* cababarant *

Monday, January 31, 2005

So Safin won the Australian Open (which I did not see, due to something called sleep), beating Hewitt in four sets. According to Kyle (who somehow managed to stay awake for the entire match), half the crowd started cheering for Safin because Hewitt was bratting it up on the court, arguing petulantly about calls and doing his usual cheering when his opponent messes up.

Trying to stay in the news not as "Australian Open Loser", Hewitt promptly proposed to his soap-opera-star girlfriend after being defeated. Wha? I can hear it now: "I'm feeling bad about my loss today. Will you marry me?" Lame!

posted by sheryl | 7:19 PM | comments (1)

Saturday, January 29, 2005

Insomniac tennis fanatics unite!
Sounds like I'm not the only one staying up all hours of the night just to watch live coverage of the Australian Open (Kyle actually was able to stay awake through three sets of the Roddick-Hewitt semi-final last night).

Serena just beat Lindsay in what may be Davenport's last Australian Open (she had planned on retiring last year after Wimbledon). Go Serena-- so commentator Mary Carillo can finally shut up about you being "in decline". And obnoxious Lleyton Hewitt beat only slightly-less-obnoxious Roddick to play the tacky-gold-chain-wearing Safin in the final this Sunday (which will air as another middle-of-the-night match for us Americans). My favorite moment in the Hewitt-Roddick match was when Roddick left the court during a break between sets and had to be fetched by the referee because he was gone for nearly 10 minutes. The first thing I thought was "They can't let the guy take a dump in peace?", but alas, he was just tying his shoes. Of course, there was drama nonetheless. :)

So, go Hewitt, you crazy-busted-face-Aussie you! (Damn that guy is hard to look at. He got dumped by that equally busted girlfriend of his, and now has a soap-opera star hottie. At least he hasn't been spotted partying with 'FrankenBoob' Tara Reid like his fellow Aus tennis player, Mark Philippoussis, a.k.a. "The Poo" to our Aussie friends. Shame on you, Poo! You had that nice girl Delta Goodrem before! But anyhooo...) Anyway, Hewitt: Break that 30-year Australian player dry spell!

Avert your eyes-- it's Hewitt!!

(Photo by Getty Images)

posted by sheryl | 5:47 AM | comments (0)

Oh, I found a great resource that explains the nuances of the many items we simply call "Belgian waffles". Yay-- There are other waffle freaks out there!

posted by sheryl | 5:09 AM | comments (0)

The Perfect Waffle
After meeting AB, my obsession with the perfect waffle continues, mostly because AB has not done a waffle show. (Amazing, I know). A few weeks after returning from Holland, I was in fact able to recreate those Brussels waffles that I looooved so much. Here's a reminder of what they look like:

Yummm...

Anyway, I'm trying to get a stove-top waffle iron on eBay so I can recreate something along these lines. I currently have a Villaware from Williams-Sonoma-- it does okay, but doesn't quite get to the heat level that I need for the ultimate super-crispy waffle.

Unfortunately, I have turned into a complete waffle snob. The thing is, you can't get a decent waffle in America, once you've had a proper one. The secret ingredient: yeast. Sounds annoying, I know, but if you simply think about it the night before, yeasted waffles are just as easy to prepare as regular ol' buttermilk ones. I emailed my recipe for yeasted waffles to AB-- hopefully a waffle episode is in our future!

The Crispiest Waffle
1 tsp. instant yeast (Not to be confused with active dry yeast. Make sure it says "Instant")
2-1/4 cups flour
2 tbsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1 stick butter, melted, then cooled
2 cups warm whole milk (about 110 degrees)
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 eggs, separated

The night before you want yummy waffles:
Stir together the dry ingredients: flour, yeast, sugar and salt. Stir the melted butter into the dry ingredients. Stir in the warm milk and vanilla until combined. Cover with plastic wrap (or my favorite, Press 'n Seal, yeah!). Leave overnight out on the counter.

