Coolness

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To All Aliens Watching Us, Hi!

Time lapse video of the night sky. Cool!



Galactic Center of Milky Way Rises over Texas Star Party from William Castleman on Vimeo.

Time For Some Answers Mr. President

I have a lot of faith in the long term strategies of our President but that doesn't mean my tolerance for short term BS is unlimited.

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With The Money We Saved on Dinner ...

Isn't Stuart Little cute? You know what's not cute, real mice joining you for dinner at a restaurant. Not cute at all.

After enjoying the new Star Trek movie on Friday, we headed to dinner at Spice on 4th Ave and 10th Street in the Village. Unfortunately we got more than Thai Fusion. Instead of turning on the air conditioning, the workers at Spice opened two street-side doors. That is how, I suspect, our furry little germ bucket got close enough to pay us a visit.

Out of the corner of my eye I spotted him; Stuart Little's ugly cousin calmly walking along the top edge of the banquette where Sachiko sat. He was about 4 feet away when I told her as calmly as I could something along the lines of "get up right now and come to me." My tone apparently conveyed the proper sense of urgency because she was up and several feet away from the rodent in a flash. Though it seemed clear to us that the mouse came from outside and not the kitchen, it was hard to shake the disgust that was rising within us; we had already eaten most of our meal. Management was profusely sorry and tone deaf-ly offered us desert (as if we'd touch it), but after a few minutes to collect ourselves, we quietly left. A bottle of seltzer water and a walk down Broadway helped soothe our stomachs but did little to ease the assault taking place in our minds. You can't help but deal with the fact that as disgusting as that was, that and worse must go on all the time unseen.

With the money we didn't spend on dinner we decided to treat ourselves to some of the highfalutin drinks served at Pegu Lounge. They were what the doctor ordered; tasty, soul southing, and mind numbing. We felt so much better after our drinks that I didn't feel bad about paying $13 a cocktail - a sentiment that I will likely never feel or utter again. Pegu is located at 77 Houston St. near W. Broadway.

Funny Headlines

• Afghanistan's only pig quarantined in flu fear
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2 and 1

I know you've all been waiting with bated breath to find out how we fared in Battle Egg. The 'we' being Sachiko and I, Sachiko subbing in for my original partner Cybele who couldn't participate due to family illness. Battle Egg being our first defense of the Iron Chef Brooklyn title we earned by winning Battle Pork. Well I won't torture you anymore, because for one, I don't approve of torture, and secondly, if I go on and on and on without getting to the point, how many of you will even be around to find out that WE WON!!!!

In an unprecedented moment in Iron Chef Brooklyn history, the judges scored the battle a tie but with neither team particularly interested in a 'scramble off' or a rematch, we decided to let the battle be decided on the strength of each team's best dish; the highest scoring dish of the day would decide the winner. And the winner was our cilantro infused egg, chorizo, and cheese empanada. Our competitors, Sam and Beth served up some tasty fare and we felt fortunate to win, especially considering that our ambition on a couple of dishes was not matched by execution.

We started with a spicy egg salad (featuring Japanese mayo and mustard, chives, and pecans), topped by a homemade mango chutney with macadamia nuts, which was served on a cocktail cracker that we covered with a piece of Canadian bacon. I'm not an egg salad fan but I thought this tasted pretty good, the judges, however, were not all that impressed.

Our second dish was the most challenging, Ponzu ginger steak with poached eggs. The steak was marinated in ponzu, ginger, and honey, and was topped by a green salad of asparagus, green beans, and chives that had been dressed with a citrus vinaigrette. The key to this dish was the poached egg which was to rest on top, unfortunately, cooking six poached eggs at once proved tricky and our eggs were over cooked. What should have been a home run for us turned out to be a scoring also ran.

Thankfully we hit all the right notes with our empanadas. They were accompanied by a spicy pico de gallo, and a cool and creamy avocado sauce. The recipe for these has been posted on the Iron Chef Brooklyn Website.

Our desert was another dish where ambition and execution clashed. We made orange and mixed berry Sabayon, with amaretto cookies. These came out wonderful in trial runs at home but under the pressure of battle we let our eggs overcook slightly resulting in a less pleasing dish.

Despite the hiccups, we pulled out the victory. Our reward? Besides fame amongst the foodie community of Brooklyn, we get to defend our title later this month in Battle Onion. Stay tuned!