Christmas Dinner and Leftovers!

My family, G's family, and my sister's in-laws all gathered at our new place for Christmas dinner. I really enjoy cooking and entertaining so I had a blast.

The two mains were prime rib and a whole baked salmon. I'd never done prime rib before so I was pretty scared. Added to that, anything that big requiring over an hour of baking scares me as well. What if it's over or under done when it's dinner time? What if it comes out all messed up? There's no way to salvage something like prime rib or Thanksgiving turkey: if it's messed up, that's that- go get the yellow pages and pray for an open pizza joint.

The prime rib was pretty easy actually, and much easier than turkey. I stabbed it a bunch of times w/ a steak knife all over and inserted smashed garlic cloves in the holes, then crusted the whole thing with kosher salt and freshly ground pepper. Into the oven it went. A digital instant read thermometer probe is a must. Set that baby to 125F and go pour yourself a glass of red.

Baking salmon is pretty boring by now. I think my guests have figured out my M.O. Kosher salt, freshly ground pepper, and add your favorite mix of leafy green herbs. This time it was basil, dill, thyme. The main wrinkle was that it was a 12lb. whole salmon, head on, not the usual Costco filet pack. Oh yeah, filled the cavity w/ lemon slices and slit the body on the outside to insert more herbs on lemon or lime slices.

A few lessons learned from entertaining:

• Make dishes you actually want to eat if there are leftovers. This goes for pretty much any meal, by the way.
• Having two ovens would have been really nice. I had to wait for the prime rib to finish before I could start the salmon. I got the beef started late, so we started dinner w/ just the that while the fish was baking. But the salmon was so big, I had to change from baking to broiling to speed it up. A second oven would have helped.
  
• Make dishes simple so leftovers can be re-used easily and creatively the next few days.
• There was lot of salmon left since people got full on the beef and appetizers. We packed a bunch of it for families to take home, but still had a good chunk left. The next morning, I made salmon omelettes and waffles for breakfast. Then the following night, I made salmon fried rice with mushrooms, green onions and scrambled egg. All gone! Instead of fried rice we almost had spaghetti instead- make your marinara sauce, thrown in some capers, the leftover salmon meat, add your pasta- voila!
  
• There wasn' t much prime rib left, but it became roast beef sandwiches today.

I've been wanting to make paella for a while now... hmm, need another excuse to entertain.

Anyways, aside from the cooking, it was fun to be with family.

What I Wanted For Christmas...

... But didn't get.

This is an almost totally crazy list... in no particular order. Disclaimer at the end.

1. 2007 Lexus LS 460 L

   • This was lust at first sight (on the web). I don't know why. Then when I saw(ogled) and touched(caressed) it in person at the Taste of Lexus event... wow. By the time I got to the line to test drive it on a closed track they closed it. Bummer. I'd settle for the regular wheelbase version, w/out the massage chair in the backseat, no auto-parking system is fine. Then again, if we're going all out, why not go for the hybrid version?

2. Sony KDS-R60XBR2

   • I'm going for the 60" version b/c it fits into our cozy TV area. The 70" one would be too big, if there's such a thing. My 2 year old Sony KD-34XBR960 is just fine. I'll wait for prices to drop, and maybe even skip this altogether for a flat-panel one in a few years.

3. PlayStation 3, 60Gb

   • I don't even know why I want this but to want it. I hardly played any games on my PlayStation 2. With two toddlers now, it's even less likely I'll play games on this bad boy. Well, at least it's an economical high-def DVD player, but I sure do hope Blu-Ray beats HD-DVD.

4. Rumored 16:9 Touchscreen Apple iPod

   • This is cheating since this one doesn't even exist. Oh well... make sure it's the black color w/ the largest hard disk.

5. Kershaw Shun Stainless Steel 23-piece Block Set

   • These are the knives Alton Brown uses. I can't believe Costco carries these now!! I used to want a set of GLOBAL knives, but after seeing the Shuns....drool.

6. Nikon D200 Camera

   • This gift would have to come w/ a series of photography lessons. If I were to get a DSLR myself, I'd get the D80. But this is a wish-list, so D200.

7. San Francisco Giants Dugout Jacket, Black

   • W00T! G got this jacket for me for my birthday actually!! So technically, I didn't get it for Christmas, I got it about a week earlier! I got her the ladies version in white for Christmas, among other gifts. Now I can wear this to AT&T Park to shout, "Barryyyyyyy (Zito)!!!!"

Disclaimer: Truly Christmas, and Easter, is about God's everlasting love for us in sending his son Jesus to Earth as the way to reconcile us to him by dieing on the cross to pay for all our sins. Jesus resurrected on the third day, conquering sin and death, so those who believe in him would have everlasting life with God. The wish list was just for fun.

The Original PlayStation

With the PlayStation 3 coming out this week in Japan and the U.S., it's neat to see this at MSNBC.com: A second life for your first PlayStation

Turns out the original PlayStation is a high fidelity CD player! Mine is in great condition, put away in it's original box. I got it mainly to play Tekken 2 and got into other games later. PlayStation 2 came out October 2000, but I didn't have much time to play as we were in the middle of planning our wedding.

