tap my glass

So i had little gathering at my house yesterday, a party if you will. It was, i think, a pretty good success. As i said, when i went to bed there were frying pans and my strainer buried underneath my sheets. I guess someones idea of a ‘prank’. I appreciated it.

The night started off pretty slowly, as expected. Folks started meandering there way in round 9 or so, and in real numbers round 11. At one point you couldn’t move at all on the main level, and for about 30 minutets straight i was filling pitchers of beer, emptying pitchers, and filling more. It was rare that a pitcher made it to the fridge.

All sorts of people showed up, quite a few that were an unexpected surprise. Early in the night i gave a friend of mine permission to identify where the beer was by writing on the wall. This eventually led to pretty much every wall in the downstairs getting written on. I welcomed it, and the place looks great. Of course, i am planning on dumping massive amounts of primer throughout the entire space. Otherwise, i might be a little ticked.

A poker game started up round 2 or 3, i joined in round 5 or 6 or so. It was a good game. While i was still mingling around i heard rumour there was a bully at the table that was pissing people off. That changed as soon as i sat down, i didn’t let anybody fuck around… i’m kindof a nazi at the table sometimes, and last nite was no different. I think the game ended round 8 or so, but its a little blurry. I know the sun was way up though, thats for sure.

A good mix of folks were there. An old friend from high school whom i hadn’t seen in 5 or 6 years was there. Some strippers. Bartenders that work at a strip club. Artists. Degenerates. Next door neighbours. One guy from the band accross the street. Friend from work. Friends from various bars. And no police. Which was good. The one large and 2 small kegs were polished, didn’t crack the 3rd small, but did crack my reserve 24… that was around 6 or so. I’m glad i bought it, otherwise the final keg probably woulda gotten cracked, and most of it would of been wasted.

I made some appetizers that were well recieved. Some cream cheese rolls, some sugary almonds, some red pepper dip, and some guacamole… the almonds were well recieved, all of them went except the ones that were spilled on the floor. Where there are quit a few of… i should probably clean those up soon. Nobody really knew what was in the red pepper dip, but most people said it was ok. Needed more definition i was told, good constructive critism for sure. The guac was ok, but needed more salt. I finished the rest off today… but i’m still hungry. I didn’t make some meatballs, bacon water chestnut wraps nor the pastry thingy. Mabye i should make something now… sooo tired though. I wish my tv was still upstairs, it could use some watching.

So ya, super time. I am, of course, quite ruff today, but this is to be expected. I smoked a ton of cigarettes too, all throughout the place. I lost count round 5, so i’m gonna go with 12. Thats the greatest/worst single day performance i’ve had since i “quit a little”. O well, my throat’s paying for it today. Not as much as i would have thought tho… hmmm.

So now, i have a week off work. I’m gonna paint, and do some reno’s and generally take it easy. In my seratonin depleted state i’m debating tearing up the shite floor in the kitchen downstairs… its probably a LOT more work than i’m prepared for, but i might anyways. But definitely paint, thats for sure. O ya.

Now… what to do. I’m kinda bored, not tired enuf to sleep (got up round 5), hungry but lazy, and the tv’s downstairs. I’m done my blogging and my photo uploading. Hmm… i don’t feel like reading. Mabye take a walk? Go for a beer? Ugg… no. A walk isn’t a bad idea. Then i’d have to put some more clothes on though. Why do things have to be so difficult!!!

Not much going on here. Biding my time till other stuff comes up like:
- halloween comes and i either do something fun and exciting or i dress up in my own skin
- my tenants move out, should be on sunday
- do a bunch of reno’s
- have my whole house party next month
- roast leftover tomatos

I did forget to mention that i did try out the sweet potato recipe again. And… well… i just don’t think sweet potatos are well suited for gnocchi, i think they’ve too much gluten or something, they were way to constricted, didn’t roll well, and still had a too firm texture. Taste was ok, but texture was over the top, even with ap flour. I think i’ll go back and try the original gnocchi again with russet’s or yukon golds just to make sure i’m not crazy.

