Endless Simmer - A Food Blog

Editors Note: I’m sure you can tell by now that BS and I constantly badger our friends to share their food and drink knowledge on endless simmer. Well, we’ve finally convinced the anti-blogger! Please welcome our friendly neighborhood beer geek, Tim.

Stone Brewery - Escondido, CA
Stone Ruination IPA - An American Double / Imperial IPA
7.7% ABV

Ah, Stone’s Ruination IPA. This is a big beer. If you don’t know what a big beer is, think twice before trying this one. Or, at least, try a more traditional IPA (India Pale Ale) before jumping into the Imperial IPA style.

IPAs are so named because they were first brewed by the British for the long trips to India when it was still under seizure as a British Colony. Realizing the natural preservative qualities of the hop, the Brits packed tons of these bad boys into traditional British pale ales. And I’m glad they did. They generated an outstanding beer style, glorifying the Hop. And while I mostly appreciate strong, well balanced beers, with an equal amount of sweet malty, alcoholic flavors to balance the hop bite, there’s just something supremely entertaining and refreshing about the unchecked hop bite of the big, nasty hop bombs that are Double IPAs. Stone’s Ruination IPA is an excellent example of the style.

The 12oz bottle I picked up at Lost Dog (great place) in Falls Church, VA was poured into a heavy 14oz glass mug that I was lucky enough to inherit from my girlfriend’s grandfather. No date on the bottle.

Read on for a Tim’s Beer Rating Guide.

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So Good, our fav chronicler of corporate America’s attempts to market food via the Internets, alerts us to the promotional campaign for the new Diet Cherry Chocolate Dr. Pepper (aside: holy overload! You know you’re overreaching when your soda has five words in it). So Dr. P has enlisted that ubiquitous Chocolate Rain guy from YouTube to film “Cherry Chocolate Rain.”

Now, I’m just not sure why Dr. Pepper went ahead with a video that even the world’s douchiest food blogger knows is clearly about poo.

I mean, if they wanted to corner the scatalogical market, they could have at least shelled out for R. Kelly.

So Good: Cherry Chocolate Rain.

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Editors Note: Oh, Ashe. Although she only knows how to make Meat Pie and cheese fondue, we love her anyway. And, when you see our fab new logo soon, send praise (and freelance work!) her way.

Ok, my first blog entry…

A review of the waste-of-space, pepper-dancing fajita maker that sits collecting dust in our shoebox of a kitchen, only there to make reaching for a useful cutting board or mixing bowl a difficult endeavor.

Retrieving this horribly cumbersome “grill” in our cavernous black hole of a kitchen is a death sentence. There is a delicate balance in which items can sit; one false move means a treacherous collapse of potentially dangerous cookware.

I’m sure the fajita maker is a wonderful apparatus, but I have yet to experience its splendor. (When I do so, I’ll be sure to post a recipe.) So it sits, waiting to one day bring about the downfall of our one precarious cupboard shelf, along with my newly inherited, antique mixing bowls.

I’m no chef, or baker, for that matter, but I have somehow managed to use my rolling pin (trying to forget those unbelievably tasteless sugar cookies) more than I have used the “fajita maker” — and I’m never one to turn down a Tex-Mex meal.

We inherited this monstrosity from our friend Brian, because, shockingly, he couldn’t even fit it in his giant truck when he moved to NYC. Apparently it was a nice present from his mother, so he “wants it back” eventually… hint, hint - Brian, your fajita maker is calling.

Title: Gansie — Led Zeppelin anyone?

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My sister Patti made this julienne root vegetable salad so that we could have something a little different on the table for turkey day - recipe courtesy of her real, live professional chef friend Sandy.

Alright, I’m gonna tell you the ingredients, but before I do, you have to promise you’ll believe me that it’s delicious. It contains:

turnips

parsnips

radishes

and beets.

Oh yeah, and it’s not cooked at all.

I know, it doesn’t sound like an ample replacement for sweet potatoes with marshmallows, but trust me, it is a really tasty and refreshing side. Perfect for cleansing bites between turkey and stuffing. I really can’t even explain how refreshing it tastes. Plus look at it, it’s beautiful.

Recipe after the jump.

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A few more after the jump…

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- Alright, ES commenters - you asked for a cooking fashion blog, so here you go: the Rachel Ray virtual fashion model doll, brought to our attention by the unstoppable crowd at Rachel Ray Sux.

- The anti-Rachel set also has a pretty great list of what celebrities would say about RayRay if they could. So if you’ve spent your days wondering what Paris Hilton, Danny DeVito, and William F. Buckley would say about Ms. EVOO, well you are in luck (also, you may have problems).

- I’m guessing none of the RR Sux peeps will be turning out to catch her serving up free DunkinD on Saturday, but if any of our Manhattan correspondents make it, be sure to report back (that means you, Mom) [TV Food Fan]

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BS: are you posting soon or no?
gansie: you can post
i have one ready
just need a title
BS: ah
need brainstorming help?
gansie: it’s for a tomato bake
i want a pot pun
BS: like with green?
gansie: i used red tomatoes
something about bake
maybe
i don’t know
BS: so a tomato walks into a bar
the bartender says, man you look kinda dried out today
yeah, says the tomato, I got really baked last night
gansie: NO
well, maybe that can be my intro

***

Tomato overload. Yes, the tomatoes are still over flowing at the dad gansie household. When I was home for Tgiving (no puking this time!) we made my new fav tomato dish. I’ve created this a couple times now with my abundance of tomatoes, with just a few variations along the way - all combined nicely in the continued description (re: click “continue reading.”)

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This is a dish I made for Thanksgiving. Seeing as how Thanksgiving is over, let’s just call it a fall dish.

- Get one acorn and one butternut squash - peel and dice both of them.

- Toss them in a glass pyrex dish with salt, pepper, garlic and rosemary. Add plenty of olive oil.

- Pop it in the oven at 350 for 1/2 an hour.

- Dice three portobello mushrooms and add these to the mix, with some more olive oil. (I didn’t add the ’shrooms in the beginning since they don’t cook as quickly)

-Return this to the oven for another 1/2 hour or so. If the squash isn’t soft yet, keep it cooking.

-Meanwhile, spread a cup or so of chopped walnuts on a baking sheet and sprinkle with salt and nutmeg. Then toast these in the oven for about 10 minutes.

- Toss the walnuts with the squash, and add half a cup or so of crumbled feta.

Pretty straightforward and delicious. This guy liked it, anyway.

Just kidding. He chose the gerber squash. What a food snob.

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Now that Turkey Day is behind us, (and yes, we know, ES still has to post some Tgiving pics…if you have any please send to gansie@endlesssimmer.com) I’m ready for some red meat.

Steak and the City [Eating in Translation]

A progressive lesson from a Fox show…who knew [A Mighty Appetite]

I agree with marriage about as much as I agree with this concoction [Confections of a Foodie Bride]

Photo: Puppets for Ministry

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