I Am Zang

Regrets, I've had a few.

zang — Tue, 31 Jul 2012 15:04:11 GMT

Wow.

This is likely to be my last ever post on LiveJournal.

Well, I'm not dying or anything. I did realize that it has been over two years since my last post. I, like others, made the exodus to Facebook a few moons ago and haven't looked back. A very vociferous and vicious breakup made very publicly here on LJ caused me to be less than comfortable about posting my inner clockwork with so much abandon. Too much drama in my life, caused by both myself and others. LJ was the Facebook of it's time, but after 12 years of having a blog here (I just missed the "early adopter" cutoff) its time is however over. Awww, sad, huh?

I made a good number of friends here and many of those friends I still keep. And I still do occasionally check out friends' posts, though the restrictions on how far you can go back are annoying.

Because I fear LJ as a company is not long for this world, I'm gonna back up all my posts and from that point on I will no longer post here. Any comments made on friends' posts will be anonymous but signed.

In other news:

I have recently returned to blogging on my own Wordpress install. It's far less personal and is about food:

Look Out, He's Got A Knife.

And in other news, my wife and I have a baby girl on the way. Penelope Belle Nazaroff will be here any day now.

But for those who're interested in remaining in some kind of contact and haven't already sought me out, you can find me on Facebook.

Cheers, LJ. It was fun.

zang — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 15:32:48 GMT

Am I the only person thinking this decade is going to see a huge scientific renaissance?

The late 50's and 60's saw a resurgence of interest in the scientific (a backlash to the post-war neo-puritanism), and I see it coming now. Over the last few years, we've seen the fundamentalist anti-science movement push harder and harder. Well, when you push a pendulum one way, eventually it swings back just as far. I can't be the only person irked with the pseudo-scientific and anti-scientific bullshit everywhere.

As the mainstream media (usually the last outlet to notice trends) is saturated with non-scientific garbage like Ghost Hunters and 2012, in the non-mainstream we see the immense popularity of things like "A Glorious Dawn" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSgiXGELjbc&fmt=18). (Sagan and Hawking FTW!). Even They Might Be Giants recently released an album around science.

Even less developed nations are starting to come into their technological/scientific revolutions. Western world beware, India and China are soon to be kicking our asses . Manual labour jobs are declining there, due to mechanization. This is exactly what happened here, leading to the massive explosion of information, technology and science-related jobs. A good amount of new technology jobs are no longer opening up here, but over there.

Anyone have their own thoughts?

The geek shall inherit the earth, my friends.

The Abuse of "Chef".

zang — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 03:53:18 GMT

I hate when people call themselves chefs and aren't.

I am not a chef. Even when I have my diploma, I won't be a chef.

I am a cook. I do not call myself a chef.

There's a saying, "you're not a chef until someone else calls you chef"; meaning that unless you're someone's boss, you don't deserve that title.

People really like to call anyone who can cook a chef. Hell, there are people out there who call themselves chef after going to culinary school. It's a disrespect to the people who've actually earned the title. I'd like to take anyone who wishes to call themselves a chef to spend an a day in a busy restaurant kitchen and see if they still feel they deserve to be called chef.

The things people do who actually obtain the title would kill a lot of people. It's a gruelling job working yourself up to that height. Even moreso if you hold a title like a CCC (Certified Chef de Cuisines) or the astoundingly-difficult-to-obtain MOF (Meilleur Ouvrier de France); two distinctions of honour. You start peeling vegetables and being the low man on the totem pole(almost always regardless of training), spending years in a job with high stress, long hours and low pay. Once you start moving up the chain, you'll probably work a dozen other stations to get a sous-chef position. There you'll probably begin to learn the ropes about running the business. Then, if you're lucky, someone will offer you a chef position. And that comes with even more work, and more time away from cooking. Then, you've got to maintain a profit in an industry with an average profit margin of 6%(remember that next time you think your dinner was expensive).

My point is; a lot of time and work is taken in earning the title chef. It's not a term to be thrown around lightly, any more than general or doctor. Building a really good model rocket doesn't make one an astronaut, does it?

Next time someone makes something delicious, don't call them chef, just tell them they're a really good cook. They probably won't care, and it keeps an already over-abused term of honour from becoming even more diluted.

New addition to the family...

zang — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 18:09:40 GMT

And it's name is Helios.

The naming theme of my past few computers.

"Razor" was my PowerMac 7500.

...and here's where the themes come in.

