Miscellaneous, Etc

Ok, I have a good excuse for not posting this week. See, my parents are visiting and my mom was actually staying at my place. What did we do? Well, I introduced her to the Belgariad so she sat on my couch reading it all week while I played Diablo 3. What? Don't judge, that's how my family gets down. We had a good time. There was also food, of course. Including this. Do you know what it is? Guess! I'll post about it next week. In the meantime, here is a picture of a meatloaf sandwich. It was spectacular. In fact I should share the recipe sometime. If only I had some kind of website where I put up recipes and pictures...

Back on the Net

In the past week I have moved and thus been without internet. This is not something I enjoyed. But now that I have it back, I can tell you guys all about my exciting new kitchen. Take a look. Go ahead, take another. It is a bit much to take in all at once and I'm sure you have some questions.

Like, is that the whole thing? And yes, yes it is.

But where're the counters? Ha! No. Stinking. Counters. There is enough space between the sink and stove to put my knife block. I'll probably wind up moving it too since I doubt I'll be doing much prep in there.

Doesn't it get hot in there? Why yes it does. In fact, it gets downright hellish. Plus if I don't have a fan blowing into it the heat sets off my smoke detector. Excitement!

At least the sink looks big, right? It sure is! In fact I can fit my whole large roasting pan in it. Can't fit the pan in the oven though.

But... a fridge? Yeah, it's in the bedroom. No, seriously.

So I figure if Kevin over at Closet Cooking can whip up the fancy pants stuff he does in a closet sized kitchen, I should be able to whip up my homestylely stuff in one that is actually smaller than some closets I've had. I guess we'll find out.

My other trouble is I don't really like cooking for just me, it's just not as rewarding. But I have no money, so I've got to work something out. So we're going to see how many ways I can cook rice and beans, pasta, ramen and... well, that's pretty much it. Heh. There will also be more vegetarian stuff since that's cheaper.

On the plus side there's lots of light in this place, that should help my picture quality. Well, except in the kitchen which has no windows, so there won't be many prep shots anymore.

I've babbled on enough, I actually think I might start up a pot of rice and beans...

I Went on a Trip

All those reposts a couple weeks ago were a cover for a trip I took with my girlfriend, my brother and sister in law. We went to Chicago and then did a little road trip to one of my sisters for a family reunion. It was a good time, lots of good food. The food in Chicago was particularly awesome, although I'm afraid I'm still not a fan of Chicago style deep dish pizza. I mean it looks good, but I just don't feel it. I really prefer my cheese on top and a lot less sauce. This here came from Gino's East and the flavors were all fantastic, it's just the assembly I take issue with. I did like the disc of sausage the size of the whole pizza though, that's a nice touch. Heh.

We also went to a restaurant called Heaven on Seven where I had, hands down, the best barbecue I've ever had. Unfortunately I didn't manage to get good pics of that stuff, but if you find yourself in Chicago I highly recommend it. They specialize in Creole (I think), but the barbecue was just unreal.

We took a piece of Route 66 during our trip and decided to stop at an old school burger place, the Launching Pad, complete with giant fiberglass eyesore. I got a burger and it was awesome.It's what I imagine fast food used to taste like, back in the day.

Chicago style deep dish is a bit of a love it or hate it thing and I want to know where people stand. Who likes it, who doesn't and why?

It's Kind of Like Food Photo Archeology

So, I recently went on a little trip for a family reunion and got some pictures of wicked good food in Chicago. I was planning on doing a post about it on Monday, but I seem to have forgotten my camera back in the house my parents rented for the reunion.

Whoopsie. Fortunately it was found and is being mailed to me, but it does mean my plans are a bit shot until it arrive. I'm going to do some digging, I don't have a lot of stuff on my computer but I'm pretty sure I have some pictures I haven't posted yet.

In the meantime I did find this. Looks awful, doesn't it? Heh, date stamp and everything. It's actually the first picture I ever took with the intention of posting on the net. I don't think I ever did put it up, but I found it in a miscellaneous folder a while back so I figured I'd share it now since I have a good excuse. I think there were more photos involved, but this seems to be the only one I kept. Makes me wonder how the others turned out. Probably frightening. Heh.

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

But I've got nothing. Honestly, I hadn't even realized Cinco de Mayo was coming up, otherwise I would have saved one of the several Mexican things I've posted lately for today. Oh well. I'm feeling lazy though, so I'm just going to shoot a few links from the archives your way in case you need any last minute ideas for festivities tonight.

