Popular Mechanics

Living in NYC, a car is typically more of a luxury than a necessity and sky-high gas prices really make me grateful for public transportation. “One Troubled Rig and the Future of Arctic Oil Drilling” shines a light on the increasing difficulty of obtaining oil and the risks that drilling in natural reserves could pose for the surrounding environment should things go wrong.

I knew that robots were already being used to distribute medication at hospitals but I had no idea they are being used in operating rooms. “The Robotic Doctor is In” does a good job of explaining the benefits of matching a human surgeon’s knowledge with the precise movements of a surgery robot but the machines still look absolutely terrifying.

Inc.

As the world becomes increasingly connected and the far corners of the globe inch closer, it presents a lot of opportunities for international business / trade. However, “When In China” provides a learning experience for any company that is considering doing business in other parts of the world without adequate knowledge of local business practices.

Wired

I remember seeing ads for the Bodies exhibit around the city and thought it might be interesting to see but never got around to actually visiting the exhibit. “The Plastinarium of Dr. von Hagens” provided a behind the scenes view of the man who developed the concept for the original Body Worlds exhibit. The article tells the story of how he first became interested in collecting and preserving bodies, his life at present, and plans for his remains after his passing.

I originally planned to make a BLT sandwich for lunch but then I thought that it might not be filling enough (and I preferred to keep my lettuce for salad). I started thinking about other things that would be filling and might go well with bacon and lettuce. I thought of potato salad and how I really just like the eggs so I decided to include an egg salad based on a modified version of my potato salad recipe.

The sandwich probably should be referred to as a “BESS” rather than a “BEST” sandwich as it contains salsa rather than tomato but “BESS” sounds like some old lady’s sandwich.

Egg Salad

6 hard boiled eggs chopped
1/4 cup ranch salad dressing
1/4 cup honey mustard salad dressing
1 tsp sweet relish
1 tsp chopped jalapenos (fresh or pickled)
salt, pepper, and paprika to taste

I don’t like mayonnaise so I always use ranch dressing in potato salad. For a slightly different flavor I used a mix of ranch and honey mustard dressing. I imagine that other kinds of dressings would also work but for the right texture somewhat creamy dressings would work best.

Salsa

3 Roma tomatoes chopped
1/2 small onion chopped
Juice of 1/2 lime
cilantro, salt, black pepper, and chili powder to taste

Regular tomatoes are kind of boring, salsa is a bit more interesting. The salsa is easy to make but benefits from being made a few hours or a day ahead and placed in the fridge so the flavors have some time to develop.

The BEST Sandwich

Eggs salad
Salsa
2-3 slices of bacon for each sandwich
2 slices of toasted rye bread for each sandwich

The assembly is fairly straightforward: bread, egg salad, bacon, salsa, and bread. I lightly toast my bread because the egg salad and salsa contain liquids which might make the bread soggy. If you don’t mind soggy/wet bread feel free to not toast your bread. In fact, you could make the sandwiches ahead of time and wrap/press them to allow the liquids to soak into the bread.

As is the case with the never-ending jar of mustard sold by price clubs, the meat is also sold in large packs. I remove as much fat as possible from the meat (and skin in the case of chicken legs), wash the meat in vinegar, rub everything down with a seasoning blend, and then place the meat in freezer bags portioned for a few servings. It takes a bit of time to complete but it means that for the next two months, preparing meat for cooking mostly involves defrosting things from the freezer.

I limit the seasoning blend to very basic ingredients (onion, garlic, etc) so its a marinade but flexible enough to be used in a variety of dishes. I typically make two batches, one for the meat that will go into freezer bags and the other I place in a container in the fridge for quick additions to dishes (ex: soups, beans, rice and peas, etc.). A rough rule of thumb is that the seasoning blend can be used in anything that will cook long enough to cook away the raw flavor of its ingredients, typically 15 minutes or more.

About 5 cups of roughly chopped onions

I like cilantro so I typically add about two to three cups of chopped cilantro along with five or six stalks of scallion cut into thirds.

The cloves from a head of garlic. I take care to cut off the rough bit that can be found at the bottom of some cloves of garlic. It probably doesn’t make much of a difference because its going into the blender but I don’t like the way it looks.

Place the ingredients in a blender or food processor along with a little bit of water and puree until everything is well-blended. If you use a blender, I’d recommend placing the onions in first to avoid jamming the blade.

