radiopeter

There are many times when I want some chocolate cake, but I just don’t feel like baking an entire cake. I love to bake, but at 8:30 at night I’m not whipping out the full set of bowls, firing up the oven, and spending two hours baking a cake when all I want is really one piece.

Last night that changed.

I’m a huge fan of the LTHforums. The participants have formed a community of cooks, pro and home, foodies of every degree, and generally enjoy food enough to share their stories, recipes, and passions online. Stumbling around LTH yesterday night, I saw a post called

Two and a half minute from scratch chocolate cake

and I nearly passed out. I followed the link over to She Who Eats, printed out the recipe, and ran to the kitchen. Grabbing my smallest whisk, my measuring spoons, a cereal bowl, and a few spoonfuls of this and that, it took three minutes to produce a small bowl of chocolate cake.

Let me say that again, in three minutes I had a bowl of warm chocolate cake.

I poured a dash of heavy cream over the top, ate the entire bowl, and licked it clean.

Here is the recipe I used, which I plan to play with for the next few weeks and no doubt gain five pounds in the process:

2 T butter
3 T brown sugar
3 T milk (I used plain Rice Dream)
2 T Hershey’s cocoa powder
2 T all-purpose flour
1/8 t vanilla
1/8 t baking powder

1) Melt the butter in a cereal bowl.
2) Add the sugar and vanilla and stir well.
3) Add the milk and stir well.
4) Add the cocoa powder and stir well.
5) Add the flour and baking powder and stir until mixed.
6) Microwave for two minutes with a paper towel over the bowl.
7) Let it cool a bit, top with whatever you like, and indulge.

Three minutes to single-serving chocolate cake. All that was dirty was a small whisk, 2 measuring spoons, and the bowl. This recipe reeks of Nigella, but it isn’t hers. I hope she learns about it because I’m sure she’d love it.

This is the second and final part of my chat with John Ong, podcaster extraordinaire. We pick up right where we left off talking about vacations…

If you want even more John, be sure to check out his website, Onglinepodcast.com where there are links to not only his own show, but Penang Hokkien Podcast, John’s very own show dedicated to laughter, good conversation, and lots of fun all wrapped up in the Hokkien dialect!

Olivia Newton-John. Rue McClanahan. Caroline Rhea. Bonnie Bedelia. And Leslie Jordan.

Check out this trailer on AfterElton.com

They are just a part of the cast of Sordid Lives: The Series. If those five aren’t reason enough to watch, if you are gay, you should be watching. No excuses.

Logo, a GLBT network, OUR GLBT network has picked up the show and not only is it hilariously funny, it’s a part of history. Del Shores has had much success with his stage works as well as his writing for many hit television series. Sordid Lives: The Series is some of his funniest Southern-flavored work to-date and if you aren’t watching you suck.

Beth Grant is so frickin’ hilarious she alone is worth watching. But there is more to the show than meets the eye, and I’m looking forward to this new series more than anything else on television. Most of TV is horrible at the moment, and this, a bright jewel on our very own rainbow network is exactly what the doctor ordered. Or was it the drag queen?

The first episode is titled: The Day Tammy Wynette Died and packs a hysterical punch in the same way a Robert Altman film introduces you to dozens of people all at once. Bitsy Mae Harling (Newton-John) is just getting out of prison. Momma Peggy (McClanahan) invites her to stay at her home. Latrelle (Bonnie Bedelia) doesn’t like how gay Brother Boy (Jordan as a Wynette impersonator) is, but knows he’ll be crushed by her death. She’s also trying to send him to ex-Gay therapy.

Oh, and cute and twinkish Ty (Jason Dottley) is in L.A. trying to get work and is considering trying out for Naked Boys Singing.

It’s a pill poppin’, big haired, Southern-filled, gayer than Mardi Gras, rapid-fire comedy that you should be watching.

Or else.

On Saturday my iPhone line buddy Gino and I hopped in his car and headed up to Racine Wisconsin in search of nudity. Not the human kind. The feline variety.

Gino wants to own a Sphynx. He asked me about the breeders I purchased my kids from, but sadly, neither are around. My suggestion, which he immediately took to heart, was to find a cat show, either TICA or CFA, and go meet some folks who show their cats. That way you know who will be raising your future child.

A lot of people have expressed their concern with my owning purebreds. Frankly, I don’t give a damn what anyone thinks. It’s my life, my money, and if you ever met my bundles of joy you’d know why I wanted to become a Sphynx owner. They are bewitching creatures in the most wonderful of ways. Everyone, and I mean everyone who meets my boys falls in love.

no haetz our beuuty

So, with a flier from the cat club, we ventured North for Wisconsin. By the time we crossed the border we had a rumbly in our tumbly, so Culvers was apropos. Mmm, Culvers fried cheese curds. How very Wisconsin…

Google maps played a nasty trick on us. We ended up in Kenosha at a dead end street instead of in Racine. Thankfully the two towns are right next to each other, so it was a short 15 minute drive to the proper town. But, and we both said we should have done this, check your maps BEFORE you leave the house. Oh well, no harm done.

