quip: metallia

So, recently a friend of mine from back in my metal radio days began dating again. He, like I , turned to the internet for introductions. His experience is less than special so far, so, in a recent conversation with a mutual friend of ours, she and I were discussing his interesting escapades. It, of course, resulted in me noting it was he and his well man parts / metallica love that was holding him back

Me: he said he had horrible luck, he’s prob just too metal for them all
Friend: he’s a good looking guy and really he’s a gentle dude
Me: i disagree, his metallia is intimidating

stereotypes and signs

I do not typically go for the stereotypical signs thing, but virgo spit up this one for me, ” You are feeling a lot of compassion for a friend who seems to have worked themselves into a muddle they can’t get out of. Unfortunately it may be difficult for you to spend too much time helping them, because you have a new and exciting project to work on. ” and it seemed perhaps a bit too true for today… I just finished sending out my usual monthly or so job update email and am now posting the insights I began to come up with among the contributors and recipients to it

As for the job hunt, with the latest figures coming in at double digit unemployment nationally and the international numbers not looking much better the competition is fierce for a position. Here’s three tips I want to pass along on the search and rescue for your career, I hope they help:

The internet is your friend as well as your enemy
1. Do it over, do it right! the internet can, and does make sending our resumes 100% easier than the old school days of hand typing them on resume paper. However, the black hole of the job submit inbox is your enemy, so combat it by doing a couple of simple things such as – sending a hard copy to the jobs you most want snail mail, try fax as well – make everything look customized from the cover letter to the resume to the follow up (no less than 5 days no more than 14) and specifically address the company and position – don’t be put off by having to recopy things into forms as well as attaching the pdf / doc / ppt you already created, the more the merrier. you might need to input the same shit 100 times but it’s that dedication that will get you 10-15 great resumes out per day as opposed to 20-25 that will be trashed and waste your time.
2. Look everywhere, often and with an open mind! There are the typical job sites like Monster, HotJobs & Career Builder and that’s a good start, there are the aggragators like indeed, simplyhired & topusajobs.com that make good second choices, then there are career specific like media bistro, entertainmentcareers.net, showbizjobs.com & variety, and of course the most overlooked one is the actual corporate sites of the companies you might want to work at (warner, viacom, ogalvy, universal, fox interactive, sony, att, ascap, harry fox, nokia, apple, whatever) but also, and the one that is shocking people don’t look enough at, the professional orgs & assoc (aaaa.org, marketing.org, sempo.org, marketingpower.com, eifoundation.org, eiconline.org) and professional newsletters (fierce, techcruch, adage, etc) and don’t forget to think OUTSIDE of the box, what skills do you have that are really multi-verticle or multi-industry that you might be overlooking because you are being myopic in your vert or indust in the search
3. Follow up, follow up, follow up. Do you want it? Show it. Have a follow up letter and a one-sheet brief that’s different from your resume you can send a week to a month out on jobs you have the access to follow up to and really want. Don’t be afraid to tap into your network on linked in or variety jobs or even facebook or your old school Rolodex to see who knows who, where. If you don’t get a no, you need to treat it as a potential YES and therefor you need to hammer the walls till you get cracks and fissures in them till an answer comes about. And, if it’s a no, find out why! you have nothing to lose, ask ask ask, the reason you didn’t get it could be the key to getting it next time

recipe: frango assado de alho e arroz coriander

I don’t get to cook big meals very often to share a really special meal with many people so on the occasion that I do it makes for a really great experience. Not only do I get to sit back and be proud of the creation, but I get to share the experience and witness the reaction of someone else enjoying it, perhaps more than I. It even gives me insights into what was right and wrong depending on what their interpretation is of the dish compared to my expectation. This one was particularly fun, to say the least. I could not be more excited than to have shared it and I am enjoying going over my notes from it to transcribe here.

The core of the meal is roasted garlic chicken loosely based on a traditional Iberian recipe. Each town has their own take on the subtleties of the dish so it allows for a lot of variation in the execution. The rice takes advantage of the Azures spice trade roots and brings in a lovely coriander flavor that offsets the chicken nicely. Round the dish out with a veggie like sauteed collard (in garlic and lemon) and a bottle of Lancers and you’ll be all set. It’s not quite the way I served it the other day, but it’s a good way to go.

