Dress a Day - Day 1

D is for Don.

Don I now the Day's apparel - a Dress. For the final week of D weeks I will be wearing a dress a day. Today's dress is brought to you by American Apparel which could have come in handy during A weeks if they had felt compelled to sponsor me by providing me with apparel of American origin. Alas, they did not, maybe next year. To add another D, the picture was taken in front of double doors, while it was dark out.

D Dilemma.

D is for...

It's Day 5 of D weeks and I'm in a drought of ideas, particularly for D foods.

There just aren't that many.

- Duck (could get pricey eating duck everyday)

- Dates (I'll take as many as I can get but it's tough to make a meal out of them, though expect to see some wrapped in bacon),

- Dips (does that even count as a food?)

- Doughnuts (that'll be a good day, maybe D-shaped ones)

- Dogs, hot (it's a stretch, I know)

- Dill (I don't know if I can handle putting dill on everything, but I'll dare to try)

- Deer (I don't know where to get deer meat)

- Dolphin (probably too smart to be caught and killed but don't they deserve it)

- Dairy? (I do like cheese. It also has a lot of Vitamin D. Double-dose of D!)

I could just eat dinner and dessert for a day, except I'm not much for breakfasts (or at least not waking up early to eat them) and lunch is basically a filler meal anyway so I kind of already do that. I guess I'll just stick to drinking. That's a D I can do.

Here's a list of foods high in Vitamin D that I'm considering dining on. It includes a lot of fish and seafood (not C-foods) and some dumb entries like #18, of course soy milk with added Vitamin D has a lot of Vitamin D in it. They put it in there deliberately. Do you know what else contains a lot of Vitamin D? Vitamin D supplement pills! I wonder why.

D weeks (weeks 7-8)

It's D weeks!
Time for exciting features like the Danger Zone, diabetes, dragons, and of course, dinosaurs.
There may be a few days of experimental (daring?) dieting and dress donning as well.

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

C Meal C-quel

C is for Chi-chi-chi-chili.

C-ing as it is C-weeks, though not for much longer, I decided I ought to make chili. So I searched for a chili recipe with the most Cs in it I could find. I came across Chili con Carne topped with Cheddar Cheese and thought, with a C count of 5, that would do just find. I added some cornbread on the side for an additional C. Total C count: 6.

Chili con Carne topped with Cheese: A- The chili recipe was pretty straight forward and contained some valuables ces in it as well, including carrots, chili powder, cumin and I added cayenne as well. The result was tasty with a pleasant but not off-putting amount of heat. The cheese added a nice creamy element to it as it melted into the chili.

Cornbread: C. Cooking confession: It came from a box. What can I say? Sometimes you find a box of cornbread mix in the cupboards above your counter that you forget you have even though you frequently hit your head on them and think, 'When did I buy this?' or, better, 'Did I even buy this?' I decided to make it because it's not everyday you find mystery cornbread in your cupboards that the previous owners of the house may have bought and not used before they died. It was pretty standard cornbread and actually not terrible to eat, but I have to give myself a lower grade since I basically cheated, but, hey, it's C-weeks so that's allowed. I should have been cheating since the start.

Recipe

C List

C is for Could.

I made A list of C things I should probably B doing because they are so thematically appropriate (double or triple Cs) but will not be doing because I am so opposed to them for one reason or multiple.

Listening to the Counting Crows - I can't stand the Counting Crows with their alt-rock-folksy instrumentation and Adam Duritz strange forced soulful, reggae impression of another singer who is also a bad singer.

Eating Cotton Candy - Does anyone really like Cotton Candy? I guess it's novel. Sugar Spun So Fast it Becomes String! Like a side-show Circus act but it just tastes like sugary air and gets really sticky.

Watching Cold Case - I honestly don't know if this is a version of Law & Order or CSI or a complete separate show but they all look the same and I've seen episodes of Law & Order, back in the '90s when it was good and there was only one of them, so I think I've served my time. Case closed.

Dancing the Cha-cha-cha - I don't know how to do this dance and I'm not even entirely sure that it is a dance as much as just one move that you do three times rapidly in sequence. If that's all it is, I can do that, I guess. 1-2...typetypetype. I just typed the cha-cha-cha. Challenge complete.

Calling Collect - I'm not that poor yet and I'm not getting released from jail (they let you use the phone there anyway) so there's really no reason I should call collect. Plus, I know for a fact that anyone I called (parents included) would not accept my call and that would just piss me off and drive me to drink. Then I'd probably end up in jail, but still wouldn't have a need to call collect as much as I would for a whole lot of cash.

Counting Coins - Why would I sit around and count coins? That sounds almost as boring as collecting coins, which I don't do either, at least not intentionally, but often accidentally. I forget when I have change so I never use it and it just accumulates. Come to think of it...I have a lot of coins in my coin canister. I think I will count them and see if they are ready to be turned into cold hard cash. Coinstar, here I come!

Chasing cars - This one is obvious. I'm not a long-distance runner...or a dog.

Camel Caravan - I'm not sure how I would go about getting enough camels for a caravan otherwise I would definitely do this. I know a few people with Corollas so maybe I'll line them up and have them drive around. Or I'll just find a CaraVan. Do they still make those?

That's all I have for now but I'll C if I can think of some more while I'm getting multiple CCs of blood drawn.

