Beef Burgundy the Julia Child way. Browned beef, carrots and onions, with a bouquet of herbs in cheesecloth.
Pearl onions and mushrooms sauteed separately on the side. Heat veg in the dish before serving.

I prefer the finished result to the CI method, even with just one bottle of Charles Shaw from TJ. Richer flavor and deeper sauce with only a little more effort. Both recipes are leisurely cooking so might as well go whole hog.

From Mastering the Art of French Cooking, a book so well organized, it makes you wonder why not everyone writes them like this... A great read, unlike the encyclopedic French classics, with useful notation. Ingredients are detailed on the left with coherent instructions on the right. In depth variations,such as Carbonnades a la Flamande, follow the master recipe for beef stew. Plus the techniques and explanations to achieve results. Oh, and a sense of humor besides.

Guessing if my pan is hot enough to sear my expensive rib eye steak is now a problem of the past with Rouxbe's free video.

" I don't care if I pass your test.  I don't care if I follow your rules.  If you can cheat, so can I.  I won't let you beat me unfairly.  I'll beat you unfairly first." --Ender"

In the vein of the Fractal Cauliflower post, I present the Moebius Bagel.

Now you can butter your bread on both sides!

Usually, I would object to the whimsical big little capitalization of the name, but I'm a sucker for great packaging and wAtOSA fits the bill. Since the brand's inception, I've been waiting for distribution in the U.S. but to no avail. One of these days, by some means, I'm going to get my hands on this beauty crack.

On a tip, I've been using Lush Celestial Facial Moisturizer (everywhere) for the skin conditions that have been plaguing me for years.  The vanilla, almond oil, cocoa butter combo apparently makes me smell a bit like cookies, but the scent is rather gentle.  The cream goes on a little bit greasy but is light and absorbed within 5 minutes or so. I don't feel like I'm sticking to my sheets or encased in Crisco as I do when using Cereve or other heavy creams recommended by the derm. The effect seems to linger, more so than using something like Vaseline, which makes the dryness even worse once it smears off. So far, after about a month, I've had no adverse allergic reactions and my skin feels softer.   I still have still have some redness and hives, but the scaling and itchiness have really minimized, cutting down on doctor visits and chronic use of antihistamines and harmful steroid creams, pills, and shots.

I've avoided Lush for a long time, simply because the products seemed to have a Bath and Bodyworks type of artificial candy appeal.  And while some products are heavy on the bubblegum overload, the Dreamwash Shower Smoothie (calamine powder, aloe vera gel, rose and chamomile, tea tree and lavender), has a kind of herbal scent which I am used to from using Body Time* products, has a pleasing fluffy texture, and doesn't dry out my eczema prone skin.  The Dreamwash is so gentle I have no reservations about using it on my face (avoiding the eyes.  Feels good after being in the fridge).  I also bought the Aqua Marina Facial Cleanser, a solid product with some similarities to the Dreamwash, that I whim bought for the Nori roll packaging.  It was my bad for missing the added perfume on the ingredient list online, but fortunately I don't have any reaction to the Aqua Marina.  I just don't bond with the floral aroma.

Honestly, I don't see why I couldn't mix up my own batch of faux Lush at home after sourcing some ingredients online and throwing in some fruit, but the price ($20 for a 1.5 oz container of face moisturizer) for the convenience isn't that bad in comparison to "premium" or department store products, and is only a little above drugstore brands. Plus, they recycle their pots, have eco friendly values, and nix animal testing. The strength of their rabid (and rather younger), youTube competent fanbase is a little Koo Koo Cola, but I like their unguents so far, and the little sample of Honey I Washed the Kids Soap stands up to those pretty cakes I've seen at the health food store.  Thank goodness, because the moisturizer/dry skin dilemma was really driving me nuts. 

 *Body Time replaced the Paraben and preservatives in their products with natural ingredients some time ago.  Ironically, I could no longer use my favorite serum and had topical and asthmatic reactions to a product I  had been happy with for 10 years.  However, I would highly recommend their stuff for someone who isn't as sensitive as I am.  Two other skincare lines I wouldn't recommend to someone with my finicky skin (and I mean truly finicky) are Malin+Goetz and Paula's Choice.  Both moisturizers really irritated my existing skin conditions and caused a severe reaction of painful peeling, redness, and itchy puffy dermatitis on my face.   Really I'm using euphemisms to describe how uncomfortable and embarrassing it was.  When you have severe dermal and respiratory allergies people treat you like you have the plague. 

The Thick of It is getting mean recently.  Oh wait... meaner.  And why all the malign invective?

“Because I’m bored, it’s funny and I hate you. There you are, the Holy Trinity of Why.” --Ben Swain

This is a series that apparently couldn't be re-made in America a la British The Office because of scatling fire Malcolm Tucker, with his unimaginably un-PC bollocks mouth.




In the Loop, the film take, is none too clean either, and while the familiarly nimble tone gets squashed once the Americans political juggernaut begins, the dialectic works hard for the satire.  The showstopper standoff between a Washington anti-hawk, played by some-time mobster James Gandolfini (terribly clever casting), and the lithe "English" terror of doSAC is ALL amusement, the real star is the boundless inventiveness of the English language for engendering misunderstanding.  Oh.  And the sport swearing.

laundry paradox = you have no clean pants or underwear but you need to go down 5 floors to the coin laundry so you can do your wash.

also applies to:

A) breadmaking/cooking - when the next bowl you need is the one which contains the product you are making and the other ones all have food inside.

B) you have no money to buy gas because you left your wallet in your SO's bag, and the bag is now 30 miles away and you have no gas to get it.

