However, in the scene where Julie, annoyed by her friends and depressed with her job, decides to start a blog* she goes to a web page with Salon and Blogger branding.

I turn to Cynthia and whisper, “I’m certain that Salon was using Radio Userland for their hosted blogs back then!”

She chuckled and whispered “Pedant!” back at me.

Cynthia found the first entry of the actual Julie Powell’s blog, and sure enough:

Why didn’t the production designer keep the Radio Userland/Salon co-branding? Dave Winer’s software was cheated of its star turn!

Meanwhile, both the movie and the blog it’s adapted from are very enjoyable.

Minor Spoiler:

I really got a kick out of the reveal about Avis in the second act. It was a nice way to thematically link Child and Powell. But I doubt there were moral panics about pen-pals.

* A movie about blogging!?! I know. Ten years ago, I’d never imagined that happening.

I like planetalyx’s recipe, with some modifications (the addition of carrots improves many things, not all, but many):

Take a couple of small sweet potatoes or yams, or one big one, peel and grate them. I cheat and use a food processor.

Grate a large, peeled carrot.

Take a large skillet, put in enough oil to substantially coat the bottom, start it heating.

Grate a good sized hunk of ginger root. You’ll want the hand grater for this.

Toss the grated ginger in the oil and stir, wait for it to get fragrant and golden, then toss in the grated sweet potatoes and carrot. That will soak up the oil, so stir it all up again to keep it from sticking and burning. Let it cook for a couple of minutes, then add a half cup of grated firm tofu.

Let it cook down some more, heating everything through.

Dump the hash onto a plate, turn off the burner. Now pour some soy sauce into the pan to deglaze it and pull off the crunchy bits. Pour that over the hash.

Serves 2 to 3 people. Or one hungry one.

Simple to make, and delicious. Leftover tart for breakfast, I think.

Next time I’ll remember to puncture the pastry with a fork so all the caramelized apple, sugar, and butter can soak into the crust.

For the more ambitious, there’s another recipe where you make carmel, stack up some apple slices in that, and bake the assembly with a sheet of pastry on top. [Thanks, Todd]

Now I hope you know there’s more to ramen than Cup o’ Noodles (but everyones who’s ever been a poor student should honor the memory of Ando-san.)

This is from Keyaki, a shop from Sapporo. The broth is miso based, with garlic. That’s shredded onion on top. It’s rich, and the broth holds on to the curly noodles. There’s ground pork, mushroom, and carrot in there as well.

Eating excellent ramen in Yokohama, made by a branch of a shop from Sapporo, in a replica of 1950′s Tokyo, while the radio in the shop plays the Beatles, and you’re one of the two westerners in the building, that’s awesome.

To get there: take the JR Yokohama line to Shin-Yokohama. Take the north exit from the station. Head two short blocks (you’re heading towards the football stadium) and turn left, go another short block and turn right. The ramen museum’s on the left. They charge 300 JPY for admission. 900-1,000 JPY for a bowl of ramen. It gets busy at lunchtime.

Now Ben lives in China, where he’s teaching English in a school outside of Shanghai, and he’s started a weblog full of photos and his observations.

• On becoming an expert
• The artistry of electronics district
• Chinese Keyboards
• Food, of course

Last Friday was the Geek Dinner in Mountain View.

Andy Freeman, Cynthia Gonsalves, myself, Vivian and Bill Lazar, and Dan Lyke (who came all the way down from the North Freakin’ Bay) enjoyed a lovely meal at Cafe Yulong.

Dan’s suggesting another South Bay get together, so if you know of another group-friendly place, let him know.

22 August 2004: And that’s Andy Freeman on the left, not Bill Flitter.

And keep an eye out for GeekDinner.com as a tool to put these events together.

Following my friend Peg’s recipe, I made Avocado Ice Cream:

Puree the flesh of three ripe avocados with 1.5 cups of whole milk. Add one tablespoon of fresh lemon juice, a half cup of sugar, one quarter teaspoon white pepper, and one cup of heavy cream. Whip together. Chill overnight. Freeze in ice cream maker following manufacturer’s directions. Makes approximately one quart.

My friend Janet sampled the ice cream with a selection of fresh fruits, and determined it goes best with cherries. So you could add fresh, chopped cherries to the mix if you wanted to get a presentation that looks like guacamole.

Two of the tasters suggested upping the amount of sugar used, but I think it’s sweet enough.

Next time I’ll add a little green tea to the mix. I suppose the best way would be to steep two or three bags in a small amount of hot water and add that.

organized a Geek Dinner. Bill Lazar suggested throwing one in Mountain View before the end of Summer.

You’re invited to join Bill and I at Cafe Yulong, on Dana Street between Hope and Castro, at 7pm on Friday, August 13th (yeah, yeah, we’re not tridecaphobic.)

To RSVP, send a trackback to this entry, or an email.

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