"Fire" was the original name of my current PowerMac G5, but got switched to Elements so that I could name it's drives "Fire", "Water", "Earth" and "Air"

My 30GB 5th-gen iPod which connected to "Fire" was named "Ignatius" (get it?)

I haven't decided on the name of the iMac when it comes (I'm leaning towards "Hyperion"), but "Helios", 32GB iPod Touch was delivered today. :)

BSG: It could've ended so much better.

zang — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 19:37:11 GMT

I've had half a day to digest the final episode of BSG...

I'm left thinking, "this is the way they chose to end the show?"

I loved season 1 and season 2. They were filled with action, good storytelling, compelling characters.

Season 3 was mostly slow and seemed like filler. Believe me, I defended the character development used in season 3 to friends who felt the series was already failing, but even I couldn't deny it was a weaker season.

Season 4 started off well, but quickly took a nosedive.

Reasons why I have issues with this whole thing:

Cavill wanted to end the war because he was offered resurrection? C'mon. He was gung-ho to kill all humans when they had resurrection before. He was a machine with a psychopath's rationality, intent on rejecting all aspects of humanity. Suddenly, he *cares* about his own life to give up his agenda of machine perfection? And maybe I missed something, but didn't a previous episode mention that one place they COULD still resurrect was at the colony? Y'know, that place Galactica just found Cavill.

Starbuck is a what? I thought they'd use that whole Daniel plot point to say she was actually the first cylon/human hybrid, that Daniel escaped death and lived with humans until discovered. It would explain why her father just disappeared. It would possibly explain her resurrection. It would explain her artistic side. it would explain why she was the only human to hear "All along the watchtower". Apparently though, Daniel was nothing but a footnote added for no apparent reason.

All this "act of god" bull? C'mon. God is a lame plot manoeuvre. Especially when used to explain spontaneous human generation on the other side of the universe. I'd expect "god" from Glen A. Larsen. Angels? I liked the idea that Baltar was *really* crazy; racked with guilt and hallucinating.

How exactly did a Bob Dylan song end up 150,000 years in the past, shaping the destiny of three races? It felt weird them using the song to begin with, but there was still no explanation even to the end. I thought it was a harbinger of what would happen. I thought, especially after the "Eye of Jupiter" and "Maelstrom" episodes, that Galactica would end up finding a wormhole into Cylon-Earth's past, which ends up being *our* present. Humanity would later leave the planet to colonize the stars, namely Kobol. It would go well in explaining "All Along the Watchtower" references; it would give our Galactees a place to live that's free of cylons, and it would completely explain the "all this has happened before and it will happen again". It would also be a bit of a funny nod to Galactica '80, that lame spin-off of the original BG series that took place in modern-day times.

But noooooo. That would be too simple.

Instead, we were given flashbacks that seemed incredibly long and irrelevant.

Then, we get Chief killing Tory. Okay, sure. He killed her. And no-one stopped him? No-one jailed him? They all just let it happen and no-one said a thing. I know the writers wanted him to get his revenge, but they could have had Chief see the memories of Calli getting killed, and later shown Tori dead in a cabin on Galactica as it was sent towards the sun. The audience would know who did it.

The main cast members splitting off into their own directions? It felt contrived. Adama wandering off, never to see his son or "daughter" again? It seemed vastly out of character.

Starbuck just disappearing? Huh? This made no sense whatsoever. If they wanted to leave us wondering exactly what she was, don't make her disappear in the middle of an open plain. This suddenly removes the possibility that she is actually human.

39,000 people deciding unanimously to give up all aspects of technology to live like primitives? *sigh*

I mean, I wanted to like it. I really did. It all just seemed so contrived; like a bunch of executives fired all the writers and made up an ending just to get it over with.

I'm sad, because I once loved that show.

Finally...

zang — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 15:09:01 GMT

I posted some of the official photographs from the wedding on Facebook. They've been added to the album found here.

Special thank you to Nicole (touch_my_skin), our wonderful and fabulous wedding photographer. :)

If there's no one beside you when your soul embarks...

zang — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 04:09:56 GMT

During the wedding, I wanted to sing a song for Melissa. I couldn't do it though. Not because I didn't want to. I just know it would have made me too emotional. When I get emotional, my throat tightens and my voice becomes this croaky, weird thing that's not pleasant for anyone.

I wanted to sing this song though. It's a sweet, simple song that says all the things I'd want to sing to her. But hell, I get emotional just listening to it. Let alone singing it to the girl I was about to marry.

