Grand Teuton

Carnage du Jour - 15 May 2012

2012-05-21T12:35:00.001-04:00

Why does tilapia get so little respect? I find it to be among the most versatile of fish options. It works well fried, broiled, baked, poached ... and the flavour profiles it can handle are nearly limitless as well.

Let me give you but the latest example.
My normal crust for frying is a simple mix of cornmeal and whatever spices seem right at the time, often just a nice amount of Old Bay. This time I had noticed that the jar of pistachios was nearly empty, so I grabbed what was left and chopped them with a knife, probably ending up with a scant tablespoon or so.
I mixed that with the cornmeal and Old Bay, pressed the wet fish into it, and gave it a nice fry in some hot canola oil. It was delicious. There was absolutely no need for any sauce - the fish had plenty of flavour itself, and the crust held in the juices, so it was moist and flaky.

What went with? A beautiful salad of mixed greens (some of the nice spicy varieties along with the romaine-type lettuces) and another dish that turned out extremely well.

It turns out that, much as Hooterville had the perfect soil for growing rutabagas, College Grove has perfect soil for growing sweet potatoes (they may be yams - I'm not totally clear on the distinction, frankly), and so my sister grew far more than her family could consume.

We lucked into a bag of those sweet potatoes on our last trip back from Florida, so it seemed time to use them up.
A quick wash, peel, and cubing, then into the oven they went with a bit of salt, pepper, and curry powder to roast with some chopped onions. It smelled great, and tasted every bit as good.

Definitely one to repeat!

Missing Sydney

2012-04-27T17:42:00.000-04:00

Today should have been a day of celebration.
Sydney Williams should have been blowing out more candles on a cake, but he was taken from us, and from the work he was still Joyfully pursuing for his Lord.

We miss you, Sydney, as do the people of the Avenue Church in Newton Abbot, and countless others in Africa and elsewhere who have been touched by your generosity and love.

I'll meet you on the mountain, my friend.

RIP Chuck Colson

2012-04-23T13:17:00.001-04:00

If you ever wanted to see a life that proved the possibility of repentance and renewal, his was definitely one.

From White House "plumber" to prison minister and tree angel, Colson was a witness to the transformative power of the Gospel.

He will be greatly missed.

Carnage du Jour - 03 April 2012

2012-04-04T17:14:00.000-04:00

Pork Chops. There aren't many words that go together better than those two.

Ah, but how to cook them, and what to serve up alongside?
First, a pot of rice cooked in a nice vegetable stock (sadly, it turned out a bit too salty).
Next, some nice steamed fresh broccoli.
Finally, cook the chops by searing them with a bit of beau monde and chipotle powder on each side, then topping them after turning with some artichoke hearts, olives, and just a bit of pomodoro vodka sauce.

It was quite delicious!

Gaming Laptop?

2012-03-29T10:13:00.002-04:00

Anyone know how good this one would be?

RIP Earl Scruggs

2012-03-29T09:52:00.000-04:00

I never saw him play live, but without Earl, bluegrass music wouldn't be what it is. An amazing player, technically as well as musically, his fusion of many threads of banjo playing into what became known as Scruggs-style banjo led the way for many others to innovate from a higher plateau than they otherwise would have occupied.

What a band he's joining up there!

Carnage du Jour - 25 February 2012

2012-02-27T14:59:00.000-05:00

Ground lamb patties? Yep - they look like a nice big burger patty, but the taste is something quite different and delicious.

I had come across a package of pre-cubed acorn squash in the market, and I decided that I didn't mind letting someone else do the knife-work, at least this once, so I bought it, along with a couple of lamb patties - about a pound each of lamb and squash in all.

So, how to put them together? First off I gave those squash cubes a bit of a sear in some canola oil, just to colour them up nicely, and then removed them from the skillet.
Next, in went the lamb to brown up most of the way, at which point the squash rejoined the party in the pan. A cup or so of lamb stock was added to the mix, along with some curry powder, some chipotle powder, and a bit of summer savory.
While all those flavours worked together to everyone's benefit, I reheated the tub of yellow rice with green peas from a few nights before.

I must say, as easy as it was, it was awfully delicious. Much recommended.

