Snow in Round Rock from Mark Hamzy on Vimeo.
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Snow in Round Rock from Mark Hamzy on Vimeo.
]]>Just how much can you tell from photoshop manipulation? link1 link2 via
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Lately, I have been on a black bean mission with my cooking experiments. I have tried a more vegetarian version by substituting gelatin or pectin as the thickening agent instead of beef bones (I never got around to trying Lieber's Unflavored Jel). But it just doesn't work as well. So, for this attempt, I went back to my old standby oxtails. However, I did try adding smoked paprika. This did not make the beans better in my opinion. You couldn't really notice the paprika note and I did not like the bright red tint either.
Back to umami though which is the real point of this recipe. The first interesting blog mention of umami that I came across was umami salt. However, I didn't act immediately upon it. It percolated in the far recesses of my mind for a while.
I started to research lists of foods high in umami. One version lists bonito and kombu among others. This made me think of the fundamental Japanese soup stock, dashi. Since it is a mild broth, I thought it would be perfect as a base for cooking the black beans. The next easy umami thing to add is shiitake mushrooms that are ground into a fine powder.
When one of my cooking blogs that I read posted about extracting the best flavor of kombu here, the tipping point was finally reached! I researched the kombu highest in glutamic acid. However, you need good luck in finding specialized types in Austin. I did find Hidaka Kombu in Asahi Imports. Also, here is an interesting article on kombu.
I made another discovery about cooking beans as well! Soaking and cooking them in hard water will not soften them fully. Here is an article which talks about the problem. I suggest using distilled water to both soak and cook in.
So, the recipe follows:
Dissolve 3 heaping tablespoons of Kosher salt in 7 cups of distilled water. Sort one pound of black beans for any rocks, broken or discolored beans. Soak the beans overnight.
Cook 14 grams of Hidaka Kombu and 14 grams of dried bonito shavings (Katsuobushi) in 6 cups of distilled water simmering at 65 degrees Celsius (149 degrees Fahrenheit) for one hour. Strain.
Rinse hydrated beans well and put into the dashi stock. Grind 15 grams of shiitake mushrooms into a fine powder with a clean coffee grinder. Add two bay leaves, 5 cloves of minced garlic, 1 tablespoon of onion powder, tablespoon ground black peppercorns, 1/2 teaspoon of Wright's Liquid Hickory Smoke, and 2 pounds of beef oxtails. Cook, covered, in an oven set to 275 degrees for 1:30:00. Remove oxtails and bay leaves. Add smoked salt to taste.
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Jon, Mike, and I went down to try out the newly redesigned Circle C course. There are new tee boxes, erosion control, and a small wall for Mike to kick.
With the recent rains around here, there is now a river which prevented us from crossing. Fortunately, there was a dry way around both of them. Although Mike and Jon did take the direct way on one of them...
We also stopped by the Flying Saucer Draught Emporium again.
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Nick and I went to Old Settler's Park for some disc golf. Which can easily handle rainfall. Initially, I thought the day would be cold but it warmed up quickly and turned out to be beautiful out.
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I've been playing Texas Hold'Em on Facebook courtesy of Zynga. It's a cute flash game. Nothing like a real money game at a casino or a home game with friends of course. It is not hard to get virtual money. You don't have to pay any real money. Which gives the tournament games an interesting dynamic. Most people just go all in at the first round. And, if they fail (like they usually do), then they start another first round tournament game and try again. These games start immediately, so there is no real discouragement to people using these tactics. Of course, I hope to have pocket Aces when against these people. Usually, I wait for a very strong hand to call people going all in.
Of course, there are bugs with this game. It doesn't keep the odd chip whole when more than one person wins an all-in bet. This fractional money gets even more distorted due to rounding errors as it keeps getting split. I have also seen it make you call an all-in bet when you already have all your money in. "Call 0?" is definitely a broken behavior.
Of course, I am going to call with the second best hand in this situation. And, if you have the Ace and King of Hearts, then good luck to you...
Finally, after a lot of playing, I win the third round of the tournament! This gave me a chance for a free trip to San Francisco.
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What matters is not the contents but the feeling.
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Dramatis Personae
Samantha Parker: A South Austin type young woman who works in an Antiques store. She is streetwise, stealthy, can lock-pick, and is a survivalist based on her having been a teenage runaway that spent a few years on the streets.
Manny 'Ace' Gomez: He is an ex-army infantry and now owns a lawn-maintenance company. He is a disc-golfer and pot-smoker. He is also paranoid, loud, and a gun-nut. Edges: Luck, Great Luck, Quick. Hindrances: Overconfident, Minor Habit (weed), Big Mouth. Skills: Stealth, Shooting, Driving, Fighting, Climbing, Survival. Main Attribute: Agility.
