Musings of the Orange Wino

Grilly the Crab

2011-09-04T17:41:00.002-04:00

Dinner with the Wife

2011-08-21T20:45:00.006-04:00

This is the first time I've been able to fully apply myself to cooking for my wife, and only my wife, for one month. There has been much cooking, but often for a crowd in recent weeks.

The menu is:

Lamb chops on a bed of roasted red peppers with mint

Risotto with garlic and fresh oregano and rosemary

Salad of organic greens with beets, goat cheese and pecans

I had Acacia pinot noir. Lindz had San Pellegrino Limonata with muddled mint.

She took all these pictures. Here's an action shot of me preparing the red peppers:

The meat meets the heat:

I used Grandma's spoon for the risotto:

Here's the finished plate:

I was pleased with how the mint worked with the peppers and the lamb. I also enjoyed using my new All-Clad saucepan for the risotto. Lindz and I had a nice, romantic dinner while thunder rumbled outside.

A Traditional Independence Day Meal

2011-07-04T19:18:00.006-04:00

Lindz was wanting something spicy involving seafood. She's really been digging Gwyneth Paltrow's cookbook lately, so here's where we ended up: Banh mi with shrimp and scallops. What could be more typically American than Vietnamese sandwiches that are clearly a fusion resulting from French colonialism?

I made bread from scratch, but I did it on the grill as a big flat loaf instead of as a baguette in the oven. I marinated the shrimp and scallops in ponzu sauce, garlic ginger and sesame oil. I grilled them under a threatening thunderstorm sky, and we smeared the bread with sambal- and lemon-spiked mayo. We heaped it with cilantro, shaved carrots and bean sprouts. I drank Lone Oak Vin du Roi 2005 with it. I was very happy.

Rust, Reptile and the Flag: an American Triptych

2011-07-04T13:18:00.007-04:00

Our famous nation is 235 today. Here are three snapshots from The Old North State, one of the original 13.

We bought our gas grill as soon as we moved into our first house. In fact, I think it was the very first "homeowner" purchase. I just replaced the lower grate (the grate upon which the lava rocks are piled). Note: it's not supposed to be easy to bend it like that, and, ideally, there should be more metal than rust in this item).I went to the North Carolina Museum of Art on Saturday. Its grounds are adjacent to the Capital Area Greenway, a very enjoyable system of paved walking/paths. In addition to large installations of scuplture, I found this fellow. I believe he's a rat snake, and I'd say he was five or six feet long. Although it's a non-venomouse type, "Don't Tread on Me" still seems appropriate for today.

And finally, here's Old Glory, flying at my house. I artsy-fied it with Photoshop Elements. I think it's the "palette strokes" option in the "contrived ways to make a picture more interesting" pull-down menu.

Grapefruit Bitters

2011-04-25T21:32:00.004-04:00

I used a wine bottle to do the steeping. Lindz thought that making bitters would be a cool idea, and, by golly she was right. This bottle contains six feet of grapefruit zest (three grapefruits' worth), some grains of paradise, coriander, rosemary, ginger and Everclear.

It should be quite a potent cocktail sharpener. I added a bit of sugar syrup after straining it 24 hours later.

There is no end to the permutations of home made bitters.

The December Cocktail

2010-12-19T18:50:00.003-05:00

(Listening to "The Color of Right" from Test for Echo, by Rush)

I whipped this up for Lindz and myself after a day of her being very productive and of me being much less so. She painted the upstairs (almost the entire upper storey), and I raked a couple of leaves, oiled a squeaky storm door and bloodied my thumb somehow.

It is built on standard cocktail methodology, but it has a magical ingredient that wouldn't be sitting around the house any other time of year. Lindz made candied orange peels, and the sugar syrup that was left is packed with flavor. The oranges were cara-cara oranges, rich in that spritzy orange zest goodness. My favorite cocktails (especially the whiskey sour) involve the use of simple syrup, but it was clear that this orange syrup would add more to a drink than just sweetness.

I figured "December Cocktail" would be a fairly civilized name that wouldn't be out of place in the Savoy Cocktail Book. More respectable than "Winter Bitch-Slap" or "Aberdeen Reacharound."

2 ounces gin (I used Amsterdam)
3/4 ounce sweet Italian Vermouth
1/2 ounce lemon juice
1/2 ounce orange peel infused sugar syrup

Add the ingredients to a cocktail shaker full of ice cubes. Shake the hell out of it, and strain the drink into a red or green cocktail glass. Put a few ice cubes in there and garnish with a candied orange peel. Enjoy. Repeat as necessary.

If you use bourbon instead of gin, it is a delicious but different cocktail. A bit darker in character. I would call that one a "Manhattan in December."

No More Grandparents

2010-11-30T22:02:00.002-05:00

(Listening to Henryk Gorecki's Symphony #3, Op. 36, "Symphony of Sorrowful Songs")
This is a glass of single malt whisky, the most contemplative of drinks. It stands in front of a slice of apricot tree. The man in whose yard that tree stood until 31-odd years ago just passed away this evening. I grew to appreciate the qualities of this sort of whisky when Dad passed away in 1993.

The stark reality that all the grandparents have gone is now standing on top of me with stunning weight. Why does Time have to keep moving? Can't nostalgic, deedless fools like me have a few more decades to figure out what life is all about?

More Adventures of Guardian Service

2010-09-19T21:56:00.000-04:00

We drank a bottle of Lone Oak Vineyards Vin du Roi with dinner. I boiled the potatoes in Grandma's Guardian pot, then put them on the grill for a bit of smoky flavor. The main course was marinated grilled chicken thighs, and the veggie was a foil packet o' vegetables, also done on the grill.

The Pot Awakens

2010-09-17T21:00:00.002-04:00

This is a piece of Guardian Service cookware. This stuff was manufactured from the 30's to 1956. We believe Grandma and Grandpa Zucker got the set for their wedding in 1939. It has been used to cook what amounts to, I am sure, a staggering amount of food over the decades. And now it's mine. It probably hasn't been used for a number of years; Grandma was doing poorly for a little while before she passed on.

I boiled fingerling potatoes in it tonight. I tossed the potatoes in olive oil, rosemary and garlic and served them along with broiled scallops with lime butter and grilled asparagus with reduced balsamic goo and pecans. Lindz's home made ice cream was dessert. I hope Grandma would be pleased.

A Seal Having His Teeth Brushed

2010-05-16T17:28:00.001-04:00

Diving Bird, Glass Dude

2010-05-16T17:12:00.003-04:00

Lindz caught this shot of a Puffin at feeding time at the Seattle Aquarium:

And I shot this in the Hot Shop of the Museum of Glass in Tacoma:

Life's Rich Pageant

2010-05-01T10:56:00.002-04:00

So much stuff packed into so few blocks. I believe we took this picture as we were walking down the hill to go to dinner at The Pink Door, a marvelous restaurant in Post Alley. We had some off-the-menu seasonal things: risotto with fava beans, mint and goat cheese and some unbelievably delicious bacon-wrapped monkfish on a bed of braised artichokes. The pear tart was a very fine dessert, and I had some very good Oregon grappa while we watched the famous burlesque show that begins at 11 pm. We arrived at 8 to assure ourselves a spot.

As far as Seattle goes, I'd say we did a halfway respectable job of scratching the surface. 'Tis quite a town.

Pile o' Cheeks

2010-05-01T10:42:00.000-04:00

It was a cruel irony that I was surrounded seafood in such profusion while setting a personal record for being the most miles from my kitchen. I imagine these cheeks would have been good prepared thusly: Pan-seared with a little dollop of chardonnay jelly, next to some asparagus risotto.

Smile

2010-05-01T10:30:00.000-04:00

A monkfish at the fish market in Seattle. We got there early; they weren't throwing fish yet.

The Museum of Glass in Tacoma

2010-04-24T22:05:00.000-04:00

This tunnel of spectacular glass works is on the way into the Museum of Glass.

The Astonishing 360 degree Slinky Video Screen at the U2 Concert

2009-10-05T21:49:00.001-04:00

The whole stage setup weighs 170 tons, apparently. "Sunday Bloody Sunday" came off very well.

Naan Sequitur

2009-06-28T20:45:00.007-04:00

I suppose you'd call it naan, anyway. I made bread dough (1/4 whole wheat, 3/4 all purpose flour) and kneaded lots of fresh rosemary into it. After a few hours' rise, I flattened it, made it nice and slippery with olive oil, ground some pepper over it and grilled it:

It was good. The grill has hot spots, so there were some burnt spots. Still, there's nothing like that rustic, smoky flavor that bread gets from being made on a fire.

Father's Day

2009-06-21T11:26:00.003-04:00

Another Day at Work

2009-06-10T21:13:00.000-04:00

Mrs. Cardinal

2009-06-07T10:21:00.001-04:00

This cardinal is sitting on two eggs. She is no more than 20 feet from our back door.

