Is Buying a House a Bad Investment?

I read an article yesterday that has been in my thoughts ever since. It suggested that renting is better than buying from an investment standpoint. I’ve thought this through – from the perspective of a current home owner, former Realtor and former mortgage loan officer – and the more I think about it, the more I disagree.

The title of the article, written on February 16, 2012 is, “As Investment, Renting Beats Owning ’100% of Time’” written by Reuters/CNBC.com.

Mr. Arzaga – who owns a luxury home in San Ramon, California, and is also the founder and CEO of Cornerstone Wealth Management - is quoted as saying:

Examining 250 properties around the U.S., and going through close to 40 client files to project the financial impact of owning real estate versus liquidating it, Arzaga, an adjunct professor in personal finance at the University of California at Berkeley, found that, “100 percent of the time it was better to rent, rather than own.”

That’s right: 100 percent.

The reason is simple. While a home is the main repository of wealth for many Americans, it comes with numerous hefty expenses. The carrying costs — what’s needed to hold and maintain the asset — range from property taxes and home insurance to emergency repairs and renovations.

I’m not saying he is categorically wrong, I’m just saying that I don’t agree and the reason is simple. The vast majority people who can afford to buy a reasonable home don’t have money to pay for housing and have money to invest separately. They can qualify for a mortgage and buy a house, but typically the remaining income goes to pay for other living expenses. I believe that investing in a home is a much better heaven for equity and does provide a method of savings that would be otherwise wasted on rent.

The fact is, the landlord of the rental is going to not only service his or her debt, but also factor in the cost to maintain the dwelling and provide a profit for themselves. From this perspective, one should be able to purchase a more valuable home than they could otherwise afford to rent because the profit and projected expenses are not factored in. Sure, a person should account for regular and major (emergency) maintenance expenses, but that’s where the second mortgage comes in. (Only slightly kidding.)

Another reason I disagree is that if a homeowner gets a 30 year fixed rate mortgage, their income should increase periodically while their monthly payments remain the same. If renting, there are typically annual rate increases in the lease agreement so the gap between income and housing expenses increases much less if at all.

Another reason is control; at the end of a lease agreement – and sometimes during – a renter can be notified that the home is no longer available for rent due to the sale of the house or other factors. A home owner on the other hand can decide for themselves when to sell and move to another home.

Now I’m no economist and I don’t own my own wealth management company, but from a guy who has worked hard his whole life, and a guy who has owned two homes, it has been a way for me to set money aside through the build up of equity over many years.

My first home was $39,000 and due to its location and a career change, I was forced to walk away allowing the new owner to take over the existing loan (which means no equity to cash out).  I probably could have sold the first home at a profit, but I didn’t have the time to wait for it to sell.

My second home on the other hand has provided me with several thousands in equity already through refinancing. It will again when I sell. It is a good investment to me. (Okay 50% of the time buying a home was a good investment.) It’s not a 5,000 square foot estate worth millions, it’s a simple old house (circa 1965) out in the country on 5 acres.

Money aside, the memories of raising my sons and time spent with family and friends far outweigh the small financial gain I may realize when I sell.

Perhaps the “close to 40″ clients of  Cornerstone Wealth Management would do better renting than buying, but people like me, just average everyday Joe’s can benefit from owning a home, building equity if for no other reason than to have a house paid for when it’s time to retire. I wonder if that was included in the calculation, the number of years with no payments after the loan is paid off. No rent, no payment, just a whole lot of equity and spare cash on a monthly basis.

That brings up another point (memory). My grandfather used to pay cash for his cars. He drove Volvo almost exclusively, he would trade his car in every few years paying cash for the difference. His investment broker advised him to finance the car so he could invest the money that was tied up in the vehicle. I don’t know if he took that advice or not. Carrie and I have paid off our cars and we have been reaping the benefits of no car payments for some time (my 1995 Chevy Tahoe much longer than the 2005 Saturn Vue). That savings – more than $1,000 per month – has been a tangible benefit each month in our lives. Just makes me wonder how these brokers do their math.

I’m sure that Mr. Arzaga could prove me wrong from an investment broker standpoint, but from down here in the trenches, home ownership just makes sense.

Just my opinion. Thanks for reading.

So what’s the deal? No posts?

It’s been one long and adventurous month for us to say the least. I’ve turned a year older and have enjoyed some great meals. Unfortunately however – at least for those who read my blog – I have not had time to create any new posts. My business has had my full attention and the time I would normally have for composing new posts has been otherwise utilized. It’s good – just busy.

My Birthday

I do foresee a number of changes in the near future. I will likely be closing this WordPress blog and opening two new ones on the BlogEngine platform. One will be for the journal/general stuff, and the other will be for the food. I just think it’s time to separate the two in the best interest of those who could care less about my vacations and ramblings and are more interested in the food we like to cook and vice-a-versa. I’m choosing the BlogEngine platform so I have a little more control over the formatting and source code of my pages.

2012 – so far it’s been a very good year! I find myself grateful for so many things and very optimistic for the future both near and far.

That’s all for now – thanks for reading.

Sourdough Cheese & Bacon Pull Bread

Making my usual culinary rounds on the web, I stopped by SavoryReviews.com and read something that I knew I would be making soon. I wrote about this site before, and I even made a list of recipes I planned to try, but this one quickly jumped to the top of all my “want to try that soon” lists. It actually inspired me to leave the peaceful confines of my home office and plunge into the New Years Eve crowds to buy the ingredients.

What would inspire such an adventure? Sourdough & Bacon & Cheese would! Rex said this is called “crack bread” on his post.

I made this part of our New Year’s Eve celebration. After making it, Carrie and I had to hold ourselves back to save room for the rest of the meal to come. This “Savory” appetizer is to die for – who knew BaaS (Bacon as a Seasoning) would work so well on sourdough bread?

This is a very easy recipe! I didn’t follow Rex’s ingredients to the letter… actually, I was only interested in the bread, bacon and cheese.

• Sourdough; large unsliced loaf from the grocer.
• Bacon; about 1/3 of a pound. NOTE: You might want to go ahead and make the whole pound since it is impossible to resist the temptation to nibble at this once it’s cooked. Trust me, there would have been a lot more bacon on my bread had I anticipate how irresistible those crispy bacon pieces were going to be.
• Medium Cheddar Cheese; 8 onces sliced thin.
• Unsalted Butter; about 2 sticks
• Fresh Italian Parsley; not to much.
• Garlic Powder; 1/4 tsp of my fresh stuff, maybe a little more if store brand.
• Italian Seasoning; to taste.

Grab a handfull of the bacon and dice it up good, then plop it into a frying pan and cook until crisp.

Nice and crispy! Move to cool and drain the grease.

While the bacon is cooking, cut the bread.

Using a sharp knife, or in my case, a serrated electric one, slice the bread almost to the bottom but not quite. You want it to hold together at the bottom. Turn 90° and slice again. Rex says that you may need some assistance holding the bread together on the cross cut, but with the electric knife, I was able to do it myself.

After slicing the cheese fairly thin…

Insert the sliced cheese into the sliced bread. I followed each row but I think I will do it more like Rex did next time.

Melt the butter. I used the microwave until just barely melted.

