Flood

While I was in California for the Holidays, I read the thriller Flood, by Andrew Vachss, on my Kindle, and was duly thrilled. I believe it was a free download, and boy was it ever worth the price. Nicely done for a first novel, maybe due at least in part to some of the author's real-life experience. I found it to be pretty engrossing throughout, although there was a sort of Gilligan's Island Reunion part toward the end that I found to be a little unlikely, where most of the characters (each of whom is a loner and a misfit in their own ways) get together to do a job. Enjoy!

The Manhattan Transfer

Last night, Kelly and I went to see The Manhattan Transfer give a fantastic Holiday show at The Blanche M. Touhill Performing Arts Center. They were absolutely amazing. I've been listening to them and admiring them since high school (yeah, that long ago; the current line-up started in 1972), so it was a real treat for me to finally see them live in concert. In the parlance of Mason and Emily, they were "tight." I just love to see (and hear) that kind of fierce talent. Go see them when you get a chance, or go to iTunes and check them out.

Yes, Virginia, There Is a Samurai

I enjoyed a great karate seminar last weekend. Sensei Toru Shimoji was hosted by Sensei Karl Burgart of the Tradition Karate Association of Wildwood, MO. Sensei Shimoji is 5th Dan. The seminar was phenomenal. He is a tremendous athlete and his karate is spectacular to behold. One of the things that impressed me most was how learned he is. As he was talking to us about ways to improve our karate, he easily used examples from physics, anatomy, and even some molecular biology. I know he's a sculptor. To me, he seemed just like the samurai warrior-poets that you read about. We need more people like him in the world, I think.

Delicious Seafood Pasta Fra Diavolo

Tonight I made some delicious Seafood Pasta Fra Diavolo in my cool new Le Creuset Enameled Cast-Iron Round French Oven with Cover (more on this below). I had some pasta fra diavolo from Brio Tuscan Grille earlier in the week, and I decided to make some myself this weekend. I suspect the stuff Brio made had some cream in it, but the stuff I made was pretty good, and it had seafood (shrimp, calamari, and scallops) instead of chicken which is always a plus in my cookbook.

If you decide to make some yourself (it's so easy), here are a couple of pointers. First, I used half as much crushed red pepper as was called for in the recipe, and it was still too spicy for my family (for me, it was just pleasantly warm).

Second, instead of basil I used Penzey's Tuscan Sunset, and I think that was a good substitution. More complicated, but really tasty.

Third, I used mini penne instead of linguine.

Finally, I added a bit more shrimp than was called for. There was plenty of room for it. The scallops were terrific, though; I should've splurged on those instead.

My new Dutch oven is my first ever. It's made of enameled cast iron, and it's a spectacular vessel. I highly recommend it. The color of mine is Dune ("... Arrakis... desert planet..."), if you would like to cleave to my ways as closely as possible. ;-)

Bon appetit!

Churrascaria!

Today my group and I went out to lunch at Bacana Brasil, a really nice churrascaria in Chesterfield. Places such as these serve churrasco-style grilled meats, and lots of them. They have to place a special sign at your table so you can turn off the flow of grilled meat when you can't take it any more. So much meat is served, in fact, that I began to fret about various meat-related disaster scenarios, like "meat exhaustion," or the "meat death of the universe." Anyway, even though you really have to be a good carnivore to enjoy them, churrascarias are great. If you've never been, you should find one and try it out.

Special thanks to Scott Patterson for taking me to my first churrascaria feast, not so long ago in Seattle.

Best Christmas Album of All Time

My vote for Best Christmas Album of All Time goes to the Vince Guaraldi Trio's A Charlie Brown Christmas. If you don't agree, I will fight you.*

* Not really. :-)

Brain Rules...Rules!

Last night I finished reading Dr. John Medina's Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School. I really enjoyed this one. I'm sometimes a bit skeptical about popular science books, being geeky enough to enjoy the more in-depth works. This book did not disappoint, though. Medina gave us some fun personal anecdotes, and tied them in very well with the latest in brain research (much of which I didn't know about). All of this was organized into 12 rules, which I thought was a nice way to do it. Highly recommended.

I read this on my Kindle (I guess I read everything on my Kindle these days), and I should point out two potential issues. First, there is text missing from the Kindle edition in half a dozen or so different places. I don't think I missed too much, but maybe I did, and it did interrupt the flow. Amazon is aware of this problem, but I haven't heard anything smacking of resolution on this topic from them.

The other issue is that the physical book has a DVD that comes with it. I'd be surprised if the DVD had more than what you find on the Web, but I don't know.

Go read Brain Rules now.