Ausgezeichnetes Frühstück

2009-06-06T09:28:00.002-04:00

I couldn't wait any longer. Bryan brought some home made liver wurst back from Germany, an it is heavenly. I suppose I should have had a nice Berliner-Weisse with it, but it was only 9 in the morning.

Dinner on the Deck

2009-05-30T20:46:00.003-04:00

I've been busy. Or at least that's the word I choose for whatever I've been. My new (6 months now) job has been challenging, and I have been uncreative, antisocial and lacking in initiative.

That being said, I cooked lamb sirloins, scallops (wrapped in bacon and in smoke salmon), baked bread, and Lindz made a salad. That Pinot Noir was goood. Too bad they only made 750 cases of it.

IKEA is open in North Carolina

2009-03-10T21:05:00.005-04:00

Lindz and I visited the new Charlotte IKEA store. It is grand and glorious, and it was crowded. Not once, not even once, were we out of earshot of a crying child. It was still the IKEA experience, but with the overcrowded amusement-park element added. One child was shrieking as if someone was sawing his arms off.

We got a cabinet for the television, something we had been talking about for a long time. The old wire shelves that housed the tv and stereo are gone, the last vestige of our leftover furniture that looked more appropriate for a college dorm. We're trying to make it look like adults live here.

Speaking of adulthood, why is it so hard to make a living? I'm very thankful to have a job, and particularly thankful to have moved from a lame job to a better job in such uncertain times. But it's sucking the life out of me. It's too bad one has to spend so much of one's life toiling as opposed to enjoying and creating. It's still early days, but this new job is definitely demanding. It's quite a bit better than the alternative.

I hope it gets better soon. Perhaps the U.S.A. will regain a bit of the backbone that it has always bragged about having. Some new roads, bridges and windmills might be a welcome side-effect to all this spending.

But enough about my struggle with the malaise of a broken world. How about some lamb?

This was an end slice. Deeper inside, it was stuffed with pureed dried apricots, rosemary, almonds, garlic, and I can't remember what else.

Yes We Can

2009-01-17T11:15:00.000-05:00

Christmas in San Diego

2009-01-03T16:58:00.002-05:00

People really enjoyed Lindz's marshmallows:

And people liked my bread. I was very flattered at how big a fuss they made at the Christmas party to which I brought it. It's a shame that people are always so astonished at the idea of someone making bread rather than buying it. I understand that reaction with the marshmallows ("You made marshmallows? How can you do that?"). Anyway, they enjoyed it, which is always the goal.

This is an onion ring at Stone Brewing's restaurant. It is as big as a doughnut. That's their Cali-Belgique ale in the glass there.
And here is the sunset, the last night there. Heartbreakingly perfect. Lindz and I got to feeling pretty emotional about San Diego. We ask ourselves why we don't live there, and it's an ongoing internal struggle.

Big Surprise! Pictures of Food!

2008-11-28T21:07:00.003-05:00

Lindz and I usually try to pretend to feign frowning on processed food in a box, but this stuff apparently contains crack cocaine. It's Monkey Bread. It comes frozen, you warm it up in the oven, and it's soft and oozing with cinnamon goo. It's so good, you might sell a family member just to have some.
A gooeyness of a different sort is this. Bryan and I nibbled on various things and drank some beers he brought back from Germany. The jar on the right contains home made liverwurst (hausgemacht leberwurst) from Ellen's brother-in-law in Germany. I thought we should have some cheese. I got this Chaource at Costco. It's almost liquid at room temperature. It was unctuous, buttery delight. The liverwurst was rich and luxurious, and it brought back memories of things my parents and grandparents enjoyed. It was marginalized in this shot only because the cheese was more photogenic.

For Thanksgiving, one of the dishes I prepared was a gratin of braised collards. I bought too many collards. What you see here is half of the collards I bought at the farmers' market (4,480 cubic inches of collards, or 73.4 liters, is what fits in this sink). I still haven't decided what to do with the rest. What I did with these was chop them up, braise them with smoked pork hocks and red pepper flakes, and then bake them into a gratin with bechamel sauce. It was well received; I also made it for Thanksgiving two years ago.

Here's an action shot of me chopping mirepoix for the gravy:

Lindz took all of these pictures except the cheese. The majority of the food photography on Thanksgiving was done by Bryan, who will be posting pictures very soon on his blog, I'm quite sure.

A bit of narcissism

2008-10-26T20:36:00.004-04:00

Ellen wanted a picture of me cooking while wearing the T-shirt she sent me. I'm not cooking here, and I thought this picture looked better as black and white (the energy-saving bulbs kind of spoiled the color). You can't see the bright orange color of the shirt, but you can see my official title. When I tried to edit out the green pallor of the fluorescent lighting, the shirt and my head started to glow and flare like the sun.
I'm wearing the T-shirt as I'm topping the baked steelhead trout with roasted red pepper coulis. That's a roasted red beet next to it. This is the entree I cooked for Mom (Lindz made a salad of baby greens, pears, pomegranate seeds, local goat cheese, pecans and vinaigrette, and she took these pictures). We've done a good bit of eating out this weekend, and it felt good to work in the kitchen. Bryan cooked Chicken in Riesling the previous evening out of a cookbook he got in Germany.

Caught in the Act of Mooching

2008-10-20T08:17:00.006-04:00

This was shot on the evening of Bryan's return from Germany. Oliver stayed with us while Bryan was away, and he was a brazen mooch of the very highest order. We demonstrated for Bryan here. As you can see, he coasts through life on his good looks and charm.

I believe the drought is over

2008-09-06T14:10:00.004-04:00

Yes, that's about 5 1/2" of rain your'e looking at. It is by no means unprecedented.
Tropical Storm Hanna passed by last night and this morning. The thick of it was closer to the coast, but we got the rain you see here in a fairly brief period of time (pretty much within 8 or 10 hours). Crabtree Valley Mall is nearby, and it is built on low ground. They have to erect steel-and-sandbag barriers in front of most of the entrances during times like these. Our house, thankfully, appears to be in a good spot.

Triptych: Farmers' Bounty, a Lovely White Burgundy, and Shamelessness

2008-08-25T21:10:00.003-04:00

We got some great produce at the Farmers' Market this weekend. I made stuffed eggplant last night, and here are some yellow squash that I seared in a skillet:
JJ Vincent Bourgogne Blanc is an elegant chardonnay with a bouquet of vanilla and almond. The palate is a refined balance of melon and fig, with appropriate alcohol. There is a pleasing lemony acidity in the finish.
This shit was in the Sunday paper. I should know better than to be surprised by anything, but we really liked this:

Wine Tasting

2008-08-04T11:26:00.002-04:00

On my new blog, I posted a couple of pictures from a winery Lindz and I visited yesterday.

Some of these wines might be a bit scarce in Michigan and Germany. Sorry.

Cynical Observation from the Office

2008-08-02T13:01:00.002-04:00

"Can-do attitude" is a phrase only used by people who don't have to "do," i.e., management. It seems to only be used in situations when the "do" is about to get bigger, such as a task becoming more complicated purely for reasons of reporting and documentation (a purely hypothetical example, wink wink).

Cosmic Dragon Devours Sun

2008-08-01T07:51:00.002-04:00

Get your affairs in order, the world is ending. Or at least get some wine and get buzzed before you go to work.

Hedonism

2008-07-28T10:59:00.006-04:00

This past week, Lindz was out of town on a business trip. When she's gone, my life loses its backbone and slumps into self-gratifying disorder. I went to work, went to the gym and took out the trash, but everything else was centered around food and wine (with some Netflix DVD's thrown in). I stayed up too late every night.
The experiences:
Mantra Cabernet Sauvignon Sonoma County 2004 (I think it was 04, but possibly 05): I bought this at a wine shop near my office. I just had to escape the gloom of the office, and it was too hot to enjoy a walk. I opened it that evening, letting it breathe while I was at the gym. It's a nice, deep crimson color with a heady aroma. I smelled black currants and a wee bit of coffee or chocolate. Maybe tobacco. It was a brown smell. It was a big, balanced wine with nice tannins and alcohol. It kept up nicely with the roasted goat steak I ate with it. I watched some Space:1999. I had some left the next night. I had salmon with the last bit of it.

George DuBoeuf Moulin a Vent 2005 Domaine des Michelons: Traffic was pretty bad Thursday night, so I got off the freeway to go to Total Wine and wait it out. I picked out this Beaujolais because it apparently got a 92 from Robert M. Parker. I dropped it off at the house and dutifully went to the gym. This wine was a clear garnet, with a clean bouquet (think of a bowl of raspberries with some cedar chips and a sprinkling of tobacco in it). It was a really elegant wine. It had the typical bright berry Gamay flavor, but with nice woodsy, earthy notes. It had good acidity; it was very nice with the sauteed beef liver I had for dinner. I watched Sunshine as I ate.