Chop the parsley and add to your dry spices. I used a prepared Italian seasoning mix this time as well as my own homemade garlic powder.

Add the spices to the melted butter.

Slather the butter and seasoning all over the bread.

Now, wrap this up good in aluminum foil and cook at 350° for about 15 minutes. Then remove the foil from the top and continue cooking until the cheese is melted and the bread starts to brown.

This smelled so good that I kind of rushed things and pulled it out of the oven too soon. No problem, just popped it back in there for a few more minutes – that is after I sampled the bread.

The result is an irresistible appetizer that will be devoured. We actually had to cover it up and put it in the fridge so we wouldn’t ruin our dinner.

Rex suggests this to be served as a whole, allowing guests to pull bite sized morsels from the loaf. I think you could also divide it into servings and plate it for each guest. Having said that, what about doing several small sourdough loaves or bun sized versions? Oh – I’m having a tasty thought.

I want to thank Rex for sharing this on his website. It was one of the tastiest bread appetizers I’ve ever had, just as he promised.

Next time? More butter, more bacon and put the cheese in more randomly.

New Year’s Eve in the Kitchen

Our holiday’s this year found us entrenched in the kitchen. We had a great time preparing a few extravagant meals as well as some tried and true simple ones. New Year’s Eve was no different, we spent a lot of time in the kitchen. Even though we planned an old favorite for our celebration of 2011, we did make something new that blew us away.

This evening we planned our favorite, Black Angus Ribeye’s with (our new favorite) Sous Vide Shrimp, Fried Bussels Sprouts, Baked Potato, and sautéed mushrooms, onions, and peppers. It all came out wonderfully with the possible exception of the Brussels Sprouts, they were a little greasy. I did a few things a little different and will summarize below.

What blew us away was the appetizer I stole from SavoryReviews.com. That one deserves its own post.

Ribeye
We get our “certified” black angus ribeye’s from Sam’s Club. We’ve tried meat from other places but these seem to be the most consistent in quality and price. They usually come 3 or 4 to a pack, and we usually grill them all and snack on the leftovers for a few days in salads, omelets and sandwiches.

My tried and true method for grilling them was slightly modified due to some cable shows I’ve seen where the chefs soak the steaks in clarified butter. I wanted to give this a try but since I was down to my last pound of butter, I ended up putting the salted steaks and the butter in a vacuum bag and letting them sit on the counter for an hour.

After the ‘new marinade’ it was back to normal on the technique. I am going to have to make a page for this technique since I use it so often. It’s very simple and works perfect every time.

The steaks are pierced with a fork all over and the rubbed with salt.

They are allowed to warm on the counter for about an hour.

I use a gas grill. I clean it, turn it on nuclear hot and wait till it’s over 600° then turn down the gas.

• Place the steaks on the grill and close the lid.
• Wait two minutes.
• Open the lid and turn the steaks 90° – horizontally, not flipped yet. Close the lid.
• Wait two minutes – make sure the temp in the grill is around 500°.
• Open and flip the steaks. Close the lid
• Wait two minutes. Still monitoring the temp and watching for flare ups.
• Open and turn the steaks 90° again and close the lid.
• Wait two minutes.
• Remove the steaks and tent loosely with aluminum foil for 5-10 minutes.
  — Don’t stab, cut or otherwise pierce the steaks. Let them rest undisturbed so the juices can redistribute.
• Turn off the gas. ← a step I omitted by mistake last year and wasted a half a tank of propane.

It works every time for a steak done on the rare side of medium. I simply add a little time to each turn/flip if the steaks are thick or cooking for those who like them more done.

Sous Vide Shrimp
This is a new method to me and definitely worth a revisit. I did my first sous vide with lobster and shrimp for Christmas Eve. I am doing it exactly the same this time.

• Thaw some shrimp.
• Rinse and place into a vacuum sealer bag.
• Add a stick of unsalted butter, pads all over the shrimp.
• Vacuum seal the shrimp. (Note, if you don’t have a vacuum sealer, I’ve read that some people use a zip top bag and submerse it in water to remove the air from the bag. It gets most of the air out.)
• Fill an electric roaster as full of water as you can and crank it up.
• When the water temperature reaches 145°, turn off the roaster.
• Place the bag of shrimp in the hot water. You may have to use a wire rack to hold it under.
• The temperature of the water will decrease to 140° which is our target temp. Monitor it closely.
• After 25 minutes, remove from water.

Remove shrimp and serve hot, or chill and serve cold. Either way these are perfectly cooked, buttery and very good.

Baked Potato
I thought I had this one mastered until we bought a different kind of potato. All my testing was done with Russet potatoes but this bag doesn’t mention Russet at all. It just say’s potatoes. They look the same, but they are not. How do I know? Because my technique, which I mastered and duplicated many times didn’t work on my first batch of (these kind) potatoes. They came out dry and overcooked. So today, I reduced the cooking time to 60 minutes instead of 75 and they came out great.

Won't be doing that again.

I also had the great idea to allow these potatoes to soak in clarified butter for an hour. As usual, I pierced them all over with a fork, but this time I put them in the butter. Conclusion? Made no significant difference. I usually pierce with a fork, pour clarified butter on them, salt and wrap well in aluminum foil. Soaking them added nothing new so moving on, this is my technique.

• Wash Russet potatoes well.
• Pierce (about 5-10 times each side) with a fork.
• Salt well with Kosher salt.
• Wrap very well in aluminum foil.
• Bake at 400° for 75 minutes. (60 this time)
• Turn off oven and allow to sit another 20 minutes or so.
• When removing from the oven – still wrapped – squish the tater all over with your (gloved) fingers. Carrie likes to roll hers on the counter too. It kind of breaks things up inside.
• Unwrap before cutting – we don’t want little pieces of foil in there.
• Season with butter, salt, pepper, bacon, cheese, sour cream etc to taste and enjoy!

That’s my method. Yes, I have read that this is more a steamed potato than a baked one, but this is how I do it. We like moist and fluffy potatoes with a soft skin because I eat that part too. I’ve tried the open air baking, but this way is better to us.

Sautéed Onions, Peppers & Mushrooms
This has to be one of our most favorite side dishes. It’s very simple and seasoning is a matter of taste. We just cut up the veggies and sauté them in olive oil until just done. Once the onion turns sweet, I think it’s ready to serve.

Fried Brussels Sprouts with Sriracha Sauce and Agave Nectar
We first tried this  on Christmas Eve. Carrie wanted to use the remaining fresh sprouts and fry them like a recipe she saw online. Who am I to argue?

• Wash sprouts.
• Cut into quarters.
• In a deep frying pan, bring oil up to 350°.
• Carefully add the sprouts – they are going to spit and splatter all over. We use a wire mesh over the pan to limit the distance of said spitting.
• Cook until desired tenderness.
• Remove and drain.
• Mix equal amounts of Sriracha Sauce and Agave Nectar in a bowl and coat drained sprouts. OR, serve on the side.

These came out very well but, they were on the greasy side and we’ve decided this is not something we will be doing again.

Overall, the meal was a success!

The meat came out wonderfully, tender and juicy.