Chicken thighs (bone in, skin on, hand trim the excess fat)
garlic
olive oil
chicken or veggie stock
lemon zest
black pepper
onion
bell pepper
celery
rice
coriander
cilantro
paprika

Finely chop the garlic. Slide the chopped garlic under the skin of the chicken and slip into any of the openings or folds as well as along the bone.
Place in a roasting pan with some oil, lemon zest and additional garlic and allow to marinade
Preheat oven to 350
Rough chop the bell pepper, onion and celery
After the chicken marinades, add half the veggies, a little more fresh chopped garlic and a few tablespoons of stock to the roasting pan and crack from fresh black pepper over it
Place in the oven and cook for about an hour or until the juices run clear
While the chicken slow roasts place the other half of the veggies (including garlic) in a large skillet
Add a little olive oil and sweat the veggies until they soften, add the rice and allow the rice to toast a little
Add the stock to the rice and season with coriander, a little bit of paprika and black pepper.
Allow the rice to come to a boil and back down to a simmer. Cook until the rice becomes tender
In the last five minutes of cooking add the cilantro

recipe: cannellini minestra tuscana

There is little that is more satisfying and gratifying than something warm to curl up with and a fantastic soup can do just that. It probably seems like I’ve broken my Cajun and Iberian background with the recent string of Italian cooking, which, I have actually (amo firenze, tuscana, italia) but that’s not to say I won’t revert back coming very soon, but after an extended stay there in conjunction with my own love of preparation styles it is difficult not to look at something so comforting not being a perfect autumnal post-hike dish. I did the quick and dirty version of this after work the other day and felt almost obligated to finish the thought completely. It is, of course, like most things I do, anything but authentic, but what makes it nice is it is the fresh ingreds and the care (and moreso patience) involved. I have seen versions of this with and without pasta (including in my own travels) but this is without, the dish is soulful enough without the starch. You can also easily adopt this to fill in other flavors, like an iberian white bean soup, for instance, so feel free to have fun with the concept. If you want a thicker stock you can use red potatoes cubed at the beginning during the initial sweat, but they aren’t necessary for a more traditional soup, especially if you do the soup with the pasta which will add starch as well…One big note is the difference between canned and dried beans… canned you will add at the very end, whereas dried, you will have to soak overnight and rinse and the cook time with them will be longer so add in the middle. Remember, the soup is about the beans so be sure to make them the centerpiece of the dish when portioning out the other ingreds.

olive oil
carrot
onion
celery
garlic
chard, escarole, spinach or other dark leafy green
Porcini mushroom
mixed dried herbs (if desired)
cannellini (white) beans
veggie stock
ham bone
bay leaf
oregano (fresh whole leafs)
Large stock pot

Shred the carrot, finely dice the onion, celery, garlic
Combine the veggies in a large stock pot with a bit of oil and allow to sweat
Add the veggie stock and the hambone and allow to simmer over low head for up to an hour
Add the bay leaf, black pepper and a bit of mixed dried herbs (if desired) as well as the beans
Continue to simmer of low heat until the beans just begin to become tender
Add the chard and the mushrooms and allow them to cook through, re-season as necessary
Remove the hambone and bayleaf

Add the basil as you serve, grated a nice parmaseano regiano over the top with some fresh cracked pepper and enjoy with a nice crusty piece of bread.

spam poetry: flirtation chillon

Flirtation Friday anyone? Yeah. Covered in ewiey-gooey SPAM! This will be two weeks in a row now that the spam poetry has bordered on sexy-creepy. It has been a while since the spam’s been more a string of words semi-coherent into some thought – it took a little while to find my way through this one, but I must admit, once I did I was impressed:

flirtation chillon betrays closer heart disenchantment hard grail hot tears heavy lost breathing nothing closing left opening saddened penetrating failure soft mistake exhaustion apology satisfied nothingness

thaaaaaaaaaaah yankees win

One hundred and thirteen times this season that call has rung out at the end of a ball game, echoing throughout the Bronx and across the CBS-radio network carrying the Yankee games.

