31.12.08

Personal rambling

Note: This is personal and has nothing to do with food or sports, no real need to read on. I don't usually turn this blog into a journal of sorts but wanted to get some thoughts out.

It is slightly amazing to me sometimes how much we turn out like our parents. We take on their ideas, manuerisms, etc even if it is subconsciously. Granted not everything, but there is always this underlying parent in us. My brother and my mom are like two peas in a pod most of the time. I am much more like my father, and sure there are a ton of ways that I'm not like him, thankfully. But I am very similar to him.

This brings me to the idea of circumstantial relationships. The ones that are different with the way one of the people lives. Parents are supposed to love their kids and support them no matter what. That is what my parents have always done, and what I hope to be able to do as a parent. However there are parents who don't operate like this. The ones who, if you make a decision they don't like in your personal life they treat you with spite. They may hold grudges, or even denounce you as a son or daughter all together.

This brings me back to how we are like our parents. I think that after seeing this, and being subjected to this it is a hard concept for someone not to incorporate into their lives. A friend does something that you don't like, or don't agree with in their personal life, away from your friendship, and it is an easy fix. Introduce shame, guilt and grudges into the equation. Exercise the same form of controlling others as your parent(s) did. However the problem is that functional adult relationships don't work that way. It is not fair to your friend if they have to feel judged. Friendships and other adult relationships should not be circumstantial, they should work across all situations.

As I've grown older I have realized this more and more. I used to use such tactics, but realized that it is no way to treat other human beings, especially ones that are supposed to be my friends. However, sometimes it is much to hard not to be like your parents and I think for some people this is a hard thing to see.

29.12.08

NBA All-Star voting, and fun with numbers

The NBA All-Star game is the most entertaining weekend of the three major sports in my opinion. The Pro Bowl is a joke, and baseball has tried to make their's more entertaining with the "this time it counts" slogan. However I completely disagree with giving home field advantage to the league that wins, also when undeserving players make it simply because each team must be represented it unnerves me a bit. The NBA All-Star game puts on a show, and gives us great moments by some of the best athletes in the world. Like Glen Rice's just can't miss 41 point outpouring, to Jordan coming back and winning the MVP as a Wizard. Also, although I've never done research into it the voting seems to mesh with who the best players are a lot better. Maybe basketball is more transparent, or maybe the stats are easier to understand. I'm not sure. I think it is easier to get closer to the best 30 players than 50 or 75 which helps the NBA as well. Elite players are easier to pick out. There are egrigous errors like Shaq being voted in while not playing more than 10 games once, but there are always stars who get in because they were good at one point, in any sport.

This brings me to my currrent problem. Tracy McGrady is leading Chis Paul (and every other west guard except Kobe) so far for the All-Star starting spot. Here is a brief comparison of the two so far this season:

Points: Paul 20.1, McGrady 15.9
Assists: Paul 11.4, McGrady 4.7
Rebounds: Paul 5.2, McGrady 4.8
Steals: Paul 3, McGrady 1.13
FG%: Paul .497, McGrady .400
FT%: Paul .884, McGrady .826
Player Effeciency Rating: Paul 30.48, McGrady 18.15

I won't even mention that Paul leads the league in assists, and steals, or that 5 rebounds from a 6 foot PG is ridiculous, oh wait I guess I will.

As you can see Paul does every single thing basketball related better than Tracy McGrady. So you ask why is T-Mac still leading. Because NBA voting has become wildly flawed by the global voting. We know that Yao Ming is going to be the starting center every year because the Chinese vote for him. That is not a problem because he is, you know, the best center in the West. However as the game gets more popular the Chinese vote even more, and they vote for Yao's teammates as well. For illustration, Rafer Alston has more votes than Brandon Roy or Chauncey Billups. Yep that Rafer Alston. Skip to my Lou. More. Than. Brandon. Roy.

Oh and how about Yi Jianlian over in the East. The guy averaging 10 and 6, with a PER that is below league average. Yeah he is third behind only LeBron and Garnett. Ahead of CHRIS BOSH, Paul Pierce, Josh Smith, Danny Granger and Hedo Turkoglu.

