Mrs. Butterworth?

Seriously, man...Mrs. Butterworth?

I'd say this was a stretching things a bit, but it's actually pretty funny.

And here's another commerical that they've been showing during the US Open. I dig the kid...

The man with three names

SeeqPod - Playable Search

And in honor of my Hoosier brother, enjoy Lil' Johnny Cougar...

In honor of...

And now you too can celebrate the glory that is Jim Tressel, coach of the two-time defending national runner-up Buckeyes of An Ohio State University by wearing the officially licensed Jim Tressel Sweater Vest T-Shirt for only $20.

Or there's the similarly produced Jim Tressel Sweater Vest Beer Coozy...

sheesh...

Comics for newbies

I got a question in class last week from one of my students as to which comics I would recommend for a newbie just looking to dip his or her toes into the comics world, and I thought I'd go ahead and point out a few lists that I'd posted a while back on just this topic...

• There were comics for people who don't read comics and don't know the decades of story
• a big discourse on Watchmen
• comics for people who already read DC comics
• comics in a more adult vein
• and a timeline of trade paperbacks of Superman, Batman, Infinite Crisis, and Hellblazer for when you read those

Enjoy, 'em all...

Our Year of Living Steakishly: August, The Pine Club

I'd previously mentioned the Cincinnati Magazine article listing the top twelve steak houses in the Cincinnati/Dayton area. The plan is to hit one on the list each month for the next year. Since we're both school-going folks (me a teacher, her a librarian at a new school this year), we thought we'd count our year as starting when we headed back to school and began the tour of steakishness this past Saturday.

Okay, first the ground rules...

• I order a strip steak. The Girl is more of a filet Girl.
• If there are certain side dishes that are recommended in the article or in online perusal, we'll try to order them and give feedback, but we're not going to dive into something that sounds disgusting just because some magazine reviewer liked it.
• If the steaks are huge, we split a strip.
• Appetizers are fair game and follow the same rules as side dishes.
• Dessert reports are unlikely as a solid steak dinner typically is a filling steak dinner.
• Steaks are all ordered medium rare because anything beyond that is overdone.
• Photos will be taken (probably without flash so as to not bother the other diners) before and after each course to show how much of each item was consumed as well as the general carnage and gluttony.
• All restaurants are rated on a one-to-ten scale in six categories.

And so we begin with The Pine Club in Dayton.

The Girl had heard a review of The Pine Club (heretofore referred to as TPC) on NPR's Splendid Table and was happy to see it opening the article and being titled as CAN'T REMEMBER. Partway through the meal, she asked me what I was expecting, and I gestured around the room simply saying "this" as the restaurant is exactly as advertised.


TPC is in a nice area of town, just on the edge of the University of Dayton housing and on a decently busy street only a couple of miles from the interstate even though their website directions took us through an older section of Kettering. I'd recommend following the Google directions and dropping off as though you were going to see a ballgame at UD Arena.

The reviews told us that no reservations were taken and that waits of two or three hours were not uncommon - something we wanted to avoid. So we showed up at about 4:50 on a Saturday afternoon/evening, after the doors open (at four) but before they actually start serving dinner (supposedly at five, but we saw folks eating when we got there). We were lucky enough to walk in and get the last free table because the place was packed.

We followed the hostess to our table, allowing our eyes to adjust to the dark, wood paneled interior surrounding a sixty-year-old bar. The Girl sat against the wall on a restaurant-long wall bench adorned with a simple diamond design of upholstery tacks at the top of the vinyl seats, so she got to watch the other customers, many of whom, I was surprised to see, weren't the blue hairs that I expected to see in a place that bills itself as a Supper Club.

We sat down to a smallish table, the two tiniest bread plates I've ever seen (probably three inches in diameter), and a basket of bread - excellently shown on the Road Food website. The table was clearly an old one as it rocked dramatically every time I rested my elbows (I know, I'm rude) on it, and the decor on the walls matched it as the frames held images of Olde English fox hunts, the prints of which probably predated my entry to the world.

Our waitress got to us almost immediately and took our drink order - The Girl with hot water as it was significantly chillier inside than out and me with a Diet Coke that came in an opened can with a smallish glass and ice. She got us our drinks quickly - something that will come to be notable with the service throughout the evening - and took our orders...

