We get paid an enormous salary for blogging here at LITGM, and to further improve our haul, I encourage you to check out the new and improved blogroll. There is a lot of good stuff there. Most of it is, well, eclectic, to satisfy my tastes.
If you have recommendations for the blogroll, let me know. I use this site as my home base and always love new and interesting reading.
Don't forget, most importantly, if you like photography to check out Jonathan's photo blog. I just hope his servers can handle the traffic from here.
Thursday, February 09, 2012
Saturday, February 04, 2012
Saturday Night Sixties
It’s Saturday night. Time to relax. Let’s set the wayback machine for the 60’s, my favorite decade.
Pour yourself a big, stiff cocktail. Put a thick wax platter on the turntable of the hi-fi and gently drop that needle.
Pour yourself a big, stiff cocktail. Put a thick wax platter on the turntable of the hi-fi and gently drop that needle.
Thursday, February 02, 2012
Indiana RTW Law Passes
Both houses of the Indiana state legislature passed the Right To Work bill and the governor signed it into law yesterday. To me this was a very courageous act. Standing up to intimidation from union enforcers isn’t an easy thing to do for anyone.
Simply put, the law states that an employer is no longer bound to make an employee pay union dues as a requirement for employment.
Odd, none of the major media outlets both traditional and online made mention of it.
The local paper reported it this morning and the comment section is an interesting read. But why isn’t a large setback for big labor such as this generating major news? Could it be seen as an admission of weakness for the current national party in power? Especially since Indiana is a major Midwest manufacturing state? Soon, other states will use the Indiana example and join in to give their citizens a right to work.
Unions get little sympathy from me.
As a high school junior I worked at a local grocery store. Burger’s Supermarkets had three locations in northwest Indiana. My job was to bag customer groceries and place them on a large stand up wheel cart. Then I would travel with the customer to their vehicle and place the bags in the trunk or back seat.
Because membership in the Retail Clerk's Union was required to be an employee at Burger’s we made a few cents more than those working in a non-union store. We were not permitted to accept tips from customers due to the union/store agreement. Taking a tip was grounds for termination with zero union support. We made $1.70 per hour as part-time baggers in 1970. But it never stopped me from taking tips that would be anywhere from 25¢ to $1. On my best day I made about $5 in tips.
One assistant manager named Danny would go up on the roof usually on Saturdays equipped with binoculars. His mission was to catch the greedy baggers so he could fire them in order to set an example for the rest of us. In my two years at Burger’s he caught and fired three baggers.
No way would I turn down a tip since my future was not in the grocery business. If I got fired it would never appear on my resume anyway so good luck, Danny. Catch me if you can. He never did.
Considering there were large signs at the exit of the store telling customers that it was a Burger’s service policy to bag and deliver groceries so there was no need to tip, many older ladies ignored the signs. Danny told us there were secret shoppers that would tempt us with a tip, and if we took the tip the shopper would report our name. Guess I never carried groceries for his wife.
Union dues were taken out of our checks. I don’t recall how much but it was considerable for a kid making $1.70 per hour and I was not alone. We all thought we were being ripped off. That was my last job ever belonging to a union. I found a better job pumping gas and adding quarts of oil to cars for $2.25 and didn't need to be a union member.
In my hometown there were many union workers with families, I was friends with guys who had union dads. They worked at the Standard Oil refinery, Inland Steel, US Steel and their vendor support companies.
It was easy to know if a family was union. Their garages were loaded with tools stolen from the mills. One friend told me his dad said it was part of his pay, since the cash they paid to him was so low. It was taken for granted. But it was still breaking the law. Nobody cared since they all did it.
After graduation many of my friends got union mill jobs because of their dads. After a few years I heard every trick they used to get out of doing an honest day’s work. Where they could hide, how they got others to punch their time clock, the best way to steal tools were all revealed over a few beers. They were genuinely proud of their lack of accomplishment while still getting paid handsomely. They boasted in order to make us non-union folks and students seeking a higher education feel jealous.
This was all I needed to know to formulate my opinion of unions at an early age. Since then, whenever I read about how unions operate and cooperate with corrupt politicians and organized crime it only reinforced what I already knew.
What I do know is unions were once a necessary organization that protected workers. That was a long time ago. Since then they have become a political cash laundering machine and a ruthless enforcement tool. Brainwashed workers support unions without question. Considering that unions have driven a lot of manufacturing jobs out of the country, that is a puzzling thought. Workers are now owned by the unions and have little to say so they just go along to get along.
Since we have OSHA, the EPA and the NLRB why is there a need for unions? The same politicians that seem to have benefited most from unions have inadvertently replaced their usefulness.
A friend of a friend recently was hired by one of the steel mills. After not seeing his friend for a few weeks he asked how his job was going. The reply was, ”I haven’t started work, I’ve been going through union orientation.” When asked what he learned in orientation the guy replied, “how to grieve.”
Not to say that there are no hard working union workers, there are. But just as many are lazy, thieving and grieving cretins who cannot be terminated because of their union membership.
I have a few steelworker union friends that hunt with me. Good guys, hard workers. When I asked about the RTW law they shrugged it off. Even if it passes all the guys will still pay their dues along with any new hires, they agreed. Paying dues, one told me, is much cheaper than replacing busted windshields, sliced pickup truck tires or trips to the emergency room and intensive care.
RTW will not bust unions. What it threatens is the union’s ability to grow. It is intended to attract new manufacturers to set up plants in Indiana. A lot of Illinois businesses are expected to relocate as well as ones from far away.
There were heated RTW arguments locally. The anti-RTW protests in Indianapolis were conducted mostly by union workers, not a bunch of college slackers and bussed in paid protesters like in Madison Wisconsin last year. It got little play in the Chicago and national media. Last summer some politicians (D) fled for Illinois to stall the legislation for that year’s session. But it was inevitable RTW would pass.
Less than 10% of workers in Indiana are employed by union shops so RTW did not generate much resistance from honest citizens in the state. Believe me, if there was a large amount of resistance it would not have passed. Most Hosiers know what the union shakedown is all about.
Time will tell if the RTW law will bring in new business or not, if it will bust unions or not. I think it’s worth the effort to find out.
Those who will be hurt most are the ultimate beneficiaries of union support. It will be organized crime and corrupt liberal politicians who count on that cash cow to deliver.
Simply put, the law states that an employer is no longer bound to make an employee pay union dues as a requirement for employment.
Odd, none of the major media outlets both traditional and online made mention of it.
The local paper reported it this morning and the comment section is an interesting read. But why isn’t a large setback for big labor such as this generating major news? Could it be seen as an admission of weakness for the current national party in power? Especially since Indiana is a major Midwest manufacturing state? Soon, other states will use the Indiana example and join in to give their citizens a right to work.
Unions get little sympathy from me.
As a high school junior I worked at a local grocery store. Burger’s Supermarkets had three locations in northwest Indiana. My job was to bag customer groceries and place them on a large stand up wheel cart. Then I would travel with the customer to their vehicle and place the bags in the trunk or back seat.
Because membership in the Retail Clerk's Union was required to be an employee at Burger’s we made a few cents more than those working in a non-union store. We were not permitted to accept tips from customers due to the union/store agreement. Taking a tip was grounds for termination with zero union support. We made $1.70 per hour as part-time baggers in 1970. But it never stopped me from taking tips that would be anywhere from 25¢ to $1. On my best day I made about $5 in tips.
