narcimund

Expect to spend $500 for a decent gun. I recommend the S&W 640 5-shot 2-3/8" revolver for a beginner. First Class Citizen Twice Over

Oh, be still mine heart! Someone who bakes... I don't bake. Never have. If it isn't made on the stovetop or on the grill or in a smoker, I can't make it. My one grief about my relationship is I should have picked someone who bakes. Too bad New Hampshire is so far away ... First Class Citizen Twice Over

Chocolate truffle cake? How do you make it? A friend of mine has made chocolate a huge hobby lately, and I don't mean store-bought candy. He buys whole green cocoa nibs in large bags and experiments. Sometimes he strikes out but he's getting better and occasionally builds a cake that you'll remember for the rest of your life. First Class Citizen Twice Over

Sorry, Skygal. I'm not railing at you. It's 5am and I'm awake in an empty, quiet house and it's more fun to write about food than to clean the kitchen or lie in bed failing to sleep. Food is more a passion of mine than skydiving is. Or sex. Or beer (don't get me started about beers!) It's fun to let loose with what really matters to me occasionally. First Class Citizen Twice Over

And herbs. HERBS! My god but people underuse fresh herbs. Dill! Marjoram! Parsley! Chives! Thymes! Mints! Every one of them adds a freshness and liveliness to the crappiest meal. So here's what you do, children. Follow my instructions and become a chef: Next April, drive to the nearest nursery with $25 and buy 10 different herb starts. They'll come in 2" plastic pots and look too small to flavor a cracker. Now drive home, put on some grubby pants, and PUT THEM IN THE GROUND! Pick a sunny spot and dribble a little water on their thirstly little heads. Now wait. Add water occasionally. Around June you're going to notice a small forest outside your house. Now EAT IT!

Don't get me started about cheeses! People buy these waxy, factory-made cheeses with no flavor from supermarkets for $6/pound then grate PILES of the shit on their food to melt. It adds about a zillion calories and about nothing to the flavor. Total cost: $3 per meal. Now, instead, go to a snooty fromagerie with a display case of imported french and bugarian and swiss hand-made artisinal cheeses. Each one is $12 - $20/pound, but think it through. Have the cheese guy slice you a few samples and ask his advice, "What would you recommend for (baking/tasting with wine/dessert)?" A quarter pound per person is PLENTY because they taste WONDERFUL. Buy soft creamy cheeses for spreading on thinly sliced bakery breads (not the pre-sliced factory crap from the supermarket!) Buy firm cheese for a dessert cheese plate or for baking. Buy hard cheeses for grating into salads. Buy ANYTHING made from goat! Chevres are incredible. DON'T EAT THEM COLD! Let them come to room temperature for Christ's sake! You're not an eskimo choking down whale blubber. This is for tasting! Don't buy the stinky cheeses until you know what you're doing, though. They'll give you a bad impression before you're ready to handle it. First Class Citizen Twice Over

You got it! By the way: Last night we ate real foie gras soaked in brandy and poached, chilled, then crumbled on extra-virgin olive oil fried bread points with paper-thin tomato slices. Foie gras: $50/pound. Our snack: about $4 for two. You don't need much! (Same thing in a restaurant? Probably $20.) Last week I bought Truffles to shave onto a cold potato-leek soup. French white truffles: $1200/pound. Our soup: About $10 for two. You don't need much! (Same thing in a restaurant? I've seen it for $75/each!) Did you hear that? Our $75 bowls of soup cost us $5 each. You can't get a "value meal" at McDonalds for that! So don't give me shit about 'can't afford to eat like Narcimund'! We eat REALLY REALLY well because we know how to cook and aren't afraid of the price per pound. Who cares that saffron is 5 times more expensive than gold? You put 5 threads in rice for $0.25 and it smells like heaven. First Class Citizen Twice Over

