Saturday, March 22, 2008

Turn Your Living Room Into a HAZMAT Incident Site

The unintended consequences of going for the new Compact Florescent Light (CFL) bulbs

An interesting article in the Chieftain today. It’s all about what are the immediate and long-term actions to take in the event that you or your child or your idiot cat knock-over a lamp and cause a CFL bulb to break.

The story is not very pretty. And certainly not something that we hear from all these people pushing these wonders of modern technology on us.

The upshot is that once the bulb breaks, you’ve turned that room into a hazardous materials (HAZMAT) site. You have to evacuate all children and animals from the area. Open all windows and doors to ventilate the mercury vapor. Clean the area of all shards and, if you’ve got a $5000 oriental rug there, cut out the affected portion and dispose of it. Won’t THAT look nice. Better buy a larger end-table to cover the missing piece.

If you were foolish enough to use your $300 vacuum cleaner to clean up the shards, you have to trash it and buy a new one.

That mercury is nasty stuff.

Maybe Congress should have been a bit more careful about passing that legislation requiring us to move to this technology.

Thursday, November 22, 2007

Cooking Spices & Herbs HEADS UP!

Saving money with greater value.

Recently revisited the local chain grocer.

Checked out pricing on bottled herbs.

Herbs de Provence, at the chain, goes for about $7 for less than an ounce.

Compare THAT with THIS.

Not only do they cost less...BUT...the quality is SUPERIOR!

Seriously....

....who, in their ‘right’ mind, would pass up better quality for less money? 

Sunday, November 18, 2007

Try THIS Next Weekend — 071118

Tasty suggestions for a weekend of culinary pleasure. And a pleasant change of pace after two days of feasting on occidental turkey.

I’m going to start doing this sort of thing every week or so, as a way to bring fine food and beverage to everyones attention.

This offering is a discovery about Asian cooking. You’ve heard of teriyaki sauce. Used on such delicious dishes as teriyaki chicken, Japanese barbecued chicken, a.k.a. yakatori.

I’ve figured out how to do a variation on teriyaki sauce, known as tsuekeyaki sauce. It is more flavorful as it has honey and lemon in it.

Here’s how you make it.....

MORE...

Sunday, April 01, 2007

More Thai!

A fascinating dish. And where to buy ingredients in Denver.

Ever since I bumped up against Thai cuisine a few years ago, I’ve been fascinated by it.

Unfortunately, here in Pueblo, we don’t have as many opportunities to enjoy it as the folks up in Denver have. So, what to do....

...learn to make it yourself is the only answer. So that’s what I’ve been trying. But it helps to have (1) good recipes and (2) good ingredients.

I’ve succeeded in item 1 with a small book I got from the bargains table at the local Barnes & Noble. The book, Thai, is a collection of superior recipes. I’ve tried a dozen of them and each one has been a smash hit. And, in light of how ‘frugal’ most Mensans are, getting this book for as little as $2 (plus shipping) via Amazon, ain’t bad.

That was the first part; good recipes.

The second part, good ingredients, is dicey, at best, here in Pueblo. However, in Denver, things are much easier.

If you’re serious about spicey food, in Pueblo, all you’ve got is Mexican cuisine. But you get great opportunities on the ingredients for such. However, for spicey Thai ingredients you need to go up to Denver. And, as far as I’ve determined, THE place to go is Viet Hoa Supermarket, on West Alameda. They’ve got it all. And at great prices.

For instance, Green Curry Paste. I made the Quick Green Chicken Curry (page 52) for dinner last night. Served it over a bed of egg noodles. As a side dish I made the Stir-Fried Green Vegetables (page 62). [Note: The sauce of 1 Tbls Fish Sauce, 1 Tbls Oyster Sauce and 1 tsp Sugar was the kicker on that dish.] Presented in a big, deep bowl, like they do at Thai Hiep; noodles underneath, meat dish on one side above the noodles, veggies on the other side.

Sure, you can get green curry paste at Vitamin Cottage; at $6 for a couple of ounces. However, at Viet Hoa, Mae Ploy’s Green Curry Paste is only a couple of bucks for about a pound. That’s just ONE example. The big, old supermarket is choke full of great ingredients for whatever form of oriental cooking you’re interested in. And we all know how ‘frugal’ Mensans are.

Whenever we’re passing through Denver, for whatever reason, we always stop in at Viet Hoa to restock on various ingredients for fine oriental cooking. The people who live in Denver, and put up with the crazy drivers, can visit Thai Heip or Singapore Grill. We in the hinterlands, who live a more laid-back lifestyle, just need to visit Viet Hoa and learn to cook for ourselves.

