Beer-butt chicken

I'm a simple type of guy who likes to make food that's relatively simple. The other night, i made beer-butt chicken.

It's great, cheap, and super easy.

Ingredients
1 whole chicken fryer
Chicken Rub (any kind, Emeril, Lawry’s is especially good and local)
1 can of beer (1/2 – 3/4 full)

Directions

1. Remove the insides from the chicken
2. Wash inside and out with cold water, pat dry
3. Apply rub to the chicken (before you apply the rub, you can coat the skin with some softened butter if you want...mmmm butter)
4. Insert the can of beer into the chicken
5. Stand the chicken upright in a baking dish/pan, use the beer can to balance it
6. Cook at 350 for 1 ¼ -2 hrs (These are oven instructions. Also, if you have 3 hours It’s even better at a low heat on the grill or in the oven at 225-250)
7. Cook to internal temp of 180.

Songs of december

Here are my top five songs of December. The following five tracks are five songs that I've been listening to over and over on my playlists. I think I'd been listening to a little too much Indie Rock so December was an electronica/club month. I know it's a bit cheesy, but what better time to indulge than over the Holiday season.

There are some you can download of blogs but others... sorry, you gotta buy the album.

1. One Republic - Apologize (Lil Jon Remix): My sister showed me the original during our trip to Turkey. Found this remix while surfing through my blogs. It adds a tinge of electronica. I like to blast this song in my apartment and try to dance to it. Yes, this is my guilty pleasure and anthem of the month.
   
2. Cake - The Distance: Oldie but goodie. Found it in and for some reason the intro just hooks me
   
3. Justice- D.A.N.C.E. (Benny Blanco mix Feat. Mos Def and Spank Rock): This year's party anthem takes a nice twist curtsy by Mos Def. When driving home after a looong night, nothing better than Justice brining you home.
   
4. Tegan & Sara v. Etienne de Crecy - Walking With a Ghost in Paris (2007 Remix): A Party Ben mash-up. For me this was going back to my roots--a bit of club Frisco style.
   
5. Sam Sparro-Black and Gold: I first heard of this song from MOKB and immediately fell in love with it. Recently, I've been listening to it on my drives out of Chicago. There's something about the beat that energizes me. It's like some underlying pulse that keeps the blood pumping.
   

What's the deal with helvetica?

So I recently watched Helvetica on my laptop (I love streaming movies from netflix). It's a documentary about the ubiquitious font type we all come to know. After watching the film, I couldn't stop seeing the font type screaming into my face. It's like when K pointed out the arrow in FedEx (in Helvetica, btw)--that's all that I could see.

I started to look at fonts a different way when I visited the Design Museum London back in 2006. Not only did I get to see the original Times New Roman font, but they also had an exhibit on redesign of the Guardian. Then and there I learned that fonts can help you convey meaning--like a well laid soundtrack in a film.

To that end, I was really excited to check out the film...The Chicagoist and a lot of the reviews went crazy over the film... It went broke box office records at the Gene Siskel Film Center here in Chicago... But honestly, I don't see what the fuss is all about

Don't get me wrong, it's a solid film--the structure and composition of the documentary explored not only the history of the sans-serif font, but it carefully showed the cyclical nature of society's embrace and rebellion against ideas and philosophies--but it didn't rattle me to the core like I expected. A great documentary reveals and changes your frame of thinking as the story develops. This film tried to give you all sides of the story, but didn't lead the viewer to discover the paradigm shift but rather told us another point of view.

Rating:(3/5)

Loonie arbitrage

Over the summer, I spent a couple days visiting my family in Vancouver. As we visited the area, K and I were surprised how expensive things were (and this was before the loonie caught up with the greenback). My aunt mentioned that it wasn't unusual that people would come down to the US to do their shopping.

According to a news article, its so prevalent that:

At the Fashion Outlets mall just outside the city of Niagara Falls, managers have placed collection bins near the exits where Canadians customers can deposit their unwanted items.

Business is booming for a lot of border towns as our friends up north are cashing out at parity!

