So, birthday product review time... Being that it is far too early in the morning for red wine, we shall start with coffee...

I got a Burr Style Coffee Grinder

Now, for those not in the know... A coffee grinder comes in 2 general styles, Burr or Blade grinders

Think of cheese - (except for lishd who is weird and doesnt like cheese) - A burr style grinder is much like a cheese grater - it makes uniform grinds out of the whole bean. A blade grinder is like shredding cheese with a knife - rough, imprecise, and not uniform at all - the blade grinder just pulverizes the beans, no uniformity and thus a less even brew

And on the subjects of brewing - Fresh beans still have essential oils in them, some antioxidants, and a whole mess of flavours. Freeze dried grounds have a lot of the essential oils removed to prolong shelf life and they loose out on a good portion of the flavour.

So, I cracked open the new grinder - The box was a little unwieldy, but overall not too bad. The grinder came fully assembled, so no fussing with tab-a into slot-b crap. Always a plus.

I rinsed off all of the packing dust, made it all shiny and clean. Removed the stickers and set about making coffee.

First off, the body is silver plastic, made to look like either aluminum or steel... it isn't, it is plastic. I am not a big fan of this, it feels cheap and it makes the grinder very light, I prefer to have a bit of heft to my appliances, solid construction so they dont wear out as easily.

it has 18 grind settings from fine to coarse. the way that you select the grind settings is to rotate the entire bean bowl. I like this because it means that it is harder to accidentally break the selector. It also can grind from 2 to 18 cups worth of grounds at a shot. which is very nice - no more measuring scoop measuring, and no more having other people screw up how much coffee goes into a pot.

The bean bowl holds up to about a half pound of beans at a time. I am not a big fan of this for two reasons - the first being that beans should be stored airtight to prevent oxidization and bitterness, but because the beans are not whole, the surface area to air ratio is much smaller, so the flavour difference is almost negligible. The second reason is that I store my whole beans in the freezer after they have been opened, so that the oils in the beans do not go rancid and ruin the flavour. Now, as a household that goes through coffee pretty quickly, both of these issues are not that big of a deal, but this is a product review - so there.

Once one selects the grind size and amount, all you have to do is press the start button, and it automagically grinds the required amount. We have a 10 cup brewer, so I decided to grind 12 cups worth of beans, because most auto-grinders err on the side of fewer grounds. Not this one. 12 cups was actually far too much. Tomorrow I shall try 10 cups to see if that is more accurate.

Manufacturers say that an auto-drip coffee maker requires a medium-to-course grind. I prefer a finer grind for a fuller flavour. I selected a medium-fine grind, and the grounds came out about the fineness that I like to use for my coffee press.

I I load up the brewer, and let it cook.

The flavour of the cup was very nice, almost comparable to what I get with my press. Full but not bitter.

Overall I think that this will prove to be a very good piece of equipment. Aside from the few nitpicking things that I found, it seems to be very good for what it does.

more tomorrow after I try it again... maybe tonight I will press some.

****EDIT****

Just pressed some of the leftover med/fine grounds - HOLYFUCKINGYUM!

Tonight was day 1 of the birthday weekend...

My lovely woman got me this really nifty bottle-top wine decanter/aerator that I will be trying out very soon

My mom got me the coffee grinder that I have been eyeballing VERY seriously

and my Sibs got me cash and a barnes and Nobel gift card - with which I shall be getting a programming book probably tomorrow while the girls go and shop and stuff

tomorrow is karaoke and sunday is a day of nothing at all, and i get to have this yummy Moroccan pastry made for me with ground chicken wrapped in filo dough and topped with powdered sugar - lishd knows just the one I am talking about ;)

ugh.... my body is throbbing (not in that happy fun way) and even my skin hurts... not the best way to spend my honey's birthday weekend

Okay, so I made some green chili a couple weeks ago... very yummy, and was asked to put the recipe up here... so I am..

You will need -

Cubed pork
1 bunch of washed celery (leaves and all)
1 HEAPING tablespoon minced garlic (more or less to taste)
1 Yellow onion - finely chopped
2 cans (6 oz?) Ro*Tel (hot or mild, your choice)
Garlic and Onion powder to taste
Peppers of your choice
Beef and chicken bullion or soup base
Butter
Flour


Cubed pork - cook it in a stock pot with garlic and powdered spices. (my pork was pre-cooked and leftover from a tenderloin - if your pork is already cooked, proceed to next step)

Fill pot with enough water to cover pork 1 and a half-ish times - add in bullion or soup base in equal parts (I use a heaping spoonful of each, or 1-2 bullion cubes each) cook on low to medium simmer uncovered for an hour or three

Take a food processor and liquefy Celery, Onion, Ro*Tel and Peppers together, you may have to add a little bit of water just to thin it out a little. add into the pot. Simmer uncovered another hour or three.

after the yummy-pot-o-goodness has reduced, make a rioux. In another pan or pot, melt butter (i start with a half a stick - roughly 4 tablespoons) and then add equal part flour - If this is a bigger pot of chili, use a whole stick and equal flour. Cook (stirring constantly, as rioux is VERY easy to burn) until it turns a nice golden color. after Rioux is golden and yummy, add it to the pot of meat-an-stuff and crank the heat up to a low boil/high simmer, uncovered, until yumminess thickens.

