Real Men Eat Quiche

Before I forget how to make it, here's a recipe I've made several times, adjusted it, and came up with something I really like. The basic idea is that you can make this pretty spicy because all of the dairy products take the edge off the peppers. Anyway, feel free to try it out and comment on it:

Leek and Chipotle Quiche

Ingredients:

2 leeks, chopped
3 chipotle peppers, finely chopped (these are roasted Japalenos; I buy them in a can. They keep forever)
4 eggs
1/2 cup half & half (fat-free)
1 cup of grated mild cheese such as mozzarella
10-12 medium sized shrimp (optional)
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
pinch of pepper
1 pie crust

Directions:
Preheat oven to 325 °F and set the frozen pie crust to thaw. Cook the leeks and peppers in a frying pan until nearly cooked then add shrimp until done. Set them aside. Whisk the 4 eggs, then mix in the half & half. Put the leeks, peppers, and shrimp into the pie crist, cover with cheese, cayenne, and peppers. Carefully pour in the eggs and half & half. Bake in the oven for ~35 minutes.

A word on leeks: Leeks are a wonderful alternative to onions but require a little work. The outer and upper dark green sections have a rather unwanted flavor. Therefore, I always remove the upper section (darker green) of the outer 4 layers of the leeks and take and inch or two of the top of the top of what remains. Also, leeks are often grown in fine sand which seems to pervade them. Try using a cheaper knife you to avoid dulling your fine cutlery. To remove the sand from the leeks, simply place them in a bowl of water after they've been chopped and stir them around a bit. The sand will settle out at the bottom of bowl while the leeks will float. Who knew the principle of gravational settling could be applied to the real world.

Valentine's Day

St. Valentine's day is one of those days you're either go to love or loathe. This year I'm somewhere in the middle given that I'm ~2,500 miles away from my wife. Anyway, I've been thinking a little bit about love and the often immiscible relationship between men and women (no offense to any gays/lesbians; I'm sure there a plenty of issues there as well).

Anyway, I stumbled on this quiz on the Washington Post, where you can vote for the best Anti-Valentine's Day songs. I voted for Alanis Morrisette's, "You Oughta Know" because I was living with a female roommate at the time this song came out and that song provoked such as strong spiteful response from her I was shocked. Especially since the object of her scorn, Dave, had never even cheated on her. It was weird.

Here are some clever videos on Google video also related to love and are at least amusing:

Make you happy tonight - A music video by the Austrialian comedy trio, Tripod. Becky may have a few comments about this song.

Fear of Girls - A fake documentary about a couple of helpless geeks.