Blog Post Number 1524

On September 5, 2006, I began this blog, Order from Chaos, with the tagline, "An opportunity to comment on a life very full, with room for improvement, and little time to do it."  Since that day, I hope that you have enjoyed the content that I have posted here.  Those of you who know me, know that I like numbers, so here are some, as I hang up my shoes for this blog (as a regularly scheduled poster, anyway - I might post on occasion now and then).

I want to thank all of you, my dear readers, for traveling along with me.  It's been a great ride, and I'll check in now and again to see how you all are doing and to give you an update on the Brave Astronaut Clan.

• 2 - the number of places I have lived during the life of this blog.  We're pretty settled at the Launchpad right now, I don't think we're moving again anytime soon.
• 3 - the number of series that were posted on the blog: Presidents of the United States, States of the Union, and Signers of the Declaration.  I had thought about a series on UN Member States, but it never came to fruition.
• 6 - the number of blogs I have maintained.  2 are private and specific to my and Mrs. BA's family but have not been "turned on" yet.  One was a political blog that I started - but it is entirely too painful to write about politics right now, I'm just trying to keep my head down and get through this nightmare.  We had a spinoff blog, Take Me Drunk, I'm Home, which was between my friends in a friendly competition for their best drunk stories.  There was also a blog for the fantasy baseball league that I was part of for a few years.
• 10 - I posted about September 11 on September each year beginning in 2006.
• 10, about to be 11 is the age of SoBA, who was not born when this blog was started.  LBA turns 14 and enters the 8th grade at the end of August.
• 12 x 5 - I did "The 12 Posts of Christmas" five times over the history of the blog.  "Christmas" my favorite holiday was tagged 95 times in the blog.
• 19 - the number of people who are following this blog.
• 21 - the number of New Years Resolutions that I have posted on the blog, some were repeated from year to year, which should tell you how good I am at keeping those resolutions.
• 29 - the number of stories I have in my "Feedly, Read Later" list. Feedly is where I get a lot of my recipes and other things that I have posted along the way.
• 31 - the number of posts that I created during Blogtober 2012.
• 67 - number of tags for "On This Date" - as an archivist and a "history geek" I tend to mark anniversaries when things come up.  I have also posted regularly on space items (including the launchpad fire that killed the Apollo 1 astronauts (Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee), as I am (and always will be) the Brave Astronaut.
• 569 - Mondays became Recipe Mondays - there have been 569 recipes posted here (my penultimate blog post was recipe 569, back in May - and I haven't posted to the blog since then).  The first recipe was for Overnight Waffles.  The most commented (12 comments) on recipe was for Pistachio Gelato.
• 928 - the number of friends I have on Facebook, which is where I spend most of my time, though even that is hard with the current new situation.
• 2561 / 239 / 390 - the number of tweets / people I am following / people that follow me on Twitter.  I'm not there much anymore - but come and follow me. @legloaj
• 2578 / 359,766 - number of views of the blog over the last month / number of page views of the blog all time (the number of views of the blog by Russia is the highest (334) - but no, they haven't done anything with our systems, right?

Oh, and two last numbers

• 97 - the number of days until the 2018 midterm elections, get out and vote.
• 903 - the number of days until January 20, 2021.

It's Blogtober!

I am going to attempt to post something everyday this month.  I have a lot of things in my Google Reader that I can draw upon and I have a fairly full schedule of things that I will be doing this month that will eat up a few more posts.  And there's always Recipe Mondays and State of the Union Thursdays to fill in the rest.

October is named after the Latin, "octo" for eight, but retained its name after January and February were added to the Roman calendar.  If you are looking for something else to celebrate in the month of October (other than October / Playoff baseball), the month is also known as:

• National Pizza Month
• National Popcorn Poppin’ Month
• National Pork Month (United States)
• National Sausage Month
• National Squirrel Awareness Month

I'm looking forward to the challenge and hope that you will all hang with me for the month of Blogtober!

Post Number 1000

This is my 1000th post.   Statistics and observations are below - but I want to begin by noting the closure of an event that had a significant impact on my childhood.  Thirty-three years ago Friday Etan Patz disappeared on his way to school.  He was six years old and was walking to school alone for the first time.  Etan became the most famous missing child in New York City.  I was 11 years old when Etan disappeared and my parents and my friends parents started to look a little more carefully as where we were going.  Living on Long Island - my friends and I were aware of what had happened, as much as pre-teens were aware at that time.

It was announced yesterday that NYC Police had arrested an individual who had implicated himself in the disappearance and death of Etan Patz.  Patz's parents still live in the apartment where Etan left from and I hope that they can find peace.  Nothing will ever bring Etan back but at least they can now know what happened to him.  Rest in peace Etan.
____________________________________________________________


So here we are. A significant milestone. 1000 blog posts. Here's some highlights.

My first post was September 5, 2006. No comments.  The first post to receive a comment was my first post about September 11 (September 11, 2006). I have posted each year on that somber anniversary. Mondays soon became Recipe Day on Order from Chaos. Here's the first one, September 25, 2006 - remember what it was for? How many recipes have there been? 274 (at least four did not contain recipes for food - and while there were similarities, there have been no repeaters) And how many of them have I made or eaten? 64.  My most commented blog post to date was "I've Reached Two Score" December 19, 2007, which garnered thirteen comments, on my reaching the age of 40.