Everything was great. Carrie set up a table in the living room, lit a candle and we enjoyed our last supper of 2011 in front of the TV. Carrie just rolled over on the couch and fell asleep (as expected). I retreated to my bedroom and brought in the new year with a full belly and in a state of blissful slumber.

Happy New Year everyone.

Happy New Year 2012

Another year has come and gone, thanks for the memories!

We spent yesterday – the last day of 2011 – recalling the many wonderful memories of the past year. I wasn’t finished with 2011 because there was still one day to go and at least one more meal to make. There have been lots of changes, from our youngest getting married to all of our children packing up and moving across the country. We went on a few trips and even went camping this year. We have made new friends, and strengthened old friendships. In all, 2011 was another wonderful year.

I am thankful for the pictures and the blogs I’ve posted because it helps me remember the year. I just tabbed through 203 folders of photos from 2011 alone. That means I took pictures 203 days out of 365 – I like it! I post very few of the pictures online, either because of quality, duplicity, context or privacy, but I save each one and love going through them. After going through them this morning, I find myself wishing I had taken more – what happened on those 162 days I didn’t take pictures?

There were a lot of – perhaps the majority – food photos to say the least. I take those so I can remember how I prepared something, or what I did wrong, or as with the dinning out photos, to remember the restaurant and what I had. The interesting thing is, the photos of the food also remind me of the meal we shared, either alone or with friends and family. It’s those times that I want to remember the most.

As we head into a new year, my heart is filled with joy and thanks for the one just past. It was a good year, almost as good as the year before, but hopefully not as good as the year to come. I have some ideas as to how to make 2012 the best year ever, only time will tell if those ideas, or the simple coincidences of life will prove it to be… or not.

Happy 2012!

Christmas Roast

With the extravagant Feast of Seven Fishes for Christmas Eve, one would think I would rest on my laurels and enjoy leftovers for Christmas Dinner. But Nooo! (In my best John Belushi voice.) I could have gone out for Chinese, (Fa ra ra ra ra ra … ra ra .. ra .. ra) But Nooo! I had to cook not one, but TWO roasts for Christmas dinner. That’s just how I roll.

I wanted something special, and I wanted something different, but I also wanted something that screamed traditional Christmas. What’s more traditional than a Christmas Roast Beast? (Minus the Hoo-Pudding.) If I were the adventurous type, I guess I would have tried a huge beef rib roast, rib-eye roast or pork crown roast, but I have really been wanting to discover a good technique for Deli Style Roast Beef. If I could master that, then I could justify the meat slicer I’ve been wanting to buy, right?

I have been researching the roast beef techniques for months. I would Google “Best Deli Style Roast Beef” and even tried to find the secret to Arby’s roast beef. (You don’t want to know what I found out.) Who knew there were so many ways to roast a hunk of meat? From low and slow to hot and fast, there are as many ways to roast beef as there are roasts at the supermarket.

I decided to try two different methods. I’ll go through this in the photos but here is a summery.

The first apparently comes from Americas Test Kitchen, according to comments on chow.com. It calls for dry brining over night, then pan searing and then placing it in a 225° oven until the internal temperature (IT) reaches 115°. Then, you turn off the oven and wait for the IT to come up to 125° for medium rare which is our preference. This method spoke to my “low and slow” train of thought and experience with tough cuts of meat like brisket. So I gave it a go. It took 2 hours to come to temperature after the sear.

Bottom line: I think I rushed a little because I turned off the oven at 110°. I still let it get up to 125°, and even wrapped it immediately and let it rest for more than a half hour. It came out very raw in the middle (see photo below). I may give this another try someday to test the tenderness.

The second method was the one I was going to try if I only had one roast. In this method, you salt and season the roast and place it in a 500° oven for 20 minutes, then reduce the heat to 300° until the IT reaches 125°. I dry brined this one too. The next day I rinsed it well, added a little salt and a lot of pepper and added slivers of fresh garlic into small slits cut all around the roast. I had to watch this one closely because my oven has a terrible thermostat, but I stayed close to the target temperatures in the oven and pulled the roast at exactly 125° IT. As with the first, I wrapped it well in aluminum foil and let it rest for 30 minutes. This one took less than an hour in the oven.

Bottom line: It came out perfect! Tender and juicy, the flavors of garlic, salt and pepper were robust without overpowering the beef. On the slices where you get a piece of garlic, you find yourself saying “oh my goodness, oh my goodness” as you chew. (Like Adam Richman would.) I will definitely be revisiting this method.

I guess I should mention that I used the Eye of Round for these roasts.

Salt all over with Kosher Salt

Not too much.

The next day, rinse well and season to taste. I just added black pepper before the sear.

I pan seared on a super hot cast iron grill just long enough to lightly brown the exterior.

Then into the oven at 225° and wait for an IT of 115°.

After it reaches 115°, turn off the oven and leave the door closed until the IT comes up to 225° (shooting for the rare side of medium).

There it is (above) when the IT got up to 225°. It took about 2 hours in the oven. I didn’t note how long with the oven off.

I cranked up the oven to full blast to get it up to 500°. My little oven tops out at 500°.

Method 2 - ready to go into the 500° oven.

Those little slivers of garlic added the WOW to this roast.

Once I parked this in the oven, I waited for 20 minutes and then turned it down to 300°. I had to watch the oven temperature very closely because it would swing from 250° to 350°. Crikey, I wish I could find some unglazed quarry tiles.

Then it was time to slice the first roast.

Raw in the middle. Well that didn’t work! No time to worry about this one, I wrapped it up and stuck it in the fridge.

The method 2 roast took a little less than an hour.

It looks so good! I wrapped it tightly in aluminum foil and turned to the sides.

Time to get started on the dinner.

Carrie sautéed some onions, sweet peppers and mushrooms.

I steamed some carrots. (Simple is better.)

Then we boiled some potatoes.

I wanted roasted potatoes with this meal because, well, I like potatoes with my beef. (grin) We boiled these until just tender, then drained them and put in a roasting dish, seasoned them a baked on 400 until brown.

They came out good, but next time I will be using a cookie sheet so that all of the potatoes are browned.

The steamed carrots tasted like steamed carrots with salt and pepper. That’s what I was going for.

So where’s the beef?

Tah-dah! Actually it was much more red than it appears in the picture. It was so juicy and tender and the flavors melded into the best roast beef I’ve had in a long time. This is something I will be making often.

Our Christmas Roast Beef Dinner! That puddle of white stuff is my homemade horse radish sauce that came out too thin, but very tasty.

Carrie and I had a wonderful Christmas as I posted earlier. We enjoyed some great food and though we didn’t exchange presents this year, we thoroughly enjoyed each other presence over a few good meals.

The Feast of Seven Fishes – Detailed

I posted about our Christmas Eve Feast of Seven Fishes and I thought I would go into more detail about the many dishes and how I prepared them. I’m doing this for you the reader, but since the Feast only comes once a year, I thought I should blog the details so I can remember next year.

That said, Carrie and I agreed that we won’t try 13 12 dishes ever again. It was way too complicated, way too much food – though the leftovers were off the hook – and we feel if we focus on seven, each will come out better and there won’t be as much stress. Even though all of the food prepared for the Feast came out beautifully, I have to admit that I stressed out a bit just before and during the actual cook.