Eat straight up or with your most desired side dish (steak and eggs is a good choice, but you can do burritos if you like)

if you cant eat it all, it freezes very well.

I hate hiccups.

That is all

I hate people...

So my coworker got a phone call yesterday, and then left is a really big hurry.

Today he is here, and says that his dog was stolen... one of four dogs, snatched right up out of his back yard... (admittedly it is a chiwawa so not REALLY a dog, but to him they are like kids)

he called the cops and they said the people in the southern part of town (littleton, lone tree, centennial etc.) have had pets stolen, and then the people will wait until the reward posters go up and then either sell you your dog back (saying that they bought it and just want to break even) or claim the reward.

I mean honestly now... stealing someones pet is just wrong...

going shooting today...

stress relief, here I come

"On rare occasions I meet a person and they just make my fangs come out. Something about how they move or smell or react to my topping energy just makes me want to do very, very bad things to them. I joke that it feels as if I want to kill a panda, eat it’s still beating heart raw, burn down a national monument, piss on the still smoldering embers and then go have ice cream."

Just cause it's amusing.

This is a rant

it is about penises... peni... it is about cocks

specifically dead ones, and the guys that owned them

and not in that creepy gross way

as it goes with rants, this is my opinion, i have a right to it, I also have a right to voice it, even if it differs from yours, you have the right to voice your opinion too, free speech and all that. I reserve the right to screen/delete/reply... because this is my place to whine.

And no, I will not put this behind a cut. Don't like it? Don't read it.

That being said. Onto the fun.

I just got an IM from "contemplativesalmon" on yahoo.

The only content of the IM was "RIP Billy Mays."

I do not know this person. I have made only one comment about the death of Billy Mays since I read the newspaper this morning, and that was to the effect of "Damn, another one dead. Huh. That sucks." not verbatim, but close enough.

But thanks to this dipshit, I now feel the desire to voice my opinion. Because he spoiled my quiet night, I am going to vent it here.

In fact, let's roll the clock back a handful of days... to the death of Michael Jackson

He was a famous guy that I never bothered to understand/relate with/care about.

He also happened to touch the lives of millions. So did Hitler. So did Jesus. It happens.

For the sake of this rant, I will focus on the fact that I don't give a shit about the aforementioned. Really. I don't. And I think that the media circus surrounding the death of one man (because Billy hasn't died yet in the rant) is silly, and a waste.

Let's play god for a moment and create Jim.

Jim is a single father of 5 kids. Widower. Works 2 jobs to make ends meet. Is as active as he can be in the community for the sake of his kids. Good churchgoing man. Has terminal lung cancer, from a pack a day for 30 years habit.

Jim dies from his lung cancer, orphans his 5 kids. The community grieves, his kids get farmed out to foster homes. whatever.

I hear NOTHING about Jim in the paper or on the news, or even on the internet. An honest, hardworking guy, dies while doing everything he could to take care of his family and be the best person he could be. And nobody hears anything about it.

But a 50 year old (in)famous guy, accused of molesting children (which is the most heinous crime imaginable if you ask anyone on the streets, who also happen to be the same people mourning the death of MJ) has a heart attack or O.D.'s on painkillers and the world MOURNS?

WHAT THE EVERLOVING FUCK???

If I had the choice of whose death to hear about, I would prefer to hear about Jim. Why? Because I can relate, if only marginally... I am a parent, I work hard and make sacrifices to provide for my family. I am not a pop icon, I am not in the public eye, I do not hang my child off of a balcony by it's foot. Ya know, little things.

Front page of USA Today has a picture of an Israeli soldier with a small shrine to MJ to honor him. CNN, Fox News, ABC, NBC etc. have been running MJ Tributes all fucking week. BET and VH1 have had nothing but MJ videos playing (exaggerated slightly, but not by too much)

Jim, on the other hand, dies without so much as a blip on the radar.

That, in my opinion, is wrong.

Fastforward to today.

Billy Mays is now dead. Crying shame. Really. I promise. (see mom, I didn't even let my sarcasm show through much that time.)

More tributes, more people shouting from the rooftops about the death, and random people IM'ing me to cry.

Now, here is my thoughts on death and dying.

It happens. It is painful for the families. I understand that.

Contemplativesalmon is not family to Billy Mays (so far as I know, being that the dolt can not even bother to type an additional two letters in the word (yo)U ) So what right does this fucker have to spout sympathetic platitudes to ME, who, so far as I know, is not related to Mays either?

