Falafel is one of those Middle Eastern dishes that everyone claims, everyone has their own version, and everyone uses to demonize the Jews. And it's the equivalent of hamburgers to Israelis, an everyday meal available on every street corner. The Israeli version uses...
Prime texted me, "I have a really good friend you haven't met yet, another doc. We're having drinks and I told her about you. Can you make it to dinner on the 6th?" And then a few quotes which led me to believe that her friend was an Actual Jew and one with a sense of...
I had an old friend come through town this week. We used to frequently travel together in Europe, go camping in California, and hang out in his compound (he did very well in financial engineering) in the great town of Nederland. I even got to see the infamous Dead Guy...
It's fucking cold out. Like -5 degrees with lost of wind for a wind chill low enough that it doesn't matter whether you specify it in Fahrenheit or Celsius. A couple feet of residual snow on the ground and another couple feet arriving tonight and tomorrow. Where the...
Well, the pressure is off, I no longer have to pretend to root for the Bills. And TBH, if I could pick a Super Bowl from the remaining teams, I'd want to see the Bears vs Texans. It likely won't happen, but a boy can dream. Anyway, Prime loaded me up with pizza, beer,...
When SP and I bought this Little House In The Gulch, the idea was to fix things up and redo it in our image of a home we wanted to share. She was exceptionally handy with painting, electrical, and carpentry and could guide me through assisting her. Obviously, that...
Sometimes, I outwit my dogs. Sometimes they outwit me. A couple months back, I spent a PILE of money putting up a 6 foot wooden fence to confine them. They're good jumpers but not quite that good; five feet seemed to be about their limit. Day One free in the yard,...
So after last weekend's debacle, Prime said, "You're a Bills fan now." It was not stated as a question. Fun happenings at Glibs Gulch: in addition to the weekly Tuesday noon protest ("What are you protesting?" "Whaddaya got?"), we had a special Friday protest at The...
OK, I was expecting that the Browns would be the Browns last week. But somehow, they weren't. So there's actually an important game for the Ravens today. CAW CAW!! I'm spending the run-up to it stone sober, for a change- I have a technology article to finish (about a...
"I've been framed, I tells ya! Lemme outta here!" It was a fine New Years Eve with the family- and I'm including Prime in that category these days. WebDom, 10b0t, Sweet Baby James, 10b0t's other two kids, Prime, and I gathered around the table, gorged ourselves on a...
Sorry, my fan hat is on. On the one hand, the Ravens are still alive. On the other, it may be for just hours since their life depends on the Browns today. Nobody should ever be in a position of needing the Browns to win. Nobody. After the playoffs slip away in a game...
To be fair, I *am* actually busy with tasks. Getting ready for New Year's dinner with Prime and my local family, doing a ton of loudspeaker measurements for a soon-to-be-overdue article, preparing some lectures on photoacoustics for a course the university asked me to...
All the little goy kids are running downstairs to see what that white-bearded Hebe brought them. But it wasn't me, I have an alibi. Anyway, this year the phony pseudo-pagan holiday (Christmas) and the celebration of the Jewish Taliban (Chanukkah) almost aligned; we...
For us football fans, December means actual meaningful games as the teams sort out who's going to the playoffs and at which seed. Mojeaux's beloved Mahomeses are, of course, going to be sitting this one out, much to the distress of the Swifties. But the Ravens are...
The Old Guy is just returned from a week-long road trip. Back in the days when I was in the wine biz, my trips were to Burgundy, Piedmont, Tuscany, Wachau, Champagne, Loire, Capetown, Santiago, Madrid... now my business trips are to Cleveland, Akron, Pittsburgh,...
Tonight is the night! Channukah begins with a candle lighting ceremony, some obligatory wine, and potato latkes (one of the few Ashkenazi dishes that rises above the level of barely edible). I will celebrate the victory of the Jewish Taliban over the...
I'm going to a dinner party tonight, a yearly event with all of Prime's long-time friends. To be fair, she's done the same for me, and managed to actually enjoy her time with SugarFree and Warty and JW and db and Mexican Sharpshooter and Swiss and Neph and... so I'll...
Global warming has not taken effect here- it's been single digit (F) temperatures all week with unceasing snowfall. Much snow (we've had about two feet in aggregate so far this month) and ice (a perfect medium to keep under the snow to maximize hazards), much slipping...
We had our Thanksgiving dinner last night instead of Thursday, just WebDom, 10b0t, Sweet Baby James, and Prime (who braved a foot of snow here to make her way down from Buffalo). We ate. We drank. And we drank. It's a difficult morning. Prime and I are getting too old...
Warning: Contains Raclette. Swiss Approved. It's fortunate that we moved our Thanksgiving dinner to tonight- if we had done the canonical Thursday night dinner, my appetite would have been ruined by the odor of a rotting fetid performance by my beloved Ravens. And...
I know (((I))) will. I'm giving the Sloopy-Banjos axis of evil a day off to enjoy a family day. And if you know their kids, this was not necessarily a favor. Here in the Gulch, we decided to move Thanksgiving to Saturday night for various reasons of exhaustion and...
It's a double-edged pregame this morning. Of course, there's the imminent Ravens-Jets game, for which I am preparing some non-traditional football food (mole coloradito, cheese sopapilla) and chilling some non-traditional sparkling wine (for Pie's information, a rosé...
This happens to all of us. Scenes from Glibs Gulch:I'm doing everything in my power to make the village regret putting me in a position of power. I'm arguing hard for property rights against a group of very HOA-like Progs who want to do everything they can to use...
I've developed a yearly ritual: a trip to Cleveland when the Ravens are in town, hang out with generous ticket-provider Nephilium and his girlfriend, and generally have a great time. This is irrespective of the Ravens winning or losing; the fans at Browns games are...
This was the stupidest relevant image I could find. Actually, several bullets were dodged. We had a gala opening of a new shop here in the Gulch, of a type I call a "chick shop." Scented soaps, knick-knacks, feminist-themed stickers, books, napkin rings, twee little...