I bought Valrhona Cocoa from World Spice where it costs only $1.50 per ounce. Yes Michele, that's probably expensive for cocoa but hell! You don't need much! Buy 4 ounces (about a cup) for $6.00 and use one heaping tablespoon per mug (with one heaping tablespoon of sugar, 12 ounces of hot milk, and a generous squirt of real vanilla extract. Total cost per mug: about $0.75. And yes, we have ridiculously expensive liquors but we sip them 1/2-shot at a time! Total cost per evening to taste the best scotch in the world: about $3.00! (The price for a full shot of the same scotch at a bar: $25.00!) Expensive things are cheap if you enjoy them slowly and at home. First Class Citizen Twice Over

I just surprised myself with the best mug of cocoa I have ever tasted. It was the first mug from my new shipment of Valrhona 24% butterfat powdered pure cocoa. If anyone is a cocoa fan, you have GOT to get this stuff. It's silky creamy fatty love in a mug. First Class Citizen Twice Over

Oh, I forgot to mention. $500 plus 7 paid days off. Merry Christmas. First Class Citizen Twice Over

We gave our employee $500. First Class Citizen Twice Over

This latest site sends a viral executable. Be sure not to run it, if you're the kind of person who runs anonymous executables. First Class Citizen Twice Over

"Detained" is the new US word for what third world countries call "Disappeared". First Class Citizen Twice Over

"Forbidden fruit" is one possible motivation to visit Cuba. Another is curiosity. What is there in the world? It's the same motive for visiting Puerto Rico or Bahamas. Another is skepticism. When they say, "You can't even look at the thing we're condemning," it sure does make one curious what they're hiding. First Class Citizen Twice Over

Slider chatter. First Class Citizen Twice Over

Since 55,000 Americans visit Cuba each year (according to Lonely Planet), I hardly think it's the highest priority of the State Dept to track down and assassinate all of them. Not necessarily true in the future, of course. The US Gov't's assassination ambitions are growing. First Class Citizen Twice Over

If I had to fire somebody because of cutbacks, I would try to do it as humanely as I could. If I had to fire somebody for cause, I would do it IMMEDIATELY without regard to holidays, personal issues, or anything "humanitarian". A friend of mine who hires and fires at a large firm whose name everyone would recognize says the last four people he's fired had all just recently bought houses, which seems like unfortunate timing. However, they've all deserved it. He wonders if there's something in the house-buying process that makes people go nuts at work. First Class Citizen Twice Over

I clicked on it for the articles. No, really! I just read the articles. First Class Citizen Twice Over

Here's my rule of thumb for buying any gadget that I don't have enough information about: Buy the most expensive one that has NO fancy features. That means no unnecessary displays, timers, clear plastic, marketing hype, acronyms with "TM" after them, or bizarre computer-savvy connectors that seem like they might be useful if you could just figure out a use for them. It maximizes the change that the producers of the device spent their R&D budget on good design and solid materials instead of highly paid creative nerds brainstorming nerd-oriented features. I apply this formula to computers, cars, electric razors, stoves, clocks, stereos ... everything. And it almost always works! First Class Citizen Twice Over

Thanks for the update, Sangiro. I've always realized the line around "advertising" is fuzzy and try not to overstep it myself (although looking back I've made some errors. First Class Citizen Twice Over

The economy seems great from my point of view. Our business is growing and we give spontaneous bonuses year round whenever they're deserved. I think our bonuses this year amounted to about 15% of payroll. We're aiming for 20% next year. First Class Citizen Twice Over

To be fair, it's advertising only inasmuch as it's asking for volunteers. First Class Citizen Twice Over

You left because of roads and bridges? I don't think in three decades of living here I have EVER been inconvenienced by a bridge or road being out. First Class Citizen Twice Over

Screw Ranier. I'm more worried about Mt. Hood. If Hood blew, the glaciers would melt into the Sandy River Basin which would punch through Gresham and possibly Portland. That's a good million people looking for dry land and breathable air. First Class Citizen Twice Over

Drew! What are you doing on dropzone.com during working hours? Get back to work! First Class Citizen Twice Over