I guess this sums up my thoughts pretty well

Saturday: Errands

Well, not so much errands as "random go shopping around for food stuff."  That doesn't work quite as well.

First stop, the doughnuttery, to get some doughnuts for this week, because I kind of felt like having some.  Unfortunately, they were largely sold out by the time I got there.  I did grab some "heart shaped" doughnuts, so I can eat them in a totally non-valentine-y way.

Next, I went to Nico's for lunch:

Yes, I did go there twice while my parents were visiting (despite the fact that they don't even really like fish).  I think it's even busier now after the expansion then it ever was before.  I ended up having to eat over by the old place, as all the tables inside were full.

I got the furikake ahi, which I was able to get super rare, like I wanted it last time.  It's much better rare.

Next, I went to Nico's fish market to get some fish to eat this week.  Secret fish.  To be revealed as needed.  I will say that they were very friendly with samples, all of which were delicious.

Then, a trip home to drop off the perishable fish (and doughnuts), then back out to get regular groceries.

I made a lazy dinner:

Ahi limu poke, with a salad and some toasted baguette.  Yes, I know poke usually is served with rice, but I didn't want to bother with rice today.  The tomatoes are really not that great right now, which is a shame since I bought four.

• Here's a comic I thought was funny.
• See, this is why you don't attempt to negotiate or make concessions with tyrants.  They're never going to be satisfied with whatever you do, and there's no use trying to reason with them.  They're convinced that they have some magic divine right to make rules, and you can't reason with crazy. Should we go over the reasons that this entire thing is just them being bitchy that the entire world doesn't revolve around their delusions anymore?

1. It's a health care thing.  I don't call random strangers to get medical advice, I usually consult a proper doctor.  If they don't want to provide health care, then they're unlikely to get anyone to want to work for them.  Beyond that, it's none of their damn business what doctors advise.
2. It's a labor relations thing.  Your boss doesn't have the right to dictate what you do outside of work. "But they have to pay for it." Well, other than the fact that today's little fit shows that it's not actually about them having to pay for it, that's still not a valid point.  Does your boss have the right to dictate what you can buy with your paycheck?  They've paid for that too.  There's a reason we don't have company stores anymore.  
3. It's not a religious freedom thing.  Remember this?  Remember how outraged everyone was that the supposed anti-bullying law was going to allow an exemption for "a sincerely held religious belief"?  No one believed that that was a valid place to call for "religious freedom." How is this different? 
4. It's the "we don't live in the middle ages" thing.  The church doesn't run the world anymore.  We've come to the conclusion that organizing non-religious governments is generally better for everyone, as the power of the government is derived (however indirectly) from the will of the people, and not the declarations of some self-proclaimed ruler.

Friday: meh

• Spinach party.
• This sounds like a prophecy.
• Burrito Time!
• BOLO.
• Squirrel!

Thursday: Today I have stories

Mind you, it's not that the stories are particularly wonderful or anything.  First, let's look at the sandwich I made for lunch.

Turkey, cheddar, lettuce and tomato with some bbq sauce.  It was a little bit too big for my mouth.  Super tasty though.  I'll probably have to do it again tomorrow.

Second, I got a call today that the apartment below mine had water leaking in, and the manager wanted to come inspect my apartment.  Oddly enough, this morning I noticed a drip on my bathroom wall coming from a puffed up patch near the ceiling.  I decided I would call my manager this afternoon to let them know that I thought that the apartment upstairs was leaking into mine.  I guess it's largely skipping my apartment in favor of downstairs.  Upstairs just renovated their bathroom a few months ago.  Looks like it didn't work right.

Next, as I was leaving work, I decided to stop at Long's to get some soap.  As I was walking over, I saw a cat heading into Manoa marketplace.  It had a really neat coat, with whorls and spirally patterns. I then did the only sensible thing, and sang a little song to myself: "Meow, meow, kitty, what are you doing?  Meow, meow, kitty, doing some shopping?"  I had apparently been sneaky ninja walking, because the cat immediately turned around, saw me, freaked out, and ran away.  Seems like the shopping wasn't that important.

