I want this to be the next dance craze so badly:
(via DrinkYourJuice)
Best photos of the year
Despite its people, accent and baseball team, I try to give Boston its due when it’s deserved. This is one of my moments of weakness.
Boston.com runs phenomenal photography all the time – multiple pages of hi-res photographs from around the world. They put together three pages (here, here, and here) covering all of 2010 that are worth looking at.
(h/t The Daily Dish)
Filed under photography
The common cold vs. the irregular matzo ball
One of the consequences of my great trip to Philly was that I inherited a smörgåsbord of colds from my baby cousin. I think the CDC should stop worrying about hospital-based infections and focus solely on day cares and elementary schools. Anyway, Quil1 and Quil2 haven’t been helping too much so I thought I would try some chicken soup.
There are a million ways to make chicken soup with matzo balls but this is the family recipe. It takes awhile up front to prepare, and you have to let it sit overnight, but it’s well worth it. I even got some enchiladas out of all the chicken I had left over on the first night.
Making the matzo balls was tough because I was on a conference call. There is no way to get the stuff off your hands when you’re holding a phone, and it’s hard to explain giant splashing noises every few minutes. I will have to let everyone at work know that I moonlight at a dunk tank.
This was probably the first time in my life I had homemade matzo ball soup not for a holiday with family. While no meal is the same without hilarious consequence bets and absurd stories, these things had no effect on the taste of the soup. It was probably a quieter meal though.
Recipe is below the pics for anyone interested.
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- The ingredients (minus the chicken, which doesn’t last as long on the counter)
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- The ingredients, after they met their untimely end
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- Eight. Eight quarts. Ha Ha Ha
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- Enchiladas with some of the leftover chicken
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- These are produced by Mexichewitz
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- Making them perfectly round while on a conference call is not easy
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- The finished product, with knish for good measure
Like this:
Filed under 101 in 1001, food, personal
Another day, another run in with the police
This summer, my friends and I were subject to absurd racial profiling in the meatpacking district, which led to guns being pulled on us – which I chronicled here. To be fair, while guns were pulled on all of us, I believe only one of us was racially profiled. The other three were Jewish and wetting themselves. Moving right along.
On Thursday, I went down to visit my cousins in Philly for some pre-New Year’s fun. Visiting Philly usually leads to bodily harm, but only as a result of copious amounts of food and alcohol. This time, I was in trouble before even arriving.
I was at a red light on a four lane road with a median. At the light, my car was in the right lane behind one other car. Two police cars were blocking the road in the other direction and some glass was on the ground. Looked like a basic accident. However, all of a sudden about 7 more cruisers came flying up, and the first one was an undercover. The cops all jumped out and surrounded the area.
About 30 seconds later, cops all around the car were shouting “Get out of the car! Get out here now!!” I wasn’t sure if they were talking to us (because of my troubled past) or telling the other cars to get out of the area so they could deal with whatever was going on. Before I could figure it out, I heard about three gunshots – with bullets hitting the car directly to my left.
Not wanting to stick around for the conclusion, I hopped into the shoulder, ran the red light and got out of there. Another 10-15 police cars came flying by in the other direction as we flew down Broad Street.
The rest of the trip was uneventful. I did in fact consume copious amounts of food and alcohol at a new tapas place in Philly called Kokopelli. Our waitress (Krystal) was awesome and I recommend it to anyone who lives around there (try the Onyx drink, bison sliders and chorizo mac & cheese).
Here’s the news story about the gun battle. In the video below, you can see that this was all a simple misunderstanding about domestic violence and obstruction of justice. Nothing out of the ordinary for a Thursday. Happy new year!
Holiday gluttony!
Now that we are in the holiday season, and work travel has cut back, I can focus on what’s important to me: family cooking and eating lots of food. Since I had some time, I thought I would work on my 101 in 1001 recipe list. In our family, there are three recipes that are amazing and have become staples of most get togethers: baked salami, my mom’s matzoh ball soup, and baby back ribs. Since I already mastered the salami (that’s what she said), and I don’t make matzoh balls on Christmas, I decided to tackle the ribs.
Unlike my other food posts, I can’t/won’t post the recipe here. It is a family secret from my grandmother and if I were to reveal it, Evan’s House of Ribs would never take off when I retire. Side note: most grandmas give you cookie or soup recipes…my mom’s mom gave us pork baby back ribs. As a Jewish grandma, she was ahead of her time. But I digress.
The ribs take almost four hours to make, so you have to be very sure that you have time and hungry co-gluttons before you begin. The end result is very worth it.
The abbreviated recipe is:
- Buy pork baby back ribs
- Cook for two hours
- Add the sauce
- Cook for two more hours
- Seek medical attention
Despite having these many times in my life (including every year for my birthday), I had never made them before. Fortunately, they came out great. They continued to be great as I ate them every day while I was snowed in. Thanks to everyone who helped with the recipe, photography, and eating (they make a good bribe to people who help you shovel).
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- Where it all began…thanks Key Food!
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- Breaking the ribs down
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- Two racks of ribs, before cooking. I still considered eating them.
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- Two hours of cooking
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- Adding the secret sauce
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- The finished product
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- The last picture I was willing to take before inhaling them
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- My favorite picture. Nothing says class like wine, an untouched salad and a pile of bones.
