Quick Tomato Sauce 101 For Non Italians.

Tomato Sauce 101 – How To Hack A 10 minute tomato sauce.
(Total reading time 3-5 minutes)
(Special note: This is vegetarian safe. If your vegan, well… )

One of the first things you learn when you are married is that cooking is important.  Despite what some people believe you can’t dine out at restaurants for ever.  This holds especially true if you plan on eating even 25% of a healthy diet.  So some place into my first year being married to my awesome wife (and blog editor, spell checker) I started learning how to cook.  I cooked all kinds of things, most of them were pretty bad.  Slowly I became obsessed with making tomato sauce.  The recipe I use seems to evolve every year as I find new recipes that I like and share thoughts with chefs, friends, family members, old american italian ladies, old little ladies still living in Italy, cook books, youtube and more.  One thing for sure is there is no perfect method.  It all depends on what you like, and in many cases where you are from. I once was cursed out by a 3 foot tall, seventy plus, grey haired woman from Sicily after asking if she used oregano in her sauce.  She proceeded to tell me only “The Greeks” use oregano.  I’d like to share the current recipe method I am using.  I hope this saves you from a few curse words.  Of course I would love to hear you suggestions and methods in the comments below.

This is based of a simple recipe by chef Pinot Luongo from his book

Here is the complete recipe.

Start with Fat.
Let it heat up.
Add bulbed things from the ground.
Add a tiny bit of salt and pepper/s
Continue to heat up till bulbed things soften up a bit and smell good.
Add tomatoes.
Continue to cook till tomatoes are warmed.
Check seasoning of salt and pepper.
Add additional seasonings.
Add thickener if desired.
Toss the pasta in.

So there it is.
If you would like a translation.

Simple pasta for 2.
Pay attention to the amounts now this is for real.
To Serve 2 people.

Cook up 1/2 box of pasta,
Once you drop the pasta into the hot boiling water melt two tablespoons of butter and a drop of olive oil into a sauté pan large enough to hold the amount of pasta you cooked (you’ll be tossing in there later).

(Tip: If you don’t have butter use some other fat. Olive oil or the fat rendered from bacon work well, choose your fat wisely as it effects the taste.)

Once it warms up add the bulbs. Finely
(Tip: When I say fine I mean sharpen your knife first and make believe you are slicing cold cuts at the deli counter.)

I usually use 1/2 of a red onion. Sometimes I will add a finely sliced clove of garlic or two as well.  If you do not have a red onion use another bulb vegetable.  Yellow onions, shallots, garlic, it all works, it just depends on what you like.  Toss in a dash of salt and pepper to get things going.  If your into spicy, add your red pepper flakes to taste at this point too.  I would go easy to start.  Those little things can get hot really fast.

Once you add them to the fat they should soften in 3-4 minutes.  Total cooking time so far is about 5 minutes at the most.  Yes this is quick.  That is why I fell I love with this recipe.

(Tip: Pasta water can save your life. Get some while the pasta is cooking and keep it in a cup nearby. If your bulbs begin to cook to fast or you run out of fat, add a drop of pasta water to moisten things up.  You can also add a drop (a table spoon or so) to your sauce to smooth things out a bit later.

Next the tomatoes. I use about 1/3 of a can of tomato puree. It is important not to use to much more than this.  We are making a sauce for the pasta that is cooking, not filling jars to store for the winter (thats a different type of sauce). This is also a huge point for preference and personal taste.  Crushed tomatoes will work, however because of the short cooking time your going to get a very “chunky” crushed style sauce.  There is not much cook down and concentrate time happening here. With a little adjustment you can also make fresh tomatoes as well.  Taste and adjust.  I wouldn’t use tomato paste.

Continue to cook about 3-5 minutes on medium heat.  Mix it up all up.  Taste and adjust seasoning if needed.

The last step before we add the pasta is to customize.

Of course you could just leave it be and enjoy or you could: add fresh finely cut basil.
(Tip: Basil and mint are two herbs you should almost never buy.  If you do buy them spend a great deal of time doing the sniffy sniff. Both of these herbs go bad extremely quick.  Basil and mint will grow very easily in a pot by your window or backyard.  For best results pull the leaves off and drop it in the pot.

