FatherAlabaster

Re: What's on your mind? Aww... But then you guys won't be name twins anymore!

Re: What's on your mind? Wish I could see them. Elizium is still one of my favorite goth rock albums, though I didn't get into the "heavier" stuff that McCoy was doing as The Nefilim. I could never stand The Mission, either, they just seemed so lame, especially compared to Sisters. What's FOTN's lineup now?

Funny you should say that, it's pretty much exactly what happened with my parents when I was young - my brother and I started in karate when I was ten, and my parents joined up shortly afterward. I'm turning into them... ha! It's great that you're so involved with cycling. I'm surprised you have time for it while you're in school. I know being competitive takes a lot of dedication. No way I could compete, I'm too big and my knees have suffered too much abuse.

Assembles real musicians, provoking envy.

I can understand cutting back on grain foods, especially given the impact that genetic modification has had on their nutritional value, but I wouldn't give them up completely. I've stopped eating anywhere near as much bread over the past couple of weeks, and cut out some sugar, also cutting back on alcohol. I can't be too zealous about it, though... I love beer...

Rating: life is good, beer and friends, art, music Slating: at the moment, nothing. It was a good day.

Inexplicably prefers Vittsjo

wants everything to make sense

I really dig EL-P's first two solo albums - Fantastic Damage is my favorite hip-hop album and would probably be in my top 20 albums ever. I also like his stuff with Company Flow, and a few of the other guys on his label, especially Aesop Rock - Labor Days is another classic, Float is really good, and I like a lot of his older self-produced albums as well. Sage Francis had some great material early on, although I can't listen to anything beyond Personal Journals anymore; Atmosphere has a bunch of great tracks and a huge discography; other guys I enjoy are Rob Sonic, Immortal Technique, Nas' "Illmatic", the first DMX album, and some RZA, especially ...as Bobby Digital. Never really got into the rest of Wu-Tang. I used to like Jay-Z, about 15 years ago, but he doesn't do it for me anymore. I got much more into hip-hop around eight years ago. I like it because the production can get very deep, so it's sonically very complex and rewarding; I actually do enjoy a lot of the lyrics as well; but mostly I enjoy it because it's a completely different type of listening. I've been a "metal musician" since I got my first electric guitar when I was 13, and I started recording myself around 14, so I have a hard time listening to metal without analyzing it to death. It's nice to be able to listen to something purely for enjoyment, as an uninvolved party, if that makes sense.

Endstille - Frülingserwachen

Re: What Are You Listening To? That's a very good album. I find I still prefer Obscura, but I agree with your take on it. Oddly I moved on to more Burzum. Filosofem seems to suit the atmosphere of the painting I'm trying to do for my album cover.

Actually my wife has mentioned wanting for us to do that as well, though there's no time or energy for that now. I used to do martial arts, and she practiced capoeira; those days are long fucking gone! I'm not in terrible shape, but I miss being more active.

Opeth, for painting all day: Ghost Reveries, My Arms Your Hearse, and Deliverance in a row.

All I've had is one serving of my shepherd's pie. Hungry again!

Now I'm imagining you guys dancing. This is good.

They're really good, very flavorful carrots. And they work nicely with the texture of the stew. And Ghouly's veggie porn didn't load on my phone here; all I saw was George Takei and the Goat Qveen.

Re: Strapping Young Lad

Re: Whatcha Eatin'? I was only using a figure of speech... unfortunately there's not much to see in real life. Parisian carrots are only about half an inch long. The good part is, you can fit a lot of them in your mouth at once. If you really like carrots. BTW Iceni, Ye Mighty Goat Qveen might be the least appetizing person ever... you're wet-blanketing the food thread!

Home! That's great. I wish I could visit my folks. So, how do you think you did?

Thanks, man! She'll be alright soon. Rate: Had a good night! Beer and food... Slate: Cold snap must have busted a pipe, my bathroom ceiling is leaking... Fuck.

Beef Shepherd's Pie pt 2 Now, you make mashed potatoes. I leave the skins on. You've been boiling the shit out of the potatoes, until you can easily chop them in the pot with your spatula. Strain them, put them back in the saucepan, and mash them - I do it by hand. Add a couple pats of butter, a few tablespoons of yogurt, around a cup of milk, and a bit of garlic, salt, black pepper. Don't go overboard with the flavor - this is just a topping. To that end, add a little bit more liquid (broth, milk, even water) if you have to - you want the potatoes to be a little thin so they spread out nicely without damaging the layer of stew underneath. Be careful about this. Too thick and you'll have chunks of potato drowning in stew; too thin, might be a bit too wet and not get crispy. Layer the potatoes carefully on top of the stew with a spatula. Try not to mix the layers together; spread the potatoes out evenly on top. Bring the topping to the edges of the pot. Sprinkle on some parmesan or whatever other cheese you like, maybe some bread crumbs - I used almond meal this time - and put it on the center rack of your preheated oven, at around 400F, for 45 minutes to an hour. Take it out, let it cool, and dig in. Food for your family for days. Worth every penny and every second spent making it.

