More Songs About Buildings and Avoiding People

Occasionally I read some epistle on the web bemoaning how technology is alienating us all. One example, the coffee shop that has shut down wi-fi on weekends because too many people were staring at their laptops instead of chatting with each other. Another is the now frequent charge that people using iPods to listen to music in public spaces are antisocial.

Guess what, folks? We were antisocial before the gadgets came along. I hate, hate, being at some public function, where I am sitting quietly enjoying the people watching, only to be approached by some nit who decides to 'rescue' me from my isolation by trying to rope me into some banal conversation. I would use my iPod as a buffer everywhere, except that even I sometimes think it would be inappropriate.

Sitting on a bench outside Renee's school, waiting for a ride, is not one of those occasions, though. I was able to relax and decompress to the soothing sound of Maaya Sakamoto on her singles collection, Hotchpotch. It reminded me of all those times I was standing at the bus stop in Akron, Ohio, listening to Camper van Beethoven on my portable casette player. Of course, then I thrashed about with the music, which served as an even better buffer to human interaction than the headphones.

Invisible Parent

This evening was a Parent's Night at Renee's school, where you meet your child's teacher(s) and get the buzz on how they do the things they do in the coming school year. It started around 7:20pm, Jean dropped me off at 7:15. She and Renee went back home since it was ostensibly just for parents (how's that supposed to work, if both parents want to come?). I found Renee's desk, and sat down, looking over her textbooks, scoping out the wall decorations, and finally, playing PalmJongg until the other parents settled in and the talk began.

Now understand, by 7pm I'm generally pretty done. My day is over, I'm pondering the day's events, kidding with my wife, and unwinding, in preparation for the next day. So I'm pretty toasted, and endeavoring to take a note now and then when some point comes up that seems important and is not on the preprinted outline, is a major effort. When Mrs. Houtz asks if there are any questions, I'm thinking "no, let's all go home now", but of course there are several questions, none of which interest me. I sit silently, pencil in hand, trying to look engaged.

Finally, it was over, and I'm making my way out of the room, thinking only of calling Jean to come pick me up again. Out of my peripheral vision comes Renee's other teacher, Mrs. Kronsub, hand extended. "Nice to meet you," she says. I reach out, grasp her hand, try to smile, mumble something, then turn around and continue walking. It's really only now that it occurs to me that she may actually have wanted to engage in some sort of social chit-chat. Oops.

So those of you who know me and are secretly wondering if I ever shut up, this is an example of how I always behave around people I don't know. Mr. Introvert. The Invisible Parent.

Creme Brulee!

After receiving positive feedback on my fourth batch of creme brulee at Tom's gathering, I thought I'd write down the specifics of the recipe and how I modified it. This will serve as well as a placeholder I can point Max to, since she expressed an interest in the recipe. Credit where credit is due: the original recipe comes from The Best Recipe (pages 525-526), one of the many fine books from the editors of Cook's Illustrated magazine. I highly recommend this book, their magazine, and their television show, America's Test Kitchen. What follows is that recipe, modified over four trials, to get the results which resemble the dessert I had at McCormick and Schmick's.

I have four ramekins, each holding between 6 and 7 ounces (bought by my wife at Fred Meyer's). This turns out to be just right for the amount of custard produced by this recipe. Find an oven safe pan that will hold the four ramekins and enough water to reach the halfway point on each ramekin. Place a small dish towel in the bottom of the pan, and fill with hot water. Place into an oven and preheat to 295 degrees (the book calls for 275). Let the oven reach equilibrium.

In a large bowl, place six egg yolks. I save the egg whites in a separate container and make a fried egg sandwich the same day as my prep work. Whisk the egg yolks by hand for a couple of minutes. I'm not sure why this helps, but it does. Next, add six tablespoons of sugar. Whisk the sugar in until it is evenly distributed. Finally, add one and one half cups of cold heavy whipping cream. Whisk till there is a bit of air in the mixture, but don't try to whip it. When the mix is even, place it in the four ramekins (you can butter the ramekins with unsalted butter if you want to. The recipe calls for this, but I discovered that it didn't seem to matter}.

Gently lower the ramekins into the water bath, called a bain marie. Set your timer for 45 minutes. When the time has elapsed, check the ramekins. The mixture should still be loose in the middle. If it is not, you've overcooked it and should stop. If it is very loose, rotate the pan and continue cooking. In my oven, I found that an additional 15 minutes, for a total of an hour, seemed to give the best results.

While you're waiting for the custard, get out a cookie sheet, and line it with aluminum foil. Place four tablespoons of brown sugar on the foil, and use the tines of a fork to gently separate the sugar and spread it about the cookie sheet. When your cooking time is over, remove the bain marie, but leave the custards in the water until it gets close to room temperature. Turn off the oven and place the cookie sheet into the oven for twenty minutes. This dries out the brown sugar.