One assistant manager named Danny would go up on the roof usually on Saturdays equipped with binoculars. His mission was to catch the greedy baggers so he could fire them in order to set an example for the rest of us. In my two years at Burger’s he caught and fired three baggers.
No way would I turn down a tip since my future was not in the grocery business. If I got fired it would never appear on my resume anyway so good luck, Danny. Catch me if you can. He never did.
Considering there were large signs at the exit of the store telling customers that it was a Burger’s service policy to bag and deliver groceries so there was no need to tip, many older ladies ignored the signs. Danny told us there were secret shoppers that would tempt us with a tip, and if we took the tip the shopper would report our name. Guess I never carried groceries for his wife.
Union dues were taken out of our checks. I don’t recall how much but it was considerable for a kid making $1.70 per hour and I was not alone. We all thought we were being ripped off. That was my last job ever belonging to a union. I found a better job pumping gas and adding quarts of oil to cars for $2.25 and didn't need to be a union member.
In my hometown there were many union workers with families, I was friends with guys who had union dads. They worked at the Standard Oil refinery, Inland Steel, US Steel and their vendor support companies.
It was easy to know if a family was union. Their garages were loaded with tools stolen from the mills. One friend told me his dad said it was part of his pay, since the cash they paid to him was so low. It was taken for granted. But it was still breaking the law. Nobody cared since they all did it.
After graduation many of my friends got union mill jobs because of their dads. After a few years I heard every trick they used to get out of doing an honest day’s work. Where they could hide, how they got others to punch their time clock, the best way to steal tools were all revealed over a few beers. They were genuinely proud of their lack of accomplishment while still getting paid handsomely. They boasted in order to make us non-union folks and students seeking a higher education feel jealous.
This was all I needed to know to formulate my opinion of unions at an early age. Since then, whenever I read about how unions operate and cooperate with corrupt politicians and organized crime it only reinforced what I already knew.
What I do know is unions were once a necessary organization that protected workers. That was a long time ago. Since then they have become a political cash laundering machine and a ruthless enforcement tool. Brainwashed workers support unions without question. Considering that unions have driven a lot of manufacturing jobs out of the country, that is a puzzling thought. Workers are now owned by the unions and have little to say so they just go along to get along.
Since we have OSHA, the EPA and the NLRB why is there a need for unions? The same politicians that seem to have benefited most from unions have inadvertently replaced their usefulness.
A friend of a friend recently was hired by one of the steel mills. After not seeing his friend for a few weeks he asked how his job was going. The reply was, ”I haven’t started work, I’ve been going through union orientation.” When asked what he learned in orientation the guy replied, “how to grieve.”
Not to say that there are no hard working union workers, there are. But just as many are lazy, thieving and grieving cretins who cannot be terminated because of their union membership.
I have a few steelworker union friends that hunt with me. Good guys, hard workers. When I asked about the RTW law they shrugged it off. Even if it passes all the guys will still pay their dues along with any new hires, they agreed. Paying dues, one told me, is much cheaper than replacing busted windshields, sliced pickup truck tires or trips to the emergency room and intensive care.
RTW will not bust unions. What it threatens is the union’s ability to grow. It is intended to attract new manufacturers to set up plants in Indiana. A lot of Illinois businesses are expected to relocate as well as ones from far away.
There were heated RTW arguments locally. The anti-RTW protests in Indianapolis were conducted mostly by union workers, not a bunch of college slackers and bussed in paid protesters like in Madison Wisconsin last year. It got little play in the Chicago and national media. Last summer some politicians (D) fled for Illinois to stall the legislation for that year’s session. But it was inevitable RTW would pass.
Less than 10% of workers in Indiana are employed by union shops so RTW did not generate much resistance from honest citizens in the state. Believe me, if there was a large amount of resistance it would not have passed. Most Hosiers know what the union shakedown is all about.
Time will tell if the RTW law will bring in new business or not, if it will bust unions or not. I think it’s worth the effort to find out.
Those who will be hurt most are the ultimate beneficiaries of union support. It will be organized crime and corrupt liberal politicians who count on that cash cow to deliver.
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
78 rpm records
I was over at a friend's house recently when we discussed 78 rpm records. He had some recordings that his grandmother had once owned of various Italian operas.
Growing up I obviously had a lot of experience with 33 rpm records and also had a few 45 singles, although they were mostly going by the wayside by the time I started collecting music. I had no experience at all with 78 rpm records.
These 78 rpm records were in mono. I didn't realize how short the records were - less than 3 minutes per side. This probably is obvious to an engineer (78 rpm spins faster than 33 rpm) but less so to an accountant.
The records were made of shellac and apparently they broke very easily. Now the records are in good hands so that isn't as much of a worry. You can see the ubiquitous "discwasher" record cleaner (for dust) alongside the record player; I remember diligently cleaning my albums each time on the turntable.
Wikipedia had a good history of 78 rpm records here (in their general record section). The records lost popularity in the US in the 1950's and became basically extinct in by 1960. It is interesting to me that a modern record player still has a 78 rpm setting given that this format essentially died out 60 years ago.
Another friend said that he remembered children's' albums being in 78 rpm format but that was before my time. Someday maybe someone will pull out an old cassette player and put in my cassettes (mix tapes) for ancient nostalgia's take, too.
Growing up I obviously had a lot of experience with 33 rpm records and also had a few 45 singles, although they were mostly going by the wayside by the time I started collecting music. I had no experience at all with 78 rpm records.
These 78 rpm records were in mono. I didn't realize how short the records were - less than 3 minutes per side. This probably is obvious to an engineer (78 rpm spins faster than 33 rpm) but less so to an accountant.
The records were made of shellac and apparently they broke very easily. Now the records are in good hands so that isn't as much of a worry. You can see the ubiquitous "discwasher" record cleaner (for dust) alongside the record player; I remember diligently cleaning my albums each time on the turntable.
Wikipedia had a good history of 78 rpm records here (in their general record section). The records lost popularity in the US in the 1950's and became basically extinct in by 1960. It is interesting to me that a modern record player still has a 78 rpm setting given that this format essentially died out 60 years ago.
Another friend said that he remembered children's' albums being in 78 rpm format but that was before my time. Someday maybe someone will pull out an old cassette player and put in my cassettes (mix tapes) for ancient nostalgia's take, too.
Braising Back Ribs
I don’t often cook back ribs...but when I do…I prefer to braise them.
Stay hungry my friends.
Perusing the meat section at the local grocery last week looking for inspiration I spotted the largest slabs of back ribs known to man. Saturday was cold so my interest was not in grilling or BBQ. The word baby had nothing to do with these back ribs. They weren’t cheap but they were huge with a disproportionate meat to bone ratio. It is unusual for me to see this in a back rib.
Then I recalled an oven braised back rib recipe we are both quite fond of.
Since back ribs have minimal fat content low and slow BBQ isn’t one of my options for them. They dry out too quick leaving little juicy meat for my taste. But in the middle of winter they make a fine Oriental style bone.
The trick to the best back ribs (to me) is braising them in an oven. A fine rub and a good braising liquid seal the deal. These taste more like the ribs served in Chinese restaurants than anything coming off the Weber.