David Stern needs to intervene, or figure out a cap of votes, or weight votes, or something. This is absurd and it makes me angry.

23.12.08

Marginal wins

http://www.beyondtheboxscore.com/2008/12/18/692197/marginal-payroll

This outlines a basic view of marginal wins for each team.* The Marlins and Rays were the best, and the Marlins were by far the best. What if the ownership gave the same scouts, and front office guys 2 Million per marginal win? Would we win 90-95 every year. Obviously the idea of diminishing marginal returns applies, but at 291,000 a win one has to believe that buying a few wins would return in spades.

* A marginal win is an easy concept. Basically a team of replacement players (whatever the team could produce for no money by way of AAA, or trade of non-prospect) would win about 48 games, I've seen 50, and I've seen 52. I'd imagine it is probably 2 or so lower in the NL where the talent pool is lower. Any win over that is a marginal win created toward 162. As the margin gets lower, the tougher a win is to create given the idea of diminishing returns. Getting to be a 90 win team on paper is basically the idea, and hope for a little luck.

17.12.08

New Orleans Eats: Supper Day 2

This seems like a simple idea but if you are running a restaurant, the food should be edible. What I mean is it shouldn't be incredibly difficult to eat.

I bring this up because I returned to The Gumbo Shop today to try the seafood gumbo because I was so pleased with my meal yesterday. The problem was that there were crabs in the dish which had not been cracked and there were no utensils given for doing so. Also they had been cooked in there and mixed around so much that the shell had begun to flake. I got shell in my mouth a few times, and I wasn't able to even finish the whole dish because of it. Don't get me wrong the flavor was good, but I couldn't get around this fact.

New Orleans Eats: Lunch Day 2

I decided to forego breakfast to get some sleep in after a late night last night. For lunch we hit up Johnny's Po'boys. They make pretty much anything you want into a traditional New Orleans style Po'boy. From in house made sausage, to veal, to seafood. Originally I was wanting to do an oyster Po'boy but when I got there I decided on the crawfish. The crawfish itself was excellent. The tails were much larger than the ones that we get in Florida and that made a difference. They were battered and deep fried, with an excellent crunch to them. However that is pretty much the whole highlight of the sandwich to me (albeit an important part.) It came with mayo, lettuce, tomato and pickle (I left off the pickle because regular dill pickles disgust me.) The bread was a traditional 12" crusty hoagie bread with good crunch on the outside but wasn't really soft and was too dry. It may have been day old, I'm not sure.

There were a lot of locals, and in fact were pointed in the direction of Johnny's by a local in one of the shops. However I feel like it may get by more on the name and tradition these days unlike Cafe Du Monde and especially Gumbo Shop. It was good, but not great and in fact I have had better Po'boy sandwiches. The portions were huge. I couldn't finish more than half of the food.

The sides Jon and I were split on. I got the red beans and rice and they were not all that good. They had smoked hamhock in them but were cooked to mush and not seasoned well at all. Again huge portions. Jon liked his sweet potato fries but I absolutely hated them. They were fried well but had what seemed like pounds of sugar and cinnamon on them. I couldn't eat more than one. So one was over seasoned, and one was under seasoned. The sandwich was worth the money and I could see myself returning one day, especially given the size and quality of the seafood (Jon got calamari), but the rest was below average.

16.12.08

New Orleans Eats: Supper Day 1

So it may seem like I am just enjoying all of the food I am eating without any discretion of palette. But really I am trying to tell you straight how it is. The food has just been that outstanding, part is because we have taken suggestions, and part is checking out menus that suit our tastes. For supper we went to a restaurant that boasts a CIA trained (and N.O. native chef) and a 17 barrel brewery. The Crescent City Brewhouse did not disappoint.

We skipped appetizers, and the bread was okay, just a crusty french yeast bread with a little sour taste. However the two entrees were outstanding.