What follows is a numbered version of the plated feast and a description of each item.

Our Christmas Eve Feast of Seven Fishes for two. Click for a slightly larger version.

#1 & #10 Sous Vide Lobster and Shrimp:
The Lobster Tail weighed in at almost a pound (with the shell). I’ve never attempted this large of a tail AND I’ve never attempted anything Sous Vide, but what better time than the Feast of Seven Fishes? This was so simple that I will do this again, even for large groups if the need arises. Simply put, I thawed and shelled the tail completely, placed the rinsed and dried tail in a vacuum seal bag with a lot of fresh unsalted butter. I tossed 4 shrimp in the bag as well.

Sealer Failure
I stuck the open end of the lobster filled bag into the brand new FoodSaver and as the air was removed, I could see moisture headed for the seal, I stopped it and it tried to seal but there were places that allowed air in. I made a longer bag and dried the inside as best I could before my second attempt. It worked better, but those things have a lot of moisture in them and I saw some questionable spots in the seal, so I just inserted the same sealed bag into the sealer and let it seal again – it worked!

I filled an electric roaster pan almost full of water – the more the better – and took it up to 145° and then turned it off. I placed my well sealed bag of lobster into the water, set the timer for 25 minutes and watched the temperature slowly drop to 140°. I turned the roaster back on for a few minutes and then I dropped my digital (electric) thermometer in the water at about the 20 minute mark. DOH! Oh well, it was holding at a steady 140° so I turned it off and started getting ready for the other food.

When the timer went off, I removed the bag from the water and placed it on the counter while I finished up on the other dishes.

The result was the most amazing lobster tail – and shrimp – I’ve ever tasted. It super tender and filled with buttery flavor. There was some connective tissue on the bottom that I have to learn how to trim, but other than that, this was an award winner.

#2 Pan Seared Tuna Steak
The Tuna was a large hunk purchased at the  fish counter at Kroger. It was super fresh and while I don’t know what kind it was, this was one super fine looking piece of fish. I used a cast iron pan and seared it in very hot clarified butter for about 2 minutes on each side. I wish I would have cut it open for the picture because it looks brown and over cooked – it was not! The juicy red center was very tender and tasty. I will add more seasoning – of which I added none – next time because it needed a flavor kick. Other than that, it came out great.

#3 Pan Seared Sea Scallops
The Sea Scallops came from Sam’s Club. I have a regular technique that I use with these. After I thaw them, I put them on a rack on the counter and let them dry out a little. Then I put them in smoking hot clarified butter for about a minute on each side. I wait to turn them until little fingers of charing start coming up the sides. It works out perfect every time.

#4 Deep Fried Atlantic Cod in Panco Breadcrumbs
These came frozen from Walmart. It said on the label that they were wild caught Atlantic cod. I’ve been wanting to try this fish for a while and there was no better time than the present. The technique was discovered by accident. As I’ll explain in the oysters (#5), I followed the same technique, though I didn’t let them dry on the counter, they did get breaded an hour before the oil bath and they came out beautifully. About 2.5 minutes on each side and they were brown on the outside and tender on the inside. We liked this so much in fact that I made some more last night. The fish is great, the technique is flawless. Read below – and I’ll be making another post about the deep fry method shortly.

#5 Panco Breaded, Deep Fried Oysters
I was a little concerned about these because I have never made them before. I’ve never been a big fan of oysters but Carrie requested this as part of our Feast. After power Googling for a few minutes, I discovered that people ‘complain’ about the breading falling off while being cooked. I read three or four techniques that claimed to prevent it. I wish I could remember where I read it, but it seems that it’s important to thoroughly rinse, dry and bread early. Using what I gleaned from numerous websites, I came up with my own plan.

• Rinse and dry each oyster
• Place each on a paper towel and cover with another – make sure they are not touching each other
• Allow to sit on the counter for 30 minutes – drying
• Bread each oyster and place on a cookie sheet
• Place cookie sheet in the refrigerator for at least 60 minutes
• Remove and fry

I am assuming that drying the oyster before and after they are breaded help the breading “grip” the flesh. I used the same technique on the fried cod and shrimp, though I did not let those sit on the counter before breading.

About the Panco breading. I more or less used the instructions on the box. It was easy.

• Place about 2 cups of flour in a bowl
• Add any seasoning you wish, I added black pepper and cayenne. Note: I did NOT add any salt because oysters are known to be salty enough on their own.
• Crack two eggs into a bowl with 2 tbsp of both water and milk and beat like crazy
• In a third bowl, pour Panco breadcrumbs
• Coat each oyster with the flour, shake excess
• Dip into the egg mixture covering completely
• Place into the Panco and bury it. Press lightly on the Panco to push the breadcrumbs into the flesh
• Remove from Panco, shake lightly to remove very loose breadcrumbs and place on cookie sheet
• Repeat for each leaving space between each oyster so they are not touching and can dry

Now for the frying – it is very important that your oil of choice is HOT! I used an oil thermometer to make sure the oil was exactly 350°, then I turned off the burner, added the oysters, replaced the thermometer and turned the burner back on. I cooked the oysters for about 2 minutes on each side, testing the tenderness throughout the process and monitoring the oil temperature closely. Once they were golden brown and firm to the touch, I removed them and let them drain on a paper towel. I cooked the shrimp at the same time and the cod fish after.

These well breaded oysters came out perfect. Carrie said they were better than at any restaurant she’s been to. Since I don’t usually eat oysters, I’ll differ to her expertise. That said, I ate the oysters too and they were outstanding. I had no trouble with the breading falling off of the oyster, nor the shrimp or fish. This breading technique is a keeper for sure.

#6 Asian Zing Shrimp
This was not in the photo – We buy our frozen shrimp at Wal-Mart, they are the Wal-Mart brand. We like the “Colossal” which are headless, shelled, de-vained, with the tail still on. We’ve tried many brands from many stores, we feel these are the best in our area and even go out of our way to buy them. Sure, the fresh shrimp we get on St. George Island are much better, but in land locked Bowling Green, these are about the best we can get.

Preparation is simple, get a wok, dump about half a bottle of McCormick Asian Zing into the pan. On medium heat, warm the sauce, add the thawed shrimp and cook until done. I’ve done this so many times I have no idea how long it takes, about 3 – 5 minutes. It’s got the right amount of salt, peppers and, well, zing that makes for a very tasty shrimp dish.

#7 Blackened Atlantic Cod
The photo doesn’t do this dish justice. I simply sprinkled blackening seasoning onto the thawed fish and pan seared it in a small amount of clarified butter until done. About 2 minutes per side or so. The seasoning came from our good friends who come from New Orleans. On a recent visit, they picked us up some and it was great. Since it was my first time with it, I didn’t realize how salty it was, will use less next time.

#8 Broiled Tilapia With Old Bay Seasoning
This dish didn’t turn out very well. Actually, this is one of our favorites and we have it several times a year, but we were out of Old Bay. Carrie decided to use some “Canjun Seasoning” instead and it wasn’t what we wanted. The fish was cooked perfectly, but the seasoning overpowered the fish. So overpowering in fact that we threw away the bottle the next day.

