Yeah, I know

Since it's been ore than four months since my last post I won't bore you all with excuses, other than the fact that I have been tremendously busy, I still need to make time for this. I write better in my day job if I keep this up so I need to do it more.

I have been cooking, oh yes, I've been cooking and I have more than a few recipes to share including the one for the picture Mudslide cake.

It's been almost a year since Rory and I moved too and with that extra time I'm trying to grow a garden this year and hopefully before the end of the year I will be updating with tales of home brewing as well. Stay tuned as they say on TV.

Notes on poor recipe writing

I can't believe it's been seven weeks since I've posted, time flies when you're on deadline. Sadly I won't be getting any better the next couple of weeks.

I have been cooking but nothing too exciting. The main reason for this post is annoyance. I've been in a cooking rut lately and when I had a few minutes I was looking through the Savuer site to see if there's anything new and exciting when I saw the recipe for a chocolate truffle cake.

A post on my to do list has been my eternal search for a good chocolate cake recipe so this one intrigued me. So I was sad to find it horribly written. But maybe you guys can help me be the judge, maybe I'm n a bad mood or feeling the deadline pressure but I found this recipe really though to get through.

I'm still going to try and make it but come on, writing a recipe isn't that difficult.

Photos

Pork top loin roast with Mediterranean spices.

I've been taking more picture of the food I've been cooking and have been very happy with how they have turned out. It's a combination of better lighting-- a lot of the pics I've taken have been outside and the lighting in my old kitchen was horrible--and that I've been taking them all with my new 4G iPhone.

The camera on the new device is really great. I had the 3G iPhone previously and the pictures always seemed grainy and you had to hold it very still. I don't know if they put some new image stabilization software in it or what, but I've been very happy with the pictures that I've taken with it. Also, there's no shutter lag, you can hit the button and it takes another shot almost instantly, much better than my point-and-click Canon.

I know this may seem like a shameless plug for Apple--and it kind of is--but I'm happy that I've been able to get more pictures and witht he quality. I might do a video demo in the future using the iPhone to see how that works too. I did a video of our new puppy this week and it turned out great.

Couple of slabs or ribs smoked for five hours with some potatoes in the aluminum foil.

Herb Garden Part Deux

Basil, chives and oregano (from left to right)

Because I truly am a glutton for punishment I am making another attempt at an herb garden. It's been more than two years since my last debacle and I am bound and determined to grow some fresh herbs.

Rory gave me this very nice herb garden for Christmas and I just planted everything. I haven't grown anything from seed since I was in grade school so that has me a little concerned, but I'm going to give these a week or so before I go out and buy some plants.

Next year I hope to plant something of a real garden with a couple of tomato plants and other things, we just got into the place a little late this year. Though I do have a topsy turvy going right now, which my parents started, and it's got a few little tomatoes coming in.

Been bad (and it's not going to get any better)

Yeah, I know it's been almost two months since I last posted and while I have been cooking and still have a list of a dozen blog topics my day job has gotten in the way of my blogging and what free time I have has been taken up with preparing for a move.

Most of you know that Rory and I are moving to Skokie next month. I'm excited for my new larger kitchen and back yard. I am hoping to experiment with some smoking of pork shoulder and other such fun treats which will bring a whole new aspect to the blog.

In the meantime, sorry. I don't think I'll be posting much between now and the end of June. By then we'll be full into grilling season and I can't wait.

Also want to give a shout out to the Chicago Food Snob on Chicago Now. I like what he's doing and how he writes, check him out.

Truffles

Deadlines are still keeping me down, but I wanted to do a quick post on this series David Lebovitz did on truffles. He went truffle hunting in France, then to the market and finally to a reseller. I enjoyed reading about it quite a bit.

I was lucky enough to have my first truffle experience last fall at Alinea. They had just gotten their white truffles in and were offering simple preparations of a risotto and a fresh parpadella, or was it a linguine, anyway it doesn't matter.

The smell was out of this world, as Lebovitz describes it's earthy and pungent and just awesome. Not that truffles are an ingredient I will ever cook with -- I don't even have any truffle oil -- but I did enjoy the experience.

Toys

No more using the ironing board for drying fresh pasta.

It was my birthday over the weekend and I was lucky to receive some fun cooking toys.

