- Been killing it in the kitchen recently. My new favorite marinade for steak, pork or chicken is a green curry paste rub that I put together using Thai Kitchen Green Curry Paste, the juice of a couple of limes and some salt and pepper. Made some steaks with it last week and it was honestly about the best steak I've ever had. Served it with some grilled asparagus in an olive oil vinaigrette. Delicious! Grilling up some pork chops with it tonight. I'll let ya know how it turns out.
- Speaking of steaks, I'm one of those folks that doesn't cook them often enough to know exactly when to take them off the grill. Gia's sister, a fantastic chef, gave me the best ever advice for a perfectly cooked slightly-below medium steak. Three and a half minutes on each side over medium high heat/flame. Then seven minutes on a cool plate covered with foil. Came out exactly how I wanted it to come out. Finally!
- I've been digging a couple of older blues musicians lately, but I haven't found any great Youtube videos to share with y'all in this space for these gentlemen. Bill Homans aka Watermelon Slim and Charlie Musselwhite. Watermelon Slim plays some harmonica and slide guitar. Upside down lefty slide guitar, to be more accurate. He's a Vietnam Vet and long-time truck driver who got back into the recording game late in the 90's after a 26+ year layoff. And Musselwhite is a harmonica player, singer and band leader. Dan Ackroyd's character from The Blues Brothers was supposedly modeled after him. Check 'em both out if you get a chance. Good stuff.
- The Yankees have been both a pain in the ass and a delight in the past few weeks. Sure, they blew a tremendous 10-game lead over the Orioles late this year, but they've also been finding ways to win exactly when they need to win over the past few weeks. It's been a roller coaster ride, but it's been a damned fun one at that.
- The first Presidential Debate is on tonight, and I don't give a crap about it at all. In fact they should dispense with the word "debate" altogether. Not sure if I've ever seen a real debate between candidates. These things are more about focus-group approved talking points than an actual discussion. Just once I'd like to see a debate where the participants are thoughtful and actually answer the questions from the moderators and/or honestly address the comments from their opponents. Meh.
- Lies, damn lies and statistics. Speaking of political debates, let's keep track of who lies more often tonight, shall we? Both sides are fairly adept at it. But they would argue that they aren't lying. That they are using these cherry-picked half-truths to illuminate their points and agendas. Whatever, dudes. I'll let Factcheck.org clue me into the real deal tomorrow at some point. I'd say that we could make a drinking game out of it. A shot for every half-truth told by one of the candidates. I just don't think I have the tolerance for that kind of consumption.
- There is a cool craft beer and oyster festival (Malt and Mollusks) going on out east this weekend, and we are going to head out there on Saturday if the weather holds out. Which isn't a given. It's been raining pretty constantly for the past 3-4 days now. Right now, Friday looks to be the gem of the next few days. Sunny and low 70's. Maybe the beer and oyster gods can do us a solid and move that nice weather to the following day. I sure would appreciate it.
- I know that television spoilers in this day and age are just something that we have to deal with. But the number of spoilers that popped on Facebook (I'm told) and Twitter last week after that episode of Sons of Anarchy bordered on the ridiculous. We record everything and generally watch it the following night. This may be the same as shouting into the abyss, but c'mon folks....give it at least 48 hours before you start spouting off spoilers into the social media circus. Especially when it's something huge. Thank you.
Oct 3, 2012
Fucking Bullets
I've started and deleted about 5 posts in the past few days. Just couldn't work up the energy to give y'all the insightful and humorous content that you are all accustomed to. Ahem. So instead, you get bullets. Sexy, sexy bullets. Here we go!
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17 comments:
those steaks you described have my mouth watering.
will you ask chef giasister to tell you how to make that perfect steak be slightly over medium well? i like slightly pink, but no red and would love to have her fool proof instructions. thanks.
fuck the yankees. (sorry, bitter, bitter pirates fan here.)
fuck politics and political liars.
really hoping you get to enjoy your beer and oyster festival. sounds heavenly.
p.s. please don't forget to tell me about how the pork turns out when you season it like the steaks.
Every time I watch SOA, I wonder when one of those folks will realize that being a part of that club is not worth the headaches. Or jail time. Or threat of death.
Becky - I took a bunch of photos of the pork. You will be served.
