Some pics from the latest travel excursion... twas so nice!

slideshow

Found this via Julie,. Those I've eaten are in bold. I've eaten most of these, and frankly there was nothing I wouldn't try. My motto has always been I'll try anything twice (the first time could be a fluke).

My selections from the Omnivore's 100
1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. Peanut butter and jelly sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects
43. Phaal
44. Goat�s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth �60/$120 or more
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald�s Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S�mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs� legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake

Well, there will be more posts to come soon about the bar exam, my delicious caribbean cruise, and much more. But for now, it just feels good to have a bit of normalcy once again. Just the normal workday, no classes, no exams, etc.

Here's to the "normal" life!

OK, so again, I have to replace my blackberry 8830. This is the second time I have to go back to Verizon to get a replacement Blackberry (hopefully they have no problems replacing a clearly defective device again). Pretty peeved that such an expensive device has had so many failures in such a short period of time (I bought my first 8830 in October of 2007, and I had to replace it not so long ago because of a similar failure - center scroll wheel down stopped working (along with the power off button, and other buttons not working)) *sigh*, already too many nested parens, coding on the mind.

The whole replacement process is pretty annoying because I have to go and replace not only my lovely free software (opera mini, and google apps) but I also have to replace my proprietary skin (an iphone "like" skin - too many trademark and copyright issues to discuss there, for this post...), but needless to say "it costs money."

But NONE of that, and all the legal issues in the above, was why I wrote this particular post. When I was searching online for the nearest Verizon store, on Verizon's website, I found the store where I last got this phone replaced. And in the listing for the store address, was a reference to a nearby business (a Cincinnati favorite, although, not mine), Gold Star chili. The address was listed as:
6175 Glenway Ave
next to Gold Star Chilli
Cincinnati, OH. 45211
(513) 921-5300

Which got me to thinking about the free "good will" associated with such a listing that accrues to the trademark holder in the mark "Gold Star." Anyhow, just random thoughts as bar exam insanity sets in. Is it bad if you dream about studying for the bar exam? I have dreamed from time to time about writing software, and in the end, that has usually proved productive, so here's hoping dreaming about studying for the bar exam works out the same way.

Is now my new favorite airport. Free wireless, not crowded, fast security, cheap parking... This is how it should be!

I still don't understand how I got a $200 cheaper ticket (than flying out of Cincinnati) by driving from Cincinnati, down to Lexington, and then connecting back through Cincinnati, but hey, who am I to say whats smart business

Well, I've kept up this tradition all through law school, and my attempts to figure out what it was "all about"

Here's my grades for my last semester:

Intellectual Property Licensing (3 credits) - A+
Patent Practice and Procedure (3 credits) - A-
Intellectual Property Litigation (3 credits) - A
Payment Systems (3 credits) - (Audit)


That gives me a 4.0 for the semester (you really can't complain about that) and a final average for the entire degree of a 3.535. And this means... that I hit my goal of a 3.5 at graduation (after my disconcerting first year). I don't know if I will get credited with a concentration, they were instituted after my first year, but if I do, I have an average of 4.066 in my IP concentration courses. Who knows what this will do for overall class rank, but hopefully I will at least be in the top 25%.

I am finally done with law school. Certainly a bit weird. Is it strange that I am already starting to think long term about phd programs? (I really like one in particular - law and economics program in Munich, but.... dreams, dreams).

Anyhow, the bar review course has begun, and so far, its not too bad. I remember alot of this stuff, and its a good refresher. I am beginning to organize and try to synthesize some of my knowledge. Its bearing down on me, but I "think" I can do this. At least thats my state of mind right now.

Still waiting on one grade to come in, but my last semester has been good to me so far. I tried not to fall into the 3L/2d semester slacker syndrome as much as I could. Fingers crossed for my last grade!

For longtime readers of this blog, you know that I wrote quite a lot about MA court decision to allow gay marriage... And now, CA follows. This is great news!

About what direction a city should take in order to be the best it can be (hint - be yourself). Go and check it out here!

Note - visualingual now added to the blogroll!

I am getting really sick of my cell phone dieing every 6 months... And to top it all off, its a DAMN expensive phone. Jeebus.

So, if you are trying to call me, I can see the call coming in, but I can't answer the call (because the buttons stopped working)

Well law school is all done, and it hasn't really hit me yet... Last final exam, DONE!

Anyhow, on a different note, here's a pic of my new niece!

At about 11 PM on May 7th, my Niece Mia Francis was born! Yay!!! Now its off to my last final exam.

