Saturday 19 March 2016

Culinary Adventures: Manti and Pierogis

Here's another one that doesn't exactly involve a recipe, per se, but I'm counting it as one of my two "recipes" for the month of March. On occasion, I visit a Russian grocery and buy dumplings, pierogis, and "Riga style" sour cream, which I'm pretty sure is just sour cream. Anyway, I normally boil the dumplings and pierogis, which works well enough. However, I tried my hand at lamb manti, and they ended up retaining a lot of fluid, which made them sort of messy. They also didn't quite agree with me. I looked at the actual instructions on the next package, and it claimed that I'm supposed to be steaming them. Steaming them? How am I supposed to do that?

Well, the thing is, I actually have an Oster rice cooker. I hadn't paid much attention to the steaming tray that comes with it, but as it turns out, it's as stupid easy to steam manti and pierogis in a rice cooker's steaming tray as it is to cook rice in a rice cooker - though I'll note that the steaming is a touch more messy than cooking rice. I've done it twice now, and I think I'm going to be making more trips to that Russian grocery to keep my freezer properly stocked.

I've also got some packages of gnocchi that I got from a nearby Italian grocery. As fate would have it, some dude on YouTube has suggestions for cooking gnocchi in the rice cooker, too, so I may give that a try as well. More to come on that topic!

Tuesday 15 March 2016

Culinary Adventures: YouTube CrockPot Meals

I've been interested in CrockPot cooking for a long time, but I've never done much of it. Since I'm trying to cook more in 2016, I decided to scour YouTube for a few CrockPot recipes. I found two that I decided to try. First, from a blog by way of a prolific vlogger going by the moniker "She's In Her Apron", I made Honey Sesame Chicken as described in this video.


The second recipe is for Cream of Mushroom Chicken, from a YouTuber going by the name TosTinMan.


I'll be honest, neither of these recipes really lit me up. I'll admit that I didn't follow TosTinMan's advice by removing the skin from my chicken thighs before putting them in the CrockPot, but aside from that I was pretty faithful to both recipes. Neither were terrible, and other folks might have better luck, but I probably won't repeat either of them in the near future. That's actually too bad for the Honey Sesame Chicken, since I now have two bottles of sesame oil (unbeknownst to me, Lady Jaye already had one in our cupboard), and I have no clue how I'm going to use it up. Maybe I'll think of something!

Sunday 13 March 2016

Culinary Adventures: DoD Lime Baked Fish

Unfortunately, I can't count this particular recipe as "new", as I've cooked it before. However, it's my favorite fish recipe, and it's super simple, so I wanted to share it. I've made it two or three times in recent weeks because it's currently Lent, Lady Jaye is Roman Catholic, I'm almost certainly going to end up Roman Catholic as a result, and Catholics are pescatarians on Fridays during Lent, so the time is right.

As I mentioned in that previous post about the DoD Orange Chicken, I get this recipe from The Gitmo Cookbook. My next Gitmo Cookbook effort may end up being a side dish like garlic cheese potatoes, or peas with mushrooms. Anyway, the recipe...
Lime Baked Fish
  • 1 and 3/4 lbs. flounder or sole fish fillets
  • 2 T. lime juice
  • 2 T. butter or margarine, melted
  • 1/2 tsp. salt
  • 1/2 tsp. paprika, ground
  • 3/4 tsp. fresh parsley, chopped

    Arrange fish in a single layer on a large, sided cookie sheet that has been coated with non-stick cooking spray. Combine lime juice, butter or margarine, salt, and paprika. Mix well. Drizzle mixture over fish. Bake at 400 degrees F. for 12-15 minutes or until fillets flake easily and are lightly browned. Garnish with parsley before serving.
  • This is a fantastic, easy recipe. I've been substituting tilapia fillets for flounder or sole, and I dispense with the parsley. Also, the original version of this recipe calls for lemon juice, but I prefer a limey taste, so that's how I've presented the recipe. Like the Orange Chicken, I eat it with white basmati rice out of the rice cooker, and it's fantastic.

    Friday 11 March 2016

    Culinary Adventures: Ultimate Shepherd's Pie

    When I visited Orkney in late 2012, I was introduced to an Orcadian dish called clapshot, which is a mix of mashed potatoes and mashed Swede turnips ("rutabagas" in the American vernacular). One of the more involved dishes I've ever made is shepherd's pie. I decided to make a unique dish combining the two. In early 2010, I concocted a dish I referred to as Shepherd's Pie 2.0, which derived from Rachael Ray's recipe. But, it's not that simple.

