Grand Teuton

Coinage du Jour - 20 January 2012

2012-01-20T16:48:00.000-05:00

PRIMA FASCIITIS - n

def. The act of putting one's foot in one's mouth as a result of basing an analysis on a cursory or first-impression basis.

sample - "I based my decision on having read the somewhat misleading headline of the article, now I have quite a case of prima fasciitis."

SOPA and PIPA

2012-01-17T09:42:00.001-05:00

Here are a couple possibly well-intentioned pieces of legislation (barely possibly - I'm giving some folks the benefit of a ton of doubt) that will do almost nothing to accomplish their stated goals, but will have some horrific unintended(?) consequences.

We joined with many other sites on the 18th to show how the post-SOPA web might look, but we're back to normal now.

Please contact your legislators to let them know they need to come up with something far better than just breaking the internet to stop piracy.

grr.

Don't Forget

2011-12-22T13:39:00.000-05:00

the Real Meaning of Christmas!

Blessings

2011-12-13T13:57:00.000-05:00

What a year it's been!

Christian was deployed to Afghanistan.
Heidi's knee required surgery.
Dad was hospitalised with heart trouble.

Yes, it's been stressful, but it's also been blessful. (sorry)

Heidi's surgery turned out better than we could have hoped.
Dad got a pacemaker, and now he's right as rain.
Christian came home for two weeks leave, and we're having a great time.
Thanksgiving was excellent - the family made it up from Nashville, the turkey and all the other food was excellent.

All in all, a great year of blessings, and there are so many more that I couldn't begin to count them (at least not before I fall asleep after a liverwurst sandwich and a glass of buttermilk).

No complaints here. (A little snow would be nice, though.)

Carnage du Jour - 17 October 2011

2011-10-18T13:39:00.000-04:00

from grandteuton.blogspot.com

What to do with all those peppers this year? In an odd twist of agriculture, hot peppers of various varieties were nearly the only thing that grew well in our garden this year. Eggplant and yellow squash were fairly productive, but the banana, serrano, and cayenne peppers were the stars of the season.

Well, roasted chile peppers are great, so we have roasted a bunch of them, but then the question becomes what to do with the oil that had been on them while they roasted.
Aha! Make an emulsion with some decent Cabernet, and marinate a top round steak for a while. What a nice combination of heat and semi-sweet.

After a good long soak, the steak gets a quick sear on each side, then back in the bath with a bunch of sweet onion wedges for some time in a moderately slow oven (275F or so).

A batch of rice and some corn slathered in butter and it was a very nice meal.

Oh, and as a bonus, the now-cooked marinade becomes a tasty - and spicy - sauce to perk up the steak and rice.

Very tasty, if I do say so myself (and I just did).

Happy Thanksgiving

2011-10-10T09:55:00.000-04:00

to all my Canadian friends.

We here in Detroit are happy to offer you a bonus Detroit Lions Thanksgiving Day football game.

No, really, it's all for you. Enjoy.

from grandteuton.blogspot.com

RIP Steve Jobs

2011-10-06T09:45:00.000-04:00

Well, I've never owned any of them, but I've still benefited from the relentless pursuit of simple and elegant that Steve Jobs brought to his Apple products.

I don't know anything about him as a man, but he did do some good work, and will be missed in the tech industry.

Hmm -

2011-10-03T13:53:00.000-04:00

from grandteuton.blogspot.com

looks more like metal to me.

I Wonder How Many Others

2011-10-01T10:00:00.000-04:00

noticed that National Coffee Day was the day after Drink Beer Day.

I have one thing to say to those who set up these days: "Well scheduled, well scheduled indeed."

Happy National Coffee Day!

2011-09-29T17:32:00.000-04:00

That's it, really.

Happy National Coffee Day!

Projects Update

2011-09-27T16:55:00.000-04:00

from grandteuton.blogspot.com

Well, it's been far too long since I posted anything here.

I don't know if anyone is actually interested, but I have almost completed the first draft of my second novel, and I'm pretty happy with it, really. The good part is that it's pretty well finished and the plot and scenes hang together well; the bad part is that I hate rewriting.
I don't mind revising paragraphs and sentences - I'm pretty well able to accept that the first choice of words that came to my mind isn't necessarily the best.
I don't like wholesale re-writing, however. If I wrote a scene, I generally like it, and I will resist removing it from the finished product. I'm better at adding scenes where things simply don't flow properly, or where I've left out something that the reader needs to know.

I haven't gotten back to the two cookbooks that are in my writing / editing pipeline, but I have at least collected most of what needs to go together, so I'm at the point where I can get things going pretty quickly.

The interesting thing is that November is coming soon, and we all know that's NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). I really don't think they like to count revisions as writing - that's kind of the antithesis of the "write, write like the wind!" fever of getting 50,000 words done in the course of those 30 days. I have my doubts that I can both revise / rewrite one book while pouring out another 50K words as the basis of another.

I also have to go through a thorough revision of my Mass setting. I seem to have a bunch of projects backing up right now. Better that than no idea of what else to do, I suppose.

Coinage du Jour - 07 September 2011

2011-09-07T13:17:00.000-04:00

from grandteuton.blogspot.com

VIRUS EX MACHINA - n

def. The too-convenient solution of a dramatic problem by way of a computer virus.

sample - "The aliens in Independence Day were defeated by Jeff Goldblum's character's handy virus ex machina."

More Shameless Self-Promotion

2011-09-05T12:34:00.000-04:00

from grandteuton.blogspot.com

Well, almost as soon as I posted that coupon code for my books on www.lulu.com/grandteuton I got another one - this time for 20% and up to $100 in savings.

Now the code is SEPTEMBER305, and it runs through September 9, 2011.

Enjoy.

Shameless Self-Promotion

2011-09-05T01:36:00.000-04:00

from grandteuton.blogspot.com

If you have any interest in buying one of my books, here's a 15% coupon code that's good for the month of September at my lulu.com store (max value $25).
Just go to www.lulu.com/grandteuton and make your selections. Printed and digital versions are both included. At the checkout, enter the code AWESOME305 and you'll get 15% off the total (before shipping, I believe).

Enjoy!

Surgery Can Be Amazing

2011-08-23T17:17:00.000-04:00

from grandteuton.blogspot.com

You know, modern medicine is pretty spectacular. Today, through a four-inch incision, a knee can be repaired.

When I was a kid, the best we could do for knees was Mercurochrome; and we liked it.

A Fun Musical Pairing

2011-08-18T01:10:00.000-04:00

from grandteuton.blogspot.com

I had a great time playing a hymn in church with my friend Dave last Sunday.

I played guitar and sang, while he played harmonica. (We did Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing.)

It was very fun, well received, and actually sounded quite good, I think. Maybe it wasn't quite as good as when Buddy Greene did it, but we don't practice as much as he does.

Burlap to Cashmere

2011-08-10T11:00:00.000-04:00

from grandteuton.blogspot.com

I had forgotten how good these guys were / are. I'm not sure why, but I pulled out the old Burlap to Cashmere CD, Anybody Out There the other day and it's been in the car player a lot now.

The rhythms are complex, the playing is clean and crisp and amazing, and the vocals are distinctive. Oh - and the lyrics are great as well.

We were wondering what ever happened to them, and it turns out that they're back together again with a new CD being released. I may have to grab it and give them another spin. You should check them out, whether the old one or the new one!

Bothersome Speech Patterns

2011-08-08T17:50:00.000-04:00

from grandteuton.blogspot.com

Please don't take this personally, even if it applies to you - I'm not even thinking of any particular person as I write this, even though I've tried to pick out an example to make it easier to write.

Maybe it's just me, but I find myself (probably unreasonably) bothered by a new-ish (new-ish to me, at any rate) speech pattern. I've found it mainly in young women, but I doubt it's really exclusive to them.

I can only describe it as "swallowing 'T' sounds" rather than actually pronouncing them. It's most noticeable with intervocalic Ts, but it definitely occurs at the end of words as well. It's not quite a glottal stop, but that's almost it.

I assume I have some mumblage in my speech, so I won't say I don't annoy someone out there with the way I pronounce something, but if I do, I'm sure it's because they're far too easily annoyed.

I don't know, it just bothers me, and I wanted to get it off my chest (and out of my ears).
Thanks for listening (OK, reading).

Glacage du Jour - 24 July 2011

2011-07-25T14:55:00.000-04:00

Heidi: "I bought five ears of corn the other day."
Me: "I bought five ears of corn the other day too."

Oops.
What to do with ten ears of corn and only two mouths currently resident? Clearly the answer lay in the ice cream machine. Here's how it went.

Cut the kernels off the cobs, and break the cobs into thirds.
Place in a pot with a pint of milk, a pint of heavy cream, and 1/2 C of sugar.
Bring that mixture to a simmer and let it go a few minutes, then grab the immersion blender and blend all the kernels into the mixture (not the cobs, please!), and let it infuse an hour or so.
Bring that back to a simmer and then turn off the heat - warning: this stuff will smell delicious already, but you're not done!
Now, whisk 1/4 C sugar into nine egg yolks. You're going to mix this into the hot liquid (you already removed the cobs, right?), but you have to temper it so you don't get scrambled eggs.
Whisk in a small amount of the hot cream mixture at a time, until you've added about a cup to the eggs.
Now you can whisk that egg mixture into the balance of the cream to make your corn custard.
Next, cook that custard - stirring! - over medium-low heat until it thickens enough to coat a spoon.

Strain the custard through a sieve, squishing as much through as you can, but dump the solids that don't pass through, and chill the custard for a few hours, or even overnight.

Once that's all chilled, it's just a matter of dumping the stuff in your ice cream maker (following the normal procedure for your machine, thank you very much), and letting it freeze and then harden.

Apart from one very vehement negative review (which frankly, I still find bewildering) this dessert was a definite hit. Oh, and I'm sure it counts as both dairy servings and vegetables! Bonus, no?

Delicious, and highly recommended.

from grandteuton.blogspot.com

Sojourners

2011-07-25T13:49:00.046-04:00

A coalition of religious leaders, called Sojourners, seems to me to be more a political than a spiritual group. I've reached that conclusion based on their desperate plea that there be no limit to spending by the federal government.

The question to which they keep bringing me is, "Why do they want to abdicate their responsibilities?"

Somehow they seem to think that the church shouldn't be in the business of helping and ministering to the poor; but rather that is the job of government, or perhaps it's merely that that the church isn't able to meet the needs they see.
Even apart from the horrifically inefficient manner in which governments tend to do things, it also means two things I see as desperately wicked:

There can be no connection between the "charity" and the gospel, and
It requires the taking of money from people who may not approve of that particular "charitable" cause but may have another charitable use for that money.

By advocating government "charity" to the poor, these religious leaders are actively encouraging the government to break the 8th commandment by stealing from some members of society to give to others.

As Congressman Crockett once said, "We have the right as individuals to give away as much of our own money as we please in charity; but as members of Congress we have no right to appropriate a dollar of the public money.”

In short, forced charity is no charity at all, and if it is simply a payment of money or a gift of material goods, it misses the point of doing charity in the Name of the Author of Charity - Jesus Christ.

I would amend Rep. Crockett's statement to say that as individuals, we have an obligation to give away as much of our own money in charity as is prudent. Remember what John Wesley said, "Having, first, gained all you can, and, secondly saved all you can, then give all you can."

Once again, remembering that Charity is one of the Four Loves, I come to the same question, "Why do they want to abdicate their responsibilities?"

Carnage du Jour - 16 July 2011

2011-07-18T10:40:00.000-04:00

from grandteuton.blogspot.com

It's been too hot to consider much in the way of cooking, really. Still, there were some left-over chicken thighs (made with a smoky citrus rub and roasted / semi-braised with some orange juice) in the fridge, so that seemed the logical starting point.
Pasta salad is always a good way to go when it's too hot to cook, but one is still hungry, so:

A pot of small-ish shells was boiled and cooled
Some aromatics were diced - onion, green pepper, and celery
A few cherry tomatoes were sliced (generally into 3, sometimes 4 slices)
Three chicken thighs were stripped and diced.

