I've had a great life...its been a roller coaster ride....but backwards...super exhilarating on the uphills and terrifying on the downhills ...this is the tale of that experience on planet earth
This is one of my favorite go to sandwhiches when I don’t feel like doing a lot of food prep. It’s super easy and ridiculously tasty. I use about a pound of rockfish. Make sure that it is deboned. Then I cut it into slices that are about the size of the bun or a little wider. It often shrinks a bit when cooked as the proteins tighten up. I make a blackening powder with chlle powder, garlic powder, paparika, black pepper and peri peri pepper. I coat each bit completely. To cook it, I use an qequal bliend of butter and olive oil. It cooks quickly, so it is a good idea to prep the buns. I like them lightly toasted. We make a bot pink sauce with ketchup, mayo and tobasco. A sliced tomato set it up. Once the fish is cooked the fish goes next then top it with a fresh coleslaw. Its super messy, but it is very moreish.
For me, souse vide is best used for fish because you really can ontrol the temperature. When I first made this dish, I was blown away at how good the fish and the sauce were together. This recipe is staright out of the Modernest Cuisine At Home cook book.
To souse vide correctly, you first need to marinate the fish in a brine of salt and water with a little sugar for about 3 hours which makes the salmon super delightful.
To cook it, you put the salmon in individual bags with some neutral oil and cook them for about 25 minutes to a temperature of 113 degrees. Then you finish the salmon on the stove in the sauce.
To make the soauce you roast hazelnuts, corriader seeds, and sesami seeds then grind them up with powered ginger and salt, and chamomeal blossome (I used tea). Then you mix that lot up with butter in the pan, and warm the fish before covering it in the sauce on the plate.
We served it with roasted asparagus and rice pilaf.
In 1970, I was 11 years old, and a massive football fan. I used to sit in the commentary box with my cousin John while his dad, Anthony, comentated on the Highland Park games. W were all foot ball mad. My elder brother was 12 years older than me. He supported Leeds United. My sister Carol, 9 years older, was dating Malcom. He supported Arsenal. My sister Sue was dating Rex, he supported Liverpool. Our long time family friend, Howard, one of Derrick and Carol’s childhood friends, supported Manchester United.
I used to sit around and listen ot the boys banter and joke with each other. I was aware of football by then, because I was a Highlands Park fan, they were a great local team that, as it turned out, wore Manchester United colors. Anyway, I was in the car with Malcom, a little white Renault with red seats as I recall, when I asked Malcom, (who seemed to know a lot about English Football,) to bring me up to speed on each of the teams that the boys supported. Malcom gave me a detailed analysis (as far as my 11 year old self was concerned,) and by the time he finished, it became clear to me that the logical team to support at that time was Arsenal. I am sure he embelished Arsenal a bit to get my buy in, but even so, I was in.
In 1971, armed only with Shoot Magazine and the weekly table in the Sunday Times, I monitored Arsenal’s coming and going. The first thing I became aware of as a fan of Arsenal was Charlie George scoring the winning goal against Rams in the FA CUp final. His long flowing locks, his arms outstretched as he lay in the grass after scoring is indelibly chisled into my brain as the source of my Arsenal journey.
I was hooked.
Those were heady days for a young fan. Arsenal won the league and cup double in 1971 and since then have gone on to win so many trophies. In my heady days, starting with 1976, I got to see Arsenal play Southamoton at Highbury and I saw them play one more time, in 1977 when I stopped over in London on my way tot he states. Meantime, My Malcom, by then my Brother in Law, was planning a move to London with my sister and he became a Season Ticket holder. Now their grown sons, Greg and Gary are season ticket holders.
Between 1970 and the present, Arsenal has won 28 major and domestic trophies. This includes 4 League titles, 9 FA Cups, 2 League Cups, 1 European Cup Winners’ Cup, 1 European Fairs Cup, and 11 FA Community Shields, so it has been quite a storied club. Between their last league win in 2004 and this one this season were 22 years of heartache.
Leeds came and went as did Liverpool and Manchester United. I grit my teeth as both Liverpoola and United won titles and Champions League titles, but i remained onvinced that we would come good. Our 2004 team, The Invincibles, went through the league unbeaten, but they could not get that Champions League title. Maybe this year?
With 3 second place finishes the last 3 years, we had built the weight of expectations going into the season. Because of the summer business, building out a great deep squad, I had good feelings about our chances. I even put a bet on Arsenal to win the league when I was in Vegas! I watched every minute of every game this season and was rewared for my loyalty when Arsenal won the league. I may yet be rewarded further on Saturday when we face PSG in the Champions League Final.