    I first mentioned clapshot in December of 2012. Last July, I recounted Radio Orkney's Great Clapshot Debate of 2015. I'd found this recipe, and then an Orcadian friend sent me this recipe as well. I knew I was going to have to do a bit of improvisation, and my buddy Gray 1 had told me two things of interest: that 1) it's not clapshot unless the neeps and tatties have been through a freeze to chemically alter the sugars, and 2) some people say it's okay to accomplish that freeze through the use of a freezer. I decided to consult with the Orcadian Equestrian, the source of that second recipe link, for some advice:
    Tom: Question for you, ma'am: I've got two neeps and three tatties in the freezer in preparation for clapshot. How long do they need to stay in there before they're ready for cooking?
    The Orcadian Equestrian: Your tatties don't need to be in the freezer (although it won't hurt them). My mum - the font of all neep knowledge - would say a week would do, and she boils her neep from frozen and then adds the tatties 15 mins later.
    So, in early January, I blocked off a Monday evening and began to experiment. At this point, I'll refrain from sharing my recipe since the first batch I made was highly experimental. I'll also note that it got better with age: in subsequent days, the last pieces were the best, and a good ninety seconds in the microwave appear to have helped in that process. This ended up being my first new recipe of 2016, and I'll count it as an incremental success!

    Wednesday 9 March 2016

    Culinary Adventures: DoD Orange Chicken

    In mid-January, I had a brief conversation with a pregnant friend whose family Lady Jaye and I will probably try to take a meal to once she delivers. They're pretty solidly progressive, so I was teasing her that we'd bring them some vegan concoction. She reminded me that:
    "You realize the meal that it seems we will traditionally share is fish, right?"
    This reminded me of my favorite fish recipe out of The Gitmo Cookbook, which got me thinking: one of my resolutions for 2016 should involve cooking. So, I've set the goal of cooking two new recipes each month. This one was actually the second.
    Chicken in Orange Sauce
  • 2 lbs. boneless skinless chicken breasts
  • 1/2 tsp. salt
  • nonstick cooking spray
  • 1/2 tsp. paprika
  • 1 med. onion, chopped
  • 1/4 tsp. black pepper
  • 3/4 c. orange juice
  • 1/4 tsp. dried rosemary
  • 2 T. flour
  • 1/8 tsp. garlic powder
  • 4 T. sugar

    Wash chicken thoroughly under cold running water. Drain well. Remove excess fat. Arrange chicken in a single layer on a large, sided cookie sheet that has been coated with non-stick cooking spray. DO NOT OVERLAP. Combine orange juice, flour, sugar, salt, paprika, pepper, rosemary, and garlic powder; mix well. Add onions; stir to blend. Pour over chicken. Bake at 400° F. for 22 to 24 minutes or until internal temperature reaches 165° F.
  • So, how did it turn out? I actually really love this recipe. I think I've made it three times now, with a couple of variations. In lieu of cooking spray, I just wrap my cookie sheet in tinfoil and discard the foil when I'm finished. I cube the chicken breasts and dispense with the rosemary entirely. I've cooked this with four, three, and two tablespoons of sugar, and haven't really tasted a difference. Feel free to throw in another tablespoon of flour to thicken the sauce a bit. (The sauce will congeal anyway as it cools, but I prefer it a bit thicker.) I haven't tried this as a freezer meal, but it's tasty (I eat it over white basmati rice), easy, and pretty quick.

    Saturday 5 March 2016

    Reading in 2016


    My plan to read eight books in 2015 sort of fell apart about halfway through the year, and 2016 isn't off to a fantastic literary start. But, I still have some high hopes. Here's the situation as it stands.

    Last year, I read Cyber War Will Not Take Place by Thomas Rid; Warlords of Oman by P.S. Allfree; The Martian by Andy Weir; Churchill's First War: Young Winston at War with the Afghans by Con Coughlin; and Grounded: The Case for Abolishing the United States Air Force by Robert M. Farley. I had actually started the first two in late 2014, and I eventually got stuck on The Devil's Sandbox: With the 2nd Battalion, 162nd Infantry at War in Iraq by John R. Bruning. My best excuse is that Lady Jaye came out for the Summer, we had other priorities for our time, and I never got back into the habit of reading. So, that was five and a half books out of eight, but sort of four and a half books out of eight.

    So, what about this year? Well, we're already two months in, and I have very little reading to show for it. I'm also trying to be a bit more realistic this year, and count professional reading as part of my goals. Here's what's on the tentative agenda - after I've finished The Devil's Sandbox, of course.

    1) The Design and Evaluation of Physical Protection Systems by Mary Lynn Garcia: I've been trying to finish this book for five years. This needs to be the year, because it's standing between me and my PSP certification, which also plays into the pursuit of my CISSP, both of which are integral to my medium term professional and personal goals. So, there you go. (This one will be supplemented with ATTP 3-39.32 (FM 3-19.30) Physical Security, NIST Special Publications, and a yet-to-be-determined CISSP textbook.)