Finally, as I was checking out at Long's, I got behind an old lady.  She refused to put her birthday card on the belt, instead carrying it to the far side of the scanner, making the check out girl bring it back to scan.  She then had to be told the price multiple times, each time claiming, "How can it be $28? It's only one card?"  C-O girl then replied, "No, two dollars, eight cents. 2-0-8."  Old lady then pulled out two ones, and then scavenged her purse trying to find the eight cents.  I would normally have started to get annoyed, but instead, found the entire thing hilarious, largely due to the fact that C-O girl was already pissed at this lady.  Failing to find the coins, OL switched to trying to pay with a check, causing the price routine to be repeated.  Next, she had to go over the date a few times, for some reason convinced it was January 6th (no word as to the year she thought it was).  She then had to be told who to make the check out to ("LONGS!"), and then tried to steal the pen she was given.  When asked to see her ID, she stood there for a moment, and then flipped open her wallet so COG could write down whatever information they write down.  Finally, she asked for the pen back so she could balance the checkbook right there.  That was the point where I was pretty sure that COG was going to jump over the counter and kill the old lady.  Once she was done, and I had finished checking out (which, since I used a card, took fifteen seconds at most), COG slammed down the "Register Closed" sign and went off to take a break.

Then, dinner time!  I had a brilliant idea this afternoon.  First, take some waffles and syrup:

Next, add a pile of leftover pulled pork:

Finally, chop up an apple, because there's no way you can convince yourself this is at all a healthy meal:

I thought this was an original idea, but it seems that the food truck people have beaten me to it.  Crap.  In any case, this was extraordinarily delicious.  My thought upon eating it was that my tongue felt like a puppy had just curled up to nap on it (that analogy totally works).

• Squirrel!
• Infinite puppy?
• Pizza club is the best club.
• Chef Mavro cooking on TV this morning.

Wednesday: First day back at work, everything breaks

I need to start cooking more stuff, because I don't have any pictures to post.

So have some hams, instead.

• About damn time.
• I went here twice with my parents, which is pretty good considering they don't really like fish.  My dad even tried some poke.  I think I'm going to stop by the market part this weekend, but I guess I don't need to do a big review since this one covers pretty much everything.
• I've pretty much hated the last two seasons, even though I haven't watched any of the most recent one (it's recorded on the DVR, but I've not felt like watching any of it).  I guess this qualifies as another "about damn time."
• Punk squirrel! (via Dan, who still has no blog to link to)
• The Delacroix of French cuisine is opening a restaurant in Waikiki?  That's a good reason for me to brave the parking and crowds.

Tuesday: Last vacation day

That also means I need to sort out a menu plan for the rest of the week.  I still have leftover pulled pork to get through, so I guess that will be part of the plan.

• WTF?
• Really?
• No, seriously, WTF? Why does anyone support that horrible little troll?
• This would be somewhat useful if my phone use didn't consist largely of checking it while avoiding getting out of bed.

Monday: It'd be nice if everyday was a vacation day

I assume everyone knows Star Trek.

And hates egg nog.

• The House of Lords is dumb.
• I did think this was the best ad of the afternoon.
• I want to remember to make this, so I'm linking it here.  It looks tasty.
• Congressman John Fleming is an idiot, apparently.
• Happy Birthday, Mewtwo!
• I think I need a library this big to hold my books.

Sunday: Super Bowl

I would have had a picture here of a really tasty pulled pork sandwich, but my phone decided that actually taking pictures was too hard to do today.  Oh well.

Anyway, since my parents are visiting, and wanted to watch the Super Bowl, that was what we did today.  I made pulled pork to eat, along with chips and salad.  This also gives me a chance to put up my pulled pork recipe.  It's pretty simple.  Buy some pork butt at the store (I used two slices, since that's how WF sells it here. It came out to about three pounds).  Unwrap, and cover thoroughly with the rub:

• 1tsp fennel seed (ground)
• 1tsp cumin seed (ground)
• 1tsp coriander
• 1tbs smoked paprika
• 1tbs onion powder
• 1tbs chili powder
• 1tbs brown sugar
• 1/2tsp cayenne
• 1/2tsp cinnamon
• 1tbs salt
• 1tsp pepper

Wrap the pork in foil, then wrap that foil in more foil, repeating until the pork is encased.  Preheat oven to 200ish, and then bake for 6-12+ hours.  Once you get past the six hour point, there's not really anything you can do to hurt it.  It will render out all the fat and connective tissue, which will combine with the rub and try to leak out of the foil.  Once it's done, pull it out, rip open the top of the foil, and use some tongs (or forks, or fingers if you want) to pull out the meat, leaving the fat behind.  I then drain out the liquid in the foil over the pork to keep it moist.  Today's serving used slider sized buns, with a bit of cheddar cheese and some bbq sauce.