The evil empire struck back. They won their 40th pennant, their 27th title and in the process tied or set any number of records as individuals, as a team and in the process set another impossibly high standard for an already high bar of both love, and hate.

There will be 423.5 million reasons for people to say they bought the series and don’t deserve the title because they play on a different playing field. Sure, it is a lot of money. Money, as Yankee fans already well know, does not ensure success, it is only one contributing factor. All those pieces need to perform well as individuals and come together as a team, stay healthy and focused on the task-at-hand. They need the drive and desire as well as the paycheck to succeed and the guidance to get there. In that, they are no different than any other team.

Perhaps money provides them an advantage in other respects then, as it buys top trainers, a fantastic ballpark and the luxuries some teams can only dream about. But, it was available because the Yankees for years have been investing in the team and not just in lining Mr. Steinbrenner and company’s pockets. The Boss wants to win and he does everything in his power as a boss to ensure that happens. That, is the priority. Not to collect a paycheck, but to collect trophies. To make New York fans proud. To give back to the community that support them by always putting together a team deserving of their rabid dedication and never having a fan wearing pinstripes be called fairweather by upholding the tradition of consistency in winning.

So, those big free agents that were bought to win the prize… are they mercenaries? Are they just there for one purpose – #27? Judging by the way their extravagant contracts are structured, the answer is, no. They are long term building blocks to the continued success of the team. These guys were not brought in this year (or any year) to win for that year… they were brought in to ensure the franchise remains the dominant beast that won those 39 previous pennants and those 26 previous titles. This isn’t just about #27 in the money spent, it is about #28, #29, #30 and so on for many of these long contracts:

AJ Burnett – 5 year contact
Johnny Damon – 4 year contact (extension in negotiation)
Damaso Marte – 4 year contact (+ his trade year to the yanks)
Hideki Matsui – 6 year contact (NYY only US team)
Alex Rodriguez – 10 year contract (+1 trade year & 3 remaining on his old contract)
CC Sabathia – 7 year contract
Mark Tiexeria – 8 year contract

Yes, those outside names command a high salary, but, if the Yankees hadn’t paid them those contracts, someone else would have. It just happens the Yankees did. Before A-rod became a Yankee, Texas over-paid for him… and Damon wasn’t exactly cheap when he became a BoSox… nor was Burnett as a Jay. The Yankees just paid what the market was commanding. They were fortunate enough to put them all together into a winning team.

They also lavish their own homegrown with those big contracts encouraging talent to stay and building a team from the inside out rather than allowing them to test the waters of free agency. Sure, they might command more from another team, but they’re rarely interested because they know they’ll be taken care of from within as long as they are getting the job done… several of the core players are home grown investments that will end, or come very close to ending their career in pinstripes. There can be no denying that the best of the best stay with the Yankees, unlike other teams who’s top talent traipses off at the first sign of dollar signs, from teams who do not appreciate having franchise players as much as they claim they cannot afford them. How many teams have as many guys who spent at least a decade with them currently on the roster?

Current decade pinstripers:
Derek Jeter NYY-r 96 (92 draft)
Andy Pettite NYY-r 95 (90 draft)
Jorge Posada NYY-r 95 (90 draft)
Mariano Rivera NYY-r 95

plus there is:
Robinson Cano NYY-r 05 (signed through 11 w/ opt to 13)

And, on that note, there is as much home grown and developed talent as on any team in the majors and several of them performing at the highest level coming through an established farm system designed to help create winners. It is a stunning list of super stars and prospects that make up the actual core of the current Yankees, moreso than that of their cross town rivals the Mets or the arch nemesis BoSox or even the defeated Phils… and several of them are set up to stay with the team for years to come. Just check out some of these key components in this year’s success who are from the Yankee system:

The next generation:
Alfredo Aceves NYY-r 08
Fransisco Cervelli NYY-r 09
Mekly Cabrera NYY-r 05
Joba Chamberlain NYY-r 07 (06 draft)
Phil Coke NYY-r 08 (02 draft)
Bret Gardner NYY-r 09 (06 draft)
Philip Hughes NYY-r 07 (04 draft)
Edwar Ramariez NYY-r 07
David Robertson NYY-r 08 (06 draft)

As well as callups like Ian Kennedy, Shelly Duncan, Juan Miranda and Ramero Pena plus Chin Ming Wang who ended up being injured the majority of the season unfortunately. Who knows what will be offered to this entire group depending on how they contribute in their current contracts – considering the Yankees already refused several times to trade Hughes, Chamberlain, Cabera and Cervelli.