C Meal

C is for cookin'.

What's the most romantic food you can think of? Some may say, chocolate covered strawberries. Others, oysters. Or perhaps fondue. What did my particular gentleman caller say? Fried Chicken, and no, he's not black. So I made Fried Chicken for Valentine's Day, spicy fried chicken to be specific, by request. Because buying food and cooking is easier than buying a gift. I added some collard greens to the menu and chipotle cornbread to round out the meal. Luckily enough of the elements started with C that I didn't protest the meal that would most assuredly result in the ever-attractive greasy fingers and mouths, in addition to possible bloating and indigestion and, of course, laziness. I didn't protest because of the predominant Cs and because it's black history month, and if NBC can cook along so can I. Plus, I had a surprisingly competent sous chef. Who knew boys could read and follow a recipe?

C count for the menu: Spicy Fried Chicken, Slow-Cooked Collard Greens, and Chipotle Cornbread. Cs: 5.

Spicy Fried Chicken: B +.
The fried chicken turned out better than expected considering my lack of experience and roots to help me out. The batter had some exciting C spices including Cumin and Cayenne, to add some more C-ness to the dish. It was more salty that spicy, but it had a nice kick at the end. Trouble-shooting the frying of the chicken was a pain because I didn't have a thermometer to check the heat of the oil. (I've broken 4 and I'm sick of spending money on them.) and frying each piece one at a time almost caused this to become Day-After-Valentine's-Day-Breakfast but we made it through. For an extra C, there is cilantro sprinkled on the fried chicken. Bringing the 6 count up to 6, or maybe 8 if you count Cayenne and Cumin.

Slow-Cooked Collard Greens: A+.
Little known fact about me: I love Collard Greens and I have no idea why, but I think they're great, when made properly. I don't even understand what they are exactly aside from large leafy greens that are really fun to clean/destem and taste like nothing when you start cooking them but taste like magic when you're done, provided you add the necessary flavor enhancers. Mine had bacon, onions, celery and peppers in them for added flavor and some spices and salt and pepper of course. I also added some of the sauce from the chipotle peppers for some heat. They even won over my fellow diner, who was opposed to me making them from the start but can't say no to spicy foods. I'm confident he would eat them again. He had seconds, so I guess he already has.

Chipotle Cornbread: A+
Adding minced chipotles to ordinary cornbread not only increased my C count but also added another spicy dish to the menu. It turned out nearly perfect despite a little worry along the way. Ovens can be so difficult to gauge the temperature of. It was crumbly but not too crumbly and have chipotle evenly dispersed throughout.


My plating was sub-par.
Plating: C.
Originality: C.
Use of secret ingredient (letter C): A!
I'm not going to win Iron Chef at this rate.

The pictures are pretty lousy and orange, because I took them with my phone and essentially the same shot at a slightly different angle, because I was hungry, but it gives you an idea. What's that? Excuses don't start with C? No, but complaints sure do. So thanks!

Recipes, if you're curious, or epicurious...
Spicy Fried Chicken
Collard Greens (I added a lot to this recipe and used bacon instead of a ham hock.)
Chipotle Cornbread

Committee Crime

C is for Competition

Currently, the 2010 Winter Olympics are taking place in Vancouver, Canada and that's awesome. I love the Olympics. They are competitive, nationalistic, ritualistic and, best of all, televised. It's the perfect platform for humans to prove just how insane they are and how awesome they think they are. It's the only perfect thing that man has created and the International Olympic Committee has decided to shit on all that is right and just and pure and perfect about the best global athletic event of every two years by coming up with the YOG.

What's the YOG? The YOUTH Olympic Games. That's right, children. No one wants to watch competitive hopscotch, jump rope and red rover for 2 weeks straight (okay, that might not be that bad), but that's not even what the Youth Olympic Games will consist of. It will have all of the normal events just performed by uncoordinated children. They're letting children participate in the official Olympic events and awarding them medals for their performances. This isn't a game, IOC. This is the Olympic (Games)! I can't believe it. Children. I told you they'd ruin everything. I'm fine with adults gloating and becoming disproportionately proud and confident as a result of winning a medal or even participating in the Olympics, but not children. They don't deserve Olympic status until they are 18 just like legal rights. Let them get good before you put them into the Olympics with the best of the best. And if they're already good, let them get better. It's like the Special Olympics but worse. It's going to be people falling and tumbling and bumbling around (not that I don't like seeing people fall and fail, I do), except at the Special Olympics it's expected, there's no chance those 'challenged' individuals are going to improve, but children can, so let them, and then put them on TV.

Evidently, the IOC decided this in 2007 and didn't even think to consult me or even tell me. They say it's the inspire the youth, but you know what else will inspire the youth? Watching the Olympics on TV and thinking, 'One day I can be on that podium if I'm good enough.' Not telling them they just have to be marginally better than the other kids in their freshman class and a few Chinese kids.

The first Youth Olympic Summer Games is schedule to take place in Singapore in August of this year with the Winter Games to take place in 2012 in Innsbruck. I suppose it's nice that they're alternating with the normal Olympic Games and providing us with even more "Olympics" to view, but is that really what we need? Doesn't that cheapen it? If we get to view the games not only every 2 years, but twice in those years? I don't know. Am I going to watch it? Probably, if it's on. Am I going to like it? NO, because there are children involved.