Carnage du Jour - 06 February 2012

2012-02-10T16:47:00.000-05:00

Ah, salmon once again. What a flavourful, yet versatile fish is our friend Salmo salar (the salmon)!

There was a nice piece of salmon fillet in the refrigerator, just calling our names, and it would have been impolite to ignore it, so - out it came.
I gave a nice dusting of Old Bay (!) and then a bit of corn meal to the flesh side and gave it a quick sear in the skillet. Then I flipped it skin side down and put the pan in the oven (400 or so, as I recall) with a nice pool of Vermouth Bianco as the liquid for a nice oven-poach.

It actually was joining some potato wedges that had been roasting for some time (with some salt, pepper and dill), so all would finish up at the same time.

Oh, but what to go with potatoes and salmon? How about some sautéed spinach? Great idea. A bit of onion sautéed up first, then in goes the spinach and some pine nuts, finishing off with a bit of alfredo sauce, just to make it nice and creamy.

Can you say delicious? I knew you could. Now I'd like to hear you play your bass.

Cheers!

Coinage du Jour - 20 January 2012

2012-01-20T16:48:00.000-05:00

PRIMA FASCIITIS - n

def. The act of putting one's foot in one's mouth as a result of basing an analysis on a cursory or first-impression basis.

sample - "I based my decision on having read the somewhat misleading headline of the article, now I have quite a case of prima fasciitis."

SOPA and PIPA

2012-01-17T09:42:00.001-05:00

Here are a couple possibly well-intentioned pieces of legislation (barely possibly - I'm giving some folks the benefit of a ton of doubt) that will do almost nothing to accomplish their stated goals, but will have some horrific unintended(?) consequences.

We joined with many other sites on the 18th to show how the post-SOPA web might look, but we're back to normal now.

Please contact your legislators to let them know they need to come up with something far better than just breaking the internet to stop piracy.

grr.

Don't Forget

2011-12-22T13:39:00.000-05:00

the Real Meaning of Christmas!

Blessings

2011-12-13T13:57:00.000-05:00

What a year it's been!

Christian was deployed to Afghanistan.
Heidi's knee required surgery.
Dad was hospitalised with heart trouble.

Yes, it's been stressful, but it's also been blessful. (sorry)

Heidi's surgery turned out better than we could have hoped.
Dad got a pacemaker, and now he's right as rain.
Christian came home for two weeks leave, and we're having a great time.
Thanksgiving was excellent - the family made it up from Nashville, the turkey and all the other food was excellent.

All in all, a great year of blessings, and there are so many more that I couldn't begin to count them (at least not before I fall asleep after a liverwurst sandwich and a glass of buttermilk).

No complaints here. (A little snow would be nice, though.)

Carnage du Jour - 17 October 2011

2011-10-18T13:39:00.000-04:00

from grandteuton.blogspot.com

What to do with all those peppers this year? In an odd twist of agriculture, hot peppers of various varieties were nearly the only thing that grew well in our garden this year. Eggplant and yellow squash were fairly productive, but the banana, serrano, and cayenne peppers were the stars of the season.

Well, roasted chile peppers are great, so we have roasted a bunch of them, but then the question becomes what to do with the oil that had been on them while they roasted.
Aha! Make an emulsion with some decent Cabernet, and marinate a top round steak for a while. What a nice combination of heat and semi-sweet.

After a good long soak, the steak gets a quick sear on each side, then back in the bath with a bunch of sweet onion wedges for some time in a moderately slow oven (275F or so).

A batch of rice and some corn slathered in butter and it was a very nice meal.

Oh, and as a bonus, the now-cooked marinade becomes a tasty - and spicy - sauce to perk up the steak and rice.

Very tasty, if I do say so myself (and I just did).

Happy Thanksgiving

2011-10-10T09:55:00.000-04:00

to all my Canadian friends.

We here in Detroit are happy to offer you a bonus Detroit Lions Thanksgiving Day football game.

No, really, it's all for you. Enjoy.

from grandteuton.blogspot.com

RIP Steve Jobs

2011-10-06T09:45:00.000-04:00

Well, I've never owned any of them, but I've still benefited from the relentless pursuit of simple and elegant that Steve Jobs brought to his Apple products.

