Future Plans for the Rabbit

I picked up a badgeless grill for me new Rabbit. The pic has been touched up in photo shop to indicate the finished prodoct after some minor body work that will be requiered.

Here's the question: Color matched or keep it black?

Tequila with my coffee

I'm not an alcoholic. That said there's nothing like waking up on a Saturday morning and making the best of the inclimate winter weather with a little tequila in your coffee.

Xbox down again, yes - again

I haven't been having good luck with the xbox. This is the 3rd time I've had to send in my council for repairs and 5th time I've had to call customer support due to "3 blinking red lights."

I was accused this time for not locating my xbox in a well cooled open air environment. This is bullshit, because of course I've got it out all by it self next to the TV, oh and did I mention it's the middle of the winter and the heat in the house is pegged at 55F? Fuck.

I requested a new xbox from the repair center, not a refurbished unit. This didn't go over well so although I will be once again receive another repaired unit the fine folks at xbox have "taken note of my request."

Me and my family went snow shoeing yesterday. We did just over 5 miles, round trip. I'd never been show shoeing before and let me tell you, It was really fun.

We started out on the Chamisa trail near the bottom of the Santa Fe ski basin road and followed it up to where it intersects with Windsor. Most of the trail had already been snow packed and you would think that that would make the need for snow shoes moot, but quite the opposite - the shoes were traction machines, making the steeps a cake walk. Once we got out into a clearing I tried blazing a trail through some fresh pow. Even though you would sink and not really stay on top of the snow (like you would think) it made the sink factor extremely predictable; never did one foot fall way deep and snow got down up into your pant leg.

Overall, Snow Shoeing: A++++++ WOULD TRY AGAIN!!!!!

Winter BBQ

The human eye blinks an average of 4,200,000 times a year, and my dad doesn't let a little bit of snow stop him from doing anything.

This one's for Phil

Phil,
Dude man, last night we had some chronic foods.

Thanks for reading,
R

The Rotsaert Food Review: Southwest Dim Sum

For dinner last night we had a traditional Chinese Dim Sum style meal, substituting conventional spices with those available in northern New Mexico for a South Pacific-Southwest fusion. The combination of East meets West resulted in a sweet meal with just the right amount of spice that was both light yet filling.

We started with a small portion of Miso Soup. The taste was amazing, a combination of the traditional Japanese bitter, smoky, sweet, and salty flavors. The softened white miso paste was suspended perfectly in the dark stock – resulting in the illusion of moon lit clouds in the night sky.

Next up, to serve as the salad dish were Chinois Minced Garlic Chicken in Radicchio Cups. To prepare this dish fresh baby spinach leaves, shallots, and steamed carrot slices were left to marinate in a combination of extra virgin olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and a splash of dry white wine. The mixture was then set inside cups formed by crisp radicchio leaves and topped with a healthy portion of minced pan-fried garlic chicken. The almost florescent bright purple color of the radicchio leaves and bitter taste contrasted beautifully against the already remarkable filling.

To set the tone for the rest of the meal and steer the taste buds back towards the shores of the south pacific a small serving of sushi followed. A spicy tuna role, and a fresh squid and octopus medley fit the bill perfectly as it was neither over powering nor subdued.

Along with the main course (which consisted of two sorts of dumplings) came a side of cooked then lightly fried dark purple, almost black Forbidden Rice. This long grain rice, unlike most has a distinct fruity aroma and pronounced “nutty” flavor.

The first of the dumplings was a Steamed Spicy Black Bean Bun. The fluffy white almost snow ball looking steamed bun was filled with a mix of black beans, water chestnuts, and bamboo shoots. The buns were unique in that rather than using a traditional red or yellow sweet bean paste, the buns were stuffed with Mexican-style refried black beans. The black beans were sweetened with white sugar, resulting in a taste that might be similar to the sweeter Chinese bean pastes but slightly different in texture. The bean mixture was further spiced by a combination of both red and green New Mexico chile powder – umm, spicy!

Rounding out the main course, the second type of dumpling was a Red Pepper Chicken and Portabella Pot Sticker. Different from the first, the dough used was a thin rice flower based sheet that was steamed and then pan-fried on one side. Unlike the typical flavorless pot stickers one can find in the frozen foods section of a grocery store these were filled with shredded chicken breast, red bell pepper, steamed portabella mushrooms and an exuberance of Southwest chile spices resulting in a neatly wrapped (crunchy on the bottom – soft on the top) dumpling that was quite flavorful.

