Dannyalcatraz
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Posts posted by Dannyalcatraz
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Did some more serious cooking than I have been of late, per my parents’ requests. This is something we call Moussak-Ayee- a fusion of Mediterranean and Creole cuisine.
Moussaka (and its cousin, pastitio) is a Greek/Lebanese casserole similar to lasagna. consisting of alternating layers of eggplant and meat, with potatoes added in some traditions. The eggplant & potato layers replace the pasta found in lasagna. The meat is sautéed with onions, garlic, tomato and seasoned with things like salt, pepper, oregano, chives, parsley and cinnamon.
The whole dish is topped with a béchamel sauce that has been made into a custard by enhancing it with cheese, white pepper, eggs salt and nutmeg.
The Creole fusion part in the dish comes from substituting 2/3 of the traditional ground beef/lamb/beef & lamb mix with authentic Louisiana hot sausage. This provided a modest but noticeable heat kick.
If you wanted to do something similar, but wanted to stick to traditional middle eastern ingredients, replace the Louisiana hot sausage with sujuk. Sujuk is an Eastern European/Middle Eastern fermented, relatively hard sausage that- while not as hot as the Creole stuff I use- still delivers some heat. It’s kind of like a spicy Italian sausage.
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Personally, I wear sunglasses 90%+ of the time I’m outside during daylight hours. That includes cloudy days (UV penetrates cloud cover) and rainy days (polarization reduces scatter and glare, sharpening vision). I even get my recreational sports/safety goggles made with transition lenses, just in case.
Also, I just love the way I look in mirror shades. 😎
If/when I get cataract surgery, that will not change.
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My take in that kind of thing is: if it works for you, great! If it doesn’t, great! The real and virtual have their own strengths and weaknesses.
And let’s be honest: not many of us have Eric Johnson’s ears, sensitive enough to rival those of Heimdal*. Most people couldn’t tell the difference between a Tele or a LP, much less a piece of physical hardware compared to an electronic simulation thereof.
* I bet Eric Johnson heard me typing that sentence on my iPad’s on-screen keyboard.
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7 hours ago, Winston Psmith said:
No mention of it in the article, and it didn't appear so from the photo.
The only modification it really needs is the App, which allowed you to program phrases into it, via your iPhone. Of course, the App was only available through Japan's iTunes site . . .
I was thinking that’s what he’d do, but was unaware of the Japanese app.
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4 hours ago, Winston Psmith said:
Thanks for the thought!
Funny thing, Jack White has a MIKU Stomp among his Third Man pedals! I saw it in a recent issue of GP.
I would not be surprised to find out that his has been modified in some way.-
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The lack of a blend control is precisely what led me to choose the Plasma Pedal over the Plasma Coil.
That said, if the opportunity & $$$ arises to let me get a P-Coil, I will.And of course, if I win the lottery anytime soon, I’ll get one to send to Winston so he could demo it with the Korg Miku. 🤪 Yeah, I know it probably wouldn’t sound good or even particularly amusing, but…I’d want to KNOW!
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I like my Arpenoid, and its cousin, the Rainbow Machine.
My most recent craptulator purchase is a Third Man Plasma Pedal.* The idea is it gives an “electrified distortion” tone to your signal. Alas, I haven’t been able to play with it because of house repair issues- much of my gear is boxed up for its protection. So here’s Mike Hermans demoing it:
* The original version of the device as opposed to the later modified Jack White “signature” version pedal that was rechristened the Plasma Coil.
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I splurged on the full version of the WMD Geiger Counter, and I have to say, for a craptulator, it’s full of crap!😜 There’s soooo much it can do, so many ways to mess your sound up…
And if we’re talking The Inner Squared Circle of the Hellfire Crapulator Lodge, the Metasonix Ass Blaster is either the president or the jerk they kicked out and blackballed.😂
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I can’t be sure, of course, but that one might be more complex than the ones we were given. Still, couldn’t hurt! The broth itself, while tasty, is pretty neutral in comparison to the balls themselves.
As for finding commercial ones…I’d be surprised if LA’s complex and varied food scene didn’t have at least ONE quality Creole/Cajun restaurant, food truck or grocery store. Or at least a grocery store hiding some in a frozen food section or in their in-house food service.
Hell- since a boudin ball is just a de-skinned boudin link, rolled and baked, you might be able to find some frozen in a grocery store freezer, or hanging in your local butcher’s shop.
Barring THAT, there’s no shortage of places in Louisiana that will ship you such delights by mail…for a price, of course. But that gets pricey, fast, so online recipe hunting might be your best bet.