Saintsbury Pinot Noir Carneros 2005: I forced myself to go to the gym Friday evening. Afterward, I changed my clothes and went to a local Mexican place where I hadn't gone before. I had an ice cold Dos Equis and a satisfying, if unsurprising Steak a la Tampiquena (it's still North Carolina Mexican food). I went home, full and sleepy. I talked to Mom for a while, and by the time the conversation was over, I regained some energy. I was reading The Emperor of Wine, a book which has had the effect of filling me with ungovernable urges to run out and get a bottle. It happened at about 10 pm. It had to be Pinot Noir, but the good shops were closed. Lowes Foods had a sure thing: the Saintsbury. While I was wavering between that and another wine that I hadn't tried, I couldn't help but eavesdrop on some fellow shoppers. Four college boys were debating the merits of various cheap, fruit-flavored wines (cheapness and sweetness being the desirable traits, apparently). It took me back to my college days, when price and alcohol content were the only criteria we considered. I brought my Saintsbury home, and I happily sipped and read until after 1 am. This one has the things that I love in California Pinot: soft, fleshy cherries, hints of cola, chocolate and smoke, an indulgent experience. It's mouthfilling and ripe; it gives itself to you without a battle of tannins.

I finally got out of bed Saturday and drank a French press of coffee with my breakfast/lunch. What the hell, there was a glass of the Saintsbury left; I drank that as well (it was just fine with coffee and blueberry chicken sausages). To pretend to myself that I was an industrious individual, I did a load of laundry. I put on some clothes and drove downtown to Seaboard Wine Warehouse.

Their usual Saturday tasting was going on. This day, it was French whites. They were all nice (the Vouvray was a little sweet, though), but the only tasting wine I bought was a white Burgundy. It had a really nice lemon-zest note to it; I'll have to write about it when Lindz and I drink it. I wandered around the store for a while with the goal of getting a couple of bottles for the wine rack and one to enjoy that day. I looked at a few $60 bottles that I want some day, but I held to moderation. I got, in addition to that white Burgundy and a couple of tasty everyday wines, a bottle of Plungerhead Zinfandel Lodi 2006. I stopped at our local pizza place on the way home and got a 14" pie with mushrooms, sausage and anchovies. I watched Solaris (the Clooney version). The wine was huge and gooey. Lots of ripe fruit with a sort of medicinal, black licorice, eucalyptus underpinning. Hard to describe. The movie was slow, psychological and visually well done. Everyone else seems to hate it. I'm going to watch the 1972 version next. Anyway, I watched, drank, ate, loafed, read and briefly dozed. I got up and went for a walk. I was totally useless, and I loved it.

Sunday, I got up, had breakfast and coffee, did some more reading, ran the dishwasher to keep up the ruse of productiveness, and went out for sushi with Bryan. A while after that, I went to gym, and then Lindz was home. Like magic, as soon as she was in the house, I started bustling about dinner. When she's gone, I do not bustle under any circumstances.

The fact that I had showed up for work is the main blemish on this otherwise respectable streak of hedonism.

Bookshelves

2008-07-15T07:50:00.003-04:00

We like books. For several years, our books have lived on some cheap shelves from Target.

I took some time off from my pointless coma of a job so I could build some real shelves. It was a good old sweaty, sawdusty experience.

Here are the first two of the three units in place.

Here they are, coated in extra-fumy enamel paint. Lindz and I got a good buzz off of that.

It's hard to truly realize the change in appearance from this picture. The shelves are seven feet tall, about nine feet wide, and eight inches deep. They occupy almost the entirety of one wall. They're made of real wood, not glued sawdust, and they didn't travel here from the other side of the world! What a concept!

Jealous?

2008-06-27T22:42:00.001-04:00

1.32 gallons of goodness.

Go Germany

2008-06-26T10:21:00.005-04:00

Euro 2008 info

Still Alive

2008-06-25T11:37:00.002-04:00

Yes, I'm still alive. I have been unusually unmotivated, uncreative and uninteresting lately. I think my cubicle job is sucking the life out of me. It's kind of like The Matrix. Life is easier when you're sedated and distracted, but occasionally you see glitches in the programming...

Epicurean Saturday

2008-05-17T22:08:00.010-04:00

Today has been good. Lindz and I went to the Farmers' Market (and forgot the camera) as well as our favorite wine store and a store with an astonishing beer selection (let's just say I drank Dragon's Milk Oak Barrel Ale on the deck this afternoon). We got lots of produce and good stuff, so we were quite pleased with ourselves when we headed home. Lindz's back is doing quite well now, so our activities were not obstructed. A selection of my activities (as photographed by Lindsey) are:
I roasted some coffee (Kenya Peaberry Deep River Estate, to be exact). Here I am, cooling it and removing the chaff:
Here is our North Carolina grass-fed ribeye steak, posing in front of one of the most fabulous bottles of wine we've had in a while. It's a concentrated, jewel-smooth syrah from South Australia. The aftertaste goes on and on. If you find yourself in a wine store with anything made by Mollydooker in front of you, BUY IT IMMEDIATELY. It won't be there for long. It's the shiz-nit.
I made mayonnaise from scratch. I used local, free-range egg for it. Marvelous, luxurious stuff.
It was indispensable for this. It's Life Changing Potato Salad:

Roasted red potatoes and elephant garlic from the Farmers' Market, sage, thyme and rosemary from the yard, some onions and capers and the aforementioned mayonnaise. I corrected the color as best I could; cameras don't like energy-saving light bulbs. I coined the name when I had it for lunch at Childress Winery some time ago. We had this with the steak and wine along with corn on the cob. A very lovely meal. Lindz will hopefully post about dessert, her excellent blackberry/sage ice cream.

P.S. I did something else this weekend. I'm drinking it right now. I infused a bottle of Bacardi light rum with as much fresh mint as I could cram in there. Very nice on the rocks.

Goose Family Life

2008-05-17T16:43:00.001-04:00

Taken with my camera phone on a wonderfully lovely Saturday. The parental geese hissed at me.

Wildlife

2008-05-07T11:53:00.002-04:00

I took a lovely walk around Lake Lynn this morning, and I saw many things. These Muscovy Ducks caught my eye:
They were quite unconcerned with me.

Where did the time go?

2008-05-04T16:24:00.003-04:00

Lindz and I went up to Michigan, and I can't believe how fast the time went. I also can't believe we came away with a near-total lack of good photos. Everyone else took pictures, but I was too lazy. Anyway, we stayed at the famed Moosewood Suite and enjoyed the hospitality of my sister and brother in law. We ate and drank very well. One item that sticks out in my memory is the huge pan of orange rolls that my sister made. Think cinnamon rolls, except, instead of cinnamon, you have tart, bright orange zest. The icing was supercharged with citric acid, and the dough was soft and yielding as we tore them apart. It was like being stunned with a Taser of Orange Goodness. Kathy took pictures of them. They were beautiful. *sniff*
We hung out with the family and beheld the two-month time warp which is the difference in foliage between NC and MI. A First Communion and numerous birthdays were observed. I got a huge block of Mild Pinconning to bring back in my luggage. We went to Mecca (Bell's Eccentric Cafe ). However, it was all over too fast.

The night we got home, Lindz made spring rolls (we didn't fry them; are they still called spring rolls?)
And, during the trip to Michigan, I found a couple of Wusthof knives, tip-down in a utensil crock, in a resale shop. They were $2 each; I couldn't believe my luck. I rescued these strays and resharpened them. Here, sitting on top of lamb shoulder chops, is my current favorite knife:

And here is a roasted beet:
How many people can say they live near a pork outlet? This is a rack of country hams at the Nahunta Pork Outlet at the Raleigh Farmers' Market:
I wanted one, but Lindz wasn't entirely sure she wanted a cured pig's leg hanging in the pantry for the six months it would probably take us to eat it. There must be a way! They're a tremendous status symbol.

Phone Camera Shot from Cubicle Farm

2008-04-16T09:15:00.003-04:00

Almost two years ago, I inherited this plant and this desk from a former, and much missed, coworker. About 7.5 hours remain until quitting time.

Good Locovorous Weekend

2008-03-30T15:35:00.002-04:00

I did a big shopping run at the farmers' market on Saturday. I decided to turn some of the local eggs into pasta:
The rolling of the sheets:
The cutting of the tagliatelle (they're actually more easily handled when I cut them by hand):

And the kitty cat keeps everything under surveillance:

The tagliatelle was adorned with a sausage ragu (the sausage also came from the farmers' market) and roasted asparagus and walnuts. Walnuts are good on pasta! Why didn't I stumble on that before? We didn't starve.