• Nantucket Cape Scallops, appetizer
• The Girl (I'm chivalrous enough to let her order first)
  Filet mignon, medium rare
  Asparagus - an extra charge
  Baked potato with sour cream
  House vinaigrette on the salad
• ChemGuy
  Strip-loin steak, medium rare
  Lyonnaise potatoes
  Stewed tomatoes (they were recommended in the article)
  House vinaigrette on the salad

We each ate a roll while we waited for the appetizer. The rolls clearly had been sitting out for a while before we got there but had a nice variety. There were good pumpernickel and caraway (very) salted rolls - almost pretzels but in a crescent shape. The basket also had a variety of crackers and a couple of more plain dinner rolls which we didn't try.

The scallops arrived in just a few minutes with two cups of tartar sauce and a couple of lemon slices. They weren't the large sea scallops that I'm more used to, but there were an even dozen mini-marshmallow-sized, very lightly breaded scallops in the dish between us with us each having our own plate and a cute little fork to eat them with. The scallops were very tasty, tender and simple, and the tartar sauce had a nice balance of relish and a bit of some simple herb.

As soon as we had finished the scallops, our plates were replaced with small melamine bowls with a very simple, dressed iceberg salad whose only variety was some shredded carrot and pepper freshly cracked at the table. The salad bowls were surprisingly well stocked, holding a healthy amount of lettuce for their apparent smallness.

After the salads were consumed, we had only a minute or two before our entrees arrived, each a bit fuller than expected as every steak apparently comes with a healthy pile of onion rings (thinner, really, more onion straws). No steak sauce, thankfully, was on the table or offered, a good sign for a well cooked steak.

The first bite of my (apparently-twelve-ounce) strip was excellent, balancing a nicely charred (actually they broil all their steaks) crust with a still-pink interior. The meat was tender but not livery, according to TPC press, dry-aged as all their steaks are. My steak was a very well cooked steak with little if any seasoning or adornment at all.

The Girl's eight-ounce filet (both steaks were obviously much larger than we should eat regularly but still reasonably sized for a $30 cut of meat) looked significantly smaller than my steak, though that probably had something to do with hers being half again as thick as mine. We traded tastes cut from each steak, and I can report that hers was a bit more tender (to be expected because of the difference in cuts) and very flavorful. She reported that he steak was, however, a bit unevenly cooked, having patches that were closer to medium and even bordered on medium well.

Her side dishes (asparagus with a Hollandaise sauce, baked potato) were both solid if unspectacular. The potato - medium sized - did come with a massive amount of sour cream - oddly and heavily dotted with chopped scallions including a bit oddly the white parts, enough to bury any patron's potato and those of at least three friends.

My sides were a very mixed batch. The stewed tomatoes were unappetising to view, looking like a pedestrian tomato soup with five very oily croutons floating, and they turned out to be even worse to taste. They were horrifically sweet and pretty much inedible. The Lyonnaise potatoes were better though still not very good, wrapping underdone hashbrowns around a pile of lightly sauteed, minced onions. The redemption of my side dishes came from the onion rings which were excellently well cooked - though a little light on any spice - and meshed very well with the steak.

Half of The Girl's potato, most of her onions, and most of my Lyonnaise went into a styrofoam box to be taken home and became breakfast the next morning (fried up with eggs and a bit of cheese).

The check came out with the box and tallied to $54. We did a quick bit of estimating math and realized that our waitress had made a bit of a mistake, undercharging us by about thirty dollars. We pointed this out to her - I'm honest enough, and she was nice - and got our corrected $83 bill which we paid with a check, rounding things up to an even $100 - right where I expect most of the meals to take us. TPC doesn't take credit cards, so make sure to bring your cash or personal check (which they happily accept).

So, where do we score The Pine Club?

• Appetizers - 7 - simple, plain, well done but unspectacular
• Steak - 7.5 - mine an 8, hers a 6 or 7
• Side dishes - 5 - mine were lower than that but hers were higher...we both wish we had gotten the mashed spuds with garlic, and the onion rings saved the rating
• Atmosphere - 6 - dark, wood, old, not elegant...I was a bit disappointed that the dress code was more casual than I had expected as there were people there in jeans (a couple) and shorts (maybe a quarter of the patrons)
• Cost - 5 - we need a definition here, 5 is earned if we get out for $100 (including tip), higher scores mean we got out more cheaply
• Service - 7 - good, quick service...not overly hovering...friendly enough...
• Total score - 37.5 (out of 60)

So we clearly have a lot of room for improvement, but that doesn't mean that TPC was bad. It wasn't.