I’ll say this, though: I’m not depending on my aunt trafficking in Creole meat products, or the restaurants, etc. around here. I’m looking at recipes myself, and that one was one I had planned to look at.
I might also check to see if any of the more famous Creole chefs’ or restaurants’ recipes made it to the internet or YouTube.
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My aunt brought us a bunch of boudin balls from NOLA, and I wanted to try something besides a sandwich. So I thought, why not soup? So I went looking for recipes and found…none. So I had to think of something of my own, which resulted in this:
Obviously, I was inspired by matzoh ball soup- one of my faves. I added the spinach and mushrooms because I thought they’d pair nicely with the boudin. I had also thought about tomato soups or avgolemono, but this was the one I decided to go down first.
I sautéing most of the veggies: a stalk of celery, a carrot, 3 white button mushrooms, and one bunch of green onions. After they looked & smelled right, I added chicken broth, a bouillon cube, parsley, white pepper, ground black pepper, and bay leaf.
When all that reached a boil, I turned off the heat and added some julienned baby spinach leaves.
This broth was served with a single leftover boudin ball.
Like a good matzoh ball, the boudin ball retained its integrity while soaking in the broth. But when you’d slice off a bit with the edge of your spoon to have a bite, the sliced off portion would soften pretty quickly. It almost became…creamy.
The verdict: this experiment was a success. I put in a little too much white pepper, but the overall flavor was a hit. Will do this again.
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Yngwie’s ego hasn’t really done him any favors, no question. I’ll say this, though- in my experience, there’s a LOT of performers who are like him…or worse. It’s just that his character flaws actually get released to the press. (Most if the others have enough sense to HIDE their darker selves.)
At any rate, here’s a couple of my favorite YJM “shower songs”, from (as I recall) Rising Force and Marching Out, his 1st & 3rd solo albums.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mTy6BTQWcwY
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9 hours ago, Caevan O’Shite said:
I have to wonder if any singer worth their mic will have anything to do with Malmsteen at this point, he's been such an assh0l3 to so many singers and other band-members over the years; and if that's the reason that he's attempting to do the vocals on that album. Or, if he's trying to save some money, probably not raking in what he once was. Probably both.
I bought one Yngwie album long ago. I liked one guitar solo on one song- but not the song itself, nor any of the others. I was not compelled to buy another of his releases or, in later years, even check any out for free via YouTube, Pandora, or Spotify.
In contrast, just this morning and afternoon I was enjoying listening to Deep Purple and Rainbow...
Not gonna lie, I have lots of YJM’s CDs, and a couple songs of his ARE on my “shower songs” list.
But I have a bigger percentage of Blackmore’s career in the CD collection, including several of his Blackmore’s Night albums. That’s his “bardcore” band with his wife, Candace Night.
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Rainbow was an amazing band, start to finish.
I think it’s an interesting dichotomy between two iconic but notoriously egocentric guitarists (Blackmore & Malmsteen) that Ritchie always found great vocalists (and other musicians) to work with while YJM has occasionally allowed his attitude to interfere with his band makeup, and thus, his records. I can’t think of a Rainbow album that didn’t deliver on the vox.
In contrast, YJM’s last album had Yngwie doing double duty as guitarist and vocalist. The results were (IMHO) very much like a parody version of his better stuff. I didn’t hear anything I could imagine being a favorite “shower song” in the future, near or far.
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Nice guitar…played well! It’s been a hot minute since I’ve seen anyone playing a Toone.
Aesthetically/stylistically, it reminds me of the stuff Fripp and his students play.
Edit: went to YouTube to check out the video data, and found this: “Fabio is tuned in Robert Fripp's New Standard Tuning (CGDAEG low to high).” 😁
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#1 that’s a beautiful guitar
#2 that’s an unusual configuration! The only other HB/P90/P90 I’ve ever seen is Reverend’s Six Gun HPP (and 25th anniversary version).
#3 that’s a BEAUTIFUL guitar
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Mushrooms should be pretty freezable. I definitely prep and freeze fresh ones; freezing ones you’ve cooked or partially prepped should be fine.
And to be honest, I often take a free Saturday and clean & prep veggies, freezing them for future use. I’ve been bad about it recently- our freezer is full of meat- but when I’m doing it regularly, you’d see minced garlic, diced onions (green/yellow/red), celery cut a couple different ways, mushrooms, and sometimes peppers. I can get pretty complex meals started in minutes when I’m on my game.