Rory got me a chef's mat, it may seem silly, but it's a mat you put on the floor where you stand when cooking. We registered for one before the wedding but nobody got it for us. It'll be nice for hose marathon days I spend cooking by the stove.

My sister got me a ravioli maker, some parmesan raggiano and Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking by Marcella Hazan. I haven't gotten very far into the cookbook, done some browsing, but it looks quite good. I've been looking for some new sauces and hopefully this will help. My first recipe may be the pork loin braised in milk, looks tasty.

I'm also excited about the ravioli maker, should be fun to try out. It got good reviews on Amazon so I'm hoping it works out well.

My folks also got me a pasta drying rack and a creme brulee torch. No more using the ironing board to dry pasta.

SousVide at home

I have no intention of buying this but I am damn intrigued. The one thing lacking from the review is the time it takes to cook items.

If he's right we'll all have these in a few years.

Excuses

So it's been awhile since a post and it may be a bit longer. I have a few posts to write up but haven't had time. The last deadline for the day job was brutal. I then took off for DC for the better part of a week and was then off to Cancun for my honeymoon.

Now I'm back in the office today but may be leaving on Saturday for Paris, France for six days. I should hear from the boss in a little bit on what he's deciding to do.

So that means no posts for awhile and there's so much to do. The fall/winter are two of my favorite times of the year to cook and I just don't know when I'm going to have time. I also have new toys to play with. I was the lucky recipient of a pasta maker, which I am still hoping to take for a whirl at some point this week

There's also some ice cream recipes, the dinner at Alinea and I'm sure half a dozen other that I'm forgetting about.

Oops

So I missed week one of the cooking challenge, which I thought might happen. Rory and I headed up to Michigan yesterday to see my grandfather, hit a couple of wineries and hang out with the family. we also hit an apple orchard where they had freshly made apple cider doughnuts (picture above). They were still warm when you brought them.

The secret ingredients were apples, basil and olives. In all honesty it's probably best that I missed this one, Rory can't stand olives. I would have most likely done something with pork and apples, it's a natural pairing and I actually did something earlier in the week with those two. My side would have involved the olives and basil and apples. Maybe a couscous? Or make a pesto with the basil and include the olives?

I'll admit, I'm having trouble figuring out where the olives belong. Then again, I could have done a roast chicken with an apple, basil and olive stuffing, though that does seem kinda weak.

But my question is, do all three ingredients have to be center stage? I'll be curious to see what wins.

Meanwhile, my deadline is almost over and I have a backlog of posts to write. Should be doing them soon.

Cooking challenge

So the Red Eye and Stephanie Izard are having a contest where someone can win the change to cook with her at the next Wandering Goat dinner.

The challenge is to cook a meal for four people with three secret ingredient within 24 hour of the ingredients being posted. While I have plans each of the next three Sundays, I'm going to see what I can whip up. I wonder if the ingredients will be seasonable or just weird.

Here's hoping I don't forget about.

Cochon 555 roundup

What's better than free pig? Yeah, not a whole lot.

Sunday I was lucky enough to attend Cochon 555 at the Drake. The event intends to raise awareness for heritage breed pigs and Farms for City Kids. Since it was the Drake I suited up even though I wanted to wear my pig t-shirt.

Walking into the room it was set up like something out of Top Chef with each of the five chefs having stations setup around the room. Before digging in I walked around and got a feel for what was going on. I also ran into Ed, who writes Cooking and Eating in Chicago. We had a nice chat about writing and food.

My first stop was Bluprint and Sam Burman. I first sipped on a Bacon Manhattan that had bacon-infused whiskey, nice and tasty. But then there was the most unusual thing I had all day, Bacon Cotton Candy (picture above). It was served on a piece of bacon and quite tasty, sweet yet salty.

My next stop was the Bristol and Chris Pandel. They had a porchetta sandwich (a reoccuring theme) that was excellent. They also were deep frying some little dougnnut things that had bits of pork in the center that were really good, though looking through my notes I forgot to write it down.

The Signature Room and Patrick Sheerin went Asian with their pork preperation. They also did 12-hour cooked porchetta but with some soy and other Asian themes. It was very nice. Sheerin's miso-cured pork belly was also excellent and had great flavor (picture above).

