Sunday, December 26, 2010

Christmas Dinner 2010

This year for Christmas I decided to cook a standing rib roast with Yorkshire pudding. It has been years since I cooked a rib roast and I've never made Yorkshire pudding. So here's what I did ...

Step One: Research
What gave me the idea was I saw someone on the food channel preparing it. So I searched for other shows that were cooking roasts and the two shows that surfaced to the top of my list were Alton Brown's Good Eats and Martha Stewart's Christmas Special. The method I most closely followed was Alton Brown's.

Step Two: Shop
I looked through the local papers and my local butcher shop, Bolner's , for any specials on standing rib roast and settled on H.E.B.'s Central Market. I like their butcher shop and really like that store.

Step Three: Start Cooking the Rib Roast
I used a probe thermometer in cooking the roast. I also used a glass bake-ware dish so I could make au jus from the drippings. Here are the steps I took.
  1. Scar the top of the roast and coated it with olive oil, salt and fresh ground pepper.
  2. Place the roast with probe thermometer in pre-heated 225 degree oven. Set the thermometer to alarm once the internal temperature of the roast reaches 118 degrees. It took approximately 3 and a half hours to reach 118.
  3. Take the roast out of the oven, cover loosely with foil, and allow to rest until the internal temperature reaches 130 degrees.
  4. Set oven to 500 degree. Place the roast in the oven once the internal temperature reaches 130 for approximately 10 to 15 minutes.
  5. Take roast out of the oven, cover with foil and let rest until ready to serve.

Step Four: Yorkshire Pudding
  1. The batter consists of 2 cups of all purpose flour, 4 eggs and 3 cups of milk. Add the milk a cup at a time until the mixture is the consistency of heavy cream. Let it sit for 30 minutes prior to baking. Click here for the recipe I used.
  2. Take grease from the drippings using a baster and cover the bottom of each muffin cup of a muffin pan.
  3. Pour enough batter into each cup to cover about 1/3 of the cup.
  4. Bake in the oven at 400 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes.



Saturday, December 25, 2010

Favorite Christmas Movies

Here's a list of my favorite Christmas movies. I try to watch at least one of these each year to help me get in the spirit.
Special note here - I like the originals not the remakes of each of these movies. The remakes all seem to lose something in the "re-imagining." If they ever try to remake A Christmas Story, ... I'm just saying.

This is the movie I look forward to the most each Christmas. It perfectly captures what it is like to be a child at Christmas time.

You come to see Will Ferrell play a giant elf, you stay because you get caught up in the spirit of Christmas. This movie also marks the big screen crossover success for director John Favreau and actress Zooey Deschanel (who would go on to break my heart in 500 Days of Summer).

The chemistry of this perfect cast including Chevy Chase, Beverly D'Angelo, Juliette Lewis, Randy Quaid and legendary actors E.G. Marshall and John Randolph hilariously captures that feeling of being stuck with your family during the holidays.

For years I avoided this movie but it relentlessly came back year after year on NBC and finally broke me down. Now I can't wait for it to come on each year and in fact I actually bought a copy just in case NBC drops it. The movie that answers the question "What would life be like if you never existed." Turns out you actually had a much bigger impact on the ones you loved than you think. So when the hardships of life get you down, pop in this movie to remind yourself that you are connected to something bigger than yourself and that you are loved.

This movie will teach you to be less cynical at Christmas time. Plus Natalie Wood is perfect as a child who doesn't believe in Santa.

All three are adaptations of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol telling the story of Ebenezer Scrooge. And each one thoroughly captures the spirit of Christmas. It seems each year there is a new version of this Christmas classic but these three are my favorite. Especially the Bill Murray version since it puts a modern spin on the classic tale without losing the message.

Cary Grant is perfect as an angel who shows up to remind David Niven & Loretta Young about what Christmas is really about.

These movies are the grandfather of all holiday movie classics. Who doesn't want to watch Bing Crosby sing White Christmas?

A spoon full of sugar helps the medicine go down ... This movie will make you laugh while teaching you important lessons about the spirit of Christmas.

Boris Karloff is amazing in this role.

