PAgent’s Progress

As a fan of both CGI animation and video gaming, I have more than a passing familiarity with the “Uncanny Valley.” The phrase, coined by roboticist Masahiro Mori, refers to the strong unease generated by objects that are clearly human-like, but not quite realistically human.

If you don’t know what I’m talking about, PopSci.com has generated a video that clearly shows a descent into the troubling depths of the Uncanny Valley.

I don’t know what got into me/us this weekend. I think more chores, more cleaning, and more organizing took place at our house over two days than we’ve accomplished in the last month. Whatever it was, I wish I could bottle it.

Saturday was my eldest sister’s birthday. I know this because I have a wife who tells me these things. I called her up on Saturday and asked her if she could join us for dinner, and used her birthday as an excuse to cook a nice dinner.

I coated two chuck roasts with an herb-based dry rub, then stuck them in the Traeger at about 280 degrees for 90 minutes, turning once and slathering on a mop. I used oak and hickory pellets, with some mesquite in the mix. After 90 minutes, I put the roasts on a double thickness of heavy-duty aluminum foil, covered them with sliced crimini mushrooms and onions, and poured in about 2 cups of the mop (beef broth, Jack Daniels, a splash of balsamic vinegar, some ketchup, and about a tbsp. of the rub I prepared) and sealed the packet up tight.

I turned the heat up to ~350 and braised the roasts for another 90 minutes. I think it could have/should have gone a bit longer, but it was getting late. Meanwhile, I fixed garlic and buttermilk mashed potatoes from Yukon Golds, with the skins on, and sauteed some broccoli and yellow crookneck squash in a little olive oil, salt and pepper.

It was a very, very tasty dinner. I think it was even better than tater tot casserole, and my sister enjoyed it, which is all I really wanted.

Sunday evening I finally got a chance to play around with some watercolors I bought. I’ve been intrigued by the kinds of art you can produce with watercolors, the translucence of the color, the way the paints flow into each other and layer. So, I started messing around with them. This was the result:

Okay, it’s not great. It’s not even that good. But it’s a start, and I want it to be a relaxing activity, not a stressful one, so I’m trying to lower my self-expectations.

As I walked Gus this morning, I heard a car horn up the street. I looked up in time to see a healthy-looking coyote zip across the street. We’ve had several pets disappear in our area over the years, including a neighbor’s cat whose remains were spread across a couple of blocks (my daughter and I collected them for the neighbor). I’m glad our cats are INSIDE cats. Speaking of which, here are a couple pics of one of our cats and our canine companion:

   

Although it is one of our favorite places, we hadn’t gone to Gustav’s in Tigard in a very long time. Last night we decided to splurge and indulge in some Germanic culinary delights.

When we walked in, the place was hopping. There were balloons, there was a strolling accordion player, there was a waitress in Bavarian costume, and there was a face painter. Gustav’s was celebrating Oktoberfest.

We had left the Girl at home, but the Boy was with us and he decided he wanted his face painted. Since we wanted to go ahead and get seated, we asked the hostess to show him to our table when he was finished. We couldn’t believe what walked up and sat down:

We pretty quickly sent him back to the face painter with a healthy tip. I’ve never seen such a professional paint job. It’s amazing what you can do with airbrushes.

We were lucky enough to have David as server. David is a very tall, very friendly man with a strong Jamaican accent. He would be memorable enough in his own right, but he also has the ability to carry any type of beverage on his head through the entire restaurant, kneeling down at your table so you can take it from him. In all the times we’ve been there, I’ve never seen him spill a drop.

In the festive spirit of the evening, I ordered the special Paulaner Oktoberfest in a 1 liter stein. This was a mistake. Don’t get me wrong, the beer was excellent. But 1 liter is a lot of beer to fit into a stomach already holding a semi-excessive meal that’s heavy on potatoes and cabbage. Frankly, 1 liter of beer is a lot for me to drink in one sitting, period. Fortunately I had my wife to drive us home.

Although I overindulged, the food and drink were delicious, and I have a 1 liter Paulaner stein to remember the evening. And a picture of my son, the Cheetah.

via Ticklebooth and College Humor.com

I usually call home a half-hour or so before I leave work, just to find out what I’m walking into. It’s usually not good news. Any personality conflicts, or hormonal tempests have been fermenting the entire day and usually peak as I walk in the door. Then there’s the simple truth that the Wife, for all her many talents and organizational skills, really does not cook.

Last night I spun the wheel, only to find out that the Wife was in the middle of a migraine, and the Girl had forgotten to take her meds that morning and was bouncing off the walls. Needless to say, dinner would not be waiting for me, and going out to eat was not an option. I wasn’t happy with just taking the Boy with me, and I’m getting tired of bringing fast food home.

So, what could a tired PAgent shop for and prepare on short notice, that he hadn’t already made dozens of times already? Not burritos. Not sloppy joes. Not any of the standard quickie meals I had in my arsenal.

And so, in equal parts exhaustion and irritation, I decided to throw together a dish that I’ve had several times, but never actually fixed myself. It’s a paradigmatic potluck dish, and one that comes as close to authentic White Trash Cooking as anything I’ve ever fixed — Tater Tot Casserole.

I have to admit that this decision arose at least partly out of irritation. If they were making it hard for me to fix dinner, I would make it hard for them to eat it. But I digress.

So I hit the grocery store for the necessary ingredients, then scurried home. I quickly browned ground beef with diced onions, then assembled the appropriate layers of ground beef, frozen veggies, cheddar cheese, canned cream of chicken soup, and frozen tater tots in a 13 x 9 pan. The pan got popped into a convention oven and baked until the tots were browned and the casserole was bubbly.

And they loved it. ALL OF THEM. The Girl, the Boy, and the ailing Wife. They all had second helpings. They enthusiastically told me how much they enjoyed it. They told me they wanted me to make it again.

Sigh.

Republican presidential candidate John McCain announced today that he is suspending his campaign in order to return to Washington D.C. and address the current financial crisis.

Yay! We’re saved! John McCain is going to fix Wall Street!

Except I’m not at all confident that he’s going to be very helpful. Why?

From December, 2007:

If you ask me, now that the bump he got in the polls from the Palin nomination is receding, and the bounce he got from the snarky and negative attack ads he ran is backfiring, he had to find another way to distract the American public from a careful consideration of who should be President.

I just hope the American public is smart enough to ignore him.