Monday, March 15, 2010

2010 ITWOP Bracket Challenge is Open

The challenge is open... and closing fast. The games start tomorrow so visit http://y.ahoo.it/AqRQUo9y now and sign up TODAY!!!

This is a public league so invite your friends and enemies.

Also, this year I've allowed more than one bracket per player with the intent of allowing us to help the lesa tech savvy among us. Enter your own bracket and then enter one for someone that doesn't have a Yahoo account.

Email me at Joe@ithinkweoverpacked.com with any questions.

Sunday, March 14, 2010

Fast Break Breakfast

Today is not just any SSSS. No sir, today is an S-5: Surprise Selection Sunday Sunrise Sustenance.  Yep, it's Selection Sunday which means today is also the kickoff for the 2nd Annual ITWOP Bracket Challenge.  More on that later, first the food.

My plans took a last minute turn yesterday when I learned that figs aren't in season (can't they be imported from South America like every other fruit in the winter?).  But the menu's dramatic turn was also an opportunity to tie it into the Bracket Challenge. Here's what I decided to serve.


Big Ten Tropical Fruit Salad:  For those of you who don't follow collegiate sports, the name "Big Ten Conference" is a fallacy.  There are actually eleven teams in the conference.  And so I made a fruit salad with:

  1. mango
  2. banana
  3. papaya
  4. grapes
  5. strawberries
  6. kiwi
  7. mandarin oranges
  8. pineapple
  9. and a honey
  10. + lime juice
  11. + ginger dressing
Hardwood Toast with Berry Madness:  Most french toast yield bread that's a little soft on the outside from the egg mixture.  So based on a recommendation from P/P (who's also experimenting in the kitchen a bit) and Himom (last year's Bracket Challenge champion) I went for a corn flake and almond crusted french toast to more closely resemble the gleaming maple boards of Cameron Indoor Stadium.  And fresh squeezed orange juice (used in lieu of the liqueur) gave the berries a different flavor and made them more interesting to eat on the french toast without any syrup.

Magic Mushrooms in a Bird's Nest: There's nothing magic - or otherwise funny - about the wood-ear mushrooms I used in place of chanterelles in this culinary send up to one of the most discussed games in NCAA history, the 1979 championship game featuring two men destined to change the sport.  

Now on to the tourney.  If you took part last year, I hope you come back.  If you didn't play last year, there's no better time to join that now.  You don't need to be a college basketball expert.  On the contrary, based on the top few results from last year it's better if you're not!  

The teams and seeds will be set by 7:00pm EST tonight and the games start on Tuesday afternoon.  To join, simply visit http://y.ahoo.it/AqRQUo9y and log in to your Yahoo! account (required, but free).  It's a public league so invite your friends, neighbors, spouses, kids, and anyone else you want to beat and public mock.  Remember, you can sign up now and then need to make your picks between 7pm tonight and Tuesday morning.

Good luck to all!

P.S. - yeah, I know I was stretching it with the names.

Friday, March 12, 2010

Question Me, Will You?

I had to refill my Metrocard before getting on the subway tonight. As I used the automated vending machine a harried young woman started using the machine next to me. She was obviously in a rush.
She half asked, half barked at me "how much is a single ride?"  Had she selected the Buy A Single Ride option instead of the Buy A Metrocard option, the on-screen display would have told her it is $2.25. But she didn't so I told her the current rate.
Her voice raised even more, she says "are you sure, didn't it go up?"  A little annoyed at her tone, I said it was $2.25 this morning and I was pretty sure it hadn't changed since.
AGAIN she shouts "but didn't it go up?!?!?!"  Fighting the urge to tell her to go back to where she came from, I responded in an apologetic voice "you know what, you're right. I forgot that it went to $4.00 last weekend.
And I walked away with an admittedly smug sense of satisfaction as I saw her slip four singles into the machine.
Welcome to New York, sweetie.

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

King... of the A-Holes

Last Saturday, Mike and Buffe143 went to the Nets v Knicks game at Madison Square Garden.  At some point, Bernard King must have come up, either in an old highlight reel, in conversation with Mike or maybe even in person at the Garden.  Because on her site, Buffe143 wrote "Booooooooo Bernard King!!! Hate him!!"

Bernard King of the A-Holes
For those that don't know, Bernard King is one of the NBA's great all time scorers and one of the best players of the 1980s.  To my knowledge, Bernard was not known to raise much controversy off the court like today's players.  But little did I know that King has an ego to match his name.

After questioning her hatred for King, Buffe143 - who works in the hospitality industry - gave a very politically correct answer.  She simply said there as an incident while checking him in a while back.  Some of Buffe143's old co-workers weren't quite as cryptic in the comments they added to the conversation.  Still days later people are adding their own Bernard King-in-the-hotel horror stories on topics including wife beating, the infamous "do you know who I am?!?!?" statement, fear of making room deliveries alone and even something about transvestite hookers.

Bernard King was never my favorite player, but I remember watching him in the mid-80s with the Knicks, and toward the end of his career with the Nets.  Never would I have guessed that he was such a jerk.  That was the most eye opening comment thread I've ever seen.

Sunday, March 7, 2010

Breakfast Extravaganza

Today was a cooking extravaganza (at least by my standards).  It started last week when I had a hankerin' for for home fries.  This was a hankerin' time could not satiate so they carried over to today.  But searching the www reveals quite a controversy over the best way to prepare home fries.  For example, Rachel Ray says to do them in the oven, Emeril Lagasse says they should be parboiled, and Bobby Flay just throws them straight into a skillet.

