Thin Pork Chops Milanesa

Standard breading procedure. Dredge with flour, into egg wash, then into bread crubms, each can be lightly seasoned with salt and pepper. Then pan fry at a high temperature to create a nice crust on the outside. This can be done with any meat, I chose thinly sliced center cut pork chops sans bone.

Sauce-
1 Bosc pear (diced)
1 Gala apple (diced)
1/2 a bottle of merlot (about 375 mL)
1/3 cup chicken stock
salt and pepper to taste.

Reduce all of the ingredients in a sauce pot over medium low heat until it thickens slightly and the fruit is soft throughout.

Creamed Leeks

Everyone who knows me knows that I tout the effects of bacon in food quite often. But the truth is, I actually prefer flavoring things with pancetta more. It brings a more balanced pork fat flavor without needing nearly as much fat, also there is no smoke brought to the dish and if I wanted that I'd just use bacon. Not that I don't like american bacon for tons of things, but in laying base flavors I prefer pancetta.

Creamed Leeks

2 Leeks (cleaned well and cut into rounds.)
1 oz whiskey
1 medium thick slice pancetta
a few cracks of pepper
1/4 stick of butter
4 oz heavy cream

Start the pancetta in a pan over medium-low heat and completely render the fat and then take it out and crumble it, returning it to the pan. Add the whiskey to deglaze the pan and suspending all of the pancetta taste. Add the butter, cream, and pepper until it all comes togetherstirring occasionally. Add the leeks and cook down for about 15 minutes. Serve with your favorite protein.

Gordo's Cuban cuisine

Gordo's Cuban cuisine is a casual resturaunt mostly frequented by the college students at Florida State University, as it is just blocks away from the campus. In full disclosure, it is literally across the street from my house and is a favorite of mine. The reasons it became my favorite place in Tallahassee are simple. The food is good, it is filling, the portions are big, and the price is fair.

There are two Gordo's and the first one was in Tampa, but if I didn't tell you, you would probably think it was just a local shack that was bought by a Cuban family. My favorite dish is the Lechon Asado, which is roasted pork. It is the most famous of all Cuban dishes, and this one doesn't disappoint. It has a spicy taste and has been marinated in lime juice before hand. On it's best days it is moist and juicy, and on it's worst it is just in need of the extra lime juice they give you. It is topped with Onions and come with two sides (all dinner entrees come with the same choice of sides.) The congri which is red beans and rice that are cooked with chorizo, or black beans and rice is the firsdt choice. Fried sweet plantains, or under ripe fried plantains (maduros.) I always go with the sweet plantains, but switch up between the congri and the black beans.

They also have a line of sandwiches that are popular for lunch. They are all pressed, like a cuban. The turkey and ham pressed sandwich, named the Gordo is probably the most popular, and it has a smaller version called the Gordita. They are all served on fresh Cuban rolls and pressed on both sides.

Lastly, they have a few things that go outside the traditional Cuban food realm. The first of which they are famous around town for is their small fresh cut fries with Gordo's sauce. Gordo's sauce is mayo, lime juice, and mojo seasonings. They also have pressed cheesburger's which are their spin on famous american burgers but pressed in the Cuban style.

Everything I have eaten there has been up to par, including the new sliders that are a beef and chorizo and can be eaten as a full meal because the dish is so big, although it is an appetizer. The only knock I have on Gordo's is that the service can be slow a lot of time, so if you don't have the time don't try it.

Week 3 News and Notes

- First and foremost, did everyone see what Anthony Morrow put up in his first real run as an NBA player? 37 points, 11 Reb. on 15-20 shooting. He followed that up with 25 points the next night. He was an undrafted free agent, Warriors have to be happy with that.

- Staying on the rookie trend, Greg Oden looks special when he is on the floor. Since returning he is averaging 15.3/9.6 with 3 blocks a game. He still looks a little uncoordinated, but David Thorpe of ESPN says that is normal for a big guy his age and experience level.

- Cleveland leading the league in Offensive efficiency is not a sentence I thought I would write in the Mike Brown era, but at 110.5 points per 100 possessions they are 3 points clear of the field. L.A. Lakers still lap the field by 3 points in defensive efficiency at 91.6

-Hornets watch: 5-4 is not where they would like to be. But the positives are that the overall difference is still positive at +2.8 and they have played the toughest schedule in the NBA thus far. Still not up to par on either side of the ball from these eyes though.

