Thought I’d give a simple points league a try and what do you know? ESPN has a free and easy setup thing.

Group: Always Room for More
Password: leskanic

http://games.espn.go.com/bbc/group?groupID=4220

Permalink | Comments

The Humphrey Estate is on the market. For a mere $48 mil. (outside of Atlanta, of all places)

Check it out, though, it’s … remarkable.

Permalink | Comments

Ingredients:
1 cup cornmeal
1 cup all-purpose flour
2.5 tsp baking powder
.5 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
3 tbsp sugar
Dash of cayenne pepper
4 fresh jalapenos, chopped
4 oz shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1 cup canned corn kernels (optional)
8 ounces sour cream
.75 cup milk
1 large egg, beaten
4 tbsp melted butter

Directions:
1. Coat a 9-inch square baking pan with vegetable oil and set aside. Heat oven to 400°. Put the baking pan in the oven.

2. In a large bowl, combine the cornmeal, flour, baking powder, soda, salt, sugar, chipotle or cayenne pepper, chopped jalapeno peppers, cheese, and corn kernels.

3. Mix the sour cream, milk, egg, and melted butter. Stir the mixture into the dry ingredients. Pull the pan out of the oven and pour the mixture in it.

4. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until set and lightly browned around the edges. Cool in the pan on a rack.

Cost: $4, maybe
Servings: 6+

Review: 4/5. It’s tasty. Needs more cheese and next time I’m doing without the kernels; their flavor is too sweet and I don’t like the texture mixture. I used white corn meal (since that’s what I purchased), but next time I’m definitely using yellow. This is a great compliment to any kind of chili, even my firehouse chili.

Permalink | Comments

Catching up on a couple of weeks recipes here. Prepare for the deluge.

I cooked this along with the sesame noodles as I was suffering from the dearth of asian cuisine available in my area. So here’s a little stir-fry that’ll calm some of those cravings.

Ingredients:
1 lb. chicken breast, cut into cubes
2 tsp cornstarch
1 tbsp cooking sherry
.5 tsp ginger root (peeled & grated) (I took about a 1.5″ knob and grated it)
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp hoisin sauce
1 tsp sugar
4 tbsp vegetable oil
4 garlic cloves, diced
1 green pepper, cut into bits
1.25 cups whole cashews
1 tsp sesame oil
2 tbsp water
2-3 cups rice, steamed

Directions:
1. Heat the oven to 325F. Place the cashews on a baking tray on a single layer. Place in the oven for ~7 minutes, stirring as necessary as the tops brown. Remove from oven and set aside.

2. Place chicken in a bowl. Add green pepper, cornstarch, sherry, and ginger.

3. In another bowl, combine soy sauce, hoisin, sugar, and water. Mix until the sugar is dissolved and set aside.

4. Pour oil in stir fry or wok, add the oil and cook at high heat. When the oil is just beginning to smoke, add the garlic and stir. They will brown quickly.

5. Add chicken mixture to stir fry. Stir constantly until chicken is almost done, around 1-2 minutes.

6. Reduce the heat to medium-low and add the soy sauce mixture. Stir until the sauce is well blended into the chicken. Add cashews and sesame seed oil and mix the dish well. Serve immediately over a bed of rice.

Review: 3/5. This one was actually better as a left over (possibly because I was satiated from the sesame noodles, but more likely because the sauce marinaded the chicken well). I would definitely do it again, though I would add onion and some dried red peppers for texture and spice.

Cost: $10-12 (not counting sauces or oils)
Serves: 3 (2 if you like it a lot, 4 if you dole out the portions)

I actually used ginger that I grated myself straight from the root. For those that don’t know me, this is a big deal - I freakin hate ginger. After playing around some with fresh ginger, I think perhaps I just hate pickled ginger.

