Rockr & Junkii

What's rattling around in your brain today?

It's Canada day, and I'm not gonna be near a computer much today, so I better get this out of the way. I seem to have woken up with a Fatboy Slim song this morning - It's a Wonderful Night. And I'm just fine with that. It's a song I actually like (which, trust me, isn't always the case with earworms).

We love Cook's Illustrated. The magazine is simple in its design - relying on drawings and B&W photos - but what an encyclopedia!

We first learned about CI through their PBS show - America's Test Kitchen. The show is a simple how-to cooking show, but rather just just tell you what to do - they actually explain why you need to take a specific approach. They explain the science behind cooking, or at least what can go wrong if you try something a different way. It's more than just a new source of recipes - it's educational.

Well, CI is like the show, only it's in book form and waaaay more thorough. The editors really do a good job of telling you exactly what can go wrong with a given recipe. And the lessons work. So far, everything we've tried from them has been fool proof - Chinese pork, Rainy-Day BBQ pork chops on the stove top, Chicken Tikka Masala. They even have tricks for perfecting steak!

(For a thick steak, heat it in a slow oven until internal temp reaches 90 Fº then throw it on the grill for a few minutes to char it and finish cooking the inside. The 15-20 minutes of slow cooking helps break down proteins making for more tender meat, and you don't overcook the outside while trying to cook the inside).

They run you through every conceivable part of each recipe - from what cut of meat to choose (and why) to which can of tomatoes tastes best. What more could we want?

So we recently subscribed to the magazine. It hasn' arrived yet, but we also ordered the annual hardcover collected editions for both 2007 and 2008 (they were on 2 for 1, yay!) and they arrived last week, chock full of info!

So much to learn. So much great food to try.

I was floored when I saw this short video. This seems so simple, but for a kid this young - what is he, 4?! - to have developed the motor skills needed for this... well, he must be some sort of wunderkind.

The annual Sparks Street Chicken and Ribs cook-off started last night, with contestants from all over the southern US. Last night, we chose to go with this year's defending champions from Alabama, and the result was spectacular. Their pulled pork was to-die-for and the ribs were fall-off-the-bone yummy. And they even had good coleslaw, which doesn't happen all that often.

We're hoping to go back again tonight and then again on Saturday - so maybe we'll try out some of the entries from Florida and New Mexico and see who's best. Haven't found any teams from Texas yet. Maybe I'll go out at lunch and have a look.

Working on Sparks street has its privileges. I can savour the smell of BBQ as I read on my lunch hour. mmmmm. dead pig.

What song is stuck in your head?

I'm really unclear as to why this keeps happening to me. This is the second time in recent memory that my earworm has been a classic country and western tune. It's very strange. I swear I don't listen to country music - especially old country - with any regularity. And yet some mornings I just get these little Nashville nuggets stuck in my brain.

Today I woke with a snippet of Tammy Wynette's D-I-V-O-R-C-E rattling around. I don't even like that song. At least my brain could have given me Stand by your Man, or something halfway decent.

I'm sure I'm in the minority, but I don't like suits. Never have. I find dress clothes can make a man look sharp, but a full-on suit is just not an attractive look to me. So I don't own one. It's never been a problem before. I work for a charity and most people in the non-profit sector don't dress up too much. You might get a shirt and tie on occasion, but mostly it's pretty casual around the office. And I have never been invited to a lot of formal events or had to attend many funerals (knock wood)

Well, now I've reached a point in my life where I'm starting to need one. Junkii and I are invited to take part in two weddings this fall - one in August as groomsmen and one in December for Junkii's sister - and we need formal attire for both. Since he doesn't own a suit either, we were in a bit of a bind. We considered renting suits for the first wedding, but when we found out we needed formal wear for the second as well and it just seemed more logical to buy a basic black suit.

Turns out our timing was pretty good. Moore's - the basic suit store in Canada - launched a buy one get one free deal just as we decided to purchase. So off we trotted to Moore's to see about taking advantage of this offer. Neither of us was terribly impressed with our shopping experience:

• The Salesperson we had helping us was pretty disinterested in showing us more than one or two jackets. (Junkii will tell you it probably didn't help that - because I don't like suits - I just wanted to get the purchase over with.)
• The salesperson was very distracted as he was preparing the instructions for the tailor and we frequently needed to correct his work.
  
• We were supposed to have the same suit, but mine turned out to be $100 more expensive than his - so the overall cost was about $100 more than it needed to be (again, my fault - I'm not very confrontational and I'm more likely to simply pay the extra than bother looking for another suit or challeging the price).

Okay, so in writing this, I realize that maybe Moore's wasn't as much to blame for our bad experience as I was. Oh well, too late to do anything now.The suits have been tailored and they should be ready for pickup this week.