Blended Seasoning

Tastes and preferences vary so you should think of these instructions as tips to get started but not an iron-clad recipe. (Excluding a few baking recipes, things typically won’t go horribly wrong if you add your own twist.) Sometimes I add a few whole serrano peppers or two tablespoons of ground serrano peppers to the mix. It gives the food a nice kick without being too spicy but you’d want to remember this so you don’t add too much pepper later when you’re cooking.

1 pound of split peas
1 qt of low-sodium chicken broth or stock (vegetable stock would also work)
1 qt water
1/4 cup of seasoning mix (blended onions, scallion, garlic, cilantro, and chili peppers)
1/2 tbs garlic chili sauce
Adobo (or salt)
Black Pepper
Sour Cream (optional)

Cook time: About 45 minutes to 1 hour

First things first, put the peas in a soup pot and check them to make sure that there are no unsavory bits mixed in. Fill the pot with enough water to cover the peas and swish your hands through to give them a light rinse. Discard the water and place the pot on the stove.

Add the broth, water, chili sauce, and seasoning to the pot along with a bit of Adobo and black pepper. Tastes vary but take it easy with the Adobo and black pepper as the seasonings haven’t had a chance to blend as yet so the taste will be a bit off at this point.

Give the ingredients a quick stir before covering the pot and allowing the soup to simmer over medium heat.

Check the soup after about thirty minutes. Give the pot a stir and taste it to see if it needs a bit more salt or pepper and also check the tenderness of the split peas. Continue cooking the soup until the peas are tender.

Turn off the fire when the peas get to the point where they crumble easily. Working carefully (in batches if necessary), puree the soup in a blender or food processor until its smooth. Return the soup to the pot and give it a final taste for salt and pepper. (If needed, use salt at this point but not Adobo.)

You can serve the soup right away but after cooling it will keep fine in the fridge for a few days. However, the soup might thicken and liquid might pool at the top after it cools. No worries, simply use a spoon to reincorporate the liquid along bit a extra water if needed.

As an optional garnish you can serve the soup with a dollop of sour cream.

I remember watching Total Recall quite a few times as a kid. There’s a scene where Douglas Quaid (Arnold Schwarzenegger) wears a disguise to try to get through airport security but he gets caught when he flubs his response to the Customs questions. Reading “Deception Is Futile” reminded me of that scene from the movie. The article is about kiosks that Customs & Border Protection has put in place to interrogate travelers passing through America’s borders. The kiosks use sensors to capture movement and speech to (hopefully) detect when a person is being deceitful. The technology is pretty cool and the back story about how lies are told and betrayed by tells was interesting.

“Mutants” is inspiring yet somewhat scary in that it details the spread of a deadly antibiotic resistant bacteria that spread through a hospital and the methods that scientists used to track its movement between patients.

Bon Appetit

I love breakfast. French toast, bacon, eggs, cheese, fruit and oatmeal, bagels? Absolute heaven. However, I need simple things to eat/transport during the week and tend to want to take things easy on the weekends. Add in trying to keep things relatively healthy and the options narrow quite a bit. Thankfully “Wake Up Your Breakfast” featured a collection of breakfast ideas and recipes that are quick and simple to make in the morning or can be prepped ahead of time. I especially liked the toast, granola, and smoothie ideas.

Inc.

Over the past few months I’ve heard mention of patent trolls and it seems like within the last few days, the topic has been frequently popping up in my RSS reader. “The Troll Toll” was well-timed in explaining the practices of businesses that acquire patents (which are in some cases insanely broad) and use them to extort money from other companies by threatening them with patent-infringement claims.

Direct sales really isn’t that interesting and in the hands of pushy sales people can be annoying. However, “Made To Measure” provided an interesting look at the thought process behind the development of J. Hilburn’s products and operations.

Popular Mechanics

I don’t have much knowledge of sailing and I don’t particularly like the ocean but “Disaster On The Bounty” was a captivating article about the HMS Bounty’s final voyage and destruction in the rough seas caused by Hurricane Sandy.

There was also a cool article with tips for roasting a whole pig (which I would love to do) but I couldn’t find the article on the Popular Mechanics website.

Frying Bacon

Great stories and meals begin with bacon. You can make the bacon to the crispness of your liking by frying it in a pan, placing it in the oven on a baking rack on a baking pan, or cooking it on an indoor grill. I chose to make both the bacon and burger patties on an indoor grill.