Well, I just got the call that my little sister is headed to the hospital to deliver her baby. I am waiting eagerly by the phone for the good word. Law school is wrapping up, my last final is tomorrow. The world is spinning!

Its because I am deep in the heart of studying for my last exam in law school. This Thursday. Here's hoping it goes well

One to go!

A partial shot of my texts from the first doc degree (for perspective, that is most of more than $3500 worth of books... Luckily I've got friends and family to help me out with that little bit of pain )

Well, I got myself a few nice cigars to enjoy



and what better place than here to enjoy them



Well, then again, it was pretty nice to chill and enjoy the remainder here while catching up on the game



But after it was done, it was time for a nice beer and a snack and back to the studying grind



MMMM, Cincinnati, goes down smooth... Almost smooth enough to make me forget that I have more studying to do tonight and an exam coming up!

OK, so I designed and had these bumper stickers printed as part of the campaign to spread the word about the currently passed streetcar system in Cincinnati. One of the biggest next steps to make sure this system gets off the ground here is attracting private dollars. While the money game is not quite the same as the politics game, the demonstration of popular support among the types of workers that Cincinnati needs to attract certainly can't hurt. I've tried to distribute these stickers to primarily stores along and near the line in Over-the-Rhine and the Downtown area. Each store has a limited supply of the stickers, and part of the idea is hopefully to get people out to stop in and enjoy the area where the streetcar line will run.

They are available at these fine shops (all of which you can read more about on the pages of Buy Cincy). Hopefully, they will also be in the Gift Shop at Findlay Market starting Saturday as well.

Urban Eden
1313 Main St
Cincinnati, OH 45202
(513) 621-3336

1305 Gallery on Main St.
1305 Main St
Cincinnati, OH 45202

Metronation
1213 Vine St
Cincinnati, OH 45202
(513) 564-0095

Mica 12v
1201 Vine St
Cincinnati, OH 45202
(513) 421-3500

Park + Vine
UPDATE 5/3 - PARK AND VINE IS CURRENTLY SOLD OUT - I will get more there as we get more printed depending on the demand from other stores
1109 Vine St
Cincinnati, OH 45202
(513) 721-7275

Outside
16 E. 12th St
Cincinnati, OH 45202

City Cellars
908 Race St
Cincinnati, OH 45202
(513) 621-9463

A posting over at another local blog got me thinking about what types of governance work best for small cities (as opposed to the famous large city/strong mayoral cities)

Typically, there are a few key forms of city Goverment (here in the States), with some variations. They break down into the two principal categories of Mayor-Council and Mayor-Council-Manager.

In the Mayor-Council variant you can have a Strong Mayor/Weak Council variant where the Mayor has virtually all executive and administrative authority, and Council serves in an advisory role (this is most common in larger cities, NYC being a prime example). There is also the possibility of the reverse situation where you have a Weak Mayor whose role is largely ceremonial, and a Strong Council which fills the executive and adminsitative role. In either of these forms of Mayor-Council city government, the Mayor and the Council members are typically elected distinctly from each other.

In the Mayor-Council-Manager variant, the Mayor is usually appointed by council (sometimes as a result of being the top vote getter for council elections) and the City Manager is hired by Council. In this form of city governance, the Mayor is largely ceremonial, and most of the administrative and executive authority is held by council with some authority delegated to the City Manager. Cincinnati has a strange form of this system where the Mayor is elected independently from council, but council still has most of the administrative and executive authority, and the city manager is a powerful role as well.

Queen City Sruvey suggested it might be useful to compare what Cincinnati does to other similar cities. Thanks to the int4rw3b, this data is quite easy to come by

All numbers US Census estimates for city population for 2004 (as found here)
Cincinnati, OH
Population - 314,154
City Governement Type - Mayor-Council-Manager (variant with elected mayor). Nine member city council (2 year term), elected at large. Mayor chosen in seperate election.

Similar Cities
St. Louis, MO
Population - 343,279
City Governement Type - Mayor-Council. Strong mayor variant (executive). Council consists of 28 Aldermen (legislative), each elected from one ward in the city.

Santa Ana, CA
Population - 342,715
City Governement Type - Mayor-Council. Weak mayor variant (mayor nominated by council members). 7 Member council, each represents their ward in the city. Council serves 4 year term (limited to two terms)

Anaheim, CA
Population - 333,776
City Governement Type - Mayor-Council-Manager. Mayor elected independently, equal authority to council members. Manager runs day to day operations. 5 Council members, elected at large serving 4 year terms. (Anaheim is pretty close to Cincinnati's system, but council seems to be more of a part time job, and the term is 4 years)

Raleigh, NC
Population - 326,653
City Governement Type - Mayor-Council-Manager. Mayor elected independently, serves as equal on council (all terms are 2 years). 5 council members are district representatives, and two members are elected at large.

