Guitar Practice Log: Day 5

A to E: 40, 36
E to D: 35, 41
A to D: 47, 63

Guitar Practice Log: Day 4

A to D: 50
A to E: 33
E to D: 38

Guitar Practice Log: Day 3

Woke up this morning, grabbed the guitar, and played the first three chords of Three Little Birds amazingly. Yes. YES. It feels so good to actually play a song, even if the song only has 3 chords and has a simple down stroke 4/4 pattern. I don't give a shit. I'm making muuuuusic. Unfortunately, it all went downhill after that. I swear, my fingers become more retarded the more I play with them. Maybe they get sweaty or something.

1 Minute Changes:
A to D: 35, 56!!!!
D to E: 24, 32
A to E: 30, 35

Fun to Imagine

I could watch this man talk all day.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmzHQljJ4bc&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6OrsaL97Epg&feature=related

Guitar Practice Log: Days 1 & 2

Day 1: 7/16/2010
Started going through lesson 1 on the beginner's course at www.justinguitar.com.  It's an awesome site that shows neat ways to practice, and fun songs for beginners to play... well, once we get good enough to play them. What I'm working on lately is an exercise called "one minute changes" in which I switch back and forth between two chords for one minute and count how many times I can switch. The three chords I'm currently practicing are the D chord, the E chord, and the A chord.

One minute switches
A to D: 29, 30, 33
A to E: 27, 33, 28
D to E: 28, 31, 40

Started trying to play Three Little Birds by Bob Marley. It's not going so well. Whenever I switch chords, they end up sounding hideous. Should probably practice more one minute changes tomorrow.

Day 2: 7/17/2010
More one minute changes. More Three Little Birds. More finger pains. More awful chords. You'll probably notice my number of switches actually going down. That's because I sort of changed up the criteria of what was acceptable as a switch.  No longer did I count chords that sounded muted or all around shitty. It kind of sucks to see that speed go down, but no point in playing the chord fast if you can't play it correctly.

One minute switches
A to D: 36, 22, 40
A to E: 32, 26, 24
D to E: 46, 28, 25

Fuck. This sucks. Why can't I be good at guitar instantly?

Iverson Park

Ellie came to visit me a few days ago, and she spent nearly a week with me. Now that she's gone, I'm going to post some of the pictures that she snagged while we were on a little day-date to Iverson. It's a shame we didn't take more. Oh well.


















Here's one of Ellie and her cat. Unrelated, but what the fuck ever.

About as artsy-fartsy as you can get with a snapshot camera.

Hottest couple on the planet

Strangely enough, the parking lot was empty. Guess there weren't a lot of Christian scientists in town that day.

There's that smile everyone knows and loves.

Abby's Bagel Sandwich

Being a college student, roommates come and go. This constant out an influx of new people is practically a hot bed for encountering new things. Now, vegetarianism is not a life style choice that I've ever practiced, but a particular roommate of mine currently (whom this sandwich is dedicated to) is currently on a meat-less diet. To live a life without hamburger seems to me to be a fruitless (lol) one, but I suppose I shouldn't be one to judge. In any case, I created this breakfast sandwich with Abby in mind. Hopefully you'll enjoy it too.

Ingredients:
1 Yellow/Orange Bell Pepper
8 eggs (two for each sandwich)
4 plain bagels
4 slices cheddar (most block cheeses will work here)
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp vegetable oil
Salt
Peppa

Prep:
- Toast the bagels. Yum yum. You want them to be brown, but not charred.
- Cut out the center of the bell pepper and wash out seeds.
- Cut bell pepper width wise to make roughly half inch thick "rings".

Directions:
Place two medium sized pans over medium heat. Melt butter in one pan, and heat up oil in another. Crack eggs into a bowl and mix thoroughly until yolk is blended. Pour half of the eggs into the pan with the butter and let them sit. Top with salt and pepper to taste. We don't want to scramble our eggs. Place 4 of the bell pepper rings into the pan with the oil. After letting the eggs cook untouched for about 3-4 minutes on one side, flip it over to the other and let it cook again, keeping an eye on our bell peppers. The peppers should have a nice golden color to them before you flip, though keep in mind they take some time longer to cook than the eggs.

Remove the eggs when cooked through, and they should come out to be a near perfect circle if you didn't disturb them too early when flipping the first time. If you did, pretend like you meant to do it. Divide the eggs up into fourths, layering them with the slice of cheese in between. The still hot egg will melt the cheese. (Do the same thing that you did with the first half of eggs to the second)

When the peppers are finished, remove them from heat and place on top of the egg. From top to bottom, the sandwich should look like this: bagel top, bell pepper, egg, cheese, egg, bagel bottom.