Maybe something quick and easy, like guacamole chicken salad or taco burritos? Fajitas are always a good time and they can be done on the grill or in a pan. Plus that recipe is made with standard pantry stuff.

Of course there's always taco fries, those are great for a crowd.

Are my holiday obligations complete? Awesome, I think I'll go have a Negra Modelo.

Black Truffle Oil

A while ago Joanne over at Eats Well With Others and Marx Food got together and had a caption contest. I didn't win, but I was a runner up! It was a fun contest and my fabulous prize was a bottle of truffle oil. It's very exciting for me, since I've never used it before, but frankly I have no idea what to do with it. So how about some advice kids? What should I do with black truffle oil?

A Question About Blogging Ethics

So I was writing up the recipe for these thin, crispy oatmeal cookies and I had a thought.See, I got the recipe from Cooks Illustrated. I was thinking, you know, I'm not sure how right it is for me to take this thing that other people made with the express purpose of charging for it and just give it away for free. I mean, America's Test Kitchen is the bomb, I want to support them and frankly I don't think I introduce enough new people to them to justify me printing their recipes. Heh.

I know some authors/publishers don't care, several of the cookbooks I've reviewed have given me permission from the get go. But with a company like ATK, where their recipes are their whole deal and they already have them all on a pay website, I'm less sure about whats ethical and whats not. Plus it's not like I have so many readers that I'm taking food out of their mouth, so to speak, but it's something I'm curious about. I'm actually going to contact them and ask for their permission, but I was wondering what the rest of the food blog world thinks:

Is it cool to post unchanged recipes from cookbooks/magazines and such?

If a magazine or cookbook is very old or out of print it doesn't bug me, or if I make some changes and can put "adapted from/inspired by" or some such thing then I'm fine. But when it's the straight up recipe from a current publication, well I'm less sure about that. What do you guys think?

Bacon Grease. Do You Keep It?

I know there are people out there who won't even make it past the post title. Heh.

But this is something I've been curious about, how many of you folks out there keep bacon grease on hand? I do. I don't use anywhere near as much of it as I do olive oil, but I almost always have a mug at least a quarter full in the fridge. A little goes a long way, but it adds the best flavor when you're cooking eggs, burgers or sauteing onions. I've used it as the fat in breads, cooked pancakes in it and brushed in on top of calzones before putting them in the oven instead of olive oil. It's essence of bacon, people, it can add deliciousness to anything.

So come on, who else?

I know I'm not alone.

Update: A few people have asked some basic questions about storing bacon grease, which is really something I should have covered before. Heh. So, here we go, a quick bacon grease faq:
Q: How do you store bacon grease?
A: I like to store it in a ceramic coffee mug, covered in plastic wrap, (sometimes I wrap a rubber band around if it won't stick) in the fridge.
Q: How long does bacon grease stay good for?
A: Many months in the fridge and when it goes bad you know since it smells rancid. My rule thumb for it is if I don't know if it's still I just toss it. More can always be made by frying up some bacon.
Q: What other ways can you store it?
A: Well, my dad used to store it at room temperature and we never had any issues with it. Of course we also used it pretty quickly. You can store it in a coffee can, although I think it gives it off flavors. My suggestion is to keep it in either glass or ceramic, covered and in the fridge.

Pan Seared Steak Sandwich with Horseradish Mustard Pan Sauce

Ok, I think it took longer for me to write the name of this post than it did for me to eat the sandwich. I mean look at that, how good does that look? It was also wicked easy, which is always a plus. All I did was pan sear a petite sirloin (they were on sale! Yeah!) after rubbing it with salt, pepper, garlic and onion powder, make a pan sauce with the fond, slice it thin and serve it on french bread. Good frikking times.

I did use a little trick to get tons flavor into the sauce though. Since the steak was thick (~1.5") I covered it and reduced the heat for part of the middle period of cooking. This caused it to release a whole bunch of juices, which I then collected. The juices partly deglazed it before the final deglaze, which kept the fond from burning during the long sear. When the steak was done I deglazed the pan with some water and the juices, reduced it to about 1/4 cup, added a tablespoon of horseradish mustard and a pat of butter. This turned it into, essentially, gravy. Oh, I also added the juices from the steak after it rested. You've got to have those. But that's it and it was quite possibly the best steak sandwich I've ever had.

