Bites and Pieces: Perfect Chicken

Posted on June 25, 2012 by Fairlington Blade

I’ve mostly been on the road this week. My sons finished kindergarten (yay!) on Wednesday, which happens to be the day that my wife was starting a week long job for the US Forest Service. I’m transferring to a new job in July, so a family break seemed warranted.

I found a surprise along the way. There’s a pretty decent Italian place in Lewisburg, WV, of all places (Giovanni’s). I ordered lasagna for Secondo, pasta with greens and sausage for Primo (he’s on a health kick), and a roasted veggie salad for myself. I figured I could hoover up what they left behind. Well, the salad was terrific. A good balance of veggies and the roasted squash really added heart. The pasta and greens didn’t look like much, but looks can be deceiving. They used broccoli rabe for the greens and a mild sausage that balanced the dish. The pasta was penne and cooked al dente. The lasagna was simple–a couple layers of noodles with ricotta in the middle and marinara on top. I took a bite of it and got a surprise. The noodles were tender and the ricotta is as good as anything I picked up at the Italian Store in Arlington. Turns out they make everything in house. This is the kind of restaurant everyone wishes they had in their neighborhood. The total was $37, including two sodas.

But that’s not important right now. I’m writing about chicken. The day after I arrived at the lake, my brother made a beer can chicken. I’d never tried it before. It was quite good, but he misjudged the timing (we didn’t have a thermometer) and so the inner portions were undercooked. That’s the eternal problem with roasting a chicken. Undercooked meat or dried out breast meat (or in the worst of all cases, both). How to solve it?

One of my sons was wanting chicken and I know my parents enjoy it. So, what to do? On a whim, I decided to try a butterflied chicken. Cut out the backbone, flatten the thing, and roast it. As a bonus, you can use the wings and the back to make a nice mini batch of stock. I did a bit of hunting about and came upon Kenji Alt’s blog. He used to appear on America’s Test Kitchen. The method seemed straightforward and dispensed with turning the chicken. The ideal is 150 degrees for breast meat and 170 for dark meat. I was shocked when the meat thermometer registered the perfect temperature both times. And the chicken was perfect! 

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

2. Take a 3 1/2 – 4 lb. chicken. Brine it if you like (I do) and air dry. Cut out the backbone with some kitchen shears. Flatten the beastie. Spread a tablespoon of vegetable oil (sesame oil is tasty) over the top and season with salt and pepper. I shoved a couple tablespoons of butter between the skin of the breasts and the meat. It may be gilding the lily, but what the hey.

3. Slide up a half dozen small (1″) potatoes. Toss with oil and put in the bottom of a roasting pan. Put a flat rack on top and place the chicken on it. [Note: don’t use a V-rack for a butterflied bird. If you don’t have a flat rack, just put it right on the potatoes.]

4. Roast the bird for about 45 minutes, until the breast meat registers 150 degrees and the thigh registers 170 degrees. As I noted above, it worked perfectly for me.

5. Let the bird rest for 5 minutes and then enjoy!

 

BB

Filed under: Bites and Pieces, cooking, food, fun stuff | 4 Comments »

Health Care Predictions Post

Posted on June 25, 2012 by novahockey

Prediction time — by 9:00 Thursday morning enter your prediction.  To keep this somewhat simple, include (at a minimum) the outcome on the mandate and the related insurance reforms (guarantee issue and community rating), the vote, and who writes the opinion for the majority and the dissenters and a brief rationale.  If you want to weigh in on the Medicaid expansion feel free.

Example:

6-3 mandated overturned, but guarantee issue and community rating upheld.  Roberts for the majority, Kennedy concurring, and Thomas with the dissent.   Congress can dictate how insurance is sold and priced, is within its rights to require companies to sell to all comers, but it can’t make an individual purchase  it.

Just edit the post to insert your comments next to your handle.  Applogies if I’ve missed a name.

UPDATE:  How to read the ruling from SCOTUSblog

NoVA: Mandate is unconstitutional based on a vote of 5-4.  Based on this, the entire law goes down 6-3, as one of the liberals —  Sotomayor — joins with the rest majority on the severability issue and finds that Congress did not want the rest of the law without the mandate.   Roberts with the majority, Thomas with a concurrence that eviscerates the reasoning behind Wickard,  and Kagan with the dissent.

ScottIn a total shock, one liberal justice (not sure which one) decides to actually read the constitution and betray the cause, sending the mandate down in flames, 6-3. Then, in October, Yankees over the Nationals in 6. A-Rod goes 0 for the series, Strausberg get the win in both National victories, including only the second perfect game in World Series history, but Robinson Cano win Series MVP honors after hitting .515.

LMS  Mandate goes down 5-4 with Scalia writing a scathing critique of Obama as the majority.  I read about his dissent in the immigration case, took it all the way back to the civil war and free blacks from what I heard.  Ginsburg writes the dissent.  I’m not sure about the rest (or even the above frankly) but I don’t really expect the rest of the law to stand as is.  I’m just not enough of a lawyer (none at all actually) to know how they could frame it.

Yanks vs Angels in American League Playoffs…………..Trout saves game five for the Angels with an over the wall catch and two home runs but Weaver pitches the no hitter that clinches the AL title in six.

NoVA, what do we win if we get it right?  What’s the prize?

Mark  

1] Severance.  Addressed only by Thomas and Scalia in their dissents.

2] Medicaid.  Roberts writes majority opinion on all points.  6-3 uphold expansion, but more important to the state AGs, effectively 8 vote that the Congress cannot penalize a state for refusing the “voluntary” expansion.  Breyer dissents that the states can be penalized for refusing the “voluntary” expansion.    The state AGs get what they hired Clement to do.