Pittsburgh, PA
Population - 322,450
City Governement Type - Mayor-Council. Mayor elected independently, seems to be a strong mayor system. Mayor and council all serve 4 year terms. Nine member city council, chosen in plurality elections in each of the 9 districts.

Tampa, FL
Population - 321,772
City Governement Type - Mayor-Council, Strong mayor variant. Council's role is as the legislative body of the city. 7 member city council, 4 are chosen from specific districts, and 3 are elected at large.

Toledo, OH
Population - 304,973
City Governement Type - Mayor-Council, Council has legislative and adminstrative authority. Hard to find info on whether its Strong or weak mayor, but the Mayor is elected independently. Legislative authority in the City is vested in a twelve-member Council. Six members of the Council are elected at-large and six from districts; all for four-year terms.

Aurora, CO
Population - 291,843
City Governement Type - Mayor-Council-Manager. Weak mayor form, the mayor is elected independently. Council is composed of a mayor and 10 council members. Of those 10 members, six are ward council members, representing one of the six wards that section the city. The remaining four council members are elected at large, like the mayor, to represent the entire city


And just for fun, Boston, MA
Population - 569,165
City Governement Type - Mayor-Council. Very strong mayor form (Mayor has extensive executive powers). city council is elected every two years. There are nine district seats, each elected by the residents of that district through plurality voting, and four at-large seats. Each voter casts up to four votes for at-large councilors, with no more than one vote per candidate. The candidates with the four highest vote totals are elected.

Law school classes are actually officially over now, I just have one more final exam to go. I am sure I will have more to say about wrapping up law school and getting ready for the bar exam but for now, its a bit surreal and hasn't really hit me.

Now that I have a brief breather before the studying begins in earnest, I have updated my blogroll. I've seriously slacked on that to the point that I rely on other peoples blogs to get to all the sites I read every day.

New to the blogroll are:
5chw4r7z
ekalb
Building Cincinnati
Queen City Survey
UrbanCincy
The Nati Life
CityKin
Wine Me, Dine Me (in Cincinnati)
Design Cincinnati
Around and About
Buy Cincy
Live Green Cincinnati
Park + Vine
City Cellars

All very much worth checking out (and all local!)

I have little information as of yet (couldn't attend finance meeting), but it appears that the finance committee has passed the Mayor's compromise motion. More details as the day progresses, and after the general council meeting at 2PM today (i'll be posting directly from council chambers for that meeting)!

Updates Below:
1) First word is that the motion passed unanimously. I don't have the text of the motion so I can't yet comment on the specifics of the plan
2) Second word is that it was "kinda" unanimous. Not sure what that means (Isn't that like "kinda pregnant"?)
3) Some more details can be found here on the UrbanCincy blog.
4) Apparently Laketa Cole was absent for the vote, so the final Finance Committee vote was 7-0. (Finance committee has 8 of the 9 members of council on the committee). It would be strange to see votes change between now and the 2PM meeting, but anything can happen in politics.
5) More news - The entire motion was passed unanimously, except that Cranley voted no on the second paragraph about financing
6) It looks like the current motion includes the Uptown connector (not the uptown circulator) as part of the phase 1 build. This adds about 35 million to the initial plan's costs.
7) A copy of the motion submitted to council may be found here.
The motion was broken down paragraph by paragraph for the vote. In finance, it was unanimous (Cole not present) for paragraph 1 and paragraph 3. On paragraph 2, Cranley voted no.
9) At general council meeting, unanimous vote of full council on paragraph 1, and paragraph 3. Cranley and Monzel voted no on paragraph 2, remainder were yes votes (Cole was absent)
10) Motion requires that uptown connector be built as part of first phase, but the city funds as proposed for the initial downtown loop remain constant. This means that the 35 million will need to come from private sources, meaning for the total project more than 60 million will need to come from private sources - this is going to be tough.

Well, circumstances forced my hand, but here is the phase one single speed mountain bike conversion.

Things yet to do - Straight bars, new seat post, new saddle.

