A baking and gardening journal. Mostly.
by A.J. Coltrane
I just liked the way this one looked… It reminded me of the pizza that I loved when I was small.
It’s the leftover calzone ingredients from the other night: sausage, bacon, sauteed onion, sauteed red pepper, “pizza sauce” with additional oregano and roasted tomato flakes, and mozz.
And a bonus picture of the princess.
by A.J. Coltrane
It’s too hot to turn on the oven, so… Calzones On The Grill!
The dough recipe: 1-1/2 cups flour, 1/2 cup water, 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp instant yeast, and 1-1/2 tsp extra-virgin olive oil. (Essentially the Smitten Kitchen pizza dough recipe, goosing the yeast slightly.) An Allrecipes.com recipe calls for brushing the calzones with melted butter before baking, and that 350F is a good target for the grill temperature.
That all sounds reasonable. And reasonably easy. So here’s my first attempt at grilled calzones, or any calzones, really — I think it’s remarkable that it’s taken me this long to fold pizza in half before baking.
The dough was given a bulk rise for almost two hours, then divided in half. Each half was rolled into balls and allowed to rest for about 20 minutes. During that time I browned off some mild italian sausage, then cooked the rawness out of a diced red pepper and some yellow onion in the sausage fat.
The dough balls were rolled out and topped with a streak of red sauce and some grated mozz. The sausage, red pepper, onion, and some crumbled leftover pepper bacon were added, then topped with more sauce and mozz.
The packages were folded over and crimped, brushed with melted butter, and slit with a knife.
I turned on the left of the three grill burners and carefully placed the calzones over direct heat for a few minutes, then moved the packages to the far right of the grill — far away from the direct heat.
All that was left at that point was to cook the calzones for about 30-35 minutes. Naturally this involved drinking a beverage while periodically checking to make sure the thermometer said something like 350F.
The interior. (The last two photos were taken in direct sunlight. I rolled out a bit of a roll of paper towels and filtered the sunlight through the white towels. A paper towel improvised light diffuser! *I* thought it was pretty clever.)
In retrospect, I might have added a little sugar or honey to the dough to promote more browning. I didn’t do that because I was concerned about the end result being too brown. It worked out ok though — I may have to figure out more stuff to grill.
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Late edit: CSE’s 500th published post! Woof!
By Iron Chef Leftovers
I like spice rubs, but I tend not to buy ones in the store since they are mostly salt and very expensive and you can actually make the same thing at home for a fraction of the price. I have a default spice rub that I use for chicken, fish or pork when I am not really sure what I am in the mood for. It is quick and easy to make a spice rub with the spices you have on hand and they will keep in an airtight container for 6 months (which is as long as you should be keeping spices around anyway), but I usually just make them on the fly since they take less than a minute to put together. For this recipe, I will give the ratios in parts and you can use whatever measuring device you want.
The Software
2 parts smoked paprika
2 parts powdered garlic
2 parts cumin
2 parts dried oregano
1 part ground adobe
1 part ground black pepper
1 part salt
The Recipe
Take all of the ingredients and add them to a container with a lid. Close the lid tight and shake until well combined. Spread on your protein or veggies of choice. Cook and you are done.
Notes
If the rub is not salty enough for you, add more salt. It is easier to add more than it is to remove it after you have put everything together. The ratios are really just suggestions, add and subtract whatever you would like and feel free to substitute sweet paprika for smoked and to take anything out. This recipe was developed with what I had on hand, you can pretty much make your own by combining spices and herbs and trying them out.
by A.J. Coltrane
On Friday Ray Allen signed a 3 year, $9 million dollar contract with the Heat, turning down the Celtics’ offer of two years and $12 million.
It’s a perfect fit for Allen, and it’s exactly what the Heat need to repeat as champions. Allen will likely play 25-30 minutes a game, hang out in the corner, and bomb 3’s. The linked article also indicates that the Heat are pursuing Rashard Lewis, who would function as “Mike Miller is hurt” insurance.. and I’d expect Lewis’ play will improve when he’s healthy and motivated.
That would make for some interesting lineups for the Heat when they “play small” — LeBron, Wade, Allen, Bosh, and Battier/Lewis/Chalmers depending upon the matchups. In the modern NBA the center position isn’t as important as it once was, and the Heat are partly responsible for continuing the marginalization of the lumbering guys.
