Welcome to the IHoP

[dem beats 1,223]

I'd like to learn how to use the oven, but meh I don't eat much out of it so I am not in a hurry.

Oven is almost as easy as scrambling eggs or grilling a steak

By oven I don't mean for roasting, braising, broiling. Those are no problem. The one that troubles me is baking. Why the fuck is a good croissant not something I know how to make. etc...

It's interesting you mention that. I used to bake more than cook. Now it's the reverse.

When growing up I never purchased bread. NEVER. Now I buy 2 loaves of crap a week. I don't eat it. I RARELY eat bread, or any grain for that matter.

[nem 2,019]

laugh at Matt TOP

I was laughing too. it was especially funny watching jack try to keep one paw off the snow at all times. Poor guy.

It's downright silly watching a 180 pound pup prance around looking all pathetic, but still trying to have fun in the snow.

Give him time he will come around. Our mastif loves rolling in the snow and then running back in the house and shaking.

[///M5 2,833]

2 down, 1 to go

Holy fack!!

??

1 to go, fuckin sweet!!

I know dude!

yikes, though

That is exactly why the Fack and not fuck. A little Yikes and Sweet all mixed together.

[///M5 2,833]

I bought a Xmas tree today. Asked for the biggest (they were all squished/froze from transport). Put it in the living room and holy shit did it get big. Probably 9' tall and 6' in diameter at the bottom. Didn't realize it was going to be that big. Make my shit look small

Later, it is in the corner looking sad right now. Perhaps it will get decorated on Saturday. Then I can take pics.

[///M5 2,833]

I'm thinking about doing a whole beef rib for a large "fancy" holiday meal.

Has anyone tried this or have a good recipie?

BGE baby. The only question is do you use high heat to start/brown it or to finish.

Around here, BGE = Baltimore Gas & Electric. So something of an initial reaction of hatred occurs when it is mentioned.

At my house it bring forth feelings of joy and sometimes the urge to snuggle with it's dimpled green exterior.... Maybe not when it's hot though.....

That is the one advantage of the C4, the stainless doesn't really get hot. Not even when I'm eggin' at 500 deg.

It's insulated that well? It's a big price jump from BGE to c4, so it makes sense.

Pretty amazing!

Stainless isn't such a good conductor, ie it's an insulator. Other than that no real difference. I think the ceramic is a little thicker, but I surely can't say it is worth $2700 instead of $700. Occasionally I get a wild hair up my ass and have to go over the top...okay I always have a wild hair up my ass, but either way fuck it. It's just money.

<--does have a HUGE list of things $2k could have been used better on.

[///M5 2,833]

I'd like to learn how to use the oven, but meh I don't eat much out of it so I am not in a hurry.

Oven is almost as easy as scrambling eggs or grilling a steak

By oven I don't mean for roasting, braising, broiling. Those are no problem. The one that troubles me is baking. Why the fuck is a good croissant not something I know how to make. etc...

It's interesting you mention that. I used to bake more than cook. Now it's the reverse.

When growing up I never purchased bread. NEVER. Now I buy 2 loaves of crap a week. I don't eat it. I RARELY eat bread, or any grain for that matter.

My problem is that I have no formal training at all, which means I taste all along the process and adjust. It drives my wife nuts as she regularly asks me for recipes and I have absolutely no amounts, just approximations. To me cooking is a technique piece that is interactive, baking is a black art where you whip some shit up and throw it in a hot box until it is done. Much more difficult.

I also don't know really what more baking powder, soda, etc does to doughs. Sure I know their purpose and have a rudimentary understanding but doctoring recipes or ignoring what is written isn't something I can do. To me that means I don't know what I am doing as I NEVER follow a recipe when I cook. I might take 5 different ones and put them together, but I don't ever follow a single one.

I have more of an Alton Brown approach in the kitchen, not that I am a fan of recipes but I love his explanations. After hearing them I remember and know how to deal with things. Of course, imagine that a Physicist liking a scientific approach to something. LOL.

[///M5 2,833]

And yes when in doubt, I search for his recipes first. Not for the contents, but the techniques as I am sure they are solid. Regularly his flavorings are a bit bland for me, but that is super easy to doctor.

