I used to be a big Red Dwarf fan. I still enjoy watching it, but I’m not insane like I used to be. (I changed, moved obsessions elsewhere.) I was really very surprised in a recent Economist by seeing a picture of the character Arnold J. Rimmer used to illustrate a story about holograms. Seemed a weird choice, but the Economist does sometimes use pictures that don’t always make a whole lot of sense.

I’m out of salt. Isn’t that weird? Last night, I was making chicken soup, and I kept having to improvise with Old Bay, Tabasco, and chili powder. I was thinking, “Oh, thank heavens I brined this chicken, or else it’d be über bland.”

Oh, man. When our D&D session last night hit about 11:30pm, the Cranky Pants were on. My apologies to everyone in our group. I was a big, big jerk. So tired. I was just so… not into the game.

Cooper did some hard-core dying last night. He got negative levels from wraiths and the like until he was undead. So Mynnyd, my character, shot him full of arrows until he died again. And then we found a cleric and got him raisied. We owe a LOT of money to the temple of Duran. This was in the battle where I got no negative levels, made all my fortitude and will saves, and only lost, like, eight hit points. I did get my comeuppance later, though. We ran into some ichor-dripping mummy zombie things. Mynnyd got hit a few times, failed his saves, and ended up losing six points of constitution. Ee. Seventy-one hit points gone in a VERY short amount of time. I did, however, forget about my dwarf’s +2 to saves against poison, which meant I would have made the first save that knocked me down by five constitution points. I think our DM (Jer) is deciding whether I can retroactively not lose those points. The last DM, Cam, wouldn’t have let me, I don’t think.

Stupid undead. Anyway.

I brought some of my carbonnade for dinner last night. It spilled a little in the car. ANNOYING.

I set my VCR last night but forgot to turn my Tivo to standby, so I didn’t tape House. ANNOYING.

I’m making soup tonight.

So, check it out. I made flour tortillas and they didn’t suck! They were a little salty- I made a half recipe, but used the full recipe’s amount of salt. And maybe I didn’t roll them quite thin enough- they were a little more like naan than my not-naan was. But I’d totally make them again.

So, I went out to dinner last night down in Mountain View, and I wasn’t blown away. We went to Frankie, Johnny, and Luigi, Too! and I have to say, meh. I got veal parmesan, and it was only random. It came with a side of spaghetti in a watery and uninspiring sauce (that had bell peppers in it- ugh to me) and boiled spinach (not my favorite, but could have been cooked in a tastier way). Some people got garlic bread with their meals, and I tried it- weird metallic/chemically aftertaste. Everyone seemed to enjoy their food, so maybe I just picked wrong, but I? I would not go there again.

Because it cannot be said enough: these cookies rock. Man, I just love them. Slightly overcooked and with an extra dash of salt… wow. They’re so good! I know I’m a freak for liking my chocolate chip cookies thin and crispy, but if that means I can keep these to myself, so much the better.

Flour Tortillas

San Jose Mercury News – Stacy Diaz

4 cups flour

1 1/2 tsp salt

1 Tbsp baking powder

3 Tbsp vegetable oil

1 1/2 cups warm water

Combine flour, salt, and baking powder in a large bowl. Pour in the vegetable oil and mix ingredients by hand. Add the water a little at a time until the mixture turns into a soft dough. Add more water if necessary. The dough should not be sticky – if it is, balance things out with a little flour.

Turn out dough onto a flour-dusted surface and knead for 2-4 minutes. Form dough into a ball, cover it with a towel, and place the bowl upside-down over it. Let dough rest for 15-20 minutes (it will not rise). Meanwhile, heat an ungreased griddle over medium-high heat.

Pull off golf-ball-sized pieces of dough and pat each one into a 5-inch circle. Dust counter with flour and roll out the dough with a rolling pin. Work from center, using a back-and-forth motion, turning dough a quarter of a turn after each roll and flipping dough at least once. Continue to roll out the dough until quite thin and about 7 to 8 inches in diameter.

