Peter's Cooking Diary #7

Well this cooking was actually done a week ago, but I didn't get around to posting pictures. This recipe was a re-do of the chicken enchilada tamale pie, but this time with the right topping of prepared instant polenta. There will be another post later in the week with what I cook this week.

Seasoned the chicken with salt and pepper before putting them in the pan.

Cooking the chicken in the pan.

Cooking the other side of the chicken.

After cooking the chicken added a little water to the pan to let it finish cooking through.

Prepped onion, garlic, and spices.

Cooked onions and garlic in bacon grease.

Canned corn, creamed corn, black beans and enchilada sauce in the slow cooker.

The secret ingredient for the recipe is minute tapioca, it adds a little sweetness, and helps to thicken the enchilada ingredients.

All of the ingredients mixed in to the crock pot, ready for the polenta topping.

Water and polenta before cooking in the microwave.

After it was cooked I added cheese and butter to the polenta.

The polenta gets so thick once all the cheese and butter is mixed in.

Enchilada ingredients topped with cheesy, buttery polenta.

The finished product, its not exactly pretty, but it was even better than the previous attempt. This will definitely be something I make again.

Pacific Rim

I wanted to support this movie, it was an original idea, I really like most of the people involved with it including but not limited to Guillermo del Toro, Charlie Day, Charlie Hunnam, and Idris Elba. This movie isn't a rip off of the Transformers, its an homage to the kaiju movies of years past, movies like the old Godzilla movies, or movies of monsters similar to that.

Going into the movie, I knew it had some pretty good ratings, it was sitting at around 70% on Rotten Tomatoes. I know a lot of Guillermo del Toro's movies, and a lot of them have different monsters and creatures in them, and every single one of them that I have seen have been really well created, so I had very high hopes for what Guillermo and his team could create with this movie.

I am not the biggest fan of action movies, but this movie is definitely not a normal action movie. There are some great action sequences and also a lot more heart in this movie than I would have thought going in.

The premise of this movie is that a wormhole sort of crevice opens up in the deepest part of the Pacific Ocean, that these monsters, referred to as Kaiju, are traveling through. Kaiju is also the term used to refer to the Godzilla type Japanese movies with large monsters attacking cities. In response to these monsters slowly coming through the portal the world bands together to create giant robots names Jaegers, which is German for hunter, there is a screen before the movie even starts that states this about the words Kaiju and Jaeger, so I am definitely not spoiling anything.

The Jaegers require a 2 man team, and the 2 people mind meld in order to be able to fight as one, as the neural load to control one of them is too much for one person. So teams tend to be made up of people who are related to each other, as they have had similar experiences. These teams are able to kill the Kaiju, and in many cases keep them out of the cities on the northern Pacific coastline.

When the global funding for more Jaegers is cut, the few remaining teams must band together, bringing teams from China, Australia, and Russia all together.

There is a really interesting theme in this movie about dealing with loss, and also with family. There are some very sad moments in the movie, as well as some very emotionally compelling moments. This movie does a great job of showing what drives its main character, and establishes his motivation in the movie.

The movie has a little bit of humor, with Charlie Day being responsible for most of the laughs in the movie, but I would not call it a funny movie, but there is enough humor to break the tension from time to time.

I think this movie is really what I wanted the Godzilla movie made in the late 90's to be. Its entertaining, it has some great characters, it has really cool monsters, and some amazing action scenes. This is a good popcorn movie, it isn't going to blow your mind, but it will definitely entertain you. In my movie rankings, I am putting it ahead of World War Z as I found it more interesting and movie entertaining overall, but it did not reach the levels that were achieved in Iron Man 3.

6. Pain & Gain
5. World War Z
4. Pacific Rim
3. Iron Man 3
2. Star Trek Into Darkness
1. This Is the End

IFC Shows

I have really loved what IFC has done with their original comedies, in their attempts, they have 3 shows that I really love, and the also have the rights to reruns of several other shows. I just wanted to show a little love for these shows, and I hope they keep making more original content like these shows. These are not the types of comedies that you would see on network television, they each have their own specific style and voice, and I am really glad these types of shows have found a home somewhere.

