Jim in Real Life

The Colbert Monster strikes again...

I can't even find the words for how cool this is.

RECIPE: "Pantry" Risotto

So what do you do when you invite someone over for dinner, then realize you don't have time to go to the store and yet want to impress them at least a little bit? Well, when I found myself in that situation yesterday, I ended up making risotto using quite literally the ingredients at hand. When all was said and done, it was actually quite lovely, though a bit untraditional.

Keep in mind, I'm not by any stretch claiming these ingredients will be found in everyone's pantry. Far from it; I know what a freak I am. So I'm going to present the recipe as cooked yesterday, thinking that perhaps some of you will wish to rename it "Smoky Saffron & Asparagus Risotto" and not use it to clean out your pantries.

Ingredients

About 1/2 lb of grilled asparagus, cut into 3/4" slices
2 tbs freeze dried shallots
1/2 cup medium dry red wine
1 cup arborio rice
4 cups water
1 tbs Penzey's chicken soup base
1 tsp Penzey's ham soup base
1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese + 1 tbs or so for garnish
3 tbs butter (preferably rich variety like Kerrygold)
1/4 tsp saffron
1 slice canadian bacon, cut into 3/8" x 1/8" dice

Prep

Soak shallots in red wine for 15 minutes, scoop/strain out shallots, reserve wine.
Boil water and add Penzey's soup bases. Either keep hot or return to heat before next step.

Directions

Melt butter over medium heat and add shallots. Sautee for about 3 minutes, then add rice, tossing to coat the rice grains. Toast for about 2 minutes, then add saffron.

Pour wine over rice and cook until evaporated. Add soup base 1/2 cup at a time, stirring rice constantly until the risotto is done. Stir in the asparagus and the parmesan cheese.

Garnish with the reserved parmesan cheese and canadian bacon.

Voila... smoke, saffron-y, and from the pantry.

Visualization and votes for Obama

I thought this interactive graphic on the New York Times website was cool on a couple levels. First, it's a perfect example of how to make a VERY simple and intuitive data visualization that allows the user to see multiple dimensions of a data set by making easy choices. Really freaking cool in that regard.

But just as importantly, I got some really interesting insights out of this tool:

• Older people don't like Obama. Click the 60+ button and look how radically the result skews toward Clinton.
• The New York Times has a REALLY screwy definition of how to segment household income. I'm not a social scientist, but splitting the income demographic so that there are three bands between $0 and $50k (household) and one band for $50k+ seems very odd. There is a HUGE difference between a family earning $50k and a family earning $150k and the data won't reflect this visualized this way.
• I'm not yet convinced that race isn't a bigger factor than sex. Especially when you view how the "white vote" and the "women vote" stacked up by these measures.

Anyway, cool tool and some interesting insights.

Remembrance

Nineteen years ago, there was this Chinese dude who stood in front of a tank, and for a moment time stopped as all eyes were on Tiananmen Square.

Even more than I want to be Tony Stark, I hope in my life to have an opportunity to do something as unbelievably inspiring and awesome as this man did.

So the next time you meet someone who is 19 years old or younger, smile softly to yourself and remember where you were on 4 June 1989.

And always remember, as our next president said... "It is important to focus not just on how to win, but why we should."

Sometimes just being the guy who stands in front of the tank is more important than what happens after.

A post of a poster for Obama

OK, so I'm a huge fan of Shepard Fairey and Obey, and it kills me that I can't buy a print of this incredible Obama poster, so I made a high-resolution mosaic version out of images from Flickr and Google keyworded "Obama"....

If you'd like the high resolution (6mb JPEG), feel free to download and print it from here.

A headaching post of staggering randomness

This particular post is a consummate exercise in arrogance, as if someone out there would wish to read something I wrote without original substance.

Think of this as a shout out to some people who matter. They may or may not recognize themselves, but sometimes the point of putting thoughts into text is not to be read but simply to create.

1) The Writer

I am hoarding your book, doling out my tastes like an addict watching his stash dwindle. I am afraid on some level of the moment when reading turns into re-reading. So I feed my hunger in tiny tastes.

"They need fierce angels to swoop in and save them from the adults." - Though you, dear author (oh so clever, turning the tables on the oh-so-obvious "dear reader") have likely never read my Facebook page, my "religious views" now reads "believes in fierce angels."

