Posts tagged ‘authors’

Cooking With the BUMD, Day 3: Shelling Out for Dinner

11 July, 2010 | Big Ugly Man Doll | 3 Comments

Have you ever wondered about what’s involved just getting ingredients to your kitchen?  I mean, never mind the gags about “who was the first person to eat that.”  Just think about the first person to think about putting all these things together – this was someone who contributed to the gene pool.  We can be sure of this, because their kids are now programming video games. 

Level 1:  Find a cow, which has twice as many legs as you do and outweighs you 4 to 1 or better.  Grab it by the teats and squeeze her milk into a bucket.  Bonus round:  Find a stick and churn the bucket like a mad beaver until the milk solidifies.  We’re going to eat that.

Level 2:  Go to the beach and dig a shallow trench.  Wait for the tide to go out, then wait for the water in your trench to evaporate.  There will be rocks on the bottom of your trench; bring them with you.  We’re going to eat that.

Level 3:  Go out to the field, find a small round flower that’s vaguely rose-like, but stinky.  Pull it up by the roots – we want the root ball.  Right, not the pretty part you can see, just the part in the dirt.  We’re going to eat that.

If you’ve completed those first 3 levels, you’re ready for level 4:  Find a green, damp place, and look for shiny trails on the ground or the leaves of plants.  Find a seashell moving under its own power, leaving a trail of slime behind it.  Grab a bunch of these – we’re going to eat that.

Level 5:  OK, now you have to get your avatar back to the kitchen, no doubt navigating a host of dangerous French predators who want your butter, salt, garlic, and escargots.  And who can blame them? 

Now for the win – once you’re in the kitchen, we’re going to cook the snails in the salt and garlic butter.  That’s right, shell-laden slimeballs with rocks, roots, and emulsified cow milk.  Oh yes, we’re going to eat that!

(By the way, there’s supposed to be an Easter egg hidden in this game – try throwing all the ingredients in the blender and turning it up to 11.  I don’t know what happens…) 

Julia Child should have played more video games.

Cooking with the BUMD, Day Two.

8 July, 2010 | Big Ugly Man Doll | 2 Comments

Too much burgundy and brandy in the Bouefsicles; they never froze, and the popsicle mold tipped over.  Freezer looks like a damn abbitior.  I had to turn it off and let the cats lick it clean – furry bastards will eat anything.

Today I was going to try Julia’s Choux de Bruxelles a la Milanaise, but that turns out just to be Brussels Sprouts with brown cheese.  Is it me, or does everything just sound better in French?  (”Bonjour, je suis le Grand Déplaisant Homme Poupée!”)  Mind you, you could mix anything with butter, Swiss and Parmesan cheese, and more butter, and it’s not going to suck. 

Since it’s another 98 degree day with an air quality alert listed as “disgusting,” it was back to the Giant Blender of Death.  In with the soggy green golf balls, both kinds of cheese, a cup of melted butter, and one ice cube.   Blend until smooth and pour into chilled shotglasses rimmed with lime.

Salud!

Cooking with the BUMD, Day One.

7 July, 2010 | Big Ugly Man Doll | 1 Comment

Looked up the recipe for Boeuf Bourguignon.   Looked up the heat index on the Weather Channel.  Recipe calls for 450 degree oven; it’s already 102 outside.

Screw this.  Dumped all the ingredients into the 165-horsepower, V6 blender, poured the beef slurry into freezer molds, and made bourguignonsicles.   Julia can bite me.

An Inspiring Hollywood Story

6 July, 2010 | Big Ugly Man Doll | No Comment

Tonight, SOBUMD and I, with 2 of 3 kids, watched Julie & Julia on Netflix on demand over the Roku.  And over the Wii.  And eventually over the damn internet connection on my PC.  Dear Netflix: I have three kids.  I expect, when I watch a movie at home, that I will be interrupted.

By them.  Not by you.  Fix your damn servers.  No love.

Anyway, Julie & Julia is a wonderful movie about an aspiring writer who tries blogging her way though the famous Julia Child cookbook.  By dedicating her life, her fortune, and her sacred honor to the blog, she wins the coveted book deal.  It is possible that I’ve heard this story somewhere before.  It is possible that SOBUMD is hoping that this wonderful story will inspire me.

And it has, dear friend, fond relation, and gentle reader.  It has.

Tomorrow, I make Boeuf Bourguignon!

Tempis Fugit

26 May, 2008 | admin | No Comment

Robert Asprin passed away a few days ago.  If you don’t know who he was, this won’t impact you.  If you do, then you’ll probably know this already…  

He’ll be myth’d.

Headline Roundup With the Big Ugly Man Doll

19 March, 2008 | admin | No Comment

First, we doff our propeller beanie hats at the passing of one of the greats, perhaps the last of the dinosaurs.  Hard core science fiction has known giants, and Arthur C. Clarke, who died on Wednesday at the age of 90, was one of the last of the greats, upon whose shoulders I am not worthy to stand.  Isaac Asimov, Robert Heinlein, and Frank Herbert were the other three of the four pillars supporting all who came after and will come heretofore.  The stars take no notice, but every satellite in geosynchronous orbit is hanging just a little lower in the sky this week.  “Absolutely no religious rites of any kind, relating to any religious faith, should be associated with my funeral” were the instructions he left, so it’s a shame that (the also late and lamented) Kurt Vonnegut isn’t still here to inject some levity with a line like he used to eulogize Asimov: “Well, Arthur is up in Heaven now.” 

Next, a recent CDC report stated that just over one in four teenage girls has an STD.  If you’re a girl between the ages of 13 and 19, talk to your three best friends.  If they’re all clean, you just might be a skanky ho.  Talk to your doctor.

Finally, a new statement attributed to al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden condemns European countries for a change.  The strident condemnation was for siding with the US in Afghanistan and for allowing the publication of cartoons considered insulting to Islam’s prophet, Mohammed.  The net effect was to ensure that bin Laden’s death will precipitate a new EU holiday as well as a national holiday in the United States.

Stay tuned for more news: as it happens, when it happens, whatever happened, and pass the beer nuts.