thekelsmith asked: Are you still running? What's something you're looking forward to in the near future?
I have been woefully remiss in my running. Mainly because it’s terrible outside and I have a deep and abiding loathing of treadmills. I’m not happy about this, compounded because my girlfriend is training for a half marathon at the beginning of May, and she’s totally ripped while I, conversely, am a blob. I need to fix this.
beefranck asked: The food pictures you post always look A. MA. ZING. Is cooking your hobby or your job? If it's your job, do you accept cross stitched rap lyrics as payment?
I’d been waiting for the right time for big reveal, so here it is:
Cooking is not my job. I’m the speechwriter for the CEO of the company you work for. I sit about 300 yards or so (given vertical feet) away from you.
We should probably have drinks sometime. /smallworld
Show your work.
It’s been a helluva a week. Given that Friday’s pretty slow around here, why don’t you ask me something since basically no one else will see it. I promise to be either honest or profane. Or both!
Mmm, oxford commas
Use it, don’t abuse it.
More like “I had eggs, toast and a misunderstanding of how conjunctions work.”
YES. THIS. ALWAYS.
This is the luxury cottage that HugeInJapan, L3fan-o-rama and I are staying in for our weekend of debauchery and ice fishing.
It’s ok to be jealous.
We’ve got such a next-level approach this time around. Which is good, since I think my feet thawed out from the 2011 trip sometime in mid-August. Matt has this whole enterprise on lockdown.
Dinner Tonight:
Sake-cured salmon, Avocado, Yuzu-Soy-Buttermilk, Smoked Ikura
I cured the salmon for a few hours in sake and salt and cold-smoked the ikura with alder. The dressing is just buttermilk, soy, salt, yuzu juice and zest.
Drinks Tonight: Moscow Mule
One of the best things I got for Christmas was a set of copper mugs specifically meant to serve Moscow Mules. They’re pretty great, but you don’t need the fancy mugs to make them.
You will, however, need:
2 oz. vodka (or gin, if you’re randy)
1 oz. ginger syrup (recipe follows)
Half lime, squeezed
Seltzer, tonic, club soda (anything with bubbles, really. We’ve used Sprite before)
Lime wedge
Mix all in a copper mug or, failing that, Collins glass. Garnish with lime wedge.
Ginger Syrup:
(Usually, Moscow Mules — and their close cousin the Dark & Stormy — are made with ginger beer. I find that ginger beer quality varies widely and while I like the rustic, rural kick it imparts with the dark rum on a D&S, I think the ginger syrup is a better route for the clean profile of vodka)
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
2 knobs of ginger (or more to taste) sliced
Combine the water and sugar and bring to a boil. Add the ginger and reduce the heat to a bare simmer. Cook 10 minutes, remove from heat and let steep until it reaches room temperature. It will keep in the fridge for a week or so, but it’s not likely to last that long.
The snow is officially here. My thyme bush has been a warrior, but this may be the end of the road.
Gawker has links to Ol’ Dirty Bastard’s 94-page FBI file
Ludacris — STAND UP (Cheapshot Remix)
I got a lot of really nice notes about tonight’s dinner. I’m thrilled when people like what happens in my kitchen. A bunch of new folks showed up, too, and I have no idea what I can do next that turns the dial like ramen, but I hope you’ll stick around. In any case, introduce yourself. I like to know who’s hanging about.
I’d sound the Drudge siren, but I don’t have the gif. Instead, please enjoy this rowdy LUDA remix (and find more Cheapshot here).
104 playsDinner Tonight: Momofuku Ramen
I’ve been cooking out of David Chang’s Momofuku cookbook for about a year, so it was finally time to break down and try the ramen. I’d held out because it’s a pretty daunting undertaking.
There’s a shredded pork shoulder. Roasted pork belly. A chicken stock made from pounds of chicken necks and backs. A Japanese barbecue sauce called “tare” made from another chicken back and a third of a pound of bacon. A sous vide egg. A thousand possible garnishes and embellishments. And I didn’t even TRY to make my noodles from scratch.
The end result is fantastic, but holy hell is it a lot of work. Not hard work, certainly, but a multi-day affair that will claim most of the pots in your kitchen at one time or another. I have a definite appreciation for single-focus ramen shops. The work and care that goes into truly exceptional ramen is easily enough to occupy a kitchen.
Also, one clear reason that everything Chang does tastes so good is that it’s all just bathing in fat. My kitchen is coated in this patina of schmaltz, pork fat and bacon grease.
In no way should you construe that in a pejorative sense.
The Shins | Simple Song
The Shins new single off of their next album “Port of Morrow.”
Thank you, mumblinandfumblin. :)
It’s like they’re channeling Pretender-era Jackson Browne with that little piano bit, and in no way is that a complaint.
1,423 playsAccent theme by Handsome Code
Email: WIWRNT[at]gmail
