Sean Henderson Dot Com

The Red Avocado is an outstanding vegetarian restaurant in Iowa City featuring locally grown, organic ingredients.  Robin and I dined here Friday night before going on the Iowa Wine Trail.  The restaurant has both indoor and outdoor seating.  The interior reminded me of a cozy stone basement with unique decorations and Himalayan salt candles on each table.  We shared the Appetizer Deluxe which consisted of three spreads, freshly baked pita triangles, and veggies to dip.  The yellow hummus was a little runny but had excellent flavor of middle-eastern paste of chick-peas, tahini, and other seasonings.  The orange carrot-chipotle pate had a perfect balance of sweetness and spicy flavor; this was our favorite.  The green white bean pate had smooth flavors of cilantro, lime juice, beans and spices.  Robin had the Vegetable Peanut Satay entree.  It was served with quinoa, the grain of the day. The waitress recommended that Robin order Tempeh because it pairs well with peanut sauce.  The peanut sauce had a nice consistency; not too heavy.  The Tempeh was extremely good.  I had the College Green Sunset entree.  The polenta was very smooth and creamy. Flavors inside filo purse blended perfectly with a light and delicate flavor.  I especially enjoyed the red pepper sauce and red pepper mix.  This dish was beautiful and tasteful; I could eat it every day!  We split a slice of gluten free chocolate cake for dessert.

Appetizer Deluxe

All three delicious spreads with homemade pita & fresh crisp vegetables. 

Vegetable Peanut Satay

Seasonal vegetables steamed in a peanut sauce flavored with onion, garlic, spices & sorghum. Sweet & delicious! Served with whole oats & the grain of the day. With your choice of tofu, tempeh, chickpeas or black beans.

College Green Sunset

Layered herbed white bean pate, tempeh sausage, tofu ricotta, and caramelized onions wrapped in a flaky filo pastry purse on spinach polenta with horseradish-root vegetable-sweet-corn relish, roasted red pepper sauce & a fine drizzle of sweet balsamic reduction.

Dessert

gluten free chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. Moist and perfect sweetness.

As a meat eater, I was pleasantly surprised at how well prepared, artistic, and tasty this food was.  I only wished that the portions were a tad more filling.  The prices are fair; most entrees are $10-20.  The food is so healthy, fresh, and full of flavor!  The atmosphere is relaxed and casual.  I am likely to dine here again if I am in Iowa City.

The Red Avocado
521 E Washington St
Iowa City, IA 52240
(319) 351-6088
Google Map

Naha is an upscale Mediterranean-American restaurant in Chicago with a hint of California and French. Chris Ohara and I ate here the night before New Years Eve. We were the last to enter.  One of the waiters told us we had VIP access to an empty room.  The interior was very simply decorated with a series of tree branches, neutral colored walls, and a few pieces of vibrant artwork.  Large windows gave a nice view of the city outside.  Everything was very clean and professional. A waiter neatly ironed the crisp white table cloth to perfection. I couldn’t help but notice a respectable bar upon entering the venue. I felt inspired and refreshed as our waiter Phil introduced to us the St-Germain Cocktail. St-Germain is a French liqueur made from fresh handpicked elderflower blossoms. It was mixed with equal parts of brut champagne and Fever-Tree Club Soda served with ice and spoon straw bearing a logo of a man riding a bicycle. He brought the bottle to the table so I could get a good look. Chris had a drink made from Citrus Vodka, Rose Champagne and housemade cranberry with pomegranate seeds. Phil made both drinks at our table. Dinner started with complimentary bread. The darker of the two breads was made from cumin and had a distinct Mediterranean taste; it was incredible! Chris had a Yellowfin Tuna appetizer. It had an interesting French “mosaic of Nicoise Garnishes” in the shape of a right triangle on a square plate. I started with an Egg Benedict appetizer and I have to say it had the best English muffin and egg I’ve ever had—a five-star mini breakfast reincarnated as an appetizer. Entrees were priced around $35 and modest in size. Chris had a duck entree. I had Braised Short ribs. This was the first time I had ever tried duck and the short ribs were exceptionally tender. I especially liked the cauliflower and the sauce for the braised ribs. Chris had The Naha desert. He felt that the caramel was a little too rich and over powering. I ordered a Grand Marnier ice cream dessert. I was intrigued by the idea of orange flavor ice cream made from Grand Marnier. The chef assured me that Grand Marnier doesn’t actually make ice cream but rather the ice cream was made with Grand Marnier in it with the alcohol cooked off of course. A series of hair-like thin strands of sugar garnished the Grand Marnier ice cream.

