Recipe: Shrimp Mushroom Casserole

I made this dish for Carlos last week and we both loved it. Carlos hated mushrooms before we started dating. He’s come a long way. (He’s still not really a fan of them raw in salads – yet.)

½ onion, finely chopped
½ sweet bell pepper, finely chopped
4 shallots, finely chopped
4 tbsp butter
4 tbsp flour
1 ½ cups light cream
½ tsp celery salt
½ tsp white pepper
½ tsp paprika
½ tsp salt
Slight pinch of cayenne pepper
1 cup grated cheddar cheese
¼ lb mushrooms, sliced
2 lbs peeled and deveined shrimp, cooked in salted water
Seasoned bread crumbs

Sauté the onion, pepper, and shallots in the butter over low heat until tender. (Do not brown.) Add the flour and mix well. Cook for 3 or 4 minutes.

Add the rest of the ingredients, except the bread crumbs. Stir together and pour into a well-buttered casserole dish. Sprinkle the bread crumbs on top, and bake for about 20 minutes in a preheated 350-degree oven.

Serves six to eight people.


The recipe is from this book. This is the first recipe that I have made from this book. Once I use it more, I’ll let you know if it’s worth buying.

Bon Appétit!

Obama orders hospital visitation rights for gays, lesbians

Washington (CNN) -- President Obama has asked the Department of Health and Human Services to establish a rule that would prevent hospitals from denying visitation privileges to gay and lesbian partners.

The president's Thursday memo said, "There are few moments in our lives that call for greater compassion and companionship than when a loved one is admitted to the hospital. ... Yet every day, all across America, patients are denied the kindnesses and caring of a loved one at their sides."

Gay and lesbian Americans are "uniquely affected" by relatives-only policies at hospitals, Obama said, adding that they "are often barred from the bedsides of the partners with whom they may have spent decades of their lives -- unable to be there for the person they love, and unable to act as a legal surrogate if their partner is incapacitated."

When Lisa Pond collapsed during a family vacation in Florida three years ago, her partner of 17 years was kept away from her hospital room.

Janice Langbehn begged and waited for hours to stand by Pond's bedside at Miami's Jackson Memorial Hospital, but it wasn't until her partner's sister arrived that she got any information. In the end, the person Pond was closest to was relegated to a waiting room as she died from an aneurysm.

"To hold Lisa's hand wasn't a gay right, it was a human right," Langbehn told CNN on Thursday.

Obama requested that the regulation make clear that any hospital receiving Medicare and Medicaid funding, which includes the vast majority of U.S. hospitals, must allow patients to decide who can visit them and prohibit discrimination based on a variety of characteristics, including sexual orientation and gender identity.

Read the rest of the article here.

Kitchen Painting

Carlos and I (okay mostly the "I" part) spent last weekend painting my kitchen.

Here are three before (the top half) and after (the bottom half) pictures.

Go to my Flickr page for all the pictures.

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Now that I have updated my kitchen, I have renewed interest in cooking. Stay tuned for more adventures in cooking.

Empty School Video

From Urlesque:

Choosing a musical instrument is tough. For every happy trombonist in high school band, there are probably two who wish they'd chosen the trumpet.

That's what makes Maryland musician and student Ben Meyers' choice to play the entire school such a smart one. Armed with little more than an empty high school, a couple of mics, and the nicest camera an after school job can buy, Ben creates a loopy, driving jam that incorporates everything from his locker door to the water fountain.

Top 10: Led Zeppelin

In preparation of another blog entry I have planned – and because I love top ten lists – here are my…

Top Ten Favorite Led Zeppelin Songs of All Time (alphabetically):
Babe I’m Gonna Leave You
Bring It On Home
Bron-Y-Aur Stomp
In My Time of Dying (For me, the best 10 minutes in rock music!)
No Quarter (The Song Remains The Same live version)
Over The Hills and Far Away
Tangerine
Ten Years Gone
The Lemon Song
The Wanton Song

Click on the songs to hear them.

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Least Favorite Led Zeppelin Songs of All Time:
Kashmir
Stairway to Heaven (just because it’s so overplayed)
Anything on Presence

Click on the songs to hear them.

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Favorite Led Zeppelin Album of All Time:
Physical Graffiti

9th Anniversary

Carlos and I met online through AOL Personals near the beginning of March 2001. Neither of us remembers who answered whose ad.

We chatted via email and IM’s for a couple of weeks, trading information and pictures. We quickly realized that we had a lot in common – including our friend Vincent.


We agreed to meet in person on Saturday, March 24, 2001 at Lakeview Harbor, a local restaurant known for their great hamburgers. The restaurant was my suggestion; I had gone there a few times with Lloyd, who used to work across the street at Coral Reef Pet Shop.

We met that night and really hit it off. At the end of the night, we agreed to meet again the next night at the Prytania Theatre. It was showing the Academy Awards, which we both loved, on the big screen.

The following night, Monday, we were discussing that we wanted to eat dinner together, but couldn’t decide the location. I mentioned that I usually did laundry and drank beer (with John) on Mondays – and asked Carlos if he would like to go with us. He readily agreed. I suggested that we eat at Taco Bell beforehand. He told me years later that was when he knew that we were meant for each other. He could tell that I was as down to earth as he was.

Carlos and I have been together ever since. Nine years this past Wednesday. Every year on March 24, we have dinner at Lakeview Harbor and reminisce about our past – and plan our future.

Web Site: Bad Paintings of Barack Obama

My favorite web site today:
Bad Paintings of Barack Obama

It is very minimalistic. Pictures. No words. Click to see the next one. Repeat.

Sample below.

Me . Age 10.

Me. Age 10.

One of my all-time-favorite pictures of me.

I'll update this post soon with the details behind the picture. (Preview: Note the scabs on my face - and the uneven bangs.)

Video: The Known Universe by the American Museum of Natural History

This is a fascinating video! It really makes me realize how small we really are.

The video's description:
The Known Universe takes viewers from the Himalayas through our atmosphere and the inky black of space to the afterglow of the Big Bang. Every star, planet, and quasar seen in the film is possible because of the world's most complete four-dimensional map of the universe, the Digital Universe Atlas that is maintained and updated by astrophysicists at the American Museum of Natural History. The new film, created by the Museum, is part of an exhibition, Visions of the Cosmos: From the Milky Ocean to an Evolving Universe, at the Rubin Museum of Art in Manhattan through May 2010.




Though I think the background music is fine, I think Pink Floyd's Shine On You Crazy Diamond would fit better.

Try it yourself: Start both videos at the same time. Then turn down the volume of the top video and turn up the volume of the bottom one. Then only watch the top video.

Things NOT To Ask A Gay Guy

I read Davey Wavey's blog mainly because he does all his video posts shirtless. (Yes, I am shallow.)

He does have some insightful posts though. He discusses "Things NOT to ask a gay guy" in the below video blog entry. (He calls them talky blogs.)

For the lazy/curious, here are the questions. You'll have to watch the video (NSFW - language) for his answers.

1. "Who's the woman in your relationship?"
2. "I know you like guys. Are you attracted to me?"
3. "When did you decide to be gay?"
4. "Aren't you worried about AIDS?"
5. "How do you know if you're gay if you've never slept with a woman?"