Some might look at it and think it's a sad song about losing one's religion or death, but perhaps it's my optimistic side that sees it as a beautiful song about how love transcends everything. Ben Gibbard has an incredible knack for writing clever, honest lyrics. It's not a surprise that I consider both Death Cab for Cutie and the Postal Service as two of my favourite bands.

I Will Follow You Into The Dark - Death Cab for Cutie

Love of mine, some day you will die
But I'll be close behind
I'll follow you into the dark

No blinding light or tunnels to gates of white
Just our hands clasped so tight
Waiting for the hint of a spark

If Heaven and Hell decide
That they both are satisfied
Illuminate the no's on their vacancy signs

If there's no one beside you
When your soul embarks
Then I'll follow you into the dark

In Catholic school as vicious as Roman rule
I got my knuckles bruised by a lady in black
And I held my tongue as she told me
"Son fear is the heart of love"
So I never went back

If Heaven and Hell decide
That they both are satisfied
Illuminate the no's on their vacancy signs

If there's no one beside you
When your soul embarks
Then I'll follow you into the dark

You and me have seen everything to see
From Bangkok to Calgary
And the soles of your shoes
Are all worn down

The time for sleep is now
It's nothing to cry about
'Cause we'll hold each other soon
In the blackest of rooms

If Heaven and Hell decide
That they both are satisfied
Illuminate the no's on their vacancy signs

If there's no one beside you
When your soul embarks
Then I'll follow you into the dark
Then I'll follow you into the dark

For those of you on Facebook...

zang — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 15:20:54 GMT

I posted pics from our honeymoon in Paris here and here.

V-Day...

zang — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 04:21:39 GMT

February 14th was not just Valentine's Day for me. It marked the third anniversary of the day Melissa and I met face to face (we'd been talking online for about a month beforehand).

It's now also the day I got married.

The wedding was fabulous. I couldn't have asked for a better event. I will keep it all short and sweet.

1) Us, surrounded by 24 of our closest friends and family.
2) The most beautiful of venues.
3) Clear skies and not a flake of snow to be found
4) Absolutely fabulous food that filled our bellies with sinful delight.
5) A fabulous photographer (touch_my_skin) who made us feel completely at ease (I hope you're feeling better).
6) Love, in spades.

A few of the non-official (non-touch_my_skin) photos:

1 + 1 = 2

Pssssssst...

zang — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 16:56:49 GMT

I'm getting married tomorrow.

Photos and whatnot will eventually be available on:

melissaandjamie.ca

zang — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 06:05:46 GMT

Y'know, it sucks that apparently the entire 10eme arrondisement in Paris has yet to be modelled in Google Earth.

The whole rest of the city is, but not *the fracking area where we're staying*.

I wanted to do a little bit of a tour. :/

Updating things here...

zang — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 15:37:54 GMT

School:
I had my Food Safety/Sanitation exam this past Saturday, and I've no doubt I aced the thing.

So far, I'm beating school down and stealing it's lunch money. I'm easily getting a 4.0 grade average in my classes, based on marks I've already received. I've joined the Dean's Recognition Program, which offers some extra credits and a recommendation by the Dean at the end of the year. I'm willing to bet I'm the top of my class in just about everything but Culinary Skills 1. I can't say for sure with that class as I'm too busy to check out what other people are doing, but if I'm not first, I'm second or third. On the first day of school, I set a personal goal of being in the top 5 for the class of 2010. We'll see how I am in April of '10, but I'm well on my way. Hell, if everything's hunky dory and done next friday, I'll even go to math class the day before the wedding to avoid breaking my perfect attendance record.

Wedding:

I've got sketches to finish for it, but I work best under pressure. Though, pressure has been at a minimum. Everything's gone so smoothly that we're not really stressing about it. We went and met our officiant Ken last week. Imagine if you will, a tallk, skinny horn-rimmed science teacher from the 1950s, and you've got the guy who's gonna marry us.

I'm currently compiling dinner music for our wedding. We've decided on mostly jazz from the 1920s to the 1950s. Of course, there'll be the big names like Frank Sinatra, Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, the Ink Spots, Billie Holliday, Mel Torme, Thelonius Monk and a few minor modern exceptions like Harry Connick Jr. and Michael Bublé.

I've always had a soft spot for jazz. Especially anything by Ella.

