Updated Recipe: Buffalo Chicken Meatloaf
Jan/101
This week I wanted some comfort food and lately meatloaf has been my comfort food of choice. In fact, I made two seperate batches of it this week. That’s how much I like it.
Not really related to the core of this story, I made some new kitchen purchases as well. I got 4 Pyrex mixing bowls, an oven thermometer, a proper knife sharpener (my knives are so sharp again!!!), a cutting board, a 9″x5″ metal loaf pan and a glass-top scale (for measuring small quantities of ingredients in my beer brewing). I felt very please with my new kitches gadgets.
I think I’ve pretty much tweaked my buffalo meatloaf recipe. It does not actually contain buffalo/bison but rather refers to the spicy/hot connotation. Previously, I used turkey as my meat of choice. Ground chicken was on sale at Acme this week (99% fat free for $3 a pound) so I decided to try something different. It has a pretty terrible consistency but makes a darn good base for a meatloaf.
2 lbs 99% fat-free ground chicken
1 medium yellow onion
1 stalk celery
1 tsp rosemary
1 cup seasoned bread crumbs
4 oz bleu cheese
7 tsp sriracha sauce (“rooster sauce”)
5 tsp ”Louisiana” hot sauce (generic brand)
3 tsp black pepper (fresh ground)
2 medium eggs
10 cloves garlic
Chop the choppable things to your desired thickness. Combined it all in a large mixing bowl ensuring that it is really mixed together well. Bake at 375°F for 90 minutes. Serve with chicken gravy and extra hot sauce. Bamo!
State of the Stuff
Jan/100
Best Obama line from tonight would be “I won’t quit!”
He can be found using this line in a variety of contexts.
Michael Jordan: Dude, we were playing to 21 and I’m winning 47-3
Obama: I won’t quit!
Michelle Obama: Honey, not tonight, I’m quite tired.
Obama: I won’t quit!
Dr. Regina M. Benjamin (Surgeon General): You should really lay off the cigarettes
Obama: I won’t quit!
In all seriousness, the agenda has shifted back to job growth and at least our country as some official direction. Will we actually be able to do anything about it? Yes, if the Republicans stop being little bitches and actually vote “yes” to something in majority to demonstrate their willingness to participate in country improvement. Yes, if the Democrats actually make a conceded effort to give them Republicans something reasonable to vote for and stop whining about the stubborn Republicans. Yes, if pigs fly, unfortunately.
At least he has a commanding presence that makes you want to believe, even if just a little bit.
Chef, Witbier, Trails, Pizza
Jan/100
This was a busy busy weekend with a wide variety of adventure. Fortunately, Sunday night has been pretty calm so I’ve been able to wind down.
Saturday morning started relatively early with a trip to the restaurant Savona in Gulph Mills, PA. The purpose was for my Christmas present from Erin; cooking lessons with head chef Andrew Masciangelo. We spent several hours in the kitchen with a small group (mostly folks our age) walking through recipes prepared by the chef which would eventually become our lunch. It was fun watching a chef so closely and honestly it reiterated a point I’ve often felt: cooking is not that hard if you can follow directions. We had four items for lunch. 1) A crimini mushroom puree soup with a drizzle of hand-whipped cream, deep-fried mushroom slivers and fresh herb spätzle. 2) A risotto with fennel puree, topped with three large scallops and surrounded by scallop jus. 3) A molten chocolate cake with a dollop of vanilla bean ice cream and berry compote. 4) A glass of 2007 Sycamore Chardonnay and 2006 Sycamore Cabernet. It was a really fun experience and afterwords I got a tour of the Villanova campus.
On Saturday evening Erin had a bunch of friends from college over for drinks before heading out to dinner. This was exciting to me because I had the opportunity to conduct a beer tasting. I decided the most accessible style would be the Belgian white or Witbier. There were 11 people ranking the beers and the results were pretty interesting. One beer stood far above the rest while the remaining four were within 2 points of each other. From best to least: Unibroue Blanche de Chambly, Allagash White, St. Bernardus Wit tied with Hoegaarden and Blue Moon. It seemed like everyone had a good time and enjoyed the results as much as I did.