French Bread Buns

French Bread Buns

I use Food.com’s French bread recipe, the instructions are about the same but I made some changes to the ingredients and formed the bread into eight rolls instead of two loaves.

3 cups of all-purpose flour
2 cups of whole wheat
2 cups of warm water
1 tablespoon yeast
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tsp salt

Seasoned French Fries

Seasoned French Fries

5 pounds of russet potatoes
Adobo (or salt)
Black pepper
cayenne pepper
paprika
sugar
canola oil

I leave the skin on the potatoes, scrub them until they’re reasonably clean, and slice them into equally sized pieces. My cousin once told me that you can get really great fries by soaking the raw potato slices in cold water because it helps to remove some of the starch. So I put the fries in a large bowl, fill it with water, and put it in the fridge for a few hours (one to eight should be fine).

I drain the fries in a colander and rinse them with cold water before tossing them back into the bowl. I love the savory yet slightly sweet taste of the fries at Wing Stop so I use those as a model for my homemade fries. I toss the potato slices with seasonings and oil before spreading them out on a baking pan and placing them in a 425 degree oven for about 20-30 minutes. Oven times vary so you should start checking the potatoes at about the 20 minute mark.

Make Ahead: Follow the instructions up to the point where the fries are on the baking pan. Then place the pan in the freezer for about an hour before putting the fries in zip lock bags for later use.

Pork Burger Patties

Pork Burger Patties

2 pounds of ground pork
Adobo (or salt)
black pepper
1 tsp chili garlic sauce
1/2 tsp jerk seasoning
1 tsp paprika

Seasoning is really a matter of personal preference so what you add and how much you add is really up to you. Mix the meat and the seasonings so everything is well incorporated but be sure that you don’t over mix. I’m not a big fan of the super thick burger so I went for eight thinner patties that were roughly about a quarter pound each. You can cook the patties right away but I let them sit for a bit to allow the seasonings to do their business.

Ground pork can sometimes cook up to an unsavory grey color so I used a Foreman Grill to get some grill marks while draining some of the fat. I set the grill to the medium setting and let it cook for about 5 minutes before I began checking for doneness.

The Burger

Bacon Pork Burger with Seasoned French Fries

The manner in which you assemble the burger is completely up to you and your personal preferences. I don’t like wet bread so I toasted the burger bun after slicing it in half. I went with bottom bun, burger, sweet relish mixed with ketchup, bacon, and then the top bun. I imagine the burger would be ever better with a bit of cheese on top but I’m trying to cut down on dairy. How do you like your burger?

Strangers When We Meet is a movie about Larry Coe (Kirk Douglas), a married self-employed architect who has become bored with the routine and mundane aspects of his career and marriage and Margaret ‘Maggie’ Gault (Kim Novak), an unhappy suburban housewife who has moved to a new neighborhood with her family. Some excitement is added to their lives when Larry and Margaret begin an affair. In the midst of all this hubbub Larry’s skeevy neighbor Felix Anders (Walter Matthau) manages to slither into the picture and further complicate matters.

Strangers When We Meet was ok but I thought it fell apart towards the end. It was worth watching once but I wouldn’t go out of my way to watch it again. I thought the movie was quite similar to the main storyline of Little Children, which starred Kate Winslet and Patrick Wilson. If you liked Little Children you might also like Strangers When We Meet and vice versa. However, fair warning: Little Children is far more explicit than Strangers When We Meet.

**Commentary Beyond This Point Contains Spoilers**

The content of Strangers When We Meet is rather tame by today’s standards but knowing that the movie was from the 60′s, I was a bit caught off guard by the relatively open discussion of risqué topics. There’s the “hippie, Woodstock, tree-hugging, free-love” 60′s and then the “not quite out of the 50′s” 60′s. I was surprised to see the movie actually show these two married people carrying on an affair without veiled references. Yet given the risqué (for its time) language and content, why do these married couples have twin beds? I also noticed that while Maggie and her husband’s beds are separate, Larry and his wife’s beds are pushed together. Which brings me to another observation…

There’s a bit of weirdness with Maggie’s husband Ken (John Bryant), in that while he obviously cares for Maggie, he seems to be emotionally and physically uninterested in / distant from her. Unfortunately, the movie doesn’t give Ken as much attention as the other characters so you don’t really get to learn much about him. After a scene where Maggie attempts to seduce Ken, I spent the rest of the movie wondering if there was going to be some big reveal about him. Was he devoutly religious? A homosexual? Boozing it up with prostitutes during his lunch hour? What was his deal? I think the movie would have been a bit more interesting if some of the other characters (ex: dirty Felix) were dropped and the audience was allowed to see a bit more of Ken and Larry’s wife, Eve (Barbara Rush).