Bradford Doolittle of Basketball Prospectus has this to say of the team. “The Hornets have been playing well, but their most deficient categories are the ones in which Tyson Chandler excels. Chandler is back in the lineup and when he works his way back into form, New Orleans will be even better.”

-Chris Bosh last night. 40 pts, 18 Reb. (7 offensive), 2 steals, 1 block, and 4 assists. He did this against Dwight Howard, and somehow the Raptors lost the game.

-Players of the week: No change in the East as LeBron James got it again. Chauncey Billups was awarded the honor in the West.

-Speaking of Chauncey Billups he has them playing a little slower. They are still 4th in pace but down from 100 possessions per game to 98.1. Now the only team over the 110 possessions per game mark is the Flying Dantonis in New York.

-In one week the Spurs went from dead last in defensive efficiency to 19th. John Hollinger believes that Popovich has had to get onto them a little earlier this season because of the injuries, and I think that’s probably pretty true.

- Some pretty long streaks going on right now. Cavaliers have won 8 straight, Minnesota and Oklahoma City are on the opposite end having dropped 8 in a row.

- Running through everything I noticed that there are a lot of mediocre teams right now. Only 14 teams have a record above .500 with 7 in each conference which would leave one team with a losing record getting into the playoffs from each side as of now.

-LeBron James, Chris Paul, and Dwayne Wade look to have a serious shot at playing at a clip of 30.00 PER or higher. That is twice the league average, and is considered especially elite. Only Paul and James finished there last year, but Wade has been fantastic and healthy. Those of you who wonder why I left Tony Parker off (currently 32.78) is because he has PERs of 19, 21, 21, and 18 the last four years and has established his expected level of play. I think that since they may need him a little more this year he may be able to get up into the 23-24 range, but sorry if I’m not buying him into the elite class.

BBWAA Awards round-up

All of the major baseball awards were handed out in the last two weeks and the old-boy's club did well with the winners (although further down the list there were some bad selections) and that is certainly progress at least for this year.

The winners read as this:
Rookies: Evan Longoria, Geovany Soto
Cy Young: Tim Lincecum, Cliff Lee
MVP: Albert Pujols, Dustin Pedroia

All of these are reasonable choices. I liked Santana over Lincecum by a hair in the NL Cy Young, and had Pedroia a (close) 5th on my Internet Baseball Awards ballot, but they were both good.

Now for the bad. Ryan Howard is barely a major league first baseman against left handed hitting, he can't field, or run, and he finished second because the BBWAA likes RBI's and people on winning teams. Meanwhile the best hitting, and fielding second baseman on the planet plays next to him and finished 14th.

K-Rod, who is a closer, and never pitched in more than one inning at a time, and pitched in about 4% of his teams innings, and only got all those saves because he got so many opportunities...ok end of rant. That guy got a FIRST place vote and finshed sixth in the AL in MVP, AHEAD OF CLIFF LEE WHO WON THE CY YOUNG. And Lincecum finshed 5th among NL pitchers in the MVP voting after winning the Cy Young, behind C.C. Sabathia, who only played in the NL for like 3 weeks (exaggeration.)

This is something I wrote on another website about Delgado finishing ninth in the NL ahead of Beltran and Jose Reyes.

Jose Reyes- OPS+ 118, good not great SS defense.

David Wright- OPS+ 141, best 3B glove in the NL

Carlos Beltran- OPS+ 129, Best OF glove in the game

Carlos Delgado- OPS+127, poor 1B glove

One of these things is not like the other. I won’t even go into baserunning, where Beltran really excels, but basically what I’m saying is that you should have a problem with Delgado getting the votes he did not Beltran. I could make a heck of an argument that Beltran was their most valuable hitter/fielder.

NBA week 2 News and Notes

-The East is 17-12 vs. the West. It seems the turning of the guard is happening some. Age has gotten to some of the western previous powers obviously, but I can’t help but think that David Stern was right when he said conference power is cyclical.

-Hornets watch: 4-2 after a 1-2 week. They got caught by Eastern teams contributing to that 17-12 record, by way of Atlanta and Charlotte. They are currently playing at the 4th slowest pace.