"The car rockets forward, and you close your eyes so you won't know when you're about to die." - I don't even have the words for this one. This might be the most beautiful single sentence I've ever read.

"It's like you met your twin sister, only she's better and different." - How does someone I've never met describe the person I always wanted to meet?

2) The Marketer

Click here. Non illegitmiti carborundum (Wikipedia it). You are a fierce angel, so believe in that no matter what.

3) The Candidate

I have a special little treat tomorrow for Obama supporters... (it's rendering now...) but for tonight, I will simply share the most profound words I have heard that great man speak, delivered to a crowd of 74,999 people and me on the waterfront of Portland, Oregon on 18 May 2008.

"It is important to focus not just on how we win, but why we should."

I have never heard a phrase (save perhaps those above) that has resonated with me in so many ways.

And so, my own dear reader... I will freely admit to bringing nothing original to this post, and close by plagiarizing the ultimate good night:

Good night, good night! Parting is such sweet sorrow,
That I shall say good night till it be morrow.

The best book I've read in a really long time

Sometimes when you least expect it, fate steps in and hands you a gift. I had that experience yesterday when, during a shopping trip at Urban Outfitters, I picked up Pretty Little Mistakes, simply to give myself something to read while I ate lunch.

The premise of the book was intriguing, especially for those of us of a certain age demographic who grew up devouring "Choose Your Own Adventure" books. The basic idea was that genre... for grownups.

It's a clever trick, and the book is quite entertaining on that level. But the real magic of Heather McElhatton's writing is that you forget that you're reading a "clever" book. Each time your story "ends" the protagonist (of course) dies, and almost every one of the final threads ends with heart-wrenching poignancy. I found myself dog-earring page after page to remind myself of phrases that were razor sharp reminders of how tragic, comic, happy, sad... emotional... life is.

The best way I can describe the book is that it is like watching the finale of "Six Feet Under" as Claire drives away... only over and over, imagining what is, was, and might have been. It's a beautiful book, and one that you'll likely never "finish" (the joy and ache of CYOA) but return to again and again, threading through an imagined life that somehow becomes everyone.

(And for anyone who needs just a touch of heartache to start out their day, here's the finale of "Six Feet Under" including the haunting "Breathe Me" by Sia... don't say I didn't warn you.)

RECIPE: Vegetable Tartare

I was utterly blown away by the tuna tartare served at Hiroshi that I had last week, and it inspired me to create a vegetable side dish to serve alongside an asparagus/leek risotto and filet mignon with smoked pork belly. What I wanted was the flavor of a "traditional" tartare, with a bit of an Asian twist, combined with the multiple textures of the vegetables. The tartare turned out rather well, so I decided it would be the first recipe I share here.

Vegetable Tartare
Serves 2

Ingredients

5 artichoke bottoms (canned)
2 "sticks" heart of palm (canned), sliced into 3/8" slices
1/2 medium yellow tomato, seeded and sliced into 1/4" dice
1/2 medium orange tomato, seeded and sliced into 1/4" dice
1/4 avocado, chopped into 1/4" dice
Watercress leaves
1 tsp toasted sesame oil
1 tbs capers (in brine, not salted)
1/2 tsp caper brine
Pink or black salt (preferably a rough flake)

Directions

Reserve two of the artichoke bottoms. Chop the remaining three into roughly 1/4" dice. Combine chopped artichoke bottoms, hearts of palm, tomatoes, avocado, and capers in a small bowl. Drizzle the sesame oil and brine and toss to coat.

Slice off the bottom of the two reserved artichoke bottoms to make a stable base. Put a few watercress leaves on the plate and set one artichoke bottom in each "nest" of watercress. Mound the tartare onto the artichoke bottoms and top with a small pinch of volcanic salt.

The raw power of the interwebs

So, here I am sitting at the bar of a noodle restaurant reading a book when it occurs to me that I really should test out the awesome power of mobile blogging technology. So I did.

Posted: a few good books on divorce

As some of you are no doubt aware, I'm in the midst of a divorce. People had you reading lists... literally HUNDREDS of books you can read on every aspect. I'm sharing a few I actually found useful. I hope no one out there has to read any of these because, let's face it... divorce sucks big time. But if you're one of the 62% of Oregonians whose marriage will end in divorce, maybe one of these will save you some time, pain, or anguish.