Mushroom Ravioli w/ Three Sauces

The filling for the ravioli was made with sauteed mushrooms, garlic, and onion, then folded into cream cheese. The three sauces are pesto, blue cheese and browned butter with sage.

Grilled Shrimp w/ a Fried Polenta Cake and Apricot Barbecue Sauce

The shrimp were grilled indoors using a cast-iron grill pan. They are served next to a piece of polenta that has been fried in olive oil until crispy on both sides. The accompanying barbecue sauce is made with apricot jam, molasses, cider vinegar, and liquid smoke. The spinach was wilted in sauteed scallions and garlic with a little lemon juice.

Pan Seared Scallop w/ Truffled Israeli Cous Cous

The scallop was seasoned with salt and pepper and seared in bacon drippings. The Israeli cous cous was cooked in a little butter, shallot and chicken stock. It was topped with a drizzle of truffle oil.

Roasted Pork Loin w/ Grilled Vegetables and Fig Sauce

The pork loin was roasted at 425 degrees for about twenty five minutes. It was simply prepared with olive oil, salt and pepper- as were the vegetables. The fig sauce was made with dried figs, chicken stock and a number of spices including cinnamon.

White Russian Milkshake and Chocolate Chip Cookie

The milkshake was made with vanilla ice cream, vodka, coffee liqueur and chocolate liqueur. The cookie was thin and slightly crispy on the outside with a chewy center.

I hate Reunion.com!!!

I apologize if you got a stupid email from me saying I wanted you to join reunion.com. That is not the case. I hate reunion.com and hope that everyone involved with the website gets what is coming to them.

Here's what happened. I got the same email from my uncle that you got from me. I hadn't talked with him in months. I'd also moved recently. I thought that he was trying to contact me to get my new info. He's a busy guy, so I thought signing up quickly for the website would help him. Unfortunately, I now realize he got duped in the same way I did.

The website asks for your email information to match you with your friends/family already registered on reunion.com. What I didn't see in small print was that it also sends an email inviting the rest of your contacts to join. F@ck You, reunion.com!!! Do you really think I wanted to invite my boss to your stupid website? Or the dozens of business contacts in my address book? I'm sure Jim Rome was real happy getting that email.

The worst part is that now I have to explain this over and over again. So I'm wishing for a plague of sorts to befall the offices of reunion.com. I hope you're all reunited in the ICU. Again, sorry to everyone for the email. Please delete it. Thanks.

Let's get Barry Bonds back on the Field!

Barry Bonds is good for sports. There is nothing worse than seeing an athlete waste away when they still have the ability to compete. It makes me ill to think that Brett Favre has nothing to do but riding lawn mower commercials and think of ways to spend the ridiculous amount of money he's made. No. 4 has a gift and should be lined up between the hashmarks. For a brief second after his retirement, I hoped he would come back to the Falcons and the team that drafted him. Favre could make one last stand for the people that brought him into the league. But Atlanta killed my hopes by taking Matt Ryan in the draft last weekend.

Let's be honest, Ryan isn't going to make anyone forget about Michael Vick. A pocket passer isn't going to get Atlanta to their feet. They want someone who freaks out when the first option is covered. They need a running back masquerading as a quarterback. A guy who will take the snap, pump fake and start breaking guys' ankles. At best, Matt Ryan will complete passes, but he won't put butts in the seats. No, the only hope for the Falcons is Barry Bonds.

Hear me out. We know he's an athletic freak. And we know the NFL is lax on steroids and the fans don't care if players use them. I'm not saying you make him your quarterback, but I'm sure there's a slot for him. Arthur Blank has plenty of money from selling power tools and potting soil. He could easily throw a couple million towards the "homerun king". Tell me the stands wouldn't be packed to see B. Lamar Bonds throw on an oversized helmet and lineup for an extra point. And his idol- Henry Aaron- lives right down the street. Barry Bonds and Falcons football. Crazier things have happened. Did you hear the greatest pitcher of the past two decades allegedly cheated to win and cheated on his wife with a country music star who was 15 at the time? See? Now Bonds in Atlanta would barely make the back page of the AJC.

