Cocktail Confessions

For anyone who likes a truly unique way of grilling or cooking very moist and flavorful chicken, I give you this podcast.

The very first time I saw this take on grilling chicken was around 2001-02 and I had seen it on FoodTV.  I was fascinated on the method and idea of both basting and cooking a chicken from the inside out using liquid, and in this case beer.  It looked simple enough and guaranteed to be a talking point amongst friends who see you pull the bird of the grill.

You’ll be amazed, if done correctly, how moist the chicken actually is, especially after sitting on the grill for hours.  And despite the fact it may look a bit complicated, it really isn’t at all.  The most caution I can give though…and I learned this from my own experience is to be very careful removing the can from the bird without adequately letting it rest and cool down juts a tad.  That can is hot, and the left over brew is basically boiling (it did just turn to steam after-all), and you can easily burn yourself.  Oh, and make sure you leave the bird on long enough to cook thoroughly….no matter how good it may look on the outside, you don’t want to get sick from raw chicken (I’ve done that as well, and it isn’t pretty by any means).

Don’t be afraid to experiment with various rubs and spices, and of course if you have fresh herbs liek rosemary or thyme, don’t be shy to try them out either.

Like I say in the episode, best enjoyed in the company of friends and can be paired with lighter wines or like beer.  Enjoy on a nice spring or summer day, get the tunes going, have some light side dishes and I promise you, if done semi-correctly, your friends will want to know how you made such a good main dish.

Show Notes:

• Intro music: “I am a man of constant sorrow” - Soggy Bottom Boys
• Recipe: Beer Can Chicken

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (18.4MB)

Yesterday was a little more hectic than usual at work and I was really looking forward to getting the hell out of Dodge and head home.  It was also raining, as it has been for the better part of a whole week now, and I was also looking to make something hearty for dinner, like chili.  Well, I knew I has some flank steak in the fridge, some mexican cheese, a whole pantry full of southwest spices, and some dry gourmet chili mix by ‘Bear’. 

So in the midst of making a really good home doctored up chili with some fresh diced peppers and such, I opted to make myself a drink.  A gin martini sounded pretty good, but since I was in this south western them and I came across some jalepeno stuffed olives in my pantry that I forgot I had, I decided to concoct my own ’spicy’ libation.

Now I don’t claim that I invented this drink by any means, but the recipe just kind of came together in my head at that moment in time and I did come up with the name ‘Texas-tini’, so here we go:

Texas-tini

• 5 parts gin
• 1 part dry vermouth
• 2 jalepeno stuffed olives
• Favorite pepper sauce
• Jalepeno slice for garnish (optional)
• In a tumbler with ice, combine gin, vermouth, and olives.  Add a dash of your favoite pepper sauce (Tabasco, Frank’s, Kryptonite or whatever floats your boat).  Add jalepeno slice to rim or float on top as garnish.

As an option, if you don’t like gin, then go ahead and try vodka.  For this I recommend ‘Absolute Pepper’ since it has a little spice already infused into the vodka.  Also, if you want a liitle more or less zing, change the garnish to a mild chili or something a little hotter, like a wedge of habenero, but be careful and wash your hands if you come into direct skin contact with habenero oil and warn your guests.  As far as sauces go, Tabasco may prove to be a bit too vinegary for some, so maybe try Tapatio or Chulula for a nice spicy yet mellower taste.

Two of my favorite activities are drinking beer and playing video games.  Both allow me to enter my own alternate reality where the day to day minutuae is temporarily forgotten and I block out the outside world.

Now if I chose to, I could spend $189.99 and combine my love of World of Warcraft and my drinking skills by purchasing a “Legendary” edition beer stein.  These comes of the heels of the previous released 4-version “Epic” steins that sold for roughly half (approx $100). 

Representing either an Alliance or Horde faction, these mugs have 18k gold lids and trim and are limited to only 999 for each design and hand-signed by Blizzard artists.  For those anti-socialites who fear the warm glow of a real sun and really need to know the characters that adorn the sides, the Alliance gets Glenn Rane, and the Horde gets Samwise Didier.  The only other information I have is that are planned to be released for in March of 2010, so you may want to go to Blizzard.com for more information.

