Ten things you don’t know about me

I saw this thing going around on Facebook recently. Made for an interesting little writing excursion, and I have mine here for you.

1) On one day in April, 2003, the band I was playing in performed two shows in two major cities in two countries in one calendar day. It went something like this: Play 1 hour set in Paris at 2am. Hang and dance with the locals ’til 5am. Drive 12 hours to Zurich. Play 2 hour set at 8pm in Zurich. Party with the locals ’til whenever. Pass out for two days.

2) I wanted to be an astronaut when I grew up. Kinda still do.

3) I’m fascinated by the concepts and mathematics of chaos theory. I probably don’t get most of the deeper shit, but I love it. I’ve got ideas to build a synthesizer using some of those concepts, too.

4) A few years ago I was a Bay City Roller for a tour, playing keyboards at a bunch of shows including the Hatch Shell in the pouring rain. Subway Jared got his picture taken with me that day. At another show I autographed someone’s motorcycle. At the owner’s request! Well, he said he was the owner, anyway.

5) Sixteen Candles is one of my all-time favorite movies. I probably know every line, and it weirds me out when I see it on TV showing additional scenes in the dining hall.

6) I would jump at the opportunity to compose for a women’s choir.

7) I very much would like to take batting practice in a major league baseball stadium (preferably Fenway, but they’re all magical in their own way). I’m sure I’ve got a little pop, I want to see how much. Just once. Or twice. I mean, am I just getting it out of the infield on a good swing? Or am I someone who on a good day can trust a little backspin and backwind to push one out of the shallowest part of the park? Will I ever know?

I love chess. I’m not very good at it and am susceptible to rash moves, but I like to think I’m learning.

9) When I used to do tech support at a major music software company, this guy called tech support frustrated, ’cause that’s what happens, and we ended up with a solution where I had to send him an update disk to correct the problem (disks!). This required him to await the disk, which didn’t please him very much, of course. But there it is, so I say, “Can I get your last name so I can get your registration up?” “Zevon.” Shit. Can there possibly in a million years be another Zevon calling me for music tech support? Please? “First name?” “Warren.” Dammit.

10) I made my first “record” when I was about 10 or 11 with my brother, my sister and our two best friends, all live to cassette tape in one night. Although I had taken piano lessons for a couple of years before that, that’s the night I knew I wanted to make music. I still have the cassette.

Random things (Well… Semi-random) and a Burger Party Update

Hello, everyone! I hope you’ve been having a fantastic summer. Here in the northeast U.S. we’ve had a few heat waves but overall it’s been pretty beautiful and perfect.

My summer has been very busy and fun, as my music teaching has had me working at the School of Rock (just like the movie, only real and even funnier) as well as teaching privately and an adult education beginner guitar class.

I haven’t done much grilling. Actually, I haven’t done any grilling at all, unless you count the use of our George Foreman grill. It’s kind of funny — when the prospect of grilling comes up, I find I’m not feeling like standing under the sun over a grill. Maybe I need a canopy or something, or at least to feel more confident that I’m not just going to singe the outside of whatever I’m cooking and then need to finish it in the kitchen. Why do double duty, standing in the sun during part of it, when you can start and finish the job in the shade and comfort of the kitchen?

But I know that’s lame, and I will tackle the grilling adventure soon. There’s no rush. In the meantime I’ve been mainly getting us fed with nutritious stuff but not a lot of excitement and novelty. (I.e., not much I thought was worthy of posting about)

Oh — but I wanted to update you on how the burgers I cooked for a little gathering of some of our good friends two weekends ago. As you know, I’ve worked up my own recipe that my wife and I have been crazy about, and I’ve been working a little on my consistency of quality. Well, after awhile you gotta cook for more than yourself or your significant other, you gotta branch out and share your love.

Well, in our group of friends that joined us, there were no shortage of burger lovers. And I was thrilled to hear no shortage of yummy noises and comments of “Dude, great burger!” If the night of socializing with long-time, good friends could have been made any better at all, knowing they enjoyed what I cooked for them did it.

I should’ve taken some pictures, but I’ve been trying to pick up my phone less for unimportant things when I’m with friends. So no burger pictures or satisfied ‘customer’ pictures. But trust me that it was a great night and that you should try making these burgers.

If you make them, let me know how they turned out for you. And if you come up with variants, I would love to check them out!

Thanks for reading, and keep cooking.

Cool takeout concept

What an interesting concept – the Conflict Kitchen, in Pittsburgh, PA, serves only food from countries that the U.S. is in conflict with and changes its menu and look regularly. Read more about it here. I may need to check that out at some point!