    2) Bleeding Talent: How the US Military Mismanages Great Leaders and Why It's Time for a Revolution by Tim Kane: I'm still eager to read this. I would liked to have read it in concert with a couple of books from last year's list, but it's still relevant, so it's still on the list.

    3) Tower of the Sun: Stories From the Middle East and North Africa by Michael Totten: I'm still eager to read this book, and I'm hoping that Lady Jaye will read it with me as well. Michael Totten is a great author who writes on current international issues. Time permitting (who am I kidding?), I may also try to finally finish Where the West Ends, as he's just published another book (Dispatches: Stories from War Zones, Police States and Other Hellholes) that I'd eventually like to read.

    4) The Hardy Boys #24: The Short-Wave Mystery by Franklin W. Dixon: Lady Jaye and I made a recent pilgrimage to Powell's City of Books, and while she was looking for some books for some of the kids in her family, I found a cache of The Hardy Boys. Since I'm interested in both nostalgia and shortwave radio, I ended up grabbing a copy of this particular mystery. I'm going to try to chew through it one quiet weekend.

    5) An American Spy by Olen Steinhauer: This was another Powell's purchase, and Lady Jaye and I are going to try to read this one together.

    6) C.S. Lewis & The Catholic Church by Joseph Pearce: I've been a great admirer of C.S. Lewis for a number of years. Lady Jaye is Roman Catholic, and I've been sort of uncomfortably Anglican for most of my adult life. The rumor is that I'll end up Catholic myself in fairly short order. Last year, Lady Jaye and I took a trip to the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, and I purchased a copy of this book. I'm looking forward to reading it, and I hope that it will help me continue to make sense of the transition upon which I'll embark.

    That's six, but really seven. So, what else might I read? Bomb: The Race to Build--and Steal--the World's Most Dangerous Weapon by Steve Sheinkin was on last year's list, but it's a bit less pressing since the competition that Lady Jaye and I were going to read it for has passed. I also considered reading The Story of the Malakand Field Force in conjunction with Coughlin's book; but, again, the moment may have passed for now. I'd love to finish Quantum of Solace: The Complete James Bond Short Stories by Ian Fleming and Armor by John Steakley, both of which I started and never finished in recent years. As I'm cooking more this year, I may also try to finish Moby Dick; Or, The Whale by Herman Melville, War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells, and The Mysterious Island by Jules Vern by way of both Project Gutenberg and, to a greater degree, LibriVox.

    Of course, I continue to chew through On War by Carl von Clausewitz. And, I continue to read from the Bible each weekday. I was in a bit of a personal "valley" late last year, and I happened to be reading Jeremiah. I'm going to keep reading in chronological order until I'm through Lamentations, Ezekiel, and Daniel. I'm out of my "valley", but I think there's some value to following the Bible's narrative through the course of the Babylonian Exile. What I read when I'm through those four books is anyone's guess.

    Hopefully, I'll stick a bit closer to my ambitions than I was able to last year.

    Friday 4 March 2016

    2016 Thus Far

    I posted a couple of updates in January, and I've been a ghost ever since. So, I wanted to post another update with the intent of posting some subsequent updates as to how my year is panning out.

    I brought a few ideas with me from 2015 into 2016, and I wrote them down in February as my formal resolutions.

  • I want to cook two new recipes per month. Thus far, I'm on track, and I'm planning to post about each individual recipe.
  • I want to listen to podcasts on strategy, risk management, geographic information systems/sciences, and the First World War, and track that listening in a spreadsheet. Thus far, I'm on track with this, too, and I'll post more about that as well.
  • I want to complete my PSP and CISSP certifications. I'm still in the early stages on both of these, and I'll discuss them in greater detail.
  • I want to complete an Arabic language certification. I'm trying to take baby steps on this one.

    I'd also like to read nine books, but I'm setting my sights a bit lower than I did last year. More on that to come. Completing a modified BUD/S Warning Order workout is perpetually on my list, but motivation and time are ever-present factors. I also want to get reengaged in my book about the Orcadian Gordon Highlanders. In all three cases, I'm trying to set modest goals and build from there.

    I've also been working on a big technology project. My two workhorse laptops are at the end of their useful lives, so I'm working to consolidate my data and recondition both laptops as much as I can, and playing with some other technology. It's a big project, and I'm trying to do it in conjunction with some of my podcast agenda and my CISSP certification goal. Basically, I have some personal goals that are contingent upon developing my information/"cyber" security skills, so I'm trying to use some of those projects to satisfy both academic and practical goals.

    So, as usual, I have a lot on my plate, and a lot to blog about, but somewhat limited time to do it all. I'll continue to do as much as I can, but blogging will continue to take a back seat to many of these projects. However, I'm going to try to spend this evening writing up some posts so that I can publish them in a staggered fashion until I have some more time to write more.