mgaretz

Wood-fired, roasted chicken, served with cauliflower in butter cooked ALV and salad.

Here's the only Mandelbrot set I can relate to: I looked up the Mandelbrot set to see if it had anything to do with the pastry. It doesn't. It was named to honor mathematician Benoit Madelbrot. It was based on the Julia set. Now here's the only Julia set I can relate to:

NY Steak cooked SV then seared, served with cauliflower cooked ALV with butter, and salad. Accompanied by a few glasses of LVC Zin from 2006 that has past its prime, but was still very drinkable.

Two nights ago it was still too hot to heat up the kitchen for a full meal, so we had lox, but I did fry up the left-over mashed potatoes, mixed with some green onion, into pancakes: Last night it had cooled off considerably so I made a hunk of char siu with pork tenderloin. Cooked SV at 140F for three hours (from frozen), basted with honey then seared. Made it into a chow-meiny dish with noodles, cabbage, mushrooms, celery, carrots, onion and snap peas.

Hit 110F here again yesterday so another cold dinner. Egg salad sandwiches on rye, served with cherry tomatoes and snap peas.

It hit 110F here yesterday, so another dinner without heating up the kitchen. Tuna salad sandwiches on rye with cucumber and cherry tomatoes.

Marketing....

A few recent dinners: By myself, so ribeye, cooked SV and white corn on the cob. The corn this year has been pretty disappointing, but this one was the best so far. That was the last of the steaks in the freezer, so a trip to the Business Costco for more steak (whole primal). The local Costco also has them, but they are cheaper than the regular Costco. Was looking for top sirloin, but they didn't have any I liked the look of, so for fifty cents more per pound I got New York. Trimmed and cut into steaks yielded some smaller pieces, so I sliced them thin and made a stir-fry with cauliflower, green onions, snap peas, carrots, celery and mushrooms. Had to try one of New Yorks, so last night I cooked one SV, served with peas cooked ALV, and mashed potatoes:

It cooled off a bit yesterday, only got up to 104F (as opposed to the day before when we hit 107F), so we felt like something light and cold for dinner. So shrimp with avocado, carrots, celery, red bell pepper and snap peas.

Well when you have to stretch it into a meal for two, a sandwich isn't an option!

Last night was ribs. As is usual these days, I made half of them char-siu style for my wife, but I did something different (and as far I know, new) for the normal smoked style ribs. Normally one smokes the ribs as a rack, or at least part of a rack. But the char-siu ribs are done individually and they cook in half the time, so I thought why not do that with BBQ style ribs? We end up cutting them apart to eat them, so pre-cutting them means they cook faster and there is more surface area for rub, sauce, and smoke penetration. Win! So last night I gave it a try. They came out very good, perhaps a bit over-done but still very good. I am calling them Blasphemy Ribs. Served with smoked, slow-roasted potatoes, another experiment. 3 hours at 225F in the smoker. They were OK, very smokey, but the exterior was a bit leathery. I think I will stick with higher temp roasting. Also served with salad and fresh snap peas, cooked ALV. The blasphemy ribs: Plated: Char-siu style:

Hash made with the leftover meatloaf: Meatloaf, red potatoes, cauliflower, onion, peas, tossed with some extra ketchup.

ALV = a la Voltaggio - my own abbreviation for the method of vacuum packing the veggies and microwaving them until the bag is just about to burst, as demonstrated by Michael Voltaggio. I thought if I started using the acronym it might catch on.

Just me last night so I made a ribeye, cooked SV then torch-seared. I dry-brined this one for a few hours and there was very little bag juice. Served with white corn (from frozen) cooked ALV with butter and salad. Accompanied by a 2005 LVC Sblendorio Estate Zin that was way past its prime, but drinkable.

Really too hot here to make meatloaf, but ground beef was on sale, so.. Meatloaf, served with fresh haricot verts and salad.

That's true, but isn't it true of almost every manufacturer? To reiterate, Maytag quality used to be very high, then went downhill to the point where they were about to go out of business, then Whirlpool bought them. The quality may not be as high as it once was, but it's way higher than in the years right before Whirlpool.

Actually that's not true. Maytag killed themselves, primarily due to the massive issues with their front-load washers, but their quality and design of everything was bad. I had Maytag appliances from that period that were just terrible. Whirlpool bought Maytag for a song and replaced the Maytag built and designed appliances and saved the brand.

@rotuts, I haven't sued them as I don't have any cause to, but I haven't used them either. I have used the spatula trick though and I have one of these: https://www.vacmasterfresh.com/vacmaster-vacuum-seal-tool-stainless-steel-construction-prep-plate/ but I hardly ever use it as these days the wife wants most everything unseasoned when I cook it. I usually buy my salmon from Sam's Club - I think their frozen filets are very good quality, not fishy and are already individually sealed. I just pop them in the SV and season afterwards. @kayb, the different colors are supposed to be for different food groups to avoid cross-contamination.

Get some of those thin, colored (or clear) cutting mats like these: Flexible Plastic Cutting Board Mats and cut them to size. Reusable. Or a long metal spatula - prepare the fish on it, slide into bag, hold the far end of the fish through the bag and pull out the spatula. Like these: Great Credentials new Long Grill Stainless Steel Spatulas...(Set of 2)

No pics for a while until I get around to deleting old pics from my phone, but tonight's dinner was tri-tip with corn on the cob for me, sweet potato for Ellen and salad. Dessert will be fresh cherries.

Sirloin, cooked SV then torch-seared, served with mashed orange cauliflower with chives, and salad.

Salmon, cooked SV then torch-seared, glazed with maple and bourbon. Served with broccoflower in butter with salad.

Stews, split pea soup, cabbage soup.

A couple of dinners: Just back from a trip, so something simple. Chicken apple sausage with eggs, spinach and green onions: Burgers, cooked SV then torch-seared, topped with sauteed crimini mushrooms and served with roasted carrots in EVO and honey and salad.

Sirloin, cooked SV then torch-seared, corn in butter cooked MV, salad and the last of the Oppolo Zin.