Also, the inimitable Joanne from Eats Well With Others gave me awards! Isn't she sweet? Kreative Blogger and Sugardoll awards, to be precise. If you don't already, you should check out her blog, she's a great storyteller and cook. Now I know I haven't been playing the awards game lately, but I do enjoy the ones with the trivia so I'll at least play along a little. Course, I can't even remember when the last time I gave a list of random tidbits about myself so if I repeat anything, I apologize in advance. I'm just going to do like Joanne did and list 10 things. However, unlike Joanne I'm going to be a spoilsport and not pass it along. Sorry kids, it's just how I roll. Now, let's see...

1) When I was in my early 20's I spent several years driving a forklift in a chemical plant. I enjoyed it at the time, but looking back it reminds me of nothing so much as Axis Chemicals from the first Michael Keaton Batman movie. Not a well maintained place.
2) I also worked for an independent record label in the warehouse when I was younger. Much cleaner and a lot more fun, since it was a big party atmosphere there. My memories of it are pretty... hazy. Heh.
3) I've only left the US once, just over the border to Canada, to get donuts.
4) I love old video games, especially 8-bit and Super Nintendo.
5) I also like ficus's and plan on growing bonsai when I have more room/sunlight.
6) I'm a big Godzilla fan. Not the crappy American one from 2000, but the Japanese ones. They are awesome.
7) Me and my girlfriend have been together for seven years, but this is actually our second time dating. The first was in junior high.
8) In the last ten years I have been to a movie theater twice and have no intention of going to another one ever again. I should be the only one making rude comments during the movie.
9) I used to collect gas masks, I still have maybe 8-9 of them.
10) I haven't had cable in over 10 years and I really don't miss it. All I ever watch is PBS anyway.

Camera Cleanup, the Final Act

Ok, last camera cleanup, I promise. I have something really good coming up on Monday and a giveaway to boot! So make sure to tune in then.

But first, allow me to give you some advice on baking muffins. You see, when a recipe says "preheat the oven to 350" it means 350. Not 250. Like I did here. See that? That's what happens when you realize the muffins have been in there for five minutes at the drastically wrong temperature so you turn it up to where it's supposed to be and hope for the best. They came out perfectly edible, but the texture was... odd. It was more like those Drakes coffee cake things than anything else. Not quite what I was going for. They came out much better the first time.

Here we have some french toast made with french bread. Awesome. It's the only time my girlfriend can eat 6-7 pieces of french toast. Heh.

This was a sandwich I made, it was roast beef that I wrapped in a foil packet with some fresh basil and oregano and heated up a bit, just so it released some juice. Then I smothered it with cheese, poured the juice back on and ate it. Good times.

And finally I leave you with a failed western omelet. It was really good, but it wasn't an omelet.

Camera Cleanup Part 4

Well, this dude needs a break from unpacking. So I'm going to post a couple pics from my cleanup folder. Heh, I'm running low on these, I might need to dig my way to the stove sooner rather than later.

Here is the last box of pastries we got from the bakery near our old apartment. There's a lemon/raspberry danish, some turnovers, some pastry stick thingies.. I have no idea what was in the bag, but I'm sure it was good. Pretty much everything from that place was.

But this, this is what I could use right now. A nice, cold oatmeal stout. If you're into stout you should try this, it's a good time. I had meant to do a whole review on it but I can't find any notes. I don't think I took any, I think I just drank it.

Sunday Cats

So, we've managed to move in without significant difficulties, despite Noodles and the real Bob wanting to help. But my thinking that I would be back to blogging like normal this week might have been a bit... optimistic. Heh. I forgot how much moving takes out of me and I failed to take into account just how much stuff we have. But, so far so good and hopefully at some point this week I will be able to do some cooking. Until then, it's more camera cleaning. Right now though, it's sleep. Definitely sleep.

Camera Cleanup Part 3

I made panna cotta for the first time a while ago. I made it with Baileys, which was tasty. But I just couldn't get a decent picture of it, which was frustrating. So I didn't post about it and now I have no idea where the recipe went. But here is a texture pic. My girlfriend couldn't eat it, it was too boozy. Heh.

Meatball pizza! Good times. This particular one was quite good, I'm not sure why I never posted about it. I'm almost certain it was these meatballs that I used in it.

So, we are almost all packed. Which is good since we will hopefully be starting the move tomorrow. We will be in our new place by Saturday night, if all goes well. Hm, I wonder what the wine of the month is over at Bakespace. I haven't had time to check but I expect I'll be wanting a nip at some point this weekend!

