posted by Chris on July 7, 2008 5:58 PM in Podcast
This week's podcast is weird. If you thought The Weekly Geek was already a crazy, mixed-up sort of video game blog, this podcast will re-enforce that astute observation. Your hosts Chris, Qais, Ross and Jinny discuss what they think is going to be shown at this year's E3 and if the event even matters anymore. They also talk about geek rites of passage, such as Chris' revelation that he just saw Blade Runner for the first time. A new book on nerds is discussed, dissected and judged for its cover, and they introduce a brand new geeky obsession: sous-vide cooking. Enjoy this week's podcast, for it is delicious.
I know now that absinthe is legal in the states, all you crazy kids are going to want to go out and get all wacky on the green stuff. As a long-time absinthe drinker myself I can tell you that it is indeed delicious, but it's not the crazy party drug pharmaceutical that movies such as Moulin Rouge portray it to be. You won't see Kylie Minogue in a Tinkerbell outfit if you drink it, though you might get a special headache in the morning if you are lucky. This intrepid baker has decided to incorporate the beverage into a cupcake recipe, which to me sounds awful.
Making absinthe cupcakes is not at all a fun mash up like adding bacon to ice cream. That fits. Absinthe is an anisette, which means that it tastes not wholly unlike licorice. Have you ever had licorice cupcakes? With one giant sugar cube on top? No? There's a reason for that. The horrible taste is the reason. If you get your hands on some absinthe (might I recommend MANsinth for the comedic value of the name alone?) please don't make this recipe and then blame me for your projectile vomiting. I absolve myself of all responsibility.
As a proponent of all things porcine, I cannot help but feel a little misty-eyed today as I scrolled through my reader. It seems an ice cream genius by the name of David Lebovitz has won. Yes, he has beaten the game and reached the end credits of ice cream making. He probably even entered his initials. His invention? Candied Bacon Ice Cream. Inspired by Michael Ruhlman's half-joke that David use bacon as an ice cream ingredient, Lebovitz devised what looks to be the flavor to end all flavors. He even provides the recipe, which obviously requires an ice cream maker.
When you think about it, is adding deliciously salty-sweet pork flesh any weirder than ice cream itself? When you get down to it, ice cream is frozen congealed bovine lactations mixed with poultry embryos and the distilled essence of beets. Sometimes you add chocolate to it. Bacon is just the next logical step. An ice cream evolution, if you will.
I like to think of myself as a bit of a connoisseur of the non-standard ice cream flavors at your local freezer case. I have lauded the merits of yellow cake ice cream, Kinder Egg flavored gelato and creme brulee Ben and Jerry's, and I urge you to heartily gorge yourself on these non-standard flavors. But I do believe if I attempt this recipe I will never look back.
Some days you just putter around the kitchen whining to yourself. You don't know what to make for dinner, and usually you end up just going out or ordering pizza, right? Cookthink is here to the rescue with a neat little interface to help you find exactly what you are craving. I stumbled across this website the other day and love the fact that I can enter a certain cuisine or mood and it lets me narrow down my recipe options based on what I have on hand and in my fridge. It has an incredibly friendly user interface and a vast catalog of great recipes. They have even recently released a new feature called "my cookthink" where you can save your favorites. For you geeks who love to cook like I do, you'll spend a ton of time just poking around this site, trying to find new recipes and culinary ideas. Check it out at Cookthink.com.
It's fairly common knowledge that I am obsessed with bacon. I have perfected the art of cooking bacon, I have a wallet that looks like bacon, I have an air freshener for my car that smells of bacon. I wrap my hot dogs in bacon. It's a wonder I am not 500lbs. My love of bacon only goes so deep, however. Not hardly as deep as these guys who made a meat ship.
That's right, a ship made out of meat. Happy Monday morning!
Over at BoingBoing, Herr Doctorow links us to a nifty how-to about making pixel art cookies! Apparently you use a Play-Doh extractor (the one that makes square-shaped noodles) and stack the colors of cookie dough together. Clever! Does this mean we are going to see a flood of gaming cookies in 2008, replacing 2007's obsession with gaming cakes?
Alternate blog post ending: insert joke about the cookies making a Tetris in your stomach, disappearing in the process. New diet fad?
BBG brings to our attention today an article on Gearlog where they tested a new Belkin Washable Mouse. By dipping it in a day's worth of food. They ran the gamut, chili, oatmeal, Cheetoes, Red Bull... the mouse still worked. Remarkable! The images are the best part. This is the kind of real world testing that my adolescent mind desperately hopes companies do in their labs. I envision scores of goggle-lensed geeks in white lab coats gingerly dipping their electronics into chili, observing and hastily scribbling the results down on messy, Cheeto-stained clipboards.
I am a huge food fan. I love to cook, and I love cooking for people even more. Alton Brown is my hero, Anthony Bourdain is my idol and one of my favorite material possessions in the universe is my cast-iron skillet. One of my life goals is to go to El Bulli in Spain, just to experience the 8-hour dinner ordeal first hand. Can't make it to Spain? Maybe (not likely) you can get a reservation at Thomas Keller's French Laundry in California. A super exclusive and critically acclaimed establishment, The French Laundry features dishes never before created, and a rotating menu of wonder. This man is a food magician (he even was a consultant on Ratatouille!).