Mine: A crispy fried soft shell crab topped with a crawfish-vermouth creme sauce and artichoke bottoms and hericot verts. I felt it was perfectly balanced, subtle and tasteful. I don't even like "green beans" but the sauce made me want them. The crab was not soggy, there was no lack of crawfish tails, and the vermouth barely fell across the toungue. Jon liked it but found it a little bland, where I felt it was perfectly subtle. It needed acid but they supplied a lemon wedge which I used (it could have used maybe a tiny bit more I'm nit-picking.) Truly what I expect from an upscale "creole" restaurant.

Jon's: Crispy Duck with an andoiulle-cornbread dressing, pepper jelly, and southern greens. The dish was not southern fried, but executed how many in asia and france do, by slowly roasting the duck and flash frying it to crisp the skin. EXECUTION PERFECT. The sauce reminded me of asian flavors, but the cornbread dressing was a wildly traditional southern dish. This dish was a great concept, and while not what I expected still great. Jon thought it was perfect, but I thought the flavors were a little bold and strong for my palette (although still delicious, again I'm nit-picking)

Jon also tried a sampler of 4 of their beers, and three of them were very successful (to both of us) and the last was not as good.

New Orleans Eats: Lunch Day One

After much deliberation Jon and I decided to eat at the Gumbo Shop in the french quarter. Locals have called their gumbo the best in town, and in a town that specializes in cajun and creole food, that is saying something.

For an appetizer I got the special, which was an alligator sausage. It was cut with pork, because I doubt gator would have enough fat to make a good sausage without it. They did a great job of combining the two. It tasted of red pepper, and you could tell it was alligator. It was served with a tangy and sweet sauce, of which I could pick out dijon mustard, honey, and horseradish, as well as cherry pepper bits. The dish was delicious, but slighly over cooked and if eaten with the crusty french bread dried up the mouth quickly.

The star of the show was the chicken and andouille sausage gumbo. Traditional and excellent. Dark roux, cooked okra, flavored with the trinity. The long grain rice was well executed. No reason not to love this if you are a gumbo fan. Although I did add a *touch* of hot sauce for a little heat.

Jon had the chicken Espagnole which was a roasted smothered half chicken with a thick rich mushroom sauce. He said it was tender and good but the bones had been cooked apart and it was difficult to eat in that way. He didn't care for the turnip greens, but overall loved the flavor of the chicken dish.

New Orleans Eats: Breakfast Day 1

Breakfast this morning was spent at the famous Cafe Du Monde where I had an order of the beignet's and Hot chocolate, all for 4 dollars even. I don't know what else can be said about their delicious french doughnuts, but they were terrific. I didn't buy any of the mix, because I doubt I would execute them the same.

14.12.08

Everyone hates Kevin

TrueHoop by Henry Abbott of ESPN has an interesting post up about Kevin Garnett. Nobody likes him, or his antics basically except Celtics fans. He has crossed a line, NBA players won't even talk about him on record. His taunting and tough talking are getting on people's nerves and *apparently* he does it to rookies, and scrubs a lot more. I don't watch a lot of Celtics games, but even though KG is talented I have never been a fan. Maybe because he does things like this that make the game look stupid.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Arh5bmAsWb0

7.12.08

Marlins GM for a day

With the Winter meetings starting and one of my favorite baseball writers, Joe Sheehan, doing a GM for a day series over at Baseball Prospectus I thought I would offer a few of my thoughts on what the Marlins should do this off season. Joe has already said that he was only doing a handful of these and that he wouldn’t get to all of the teams. I assume that he won’t get to the Marlins because let’s face it not that many people on the site would like to read it.

