Month: April 2008

  • There are dual - and contradictory - movements afoot in the culinary world.

    Alright, "culinary" might be overstating the case for one of those movements.

    Actually, "movement" isn't the best term, but I'm blanking on what's a better one.

    Whatever.  In the realm of haute cuisine the new twist is for dishes to be "decontructed."  This is when the various elements of a dish are served separately on the plate, leaving it to the diner to get a bit of each on his or her fork so that the taste of the original dish shows up on the palate.

    IOW, some assembly required. 

    You know, this is an idea that bears thinking about.  A loaf of bread, jar of peanut butter and a jar of jam and you've got a deconstructed PB&J!  Can of tuna, jar of mayonniase, a hard-boiled egg, and a bottle of relish and....poof!...deconstructed tuna salad!

    Seriously, I thought the idea is for the chef to do the work.  What do want to bet the price of the dish isn't lowered to reflect the work the diner is now forced to perform? 

    On the flip side there's the various fast food places who have gone to the other extreme by taking a "kitchen sink" approach to their food, especially in the area of breakfast.  Sausage!  Eggs!  Cheese!  Hash browns!  Tater tots!  Onions!  Peppers!  Throw 'em all on a flour tortilla and cram 'em together.  They're all going to wind up in the same place, right?  Why bother eating them separately, then? 

  • This was a fun evening.

    This evening Kirstin and Matt brought their kids to stay for a bit while they - K&M - went to have dinner with my parents. The children ate hot dogs and tater tots as they watched one of their all-time favorite movies, Monsters Inc. I'd never seen it until I visited Alex and his family in Japan last October, but as it was one of Hannah's special favorites, we watched it a few times and I liked it tremendously. When I got home I bought my own copy, and now virtually all the grandchildren and nieces love it, too.

    Having the movie on didn't stop the boys from wanting their Granddaddy to read them a story, though:

    Don_boys_book_sm

    After a while it was time for me to take Dmitry to the MacDonald's next to his school, for that's where he was going to meet with some of his friends prior to their going to the school's lock-in tonight. We're pleased that he's finally taking part in activities such as that. He's not pleased that as soon as the lock-in is officially over, at 8 a.m., he has to go straight to tutoring, and be there until noon. Assuming he's awake all night, I'm not certain just how much he's likely to learn tomorrow morning.

    When I got back home it was to find Don and the children having a riotous conversation with Alex and Beth via webcam, vastly enjoying watching Faith do the baby stagger while holding onto a walking-toy; here's a short video taken after Kirstin and Matt got back and joined in:


    A few minutes after Kirstin and Matt arrived, they took a turn trying to hear what Alex and Beth had to say, no small feat with the raucous crew in the vicinity:

    Kirstin_Matt_webcam

    Kirstin finally gave up trying to have a rational conversation with the Trio in the room, so the computer was moved into the dining room, and the small fry forbidden to enter it. She and her brother and sis-in-law were able to have a nice chat that way. ;^)

    While they were visiting, Matt chatted with his father-in-law in the living room:

    Matt_kids_sm

    After they left, Don and I sat and visited with the Japanese contingent, and learned that Alex has an estimated effective separation date of July 24, 2009. His official date will be Sept. 24 of that year - five years from the day he left for Great Lakes for boot camp - but he'll have a couple of months leave accumulated so will be able to come back then. Not only that, but he'll be in Seattle for a couple of weeks prior to July 24 (2009, remember!), as that's where those who've been stationed in Japan go for their separation activities.

    It's hard to believe, but Alex's time in the Navy, while he still has over a year to go, is still definitely on the downward slide. Amazing how fast time goes by, isn't it?