Now to dress the salad. Ranch dressing is a nice base for a pasta salad dressing, and I had just purchased a jar of jerk seasoning - a quick few squirts, a spoonful or two, a bit of mixing, and - voila! - a jerk ranch dressing that was quite tasty.

All in all, it was good enough to just grab a bite or two from the fridge the next day. Highly recommended to all and sundry.

A Dick Tracy Moment

2011-07-12T09:27:00.000-04:00

I don't know how many of you will remember the old Dick Tracy cartoons on TV, but one of the best parts was the opening sequence where a police car is driving through the city with siren blaring and lights blazing.
The scene was drawn from directly above, and the cool thing was watching all the cars and trucks pull off to the side to let the cops go by.
This morning on my way to work, I was driving up Hayes between 7 and 8 Mile when an ambulance was heading South with full lights and siren.
It was very gratifying to join all the other drivers in pulling off to the side to let the ambulance go by. Note that I said I joined - it wasn't a matter of my being the first and everyone else realising what they should be doing, but rather everyone on both sides of the road pulled over to let the ambulance roll.

Very cool.

Oh, and Dick Tracy's wrist radio was cool as well.

Carnage du Jour - 09 July 2011

2011-07-11T18:03:00.000-04:00

Chicken? Another Chicken recipe?
Of course, folks - it's the most consumed protein in America (source: I made that up, but I'm probably correct).

At any rate, we had a couple nice chicken breasts ready for cooking, and that's just what we did.
We have a great old roasting pan (I guess that's what you'd call it - kind of like a 9x12 cake pan, but heavy aluminium), so I preheated the oven with that pan inside. Once all was up to temp (375F), I pulled it out onto the stovetop with the burner on high to keep things going.

The breasts had been rubbed with a combination of chipotle powder and Old Bay (great on chicken by itself, too!), so I just put a bit of oil in the pan and put the skin sides down to sear.
Once they got a bit of a crisp on, they were flipped over, the burner turned off, and the pan returned to the oven.

The accompaniment this evening was a nice wide egg noodle pasta tossed with some Alfredo sauce with pearl onions and sliced black olives along with the pan drippings from the chicken.
There was a nice plate of asparagus spears as well, so all in all, there was nothing to dislike.

The chicken was so moist and tender that it surprised even me, and everything else did nothing but enhance the overall experience.
I think I'm going to do chicken this way again soon, and I would encourage you to give it a try as well.

Enjoy!

Instant Photography is Back ?

2011-07-07T10:05:00.000-04:00

from grandteuton.blogspot.com

I guess I didn't realise that it had gone away, but Polaroid is making real instant cameras and film again, in the form of the Polaroid 300.
This means you can capture the world in full analogue instant colour beauty, and you don't need a printer to see what it looks like.

Glad to see it's back - my first camera was a Polaroid Swinger, original list price $19.95. You can find them on eBay now for anywhere between $1 and $50, for all the sense that makes..

Huzzah!

The Dogs We Love

2011-07-03T15:16:00.001-04:00

from grandteuton.blogspot.com

(I had to use that title, for when a DeWitt sees this post.)

Anyway, it was a dog's life, and we were privileged to share it for over fifteen years.

What a great dog.
From that little puppy watching the mist rise from the surface of Lake Nipigon, to that valiant dog making his final CROP Walk to help end hunger, to that somewhat unsteady old guy who had to be carried up and down the back steps, and so much between, that little dog with the funny tail has given us love and memories beyond measure ...
and to think we weren't ready for him.

We would have missed out on him, had Christian and James not picked him out of that litter of nine, and our lives would have been much the poorer for it.
Nice work, guys, nice work indeed.

Anyway, the poor old guy has been fighting a stinking bloody brain tumour for over a year, and we all knew that at some point he wasn't going to be able to keep it up, and now he hasn't; and once again, we weren't ready for him ... to go.

It's hard, but I'm glad I knew him and loved him and shared his joy in the simple act of living and being a dog. Kooder was the best dog that could be imagined, let alone that could be.

Have fun with the cats, buddy.

I'm ready for some Football!

2011-07-01T12:20:00.000-04:00

from grandteuton.blogspot.com

At last, the CFL season has begun, and what a great game we saw on Canada Day eve pitting the Montreal Alouettes against the BC Lions.
Two quality teams with quarterbacks at very different points in their careers, but both slinging that ball around like crazy, great catches, missed Field Goals, amazing hits, all the stuff that makes the CFL game so great.
Now, for Canada Day, there's a double-header with the fabulout Hamilton Tiger-Cats hosting the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, and then the Toronto Argonauts (Argos Suck) visiting the Calgary Stampeders.
Rounding out the holiday weekend, the Edmonton Eskimos will visit the Saskatchewan Rough Riders on Sunday.

It's pretty cool that the NFL Network is showing some of these games, but ESPN3 has them all if you have access to that service.

If you've never seen Canadian Football, you need to check it out - it's a faster, more exciting game than the NFL, and each team is really a part of its community.
Very cool, and highly recommended.

Oskee Wee Wee!

Carnage du Jour - 25 June 2011

2011-06-27T13:21:00.000-04:00

from grandteuton.blogspot.com

You know, crock pots are wonderful things.
We had some spectacular pulled pork a week ago or so, made simply in the crock pot with a pork butt cooking down low and slow to tasty perfection.
Now, when there were some lamb chops to use up, a little light went on in my head.

Why not pulled lamb?
Why not indeed.

So, four chops nestled close together in a dry crock pot on high for a bit. The seasoning was simply salt and pepper on each side. A trip to the herbs growing on the back porch yielded some gorgeous rosemary - four large sprigs were dropped on top of the chops.
After they had gotten a bit of colour (and the kitchen began to smell wonderful), I flipped the chops and added a bit of braising liquid - in this case, some coffee - and dropped the temp to low.

Several hours later, the meat was falling off the bones (as expected) and shredded with a spoon, so that seemed like enough cooking. That was fortunate, as it was now time to eat.

Some nice whole wheat buns were loaded with the pulled lamb, which was enhanced with a bit of crumbled feta cheese, just because it's so good, and we tucked in to a most enjoyable sandwich.
On the side we had some beautiful ears of corn which had cooked in a bath of water with salt and sugar and some powdered chipotle. All in all, an excellent meal - one I wouldn't mind repeating.

Carnage du Jour - 23 June 2011

2011-06-24T15:45:00.000-04:00

from grandteuton.blogspot.com

It's a nice problem to have: what to do with extra filets? (Yes, as in Mignon.) Well, with a bit of a nod to Eggs Benedict, we had a very tasty little treat.

Once a batch of Bearnaise sauce was complete, the steaks - which had been cooked on the grill a few days before - were reheated while an English muffin (don't you just love all those nooks and crannies?) toasted.

Straight from the toaster, the muffin halves were slathered with a bit of chipotle cheese, then topped with the steaks.

Into the pan vacated by the steaks went the eggs to be cooked to a perfect over easy, dusted with a bit of marjoram, oregano, and thyme.

The eggs topped the steaks and then were covered with the beautiful Bearnaise.

Slicing into this lovely stack of flavours, we were treated to a perfectly thickened yolk oozing over the rest of the savoury goodness.

Yum, is as good an expression as most, and actually quite apropos.

R.I.P. ReadyMade

2011-06-17T12:44:00.000-04:00

from grandteuton.blogspot.com

Thursday 16 June 2011 was a sad day in publishing. Meredith announced that they're shuttering ReadyMade, a very fun, very cool magazine they had only fairly recently purchased.
It had been published since 2001, and was a snazzy part of the Maker movement, giving us all inspirational tips and tricks for ways to use things that otherwise might be dumped in the trash.
The monthly MacGyver challenge - e.g. "what can you do with a shipping pallet?" or "what's the coolest use for old vinyl LPs?" - was a highlight to me, but their extremely active blog was the tops.

A cool magazine that will be missed. One hopes they will find a way to persist online, if not in print.

grr.

Adult Bever-age du Jour

2011-06-14T23:51:00.003-04:00

from grandteuton.blogspot.com

This is one solely for those of legal age, but it's good enough I thought I'd share nonetheless.

This is a cocktail called the Privateer:

Fill a rocks glass with crushed ice.
Drizzle some nice maple syrup over the ice.
Fill with dark rum - Gosling's Black Seal 151 is the preferred one here.
Enjoy.

I came up with this one quite a while ago, simply based on what was in the house and what seemed like a good idea to mix and drink. It was.

Hard to believe it's been a year

2011-06-10T11:51:00.000-04:00

from grandteuton.blogspot.com

and we're still missing Sydney.
One year ago today our good friend Sydney went home to his Lord.

We're missing a good friend, but more importantly:
Dorothy is missing a good husband.
The whole Williams family are missing a good father / grandfather / etc.
- They all still need and appreciate your prayers.
The congregation at the Avenue Church are missing a tireless worker and brother.
Christian Aid and the folks in Africa are missing a helper - a man who raised money and dug wells to help others to have a brighter present and future.

The world is missing a good man, but there is rejoicing in Heaven.

Oh yes, Sydney is missed here and now, but we know we'll see him again.

Triple D Road Trips

2011-06-02T13:18:00.000-04:00

from grandteuton.blogspot.com

Back in March, my son was home for a pre-deployment leave and we got to spend some quality time with him. One of the fun things we did was to revisit a "Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives" site, as well as adding a new one to his list.

The revisit was to Joe's Gizzard City in Potterville, Michigan. It's a fun little dive bar with some wicked gizzards and a great battered, deep-fried cheeseburger. Definitely worth the drive.

The new one (for him, but not for me) was a visit to Krazy Jim's Blimpy Burger in Ann Arbor. Once again, a fun dive kind of place with excellent food and atmosphere. Again well worth the drive.

Christian has been a Triple D fan for quite a while, to the extent of having an autographed copy of Guy Fieri's first cookbook from the show.

OK, the food was good, but the long drives where we could talk - about the places we were going, about the places he would be going, about random nonsense, about nothing - those long drives were the best part. Not even a fully battered and deep-fried bacon cheeseburger could compete, and that's saying something.

So, next time you're looking for an excuse to drive and talk - and wouldn't mind a fun meal half-way through the driving part - give one of these a try. Both are highly recommended.

Kindles, Books, and Reading in General

2011-05-26T09:25:00.000-04:00

from grandteuton.blogspot.com

First off, let me disclose that I haven't actually taken the plunge into ebooks, ibooks, epubs, and the like so far.
I really like having a book in my hands when I read, and being able to leave different books in different places where each will be read in turn.

In my best "why would I ever want that instead of the way I already know how to do it," mode, I largely dismissed the Kindle and its ilk. This past Christmas, I did do some investigating, mostly as a means to make sure the gifts being contemplated were not unreasonable - they weren't.

There are now three Kindles in the family, and as far as I can tell, there is so much more reading going on now than there had been - and more than I would ever have guessed - that my pseudo-Luddite recalcitrance has been shaken and my interest stirred.

When my son says he's trying to figure out what to read next when he finishes the last of a series of books he's been reading; and that he's wondering whether to go to something new, or to reread the Iliad or the Odyssey, well, the world's turned upside down, and time is out of joint, or something.

I said - aloud, not just to myself - that with all that reading going on, I might have to change my opinion on this whole Kindle thing, and I may be doing exactly that.

Yes, I may be doing exactly that, but I'd appreciate feedback from folks with experience with these devices. What do you love? What do you hate? Et cetera? Kindle? Nook? Kobo? Sony?

Marinade du Jour - 11 May 11

2011-05-17T15:20:00.000-04:00

from grandteuton.blogspot.com

What to do with steaks that were packed at the last possible selling date, then brought home and not used for a few days?
What indeed?
Well, that is precisely the situation in which we found ourselves as we made plans for dinner with a couple friends who were joining us.

My preference with steaks is to keep them quite plain when cooking them. I really do like the flavour of a good steak on its own without much other than salt and pepper to set it off. Still, this seemed the perfect setting for a good marinade.
And so it was.