Naha Bar

St-Germain Cocktail

St-Germain, Fever-Tree Club Soda, Brut Champagne with lemon peel garnish and stainless steel spoon straw

Ket/Citro

Housemade Cranberry with Pomegranate Seeds, Citrus Vodka, Rose Champagne

Complimentary Bread

Tartare of Hawaiian Yellowfin Tuna Appetizer

Tartare of Hawaiian "Yellowfin" Tuna, Cured Tasmanian Red Trout and Hard-Cooked Quail Egg with a Mosaic of Nicoise Garnishes, Aigrelette Sauce and Toasted Brioche

Coddled Organic Farm Egg Benedict Appetizer

"Coddled" Organic Farm Egg "Benedict", "Kurobuta" Pork Belly and Housemade English Muffin with Smoked Homegrown Wisconsin "Red Thumb" Potatoes, Itailian Frisee, "Green Tipped" Radish and Herbs

Duck Entree

Blossom Honey "Laquered" Aged Moulard Duck Breast and a Cannelloni of Delicata Squash with Caramelized Quince, Huckleberries and Port

Braised Short Ribs Entree

Braised Short Ribs of Beef, Roasted Root Vegetables, Winter Cauliflower and Wild Boar Bacon, Celery Root Puree, Cremini Mushrooms and Smoked Brittany "Fleur de Sel"

The Naha Turtle Sundae

The Naha "Turtle" Sundae of Bittersweet Chocolate Ice Cream, Candied Pecans and Rich Caramel

Mont Blanc Chestnut Meringue Torte

"Mont Blanc" Chestnut Meringue "Torte" with Grand Marnier Ice Cream, Chestnut Creme, Vanilla and Orange

The Bill

Dining at Naha was a great experience.  Dinner can cost as low as $25 a person to around $100 a person for a full experience.  The menu was a bit meaty with lots of meats and fishes, but they assured me that they cater to the vegetarian crowd as well.  Most ingredients are locally farmed.  I am likely to dine here again and I recommend Naha to anyone looking for an upscale spot to dine in River North.

Naha
500 N Clark St
Chicago, IL 60654
(312) 321-6242
Google Map

"this was observed and worthy of mentioning"

The Adventures of Chuck and Don S01E01

* Now talking in #poker
* Topic is ‘Welcome to #poker… we know things. <@RedMagic> yall making me nervous with all this knowledge’
* Set by vale!vale@censored.com on Sat Dec 27 03:38:05
<DoN> fuck headaches
<CHuCK> fuck the jail
<DoN> they should have some shit
<DoN> that you can just do online
<DoN> and it unlocks the cell
<DoN> e-bail
<DoN> ebail.com
<CHuCK> you know, thats an idea
<CHuCK> fuck
<CHuCK> lets build, patent, and market that shit. noone wants to drive to the jail to deliver cash. especially when its located in a ghetto ass neighborhood where the probability of getting robbed is high
<DoN> it’s flawed by design though
<DoN> niggas don’t use credit cards
<CHuCK> well today, we here, are bailing out a white boy
<DoN> yeah
<DoN> but your primary population
<DoN> just like the prison system
<DoN> would be blacks
<CHuCK> true kid
* theOB sets mode: +b *!*@censored.com
* DoN was kicked by theOB (racist fucker)

* You were kicked from #poker by SNguyen (Banned)