Triptych: Beer, Lamb, Corks

2008-03-23T20:14:00.002-04:00

Bell's Doppelbock (Lindz and I went for a walk, and we went into the Taproom at my urging):
Local NC lamb shoulder chops braised with lemons, olives, tomatoes and rosemary, perched on top of some grits:
A bowl of corks:
It has been a good weekend. Lindz took the first two of these photos. She also whipped up a tasty dessert to follow the lamb: Vanilla ice cream with toasted pecans, dates and honey. Ausgezeichnet.

IN THE NAME OF ALL THAT IS GOOD AND DECENT, GIVE ME SOME SODDING CHICKEN

2008-03-21T22:41:00.008-04:00

Yes, we did eventually give him some chicken (we're not made of stone, you know). He wolfed it down and then resumed his plaintive staring at us. Too bad the purring didn't come through; he was rumbling prodigiously. Sehr nette, as we say in German.

A Little Dose of Ollie

2008-03-20T07:23:00.003-04:00

In case anyone in Germany wants some.

That's NPR in the background talking about WWII Bulgarian tanks being found and put up for sale.

Oliver is quite mushy, and he was a shameless mooch last night when I made chicken for dinner.

We Went to the Farmers' Market

2008-03-05T09:45:00.004-05:00

Lettuce:
The hands of a beet murderer:

Roasted beets with olive oil, salt and pepper:
Local NC beef (chuck steak) with a bit of kosher salt:
Lindz took all these pictures except for the meat. We also got good tomatoes, radishes, squash, sweet potatoes and many fell meats. I look forward to the beef ribeyes and the smoked pork chops in particular. They have goat available for special order, too.

The Visit

2008-02-27T21:43:00.005-05:00

My sister and her hubby came down from Meechigan for a long weekend of above-freezing temperatures, fellowship, food and drink. Here are a few selected images, in no particular order.

I made this pizza (half is marinated mushrooms and artichokes, half is caramelized onions and bacon, with a blend of Italian cheeses over all:
Tim brought me weisswurst from Willi's in Frankenmuth. It was part of breakfast one day:
Here is evidence of the newly remodeled kitchen being used for a food porn photo shoot:
Big Boss Coffee Stout, as enjoyed at the Raleigh Times Bar:

Caramelizing onions for the pizza:
Blurry people:

The Reveal

2008-02-17T18:16:00.003-05:00

We completed tiling and grouting today. Aside from the toe kick, a bit more grout sealing and a bit of moulding, this kitchen remodel is full-wrought.
In an effort to diminish the green pallor cast by the fluorescent lights, I used an incandescent work lamp (you can see its reflection on the fridge).
Big Red looks rather handsome with a backdrop of subway tiles, wouldn't you say?
And my favorite part: the capacious single bowl sink and the Great Faucet.
We moved into this house in the summer of 2004. Of the items in the kitchen at that time, only the floor and the window remain unchanged. Old carpeting in the hallway will next undergo our wrath.

I believe the correct spelling is 'beeves.'

2008-02-05T10:21:00.000-05:00

Tiling the backspash is more further accomplished than yesterday it was.

2008-02-03T13:07:00.001-05:00

We put tiles good. Much straightness.

Tiling the backsplash has commenced

2008-02-02T16:48:00.000-05:00

The Great Faucet of Doriath

2008-01-30T21:36:00.000-05:00

And in those days, King Thingol dwelt in his mansions of Menegroth in the kingdom of Doriath, which is called North Raleigh in the tongues of Men. His queen, Melian, had great foresight after the manner of the Maiar, and it was her wish that the kitchen should be remodeled. Cabinets were hewn of hardwoods, and adorned were they with finest hardware. The origin of the counter tops is lost in the mists of antiquity; some say the solid surface was wrought by Fëanor himself, and the Elves call it Corian.
During this great labour King Thingol took thought, and it was his desire that his faucet would be the greatest in all of Beleriand. He spoke with the Dwarves of Khazad-dûm and bade them fashion for him a mightier faucet than had ever risen from their smithies before.
The brown-clad courier arrived with the Faucet, and Thingol was well pleased with the handiwork of the Dwarves. It was wrought of mithril, and more than one score inches did it tower above the Corian.
So was the kitchen in Menegroth enriched. The Orcs feared and cursed the Faucet, and never did they approach it. With the modifications to the P-Traps and successful reinstallation of the garbage disposal did Thingol's glory wax to the fullest, and there was gladness and wine in those times.

Yet, the tiling remained...

Tired of not having enough space to bathe a baby hippo?

2008-01-29T18:17:00.000-05:00

Then try BIG ASS SINK!

The Unbearable Blizzard of '08

2008-01-20T09:41:00.001-05:00

Hoo-whee! I do declare, Mother Nature is one ruthless lady. We're purt-near buried under snow, and it's colder'n eighteen witches' teats.
It's cold enough to freeze water solid!
Yep, this here storm's a real sonofabitch. Came up on us like celery stalks at midnight. Fortunately, I had time to go to Caspian Interational Food Mart on Brentwood Road, and I got some good, God-fearin' processed meats to see us through this ordeal.
They had plenty of news people standing out in the rain and snow on television, 'cause that makes it more serious-like. As you can see from the pictures above and below, there's enough snow to justify the 383 closings and delays reported on WRAL.com.

They're worried about black ice. Black ice?! Who ever hearda such poppycock. Nice, shiny, regular ice is the ice for me. If I'm gonna go tumblin' into the ditch, ain't no make-believe black ice gonna do it, it's good old regular ice.

The Pantry

2008-01-13T17:50:00.000-05:00

We worked our asses off this weekend. It's not completely done yet (the doors still need to be painted and attached), but we went from here:

to here:
It involved moving the entire contents of the pantry, painting the pantry, painting the old kitchen wall cabinets, installing them, building some shelves to fit the corner (out of the old shelves) and moving everything back in. We'll have to live with it for a while and fine tune the placement of everything, but I think we gained significant storage space.

It looks great in there. It's the same color green as the kitchen (amazingly difficult to photograph; it looks completely different in different lights). As an amusing side note, we found a date stamped on the back of one of the cabinets: January 13th, 1981. We installed these cabinets in their new location 27 years to the day after they were built.

Eggs Blauhaus

2008-01-12T10:53:00.000-05:00

Serves 2 sumptuously.
Ingredients:
4 or 5 strips of good bacon (smoked, uncured bacon from Trader Joe's is what I used)
4 good, cage-free eggs, preferably organic (especially if you like runny yolks)
4 slices of crusty bread, or perhaps crumpets or English muffins
4 slices of brie (amount depending how naughty you are)
A big handful of grape tomatoes, halved
A shot of vodka (white wine or vermouth would probably work fine)

Hardware:
A knife
Two teacups
Two plates
A big saute pan (or any wide pot/pan for poaching the eggs)
A skillet (cast iron is good)
A means of toasting bread (I did it under the broiler)
A spatula
A perforated spoon or skimmer

Cut the bacon into 1-inch pieces and put them in a pan (I used my deep cast iron skillet). Turn on the heat and cook it until it starts to get some brown color. Add the tomatoes, a generous dose of black pepper and a few shakes of salt. When they start to soften a bit, add the alcohol. Let them cook, stirring occasionally.
Fill a big saute pan most of the way with water. Bring it to a simmer. You can add a bit of vinegar, but it doesn't make a huge difference.
How are the tomatoes doing? You want to gently cook them for a while to concentrate the flavors. It's not critical how long, but the more moisture you cook off, the better the flavor.
Toast the bread with some olive oil. Arrange it on two plates, and put a slice of brie on each piece of bread.
Into each of two teacups, crack two eggs. Simultaneously and gently slip the eggs into the simmering water (each cupful on opposite sides of the pan, so you don't get one big mass of poached egg). Let them cook until the yolk is done to your liking (I am necessarily ambiguous here; it seems to go differently every time I poach eggs).
Cover the brie and toast with bacon/tomato mixture (I put the egg on first this time, but Lindz and I agree that it would work better to put the egg on second). Top with the egg. Eat.
Although I didn't have any at the time (I made this whole breakfast up on the spot), I imagine that topping the whole thing with a confetti of basil chiffonade would be the cat's ass.

This dish is all about the flavor of the bacon and tomato, supported by the luxurious, yielding beauty of the poached egg and the brie. Cheap bacon would have diminished it, and I'm not so sure it would be as good if I had used canned tomatoes.

I liked it. It's not exactly fat free, but I get sick of EggBeaters and whole wheat tortillas now and then.

Rather a lot of packaging for just a desk calendar, hm?

2008-01-07T21:39:00.000-05:00

Thanks for destroying the whole ecosystem, Barnes & Noble. I suppose the air in those packing bubbles was sucked out of the lungs of eagles, leopards and baby otters, too! I'm filled with self-important, artifically righteous rage!
Seriously, though, it does seem quite a bit more than necessary.

