pints at the coop & run

Some pictures of the Steves and their new coop are available. Above is Steve with some lettuce and carrot with green, the choice of the discerning galline gourmand.

immature children

The New York Senate Democrats are whiny, petulant juveniles with no sense of respect or decorum and every last one of them is a disgrace to his or her district, state, and nation.

so cute

It’s like baby’s first foreign policy by Fisher Price.

kerspacho!

In lieu of a known authentic recipe, I chose Alton Brown’s (with some modifications) just to try it.

• 1 1/2 pounds tomatoes (about six on the vine)
• 1 English cucumber (the long ones that come in plastic wrap)
• 1 small red onion (I had to use 1/4 large one)
• 1 red bell pepper
• 1 small jalapeño
• 1c v8 or similar
• 1/3 bunch cilantro (it should fill your hand after you’ve removed the stems)
• 1 lime
• 2 cloves garlic
• about 1/3 cup olive oil
• Worcestershire sauce
• balsamic vinegar
• ground cumin

Boil 6 cups of water and cut thin X marks at the points of the tomatoes. Drop them in the boiling water for 15 seconds and then remove them to an ice bath to shock the skins loose. Peel them, then chop them in half and scoop out the seeds, then dice them into 1/4″ bits. Put them in a large mixing bowl. Skin and finely chop the cucumber, then finely chop the onion and peppers (watch out for the jalapeño), then put it all in the bowl. Crush the garlic under the flat edge of a knife, then peel and finely chop it and add it to the bowl.

Add the v8, olive oil, and four splashes each of the vinegar and Worcestershire and four shakes of cumin. Juice the lime and add that, as well as finely chopped cilantro. Finally, remove about 2c of the mixture to a food processor and process it for 15 seconds before recombining it. Cover the bowl and leave it in the refrigerator for a few hours.

and all is well with the universe

Back in the mists of time, Swedish aircraft manufacturer Saab decided to get into cars, so they hacked the wings and empennage off a plane and put wheels on it. Saab was a polarizing brand, people either ‘got it’ or they didn’t. People who got it would drive their quirky Swedish cars hundreds of miles to Saab meets and mingle with fellow getters. People who didn’t get it were confused and frustrated by the idiosyncrasies of the bizarre little cars, with their vertical slab dashboards and center-console ignition that made them feel like they’d been dropped into a Cessna cockpit. Love it or hate it, there was nothing else like it.

Then one morning in 1993, GM rolled over with a massive hangover. Lying in bed next to them was Saab, sobbing quietly from the shame. Over the next decade, GM ran the goose through the food processor in search of the golden egg. Showing a stunning, almost willful lack of understanding as to why Saab people bought Saabs, GM replaced those irritatingly unique bits with stock GM parts. GM could save a buck in doing so, but never figured out why the Saab audience was paying more for a used model from a few years ago before the acquisition than they would pay for a factory-new model, which in fact they completely ignored.

Now Saab is back with the Swedes, or will be. Koenigsegg is in the preliminary steps of acquiring Saab from the desiccated corpse of GM. You probably haven’t heard of Koenigsegg, because they make about 20 cars per year and sell them for €1.5 million. Their newest model, the CCXR, is a black carbon fiber demon with a 4.7l twin-turbo V8 that develops 1,018 BHP on E85 ethanol (it’s designed to get more power out of ethanol than high-test gasoline) and gets to 62 mph in less than three seconds. And it looks like they just got into the ‘entry-level’ market.

This is a slice of bacon-wrapped fried awesome.

mah peeps

They’re barred rock pullets for laying.

new bike shoes

Cycling shoes are nice, but I think open shoes are overall healthier when the weather allows:

They fit well and appear sturdy. The lock-in is not as positive as with the Shimanos, but the cleat is also more deeply recessed and doesn’t crunch on pavement.

were you there…

…when they moosified my gourd?

it is green and tasty

You may think you like cilantro (and if you don’t, keep your shame to yourself), but there’s only one site that gives the leafy herb its proper due:

“IF YOU DON’T LOVE CILANTRO WITH ALL YOUR HEART I WILL FIGHT YOU

NO JOKE”

Bonus: gots recipes.

way to go Oklahoma

Oklahoma’s House of Representatives has overruled a veto on a bill declaring the sovereignty of the state and telling the Federal government not to step outside the bounds outlined in the Constitution. This is one of the most positive events in recent months.