The Irascible Chef

I had the salad on the right—excellent!

Aldo’s in Los Gatos—Fantastic!

What a pleasant surprise for Italian food! Family owned and PRESENT. Atmosphere is sort of rustic charming with a high ceiling, maybe could have been a little less bright overall.

Our waiter complete with Italian accent was attentive and not obtrusive. Oil with roasted garlic and fresh bread was very flavorful and nicely done to get the juices flowing.

The Chianti was the right wine for the table and went with everything. Let’s talk about the everything: the table had Minestrone soup and the house salad or Insalata della Casa. The Minestrone looked good and hearty, and the diner was happy with it. The salad was very flavorful with just the right amount of dressing.

The entrées were Scaloppine al Limone—veal with white wine and lemon, Vitello Ripieno—veal stuffed with proscuitto and mozzarella in a Marsala wine sauce with mushrooms, and Barbara Special— spring mix salad with grilled salmon, scallops, and shrimp with balsamic vinegar. The veal was tender enough to cut it with your fork! The Marsala sauce was tasty, but a little sweet for me, but everyone loved it. The grilled fish on the salad was perfectly cooked and very tasty. We didn’t save room for dessert which looked good on the menu. So sad…

The menu itself was flawed with a few spelling mistakes that seemed like the cause was lost in translation. Something about it was charming—when usually it’s like a fork piercing my eyeball! My guess is that great food and service can overcome and make me forget how important spelling is.

The food was fresh and nicely presented—we were also complimented with chilled Limoncello—a lemon flavored liqueur from Italy—helps with the digest… Nice touch

—iChef

Technorati Tags: Aldo's, eating out, family, food, iChef, Italian food, Los Gatos, Restaurant, Service

Oh my, Obama, isn't it a Federal offense to point fingers...

It will be under an Obama-nation administration. (you can almost hear his voice when you read those words—close your eyes, you know I’m right.) You’ll be a racist for questioning anything, victim mentality will rule the day with entitlements for all! Once you get hooked it will be hard to get off the junk…

You can probably count on talk about bringing back the fairness doctrine—how many of you know what the fairness doctrine is all about? You can count on higher taxes or higher costs of everything if you’re a critical thinker (95% won’t—ha! Businesses don’t pay taxes—the consumer picks up that tab!) You can count on the US being a more Socialist society—government doing everything for us—we the people will pick up the tab there too! You can count on a more open border society. You can count on appeasement of terrorists—talk talk talk talk talk… Yes, the rest of the world will come back to loving us more, and depend on the US to bail them out of whatever disaster springs up because of the CHANGE promised!

• How low can it go??? Down market hits 1-year mark with no clear bottom —Drudge

• Oil Prices after a brief up-tick—going back down…—Ichef

• ACORN - as I believe I predicted some time back - has managed to register 105% ofIndianapolis to vote in this election. —The Anchoress

• The book-banning double standard —Mike McNally

• Poll: Obama loses another point, McCain now within five —Rasmussen

• Hmmmmm —Politico

Too good! Must share! Funny WHY was this sketch forbidden to be shown on the Internet…

Video: The forbidden bailout sketch

Oct 7, 2008 1:20 PM by Allahpundit

Update: If even Alec Baldwin’s willing to put the blame where it belongs…

The WHY: By Michelle Malkin Flash: SNL rewriting bailout skit, “didn’t meet their standards;“ NBC posts edited video

Technorati Tags: Bailout, Bush, Comedy, Entertainment, Frank, Pelosi, Poor People, Satire, SNL, Soros, TV

When I was a little boy my father taught me how to play chess. I don’t believe he ever let me win (because I never won). This fact doesn’t make me feel angry, bad, or bitter. My father’s intentions, and we have discussed them as adults, were to make me strong, make me try harder, to help me avoid giving up, and to not be a victim. There’s no shame in losing as long as you tried your best and didn’t give up.

Cheating was unacceptable by your opponent and unacceptable for me to use as a tactic. It’s a hollow victory, meaningless, and shameful. I’d rather not play.