Overall the meal was fantastic, each component matching perfectly with the other both in their aroma and taste. At the end one was left with a full yet not stuffed sensation giving reminder of the low ft quality food that was prepared. Thankfully no dessert was prepared, as the other courses had been so good that no one had left room. Instead the meal was completed with another strong Belgian beer and good laugh.

Fun with Photoshop

I adjusted some of the levels and sharpened the front grill of the car. Overall a subtle but noticible difference from the original.

Stuck in my head

It's time to go home for the day, I've got christmas songs stuck in my head (just one single verse - over and over again).

"So be good for goodness sake, la la la na na na. So be good for... AHG!"

Xbox down Again!

Second time with in a few months. Probably wont be back till after the new year if the repair goes as quickly as the last time.

here's a picture with the penguin.



All i wanted to do today was play some video games on my 400 dollar flashing red light machine piece of crap - but no! now my mouse is broken, some asshat(s) choped all the heads off my snowmen over the weakend, and my image hosting site is down. If one more thing brakes tonight I sware to God......

The only thing that making my not angrey right now is this super crazy internet video and this picture:



Gawd, I miss driving my Corrado. Damn it now I'm upset again.


AND I'm SICK! Worst dAy ever!

Trespassing!

With winter right around the corner and several weather forecasts for snow, I posted no trespassing signs weeks ago. Well yesterday we had our first snow and tonight (never fails) my surveillance cameras spotted the first penguin.

Here is actual surveillance footage:

A close up reveals the face of the intruder - a known criminal, a penguin thought to go by the name "Perry."

Authorities wasted no time apprehending the intruder. The SWAT team was deployed and the suspect was quickly detained.

Police ask that any persons having information with regard to trespassing penguins or those able to further identify the suspect to please come forward.

Thank you - that is all.

First Snow

How to Charge an iPod using electrolytes and an onion

Everything Custom

Sunday FD brought her car over to have me do an oil change. I had her do all the dirty work, such as unscrewing the drain plug and getting oil under her fingernails and after everything was done we started to clean up the engine bay a little bit. I went for the black plastic trim pieces first - spiffing them up with a little back to black.

Next thing I know we've got the valve cover cover off and I'm prepping it for paint. I remember saying, "We'll have to get some spray paint if you want to paint this thing." To which FD replied, "You've got paint, in your room - I'll go get it."

This wasn’t the first time FD has proven to know where the stuff in my house is put anyway better than me. One time I called her to ask where Jenga was. She knew.

Here's a picture of the trim piece baking in the oven. I put it in the oven between coats to get it to dry faster. Good stuff, and the gold on black matches really well on the dark blue car.


It was so much fun painting, I started looking around the house for other things that looked like they could use a nice coat of paint. I know what you're thinking, and you're right. Normally this is a horrible idea and what ends up happening is you've a got a bunch of stuff covered in paint that’s not supposed to be covered in paint and the house smells like a poorly ventilated paint booth (like the time in Las Cruces when my brother and I got carried away and stenciled a giraffe on our TV).

This time FD was around to act as the voice of painting reason. I started small – the DVD remote. It came out really cool and encouraged me to continue on to the xbox and what better than a good old fashioned wood grain.

If I had to pick one word to discribe my work it would be, AWESOME!




It looks pretty sweet reattached to the xbox case, I havent taken pictures of the finished product yet though because I'm having a little trouble gluing the hinged pieces back onto the face plate. If I cant get it to work after one more try I'll use some extra small wood screws - which I think'll contrast really well and go along great with the wood grain theam.

I just had this great idea!

So get this... money's been kinda tight lately so I've been considering some options - namely reducing billed secives that i dont use (I dont even watch TV - what am I doing with 147 digital chanels?). In addition I've been staying home/going to bars in my area vs Royal Oak, eating less, reverting to cheap beer/wine, and going easy on Corrado parts spending.

But here's the great idea I had: Get a second job doing something I like doing. So I sent out an email to this little ski hill around the corner form my house. Zing - keep your fingers crossed for me everyone.