Kindle

I've finally broken down and gotten it, well my mother-in-law bought it for me for xmas.  I've resisted for so long that its a little bittersweet.  On one hand, its small, lightweight, accessible to wi-fi and near instand downloads, can carry multiple books, has a good battery, and is ultra convenient.  On the other hand, its black and white/grey, non-personal, and it doesn't look good on my bookshelf. 

I'm ashamed to say that there may be no turning back from this.  Since xmas, I've already read 2 books and am working my way through a third.  The size, weight, and convenience is the best part about it.  Its so slim that it just fits into a jacket pocket.  Also, with the wi-fi, you can just download a book from the Kindle itself.  You don't need to hook it up to a computer.  Just a few button pushes and voila, a brand new book to read.  Also, I'm pretty sure the books are cheaper than if you were to buy them at the bookstore. 

Have no fear though, I'll still re-read the books on my bookshelf because I like it and possibly for nostalgia.

Homemade Salami

If you read my blog, which very few do, you'd know by now that I like to experiment in the kitchen.  One thing that I absolutely love to eat is cured meat.  From beef jerky to prosciutto to ham, etc, I like it all!  Beef jerky was at the top of my list of cured or smoke meats to make, but all the 'homemade' recipes I found required a few items, i.e. a box fan, that I didn't own, nor was I willing to purchase.  Eventually my quest led me to finding 2 different recipes that I thought I could replicate.  One was for salami and the other was for summer sausage.  I ended up deciding on the salami for a few reason, those being less ingredients, less meat, and less time needed for it to 'cure.' 

This homemade salami recipe I decided upon seemed relatively easy and it was, more or less.  All the ingredients, minus one, were relatively straightforward and easy to purchase.  The ingredients were ground beef, black pepper, onion powder, garlic salt, liquid smoke and 'Morton's TenderQuick' which is essentially curing salt.  The 'curing' salt was the hard part.  Neither Jewel, Whole Foods, and Treasure Island carried it.  I finally found it at 'The Spice House' in Old Town, highly recommend that place by the way.  They had a version called 'Prague Powder #6' which she assured me was basically the same thing so I went with it. 

Basically all you do is mix all of the above mentioned ingredients together, roll into a log, wrap in foil and let sit for a day.  Then you bake it for 90 minutes and let cool.  I gotta say, it turned out decently.  Yes, even my wife said so.  Its certainly not the prettiest thing in the world w/out the casing, but for a first attempt, I'm fairly pleased with it.  Its probably a little salty, but definitely worth attempting again, perhaps w/different herbs and spices.

Here's the link to the more detailed recipe:
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/homemade-salami/detail.aspx

 

Beaujolais Nouveau

I've always wondered what the big deal was w/Beaujolais Nouveau.  I knew it only came it once a year, knew it was big enough for a parade, but besides that didn't know too much more about it.  Did a little research and found out that the wines are the first release of the year.  Kelly and I tried one a couple weeks back and it wasn't bad at all.  It was, although not a wine connoiseur, what I would have expected of and tasted like a 'young' wine.  It was a bit tart, not a very full body.  Nonetheless, not a bad wine at all.  I'd drink it again next year.

Anniversary

I was going through some of my old posts and realized that my one year anniversary for blogging was Nov. 4th.  Who knew?!  Honestly, I'm pleasantly surprised that I've made it this long.  As I mentioned over a year ago when I first started, I wasn't sure if this was just going to be a short little daliance into blogging, but I've really come to enjoy the writing.  It may not be the most thought provoking, must-read, introspective work, but to each their own. 

I'm quite pleased with myself that I've made it this far and am looking forward to writing down more ramblings as they come.  Now I just need to write more frequently.

Cookbooks

I really like cookbooks.  Like most people I'm sure, I especially like bright, lively, books with pictures of what the meal 'could' and 'should' look like.  These cookbooks are all fine and dandy, but recently I realized that for me anyways, they haven't been all that useful and utilized.  More importatly, I suppose, I've come across a book thats been a lot more helpful and enlightening.  One thats actually been tucked away, unopened, for probably 2 years. 

I decided to open the book for some reason a few weeks back and it was a revelation.  I had been using recipes found online and in books or just cooking things be experimenting,  without necessarily knowing what I was doing, or the techniques I was using.  This book, more like a binder, on how to cook is broken up and indexed very well.  Basically, its broken up into types of food (i.e. beef, vegetables, eggs, bread, etc).  On top of that it expains different techniques such as braising, roasting, and more.  The book goes into the types of meats, veggies, and other foods and how best to prepare them.  I found it very interesting and as I was reading, felt a lot of gaps fill in in my missing food knowledge.  Gaps I wasn't even sure were there.  I'd definitely suggest it so check it out.  And of course, there are a lot of recipes to choose from!

Recipes

I've been using recipes online forever, but have recently become enamored with one particular website.  Normally, I just google whatever it is that comes to mind, then look through the various links to see which recipe I like (meaning which one I can pull off) and use that one.  http://www.allrecipes.com/ is a site that is often near the top and after some recent exploration of it, I really, really like it.

The reason(s) I really like and use the site are that its very user friendly and oriented.  Users can register and log in and once they've done so, are able to save/add recipes to their 'recipe box.'  It's genius!  Once you find a recipe that you really like by using the search function, you just click the add button and then organize it into the appropriate categories (i.e. appetizer, main dish, bread, etc.).  All the recipes on the site are 'user' added and other members can rate it and give comments/feedback/suggestions. 

Go ahead and check it out.  I'm sure you'll find it useful.

Holla, Challah!

I've been struggling with how, and wanting to make bread for awhile now.  I finally found a good recipe that was perfect for me.  It was relatively easy to make, I didn't need any special ingredients, nor did I need any special tools/equipment.  Right up my alley.

I found a recipe for challah.  My inner Jew just loves it.  It goes great w/butter, honey, or just plain, a bit warmed up.  Delicious.

As I've started messing around with baking more, bread was one thing that I was really interested in, but haven't quite made yet because I didn't have a bread pan, not did I have one of those processors with the plastic spin/spoon thing. 

This recipe just required rolling the dough out into three equal ropes, after allowing to rise.  Then all you do is braid the 3 together, let rise once more and bake basically.  Easy...well...easy enough. 

Now onto tougher breads.