Monday, August 18, 2008
Still Sick
I’ve been sick for almost two weeks now. Normally, when I get sick, I’m sick and then it passes. This has lingered for way too long.
Last Wednesday, I called my doctor’s office, and he called in a prescription for some cough syrup with codine. That helped a little, but I’m still not feeling quite right. I’m still congested and coughing like mad. This is August for crying out loud! So today, I called back, and the nurse wanted me to see a doctor. She got me in to see a different doctor (since mine is scheduled through Thursday) who said my lungs sound clear and that I almost sound like I have athsma. I don’t think so. She gave me a prescription for some antibiotics and Claratin.
I’ll give it a few days before I call my doctor’s office again. This cold/flu/cough thing has cost me a hundred bucks so far. I just want it to be over.
Oh, and there was all kinds of drama in the waiting room. But that’s another story for another day.
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Marinated Steak Tips
Yesterday, I went to the Hilltop Steak House Butcher Shop in Saugus to get some meat. I picked up a four pound bag of steak tips. About half of that went into the freezer. The other half got split between four plastic bags where they awaited their marinade.
Tomato Basil
A whole tomato
a glug of balsamic vinegar (tne inexpensive stuff)
three cloves of garlic
a bunch of basil leaves
a glug of olive oil (the inexpensive stuff)
One green onion
This all went into my magic bullet for a brief whirl.
Tex Mex
A glug of canola oi
A glug of tequila
zest of one lime
juice of three limes
one jalapeno pepper
Again, this went into the magic bullet for a brief whirl.
Asian
A glug of soy sauce
About a tablespoon of grated ginger (fresh)
a glug of canola oil (I should have used rice wine vinegar)
about a tablespoon of wasabi paste
One green onion
Once again, a brief pulse in the magic bullet combined all of this.
American - This is the one I “iron cheffed” because I had no idea what I was going to do
A glug of whiskey
A drizzle of honey
Some green onion
A bit of worcester sauce
All of the bags got sealed with their meat and marinade in them, and then they spent the night marinating in the refrigerator. Tonight, I cooked up the Tex Mex and Italian. The Tex Mex were okay, and I mean okay. The Italian, on the other hand, were amazing. This is a recipe I need to cultivate because it could very easily be used to feed a crowd. I cooked up some pepper with my steak tips.
What you see in the picture above is the Italian tips cooking with the peppers. The Tex Mex had just come off the grill and the peppers had just gone on.
This is obviously more than just one meal. Well, I ate the entire portion of peppers, but half of the steak tips will be for lunch tomorrow with some steamed asparagus.
Dear Martha Stewart
Dear Martha,
Every time I walk through the kitchen section of Macy’s, I’m amazed at all of the items from your collection that Macy’s sells. And every time I walk through, there is some item that I never knew I needed. Or if I knew I needed it, I thought I’d need some high-end name brand that was really expensive. You’ve shown me the light.
A few weeks ago, I found your cast iron dutch oven that works just as well as the LeCreucet dutch ovens, and yours cost a fraction of what theirs would. And you sell it in red, to boot! Yesterday, they had your cast iron griddles marked way down. On top of that, it was sitting on the 40% off table. That’s right, I paid $14 for your cast iron griddle. I love how it’s reversible, allowing me to have a flat griddle or a surface that will do grill marks. It will be broken in tonight when I cook my steak tips that are marinating in the refrigerator.
If you ever want a gay guy to come cook on your show, I would be happy to volunteer.
Love,
Mike
Pigs Eye Brunch
Several weeks ago, I was walking Reggie when we bumped into a woman walking a Maltese named Max. The woman’s name was Jenny, and she told me that she owned the restaurant called “In a Pigs Eye” on Derby Street. I’d eaten there a few times and never had a bad meal. As we got talking, she told me that for Sunday brunch, they make a really good sirloin hash. I promised I’d stop in some day and try this hash.
The next weekend, I grabbed my neighbor Jason and headed there for brunch about 10:00. The problem is that they don’t open until 11:00 on Sundays. We missed out on brunch that day.
Today, I was up and hungry at the right time to head to In a Pigs Eye for brunch. I went in and ordered the french toast with a side of the sirloin hash and a bloody mary.
The iPhone picture does my meal very little justice. The french toast was made with a Challah-like bread that had cinnamon swirls through it. True to Jenny’s word, the sirloin hash was exceptional. It had bits of potato and sirloin. Wow. The bloody mary was spicy and perfect.
I eat dinner there a couple times a month because it’s convenient and the food is good. I think that I’ll be going there for Sunday brunch a bit more frequently.
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Infusion
I was having lunch yesterday with my coworkers (a Friday thing) at the Bugaboo Creek Cafe in Burlington. They were telling me about the “moose juice” they have, which is a pineapple infused vodka that’s supposed to be really good.
I wasn’t impressed by the concept as they seemed to be. After all, it’s just an infusion using vodka and fresh fruit, which should be easy to make. I took on the challenge and said I’d make some to prove this. While at it, I decided to do some with lime peal as well to do a lime vodka. That should be perfect for making cosmos.
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Adventures in Color
When I moved into my condo, I bought a loveseat that matched the one I already had. In addition, I bought a few slipcovers that go with the loveseats. The problem is that Ikea doesn’t offer them in many colors that suit my needs. So I had a few in a natural color. My goal had been to dye them something that would go with my room. My goal was to dye them dark green.
Considering that I was shooting for dark green, I can’t exactly call this a success. The good news here is that these can be dyed again and again until I get the color I want. Better yet, I still have two covers that haven’t been colored yet, and I have a white one that’s still in the plastic.
