Journal

2022 - Week 32 Cooking Results

This week has been a bit of a challenge. The construction on the stormwater drain pipe, seemed to have increased in activity, often making it very challenge to get in or out. Generally we’d wait until after they stopped for the day or before they starting in the morning. It was planned for this past Friday that they would have 8 hours to change some water main items. Thursday morning I started with a small hole in my yard, and then by the middle of the day, the entire part of our property that touches Franklin, ended up being hole.

At some point around 7 or 8 PM or so, they apparently broke something they were not, and they had to stay very late to to get the water main fixed. I sat outside for a while watching them work in the night, their precision with the construction equipment was kind of amazing. I ended up going to bed and when I got up around 1 AM, the street was quiet and the water was back on.

With that work, we didn’t loose water on the Friday, which was nice.

While sitting outside, I apparently obtained a skin infection (diagnosed Saturday). I await the pleasure of my local grocery chain pharmacy of filling the antibiotics prescription, which, as I write, has been 18 hours since prescribed (nice job). All being said, it feels odd, the skin seems tight on my leg, that segment is clearly warm to the touch, and it’s got a patchy red look to it. It’s mildly uncomfortable when I move it, but as one who has been dealing with bone spurs, it’s not anywhere near that annoying. Hopefully the antibiotics will smack it upside the head and kick it out of my body.

Brats

Once again, jalapeño and cheddar, good things.

Taco Salad

Good as always.

Teriyaki Chicken Burger with Chili Crunch White Sauce

Made the Teriyaki sauce, then he Chili Crunch White sauce. I skipped the cabbage, cause I didn’t feel up to it, and didn’t feel like hearing the smoke alarm, so cooked it at a slower pace. Still came out good tasting with a mildly caramelized crust on the top and bottom. Good dinner.

Skillet Corn with Mexican Chorizo

So this would work better as part of a taco salad, or part of burrito or over rice or something. I ended up using it in the taco salads I was having for lunch.

Kung Pao Shrimp

A lot of bowls, and making rice, but over all pretty easy to make. I had the ingredients I needed or the listed alternatives I used the leftover sauce (Teriyaki) from the chicken burger in place of the hoisin sauce. I had to do some adjustments cause I had two 12 ounce packages of shrimp, so, that all worked out too. Good meal for a Saturday.

2022 - Week 32 Cooking

There are more holes in the road. It has made it hard to get in and get out while the work. Shannon has a bit of a time getting out in the mornings, because it seems they swap which side you can get out, randomly. Friday, I needed to drop off a package at UPS and I tried between the end of my 9:30 meeting and the start of my 10:30 meeting, with no luck. I got out later in the day, but ended up parking in the church lot down the street, since construction items or equipment cover both sides of the street, and walked back home. I went down later to get my car, seeing that it might be open, but had to wait, a not to bad 5 minutes, while the dump truck was loaded. I’m looking forward to this being done. They did add a metal plate over the intersection to the main street and the street where my driveway is, since it has gotten a bit lower as time has passed. Anyways…this to shall pass.

Waiting to get back home

2022 - Week 31 Cooking Results

Brats

Jalapeño and cheddar, Crooked Gap. Skinless. Nom nom nom.

Chicken and Rice with Coconut-Ginger Sauce

I didn’t have crispy chicken skin, which is a loss, but over all this came together well, was pretty good and made good leftovers.

Chicken Sausage with Braised Red Cabbage and Potatoes

I have been hoping for the apple growers to show up so I can get some fresh pressed cider and fresh picked apples, as it is almost that season, though with the lack of rain, who knows. I picked up a can of cider from an Iowa based cider company (they make hard cider too), which is convent since it’s small enough to buy a can or two instead of a whole jug. With that, the cabbage and potatoes and sausage, it felt very German to me.

I enjoyed the mix of texture flavors and how everything joined together.

I also had some Toppling Goliath Oktoberfest with this, which fit well.

Spicy Sesame Chili Oil Noodles

I was thinking I could pick up some black vinegar at the store, but it wasn’t there. They added some more Asian ingredients, ones I would take an extra trip for, but the Black Vinegar disappeared at some point. That being said, I tried my best to follow this. And it came out pretty well. I used fresh fettuccine noodles, and this was pretty easy together. A nice quick email with not a lot of heat needed, on a very hot week (though not the hottest day).

Modern Baked Mac and Cheese With Cheddar and Gruyère

Let’s talk about the good.

First the expected texture was spot on, the noodles were a bit over done, but I could’ve probably pulled them off the water a bit earlier.

Let’s talk about the bad.

It used a lot of pans. I had a whole load of dishes with just pans.