When my brother-in-law moved to Florida (many years ago), we received a couple nice Tupperware marinating units (I have no idea what they're really called). They've been quite handy many times over the years, and the one that remains was pressed into service once again.
Opening a bottle of wine (Barefoot Merlot, I believe), I poured some for the steaks, and some for the cook. Into the steaks' wine went about half as much Zesty Italian dressing and a bit of my (formerly) secret ingredient: vanilla extract.
Vanilla has a wonderful affinity for beef - I've used it in coffee for a pot roast as well - and you get that great "what's that other flavour in there?" reaction from discerning tasters.
Be sure, though, to use good vanilla extract - never imitation - as it really does make a huge difference in the final product.

And by the way, the meat was quite delicious.

How to Cook Bratwurst

2011-05-13T17:21:00.000-04:00

from grandteuton.blogspot.com

As promised, I'm going to expose the secrets to perfect brats. First, though, let me take you, if I may, on a journey - a journey back to how I first learned the basics of this highly-favoured endeavour.

Perhaps you already know that my wife and her family hail originally from Wisconsin. Moving from Sheboygan, Wisconsin - sausage capital of the US - to the Detroit area meant some significant lifestyle changes, not least of which was the basic lack of what they had come to know and love as bratwurst. What to do?
Well, my ever-resourceful then-future father-in-law found a way to have real Sheboygan brats flown into Detroit, and massive quantities were received each year to the delight of all and sundry.

When the time came for me to ask him for his daughter's hand, I had already been introduced to the glories of properly-prepared bratwurst. He and I sat down in the living room, where I told him that I had an important question for him. "I was wondering," I asked, "where you get the brats?" The cool thing is, he told me the whole story about getting them flown in via a perhaps-then-illegal interstate meat transaction. With that out of the way, I told him that I wanted to marry his daughter, and he averred that he thought that was a good idea.

Sadly, the Sheboygan Sausage Company of Sheboygan Falls, Wisconsin is no more, but the recipe was (supposedly) purchased by the Johnsonville company, and that is now the brat of choice.

(An interesting side note here: we did find what we considered to be vastly superior brats on a trip through Sheboygan at the Miesfeld's Triangle Market - several times State Champions, in fact - but the cost of shipping so far outweighed the cost of the sausage that it will remain a "when we pass through we're buying a bunch" kind of thing. But I digress.)

It was at a family reunion here in town that I learned at the elbow of my father-in-law just how it was done. (Note the past tense there, it actually gets better!) The brats must be boiled a bit in a mix of beer and water before going on the grill. This lets them release some of their fat before hitting the fire, the which can be an exciting event.
A squirt bottle of water was the tool of the day for keeping down the flare-ups that did arise, although the beer held in the other hand would do quite nicely as well. Care should be taken to avoid stirring up too many ashes - they can stick to the brats and make for a grittier-than-desirable experience (and yes, that does mean that charcoal is the preferred heat source).
There you have the basics of brat grilling. Condiments and bunnage are best left to the individual's taste, but mustard, onions, Swiss cheese, and sauerkraut make up my starting point.

Now to reveal the secret to my enhanced bratwurst cooking process.
Into the pot of beer and water (I generally use Molson Canadian) I add an onion cut into wedges, and a healthy dose of nutmeg. These additions add just the right notes to the already-delicious flavour of the brats, and the kitchen smells glorious all the while too.

Now please, go and enjoy your bratwurst, but enjoy them responsibly.

Carnage du Jour - 09 May 2011

2011-05-11T15:20:00.000-04:00

from grandteuton.blogspot.com

I'm not a big fan of mixed drinks - I'm more of a purist, really - but we just had a lovely Manhattan-marinated chicken breast on the grill, and I'd certainly do it again.

We recently took possession of a couple bottles of Southern Comfort (no, I'm not going to drink that straight - I tried it and that once was quite enough, thank you very much), so Southern Comfort Manhattans seemed a logical use.
Well, what about these two chicken breasts? Why not soak them in that stuff for a while before grilling?
Why not indeed.

So, a ziploc bag took on a pair of chicken breasts (boneless and skinless, btw) and then we added in the Southern Comfort, some sweet Vermouth (Stock, in case you wondered), a bit of garlic powder, and some olive oil, just to make it all stick.
Once the fire in the grill was ready and the batch of bratwurst had finished (I'll detail the "correct" way to cook brats in another post), on went the chicken.
I must say, it was tender, juicy, and flavourful - all one could ask of that cut, really.

The grilling added the needed snap to the surface which is normally lost from the skinless versions, and the marinade added its own special savour as well.
Highly recommended.

Bin Laden

2011-05-02T13:18:00.000-04:00

from grandteuton.blogspot.com

Hearing the news of the SEALs raid, my first thought was, "Well, I hope you're enjoying your stay in Hell." Then I was embarrassed at having thought that.

Don't get me wrong, he deserved what he got in Pakistan - he asked for it, really. Still, it just doesn't feel right to celebrate the damnation of a human soul.

Of course, he will only get what he asked for - though not necessarily what he deserves, as God is merciful.

When one spends a lifetime resisting God's call, one can't expect Him to ignore that choice. God's not going to force Himself on anyone through eternity.
He made us with the ability to choose Him or not - we're not simply automata, bound to the inexorable consequences of our initial conditions and programming. We're actual free moral agents.

For that to matter, our choices have to matter, and so those who have resisted and rejected Him can expect to spend eternity separated from Him. If we're to find eternal separation from God anywhere, it surely will be found nowhere outside of Hell.

I'm not sure why I've been on the theology kick recently, but I think it's amazing how thinking about ultimate things can alter the way I think about proximate ones.

Here are a few of my recent reads you might want to check out:
Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer, C.S. Lewis
Blue Like Jazz, Donald Miller
A Canticle for Leibowitz, Walter M. Miller, Jr.
He Came Down from Heaven, and The Forgiveness of Sins, Charles Williams

How to Understand the Federal Budget

2011-04-13T17:27:00.000-04:00

from grandteuton.blogspot.com

Here's a rather simple way to get your head around the federal budget: divide by 100,000,000 (yes, that's One Hundred Million).

Philip Greenspun has a nice post on this at his blog:

http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/philg/2011/04/10/understanding-congresss-solution-to-the-federal-deficit-problem/

Check it out, and see if it all makes more sense, now.

What to Read Next

2011-04-07T11:59:00.000-04:00

from grandteuton.blogspot.com

Blue Like Jazz, by Donald Miller.

Wow. I waited a long time before finally buying and reading this book. I had heard nothing but good reviews from people I trust and/or admire, but still, I waited a long time before I bought it and read it. Generally that's a good way to make it nearly impossible for a book to live up to those raised expectations, but this one was even better than I had expected and had been led to believe it would be.

I've read plenty of books on theology.
I've read plenty of books on Christian living.
I've read plenty of books on growing up and learning what it's all about.
This one was different.

Rather than laying out a systematic theology, rather than giving advice on how to live so that my beliefs would show through, this book shows the reader what Christian living can look like.

The friends and acquaintances who peopled Miller's experiences and relationships were real enough to actually matter, and the lessons weren't simply presented as lessons, but rather as stories. There's a power to stories that can't be matched by discussions and arguments, and that power is very much in evidence here.

It reminded me of On the Road, by Kerouac, in that there was a great adventure of a man learning who he really is. At the same time, it's completely different - Miller grows into knowing what relationship is, and how that defines each of us.
Each time he spouted a strong opinion that bothered me, it was quickly followed by something like, "Now wait a minute; that's how I felt at the time. Let me tell you why, and how things changed after that." It was a very effective way to confront the reader with something challenging.

To sum up, this is one of the best books I've ever read - not just on Christian living, or spirituality, or whatever, just one of the best books I've ever read. It's nice to be challenged so much in a loving way.
Highly recommended to all and sundry.

Quiche-age du Jour - 27 March 2011

2011-03-28T14:59:00.000-04:00

from grandteuton.blogspot.com

When Christian was home, I fell into my old shopping habits of buying more food than Heidi and I can eat on our own. Of course, we didn't get around to cooking all the stuff we had thought to eat, so when he headed back to the last frontier (Alaska, not Space, more's the pity), we had a very sizable hunk of salmon filet waiting for us.
We gave it the old college try, but there was still a large piece of fish left over after dinner. What to do? What to do? What else but a salmon quiche?! (what ever happened to the interrobang?)

Technically, my quiches aren't really quiches. Over the years, I've developed my own hybrid entity, sitting (quite comfortably, thank you very much) between a quiche and a soufflé. It's lighter than a quiche, heartier than a soufflé, and it's my very own creation, so I like it best.
If you want to get technical, you'll just have to go hungry at my house.

So, Sunday comes along and it's time for the quiche. I blind baked a crust (that smelled really good, by the way), and got the rest of the fixings ready. Sautéed onions received the broken-up salmon to bring the fish up from refrigerator temperature, along with some nice little capers - after all, capers make everything savoury just that much better. Into the crust went most of the fish/onion/caper mixture, followed by a blend of havarti and (European style) farmer's cheese, the rest of the fish stuff, the last of the cheese, and then my secret egg mixture to complete the filling.

In the oven at 450F for 13 minutes, immediately drop the temp to 350F and continue for another 15 minutes and it's all ready for brunch. Spectacular enough to eat again for lunch on Monday (and I did), but delicious enough to want another piece on Sunday (but I didn't).

Just plain delicious.

Carnage du Jour - 16 March 2011 (plus Sauce-age!) [Updated]

2011-03-18T12:34:00.002-04:00

from grandteuton.blogspot.com

Steaks are fairly simple things, aren't they? Typically they are - and rightly so - and so they were again this time. What wasn't terribly simple was the accompaniment to the nicely broiled strip steaks. Oh, and since there was a nice pile of shrimp from an earlier shrimp cocktail platter, they had to get heated at the last moment and piled on top of the steaks. [The shrimp are the update. How could I have forgotten those beautiful shrimp sitting on top of my steak?]

Swiss chard is always great, and this was particularly fresh and tasty from the steamer (stalks in first to soften a bit, then the rest of the greens - don't toss the stalks, they're at least almost the best part!).
Still, what starch to go with? Potatoes? Pasta? Rice? How about grilled cantaloupe instead?
Brilliant, no?
Brilliant, yes!

A good-sized cantaloupe (probably really a muskmelon, as we don't get real cantaloupes much in the States) was seeded and cubed, then dusted with a bit of white pepper. Into the very hot grill pan (how do people cook without one of these?) with some canola oil they went to develop some nice grill marks and begin to soften even beyond their nice ripe softness. They were awfully tasty as is, but what's better than grilled fruit with something to drizzle on it? (Answer: not much.) So a quick sauce (which will definitely be repeated!) was created.
About a tablespoon of nice aged balsamic vinegar went into a quarter cup or so of honey, along with about a half tablespoon of dijon mustard and a sprinkling of beau monde (another go-to seasoning at Cleveland, by the way). When they were fully mixed, it was little short of spectacular, really. It worked perfectly on the melon, but as it got on the chard and steak, we discovered that it was simply delicious on each of those elements as well.

Definitely worth repeating, and soon.

Dinner and Guest

2011-03-01T12:41:00.000-05:00

from grandteuton.blogspot.com

I don't remember how I got thinking about this, but I was wondering about that old question:

"If you could invite anyone to have dinner with you - from anywhere, from any time, all that - who would you invite?"

It usually comes down to famous people of the past - writers, statesmen, etc. - or relatives you miss or never knew - my great-great-grandfather who fought in the Civil War, Uncle Jerome (just to see what's in his pocket), etc.
Then I got down to some extended wondering. What would I serve to someone like that whom I've invited for dinner?

I think this could be a cool thread, so let me know who you'd invite, what you'd put on the menu, and why (why that person / those people? and why that menu?). I'll reply in a comment after a while with my own party details.

Go!

A Double R.I.P.

2011-02-15T10:14:00.000-05:00

What a day of departures. I heard on the radio this morning that two of my favourite entertainers have shuffled off this mortal coil.

