http://www.areasofmyexpertise.com/2008/11/power/

I echo the sentiments of the great John Hodgman.

Enough of the Team of Rivals talk already. Sure, Hillary Clinton is not a bad choice. I just wonder if she’s the best choice.  I am hoping Powers will somehow make her way into Obama’s State Dept. Talk about somebody who could give Hillary a run for her money.

http://www.secureourdream.com/index.html

You’re fucking kidding me, right?  Ok Obama, you won, but you’re on notice buddy! This unlicensed plumber’s gonna be keeping tabs on you. Of course you have to pay 15 bucks/year to read all about it.  This is utterly disgusting.

MIA + theme from The Wire (originially written by Tom Waits, mixed by club music extraordinaire Blaqstarr).

hahaha

A year or so ago, I was listening to my wonderful This American Life podcast (yes, I really am THAT kind of person). This particular episode centered on the 10 Commandments. Here is where I was first introduced to the work of Shalom Auslander—an piece about his quest to win the school spelling bee thereby winning over his father.

I took it upon myself to pick up Foreskin’s Lament. Just to give you a frame of reference, Auslander starts out explaining he was raised in an Orthodox Community, something he likens to the raising of veal. In the context of imminent arrival of his first born, Auslander levels about his G-d issues. Definitely not an atheist, Auslander believes in a G-d, a really vindictive one at that. At face value, it could be construed as an angry diatribe against G-d, life, his family, etc. But really, it’s a lot more than that. Oh the anger is definitely there, intricate, sad, legitimate anger, but also humor, pathos, the list goes on. I’m eager to hear more from him in the coming future…whenever I have time to read for fun again…whenever that is. Also, the guy does a lot for my shiksa guilty pleasures…

Definitely in my top ten music films. From the land that brought you Van Morrison, these guys definitely once again prove the Irish know how to rock out on a soul standard. Keep an eye out for a younger Glenn Hansard of Swell Season/The Frames/Once fame.

So I’m pretty much alone in being the only person under the age of 40 who actually enjoys The English Patient.  Ok, so it’s long and you might feel the need to doze, but I assure you, it’s well worth sticking it out. Based on Michael Ondaatje’s novel, directed by Anthony Minghella, scored by Gabriel Yared…what more do you want people?

Also, I’m really happy when I can ogle at an attractive Ralph Fiennes who is not guilt inducing (read: not Voldemort, or the dude in Schindler’s List, or voicing Ramses in Prince of Egypt, etc).

Speaking of Anthony Minghella (may he rest in peace), join the lobby to release Truly Madly Deeply.

I enjoy reading http://azizisbored.tumblr.com/. I’m pretty sure Aziz Ansari is kind of cool for the following reasons:

1. Wrote Friday Night Lights fanfic involving Smash Williams and Al Qaeda.

2. First cast member anounced for The Office spinoff

3. Has a mancrush on Michael K. William (Omar from The Wire)

eat a Chik Fil-A sandwich.

http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/06ae3d8563

Hahahahaha

http://twitter.com/slate

An entertaining way to summarize the debates. Slate writers eschew their sometimes smarmy content and get some good laughs in to boot.

Autumn weather has finally arrived to the DC area (that’s the area around Washinton DC, for all you maverick outsiders).  With it, I’ve fallen prey to a particular cliché, that cliché being “let’s make a lot of shit out of pumpkins.”  I know this kind of thing ventures dangerously close to the line between hipster crafty and wearing appliqué sweaters crafty.  Last week I made pumpkin cake, which proved to be quite good.  It’s also completely gone now.  For some reason, it called for a weird amount of pumpkin, which left a hefty bit left on my hands afterwards.  I had heard good things about pumpkin soup, and decided to give it a try.  I went with a recipe from epicurious, found here: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/SOUTHWESTERN-PUMPKIN-SOUP-104064

I wanted to start with something simple, that didn’t require a trip to Whole Foods to find pepita seeds.  Nevertheless, the simplicity had me a little worried, it could end up a little to Rachael Ray-ish.  Anywho, it gets extra points for its time saver appeal-30 minutes or less.  All in all, it was pretty good.  The spices added gave it an interesting subtle flavor.  I think next time I’ll try a more authentic Mexican recipe though. I continued with the Southwestern theme and paired it with a black bean salad and some cornbread.  Side note: I’m totally in love with the corncob shaped pan a friend gave me as a housewarming gift.

Wow, at some point, starting a food blog seemed like such a good idea.  Alas, a schedule chock full of apt hunting, moving, grad school, etc gets in the way.  Not to mention the world is going to hell in an express, first class handbasket.

I’d like to harken back to simpler times. Times when I lived at home and didn’t have to pay for food. One of my favorite food projects was to make pizza entirely from scratch. There’s something so rewarding about making your own dough.  Maybe it’s because of the physical transformation that takes place out of thin air (yeah, I know how yeast works, but you catch my drift).

From this…

to this….

I scoured epicurious.com, and finally landed on a topping combo recommended by Giada…shallots and pancetta.  Oh so treyfe.  I’m usually not a pork product fan with the exception of Italian pork products.  Sausages, pancetta, proscuttio, you name it.  So those two, paired with a mixture of fontina, Parmesan, and moz. The unfinsished product looked a little sad, but once it came out of the oven, in all of its glistening glory, it looked a little something like this:

Ah, it was quite delicious.  Also, it passed the ultimate pizza test in that is tasted even better cold the next morning!