It was wrong for Maggie to have an affair but I could understand why she was unhappy in her marriage. However, Larry seemed to have a good relationship with his wife or at least good communication. It was clear that he was bored with his life and decided to have an affair but the movie tried to make it seem like he was so in love with Maggie. Or maybe in a roundabout way the movie was actually showing that what he thought was a passionate never ending love was actually a short-term infatuation.

Its probably not politically correct to say but I didn’t buy Maggie’s explanation for why she decided to take sleeping pills and not double check that all of the doors were locked after some random guy that she met told her that he was on his way to her house. Maggie’s version of events just didn’t make sense. If things happened as she said they did, why was the guy still calling? It seems that while Ken was a bit weird, Maggie probably also had her own issues.

At first I thought Felix was simply an annoying nosy neighbor but he was actually shown to be a philandering busy body. I was so confused by his trying to “seduce” Eve. The scene was just so awkward, I was praying that she’d run away and call 911 because his methods for seduction seemed to actually be a precursor to sexual assault. (He was so appallingly weird.)

What did you think of Strangers When We Meet? What was Ken’s problem? How weird was Felix?

As of today, Strangers When We Meet is available via Netflix and Amazon on DVD.

Sometimes I read articles that are really interesting and would like to share them with others but either forget where I read the article or I can’t loan the person my physical copy. As a result, I’ve decided to start jotting down brief notes about articles that I’ve read and liked along with links to their online versions for convenient referrals to others.

Wired

John McAfee is either crazy or going through the worst mid-life crisis ever. At least, that’s I what I gathered from the “John McAfee’s Last Stand” article. I won’t even attempt to recount the details of McAfee’s past and the events that led up to him being wanted as a possible murder suspect. The story has already been written, should be made into a movie, and is a must read.

“Early Warning System” is an interesting article about a new prenatal blood test that could be used to detect and diagnose genetic defects more safely, accurately, and earlier in pregnancies.

Bon Appetit

“The BA 25″ features tips from Bon Appetit on things to eat, drink, cook, or check out in 2013. I’m picky about sandwiches and burgers but the Cemitas that was featured looked extremely good. It’s a Mexican sandwich featuring pork butt, avocado, Oaxacan cheese, peppers, and herbs stacked high on a sesame seed bun.

The “BA Cooking School” section at the back of each issue of Bon Appetit includes tips for preparing some of the dishes that are featured in that issue of the magazine. Topics might include carving a turkey, identifying ripe pineapples, making chocolate sauce, etc. This issue was a bit different because the feature article, “How To Cook Right Now” was pretty much an expanded version of the cooking school section. The feature was separated into eight lessons, six of which included recipes. My favorite sections were about pan-roasting, braising, and desserts. I definitely plan on trying the Soy-Braised Short Ribs with Shiitakes recipe.

Cooking Light

The feature article “2013 Chicken Hot List”, showcases eight types of meals, each with one main chicken recipe that can be altered to create a few other dishes. In addition to a few of the recipes in the feature article, I’d also like to try making the Spicy Shrimp Noodle Soup, Stir-Fried Lemongrass Chicken, and Veggie and Tofu Stir-Fry recipes.

Popular Mechanics

Would you describe yourself as being paranoid? Normally my answer would be a “no” but after finishing “In The Digital Crosshairs”, I’m not so sure. The article covers the various ways that personal information can be collected via the internet, databases, devices, etc and accessed by pranksters, hackers, companies, government agencies, etc. However, you can breathe a bit easy, there are also a few tips for thwarting digital snoops.

Note that this is a French film with English subtitles.

Samuel Pierret (Gilles Lellouche), a nurse and his wife Nadia (Elena Anaya) are a month away from the birth of their first child. Early in the movie they learn that there are some concerns about the pregnancy and Nadia is put on bed rest. Meanwhile, a thief by the name of Hugo Sartet (Roschdy Zem) has been brought into the hospital where Samuel works after what’s believed to have simply been a motorcycle accident.