Serve with a tall glass of orange juice. (Abby's favorite)

Oven-Baked Corn on the Cob with Lime/Chili Butter

Ingredients:
6 corn on the cob, unhusked
1 stick butter (room temp)
Chili Powder (2 tsp or more to taste)
1 Lime

Directions:
Lay unhusked corn on a baking and bake at 350 degrees F for 30-40 minutes.

While the corn is in the oven, combine the butter and chili powder in a small bowl and mix thoroughly until incorporated. Zest the lime over the bowl and mix again.

When removing the corn from the oven, be wary because the corn will be hot! You should see plenty of steam when peeling down the husk, and the kernels will look plump and juicy.

Delicious.

Andouille Spaghetti

It's fun to say. Turns out, it's pretty tasty too. I'm visiting my mom and dad for spring break, but most of my friends back home don't have their break a couple of weeks from now. Naturally, this makes me bored. Very, very bored. When I'm bored, I cook. This recipe is sort of the bastard son of a Bolognese sauce with some spaghetti noodles in it. Don't know what bolognese is? Then that means you're probably not too much of a snob to enjoy this dish! A'ight son!

Andouille Spaghetti, bitch!

Ingredients:

1/2 andouille sausage, cut into thin disks

1 lb italian sausage (can use ground beef/pork)

1/2 onion, chopped

2 large carrots, chopped

2 celery stalks, chopped

1 28oz can of whole peeled tomatoes

1/4 cup half and half

Spaghetti noodles!

Salt/pepper to taste

Optional Ingredients:

1/2 tbsp olive oil

1/2 tbsp Ground clove

1 tbsp Ground cinnamon

1tbsp butter

1/2 cup red wine (optional)

Parmesan cheese

Procedurrrr:

1. In a large pot, toss in the andouille sausage and let them sizzle over medium heat until brown. While sausage is browning, mix together celery, carrots, and onion in a separate bowl. Season them with salt and pepper. (Also coat with the olive oil if you are choosing to use it)

2. When the sausage is cooked through, remove the sausages from the pot, but do your best to leave all that grease behind. We're going to soak the veggies in it.

3. Pour the carrot/celery/onion mixture into the pot and cook until the onions begin to turn translucent and change color. Congratulations, people. You've made sofritto.

4. Add the Andouille and Italian sausages back into the sofritto and increase heat to medium high. At this point, add the cloves and cinnamon to the meat. Continue stirring until sausage has browned and cooked through. This will be another five minutes.

5. Pour the 28oz can of tomatoes and all of the juice that the tomatoes are sitting in into the pot, mashing the tomatoes with whatever you're using to stir. Also, add the red wine if you're choosing to use it. Bring to a boil, and then reduce to low heat and let it simmer uncovered.

6. After about 15 minutes, add the cream and continue to simmer for no less than two hours, stirring no less than once every twenty minutes (more is fine, if you're bored) I know it's a long time, but trust me... it's worth it.

7. About 40 minutes before serving, heat up another pot full of water until it's boiling. When boiling, add some more salt, stir, and then bring to a boil once again.

8. Break your spaghetti in half and add to boiling water. Cook pasta until al dente (not too soft, not too hard)

9. When pasta is cooked, strain and then add to the sauce, mixing until the pasta is thoroughly coated.

10. Serve on a plate with some freshly-grated Parmesan cheese on top if you're feeling fancy.

Some Banana Bread Action

I get bored a lot in my dorm room (no shit), but instead of finding interesting places to take a dump, I browse www.simplyrecipes.com. It's run by a woman named Elise something or other and it really has a lot of awesome recipes. Subsequently, it's where I found this easy recipe for banana bread that is easy as hell to make. Let's get right into it here.

Banana Bread!

Ingredients:

4 big ol' bananas

1 egg

1 tbsp Vanilla

1.5 cups flour (all purpose)

1 cup sugar

1 tbsp baking soda

1/3 cup melted butter

Some salt

Process:

1. Preheat your oven to 350f and proceed to mash the bananas in any way you see fit. Hands, mixer, bricks and textbooks will all do the trick. To the mashed bananas add your melted butter. Stir until incorporated.

2. Add your egg, sugar, and vanilla to the buttery banana batter. Oh hey, mix this until it's incorporated as well.

3. Add a pinch of salt and the baking soda and, while stirring, pour the flower in by thirds (1/2 cup at a time) until it is completely mixed in.

4. Pour the batter into a well-buttered 9" by 4" pan and pop it in the oven for about an hour. The second you smell this stuff, you (and the rest of your dorm, if you live in one) are going to know how delicious it will turn out. Let it cool on the rack for a half hour or so before serving.

Note: Awesome with maple butter!

Link: http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/banana_bread/