Things already done -
No more knobby tires - nice new continental city contact tires
New brake levers - had to be replaced because my old levers were integrated with the twist shifter (I hate twist shifters unless you happen to be lucky enough to have an internal gear hub)
New shimano dual use pedals - can use shoes with cleats and street shoes - pretty slick pedals if you ask me
New cranks - cranks by Bulletproof
New chain ring - BMX 42 tooth chain ring
1/8" chain - we'll see if thats worth it or not
New rear cog - 16 tooth rear cog by Surly
Rear cassette spacers
Surly Singleator - allows you to tension the chain on bikes with vertical or semi vertical dropouts. You can see this little trick component on the bike right where you'd expect the rear derailleur to mount.
Cool stop mountain dual compound pads - all reviews say these are awesome so we shall see how they perform down Ravine street
New bottom bracket - turns out I needed a bit of extra space to mount the chainring and cranks so the chainring didn't touch the frame, and my old bottom bracket was completely toast (after 20K miles, I guess you might expect as much ) So now I have a 115mm sugino bottom bracket, and its as smooth as butter.

Things removed and gone completely
Front and rear derailleurs - YAY YAY, DANCE FOR JOY!
Gear change cables and shifters/brake levers
Old heavy cranks
Triple front chain ring
Old pedals
Cassette gears

It should be a fairly nice ride I think. If anyone needs some tips on how to do the conversion, feel free to email me or comment... It was fun. Big thanks to ebay for cheap second hand parts, and big big thanks to the great folks up at Campus Cyclery. Its so sweet to have such a great shop right at the top of the street, and these guys KNOW singlespeed and carry quite the array of parts. BUY LOCAL

Well, a little bicycle accident caused me to change the bicycle plans... Oh wellz, new parts are on the way. It will be single speed, but "budget" style. Heh.

I'll post pics when the work is done.

OK, well this week was supposed to be my first week of biking to work, but alas, twas not to be. I filled up the tires after a long winter, went for the test ride, and well, it seemed just peachy. But when I pulled it out the next day, pssssst, front tire is totally flat. Well, I guess it was time for new tubes anyhow, and well, since I use the thing for a city commuter, maybe now would be a good time to put some new tires on as well, something not knobby.

So, I found myself a decent set of mountain bike street tires, and this will be "step one" in the mountain to street commuter conversion.

Other things I want to do:
Convert to Singlespeed (not fixed, but single freewheel) - I can't imagine fixed with Cincinnati hills. But, I have a vertical dropout, so this is quite limiting - i.e., requires buying a new eccentric rear hub to really do it right at like $159, a new free wheel gear, and a new chain gear. Ouch, thats bucks. But I am so very sick of derailleurs. Adjustment all the time, and chain slippage, and gear change adjustments... bah I say, BAH!

Improve the brakes. Not sure what I can do here, but I will research.

New Saddle/Seat post - I really need to get rid of the lame, weight adding "shock absorbing" seat post. And a nice saddle to boot would be cool.

Straight bars on the front. I don't really like the "comfy" bars, forces me to ride too upright for the riding I do (jet down to work fast, slog back up the hills to get home)

In time, I will find me some used parts. Here is where being an ebay hawk pans out

So wow, this is my last "spring break" (even though I thought that same thing some 11 years ago too... *sigh*) but I am really ready for the law school classes to be done. The bar is coming and thats more than a little worrisome, and then there's also the patent bar dates creeping up on me. Well, it'll all get done.

I am starting to think that when lawschool is done, this here blog may end. I have plans for a new blog, but the purpose of this little area for commentary (getting in to lawschool, life in lawschool, etc) will soon no longer be "on point" Anyhow, that little idea will work itself through and we will see where it goes.

OK, this is one of the things that really struck me moving here from Boston. Boston can be cold, in both the figurative and the literal sense. And its just so much more likely here that some random person will do something kind, or even just say "Hello, beautiful weather we're having!"

So when I read this little bit by Larry Gross, a local writer, I was a bit, well, skeptical. His counts of "friendly" responses walking down the street did not seem to square with my sense of reality. So, given that it was beautiful weather, I decided to do my own little experiment. I walked out the door, and hoofed it up Straight St. to my local bar where I am friendly enough with the bartenders that they would let borrow their little clicker for counting patrons on busy nights. So with their clicker in hand, I set off on my walk.

I figured I'd begin counting where Vine St meets McMillan and stop counting when I got down to 3rd or 4th Street. The methodology was simple, every person I saw on my side of the street, I would nod my head and say "Hey, hows it goin?" If they acknowledge me with a response, a nod, anything but a cold stare, they went down on the "friendly" side of my counter. If they just walked by or ignored me, I clicked em in on the "unfriendly" side of the counter (having two counters in one hand unit made it fairly easy, and I could keep it in my pocket in my jacket so noone knew what was up.