It helps to keep a well-stocked herb and spice cabinet. When buying on impulse I am confident there is no need to concern myself with buying some herbs and spices we may not have in stock. We buy most of our favorites in bulk at GFS. I can’t knock Penzy’s brand or other specialty retailers who stock the freshest herbs and spices. In my experience I have found that some herbs such as bay leaves are items where you can really tell the difference when purchased at a specialty retailer.
We grow our own herbs in the summer and dry them for winter use such as basil, oregano, thyme and rosemary. You can’t beat fresh herbs. But I usually gag at the price of out-of-season fresh herbs at the grocery.
Spice comes from seeds and herbs come from leaves. Some spices I buy whole then roast and/or grind them myself.
This rub is similar to most with a slight twist and lots of brown sugar. Since we are now officially empty nesters we cook one slab, the following proportions are for two slabs:
8 T brown sugar
1 T Kosher salt (use less if the slab is cryo-packed)
1 T chilipowder
½ t ground black pepper
½ t cayenne
½ jalapeno seasoning (we use chipotle powder)
½ t Old Bay seasoning
½ t thyme
½ t onion powder
Before rubbing the ribs with the spice mixture I create a special foil pouch from heavy-duty aluminum foil. The idea is to create a tube of foil that the slab sits within. The ribs get rubbed with the dry ingredients and sit in the pouch for at least one hour in the refrigerator. The foil should he at least four inches from the ends of the slabs. The foil is brought over the top lengthwise and pinched. The short ends should be rolled up.
After a few hours in the refrigerator the foil rib packet is should be allowed to sit at room temp for at least half an hour. Preheat the oven to 250 degrees.
The braising liquid.
1c white wine
2T white wine vinegar
1T worcestershire
1T honey
2 cloves garlic chopped (we use up to five cloves since there is never enough garlic)
Microwave all liquids in a safe container on high for one minute.
Place the foil pouch in a rimmed baking sheet. Unroll the foil ends to create a “snorkel” in which to pour in the liquid, then pinch the ends in an upward position so the liquid stays in the foil pouch. Divide the liquid in half, one for each pouch/slab if you are making two.
Braise for 2 ½ hours at 250 degrees.
Carefully remove the pouch from the oven and transfer the braising liquid to a pan. Simmer and stir until the sauce reduces by a half, creating a glaze. The process is complete when you are able to drag a spatula through the liquid leaving a clear trail behind.
Place the slab(s) onto a grate situated in the baking sheet and brush with the reduced sauce/glaze.
Broil until the sauce caramelizes, about five minutes should do but watch carefully so not to burn. Cut into two rib portions and toss in a bowl with the remaining sauce/glaze. Serve.
I prefer a chewy spare rib that needs to be gnawed off the bone if BBQ’ing. With these braised back ribs the bone separates easily, it is an entirely different experience. These literally fall apart.
There is no swiney flavor or par-boiled taste. There is an intoxicating Oriental flavor similar to five-spice.
I cannot think of a better way to enjoy back ribs.
Stay hungry my friends.
Perusing the meat section at the local grocery last week looking for inspiration I spotted the largest slabs of back ribs known to man. Saturday was cold so my interest was not in grilling or BBQ. The word baby had nothing to do with these back ribs. They weren’t cheap but they were huge with a disproportionate meat to bone ratio. It is unusual for me to see this in a back rib.
Then I recalled an oven braised back rib recipe we are both quite fond of.
Since back ribs have minimal fat content low and slow BBQ isn’t one of my options for them. They dry out too quick leaving little juicy meat for my taste. But in the middle of winter they make a fine Oriental style bone.
The trick to the best back ribs (to me) is braising them in an oven. A fine rub and a good braising liquid seal the deal. These taste more like the ribs served in Chinese restaurants than anything coming off the Weber.
It helps to keep a well-stocked herb and spice cabinet. When buying on impulse I am confident there is no need to concern myself with buying some herbs and spices we may not have in stock. We buy most of our favorites in bulk at GFS. I can’t knock Penzy’s brand or other specialty retailers who stock the freshest herbs and spices. In my experience I have found that some herbs such as bay leaves are items where you can really tell the difference when purchased at a specialty retailer.
We grow our own herbs in the summer and dry them for winter use such as basil, oregano, thyme and rosemary. You can’t beat fresh herbs. But I usually gag at the price of out-of-season fresh herbs at the grocery.
Spice comes from seeds and herbs come from leaves. Some spices I buy whole then roast and/or grind them myself.
This rub is similar to most with a slight twist and lots of brown sugar. Since we are now officially empty nesters we cook one slab, the following proportions are for two slabs:
8 T brown sugar
1 T Kosher salt (use less if the slab is cryo-packed)
1 T chilipowder
½ t ground black pepper
½ t cayenne
½ jalapeno seasoning (we use chipotle powder)
½ t Old Bay seasoning
½ t thyme
½ t onion powder
Before rubbing the ribs with the spice mixture I create a special foil pouch from heavy-duty aluminum foil. The idea is to create a tube of foil that the slab sits within. The ribs get rubbed with the dry ingredients and sit in the pouch for at least one hour in the refrigerator. The foil should he at least four inches from the ends of the slabs. The foil is brought over the top lengthwise and pinched. The short ends should be rolled up.
After a few hours in the refrigerator the foil rib packet is should be allowed to sit at room temp for at least half an hour. Preheat the oven to 250 degrees.
The braising liquid.
1c white wine
2T white wine vinegar
1T worcestershire
1T honey
2 cloves garlic chopped (we use up to five cloves since there is never enough garlic)
Microwave all liquids in a safe container on high for one minute.
Place the foil pouch in a rimmed baking sheet. Unroll the foil ends to create a “snorkel” in which to pour in the liquid, then pinch the ends in an upward position so the liquid stays in the foil pouch. Divide the liquid in half, one for each pouch/slab if you are making two.
Braise for 2 ½ hours at 250 degrees.
Carefully remove the pouch from the oven and transfer the braising liquid to a pan. Simmer and stir until the sauce reduces by a half, creating a glaze. The process is complete when you are able to drag a spatula through the liquid leaving a clear trail behind.
Place the slab(s) onto a grate situated in the baking sheet and brush with the reduced sauce/glaze.
Broil until the sauce caramelizes, about five minutes should do but watch carefully so not to burn. Cut into two rib portions and toss in a bowl with the remaining sauce/glaze. Serve.
I prefer a chewy spare rib that needs to be gnawed off the bone if BBQ’ing. With these braised back ribs the bone separates easily, it is an entirely different experience. These literally fall apart.
There is no swiney flavor or par-boiled taste. There is an intoxicating Oriental flavor similar to five-spice.
I cannot think of a better way to enjoy back ribs.
Monday, January 30, 2012
Saturday, January 28, 2012
Saturday Night Sixties
It’s Saturday night. Time to relax. Let’s set the wayback machine for the 60’s, my favorite decade.
Pour yourself a big, stiff cocktail. Put a thick wax platter on the turntable of the hi-fi and gently drop that needle.
Pour yourself a big, stiff cocktail. Put a thick wax platter on the turntable of the hi-fi and gently drop that needle.
