Posts

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Re-introduced to spyware

This is a funny story…

I have a 30GB USB 2.0 external drive. I also have a 120GB USB 2.0 external drive. My 30GB drive is FAT32 formatted. My 120GB drive was NTFS formatted. I reformatted the 120 to be FAT32 (so my iBook could write to it, hence this story). I was left with five separate partitions. I don’t need five partitions.

So I cheated… I downloaded a Partition Magic 8 torrent file on Elise’s laptop. Think Firefox is immune to spyware? Think again. As I type this (on my iBook) I’m watching pop up after pop up after pop up on the Windows machine. There are four new application icons on her desktop. This is horrible.

Even an ‘experienced’ computer user will be bamboozled when trying to use ‘Add/Remove Programs’ from the control panel.

I thought this question was funny: Are you sure you don’t want to remove this software? Yes. No. If you’re like most Windows users, you’ll click ‘yes’ out of habit. Sneaky bastards.

So the moral of the story is: don’t steal software by means of torrent files. The safer route would be to pick up a prostitute wearing a Redhat miniskirt and carrying a laptop bag.

However, I don’t want to spend $70 for Partition Magic when it would take me ten minutes to merge multiple partitions and I’m not a regular disk partitioner…

Hmmm… all this BS just to back-up my iBook’s hard drive.

“But I still love technology.”

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Caesar salad

This one was e-mailed to me from mom (I added a few ingredients and changed the preparation) By the way, I love Central Market’s Caesar dressing:

This is a good recipe. Try it!! It may be just as good as Central Market’s.

    1/4 cup kalamata olives
    5 cloves garlic
    4 anchovy fillets
    1 teaspoon salt
    1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
    1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
    1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
    1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
    1 large egg yolk
    1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
    2 heads romaine lettuce
    Croutons
    1 cup freshly grated Parmesan or Romano cheese or
    2 1/2 ounces shaved with a vegetable peeler plus more for garnish

    1. Place garlic, anchovy fillets, olives and salt in a blender; add pepper, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, Dijon mustard, and egg yolk. Slowly drizzle in olive oil while mixing.

    2. Cut or tear the romaine leaves into bite size pieces. Add the croutons, romaine, and cheese to the bowl and toss well. Garnish with extra grated cheese if desired. Serve immediately.

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House & bike shopping

I left work early on Friday and met with the guys at OnRamp for one of the final times to go over the migration of Wellness Works’ client websites. I came home and trimmed the bushes on the side of the house. Riley and I sat on the driveway and watched the pink and baby blue sunset in the west. While waiting for Elise to get home from work, I made a great eggplant lasagna. I played a little Halo 2 until Elise came home. We ate, watched TV and went to bed.

On Saturday we woke up to the sound of pouring rain. That was at 6 a.m. I thought “screw that” and fell back to sleep until around 9. Elise went to her Weight Watchers meeting and I drove over to donate some clothes to Goodwill and then to Bicycle Sport Shop where I was quickly and easily sold on a 2005 Specialized Hardrock Sport mountain bike. I played the “I have to consult my wife” card. I wanted to pick up the bike right then, take it home and ride it all day but curbed the impulse buy.

I met Elise back at the house and John, Christine and Jack showed up shortly after with lunch. John and Christine stopped at Central Market and picked up salads, sandwiches and beer and we all sat down for a great lunch. John and I went to the Barton Creek Apple store so John could try to swap out his Airport Express and have the old iBook serviced. The wait to see a ‘Genious’ was 3 hours. We left with Airport Express and iBook in hand. We went to Central Market and picked up ingredients for a deep sauteed coconut shrimp with a rich cream sauce that consisted of lime, cilantro, garlic, ginger, Amstel Light and butter.

While we were out, the girls were pricing houses in Circle C. We’ve been working on getting John and Christine to move to our neighborhood.

Elise and Christine tried to put Jack down for bed in our guest bedroom. Jack raised holy hell – so they had to hit the road so Jack could sleep in his bed at his house.

Later in the night Doug and Marcia came over for a visit. The Paul’s were in Austin from North Carolina because Doug has been interviewing all week with a local law firm. Hopefully they’ll be moving back down in January.

We got up early this morning and went for breakfast at The Big Kolache. The kolaches were okay. We agreed that Lone Star Kolaches is better. After breakfast we drove downtown to browse the 2005 Pecan Street Festival. We were in search of art for the house and after a few passes, we agreed on a watercolor print of the Tavern by Mary Doerr. The Tavern is where Elise and I had our first date.


The Tavern

After a couple hours of browsing we drove over to Tommy’s so we could check out the clubhouse where Elise will be catering Tommy’s graduation party the weekend after next.

We left Tommy’s and went to Academy to shop bikes for Elise. Then to Bicycle Sport Shop on 183. Then down south to find that Cothron’s is now closed. We finally headed home and Elise went to shop more houses for John and Christine. While she was house shopping, I made a great coffee rubbed smoked pork loin.

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Hill Country Blend Rubbed Smoked Pork Loin

I rubbed a porkloin with a HEB Hill Country blend coffee, San Antonio chile powder and chipotles and slow smoked it on the grill with apple wood chips.

Side: sauteed onions, green bell peppers and eggplant with a rosemary infusion. Chile & roasted garlic mashed potatoes.


