It’s not us, the Big Bankers, who caused the recession. It’s not us, the Wall Street Warriors, who caused the recession. It’s not us, the Loan Making Lepers, who caused the recession.

“The capitulation of the consumer is the primary catalyst behind what is clearly the first consumer-driven recession in three decades,” wrote Joseph Brusuelas, chief economist for Merk Investments. 

That’s right, folks. It’s all caused by the consumer! We just aren’t spending enough!

Christ almighty, if that’s the determination of a chief economist, I see why we’re so fucked. Maybe, just maybe, you stupid fuck, the consumer cut back spending because they see the house of cards falling all around them.

Someone needs to teach Mr. Brusuelas about cause and effect.

I saw this in a catalog the other day and thought it was a pretty neat idea. Simple and useful.

You plug it into an outlet and it provides a little shelf for the phone. It wouldn’t work in all situations, but I can see more than a few people with phone charging in the kitchen using this.

Check them out here: Driinn Mobile Phone Holder

Here’s a quick weeknight meal that gives you some tasty morsels of chicken along with a good dose of veggies. I normally hate veggies, but this is a good way to get some fresh ones in your meal. It looks long all written up, but it comes together very quickly and much of it can be done ahead of time, or resused for several meals.

The Chicken

Take about a pound of chicken and cut into bit sized chunks. Using kitchen shears makes this a lot easier. Use two large breasts, or three boneless thighs. I typically use thighs because they are cheaper and taste better (less likely to dry out).

Put the chunks of chicken in a bowl and mix with about 1 tsp of kosher salt (1/2 tsp table) and 1 Tbl of Cajun Spice Mix (use my recipe or store bought–if store bought, omit the extra salt). Let this spiced raw chicken mix sit for at least a 1/2 hour, overnight is okay if you want to prepare ahead of time.

The Sauce

In a small mixing cup (I love my 1 cup Pyrex), pour in 1/4 cup of hot wings sauce (get a big jar of Frank’s Red Hot–Frank’s is more mellow than most), 1/4 cup of lime juice (fresh is best, but bottled is fine), and then a little less than 1/4 cup of honey (use the bulk/cheaper stuff). You should end up with a little less than 3/4 cup of liquid. Mix to combine. This can be made ahead of time.

The Veggies

Any cruncy type veggies will do. I cut carrots into matchsticks and celery into thin slices. Cucumber would work too. Maybe even cruncy bean sprouts. Any veggie you like that can be eaten raw. Use about 1-2 carrots, depending on size, and a stalk or two of celery. Make sure everthing is bite sized, like you would for a salad.

The Topping

This is optional, but gives a good flavor contrast to the spicy chicken.

1/4 cup mayo
2 Tbl milk
1 Tbl lemon (or lime) juice
1 tsp Worcestershire
2 Tbl chopped fresh parsley (optional)
1/4 cup crumbled blue cheese (recommended, but optional)

Mix the above in a small container and chill.

The Container

All of this stuff will get put into some Boston (or Bibb) lettuce leaves. These are smaller heads of lettuce that have very well defined cup-shaped leaves. They are more study than pure-water iceberg lettuce. You want to wash and dry about 4 leaves per person.

The Cooking

Heat a large fry / saute pan over medium-high heat. Bare metal is best. Add 1 Tbl oil and let it get hot (just about smoking). Saute the chicken pieces until they begin to brown, about 3 minutes or so. Move them around a bit during the process, but don’t cook them all the way. A little raw is good.

Reduce heat to medium-low and pour in the hot sauce mixture. Use your spatula to scrap the browned bits off the bottom of the pan. Let simmer until the sauce thickens, anywhere from 5 to 10 minutes. You want to end up with a pretty thick sauce.

The Assembly

Put a little bit of chicken into each of the lettuce leaves. Arrange veggies so that each person can add them as desired, or just put them on top. Top with a little of the blue cheese / mayo mixture.

Multiple Meals

We usually end up with extra sauce topping and veggies, so we just put them in the fridge for a repeat in a day or so. Then all I have to do is the meat and hot sauce part, which takes no more than 20 minutes.

I’m going to use this in an uncoming recipe. You can buy Cajun Spice Mixes at the store, but I find most store brands are too heavy on the salt and too light on the spice. Make a big jar of this and keep in on hand. I usually multiply the below by four to make a big batch.

2 Tb paprika
2 tsp onion powder
2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp ground corriander
1 tsp table salt
1/2 tsp ground white pepper
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

Evelyn really enjoys a meal called Dan Dan Mian. I make a homemade variation, and one of the toppings is some fresh bean sprouts.

If you have ever bought bean sprouts you know that they go bad quickly. Usually a day or two later they are slimey and nasty. There is a simple solution: water.

Here’s what you do: When you get home, rinse out the bean sprouts. Then put them in an airtight container (a cleaned out pasta sauce jar is good) and cover completely with water. Make sure they are all covered in water. They will hold for an amazing amount of time (I’ve got some that are still crisp and good after more than two weeks). It’s a good idea to change the water every couple of days, but I often forget.

So, no more last minute rushes to the store to get bean sprouts. Just keep ‘em under water and they’ll be fine.

Job losses reported in 41 states! The Dow on a roller coaster! Pumping cash into the system, and yet the system still doesn’t recover. Welcome to 1929! Except without the cheap booze.

I don’t know about you, but I know one thing that’s gonna make up the minds of a lot of middle-class independents: The 3rd quarter 401K statements. Nothing like losing 20% of your retirement — in just 9 months!

On a side note, I’ve been too lazy & too busy to write up much about the Maker Faire. Make sure to check out Evelyn’s blog. She’s put up some pics and videos.

It’s been nearly a year since I first got my Chumby. It’s a neat little gadget, with wireless widget goodness. However, it didn’t have a “killer app”. But now, finally, I think it does. That app is Pandora.

The Chumby already had internet radio stations, but I really didn’t have the time to wade through them. With Pandora I put in “Kate Bush” and it goes out and builds a playlist of songs by and like Kate. It’s a neat way to hear music from artists you may like, but have never heard. Some of the stuff is a little obvious (too much Tori Amos and Sarah McLachlan for my Kate Bush taste) but it’s pretty good at guessing.

And, believe it or not, but the little Chumby, with its rear-firing speakers, sounds pretty darn good. I’ve got it sitting in front of my keyboard, snuggled between my two monitors.

I have to set up a temporary wireless connection for my work PC. So I got a Linksys USB Network Adapter. The sticker on the device says “Run CD First”. Fine. Except that the “Vista Users Only” sheet says “DO NOT RUN THE SETUP WIZARD CD”. Instead, I’m supposed to download the drivers from their site.

So, someone tell me, how do I download drivers from their site when I don’t have a network connection? After all, that’s why I bought the Network Adapter in the first place. You know, to have a network connection.

As if that isn’t enough, there’s another Quick Installation guide in the box that tells me that the CD is only for Vista users. Though the CD says “designed for XP”. 

Jesus Christ. Are there ANY compitent people out there anymore? I’m thinking not.

…and see if you can tell the difference between this debate and the current presidential boondoggle.

At the Maker Faire today we picked up a couple of pieces of art from local Austin artist Jamie Rood. He’s an artist who takes high dynamic range photographs, works his magic in PhotoShop, and then prints to canvas. The results are really cool. The landscapes, especially his panoramas of Austin, are stunning.

One that I got for over my desk is of the Texas countryside. In a tiny one bedroom apartment it gives me a nice “window” to look out of. It’s 26″ wide by 11″ high.

Click on the below image for a larger view. My photo sucks compared to the real-deal.