It just wasn't spectacular, and I'm guessing that its reputation as one of the finest steak places in Dayton/Cincy is more based on longevity than on spectacularness.

Sadly, I forgot to take my camera so there aren't any pictures of our first meal of Our Year of Living Steakishly.

I'll make sure to correct that for the next review. Of course, we may just have to go back to The Pine Club so I can take some photos for you.

Thanks, by the way, to Road Food for the photo and The Pine Club's website for the logo.

I'm not so sure

I'm all down the Obama Train, but I'm thinking that this new ad with it's ever so cutting edge James Taylorishness just seems below the visionary, inspiring Obama that we saw early.

Sell yourself, man. Don't break down the other guy.

Like manna from heaven

Sometimes I struggle to find topics on which to post.

And other times, they just fall into my lap.

Thank heaven for Chad Johnson's name change.

Now he can apparently, legally, officially, and within the rules put Ocho Cinco on the back of his jerseys.

And now I can root for him to be traded to any team that already has a #85 on their sidelines. And then traded again and again down the lin by every general manager in the NFL forcing him to change his name every couple of weeks.

Moron

A brief Querrey for you

And this is how I spend my Labor Day weekend - at least Sunday and Monday - getting a few things accomplished on the computer while watching tennis.

And I've come to realize that my hope for the US Open is a Feder victory over Nadal in the final.

And my fear is simply a Federer-Nadal final, because I'm not thinking that would lead to the thing I'm hoping for.

But at the moment it looks like we may not even get a Nadal-anybody quarterfinal with the way Sam Querrey is playing at the moment.

Various thoughts

Today's post is a hodge podge post of things thought while hanging out on Sunday afternoon watching the US Open with half my attention and now the evening news after their coverage ended.



I hate this commercial. It's painfully obvious that it's a Eurpoean commercial with the voices badly dubbed over in American accents. And the YouTube posting says that the box is photoshopped in as well, something that makes sense but that I hadn't thought about.

---

It was just over three years ago that I started this blog. A month after I began writing here, I wrote that New Orleans was in shambles and then that you should give. Much of what I know about the disaster there comes from my viewing of When the Levees Broke, and I've only been to the Big Easy once - a year after Katrina came through.

And now it looks like Gustav just might finish the job that Katrina started. I've been tracking the storm's approach on Stormpulse, and it looks like the eye of the storm will at least come ashore a bit to the west of the city, so the city may not be wiped entirely off the map, but they're likely not in for an easy time.

---

It's really interesting to see all the politicians anticipate the destruction of Gustav. From Nagin's pre-emptive threats toward any potential looters going straight to Angola to the RNC's plans to shorten the convention.

The fears of the politicians, hoping to avoid any possible appearance of not carrying is fascinating, and I can't decide whether it's a good thing or a bad thing. I understand that it's important that we learn from the clear mistakes of the past, I wonder how much of the pre-emptive work is being done merely so that they appear to care and to have their stuff together.

---

After we got back from the Canyon, I pointed out a virtual tour of the Canyon that showed a marvelous view of every step of the hike. Well, it looks like the photographer/tour guide has updated the site with photos of his hike from this spring.

They look great, and they're about as close as you're going to get to the Canyon's hikes without getting any dirt on your boots. Thanks to Gene Hanson for posting all the pics.

Continuing "alas, poor blogger"...

Week two of clips from and inspired-by Hamlet...

...from Mel's version...


...from Hamlet 2...


...from the Reduced Shakespeare Company's version...(part 1 here)...


...from Lucy Pinder...


...from Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Sex but Were Afraid to Ask...


...from Two Girls and a Guy...a SFW clips from a severly NSFW film...


...from Ethan Hawke's Hamlet...


...from MTv...a one-minute version...


...from Laurence Olivier...


...various scenes - including Simpsons clips that I can't find anywhere else...


...from Gilligan's Island...


