mccormicky

I usually post about 4 times a week but I’ve had to take a break from it while I get into PhotoShop.
I’ve had PhotoShop for almost a whole year but never really bothered to learn how to do anything with it.But then it just got too frustrating trying to compete with those slick graphics I see all over the internet using my preferred (free) image software.I was using Photofiltre for dog’s years then switched to Gimp, made a couple things with that(mostly played with brushes,tracking them down and downloading them).To give Gimp credit you can create PS quality images with it, I just had a problem with the interface. But I always knew that in order to be competitive with other web designers I was going to have to get familiar with PhotoShop so I’ve been pulling all nighters ever since.
My first task was to design a new banner for Tickle Abuse (the tickling fetish website I’m paid to maintain and update and expand).This week Tickle Abuse’s owner,Tom and his wife Tasha were on the Tyra Banks Show and he anticipated that loads of folks were going to come to the website so he wanted to make sure that it all looked good.He was understandably nervous that I would do something wacky to the website during the rush.But I always hated the banner that the previous designer came up with and that I had to work into my new designs.Tom said he didn’t mind the banner but I hated the colors and the textures and I thought it looked really Porn-y not to mention tacky. I don’t want mccormicky.com to be associated with porn and Tickle Abuse isn’t porn so why have a porn type banner?
Another thing about that old banner:it was made up of ImageReady slices and divided into about 10 tds
so when I switched the pages from tables layout to xhtml I took a screenshot of the banner and had at least one solid image to work with.I compressed it as much as I could so that it wouldn’t take a long time to load.Can you imagine? There are still folks using dial up to this day!

I have to express my gratitude to the countless people who have created tutorials online in video or text for PhotoShop. I’m having a great time learning.
The next bit of news is that I got Macromedia Flash 8 but I have had less luck finding tutorials.It might be that I am simply too right brained for Flash,anyway.But in order to get work in this field you’ve got to have a working knowledge of Flash so once I get bored of PS that will be next new toy.

   Today is probably one of the last days I can cook this kind of hearty dinner, it being so rainy and cool. Seems we’re having a Real Spring in NY!
I’ve been wary of the Lamb Shank in the past because I found the casing surrounding the shank to be weird. But I’ve cooked a variation of this dish once before and found out that with a long slow braise this casing turns tender and rather unnoticeable. Don’t fear the shank.
To braise means to cook something, usually meat, in a small amount of liquid after it’s been browned in fat in a pot with a tight fitting lid on the range or in an oven.This recipe was prepared on the range because my toaster oven couldn’t possibly accommodate a big pot.

This recipe feeds 2 and takes about 2 and a half hours from chopping board to dinner bowl.
This meal’s ingredients cost under 12 dollars,not counting the alcohol.
Ingredients:
2 big untrimmed lamb shanks,browned on both sides for 6 minutes each side or until nice and brown
3 carrots,chopped
3 ribs celery,chopped
4 cloves chopped garlic,mashed and diced
1 shallot,chopped fine
1 onion,chopped fine
2 stalks of green onion,chopped
2 sprigs of rosemary,whole
2 generous splashes of extra virgin olive oil
2 tsps strawberry preserves
salt
fresh black ground pepper
dash of paprika
1 container of chicken stock
A bit of alcohol
2 cups of red wine
1 splash dry sherry
1 splash brandy,to deglaze the browning pan

In large frying pan:
Heat, add olive oil.
Season shanks with salt and freshly ground black pepper,place in frying pan, brown on both sides, about 6 to 7 minutes each side.

in large heavy pot with tight fitting lid
Heat on medium high add olive oil, add onion, saute until sweaty.
Add celery,carrots,green onion and shallots.
Splash in dry sherry, the vegetables will absorb very fast.
Add wine and chicken stock and strawberry preserves stir well to blend in preserves,turn heat slightly higher and let reduce for about 6-7 minutes.
Submerge shanks in the liquid-it should come about halfway up the sides of the shanks.
Stir in chopped garlic.
Add rosemary sprigs.
Deglaze the pan you browned the shanks in with the splash of brandy and let a high heat burn off the alcohol.
Spoon 2 tsps of the resulting liquid over the shanks and sprinkle them with paprika.
Reduce heat to low and cover. Braise for 2 hours.
Extra meal ideas, not that I am trying to run your life or anything!
Eat with rice or some ribbons of lasagne noodles cut in half down the middle with the shanks and their sauce poured over. We’re having basmati rice because we made it a day ago and I am trying to use leftovers instead of throwing them out. You could optionaly add some peeled and cubed potatoes at the start if you don’t want to bother with rice or noodles.Or you could prepare garlic mashed potaotoes.Ohhh,garlic mashed potatoes…