Camera Cleanup Part 2

So I dried my own rosemary a while ago. I had a big package that I wasn't using very quickly so I figured it was the thing to do. I was going to do a whole post about it but never really got around to it. Does anyone out there dry their own herbs? There is a huge difference between the store bought stuff and fresh dried. At first I thought something was wrong with it because it didn't smell right. Then I realized it was just freshness. Heh.

I also have a picture of this. I have no idea what it was, but it was smothered in cheese and baked, clearly. I'm sure it was good, I mean look at all that cheese! Probably a pasta dish.

Camera Cleanup Part 1

Here are a couple pictures from my now empty memory card that are pretty good. This was some teriyaki steak tips with that red potato, bacon and duck egg salad. I don't have a recipe for the tips because my teriyaki is a work in progress. I remember them as being good though.

And for no specific reason, a pile of crispy bacon.Mmmm, bacon.

To answer those who asked, we haven't moved yet. Still sorting, packing and cleaning. You'd think with such a small apartment it wouldn't take so long! Our plans have actually accelerated a bit, it's looking like we will be in the new place this weekend. This is for the best since I hate waiting. So hopefully by next week I will be back to posting something like normal. Maybe with even better stuff, since my new apartment is walking distance to a large grocery store and a small Trader Joes. Excitement!

Here's a Bit of Good News

Don't like red wine? Well apparently you can get similar health benefits from chocolate milk!

"Scientists in Barcelona, Spain, recruited 47 volunteers ages 55 and older who were at risk for heart disease. Half were given 20-gram sachets of soluble cocoa powder to drink with skim milk twice a day, while the rest drank plain skim milk. After one month, the groups were switched.

Blood tests found that after participants drank chocolate milk twice a day for four weeks, they had significantly lower levels of several inflammatory biomarkers, though some markers of cellular inflammation remained unchanged."

While one month isn't exactly a long time for a study, I still say this is a promising area of research that needs a great deal of work done in it. More experiments are clearly needed.

I just wanted to share that, now back to sorting and throwing out junk.

Sudden!

That's what this whole situation is.

If two weeks ago you had said to me "you're going to be packing up to move before Thanksgiving" I would have called you a nutbag. But here I am, packing up to move well before Thanksgiving.

You see, my girlfriend and I have an opportunity to move to a cheap apartment in an excellent location and we just can't pass it up. There is a certain amount of gambling involved, which neither of us are keen on, but risks sometimes need to be taken. The apartment is also smaller, which blows, but we will have a full sized stove/oven and refrigerator for the first time in ~3 years. That will be nice. But I'm afraid I'm going to be a bit scarce for a while since moving will be taking up most of my energy.

However, while I might not be posting or commenting as much, I am still reading and will be back to posting again in the future.

Sunday Cats and a Tag

Noodles is getting fat. Here's a blurry shot of her when we got her and here's a shot of her now. Granted, a certain amount of that is fluff, but still. She's not unhealthy or anything, she's very active and happy. She's just a chunk. Bob has always been a bit husky, but he's actually lost weight since Noodles showed up. Part of it is the exercise, they play a lot, chasing each other around. Part of it is if he doesn't eat treats fast enough she grabs them right from under him. He's a wimp.

Palidor hit me with this summer camp style, getting to know you thing. I haven't been playing the meme game lately, but I kind of like these ones. I like to learn little things about the people whose blogs I read so often. But, I won't be tagging people. It's not my way. If anyone wants to play they should go nuts though, I'd enjoy reading people's answers.

1. A – Available/Single? Nope!

2. B – Best friend? See above

3. C – Cake or Pie? Sure.

4. D – Drink of choice? Water or whiskey, depending.

5. E – Essential item you use every day? computer

6. F – Favorite color? black, but I'm not a goth I promise.

7. G – Gummy Bears Or Worms? No thanks.

8. H – Hometown? Boston

9. I – Indulgence? Don't mind if I do.

10. J – January or February? Both, as much as possible.

11. K – Kids & their names? None, other than my cats Bob and Noodles.

12. L – Life is incomplete without? music

13. M – Marriage date? heh, no.

14. N – Number of siblings? lots

15. O – Oranges or Apples? Apples, totally.

16. P – Phobias/Fears? Zombies

17. Q – Quote for today? People in glass houses shouldn't throw stones. Well, unless they're trapped in a glass house and happen to have a stone. And when you think about it, throwing stones anywhere could hurt someone. So really it should be, "Don't throw stones... unless you're trapped in a glass house." -Abby Normal

18. R – Reason to smile? I'm not at work and one of the pizza shops down the street is cooking Italian sausages, onions and peppers. My whole apartment smells like them. Awesome.