Heck....if I wanted to spend 14 hours a day on my feet, I could open a Thai restaurant here and make a killing. I’m certain that even Mexicans get tired of chili all the time.

Saturday, May 27, 2006

Drink To Your Health

Things that the prohibitionists don’t want you to know.

Here’s an interesting report about how drinking a tad more than ‘moderately’ is good for you.

Back when the research community began looking seriously at the so-called Mediterranean diet, wondering why the fatty food eating Europeans had hardly any heart troubles, I started tracking this matter. Today’s report supports the idea that drinking alcohol, regularly, albeit not excessively, i.e., a lot at once, is pretty good for ones heart.

However, I admit, we do not have a complete understanding of the other aspects of this. More study is required. Any volunteers?

Saturday, March 25, 2006

Pizza! Pizza!

Where is the GOOD stuff?

Glenn ‘the Blogfather’ Reynolds is mussing about Bill Quick’s mussing about pizza.

In my opinion, good food is like ‘gold’, i.e., it’s where you find it. That applies to pizza....

MORE...

Saturday, March 04, 2006

The Spice of Life

Things are getting interesting....

...at Sams Club.

Tone’s and Sams Club seem to be teaming up on special projects in spice. Over the last several of months I’ve noticed that they’ve been adding an interesting series of mixed spices.

There’ve been things like Louisiana Cajun, Chipotle, Lime Pepper and others. Last weekend I got two new ones; Salmon & Seafood Grill and Asian Stir-Fry Grill. I used the Salmon Grill on some salmon fillets. And the Asian Stir-Fry on some leftover penne pasta. Both were superb.

If you like to cook and you’re not a member of Sams Club, I highly recommend considering finding a friend who IS.

Saturday, February 25, 2006

Batman Does Pot….

...hydroponically.

This guy is impressive.

When he gets out of prison, I’d like him to come and teach a course in hydroponics to the Master Gardeners’ program.

If he’d done tomatoes instead of weeds, he’d still make tons of money. Especially in the Winter. I don’t think the local hydroponics people are doing that good a job of growing tomatoes worth eating, as far as I can tell from what’s available at Safeway. As the saying goes, “If it doesn’t smell like a tomato, it’s not going to taste like one either.”

Years ago, when hydroponic tomatoes first came out they were great. However, quality control has slipped and now they are nothing more than so much red stuff. No flavor. No perkiness. Nada....worth buying. I’m going to start working on setting up my OWN hydroponics, so I can grow my own tomatoes all year round.

Saturday, February 04, 2006

Good Gravy

Advancements in toaster-ovens. Or how to rotisseire a small bird in Winter, without firing up the outdoor grill.

Yeah. Pretty mundane stuff that. Small kitchen applicances are so blasé. However, a several months ago, I noticed a new form of toaster-oven at Bed, Bath and Beyond. It was a toaster-over that was also a rotisseire. This one was made by Euro-Pro, the people who bring you the charming line of Shark hand-held vacuum cleaners. We have several of them scattered throughout the house.

I didn’t think much of it at first, as we had a toaster-oven. A Black & Decker thingie we’d had for a long time. And I don’t make toast that often anyway. However, the B&D was showing it’s age AND the toast button would not function properly UNLESS you held down an additional button to get its attention so that it would work properly.  Then there was the annoying tendancy to not toast a second batch properly unless it had cooled down to room-temp before doing anything else.

I got to thinking about it. I remembered how good a rotisseire-cooked chicken tasted. And I attributed the excellent flavor and juicy texture of the meat to the rotisserie approach. Oh. Sure. You can back a chicken and get something like that, but the rotisserie technique is continually basting the meat. That’s an important part of good cooking. Keeping the meat propelry moisturized. Rotisseire does that better. With less time and effort on the part of the cook.

So, I got to thinking about this and decided we should get one. Not just for the cooking of chicken, but for other things as well. I’ve got a killer barbeque sauce for pork based on a Virginian recipe from the 18th century. I like pork. Especially done this way. But doing it for two and firing up, i.e., wasting, the gas of the outdoor grill for a small meal just doesn’t sit right with me. Therefore, I had two reasons for getting this dingus.

I talked it over with the distaff a couple of months ago and she acquiesed.

Off to Bed, Bath & Beyond. Guess what. They were ‘sold out’. Heavy sigh. But they were planning to restock.

