Content Blackout: Blogger Protest against New Zealand’s Section 92A

Edit (2.23.09): The Enactment of Section 92 has now been put off until March 27. If no agreement is made by then the law will be scuttled.

You may wonder: Why does a small-time U.S. food blogger care about New Zealand Law? The move is largely symbolic in my case.

• Although I am primarily a food/photography blogger, I am an Information Professional by trade. Information Policy is one of my interests.
• I am not a fan of the state copyright is in… in the U.S. and elsewhere. I care about balance in copyright.
• I believe in due process per the 5th and 14th Amendments of the U.S. Constitution. A law like this, if applied here, would take that away in cases of alleged infringement.
• I wouldn’t put it past lobbyists to propose such a law in the U.S.; the RIAA/MPAA already wants ISPs to serve as content cops.

If you know any New Zealanders, feel free to pass this along with impunity, though…

Content will be back up (out of private post mode) before I sleep on Monday Night (US Eastern Time).

More Silliness with Bacon…

Just for fun: Click on this for “Shot the Bacon”…

After all, bacon makes everything better!

Hat Tip: Broke-Ass Gourmet

Interview with the Lemmonex

Rugelach: In honor of both of us being Jewish in spirit…
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I was hoping Lemmonex would interview me while I was still on Winter Semester break, but she wasn’t able to get her questions to me until a few days ago (understandable, since she had a lot of requests for interviews). I’ll be using this an an excuse to take a study break…

And away we go….

1. Name an event that has changed your life…big or small.

Mine was a pretty big one, actually. Almost five years ago, I underwent treatment for a brain tumor.

Lessons learned: learning to know my limits (well, for the most part), that my friends and family are indeed a treasure (I’m not saying they weren’t treasured, but crises like these drive points like this home), learning not to worry about little things nearly so much (though I still have my moments), that I don’t look good bald, that wigs are expensive and itchy, that I’m stronger than I’ve ever given myself credit for.

Almost five years out, I’ve had no recurrence. Thank goodness.

2. What do you love about working in a library?

• As a self-admitted info. junkie, I enjoy helping others find information.
• Certain types of transactions require a degree of detective work; it’s almost like work is CSI: Library!
• The relationships that I have built with coworkers and patrons alike. Their presence and support certainly counteract the more challenging people I run into.

3.If you could meet a famous chef, who would it be?

Easily Chef Duff (Goldman). Not only is he relatively local, he has a great combination of talent, wackiness, and a laid-back/down-to-earth personality.

He’s also a Jew who (ironically?) loves his pork… What’s not to love about him?

4. What is the worst meal you have ever cooked?

I attempted to make chicken and dumplings in the crock pot sometime last year. First of all, I filled the pot to the hilt. Since I didn’t have time to stay up, I put all the biscuit dough balls in with everything else. The biscuit dough expanded, causing lots of other things in the crock to fall out gradually overnight. The resulting mixture just tasted like… undercooked biscuit dough. It was edible, but barely.

I should have taken a shot of that for the bloopers reel, but I forgot to. Too focused on cleaning up the mess.

5. Coke or Pepsi?

Whatever is on sale in diet, generally. Diet Dr. Pepper rocks them all, though.

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I don’t expect many requests, but rules are rules…

If you’d like to be inteterviewed, just follow these steps:

1) Cut a hole in the … Oh, wait…

Here are the real steps:

1) Leave me a comment saying, “Interview me.”
2) I will respond by emailing you five questions. I get to pick the questions.
3) You will update your blog with the answers to the questions. Be sure you link back to the original post.
4) You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.
5) When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

Homemade “McMuffin” Swap

It’s been a while, I know… I had to take a bit of a hiatus at the end of the semester (and used the subsequent month to recover from it). Hopefully, I’ll be a little better with updating.
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In keeping with the resolution I made to myself last year to take a little better care of myself, I’ve been working out and watching what I eat.

During the workweek, I’ll take an English muffin and yogurt or oatmeal for breakfast, but on weekends I like to indulge just a little. Even then, I’d feel a little guilty about whole-hog (pun not intended) on bacon and eggs, pancakes and sausage, or their ilk…

This morning, I had several “less-guilty” ingredients on hand, making a “guilt-free breakfast sandwich out of them.

Ingredients: My regular English muffins (Thomas’s Honey Wheat, double-fiber, 1), turkey bacon (2 strips), nonfat American cheese (1 slice), and egg whites (1 egg)*.

Under the hood…

Looking inside…

The verdict?: It wasn’t greasy, it made my taste buds happy, and I didn’t regret eating it…

Let’s just say I’m not gonna miss you, McDonald’s.
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* The flavor of the bacon and cheese balanced well with the egg whites, but if you prefer your eggs a bit yolkier, egg-beaters are a great egg substitute. 2% cheese will also work well if you prefer that to nonfat.