A Diamond in the Rough

I have a new obsession and I hate myself for it. I'd almost rather admit to liking Yanni, than tell you what I've spent countless hours doing over the past couple weeks. It all started when my girlfriend went out of town for a bachelorette party. I came home that Friday night at a reasonable hour to an empty apartment. With nothing better to do and not tired enough to sleep, I flopped down on the couch and began the most famous of American pastimes- channel surfing. What I eventually landed on and am now addicted to, was DirecTv channel 233: Gems TV.

I know what you're thinking- it's home shopping for old ladies. But that's where you're wrong. I have flipped channels for over a decade past thousands of home shopping shows and have never been encapsulated like I am with Gems TV. What's remarkable about the network is that the reason I first started watching is not the reason I still check it out during commercial breaks. I paused on Gems TV out of sheer anger. The presenter was referring to the jewelry auctions as games. I couldn't believe that anyone would be dumb enough to go for it. But much to my surprise people were buying left and right.

The gimmicks didn't stop there. The quantity of items available were referred to as positions. The starting price was "crashed" some 80-90% a couple minutes into each auction. What can only be described as early house music plays underneath every game. And the camera often pans left quickly and cuts to a zoom shot of the item for sale. Not to mention the constant flash of information on screen and the presenter's ad nauseaum descriptions. And possibly my favorite part, no matter what time you buy the item during the auction, everyone pays the lowest price. My anger quickly turned to fascination and now I like to play along. I don't buy any of the jewelry though. The game I play is trying to guess the price they're going to crash to.

But last Saturday night my addiction grew as I discovered a new way to enjoy Gems TV. As an old friend and I downed copious amounts of beer during a power hour that turned into a century club, we learned that if you email the show they'll read them on the air. As the presenter gave a shoutout to "Biggie" (my old nickname), my friend and I high-fived each other and the new game was on. We spent the next hour emailing from every computer, blackberry and phone in the apartment trying to get our messages read. We succeeded three or four times. It was awesome. So the next time you find yourself pre-gaming with some friends or winding down from a drunken evening, give channel 233 a try and send an email to chat@gemstv.com. You might just be surprised how entertaining it can be. And whether you tell your friends about your new hobby is completely up to you.

You Can't Handle the Tooth

Had someone asked me the top five things I wouldn't be doing yesterday at 5pm, going to the dentist would have been near the top of the list. Like most people, I hate the dentist. I hate everything about it- the waiting room, the paperwork, the scraping, the suction tube thingy, the spit cup, and the condescending demonstration of the proper way to floss. It's a piece of string. You run it between your teeth. I get it. Going to the dentist isn't supposed to be an enjoyable experience, but it shouldn't be dreaded. I avoided it as long as I could. I brushed and flossed longer and harder in the past year than I ever have thinking I could avoid the dentist. I was wrong.

For about the past week, I had a little pain in my upper molar on the left side of my mouth. It only happened while eating and mostly sweet foods at that. It wasn't unbearable, but I knew a trip to the dentist was in order. As a child of the internet age, I went to 1-800-DENTIST.com. I filled out a little info and was given a few choices for local dentists. I read some of the reviews and chose an office. With some trepidation, I clicked for an appointment and waited for a call. A few minutes later, the receptionist called me and I told her I needed an exam and cleaning. I was thinking two weeks. She had just had a cancellation and was thinking 5 0'clock.

My main problem with going to the dentist office is actually the dentist. This may have stemmed from my childhood dentist who was an unapologetic Tarheels’ fan. I back the orange and blue of UVA, so our differences reached farther than my brushing habits. However my main problem with the DDS coalition is that they want to poke around in your mouth. The tools of their trade are a twisted array of metal picks and drills. The typical exam tray looks like what Arnold Schwarzenegger was tortured with in True Lies. There is something fundamentally wrong with anyone who wants to scrape plaque and tartar out of tooth crevices for a living.

