Temporarily a bachelor. What's for dinner?

My wife and son are visiting family on the other side of the world. I'm bach'in it for the next two weeks. So far, it's been great. Went out and bought a dinky pressure washer and took care of the deck. I forgot what it was like to do man stuff instead of husband stuff. I do miss the family terribly though.

On the menu tonight is a one pound T-bone steak. Preparation? Heavy dose of unprocessed sea salt, dried garlic and onion, and cracked black pepper. Take the spiced steak and seal it in a vacuum bag to squeeze the spices into the steak. Into the fridge for a while. But take the steak out an hour before cooking to let it come up to room temperature. This helps it cook more evenly so I can get a good, red, medium-rare throughout the steak.

So I'm going to throw that on the grill and heat up my three pound cast-iron grill press. Smash the steak under that to get some great sear marks. Flip it over, do the other side. Only 2 minutes or so per side. After that, you move it off the direct heat, cover the grill, and let it cook through slowly. Takes about 15 minutes if you do it right. Along with that, grilled corn on the cob (you gotta put that on ahead of time since it takes longer) and a couple of small baked russet potatoes.

For "dessert" later, I have two pounds of steamer clams. I'm going to sautee some garlic and shallots until just barely brown. Then you add about half a bottle of Riesling and bring to a simmer. Dump in the clams, cover, steam for about 5 minutes. Garnish with some finely chopped parsley. This will be eaten along with a grilled French baguette.

Then I'm going to watch some of the dumbest freaking stoner movies in the universe. Probably stay up until 2:00 AM. Hack a little bit on my MUD code. Hit the sack, wake up, take the dog and hike up a 3,000 foot mountain.

Ahh. It's going to be nice. I miss the family though.

This is what happens in the NW when last year's harvest of "liberty caps" starts running out.

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Originally Posted by MK27

This is what happens in the NW when last year's harvest of "liberty caps" starts running out.

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Speaking of... ;)

Actually, the wife forbade me to eat any mushrooms while she's gone. D'oh.

I prefer to pick the culinary kind anyway. More success, less paranoia.

Corn just went on the grill.

Clams, for dessert? :p

I have a salad recipe that would go really great with that meal:

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Sebastian's Mexitalian Salad (1 serving)
Red romaine lettuce : 1/2 head : rinsed well and cut into bite-sized pieces
Red onion : 1/4 cup : very finely chopped
Roma tomato : 1/4 cup : finely chopped
Avocado : 1/2 cup or more : cut into small cubes
Fresh jalepeno : 1/4 - 2 teaspoon (to taste) : finely chopped (with seeds)
Fresh garlic: 1/8 - 1/4 teaspoon (to taste) : very finely chopped
Parmesan cheese : 1/4 - 1/2 cup : freshly grated from block into fine threads
Olive oil : 1/4 cup : (don't worry - it's good for you!)
White vinegar : 1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon (to taste)
White sugar : 1/8 - 1/4 teaspoon (to taste)
Dark brown sugar : 1/8 - 1/4 teaspoon (to taste)
Salt : to taste
Pepper: to taste

1) Rinse and cut vegetables. Wear gloves when handling jalepeno!
2) Combine olive oil, vinegar, sugars, salt, pepper, jalepeno, and garlic into bowl and mix vigorously, tasting and adjusting flavors as necessary.
3) Add tomato, onion, and parmesan, and mix well. If possible, let mixture stand for 5 minutes or so.
4) Add lettuce and avocado and toss gently, making sure to coat all of the vegetables completely.
5) Enjoy as is, or top with chicken, bacon, oranges, nuts, or whatever else suits your fancy!

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I actually get requests for that from visitors. :)

Anyway, have fun on your "vacation", and...um...try to stay out of trouble. :D

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Originally Posted by brewbuck

Actually, the wife forbade me to eat any mushrooms while she's gone. D'oh.

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Looks like it's time for them again.

When I lived there I had this friend who was about the age I am now and he had custody of his kids half the week, but he would take mushrooms with us during the other half occasionally, esp in the summer.

I use to try and keep doing more and more in the hopes that I'd have "true hallucinations"; while it never really quite worked out that way, they definitely can warp your perceptions in pretty severe ways. Probably the times they were the "nicest" were times when I would actually repeat the "big dose" as opposed to the first time, it can be such a disconcerting thing.

I didn't like to eat them with food tho. Sometimes I'd get a little nauseous at first and that didn't last as long on an empty stomach. But wow, I can remember making a lot of stupid food afterward using blenders and any kind of brightly coloured food in the fridge :p

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Originally Posted by MK27

I use to try and keep doing more and more in the hopes that I'd have "true hallucinations"; while it never really quite worked out that way, they definitely can warp your perceptions in pretty severe ways. Probably the times they were the "nicest" were times when I would actually repeat the "big dose" as opposed to the first time, it can be such a disconcerting thing.

