Friday, January 28, 2005

On the trail of Good Eats III


(So where are we here? ummm boy takes advantage of his family always making good food. One day, watching revolutionary cooking show that makes cooking more like science sparks the inner cook in him. Manages to make himself pork chops sans e.coli. Now thankful for the creative force that brought him to his present culinary renaissance. Yeah, that about catches up)

So I was checking out Alton Brown, mastermind of Good Eats, at his website when I noticed that he was going on a book tour for his new book. One of his stops was in Corte Madera at a bookstore. Now that I work in Novato I thought maybe I could swing by after work to see if I can get an autograph or at least tell him that he saved me from dry pork chops. My wife was still sick though so on the big day I actually ended up going home early to help watch the kids. I told her my original plans and she insisted that I should still go...if I take at least one kid with me. Well my oldest actually knows who Alton Brown is so she was happy to come along (that and the promise of reading a lot of books at the bookstore)...

So we get there about 45 minutes before his scheduled appearance. There were chairs set up in front of a podium with about 15 people milling about with their books ready to be signed. There was no way my daughter (er...Hannah, she does have a name) would just sit and wait though so we retreated to the rear of the store where the children's books were. We sat on a chair set up back there for kids and read about every book that was within reach. I watched the room fill up in those 45 minutes quickly. The chairs were all taken...then some folding chairs were brought out for people...then all those were taken...then people were standing back with Hannah and I with the kids books...then people were standing around the corner where you wouldn't actually see Alton Brown while he was up front...and on and on...the place was packed. I didn't mind losing out on the good seats since I didn't really go to get front row seats and be a huge Alton groupie. Anyway he finally came out and thanked everyone for coming on a rainy night.

He had a few things he wanted to say (like how mad he was at the editors for misprinting his pizza dough recipe. There is a part that says children's aspirin when it should have said children's vitamin C. Brown himself is allergic to aspirin and he didn't like his own recipe being able to kill him. On the plus side I guess I have a collector's item. Like an error baseball card!). He mostly opened it up to questions about whatever. Most of the questions were about his shows (Good Eats and Iron Chef America) and a few had specific cooking questions that he helped out with. Then he made himself available to sign whatever we wanted for as long as was needed...He was pretty much what I expected. He is pretty funny and very personable. The line was already monstrous with all the people but he still took the time to talk to everyone that he met.

I knew that Hannah would not stand in that line for longer than 3 minutes so we stayed and read just about every book they were selling (need some kidsbook buying tips? contact me. I know some great pop up books now). We finally saw an end to the line and jumped in. When it was out turn he was still very friendly and thanked us for coming. I told him that Hannah and I had a card for her sick mom and Hannah would like him to sign it as well. He was happy to sign it and told Hannah that he was very sorry that her mom wasn't feeling well. We finally had a picture taken and that was that...

Now I am not real big on meeting celebrities. I am always worried that meeting the real them will only shatter what image I had of them and will only be disappointed. This time it worked out well and if possible, I might be a bigger fan now than I was before.
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Thursday, January 27, 2005

On the trail of good eats...

(In honor of the upcoming February sweeps, I am going to have a stunt of my own. You got to do what you got to do for rating, right? Gary Coleman wasn't available, so stunt casting was out. I decided to go with the second most used trick in the book - the crossover epidsoe. So in this multi-part post, you will also have to read the posts at...my other site! Shameless, I know...)

So I mentioned before that I watch pieces of a lot of shows. A regular stop of mine is the Food Network. Watching it has actual made me go and try some cooking on my own...Now some quick background (imagine the screen going squiggly and that whole flashback music....). My whole family cooks...except me. My parents are chinese, and they cook. My dad has worked at various restaurants doing various things for a long time and has learned a whole lot about cooking (ask my family, my friends, everyone likes to eat at my parents). My sister picked it up somewhere along the line and now she is the Martha Stewart of the family (er...without the conviction record)...I think being in that kind of environment just made learning how to cook...unnecessary.