I don’t need false victories, I need to know that in order to win I need to be the best one on the field—using skills, experience, and my mind. I don’t need to be the biggest body in the fight to be the victor.

It’s not the size of the man in the fight, but the size of the fight in the man…

I’ve never liked playing a game that I am let to win nor felt victory by cheating. I’d rather lose knowing I tried, I’d rather not play, if the field is not level…

I only have two sources for this story (one reporting and the second reporting on it) Isn’t it outrageous? Is this what it has come to? I don’t think I want to play anymore…

CLEVELAND — Volunteers supporting Barack Obama picked up hundreds of people at homeless shelters, soup kitchens and drug-rehab centers and drove them to a polling place yesterday on the last day that Ohioans could register and vote on the same day, almost no questions asked.

The huge effort by a pro-Obama group, Vote Today Ohio, takes advantage of a quirk in the state’s elections laws that allows people to register and cast ballots at the same time without having to prove residency.

Republicans have argued that the window could lead to widespread voter fraud because officials wouldn’t have an opportunity to verify registration information before ballots were cast.

Among the volunteers were Yori Stadlin and Vivian Lehrer of the Upper West Side, who got married last week and decided to spend their honeymoon shepherding voters to the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections.

Early today, Stadlin’s van picked up William Woods, 59, at the soup kitchen of the Bishop Cosgrove Center.

“I never voted before,” Woods said, because of a felony conviction that previously barred him from the polls. “Without this service, I would have had no way to get here.”

More of the same from Slublog: Push Polled

Nice! Voter Fraud Raid

Las Vegas headquarters of ACORN, nation’s largest low-income activist group, raided by Nevada officials suspecting voter fraud — including using names of Dallas Cowboys…

ACORN office in Vegas raided in voter-fraud probe

by Oskar Garcia

Nevada authorities seized records Tuesday from a group they accused of submitting fraudulent voter-registration forms — including for the starting lineup of the Dallas Cowboys.

“Tony Romo is not registered to vote in the state of Nevada, and anybody trying to pose as Terrell Owens won’t be able to cast a ballot on Nov. 4,” said Secretary of State Ross Miller, referring to star players on the pro football team.

Technorati Tags: Election 2008, felons voting, Homeless, Media, News, Obama, Politics, Poor

The roller coaster! Traveling around the world! Buying low! Jumping out an airplane! Love! Who has had the opportunity and later regretted not taking a chance on it?

Know this, that history tells us that there will always be at least a second opportunity, at whatever it may be, that you perceived to be a once in a lifetime chance. I believe this with my whole heart!

You just need to realize it and take advantage of it when it does appear again. Oh, it also takes balls of steel, the same balls that were necessary the first go round—and for one reason or another you didn’t have them.

The Stock Market has been in free fall for the last two weeks. Reality says that there’s no rhyme or reason—its the fear, the stress, THE PANIC, that’s moving this crazy train. Sure the credit fiasco is to blame, but we have been saved by the Government! The Government put in place something to prevent this disaster right? We went down 500 points one day because the bailout wasn’t approved and up 400 the next day when nothing was being done. Friday, after the Bailout was signed down we go 300 plus and today an additional 800 at one time, but finished ONLY down another 370.

We are in some major uncertain times. And it is scary! People are losing everything they’ve saved in a lifetime. People that are running out of time on their life! How will they recover? Will the government bail them out? Do we want the that to be what the government does? Who will pay for it all—YOU and ME, who always pay!

Well, the Market hasn’t seen prices this low in years! And it can still go SIGNIFICANTLY lower… There are no guarantees! We can all be out of work! We can all lose our homes and not have anything to eat! The price of oil is going lower on the expectation that we won’t be going anywhere or doing anything. The price of oil should never be this high in the first place. But it is—Reality!

I missed an opportunity to buy my grandmothers house for a bargain and home prices went through the roof, now they’re sinking like a rock—nobody can borrow money to buy it anyway! Who knows what calamity will happen next?