We walked into the show hall and wandered around for a bit. As with most cat shows, the ladies were on the larger side, there was a smell of kitty litter in the air, and there were cages and cages of cats at their finest. However, we couldn’t spot any Sphynx right off the bat, so we headed to the judging tables.

Lo and behold, there were all of the Sphynx, in a judging ring. Sadly the judge was quiet. I’m a fan of the ones who talk their way through the cats and teach the audience what is going on. I know next to nothing about judging standards because I don’t show my cats, but it is more interesting to watch a judge AND listen to them describing what they are looking for while they asses each cat. I don’t have photos because the judging had already began and it’s not proper to just photograph the ring work unless you have permission of the judge. Needless to say, it wasn’t very interesting as it all happened in silence.

Except for the expressions on the Sphynx. Each of them, in their cage, seemed like they were watching a tennis match. As the judge would walk back and forth, all the heads would turn at the same time. There was a chatty black male on the far right who had a lot to say the entire time. He mumbled and chirped constantly, and once he caught my eye and saw I was paying attention to him, he began to chatter directly at me. That’s what I love about Sphynx. They are far more engaging than your average cat.

Once the judging cycle was complete, we followed the owners back to their cages and ended up striking up a great conversation with a lovely breeder from Minnesota. She was warm and loving, funny and engaging, and exactly what I’d want a breeder. She reminded me of a Sphynx, and if I were in the market, I’d seriously consider her cats. I didn’t take her card, but Gino did. Once I have her info, I’ll update this post. She even let him hold one of her females, rare among some breeders to allow a stranger to touch the cats. But then again, Sphynx people are a different breed, just like their owners… I mean cats!

why u taek my fotoe?!

wassat ovr dere?

We wandered around some more and met a pair of women, also from Minnesota, who raised Cornish Rex cats. They are loving kitties, a bit crazier than Sphynx, and they have a fabulously finger-wave coat. Gino also held one of their girls, and she was in heaven in his arms.

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So, we met our goal of meeting Sphynx breeders and loving some naked kitties. Now, hopefully, Gino will get to some more cat shows and meet some more breeders. And I have to try my best NOT to consider buying another Sphynx kitten. They are sooooo cuuuute!!!

*wink*

Baking is therapy. Methodical, scientific, precise and reeking of alchemy, baking is my favorite kitchen activity. It’s nothing short of magical to take some liquids and a variety of powders and with the help of a hot oven, transmogrify them into delicious treats.

Yesterday I made a batch of traditional biscotti and Dorie Greenspan’s Famous World Peace Cookies.

Oh my God. World Peace Cookies.

Biscotti are biscotti. Hard, must-be-dunked, anise and lemon scented fingers of crunchy goodness. I personally prefer them with a cup of strong Earl Grey. However, dunked in heavily roasted coffees or woody oolongs they are equally as delicious. Biscotti are twice baked, adding to not only their hardness, but their shelf life. I somehow forgot a half-batch once that was in a tight cookie tin and six months later they still tasted fantastic. But ya gotta dunk them. At least, that’s how I like mine.

World Peace Cookies are a different beast all together. Think of a chocolate chocolate-chip cookie, only sandy in texture. The recipe calls for five ounces of bittersweet chocolate, but I use three ounces bittersweet, and two ounces unsweetened. The intensely bitter unsweetened plays against the warm caramel flavoring of the brown sugar in the dough (I use dark instead of light to play up the caramel flavor) and adds a sharp contrast to the bittersweet bits, which almost taste like pure sugar in comparison. I actually also double what Dorie’s recipe suggests for salt. I’ve also dusted the finished cookies with sea salt while they are warm so it sticks. Either way, it ramps up the sweet bits even more and allows the bitter ones to stand out.

And the dough itself! Oh, the dough! Eggless, made of creamed butter and sugars (white and dark brown) with a healthy dose of cocoa powder, leavened with just a touch of baking soda and a good measure of salt. It’s good enough to eat even before baking, and I admit to leaving a tablespoon or more in the bowl/on the spatula just to lick it off. Of course, the only thing better than the dough is the cookie, which breaks apart in your mouth, scattering it’s sandy, salty, chocolaty-ness on your lips, on your chin, in your bosom (should you have one) and obviously in your mouth.

Baking is fun. Hard work, but fun.