The really geek thing, is that in this lineup of music, I've got the opening theme music for all three Fallout games. "Maybe" by the Ink Spots from Fallout, "A Kiss to Build a Dream On" by Louis Armstrong from Fallout II, and "I Don't Want to Set the World on Fire" by the Ink Spots from Fallout III. Yeah, I'm that much of a geek.

Also geeky is that included is "Aquarela do Brazil". Not just because it's one of the only pieces of latin jazz that I like (save for "Girl from Ipanema"), I gained a love for it after watching Terry Gilliam's "Brazil" a dozen times or so.

I hereby state there shall be no Nat King Cole. Besides the fact that his talentless hack daughter has been stomping all over his memory by doing a "duet" with every song he's ever done, I've never found his stuff that special. He has always been a mediocre singer to me.

Random:

Why Marilyn Monroe didn't get more recognition for her singing ability, I'm not sure. She had such a pure, precise (yet not mechanical sounding) vibrato in her singing voice, and enough balls to really give it when a song needed it. Her voice just seemed so well suited for jazz. It's a shame her breathy singing of "Happy Birthday to You" is all most will know or remember of her voice.

I just realized that I think my soon-to-be father in law is the white reincarnation of Cab Calloway.

Hidey-hidey-hidey-hi.

zang — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 00:14:46 GMT

It's been a good day today.

First off, I run into Satan's High Lieutenant of Rock and/or Roll (aka, cyn on the subway to school.

I then proceed to finish my Computer Skills and Applications class. Yes, finished. It was an independent study type thing, easy as hell and I had it done in two weeks. I flew through (what the school considers forty-two credit hours) in all tolled, less than three hours. Booyah. One less thing to worry about.

Third, I aced (as in 100%) the quiz we had today in our Math for Hospitality class. Again, it's an easy class, but for someone who'd been out of school for nearly 16 years, I seem to remember a lot more math than the students who've only been out of school for a year. I'm beginning to understand the concern over students given a passing grade out of high school when they obviously haven't achieved it.

Fourth, I found a $5 bill today in the Scotiabank Tower. Who finds money lying around? In a BANK?! Well, a concourse in a building owned by a bank that is. But anyhow...

Wedding stuff is still going swimmingly. I really believed there'd be far more stress, but with the amount of fore-planning we did, and the way we've structured our wedding, it's been easy-peasy all the way. Perhaps it's just our natural happiness to blame. That's not to say I'm not insanely busy, but it's without resistance or fits or anything negative. The fact that the crescendo to it all is a week in Paris with my new wife, probably rounds off any edges there may be.

So yes, it has been a good day.

Jim Haynes and Paris

zang — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 20:43:56 GMT

One of the things I'm looking forward to is our first evening in Paris. It's on a Sunday, and we've already made plans. We're taking part in a weird, social-karmic experiment that a writer by the name of Jim Haynes has been doing for over thirty years.

Imagine if you will, a moustachioed, 75 year old man who looks like he should be a train conductor or someone's grandpa.

Some of you artsy folk out there may know his name. In the 60's, he was an important figure in the London arts scene. In his own words, he "...knew Yoko before she knew John and [I] knew John before he knew Yoko." He runs his own small-run press and does a lot to promote other artists and writers.

So, back to his little experiment. He has an open invitation for anyone to join him for dinner on Sunday evenings, at his house, in the 12th district of Paris. Someone will cook, and everyone will eat. It's his love of people that has kept this going for over thirty years, and people from all over the world attend his dinners.

There's even a documentary about his dinners:

Paris Visite Trailer

It felt like the right thing for two people not interested in really touristy-things to do. We could care less about going up the Eiffel Tower. The point of vacation for us is to learn about other cultures. What better way to do that than one of Jim Haynes' dinners? Plus, it's just a really cool idea.

Teacher's Dirty Looks... Random thoughts on school.

zang — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 05:11:48 GMT

Tomorrow means school. In April of 2010, I'll have graduated.

I'll be in my first class since 1993. Yeah, that's 16 years ago. Part of me is scared, but it's greatly overwhelmed by the part of me that's excited.

Based on what I saw at Orientation on Tuesday, it'll be an interesting year and a half. Many of the culinary students I saw had no clue, and I suspect the classes will be aimed towards those with zero cooking experience. Even the pre-orientation speeches had remarkably basic level things like "what does 'mise-en-place' mean?"

Life's about to change dramatically. Most of it will be work and school. My social life will be non-existent for the most part, and my career will hinder my friendships. C'est la vie, non?