Portlandia
I think Portlandia is their current flagship show so to speak. It has aired 3 seasons, and the premise is really just examining cartoonish character that are found throughout Portland, Oregon. Every scene has Fred and Carrie in it, in many cases they are dressed up in unusual costumes, and Fred definitely does some cross dressing. There are some characters that appear regularly, and others that are more one off in the show's run. I love the writing of the show, and really the creativity. I also love the theme song that gets stuck in my head every time I hear it. I believe the first 2 seasons can be found on Netflix if you want to check some of it out.

Maron
The first season on Maron aired this past spring, with a 10 episode run that ended a few weeks ago. I am hopeful that it will be renewed for a 2nd season. The show follows a fictionalized version of the shows creator and star Marc Maron. The show follows him through different situations in his life from dating, to dealing with internet trolls. The show definitely has his voice captured well, and it even incorporates his podcast WTF into the plot at times, and also brings in different stars that way as well. Marc Maron has definitely spent a long time trying to find his place in the comedy world, and he is finally hitting his stride with his own very unique voice. For people who are fans of Louie on FX, this show has a similar feel to that show. Hopefully this show will be available in Netflix eventually, but because it is so new, its not yet available there.

Comedy Bang Bang
Comedy Bang Bang is a show that has been in many forms, it was originally called Comedy Death Ray, and was a radio show as well as a weekly comedy show in Los Angeles. The shows changed its name to Comedy Bang Bang, and the stage show eventually went away, the creator and host of the show is Scott Aukerman. Both the tv show and the podcast show have appearances from both real celebrities, and comedians and improvisers playing all sorts of characters. The television show really is an absurdist's take on the normal late night talk show format, with many weird and bizarre moments. The shows band is Reggie Watts, if you haven't heard of him, you should definitely look up some of his videos on Youtube, he is able to create some amazing songs all on his own, no backing instruments at all, he uses tools to loop his own voices to make melodies. On the show Scott will have one celebrity guest and at least one character of some kind, you will see some of the funniest people in the comedy world making experiences. I will admit that this show might not fit everyone's sense of humor, but the weirdness of it really makes me laugh a lot. The first season of the show is found on Netflix, and the 2nd season of 20 episodes starts last night July 12th. I am a big fan of supporting comedy that I like so I would really like to get more people to watch the show if at all possible.

Like I said before, I really like that IFC has taken chances on such unique shows and letting the talents involved with the shows have their own creative control and vision. If you don't interfere too much on the network side, lots of amazing things can be made in television.

Life Update 07/07/2013

Well I just thought I would write a little bit of an update on my life and it would cover a few different areas. I didn't do any cooking this weekend so I don't have a cooking diary, but still wanted to write something, so this popped into my mind.

I have been spending more time adjusting back into living along and being single. I have really enjoyed the freedom of it. I really like being accountable to only myself, not that I do anything dangerous at all. I live a pretty simple life, and I am not complaining about that at all. I like staying up late watching random television, or being able to do what ever I want whenever I want.

I really think that doing that 5k has gotten me interested in running more than I ever was before. I love to go out for a jog, and do it most evenings. I go for a 3+ mile jog at least 4 days a week, but I have gone 7 times in a single week recently as well. I like getting out there any getting that workout in, and have already seen great improvements in the length of time I can run for without slowing down, and the distance I can go without being completely exhausted.

Now when I use the term jog, I really mean running intervals, I run until I can't run any longer, then I slow down for a few minutes before speeding up again. I tend to slow down when I am either out of breath, or my shin on knee start hurting. I have also spend a lot of time icing the things that hurt after running, I will sit down and cool down and stretch and then ice myself for a while.

I have honestly felt quite good even with all of this added exercise that I have been doing. It has really helped me sleep deeper at night, and It has definitely had its positive effects on my mental health as well. I just generally have had more confidence in myself since I started exercising more. Now I actually don't know if I have lots any weight, I would imagine so, but one of the 4 little pads on the bottom of my scale broke off, so it is impossible to get a consistent weight from it, I get like a 40 lb range, so I really have no idea where in that range I am. If I am at the bottom of it, then I am in a great place with my weight, but if I am in the top portion, then I need to work harder on it.