19. S – Season? with salt and pepper.

29. T – Tag 3 People? Nah

21. U – Unknown fact about me? I can play the whole album"Meantime" by Helmet on the bass. Well... I used to be able to. Heh.

22. V – Vegetable you don't like? mushrooms

23. W – Worst habit? Too many to choose from.

24. X – X-rays you've had? back, hand, chest, teeth

25. Y – Your favorite food? bacon, it's nature's perfect food.

26. Z – Zodiac sign? No idea.

The Rules

1. Link the person who tagged you.

2. Post the rules on your blog.

3. Share the ABCs of you.

4. Tag 3 people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs.

5. Let the 3 tagged people know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their website.

6. Do not tag the same person repeatedly but try to tag different people, so that there is a big network of bloggers doing this tag.

What Do You Like In Calzones?

I have a buddy who used to deliver pizzas. So of course he has a million stories of the weird stuff people like to eat. The one that always stuck out the most for me was the woman who wanted a steak and cheese calzone with mayonnaise and lettuce. Lettuce. In a calzone. Mayo I can see (if you've never had a steak and cheese with mayo, try it. Seriously.), but lettuce? It would get all soggy and put out a ton of liquid making everything else soggy too, I would think. Plus cooked lettuce (inevitably iceberg, from a pizza shop) is just nasty, in my opinion.

I think my personal favorite calzone is chicken and broccoli. Like this one. I like it best with a good white sauce, but there are other good ways to do it. The one above was made with braised chicken and I took some of the braising liquid and thickened it into a gravy. Nice and easy, didn't have to make any additional stuff.

How about you guys, do you eat calzones? What do you like in them? Or what would you want to try in them but haven't yet or aren't brave enough? Next time I get some lamb I think I'm going to make a spicy Greek one. With that cheese they set on fire in Greek restaurants that I can't remember the name of. Good times.

I also recently made some dessert calzones that didn't quite turn out how I wanted, but I'll still post about them later this week. If nothing else they taught me a few things. Heh.

EDIT: After reading some of your comments I think I have been vague about the calzone pictured above. There is cheese in there. A heroic amount of mozzarella, even. High quality, Italian deli mozzarella at that. Just so there isn't any misunderstanding. Heh.

Ok, I'm Back!

For real this time. And although I didn't get to do any of the blog housekeeping I wanted, I have been cooking. And despite all the cooking I've done I didn't get a single good instructional set of pictures. So I'm just going to show you guys some of what I did get and babble about food photography for a while, no recipes today.

I'm getting better with my new camera, but I'm still not getting as many good shots as I want. Some of it is that I often don't have time to set up (or want to deal with) my tripod, some of it is that I've been into photography for less than a year so I still don't really know what I'm doing, yet another part of it is that my new camera wants a different kind of light than my last one and some of it, too, is that I'm still (sometimes) trying to take my pictures quickly so my food doesn't get cold. Heh, I need to get over that. But here is the main lesson I've learned about photography: lighting is key. Here, I brought some visual aids.

Bad lighting. Better lighting. Still not ideal, but the second is much better. The difference was tilting the dish a bit so it was facing the light source more. You know what else would have made it look better? Setting it up on a stable surface and using my tripod instead of holding the dish in one hand and the camera in the other. That's a habit I need to break if I want to get good food shots. Oh, that's some broccoli salad for those who are curious. One of my favorite summertime sides. I made it a bit differently this time, I swapped the onion for shallots and the sunflower seeds for pine nuts. I think I did something else too, but I really don't remember. Anyway, it was wicked good, I used some thick cut pepper crusted bacon. Of course, I got a shot of that. Mmmm, bacon. Speaking of lighting (we were, a while ago) I'm not sure what made me put this shot of the roast beef up the other day. This one is really much better. Because of better lighting.

Another thing I've learned, just because the little rectangular focus indicator is where you want it doesn't mean it's actually focusing on what you think it is. For example, the rim of the glass instead of the strawberry shortcake itself. And yeah, that's the wrist strap in the upper right hand corner. I'm known for my attention to detail. Heh.

Well, that's most of the stuff I don't have plans for. I have a bunch of reviews coming up, so Saturdays are full for a while. I've got some new cat pics for Sundays, too. My girlfriend is eating dinner with coworkers tonight, so I'm finally making some lamb. Hopefully I'll get some good shots and have that up on Wednesday.