Most of you might or might not know of my hatred for eggs. Quite possibly one of the most vile creations ever created. And a key component in today’s food item, mayonnaise.
To some, there is no finer condiment. They use it on hamburgers, hot dogs, balogna sandwiches and (gasp!) hot dogs.
To me, it has it’s place but with some serious restrictions. First of all, with regards to sandwiches (hamburgers fall into this), Mayo is a white meat condiment only, and only for cold applications. You people puttin’ mayo on your burgers or hot chicken sandwiches need to stop. That’s just wrong. Same goes for roast beef, balogna or any other lunch-type meat made from cow. Turkey and Pig only, if you please.
It can also be used for salad-type sandwiches. Except for egg. Isn’t that like giving a cow milk? Also, it must be used in limited quantities so as not to over power the flavor of the other ingredients. You can also use it for potato salad, but don’t add any hardboiled egg. Again, what are you people thinking?
Also, please stop with the ‘weird’ uses for mayo. You know, using it instead of sour cream. You know who you are and all y’all need to knock it off.
Feel lucky I’m not even going to get started with Miracle Whip. If you are ‘one of them’, make that a news years resolution to stop using that garbage. Man, I’m getting the heebie jeebies just thinkin’ about it.
And, honest-to-robot-ninjas people. Stop with the mayo on Hot Dogs. I’m sure there is a law someplace, and if there isn’t, there should be!
As I type this, I’m previewing the new Killers album on Amazon. All of the song clips, in order.
Plus tabbed browsing.
Yea, db likes the Amazon.com mp3 download service.
I’ve been adding to my collection of things over the last few months, I think I’ll take a minute to fill you in on some of them. Well, one of them for right now.
Ignore the iPods in that picture. What we are most concerned with is that Apple Keyboard. Our good buddy CJ asked some questions about it over on the Flickr, and I thought I would revist them here.
How’s the keyboard? I keep toying with the idea of buying it..possibly for a (gasp) windows (work) machine at home. I have the older wireless keyboard and the thing is rock solid..the new wireless one doesn’t have a number pad on the side so that’s out..but, the wired one looks (and feels) great- thoughts?!?
The keyboard itself is great. I’m a bit of a keyboard snob (the lad looks at me funny everytime I pull out a new one) and currently have 5 in the house. Of all the keyboards I have ever used, the best IMO were the old IBM Think Pad, just about any from Logitech and the MacBook. Very close running up would be the Dell laptop keyboards.
Now, in the top spot, would be the new Apple Keyboard. I got the wired version as you can see above. The Wireless is cool, but lacks a number pad and USB ports. Oh yea, and a wire. I’ve gone the wireless keyboard route before with a logitech and it was good on battery life since it was infrared. But I’m afraid of how often I’d be putting new batteries in the Blue Tooth device.
For operation, it kicks ass. It’s fast (keeps up with my 65WPM typing no sweat) and has just the right amount of click-iness. It’s has almost the exact same feel as a MacBook keyboard. It’s just a little tighter and a little louder.
One thing that will mess some of you up is the remapping of the F keys. I don’t have it here, but they have moved everything. Volume control and expose are not where you expect them, and pressing F8 for spaces triggers expose. Ugh. I still have to remap for Leopard, just haven’t gotten around to it.
It also has 2 USB ports. The are advertised as USB 2.0 but after trying to plug an iPod in and getting errors, then researching it a bit, I can tell you they aren’t USB 2.0. They are good, however, for plugging in a wireless mouse like any of the new Logitech mice that crap an antenna.
Now CJ is looking at maybe using it for a Windows keyboard. As I mentioned over on Flickr, unless it’s for VM or parallels, I would highly recommend against it. It’s a great keyboard, don’t get me wrong, but it is only great for a Mac. Here are a few reasons why it sucks for Windows.
- No Windows key You could remap the command key to be sure, but it’s also in the wrong spot.
- Alt keys in the wrong spot Especially the left Alt key. Instead of being next to the space bar, they are next to the command key. This makes tasks like ALT-Tab annoying difficult.
- The F keys Now, under windows I’m sure these would work like they are supposed to. But, and this is something I’ve noticed on Macs, the F keys are weird. I don’t know what it is, but the layout of the F keys is off compared to a Windows keyboard.
If it weren’t for those minor things, I would rock this board on a Windows box. I am a big keyboard shortcut kind of guy when I’m playing in the land of M$, so the minor things turn major turn deal breaker real quick.
If you have a mac and are wondering if you would like this board, just get it. If you have Windows and wonder if you like this board AND don’t rely too heavily on keyboard shortcuts, get this board. Otherwise, something else would probably work out a little better for you.
Oh yea, I got some time with Vista this last weekend. Bet you can’t wait to hear what I thought about that.
Because Josh asked and because red wine is key when cooking with tomatoes, I bring to you the worlds fastest and most flexible red sauce, as created by Alton Brown, modified by me. Let’s get to cookin’!
Or db shares one of his best kept secrets.
We’ve all been there. At the market, in the meat department. There it is. What looks like a brilliant cut of beef and it’s only $3.99 – $4.99 per pound. You snatch it up, bring it home, season and grill it and it ends up being exactly the same as grilled shoe leather.
Well friends, today I am here to help.
There is a reason why cuts like London Broil and Top Round are so cheap. They are nothing but muscle. Very tough muscle. But, they have great flavor. And, since it can’t be Filet Mignon and Top Sirloin all the time, I have developed a great method for making the tougher pieces of beef not so tough.
Sure, you could marinade them overnight to break down the connective tissues. But, really, that’s a lot of work. Also, what if you don’t want the marinade flavor. Check this out.
First thing you have to do is season those steaks up. Plenty of salt (Kosher works very well) and many grinds from the pepper mill. Vacuum pack them if you can, but a good zipper freezer bag works just as well. Pack them in a bag (I steak to a bag, please) and put them in the freezer.
Once frozen, you do have to think ahead just a little to when you want to use this meat. Count on 2 days thaw time in the fridge at least, 3 would be better. Don’t even think of power thawing these (running under cold water until product is thawed) or worse, using the microwave.
Here is why this works so well. The salt pulls some of the moisture out of the meat. When that freezes, it essentially makes tiny dagers that cut into all of that connective tissue. It’s the connective tissue that makes it tough, so this really helps.
Once thawed, cook it on the grill or in a pan to the desired doneness. The rare side of medium to medium is idea. Overcooking will cause this piece to get really tough.
If done properly, you should get a piece of meat that has great flavor and almost the same tenderness as a nice New York strip.
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