If I had $200 just lying around like Tiger Woods does for wiping his tuckus, I may be tempted to buy one, for they are pretty (although like most, I’d go for the Horde one as it is much coller looking).  But other than placing it on a shelf and pretending I may drink out of it (I wouldn’t, and ergo defeats the actual purpsoe of buying a stein to begin with).  However, there is so much other stuff I’d like to spend money I really don’t have on first, say cool Star Wars or G.I. Joe memorabilia, or pesky bills and home improvement projects.

I have no words for this.

It’s pretty much self-explanatory on the WTF front.

Zune HD

Not that money is burnoking a hole in my pocket but sometimes I get this intense urge to purchasea shiny new gadget and it’s very hard to satiate or assuage that feeling until a transaction has been made.  Therein this dilemma lies a few various issues that bounce about within my noggin that I begin to wonder if I stumbled upon some warped psychosis of myself: 1) Do I ‘really‘ need a new gadget?  2) Do I have a mild case of ’shop-a-holic’ syndrome usually discussed by various yentas on shows like The View or Maury Povich?  3) Am I making an intelligent buying decision or do I wait for the next model?  or 4)  Do I shove this current desire deep down within and wait for something completly different at a later date…perhaps something I’m not even aware I need or want yet?

That’s where I seem to be at this point, and while I am proud I did not make fall into temptation today and make an impulse purchase while I was at Best Buy earlier today, I’m also kinda bummed I didn’t at the same time.  See, for Christmas I was gifted a new Playstation 3.  I would normally have kept this gift and be very excited about it, however, it was not a Playstation Slim.  I also own a Xbox 360 and Wii and really can’t afford to start buying yet another consoles games at $60 a pop.  And the fact that my wife purchased me a Panansonic Blu-Ray player doesn’t help my argument either.  So begrudgingly I did return the PS3 and received a store credit in the amount of $300+.

Now what to buy with it?  A few thoughts crossed my mind: 1) new Xbox hard drive and some games?  2) Use it sparingly over time to purchase some DVD’s and reduced games once I play and tire with the current games I own and haven’t yet completed?  3) Buy a Zune HD player (a few months ago I almost would have done anything for a Zune 32GB)?  4) Buy a Cisco FlipHD handheld camcorder, or now something I just learned today, 5) Buy a Sony Bloggie 360 camcorder?

Well, I learned that Best Buy doesn’t currently carry 100GB Xbox hard drives and data transfer kits, so that’s out.  I’ll have to look for that separately another time.

I think I recently changed my mind on the Zune HD 32 as well.  The price is still a bit high at $289 and I can’t help but think that over the last few years I’m lucky if I even have picked up any MP3 player.  I have an older 4 GB Rio that works just fine and I don’t go to the gym as much as I used to either.  I also have my new Motorola Droid which I can listen to LastFM, and various other audio and digital podcasts (which I currently do at work now).  The Zune 16GB ($199) may be better for me as by the time I actually fill it up to say 40% of songs, the price may drop even more or a new model may be announced.  I do like the idea of placing many of my CD’s onto it, being Droid independent, and its ability to hook into my Ford Edge’s SYNC system.  I currently use a small 256MB USB memory stick in my car that holds quite a few songs, but clearly not as nice as a Zune.  I also have a Zune account on both my PC and XBox 360 and fancy myself going back to the gym more often here in the future and being able to watch video podcasts on the run is very attractive.

FlipHD

Then there is the Flip UltraHD cam from Cisco.  Up until CES 2010 (last week) I was liking the idea of having a Flip.  Not that I video anything much now because I don’t have a portable device or an account on YouTube, but I recently discovered the use of my Droid’s video capture abilities at a trade show I recently attended and found it very cool.  I’ve been doing more on Facebook recently as well, and have ideas of including vodcasts here and another site I’m working on.  However, it’s a Cisco device and although very popular right now, I can already sense that it is overpriced by the nature of it being Cisco and I feel a new model is under development.  As a matter of fact, with Sony’s ‘Bloggie’ announcement last week, Flip has already dropped it’s price from $199 to $149 at Best Buy.

