This is my recipe for simple, though tasty "Korean" BBQ chicken. I place quotes around Korean because, frankly, I have never had Korean BBQ at a restaurant, so I don't actually know what it is like in reality. This recipe is pretty much what I imagine Korean BBQ to be like.

The recipe has its origins in an accident. On August 23, we had Marisa and Matt over for dinner. I made Asian food---fried rice, a pork stir fry, and chicken satay with a peanut sauce. The chicken we purchased (boneless thighs) didn't work all that well for the satay, and I had quite a bit of chicken left over. I decided at the last minute to toss them into a Crock-pot and attempt a Korean BBQ. The recipe, which I hobbled together from several online sources, turned out quite well and, after testing and tweaking it a couple more couple more times, I think the result is refined enough to publish here. (Note: several of the ingredients are not traditionally used in Korean cooking, but I think they add something to the dish.)

• 2 pounds chicken (boneless thighs and legs preferred)
• 1 cup soy sauce (low/no salt)
• ½ cup Hoisin sauce
• ¼ cup tamarind concentrate
• 250 ml (around 8 oz.) chicken broth
• 3 large cloves garlic, minced
• 2-3 tbsp. fresh ginger, minced
• ¼ cup lemongrass, minced
• 1 tbsp. red chili flakes (substitute with ½ of a hot pepper)
• 2-3 oz. mixed mushrooms, sliced
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 3 tbsp. honey
• Fresh cracked pepper to taste (no extra salt needed, the Hoisin sauce is typically quite salty)

1. Place chicken, soy sauce, chicken broth, Hoisin sauce, and tamarind concentrate into pre-heated Crock-pot. Cook for 1 hour or until chicken is cooked through and liquid is boiling.
2. Add all other ingredients, except for the honey. Cook on high for around four hours, making sure to stir every 30-45 minutes.
3. Add honey and watch for mixture to turn from a dark brown to a nearly black color, which indicates that the sugar has caramelized. In the last hour of cooking, check and taste regularly. It's easy at this stage to burn the sugars, which you don't want. You should notice a significant change in taste within the last hour or so. Turn off when you've reached a level of caramelization that suits your taste (but don't turn off too soon!).

With this recipe, as indicated above, it's important to make sure the sugars are sufficiently caramelized; otherwise, the result of the dish doesn't taste anything like BBQ. But don't over-do it. Cook it to a point that it is "just right" (last time I made it, it took from 10 am to 4 pm until it was finished, though I also started with frozen chicken). Devon and I usually serve the chicken over fried rice, and it lasts for at least 3 meals.

This is a very basic recipe for a pretty good meat loaf. What I like about the recipe is that it's simple enough that it only takes 20 minutes or less to prepare and that it is infinitely alterable--check the fridge and toss in whatever sounds good (e.g., mushrooms, peppers, even egg plant).

• 2 pounds 85% lean ground beef
• 2 eggs
• 2 large cloves of garlic, finely minced
• ½ medium onion, minced
• ¼ cup oatmeal
• 1 8oz. can tomato sauce
• 1 tbsp. olive oil
• 1 tbsp. Dijon mustard
• 1 tbsp. low sodium soy sauce
• 1 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tsp. each of paprika, chili powder, cumin, thyme, and chili flakes (adjust to taste)
• Hot sauce to taste
• Salt and pepper to taste

1. Mix all ingredients together, except for the ground beef, using only ½ the can of tomato sauce. Mixture should be relatively consistent.
2. Mix in ground beef, cover with plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature for 30 minutes. Refrigerate.
3. When ready, bake in a covered loaf pan at 350° for 45-60 minutes. Check periodically, draining extra liquid and fat. Uncover for the last 15 minutes, cover with the remaining tomato sauce and hot sauce to taste (use less if it appears to be too moist).

Comments: Like I said, this recipe is basic but quite alterable. The last time I made it, I included a whole jalapeño for some extra flavor. In the past I have also covered the loaf with provolone cheese, which was quite good (though even fattier). The one thing that has to be remembered is that any ingredients added to the mixture can't introduce too much moisture; otherwise, the loaf will take much longer to bake and will probably fall apart. For this reason, if something like mushrooms are included, they should be sautéed until most of their moisture has been evaporated away.

In the future I will probably try to use a less fatty ground beef--85% seems to be a bit too high. Also, a spicy sausage could also be added to further enhance the flavor.

I've discovered a new toy: Pandora. As the site says, it's a GIMP plugin for merging several photos into a single panorama. It installs very easily and really does simplify the process of panorama creation. I've had some success, which can be seen here in panorama of the Salzach running through Salzburg, Austria:

I think it turned out pretty well, though there are errors in it if you look closely. The original image is much larger than those available at the gallery, so most of the defects have probably been obscured through the scaling process.

My second attempt:

This one is a picture of Salzburg from just outside the fortress. An impressive sight. The image is a bit distorted because I never expected to turn the five separate images into a panorama.

During our trip to Austria this last summer, we took a lot of photos -- around 400 to be exact. It was a lot of fun and we did manage to bring back several good ones (of course, they've yet to make it up to the gallery). But for some time now, we've been wanting a bit more from our camera. We are still using our very trusty and durable Canon IXUS s330, which we bought back in 2002; but the 2.0 megapixel sensor and relatively old technology just can't compete with newer cameras. With that in mind, when we got back from our trip, I began to look for a replacement.

After a lot of research over the semester and winter break, I finally settled on a Fujifilm s9100 (s9600 in Europe). As an early graduation gift to myself, we got it about a month ago and, I have to say, I love it (another positive mark for Trusted Reviews). So far, we've attempted to take some family portraits, as well as some landscapes and close-up macro shots (I broke the gallery upload function, so they can't yet be linked). It's a lot more work than taking photos with the old camera -- it's much easier to botch the shot and harder to get a good one -- but at the same time, it's a lot more fun. And it also gets me away from the computer.

