Archive for the 'about me' Category

Seven Things You’ll Wish You Never Knew About Me

Published by Hal on January 14, 2008 in about me and off-topic. 1 Comment

A food post, later. For now, I’ll participate in this meme. Art Dinkin at Moment on Money tagged me to participate in this meme, and I’ll happily oblige. Some of you may know things about me because of our relationship outside of this blog. Others are probably curious about the man behind the curtain. So, here it goes: seven things you’ll wish you never knew about me…

The rules are these:

  • Link to the person(s) that tagged you and post the rules on your blog.
  • Share 7 random and/or weird things about yourself.
  • Tag 7 random people at the end of your post and include links to their blogs.

My things:

  1. I have a day job very different from what I write about on this blog: I’m a finance professional, though not of the same vein as Art. I’m a CPA, and I work in the tax department of a large school.
  2. I have a hobby that is very different from both my job and my blog: I sing. I’ve been involved in music for as long as I can remember, and I’ve been singing since 2002. I even had the opportunity this past fall to sing in a local choir for the Dalai Lama.
  3. I’m not fluent in any language (other than English, of course), but I pick them up very easily. I’ve taken French and German, and based on these two I can read a fair amount of Spanish and Latin.
  4. Despite this blog, I’ve (clearly, based on number 1) not been professionally trained as cooking. So, everything you read here is based on my own experiences and trails/errors.
  5. I once lost 90 pounds. Unfortunately, I’ve gained 70 of them back because I deal horribly with things I can’t control (see why number 1 is such a good fit!).
  6. I was an atypical college student: never changed my major once I started, graduated in  4 1/2 years, went right to grad school, and never looked back.
  7. I never cared about college sports when I was in school (even though the other 249,999 people who lived in my city were beyond fanatical). Interestingly enough, now that I work at a rival school, I’m all about it, and at work I’m becoming “that guy.” And, I don’t mind :)

Now, the tag…

  1. Stacie @ Buried the Lead
  2. Jaden @ Steamy Kitchen
  3. Trent @ Simple Dollar
  4. The Gastronomist @ … The Gastronomist!
  5. Andre @ Wine For Newbies
  6. Kevin @ The Breakfast Bowl (maybe it’ll get you posting again!)
  7. Robert @ Web Marketing How To

Wow, this exercise is making me realize that I need to expand my network so that the blogs I read know who I am.

New Segment: Weighty Wednesday

Published by Hal on December 1, 2007 in Wholesome Wednesday, about me and health. 1 Comment

Hi, my name is Hal and I’m fat.

Okay, I’m not majorly obese, though I’m sure my BMI would indicate that I am on the heavy side of obese, if not just *shudder* morbidly so. This wasn’t always the case. When I was 8, I was rail thin and this lasted for several years until one tragic incident where I was walking to the convenient store and had a gun pulled on me (well, not just me, and we can’t be sure if it was a gun, but it looked like one). And, then, another time when I was trying to walk to a friend’s house and someone came after me with a bat (I don’t really thing with true malice, just trying to mess with me more than anything).

Yes, I had a tragic and scary childhood (sometimes). I didn’t live in a bad neighborhood, but I guess at that time (this was just before the reversal in violent crime rates, circa 1990) messing around like that was just the thing to do; or, at least, I remember it that way because of the culture I was exposed to.

Anyway, around that time, I got scared to even really walk outside. So I didn’t. And I packed on the pounds. It doesn’t help that genetics aren’t really on my side, either. Both sides struggle with it to some degree, and so do I. Welcome to America, I suppose. Well, it got real bad until I was a junior in college when I finally decided to do something about it. During 2003, I went to the gym at least three times a week–in the summer it was even more, like 5 times a week. I eventually started running and I lost 100 pounds.

Problem is, I don’t deal well with major change. At least, that’s one of the only things I can think of. Makes some sense, because I’m very type A, and I want to control my environment to a fault. It seems that one of my coping mechanisms is to overindulge in tasty and not necessarily healthful things :) So, I started picking up weight again… first in 2004 when I started grad school (about 15 pounds). Then in 2005 when I started working (about 30 pounds). Then in 2006 when I got married–and let it all go ;) (about about 20 pounds). And finally, this year, when we made a really drastic change with my wife going back to school which involved losing an income and moving to a completely new area (about 15 pounds).

If you’re counting, that means in 4 years I’ve gained back about 80 of the 100 pounds I lost in 2003.

