RaffyJohn.com Rocks In My Head

The one thing I could always count on growing up was rice pilaf. Holidays. Thanksgiving. Family parties. There was always huge patches of this family staple ready to be devoured. I’d pile this dish onto my plate and throw a few cheese boeregs on top and I would be set.

My friends got through college living on Ramen. Me? Rice Pilaf.

Hope you like butter… here we go.

The Ingredients
1 1/4 Cup Long Grain White Basmati Rice
1/2 Cup Vermicelli Noodle, Chopped (No yolk Kluski European Noodles)
2 1/2 Cup Chicken Stock
2 Tablespoon Clarified Butter
4 Tablespoon Cubed Butter
1 Teaspoon Salt
Pepper

The How-To
Add 2 Tbsp. clarified butter and the 1/2 cup Vermacelli Noodle to a medium saucepan and put on medium heat.

Continually mix with a wooden spoon until the noodles are a nice brown - about 5 minutes.

Add the 1 1/4 cup rice and cook and mix for 6 minutes.

Add the 2 1/2 cup chicken broth, 4 Tbsp. butter and 1 tspn. salt.

Mix for about a minute.

Cover and simmer for 15 minutes until broth has been absorbed/evaporated.

Taste.

Not done? Add more broth, 1/4 cup at a time until done.

Taste. Done. Good. Eat.

Chef’s Notes
If you can, buy No Yolks Kluski European Noodles. My grandmother would curse another choice so I do the same.

Try it with some lemon juice or a lemon-olive oil vinaigrette and some chopped parsley. Don’t be shy.

Seriously. Give it a shot. It’s fantastic.

If I had a food blog award to give away, it would go to SushiDay.com… hands down.

photo stolen from: http://sushiday.com/archives/2006/11/09/firecracker-roll/

Chef Allison makes some of the most beautiful rolls I have ever seen. I too am just amazed at her creative feat… Such clever rolls, combos that make my mouth water.

I mean come on, Halo 3 Sushi! That’s just awesome!

Apart from the rolls the blog is a pleasure to navigate through. Directions are easy to follow and there is a ton of learning that can be had on the site. All around a great site.

A fantastic movie plus one of my favorite bands of all time come together. Thanks caglo8.

I had never heard of Joel Robert Harris until I came across a Reddit post linking to a chronology of his art work, starting at age 5.

http://www.joelharrisstudio.com/chronology.htm

It is not only amazing to see an artist progress in technique, but also being able to see the different themes and ideas he explored throughout his life.

When you really enjoy what you work, overtime is a non issue. The word does not exist. It is not even a consideration. You just do until you are done - Which can last years.

Jobs have set hours. 9-5. Any action you take outside of these hours that contributes to your job would be considered overtime. You are constrained.

I never want that feeling.

If I ever say to someone that I cannot hang out or meet up because I need to work overtime I’ve failed.

Overtime may also imply that you are pushing harder, getting ahead, beating out the competition or just showing off.

Nonsense. A poor excuse. Overtime implies the need to complete tasks, not goals.

Do what you enjoy and there will be no such thing as overtime.

Lobster has to be one of my favorite creatures to devour. Boil ‘em. Grill ‘em. I don’t care. I love it!

It turns out they feel the same way about their tasty flesh. Once a lobster has gone through a moulting process, shedding of its shell, a five hour long process, it feasts on the shell’s fleshy remains. It then buries it, hiding it, fearing predators will assume there is a vulnerable prey in the area.

Sorry. The video only shows the moulting process. Not the self cannibalism… Just take my word for it

Just watched a preview for the re-birth of the television show American Gladiators which was a great show, but what I really miss is G.L.O.W.

Ah, Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling. Coming of age would not have been so sweet.

I usually don’t make new years resolutions simply because they end up being too general or too abstract. “Lose weight”, “be more outgoing” etc. I never think of these resolutions as goals, but rather as general guidelines so I tend to fall off the wagon pretty quickly.

Not this year.

Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop
This year it is all about persistence. I can’t stop and I wont stop. In the past I’d either chew off too much or take too little, abandon the ideas I should follow through on and continue down the wrong path too often.

No more!

I will continually check and balance myself as I progress in life and work, making sure I do not follow pipe dreams, but continue on a realistic path.

No longer will I be timid in the face of adversity.

When a wall presents itself I will first examine its existence and either break it down, climb over it or retreat depending on realistic signals.

I will be more open minded with myself, allow my good ideas to shine through and address the bad ones for what they are.

I will set goals, real goals and do everything in my power to meet those goals.

No more “downtime”. I will rest only when I need to. I will persist.

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Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop by Jeff Chang
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