I used to think Judy Garland only did one movie, The Wizard of Oz, until I saw this movie. It is a family classic sure to get you in the mood for Christmas. It is also an interesting history lesson as you get to see a family dealing with the changing times of turn of the century America. This movie, along with Judy Garland's performance, gave birth to the song Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas.

These movies are bad I admit but I'm a big Tim Allen fan and these movies get to me. They're simple and silly.

This movie is the perfect Christmas movie for when you just want pure escapism during the maddening holiday season.





Saturday, December 18, 2010

What's on my iPod - December 2010

Hey Steve, What's on your iPod ...

Reckoner - Radiohead live from the basement




Gnarls Barkley - Reckoner (Radiohead cover)




Radiohead-Bangers N' Mash (From the Basement)




LCD Soundsystem - All My Friends



Interpol - Success




The Cult -Embers on Guitar Center Sessions



The Black Keys - Next Girl



Cake - Sick of You













Sunday, December 5, 2010

Movies of 2010

Here's a list of the movies I saw in 2010 and the movies released in 2010 I still want to see.

http://www.movieweb.com/releases/year/movies

Youth in Revolt
January 8th, 2010

Daybreakers
January 8th, 2010

The Book of Eli
January 15th, 2010

Legion
January 22nd, 2010

When in Rome
January 29th, 2010

Edge of Darkness
January 29th, 2010

From Paris with Love
February 5th, 2010

The Wolfman
February 12th, 2010

Valentine's Day
February 12th, 2010

Shutter Island
February 19th, 2010

The Ghost Writer
February 19th, 2010

Cop Out
February 26th, 2010

Alice in Wonderland
March 5th, 2010

The White Stripes Under Great White Northern Lights
March 12th, 2010

Green Zone
March 12th, 2010

She's Out of My League
March 12th, 2010

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
March 19th, 2010

The Bounty Hunter
March 19th, 2010

How to Train Your Dragon
March 26th, 2010

Greenberg
March 26th, 2010

Hot Tub Time Machine
March 26th, 2010

Clash of the Titans
April 2nd, 2010

Date Night
April 9th, 2010

Kick-Ass
April 16th, 2010

The Losers
April 23rd, 2010

Harry Brown
April 30th, 2010

Iron Man 2
May 7th, 2010

Robin Hood
May 14th, 2010

Solitary Man
May 21st, 2010

MacGruber
May 21st, 2010

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
May 28th, 2010

Get Him to the Greek
June 4th, 2010

The Karate Kid
June 11th, 2010

The Twilight Saga: Eclipse
June 30th, 2010

The Last Airbender
July 1st, 2010

Predators
July 9th, 2010

Despicable Me
July 9th, 2010

The Kids Are All Right
July 9th, 2010

The Girl Who Played with Fire
July 9th, 2010

Salt
July 23rd, 2010

Inception
July 16th, 2010

Dinner for Schmucks
July 30th, 2010

The Other Guys
August 6th, 2010

The Expendables
August 13th, 2010

Eat, Pray, Love
August 13th, 2010

Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World
August 13th, 2010

Piranha 3D
August 20th, 2010

The American
September 1st, 2010

Machete
September 3rd, 2010

The Town
September 17th, 2010

Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps
September 24th, 2010

The Social Network
October 1st, 2010

Red
October 15th, 2010

Hereafter
October 22nd, 2010

Paranormal Activity 2
October 22nd, 2010

Due Date
November 5th, 2010

Skyline
November 12th, 2010

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1
November 19th, 2010

Faster
November 24th, 2010

The Tourist
December 10th, 2010

Black Swan
December 17th, 2010

The Fighter
December 10th, 2010

Tron: Legacy
December 17th, 2010

True Grit
December 22nd, 2010

How Do You Know
December 17th, 2010

Little Fockers
December 22nd, 2010


Haven't seen yet but eventually will ...