Sony Bloggie

I figure the price drop is to compete against the newest version of Sony’s Bloggie that was announced for $169 for the base model and $189 for the 360 kit.  Now that I know about the Bloggie and its superior resolution (5MP pictures and 1920 x 1080 video resolution), 4x digital zoom, rotating 270 degree lens and 360 video accesory feature, of course now I think the Flip is now out.  It also comes with a 4GB memory stick (upgrades to 8GB), editing software, and it’s ability to immediately share to YouTube, Shutterfly, and Picasa makes it very attractive for our social networking generation (Facebook, Myspace, etc..)

So I didn’t buy anything today.  It’s between my desire to possibly buy a Zune 16, a future Bloggie, or upcoming Blu Ray DVD’s and Xbox 360 video games.

The poster caught my eye.

And I am glad it did.

Apparantly I’ve never heard of this little gem from our Canadian friends up north.  Based on a B&W short, this mockumentary style comedy ran on Canadian televion for seven seasons beginning in 2001.  It also spawned a few television specials and two feature films.  “The Big Dirty”, the first feature film was my first exposure to these characters and it was downright hilarious.  Not all the acting is top noch, but I don’t think it is supposed to be.  Each character is his or her own unique traffic accident waiting to happen and how they keep a straight face while selling you on their schtick is beyond me.

It’s a special type of humor, very similar to the style of ‘The Office’ or ‘Parks and Recreation’.  If your into that dry delivery and very intelligent although sophmoric humor, then I think you’ll love this show.  Like most mockumentaries of this nature, you’ll fall into either of two camps:  A) you won’t get it and thinks it’s dumb, or B) you’ll howl and cry out laughing.  Thank goodness I fall into the later category, and can look past the low budget (that’s half its charm anyway) and enjoy the nonsense and antics for what they are.

Now I suppose it’s up to me to go back and get the shows on DVD either through Netflix or purchasing the seasons through Amazon.  Either way, this is now on my “must see” list.  I’ll spare you the details of the chracters and plotlines, as they can all be found at the Wikipedia entry here.  But suffice to say, the antics at the trailer park are so ridiculous and out there, that they actually seem plausible as do many of the characters themselves.  The character’s Ricky, Julian, and Bubbles (pictures) are perfect and I swear they are charicatures of people we all actually have run into at one point in our lives.

DJ Hero

Eh, well, not because I’m an advocate of throw away episodes, but once in a while it’s just kinda nice to put something out there to let the masses know you’re still alive and kicking.  It also helps in remembering how to craft and use technology so you don’t forget it so easily if you don’t do it too often.

Like most things that I really get excited and interested in, it appears that putting this podcast together is a bit harder than I first anticipated.  Not so much from a  technical aspect, but more of getting actual content down and getting guests to commit.  It’s been much more difficult than I ever would have surmised to get friends and neighbors to agree on a time to sit and chat, and every time it seems we plan on something it generally gets delayed for one reason or another.

That’s not so much the case in point here.  As I stated in my last post, I’ve been under the weather as of late.  I can’t remember the last time I has such a bad cough or case of bronchitis that has more or less just put me out on my butt.  My throat has been a bit raw and I’m all jacked up on various OTC medicines…none of which seem to be doing me much good by the way.  The nagging and uncontrollable hacking at all hours has been very frustrating to me, and while I’m not 100% right now, it seems I’m finally on the tail end of a good eight day cough fest.

Episode 13 is a bit short, clocking in at just about twenty one minutes and it just informs you up on a few recent things in my life

Stone Smoky Porter

like Christmas goodies such as DJ Hero, my new Blu Ray player, some movies and Netflix we’ve been watching (like season 1 of Dexter), and of course Stone Brewery Smoky Porter (5.9%).  Speaking of DJ Hero, that game is bad ass.  As a child of the 80’s and really into old skool hip-hop/rap and more current euro dance/techno, this game is right up my alley.  Some of my friends have laughed at me spinning a plastic turntable and making up DJ names for me, like DJ Wingman (thanks Chip).  I hope the game does well enough to spawn some additional DLC because I just love it.

Show Notes:

Intro - “Come Again” by Beastie Boys & Daft Punk (as heard on DJ Hero)

2:08 - Cornocopia of OTC drugs I’m taking including Emergen-C bullshit.

6:30 - This & that and a little fluff.

7:15 - Stone Brewery and porter talk.

