Recently in life Category

A friend turned me on to The Omnivore's Hundred which is a blog post about the 100 foods that every omnivore should try. The instructions were as follows:

Here's a chance for a little interactivity for all the bloggers out there. Below is a list of 100 things that I think every good omnivore should have tried at least once in their life. The list includes fine food, strange food, everyday food and even some pretty bad food - but a good omnivore should really try it all. Don't worry if you haven't, mind you; neither have I, though I'll be sure to work on it. Don't worry if you don't recognize everything in the hundred, either; Wikipedia has the answers.

Here's what I want you to do:

1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you've eaten.
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.
4) Optional extra: Post a comment here at www.verygoodtaste.co.uk linking to your results.

I also numbered the entries I hadn't tried yet. Those are the numbers to the right in parenthesis on some items. One item I couldn't find on the first page of Google results and the entry on Wikipedia seemed to indicate it was NOT something edible. I also added my own addition to the end which I think should have made the list.

A list of things and places I want to visit and see at some point. This will grow and shrink I'm sure. Mostly just wanted to make some notes. No comments, because it is mostly for me. :)

• Niagra Falls
• Glacier Bay, Alaska
• Dubai
• Yellowstone
• Glacier National Park
• Big Sur
• Death Valley
• Lake Mead & Hoover Dam
• Grand Tetons
• Denali
• Carlsbad Caverns
• Hawaii Volcanos
• Mammoth Cave
• Ozarks
• Sequoias (all over)
• Crater Lake
• Mount Ranier
• Grand Canyon
• Pearl Harbor
• Mount Rushmore
• Yosemite
• Cape Canaveral
• Key West
• Berlin
• Moscow
• New Zealand
• Bali
• Galapagos Islands
• Greece - all of the historical places
• Rome: Vatican, catacombs, coliseum, the Forum
• Venice: catacombs
• Sicily: hometowns
• Paris: MORE of the Louvre, old churchs, museums
• Ireland: County Galway
• London: MORE museums, museums, museums
• Amsterdam: MORE museums, museums, museums
• Barcelona
• Auschwitz
• Pyramids, Valley of the Kings
• New York City: the "gothic" place Lisa tells me about
• Bora Bora
• Great Barrier Reef
• African Safari
• Machu Picchu
• Swiss Alps
• Sydney Harbor
• Japan: Tokyo
• Prague: Castles!
• Canadian Rockies
• The Amazon
• Beijing
• Three Rivers Dam
• Hong Kong

I've invented Baked Potato Chips!!!

Preheat oven to 450
Yukon Gold Potatoes sliced on the mandarin slicer, one click less than 1/8" thickness.
Aluminum Foil on cookie sheet, shiny side up (for easy clean up).
Tablespoon of Olive Oil for Roasting spread around on Aluminum Foil.
Lay out chips one thick butting against one another.
Sprinkle Tony Chachere's Creole Seasoning on them.
Bake for 10-12 minutes (watch 'em for your version of done)

Peel them off and watch eat immediately (they cool VERY quickly). On my cookie sheet, I could get about 250 calories (2.5 potatos) worth.

Also tried some just with Kosher Salt and Freshly Ground Multi-corn Peppers, Tony Chachere's version was better, but Duke was happy to get a couple of the non-spicy ones.

I was recently updating my Yelp! Profile and it would not let me adequately describe the "My Last Meal" entry so I decided to expand it here. This is what I believe I'd like to have for a Last (or Dream) meal as of right now. Of course, tomorrow I might want to have something completely different!

1) Amuse-bouche: Raw Oyster Shooter (w/Cocktail & Horseradish Sauce and Lemon)
2) Starter: Prosciutto Wrapped Scallops
3) Thick Soup: Gazpacho w/Freshly Sliced Cucumbers
4) Thin Soup: Bonito Broth
5) Fish: Toro Tuna Sashimi w/Wasabi & Lemon Wedge
6) Antipasto: Prosciutto, Artichoke Hearts, Olive Salad, and Kalamata Olives
7) Pasta: Angel Hair w/White White and Garlic Sauce
8) Intermezzo: Raspberry Sorbet
9) Fowl: Quail stuffed with pecan & mushroom dressing
10) Mushrooms: Italian Wild Mushrooms
11a) Main: Dry Aged Chateaubriand (French Fillet Mignon) Steak & Lobster
11b) Main: w/Asparagus and Butternut Squash Vegetables & Russian Black Bread
12) Salad: Wild Greens Salad w/Aged Balsamic & Extra Virgin Olive Oil
13a) Dessert: Banana's Foster
13b) Coffee: Cafe Latte
14) Cheese: Stilton Blue Cheese & Water Crackers
15) Fruit: Watermelon, Cantaloupe, and Strawberries
16) After Dinner: Louis VIII Cognac with a Habana Cohiba

Well, tonight the Frederick Country Virginia Board of Supervisors voted 4-3 in favor of changing the Master Development Plan for our community of Sovereign Village. The change comes after we already have more than half the community built out. The plan creates a new community. A community not of the single family detached urban homes that we each bought into, but a community of single family detached urban homes with an extra special chewy middle of "multiplex" and "zero lot line" homes.

But WAIT say the developers (Manning & Ross) we've put those "zero lot line" homes in there so you don't get all of that multiplex goodness right up against your single family detached urban homes, isn't that just awesome of us?!? No it is not awesome of you, the word you are looking for is dishonest... or deceptive at best.

