Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Delays

I went in to work today and found out that I had headed in 2 hours early, so I'm back at the apartment.  I'm trying to make it a productive extra couple of hours though.  My parents are coming to visit starting on Saturday so the house needs its final prep set in order and there are a few errands to run.  I will get back into posting regularly soon.  I had quite a few days off this past week so my comrade and I spent some time together before dealing with the family based deluge that is October.

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Fucking Metal

I'm making brioche this morning.  It's loud, old-hair-metal-trying-to-prove-their-still-rock'n'rollers-reunion-tour loud.  We were up super early (6:30am) this morning because my comrade has her final written Master's exam today.

------interlude------
the cat is running at full tilt around the apartment, problem exists in that we have wood floors.  Very slippery, jingle jingle scrabble scrabble sliiiiiiiide.
------interlude------

Last test is some 12-15 pager to be written in 8 hours.  So we loaded her up with snacks and books and sent her off to the office.  I came home to make delicious french baked goods.

So back to brioche being super loud.  A big part of making the dough involves grabbing it in a loose fist and slamming it down onto the counter top, ostensibly to stretch it out and make it more elastic.  In reality it is obviously to toughen the forearms to better resist German invasion (haha its a joke about French people.)

The result was me making a lot of noise in our upstairs apartment secretly hoping our french downstairs neighbor would come up to ask what all the goddamn noise was and I would explain that I was making brioche which would instantly smooth out any trouble because of my culinary worldliness and she'd apologize for interrupting and offer some veggies from her garden as a way of begging pardon which I would dine to accept.......as may be obvious slamming dough to the table doesn't really occupy the mind all that much.

Monday, September 20, 2010

I will carpent it

Yay, I have a day off so I'm going into the Hangar Theatre's shop to use their power tools to build me a bar top.  Hopefully there will be pictures by the end of the day!

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Projects

Here in brief is a list of the projects this household is currently engaged in at some level:

Bedframe (This is the only project that hasn't progressed past a drawing and parts list stage)
Sidetable/Bar
Coat
Jacket
Skirt
Apron
Pants
Tent

Everything but the Bed Frame is at some level of construction.  This is something that I love, building things.  To me there's fewer feelings greater than holding in your hands the product of your labor.  Papers, maps, and ideas are all well and good but I can't get the same degree of satisfaction out of them that I can out of objects.

So while I may be a part of the Secret Socialist Agenda, I am terrible at it because I am incredibly materialistic.  I love things!  I'll post pictures as things begin to exist in a finished form.

Orange and Ginger Stir-Fry Sauce

1,  Orange
1 tbsp.,  Plum Sauce (This stuff is basically sweet ginger-y syrup, substitute it with a mixture of vinegar, brown sugar, ground ginger, cracked red pepper, and powdered garlic.  The ratio for those ingredients can be 2:1:1:1:1, but feel free to add more of what ever you like)
2 tbsp.,  Soy Sauce
1/4 c.,  Chicken Stock
1/4 tsp.,  Chili Powder
1/2 tsp.,  Corn Starch (Actually this optional, I like the way it makes the sauce stick to the stir-fry but it does give it a different consistency.  Test it out and see if you like it.)

Mix all this together in a big measuring cup or small bowl with a fork.  Once your stir fry is just south of being done (the veggies are almost soft enough)  pour the sauce into the fry pan or wok that your stir-fry is frying up in and raise the heat.  Once it starts to boil, bring the heat down till its simmering.  Leave it there until the sauce is boiled down to a concentration you like (it doesn't need much so if you like it water-y just keep it  on for a minute or two). 

This sauce goes best with pork or chicken, and compliments peppers if you have them in your stirfry.

Monday, September 13, 2010

Camptime

I had two days off in a row (this being the second) and frankly its not something I'm used to.  I just spent the past 3.5 months working a 40-55 hour week so the shift to a 25-35 hour week has been neck cracking.  Among other things it led me to starting this blog and trying to do other things with my free time than laying waste to wayward monsters.

One of the big things that the significant other (SO) and I have been getting ready for is camping.  And not as SO enjoys to say "modern camping."  Modern camping would entail what anyone else might refer to as "Camping, regular camping, go out in a tent and sleep in a sleeping bag camping."  No no, our great and glorious scheme involves canvas tents and funny clothes.  That's right, historical reenactments.

Now since we're both history people this may seem quite normal....ok not normal but somehow expected that if we insist on being bizarre that we express it in this way.  But the thing is that because we're history people (both history majors in undergrad) and she's getting her PhD in the stuff, the historical reenactments are sometimes a little hard to take.

We were at a reenactment for the battle of New Town (Revolutionary War) down in southern NY.  Not as participants but just out for the day looking for amusement.  And we came across these white guys dressed like Native Americans, holy fuckin shit it was cringe worthy.  Not that they were white guys as Native Americans because as someone with experience I will attest to skin color as a shitty way to determine Native ethnicity.  But how they were acting, talking in pidgin, they ordered a goddamn Little Ceasar's pizza for lunch, fake crepe hair scalps on cou sticks, and the list goes on.

Anyway the reason I mention it is because that camping should be fun, but sometimes you meet knuckleheads like those.  Which is...less fun.

I had started this post intending on talking about projects that we're working on related to said camping but I'll leave that for next time.

Oh recipie, something quick and dirty (Such as I may be making tonight)

Fried Beef Stirfry

Ground Beef, 1/4 lb.
AP flour, 1/3 c.
Black Pepper, 1 tbsp.
Kosher Salt, 1 tsp.
 Short grain rice, 1/2 c.
 Vegetable Oil, 1/4 c.