The Art Of Hipgnosis
I was having a drink one night reading an article about someone's "favorite things" and they mentioned an out-of-print book from the 70's about the firm Hipgnosis that designed iconic album covers. Literally 5 or so clicks later I ordered it from my iPhone through Amazon and it recently arrived (amazing what the internet can do).
Hipgnosis was the name of the now-defunct firm that produced all the record covers that you have in your collection from the era when a record cover was a work of art, something to look at for hours on end while the music played over your stereo (or headphones). Wikipedia has a good summary of the firm here and also the main designer (Storm Thogerson) here who even today still creates great CD Covers (it doesn't sound the same, I admit) for bands like Muse. Here is a great site (non official) of Hipgnosis material, as well.
I was very impressed with these record covers growing up. At that time the internet didn't exist so unless you went to a show and saw the band "in the flesh" or read a music magazine (which I never paid for) at a magazine stand you didn't know much about the band "behind the music" so these iconic images helped you to imagine what the band stood for. Plus Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd and similar artists never really toured the states when I was at an age to afford to attend shows so their "message" came through on album covers, posters, and sleeves.
Some of the album art that Hipgnosis made from the 70's era is from great bands and albums like "The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway", the Pink Floyd classics, and the Led Zeppelin era, as well as the Peter Gabriel unnamed solo albums. These bands seemed to stand well with the images.
I am a huge Michael Schenker / UFO fan and loved their covers, too, except I didn't really understand them (especially "Force It" with the gleaming bathroom appliances). Obsession with the "ball bearing" images didn't make the book but it also was iconic.
Then you get the more obscure bands like Montrose (Sammy Hagar's band before he went solo) with their "arty" covers. Some of the band covers are hilarious when juxtaposition-ed against the fact that much of the underlying music was awful. Obviously these images were damn racy in the day; when I bought the book there were photocopies from a xerox machine inside the book of some of the racier album covers involving human body parts. These photocopies were likely 15 years old (nowadays way racier stuff is everywhere in the internet).
I also like the logos (in the collage) and the inside sleeve from "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway". Hipgnosis really did outstanding work and I highly recommend the book if you can find it. The book is organized in a somewhat "cheeky" fashion (they are British, after all) with the famous "Flying Pig" over the power station for "Animals" filed under the category "Fiascos".
Cross posted at Chicago Boyz
Hipgnosis was the name of the now-defunct firm that produced all the record covers that you have in your collection from the era when a record cover was a work of art, something to look at for hours on end while the music played over your stereo (or headphones). Wikipedia has a good summary of the firm here and also the main designer (Storm Thogerson) here who even today still creates great CD Covers (it doesn't sound the same, I admit) for bands like Muse. Here is a great site (non official) of Hipgnosis material, as well.
I was very impressed with these record covers growing up. At that time the internet didn't exist so unless you went to a show and saw the band "in the flesh" or read a music magazine (which I never paid for) at a magazine stand you didn't know much about the band "behind the music" so these iconic images helped you to imagine what the band stood for. Plus Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd and similar artists never really toured the states when I was at an age to afford to attend shows so their "message" came through on album covers, posters, and sleeves.
Some of the album art that Hipgnosis made from the 70's era is from great bands and albums like "The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway", the Pink Floyd classics, and the Led Zeppelin era, as well as the Peter Gabriel unnamed solo albums. These bands seemed to stand well with the images.
I am a huge Michael Schenker / UFO fan and loved their covers, too, except I didn't really understand them (especially "Force It" with the gleaming bathroom appliances). Obsession with the "ball bearing" images didn't make the book but it also was iconic.
Then you get the more obscure bands like Montrose (Sammy Hagar's band before he went solo) with their "arty" covers. Some of the band covers are hilarious when juxtaposition-ed against the fact that much of the underlying music was awful. Obviously these images were damn racy in the day; when I bought the book there were photocopies from a xerox machine inside the book of some of the racier album covers involving human body parts. These photocopies were likely 15 years old (nowadays way racier stuff is everywhere in the internet).
I also like the logos (in the collage) and the inside sleeve from "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway". Hipgnosis really did outstanding work and I highly recommend the book if you can find it. The book is organized in a somewhat "cheeky" fashion (they are British, after all) with the famous "Flying Pig" over the power station for "Animals" filed under the category "Fiascos".
Cross posted at Chicago Boyz
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
My Man Mitch
Never felt so good to be a Hoosier. Twenty years ago we made the smart choice in leaving Illinois to move back to the free world of Indiana, where the U.S. Constitution still means something.
A photo I took of Mitch as he waved to me at the Indy500 parade three years ago.
For the first time in the last three years I am proud of my country because it feels like common sense is finally making a comeback.”
In case you missed the Mitch response last night here are my favorite quotes.
“The President did not cause the economic and fiscal crises that continue in America tonight. But he was elected on a promise to fix them, and he cannot claim that the last three years have made things anything but worse: the percentage of Americans with a job is at the lowest in decades.”
“He seems to sincerely believe we can build a middle class out of government jobs paid for with borrowed dollars. In fact, it works the other way: a government as big and bossy as this one is maintained on the backs of the middle class, and those who hope to join it.”
“As Republicans our first concern is for those waiting tonight to begin or resume the climb up life’s ladder. We do not accept that ours will ever be a nation of haves and have not’s; we must always be a nation of haves and soon to haves.”
“Contrary to the President's constant disparagement of people in business, it's one of the noblest of human pursuits. The late Steve Jobs - what a fitting name he had - created more of them than all those stimulus dollars the President borrowed and blew.”
Out here in Indiana, when a businessperson asks me what he can do for our state, I say ‘First, make money. Be successful. If you make a profit, you'll have something left to hire someone else, and some to donate to the good causes we love.”
“The extremism that stifles the development of homegrown energy, or cancels a perfectly safe pipeline that would employ tens of thousands, or jacks up consumer utility bills for no improvement in either human health or world temperature, is a pro-poverty policy. It must be replaced by a passionate pro-growth approach that breaks all ties and calls all close ones in favor of private sector jobs that restore opportunity for all and generate the public revenues to pay our bills.”
“It's not fair and it's not true for the President to attack Republicans in Congress as obstacles on these questions. They and they alone have passed bills to reduce borrowing, reform entitlements, and encourage new job creation, only to be shot down time and time again by the President and his Democratic Senate allies.”
“No feature of the Obama Presidency has been sadder than its constant efforts to divide us, to curry favor with some Americans by castigating others. As in previous moments of national danger, we Americans are all in the same boat.”
We will fall for the con job that says we can just plow ahead and someone else will pick up the tab. We will allow ourselves to be pitted one against the other, blaming our neighbor for troubles worldwide trends or our own government has caused.”
And here’s my favorite:
“In word and deed, the President and his allies tell us that we just cannot handle ourselves in this complex, perilous world without their benevolent protection. Left to ourselves, we might pick the wrong health insurance, the wrong mortgage, the wrong school for our kids; why, unless they stop us, we might pick the wrong light bulb!”
The entire content is here.
Mitch is about to win one last battle in my state. the Indiana Right To Work law. It will be the last courageous act of a conservative governor restricted to a limit of two terms.
While Mitch will be moving back to the private sector next January we should be in good shape for another eight years. This guy will win easily.
A photo I took of Mitch as he waved to me at the Indy500 parade three years ago.
