NulloModo

Wow, thanks for all the info about knife sharpening, I will have to ask around. Today I woke up late again. I am the antithesis of a morning person. If left to my own devices I will eventually work myself into a schedule where I go to bed somewhere around 8am and wake up around 4pm. Anyway, since I was very short on time, this was breakfast: Well, not the whole jug, just one shake. It wasn't _bad_ but it certainly wasn't good. I use this stuff mainly for baking, never tried drinking it, probably won't attempt it many times again unless pressed for time. While driving to work I realized that as much as I enjoy Peter Gabriel's Passions album, it wasn't encouraging me to disregard traffic laws enough to get to school on time. In went Judas Priest's Ram it Down and the problem was solved. Here is a lunch preview shot: I will turn it into something tasty and explain what it is later on today, for now it is time to catch up on a bit of paperwork, and then head to the JCC to swim for a while.

A question for those knowledgable: Where does one go to get a knife sharpened? Our apartment knives are a set of Chicago Cutlery given to my roomate by his parents as a housewarming gift. I rather like the chefs knife in the set, but in over two years, it has never been sharpened, and it is quite dull. This has led to me almost chopping my fingers off (and partially succeeding) a couple times in the past weeks, this has to stop. Only problem is, I have no idea where I would go to have a knife sharpened. So where does one take a knife? Do kitchen stores do it? Do you have to find a knife place? Thanks.

The nearest TJs is like a 30/45 minute drive because of the abominable traffic on Concord Pike (Route 202 into Westchester, PA). That is where the TJ is, so I avoid it usually, but my roomate was driving up, so I jumped in the car to hitch a quick ride and pick some stuff up while he did his business elsewhere in the shopping center. I was underwhelmed by the Absolut Peppar, mainly why it is still here after over half a year. It will likely dissapear the next time we host a 'gathering'. I might try that habanero infused idea though... Those photos make the food look a lot darker than it actually was. Wow, it looks like I smothered the jicama in chili powder from that shot, there was really just a dusting. Walt - The Quasimodo translation, and your idea of my nick translation, may very well be correct. I made it up on the fly a couple years out of HS latin and never bothered to check it honestly. I will avoid photographing my wine-rack as I am sure it would make me the laughingstock of eGullet ;).

I've never worked in a bar setting, but if liquor is supposed to run 25% of costs, that means you are running a 75% markup on all of your drinks, and by retail standards, that is exhorbitant. I realize that there are lots of taxes, wages, and etc to cover, but still, 75% is way too huge. This is one big reason I just don't buy drinks unless some special is going on. I can make a decent drink for far cheaper with friends at home or somewhere BYOB.

Dinner: The side Dish: Jicama (a mexican potato/apple sorta hybrid type texture and taste thing) sticks with a dressing made of fresh cilantro, mint, lime juice, and tequila. I also dusted the finished product with some chipotle powder to give it a color and taste contrast. I also decided to make a quick fresh salsa to go with the carnitas from the following: And finally, the finished product: I served up the Carnitas with the salsa, some Crema Mexicana, and the Jicama Sticks. Carnitas Recipe: I started with about a 4 lb Pork Sirloin Roast. It unfortunately had a huge honkin bone in it that I pretty much managed to cut out. I roughly cubed it into big chunks. Toss into a big pot with 1 cup of tequila, 1 bottle of beer, a chopped onion, a couple cloves of chopped garlic, some powdered dried chiles (or ground up whole dried chiles), some oregano, a couple tablespoons worth of fresh toasted and ground cumin seeds, salt, pepper, juice of two limes, juice of one lemon, and enough water to cover it up barely. Let that pot simmer until all the liquid is gone and it starts to fry. I had to add a little more fat to get it to sizzle, and then once browned on bottom tossed it under the broiler to brown on top. Serve it up with whatever you like.

