Category: yoso-silly

It's been a pretty busy couple of months……luckily, I have folks like Cathy and Ed from Yuma to help me out. Without them, I truly doubt that this blog would still exist. Life has its rhythm, an ebb and flow, and this was just a long "high tide" I guess. Things are starting to settle a bit now, still kind of crazy, but I'm dealing with one or two crises per day, rather than four or five.

One thing I really notice this time around was how my eating just sort of retreated into its own simple comfort food mode……but I guess that's what comfort food is……

Here's a little collection of what we ate during the period when I was too busy or tired to cook……

So here's the requisite Spam, Eggs, and Rice bowl……

I just noticed….doesn't the soy sauce make it look like an "unhappy face"……

If I took photos of all of these dinners…and lunches, it would probably be a collection of similar egg and rice bowls.

Eggs, rice, and salty protein…..I guess that does it for me……

Even when I had time at home, it was stuff I could just prep and forget about until ready…..

The Missus got into the act too…..She loves steamed egg. This one has cold smoked scallops with sesame oil.

Which leads me to the question…..when things are going crazy; what's your "comfort meal"!

I hope everyone is enjoying a nice long weekend. On Thanksgiving morning, I took Da' Boyz down the street to Mission Bay. The recent rain had scrubbed the sky of all the usual haze.

We ran into this flock of fowl during our walk….which drove Da Boyz crazy……

I thought it was kind of….well ironic in a way. As with most years, the Missus had to work over Thanksgiving, so there was making stuff for that. But for us, this year's project was a wonderful duck from Mary's, not cheap, but a nice little project for me.

So the night before T-Day, there I was, breaking down a duck…….it's been a while since I've done this, but I didn't do too badly. I decided to go with a Chinese influence with most things, curing the legs for confit…….

The carcass went into the stovetop smoker…….

The breasts I cured overnight with five-spice, salt, white pepper, ginger juice, scallions……

It ended up being a nice Thanksgiving meal for us……

With the smoked bones I made a soup.

I used only the greens from the napa cabbage in this. The Missus wanted something simple and comforting, a reminder of Her youth. So with the white portion of the napa cabbage, I did a traditional Northern Chinese stir fry with Black Vinegar.

The breasts turned out beautifully….the Missus said it was among the best She's ever had.

Since we were trying to use the whole duck, Da' Boyz had the liver, kidney, and heart for dinner…..

Of course there was still something left over…..can you guess what that was?

This duck was really fatty and there was a ton of skin left over. So yesterday I went ahead and rendered the fat. One of the great byproducts of rendering the fat was the fried duck skin…..man, these are good. The put the "crack" in cracklins'. 

The duck fat is smooth and almost buttery……..I'm almost tempted to spread these out on crackers.

So the Missus had duck confit and an egg cooked in duck fat for brunch this morning.

In keeping with the Chinese theme, She dipped the duck into Sichuan Pepper-Salt, but quit after a while telling me that the duck really didn't need anything else.

I guess She really enjoyed the duck since She asked me if we could do this for Christmas. What I'm really happy with is that we didn't waste a thing. The duck was very good quality, though not cheap at nearly $30. Still, if you consider all the meals 1 duck contributed to, it's a good investment for two.

So how did your Thanksgiving go? Was it a traditional one, or did you try something different this year?

Happy Thanksgiving from the mmm-yoso gang to everyone!

May your hearts, and stomachs, be full on this, and every day of the year.

No "CC", it ain't what you think! I've already mentioned the Missus' crazy obsession with "the garden", which is getting so much pampered care that if it could speak, the plants would refer to themselves in the "third person" or is that "vegetable"? I barely mentioned that I've got a couple of things growing as well; Thai Chilies, Serranos, and one plant that I bought as an impulse buy, a Ghost Pepper plant, Bhut Jolokia. The Missus was on plant deathwatch from the beginning as it takes a good long time to grow and the peppers also take a while to ripen. The sudden hot weather we've had recently, has had an affect on the peppers……

Still, we're both of the opinion that really hot weather makes a pepper even more spicy and our rather wonderful mild weather would mean some wimpy ghost peppers. So last night we tried one. Again, without thinking, I just cut open the pepper and sliced it into strips. We both had tiny slivers……HOLY SMOKE!!! Now I have had the Triple Atom Wings at Quaker Steak and have a bottle of Mad Dog Revenge that I use every once in a while and have stories about folks who wanted to try the stuff, but this was one of the spiciest/hottest things I've ever eaten. I instantly started having uncontrollable hiccups which lasted about 5 minutes or so. The Missus, raised on a good amount of Hunan food, can take even more than I can. She bit into a sliver….Her eyes opened wide, and She mouthed a silent "Ooooo". Her symptom was ringing in the ears. The taste is initially mildly fruity, then there a deep burn that lasts about 4-5 minutes….. The Missus decided to take the rest to work. One of Her chili-head coworkers tried a sliver…..the Missus saw a grown man cry in front of Her!

I'm really not into this "food as a contest" thing, so I'm still not sure why I bought the plant.

So, I'm thinking to make some of my wing sauce with a Bhut Jolokia, maybe some teriyaki. I'll probably drop some off at Sushi Yaro, I gave Sam a bottle of Mad Dog Revenge, which his customers seemed to…well, enjoy is not the right word. So then you'll be able to be "bakayarou" at Sushi Yaro. My friends will get a couple, but I'm figuring to have a few left over. Any suggestions for using this stuff?

Anyway, I'm now wondering if it really was that spicy? Maybe that one hot pepper was just a fluke….I better go have another….just to make sure, right? Those screams you hear from just East of the I-5 will probably be me.

I best have a nice, simple, warm-weathered meal first…….

Where There's Fire, There's……

Well, smoke of course. I've been wanting a small smoker for home use and the Missus finally gave in a couple of weeks ago. So every weekend I've been getting used to my new Weber Smokey Mountain, It's been fun. I'm just using no special gear, no special internal thermometer, just getting used to the smoker. I created two very basic rubs, one for chicken, one for pork, and am not changing it for a while since it has the flavors we appreciate.

I've found that creating really great barbecue is indeed an art because of everything that is going on. But, it's pretty easy to create decent barbecue……

There seem to be as many ways and techniques for smoking as there are  stars in the sky. I'm just kind of doing it my way. I'll change no more than one thing per session and I've figured out to make thing work for me.

Like everything else, barbecue has it's own jargon, but you know, I'm doing this to create ribs I like and it's often both ribs and chicken, I'll keep the water pan empty, lined with foil, use the Minion method cause I'm lazy like that, and use the "Texas crutch", wrapping my ribs in foil after a couple of hours…..placing the chicken on the lower rack when I wrap my ribs and adding one piece of apple wood for some additional smoke.

I've kind of got the chicken and ribs the way I like them…..and because you usually don't smoke in itty-bitty batches the Missus has been sharing with Her coworkers. One of them asked the Missus if I was a professional, which made me feel good….but San Diego ain't known for it's BBQ, so I'm not sure if that person ever had really good 'Q'.

This has been a blast, but my main goal is to do more Asian inspired stuff and eventually learn how to make Hunan La Rou, the famous smoked meat form Hunan.

The Missus has been enjoying the fruits of my WSM's labor…..so could a Sous-Vide cooker or immersion circulator be in my future? Stay tuned!