December 2009
19 posts
5 tags
Some New Year's Party Food
Image Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
Yakitori is a Japanese street food of skewers of chicken, marinated and grilled over an open flame. Traditional Yakitori consists of chicken livers, separated by pieces of leek, but this recipe is for chicken thighs, w/ green onions. If you happen to have a grill, and it is isn’t raining like it is here in North Georgia, I recommend it, the flavor is...
3 tags
January's Challenge
1 day until the 2010 project begins.
Today is the last day of the year. That means several things for me. I work in IT at a bank, and year end is one of the longest days of the year for us; it combines all the normal End Of Day Processing along with End of Month, End of Quarter, and End of Year. I usually am at work for a minimum of 14 hours. One Year I was there for 20. Each year, we end up...
4 tags
Demanding Quality is Never a Bad Thing
2 Days until January 1, 2010 and the start of the Project.
Last week, I tried to articulate some of the philosophic issues I have with many of the arguments behind the “Sustainable Agriculture” movement. But I don’t actually have a problem with the movement itself, insofar as the movement is responsible for providing me with something I want: quality food.
Yesterday, I was in...
5 tags
Recipe: Cheese Dip
3 Days (!!) until January 1, 2010, and the start of the 2010 Project.
Just in time for new years, here is a recipe. For “Mexican” Cheese dip. Here in GA, the Mexican restaurants peddle this amazingly tasty cheese dip at obscene markups. A large dip can run upwards of $6 - $7!
This dip is about as Authentically Mexican as Maple Syrup, and causes a lot of foodies to blanch and get...
3 tags
Late Post
4 Days until the start of the 2010 Project.
Today I had a friend over for dinner and a movie. I made this roast chicken, with some slight modifications. I also roasted some bone marrow, and made the worlds best roast potatoes and parsnips. A nice night.
This week’s recipes will, I hope, help those of you planning on having a new years bash. I will be working. In fact, today marks the...
Sunday Night, Week -1
5 Days until January 1, 2010 and the start of the 2010 Project.
This past week’s Grocery List:
Mustard Seed Powder (No Mustard Seed @Store)
Tomatoes
Onions
Sliced Cheese
Tortilla chips
Canned Sliced Olives
Black Beans
Oaxaca Cheese
1 10 oz thick cut ribeye
3 bottles of wine
1 6 pack of cider
1 lb butter
Elbow Macaroni
6 eggs (I used up my chickens’ eggs...
Merry Christmas!
7 days until January 1, 2010.
May your blessings always be greater than you deserve.
In which I tell you that you're wrong
9 Days until January 1, 2010, and the start of the Project.
Let me preface that thus far, this has been hard to write. The concepts I’m trying to convey are vastly broad and only tangentially related to food. But I’ll try and condense it down.
We live in a nation where the problem of food scarcity has largely been solved. Not elegantly, but largely solved. In its place, a new set...
3 tags
Planning
10 Days until January 1, 2010.
The biggest hurdle for 2010 will be planning menus. I’m planning on using Google Calendar, because I want to dress like Google, and talk like google, and I take pictures of google so I can get my hair just like google. Ahem.
So yeah, calendar on the sidebar. Go me.
Menu planning is more than just “what do I want to eat on day X?” It is also...
3 tags
Odd Lots
11 Days until January 1, 2010.
I’m stealing a term from Jeff Duntemann and call these little collections of postlets Odd Lots.
I know what the January Challenge will be, and I’ll tell you on Dec 31. It will become a sort of tradition. The last day of the month will be retrospective post on the challenge of the month, as well as an announcement for the next challenge.
I’m...
Expectations
14 Days until January 1st, 2010.
2010 approaches relentlessly, and I find myself excited and a little bit — okay, a whole lot — scared by the prospect. Things have begun to sink in. A couple of days ago, after having picked up the first of two deer we’re getting this year, we went out for Chinese. During dinner, I said out loud, “This will be the last egg roll I eat...
A Year is a Long Time
15 days until January 1, 2010.
The biggest hurdle for my 2010 Project year is that it encompasses a year. 365 days is a long time, and I fully expect to have the urge to quit. I will get sick (I am currently sick), I will get tired. I will have things come up and work interfere. I will forget to thaw frozen meat, I will forget something vital during the grocery run, I will want to just say...
My Culinary Biography
16 Days until The 2010 Project Begins.
Both of my parents are of the Baby Boom generation, My father born in 48, my mother born in 46. Both were children of people who lived through the depression. Both had lots of their eating habits formed by the aftermath of the depression and life during the 50’s and 60’s.
Growing up, my mother was the family cook. She made most of our meals...
Deliberation
17 days until January 1, 2010.
I said yesterday that the purpose of the project is not primarily about health, or weight. Yes, I hope that there will these benefits, of some degree. But the primary purpose of this project is about deliberation.
How much consideration do you give during your average day? How much thought goes into a decision on what to wear, what to do, what to think, what to...
A 2009 Day
A typical weekday in 2009 involved me getting up, just in time to get a shower, take care of the dogs, the cats, and the chickens, then head into work. On my way, some days I’d grab some breakfast at McDonalds, some days I would grab it when I got to work from out of the break room.
About two, two and a half hours after getting to work, the routine would get to me and I would run and grab...
5 tags
Mission Statement
The 2010 Project.
From January Zero-One through December Thirty-One, I hereby resolve the following:
* I shall consume no food prepared by a professional - no fast food, no restaurant food, no prepackaged food cooked in a grocery store.
* The food I do consume shall be prepared from basic ingredients, and whenever possible be cooked for and by myself.
* No ingredient used in my cooking will...