Why am I so excited? Because of THIS.

Thats right Jones Soda Co has created the greatest beverage flavor KNOWN TO MANKIND: Turkey and Gravy. I saw this a couple of weeks ago, but it was so brilliant I was sure it was a hoax. But no, it is true! NPR's Alex Chadwick even did a taste test on the air last night. Turkey soda. What a world...

And the really disturbing for you/upsetting for me fact is they SOLD OUT of it! I want a bottle of this... Time to check E-bay.

$20 a bottle! Maybe Jones will bring it back! Turkey Soda all year round baby!

Oh god I love Thanksgiving...

But the point is, "Damn! Another year gone by!" and all that. And now we are in a place SO very different from last year. A new city, new jobs (or lack there of,) new people (again, or lack there of,) and no real idea what the next 12 months will hold for us. But I've got a lot to be thankful for, and the more things I'm thankful for the more turkey flesh I must consume and so I imagine that come this time tomorrow I will be riding that tryptophan wave into bliss.

Oh, and I probably won't post a whole lot over the weekend.

*I'm not quite sure that typing that has the same effects as actually hearing Julie say it, but you hopefully get the point...

**Even though I don't particularly like Star Trek (and especially TOS,) I have a completely unfounded love for William Shatner as a Cult of Personality. I really enjoy watching him over act in his lesser known roles (Incubus (1965) and Free Enterprise (1998) being my favorites), as well as any interviews, puff pieces, commercials, or hosting gigs that he does.

The Red Line runs from Union Station west through Hollywood and then turns north into the Valley. The trip took us about 25 minutes, which is about how long it would take to drive to downtown not counting parking/getting lost time. It seemed really weird to be taking the train the land where car is KING, but also made LA feel more like a big city and less like a geographic salad of small communities. It is also nice to have a night out on the town and not have to deal with designated drivers or cab fair!

So after we got our bearings outside of Union Station, we walked 2 blocks to the world famous Philippe's and has some dipped beef (and turkey) sandwiches. Philippe's invented the "french dip" sandwich WAY back in 1918 and they are, hands down, THE BEST (and I've eaten A LOT of french dip sandwiches in my day.) Saturday night I also discovered their chili kicks ass too! From the restaurant is was another 4 blocks into Chinatown and to the bar, which was considerably more crowded than the last time. We grabbed a secluded table and had a few rounds before venturing back into Hollywood on the train. Julie kept remarking that it felt like we were on vacation. Perhaps it was the foreign feeling of being on a subway in LA, or perhaps it was just this was the first outing she has had in a few weeks since she has been working so damn hard. And I, for one, thinks she deserves some kind of reward!

But besides preventing me from sleeping, I'm convinced that the winds were somehow responsible for both the CPU fan and the Power Supply fan in my PC dying. The bearings went out in both causing a computer that was lounder than the damn winds. So I had to brave the Über-dust-bunnies that live in the PC and remove the offending hardware, and now it looks like there will be a trip to Frys in my near future.

After Paul's recent troubles and resulting rants with his newly purchased iPod I have decided to stop fighting the loosing battle of evangelizing Apple to PC users. They will always find some flaw in an Apple product and be deaf and blind to all the benefits. It really isn't worth the headaches and blood-boiling arguments. I will add "computing platform of choice" to politics and religion to my list of taboo conversation topics. And I will rest easy knowing that I am happy with my choice of Apple products. I will even go as far as to cease my criticism of Microsoft and their "secure computing platform."

I still hope that people will see the light and make the switch to Apple products, and I will provide support (both moral and technical) when they do, but they are going to have to do it on their own now. The Cult of Mac isn't for everyone, and I, for one, hope it stays that way.

Some time ago I was fiendishly addicted to the Hungarian Mushroom Soup served by my (formerly) local vegetarian cafe. So much so that I convinced the esteamed Rev. Carle to get me a copy of the recipe (as he worked there at the time.) Under cover of darkness we rendezvoused and he gave me the cipher, hastily scribbled on the back of an order ticket. I spirited it back to my house to pour over the intricacies of the recipe before I would undertake the alchemical soup brewing. But when I got it home I was confused by the notation of the recipe. A QUART of sour cream? 4 OUNCES of paprika? HOW MANY POUNDS OF MUSHROOMS??? Then it hit me. The yield of the recipe could be measured in gallons. The recipe, in fact, could have originated on the plains of my wife's ancestral homeland to feed whole regiments of shivering Hungarian soldiers. Or in the basements of the freedom fighters serving the last hot meal to a group of revolutionaries who would stand against the might of the quickly approaching russian tank battalions.

I never made the soup, though I still have the tattered and barley legible recipe. It is times like these I wish I had a scanner.

Fish is one of my culinary weak links, so I wanted a very simple and fool proof cooking method, and I decided on steam. And since I would have the steamer all set up and a-steamin' I figured now would be the time to test out Alton Brown's steamed Couscous recipe. So I started the couscous in the steamer while I prepped the misé for a sauce for the fish. Since steaming (with just water) doesn't impart any flavor to the dish I knew I would need a tasty sauce, and I decided what would be better than a classic Beurre Blanc (which is traditionally a reduction of shallots, vinegar, and white wine that is blended with a whole lot of butter.) But since I had this whole idea to go with asian flavors I added ginger and soy sauce to the reduction, and substituted lemon juice for the vinegar. I would pick up some of these flavors in the couscous by sauteing onions, ginger, garlic, and mushrooms and adding some sesame oil and soy sauce and then folding that mixture into the finished couscous. The fish was steamed to perfection and served over the couscous, topped with my sauce and garnished with some toasted sesame seeds.

In the end everything came together very well (though I didn't have any vegetables for a side...) and I was happy with the results. The sauce was a little on the tart side because of the wine I used and my addition of lemon juice. Next time I think I will use pineapple juice and more soy sauce. The couscous turned out really well, but it also ended up being an incredible mess that turned my newly spotless kitchen into a disaster area. The little grains of pasta got EVERYWHERE, and I managed to dirty no less that 6 pots and pans (the steamer pot and insert, the 12 inch skillet, the saucer, the 8 inch skillet, and a cookie sheet) and a whole slew of support equipment in the cooking of the meal. I'm STILL doing friggin dishes!

Even though he's cut a lot of fat off his songs, he still favors meandering to directness, which combined with the deliberately somber mood of the album means this often sounds like Automatic for the People as written and performed by Sting.

I don't really agree with the statement... So far the disc is like any other DMB album, but with less horns and more doom-and-gloom. Dave goes goth if you will... But regardless AMG is a rockin' website; you can easily loose hours and hours surfing around it, and it is more than a little dangerous when combined with the instant gratification of the iTunes Music Store.

As for the movie... It was certainly very entertaining, and visually amazing, but it was really like eating a spoon-full of frosting: empty calories. The finale wraps everything up nicely, but it doesn't really answer any of the questions asked by the first two films. I fear it is going to take a bad beating by critics and fans, but I do recommend seeing it for anyone who has seen, and liked, the first two. But do your self a favor and go see it on the IMAX screen. You can get more frosting into a bigger spoon...