Random Unposted Pics

Rutabaga, Apple and Brown Sugar

Blonde brownie with chocolate chips, butterscotch chips and hazelnuts.

Scallops seared with wasabi powder over turnip greens

Lake Michigan gull

Montrose before it got shitty and snowy outside

Looking toward the Loop

Fry, part the first

Dig this. I decided I was going to fry the hell out of stuff for a few days. I started with the obvious.

Chicken. Chicken thighs to be exakt. I like thighs.

I cut the chicken parts into pieces parts, cutting against the grain (some people don't think this is necessary, I think they should fuck off). Tossed the parts up with some salt, then marinated in a mix of miso paste and sake.

The vegetable oil was heated to about 340 degrees. When the parts were done swimming in marinade for a bit, they got dipped in soy sauce and dusted with corn starch (you could use potato starch, which will get a more typically Asian fry, but I didn't do that because I didn't). Then the frying commenced. Three to five minutes per part.

The accompanying zucchini rings are just zucchini cored and sliced into rings and fried for the briefest time. Just to get them tender.

The results were really tender and had damn good taste. I didn't even bother with sauce, though I wouldn't stop you if you went that route.

Halloween-time!

On tap for the rugrats that are brave enough to ring my doorbell: Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, Kit Kat, Hersey's plain, Butterfinger Crisps, Gummy Bears, Spree, Sweetarts, Sweetart Chews.

There is an awesome combo bag of Spree, Sweetart, Sweetart Chews and Bit-O-Honey. I removed all of the Bit-O-Honey. I don't want any chilluns gettin' hurt on the Bit-O-Honey, ya know?

Here's a few family shots:

A Swim in the Park

I don't think my gear is ever going to dry.

Steaming My Buns

I finally had time to pull my head up out of the gin barrel and steam some buns. These things are great and I've been meaning to do an at-home batch for a bit, but they take a some time with the dough prep and such. I managed to get home yesterday at a reasonable enough hour to give it a go. Frankly, I had it in my mind to do it either way, but that is the way of the world.

I used the bones of a recipe from Chowtimes.com for the dough. I cut the recipe in half and used the basic recipe, though with water, coconut milk, and butter in leiu of milk and margarine and ditched the egg entirely. Simple stuff. Mix it up, then knead into a smooth ball and let it sit, covered.



Meanwhile, I mushed up some ground pork, red cabbage, and spring onion with sesame oil, soy, pepper, salt, a pinch of sugar, curry powder and a touch of smoky bbq sauce and let that stew in it's own uncooked juices while waiting for the dough.

When the dough ball was ready to go, I followed the Chowtimes plan and rolled it out into a longish log, then cut the log into pieces. I got about 9 out of it, if I recall correctly. These small pieces are then rolled into rounds, thicker in the middle. I dropped some filling in the middle of each and pinched them up....or stuffed 'em, or zipped 'em shut...something. I'm not sure what happened. It was inelegant and the buns were not uniform in size or shape. Who cares? I was starting to faint from hunger and knew it was going to be a while yet. Plus, the dog was looking at me sternly and threatening to piss the floor.

I moistened those buns and dabbed them in some sesame seed, then put those bad girls in the steamer on a tiny scrap of parchment paper. They took another 30 minutes to rise while the dog and I lounged outside.

After steaming, I can say those buns were really tasty. I will do this again. Probably try the half steam, half fry version to get a crispy outside. I also want to do the soup buns. Primarily so I can say "aspic" repeatedly. Say it with me...assssspiK.

Don't judge my lumpy looking buns, they are soft, warm and tasty. You like big buns and you cannot lie. And I know you wan't some of that hot sauce on one of my buns.

Berries

The Birds - Duck!

I admit, it's not as frightening as the movie. However, my neighborhood birds have made a concerted effort to breach the outer defenses of my home this weekend. I think window technology has outpaced their aerial offensives. So far this weekend.....Birds - 0, Gabe's Double Pane's 5.

Though there have been quite a few survivors, I can only warn them about drunk flying so many times.

Anyway, my real point was that the usual culprits took a back seat today to a male Common Yellow-Shafted Flicker. An ant-eating woodpecker, this flicker is fairly large (especially for crashing into windows) and strikingly attractive.