According to the tagging - this blog has been "about me" 250 times; "archives," "mandatory archival content," or archives conferences about 200 times; sports 121 times; history and politics more than 160 times.

For those who are really interested in the "metadata" here's the complete tag list for the postings.  While some posts have clearly been multiple tagged, my tagging has not been consistent.

• 9/11 (6), About Me (251), Anniversary (15), Archives (100), Art (9), At Home (26)
• Baseball (62), Basketball (7), Birthday (21), BlogDay2007 (1), Blogging (38), Books (39)
• Candy (5), Cars (1), Cats (3), Christmas (48), Cleaning (1), Coffee (4), College (8), Comedy (3), Commuting (3), Computers (3), Conferences (44), Crime (3)
• Dining Out (12), Dreams (1), Drink (17), Education (4), Europe (5), Family (56), Fashion (1), Fatherhood (22), Food (68), Football (12), Friends (1), Fun and Games (10)
• Geography (3), Girl Scouts (3), Golf (20), Government (7), Guest Blogger (10)
• Health (12), History (107), Hockey (43), Holidays (68), Humor (7), Ice Cream (2), Issues (1)
• Language (1), Libraries (16), Lighthouses (4), Lists (81), Literature (1), Local (3), Long Island (5), Lunch Bunch (1)
• MAC (Mandatory Archival Content) (8), Magazines (2), MARAC (27), March Drunken Madness (4), Meme (21), Movies (53), Moving (9), Museums (6), Music (28)
• New Years Resolutions (5), New York (37), News (124), Nostalgia (42)
• Obituary (6), On the Road (15), On this Date (42), Out on the Town (24), Poetry (2), Politics (55)
• Quiz (38), Radio (4), Real Estate (1), Recipes (274), Religion (6), Restaurants (6), Reviews (4)
• SAA (12), SAA2007 (6), Science (1), Shopping (14), Space (17), Sports (22), States of the Union (20), Summer (13)
• Teaching (5), Technology (1), Telephone (6), Television (49), The American President (65), The Web (6), Theater (9), Toys (4), Traffic (17), Travel (4)
• Vacation (23), Video (43), Washington DC (35), Weather (11), Wine (3), Winter (4), Women (4), Work (10)

Some other numbers of note:

• 46,146 - number of page views on Order from Chaos
• 2,237 - number of total comments across the blog
• 2,091 - number of days between post 1 and post 1000
• 1,048 - highest number of page views for a blog post, "Ring Dings vs. Ding Dongs, Discuss"
• 952 - number of referrals from Anna VS's blog (the most referrals)
• 789 - number of page views (the most of all the recipe pages) for "Mom's Beefaroni"
• 587 - Facebook friends (I joined Facebook after starting this blog and have reconnected with a lot of old friends and high school classmates)
• 402 - number of page views for the 100th Post of Order from Chaos
• 309 - the number of page views for the American President series, for Herbert Hoover
• 107 - number of different tags / labels used on the blog
• 44 - my current age
• 27 - number of years I have been out of high school - I attempted to organize a 25 year reunion in 2010 to limited success
• 18 - number of followers to Order from Chaos
• 17 - number of years I have been working as an archivist
• 10 - number of years I have been married to Mrs. BA
• 7 - current age of LBA (who is older than this blog)
• 5 - number of years I have been with my current employer
• 5 - the number of other blogs I have created during this time: The Political Point (not current - but may be coming back); National Archives Fantasy Baseball (the blog for my fantasy baseball league - also has not been kept up); Take Me Drunk, I'm Home (the March Madness drinking stories contest blog) and two family oriented blogs created for my family and Mrs. BA's family.
• 4 - current age of SoBA (who is younger than this blog)
• at least 4 - number of "blends" (blogging friends) I have made since I started blogging
• 3 - number of cars I have owned during this blog's life - we are down to just one
• 2 - series created on Order from Chaos - one on the Presidents of the US and one on the States of the Union (in progress) - there may be another one next year, I'm still thinking about what it will be.

So there it is.  I am still enjoying this and will continue to blog.  I hope that you have enjoyed stopping by and will keep coming back.

Thanks,
Brave Astronaut

Are You There Readers? It's Me, Brave Astronaut

Yes, I'm still here. The highly anticipated Rapture came . . . and went. It would seem most of us are still here. Evidently it's been rescheduled. Since I last posted (a recipe on April 25) a lot has happened and I have been trying to keep my head above water with all the things going on. I apologize for my absence and hope that you have been standing by waiting for my return. I will try and be better going forward. Let's say that here on the night of the first official (?) / unofficial (?) Republican Presidential Debate - I'm tan, rested, and ready [to continue].

So, what have you people all been up to? I have seen that some of my online blogging friends have also been contemplating their blogworthiness (keep it going, Stinkypaw - we love you!), others have been busy taking photographs of most of the residents of SW Scotland (and he does a fine, fine job), while still others have been out and about on vacation (from the pictures it looks like all had a great time).

