tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17529290419068709892024-10-05T00:07:09.996-04:00Bichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01743523859374906948noreply@blogger.comBlogger32125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1752929041906870989.post-26773762573125819952011-03-08T09:33:00.000-05:002011-03-08T09:33:33.080-05:00

WTF?? The Daily Show - Intro - Pantry of Shame Tags: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

Bichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01743523859374906948noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1752929041906870989.post-89351748724522709262011-03-01T10:13:00.001-05:002011-03-01T10:15:43.109-05:00

This is an update of a little item I posted last Friday. Here's an excerpt from a piece in today's London Evening Standard: Brian Connell, Westminster's cabinet member for business, said: "Following two complaints from members of the public and concerns from the Health Protection Agency and Food Standards Agency, our officers visited the premises and removed all ice cream being

Bichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01743523859374906948noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1752929041906870989.post-83602754384636355142011-02-25T14:56:00.003-05:002011-02-25T16:49:47.802-05:00

Crazy fucking shit, if you ask me. Here's an excerpt from The NYT: The Icecreamists, a trendy ice cream parlor, says its "Baby Gaga" ice cream sold out as soon as it launched Friday.The company paid women who donated their breast milk after health screening. The milk is then pasteurized and churned together with vanilla pods and lemon zest. The dish comes in a martini glass and sells for 14

Bichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01743523859374906948noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1752929041906870989.post-80489300366441803292011-02-09T15:38:00.004-05:002011-02-22T15:37:44.437-05:00

James Randi: "Customers are paying real money for fake medicine that leaves innocent people sick and suffering. This has to stop."   More at Randi's website.

Bichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01743523859374906948noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1752929041906870989.post-26973465214302276002010-07-17T11:40:00.026-04:002010-07-17T11:50:19.860-04:00

I, for one, couldn't be more skeptical of his claim. But, for what it's worth, it should be noted that Prahlad Jani, 82, who claims to live without the urge to eat or drink water — and without the need to pass urine or stool — has had his claims endorsed by India's Defence Institute of Physiology and Allied Science. Here's an excerpt from a piece in The Times of India: Mataji was the

Bichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01743523859374906948noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1752929041906870989.post-38282309671035404462010-05-06T21:49:00.011-04:002010-05-10T17:37:17.711-04:00

Here's an update on my post from last Friday about the Indian "holy man", Prahlad Jani, who claims to have neither eaten nor drank anything whatsoever for over 70 years and was under strict observation for the last 15 days in an Indian hospital to study his claim. If this turns out to be true, it's truly amazing. As for my take on this whole thing, "skeptical" is an understatement--to say the

Bichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01743523859374906948noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1752929041906870989.post-33776638475525223872010-04-30T13:17:00.005-04:002010-04-30T20:38:47.303-04:00

Video credit: AlJazeeraEnglish. According to The Telegraph, Indian military scientists are closely observing the man to see if his claim is true. If so, they hope to gain life-saving knowledge from his ability to survive without food or water. As of two days ago the man had survived six days without any food or water--and had suffered no ill effects. An excerpt from the piece in The

Bichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01743523859374906948noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1752929041906870989.post-78746322128233330132010-02-09T14:54:00.026-05:002010-03-14T16:52:50.068-04:00

I had to drop some paperwork off at the paying job this morning. It was still quite early, but a few of our local homeless guys were already sitting in the weak Maine winter sun, on a porch a few doors down from the shelter where I work, drinking beer from tallboys--sort of concealed in paper bags. Now, it turns out, those guys must be making themselves some really strong bones. Read on

Bichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01743523859374906948noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1752929041906870989.post-13431671228518946142010-01-26T09:30:00.000-05:002010-01-26T09:30:27.996-05:00

Yesterday was cold and very rainy here in Maine. I had the day off from my regular job and was in the mood for a good, warm lunch. I remembered we had some leftover crab stew in the freezer. I slowly warmed it up in the microwave and with a semolina roll from Portland's wonderful Rosemont Bakery, which is just down the street from where I live, I enjoyed a really great lunch.  

Bichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01743523859374906948noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1752929041906870989.post-55748045207017793552010-01-08T10:22:00.025-05:002011-02-20T16:26:42.224-05:00

The Telegraph has a fawning piece about some British scientists working on an alcohol "substitute" derived from benzodiazepines--the class of sedative drugs including the tranquilizers Ativan, Valium, and Xanax, and sleeping pills such as Ambien. I had a lot of experience with benzos back in 2001-2002 when I was in the hospital busy dying of cancer. I can tell you that they are NO

Bichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01743523859374906948noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1752929041906870989.post-25425440608230102482009-12-24T13:39:00.002-05:002009-12-24T13:41:03.370-05:00

Maybe it's an escape from the cold weather here in Maine, but for some reason we seem to be on a bit of a spicy Cajun kick at the Bic household these days. Last Friday night I made pan-blackened haddock along with some red beans and rice. And just this Tuesday night I made our favorite spicy Cajun crab cakes. With crab cakes and me, it was love at first bite. I've tried about a dozen

Bichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01743523859374906948noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1752929041906870989.post-27701983811960003822009-12-20T18:33:00.017-05:002010-03-14T16:54:56.777-04:00

Friday was another cold day in a long stretch of cold and blustery weather here in Portland. Ms. Bic and I decided some spicy Louisiana fare would be just the ticket to warm us up--body and soul. Neither one of us felt like spending a lot of time cooking though. It turned out we had some Cajun red beans in the freezer. They do take a while to make, so whenever I make them, I make an extra big

Bichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01743523859374906948noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1752929041906870989.post-75256822518417800652009-12-09T14:41:00.001-05:002009-12-09T17:26:16.059-05:00

Ever since I've been a teenager, I've loved just about anything grilled with a teriyaki sauce. This pork chop recipe is one of my very favorites.  It has evolved from a recipe appearing in (sadly now defunct) Gourmet magazine back in 1993. They used apple cider vinegar in their version. I think substituting unseasoned rice vinegar gives the pork a cleaner, brighter flavor. Also, I now rely

Bichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01743523859374906948noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1752929041906870989.post-68656619304752280302009-12-01T10:22:00.007-05:002010-03-14T16:57:59.405-04:00

Busy days around here lately. I was working at the paying job all day yesterday--hence, no blogging. Similar deal today. I'm headed out to do the food shopping for tonight's dinner very soon--then, it's off to the homeless shelter to work until six. Home a little later in time for a cocktail and (fettuccine and kale?) dinner. It's destined to be another weak blogging day, I'm afraid. Before I

Bichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01743523859374906948noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1752929041906870989.post-5410616681929107172009-11-29T13:58:00.066-05:002013-08-29T17:08:43.167-04:00

Did I mention I was feeling better last night? Ms. Bic was too. Not just better from the flu, but also fully-recovered from a bland, boring, and heavy Thanksgiving dinner. We were both in the mood for something tasty, fun, and light. We started off with martinis and shrimp cocktail and finished up with a salad of mixed baby greens accompanied with baked herbed goat cheese rounds and a bottle

Bichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01743523859374906948noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1752929041906870989.post-41014048991515246002009-11-21T18:18:00.000-05:002009-11-30T08:39:25.314-05:00

It was cold, windy, and raining cats and dogs in Portland yesterday. A day literally calling out for some good, hot comfort food. But not super-heavy, fat-laden comfort food. Something lighter but yet soul-satisfying. Pasta spirals with little shrimp in a light tomato sauce accented with feta cheese filled the billet perfectly. This recipe is a cold weather favorite at our house. If you're only

Bichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01743523859374906948noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1752929041906870989.post-74932665493734473372009-11-08T17:02:00.009-05:002010-03-14T16:54:56.783-04:00

Although we call them "Spanish Mussels" at our house. Whatever you call them, they are one of the very best mussel dishes in the world. People who think they don't like mussels often love these. Last night we had some good friends join us for dinner. The main course featured "Leaping Frog Chicken." It's a great grilled chicken dish with Latin American roots. I did a post on it a few months ago.

Bichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01743523859374906948noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1752929041906870989.post-90273376879328381632009-11-07T12:12:00.007-05:002009-11-07T15:38:17.852-05:00

We're well into fall here in Maine. The certainty of winter approaching is a tangible presence in the air. The homeless people I work with at my paying job are increasingly dependent upon the warmth and food that the shelters and soup kitchens offer. This is the beginning of the busy season for those of us who staff those facilities. Hence, I've had less time to blog and cook than I've grown

Bichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01743523859374906948noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1752929041906870989.post-58698554665016426212009-11-02T14:28:00.014-05:002009-11-07T13:16:01.099-05:00

For Maine, for this time of year, yesterday was a relatively warm (61 F/16 C) day and sunny, with light winds. In its own Northern way, very lovely.Ms. Bic and I were both off from work and didn't have anything planned. We decided to drive down the coast to Ogunquit and go for a walk on the town's world famous beach--mostly deserted after the summer's influx of tourists were gone. After a long

Bichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01743523859374906948noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1752929041906870989.post-65167373620389619672009-10-17T18:02:00.009-04:002010-03-19T16:08:44.715-04:00

It's getting gotten cold here in Maine. Time for some comfort food. Real, homemade, good comfort food--like chicken pot pie. Tuesday, I had the whole day off while Ms. Bic was at her very stressful job struggling to make headway on a complicated financial forecast that needed to be completed in a ridiculously short period of time. I wanted to have a good dinner ready for her when she limped

Bichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01743523859374906948noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1752929041906870989.post-28983656795114260462009-10-15T10:34:00.003-04:002009-10-15T10:40:21.435-04:00

I cant' wait to make this. From The Atlantic:Migas are perhaps the apotheosis of old bread. The name literally means "crumbs," and that's pretty much what it is. This is humble food, food of poor shepherds in the dry hills of Extremadura, food which in Madrid is remembered with a mixture of rue and nostalgia as the hardscrabble fare of the hungry years after the Civil War. In those years it gave

Bichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01743523859374906948noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1752929041906870989.post-36484664846541169492009-08-24T17:05:00.014-04:002009-11-08T17:29:22.275-05:00

So let's talk food. Specifically, grilled chicken sort of food. More specifically, "Leaping Frog Chicken" from the June 2009 issue of Gourmet magazine.When I first skimmed that issue of the magazine back in late May when it arrived in the mail, I was instantly intrigued by the method of preparing the chicken rather than by the specific recipe. The recipe calls for 6

Bichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01743523859374906948noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1752929041906870989.post-57901051334824354842009-07-29T14:50:00.011-04:002009-07-31T14:08:33.500-04:00

From today's WaPo, Ezra Klein on meat and global warming. Two excerpts:The debate over climate change has reached a rarefied level of policy abstraction in recent months. Carbon tax or cap-and-trade? Upstream or downstream? Should we auction permits? Head-scratching is, at this point, permitted. But at base, these policies aim to do a simple thing, in a simple way: persuade us to undertake fewer

Bichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01743523859374906948noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1752929041906870989.post-35591235785498047342009-07-29T09:02:00.008-04:002009-07-29T12:05:45.046-04:00

This comes from a producer of probiotics so its veracity is questionable, but nevertheless--there may be something to this. An excerpt from MedPage Today:When given preventively over the winter months, probiotics reduce fever, cough, and runny noses in children, researchers said.Prophylactic Lactobacillus acidophilus alone or in combination with other microorganisms reduced the incidence and

Bichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01743523859374906948noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1752929041906870989.post-57942207044987221062009-06-30T21:25:00.018-04:002009-06-30T22:33:59.129-04:00

Did you know there is an organization named, "The International Society for Breath Odor Research." Neither did I. Their meetings must be really fun and exciting. Read on.From Live Science:An extract from coffee can inhibit the bacteria that lead to bad breath, scientists have discovered.The extract prevents malodorous bacteria from making their presence felt — or smelt."Everybody thinks that

Bichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01743523859374906948noreply@blogger.com0