The Jaws of Carbonara

2008-01-06T21:27:00.000-05:00

Only smoky bacon and luxurious eggs will slake this monster's thirst for vengeance!

Sunday Afternoon Coffee Table

2008-01-06T17:23:00.000-05:00

(Listening to "Blues Dues" by Joe Pass, preceded by "Half the Perfect World" by Madeleine Peyroux and "In Rainbows" by Radiohead)
Lindz and I are loafing around. We ordered the countertops today, so the kitchen will move forward after a holiday hiatus.
I'm going to make spaghetti alla carbonara this evening. I got some good quality eggs at Trader Joes today specifically for that purpose. I wish I could get this relaxed and smug by Saturday afternoon, but it's been taking me longer to relax lately. Oh, well. As you can see, I have no real basis for complaint. Life is better than I deserve.

Another Triptych: Enjoying the new camera

2007-12-28T18:33:00.000-05:00

Roast beef carnage:
After Christmas dinner:
The cooking wife (I cranked it up to ISO 1250 and turned off the overhead light. 1/100 sec exposure):
The camera is the Panasonic Lumix FZ8. It does a lot. We had been wanting an SLR, but Lindz had her eye on this one. It was quite a bit cheaper, and we really like it.

Triptych: Christmas Day

2007-12-27T07:55:00.000-05:00

Rib Roast
Salad
Cat

Scallops for Christmas Eve (updated)

2007-12-24T09:50:00.000-05:00

Addendum: I didn't elaborate on the meal when I posted this picture. The repast consisted of these scallops (I put them on a mesh rack in a sheet pan and cooked them in a 400 degree oven until they felt done; they came out pretty well) with a wee drizzle of lemon butter, roasted asparagus with pecans and balsamic/maple glaze, parmiggiano risotto, a very tasty, snappy Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand and a bottle of Veuve Clicquot Brut Champagne that Bryan brought (That was superlative stuff: granny smith apple, croissants, a hint of caramel, and fine bubbles. It's what Champagne drinking should be). Dessert consisted of Christmas cookies and an apple tart.

Afternoon Snack

2007-12-22T15:55:00.000-05:00

A pan-seared flatiron steak with salt & pepper, a squeeze of lemon and a drizzle of black truffle oil.
We chased it with a bit of the Death by Christmas Brownies that arrived the previous day (shudders with pleasure).

Dedication

2007-12-22T08:16:00.001-05:00

All right, y'all! This long-distance dedication is going out to Zeuthen! The Blauhaus wine cellar has German wine that isn't riesling! Come on, let's make some noise!

Raleigh Stollen 2007

2007-12-20T21:36:00.000-05:00

This year's version is without icing or powdered sugar, and it does not contain candied fruits, only dried fruits: pineapple, apricots and blueberries. The spices are nutmeg and cinnamon, and the nuts are toasted pecans.

I baked a large loaf for a potluck at work and a smaller one for us at home. Historically, the dough is folded in such a way as to symbolize the infant Jesus wrapped in swaddling clothes. I went one step further and made a loaf as big as a healthy newborn. Born late. To a mother who took too many prenatal vitamins. And human growth hormone.

Anyway, people liked it, and none of the monster loaf made it home with me at the end of the day.

A Hard Weekend's Work

2007-12-16T20:32:00.000-05:00

Installing the three wall cabinets and the microwave on the stove side of the kitchen was this weekend's business. We succeeded, but we are tired. I drank a bit of tequila at the conclusion of it; I believe this was the hardest weekend yet. The satisfaction is profound: we have closed the cabinet chapter on this remodel project, and we ended up with a nice, neat row of cabinets and a functioning microwave oven. The ductwork was a bit of a pain in the ass (plenty of time up in the attic, of course). I had to wire an outlet for the microwave, too.

We haven't had a microwave for three years. I've only occasionally missed it, but I suppose it will be cool to have one. Lindz defrosted some frozen sausages for this evening's dinner, and to my astonisment, it thawed them. Every other microwave I've ever used in my life cooks the hell out of the edges and leaves the middle resolutely frozen. I suppose years of convenience privation will lower one's expectations. It's close to being the cheapest model in the Kenmore line, but it does more than we are likely to ask of it. We were silly enough to go to the mall on a December Saturday looking for an appliance, but that actually went pretty well (I unexpectedly was given a model that cost $50 more for the same price because they didn't have the one I wanted). We're rather pleased with ourselves to have gotten that 54-pound bastard into position ourselves. My main complaint is the feeble light it sheds on the cooktop. The old hood had a brighter light. It also had a weaker fan, a dated bisque color, and 25 years worth of greasy dust inside of it. When we get the counter, sink and faucet replaced, there will be nothing left of the original kitchen but the floor.

Stagnant Career, Augury, German Visitor, Knick-Knacks, Weird Confectionery

2007-12-09T14:00:00.000-05:00

Another week finally gave up and yielded to the weekend. Work has been particularly boring lately, and I did not succeed in my latest attempt at career development. The bad news is that I didn't get the supervisor position I interviewed for. The good news is that I won't have to be a supervisor. I haven't yet decided what it all means, if anything. I still haven't spotted the sign that tells me how to obtain exciting, lucrative work (tea leaves, cloud formations and NPR programs have all failed to show me the way). Perhaps I should stare into those new glass sphere cabinet pulls we have in the kitchen.

Much more happily and importantly, Ellen came down for a visit before she returns to Germany. She and Bryan cooked us a very fine dinner Friday, and we all watched A Christmas Story. I'm amazed how the weekend flew by. I never got around to cooking for her (Lindz's dad was visiting, though, and he treated us to takeout Chinese), and I didn't follow through with my announced plans to bake stollen. Takeout Chinese and A Christmas Story are two very American things, so I hope it was culturally valuable for her. She made raisin bread for Lindz and me, though. It's delicious. We inhaled a good portion of the loaf this morning:
The time flew by too quickly. She and Bryan spent most of it hanging out together, as it should be.

On to a completely different and more trivial subject. I typically don't seek out things that don't perform a necessary function for the house (i.e., knick-knacks, bric-a-brac, tchotchke or whimsical accents for the home) but I couldn't resist this item. It's appropriate, given my decades-long love of pipe organs and organ music. Pictured below is note F from a rank of Stopped Diapason pipes. I got it from an antiques dealer in Pennsylvania, and I mounted it above the kitchen doorway. The shelf is a drawer front I reclaimed from the old cabinetry.
At least it used to do something, unlike the 148 tons of plastic flowers, ceramic rabbits, artificial fruit and baskets of dried weeds that adorn every available inch of space in my mother's house. It's the same house I grew up in; perhaps I still have lingering symptoms of a childhood surrounded by crap I wasn't allowed to touch, in rooms I wasn't supposed to go into. Half of the ground floor of the house was effectively off limits because footprints on the carpet were unacceptable. Mom has been the sole occupant of the house for some years, so her bric-a-brac addiction has progressed unchecked. I don't know when an intervention will be necessary, maybe when doorways are blocked by decorative concrete geese. Anyway, this is one of my few conspicuously useless knick-knacks.

And how about this? Yes, it's true. Chocolate and bacon, together at last.

It's good. Sweet and slightly salty with a bit of smoke. What's not to like, I ask you?

Another one

2007-12-02T13:50:00.000-05:00

Another day of swearing, but this one went up satisfactorily. Today I spent some time up in the attic, also known as Itchy Hellish Realm. I needed to locate and reinforce a particular part of the soffit in order to support a cabinet full of dishes (the next stud over was 1 3/4" too far to the right to be of any help, of course). Boo hoo for me. I bring this crap on myself.

Anyway, we are very satisfied with the results.

And now it's time to fix the damaged dishwasher drain tube. After that, perhaps a cocktail or three....

Not the easiest cabinet ever

2007-12-01T17:01:00.000-05:00

The picture doesn't exactly do justice to how much of a pain in the ass this cabinet was. We are very excited to have this one done.

First of all, it's heavy and unwieldy. A good deal of measuring and remeasuring was necessary, and we had to do some dancing, swearing, sawing, chiseling and Rube-Goldberg style rigging to get this sumbitch up. I had to construct some support devices; apparently the wife hasn't been weightlifting enough to hold 40 lbs of cabinet over her head, perfectly motionless, while I drill holes and drive screws. I also managed to nick the dishwasher drain tube with my rotary tool, so I've got a bit of plumbing to do. The dishwasher was the source of some frustration (that white expanse in the middle of the picture is a board that goes from the floor up to the soffit; moving the dishwasher to work on it caused some issues).

We'll install the cabinet to its immediate right tomorrow.

The project has had fewer surprises and frustrations (so far) than the bathroom remodel, and we're a good chunk of the way through.