Uncool Kevin - It's a biker gang thing. You and your Minivan wouldn't understand.
The chef gave you great advice about the steaks. The waiting period off the heat and before the mouth is actually the entire key.
Good luck to the Yankees but I'll be pulling for the miracle A's. Saw them against the White Sox this year (we won) and we noted they were not doing the "Moneyball" stuff on the field; they were stealing bases and bunting and all that. But once again Billy Beane has astonished everyone with what and how he put this together. But I still hear the old guard and commentators nay say and say nay about the whole Moneyball thing. But what does Oakland have to do to show the baseball world that it has a certain unique insight when it comes to picking talent. Most teams use some form of the sabermetric approach, but when they talk about it it is always nah and no. People should admit it, Beane & co. have proven they know what they're doing.
i had to run like a little girl from every SoA spoiler that was spewing all over the place. Its getting harder and harder to wait a year or so before starting to watch this one...
RW - I'm sure you know, but Moneyball isn't about what was or is done on the field. It's about identifying a soft spot in the market for an unsung talent. Back then it was OBP. Now it might be speed and manufacturing runs and defense. But yeah...I'll be rooting for Beane's bunch. Lowest payroll in the AL, 5 rookie starting pitchers...how can you NOT root for a team like that?
Slyde - I didn't realize you watched that show. Here's a spoiler for you. They ride bikes!
Well to be clear, the onfield component does actually reduce the value of base stealing, sacrificing, hit and run and the standard fielding models. The original guiding principle was strict with OBP and the unwillingness to exchange a base for an out. My point being that the game we saw showed the A's alter those equations somewhat.
RW - True. And that was part of Billy Beane's philosophy then. I guess I meant to say that the term "Moneyball" in the context of how it was used in the book was more of a financial thing than a baseball strategy thing. Or at least a combination of the two. Knowing that they only had X dollars to spend and Y runs to make up from the players that they lost, they had to maximize the Z output from the players they did have and free agents. They did that by targeting high OBP players when the market was a bit soft on them. That isn't true anymore. GMs, mostly because of Beane, now fully realize the value of those sluggerdly sluggers. So it's possible that he's now looking at things like speed and defense as a way to put a quality team on the field while still using the lowest payroll in the AL. OAK is 13th in the AL in OBP this year, but they are 5th in stolen bases. They are still near the bottom of the league in bunting runners over. Because that's generally silly. But they are definitely doing it differently than the teams from the late 90's/early 2000's.
Bo Porter, a guy who is going to be a really good manager for the Houston Astros in the next few years, said something smart the other day when asked what kind of game philosophy he has. He came from a football background and he knew that you had to make adjustments in your game plan based on the players you can put on the field. You can't have a strong running game without solid running backs, blocking tight-ends and a decent line. Or an up-the-field passing game with Johnny Damon as your quarterback. And he knows that, as a manager, he won't always have a say on personnel. So it's his job to evaluate the talent that the front office gives him and make it work on the field. I'd say that is exactly what the job of the manager should be, but a lot of these guys get stuck in their ways. I know I'll be rooting for the Astros and Porter in the coming years...just as I root for Maddon and the Rays. Well, except when they play the Yankees. Of course.
I grill my steaks over coals and pecan wood, and always have to contend with wind & temp factors, etc.
I just end up making a judgement call as to when to yank my meat.
It can be difficult to get that perfect combo of slightly charred outside/slightly bloody inside, but that's always my goal.
Heff - God forbid anyone tells us when to yank our own meat. That right there is an individual choice.
So, Malt and Mollusks it is for the dinner tonight pal. Great post.
no, i dont watch it yet... im really trying to not watch shows that i havent ended yet... thats why i havent started SoA, weeds or madmen yet.
Chef - Hopefully tomorrow. It's in Fate's hands now.
Slyde - That's the way to do it. Unfortunately, I'm already sucked in.
Darth Vader is Luke's father. There, spoiled it.
Yankes are driving me to drink in these play-offs, but fortunately for them it's a pretty short trip to get me to drink. Swisher and Granderson are starting to look like some of my Little League kids at the plate, and not the good ones either.
Exactly how I like my steaks.
I used FactCheck.org and Snopes a lot this election season. Kept the sanity checks in check.
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