Yesterday, we tried again. Only THIS time to be told the item was discontinued. And, just to make things more irritating, no other toaster-oven offered had the rotisserie. Talk about flumuxed. Guess I’d have to order it ont he web. [Note: Isn’t it interesting that all too many things you want to buy these days have to be bought on the web? I’d invest in FedEx and/or UPS, if I played the market.]

So, as we trudged through the rest of the store, as the distaff had noticed a lot of things were on sale, we were picking up things here and there; flannel bed-sheets; cotton is TOO cold when slipping between the sheets on a cold Winter night. At the end of the circuit, I was standing beside a large rack of clearance items and what do I see—the toaster-oven-rotisserie. The display item. Sure. It has not box. It has no manual. It seems to be missing the pizza stone. Heck, it might not even WORK. But it’s half-off the original price.

I grabbed it like Larry Byrd does a rebound, before heading for his goal.

Well, we got it home and, along the way, we got a roasting chicken.

Set the dingus up. It fits perfectly in the space the old toaster-oven sat.

I prepped the bird; dousing it with rosemary-garlic seasonings. Trussed it onto the spit. Put it into the oven cavity. Fired it up. The dingus worked!

I cooked the bird at 350°F for two hours. Occasionally, I’d baste it, as I wanted to make sure the seasonings were continually applied to the skin, which was dripping them off like a drip coffee maker.

The bird was GREAT! Better than Safeway and Sam’s. Probably because I’m pleased with my own cooking. But, what the heck. I don’t see either of them offering rosemary-garlic rotisseire chicken anyway.

However, another thing I was impressed with was the amount of gravey I was able to generate from one chicken. There was 3/4 of a cup of oil in the drip pan. All flavored with the rosemary-garlic seasoning. I put that into a saucier and added an equal amount of white flour; making a roe. To this I added the water drained from the mashed potatoes I’d intended to have as a side dish. I added additional water until I got the consistency I was looking for. I wound up with almost two quarters of superb gravy.

What to do with all this gravey? I think I’ll get some extra chicken breasts from Sam’s and some mixed veggies too. And make chicken pot pies.

I’ve missed chicken pot pies, since Sam’s stopped carrying the Pepperidge Farm line. Those were good pot pies. Great for when you were in a hurry and need a tummy-warming meal, which can be frequently in Winter.

So, bottom-line. If you’re current toaster-oven is going south, I highly recommend you get a toaster-over-rotisserie when you get to the point of replacing your current system. In the long run, if you cook yourself, you’ll end up saving money; all the way around.

Thursday, October 27, 2005

Thursday Recipe — Louisiana Red Beans

Another fine recipe for the coming Winter.

Yeah....I know....they don’t have Winters down in bayou country like we do up here along the Front Range. They get hurricanes instead. But this stuff is the sort of comfort food that goes best with a cold and gloomy day. We’re not having one of those today. I’m just thinking ahead and doing a large batch. I think I finished the last canned jar of it that I’d made some time ago last Winter. Time to make up another mess of the stuff.

Here’s the recipe....

MORE...

Wednesday, October 19, 2005

The Bird Flu Pandemic I

Thoughts on the pandemic.

Initial thought? The price of chicken is going to go UP.

Caught between a rock and a hard place; brain rotting Mad Cow or a lack of chicken? My advice, like Eddie Murphy’s in Trading Places, is to put your money in sow bellies.

Seriously. With the report of Nine Dead from Mad Cow in Idaho. You get the distinct impression that all is not quite safe with respect to eating beef. Yes, a good friend of mine says ‘stay away from hamburger’. But that’s just to reduce the dosage. It doesn’t prevent being dosed in the first place. Only avoiding the contaminated food source prevents getting dosed with Mad Cow prions.

Then we have the approaching bird flu pandemic. And YES, it IS a ‘pandemic’. It’s just killing off the birds, for the most part....at the moment. And what’s the immediate consequence? There will be fewer chickens available for dinner. Not to mention what will happen with eggs. The price of both will probably sky rocket, where the bird flu is killing large numbers of birds.

So without beef or chicken or even eggs to eat, pork is going to become something other than “the other white meat”. If the fish go bye-bye too, it’s going to be the ONLY meat.

UPDATE: This is going to put some kinda pressure on the Jews and Muslims.

ADDITIONALLY: I think Cox & Forkum did a cute job with the aspect of Bird Flu vs. Humans. More on THAT idea, later.

Wednesday, October 05, 2005

History 102

The unwritten chapter of Connections; Beer, Wagons, Barbeques and Politics.

