Neuski.com

Nashville Skyline

Sat, 13 Mar 2010 21:12:33 -0600

I have started another blog, Nashville Skyline, to showcase photos of Nashville’s skyline. I thought about limiting it to photos only taken from the Shelby Street Pedestrian Bridge, which are the most cliché Nashville photos. But I love unique views of downtown so the range of angles will be wide. I found photos from the 60’s & 80’s that will be making their way out of the queue in a few weeks.

I spent a few hours this afternoon tweaking the Yay, Hooray! theme by rnch. I really like the header & font so I decided to tweak it instead of starting fresh. I’m very pleased with the final product.

Hypothesis: My Pan Was Too Small

Sat, 13 Mar 2010 18:18:00 -0600

Hypothesis: My Pan Was Too Small

Drop Grandma's Checklist

Sat, 13 Mar 2010 16:03:00 -0600

I started thinking about a Facebook status while I was mixing banana bread batter. My friend had admitted defeat in the battle of making pie crusts. I started thinking about my pie crust experiences and recipe. I haven’t made many pies in my life but the crust has been delicious each time. (This exception is the lack of beautiful, fluted edges. I blame my big fingers.) The recipe I use was written by Ina Garten. It is easy to follow yet specific. Overall, it hasn’t failed me yet.

Good recipes are more than ingredients and proportions; they have good instructions. Ina’s recipe instructs bakers to return the chopped butter to the refrigerator before cutting it in. She also notes to use iced water and store the dough in the fridge for even more chilling. The goal of these steps is to keep the butter cold so that it doesn’t melt until baking which results in the flaky crust Fat Tyler desires. Her extra steps ensure that the dough stays cold for all readers which is why it is a good recipe.

I found a few recipes from a cookbook that belonged to Beth’s grandma Leona that ironically was printed by the church Beth’s paternal grandma, Eileen, belonged to. All of the pie crust recipes, including “No-Fail Pie Crust” do not mention the temperature of the butter or at least creating the crust quickly. But they didn’t need to. These women could whip up a crust quickly and never had to worry about the butter melting. The problem is when I follow the recipe I’m not familiar or experienced with the process so I naturally take a longer time. Therefore my pie suffers. Their recipes were written for themselves so they naturally leave out information. After reading The Checklist Manifesto (I highly recommend it.), I now understand that checklists shouldn’t have every step listed, only those that are commonly missed. Your Grandma’s recipe is a checklist which makes for a poor recipe to hand down but a great document for her.

I respect recipes handed down but I think that cooks & bakers need to understand that the reason grandma’s pie is delicious is because the majority of the recipe, specifically the steps, were in her head. And that she made the pie with a lot of love. I urge you to look at the recipes handed down to you by others and recognize when the nostalgia is outweighed by a poor product. Look for a better recipe that you can hand down to your family that will ensure they can show up at family gathering with a pie that will make everyone else’s look like shit.

There are plenty of sources available for recipes that will make you look like a rockstar. My current favorites are Cooks Illustrated & King Arthur Flour. Recipes from them are tested thoroughly by qualified people that want to ensure you can recreate their products. They use science and a lot of tests until a recipe is foolproof. You can’t say that about grandma can you?

For the record, my Grandma Neu’s apple pie still makes me giddy even if “mine” is better.

Profile

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 23:59:13 -0600

Profile

I removed yogurt, cream cheese, rotten lemon, empty bags,...

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 17:48:06 -0600

I removed yogurt, cream cheese, rotten lemon, empty bags, Tupperware, box of cereal, juice from rotted fruit, salad dressing, queso dip.

The clouds are teasing me by whispering, “Come play with...

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 15:34:02 -0600

The clouds are teasing me by whispering, “Come play with us.”

I am purging all unlabeled items in the refrigerator at work this afternoon. I’m giddy to get...

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 11:22:39 -0600

I am purging all unlabeled items in the refrigerator at work this afternoon. I’m giddy to get rid of the expired yogurt, anicent peanut butter, and any surprises hiding in the back.

Grass Boycott I am all smiles seeing her charge and then stop on...

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 11:18:00 -0600

Grass Boycott

I am all smiles seeing her charge and then stop on a dime. Those Crocs are sweet too! The temptation for time with Squeezy Cheeks is strong.

Park It! Downtown Beginning Monday, March 15 (for the Muse...

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 11:09:53 -0600

Park It! Downtown

Beginning Monday, March 15 (for the Muse concert) and continuing through May 31, 2010, Lot R at LP Field will be open for FREE parking with optional round-trip shuttle service for only $3 per person during every Bridgestone Arena event.

King Arthur Flour: Banana Bread

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 09:02:15 -0600

King Arthur Flour: Banana Bread:

Tonight…

Why can’t she pose like this for me?

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 08:41:54 -0600

Why can’t she pose like this for me?

Homewood Grill opening yesterday is worth driving to Effingham for. I must resist!

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 08:34:00 -0600

Homewood Grill opening yesterday is worth driving to Effingham for. I must resist!

Beth asked me to get out of bed this morning and burn a CD for her before work. I was excited to...

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 07:02:42 -0600

Beth asked me to get out of bed this morning and burn a CD for her before work. I was excited to make her rainy commute better. Then she told me she wanted Nickelback! I got out of my warm bed for Nickelback! These are the guys who are less popular than a pickle. My day can only get better from this point.

"I’ll give her an extra tip because she had nice tits!"

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 20:47:37 -0600

“I’ll give her an extra tip because she had nice tits!”

- Me

Chicken & Cashews: I wish the rice was better. Our rice...

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 21:18:09 -0600

Chicken & Cashews:

I wish the rice was better. Our rice cooker seems to continue cooking after it flips itself to “warm.”

Serious eats does the math on why you should cut your meat against the grain

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 20:50:20 -0600

Serious eats does the math on why you should cut your meat against the grain:

saltandfat:

The basic reason is that long muscle fibers are easier for your teeth to separate than break apart, so let your knife do the hard work and give your teeth a break. J. Kenji Lopez-Alt goes into excruciating detail as to why. (My thanks to William Couch for the link)

The law is proven again.

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 18:24:38 -0600

The law is proven again.

"Diners, drive-ins & dives coming to martins BBQ first week in April. Guy wants to cook a whole..."

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 14:38:52 -0600

“Diners, drive-ins & dives coming to martins BBQ first week in April. Guy wants to cook a whole hog.”

- @martinsbbq

I need to get there before the onsalught of DDDers show up.

"[tneu@Cobalt A3AE]$ find choosen | wc -l 44"

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 11:21:00 -0600

“[tneu@Cobalt A3AE]$ find choosen | wc -l
44”

- I take responsibility for most of those misspellings.

"Which step involves the blood?"

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 10:14:09 -0600

“Which step involves the blood?”

- - James

I’m glad you asked. The step involving the blood is argued to be the most critical in the process of changing a flat tire. When I begin using the breaker bar, with the end sharp enough to piece through the hide of a Nepalese yak, I also scrape it lightly across my knee as penance for all the “fist fulls” & “bricks” of cookie dough I consume. Many men ignore this step.