Yeah, there were these pieces of the puzzle too who were pieces of the puzzle this year and probably fall somewhere into the mercenary concept but at a significantly different cost ratio to what most trades and 1-year deals come at teams trying to sample the post-season: Chad Gaudin, Freddy Guzmán, Eric Hinske, Jerry Harriston Jr, Sergio Mitre, Jose Molina, Nick Swisher…. However, when you count up the team as a whole and how all but Molina & Swisher fit into it overall it is easy to see the difference between buying #27 (as compared to some other teams who bought championships) and what the Yankees are really doing.

So, with a little arithmetic, the Yankees fielded 13 regular players during the season and post-season they developed, including 5 with significant investment in the franchise. They bought an additional 9 regulars, of which 7 were under “long term” contracts. The balance of the players were call-ups or guys rotated in-and-out of the 25-man roster for any number of reasons.

The cost of the contracts might seem out-of-sorts but it is not quite the type of build one might expect for a team bought to win a series. They are a collection of big names because the Yankees are a big name, they are a who’s who because roughly as many of core starters are high paid and developed in the system as were purchased on the open market and because roughly double the number of Yankee products took the field as those imported.

The Bankees they might be, but they are still bleeding pinstripes moreso than most teams could hope to instill in a franchise mentality in one, or maybe, two guys a decade. Forget about the core-four that represent the last dynasty bleeding into the next.

Say all you want you want to spread the wealth all you want and share with every city the sanctity of a WS victory. Well, it’s not like flattening out salaries and steamrolling the free agency system really spread the wealth in football (Patriots dynasty) or hockey (Red Wings dynasty), nor has it done anything to reign in lavish contracts (there’s no way to even begin the ridiculous examples), or bring together any type of labor peace (NHL) or ownership responsibility, (Redskins, Raiders, Coyotes). Just earn it. On the terms that every team in every league is earning it on. It took 9 years for the Yankees to do it again. Granted, all but one year in that time, they made the playoffs, even though twice they reached the series again in that stretch, although they lost. Yes, the last decade belongs to the Yankees, as did the previous as well, and with the way the team continues to be built by blending youth and experience, home grown and dedicated free agents the next could be as well. We’ll find out, one game at a time, same as always.

Till then, thank you Phillies for making this a great series and for doing something no NL team has done in well over a decade (look like a mini-dynasty yourselves!)… perhaps we’ll meet again next season but for now… CONGRATS NYY – #27!

It is Christmas in July

It is really November, but hardly a few days past Halloween and already the world is aglow with the December holidays. Even good ol’ Saint Nick was more than ready, willing and able to come down from his icy whares in the great white north to join us in front of Pennsylvania Station this morning and dole out holiday cheer.

Every year one could complain, quite readily, the over-commercialization of the holiday season is getting out of hand. This year, literally, it was like Crazy Eddie all over again with Sears and K-Mart merchandising some stores with garland and pine, holly sprigs and lights in the middle of July to lure out the cost-conscious shoppers pre-pre-holiday thriftiness.

But seriously, apart from that ploy

recipe: penne salsa di zucca e il maiale arrostito con zucca e finocchi

I love doing seasonal dishes when I can. Much like my affinity for cooking based on what I can get fresh at the big shopping centers I typically go to as well as what is locally grown and that always means great seasonal faves. As I mentioned before, I missed apples this year, so therefor it was all about pumpkins this year for ideas. A recent trip to Italy found a lot of great squash recipes of which they were just beginning to touch on the gourds for their dishes and although I haven’t gotten to write out my own version of the risotto I had, this was perfect for what I could put together conceptually from that idea… The typical meal in courses means there are two main dishes, not served together, although, you could, if you so chose (might be a bit of palette overkill). You can use either fresh or canned, it takes about 2-3 times shredded pumpkin to equal the same amount you would use canned, but if you are doing this during fresh season, I strongly suggest a good sized sugar pumpkin and you’ll get a lot of use out of the flesh for cooking.

