happy birthday.

he turned 28 on the 28th. aww.

i have baked him a cheesecake. it is cooling on the kitchen counter.

8 oz cream cheese
8 oz part-skim ricotta cheese
2 eggs
1 t vanilla extract
1/4 scant c white sugar

beat the cream cheese and eggs together. scrape down the bowl. beat in the ricotta and vanilla. keep beating until it's as smooth as you can get it. beat in the sugar.

put a layer of berries on the bottom of a prepared crust (he likes the nabisco oreo cookie crusts. this is an 8" crust, so i had some extra batter). pour the batter on top.

bake at 325 F for 1 hour. you can use a water bath if you're worried about it cracking. the neat thing about this cake is that the berries are a surprise. you can't see them until it's cut.

redundant irritation.

i'm sure this had been said before, but it's irritating me.

we recently switched cars. after plugging numbers into excel, it turns out that we actually save abut $20 a month if he drives the diesel and i drive the regular car. the higher miles-per-gallon efficiency of the diesel actually offsets the higher cost in fuel.

this higher efficiency is further enhanced by the fact that most (if not all) gasoline sold today is up to 10% ethanol. now. it's stupid to begin with to turn food into fuel for vehicles. but this stupidity is compounded by the fact that ethanol is actually less energy efficient than pure gasoline, causing your car to actually burn more fuel than it would if they weren't putting ethanol in it. which means more gas in general, as well as more corn going into our cars' engines and not into people's bellies. at least biodiesel doesn't affect the efficiency of diesel engines.

what load of brain surgeons thought this one up?

for discussion.

barak obama's successful call for change would not have succeeded without the howard dean's presidential campaign of 2004.

think about it: both men successfully mobilized a huge mass of internet-enabled young people to start a grassroots swelling.

since dean's seemingly radical campaign, we've had four years of bush, four more years of war, and a tanking economy. obama, wearing a similar claim to being a washington outsider, comes along. he's got a similar message. this time people listen.

besides timing, what is the main difference? obama is much less emotional, he is a better speaker (both of which translate to more media savvy), and in general, a career politician from midwest has more widespread appeal than a doctor turned politician from new england.

discuss.

happy memorial day.

yay, vacation. i took friday off as well.

i know, i haven't been very bloggy this month. i needed the break.

what's for dinner?

this was actually dinner last night. kind of south-of-france meets american grill, i guess. it's one of my favourite marinades. i made it up one night when i had some wine to use up.

extra virgin olive oil
dry white wine
whole-grain mustard
garlic
parsley
salt and pepper

chicken breasts

spinach
pine nuts
grated parmesan

caveat: i almost never measure things.

1. mix the oil, wine, and mustard until you have a fairly uniform but liquidy marinade. add garlic and parsely (fresh is best, dried if you must), salt and pepper. coat the chicken in the marinade and set aside.

2. prepare the grill (i use charcoal, but i am aware there are people who use gas).

3. grill the chicken (about 5 minutes per side), reserving the marinade.

4. toast the pine nuts, in a dry skillet over medium heat, broiler or toaster oven, or over the coals in a metal pie plate, stirring to keep them from buring.

5. pour the reserved marinade into a saucepan and bring to a boil to kill all the raw-chicken germs and thicken it into a sauce.

6. slice the chicken and put it on a bed of spinach. sprinkle on the pine nuts, drizzle with the cooked marinade, and grate the cheese on top.

nomnomnom.

writers needed.

why scientists should not be allowed to write their own headlines.

although, i have to admit, that's just gorgeous on all its levels.

they should hire me anyway.

the kart strikes again.

we bought mario kart wii last night.

he's been playing it pretty much non-stop since then. especially since it's finals right now, and his class this evening was cancelled.

i need to find a book to read.

what's for dinner?

matza pizza

1 piece matza
tomato sauce
cheese
toppings

step 1: assemble.
step 2: heat.

i am so sick of matza.

2 more days.

happy passover.

i survived. not only the traffic, but seder with my family.

although i did have to take a couple minutes and lie down in the back bedroom because wow it got loud.

now i just have to survive a week of matzo. dinners are the worst. for breakfast and lunch there's, y'know, yoghurt and fruit and sandwiches and so forth, but what do you eat for dinner?

i am thawing homemade chicken broth with the intent to make matzo ball soup. for some reason that escapes me, all canned/boxed chicken broth has yeast in it. flavour, i guess?

so. soup. maybe i should try a casserole this year.

popemobile in the way.

many of you will have heard this rant in person, but i am irritated.

the pope is going to be in yonkers tomorrow. because of this, they are closing the cross county parkway between 2pm and 8pm.

i need to be at my grandmother's for seder at 5pm. as you may have guessed, i need to take the cross county to get there.

because it will be closed, we are going to have to take 287 all the way up to the tappan zee bridge and then come down the hutchison parkway to try and get around the whole traffic mess, instead of taking the cross county to the hutch. this will add miles and probably 45 minutes to an already 2 1/2 hour trip (google maps may help you at this point if you're not familiar with westchester county, ny).

what the fuck is the pope doing in yonkers on erev pesach? really, people! let's try a little planning next time!

(ok, ok, this is what he will be doing. could have waited, if you ask me)

*grumble*