In many previous posts, I mentioned my quest to go the entire winter without turning on my heat. It appears I'll be most likely be able to reach that goal.
I've been lucky for a few reasons. First, though the temperatures were below freezing for a stretch in December (where my resolve wavered a bit), it's been quite balmy here in Vancouver for the last two weeks or so. The temperature has been hovering around 11 degrees Celsius. It's so warm that I've put away my winter coat for several weeks now and I'm hoping it can stay where it is.
Second, through means that I'm still unsure of, the hallway outside my apartment is heated somehow. Through pure luck, a vent located opposite my entry door circulates air throughout the hallway. It actually blows air into my apartment through a small gap underneath my door. It's a small amount but technically my apartment is partially heated via that air flow.
For my next trick, I'm going to see how long I can without bathing to save water.
Since I have a headache tonight, please enjoy the latest trailer for Kick-Ass. By the way, if you've seen the red-band trailer, I don't think that little girl should be using that language.
In the middle of this whole late night NBC mess, Conan O'Brien released a statement today, addressing the issue. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that he was classy, funny, and strong with his words.
With the line, "for 17 years, I've been getting paid to do what I love most and, in a world with real problems, I've been absurdly lucky", we realize that Conan understands that overall, this is a pretty silly thing for the media to be concentrating on. After all, we are talking about the controversy surrounding men who tell jokes for a living and who are already millionaires several times over. In light of the recent events in Haiti, it makes the situation seem even sillier. The media, however, loves this type of stuff.
Having said that, it's amazing to see the majority of the public's support behind Conan. From the "team conan" tweets to "I'm with Coco!", it appears at least with the Internet, Conan has everyone's sympathy. I am a bit surprised though that there does appear to be some support for Jay Leno though. I've read several things online where people have voiced their support for Leno. I guess anyone can have fans, even if you don't have a sense of shame.
Among the small community of late night talk show hosts though, it's clear that almost everyone is rooting for Conan. You can bet Letterman is in Conan's camp, after all, he got screwed the same way almost 20 years ago. Jimmy Fallon owes his show to Conan. What about Kimmel? Watch this clip. He did his entire show like that.
The power went out in my area last night which prevented me writing a post a last night. How very unfortunate. I kinda just sat in the dark for a while and then just went to bed.
Despite the fact that I love seafood, enjoying eating sushi, and live on the west coast, I didn't eat my first raw oyster until Friday night. At least to me, this is surprising since if you counted up the number of cooked oysters, clams, mussels, and scallops I've eaten it would probably number in the hundreds. Yet my first raw oyster was consumed at Rodney's at the beginning of the weekend.
A friend suggested that I start off with a small oyster as a large, slimey one would be a tough first choice. I grabbed one of the smaller ones. It looked like the oyster had melted in the shell as it appeared more liquid than solid. A grabbed a lemon wedge and squeezed some juice on it. Then I chose one of the milder condiments that were available and put it on the oyster as well.
With my oyster all ready to go, I managed to just about swallow the whole thing in one go, except one last tiny chewy part that required some effort. It tasted pretty good but I mainly just detected lemon juice, the condiment, and a mild hint of ocean water. I think people eat raw oysters chiefly for the texture more than anything else. I had been warned by my friend that it wouldn't really taste like anything other than the "ocean".
After consuming my first raw oyster, I began to think it wasn't that bad after all. Not two minutes later, the after taste hit me. As I described it to my companions, it now tasted like "the ocean had died in my mouth". Fortunately, it wasn't anything that a swig of beer couldn't solve. Soon after, I was chasing the raw oyster with about eight pan-fried ones. By the way, the cooked oysters I had were probably the best ones I've tasted.
Since I wanted to continue my seafood delights, I then finished the evening off with their Manhattan clam chowder. It was alright but I have to admit, I think White Spot makes a better clam chowder. It did make me want to try their New England clam chowder though.
Next week, I'm thinking about trying haggis for the first time.