It’s good for Ray, good for the Heat, and bad for competitive balance in the NBA.
All of which I’m fine with.
By Blaidd Drwg
I think it is time for Jamie Moyer to hang it up. He has had an interesting career and a strange ride this season:
The Rockies have been so bad that their starters have an ERA somewhere around 7 this season, so that gives you an idea how bad Moyer was in Colorado. That is not really a surprise – a guy who tends to give up a ton of fly balls pitching in the best hitters park in the league, well, you get the idea.
I will admit, the Orioles release was a bit of a surprise – Moyer pitched well at AAA Norfolk, but the Orioles wanted to go in a different direction, so they released him. The funny thing is, the Orioles have actually demoted 3 of their starting pitchers since Moyer was released.
The Blue Jays experiment was also no surprise – Moyer pitching in the PCL, at altitude, in a small ballpark; that is Colorado part 2.
I haven’t seen any indication that Moyer is ready to give it up. I bet he is just waiting for someone to need an arm and give him a call. I honestly think he is done, but teams might get desperate
What I really would like to see when Moyer is ready to hang it up, is to sign with the Mariners. Not just a symbolic deal – I want to see him sign a deal where he starts one final game at Safeco Field, has an agreement with the opposing team to throw one pitch for a strike where the batter won’t swing and then pull him out of the game and have him walk off the mound to a standing ovation from a sold out crowd.
I think that would be a fitting career end for a pitcher that had one of the most improbable careers I have ever seen.
By Iron Chef Leftovers
Soon I will be preparing to Sink the Bismarck with a Tactical Nuclear Penguin (that sounds like a great T-shirt). I present to you, the world’s most expensive 6 pack – 4 bottles of Tactical Nuclear Penguin, 2 bottles of Sink the Bismarck, shipped from BrewDog in Scotland. These are generally not available in North America due to the way they are produced, but I guess that you can ship them – just be warned, shipping on this package was about $65 US, which is roughly what this beer cost a bottle. Soon there will be a tasting and if you are very lucky, I might invite you to partake. <Insert evil laugh here>
BTW – you are reading correctly. Those beers are 32 and 41 % ABV respectively.
By Blaidd Drwg
The Mariners are starting to play musical chairs with their roster. The inconsistent Hector Noesi has bought himself a Sounder ticket to Tacoma and is being replaced in the rotation by Hisashi Iwakuma. I don’t particularly like Iwakuma, but with the All Star break looming, you don’t need to worry about your #5 starter for a couple of weeks.
Carlos Peguero is being recalled to replace Noesi. While I thought they needed to call up another OF when Guti went on the DL, they called up a pitcher, then Saunders came down with the flu, meaning we got to see Chone Figgins start for 5 games. Peguero has all of the makings of a 4A player – he has been killing the ball in the minors (this season to the tune of 18 HR is 49 games with a 1002 OPS) but he has huge holes in his swing and doesn’t have any plate discipline. This year he has 18 unintentional walks in 212 plate appearances, which would be pretty average in the majors (about 50 walks in 600 PA) but considering that number would deflate about 25% in the majors, you are talking about a guy who would probably draw about 35 walks over the course of the season. Look, strikeouts are not inherently bad – Adam Dun has struck out in nearly 50% of his AB this season and is batting 220, but he also is second in the AL in HR and has an OBP of 370, which is pretty darn good.
Peguero looked lost in his callup to the Mariners last season and I don’t see any reason to think he will have all of a sudden figured out how to hit MLB pitching in the meantime.
While you hope that his callup would inject some pop into the Mariners lineup, where exactly is he going to play? Peguero is a LF/DH type and a left handed bat. The Mariners roster seems to be riddled with those right now. Here are a few ways I see this playing out, in the order I see as most likely (I also make the assumption that Guti is on the DL for longer than expected – until at least after the AS break):
I also wonder if sending Montero down will mean that we could be seeing Danny Hultzen making his MLB debut sometime this month.
By Blaidd Drwg
The Dodgers are giving Cuban defector, Yasil Puig, a seven year 42 million dollar contract. Granted, Puig, is only 21 (supposedly) but this contract does not make sense in terms of years. Considering that most Cuban defectors have flamed out after just a season or two, why give the guy a 7-year contract?
by A.J. Coltrane
The tables below show the builds I’m using for Modern Warfare 3, Domination Mode. I did this post when I was new to the game. Now I’m on my 7th Prestige. The new information is really different from the old stuff.