 Start the rice going, however you do (Rice Cooker is my lifeline but may be too kitchen-gadgetesque for some).  Set up to small bowls one with the ground beef and one with the flour, salt and black pepper mixed together.  Working the ground beef into small pieces about 1/2 in. to 1 in. diameter, drop it into the flour bowl and roll it around getting good coverage.  Fish out what pieces you can get easily and set them aside.

Once you're mostly down get your fry pan hot hot hot (wasn't that a Ricky Martin song in my childhood?.....or maybe it was in a Chili's commercial...) get the oil in.  Do it quickly if you're working with anything besides cast iron, the cast iron should get hot before having oil added.  Next start carefully dropping the beef into the fry pan get as much out of the flour bowl as you can and if you feel the need you can dump the whole thing into the pan but you'll need to add a lot more oil.  (Plus you need to be ready to make the rue you just started.)

Anyway, once the ground beef has started to brown move it about try to get it cooked crisply on all sides and once it is pull it out to drain on something appropriate with some appropriate tool.  I'm vague because I hate it when recipes make assumptions about what you have in your kitchen.

I mean paper towels, a cooling rack, slotted spoons?  What am I made of easily acquirable kitchen ware?!?!

Sunday, September 12, 2010

Hamburger Huswifery

Taking care of a household is a big job.  Something I have gotten used to this summer as my partner has gotten ready for her A exams (Master's degree).  Most of the summer she was reading between 3-5 books a day and taking notes on the fucking things.  So we both basically had full time + jobs.

I was working at the Theatre, building sets for 8 hours a day and she was working the same at home.  Because my hours were a bit more regular a lot of the general maintenance of our lives fell to me.  So I was cooking most nights and trying to keep the apartment in order.  We just moved into a new apartment at the beginning of August, and  we both focused on that.  Though she definitely took the greater part of that responsibility.

But now that its exam time her work hours are more like...12-16 hours a day?  Its all the good goddamn time, lets put it that way.  So keeping house and the cat and her fed is my general responsibility.  And its tasking.  But fun, I get to cook a lot.

I made Jucy Lucy's the other night, phenomenal.  Way too big, should adjust the size considerably.  She got a traditional, chedder filled burger.  I decided to pay homage to the Blue Door Pub.  I didn't exactly have a huge stock to work with so looking at what we had I tried something relatively simple.

Succoso Lucia


1/4 lb. ground beef, make two patties
1 hamburger bun, toasted
Spaghetti sauce, 2 tbsp
Garlic, 1 clove diced
Parmesan Cheese, 2 tbsp
Mozzerella Cheese, 1/4 c.
Pepperoni, 5-6 slices diced

Make two patties from the ground beef.  On one put the garlic, pepperoni, all the parmesan cheese and an equal amount of the mozzerella.  Put the second patty on top of that and pinch all of the edges tightly, try to work the patty to eliminate the seam completely.

Get your grill or cast iron fry pan to a medium to md. high heat.  Put the Lucy down on the heat and then BACK OFF!  Don't touch it, don't check the bottom, and I beg you, by all the seasoning on my mother's wok, don't push on it with your spatula.  Let it cook and caramelize for 8-9 minutes.  Then go ahead and flip it (I used two spatulas, tongs might also work.)  The next step is critical to keep the cheese inside the patty, once you've flipped quickly poke a slit in the side facing up with a sharp knife. 

This will allow the steam let off by roiling cheese escape in a controlled fashion.  Let the other side go for another 8-9 minutes.  Stick that in a 250˚oven to keep it hot if you need to.

Put the Lucy on the bun and garnish with the spaghetti sauce and mozzarella cheese (burger should be hot enough to melt the cheese to it.)  Add some slices of pepperoni or dashes of oregano, basil, what-have-you if you feel like.

Enjoy with cold beer, probably something with a little hop like Magic Hat #9, or a red or brown ale.

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Elegance and design

Let me talk briefly about a subject that is near and dear to my heart (or at least some what down and to the left of my heart).  Sandwiches.

I love sandwiches.  Fuckin' love 'em.  Enough to disregard common grammar rules but not so much as to disregard the rules of phonetic spelling.

When:
Sandwiches aren't a sometimes food.  They are an always food.  Imagine a time of day, 11:46AM lets say.  And you might wonder, "Would a sandwich make this better?  Would the flavor, texture, and temperature (I know some people are very particular on what temperatures of food are acceptable at different times of day,) be acceptable right now?"  The sandwich is infinitely mutable, evolving and adapting to the darwinian hell-scape that is my daily food choice.

Where:
Anywhere.

Why:
Delivers prime om noms to your body.  Healthy om noms, sweet om noms, savory om noms, all noms all nom times.   WHY?  Because it tastes good, and if you are that girl a friend told me about who only eats food that is brown, white, or red (like cafeteria pizza), you can arrange it to suit your no doubt delicate palette.

How:

2 slices of Bread, toasted
Cilantro Chutney, enough to coat one side of bread
Onion, 2 slices
Hard Salimi, 3 slices
Swiss Cheese, 1 slice

Assemble sandwich via standard sandwich method.  Add butter or mayo to both sides if you plan on making this well in advance, the oil/fat will keep the bread from absorbing water.  If you need more instructions than this, you should email me and we'll work out some moderate fee for basic sandwich lessons.