C) the last bit in solitaire when the card you need is flipped so you can't complete your string.

solution:

a) buy more x, where x = underwear/pants, bowls, etc.

b) stop procrastinating now and not tomorrow

c) play solitaire with real cards so the cheat option is available

d) don't be such a dork

"Fish" no Kasuzuke is a traditional way to serve black cod or Gindara, which Nobu of Nobu fame has sort of turned into a high cuisine. The recipe is actually quite simple, though fresh sake kasu, or sake lees, can be hard to source. I buy mine at the local Japanese grocery in slurpy giant bags for cents on a pound. The below kasuzuke marinade works fine without the heat treatment, but the marinating time may need adjustment depending on your taste. 

6 oz fresh fish fillet of choice - For buttery kasuzuke, use butterfish/black cod/sable, mackerel, salmon, snapper or any tender, and fatty fish of choice... otoro! Some recipes actually include butter, but with a nice oily fish there really isn't the need.
1/2 cup sake kasu, stores for ages in the fridge.
2 tbsp brown or white sugar
3 tbsp shiro miso
2 tbsp sake
1 tbsp mirin - If you have the dry sake kasu, use the mirin to rehydrate.
1/4 cup water

Salt fish lightly, and rest for at least several hours or overnight in the fridge. Dry. Bring sugar, sake kasu, sake and mirin to a boil. Take off the heat and add miso, stirring in a little water as needed to make a thick, creamy paste. Let cool and coat fish with marinade, cover, and refrigerate 2-7 days - I like the minimum. While waiting for your fish to "cure", read some of this. Scrape off marinade. Gently bake fillet at relatively low heat for several minutes on each side, then turn on the broiler at the last minute to crisp the skin.

An alternate to the strong flavor of kasuzuke is misozuke, a similar pickling sauce omitting the sake kasu and thus having a less overwhelming flavor. Here's Nobu's recipe using a saikyo miso, essentially shiro or white miso with large proportion of white sugar added.

I have also seen sake kasu used to marinate fish roe, soup, various vegetables, or added to rice like a condiment. Some additions to the basic sauce include citrus peel or ginger depending on the main ingredient. Tsukemono includes wasabi to a mix of wood ear and cauliflower. Here are some other recipes in English even.

I've been doing pizza lately, trying recipes from the Silver Spoon, New Best Recipe, King Arthur, and Breadtopia (amongst others).  Some specify a short or long rise, with or without olive oil, yeast or sourdough starter, or both. I finally stumbled upon Jeff Varasano's Pizza recipe and I found it certainly the most thorough, easy to follow of the bunch because he offers up the mix by weight and has detailed instructions. 

Pancetta, sundried tomato, marinara and artichoke pizza with parm and *gasp* cheddar (leftovers needing to be used.  Of course the pie was greasy, but my primary goal was to test the dough.  Even under laden conditions, the bottom held up fairly well.) 

In previous recipes, I've been getting a dough that seemed way too dry and tough, requiring a lot of elbow grease and guesswork.  The pizza ended up dense with poorly developed flavor and baked like crackers. This time, I just lackadaisically stirred up the ingredients in a bowl (bread flour and salt, filtered water, then 50/50 mature sourdough starter that had been fed with both bread flour and a small amount of wheat flour).  The entire process took about one episode of The Guild with just a sturdy fork.  After letting the dough rest for 15 minutes, I kneaded by hand until the ball was smooth - should happen fast. I sectioned the dough into very, very lightly oiled containers, covered with plastic wrap, and left them in the fridge.  After two days, I took the dough out two hours before baking (for room temp and a little rising).  At this point, the dough made a windowpane easy.

 A video of the Squadra Nationale Acrobati Pizzaioli to watch during the wait:



Shape the dough on the counter right before you are ready to bake. If the dough gets too sticky or elastic, make a ball, knead it a little, and rest for awhile.  We've been making the pie a bit thin because the stretching is so much fun.  Tony Gemignani's online video shows some basic technique.
 
During building, speed is key! Shift the dough to a floured peel or pan and quickly build the pizza. At each stage of topping, shake the pie to make sure it's not getting sticky on the bottom. Shake it again before you low side that pizza into the oven! For inspiration, the below  "maestro pizzaiolo" (5 parts).



While I can't acheive a VPN pizza(1), I have to work with what I've got.  My thick Chicago Metallic cookie sheet seems to insulate too much, leaving the center gummy.  Instead, a long oven preheat, with thin pizza pan, baked on the second lowest rack at 500 degrees for 10 minutes, achieved an acceptable amount of browning on the bottom and several larger bubbles on the crust.  Once I start using my cast iron pizza pan (upside = no cracked stone, doubles as a grill/roasting pan or crepe griddle), I will experiment  with broiling.  The Mario Batali cast iron pan is currently on sale at Crate and Barrel but the Lodge or pizza screen can be had pretty cheap on the regular.

(1) According to Forno Bravo, a VPN pizza requires :
"1. A Wood-Burning Oven: Pizza Napoletana must be cooked in a wood-fired dome oven operating at roughly 800ºF.
2. Proper Ingredients: Tipo 00 flour, San Marzano tomatoes, all natural Fior di Latte or Bufala mozzarella, fresh basil, salt and yeast -- only fresh, all-natural, non-processed ingredients.
3. Proper Technique: Your pizza dough must be kneaded either by hand, or with a low speed mixer. No mechanical dough shaping is allowed, such as a dough press or rolling pin, and proper pizza preparation. Pizza baking time should not exceed 90 seconds."