Sunday, September 25, 2005

Restaurant Review

So in celebration of KSM's b-day (she turned 34 today!) and our anniversary on Thursday (3 years!!) her mom came to town and took us out to dinner. We went to Sparrow restaurant. We had seen this place before and decided to try it out.

We were pleasantly surprised. The atmosphere was very cool. Lots of color and kind of funky but not over the top. The service was friendly and prompt. The food was delicious! The menu had a great variety of unique flavors but not too crazy.

For a drink I chose the Jolly Kingfisher Martini. A martini with Jolly Rancher infused Ketel One vodka (blue raspberry) and Chambord. I could also sense some freshly squeezed lemon or lime. They serve it in a martini glass and the presentation is excellent. The color is light blue with the light purple color of the Chambord at the bottom 3rd of the glass.

I started with the soup du jour, which was a chili with the meat from beef short ribs. It was tasty and had the consistency of soup, but still very good. For the entree I had the rabbit in a yellow curry sauce with Caribbean rice. It was perfect! The rice had some mango & green beans which made it sweet & crunchy. The rabbit was served on the bone and was moist. And for dessert we shared the Molten Chocolate Bombe. It is a chocolate cake with gooey chocolate sauce on the inside served hot. It was also accompanied with home-made mint chocolate chip ice cream and a very light coffee cream sauce. Very delicious!!

We all enjoyed the meal & experience and I would rate it a must go. Reasonably priced ($15 - $25 entrees) and cool design. A little on the noisy side after 8pm with more people.

Wednesday, September 14, 2005

What have I learned??

I now have 3 1/2 weeks of school behind me now and I have learned a lot! Most recently I learned that you can boil water if you drop the pressure around it enough. Sounds simple since I live at 5,400' and water for me boils at 205 degrees F. But If you lower the pressure enough you can get it to boil at 40 degrees F. The water will still be cold to the touch but it will boil or turn into the next state, vapor (steam). Cool 'eh!

Also I started brazing in one of my classes and here is some of my work. I swaged a few pieces of 3/8" copper tube and then brazed them together. Remember this is the first time I have ever used a torch.

Monday, September 12, 2005

What Kind of Coffee am I

Thanks for the link Sam.

gee and I always drink americanos....

You Are a Frappacino

At your best, you are: fun loving, sweet, and modern

At your worst, you are: childish and over indulgent

You drink coffee when: you're craving something sweet

Your caffeine addiction level: low

Sunday, September 11, 2005

A Letter to All Who Voted for George W. Bush

Date: Sun, 11 Sep 2005 03:36:34 -0400
Subject: A Letter to All Who Voted for George W. Bush from Michael Moore

To All My Fellow Americans Who Voted for George W. Bush:

On this, the fourth anniversary of 9/11, I'm just curious, how does it feel?

How does it feel to know that the man you elected to lead us after we were attacked went ahead and put a guy in charge of FEMA whose main qualification was that he ran horse shows?

That's right. Horse shows.

I really want to know -- and I ask you this in all sincerity and with all due respect -- how do you feel about the utter contempt Mr. Bush has shown for your safety? C'mon, give me just a moment of honesty. Don't start ranting on about how this disaster in New Orleans was the fault of one of the poorest cities in America. Put aside your hatred of Democrats and liberals and anyone with the last name of Clinton. Just look me in the eye and tell me our President did the right thing after 9/11 by naming a horse show runner as the top man to protect us in case of an emergency or catastrophe.

I want you to put aside your self-affixed label of Republican/conservative/born-again/capitalist/ditto-head/right-winger and just talk to me as an American, on the common ground we both call America.

Are we safer now than before 9/11? When you learn that behind the horse show runner, the #2 and #3 men in charge of emergency preparedness have zero experience in emergency preparedness, do you think we are safer?

When you look at Michael Chertoff, the head of Homeland Security, a man with little experience in national security, do you feel secure?

When men who never served in the military and have never seen young men die in battle send our young people off to war, do you think they know how to conduct a war? Do they know what it means to have your legs blown off for a threat that was never there?

Do you really believe that turning over important government services to private corporations has resulted in better services for the people?

Why do you hate our federal government so much? You have voted for politicians for the past 25 years whose main goal has been to de-fund the federal government. Do you think that cutting federal programs like FEMA and the Army Corps of Engineers has been good or bad for America? GOOD OR BAD?

With the nation's debt at an all-time high, do you think tax cuts for the rich are still a good idea? Will you give yours back so hundreds of thousands of homeless in New Orleans can have a home?

Do you believe in Jesus? Really? Didn't he say that we would be judged by how we treat the least among us? Hurricane Katrina came in and blew off the facade that we were a nation with liberty and justice for all. The wind howled and the water rose and what was revealed was that the poor in America shall be left to suffer and die while the President of the United States fiddles and tells them to eat cake.

That's not a joke. The day the hurricane hit and the levees broke, Mr. Bush, John McCain and their rich pals were stuffing themselves with cake. A full day after the levees broke (the same levees whose repair funding he had cut), Mr. Bush was playing a guitar some country singer gave him. All this while New Orleans sank under water.

It would take ANOTHER day before the President would do a flyover in his jumbo jet, peeking out the widow at the misery 2500 feet below him as he flew back to his second home in DC. It would then be TWO MORE DAYS before a trickle of federal aid and troops would arrive. This was no seven minutes in a sitting trance while children read "My Pet Goat" to him. This was FOUR DAYS of doing nothing other than saying "Brownie (FEMA director Michael Brown), you're doing a heck of a job!"

My Republican friends, does it bother you that we are the laughing stock of the world?

And on this sacred day of remembrance, do you think we honor or shame those who died on 9/11/01? If we learned nothing and find ourselves today every bit as vulnerable and unprepared as we were on that bright sunny morning, then did the 3,000 die in vain?

Our vulnerability is not just about dealing with terrorists or natural disasters. We are vulnerable and unsafe because we allow one in eight Americans to live in horrible poverty. We accept an education system where one in six children never graduate and most of those who do can't string a coherent sentence together. The middle class can't pay the mortgage or the hospital bills and 45 million have no health coverage whatsoever.

Are we safe? Do you really feel safe? You can only move so far out and build so many gated communities before the fruit of what you've sown will be crashing through your walls and demanding retribution. Do you really want to wait until that happens? Or is it your hope that if they are left alone long enough to soil themselves and shoot themselves and drown in the filth that fills the street that maybe the problem will somehow go away?

I know you know better. You gave the country and the world a man who wasn't up for the job and all he does is hire people who aren't up for the job. You did this to us, to the world, to the people of New Orleans. Please fix it. Bush is yours. And you know, for our peace and safety and security, this has to be fixed. What do you propose?

I have an idea, and it isn't a horse show.

Yours,
Michael Moore
www.michaelmoore.com
mmflint@aol.com