Oh yes, the Old Bay gets quite a workout sometimes. It adds depth to lots of things, not just seafood, a totally underrated spice blend. I will say though that many of the spices you see in those photos are not ones I use all the time... (especially the ones on the rack). I have collected many jars from many places, and probably overflow with spices at the moment. The fresh ones that I use the most are kept in a dark cabinet, and are all in baggies from the coop, like the oregano and bird chiles you see in the first Carnitas photo. Speaking of the carnitas, the water is taking forever to boil off, so I have turned it up. Hopefully soon I shall have crispy crunchy pork bits. I have a special side dish in the works as well. While at TJs I picked up a can of the Mexican Double Roasted Coffee, not sure why I picked that one, but it looked good, so I will go for round two of Moka pot tongiht as well.

Bingo-Bango ;). It is Absolut Peppar, I just grabbed it off the liquor shelf because it was sorta pepper-related. Yay, I just found out I am going up to TJs this evening, so I will be able to pick up some real espresso grind real coffee to try out in the mocha pot tonight. I have a coffee/spice grinder, but from reading on the coffee board, I'm not positive if that is enough to give me a really fine espresso style (for Moka) grind. If not, I guess I will have to buy pre-ground and keep it in the freezer.

Well, it is a (poor) latin translation of 'No Method' or 'No Means'. I think I meant it to mean something along the lines of 'random' when I created it on some other board many moons ago. Unfortunately I later became a butt of jokes on another board while using this name because apparently there was a running joke around there about 'Nullos' which are people who go through some kind of sugery to remove any trace of either gender. Ick, certainly wasn't the impression I was trying to make. However, at this point if I try for much of anything else I end up forgetting it and not being able to log on, so I stick with it. Obligatory food related bit: (that I meant to mention earlier) For anyone who has never toasted and ground cumin seeds before, go do it now! I have always used ground cumin, but then I picked up a package of seeds recently and decided to grind my own. The aroma while they are toasting is almost like a dog smells right after a bath, but while still wet and out in the sun... earthy, homey, and good in a strange way. Once ground they are just ambrosial. I couldn't believe the aromas sweeping my nose.... I could wear the stuff as cologne.

OK, dinner has been started, any more guesses from these mystery shots? Before chopping/mulching/pouring/etc: After: EDIT: To ask - Are the pictures too many/too big? I know some of you are probably on modem connections, and I admit I run my monitor at a very high resolution, so while these look normal sized to me, they may look huge to you. IF you want smaller files for quicker load times, let me know.

My father is a pharmacist and at once point had to use mortars and pestles for actual mixing/something or other of the drugs. He has always sworn by marble as well, and all of the ones I saw around the house that weren't just decorative items were always marble.

That totally reminds me of the breakfasts my father (born in Southern Illinois, but raised later in life in Alabama) used to make. Ham and red-eye gravy, oh so delicious over those buttery biscuits... Fried eggs with black bits from the pepper and bacon grease. Crispy bacon, crispy spicey sausage, grits with tons of butter in them (with jelly optional as well), and that thick creamy white-sausage gravy to just slather over anything... wow. We always had a breakfast like that before dressing up and heading off to church when i was little, man, those were the days, wish I could've appreciated it as much back then as I do the memory now.

Although it isn't quite as over-used as uber-(whatever) is these days.

You know, now that I think about it, I might as well get into the mood of things: My grandmom's tuna casserole. Canned tuna, dried noodles, cream of mushroom soup, canned peas and carrots, and dried french's onions on top. It was oh-so delicious.

Hmmm, I have heard people say the same things. Personally, I think it is all just psychosomatic. When you get drunk you lose inhibitions, so if you go into getting drunk thinking you are going to be mean and nasty, or crazy and wild, when you lose those inhibitions then you will be that way.

Cukes sounds way to much like 'puke'. The only one that really gets to me though is overuse of the word 'yum' and turning it into other crazy words like 'yummilicious' or 'yummalummadingdong'. I have no idea why, it is just an unjustified personal pet peeve ;).