You can also add a drop of heavy cream, and or cheese.  Locatelli is my favorite.  I grate it directly over the saute pan and stir it right before I add the pasta.  If you add in heavy cream you can make a faux vodka sauce.  Add in very tiny amounts of heavy cream.  Stir it up, and then add more if needed. Taste, and observe the color.  If you are just looking to smooth out the taste of the sauce add a table spoon or two.  If you are in the mood for something a lot richer then go for it.  In my own experience though just a few tablespoons is enough to do the trick.

(Tip: The trick to learning how much heavy cream to add comes from learning the color it turns the sauce.)

As soon as the pasta is ready you can mix it all up in the saute pan.  Letting it cook for another minute or two.   If the sauce takes longer then the pasta to cook, you did something wrong.  I should also add you should be listening to Luciano Pavarotti extremely loud.  The music sweats the bulbs faster.

Lastly.  Buy the best ingredients you can afford.  Good canned tomatoes and fresh cheese are worth the investment of good quality home cooked food.

Total cost for this meal for two people:
$1.00 Canned tomatoes ($3.00 only using 1/3 of the can) 
$2.00 a Wedge of good Locatelli cheese. ($10.00 using about 20% of the wedge.)
$0.75 for Pasta (using 1/2 box of pasta)
$0.50 for a red onion.

$10-$15 left in the budget for a bottle of wine. (If you do not finish a bottle of wine in a night, you can refrigerate it but I wouldn’t leave it for more then 2-3 days.  Red wines seem to taste worse sooner in the fridge then white wines).

Serve it up and enjoy.

And PLEASE: Just say NO to jarred tomato Sauce.
That’s all I have to say.

Peter Weis

Be Sociable, Share!

• 

What Is On Your Dream List

Dream Big.
(Total reading time 2 minutes)

A bit more than a year ago I listened to the audio book for the New York Times Best seller by Tim Ferriss, A Four Hour Work Week. It is a book or shall I say audio book that began to redefine how I think. Now I am revisiting the book in its original printed hard copy form. Once again it has me thinking. If you haven’t read it yet it is a must read for any serious entrepreneur. There are many themes in the book but for this post I would like to gravitate around one of the early ideas in the book. Dream Big.

So I got to thinking about some of the things I want to do.

• Live in Miami beach for 1 month.
• Create a business and sell it.
• Drive cross country from NY to California and record the trip in time lapse photography.
• Hike the Appalachian trail. (Maybe not all at once LOL)
• Try surfing.
• Learn to scuba drive.
• Complete a marathon. (I have done a half marathon already)
• Complete a sprint tri-athalon.
• Experience New Years eve in NYs time square. 
Experience New Years eve in London, England.
• Drive, hike and bike through parts of Europe.
• Get drunk on wine in a french vineyard.
• Travel around the coast of Ireland.
• Drink bear wearing lederhosen at Oktober Fest in Germany
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lederhosen
• Compose and record a big band album.
• Got to a world cup soccer game.
• Write a book.
• Live in the country or mountains for a month.
• Go surf fishing off of Montauk, NY
• Write music for a national advertising campaign.
• Complete 100 push ups with out stopping.
• Direct a 30 minute documentary.
• Create my own production music publishing catalog.
• Enjoy more great meals and wine with family and friends.

What would you do?

And I’ll ask my self the same question I ask you: Why not start trying to live some of those dreams now?

Thats all I have to say.

Peter Weis

Be Sociable, Share!

