I love cooking, but baking is another thing - too close to science. There is a bit of wiggle room in cooking but baking is just too darned rigorous for me.
Luckily for me, my wife is a baking genius. Witness these sourdough loaves.
Sourdough – it is truly a labor of love.
First, you must either procure or create the culture used to give sourdough its sour taste. Next you must grow that culture in a temperature and humidity controlled environment until it is mature (this takes days!). Of course this time varies depending on slight variations in humidity, temperature and ambient atmospheric pressure (good Lord!). Next is the making of the dough – simply put, this is hard labor - kneading dough is work. Then of course is the rise – once again in a humidity and temperature controlled environment. And finally after waiting several hours for it to rise, you get to pop it into the oven and hope it doesn’t go flat should some random act of God disrupt the process. If all goes well you are rewarded with lovely fresh sourdough.
This is why I don’t bake and I am a very very lucky man.
Fresh bread and love FTW!
Char siu, oh how I love thee!
Over the last few years, I have become addicted to BBQed pork loin done char siu style. While there are many good recipes for the glaze out there, I have found that I really like the Noh brand char siu glaze. Sure, it’s cheating a little to use a prepared mix, but the flavor is so good it’s hard to argue against it.
I like to start with two loins and mix up two packages of the glaze using double the recommended amount of water. Next I place the loins and the glaze mix in a Foodsaver container and vacuum out all the air. Into the fridge they go for at least 24 hours – preferably for 48 hours. 
After they are done marinating, bring them out in the container and bring it up to room temperature. While they are warming up, mix up a fresh package of the glaze using 1.5 times as much water as recommended.
Once the grill is heated up to between 350 and 375 degrees, place each loin over the charcoal directly and give it a good sear turning them every 2 minutes. Once you have a few blackened bits on them, move them away from the direct heat and brush them with the glaze. Allow the grill to cool down to between 300 and 350 degrees and put the cover on the grill.
Turn them every 5 to 7 minutes and brush them with the glaze and re-cover the grill. Keep an eye on the heat, you want to keep the temperature between 300 and 350 degrees. It should take somewhere between 40 and 60 minutes for the internal temperature to reach 150 degrees depending on the size of the loins. DO NOT OVER COOK! After taking them off the grill, allow them to rest for at least 5 minutes.
Being the simple man I am, I tend to serve the meat with white jasmine rice. The flavors compliment each other well and as an added bonus it’s a very healthy meal.
Enjoy!