Normally, I don’t watch the Next Food Network Star because I’m not so big on reality talent shows as of late.  I actually kind of loathe them.  They usually don’t produce the type of talent you see when people become successful through normal means, with a few exceptions.

I knew from her videos that Aarti has a positive bubbly vibe about her and she also has an adorable accent.  She’s the nice girl on the show who happens to have issues with being assertive and confident.  Turns out she is my absolute favorite personality on the show – I don’t know if it’s because I can relate to her personality or if it’s because of her accent.

Watch the show if you have the chance.  I think Aarti is going to win!  Also, you can follow her on her blog – she is currently updating even as the episodes air.

Good luck Aarti!  Show everybody that nice people don’t always finish last!

It just arrived! So awesome!

…twiddling my thumbs…

I like how a massive hole swallowed up an entire 3 story building and they don’t really give any details.  Where are the people that were in that building?  How deep is that hole?  What’s down there?  Nope, just details about the storm and a “hey, by the way, look at this hole.”

This picture isn’t some kind of joke made in poor taste, right?

Here’s a graphical explanation of how top kill works:

Last I heard, they just gave the approval to proceed – cross your fingers!

Does anybody else think it’s plain ridiculous that companies are allowed to create these spewing oil wells without having some sort of fail-safe?  And a fail-safe for that fail-safe?  And a fail-safe for that one too?  Considering the potential disaster of a leak, plan your fail-safes accordingly!

Our stove top broke yesterday… bummer.

I’ve been hearing a lot about cyber warfare in the news as of late.  That is really scary when you think about all the things that can affect us if somebody launched an attack on our networks.  What makes it scarier is that hackers can do their job and get out without their location being accurately traced.  A group of nerds hanging out in their bedrooms can send the USA back to the stone ages with a few keyboard strokes!  And we won’t even know who did it.

Maybe I should write a script for one of those end of the world movies except use cyber warfare as the culprit instead of nuclear warfare.  Then I can sell it and take all the money and just move to Hawaii.  I’ll live off of coconuts and pineapples!

If you want to read more, there’s a lot of articles recently on this topic at NPR’s website.

http://anthony-bourdain-blog.travelchannel.com/read/for-parents-only?fbid=6qn-stb1Atp

But now that I’m living the life of an old man with wife, kids, car payments, mortgage, I really appreciate that this day exists.  Life gets so busy with things that you have to do that it’s so easy to lose touch with the woman that basically started it all.  Valentine’s day pretty much forced me to take a break from everything and just focus on me and Nadine, which was a very much welcomed break.

For dinner we went to the new Bouchon in Beverly Hills, where our old friend Jeff is the Executive Pastry Sous Chef.  The weather was perfect for dining outdoors, so we were seated on the balcony with a view of the beautiful Montage hotel across the way, and ADAM SANDLER at the table directly to my left!  (Quick interruption to comment on Adam Sandler – the guy is REAL… he is exactly like he is in the movies – friendly to everybody, calls people “buddy”, and he was wearing a raggedy t-shirt, sweatpants, and one of those old school vest jackets. )

On to the food!  (pics courtesy of the internet)

I started off with my favorite – salmon rillettes (Rillettes aux Deux Saumons).  Rillettes is like an old form of preserving meat by cooking it in its own fat, heavily salting it and cramming it in a sealed jar.  I think doing this with salmon is a break from the traditional rillettes, but it’s so good!  It’s a combination of fresh and smoked salmon and they serve it with some warm croutons made from baguettes from their bakery.

Next I had a frisee salad (Frisée aux Lardons et Oeuf Poché).  This is a salad made with frisee leaves, lardons, a bacon vinaigrette, a poached egg and toasted brioche.  BEST SALAD I’VE EVER HAD.  Lardons is my new love… it’s like bacon times 20.

For the main course I decided to try their leg of lamb (Gigot d’Agneau).  I am still a lamb rookie, as the only lamb I’ve had before this was rack of lamb and some Irish lamb stew.  The lamb here was by far the least gamy preparation I’ve ever tasted and it was cooked at a perfectly tender medium.  I was feeling adventurous when I ordered this… otherwise I would have gotten the braised short ribs.  I promised myself I’d try that next time.

For Nadine’s main course, she ordered the tried and true Steak Frites.  It’s a flat iron steak covered in carmlized shallots and an herb butter.  Oh yeah and it comes with fries.  This is also what Adam Sandler ordered.

We ended the night with an off the menu cheese plate and a special 4 course dessert made by our friend Jeff in the kitchen for us.  When I have time, I’ll dig up some of the pictures of the dessert… Jeff told us all he did all day at work was prepare our dessert courses.  What a swell guy!

urban dictionary: choke on a dick musubi

That was fast!

Hahaha – So many good products here!  Go buy some!

And then had this to say:
f**k that guy
he can choke on a dick musubi

Hahaha! I was laughing really hard… time to make another urban dictionary entry…

I used to feel so alone in the city. All those gazillions of people and then me, on the outside. Because how do you meet a new person? I was very stumped by this for many years. And then I realized, you just say, ‘Hi.’ They may ignore you. Or you may marry them. And that possibility is worth that one word.

I wonder what it’s like to be in that kind of weather… is it like going into the fridge naked?

I guess I’ll never know!!!  Here’s our weather today according to weather.com:

I was thinking maybe I should wear shorts tomorrow, but nah!  It’s too cold!

I spent mine getting some street cred.  I mean catching some air and landing on myself.

Oh and Elise says Hi.

I gotta find that inner entrepreneur and start making things happen!

What would you say to the Dalai Lama if he was serving you lunch?  What an incredible picture.  This was taken of him volunteering in San Francisco.

He’s been so intriguing to me for a long time.  His life from being chosen as the next Dalai Lama as a child to escaping China’s communist regime and being exiled from his home in Tibet is so interesting.  Plus his face and expressions totally reminds me of my late grandpa.  Here’s a quote I found from him:

I myself feel, and also tell other Buddhists that the question of Nirvana will come later.
There is not much hurry.
If in day to day life you lead a good life, honesty, with love, with compassion, with less selfishness, then automatically it will lead to Nirvana.

I think that quote applies to all religions… or at least it should!

Check out more photos like the one above @ TIME’s The Year in Pictures 2009.  There’s a lot of good ones!