Music and Half-hearted detox

Along with not drinking alcoholic beverages I've also been cutting down on my caffeine (trying for only 1 cup of coffee a day...) and drinking crazy amounts of pineapple juice. I'm not really sold on it being some sort of super-juice or on bromelain being the bee's knees, but it can't hurt. You know, except for the calories.

Also, stumbled upon this page on tumblr, some pretty cool electronic music.

http://dinoquest.tumblr.com/

February Challenge update and alcoholism

So far so good on avoiding not-homecooked food. I made some great, low-fat chili for the Superbowl and served it on top of some double-fried french fries that I made. Been trying to find new and exciting ways to have left over chili since then... had a chili burrito today and I think that I had heartburn for the first ever time in my life. It wasn't very comfortable.

Also, I think that I drink too much. I've been having something like 2-3 drinks a day for the past 10 days. And I don't mean '2-3 beers' a day. I mean, I'm drinking near a whole bottle of wine or I'm downing 2-3 cocktails a night. It has started to have some negative side effects, not the least of which is me apparently making a total ass of myself via social media. So... I think I'm going to quit drinking for a while. At least for the rest of the month.

February Challenge (to myself)

I spent far, far too much money on eating out/ordering in in December and January. So, I have decided to go all of February without dining out or succumbing to the siren call of Grub Hub. I am also not going to be buying any pre-made foods (so, no wraps/salads from Trader Joe's or the like). Thinking of allowing fries at the bar or the occasional bagel with cream cheese as an exception.

So far, so good.

Here's what I made tonight:

Homemade Chicago-style pizza. Turned out pretty well and, with the help of two spatulas, managed to extract it from the pan perfectly. I am thinking I will do a pizza every Friday or Saturday,  they are quick, easy, and tasty. Tonight was vodka sauce, onions, garlic, andouille sausage, and green pepper. Not sure what I will do next week.

For the game tomorrow I will have the left overs of that pizza and I will also be making some venison chili.

On some of the arguments against gay marriage...

I was talking politics with someone (I feel that I should point out, a generally well-reasoned and educated someone whose views I do not often disagree with) and they brought up some ridiculous, trite, and overused arguments against gay marriage.

Here are the basics:
1. Gay marriage is a slippery slope, if we allow it, whose to say we won't have pedophiles wanting to marry kids of people wanting to marry animals (a sheep specifically, why is it always sheep?)
2. What they do is immoral, they shouldn't get married.

I did say ridiculous, trite, and overused right?

Now, there's a clear difference between decisions made by two consenting, legal adults and those made between an adult and a minor, incapable of legally giving consent, and a sheep, not being sapient and unable to give consent. 

If my roommate and his boyfriend want to enter into some sort of legal union, I don't really care. They both vote, pay their taxes, and I'm fairly certain they filled out their selective service cards, though that hasn't exactly come up in conversation. 

If we want to talk about immorality, then should we also bar felons or other criminals from marriage? I mean, they are demonstrably immoral people. We don't let felons vote and without a waiver we don't let them serve in the military, but we let them get married, its ridiculous.

Frankly, that the whole thing is a politically relevant topic of discussion at all is insane.

Wings in NYC (Cont.)

Checked out Bonnie's Grill in Park Slope the other day for some hot wings and, so far, they were the best I've had in NY. I had their 'hot' and, maybe I have an unreasonable expectation of 'hot', having gone so far as to meet a guy on a street corner to purchase a box of Ghost Chilis, but these were a medium hot at best. Just the slightest of burn on my lips, certainly nothing that was going to slow me down. Their fries though? Those were aces.

But, the quest for the best wings in NY continues. Is it really so hard to make a great wing with a great sauce? Am I going to be reduced to performing my own culinary experiments in my small apartment kitchen? Possibly. I've got a bit more free weekend time now that the relationship has dissolved, making hot wings seems like a pretty productive thing to do.

I've also been looking for good burgers and these are much easier to come by. My current favorite source of ground bovine sandwiches is Moo Burger on Court Street in Brooklyn. They run about ~10 dollars a burger, but man... they are some damn good burgers. I've only grabbed food to go there, but it doesn't look like a bad place to sit and enjoy a meal, might have to recruit someone into going with me.

Getting Wings in NYC

Is fucking hard. Well, getting good wings anyway. Maybe I got spoiled when I was in Buffalo, but this is ridiculous. Finally found some decent wings from Wing Bar on Smith St in Brooklyn, though at this point I'm not 100% sure if they're actually good or if the atrocious wings I've found myself dealing with in NYC make them seem good by comparison. Even so, I can confidently say they are the best wings I've had in the two years that I've been in this city. Their 'hot' could stand to be a bit hotter though, its medium at best.

Back, Halloween thoughts.

I think I over think this stuff, which is why I haven't written anything in nearly a year. Every time I log in to add a post I hem and haw for about 15 minutes and then just give up. Trying out more of a free flow process now.

What's going on?
Nothing good, doing the daily struggle and drowning in it. Have some ideas for Halloween though, thinking of making a Bioshock inspired mask. Yeah, not at all late to the party on that one... Depressingly, I have no idea where I would go for Halloween if I did dress up as no one I particularly want to party with is around. Ugh, whatever. Making a mask should be a nice distraction at least, something different to do. If I don't use it there's always Etsy or E-bay.

When is 'too old' for enjoying Halloween and treating it like an excuse to have a Masquerade? I'm 27 now, but I feel that I'm approaching 'creepy'. I guess at some point you're supposed to get married and have kids, which in turn prevent you from having time for such decadent things.