I missed an opportunity to buy into the market after the tech bubble burst! (I did lose my SHIRT in the bursting bubble—little shell-shocked!) Who knew what calamity would happen next? If I only did…

I missed an opportunity to buy into the market after 9/11! Who knew what calamity would happen next? If I only did…

I missed an opportunity to backpack through Europe after college. The war had just broken out, who knew what calamity would happen next? I had an opportunity, people warned against it, but I took the chance. I took it! Amazing!

I missed an opportunity to jump out of a plane when I was 30. Guess I’ll never be 30 again. But I made an opportunity when my brother turned 30 and took the chance. I took it! Amazing!

There’s an opportunity to buy into this current disaster—Who knows what calamity will happen next? What will you do? What will you be saying 5 years from now?

—iChef PSA

Technorati Tags: 9/11, America, Dow Jones Industrial average, Election 2008, Europe, Government, News, Stock Market, tech bubble

I want my baby back baby back baby back ribs! I want my baby back baby back baby back ribs! Chil… — wrong restaurant, wrong jingle, wrong, wrong, wrong! (Austin Powers, Fat Bastard’s version)

We’ll go Outback’s tonight! Life will still be there tomorrow!

We did the old-barnstorming-pop-in before the movie, Eagle Eye, trick. Told the waiter that we were in a rush. He handled it like a champ! We split: a No Rules Burger—medium, with everything except tomato and onion with the blue cheese dressing on the side, fries and a 22 oz Sam Adams October fest. Man O’ Man do they make a tasty burger at Outback! Menu and descriptions.

And I would dare say it was picture perfect! Fluffy bun, plump juicy burger, and fresh nicely done toppings! The perfect amount of food for two. Not too full, just right!

Of course we still got the buttered popcorn, sour something candy, and a large diet to wash it all down with.

Advice: Stick with the burgers, fries, and beer and you won’t be disappointed! Every once in a while (get a little excited drooling at the pictures on the menu) we stray from the proven recipe of perfection and we are muy disappointed—you will see the pretty pictures and get sucked in—don’t, just take our advice! Or don’t, you’re a big-boy (or big-girl, but you have to be careful with that one!) you have free will, live and learn!!!

—iChef

Technorati Tags: food, food review, iChef, Opinion, Outback Steak House, Restaurant

Shia LaBeouf is very intense in this action thriller. He was so much better in Eagle Eye than he was in that Indiana Jones ripoff! He’s a very talented actor a who is coming into his own. There is good chemistry with his leading lady—Michelle Monaghan. She has a very familiar look, but I can’t place her.

The movie itself starts off on fire! Chasing, escaping, running, hiding! Action packed, car chasing, car wrecking, and a commanding voice controlling all the action! You don’t know who the voice is or who the voice works for and it totally works, it’s totally compelling! Although I now know who the actual voice was…

Billy Bob Thornton does a good job pulling off the FBI agent tough guy.

The technology is close enough for it to all be very believable.

As good as the movie started I thought it ended quite predictably. It’s been done so many times before. On top of it, the sour note came as they preached to us—Shut up! I’m not interested in your trite preachy political mantra!

The idea and plot of the last Bruce Willis Die Hard movie, Live Free or Die Hard, was much better than Eagle Eye. Eagle Eye was entertaining and exciting I will give you that, but…

—iChef Cinema

Technorati Tags: Action adventure, Billy Bob Thorton, Eagle Eye, Entertainment, Movies, Shia Laboef

Lotta ins, lotta outs, lotta what-have-you’s. It’s a very complicated case, Maude—Jeff Lebowski.

