apple and sausage stuffing recipe

Made this recipe for the family: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Apple-and-Sausage-Stuffing-107288 (go to the link to get a nicely printable version). It was a big hit.

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 pound spicy pork bulk sausage
• 1 cup diced celery
• 1 cup diced onion
• 1 cup diced peeled cored apple
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
• 2 teaspoons minced fresh sage
• 1 bay leaf

• 8 cups 1-inch cubes French bread with crusts (from 1-pound loaf)
• 1 cup whole milk
• 1 cup low-salt chicken broth
• 2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter, melted
• 3 large eggs, beaten to blend

Heat oil in heavy large skillet over medium heat. Add sausage; sauté until cooked through and brown, breaking into pieces with spoon, about 8 minutes. Using slotted spoon, transfer sausage to large bowl. Add celery and next 6 ingredients to drippings in skillet. Sauté over medium heat until vegetables are soft, about 5 minutes. Discard bay leaf. Add mixture to sausage. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover; chill. Reheat to lukewarm before continuing.)

Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter 13x9x2-inch glass baking dish. Add bread to sausage mixture. Whisk milk, broth, and butter in bowl to blend. Mix into stuffing; season stuffing with salt and pepper. Mix in eggs; transfer to prepared dish. Bake uncovered until cooked through and brown, about 50 minutes.

Details:

• doubled recipe
• used granny smith apples.
• didn't find any good fresh parsley, so left it out
• added some ground thyme
• used 2% instead of whole milk
• substituted apple juice for half the broth
• used Johnsonville bulk mild italian sausage (for this crowd, that was teetering on the edge of too spicy for some)

Next time:

• Double the apples. There wasn't a ton of apple flavor, despite following the proportions in the recipe and adding apple juice.

Zucchini Bread

Made this tonight. Brought back lots of childhood memories.

Zucchini Bread

wet ingredients:

3 eggs

2 cups sugar

1 cup oil

2 tsp vanilla

2 cup grated zucchini

dry ingredients

3 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

3 (heaping) tablespoons cinnamon. That's not a typo. 3+ Tablespoons

Beat eggs until light and frothy

Combine rest of wet ingredients with eggs

Combine dry ingredients and whisk together

Combine dry mixture with wet

Split into 2 greased loaf pans

bake at 325' for 1 hour

remove from oven when inserted toothpick comes out clean

cool on rack outside of pans

Freezes very well, I remember how happy I'd be when months after baking it my mom would pull a loaf out of the freezer for dessert after Sunday dinner.

Be sure to be the one to slice the bread, that way you can be greedy and get the crunchier heels. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

mmm... pie!

A friend helped us move our furniture around for the work we're doing on the house. Last time, he and his girlfriend raved about Left Fork Grill (68 W. 3900 South, 266-4322). We had him over again this weekend to move furniture back into the finished room, and as a reward for helping us we stopped there for breakfast.

I had a breakfast sandwich (sausage and egg), the lovely wife french toast, and our friend had a fried egg sandwich. Everything was delicious. And, they made hash browns correctly -- the right ratio of crisp to tender, and not greasy.

To top it all off, they have the best pie ever. The lovely wife had banana cream, I had raspberry-rhubarb. Excellent crust, freshly made fillings. Both were great. Many others think so too.

It's shot right up to top of our list of breakfast spots -- great food, reasonable prices.

A shame that it's only open for breakfast and lunch. Pie for breakfast may become a family tradition.

finally, a chance to wear a toolbelt

We've been thinking of moving for a couple years now. But, we'd wanted to get a few things fixed up with the house. I needed to get the yard and flower beds into better shape, and we wanted to replace some of our carpet.

A few months ago, we'd bought some glueless laminate flooring at Costco while it was on sale (ended up saving around $150 because of the sale). Finally got around to starting the project last weekend. Finally realized the extent to which one of our cats ruined the carpet. Ugh.

The flooring went down quick. Not as easy as the instructions make it seem. But, it looks nice, and gave me my once-every-two-years excuse to wear a toolbelt.









And, in odd things I've stuck in my pie-hole news:

• The 'Hog Burger' at Britton's (964 East Union Square in Sandy). A burger with grilled onions nestled between a grilled-cheese sandwich with bacon, and a second grilled-cheese sandwich with tomato. The first half was good. The second half was 'what have I gotten myself into?'
  

san francisco -- day #4 -- "You like extreme?"