For the first time in the last three years I am proud of my country because it feels like common sense is finally making a comeback.”
In case you missed the Mitch response last night here are my favorite quotes.
“The President did not cause the economic and fiscal crises that continue in America tonight. But he was elected on a promise to fix them, and he cannot claim that the last three years have made things anything but worse: the percentage of Americans with a job is at the lowest in decades.”
“He seems to sincerely believe we can build a middle class out of government jobs paid for with borrowed dollars. In fact, it works the other way: a government as big and bossy as this one is maintained on the backs of the middle class, and those who hope to join it.”
“As Republicans our first concern is for those waiting tonight to begin or resume the climb up life’s ladder. We do not accept that ours will ever be a nation of haves and have not’s; we must always be a nation of haves and soon to haves.”
“Contrary to the President's constant disparagement of people in business, it's one of the noblest of human pursuits. The late Steve Jobs - what a fitting name he had - created more of them than all those stimulus dollars the President borrowed and blew.”
Out here in Indiana, when a businessperson asks me what he can do for our state, I say ‘First, make money. Be successful. If you make a profit, you'll have something left to hire someone else, and some to donate to the good causes we love.”
“The extremism that stifles the development of homegrown energy, or cancels a perfectly safe pipeline that would employ tens of thousands, or jacks up consumer utility bills for no improvement in either human health or world temperature, is a pro-poverty policy. It must be replaced by a passionate pro-growth approach that breaks all ties and calls all close ones in favor of private sector jobs that restore opportunity for all and generate the public revenues to pay our bills.”
“It's not fair and it's not true for the President to attack Republicans in Congress as obstacles on these questions. They and they alone have passed bills to reduce borrowing, reform entitlements, and encourage new job creation, only to be shot down time and time again by the President and his Democratic Senate allies.”
“No feature of the Obama Presidency has been sadder than its constant efforts to divide us, to curry favor with some Americans by castigating others. As in previous moments of national danger, we Americans are all in the same boat.”
We will fall for the con job that says we can just plow ahead and someone else will pick up the tab. We will allow ourselves to be pitted one against the other, blaming our neighbor for troubles worldwide trends or our own government has caused.”
And here’s my favorite:
“In word and deed, the President and his allies tell us that we just cannot handle ourselves in this complex, perilous world without their benevolent protection. Left to ourselves, we might pick the wrong health insurance, the wrong mortgage, the wrong school for our kids; why, unless they stop us, we might pick the wrong light bulb!”
The entire content is here.
Mitch is about to win one last battle in my state. the Indiana Right To Work law. It will be the last courageous act of a conservative governor restricted to a limit of two terms.
While Mitch will be moving back to the private sector next January we should be in good shape for another eight years. This guy will win easily.
Monday, January 23, 2012
NYT Has A Decent Article on Taxes
Both our current administration and the New York Times appeared to have little or no understanding how the "real" economy worked or the impact of incentives on tax policy. In more recent years they grasped that changing tax policy can impact economic incentives, which in turn, can increase their chances of being re-elected.
Their first major foray was "cash for clunkers" which gave a tax deduction for turning in your old car for a new one. Like most one-time incentives, it accelerated purchases into the current period, giving a boost to auto manufacturers and car dealerships (and sticking the tax credit to the deficit). Lately the administration has gotten bolder, offering 100% deduction for capital purchases in the current year for tax purposes (which has the same effect as "cash for clunkers", except on a wider scale as tax incentives for corporations and private companies), and then giving a 2% "payroll tax cut" which finally eliminates even the concept that social security is anything more than a "pay as you go" system and that there is nothing there waiting for you when you retire.
My view of tax policy is that the goal of a sound policy is to:
1) raise the revenue that you set out to achieve
2) minimize negative effects or dis-incentives of the policy
Examples abound of a failure of #1, including raising marginal taxes on the wealthy (they change their behavior or move to another jurisdiction) and the distortive effects of #2 are legendary, including over-investment in non-productive housing stock (due to the mortgage interest deduction) and the massive numbers of lawyers and accountants that make a living on the entrails of our bewildering and counter-productive tax system.
In recent years the NYT, as the sounding arm for the administration, has started to realize that the haphazard and counter-productive effects of our current tax system are legion, and that better core policies could improve revenues while minimizing negative behavior. This article called "A Better Tax System" (Instructions Included) laid our four principles that seem reasonable overall:
1) Broaden the base and lower rates
2) Tax consumption rather than income
3) Tax "bads" rather than "goods"
4) Keep it simple, stupid
I would say that their item 1 corresponds to my number 1, above, because a wider base with a less sloped marginal top is the core to a sustainable base of revenues that won't fluctuate as much over time. Items 2-4 are under the negative minimization principle.
Of course part of the reason that this article seems to make sense is that it was written by a non NYT staffer who works for an opposition candidate. But I do think that the NYT and the administration are starting to realize that our current tax system is an unholy mess with huge dis-incentives (the highest corporate taxes in the world drive jobs overseas), that doesn't raise revenue broadly, and has huge dis-incentives in terms of ability for companies and individuals to plan ahead.
Too bad it is too late in the game for them to do much more than talk about it. Also shame on the prior administration for never spending the political capital to attempt to change the system and reform it. They neglected to wield their power to make America more competitive.
Cross posted at Chicago Boyz
Their first major foray was "cash for clunkers" which gave a tax deduction for turning in your old car for a new one. Like most one-time incentives, it accelerated purchases into the current period, giving a boost to auto manufacturers and car dealerships (and sticking the tax credit to the deficit). Lately the administration has gotten bolder, offering 100% deduction for capital purchases in the current year for tax purposes (which has the same effect as "cash for clunkers", except on a wider scale as tax incentives for corporations and private companies), and then giving a 2% "payroll tax cut" which finally eliminates even the concept that social security is anything more than a "pay as you go" system and that there is nothing there waiting for you when you retire.
My view of tax policy is that the goal of a sound policy is to:
1) raise the revenue that you set out to achieve
2) minimize negative effects or dis-incentives of the policy
Examples abound of a failure of #1, including raising marginal taxes on the wealthy (they change their behavior or move to another jurisdiction) and the distortive effects of #2 are legendary, including over-investment in non-productive housing stock (due to the mortgage interest deduction) and the massive numbers of lawyers and accountants that make a living on the entrails of our bewildering and counter-productive tax system.
In recent years the NYT, as the sounding arm for the administration, has started to realize that the haphazard and counter-productive effects of our current tax system are legion, and that better core policies could improve revenues while minimizing negative behavior. This article called "A Better Tax System" (Instructions Included) laid our four principles that seem reasonable overall:
1) Broaden the base and lower rates
2) Tax consumption rather than income
3) Tax "bads" rather than "goods"
4) Keep it simple, stupid
I would say that their item 1 corresponds to my number 1, above, because a wider base with a less sloped marginal top is the core to a sustainable base of revenues that won't fluctuate as much over time. Items 2-4 are under the negative minimization principle.
Of course part of the reason that this article seems to make sense is that it was written by a non NYT staffer who works for an opposition candidate. But I do think that the NYT and the administration are starting to realize that our current tax system is an unholy mess with huge dis-incentives (the highest corporate taxes in the world drive jobs overseas), that doesn't raise revenue broadly, and has huge dis-incentives in terms of ability for companies and individuals to plan ahead.
