Gifts for guys

It's gift buying time. We're down to the wire. Your palms are sweaty trying to find the right thing for that special someone. Am I describing myself? Sure. But I know I'm not the only one.

While I can't help you guys looking for ladyish things, I can tell you ladies what to get your man. Because I know what I want. Feel free to tell me what to get said lady friend. She deserves something as cool as these (translated to girl stuff, of course).

Also, something we're focusing on here is quality stuff that lasts. It's not terrible if you get him something cool that has a limited lifetime, but it's manly to own quality products that develop a patina and get better with age.

Whiskey Lovers Set
I don't know if he likes whiskey, but it's manly. And if he doesn't like whiskey, maybe he should try.
https://secure.huckberry.com/store/huckberry-general-store/whiskey-lovers-set

Leather Keychain
It's classy, manly and functional, and the bonus: every time he grabs for his keys, it reminds him of you.
https://secure.huckberry.com/store/huckberry-general-store/natural-leather-keychain

Flasks
Carrying booze with you is always manly.
https://secure.huckberry.com/store/izola

Dopp kit
Help him pack his toiletries before you go on a trip together. Romance.
https://secure.huckberry.com/store/art-of-manliness-men-s-shop/dopp-kit-black--8

Cast iron anything
Cooking is manly. I know some may not participate in this sport, but the sear you get on a chunk of meat on a heavy slab of cast iron just makes you want to grow a beard and flex a bicep.
http://www.lodgemfg.com/

Wool socks
I used to think these were dorky and useless. Then I bought a pair of functional manly leather boots, then I dug thorugh the old boxes of clothes for every pair I could find. Then bought more.

Monday Night Improv

Recipes? They're great. It's so fun pulling your smart phone out of slumber every two minutes while you juggle raw chicken, a slippery knife handle, and a pepper grinder. Or the $80 grocery store bill to "save money" on food. Or thinking you have everything on the list at home to realize you finished the thyme last week.

Tonight, I'm going to win at this game. I have to. I'm leaving the country in two days and I have a fridge full of perfectly-planned perishables that will certainly be wrinkled and obsolete by the time I get back. So tonight, it's no-recipe kitchen sink chili night.

Of course the recipes I've conquered in the past will contribute to the success of this dish. Cooking the onions to golden brown before everything else goes in. Maybe pre-roasting roasting some of the veggies to bring out a little more flavor. Picking the perfect blend of spices. But I'm winging this one tonight. I think this might actually turn out alright. I'll have a serving tonight and freeze the rest in small quantities to be consumed on the post-Europe cold nights ahead.

Giving thanks

Whenever I visit my aunt and uncle in the 'burbs of Chicago for Thanksgiving, I'm guaranteed one thing, a full, bursting, lay-down-on-the-floor-during-the-Cowboys-game stomach. Well, that and a cousin dead set on nailing the best Black Friday deals around town. I'm sure these facts are ubiquitous throughout the United States, but among the different sets of Thanksgiving gatherings that I belong to, the Chicago relatives stick out as kings of the culinary hill.I'm getting full just thinking about it.

The recipe below is a staple at my aunt’s pre-thanksgiving dinner cocktail hour along with croissant-wrapped cocktail wieners, loaded nachos, and other extremely healthy bar snacks. Why we find it necessary to fill up on calorie-filled extras like this before even touching the turkey with the carving knife is beyond my comprehension, but not beyond my appreciation. This recipe is my attempt to copy my aunt’s.

JR's Buffalo Chicken Dip

Small whole chicken (about 3 lbs) (or for less work, about 2 lbs boneless chicken pieces ,or for true slackers, 2 10-oz cans chopped chicken, and you can ignore the spice rub, or throw it in to the crock pot for a little kick. I have no idea what that would taste like. You're on your own there.)
3 tbs garlic powder
1 tsp thyme
2 tbs brown sugar
1 tbs pepper
2 8-oz packages of cream cheese
1 C bleu cheese dressing
~1 C Hot sauce (I used Franks)
1 C shredded sharp cheddar cheese
7 oz bleu cheese crumbles