Mu Chen: He is a Chinese waiter.
Kyle Zander: He is a doctor.
Kinky Schneider: Kinky dropped out of UT while working on his PHD in biochemistry to pursue his music career in the Music Capitol of the World: Austin, Texas. Kinky's small frame has left him with quite the Napoleonic complex and is liable to go into a frenzy if mocked.
Magnolia Cafe on South Congress
9:00am. It's been a while since our last breakfast get together. Too long. I was happy to see everyone. But that mood did not last for long. The local FOX morning news show started talking about rumors of a Zombie sighting in Austin. We tried brushing it off, but everyone got spooked. So we decided to head down to Tex Guns and buy some weapons for self-defense. The place was busy when we got there and was quickly getting swamped. Since I have never fired a weapon before, I bought a nightstick and a knife.
We then decided to head down to Southpark Meadows (Slaughter Lane and IH-35). So we all got into the car and started driving. But, when we reached East Stassney Lane and South Congress we saw our first Zombie! People started freaking out. And a big wreck happened right in front of us which shut down both lanes of traffic. We knew that the roads were only going to get worse. So we had to head to somewhere safe. Chen told us about El Borrego De Oro, where he had worked previously. So we started walking North up Congress Avenue. People were mostly minding their own business and we had no problems reaching the restaurant.
10:45am. Inside, the place was calm. The TV was giving non-stop news about Zombie sightings. There were a lot in Williamson County but none in Manor, Bee Caves, or South of the Airport.
Around 11:00 am, people started running outside. When we heard the commotion, we started to barricade to front door. But we were not as quick as we wanted to be. 21 people made it inside before we finally reinforced the doors enough to remain closed. People were still agitated and one person freaked out enough to want to leave the building. Of course, we were not going to let this happen. Thankfully, Chen knocked him out before he could open up the door.
Zander tried calling St. David's South Austin Hospital for information. But they were extremely busy. They told us that they "were up to their nuts in guts" and hung up on us.
Unfortunately, our building was not as reinforced as we would like it to be. And we could now see some Zombies wandering around aimlessly outside. So we decided to head to a better fortified position: Camp Mabry. We opened up the back door and spot some Zombies and quickly close it again. We need some diversion to make a run for it! Chen comes up with the idea of putting the unconscious man on a serving cart and pushing it away from the building. We close the door and wait while the Zombies gather around the cart and start feasting...
With the immediate area now clear, we slowly make our way outside. Chen climbs up a ladder onto the roof to act as a look out. However Zombies from the North noticed us and start shambling towards us. We now run for safety. Unfortunately, my initiative is at the bottom. Everyone runs towards the South. I call for help. Gomez takes a shot (at a disadvantage) as he runs away. Zander takes a shot at another zombie before he too runs off. Parker and Chen just bolt. Two Zombies shamble up to me and take swings at me. Both miss and I am now able to run away! Thankfully, it is quite easy to run far enough away to lose the Zombies.
12:00pm. We make it most of the way to Mabry. At Guadalupe Street and West 38th Street. However, when Chen climbs a roof again to reconnoiter, we see destruction between us and where we think Mabry is. It is better now to head East as that still looks safe. So we head towards Hancock Golf Course.
1:00pm. We arrive and find the place deserted. We look around for something to help us out. Chen comes up with the bright idea of stealing some golf carts. We then head East towards Walnut Creek Nature Preserve.
3:00pm. We arrive and look around. There are some abandoned cars in the parking lot. Since we need a faster mode of transportation, we hot-wire a car. Unfortunately, some people saw us as we were driving out and run towards us screaming for help. We do not want to get bogged down, so we run over them with the car. And, just to make sure, we put it in reverse and back over them again, before taking off towards Manor.
We drive past Manor and make it to Elgin. We notice a huge National Guard presence and relief effort. We stop and talk our way into the complex and into safety...
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Pease park is another place that has no drainage. There are some very muddy sections of the course!
I was fortunate in that my throw just barely made it across the river to the other side!
I also birdied holes 6 and 14.
Afterwards, we stopped by the Flying Saucer Draught Emporium to try out the beer. They have an awesome selection! And the food is not that bad either...
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Jon and I went out to East Metro to play disc golf. The recent rains made the place very muddy! This is certainly not a course that can handle soaking rainfall. Many of the paths between holes were stagnant rivers of mud.
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Since I was driving out to Houston for Lone Star, I decided to head out to New Orleans for a vacation. Nick and Stephanie were in Lafayette, Louisiana at the time, so I stopped and ate lunch with them at Julien's Famous Cajun Style Poboys Store No 1. Unfortunately, the store closed early for the holidays. So we all headed over to Olde Tyme Grocery.