#9 Panco Breaded Deep Fried Shrimp
We use the same shrimp as in number six for this too. Carrie picked this as her favorite of the 12 dishes, and she doesn’t even prefer shrimp. I admit, I kind of knocked the ball out of the park with this one – though my favorite was the lobster – and I think the breading technique (as with the oysters in #5) was the key. Crunchy, juicy goodness! I used exactly the same technique as with the oysters including the breading and frying. Can’t miss.

#10 Sous Vide Shrimp 
As I mentioned in #1, I just threw these in with the lobster. You could taste the butter and even cooking for 25 minutes, these babies had a great texture – snap – to them. I can see myself doing pounds of shrimp this way.

#11 Muscles in Garlic Sauce
This was a late addition to the Feast. When we couldn’t find any halibut, grouper or swordfish, even from our local (only) butcher shop, I found myself scanning the frozen seafood collections at a variety of grocery stores. I can’t remember the brand, but we got them at Kroger in a black box. These were very simple since the garlic butter sauce was packed with the muscles. All I had to do was cut the bag open, and place the still frozen solid muscles into a saucepan and cover. 5 minutes later, they opened up and tasted great. I mean really great! As with oysters, I’m not a big fan, but I ate more of these than Carrie did. Hopefully, I’ll remember to buy these again and post the brand because these are brain dead simple and very tasty.

#12 Carrie’s Crab, Feta and Tortellini Salad
I hope to do a blog post just about this because we love it. Basically, it’s just well cooked tortellini – like right before they fall apart cooked – with Mayo, Feta and Imitation Crab. Now, before you get all cranky because it’s imitation, it is made from fish so it still qualifies for the feast. When I post the recipe, I’ll link back here.

 Those were the seafood dishes, now on to the sides.

#13 Pan Seared Bussels Sprouts with Sriracha Sauce and Agave Nectar
This was something Carrie had seen on TV and wanted to try it. It’s very simple really. We took some fresh Brussels Sprouts, cut them in half and trimmed the stems and tossed them into a little hot oil. The outsides where charring very well but the insides were not cooking fast enough so I added about a cup of water and covered until the water was gone. It helped with the tenderness and helped cook out the bitterness… mostly.

The sriracha sauce and agave nectar was amazing! Equal amounts of both added some sweet heat to the sprouts. They say that Béchamel Sauce is one of the mother sauces, but sriracha sauce is the grandmother, queen, goddess of sauces to us. It’s got a good bite. It can be found in the Asian section of most well stocked grocery stores.

#14 Clarified Butter
I learned how to do this a few months ago and it’s great! You can use it for frying, seasoning and in this case dipping. There are a jillian methods and hundreds of videos online about how to do this. My method is simple. Place a block (1lb) of unsalted butter in a saucepan and set to low. Wait about 45 minutes, skim off the top and pour into a container. Be careful not to let any of the white stuff (milk fat) on the bottom pour out. I haven’t found a use for the milk fat but I’ve read it’s good on popcorn.

#15 Apple, Banana and Avocado Chutney with Agave Nectar and small batch with Agavero Tequila.
I’ve written about this before. It pairs nicely with seafood and meat. Just dice up the apple, banana and avacado, douse with a little key lime and coat with agave nectar. You can add a little hot pepper if you like, I added “Agavero” Tequila to mine and the spices came through beautifully.

#16 Carrie’s Tartar Sauce
While I was doing other things, Carrie whipped up this tarter sauce that was great. I’m not sure what was in it, but will post if she ever shares her secret recipe with me.

#17 Cocktail Sauce
As with the tartar sauce, Carrie whipped this up behind my back. Basically ketchup and horseradish, she added a few other ingredients and it was good. A little light on the horsey sauce but still really great.

#18 Crème Fraîche with Fresh Italian Parsley and Garlic Powder
Crème Fraîche is a fairly new discovery to me. I learned how to make it from scratch – 1 cup heavy cream and 2 tbs of buttermilk – and I have been looking for excuses to make it ever since. It’s like a creamy-light sour cream. I made it for my poached pears in November for the first time, but saw it used with lobster and decided to give it a try. I added the parsley and garlic to go with the seafood and it was amazing. I’ll be posting about Crème Fraîche soon.

And there you have it – maybe too much of it. Like I said, this is for my benefit as well as yours. If you’re still reading, let me tell you it took longer to write this out than it took to prepare the majority of these dishes. The idea of such a large endeavor seems impossible, but the hard work was well worth it. We saved the leftovers and they warmed up great. It wasn’t as hard as it looks and now we have a new Christmas Eve tradition of our own.

I do have to give JohnGL of the Alcoholian blog most of the credit for this meal. Everything from the sous vide, to how to pan sear fish to the chutney, I’ve learned a lot from him this year and those lessons made this feast a success… THANKS JOHN!

As always, thanks for reading.

2011 One of the Best Christmases Ever

Way back on November 10^th, I wrote about our empty nest and a feeling of melancholy that I was experiencing. I lamented that this would be our first truly empty nest Christmas and shared my concern that it might be a mixture of joy and sadness.

This year, we did not set up the tree, nor did we exchange gifts. We did go through the ornaments and Carrie decorated a little bit, but everything was toned down a great deal compared to years past.

Carrie decided one day that she wanted to invite our friends over for appetizers and to exchange gifts – within three days; everyone was together in our kitchen laughing and having a great time.

On Christmas Eve, we embarked on our Feast of Seven Fishes and had a wonderful time cooking, eating, listening to Christmas music and watching TV.

Speaking of Christmas music, I don’t think I’ve had the music on so much in years. Our satellite system has a channel of nothing but holiday music and their collection was spot on for us. Not too slow, not too churchy, not too fast, but just right – kind of an oldie, swing, jazzy mix. It was nice.

Christmas morning was what I feared the most. We have had some extremely extravagant Christmas mornings in our lives and this year nothing was planned. As usual, I got up early and waited for Carrie to get up. While waiting I found myself on Facebook reading everyone’s Christmas greetings and clicking the like button. It was almost like I was sharing the morning with my Facebook friends. Carrie and I had a cup of coffee and then she sent me back down to my office, she had a surprise for me. Uh-Oh! No presents! She assured me and I retreated.

She called me up and on the kitchen table was a pan of hot ham and cheese sandwiches, which we have had every Christmas morning for years. They are very easy to make and can be prepared in advance. It was her way of serving something Christmas morning without having to miss out on the gift opening frenzy in the past, this year it was a sentimental thing. She lit a candle and poured orange juice in stemware and we ate. It was nice.

Carrie ended up calling everyone before noon. She was in a great mood, and so was I. Then we went about cooking the roast beef and fixin’s, still listening to Christmas music. She came to me and said, “This has been one of the best Christmases ever.” I said… “Me too.” That said, she also informed me that we will not be repeating the “no present” policy any time soon. She did miss the morning unveiling of the gifts and treasures, as well as the process of shopping, selecting, and wrapping the gifts. She assured me that it didn’t ruin the day; just that she likes that part too.

We ate our roast beef and retreated to the living room to watch the new Disney’s “A Christmas Carol.” That’s a great version of that classic.

