Izikistan

Archives: August, 2004

Quick jerked meat

23rd August 2004

Let’s say you’re too lazy to marinate food for more than ten minutes, and you don’t have any fresh herbs or peppers around. Can you still achieve semi-authentic jerk flavor?

chicken parts, pork ribs, skirt steak, or something similar
dried herbs like oregano and thyme
ground spices like allspice and cumin
pepper sauce such as Melinda’s, Tabasco, or similar
something [...]

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The best hot sauce

19th August 2004

Since I follow a diet where I’ve gotta avoid certain food additives, for a long time I stuck with original recipe Tabasco because it only contains peppers, vinegar, and salt. It’s sorta boring though, so I started picking up bottles and reading labels. I was amazed by how many hot sauces contain additives like guar [...]

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Geico reality ad

18th August 2004

Riding the escalator up to baggage claim at the Seattle airport two guys I’ll call Bob and Joe were talking:

Bob:I called Geico the other day.
Joe:Oh yeah?
Bob:I can save 600 a year, 300 every three months.
Joe:Wow, that’s pretty good.
Bob:Pemco was raising my rates all the time, even though I haven’t gotten any tickets in a while.

It [...]

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Wandering around Seattle

13th August 2004

I spent Wednesday driving around Seattle. Headed to West Seattle with a double espresso at Cafe Ladro in mind, but got distracted by the fog bank on Elliot Bay. I stopped along Alki and watched a container ship arrive, accompanied by a bunch of tug boats.

Next I headed for Fisherman’s Terminal. Walking the docks is [...]

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Cole Slaw

9th August 2004

Inspired by an episode of Good Eats. The main idea is to wilt the cabbage a bit in order to achieve a day-old texture, without waiting a day.
What’s in it:

1 head cabbage
1 tablespoon salt
1 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons creme fraiche
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon hot sauce
1 tablespoon minced onion
1-2 minced garlic cloves
1 grated carrot
salt and pepper

How [...]

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