Apple Season: Pork Roast and Home-Made Applesauce
This has been sitting in my drafts since September. The reason, I meant to upload more pictures. I will update this post when I do that.
During a few hour break from work (yes, I know it's Sunday), Christine and I went and ran some errands to the garden store and out to Bishop's Orchards to pick some apples and enjoy the wine tasting.
I picked up a center cut piece of pork that had a nice thick layer of fat still on it. It's dinner tonight and I expect to enjoy a pulled pork sandwich or two this week.
For the roast itself, you will need:
1 piece of pork (mine is just over 2lbs)
2 Tbsp olive or vegetable oil
1/2 onion
1/2 fresh pepper
1 apple
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/8 cup chili powder
1 clove of garlic
salt, pepper
To make applesauce, you need:
8 apples (cored, peeled and sliced into eighths)
1 1/2 cup of water or apparently apple cider
1 Tbsp cinnamon powder
1 Tbsp honey
To make a sponge cake, you need:
1/2 cup of sugar
1/2 cup of butter
3 eggs
1 cup of flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
splash of vanilla if desired
1 tsp of honey if desired
So let's cook this delicious meat dish. When slow cooking pork, I recommend beer even if you're not smoking the meat.
- Preheat the oven to 275F. I would use a slow cooker if I had one, but as I lack one I am just going to use low heat.
- Place the meat in a pan. Use a rack if you have one. Rub the meat with the sugar and spices. Ideally, do this the day before you are cooking and let it sit covered in the fridge with the rub overnight.
Ready to cook!
- Finely chop the vegetables and apple and cover the meat with it. I lined the pan with foil and greased with butter. Add a couple of tablespoons of oil to the top.
- I place into the oven and set my timer for 20 minutes. When the timer rings, cover the meat. If you have the time, lower the temperature down to 225F.
- Your cooking time will vary, but if you have the time to do it at 225F for 6+ hours... do it. I went with a 3 hour roast myself.
Let's make some applesauce or apple sauce if you don't like the look of it as one word.
- While the roast is in the oven, put the apples, water (or apple cider if you remember to buy it, unlike me), cinnamon, and honey into a pot. I'm by no means an exact chef unless baking, so I am guessing at the amount of cinnamon and honey. You can also put in other spices like nutmeg and brown sugar.
- Place over medium heat and cook for 20-30 minutes until soft. It will smell awesome.
- Pour most of the apple mix into a food processor if you have one. My blender has the attachment and I mix for 15 seconds until it's smooth enough.
- Pour from the mixer into a container to store in the fridge.
I then take some of the unblended apples and place them on top of the pork roast. Do it later in the cooking time, if you are rushing things for dinner then just toss it in whenever you have it.
Serve with baked potatoes or any side of your choice. Be sure to offer apple sauce too.
Next is the sponge cake.
- Put half a cup of butter into a microwave safe container and melt the butter.
- Pour the butter into a good sized mixing bowl (large for messy people like me) along with the sugar.
- Whisk it well... or use a mixer if you have one.
- Add the eggs. I sometimes count wrong and add an extra or less and get pleasant results. Three is generally good.
- In a separate bowl, I mix the flour, baking powder and salt.
- Pour a third of the flour into the mixing bowl. Do it slow. Mix the flour into the mixture.
- Add another third of the flour, repeat.
- And add the rest. The original recipe emphasized doing this slow, but frankly since I am mixing by hand I have no reason to rush things.
- In a sauce container, microwave two parts butter with one part honey when ready to serve.
Put into a cooking container and place into the oven. Thirty minutes is generally right, but check it with a fork or toothpick.
At other times, you might want to make sponge cake with fresh blueberries, nutella, or basically anything sweet you might stuff into a crepe. Even pineapple works if you prepare it well. I'll try to remember to write about this in the future.
Serve with applesauce and vanilla ice cream and/or whipped cream. Top with honey butter if you can handle it.
