Cooking... by the seat of my Pants! » Personal Ramblings

Meet Stumpy, or: How I spent my Father’s day weekend

Jerry — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 21:36:08 +0000

Completely un-food related, but such a memorable experience that I had to share!

This is Stumpy. He’s been a fixture in my yard for a year now. Sort of like an unwelcome relative who’s overstayed their welcome, Stumpy has been cluttering the corner of my front lawn, constantly reminding me of just how badly I wanted him gone.

This week was it. I decided Stumpy and I finally had to go our separate ways. My lawn needed to be a place of joy, serenity and a lack of stumps, so I started digging stumpy out.

It was a long process and was progressing little by little and day by day. My boys and I would dig, chop and muck for an hour or two, satisfied in the knowledge that Stumpy was just a little closer to gone. I was at it again on Friday morning, about 40 minutes in, and at the three-quarter finished mark when something randomly wonderful occurred.

A delivery driver with a massive forklift stopped in front of the house and offered to give stumpy a boost. Mind you, this was happy news to the sweaty guy with axe in-hand who was whacking away at yet another huge root. Even if the man only got the tree a little looser, life would be a LOT easier, so I said sure!

I mean really; How often does someone with a very expensive piece of equipment stop and offer to help you with a really nasty project out of the kindness of their heart, at no cost, when they should just be getting back to the office? It isn’t an offer I’m going to pass up.

So massive forklift met massive tree in a fairly epic battle. For a few minutes it looked like Stumpy would come out the winner, but he eventually succumbed to the sheer might of the two-tined tree killer. But not without getting some measure of vengeance on us for the audacity of clearing him out. He took my water main with him. … [visit site to read more]

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Post tags: Personal, Personal Ramblings, Stumpy, trees, water mains

8 ways common pantry supplies could help you survive a zombie outbreak

Jerry — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 19:11:40 +0000

It’s that time of the Apocalypse calendar again. Zombie outbreaks loom on the horizon and here at CbsoP, we take these things seriously. In this edition I’m going to give you a few pointers for ways that common pantry items could help save you and your family during a possible zombie outbreak. Read carefully, this information could save your life.

This information is presented in no specific order of importance. I know that not all pantries contain the same ingredients, so I’ll try to be as general as possible, hoping that I can cover at least a few of the items that you might already have at hand during a trying time like this…

… [visit site to read more]

© Jerry D. Russell and Cooking... by the seat of my Pants!.com, 2010. | Permalink | 5 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: April fools, for laughs, funnies, funny, Humor, Personal Ramblings, Zombies

The lingering blech’s

Jerry — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 00:47:42 +0000

If you’ve been wondering whether or not I’ve taken off for a lovely all-inclusive vacation on some lovely Caribbean island, or perhaps joined a very exclusive internet free monastery you would be wrong on both counts. I do have to say though, that either one of these things would have been far preferable to the reality of my life over the past 6 weeks or so.

Unfortunately, I’ve been ill. first there was a staph infection and 10 days of antibiotics that laid me out on the sofa for a full … [visit site to read more]

© Jerry D. Russell and Cooking... by the seat of my Pants!.com, 2010. | Permalink | 4 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: antibiotics, Illness, life in general, Personal Ramblings, sickies

They were joking, right?

Jerry — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 14:00:00 +0000

We all love top ten lists. As a society we’re obsessed by them. We gravitate towards sites with lists of the most famous, the best dressed (and worst dressed), the most influential and lists of biggest mishaps that have happened to celebrities. All we have to give is “The top ten reasons” for anything and there’s an audience for it somewhere. (Which reminds me. I need to do a few more list posts…)

Lists are great when they are done correctly but can quickly become a reputation train wreck if implemented poorly. You have to be sure to quantify the list you are presenting in the right manner. Failure to do so can result in reader confusion, blatant disregard for the information or worse, out-and-out revolt over the information you so laboriously gathered.

The reason for this cautionary tale is a list posted on slashfood.com titled The Ten Hottest Women in the Food Industry. In concept the post would be fine. It’s actually a pretty neat list as far as lists go. Sure, some will balk at the beauty pageant aspect of it, but hey, it’s good for a few comments and a light read, right? … [visit site to read more]

© Jerry D. Russell and Cooking... by the seat of my Pants!.com, 2010. | Permalink | 3 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: blogging, Food Snob Chronicles, Food Snobbery, good blogging, Personal Ramblings, readers, The Food Snob Chronicles, writing

Back to basics

Jerry — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 19:10:22 +0000

Now that we’re in the new year, I thought I’d talk a little about the direction that Cooking by the seat of my Pants will be taking this year. For this blog the theme of the year is “back to basics”.

In all my writing here I have neclected the simpler items that grace our family table, this is completely wrong, and needs to be stopped. Who am I tho assume that everyone in the world knows how to make brown gravy, or a bechamel?

It is sometimes hard to remember what it was like when I was … [visit site to read more]

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Post tags: blog news, Events, news, Personal Ramblings

Happy New Year

Jerry — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 23:57:01 +0000

I’m in agreement with my good friend Peter this year. No long speeches, no resolutions, no fuss. Just wishes to you and yours for a very happy and safe new … [visit site to read more]

© Jerry D. Russell and Cooking... by the seat of my Pants!.com, 2010. | Permalink | 3 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: cbsop, new year, Personal Ramblings, thank you

What are your Halloween Traditions?

Jerry — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 01:29:43 +0000

As a kid I was, as are most children, a huge fan of October 31st. I find that as I got older, I don’t care for the holiday as much, but I was wondering… What are your Halloween traditions?