Sadly, no embedding of the MST3K Hamlet...and you'll have to read the Stick Figure Hamlet...and most sadly, I can't find any audio of "Hamlet" by Richard Thompson anywhere on the web...no clips from Strange Brew illustrated how clearly it is based on Hamlet...

A bit of a similarity

To quote YesButNoButYes,

After seeing some photo's of Sarah Pilan, me thinks Lorne Michaels better get on the phone and try to coax Tina Fey back to SNL.

Outstanding recognition, boys.

And quick...

The keys to success

And because that's not nearly enough Black Keys, here's today's Seeqpod list of the Black Keys.


SeeqPod - Playable Search

Four food fthoughts

A few vaguely food-related things...

The Girl has been trying to push healthfulness for a while. Apparently she doesn't want me eating batter fried bacon-wrapped sausage logs with the icing anymore. On this wacky healthfulization of The Homestead, she's working on getting more fiber and veggies into m'body. Every day, lunch is celery, carrots, and astoplight pepers - plus any leftovers like today's shepherd's pie. And for the fiber, she's found some amazing snack bars called Fiber One bars. The chocolate and the peanut butter are a'ight, but the apple streusel are outstanding. They're like healthy candy. Because of the copious fiber, however, I would warn you

• not to eat them just before or after consuming massive amounts of water because you'll get all puffy-bellied and
• not to eat like a half dozen of them 'cause you'll poop...a bunch.

---

The Girl has also been working on healthier salad dressing and finally taught me last night how to make her final creation. It's amazingly easy and way tastier than just about anything I've found in a bottle. In a bowl - preferably the one you're gonna toss the salad in because there's less to wash that way - put a blob of Grey Poupon mustard (about a teaspoon and a half), add a crushed clove of garlic, a teaspoon of vinegar (balsamic, cider, white wine, whatever your taste), a teaspoon of olive oil, salt, pepper. Mix 'em up and throw in the salad. All good. All easy.

---

Can anybody explain to me why the state pastries of Texas are the sopaipilla (understandable) and the strudel (totally unfathomable to me)?

WHEREAS, The State of Texas has customarily recognized a variety of official state symbols as tangible representations of the state's historical and cultural heritage; and

WHEREAS, Among such icons are the rodeo, the state sport; the guitar, the state musical instrument; and chili, the state dish; and

WHEREAS, In keeping with this custom, the designation of the sopaipilla and strudel as the official State Pastries of Texas shall provide suitable recognition for these historic symbols of the state's cultural heritage, for the sopaipilla and strudel are some of the earliest pastries known to have been made in Texas;

---

And closing things out, The Girl and I threw together a new compost bin next to the finally-moved shed. Simple project from 2x4's and 2x8's with minial cutting a bunch of hammering. Easy as pie, supposed to cost $55 (ours went for $109.46 for a double bin), supposed to take a couple of hours (ours took five for the double). Seems well worth the investment and time.

We got the plans out of The Green Guide from National Geographic and would recommend them heartily. Though, sadly, you can't get the plans for free online 'cause they're behind a subscription wall.

Dangit...

Check the results...

A long-playing birthday

Happy thirty-three-and-a-third birthday to me, folks...

Take yourself out for a spin in honor, would ya?

My hundred foods

Thanks to Wine Me, Dine Me, Cincinnati, here are my list of a hundred foods...annotated as they suggest...

1. Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2. Bold all the items you’ve eaten
3. Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.
4. Optional extra: post a comment on Very Good Taste, linking to your results.

