Category: food

Slashdot Meetup Tonight

Ashley BischoffLeave a comment

The Slashdot Meetup for Dallas is this evening. And, since I hadn’t had a chance to write about last month’s Slashdot Meetup, this may be a good time to do so.

Last month’s Meetup was scheduled for Jupiter Lanes. I wasn’t particularly looking forward to that location, as bowling isn’t very conducive to conversation (especially since this was the first Slashdot Meetup, and none of us had met before). But, I went anyhow. I figured — if nothing else — the Meetup may offer some opportunities to mention my portfolio to some of the local geeks.

I arrived there right on time, and found the other Meetup people. And, even though there are apparently 92 Slashdot Meetup people in Dallas, there were just five people there (including myself).

Some people enjoy large crowds… I am not one of those people. So, I was actually pleased that a small number of people made it. And, after a short discussion, we all agreed that bowling wasn’t the best idea for conversation. So, we drove in caravan to a Chili’s down the street. Many of the guys (yeah, it was all guys) hadn’t eaten dinner yet, anyway, so Chili’s was a welcome suggestion.

At the Chili’s, we looked over the drinks menu before deciding on our entrees. I remarked that, according to the menu, they only had Bud, Bud Light, and Coors Light on top. One guy was talking to another and didn’t hear my remark about the beer selection, so another fellow clarified:

“They don't have any beer on tap.”

[ puzzled look ]

“They only have Bud, Bud Light, and Coors Light on tap. Ergo, they have no beer on tap.”

We had a good chuckle about that ;). When the server came around, we asked him about what was on tap, just to be sure. He rattled off a few names, resulting in a beer-on-tap list much longer than the menu implied. In particular, Sam Adams caught my eye (“caught my ear”?), so I quickly decided on that. Most of us ordered a 22oz Sam Adams (or around that size, I can’t remember the exact volume), except for one poor guy that was under 21.

One guy ordered one of those fried-onion sea urchin things. Another had chicken tenders, and I can’t remember what the other two had. Of course, I had already eaten dinner before coming, so I just went straight for dessert. I decided on their “Chocolate Chip Paradise Pie”. Basically, it’s a warm walnut-based bar topped with ice cream and chocolate & caramel sauces. It was very delicious, and went strangely well with my Sam Adams; I wouldn’t hesitate in ordering one again.

There may be some stereotypes about the “Slashdot crowd”, but the people at the Slashdot Meetup didn’t fit into the typical nerd stereotype. Sure, one guy had a salt-n-pepper beard with long hair tied into a ponytail, but he managed to do so fashionably. Another guy had stylishly-short hair (with gel, even). And none of them were introverted, though one or two guys may have been on the borderline between introverted and extroverted.

The conversation was good, the food was good, and I had a great time. I look forward to the next one which, of course, happens to be tonight.

Sonic’s Sonic Blasts

Ashley Bischoff1 Comment

I stopped by Ana’s today, and then a Sonic caught my eye on the way home. I pulled in and looked over the menu. By this point, it was almost 3:00, so I decided on a dessert.

Those Sonic Blasts from their commercials always looked tasty, so I decided to get a Butterfinger Sonic Blast. Unfortunately, it just wasn’t very good — I was expecting a Blizzard clone, but it turned out to be a weak replica, like a cross between a milkshake and a slurpee. It wasn’t thick enough, and it was almost watery in texture :(.

And, that really disappointed me because, at 26g fat, I may as well have bought their “hot fudge sundae” instead (which only has 15g fat).

Still, I enjoyed the in-car service and I’m not completely soured on my Sonic experience. Perhaps I’ll give them another try sometime.

DFWBlogs Anniversary Party

Ashley Bischoff4 Comments

I had a great time at the DFWBLogs Anniversary Party this weekend! You might not think that a meta-vacation would be much fun, but I actually found it to be very refreshing (that is, if my current situation could be considered a vacation at all, harrumph).

I left Dallas around 1:30pm, after having attended the North Texas Linux Users’ Group meeting in the morning. And, the directions that Tina gave to the Winslow’s house were very good — up until the end. One of the last turns was onto Clear Creek Rd. However, that road turned out to not be labeled at all. So, I ended up just taking a guess after having driving back and forth a few times.

In the end, I found it. And, by almost-4:00, when I arrived, I was quite hungry for lunch (I hadn’t anticipate it taking so long to get there). Luckily, the fridge was stocked with meat, so I made myself a chicken sandwich on the grill outside on the deck.

The bread that I found was Milton’s “Healthy Multi-Grain Bread”. Though it’s 99% fat-free, I don’t know if I agree with that “healthy” claim — it has 28g Carbs and 130 Cals/slice, which is about twice that of normal wheat bread. But, you know what? Early on, I had decided that I’d ignore any attempts at healthy eating for the weekend (I wasn't sure if it would even be possible, in any case).

Healthy or not, that is some fine bread. Dense and full of wheat flavor, it was one of the best breads I had ever tasted. And, it’s apparently available at Sam’s Club (which is convenient).

