Did Maria Bamford favorite one of your tweets?

...no. No she did not

@DrBicth my fancier fiancé is a Philly Cheesesteak! I love the Iggles!
— Maria Bamford (@mariabamfoo) January 6, 2015

Deep Fried Freedom Bird

This year my mother-in-law wanted to host Thanksgiving, but not cook the turkey.  Since I volunteer for assignments, turkey-cooking fell on my shoulders.  Since everything I do must be an over-wrought project, this turkey got deep fried.

The Bird:  The finest 14 lbs. organic turkey that Costco had in stock.

The Brine: An essential step.  This brine was composed of (total 1 gallon):

• 1 cup salt
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• a slug of maple syrup
• 1/2 cup of apple cider vinegar
• shot of Worcestershire sauce
• several sprigs of thyme
•  half an onion
• a few stalks of celery
• a cinnamon stick

This was applied to the turkey overnight.

After brining for 12+ hours, the turkey was added to the fryer pot and the displacement level of water measured (just enough to fully submerge the bird).  This is a critical step, as an overflow could = a fire.

Next the bird was dried (another critical step, water + hot oil is a disaster).

Next the turkey was injected with butter, and rubbed with butter and a Cajun dry-rub.

Now to the outdoor setup:

The fryer was set up outside, on a flat surface, away from structures.  Note the fire extinguisher, lighter, and heat glove (also the essential beer).  Once sparked, the ~ gallon of (peanut) oil took about 30 minutes to reach the start temp of 325 degF.  The goal is to cook primarily from 350-375 degF, so once the the bird goes in @ 325, crank the heat up.

Then let the bird cook in the oil bath:

Figure 3 minutes per pound = 45 minutes.  After the time had elapsed the turkey was slooowly pulled out using the reach hook.  Finally, the turkey rested for 15 minutes before carving.

Results: one of the best birds I've ever cooked.

Online Learning

Over the last two months, I've been slowly picking up R as a resource for data analysis.  This included classes on Coursera, which I never complete, and an edX class.  The edX class is actually SABRmetrics; so I mix my baseball nerdom with data science.  That one was especially gratifying, as I picked up some mySQL to go along with R.  And it's one more certificate to throw on the pile...

Fuck you Josh Beckett

Seeing a No Hitter was on my baseball to do list.  However, it's not the same when it's the other freakin' team:

Free Learnin' Part 2

Ok, I may be getting carried away with this learn on your own thing.  I think my goals our:

• Learn as much about computer science as I can
• Learn Italian
• Any manner of other random subjects

Three weeks ago I finished my first Coursera course.  Now, I've finished the Python course on codeacademy, the intro Python course on Udacity, enrolled in a data analysis course on Coursera, and finished Code School's M language intro.  My head is spinning.  Fuck it, I was always disappointed that I didn't keep up with computer science after high school.  Why not now?  All the tools are free after all.  Hey look another pretty certificate:



I don't know why my profile on Udacity is under Jeff None.  I may have been drunk when I signed up...

Coursera

It only took a year and a half, but I finally finished a damn coursera class...

Python

...well I can sort of code in Python now:

Thank you codeacademy.  The goal now is to finish the Udacity python course.  And then who knows...