Chad Vader – Day Shift Manager

I guess now that the Star Wars series is over, Vader needs to pay the bills.

Episode 1

Episode 2

Proof That They Have Forums and Websites for Everything

“The Dented Helmet Discussion Forums (TDH) is a message board with a twofold intent: to provide a place for Boba Fett, Jango Fett and Zam Wesell (BJZ) fans to gather in a virtual setting and discus elements of BJZ costuming and to act as a central repository for useful BJZ costuming information.”

THEDENTEDHELMET.COM

Now, I wonder, does Jar Jar Binks have a fan forum? Oh my. Meeza thinks I’m gonna throw up.

An Exercise in Fruit Colors

Recently I started working on a web site project for a celebrity chef, who is known for her bubbling personality and specialization in spicy latino cooking. We decided that for the site design we wanted to incorporate the true colors of the foods of the Caribbean and Latin America. This past weekend I went out to Giant Market in Hackensack to photograph the exact fruits and vegetables you would find in Caribbean and Latino cuisines, so that we could color match them in Photoshop. Here’s some of the pictures and brilliant colors I got.

So, I Either Fathered a Ruthless Dictator, Or I Dropped The Bomb.

Although I also apparently resemble Vernor Vinge and Harold Ramis. That’s a relief, because I’d much rather be a famous Mathemetician/Sci-Fi writer or Egon Spengler from Ghostbusters. Nevertheless, the results are surprising and hilarious. That is, if you test out the facial recognition software demo over at My Heritage, an Israeli geneology site.

I’m not too thrilled about the Kim Il Sung thing, but it could be worse. I could look like Jennifer Lopez or John Travolta:

Or I could be David Duchovny or David Schwimmer. Something tells me they might get stopped by airport security sometime soon.

Do It Yourself Italian Ices

Over the last week or so I’ve been experimenting with making Italian Water Ice, or granita.

Essentially an Italian Ice is similar to a sorbet but its got a much higher water content. In the New York Metro area they are referred to as “Italian Ices” but they are very sweet, usually containing some form of corn syrup and I’m frequently disappointed with the tartness level, so I tried actually making some myself. What I’ve come up with is actually closer to a Sicilian Granita in that it has a very snowy texture.

Basically the formula I have been successful with is:

1 Quart of Liquid

1 Cup of Sugar

To this, I add a LOT of citrus juice and a LOT of citrus zest. So for a regular Lemon Ice, I will use the zest and juice of say, 5 lemons, added to 1 Quart of water.

Above is a Watermelon/Lime Granita and a Lemon/Mint/Honey Granita.

For the Lemon/Mint/Honey one, I used two quarts of water, zest and juice of 10 lemons (half the zest reserved) with 1 cup of sugar and 1 cup of honey, and a bunch of mint leaves with the stalks, that I heated in a pot until boiling, stirred until sugar and honey was fully incorporated, and then allowed to cool down. I then poured it thru a strainer into a large plastic container, discarding the solid elements. I then put it thru my ice cream machine to freeze, along with the reserved zest.

After freezing in the ice cream machine, it’s poured into containers and then allowed to harden in the freezer further overnight. To serve, usea big spoon to scrape up the granita until you get like a layer of snow,and then scoop up with a ice cream disher.

The watermelon one is slightly different.

What I’ve done here cut up approximately two quarts of watermelon, rind removed, and send it thru the blender (the trusty Vita-Mix) until pureed. It’s okay to leave the seeds in but don’t puree it so fine that the seeds get liquefied as well. After you do this, send it thru a strainer as above, until you just get watermelon juice left. You should get around a quart and an half of liquid, maybe a little bit more.

This you put in a pot, with 2 cups of sugar, and the juice of ten limes, with about half the zest as before. Cook until it comes to a boil, taste. If it’s too sweet, add some more lime juice and some more water. Allow to cool down, and then send thru the ice cream machine with the remaining zest to freeze. Pour into containers and allow to harden in the freezer.