We've lost George Shearing, the fabulous jazz pianist, composer of Lullaby of Birdland, to congestive heart failure. George lived a long, fruitful life of 91 years, and produced a great body of work, both compositions and performances, many of which are readily available to us on CD, download, and all that good stuff. He accomplished all this despite the fact that (to steal a great line) he was born blind and English - the latter being a bigger handicap to a jazz pianist.

In addition, we've lost Kenneth Mars, just shy of his 75th birthday. Most notices have mentioned his great roles in The Producers and Young Frankenstein, but I remember him most fondly for his recurring role as William W. D. "Bud" Prize on the old Fernwood 2night shows. He usually was wearing a chinodontic device invented by his chinodontist, Cletus Emmet Wheelwelker. This was one of the finest comedy programmes ever to grace network television, and it's a shame that it seems to be unavailable on DVD - or even in reruns.

Both of these gentlemen brought joy into the lives of many people, and both will be sorely missed.
Rest In Peace.

Carnage du Jour - 11 February 2011

2011-02-14T12:44:00.000-05:00

from grandteuton.blogspot.com

At last - we finally broke out the Thai red curry lamb stew that my trusty crock pot had so ably cooked.
I had come across a jar of Thai red curry paste while shopping a couple weeks ago, and as there was a lamb roast in the refrigerator waiting to be cooked, it seemed like a great purchase. It was.
Along with the lamb (cubed, salted, peppered, and seared in a skillet) went an acorn squash (also cubed), some onions and bok choy (the onions and stem pieces were sautéed a bit) and a whole bunch of that tasty red curry paste.

While it was not as hot and spicy as might be imagined (or feared), there was a ton of flavour, and the lamb was as tender as any meat I can remember ever eating.

Wow, this was really good, served on a bed of rice cooked in a bit of vegetable stock.

Electric Cars?

2011-02-11T12:44:00.000-05:00

from grandteuton.blogspot.com

I'm all for new tech and gadgets and toys and all that - probably more than I should be - but this drive for electric cars has me puzzled.

What we have is "a fledgling industry" that needs help to get its products out to the buying public. Once the benefits of this new tech is out there for all to see, there won't be a need for tax breaks or government co-pays and the like. At least that's what I heard an analyst tell us the other morning on the radio.
   I guess it's just like when CDs came out to replace LPs. We all got rebates on the players and disks to help move the transition along ... oh, wait, that's not what happened. We all got to pay for these things ourselves.
   OK, it must be more like when TV was coming out to (at least partially) supplant radio. The government paid folks to get TVs in their houses so they could all watch MIlton Berle or whatever ... nope. It didn't happen that way that time either.

What we really have is an industry making a product that doesn't really meet consumers' needs, and isn't really affordable. No wonder it needs help to sell.
   Granted, the environmental benefits of moving the emissions from the tailpipe to the smokestack somewhere else may well be worth something - at least until we have to dispose of the toxic waste in the battery packs.
   Still, who wouldn't want to pay that extra $10,000 or so for a car that can't handle the typical Detroit commute if it's cold out? (Try running the lights and heater the whole way on your batteries in the cold - batteries really don't like constant drains or low temperatures.)
   On a good day, I might just make it back home from work, but then I'd have to stay there until it's time to go to work again while the car was plugged in to recharge the batteries, so it's clearly not a reasonable option as the sole car for anyone.

As an extra car, it has some appeal. It might be fine for shopping at a local store. It might be fine for quick local trips. It might.
However, I certainly wouldn't count on it to get me somewhere important when it takes four times as long to charge as the time it will drive.
Let's see, I can spend about four minutes filling my tank and drive 400 miles, or I can spend four hours charging my batteries (on a 220 custom charger) to drive 40 to 100 miles.

Doesn't make sense yet. Maybe some day, but not yet.

At Last, a Good Game at the Super Bowl

2011-02-07T13:06:00.000-05:00

I wonder how many others of you thought it looked like a Grey Cup game between the Edmonton Eskimos and the Hamilton Tiger Cats?
I know I did.

I'm glad it wasn't, though, as the wrong colours won for a Grey Cup, but I was quite content with the NFL outcome.

A Christmas Carol (Yes, I know it's January)

2011-01-24T14:30:00.000-05:00

from grandteuton.blogspot.com

Likely we've all seen multiple film versions of the holiday classic, from Mister Magoo to Bill Murray to the Muppets. I know I have seen all of those and many more. I wondered, though, what was in the Dickens original, and what was the fancy of various filmmakers.
What to do? Aha! Read the book! and so I did.

Frankly, it was a good read. It's not terribly long, and it's not so Dickensian as to put off those who fled from both of the Cities in that Tale.

I was pleased to find just how true to the original most of the films have been (Muppets included), and to find a (very) few scenes which hadn't made it to any screen I've viewed.

It's available all over the place, (including free versions at Project Gutenberg) so I think - in spite of the calendar - that you'd be well served to find it and read it.

Enjoy!

Carnage du Jour - 12 January 2011

2011-01-13T16:41:00.001-05:00

from grandteuton.blogspot.com

As we have noted here in prior posts, there is no more versatile cut of meat than a pork tenderloin, and that was proved once again in this dish.

Having noted a delicious looking salad (here) of roasted root vegetables, I found myself buying a nice bunch of radishes with roasting in mind. They took very little cleaning: I just trimmed the ends and cut most of them in half. Into a skillet with a bit of olive oil, salt, and pepper, then into the oven at 425F for 10 minutes or so.
In the meantime, I got some frozen brussels sprouts mostly cooked in the microwave (what a great way to cook frozen vegetables) and the mostly roasted radishes were dumped into the bowl with them to wait for the right time to join the pork.

Into the now-vacated skillet went a tenderloin cut into medallions, seasoned with salt and beau monde (mmm!) to be seared on each of the flat sides.
Back into the skillet came the radishes, accompanied by the brussels sprouts, and all went back into the 425 oven.

They all roasted happily away as the now boiling water received its dose of egg noodles. They took their fairly typical seven minutes or so, and then were drained and a bit of oil dropped in to keep them separated.

A little bit of leftover roasted garlic alfredo sauce was added to the pork and vegetables, and then that mixture topped the noodles on our plates.

Very tasty indeed.

Privacy? What Privacy? - Updated

2011-01-04T14:43:00.001-05:00

from grandteuton.blogspot.com

(update: Here's another treatment of the same topic from boing boing.)

I was asked about a site called spokeo.com the other day: apparently it poses as an online white pages on steroids.
What it really seems to be is a spam engine.

The basic idea is that they go out and scrape websites for any public information with a name attached, and then let everyone on the web search all that stuff to find their friends or acquaintances. There's nothing there that wasn't already made public by someone - whether it's the person in question or not. Any notes or tagged pictures that are there for everyone on facebook (or myspace or linkedin or whatever) can be scraped by these guys - regardless of who tagged you in them.

Not to worry, though. There's a privacy link at the bottom of the page where you can request that they not make those things about you public. Of course, in order to do so, you have to give them your email address. Oh, and they'd really prefer it if you'd give them your email and password as well, just because it makes it more secure (?!) that way. No one will have access to it - not even spokeo employees! (So, what's it for again?)

Hmm. So, I go into their system and find my data.
Then I tell them the email address that goes with that data.
Then I'm sure that no extraneous, unsolicited emails will appear in my inbox, right?
Oh, and they want me to pay them a monthly membership fee in order to see all this great data.
Good grief.

The regular journalists I noticed said they had no real luck in getting stuff get turned non-public, and that the data on them tended to be both incomplete and inaccurate.

Sounds like a moderately elaborate way of gathering probably real email addresses along with a bunch of data to flesh out the recipients.

I recommend that you stay away.

Vegage du Jour - 19 December 2010

2010-12-21T10:38:00.001-05:00

from grandteuton.blogspot.com

As you likely know, I'm not a vegetarian - of course, my sister displayed vegan tendencies by driving a Vega in high school. Still, I enjoy a good veg as much as the next guy, and make it a protein-bearing grain and/or legume, and I'm all over it - as long as it tastes good.

So, for a Christmas party, I made up a big batch of my quinoa and chick-pea stuff (I guess I need to come up with a decent name for this dish), and it was quite a hit - especially with me.

Four cups of red quinoa was brought to a boil in eight cups of home-made vegetable stock (asparagus, onions, and mushrooms were the base) and then simmered about fifteen minutes.
As that time ended, I drained, rinsed, and dried two cans of chickpeas and tossed them with some ground cumin, some white pepper, and some summer savory. Into a large skillet of fairly hot olive oil they went, where they got just a bit of crispness.
Next, in went a bunch of sliced scallions (not enough of them, as it eventuated), and once they were nice and a bit browned, in went the quinoa.

All of it then went into a crock pot for transport and serving (and keeping warm, of course). There you have it - gluten-free, dairy-free, meat-free and yet delicious. Give it a shot - it's quite tasty.

Carnage du Jour - 17 December 2010

2010-12-18T10:33:00.000-05:00

from grandteuton.blogspot.com

Pork chops are a staple around our Cleveland, and it's no wonder, considering how versatile these little guys can be.

This time it was a simple sear and pan-roast operation. The butterfly chops were liberally salted, peppered and beau monded, then seared quickly in some olive oil.

While they rested on a plate, waiting for the rest of their cooking, into the pan went a large handful of grape tomatoes which popped nicely (although not nearly as dramatically as slow-motion popcorn!) in the pan. Then some jalapeno stuffed olives, some kalamata olives, and some nice pickled cocktail onions went in, along with just a touch of tomato sauce - which was simply tomatoes from our garden which Heidi had run through the Mouli to keep that lovely garden-fresh flavour.

Back in the pan on top of all that goodness went the chops, along with a drained and rinsed can of cannellini beans. It was only a few minutes for everything to meld and finish up, then the chops were again removed and some cooked spaghetti was added to the pan and all was finished.

Oh, I forgot to mention the roasted asparagus that accompanied - just simply roasted with a bit of olive oil, salt and pepper - delicious indeed!

So there you have it, or rather, then we had it, and it was a lovely dinner.

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

2010-12-13T13:51:00.000-05:00

(from grandteuton.blogspot.com)

Well, we made it to the show on the opening weekend, and I wouldn't have missed it.

First, let me list my disappointments, then I'll balance it out with what I really think:
The first disappointment was that there were very few people in the theatre when we arrived - very few indeed. More folks arrived in dribs and drabs before the feature began, but it was still a largely empty house. Heidi says they did a bad job of advertising, and too few people knew about it - that may be true, but I had seen the trailer online a long time ago and was receiving regular updates leading up to the release, so I can't really say.

The next disappointment was the alteration of the storyline. As in the previous installments, I understand that there are cuts and changes that will need to be made in order to present the novel in movie form, but this time it seemed excessive to me. When cutting scenes, there is likely to be information that needs to be restored somehow, and that necessitates adding something. I get it.
Still, adding characters and changing the nature of one of the threats seemed jarring to me.

OK, that's it for disappointments.
As always, these films have actors, settings, and effects which simply look the way they did in my head when I read the books. It's uncanny, but they seem to match Heidi's internal scenery as well. Perhaps Lewis was just that good, or perhaps these films are good enough to make us realise that, "That's just what that looked like!" at each turn. I don't know, and I don't really care - it's just wonderful that it works.

The music is great - I don't remember who wrote it, but it worked throughout by supporting the action and not really quite drawing attention to itself.
The effects are actually quite seamless - I think I only once saw anything that took me out of my willing suspension of disbelief, and that was a very quick scene of a faun jumping and landing with his knees going the same way mine do, but it was only a very quick flash.
So, my disappointments really come down to a preference for the original storyline, and the lack of folks in the seats at our showing. Perhaps we chose exactly the wrong time to see a big audience, as it was at "normal" people's dinner time.
At the same time, the movie really was a joy, and I very much hope to see the rest of the Chronicles hit the silver screen. (I think it's going to take a bunch of us buying tickets and DVDs to ensure that.) It will be interesting to see if the original children of the film will be old enough to play themselves as adults when we get to the Last Battle.

To sum up - do yourself a favour and go see this movie. It's an excellent adaptation of the novel (despite my quibbles), and it's an excellent movie on its own.