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- Victory is mine!
Filed under 101 in 1001, food, personal
Birthday morning
I woke up from a dream this morning and it felt much later than I had set my alarm for. My phone was dead apparently. I went into the living room and turned on a light, but that was dead also. The power must have gone out. Something seemed off but I couldn’t put my finger on it. I looked up and noticed that the light bulbs in the kitchen had all been replaced with spotlights, and the old bulbs were sitting on the counter. I kind of freaked out..I had definitely not done that. I heard someone breathing on the other side of my apartment..it sounded like they were sitting at my desk. I grabbed a sword that was next to my bed and got ready to deal with whomever had broken in. I went running around the corner, and right before I attacked, I realized it was my landlord. He said he had been working on the apartment, and probably should have called to let me know he was going to let himself in while I was sleeping. I asked him why the power was out. He said that the fridge was using too much energy so he didn’t want me using it. I opened the fridge and there was a bunch of melted and dripping food. Some leftover salad looked at me and said “please close the door, you’re letting all the air out!” Then my alarm actually went off.
This doesn’t seem to cover whatever is going on in my brain. That’s the last time I eat right before bed.
Giving thanks
This has been one of the crazier years of my life. Since last Thanksgiving, I moved for the third time since college, got a new job and started commuting to Chicago, witnessed a birth, two weddings and a funeral, had a long term relationship end, and was subjected to a variety of other adventures in and out of NYC.
I am thankful for a life without a single boring minute for many many years, and for all the people that made that possible. As part of my 101 in 1001 list, I have committed to doing something charitable every Thanksgiving. Today, I dropped off an obscene amount of old clothes (and sheets…sorry Mom) at the Goodwill in Astoria. Richardo also organized a group to go to the Marine Corp Toys for Tots drive. If anyone wants to join, we are going to the Times Square Toys R Us on December 18th at 2:30 PM. If you know me, you know how to reach me, otherwise, please stop following me, Internet.
As part of this holiday, I wanted to share the many people and things I am thankful for:
- I am thankful for the constant love and support of my now-enormous family, which has grown from eight cousins and some parents to a smörgåsbord of Jews and shiksas up and down the east coast (with some out west as well).
- I am thankful that many of these cousins continue to churn out babies, holding off pressure on me as long as possible.
- I am thankful for a safe and spacious place to live, 80% of which is devoted to my couch or the production/consumption of food.
- I am thankful for my health, and therefore, thankful to Tony Horton and the world famous Karen pot stirrers. I hate it…but I love it.
- I am thankful for my friends, with whom I have drank (and un-drank), gotten lost, met almost tens of women, debated, learned and laughed. It’s very cool to have most of my close friends live somewhere in the five boroughs. It’s even cooler that that people like Tyler consider Florida an acceptable place to live in one’s 20′s.
- A special shout out to Michelle, who is always there for me, even if it’s been awhile. Although she tends to be there for me more when I offer waffles.
- I am lucky to have a job with an inspiring company that challenges me and surrounds me with incredible people. American Airlines is lucky that it’s 700 miles away, and that most of my feelings towards them represent federal crimes.
- I’m thankful that despite Facebook wasting several years of my life, I constantly reconnect with old friends. It’s pretty cool to think that even after years of not seeing people, I can talk sports with Richter and Schultz, run into Gina and Mike in Chicago, see Angelo in from Italy, or WHICH SEX AND THE CITY CHARACTER ARE YOU???? CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT!!!!!
- I am thankful for all of the people that serve our country at home or abroad. I am especially grateful to Colonel Waring and Mary, for tirelessly advocating for current and former soldiers, and to Admiral Landry, for instilling enough military discipline in her son to be able to handle my sister.
- I am thankful for my fraternity (Phi Kappa Psi). Despite its undergraduates occasionally giving me early onset dementia, it has introduced me to incredible people and taken me all over the country (most importantly, Cabo San Lucas and New Orleans).
- I am grateful for the feast we are going to eat tomorrow, and to Procter & Gamble, makers of Pepto-Bismol®.
- I am thankful for the Yankees. We’ll always have 2009!
- There has been a renaissance in TV over the last 7 or 8 years. West Wing, Rome, Sopranos…so many epic shows. In the last three weeks I got through 2.5 seasons of Mad Men. I also made five trips to the liquor store and am working on perfecting an old fashioned. I’m thankful that no one sells Lucky Strikes anymore.
- I’m thankful for the internet. I read a few hundred blog posts a day and never fail to learn something interesting , see a new point of view, or wonder how someone found time to mashup hilarious things from the 80′s. If you read only one thing every day, and want to know about everything in the world, read the Daily Dish.
- Along those lines, I’m thankful to everyone who has read or reads this blog. My biggest post got 208,000 hits, and I have quite a few with 6, but I just love to write, and appreciate anyone who has stopped by to read or throw in their two cents.
- Last but not least, I’m thankful to Brandon for the idea of a 101 in 1001 list, and for having a life that affords me the opportunity to even contemplate doing everything on there.
Even if the Korean Peninsula leads to the end of the world, or it turns out your relatives are imposters, I hope everyone has the chance to spend a great holiday with their loved ones (whether or not they are sane).
Filed under 101 in 1001, personal