So, today is the day to turn around. I rejoined the gym here at school and I’ll try to start going again at least three times a week–my officemate and I have something of an agreement that we’ll do this together and try to help each other out. And, I’ll watch and document what I eat better (one of the things that really helped, initially, was Weight Watchers–and I liked the program a lot, because you could eat anything, but you had to be accountable to the program and yourself). If I do it right, it will take close to a year, again. But, if I do it right, and keep doing it, I should be able to put all of this behind me.

Why am I telling you this on a food blog? Because half the battle is what you put into your body. So, I’m introducing a segment called “Weighty Wednesday,” where I will either post a naturally healthful recipe or a more healthful interpretation of a full-fat classic.

Plus, if I keep my progress documented for all the world to see, I might be more accountable to myself, right? Let’s hope so. Look for the first update on Wednesday!

Learning to Cook: “…and so can you!”

Published by Hal on November 29, 2007 in about me, health and technique. 3 Comments

My wife often asks me “where did you learn how to cook so well?” I touched on this very briefly in the post “My inspiration,” but I thought I would revisit the topic for this particular post.

When I was a kid, I was forbidden to touch the stove. I think the logic was that I was too young to learn how to cook, and I would probably just end up hurting myself. That didn’t stop me, because I still tried to cook things, and usually just simple things like mac and cheese or ramen. Sometimes, when I stayed home from school, I would watch TLC (probably the first of the mainstream lifestyle channels) and there would be cooking shows. I remember a cajun cooking show, probably some others, and “Yan Can Cook.”

Yan Can Cook was hosted by Martin Yan, and the premise of the show involved Martin cooking traditional Asian cuisine and goofing off, in an engaging way. I always remember the tag-line of the show: “If Yan can cook, so can you!” I remember being so rapt by this show, and wondering if I could ever cook like that. I never tried Asian cuisine at such a young age, but my passion for it has never waned.

After watching such shows (and there were others, which I’ll discuss later), I would occasionally experiment. Once, I made a tuna salad, and I must have used nearly every spice in the cabinet. From what I remember, it didn’t taste too bad, but it might have been over salted. I’m sure the spice combination was something like basil, oregano, tarragon, rosemary, garlic salt, salt, and pepper. My grandmother said I was turning into quite the little chef when I told her about it later that night.

Knowing that I wasn’t allowed to cook when I was kid (though I still did), I find it really interesting that conventional wisdom says something very different today, nearly 10 to 15 years later. You’ve seen those spots on FoodNetwork about cooking with your kids, right? And there are all kinds of recipe books for children (heck, even a quick Google Search on “cooking with kids” gets nearly 14 million hits, with websites that seem devoted to cooking with your children). Researchers now say that cooking with you children can impart some very beneficial knowledge, such as good food choice and integrating math, science, and language skills. It might even keep your kids from getting fat!

Do you remember when you first learned to cook? What are some of your stories?

The Art of Roux

Published by Hal on November 27, 2007 in about me, admin, recipes and technique. 1 Comment

A simple roux:

2 tablespoons of fat (I use butter, but I usually only need a blond roux; oil might be better if you need a darker roux)
2 tablespoons of flour

Melt or heat the fat on medium-low heat. Add the flour to hot fat, stirring. The roux should bubble up, then simmer down. Keep stirring, until the roux is the color of a blondie, or a biscuit, and has the viscosity (thickness) of oatmeal. Whisk in the liquid and bring the heat up to medium. After bringing the liquid to a boil, lower the temperature to low and mix in any additional ingredients. This roux will thicken 2 to 4 cups of liquid.

Hal’s Hint: I’ve discovered that if you want to caramelize some onions, garlic, or similar bulb vegetable, add the vegetable to the fat before you add the flour. You might consider changing the ratio to 3:2 fat-to-flour. That is, if you would normally use two tablespoons each of fat and flour, use three tablespoons of fat instead.

Last night I made a simple version of an alfredo sauce, which required that I make a roux. Let me tell you something-it took me three times to get it right! What went wrong:

Attempt 1
Plain and simple, I cooked it too long. I had the right proportions of flour and fat, but I was expecting it to seize up and then go back to a more liquid stage. It never seized up, so I kept stirring.  And stirring.  And stirring.

