The Original Blue Cheese Dressing Recipe

Well, basically.

Ok, as promised, I'm going to give you the recipe for the best blue cheese dressing you'll ever have.

Like most good recipes, this one is simple. There are only 5 main ingredients. Here's what it looked like as I was getting ready to start:



Just to run it down, that's sour cream (2 pints), blue cheese (2 8oz tubs), mayo, olive oil, and buttermilk.

That, and a little garlic powder and pepper, and you've got heaven in a bowl.

Ok, step one:

Mix equal parts sour cream and mayo in your bowl of choice:



Now, technically, that's 32 ounces of sour cream, and 30 ounces of mayo, but you get the idea. A word on mayo: For my average day to day sandwich needs, I buy whatever store brand is on sale. When I make dressing, I sport the extra cost and buy Best Foods, because, well, it's the....best.

Ok, so. Mix the sour cream and mayo until they're smooth and creamy.

Add some olive oil:



I wish I had a hard and fast amount to tell you, but as you know, most real chefs never use a recipe. You can get an idea from the photo. The olive oil is mostly for emulsification, so the amount is not critical, and you can always add more if you need to.

So, again, mix until the oil is fully incorporated.

Now comes the buttermilk:



Start with one cup. This is mostly for thinning the dressing down, and if needed, you can always add more. Most times, you will want to add a little after refrigerating overnight.

In any event, add the buttermilk, and again stir until smooth. I suppose technically you could add the buttermilk and oil at the beginning, and only go through the 'stir til creamy' step once, but I like to do it in stages.

A word about Bleu Cheese: The tubs you see are from Trader Joe's. The reason I use theirs is simple: Cost. If you look at your local store, you'll find 4oz for prolly 3.50 or so. Those eight ounce tubs are 3.49 at TJ's, so like half the price.

Time for a little seasoning:



That's black pepper and garlic powder. Again, I wish I had an amount to give you, but it's pretty much a 'to taste' thing. You could also add a little salt at this point, but it's usually not needed.

Again, mix until smooth. At that point, I add the cheese all at once, and gently fold/stir until the cheese is fully incorporated. Once you're done with this stage, your basically done:



In order to let the flavors fully marry, an overnight stay in the fridge works wonders. If your dressing seems too thick at that point, now's the time for a little more olive oil or buttermilk. Add either (or both) a little at a time until you get the consistency you want.

For storage, I spoon it into wide mouth mason jars.

Share and enjoy:



Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go eat.

Buenos con (azul) queso,

T.

So I had this big ol' plan....

But, of course, it went to shit.

I mean, it's not like it was my (pending) fail-safe take over the world plan or anything, but I'm still disappointed not to be able to share.

See, I was going to post (with pictures) my 'World Famous Bleu Cheese Dressing Recipie,' but I left my card at work.

If you can't feel it, I just took a big sigh.

The worst part is, you won't get the post until at least Wednesday, as I'm not even stopping by work tomorrow, but I promise it's coming.

(i know thats what she said)

Those of you 'in the biz,' as well as you novice dressing makers will probably marvel at it's simplicity.....

I'm not going to give anything away yet, but it only has five ingredients.....

Tune in next week for details.

Or Wednesday.

Buenos con queso,

T.

Phantom pain.....

Well, I suppose by definition it's not actually the same thing, but I have a similar occurrence from time to time.

Approximately 22 years ago or so, my Pops gave me a ring that he'd been wearing.

It was pretty cool. White gold, with a rather stunning star sapphire set in it. I wore that ring on my 'married' finger for....well, just about 21 years.

I took it off now and then, mostly when I was playing golf, but other than that, it stayed right there.

Since it seemed like it could be a 'tradition' type of thing, I gave Michael the ring just before he turned 21.

Funny thing is, I can sometimes still feel that fucking ring on my finger. It's been over a year now, and I sometimes still 'feel' it slipping around, and I use my thumb to adjust it back so that the stone's on top of my finger.

It's weird. I mean, I can really feel the damn thing there.

Well, until I go to adjust it, cause in fact it's not there anymore.

It's funny how/what the body/mind can do, don't you think?

Buenos con queso,

T.

Spread for dogs.....

This is one of those subjects that I may (or may not i dont remember) have bitched about before, but here goes anyhow.

People in this country spend entirely too much money on their pets.

Now, I know you all love your cats and dogs (or whatever you prefer) and I know that some things, like proper nutrition and medical care are important, but the other night at Wally World, I saw a couple things that just dumbfounded me.

I'm sad to report that the camera in my phone took a shit, so I don't have pix of everything, but I did press a co-worker into service (i was a ww with her) to take one, but her phone's a little whacked too, so I only got one.

One thing I saw was milk substitute for dogs.

Another, was asprin for dogs.

The final one, the one I needed a picture of follows:



It's too much of a close up for you to see the can, but it was like one of those spray cheese cans that we all know and love.

Except that it's for dogs.

Do we really need this kind of shit?

Yeah, I don't think so either.

Buenos con queso,

T.

It's like a cat barking.....

It shouldn't happen.

I wish I could take credit for that line, but sadly, I can't. Simon Cowell used that do describe one of the contestants last night....

Yes, that's right baby, American Idol is back on.

Well, the tryouts at least, and if you read this post you know that AI is like my Superbowl.

Well, my Superbowl of Pain, I guess.

