The (un)life of Urishima

Well, a tad bit late but here it is, another Episode of 'Cooking with Uri'. Today we are making a classic German and Austrian sunday dish: Beef olives. Continue reading "Cooking with Uri: beef olives with potatoes in their skin"

Hey everybody, how's it hanging?

Well I wanted to apologize for not writing anything even though I promised that I would (was my new years resolution after all). I mean I was reeally working here! Making a list of interesting recipes, writing on my Kampfer review... but all these plans got kicked in their daddy bags when Mass Effect 2 materialized itself in ym mailbox, probably send down by Jesus himself.
You are hearing right, boys: Mass Effect 2 is jesusly awesome!

So, what am I up to now that I finished my first run on Mass Effect 2? Well, back to cooking and writing my review.
I never stopped cooking of course. In fact, I have been fooling around with various curry dishes. So very delicious

How are your new years resolutions holding up?
My resolution to work out is going really well. Last week I had an appointment for a fitness test. The cardiogram showed that my hert was in perfect shape. No, really. Nothing irregular, everything perfect.

But 81 Kg? Blimey, I really gained a lot of weight. Percentage of fat: 29%
Well, there you have it. I am now officially overweight...
Muscle percentage of roughly 35% is saving my butt though. Will be pretty easy to loose some weight if I go there at least twice a week and eat more healthy food... Well, a wholemeal sandwich tastes better than your MCFat Hamburger anyway.

Well then, I will be looking for more recipes and come up with something until Sunday, ok? Promise

Oh, by the way. All them cooking gamers out there should read this article:
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/issues/issue_240/7136-A-Gamer-in-the-Kitchen

Also a big 'Thank you' to Blowfish for linking to my blog in his own. I know I'm a little late but heres a link for you, Blowfish
http://www.flyingpussyfoot.com/

So, now that we know everything we need about olive oil let's start putting this awesome oil to use, shall we?

Today we will cook something you all have eaten before. It's an Italian classic we all know and love: Bolognese! (or Ragù alla bolognese as they say in Italy)
Possibly the most popular and awesome sauce for any kind of pasta. Continue reading "Cooking with Uri: Bolognese"

So, since I am cooking with olive oil today I'll give you a quick guide on olive oil.

Olive oil is made out of olives (o'rly?). The production process is relatively simple:
The olives are being washed and hackled together with it's stone. This mixture will then be stirred and compressed. After the mixture settles, the oil can be used without further processing.

In the EU, there are 8 different quality grades for olive oil but you will only see 3 of these in a supermarket (at least in Germany).

Grade I - Extra Virgin:
comes from virgin oil production only, no more than 0.8% acidity, tastes really good. Used on salads, added at the table to soups and stews and for dipping.

Grade II - Virgin:
comes from virgin oil production only, has an acidity less than 2%, tastes good but not as good as Extra Virgin. Good for roasting meat etc. as long as you don't go over 180°C

Grade VI - Olive Oil:
a blend of virgin and refined production oil, of no more than 1.5% acidity. It commonly lacks a strong flavor.

But what's the big deal about olive oil anyway? Well, you will need it if you want to cook some decent Italian or Spanish food. It tastes good and it's very healthy. Why is that you ask? Olive oil contains a lot of monounsaturated fats, more than any other oil and thus reduces the risk of coronary heart disease.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monounsaturated_fat#Relation_to_health

So, what's important when you go out to buy some olive oil?
First of all, the glass of the bottle has to be dark as olive oil is very sensitive to sunlight. Sunlight will start oxidation -> the oil will start to taste bitter.
Also important: No plastic bottles. Either glass or porcelain but no plastic.
Other than that? Trial and error

Keep your olive oil somewhere dark, with a constant temperature of roughly 20 °C. Don't worry if it gets colder for some reason (accidently putting it in the fridge for example) and the oil starts to flocculate or change it's color. This won't affect it's taste in any way.

See ya...

Hey folks, finally something new on this blog.

Well, one of my many new year's resolutions is to start blogging again. My other new year's resolutions are:

- Start working out again and loose some weight
- Be more serious about my distance education for my abitur (degree of education you need in Germany to start studying at a university)
- Get my drivers license within the next 2 months
- Practice playing the bass more

What's your new year's resolution?