Repo Men
March 19th, 2010

Chloe
March 26th, 2010

When You're Strange
April 9th, 2010

Warlords
April 10th, 2010

Death at a Funeral
April 16th, 2010

Paper Man
April 23rd, 2010

The Human Centipede
April 28th, 2010

Letters to Juliet
May 14th, 2010

Ondine
June 11th, 2010

The A-Team
June 11th, 2010

Cyrus
June 18th, 2010

I Am Love
June 18th, 2010

Jonah Hex
June 18th, 2010

Knight and Day
June 23rd, 2010

Grown Ups
June 25th, 2010

The Sorcerer's Apprentice
July 14th, 2010

Get Low
July 30th, 2010

Going the Distance
September 3rd, 2010

Devil
September 17th, 2010

The Freebie
September 17th, 2010

You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger
September 22nd, 2010

Let Me In
October 1st, 2010

It's Kind of a Funny
October 8th, 2010

Inside Job
October 8th, 2010

Jackass 3D
October 15th, 2010

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest
October 29th, 2010

127 Hours
November 5th, 2010

MegaMind
November 5th, 2010

Morning Glory
November 10th, 2010

Cool It
November 12th, 2010

Love and Other Drugs
November 24th, 2010

I Love You Phillip Morris
December 3rd, 2010

The Tempest
December 10th, 2010

Gulliver's Travels
December 22nd, 2010

Blue Valentine
December 31st, 2010

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Taste of Asia / Pho Cong Ly

Location
300 W Bitters Rd
San Antonio, TX 78216
(210) 496-6266

My favorite place for Pho in San Antonio. I eat here about once a month when I need the soup of the gods. I usually eat one of their many variations of Pho with an order of their spring rolls. Their spring rolls are big and crunchy like Viet Nam (another of my favorite restaurants in San Antonio).
If you're looking for Pho and you're in San Antonio, you won't be disappointed.

Before
















After


De Wese's Tip Top Cafe

Location
2814 Fredericksburg Rd
San Antonio, TX 78201
(210) 732-0191

This is one of the oldest family owned restaurants in the state and it shows in its perfect execution of old school comfort food with such sublime classics as chicken fried steak, meatloaf, chicken and dumplings, onion rings and pork roast while also tipping their hat at local comfort food such as enchiladas.

The chicken fried steak is served on a bed of gravy which is a little off-putting at first when the plate is delivered and you don't see the visual assault of the gravy smothered steak. Luckily the food is so profoundly devastating that you quickly rationalize that every CFS should be served this way.

But this isn't just your plain old "comfort food" good, no this is like "last meal on earth" good.

The ambiance also adds to the flavor of the restaurant with its wood-paneled walls, classic booths, old school lunch counter and the walls decorated like your grandfather's basement.
Some of the downsides are that it has a tiny parking lot and limited seating coupled with a band of loyal customers means that it can be hard to get a seat. But the friendly staff and the outstanding food make up for its limitations.

Also be advised that Credit Cards are not accepted so be prepared to pay cash. There's an ATM next door if you forget.

Auden's Kitchen

Location
700 East Sonterra Boulevard
San Antonio, TX 78258
(210) 494-0070

Tucked away in a sleepy strip center off of Sonterra exists Auden's Kitchen - a restaurant that takes comfort food seriously. This place is a recent discovery for me but I plan on having a long relationship with Auden's Kitchen.

Its chef/owner is classically trained chef Bruce Auden who hails from London. Auden is a highly touted chef who was recently named one of the "Ten Best New Chefs in America" by Food and Wine magazine. The restaurant's slogan is "We Take Good, Everyday Food to a New Level." My spin on that is this restaurant is Chef Auden's manifestation of the growing trend in European cooking of moving away from the Michelin-starred dining style to something more accessible. A style of serving food that is simple yet still yields extraordinary flavor. And I would say he has hit that mark.

Their big standout dishes are the fried chicken, fish 'n chips, chicken potpie and pizza. And it's one of the few places in San Antonio that serves outstanding corn bread. While I've never had it, I did notice they have a peanut butter and Nutella sandwich on the kids menu. I'm a Nutella fiend so I have to give them a star just for having that on the menu. They also have an extensive wine line that shouldn't be overlooked.

The dining room has a very sleek, modern feel to it with the concrete floors, chrome wire shelving and the neutral colors. It has an open kitchen layout so you can watch your food being prepared. It also has a very nice bar area with a huge TV in case you ever get stuck waiting for a table.