• Yes, because I watched the super bowl, I missed the more important sports game today, the Puppy Bowl.  I caught it in the continual loop reruns though, plus I recorded it on the DVR, so it's not that big of a deal.
• Some highlights.
• Mostly posting this because I just found that Foodland still carries the strawberry lilikoi juice.  Safeway seems to have dropped it, which sucks, because that's my favorite flavor of Hawaiian fake juices.

Saturday: Posts are easier when you take pictures

Pretend picture of Queen Emma's Summer Palace.

Pretend picture of the Pali Lookout.

• This is fucking stupid.  Almost as dumb as flipping through the channels to see Huckabee claiming that the bible doesn't say anything about why rich people should pay more taxes.  WTF?
• Wow, this is pretty dumb, too.
• Everyone likes Pokemon.
• Apparently today is just non-stop stupidity.
• "The increase in the tuition burden is largely caused by declining state support for higher education in the past three decades." Yes. Exactly.
• Cute bunnies!
• Cute puppy!

Friday: Volcanoes on the Big Island

Random pictures because I'm too tired to make panoramas tonight. Also too tired to resize these to not be ginormous.

Observatories on top of Mauna Kea, as seen from the plane.

Steam and gasses rising up from cracks in the ground at Kilauea's summit.

The caldera.

Lava tube.

Restricted area at the end of the lava tube.  I liked this picture.

Erosion at the base of Kilauea, where past lava flows have reached the ocean.

You can see a number of different flows here.

The Mauna Loa macadamia nut factory has a chicken. Bawk-ba-gawk!

Hilo doesn't really have many obvious places for dinner.  The end result was going to Cafe Pesto, which was pretty tasty.  It's actually rather hard to find a place when you have added constraints that eliminate the majority of restaurants in Hawaii.

Thursday: Pearl Harbor

USS Missouri.

Kaboom! Giant guns!

This plaque marks the location of the table on which the surrender of Japan was signed. It is upside down in this image.

Remnant of one of the turrents of the USS Arizona.

• Puppy haet lime!
• Pikachu!
• Squirrel thief!
• This was my actually my first thought as well when I heard about them.

Wednesday: Makapu'u Point

Pano-tastic!

The Makapu'u hike is much easier than Diamondhead.  It's shorter, it's paved the entire way, and there are fewer people to deal with.  The main problem is that there's no shade anywhere, so if you forget sun screen, you'll end up sunburnt (like me).

There's a lighthouse there.

I'm pretty sure this is Molokai, Lanai, and Maui.

This is supposed to be the same scene as picture #3 from this trip.

• I need to make one of these (thanks to Julie for finding this).
• This is fucking stupid.
• This is fucking stupid as well, but in a much less important way.  At least this covers my main thoughts.
• となりのトトロ
• See, I'm not crazy, this scene did happen in the Simpson's.

Tuesday: Damn it

Sir Barkington.

"Steal my nuts will you!"

• Another puppy.
• Batgirl.
• It's funny that a comedian can raise more money than actual legitimate candidates.  Also, it kind of shows how rich people are attempting to subvert democracy by buying an election.
• I always liked him as captain, because he would always shout everything he said.

Monday: Draw a Dinosaur Day

Here's mine:

That's the sun being scared.

Unfortunately not much to discuss today. I've felt crappy all day, and I'm somewhat concerned that I brewed an overly spicy and potentially deadly chili yesterday. That would be sucky since it tastes so good.

• Via this tweet, a brilliant letter from a former slave to the former owner.
• Oh come on, peeling vegetables isn't that hard.
• Hockey flavored oops.
• Where peanut butter comes from.
• No, that's stupid. We named the wizard Shazam.

Sunday: Instead of cleaning, cooking!

Which is by far the better option.  Since my parents are visiting this week, I won't be able to make chili for the Super Puppy Bowl. Because of that, I decided to make it today instead.  Ingredient panorama!

Ok, let's start at 6 oclock and spiral around.