The idea is (still) to skulk around corners and shadows, and to ambush as many unsuspecting players as possible. This isn’t about having “fair fights”. It’s about shooting them when they’re not looking, if possible. The builds feature Blind Eye and Assassin, to be invisible to enemy air support and invisible on the mini map. I always use a Silencer when available for maximum sneakiness. (Plus, when I whiff it takes them longer to figure out where I’m shooting from.)
For assault rifles I would suggest the SCAR at level 6, then the G36C and the ACR at higher levels. The G36C has a little more punch, the ACR has more accuracy.
The MP-7 is the best submachine gun in my opinion, though it’s not available until level 74. Otherwise I would use the P90 or PP90 (grease gun). I generally prefer accuracy, so I use the P90 at lower levels.
| Level | Perk 1 | Perk 2 | Perk 3 |
| 4 to 9 | Sleight of Hand | Blast Shield | Stalker |
| 10 to 19 | Blind Eye | Blast Shield | Stalker |
| 20 to 26 | Blind Eye | Hardline | Stalker |
| 27+ first capture | Blind Eye | Hardline | Stalker |
| 27+ remainder | Blind Eye | Assassin | Stalker |
I use the Grenadier class until level 4, when the custom builds become available. I settled on Stalker because it allows me to scope and strafe around corners at nearly full speed. The player that is crouched and scoped when the shooting starts has a big advantage.
| Level | Strike Perk 1 | Strike Perk 2 | Strike Perk 3 |
| 4 to 19 (Support) | UAV | Counter UAV | (none) |
| 20 to 26 (Specialist) | Quickdraw | Sleight of Hand | Blast Shield |
| 27-38 first capture | Assassin | Quickdraw | Sleight of Hand |
| 27-38 remainder | Quickdraw | Sleight of Hand | Blast Shield |
| 39+ first capture | Assassin | Scavenger | Quickdraw |
| 39+ remainder | Scavenger | Quickdraw | Sleight of Hand |
During the first flag capture I use Hardline to get to Assassin, that way the Assassin kicks in after that first capture, and I basically get double the capture xp too. *After* that first capture Assassin is used to stay off of the minimap.
I use Bouncing Betty and Portable Radar for the Lethal and Tactical Slots. If you can tolerate the SCAR, I would take the Radar with the first Prestige, the Betty with the second Prestige, the ACR with the 3rd, then take the bonus custom build slots for the next five Prestiges. Personally though, I would take the ACR first, then Radar, then Betty. I hate getting outgunned.
By Iron Chef Leftovers
Tat’s Deli, located in Pioneer Square is heralded as the best “authentic” Philly cheese steak in the city. The great cheese steak search brings us to this busy hole in the wall to see for ourselves.
Tat’s is generally pretty crowded, so even going on a Tuesday after 1 PM yielded a wait for a seat. Fortunately, service is quick although the staff is not always quick to wipe down the tables. I put in my standard order – cheese steak, with cheese wiz, no onions and cheese fries, which at Tat’s is about $12.
Everything came out on one platter, which presented an issue. The fries, with nothing to contain them, released a greasy mess onto the platter, which meant that it ended up in contact with half of the sandwich. As a result, eating the cheese steak was like eating 2 different sandwiches – one half was a soggy mess where the bread practically fell apart; the other the bread maintained its integrity and was actually pretty good of containing the sandwich itself. The meat was pretty pedestrian – they typical chopped steak, seasoned with enough salt but too much pepper (I love pepper, so for me to say it was too much, says something), to the point of it being the dominant flavor on the sandwich. The amount of cheese wiz also seemed a bit lacking, causing the sandwich to seem drier than it was. On the plus side, the sandwich itself was not overly greasy, which made for a more pleasant eating experience. It was still a messy sandwich to eat, but you did not fell like you needed a shower afterwards,
The fries were a standout, crispy and hot, even after a cheese wiz bath and Tat’s gets bonus points for carrying Tasty Cake products, an east coast favorite.
Overall, the cheese steak was pretty pedestrian, but on a great roll. If you go, stick to the regular sandwiches, which they do really well and save the cheese steak for when you are having a craving and find yourself in Pioneer Square.
Tat’s cheese steak gets 3 Liberty Bells out of 5.
FlatbreadGarden 