Chain digressions

Countless hours have been wasted as I learned how to play chain factor. Whether its the simple game play, clean layout, or the upbeat background music... I'm now 2 hours older than when I first sat down.

No country for old men

I finally got to see No Country for Old Men this past weekend. After all the hype from my friends, I trudged up to the Landmark Century Centre Cinema. After wading through the insane crowds (it was Juno's opening weekend), I was pleasantly surprised that the small theater was completely packed.

The Coen brothers have created another hit. Set in the Lone Star state, the nihilistic thriller is about the a cascade of events that is often beyond our control. Inertia builds as Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin) finds money from a drug deal gone wrong. As Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem), a sociopath killer with a beatles haircut tracks down Llewelyn, the local sheriff, played by Tommy Lee Jones attempts to catch up with the two in the hopes of preventing the inevitable. As the story unfolds, you're pulled into a round-robin cat-and-mouse chase.

As it relates with faith, each assumes a different perspective: Llewelyn tries to change his, Anton believes that he is just a messenger of it, and Ed Tom Bell (Mr. Jones) attempts to catch-up with it.

As the supporting cast meet their untimely demise at the hands of Chigur, they all plead, "You don't have to do this." As they attempt to change fate, Chigur represents the heavy hand of the tide that can't be changed.

Rating: (4.5/5)

Fowl business

I had heard so much about a TurDuckEn and at a holiday party last year, I got my first taste. There is something about the layers of Turkey > Duck > Chicken that scream of excess. Course Thanksgiving and Christmas are times when we should be counting our blessings with mirth and cheer.

According to the Daily Mail, Anne Peche has Devon, England has created a 48 bird (12 different species) monster.

It contains about 50,000 calories and takes more than eight hours to cook in an industrialducksized oven.

Anne, who runs the Heal Farm shop near Kings Nympton, said: 'The True Love Roast has a bird for each of the 12 days of Christmas.'

Feast your eyes on this monstrosity:

dark night trailer is out

Woke up this morning, stumbled to the shower, brushed my teeth and trudged to work. Venti in one hand, my mouse clicked through the morning blogs...

It was then I saw a link to the Dark Night trailer.

http://www.atasteforthetheatrical.com/deathtrap/default.htm

We were blown away at Christian Bale's strong performance in the first film. But from the trailer, it looks like Heath Ledger is going to own the Joker persona--looking and sounding nothing short of the villian that will haunt the nightmares of little children. There's a certain cadence in his voice and a playful psychotic demeanor.

I can't wait.

How many five year olds...

... can you take on at once?

A couple years ago, this very question consumed my entire group in the office. We spent precious office time discussion different variables and scenarios. Could we use the 5 year olds as weapons?

I had thought the question first posted on 2+2 forums was a part of my past. But last night, my friend sent me an online survey that breaks it down by physical prowess, training, swarm-combatting experience, and the flexibility of your moral compass.

Here are the ground rules:

• You are in an enclosed area roughly the size of a basketball court
• There are no weapons or foreign objects
• Everyone is wearing a cup (so no kicks to the groin)
• The children are merciless and will show no fear
• If a child is knocked unconscious, he is "out." The same goes for you.

You can take the survey here:


According to the survey, I can take up to 25.

salmon onigiri

Chicago is starting to get festive. Despite the blizzard last night, people came in droves to K and my holiday party. We weren't expecting more than 5 people, but we had a healthy 20.

Since moving here I've felt always one-step off with the world. Last night spoke volumes of what can be. I'm excited.

K went crazy as usual whipping up a frenzy of treats. But not to brag or anything, but i rolled up my sleeves and contributed as well. We made salmon onigiri balls. We put the nori strips in a tall shot glass. The idea is to have everybody use it as a "napkin" to pick up the rice.


We also made mozzarella and cherry tomato halves:
Yummy! ok, well now we have a ton of clean up to do...

Making sushi

Over the thanksgiving break, I spent a lot of time playing the Wii. Good luck if you think you're going to be able to get one... Nintendo didn't expect the demand for Wiis to be as high as they are... That said, I spent some time playing Cooking Mama:Cook Off. If you're into those games, you'll like the game below.