Do you celebrate Halloween? If so, is it trick-or-treating or just watching a bunch of scary movies throughout the month? do you look forward to costume parties and get-togethers or are you more the sit-home and pass out candy type? Are you involved at all, or do you just turn off the porch light … [visit site to read more]

© Jerry D. Russell and Cooking... by the seat of my Pants!.com, 2009. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Halloween, holidays, Personal Ramblings

Out with the new, in with the True

Jerry — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 21:24:17 +0000

I mentioned in an earlier post that I was completely disenchanted with the new theme I designed for Cooking, by the seat of my Pants! After just a few weeks of looking at This:

I had determined that it simply wasn’t going to work for this blog, … [visit site to read more]

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Post tags: Personal Ramblings, Site News

Forgive me Father…

Jerry — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 19:24:41 +0000

OK, this isn’t at all involved with food, but it’s interesting enough that I felt it had to be shared, so please allow a short digression. I promise it will make you think for a minute, if nothing else.

Watch the video before reading on, if you please. You won’t understand the rest of the post if you don’t…

visit site to read more]

© Jerry D. Russell and Cooking... by the seat of my Pants!.com, 2009. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Personal Ramblings, shopping, Shopping Alerts

Salami Sandwich With Tomatoes and Parmesan – and Thoughts on Being a Food Blogger.

Jerry — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 01:23:46 +0000

If you’re wondering why I would take the time to post a recipe for a simple salami sandwich, I assure you that there is a very valid point behind this entry. The idea stemmed from a comment in a twitter conversation that got me thinking about a few things. That idea simply could not go without being written because I think that it pertains to every food blogger in existence at least at one time or another.

This post is dedicated in particular to my good friend Judy from No Fear Entertaining. It was a the following tweet that got me thinking about food today. In particular, it got me thinking about what food is good food, and what is worth serving to family, friends or acquaintances.

I was checking my twitterstream when the following popped up from Judy (You are following her on twitter, aren’t you?):

@nofearentertain Dinner tonight: Ham and salami sandwiches…I suck :-(

Of course several of us chimed in to say there was absolutely nothing wrong with this idea as a meal (To be entirely honest, I was contemplating the sandwich above long before she brought the subject up), but the statement itself got me thinking about food bloggers and how the act of being a food blogger changes our idea of what food should be. It also started me thinking about how it changes our perspective in relation to every person out there who might someday read what we’ve written.

Regardless of whether we make our money directly from our writing, food bloggers are in a sense professional foodies. We follow the latest news in food, chefs and restaurants. We seek out unique and pristine ingredients. We insatiably follow food trends and at times even create the trends that the rest of the world follows. In one way or another we define our lives in the food that we eat, the places we congregate and the meals we prepare, but in the process we disconnect ourselves from the world at large.

The quest for perfection that we engage ourselves in has an unfortunate side effect for almost every one of us at one point. It causes our focus to shift from what good food is at its core to a strange belief that the ingredients make the dish. Nothing is farther from the truth. The primary ingredient in great food is the love that goes into it, not whether or not the cheese used on the side was organically cultured three miles underground and cased in fine port for seven years. (Though that does sound lovely!)

Art Smith attributes his success as as a chef to preparing the food he loves with all the love he can. The world seems to agree. Art is acclaimed for his dishes. They aren’t fancy. They aren’t pompous. They aren’t even gourmet in the fashion that most would consider a meal called gourmet food. They’re just good modern interpretations of good old fashioned Southern American meals.

Take the humble sandwich above. Today I think nothing of it. It’s something I might make on any given day. A simple assemblage of ingredients that are invariably on hand in my refrigerator and pantry. On any other occasion I would have enjoyed it without ever really appreciating it, but the thought of what makes up a truly great dish placed it firmly under scrutiny.

To a foodie it’s a simple sandwich. To my younger self it would have been a gourmet extravaganza. As a child I had never experienced such things as spicy brown mustard or shaved Parmesan cheese. Romain lettuce was something you found as a garnish on plates at some of the better restaurants, not something used on a sandwich. Parmesan cheese came in a green shaker can that went in the fridge next to the Miracle Whip and grape jelly.

The sandwich above was as far from my experience as escargot. I wouldn’t have gotten it. It would have been gourmet in the extreme.

That is not to say w didn’t eat a lot of salami sandwiches. Growing up in the primarily Italian California wine country gave me the opportunity to eat a great deal of salami. It was generally enjoyed with sourdough bread from the Sonoma French Bakery and some wonderful aged cheddar from our local delicatessen, with a hint of mustard and all the love my mother could put into it.

I never noticed that it wasn’t up to par.

So to all food bloggers out there, and to any aspiring foodie who may find themselves looking at the ingredients list before they look at the faces around their table. Please don’t forget what the real meaning of great food is. It’s not the ingredients. It’s not the cost, nor the complicated French method necessary to create the sauce. It’s the love that went into the making of a dish that gives it value.

So to my good friend Judy I say again; There is absolutely nothing wrong with serving ham and salami sandwiches for dinner. They may be more appreciated by the younger members of your clan that would a perfect Coq au Vin, they’re a lot less complicated to make and I have no doubt in my mind that when prepared in your household they are infused with all the love in the world.

Food is love. Let us not forget that in the details.

… [visit site to read more]

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Post tags: attitudes, bread, food blogging, greens, impressions, Parmesan, Personal Ramblings, Recipes, salami, Sandwich