In an effort to keep exercise a priority through the winter months we headed up to Reading, PA for a 7.2 mile trail race on Sunday morning. It was our first trail race and we had no idea what we were getting ourselves into. It took us quite a bit longer than we expected to finish. Part of the problem was the 600 people in our way on a course that took us on single track trails around the hills surrounding Reading. You had to experience it to understand it. We spent a considerable amount of time speed-hiking as opposed to running but it was a good workout nonetheless. The final challenge of the course was climbing up an embankment that required you to climb on all fours. Spaten lagers after the race were a enjoyable recovery drink. Even better, my parents came out to see us run. They’ve always been such good supporters of my athletic endeavors and it made me very happy to see them cheering us on.
In an effort to wind down, Sunday afternoon and evening were spent not doing very much at all. We did one final adventurous event as we tried a new pizza place in the Manayunk/Roxborough area. It was Alex’s at 400 Leverington Ave in Roxborough at the recommendation of the chef at Savona. The pizza was think crust with cheese first, sauce on top. It was pretty basic but nice. Would I order it again, probably not, but I’m glad I tried it.
It really was an action-packed weekend and I’m quite pleased I was able to experience so much.
Good Bye Conan
Jan/100
I look forward to September 1st when Conan O’Brien will be back, on a new network, and better than ever. I watched his last two episodes of “The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien” and I think the sadness that the show attempted to illustrate is ill-placed.
Dude, the guy is getting $33 million and his staff is getting $60,000 each on average. That isn’t anything to be sad about, especially when Conan will be back on TV in seven months and I’m sure a good portion of the staff will follow.
The end of anything certainly can have a sad connotation, but it is more important to focus on the laughs and joy that it all brought us.
Haiti Text?
Jan/100
I just tried to sent the message “Haiti” to 90999 which supposedly would give Haiti $10. I haven’t gotten a response yet. I hope they get my money. I just double-checked to make sure I spelled their country correctly. Check! Such a shame. Not a shame so much about the natural distaster, but rather the fact that if it weren’t for the rest of the world, 90% of the people injured in the earthquake would die because that cannot support themselves. In this modern age there is a depressing amount of dispear.
Comfortable
Jan/100
This might sound particularly odd, but tonight I became comfortable with my mortality.
I can’t tell you why exactly, but death was my greatest fear. I admit that I had minor panic attacks at points in my life when I started to think about the fact that I would only exist on this Earth for a limited period of time. It truly scared me and I struggled deeply to overcome it. I struggled to even understand why it bothered me so much.
Tonight, and prior, I can’t necessarily say that I believe heaven exists. It sounds like a nice concept and I often tried to use that concept as a comfort, but then I started to dwell on the infinity of existings in this heaven place that I lost all comfort. That might sound especially bizarre but you’ve got to admit that eternity is not exact something the human can easily wrap their mind around. I used to think, if eternity exists, what is the point then? It is a question of the ages no doubt.
I am eager to see if I feel the same tomorrow. At the least, it was a moment of zen.
Grandmother’s Kitchen
Jan/100
Sierra Nevada Torpedo Extra IPA.
I walked down the stairs into the basement on a mission to clean my kegerator. I had previously believed that a small nylon washer detached itself from the system resulting in a significant amount of beer spilling on the floor. Earlier in the night I discovered that it must have been an issue of lighting as the washer was exactly where it should be.
It was as I walked down the stairs that I took a deep sip of the brew from my oversized Dogfish Head beer snifter (my favorite glass to drink beer). I had a sudden yet soft flashback to something of my past. I didn’t try to comprehend at first but knew that I had just triggered some distance memory. I took a second sip and it became incredibly clear.
There was this smell in my grandmother’s kitchen, particularily in the cold morning hours. The kitchen was rather small though quite typical for a row home in Mahanoy City, PA. The kitchen was even more compact, though quaint, as the backend of the house had a gap between it and the adjacent house which allowed for a window on the west side of the house (a unique feature in a row home). A kitchen table sat flush with the windowed-wall. In the middle of the table a bowl of fresh fruit that not only gave the table a delightful appearance but provided the key to my memory.
Bananas and grapefruit were frequently present. They had such a wonderous smell. For some reason my most vivid memories involve cold mornings. I would think that coldness would reduce the propensity of delicious fruit smells. In this case, I only remember the cold mornings.
That sip of beer connected with the grapefruit smell in particular. It connected with a time much simpler and kinder.