My counting didn't last as far as I had intended, but by the time I had hit Liberty, I had encountered 126 people, and had 71 positive responses. I had 5 conversations for a few minutes, and shook a few hands as well. This is significantly higher amount of friendly responses than Larry's 17 out of 60. I kept up my experiment from Liberty down to 4th, but I didn't keep track of all the responses (by this time it was 4:45 and there were alot of people on the street) but I don't think my response rate dropped drastically.

One can question whether this is a good proxy for friendliness or not (and I don't really think it is the best measure out there), and there are alot of variables in the equation (time of day, neighborhood, appearance of the "greeter", etc). Still, I think this is a better indicator of my experience in Cincinnati than 17 out of 60.

OK, so I will put up a few recipes as requested Also a few afterthoughts on the food/wine pairings.
1) Mango ginger stilton does not lend itself to wine pairing. Its sweet, and tart, and spicy... It was a really hard match. As I thought, the Auxerrois was quite strange with it. The Lily chard was, well, meh with it. The best matchup was still the dogfish head 60. Far and away the best for that cheese. The rosemary manchego + auxerrois was a PERFECT pairing. I have a hard time with cheese plates mostly because rarely do all the cheeses I select go with one wine.

2) Vietnamese Fresh Rolls + Gruner Veltliner == match made in heaven. You couldn't choose a better wine pairing
3) chorizo skewers + pinot noir - Here something suprised me a bit. If you had the bleu cheese crumbles with the skewers, the pinot was fabulous paired with them. Without the bleu cheese, it was, well good (tis one of my favorite pinot noirs in the "I can afford this" range) but not as stellar as I had hoped. I guess it just needed a little edge to get past the jamminess of that wine.

4) Banyuls + Flourless chocolate cake - this is my new favorite chocolate pairing. Its less sweet than port, and the flavors are way more subtle and layered. By this point my palate was less than "articulate" due to the other foods and wines. I'll have to try this after somewhat less drinking and eating.

Here's the recipes:
Vietnamese Fresh Rolls
Rice Wrappers (8.5 inch diameter or larger)
Rice Vermicelli

Both of the above can be found at asian food stores (sometimes at the big grocery stores). I got mine at the Asian market at Findlay.

Bunch of Fresh Cilantro
Bunch of Fresh Mint
Some Fresh Basil
Nice soft lettuce, preferably colorful

The herb ratio in the wraps (to my palate) should lean most heavily towards mint, secondarily toward cilantro, and playing third fiddle, the basil. If you buy the big leaf basil that is most often available fresh, you only need about half a leaf per roll. The basil should be loosely chopped, I leave the leaves of the mint and cilantro whole.

1 lb of cooked shrimp
I buy bags of tail on frozen shrimp, the 30 - 50/lb size. You don't really want giant shrimp here, it will make the rolls hard to roll.

This recipe, it is really best if you prep everything first, and have it laid out in piles, ready to fill the rolls. It will go much faster. So, the first step is cooking the rice vermicelli. This means taking it and dropping it in boiling water for all of about 3 minutes, and then quickly rinsing it in cold water and draining it well. You want to get as much of the water out as you can. Then, take your kitchen shears and just hack away at the mass of vermicelli until you can reach in with your hand and grab a managable small portion and not pull out the whole pile (just enough to loosely fill the palm of your hand)

To assemble the rolls you'll need a dish of hot water to soak the rice wrappers in, make sure the wrapper can lay flat in the dish. In front of you, you should have a nylon cutting board, all your herbs, your cooked (tails removed) shrimp, and your vermicelli. Soak a wrapper in your dish of hot water until it gets moderately soft. It doesn't have to be floppy all over. This takes maybe 20 - 30 seconds tops. Lay your wrapper on the cutting board, and place 3 - 5 small shrimp in a line along the edge closest to you. On top of those shrimp lay out some mint (5 - 6 leaves), some cilantro (3 - 4 leaves), and some basil (about half a large leaf chopped). Obviously, you don't have to count the leaves, this is just a guideline as to the ratio. Then, take a small palmful of the rice vermicelli and lay it on top. Finally, break a piece of the colorful letunce and place that on top of all the rest. The final step is to roll up the fresh roll just like a burrito (fold sides in, then roll, carefully pulling the roll contents back against your hands as you roll).