• 

The House Is Quiet

The House Is Quiet
(Total reading time 2 minutes)

The house is quiet, not silent. The tap, brap, tap, dap –– tap of the keyboard cuts through the still air of the house. The boiler hums in the room below working hard to keep its surroundings warm. The ceiling creaks. The house settles. An occasional car drives by breaking the calm.
The TV went to sleep at 2:04 am. It has a long day tomorrow so it needs its rest.
Just me and the clock.
“Tic”, it said.
And before I could answer the pipes in the wall began expanding. Air trapped in the pipes rattled like a sinking world war II submarine. Distressing sounds shifted n the walls.
“Toc”, the clock reminded me again.
My heart beat two times and a warm feeling fell down through my toes.
“Tic”, it said.
The thermostat dropped two degrees and the heat went quiet. Winter snuck around the perimeter of the house searching for an entrance. An open window, a crack in the door.
“Toc”, the clock replied again.
The ceiling rumbled once again splitting the silence in two. A light switch clicked.
“Tic, Toc – Tic”
The rumbles spread from right to left and then a door moved on its hinges.
“Toc”

And the silence ended.

Thats all I have to say.

Peter Weis

Be Sociable, Share!

• 

7 Tips To Help You Read More

How To Read More
(Total Reading Time 2-3 minutes)

Last year I read about 35 books. Not a huge amount but more then your average american. (Please don’t google that statistic it’s pretty sad.) Here are some things I learned along the way.

These tips will absolutely help you read more.

Turn the television off.
I enjoy watching movies. Television shows however will waste away the days of your life showing no remorse. How many reruns of Friends and Fraiser can you watch? If you don’t have time to read a novel, pick up a short story.

Find something you actually like reading.
Don’t try and read through a novel just because a critic said it was good. If you don’t like something, don’t try to read it. Its okay. If you like reading about dragons and castles go for it. If you like Harry Potter, Sci-Fi, Crime, and Vampires-great. It doesn’t matter. Just read.

Read Shorter Books.
Don’t just say your going to read more and turn to the first page of Stephen King’s The Stand. Start small and work your way up. Look for books that aren’t more then 100-150 pages. It feels good to finish reading a book. Read shorter books, Feel good about your accomplishments and continue reading. I currently won’t pick up a book if it is more then 400 pages. I know my limits. The Great Gatsby and The Old Man and The Sea are great short books. Books by H.G Wells also comes to mind.

Have a few different books around.
When people watch TV and get bored they change the channel. You might not be in the mood to read something at the time. Try reading something else. Any given week I have at least 3-4 books out from the library. Some weeks I will read straight through with out switching. There are other times that switch 3 times in the same day.

Find some place quiet.
This can be tough. Do the unthinkable. Turn the cell phone off for 1 hour. Close the internet browser on your computer. Shut down twitter. Enjoy the silence for a moment. Take a breath and start reading.

Read books that are printed in a decent size font.
I would go out of my mind trying to read one of those pocket size paper backs they sell in Walmart or at the grocery store. Go to the library and borrow a full size book with a decent font. If your using a digital book reader like an ipad or kindle you should be able to increase the font size to a comfortable place for your eye.

Ask other people what they have read.
When you can talk to someone about a book it’s a lot more fun. Social networking is great for this. Search twitter right now and find some one that is reading what your reading.

Read more. You can do it.

Do you have any good tips you can share on how to read more? What are you reading right now?

Thats All I have to say.

Peter Weis

Be Sociable, Share!

• 

Learn By Doing Some Thing

You can learn by just doing some thing.

If you want to enjoy life more one of your goals should be to never stop learning. Every day we can take the opportunities we are given to learn something new or we can continue through the same old routine and complain.  Learning is much more fun then complaining.

Some people learn from books, other’s like going to school. The best way to learn something though is to just go ahead and do it. Experience can teach you things much faster then any book ever could.

Today in my studio I started mixing a 30 minute documentary.  I have mixed tons of music in my studio. Working on music and working on sound for picture are not the same. Mixing a documentary with sound effects, music, voice overs, and dialog can be an organizational project in itself to say the least.  A few minutes of working on the session taught me more then any book could in 3-4 chapters. I worked out a few tricks for cleaning up the audio. Some things I tried worked better then others. Not everything will work all the time. If it did I wouldn’t be learning and gaining experience.

Just taking a few minutes of your day to try something new can teach you so much that you’ll know more then you did yesterday. Go running or walking down a different street when you exercise.  Ask some one you work with what they are passionate about. Find out what they like to do.  I’ve gotten some awesome recommendations for reading, listening to music, movies to watch, restaurants to try, different types of wines.  You can learn something from any one.