I arrived at the Sheraton on Canal Street later during the day. Unfortunately, it was Christmas Eve and many restaurants were closed. But, I stumbled upon the Gumbo Shop. The line was down the street at 6:30! But I lucked out when they were asking for two people or less and everyone else was in a group with more than that.
The hotel was situated on the edge of the French Quarter and close to the river. And the view from the window was not so bad.
More details after the cut...
]]> Christmas day was low-key. Not many places were open. I had an Alligator Poboy at Original Pierre Maspero's. And I had Creole crawfish combo with a sweet potato cream stout at La Bayou.
The next day, the Cafe Du Monde Coffee Stand opened up. I had Cafe au lait, orange juice, & beignets for breakfast for the next four days. Definitely splurged on that one over the vacation! Lunch was a Creole sausage pizza at Remoulade. Which was okay. I went to the Aquarium of the Americas and took lots of pictures. Taking pictures of the fish is rather difficult. The lighting is really poor. You are forced to use a grainy, high-ISO speed. And the fish constantly move. Which means that the camera needs to be good at tracking focus when the depth-of-field is thin. I also got to watch as someone proposed to his girlfriend where they were feeding the penguins. Apparently, she thought they were going to watch a feeding up close but they took a penguin and put a ring around it and handed it to her.
For dinner, I went to Emeril's Restaurant and had Crater Lake Blue Cheese (Rogue Creamery, Oregon) & Honey, Andouille crusted Texas Redfish, and sticky toffee cranberry bread pudding. It was okay. Next time, I would try Emeril's NOLA restaurant.
On Sunday, I was tempted to buy a ticket to the New Orleans Saints game. But, instead, I took the streetcar down the St. Charles Ave in the Garden district. All the way down to Camellia Grill. Where I ordered Harry's Yankee Special. Watching the cooks make omelets on the grill was impressive. I should have ordered one. I walked back to the Audubon Zoo. For dinner, I went to Broussard's Restaurant and had the Salmon Trout de la Salle with the Crepes Brenan. It was pretty awful.
On Monday, I went to Mother's Restaurant and had the Famous Ferdi Special (2/3rd size). The line was crazy long. I was a little worried that I might not make the river cruise in time. But I made it. I took the Paddlewheeler Creole Queen to the Chalmette Battlefield. It was a beautiful day out. Although it was a little cold out. We went up the Mississippi river a short way. The battlefield was pretty bare. It was basically a wide open field. There was a monument under construction and a house that sold some gifts and a couple of cannons along a tiny ridge. I did have one scare when the boat sounded its one and only whistle call that it was going to leave and I was way out on the other side. I ran directly to the boat with no problems though (well, except for getting my feet wet).
Creole Queen Paddleboat from Mark Hamzy on Vimeo.
Dinner was at K-Paul's Louisiana Kitchen. It was by far the best food in New Orleans! The breads, Blackened Louisiana Drum, and bread pudding were excellent. The only thing which marred the event was that the fire alarm went off briefly during dessert. But I would have walked out to safety with my pudding. I also loved the whimsical food related artwork in the restaurant.
I went to Gordon Biersch brewery and tasted their sampler.
On Tuesday I walked along St. Charles Ave and took pictures of the houses. Man, there are some beautiful homes along the way. With a lot of different architectures. But what was more shocking was the devastation just blocks away. I wanted to take some pictures of one of the cemeteries, Lafayette Cemetery Number 2. However, the neighborhood turned rather dangerous looking quickly. I took the memory card out of my camera and put it in my pocket and the camera strap off around my neck so that I would still have my pictures if the camera was stolen. The cemetery was also sadly never repaired after Katrina.
For lunch, I finally had the opportunity to eat at Green Goddess. I had wanted to eat here since I came here but the place had been closed until today. The South Indian Savory Ivory lentel pancakes were good! I finally had a Hurricane at Pat O'Brien's Bar. And then went to eat at Brennan's Restaurant. I had the Pepper Fillet with Barbecued Shrimp and the Bananas Foster. Sadly, they won't cook the Bananas Foster tableside. So you can see the spectacle of lighting the thing on fire.
The nightlife was incredible on Burbon Street. The place was always packed every night. There was a improvisational band playing close to Canal Street.
Harrah's Casino was also pretty close to where I was. They had some games of Texas Hold'em including a limit game of 4/8. Unfortunately, they had no comps for playing the game! Grrr. Definitely not a good deal at all.
Here are some other interesting shots that I took:
It looks like, with the construction work going on to expand 1460, that a group of people took the time to clean up what once was a desolate cemetery.
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