How do the elected officials represent their constituents interests in this matter? They vote to go ahead and allow the developer to make the changes of course! Now some of the ones that voted to make the changes are up for re-election; they have just gotten their opponents lots of campaign contributions. Great job guys! You mis-represented the wishes of the over 100 people who showed up tonight to speak against the change. Wait, aren't you supposed to be our elected representatives not our elected mis-representatives?

This decision has personally cost us financially. As you can see from the public tax records and new home listings the same model house on the same amount of land is selling for $460k in another part of the development; we paid $520k in May of 2005. Of course this is from the housing slump in general, our bad, we accept that. I accept my dumb mistake of buying a house in early 2005. Oh well, at least it shouldn't get any worse... right?

However, with multiplexes moving into the middle of the neighborhood there is no telling how much more this will effect our net worth. Already being down $60k in assets was pretty bad. Who knows how much more this will cost me. Now I have decided it is worth it to me to throw disposable income away now in fighting this tooth and nail.

And throw I will. I will throw thousands to whatever legal fund we need as an HOA, and I will be generous to the tune of thousands of dollars to the viable candidates running against the Board Members who voted YES for Developers, and NO for Homeowners in Frederick Country. Thousands in a county election should be very helpful to shine a light on our currently elected mis-representatives.

If you have a moment and could drop the Board of Supervisors a line I would appreciate it. Let them know what you think of their decision. My specific elected officials are the Chairman At-Large and the Red Bud Run District who both voted for the developer and against their constituents.

Frederick County Board of Supervisors:
Richard C. Shickle - Chairman At-Large (We can vote for him this year)
292 Green Spring Road, Winchester, VA 22603
(540) 667-2264, fax (540) 678-4484, office (540) 545-7312, email rshickel@shentel.net

Philip A. Lemieux - Redbud Magisterial District (Our rep, we can vote for him in a couple of years)
106 Dell Court, Winchester, VA 22602
(540) 722-3673, fax (540) 678-8253, office (540) 665-4938, email plemieux@visuallink.com

Gene E. Fisher - Shawnee Magisterial District
246 Bush Drive, Winchester, VA 22602
(540) 662-5238, fax (540) 662-5238, office (540) 665-4938, email gfisher@visuallink.com

Bill M. Ewing - Opequon Magisterial District
PO Box 27, Stephens City, VA 22655
(540) 869-5058, fax (540) 868-0072, email supervisorewing@yahoo.com

Barbara E. Van Osten - Back Creek Magisterial District (voted against, yay!; not seeking re-election, boo!)
103 Coopers Lane, Winchester, VA 22602
(540) 667-7673, fax (540) 722-0417, email bosvanosten@comcast.net

Gary W. Dove - Gainesboro Magisterial District
821 Apple Pie Ridge Road, Winchester, VA 22603
(540) 662-2734, fax (540) 662-5468, email garydove4@adelphia.net

Charles S. Dehaven, Jr. - Stonewall Magisterial District
2075 Martinsburg Pike, Winchester, VA 22603
(540) 662-7421, fax (540) 678-8828, email cdehaven@crosslink.net

Found a good place to write reviews of shops and professional service providers. They've been around since July 2004 and are now folks like me, out in the boonies, are starting to use their site for the Out In The Boonie Shops. Check 'em out!

Recent reviews by Jay M.

What's this?

UPDATE: You should check out my new Manning & Ross review!

Ten years ago today something wonderful happened.

So, I sit here early in the morning (well, GMT-5 early in the morning) on June 6th 2006. Actually, that date written like that is rather boring. Let's write it numerically... 6-6-06... and take a little liberty dropping the leading zero which any form other than a date we wouldn't bother with.... 6-6-6, and collapse the dashes to prove my point... 666. There we go. That is the number. That's the number that the book of Revelation tells all who will read it to watch out for, the number of the beast.

So, am I watching out? No, not really. I do however believe that some crazy somewhere might also be looking at that number and letting their little brain cells form some dangerous patterns that it is up to them to start armageddon for the rest of us. I actually decided to work from home today... my home is on the OTHER side of the Blue Ridge Mountains, AWAY from Washington, DC. Do I really think something will happen in DC today? I give it about a 1 in 20 chance of a crazy doing something... well, crazy.

The weather report called for 50 or so today. As I type I'm on my back porch enjoying the sun beating down in 63 degree weather instead. The birds are chirping and seeking, and there is a dog (not Duke) barking in the distance. Kids are calling out to each other, and the cars go down the road.

Of course, when the breeze comes by it is rather chilly, but then it passes and all is warm again. I see the houses across the street and wonder upon those owners. I wonder if they sat on their back porches on the first warm day after the winter in their new homes. Even if they did, I'm sure they didn't have a laptop with them. I've even more sure they weren't connected to the Internet, and of course no one would even think of posting to a blog.

However, the feeling that I have, that of satisfaction and happiness, and of finally taking the step to buy a place to live and call home... that feeling I am sure they had all of the years ago when they built. All of the years ago when they looked over here and thought to themselves, "look at that farm over there, wonder if the farmer was as happy as I am on the first warm day after the first winter when that farm came into existence."

I can't wait for my next house, when on the first warm day after winter I'll instead look out and not see any other houses and not think about anyone else and instead enjoy my solitude with no passing cars, no kids or dogs (other than perhaps my own) making noises that I can hear floating on the cool breeze. As much as I love this day, I look forward to the next and the next and of course the next.

Three years ago today I wrote this about four years ago.