Surf and Turf on the cheap

A few weeks back, we had the lovely Awilda and Devan over for a friday night meal. I wanted to make some sort of fish and some sort of steak, but keep the price point down. In the end, I settled on flank steak with chimichurri sauce on a bed of baby arugula and an avocado shrimp salad with ricotta dumplings.

The shrimp salad is something I created on a whim a little while ago and its super easy to prepare.

Avocado Shrimp Salad
Serves 2

1 ripe avocado (cut in half, reserve the shell)
1 can of cannelini beans
10 shrimp chopped up (I use Trader Joe's frozen jumbos)
1 tablespoon of lemon juice
1 tablespoon of of red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons of oil
salt and pepper to taste
two tablespoons of chopped parsley (optional)

Mash up the avocado with the beans and shrimp. Combine the lemon juice, vinegar and oil in a seperate small bowl and then add to the salad. Taste it. Add a few pinches of salt. Scoop the salad back into the avocado shells. Serve. You can make this the day before if you want.

Bonus: For dessert, Elizabeth made chocolate covered strawberries. I love this picture.

The Truth Behind Those Annoying Pizza Hut Commercials

Buddhist Temple built out of 1 million beer bottles

Wat Pa Maha Chedi Kaew, also known as Wat Lan Kuad or 'the Temple of a Million Bottles', is in Sisaket province near the Cambodian border, 400 miles from the capital Bangkok.

The Buddhist monks began collecting bottles in 1984 and they collected so many that they decided to use them as a building material.

(Via The UK Telegraph)

Exploding Food Strobographs by Patterson Beckwith at Mesler&Hug

detail of Untitled (Big Mac Strobograph i, 20 µs x 5, 2008)., 16x20 C-print, 2008, Patterson Beckwith

Currently on display at the gallery Mesler&Hug in Los Angeles is the work of photographer Patterson Beckwith. The show includes strobographs (high speed photographs) of exploding foodstuffs like Big Macs, french fries, milk shakes, and other objects. [via Eat Me Daily]

ZUNIxFLEXITARIAN

Last night, I was inspired to make braised short ribs. A few weeks ago, I had experimented with the Chimay braised short ribs in the Zuni cookbook and decided to modify it, substituting the Chimay for Kasteel Rouge, a cherry-infused Belgian beer. The Zuni cookbook is awesome! And my variation turned out quite tasty. The best part is it only takes 2.5 hours to braise, not even that long. To accompany the meat, I grabbed my uncle's Flexitarian Table and went with the Shaved Winter Vegetable Salad with a paper-thin sliced fennel, granny smith apple and red cabbage. The salad was a great compliment to the short ribs which literally fell off the bone. You can't go wrong with either of these cookbooks. Check them out.

McWeird Commercials

Do with them what you will.





Who is the target audience?

Keep Obesity Away From Your Children

The Active Life Movement, an anti-obesity campaign from Austin-based design firm Latinworks warns parents to "Keep obesity away from your child," and reimagines childhood toys and heroes as being lazy and overweight. Foreals: Imagine Superman and Barbie on a strictly McDonald's diet.

(Via Eat Me Daily)

The Dinner Party: Cold Spring Harbor

The Valentine's Day dinner at L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon at the Four Seasons is $350/person and that's without the wine pairing. I think the V-day markup for most restaurants is about 100%. So why go out? Elizabeth and I decided instead to get away for the long weekend and hang out at Lucy's house in Cold Spring Harbor (Long Island). There were eight of us for Saturday evening's meal and everybody made an amazing dish. Lucy's kitchen was so nice that six of us comfortably prepared a four course, vaguely Mediterranean-themed meal that went like this:

Appetizers
Spinach and Feta Spanakopita
Babaganoush with grilled flat-bread

2nd Course
Butternut squash soup with toasted pecans

3rd Course
Grilled lamb chops with cucumber raita and spicy harissa
Creamy Lasagna with braised leeks and white truffle oil
Avocado and white bean salad with red wine vinaigrette

Dessert
Dark chocolate mouse with raspberries and goat cheese bonbons

I took care of the butternut soup and even grilled the lamb chops in a velvet jacket (3.5 minutes a side). The spread was incredible, the company delightful and the wine flowed well into the night.