When you hang out with my sister enough, you are bound to watch a lot of Food Network though. At first thought, I was like "That looks good, sis. Make me some of that." Then I discovered Good Eats...

Good Eats appeals to a lot of non-cooks, especially guys, like me. Alton Brown makes cooking so practical, so scientific. Instead of following instructions in a recipe, I now also know the whys of the steps. It makes cooking less about being a cook and more just using good scientific know how to produce food that taste good. I'm all about simple and delicious food. Anyway that show is great, and I'm getting hungry...

...on the part II...

Tuesday, January 25, 2005

A burger that really forces itself on you...

Ah got my Scrubs fix in today. I am a much calmer self....

I was at Fuddrucker's the other night with my wife and her family. I like their burgers, especially all the different meats that you can have. It may be low fat alternatives, but I just like the novelty of it. I like the Buffalo myself while my wife likes the ostrich...anyway so we walked in and I saw a sign for their new burger...a Kobe burger. Now I obviously know what they mean by that, but I stared at that sign for a minute, and my head pretty much exploded with so many jokes at once...So you will have to insert your own joke....here.

Really...Kobe burger?

(I know I know...I saw the title too...I couldn't help myself...)

Sunday, January 23, 2005

Rush Hour 3 this ain't...

My parents and sister went to Hong Kong recently so naturally I asked them to do some shopping for me. One of the things I asked for was the DVD of the new Jackie Chan movie, "New Police Story." I was surprised to find out when they came back and reported that it was sold out everywhere so they had to buy a pirated copy for me (I wanted to be legit and it didn't work, go figure). I was even more shocked to find that the DVD worked perfectly and things like subtitles and chapters even worked. Do they make the best cheap stuff in China or what?

Anyway I watched the movie last night and I liked it a lot. I'm glad Jackie Chan returns to Hong Kong to do stuff that isn't all slapstick. Now I admire his efforts to make his movies more artistic and fun (kind of like a Chinese MacGuyver, really. "Don't use guns! Just kick the crap out of people 15 times, tied them up with the coats, hop on their back and propel yourself into the next guy's chest... before they even turn around!"...well, maybe not), but it's good to know he can still be dramatic displaying some angst...and angst there are...the movie centers on Jackie Chan being the head of an elite team in the HK police. Their arrogance catches up to them though when some extreme-sports loving bank robbers lures them into a trap. Jackie feels guilt over the distastrous operation, takes a long leave from the police to be a drunk, until a new recruit gets partnered with him and tries to convince him to get it together and solve the case. Some parts of the movie is pretty intense for a Jackie Chan flick, especially the beginning when his team gets ambushed. I have to say though, the bad guys are regular boy scouts with the rope tying skills. They drag someone out of the room and they next thing you know they are tied up and hanging from the ceiling. All in all a really solid movie, with some great acting and yes, still the great action that is the signature of a Jackie Chan movie. Being a HK flick he does have more control (it was made by his production company, after all) to do things his way....probably the best pirated movie I ever saw.

Saturday, January 22, 2005

Driving in TV Land...

See what you get when you whine enough? I whined a few minutes about missing my favorite show, and I get blessed by the news that season one of Scrubs is coming to DVD...Maybe I should whine about not having a million dollars, or how I have to work FIVE whole days a week, or maybe just how I need someone to come mow my lawn for me...
I do find that I am watching more TV lately. Still not enough time to watch anything regularly, but I have finally seen some stuff that I have been meaning to for a long time. So here are some shows that I might watch regularly if I had TiVo:

- First off, I'd like to say that I am proud that I have never seen a whole epidsoe of any reality show. (Well, not since Real World San Francisco anyway...back when there was one reality show) I don't watch them for lots of reasons, really. Mostly because I think they are dumb. I get sucked in from time to time when I flip channels but then I realize I can never make the commitment to watch a whole season and see how things turn out so I don't bother. Besides, I have a reality show of my own called, "Watch my sometimes funny kids wreak havoc around the house."