Now, you people must all be starving, as I haven't posted a recipe here in three weeks now. Usually there has been enough "in the larder" so that I can have a couple of recipes ready to auto-post. I actually do have several in my Google Reader, which I just need to create into posts, which should have you all in new (and old) things to cook and eat throughout the summer.

So what have I been up to? Well first there was this. I spent the better part of this spring campaigning for a seat on my local Town Council. Intrepid readers will remember I ran for this seat two years ago, losing to the incumbent. This year the incumbent stepped aside and four of us stepped up to run. While I managed to double the number of votes I received two years ago, I still fell short. I will continue to be involved with the Town and be sure to keep my opponent - the newly elected Council Member on her toes.

After that I was the co-chair for this meeting. Working as a co-chair for a Local Arrangements Committee is sort of like being both the tortoise and the hare from their race. You plod along as the meeting date gets closer, breaking into a run here and there, sitting back while others complete their work, make a mad dash at the end and then just let the ending play out as the conference gets underway. We had a really great meeting and managed to have the most attendees for a MARAC meeting ever.

At work, things continue - as my employer undergoes a major transformation. Divisions are being realigned and renamed and my colleagues and I await the word on what will come of us. In the professional organization to which I belong, I did manage to win an election (the secret is evidently to run unopposed) - I was elected Vice President / President-elect of the organization.

Then I served as an usher for this (as I have done in the past). It was a great evening and I had the opportunity to meet and shake hands with Scott Bakula. Later this week I will begin my volunteering position at the United States Open (golf) at Congressional Country Club. I will be working on the scoreboards, so if you watch, you might see me, although I'm not allowed to peek.

Of course we are moving into the summer months so the pool is up and running - and we are looking to spend as much time as possible there. It would appear that I am the father of a "rising" first grader, which I can't spend a lot of time thinking about. But LBA will be starting camp soon and SoBA will finish another year of daycare (and might actually be potty trained before long).

Then in August, I will travel to Chicago for the Annual Meeting of my national professional organization. Among the regular professional obligations, I will be helping about 100 of my closest colleagues head out to a baseball game at Wrigley. Want to come?

Well, I am sure there is more to tell and I will try and fill some of the gaps over the next few weeks, but to get back on track, here's a recipe and please accept my thanks for coming back or staying with me during my prolonged absence.

Now I know that Easter has passed, but one of my weaknesses are those Reeses Peanut Butter eggs. And Mrs. BA's (who prefers these Easter treats, which she is welcome to) best pal sent me a link for a recipe for homemade peanut butter eggs. So here it is.

Homemade Peanut Butter Easter Eggs

INGREDIENTS

• 2 packages (18 sheets) graham crackers, crushed very finely
• 2 cups creamy peanut butter
• 1 1/2 sticks (12 Tablespoons) butter, softened
• 3 cups powdered sugar
• Chocolate candy melts or almond bark
  

In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine graham cracker crumbs, peanut butter, butter and powdered sugar. Mix on medium low until fully combined. You may have to use your hands to make sure it's completely blended.

Shape the mixture into eggs. I rolled it into golf ball sized balls, then formed the egg shape from there. Place on a wax paper lined baking sheet and place in the freezer for one hour.

Once the eggs are frozen firm, melt your chocolate according to package directions. Place the eggs in the chocolate one at a time, and slide a fork under each egg to remove. Place back on wax paper lined baking sheet. Sprinkle with sprinkles and refrigerate eggs until chocolate is set.

This will make about 24 Reese's egg-sized eggs.

It's International Kim Ayres Day!

It's Monday. Which means recipe day. I was all prepared to post some regular recipe and then I saw that several bloggers were getting together to honor one of our own. Over across the pond, is one particular blogger, who has even visited this blog on occasion. I once labeled him a celebrity blogger and have come to know him through the wires and now consider him a friend. Although we have never met, through his photography, his brilliant writing, and his sharing of his speaking voice on another of his blogs, I feel as if I know him very well. One of his photographs is currently my desktop wallpaper on my home computer and he and I have corresponded outside of our blog personas on a variety of issues that we have in common.

Today is his birthday. He turns 44 today, which he is not ashamed to admit. In common, we both have lovely wives, who we adore, and two wonderful children. I hope one day to find myself in Scotland and to have the opportunity to share a pint or two with Kim. A few months ago, I had the most vivid dream where I was visiting with him in Scotland and it was a rollicking good time, as I expect it would be.

This idea to honor and celebrate the great Kim Ayres started with Debra. Several others, whose blogs I read also picked up on the idea, including Mary, Pat, and Eryl, which is when I decided to hop on. Go and visit with them, but be sure to go and see Kim and wish him the best!
I am not sure what his wife, Maggie, is preparing for his birthday culinary celebration, or if his son, Rogan, who has become a fine baker in his own right, has something extra special for him, but I thought I would share a recipe that Kim shared with me. It is for his wife's Bramble Crumble.

A very Happy Birthday to Kim Ayres!

Bramble Crumble
from the Kitchen of Maggie Ayres

[It should be noted this is a recipe of approximations and eyeballing the measurements.]

