Day 60

Well, no reflections on blogging are, in fact, coming today.  Things are getting slightly more busy than they have been over here.  My tutoring's picking up, the quest to find a boarding home for Binks before June has begun (we have to take him for interviews!), and my backyard llama grooming business is really taking off.

I am going to keep blogging for the foreseeable future.  I can't promise another thirty days, but, at this point, the habit of writing a few hundred words every morning is so ingrained in me that stopping seems pointless.  I would like for a few more of my posts to be more intellectually rich--less of "I did this, I did that" and more "here's what I'm thinking about this...."  But that is neither here nor there.  I will keep posting, on something, for at least another few weeks.

I learned a small cooking fact last night: "chili powder" is NOT, as I had believed, just the powder from chilis.  It is, in fact, a mixture that includes powder of chilis but also cumin, garlic, salt, and various sundry seasonings (depending on who makes it).  Generally real chefs avoid it, preferring instead to use the actual powder from actual chilis (Cayenne, Chipotle, etc).  So, no more chili powder.  Instead, cayenne.  Or, whatever.

This was learned (passive!) because I made tacos last night using a recipe from, of all people, Emeril.  They turned out fairly well--good flavor--although the question of what cut of ground beef to use is still up in the air.  The standard for hamburgers is ground chuck, 20% fat.  (As opposed to ground beef, which is a lower cut of meat).  That seemed a little fatty for tacos, though.  I'll try 10% fat next time, I think.

Binks got groomed yesterday.  He's been moody and sullen ever since.  He's like a dog-Samson, except that instead of making him weak, cutting his hair makes him grouchy.  His hair is the power to be joyous.  The longer it gets, the happier he is.  Now, as I told my wife, he's like a fifteen year old boy who just wants to lock himself in his room and listen to The Cure.

Random Link: This GQ Article on ex-NBAer Stephon Marbury's attempts to launch a business empire in China is worth a read.  How could it not be?  It's Stephon Marbury.  And, in it, he uses the phrase, "I want to own my own city."  Really.