Corn a la Michael Jordan’s
Tonight for dinner I grilled salmon, basic seasoning (salt, pepper, some cajun stuff, and olive oil). But for the side dish of corn, I wanted to try to get closer to a favourite restaurant side - Michael Jordan's Corn Off The Cob. This can be enjoyed at Mohegan Sun in Connecticut and I assume New York City (Michael Jordan's in Grand Central Terminal).
The Michael Jordan dish is served piping hot in a cast iron skillet. I don't have a cast iron skillet, but I have managed to make some really good corn-off-the-cob in the past.
My previous attempts have varied. Typically I take spices that I find in the cupboard and canned corn (frozen works in a pinch too), add butter and nuke it. I am a microwave newbie really, so I've cooked my corn in the frying pan too. The pan makes the flavour a lot better, sort of like grilled corn. It has a hint of that popcorn taste from the higher temperatures.
But the Michael Jordan corn has the extra bit of flavour from chili and onion. I think the restaurant also cooks theirs ON-THE-COB and cuts it off. I didn't have time to grill corn on the cob outside (despite grilling my fish for dinner), so I improvised with good results.
You will need:
- 1 can of corn
1/4 cup of chili powder (I prefer the Mexican style stuff)
3-4 fresh chilis
1x of onion powder
1x of paprika
1x of garlic powder
1x of cumin
1x of oregano
4T of butter
salt and pepper
** 1x = Unknown quantity, more than 1tsp.
First, I tore the chilies up with my fingers and heated them over medium-high heat in the 8" pan. I poured myself a cocktail and put the spices in a blender (I don't have a mixer). Don't blend yet.
When my cocktail was half way, I dumped the cooked chilies into the blender and flipped the switch. While the spices were blending with the chilies, I melted butter in a Pyrex 1-cup measuring cup. I also cleaned my frying pan to use for the corn. Mix the dried spices into the measuring cup. I didn't bother to try to get everything from the mixer into the butter. Stir the butter and put aside. Don't rub your eyes like I did tonight, chili burns!
I took a chunk of butter and the strained can of corn, and cooked it in the pan on medium heat.
After about 10 minutes of cooking, I poured the chili butter sauce into the cooking corn and cranked the heat up a bit. You know you're doing it right because it should already smell good.
At this point I was also chatting with a friend that stopped by and was cooking the salmon on the grill outside. It's hard to overcook the corn, but it is possible so take it off the heat if you need to delay.
Serve with a glass of gewürztraminer.
Why Google Sorta Sucks
I was reading this article in Wired (http://www.wired.com/techbiz/it/magazine/17-07/ff_facebookwall?currentPage=all) about the Facebook vs Google rivalry and how Facebook is attempting to take over the world.
I do have several thoughts on the matter, particularly the fact that Facebook is too niche. It's a social network for personal data. I use it to keep in touch, and really rely on it for the infrequent communications. The truth is, I use it a lot more frequently than that... but when I am busy and drop off for a few days or weeks few people will do much more than comment to me when I return that they haven't heard from me in a while. The connections that are fostered on facebook are those that otherwise might not be, and that's great... but it's still not that personal.
I am not going to divulge my inner most secrets on Facebook. I don't mind sharing some personal information that matters little, like my thoughts on the weather or some boasting about how much fun I had doing X or Y. Much of that is acceptable information for the general public, which means it may as well be on Twitter or my blog. Everyone is different, but I find that few people are talking about their massive hangovers openly, even on Facebook on a Friday morning while you might find people at the office complaining over their morning coffee. A little venting amongst colleagues is acceptable. There is an unspoken understanding there that keeps the matter mostly private. That doesn't prevent someone from writing about others online, but usually names aren't provided so we're all pretty content with the level of gossip.
So for many topics like finding a doctor or planning a holiday destination, Facebook and Twitter are great tools. But there are some topics that people don't openly discuss. Some topics aren't discussed at all. If I am going to learn about coping with incontinence, I am not going to do that through a social network.