I just found myself fixed on this game for at least 20 minutes.. ok, ok, 30 minutes. Something about food games that gets me all transfixed.

Gimme my dark knight!

The reviews for Heath Ledger for the upcoming new batman film has been tearing up the blogosphere and forums. From his voice, his motions, his acting, and his makeup... i've been scouring the Internets for information.

From what I hear, before i moved here to Chicago, they filmed bits and pieces outside of my apartment complex. Woe is me!!!!!

Oh, what did I do on Sunday?!

I went to Ikea this weekend. I am still have nightmares of the place.

So to compensate, please check out this ad from lifesavers:

Update:
I've decided to post before and after pictures of my weekend escapes.

This was me as I walked in; notice how happy I am

This was at the end of the night. K getting impatient and wanted me to get in the car.

Welcome to chicago

I've been in Chicago for a couple weeks now, but to be honest, I haven't really had a chance to do much. It's been heads down at work and a lot of traveling (spent 10 days in San Diego for Thanksgiving and flew straight to DC for a week of work).

Last night, I had the opportunity to go do a little exploring. I visited the West Loop area:

View Larger Map

Starting off the night, i visited the G2 gallery. The gallery is operated by the SAIC (School of the art institute of chicago.. yes a lot of ofs). After a semester four courses presented their curated material. I've always had a soft spot for student exhibits. It's like a box of chocolates, you'll never know what you're going to get.

But the highlight of the night was the food. We walked north to Randolph street and on a whim went into de cero. The slick latino-chic decor embedded saucy energy into the atmosphere. The food took traditional roadside flair and added a modern update to it. The chile rellenos oozed with queso and coupled with smoked tomato salsa.

But the highlight of the night was the Grilled Chicken Mole. Seriously, my demeanor completed changed when i took a bite out of it. The boneless half-chicken was grilled to perfection--skin crispy with its hash marks but still retaining its juicyness. Served atop sauteed escarole and basmati rice the mole sauce wasn't blanketed on top but put at the bottom of the dish.

And the intenseness of the mole sauce. A perfect melange of flavors and texture.

Address:
G2 Gallery
847 West Jackson Blvd., 2nd floor
Chicago, IL 60607

de cero
814 W. Randolph Street
Chicago, IL, 60661

Gift ideas for the foodie

My sister recently walked away from her job to start a new career at the San Diego Culinary Institute. I'm really happy for her, she's no longer working 7 days a week. For gift ideas, I reached out to my friend, Tommy, who just graduated from the Culinary Institute of America for suggestions. These are his suggestions:

A great thing to get would be a diamond stone for sharpening her knives. You should be able to find one a bit under $100. She may have a regular sharpening stone. The diamond ones are more expensive but easier to use and they pretty much last forever. I still don't have one and would have been stoked to get one so she would probably like that. One good book is Harold McGee's "On Food and Cooking." It breaks down the science of cooking and is very useful. An immersion blender is extremely useful and she probably doesn't have one. Also if you could buy an ALL CLAD saute pan. I'm not sure how much it costs for one (preferably the 12 inch or bigger). Their pans are amazing and last forever. One of the best things I've ever bought for the kitchen is a really good pepper grinder. The best ones are made by Peugeot, the French company (that also makes cars). It is incredibly worthwhile to get one. I think they are about 40 or 50 dollars.

I was thinking about getting my sis the immersion blender. Turns out both Macys and Amazon.com have it on sale for 49.99 (down from 69.99). Unfortunately, they're both sold out. I'm going to keep my eyes peeled for one. If you know where I can get one, I'm all ears.

Michelin in Tokyo

Michelin announces its first guide in Asia-Tokyo. The Michelin Guide Tokyo is now on pre-order.

In its first Asian guide, announced on Monday, Michelin has awarded more of its famed stars to Tokyo restaurants than any other city, with a total of 191 stars compared with 64 for Paris and 42 in New York.

Amazon's quick linker widget

Quickly and easily link to relevant Amazon.com products as you write your blog posts or page content by including custom HTML tags as you type.

