widdershins

25 Non-Random Things

This is not a viral meme. Ceci n'est pas un message.

Twenty-five not-so-random things, facts, habits, or goals about me.

If you like this, consider yourself tagged. Participation *will* be part of your final grade.

1. Wallace Stevens is a hero to me.

2. One of the greatest disappointments of my adult life is that linguistics is not really a science.

3. One of the greatest joys of my adult life is that psychology is not really a science.

4. I am endlessly fascinated by Friedrich Nietzsche, but I wouldn't have him over for dinner.

5. Camille Paglia tops the list of famous people I would like to invite over for dinner.

6. For almost a year I have been entranced by the untranslatable Renaissance Neoplatonist slogans "serio ludere" and "festina lente".

7. I seem to be awfully darned attached to being eccentric.

8. The Wizard of Oz has been my favorite movie for as long as I can remember. Never. Gets. Old.

9. I like to personify inanimate objects, give them names and personalities, and pretend they are out to help me.

10. I've been practicing piano every day for over a year now and am starting to sound ok. I can play the first two movements of Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata without cringing.

11. I can't remember the last time I washed my car.

12. Living in San Francisco is the first time I haven't felt a strong pull to try out living elsewhere. I've lived in Texas, Alabama, North Carolina and Massachusetts. Now I feel like I've landed.

13. I used to want to retire early. Now that sounds really dreadful to me.

14. My paper on the application of discrete mathematics to generative syntax, which I wrote in high school, won state-wide awards. For some reason, I haven't mentioned that to anyone in 25 years.

15. My ham radio license is still active.

16. My license to practice law is no longer active.

17. Sometimes I experience serious social anxiety. Sometimes pharmaceutical help is needed to get me to go to a party.

18. I have recently learned that I am "depressed". Complete surprise to me.

19. In my mind I am much better at expressing myself than I really am.

20. People who go around typing other people on the Enneagram without their consent are "zeros" in my book.

21. I really wonder what's become of my friends from elementary school but can't seem to turn them up on the Interwebs.

22. The style manual of the American Psychological Association is embarrassingly stupid.

23. I am completely comfortable with whatever projection you have on me, as long as it's not that I'm normal (see #7 above).

24. Some things I have a love-hate relationship with: rudeness, anger, perfectionism, academia, food, talking.

25. My left arm is an inch longer than my right arm. Bilateral symmetry is overrated.

There, wasn't that fun? Now it's your turn.

Gödel's theorem in five words

Self-referential. Consistent. Complete. Pick two.

Roast a prime rib of beef: how-to

This week I cooked my first prime rib roast, and I have to say it was easy and yummy.  Prime rib of beef can be fairly expensive. Our top choice two-rib cut was $30. Prime goes for more. And I have to say I am not a big fan of prime rib to begin with. I've had all the mediocre prime rib I need for the rest of my lifetime, thank you very much. But this week I found myself in the mood: willing to spend some bucks on a treat, willing to try something new, and hoping for something delicious.

First, the cut. You've got to engage a good butcher in a conversation. Good prime rib meat is usually something you have to special order; it's in such demand, especially in the holiday time of year. You definitely want "top choice" grade or, better, "prime". The difference in grade will be something you taste. Why go to this much trouble and expense if not for the best? In addition to the grade, you need to pay attention to where in the prime rib you are getting the cut from. I've heard some people recommend ribs 12-14. This area tends to be leanest, so I assume that's what this preference is about. We got ribs 2-3 instead and loved it. At this end, there is much more of the fatty side bits (I don't know the proper name for these muscles - I think the butcher called them 'lifters'), which can be sooooo tasty. One downside is that on this end the ribs are shorter and it's really hard to get the roast to sit on the ribs in the oven, which would be the ideal configuration.

Second, is the prep. This is very simple. I made a paste of olive oil, garlic (5 cloves), horseradish (4 tablespoons), rosemary, thyme, black pepper, and lots of salt, and covered the fatty side thickly with it. I also rubbed sea salt into the two exposed meaty sides. I put the whole thing into the oven.

Third, is the roasting. For my first attempt here, I used a 400 degree F oven, but I think next time I'm going to try hotter, maybe 425. I cooked at this temperature for 20 minutes per rib (or 40 minutes total in this case). I then turned the oven off but left the roast in the oven for another 2 hours. This last step did the slow roasting that creates that distinctive "prime rib" flavor in a restaurant. They say for medium rare you should cook to an internal temperature of 125 degrees F, but it's impossible to cook to that and also do the slow roasting, so I just went with the timed method.

The outcome was delicious. The meat was suffused with a light garlic and horseradish flavor. This much meat made 4 sizeable portions.  Considering how easy and delicious it was, I'm sure we'll be doing it again.

Clean your stainless steel coffee pot: how-to

After about a year we still love our Cuisinart Grind & Brew coffee maker, but no matter how careful we were about cleaning there was an inexorable buildup of brownish stain and old coffee smell in the otherwise wonderful coffee pot.

The solution (pun intended) was to fill the pot with boiling water and drop in a few tablespoons of dishwasher detergent. A couple of swooshes with a spoon to dissolve the detergent, and a few hours later - presto! The inside of the coffee pot was sparklingly clean and completely devoid of coffee smell.