04.03.08

the dirty dozen: food, folks, and folks as food

01 sexy dessert of the month, thanks to a foodie coworker: nigella lawson's chocolate guinness cake (which, in the absence of a springform pan, converted to two dozen cupcakes quite easily: i just knocked the baking time down to 25 minutes and used foil wrappers so that the damp cake didn't stick). i have apparently started seeking opportunities to make weird cupcakes, so i was right pleased when george enabled me by getting a new couch and finishing the entertainment center he's been "building" in "jersey" for the past few months: clearly, New Furniture Food was in order. from what nigella (in that inimitable soft-core way of hers) calls the "magnificent...damp blackness" of the cupcakes to the you-can-almost-pretend-it's-healthy airiness of the cream cheese frosting, i (and the admirers of george's furniture) heart the chocolate guinness cake. it's a lethal new addition to my tiny dessert arsenal, like a...new throwing star for a carb ninja.

02 from popular mechanics, the 10 most prophetic sci-fi movies ever (titled "10 best sci-fi movies ever" elsewhere on the page, which sounds about right for the pop mech boys). sample quote, from #8:
[T]he idea that the government would actually promote euthanasia—a concept that also shows up in Children of Men—isn't as easy to shoot down as human-fortified snacks. In Soylent Green, the suicidal are provided with a clean, comfortable room. As the poison kicks in, a montage of nature footage plays, accompanied by your choice of music.* Never mind the fact that your body is then unceremoniously dumped into a garbage truck and carted off to a heavily-guarded person-milling factory. Considering that the alternative is a world increasingly packed with sweaty Charlton Hestons, this might not be the worst—or least plausible—way to go.

every now and again i miss writing press releases about science.

03 speaking of food and violence, i bought bacon for the first time yesterday. i didn't realize i was a virgin until i was already underground at food emporium, hovering in front of the refrigerated packaged meat wall, trying to figure out what sort of pork product would complete me if i were joe's half of the black bean soup we planned to make for dinner last night. cured? center cut? apple-something-smoked? who asks their vegetarian wife to decide this sort of thing? i settled on "the kind that only costs $3.49 and comes in a small package," which seemed to work. internets, give your vegetarian wife specific instructions in situations like these. or, you know, buy your own bacon.


*raise your hand if this got you thinking of your "farewell cruel world!" music (much better than thinking of sweaty charlton heston). should one go with something lovely and soothing (blur's "you're so great," say), or something that makes the end a relief (john mayer's "your body is a wonderland")?

6 comments:

tom said...

Oh, the overacting of Charlton Heston. Snap poll: "Soylent Green is people!!" v. "You maniacs! You blew it up! (etc.)" There can be only one.

(I could come up with a competing line from Earthquake, but I cannot think of one right now, and believe that George Kennedy owned that movie anyway.)

On outro music: I actually have experience on this (of a sort). My last show as a DJ was a six-hour marathon, which I had planned meticulously, down to the second. The show was one of the best ones I have ever done as a result. But the last song was a folksy, wistful and totally forgettable tune that, in retrospect, was just too sappy for belief. But perhaps the sentiment was right, and only the execution of it was poor. Thus: mood music is fine, but quality trumps.

sharon said...

mmmm. i have to make cupcakes for my friend's birthday this weekend, and i was going to make the margarita cupcakes from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World ... but now i'm torn. either way, i'm baking with booze, so the weekend will be a good one.

also, baking bacon is intimidating even for omnivores. so many choices... i think you settled on the right one. when i ate meat, i liked the thick-cut kind, myself.

[not sure why "jersey" is in quotes. it's a real place, i promise.]

g said...

also, "building" is in quotes?

bite me.

g said...

the attach image feature in the comments seems to be made of failure.

let's try this:
clickyclicky

lauren said...

oh, "george." so "touchy."

babyjo said...

re: twitter log -- i loathe space mutiny, but some of the others are pretty awesome.