I removed my eyebrow piercing today. Sadly, I cannot have any jewellery on in school, whatsoever. The earring and the nose ring are easy to take in and out, but the eyebrow was more permanent. Oh well, it's drifted over the years anyway. Once school is done, I may have it re-pierced. It feels odd not having it in.

I'm on my way to becoming a chef. I don't intend to do it half-assed. I've signed on with the Dean's Recognition Program, I'm joining the CCF, and will be aiming for my red seal.

If you need me, I'll be in the kitchen.

Pondering the new (and old) year.

zang — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 04:00:57 GMT

Melissa's in the bedroom, having a nap before midnight. I've contemplated joining her myself, as I'm near knackered.

I've just been thinking about the new year. Forget what day it is today. In a week's time, I'll be on the eve of being back in school. The first time in 15 years, I might add. In a month and a half, I'll be married. In two months, I'll be back from my honeymoon to Paris. All of this is in the first two months.

It's going to be a busy year, to say the least. This coming year is going to be full of new beginnings. I expect to be even less social. It's not on purpose though. It's just the way my life has been going. Plans make way for PLANS. Plans to get married mean a lot of peripheral things need to be done and more money needs to be made. Plans to go back to school mean getting all my ducks in a row. I'm picturing my life prior as a whole lot of straggly, loose hair; my life in the coming future as a thick, solid braid. I'm in the midst of weaving those strands into something less fragile. As a result, the social life has been less than what it once was in the past. I suppose in a way it's a good thing. There are friends I miss dearly, and things I'd love to be doing, but I also know that my future career path precludes just about any and all social activity.

And I don't regret any of it. I'm on a path to something I should have been on a long time ago. I'm marrying the girl of my dreams. It's more than I could ever ask for.

zang — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 06:36:12 GMT

It's 1:36 in the morning on a late December night, ant it's 13° Celsius out.

WTF?!

A thing of beauty...

zang — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 06:37:47 GMT

One of the wonderful things about where I work is the employee discount. With school coming up, I knew I'd be in need of a great set of knives. The school encourages the purchase of their kits, but they're either horrible sets with huge plastic handles, or decent knives with huge riveted handles. After years of using knives with ergonomic handles, I knew I wouldn't be able to deal with the ones they sell.

So, I bought some.

Henckels Twin Cuisine to be exact. An 8" Chef, 8" Bread Knife, 4" Paring Knife and 5 1/2" Boning knife. I've drooled over these knives for years. They're wonderfully well-fit to my hand and have a beautiful edge to them. They cut like a dream, and damnit, they look like forged, ice-hardened sex:

So, as I was saying about the discount... My company already sells all Zwilling J.A. Henckels at 25% off the MSRP. With my discount added to that, it came to within wholesale cost.

Can one love both a woman and a set of knives?

Post #2: Wedding run-up.

zang — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 16:38:55 GMT

On Saturday, Melissa and I booked our honeymoon. A week after our wedding (thankfully, "march break" at George Brown falls on the last week of February), we'll be winging our way to Paris for a week. Due to the fact that it's the off-season, we got an astoundingly good deal on a flight and hotel deal.

I've spent most of this morning looking up markets and less touristy attractions. Sure, we'll probably spend a day to go to the Eiffel Tower, The Louvre and Champs Elysees, but we want to hit the lesser known things as well. We'll be there during the Chinese New Year celebrations, and we might hit up the Thermes de Cluny, the Parc Zoologique and Cité des Sciences et de l'Industrie.

No doubt I'll also be "importing" large amounts of cheese, normandy butter and other food products upon our return.

Has anyone out there been to Paris and have any suggestions as to where we should go?

Post #1: Documentation

zang — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 16:38:48 GMT

This week, I filed for my passport. It should arrive in mid-January. This will be the first time in my life that I'll have had all proper government-issued forms of ID. It's been an insanely convoluted process getting these things, and I'll explain why.

Why is this complicated?

Well, some time in my teens, I lost my Social Insurance Card. I've had the number memorized, so I really never thought of it. Not until I took my current job, where they needed to see the actual card (they're now legally obligated to do so).

In order for me to get my SIN card, I needed my birth certificate.

In the early part of this decade, my birth certificate was deemed obsolete. Why? Well, in the mid-1970's, birth certificates in Quebec could be issued by city clerks rather than the provincial government. My original birth certificate was hand-typed, on municipal letterhead, with the seal of a city clerk. Not living in Quebec made it difficult for me to get a new replacement card, because for a while it was required that you do it IN PERSON.