I have been sticking to my slow carb diet pretty closely, especially during the week and then only cheating on it a little on the weekends, which is part of the overall plan. I really wish i could go without cheating, but I really like certain foods that arent allowed on the slow carb diet, I have to find a happy medium of eating the foods I like, while also eating healthy and losing weight, I am hoping I am already heading in that direction.

Now I don't get into my relationships or my dating much at all on here, but I thought I would just write a little update on that as well. I have been out with some people, I have been able to find some fun people to talk to, but nothing that was long lasting, or any real connection for the most part, which is fine, I am not lonely, nor am I desperate. I am one who doesn't really like mind games, I am an extremely open and honest person. I like that in another person as well, but I have definitely felt like my mind has been messed with too much. If you someone isn't into me, I would prefer if that person was just honest with me. I don't have a problem with rejection, I can handle that, its the misleading per of it all that I really don't like.

Ok so that is enough with that rant, I have something more positive to share than that. I went out on a date recently that went really well. She and I really connected on a few different levels, and on the plus side she really gets my sense of humor, and has no problem making me laugh a ton. I just felt the urge to write a little bit about that, now I don't know what will come of this, and I also don't want to overstate anything, it has only been one date. I have enjoyed every interaction I have had with this girl though, I really hope that this continues going in the same positive direction.

Well that is all I have for today, thanks for reading!

Peter's Cooking Diary #6

Well this week, I definitely did a better job of taking pictures of what I cooked, so you have that to look forward to lower in what I am writing. 

Before I get to what I have been cooking/eating this week I wanted to write a little bit about produce selection. Both for ripeness, and to fit your taste. 

Every piece of fruit of vegetable that you buy in stores should at the very least be lightly inspected before being purchased. If you aren't sure what you look for in something, it is just a google search away, I bet there are even videos on youTube that you can look up that would give you information. Some produce you want to be firm, others you want to be softer, it really depends on the item. Avocados are a good example, you want them to be firm, with just a little give, but not soft, and definitely no air pockets. I like mine firm enough to hold their shape, but still soft, I also have a lot of experience in picking them out of the piles in grocery stores.

Now when it comes to cooking, I like trying different things and figuring out which type of something I like. I almost always use sweet onions, because I know that I prefer the flavor of them, and especially this time of year the most famous type of sweet onion the Vidalia onion is in season, and still has a very short season where they are available. I found this out by trying different types of onions in recipes. 

Now onto the food this week, I made pork chops in the slow cooker with a bacon and onion gravy, that makes my mouth water just from thinking about it. And on the sides I made some oven roasted broccoli and cauliflower with olive oil, garlic, salt, and pepper.

In my opinion, just about any good recipe starts with rendering out some bacon.

Once of the greatest things that I learned from my father is that you don't waste bacon grease, I always have a can of bacon grease for use if needed. One of the most flavorable fats available.

Onions, garlic, thyme, and red pepper flake cooking in some bacon grease.

Seasoning the pork chops before they hit the crock pot.

Pork chops nestled into the onions and garlic mixture, there is some cooked bacon in the pot too, not sure if you can see it in the picture.

Here is the pot after about 4 hours of cooking. Lots of juices have been cooked out and the onions have browned nicely.

The pork chops after they were removed from the pot and resting. Special appearance from my foot.

The delicious onion and bacon gravy!

The before shots of my cauliflower and broccoli on their pans.

After shot of the cauliflower, deliciously caramelized.

 The last picture is the assembly of my lunches for the week.

This is the End

I need to start this post by stating that I think I might have been the exact target audience for this movie, with the exception of me not being a pot smoker. What I mean by that is I have seen just about all of the movies involving these actors, and even before they were in movies the tv shows like Freaks and Geeks, and Undeclared, and I still love most of them. I knew the actors in this movie, even the smaller ones who weren't in the movie all that much. So going in, I think the cards were kind of stacked in my favor, I was probably a bit predisposed to liking this movie.

With that little preamble to this post, I absolutely loved this movie, to the extent that I want to see it again. The movie has lots of good laughs, some good jumpy/scary moments, and some enjoyable caricatures.

