My gift to me

This Thanksgiving my part of the food provided was, from left to right, Tapenade, Sriracha Hummus and pinto bean hummus. I got rave reviews but I think it took more effort than was needed. And being a guy and a tool freak I saw this as a reason for a new toy, er tool.



This was my old food processor. 1-1/2 cup capacity, 70 watt motor. It was cute and didn't take up much space. However it would only process one cans worth of olives into Tapenade so a bowl such as I brought took two complete batches. It was also worthless at hummus which prompted me to get an immersion blender a while back which does a wonderful job.



This was my old blender which I picked up a few years back. Amongst the bargain priced blenders I picked this one because it said it would crush ice. It did, in the amount of one margarita's worth at a time. It also didn't do hummus well. It was about $35, 5 cup capacity, 400 watt.



This is the new Cuisinart I picked up at Sur La Table. At $100 it still isn't king of the hill but it will outdo either of the stand alone appliances I had. I decided to get the model exclusive to Sur La Table because of the 600 vs 500 watt motor and the metal vs the plastic base. Interesting how having a heavier duty appliance it only needs 3 speeds vs 12 of the lesser blenders. The food processor is 3 cups, the blender is 7 cups, it has a 600 watt motor. It also has the added capability of slicing and shredding. It is supposed to handle a full batch of ice. After not using it for over a year I relegated my coffee maker to a cabinet and this unit now takes it's place on the counter to make it easier to get to. So far I have made egg nog and shredded a potato.



Couple of items of note. I can already see myself wanting a full fledged 7 or 11 cup food processor. Does anybody want to give my old stuff a new home? :-)

Pink House

7009 N 58th Ave., Glendale, AZ

So what was I doing in a boutique? I was there for a Yelp CMYE (Community Manager Yelp Event). This was the first official Yelp event in the same zip code I have my business so I was not going to miss it. I had a good time chatting with some old and new friends. Bitz-ee Mamas a few doors down provided the appetizers we munched on. Definitely not a place I would normally shop in. Thanks to my friends I was able to appreciate it for what it is. They are celebrating their 5th anniversary and it has over time morphed in to a sort of co-op with several spaces showcasing local designer talent. Roughly half the store is stocked by the owner with the other half stocked by over a half dozen vendors. Most of what they have is clothing and accessories with a few collectibles. Listening to the comments of my friends the majority of the stuff is very reasonably priced and there was even some items in plus sizes. Several Yelpers made purchases during the evening. I also heard several comments during the event that many folks did not realize Glendale had a historic area filled with small shops and eateries with easy parking and they intended to come back and explore the area.

Xanadu

1980, musical, Olivia Newton-John, Gene Kelly, ELO

When this movie came out I was 27. Like lots of stuff that came out a decade or two or three ago I didn't see it. Viewing it now for the first time I think I would have enjoyed it less back then. The plot really isn't all that engaging but it was quite enjoyable to see the production of the musical numbers. Interesting too, the music spans several decades. I liked it.

MGD 64

So this past weekend I made I made a trip to Total Wine which I do every 3 or 4 weeks and proceeded to fill my cart with the usual stuff. A box of Franzia Merlot (daily drinking stuff), a couple of bottles of wine(in this case a Nostrada Tempranllo and a ca'Rugate Monte Fiorentine generically recommended by a wine goddess), a couple of six packs of craft beers (in this case Mothership Wit and Fat Tire, both by New Belgium) and tried to pickup a couple of 30 packs of MGD. They were out of MGD in cans. My options were Heineken, original Michelob, and one other beer that is chemically the equivalent of the three but I cannot remember what it is. For daily drinking beer I prefer cans over bottles as I have a way to recycle cans but not bottles so cans leave a smaller footprint. I have always avoided trying the MGD64 as it is a light beer and I have yet to find a light beer I like. 2 years ago Chase Field changed their taps from MGD to MGD64 so I have been buying my beer from the Gordon Biersch counter (Hefeweizen the first year and either Pilsner or Marzen the second). So I finally relented and tried ONE case of the MGD64. I guess it wasn't really a let down as I wasn't expecting much. It is a light beer and really doesn't have much body or flavor. I tried it and will move on.

