Robb + Jessie Married & in the Badger State
Uncle Mike the Cooking Guy
Whenever my family would get together with my Aunt Pat (mom’s sister) and Uncle Mike we are guaranteed some “good eats” beyond my family’s specialties. Mike introduced us to Sam the Cooking Guy who is a San Diego native with major skills in simple, easy, but amazingly delicious meals. For example, his Sweet Sticky Ribs are amazing (and I don’t even like ribs).
For several weeks Robb has been talking about Mike’s albacore. It’s incredibly simple and amazingly delicious.
Sesame Crusted Albacore with Pineapple Salsa and Avocado
Ingredients:
1/4 cup sesame seeds
1 egg, beaten + 1 tablespoon water (mixed)
salt and pepper (to taste)
4 tuna steaks, 8 ounces each and 1 inch thick (thaw overnight if frozen)
1 avocado, sliced
1 jar pineapple salsa from Trader Joe’s
1 lime sliced
Preparation:
Heat olive oil in a nonstick pan over high heat. Put sesame seeds onto a plate. Rinse and pat dry the tuna steaks. Dip them one at a time in the egg-water mixture then dip into the sesame seeds. Press firmly on each side to ensure the seeds adhere. Season with salt and pepper. Put steaks into pan and do not move for 30 seconds. Reduce heat to medium-high for 1-2 minutes. Carefully, with tongs, flip the steaks and cook for another 3 minutes (for medium-rare).
Plate the steaks and top with 2 tablespoons (or more) of the salsa and finish off with avocado slices with a spritz of lime.
We enjoyed our steaks with some steamed asparagus (with lemon, olive oil, salt and pepper), Jasmine rice, and mâche with pomegranate seeds (left over from the previous night).
Kickapoo Coffee
Last weekend Robb and I were pondering what to get Mr. Stankey for his birthday this past Thursday. And then it came to us: locally roasted coffee!
A few weeks ago I bought some coffee from Johnson Brother’s for my Twitter-pal (@luzbonita) who had simply run out of coffee and kept forgetting to bring some more into work. I love this picture of her with her bag o’ beans. While Johnson Brother’s coffee is delicious, they didn’t have a bag of decaf coffee on their online store.
We looked at a few other roasters and settled on Kickapoo Coffee which is a small, family run business that receives their beans from small farmer-owned, fair trade cooperatives and then roasts the beans in small batches in vintage (pre-WWII) German roasters. We selected their decaf blend for Mr. Stankey and bought ourselves a can of Organic Guatemalan beans. They are described as:
Deliciously fragrant and bright with lively notes of citrus, maple syrup, and milk chocolate.
And I must say, they indeed live up to that. This roast is amazing. It seems most of the coffee we have bought for ourselves recently have been rather harsh on our stomachs and overly bitter. But this is the smoothest roast I have bought to date. (Not to mention, our favourite cappuccino place, Bradbury’s, exclusivley serves Kickapoo.)
Plus, it’s just fun to say … Kickapoo!!
Kosher Coke
It is nearly impossible to find a bottle of soda without high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) listed as one of the ingredients. In 2005, when I did my internship at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, I gave a presentation to the ladies in the Nutrition and Education for Women (NEW) Study about HFCS. I compiled a list of over 100 food and drink that contained this “buzzword”. As consumers have become more aware of the health issues regarding HFCS we have seen a small decrease of HFCS as an ingredient.
For those of you wondering what HFCS is and why we should avoid it, here is some information from the handout I distributed from my internship:
What it is: a modified form of corn syrup that has an increased level of fructose yet has the exact same sweetness and taste as an equal amount of sucrose from cane or beet sugar.
While FHCS involves more time and energy to produce, it is cheaper than sugar. This means lower costs and higher profits for food producers.
Why you should be aware of HFCS: between 1967 and 2000 consumption of HFCS has increased > 1000%. HFCS now represents > 40% of caloric sweeteners added to foods and beverages and is the sole caloric sweetener in soft drinks in the United States. A daily average of HFCS for all Americans older than 2 is 132 kcal. The surge in HFCS intake mirrors the rapid increase in obesity in the United States.
HFCS is digested, metabolized and absorbed differently than glucose. Because fructose does not rely on signals that regulate food intake and body weight, research suggests that dietary fructose may contribute to increased energy intake and weight gain.
Now, I suppose you are wondering why I am spending all of this time discussing HFCS. Well, because it’s Passover season. During this season, manufactures produce foods and beverages that are kosher which imply that they do not use corn (ie, HFCS). When Robb went to the grocery store last night, he came home with two bottles of Coca-Cola which contained sucrose (ie, cane sugar)! We are not big soda drinkers, but it’s a treat to have some Coca-Cola now and then. And what is more of a treat than soda sweetened with true sugar?
Of course, sucrose sweetened soda is available in the “ethnic” sections of our local Woodman’s store. We actually bought a small glass bottle of the drink earlier this week.
W.W.J.C.D. (x2)
I mentioned that we have been rather ingenious lately in coming up with solutions to weird problems. Here is another one.
For nearly as long as I can remember, the light switch in the kitchen has been having problems when we turn it on. Instead of turning on when we flip up the switch, the light seems to have to think about turning on. When we jiggle the toggle switch the light flickers. Now the light will not even turn on when the switch is flipped up. Rather, you must apply a counter force to the switch while it is in the up position. Well, this is just obserd because you cannot work in the kitchen and apply pressure to the switch.
Robb’s solution:
Not to mention, it gives us handy access.