<B|RDMAN> haha
<B|RDMAN> niggas dont use credit cards
<B|RDMAN> well not their own

The most exquisite seafood and Italian dining isn’t in the heart of Italy or in the Mediterranean. It’s in the middle of the desert! Look no further than the Wynn.  Bartolotta Ristorante di Mare at Wynn Las Vegas,
winner of the 2008 Ivy Awards, features a whole galaxy of rare upscale Mediterranean seafood and authentic Italian cuisine prepared by Chef Paul Bartolotta.  I was most impressed by the scenery.  The entrance invites a prospective diner right down a winding staircase with crystal chandeliers hovering above and a lower level with a dark carpet with a vast array of colored shapes and patterns.  From there, the restaurant extends out to an outdoor patio with a series of cabanas surrounding a decent size pond complete with fish and chrome spheres.  I chose to dine out by the cabanas.  The sun was at such an angle so as to provide me with a unique view of the pond.  My waiter Chris was very professional.  First he brought out a tray and explained the fish in severe detail.  Since I am not privy to seafood, I cannot recall most of what he told me.  What surprised me though was that the fish are flown in daily from the Mediterranean sea.  So all that lay on the plate before me swam in the sea half a world a way just hours earlier!  The idea is that Bartolotta wanted to recreate authentic Italian food, but could not do so with American fish.  This was the first time I had experienced such fish.  I had no idea what to do, so I ordered the tasting menu.  The octopus salad had a chewy rubbery texture with a very nice lemon flavor.  A certain cheese slice graced the top of seared sea scallops; I nibbled on the cheese slowly as it was cut extra fine, extra thin, and it was extra tasty.  SweetSicilian langoustines were added to the tasting menu for $20 extra.  My favorite, by far, was the sheep’s milk ricotta ravioli with Tuscan pecorino cheese and Marsala wine-reduction glaze.  I wished that Todd Wilbur would create a clone of this secret recipe.  I would and probably will drive all the way back to Las Vegas just to have this ravioli again!  The desert featured a chocolate cake and three servings of gelato.  One of the servings tasted as if it were made from a fine champagne.  Another serving tasted like a sour passion fruit puree.  The bill tasted like two Ben Franklins for one person.  The dinner overall was a great experience that left a bittersweet taste in my mouth.  I loved the scenery and the pasta.  I was a little afraid of the fish because I’m not too big on seafood.  Overall I was very impressed.

Standing at the Top of the Staircase

Looking Down from the Staircase

Outdoor Patio

Fresh Seafood Selection

risotto ai frutti di mare

risotto with clams, scallops, shrimp, lobster, calamari, mussels

piovra alla Ligure

warm Ligurian octopus salad, potatoes, lemon, olive oil

cappesante dorate con porcini

seared sea scallops, imported porcini mushrooms

scampi Siciliani

Sicilian langoustines

alici marinati

marinated Mediterranean anchovies

penne con scorfano e melanzane

penne with Mediterranean scorpion fish, eggplant, tomato, basil

ravioli di ricotta con caciotta Toscana

sheep’s milk ricotta ravioli, Tuscan pecorino cheese, Marsala wine glaze

risotto ai frutti di mare

risotto with clams, scallops, shrimp, lobster, calamari, mussels

pescato d’amo al forno

whole roasted line caught Mediterranean fish of the day

sinfonia di dolci

symphony of desserts

The Bill

about $155-200 for one Gran Menu di Mare (family style Grand Seafood Feast)

Dining at Bartolotta was the most memorable experience of the places I dined at in Las Vegas.  The cuisine is a bit pricey and a bit fishy.  I recommend it to anyone that enjoys seafood or great pasta and isn’t worried about price.  If the food doesn’t impress you, I guarantee that the scenery will.  So at the least, stop on in for a drink at the bar.