Sriracha

aka Rooster Sauce

I was first introduced to this a few years back when my neighbor was moving out of the country and a half bottle was in the box of stuff she couldn't take with her when she left. One taste told me it was hot. Specifically it is an Asian red pepper sauce. I used it sparingly for quite some time, mostly as the heat component in pork and chicken stir frys.

I grew up in an environment where a dash of black pepper or a sprinkle of store brand chili powder made a dish instantly hot. As an adult I have been exposed to many hot items. I have learned to pick out the brown peppers in Asian dishes and avoid many other peppers such as Jalapenos, Habeneros, Tabasco branded hot sauces and similar stuff. I just do not handle spicy heat well but there are some that have some flavor. Sriracha is one of those, that used in moderation, I have learned to like. It is one of the items on the table at many Asian, mainly Vietnamese, restaurants that can be used to customize the flavor of many dishes.

Used in moderation it can be used to enhance the flavor of many dishes including Pho. To be sure I have over done it on a few occasions resulting in tears and a runny nose, not good in public. But I have also successfully used it in many occasions. In addition to stir frys I have mixed it with mayonnaise as a sandwich spread and for dipping artichoke leaves in. Most recently I have added it to a basic hummus. I think my next attempt to use it will be to replace the cayenne component in a basic Provencal Tapenade.

Simple chicken stew

Over the years I have made several versions of this and many have been much more complicated including frying regular chicken parts with bones and all and fresh vegetables and serving over rice. This is a much simplified version that only takes about an hour or so of cooking time and utilizes readily available stuff from the market that was not available a few decades ago.

The list of ingredients I used this time are:

1 package (5) boneless skinless chicken thighs
1 quart chicken or poultry stock
2 onions, diced
1 package frozen mixed vegetables
1 can diced tomatoes
1 package Fideo pasta (optional)
salt
pepper
ground garlic



Here is the chicken coated with salt, pepper and garlic.



Here are the two onions coarse diced



I cook the chicken on high for 10 minutes in the microwave.



This is the cooked chicken.



While the chicken is cooking I put the rest of the ingredients except the pasta in a pot with more salt, pepper and ground garlic to taste. At this point if you are going to add pasta and still want it fairly liquidy you might want to add a cup of water. Most times I choose not to but I have done it both ways.



After the chicken has cooled enough to handle dice it up and add it to the pot. Allow to simmer for at least a half hour for the flavors to blend.




Add the pasta if you choose and continue to simmer for about 10 minutes.



This is the bowl I had that night along with a sandwich. You can also serve it with cheese toast or corn bread.



And here is the 5 lunches left over.

Statistics

Ok, so I am a little vain and would like to think the whole world might be listening in to my blog. I know better. I currently am using both Sitemeter and Google stats. Sitemeter shows a lot more detail like where the viewer is from, what brought them there and a few other things. However it does not pick up views by readers unless they click through to the original post. It does however pick up folks just hitting the "next blog" button which I myself have used several times to find new blogs to follow. Many have been the times I wondered if anybody was reading my posts. Recently Google stats have come on line and it picks up many more hits, including those through Google reader. But it does not give much detail as to the identity and location of the person reading my posts.

I am pretty sure neither of these counters, either separately or together, give me a true reading of who and why is reading my blog but at least I know some one is. Most of the time when I can see the detail I can pretty much guess by location who it is. Probably the most intriguing is a regular reader in New York. The only person I have known there is a lady I went to school with, J, that I never got to date but I was welcome by her mom to stop by for baked goods any time I wanted. Last I heard, from her mom, she was in New York (many years ago) doing some kind of teaching for under privileged kids. Note this is my blog and I can dream all I want. :-)

I know a lot of folks give up on their blogs after they become active on Facebook but to me they are two separate means of expression, one for the the immediate and one for the permanent, and as long as still I enjoy writing it and folks still read it I intend to keep up both.

Mesquite smoked Tri-Tip

Well almost. I picked up an electric smoker figuring I could put meat in at work for the afternoon and have it ready when I went home. Transportation is not a problem as when slow cooking beef it is a good idea to take it off about 10° early, wrap it in foil and then towels and place it in a cooler for an hour or so to finish it off.

