Perlow, you cheap whiny bastard

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes and I duke it out over at ZDNet regarding Apple and their (lack of) netbook strategy. I say they should license Mac OS X to Dell and the Chinese/Korean netbook manufacturers, and he says that I’m a whiny cheapskate and that Apple should stay on target.

Head on over to ZDNet.com for the commentary.

2016: Welcome to The Screen

In the not so far off future, computing for most of us will be reduced to remotely delivered subscriber services, running on cheap, commodity high-definition display units.

What is The Screen? I don’t think it has been well defined what the interface or the experience really is going to look like, but I have a very good idea. Certainly, I’m not expecting anything along the lines of Minority Report or even something like Microsoft’s “Surface”, although it’s certainly possible that some day, people might use UIs like that for certain niche applications. Initially, early versions of The Screen will almost certainly look very much like the platforms you use now — Windows, Mac, and definitely Linux.

The only difference is you won’t own the computing hardware it runs on — all you’ll really need is a screen (an HDTV with HDMI inputs) mouse, keyboard and broadband, and you’ll be buying your computing services like a utility, just like you pay your electric or Cable TV bill today. And like your Cable TV bill, you’ll subscribe to computing “Channels”, complete with applications and hosted data, with balls to the wall clouded backup services to match.

Read the rest of this article on ZDNet Tech Broiler.

Fun with COSTCO Frozen Scallops, Hong Kong Style

Welcome to the recession folks. That means all of us should be mindful of how we spend our money, and that means for some of us a lot less dining out.

But eating at home doesn’t have to be boring. You don’t even have to sacrifice on quality, “Luxury” ingredients that would otherwise cost you an arm and a leg at a restaurant to eat. You just need to think about buying in bulk and doing a lot of meal planning.

One of my favorite things to eat is jumbo sea scallops. At a decent restaurant, particularly if they are using high-quality dry pack scallops, you can expect to pay between $18.00 and up for an entree with five or six of these guys in them. At a quality fishmonger fresh dry pack sea scallops command a hefty price.

But COSTCO has them frozen, and if you buy a large bag of them the price becomes much more economical per portion. You can eat them over a couple of weeks or even longer, if you have the ability to re-seal the bag with a home vacuum sealer. I also like COSTCO’s shrimp, they are of exceptionally high quality for frozen product, and when COSTCO has their “Seafood Roadshow” events every month, they are even cheaper than the regular discounted COSTCO price.

Oyster Sauce Glazed Pan-Seared Sea Scallops with Spicy XO Vegetables and Nasi Kuning Brown Rice.

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A White Castle Valentine

Editor’s Note: Here’s one of our first posts on Off The Broiler, resurrected for Valentine’s Day weekend.

I realize this blog is named after a Burger King-ism, but anyone who really knows me is well aware I am a staunch and rabid missionary of the Church of Slyders.

This year, Rachel and I decided to celebrate our 11th Valentines Day together at White Castle. Sure, it was corny, it was chintzy, and we had this bloated nauseating feeling afterwards. But isn’t that what true love is supposed to be?

In my opinion Valentine’s day is a totally commercialized holiday, far worse than Christmas, that is designed to bilk your loved ones out of buying you totally useless throwaway gifts, and then to force you to endure one of the worst days of the year for restaurant going.

What venue would be better than White Castle? Click on the “Read the rest of this entry” link below for more.

Food Network, the poodle kicks your ass.

So, you thought the original Iron Chef was weird and unique?

I introduce you to “COOKING WITH DOG“. The first cooking show HOSTED by a dog.  A miniature poodle, in fact. Totally legit Japanese traditional recipes, with excellent step-by-step instruction.

I keep telling people my miniature poodles are exceptionally bright, but this guy…

Times Online Picks its Top 10 Food Blogs for Home Cooks

Simon Majumdar, food columnist at the UK’s national newspaper The Times has chosen his Top 10 blogs for home cooking. We’re honored that Off The Broiler was ranked as his #3. Click to read his Top 10 home cooking blog list here.

Amazon: You Blew It.

So the Kindle 2 has now made its debut, with everything you’d expect of a gee-whiz product launch — a packed auditorium filled with media types, a celebrity endorsement (best-selling thriller novelist Stephen King) and a Insanely Great-style presentation by Amazon’s CEO, Jeff Bezos.

Heck, the event was so overbooked, that when I arrived 15 minutes late to the event, I found myself locked outside the Morgan Library along with Oprah’s representative, where we pleaded with the PR gatekeepers to be let into the building. “No, really, we’re on the list! We RSVPed!”.

We eventually got in, but there was a level of obnoxiousness, arrogance and elitism at this press event and launch  that smacked of a certain Fruit-Flavored technology company. After the dog and pony show, the devices were behind glass cases, and face time with the product nearly impossible, with crowds of media cognoscenti dying for that minute or two of handling the device, circling around the product execs cum Kindle-wranglers like hungry wolves.

Read the rest of this article on ZDNet Tech Broiler.

Fasta Pasta: An “As Seen on TV” product that actually works!

by Rachel Perlow

The Fasta Pasta microwave macaroni cooker.

We first saw the Fasta Pasta on the TV in December. It wasn’t actually an ad or infomercial, it was on a local news product review segment. They started by saying another fast pasta cooker product (the one that you just pour boiling water over the pasta) didn’t work in their previous segment. It just made mushy but still uncooked noodles, like they had just been re-hydrated. So, they were skeptical about the Fasta Pasta — as were we. They followed the instructions and lo and behold it worked! Still incredulous, we contacted the manufacturer and they were kind enough to send us one to review. And, guess what? It works!

Click on the “Read the rest of this entry” link below for more.

NJ Dining: Bartolomeo (Englewood)

Bartolomeo Italian Gourmet and Prepared Foods
195 North Dean Street, Englewood NJ
(201) 567-7002

Click for Hi-Res Slide Show

Over the course of the last year, the Bartolomeo family had been building the 3600 square foot replacement to its former Palisades Park store — which now resides on Dean Street in Englewood. As many of you are aware, Englewood is home to Jerry’s Gourmet, another large Italian grocery store. I had been wondering what Carlo Bartolomeo was going to do to differentiate himself from the incumbent Italian mega-grocery, and now I know what it is — prepared foods.

The new Bartolomeo location on 195 Dean Street in Englewood, just opposite the Englewood train station.

Click on the “Read the rest of this entry” link below for more.

NYC Dining: Myers of Keswick

Myers of Keswick
634 Hudson Street, Greenwich Village, New York

Web Site: http://www.myersofkeswick.com/Home.html

Greenwich Village, particularly the West Village, is one of my favorite parts of the city. Filled with odd curio shops and specialty stores, it’s a fun place to shop when you need to buy something as a gift for a friend with very discerning tastes. One of the places I encountered recently that I think epitomizes sort of the “Wow, I didn’t know they had a place like this in New York”  feeling of the West Village is Myers of Keswick, which is a British-stlye butcher shop and grocery store that looks like it got ripped out of the middle of central London.

Myers of Keswick Storefront, at 634 Hudson Street.

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