I can’t explain exactly what made the day so great, but our moods were great, our spirits high and even as we reminisced about past Christmases our good mood remained. We enjoyed this year’s Christmas thoroughly.

It seems I always remember the firsts. The first Christmas with just me and Carrie is one I will remember forever. It was a very nice Christmas and I am grateful!

The Feast of Seven Fishes

Click for Larger

Feast of Seven Fishes

         or Festa Dei Sette Pesci

For a more detailed description, go to this post which describes my methods for each dish.

1. Sous Vide Lobster Tail – Vacuum packed in unsalted butter and submerged in 140 degree water for 25 minutes or until firm.
2. Four shrimp will be added to the Lobster Tails to see how they come out.
3. Asian Zing Shrimp – pan seared in sauce.
4. Shrimp Fettuccini Alfredo – omitted at the last minute
5. Shrimp deep fried with panko bread crumbs
6. Crab tortellini with feta salad.
7. Sea Scallops pan seared in clarified butter.
8. Tilapia broiled with Old Bay seasoning.
9. Atlantic Cod deep fried with panko bread crumbs.
10. Oysters deep fried with panko bread crumbs.
11. Atlantic Cod pan seared with blackening seasoning – from friends.
12. Tuna Fillet pan seared in clarified butter.
13. Muscles in garlic sauce.

PLUS

• Pan seared Brussels sprouts and tossed in sriracha sauce and agave nectar.
• Apple, Banana and Avocado chutney with agave nectar and small batch with agavero tequila.
• Texas Toast – Cheese bread
• Cocktail Sauce
• Tartar Sauce
• Crème Fraîche with Italian Parsley and Garlic

The year 2011 is the first year in 27 that we celebrate the holidays without our boys, their wives, a Christmas tree or even gifts to/from each other, I thought we should do something new and/or interesting this year. I wanted something with some kind of significance, but also something we would enjoy. Since Carrie and I have been so obsessively focused on food for the past few years, my search for something cool to do led me to feasts. I selected the Feast of Seven Fishes because… well… it sounds like fun!

Wikipedia explains the tradition:

The Feast of the Seven Fishes (festa dei sette pesci), celebrated on Christmas Eve, also known as The Vigil (La Vigilia), is believed to have originated in Southern Italy and is not a known tradition in many parts of Italy. Today, it is a feast that typically consists of seven different seafood dishes. However, some Italian-American families have been known to celebrate with nine, eleven or thirteen different seafood dishes. This celebration commemorates the wait, Vigilia di Natale, for the midnight birth of the baby Jesus.

Wikipedia goes on to explain that the tradition is based on the Roman Catholic tradition of abstinence – avoiding meat or milk products – on Fridays and Saturdays during lent as well as other times. The article also explains that the number 7 is significant in the bible and that could be the reason for seven fishes. While I was interested in a new tradition, it really was more of something fun to do rather than a cultural or religious observance.

So I set off on my quest for seven seafood dishes that I either already knew how to cook, or really wanted to try. I came up with 13 – okay that’s more than seven but some Italians make 13 to represent Christ and His Apostles – but it was reduced to 12 dishes at the last minute with the omission of Shrimp Fettuccine because we already had a pasta course and we didn’t think we would eat another. So we went with the Apostles and left Jesus out… we may be damned for it; who knows? (grin)

The thought of pulling together 12 different seafood dishes was a little daunting. I’ve pulled off some pretty big dinners, from Thai to Mexican meals for more than 10 people, but preparing so many different delicate seafood items was a little intimidating to say the least. I broke it down into methods to simplify it.

2 dishes sous vide
4 dishes pan seared
-1 in Asian Zing sauce
-1 with blackening seasoning
-2 in clarified butter
3 dishes deep fried with panco breadcrumbs.
1 dish pasta salad (prepared earlier)
2 dish in a saucepan
-1 in garlic sauce
-1 in Alfredo sauce (omitted)
1 dish broiled

Well now – doesn’t that look much easier? GULP

To top it off, we also planned:

• Apple, Avacado & Banana Chutney in Agave Nectar & Agavero Tequila
• Pan Seared Brussels Sprouts
• Bread (Frozen Texas Toast with Cheese

Those were the items that need to be cooked/plated at once. We also made our own Cocktail Sauce, Tartar Sauce, and Crème Fraîche with Italian Parsley and Garlic, but these items were pre-prepared so that took off a little heat so to speak.

Did I mention that we are making all of this food for two people? Yeah, just for me and Carrie – now that’s a special dinner.

I wrote a little about the Sous Vide here.

The plan worked out beautifully! Everything was cooked to perfection if I do say so myself. The panco fried dishes turned out better than ever – so much so that I will be doing another blog on the topic. I may get into more detail about each of the items and how I prepared them, but I just wanted to take a moment and share the tale of the Feast of Seven Fishes. We had a wonderful time preparing for the meal, cooking the meal and then watching Christmas movies afterward.

I thank you for reading and hope your Christmas is a wonderful one.

For a more detailed description, go to this post which describes my methods for each dish.

Sous Vide

I tried Sous Vide cooking for the first time on Christmas Eve for the Feast of Seven Fishes. I used this for the lobster tails and shrimp. We liked it so much that we are already planning to do some more shrimp for New Years Eve.

I learned about Sous Vide on the internet, more specifically from a very talented guy named John GL on the Alcoholian blog. I’ve written about him many times before because I like learning from him and then stealing his techniques to appear as great and marvelous to my friends as he is to me. He has his own “Rube Goldberg Sous Vide Cooking System (the official name)” and has been posting his adventures online for years. I purchased the electric roasting appliance but have not shelled out the $150 for the temperature controller.

Wikipedia says:

Sous-vide (French for “under vacuum”) is a method of cooking food sealed in airtight plastic bags in a water bath for a long time — 72 hours is not unusual — at an accurately determined temperature much lower than normally used for cooking, typically around 60°C or 140°F. The intention is to cook the item evenly, not overcook the outside while still keeping the inside at the same ‘doneness’ and to keep the food juicier.

I have the FoodSaver vacuum sealer and the big electric roasting appliance and after reading that lobster tails are done in 25 minutes or less, I decided to manually control the water temperature and just go for it. It was WONDERFUL! I got the water temp up to 145°F and turned off the roaster, put the bag of unshelled lobster, 4 shrimp and a whole lot of unsalted butter and just left it in there for 25 minutes. I watched the temp drop to about 140°F then turned on the roaster for a few minutes. After I dropped my new digital thermometer in the water, I just cut it off and waited for the timer.

I cannot describe how perfect this turned out. The lobster was perfectly done and buttery and the shrimp were done to perfection, buttery and retained their snap. I do believe it’s time for me to invest in the electronic controller. Heck, I might even get two since the thermostat on my kegerator is not keeping my beer cold enough.

You might be able to see how I lost the thermometer.

Merry Christmas 2011

Carrie and I would like wish all visitors, friends, family and the

person just surfin’ by a Merry Christmas.

 

This year is much different than last – no snow, no tree, no gifts, no kids but old memories are gifts in and of themselves. We are enjoying each others presence in peace and it’s nice. The Feast of Seven Fishes was a success last night and we are planning a peaceful day, some good food and maybe a libation or two.