Kitchen Toys… in Red
Is it weird or strange to cry over the death of someone you’ve never met? I mentioned on Reggie’s blog that Jayson Kilroy was killed by a driver under the influence. Worse yet, Jayson was on a bicycle. This really hit me in a weird way. He was fun to chat with online, yet I never met the guy. Reading the story about his death had me very angry because the woman who hit him shouldn’t have been driving in the first place. Maybe it just brings me a little closer with my own mortality when someone I know, even in the virtual sense, dies.
My MS has been kicking my ass again lately. It’s the heat. I go through this every summer. I’m chronically fatigued, and it sucks. On top of that, I’m having a few sensory issues, mostly in my fingers. Those will pass eventually. Just to make matters more fun, I’ve had a cold the past week. Wednesday, I took a sick day, thinking it was my MS. That was the day I started coughing. I haven’t stopped since. Hopefully it will pass soon enough.
Back in May, I bought a cast iron dutch oven from the Martha Stewart collection at Macy’s. I’ve used it exactly once. When I bought it, I didn’t realize that it wasn’t porcelain glazed on the inside, which is what I really wanted. This thing certainly won’t go to waste. It’s perfect to be used over a campfire, so it will probably land in my parents’ camper before too long. It might go with me next weekend, too. Anyway, yesterday, I was at Macy’s, and they had the one I should have bought originally, and it was marked down to $59.99. On top of that, the guy gave me the 15% off coupon that was in the paper, meaning I got the thing half off. Oh, and it’s red because I like red things in my kitchen.
Reggie is having a rough time right now. He had a cut/bite on his jowls from the puppy upstairs. At least that’s what we think happened. He’s moping around the house, wearing a cone to prevent him from scratching at the wound anymore. You can read the whole thing on his blog.
Next weekend is the annual BBQ/camping trip I’ve taken part of for the past six years. This will be the third year it’s being held in the forest. The first year it was in the forest, I spent one night sleeping in a tent. Reggie nor I did very well. Last year, I just drove out for one day. This year, I think I’m camping. I need to find a place to set up a tent, though. Reggie is going to be staying with his cousins. I took Friday as a vacation day and will be leaving about noon. At least that’s my plan right now. Who knows what will happen in the next five days.
Thursday, August 07, 2008
Making Kraut
With a last name like Hillwig, being totally German, I have kraut in my blood, sauerkraut, that is. I remember as a kid, every year we would go to Grandma Hillwig’s house on a cold Saturday in October to make sauerkraut and apple butter. Everything was done by hand and from scratch. Early in the day, women would peel the apples and men would shred the cabbage. Then we’d gather around a big bonfire, taking turns stirring the apple butter. And when that was done, we’d stomp the cabbage. Grandma’s house would stink for weeks or months. I used to think I hated those days.
As I got older, I’d still help my parents with making the kraut. My dad nor I are big fans of apple butter, so we didn’t do that. But I remember, even as a teenager, leaning over a bucket with a big old wooden box grater, shredding head after head of cabbage.
To this day, I can’t eat store-bought canned kraut. I’m spoiled. After you eat what my family makes, it’s just not the same.
It’s funny how the things we hated as children become precious memories as adults. And then the traditions of our elders that we’d scoff become the things we want to recapture. I’m incredibly fortunate to have parents who can still teach me the old ways.
Last night, I was talking to my friend Beth, and she said I should learn to make sauerkraut and sausages. I laughed, literally. I’ve helped my family do this countless times, always with my dad leading us through the process. This year, I’m determined to make my own kraut. I’ve found a crock on craigslist that I’m going to buy this weekend, and then come fall, kraut will be made. My dad was a little excited when I told him about this, I think. The traditions won’t die.
The good news is that you don’t need to stink up the whole house for weeks anymore. My dad explained the method (which I now remember doing) that creates a water-tight seal covering the crock. And you don’t really need a crock anymore. A plastic bucket will do just as well. I think I want the crock.
I’m really excited about this, and I’m excited to share this with some friends, too.
Tuesday, August 05, 2008
Website Issues
I got messages from two different friends today, asking if my website was down. The RSS feeds and my EE control panel worked just fine. However, if you tried to get to my page directly by going to mikehillwig.com or hypermike.com, it was prompting you to download a file.
That’s always an immediate red flag. My fear is that my site had been hacked. After some digging, I’m convinced that the problem is a configuration change in my hosting provider. This is what I sent to them when I opened the support ticket.
Sometime earlier today, my site (mikehillwig.com) changed the way it determines the default page of the website. I did not have an index.html or index.htm file. Instead, I had an index.php, and this worked properly until earlier today, I believe.
I had to manually create an index.html file that did a REFRESH in order to redirect to index.php. What users saw prior to this was an attempt to download a file with a type of XTRASH. I downloaded the file and opened it with a text editor, and it appeared to be an XML/XHTML file created by 1&1.
Oddly, this only happened to my main site (mikehillwig.com) and did not impact my other site (mypugreggie.com).
I would like an explanation of what happened and how this can be resolved so that I can eliminate the need for a manual redirect page.
1&1 support is usually pretty good, so I hope they’re able to resolve my issue.
UPDATE: I got a lightning-fast response from 1&1 support telling me that it’s a known issue that they’re working on. At least I have a way to work around it in the meantime.
New Camera
Reggie on the Couch
Originally uploaded by mikehillwig
Last week, I bought a new camera during the Woot-off. It’s a Kodak ZD710, and this is the first picture I took with it.
This isn’t a fancy camera by any means, but I hope it gives me what I need. My Konica-Minolta camera was getting old, and the Nikkon I had was pretty much crap.