Tanks Gibbon

2007-11-25T08:32:00.000-05:00

Another day of gluttony and excess at Blauhaus is in the history books. The dinner crowd numbered eight in all. I spent most of the day cooking, as is my preference, and we sipped wine and nibbled things all the way through. Once again, we brought the Gramma Table in from the deck, and it rendered excellent service:
We had some very tasty wines. In addition to Beaujolais and a number of my perennial Trader Joe's favorites, we had Schug Sonoma Hills Pinot Noir, Cocodrilo Mendoza Cabernet (a very tasty, polished Argentinian wine), and then we enjoyed two wines of note the next day: Three Rings Shiraz and Clarendon Hills Brookman Vineyard Syrah (a powerful leather, pomegranate and spice-packed brute that we drank for last year's anniversary).

If I do say so myself, we ate well. The picture does not exactly illustrate the amount of garlic mashed potatoes I made. This is an 8-quart stockpot, mostly full of spuds:

I roasted a lot of garlic. Bryan took this pic, and it's only as much garlic as I could fit in my hand. There was plenty more. I pureed it and put most of it in the mashed potatoes, and a generous amount went into the garlic butter.
Here is the complete day's menu:

Breakfast: Maple/Bacon/Scallion cornbread, made by Lindsey (she will hopefully put a picture of that on her blog)

Grazing Nibblies: Dates stuffed with cream cheese and walnuts (by Lindz), Brie smeared with Trader Joe's ginger jam (by Lindz), smoked oysters, crackers, French bread (by me), garlic butter

Dinner: Roast Kosher turkey (Bryan obtained the 12 pound bird from Trader Joe's), cranberry-onion confit, garlic mashed potatoes, hand-made gravy, bread stuffing with apples, sage and bacon, green bean casserole (by Lindz's aunt Barbara), artichoke dip (also by Barbara), more French bread

Dessert: Mocha torte (by Bryan), ginger pumpkin pie with real whipped cream (by Lindz), too much port, not enough water (by me), about half of Bryan's bottle of Bärenjäger honey liqueur

It was an enjoyable meal, and the conversation was ebullient. Lindz and I put some real work into making the house a welcoming place (getting a big chunk of cabinet installation done, cleaning the house, cooking, etc.), and I'd say we succeeded.

Culinary Postscript: Gravy

I put a lot (probably a disproportionate amount) of care and energy into gravy. I think it is an often-undervalued item, a potent plate-unifier and vehicle for flavor. This year, I did not succeed in finding turkey wings on my last-minute trip to the Food Lion. I usually use these to make turkey stock so I don't have to rely on drippings from the main bird (they can get burned, it's a tricky, messy procedure to get them out of the pan, and you can't have them until late in the meal prep). Nevertheless, this year's gravy was good. I think my thin, sharp new Japanese knife played an important part. For the first time, I cut my aromatics truly fine. It makes a difference. Gravy is an expression of care, attention to detail, the innate flavor of the ingredients, and technique. Here is the 2007 Blauhaus Gravy:

Three carrots, brunoise cut
Three ribs of celery, brunoise cut
One medium onion, minced
Three cloves of garlic, minced
One bay leaf
One star anise
One chile de arbol
A fistful of fresh thyme sprigs
One sprig of fresh rosemary
One quart of organic chicken stock
One turkey neck
A gob of chicken Better then Bouillon, to taste
Turkey drippings (they didn't burn)
Blond roux (I think it was 3 tbsp of butter and about 1/3 c flour)
A bit of cornstarch at the end, as necessary

Sweat the carrots, celery, onion and garlic in a bit of olive oil. When they've softened a bit, add the chicken stock, turkey neck, anise, bay leaf, chile, thyme and rosemary. Simmer this slowly, stirring occasionally, while you're doing everything else. We're talking about a few hours here. Add water if you think you're reducing too much. Reduction means flavor, so balance how good it tastes with how much gravy you'll need.
Within an hour of service (but before you're dealing with getting the bird out of the oven), make some blond roux in a smaller (1 1/2 or 2 qt) saucepan. Strain the gravy into this roux pan. Squeeze what liquid you can out of the solids and discard them. Whisk. Whisk. Bring it to a simmer. Whisk. Adjust the seasoning with the Better than Bouillon (I treat it as salt in a situation like this). The gravy should be a bit thicker now. Cover it and set it aside, off the heat. Deal with the turkey and stuffing. At this point, I added the drippings while the bird was resting, and I thickened it just a bit more with cornstarch. The roux makes for a better consistency, so I didn't use cornstarch alone for thickening this.

One of the things I love about Thanksgiving is how this meal is the essence of what I see as the greatest cooking: turning humble ingredients into very special food. There were no expensive or exotic ingredients here. Next year, I want to get an heirloom turkey, or perhaps a goose, and one might consider that semi-exotic. To someone without a farm, perhaps it is. Anyway, that's next year.

Unexpectedly Good yet Backbreaking Saturday

2007-11-17T18:22:00.000-05:00

This weekend, the goal was to install the two base cabinets on the sink side of the kitchen. The source of anxiety for me was the fact that unless I successfully reconnected all the plumbing, we would not have a functioning kitchen. Get your calendars out kids - it's almost Thanksgiving. Anyway, we got to work this morning. Here's the whole kit and caboodle:
Much to our delight and satisfaction, everything went as we hoped, with no nasty surprises. Everything is reconnected, with a few (but not all) of the hardware pieces installed. Just look at those pot & pan trays! And check out the ribbed glass in the wall cabinet!

It ain't easy being SuperCouple.

The Third Thursday of November...

2007-11-15T21:37:00.000-05:00

...is traditionally the day for installing drawer pulls. It dates back to Roman times, when the emperor would grant a selection of tasteful cabinet hardware to a victorious gladiator. The eleventh month of the year was known as Knobvember for centuries before it gradually morphed into what we call it today.
As coincidence would have it, it is also the day when Beaujolais Nouveau is released. It is a bright, tart, youthful contrast to the blustery fall weather outside.

And let's not forget about bread

2007-11-14T07:53:00.000-05:00

The old French Bread recipe, little changed from what we ate as kids (I skip the egg wash, and I use olive oil instead of butter, but that's it).

Mexican Lasagna and Hard Work

2007-11-11T20:32:00.000-05:00

Bryan came over with a bunch of ingredients and a plan. We set to work, and here was the result:
Goodass crap. As a refined little apertif, I got a giant can of Budweiser Chelada style beer. Purely out of morbid curiosity. It is beer (sort of, it is Budweiser after all) with Clamato, lime and salt. It was kind of weird, as you might expect from a beverage built of light beer, tomatoes and mollusks. We dumped it out and drank some Ommegang Three Philosophers instead.

On to a different subject. Lindz and I began the kitchen project. We replaced two base cabinets on Saturday (my back is still sore). Behind one cabinet was evidence of how attractive the kitchen must have been in 1981:
And here's me leveling one of the new beauties. It's actually made of wood, rather than sawdust!
And the payoff. this drawer is nearly three feet wide, and it comes all the way out. We're going to need some partitions in there. It's so big, you could call it zoning. Note the attractive masking tape flag serving as a drawer pull until the new ones arrive.

Lindz and I had a good time demolishing the flimsy old cabinets. No complaints, really - they served for two and a half decades, but their era is at an end.

Maybe I won't bother installing them...

2007-11-07T11:22:00.000-05:00

I rather like the new kitchen cabinets in this arrangement!

Stress

2007-10-26T09:54:00.000-04:00

Bryan is in Michigan, and Lindz is in California. Oliver is staying with me, so the stress level around the house is pretty high.

Blauhaus Sushi Station

2007-10-19T19:12:00.000-04:00

I asked my brother over for dinner this week, and what does that unpredictable scamp do? He brings over the makings for California Rolls. We made most of them inside-out, unlike the ones pictured here. They were so freegin' good. He brought good crabmeat from Trader Joe's, and that made the difference. I had no sesame seeds on hand, but we made good California Rolls. Bryan is far more practiced at this art, and his rolls were perfect. Mine didn't fall apart, but the filling was off center like Marty Feldman's eyes in Young Frankenstein. I got creative with one roll, which I named the Hello Kitty Sourpuss Roll. I included some preserved lemon (with a bit of the salt removed by soaking), and it was pretty good. We drank $10 Italian red wine with it all (Tenuta del Portale Starsa Basilicata), and it was perfect. Then, we watched a violent Japanese animated film called Ninja Scroll. Not English-dubbed. Marvelous.

Gyū-maki

2007-10-07T15:51:00.001-04:00

I'm not sure why the picture is slightly blurry. Perhaps the camera focused on the bit of exposed plate in the center, which was a bit further from the lens than the top of the rolls. We ate them, obliterating the possibility of a re-shoot.
Anyway, they tasted good. The scallions added a good element. Perhaps next time, a bit less rice and a bit more beef. Maybe I'll use slivers of grilled flank steak.

