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Saturday, January 05, 2002
It's that time again! Welcome back to cooking with Devin. Today's column features three items:
Regular and Low Fat Pasta Alfredo with Tuna
Caramel Crunch ala Flaming Stove
Messina-Hof Port
The Pasta Alfredo makes an excellent lunch or dinner entree. Both the lowfat and standard recipes are listed here. The lowfat recipe will have a slight tang that the standard recipe does not, due to the cream cheese.
First, cook, drain, and toss with olive oil whatever pasta you have; then using a skillet or saucepan on low heat, add enough olive oil to float a pat of butter, add said butter. After butter melts, stirring constantly, slowly add cream. Bring cream almost to a boil, then add fresh-grated Reggianito cheese. Reggiano or Parmesan will tend to give the sauce a slight bitter aftertaste, and the pregrated stuff will taste of plastic. Keep stirring until sauce has a smooth consistency, then add your cooked pasta and heat. If sauce is lumpy, heat more or add cream. If sauce is liquidy, add more cheese. Approximate quantities for a single serving: 1 Tbsp butter, 3/4 cup cream, 3/4 cup grated cheese, some olive oil.
Lowfat Pasta Alfredo: Boil and drain your pasta, then immediately return to low heat. Add some butter-spread or margarine, then melt cream cheese in pasta. Some milk may be added to smooth consistency. Quantities: 1/3 package low fat cream cheese, 1 Tbsp butter substitute.
Caramel Crunch is very easy to make, and an excellent holiday treat. First, prepare a cooling surface, such as two cookie sheets covered in wax paper. In a large saucepan over a low heat, melt approx two lbs sugar, stirring constantly. After there are no lumps left, add ~3 Tbsp butter carefully. Butter will cause liquid to foam very rapidly, and if it boils over it will catch on fire. Continue stirring, and add ~1/2 cup of cream about one Tbsp at a time. Same boiling warning goes for adding cream. After foaming dies down, add ~1lbs pecans. Pour mixture onto wax paper as one continuous piece. Once cold, melt one bag chocolate chips in saucepan with a little butter and cream, then pour over the top of the caramel layer. Chill, then shatter.
As some of you know, I'm a fan of Port and Sherry. Both are similar, wines that begin fermentation, then have Brandy added to halt fermentation. This leaves a wine that is still very high sugar, but with a higher than normal alcohol content, and that also has a lot of complex compounds that are normally broken down in the fermentation process of other wines. Both Port is aged in casks, then in the bottle. Cask aging works more quickly, but can add unwanted flavors to the wine. A very good bottle is cask aged a year or two, then moved to the bottle, and can be aged for a very long period, 20, 40, and 60 year Port is not uncommon. If the vintage is not as good, it will be used for late bottled vintage(LBV), which means that it stays in the cask for 5 or 10 years, then is bottled and aged more. LBV Ports are much more affordable than bottle aged ports, and better than a standard vintage of port of the same age, but may carry a different flavor than most Ports.
Sherry is the middle class Port. It is older than Port, and originates near Jerez de la Frontera in Spain, where it's name comes from. Vineyards were started there in 1100 BC by Phoenicians, and winepresses have been found which date to before 700 BC. Chaucer spoke of heavy brandied wines from Andalusia, the area where Sherry is produced. When Oliver Cromwell went to war with Catholic Spain, the flow of Sherry decreased. Wine from the Douro valley of Portugal took it's place. Sherry isn't aged in the same way as Port, but is blended from different age casks, so vintage doesn't matter, and it is consistent year to year. Both were drunk heavily in England until after WWI, when consumption began to decrease, and Port, with it's cost and quality dependent on aging, became an upper-class drink.
I always thought of Port not from Portugal as just plain wrong. It just isn't the same thing. And like California wines, California Port tended to be overpriced, watery, and in general a poor imitation. Then I tried Messina Hof Port(site has frames, and this link jumps straight to content). I didn't know what it was when I tried it, and it is really amazing. It doesn't have the sharp aftertaste that most Ports up to it's price range have, and is really smooth, and less raisiny in flavor than most Ports. Turns out its really hard to get just about anywhere except from them, though. Everyone should go out and buy a bottle and try some really good Port.
.: posted by Grand Inquisitor Fnord Moco 1/5/2002
Archive works now. And it has a wonderful mustard and purple-blue color pattern.
.: posted by Grand Inquisitor Fnord Moco 1/5/2002
Thursday, January 03, 2002
Harper's Index, a sort of list of statistics and what not.