For the pasta part (Primo, first course), Italian cooking is really about the dish, not the sauce, so don’t go overboard making a huge amount of sauce unless you are going to set it aside and freeze it for a later meal. It should lightly coat and accent the pasta. Chances are you aren’t making the pasta fresh, so follow the direx below, if you are making it fresh, I wouldn’t even boil the pasta, I would blanch it and finish it in the sauce. If you are using prepackaged remember to finish it al dente or to taste in the skillet NOT in the stock pot otherwise it’ll be overcooked. Same thing goes on serving, you can offer additional cheese (and pepper) at the table, but really, it should be a garnish, not changing the texture or flavor of the dish. Moral of the story go easy on the sauce! For this, I actually like a wheat or multigrain pasta as the nutty flavor it brings to the dish.

As for the secundo, the amount of fennel and pumpkin is up to you. I would personally roast some extra pumpkin since this really is supposed to be a nice season dish and the pumpkin is going to be the feature, but remember too, the pumpkin and fennel should BOTH be playing accent to the pork, don’t kill the pork by going overboard with the veggies and don’t go overboard with the spices comparred to the veggies, the veggies should stand on their own too!

Finally, the last thing is the nutmeg… fresh is always better than the packaged preground.

Primo
onion
bell pepper
carrot
garlic
pumpkin
oil
nutmeg
black pepper
parsley (flat leaf)
veggie stock
penne
heavy creme
parmesana reggiano
heavy skillet
stock pot

finely dice the onion, bell pepper and garlic, shred/ grate the carrot
Combine in a heavy skillet with some oil and begin to sweat the veggies
Add the pumpkin and allow it to begin to soften (if shredded fresh this is a separate step, if canned add the next step too)
Add the the veggie stock and creme (about 1 cup stock to 2-3 tbsp creme)
Season with the black pepper and nutmeg
Boil water in the water in the stock pot
Add the penne to the water and cook till just about al dente (follow package instructions usually 6-8 minutes do NOT over cook!)
Allow the skillet to simmer over low heat, reducing liquid by at least half and begins to take on a thickened consistency
Drain the pasta, reserve a few tablespoons of the starched pasta waster
Add the pasta and the flat leaf parsley to the simmering skillet
Toss lightly, reseason as necessary with the black pepper and nutmeg and toss again

Secondo

onion
bell pepper
carrot
garlic
pumpkin
fennel (both the bulb – firenze finocchiol and the fronds – finocchiella)
oil
nutmeg
black pepper
parsley (flat leaf)
veggie stock
white wine
pork ternerloins
skillet
large roasting pan

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F
finely dice the 1/2 fennel, onion, bell pepper and 1/2 garlic, shred/ grate the carrot
Combine in a heavy skillet with some oil and begin to sweat the veggies
Add the 1/2 pumpkin (shredded part) and allow it to begin to soften (if shredded fresh this is a separate step, if canned add the next step too, if you are doing fresh, reserve some long strips of the pumpkin not shredded for later)
Take the other 1/2 the fennel and make long slices of the bulb, an 1/2 half the pumpkin and make slices out of
Add the stock and wine (about 1:1 ratio, no more than 2:1) along with black pepper and nutmeg
Place the entire mixture into the roasting pan
Season the tenderloins by rubbing with black pepper and nutmeg (along with dried garlic, onion, celery if you have it)
Sear with a small amount of oil in the heavy skillet over high heat until browned on all sides but not cooked through
Place the tenderloins in the roasting pan
In the skillet arrange the strips of fennel and pumpkin (or if no pumpkin is fresh, use 1/4 of the canned in this step)
Sear and then add to the roasting pan
Bake until a thermometer reaches an internal temperature of 155 degrees, which is about 30 minutes normally
Remove the pork and allow to rest
Return the liquid and veggies to the skillet over high heat but holding aside the remaining slices of fennel and pumpkin
Allow the sauce to reduce by at least half
Slice the meat and plate with the roasted fennel and pumpkin
Serve the sauce over the slices of meat with the emphasis being on the meat, not the sauce!