• Rub 4 ounces of butter into 8 ounces of self-raising flour (or a mix of flour and oats), then mix in about 4 ounces of sugar (brown or white – it’s up to you).
  


• Place 1 pound of blackberries (or any fruit you want) into an oven-proof dish and sprinkle on sugar (how much sugar gets very vague at this point – “to taste” is my wife’s phrase – as it depends on how sweet or sharp the fruit is – but it could be up to a couple of ounces). Mix it together.


• Pour the flour/butter/sugar mix onto the top and place into an oven for about 40 minutes (or “until it looks ready…”) at Gas Mark 4 or 5

Serve with thick fresh cream, or good quality vanilla ice cream. Eat until nearly sick and have gained several pounds in weight.

It's Flag Day!

Here at the Brave Astronaut launchpad, Memorial Day is in the rear view mirror and today is Flag Day - so summer must be in full swing. We have been poolside as much as possible as the Washington heat is really starting to be in full swing.

I am rapidly coming to the realization that I am overextended (that I might, might, be doing too many things), I have a blog post (likely several posts) in my head that will illustrate this point, as well as several items in my Google Reader that I want to share with you, my dear readers. I have been absent from here, so all you have been getting are recipes that are easy to write and stock the blog with.

But anyway, I'm still here and hope that you are as well. I will try to be better, yes, I know, I've said this before, but I really mean it. Don't leave me. Don't make me beg :)

As mentioned, today is Flag Day. It is my mother-in-law's birthday so happy birthday to her. It would have also been my parents 58th wedding anniversary, so I am thinking of my mother today - as I do every day.

The recipe for tonight is pointedly for those fine ChvChicks, who featured a number of cocktails on the run-up to ChvProm a few weeks ago and just wrapped up a ChvChick weekend in the Big Easy. But I am sure they won't mind if you make a batch for yourself. It is, of course, a cocktail that uses champagne and comes from the June 2010 issue of Bon Appetit.

Raspberry Smash
makes 2
[smashing (called muddling in the bartending biz) the raspberries with the vodka, sugar, and lime wedges brings out the berry flavor.]

• 2 lime wedges
• sugar (for dipping)
• 1/2 cup fresh raspberries
• 6 tbsp. vodka
• 4 tsp. sugar
• 1 1/2 cups ice cubes
• 1/4 cup chilled Champagne

Run 1 lime wedge around rims of 2 old fashioned glasses. Dip rims in sugar. Place both lime wedges, raspberries, vodka, and sugar in cocktail shaker; using muddler or wooden spoon handle, smash fruit mixture. Add ice, shake 10 seconds. Divide between glasses (do not strain), top with Champagne, and serve.

[the recipe that appeared in the magazine is adapted from a recipe that is featured at Bella Vista, a restaurant at the Four Seasons Resort in Santa Barbara, CA.]

Hi, Remember Me?

This blog was becoming a recipe only blog. I have been away too long. But [some things I have been thinking about and just not getting around to blogging about],

• Like my beard, which I have been growing since the February snowstorms, I'm still here and would like to stay around for a while (I hope to have photos soon)
• Like Punxsutawney Phil, I have emerged from winter slumber (although I would have liked one more good snow storm - and wouldn't be surprised if it snowed this weekend, as it would have been my mother's 80th birthday)
• Like a good American in the Decennial Census, I am ready to be counted (hey make some notes in the margin of the form, the government is keeping the paper!)
• Like David Paterson (D-NY), I'm not resigning (although he really should)
  
• Like Tiger Woods, I am going to try and return to your "public eye" (but I haven't been doing any of the stuff he has).
• Like the New York Yankees, I would like to get out on the field and defend that World Series title right away.
• Unlike the Washington Nationals, I will attempt to show up for some baseball games (although I am likely going to miss Opening Day for the first time - I'll be in the dentist chair)
  
• Like the New York Rangers, I am making a last push to make the season last a little longer (you want me to keep blogging, yes?)
• Unlike Alexander Ovechkin, I will not be sitting on the sidelines for the rest of the week (sorry ADR and OC)
• Like Versus, I am back [on DirecTV as they have settled their squabble] (although I am switching to FIOS at the end of this week - I could no longer ignore the siren call of the multi-room DVR)
  
• Like the Smithsonian, I will not be accepting O. J.'s suit - but I will spend this year working on organizing the family archives and scanning some pictures

So dear reader, are you still with me? Come on back. I'll do my best to keep you entertained.

Three Years and Counting

I can't quite believe it, but September 5 marked Order from Chaos's third birthday. What started out as an experiment in procrastination has become a real devotion for me. I am extremely grateful to all of my readers and the friends I have made through this portal. I thank you for coming by and hope you will continue to do so.

Now why do I do this? That's a good question. A meme made the rounds of the blogosphere last year. It asked three questions. Andrew Sullivan himself answered the question, "Why I Blog" in the Atlantic last year.

Is this a good blog? Another fine question. Last year Merlin Mann posted his qualities for a "good blog."

I hope everyone has enjoyed reading as much as I have enjoyed writing. I'll keep trying to find things to talk about if you keep coming by from time to time to say hi.

LIVE from MARAC!

I am sitting in the last session of the Fall Conference of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Archives Conference, in Silver Spring, MD.

