mccormicky – Page 45

What’s Happening this Week

I’ve been forced to be a normal person since Sunday night which means hanging out with real live people and going to bed at a normal hour.I think hanging out with real live folks is harder on the system and therefore when normal bedtime rolls around I am actually tired and ready for sleep.

5 of A.’s BFF’s from his kibbutz are staying with us for 10 days.Luckily they brought an airbed and we bought an airbed so with one really big couch and 2 airbeds they are finding places to sleep just fine.

I had a fight with D. because he insisted I’d told him 2 people were coming for 2 weeks not 5 people for 10 days and he just kept saying “No,No you said 2 people for 2 weeks” and he was all freaky and angry which made me angry so the problem is unresolved. I ask you:why would I say only 2 people were coming? Did I hope he wouldn’t notice? The problem is an old one. Because D. isn’t a very good listener, facts tend to suffer a loss of accuracy.The worst part is that D. and I had this fuss in earshot of our guests.
Now D. is refusing to pay rent.The original deal that A. generously proposed was that he would pay D.’s rent for May but D. said they could split it–now he is saying he won’t. D. has a new amour and spends most nights over at the amour’s house anyway.And when he is home spends all his time in his room with the door closed,guests or no guests. I fail to see how great an inconvenience this can really be for him.But for some reason he’s decided that I lied to him and so that is that. I feel I deserve a little more credit than this since D. and I have known each other for 13 years.
Oh well.

Bozzio is in heaven because now he has more people to love.
Last night a few of our guests and A. and I went out to eat at Mojitos.

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I’m Still Here!

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.

Braised Lamb Shanks

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…