by Sam Tackeff | Oct 17, 2012 | Meat
I’m going a little bit blind guys. Actually, I’ve been quite blind for most of my life, but pretty much every one of the hundreds of photos I took were blurry yesterday. Forgive me.
* * *
The morning started like nearly every morning around here, with a nice dose of caffeine. This time I headed out for my daily treat, to get some George Howell from Formaggio, dark roast. Black, even though I’d much prefer it with cream. I also miss dipping those little turbinado sugar cubes in the warm coffee until they soak through, and pop them into my mouth. I’m probably better off having kicked that habit.
For lunch, I came home and decided to dose myself with greens. I sauteed large strips of kale until the stems were tender.
I then topped them with leftover chili, which, as promised had become even better after a night in the fridge.
After lunch, I treated myself to dessert – a cappuccino LÄRABAR. I can’t say that this was my favorite flavor, something about the whole coffee bean flecks seemed off and a little bitter.
Before dinner, I took a 45 minute walk around the neighborhood, and treated myself to some squash topped with sunshine sauce.
I then set to work on our dinner: Sous Vide Pork Chops. I seasoned the pork chops with salt, pepper, and mushroom powder.
And then vacuum sealed them with my Foodsaver. I just have a regular one, but if you were in the market for a hunting themed vacuum sealer, they make this horrific and amazing version called the GameSaver in “Mossy Oak“. (You should really click the link.)
While I certainly envy those with a Sous Vide Supreme, I’ve been making do with the next best thing – an Igloo Cooler filled with hot water. My cooler drops only 5-10 degrees over 2 hours, so it does the trick at keeping the meat at a fairly stable temperature.
I filled it with water around 140 degrees, and dunked the pork chops in the bath for two hours, making sure to check that the temperature was between 135 and 140.
After two hours the pork chops were perfectly cooked, but had a pallid unappealing color.
So I heated up some lard and seared off the pork chops for about a minute on each side as I finished up our side dish: red cabbage with prosciutto and cider vinegar.
Mmm…. beautiful!
I served my plate with the small chop, the bone off of Devon’s larger chop, and a side of guacamole.
by Sam Tackeff | Sep 29, 2012 | Local stores, Restaurants
I think it comes with the territory, living on either coast – you spent more time sending away friends than you care to. I certainly understand the wanderlust, but it’s always sad when you have that last coffee with a friend before they head off to new things. I find it regretful that illustrious written correspondences are a thing of the past, and now we seem to only have the internet. The internet doesn’t make up for the days when it’s raining and chilly, and you both exhale as you walk into the cafe together and share warm comfort and the details of your day.
I made the trip in the pouring rain to 3 Little Figs in Somerville to say a bittersweet goodbye to Emily yesterday. She’ll be making her way out to San Francisco next week, and I’ll miss her.
3 Little Figs is remarkably cute. It was the perfect escape from the rain and grey that has settled over the city. The cafe is filled with more smiling friends having conversations over coffee and treats than silent folks with computers (although there were still some of these, though they shut off their wi-fi on weekends).
After discussing our futures, good people from Tiburon, and the merits of media mail, I sent her off into the rain, and headed over to M.F. Dulock to console myself and pick up my weekly pastured meat fix. The case was brimming with good stuff this week. Every time I go I’ve purchased something new.
I left with pork stir fry, ground beef, boneless beef shanks, a fresh ham steak, and some homemade chorizo. Before heading back, I made stops at Formaggio (for fresh eggs and black olives), Trader Joe’s (Sardines, coconut milk, a coffee sample, and a few goodies for Devon), and Whole Foods (all the vegetables growing in fall). Yes, I could have shopped in one place, but food shopping is my favorite activity ever.
When I got home, I made myself breakfast, a few eggs simply cooked with nothing on them.
In the afternoon, lunch was sardines. Yes, sardines, again. Two days in a row if you are counting. This time I made a salad of sardines and black olives, over several fistfuls of baby greens, with a few good squeezes of lemon.
