The Manrilla Blog | Life. Art. Religion. Culture.

Ahh…, good to be back in the saddle of creativity. Up until recently I had to place any and every sharp object out of my reach in fear of taking my life from the soul-sucking monotony of my 9-to-5. But, alas there is a Lord and that Lord hath doth begiveth-en me the blessing of work. Just this week two really great jobs have fallen in my lap with more on the horizon. So, yes, let there be light and while yer at it, me Lord, see ifeth thou cannist begotton onto younderself more dough, for my rent is doth due on the 1st, yo

You ever come back to an album that you may not have listened to in a while and it just up and kicks your butt? Man, John Coltrane’s Giant Steps is just such an album. Tommy Flanagan, Art Taylor and Paul Chambers just absolutely rip it up. Contrane’s tour-de-force perfomance on the title track might as well cancel any other tenor sax player’s career. Cousin Mary is also another track that just makes me bob my head like I’ve got a closed-head injury. And of course there’s Naima, one of the great ballads of be-bop. If you happen to have been dead or un-born when this came out and don’t have it in your collection then you just don’t be cool…

Okay, for all those who love good food but not the clean up, we present to you: ONE POT WONDERS!!. Never again toil in your kitchen for days on end. Now you, too, can prepare delectable delights from only one pot. And if yer a real lazy bloke you can eat out of it, too. But don’t take my word for it. Read more here:

One Pot Wonders

Code name: Chix w/ Beans

No, this isn’t the name for some international spy or better yet some crazy pornographic video but instead it’s the name for my one pot wonder: Chicken with Bans. Hold on to your pants ’cause things are gonna really take off from here.

First, we’ll start with a List of Ingredients:

• 2 - 3 medium sized onion rough chopped
• 2-3 green peppers rough chopped and keep all the seeds
• olive oil
• 2 large cans of diced tomatoes with juice (you can use fresh if you have them)
• 2 cans of beans - I prefer dark red kedney beans but any will do
• a can of corn with juice (optional, but makes it really southwest and all)
• 3-6 tablespoons full of chilli powder - this depends on your taste
• 2 tspns or 1 tablespoon of cumin (again, your call)
• 2 - 3 tablespoons of thyme
• a crap-load of fresh cracked pepper - use the un-fresh variety if you don’t have it
• 2 - 3 tablespoons of salt (beans will soak up a lot of salt)
• 2 - 3 lbs. of chicken, any cut of the animal, without skin, cubed

1. The best way to start is to chop all your veggies first and put them in a bowl. Sprinkle a little salt on them and let them sit. Make sure you save the seeds from the green peppers and include them in your veggie mix. They’re not hot and are important to the flavor.

2. Whilst your veggies sit, cube your chicken, place them in a separate bowl and also salt and pepper them.

3. Heat a large sauce pan big enough to hold all. Heat pot to high before adding oil. This is important. When oil is hot add oinions and green peppers with seeds. Cook these for 2-3 minutes until they begin to look translucent but not brown

4. Add your chicken and stir. Cook chicken for about 5 - 6 minutes.

5. Add tomatoes, beans and corn. Season with chilli powder, more cracked pepper and salt and bring to boil. After pot boils reduce heat to very low and simmer for at least 2 hours.

You can serve this with rice. In addition to keeping with the one pot tradition, you may simply add rice at the end, cooking it until it is done and serve. Cheers-

Waferbaby is a good source of daily laughter. I myself spent a good hour last night working out my abs. There’s tons of good source material for chuckles. But don’t take my work for it :::

Unbeknownst to yours truly, I’ve been living my life out of control, that is according to Tom. I always thought it was safe but according to Tom capers should be eaten in moderation. It was not revealed to me what the consequences of eating a high-caper diet could be but I’m not willing to take the risk and find out. This was devastating news. I love a good pizza with anchovies and capers. Lemon chicken and capers. Okay, you can see where this is going. But all is not lost. I don’t have to give them up, just have them in moderation. Thanks, Tom. That was a close one (wew…).

Gangstarr, the ultra-veterans of hip-hop are coming out with a new album on September 30th. They’ve been around since the beginning and have shown that they have what it takes to continue to keep the torch buring.“First and foremost, some rappers are sweet like fructose. When I cock back these lyrics, ya’ll punks had best be ghosts…” Read up on their latest :::

Like Rollovers? Wanna make one in CSS? ‘Wrote a song ’bout it. Like ta hear it? ‘Hear it go: “I wanna make me some Rollovers, yeah…” :::

The ISO (International Organization for Standardization) thinks that it should charge for language, country and currency codes that are used on the Web. $ounds like bad news? Yeah, but see what the W3C has to say on it :::