What else… my computers in the shop again. I’m not convinced anymore that it is a hardware problem, but i’ve gotta try. The dude thats doing the testing is pretty bright, very geek like, and seems genuinely committed to finding the problem, whether it’s his or not. This is good. The bad news is they moved into a location next to kfc on merivale and i have to smell it and be tempted by it everytime i go. Whats the deal with fast food smells? So overpowering, so gross, yet so tempting… mmm big crunch. I haven’t had a big crunch in 5 years and i still think i love them. Probably cause they taste awesome, but is it really food??? Is it? I don’t know anymore. Theres this pro fat/cholesterol dude out there that seems to have some interesting opinions. I don’t know what to make of it but one thing did ring a bell - when i eat food, which is normally lo in protein and high in carbs, i get tired. A big plate of veggie pasta? Tired. O ya. Might have some correlation, i always thought you were supposed to feel tired after food… perhaps not.

Ok thats it. Now what to do with the rest of my night with no windows xp? Linux poker? Naww… i think i’ll eat some food and play my guitar. Theres this contest where dude’s like Tom Waits are judging for the best songwriting/song. I might enter if i can ever get around to recording something i like. Of course i have no processing capability here, but lo tech is good right? One of these days i’ll get an mbox and start my rockstar career, but that day has yet to arrive.

So i tried some sweet potato gnocchi. Pretty easy, cook some sweet potatos (i roasted although i’ve been told steaming is better), beat some flour in, knead, roll, cut, press, and boil. Pretty easy really. Perhaps as a product of thinking i’ve learned so much, thought there wouldn’t be enuf gluten in sweet potatos to warrant omitting eggs. So i used a 50/50 semolina and all purpose flour mix. Not a good idea.

The gnocchi, while well formed, not sticky, and cooked well, were far too chewy, thanks to the semolina. Next time, all purpose, all the way. The one bright note was the sauce. After a summer long hiatus on the straight up can based tomato sauce i haven’t forgotten anything, in fact have learned, and it was perfect. Simple, just onion, mushroom, and a roasted red pepper, oh and garlic and basil, dang, it was fab. The meal wasn’t horrible though, edible for sure, and next time it should be super provided i can get the proper consistency with just ap flour.

One additional note. I may or may not have mentioned to some of you that dry rieslings aren’t that super? I finished the bottle, and by the end, it was tasting pretty good - probably a horrible mix for the meal, but it went down just fine.

Ok, so the ingredient of the week has to be: peanuts and/or peanut butter.

I only had an hour or so to chill, decided salad was the best bet. Wanted to try a new dressing, couldn’t find any decent peanut based dressings, and had a peanut craving (since the recent peanut butter soop). So i remembered an old recipe for a pasta with peanut butter sauce, but of course no quantities… i could’ve looked it up, but what fun is that??

I put about 1/4 cup of smooth pb, some soy sauce, some honey, some red wine vinegar, some sesame oil, a bit of water, and a pinch of cayenne (not enuf to make a dif, perhaps more next time). I also added some garlic and ginger powder, again, not enuf to make a diff. Dang, it was good dressing (i’m gonna cut up some apples and carrots and finish it off as a dip tomorrow)… bought some spinach and sprouts at boushys on the way home… then i added “what i had lying around” (ha! i love reading that in recipes, you can learn so much about people by what they have ‘lying around’… observe:) - a carrot, a shallot, some mushrooms, walnuts, pumpkin seeds (too salty but o well), almond slabs, a tomato, and some pepper. It was a damn good salad, and dang, i can eat a lot of salad. And i did.

Other than that i played poker tonite and lost a whole bunch of money but had a good time with my friends. Some times i wonder why i bother, other times i know its cause its fun. This is only half of one of those times.