Carnage du Jour - 09 July 2011

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 ?

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

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!

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

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

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

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.