Merry Christmas to all!

Watching Search Engine Trends

Even on Christmas morning, I find myself online wasting time until Carrie gets up and at’em. One thing I do sometimes when I’m bored is look at what other people are searching for. I’ve found some interesting tidbits by doing this. I thought it would be interesting to see what the majority of searches were on Christmas morning at 6:00am by visiting google.com/trends; apparently, food is quite popular.

1. rex ryan
2. adrian peterson
3. jerome simpson
4. a christmas story
5. prime rib recipe
6. dog the bounty hunter
7. the temptations
8. obscura
9. whitney cummings
10. monkey bread
11. larry the cable guy
12. patrice oneal
13. sweet potato casserole
14. santa tracker
15. war of the worlds
16. standing rib roast
17. its a wonderful life
18. sound of music
19. letter from santa
20. mark sanchez

I find it interesting that people are searching for recipes on Christmas morning, especially things like Prime Rib Roasts and Standing Rib Roasts (same thing) which I would think people who have invested that much money would have a plan laid out well in advance. Or maybe millions of people received a rib roast from Santa this morning?

Personal observation – one of the most popular days on this blog was Thanksgiving day. Sure, I had a fair amount of traffic a few days in advance, but Thanksgiving day was a record setter. People were looking up, “How to fry a turkey” and variations of the same search. As now, I thought people would have already had a plan long before the big day… I guess I was wrong.

Oh – I think I hear Carrie upstairs. Time to get our Christmas on.

Ready for Christmas

It’s this time of the month we call “press week.” The final week of putting together our magazine and sending the files off to the printer. Although, I’m not as busy during press week as I used to be – thanks to a gifted and devoted staff – I still have plenty to do. I have a couple of posts I hope to post this weekend on my sausage making as well as garlic powder, but I am also preparing for an empty nest Christmas for two.

As with Thanksgiving, we are not having a big gathering but that is not influencing our meals. As a matter of fact, our Thanksgiving dinner was like no other, very diverse and tasty. This year, I am planning the Festa Dei Sette Pesci or, Feast of Seven Fishes for Christmas Eve Dinner and then I will be doing an Eye of Round Roast for Christmas day. (Maybe two depending on price. One large and one small being cooked two different ways.)

Our Feast of Seven Fishes is planned and we are headed to market (Wal-Mart, Kroger, Sam’s Club) to gather the necessary ingredients. I’m already up to 10 different seafood dishes – yeah, I know, that’s more than seven – and I’m very excited. We will be making a single serving of each dish and then share all of them. Just because it’s just the two of us doesn’t mean we can’t indulge. I will also be experiencing with creams and sauces this year.

Our first Christmas in 27 years without our sons, without a decorated tree, without a big family supper, it’s time to start new and interesting traditions. Heck, Carrie and I are not even exchanging gifts this year. We agreed that we buy each other gifts  throughout the year, we shouldn’t feel compelled to just because of the holiday – we can remember the gift of Christ without all of the ribbons and bows – we can enjoy each others presence without the presents. Yes, over a few good meals because that’s what we enjoy.

Let it Snow

Google is helping searchers get into the Christmas spirit by offering a sprinkling of snow on their computer monitor.

When typing the words “let it snow” into the popular search engine, a flurry of snowflakes trickle down the screen, followed by frost. You can wipe away the frost by clicking the left button on your mouse as an ice scraper or pressing the “Defrost” button, which appears in place of the blue “Search” button.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/12/19/let-it-snow-google-adds-christmas-easter-egg/#ixzz1h0bHjnXz

Or save yourself the typing and click here.

Chicken and the Egg at the Same Time

I’m here to answer the age old question, which came first, the chicken or the egg? I’m here to tell you, they came at the same time – at least the came off my smoker at the same time the last time I smoked chickens.

I had seen where some people were putting raw eggs on the smoker as they smoked something or another and I was intrigued. I love me some boiled eggs and I had to see this for myself. The photos of the results are at the end of this post.

But first, the chicken! We picked up a double pack of chickens from Sam’s giant warehouse, I  had another foodsperiment in mind and who couldn’t use a few extra pounds of smoked poultry anyway?

I wanted to see for myself if we could tell a significant difference between a brined bird or one that goes from wrapper to smoker. So other than the brine, these two birds are prepared the same way and cooked on the same fire. This will answer the question once and for all, “To brine or not to brine?”

The set up – offset smoker at about 300° using charcoal and a mixture (read left over assorted ) wood chips. These are smoked “beer can chicken” style using water instead of beer because beer is best consumed cold.

As per my (new) usual, I prepared an injection of clarified butter, apple cider and cayenne powder and thoroughly injected my victims.

Placed on the grill at 5:00 PM.

Added the cold raw eggs at 5:15 PM

Checked temperature at 6:00 PM

Ready to come off at 6:30 PM – internal temperature right at 160° deep within the breast.

Once rested for 30 minutes, both of chickens came out perfect! They both were smoky, juicy and full of flavor. I removed the breasts on all four and carved them against the grain in about 1/3 inch slices. (Sorry, no pics.) We were able to test these babies side by side. Carrie, who had no idea which was the brined, selected the brined one as the juiciest. I also concluded that the extra effort of brining is worth it and I will be brining all my poultry in the future.

Brining Wins!

The legs, wings and remaining carcasses were reserved for chicken pot pie which came out beautifully. We had several chicken breast sandwiches and the dark meat made two 10 inch pot pies, plus two cassolettes.

These pies were awesome! I made the cassolettes using a leftover top crust only

As for the eggs, I’m not impressed.

They were very difficult to peel and the outside edge of the egg white was very tough. There was barely a hint of smoke flavor so I have to chock this one down as a fail. I have also seen were some people peel the already boiled eggs before putting them in the smoker, I may give that a try next time.

So there you have it – the chicken and the egg came out of the smoker and into my kitchen at the same time. Whew, I’m glad the mystery has been solved.

The Ambiguity of Food

If you have read more than one of my food related posts (okay – maybe one would be enough), you probably already know that I can be a tad retentive when it comes to testing and methods. I want to develop reproducible results that I can rely on. As my culinary journey continues, I find myself testing smaller batches so I can discover that perfect combination. A perfect example was last night as I spent 5 hours deboning, cutting, grinding and testing 3 different seasoning combinations to come up with the perfect sage breakfast sausage. I mixed 3 pounds of the stuff and the combination still eludes me. (That should be resolved this morning)

Just like many foodies, when I prepare something, I learn something every time. I write notes on what I will do different next time until – like my blue cheese dressing – it’s perfect and I can prepare it repeatedly without changing anything. I have a few recipes and techniques that I would consider “perfected,” but there are many more that I am still working (or intend to work)  on.

It’s the ambiguity of food that is kicking my butt, I’m fighting back and though I’ve lost several rounds, the fight isn’t over!

The Food Lab by Serious Eats

Learning to cook has been an adventure, but for a person (me) who has inspected/maintained aircraft, managed a metallurgical laboratory, programmed computers and publishes a print magazine, it is difficult to grasp the many nuances of cooking. There are so many methods, techniques and tricks that I am just starting to grasp. Unlike much of my past experience, I can’t rely on checklists, standards, manuals or rules; in cooking I have to learn the food and how it is influenced by everything from cooking methods to seasoning combinations and a myriad of other things.