So here goes it. The Marlins were 84-77 last season however they outplayed their Pythagorean record by a few games which called for a .500 team, as they scored only three more runs than they gave up. However this was a pretty good ball club and has a chance to be better next season. Their starters for the first half were horrible, but once Josh Johnson, and Chris Volstad got to the majors from injuries or promotion the rotation was better. They have already traded away players because they were reaching arbitration and the Marlins didn’t want to pay their substantial raises. Mike Jacobs was traded for a middle reliever, and a fairly competent one at that. This is the first good thing that has happened for us looking forward. Mike Jacobs has a lot of raw power, but his .299 OBP is below bad, so bad that the only time he should be hitting is against right handed pitchers and he should never ever be fielding. He is a butcher at first base. The Fielding Bible has him at -27 runs which was last in MLB. The second trade was of Scott Olsen and Josh Willingham for Emilio Bonifacio and some minor league players. Olsen was an innings eater, throwing 201 of them at basically a little below league average which is valuable as a 4th starter, and Willingham is a patient hitter who has decent power and had an injury riddled season but a pretty good one all around. Both were due big raises most likely in arbitration. Bonifacio is a slick fielding second baseman who can’t hit a lick. These deals leave a lot of questions about how our team will look next year with no 1B or LF and two 2B. Oh, we also traded relief pitchers one for one with the Cubs and got the much better player, Jose Ceda, for Kevin Gregg because the Cubs like the save stat.

On to next year’s club, and the first obvious move is to slide Cody Ross over to LF from CF to make room for Cameron Maybin, our best prospect and a kid that looks to have a ton of talent and potential. This shift does a few things. It makes the Marlins much better in outfield defense. Cody Ross was above average fielding in center, which means he will be a way above average fielder in left field, a place where Willingham was -7 runs. Also Maybin will be way above average in CF, probably close to 10 runs better than Ross. We are probably 30 runs better defensively in the outfield because of this. Offensively I doubt if there will be much difference. Ross is not quite as good as Willingham with the bat, but Maybin should be better than our CF situation last year that saw Alfredo Amezega get 150 plate appearances.

Now onto the infield, I would shift Dan Uggla from second base to third base. He will be much better than Cantu with the bat, and much better than Cantu with the glove. Uggla has been basically a league average defender at the keystone, so he should end up at least league average at third if not adding even more value than that. Uggla is probably 25 runs better than Cantu. So Bonifacio takes over at 2B. Like I said, the kid can’t really hit at all. He is basically a little better than replacement level, but he is only 23, so it may uptick a little bit because of maturation. But he will defend better than Uggla, or at least reports say that he will defend better. 2B defense is really important and we may catch 10 runs from that, but probably lose 30 in offense. So we probably lose 20 runs at 2B. If I had the money, I’d find a way to sign a 3B, or even better, sign a guy like Furcal and move Hanley to third base while retaining Uggla at second. But I have to work in a world where there is no money to be had, and right now Bonifacio, and aligning them correctly is the best I can do. Catcher is the next thing to address. I would try to trade Matt Treanor. He was by far the worst hitter that played everyday for us. Even with the huge positional adjustment for catching he was below replacement level. John Baker proved he can hit in his 233 AB last season after replacing Treanor who had an injury. John Baker is my everyday catcher, but I would like to sign a right handed catcher who can platoon and play 1-2 times a week. Ivan Rodriguez likes the area and if he will take a reduced role then I wouldn’t think twice about giving him two years that don’t weigh down the payroll. Also short-term is the way to think with catcher because our first round pick Kyle Skipworth is in the minors and 2-3 years from now should take over. Baker/Pudge is probably 25 runs better than more than half the starts going to Matt Treanor or the inept Mike Rabelo. Last but not least is 1B. Jorge Cantu is up for a raise too and if I could get value back for him I would trade him as well. His defense will be hidden more at 1B than 3B, and he was a better hitter than Jacobs. He would probably represent 5 runs better than Jacobs, maybe 10 which is good if I can’t find anything out there to get back in value. However free playing time is sitting there in the minors and I think that Gaby Sanchez can play to the same level as Cantu at first base for FREE since he doesn’t have an arbitration raise coming. It is like finding money in your pocket.