I love pecan pie or at least I thought I loved it.I guess I grew up and my palate just can’t handle a certain level of sweet anymore.And I want a drier pie filling because a wetter one skeezes me out to the max. But I’ve got more important things to obsess over so I went online and typed in not too sweet pecan pie and found this recipe from alpineberry.blogspot.com:

1/2 cup brown sugar,packed.
1/2 cup light corn syrup.
1/3 maple syrup.
3 lg eggs.
3 tbs melted butter.About 35 seconds in a microwave should do it.
1 tsp vanilla.
1 pinch salt.
2-cup bag of chopped pecans.
1 pie shell
Pre heat oven to 350 on bake.
Whisk together in a large bowl brown sugar and the eggs.
Whisk in corn syrup and maple.
Mix in melted butter vanilla and the pinch of salt.
Mix in the pecans and pour into pie shell and bake for 35-40 minutes.

If you’ve checked out my other cooking efforts you may have picked up on the fact that I bake in a toaster oven.Lately the oven has been running hot so my pie crust burned on the bottom and singed on one section on the top of the crust.Next time I will not place the pie directly onto the wire rack and use a real pie pan instead of an aluminum one.And I will turn it every 10 minutes or so so that the crust doesn’t get singed.
Otherwise the pie was still a little too sweet for my tastes but A. loved it burnt crust and all.

An improvise-y flick about 20 somethings looking fer love in Chicago? Oh alright. If you like listening to dialogue full of “ums” and “you know”s and “it’s like”s and don’t much care that the main character is a brat.

Certain scenes were charming such as the one of the appreciation of the crazy guy on the sidewalk and the naked trumpet playing duet in the bath tub. But that’s only 2 scenes,dude. Usually I don’t want to write about plot for movies I really liked but I didn’t really like this one so here goes.

A Very Brief Synopsis

Hannah Takes the Stairs is the story about a woman detaching from a man who has nothing but time for her and going for a dude who has no time to spare her.

A Longwinded Synopsis

The film opens with Hannah in the shower with her mans who is soon jettisoned in favor of the smart but hard on the eyes Paul,the hotshot of the production office wrangling a deal for a book option to his…blog!

The plot is loosely constructed to say the least. In the opening scenes we see Hannah getting ready for the first day of her internship and beginning to loathe her suddenly unemployed by choice boyfriend. The loathing bit is obvious, the working bit is not. The only reason I knew Hannah was supposed to be a new intern at a production office is because I read the back of the DVD cover.

Feeling neglected by Paul, Hannah rapidly sets her beady (Ok, her eyes aren’t beady) on Paul’s best friend and co-worker Matt who has more time to pay rapt attention to her than Paul (he’s just like,so busy with his agent like,you know?). And a better scene soon follows when Hannah learns that Matt is a complex dude with problems and is on about 3 different kinds of anti-depressants so maybe she ought not to toy with his fragile soul.

Looking at Greta Gerwig (Hannah) who is tall, slim and blonde with a hip hairstyle and no prob with nudity is not at all hard to do. If only the actress were given actual lines to speak instead of her own improvised and inarticulate mumblings. I might not have come away with the impression that I just watched a movie starring an American Apparel model.

I suppose I have difficulty with the notion that women don’t care what a guy looks like because his personality is what is attracting her- and therefore we are supposed to believe the non dashing Paul could be her next boyfriend despite that fact that the guy she just ditched was actually handsome. I kept expecting her to flinch when he groped her. But no, Hannah courts and ensnares Paul on purpose. Am I that shallow? Maybe, but then why did Hannah have to be a knockout amongst shlubby moes?
Andrew Bujalski, Paul, directed Funny Ha Ha (another movie about an unattractive guy and a pretty girl).

One review I read stated this was a film about young people looking for the next person to crush out on. Yet Hannah’s roommate and good pal Rocco doesn’t spend any time “crushing out”, she spends her time cooped up in their apt. and avoiding foolishness.

Of Possible Interest
You can see cast and crew pictures and a theatrical trailer atHannah Takes the Stairs and read “thanks for the add” comments on their Myspace page