But to get my new Birth Certificate, I needed to update my Driver's License (my only-then form of government issued photo ID). I'd not updated it since moving from Waterloo to Toronto. Well, I end up finding out that due to a speeding ticket in July of 2006 that remaining unpaid (due to the fact I intended to fight it, but never received a court notice and ended up forgetting about it), my license had been suspended. In order to un-suspend my license, I needed to pay the ticket and show my birth certificate.

See the problem here?

I also needed my OHIP card. I've had a red-and-white card forever (albeit half-destroyed and held together by leery strips of decade-old scotch tape), but my name was pulled in the "you must upgrade to the new card"-lottery this year. Ironically, a government issued photo ID card like OHIP cannot actually be used as photo ID, despite the fact you need THREE forms of other ID to get it. It's the most restrictive and hard to get forms of common government photo ID and it cannot be used as such. WTF? Yeah, I know, people would use it to get into bars and buy cigarettes and alcohol, but who cares. It's not like the Ministry of Health is actually writing a written endorsement of those products. Sheesh.

All has been sorted out, but there's been a huge rigmarole in getting all of these things, and a lot of running around. Once I have my passport, I'll be set (with a complete set. ;))

I'm seriously considering getting a safe deposit box these days...

Seasonal Recipe Post...

zang — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 21:42:52 GMT

I know some of you out there have tasted this, and I thought I'd post it. It's seasonal, and tastes best if you roast and puree your own pumpkin, rather than use canned. I might make it again for family at Christmas.

Pumpkin Dulce de Leche Cheesecake

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups ground gingersnap cookies
1 1/2 cups toasted pecans
1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted

32 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
1/4 cup whipping cream
1 1/2 cup pureed pumpkin
1 2/3 cups sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground allspice
4 large eggs

1 10oz can sweetened condensed milk.

Directions:

1: For Dulce de Leche: Remove the label from an unopened can of condensed milk, and place in a large, tall stock pot. Fill stock pot with water to 1" from the top, making sure the can is completely covered. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat and reduce to maintain a low boil. Boil for 3 hours, replenishing water along the way and making sure the can always remains submerged. Allow to cool.

2: For pureed pumpkin: Peel, seed and cube a sweet mama kabocha (Japanese) pumpkin (other sweet pumpkins will suffice, but never use a carving pumpkin). Toss lightly with a little light tasting oil (canola or vegetable oil) and roast in a 375°F oven until lightly browning at the edges. A medium-sized Kabocha will make about 2-2 1/2 cups of puree. Allow to cool and puree in a food processor.

3: For Crust: Preheat oven to 350°F. Finely grind cookies, pecans and sugar in a food processor. Add melted butter and blend with a fork until combined. Press crust mixture onto bottom of a greased and parchment paper-lined 9 or 10-inch-diameter springform pan.

4: For Filling: Using stand mixer, beat cream cheese and sugar in large bowl until light. Add pumpkin, whipping cream, ground cinnamon and ground allspice to mixture in large bowl and beat until well combined. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating just until combined.

5: Pour filling into crust. Bake until cheesecake puffs, top browns and center moves only slightly when pan is shaken, about 1 hour 15 minutes, but check regularly after 50 minutes. Transfer cheesecake to rack and cool 10 minutes. Run small sharp knife around cake pan sides to loosen cheesecake. Cool. Cover tightly and refrigerate overnight.

6: Open can of condensed milk and cover top of cheesecake with a thin layer of dulce de leche.

Serves: 10-14

Are people that ignorant?

zang — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 23:25:34 GMT

Someone just said on the news that it would be "undemocratic" if the opposition parties formed a coalition government.

The thing is, the MAJORITY of voters DIDN'T vote for the current governing party. They voted for OTHER parties. A minority government (like we have now) is actually what is undemocratic. A majority coalition represents the majority of people who voted. How does someone not get that?

*sigh*

What a busy, busy birthday...

zang — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 06:04:30 GMT

I got to sleep in. That's always a good thing.

We got up this morning with the knowledge it would be a busy day. Melissa gave me my presents in bed, and we had some bagels and cream cheese for breakfast.

We jumped onto the subway and headed over to Metro Hall, where we got in line for our flu shots. Our shoulders are sore as hell, but neither of us want the flu, or worse yet, be able to pass it on to someone who might be immuno-compromised.