Nevermind the fact that I really have no desire, at all, to hear them. Ever.

Now, let us pretend, for a moment, that I am related to either one of the deceased. Pick one. Don't care.

I would not want someone, anyone, airing my personal grief for the death of a family member, out to the world at large. It is insensitive. And then to have people consistently reminding me of the death (as though it ISN'T forefront in my mind anyhow) and not allowing me to truly process it or deal, because I have people standing outside of my home screaming their support out among the rest of the horde also gathered outside of my domicile.

Fuck that.

I am in pain. I am grieving. I am probably still inconsolable because my brother/father/whatever is DEAD. I do NOT want someone that didnt know me or the deceased intruding upon that.

But being that I am not a part of either family, I really don't give too much of a damn.

I am sad over the loss of a decent entertainer, and a brilliant salesman. But in no way do I grieve over the loss of either. I do not confuse sadness (no matter how minute) with grief.

Let the families grieve people. Grief is a VERY personal thing, and I do not believe it should be shared by any but those closest to you, that would have the fullest understanding of it. If any of the dead people (Jackson, Mays, Jesus etc.) touched your life in some meaningful fashion, good on you. If you feel the need to be grief-stricken, I will think it is silly, I will continue to not understand it, and I will ask that, like the {Religious Object of your choice}, you keep it to yourself.

the tough part of staying in a hotel that has full amenities like a stove and fridge etc, for such a long time (comprably, 5 days is a long time) is that picking everything up and getting all of one's shit together is a pain... setting down roots blows

home soon enough though

how come coffee takes so long to make? I want instant gratification damnit.

starts in less than an hour and a half... have mentioned that I don't wanna?

i just realized that my hotel is RIGHT next to I-70... all I would have to do is make 3 right turns, and I would be on my way home...

fuckfuckfuckfuck

i dont wana be awake

rant forthcoming, after I drive across nebraska

my fingers hurt...

so i got this leather coat from a friend... a trench coat that i had planned on turning into a coat for faire, just have to put an edge of some kind on it. so today I went to te fabric store and picked up everything I would need... except for any sort of understanding on how to sew by hand

I know how to use a machine, but i have dick for hand sewing expierence.

oh and the thimble I got, which was the biggest one they had, is still too small

So, i am in Cadillac Michigan right now and was driving to get some dinner, and passed the following, in this order...

Family Video

Stopless Topless Bar

and

QuickLube

thought that was worth sharing

So, today we drove to Syracuse, NY.

we will be here for 2 nights.

originally we were going to be staying at the Holiday Inn, which is not uncommon for us. We got there and the outside looked crappy, seedy, just not welcoming. We get our rooms, and not 5 minutes after i walk in I get a phone call asking if my room is as bad as the Moron's.

it is. just not a good feeling... the room looks like you would kill a hooker in there.

We call the boss and say move us now, there is a Candlewood Suites right next door. the CWS is a part of the holiday inn family of hotels, so staying there is pre approved anyhow, and they are whas considered an "extended stay" hotel. meaning that it is more of an apartment than a hotel. We have a stove, microwave, fridge and access to a BBQ. this place is clean, the staff is actually friendly, this just feels better.

so happy with this place

So, I had a desire for hot wings, and it was likey going to be the only thing I had today, what with stretching my funds some with mothers day around te corner and all.

The only place for wings that is A) Close and B) in such a location that I couldnt get lost going there, was pizza hut. I rather like the wings that they have there. bonus was that it had sit down space so i could get out of the hotel for a bit.

So i went on over and decided that the 40 boneless wings for 22.99 looks like a good deal, as opposed to 20 for 12.99, and I can save them for later/tomorrow/whenever right?

So i order the wings and decide i want some variety and ask split the order in 2 different sauces, kid says it should be OK, so cool

So i enjoy my wings and get my check. 27 bucks and change.... um excuse me? how the heck do you get almost 5 bucks in tax?

I look at the menu and see the price i should have been charged, then i look at the receipt... the kid rang up 2 20 piece orders. I ask why he decided to charge me for 2 20 piece orders instead of one 40. his response was because i wanted two different sauces.

so because i ask for two different sauces then you decided to charge me, effectively 11.5% MORE for the same amount of product walking out the door, is that right?

I ask him to fix this, he says he cant. I ask for the manager.

Manager drone waddles over and explains that because i wanted two different sauces I had to pay the extra because there was more work involved. I ask the manager if I would have to pay the extra if i wanted half of my order with no sauce (no sauce = less work for the fry-monkey, right?) Manager says that he cant change the price but he can get me a cupon for my next visit. Cool, except tht I live out of state and dont plan on visiting again. dumbshit.

at this point I just pay the bill out of frusteration and leave.

why are things so tough for people, riddle me that.