Jason's Log

Jack Johnson show in Berkeley

Young and I spent our Friday evening at Berkeley's Greek Theater for a Jack Johson concert. Here's the rundown:

The good:

Jack Johnson is a wonderful live performer. He sounded great, and graciously played the crowd favorites early and with entheusiasm.

The weather heading into the concert had been scorching (nearly 90 degrees). But the Greek Theater, being an open air theater, was really pleasant. As the sun went down, it got a bit cooler, but stayed comfortable well into the night.

The bad:

The Greek Theater's concrete seats are quite possibly the least comfortable my ass has ever met. They were too deep to lean back in, and too hard to ever be comfortable in. Ack. If you're going to a show, bring a pillow.

The two opening acts, who's names I never remembered, play for TWO FREAKING HOURS. I did not pay $35/person to see some no-names play mediocre songs for TWO FREAKING HOURS. I have no problem with opening bands, but please limit them to 30 minutes and keep it fun. Then get the main act on stage, PRONTO!

So there you have it.

Blackened Catfish Results

Wow was that good. I picked up four medium sized catfish fillets from Alberton's last night. I then found and applied a really teriffic Cajun-style blackened red snapper recipie that turned out just amazing. Although the recipe was originally inteneded for use on red snapper, it was just perfect for catfish.

I melted about 1 cup of butter, and poured it into a pyrex baking dish. I placed each of the catfish fillets into the dish to coat with the melted butter. I then sprinkled on a generous coating of the cajun spice mixture on one side.

I then placed the fillets into a very hot skillet (medium high on my stove), spice-side down. I then sprinkled the spice mixture over the top side of the fillets. I cooked the fillets for about 4 minutes on each side. This browned the fillets nicely, and didn't overcook them at all.

Damn near perfect. A definite keeper.

Boeshield T-9: A really bad lube

I recently ran out of my beloved Pro Gold Pro Lube bike chain lube, and was forced to use some old Boeshield T-9 stuff. Since the first application, I've noticed dramatically slower rear deraillieur action.

Although the T-9 does seem to stand up better to dust and grit, it's just too sticky.

The Pro Gold Pro Lube, on the other hand, gives me consistent super fast shifting. I do have to apply it rather frequenty, but the increase in shifter speed is dramatic.

Ground Pork Burgers - Yum

While at Dittmer's the other day picking up the baby back ribs I noticed that they offered fresh ground pork. So I decided to pick up about 1.5 lbs with the idea of making some burgers out of it.

Based on a bit of internet research, some people think that ground pork needs a binding agent (bread crumbs) and others do not. I tend to be 'anti-binding', so I just mixed in a teaspoon or two of ground salt and black pepper, and formed the patties.

After preheating the grill with all burners on high and lighly oiling the grate, I cooked the patties covered on 'High' (in order to sear the exterior) for 5 minutes on each side. I measured the temp at the 10 minute mark, and it was only at about 125 degrees.

So I turned the burners down to medium, and let them cook for another 5 minutes. When I retested the internal temp, they were just under 150, which is perfect for pork. I took them off the gril and let them sit for a few minutes.

Young and I tried a few different kinds of burger toppings:

- Plain: The burgers were quite flavorful. Even plain they were quite good. Nice and juicy.
- Mustard, mayo, cheese and tomato: Just like a regular burger, and it worked quite well.
- Carolina-style BBQ sauce: The sweetness/tanginess goes very well with pork burgers.
- Texas-style BBQ sauce: Again, the combination of sweet and spicy goes very well with pork burgers.

This dinner will definitely be added to the standard rotation.

First ride in Marin today

Well, after talking about it for far too long, Mike, Reynold and I drove up to Marin today for a fat tire tour of Tamarancho Park courtesy our friend Dave. The park itself is actually owned and maintained by the Boy Scouts of America. There is a $5 entrance fee, which is easily worth it.

The park is single-track throughout, with some wonderfully rocky technical sections. There were no super-long-grind climb sections, and the downhill was fun and full of switchbacks. Much of the riding is along my favorite geography - ridges - which means lots of little up and down stuff that is completely fun.

Although getting up there and back is a bit of a haul, the ride was really worth it.

Cheesecake, cupcake size

The last few times I've made cheesecake, I've done the cooking in a muffin pan. This makes it easier to store in the freezer for later enjoyment.

The trick for me has been trying to figure out the cooking time. I've been preheating the over to 375 degrees, and this batch took a full 19 minutes of cooking at that temperature for the center of the cheesecakes to reach 150 degrees. I really didn't expect it to take that long...but they seem to be cooling nicely.

More cole slaw changes

Well, in my standard low-carb cole slaw recipe, I substituted whole cream for the milk that is typically used. The only problem with that approach is keeping the cream on hand - eventually, it does go sour.

So the last time I made the slaw, I noticed that my cream had soured. Instead of dashing off to the super market to pick up cream, I just went ahead and prepared the slaw without it. And you know what? It really was just as good as far as Young or I could tell.

I also upped the black pepper from 1 teaspoon to 1 table spoon, because Young and I like our slaw peppery.

Removing the cream probably cuts down on the calories as well as the cholesterol, and it makes it easier to keep the necessary ingredients on hand. So far, so good.

Beef and broccoli teriyaki

Young and I tried some beef and broccoli, teriyaki style, last night. I picked up a pair of steaks (one T-Bone, one porterhouse), which I seasoned with salt and pepper and grilled to medium doneness.

For the broccoli, I just steamed it in the florets in the microwave for 3 minutes in a saran-wrap covered bowl with some water.

I then whipped up a batch of my no-carb teriyaki sauce (see below). After taking the steaks off the grill and letting them sit for a few minutes, I cut them into thin slices. I then combined the broccoli, steak, and a few tablespoons of the teriyaky sauce in a sautee pan. I sauteed the beef and broccoli for 2-3 minutes in the sauce, just enough to get everything nicely coated.

The results were outstanding. The combination of salty and sweet flavors of the teriyaki sauce combined wonderfully with the salt and pepper seared steak.

Note: I also included some cauliflower in the vegetable mix, but it turns out that it doesn't really work well in this dish, and will not be included in future incarnations. I will probably add some snow peas and perhaps a few mushrooms.

Coffee - Grounds per Ounce?

So according to Starbucks.com, when brewing coffee at home you should use 1 tablespoon of grounds per 6 ounces of water. The glass coffee pot that came with our coffee maker (a basic Black & Decker model) comes with 'cup' markings. Using a measuring cup, I figured out that each 'cup' marking on the pot equals 5 ounces.

So according to the Starbucks recipe, I should use the following table when determining how much coffee to use:

Cups Tablespoons
4 6.6
6 10.0
8 13.3
10 16.6
12 20.0

Previously, I had been using the formula:

tbsp coffee = ( cups/2 ) + 1

which works out to:

Cups Tablespoons
4 3.0
6 4.0
8 5.0
10 6.0
12 7.0


In a blind '4 cup' taste test, Young easily selected the Starbucks recipe as the better cup of coffee.

I guess I'll try using that formula for a few days and see how it goes.

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