But what about other queries that aren't private but are too specific to a group of specialized people? If I am working on a programming problem, I can't rely on a social network to provide the answers. I need to go to many sources (articles, forums, etc etc) and especially don't want a record of it if it is for confidential projects at work. That's when we have to turn to a service like Google.
But Google sucks.
Google has too much out of date information. I run into the problem all the time when solving technological problems. I need the answer that works TODAY, not the answer that worked FIVE YEARS AGO.
Google has a lot of very old, out of date information in its database. I get by on using good queries, but expiring data in the index is such a challenge.
Facebook is a proprietary system that controls how data comes in. This allows them to do a lot of neat things to calculate the validity and usefulness of data.
Obviously I don't have a solution for this problem. Unless people start validating the usefulness of their results I am not sure we will have a solution (unless the google toolbar tracking our every move can deduce enough). Personally, I wont run toolbars and I'm just as lazy as everyone else in that if I need an answer in a hurry I am not going to spend my own time to rate the results. Maybe Google can give me a fraction of a cent every time I do it. Those that are dishonest will have all of their usefulness data expunged from the system... How 'bout it?
Why Must I Still Fill Out My City, State, and Zip Code?
A pet peeve of mine for a long time has been telling a form my city, state, and zip code. If I am providing a zip code for an address in the United States, why should I be made to enter my city and select a state? The drop down select list for the state is especially annoying when navigating through a form using the tab key doesn't work correctly.
Sure, JavaScript enabled forms are somewhat new... but even the "Web 2.0" sites out there fail at this.
The usability complaint I have becomes even more apparent when I am filling out a form that validates my input. The common validation is for a shipping address where the system corrects the address to include the formal USPS spelling and the ZIP+4 code. These systems commonly make this validation an additional step in the process, which is far less annoying than having to enter the city and state. But these systems still force me to enter my city and state!
Enough already! There are free zip code databases available in CSV format. And for businesses that want to go the extra mile, there are pay databases that provide extra goodies like demographics. For this, check out ZipCodeWorld. ZipCodeWorld also has sample code to do things like calculate distances between locations for use in many programming languages - check out their developers area. ZipCodeWorld also has some foreign databases so there is no excuse to provide this feature for just users in America.
So please, make my life (and everyone's) a little bit easier by making your forms a little bit more intelligent. I do ask that you don't throw in some GeoIP to guess the location or limit users to use only their zip code to enter the location.
My last request with regards to forms requesting my location: Don't ask the question unless you're going to mail/ship me something. It's likely that I'll lie anyway.
NetBeans Fail
NetBeans Failes to Show Compile Errors
It only happens on my windows workstation, but NetBeans will randomly fail to indicate in the left navigation that there are problem classes that won’t compile. So annoying.
Java 1.6 + NetBeans 6.5 + OSX
I hadn't actually had a real need to force use of Java 1.6 yet. I did have a Java platform definition in NetBeans for 1.6 and would use that. But recently, my project has become more 1.6 heavy and I've had to switch to a JDK 1.6 source and binary format.
I found a very useful blog post that explained the upgrade here: http://point2blog.wordpress.com/2009/02/17/defaulting-to-jdk-16-in-netbeans-65-on-osx/
This is the relevant excerpt from the blog post by Damien Gabrielson:
Locate the NetBeans config file, typically located at “/Applications/NetBeans/NetBeans 6.5.app/Contents/Resources/NetBeans/etc/netbeans.conf” and open the file in your favourite editor Set the “netbeans_jdkhome” parameter to the JDK 1.6 home directory (ie. netbeans_jdkhome=
/System/Library/Frameworks/JavaVM.framework/Versions/1.6/Home)
But that wasn't good enough for my use. I am developing a web application that runs on the Glassfish application server. That too needs to be running Java 1.6. The fix is easy:
- Open the "asenv.conf" file. In my case, it can be found at: /Applications/NetBeans/glassfish-v2ur2/config/asenv.conf
- Set the "AS_JAVA" parameter to the Java 1.6 directory. My entry reads:
- AS_JAVA="/System/Library/Frameworks/JavaVM.framework/Versions/1.6.0/Home"
Sesame Ginger Salmon with Cinnamon Corn
I cooked up a quick dinner the other night that I don't want to forget. It required:
- 1 1/4 pound of fresh atlantic salmon
- 1 bottle of sesame ginger marinade
- 1 can of sweet corn
- Rosemary
- Salt
- Pepper
- Butter
- Cinnamon (1 Tbsp ground cinnamon)
I also cooked up a quarter chicken (breast) in case that wasn't enough salmon for 3 people. The above will serve three people though.