Harry Potter

I love this item

My favorite hero

"Search Item"
My favorite hero

By ASIN Number
Turntables

Steve Aoki

Wall-e pics are up

Surfing the web, pixar is hoping its magical dust will bless them once again. Seriously, what the heck are with these people. While others churn out mediocre animated movies (Ahem, Bee Movie), Pixar has a delibrate and expensive process.

I was afriad a couple years ago with the onslaught of studios inundating the field with fast-cycle movies, but Pixar has stood its ground.

I can't wait to check out Wall-e. Speaking of which, I'm supposed to pick up their latest film on DVD, Ratatouille.

Enjoy this pic courtesy of IGN.

Californication

Red Hot Chili Peppers are suing showtime for the use of the moniker in their show starring David Duchovny...

I just find it funny... what were they thinking.

Even better, Showtime has filed an application to trademark "Californication" with the US Patent and Trademark Office

SF Gate's Daily Dish

Advice for living in Chicago

I received the following top ten list from my friends at work:

Advice for living in Chicago

1. Pick up a Streetwise Chicago map…it will get you where you need to go without fail.
   
2. Learn which color “L” line you live closest to. When referring to the “L” always use the colors. Don’t worry…being color blind won’t affect your ability to use mass transit.
   
3. Determine immediately (within the first week) whether you are a North-sider or a South-sider (ie Cubs or Sox). This is VERY important for your personal safety.
   
4. Read the “Reader” and let it be your social guide. Comes out online on Tuesday and in paper on Thursday.
   
5. Don’t be afraid to wear winter gear…it doesn’t make you look uncool….it is Chicago.
   
6. You absolutely need to use your horn. Chicago drivers don’t know how to drive without using their horns, so you will get run over if you decide to be “polite”.
   
7. All streets have a corresponding number, so learn the street that corresponds with the number. I’ll give you a headstart… Halsted is 800W, Michigan Ave is 100E and State Street is OE/W.
   
8. Lou Malnattis ROCKS for Chicago style pizza (Ranalli’s, Ginos and Giordano’s are acceptable…pizzeria UNO is NOT.)
   
9. Check out the Green Mill on Broadway and go to an event at the Riviera.
   
10. Get K (my fiance) tickets for Oprah.
    

D.A.N.C.E♦

My friend sent me this video. This is just an amazingly cool video. For all those T-shirt fanatics out there....

Update: 12/8/2007
RCRD LBL has an exclusive remix track of D.A.N.C.E feature Mos Def and Spank Rock
Performers: Justice, Mos Def, Spank Rock
Produced by: Benny Blanco

Communing with nature has its benefits

Garrett Lisi, a surfer from Hawaii, may have drawn up a new theory of the universe that elegantly answers what may be the "holy grail of physics." The theory is relatively simple in that "does not require more than one dimension of time and three of space."

Lee Smolin at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, describes Lisi's work as "fabulous". "It is one of the most compelling unification models I've seen in many, many years," he says.

The model uses an intricate shape in mathematics known as E8 (shown above in 2D format). Explaining what E8 is would take a bigger brain than I've got. So I'm not going to try explain it.

You can read the Telegraph's article here.

Radiohead covers new order!

Yummy, nothing like a cover from a great group. Walrusmusicblog gives us downloads and videos!

What more could we want?

Ads are out!

Black Friday ads are popping up all over the Internet. Nothing like planning your Thanksgiving break than seeing the mad crowd stampede at Wal-Mart.

You can find some ads on the breakitdownblog.

Catway to the Web

I just came across Diesel's "Style Lounge" section of their website. Called the "The Liquid Space Experience" it extends what we've been seeing in their Spring/Summer catwalk show at the Pitti Immagine Uomo fair in Florence. I first came across Creative Review blog back in June describing the eye-popping runway marrying models to CGI characters.

The new site extends the theme of the year and extends it into a immersing multimedia experience. You delve deep into a world where your mouse floats on the screen, pods appear and release models suspended on the screen.