Final conference sessions today. OK, but nothing fantastic.

Great lunch at House of Nanking. The waiter arrived, said "Your first time here?" When we said yes, he took our menus. No idea what the dishes were, but they were all super-excellent.

Then got a taxi to the airport. After a few minutes of silence, the driver asks, "You like extreme?"

I'm not sure I hear him right. He asks again, "You like extreme?"

Yep. I had heard him right.

Pause....... I'm not sure if I'm going to get invited to a cock fight, or what. I guess that maybe he's asking if it's OK to play his favorite thrash metal CD. "Uhhh.... extreme music?" I ask.

He explains, "No! Extreme! Like X! .... Games! Extreme. Sports."

I respond, "umm. A little?"

The rest of the ride was enclosed in blissful silence.

san francisco -- day #1

Flew to San Francisco for a technical conference. Flight uneventful, and in a teeny CRJ200. Only 12 and a half rows of seats.

Googled up restaurants near the hotel. I've been craving Vietnamese all the time lately, so I decided on a hole-in-the-wall place with good reviews -- Golden Flower Vietnamese. Just a couple minutes walk from the hotel.

Pretty good, but not the best I've had. The imperial rolls were greasy, and more mystery-meaty than I'd have preferred. The bun with grilled pork and shrimp was tasty.

In order of worst to first:
Pho Cali -> Golden Flower Vietnamese -> Pho Hoa -> Shanghai Cafe -> The deeee-licious versions Dien made for us over at Mark's house. Mmmmm.

Also, it's less fun to travel without coworkers. Wandering aimlessly is less fun to do on your own... it feels more like getting lost than having an adventure.

more notes on things I've read and/or put in my mouth

"World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War" by Max Brooks - Awesome. Very fun, what-if zombie apocalypse story told through a bunch of first-person narratives of the survivors.

And, the soft-tofu soup at Myung-Ga Tofu House & Korean BBQ is tastey. And comes out BOILING in a stone pot. BOILING! Did I mention it is BOILING! And you crack a raw egg into it? The only thing that could make it better is if it was on fire and/or exploded.

In other news, the lovely wife turned into Betty Crocker last week. Made around 2-5 dozen of 6 varieties of cookies. She said it was to try out recipies for the holidays. I'm thinking it was just to mess with me. But, co-workers and friends enjoyed the plates of cookies we delivered.

will never become a taste sensation

Gin + Fufu Berry Jones Soda

Blech.

band names, squid news

Band names I annoy my wife by proposing:

• Stick -- One-man Styx tribute band
• Ventricle -- One-man Heart tribute band.

Also, last night I discovered that while I like watching both octopus and squid swim... move... squirt... whatever... in the ocean, I prefer eating squid

Utopia article in IEEE spectrum. Squid. Book.

To make certain people jealous, here's a cool article in IEEE Spectrum about Utopia.

I've been remiss updating my boring list of things I've put in my mouth and un-insightful book reviews. I know that's what my vast readership has come to expect.

Best thing I've put in my mouth: Seaweed and Smoked Squid Salad at Go Sushi. Mmm, translucent crunchiness.

Lastest book read: 'The Bonehunters' by Steven Erickson. Because I'm waaaaaay to impatient, I ordered it from Canada. It was very good.

good 'n bad 'n plenty

Good stuff:

• Haagen Dazs Mayan Chocolate Ice Cream
• Subversion
• The 15 Mbps internet connection due to be installed tomorrow. Think of all the pr0n, and pirated music, and ... I'm sure there are other things on the internet. Pirated software? Pirated movies? Pirates? Pilates?
  
• She Wants Revenge. Creepy stalker music is the best music.
  

Bad stuff:

• Being the merge/build monkey at work. Some of it is good... I have a good view of the whole project. But, then crunch time comes around, and I'm the guy at the end of the line that has to integrate all the changes before passing things along to CM. Contractors are late with their delivery. Partly because of last-minute requirements updates; partly because of them thinking testing on a virtual Windows host under VMWare is adequate for a system that'll be deployed across 4 Solaris servers. I can't do anything but wait and watch as things come screeching to a halt. Right when things get to me. And I'm taking tomorrow off. And I'm wasting time writing this.
  

new york city, day 7

Forgot to mention about Day 5:

• While we ate at the vietnamese place near NYU, a man walked around the corner.
• This was no ordinary man.
• This man had a cat perched on his head.
• Definitely one of the highlights of the trip.
  

