Lifecasting — Like Crack on Camera

Addiction

That’s what JTV is to me — I think. I’ve never been addicted to drugs before, but I clearly have an addiction. But now, I have a new problem. It’s crazy really. First of all I need to talk about all things JTV, then we will get into my new (potential) habit. I woke up very late, I think it was after 2pm. I didn’t go to bed until after 6:30am, so that sleep was needed. I cleaned up around the house and then checked into JTV. Linus and Emelie were in Stockholm getting ready for their television premier on a show ,Sunday Morning TV4, that according to Loomy is similar to The Today Show here. He and Emelie went through the process of getting make up done and then they were on to the set. Of course I have no idea what was said, but Linus says the host is a female Jay Leno equivalent. I thought it was more like Today, but who really knows. 🙂 You can watch it on the Melinus page or click here:

They looked relaxed and like they were enjoying things. After the appearance, they stayed around the studio for a while before heading home. I understand one viewer translated in the room, but I missed it.

Garbage on JTV

Unfortunately, there is a relatively new stream that has brought in a lot of garbage, flocks of miscreants who are making it ugly in not only his channel, but others as well. After I was done with my evening, I tuned into Jeffy’s room and there were a band of them being quite ugly. I am hoping some of this clears up as school begins, but I suspect these same kids are not the type to hunker down with homework and after school sports and activities.

Peer Pressure

I mentioned that I might possibly take the plunge and show my face on Stickam tonight. Between Spookygrl and Delsal’s prodding, I gave in, created an account in Stickam and let myself be seen. I was torn. I felt like I should remain mysterious, like a food critic that never shows her face. I thought I’d do it this one time and write about it. I now believe I have the end to the book though! JTV hooks Justopia and reels her in for months and with a flick of the wrist, she is off to check out Stickam and finds herself streaming and walks away from JTV without a wave.

Tonight’s dinner — Chicken Milanese, Pasta with Pesto – sort of, and a salad of lemons, fennel and onions

No, I don’t see myself walking away from JTV so quickly — Jeffy and Linus and even Justin and iJustine are there to entertain me and keep me engaged, but the quality of Stickam will be a draw for those that want to try it out. A few things that I don’t like:

• I think the chat is flash like Ustream and it doesn’t play nicely. Correcting typos is excruciating most of the time — just backspacing takes time, if it even works.
• Sound is an issue. When it’s just one caster, it’s awesome, but with multiple people streaming it’s tough. There can be an echo or just too many people talking at one time. It can be overwhelming with 7 people at the same time.
• The video is a little small, although the resolution is quite good and when Ted did picture in picture (PIP) I could still see him and yours truly clearly, not that I wanted to see me!

I will say this. Lifecasting is HARD work! Well, I wasn’t exactly lifecasting, just joining in a video chat really, but it is very tiring. I felt like I had to be sitting up straight and not scowling or anything. I was on my guard the entire time, but nothing untoward happened. The viewer numbers were not huge, but I’d say at one point there were more than 20, but that’s about it. It was tough to pay attention to what was going on in chat, so I focused on the stream most of the time. The other viewers that were streaming were Spookygrl, Dizilbdog, Villanueva88 (or is it 89) and cooldude13### sorry Cool! I can’t remember your full moniker. I guess I am running on far too few hours of sleep. Sashanicole, Soupnazi and Anthony were on as well.

Jeffy streamed it in his channel and all I can say is — thank goodness the spammers and haters weren’t around or it could have gotten pretty ugly. One guy found his way in, but we tried to ignore him. I had a few caustic comments for him, but he was for the most part, harmless.

It is time for me to end here and go to bed, but I think I will take a break tomorrow night and not write. Seven days a week is a bit much without a break every now and then. Maybe I will spend a little time on Stickam with iTed again tomorrow night, but I am not sure. I probably just need to sit and chill.

And one final note — Quintano family, thank you for tonight’s dinner inspiration. I had a craving for chicken milanese after seeing you make chicken parmesan last night. Yum!

The recipes for tonight’s meal:

Chicken Milanese

• Boneless chicken breasts — pounded so that they are even in thickness and not so fat that you can’t get them cooked evenly
• Bread crumbs — with or without seasoning. If you get the unseasoned, use Italian herbs or just salt and pepper. Fresh bread works nicely as well or panko (rice) crumbs do a beautiful job also.
• Oil — I used olive oil and a little vegetable oil, but Anthony recommends smart sense, a blend of three different oils
• Egg

Heat the oil in a pan for frying. Beat beat the egg. Coat the breasts in the egg and then dip into the bread crumbs. Dip into the hot oil and cook until done. Do not overcook — dry chicken is never good.

Pasta with Pesto

I was so disappointed. I picked the basil while shooting the sunset, brought it inside, gathered the ingredients for pesto and could not find the block of fresh parmesano reggiano anywhere! I must have inadvertently thrown it away when doing the dishes last night. Ah! That was probably over $7.00 of cheese I lost! Yikes! Again, no real recipe here, I will estimate. This should easily make enough for 2 servings of pasta

• Fresh Basil — 1 1/2 cup, leaves only
• Garlic — 3 cloves, peeled
• Olive Oil 1/2 cup
• 3 Tbs FRESH parmesan cheese cut in chunks
• Pine nuts, 1 Tbs
• Ricotta Cheese, 1/2 cup

In a food processor or blender, chop garlic. Add the cheese and then the basil. Slowly pour in the olive oil to create an emulsion — you should hear the food processor get a lower sound as the ingredients thicken a bit. Add the basil and pulse until well mixed and then put in the ricotta cheese and parmesan cheese. Add the pine nuts and pulse just about 20 seconds. Add salt and pepper as needed. Pour over hot pasta Yum!

I did not have the cheese, but it was almost equally as delicious. The Genoese created pesto and they add ricotta. This is not how you usually see the recipe in cookbooks, but trust me, it is the ONLY way to go with pesto. It balances the strong tastes of the garlic, parmesan and basil beautifully.

Salad

Fennel has such a refreshing taste. When paired with lemons it is like summer on a plate.

• Fennel – 1 bulb. You can save the top, the dill for other uses
• Onion – 1/2 small
• Lemon – 1 small
• 3 Tbs olive oil
• 1 Tbs lemon juice
• Salt
• Fresh cracked pepper

Slice all of the ingredients almost paper thin. If you have a mandolin you can get the right thickness, if not, just carefully get control of the knife and slice as thinly as possible. All three vegetables have strong flavors and cutting as thinly as possible will be key.

Make a vinagarette with lemon juice olive oil, salt and pepper.

This meal is quick and delicious. It took me all of about 20 minutes to whip it up. It’s as quick as un-boxing prepared food and cooking it. Really!