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Angry Eggplant Lasagna

Lasagna is one of the quickest easiest dishes that always warrants compliments.

Last night I didn’t want to eat leftovers. I saw an eggplant on the counter and decided to make lasagna

1 small eggplant
Pasta sauce
Packaged lasagna
Mozzarella cheese, shredded
Provolone cheese, thinly sliced
Ricotta cheese
Parmesan cheese
1 large egg
Fresh basil, chopped
Garlic powder
Crushed red pepper
Salt & cracked pepper to taste

Season both sides of eggplant slices with salt and pepper (removes bitterness)

Combine cheeses, egg, basil, garlic powder, salt, pepper and crushed red pepper in a large bowl. Thoroughly mix.

Pour a small layer of pasta sauce and spread to cover the bottom of baking dish. Add single layer of lasagna. Add a single layer of egg plant. Evenly spread a cheese mixture layer. Repeat layering as many times as desired.

Bake covered in a 400 degree oven for 20 minutes. Uncover and bake for an additional 10 minutes.

Allow 15 minutes to cool before serving.


Angry Eggplant Lasagna

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Three Cheese Tortellini & Vegetable Soup

1 lb three cheese tortellini
4 ribs celery rough chopped
3 leeks thin sliced
12-15 medium shiitake mushrooms rough sliced
2 large onions chopped
1 bulb garlic, separated, peeled & diced
1 large red bell pepper
2 carrots julienned
2 quarts vegetable stock (non vegetarian use chicken or veal)
thyme
rosemary
basil
bay leaves
black & green peppercorns to desired taste and heat
crushed red pepper to desired heat
crushed tomoto/store bought pasta sauce
1.5 C white wine

Cook tortellini al dente, rinse in cold water and set aside.

In a large pot, saute onions and garlic until tender. Add celery, leeks and mushrooms and saute until almost tender.

Add stock, wine, tomato, herbs and spices. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes.

Add carrots and bell peppers and cook for 5 minutes.

Add cooked tortellini and cook until heated through.


Tortellini Soup

Tortellini Soup

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Pursue a dream or embrace a talent

I was up late one night last week and got one of those wild hairs. I started poking around the Texas Culinary Academy’s website and decided to write in.

I don’t remember exactly what I wrote but I said that I am almost 30, I have a full-time job, wife, mortgage and don’t want to find myself on my death bed thinking: “I wish I’d pursued my dream of being a chef.”

I received this response via e-mail a few days later:

Josh Janicek,

We do not have enough information to determine your acceptance to this school. One of our admissions representatives will contact you soon to discuss your application to our school.

Thank You,
Texas Culinary Academy
(888) 553-2433

Four years ago Vidbook.com closed its doors for good. I was unemployed. I drove my motorcycle to the Texas Culinary Academy and spoke with a student advisor as I thought it might be a good time to pursue a new life in the F&B industry. He was a great guy and we had a nice talk. He showed me around the school and briefly explained the programs that are offered at the school. He also showed me the bottom line. Culinary schooling is expensive. I may be off a little, but I think the chef program cost was to the tune of $30,000 for an 18-month associates program.

At the time, the TCA offered full-time schooling only. That meant I’d have to get a loan for $30k, attend class for six to nine hours a day and somehow find a job that paid somewhere around $500 a week so we could barely survive on our two incomes.

I put pen to paper and couldn’t justify going back to school. I had just graduated from college, married and consolidated both of our student loans. Combined we already owed $30k to the U.S. Department of Education.

Being a chef could be painstaking and financially unrewarding. I could just continue to cook for friends and family. I could try my hand at being a personal chef…

I love to cook for Elise and myself. I love to cook for friends. If I was paid for my knifetime, that would be top drawer peachy.

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CM\’s Caesar dressing solved

I took leftover ciabatta, cut on a bias and made sandwiches with pastrami, Swiss & provolone cheese, thinly sliced pepperoncinis and a garlic and olive tapenade for dinner tonight.

Guess what garlic and Kalamata olive tapenade smells like? Central Market’s Caesar salad dressing. Blend in egg and little more olive oil and I’ll bet I finally have my recipe.

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More death on 71

While driving home from work yesterday I was among traffic that was slowed down and funneled to one lane as we all slowly drove by a fatal accident.

I could see inside the driver’s side of the car. The airbag was clearly visable as was a body. The paramedics were working on the driver. I could feel death in the air and I shivered.

Just this past December two off duty police officers, husband and wife were killed in a motorcycle accident on Hwy 71.

The accident I drove by yesterday was 50 yards away from the site where the husband and wife died four months ago. I drive by the two wreaths every day. Now there will be two more wreaths.

Hwy 71 is a bitch. Those two wrecks happened on a 50 mph curve that I hate. I think most people who know that road hate it as well. I think a seasoned NASCAR driver would hate it too. Those who don’t know it are the ones who barrel through it and cause tension and accidents. Hwy 71 is four lanes with no median and for the most part posted 70 mph. Most drive 75-80 mph. Imagine 80 mph next to a 18-wheeler against oncoming traffic with a 20 inch comfort zone between you and another vehicle traveling 80 mph to your left.

It’s such a nice, quiet, peaceful commute to and from work.