Chris Martin

  • 2022 W52

    Happy new year!

    § The Pocket Operator has become my newest obsession. I had forgotten how much I enjoy experimenting with little musical toys. Begin the countdown to when I finally give up and buy an OP-1.

    § I got on a serious weird movie kick this week after watching Triangle of Sadness after Alex Cox and Merlin Mann mentioned it on a recent episode of their Do By Friday podcast.

    Triangle of Sadness was alright but I thought The Square, also by Ruben Östlund, was amazing. Although I will admit that some of my enjoyment could be a consequence of going to art school and seeing a lot of hilariously embarrassing aspects of myself in many of the characters.

    After watching the two Östlund movies I inevitably had to see The Lobster, a movie I had been avoiding since seeing The Killing of a Sacred Deer a while back and not enjoying it much at all. I ended up loving The Lobster! It might be that Lanthimos writes such amazingly strange, surreal, uncomfortable dialog that I find it all too disturbing in a horror movie but hilarious in a comedy.

    § Re Triangle of Sadness: this song has been stuck in my heard since seeing the movie.

    § There was an unbelievable pink sunset on Wednesday evening that I was actually able to capture a nice photo of. This is usually the type of situation that I find Apple’s computational photography engine “corrects” for, making it really a difficult subject to photograph.

    § Links

    § Recipes

    The unintentional theme this week was cabbage which is definitely a new favorite vegetable — kimchi, sauerkraut, what’s not to like?

    • Kapusniak, Polish kielbasa and cabbage soup
      • This was one of the best meals I have made in a really long time. Highly recommended. The only thing I will do differently next time is add a liiiitle more chicken broth to thin it out slightly.
      • Also, here is a video of Kenji making this recipe
      • JANUARY 8 UPDATE: I just realized that when I first made this recipe and wrote the above I had accidentally used half of the specified amount of broth — 4 cups instead of 8 cups — which explains a lot! So now I would suggest either using somewhere around 6 cups of broth or letting the whole soup boil down and condense for a while. Still a great recipe.
    • Cabbage Rolls
      • This turned out better than I expected but also was more of a pain than it was worth.
    • Kimchi soup
      • I like spicy foods but this was too spicy for me. It could be the chili flakes I used though. Next time I will either use less chili flakes or a different brand.
    • Thai-style beef with basil and chiles
      • Not too special but pretty good! I made this one to have with the kimchi soup and it was a good sidekick. Caroline really liked it though.

  • 2022 W51

    Remember how last week I mentioned that I successfully got through my final week of classes without getting sick? Well, almost immediately after hitting publish I started coming down with a cold. At least it wasn’t especially bad and I was back to feeling nearly 100% by Wednesday.

    Anyway, this was my first week off this year and, despite the cold, I ended up accomplishing some of the household tasks I have been putting off for far too long. Most notably, painting a wall in my kitchen and deep cleaning the basement floor where it had been stained by cyanotype chemistry.

    Recipes

    • Tajín grilled chicken
      • This was good but would have been better had I used an actual grill instead of the stovetop and broiler. Note to self to try it again next summer.
    • Chile crisp fettuccine alfredo
      • A better combination than I was expecting. I added lemon juice which was a good choice. Next time I make this I will probably try adding ground pork too.
    • Thai carrot and sweet potato soup
      • Eh, this was alright but definitely missing something although I am not sure I can pinpoint what exactly

  • 2022 W50

    This was a strange week, as expected, with lots of student absences due to the flu, RSV, covid, and early vacations. Shockingly, I was able to avoid catching any of the illnesses myself and can now spend these next two weeks catching up on things at home and, I hope, relaxing. This is really my first chance to expirence the perks of a teacher’s schedule and I don’t intend to take it for granted.

    It snowed for the first time this year overnight Friday. The holiday season has truly begun.

  • 2022 W49

    Next week is the last week before winter break, not that I am counting.

    I made some homemade pizza in the outdoor pizza oven on Saturday. For the first time my gluten-free dough tasted the same as my glutenous dough. I hope this means my gluten-free skills are improving and not that I simply don’t know how to cook with gluten anymore. Anyway, the pizza was good and I don’t think I will have many more opprotunites to use the pizza oven until spring.

subscribe via RSS