3] Individual Mandate.  Congress can dictate how insurance is sold and priced, is within its rights to require companies to sell to all comers,  can’t make an individual purchase  it, but can tax the uninsured, which is what Roberts says is being done.  Upheld, 6-3, Scalia, Thomas, and Alito dissenting.  Breyer concurs but writes an opinion that Congress can make an individual purchase insurance if it is part of an overarching scheme to provide health care for all.  Kagan and Sotomajor join the concurrence but RBG does not, preferring to join Roberts and Kennedy in the Opinion.

4]  Anti-Injunction statute.  Roberts shuts that door on a second attack in 2015.  Scalia writes an attack dissent to this, suggesting that the first time someone pays the tax he should sue for a refund, because this whole scheme is an imposition on liberty.

I might change my mind, because like QB I really go back and forth on this.

Banned

Yello The insurance mandate is struck down 5-4 with Roberts writing the main opinion. Scalia’s concurring opinion mentions broccoli explicitly. Kennedy writes a separate concurring opinion undercutting Scalia and giving guidance on how a rewrite could pass muster.

Brent

Kevin

Michi

Entire law stands 6-3, Alito, Scalia and Thomas dissenting.  Georgia just opened the door to interstate commerce with its new health insurance law, and the Court has to address it; Roberts sees the long picture and decides to go with history.  Of course, I’m writing this without the benefit of having read any of the learned comments posted below, so. . .

Roberts writes the majority opinion, with Sotomayor and Ginsberg writing their own concurrences (if that’s the right term), and Scalia jumps the shark again in his dissent.

Scott–I never knew that you were such a romantic!  Cano batting 0.515?!?!!  🙂

Ashot

Mike Well, FWIW …

1) Anti-Injunction Act. 7-2, SCOTUS is not precluded from deciding. Roberts writes that the penalty is really a penalty and not a tax because the word “penalty” is written into the legislation. So, AIA doesn’t apply. Scalia/Thomas dissent.

2) Mandate. 6-3, mandate upheld. Roberts buys the argument that Congress can regulate the purchase of health care and that buying health insurance is the way that most health care is purchased. Since Congress has already mandated that emergency rooms must provide health care regardless of ability to pay (through EMTALA), they can assess a penalty for “costs.” The activity/inactivity argument is tackled using Judge Sutton’s formulation of self-insurance. Scalia/Thomas/Alito dissent, each writing a dissent and reading from the bench.

3) Severance. Mooted by the majority opinion upholding the mandate.

4) Medicaid expansion. 7-2, upheld. Roberts is unwilling to go back through all the Spending Clause cases and agrees with the lower courts that the expansion is consistent with Congress’ spending power. He is also unwilling to set a precedent for the application of coercion theory in this case. Scalia/Thomas dissent.

Dave!

TrollMcWing

Quarterback:  Upheld 5-4. Kennedy will not have the courage to do the right thing. As the Casey plurality opinion showed, he is more committed to protecting what he sees as Court legitimacy than to following the Constitution. [I have changed my mind several times recently, and may do so again! In fact, even now I am trying to imagine how he will rationalize upholding it. I would like to read all the Arizona opinions first but probably won’t have time.]

jnc4p

Fairlington Blade:  Mandate goes down 5-4, but I’ll go with severability. Most of the law stands.

okie

allbutcertain

bsimon

Filed under: aca, Affordable Care Act, Supreme Court | 91 Comments »

Morning Report 6/25/12

Posted on June 25, 2012 by Brent Nyitray

Vital Statistics:

  Last Change Percent
S&P Futures  1310.5 -16.3 -1.23%
Eurostoxx Index 2135.2 -51.6 -2.36%
Oil (WTI) 78.44 -1.3 -1.65%
LIBOR 0.461 -0.001 -0.22%
US Dollar Index (DXY) 82.51 0.250 0.30%
10 Year Govt Bond Yield 1.62% -0.06%  
RPX Composite Real Estate Index 181.4 0.2  

A soggy tape to match a soggy morning here on Wall Street. There is no real news driving futures down, just a sense of malaise coming out of watching the European slow-motion train wreck. Euro sovereigns are slightly wider, while the US 10-year is up about a point.  MBS are higher as well. 

New Home Sales came in at 369k, well ahead of expectations of 347k. That said, we are still running at levels below the bottoms of recessions going back to the 1960s and well below the average 700k pace from 1963 to the bubble burst. 

 

We have a lot of economic data this week, with April Case-Schiller and Consumer Confidence coming out tomorrow, Durable Goods and pending home sales Wed, Initial jobless claims and final Q1 GDP numbers on Thurs, and Personal Income / Spending numbers on Fri.  We also have a European summit (something like #18) and will potentially hear the fate of Obamacare as well.

We are in earnings pre-announcement season, where companies who are going to miss their quarters disclose it to the market. Earnings season will officially begin in two weeks with Alcoa’s numbers.

Treasury yields will hit 1% by  year end, says CNBC.  Certainly that is a possibility if nothing is done about Taxmageddon or if Europe implodes.  Simon Johnson is worried about how US banks will handle a European implosion, and even introduces a new risk we can wring our hands over:  Dissolution Risk.

The Chicago Fed National Activity Index declined to -.45 in May from +.08 in April, which indicates slowing economic growth. Positive numbers indicate the economy is growing above trend, while negative numbers indicate the economy is growing below trend. The 3 month moving average, decreased to -.34 from -.13 in May.  If the 3 month moving average falls below -.7, it typically means a recession has already begun. 

$9.3 billion.  That is the amount of money people lose per year responding to those ubiquitous Nigerian email scams.  To put that number in perspective, that is roughly what GM made last year and accounts for 11% of Nigeria’s GDP.

Filed under: Morning Report | 16 Comments »