I was using medium heat and my fat was butter. Eventually, the butter just burned, so I had a brown roux. Also, somewhere in the middle of all this, I decided to test my roux to make sure the flour taste had cooked out. Here’s a hint: don’t use your bare finger to test a hot roux. My left index finger has not been happy for the last 15 hours.

So, attempt 1 down the drain.

Attempt 2
After attempt 1, I thought maybe I didn’t have the proportions right–I knew for certain there wasn’t more fat than flour. Maybe it was two-to-one flour-to-fat? I also reduced the flame to low (knowing on my gas stove, this is more like medium).

Well, it seized up like I expected it to… and never became runny again. No biggie, let’s add the milk anyway. Lump city.

Attempt 2 down the drain, too.

Attempt 3
We went back to what worked–attempt 1 had equal proportions of flour to fat, and that’s what I chose. The heat setting was somewhere between low and medium.

I melted the butter, added the flour, and WOW! I think this was the magic moment–the flour kind of “bloomed,” then went runny again. I stirred for another minute or so to cook the flour, then added my milk.

Success! But, damn you, Alton Brown, and your cooking shows that I can never seem to remember exactly and correctly!

My inspiration

Published by Hal on November 25, 2007 in about me. 1 Comment

Okay, no, really…

The Tools

Published by Hal on November 25, 2007 in about me and cookware. 0 Comments

After introducing myself, I thought I would introduce my cooking life. This first post is about my most used kitchen tools.

Primary tools.
Calphalon - Contemporary Nonstick Sets - 10 Piece Set. We later purchased the Calphalon - Contemporary Stainless Basics - Stock Pots with Calphalon - Inserts and Double Boilers Stainless Inserts - 8 qt. Pasta Insert

This cookware is at the center of our (mine and my wife’s) cooking. Like most non-stick cookware, sometimes it does not brown as well as we’d like. This causes us to have to use a little bit of oil to aid in carmelization. Since aerosol oil sprays leave a film on the non-stick surface, we have a pump action spritzer bottom filled with canola oil. We use a combination of silicon spatulas and wooden tools with this cookware.

Cuisinart CA4 20-pc. Knife Block Set with Bonus Cutting Board: Red - Cuisinart Cutlery Sets

This set is a very good set, and we’ve been quite pleased. Really, I’m just excited that we’ve got a block, because trying to organize our knives in such a way that they didn’t dull would be very frustrating. They have the features the professionals say knives should have: forged, stainless blades; tines that extend to the base of the handle; a comfortable grip; and a good center of gravity for control.

KitchenAid Online Store | Professional 5™ Plus Series Mixers - KV25G0XBU

This stand mixer is perhaps the best stand mixer ever. I know it’s my wife’s favorite kitchen appliance, because it makes any kind of mixing so much easier (and she just likes the way it looks on our counter!). We’re hoping to get the ice cream attachment for Christmas so we can experiment with making ice cream!

Read more about our other tools and the cost after the cut…

First Post: About Me

Published by Hal on November 24, 2007 in about me and admin. 0 Comments

Welcome to the Common Culinarian! My name is Hal, and I have two passions: business and food. By day, I am an accountant for an institution of higher learning somewhere in the midwest. When I get home at night, it’s usually my responsibility to create a tasty and inexpensive meal for my family.

A blog is born. I also enjoy several other hobbies, including music, photography, reading, and writing and am something of a personal finance buff, too. One of the major themes of some of the personal finance blogs I read is to find a way to combine your passions to generate a stream of financial resources. So, that got me thinking: “How do I combine my passions and my hobbies into something I enjoy.” Of course, hobbies can cost a lot of money (take photography, for example), so this activity had to either be cost free or be a source of financial support. Being a business person, I chose the latter.

Why am I telling you this? Because, as my readers, you are my lifeline. I hope to develop this blog into a valuable resource for you, the common culinarian. To do that, I need to establish an environment of trust. However, I promise to try to make the sources of that support as minimally intrusive to you as possible.

This site’s philosophy and features. As of this writing, this blog is a work in progress. However, I hope to provide you with relevant and timely information for our shared passion for cooking. I am not a chef, nor have I ever been trained, but my self taught experience provides a solid foundation for sharing recipes, techniques and product reviews. I also hope to create an entertaining community where we can come together to share these things together.

For now, I promise to post several times a week; out of these posts, hopefully some regular features will develop. In the future, there is room for the possibility of a community discussion board and some other exciting features. The possibilities are endless.

Thank you for stopping by! If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, please contact me at blog (at) commonculinarian.com.