Bartolotta Ristorante Di Mare
3131 Las Vegas Blvd S
Las Vegas, NV 89109
(702) 248-3463‎
Google Map

On our way out of Chicago Sunday morning, my cousin Errol and I stopped for breakfast at Chris’ Pancakes & Dining in St. Louis, Missouri.  Parking was difficult as the place was packed.  This can be expected from what might just be the best breakfast for under thirty bucks in St. Louis.  I ordered a Sicilian Omelette on the recommendation of one of the locals.  It was something more like a pizza with red sauce omelette.  Errol ordered the buckwheat pancakes.  Service was quick and friendly.  As we were leaving, the waitress ran out to the car with some books that she thought we left behind, but they were actually someone else’s.  That shows that they really care about their customers.

Sicilian Omelette

Italian sausage, onion, mushrooms, green pepper, topped with marinara sauce and Provel cheese

Cinnamon Roll

This shit is the shit!

Errol & his buckwheat pancakes

Does this look like the face of a happy man?

Errol said, "there isn’t an inch of uneatable bacon on this bacon!" (referring to that nasty white stuff typical of bacon at many places)

If you’re ever in St. Louis for breakfast, eat here.

Chris’ Pancakes & Dining
5980 Southwest Ave
St. Louis, MO 63139-2761
(314) 645-2088
Google Map

I burned my first Blu-ray disk the other day using Nero on a Sony VGN-FZ283BN laptop.  I wanted Fear & Loathing, but it’s only offered in HD-DVD at this time.  Fear & Loathing is owned by Universal which only supports HD-DVD.  Stupid format wars! Whatever.  I just tested the drive to see if it worked and it was slow as hell right out of the box!  What a great way to waste a $30 disc.

Special thanks to A.J. Pietraszewski for sponsoring this useless blog post.

I was asked the other day to write a program to scrub some 50,000 Microsoft Word 2003 documents of hidden data.  I was surprised at first because I had no idea that Word secretly tracked changes in documents and who changed what.  Apparently this problem is dangerous to companies in particular.  Imagine writing in a Word document something that says, "Mike is an asshole."  Then later you realize Mike might see this document so you delete it.  If Mike finds this document and he knows what he is doing and you don’t know about this, Mike can see that you wrote this and deleted it.  It’s logged, but hidden.  I looked on google for about an hour but came up with a lot of crap I didn’t like.  I thought I had a winner when I landed on Doc Scrubber, but all that did was remove document properties.  Then I landed on Kim Komando’s page which suggested downloading something called the RHD tool from Microsoft (Validation Required).  Upon further inspection of this tool, I found it to be a pain in the ass for the purpose of scrubbing multiple documents.  I kept getting the error, "Protected Document failed. Reason: This document contains protected information. If you are not the author of this document, contact the author to obtain permissions." whenever I ran the OFFRHD.EXE program located in the RHD thing.  I grew impatient with these weak methods and decided to write my own program.  The concept is simple: open a document, select all, copy, close the document, create a new document, paste, save the new document in a different folder.  I noticed that by doing this, some documents decreased quite a bit in size.  On one test of a document that was edited by dozens of people, this method shrunk it from 3.03 MB to 2.01 MB.  They seemed happy with it, so I just used VB6 and Word 2003 to automate this on a lot of documents.  Mind you, I had to spend some time learning how to automate office because I never did this before.  Why the hell does Word put all this bullshit in documents anyway?  My program is called, "Word 2003 Document Bullshit removal."  I welcome any and all comments or suggestions.  This is not meant to be a commercial end all solution but rather something for other programmers to look at.  Use at your own risk.

Example Document before scrubbing

I had to sensor the screenshot because too much data was exposed.

Example Document after scrubbing with my code

 

My Code:

Private Sub cmdRemove_Click()
Me.MousePointer = 11

MsgBox "Finished removing bullshit from all Word 2003 documents!"
End Sub

Let me know what you think.  It’s Friday and I’m going home.

