? Listen up, Phil, only one band and one band alone can perform a song about someone losing someone's number and that is STEELY MUTHAF***ING DAN. Why Genesis? Why could you not have taken the high road and let Genesis burn out naturally, like a shooting star? Why could you not have just started a new band, called it Phil Collins and the Sweaty Hawaiian Shirt Smiley Lads or something? No jackets required!

Now, I know some will argue that you improved what was once merely a weird, arguably flailing, inaccessible, live performance-oriented band. To that I say: Give me The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway and Peter Gabriel in a huge daisy costume any day. The only good thing to come out of Peter Gabriel leaving Genesis was his solo recording Solsbury Hill, inspired by his departure from the band, and now included (for some unknown reason) on every movie trailer this side of Siam.

So, to sum up: Stick to the drums, Phil Collins. It's what you do, and believe me, you've done enough.

Most Sincerely,
Colette

P.S. I hate your stupid cockney accent.
P.P.S. I will admit that I do like Land of Confusion. And, okay, I like Abacab too. BUT THAT'S IT.


Phil Collins, showing little to no pride in himself. It's what he does.

Proof that I Spent My Early Years Wearing Leotards... Exclusively.

I am going to treat cyberspace to some old photos I found whilst putting stuff away last week.

Wake up, it's 1984

First: Halloween party pictures. My mom loved to throw parties. I always had a birthday party, but the big deal party for me was the Halloween slumber party. Mom would seriously go all out, making crafty decorations and snacks and fabulous costumes for me. She wasn't a subdued domestic goddess by any means, she was more about having fun and flexing her creative, free-spirited muscle. We didn't have much money, so she'd go out into vacant fields and pick dried thistles and spray paint them black to make spiders which got hung from the ceiling... stuff like that. She worked it.

Here we are in fourth grade, late 1983. Can you spot me? Trivia: All the pottery on the mantle was created by my dad.



And, the following year: late 1984. Hellcats start young, oh yes.



Now let's ROCKIT into 1984/85. To boost my low self-esteem, mom enrolled me in a local drill team. We were a parade-marching drill team. I remember marching to the theme song from Simon and Simon quite often. We also did holiday performances.

Anyway. The 1984 summer Olympics had gone on in Los Angeles earlier that year. Maybe it was because I was just a kid, but it seems to me they were a really big deal that go-round. I remember desperately wanting to be Mary Lou Retton, but was too tall to be a gymnast. So, I got dance lessons instead. Being that my only other aspiration was to be a Solid Gold Dancer (Darcel was my favorite), I was cool with that.

The Supreme Team was the name of my drill team and we had a standby routine that we'd do in competitions. We also had a Christmas routine, and a backup routine to Yaz's Situation. I still love that song. The standby routine was to a song called Junku by Herbie Hancock. Yes, a bunch of little white girls from suburban SLC were groovin' to Herbie. The song was used as a theme for certain events in the Olympics earlier that year, and is along the same lines of the more commonly-known Rockit (for which the video STILL gives me the creeps). But yeah, Herbie was and still is the man... it just wasn't until much later in life that I realized just HOW COOL he is after getting into Headhunters-era stuff.

But I digress. The photos below are from a Christmas show. Here is some more trivia: The mall we are performing in is the same mall my uncle was shot in last February. I'd never have imagined that 22 years later, someone I loved dearly would be shot, left for dead and paralyzed a mere few yards from where I was trying to concentrate on not screwing up in front of a crowd of Christmas shopping Salt Lakers. It's very heavy to think about how randomly and unexpectedly life can change.

Here, we are dancing to Jingle Bell Rock. I hated that song then, and I hate it to this day. But I did not let that affect my unwavering commitment to fierce jazz hands. I mean, really. Look at all those other lackadaisical, limp-wristed jazz hands. Mine were TIGHT.



And these are from the Herbie Hancock routine, complete with props (a coat hanger bent into a circle and wrapped in tinsel) and buck teeth that could put anyone else's to shame:





Man, I tell you, I lived in those costumes. Like, I would play in the front yard in them. And people would probably drive by and see the skinny, buck-toothed child spinning around on the grass in sequins and ballet slippers and just shake their heads. But I was oblivious... I had a weekly Solid Gold top 10 countdown to pretend to star in!

This glimpse into my past brought to you by an old shoebox and a mind-numbing case of procrastination. Good night.

K-Von, you will be missed.

I never met Kurt Vonnegut; I would have liked to. When someone's words strike a chord in a person the way his did in me, it's almost like knowing that person. I was so sad when I heard the news.



There are so many passages and aphorisms from Mr. Vonnegut's writings and speeches that I could list as being favorites of mine. He was a man with a gift for saying, in so few words, volumes of insight that society could have only been improved by. He had a talent for summing up heartbreak, desperation, anger, disappointment and joy in both a profound and a humorous fashion. I can't think of any other writer aside from Wallace Stegner (another great loss) who had a gift for words the way Vonnegut did.

If I could, I would thank him for leaving his words behind for the rest of us.

The Painted Desert

In honor of Easter weekend, I decided to resurrect my living room. Therefore, I spent two days turning said living room into the colors of a high desert paradise. I am so happy to have my earth tones back.

My entire house has been painted this nasty-assed, dingy shade of yellow. Every room except the kitchen, which I refer to as "Great White". The bathroom is stark white, too. This shade of yellow isn't even a color, as far as I am concerned. It's a special effect. The effect being someone chain-smoking in a white room (with black curtains) for thirty years sans ventilation. It's like a nicotine-stained veneer. Even the name of the shade is offensive: Deep Cowslip. I don't even know what that means. I think cowslip is some sort of weed. Regardless, it sounds gross.

Saturday I went to Lowe's and got a gallon of each of my two trusted colors (I used these same colors at the Fitzgerald house as well): Earth Elements Canyon and Burnished Copper. Hot diggity... now my entire living room is painted. And I have pictures to prove that I didn't loaf around feeling sorry for my sorry self all weekend...

Befores:





Durings:

I painted the window seat/bay window place (the Bay Area, as it is now referred to) and the wall surrounding my fireplace the lighter (Canyon) shade:





The remaining walls get the Burnished Copper treatment:



AFTERS (WOOHOO!):

One room down, four more to go.





Finally, I would like to thank my project manager (who perched on the arm of my sofa, barking out all my mistakes).



Now all I gotta do is put everything in its right place and I'll have Santa Fe southeast dialed in.