Quoting from the paper we were given: Amalfi is a charming, peaceful resort town on the scenic Amalfi Coast of Italy. The town lies at the mouth of a deep ravine, surrounded by dramatic cliffs and coastal scenery. Narrow alleyways wind through the town up the slopes between the sea and mountains.

Amalfi was one of the first Italian cities to emerge from the dark ages and by the ninth century was the most important port in southern Italy. It's the oldest of the four great Maritine Republics (including Genoa, Pisa, and Venice) that lasted through the twelfth century. Its maritime code, known as the Tavole Amalfitane, was recognized in the Mediterranean until 1570. ...

Once again assisted by a sleeping pill to gain sweet Morpheus's embrace, I woke more or less ready to face the world at 6:30 AM-ish. Dracosphynx, up as well, clambered up to go see where we were going to make dock.

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Thanks to confusingly European-named sleeping drugs (Zolpidem, known as Ambien in the States) I was able to get another 5 hours of sleep or so. We got up a bit early and greeted the dawn.

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Readers, I managed to get some sleep and I was finally revived! It was a huge weight off my back.

It was, granted, five hours, but I had a medically guaranteed formula for getting to sleep now, and a decongestant that seemed to do a pretty good job of keeping coughing at bay without interfering with aforementioned sedative.

So, refreshed with sleep, I proceeded to refresh myself with breakfast while the ship was en route to Trapani, Sicily.

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Every now and then I get an urge to try making Japanese cuisine. This time it's the Oyakodon - literally the 'parent and child bowl', so named because it features a chicken and egg together.

Well, this isn't really an oyakodon; practically speaking it's just inspired by the concept. I don't know anything about making Japanese dashi, but I do know how to make a chicken stirfry!

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Happy Mew-More-Y'all Day!

It being a week before I go on a trip to Italy with [Bad username: dracosphynx.livejournal.com], I regretfully decided against going to one of the cons in the area or friends' BBQs - last thing I want is to be battling sickness while on the plane! So I cooked myself some BBQ-ish food.

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A thing that the Google catering team does is to have "pop-up" community events at various campuses. These typically feature a large number of "social" venues like tents and sofas, a stage and speakers for live performances, and of course... food!

My team recently moved from Mountain View to Sunnyvale. As if to bid us farewell, they had a pop-up at Crittenden!

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* Bake bacon in oven at 425 degrees for 15 minutes, not 20. 20 gives you almost charcoal.
* Bake Trader Joe's Apple Blooms at 400 degrees for 25 minutes, not 350 degrees at 15. It's still icy in the middle otherwise.
* After boiling ramen noodles, bake them at 400 degrees for 50 minutes, shaped in individual portion discs or squares, for making delicious "pan-fried" noodle stirfries.
* Make microwave popcorn easily: 1/4 cup of popcorn kernels at 2:30 minutes in the microwave in a safe bowl with cover, with 2 teaspoons of ghee or butter-flavored olive oil and a dash of salt mixed in.

Feel free to pop any cooking questions you have but I don't guarantee to know the answers. -_-

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