Deep Fried… Fried

This time, no shots of my own… Some of my fellow flickr users will illustrate this discovery better…

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A Whole Lotta Bacon!

Photo by: Peppysis. Used under a Creative Commons License (BY-NC).

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First there was the deep-fried Mars Bar… Then deep-fried oreos and twinkies… Chicago’s Risque Cafe takes the deep-frying to a whole new level: They now offer batter-coated, deep-fried bacon.

Yes… that’s right… Chicken/Country Fried bacon. What will they think of next… bacon-infused vodka?

Oops… too late…

Bacon Vodka?

Photo by: The Opus. Used under a Creative Commons License (BY-NC).

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PS – Definitely willing to try it when I’m next in Chicago, but I know I’ll definitely be seeking a hotel with a gym. I’d be atoning for that bit of sinfulness on the Stairmaster for quite a while!

Goin’ Bananas…

A couple of weeks ago, I baked a double-batch of banana bread. One batch was to be sold at a bake sale on campus, and the other was just for us (though the second loaf eventually was also taken to a Halloween party so that friends could help finish it off). It also was an instance of “baking as stress relief” for me…

The recipe is a family recipe, so behind the jump it goes:

A PSA For Those Voting Tomorrow…

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Who knew doing your civic duty would turn out so deliciously? It looks like several chains are offering free eats/drinks tomorrow just for having voted…

In alphabetical order…

Ben And Jerry’s: Free scoop of ice cream from 5-8 PM.

Chik-Fil-A: Must trade “I voted” sticker for free sandwich. Note: This one I’ve seen around the internets, but I’m under the impression it’s up to each store as to whether or not they’re participating. If your locality’s not listed here, call and confirm before you go.

Edit 1:58pm, 11-4 (hat tip: Sean): California Tortilla: Free taco coupon with “I voted” sticker. Delayed gratification, but gratification nonetheless.

Krispy Kreme: Free star-shaped donut to customers wearing an “I voted” sticker.

Starbucks: Tell a barista you voted and receive a free tall coffee.

So go out there and vote, and while you’re at it… eat…!

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Sabine = Lemming

Got Blue Crab?

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OK, Lemmonex didn’t officially tag me to do the “seven things about myself” meme, but I thought this meme would be fun to do.  Since this is also a food blog, I’ll keep with the food-related theme.

Man… I’m limited to only 7? I’ll go with the 7 that come up to mind first.

1. Even though I have a lot of familiarity with many dishes in the Filipino culinary pantheon, I still need to learn to cook a lot of those dishes from scratch (most of my hangups right now center around time constraints). What I do know how to cook, however, I cook very well (leche flan, sinigang, and adobong manok/adobong baboy).*

2. If I had the opportunity, I would try balut. Only because I’d try anything once.

3. I eat my eggs with ketchup.  I feel no shame in this notion. It’s the closest thing to Jufran banana sauce there is in mainstream US grocery stores.

Wait, what? Amazon’s selling Jufran?!

4. During my time in Hawaii, I ate Spam and actually liked it… not too unlike a lot of my neighbors at the time.  I don’t miss it, though;  I’ve only had it once since returning stateside.

Once since 1986 isn’t a bad track record, no?

5. Thanks to having had Turkish roommates when first coming to the DC area, I’ve had Raki. Despite its potency, I will not touch it again since I loathe anything anise-flavored.

6. I still don’t quite get (what seems like) the Filipino obsession with potted meat.

7. I also really don’t get why I hate dried coconut (y’know… your usual grocery store fare…), yet love macapuno/young coconut.

Mental note: Don’t introduce Lemmonex to buko pie.

* I’d also like to try my hands at the German culinary pantheon….

Not tagging anyone. Follow the meme only if the spirit moves you. Happy Halloween, y’all!

Chicago Trip Day 4: Got Newlyweds?

To cap off the wedding weekend, the bride’s family hosted a brunch/birthday party the morning after the wedding. It was one last opportunity to chat with some of our newfound friends and congratulate the newlyweds before we all went our separate ways.

More after the jump…

Chicago Trip Day 3: Symi Tov and Justin Tov

Note: This will be a little out of order chronologically; I wanted to feature the wedding reception first…

Immediately after the wedding, I was still fairly sated from lunch (pictured after the jump), so I didn’t take in so many of the hors d’ouerves during cocktail hour. I definitely ended up having more than a few of the gazpacho shots gazpacho miniatures.

The reception dinner was served buffet-style with a number of stations featuring food from around the world (It’s not often one will eat goulash and sushi in the same sitting)! Unfortunately, the only shots I remembered to take from the main courses were not of the food at all… they were some of the decorative items on the table…

Within the centerpiece were chocolate-covered strawberries…Honestly… I had to resist eating the centerpiece!

The wedding cake, other desserts and lunch from earlier in the day after the jump…