Mark L. Van Name's Blog, page 126

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A little something new from PT

Over at Principled Technologies, where I work, we're doing something new for us:  A periodic Web series.  In this series, we're talking about projects we've recently completed, and sometimes we're also having a little fun.

Check out the first episode.



The second is also now live.



If you'd like to catch them all, just go to them on PT's YouTube channel, and click the Subscribe button under either one.

Enjoy!

The real flavors of summer

Summer brings an amazing bounty of fruits and vegetables, but if you don't shop locally or eat at restaurants that do, you might never know it.  Summer is the season of amazing flavors, and you owe it to yourself to sample them. 

Tomatoes of types you've never seen explode in your mouth with flavor--but only if you buy them fresh.  Onions taste new and sweet.  Cucumbers are rich and flavorful.  So many amazing vegetables and fruits are available only now, and only if you get them fresh. 

If you're eating out, try somewhere that sources its ingredients locally.  More and more restaurants do.  They typically won't be chains, and the food might cost you a little bit more than the chain fare, but the tastes are worth the fee. 

If you're shopping for vegetables, support local farmers as much as you can afford.  After you've sampled heirloom tomatoes, you will never look at the greenhouse variety the same way. 

If your budget permits, support local places, and reap a reward of amazing flavors. 

Guardians of the Galaxy

is everything a summer action blockbuster should be.  Blending action, humor, interesting characters, and enough honest emotion to keep you involved, it is a rollicking good time that you absolutely should not miss.

I'm not going to lie to you:  The movie is also dumb, irreverent, giddy with its universe and itself, not entirely self-consistent, and definitely not above using its wonderful soundtrack or easy-to-invoke feelings to tug at your heartstrings.

I don't care about any of that.  Director and co-writer James Gunn remembers that movies can be full of fun and wonder, that we can both care and laugh, and he delivers on all those fronts.

The trailers have already told you more than you need to know about the plot, so I'm not going to add any spoiler.

Get to a theater and catch Guardians of the Galaxy.  You'll be glad you did--and there's a very good chance you'll leave with at least one of its classic songs playing in your head.

Don't miss Panciuto this summer

I've written many times about what a great restaurant Panciuto is, and after a recent meal there, I have to say it again.  Chef Aaron Vandemark creates marvelous, locally sourced dinners that blend Italian and Southern cooking to amazing effect.  The wide variety of wonderful ingredients available in the summer lets him create especially scrumptious dishes.

Consider this beauty, a dish he called, "Summer plate."

Click the image to see a larger version.
Fried green tomatoes, cucumbers in a light sauce, corn salad--so many great tastes in one appetizer.

My first course was fried rabbit with cucumbers, watermelon, and more.


Wow, was it delicious.  As I've said many times, Aaron is a wizard with a fryer.

For my main, I chose a farfalle pasta with house-made pork sausage, goat cheese, tomatoes, and greens.


As pretty as it is, this dish tasted even better.

I wasn't planning to show my dessert, but no food-porn meal would be complete without it.  Check out this amazing concoction of peanut butter, chocolate, honey, and so much more.


I'm not normally a fan of desserts that involve peanut butter, but this was good enough to make me seriously reconsider that position.

Aaron is a great guy, and every person I've met on his staff has been super.  The restaurant is a local business, and it buys almost everything it uses from local suppliers.  The food is amazing.  Support Panciuto, and enjoy great meals as you do.

Lucy

is a hot mess of a film, one of those rare movies I just can't make up my mind about.  Some in our group found it horrible, most of us mostly enjoyed watching it, and no one loved it.  After much thought, I've come to the conclusion that Lucy is exactly what writer/director Luc Besson wanted it to be, the realization of his particular vision of the singularity--and that his vision didn't make for a very satisfying movie ending.

The film starts well, with Scarlett Johansson--and, later, others--being abducted and operated on so that they could act as drug mules carrying bags of blue crystals in their abdomens.  As the trailer shows, other bad guys hurt Johansson and break open her bag, causing the drug to leak into her system, and we're off to the singularity races.

The ensuing events range from vaguely logical--her getting smarter--to absurd--I won't spoil it for you, but the scenes on the plane come to mind--and then we're in Paris, where the plot kicks into high gear. 

With the exception of the absurd scenes, the movie more or less hangs together until we reach the conclusion, at which point Besson avoids anything resembling a satisfying ending and instead follows his vision to its logical conclusion.  I can't say you'll like the ending, because no one I know has, but I've come to respect it.  Besson went where he wanted to go, and that's kind of a cool thing.

If you're a Besson fan, a Johansson fan, or a fan of movies about the singularity, Lucy, problems notwithstanding, is a must-see.  For everyone else, if you're up for eighty percent of a good action film, you could do worse.

For me, I'm glad to have seen it, and I like that Besson followed his vision.  I just wish his vision had included a more interesting conclusion.

On the road again: Austin, day 5

I'm home, and I'm very glad to be here. 

Morning was work, followed by the usual fun process of checking out, driving to the airport, checking in, etc. 

Lunch at the Austin airport, though, was a true treat:  brisket and sausage from The Salt Lick, followed by a small cup of Amy's ice cream.  Those two options make the Austin airport the best place to eat of any airport I know. 

Now, to unpack a bit, and then to crash.

On the road again: Austin, day 4

Once again, I can't talk about all the very interesting meetings today.  Sorry about that. 

Dinner was a tasty meal with friends and clients at Perry's Steakhouse & Grill, a classic steakhouse.  In keeping with tradition, I had a Caesar salad and an eight-ounce filet.  Both were delicious.

One of our group ordered the bread pudding.  It arrived with the largest marshmallow I have ever seen sitting atop it.  In this picture, the marshmallow has fallen off the bread pudding and is closest to the camera.


By way of context, that chunk of bread pudding was nearly the size of my fist.

That was one Texas-sized marshmallow!

Tomorrow, I fly home!

On the road again: Austin, day 3

Another day of interesting meetings and cool technology, another day of stuff I cannot discuss.

Another 19-hour workday, another day on the road.

Dinner was a lovely meal with a client and friend at Uchiko, a light and delicious Japanese treat.  I've recommended Uchiko before, and I wholeheartedly do so again.  We followed the dinner with dessert at a nearby Amy's, always a treat. 

Now, I fall over and go boom.

On the road again: Austin, day 2

Work filled almost all the hours of the day, so there's not much I can talk about.

Around 8:00 p.m., the evening turned absolutely beautiful, balmy and breezy, but most of the day was very hot.  I do not heart the Austin summer heat.

Dinner this evening was at Frank, a sort of Austin-hip hot-dog joint.  The food was good but not great, with healthiness not a consideration for most of the menu.  My favorite oddity, which of course I had to try, was The Notorious P.I.G.

Click the image to see a larger version.
Yeah, that's macaroni and cheese on top of a house-made sausage and underneath some barbecue sauce.

If you're into odd hot dogs and sausages, Frank is worth checking out.