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I'm not a very good cook, but I'm miles ahead of where I was this time last year. I'm not a slave to taste. I'll eat pretty much anything that doesn't make me gag as long as it makes the hunger go away. The idea behind this log is pass on my small amount of cooking knowledge and get some feedback from those of you who paid attention in Home Economics. I cook fairly healthy meals and I normally cook in bulk and use the leftovers for lunches.
Last night's food: Grilled chicken breasts, black beans, jasmine rice.
Last night's beer: Le Fin Du Monde (The end of the World)
Last night's film: Ace in the Hole. A Billy Wilder film starring Kirk Douglas
I stopped at BevMo (Beverages and More) on the way home. I went in looking for Samuel Smith's Oatmeal Stout but came out with a 4 pack of La Fin Du Monde. ADD... a disease like any other. La Fin Du Monde is a Canadian triple fermented golden ale. I popped the top on the first one as soon as I got home and frowned immediately at the smell. I generally stay away from yellow or orange beers because I rarely enjoy them The word that came to mind upon tasting it was "fruity".
I buy meat in bulk at Sam's Club and freeze it for later use. If you aren't buying your meat wholesale, you're probably wasting money. I thawed 4 large chicken breasts the night before. Grilling a thick piece of meat is a talent I do not yet possess so I cut the breasts into thinner fillets (like butterflying but going all the way). I trimmed off some of the thicker spots to ensure the fillets would cook evenly. I always trim more than I need to because my dog gets the raw trimmings. As far as seasoning goes, I usually stick to salt, pepper and garlic, but I have a variety of steak and poultry rubs. I used a poultry rub called "Sazon" on these chicken titties and place them in a zip lock bag partially filled with lime juice. I should have done this the night before, but I'm a doer, not a planner. I set the chicken aside to prep the rice and beans. I REALLY suck at multitasking in the kitchen and as a result, my dinners usually involve a cold hunk of meat with piping hot sides because I cooked the meat first and the sides as an afterthought. The fact that I bothered to set up my sides this time proves that you can teach a drunk dog new tricks.
I finished the first beer and poured the second one in a glass hoping it might make it taste better. Nope. It's kind of like chewing an over rippened orange peal.
I added salt, pepper and garlic to the rice but didn't turn on the burner. The beans were canned so I dumped them in a pot, added salt, pepper and garlic and a little bit of hotsauce. No fire yet.
I finished the second beer and when I bent down to grab the third my head spun ever so slightly. "That's odd." I thought to myself. For such a fruity beer, La Fin Du Monde packs a punch. It's like a hockey player in a pink dress.
I assumed the light headedness was the result of drinking on an empty stomach. I opened number three as I set the timer for 1 hour. It's an arbitrary amount of time, but I wanted to let the chicken sit in the marinade for at least an hour before grilling.
Netflix is fucking great if onlly for the search engine and all the old movies it has. I'm a big fan of Billy Wilder because he writes some of the best dialogue I've ever heard on the big screen. Wilder was a big shot during the 40s and 50s which are often referred to as Hollywood's "Golden Age". Back when men were men and the chicks had pointy tits. Ace in the Hole came out in 1951. Douglas plays Chuck Tatum, a down on his luck reporter who once wrote front page stories for New York newspapers, but due to his abrasive qualities, he's been kicked out of every town worth living in and fired from every job worth having. The film opens with Chuck marching into a small time New Mexico newspaper and demanding a job. He's open about his intentions... Just one big story and New York will beg him to come back...
Don't let the press pass fool you, Chuck Tatum is hard as a honeymoon dick. He bullies deputies for fun, lays a sherriff on his ass and knows all the angles. Chuck finds the big story he's looking for but loses his humanity in doing so. He tries to put things right near the end but... You'll have to rent it to find out. For anyone looking for good old movies, I'd start with Double Indemnity. It's the flick that made me a Billy Wilder fan. Ace in the Hole was a bit of a flip when it came out. I liked it but most of you would probably hate it.
The timer went off and as I stood up to turn it off, my legs said "fuck me" and I caught myself stumbling to the kitchen. "Sonofbitch." I looked at my third empty beer and tried to focus on the label. "9% alc by vol". Ahhhhhhh, now it makes sense. That fruity orange peel taste does a hell of a job masking the high alcohol content. Now the whole "End of the World" moniker makes sense. This beer is like an angry moose in capri pants and high heels. As funny as it looks, it'll fuck you up in a hurry.
I preheated my grill with all three burners on high. While the grill was heating up, I started the rice. When the grill was ready I put the chicken on and closed the lid. I prefer to blast thin meats on high rather than cook them slowly, and I try to only flip them once. I've cooked chicken so many different ways but there are only two ways that seem to work everytime; grilling and roasting. I'm convinced that roasting (as in roasting a whole chicken) is the ONLY way to make a breast taste good, but grilling a breast isn't too bad as long as it's thin. For grilling I prefer thighs. Chicken breasts are so naturally devoid of flavor that I have a hard time getting excited about them anymore.
After I flipped the chicken, I started the beans and cracked the fourth La Fin Du Monde. By this time I was feeling no pain. Canadians are sneaky.
For the first time in recent memory, all the food was ready at the same time. Too bad my wife was out of town and there was no one here to see it but my dog. Such accomplishments are lost on him.
The chicken was good, but it could have been better. I should have used thigh meat and I should have marinated them overnight. The rice was good. I normally add a little chicken stock to it but I was out. The beans needed more salt and hot sauce. The beer had me seeing double and Kirk Douglas is the man.