The two most important events in all of history were the invention of beer and the invention of the wheel. The wheel was invented to get man to the beer. These were the foundation of modern civilization and together were the catalyst for the splitting of humanity into two distinct subgroups: Liberals and Conservatives.

Once beer was discovered it required grain, and that was the beginning of agriculture. Neither the glass bottle nor aluminum can were invented yet, so our early human ancestors just stayed close to the brewery. That’s how villages were formed.

Some men spent their days tracking and killing animals to BBQ at night while they were drinking beer. This was the beginning of what is known as “the Conservative movement”.

Other men who were weaker and less skilled at hunting learned to live off the conservatives by showing up for the nightly BBQ’s and doing the sewing, weaving and hair dressing. This was the beginning of “the Liberal movement.” Some of these liberal men eventually evolved into women. The rest became known as ‘girleymen’.

Some noteworthy liberal achievements include the domestication of cats, the trade union, class action lawsuits, the invention of group therapy & group hugs and the concept of democratic voting to decide how to divide the meat and beer that conservatives provided.

Over the years conservatives came to be symbolized by the largest, most powerful land animal on earth, the elephant. Liberals are symbolized by the jackass.

Modern liberals like imported beer (with lime added), but most prefer white wine or imported bottled water. They eat raw fish but like their beef well done. Sushi, tofu and French food are standard liberal fare. Another interesting revolutionary side note: most of their women have higher testosterone levels than their men. Most social workers, personal injury attorneys, journalists, hair dressers, dreamers in Hollywood and group therapists are liberals. Liberals invented baseball’s designated hitter rule because it wasn’t “fair” to make the pitcher also bat.

Conservatives drink domestic beer and eat red meat & potatoes. Conservatives are big-game hunters, rodeo cowboys, lumberjacks, construction workers, medical doctors, police officers, corporate executives, soldiers, self employed, athletes & generally anyone who works productively outside government. Conservatives who own companies hire other conservatives who want to work for a living.

Liberals produce little or nothing. They like to “govern” the producers and decide what to do with the production. They also like to take money away from successful people and give it to the failures. Liberals believe Europeans are more enlightened than Americans. That is why most of the liberals remained in Europe when conservatives were coming to America. They crept in after the Wild West was tame & created a business of trying to get MORE for nothing.

Thus ends today’s lesson in world history.

[Hat Tip: Lattina]

Friday, August 12, 2005

Penzeys One

The source of all spice has a new mag on the street.

Penzeys, the people who bring a world of flavor to your door, on demand, have come up with their challenge to Martha Stewart—a magazine for anyone who likes or wants to cook well with good seasonings.

Title Penzeys One, the magazine is choke full of articles and recipes on fine food. I’m looking at the portobello mushroom sandwich and getting hungry.

I have to say, I’ve been VERY happy with Penzeys for the quality of their products and the timeliness of their services. Seriously....why spend $4 for an ounce of herbs de provance when you can get a pound of it for three times that? Do the MATH fellow Ms....

Monday, August 08, 2005

BVRVRG 2005

A weekend in the mountains.

Good food, good drink and good company! That was the order of the day over the weekend at the annual Denver Mensa BVRVRG.

About twenty people from all over the country were attending. Most from the Denver group. However there were people from Portland, Oregon, somewhere in Arkansas and the Plains and Peaks group as well. Much of the time was spent in the pavillion of tentage erected to keep out the sun and attract the humming birds. Considering the ban of open fires, despite the fact of the recurring rain showers and the preceeding nights deluge, we did not make the annual sacrifice of a whole aspen. We are such conformists. Besides, Mina, our volunteer fire-fighter, was coming. She’d have had to rat us out.

Lattina was having ALL kinds of fun with a family of ducklings. She had them eating out of the palm of her hand.

To which she purred, “I’ve never had a duck touch me that way, before.”

Personally, I was in favor of having them over for dinner, a la fesenjan [Iranian roast duck with pomegranits and walnuts].

Forrest spent a lot of time educating others on the dangers of the NeoCons. Bob talking about just nearly anything that came to mind. Marcia has a new pet doggie. Despite her promise never to have another dog again. Charming 10-month old German Shepard mix. Lorna was up from Oklahoma with a friend in tow. Well, actually, he towed her up there, at her request. He belongs.... Sara Boe brought a young man who belongs too. She wanted to expose him to the group, but he found himself having lots of fun with a young lady, about his age, in a pair of campers next door.

The annual pilgrimage to Happy Valley, on Sunday, marked the end of regular camping activities.

All in all, a fine time was had by all.