So the university didn't open until 10:00 am this morning, which is actually still half an hour away. I came in right on time, because the University website said (and still says), "Weather conditions currently do not affect the University's schedule." Beth drove me down to the office where I work, but it was locked and no one was there. So then we came to her office, which she has a key to, and we've hung out here for the last two hours. Sucks.
.: posted by andy 1/3/2002
It snowed SIX INCHES last night! You would think that the governor would already have declared a state of emergency, but no, I don't even get the day off from work. I guess the empty dorms must be maintained, come wind, snow, hail, or high water. And who better to maintain them than me, MAINTENANCE MAN!
.: posted by andy 1/3/2002
Wednesday, January 02, 2002
Today was my first day of work as a maintenance man at UNCG. I like my job and the people I work with seem pretty cool. Other than that, Greensboro sucks, and I wish I wasn't here. I guess going back to Denton has made me really homesick. I had a great time while I was there, and it meant a lot to me that I got to see so many people. The whole day we were out shooting, I kept thinking, "this is really great. i never want to go back to North Carolina, because there's nothing there for me." But here I am. Oh, fucking well.
.: posted by andy 1/2/2002
Argentina has had five presidents since December 20th. It's amazing how fast people are fleeing from the position.
First, there was de la Rua, elected in 1999 on a economic reform platform. He secures $40US billion in international aid, to be paid out over several years. In December, the IMF announces that it will halt those international aid payments, which means that the country is set to bo bankrupt. De la Rua institutes emergency banking and economic restrictions, which triggers rioting. He resigns.
The next day, Adolfo Rodriguez Saa, a province leader known for his good economic policy, is declared interim president. He puts forth several economic reforms, but maintains the unpopular banking restrictions. That, combined with controversy over corrupt officials in his cabinet, trigger more riots, and he resigns in a 'dramatic late-night televised address', where he says that he couldn't get support for additional reforms needed.
Ramos Puerta, head of the Senate, becomes president, and resigns in minutes.
Eduardo Camano, head of the Congress, was sworn in as interim president until a new one could be chosen by Congress. The frontrunner, Eduardo Duhalde, is opposed by certain groups in Argentina, and clashes break out between his supporters and opponents before he is even officially voted in. Camano urges people not to riot, at least until someone is actually chosen.
And here I sit in los Estados Unidos, where the most interesting thing that happens in regard to the president is that it takes a month of legal wrangling to decide that the candidate that received less of the popular vote is still to be elected, and no one much cares anyway.
.: posted by Grand Inquisitor Fnord Moco 1/2/2002
Tuesday, January 01, 2002
Front page article in the Sunday NY Times points out that DOT has suspended the requirements that air port security personnel have at least a high school diploma to qualify for their jobs, accepting as a substitute a year's worth of experience. So the same room-temp IQ individuals that now mess up their jobs will get $34,000 a year rather than minimum wage. Reason, 1/4 of present employees would not meet requirements for the job. Couple this with the fact that the Fan Belt Inspectors have seemingly had no luck running down the anthrax poisoner, and you begin to suspect that the American people have an inordinate faith in the ability of their government to protect them. It's all politics and incompetence.
I thoroughly enjoyed the pictures from the Dec. 27th meet. The idea of night skeet shooting is great!
.: posted by George 1/1/2002
Monday, December 31, 2001
The airline said he was trying to do something with frequent flyer miles. Apparently they had some kind of special deal going. Why he took a loaded gun, I have no idea. I'm so pissed off that he was able to take a fully loaded pistol onto an airplane, though. After all this "heightened security" crap, he took a GUN onto an airplane. Not a knife, or a box cutter, or a nail file attached to some toenail clippers (which Beth had confiscated when she was coming back from St. Louis. They missed the file the first time around.), but an honest to god gun, full of bullets and everything. Was their metal detector unplugged? What the hell?
.: posted by andy 12/31/2001
From what I can tell, this jerk set out to try to sneak a gun into an airport. Why else would he be flying from Tampa to Atlanta to Memphis and back to Tampa carrying a loaded Beretta without ever even leaving the secure area of the terminals? He's out on $5K bond, with a minor misdemeanor charge against him. If his name was Hudhafah Abdullah As-Sahmi, he'd be in Florence Supermax charged with one count of attempted murder for each person on the plane, plus charges of treason and God-knows-what else.
.: posted by Grand Inquisitor Fnord Moco 12/31/2001
Sunday, December 30, 2001
Here are the pics from the 27th.
.: posted by Jeremy 12/30/2001
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