Blog on Hiatus

For all intents and purposes, this blog is pretty much dead. I have not given up the idea of a personal blog, and now that I have new super-human programming skills (check out my photo website) I really want to design my own personal website.

But for now, the only blog that I can marginally keep up with is the one for my photography business. My master plan is to have a photo website, my mixed race portrait website, a food website, and a personal website.

And that is going to take some doing.

In the meantime, you can always visit my fancy schmancy WordPress blog that chronicles the travails of my little photography business.

My Poor Neglected Blog

Three months since I've written anything - terrible!

If only my life were more interesting, I might have more to say. My photography blog is a bit more up to date.

A run down of the past three months:

• I started teaching at Mt. SAC, a wonderful school.
• I signed up to run the LA Marathon in March 2009.
• I am going to Obama's inauguration.

I should say more accurately that I bought a plane ticket for Baltimore in the hopes of going to Obama's inauguration. As for whether I will get a ticket to the inauguration or not - well, that's another story.

But I can dream!

New Photography Logo

I changed the look of my photography website and blog. Take a look!

I Got Soul

I love this commercial. I love this song. And yes, I went out and bought the album (Hot Fuss, by The Killers) after seeing this commercial run during the Olympics. I am just a tool of corporate America.

Baja Fish Tacos

I haven't been cooking as much as I would like - it was hard to do while I was teaching the night class. But now that I have a few weeks off before fall semester starts up, I plan on cooking up a storm.

This is a really good fish taco recipe from The Bon Appetit Cookbook. My aunt was still talking about these tacos a week later. I served the tacos along with some black beans, guacamole, and freshly made tortilla chips.
--
Baja Fish Tacos

• 1/4 cup mayonnaise
• 1/4 cup ketchup
• 1/4 cup crema mexicana or sour cream
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 cup dark beer, room temperature (I used Negra Modelo)
• 1 3/4 pounds halibut fillets (or other firm white fish such as cod, red snapper, or orange roughy) cut into 5 x 3/4 incih strips
• 1 lime, halved crosswise
• 12 white corn tortillas
• Vegetable oil for frying
  
• 1 1/2 cups shredded red cabbage
• 2 large tomatoes, chopped
• Lime wedges
• Hot pepper sauce

1. Mix the mayonnaise, ketchup, and crema or sour cream in a small bowl. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
2. Whisk the flour, salt, and pepper in a medium bowl. Pour in the beer, whisking until the batter is smooth. Let stand for 15 minutes.
3. Sprinkle the fish with salt and pepper. Squeeze the lime halves over each piece of fish. Let stand 15 minutes. Mix the fish into the batter.
4. Preheat the oven to 200 F. Heat a skillet over medium heat. Warm the tortillas in the skillet and wrap in foil or towels to keep warm.
5. Pour enough oil into a medium skillet to reach a depth of 1 inch. Heat the oil to 350 F. Add a few pieces of the batter-coated fish strips and fry until the batter is golden brown. Transfer the fish to a baking dish lined with paper towels and place in the oven to keep warm. Repeat with the remaining fish strips.
6. To serve, place 2 fish strips inside each warm tortilla and top with the sauce, cabbage, tomatoes, a squeeze of lime, and a dash of hot pepper sauce.
   

Obama and Oil Drilling

Obama is starting to get on my nerve. There has been much chatter that once he wrapped up the Democratic nomination, he has moved more and more to the center. And okay, he voted for FISA, and he supported the Supreme Court's decision that overturned DC's gun ban when previously he had been in favor of said ban.

But now he's open to offshore drilling? No, no, no! The whole offshore drilling thing, the whole claim that it will lower our gas prices, is pandering. I don't think the answer to our long-term energy problems lies in oil. There's no future in oil. The future is with alternative forms of energy. And Obama talks about all that too. But ugh. Ixnay on the offshore rilling-day!

BK Heart Attack

This is just so disgusting.

Strike a Pose

I can't get enough of this video.

Euro 2008

It's too bad soccer has such a bad rep in the US. I've been watching the Euro Cup, and the best thing about it is that there's no commercials. Unlike football, where the action stops about every 10 seconds, soccer goes straight through their 45 minute halves. No breaks for commercials - darn!

It also seems that soccer teams have very many good-looking players. Basketball players are too tall, and football players are too fat. Soccer players? Just right.

