My Other Project

I think we need to talk, Joe Cooks Dinner and Stuff.

I've started another blog. I'm terribly sorry. Its not you, its me (well, and your readership). I just don't think everyone here cares about Wake Forest basketball as much as I do. So I don't think its appropriate for me to go on about offensive efficiency and +/- numbers here.

I promise I still want to be friends. I'll still cook (and stuff) and post here. Really, I promise. I mean, look I've still been posting here even though I've been going behind your back for over a month now. [Cue slap in the face]

Why did I wait to tell you? I wasn't sure it'd stick. I'm still not sure I'll keep it up. But I had to come clean.

I really hope you'll be able to forgive me.

Chocolate (lava) Cake

I decided to try and make chocolate lava cake for Mandy's birthday. I'm not entirely sure why I chose this, but Mandy likes chocolate so I'm sure that had something to do with it.

It was fairly easy to make, and I'll certainly try it again with one or two adjustments. I would be to only make two cakes (the recipe called to split the batter between 4 small ramekins). Between the baking time and the amount of batter in the ramekins (not enough), it was basically baked through. It came out more like a flourless chocolate cake than a chocolate lava cake. Luckily Mandy's was still fairly molten or however you want to describe it.


(These are 5 oz ramekins but look pretty large here for some reason)



2 large eggs
2 large egg yolks
5 tbsps butter
3 tbsps sugar
3.5 oz dark chocolate (basically one bar)
3 tbsps flour
4 tsps cocoa powder (teaspoons here)
pinch of salt
1/8 tsp vanilla

Butter the ramekins.

Whisk the eggs, yolks and sugar together until they are a light/lemony color.

Break the chocolate bar, melt with butter. Don't cook the butter to the point where it breaks down, just melt it all. Either do it real low in the microwave or in a double boiler setup.

Add the chocolate mixture to the egg mixture. Whisk until combined

Add cocoa powder and flour (sifted in). Add the pinch of salt and vanilla. Mix well.

Split the mixture between ramekins (it called for 4, but I would do 2). Tap down to get rid of air bubbles.

Wrap & chill for 30 minutes.

Pour hot water into the baking dish (should come halfway up the ramekins). Rest the ramekins in the dish. Bake at 425 for 15 to 18 minutes. Let cool for 15 minutes.

Kitchen Disaster

Whenever I make bacon, I drain off the fat into a bowl and place it somewhere in the kitchen to allow it to solidify.

What follows is a recipe for a kitchen disaster:

One bowl of bacon fat
Open window
Curtains
40 mph wind gusts

Place bowl near open window & curtains. Let sit overnight with heavy wind gusts.

See the picture below for optimal outcome.

Green Curry Chicken

Mandy suggested I make this for dinner for myself and I complied. I think she just really wanted me to get rid of the can of coconut milk that had been in our cupboard for months.


List of Ingredients:
About a pound of chicken (I used chicken thighs)
Green Curry Paste (about a tablespoon, I should've used more)
Two cloves garlic
Can of unsweetened coconut milk
Some chicken stock (I have no idea how much I put in, probably about 1/2 cup)
Handful of green beans
One red pepper


I heated the some olive oil with the two cloves of garlic and curry paste. I then sauteed the chicken until it was cooked almost entirely through. Then went in the remamining ingredients, which I brought to a boil, then simmered for about 20-25 minutes. While the curry was simmering I made my rice.

Pretty straight forward. It doesn't have a "complex" taste like you might encounter at a Thai restaurant, but its good enough for my dinner.

Random Deliciousness

I present to you, chicken fried in bacon fat.

They were eventually placed onto some nachos along with bacon, red peppers and cheese.

Delicious.

French Toast

Mandy recently baked some cinnamon bread. It was alright, although I believe she did not like it at all.

So in an effort to eat the entire loaf myself, I made a lot of french toast. I believe I made some for three or four straight days.

Where the bread failed as simple toast, it excelled as being the basis for french toast. I simply soaked the bread in an egg/milk/cinnamon mixture and then fried it in some butter. I served it (to myself) with a light dusting of cinnamon sugar.

The Maury Show!!

Oh man. What a day.

When Mandy and I first moved to New York, we decided we would try to be in the studio audience for as many shows as we could go to. I went to see Conan with some friends. A larger group of us (including Mandy) later saw The Colbert Report.

We were scheduled to go see a taping of Letterman, but something got canceled along the way and it was rescheduled to a time that Mandy couldn't go to. I decided to bail on that instead of going by myself.

So apparently while bored one day, I applied for tickets to the Maury Show. I basically forgot all about this until about two weeks ago when I got an email informing me that I had two tickets for a Wednesday taping.

We showed up at around 8am to the studio (which is located near Penn Station). We actually got to line up inside (better situation than the Colbert Report which was outside). They then lets us into a waiting room where we got to sit down and watch... The Maury Show!!! Well, it was just airing on the local channel here.

Eventually, they led us into the studio. Mandy and I were then placed in the front row. Not bad seats, except that a PA or someone of the sort sat right in front of us. Their job was to write prompts on big cue cards for the guests (gotta stick to the script right?). They also prompted the audience for reactions to whatever the guests were saying. This was a large step up from the dude at the Colbert Report who would come around during commercial breaks yelling, "YOU HAVE TO LAUGH LOUDER!!!! LAUGH LOUDER!!!!!" Very pleasant fellow.

Before Maury came out, the producer came on stage and asked if anyone wanted to dance on stage. This prompted about 20 girls to get up and do their thing to that terrible Beyonce song that has her singing about all the single ladies. When Maury finally came in, he proceeded to dance with the ladies. Good times.

During commercial breaks, Maury would pose with people on stage. Quite a show.

We were in the audience for two show tapings. The first was "I Suspect My Significant Other is Cheating" or something like that. There were "lie detector" tests involved. The second taping was all paternity tests.

One of the men subject to the paternity test had been on the show for three prior babies. He had been proven to not be the father in those three cases. When this test also came back negative, he ran around the audience with four fingers held up in each hand yelling "Four for Four!!! Four for Four!!!" high-fiving people as he went around. Very amusing.

For the second taping, a group of five clearly drunk people showed up with "Maury" spelled across their faces (i.e., one had "M", another "A", etc.). They were made to take the marker off their face. Very sad. The "M" continued to make a commotion, yelling out random comments during taping. The director eventually threw him and his friends out. It was welcomed by the audience.

Overally, it was a pretty decent experience. I'd say the two tapings were a little overboard, one would've been enough quality entertainment for one day.