First the things that went poorly. I have done tri-tips in the oven at 200° and they have taken 4-5 hours. This one was done in 72 minutes. Good thing I had a temperature probe with an alarm in it or I would have totally ruined it. When smoking with wood chips you should have the meat exposed to smoke for the first three hours, haven't figured out how to squeeze that into 72 minutes. Because the meat temp ramped up so quickly a lot of the fat/juices cooked out of it. Where I grew up tri-tips were cooked over oak for several hours and I may never have the set up to replicate that, not to mention I can no longer find tri-tip with the layer of fat that should be present. I can seal the juices in by searing it (which I cannot do at work) but then it would also seal out the smoke. I had planned on working all afternoon while the meat cooked but the short cooking time sort of messed that up.

The not so bad part. The meat came out a perfect medium. It actually sat in the cooler for 3 hours and was still at a servable warmth although I think it would have been better to slice and serve it after 2 hours. Though not as juicy and tender as I would have liked it was perfectly edible and I had 3 meals and 5 sandwiches out of it. I still have 6 more tri-tips in the freezer to play with. I had the smoker set at 210° and will try it at 190° after testing it and finding out it runs 10° hotter that it indicates.

This cryovac yielded 7 tri-tips and I trimmed enough off the ends to make a big batch of stroganof.



This is the smoker. A Masterbuilt 30.



And this is the pile of meat. :-)

Did I lose anybody?

After having having the local phone company since I opened my business and having them as my ISP since I got online about 12 years ago I have switched to Cox cable for business. This is a big switch for me, I am old enough to remember the phone company owning everything including the phone and there were no options. My record for utilizing new technology is mixed. Of 5 living siblings I am the oldest and I was the first to have a home computer and the last to get on the internet.

Changing ISPs was something I fought for a long time. Once I got on the internet I became active in several wood working forums and gained several customers and the online link was my email address which was tied to my ISP which began as @uswest.net. It later changed to qwest.net and eventually to qwestoffice.net. Things went fine until they stopped forwarding the previous versions about a year ago. During the years I was visited by several sales folks that could give me a small cost savings at the expense of losing my email address. After Qwest did that to me anyway I started exploring how to solve the problem for the long term. Over a year ago I got a domain for my business and started posting that. When I first got online a domain was fairly expensive at around $50 month but over the years it has kept coming down and when I finally got a domain through Godaddy it cost me $150, including registration, for 3 full years. Last month Cox came in and stated they were installing cable in my complex and gave me a quote about $50 less than I was paying and the billing is a lot simpler than the 8 pages I have been getting from Qwest. In the interim month until they got it installed I have tried to get everything important changed over to either my personal (shrpscott(at)gmail dot com or business stuff at scott(at)scottssharpening dot com. I hope I haven't lost anybody.

That brings up another point. Back in the day when you moved you filed a change of address with the post office and filled out the change of address section on all of your bills and at Christmas you made a point of getting your cards out early so your friends and relatives had your new address. Now with so many things tied to the internet trying to make sure all the stuff you do on line is updated is a real chore. And there is no forwarding address thingy for the internet. Again I hope I haven't lost anybody but I know I will have. :-(

I think the next step will be to jettison the white and yellow page listings which for years have only gotten me calls for work which doesn't fit the B2B makeup of my business.

Long time, no post

Geez, I went through a whole month with no posts.:-( Problem being I just couldn't seem to find time at work to post. And when I have been done working the last thing I wanted to do was sit at the computer some more. I have also been guilty of spending too much time on Yelp and Facebook when I should have been working. The solution I have come up with is to stop fighting having a computer at home. It has been almost 20 years since I have had access to a home computer that wasn't prioritized to my son or ex wife.

The computer I have is a cheap ($350) laptop that came with a 3 in 1 printer thanks to a Labor Day sale at Best Buy. Every time I have upgraded my computer(s) I am amazed at what the next generation has to offer. To put this in prospective the first computer I bought was a used Tandy model I for $500 around 30 years ago. In 1980 dollars my new computer would have cost about $150. About that same time a friend of mine (who reads this blog) spent thousand of dollars on a Tandy model 2 with 8" floppy discs that didn't have 2% of the computing power I now have.

