expanding my culinary horizons

September 24, 2003 by Eric Richardson

Well, not too far... A couple days ago I was at Ralphs in the frozen vegetable aisle, and happened to notice that they had breaded okra. Growing up in the south, I'm quite fond of okra when it's fried, so I bought a bag to try it out. Yesterday for lunch I made it, and I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised. Lacking a deep-fryer, I fried them in oil in a stir-fry pan. That worked out fine, though I'd cook them a little less next time. The breading was a bit on the crunchy side, but the okra inside was perfect. I was quite pleased. Between okra and butter beans I can put together a reasonably southern meal, though you won't ever find me buying collard greens.

it begins

September 17, 2003 by Eric Richardson

It's paper writing time. Due tomorrow, only 3 - 4 pages, contrasting Benjamin Franklin's ideals of self-creation and control with the writings of Edgar Allan Poe. I have a vague idea what I'm going to say, but I'm not sure what of the Poe stories we've read I'm going to use for my support. I guess we'll find out by tomorrow. I was pretty tired a little earlier, but I discovered chocolate covered coffee beans waiting on my shelf. This paper might not make sense, or it might be brilliant. It's a coin toss right now.

(Update: 1:24AM) I hadn't noticed that the last post was directly at midnight. It's now close on an hour and a half later, and I'm still reading. I figure I'll have read all the materials by 2. Then I would hope to have the paper itself done in an hour and a half (including time for a shower).

there and back in the same day

September 16, 2003 by Eric Richardson

On Sunday Kathy and I drove up the coast a ways to attend a wedding in the Bay Area. It was at Mount Hermon, which is between San Jose and Santa Cruz. Taking the 5 up and back, it ended up being five and half hours there and a little under five hours back. Only on the 5 is the average speed of traffic 85 and will you get passed even when you're going 90. Despite the drive it was a fun trip. I got see Joy Williams (whose sister was getting married). When I was 5 or 6 Joy was my first "girlfriend," but I hadn't seen her since then.

following the trail of guitars

September 11, 2003 by Eric Richardson

Rodney Branigan is in town, and I've seen him play three times in the last two days. Tuesday night it was at the Hard Rock Cafe in the Beverly Center, where he played the open mic. Last night was a double-dip, starting off when Rodney played a short set at USC's Campus Crusade weekly meeting and then continuing at The Cat Club later in the night. In the course of things I even managed to catch another friend, Lee Beth Kilgore, who was earlier in the Cat Club line-up.

If you're in LA, he's playing the Hotel Cafe on Saturday. Definitely come out to this. I can't quite describe the look on people's faces when they see his doing unnatural things with a guitar (or two), but it's something you really have to witness for yourself.

Read on for more about the last two days... — Continue Reading...

Post #100 of 2003

September 10, 2003 by Eric Richardson

So my newly redesigned archive tells me that this is post #100 of this year. It also tells me that in both 1999 and 2000, I posted exactly 159 times. In 2002 I came close, with 156. Today is day 253 of the year, so we're 69% of the way to 2004. If this year's pace continues, I'll only reach 144 posts. That equals a post about every 2.53 days. Hmmmm.... I should write more.