It's been 2 nights so far, last night and the night before. They've got rotating judges (that sounds bad) and so far they've had Victoria (posh spice) Beckham, and last night's was Mary J. Blige.

There are a couple others slated to take the 4th chair during the tryouts, and then, once they get to Hollywood for the actual competition, Ellen D. is taking over.

But I'm sure you knew that.

I'll be done watching by that point, as I only watch the tryouts, but I live for the tryouts.

Buenos con queso,

T.

Meaningless milestone number 1044.....

Not only does today mark my (Dunt-dunt-duh) 1000th post, but it's also my 44th birthday.

It's been a pretty good day so far, with a lot of nothing to do.

Pops made bacon and chese omelettes for breakfast, and I spent a fair amount of time playing video games, so that's good.

I also went so see Avatar w/sis. She paid for the tickets, and I bought the goodies (soda popcorn and junior mints). I have to say, the movie was pretty fuckin' rock solid.

The 3d was awesome, and the visuals were absolutely stunning. It also had a pretty good story, and on the whole, I have to say that I liked it quite a bit.

We're scheduled to do cake as sis's in a bit (not sure exactly when), but I wanted to pop in and say hello.

So, 'Hello.'

Buenos con queso,

T.

Lee Harvey Oswald

Ok, so I'm totally conducting a test of the internet search protocols.

Well, that's what I'm telling myself, anyhow.....

See, I woke up too early this morning (big surprise right) and since I couldn't get back to sleep, I ended up watching a show on the History Channel...

Some 2 hour long thing about the JFK assassination.....

Suffice to say, they discovered that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone, and that there was was no shot from the grassy knoll...

Like I believe that....

The mob had JFK hit because his baby brother was investigating them.

I know, I know, I'm risking my life by telling you this, but it's the absolute truth.

Oh, and the CIA killed Marilyn Monroe because of the JFK/Joltin' Joe thing....

And I'm sure you remember me talking about Anna Nicole Smith
Well, my friends, there is nothing different.....

But, I digress.

See, I named this post Lee Harvey Oswald to see how long it takes me to get into the top 10 hit results for a search on Lee's name.

Not that I expect that I'll ever hit the top ten, you understand.....

Buenos con queso,

T.

This is fucking ridiculous.....

I mean, I know that medium format cameras have alwyas been high end, and they cost an arm and a leg because of their image quality, but this?

Really?

Seriously?

Who in the fuck needs a 56 megapixel camera?

And 32 fucking grand?

Geez, just when I thought the world might actually be starting to make a little sense....

Buenos con queso,

T.

If sweating the small stuff was an Olympic event....

My sister would be the undisputed champion of the world, and she'd win gold, silver, and bronze every time they hold the games.

I'm pretty much the opposite, as I let very little actually bother me. I'm much like a duck, letting the daily problems sort of roll off my back.

Don't get me wrong, I mean, you've all heard me rant, and there are plenty of things that go on in this world that totally piss me off, but it's usually short-lived for me. I'll gesticulate, raise my voice, and curse a blue streak, but once it's out of my system, I calm right back down.

My sister, however, just can't seem to let go of the little things.

Buenos con queso,

T.

Living up to the hype....

So, I watched Cloverfield last night, and I have to say, I wasn't expecting it to be as good as it was.

It was just about 2 years ago (1/18/09 to be exact) when everyone was talking about this film.

I didn't see it then, nor did I have any desire to. I prolly never would have watched it if I hadn't found a copy of it at work. See, when movies only cost you $1.00-$1.50, it's much easier to make the choice to buy them.

I mean, even if the totally suck, I'm only out a buck and a half.

For those of you that might be contemplating seeing it, I'll tell you that it's shot kind of Blair-Witchish, with the whole 'hand-held' thing going on, and sometimes the angles can be a bit vertiginous.

Even tho it was shot similarly, in my opinion, it's a win, whereas BW was more of an epic fail.

It's more gory than scary, but that's ok. The characters are believable, and the effects are pretty awesome too.

I'm sure I'll watch it again, which is the ultimate compliment from me. If I can watch it a second time, it can't be all that bad.....

Buenos con queso,

T.

So, it would appear that things are back to normal....

Well, as normal as it gets in Carson City during the winter.

Can anything really be called normal when our recent snowfall results in what I like to refer to as parking lot icebergs, or just 'lotburgs?'

If you don't live in a snow-prone area, you may not reailize that any significant snowfall requires a plowing of the parking lot to make it functional. Depending on the amount of snow, these things can be obscenly huge!!

I submit the following for your perusal:

They run the gamut, from the merely sublime:



And I know, this doesn't technically count, as it's the street, and not a parking lot, but you get the idea. My favorite part is how it picks up all the dirt, sand, and other partiulate matter (exhaust anyone) and transforms from the blissful whitness of a snowfall into the blackend mess you see above. Or below:



Yes, that one's like 7 feet tall, and 20 or so feet long. And with the temperatures being what they have been (24 on my way in today) you can bet that it's not going anywhere anytime soon. This one shows the beginnings of the ridiculous, which is shown in it's fullness here:



You may be able to tell from that photo, but that fucking thing's like 100 feet long or so, and well over 7 feet tall.

That fucking thing's going to be there until June, and it's just going to keep looking better and better, as it absorbs more black shit and continues to decay. It's almost criminal.

Buenos con queso,

T.