I am spending more time studying as I am cooking – even cooking time is study time because I am still foodsperimenting.

I recently purchased two new cooking books. Keys to Good Cooking: A Guide to Making the Best of Foods and Recipes AND On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen by Harold McGee. I was excited to receive them and as I read off the titles to Carrie, I could tell she was not as excited as I was. She gave me that, “you’re such a nerd” look… again. I will explain my motive in a post following this one.

One of my favorite places on the web to learn is The Food Lab. It’s a section of the website Serious Eats and it fulfills my inner geek and need to know more. That said, they do inject a lot of character  and humor, but yes, they dig a little deeper than the non-nerd might normally go.

A perfect example – and there are many – is an article they did on the humble mashed potato. They start off with;

For Pico (yes, that’s her real name*), mashed potatoes are fluffy and thick enough to stand up under their own weight, Close Encounters Of The Third Kind-style. These are the kind of mashed potatoes that can hold their own on the plate. The kind that you want to turn into a TV commercial with a pat of butter slowly melting on top.

But then they start speaking food geek and I like it!!!

Now starch molecules—a type of carbohydrate—come bundled up in tight granules. As potatoes cook, pectin breaks down, and individual cells expand and separate, releasing starch granules into the outside environment. These starch granules absorb water like little balloons, eventually popping and releasing sticky starch molecules. The concentration of this released starch that makes its way into the final mashed potatoes to a large degree determines their consistency.

Now that’s more like it! Molecules, pectin, starch granules – oh my!

The people at The Food Lab dig deeper than most sites I’ve found. It helps me understand how different variables affect a recipe or a piece of meat. Fortunately, they have a Facebook page that I have ‘liked’ and I get updates there when they post something new.

Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II Camera Lens

I wrote about ordering the lens, well it came in and I’m pleased! I’ve been taking all kinds of photos with different settings and I think this guy will do the trick. I also got a UV filter and a hood – looks much more manly this way.

I’m sure I won’t retire my PowerShot completely – but I will definitely use this new lens/camera more often for posts.

Yes – taken with the new lens. I likey!

Update December 17; I’ve been taking a lot of photos with this lens and I am very pleased. I still need to work on my composition, but the lens does help me and the quality of the photos is outstanding. I can recommend the Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II Camera Lens.

Note: While I’ve not be compensated to recommend this lens, the link above will take you to Amazon.com. If you chose to purchase it there, I will receive a small reward. Just thought you should know.

Pearl Harbor – 70 Years Ago This Morning

At 7:55 a.m. in Oahu, Hawaii, (10:55 in Bowling Green) an estimated 3,000 attendees will be standing silently to remember the exact moment that Japan attacked the USA. They will be gathered near the remains of the USS Arizona where she lies where she sank  with the remains of the brave sailors who were taken unaware that peaceful Sunday morning.

Photo: Wikipedia

Seventy years – that’s a long time ago. The US and Japan have mended fences since then, but the “Day of Infamy” should not be forgotten. More than 2,400 souls were lost that fateful morning in the worst attack on US soil until it was eclipsed by the September 11, 2001 attacks in New York and Washington DC.

I remember 9/11 vividly – the horror and the fear, the anger and the sadness and though news was disseminated much differently in 1941, the news spread quickly and the US felt the sting of an unprovoked attack. This event occurred long before my birth, but the memory was still alive much more vividly when I was a child than it is now.

December 7, 1941 is a day that all Americans should remember.

Learn more here.

Food Photos

I’ve been trying to take better pictures, I really have. I’ve invested in high dollar (to me) camera, the Canon Rebel XSi digital camera but the finest camera in the world does not a good photographer make. I’m more of a snapshot taker, point and click kind of guy – or at least used to be – I am finding it frustrating when the photo I take of a great looking piece of meat doesn’t convey the ambiance I want it to. Also, I do take some photos for my ‘day job’, mostly of beer, cheese and the occasional mug shot – er – portrait shot of a person in the magazine. I do my best, but I have a long way to go.

I learn best through trial and error. I keep clicking, editing, publishing and sometimes grimacing at the photographic failure. Of late, I’ve been using my little Canon PowerShot for my photos because the lens that came with the Rebel went kaput. I think my composition is getting better, but using a camera that fits in your pocket to try to capture what something tastes like is a futile effort no matter how fancy the editing software is.

A few months ago I started researching lenses for taking low light and high detail photos. I visited blogs, forums and websites to try to learn the secrets to food photography. I also started paying attention to other food sites and the photos on them. I’ve learned a lot!

I guess it was in June(2011) when we returned from Tucson that I finally made a decision on the lens I was going to buy. I found it on Amazon.com and added it to my shopping cart. There it sat for months, waiting for me to click the checkout button, but I hesitated.

Yesterday, Carrie asked me to buy a Christmas gift for one of our boys on Amazon and as I did, I sat staring at the lens I had added to my cart months ago. Sure, I could have “saved it for later” but I wanted that magical piece of glass and metal. So – I bought it. Funny, I purchased 6 different things and only one was the Christmas present, the others were for me. Merry Christmas to me.

It seems that some of the most popular and high traffic food websites have the best photography. At least that’s my observation. That’s not to say that I don’t have several sites bookmarked that have bad photos, it just seems the sites picked by national lists contain super great photos. Case in point; a food blog called “The Smitten Kitchen.” It seems everyone recommends this website, from food networks to fellow foodies. One thing that jumps out at you is the photography. I mean some great shots of food!! Apparently, the photos get a lot of discussion as well, so much so that the author has a whole page devoted to it.

I found myself at the Smitten Kitchen website yesterday afternoon – AFTER, I made my purchase mind you – and read Deb’s page about their approach to food photography. There’s lots of great tips and pointers but at one point in reading the page, my hands flew up over my head and I said YESSS! Deb wrote about the lens I had just purchased just hours earlier. She wrote:

It’s sharp, lightweight, great for low-light conditions, seriously inexpensive and a perfect lens to build skills on. It’s our “grab and go” lens. Wait until you see the price — you won’t believe what you can do for so little.

Rarely does that happen to me. Usually, after I spend $100 on something, I find that I chose poorly and could have gotten something as good or better for cheaper. Not this time my pessimistic friends. I got validation! Hooray for me!

So what is this magic bullet that I will be attaching to the front of my camera? Drum roll please?

Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II Camera Lens

Amazon.com Product Description: Lightweight and affordable, the Canon EF 50mm lens–which offers a fast f/1.8 aperture–is an excellent lens for people who prefer a fixed focal length. Canon’s lightest EF lens at a mere 4.6 ounces, the lens boasts a traditional Gauss-type optical design that delivers a sharp performance even when wide open. As a result, the lens provides an image that’s extremely close to how your eye perceives a subject, making it excellent for portraits and images that require a natural depth of field. In addition, the lens focuses as close as 18 inches, helping you take extreme close-ups. Finally, the lens offers an excellent color balance.

Buy it on Amazon

So if the photos on this blog start getting better, now you know why. If they don’t get better, you’ll know why too – because I suck as a photographer. (grin)