Enjoy!

I can hardly wait!

2010-12-10T11:43:00.001-05:00

(from grandteuton.blogspot.com)

The reason I had pulled out the CDs of the radio dramas based on the C.S. Lewis Narnia books has arrived.
I saw a trailer online for the third installment of the movie series - The Voyage of the Dawn Treader - and it made me want to prepare by reading the books again. Then I realised that we had the CDs on the shelf, but I'd never listened to them. Needless to say (if you read my earlier post on the topic) I was exceedingly glad that I did listen when I finally got around to it.

At any rate, the movie opens tonight, and we're planning to go see it, so stay tuned for reactions. If it's half as good as the trailers and commercials make it seem, it will still be spectacular.

Ah - All Those Potlucks and Other Collaborative Meals!

2010-12-03T16:04:00.000-05:00

(from grandteuton.blogspot.com)

'Tis the season and all, and that means there are more and more occasions where we're all carting our particular contribution to a collective meal to a (possibly) distant location.

Don't you hate it when your crock pot dumps part of the food in the back of the car? I know I do, and how!

Still, what's a cook to do? How about one of these babies? A slow cooker with a lid that actually clips on and stays sealed! How much spiffier could one of these get without just being too out there?

Very cool.

What to Read Right Now

2010-12-02T09:49:00.000-05:00

(from grandteuton.blogspot.com)

Sorry I'm late with this recommendation, but (in case you're like me and don't watch the calendar as well as you ought) it's December, and it's also Advent.

So, I want to recommend that you all go out and get a copy of The Christmas Mystery by Jostein Gaarder. It's a wonderful book to read leading up to Christmas - we get to watch as Joachim opens his special Advent Calendar each day, and receives an update on the story of a little girl, a lamb, some angels, wise men, kings, oh, the whole nine yards and more.

It's a fun read with relatively short chapters for each day from December first right down through Christmas Eve. Highly recommended.

To Bethlehem! To Bethlehem!

Sauce-age du Jour - 25 November 2010

2010-11-30T18:27:00.001-05:00

(from grandteuton.blogspot.com)

Well, I've had some commentators tell me that the highlight of the meal from their side of the plate was the gravy.
Frankly, I can't disagree much, as gravy is always one of best parts of Thanksgiving dinner, and I generally make a mean gravy, if I do say so myself.
I think there are two keys to making good gravy, once one is beyond the pan drippings and any extra stock that's going in.

It takes more salt than you think, and
Never use flour, only use cornstarch.

If you follow those two simple tips, you'll have gravy success too. Once the drippings / stock hits a boil and you've salted it pretty well, take a small glass with a couple good forks of cornstarch and stir in some cold water.
Stir in that slurry, and watch it thicken the gravy - without any lumps! It may take a second dose, depending on how much liquid you're trying to thicken, but it's the stuff to use.

There, that's my secret. That and tasting the gravy as it boils to see if it needs more salt (it probably does).

Enjoy!

Vegage du Jour - 25 November 2010

2010-11-28T12:13:00.001-05:00

(from grandteuton.blogspot.com)

Yes, the turkey was great as usual (glazed with a mixture of maple syrup and Bourbon), but this year the cooking highlight was the green bean casserole! (At least it was for me, as it was a dairy- and gluten- free version we made up.)

The normal mushroom soup mode wasn't going to work, so what to do? I had used a can of mushroom stems and pieces for something a while ago when we had run out of fresh (?!) shrooms, so that was in my head already. Here's the way it went:

Take two cans of mushroom stems and pieces and bring them to a boil in a saucepan - with all that good juice that comes in the cans, nothing else. OK, it actually took some salt and freshly ground pepper, but those don't really count, right Claire?
Now thicken that with a nice slurry of corn starch and cold water.
Once it's nice and thick - looking much like the stuff from the can - add in about 2/3 C of Tofutti "sour cream" and stir it all together.
That gets added to the drained cans of green beans and cooked for a long time in a crock pot. (that was largely because we didn't have room in the oven thanks to turkey and dressings).
Stirring in some of the french-fried onions adds flavour and texture, and then you can top them with the rest of the can and put it in the oven once the turkey comes out.

That's it - very simple, very easy, very tasty, and good for everyone, not just the lactose-insurgent folks at the table.

Enjoy!

Which e-Reader for Christmas?

2010-11-19T13:15:00.002-05:00

(from grandteuton.blogspot.com)

This seems to be the year of the e-Reader. While I'm still a confirmed paper addict, the newest generation of e-Readers is getting close to changing my mind.
I've been reading e-books on my PC and on my Palm (don't laugh) for years now, so I do have some experience with ebooks, but I've never really considered them a good substitute for the real thing. Still, with some books coming out only as ebooks (also those that are out of print or the stuff at the Gutenberg project), these readers are becoming more valuable, even as their prices decline. So, here are some of my thoughts on the current options:

Kindle has done the most to popularise the category, largely based on Amazon's being the largest single bookseller in the world. They have done almost everything right with this, from making it very easy to buy books, to updating the hardware regularly and significantly.
Sony, Nook, and Kobo seem to be the next level of players, mostly because of the bookstore advantage which Amazon has - even over Border's and Barnes & Noble. Still, their hardware is basically on a par with the Kindle line.
Apple's iPad seems like a reasonable alternative - even sporting a Kindle app - but while it can read lots of ebook formats, the battery life and the reading experience using a backlit LCD panel is a bit sub-optimal.
WiFi and USB are more than adequate for getting books into a reader - 3G is probably nice, but shopping on your Kindle seems a lot less convenient than shopping on your PC, which means you can order there and either WiFi it in or USB it in.

So, what's my recommendation for your Christmas shopping this year?
I'd go with the latest Kindle WiFi version. It has a 6" screen (nice e-ink for reading anywhere paper would have worked), can store more books than my living room shelves (at least I think so, I'll have to count them up when I get home), and has battery life to spare.

If you feel the need for 3G, it's only $50, but I'd rather spend that on some books or a case and light.

There you have it - Enjoy!

Carnage du Jour - 09 November 2010

2010-11-15T17:04:00.001-05:00

(from grandteuton.blogspot.com)

A nice taste of the Belgian Provinces tonight: trout braised in beer and herbs!

I had a couple of Trout filets (Ruby Red, as the fishmonger would call them), and it was time to cook them up, so what to try this time?
Aha! Drop them in a baking dish, cover with a bottle of beer (I used a bottle of Ichabod pumpkin ale) add a bay leaf and a few sprigs of fresh thyme from the herb garden and let them marinate until it was obvious that they fish had absorbed a bunch of the beer (and thus the herb flavours as well).
Then, into the oven to bake at 350 for about 20 minutes, as I recall. At any rate, it was until the fish flaked nicely. Removing them to a warmed platter, the liquid, with the herbs removed, was poured into a sauce pan to be thickened by boiling and then the addition of some creme fraiche.
An accompaniment of lima beans and a nice rice rounded out a very enjoyable repast.

(By the way, the cookbook on which this was based is A Taste of the Belgian Provinces by Enid Gordon - highly recommended as a fun and useful cookbook.)

A Great Appliance

2010-11-14T17:07:00.003-05:00

(from grandteuton.blogspot.com)

I don't know how many of you remember those old Daisy Seal-A-Meal commercials, but the real thing these days is actually a great addition to the kitchen. I have a feeling those early ones were kind of a waste of money, but not the ones that are around today. In fact, this might be a nice gift item for the right person (i.e. the type of person who won't be offended at receiving a utilitarian gift rather than an extravagance - or maybe you should just make it in addition to an extravagance to be safe).

We've had a Food Saver machine for a few years, and it is quite spectacular. I'm not sure which model it is, but it has held up pretty well over that period, given that it's been sealing lots of food every week for those years. Fresh food sealed into the custom-fit vacuum bags last vastly longer than in other packaging, and the plastic of the bags is sturdy enough to handle the freezer quite well.
In fact, having no air in the bag when it's dropped into the freezer means freezer burn is basically eliminated from the get-go. Oh, and the bags are good enough to wash and reuse, so it's not like we're adding tons of plastic to the world's landfills either.

All around, they pay for themselves in short order, and are highly recommended to all and sundry.

Enjoy!

A Highly Recommended Book

2010-10-29T10:09:00.000-04:00

(from grandteuton.blogspot.com)

I've recently finished reading an excellent book by James P. Hogan. I had enjoyed much of his fiction, but this is a non-fiction work, based on his experiences with working scientists in a wide variety of fields.
The title is Kicking the Sacred Cow, and it's out of print, but still available in various e-book formats from Baen Books. You can find used copies of the printed book, but the prices were a bit steep for my taste, and the ebook experience was actually quite good.

The basic premise of the book is that while science accuses religion of excluding non-standard beliefs, the scientific community deals with scientific heresy in much the way. It's a fascinating survey of alternate theories in everything from physics and cosmology to medicine and biology.

Very highly recommended.
No, really - go get this book.
I'm serious.
Go get it now.

Some Current Projects

2010-10-18T17:23:00.003-04:00

(from grandteuton.blogspot.com)

I'm working on a few things right now. As I've finally gotten my great-great-grandfather's book published to Amazon (as noted here in a recent post), my thoughts are still largely in the literary vein.

First, it's nearly November, and November brings National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo)! So, it's back to my in progress second novel, which I really plan to finish this year (as I have for the past few). [I'm also wondering about getting my first novel up on Amazon, but that's something to think about later.]
Next, apart from that writing, I'm also getting back to the revision of my Mass setting. I really like much of it, but there are a few movements that just don't quite work yet, and I think I need to revise some of the accompaniment as well. It's for small mixed chorus, soloists, and organ.
I'm also working on a cookbook - well, actually I'm working on two cookbooks right now:

I'm scanning and transcribing my Grandma's handwritten recipes from the [handmade!] cookbook her brother made for her as a wedding present; and
I'm compiling my favourite original dishes, along with stories of their creation (or other happy occurrences related to their eating).

A tedious (but likely useful) project is upgrading our computers to Windows 7 from XP. The bad part is that it's not a direct upgrage - I have to back up the documents and reinstall all the applications. The good part is that they should all be happier and run faster (and the disks will be cleaner, too!). Microsoft seems to have done a good job with the latest version of Windows, and by offering the family pack - 3 users for less than the price of two - they're likely to get a lot of people going legal. (Not that anyone ever installed the same copy of Windows on more than one machine ....) Well done Steve and company.

My new computer

2010-10-11T12:11:00.001-04:00

is almost fully loaded.
(from grandteuton.blogspot.com)

Oh, it's running just fine, but I haven't had the time to finish loading all the software that I use, and it's still on the road to an upgrade to Windows 7 in the near future. It's pretty darned nice, though.

4GB of RAM (DDR3 stuff at that), a Western Digital 1TB HDD, AMD Athlon II X4 (quad core) CPU, Biostar AM3 MB, a nice 24-bit SoundBlaster card, an old (extra) gForce video card, and a fun case with a nice orange accent.

I have more room on this machine than we had on all the other drives in the house combined - it's amazing how drives have grown over the years. The first machine I used with a hard drive had a massive 5MB drive. This one has a 1TB drive, that's 200,000 of those huge 5MB jobs packed into a space that's actually smaller than the old 5.25" Winchesters.

Pretty cool. It will keep my techno-lust at bay for a while.

Reading List Update #3

2010-10-07T17:47:00.001-04:00

(from grandteuton.blogspot.com)

Well, I've thought of a few more books I'd like to recommend to my loyal readers here.
As before, I've included the full list from earlier posts so you don't have to go looking through the archives to see what all was on there.

The Wealth of Nations, Adam Smith
Democracy in America, Alexis de Tocqueville
The Federalist Papers, A. Hamilton, J. Madison, J. Jay

Here's the original list (including the earlier updates), just in case you haven't finished them all yet: Read, learn, and enjoy:

The Ten Cannots

2010-10-07T11:45:00.001-04:00

(from grandteuton.blogspot.com)

I just came across a listing of "The Ten Cannots," a pamphlet published in 1916 by an outspoken advocate for liberty, William J. H. Boetcker. Quite a bit of wisdom and insight here.