The kids were actually pretty well behaved today. It was the final day of instruction before they begin their retaking of the DSTP (Delaware State Testing Program) which is this big bad standardized test that they all have to take, and which is a big part of whether or not they get to pass on to the next grades. IMHO everyone in the DOE takes it way to seriously, but on the bright side (heh, have to work some food in here somehow) they do provide free Milk/OJ and muffins to all the kids before they begin, or at least they did last year. OK. so, now for some more photos. This is the Moka Pot and my new (hey, it was on clearance) black earthenware coffee cup thingie: I forgot to pick up coffee beans at the grocery store, so I de-virginized my pot with a scoop of Chock-Full-O-Nuts brand pre-ground coffee (which, btw, has a 'best if used by' date on the bottom of June 2002). I whizzed the stuff in a coffee grinder a couple times to make it a bit more fine, filled up the pot with some tap water, read the (very poorly translated) instructions, and fired the puppy up. I fully expected total trash to come out, so imagine my surprise when what I recieved instead was perhaps the best cup of coffee I have ever had. If it is this good with crappy grounds on a first run, I can't wait to see what this baby can do down the road a bit. I suppose eating the raw chile for breakfast may have given it away: I am a bit of a chile-head. Here is a selection of some of my hot sauces (the ones that were in easy reaching distance for a photo shoot). I decided to leave out my myriad bags of dried/ground/powdered chiles just for the sake of space. Finally, lunch: Lunch was leftovers (told ya it wasn't exciting). I simply had to get some stuff out of the fridge. The greenish stuff is collard greens, the whitish stuff is Vidalia and Red Onion Casserole, and the reddish thing is a piece of Italian sausage. Bizarre combo I admit, but it was tasty while I enjoyed an episode of 'Full Metal Panic' (for anyone out there who isn't famliar with this video on demand thing cable companies are starting to do, it is really pretty cool. I hardly ever find anything on TV I want to watch when I want to watch it, so, this at least gives me a couple options here and there). Dinner should be much more exciting, I am planning something with a little bith of a southwestern flair. I picked up a pork sirloin roast and a bottle of tequila on the way home from school, anyone want to guess what I will be making?

Ah, sorry for the late start ladies and gents. My first class each day of summer school begins at 7:15 AM. I woke up this morning at 6:45. It takes about 15 minutes to get to the school at which I am working. Needless to say, that made breakfast a pretty much grab and go affair. This is what I grabbed: Wow, I hadn't realized my counters were so dirty. Time to wipe those down I suppose. The breakfast consisted of a wedge of tomato, a serrano chile, and a little chunk of triple cream french brie from Trader Joe's. Lest you think I have enormous chiles about, that is a small plate. I have just returned from work, and lunch (though not terribly exciting) will be up soon. I swung by the local Kitchens etc. on the way back to peruse the clearance sales. Unfortunately there aren't many good deals yet, but I did pick up a stainless steel Italian Moka maker (one or two cup capacity it looks like) for $15. You will probably get to see me burn myself with it, and maybe even make some Moka, as the blog progresses. Hillvalley - My eating habits change in that in general over the summer I have more time for breakfast, so I tend to cook more elaborate things than I would during weekdays during the school year. I also tend to pack my lunch from the previous dinner's leftovers 95% of the time during the year, so over the summer I have enjoyed having a little more variety.

Greetings, Hopefully I am not stepping on Walt's feet by slipping this in before he has culminated his blog in his final dinner post, but early east coast mornings and late evening California dinners seem to cause some logistical concerns ;). I am not going to actually bother any of you with real content tonight, but I figured I would get introductions out of the way, and then begin my official blog tomorrow morning with breakfast. As far as bios go I am 23 years old, live with two roomates in Bear, DE (a little fake town of strip malls and suburbs) which is near Newark, DE (pronounced as in New Ark, not like that place in Jersey, and which is a wonderful little town with lots of charm, beautiful homes, tons of culture, great restaurants, and is somewhere I would love to attach my address to. Alas, someone built a post office near my apartment and called it Bear, so I can't). Geographically speaking in terms of places people might actually know, I Am around 45 minutes southeast of Philadelphia, and around an hour and a half north of Baltimore (I'll get around to explaining why this has significance). I am a public school music/drama/dance/etc teacher during the year (and I suppose an off-duty one during the summer) but am also teaching summer school for the next week and a half. This means that my breakfasts might not be much to look at for the next several days, but I will try to get something out. Summer school being a half-day activity I will have plenty of time to get home and play around with stuff in the kitchen however. Look forward to laughing at many pictures of me trying to cook, chopping off my fingertips, burning myself with hot oil and cast iron, and generally being a anti-posterchild for the food and kitchen safety movements. I can claim to own four cookbooks in total (one of which was given to me by Ms. Suzilightning, thank you very much) and I'm not positive that I have ever followed a recipe exactly even from them. I have no definate plans for what I will be preparing this week, and am very susceptible to suggestions by eG members. I am prone to using lots of spice, lots of herbs, and probably miss the boat on subtlety more often than not. So as I'm sure you are tired of reading my blabbering for the moment, I will just invite you to all sit back, pop open a cold one, and try not to cringe too much as I attempt not to butcher your favorite dishes as well as my own hands in the coming week.