Graham Elliot Bowles had a very Southern tinge to his food. The pork belly pasty has the lightest and most delicate crust I've ever tasted, really, really good. He also had a pulled pork sandwich on a little biscuit with cole slaw (picture below) that may have been the best thing I has the entire time there. It was so rich I don't think I could have eaten a real sized sandwich like it.

The best thing at the paramount Room from Stephen Dunne was the hog's head broth. Very strong flavors with asparagus was exceptional and rich.

The food overall was very good, though a bit too much head cheese and some other weird stuff that I just don't have the stomach for at this point. I tried some headcheese but the texture just throws me off.

Hopefully a year from now Rory and I will be getting ready to move into out own home and I'll be preparing for my very own pig roast. I can't wait.

It has begun ...

The first wedding shower held by Rory's mom's friends was Sunday. Not everything was for me, but we did do more than all right. I finally got my espresso maker and some long-needed baking gear and a rolling pin, a piece of kitchen gear I've been wanting for the past 15 months but had been forbidden from buying. Of course when we were selecting what to bring home and what to leave at Rory's parents the rolling pin was an item left behind.

The tube loaf, and spring form pans were all needed. The other item I'm excited about is the Nordic ware waffle pancake pan from Williams Sonoma. I was ready to register for a waffle maker but saw the pan and thought it was a little more fun.

Food unboxing

This morning I'm working away when there's a knock on my door and it's the FedEx guy with a box that says "Perishable Keep Refrigerated."

What could it possibly be? Oh yeah, I signed up for some free pasta from my new publisher.

Now the question is what to do with it? Wild mushroom ravioli ... something simple .. something clean ... looks like I have some thinking to do.

Update

So I've been neglecting the blog because work has been extremely busy. But I'm just about through the summer issue and life will turn to some resemblance of normalcy, except for the fact that I'm getting married in less than four months.

Until then I hope to do some updates along with a few grilling recipes, something I wasn't able to do last year for the lack of a back yard.

South Beach and workout continue to go well, I've lost 25 pounds since Jan. 5. I would love to lose 10 more before the wedding, but I have a week in New Orleans and a handful of baseball games standing in my way.

Also, I should probably address this. I really don't want to egg him on any more then necessary but in the future I'll be referring to him as The Novice.

Registering for the wedding

Rory, myself and our mothers went and registered for the wedding Saturday. If I hadn't have been hungover it probably would have been fine, (the random waves of nausea made it a challenge at times). That said, it still went off without a hitch. Rory and I had looked at stuff online ahead of time to make sure we were on the same page and we were (I am a very lucky man).

Bed, Bath, Beyond was the first stop and we were there for three hours. All told I think we registered for more than 350 items, from china and Waterford crystal to napkin rings. I really didn't think I would care much about the china pattern, but we're both really excited about the pattern we picked out.

We spent less time at Crate & Barrel and Williams Sonoma. At all three place I registered for a number of cooking tools. I'm looking for all new baking tools and pans from Bed Bath Beyond and registered for a bunch of All Clad cookware at Williams Sonoma. After the All Clad pots and pans the other ridiculous thing I registered for was a 7 1/4 quart dutch over from La Creuset. I have no idea of whether or not anyone will buy it for us but it couldn't hurt.

There was one purchase made Saturday. Williams Sonoma was the last stop and I was going to register for a couple of new knives. I have a nice set of Henkels but didn't have a boning knife or a large serrated knife. I was scanning the boning knife and the price popped up at $20.99. I looked at the price in the display and it said it was on sale for $76.99. I asked the staff there and they said it was $20 and if I really wanted it I should buy it then and there, too good of a deal to pass up for an eight-inch boning knife so I did. Also, when I went online to check the registry it was still listed and there it was $129.99.

Otherwise, more posts to come this week and some new and different recipes. I was in Orlando earlier this week and am making the grocery list, trying to figure out what to cook.

Random notes

The last couple of week have been pretty hectic and I haven't been able to post. Trying to get two issue of a magazine closed at the same time keeps me busy. Socially, life has been busy as well and with less than six months to the wedding the weekends are going to be more and more jam packed. I just found out every weekend in June is pretty much booked.

Other things going on:

• Still doing South Beach and it's going well. The weekend of Feb. 6 was a cheat weekend because of the birthday so I didn't get on the scale last week. Got on today and dropped two pounds from Feb. 3. Future mother-in-law gave me a new South Beach cookbook for my birthday with some really good recipes, which I am long overdue in blogging about. I see myself pretty much sticking with South Beach until the wedding with more cheats being allowed as we get closer.
  
