Pasta all Amatriciana

Friday, February 25, 2011 at 5:01 PM
I made this pasta tonight for dinner. It looked promising at first, mainly because the ingredients seemed simple. Basically, onion, canned tomatoes, and bacon. Along with other basic kitchen staples like garlic and olive oil. Actually, it turned out to be slightly more complicated, requiring half caramelizing the onions, and then cooking with the chopped bacon. Mostly, it just took a lot more stirring than I expected. I had to fry the bacon much longer than the recipe said for (2o vs. 5 mins).

Taste-wise, I expected something close to bacon sauce for this. The description of all Amatriciana basically told of a classic Roman(the city) dish made of bacon and tomatoes. With great anticipation, I tasted it...and found only tomatoes. Huh. Well the pasta was good at least.

Actually, my initial disappointment gave away to delight as the bacon flavor became more apparent. The more I ate it, the more I tasted the subtle bacon flavor. By the end of the bowl, I wanted more. My bacon craving was not satisfied. Sigh. At least I have leftover sauce that I can use later.

http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2011/02/pasta-with-onion-bacon-and-tomato-pasta-all-amatriciana-recipe.html

- Howitzer

White Chocolate Ice Cream, End of Winter Updates

Monday, February 21, 2011 at 8:37 PM
For my second batch of ice cream, I selected this recipe from Serious Eats: http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2010/11/white-chocolate-ice-cream-with-nerds-recipe.html, except I altered it. Instead of adding Nerds, I put in frozen raspberries. I thought that white chocolate and raspberries would be a great combination, except I was wrong. The raspberries were frozen, and so there was barely any raspberry flavor in the ice cream. I guess you need to have raspberry syrup or something, so that you can actually taste it. The Nerds woulds have been a better addition after all. Also, something weird happened with the ice cream base before I froze it. I let it sit in the refrigerator to cool all night, before freezing it with the ice cream machine. By the next day, bits of white cocoa butter or something had coagulated in the mix. At first, I thought it was white chocolate that came and formed, but nope. These bits tasted kind of chalky. Surprisingly, the ice cream turned out ok. It was actually really creamy and delicious, so much so that I'm going to make another batch with Nerds.

The weather has recently turned a bit colder, hovering under 32F the past few days. Last week, we got a few days of 40's-50's weather, which was awesome for motorcycling. Now though, I have to wear double layers of pants, and try to prevent my fingers from freezing by hugging the engine block at traffic lights. Sometimes, it's kind of bad when I hit a greenlight before a long stretch of open cruising. I'm starting to worry my joints might suffer from this periodic freezing and thawing. Thankfully, the weather should be warming up soon. This week there will be a few days of 40'sF weather, during which I'll try to get my bike washed again. The salt spray from the roads are starting to build up on my bike.

Hockey

Tuesday, February 15, 2011 at 12:37 PM
So, today was my second hockey class at MIT. I touched a puck on ice for the first time, and it was a blast. Hockey is a pretty intense sport. I was sweating more than I have for awhile after an hour of passing drills. We weren't even doing skating drills today, which we did the first lesson.

In recent news, I also took my motorcycle out from hibernation over the winter. It took awhile before it could start up, but once it did, the motorcycle ran beautifully. Man it feels so good to be out riding it again. On Monday, temperatures reached 40'sF, and I took my bike out for some joy riding. Unfortunately, all the melting snow main the roads wet, and I had taken off my front fenders. As a result, I was splattered with street water (gross). I'll need to install that fender tonight or something.

Also, I got an ice cream maker. My first batch turned out alright. I made mint ice cream from a recipe on Serious Eats: http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2008/06/fresh-mint-chocolate-chip-ice-cream-recipe.html It taste a bit overcooked though. I think I oversteeped the mint in the ice cream base, and the leaves got overcooked. Oh well. Next up I think I'll try coconut ice cream.

Christina Aguilera: Stripped (2002)

Tuesday, February 8, 2011 at 3:34 PM
Christina Aguilera. I always knew she was a good singer, but I never realized how good her songs were, especially the none radio released ones on her album. I picked up Stripped and took a listen. Amazing. She got soul.

- Howitzer

Snow, Snow, and Snowboarding

Friday, February 4, 2011 at 10:04 PM
I'm currently in Connecticut, visiting my cousin for the weekend. That means, lots of snowboarding, and not a lot of sleep (the girl just does not sleep!). Tonight, we started off with a firepit party at one of her friends. I think I just had like 2 pounds of chicken and steak, which I barbecued myself with a kebob stick. Delicious. On top of that, lots of onion kebobs, toasted marshmallows, and chocolate pieces. Even more delicious.

Tomorrow, we're supposed to get up at 6am (!!!), and then drive to Vermont to go snowboarding. I'm really psyched about going. My first time going, I ended up getting bruises in all sorts of spots on my body, but it was a blast. The only bad things this time is that we will be getting very little sleep, and my knees are already sore from skating too much. I don't imagine tomorrow to be any better for my knees. Funny that I'm saying this. My skating friend says that I'm getting old. Damn youngsters.

Oh, and another thing about snow. I read a statistic about the enormous snowfall we've been getting here in the northeast. Something like New York getting 58 inches of snow, whereas normally they would only have had 12 inches so far. And somewhere, I think there was over 70 inches of snowfall already. That's six feet.

-Howitzer

Unable to Sleep

Tuesday, February 1, 2011 at 10:43 PM
I've had exactly one good night's sleep in the past two months. Every night, I always kick off the covers, wake up too hot, or have a dry mouth. Some how, my sleep is interrupted, and I can't imagine how much more energy I'd have if I were able to sleep well all this time.

Sigh.

- Howitzer

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