1. Venison - as sausage, yes
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros - and the Cooks Illustrated recipe looks awesome
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding - tasted like ashes, mostly...had it in Cincinnati and in Scotland, both
7. Cheese fondue - at the Melting Pot and at home
8. Carp - The Girl makes fish every Sunday, and this was one time
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush - not so much with the eggplant, man
11. Calamari - didn't care for it...had it both as whole li'l squids and/or as deep fried rings...icky both ways
12. Pho - that means fake in French, right?
13. Peanut butter and jelly sandwich - the one I've had most recently
14. Aloo gobi - is that a real word?
15. Hot dog from a street cart - every summer, though we missed the chance in NYC
16. Epoisses - seriously, who makes up these names?
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes - thanks to Olive Winery
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes - just had some today with mozarella
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans - I miss Habenero.
25. Brawn or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper - only if I'd coated m'mouth in wax first.
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda - Wasn't that one of the lyrics in "My Sweet Lord"?
31. Wasabi peas - can't do horseradish, but I tried 'em.
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi - Lassie?...that's cruel...
34. Sauerkraut - Every New Years Day growing up, Grandma would make kraut and pork. I'd eat the pork.
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar - Cognac, yes. Cigar, never.
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat - Me and curries, we don't hang.
42. Whole insects - not intentionally, but I ate a bug at a batting cage once...crunched down as I swung. Blech
43. Phaal - Only if I can get up afterwards.
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu - Poison...poison...poison...tasty fish.
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut - fresh off of the line in Atlanta. Wonderful...
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear - In jelly, yes. It had chunks of the cactus leaves, though, so I'm counting it.
52. Umeboshi - especially since there are so many of these I've never even heard of.
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle - Fried up in a little bit of butter and with a bit of salt. Very tasty.
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV - I've never acquired a taste for beer. Cider, yes, and the strong stuff even. Would that count?
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips - Mocholate...
61. S’mores - Better with twix or snickers instead of just chocolate.
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin - dude, I looked that up, it's clay...how do you eat clay?
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs - Surprisingly tasty.
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake - Oh, just about any fried dough with some sweetness (sugar, cinnnamon, powedered sugar) is fair game to me.
68. Haggis - I liked it an awful lot.
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings or andouillette - sounds kind of tasty
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe - Me and licorice, we don't hang either.
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill - maybe in fifth grade, but that could've just been a rumor about that squirrel and the hamburgers in the cafeteria that day.
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare - There's a story about Paris there. Ask sometime.
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab - It was called a spider sandwich. Very, very tasty. One of the first shellfish that I was turned on to.
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta - I prefer a firm one, fried up to a mushy one.
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake

He's just so cute and primeval

Now, if you were looking for a plushy Cthulhu, you'd have lots and lots of options - even a hand puppet to truly terrorize your bonnie wee bairns.

But if you wanted the cutest Old One around...the sweetest little plastic engine of destruction, you'd clearly want to check out My Little Cthulhu complete with its very own Little Victims.

There are also more standard resin statues, but who wants that?

Personally, I'm all about My Little Cthulhu.

He's just so darn cute...

How cool is this?

It just doesn't get any cooler than a whole bunch of periodic table videos, one for each element plus a few special ones like this one about gold, silver, and bronze in honor of the Olympics.

'Cause we're just studying the periodic table at the moment in my honors chemistry class - and because I'm trying to reward my students for checking out my website and this blog - I'm offering up five extra credit points on our first homework notebook for the first five of my current students to email me (at my school email) and I'll double it if those same folks post a comment here, too.

If you're one of those current students, include a mention in your email of what your blogger id is so I can make sure to give you the right credit.

And for the rest of you, just enjoy the coolness of the periodic table.

Alas, poor blogger

We're lucky to have been able to read "Hamlet"...and to have seen these "Hamlet" and "Hamlet"-influenced scenes...

In case you aren't familiar with the plotline, check out this nice summary first...


...from LA Story...


...from Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead...


...from The Lion King...


...from Hugh Laurie and Rowan Atkinson...


...from Animaniacs...


...with Arnold Schwarzenegger...from Last Action Hero...(with the unimproved-upon version)...


...from Sesame Street...poor quality, however...


...from Branagh's version...


...from Monsterpiece Theater...


...from Renaissance Man...


...eleven or so more to come next week, folks...

A sweet music list

Today's Seeqpod list is totally sweet!


SeeqPod - Playable Search

Add in honey...sweet...pie...ice cream...dessert

Randy Newman is all his genius glory

From NPR's All Songs Considered, quoting Randy Newman...

We should all be smart enough to know that money doesn't make us happy. In America, the smart people opt for a life that isn't based on getting rich; they teach chemistry or they work for public radio.

I love this man.

Check out a performance of the entirety of his new album Harps and Angels on NPR's All Songs Considered as well as the accompanying eight-minutes interview on their sister show All Things Considered.

I've mentioned it before, but this man is a natural treasure with a tongue sharper than any blade and a pen mightier than any sword.