the trinity kick

Honestly, how can I be expected to "create" in such a distracting environment?

I promise a meaty post once this hectic work week ceases. Thanks for stopping by.

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optimus prime takes over white house

As you may have heard, Barack Obama was officially sworn into office this past Tuesday. 

Does anyone else feel like the Autobots regained control over the Decipticons? The eight year vice grip that Bush Jr. and co. had over the country feels much like how the Decipticons would have run the country - lacking care about the planet and depleting our scarce resources, war mongering, overall deception.

And then Optimus Prime and the rest of the Autobot clan stormed the White House. The Autobots, stewards of humanity, guardians of Earth. Anyway, I'm going to have to look into this analogy a bit further. Some things don't jive. For instance, Bush Jr. does not have the leadership or mental capacity to play the part of Megatron. But I definitely see Dick Cheney as Starscream. Then again, Hillary Clinton in no way resembles the hot, chick Autobot. On the other hand, Condoleeza Rice for sure is a robot in disguise.

Hhmm. 

I just did some searching on this topic. Sure enough, there is already some online content about Transformer-American political party parallels. And I also just found the coolest t-shirt (already purchased) since I used to be a Sexual Ninja. So my idea isn't unique. Who cares. The collective intellect recognizes Obama as Prime. "Democrats, roll out!"

Anyway, a GreensandBrowns east coast correspondent provided some exclusive coverage of the mood in Washington D.C. over the weekend and leading up to Tuesday:

"2mln people.  traffic in virginia was light this morning.  but most people started the day at 4 am to get into the city.  parade starts at 2:30.  vibe in city has been fun this past weekend.  everyone generally in a good mood.  i thought that was gonna help me get some action but some things never change....."

(He is obviously not sold on Obama's "change" platform).

One botched oath and one thrilling inaugural speech hammered home that this is real. Really real. And now, the hard part begins. 

The Colbert ReportMon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

Stephen's Inauguration Breakdown

Colbert at Christmas
Colbert Christmas DVD

Green Screen
Bill O'Reilly Interview

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seafood paella

Don't buy shellfish late at night

ML and I executed a seafood paella from a recipe we found online over the weekend. An oversight on our part prevented this dish from being something truly spectacular on the GreensandBrowns menu. 

We shopped for groceries fairly late, and the majority of the 1 lb. littleneck clams purchased at Andronico's failed to open during the cooking process (they were dead). Thus, some of the clam juice that we expected the rice to soak up never occurred. Unfortunate, but I would still consider this a successful dish. The snapper and shrimp were nicely cooked and the saffron provided a subtly powerful aroma. We have a lot of leftover saffron threads for future use in Spanish/Mediterranean cuisine.

Funny thing, ML always tells me that she will be my 'sous chef' whenever I fancy a home-cooked meal. I somehow always find myself tasked with things like peeling shrimp, dicing and chopping vegetables, washing ML's feet, etc. Keeping to the basics...

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"we're just dancing"

ESPN recently compiled the best of their "This is Sportscenter" television promos into an hour-long special that aired over the holidays. Fortunately, they are housing some of the very best on their website as well which can be found here. There have been some classics over the years, but I think this one has to be my all-time favorite (unfortunately, I couldn't locate a better quality version on espn.com:

Dude, I'm not sure how Karl Ravich (right) got a hold of a go-to move in the GreensandBrowns clubbing arsenal, but let's give him a pass on this one. He's just dancing.

One thing on Gheorge Muresan: At the end of his playing career, his agent urged my uncle, a doctor in the greater Washington D.C. area, to sign a release clearing Muresan to play that would have allowed for him to meet a playing cause in his contract. Muresan's knees coudln't handle all of the stress from his body, but the agent didn't care. My uncle refused. That story is as accurate as I can remember - he told me about it like five years ago. This is the same uncle that preliminarily examined Joe Theisman after Lawrence Taylor snapped his leg like a twig.

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give me eleven

Remember this classic scene from This is Spinal Tap when Nigel Tufts explains the necessity to have an 11 on their amps? Ten just isn't enough sometimes, you know?