Another benchmark is the printer Best Buy tossed in to the deal. My first printer (attached to a Tandy model III bought used for $800) was a wide carriage pin feed I bought for $1200 because I wanted the then new 24 pin dot matrix head. My new printer was listed @ $40 and needs ink cartridges that cost $32 a set but it doesn't need a ribbon and I don't have to embed printer controls in my document. This was back before the thought of the internet and updated drivers so when I made the move to an Apple IIe ($2000+) I had to buy another printer which was a standard width 24 pin dot matrix for around $900, this was still a pin feed.

So enough of me proving I am old. :-) If things go as planned I should be able to go back to making entries several times a month.

Downtown Phoenix Journal

Downtown Phoenix Journal (DPJ) is published by Urban Affair.

"Urban Affair (UA) is a modern media network developed to promote Phoenix’s urban lifestyle by elevating urban ideas and related activities. This focus assists the development our urban core, benefiting the people, organizations, and businesses in the community, while making the lifestyle more accessible to Valley residents. UA generates ongoing interest in downtown with assets that include DowntownPhoenixJournal.com, RadiatePHX (monthly networking group), Coe House (historic art gallery office suite), and Urban Affair events. UA was founded in 2006."

One of the items that shows up weekly is a Yelp review of a downtown business. Not sure who selects it and whether or not the business has any say in it. What I do know is I was selected to be DPJ Yelper of the week for my review of the Meat Shop. I thought that was sorta neat. :-)

Vegas, July 2010

Almost hard to call this a Vegas vacation as I only spent one full day there. But I did spend 3 nights there and Vegas is all about the night anyway.



This was the view from my room on the 28th floor of Excalibur.



The bridge over the Colorado is almost complete and is set to open by the end of the year. Couldn't happen too soon as the wait East bound was over 2 hours. I actually go back through Laughlin most of the time to avoid the tie ups. Coupled with all the other road improvements over the last ten years it will be about an hour faster each way when the bridge opens.

On the second day I drove up I15 to have lunch with a friend near Cedar City, Utah. I had never been up that stretch of road before so it was an interesting drive.

Of course I am all about the food so here is a list of where I ate.
Day one
lunch - In and Out. Single cheese animal style with fries. It took almost 30 minutes to get my order and the fries were not that great
Dinner - Hyakumi inside of Caesers Palace. Japanese Teppanyaki. I had beef tenderloin, shrimp, chicken, veggies, miso soup, cucumber salad with crab, Asahi draft and ice cream. Easily the best meal of the trip.

Day two
Breakfast - Pyramid cafe inside of Luxor. Corned beef hash and eggs with potatoes and toast. Toast was cold, all the hot items came from chafing dishes. I had wanted to avoid the buffet, what I got was buffet food at a higher price :-(
Lunch - City Cafe and Deli in Cedar City. Great sandwiches in a family run little restaurant.
Dinner - Nine Fine Irishman inside of New York, New York. Chicken pot pie and a pint of Bass ale. Being acclimated to the heat, it was a very pleasant 95°, dry, with a light breeze, I sat out on the patio and watched the scenery as passers by watched me eat.

Day three
Breakfast - McDonalds. Greasy chicken biscuit, hash brown and orange juice.
Lunch - HK Star in Chinatown. Americanized Cantonese food. Beef with string bean and Shrimp chow fun. Shared with Yelper Angela H. Decent food, really cheap.
Dinner - Baja Fresh inside of Excalibur. Fajita burrito. It was ok.
2nd dinner - Bazic in China town. Mostly a Korean BBQ joint that opens from 7PM to 4AM. I was here for a Yelper party that started at 11PM. Even though it has a full Korean menu the "in" thing to get is 10 pieces of fried chicken and a litre of beer which Angela and I shared. Fun rowdy group!

In addition to eating and driving around I finally managed to see the shark reef exhibit at Mandalay bay. It is a nice aquarium but you get through it really fast. Crystal at City Center has more stuff open than it did when I was there at Christmas so I wandered around there. It was good to get away from the shop and do something different and I found some serious do nothing time in there as well.