We then went over to City Hall and...

Got our marriage license! We now have 90 days to get married! Of course, our wedding is 80 days away, but I figured it was a good day for us to get it.

We then raced over to the bank, where we had to get a bank draft for something wedding-related.

After that, we hit the Bay and added a few more items to our wedding registry.

Then it was off north to OISE to meet up with Melissa's best friend, to give her the aforementioned bank draft.

We then headed home for a slight nap.

Then we ran up to Crate & Barrel, to return a picture frame that was flaking red foil from the day we brought it home.

After that, we went for dinner (at 8:45pm) at Serra.

We got home and watched Top Chef.

Tomorrow, it's off to Waterloo to finally clean out the damn storage locker.

In other news, one of the kittens (who will not stay off the counter no matter what we do), just jumped at the counter, fell short and took my $80 kitchen scale with her.

I now have a very expensive paperweight.

In other news...

zang — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 22:15:47 GMT

We now have a Cuisinart SM55 Mixer.

When people find out, they ask "why not Kitchenaid?"

Why not?

Well...

Decades ago, Kitchenaid was owned by Hobart. The vast majority of restaurants today use Hobart industrial mixers. They are renown for being of extremely good build quality.

Then, in 1986, Hobart sold Kitchenaid to Whorlpool. Since then, the product line has become inexplicably complex, the build quality has dropped, and warranties have shrunk. Kitchenaid caught a lot of flak a few years back by replacing metal gearbox housings with easily-breakable plastic ones, where mixing yeast dough (what is an advertised and known usage) could snap the gearbox in half. They did this in their "professional" models and due to bad press and consumer pressure, were forced to revert back to metal gear housings in 2007.

Now that said, Kitchenaid stuff is of good quality and personally I've never had a Kitchenaid product die on me. I wanted a Kitchenaid mixer for a long time, due primarily to reputation. But the Kitchenaid name isn't what it once was.

But two years ago, along came Cuisinart and they're owned by Conair (yeah, the company that makes hair trimmers and blow dryers). They contracted Kenwood (no, not the car/home audio company; another company known quite well for their mixers) in the UK to design and manufacture the SM55 stand mixer under the Cuisinart name.

Now, the SM55 isn't that much different from most stand mixers in function. In fact, several mixers by Kenwood, Delonghi and Viking are all based on the same design and internal parts. But as time goes by, more and more consumer companies, culinary organizations and the like are finding the Cuisinart models to be better machines than even the Kitchenaid professional models. Cook's Illustrated Magazine, who've stood by Kitchenaid Mixers for decades, changed their minds this year during their annual mixer review in March and gave the #1 position to the Cuisinart SM55.

The reason it's NOT a Kitchenaid is because I bothered to DO MY HOMEWORK; something I wish more people would do before buying products and appliances.

I will leave you with this:

Just a few things to remember (and I'm pointing to you, Rachael Ray-ites):

1) If you're going to complain it's not available in frosted pine, brushed copper or fire-engine red, just remember that it's a tool and not a fashion accessory.

2) If you make cookies twice a year, you don't need a stand mixer.

3) Having a pristine kitchenaid mixer on your counter does not make you look in any way worldly or cool. Odds are, you probably own (*shudder*) glass cutting boards and an avocado slicer, too.

4) Just because Martha Stewart (a former stockbroker with a degree in architectural history) or Rachel Ray (the walking personification of a casserole book from the 50s) are on tv and cook, does not make them wise, nor a chef. Neither has any culinary schooling and both are very much in the business of selling themselves and their products.

What I've been up to of late...

zang — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 00:30:29 GMT

I've not been out and about much lately. Why is that you ask? A new job. Well, technically, I've already been there for a month and a half, but it's still new. And it's retail *shock and/or horror*. After getting screwed over by a design client for the *last* time, I decided (with a few exceptions) to walk away from that business. Besides, with going back to school in early January, I wouldn't be able to do much of that anymore. I also knew I'd need *some* kind of job while I'm going to school. Due to the hours and flexibility, retail was one of the few options I had. So I got me a retail job.

nighthawk21 saw me at work today (the Kitchen Stuff Plus at Yonge & Hayden for anyone who cares to know). Sadly though, I could not process her at cash (company policy), however it was good seeing her. With the work, the wedding plans and family obligations, I've barely seen or talked to anyone in forever.

I need to rectify that somewhat.