Maybe he's just napping.

Red Ass Pickles

Pickles and Kool-Aid. Lord knows what that freaky Kool-Aid Man would do with something like these, but I thought they were awesome and strange. It's tart and sweet. A good combination. Someone should make a candy like that.



The best thing about these is that they are stupidly easy to make. I let my dog make this first batch. She's no whiz in the kitchen, but she did a bang up job here. I don't even like pickles enough to have tried this (neither does the dog, thank god, or they never would have made it back into the jar), but I did it out of spite for all the odd food hating people out there who might gag thinking about it. Strangely, I really enjoyed these.



Alton Brown's recipe here, which is straight from the Mississippi Delta as part of his "Feasting on Asphalt" show.

Look at it's devilishly sweet redness:

Roll Out.....What you got in that

Egg Roll.

You can start with anything. I went with ground pork and scallops. Tossed in super heated wok with a bit of oil and cooked it up quick. Set aside.

I then took chopped up baby portabellas, green onion, yellow peppers, and minced garlic and ginger, some salt and pepper (I know this doesn't seem very Asiany, but Whateva, I do what I want!) Flash that in the wok for a few minutes. This all takes very little time.

Threw it all back together with a little soy and oyster sauce, then added sprouts over top and covered so that the sprouts would steam. Done. Set the whole mess aside. You want to let it cool and get as much of the liquid drained as possible.

Taking the wraps, place a few tablespoons of filler in the middle and roll the bottom, then flap over the sides ("envelope style") and complete the roll. Use a little whisked egg to seal it up. The packaging on the pre-made wraps always have a handy little rolling diagram (WARNING: do not use this technique to roll other things).

Back to the wok, which now has some oil ready to go. Drop those little suckers in (or better yet, slide them in carefully and don't singe your arms like some people), watch them turn golden brown. Won't take long at all. If you aren't using a deep fryer, you can turn them carefully to ensure the bottom side doesn't burn.

I like to serve with plum sauce. You can do whatever the hell you want with them.

It's not ice cream, you heathen

It gelato, dammit. Chocolate-Cinnamon Gelato with hunks of toffee bar up in that bizzatch.

It just means more milk, less cream. It still tastes good, don't freak out.

I used this Epicurious recipe. Pretty simple...whisk sugar, cornstarch, fresh ground cinnamon and salt in a saucepan. Add milk until dissolved. Boil, remove from heat and add in the chocolate until it is smooth and melted. Put that bowl over ice and add the small amount of cream and stir often for about a half hour. Then do your thing with some kind of ice cream maker contraption, adding the chunks of toffee at the very end. Freeze that shite.

Chicago Blues Festival 2008

I took some time on Friday to get over to the Chicago Blues Festival. It's always an enjoyable experience. It's free to show up. The music is good. Though probably a tad on the costly side, there is still good food (I don't really need to hear from anyone that thinks otherwise, we are all aware that someone hates BBQ, someone else thinks it's too expensive, a third knucklehead hates festival food, fried food, having to buy tickets, whatever). Best of all, it is usually fairly crowd-free, especially before the weekend. Add in the rain on Friday and it's like a family 'q.

I walked over to the park around noon. It hadn't started raining yet, but some unusual foresight on my part resulted in me bringing my jacket. It would come in handy when the sky opened up just as I got to the festival grounds, centered at Columbus and Jackson behind the Art Institute.

Besides rain there was Little Willie Littlefield, the Joe B Band, and Afrissippi.

A few shots of the fountain.

The blues bus. Look at all the orbs! No way, that's not rain you haters.

The wind blew over a few trash bins. Gull bonus!

Nobody's home.

Food row.

Rising Star Fife and Drum featuring the Thomas Family.

Joe B Band playing at the Gibson stage.

Little Willie Littlefield at the US Cellular stage.

You can see Willie went without the shoe, which is now sitting on the piano in front of him.

Afrissippi at the Mississippi Juke Joint stage, sponsored by the state of Mississippi. They wailed.

A rockin' chess party out in front of the Art Institute.

A clip of Afrissippi in action. No bitching. I know it sucks. Taken with an Olympus 1030 SW. My thumb is a camera hog and it was f'n hard to hold that little damn camera steady in the rain.