One thing thst has stood out to me as great about being an Arsemal fan is the love of my sweet wife who, as it turns out, selected Arsenal to watch and support around the time we moved in together 8 years ago. She joined me during the Emery years, which were, well, bleak, but she was enjoying the way Wolves played under Nuno Espiratos Santos, and she watched Arsenal with me because that was my passion. An Arsenal player, Uraguain LucasTorreira, got her attention, and when Wolves fired their coach, she switched her allegance to Arsenal. Once Arteta took over and as she got to know the players, she began to get serious. As she tells is, (she is an experienced Track and Field coach), she likes the wya Arteta speaks! (we watched that first season special and that did it for her. I picked up an Arsenal home jersey for her and like a good fan, she wears it for every game.
As time passed, she became even more rabid of a fan than I am, (I am not complaining.) I love having her as my Arsenal commuity. We love the Arsenal together.
I honestly think that this team will go from strength to strength. With Arteta as the manager I think we are in really great shape.
I also believe this guy is going to go big this week!
Hale End baby!
Manager of tghe Season!
I have to talk about the Champions League final.
We held PSG to nothing. They got a penalty that we did not get called. The ref decided the game. In the end, we stopped them. The game went to penalty kicks and we lost the right to lift the trophy based on 2 failed penalty kicks. I am one who firmly believes that the way Eze approached the kick is stupid and should be outlawed, at least at Arsenal. Big Gabi blasted his kick over the bar in true Roberto Bazio and John Terry style. Shit happens when it comes to penalty kicks.
Even so, we made it to the final for the first time in 20 years. We didn’t lose the final, in the same way that we did not lost a game during the tournament. We just lost the penatly kicks part.
You have to read this write up of the season by the Guardian correspondent, Don Mcrae, to see just how similar our journeys are…
I wrote him about the amazing coincidence…
This is our exchange starting with his post
Don: “This is a little self-indulgent and very personal but it’s been a long old time for me and Arsenal: from apartheid to Budapest, Swindon to Soweto and somehow ending up here, in Hungary for the CL final tonight, with my Arsenal-crazy son”
Me: Hi Don, I read your piece and was stunned by how similarly our early years were. I’m 67 and my first fan moment was that Charlie George moment. Shoot magazines. Sunday league tables. Etc etc my uncle (Anthony Handly) was the (radio) voice of Highlands Park FC so as a kid I sat in the comentary box. Anyway enjoy the game!
Don: That’s incredible!! I must have heard your uncle’s voice as I went to do many Highlands Park games as a supporter of Germiston Callies!
Me: I was gobsmacked reading your piece. Thank you so much for sharing your journey. My wife read it and said, “He has to know you!”
Come on you Gunners!
What a coincidence!
I am pretty bummed that we lost the Champions League Final after not condeding a goal in open play against PSG. We were unbeaten in the tournament being behind for a total of 47 minutes in the whole tournament. We lost the penalty shootout. Now that said, I have two considerations as a coach and as a fan. The first is that every penalty has to hit the target. Second is that no professional footballer should ever miss a penalty kick. Never. Beyond that, that idiotic run up that Eze did shoudl be banned from football. If the goalkeeper cannot move before the kick, then the kicker should have thave a smooth run up. Both Eze and Gabriel should be ashamed of themselves for their amatuer efforts that cost us the title. Shame.
Imagine how he and Gabriele feel, losing their nerve with their penalty kicks that would have won us teh Champions League. I imagine they will work hard to become excellent penalty kick takers.
Inspired by Taïm, a Tel Aviv based Israeli restaurant run by the talented chef Einat Admony, where the focus is falafel. It’s drippy, it’s messy, it’s shamelessly moist and flavorful. There are creamy swaths, and squishy bits, and crunchy chunks, and tart bursts. It’s basically pita with eggplant, eggs, hummus, and tahini as the main components. But it’s teh combination of flavors and textures that makes this messy moist, flavor bomb so moreish.