So I'll be watching Spain and Russia this Sunday - may the cutest team win! (The cutest team being Spain.)

Tim Russert - Dead?

I was really shocked by the death of Tim Russert. When I turned on MSNBC to watch Hardball, and saw the headline at the bottom of the screen, I thought it was a mistake. That it was Tim Russert's father who had died, not Tim.

It was hard to watch the coverage on MSNBC because you could tell a lot of those reporters had been crying. I mean, the guy dropped dead at work. I can't imagine having to go on there air and eulogize a friend and co-worker who had just died only a few hours earlier. Really sad.

Game On

Now that Hillary's out of the race, I can like her again. I thought she gave a good speech yesterday, which almost makes up for the fact that she didn't concede sooner. I'm wondering how much she'll campaign for Obama, and how many of her supporters will come around.

I admit it, at one point I felt like I would never vote for Hillary. But McCain is a warmonger who wants to repeal Roe v. Wade. Hopefully her legion of women supporters will come around and realize how ridiculous it is to vote for someone who is against their values, just out of bitterness.

A Class Act to the Bitter End

When this whole Democratic nominee process started, I didn't like Hillary that much. She seemed fake. And that was about as far as my distaste went.

Now I just can't stand her. Or rather, I can't stand the campaign that she has run. Even at the end, instead of gracefully bowing out and admitting that Obama would be the nominee, she goes on stage last Tuesday and says that she's not going to make any decisions that night.

And then proceeds to give her list of demands. Her not-so-thinly-veiled threat to Obama? Do what I want or my millions of voters won't go to your side.

So yes, I can only imagine the heartbreak of being so close and yet coming up short. But that's the game. Even gutter fighters have to know when to quit.

Blogging Wanderlust

I like Blogger. It's easy to use. But my eye is roaming; I have my eye on WordPress. Based on a cursory glance at various blogging platforms, it seems that WordPress is more powerful and flexible than Blogger.

Lately I have become obsessed with web design. My immediate goal is to make a Project Blended website, and I am plowing through a 1000 page Dreamweaver book so that I can learn how to use this massive program.

And as I cruise the web for inspiration (The Daily Slurp, CSS Zen Garden, Best Web Gallery, Smashing Magazine), my mind has gotten to thinking about other websites. I would like to resurrect my very neglected www.soniaortega.net site, as well as design a photography website that is a better reflection of my personal style. Not a downloaded template, which is what I have now.

All this has given me a much greater appreciation for good web design. I'm hoping I can design something with a little flair and attitude, and that I don't end up with an ugly, unmitigated disaster.

Memorial Day Barbecuing

I admit it - I had meat for Memorial Day. I have been craving carne asada (among other things) and decided it was time to break out what should be my world-famous carne asada marinade. I also made guacamole, mango salsa, grilled corn, and roasted vegetables.

And no recipes.

For the carne asada I used olive oil, white vinegar, fresh-squeezed orange juice, brown sugar, cumin, oregano, coriander, and salt. I placed the meat in gallon-sized plastic bags along with the marinade, and then added orange slices, onion slices, crushed garlic cloves, and fresh cilantro.

For the guacamole - nothing fancy. Avocados, onions, serrano peppers, cilantro, lime juice, and salt. I've started adding coriander. To top it off I sprinkle with cotija cheese.

The mango salsa was a first. I used two large Roma tomatoes and three manila mangoes. Manila mangoes are the small yellow mangoes, and I think the texture and flavor is much better than the large red ones you see in most supermarkets.

I ended up with about equal parts tomaotoes and mangoes, then added some chopped onion, serrano pepper, cilantro, and plenty of fresh lime juice. Season with salt to taste. Man, was it good.

The roasted vegetables: red peppers, pasilla peppers, and onions cut into strips. Toss with salt and olive oil and stick it in a 500 degree oven until the vegetables are cooked to your liking. I like the edges to get a little brown.

And the corn - well, I kind of used a recipe. Bobby Flay's grilled corn recipe is really, really delicious. But I didn't feel like making the garlic butter. I grilled the cobs according to his directions, and then put out plain old butter with lime wedges and cotija cheese.

That was my Memorial Day!

Duh

What? You mean a Republican would lose the state of California in November! What a news flash!

Obama Would Take California in November, Times/KTLA Poll Finds