FIN
This saturday I'm going to try a French dish called Coq Au Vin which means the "Whole Cock" or "Complete Rooster" if you prefer. Any and all comments and critisms welcome.
Last night's food: Grilled chicken breasts, black beans, jasmine rice.
Last night's beer: Le Fin Du Monde (The end of the World)
Last night's film: Ace in the Hole. A Billy Wilder film starring Kirk Douglas
I stopped at BevMo (Beverages and More) on the way home. I went in looking for Samuel Smith's Oatmeal Stout but came out with a 4 pack of La Fin Du Monde. ADD... a disease like any other. La Fin Du Monde is a Canadian triple fermented golden ale. I popped the top on the first one as soon as I got home and frowned immediately at the smell. I generally stay away from yellow or orange beers because I rarely enjoy them The word that came to mind upon tasting it was "fruity".
I buy meat in bulk at Sam's Club and freeze it for later use. If you aren't buying your meat wholesale, you're probably wasting money. I thawed 4 large chicken breasts the night before. Grilling a thick piece of meat is a talent I do not yet possess so I cut the breasts into thinner fillets (like butterflying but going all the way). I trimmed off some of the thicker spots to ensure the fillets would cook evenly. I always trim more than I need to because my dog gets the raw trimmings. As far as seasoning goes, I usually stick to salt, pepper and garlic, but I have a variety of steak and poultry rubs. I used a poultry rub called "Sazon" on these chicken titties and place them in a zip lock bag partially filled with lime juice. I should have done this the night before, but I'm a doer, not a planner. I set the chicken aside to prep the rice and beans. I REALLY suck at multitasking in the kitchen and as a result, my dinners usually involve a cold hunk of meat with piping hot sides because I cooked the meat first and the sides as an afterthought. The fact that I bothered to set up my sides this time proves that you can teach a drunk dog new tricks.
I finished the first beer and poured the second one in a glass hoping it might make it taste better. Nope. It's kind of like chewing an over rippened orange peal.
I added salt, pepper and garlic to the rice but didn't turn on the burner. The beans were canned so I dumped them in a pot, added salt, pepper and garlic and a little bit of hotsauce. No fire yet.
I finished the second beer and when I bent down to grab the third my head spun ever so slightly. "That's odd." I thought to myself. For such a fruity beer, La Fin Du Monde packs a punch. It's like a hockey player in a pink dress.
I assumed the light headedness was the result of drinking on an empty stomach. I opened number three as I set the timer for 1 hour. It's an arbitrary amount of time, but I wanted to let the chicken sit in the marinade for at least an hour before grilling.
Netflix is fucking great if onlly for the search engine and all the old movies it has. I'm a big fan of Billy Wilder because he writes some of the best dialogue I've ever heard on the big screen. Wilder was a big shot during the 40s and 50s which are often referred to as Hollywood's "Golden Age". Back when men were men and the chicks had pointy tits. Ace in the Hole came out in 1951. Douglas plays Chuck Tatum, a down on his luck reporter who once wrote front page stories for New York newspapers, but due to his abrasive qualities, he's been kicked out of every town worth living in and fired from every job worth having. The film opens with Chuck marching into a small time New Mexico newspaper and demanding a job. He's open about his intentions... Just one big story and New York will beg him to come back...
Don't let the press pass fool you, Chuck Tatum is hard as a honeymoon dick. He bullies deputies for fun, lays a sherriff on his ass and knows all the angles. Chuck finds the big story he's looking for but loses his humanity in doing so. He tries to put things right near the end but... You'll have to rent it to find out. For anyone looking for good old movies, I'd start with Double Indemnity. It's the flick that made me a Billy Wilder fan. Ace in the Hole was a bit of a flip when it came out. I liked it but most of you would probably hate it.
The timer went off and as I stood up to turn it off, my legs said "fuck me" and I caught myself stumbling to the kitchen. "Sonofbitch." I looked at my third empty beer and tried to focus on the label. "9% alc by vol". Ahhhhhhh, now it makes sense. That fruity orange peel taste does a hell of a job masking the high alcohol content. Now the whole "End of the World" moniker makes sense. This beer is like an angry moose in capri pants and high heels. As funny as it looks, it'll fuck you up in a hurry.
I preheated my grill with all three burners on high. While the grill was heating up, I started the rice. When the grill was ready I put the chicken on and closed the lid. I prefer to blast thin meats on high rather than cook them slowly, and I try to only flip them once. I've cooked chicken so many different ways but there are only two ways that seem to work everytime; grilling and roasting. I'm convinced that roasting (as in roasting a whole chicken) is the ONLY way to make a breast taste good, but grilling a breast isn't too bad as long as it's thin. For grilling I prefer thighs. Chicken breasts are so naturally devoid of flavor that I have a hard time getting excited about them anymore.
After I flipped the chicken, I started the beans and cracked the fourth La Fin Du Monde. By this time I was feeling no pain. Canadians are sneaky.
For the first time in recent memory, all the food was ready at the same time. Too bad my wife was out of town and there was no one here to see it but my dog. Such accomplishments are lost on him.
The chicken was good, but it could have been better. I should have used thigh meat and I should have marinated them overnight. The rice was good. I normally add a little chicken stock to it but I was out. The beans needed more salt and hot sauce. The beer had me seeing double and Kirk Douglas is the man.
FIN
This saturday I'm going to try a French dish called Coq Au Vin which means the "Whole Cock" or "Complete Rooster" if you prefer. Any and all comments and critisms welcome.