I put the salmon in a dish, put a healthy amount of fresh ground pepper (1 tsp?) and salt (1/2 tsp?). I doused the fish with the sesame ginger marinade and gently rubbed it in a bit. I covered the dish and put it in the fridge and spent the next 20-30 minutes hanging out watching TV with Christine. I made for us a pair of papaya cocktails (Ceres Papaya juice, vodka, ice).
I then placed the salmon on a hot grill and turned the heat down to medium or just under, which is perfect for this Weber and the salmon.
Preheat your oven for 350F. Now it's time to make a bit of glaze. I took a small plate, poured a small amount of the marinade onto the plate. I then spiced it up with rosemary, salt, pepper, and a hint of cayenne. Stir it up and put it aside.
Strain the can of corn after opening it and place it into a microwave safe dish. I spice up my corn with salt, pepper, rosemary, and usually other seasonings. Tonight I decided to add some cinnamon. Not a lot, probably about 1/2 tsp worth. I then add a healthy chunk of butter (mMmm, butter). Stir it all up so everything gets some spice. Cover the dish and place it into the microwave for cooking.
After about 10 minutes on the grill I did flip the salmon gently to sear the top. I left it flipped for a couple of minutes only.
I then glazed the fish with a brush. I left it in the oven for 5 or 10 minutes until the fish was done. When it was nearly done, I microwaved the corn for 90 seconds. I then stirred the corn again, and put it back in the microwave for another 90 seconds.
Money Buys Happiness
I was recently forwarded a CNN article (http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/04/07/bregman.money/index.html - Commentary: Don't confuse money with happiness) from a good friend of mine, Matthew C. Devlin. There are some parallels in both Matt's life and mine to the article. For better or worse, we were too young to ride the dot-com wave and entered the arena after the collapse, with several aftershocks going on around us. There were four of us who moved to California that autumn. Several other friends later migrated to southern California as well.
We never had it easy, and the struggle kept us lean. We didn't get the millions in venture capital; we didn't even try to get that VC money. We lived on a tight budget. Matt discovered how to buy 10 frozen pizzas for a few dollars at a shop near Echo Park in Los Angeles. When money did come in, it was often wasted. Los Angeles is an exciting city, and when the cash is burning a hole in your pocket it's easy to find ways to throw it away. The Hollywood night life gave us brief stints of pleasure outside of our respective apartments. We went through a series of ups and downs like everybody else in the world.
Because of that, I feel extremely well prepared to weather the current economic situation. All of us in that group that made the move west years ago are currently employed and standing on our own. For the most part, I believe we're all happy too. The reason might have something to do with the lack of huge bad debt. Mortgages for one. I don't think any of us are amongst the group of millions of Americans that have accumulated tens of thousands in credit card debt.
We went through our credit card maxing days making a go of things out west, and learned a lot about money and ourselves from it.
I would say money does buy happiness only because money keeps the vultures at bay. I am quite happy knowing that if I lose my job, I don't have an enormity of debt that will take out my 401k (which, by the way, I only started a year ago) or prevent me from continuing to live my life.
I know I am not going to retire by 30, but I also know I am not going to go bankrupt by 30 or need goverment assistance. Money, both lack there of and having it, has bought a level of freedom and independence that makes me happy and extremely fortunate.