When the custard has approached room temperature, remove it from the water, and cover each ramekin with cling wrap. Place in the refrigerator overnight. Remove the brown sugar from the oven, and scrape it all into a sealable plastic sandwich bag. Roll a rolling pin over the bag until the brown sugar is a fine powder. Set aside until tomorrow.

The next day:

When you are serving dinner, sprinkle equal amounts of brown sugar evenly over the tops of the custards, and place the ramekins on a cookie sheet. Set your oven on broil and place the cookie sheet directly under the broiler. What happens next depends on your oven, how thickly you've spread the brown sugar, and whether the gremlins have visited overnight. Anywhere from one to three minutes will be required to caramelize the brown sugar. Take it out too soon and you get a gritty agglomerate on top of your custard. Leave it too long and you get carbonized sugar, which is not generally appetizing. Once you remove the ramekins from the oven, give them a couple of minutes to cool, then put them back in the refrigerator for thirty or forty minutes, to really crystallize the sugar. Then you can serve them. Be aware that if you leave the sugar capped ramekins in the frig more than a couple of hours, the custard will begin to absorb the sugar and make it soggy.

That's all I recall that went into fine tuning the recipe to work with my equipment. I fully expect that your experience will be different from mine, so be prepared to try a few times rather than giving up and assuming I've sabotaged the recipe to retain trade secrets.

Jerked Chicken

Jean found a recipe for jerked chicken in some magazine and we fixed it up this weekend. The main concept is a spice rub, applied both under and over the skin of a whole chicken (though cut into pieces). There was nutmeg, allspice, cayenne, salt, pepper and I don't remember what else. All this gets mixed in with olive oil and lime juice, then smeared onto the chicken, which is then baked at a high heat on a bed of scallions.

The recipe also mentioned a corn bread with scallions and minced jalapeno, so Jean made that part.

We served it up for lunch, with lime wedges for the chicken. It was a very interesting dish, but perhaps too spicy to do very often. By spicy, I don't mean hot, just bathed in spices. That gets a little overwhelming after a short time.

Biking Field Trip

Renee and I went to Champoeg Park today, with our bicycles on the rack. We rode the bike trail there for around ninety minutes. The curves, slopes and pathside drop-offs kinda got to Renee, I think. There was also a lot of bike traffic in both directions, and she had to get used to sharing the road, something she didn't have to do down at my workplace. As a result, ninety minutes was enough for her.

I'm not going back there the very next week, but we'll consider it for an occasional biking treat. My friend at work, Burr, also recommends Willamette Mission park, though it's maybe twice as far to drive. We'll see if that one's in the cards, before the rains come...

At Long Last

Five whole weeks have elapsed since I last attended a NOVA meeting, my usual outlet for socializing. Well, this Saturday was not a NOVA weekend, but it was the weekend of the Tom Jansen soiree. For all I know, it's still going on. Folk from up North came down to visit with Tom for the whole weekend, and I was invited. I'd been looking forward to it for weeks. I'd also been crossing my fingers, as I had no idea when Jean was going to get a job, and if she did, what her shifts would be. But luck was with me, and I was able to go.

I took my fourth effort at producing creme brulee, four ramekins of creamy custard. I also took a couple batches of my favorite homemade salsa. Both were appreciated. In fact, I've now got independent feedback that my creme brulee is actually pretty good. I feel vindicated, and I can now stop making it.

We watched Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, sat and talked for hours, and sampled Tom's bottle of Balvenie Portwood, which, by the way, is an excellent Scotch.

Adam, Max and Brian (and their offspring Ethan) were the Northern Contingent. Alan was the other local. Thanks to Max, I now have a loaner copy of 2046, over which I'm tickled, as I'm a big Wong Kar Wai fan. I also bought a copy of Bayside Shakedown on Max's recommendation. I added two that were on my list to the order: Magic Kitchen and Breaking News. These were both on my AX2005 shopping list, but I had to pass due to budget constraints. Now I got 'em! And they arrived the day of Tom's shindig, so I could give Max her copy of Bayside Shakedown. How's that for timing?

Anyway, next weekend is the NOVA weekend, and is elections for club officers to boot. And I most likely won't be able to attend, as Jean is starting her first weekend shift then. So for this weekend I am very grateful.

Nurse Jean

Jean got an offer for a nursing job today! She starts training next Monday. Her shifts will be three days a week, every other week, for starters. Sounds like an interesting if busy place, and she'll be able to practice a variety of skills. I'm very happy for her!