To let you know how much I love it, I have to drive an hour and a half just to find a place close enough to purchase it. I eat it plain, toasted with peanut butter, or on sandwiches. There is such a distance in order to purchase the wonderful bread, that by the time my daughter and I get back in the car to head home, we’ve already got the bag opened and are eating it right out of the package. […]

(just one of Milton’s bread fans)

As the house was right down on the lake, we made full use of that as well. I didn’t go swimming on the first day, but I did enjoy a boat ride. The Winslow’s have a smallish motorboat that can hold maybe eight people (with padded benches along each side of the boat). Anyhow, that first boat ride was in the evening, and we were able to enjoy the moonlight glistening across the waves in the lake. It was very pretty to look at, and I sure yearned for a camera at that moment (damn this lack-of-a-paycheck).

I went to bed around 12:30, I think, which was earlier than some but later than others. With about ten people in total (maybe more?), there weren’t enough beds to go around. So, I found a fold-out foam bed upstairs and made use of that (you know, one of those foam beds that folds back into a chair, and actually isn’t very suitable in either function).

I woke up with some back pain, but a few ibuprofens took care of that. For breakfast, there was bacon and Pillsbury Grands (along with scrambled eggs, and perhaps a few other breakfast foods that I don’t remember).

Now, being that they were Pillsbury, I would never buy Grands on my own. However, since the purchase was already made, I had some (I can be pragmatic at times). The Grands were fluffy and almost creamy in texture (full of fat, I&rquo;m sure, but recall that I was ignoring healthy foods for the weekend). To my surprise, though, the Grands were perceptively sweet as well. Now, they weren’t cake-sweet, but a level above what bread would normally be. I wasn’t turned off by the sweetness, and actually it was rather nice.

I had a turkey sandwich for lunch (again with Milton’s bread), and a couple hot dogs in the afternoon with Connie. I used the grill, once again. I hadn’t cooked hot dogs on a grill ever before (previously, other people were the chefs for hot dog grilling). I happened to align the hot dogs perpendicularly to the slats in the grill, but I wasn’t sure whether parallel alignment would have made for different cooking times (of note: the propane spouts were in a line running from left-to-right along the width-center of the grill).

As a post-lunch treat, I made some s’mores over the grill. I just placed a couple marshmallows on the two-pronged grill fork and roasted away. And, for some reason, Connie was surprised that I wanted to make s’mores in the summer (?). In any case, they were still tasty.

With dinner, Tina made a salad with avocado. I really liked that, as I’m a big avocado fan to begin with. After my first helping of salad, I went looking for some more. There was more salad but no further avocado present. At that point, Leia offered that there was a spare avocado left over (apparently, just one avocado went into the salad). I thought to myself “Why use a middle-man?” and proceeded to just eat the whole avocado plain (with a touch of salt, of course). Ooh, so delicious.

Lest I forget, throughout the weekend there were also Nestle Drumsticks. Drumsticks, of course, are those ice cream cones that come dipped in chocolate and peanuts. Over the course of the weekend, I probably had two or three drumsticks. The only downfall to Drumsticks is that the ice cream (and chocolate) aren’t the type that are very flavorful when fully frozen. After having learned this (after eating the first one), I made sure to let each Drumstick “ripen” on the counter for a few minutes before eating.

Other than getting lost a little on the way there, I had a great time all weekend, from start to finish.

Vinaigrette Tuna

Ashley BischoffLeave a comment

A couple days ago, I mentioned an article that Julie had found that suggested trying vinaigrette with tuna (for a sandwich) instead of mayo. So, on Friday, I stopped by Target and picked up some Wish-Bone Olive Oil Vinaigrette.

I checked to make sure, and it had didn’t have any saturated fat. And, of course, as it’s olive oil vinaigrette, the 5g fat per serving were all “good fat”. So, I tried some this morning with my tuna sandwich. Now, before I give the verdict, I’ll mention the dual purposes of mayo within a tuna sandwich:

  • Taste: Mayo adds an additional flavor component to the sandwich (a good one, natch).
  • Glue: Though not literally glue, the mayo also serves to bind the tuna together (so that it doesn’t as easily squish out the sides of the sandwich).

As a taste, the Wish-Bone vinaigrette was different but tasty. It didn’t have the creaminess of mayo, but had a sense of spice to it (by design). Still, I think I prefer the egginess of good mayo (after all, both the vinaigrette and mayo have the oil in common).

The killer feature of mayo — its glue-factor — was absent from the vinaigrette. So, in combination with its not-quite-as-good taste, I don’t see vinaigrette as a good long-term solution for my tuna sandwich needs.

Up next: I may just have to check the suitability of try blue cheese dressing in a tuna-oriented role (perhaps for breakfast tomorrow, if I don’t succumb to the desire to make soft yet fluffy pancakes).

Food 911

Ashley Bischoff24 Comments

I've recently discovered — and have been enjoying — Food 911 on the Food Network. In case you haven’t seen the show, the basic idea is that chef Tyler Florence helps ordinary people with preparing foods that they just can’t seem to get right. For instance, in one show, he helped someone cook pork chops, and in other he helped someone with rice.

I quite enjoy the show because it doesn’t concentrate on complicated foods — I could actually see myself preparing many of these foods. So, as opposed to other cooking shows, there’s not so much the effort of trying to remember specific recipes, as most of the show is just general tips for the dish.

From show on rice, I was intrigued by the brown rice with apples recipe. The name may not be very inventive, but it looked quite tasty: brown rice + apples + green pepper + walnuts + chicken + olive oil (and a few other ingredients). Were it not for the high carbs of the rice, I would be tempted to try the recipe quite soon. Nonetheless, I may still try it sometime.

The air times for the show are listed right on the show’s main page.