In other news, I’m making my burger recipe for a bunch of friends tonight. I’ll let you know how it goes.

Gourmands Through The Ages

Gourmands Through The Ages

Just spotted this article on NPR and had to share it with you. The story of Marcus Gavius Apicuis is perhaps the story of history’s most dramatic foodie. I think I’ll have to pick up the book they are discussing so I can get the rest of the story and then some!

In similar news, I found an Ina Garten book at the library — Barefoot In Paris — and I’m excited to learn some French cooking basics in there.

What food/ recipe book have you been reading that has inspired you?

Vegas restaurants!

Wow, where do the days go?

We took a big work trip to Las Vegas in April, and on that trip we got married (last day in Vegas!). I’ve been working a lot on music and my music teaching.

But cooking has been going on, just not much in the way of new things to write about. How many blog posts can I write about making chicken chili? Probably a lot, because I often do it a little different, but that’s not the point. I want to have this blog be as diversely culinary as I can possibly have it, so I find myself posting more when I’m hitting things that are new to me so that I can share it with you guys.

Coming up, though, I plan to share my grilling adventures (or more likely “mis-adventures,” but we shall see!) and also explore more seafoods with you as the summer unfolds. There are many summery dishes to be tried, full of nutrition and flavor, and I am looking forward to lots of exciting cooking adventures this season.

In the meantime, though, I wanted to tell you about a couple of restaurants we tried and loved in Vegas. You gotta get off the beaten path, though. One’s a local hotspot and another is an easily missed nugget of excellence.

Hot & Juicy Crawfish

Guys, seriously. Just a little restaurant in a strip mall just past Chinatown (there’s a second one in Chinatown, but a local recommended the one a little further up) that doesn’t look like a whole lot. But is that the line to get in? We walked in and were slammed by the fantastic aroma of spicy southern seafood. And all the smiling faces at the tables and all the not-at-all-impatient people waiting in line told me was this was going to be good and worth waiting for.

But we were starving and exhausted from work, so we opted for the takeout to go back to our hotel with.

The very nice gentleman behind the counter explained the flavors (five levels of heat, and, he told us, they were erring a little on the hot side that night, so consider a mild to be a medium and so on) and upon my asking let us know what his favorites were. We went with those — cajun Dungeness crab legs, shrimp with garlic butter, and we figured we had to get some crawfish, too, which we got Louisiana style. All mild. Had to test the waters.

Glad we went with the mild, too. We like some heat but aren’t major bring-on-the-heat-and-then-some people. This packed a punch and lots of flavor.

This was our first experience with crawfish, so we might have been better served to eat in and get some pointers from regulars and staff, but a quick youtube search yielded a couple of helpful guides. I’m not expert yet by any means, but we got the job done. Between us, I was a little weirded out by the thought of sucking the juices out of the head (agreed-upon by everyone who told me about crawfish as being the “best part”), but I did try it. Was it the best part? Not to me then, probably because I was still weirded out. But you gotta try it, and next time it probably won’t seem so weird and cloud my tastes.

Now — here’s where I tell you just how goddamn good this place is. The next day, I was talking to one of the guys at our trade show booth, and he asked if I knew any good places he and his guys could go for dinner that night. “Well…,” I said, and began telling him about Hot & Juicy Crawfish.

The next day, he couldn’t get to me fast enough as I was making my coffee, he was so excited. Loved it. LOVED it! And everyone else in his group was equally excited about it.

It’s off the strip, it’s inexpensive, and it’s packed with locals (and I mean PACKED). Cannot go wrong.

TJ’s Steakhouse

On the other end of the dining spectrum (no bibs!) is TJ’s Steakhouse in the LVH Hotel. This is where we finished off our stay once the two weeks of work ended. I loved it here — still full of gaming tables and slot machines, but more civilized than the main part of the Strip. Plus it is right on the Monorail, so we could have a little excursion down the strip but escape from it just as easily.

But this is about TJ’s, which my wife (actually at this point in the trip she was still my girlfriend!) spotted in the hotel welcome book. Sometimes you need a good steak, and this is what she was craving.

It’s a very classy establishment, nicely decorated with massive framed photos of Vegas stars of the 50s, 60s and 70s. Frank! Manilow! Barbra! Sammy! You could easily picture the Rat Pack in their heyday holding court at a large back table, filling the room with smoke and laughter.

We each went with the filet mignon, which was absolutely astounding. I continue to wonder if a steak so good will ever pass my lips again without going back there. So tender, pink and juicy with a perfect mesquite sear on the outside. Just incredible. I don’t usually say “man, I really need a steak,” but now I’m looking forward to the filet mignon at TJ’s in a big way.