To warm myself up, I spent all afternoon roasting things as I worked. There were carrots and parsnips in coconut oil with rosemary, a sliced acorn squash with cumin, salt and chile, and cauliflower florets with a handful of garlic cloves.
For the second round of the oven, I roasted zucchini with garlic, and a whole butternut squash.
For dinner I fried up some chicken thighs with salt, pepper, and a little bit of garlic powder.
Devon got his with a Caesar salad and some acorn squash. I made mine into a big salad with a few of each of the vegetables I roasted today.
For dessert, I snacked on a banana bread LÄRABAR. After dinner, we sat around and watched Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves because we were both too lazy to turn the channel.
by Sam Tackeff | Sep 22, 2012 | Challenge
I’m not sure how it happened already, but it seems that Fall has arrived. While New Englanders are already bracing themselves for what is likely to be a horrendous winter, I’m just so thrilled that my favorite season is here. Fall foliage, creative layering, mulled apple cider, pumpkin chocolate chip cake (though, not for a while yet for me), pumpkins, warm blankets and lingering in bed in the morning.. I love it all.
Fall also feels like renewal to me. For someone who loved school, I was always excited to be back in action come September. Even though I’m no longer a student, I always feel the urge to pick up new books and read all season long. Things happen in the fall.
Physically, I’m much more suited to fall. You don’t get overheated or sweaty, and you don’t freeze. In New England, there could be snow tomorrow, or 85 degree weather for the next two months, so I’ve learned not to take any good day for granted. And today was a glorious day. Temperature in the low 70’s, and it felt like summer, but this tree had eagerly shifted outfits. I’m so looking forward to the next few months.
This morning I had a late start, or at least, as late as my adult brain would allow me to go. Gone are the days where I could sleep in until noon. This is not a bad thing. After a few hours with a book, we headed out to Needham to pick up my race packet for tomorrow!
We opted for a brunch at Whole Foods, and each parted ways at the salad bar to find our own meal. I made a big colorful salad, with eggs, tomatoes, roasted peppers, squash, onions, carrots, cabbage, a little bit of sweet potato, a spoonful of cashews, oil and vinegar. On the side I treated myself to “dessert” – a Coconut Cream Pie LÄRABAR. The ingredients in these bars are great – dates, unsweetened coconut, almonds, cashews and coconut oil, and they taste delicious! (Dates however are super sweet, and this definitely was a treat for me, given that I’ve now had them two days in a row. Danger!)
After brunch, we finished up our errands with a trip to Pinkberry. Which I abstained from. Devon tried out their seasonal chocolate hazelnut flavor, and I had this delicious iced tea from the Starbucks next door. We sat outside for a while, people watching, chatting, and upgrading Devon’s phone to iOS 6. I’m likely going to switch to the iPhone 5 next month, and am looking forward to everything except for the switch from the awesome Google navigation to the travesty that is the current Apple dot thing. Even with the new turn by turn… y’all don’t know what you are missing.
In the late afternoon I headed out for my daily walk. An hour around the neighborhood listening to a podcast before returning home to make dinner. I finally found a good little route with walkable hills! My legs miss those Noe Valley walkabouts, and I’ve been yearning for steep inclines lately!
For dinner, I took out two lamb shoulder chops from the butcher, which I seasoned with salt, pepper and cumin. I then started on some cabbage – I chopped up a small 1/2 head of green cabbage which went on the stove with some of my homemade chicken stock, salt and pepper. I let it wilt down for about 10 minutes, seasoned it with some cumin and lime juice, and took it off the heat.
Then, I quickly fried up my chops. 3 minutes on each side for mine, and a few extra minutes for Devon’s.
I set them aside to rest, and fried up a single fresh pork sausage, and a tomato for myself. Here’s my dinner plate:
After dinner we watched Top Chef Masters (go Chris!) and Kenneth Brannaugh in Wallender. I can’t say enough about every single show from the BBC these days, and PBS for airing several incredible seasons of Masterpiece in a row.
Dessert, because I reckoned I hadn’t eaten enough today – a chopped up apple with a spoonful of coconut butter and a spoonful of almond butter.
Now, to bed, so I can get sleep before the race!