Of course, there is the issue of RAW file conversions and photo `development', which takes a load of time to get just right. I am currently using UFRaw, an open source program based on dcraw. I can't say I've been 100% pleased with the results. Even after I patched the program to support this model of camera, the colors are still not quite right and the detail isn't as good as the Microsoft Windows program that came with the camera (which, for its part, suffers from some serious color, usability, and speed issues). Something that still puzzles me is that the size of image that emerges from the Windows program is 3488x2616, while UFRaw/dcraw return 3460x2607. I wrote to the author of dcraw, Dave Coffin, and while he promptly returned my email, I am still not sure I understand his explanation as to why UFRaw/dcraw seem to be losing pixels. Seems to me those missing pixels could help account for the lack of sharpness in the output of those programs. Hopefully, dcraw can be made to better support the camera in the future (which would probably take some documentation from Fuji).

All in all, though, I think I may have found a new hobby -- something that will get me outside a bit more (when I'm not in school) -- while also becoming something active Devon and I can do together.

I like New England. I enjoy the weather, the rude people, and the noise (I actually don't think New Englanders are that rude). But one thing I haven't had since moving here is a good burger. The burgers you get around here are usually unseasoned (sometimes even without salt and pepper) and generally lack any flavor. The recipe below is my effort to have a decent burger. I've made some variation of it a few times, but thought to actually write it down this time.

• 1½ pounds 85% ground beef
• ½ cup minced onion
• ¼ cup oatmeal
• 2-3 cloves minced garlic
• 1 egg
• 2 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tsp. ground cumin
• Dash paprika, thyme, chili flakes
• Splash cider vinegar
• Salt and pepper to taste

1. Mix all ingredients together. Refrigerate for a few hours. Longer the better.
2. If you are a perfectionist, divide meat mixture into four 4¼ inch round cookie cutters. Or, just eye-ball the size of the burgers. These make fat burgers.
3. Grill until done to your liking.

Comments: These burgers turned out well. They were a bit on the dry side, but that was my fault for not letting the meat rest long enough. Worcestershire sauce can be replaced with barbecue sauce if desired (I often do this). An extra egg is also sometimes needed to better hold the burgers together. This is especially important if you are grilling on an outdoor grill where the meat can vanish into the fire if you aren't careful.

This is my recipe for a very simple chicken soup. I wanted a no-frills recipe that could act as a foundation for more exciting versions. I use chicken thighs because they are cheap and, in my opinion, are more flavorful than breasts. Any chicken parts will do as long as it's easy to remove the meat from the bone. This recipe needs very little preparation and takes only a 15 minutes or so to put together. It should cook in a Crock-Pot for at least 2-3 hours at high or longer on low.

• 1½ pounds of chicken thighs
• 2 cups diced onions
• 2 cups diced mushrooms
• 1 cup diced carrots
• 1 cup diced celery
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 1 cup chicken stock
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Olive oil as needed (about 1–2 tbsp.)

1. Brown chicken with a little olive oil in a stainless steel or cast iron skillet (non-stick just won't create the good bits you want—don't be afraid to use heat!). After browning both sides, place chicken in pre-heated (high) Crock-Pot. Cover Crock-Pot after adding the cloves of garlic.
2. Heat up skillet again. Once hot, place 1 tbsp. of olive oil into skillet along with the diced vegetables. Don't cook these too long, but long enough to get the vegetables to sweat and to pick up all the good bits from the chicken-browning step.
3. Add the cup of chicken stock and fresh-cracked black pepper (don't add salt until later—stock may already contain enough). Once at a boil, pore stock and vegetables into the Crock-Pot and cover.
4. After 2 hours, check to see if the meat is falling off of the chicken bones (it certainly should be). If so, separate the meat, removing the bones from the Crock-Pot (don't let your cat get them!). At this point, you can add enough hot water to fill the Crock-Pot to a point about 1 inch from the top.
5. Let the soup simmer for as long as desired. Add salt and pepper as needed.

Comments: This is a very simple soup and could probably use some thyme and red chili flakes to spice it up. However, served with some sour cream, dumplings, and hot sauce (Frank's Original is my choice in this case) it is quite good.

Dec. 29, 2008: Added some thyme and a jalapeño (sliced, with seeds left in), which turned out excellent. The jalapeño really adds a different depth of flavor, as well as some spice. Also used boneless thighs this time instead of buying them bone-in. The meat seemed to be richer, though that was probably just a characteristic of the chicken, not the lack of bones (which would be expected to add flavor). Served with a dollop of sour cream, the soup was the best I've made.

Anyway, the NE Aquarium has a great exhibit of jellyfish as well as a very large, cylindrical tank in the center of the building that reaches from the lowest floor to the highest. It's large enough to house hundreds of different marine critters, including one ugle eel and a friendly (and overfed) turtle. I managed to take a couple decent pictures, while we were there. Check them out.

The bottom is an allspice cake, topped with a creamy orange goat cheese Bavarian. It is a perfect consistency and it gets a thumbs up from Jason for not being too sweet. I am still working on the sauces, but the cantaloupe sorbet seems to add that little extra something. I can't wait to put it all together for the nominated employees.

Over the course of the next year I plan to list all the books I read, when I start and when I finish. It is a bit geeking, but fun to see my progress. I generally don't read profound books, but I do have fun and I'd like to share my list with you. Here is a PDF so you can see what I have been reading. I am on book 23. It helps that I have almost 3 hours of reading time 5 days a week. Hope you enjoy and soon I will be adding about my favorite authors. Enjoy...

to be continued...