I’m dedicating this post to Kalyn of Kalyn’s Kitchen. She recently put up a post about grilling bell peppers, simple & yet way easy. I made a comment about it being beneath her skill level and to take a step up, or something along those lines. She fired back a comment, “If it’s so easy, how come I’ve never done it before?” Yes, I can be an ASS.
I found myself wondering throughout the day repeating her question to myself, over and over. All I could come up with is, “I don’t know”. And I didn’t, I don’t. Why don’t we do it when it’s so damned easy?
That evening I found myself standing at the open door of my bachelor fridge attempting to find something to make the boys for dinner. I’d just purchased yet another package of corn tortillas with 1.5 bags of stale ones still sitting behind the empty box of juice bags. If it’s so damned easy, how come I don’t make tortilla chips more often?
And that was that.
House of Beef – Oakdale California | Pork Belly Bacon !!!
Sunday morning, cool & overcast. Slight ocean breezes bring a brief respite from the hellish, smoky airs. A very low rumble begins from down the street, Thor Sr. approaches. He creeps ever so gently to Meathenge Labs, like only thunder can. This Thor Sr. is our neighbor, Mad Meat Genius. A bacon delivery is in progress, oh yes.
enough of the tofu – here’s some chops
I just couldn’t stand looking at the vegetable/tofu post anymore. So, here’s last Thurday’s chop dinner.
xo, Biggles
Tofu Yu – Deli / Cafe – Organic & Vegetarian – El Cerrito California
Whoa, whoa whoa, hold on there Tex. I’m a complex man and I got my reasons for posting this. Just hang on a moment and give me a chance. Besides, the damned place ain’t even open yet.
Some of you may or may not know, it could very possibly be, a vegetarian dish could be worth eating. Even enjoying, no really. Remember, a large percentage of the world’s population eat vegetarian. The deal is tho’, they have many dishes per meal, not just one plate o’ shrimp.
berry berry, on the vine …
berry berry, on the vine
who’s the suiciest of them all?
Why of course, you are. Suicy berry!
meat of the week wrap up
Not anywhere near every meal is postworthy, nor is it noteworthy. However, if it was memorable and the photographs came out, that just squeaks by my meat-radar. Sure, I was going to try to use, MeatDar. But that sounded really dumb.
All the meat this week was purchased from the Grocer of the Year, Omar of Joya de Ceren, Richmond California. First up we have these fine pork chops. Yeah, they’re cut pretty thin, it’s the Latin way. So, for 1 adult and 2 boys I bought 5. MmMmmm, 5.
Tucked away in the corner is a load of El Salvadorean rice, cooked in butter and chicken broth. Oh yeah, and some steamed broc. The rice is so plump, so tender and full of flavor even without the butter and broth, it’s the best white rice I’ve ever had. While thin, the pork chops turned out really well. There was enough fat and I didn’t cook them very long. Preseasoned with salt is all, SEAR.
#2 this week was a rather large, yet happy tritip beef roast. We arrived home later than usual and didn’t have much time to get this one rolling. In fact, we ate about 30 minutes later than usual. That’s okay, I jacked the oven to 400 and preheated the cast iron skillet with a trivet underneath.
The fat was still on the roast, thank you Omar! I cross-hatched it with a sharp knife. Poured in extra virgin, salt, pepper, fresh rosemary & lemon zest.
I think it only took about 45 minutes or so to cook to a bare medium rareish. I should have checked it at 35 or 40 minutes. Even so, there was enough pink for me to enjoy. Man, beef can go from perfection to boot in no time flat.
The tritip was just as expected, tender, toothy, rich with beefy flavors and the citrus really drove home the action. The only thing that would have made it better would have been maybe 3 bacon rosettes perched up top. And gravy. Gravy or ‘sauce’ (the low calorie cousin, wink-wink) would have dotted the i’s.
Cheers,
Biggles
Forbidden Fruit
Alright, I wanna see some hands. How many of you reading blogs the last week have run across some blogger who has posted a glorious image of something they’ve culled from their budding garden? And prepared something luscious with it? And eaten it? And told you all about how wonderful it was?
Thought so, and my hand went up as well.
By my own hands, I don’t have a garden this year. I mowed it flat with a 6.75 horsepower lawn mower. And I feel GREAT about it! No tending to weeds, fussy watering schedules, no meddling kids with soccer balls, and oh don’t get me started on the squirrels. Sunflower seeds this year? No, they ate them all.
I spend my time at the grill or lounging about doing absolutely nothing I don’t have to. Heck, I’ve even got time now to take up smoking cigarettes if I wanted to. Am now reminded of a quote from one of my favorite movies, Tremors. Picture Valentine & Earl out in their backyard (trash & junk everywhere), pulling cold beers out of the wayward toilet, about to rest on an old truck seat. And this is where Val says, “You see, we plan ahead, that way we don’t do anything right now.” Yeah, just like that. I’ve always loved that quote.
So, it’s a darned good thing I can run back to the far fence and grab a load of the neighbors plums! Oh man, even without the rain, they’re juicy, sweet and perfect in every way. I’d make something out of them, but got no fricken ideas. I just eat them, like they are, and they’re good.
Biggles
Smoky Day, Smoky Oven – A Wedgewood Smoker Adventure
Not sure really, on how to start this one. So, I think I’ll do it this way.
Oh yes I did.
I had a little rack of ribs all ready to go. It was too icky outside, the wildfires are way out of control and makes being outside just plain miserable. Um, but I had a rack of ribs to cook. I sat around the house with the air filter going, attempting to come up with something simple, good and smoky. Wildfires are kinda inspirational that way.
What if I put the ribs in my kitchen’s gas oven, at 250 or so and put a smouldering pan of hardwood dust in there? Jack the exhaust fan way up and let’er go for a few hours?