This movie did a really good job of combining the humor with the horror and the action. It is still a comedy first, but there is a strong element of horror mixed in. I laughed so hard that I teared up a few times during the movie, many big laughs in the movie.

This is the first movie directed by writing partners Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, they have written a few movies, my favorite coming into this was Superbad, but they had not previously directed a movie, so this was a bit of an experiment for them.

I think that this is definitely the best written movie they have done, although I guess its not known how much of the movie was actually written and how much was ad libbed on the spot. Once the characters were a bit defined I think they probably let the actors go with it a little bit.

The whole movie is these guys making fun of themselves, like I said before, they are caricatures of themselves. Taking what the public perception of them is and making fun of it. I loved Jonah Hill's character the most, just so wonderfully condescending especially to Jay Baruchel. I loved how all of the guys got to make fun of each other in the movie too, not only the actors making fun of themselves, but their friends as well. James Franco actually painted all of the paintings that are found in his house, which definitely poke fun at his perceived pretentiousness, thats a word right?

I could not recommend this movie more, I think this is my favorite movie so far this year, I will discuss that more below. I went to the movie with my friend Matt, and he didn't quite like the movie as much. The difference in our movie tastes is that I definitely lean much more towards comedies than he does, he liked it but thought it was weird. I like weirdness in a movie. I think the fact that this movie was weird and in my opinion very original is what sold me on it. Not only are the actors playing fake versions of themselves, but they are doing so in an apocalyptic situation. To me this movie seemed quite a bit like Ghostbusters, combining humor and horror so well, I must admit I am not the one who came up with that comparison, but i agree with it. If you have interest in this movie, definitely go see it, then talk to me about it.

To end this post I am introducing my movie rankings which I will adjust and put at the bottom of each new movie post that I see, then I will likely do a year end wrap up post:

5. Pain & Gain- just terrible, fuck Michael Bay
4. World War Z-  not bad, not great, a decent popcorn movie
3. Iron Man 3- Well above Iron Man 2 in my book, but didn't reach the quality of the first Iron Man
2. Star Trek Into Darkness- Really enjoyed the movie, liked it more than the first
1. This Is the End- Humor is what boostedn This is the End above Star Trek, humor is what really gets me

Peter's Cooking Diary #5

I just wanted to start this of with a little bit of an update on my diet, I haven't really been gaining any weight, but I also haven't been losing any, so I thought I would adjust it back to the original slow carb diet that I had so much success with in the past. I am only on the 2nd day of it really, but I know it can work, and I just know I need to stick with it for a while. I also think that I will take it easy on cheat days, where as I used to just go nuts til I almost puked. I know I will still crave sweets, but I got through it for quite a long time successfully before, I also know that my exercise level will be much higher than it was when I went off the diet last time.

I would really love to reach my goal of being down to 300 lbs by the end of the year, I know thats a lot of weight to drop, but I really think I can do it. I just need to try harder, and really focus myself on the goal.  I went to Chipotle today for dinner, which I think will be my go to restaurant for dinner if I need to go out, its not too pricey. I get a burrito bowl with no rice, a scoop of each beans, carnitas, medium salsa and corn salsa, sour cream, cheese, and guacamole. It tastes amazing every time I have it.

I am reluctant to say that I just completely forgot to take any pictures of the food I cooked this week. I will really try to take better pictures next time.

To start things off this week, I made another batch of the over roasted sweet corn that I had mentioned last week. I was lucky to get the corn on a great sale at the local grocery store, this time I inspected it at the store, and actually shucked it in the store, so I didn't have to worry about the mess at home. They have bins to put the husks into next to the corn for a reason. This corn turned out a little bit better, and I gave it a squeeze of lime along with a little bit of cilantro.

To go with the corn I made some cuban style black beans in the slow cooker with smoked ham hocks which go a long way to adding salt and smoky flavor to the beans, along with the seasonings of cumin and oregano. I have made this same recipe of black beans before, and I really can't think of a way to make the recipe any better, you win this round America's Test Kitchen! *shakes fist*

The last thing I made this week was some marinated chicken breasts to go on top of salads. I like buying the marinated chicken breasts from the meat department at the grocery store, this week they happened to be on sale. I was going to marinate my own, which I will have to do some time, just so I know how to do it.