Nermo

Now that I have my little blowfish logo, I set it so that when you go to nermo.com or the Nermo Blog on your iPhone or iPod Touch and choose “Add to Home Screen” the button will be the fugu icon instead of the generic webpage screenshot icon!  Doesn’t this make you want to add us to your home screen?

            

I’ve been out of the homebrew habit for a while, but a few recent experiences, most notably taking TSB on a tour of the Magic Hat brewery in Vermont, have inspired me to get back into the habit. I need to start rebuilding my brewery, most notably with a new copper (stockpot) and a couple of fermenters.

I think I will bottle in champagne bottles mostly, as I tire easily of the bottling process, and hell, who ever opens just one small bottle of homebrew?  Plus, bigger bottles make better gifts, and thanks to the joy of Gloria Ferrer, I have a lot of empty champagne bottles lying around.

Note:  Miller High Life is known as the Champagne of Beers

            

I finally printed the first Pirate Santa Bandana, but complications with exposing the photo emulsion left the final result moderately crappy, and without time before I head to the East Coast, I am putting the project on hold.  I may have late Christmas presents wrapped in bandanas for folks in the west when I get back, or I may postpone altogether and make them a feature of Christmas 2009.

Although gifts themselves, I’m also using them as gift wrap to cut down the amount of paper my loved ones will be throwing away this holiday season.  Thanks to the Japanese Ministry of the Environment for this Furoshiki guide sheet.

            

I just got a sweet deal on a 6-pack of Shun knives with a bamboo knife block, but in washing them before first using them, I was reminded of

1.) how sharp new and well-maintained knives are
2.) how I need to get my old Globals sharpened
3.) the old adage, “you are more likely to cut yourself with a dull knife than a sharp one,” and how it does not apply to the washing process like it does to cutting vegetables.

Oh well, I wasn’t really using that thumb for much anyway.

            

I’m finally building a front page for nermo.com and while I was at The Lab’s annual Post-Postcard show Friday, I was reminded of the Home Fugu Chef Kit I designed for the show 2 years ago, and of the Mr. Yuck-inspired “tetrodotoxin poisoning” sticker for the chef’s guests to put on their foreheads before dining so paramedics would know how to treat them once found, and I painted a cute little picture of a pufferfish with a sumi-e brush for the sticker.  I need to clean it up, but here is the original sticker and a few site logo ideas:

Your thoughts?

            

I am writing to inform you that you won the election, so please cease your fund-raising efforts.  I’m perplexed as to why your staff is still emailing me on a daily basis to request donations in exchange for swag, particularly since I already contributed and never received the refrigerator magnet I was promised.

I’ve worked hard to set aside my fear that your campaign promises could go the way of my magnet, lost in transit, or just an empty offer with no intention of fulfillment.  I will persevere in my hope for change and assume that your Ginsu Knife of leadership has not just sliced through its last tin can.

The more nagging concern is wondering if this funding strategy will extend through the next 4 or 8 years of the Obama Administration.  Can I expect an email in February, urgently requesting my financial support for the universal healthcare plan?  Will Treasury Secretary David Plouffe write me a heartfelt hypertext plea for a contribution to make the dream of affordable medical care for all a reality?  Will giving at least $200 entitle me to a toaster that brands my bread with a golden-brown likeness of the president?

I’m picturing a moment back in early August 2008, when candidate Barack Obama sat head in hand over a stack of fiscal projections, agonizing over how to fund the programs he had promised while still giving tax relief to the middle class in the face of a looming economic crisis, when a staffer burst into the room to announce that the sticker and t-shirt promotions had left the campaign so flush with cash that rather than just airing commercials, they could buy entire hours of prime-time.

Jump forward to August 2009: It’s the 19th hour of the 4th Presidential Telethon.  President Obama’s blue silk tie has gone from a perfect Windsor at noon to a crooked knot around dinner, and then loosened during the 11:30 commercial break.  The top button of his shirt was opened shortly after midnight, and the second button soon thereafter.

Contributions had spiked during the star-studded sing-along of America the Beautiful, Tina Fey’s still-not-getting-old Sarah Palin routine and the water pistol duel between Kieth Olbermann and Jon Stewart, on which their respective cable networks wagered a multi-million dollar donation. It’s getting close to dawn now, contributions have slowed to a trickle and the president’s fatigue is becoming harder to conceal. He pulls off his tie in a gesture of common-man connection and steps up to the giant thermometer that reads $75 million shy of its target apex.

“My fellow Americans, if we are going to ensure strong public schools and an affordable college education for all of our children, we’re going to need to dig deep and pony up some cash.  The school year is about to start and this mandate needs to be funded.  For the sake of our children, if you donate at least $100 in the next hour, I’m going to send you this Obama/Biden lunchbox and one lucky contributor will be selected at random to spend a night in the Lincoln Bedroom.  If you already gave, don’t get jealous, just pull out your wallet and make another donation.  Operators are standing by.”

            

Friday, I was in charge of the gravy for a post-Thanksgiving dinner, and the two turkey breasts weren’t offering enough juice to make gravy, so I went with the old standard. Mine has its roots in the Cook’s Illustrated All-Purpose Gravy, but mine is simpler and taste’s better.  All the measurements are one or a quarter, and the times are all dimes.

• 1 /4-stick butter
• 1 carrot, fine dice
• 1 stalk celery, fine dice
• 1 large shallot, fine dice
• 1 /4-cup flour
• 1 quart stock (beef or chicken or half and half)
• 1 /4-teaspoon peppercorns
• 1 /4-teaspoon basil
• 1 /4-teaspoon oregano
• 1 /4-teaspoon thyme
• 1 bay leaf

Saute the vegetables in butter over medium-high heat for 10 minutes and lower the heat to medium.  Stir in the flour and cook 10 minutes more.  Add the remaining ingredients, bring to a boil and simmer for 20 minutes more, skimming off any foam that rises to the top.  Strain or remove the bay leaf and blend, then salt & pepper to taste.

“To fulfill a dream, to be allowed to sweat over lonely labor, to be given a chance to create, is the meat and potatoes of life. The money is the gravy.”- Bette Davis