I can’t even tell you how I found this clip — it’s the magic of online music at amazon.com combined with some weird stream of consciousness on my part. Click here and make sure your speakers are on. It’s a little (less than a minute) classical music and a famous narrator…though I’m sure he’s not famous for narrating. Cracks me and Sarah up.
Oh, and it’s not political in any way I am aware of, in case the last post was a little too topical.
Unfortunately, the music today was also pretty terrible. You could tell the motivation just wasn’t there, because so many people weren’t there, because it was just so insistent with the rain. We’d intended to get brunch at Vitus, since a zippy-looking band was scheduled to play there, but when we got there, the sky had already opened up and everything inside was absolutely packed. So we mosied over to the Hotel Orphée instead. After a little bit of confusion with the waitress (we didn’t know they had a special Jazzfest Weekend menu and she didn’t know we’d been looking at the ordinary one), huddling together under a drippy awning outside we enjoyed a lovely couple of Milchkaffees and Quiche Lorraine — known to the likes of Po fondly as “ham pie.”
So, without further ado, today’s audio samplage:
And just for good measure: here’s a couple of Döner spindles. I guess the one on the left is in the process of thawing.
Oh, and a THINGpad? (Click it and look closely.) I guess, for many around here, “sink,” “think,” “thing,” and “think” are all mutually indistinguishable.
First the interesting part — check out this cucumber we spotted at Edeka today while shopping!
Next, a sampler from Chess Fest 2008’s opening night last night:
Locals: wondering why Sarah’s not to be found outside the apartment this weekend? Here’s why. To be fair, the weather was positively awful. The wind noise at the beginning of the track was that of wind getting amplified through the salsa band’s microphones and speakers, not my MD recorder. It was pouring. So I gotta give ‘em credit for gumption inspite of the weather, at least.
I’m hoping for some less whitebread-sounding stuff this evening. Stumbling upon something as cool as the Jazz Police like at last year’s Bürgerfest would be redeeming.
So I’m chillin’ here at home after a hard day at work and checking out some tunes I purchased recently and I came across Beck’s Dark Star from the album The Information. Seemed pretty familiar pretty quickly. Take a listen; the first 30 seconds are my man Steve and the second are Beck. Is that an out-and-out ripoff?
Yesterday at Tammy & Matthias’ house we watched a recent episode of the Daily Show where they called in Fred Schneider of the B52’s to guest voice some segments of the audiobook version of Scott McClellan’s Bush Administration exposé. Then today I stumbled across this excellent mashup involving two bands of yesteryear I rather dig. Take a listen:
Secondly, the recipe
Leek, Sun-dried Tomato and Brie Strata
1 lb. leeks
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
5 large eggs
2 1/2 cups milk
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano (we used Grana Padano)
6-8 thick* slices firm white sandwish, Italian, or French bread, preferably one day old (we used a baguette)
12 oil-packed sund-dried tomato halves, drained, patted dry, and quartered
8 ounces (300 g before de-rinding) Brie, rind removed
This first part is for those who don’t yet know their way around leeks and getting the sand out of them. If you’ve done this before, skip to the next paragraph.
Trim root ends from leeks. Trim off darkest green tops. Peel off and discard any wilted or discolored outer leaves. Halve or quarter leeks lengthwise. Rise leeks well under cold water. Place in a bowl and fill with cold water. Repeat process at least twice to remove any sand from between layer, drain and pat dry. Cut into thin slices; yield should be about 4 cups.
Lightly coat a 9-inch (square) baking dish with some butter and set aside. Melt remaining butter in a large skillet over low heat. Add leeks and cook, stirring until tender but not browned, about 10 minutes. Sprinkle with salt to taste and a grinding of pepper, remove from heat and set aside. In a large bowl, whisk eggs until foamy. Whisk in milk until blended. Add Parmy goodness, 1/2 teaspoon salt and a grinding of pepper.
To assemble strata use half of bread slice to make a single layer in prepared baking dish, cutting them, if necessary to fit tightly. Spoon leeks evenly over bread. Distribute sun-dried tomatoes evenly over leeks and top with brie. Use remaining bread slices to make a second layer, once again cutting to fit, if necessary. Pour egg mixture evenly over top of strata, using a spatula to ress on bread so liquid is evenly absorbed. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least four hours, or overnight. Preheat over to 350°F. Uncover strata and bake until puffed and browned, about 45 minutes. Serve immediately. Serves 8 to 12*.
Thanks for all the well-wishing after the last post. I’m feeling better today and may even attempt a Viennese Verlängerten and a pastry or two!
Yesterday, after wimping out on Schönbrunn, I displayed my gumption and attended a concert of Strauss and Mozart stuff with the peeps at the Kursalon about five minutes away from our rental apartment by taxi. I was exhausted by the end, but glad I stuck it out. It was fun! There was a good mix of well-recognized favorites and stuff that was new to me. I probably could have done without the singing and dancing numbers, but the rest of the crowd seemed to enjoy them.
I didn’t take any pictures, because I didn’t bring my camera with me. I thought for sure that they’d have made me check it at the coat check (you know, recording performances and all) but the management gave their blessing on photography during the applause, which surprised me somewhat. Here are some remaining pictures from Salzburg instead:
Ugh. Our desktop PC running windows won’t turn on. I turned it off normally last night, and this morning, it just won’t come on. I suspect a blown fuse or something in the power supply. I really don’t want to have to deal with that loud Aldi-branded hunk. But I *do* really want to make further use of at least some of its components; not the least of which are its twin 250GB SATA hard disks. I found a nifty-looking housing for taking two SATA drives and making them into one big or two separate external USB drives.
If it weren’t for our iTunes investments over the past few years, I would probably have finally been able to completely forgo licensed operating systems (except at work, where I don’t have that option). We’ve already got a Linux-based laptop and desktop here (the desktop box serves as a…uh, server). But iTunes, our dealer of habit-forming audio narcotics, doesn’t offer to hawk its wares to those would turn their noses up at paying for software (note well: I’m not advocating piracy!).
So, I’m thinking really hard about how to proceed here. The cheapest way to go (especially if that hunk is still under warranty) is to get the PC fixed. But it’s big and clunky and especially loud. Hate that. Also hate all the dust its multiple fans collect (uh, perhaps that had something to do with its untimely demise?). I can’t just build a new computer, cannibalizing the old one, and downloading an open source OS like Linux or one of the BSDs and expect it to play the music we bought through iTunes. So we’re still going to have to rely on Windows or Mac OS X (row row, row!)…at least until I slowly and painfully record each track purchased from iTunes into Audacity and re-code it back into plain-old-MP3 or some other non-DRM’d format. And that’s not going to happen any time soon.
Any opinions out there on the Mac Mini, particularly as a home desktop system in use mostly for multi-media applications (iTunes, Skype, general surfiness)? I’m looking at one for 700€. And then getting far away from iTunes.
