r o b o t m i n i o n

We come not to praise Omar, but to hate on HBO On Demand

I was going to post about how much I hate HBO On Demand and how I think it's ruining America. Sunday night, my favorite show killed off everyone's favorite character. Omar, who has wondered around Baltimore dodging death for five seasons now finally got one to the head after ignoring the presence of an 11 year old hopper in a West Baltimore convenience store. He always did have a weak spot for kids. The first time we see him in season 5, he's handing out candy to the youngins on some Caribbean island (PR?) far removed from the game. But not far enough.

Earlier this season, before I realized what was going on with HBO On Demand, I wondered over to my favorite Wire blog. I sort of scanned the page to make sure there were no spoilers, but because I hadn't paid close attention to the episode numbering before I realized they were talking about an episode I hadn't seen, I saw one word. Butchie. And I knew. I knew something was going to happen to Butchie and I had to keep this terrible secret to myself until Sunday night. Instead of looking forward to watching the show that week, I just dreaded it.

Similarly this week, coworkers started buzzing about what a BIG episode this was and how mad they were. Well, since the last time we saw Omar he spontaneously and sloppily decided to end Savino's run as  Baltimore drug muscle and since that decision seemed the sloppiest thing we've ever seen Omar do, I think I knew this week would be the end of him. When Terry Gross interviewed Michael K. Williams on Fresh Air, in response to Omar's future, he replied "It's Baltimore baby!"

I think Omar was everyone's favorite character because he was the least believable and that is precisely why he had to die. The streets are no place for a romantic.  Omar shouts that "Marlo Stansfield is not a man for this town!" but I would argue that he is a man for this time.  And if there is one thing I've learned about Baltimore in the year we've been here, this place is teeming with Kenards. I also liked the banality of Omar's death. I think the hoppers raiding his pockets, his failing to make the paper, and the almost mix-up at the coroners office all served to underscore Beadie's speach to McNulty about what the lucky people get when they die. Some people have argued that the coroner at least knew who Omar was and corrected the tags because of that. I think that the coroner recognized that the other white dude wasn't the victim of a gunshot to the head and reversed that tags and smiled a little because of the obvious error.

On a slightly brighter note, HBO has announced that the last (the last!) episode of The Wire will not air ON Demand until after the regular broadcast.  And also for the record, while I enjoyed Omar immensely, my favorite character is the Bunk. 

Don't call me Dude

I go on my neighborhood "COP Walks" and generally love The Wire. That being said, this cop seems a little aggro. Kind of like the Baltimore Police Officer who yelled at my husband and I after our car was run into while parked outside of Trinacria's.

A driver went into a diabetic shock on Mulberry St. and used our car to stop against. When we came out with bags of groceries in our hands to see police and tow trucks surrounding our legally parked car, we were a little confused and weren't expecting to get yelled at for looking for the wheel cover. The officer got in my husband's face and yelled that we didn't have a wheel cover in the first place and "he sat there and watched the whole thing happen." (We did have a wheel cover!) It was a very "Welcome to Bawlmer" experience.

We had just watched the first three seasons of The Wire and were pretty emotionally invested in the Baltimore PD at the time. It kind of broke our hearts a little.

Anthony Bourdain's Mushroom Soup

Last night I made mushroom soup for dinner using Anthony Bourdain's Les Halles recipe. I made a swiss/gouda/provolone grilled cheese to go along with it and it was the perfect meal for an ungodly cold day. Getting to use my new immersion blender was an added bonus. I love, love love that thing and I'm just looking for excuses to use it.

Here are a few slight changes I made.
The recipe calls for 12 oz. button mushrooms, and I used 8 oz. of sliced button mushrooms and 8 oz. of sliced baby bella mushrooms. Who can really have too many mushrooms? I spiced the 'shrooms with ground coriander while I was sauteing them.

I also used a bit less butter — substituting a little olive oil.

Also I threw in some minced garlic with the large vidalia onion I chopped up because I don't think I am capable of sauteing and onion without garlic.

The recipe made about 4-5 servings so we have leftovers — just enough to grab a small bowl before I run off to class tonight.

My Favorite Vegetable: Brussel Spouts

I had to write up a recipe today to send to an aunt and I thought I might as well post it here, since I had to make my brain actually think about what my hands do when I cook. This recipe was mostly created by my husband, who has facilitated enabled my love affair with brussel sprouts and now must eat them at least once a week. I will take the credit for adding the orzo.

I make no apologies for health of said recipe, I just know it's delicious.
Here it is, as it was written for the email.

Brussel Sprouts with Orzo

Start with about 15-20 brussel sprouts. I have occasionally used more, but they may not brown as well. They can be any size, as long as they fit into a large pan.  Clean them but rinsing them, cutting off the hard bottom part, peel away the top layer (or two layers if you need to) and cut them in half, lengthwise.

Steam the brussel sprouts in a steamer basket for about 10 minutes.

I typically start a pot of water boiling for the orzo while the sprouts are steaming, and put the orzo on right before I plop the brussel sprouts in the hot pan — I think the orzo typically should cook for about 7-8 minutes, so the timing usually works out. There's no rule for how much orzo to make... I'd say probably at least a half cup, maybe a little more.

Fry a piece or two of bacon cut in pieces (like you would for salad) in some olive oil in a large pan (we use aluminum or enamel steel). When the bacon is done or close to done and the heat on the pan is fairly (medium?) high, drop the brussel sprouts into the hot olive oil cut-side down. You might need tongs for that... we've burnt ourselves cooking brussel sprouts. You want to brown the brussel sprouts so they get nice and carmel colored. If you think they're starting to stick, you can add more olive oil. At this stage, we might add a little spice to the dish — usually some red pepper flakes, coriander and ground black pepper.

After they get nice and brown, you can toss them a bit to accommodate those sprouts that may not have gotten their fair share of browning and make sure nothing it sticking too much to the pan. We use a wooden spoon when we make this. You can add olive oil if you need too.

One the sprouts are brown enough (with the heat still medium high) add about ~3 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar. This measurement is a guess — we kind of do it by feel and the amount of sprouts we're cooking. When you add the vinegar, it will smoke up. Make sure you toss the sprouts well and kind of scrape the pan for all of the sprouty goodness.

When the sprouts calm down and the vinegar is reduced, you can lower the heat on the pan and add a pat of butter, because who doesn't like butter? At this point, the sprouts can kind of rest if you need them to on very low heat, stirring occasionally or you can go ahead and drain and mix in the orzo.

This is a pretty forgiving dish. If we want to eat it as a meal, we might replace the bacon with Italian sausage and remove the sausage (once it's browned nicely) just before we plop the sprouts in and then put the sausage back in the pan when we mix in the orzo.

This is one of those dishes that you could do hundreds of ways and still be happy with it. It makes a nice side dish or can be the main attraction.

Update:

My husband says that the brussel spout recipe is based on this recipe from Restaurant Widow (an excellent Columbus food blog. I don't read it that much anymore because I miss the North Market too much to hear about it very often.)

Two Things Today

Thing the First: I went skiing today for the first time. Somehow I managed not to ever do this when growing up and aided and abetted by my husband, have decided that now that I'm close to 30, it would be a good time to start hurling myself down mountains.
Roxy snowboarding pants = awesome, Roxy snowboarding pants with butt and knee padding = even more awesomeness.

Thing the Second: Today is apparently the 10th anniversary of In the Aeroplane Over the Sea coming out. Wow. Feeling very old now. Ancient. Can hear my bones creaking as I plunge down the hill...