As you make the rolls, you'll want to set them out on wax paper, and don't let them touch. Rice wrappers stick to each other like glue. I serve these with two sauces usually. One is just hoisin with chopped peanuts on top, the other is a sweet chili sauce (2 tsp fish sauce, 1 tbsp sugar, 1/4cup water, 1 tbsp garlic chili sauce, 1 squirt of coq sauce, 2 cloves of fresh garlic, a few green onions sprinkled on top).

These can easily refrige overnight, and in fact are kind of better for it.
(with a lb of shrimp, in the 30 - 50 per lb size, you get about 14 large fresh rolls)

Chorizo Fig Skewers
3 spanish corizo sausages (got mine at Kroeger at Findlay)
Fresh or Dried Figs (or Medjul dates) - I had to mix and match, I could only get a small amount of dried figs
Thin cut bacon
GOOD teriyaki sauce

These are real easy, but real tasty. First, cut your sausages into 1 inch thick slices. Next cut up your figs/dates/whatever dried dense fruit you choose (you could do apricots, or perhaps other fruits equally well). Cut the fruit into not too small pieces (for example, the dates, I cut into quarters or halves). Next you are going to make little pac mans out of your sausage peices. Lay the sausage down on the edge already cut, and you are going to cut the sausage in half alont the diameter, but not all the way through (don't worry if the sausage falls apart a bit). Once you have all your little sausage pac mans, assembly is like so. Take a pac man, stuff a few dried fruit peices in there, then wrap that sausage piece with some thin cut bacon. I start with the thin end of the bacon, and you don't want too much bacon overlap in the wrap, so each sausage piece only gets about 2/3 of the bacon (I cut off the ends and will be making some ommelettes this weekend. Then, skewer the whole deal and throw it in a glass baking dish. I put two of these on each skewer. Once you have all your bits skewered, pour a bunch of teriyaki over the top (its crucial that its good teriyaki, by this I mean it should be VERY liquid, not thick and saucy). Let these marinate overnight in the teriyaki.

The next day, you can grill these up on a grill over med/low heat. They will take about 20 minutes at that temp to cook. You want a decent char and you want to rotate a bit because you want some crisp to the bacon. As you cook you can baste with teriyaki.

Finally, when you serve these, put them on an oven safe plate, sprinkle with bleu cheese, and throw under the broiler for just a few seconds to start the bleu melting.

Last but not least, Flourless Chocolate Cake
1 lb dark chocolate (I used an 80% chocolate solids chocolate. I prefer Valhrona Noire, but was unable to find any)
8 eggs
2 sticks of butter
Powdered sugar

This is the stereotypical flourless chocolate cake. Very easy to make and always a hit.

Prep a springform pan - grease bottom, lay down wax paper, put spring form side on. Then grease sides. Prep cooking pan, large roasting pan with roasting rack. Fill bottom portion of the roasting pan with water (not enough to go over the rack, but very close to the bottom of the rack.

Preheat oven to 325.

First, melt your chocolate and butter over a double boiler. ONce that is melting and nearly ready, throw your eggs in the stand mixer set at about 6, for 5 to 6 minutes. (you should use cold eggs for best results). Take the chocolate off the double boiler, and using instant read, wait for it to get down to 130F or less. Then, slowly (VERY VERY SLOWLY) and gently, fold in your whipped egg mixture. Do it in small batches of egg mixture. Pour the mixture into prepped springform pan. Put the springform pan on the rack in the roasting pan, and place the whole shebang in the oven for about 25 minutes. When its done it will have a top kind of like a brownie. Instant read therm inserted halfway should read 140F.

Well, just for posterity's sake, here's the menu for today's party. If I manage to get around to it, I may try to put some pictures up if I have the time to take em

Course One
Assorted Cheeses, Crackers, and Pear Slices
Cheeses - Mango Ginger White Stilton, Rosemary Manchego, Tilamook Extra Sharp Cheddar
Wines:
Lily Chardonnay, 2005, Sonoma County - Baked pear nose and fat rich texture. Slightly fruity pineapple finish. This wine pairs well with the Mango Ginger Stilton.

Adelsheim Auxerrois, 2006, Willamette Valley - There are aromas of juicy apple, pear, white peach and honey in the nose of this wine. In the mouth these fruits reappear together with subtle flavors of fennel and tarragon. This wine pairs well with the sharp cheddar and rosemary manchego.

Course Two
Vietnamese Fresh Rolls
Rice wrappers stuffed with shrimp, rice vermicelli noodles, fresh lettuce, basil, cilantro, and mint. Served with a hoisin based peanut sauce and a sweet chili sauce. A virtual explosion of fresh herb flavors.