Too bad it is too late in the game for them to do much more than talk about it. Also shame on the prior administration for never spending the political capital to attempt to change the system and reform it. They neglected to wield their power to make America more competitive.
Cross posted at Chicago Boyz
Walgreens Hates Pigeons
And so do I!
I don't think that they can find any more places to put those "pigeon spikes" on the sign.
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Saturday Night Sixties
It’s Saturday night. Time to relax. Let’s set the wayback machine for the 60’s, my favorite decade.
Pour yourself a big, stiff cocktail. Put a thick wax platter on the turntable of the hi-fi and gently drop that needle.
You can help yourself, but don't take too much.
Pour yourself a big, stiff cocktail. Put a thick wax platter on the turntable of the hi-fi and gently drop that needle.
You can help yourself, but don't take too much.
Thursday, January 19, 2012
France 2012
Tonight I attended a meeting about the France trip I will be going on in late June/early July 2012. I met a bunch of the people I was with in France in 2011. It was good to see them again.
They had a slide show on a big screen of France 2011. A feeling of immense pride and accomplishment ran through my veins while I watched the images scrolling across the screen.
I saw photos of me dripping with sweat in full combat with intense heat and enormous mountains on my bicycle. I liked the look on my face. I saw myself with my trip mates later that day smiling and drinking wine and eating goat cheese in our cabins.
I remembered how intense it was racing in a real bike race with cameras, scooters, official cars and the like.
It was great recalling how I was humbled by some with their biking abilities, and how satisfying it was being able to humble others.
All of us France alumni agreed that besides personal events such as weddings and births of children that it was the best event of our lives.
Several of us will be going next year. My trip mates were astonished to learn that I have been training two months already for this trip.
I have a lot of unfinished business with myself, others, and the Plateau de Beille.
I can't wait.
Monday, January 16, 2012
Social Distortion and Time
Dan and I are going to see Social Distortion out in Reno, Nevada. Social Distortion has been around for years and years, meaning that at one time or other I have owned their music on record, on cassettes, on CD's, and finally in MP3 format. But pretty much everything got lost along the way.
So in order to catch up on Social Distortion and what they are playing now I just typed "Social Distortion Setlist" and went to the set list wiki and filled up my iPod with the songs that they have been playing on the recent tour. Good thing too, because most of the songs I am familiar with are from their earliest couple of albums and they seem to be playing some new music. I'll just clear everything else off my shuffle and play this while I am working out and running and soon I will be ready for the show.
In the end I just need to break down and buy all their albums again in electronic format and probably will do so after the show. It is a good cause, anyways, since like Lemmy I can hardly believe that Mike Ness is still alive after all these years.
Another surprising thing is that I typed "Social Distortion" in Google and Dan's concert review was #3 on the list, even ahead of their Wikipedia entry, which stunned me. Either Google is smokin' something or we have a few more readers than we expect. Probably the former...
So in order to catch up on Social Distortion and what they are playing now I just typed "Social Distortion Setlist" and went to the set list wiki and filled up my iPod with the songs that they have been playing on the recent tour. Good thing too, because most of the songs I am familiar with are from their earliest couple of albums and they seem to be playing some new music. I'll just clear everything else off my shuffle and play this while I am working out and running and soon I will be ready for the show.
In the end I just need to break down and buy all their albums again in electronic format and probably will do so after the show. It is a good cause, anyways, since like Lemmy I can hardly believe that Mike Ness is still alive after all these years.
Another surprising thing is that I typed "Social Distortion" in Google and Dan's concert review was #3 on the list, even ahead of their Wikipedia entry, which stunned me. Either Google is smokin' something or we have a few more readers than we expect. Probably the former...
Natural Gas
In a post about interest rates I wrote about being a little kid and over-hearing my grandfather (who was actually "grandfathered" in as a CPA because he was a practicing accountant before they had the exam) talk in the early 1980's saying that he though interest rates "would never go below 10%". At the time inflation was rampant (as Volker came in) and interest rates were in the 20% or so range, so this seemed like a valid observation. As we all know, interest rates have fallen to near-zero right now and even a "ceiling" of 10% (rather than a floor) seems far away.
Along the same lines, when I started in the energy business in the early 1990's, the "rule of thumb" of what a utility would pay for natural gas was about $2 / unit. The price would rise in the winter during the peak heating season and fall in the summer as utilities re-filled their storage, and it would vary around the $2 / unit mark, but not deviate too significantly. At the time there wasn't a lot of vision forward on prices that I was aware of, but if you mentioned anything like the $14 / unit peak that was hit in 2005-6, you would have been laughed out of the room.
Today natural gas, propelled by innovation and "fracking", has dropped to a price level that no one would have foreseen back in 2005-6. Per Bloomberg:
What happened? Free enterprise and capital markets happened. Fracking and innovation allowed new natural gas deposits to be found in our country which brought forth huge reserves of US energy and drove down costs even while usage soared.
This low price for natural gas is not a short-term phenomenon. These reserves are significant and since natural gas is often found alongside oil, with oil at $100 / barrel the fact that natural gas is at a low price won't impact it as much as you'd think because anything the driller gets is just profit on top of the huge profits for US sourced oil. The largest "threat" to low prices for natural gas in the US is actually the "high" price of natural gas overseas, because US drillers and pipelines can ship it to foreign countries in a liquified (LNG) format if their high prices make it economical. Per this WSJ article:
As far as the US electricity industry, natural gas is causing coal plants to be mothballed or for their owners to choose to not spend money on costly "scrubbers" to comply with EPA guidelines, changing the long term footprint of the US market. Since the nuclear boom was a "mirage" anyways (basically we will get a plant out of Southern Company and one in South Carolina, which won't even keep up with likely decommissioning of units), this lower priced power is killing the market for new plants entirely.
For heavily indebted companies like Energy Futures Holdings (which bought up TXU assets in Texas), the low price of natural gas spells difficulties, since gas fired "peakers" set the "market price" for energy and with the price of gas at $2 / unit, not $8 or $10 / unit, they will make less money on their "base load" coal and nuclear plants which need to run all the time. Some of these utilities had a great summer in 2011 with high temperatures (especially in Texas) which helped to offset the increasing competitiveness of gas-fired generation.
The other key item to keep in mind is that when we buy US produced energy, we enrich our OWN country rather than sending wealth overseas, often to countries that despise us (and even if we don't buy directly from Iran, the high cost of oil overall benefits them just the same whether or not we buy or someone else). The new innovative technologies have enormously benefited the United States, making us more competitive in business and reducing energy bills for tens of millions of households. And while energy companies do have "breaks" in the tax code to some extent, this innovation was not part of a government program and is in stark contrast to the failures of the energy department "research" and political backing of "green" energy which is likely to be a major campaign issue in 2012.
If only they'd unleash our oil companies in the US we would likely be able to dramatically increase our production and further reduce our dependence on foreign energy producers, while enriching our own country. The parable of natural gas is plain for all to see, which is that markets work if you let them, and that government intervention is usually far more harmful than inaction.
