Journal

2019 - Week 4 Cooking

It has been a rough week for my brain. I have this long string of notes (763 words so far), a medication change (up) and I’m still…adjusting. Wil Wheaton made a post earlier this week, that is helpful not only to me this week, but to others. As a side note, the meh haiku, was part of my brain distraction technique (not all are, but a lot). I’m still concerned, but less so. I’m functional, if restricted. Thanks to my wife, boss and co-workers for their understanding, help and options.

2019 - Week 3 Cooking Results

Chickpea and Celery Soup with Chili Garlic Oil

So I simplified this a bit, as I couldn’t exactly create the salad that was called for as the leaves on the celery were chopped off. I also added the chile-garlic oil directly to the soup and the lemon as well. I did add the dollop of greek yogurt. It wasn’t to spicy, even though I didn’t de-rib the jalapeño that replaced the red Fresno chile. That being said, it came together pretty easily and tasted pretty good. It was certainly a filling vegetarian option to warm up on a winter day.

Salami and Pickle Grilled Cheese (My last loaf, sigh, its time)

This was the last loaf that I had from my brother’s micro bakery. It was in the freezer for over a year. I let it slowly come up to room temperature and then used it to make little grilled cheese. I used red Rosa salami, alp blossom and some local pickles (on mine). It was a quite good sandwich, and while the bread may have been in the freezer to long, it was still very good. I may have ate the rest of the loaf over the next day or so with butter after it was toasted.

Cauliflower Mac & Cheese

* so the instructions on here are a bit confusing. Where you read the ingredient list and combine the two, you’ll probably be fine, but referring to cheese when you have multiple types as just cheese can be misleading.

“Process cauliflower with cheese, oil, mustard, and nutmeg”

Vs

“top with breadcrumbs and cheese”

There may not have been enough sauce, because I wanted to finish off the box (what does one do with a quarter pound of whole wheat pasta?). The taste was ok. Maybe more spices or heat or something. But as a mom way of sneaking vegetables into a dinner, not to bad. I’ll have to think about this a bit.

Sous Vide Pork Chop (ordered from Lucky George via Iowa Food Coop)

Ethan was at the cheese shop on Tuesday. This worked out well because it allowed me to allow the pork chop to thaw in the fridge over a few days. I still got the other chops and will use them later.

So as a side bar, if I allow more time, do I actually need to thaw meat before I put start the sous vide?

…Perhaps not?

So I got this about 10 degrees lower then the desired.

I heated butter in a pan, on relatively high heat and finished for about 90 seconds a side. It got a nice crust while remaining lightly pink on the inside. I was very happy with the way that it turned out.

What’s next? Steak? I only wish I got a better picture of the crust. I served it with mashed potatoes (butter, sour cream, salt and pepper). Is this better cause it’s harder to mess up? or because of the consistency of the production. Part of me is still thinking about getting an actual vacuum sealer. But more playing before investing more money.

Mexican style Tinga (modified)

I prepped this on Thursday night because I wanted to not disrupt my morning to much on Friday. I put the meat and the onion mix in the crock pot, then added the tomato sauce and mixed it around and left it for 10 hours of simmering.

We had this as a topper to taco salad, it’s pretty tasty, especially for the effort put into it. I kind of prefer the other one thought, to some extent.

Pork Bugers

Good as always.

2019 - Week 3 Cooking

I was able to spend some time with my brother, and it was very nice. I believe the quote of the time, was when I described what we were doing (playing video games), “We are spending time together where we don’t have to talk about anything, it’s a very Kurth thing to do”.

I am about to start to week three of my transition from one anti-depressant to another (not that it’s not working, but due to possible GI side effects). So far things are…well doing okish. I’m uncertain as if this dose is the right amount, but I think I need to let my body re-adjust. In doing a bit of research, I found the one I was on, is one of the harder ones to ween off of, so there is that. Yesterday was the last half pill.

Friday and Saturday were rough on my foot and bone spur recovery. I think with the walks I’ve had through the week, though still very short compared to what I have done (1.5 miles x 4 days this week vs (3.5 + 1.5) * 5 days a week). Yesterday while doing snow removal and loading and unloading the car for errands, it became very clear that the custom orthotics that I was prescribed to help me walk better, disconnect me from the feeling of the ground, or at least feeling it in a way I am used to. I probably aggravated my Achilles tendon, which my bone spur is hiding behind, and have had quite a setback and have to concentrate to walk normally and it’s quite painful.

This morning, I set down my cold brew wrong, and it fell and shattered in the living room. I had to discourage the cats from investigating while I cleaned up, including the shards of glass, tiny and large. It seems relatively odd to me that we’ve had the same set of glasses over the last…decade or so. But in the last year we’ve had 3 or 4 shatter (1 drop, 2 sinks, one set down wrong).