I don't know anything about him as a man, but he did do some good work, and will be missed in the tech industry.

Hmm -

2011-10-03T13:53:00.000-04:00

from grandteuton.blogspot.com

looks more like metal to me.

I Wonder How Many Others

2011-10-01T10:00:00.000-04:00

noticed that National Coffee Day was the day after Drink Beer Day.

I have one thing to say to those who set up these days: "Well scheduled, well scheduled indeed."

Happy National Coffee Day!

2011-09-29T17:32:00.000-04:00

That's it, really.

Happy National Coffee Day!

Projects Update

2011-09-27T16:55:00.000-04:00

from grandteuton.blogspot.com

Well, it's been far too long since I posted anything here.

I don't know if anyone is actually interested, but I have almost completed the first draft of my second novel, and I'm pretty happy with it, really. The good part is that it's pretty well finished and the plot and scenes hang together well; the bad part is that I hate rewriting.
I don't mind revising paragraphs and sentences - I'm pretty well able to accept that the first choice of words that came to my mind isn't necessarily the best.
I don't like wholesale re-writing, however. If I wrote a scene, I generally like it, and I will resist removing it from the finished product. I'm better at adding scenes where things simply don't flow properly, or where I've left out something that the reader needs to know.

I haven't gotten back to the two cookbooks that are in my writing / editing pipeline, but I have at least collected most of what needs to go together, so I'm at the point where I can get things going pretty quickly.

The interesting thing is that November is coming soon, and we all know that's NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). I really don't think they like to count revisions as writing - that's kind of the antithesis of the "write, write like the wind!" fever of getting 50,000 words done in the course of those 30 days. I have my doubts that I can both revise / rewrite one book while pouring out another 50K words as the basis of another.

I also have to go through a thorough revision of my Mass setting. I seem to have a bunch of projects backing up right now. Better that than no idea of what else to do, I suppose.

Coinage du Jour - 07 September 2011

2011-09-07T13:17:00.000-04:00

from grandteuton.blogspot.com

VIRUS EX MACHINA - n

def. The too-convenient solution of a dramatic problem by way of a computer virus.

sample - "The aliens in Independence Day were defeated by Jeff Goldblum's character's handy virus ex machina."

More Shameless Self-Promotion

2011-09-05T12:34:00.000-04:00

from grandteuton.blogspot.com

Well, almost as soon as I posted that coupon code for my books on www.lulu.com/grandteuton I got another one - this time for 20% and up to $100 in savings.

Now the code is SEPTEMBER305, and it runs through September 9, 2011.

Enjoy.

Shameless Self-Promotion

2011-09-05T01:36:00.000-04:00

from grandteuton.blogspot.com

If you have any interest in buying one of my books, here's a 15% coupon code that's good for the month of September at my lulu.com store (max value $25).
Just go to www.lulu.com/grandteuton and make your selections. Printed and digital versions are both included. At the checkout, enter the code AWESOME305 and you'll get 15% off the total (before shipping, I believe).

Enjoy!

Surgery Can Be Amazing

2011-08-23T17:17:00.000-04:00

from grandteuton.blogspot.com

You know, modern medicine is pretty spectacular. Today, through a four-inch incision, a knee can be repaired.

When I was a kid, the best we could do for knees was Mercurochrome; and we liked it.

A Fun Musical Pairing

2011-08-18T01:10:00.000-04:00

from grandteuton.blogspot.com

I had a great time playing a hymn in church with my friend Dave last Sunday.

I played guitar and sang, while he played harmonica. (We did Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing.)

It was very fun, well received, and actually sounded quite good, I think. Maybe it wasn't quite as good as when Buddy Greene did it, but we don't practice as much as he does.

Burlap to Cashmere

2011-08-10T11:00:00.000-04:00

from grandteuton.blogspot.com

I had forgotten how good these guys were / are. I'm not sure why, but I pulled out the old Burlap to Cashmere CD, Anybody Out There the other day and it's been in the car player a lot now.

The rhythms are complex, the playing is clean and crisp and amazing, and the vocals are distinctive. Oh - and the lyrics are great as well.

We were wondering what ever happened to them, and it turns out that they're back together again with a new CD being released. I may have to grab it and give them another spin. You should check them out, whether the old one or the new one!