What’s your can’t-miss restaurant of Las Vegas?

Perfect Burgers

Summertime weather is almost upon us again. Grilling season! I’m looking forward to getting out there on the grill more often this season. Last year I only grilled a couple of times, and to be honest my skills are lacking. But I intend to address that this year.

In advance of getting out and grilling, I had a craving for some burgers last night. Usually when I make burgers the ground beef is already preformed (or even frozen burgers!), but yesterday I bought a pound of fresh ground beef for the task.

I found a recipe online for cajun burgers that sounded really good and, in lieu of the called-for cajun seasoning, substituted Goya’s adobo seasoning blend and made some other minor changes

I am not exaggerating when I tell you that these burgers were incredible. Ve-e-e-ery juicy and fantastically flavorful. My wife was telling me a story, taking a green bean and munching on it, talking, and then was dumbstruck when she bit into the burger. You can bet I’ll be replicating this again for company on the outdoor grill.

Here’s the recipe:

• 1 lb ground beef (I used 85% lean)
• 3 tbsp unseasoned bread crumbs
• 1 egg
• 1 tbsp Goya adobo seasoning

Preheat to high heat your cooking surface or grill. I used my trusty George Foreman grill. In a medium bowl, blend all the ingredients together. Form into 4 equal sized patties. Pack them good enough to hold together but don’t squish them too much. I left them about 3/4″ thick.

Give them about 5 minutes a side. You want to get a nice sear on the outside to lock in those juices. Don’t push down on them or move them around too much or you’ll lose the juices and end up with dry hockey pucks. Cut into the middle of one to check for the desired done-ness. Keep in mind that when you remove it from heat it will continue to cook for another two minutes, give or take, so try to remove it from the grill just before it’s perfect.

Add a slice of cheese (I used your standard American cheese slices), allow the cheese to melt a little, and serve on a bun with your favorite toppings.

Keep some extra napkins to get the juices dripping down your chin. Maybe bib up.

Spicy Chipotle Chicken Chili

I was away for most of April, working at the annual NAB Convention in sunny Las Vegas. I didn’t do much cooking while away — although the kitchenette in our room allowed us to do some cooking, it was more utilitarian due to exhaustion. We ate out a bunch of times, as you gotta do when you’re in Vegas, and a few future posts will chronicle some of our adventures and our favorite restaurants. Also, on our last day in Vegas, we got married! This was not purely spontaneous but also not very planned out beyond what we needed to bring to get our marriage license. But now it’s official!

Meanwhile, though, now we’re home and back to cooking. Apparently inspired by our desert excursions, my wife picked up some chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, and that led to this incredible chicken chili modified from a recipe on Goya’s website. Mine has got some pop to it, which you can scale back by using only half of the chipotle peppers. Enjoy!

Chipotle Chicken Chili

1 tbsp olive oil
3 chicken breasts, chopped into small pieces
2 yellow onions, finely chopped
2 red bell peppers, finely chopped
1 can black beans
1 can red kidney beans
2 cans (8 oz each) tomato sauce
1 can Goya chipotle chili peppers in adobo sauce
1 can mild green chili peppers, finely chopped
1/2 cup chicken broth
chili pepper
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp garlic powder
salt/ pepper
1 avocado, sliced

Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add red pepper, onion, a little salt and about a teaspoon of garlic powder. While the onion and red pepper cooks down, sprinkle chicken with chili powder and salt.

When the onions are beginning to get translucent, add the chicken and cumin, stir, and cook until chicken is browned on all sides.

Add the beans, tomato sauce, broth, chipotle chili peppers and green chili peppers. Stir together, bring to a boil, and then lower heat and simmer about 20 to 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until flavors are blended. Stir in a bit of lime juice before serving.

Serve over rice with sliced avocado.

Garlic Lime Marinated Pork Chops

Garlic Lime Marinated Pork Chops, recipe from SkinnyTaste.com

Some days, you really just need easy. No muss, no fuss, but you really don’t want to skimp on flavor. And you’d really rather not get something greasy, fatty or otherwise unhealthy! Well, last night I made us this fantastic pork chop dish. Super easy, very, very tasty. And no compromise on nutrition either.

We had some boneless center cut pork chops in the fridge, having just stocked that up. For some reason, “garlic” and “lime” were bouncing in my head. I searched the web with “garlic lime pork chops” and found this recipe for Garlic Lime Marinated Pork Chops immediately.