Wine - Hirsch Gruner Veltliner, 2006, Austria - Juicy, transparent, and bright. Plenty of varietally-typical pepper and herb, clean as the proverbial whistle.

Course Three
Grilled Skewers of Chorizo stuffed with figs, wrapped in bacon, and glazed with teriyaki sauce. Served with crumbled Danish blue cheese

Wine - Walnut City Wineworks Pinot Noir, 2006, Willamette Valley - Deep cranberry ruby translucent. Aromas of black cherry, cinnamon/spice, anise, and bourbon. Smooth but not a lightweight and definitely on the jammy side, the deep red fruit and cola spice flavors carry well through the dry finish.

Course Four
Flourless chocolate moon cake - super dense and rich chocolate cake. A take no prisoners chocolate cake. Served with powdered sugar because the chocolate that makes up the main flavor component of the cake is very bitter.

Wine - Domaine De La Casa Blanca Banyuls, 2004, Banyuls-Sur-Mer - Levano makes his sweet red wine in the style of a Vintage Port, emphasizing the fresh fruit flavors in youth and meant for long ageing. This type of Banyuls is called Rimage in the local Catalan dialect. Made solely from Grenache Noir, the result is a deep, intense wine with layers of flavors, ranging from cooked plums and dark berry fruits to chocolate and spice. The finish is long, lingering and clean.

There will also be several different varieties of beer available.

Beers:
Ommegang Hennepin - Rich, deep grainy aroma intertwined with spicy, fresh, lemony esters and a funky, earthy yeast scent. It's sweet, but also musty, and oh so mild. This one will pair well with the milder cheeses and the fresh rolls. A near perfect farmhouse style ale

Great Lakes Blackout Stout - Over the top strong stout with ridiculous malt character. Chocolate/hazelenut flavors abound. Very nutty and rich. This beer will pair well with the very sharp cheddars, as well as the flourless chocolate cake.

Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA - Floral nose, with a bit of citrus tang. Pineapple to grapefruit hop flavor in this strongly hopped IPA. This beer pairs especially nicely with the mango ginger stilton. These flavors also will work well with the vietnamese fresh rolls.

Dynamic Bicycles - Crosstown 7 or 8 models...

I'd be especially interested if anyone local has one that I might try...



Here's the product description.

And some of the things that Portland has done successfully that could be imported into Cincinnati... Go take a look here!

Here is a recent comment about my posting on the election and gender bias. I think that the comments do strike on something that I did not bring out in my earlier post, so I am quoting them here in the entirety. Thanks for the insight Paul!

As a registered Democrat, I'd like to share some thoughts on your recent post.

1) I agree with you that the idea of "vindication" is an absurd reason to cast a vote for President of the United States. People who make comments like this are of the same ilk as those who believe that it really doesn't matter who is president. We've seen over the past 8 years, that it matters a great deal. It is important to judge not only the substantive qualities of the individual candidate but also the qualities of those that they will choose to advise them.

2) Building on that last idea, I would say more than personality/likability is at play here in choosing a Democratic candidate. A vote for Clinton is likely a return of the older, more established Democratic guard because that's who she runs with and that's who supports her. A vote for Obama will likely result in more new faces, possibly fresher (also less experienced) ideas.

But another significant quality Democrats need to consider is national electability. For reasons entirely too vast to discuss here, Clinton is a polarizing figure. She does not play well across the aisle, and apparently not with independents either. Both Obama and McCain have that cross-over appeal. To me, that is an important consideration in an election where the support of the hard-line party goers on either side is not likely to carry the day.

3) Fianlly, I agree that gender bias plays a role in these recent poll results. (Both candidates of course will be battling bias as we progress toward November.) However, I'd like to suggest that there is a different angle here than a straight-up "I don't want a woman in the oval office" mentality.

I think that what is at play here is the significance of the perception of the "self-made candidate." Obama's got it ... and let's face it, Clinton just doesn't. "Self-made" has always been an important quality to American voters, but it is probably now even more important after 8 years of embarrassment from a guy who is only in the White House based on his name.

I know that she's presenting her own ideas, but Clinton's rise to this national stage has not been based entirely on her own efforts - right down to her own campaign's assertion to Democratic primary audiences of "hey, remember how good things were when Bill was in office, well expect more of that when you elect Hillary" and her apparent self annoiting as the next Democratic President even before the primary season started.

From this story on CNN politics:

Why does Obama do better against McCain than Clinton? Obama does do a little better than Clinton with independents and Republicans.

