Celebrating New Years the only way I know how. By watching internet videos of cute animals
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Thursday, December 29, 2011
Christmas dinner: The Eatening
I just posted about making Christmas dinner, but I thought that the Christmas dinner itself deserved a separate post. Kate and I got out our wedding china for the first time (is that right, Kate?) and set everything up to look really pretty.
(Kate went kind of nuts with the "background defocus" feature on our new camera)
And we set all our food out to enjoy.
For those of you not familiar with the Haglund Swedish feast (or at least, our modified version without pickled herring), you see from left to right, crackers, mashed potatoes, limpa (heavy rye bread), roast and sausage, and fancy cheeses (also bought on sale at Kroger. We can't afford to be too fancy). You might also notice some mis-matched china. I meant to blog about that a long time ago, and maybe still will one of these days, but that was bought at an estate sale here in Ann Arbor and we just wanted to get it out and use it too. It's kind of a peachy-pink color, and Kate really fell in love with it.
Anyway, Merry Christmas to all!
And we set all our food out to enjoy.
For those of you not familiar with the Haglund Swedish feast (or at least, our modified version without pickled herring), you see from left to right, crackers, mashed potatoes, limpa (heavy rye bread), roast and sausage, and fancy cheeses (also bought on sale at Kroger. We can't afford to be too fancy). You might also notice some mis-matched china. I meant to blog about that a long time ago, and maybe still will one of these days, but that was bought at an estate sale here in Ann Arbor and we just wanted to get it out and use it too. It's kind of a peachy-pink color, and Kate really fell in love with it.
Christmas dinner!
I'm only posting this 5 days late. That's pretty good for me.
So, the date is December 24th. It's Kate's last day at Barnes and Noble. I'm home all alone, so I decided to make Christmas Dinner. And in the finest of family traditions, I made a Swedish feast. The recipe was documented by Sara in her recipe book. It has come in quite handy over the years.
To start, I chopped up an onion (sliced half and diced half) and sauteed it in a little bit of oil in our dutch oven (Thanks John and Dan!)
Then, I browned a beef roast. I found this particular roast on sale at Kroger. Thank goodness for sales. It's about a pound and a half, which is a lot for two people, but it is just right for two people who want leftovers for several days. You just want to sear the sides, not actually cook the roast just yet. A couple minutes on each side is perfect.
Then I put the lid on and let it cook over low heat for a few hours. I deviated from the recipe a bit by adding a healthy (huge) spoonful of minced garlic. Because I love garlic more than I love recipes, which is saying a lot.
After cooking for a few hours, I added another onion. Not just any onion, mind you, but an onion with 4 cloves stuck into it.
I'm not sure why we stick the cloves into the onion like this. All I know is that it seems to please the Swedish dinner gods, so I do it.
Next I added a single bay leaf.
Yum. Partially cooked roast and raw onion and bay leaf. After this, I put the lid back on and put it in the oven (I could have left it on the stove, but the oven was already warm from baking Limpa bread, and I needed the stovetop space)
While the roast cooked in the oven, I cooked up some sausages.
And, of course, threw them in with the roast about an hour before I took the roast out. And that's how you make a delicious Swedish dinner roast.
So, the date is December 24th. It's Kate's last day at Barnes and Noble. I'm home all alone, so I decided to make Christmas Dinner. And in the finest of family traditions, I made a Swedish feast. The recipe was documented by Sara in her recipe book. It has come in quite handy over the years.
To start, I chopped up an onion (sliced half and diced half) and sauteed it in a little bit of oil in our dutch oven (Thanks John and Dan!)
Then, I browned a beef roast. I found this particular roast on sale at Kroger. Thank goodness for sales. It's about a pound and a half, which is a lot for two people, but it is just right for two people who want leftovers for several days. You just want to sear the sides, not actually cook the roast just yet. A couple minutes on each side is perfect.
Then I put the lid on and let it cook over low heat for a few hours. I deviated from the recipe a bit by adding a healthy (huge) spoonful of minced garlic. Because I love garlic more than I love recipes, which is saying a lot.
After cooking for a few hours, I added another onion. Not just any onion, mind you, but an onion with 4 cloves stuck into it.
I'm not sure why we stick the cloves into the onion like this. All I know is that it seems to please the Swedish dinner gods, so I do it.
Next I added a single bay leaf.