Cross posted at Chicago Boyz
Along the same lines, when I started in the energy business in the early 1990's, the "rule of thumb" of what a utility would pay for natural gas was about $2 / unit. The price would rise in the winter during the peak heating season and fall in the summer as utilities re-filled their storage, and it would vary around the $2 / unit mark, but not deviate too significantly. At the time there wasn't a lot of vision forward on prices that I was aware of, but if you mentioned anything like the $14 / unit peak that was hit in 2005-6, you would have been laughed out of the room.
Today natural gas, propelled by innovation and "fracking", has dropped to a price level that no one would have foreseen back in 2005-6. Per Bloomberg:
Supplies may reach a seasonal record of 2.4 trillion cubic feet in March, which is when heating demand usually ends and producers begin piping more gas into storage, Cooper said. Unless production falls or cold weather bolsters demand, prices will drop to $2.40 per million Btu, and perhaps below $2, as gas overflows storage caverns and clogs pipelines, he said.To think that natural gas would return to 1990 price levels is amazing. Even using the governments' figures, which I think understate inflation dramatically, in the 21 years from 1990 to 2011, inflation makes the $2 in 1990 the equivalent of $3.51 today, per this inflation calculator.
What happened? Free enterprise and capital markets happened. Fracking and innovation allowed new natural gas deposits to be found in our country which brought forth huge reserves of US energy and drove down costs even while usage soared.
This low price for natural gas is not a short-term phenomenon. These reserves are significant and since natural gas is often found alongside oil, with oil at $100 / barrel the fact that natural gas is at a low price won't impact it as much as you'd think because anything the driller gets is just profit on top of the huge profits for US sourced oil. The largest "threat" to low prices for natural gas in the US is actually the "high" price of natural gas overseas, because US drillers and pipelines can ship it to foreign countries in a liquified (LNG) format if their high prices make it economical. Per this WSJ article:
(T)he current low natural gas prices are attracting market demand from around the world. There are already federal permits for 3 trillion cubic feet per year of natural gas exports, Apt said. "Will we export that bounty, and if we do, will that drive up U.S. prices," he said. Natural gas sells for about $8 in Europe and $14 in Japan, but less than $4 here.The real longer-term issue is whether other countries in Europe and Asia will also find large reserves of natural gas in shale just like they did in the US, and whether they will drill for it or avoid drilling out of environmental concerns. The French have already banned "fracking" but my (unproven) opinion is that this really says more about the power of the nuclear lobby in France, since the low price of natural gas has really been the final nail in the coffin of nuclear energy (along with the obvious issue of Japan) because it makes the plant's un-economic to build. Likely the Ukrainians (smarting from Russia's bullying over natural gas pricing), the Poles, and the Chinese will take up this technology in earnest and change the overall economics, even if countries like France are content to wait idly by.
As far as the US electricity industry, natural gas is causing coal plants to be mothballed or for their owners to choose to not spend money on costly "scrubbers" to comply with EPA guidelines, changing the long term footprint of the US market. Since the nuclear boom was a "mirage" anyways (basically we will get a plant out of Southern Company and one in South Carolina, which won't even keep up with likely decommissioning of units), this lower priced power is killing the market for new plants entirely.
For heavily indebted companies like Energy Futures Holdings (which bought up TXU assets in Texas), the low price of natural gas spells difficulties, since gas fired "peakers" set the "market price" for energy and with the price of gas at $2 / unit, not $8 or $10 / unit, they will make less money on their "base load" coal and nuclear plants which need to run all the time. Some of these utilities had a great summer in 2011 with high temperatures (especially in Texas) which helped to offset the increasing competitiveness of gas-fired generation.
The other key item to keep in mind is that when we buy US produced energy, we enrich our OWN country rather than sending wealth overseas, often to countries that despise us (and even if we don't buy directly from Iran, the high cost of oil overall benefits them just the same whether or not we buy or someone else). The new innovative technologies have enormously benefited the United States, making us more competitive in business and reducing energy bills for tens of millions of households. And while energy companies do have "breaks" in the tax code to some extent, this innovation was not part of a government program and is in stark contrast to the failures of the energy department "research" and political backing of "green" energy which is likely to be a major campaign issue in 2012.
If only they'd unleash our oil companies in the US we would likely be able to dramatically increase our production and further reduce our dependence on foreign energy producers, while enriching our own country. The parable of natural gas is plain for all to see, which is that markets work if you let them, and that government intervention is usually far more harmful than inaction.
Cross posted at Chicago Boyz
Sunday, January 15, 2012
Homemade Tacos
These are easily better than they have to be.
To make tacos it’s so easy to brown some ground beef, pork chicken or venison, toss in a packet of prepared spices (I prefer the Taco Bell store bought spice) and cook. Add the meat to a store bought corn or flour tortilla with lettuce, cheese and chomp, done.
I like fresh chopped onion along with pickled jalapenos and chopped fresh cilantro on my tacos too. Tomato and sour cream? No.
I have eaten tacos at those upscale Mezcan restaurants. They’re damn good but get 2 tacos for about $6? True ethnic bodegas in Chicago neighborhoods such as this one are delicious and less expensive but not worth the risk of getting robbed on the way home or having my car stolen.
We found this great taco recipe a few years ago that is very different tasting, nothing like the seasoning packets. In fact, they do not possess the usual flavor notes most taco fans are accustomed to. What makes them even more special is frying our own fresh corn tortillas. Dan and Carl have had our fresh fried nacho chips at tailgates. Frying wedge shaped tacos shells isn’t much different. This in itself makes any taco much better than it has to be regardless of your seasoning choice.
For the meat filling:
Start by adding a small amount of oil to a hot skillet. Toss in one small diced onion, a pinch of coarse salt, then stir for about three minutes on medium. When the onions become transparent add three large cloves of garlic either chopped or pressed. Stir for about 30 seconds. The next step is where the real magic happens.
Add to the onion, garlic and oil a spice (that has been pre-mixed) that consists of:
1T chili powder (I could pull a foodie snob trick here and recommend Penzys but brand any will do)
1t ground cumin
1t ground coriander
½ t dried oregano
½ t cayenne
Stir for a minute or so, this will bloom the spices to form a paste-like substance and bring out much more flavor. Then add 1-1.25 lbs lean ground beef. Stirring the beef and chopping it with a wooden spatula will give it the finer crumb that I prefer. Stir until cooked.
Then add:
½ c canned tomato sauce
½ c chicken broth
1t brown sugar
2t cider vinegar
Salt & pepper to taste
Fold in well then reduce heat to low and allow the resulting matter to reduce, up to 30 minutes.
While this is going on take a wide skillet and fill it with ¼ to 1/3 “ of oil. Heat but be careful not to burn it. I buy fresh corn tortillas and they’re everywhere. I cut one into quarters to test the oil temp. Then add a whole one using two pair of tongs. Fold it into ½ by holding up one side with tongs leaving a 2’ gap forming a wedge. It will soon become crisp, then flip to fry the other half, again keeping the gap using the tongs. This takes less than 2 minutes total per tortilla.
I try to challenge myself constantly to cook food better than restaurants serve. For the most part, I do. It takes work and time but worth it. The rewards beyond the taste is not having to go anywhere, drinking as I feel like it, having a good time (it’s like a hobby), and doing as I wish when full. It’s frugality at it’s best and there is no tipping : )
Homemade tacos…better than they have to be.