• Turn oven to 400
• Combine garlic, thyme, sugar and pepper in a bowl and mix up so sugar and spices are evenly distributed
• Cut chicken roughly into evenly sized pieces to cook evenly
• Coat chicken with spice rub (pulling back skin and rubbing underneath if you have skin)
• Place chicken in a glass baking dish, cover with tin foil
• Bake chicken until a meat thermometer reads safe temp (160-170)
• Shred chicken using two forks to pull pieces apart
• Dump chicken in a crock pot on low, add softened cream cheese, add dressing, hot sauce.
• Allow to heat and stir when cheeses start to melt.
• Cover top with bleu cheese crumbles, cover, and cook on Low setting until hot and bubbly.
• Serve with celery sticks, crackers, tortilla chips, toasted baguette slices, or any other carb on earth.
• Rest up for Thanksgiving dinner.*

*This holds true for any time of year. This stuff fills you up. 

Dollar pizza averaging

Late night inebriation and hunger--no scratch that, just late night inebriation--can lead to some poor food choices. Like paying a cab to sit in front of Dominos while waiting for two large cheese pizzas. But what do you expect? We're only human.

But even after more than my fair share of the bowling alley's beer "vessels" as they call them--basically 3 gallon buckets with a spigot at the bottom--the flimsy, greasy cheese-n-bread was hardly satisfying. When I choose to chow down that much junk, it should at least be rewarding. Which is why I'm going to hit up Antico in the next week. It's like dollar cost averaging your stock. You screwed up, but if you average the satisfaction of Antico over two meals of pizza calories, you're really ending up ahead of the game.

Antico will be just one stop on a cullinary tour I'll be giving a buddy as he visits me in Atlanta. And it will be quite the tour. I made a list of "must visits," a list that barely scratches the surface. And still, we'll only be able to hit a fraction of it.

Some key spots to hit, loosely centered around home base in Reynoldstown, are Delia's Chicken Sausage Stand (I feel the urge nearly every day when I drive home), Flying Biscuit (some of the best breakfast in town, AND healthy), JCT Kitchen (my early favorite when I moved to ATL), and the Vortex ('nuff said).

Of course we'll be doing our best to grab late night cocktails at places like H Harper Station and Victory Sandwich bar, and maybe we'll even dip into some beer vessels. And who knows, despite my best efforts, we may end up with a large cheese from Dominos at 1 a.m.

Man Soup

I made some man soup last night that I'm actually kinda proud of. I planned to make a white turkey chili that is the best, but I didn't want to shop, so I made do with what I had. I think it's kinda healthy, too. Oh, and for good measure, you can throw a baked potato in the bowl and pour the soup over it. Here's what I had:

3 or 4 ribs celery sliced
2 or 3 medium onions chopped
as much garlic as you want smashed or chopped
one can black beans undrained
two cups chicken or beef stock
chopped leftover steak or chicken
two cups cooked quinoa
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp dried cilantro
1 tsp dried oregano
Salt and pepper to taste
Baked potato

Saute onions and celery in hot olive oil

Add garlic when onions get soft

When onions are translucent, add beans and stock.

Bring to boil lower heat and simmer for 15-20 min

Add steak, quinoa, cumin, cilantro, oregano. simmer for another 10 min or so. 


Add salt and pepper to taste.


Place baked potato in bowl, pour soup over. EAT.

Street Photog - pics and tips

I just fell upon this Yanidel Street Photography blog today. The photos are great. The tips are great. And even the short, concise writing is great. They also are selling a book called "Little Crimes of Paris" which will soon be on my coffee table. 

Sweetwater Wayfarers

The founder of American Apparel, the flaship store for hipsters, has
declared the hipster dead.
Along with that, LCD Soundsystem has called it quits, and the Wayfarer sunglass, it has been decided, is no longer cool.

RUBISH. The hipster is a term that has described the underground 20-something counter culture group of ruffians since the 1940s, Wayfarers are a classic style that I still like (so therefore it's cool), and LCD Soundsystem, well, they're done, but we still have their CDs.

At the SweetWater 420 Fest this weekend at Candler Park in Atlanta, it was hard to walk through the crowd, and even harder not to bump into someone wearing some form of wayfarer. Here is the proof.