[///M5 2,833]

I do make Neapolitan style pizzas all the time from home made dough, but that also isn't baking as I don't have an oven that will hit 700 degrees. They either get cooked on the Viking or my gas grill, either of which work.

And no, I didn't buy some stupid $30 pizza stone that is only 1/4" thick that will crack when you put a cold dough on it. I have a 1" slate tile I paid $1.99 for at Home depot. The crust gets way nicer on it as well since it is more porous and seems to do better in the moisture game than a smooth "cleanable" stone from a kitchen store.

Amusingly my wife bought a Pampered Chef stone at a party she went to a few years back right after I bought the C4. The first time I used it, it shattered in the pre-heating stage.

[///M5 2,833]

morning whore is teh finished

[dem beats 1,223]

OK, now I have a moment.

Long post, but it's where I come from. I don't talk about it often.

My bad choices.

by: matt 2

I can't really say this without sounding like an a-hole, or a prick. All I know is I learned my lesson.

In elementary I tested in a college reading comp level. Also way higher science and math skills. I was that kid, teachers pet yada yada yada. I was also an a-hole and didn't like homework. I felt it was unjust. It didn't affect my grades really though. I was in the same "book level" of education for 3 years. I was first in state for saxaphone also and in a few "gifted programs". They called them something else to make the kids who weren't in them feel ok about it. I was also in an international music program and almost went to australia as a child music ambasador. Basically talented enough along with 2 other random kids from the hood who were way above normal skill level that our school got new instruments and grants because of us and our program.

Then came midle school. I ended up in the most violent middle school in the nation, and day one walked into music class, got handed a rusty(it was actually green and had scale on it) saxaphone, and I literally walked out of the class because I thought it was below me. Still in these "advanced" classes though just dropped the music thing, tried teaching myself piano, but I had an organ. It's not the same. I was insanely sheltered up to this point too, and then being introduced to a knife fight on my 2nd day of school and getting knocked in the eye on my first by someone I didn't know was a culture shock. Maintained A-B's in all my classes, but I was held out of skipping classes and put into algebra for 2 years. I basically learned nothing in any class but my advanced placement class and got my ass kicked. Lots of gang violence, specifically in SE Asain gangs. I'm lucky my best friend(basically my brother) is Chinease. I was nearly killed after one stupid fight.

Highschool. On standard testing I ranked in the top 7%-2% nationally. I was put into what was in my eyes considered remedial math, english and social studies. I applied 2 times every year for both post secondary classes and to get into the International Bacheloriate program. Here's the problem, they both cost the school money per student to do this aparently. Unless the student was a minority or below the poverty line. My name never came up in the "random" shuffling after the poorest kids got their chance. My school was so messed up that if your parents didn't fill out your "free lunch" application they would suspend you untill they did. If you took too long it could lead to expulsion. I became good friends with some of the advanced class teachers so I would sit in on their classes at their request, other teachers would either have me tutor other kids. Some of my teachers were PhD's or working on theirs, and would let me read their text books or sit with me after school and talk. I mostly helped english teachers tutor, I taught a top pick college draft kid how to read actually.... Eventually I just stopped showing up to class other than monday and friday for normal classes and my extra morning class before school opened for japonease, and a class called "theory of knowledge". I also wrestled but since my grades were so bad my coach would just tell me to break other teams heavy weights at tournaments that didn't count for placing. Or to put the whoop a$$ on the other fat boys who tried out for the team. I stopped going all together at some point because I was bored, and I thought someone may care since I was a minor. They didn't.

I had been working near full time since I was 14, so I just continuied on with that. Then I got into sales and started making double my mothers income at 20 years old. I hung out with people who I thought I knew but didn't. Got effed over. It happens. Went through a forclosure when gas went up to 3 bucks a gallon(the first time) and I took a ~15-20k a year demotion as the DManager took my store durring his demotion. Now I do the M-F grind after burning out in retail/sales management for 11 years. 70 hours weeks got old.