-Phoenix leads the league in offensive efficiency at 108.8 points per 100 possessions, so much for Steve Nash needing Mike Dantoni’s offense. The Lakers are first in defensive efficiency. Only L.A. and the Celtics are allowing less than 90 points per 100 possessions.

-The Lakers are also still leading in differential, although they haven’t really had difficult games and that is going to start tonight in New Orleans.

-T.J. Ford’s PER-19.40, Jermaine O’Neal’s PER-12.00. So far, advantage Pacers on that swap. Although more time for Calderon is a good thing, and I have read anecdotal evidence that O’Neal has been playing good defense.

- Amare Stoudemire and LeBron James were the players of the week. Both are quality choices who will probably win multiple POW awards this year.

-I said last week that Kevin Pelton of Basketball Prospectus’ system of projecting teams had San Antonio out of the playoffs. I also said it may not be that far off. Well now that looks even more likely with Tony Parker out 4 weeks, and Manu still not scheduled to return until around the same time. They are dead last in defensive efficiency and I don’t see how they create shots outside of Tim Duncan.

-Washington is still the only team without a win. 0-5. They were 0-5 last year and made the playoffs, I’ll go out on a limb and say in the improved East that doesn’t happen again.

-Rudy Fernandez, Jason Thompson, Kevin Love, O.J. Mayo, Michael Beasley, Derrick Rose, Darrell Arthur are all rookies that are playing more than 20 minutes a game and giving above league average PER (15.0 is average.)

-All NBA teams combined are 64-31 at home this season. The only division with a losing home record is the Southwest. The Southwest division’s only home unbeaten…The Memphis Grizzlies.

-The Raptors, Knicks, and Blazers all have been outscored on the season but carry with them records above .500, they are the only three such teams in the league.

-Denver is 3-0 with Billups at the point. Detroit is 1-2 with Iverson, needing a comeback victory over the Kings last night to get that one.

Marlins make a move.

"The Marlins moved two players in a salary dump, trading Scott Olsen and Josh Willingham to the Nationals, who are in a perfect position to roll the dice on left-hander Olsen while receiving a big upgrade offensively from outfielder Willingham. It's an easy win for Washington, but Florida's only major gain may be salary relief"-Keith Law

The move is obviously just a salary dump, but that is not a surprise. Olsen's attitude probably hurt his value, as he regained his 93-94 mph fastball at the end of the season. He was the fourth starter on this team.

Josh Willingham is a bigger loss to me. He is probably undervalued because he strikes out a lot, and hits for a low average. However he is patient and puts up a good OBP, and hits with some decent power. He is slow in left field but steady. He is at least solid average to slightly above average when he is healthy.

I don't know anything about the kids we got, but nobody seems to be real high on the big league promise of them, anytime soon atleast. However this deal does have it's advantages. It allows Cody Ross to shift to left field where he will be a plus defender and rookie Cameron Maybin to play in CF which will improve run prevention as well. Ross had a good year and Maybin has tons of talent, if he can get some plate discipline. It also allows us more financial freedom to work with when thinking about important arbitration eligible guys like Dan Uggla and Josh Johnson.

Marscapone cream sauce

I posted a long while ago about a fig, marscapone, and balsamic appetizer. After which I had some left over marscapone cheese. So this is a post about what to do with left over marscapone cheese.

Heat a pan to medium and add any of the marscapone cheese that you have. Then cover the cheese with heavy cream and a couple pats of butter. The consistency should be that of any other cream sauce that you may have created, so it may take more cream than you expect. Add to that a couple cloves of garlic, a pinch of salt, and a few whole peppercorns (which should be taken out upon serving.) Fresh herbs, not woody ones, like parsley or basil may be added at the very end of cooking as well. If truly ambitious, peppery greens like arugala can be chopped finely and stirred in as well. Serve over pasta. It is quick, simple, easy, and delicious.

I also like it with some herb sauteed chicken.

Kobe (Wagyu) Beef Burger

When in Atlanta for the Florida State vs. Georgia Tech football game last weekend my friends and I ate at the Cheescake factory in the perimeter mall. I had eaten at Cheesecake factory a few times before that, and had a positive experience so I was looking forward to it. I decided to try their "American Kobe beef burger", which is not really Kobe beef but a similar hybrid of original Kobe beef cows and American Angus cows. They are fed and massaged in the same manner to promote tenderness and marblized fat content throughout. The American version is called Wagyu beef.