Beef Shepherd's Pie Approximate! I like to do stuff by feel and proportion. This is a big recipe, designed to be baked in an 8qt pot (plenty of room left in the pot, but also plenty of food for a few days - worth the time and money). 8 qt pot, 12" frying pan, medium saucepan (for potatoes), spatula, knife Meat/Produce: 1 lb steak tips (or stew meat, but the steak tips are way better) 1 lb ground beef 1 quart broth (I like organic chicken broth, but had veggie broth this time and it was fine) 1 large yellow onion 4 celery stalks 1/2 lb frozen yellow corn 1/2 lb frozen peas *1 lb frozen pearl onions *1/2 lb frozen Parisian carrots (suck it Ghouly;)) 3 or 4 large brown or russet potatoes 1 cup milk 3 tablespoons yogurt maybe some butter Grated Parmesan cheese Gluten-free flour for thickening (regular flour is ok but the GF stuff works better!) -note: if you can't find the pearl onions or Parisian carrots, no big deal - just use one or two extra yellow onions and 4-6 medium-sized carrots. Fresh is better, I just used what I had. -second note - if you can't eat or find one of the veggies, no big deal. This is more about making a good stew with a good combination of flavors. Spices/Condiments: ketchup worcestershire sauce salt black pepper garlic cumin rosemary basil tarragon coriander paprika -note - again, do all of this to taste. If you don't dig it, don't use it, though you might be missing out. First step, pretty important. Brown the steak tips. They should be cut to around 1" - 1 1/2" cubes (around 3cm for you weirdos across the pond). I brown them in the stew pot (large flat bottom), but you can use a pan as long as you deglaze (which means getting some liquid in there afterwards to get the yummy burned stuff off the bottom of the pan - you dump this in the stew as well. Broth, wine, etc). Heat the pot or pan first, on medium high heat, with nothing in it. Once it's good and hot, put in 3 tablespoons of cooking oil (rice bran oil is a great high-heat oil). Then place your cubed steak in, leaving about 3/4" between the pieces. You'll probably have to do this twice to brown all your steak, but if you put them too close together or you don't have it hot enough, the pieces won't brown and the stew won't be quite as yummy. Once they're seared brown on one side, flip them over so they brown on the other. Cut up your fresh onions into 1" pieces - not finely chopped. Once all of the steak is browned, add a few tablespoons of ketchup to the pot, along with garlic, salt, and black pepper. You're making a kind of sauce. Let that cook for a minute, then add the fresh onions. Stir it all around and let them cook together in the bottom of the pot for a few minutes while you cook your ground beef in another pan. I added worcestershire, salt, and garlic to mine. As your ground beef is finishing up, your onions should have cooked enough as well; from here on in you'll just be combining stuff to taste. Add the whole quart of broth to the pot that has your steak and onions, and give that a good stir to make sure nothing's stuck. Once your ground beef is all brown, dump that in the pot as well. Keep the heat on medium high. Leave the pan out - you're going to saute some of your veggies as well. Chop the celery into pieces around 1/4" thick, and if you're using fresh carrots, do the same for them. Once these are chopped, put them in the pan to cook for a few minutes before adding them to the pot. Once the liquid in the pot is around boiling, add your frozen veggies, and add whatever fresh veggies you've got left. This is when you'd start adding more spices as well - start with around a teaspoon each of cumin and rosemary (ground or whole), a bit less coriander (ground), garlic and salt to taste. Be liberal with the basil, but stingy with the tarragon. Take frequent tastes of the broth as you're doing this. The corn and carrots will add a really nice natural sweetness to the broth. -note: If the cumin/rosemary/coriander has made it a little too bitter, don't be afraid to add a bit more ketchup to counteract it. The ketchup is really important overall - you don't use much, but it makes the flavors pop. You can substitute a bit of tomato paste. Once this all starts to bubble again, and you like the way the broth tastes, cover it. At this point, turn the heat down to low - just let it simmer for a while. The longer the better. There will be enough stuff in there to just barely start rising above the level of the broth, and you don't want to lose too much liquid (don't worry if you do, you can always add more). It should look like a very chunky beef soup. While that's simmering, boil enough water for three or four large brown or russet potatoes (they taste better). Once the water boils, put your potatoes in and leave them for a bit. Have a taste of the stew, and if you're satisfied with the flavor, it's time to thicken it. Sprinkle the flour on top of the stew a few tablespoons at a time, and mix it in while you're doing so. You do not want it to clump up. Mix after every addition, over the low heat, until it's reasonably stiff - you want it to take a while to settle, and no longer be runny. Don't go overboard. Once it's thickened and well-mixed, turn the heat off and let it set up for a bit. Start preheating your oven to around 400F.

Ahh shit, you threw up? That sucks! Sorry to hear it. They look good. Did you just knead the dough all together and put them on a greased pan? What temp?

Rate: my shepherd's pie is banging. Perhaps a bit overzealous with the black pepper. Slate: my wife has food poisoning and is laying on the bed in agony. Boo. (More for me... )