Spicy mayo

I was sitting at lunch in Vegas with fellow Yelper Angela H and we were discussing heat in Asian dishes. One of the items we had for lunch was sliced beef and green beans in XO sauce which was listed as hot on the menu. With the exception of a few slices of jalapeno it really wasn't. Once we found out we both liked mayo, even though she does hot stuff and I do mild she offered up this condiment recipe. In a bowl mix mayo with a shot of Sriracha. Then use as regular mayo. Apparently mixing it in advance rather than trying to just squirt some on the sandwich gets rid of the hot spots and sort of mellows it out. I had it today on a ham sandwich and I really liked it. Now I have one more thing I can make from stuff I stock in the kitchen anyway. :-)

Sodas

I rarely drink sodas nor keep them in the fridge. I don't drink caffeine often and I am not a fan of HFCS or Aspartame. And refrigerator space is utilized for beer. :-) I stopped at Sprouts on my way home to get dinner fixins for the weekend (free range rib eye, fresh squash, hand stuffed brats, fresh cauliflower) and wanted some non alcoholic beverages to pack in my cooler for my trip to Vegas tomorrow. I was thinking 7-up or Sprite. Well this being a healthy type store, think Henrys or Sunflower if you are not familiar with Sprouts, they didn't really have a cold soda section. After digging I found in the aisle with the fruit juices a selection of soft drinks from Hansen's and Blue Sky that are actually made with real sugar. I picked up a six pack of Hansen's Key Lime and it is pretty good, a bit sweeter than with HFCS. They also make some diet versions that are made with Sucralose (Splenda) which they claim is better for you than Aspartame. And none of their sodas have caffeine. Even though their sodas cost twice as much, as little as I drink sodas It is not a big deal.

Gravies, soups and stews

While I was making stroganof yesterday it occurred to me I had the base for a beef stew and could have just as easily added carrots, peas, onions and potatoes rather than the onions, mushrooms and sour cream. Expanding on that theme I could make a poultry gravy and added diced chicken with veggies and had a creamy chicken stew. All variations on a theme. Stuff like that always make large quantities so I can have lunches.

Tartar sauce

Yesterday I picked up a salmon filet with the thought of pan frying the one pound chunk and eating half for dinner and using the other half in a lunch salad. That part worked fine and I also had some seasoned basmati rice and steamed asparagus. When I got home form the store I realized I had no tartar sauce of any kind and although I had lemon juice I am not a fan of lemon on fish. So I started rummaging around and made my own: 2 big glops of mayonnaise (Best Foods, of course), 2 small glops of dill pickle relish, some seasoned salt and some dry mustard then put it in the fridge for about an hour to let the flavors blend. It turned out better than some jarred varieties I have had. Looking around later I found some recipes that also included lemon juice, capers (both of which I normally have) and some other stuff. I think I would increase the ratio of the dill relish and maybe toss in a splash of lemon juice next time. It is nice to find one more item I can make quickly at home as I need it that doesn't have a bunch of ingredients I cannot pronounce. Also one less item to go bad if I don't use it all quickly enough.

Now what to do?

Several years ago the Costco I frequent near home stopped selling tobacco because the Arizona rules tightened up about access to them by minors. Never mind that Costco has a person checking everybody as they leave. Not a big problem as I drive by the Business center once a week anyway. Well Tuesday I stopped in and the business center has decided tobacco products will no longer be sold for personal use at that location. So now I can buy them at the grocery store, I hate hard box. I can go to the Costco by I17 which is out of my way except for Thursday mornings. Only problem with Thursday mornings is I drive by there about 9-9:30 and they open at 10. I can see if the Sams Club around the corner from my regular Costco sells tobacco at that location and switch my membership over. But I like the selection at Costco and they treat their employees better.

Humpf!! And don't say it. :-)

Lifestyle changes

Yesterday I stopped in at Albertson's to get a lottery ticket and pick up a few things. Other than vegetables I really had nothing special on my list and browsed through the store. Saw some meat that looked good but didn't buy it as now I get free range beef and humanely raised pork from the Meat Shop and free range beef and Buffalo from Sprouts. I saw butter was on sale for $2.50lb but passed because I get it at Costco for $1.60lb. I knew I was low on beer but passed the aisle because it is about $5.00 a case less expensive at Total Wine. Box wine was on sale, for $2.00 a box more than the everyday price at Total wine. Eggs were on the mental list too but the locally grown ones are much cheaper at Sprouts. Frozen veggies are much cheaper at Wal-mart for the same brands. I am getting spoiled living in a big city. With the exception of the Meat Shop all of these places are in my neighborhood. In some cases I buy better stuff for me and in others I buy the same stuff at lower prices. I still like Albertson's but it is no longer my only grocer.