That being said, I would rate my experience yesterday as not too unpleasant. The receptionist was extremely friendly. The paperwork was quick. I didn’t have to wait at all. My x-rays took a couple minutes and then my actual dentist did the cleaning. She was a fellow east coast transplant and we had some common stomping grounds near Washington, D.C. She kept it light. We chatted about my job. It was rather nice until she strapped on the mask and went to work. What came next was my fault, not hers. Although I said it was two years since my last cleaning it was actually more like four. What? I hate the dentist. She picked, scraped, polished and shined the bejesus out of my teeth. I’ve been running my tongue over them all morning.

I also found out that as an adult you don’t have to have the fluoride treatment. You know, that tray of goo you bite down on for twelve minutes with the suction tube jammed in between? Anyway, I was done. Less than an hour, relatively painless. I was halfway out of the chair when she said, “Now let’s take a look at those x-rays.” Damn. I’d forgotten about the minor tooth pain that spurred the visit. Sure enough, it was a cavity. And it had a brother. Both of the drill and fill persuasion. Just my lucky day. It’s a good thing my first visit to the dentist office of the second George W. administration wasn’t as dreadful as I thought because as it turns out, I get to go back in two weeks.

The Time I Went Blind

I've been busy lately. I finished up all the crazy travel between the east coast and west coast that spanned my spring and summer. I went to the beach. Twice. I got a promotion. I flew to Phoenix for a day to shoot a correspondent piece for work with Orlando Hudson of the Arizona Diamondbacks. Oh, I also went blind.

The last set of nuptials I attended came just after July 4th. My best friend, Kristen, got married in our home town of Newport News. It was a wonderful occasion, but a busy one for all parties involved. The ceremony and reception flew by and I got to spend just a few mintues with the bride and groom. Before I left, Kristen said that a select few were going to a bar across from the hotel. Even though my flight back to Los Angeles was at 5:45am, I couldn't say no to my oldest friend. Kristen and I have known each other for about 23 years.

Despite the lack of sight I experienced less than 12 hours later, I'm glad I went. Not only did I get to spend some time with Kristen and her new husband, but two other high school friends were randomly at the bar. We lived it up, drank it down and stayed until last call. I got back to my brother's house and in bed by about 2:30am. After sleeping in my clothes, I awoke a mere two hours later and headed to the airport.

My flight to Atlanta went without incident. I slept for the hour and a half, still pretty drunk. Once in the Peach State I had two hours to kill. Instead of drinking water or getting something to eat, I elected for more sleep in the corner of the waiting area at my gate. My cell phone alarm rang as they were boarding my flight to Los Angeles. Again, I passed on liquids or nourishment; a huge mistake.

I had the window seat, next to a nice couple with a baby they passed between them the entire flight. At this point the wonderful affects of alcohol had worn off and the ill affects had settled in. I was getting hot and cold flashes and attempting to sweat out any water still left in my body. I tried to sleep but couldn't. I couldn't read. I couldn't listen to music. I was fidgety and uncomfortable. I thought to myself that I'd never felt so bad in my life. Then I went blind.

At first my vision went fuzzy, sort of like when you rub your eyes to hard. Then it tunneled. Then it went black. I blinked for the first thirty seconds just waving my hand in front of my eyes. I have no idea what the people next to me thought, but I must have looked crazy. I started to panic and felt around for the stewardess call button. When she arrived, I could barely gasp, "Water." I slugged down a couple glasses, but still no vision. I refrained from alerting anyone to my problem for fear the plane would be diverted to somewhere like Kansas City and I'd end up on the news.

A few minutes went by and the idea of running up and down the aisles screaming was looking better and better, diversion be damned. As a last resort I felt around in the seat-back pocket for the vomit bag. I breathed in and out, trying to calm myself back down. Miraculously, some five to seven minutes after I'd gone Stevie Wonder my eye sight returned. It was slow at first. A little gray here. The outline of the seat. Then everything slowly came into focus. I was so happy I could've cried had there been any liquid left in my body. I stayed awake the rest of the way home, afraid to close my ears. I sucked down a few more glasses of water and had a few bags of pretzels. So in short, I've had a good summer. Lots going on. Really looking forward to the winter.