- Chapelle Show - I do watch it whenever I find it on. I don't think there is anything funnier on TV as far as him pushing the envelope. That black white supremacist thing still has me shaking my head...

- Arresting Development - I finally watched this recently and I do agree that this is an excellently written show. It's really smart and unlike anything else on (reminds me of something I would watch on HBO...if I get HBO...which I don't). I still like the silliness of Scrubs better (which for the record, I do think is a notch less funny this season. I haven't really fallen out of my chair this season like I have in the past) but I should make time for this.

- The West Wing - I think I might be one of the last person on this planet to watch this for the first time. I liked it. While I have no idea what the storylines are I can certainly see that it's very well written and very well acted. Maybe I will find someone with the DVD and watch it sometimes...

- There are a few others that I catch whenever I find them on: The Simpsons (most timeless show ever), Family Guy (glad they are coming back. freaking hilarious), certain shows on Food Network (more later, I think my next post)...I definitely would watch more TV with TiVo because kids do not adhere to your TV schedule (Unless it's Sesame Street or Spongebob). Maybe I will whine about not getting my share of quality TV...wish can come true anytime now...I'll be home tomorrow between 9am and 1pm...

Tuesday, January 18, 2005

Channel surfing

Hmm not doing so well on that resolutions...let's rant with some fresh anger...

Arg...I just missed Scrubs. One of only two shows on tv that I actually make time for, and they changed the time on me. I was busy sitting in a dark room trying to get my daughter to sleep (not nearly as entertaining, by the way. Nothing against my daughter. The light was off, I couldn't even see her.) First I they were pre-empted by this Committed show and now they take over the spot. I watched this show here and there, it's ok. There are some funny parts but I am always weary of midseason replacements. Even if they are good they aren't for long (as Tom Postal just pulled his pants down, showing off lighted boxers). I haven't seen Scrubs in like a month, and there just isn't anything as funny on...at least I caught Las Vegas last night. ..

...Which is the other show I make time for. Why wouldn't I watch beautiful people in a beautiful place? As long as Nikki Cox keeps wearing the cleavage bearing outfits, I will be there. I will even ignore the conveniently invented surveillance technologies that happens to magically figure out who was cheating the casino (how many times have they made images appear on their camera that couldn't have been there? "We only got the back of his head, but we'll just scramble every pixel, put it back together, and there is his face!") Really, more Molly Sims in bathing suit and I'm good.

Monday, January 03, 2005

Oh yeah, it's New Year....

...almost forgot, Happy New Year! Hmm let see...this year I will...cure a disease or two...prove that Barry Bonds is just a fitness nut...win the lottery...and...post in my blog more often (got to have that one attainable one to boost the 'ol confidence)...Hope your year will be pretty good as well!

Movie night...

Found some time away from the kids to watch 'Spanglish' tonight (that and we got one of those free ticket thingies from buying an Adam Sandler DVD). I liked it. I wouldn't say I'm a James L. Broks fan, I like his movies ok. I do like that his movies really just look at people and their interactions with each other, especially family. The movie doesn't have a huge plot, just a single mom from Mexico who gets a job as a housekeeper for a dysfunctional LA family. At the same time there is a lot of little things that make up the movie. There are funny moments, poignant moments, a bit of a love story here, shows the clash of culture there. It was just a movie about life, albeit an exagerated version for entertainment purposes. Sometimes quieter movies are good. I'll watch something blow up tomorrow...

On a similar note I watched 'Garden State' on DVD last night. I am a huge Scrubs and Zach Braff fan and I was very impressed with his writing and directing debut. It's a great story about finding yourself and...well, see above. And that Natalie Portman....mmm a girl with a brain as beautiful as her face....anyway, watch it when you get a chance.