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I’ve heard enough TVJ pickups to low they won’t disappoint! If anything, it would be me disappointing THEM!🤪
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On 8/6/2022 at 10:06 AM, Caevan O’Shite said:
Sub garlic for the onion (or maaaybe nicely caramelized shallots, maaaybe), and I'm in...
If I were doing this with garlic instead of onion, I wouldn’t be using pan-sautéed garlic. I mean, that’s good, but…
Every once in a while, I go get big jars of pre-peeled garlic from the Asian grocery stores. Among the many things I do with it is make a big batch of oven roasted whole garlic cloves.
I start with a big flat, oven safe pot- I have a large flat-sided tart pan that I usually use, but a pie pan or a cast iron skillet will also do the trick just fine. I clean the woody tips off of my cloves, then fill the pan in a single flat layer. Over this, I pour a mix of melted unsalted butter (and/or a good olive oil), a bit of lemon juice (with zest, if you have fresh) and dry white wine, enough to coat the pan and immerse but not cover the cloves. I season them with black pepper, cayenne, paprika and parsley (tarragon, oregano, and basil may also be used, depending on your preferences). Sometimes chives get invited to the party. Then I cook them in the oven at 350degF until they start to brown a bit.
The result: sweet whole cloves, nicely seasoned and soft enough to spread like butter, suspended in a sauce that goes great on pasta, steak, and toasted bread, to name just a few. Bonus: it’s freezeable, so you can make big batches of it and store it away to use later. (If I do that, I freeze it in small 1-3 serving packets.)
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BTW, Caev, I have to thank you for posting that clip as well! I really didn’t know much about Brand X before your post. I’d heard OF them, but not much of their stuff, and definitely not this album. So curiosity got to me and I looked them up…and found a list of band members that surprised me, including Bill Bruford and Phil Collins.
The album was enough to pique my interest, but my research has increased it. So again, THANKS!
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7 hours ago, IMMusicRulz said:
I felt like listening to Gerry Rafferty. If you like soft rock in the vein of Leo Sayer, or Al Stewart. you will like Gerry Rafferty. His songs Right Down The Line and Baker Street are worth compiling for a greatest hits album from the 70s.
Last year, I was driving through the parking lot of a mega grocery store and there was a guy on one of the green spaces, busking with his saxophone. His version of Baker Street was spot on.
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One of the things that slows me in the kitchen is picking up dropped food our furry “Roomba” should not eat- grapes m onions, peppers, chocolate, etc.
And as a Border Collie, she’s smart enough to figure out my VERBAL clues as to when I DO drop something…and I didn’t realize I had any tics that uniquely identified a drop. Apparently, I say “Dammit!” a certain way when a kitchen oops involves dropped food, and she’ll start trotting in my direction,
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6 hours ago, Caevan O’Shite said:
Please expound upon that!
When I talked to him, I was considering his pickups for a guitar that had been wired for coil splitting. He politely informed me that would be a terrible idea. While they were technically assembled in a way that would allow for splitting, he advised that they would sound terrible if you did so. As he put it, their output was too low to deliver a good tone when split. I took that as gospel.
So, because many of the guitars I’ve been considering upgrading pickups in have that kind of wiring, it’s pipushed my acquisition of his product back a bit. IOW, his honesty meant I haven’t bought any of his pickups yet. OTOH, even though it’s cost him a sale so far, it strengthened my respect for him personally and as a businessman, so I’ve only increased my support of his pickups, and my desire to find the right guitar to put them in.*
* I mean as an upgrade- I REALLY want a Kauer Banshee with TVJ pickups! 😄
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I met Mr. Jones at a guitar show in Dallas some years ago. Very nice. Classy, patient, and willing to teach people about how to use his pickups… and how NOT to.
I’ve often contemplated getting some to upgrade one of my guitars, but haven’t settled on any one in particular. And when Rival Sons guitarist Scott Holiday started delivering all kinds of great, classic rock tones with his TVJ-loaded Kauer guitars*…whoooooooooo…. Guitar lust ignited.
* Especially the Gibson Firebird inspired Banshees.
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My local GC was recently remodeled and is still pretty well stocked. However, it’s clearly operating with fewer employees than before.
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Epicurious and Bon Appetit have gone over to the dark side :(
in Now We’re Cooking…
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I’ve been a subscriber to America’s Test Kitchen’s family of websites, as well as their Cook’s Illustrated magazine.
However, many clips from the show are available without paying. I was just watching a video for cooking shrimp risotto earlier today on their website that was not behind a paywall. They also have a YouTube channel. As I was posting this, I found their YT clip in Kimchi Bokkeumbap- that’s from an episode I recorded awhile back, and was just posted 15 hours ago.