Anyway, let's start with the cooking. Continue reading "New year's resolutions and beef-goulash"

(Wiesensteig, near Göppingen)
Yesterday a 37 year old, drunk man decided to ride an ale-bench down a nearby summer-jump, and almost ripped off his own head because he overlooked a cable rope that was used as a cordon at the end of the jump. The cable rope hit his head, leading to severe cuts and fractures on his face and skull. He died in front of the other 20 birthday-party guests, including his brother.

This wasn't his first time doing something like that. He often jumped off that jump with normal skis and once in a wok.

His wife, who was on a trip in London at the time, was shocked but said "At least he died while he was having some fun, not knowing what were to happen.".
He also leaves behind a 6 year old daughter.

I probably shouldn't laugh about this, but simply had to when I read it in the newspaper.
Sad thing that he doesn't qualify for a Darwin award anymore.

Source on Abendzeitung.de

The newest episode of 'There Will Be Brawl' is available on the escapist.
Watch as Luigi delves deeper into the Mushroom Kingdom's underground.

Link to 'There Will Be Brawl' Episode 5

Best episode so far, if you ask me. I love how the show gets darker and darker with every single episode. The scene with that astronaut from Pikmin had me shivering. And that fighting scene near the end: Donkey Kong throwing barrels, now that's classic ^^

The Escapist: www.escapistmagazine.com
There Will Be Brawl: www.escapistmagazine.com/profiles/view/There%20Will%20Be%20Brawl
Official 'There Will Be Brawl' website: www.therewillbebrawl.com/

[edit]
Embedding doesn't work anymore. weird...

I know, I know. I promised to post something soon last month but my weaker self got the better off me.

Anyway, this one is about the new Star Trek movie. Don't worry, I'll try to keep it as spoiler-free as possible. Will cover X-Men Origins: Wolverine (watched that one on Saturday) in another newspost. Continue reading "Star Trek"

Yeah, not much going on here, right? Sorry about that but we don't have a internet connection on the casern (at least not for private use and I won't get my ass whipped for breaking those regulations). Well, not much going on here anyway. Will write a bigger post next weekend. Some thoughts on what happened recently (youtube deleting music for example) and some other stuff. Am also working on a profile page for those who want to know a thing or two about me.

Gotta go now. I'm having lunch with the best grandma in the world

Cherio...

Hello kids, get yourself some popcorn and get comfortable on your couch, office chair, throne made of human bones or whatever you normally sit on in front of your computer. It is time for the 2nd episode of 'Cooking with Uri' where I show you what kind of delicious food stuff I made today.

Again I decided to grab that cookbook I got from the best grandma on the world and went for a cordon bleu that isn't one, a 'smoked pork chop - apple - cordon-bleu' without any cheese in it. Continue reading "Cooking with Uri - smoked pork chop - apple - cordon-bleu"

You guys remember the free hugs campaign by Juan Mann? Found this little video on Sareth's life journal which had quite similar effect for me: it made me happy, it made me smile, life is beautiful
It's a 16 minutes long movie about a guy who dedicated himself to make everyone around him smile, including the woman of his life who never smiled once since she was a little girl. It's a real tearjerker and it will definitely make your day too.
So if you feel down right now, stop doing anything else and watch it



Link to to the Post on Sareth's life journal: Here
Youtube link: Here
Link to the site of the filmmaker: www.dearzachary.com
Link to the filmmaker's IMDB page: Kurt Kuenne

Yesterday the continuous ranting and chirping in one of the Megatokyo -SDFw- Threads lead to a short but interesting discussion on the difference between erotic/nude art and actual pornography, that somehow lead to another discussion about our society's view of sexuality, on which Sareth (one of the more popular MT forumnites) wrote an interesting rant which I will be quoting here. Just let me tell you beforehand that I couldn't agree more with what he said. Actually, that guy often manages to write down what I've been thinking so precisely that I can't shake the feeling that he is poking around my head every now and then. Probably should pop out my aluminium foil hat again...

Anyway, here are Sareth's thoughts on the subject.
Continue reading "A rant on today's society's view of sexuality - featuring Sareth and Nekura"

Today on Zero Punctuation:
Terrifying support characters and body armor that bends the very fabric of time and space. Oh, and Resident Evil 5 of course.

Many bloggers are nerds and as such they are always on the lookout for something to geek their place up.
Aiming at the blogging nerd this lamp shade will definitely suit your fancy but don't get your hopes up too much. This little thing will do nothing more than fill your place with geeky light. It is not able to project your feeds on the wall or something like that, sadly.

Get your RSS lamp shade here: www.meninos.us.

Found at GIZMODO.