Well, I feel similarly in regards to the traditional high-fives that we all share. We convey enthusiasm by slapping our hands together one or two hands at a time. What can we do if the moment warrants something even stronger than a "ten"? There are occasional moments when putting up two hands to celebrate just won't do. Like when this happened:

Here is the solution:

Give eleven. Please note that only guys can share in this act. (Females must continue to participate in events that can equate to no more that an enthusiastic "ten". Of equal importance, you will be arrested if you try to give a girl eleven in public - and you will be confused when your eleven turns into a ten-and-a-half.) After something truly great happens (e.g. you just scarfed down a giant burrito, you just took a hot shower), look sternly at your "partner" and say, "give me eleven". Trust me, it'll confirm the magnitude of the moment.

Go back to the YouTUbe clip now. That highlight could only have been improved had Boom Dizzle started banging out elevens with his teammates. 

We miss you, Baron.

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redondo beach

Life Lessons on the Pinkberry Road

I fully expect Pinkberry to find this blog posting and offer me a job (or at least a free frozen yogurt).

ML and I were down in southern California over the weekend for a friend's baby shower. We had no choice but to attend this event as the expecting mother told us that a no-show would result in life banishment (from all of southern California). Under no circumstances would I be ok with any sort of life banishment, except possibly to maybe, I don't know, a baby shower.

The Pinkberry Road - Redondo Beach (Day 1). ML's terrific memory guided us towards a Pinkberry she had been to in Manhattan Beach. We drove there immediately after we picked up our rental car (sweet Chevy Cobalt!) but did not make it before close. We thought that my first Pinkberry experience would have to wait another day until we spotted another one just a couple of miles down the road. 

I should preface by saying that I have only recently become a fan of the current frozen yogurt craze. When I first put the tart desert in my mouth, I wanted to throw it against a wall to make sure no one would continue to eat it and get sick. "It's gone bad. Don't eat it!" I exclaimed. And then, I slowly started enjoying the sour taste. Those crazy Koreans, my people are so smart.

I expected the Pinkberry experience to be exactly the same as the ones that the Bay Area offers (which would mean that it's in fact worse because of all the hoopla that surrounds it). I couldn't imagine that its imitators hadn't been able to mimick Pinkberry's gold standard. I was very wrong. The yogurt is vastly superior to the ones I have previously tasted. It really is. When John Lennon hauntingly sings "I'd love to tu-rn...you...on" on Sgt. Pepper, I think he was talking about Pinkberry. I felt enlightened. The world can be healed through the simple flavors of these frozen delights.

The Pinkberry Road - Manhattan Beach (Day 2). I am wondering how many more co-ed baby showers are in my future. I just don't see how adding men into the mix makes for a better event. Wouldn't the ladies rather have one afternoon in which they don't have to think about how disappointing their lesser halves are? At the last co-ed shower we attended, the guys played poker while the mother-to-be opened her gifts. This time around, the men protested the gift-opening ceremony by organizing a sit-in in front of the TV that happened to be playing the Titans-Ravens playoff game. From what I could remember, the parents-to-be received a beautiful  7-7 halftime tie for their baby.

The shower wasn't as bad as I'm making it out to be. In fact, it was more a party than anything else. The hosts catered a solid spread of Korean food and brought in some hired guns to prepare made-to-order tacos. They also provided a bounce house that ML took advantage of.

We both felt a bit heavy after all of the food at the shower and needed to cleanse our palates with our second Pinkberry run, this time in Manhattan Beach. I opted to go with the green tea varietal with no fruit toppings. This was ok, but I don't believe that I will abandon the original anytime soon. I felt immediately rejuvenated, cleansed.

We had dinner with two of ML's college buddies at Japonica, a Japanese restaurant about a mile south of our hotel. The food was solid, nothing spectacular or creative, but generally good. The dining area is comprised of intimate booths that allowed for some serious catch-up among the ladies while I pondered whether our waitress would be willing to fetch a Pinkberry for me. 

I left the gab fest to catch up with a high school buddy of mine, Seancy, at a local dive bar. Seancy is an established writer with stints on NBC's The Office and ABC's Miss Guided (cancelled). His talent for the written word can be traced back to our teenage years when we used to tear it up at our high school newspaper, The Charger Account (and by 'tear it up', I mean the usual: meeting print deadlines, posing for year book photos, and generally dominating cover to cover).