Day 7:

• We had some great weather for the majority of the trip... That changed Sunday. Rain, rain, rain.
• I loved walking around the city previously... Today, not so much. This could also be because I'd already packed and checked-out of the Hotel, so I was stuck in soggy shoes for the rest of the day.
• Walked over to the Hell's Kitchen Flea Market with co-worker #1. We were very early, so there weren't many booths set up yet. And, because of the rain, most people had tarps covering their wares.
• Decide to try to wait out the rain at the Cupcake Cafe on 9th Ave and 39th street. The sweet potato glazed donuts were very good. The rain did not want to be waited out, so we decided to go over to times square to finally settle on a birthday gift for Liz.
• There's a shop near Times Square... American Craftsman... or something like that, that sells these intricate wood boxes (among many other cool things). Bought Liz a cool little box with many compartments.
  
• Co-worker #1 suggested we find stuff to put in all the compartments. So, we thought we'd stop at places along the way home to find little trinkets or something.
• Near the cash register, they also had a bunch of cute little miniature animals made of glass, we picked up a few to put in the different compartments of the box. Hooray! Now we don't have to search the city in the rain.
• Wander back to hotel and have lunch at Brendan's Bar & Grill, across the street from the hotel. The interior was cool and art deco-ey (yes, that's a word). Met up with Chevan again to say goodbye and thank him for showing us around.
  
• Home!

Liz ended up loving the purse, and the box of many prizes. NYC was a lot of fun, and it was great to see Chevan again since we haven't really taken the time to talk for a decade or so.

Co-worker #1 gets to stay another week for the advanced training course. I'm a little jealous. Mostly because now I don't have an excuse to not do the work that piled up in my absence.

new york city, day 4-6

Day 4:

• More training.
• More food. Italian this time. Arno's. From the swarm of waiters to seat us and take our orders, I guessed that meant good service... But, they forgot about us once they cleared away our plates. Weird. "Yes, we'd like to see the desert cart." Then nothing. For what seemed like an eternity.
  
• Walked up to Times Square. Lights! Crowds! Applebees!

Day 5 :

• More training.
• Buy the purse for Liz. Just as fabulous... And, it comes in three styles.
  
• Met up with Chevan after work. He took us on the subway down to the World Trade Center site. Then back on the subway to find something to eat.
• Found a vietnamese place near NYU. Very good. Butterfly Grill. They'd mounted butterflies in glass cases all over the walls. Was very cool.
• The calamari appetizer was very good. Much better than the usual batter coated crunchy chew rings.
  
• For the main course, got the 'spicey frogs legs'. Good. But not spicey. Chevan and I act like an old married couple, "Oooh, that looks good. Can I have a bite?"
  
• For desert, the red bean ice cream. When it arrived, I got a prize. A piece of cardboard in the ice cream. I was stunned (and a little drunk), so Chevan came to my rescue and asked for a new bowl. And, we did our old married couple routine again.
  
• Took the co-workers back to the hotel, then went out for drinks with Chevan. It was good to have a chance to catch up and gossip about old friends. Haven't had a chance to talk with him one-on-one in a long time.

Day 6:

• Sleep in.
• Realize my voice is really hoarse after yelling back and forth with Chevan to be heard over the music in the lounge. Iron shirts. Hope I don't lose voice.
  
• Grandpa & Grandma (mom's side) have seats to the Metropolitan Opera, arranged to meet with them before the trip. Unfortunately, Grandma wasn't feeling well, so I just met Grandpa. Had a fantastic lunch at the Met and saw La Forza del Destino.
  
• Accusations of innocence deflowered! Accidental shootings! Explosions! Cross-dressing! Betrayal! Murder! With subtitles (via screens installed on the backs of the seats)!
• Back to the hotel to meet up with co-worker #1 and her cousin. They're in her room, watching 'Tall, Dark, and DEADLY!'. I go up to her room to harrass her, in time to see self-defense manslaughter delivered via boat to the face. ON LAND! I can see why they were riveted.
  
• Call up Chevan to see if he's free for dinner again.
• Walk up 9th Ave, try to decide which of the many places look tastey.
• There was a cluster of 4-5 Thai places. It must have been a sign from Jeebus. Decide on Breeze. The menus are presented in CD jewel cases. Odd.
• Once again, decide to go with the the kookiest sounding thing on the menu. It was a panang curry with squid, scallops and shrimp. Served in a banana leaf. It was very good. And it came in a banana leaf, so it was clearly the winner.
  