I'm feeling cheated

So yesterday I am having some processed luncheon meat (Spam) fried up for breakfast and I notice there are supposed to be 6 servings per can. Depending on how I slice it I get 3, maybe 4. In this case I think they are getting a bit creative because I always thought a serving of meat is 4 ounces and they were using 2 ounces as serving. And how about a pint of Gelato or ice cream? They all say 4 servings per container. After I finish with the third serving there is none left. I want to know who stole the 4th serving! Or do they intentionally leave that one out of the carton? Another one I get to see quite often is a bag of frozen vegetables. They all say 5 or 6 servings. I only seem to get 2 and when I was married with kid I could squeeze 3 tiny servings out of one. And yes, I manage to squeeze by on a bit more than 3,000 calories a day. :-)

Frozen fish filets

I use my cast iron for a lot of things. And I prefer to not use the oven for just my self. For some things I use a counter top convection oven. A while back I wondered if breaded fish filets could be cooked on the stove top. After a few tries I think I have it figured out. I preheated the skillet to med-lo (3 on my dial), gave it a thin coat of vegetable oil and tossed in the filets. Ten minutes on the first side and then 5 minutes on the second. Nice and crispy golden on the outside and soft in the middle. Used a lot less electricity and didn't heat up the whole kitchen like heating in the oven for 25 minutes at 475°.

Phone books

Today I just got the Phoenix metro edition for the year. It is only one book. I grew up in Santa Barbara and I can only remember it being one book there. In the 17 years I have lived here I saw it grow to 4 books from I think 3. And the regional edition for the Northwest valley had all the retirement communities personal phone number and address listings in large print. It's been 2 years since the phone book(s) even had personal information. Thinking back on it, I don't think I have used a phone book for anything but a business look up in 10 years or so. A large part of it's usefulness for personal information has changed with people not listing their addresses or getting rid of land lines in favor of cell phones. And even businesses have cut down on the amount of advertising they do in the phone books. I guess seeing that I only got one book with all the yellow pages and business listings mad me wax nostalgic today. Time was when phone books got worn out in a year. Now they may get out of date but certainly not worn out from overuse.

Rotten beef

Have you ever accomplished what you set out to do and realized you didn't like the finished product? A few months back I attended a dinner with several Yelpers at Murphys (A German restaurant in downtown Glendale). Chrissy and I both remarked afterward that steak knife tender was a little tough for the saurbratten we had each ordered. While I like a tender piece of roast I am not a big fan of sweet stuff at dinner so I decided to opt out of making the cabbage and the gingersnap gravy. I instead made brown gravy from Better than Bullion and served mashed potatoes rather than potato dumplings. I set out to prove I could make it more tender than the restaurant. I happened to use tri-tip because that is what I had and other than the gristly parts I did indeed make a melt in your mouth roast. The cooking method I used was on an open rack in the oven at 200° until it was 140° in the middle. The disappointment was that even with normal gravy on it to temper it I did not like the taste of the meat from the marinade. So now to search for a marinade recipe I like.

Paper Heart

2009, PG-13, Romantic Comedy, Charlyne Yi, Michael Cera

Quick moving. Very different, I would almost label it Indie. Lots of fun. I enjoyed it. I have no clue however why I put it in queue to begin with.

Urban Cowboy

1980, John Travolta

This is another one of those movie classics I never got around to seeing. As it is I cannot tell you how it ended because after about 45 minutes I gave up on it. Possibly because what were considered normal things 30 years ago just don't fit anymore. Nice thing about Netflix is I don't have a lot of money tied up per viewing.