I learned that our newspaper advisor, Mrs. O, finally lost a lengthy battle to MS. She was a wonderfully snarky lady that pretended to be disapproving of our frequent shenanigans. My thoughts immediately shuffled through visuals of her and her walking cane. She didn't openly discuss her illness but never hid from it either. Still, the news jarred me. I am wondering now how many people I have known in my life that have already passed as well, and how many I will simply never see again. A sobering thought. 

Celebrating new life, mourning death, it's just a different stage of life. This was turning out to be a valuable trip.

The Pinkberry Road - K-Town (Day 3). 

During dinner the previous night, one of the girls recommended Park's BBQ for some K-grubbing. This was an excellent recommendation as we feasted on unmarinated kal-bi and dol-sot bi bim bap. Both of these offerings might just be the best I've ever had. 

We felt that the only appropriate way to conclude our short trip was to hit up another Pinkberry, something our taste buds could cherish until Pinkberry erects a franchise in the Bay Area. By the glory of God, we found one just a few blocks away (God's glory = over 60 Pinkberrys in southern California). 

One bone I need to pick, however: 

• A small cup costs $2.95 + $0.95 for each topping
  
• A medium cup costs $4.95 and includes three toppings

Thus, a small costs nearly $1 more when you fill your cup with three toppings. This does not make sense to me. This is like paying less for a three topping medium pizza than the smaller size. Shouldn't the small and three toppings add up to like $4.75, thus keeping it lower than its larger counterpart but more expensive by the ounce? Have they done enough primary market research to determine that those that opt for the smallest size very rarely choose all three toppings? Or did that same research prove that the perfect size is the small but consumers perceive the medium to be a "deal" and select the medium without being able to finish it (ML did not finish 2 of 3 servings). I am not sure why I am so concerned about this. My head will explode if I think about this any further. 

(I am sure to think about this some more once the frozen delights make their way up the coast.)

So there it is, some life lessons on the Pinkberry Road. At work, I eyed my boss' yogurt and toyed with the idea of pilferring it and freezing for a couple of hours. Would that work? After dinner tonight, I broke out into a cold sweat, crumbling to the floor in the fetal position needing some of that creamy frozen yogurt.

We watched ML's bag being boarded on the plane.

That's never happened to you.

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la fondue - saratoga

ML and I went to La Fondue in Saratoga for New Year's Eve with Laser and Laser Girl. This was the first time we saw Laser Girl since the Great Pacific Ocean Hunting Debacle of '08. Things seem to have settled down since that epic disaster, and I'm happy to report that the Lasers are doing quite well.

ML and I had been perusing for a quiet dinner and the four course pre-fixe menu seemed attractive at $80. This also displaced us from the usual San Francisco NYE hang, and was a welcomed change. Fortunately, the establishment was kind enough to honor their Mon - Wed no corkage fee policy on NYE. Laser provided the wine, a bottle which he eventually revealed to be in the $5.50 - $6.00 price range. For some reason, I enjoyed the wine less after learning of the price. Oddly, Laser himself claimed that this particular bottle must have been produced from a poor "batch". What are the odds we would pluck a bottle from the lone poorly-crafted batch from this fine vintage? We'll chalk this one up as bad luck...

The pre-fixe menu offered a white dipping cheese that consisted of crab meat, swiss cheese, gruyere, garlic, and champagne. It was pretty terrific; I think I could have dipped my own toes in the concoction and that would have been good as well. Fondue spots demonstrate that everything should be dipped in a cheesy medley. 

We had a bit of trouble preventing Laser from doing his best George Costanza impersonation. I personally think it added to the overall flavor. Yum!

The lobster tail was easily the highlight of the main course, followed by the prawns. 

The only issue I have with La Fondue is that the proteins are not seasoned. Patrons are meant to rely on the various dipping sauces, but without salt and pepper to start, you don't end up with exactly what you should be tasting in my opinion. I do enjoy a self-grill as much as the next guy but it's a bit too dark in the restaurant to know how much salt and pepper to apply.

Now, I think the only logical thing to do is to purchase a fondue set of my own. It's a practical appliance, isn't it? Apparently, any variance of a cheese, alcohol, and garlic mixes into something truly exquisite. What else can make a six-pack of Budweiser and a package of Velveeta cheese appealing?

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christmas card, 2008

GreensandBrowns forgot to wish everyone a Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Happy New Year...

Is it still the holidays? My worth ethic suggests this is the case. Please enjoy the G&B card.

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