Now, my mom was not an imbicile, but she didn't know how to deal with a child like me, and she certainly didn't know how to fight a school system. I was probably pure hell to deal with. No one really to blame other than me. I should have taken the easy A's, gone to the U of M and got a degree in chem eng and pharmacology and gone to work for phiser.

I learned my lessons though and am better for it. Just not as good as I could have been.

[dem beats 1,223]

laugh at Matt TOP

I was laughing too. it was especially funny watching jack try to keep one paw off the snow at all times. Poor guy.

It's downright silly watching a 180 pound pup prance around looking all pathetic, but still trying to have fun in the snow.

Give him time he will come around. Our mastif loves rolling in the snow and then running back in the house and shaking.

.... I better finish my cabinets!

[dem beats 1,223]

I'm thinking about doing a whole beef rib for a large "fancy" holiday meal.

Has anyone tried this or have a good recipie?

BGE baby. The only question is do you use high heat to start/brown it or to finish.

Around here, BGE = Baltimore Gas & Electric. So something of an initial reaction of hatred occurs when it is mentioned.

At my house it bring forth feelings of joy and sometimes the urge to snuggle with it's dimpled green exterior.... Maybe not when it's hot though.....

That is the one advantage of the C4, the stainless doesn't really get hot. Not even when I'm eggin' at 500 deg.

It's insulated that well? It's a big price jump from BGE to c4, so it makes sense.

Pretty amazing!

Stainless isn't such a good conductor, ie it's an insulator. Other than that no real difference. I think the ceramic is a little thicker, but I surely can't say it is worth $2700 instead of $700. Occasionally I get a wild hair up my ass and have to go over the top...okay I always have a wild hair up my ass, but either way fuck it. It's just money.

<--does have a HUGE list of things $2k could have been used better on.

You could have had 3 BGE's and spend the other 600 on meat and seafood

Yours is real... real pretty though. As long as it's some kind of improvement it can be justified.

[nem 2,019]

laugh at Matt TOP

I was laughing too. it was especially funny watching jack try to keep one paw off the snow at all times. Poor guy.

It's downright silly watching a 180 pound pup prance around looking all pathetic, but still trying to have fun in the snow.

Give him time he will come around. Our mastif loves rolling in the snow and then running back in the house and shaking.

.... I better finish my cabinets!

Might be a good idea as everything will get wet from floor to ceiling.

[///M5 2,833]

Matt, we all make bad choices in particular when we are young. Sounds to me like you didn't have the guidance you needed which really sucks. This is the whole problem in our society if you ask me, we do not as a whole want others to succeed and help them to do so. All this talk of education reform and spending dollars on schools is a complete waste if we can't motivate the teachers to want EVERY child to succeed. This should be step one.

Our upbringing sounds similar, except I was sheltered in Moorhead where teachers actually gave a shit. I was pushed in school to apply to Ivy league schools and offered recommendations to help me get in. Some of the staff were bummed when I chose to stay in MN and go to Carleton instead of Darmouth, Yale, or Brown but the difference in financial aid was amazing leaving me no choice since I had to pay for everything myself.

[dem beats 1,223]

And yes when in doubt, I search for his recipes first. Not for the contents, but the techniques as I am sure they are solid. Regularly his flavorings are a bit bland for me, but that is super easy to doctor.

We are eye to eye. I'm also glad someone else thinks of his cooking as a little "bland". Maybe that's the intent.

Sceince and technical mastery shall prevail over fancy shtuff and spice is kind of his method. The KISS method.

[dem beats 1,223]

Matt, we all make bad choices in particular when we are young. Sounds to me like you didn't have the guidance you needed which really sucks. This is the whole problem in our society if you ask me, we do not as a whole want others to succeed and help them to do so. All this talk of education reform and spending dollars on schools is a complete waste if we can't motivate the teachers to want EVERY child to succeed. This should be step one.

Our upbringing sounds similar, except I was sheltered in Moorhead where teachers actually gave a shit. I was pushed in school to apply to Ivy league schools and offered recommendations to help me get in. Some of the staff were bummed when I chose to stay in MN and go to Carleton instead of Darmouth, Yale, or Brown but the difference in financial aid was amazing leaving me no choice since I had to pay for everything myself.

