Dinner tonight - or last night.

I hafta admit, I don't miss chuckee either...

it was like eating at the circus...

Antonio said he wants baked potatoes for dinner tonight, I hate having the oven on so I have decided to take him to Texas Cattle Co here in St. Pete, the food is good plus the waiters dress like cowboys

I picked up this book the other day when Antonio and I were at the bookstore. I’m going to make something from it tonight, just not sure what yet. Stay tuned.

Bittman fan here..

I found his page a day calendar very helpful. Simple recipes as well as cooking tips.

He’s been starring at that book for an hour. I think he’s afraid to open it.

Back a while ago, when the New York Times started charging for its online news (you get twenty looks a month, free, on their articles, whereas I was used looking at upwards of a hundred re different subjects), I was faced with weaning myself from any Bittman links I'd accumulated from the NYT, as to click on them was to subtract from my ability to view free. (I think he's now on the Diner's Blog, but that is still NYT). The easy solution is to pay for it, but frugality is going on in this house.

My point is that Bittman has many videos out there, which I've enjoyed.
There are other video makers, like Alton Brown, that are well worth watching..
Me, I'm busy using my FREE NYT 20 views a month to copy my old Bittman links onto my Mac pages. Grrrr.

Bittman ain't perfect, which he'd be the first to admit, but I understand his cooking.

Morgan would be better off with a few cooking videos, he could watch them on his laptop in the kitchen while he’s preparing dinner. He gets sidetracked from the book recipes, either that or he’s afraid of the stove.

Well, as I remember Alton Brown is a little more advanced - best to see if you can nab Bittman videos. I suppose there are simpler ones but not (in my not at all humble opinion) as over all good as his.

I haven't check ehBeth's Bittman calendar thing - don't know if that is NYT derived or not. I think he's got another site, but not so much on it as the NYT when I've looked.

I found one that I want to try. I'm going to be making crab cakes with a chili lime aioli dipping sauce. It doesn't sound that difficult. I'm off to the market!

Have you trolled his website for recipes?

He's got some here

http://content.markbittman.com/recipes

plus there is a link at his site to every Minimalist column at the NYT - you can scroll through and find your favourites.

also ... there's at least one youtube of Mark doing the no-knead bread

The calendar is based on the How to Cook Everything cookbook. Different recipes/hints each year. Since I'm after the recipes I wait til late January to buy it - then nab it at 75 or 90% off.

start by getting Morgan this free iphone app



http://www.culinate.com/app/htce

Bittman's cooking tips in Mens Health

http://www.menshealth.com/nutrition/cooking-tips-1

If I double post, I'm having temporary trouble getting a post to go through.

anyway -

Beth, yes, but have not looked at that for a while.
I don't remember the links to the columns on Bittman.com, probably did see them; just the relative scarcity of recipes. Maybe that's changed, but I got the idea with the change in his posting at NYT that he'd gotten off of recipes and in to general food issues.

I'm more of a recipe person than a video person... but I don't know if using those links also counts as part of the twenty, which, given I already have the columns that have interested me over the years on my computer, if so, I'd be gilding the pig, but that's just re me. Don't know if others without subscriptions can look at more than twenty, for example.

I know that one is on youtube, but M & M and others wouldn't. Course, I didn't just now go look up Bittman on youtube. I sort of suspect most of his videos aren't - would be glad to know I'm wrong.

On the crab cakes - that's one of his ideas from this article - all shorties, presumably all sans videos.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/19/dining/19mini.html?scp=2&sq=crab%20cakes%20with%20a%20chili%20lime%20aioli%20dipping%20sauce.%20+%20Mark%20Bittman&st=cse

That is a great idea! He's always on his phone. Thank you!

I changed my mind about cooking tonight. I'll make it tomorrow night. We didn't have our family dinner out last night since Marco wasn't there so we will be doing that tonight.

Well, you deserve it after your day with the lube peoples.

made something called white chilli, no tomato in it

brown ground chicken with chopped onion and garlic, add 2 tsp cumin and one tsp chilli powder, pepper to taste, add some mushrooms, stir to mix, add a small butternut squash that's been cubed, add one can (with liquid) white kidney beans, add water to cover to ingredients, bring to boil, and then reduce to simmer

it's very much a middle east style flavour than south of the border in my opinion, the smaller pieces of butternut squash break down and help thicken the broth, bought some really nice crusty bread at the market this morning, went quite well with the meal

We had a nice family dinner downtown, came home, put them two to bed and I’m having a relaxing evening in front of the TV.