Since we had everything on hand (minus the whole lime, so I adapted with lime juice) this just looked like a win-win from the get-go.

Also, the recipe calls for marinating for 20 minutes. I marinated a little longer than that, covering it and leaving it in the fridge for about 24 hours. The recipe recommends broiling or grilling, so I pulled out my trusty George Forman countertop grill.

Wow.

The aroma just on uncovering the bowl of marinating pork was exquisite. Once it was on the grill a couple of minutes, the kitchen was smelling so good. Lexi popped her head in wondering what was going on, as she hadn’t even realized that cooking was happening yet. That’s how fast it was!

Tzatziki on garlic lime marinated pork

We paired it with some steamed green beans, and Lexi was inspired to throw together a version of tzatziki (I’ll have to get the full recipe from her, but it included Greek yogurt, cucumber, garlic powder, olive oil and dill) that we used both on the pork and on the green beans.

Enjoy!

No Guilt Buffalo Chicken Fingers

You guys — if you like Buffalo chicken but lament the fat from the chicken skin and the butter, then I am going to make your day.

Last night I found this easy recipe for Buffalo Chicken sandwiches, made some slight modifications and found a winner. We will so be doing this again.

I followed the instructions with regard to the seasoning and the bread crumb/ flour mixture, though I made a little extra of the latter. The chicken breasts were then cut into long, thin strips by taking the breast meat, cutting each lengthwise horizontally (for four flat filets) and then cutting those into strips about one inch wide.

Season the chicken strips with salt, pepper and garlic powder, then coat it in the bread crumb mixture.

Cook the chicken in some olive oil — the recipe called for covering the pan to finish the chicken, but since I cut the chicken small I was able to skip that step. The chicken was cooked perfectly!

Here’s where the magic happened. The Buffalo chicken sauce called for three ingredients:

3 tbsp butter
1 tsp cornstarch
1/4 to 1/2 tsp hot pepper sauce

I substituted margarine for the butter.

Melt the butter in a shallow pan, add the cornstarch and hot pepper sauce, and whisk continuously until thickened.

I did not measure the hot sauce (I used Frank’s Red Hot, which we are becoming convinced is a magical ingredient that can make anything and everything better). Rather than measuring, I eyeballed it and added more based on the coloring of the sauce. It was still a little yellowish, so I added a little more Red Hot.

Do the taste test, too — is it hot enough for you? No? Up the ante.

I served the chicken strips separate from the sauce so we could dip it and control the amount of heat. Also note that the chicken is delicious without the sauce — either way you’ve got some tastiness going on!

I would also recommend making more of the sauce. It went fast! Next time I plan to make more and toss the chicken strips in the sauce before serving, for more of a traditional Buffalo fingers flavor.

The revelation of this meal was from my girlfriend, who, upon tasting the sauce, exclaimed, “You mean we can have Buffalo chicken anytime we want now?!?!?”

Yes! Anytime we want! And with reduced guilt, too.

Slow cooker turkey chili

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: On a super cold evening, there’s nothing like a delicious soup, stew or chili to warm you up from the inside out. And cooking from scratch is so easy there’s no point in opening a can of chili or whatever when you can make something better.

In this turkey chili, I made use of some canned ingredients to speed my preparation along, too. If I had fresh chili peppers, I probably would’ve gone with one of those instead of the can of chilis. Corn, to be honest, probably wouldn’t be in the chili were it not for the cans we had in the pantry. I went with a can of Mexican corn, which includes red and green pepper, but you can use plain corn or no corn at all!

I made this the other day, starting it before I left to teach a few piano lessons, when it was frigidly cold out, and when I got home several hours later the house smelled so good. It’s always nice to have the house smelling good for your partner when she/ he gets home, but with the slow cooker you get to enjoy that coming-home-what-smells-so-good feeling yourself!

Slow Cooker Turkey Chili

about 1.25 lbs ground turkey
2 yellow onions, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 sweet peppers, chopped
1 small can (4oz) fire roasted chili peppers
1 small can (11oz) corn, drained
1 can (28oz) tomato puree
1 can (15oz) black beans, drained
1 can (15oz) cannelloni beans, drained (I was out of kidney beans, so I substituted)
approx 1 tbsp chili pepper
approx 1 tsp cumin
2 tsp salt
2 tsp pepper
1 tsp cayenne pepper
shakes of oregano, parsley, garlic powder and onion powder

Put everything into the slow cooker, stir, cover and cook on medium-high for about 5 hours (or set the temp lower and let it go all day).

We served it with some corn chips for dipping and had ourselves a fantastic, warming and nutritious dinner. Enjoy!