My colleague and friend, ADR, is live blogging the session here. The session is entitled, the session is titled, Harnessing the Power of the Blog, and features a fellow colleague and blogger, who deals with archival issues at her professional blog - Archives Next.

Update: Kate is leading off the panel taking about Archives Next and how archival blogs get promoted and featured.

11:50: Kate continues, giving Order from Chaos a plug as a blog that covers a broad spectrum. I would tend to agree. Comments?

12:00: Next speaker, Elizabeth Hull from University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, who is discussing the blog, A View to Hugh, devoted to Hugh Morton.

Geof Huth is also blogging the session at his archival blog, the Anarchivist.

12:10: Hull finishing up telling about the most popular blog post, based on comments, which was on Duke-UNC basketball - of course, one of the largest rivalries around. She then is concluding with a story of one particular commenter to the blog, who got a little bent out of shape about a particular blog post and a gentleman who has commented on the blog more than seventy times.

12:15: Power running out on laptop, so final update from inside the session. I will try to add something about the final presenter, Dickinson College Archivist, Jim Gerencser - who is also my successor as MARAC Treasurer.

2:45: So the final speaker, Jim, spoke of a relatively new blog created to catalog reference requests. It sounds very interesting and in time, should prove helpful to archives staff who will not have to reinvent the wheel.

I learned after the session that the ADR's live blog along with Geof and my posts, were being monitored at the registration desk. A successful outing for a MARAC session on blogging! Live online sessions next stop!

Angel Food Cake with Honey Ice Cream

God, doesn't that sound good? I found this recipe here at this foodie blog. Now where did I put that Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker?

Josh Short’s Angelfood Cake

Ingredients

• 1 c egg whites
• 1 1/2 t cream of tartar
• 1/2 c granulated sugar
• 3/4 t lemon zest
• 3 oz cake flour
• 1 1/2 oz powdered sugar
• 1/8 t salt
  

Instructions: Let egg whites stand for 30 min outside to come up to room temperature. This will help them develop more volume. Meanwhile, sift confectioners’ sugar and flour together; set aside. Add cream of tartar, lemon zest and salt to egg whites; beat on high speed. Gradually add sugar, beating until sugar is dissolved and stiff peaks form. Fold in flour mixture, a little at a time. Gently spoon into an ungreased 10-in. tube pan. Cut through batter with a knife to remove air pockets. Bake at 350 degrees F for 40-45 minutes or until cake springs back when lightly touched. Immediately invert pan; cool completely before removing cake from pan.

Honey Ice Cream

Ingredients

• 6 egg yolks
• 2 c milk
• 1 c heavy cream
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1 vanilla bean
  

Instructions: Bring milk and vanilla bean to a simmer. Temper into egg yolks and honey. Stir for 30 sec, remove from heat, strain and cool. Stir in heavy cream and freeze according to machine directions.

Coffee Popsicles to fight the Dog Days of August

The dog days of August are surely upon us. What better way to combat them than with these yummy popsicles. It also makes me think of my mother, who would often use the morning coffee to make iced coffee to have with dinner. I used to think that was a little icky, but then Starbucks got into the act, and I have come around.

I first saw this recipe on ChvChick, the companion to my good friends at ChvBlog.

Enjoy!

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup sweetened condensed milk
• 1 3/4 cup water
• 1/4 cup freshly ground espresso coffee
  

Directions

1. Brew the coffee to a strong robust flavor. Using a French press, it takes approximately 10 minutes. I love French press but any other coffee brewing method would also work.
2. Pour the sweetened condensed milk into a separate bowl.
3. Slowly pour the hot coffee into the bowl with the sweetened condense milk. Stir.
4. Chill coffee and sweetened condensed milk mixture in the refrigerator until cool.
5. Strain the coffee, if needed.
6. Fill popsicle forms and place in freezer.
7. Once frozen, pop out of the form and enjoy!

Makes four popsicles.

Football and Food Surrender

It's just after 11:30 and I survived a night of being the sole parent in the house, with Mrs. BA off to spend her sister's birthday with her. Her husband very nicely threw her a surprise party. She will be back later this afternoon, likely in time for me to head to a pre-season Redskins game. I still don't have a date, so I don't know if I will go.

The other day, I received my "Food Surrender" package from Stinkypaw in Montreal. Here's a photo:
There were lots of good treats in the box, and the chocolate survived the multi-day trip across the border. LBA was very interested in the box and items were shared with him. But the Coffee Crisp (in the front of the photo) was reserved by me for my consumption. It may have been the best thing in the box! My reciprocal box is on its way to her and she should have it before long.

This morning, I was blessed to have both of my children sleep until almost 8:00. Although SoBA was up overnight, a quick bottle and a diaper change and he went right back to sleep. He woke up again at 6:00 but I brought him into bed with me and slept for another hour or so, until LBA came in. We watched a show (or two) before getting up to have some breakfast.

We watched a little of the Olympics. LBA was very interested in Women's Volleyball. SoBA is napping right now and LBA took a rest for a few minutes, allowing me to get this post done. Now it seems we are going to head outside for "a little baseball."