The morning you'll eat the yummy waffles:
The batter should look frothy. Heat waffle iron as you usually do. Add the egg yolks to the batter. Whip the egg whites to stiff peaks and fold carefully into the batter. This batter will rise a little more than usual, so test out a waffle or two before you really get started. Eet smakelijke!

posted by sheryl | 1:08 AM | comments (0)

Friday, January 28, 2005

Yay-- Slate has discovered the trashy joy of Project Runway.

posted by sheryl | 1:52 AM | comments (0)

Thursday, January 27, 2005

So I had considered the iPod Shuffle for a hot minute, taken aback by the "Aw, how little and cute?" factor. (I find the regular ol' iPods just too big. I have enough crap in my purse already, okay?!) But, the thing doesn't even have a display! How tired is that?

Thank God for Korean ingenuity. (And I would also like to thank Koreans for bulgogi and soon doo boo, but I digress). I can't wait for this little thing to hit the States.

posted by sheryl | 1:20 AM | comments (0)

Monday, January 24, 2005

Project Catfight!
What a good week for craptastic reality TV! Kyle's current co-worker almost got booted off The Apprentice-- in the first episode! I was sure it was going to be the neo-hippie marketing guy, who was the worst marketing professional I have ever seen.

I am now addicted to Project Runway as well. My friend Judy turned me onto it last week, and I haven't been able to look away since. These people do nothing but cry and scream and turn out the craziest clothes I've seen on TV (and yes, I watch the Golden Globes). My favorite is Austin, who cried hysterically when he had to choose who would be eliminated. I had the closed captions on (it's loud in my house) and the caption actually said "[Austin crying hysterically]". I laugh whenever his face comes on screen-- his neutral face looks like this:

That is actually the look that is always on his face whenever they show a reaction shot, I kid you not. His eyes always look surprised. What is going to happen to this guy when he decides in the future to get a facelift??!! The other thing that's hilarious is he has literally a 16-inch waist. No wonder he knows how to make clothes-- where would he buy pants??!!

I even missed Iron Chef America to catch the back episodes of PR last night-- but never fear, I taped it for later. :)

posted by sheryl | 7:54 PM | comments (0)

I'm Just Here for the Picture
We got a chance to meet Alton Brown today (of Good Eats on the Food Network). He turned out to be a really funny, really down-to-earth speaker. My favorite is when someone yelled to him "We love you Emeril!" and he spit water from his glass. There was also an embarrassing lady (who had clearly been drinking) who gave him a beer then kept interrupting him when he spoke. Yikes! Also a host of people with questions about their own food allergies, blah blah blah. The best question was "About your Kitchen-Aid..." and people just started cheering. (fyi: his Kitchen-Aid has flames airbrushed onto it by a car paint customizer and is awesome). Dari (biggest Alton fan) Sof & I got a picture with him and he almost broke my hand when he shook it. See pictures of the crowd below-- I had no idea that many people would be there. I'm sure lots of them will be at Costco to stalk him on Tuesday, as I heard many of them talking about it while standing in the ungodly long line to get our book signed. I should have had him sign it "To Bobby Flay"... What I should do is get the picture printed at Costco, pick it up and have him sign it there, after I stand in line with all the other stalkers!

About Elliott Bay Books: I understand what they are trying to do (i.e. "exposed brick, basement charm" I guess), but they were suffocating me in that space! I'm sure I'm not the only one who was feeling slight vertigo at a book-signing there. Please get a larger space for events like these, so people can do things like move and breath and stuff.

The ridiculously large crowd at Elliott Bay Books. He's not a rock star, people! Did some of you just stay here overnight from yesterday's Malcolm Gladwell book-signing?

Yukking it up in front of the crowd

With AB, who seems larger in person. Is it the ill-fitting black sweater, perhaps?

posted by sheryl | 3:56 AM | comments (0)