Roast Beef Nigiri

2007-10-06T10:35:00.000-04:00

It's more or less impossible to find raw fish that's suitable for this around here, so I made landlocked nigiri sushi. Sometimes I've seen "sashimi grade tuna," but I'm not so sure I trust that.
My immature rice technique contributed to these beasties being quite delicate and difficult to eat, but they tasted very good. The flavors of roast beef and soy sauce combine beautifully - it's an umami smackdown. I think next time I'll have some nori on hand to tie a band around the nigiri to hold it together, like they do with unagi sushi:

Perhaps a small roll with roast beef and scallions inside would be good, and easier to eat. I love the combination of beef and scallions.

Mum's Visit

2007-09-25T21:43:00.000-04:00

Crust: Half whole wheat with fresh rosemary. Sauce: Caramelized onions and sweet red peppers. Toppings: Chicken/apple sausage and provolone cheese with fresh basil after baking.

It didn't suck. It was but one of the numerous things consumed during Mom's visit.
Lindz made ice cream with fresh peaches and ginger, it should be mentioned. That was some goodass crap. And then there was dinner at Humble Pie. I got a couple bottles of wine for the occasion (a Vacqueyras and an Aglianico), and we had a smashing time. The mushroom napoleon is great. And the spinach tart. And the black bean crepe with crabmeat. And the shrimp and grits. And the berry tart....
Naturally, there was more to her visit than just gluttony, but the gluttony is easier to remember.

Charleston

2007-09-12T21:10:00.000-04:00

Lindz and I drove down to Charleston for a wedding this past weekend. After 4 1/2 hours of easy, unexciting driving, we arrived in that handsome town. The ceremony was held in the French Huguenot Church:
Here's the exterior of the church:
From there, we proceeded to the reception at the Aquarium. You can see the Ravenel Bridge in the background, and the USS Yorktown is out of frame to the right.
Aquatic life surrounded us (there were sharks swimming by the buffet). Here is the bride dancing with her dad as the fish look on:
Lindz and I did some serious walking the next day. There were characterful old buildings and streets in every direction. This is an overgrown old graveyard next to a church, a spot we found after wandering through and old wrought iron gate.

It seems like we ended up with few pictures, and they don't do the town justice. The weather was perfect, if a tad muggy, and we had most of a day to wander. We did some fine eating, too....

A new record and a meal

2007-09-01T20:37:00.000-04:00

We just ended the hottest month ever. Really. August was the hottest month ever recorded for the Triangle (with an average temperature of 84.1 degrees at RDU airport). Thirty of the month's 31 days exceeded 90 degrees. I can't wait for winter. I've heard locals bitch and moan when it gets below 50. THAT'S WHAT COATS ARE FOR, CANDY ASS. You have never experienced cold until you've waited for the school bus in Michigan. I hope nobody from Kapuskasing is reading this; they might not agree.

I just love cold weather, that's all. I bake things, roast things, braise things - always with the knowledge that I'm warming the house, rather that giving the air conditioner more work to do. I get to enjoy the clothes that have been tucked away for months. Summer tomatoes are good though; there's no two ways about that. I'm tired of heat, though. Lots of folks here, both locals and Yankees, feel the same way.

Anyway, I made this for dinner:

It's a grilled Boston Butt pork chop with a reduction of white wine, maple syrup, balsamic vinegar, Dijon mustard and garlic. The salad is fairly obvious: strawberries (very good ones, I was pleased to find), greens, pine nuts, feta and balsamic vinaigrette. We drank some Brother Thelonious Abbey Ale with it.

Two things that are warm, flat and good

2007-08-27T20:57:00.000-04:00

The Ollie:
Grill Bread:
I made a batch of pizza dough and smooshed it out flat. I rubbed a bit of oil on it. I threw it on a hot grill. Lindz and I made sandwiches out of it for dinner: grilled chicken, fresh mozzarella, heirloom tomatoes and pesto. French green beans steamed in a foil pouch with onions and vermouth constituted the side dish (all the cooking was done on the grill). Purdy good.
Naturally, the Ollie is quite rich, but very nice.

Rosemary Boule

2007-08-21T21:54:00.000-04:00

Suisin 210mm Gyutou

2007-08-20T22:24:00.000-04:00

Ahh, there's nothing like a new knife. Lindz has yet to fathom my consuming fascination with cutlery, much less my newfound desire to know all about Japanese cutlery. This knife was made in Sakai, near Osaka. It is the Suisin Nihon-ko Western Style Gyutou, 210 millimeters in length. It is of carbon steel, so this is the only time anyone will ever see it shine. I prepared dinner with it, and it has already begun to develop its gray patina. It is half the weight and thickness of a European knife of the same length. It is perfectly balanced and wicked sharp. My Viking knife (Ringil) is a good knife, but it is the opposite of this Suisin. The Viking (made in Solingen, Germany) is heavy, thick and well balanced. The Suisin (I have decided to name it Usagi, the Japanese word for rabbit. Yes, I know this is intolerably nerdy) is light, thin and perfectly balanced. I like them both. This Japanese piece, however, seems to approach the "extension of your hand" experience much more closely. The shape of the blade is more to my liking as well. I will have to become familiar with it, and, more importantly, learn how to keep it sharp -- a Sakai knifesmith grinds a different edge on his wares than a Solingen one.

One Hundred and Three Friggin' Degrees Today

2007-08-08T18:14:00.000-04:00

No more needs to be said.

Summatime

2007-08-05T09:52:00.000-04:00

One of my wife's fashion magazines had an article about some alleged fashion "trends" or "looks." These included "Deco," "Anglomania," "Modern Gamine," and our favorite, "Biker Luxe." Naturally, they were each accompanied by photo of an anorexic, hollow-cheeked model dressed in a ridiculous combination of overpriced clothes. Perhaps it's in style somewhere, but we just got a laugh out of it. Anyway, I named a cocktail after it. Lindz had made pomegranate sorbet, and I combined it with some Absolut Mandarin in a stemmed glass. I present the Biker Luxe:

Earlier in the week, Lindz and I went to a concert. This shaky picture is of the talented and excellent Ben Folds, who played before John Mayer. It was a hell of a good show. Mr. Folds really knows how to get the crowd into it. He and his band played a haunting rendition of Dr. Dre's "Bitches Ain't Shit." Mr. Mayer is one hell of a good blues guitar player.

However, Alltel Pavilion at Walnut Creek is a different story. Once you're inside, it's nice. The connection (or lack thereof) to major streets is a problem. I propose a way to save the American taxpayer a ton of money: Take all the prisoners out of the expensive, overcrowded jails and put them all in the parking lot of Alltel pavilion at the end of a concert. THERE IS NO ESCAPE. Alcatraz was probably easier than it was for us to get home that night. Well, maybe that plan needs a little more work. Anyway, the traffic sucked.

Boo-hoo for us. Life is tough for us. As a gangster rapper once said, "If you ain't never been to tha burbs, then stay tha f##k outta tha burbs, cuz you wouldn't unnastand tha burbs."

Good Wine, Good Food, Good Company

2007-07-29T21:57:00.000-04:00

Two friends visited us here in North Carolina, and it was the first time in four years that we were all together. Luis had been in the Peace Corps, and he romped through Europe for a few weeks before returning to the States. He told us many tales of rats, boils, village superstition, ineffectual NGO's and long lines at European castles. We may have had a glass or two of wine during the visit:

Highlights include Magnificat, Napanook, three different Chateauneuf-du-Pape, Saintsbury Pinot Noir, Schramsberg Cremant, Frank Family Blanc de Blancs, two Champagnes, Ferrari-Carano Chardonnay, Qady Essensia, and Estancia Meritage. I'd say the winner of the red category was the deep, smooth-as-a-baby's-ass Napanook, and the winner of the sparkling category was the bracingly dry, toasty/minerally Frank Family. Luis has a keen palate and a true afiçion for the grape, and he has helped to elevate my appreciation for fine wine. Having him around is not helpful to frugality, but we truly had some splendid enological exploits.

We did our fair share of eating, too. I didn't cook as much as I usually do; we ate out or grazed more of the time. I did grilled salmon with sweet pepper coulis and grilled corn on the cob, but I took no pictures. In fact, we ate out more in a week than Lindz and I do in three months. But this was vacation. 42nd Street Oyster Bar was quite good; I had clams on the half shell for the first time. I liked them; they are firmer and meatier than oysters.
For dinner on our last night together, I made grilled boneless porkchops with a speck and sage sauce with herbed roasted potatoes. Lindz made the salad of greens, strawberries, blue cheese and balsamic vinaigrette. Tasty Chateauneuf-du-Pape and Pinot Noir accompanied it.
It was all a much-needed respite from the cubicle farm. Talk of travel, life and the future while enjoying the finer things is a restorative pastime.