The above cookies were made for a friend ’cause it was his birthday and I couldn’t think of what to get him. A cop-out, perhaps, but I think I had more fun making them than he will have eating them. In any case, I had a few sample cookies and then they were out of my house. That’s the only problem with baking cookies as a single guy. If I’m not careful, I’ll eat the whole batch.

Yep, another episode of Radiopeter! This time I had the chance to sit down with John Ong, podcaster extraordinare to talk about fat, exercise, Estelle Getty, vacations, and tons more stuff. Lots of laughter, and lots of John Ong.

If you want even more John, be sure to check out RP065 (coming soon!) and check out his website, Onglinepodcast.com where there are links to not only his own show, but Penang Hokkien Podcast, John’s very own show dedicated to laughter, good conversation, and lots of fun all wrapped up in the Hokkien dialect!

Click Here to Listen

Estelle Getty has passed away after a long battle with dementia.

Estelle Getty was best known by many kids of my generation as Sophia Petrillo, the stubborn, hard nosed, gigantic purse toting, loving mother-to-everyone on The Golden Girls. I remember watching the very first episode in 1985. I was eight and seeing four ‘grandmas’ living their lives like they were teenagers tickled me. It also gave me a healthy dose of reality. From that moment on, I’ve never been afraid of aging.

It was only as I grew older and more addicted to the show that I began to learn about her life and her unfaltering support of the gay community. Her early role as the mother in Torchsong Trilogy on Broadway normally slips under the radar of folks my age or of most of the American public. It would define, at least from what I’ve learned of her life, much of how hard she fought for us.

I’ve met Bea Arthur and seen both Rue McClanahan and Betty White at different times. But I never had the chance to meet Estelle Getty. All are strong supporters of my community, and all should be praised continuously. But I really wanted to meet Estelle, if only to sip coffee, eat cheesecake, and laugh. I’m certain she tells good stories, just as I’m certain whenever she is right now, she’s making people laugh.

I’ll be eating cheesecake and watching Golden Girls reruns tonight.

Well, the deed is done. My sister is now Mrs. Eschbach.

The dress was worn, the hair was styled, the face was painted, the vows were exchanged, the photographs were taken, the boat was boarded, the food was eaten, the cake was cut, the fireworks were watched, and the party favors were distributed.

All in all, a supremely flawless day and night. I’m still tired. Can’t wait to see Olivia’s Photos!

My sister Elaine is getting married Saturday.

There must have been a million things I thought about when I was little. What would I look like when I turned 30? (I’m happy with the results). Where would I be as the clock struck 12:01 in the year 2000? (On London Bridge partying). Will I ever fall in love? (Been there, and fallen out of it thus far.) What will I be when I grow up? (I’m still not sure).

But I never really thought about weddings.

I certainly haven’t thought about mine, if or whenever that will happen. My eldest sister Katrina didn’t have a big first wedding. I attended her second wedding, but for whatever reason I didn’t think much of it at the time.

In two days my sister Elaine is getting married and I’m full of emotions. We’re pretty close, and over the last few years we’ve grown closer. I may be the younger one, but somehow I’ve done a lot more living than her. And yet, there are things I look for in her that I can’t get anywhere else. It’s a relationship that I treasure, and one that will be somehow decidedly different after she is married.

It’s almost like we’re not in the same boat anymore.

She’s moving into a world I don’t know. Not geographically or anything, but subtle as they may be, things will change. I’m so happy for her and John that I could pretty much explode, but a very slight sliver of me knows that once that ring is on her finger, she’s really grown up.

Damn, I look good in a tuxedo.

My friend Olivia is going to photograph the event and I look forward to not only having her around for the special day, but to the photographs that she will produce. I love her eye and her style, and I’m thrilled she is able to work with us.

It’s going to be a long Saturday. But the reception will be on a boat out on Lake Michigan, and I’m looking forward to the skyline as the backdrop for a wonderfully special day.

OK, this post isn’t about my feet, but I like this picture of my new loafers. Thanks-be-to-got (you have to say that with an East Indian accent for it to sound right) I’m allowed to dress über casual at work. I’m not sure where else I’d wear them.

And now, since we’re on the subject of my feet, pardon me while I use them to climb atop my soapbox.

Twitter, like many things in life, needs the occasional culling. There are a few sentient beings I follow, with much love and respect. But then there are those who tweet five in a row about nothing. B l ah I say. Blah.

The thing I love most about Twitter is the funny quirky people who use it wisely. I appreciate that we don’t live in a world full of good writers. All the bad blogs, horrible podcasts, and generally bland crap littering the internet is proof of that. Thankfully I have the right to choose what I want. I’ve spoken of ’smart’ content time and time again and it follows that I seek that kind of information in whomever I’m following.

Here then, for your reading pleasure are some guidelines I use when I tweet.

