tim merritt [dot] net

Setting Up the Perfect Ubuntu Linux Desktop – informBank

Still hoping to use this for a family system, and to improve my networking/command line skills.

From the NY Times, 28 June 2006

Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 2-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and minced
1 large shallot, peeled and sliced
2 English cucumbers, peeled, halved lengthwise and sliced ¼-inch thick
Salt and freshly ground white pepper
2½ pounds king salmon fillet, skinned, pin bones removed
½ cup chardonnay
1 lemon
½ cup crème fraîche
1 tablespoon minced chives.

1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Melt butter over low heat in a skillet. Add ginger and shallot and sauté briefly, until softened. Add cucumbers, season with salt and pepper and sauté until almost translucent. Spread in a baking dish large enough to hold salmon. Do not wash skillet.

2. Place salmon on cucumbers. Pour chardonnay around salmon. Season with salt and pepper and sprinkle with juice of half the lemon. Cover with a sheet of parchment or wax paper. Place in oven and cook 45 minutes for medium rare, 50 to 55 minutes for more well-cooked. Because fish is slow-roasted, it will remain quite red in center.

3. Transfer salmon to a large platter with a rim. Transfer cucumber mixture to skillet and cook down for 5 minutes. Stir in crème fraîche and cook until sauce is consistency of heavy cream. Season with salt, pepper and remaining lemon juice. Pour mixture around fish. Sprinkle fish with chives and serve.

6 servings.

And, um damn this sounds good.

Had a car wreck today with Jack in the car – as far as we know now, nothing worse than a bump on my head from one of those hand-holds on the interior of the car right above the door – mild concussion, a gash with 8 staples in it, a little stiffness, and burn on the back of my hand from the airbag (who knew they could burn you?). Jack’s just a little bruised. The car is totalled; the other car crossed the median from the northbound side of Peachtree Industrial and T-boned our Civic. Fortunately most of the impact seems to have been on the left front wheel, and less on the driver’s side door with me right on the other side of it. Don’t know much about the other folks; apparently they went to another hospital.

Poor Ellen heard it happen over the phone; she was in Dallas TX and due to return midday, and was talking to Jack when the other car came our way. She heard him say “Oh s—-”, heard the impact, Jack saying to me “Oh my god, Tim” a couple of times, and me disoriented and moaning. Then the connection broke. I saw the car just before it hit, and the next thing I knew was realizing the airbags had opened and that the red stuff on them was blood from my head.

We got out of the car – I couldn’t open my door, and remember realizing I had to get out on Jack’s side, but I don’t remember doing it. A guy who saw the wreck helped me out on the passenger side, Jack tells me. Jack also immediately called 911, and I suppose some other folks did too, as police and EMTs were there within minutes. I had time to call Ellen back and let her know we were both okay, but it was quite traumatic for her, not knowing for those minutes what had happened to us.

May you never have an ambulance ride to a hospital while strapped to a backboard. It wasn’t awful, though; I just wish the necessity of it on no one. The EMTs, Ashley and Portia, were very good, though they cut our clothes off – we were in just our boxers for a while (mothers everywhere, know that we had clean underwear on). Jack seemed fine, but I’m guessing they did it to him because they thought he was a hottie. (Joke.) A few hours in the emergency room – we got into exam rooms immediately – then waits for for X-rays and a CAT scan for me and then the staples in the gash on my head.

All told I got home about 6 hours after the wreck, had something to eat, and slept the rest of the afternoon away. Now I’m ignoring work email.

I’ve posted pictures. We had our camera in the car, and while the EMTs were strapping me to the backboard just in case, I had Jack take some shots. He was great – calm throughout. I hope the other folks are okay. Altogether more than enough excitement for the month.

Update: Apparently, comments are broken. Working to fix this. Thanks to all who wrote to say so.

Photos de Paris, ville lumière
“Photos of Pairs, City of Light” – high-resolution 360º panorama images of Paris at night. They’re only just beautiful. I want to go.

I am apparently late in finding the show with zefrank but it’s never too late.

How to install ANYTHING in Ubuntu!

Well, I hope to make use of this.

The New York Times, In Search of a Pan That Lets Cooks Forget About Teflon. How did they know I was looking for just such a replacement…? We’ve got a handful of them now, including a roasting pan, and now I realize they were not good investmenst, nor good gifts to ask for. High heat is apparently not good for the pan or the people using them, so it’s no more non-stick pans. Next will be to replace – eventually – the pretty and easy-to-clean glass cooktop with one that works better with heavy pans like Le Creuset (i.e. gas).

Liquid City: Just Add Dixie Cups, in which Corina Zappia of the Village Voice recommends picnic wines. Via Robot Wisdom.

Printing with Ubuntu

WindowsReinstall.com – XP, Vista, 2000, NT, 98, ME, 95, 3.1: repair, reinstall, install, upgrade any Windows operating system

Blogging this as a reference for the boys.

‘American Movie Critics’ – The New York Times Book Review – New York Times

Clive James on American critics through the first century of movies. Seems he doesn’t like theorists….

Download Now: The Free iPod Book 2.0

It’s here: The Free iPod Book 2.0, by iLounge.com! Weighing in at 194 pages, this revised and expanded second edition of our popular Book is your one-stop answer to every major iPod and iTunes question… plus much, much more.

I hope some of the Top 100 summer wines listed in the Times of London Online are available here in Atlanta.

I’m really enjoying my little garden. There are green tomatoes the size of plums already, the squash blossoms are big and bright bright yellow every morning, and we’ve made pesto with some of the basil and gazpacho with some of the parsley. I water it at least every other day, I’ve mulched successfully, I pick the suckers off the tomato plants. I’m really getting my hopes up… I’m becoming a gardener, and I like it.

As serendipitous reinforcement, a couple of days ago I found A how-to for container plants at Slate, a gardening column by Constance Casey – “a former newspaper editor [and] a New York City Department of Parks gardener for five years.” Seems like sound advice, enjoyable to read.