It was dramatically under seasoned. As a comparison:

Modern   Alton Brown
1# Noodles   0.5# noodles
1/2t Mustard Powder   1T Mustard Powder

Get some more mustard, paprika, garlic powder and then we might be talking

The breadcrumbs should have had some seasoning in there, like some pepper some Parmesan cheese, something.

I used 1.5# of Hooks 3 year and 0.5# of an actual quality Gruyere, so I didn’t skimp on the cheese.

I also added some Extra Chet (special batch, Red Table Chet sausage with extra fennel) on top of the noodles and below the breadcrumbs

“Modern” baked mac and cheese

2022 - Week 31 Cooking

I got through the first pass of the pictures from the vacation. After trimming out some garbage photos I’m down to just under 2500, Now I go through the pass off “I like these” and then another pass of these are similar but what’s the best one. I’ve passed a few to family and friends, but for the most part mostly not

2022 - Week 30 Cooking Results

Ground Beef Bulgogi

I should have made this before the vacation, but even so, this turned out to be pretty tasty. I think I should have also gotten other thing to put with the rice and spiced beef, but it was what it was, I’ll have to find something a bit more detailed on what to make with it.

Brats

Good as always.

Fish sandwich

Took some mahi mahi, brushed them with some soy sauce, and added some pepper to them and baked them for a bit. Added some Kewpie Mayo (MSG version) and I added some spicy pickled carrots. Not the ones I bought at the cheese shop earlier in the week, but the ones I bought in Iowa City…a bit ago.

Chicken and Rice with Coconut-Ginger Sauce

On Saturday, I went upstairs to make dinner, but read that it would take an hour and a half, and I put it off until I could justify making something else. I had just gotten up from a nap and really didn’t feel like cooking too much. So we had scrambled eggs.

I’ll make this tonight, so Delayed.

Pasta

I am out of Italian Sausage, apparently, so I got some graziano at the store. I added red peppers, celery, onion, tomatoes and herbs and spices to make the pasta and went from there. It turned out pretty good.

2022 - Week 28 Cooking Results

Brats

Good as always.

Ground Beef Bulgogi

One of my brothers drove through, so we had dinner. I dropped the beef back in the freezer and I’ll probably make this later.

Black Truffle Chili Crunch burger (assuming I have enough black truffle chili crunch left)

I may have overcooked the onions a bit, but just a bit. I had just enough black truffle chili crunch left. I gotta say that the combination of the soy sauce, savory of seasoned salt, and black chili crunch with the beef was quite good. I really enjoyed the onions and also had them on the potato salad as well. Well done.

Chicken Salad

I got a rotisserie chicken and combined them with some of the ingredients that I normally would, and others I may not because they were in the fridge. Quickly brought together, and dinner was served.

2022 - Week 28 Cooking

So unlike last time around when they were playing with poles, at least this time it was MidAmerican directly, rather then a sub or sub-sub contractor. It is still a bit unnerving to see playing with the pole before the pole that provides power to your house. So this is the new challenge of getting out of our street that our driveway is on.

2022 - Week 27 Cooking Results

Brats

The Fareway brats are bigger than the ones I have been getting from my local farmer, and while fine, not as good as the Crooked Gap ones.

Burgers

Shannon picked out some stuffed burgers and I cooked them up. Overall pretty good.

We tried a couple of sides, one was meh (Fareway Potato Salad), the other was ok (smokehouse pasta salad), and the 3rd neither of us really liked the flavor (smokehouse pasta salad).

Teriyaki Stir Fried Garlic Scapes with Chicken

We got out of the new Thor movie, and I didn’t feel like putting much of an effort into dinner, so I I chopped up the chicken thighs, tossed them with a bit of oil, Momofuku savory salt and some ancho chili powder. Baked them ad 375º for 20 minutes and put them on buns to make sandwiches.

So I guess Skipped?

Ham and Swiss Sliders

I picked up some Kings Hawaiian rolls, got some of The Royal from Red Table (at the Cheese shop) and some nice swiss style cheese and just vaguely followed the recipe. I did skip the sauce for the top of the buns, which sounds like it could’ve added more flavor. Even so, a pretty good little sandwich.

Pork Tamale Pie

I had sworn I made this before. It appears as if the ATK family of brands has called this multiple things. Skillet Tamale Pie under Cooks Illustrated (appears to be minus the pork and scallions but plus beef and garlic) vs Pork Tamale Pie. I guess they are different, technically, but it seems like it’s just a variant. Now I’m curious how many are like this. I noticed a search difference the other day when I was looking for thing. You would get different results, even though you have access on all the sites. I’m curious of the logic behind it.

Anyway, I made the pork version cause I had pulled out some pork for the 4th weekend but ended up not using that, and this seemed simple and familiar. I used chipotle chili powder, extra cheese, extra corn, and added things and baked them off. Pretty good, pretty good as leftovers. I think I like this version better then the beef one.