• We'll be registering for the wedding on March 7. Bed, Bath, Beyond, Williams Sonoma, Crate & Barrel and Macy's are where we're going. Trying to know it all out at once might be tough, but I think it's doable. I'll be looking over the Alton Brown kitchen gear book before we go to figure oout exaclty what we want/need.
  
• Also received The Flavor Bible for my birthday from my mom. It's pretty intense, but I like it.
• Thad and Erika have me a couple of MFK Fisher books for my brithday as well, can't wait to dig into them.
  

Food news and notes

I neglected to get on the scale this morning, part forgetfulness, part I didn't behave myself this weekend. On Friday, however, I was down another two pounds for a total of 14 pounds down.

While I have been sticking very closely with South Beach Phase One, no carbs and no sugar, the one exception I have allowed myself is beer and I was out Friday and Saturday night drinking. I also had a hot dog on Saturday and on Sunday we ordered a pizza from Homemade Pizza Co., but it did have a whole wheat crust.

Saturday my dad and I also started brewing beer for the wedding. Rory's Uncle Joe had quite the home brew setup in his basement. We brewed a saison and a heffe weizen. I know that might not seem appropriate for the weather outside now, but in August both will be great.

We've brewed beer once before down at the Beverly Arts Brewing Center, but we definitely got a better idea of what to do this time.

I should be posting some more of what I'm cooking for South Beach, but a lot of it isn't very exciting. This week I took some chicken breasts, pounded them pretty flat, added thyme, salt and pepper some prosciutto and low-fat mozzarella, and rolled them up. I pan cooked them for about 8 minutes total and then put them in a 350 degree oven for 15-20 minutes to finish the cooking. They were good, but they needed a sauce.

I've found a couple of new food Web sites last week that I'm exploring as well. I really enjoy this sites voice. E.L.'s writing can be a bit dense at times, but I really like the site.

Looking at his site lead me to Foodbuzz. I signed up for an account, it's kind of like Facebook for foodies but I need to explore the site a bit more, which won't be happening soon because I have a real job deadline hanging over my head.

South Beach update

I'm down another four pounds from last week bringing the total lost to 12 pounds. Not as much as I would have hoped, but I do feel good. I didn't work out at all last week either. The combination of cold and not wanting to lose my parking spot kept me from the gym last week.

But it's a new week and I'm going today. As I said last week, I'm sticking with phase one of south beach until Feb. 7. Phase one is no carbs or sugar. After that I'll start to incorporate other things into the diet.

I did make a couple of interesting things last week, and it's questionable as to whether one of these is strictly South Beach. I laid some boneless, skinless chicken breasts on some plastic wrap, added some salt, pepper, oregano, grated Parmesan and a piece if prosciutto and the flattened it out. I pan fired it in a little olive oil and it was tasty.

Then yesterday at Dominick's they had some pismos (sp?), uncut beef tenderloin. I bought a 2.5 pound one ($15 a pound, I probably got ripped off) because I had been wanting to try and butcher one of these myself. I got three petite filets, a chateaubriand and some chain meat (Ed says this makes the best philly steak sandwiches). I'll probably make this later in the week.

South Beach report: week one

It's been a week since Rory and I started South Beach and I've lost a little more than eight pounds. Rory expected me to lose more but even though it's just eight pounds I have to say I feel good. I should have measured my waist last week because I feel like I've lost some girth around the middle.

I'm not going to lie, the diet hasn't been easy. A couple of days last week I got real cranky and was craving a big plate of pasta. And I have cheated, I had a few beers Friday and Saturday, but that's been about it othere than a crouton or two that was in my salad when we went out.

The food is pretty simple to cook, lean protein with veggies and no carbs. Next week I could start incorporating some whole wheat into the diet if I want, but I think I'm going to stick with this until my birthday, Feb. 7. The plan is to go to the Hop Leaf for dinner and then meet a bunch of friends out for drinks.

Also by the point I should be pretty tired of cooking the food. There are only so many thing you can do with a chicken breast unless it's wrapped in bacon. Though I did cook some mahi mahi last week, a first. I just marinated it for a bit in some olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper and then pan cooked it. A little lemon juice and it was quite tasty.