Politics, Bison, Masons
Jan/104
- Great job Massachusetts! Scott Brown is going to bring change to Washington. Way to make sure that Congress doesn’t get anything done until at least the mid-term elections. It drives me nuts that you need to have the majority in Congress with a corresponding president. Perhaps I’ve overreacting and there are bipartisan things getting passed all the time. Does anyone know what the last major bill to become law got true bipartisan support? I can’t really fairly gauge how well Obama’s presidency has been going but I can tell you having 41 Republican votes in the Senate isn’t going to help.
- I was totally baffled at the grocery store tonight as to what I should eat for dinner. I wanted something simple that would not result in enough leftovers for 5 days like I normally cook. Tacos came to mind even though I just made some last week. I hate the Acme near me because ground turkey is never on sale and costs over $6 for a package. As I stared at the meat counter I spotted a package of Bison which was $5.99. Bison tacos? Ok. They turned out pretty decent though you can definitely taste that it isn’t beef.
- I really like Nate’s comment about the Masons from the last entry. It was so well written I’m pretty sure he didn’t write it and actually stole it from the Mason’s website or maybe Wikipedia. In any case, I seriously would like to join them irrespective of all the hype about them these days. It sounds like an interesting organization with lots of symbolic brotherhood stuff which I really appreciate and I really ought to do more for the community so it sort of just makes a lot of sense. Being that I don’t know any Masons in Philly, it might be a little difficult to try and join. I’ll at least keep it on the backburner.
- I’m currently reading the book Justice: What’s the Right Thing to Do by Michael J. Sandel which sounded really good on NPR but is a challenging read because it feels like a college reading assignment. Next will be the latest Michael Crichton novel (which is sort of weird because he died and then they found some manuscript and published it). Then perhaps I’ll read a book by comedian Chelsea Handler (E! nighttime talk show host) – she’s got a new one coming out in March.
- Conan O’Brien needs to go to Fox at 11pm. I will watch him!
- Jay Leno just asked Michael Jordan “can you still dunk” and Michael Jordan said “are you an idiot” and Mr. Jordan is correct.
- I’ve heard that if you cut beer / drinking out of your diet it is the key to getting that extra edge in getting in shape. That makes a lot of sense. It is easy to rack up a bunch of calories quickly and often when you are drinking you find yourself prone to eating anything available. It all makes a lot of sense, but honestly, why would you want to give up delicious brews? I just doesn’t seem worth it.
- Nate suggested that I use a tanning bed to fight the winter blues. Nate, do you remember when I took off my shirt that one time to go tubing down the creek and you nearly went blind from my whiteness? Bad idea. Maybe I can get my UV light by sitting in the basement with some blacklights, listening to The Doors and just chillin’ out.
Catasauqua, Dan Brown, Kegging
Jan/103
- This past weekend I went up to Catasauqua, PA to visit Steve and also hang out with Adam, Phil and Trevor. It was a very good time. We drank some brews, played some games and just generally had a good time. Oh yeah, there might have been a power hour in there for old times sake. Highlight – cheesesteaks from Mario’s in Northampton (awesome bread)
- I finished the new Dan Brown book today. I suspect there are a lot of critics out there of his style of writing but style aside, this guy does his homework. The amount of presumably factual historic details is mind-boggling. I wonder how long the research took. It is an easy read, entertaining and strangely similar to his other works. It will make a decently entertaining movie and will likely boost tourism for Washington DC.
- The four best shows on TV in no particular order are Anthony Bourdain – No Reservations, Man vs. Food, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and Diners, Drive-ins and Dives. For as much food television I watch you might think I’ve got a strong desire to become a chef. That is definitely not true though I do enjoy cooking things from time to time. I couldn’t imagine cooking being a career and a huge time consumer in my life.
- I finally kegged the Troegs Mad Elf tribute beer that Adam and I brewed in early December. I tasted it uncarbonated and I think we produced a nice one. I’m particular interested in how clear it will be once poured. The beer was racked quite a few times and I was especially careful about not transferring too much trub (spent yeast and other particulate matter) along with the actual beer.
- I really look forward to the spring. This lack of daylight thing is starting to get to me. I’ve taken measures to combat it but I can only do so much. The biggest trouble I’ve got is waking up in the morning. It is such a struggle. I think I need to start saving up for a private jet and beach house in Florida so I can at least escape on the weekends to some warmth.
- Viking vs. Colts Superbowl with Vikings winning 27-24. That’s my prediction.