Another reason Mugabe makes me sick

Robert Mugabe is a horrible dictator who has destroyed his country. Zimbabwe has seven million citizens surviving on international food aid, 94 per cent of the country is jobless and cholera rampages through a population debilitated by hunger. I think my position as an American who was born after the independence struggles of many African nations makes it impossible for me to understand how Mugabe can still rest on his laurels as a freedom fighter. His legacy will be one of terror and human rights violations and will unfortunately be felt long after he dies. As if to add insult to injury to the starving citizens of Zimbabwe, a list of items requested for the dictator's 85th birthday celebration taking place next week has recently surfaced. Why doesn't he do something for the starving people of his country?

Birthday List

2,000 bottles of champagne — Moët & Chandon and ’61 Bollinger
500 bottles of whisky — Johnny Walker Blue Label, 22-year-old Chivas
8,000 lobsters
100kg king prawns
3,000 ducks
4,000 portions of caviar
8,000 boxes of Ferrero Rocher
16,000 eggs
3,000 cakes — chocolate and vanilla
4,000 packs of pork sausages
500kg cheese
4,000 packets of crackers

(via The Times)

From China: Cooking Snakes and Fish Alive

Not for the faint of heart. A chef competition where you have to de-spine a live snake. Another one where the fish still has to be breathing on the plate. I consider myself an adventurous eater, but this is too much.

Analyzing French Fries via Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometry

Scientists at Leeds University in England have been seeking answers to one of the great food mysteries: Why are french fries so good? Using a technique called Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometry - which is able to separate foods into their base elements - the scientists were able to capture the various aroma components of the chips (that's British for fries if you don't know).

It turns out that the french fries' bouquet includes butterscotch, bitter cocoa, onion, cheese, flowers and even …ironing boards. These aromas combine to make one of the most addictive foods known to man.

Lead researcher, Dr. Graham Clayton speculates that "perhaps these findings will see chips treated like wine in the future – with chip fans turning into buffs as they impress their friends with eloquent descriptions of their favourite fries." Hopefully this won't mean that people start eating aged french fries.

Aluminum Foil Revelation

You know when you try to pull some tin foil out and the roll comes out of the box? Well, apparently, on the sides of box there is a little tab you can poke in that locks the roll in place. This could possibly shave hours of frustration off your life, especially when the Seran Wrap comes out while your taring a piece and then gets all bunchy. I hate that.

Thanks Meredith for the heads-up.

Our Lady of the Manatee-Shaped Potato

Sarasota man, Len Higley, was shopping for potatoes at his local Publix when he came across this beaut:He's not going to eat it, but he doesn't know what to do with it. What would you do with a potato shaped like a Manatee? (Via ABC)

Greening Printers: Coffee Grind Ink Cartridges

'The paperless office is a great notion, but in reality there are still many scenarios where the printer needs to be switched on and fed with environmentally unfriendly consumables - paper and ink. Recycling and re-using paper for print jobs has become well entrenched, but the expensive and often frustrating process of replenishing the ink remains an issue for many of us. Which brings us to one of the cleverest recycling ideas to emerge from this year's Greener Gadgets competition - the RITI printer. This design concept by Jeon Hwan Ju takes your coffee or tea dregs, plus a little elbow grease, and turns them into an eco-friendly alternative to conventional ink.'

1. Insert a paper in the middle of the printer
2. Put the coffee or tea dregs into the ink case on the top of the printer
3. Move the ink case left and right as you draw on a paper
4. When the print finishes, pull out the paper from the printer and wash the ink case

Check it out at at the Core77's Greener Gadget Design Competition. (via Gizmag.com)

Watch Dog People Make Bread

Sesame Tooth holds a special place in its heart for Sesame Street. And when the two combine, it's pure dynamite:



(The best part is at the very end around 1:53)