Time Flies

June has been productive in every regard except blogging. Some "highlights" from the past few weeks:

• Plenty of eating, obviously. Recently made baked tostones and felt they compared favorably to the standard fried version. Recipe here. Other food experiments were not as successful, especially my cheddar garlic biscuits. Am planning to make homemade carnitas the coming long weekend. As a renowned Empanadero, I have this notion of using some of the carnitas to make "Cuban Sandwich Empanadas." Check in for a blog post next week to see the results.
  
  
• Restaurants this month included: the Times Sq. Sake Bar, Hagi; neighborhood faves Olea (Ft. Greene), and Tacos Matamoros - accompanied by Kwotebel loyalist traB and his family (Sunset Park); Park Slope's Blue Ribbon Sushi (a splurge but worth every penny, particularly the fresh mackerel sashimi), as well as the wing platter at 200 5th; some homemade tofu and glass noodles at Seoul Garden in Koreatown; and drinks at Lillies in Union Sq., and Fort Greene's No. 7.
  
  
• In other eating news, stuffed my face at the Big Apple BBQ Block Party. The Big Apple BBQ features top pit masters from across the country. A friend of Sachiko's inadvertently purchased two "Fast Passes" each of which is worth $100 and allows the bearer to use the express ordering aisles. We took one off her hands and invited Stan and his kids to share in the bounty. My favorites were the homemade smoked sausages from Jim and Nick's B-B-Q, and the baby back ribs from Baker's Ribs. As you can see from the fully punched out Fast Pass, no little piggies survived.
  
  
• Caught the Cirque du Soleil show, Kooza, before it packed up for the summer. My first Cirque experience and a real treat.
  
  
• Had freakin' awesome seats to the the thrilling Cotto/Clottey fight at Madison Sq. Garden. As usual, the seats were courtesy of the one and only Kurt Emhoff. Thanks Kurtis!!! Cotto was not dominant but gutted out a tough and impressive win in front a supportive and star studded crowd.
  
  
• Became an Apple fan boy. Despite a back injury several days earlier that made standing in place for more than 10 minutes extremely painful, I stood in line for two and a half hours to get the newest iphone 3gs the day it was released. I've been a Blackberry man for the last few years and though I was completely happy with my phones (first the pearl, then the curve), being out of contract and itching for a new toy, I sort of lost my mind. It was inevitable I guess. Completely satisfied so far.
  

That's What I Call Hustling ...

Several years ago when I briefly considered moving to Chicago I would periodically browse the real estate listings of a couple of online real estate brokers to get a sense of neighborhoods, property styles, and prices. One site in particular, Dream Town, seemed to have the best combination of listings and easy to use interface so I created an account in order to fully use their site. I go back to Dream Town periodically to get a sense of how Chicago real estate is faring post bubble (not very well). A couple days after my last visit I received an email from a broker at Dream Town. Based on my search criteria he suggested several listings I might be interested in as well as a couple of upcoming open houses. I was impressed. It was the kind of followup that seems obvious, particularly in a commission based industry, but I haven't experienced it before. I actually wrote the guy back to let him know that I wasn't in the market.

Tilt Shifting Fun

Tiltshiftmaker is a website that simplifies and streamlines the process of creating a tilt shift image. Tilt shifting is a photographic process where parts of an image are intentionally blurred creating the illusion of miniaturization. With tiltshiftmaker all you have to do is simply select the photo you wish to tilt shift, upload it, and adjust the sliders until you get the result you're looking for. Pretty nifty!

Here's a before and after of a photo I took in Prague (enlarge for full effect):



Here's a before and after of a picture I took on a beach in northern California; the effect is more subtle but pretty interesting I think:



Click for a gallery of images.

3-1

On Sunday May 31, Sachiko and I battled the husband and wife team of Dave and Carol in Battle Onion. Though it was awfully tough staying in and cooking on such a beautiful day, as reigning champs we had a title to defend.

Unlike previous battles, we entered Battle Onion calm and unstressed. Though Sachiko and I prevailed in Battle Egg, our overly complex dishes had us worried and stressed before and during that competition. As a result, in the heat of battle, several missteps were made. For Battle Onion we stuck with interesting but less technical dishes. Dishes that we hoped would win on flavor, creativity, and presentation, as opposed to difficulty.

We started with the perfect appetizer, a panko crusted, pork and seaweed negimaki. Served on a Shiso leaf, this derivation of beef negimaki was crispy and tasty. Most judges liked the negimaki more than they liked the accompanying sauce; Tonkatsu with mustard and crushed sesame. Despite mixed reviews for the sauce, this dish was a great first course for us.


Our second dish was a creamy leek and brie soup served with a garnish of fried leeks. Once again, we scored on flavor and presentation. Being lactose intolerant, I stay away from creamy soups, however, a box of lactaid pills allowed me to dive in without fear. A heavy hand with the salt cost us a few points but wasn't enough to temper the judges mostly positive reactions.


Our third dish an Italian styled prosciutto wrapped stuffed onion. We filled the onions with a mixture of mushroom, cubed prosciutto, onion, garlic, Parmesan, and breadcrumbs. Accompanying the onions was a homemade basil tomato sauce. Our opponents also served a stuffed onion, theirs with a creamy and spicy filling in a Vidalia onion. This dish received a wide range of scores. We worked on this dish in the weeks leading up to battle tweaking the recipe and perfecting our technique and were happy with the results, the comments of a couple of the judges notwithstanding.


For desert we served a savory pumpkin and caramelized onion muffin with toasted pumpkin seeds and a homemade mascarpone and maple frosting. Since the muffin was more savory than sweet, the addition of the frosting proved to be critical. Although this dish turned out well, our opponents really nailed their desert and thus beat our score on this course.


We beat Dave and Carol by a score of 327 to 321. It's gratifying to win, however, going into this battle Sachiko and I had decided that if we won, we'd forfeit our next turn. We needed a break. As fun as the competition is, it is also a ton of work, expensive, and preparing for each battle consumes big chunks of precious weekend time. Fortunately, the judges and other participants all agreed that a break was in order; summer everyone realized, was not the time to spend indoors cooking. The next battle - Battle Chicken - will be held in late September. Until then, Sachiko and I look forward to cooking for ourselves and enjoying a summer free of battle.

Photos and descriptions of our competitor's dishes are posted on the Iron Chef Brooklyn Blog.