• Third of a pound of bacon. My actual request at the meat counter was "whatever that pile is," but that's probably a risky suggestion.
• Pound of ground beef
• Pound of beef chuck roast.  They don't sell local stew meat, so this was the next best option.
• Can of beef stock.
• Can of tomato paste.
• Can of chipotle peppers (although I didn't use them all).
• Two cans of tomatoes.  I went with whole, but then needed to stick blender them a bit. I don't know what the lesson is on this one.
• Soy sauce.
• Worcestershire sauce.
• Spices: paprika, cayenne, chili powder, cumin, coriander, smoked paprika, oregano, dried ancho flakes from last year that I've kept in an old cinnamon jar.
• Super dark 88% chocolate.
• Onion.
• Garlic.
• Fresno pepper, because they seem to be on every cooking show I see now a days.
• Two jalapenos.
• Unpictured: salt, sugar, a half cup of old wine that was hiding in my fridge.

"That seems a little bit involved for chili, don't you think?" Yes. Yes I do.  That's why I make it once a year.

Step One: Toast the cumin and ancho flakes in a pan to get the flavors going.  I guess you could toast other things if you wanted, but I didn't have anything else to toast.  I then ground this all down in my mortar and pestle, and moved on to the next stage of the sauce.

Step 2: Bring halfish of the can of beef stock to a boil and add the soy sauce and Worcestershire sauce and a scoop of the tomato paste.  Lower the heat and add all the spices (which look really cool, and I should have taken a picture, but I didn't so you'll just have to take my word that it looks really cool.  They all pile up on the surface and float there until you stir them in).  I also added the sauce from the chipotles, and about 1/2-3/4 of the peppers from the can.

Step 3: Chop up the chocolate and add that to the sauce.  I ended up with like almost two ounces here, when I was aiming for closer to one.  This made the sauce have a really strong chocolate smell throughout the cooking (it went away in the final product, but just be warned that 2oz is probably too much).

Step 4: Keep the sauce on a low simmer, then stick blender the hell out of the peppers and everything to mix. I didn't take a picture of this because stick blendering is too fun.

Step Whatever: Brown the beef in a bit of olive oil.  You can do this while the sauce is cooking, and you probably should, because I think I spent like two hours doing prep and initial cooking, so do these serially would make that even longer.  I did the ground beef first, and then sliced up the chuck roast into bite size stew bits.

Step e: Remove the beef from the pan.  I pulled the ground beef before putting in the stew meat, as that allowed the stew meat to cook without having to worry about the ground beef getting underneath it.

Step 9: When the beef is browned and removed, chop the bacon, and add it to the pan.  The goal here is to render out the fat to use to cook the vegetables more than anything else.  I got impatient (as you can see), and added the chopped garlic at this point, instead of waiting for the bacon to crisp up.  It doesn't really matter, since all the liquid that gets added later would ruin any crispiness.

Step tree: Dice up the onion, and add to the pan to cook.  Once the onions are translucent, add in the minced (or, more so, really small chop) peppers.  I minced the fresno, and one of the jalapenos, and then sliced the other jalapeno in half to add in later.  I used this strategy last year, and it seemed to work well.

Step "wow, that doesn't look appetizing": Hrm.  There's a lot that happened before this picture.  First, use the wine to deglaze the pan after the vegetables are cooked, and then add the meat back in.  Drain the tomatoes into the sauce, and add the actual tomatoes to the pan.  Stick blend the tomato juice into the sauce to thin it out a bit, and then add the sauce to the pan.  Stir everything together, and finish by adding the halved jalapeno, the rest of the stock and tomato paste, and cover.  Simmer for two-three hours, stirring periodically.  I tested it about a half hour before it was finished, and added some salt and some sugar (to cut down on the acidity and spice a bit).

Step: Plated.  I was lazy and didn't want to make cornbread, so I just threw some doritos on the plate.  Yes, I know.  Lazy.

With added cheese, because cheese makes everything better.

The main problem I had with last year's chili was that all the spice seemed to be on the back of the tongue, which felt like something was missing.  I don't know if it was the chipotles or the fresno I added this year, but this was fixed this time.  It's a bit overly spicy, clearly being on the hot side of the spectra.  However, despite the usual mechanics of spicy foods, this one washes away with just water.  I don't understand why, but it's really convenient.  You can eat as much as you want until your tongue is screaming, and then cool it all down just as fast.