When is Mrs. BA coming home?

My 500th Post!

And now some statistics (most courtesy of sitemeter - you can look at the stats by clicking on the logo on the right).

• Number of published posts on Order from Chaos: 500
• Number of posts in the queue in various forms of readiness: 34 (10 scheduled, 14 drafts)
  

• Date on which Order from Chaos started: September 5, 2006
• Today's date: June 26, 2008
• Number of days this blog has been around: 659
• This is equivalent to three quarters of a blog post per day.
  

• Number of page visits in June 2008 (to date): 1,180
  
• Number of page visits in June 2007: 861
  

• Number of page views in June 2008 (to date): 1,531
  
• Number of page views in June 2007: 1313
  

• Average number of visits per day: 50
• Average number of page views per day: 67
• High number of visits and page views in June 2008: 74 / 109
  

• Most popular blog post (as noted by sitemeter in June, by search term): The World's Hardest Quiz
• Rank on Google for the post when one searches for the "worlds hardest quiz": 2nd
  

• Second most popular blog post (and it has been so since shortly after it was posted): New Jersey Rest Areas (both the quiz and the answers)
• Rank on Google for the posts when one searches for "new jersey turnpike rest area": 5th (the answers)
  

• Location of furthest visitor from the Brave Astronaut console: Australia (David - is that you?)
• Location of closest visitor from the Brave Astronaut console: lovely downtown Cheverly, MD
  

• Number of recipes posted: 85
• Tags applied to posts "in order of height and popularity" (first five): About Me, 122; News, 108; Recipes, 91; History, 84; Archives, 78
  

Ziti with Onions, Sausage, and Fennel

Another blog that I have read for a while is the Amateur Gourmet. He recently got his own show on the Food Network, called the "FN Dish."

In this recipe, he admits it is "a big heaping mess, but boy is it good." According to him, the recipe comes from "The Silver Spoon Cookbook," and a book that's called Italy's version of "The Joy of Cooking."

Zite with Sausage, Onions and Fennel
[adapted from Lydia Bastianich] [serves 6]
Ingredients:

• 1 Tbs sea salt
• 1 pound sweet Italian sausage (without fennel seeds)
• 1 large fennel bulb with stem and fronds (about 1 pound), trimmed and halved lengthwise
• 5 Tbs extra virgin olive oil
• 2 onions, halved and sliced
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 tsp chile flakes
• 1/2 cup tomato paste
• 1 pound zite (long tubes of dried pasta)
• fennel fronds
• 1 cup Romano, Parmesan or grana padano cheese, freshly grated
  

Boil lots of water with the salt (or more salt to make it taste like sea water) until rapidly boiling.

Remove the sausage from the casing and break the meat up with your fingers. Slice the fennel into 1/2-inch slices. Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium high heat and add the sausage, cooking, stirring and breaking it up with a spoon for 1-1 1/2 minutes until it is sizzling and beginning to brown. Push aside (you'll be pushing lots of things aside this recipe) and add onion slices and cook, stirring, until they are sizzling and wilting (2 minutes). Stir in with the meat.

Push aside and add the fennel and cook for 1 minute until wilted, then stir with the other mixture. Sprinkle in half the salt and push to one side again. Add chile flakes (more if you like it spicy) and toast for 30 seconds then stir them in. Move the mixture to the sides again, add the tomato paste and cook, stirring constantly, for 1-2 minutes until it is sizzling and caramelizing, then stir it into the sausage mixture.

Ladle 3 cups of the salted, boiling water into the skillet, stir well and bring the liquid to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer for about 6 minutes until the fennel is soft but not mushy. Meanwhile, add the pasta to the pan of boiling water, stir and bring back to a boil then cook for about 8 minutes until almost al dente.

Check the sauce, which shouldn't be too thick--if necessary stir in more water. When the sauce is done adjust seasoning. When pasta is al dente, lift out of the pan with a spider, drain briefly and add to the sauce. Toss pasta with the sauce, add more pasta cooking water if too thick, sprinkle with fennel fronds and cook, tossing constantly, for 2 minutes until the pasta is perfectly al dente and coated with the sauce. Remove the skillet from the heat, sprinkle the grated cheese over the pasta and toss to combine. Transfer to warm pasta bowls and serve.

Enjoy!

What's In Your Kitchen?

There was very little that the Brave Astronaut family had to do when we moved into our house, which is a good thing, for as Mrs. BA will tell you - I'm not handy (in my defense, I will say that recently I reinstalled some towel racks and those suckers are in there good.)

Our kitchen came equipped with drawers instead in cabinets under the counters. It was a interesting thing to have to get used to, but I'm getting there. I'm actually in the market for a carpenter to look at the state of the shelving that is in the kitchen, so if you know one, send him my way. And lets give it up for C in DC's new kitchen, which is looking quite nice.

As one who craves order, I set out to set up the kitchen almost immediately. I identified the spaces available to me, what would go where, and began to stow things away. At around the same time, Mrs. BA's sister's family built a new house and excessed some of their kitchenware (their new house is bigger - but go figure) and we got the castoffs. Some of it I integrated into our stuff, the rest is going off to a yearly yard sale held by some friends.