The guys who throw the ball were a huge problem for us last year. Only 4 guys threw more than 100 Innings for us last year, and two of them Andrew Miller and Mark Hendrickson had a negative VORP. Scott Olsen I already touched on, and the last was Ricky Nolasco. Ricky was a top 10 pitcher in the NL last year without many people noticing, throwing 212 Innings with a 3.52 ERA. At 25 there is no reason to think it is not for real either. Guys like Burke Badenhop, Mark Hendrickson, and Ryan Tucker were horrible while waiting for Anibal Sanchez and Josh Johnson to come back from injury. Once we got the rotation together it was actually above league average for the last 1/3 of the season. The rotation should set up as Nolasco, Josh Johnson, Chris Volstad, Anibal Sanchez, Andrew Miller with Ryan Tucker there to make spot starts. As GM I would think long and hard about trying to sign a cheap innings eater if I could find it, but it is not likely. Sanchez wasn’t good once he got up but has shown he has the ability to pitch at this level before. Miller and Tucker are both really young, and Miller has a ton of talent and should really improve next year. Replacing those other starts with healthy starts by Josh Johnson and Chris Volstad should severely help. Also since Josh Johnson and Volstad are both dramatic groundball pitchers the defensive improvement will be even more valuable. The bullpen was good, and got even better by leveraging Gregg’s save total to get Jose Ceda and adding Leo Nunez for the OBP black hole that is Mike Jacobs. However they didn’t offer arbitration to Arthur Rhodes who was a good lefty specialist for us. I would try to resign him. Lindstrom is going to close but I’d give high leverage situations to Joe Nelson and Jose Ceda.

Since we played at an 81-81 pace we will apply these run totals to that. With the pitching I could see us being 80-90 runs better which would make us an 89-91 win team which may or may not make us good enough to win the division. It will however make us good enough to compete for the playoffs. If we are still in it at the trading deadline maybe we add a piece that helps. Either way this is how I think they should go about their off-season and alignment of the team next year.

Chris Paul is good

From Hornets247.com

"CP3 had 21 points, 11 assists, 5 rebounds, 3 steals, and only one turnover. In thirty minutes. He shot 8-11. It seems almost ho-hum now, so I should point this out: Chris Paul now has 13 games where he had at least 20 points and 10 assists. The rest of the league's Point Guards combined have 16: B. Davis(3), Billups(2), Nash(2), Augustin(1), TJ Ford(1), Ridnour(1), Bibby(1), Devin Harris(1), Foye(1), Calderon(1), Duhon(1). "

If he continues to shoot over 50%, and do everything else he does, which means lead the league in assists and steals again he may not only have a better season that last he will be wading in the territory of having the best season that we've ever seen by a PG. It is amazing.

The best twice baked potato ever.



Recipe wil be following today or tomorrow.

4.12.08

The problem with cooking and my happiness (sanity)

To be a good cook, or a great cook it takes a lot of things. The first of which is an absolute love of food and wanting to gain knowledge of it. Just like with anything, an almost fanatical desire is required to truly be good as a cook or chef, or whatever it may be regarding food. I have seen said desire and to have it. I watch television shows, learn techniques, read books, try new ingredients, etc.

Another thing is being able to follow a recipe, and develop a recipe that can be followed closely. I struggle with this a lot. All of the recipes I write on this blog are not extremely precise, but more guidelines. I like experimenting and I cannot follow a recipe to save my life. This is a major problem. I was reading Professional Chef by the Culinary Institute of America, and it outlines the necessity to follow and develop recipes as an integral part of being a chef, while I was reading it, I remembered why I didn't go to culinary school.

Food is only fun to me when I am creating the flavors myself. It is only fun when I am creating recipes that I haven't seen the exact same way. I have followed recipes before but it wasn't the same. I love to take the classic techniques I have learned and put my own spin on it. Food is more art to me than it is anything else. I could make something that has no feeling in it that would taste fine, but if I try to create something like a painting, when I taste it, it is more important to me. It makes me happier to eat these things. My favorite thing is to take the traditionally southern dishes my family loves and to recreate them, but with a classic focus.

What I am saying is that I don't think I can ever be more than an artist, and I hope that I can be a good one. Following recipes isn't fun to me, and if food becomes something that isn't fun to me, I wouldn't be happy with myself. It is an odd feeling, because all of the good cooks I know can follow recipes, they can make them their own, they can triangulate them, and create something that elevates the food beyond where it was. But to me it is all about the art, creating something from an empty canvas that makes me love food.

Uncooked proteins, dried beans, fresh vegetables, seafood stocks, legumes, pasta... all I see is a paint brush with different colors, and I don't wait to just do a paint by numbers.