By the way, you can make this without an ice cream machine, you just need large containers and the freezer space, where you can pour the cooled down mixture into. Every hour or so just give it a stir until you end up with like a slush, and then you allow it to harden. The texture will be a little different but it will still be very good.

Iranian Freedom Fries

TEHRAN, Iran – Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has ordered government and cultural bodies to use modified Persian words to replace foreign words that have crept into the language, such as “pizzas” which will now be known as “elastic loaves,” state media reported Saturday. The presidential decree, issued earlier this week, orders all governmental agencies, newspapers and publications to use words deemed more appropriate by the official language watchdog, the Farhangestan Zaban e Farsi, or Persian Academy, the Irna official news agency reported.

Iranian leader bans usage of foreign words – Yahoo! News

Summer Rolls, Makes Me Feel Fine… (II)

We’ve been having really record temperatures in Jersey this week, along with an insane amount of humidity. When it gets this hot, you need refreshing, light cuisine.

Back in May we made some summer rolls as well (see link for demo and recipe) but we didn’t have the benefit of our own grown produce from our own little vegetable garden. The difference in flavor of using your own fresh herbs and vegetables versus stuff you buy in a supermarket is dramatic, to say the least. If you don’t have a home garden, try going to a farmer’s market or a farm stand and getting stuff that was picked that day.

These particular summer rolls have leftover julienned steak, tossed in lime juice, fish sauce and red onions, rolled up with glass noodles, several kinds of mesclun greens, chives, basil, mint, cilantro, cucumber and carrot, most of which was grown in our backyard garden. The dipping sauce is some of the leftover peanut sauce from the other night’s Chicken Satay dinner, mixed with Hoisin sauce, a bit of Sriracha chili sauce, and some of the leftover juices from the sliced up/dressed beef.

Original Thomas English Muffin Oven found in Manhattan Apartment

In New York City, where buildings may have layer upon layer of construction dating back generations, it seems that behind any wall there could be tucked a bit of history — a tomb, a hidden staircase, a lost library — or something else. Mike Kinnane and Kerry McInerney peeked behind their basement wall and found an oven. A very old oven. And it belonged to a very well-known baker.

Do You Know the Muffin Man Was on West 20th Street? – New York Times

Goodbye, Rolling Rock.

LATROBE, Pa. – A line of trucks idled outside the loading docks at Latrobe Brewing Co. on Friday. In a few hours, they would haul away some of the last cases of Rolling Rock beer brewed here.

Latrobe says goodbye to Rolling Rock – Yahoo! News

Updated (8/08/06): Anheuser-Busch — the maker of Budweiser, Bud Light, Michelob and other beers — bought the Rolling Rock brand, the recipe for its mountain-brewed extra-pale lager and the entire Latrobe Brewing Company from the Belgium-based InBev SA company in May for $82 million. After weighing several options, said David A. Peacock, vice president for business and finance for Anheuser-Busch, the company decided to move operations to Newark.

Latrobe’s Fizzle is Newark’s Fizz — NY Times

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NJ Dining: Star Tavern

Star Tavern & Pizzeria
400 High St, Orange, NJ
(973) 675-3336

As I alluded to in a previous post about Kinchley’s Tavern in Ramsey I love a good bar pizza. Star Tavern in Orange is probably one of the better examples of this particular pizza style — nice crispy crust with good char, nice tangy sauce, good cheese distribution. The restaurant has that great old school tavern atmosphere that you find in great college towns.

Star Tavern storefront.

Star Tavern dining room.

Antipasto salad. Nice pile of sharp provolone with good pepperoni and salami.

Wings. The default sauce had a decent kick to it and clearly these wings were not from a big bag.

The plain cheese pie. I URGE you to resist the temptation to order a “special” pie or any other pie with toppings on it before trying the plain cheese pie first. The plain cheese pie is an exercise in pizza perfection simplicity. This is a very good example of when less is more.

Plain cheese slice

Nice char underneath.

Three cheese pie with sausage and meatballs. Very good, but as I said, get the plain first.

Slice of Three Cheese with Sausage and Meatballs.