Place tortilla on the hot griddle (and begin rolling out the next one). After about 20-25 seconds, bubbles will rise on the tortilla’s surface. (The first one is kind of a test to see if your griddle is hot enough or too hot- kind of like crepes.) Flip and cook the other side for another 20-25 seconds. It should have dark brown speckles on it. Remove from pan and continue with remaining tortillas.

Gr, Tim Goodman’s latest article doesn’t sound too promising for House. But he says Hugh Laurie is very good, and really, that’s the only reason I was planning on watching it.

Holy crap, Arrested Development is funny. I mean, I really enjoyed it last year, and I bought the DVDs (although I haven’t had time to watch them yet, unfortunatley), but the two episodes so far this season have had me laughing out loud with tears in the corners of my eyes.

Kenny wanted me to explain why Veronica Mars is worth my time. I am not good at explaining things. The main character is likeable and the Twin Peaks-ish mystery is intriguing. The voiceovers are much less annoying than on Desperate Housewives (which I also watch and enjoy, but don’t think is quite as good a show). I also find the mystery more intriguing. Plus, Kenny, Veronica dressed up as a Japanese schoolgirl in the episode “The Wrath of Con.” She wore the cute tie and everything. Which should be a reason for you to watch, if only for that particular episode. I’d recommend the recaps over at Television Without Pity, if you want to learn more.

I have a recipe half-copied, saved in draft. It will get finished! I started it on Saturday, so it will be showing up below this post, when I get done with it.

So yeah, that’s now up. 🙂

We got a dishwasher at work. Yay for me not washing stuff by hand anymore. However… I cannot get the damned thing to work. Seriously. I don’t know what my brain damage is that I can’t figure out this thing. It fills up with water, and then it stops. I’ve tried, like, eight times. I’ve read the manual, visited the website. Asko dishwashers? I wouldn’t waste my money.

Beef Carbonnade

Cook’s Illustrated

3 1/2 lbs top blade steaks (or boneless chuck roast), 1-inch thick, trimmed of gristle and fat and cut into 1-inch pieces

Salt and pepper

3 Tbsp vegetable oil

2 lbs yellow onions (about 3 medium), halved and sliced about 1/4-inch thick

1 Tbsp tomato paste

2 medium garlic cloves, minced

3 Tbsp AP flour

3/4 cup low-sodium chicken broth

3/4 cup low-sodium beef broth

1 12-oz bottle or can of beer

4 sprigs fresh thyme, tied together with kitchen twine

2 bay leaves

1 Tbsp cider vinegar

Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 300. Dry beef thoroughly with paper towels and season generously with salt and pepper. Heat 2 teaspoons of the oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high until almost smoking. Add about a third of the beef to the pot, and cook without moving pieces for 2-3 minutes. Flip pieces over with tongs and coook for another 2-3 minutes. Transfer the browned beef to a bowl, and repeat with the other two-thirds of the beef, adding more oil if necessary.

Add 1 tablespoon of oil to the pot and lower the heat to medium-low. Add onions, tomato paste, and some salt. Scrape the bottom of the pot with a wooden spoon or spatula to loosen the fond. Cook, stirring occasionally, until onions have released some moisture, and raise the heat to medium. Continue to cook until onions are lightly browned, 12 to 14 minutes. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add flour and stir until onions are evenly coated and flour is lightly browned, about 2 minutes. Stir in broths, scraping the bottom of the pot, then add beer, thyme, bay, vinegar, and the beef (with any accumulated juices). Add salt and pepper to taste. Increase heat to medium-high and bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally. Cover partially, then place pot in oven. Cook until fork inserted into beef meets little resistance, about 2 hours.

Discard bay and thyme. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper. Serve over buttered noodles or mashed potatoes.