Potatoes, a Recipe and the Workplace

2007-07-18T10:13:00.000-04:00

(listening to "Paragon Rag" by Scott Joplin)

This is a lot of potatoes (15 or 16 pounds). I'm baking them for work. A coworker thought it would be cool to have a baked potato bar as a change from the typical pot luck. I was nominated to do it, so people chipped in some money for the supplies. I rendered a nice pile of bacon bits, steamed some broccoli, and chopped some chives. I also have a huge tub of sour cream, tubs of whipped butter, and some cans of chili. Loaded spuds will be had by all, and I even got a Trader Joe's pepper grinder (pre-ground pepper is worthless. It is a close relative to sawdust). My oven is full of big russets right now.

My brother wanted to know more about the food in the previous post. The prosciutto-wrapped tilapia in the previous post was very simple and very good. I put a piece of prosciutto on the cutting board. Then, a tilapia filet. Then, another piece of prosciutto. I rolled it up and decided to wrap another piece of prosciutto around it. I stuck a bamboo skewer through it. I might normally bake this, but I like to use the grill during summer to keep the cooking heat outside of the house. Lindz had mentioned asparagus earlier in the day, so I got some at the store. I tossed the 'sparagus with a bit of canola oil, salt & pepper, balsamic vinegar and maple syrup (all told, just enough liquids to coat the asparagus and leave a modest puddle in the Pyrex dish). I put the asparagus on the lower level of the grill, and the tilapia above it. I have a rectangular stainless grill grate doohickie that helped prevent lost asparagus. It all didn't take very long, and I was pleased with how all the flavors went together.

And now, some contemplation about work that might get some interesting comments:

I don't miss working for Starbucks. Retail sucks ass. My current workplace does indeed resemble Office Space, but a great many others do, too. Sometimes I get philosophical about what I'm supposed to do with my life; I come up with various ways of beating myself up for not having a more exciting, lucrative or noble job than I do. I've gotten the idea in my head that it's something to with my DNA. I am a Midwestern boy, of German descent and raised as a Lutheran. As such, I think that this has made me:
1)punctual
2)hardworking
3)not a vegetarian
4)a lover of beer
5)addicted to security and predictability
6)mortally afraid of not preparing enough food for a meal
7)a diligent pantry manager, always ensuring that it would take a nuclear war and years of subsequent anarchy to make me run out of canned corn or plastic wrap
8)unable and/or unwilling to sell myself to others. I loathe job hunting more than anything in the world. More than gargling bleach. More than being rubbed vigorously all over with a cheese grater and then being dipped in hot sauce.

My loving, devoted wife and I had a lengthy, beer-lubricated conversation about this the other night at our local bar. She does not subscribe to my theory that my magical inability to make lots of money and love doing it is due to my DNA. Still, I wonder: the anthropological and socioeconomic ground from which I sprang is suited to doing okay in adversity, not thriving in prosperity. I am descended from farmers, not captains of industry. My people don't think outside the box; they ensure that it is a good, strong box with all perfect 90-degree angles. As such, my people are the people you want to be during The Great Depression.

Anyway, there are a hell of a lot of people out there who make a lot of money. In many cases, they are stupid, rude, self-entitled and lacking in integrity. Many of them are not those things. Is there really such an easy explanation? Various members and friends of my wife's extended family (none of whom are Midwestern German-Americans) are hugely wealthy, notable people. They're good people, not thieves.

I am fiercely proud of my heritage, and I could not possibly love my family more than I do. But when baked potatoes are the most exciting thing going on at the office, I have to wonder what the hell is wrong with me.

Two Good Things

2007-07-16T21:09:00.000-04:00

Prosciutto-wrapped tilapia and grilled balsamic & maple glazed asparagus. We accompanied it with the velvety, slightly smoky Yellowtail Reserve Pinot Noir that set me back $9. I was rather pleased with myself.

This is a red stapler. A nice, substantial, metal one. I rule. Too bad I work in a place that makes Office Space look like the Travel Channel.

Loblolly Calendar

2007-07-15T21:18:00.000-04:00

This is the cross-section of the bole of a loblolly pine (Pinus taeda). I had the arborist leave me two four-foot pieces of the biggest tree so I could dry them and build something out of them someday (benches or a mantelpiece). It seems to be as much as 47 years old.

Tree Removal

2007-07-14T12:20:00.000-04:00

Before:
During:
Here's Emilio up in the tree. I circled him. It was a tall tree.
After:
We've still got plenty of trees left. The absence of those two pines and two sweetgums will greatly improve the workload of raking and gutter-cleaning this fall.

The Future of Stapling is here

2007-07-14T12:16:00.000-04:00

It's based on the Swingline model 444, or "The Triple-Four," as we say in the business.

If I were part of the cast of The Simpsons...

2007-07-09T22:27:00.000-04:00

Shrayemp & Greeyits

2007-07-09T20:36:00.000-04:00

If you look closely , you'll see sausage in there. That's not andouille from New Orleans, that's landjaeger from Willi's Meat Market in Frankenmuth, MI. It worked perfectly. We drank Australian Shiraz with it all. Num Num Nummy.

Summer Food Triptych

2007-07-05T07:33:00.000-04:00

A few days ago, I made Italian Bread Salad;

Yesterday, Independence Day, we ate, drank and loafed all day. A group of us went out to breakfast at Cracker Barrel. We drank Dale's Pale Ale next to a friend's pool after that. Next, we came home and started cooking. I smoked some ribs, roasted some sweet peppers for a lovely assortment of appetizers that Lindz assembled, and made some mojitos. Among the many things we ate were artichokes:

Bryan made a fine, patriotic cheesecake, which we enjoyed with some Michigan Port:

It was a fine Fourth. Lindz, our guests and I strolled to our nearby lake to discover neighbors shooting off really cool, not exactly legal fireworks. I regret that I was too busy watching them, talking and drinking to run back to the house and get the camera.

It is truly a fine thing to be an American.

Sushi and Rolls

2007-06-30T15:38:00.000-04:00

My brother and I got sushi for lunch at Sushi Thai in Cary (superlative food, by the way).

Our late grandmother on our father's side was a huge sushi fan. She could often be found at Frankentrost Sushi, drinking Sapporo with her hamachi. One time someone asked to taste a piece of her unagi and moved their chopsticks toward the plate, presuming consent. Grandma grabbed the chopsticks out of the man's hands and snapped them in two. She threw them on the floor and said, in her heavy Italian accent, "You toucha my sushi, I breaka you face! I serva you lungs to you onna plate, capeesh?" *

*Except for the fact that Grandma was not Italian, had probably never even heard of sushi, and never said an unkind word in her life, this is all true. I don't think there are any sushi restaurants in Frankentrost, Michigan either, now that I think of it.

A Good Meal and Old Shoes

2007-06-24T19:08:00.000-04:00

Last weekend, a good meal came together. Lindz and I hit Costco like a ton of bricks, so we had lots of food in the house. We drank a very good bottle of pinot noir, Sanford Santa Rita Hills.

I skewered a bunch of scallops and seasoned them with my handy-dandy Trader Joe's lemon pepper grinder. I grilled them.

The salad you saw up there featured, in addition to roasted sweet peppers and toasted pine nuts, these marvelous little beasties of Lindz's creation:

They are balls of goat cheese, coated in panko crumbs and fried. Yep. Luxurious. Good-ass crap, as we like to say around these parts.

And now, how about a jarring transition to a different subject? I bought these shoes six or seven years ago at Carlsbad Company Stores (an outlet mall that was home to a Starbucks where I used to work):

That's where and roughly when I made the brilliant decision to start smoking. Good times. Anyone who has spent time working for Starbucks knows that working at a mall store is a highly concentrated version of the unrewarding, hectic and demeaning experience that typifies a regular neighborhood store. Yes, I know it's my own damned fault for working retail in the first place, but that's another story. Anyway, combine the shitty job with a couple of shitty relationships, and smoking cigarettes on your ten minute break from Busloads-of-Asian-Tourists-and-Rude-Americans-Frappuccino-Ass-Rape starts to make sense.

These shoes are the ones that I wore running every day when I tried to get into the army (this was after 9/11 and before Vietnam II, uh, I mean the Iraq War). I failed to get the security clearance necessary to get the assignment I wanted, which probably saved my life. I was crushed at the time.

I still had these shoes when my life was saved again. I fell in love with Lindz, and I asked her to marry me. She said yes, but it was never in doubt that she would not actually marry me until I quit smoking. So I did.

These shoes were on my feet, if I recall correctly, when I drove across the country. It's silly to attach too much sentimental value to material things, and yet I do. They were good shoes, and a lot of water has gone under the bridge since I've owned them. Today, I threw them away. I take comfort from their successors, a pair of Merrell Moab Ventilator hiking shoes.

Cigarette ashes will never float down upon them, and I doubt they will pound the gravel of the train tracks at Del Mar.