Outside The Aisles

Two Hour Delay

There was an ice storm last night.  It wasn't really an ice storm, it was more like scattered ice drizzle.  Never the less, the school where Jenn works was delayed two hours, so I decided my work was delayed as well.  After a call and some quick emails to work, it was time for some breakfast.  Jenn is very good about eating breakfast every morning, I'm very good about drinking too much coffee every morning.  We have some salmon that was given as a xmas gift from Jenn's sister, so I was psyched about breakfast.  We had bagels, smoked salmon, cream cheese, capers, red onions and tomatoes.  I wish we had regular tomatoes, but since this was unplanned, all we had were grape tomatoes.

Great stuff.  I wish I had the motivation to make this sort of thing every morning.  I just can't motivated to drag myself out of bed for cold cereal, especially in the winter.

Favorite music of 2005

This is the first departure from food in the blog.  I hope there will be many more as I'd like to keep the blog somewhat diverse in its content.  I know the web, print media and television are overrun with "best of" lists, but they are pretty fun to make, and by no means do I consider my list of favorites to be any better than anyone else's list.  So, I welcome anyone else sharing what they liked this year.

From a music standpoint, I'll probably remember 2005 for some really great shows.  It seemed to be the year of the reunion.  I was lucky enough to see the Pixies last year at Coachella, but most of the Triangle caught them in Raleigh.  The Dinosaur Jr.  and Gang of Four shows at the Cat's Cradle were absolutely amazing.  Non reunion show highlights for me were Black Taj, Sufjan Stevens and Teenage Fanclub.  My biggest regret was in not getting an Arcade Fire ticket before the show sold out.  I heard it was a very fine show.

Here is a list, in no particular order, of some of my favorites of the year.  Of course I welcome anyone else's additions to the list.  I've been turned on to some great music as a result of some year end lists and reccomendations.

Bloc Party - Silent Album

Doves - Some Cities

Wolf Parade - Apologies to the Queen Mary

Broken Social Scene

The Clientele - Strange Geometry

Clap Your Hands and Say Yeah

Beck - Guero

Eels - Blinking Lights and Other Revelations

Teenage Fanclub - Man-Made

Sufjan Stevens - Invites you to Come on and feel the Illinoise

Calexico /Iron & Wine - In the Reins

Black Taj

Dead Meadow - Feathers

Boards of Canada - The Campfire Headcase

The Game - The Documentary

12.11.05 Menu

There were a couple of Christmas parties and a free Duke basketball game last week, so more than half the menu made the trip to this week. 

Lemon Soy Chicken thighs over rice

Cod w/shallots, Vermouth & Thyme, wild rice and green beans

Shrimp Fra Diavolo

Parmesan Stuffed Chicken Breast w/pan roasted rosemary potatoes

Pork Tenderloin w/Stilton & Port over rice and edamame

Pizza!

12.04.05 Menu

It's getting chilly here. Wait, no, it's cold. This week's menu seems pretty ambitious (frozen lasagna not withstanding). 

Cod w/shallots, vermouth & thyme, wild rice & green beans.

Spaghetti w/fresh mozarella

Chicken thighs w/soy sauce & lemons and rice

Frozen Lasagna

Sauteed Pork Chops w/apples over mashed potatoes

Shrimp Creole

11.26.05 Menu

We spent the holidays in my hometown of Hamilton, Ohio.   We drove up to Ohio from Durham, which was made much more enjoyable since we had a book on tape.  For this trip we chose Zadie Smith's new book On Beauty.  It was pretty entertaining, but I thought there was too much unresolved at the end.

I truly believe there's a radio rule in Ohio, as it seems like everytime I enter the state, Golden Earring's "Twilight Zone" is playing somewhere on the dial.  (This time it was playing on Classic Rock 92.5 The Fox)  There was also an abundance of Bob Seger, Van Halen and other assorted not so classic rock bands all over the dial  don't get me wrong, I'm not really complaining about this.   While I really love the radio in Durham & Chapel Hill, it can be fun hearing all that music from my childhood.  I just wonder if the people that never left the area get sick of "Night Moves" by Seger after all these years.

The other highlights of the trip were spending time with my family and seeing my friend Trisha, her husband Chris and their very cute little boy Robbie.

We arrived back in beautiful Durham Saturday evening.  Sunday followed and the menu needed to be made. Since we spent Thanksgiving in Ohio, we were without the benefit of bountiful leftovers.  It must also be noted that although Shrimp again made the menu, it was again bumped to the next week.  We also brought back some amazing goodies from Jungle Jim's in Fairfield.  Among them being Great Lake's Christmas Ale, a belgium beer, sparkling cider, gnocchi, Turkish Olive Oil, 3 cans of olives stuffed with anchovies, garlic, lemons.  The menu:

Sheppard's Pie  (we wanted to go meatless, but Whole Foods didn't have the right tofu)

Olive Pesto over gnocchi

Pizza Bread (comfort food = sub roll + pepperoni, mozzerella, provolone, marinara sauce & red onions)

Spicy Shrimp (didn't make it past the on deck circle)

Red Curry & rice

Roasted Whole Chicken w/mashed potatoes & orange glazed carrots.