mixtape: of death, dying and the evil of all hallow’s eve

of death, dying and the evil of all hallow’s eve… that probably just about says it all for you… The mix starts out innocuous enough and dissipates into some brutal listens that should really shake your spine and leave you quaking in your boots. Sadly, some band’s could be a complete catalog without much effort, making cutting it down to a track an artist interesting. Spook you if you don’t agree… feel free to add in the comments your faves for the list

“Black Sabbath” Black Sabbath from Black Sabbath
“Welcome To My Nightmare” Alice Cooper from Welcome to my Nightmare
“God Of Thunder” KISS
“Highway to Hell” AC/DC from Highway to Hell
“Halloween” The Misfits from ‘Halloween’ single
“Knife in your Guts” Gwar
“Dragula” Rob Zombie from Hellbilly Deluxe
“Nightmare Be Thy Name” Mercyful Fate
“Halloween” Helloween from Keeper of the Seven Keys, Pt. One
“Dungeons are Calling” Savatage
“Devils Child” by Judas Priest from Screaming for Vengance
“Halloween” King Diamond from Fatal Portrait
“Pure Evil” Iced Earth from Days of Purgatory
“The Haunting” Testament from the Legacy
“Am I Evil?” Metallica from Garage Days
“Belly of the Beast” Anthrax from the Persistence of Time
“Dead Skin Mask” Slayer from Seasons in the Abyss
“Scream Bloody Gore” Death from Scream Bloody Gore
“Death Certificate” Carcass from Heartwork
“Slaughter of the Soul” At the Gates from Slaughter the Soul
“Diva Satinaca” Arch Enemy from Dead Eyes See No Future
“a Devil in God’s Country” Lamb of God from as the Palaces Burn
“Bloodletting” the Haunted from One Kill Wonder
“the Devil has Risen” Unearth from III: in the Eyes of Fire
“No Sympathy (for the Devil)” Skinlab from Disembody: The New Flesh
“Like this with the Devil” by Entombed from To Ride, Shoot Straight and Speak the Truth
“Blessed Black Wings” High on Fire from Blessed Black Wings
“Her Ghost in the Fog” Cradle of Filth
“Progenies of the Great Apocalypse” Dimmu Borgir from Death Cult Armageddon
“Demon of the Fall” Opeth from My Arms, Your Herse
“My Hope, the Destroyer” My Dying Bride from the Dreadful Hours
“You were but a Ghost in my Arms” Agalloch from the Mantle
“Fear of the Dark” Iron Maiden from Fear of the Dark
“Black Number One (the Little Miss Scare All)” Type O Negative from Bloody Kisses

and, although Diecide is WAY out of my listening, I’ll include the reference to them, if for no other reason than frontman Glen Benton might be a direct descendant of satan.

Did I miss anyone?

spam poetry: don’t have a cow

It’s Friday, and you know what that means, time to fill up on the Spam Poetry. Mmmmm tasty good morsel spat out from the spam can today… not even sure what to say, other than it went this way:

Subject: Why’d they call it PMS? Cos Mad cow disease was already taken!

Body Text: I am educated but don’t let that make you nervous, just want something physical where a brain’s not that important. Have you been fantasizing about a girl with beauty and brains? I find it hard to make myself get off, really need a guy to help me out with that. If we rode up in an elevator together you’d definitely be checking me out. Please be patient with me I’m looking to meet here first then maybe face2face later. Up for the challenge? I’m waiting…lets see how this goes! But I understand if you don’t want get together, if you go here, I’ll stop bothering you. Sorry for bothering you – Brionna

By the way, you should notice there’s not “dating” site mentioned or outbound URL or anything like that to Phish with, just the email it was received from…how quint and old school.