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.