Bring on the fancy dress parties!

We made a pilgrimage to Waterloo, NY this weekend for a clothes-shopping excursion at the outlet mall. Not as much for ourselves as for our friend, who wanted to renew his entire wardrobe. What great timing too. Most of the outlet stores were offering sales of 30, 40, or even 50 percent off merchandise, in an attempt to help spur sagging sales figures. The fact that it was father's day weekend probably didn't hurt either.

We arrived at 1pm on Saturday, ate our lunch, and proceeded to wander from store to store until about 8:30, just before the mall closed. Seven hours! That's a lot of shopping! Junkii and I did okay - each buying a couple of pairs of shoes and a few small items - but most of our time was spent helping our co-traveler outfit himself in new couture.

Once we finished, we faced a new challenge: where to eat. None of us wanted another dose of food court (I had already had my Arby's fix at lunch). So despite our rumbly tummies, we decided to suck it up and wait for dinner until we drove back to Syracuse, where we spent the night.

A New Default Chain?
Now, we didn't want to spend a lot of time or money at a nice restaurant - nor were we dressed for fancy fare - so we elected to go to one of the many chain family restaurants on offer in the US. In the past, Junkii and I have had disastrous luck with such places. Friendly's, Chili's - they've all promised yummy food, but they've all delivered over-salted, over-sized, over-cheesed, otherwise unmemorable meals. We've nicknamed Appleby's Crappleby's because it's so dismal. Nope - from our experience, chain eateries tend to be sub-par at best. Still, they're quick and cheap, so we decided to try our luck at one we hadn't tried before (for food, anyway) - TGI Friday's.

Maybe it was because we were so hungry, but honestly the food was good. A little over-salted maybe, but we ordered off the "reasonable portion" menu and received a good-sized plate of tasty food. My crusted pork chop was tender and juicy, with a yummy sauce and some particularly good mashed potatoes. Junkii had a perfectly cooked (medium rare) 8oz steak that was like butter. We left satisfied, overjoyed that we now have a chain restaurant option that we can turn to in times of need. Huzzah.

Of course, there is another chain that we rely on. We visit one every time we go to the States, and this visit was no exception. Breakfast at IHOP! It was the highlight of day two, and really, there was nothing else to report on.

well, maybe one other thing...

No Go Hotels
Junkii and I now have a total of 4 hotels that we won't use in Syracuse anymore. we long ago concluded that the Red Roof Inn was dirty and the bed was too hard for another stay. And we found Motel 6 too smokey to bother going back. But we added two more to the list this weekend. Mel likes the Days Inn, but I find it feels old and dirty. I've always liked Super8, but on this trip Junkii found it gave him the creeps on cleanliness. So we agreed not to use either anymore.

Our co-traveler's experience this time also helped change my mind about Super8. His room had an odor so bad that he couldn't stay there. Unfortunately they had no extra space to move him to. He wound up sleeping in our room on the floor (well, on a couple of comforters and some sheets. It was a hard bed, but at least it didn't stink. They comped him his room in the end, but there's no call for such poor quality cleaning.

So far, the only hotel we agree on is the Quality inn. It's comfortable, clean, and with a friendly desk staff. That will probably be our default hotel. It's pricier, but it's worth the extra $20 a night for the peace of mind.

Last night we went to Rogers video to rent He's just Not That Into You. I'm not even gonna bother reviewing it except to say that it was pretty much forgettable. Save your money.

But something good did come out of our video-store visit. While we were browsing the BluRays, I saw that the original  6 Star Trek Films have been re-released. I simply remarked that the design on the boxes was quite well done and, without prodding, Junkii said he felt he wanted to watch them. He enjoyed the new film and thought it would be a good thing to learn more about Star Trek.

I told him I'd be happy to encourage his new found Trekkie-within, and now I find myself planning a short marathon of original series episodes to help him get a sense of the characters/universe. I was originally going to limit it to 5 episodes, but after a little internet research, I've come up with a list of 16 that I think will act as a good primer.

I'm all excited!

OMG, it's almost midnight and I forgot it was Wednesday. That's how fricken' busy I am at work. No time for play.

I blame this week's earworm on another blogger that I occasionally read. He posted a video for this song and said "sounds like a summer dance hit." So of course I had to listen. And it's nothing special, but it has infected my brain. So I can see his point.

Only thing is, the group's name is Booty Luv. How do they ever expect to make it big with a name like Booty Luv?!

Honestly.

Why are hair dressers allowed to go on extended holidays? Shouldn't we be doing something to have them declared an essential service?! I mean, how am I to explain my hairstyle to the replacement stylist, who doesn't know me?

I hereby decree that stylists' vacation time be limited to periods of one week, max.