Eating Pan Am style

On a trip from New York to Barbados, people were served stuffed rock cornish hen. Sound too good to be true? Well... that's on a flight on a Pan Am flight in Dec 19, 1969. Northwestern University Library's newly launched Website of airline menus reminds us of a time period where flights were a little bumpier but the food was a lot more fresh.

Gone were the days of crystal salt shakers to be replaced by shrink wrapped candy bars for five dollars.

At least nowadays, you can get a in flight movie on demand.

Check out the website here.

Chicago

My move to chicago was a success. I've traded my days in the nation's capital for a the second city. Last night, I want to check out Lumen. Luckily for me, Jazzanova was playing there. Their combo chillout, soulful nu-jazz was a familiar welcome for a 5 day old city.

I haven't heard from the group in ages, but it was awesome to hear them spin again. Reminds me of the days traveling through Europe with my sony CD player in hand.

I was also definitely impressed with Lumen, though K coudln't get an appletini, they I put a good dent into their Glenlivet 15.

Check out their amazing album, In Between. Rumor has it that it took them five years to complete it. Definitely worth the investment

A meal in 30 minutes

I'm more of an eater than a cooker. When i saw a post in esquire about cooking four courses in 26 minutes, I knew I had to give it a shot.

After all, my fiance will be coming home at 9:30 pm from class tonight and what better thing to do than cook her a meal? From appetizer to dessert, this meal has it all:

• Sherry grapes
• Scallops with Boursin and radish spread
• Bourbon and Brown-Sugar Salmon
• Peanut Butter Cookies
  

Gourmet Meal in Half an Hour

Update: I'm happy to report that the Sherry grapes and Bourbon and Brown-Sugar Salmon are now part of my repertoire!

Christmas is just around the corner

Engadget has the scoop on Samsung's new 40" 1080p LCD TV panel. The kicker (as you can see above) is that it's a lazer .39-inches thick (probably still sounds razer thin in centimeters). And Al Gore would be happy--it uses less that 90 watts of power.

If this is for 2008, what can we expect in the future, my dreams have already come true!


Technorati Tags: samsung, lcd, new, technology

Sulu played by john cho

So John Cho is going to play Sulu for the next Star Trek movie. It's supposed to be a prequel revolving around the early days of Kirk, Spock, and the good ole star trek crew.

Not sure what to think of it...

In the year 2000 (by 1910)

I love checking out Paleo-future. In it, it takes a look back into the future that never was. In today's posting, the website shows some French prints for the year 2000. From 1910, its amazing how widely off some of the projects were (like flying fireman) but also how close some of the basic themes are to modern day technology (cars of war).

French Prints Show the Year 2000 (1910)

Technorati Tags: french prints, technology, future

Slick deal - uranium ore

My cousin sent me a link to amazon.comwhere Image SI Inc.is selling some uranium ore.

Worried? Don't be, according to the posting:

We are always in compliance with Section 13 from part 40 of the NRC Nuclear Regulatory Commission rules and regulations and Postal Service regulations specified in 49 CFR 173.421 for activity limits of low level radioactive materials. Item will be shipped in accordance with Postal Service activity limits specified in Publication 52.

Whew, that really solves everything. If only Doc from back to the future were alive, he wouldn't have to steal it from terrorists.

Permutations on the 4 Cs

Lauren Sherman identifies the top diamonds of the world. While we typically use the four Cs (carat, clarity, color, and cut) serve as a guidline, its the specific combination of those four that differentiates one diamond from another.

For example, Sotherby's and other auction houses have been heavily marketing pink diamonds to young women in Hong Kong and China.

World's Ultimate Jewels - Forbes.com

The 6 Most Terrifying Foods in the World

CRACKED.com lists the 6 most terrifying foods in the world. I couldn't not read it. It was like having to watch a train wreck...

Bravo! bravia

Sony Bravia does not disappoint with its third, and latest, advert. With a tagline of "color like.no.other" their commercials have been rich with color and full of creativity. I first heard of their commercial from a friend in advertising who, at the time, was working out of San Francisco. They had closed down a street and dropped thousands of bouncing balls down the steep hills of SF.