Download the source code and program here

Love Actually (2003)

"…let me say, without hope or agenda, just because it’s Christmas (and at Christmas you tell the truth) to me, you are perfect. and my wasted heart will love you, until you look like this…"

Looking for a smash on South Wabash?  Look no further than Tommy Gun’s Garage in Chicago.  You must have a reservation and a secret password to gain access to the backdoor of the garage.  The inside is a well done replica of a roaring 20’s gangster speakeasy in true pristine form complete with old pictures, a full service bar of "hooch", a 1929 Model A Ford, a stage, and a whole crew of gangsters & flappers.  The ceiling is lit by what appears to be hanging Tiffany lamps.  The event begins with dinner, starting with a salad or Al Capone Minestrone soup, followed by an entree (Lasagna, Chicken, Prime Rib, Pork Chops), and finished with a scoop of rainbow sherbet.  Shortly after, a hilarious comedy musical show begins during which time you may order as many drinks as you like.  Be careful though, this is prohibition.  If you get caught, the cops will raid the place with sirens, flashing blue lights, and drag you on stage for a sobriety test.  Also, cell phones and digital cameras are not invented yet, so be careful or you will be shot if caught using them! Rat! Tat! Tat!  I couldn’t tell you about the music because I wasn’t born yet, but the brochure says that "da mugs and da dolls dance and sing da Charleston and udder musical selections from Cole Porter, Fats Waller, George Gershwin, Duke Ellington, and many more… played by Chicago’s own sinfully orchestra." 

The Bar

A full service bar that you can’t sit at.  The flapper waitress will take your order.

The Salad

(I missed a picture of the soup… oops)

The Bread

Very soft and tasty bread with spices

Big Jim Colosimo

Baked Lasagna with beans, mixed veggies, a beet, and a sausage.  Anna Marie, who is Italian, says the sausage is "excellent" and she’d rather they gave her three pieces than the lasagna.  I don’t eat sausage but somehow I believe her judging by her facial expression when she said that.

"Frankie’s Feast"

Prime Rib with beans, mixed veggies, a beet, and a potato

Don’t Call Me Chicken

Boneless Breast Of Chicken With Marsala Wine Sauce, veggies, a beet, and a potato

Da Show

I almost got shot sneaking this picture of our very own Groucho Marx dressed in Bill Cosby’s sweater wearing glasses with a nose.

Foxy Roxy

Devon Davis and I with Foxy Roxy

Overall I enjoyed both the food and the show at this venue.  We went with a large group Christmas party on Wednesday.  For everyone else, they are open Thursday (6:30pm), Friday (7:30pm), Saturday (6:30pm), Sunday (6:00pm).  Then dinner lasts for about a half hour followed by two hours of hilarious entertainment.  I also recommend this to anyone looking for an entertaining Friday night dinner with a date or a group.

Tommy Gun’s Garage is an audience interactive "Speakeasy" which offers a musical comedy revue wit da gangsters, da flappers, and you!

Tommy Gun’s Garage
2114 S. Wabash
Chicago, IL 60616
(773) RAT-A-TAT
Google Map

One bright Thursday morning, a young business man fixes his suit and tie as he enters an upscale office building in New York City, the kind of building where minimum wage is 10K per week (in pre-911 dollars).  He fails to notice however, due to one too many glasses of Macallan Fine & Rare the night before at his penthouse suite that he put on the wrong set of shoes.  Upon entering the office, a certain scent catches his nose Ratatouille style.  As if in a trance, he proceeds to steal some catered food from a venue he was not invited to.  There a classy woman approaches him in executive attire.  She is what club trash junkyard dogs might label a "nine point five."

Miss 9.5 : One too many drinks last night huh?

Jon      : Ex-squeeze me? Baking Powder?

Miss 9.5 : Why are you wearing two different shoes? (laughs)

Jon      : What the… (looks down)

They talk for a short while before Jon scurries to his office to figure out what to do about this embarrassing situation.  He later realizes that this mishap is a form of peacocking which caused the woman to open him.  Though it is fashionably stupid, it is in fact humorous.  The Shoe Opener is born.  Don’t try this in public!

(Jon, why the fuck does your office have green floors???!)