Continued Nerditude

We followed up Wootstock and PAX with a concert at the Hat Factory, Jonathan Coulton and Paul and Storm. This was the second time they have come to this venue. They were great the first time and better this second time with new material on both sides.
We showed up ready for some Aperture Science



The show was great, with an awesome crowd. appropriate songs such as a Mother's day song

Mother's Day Song from Eugenio Monasterio on Vimeo.

In keeping with mother's day... the Vagina song

vagina song from Eugenio Monasterio on Vimeo.

and as usuall, another version of Fancy Pants by Jonathan Coulton

Fancy Pants from Eugenio Monasterio on Vimeo.

Great Show at a great venue.

A Season of Nerd

This is a late post on geeking it up with my kids. I previously posted on taking my daughter to W00tstock in NYC, and in return I took my son to PAX East in Boston this year.



PAX (Penny Arcade Expo) is perhaps the most fan based gaming exposition in the country. It is run the way gamers would enjoy, the unoficial motto is "Don't be a Dick" the security is all volunteer force of "enforcers" cookies are sold to benefit Childs Play and concerts are held on the first two nights.

Welcome to PAX from Eugenio Monasterio on Vimeo.

We cruised through the exhibitor section,



and my son liked this the most so we spent a lot of time playing prerelease games.



3d games, kinect games, etc. I had planned on attending more of the talks and sessions but the boy was having too much fun, so I hung with him.






We did have great food though we managed our time between the conference and great food. We ate at the Legal Test food Kitchen, which is a test restaurant for Legal Sea Food.



(During happy hour oysters are a dollar),



The Barking Crab great seafood, although a very crowded touristy place.





In the evenings concerts dominated the expo.



But on the first night, The Omeganauts dominated the scene with a live giant Jenga competition.

PAX Jenga 1 from Eugenio Monasterio on Vimeo.

PAX Jenga 2 from Eugenio Monasterio on Vimeo.

PAX Jenga 3 from Eugenio Monasterio on Vimeo.

PAX Jenga 4 from Eugenio Monasterio on Vimeo.

PAX Jenga 5 from Eugenio Monasterio on Vimeo.

PAX Jenga 6 from Eugenio Monasterio on Vimeo.

PAX Jenga 7 from Eugenio Monasterio on Vimeo.

That was followed by a concert, so we never made it back to the hotel till very late. The next morning



we rallied





we chilled in the sumo lounge



and hung out at the Harpoon brewery



Tremendous collection of beer cans... billy beer



old school ">Schafer


Generic beer



We played some old school arcade games



The concerts where awesome, but our favorite was Jonathan Coulton

Mr Fancy Pants from Eugenio Monasterio on Vimeo.

I am glad to be shopping here with you + Mandelbrot Set from Eugenio Monasterio on Vimeo.

Go check out his songs at JonathanCoulton.com
We had a great time, check out PAX with your kids.

Mofongo de Yuca

mofongo
Originally uploaded by EatingVideo

I had a Yuca root sitting around and decided to make a mofongo with it. It's the same technique as when making a plantain mofongo. Frying the yuca in two steps and combining it with pork chicharron garlic and salt. So I cut up the yuca in pieces.






then fried the Yuca first at 350 deg till soft, around 10 minutes



Then at 400 for just a couple of minutes



I had a piece of roasted pork (head in this case)



I fried up the skin to make the chicharron



I then combined two cloves of garlic, some peppercorns, salt and oregano in the mortar and created a paste. The yuca was then pounded in the mortar in 3-4 batches and turned into a chunky mash. I mixed in the pork crackling and roughly molded it



Turned out very tasty with a garlicky pork taste.

Octopus Terrine

octopus terrine
Originally uploaded by EatingVideo

I had bought a pair if frozen octopi the last time I was at the fish store, The act of freezing the octopus actually makes it more tender after cooking. Defrosted the octopus in the fridge over a couple of days and tried to decide what to make. I was going to make it for escabeche with capers, olives, onion and peppers, or a traditional galician way but decided instead to make a terrine that either way if it fell apart or had leftovers I could still make into escabeche.



defrosted octopi

I set a pot of water to boil, with no salt (it's supposed to make the octopus more chewy) a couple of bay leaves, peppercorns, and a penny (traditionaly octopus is cooked in a copper pot which gives it a darker color.)



I then dunked the octopus into the water 3 times letting the water come back to a boil after each dunk.



We shot a bit of a ponderous video of the whole process

terrine of octopus from Eugenio Monasterio on Vimeo.

As you can see we cooked potato in the same water after the octopus was done. The octopus was seasoned and placed in the terrine with plastic wrap, and unmolded the next day.



My son says it looks like a fossil. We served up the potato with pimenton



and served it all up



Served with some olive oil and some sea salt on the side. Turned out very tasty and makes a cool presentation.

THREE MONSTER FISH HEADS IN A BROKEDOWN COOLER MAKE A DAMN FINE CURRY

Fish head curry story on Stunt Foodways.



Stunt Foodways

Hot's Kitchen in Hermosa Beach California

My brother in law's restaurant in Hermosa Beach. He now runs two restaurants in California. Working hard and doing good work.

Hot's Kitchen Hermosa Beach from Rima Lyn on Vimeo.

National Pancake Day

National pancake day
Originally uploaded by EatingVideo

In honor of National Pancake Day we had pancakes for dinner. It was a great succes.
We assembled topings









Heated up the griddle (dog looks on)



and cooked some pancakes



The boy ordered bacon chocolate chip





Fun night with the kids.