This was my first experience with Wagyu beef although I had seen it prepared, and read about it before. I was extremely anxious to try it. Honestly the beef was tender and almost melted at impact with my teeth. They cooked it medium and the fat wasn't anywhere near cooked out which kept the burger moist and juicy, The flavor was subtle but beefy still. The only problem I had was just how tender it was. It left nothing "to the tooth" I have a sneaking suspicion that if the burger had been made with 80% Wagyu beef and 20% Angus sirloin it would have been perfect, and one of the best burgers I had ever eaten.

It was served with thick strips of well cooked bacon, deeply carmelized onions, and a toated briosche bun that had been buttered and put on a flat top. It was excellent.

NBA Week 1 News and Notes

- The Philadelphia 76er's are 2-2, and a lot of people are jumping off their bandwagon, especially because of the bad loss to Atlanta. I would note that at +11.3 they have the best differential in the Eastern Conference. They are also incorporating a new cog, namely Elton Brand, the guy who will lead this team in scoring. So let's give them a month or so, ok?

- Players of the week, Chris Bosh and Chris Paul. I would get used to seeing this. If Bosh played in America I think he'd have a shot at MVP.

- Everyone has thrown in their two cents, but the Iverson trade worked well for both teams. For Detroit they got a ton of free cap space after this year ( Iverson and Sheed.) The Nuggets made their team better by having a real point guard (and genuine threat from 3) that will allow Melo more room to operate in the high post. What I don't belive the Pistons got was a shot at Lebron James. Even if William Wesley ( look him up on TrueHoop if you don't know him) is friends with Joe Dumars. The Pistons still won't be able to offer as much money as Cleveland, and they can't offer the market of NY.

- The Pacers have been impressive. The Lakers have been unreal (+21.7 ?!?), and the Spurs have been bad. Kevin Pelton of Basketball Prospectus has the Spurs missing the playoffs, and who knows if he is that far off. Duncan and Parker have been phenomenal (#4 and #1 in PER so far) and they are still 0-3. They can't get Manu back soon enough.

- My Hornets are 3-0. Two missed games by Tyson Chandler, One by Peja. So much for having no depth. Posey has really anchored that second unit and the others are fitting together nicely. Rasual Butler has been good especially.

- Only 5 teams in the West have scoring differentials that are positive. All but 4 East teams do. The East is closing the gap. There may not be much of one besides the tip top of the West.

- Utah has been really good without Deron Williams, tonight's game with the Blazers will be on the small television in my living room while the Hornets are on. Williams may play tonight. Analysts are raving about how Sloan runs their system and they can plug guys in and get it done. I think they are certainly a much better team with Williams offense out there, but I can see what they mean when I watch them dismantle teams with Ronnie Price running the point. Ronnie Brewer is a really good defender and finisher and is probably a little underrated by the national media. This team is good. Like, could win it all this year good.

- The young Grizzlies are playing good defense. No really, to the tune of 85.3 ppg. Small sample size I know, but impressive still.

Balsamic-Honey Butternut Squash

1 Butternut squash in approx. 1 inch cubes
Balsamic Vinegar
Clover Honey
Kosher salt
Fresh cracked black pepper
Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Cover the squash in a small amount of Olive Oil, and put into a roasting pan. Cover the bottom of the pan with plenty of balsamic vinegar. Drizzle lightly with honey, sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast at 375 degrees until tender, serve as a side dish with other savory dishes, or as eat as a snack in the place of chips, popcorn, or candy.

Tuna Sushi

So my girlfriend bought some sashimi tuna and made sushi. I liked the picture because the cat is creeping around in the background, probably trying to eat the fish. It entertained me.

Mike Jacobs Trade with links

The Florida Marlins traded first baseman Mike Jacobs for 25 year old middle reliever Leo Nunez. It was basically because we have other guys who can fill the role who are controlled for a lower amount of money. Jacobs is arbitration eligible and is barely above replacement level. He is an OBP black hole, and should only hit against righties, where he is (somewhat) useful. His glove is horrible. I've never seen Nunez pitch, but you can see reviews of the trade at these locations.

http://insider.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index?name=law_keith

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/the-mike-jacobs-trade/

http://baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=8278