• The elegance is in the eloquence of your tweets, not the volume
• If you wouldn’t say it to your mother, don’t share
• If you intend to provoke, commit
• Brevity is the soul of wit
• Your words = you

And now, I’m off to cull.

End soapbox lecture.

Yes that photo was taken in the bathroom at my job this morning. Yes, I am that vain. Yes I’m proud of the chinstrap beard. Are we clear on all that now? Then let’s continue, shall we?

My first weekend with my iPhone 3G was pretty damn awesome compared to the 1st gen handset. While the browser and internet capable apps aren’t blazing along at DSL/Broadband speeds, it’s quite an improvement. Often the progress bar seems to lag a bit, then suddenly the page is fully loaded. I think if I have one major complaint about the handset (let’s get that out of the way now) it’s the lag. The OS seems to take a moment or two to respond. I don’t remember any lag in pre-2.0. My line-buddy Gino also noted the lag on his old handset, as he upgraded to 2.0 before he moved to the 3G, which makes me think software is the culprit.

The handset is definitely lighter than the old one, but any hard cases you have just won’t fit the new format. Sadly, the biggest disappointment was the absence of an included dock. The dock that came with the 1st gen iPhone doesn’t fit the 3G. I was completely hooked on docking the phone next to my bed at night and using it as an alarm clock. No more quickly whisking it off the dock to snooze. I have to wrangle with a tethered beast now. *sigh*

I tried a few free apps out but I’m not finding much I like. I dislike Evernote since you cannot edit notes on the handset. That seems rather pointless. I also dislike Twitteriffic or any of the other Twitter apps out. I’m a Hahlo fan and Hahlo works even better in 3G. The Facebook app is OK, but you cannot search for new people. I toyed with the Myspace app, but haven’t done much there. SmugShot is buggy and has crashed multiple times. The Ebay app seems ok, but I haven’t Ebayed anything recently, so time will tell with that one.

Is the 3G ideal? Not yet. Is it closer than the 1st gen handset? Absolutely. Will I buy another upgraded model when it comes out? You betcha.

I’m hooked on life in 3G.

Just wanted to ask. I tell you who I am. Tell me who you are…

Indeed I can.

I met up with my friend Gino this morning at 6:20ish at the Diversey store, and after peeping the crowd, we headed south to the Canal AT&T store. We got in line at 6:45ish and according to my receipt, it was exactly 10:39 when I purchased an 8GB model. I wanted a 16, but they were out, so I went with the 8GB and figured the extra cash could go for a flight lesson.

WAHOO!!

There were two phones left, and two of our line companions behind us go the very last two that were in the store. Activation, while a little hiccuped, went smooth. There are a million apps in the App Store I want to try out, but time will sort out all that.

YAY! I GOT ONE!

I think the picture says it all.

Hmmm…I think this was the same unicorn Miss Smith and I visited.

5) Enjoying color-coded calendar entries. I can’t stand that at a glance I can’t figure out which blocks of time are rehearsals, which are personal to-do’s, and which are classes. I am anal organized like that, and my color coding on iCal is not to be messed with.

4) Taking way more geo-tagged pictures. OK, the evidence is spotty that the iPhone will actually successfully accomplish this standalone, but I love the geography features on SmugMug (wish they had a bulk update tool!) and I plan to get around the city and shoot lots with the camera + GPS. Yeah, the quality ain’t great, but it’ll be cool as hell to be able to snap a pic, mail it to SmugMug, and have a record of where I’ve been. Especially on those boozy nights. And my mom still raves about the Memorial Day Photos, which are web-perfect if you ask me.

3) Watching the hell out of YouTube. There is so much Gospel and Jazz posted every day I’m beside myself. I can spend hours watching archive footage. Forget staring at the handsome men on the Brown Line in the mornings. I’m going to watch Ella, Dinah, Billie and more. OK, maybe I’ll stare a bit.

2) Enjoying more podcasts. I carry a significant library of music with me at any given time. I’m picky and I was a DJ. Go figure. Having the 16GB version will let me keep all my podcasts together. I’m not a podsaver (someone who holds onto every podcast after listening) but I do have about 6GB of unplayed to ‘casts at the moment. Mostly because I’d rather have my music when I’m mobile. The extra 8GB will let me bring my podcasts along AND slip in a movie or two. Handbrake, I love you.

1) Using the 3G radio more than you can believe. I HATE waiting for webpages to load. I HATE waiting for photographs in the mail outbox to be sent. I HATE not having the information I need at the speed I’m used to on my home machine. I like things done NOW and the 3G radio will give me that. It won’t be Broadband speeds, but it’ll be a heck of a lot faster than what I’m working with at the moment. Twitter, Facebook, and more, watch out!