Any one can be a teacher if your willing to be the student. What will you learn today?

Peter Weis

Be Sociable, Share!

• 

Network Like A Superstar

Networking is one of the most important parts of getting your self out there. It doesn’t matter if your in the music business, selling real estate or making wedding cakes. Networking the right way will get you to the next step. In some industries its almost the only way to get to the next step.  Dont have time to read, download an mp3 of the article you can listen to in itunes.

On one of my other websites DrumsAndSounds.com I wrote a short article about the Secret to Networking for Musicians. It is written with the music industry in mind but any one can learn from it. Musicians suck at networking.

If you want to be a better networker be cool and treat people like you would like to be treated. If some one rang your doorbell and tried to sell you a car you would probably slam the door in their face. If your friend came over for dinner and told you he was selling his car you actually want to know how much. You might not want to buy it, but you might know some one interested.

You didn’t slam the door on your friend. You listened to what they had to say.

Be Sociable, Share!

• 

100 Push Ups 3 Weeks In

About 3 weeks ago I bought an app for my iphone called 100 Push Ups. The app is a training program that takes you from your current ability to 100 consecutive push ups. About a week later I also purchased another one by the same company called 200 Squats. When March comes I have decided to start the remaining two apps the company offers called 25 pull ups, and  200 sit ups. I am a big fan of pull ups and I cant wait to start that one. Honestly 200 sit ups I am not looking forward to but i know it will good for me and really get me in shape.

So in my quest to be able to do 100 consecutive push ups I am about a little more then 3 weeks in. I started off being able to do about 30 or so consecutively. The first day of training I completed about 40 push ups broken up over 5 sets. 3 1/2 weeks later I am at about 120 push ups broken up over 5 sets. I can see a huge difference in the strength of my arms. They are really starting to tighten up.

Its a very simple and easy to follow training schedule and i encourage any one looking to start exercising to give it a try.

Be Sociable, Share!

• 

The 80/20 Principle

The 80/20 Principle by Richard Koch is great book worth a read. Its a good book to add to any Life Hacker‘s book case. Any one familiar with Tim Ferris’s Four Hour Work Week will recognize  many of the ideas and themes even though this book was written many years earlier. This is a perfect book to practice your speed reading techniques for two reasons. First because the book feels a bit long at times. Second because the book falls victim to its own principle. 80% of the important ideas and concepts are accomplished in about 20% of the book.

If you remove the math and statistics from the book the overall theme that comes out is that things in life are unbalanced. A small amount of cause is usually responsible for a large amount of effect. Half of the book showcases the many uses of the 80/20 law in business and statistical situations. After that there are few great chapter worth reading about applying 80/20 to your life for things like productivity, investing, and general decision making.

Over the next few weeks I will try to implement some 80/20 into my own life and report back. I also plan to publish some of my notes from the book here as well.

Quick explanation of 80/20.

Be Sociable, Share!

• 

The Power Of Less

The Power Of Less by Leo Babauta is a great book i think every one should read. The book is a short 150 pages of simple reading filled with real world examples and practical guides to eliminating the excess everything from your life. Although you don’t have to be a life hacker to enjoy the book if you are a follower and fan of Tim Ferris (The Four Hour Work Week) you will recognize a few similar themes.

My own experience so far with the book has led to one less file cabinets and hard drive that is more organized and much less over whelming. Leo focuses on things like how to change your bad habits, how to prioritize things in your life, and most importantly how to stop multitasking. Leo like Tim Ferris also goes into great length about the over use of email and how it is a huge killer of productivity. I can personally say I followed the steps in his book and have seen my own email addiction begin to taper into nothing. Using his techniques I set up rules to delete and sort most all my junk and organize other emails automatically. Now i check my email less during the day because it is not as interesting to me. I also found that with the inbox staying empty i don’t feel as overwhelmed with things to do, sort through and read. Using his method you are forced to take action immediately. Reply, Archive, Delete, or Add it to the To Do List (and then delete it) I seriously recommend this book to anyone.

Be Sociable, Share!

•