Based on test scores my junior year and probably the fact I was learning Japonease and from MN(we do/used to do more trade with Japan than the cost BTW) I was offered a schollarship to international buisness school in Hawaii

[nem 2,019]

Only 7 scheduled work days until Jan. 4th

[dem beats 1,223]

I'm not burned so bad over it anymore.

My mom had her own issues, and was a single parent. My mom and Gpa taught me an extreme work ethic. I can shovel poo so long as I don't find it unethical and it pays. I learned also that money is everywhere. All over. Just need to get it.

You may understand this, and I hope no one else is offended, but when I was in school I had a very hard time talking to people. I had a huge lack in social skills, but that's not why.

It was literally painfull sometimes to grind my brain down to a different speed. It's a bit like when a pro ball player plays a pick up game with overweight 5'7" can't jump white boys with sweat bandanas. My brain had to scale back so badly. It's probably a huge dose of late in life diagnosed ADD/ADHD too.

I think... at this point in my life if I could have made the change I would have become an MD, and done research and work at being a head of some practice somewhere.

[dem beats 1,223]

Whiney brat TOP.

[///M5 2,833]

I'm not burned so bad over it anymore.

My mom had her own issues, and was a single parent. My mom and Gpa taught me an extreme work ethic. I can shovel poo so long as I don't find it unethical and it pays. I learned also that money is everywhere. All over. Just need to get it.

You may understand this, and I hope no one else is offended, but when I was in school I had a very hard time talking to people. I had a huge lack in social skills, but that's not why.

It was literally painfull sometimes to grind my brain down to a different speed. It's a bit like when a pro ball player plays a pick up game with overweight 5'7" can't jump white boys with sweat bandanas. My brain had to scale back so badly. It's probably a huge dose of late in life diagnosed ADD/ADHD too.

I think... at this point in my life if I could have made the change I would have become an MD, and done research and work at being a head of some practice somewhere.

Understood and agreed completely. Still hard everyday. Part of the reason I always multi-task and am on here all the time. If I focus only on what I am "doing" I get pissed off, I need to do 2 things at once all the time.

[dem beats 1,223]

I think it's why I am good at customer service. It's constant stimuli. It's a waste of my talent, my brain rotts and collects dust, but I am constantly forced to change brain patterns depending on who I talk to. And I can always be thinking something else in my mind, or be here.

[dem beats 1,223]

AnywhooOOo

I'm praying the wife gets a promotion when she's done with school, and if I can hold down this working stiff gig untill I get another home or 2 under the belt I can either go to school, or start my own buisness full time.

[todd.brust 29]

I'm not burned so bad over it anymore.

My mom had her own issues, and was a single parent. My mom and Gpa taught me an extreme work ethic. I can shovel poo so long as I don't find it unethical and it pays. I learned also that money is everywhere. All over. Just need to get it.

You may understand this, and I hope no one else is offended, but when I was in school I had a very hard time talking to people. I had a huge lack in social skills, but that's not why.

It was literally painfull sometimes to grind my brain down to a different speed. It's a bit like when a pro ball player plays a pick up game with overweight 5'7" can't jump white boys with sweat bandanas. My brain had to scale back so badly. It's probably a huge dose of late in life diagnosed ADD/ADHD too.

I think... at this point in my life if I could have made the change I would have become an MD, and done research and work at being a head of some practice somewhere.

Understood and agreed completely. Still hard everyday. Part of the reason I always multi-task and am on here all the time. If I focus only on what I am "doing" I get pissed off, I need to do 2 things at once all the time.

I have the same issues. My mind is always racing, and sometimes when I talk, I just mumble or stutttter. I've learned to live with it and try to control it. I am always multi tasking too. I'll be on here, doing homework, downloading music, and talking to people in the same room all at the same time. I do everything I need to do, just not as fast as it could be done if I could concentrate on a single task. ADHD ftw!

[///M5 2,833]

Exactly what I'd like to do, just haven't figured out the business yet

[todd.brust 29]

Got a call from a friend this morning, She woke up on someones couch and had no idea where she was until she looked out the window.

The things people do in college.