You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.
You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.
You cannot help the poor man by destroying the rich.
You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred.
You cannot build character and courage by taking away man's initiative and independence.
You cannot help small men by tearing down big men.
You cannot lift the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer.
You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than your income.
You cannot establish security on borrowed money.
You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they will not do for themselves.

Ponder and Enjoy.

At Last! More Shameless "Self"-Promotion

2010-10-01T12:26:00.003-04:00

(from grandteuton.blogspot.com)

The new edition of my great-great-grandfather's book is available at Amazon. This is pretty exciting.
An Adventure With Guerrillas by Ethelbirt Crouse is the story of his encounter with Conferderate guerrillas toward the end of the Civil War. It's quite a good read, really.

[It's also available at my lulu store grandteuton.lulu.com]

I've just noticed that the title at Amazon is spelled with a single "r" rather than two. This means searching for it only works if you search for An Adventure with Guerillas - but the links I have here will work for you regardless.

Won't Someone Think Of The Children?!

2010-09-28T18:22:00.003-04:00

(from grandteuton.blogspot.com)

Perhaps it's something to do with the programmes I watch, but I've seen far too many of the commercials for a "teach your infant to read" system in the past several months. Heidi will attest that I can hardly stop myself decrying the pernicious influence this method would have, were it widely adopted. My basic question is, "When did our writing become logographic?" (Apparently logographic is now the preferred term for the now-disparaged ideographic.)

Memorising full words before having learned the sounds represented by the alphabet simply makes no sense. Some writing systems (e.g. Chinese) are logographic, that is the units of writing (individual logograms) represent words or concepts [yes I know, sometimes sounds as well], while others (e.g. English) are alphabetical where the units of writing (letters) represent sounds. In either system, its basic units are combined to represent words.
I will grant you that our current pronunciations often don't match well with the spelling (after all, orthography was mostly set long ago, while pronunciations continued to change with little regard for how the literate folks were spelling things), but without a solid grounding in the sounds of letters and combinations of letters, every new word becomes an exercise in frustration. I frankly can't imagine wanting to read much of anything under those terms.

Oh, and folks who've learned to read in this sight/sound/meaning system (which reminds me of parts of the whole language system we were told to embrace some years ago) actually don't want to read much.
Still, there is only one criterion for judging a solution to a problem these days - it must be new. It really doesn't matter if we've moved from something that worked to something that doesn't, going back to the (dare I say correct?) method isn't to be considered. "Don't you have any new ideas to contribute? Can't you say anything but no?"

Why can't they be Hooked on Phonics? Bloody dolts are going to destroy a generation's reading abilities.
grr.

Why Limited Government?

2010-09-20T13:02:00.001-04:00

(from grandteuton.blogspot.com)

I really think this is an important question these days, in spite of its sometimes being asked simply as a pretext for a particular answer.

Here's my take on the question. Basically it comes down to original sin and the total depravity of man. This is just basic Christian doctrine that says (among many other things) that Man Cannot Be Trusted.

That's pretty much all it takes to understand why the Constitution is set up as it is - to make sure that the federal government cannot have too much power over the States or over the People, and to make sure that each branch is answerable to the other two. Further, the right of citizens of the United States to move from State to State was an additional protection from despotism.

The framers had had some recent experience with individuals having relatively unlimited power, and they realised that it was not a terribly good idea. Even if now and again there might be a monarch, dictator, ruler, leader, or whatever with whom they agreed, more often than not it would be the other way round.

There's the saying that power corrupts, and that absolute power corrupts absolutely. I think it works the other way as well - when a corrupt person takes power, he corrupts the power he's taken. Given the Christian understanding of human nature, the limited nature of federal power is something for which to be grateful.

Carnage du Jour - 11 September 2010

2010-09-16T10:04:00.002-04:00

(from grandteuton.blogspot.com)

Ah ... Family Camping at Albert Sleeper State Park!

Thanks to the hunting skills of two of our intrepid campers, we had a few nice venison roasts for our annual Saturday night feast, and nice they were indeed.

The question then was how to prepare venison rump roasts for twenty five to thirty folks while camping (with all the comforts of home, such as electricity (that's hydro to our Canadian readers) and water - running water came from the sky, potable water from the tap down the road.

The appliance part of the answer was an electric roaster. The cooking part of the answer was as follows.
A dry rub of salt, cocoa powder, and chipotle powder was applied to the roasts, and they were seared at the highest setting on that roaster (450F, I believe). The temperature was dropped to more like 275F and they were slow roasted for a couple hours. Part of the way through, a bit of vegetable stock and red wine were added, along with some diced onions, sliced mushrooms, and carrots, so I suppose it was more of a braise than a strict roast at that point. A bit later, some fresh chorizo was added, making that sauce all the better with its spicy goodness.

I had never actually cooked venison before, although I had eaten it several times, and had an idea of what flavours would match well. Further, knowing that it was a very lean protein meant that I knew it had to be cooked slowly to avoid drying it out too much. All in all, a very successful entrée for the crowd.

Of course, that was far from the only dish at the feast - cheesy mashed potatoes, Greek peasant salad, bulgur and couscous salad, pasta with Alfredo sauce, jambalaya, I'd better stop before it looks like an exhaustive list, as there's no way I'll remember them all, and I don't want to offend any of the other cooks. Suffice it to say that no one had any excuse to leave the table hungry.

The food was tasty good, and the fellowship was excellent.

Slowly I turn ...

2010-09-08T12:30:00.001-04:00

(from grandteuton.blogspot.com)

That's right, I was just at Niagara Falls, and I have something very odd to report.

There are strange electrical phenomena there in the land of Tesla, that's for sure.

Those of you who know me personally will be shocked - shocked, I say! - to discover that my hair was forced to stand on end by the relentless electrostatic pressure of that mighty cataract.
(Heidi's hair was similarly affected, but clearly it's less difficult to believe - or picture - in her case.)

Not only was our hair affected, but the batteries in our camera were drained beyond reason, and our mobile phones lost 3G connexion - and thus picture messaging functions - while near the falls.

Clearly there is something extraordinary going on at Niagara Falls, something that neither government seems willing even to acknowledge! Signs are plenteous along the Falls, warning of strange men climbing over the walls and fences to attack (or perhaps warning tourists not to climb over those walls, they were a bit ambiguous, really), but there were no High Voltage warning signs to be found.

This is likely a bigger cover-up than Area 51, but with some help from others out here on the interwebs, we're hoping to blow it wide open.

Carnage du Jour - 31 August 2010

2010-09-01T12:44:00.000-04:00

Well, it was pork chops again, and that's always a good thing.

This time, however, I was looking for a way to make it a bit lighter - not a lot of rice or pasta or potatoes to go with the pork. Besides, it was too hot to do much cooking. So ....

A bit of onion, sweated in some olive oil. Removed from the pan, where the chops were then cooked in that nice onion-flavoured oil. They had been dusted with kosher salt, some beau monde, and some chipotle powder on one side. At the turn (of the chops), some orzo was added to a pot of boiling water - it finished up shortly after the chops were removed to rest on a platter.
But perhaps the tastiest part was when the onions went back in the pan, and cucumber slices were added to the mix.
If you've never cooked cucumber, you ought to try it. They didn't soften and dissolve as one might have expected (I didn't), but rather held up quite nicely, with the browning adding a nice sweetness to their flavour. As they were finishing up, I added some chopped tomato to the pan and gave it a quick stir. A small amount of chicken stock was added, and then in went the (well drained) orzo.

Quite a nice dinner, and very quick and simple.

Reading List Update 2

2010-08-30T12:33:00.000-04:00

Here's the original list (including the earlier update), just in case you haven't finished them all yet:
Read, learn, and enjoy:

Darkness at Noon, Arthur Koestler
Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand
Anthem, Ayn Rand [free gutenberg.org version here]
The Unheavenly City, Revisited, Edward Banfield
The Abolition of Man, C.S. Lewis
That Hideous Strength, C.S. Lewis
Little Brother, Cory Doctorow [free creative commons version here]
1984, George Orwell
Animal Farm, George Orwell
Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
We, Eugene Zamyatin
The Martian Way, Isaac Asimov
Freehold, Michael Z. Williamson
Ted, White, and Blue, Ted Nugent

One More Reason ...

2010-08-25T10:21:00.000-04:00

that I'm done with college sports.

In step with the tradition of going after the big bucks, rather than caring about the students, the "student" athletes, or even alumni, the Big Ten (10? 11? 12?) has expanded in order to add a football championship game to its schedule each year.
This extra game will bring in plenty of TV money, no doubt, but it has the added benefit of making all the traditional rivalry games of the end of the season less important, and much less likely even to be at the end of the season.
Michigan-Ohio State, Indiana-Purdue, Wisconsin-Minnesota, Et cetera-Et cetera.
It doesn't matter if your students and alumni have always (or at least for several decades) looked forward to ending the season against that one main rival.
It doesn't matter that in some cases, that win might be the only redeeming act in an otherwise futile season.
All that matters is that ESPN will give us a whole pile of money to spend on more football stuff, so we can play more football and get more money from ESPN.

What a bunch of crap. College sports once were about the students and the student athletes playing for their school's glory and honour. Now it's just the minor leagues, with major league budgets. [I know, many will say there never was such a time, but I think that's simply revisionist history attempting one of two things; either to justify the current batch of hypocrisy (because it's always been this way), or to say that all college sports are always bad. I don't accept either position.]

grr.

Carnage du Jour - 13 August 2010

2010-08-14T11:00:00.000-04:00

Well, there are storms coming, so we'd better do our grilling today, right? Right.

I've got some chicken breasts and some bone-in ribeyes - guess I'll just cook them both and we'll eat whatever.
The chicken is a couple boneless, skinless breasts, so I dropped in some Italian dressing and mixed in some smoky horseradish sauce as a marinade before cooking.
As to the steaks, I'm usually a "salt and pepper is more than enough flavouring for a good piece of beef" kind of guy, but with the horseradish working in my head already, I made a quick glaze / sauce / whatever of some prepared horseradish, a bit of (real!) vanilla extract, and some (also real!) maple syrup. It still tasted mostly like horseradish, but with a little of the edge gone and its flavours mellowed and pointing slightly back from where it normally would be.

Once the fire was ready, on went the steaks, having been salted on both sides. A turn halfway through the first side to give those nice cross-hatch grill marks was executed to perfection, they were flipped, and given their turn on that side when the mixture was applied.
Oh my.
The smoke and heat really did a number on that stuff - it was still a tad hot, but mostly it just melded with the beef flavour and did a virtual dance on our tongues.

As to the chicken, they went on once the steaks came off to rest. With them went a nice little head of radicchio that had been halved and slathered with a bit of Italian dressing and a few leftover ears of red corn to reheat on the grill.
Wow.
The chicken was so tender, juicy, and flavourful that there were no complaints around the table.

Even better (although the radicchio and corn were fine), Heidi made her new variation on a Caprese salad, adding in some fresh chopped green chiles form the garden. That extra heat is a beautiful addition to the flavour profile of that classic salad, and once again it was difficult to decide what to leave - so I didn't leave anything. Fortunately, I didn't serve everything up, so there was only a little too much on the plate to start to go with the nothing left at the end.

Try that mixture on your next steak - it was spectacular!

Carnage du Jour - 11 August 2010

2010-08-12T11:36:00.001-04:00

"There is simply no more versatile cut of meat than the pork tenderloin."
- Antonin Lavoris

OK, I actually made that up, but had Antonin Lavoris said that (or even existed), I would agree most heartily, and last night's meal was a particularly tasty example of that versatility.

A whole tenderloin was rubbed with a mix of chipotle chili powder and beau monde, then slow roasted on the charcoal grill, using the indirect cooking method.
This let the flavour of the charcoal permeate the meat - mixing beautifully with the chipotle's own smokiness - whilst not charring the outside.
In about 20 minutes (it's hard to know for sure, as I was also mowing the lawn as I cooked the tenderloin), with a couple flips and turns in there, the internal temperature was north of 160F and all was well with the pork. (I love my instant read thermometer!)