To make tacos it’s so easy to brown some ground beef, pork chicken or venison, toss in a packet of prepared spices (I prefer the Taco Bell store bought spice) and cook. Add the meat to a store bought corn or flour tortilla with lettuce, cheese and chomp, done.
I like fresh chopped onion along with pickled jalapenos and chopped fresh cilantro on my tacos too. Tomato and sour cream? No.
I have eaten tacos at those upscale Mezcan restaurants. They’re damn good but get 2 tacos for about $6? True ethnic bodegas in Chicago neighborhoods such as this one are delicious and less expensive but not worth the risk of getting robbed on the way home or having my car stolen.
We found this great taco recipe a few years ago that is very different tasting, nothing like the seasoning packets. In fact, they do not possess the usual flavor notes most taco fans are accustomed to. What makes them even more special is frying our own fresh corn tortillas. Dan and Carl have had our fresh fried nacho chips at tailgates. Frying wedge shaped tacos shells isn’t much different. This in itself makes any taco much better than it has to be regardless of your seasoning choice.
For the meat filling:
Start by adding a small amount of oil to a hot skillet. Toss in one small diced onion, a pinch of coarse salt, then stir for about three minutes on medium. When the onions become transparent add three large cloves of garlic either chopped or pressed. Stir for about 30 seconds. The next step is where the real magic happens.
Add to the onion, garlic and oil a spice (that has been pre-mixed) that consists of:
1T chili powder (I could pull a foodie snob trick here and recommend Penzys but brand any will do)
1t ground cumin
1t ground coriander
½ t dried oregano
½ t cayenne
Stir for a minute or so, this will bloom the spices to form a paste-like substance and bring out much more flavor. Then add 1-1.25 lbs lean ground beef. Stirring the beef and chopping it with a wooden spatula will give it the finer crumb that I prefer. Stir until cooked.
Then add:
½ c canned tomato sauce
½ c chicken broth
1t brown sugar
2t cider vinegar
Salt & pepper to taste
Fold in well then reduce heat to low and allow the resulting matter to reduce, up to 30 minutes.
While this is going on take a wide skillet and fill it with ¼ to 1/3 “ of oil. Heat but be careful not to burn it. I buy fresh corn tortillas and they’re everywhere. I cut one into quarters to test the oil temp. Then add a whole one using two pair of tongs. Fold it into ½ by holding up one side with tongs leaving a 2’ gap forming a wedge. It will soon become crisp, then flip to fry the other half, again keeping the gap using the tongs. This takes less than 2 minutes total per tortilla.
I try to challenge myself constantly to cook food better than restaurants serve. For the most part, I do. It takes work and time but worth it. The rewards beyond the taste is not having to go anywhere, drinking as I feel like it, having a good time (it’s like a hobby), and doing as I wish when full. It’s frugality at it’s best and there is no tipping : )
Homemade tacos…better than they have to be.
Saturday, January 14, 2012
Saturday Night Sixties
It’s Saturday night. Time to relax. Let’s set the wayback machine for the 60’s, my favorite decade.
Pour yourself a big, stiff cocktail. Put a thick wax platter on the turntable of the hi-fi and gently drop that needle.
Stronger than dirt.
Pour yourself a big, stiff cocktail. Put a thick wax platter on the turntable of the hi-fi and gently drop that needle.
Stronger than dirt.
Time and Money
Chicago winters are hell on your shoes. Aside from protecting them with those rubber shoe protectors, you can either 1) shine them yourself 2) go to a shoe shine stand. Since my poor shine technique leaves them not much better off than being dirty, I usually try to rely on a shoe shine stand.
The problem is that it takes about 20 minutes or so of standing in line and then getting your shoes done to do this right. And I usually don't have 20 minutes when I am thinking about my shoes and I happen to be somewhere where a shine is available. As a result, I am stuck with a few pairs of forlorn and nasty shoes in the closet.
Thus I had a brainstorm recently and decided to just take my shoes to my dry cleaner, since they can also send them off for a shoe shine. "Just a shine?" my dry cleaner asked in her Korean accent... she seemed a bit confused. Yes indeed, just a shine.
Since then I've taken in all my shoes and given them a new lease on life. I am certain that this seems like a big waste of money (it is $7) but that is not far from the price of a shine plus tip and this takes no extra time at all.
But what is time really worth? I talked about this to a friend of mine in the investment world who refinanced his house and spoke of the endless rounds of re-submitting the same or slightly different documents over and over again and answering (virtually the same) questions until it hurt. Did he even "break even" on the re-financing after this was all taken into account? If your job is by the clock / corporate your off hours aren't worth much; but if your job involves planning and marketing yourself or thinking of new ideas / research in fact those hours can be quite valuable.
I think that a shoe shine at $7 with a time commitment of zero is a good deal, for me at least. What's your time worth?
Cross posted at Chicago Boyz
The problem is that it takes about 20 minutes or so of standing in line and then getting your shoes done to do this right. And I usually don't have 20 minutes when I am thinking about my shoes and I happen to be somewhere where a shine is available. As a result, I am stuck with a few pairs of forlorn and nasty shoes in the closet.
Thus I had a brainstorm recently and decided to just take my shoes to my dry cleaner, since they can also send them off for a shoe shine. "Just a shine?" my dry cleaner asked in her Korean accent... she seemed a bit confused. Yes indeed, just a shine.
Since then I've taken in all my shoes and given them a new lease on life. I am certain that this seems like a big waste of money (it is $7) but that is not far from the price of a shine plus tip and this takes no extra time at all.
But what is time really worth? I talked about this to a friend of mine in the investment world who refinanced his house and spoke of the endless rounds of re-submitting the same or slightly different documents over and over again and answering (virtually the same) questions until it hurt. Did he even "break even" on the re-financing after this was all taken into account? If your job is by the clock / corporate your off hours aren't worth much; but if your job involves planning and marketing yourself or thinking of new ideas / research in fact those hours can be quite valuable.
I think that a shoe shine at $7 with a time commitment of zero is a good deal, for me at least. What's your time worth?
Cross posted at Chicago Boyz
LITGM Going Strong
I just looked at something. This blog has been in existence since Nov. 20, 2004. That is seven years plus, eons in internet time. 3,767 posts so far. No plans to stop. Thanks to all of you readers, and authors past and present for making this project so special!
Bordain Loves Tiki Too
Any long term readers of this blog know that I love anything tiki. Especially with the infinite winters and darkness here in Chicago.
Recently I was watching the great Anthony Bourdain show "The Layover" when he stopped over at San Francisco and a local chef took him to "The Tonga Room". The Tonga room is the best tiki place I have ever been to in the US and Dan and I went there when we were in San Francisco to run a race a couple years ago.
Here you can see the pool they also have with simulated thundershowers (you don't get wet) regularly to boot. Anthony drank something out of a skull drinking vessel and seemed pretty blotto after that which is very understandable.
Recently I was watching the great Anthony Bourdain show "The Layover" when he stopped over at San Francisco and a local chef took him to "The Tonga Room". The Tonga room is the best tiki place I have ever been to in the US and Dan and I went there when we were in San Francisco to run a race a couple years ago.
Here you can see the pool they also have with simulated thundershowers (you don't get wet) regularly to boot. Anthony drank something out of a skull drinking vessel and seemed pretty blotto after that which is very understandable.
Friday, January 13, 2012
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