So in light of all this debate, I turned to a Cook's Illustrated Cookbook that Melissa has.  The great thing about this book is that they try recipes a bunch of different ways and explain the pros and cons of each until they settle on the best.  We've cooked several things out of this and each of been very good.  They agree with Emeril, so I would parboil them first, then throw them in the skillet for finishing.

The home fries are a side dish.  For the main course Melissa wanted pancakes.  Like home fries, everyone has their own "the best pancakes ever" recipe.  Melissa wanted to try one that her parents have been making using whole wheat flour, oatmeal and oat bran (good thing the plumber confirmed the toilets are in working order early this week).

Pancakes are quick, but boiling potatoes is going to take some time, so I needed an appetizer.  We bought a pineapple earlier this week and I thought grilling them would be tasty.  I kind of combined a bunch of recipes from around the web and ended up slathering them with a 2-to-1 honey and lemon juice mix with a dash of hot sauce.  I put them on the George Foreman Grill rather than the real grill.  The lack of grill marks made them less attractive than I wanted, but no less tasty.  They would make a good dessert with some ice cream and angel food cake too.

Here's where the real cooking started.  I had four things to make at the same time: The potatoes, pancakes, a blueberry-lemon syrup and bacon.  Why bacon?  Why not bacon?!?!  It makes everything better.  Specifically it serves two purposes here: first, I needed some protein (no, I don't think that's a stretch.  Meat protein, right?).  Second, I was trying to think of a way to jazz up the potatoes a bit.  My solution was to substitute the bacon drippings for the potatoes recipe's canola oil.  Hhhhmmmm, bacon grease.

I was a little concerned about managing so many dishes.  To help, I jotted down some recipe notes on a piece of paper and taped it to the cabinet right in front of me.  It provided the measurements, key instructions and itinerary right there so I didn't have to leave my station.  As a result, I think it all went pretty good.  The only problem was the potatoes.  Despite all the testing at Cook's Illustrated kitchens, the potatoes weren't nearly ready when they should have been.  Melissa came to the rescue, telling me to add a little water to the skillet and cover it for a few minutes.  That saved the potatoes and allowed me to serve everything at the same time.

Melissa said it was my best breakfast yet.  With bacon and potatoes, how could it not be?  The final tally:

  • Sweet and Spicy Grilled Pineapple - 4 stars
  • Bacon Fried Home Fries* - 5 stars
  • Plain and Simple Bacon - 4.5 stars (doing bacon in the oven takes a lot longer than the microwave, but its worth it)
  • Oats and Bran Pancakes* - 5 stars
  • Blueberry Citrus Syrup* - 4.5 starts
Was she being a little generous?  Who cares!  I'm taking what I can get.

A quick note about the rest of the weekend - I finished part one of the latest home repair project and will being working on the video.  

* These recipes are not available on the web.  To protect against copyright infringement, let me know if you'd like me to email you the recipes.

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Another Home Improvement Video

Over a year ago, I posted the now infamous Door Repair trailer.  And still to this day not a discussion about ITWOP takes place without someone asking me what happened to the full feature.  Truth be told, I did work on it... a lot!  The problem was that the trailer was better than the full movie.  The entertainment value was in my screw ups and frustration (which the trailer showed), not in me finally getting the door repaired (which was basically the rest of the movie).  To improve the final product, I tried adding in a lot of cool editing.  But as I mentioned in the FAQs that followed, Windows Movie Maker is kind of clunky.  Now - fifteen months later - it remains unseen, perhaps to be uncovered after my death and hailed as my true masterpiece.

But until that time, I unwittingly began work on another home improvement video.  I'm going on record now to set expectations low rather than add to the posthumous treasure trove I'm building.  The only preview you're going to get is:

  • I will be wet
  • I will be dirty
  • I will inevitably screw something up
And if I don't have at least the repair done by this weekend, I'll probably be sleeping on the couch.

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Responding to the Pressure

As if cooking for Melissa and I weren't enough, we had Melissa's whole family for SSSS today.  We went out to a restaurant near our town last night to celebrate Brutus Buckeye's and MIL's birthday.  They all slept over, so I had a table of seven to feed this morning.

This crew severely limits your menu options.  FIL and K can't eat nuts, which axed one of the dishes I planned to make before knowing that the family was staying over.  And Brutus Buckeye won't eat bananas, melons and other soft, "mushy" food, so several side dish options were out.  For the side dish, I decided to go with the tried and true cinnamon bruschetta with marscapone and strawberries, which all seemed to like.

Melissa also decided that she wanted muffins, so I made my first attempt at baking.  She found a recipe from Barefoot Contessa that she wanted me to use.  Personally, I can't stand Barefoot Contessa - I think she's incredibly pretentious - but this recipe seemed simple enough.  I went for it and, with a little help from Melissa, think I nailed it.  Everyone else seemed to like them to, giving the muffins 5 stars.

For the main course, I originally planned to make a frittata, but decided that wouldn't work with so many mouths to feed.  Instead I found a sausage and leeks casserole recipe that sounded good and went for it.  I was able to prepare it the night before and just throw it in the oven this morning, which was nice because it gave me more time to entertain the guests.  I cut back on the heat just a little by reducing the cayenne a tad and using monteray jack instead of pepper jack, and cooked it covered for most of the time to prevent the top from burning.  Everyone, including myself, seemed to think it was pretty damn good!  The leeks added a nice subtle flavor and the spice was just right.  The consensus was 4.5 stars for the casserole.

All in all, this is a good and mostly uneventful meal despite the pressure of a full table.  Finally!

Thanks to Brutus Buckeye for the presentation assist.