I stumbled across this blog post not so long ago about what everyone should have in their kitchen. The author of the blog is Adam Roberts, who now has his own show (now canceled)on the Food Network, which I have written about before (I've used some of his recipes). In the post, he recounts what every well stocked kitchen should have. I like to cook and am certainly taking this list to heart. Who knows, I might even create a wish list. Maybe Adam will buy me something.

1. A really good skillet/saute pan - he suggests All-Clad, well sure, wouldn't we all. He also suggests that there be two, one non-stick and one metal. Sensible. We have one large skillet that we use a lot (I think we bought it at IKEA) though we do have an All-Clad frying pan.
2. A big pot and a small pot. His point here is that brand doesn't matter because most likely you are using it to boil liquids and the one that he bought from Target in the 1990s works just fine.
3. He suggests that instead of settling on a full knife set, get yourself three really good knives: one large chef's knife (approximately $100), one really sharp, high-quality paring knife and one serrated knife. He recommends Wusthof or Misono (of course he does). We bought a Cutco knife set shortly after we got married, but that's another story. But they are good knives. To go along with those knives, he recommends a rubber cutting board, but I'm not there yet, I like substance to cut on.
   
4. A roasting pan. Again, he says you don't have to spend a fortune and we didn't. We have a good Corning one and one or two metal non-stick ones. We could probably excess items here.
5. A Dutch Oven. He likes Le Creuset and who wouldn't really. We have one of those and it makes great chili and stews. As he says, you will and we do use it a lot.
6. Finally, "two cake pans (9-inch) [check], one springform pan (also 9-inch) [check], one loaf pan [check], a cupcake/muffin pan that makes 12 muffins [check], two cookie sheets (preferably without sides for flatter, more evenly cooked cookies) [check], one with sides for roasting vegetables [check], a hand mixer if you're just starting out baking [check], a flat rolling pin (no handles, which forces you to put pressure on the middle) [check], measuring cups [check], measuring spoons [check], a nice wooden spoon [check], a nice whisk [check], a sifter [no, who sifts flour anymore?], mixing bowls [check], a strainer [check x 2], a cheap juicer [check], a microplane (for zesting citrus) [check], a grater (for cheese) [check], a thermometer (for testing meat) [check] and a pastry brush [check]."

If you are interested in the "higher end items," you can read the whole post, but basically he suggests a KitchenAid mixer [check], a food processor [check], a salad spinner [check], a pasta maker [really? who makes their own pasta anymore?], a coffee grinder [check, but I love my current coffee maker], and a hand blender [check].

Now if I could just find room for everything. Remember why we moved? We needed more room? So we moved to a bigger place and now I need to find room for more stuff. I hate that.

To Blog or Not to Blog

I currently have 48 blog posts in draft form. Granted that most of them (more than half) are future presidential posts. I even have a fair number of recipes stashed away for future weeks. Here and there I have the nugget that I am hoping to get around to (I have a pretty good list on works of art ready to roll on Friday) and then there is the extensive list of items in my Google reader account.

So what to post and when to post it?

I hate that life interferes with my blogging and I don't want to give it up. I will give you that my political blog has been pushed aside (it has been more than a month since it was updated). In just this past week, my wife has gone back to work, my mother-in-law is living with us part-time to help out with child care of our newborn son, we had said son's baptism with a party/luncheon here, and then a guest in from out of town for a few days.

And of course, tonight the hockey playoffs started (with the Rangers sending the Devils down to defeat, 4-1) and then its also Masters weekend (if you have to ask, you don't get it).

I need a vacation from my non-work life. But I'm afraid my leave balance is just as bad in that column as it is at work.

So, I'll muddle through, but I might not be here as much. But I'll keep an eye on all of you. Here's a oldie but a goodie blog post (from one year ago today) to remind you of a "space" related anniversary. In other historical news for today, from which I will not draw any parallels to surrender, obstruction, or marching toward one's own end:

• On this day in 1865, Robert E. Lee surrendered at Appomattox, Virginia. The Confederate general surrendered his 28,000 troops to Union General Ulysses S. Grant, effectively ending the American Civil War.
• On this day in 1939, singer Marian Anderson performed at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC, after she was denied the use of Constitution Hall by the Daughters of the American Revolution.
• On this day in 1942, American and Philippine defenders on Bataan capitulated to Japanese forces during World War II; the surrender was followed by the notorious Bataan Death March, which claimed nearly 10,000 lives.

A Tough Quiz

This one comes from one of my blogging friends up north in Canada. She posted it on her blog and made us all look stupid in a big hurry. Here's the questions and the answers will follow, as always, next week.

1. Name the one sport in which neither the spectators nor the participants know the score or the leader until the contest ends.
2. What famous North American landmark is constantly moving backward? (Lana, you are not allowed to get this one wrong)
3. Of all vegetables, only two can live to produce on their own for several growing seasons. All other vegetables must be replanted every year. What are the only two perennial vegetables?
4. What fruit has its seeds on the outside?
5. In many liquor stores, you can buy pear brandy, with a real pear inside the bottle.. The pear is whole and ripe, and the bottle is genuine; it hasn't been cut in any way. How did the pear get inside the bottle?
6. Only three words in standard English begin with the letters 'dw' and they are all common words. Name two of them. (Although those of us who posted answers to Stinkypaw maintain there are at least two more.)
   