Oh yes I did. Didn’t think Wedgewood made a smoker, did you?
sunset over california fires
Please clicky on image to get the full one.
The Squirrels – Lafayette California
I love traditional cafe’s, always have. Some of my fondest memories are breakfast meals coated in some non-descript gravy. It’s the first thing on my mind, “Where’s the gravy?”. First on my lunch list would be the Hot Turkey Sandwich, oh man. The older I get though, I find that my body can’t take that much sodium, oh well. It still doesn’t stop me from making a hard left and pulling in to a homey town cafe and ordering up a nice breakfast.
For months I delivered and retrieved Boy #1 from school and would drive right on by The Squirrels, closed in the early afternoon. I knew that some day I would be early enough, and have enough time to stop by and poke my nose in the door. From the outside I could see it had booths, and counter space to sit and enjoy. The tall ceiling sported some cool, hanging, globe-ular lighting, neat! Oh, and the colors. Kinda lightish, brownish, yellowish 70’s inspired vinyl upholstery, trimmed with plastic wood veneer. Put Stimpy in your mind rejoicing, “Happy Happy, Joy Joy !!!”.
An opportunity knocked, and I answered. “Hello Ren.”
California Wild Fires – it smells smoky
For the last few days, the entire bay area and way, way beyond, smells smoky. Not like, “Oh wow, there must be a fire somewheres, cause I smell a grass fire.” We got hugeass fires all over the damned place, it’s insane. Hope for waft of fresh ocean breezes? No. It’s all smoke, all the time, for days. No respite here.
I was up and out of bed at 6:22 this morning, directly in to the shower. Dressed, chores and as I opened up the back door, walked through my outdoor kitchen to the back of the property and what do I spy? With my camera’s eye? This sun doing its best to rise, pretty dim for 7am, eh?
Biggles
Brazilian Marinade Chicken, grilled over maple & cherry log
Oscar Mayer Fully Cooked Bacon – wtf?
This last weekend I made it in to our local, pretty large, grocery mart. I required a few things that Omar, 2008’s shopkeeper of the year award worthy, didn’t stock. I perused the isles of said largish mart, and there were products in attendance that were noticeably not there previously. What struck me first was the Bariani Extra Virgin, my favorite green extra virgin. Then, opposite that, on the top shelf I spied a jar of Marmite? Red Mill flour! 3 times the organic produce (Feel Good crap, but even so), the list goes on. I don’t care that much, and grab my 3 paper sacks (for $110.00) and skeedaddle.
I was left with this haunting thought, “That store doesn’t suck as much as it did a few months ago.” I won’t be frequenting any more than I did last week, but damn an shit. Ya know? Even way out in El Sobrante, where the demographics meander. Maybe, ever so slowly, things could very well be looking up.
Then Ear Ache wanders in to work with this in tow. A box of Oscar Mayer Fully Cooked Bacon, wtf? I suppose it’s kind of a relief, knowing that The Man is still a fucking idiot and has about as much cohesive thought as a near death, bed ridden, 5 legged badger on morphine. But I have my hopes ya know. Or maybe this is their attempt at making a technological advancement up and over from bacon bits. The world may never know.
I can see there’s a heading, or direction. But where are they going? Do they even bother to look? This my good people, be some rhetorical questions.
Biggles
Dawn of another 100 degree day – Yay?
No yay. Anti-yay. Last year it never got over 80 here in Richmond. My outdoor kitchen area topped out at 102 around 4pm. At 5:25? The kitchen was 94, what’s up with that? Yeah, okay I’m a weenie. But I don’t need yet another reason to sit like a lump on the sofa, watching M*A*S*H and pissing vinegar about everything and everyone around me.
Pure & simple, this heat is just plain ol’ communism.
Biggles
EBMUD says Mandatory Water Conservation! Meathenge Labs says …
The catalyst for this post is because our water bill showed up here 10 minutes ago. 5 minutes ago I took this picture of our dry birdy bath and toppled windmill surrounded by long since dried flax. Fueled I was, by the bill.
Eight and a half years ago we moved in to this house, buying was cheaper than renting then. No really, we spent less down on buying a home in the San Francisco East Bay Area than renting a home, crazy eh? We drug along with us our standard appliances and used the existing bathroom fixtures. It was so close that if we’d had to buy a new gas range it’d caused us to use a camp stove instead. Man, we rolled in with fumes in the tank.
Thankfully with some effort the finances stabilized (psychosis still reign supreme) and those water hogging appliances were replaced. On my 40th birthday I bought myself a low-flow toilet, 1.6 gallons a flush. I sorely miss my 1946 model that shot through 7 gallons a flush, it was great. But when you have a family of 4? Do the math, we were using about 460 gallons a day. This usage dropped down a bit and even further with the addition of one of those fancy high efficiency washer machine rigs. Surely the cost of the water versus the cost of the machinery didn’t add up immediately, but I knew it was good to help the greater good and lower our usage. Nothing like a little altruism to boost one’s ego, hey.
Again we turn another page and we’re now a family of 3, water usage is at an all time low at 120 gallons per day. I’m exceptionally pleased with myself. Between the garden and the home, we’ve reached a pretty darned good consumption rate. Ed Begley Jr. would be so proud. I’ve been quite fond of him ever since he hit Mork & Mindy way back when. Little did I know he’s been a staunch activist for saving resources ever since time began. Apparently, he was arriving on set via bicycle, cool eh? I’ve said for years, when I make my movie, I’ll ask Ed Begley Jr. to play me, it’d be perfect!
Well, as I said the water bill rolled in and we’ve reduced our consumption to 85 gallons a day. For a family of 3, on a 5,000 square foot lot, I think that’s pretty fricken GREAT and am very proud of our work to conserve water.
Biggles – Head Lab Rat