8:05 - Blu Ray and movie talk (Star Trek, Paranormal Activity)

11:45 - Microsoft + Xbox RROD blues 

12:29 - Dexter: clean versus ‘R’ versions for Showtime and CBS

13:49 - Xmas continued + DJ Hero

18:39 - SkurvyMonekys.com podcast discussed

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (19.3MB)

Oy Vey, and I’m not even Jewish.

Things over here have recently taken a turn like David Hasselhoff at Happy Hour.  Your’s truly (or perhaps not so truly depending on your perspective on things), has been saddled with a horrid case of seasonal bronchitis.  Just in time for the holiday season, my longs have really been taken the giving spirit a little too literally.  They’ve been packaging and repackaging all the wonderful colors of the Noel continuum: green, red, yellow and a few shades of yule log brown.

Nope, I haven’t been this sick in quite a few years, and it’s been keeping me in bed for the better half of the last week or so.  Hence the planned podcast ‘Episode 13′ and ‘Episode 14′ have been delayed until I get my voice back.  Yeah, I’m pretty sure you all don’t want to hear me hack, gurgle, wheeze, and cough for a half hour at a time.

In the meantime, thanks to Erik Gibson over at SkurvyMonekys.com and BlendedMonkeys.com for adding Cocktail Confessions to their link sites as well.  We’ve discussed some very preliminary plans to possibly do a cross-promotional show sometime in the future if I can get Skype up and running since the players involved currently live in three geographically undesirable regions from one another.

Anyway, I look forward to getting….erect, er…., ‘upright’ again to do my next episode.  Recently visited Stone Brewery in Escondido, CA and did the tour and had some awesome porters and IPA’s to talk about.  Also there was the drunken ‘wing night’ with Chip and Ryan over at Hannah’s of RSM, CA, and of course the drunken New Years Eve with power saws, stolen wood pallets, and being in the pitch black.  Oh and of course some new Christmas gadgets I got will be reviewed and discussed here as well.

Through the miracle of digital crack addiction phenom known as Facebook, I was able to recently reconnect with an associate I knew back in highschool some 20 years ago.  I learned that he has his own podcast over at teh website: SkurvyMonkeys.  A variety show chock full of music, comedy, and random musings between two dudes. 

I’m currently listening to the episode entitled ‘A Christmas to Drink by (part 2)’, and am very impressed.  This episode has some particularly funny holiday themeds music ranging from Disney to The Kinks.  A nice change from the ever so predictable Howard Stern crapola.

Production sounds a helluva lot better than my own futile attempts (Erik, don’t mind if I hit you up on some podcasting questions at a later date).  You can find their podcast on iTunes and I’ve included the links (skurvymonkeys.com and blendedmonkeys.com) in the right margin right here.  Anyway, go check them out!

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Hey folks, it’s been a few weeks since an update and what better way than to introduce some new cocktail recipes for the holiday season.  I am listing two versions for a Gingerbread martini, an easy version and a slightly more involved version, depending on how fast you want to pour this down your gullet and how fickle you are with taste quality.  I guess you can classify them as the college dorm recipe and the impressive high-fallutin’ party.  Of course, I recommened having either one of these under the mistletoe…you can’t go wrong.

Ginger Bread Martini (easy version)

• 1 - 1.5 oz Monin Gingerbread syrup (preferred brand)
• 3+ oz of quality Spiced Rum or Crown Royal.
• Sugar rimmed martini glass.
• Place both components in shaker with ice and shake well.  Syrup is a bit sweet, so experiment ratios to your preferred taste.  Pour in glass and garnish with a gingersnap cookie.

Gingerbread Cocktail (quality version)

• 1 oz vanilla vodka
• 1 oz hazelnut flavored liqueur
• 1/2 oz butterscotch schnapps
• ice cubes
• 4 oz ginger beer (such as Reed’s Ginger Brew)
• Dark rum
• Gingerbread cookie for garnish.
• Pour the vanilla vodka, hazlenut liquer, and schnapps in a cocktail shaker with ice and shake well.  Strain into a highball glass (8 oz) with ice.  Top with ginger beer.  Pour a little dark rum over the back of a spoon and float on top of the ginger beer.  Garnish with a gingerbread cookie.