This is probably tomorrow's dinner as well, and then the rest of the week will be whatever, based on my role as tour guide.  I made about eight cups, most of which went into the freezer so I'll have enough leftovers to make it through the rest of the year.

• Tomorrow is apparently Draw a Dinosaur day.  I'll be participating, as will everyone who isn't lame.
• Remember how pie charts are almost never the correct way to plot data?  This is a wonderful example of why.
• Baby squirrel!
• Hey, I've been there!

Saturday: Instead of cooking, cleaning!

Cleaning sucks.  I hate cleaning.  DIAF, cleaning.

I did get errands done, so if I wanted to, I could cook dinner.  Maybe if it cools off a bit more, but given that I need hours of braising/cooking time, I probably should just wait until tomorrow.  It's supposed to be cooler then.

This thing was broken at WF again today.  I did get a better picture this week.

• Since google thinks I like Tanzania, I felt like I should link to this story.  I wonder if this is the first sign that google's become sentient.  Maybe this is a suggestion, like: "I've examined your web searches and browsing habits, and I think you should look into Tanzania."  That'd be kind of cool. Also: one step closer to being destroyed by robot overlords.
• See, this is what I'm talking about: I'm innocently browsing my RSS feeds, and this comes up.  Normally I'd just say, "puppy haet cat!" but since it's a particular kind of puppy...
• Oh give me a break. Again?  This video is hilarious too.  If your particularly lazy, you can just click through to the gif versions of the best parts.
• When I took biology, it was in Indiana.  The teacher I had at the time started the section on evolution by saying something to the effect of, "I don't care what you talk about at home, or what church you go to or whatever. We're going to talk about evolution here, because that's science.  You can think that god created everyone if you want, but if you don't want to fail this class, you're going to learn about Darwin."  Now imagine it being said by a particularly tall version of the old guy from "Up."
• And here's the link that I completely forgot to put in that last story.  It did have a point.

Friday: lazy day

Yeah, I like waffles!

Ok, so they're just crappy freezer waffles, but I've been wanting waffles for days.  I paired them with crappy deli chicken fingers (with hot sauce) to get the chicken and waffles thing going, and then some fried potatoes because I wanted to do like a breakfast thing.  Then I put cheese on them.  So that kind of ruined the breakfast for dinner idea.

Whatever.

It was tasty, I enjoyed it, and I don't care what anyone says.  Om nom nom.

How about a puppy video?

Beyond that, I only have one link for today.  Doctor Cat really doesn't belong in the maternity ward.

Thursday: Math (contains little to no actual math)

Meatloaf sandwich again today, because I didn't want to bother waiting on a potato to cook. Potatoes are lazy like that.  Have I posted these pictures before?

Puppy haet bike!

Do you like my hat?

• Buzzy bee (contains little to no actual bee).
• Abandoned places in Austin.
• I was about to join everyone else in getting all upset about this, but I actually live here, and so I subscribe to the local news twitter accounts.  So, you know, not that big of a deal anymore, I guess.
• I am Obamacare.  Why do people hate good things so much?
• Do you know what google thinks about you?  Let's see what google thinks about me:

Oh no! Google's discovered my secret love for Tanzania!

Wednesday: baked potatoes take longer than I like

Basically the same as Sunday's dinner, but with a baked potato instead of mashed.  I wish it didn't take an hour and a half to make them caramely and yummy.

Seriously. Not enough time exists to explain.

• Invasion!
• Maybe this is why I watched Kindergarten Cop a few months ago.  I somehow subconsciously noticed these things.
• Damn you, Obama! Damn you and your socialist ways!

Tuesday: Sandwich time

Meatloaf sandwich time!

 Cut open:

Super tasty, except I need to go buy new buns again tomorrow, because Safeway fucking sucks at not selling moldy bread.  This is what, the third time I've bought bread from them that had mold when I got it home?  Fuck you, Safeway.

I missed the state of the union address, but I saw this picture:

"Now who is short? Super-Kucinich will destroy you all!"

• Why payday lenders are basically the worst kind of scum.
• This may be the first thing I'm really considering buying from etsy.
• Puppy haet shoos.
• Monkey baby.
• This is the most brilliant pie idea ever.