I discovered a new food blog today via Slashfood, called French Laundry at Home, where a very eager and earnest woman named Carol attempts cooking every recipe from the French Laundry official cookbook. The dishes are gorgeous, and her descriptions are even better. From her post about a soft shell crab dish...
With my left hand, I picked up one of the crabs from the platter and held him from behind. In my right hand, I held the scissors. As I got the scissors close to the crab's face, it started twitching and writhing, and I couldn't do it. I don't know if you've ever held or touched a soft-shell crab before, but instead of a skeletal underbelly and a hard shell on top, the underbelly is not very hard, and felt as thin as a shrimp shell. The top shell feels like thin leather, or perhaps fish skin -- probably the same thickness/texture as halibut. So, when the crab started moving around, I could feel his insides moving, too.
I put him back on the platter and paced my tiny, tiny kitchen trying to talk myself off the ledge. I saw a bottle of Ketel One on my wine table and thought maybe a shot of liquid courage might help, but I didn't do it. Instead, I grabbed a pair of tongs and used those to pick up the crab. I opened the scissors and let out a "aaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii'msosorry" as I cut its face off. Things started to ooze out of the front of his head, and I just repeated a mantra of "thisisgross-thisisgross-thisisgross-AAAAACCCCCKKKKK" as I cut off the large claws, then removed the remaining legs. I did this for each crab to get all the cutting overwith at once.
Chuck Palahniuk ain't got nothin' on Carol. Vivid and insightful, this blog is definitely one for the feed reader.
This past weekend, White Mage and I got a chance to see Pixar and Brad Bird's latest magic joyfest, Ratatouille. Chris, Caspian, and their respective ladyfriends were also in attendance.
As with all Pixar films, I've been excited to see this ever since the first teaser trailer came out. They just do everything so right. Pixar owns the world of CG animated movies, and there is no disputing that fact.
For those of you who don't know, Ratatouille is the story of a rat named Remy who is born with an amazing sense of smell. Not content with eating garbage like his rodent brethren, he sneaks into the house in the French countryside where his colony is inhabiting the walls and puts together culinary delights for himself to snack upon while watching his favorite TV chef, August Gusteau. An accident forces them all from their home and Remy gets seperated but ends up in the sewers below the late Gusteau's very own restaurant in Paris. Remy befriends a clumsy garbage boy from the kitchen of the restaurant and uses him to live out his dream of being a famous chef.
OH YEAH! (Oh no). Slashfood posted this ridiculous picture today of some insane lady's Kool-Aid marinated dill pickles. Now, I have heard of using Kool-Aid to dye your hair, to make candy, and even (gasp) mixing it with water to drink, but I am intrigued to find out what a pickle floating in the stuff would taste like. I guess it would all depend on the flavor.
I like sweet pickles just fine, and watermelon pickles are to die for... so maybe these aren't as bad as they sound. Look. As bad as they look.
posted by Chris on March 4, 2007 7:26 PM in Podcast
Going a bit off the beaten path this week, The Geek and Frodo discuss other facets of the geek sphere, including how to make the perfect grilled cheese, the majesty that is Google's cafeteria, secret fast food menu items, consolidating those pesky club cards and pizza vending machines. Ok, so we talk about video games, too.
I like to think that people who visit this website probably have some of the same sensibilities I do, so I bring you food porn. Last night I made pretty much my favorite food in the world, caprese salad. It is fresh mozzerella, tomatoes, basil and olive oil. Simple, clean, and absolutely amazing. Here's how to make it!
What you'll need:
2 Balls (Approx 8 ounces) Fresh Mozzerella must be fresh, in the liquid. If you use shredded or string cheese or something I will kill you.
2 smallish tomatoes (romas are best for this).
A hefty handful of fresh basil again, if you use dried basil or something, death is imminent.
Your best extra-virgin olive oil (you should have this on hand anyway, shouldn't you?).
salt (kosher is the best).
fresh ground pepper.
Cut the tomatoes and mozz into medallion sized pieces. You can do the basil in a number of ways, chiffonade is good for maximum basil coverage, but you can tear the leaves or use them whole if you want it to be more of a salad green kind of thing. Mix gently in a bowl (so you don't crush the cheese) with the olive oil and a pinch of salt. After it is all mixed, dress with a swig of more olive oil on the top, grind some pepper, and you are ready to eat! EAT IT! IT'S DELICOUS!
I am a huge food fan. I love to cook, and I love cooking for people even more. Alton Brown is my hero, Anthony Bourdain is my idol and one of my favorite material possessions in the universe is my cast-iron skillet. One of my life goals is to go to El Bulli in Spain, just to experience the 8-hour dinner ordeal first hand. Can't make it to Spain? Maybe (not likely) you can get a reservation at Thomas Keller's French Laundry in California. A super exclusive and critically acclaimed establishment, The French Laundry features dishes never before created, and a rotating menu of wonder. This man is a food magician (he even was a consultant on Ratatouille!). 
OH YEAH! (Oh no). 
I like to think that people who visit this website probably have some of the same sensibilities I do, so I bring you food porn. Last night I made pretty much my favorite food in the world, caprese salad. It is fresh mozzerella, tomatoes, basil and olive oil. Simple, clean, and absolutely amazing. Here's how to make it!