Nothing funny about feldspar

While my cookbooks remain packed away for the foreseeable future (and just a bit beyond that, too), I had to improvise a corn soup to remind us of Mark Miller’s version that required roasting some unremembered number of ears of corn for some unremarked length of time… I just remember it had roasted corn and chipotles in it, with feta cheese on top.

So, considering this, I didn’t think it would be too hard to make something that was like what I thought I remembered, given that I didn’t remember all that much. And, of course, being the lazy sod that I am, I did it the really lazy way…

One (14+ oz) can of creamed corn
One cup of chicken broth (you could use vegetable broth, or even water if you’d like)
One chipotle in adobo, chopped up
About 1 tablespoon adobo (less if you’ve got a sensitive stomach)
About 1 cup of frozen roasted corn kernels
2 ounces give-or-take crumbled feta cheese

Cook everything together (except the cheese) in a saucepan until it’s hot. Serve with the feta on the table, then you can add as much cheese as you need… Serves two. (Plagioclase’s mother ate something else, because she can’t stand hot food.)

Now, this would totally not qualify for a “local eating” challenge, nor for any “fresh food” challenge, nor even for any “don’t appropriate my culture, bitch!” challenge¹.

But you know what? I don’t care. It tasted pretty good — probably not even close to the original recipe (which I last made about 8 years ago), but who cares? It had corn, it had chipotles, it had feta and it had nan slathered with garlic butter. Who could ask for more?

1. especially considering I served it with Tandoori Nan made in New York by a company with a Greek name↩

So we watched an episode of Life on Mars yesterday, and I was wondering… the main character is Sam, who as a cop believes “every copper has to be whiter than white or the whole thing falls apart,” who seems to travel back in time to solve a mystery…

I wonder if this is just Discworld set in Manchester without Ridcully? (And without the humour, except for the little touches of “chicken with mango” modern sensibilities…)

So at some fora I go to, I typically see threads like this:

Some question, probably kinda simple and easy.

Some answer, short and to the point

10x for the help

Is this from texting? IMing? Am I just out of the loop (likely)? But who, when, why? Have you noticed it?

I am very happy to partake of the cultural and intellectual opportunities afforded by living in a small city with a big university, and if it weren’t for those students, it’d be just about perfect.¹

Things are starting to fill up: you can’t get in the parking lots at Target, Bed Bath & Beyond, Linens-n-Things, or Meijer; finding a spot on the street near the university is becoming difficult, as cars with strange plates take up two or more spots; restaurants are requiring reservations… next thing you know it’ll be one of Those Saturdays and even more strangers will be crowding my town.

About the only thing I have to look forward to is the advent of squash season². I could do with some decent soup.

1. Well, except for the weather. And the taxes.↩
2. the hard “winter” variety, not the sport, heaven forfend!↩

Creative title, huh?

Steorm story on Reuters. So, is this a question of “Hey, dude! Prove me wrong!” or “Hey, dude! Wouldja do the research for my crackpot ideas? I’ve only enough to run a couple of adverts. Thanks!”