Wine Tasting

Saturday afternoon I attended a wine tasting in North Scottsdale. This was my first ever wine tasting so I had no preconception of what to expect. All twenty wines presented were limited production, in most instances less than 200 cases. That was reflected in both the price of the tasting ($30) and the price of wines ($32-105 per bottle). I felt a little out of place both by disposable income and knowledge of wines and wineries. I think it bothered me more than the presenters or the other attendees. The tasting was presented by Arcadia fine wines and was a very casual afternoon affair. The location was a cooks dream. Multiple functioning kitchens, including an Iron Chef stadium, equipped with the latest in Wolf and Sub Zero (who together own the showroom) appliances. I ended up tasting about a dozen wines and learned a lot about wine and wineries and had several peasant conversations with folks. Seems almost everybody interested in wine has been a frequent visitor to the Central coast.

Immersion blender

Also called a stick blender. Really neat toy! I usually make my own hummus. The first time I made it I got out the full sized blender and it didn't really do that great of a job (think I used too little liquid) and since then I have been using my mini processor. But it always came out like chunky peanut butter instead of smooth. I thought about getting out the big blender again but wasn't convinced that was going to fix my problem for the small batch sizes I make. So I narrowed my choices of a new toy down to the mini blenders where the container becomes the vessel and an immersion blender which I think was more popular a few years ago. I found out my brother has used one for years to make small batches of mayonnaise. Last night I made my first batch of creamy hummus! $20 at Wal-mart and it doesn't take up too much storage space in my cramped kitchen.

Sauteed cabbage

This is one of those things I have had since I was a kid. My youngest sister doesn't remember having it so I am posting how I did it. We grew up calling it broiled cabbage and I have also heard it called fried cabbage. Sauteed is probably the most correct term however caramelized could also be used. I have served this to many folks that did not like cabbage and they liked it. I use 1 stick of butter per head of cabbage (adjusting up or down to keep the ratio the same) starting with about 1/2 of it and and adding the other half near the end. Basically what you are doing is cooking the moisture out of the cabbage and replacing it with butter. I cook it on medium low as any attempts I have made to hurry the process along has always left me with a combination of burnt and undercooked pieces. Average cooking time is an hour or so. And this is not a dish you can walk away from for very long.

I am starting here with half of a large head of cabbage, coarsely chopped.



Here it is after 10 minutes in the microwave which saves a good hour over the original cooking time.



And this is how much of the wok it fills at this point. Choice of cooking vessel really makes no difference, my dad used an electric skillet and I have used various pots and pans depending on how much I am cooking. It should be noted here that 1/4 head of cabbage yields one small serving.



Here it is cooked in the wok.



And back in the original serving bowl.



And the two small servings I referenced earlier.



There are a few variations to this. You can add a diced onion. You can replace the butter with bacon grease. You can cook small pieces of bacon in the pan (I would probably use 1/2lb for a whole head) and leave the bacon bits and grease in the pan to cook the cabbage with. I have also done this same dish with Brussels sprouts both with butter and with bacon. I prefer the cabbage. If your diet doesn't allow for butter or pork fat it can be cooked with margarine without too much loss in flavor.

My First cake

To be more accurate this was the first cake I baked entirely from scratch. The few I have done before were box mixes and canned frosting. What started this all off is I accidentally bought a box of powdered sugar when I was baking cookies for the holidays and the only thing I could think to do with it was make butter cream frosting. And it just didn't seem right to waste scratch frosting on a boxed cake mix. A couple of other firsts for me, First time I separated egg yolks from whites and the first time I used unsalted butter. The cake was chocolate and I thought it to be a bit dry and folks said it could be from baking too long (I was using a recipe for a layer cake and made a sheet cake) to I should always expect scratch cakes to be a bit drier. The orange butter cream frosting turned out perfect! I have decided I do not have enough spatulas, mixing bowls or counter space to be doing this on a regular basis. Overall it was a pretty good cake and all who sampled it liked it.

ROTD

Review Of The Day

For those not familiar with Yelp; Every day a review is picked for review of the day. The first criteria is votes by other Yelpers and it has to be a favorable review, you have to have a real picture of yourself and a few other things.

For my award winning review of Santisi Brothers click here.

