Some thoughts while cooking chicken breakfast sausage for breakfast.

• I grew up with it being stressed that pork had to be fully cooked to avoid trichinosis.
• Trichinosis has been basically eradicated in this country, so this is no longer a worry.
• Of course, chicken is now the preferred, healthier meat.
• Which has the potential for salmonella, so ( Read more... )

I grew up with always make sure that pork was fully cooked. My dad had mentioned to me several years ago that this was pretty much beaten and wasn't a concern anymore. So, I haven't worried about it quite as much. It was still quite a shock this weekend when we went to Outback for dinner. I ordered the pork chops and the waitress asked me how I ( Read more... )

This week is the Solar Decathlon on the National Mall. We went to this two years ago (it is a biannual event) and found it interesting. We are planning on taking half a day off on Friday to revisit it (Saturday being already pretty full). I am mostly interested in seeing how the solar shingles are coming along now that we have a new, large house ( Read more... )

Generally if you order steak from place besides the major steak houses, the steaks can be pretty iffy. We went to Bob Evans recently and I decided to try their Steak Monterey (sirloin covered with mushrooms, onions and Jack). Best steak that I've had in a while a while. Fine quality of beef and cooked as requested (medium rare). Just goes to ( Read more... )

We were at the Columbia mall. Ended up eating at P.F. Changs and catching Pirates of the Carribean 2. I got the 'Spiced Chengdu Lamb' for the second time. Forgot to mention it after the first time. This is really, really good. Lamb cooked with cumin and mint, with tomatoes and onions. Oh, and Pirates was enjoyable, though the ending left you ( Read more... )

GK, our ladies, and myself went to Greystone Grill in Ellicott City. Omar had recommended this as being better and less expensive than Ruth's Chris. GK and I both had the 16oz veal chop, his lady had the fillet mignon, and my lady had the red snapper. All very good. That, two appetizers, three deserts, and a bottle of wine* for just over $200 ( Read more... )

I was cooking a meal recently and it was my favorite type of creation. You look in the fridge, discover ingredients, and make something of this. In this case, chicken, leeks, and cabbage became stir-fry. But I also decided that, if I ever had a new house, I would really, really like to have an Iron Chef kitchen. You look in the fridge, note the ( Read more... )

Saturday, my lady and I headed over to The Mall to see the Solar Decathlon. Pretty interesting. Met up with miu_lin (Virginia Tech, 4th place). Also got to visit with doc_quixote (Rolla, 7th), who I haven't seen in person in ages. Also, my lady was pleasantly surprised to see Colorado there. Not her school, but from her state. And they came in first. The big ( Read more... )

And, yes, it is an Accord. FWIW, the Altima is uncomfortable. I reasonably happy and will get happier as 1) I get more use to the car (which shouldn't take long) and 2) the more time that I have to recover from spending a good chunk of my day dealing with dealers (which will take a bit longer). Nothing horrible, just not something I enjoy ( Read more... )

Made it safely to Ohio and back. My lady returned safely from Denver. Both she, I, and the girl called Step made it safely up to and back from PA. The LAN fest was reasonably fun but slightly disappointing since it was all Half-Life with no leavening with Warcraft or Age of Kings much less board games (though I was told to be sure to bring ( Read more... )