While driving home / waiting in traffic one day this past week, I tried to write a haiku to describe the feelings, and sight of the traffic that is on 63rd. I didn’t finish it. I may have to try again.

2019 - Week 2 Cooking Results

Sous Vide Pork Chop

I uh, didn’t have a pork chop in my freezer. It was surprising to say the least. Check First, then plan. We, instead, modified a pre-made cheese pizza with bresaola. Earlier in the day I used some donated to blood donors bread to make some melted sandwiches. Good meal for a lazy snowy Saturday.

Broccoli and Egg Fried Rice

Leftover rice from the Etouffee, after a mild distraction from work, I prepped all the ingredients, then executed quite qicklky, making adaptations for use of a normal skillet (more oil). It worked out pretty well, a nice quick dinner. I did add some leftover chicken that was to much for the Etouffee.

Chicken and Andouille Étouffée

Made some rice, had the dish come together pretty easily. It was quite good. I did use way more andouille sausage then the recipe called for. it was quite good.

not so (baked not fried) Crispy Chicken Cutlet Sandwich

I made some adjustments, heated the oven. Doused the cutlets in flower, since I wasn’t frying them, then baked them until they reached the right temp. It turned out really good and with the mayo was quite nice. I am never a big fan of using a whole lot of oil to fry a thing (mostly cause I don’t want to dispose of all that oil).

Bacon-Jalapeño Stovetop Mac and Cheese Recipe

I always find it fascinating the methods to combine things into a sauce and the variance in the texture that it provides. Clearly there’s a chemistry to this. I did swap out the American cheese for a very young gouda. It turned out very good. I used sweet & hot pickled jalapenos.

2019 - Week 1 Cooking Results

Chile Verde tacos

I think I added too much liquid from the cans of tomatillos. I should have drained them, as fresh ones were not available. That being said not only did it turn out really good, I think we both had it for the next couple of days (Shannon did lunch, me for breakfast). Certainly a good application for a large hunk of meat (of which I have a few). I may use this or something like this to go through some of those cuts. I would like to empty my freezer before I start adding again. I did sneak in some Serrano powder, finishing off the container, but even so it just had a mild heat to it.

Sous Vide Fish (may finish in pan this time?)

I bought some fairly thin catfish filets, but I didn’t think this would actually make a meal so we had ham and egg sandwiches.

Chicken Soup with Jasmine Rice and Ginger

I will admit, this recipe doesn’t make sense to me. It seems an excessive amount of water for a small amount of rice. Not enough ingredients to make anything but a super broothy soup. So I adapted. I used the rice but only with a small amount of water. I let it cook for a bit then set it aside. I combined the ingredients (ginger, etc) and like that and the chicken stock come together. I added diced scallions, let those go a bit. Added in the rice semi-mush and the. The chicken (whole pulled rotisserie chicken) I just warmed up.

It was nice and had a very prominent ginger flavor, but enough stuff to make it a filling soup. The audible worked out well. Not much more then the amount to feed the two of us though.

2018 - Week 52 Cooking Results

63C egg with bacon on toast (today)

This mostly worked the way I wanted, just sort of incomplete. I would like a denser white, but the liquid level of the yolk was very nice. The thought of using this method to help poach an egg is pretty cool. Looking forward trying this again to get to the right place.

Pasta with Italian Sausage

Simple easy dinner, used up some leftover pasta. I may have had a bit to much pasta for the sauce I made, but oh well.

Split Pea and Ham Soup

Cooked, adjusted, cooked, peppered, a touch of salt, more ham. It was done while the cold snap (only by comparison)

Pork Burgers

Easy peasy.

2018 - Week 51 Cooking Results

Sous Vide fish (serious eats as a guide)

I had some yellow fin tuna, and took one steak and cooked it up (and then cleaned up some stuff in the garage). This is nice. Maybe soon I’ll graduate to the cook then finish in pan.

Brats! (for lazy Sunday)

yep.

Ham & Gruyere scramble

Melty and delicious.

Ham and Bean Soup

Simple combination, came together quickly and made for a pretty good meal.

Meatloaf & Mashed Potatoes

I’m looking forward to lunch today, because Meatloaf sandwich is on the horizon. This turned out pretty well. Reading through the recipe I was convinced that this may be overly complicated, but as I made this on a Saturday, without much else to do, I figured I’d follow along. Normally I use pork and beef, but this is an all beef one, and was pretty good. I generally make mashed potatoes for guests, making it just for us is a bit harder, as I have to reduce the amount of thought in my head. They turned out pretty good (I used up some leftover sour cream, some quark, some butter and some whole milk).