I think I work too much

About a month ago my driver got tired of me expecting her to actually work and stormed off. So, the economy basically sucking right now, I took over her position too. She was getting paid for 30 hours and it has added about 20 hours a week to my already 60-70. That's why I haven't posted much, heck I haven't even posted my description of my Vegas trip at Christmas yet. At some point in time business will pick back up and I will again hire help, most likely a combination of prep work in the shop and driving the pick up and delivery route.

I did indeed get over to Mimi's Cafe for breakfast last week. I had to stand around in the parking lot for a while as they don't open until 7AM. It was a little more expensive than my breakfast out the previous two weeks but it was a little better food too.

Last night I did get out. There was a Yelp UYE at FEZ in honor of a Yelper that used to live here and was in town for the weekend. It was good to get out and see some old friends again. Through Yelp I also have a ticket for this coming Thursday to see [insert title here) at the Herberger.

Last Saturday evening I cooked a turkey breast at 225°. I didn't realize it was going to take 7-8 hours and bumped up the temp for an hour at the end (I was really ready for bed!) so it only took just over 6. I turned out real well and I have been on a turkey diet for the last week.

Breakfasts

I no longer have the luxury of being able to take off for an hour or so on Fridays to go have lunch so the last couple of weeks I have gone out to breakfast on Saturday. Last week it was Black Bear diner and this morning it was 5 and Diner. Of the two I think Black Bear was better, but not by much. Both places seem to be afraid to introduce any form of taste in their food. And I should have expected that this morning as, at 56, I think I was the youngest person in the place. Both places were ok and nothing was really wrong with either the food or the service. I think I'll try Mimi's next week.

Rain

We very seldom get real winter storms here. The kind that make the cold damp just take over your body and give forth never ending rain for hours that varies from sprinkles to heavy showers. This week we had two such storms, they had lost considerable power by the time they made it to Arizona from the coast but were still pretty good. On Tuesday we had one that hit mid-afternoon and rained until about bedtime and on Thursday we had one that started about 3AM and was still sprinkling when I went to bed about 9. Total was over 2" for the week. It has rapidly raised the levels in lakes and added more snow in Northern Arizona. The last time we had a major series of winter storms was in 93 just before I moved here. As much as I really enjoy the heat I also love listening to the rain fall. Thursday I was out driving in it which wasn't much fun though. The streets around here do not shed water quickly so there were some streets under water from curb to curb.

Like Water for Chocolate

1992, R, steamy romance, Spanish

This movie came up in a food blog because it has a lot of really nice food served. Filmed in Mexico. It has been dubbed over in English but you need to make that selection as you set it up. The time frame is the late 1800s, early 1900s. Not surprisingly a good part of the film takes place in the kitchen. I rather enjoyed the movie. It definitely takes some odd turns.

Take my butt to jail

A Virginia State trooper pulled a car over on I-64 about 2 miles south of
the Virginia/West Virginia line. When the trooper asked the driver why he
was speeding, the driver said he was a Magician and Juggler and was on his
way to Beckley WV to do a show at the Shrine Circus. He didn't want to be
late.

The trooper told the driver he was fascinated by juggling and said if the
driver would do a little juggling for him then he wouldn't give him a
ticket. He told the trooper he had sent his equipment ahead and didn't
have anything to juggle.

The State trooper said he had some flares in the trunk and asked if he could
juggle them. The juggler said he could, so the trooper got 5 flares, lit
them and handed them to him.

While the man was juggling, a car pulled in behind the patrol car.. A
drunken good old boy from West Virginia got out, watched the performance,
then went over to the patrol car, opened the rear door and got in. The
trooper observed him and went over to the patrol car, opened the door
asking the drunk what he thought he was doing.

The drunk replied, "You might as well take my ass to jail, cause there
ain't no way I can pass that test."

Fajardo's cafe

6706 N 58th Dr, Glendale, AZ

Now the holidays are over I can get back to going out to lunch on Fridays.

For over thirty years this place was known as Lily's. In 2006 the original owner died and it reopened in 2008 by a cook and his wife who had worked there for 28 years. It is grandfathered in to the residential neighborhood it sets in. Hard to find and maybe not a place I would like to be after dark. The food was well prepared without being amazing. I had 2 chicken and spinach enchiladas with beans and rice and a Horchata. The family takes good care of it's customers and the place was almost full for a Friday lunch.