Frank Video: Fannie and Freddie is FINE:

Frank and O’Reilly cage match:

Commentary:

• Baldwin Blames Financial Crisis on Clinton, Dems and Barney Frank by NewsBusters—fun article
  

• Did Frank have a conflict of interest at Fannie Mae? October 4, by USA TERM LIMITS October 3, 2008 by Ed Morrissey

• The More the Culpable! video on The Anchoress:

• Why our financial system nearly collapsed - UPDATED by The Anchoress:

UPDATE 10/07/2008

This in from Ed Morrissey at HotAir: Frank: Criticism of Congress is now racist, too

Barney Frank’s latest defense of Congress over the financial meltdown could be predicted based on the success of Barack Obama’s campaign in using the same defense. According to Rep. Frank, any attempt to pin the blame for the collapse of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac on the activities of both, as well as Congressional policy that fueled it, is now officially racist. Frank says conservatives want to blame minorities for the collapse. Let’s keep score.

Criticizing Obama means we’re racists. Criticizing Congress means we’re racists. Getting angry at Congress for pushing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac into buying bad loans and infecting the entire financial system with essentially fraudulent paper — at a cost of up to $700 billion in taxpayer money and potentially trillions in lost investments — means we’re racists.

How about this from The Anchoress:

Unafraid of being called an “over the line racist” John McCain finally started fighting. And yes, now it’s racist to talk about Fannie Mae. All subjects that might harm Barack Obama’s chances in November: racist. The Dems are finally dulling the effect of that word with their overuse.

Technorati Tags: Barney Frank, Fannie, Freddie, O'Reilly, The Big Lebowski

Well, Joe, actually you didn’t do so bad except for that stupid smile you had on your face from time to time when Palin got a zinger in.

And, actually Palin didn’t do that great—could have avoided the Maverick reference, but because she didn’t give us the Bambi look in the headlights, and she did give us that vivacious hockey-mom-joe-six-pack-feeling that makes us comfortable! Let’s face it she did better than not falling on her face—she stood her own against a formidable fact creating machine.

How about that Gwen Ifill? She was the referee at a contest she can financially benefit from the outcome. Hmm… Even with a conflict of financial interest she did a pretty solid job, I did think a couple of her comments about the two debaters weren’t always even, making Joe Biden look slightly better, but it was subtle. This type of subtle bias now has a name: Soft bias. Ed Morrissey at HotAir wrote: Did soft bias again affect the debate? He’s talking about the latest Obama McCain tussle… Are the days of outright obvious bias over? I guess people are finally getting fed up with being fed what they see and hear—they just don’t want to know about it…

No, she didn’t have the knowledge base to hit back every claim Joe made, but when she could she did stand toe-to-toe and land punches! And no, Joe under strict restrictions not to do anything Joe if you know what I mean and he didn’t. Anything he made up would have to be checked and is now to late to counter affectively. 70 million people are back to grazing and aren’t waiting for the fact checkers to check in—they’ve made up their minds on the spot.

So, I’m going out on a limb to say the real winners of the debate of the century was we the people. We got a half way decent taste and debate of the two sides, without the splash of a lot of mud and spit.

It was satisfying… And as in my previous prediction the scales will tip slightly back to McCain and we still have a race, it’s not over by a long shot—and my outstanding prediction is that it will be in the lawyers hands before we have an answer.

Weighing in all day with an extended post my hero The Anchoress: Palin Biden debate reactions running thread

HotAir and Ed Morrissey: VP Debate analysis: Palin hits home run

And Ace!

Chris Matthews: Obama Won His Debate Because He Was More Attractive and McCain Was Troll-Like; On the Other Hand, Palin Lost the Debate, Despite Her Good “Performance,” Because She Didn’t Provide “Substance”

—Ace

Obama looks good on TV– reason for high praise.

Palin looks good on TV — but we didn’t hear “substance”!

Well, actually we did, Chris. But after making so much of Obama’s skill and gift at working a TV camera, it’s a bit much for you to now denigrate’s Palin’s similar skills and gifts.

Either it’s a superficial reason for choosing a candidate for both of them, or for neither of them.

Cameron Interviews Post-Debate Palin

Technorati Tags: Ace, Biden, Debates, Election 2008, Hotair, Ifill, Palin, The Anchoress Online, Vice President

No responses yet