The final product can be seen here. Coincidentally, this is also how I discovered Jose Gonzalez.

The second ad, "paint" lived up all expectations. I can't imagine how many tons of paint they had to go through to pull it off.

This latest one lives up to my expectations. Taking over New York, artists painstakingly created a stop motion commercial. Revel in the quality of their work and check out their newest ad "Play-Doh".


Technorati Tags: media, sony, commercials

Neon Bible

Arcade Fire recently launched www.BeonlineB.com (an anagram for Neon Bible). Once the animation loads, visitors see a Butler's and two large hands. By clicking and dragging the hands and face, visitors can interact and manipulate the scene.

Definitely worth 3 minutes out of your day.

Creativity-online applauds Núfilms for turning what would've been a bland promotional site into an interactive music video.

Visual display of the internet

This is pretty cool. Chris Harrison has created maps of the Internet visualizing world connection density, and city-to-city connections.

Chris has taken data from the dimes project and has created a set of visualizations that display how cities across the globe are interconnected (by router configuration).

What is immediately apparent is the density in North American, Europe, and Japan.

Mobile 5 Stars

The Crave blog just posted about a mobile hotel.

it can convert to pretty much anything you want--"a mobile hospital, a portable film studio and even a school"--because it must be built to custom specs anyway. Yet its primary use is envisioned as a two-story, 11-bedroom "traveling" hotel that even has an outdoor terrace and is equipped with private bathrooms, flat-screen TVs, Wi-Fi networks and luxurious amenities that can qualify for a 5-star rating.

Talk about a "boutique" hotel. The $500,000 base price may be a bit off-putting, but a Hotel Movil can be rented for about $8,000 for a weekend. Remember, it's not too soon to start thinking about the next Super Bowl party.

mp3 by amazon

The long awaited amazon music service has finally launched. There is something refreshing about amazon's service. While it can't compare to the breadth and depth of apple's itunes, there is something reassuring about cheaper, drm-free music downloads.

Perhaps the most ironic part of it right now is that the number 1 downloaded song on amazonmp3 is 1234 by Feist -- made famous by the most recent ipod nano commercial.

P.O.V.

Just wanted to plug a passion project that I worked on over the summer. I and a couple friend put together a youth filmmakers workshop.

Read about the POV Youth Workshop here.

be my nextflix friend

my netflix friend link.

Bob Dylan: I'm not there

Todd Haynes' biopic of Bob Dylan stars Cate Blanchett, Richard Gere, Christian Bale, and Heath Ledger who all play Bob Dylan. If you're interested in checking out a trailer, click here.

"I'm not there" is going to be a rolling release.

Can't wait till this comes to DC!

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Fried Chicken

Over here in DC, I just got wind last week that a Bon Chon friend chicken opened up in Annandale. I first heard about it from a friend, but upon some web searching, NY Times, chowhounds, and gothamist have all given rave reviews about it. What is with the koreanization of food? It's taking us over! First there was pinkberry and now there is this.

Keep it coming people. I wonder what is going to the next cross-over?

(Update) It looks like the NY Times article is now only available via Times Select (their subscription service). BLEH. You can read the abstract here.

Question from the Sullivan

Kevin O'Sullivan from The Sunday Mirror quotes from a viewer's question on Sumo TV: "If a turtle loses its shell is it naked - or homeless?"

Books

I've recently been going back to goodreads to track my book reviews. You can read my profile at: http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/68052

Choo chooing through the grocery store

Leave it up a grocery store in Shenyan, China to install a ride into a grocery story that weaves along the shelves. You can read it about it off Boing Boing.

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How to escape from a sinking car

It's never like it seems from the movies. Slate tackles the tough question of how to escape from a sinking car. The first of their suggestions is to roll down the window. thanks sherlock. You can read the rest here.

Finishing the Game

I had a chance to see Finishing the Game at the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival back in March of this year. Jeff Yang from SFgate.com talks to filmmaker Just Lin to talk about the legacy of Bruce Lee.