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Never took that much for me to see things. Honestly if there was something out there that didn't mess with my thought process and just made me see cool stuff I'd go with that. I used to think tripping was profound. I've come to the conclusion that what it's really doing is hammering the "profound button" in the brain and that's all there is to it. At one point I thought I'd solved the mystery of the universe -- the universe, actually, is just a lawnmower which has been turned inside out. Okayyyy....

What I'd like to do is go up the mountain and hang out all day and listen to birds and waterfalls and hike the steep trails. My wife said that's way too dangerous to be doing by myself while under the influence, and she's definitely right. Oh well.

>> Looks like it's time for them again.

I don't know. I'd rather listen to something like "Days of Future Past" than psycho-grunge. Maybe that's just my age showing, though. :D

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Originally Posted by Sebastiani

I have a salad recipe that would go really great with that meal:

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Okay, that looks awesome. I'm in no state to drive, or I'd hit the store and get the ingredients pronto. I'm going to make that tomorrow.

Trouble, what? ;)

And I forgot to mention the beverage of choice -- 24 ounces of sweet, sweet Hop Stoopid.

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Originally Posted by brewbuck

I've come to the conclusion that what it's really doing is hammering the "profound button" in the brain and that's all there is to it.
What I'd like to do is go up the mountain and hang out all day and listen to birds and waterfalls and hike the steep trails.

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It's raining here right now. I can almost see these fist sized gray rock beaches in a straight horizon with this solid gray fisheyed sky that would articulate with the rhythm of my breath. The clouds racing and the swooshing scrape of the tide over the pebble rocks making caves in my mind and the infinity of interlaced ripples of the rain all over the calm waves. Waves. It'd hit you in waves, like you thought that was it and then

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Originally Posted by Sebastiani

I don't know. I'd rather listen to something like "Days of Future Past" than psycho-grunge. Maybe that's just my age showing, though. :D

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That's cause you haven't heard this one yet! xP

>> That's cause you haven't heard this one yet! xP

Yeah, but if you've just consumed a large quantity of psilocybin you'd probably want something a little more - I don't know - compelling? I mean, if you want to hear something dark and grungy, why not just go all out and listen to some punk rock? At least it'd get you're heart pounding, anyway. :D

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Originally Posted by MK27

That's cause you haven't heard this one yet! xP

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Nice. I don't want to draw a parallel with NiN, since it's not the same thing at all, but I thought of NiN when I heard that. Warped me back to the days of hard core x86 assembly programming into the early morning hours, stuffing a towel into the crack under the door and smokin' cigarettes while my mom slept. NiN was the total inspiration for that phase. I still seen the lines of code in my brain when I hear some of those tracks.

I'll have to look into that stuff a bit more. I kinda lost touch with that kind of growling, loud music but when I'm in certain moods it could be good.

Here's my own quick and dirty fried chicken recipe:

1. Heat up a small pot of oil
1. Get chicken pieces (no, you can't code these into existence. nerds.)
2. Roll pieces in cornflour to until fully coated
3. Sprinkle liberally with garlic salt
4. Fry in oil until crispy and golden brown

That's it. Looks and tasts even better than KFC. Just knock up a nice salad, and serve with rice and a nice beer. Yummy!

Bon appetite! :D

EDIT: make sure the oil is hot(but not burning) before immersing the chicken. The oil has to be hot enough to fry the cornflour as soon as the chicken is immersed. If the oil is not hot enough, the oil will wash the cornflour off the chicken, and you end up with fried cornflour at the bottom of the pot, instead of on the chicken, hence the chicken will not be crispy.

Can't believe you're eating well :D. Usually, the healthiest thing I manage to eat when my family & girlfriend are away is bananas with cream :)

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Originally Posted by Sebastiani

Yeah, but if you've just consumed a large quantity of psilocybin you'd probably want something a little more - I don't know - compelling? I mean, if you want to hear something dark and grungy, why not just go all out and listen to some punk rock?

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not sure what ain't compelling about KYUSS. I don't find it dark, more like "overexposed" brightness, eg. when you take a photo with the aperture too wide, so the shadows holds much sharp contrast. But lately I've been getting into "Death Metal" so maybe my perspective has become permanently warped...

Never taken in much by music involving Mr. Rollins tho he wrote an incredible book called Hallucinations of Grandeur which was his diary from the first Black Flag tour when they were like twelve years old; even if none of it is true it's still weird/interesting/a great read. Musically, I think Ian MacKaye was way way more of a talent, but I still resent the (pseudo)"straightedge" pretensions of both of them :p