I would hesitate to call those ducks or that spaghetti badly-made if you enjoyed them. Something can be far different from a traditional example of a dish, yet still be tasty, and therefore, IMO at least, be well-made for what it is, even if it isn't what it purports to be. Tastes good = is good in my book.

JGarner - I completely agree that food shouldn't _have_ to have a gimmick to appeal to kids, but in todays world, where there are tons of junky snacks aimed right at them, fruit just doesn't seem to hold the appeal. As parents people can always help mold their children's tastes and habits, and only have certain things around the house, but when out with friends or on trips they will ask for what they see all of the time. If fizzy fruit becomes something they ask for by default it could be winning a minor battle in combatting the junkfood.

Please, grace us all with some pictures of your kitchen (if you get the opportunity). I have heard you mention it before, and frankly, it sounds absolutely wonderful (especially the meat hook in the pantry).

Oh, I had completely forgotten about the bobby flay place. Yes, that kitchen that opens onto the balcony is wonderful. I wonder if that is his actual place, or a set that is just rented out by the FN....

Hiya, I thought it might be fun for us to talk about and rate the kitchens used in the foodnetwork television programs. Are you a fan of Alton Brown's huge tracts of space, or do you like the kitchy and cosy atmosphere of Rachael Ray's digs. Does Mario's classic italian cooking show motif do it for you, or do you like the glitz of the live band that accompanies Emeril on his show? Feel free to say why you like certain kitchens, or just talk about elements of certain ones you like, as well as trash others that you feel are awful. Just to keep this sane let's limit this to kitchens used in actual cooking shows, so the Iron Chef Kitchen Stadium, and kitchens in famous restaurants visited in the 'travel food' shows are off limits. My personal favorites are probably Rachael Ray's and Alton Brown's. I love Rachael's because there is lots of functionality (two ranges, a gas broiler, big sinks, nice work area) as well as a cute decor. I don't think one could help but be happy cooking in that kitchen. Alton's is awesome simply because of the sheer functionality and room to spread out. What I wouldn't give for the space he has in that kitchen.... (that cooky offset burner range is nifty too). As far as bottom of the heap goes for me, I'd have to give it to the kitchen from 'Everyday Italian'. Maybe it is just the camerawork, but that kitchen always looks so unbelievably cold and uninviting to me. So, now that I have chimed in, what do you all think?

Seeing how supermarkets are so plain bad at identifying produce, I am always amazed when I drop by my favorite herb/small veggie stand at the farmers market. This little shop contains a huge manner of herbs, peppers, eggplants, onions, melons, lettuces, etc, etc, and is apparently run by people of some Asian ethnicity. I tend to get one of two or three checkout people every time I go, and they always know exactly what the item is, as well as how much it is, without having to more than glance at the item. Not to mention they can all bag, ring up a transaction, and start checking in and charging the next person in line without so much as a hiccup.... it puts the people at the supermarket to shame.

Hmmm. in reading the great Carnitas thread: Here I don't recall any mention of milk in them. However, being that Carnitas are basically a celebration of pork fat, trying to do them low-fat at all might not work...