The side dish was a delicious chick-pea salad that Heidi made using scallions, tomatoes, parsley, cilantro, olive oil, lemon juice, and white balsamic vinegar.

All in all, a delicious repast, and a wonderful end to an overly hot day.

Try it - you'll like it!

Reading List Update

2010-08-10T11:40:00.000-04:00

OK, I've come up with some additions to the reading list, and they're likely quite familiar to many of you.
You may look at them and say (to yourself, one hopes) that those are just children's books - how can they be worth reading as an adult?
Well, my friends, here are my thoughts on that topic. It seems to me that the best children's books are those that can be read at any age. Typically, there is a period in one's life where reading those books (whichever they might be) is beneath one. With maturity, though, comes a time when those books are once again appropriate.
I think you'll find that you appreciate much more of the stories and the writing than you did when you encountered them as a child, and that you'll have a doubled reading experience - you'll get that nostalgic feeling for when you first read the book, and you'll get the enhanced experience of understanding parts of it for the first time.

Try it, you'll like it.

Here's the original list, just in case you haven't finished it yet:
Read, learn, and enjoy:

Darkness at Noon, Arthur Koestler
Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand
Anthem, Ayn Rand [free gutenberg.org version here]
The Unheavenly City, Revisited, Edward Banfield
The Abolition of Man, C.S. Lewis
That Hideous Strength, C.S. Lewis
Little Brother, Cory Doctorow [free creative commons version here]
1984, George Orwell
Animal Farm, George Orwell
Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
We, Eugene Zamyatin
The Martian Way, Isaac Asimov
Freehold, Michael Z. Williamson
Ted, White, and Blue, Ted Nugent

I Miss Them Already

2010-08-05T13:40:00.000-04:00

Just a few days ago, I finished listening to the Chronicles of Narnia which had been dramatised for radio by Paul McCusker of Focus on the Family.
These are simply spectacular. The cast is great, the sound effects and music are spot on.

My only quibble is that they present them in the revised order (chronological within Narnia) rather than the original order (in which they were written & published).
That was easily overcome by simply listening in the order I prefer, rather than in the order in which the CDs were labeled.

With Paul Scofield as the storyteller (narrator) and David Suchet as Aslan (no, he doesn't mention his moustaches, nor does he sound at all like Hercule Poirot), there is a real sense of authenticity, and a real sense of the stories as being really real. (I know, I just used real thrice in that sentence, but I don't care.)

As I said in the title, I miss them already. My first trip to work and back after I had finished the series meant I was back to the radio or music CDs or whatever, and while that's what I had always done on these drives, it wasn't right, somehow.
"Oh bother," I thought, "I miss Peter, Susan, Edmund, Lucy, Eustace, Jill, Digory, Polly, Puddleglum, Reepicheep, Aslan, oh, all of those friends one makes in Narnia."

I don't think I can recommend these highly enough - they really are wonderful in all the senses of that word. Please, find them and listen! Of course, nothing can replace the books, so you ought to read them as well, but this is a great way to get your Narnia fix on the go.

What is Maturity?

2010-07-07T09:04:00.008-04:00

(from grandteuton.blogspot.com)

Years ago, my good friend, Terry, told me that his definition of maturity is knowing what you won't do. I think that's a pretty good (and simple, easy to apply) definition.

It focuses, though, on the end result, not on the process that gets one there. Maturing and maturity are clearly related, but their definitions don't necessarily line up quite so easily.

All of us have different roles we play.
Perhaps they can be described simply: I'm a son, a brother, and a father. There may be more to it - we may seem (even to ourselves) to be a different person in each of several different arenas, such as work, home, school, various social settings, etc.
At any rate, I think real maturity and maturing consist of:

realising that these different roles or personae exist,
noting that there are parts of each that differ significantly to the others,
seeing that there are good and bad aspects to each of the personae, and
moving to integrate the best parts of each mode of behaviour into a single persona.

This, it seems to me, is a pretty good way of analysing one's level of maturity. If there are still different modes of behaviour, based on the situation, then it is quite difficult to say that one knows what one won't do. If, however, the best parts of all the roles one has taken can be combined - be integrated - into a single self, then one may well be able to say he is (at least) maturing.

Thoughts?

My current favourite colour

2010-07-06T17:09:00.003-04:00

is Orange!
Go you crazy Dutchmen, Go!

Who would have expected an all-European cup final? Not this writer. (I was expecting a US v Brasil finale down in South Africa, but - apparently - that is not to be.)

Still, with no Yanks and no Red Devils, who could ask for a more entertaining and skillful side than the Dutch have turned out to be? A great run from these guys - especially Wesley Sneijder.

Fast Food

2010-06-28T23:22:00.000-04:00

(get it?)

What to do with all that asparagus

2010-06-28T10:34:00.004-04:00

Well, folks, living in Michigan has many benefits, not the least of which is the spectacular annual asparagus crop.

Of course, the season doesn't last terribly long, so it's a challenge to find some variety in the ways one prepares those tasty spears. In addition, when two people shop for groceries, the vegetable drawer can end up with more asparagus than might seem reasonable.

So ...

Roasted, steamed, with and without Hollandaise or Bearnaise sauce;
Soups and vegetable stocks;
et cetera;
but ...
why not pickle some? It was actually quite simple to make some refrigerator asparagus pickles. Here's basically what I did:

1/4 - 1/2 C sugar
1/4 - 1/2 C salt
1 C white vinegar
1 C water
1 t dill weed (seed might be good too)
2 t peppercorns (whatever mixture you like)
2 t coriander seeds

Bring that brine to a boil, then let it cool a bit.
Blanch the asparagus, shocking with an ice bath or cold water to stop the cooking.
Cover the spears with the brine and refrigerate overnight.
Transfer to a jar, topping off with what brine will fit.

I imagine this would keep quite a while in the fridge, but it's unlikely that you'll have it around long enough to find out - these things are tasty!

Donovan is the Man

2010-06-23T13:44:00.001-04:00

Wow.

Even FIFA couldn't deny Landon Donovan his winning goal.

On to the next round, folks.

USA! USA! USA!

RIP Sydney Williams

2010-06-15T12:08:00.004-04:00

We got the sad news that our good friend Sydney passed away on Thursday last.
Thanks to all who've prayed for him and his family - it's not time to stop, though.

We're missing a good friend, but more importantly:
Dorothy is missing a good husband.
The whole Williams family are missing a good father / grandfather / etc.
- They all still need and appreciate your prayers.
The congregation at the Avenue Church are missing a tireless worker and brother.
Christian Aid and the folks in Africa are missing a helper - a man who raised money and dug wells to help others to have a brighter present and future.

The world is missing a good man, but there is rejoicing in Heaven.

Oh yes, Sydney is missed here and now, but we know we'll see him again.

Shameless Self-Promotion

2010-06-11T12:28:00.005-04:00

Well, not totally self, really.
I've just finished the editing process on the new edition (3rd) of a book by my great-great-grandfather.

Titled "Reminiscences - 1861 to 1865, An Adventure With Guerrillas," it's the story of his Civil War encounter with Confederate Guerrillas and his escape from their attempt at his execution.

It's quite a cool little story, really, and it's even available for sale at my lulu.com store (www.lulu.com/grandteuton), but if you want to wait a while, it will also be available through Amazon (not sure how long that process takes) so you can take advantage of Amazon prime or whatever other options you have there.

Pretty nice to be able to bring it back to print after so long - the 2nd edition was in 1899. You have to like some of the technology we can access these days.

A Cool Thing I Made Once

2010-06-02T16:58:00.004-04:00

I don't really know what brought this to mind recently, but I think one of the cooler things I've ever made was a present for my Dad.
I can't even remember if it was a Christmas, Birthday, or even Father's Day present, but that doesn't matter a whole lot.

At any rate, Dad collects buffaloes of all descriptions. (I may explain why in another post, but the reason isn't all that important right now.)
If you want to be zoologically precise, they're really American Bison, but no one outside the zoological community ever really calls them bison, and a buffalo by any other name would still make chips ... but I digress.
He has stuffed buffaloes, stone buffaloes, a specially-commissioned bronze buffalo (which is quite spectacular), terracotta buffaloes, plastic, ... well, you get the idea, I hope.
Whenever this was, I decided that he needed a more formal herd of buffaloes to roam the open range. Of course, then he'd also need an open range, wouldn't he? Naturally.

Enter memories of childhood and those spectacular Electric Football sets. You may remember them - the little men sat on metal brush kinds of things, and you set them in formation on a metal football field. When the switch was thrown (assuming it was plugged in), the field would vibrate - with a very satisfyingly electric hum - and the men would move. They would move mostly in the direction they faced when you set them in formation, but as they bumped and jostled one another, the whole thing looked more like a rugby scrum than a proper football play. [I wonder if they ever sold these as Electric Rugby sets anywhere ....]

So - a little copy/paste action on the computer and I could print out a sheet of properly-sized buffaloes for the little football players. A bit of scissoring and gluing turned those teams of footballers into a herd of buffaloes, and now the milling, jostling action was actually appropriate.

[I'll see if I can find a photo to upload, but that's semi-doubtful.]

What's the coolest present you ever made for someone?

RIP Art Linkletter

2010-05-27T10:36:00.003-04:00

You know, obits say the darndest things, don't they?

Seriously, here's another of the pioneers of TV gone, and how many of you ever even saw his House Party programme? It probably couldn't fly in today's schedule, as no bleeping would be required, nor would any bouncers be needed to prevent fisticuffs.

Ah well, he'll be missed by some (including your humble blogger).

Coinage du Jour - 18 May 2010

2010-05-18T12:19:00.002-04:00

RELIMINARY - adj

def. - revised, but still guessed-at

sample - "After further analysis, our reliminary estimate is 10% higher than the preliminary estimate released some time ago. At some future date, we will replace these estimates with actual data."

Carnage du Jour - 14 May 10

2010-05-17T10:48:00.003-04:00

Scallops. Sea scallops to be precise.
Although Heidi prefers bay scallops to sea, she did admit these were delicious - and that the spinach served along-side was the best she'd ever had. So ...

A nice hot pan with some oil.
Dry off the scallops a bit, then dust them with some ginger, white pepper, and curry powder.
Get a nice sear on both sides (don't overcook them unless you like eating rubber), and out of the pan.
Add a can of green chilies to the pan and sauté a bit, then add in some orange juice and cook down - just to thicken it a bit.
Then add some buttermilk to thicken and make the sauce nice and creamy.

This was all served with some rice cooked in chicken stock and chopped spinach.

What made the spinach so good? I'm glad you asked. It was just plain-old frozen spinach cooked in the microwave with a nice pat of (real) butter melted in, but then that orange and green chili sauce got drizzled over each of the items on the plate.
I have to think that the orange juice component was the key here. Growing up, we always would have some vinegar to drizzle on our spinach (yes, I ate spinach as a kid, and actually liked it), so it seems perfectly reasonable to me that other acids might work there as well.

At any rate, it was a very successful meal, and I'll see about replicating it with bay scallops next time (they're a bit tricky, as they're small enough to overcook very quickly).

Praying for Sydney

2010-05-13T14:46:00.006-04:00

and no, not the city in Australia.

We got news from England the other day - our friend Sydney has been diagnosed with cancer of the spine. He's doing well right now, all things considered. He's in hospital quite some distance from home, and from his non-driving wife, Dorothy, so that's hard on all concerned, but he's largely back to being himself, now the pain is under control. He's schmoozing the nurses, trading chocolate mints for favours and so forth.

Clearly, he and Dorothy and all their family are in our prayers (and we'd be more than happy were you to add them to your prayer list as well), but this got us to thinking about how quickly people can become the closest of friends.

We first met Sydney and Dorothy in 1994, and in the intervening years, we've spent a grand total of nearly two weeks together. It's frankly remarkable to think that even after the first visit of a couple days, we were fast friends - corresponding (fairly) regularly between our pentannual visits, and one longer (a full week!) visit off-schedule a couple years back.

Sometimes it simply doesn't take much time for a real connexion to be made. [Right, Heidi?]

