By now you've probably discovered that much of what your parents told you was wrong. Maybe they meant well, or didn't know any better, but rest assured, ignoring their advice, like that of the high school principal, was sometimes the right thing to do. Example:
Playing with your food. Chef's who did not ignore this childhood advice staple are likely busy today running a fast food hot line. This may result in consistent product but it's better to eat playful, real food.
I recently learned of the poor person's
sous vide from my pal Ebban (not his real name!) who, when not trying to corner the market on fresh water in the desert, is steeped in MacGyver re-runs. Apparently Hulu, unlike the rebels, can find it's way deep inside a fortified bunker outside of the Green Zone.
Sous vide, for the uninitiated, is French for "under vacuum". Tony chef's have been spending thousands on complicated vacuum cooking apparati for several years but turns out you have everything you need in your pantry. And here's how to do it.
Instead of vacuum sealing the item to be cooked you place it in a zip-lock bag and remove as much of the air as possible. To cook the item you'll need a clean cooler and some hot water. The trick with
sous vide is to maintain the cooking fire (in this case hot water) at the desired finish temperature. Never more and never less. The item bastes in its own juices until it reaches the desired finished temperature. And a cooler is designed to do precisely that—hold temperatures steady for long periods of time. Recently we tried this method on a couple of filets and were astounded as how easy it was and how well and precisely it cooked the meat.
First, season the meat with pepper and salt, place in an Ziploc bag and seal tightly. Squeeze all the air from the bag as the food will need to directly contact the cooking liquid with no air spaces between. Make sure the bag is secured closed to prevent water from leaking into the bag.
To cook beef mid-rare (160° F) fill a small cooler with hot water from the tap and then add heated water from a teapot to bring the entire bath to 165-170°F The water bath temperature will drop slightly once you add the food which is why you start a few degrees higher. You must use an accurate instant read thermometer to insure the temperatures are correct.
Place the Ziploc bag(s) containing the filets in the water. Place a small lid on top to keep the bags fully submerged. Close the lid and then after a couple of minutes check the temperature and if off by more than a few degrees, adjust up or down as necessary. Close the lid and wait another 30 minutes before checking the water temperature again. If needed, adjust the water bath temperature by adding more hot water but never get it hotter than your final desired temperature. After 1.5 hours the filets will be cooked to perfection. You'll know it's done because the juices will have come out of the meat and it will be brown on the outside. You're doing the same thing that you do with any other heat source, you're setting the proteins in the meat. Let the filets stand for 20 minutes and the quickly (on the grill or in a pan) char the outside for 30 seconds. You will be astonished at the tenderness of the meat.
We served our
sous vide cooked filet mignon with a slice of no-knead, pecan semolina bread and an apple-cauliflower soup. For desert, a signature dish of home made fresh strawberry and pineapple candied fruit jellies, no added sugar, just pure juice and all the yummy goodness one can stand.
m.o.i.: "policy bat", 2010.
Race Director Scott Mansker takes advantage of a quiet pre-race moment to tell the assembled crowd a fish story.
The Mann family, Joe (rear left with white ballcap), Grandpa Hoot, and Grandson Frank took top style points by winning 2 divisions with 3 generations of racers.
Women's solo division winners. Left to right in 1st,2nd,and 3rd were: Katie Pfefferkorn, Shannon Twenter, and Barbara Stoppelmoor.
This was a tough landing in high water.
Well worth the price of this downriver run was a trip back to Kaw Point in Race Organizer Russ Payzant's beautifully restored 1950's era cabin cruiser.
Perhaps the only thing more ridiculous than cramming more than 50 hot dogs down your pie hole in less than 10 minutes is the fact that during yesterday's Nathan's Hot Dog eating contest, the organizers had 4-time former champion, Takeru Kobayashi, hauled away from Coney Island in handcuffs. The reason? Kobay, as his devoted fans call him, refused to sign a contract with Major League Eating–the "official sponsor" of the event. Well, ain't that America, home of the free?
Katie Pfefferkorn, that bolt of Kansas sunshine who never seems to drop her wing paddle, solos past Paseo Bridge construction on her most recent world record attempt. Pfefferkorn, who broke the previous mark for the longest distance paddled by a woman in a 24-hour period less than a month ago, hopes to put in 200 miles before her day is done—which should happen at 7:45 am Sunday. Scott Mansker and Russ Payzant, a major part of the MR340 brain trust, are providing support and verification for the attempt.
Lance Armstrong has been the other big bully in cycling for years and bullies are yellow. Landis is Armstrong's 2nd teammate to accuse the 7-time TDF winner of systematic doping. Armstrong won the first case against Frankie Andreau and is winning the second one against Floyd in the court of public opinion. But should he? How is Lance any different than Barry Bonds? It's yet to be proven that Bonds took performance enhancing drugs to become the all-time home run king but everyone believes that he did. Only the superficial American cycling fan doesn't understand the fact that sure Lance has done more victory laps down the Champs Elysee than anyone in the history of cycling but that doesn't mean he's wasn't using. Listen to Lance and his coach when he speaks to the public, you'll hear him talk about being clean now and how he never had a positive test for performance enhancing drugs in his career. 
It's hard to defend Landis because he has been such a bitter loser. Obviously what pains him the most is that he was doing what everyone else was doing at the time and he was the one who got caught and labeled a cheat. And others are seen as heroes. The timing of Landis' allegations during the Tour of California demonstrate just how bitter he remains. Landis, a former mountain bike world champion won the inaugural Tour of California. Now, he rides for a middling team that can't even buy entry into the event. And to make matters worst, Armstrong comes out of retirement and now all the media wants to do is talk about Lance. Lance. Lance. What a great guy. And his foundation. Awesome. All the time Landis is thinking, Jesus (forgive me, I have forsaken you), but I was just as good as this guy except I got caught and then burned by the system. This guys does it and he's a hero?
OK. The lawnmower was secured (with a Kryptonite lock) to a tree late last summer lock to prevent property redistribution. The key was then lost for the next 9 months and lucky for us, most of this time was fall and winter. Then came spring, and rain. 
Starter. Roasted carrot, golden beet, apple, and red pepper soup. Winter heaven. 
Some pasta. Roasted califlower and almonds with acorn squash puree. More winter heaven.