7. There are 14 punctuation marks in English grammar. Can you name at least half of them?
8. Name the only vegetable or fruit that is never sold frozen, canned, processed, cooked, or in any other form except fresh.
9. Name 6 or more things that you can wear on your feet beginning with the letter 'S.'
10. Name the longest word type with only the left hand and then the longest word with the right hand.
    

In the interest of full disclosure, I will tell you that I got #4, #5, #7, #8, and four of the items in #9 right.

How Do I Love Thee?

I'd like to begin with a historical note. On this day in 1912, the Girl Scouts of the United States were founded by by Juliette Gordon Low in Savannah, Georgia. The Girl Scouts were chartered by an Act of Congress on March 16, 1950. Those who know me will understand why this event is important to me.

So the rabbit hole of the Internet has led me many places and recently one of those places has been David McMahon's authorblog. He periodically throws out a question on the weekends for his blog readers to answer on their own blogs. I answered one of his earlier ones, "Do You Get Enough Leisure Time?" in February. The most recent question is "Do You Say "I Love You" Enough?"

There was a time when the answer to that question for me would have been unequivocally NO. I wasn't in love and really never understood what love was. It took Mrs. Brave Astronaut to teach me about love and now I get it. Of course it means that I love her so much that it hurts. And I surely don't tell her that enough. So Mrs. Brave Astronaut, I Love You.

I was not a big "I love you" exchanger in my own family. It took my mother's illness to get my siblings and I to start telling each other. I struggled with saying it to my father (and still do), but was able to tell my mother at the end of her life. I believe that love of one's family is different than "matrimonial" love, for you don't get to pick your family. So you sort of have to love what you got. So even for all their faults, I love them.

The birth of my two children helped me further to express love with the simple "I love you" statement. My son exclaims it as he goes to bed each evening and many other occasions when sitting next to Mrs. BA and me. Saying "I love you" back to him is something that is done without question or reservation, for there is nothing like the love a parent has for a child.

So, to answer the question, yes, I think I do say "I love you" enough. But I am sure I could say it even more.

Well there's this thing and this one, and that one

I had a lot to say. I have several posts queued up and ready to go. They need a little editing before they go out. And I'll get to them in do time. I need to feel the creative juices flow a little more before they are "perfect."

One thing I was going to report on tonight (when I learned that today was the anniversary) was the Iron Curtain speech by Winston Churchill, which took place on this date in 1946. Click here for a little .wav file from the speech. It is also the anniversary of the Boston Massacre.

Then I saw on the Interwebs that Patrick Swayze was dying of pancreatic cancer, which was soon refuted by his doctors that, while yes he did have pancreatic cancer, his death was not imminent.

Kottke.org had this YouTube link, offering up a brief history of evil, noted as "an (animated (and condensed (and brief (and truncated)))) history of evil. Almost as interesting for the comments as for the video itself." But I didn't want to just go with a link posting.

Perhaps one of the reasons my day was so disjointed was that my slumber was disturbed last night and not by my normal bouts with insomnia. The doorbell rang at 2:00am (which is in that time of night when the volume of things is increased by some exponential value). I had only been asleep for about an hour as I had been watching the returns come in from the primaries, so I was especially groggy as one gets shortly after having fallen asleep. At the door was one of my town's finest, informing me that my wife's car had been broken into and the stereo ripped out. He knew this because (Alleluia!) they had captured the cretins and the stereo will likely be returned soon. Here's a post from my neighbor about the incident.

This had occurred around midnight (when I was still up) and during a rather heavy rainstorm. But I never heard anything other than the rain. So now I am having the nice glass people come and repair both that car's window and my car's windshield, which has had a crack for some time and is on the move again.

Is there any wonder why I'm always tired?

Pickled, Plowed, In the Bag, 3 Sheets to the Wind, etc.

What's your favorite drunk story? My blog friend Amy over on her blog related a story (by her own admission, "one of my top five OU [Ohio University] drinking stories") involving Everclear. I responded with my own story about an unfortunate encounter with some '151' that I neglected to blow out before drinking.

She came back with her own comment back on my blog:

What I came here to do was make a comment somewhere about an idea for a theme week. Picture it — A whole week of entries counting down our top college drinking stories.

On second thought, maybe not. First of all, I could probably file a month's worth of posts on this topic alone. I mean, I thought of three more just while I was typing the previous paragraph: Circle K elections 1995; Teeter-Totter Marathon 1993; and Halloween 1992.

Secondly, it might give off the wrong impression.

Thoughts?

So my blogging friends out there? Are we game for a drunken circle of blogging? We could pick a date, have one person "start" and then link to the next person for their story, who links to the next, etc. We could do our own version of "March Madness" and the best story wins a prize. Non-bloggers are welcome to play as well, but we would have to identify one of the participating blogs as the central location for commenter stories.

I know how wild and crazy some of you fine folks out there on the intertubes can be. Who's in? RSVP in the comments if you are interested and we'll make a plan for Drunken March Madness.