Whenever and wherever you find friendships:
Treasure them.
Honour them.
Celebrate them.

Music - Learning Guitar

2010-05-07T09:31:00.003-04:00

My Dad is taking guitar lessons, and it's extremely cool.

I think he's always wanted to play, or at least ever since I started taking lessons in 7th grade or so - and on the same guitar he's using for his lessons now.

The thing that got me thinking about this, was a phone conversation the other day about chords and chord changes from his latest lesson. He was telling me that a particular finger doesn't move during the change from one chord to another, and I couldn't figure out how that was possible, because all of my fingers move when making that particular change.
I grabbed a guitar and tried to find another form of the initial chord that would let me leave a finger stationary ... I found one, but it's certainly not any way I've ever played that chord before.

As I said to him once I found that currently-uncomfortable chord position, his lessons may be good for my playing.

That got me thinking about learning and teaching in general. I've often heard it said (I've said it myself, for that matter) that teaching something to someone is a great way to learn it better, and this brought it home once again.

Think about something that you learned a long time ago, and that you do well and fairly often now.
If you had to explain to someone who didn't know how just what you're doing to to do that, could you? It's like the question he asked his teacher about chord changes. "How do you know which one to go to next?" The easy answer is that after you do it for a long time, you just kind of know, but that's not very helpful. You've just told your student that he's in for a long time of frustration, or you've told him that you can't really explain the stuff he wants to know.

Either way, you haven't enhanced that teacher/student relationship - and you haven't helped your student to grow. That's the hard part of teaching - you have to constantly examine how you do things, not just do them.

Oh, and that can be the fun part too.

Here's your challenge: teach someone something today that really makes you think about how you do it.
I know, your head may hurt for a moment, but you'll suddenly find a new aspect of something you thought you knew thoroughly, and you'll be as much richer for it as your student.

RIP Ernie Harwell

2010-05-05T10:03:00.005-04:00

We all knew it was coming, and we've likely never known anyone who was actually so ready for it, but death is always a shock no matter what.

The one time I met Ernie, I could tell that he was just as cool as we thought he was from listening to him on the radio (I miss the Tigers on WJR, and I'm not even a baseball fan); he was a genuinely nice, kind gentleman.

I do have one (continuing) regret related to Ernie. He had some kind of connection with our church, and every year as I started the planning for the Lenten Devotion book, I thought that I should send Ernie a letter and ask for a bit of devotional writing from him - but I never did. Now I never will.

Still, I know that Ernie is in Heaven (and I'm pretty sure that doesn't mean he's in an Iowa cornfield with a bunch of dead baseball players), and he's happy. No, happy wouldn't be the half of it - Joy is the serious business of Heaven, and Ernie was always good at Joy.

He'll be missed.

Oh, and it's time to add to the name at Comerica Park: Harwell Field at Comerica Park has a wonderful ring, don't you think?

Value Added Tax?

2010-04-23T16:02:00.003-04:00

This is an interesting possibility. I have my doubts that we'll ever really get an actual debate that airs the important points of the issue, but here are a few cautions I would throw out there.

Unless this tax replaces the income tax we ought never even consider it.
Given the hidden nature of a VAT, it becomes far too easy for the kleptocrats of all stripes to hike taxes without being as obvious as would be a change in the withholding on our paychecks, or the sales tax added on the end of a cash register receipt.
One general rule is that if you tax something, you get less of it (cigarettes are a good example, and gasoline is being targeted in the same way). Think of the name of this tax: Value Added tax. This means that the (unintended?) consequence of such a tax is to yield less value added in the economy. That doesn't sound like a good idea, does it?

If we're going to move from an income tax to a consumption tax, let's be fair and honest about it, and go with a national sales tax on everything but food, medicine, and shelter.

Frankly, I think the main attractions of the VAT for our politicians are that it's hidden, it taxes every part of every chain of production, and it's European.
After all, they know more about having a dynamic economy than we do, right?

grr.

Carnage du Jour - 17 Apr 10 - Guess Who Came to Dinner

2010-04-19T09:54:00.003-04:00

Well, that was a great evening.

At our church (Grosse Pointe United Methodist), the Witness committee came up with a very fun event. Batches of folks signed up to eat together, but without knowing with whom they'd be eating, nor where, for that matter. Some of us offered to host (the others offered to guest, one supposes), the hosting responsibilities being (in general) providing the entrée and beverages and sometimes a starch.

Heidi and I hosted, and I know you're all dying to know what entrée we served. Well, after much thought, debate, and surveying of the grocery adverts, we determined that many of our hosting compatriots would be serving beef tenderloin. We briefly considered the porcine alternative (after all, there are endless possibilities there, no?), but finally rejected it for a simple recipe from our family camping history - coq au vin.

Yes, there was even bacon grease in the freezer for browning the chicken and the pearl onions and carrots and mushrooms and all that.
Once the skillet had finished its duty, all went straight into the old roaster we inherited with our house and simmered away happily for a few hours before serving time.
Oh, not being certain of the status of our meal's starch element, we also roasted some nice red and white new potatoes with a bit of olive oil, salt, and pepper, and then dressed them with freshly minced parsley at service. They were quite tasty as well.

The cleanup of the baconage was less onerous than I had expected, after seeing how splattery everything tried to be, thanks in large part to the double spatter-guard technology I employed, using both the screen type cover on the skillet and the metal shoji to create a walled garden around it as well.

All in all, the food was excellent (not just mine, but all the contributions were top rate), and the company and conversation even better.

Again, a great evening, and an event that deserves to be repeated.

I'm Famous!

2010-04-13T11:33:00.004-04:00

I know you all check here regularly for my accounts of tasty meals, but now I've been mentioned on an actual high-traffic food blog.

You need to check it out, and not just because I'm there, but because it's a great site in its own right.

http://delectablyfree.com/ is the place, and I'm in the Quinoa Part 1 post
http://delectablyfree.com/2010/04/quinoa-part-i/

Pretty cool, and I didn't even have to beg or pay or anything - click on over, what are you waiting for?

Charity Begins at Home

2010-04-09T15:49:00.002-04:00

Actually, that's pretty much its only source.

As so aptly described by Congressman Crockett, if it's not one's own money, it's not charity. Further, if it's not by choice, it's not charity either.

Americans are as generous a people as has ever existed, and I believe that's why we've tolerated the kleptocracy which has taken our money for what would otherwise have been charitable purposes. Still, when someone takes my money without my express consent, for whatever noble end, it's still theft.

If I take your money to give to a deserving charity, you certainly can't take any credit for that act of generosity, nor can I claim any such, having no skin in the game, so to speak.

Were we to move back to our constitutionally limited government, the citizenry as a whole would have vastly more of its own resources to use for the charitable purposes to which the individual owners of that money wished to put it.
In all likelihood (and I really do mean all), the distribution of those resources would be done more efficiently and more effectively as each of us could think globally and act locally (to coin a phrase).

Davy Crockett Redux

2010-03-22T10:47:00.002-04:00

Many of you are probably wondering what Davy Crockett would say if he were alive right now. Probably something like "Hey, let me out of this box, I can't breathe in here!"
But seriously, folks, it's probably just as well that Davy Crockett has long since passed on to his reward - I think the current state of affairs might well have killed him. Consider some of what he said during his career in the US Congress:

"We have the right as individuals to give away as much of our own money as we please in charity; but as members of Congress we have no right to appropriate a dollar of the public money."

"We must not permit our respect for the dead or our sympathy for the living to lead us into an act of injustice to the balance of the living."

"You may all go to Hell, and I will go to Texas."

Democracy in America

2010-03-22T10:02:00.003-04:00

Here are some rather amazing quotes from Alexis de Tocqueville, author of the famous 1835 work, Democracy in America (Volume 1, Volume 2).

"Democracy and socialism have nothing in common but one word, equality. But notice the difference: while democracy seeks equality in liberty, socialism seeks equality in restraint and servitude."

"A democratic government is the only one in which those who vote for a tax can escape the obligation to pay it."

"The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public's money."

"The health of a democratic society may be measured by the quality of functions performed by private citizens."

"There is hardly a political question in the United States which does not sooner or later turn into a judicial one."

"When the past no longer illuminates the future, the spirit walks in darkness."

This last one can leave us a bit more hopeful, I think:
"The greatness of America lies not in being more enlightened than any other nation, but rather in her ability to repair her faults."

Let us pray that she still can.

RIP Fess Parker

2010-03-19T09:29:00.002-04:00

Well, I never did have a coonskin cap, but I wore my fringed suede jacket today in honour of the passing of the Davey Crockett / Daniel Boone of my youth.

Fess Parker, hand-picked for the role of Crockett by Walt Disney himself, was one of those constants in the lives of many of us of a certain age. While I can't say I've been missing those old programmes, I'm pretty sure I'd stop and watch them if I were to come across an episode in my dial perusing.

RIP, Fess Parker, king of the wild frontier.

Horrific News

2010-03-12T14:06:00.004-05:00

This story may be especially troubling for those of you who accompanied Heidi and me to England back in 1999. You'll probably remember Geoff frequently asking, "do you want me to tell you something?"

Of course we did, and in general he delivered some quite interesting stories and information.
One of the tastiest bits was the story of the cheese rolling in the village of Brockworth.

You remember, don't you? The locals would race a half-stone-plus wheel of double Gloucester cheese down a stunningly steep hill to thrill and astonish the onlooking thousands.

Well, the safety first types have had their way with this time-honoured tradition, and it won't happen this year ...
sad times when traditions give way to fear....

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/03/12/cheese_rolling/

grr.

Grand Teuton

Coinage du Jour - 20 January 2012

SOPA and PIPA

Don't Forget

Blessings

Carnage du Jour - 17 October 2011

Happy Thanksgiving

RIP Steve Jobs

Hmm -

I Wonder How Many Others

Happy National Coffee Day!

Projects Update

Coinage du Jour - 07 September 2011

More Shameless Self-Promotion

Shameless Self-Promotion

Surgery Can Be Amazing

A Fun Musical Pairing

Burlap to Cashmere

Bothersome Speech Patterns

Glacage du Jour - 24 July 2011

Sojourners

Carnage du Jour - 16 July 2011

A Dick Tracy Moment

Carnage du Jour - 09 July 2011

Instant Photography is Back ?

The Dogs We Love

I'm ready for some Football!

Carnage du Jour - 25 June 2011

Carnage du Jour - 23 June 2011

R.I.P. ReadyMade

Adult Bever-age du Jour

Hard to believe it's been a year

Triple D Road Trips

Kindles, Books, and Reading in General

Marinade du Jour - 11 May 11

How to Cook Bratwurst

Carnage du Jour - 09 May 2011

Bin Laden

How to Understand the Federal Budget

What to Read Next

Quiche-age du Jour - 27 March 2011

Carnage du Jour - 16 March 2011 (plus Sauce-age!) [Updated]

Dinner and Guest

A Double R.I.P.

Carnage du Jour - 11 February 2011

Electric Cars?

At Last, a Good Game at the Super Bowl

A Christmas Carol (Yes, I know it's January)

Carnage du Jour - 12 January 2011

Privacy? What Privacy? - Updated

Vegage du Jour - 19 December 2010

Carnage du Jour - 17 December 2010

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

I can hardly wait!

Ah - All Those Potlucks and Other Collaborative Meals!

What to Read Right Now

Sauce-age du Jour - 25 November 2010

Vegage du Jour - 25 November 2010

Which e-Reader for Christmas?

Carnage du Jour - 09 November 2010

A Great Appliance

A Highly Recommended Book

Some Current Projects

My new computer

Reading List Update #3

The Ten Cannots

At Last! More Shameless "Self"-Promotion

Won't Someone Think Of The Children?!

Why Limited Government?

Carnage du Jour - 11 September 2010

Slowly I turn ...

Carnage du Jour - 31 August 2010

Reading List Update 2

One More Reason ...

Carnage du Jour - 13 August 2010

Carnage du Jour - 11 August 2010

Reading List Update

I Miss Them Already

Suggested Reading List

What is Maturity?