use real butter

Feels like fall and I welcome it! Evenings down near freezing and daytime highs around 60-70. I like making large pots of soup or stews that last for several days. Today I finally made myself cook up a batch of beef stew. What I love about beef stew is that you use the cheap cuts of meat and slow cook them until they are falling apart. Cheap cuts like chuck or rump are tough, but have the best flavor and are ideal for slow cooking. The tender cuts like tenderloin or ribeye are far better for dry heat – great texture, but not the best in flavor per se.

start with fresh ingredients

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Everyone knows that I hate coffee, but Jeremy loves it. I don’t hate coffee itself, just the culture that has grown around it. I actually like it in baking or desserts, and all of the prep is fun. Anyway, I ordered this for his office today:

baby espresso machine: i dub thee Happy Jr.

Except his isn’t yellow, it’s orange (called passion/orange – whatever that means). The tectonics group had one at my old workplace and even though I never wanted to drink any, I was always volunteering to make it for someone because it’s so easy – it’s so FUN! This is the baby version of what the group had. I think it’s perfect for Jeremy. I also think when he walks into his office after trudging through the cold his world will light up when he sees: 1) Happy Jr. and 2) his G5 – because what else is more beautiful and functional at the same time?!

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This evening, we reviewed Chez Thuy after work. It is a Vietnamese restaurant. Interestingly, most of the Asian places I’ve eaten at don’t put much investment in “service”. In fact, the places that serve the best Chinese food are notoriously rude and disinterested in the customers. But the Chinese clientele couldn’t care less – they don’t go to a Chinese restaurant for service, they go for a good bargain on awesome food. They are as equally rude and inconsiderate to their servers and other guests as the servers and other guests are to them (mostly in the serious Asian burbs of SF or LA). Go figure.

chez thuy

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