• Also once again, Chevan and I do our old married couple routine.
• As if it's not bad enough that we're eating off each other's plates... Find out that Chevan watched Project Runway too. He pointed out the places where they filmed on our way up to dinner. Parsons, Atlas, Toys R Us, Red Lobster. And Nick was his favorite too. And, Chevan also demonstrated his Santino-as-Tim-Gunn impersonation, as we walked by Parsons' and saw the infamous Red Lobster.
  
• Back to the hotel. Call Liz.
  

new york city, day 3

Forgot to mention about day #1:

• My room has a safe in the closet. Before I left to look around the neighborhood with co-worker #1, I made sure to set the combination and put my laptop and digital camera in the safe.
• When I got back to the room. I discovered the safe door was open.
  
• Oh no! I've been burglarized!
• Wait... Everything is still there.
  
• Oh no! I'm an idiot who forgot to shut the damn safe door.
  

Forgot to mention about day #2:

• The shower in my room is tremendously hot. I have to turn the temperature knob all the way to cold for it to be slightly bearable. I assume the cold-water thingamajig in the shower hooziwhatsit is busted. The hot water coming in the sink is very hot... but the cold is very cold.
  
• Had dinner with co-workers #1 and #2. #1's cousin lives in Manhatten, and came out to dinner with us. She was very funny.
  

Day #3 (I can tell my vast army of 2 readers is on the edge of their seats now that I've skillfully whet their appetite with more details of the previous day's happenings):

• Got up
• Went to training
• Back to hotel
• Dinner! Heartland Brewery & Rotisserie
  
• Sampler tray full of tiny beers! Hooray Tiny Beer!
  
• Wander around Macy's, concentrate on walking in straight line.
• In Macy's, the higher we went, the older the escalators. I've never seen an escalator with wooden treads before. Sweet.
  
• Back to Hotel.
• Check e-mail. Realize the networking change that IT is doing just broke something they set up for me a couple months ago... My downloader application is barfing error e-mails around the company, complaining that it can't connect through the special NAT-ed address to the remote office. Hooray e-mail!
  
• 11pm! Hooray garbage trucks!
• Watch VW commercials friend posts to his blog. Hooray creepy VW guy!
• 11:13pm. Car alarm starts going off.
• Sweet zombie jesus, NYC is noisy. Remember tray full of tiny beers! Hooray tiny beers!
  

new york city, day 2

• Garbage trucks outside from 11-midnight
• Discover the refridgerator in my room makes a odd, short buzzing/clicking sound every 15-30 minutes... All night.
• Up at 2am. For some reason. Back to sleep.
• Up at 4am. For some reason. Back to sleep.
  
• Up at 6am . Get ready. Wonder why I kept waking up every 2 hours... Obviously, Zombie Hitler and Orville Redenbacher are involved somehow. And, don't get me started on Ladybird Johnson.
  
• Mmmmm... contintental breakfast.
  
• Training class from 9am-5pm
• Conference call back to SLC 5:30-6:30
• Run back to hotel to catch up w/ co-workers.
  
• Go to very tastey restaurant, with horrible service... But, the food was fantastic. Ida Mae Kitchen-n-Lounge

new york city, day 1

Because my co-worker forgot her journal, I will post this here for all posterity:

• At dinner tonight, our waiter sounded like Fenster from the Usual Suspects
• At dinner tonight, the soup special was a sun-dried tomato bisque with roast garlic and sweet pee puree. No, that's not a typo... Well, it's their typo not mine. And, yes, we ate it. You could really taste the pee.
  
• I found a lovely purse at the 99cent store down the street (a black purse with a embroidered blond lady sitting in a animal-print lounge chair). I think my wife will get a kick out of it... So, I must purchase it to prove I'm not the world's worst husband for travelling (for work) over her birthday. Well, I'll probably get something else too.
  
• The Chinese restaurant down the street from the hotel had some truely nasty looking garbage cans waiting for pick up... Picture 4-5 large cans, filled with meat/fish off cuts. Thank god the weather is still fairly cold.
• When we got to JFK, who was there by the gate looking fabulous? Nick Verreos, Liz's 2nd favorite designer from this season of Project Runway. Now that the chance has slipped by, I'm kicking myself for not getting Liz his autograph and/or a picture.