Ingredients
Eggplant slices, fried until tender and creamy
Sliced hard-boiled eggs
Middle Eastern pickled cucumbers
Thinly shredded cabbage;
Amba, a pickled-mango sauce;
Pita bread
A simple farmers salad of diced tomato, cucumber, parsley, and lemon juice
There are a few crucial steps to baking the chewiest, tastiest chocolate chip cookies. First, skip using chips and opt for chunks. Second, instead of using just one type of chocolate (like semisweet), use a mix of semisweet, milk, and dark chocolate. Third, take the time to allow the cookie dough to rest overnight in the refrigerator. Yes, we know it’s a pain, but doing so will yield a cookie with a more complex flavor and delicious toffee notes. Lastly, use an ice cream scoop to portion the cookie dough onto the baking sheet. This will produce even-sized cookies every single time. Follow these simple steps, and you’ll be rewarded with a cookie that’s crisp and chewy on the outside and gooey on the inside!
Ingredients
for 12 cookies
½ cup granulated sugar
¾ cup brown sugar, packed
1 teaspoon salt
½ cup unsalted butter, melted
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
4 oz milk or semi-sweet chocolate chunks
4 oz dark chocolate chunk, or your preference
Preparation
In a large bowl, whisk together the sugars, salt, and butter until a paste forms with no lumps.
Whisk in the egg and vanilla, beating until light ribbons fall off the whisk and remain for a short while before falling back into the mixture.
Sift in the flour and baking soda, then fold the mixture with a spatula (Be careful not to overmix, which would cause the gluten in the flour to toughen resulting in cakier cookies).
Fold in the chocolate chunks, then chill the dough for at least 30 minutes. For a more intense toffee-like flavor and deeper color, chill the dough overnight. The longer the dough rests, the more complex its flavor will be.
Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Scoop the dough with an ice-cream scoop onto a parchment paper-lined baking sheet, leaving at least 4 inches (10 cm) of space between cookies and 2 inches (5 cm) of space from the edges of the pan so that the cookies can spread evenly.
Bake for 12-15 minutes, until the edges have started to barely brown.
Cool completely before serving.
Enjoy!
I make the dough and put in the fridge in a roll, then I cut the cookies off the roll and make ONE (each) cookie for us at a time. A warm coclolate chip cookie with the chocolate gooie and the cookie chewie is the best cookie ever!
I have always loved middle eastern food. When we go to a middle eastern resturant I often order Falaffel. It’s super delicious, super easy to make and also very inexpensive. a cup of dried chickpeas soacked for at leat 24 hours, a couple cloves of garlic, a small onion and a cup of parsley and you get a very tasty flaffel. A teaspoon each of cumin and corriander, salt and pepper, pulsed in a food processor witha little baking soda and a couple table spoons of flour, to a rough texture. You let it rest for a couple hours, then make gold ball size balls to fry. I fried them in peanut oil at 325 degrees till they were a dark brown exterior. That was perfect. Not oily at all and a beautiful cooked ceter that when eaten in a pita with cucmber, red onion, tomato and lettuce all sauced up with lemon tahini and a bit of toum, you have a bite that is wonderful and delicious.
I decided to make Falafel for dinner, and thought, “how hard can it be to make Pita Bread?” It’s really pretty easy. The real secret is to have a VERY hot oven and pizza stone. Each one only takes 3 minutes to bake once the enriched dow
Ingredients
500g bread flour (or AP flour)
10g salt
7g instant yeast
10g sugar or honey
325g warm water
30g olive oil
30 g Greek yogurt
Method
1. Mix
Combine everything until shaggy.
Knead 8–10 minutes until smooth and elastic.
The dough should feel soft and slightly tacky but not sticky.
Cover and let rise 60–90 minutes until doubled.
Divide into:
8 large pitas
Shape into tight balls.
Rest 20 minutes covered.
Roll each into circles:
About 1/4 inch thick
Roughly 6–7 inches wide
Do not flour heavily — excess flour prevents puffing.
I LOVE Eggs Benedict. It is my go to choice when I go out for breakfast. I don’t eat it often because I don’t go out for breakfast much. So, when we had a big Arsenal game on a little later than usual, it presented the opportunity for a great breakfast. We had English Muffins and eggs at home, so all we needed was a little ham. I prefer ham over Canadian bacon myself. We get it cut paper thin at the delly too.
The recipe is pretty easy.
The technical part is the hollandaise souce which you do in a double boiler. Start by whisking the yolks and the lemon juice, and then add the molten butter slowly as you whisk, then add a good pinch of yoru favorite red pepper. We don’t have Cayanne, so we use Peri Peri. WIth the eggs poached and the ham heated and the muffins toasted, you assmble and cover in the yummy sauce.
My Life: A Memoir 