Yum. Partially cooked roast and raw onion and bay leaf. After this, I put the lid back on and put it in the oven (I could have left it on the stove, but the oven was already warm from baking Limpa bread, and I needed the stovetop space)
While the roast cooked in the oven, I cooked up some sausages.
And, of course, threw them in with the roast about an hour before I took the roast out. And that's how you make a delicious Swedish dinner roast.
Saturday, December 24, 2011
Merry Christmas!
Hail the heav'n born Prince of Peace!
Hail the Son of Righteousness!
Light and life to all he brings,
Ris'n with healing in his wings.
Mild he lays his glory by,
born that man no more may die;
Born to raise the sons of earth,
born to give them second birth.
Hark! The herald angels sing Glory to the new-born king!
Hail the Son of Righteousness!
Light and life to all he brings,
Ris'n with healing in his wings.
Mild he lays his glory by,
born that man no more may die;
Born to raise the sons of earth,
born to give them second birth.
Hark! The herald angels sing Glory to the new-born king!
Thursday, December 22, 2011
The problem with special effects
A few years ago, a young director named George made some awesome movies with revolutionary special effects. But the movies were awesome because of the characters and story, not the special effects themselves. A few years after that, George decided to try it again. He made more movies, but these leaned more on the special effects and less on the characters and story.
What's wrong with that? Special effects are cool, and they can make a movie cool. True, but the problem with special effects is that they are getting easier and easier to make. So, anybody can make a movie with great special effects. Even people who don't make movies for a living. If you want to be better than them, you have to give us more than shiny computer effects.
In other words, once amateurs can do stuff like this, the pros really need to step up their game.
What's wrong with that? Special effects are cool, and they can make a movie cool. True, but the problem with special effects is that they are getting easier and easier to make. So, anybody can make a movie with great special effects. Even people who don't make movies for a living. If you want to be better than them, you have to give us more than shiny computer effects.
In other words, once amateurs can do stuff like this, the pros really need to step up their game.
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Christmas, Christmas time is here
Well, folks, Christmas is upon us. Kate and I are back in Michigan after a trip to see parents and in-laws and hospitals. Next time we should probably leave out that last one.
But, as Christmas approaches, I thought I should give a plug for Worldbuilders. If you don't know them yet, go to the link and read up on it. Or read the rest of this post.
Worldbuilders is a charity run by Patrick Rothfuss, author of the Kingkiller Chronicles (big, thick fantasy books about a red-headed wizard. Kind of). The gist is this: Pat and several other fantasy authors organize donations to Heifer International, and then match 50% of donations with their own funds. They (the authors) also donate autographed books and other such neat stuff, which is given to people who donate. The details of how that works are on the worldbuilders site, so check it out if you're interested.
The point, though, is this: because of Pat and these other authors, your charitable donations go farther. My family decided this year that instead of giving eachother lots of stuff we don't need, that we should buy a cow for a family in Africa so they could rise out of poverty. And because we did it through Worldbuilders, we gave $500, enough for a cow, and they gave $250, enough for a water buffalo. That's right. A water buffalo.
So, give it some thought. Every bit counts. Click over to Worldbuilders and check them out.
And Merry Early Christmas.
But, as Christmas approaches, I thought I should give a plug for Worldbuilders. If you don't know them yet, go to the link and read up on it. Or read the rest of this post.
Worldbuilders is a charity run by Patrick Rothfuss, author of the Kingkiller Chronicles (big, thick fantasy books about a red-headed wizard. Kind of). The gist is this: Pat and several other fantasy authors organize donations to Heifer International, and then match 50% of donations with their own funds. They (the authors) also donate autographed books and other such neat stuff, which is given to people who donate. The details of how that works are on the worldbuilders site, so check it out if you're interested.
The point, though, is this: because of Pat and these other authors, your charitable donations go farther. My family decided this year that instead of giving eachother lots of stuff we don't need, that we should buy a cow for a family in Africa so they could rise out of poverty. And because we did it through Worldbuilders, we gave $500, enough for a cow, and they gave $250, enough for a water buffalo. That's right. A water buffalo.
So, give it some thought. Every bit counts. Click over to Worldbuilders and check them out.
And Merry Early Christmas.
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Army Drill Team
Well, with Kate sleeping off her Kidney infection, I find myself with some spare time. So, to help me pass the time, I watched this. It's pretty remarkable. The Army Drill Team marches and whatnot without music or drums to keep them on beat. Check them out.
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