To everyone who matters in my life, past…and future.
Filed under: dessert, flickr, romance, the rules of attraction
January 28, 2008 • 9:55 am 0
Roast Pork Stew
Leftovers from the 4-hour Milk Roasted Pork and sweet potatoes I did earlier in the week, in 3 cups of beef broth, with chiffonaded Italian flat-leaf parsley and a handful of thyme, over a base of well-sweated onions, carrots and celery.
January 13, 2008 • 4:15 am 0
Replacement Andy
emergency replacement Andy Baio, at upcoming.org’s offices.
January 12, 2008 • 2:22 pm 0
bassic instincts
I’ve always loved Ibanez basses from the late 1970s and early 80s. Not only are they solidly built and eminently playable, they’re elegant and original — ironically, Ibanez started out as a lawsuit-engendering manufacturer of excellent Fender and Gibson clones.
When Fender and Gibson both went through a disastrous quality slump during the 70s and 80s — both due to their being bought by uncaring, cost-cutting conglomerates — Ibanez stepped up to the plate with higher-quality Japanese manufacturing and modern designs. Already experiencing success in the guitar market, with celebrity users like Steve Miller, Cheap Trick’s Rick Nielsen and Kiss’ Paul Stanley, Ibanez’ basses were adopted by many high-profile new-wave musicians, such as Sting from The Police and Graham Maby of Joe Jackson’s band.
While Ibanez basses are inexpensive and plentiful on eBay, having moved to cheaper Korean production for the most part, certain older models are now starting to command vintage prices – like the Roadstar II RB999 pictured above – were produced in more limited quantities, or only for certain countries. I managed to snag this particular bass (a deal, by the way) by carefully searching different cities’ Craigslist pages; and I also found an example of its curious low-end cousin, the RB666, which apparently was only sold in Japan and Europe; the one I got has a sticker from a German music store. Ibanez had a similar instrument in its high-end Musician line, the MC888 — rarer and more expensive still.
Being someone with small hands, these small-bodied basses are a godsend. I wish they’d put them back into production.
January 11, 2008 • 11:45 pm 0
I remember the sun
January 10, 2008 • 1:38 pm 1
Pannacotta
Although it’s really just cream, sugar, vanilla beans and gelatin, it can be a bit tricky to get right. My first attempt ended up not gelling properly even after spending a long time in the fridge, in an ice bath to try to speed up the cooling process. The instructions asked for the gelatin to be pre-dissolved in water before being added to the cream-sugar mix; I think next time I’m going to both double the gelatin portion and add it directly to the cream, and do it the night before to give it a good 12+ hours chill time.