Permalink | Comments

Interspersing recipes with totally awesome clips from Japanese TV

Enjoy! It’s faaaaaantastic

Permalink | Comments

I got a bug up my ass and thought I’d try some handmade, home-rolled soft pretzels.

The good news is: they taste like pretzels. Fluffy and … pretzelish.

Bad news: I don’t have enough counterspace or cooking tins to make these the size they needed to be made, so they looked like shit. Hence, no picture. They could use a butter paste, which I did not have ready, and were average tasting at best.

Summary: they were OK, and I’ll take this as acceptable for a first try. Gimme a mulligan. At least they’re edible and what was expected… just close your eyes and tell yourself it’s a pretzel, OK?

Ingredients:
4 tsp dry active yeast
1 tsp white sugar + 0.5 cup white sugar for flour mix
1.25 cups warm water
4 cups hot water
5 cups flour
1.5 tsp table salt
1 tbsp vegetable oil + more for oiling a bowl
0.5 cup baking soda
kosher salt (I used kosher sea salt. YMMV)

Directions:
Add dry yeast, 1 tsp white sugar and 1.25 cups warm water in a bowl. Stir until dissolved, then let stand for 10 minutes.

In a separate bowl add the flour, 0.5 cup white sugar, and 1.5 tsp table salt.

Add the yeast mixture and the vegetable oil. Mix to form the dough (if the mix is too dry add some water).

Knead dough until smooth. Note: not as easy as it sounds and takes longer than you think. “Baker’s hands” indeed.

Use more oil to grease a bowl lightly–place the dough in the bowl and keep turning it until the dough has been oiled.

Cover the bowl with a dish towel and let it rise at room temperature for 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 450

Divide dough into 10-12 equal pieces. Note: these are not small pretzels. You could probably have 18+ if you’re rolling thinly enough.

Roll the dough and make a pretzel shape. Dip the finished pretzel in the soda water and place on greased cookie sheet.

Sprinkle the tops of each pretzel with the desired amount of kosher salt and/or any seasoning you may wish to have or use.

Bake at 450 degrees for 7-8 minutes or until brown.

Next time I do this, I’m going to incorporate some more flavorful dough or spices before putting it in the oven. It will have to wait until I have a real kitchen, though, because working with 2 bowls and almost no counterspace upped the degree of difficulty beyond what I was expecting. Oh, and I need to add more oil to the mixing boil. This was a sticky ass mess.

Review: 2/5. No better than average.

Permalink | Comments

My first reaction upon tasting my concoction, verbatim: Holy fuck! This is awesome!

So, it’s got that going for it.

This and the (as yet unpublished) JCo pasta (name to be determined later) are far and away the best dishes I have yet created.

Ingredients:
8 oz egg noodles (skinny noodles of any kind will do)
4-5 green onions, chopped
1/2 - 1 cucumber, cut into long, thin spears or slices

sauce:
3 tbsp soy
1.5 tbsp sesame oil
2 tbsp la yu (chili oil)
2 tbsp sesame paste (AKA tahini)
1.5 tbsp rice vinegar
2 cloves of garlic diced
~1 tbsp ginger, grated
2 tbsp peanut butter (if using peanut butter)

Directions:
Boil water in a large pot. Put noodles in and cook for 5-6 minutes. Drain.

Place all sauce ingredients in small bowl. Whisk until homogeneous. Add noodles, onions, and cucumber. Mix until noodles, sauce, and other bits are well blended. Eat.

The dish can be eaten and enjoyed either hot or cold, so your choice on when to serve and mix (it’s easier mixing when the noodles are at least warm).

The taste is both delicate and powerful, well balanced, and explodes on the palate. The peanut butter side is thicker and more blunt of a taste, the sesame gives more room for all of the flavors but may not be immediate enough for some palates.

Cost: $4, tops, not counting the ingredients for the sauce
Serves: 4-ish. 1, if it’s me. And I’ll cut you if you come near. It’s that good.

Review: 5/5.

Permalink | 1 Comment