Unbeknownst to the hospital staff and police, Hugo was actually hit by a motorcycle while fleeing two men who were trying to kill him. When one of the men visits the hospital to try to finish off Hugo, Samuel steps in and saves Hugo’s life. Unfortunately, Samuel’s wife is kidnapped and he’s instructed by one of Hugo’s allies to help get Hugo out of the hospital if he ever wants to see his wife again. And we’re off!

The action begins while the opening credits are still rolling and never lets up until the end of the movie. There’s some violence but it’s not overdone and isn’t used to make up for the lack of an entertaining story. Samuel is really just an innocent bystander who has been drawn into a web of drama between criminals as a result of doing the right thing at the wrong time for the wrong person. The manner in which he helps Hugo escape combined with a run-in with a police squad results in him being implicated as Hugo’s accomplice and it forces him to take matters into his own hands. The basic overall theme of the flick is nothing new but the movie does a good job of avoiding clichés.

There are twists and turns and some people aren’t quite who they seem to be. The acting and cinematography are good and more importantly, while Samuel and Hugo face challenges they aren’t given the easy way out by being borderline invincible superheroes. Instead they are made to think on their feet to avoid capture and remain alive. There’s no comedic side-kick or ridiculous pauses for romance and exclamations of love, instead the movie just continues moving along briskly.

You can view the trailer via the Hulu clip below. As of today, the movie is available on Netflix and Amazon.

“Django Unchained” is a movie set two years before the Civil War that tells the story of a slave named Django (Jamie Foxx) who in exchange for the promise of his freedom agrees to help Dr. King Schultz (Christoph Waltz), a former dentist turned bounty hunter identify and hunt down a trio of wanted criminals known as The Brittle Brothers.

To avoid arousing suspicion, Django pretends to be a free man and excited at the seemingly small but actually significant opportunity to choose his own clothes, selects a blue suit, white ruffle shirt, and white stockings (imagine a cross between the “Seinfeld Pirate blouse” and Prince’s shirts v. blouses outfit from The Dave Chappelle Show skit). The duo’s arrival at Big Daddy’s (Don Johnson) plantation results in a gun-slinging showdown with The Brittle Brothers and a slapstick nighttime Klan-like meeting.

The newly freed (and more tastefully attired) Django and Dr. Schultz decide to team up in the pursuit of other bounties while coming up with a plan to find and rescue Django’s wife, Broomhilda (Kerry Washington) from slavery. And therein lies the problem with the movie. Tarantino handles the bounty hunting portion of the film masterfully but loses some of his mojo when the movie’s attention is shifted away from bounty hunting towards the rescue of Broomhilda.

Throughout much of the film Broomhilda is only seen through a series of flashbacks that do little more than portray her as a plot device clumsily devised in an attempt to explain Django’s want of vengeance. Broomhilda being Django’s wife (though not legally recognized in those times) and the two being separated by the injustice of slavery is more than enough justification for explaining why he’d want to be rescue her. Yet instead of reasonably fleshing out the character and showing her as a human being, Tarantino seemingly says to the audience “I’m going to punch her in the face repeatedly so you don’t forget that this movie is about slavery and slavery is bad.” Way to go Capt. Obvious.

Django and Dr. Shultz, find out that Broomhilda has been sold to Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio), owner of a large Mississippi plantation and an avid fan of the bloody sport of Mandingo fighting which the duo decide to use as part of their arguably overly complicated ploy to rescue Broomhilda. Candie is fittingly introduced as he is watching and encouraging the brutality of a Mandingo fight in the surroundings of a fancy club. The setup is a spot-on representation of both Candie and slavery in the South, a false genteel veneer that masks cruelty and inhumanity.

While Candie is obviously supposed to be the villain that the audience hates, I thought he was quickly overshadowed by Stephen (Samuel L. Jackson) the busybody house slave. Every time Stephen would interrupt or utter some bit of nonsense I would hope that one of the other characters would either karate chop him in the throat or kick away his cane. Annoying? Aggravating? Those terms do not begin to describe Stephen. He’s that kid your parents made you be nice to and play with who would tattle about every and anything but he’s grown up to be a cold-hearted and miserable old man that nobody visits because he was always such a jerk. Stephen is that character you love to hate and he was the bright spot in the last 30 to 45 minutes of the movie as it descended into overdone cartoonish violence.

I had high hopes for the movie and it could have been perfect if Tarantino had fully developed the characters and the story instead of relying so heavily on gimmicks (people do not explode into alien goo when shot). Overall, the movie was more good than bad and I enjoyed “Django Unchained”.