Scanning all the ad flyers in the Sunday paper yesterday, the PS3 is featured quite prominently. As well, at least 2-3 pages are devoted to Sony HDTV's alongside the shiny-black box. I wonder if Sony is offering some price reductions to spur TV sales w/ the PS3 fervor. May not be a bad move since demand is going to far outstrip supply of PS3 at launch, so why not capitalize on the hype and promote their TV's?

The San Francisco 49ers of Great America

So the 49ers announced today that they plan to move to Santa Clara just down the street from their headquarters and practice facilities on Great America Parkway.

They should totally use that name, "The San Francisco 49ers of Great America." If the Dallas Cowboys are "America's Team" and the Angels are the "Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim," then why not? The "of Great America" will give the team broader appeal across the nation, therefore raising their merchandising sales!!

Rather than analyze their stated reasons for moving, I re-call the 1997 bond measure that was make or break for the then planned stadium development w/ Mills Corp. at the Candlestick site. It's been nearly 10 years!

At that time:

• I had moved to the 44th Ave. place for not too long.
• I was still in my first stint at LSI.
• LK, Way, and I bought an SF Giants 17 game ticket plan. We even got playoff tickets and saw them eliminated in the 1st round by the eventual World Series champion Florida Marlins.
• Crazy: That season ticket plan allowed us to choose any game we wanted. Remember this was in the Candlestick days, so seats were plentiful. Near the end of the season, we of course still had a bunch of games to go to so we did two games a week to use 'em up.
• The best: Leaving early from work to see the Dodgers one night, Giants beat 'em 2-1, I think. And I took the next day off for the following (day) game and saw Shooter get out of a bases loaded no-outs jam, then Brian Johnson belting a walk-off HR in extra innings to tie the Dodgers in the standings.
  
• Was driving my '97 Toyota Camry, which was totalled in March '05.
• Had not even met my future wife, with whom I have 2 little angels now.
  
• I think Swan had just joined our pastoral staff at church.
• ... what else?
  

OK, so the title of this blog entry's misleading.

Update: An even better name, "Paramount's Great American San Francisco 49ers." Oh the sponsorship and cross-marketing potential!! ... "Mission: Impossible 49ers," "Star Trek: 49ers, 'Today is a good day to die!'"

... The new stadium could be called "Paramount Stadium"
... The Great America Theme Park could have "49er-land."

Superman Returns

(This movie "review" was originally sent to Swan in an e-mail. It's been edited some and posted here.)

G took me to see "Superman Returns" in IMAX 3D as part of our anniversary fun. I enjoyed the movie very much. As the movie started, it was as if I were transported back to my childhood when I saw the original with my parents. She astutely observed that it was nearly scene for scene a re-make of the 1979 original, which I made her watch prior to seeing "Returns."

Superman is a difficult superhero to write for b/c he is so powerful and such a perfect person and drama requires tension and conflict. An impossible situation has to be created for him to overcome.

In the original, the two rockets racing in opposite directions created a dilemma for him and he had to deal w/ it. The ending, turning back time to save Lois, really made the point that he is a god.

I liked "Returns" b/c of the 2 impossible situations. First, how to save the mainland U.S. from the growing land mass that was laced w/ Kryptonite? Second, what to do about the non-relationship w/ Lois. The first one he solved by brute strength and determination- lifting the land mass into space. But it is the Lois storyline that really interested me- b/c of Superman's character he can not steal Lois from Richard, yet there is still that yearning for her- That is the impossible situation.

Although he is a god and Christ-figure, the movies also carry the theme that there are things he (seemingly) can not do. In the original, his Earth father dies of a heart attack and he says to his mother, "all those powers and I couldn't save him." The same thing happens when Lois dies at the end of the movie but he is then able to bring her back from the dead. In Returns, the theme is carried further. "All those powers" but he can't have the love of his life.

But the Jor-El/Superman/Jason(the kid) "Christ" speeches- the son becomes the father and the father the son -just give me goosebumps.

I think the biggest plot hole is the fact that Lois does not remember when she had sex w/ Superman to conceive the emerging Super-kid. This is due to the amnesia kiss at the end of Superman 2. Wouldn't a woman immediately ask that question?!? The amnesia kiss is like today's date-rape drug. (That also wiped out her knowing Clark is Superman.) Finally, the movie doesn't address the fact that Jason's powers will continue to develop and that Richard will find out eventually. To sweep that under the rug in the sequel would be to lose credibility.

Swan responded w/ an awesome reference to Greek mythology:

Like I said to Leon, Superman returns is // to Da Vinci code. Both movies speak of a super powerful man having an offspring with an earth woman. The only difference is Jesus had a daughter and Clark had a son. Jason is a mythological hero Hercules, a half man half god who has super strength. When he grows up what will he be? Superboy? It is going to be an interesting sequel.

The sequel can't arrive soon enough!