I made Beef Carbonnade last night. I tried a little of it, but I really wasn’t into eating when it finished cooking. So I guess it’s okay. Jon says it needs salt, but then, Jon says everything needs salt. And he’s usually right. He thought it was a little sweet, which I attribute to the chosen beer- I used Fat Tire, because it’s what I had. Well, it was either that or pumpkin ale, and that probably would have been vile. The beer Cook’s Illustrated (if you didn’t have an actual Belgian ale) recommended was Newcastle, which I like, and I would totally buy, but like I said, I already had Fat Tire. So I’ll try it again tonight or tomorrow, and let y’all know.

I’m so hungry. I’ve got the last container of my pasta e fagioli in the fridge here at work. Looking forward to lunch.

ARGH. I forgot to set my VCR and turn my Tivo off last night so that I could tape Veronica Mars. God, that’s annoying. (Don’t laugh at me for liking a show on UPN. I already know.) Also, networks need to learn that there are other times in the week to schedule programs other than Tuesday nights from nine to ten. Starting next week, I have major problems. Scrubs on NBC, Veronica Mars on UPN (shut up) (it’s not airing next week, though, which is a mixed blessing), Amazing Race on CBS, and House on Fox. I’m interested in House because it stars Hugh Laurie, one of my preferred British actors. You may have seen him in Blackadder or Jeeves and Wooster. He’s also done guest bits on Friends and MI-5. My favorite show of his has been A Bit of Fry and Laurie. It’s a great sketch comedy show that ran from 1986 to 1995 (according to IMDb). He and Stephen Fry wrote and acted in it. I caught a few episodes on a local PBS station back in 1997, bought the one VHS tape produced, and have been interested in a DVD purchase since. I doubt it’ll ever happen.

Where was I? Oh, yeah. I want to see House because of Mr. Laurie, but I have scheduling conflicts. Playing D&D on Tuesday nights isn’t helping the matter much, either.

The Sandra Lee thread on Television Without Pity has now reached 600 pages, the last hundred of which were filled in only four weeks. That’s some big hate, right there. Very impressive.

One of the cookbooks I bought a few weeks back was The Complete Italian Vegetarian Cookbook by Jack Bishop. “Sarah, you’re SO not a vegetarian.” Very true. However, Jack Bishop, or as he is better known, “Taste-Test Guy from America’s Test Kitchen,” has written a few books on vegetables that are pretty good. And, while I am not a vegetarian, I am interested in treating vegetables with respect, as well as any vegetarians I might have over to dinner. It’s so much fun to read cookbooks. I can’t remember who said it (or if I’ve mentioned this on the blog before), but it’s true: cookbooks are like fairy tales for adults. And I’m a gal who loves both. Ryan picked up a copy of the Lang Blue Fairy Book this past weekend, and I can’t wait to read it. I’ve got hardcover copies of the Red and Green, but I’ve never read the Blue, which was the first of them (and there are quite a few). Dover started putting them out for cheap a while back, but I’ve never gotten around to buying them. Need my adult fairy tales. Ooh! A frittata. Mm.

So, if you can’t see the comments, try looking at them in another browser. For me, they’re not showing up in Firefox, but they are in IE. Bizarre.

I got to sleep sometime between 10 and 11pm last night. Which means I have to take the Tea of Insanity this afternoon/evening if I want to make it through the D&D session. Tea of Insanity is Guayaki Yerba Mate, which contains, like, a pound of caffine per cup. Since I plan on being crazy later, I need to be calm now. So, until then, I am drinking the Tea of Soothing Calmliness. I like the flavor of licorice- I know many people don’t. Jon, Ryan, and I all really like this herbal tea. My mom, on the other hand, can’t stand the way it smells.

I’ve started defrosting some short ribs that I bought AGES ago. I figure I’ll use them in the other thing I want to make, Beef Carbonnade, which I forgot to mention yesterday. There was a recipe in the new Cook’s Illustrated. It looks easy. I am wondering if I can brown the onions and beef in a pot and then transfer everything to a slow-cooker for braising. I think that’s a valid option.

I’m $195 poorer today, but at least my car’s registered.