But the big difference is men: Men give McCain an 18-point lead over Clinton, 57 percent to 39 percent, according to the CNN poll. The margin of error for that question was plus or minus 5 percentage points.

But if McCain and Obama went head to head, McCain's lead among men shrinks to three, 49 percent to 46 percent -- statistically a tie.

Women, on the other hand, vote for either Clinton or Obama by similar margins.

To me, this speaks to a continuing gender bias. I am really beginning to get upset with my fellow Dems who talk about how electing a black man would be more vindicating for this nation than electing a woman, or how electing a woman would be more vindicating. How can you really say one would be "more vindicating" than the other? If you just don't like Hillary, come out and say you don't like her. Frankly, IMO, either one would make a great president, and their policies are so similar, it really just comes down to personality/likability.

Just a sad sight... I tried to document what I could, I really wish I had brought a tripod...

Cincinnati Burning

UK to not automatically reject patent claims to software

Thats a big shocker from my perspective... I thought pretty much all of Europe would steer clear of software patents. Not that I am complaining of course, personally I believe that softare can be properly the subject matter of a patent (however I also think that they should be rare and they should be well reviewed by the patent office, which well, yeah, we all know how that works).

Well, the final grades are in and it was a bit of a disapointment.. Now don't get this wrong, my grades are perfectly good and plenty of folks would delight in having them. However, I was really upset about the grade in one class, Real Estate Transactions. After my middling first year, I have been trying to progressively raise my GPA to meet the goal I set for myself when I embarked on this law school endeavor. I was shooting for a 3.5 average overall, a standard that I don't think is too high, or too low, and evidences some degree of mastery of the topics studied. This semester's grades make that goal just a little bit harder. I haven't sat down and calculated my final overall average since I am not currently at my "Grades Spreadsheet", but suffice it to say that my semester average this semester is lower than my overall average by a smidgen, which will bring down the overall GPA.

Anyhow, here they are, in all their glory I will try, as I have in the past to learn from my past mistakes to make the next batch better, and I will need to in order to reach my goal...

Computer & Internet Law (3 credits) - A
Patent Law (3 credits) - A-
Real Estate Transactions (3 credits) - B
Secured Transactions (3 credits) - B+
Trial Practice (3 credits) - B+

Semester GPA - 3.466 (Overall GPA prior to this semester - 3.479)

Definitely a bit miffed about Real Estate grade... The rest pretty much fell out as expected via my usual grade ranking mechanism (I do best in the classes I like the most, imagine that... That ranking has worked for every other semesters grades best grades to worst grade fell in order of class preference. Real Estate is the one outlier because it was far from my least favorite course of the semester)

Update: so it turns out that this semesters grades drop my overall average... wait for it... by two one thousandths... to a shockingly low 3.477.. heh, well at least the 3.5 graduating GPA is still within grasp (sarcasm off)

Just in finals. *sigh* Nearly done, one more to go... Then I will try to figure out what I am going to do with this blog... new things coming here, new format, blogging software, etc. I just don't have a heck of a lot of time

Well, in case you hadn't heard, Bush commuted Libby's sentence. This is completley disgusting. He had the gall to call the sentence "excessive." Just one further illustration that this adminstration knows nothing of honor or personal responsibility. If you or I screw up, make a mistake, break a law... well as they say in Ireland, we "dry our eyes, and do our burden." Whether that burden be prison time or even simply admitting a mistake and trying to rectify the consequences of that mistake. I wish I had words for how disenchanted I am with out political system and the fact that it will tolerate the lieing scumbag sitting in the oval office right now....

So here goes again, the final rundown of grades for the semester.

Copyright Law (3 credits) - A+
Trademark & Unfair Competition (3 credits) - A
Evidence (3 credits) - A
Independent Study (2 credits) - A+
Agency, Partership & Unincorporated Associations (2 credits) - B+
2L Lawyering, Practice Skills (2 credits) - HP

That puts me at a 4.024 average for the semester, and a 3.479 average overall. Quite and improvement over my 3.0 average my first semester, and not too shabby if I do say so myself. Still have some work to do to hit my graduation "goal GPA," but if I keep plugging at it, it should be a possibility.

So for those of you who have come to my blog worried about bad first year grades, the above should be convincing evidence that you can learn from your mistakes on past exams. Another lesson is to take the courses you enjoy, you will do better in those. Of course, I kept a sprinkling of bar courses mixed in with the courses I really enjoy, but seriously, take the courses you think sound intriguing.