Homemade Corned Beef

One of the things I remember from my childhood is that once a year we would eat corned beef (I called it string meat) and cabbage for Saint Patrick's Day. I decided to cook some up this year, but took it a step further and decided to make my own corned beef from scratch. This supposedly makes for a better flavor, and also doesn't have any of the nitrites (or is it nitrates?) that make the store-bought ones bright red even after cooking.

I used a recipe from our Best Recipe book from America's Test Kitchen. There is some debate about which part of the brisket is better to use. Point cut is fattier and more flavorful, while the flat cut is leaner but more bland. I decided to do it Texas style and just cook up a whole brisket, so that I wouldn't have to bother making the choice.

You can see the brisket in the picture just after I finished putting the rub on it. My hand is there for scale, and keep in mind that it is completely filling a 2-gallon Ziploc bag.

After five days in the refrigerator we cooked it up and had ourselves a huge corned beef dinner, along with an accompaniment of potatoes, rutabagas, turnips, parsnips, carrots, and cabbage. It was actually a very easy meal to make, and I wouldn't hesitate to do it myself again. For any of you who like corned beef (or even for those of you who don't like store-bought corned beef), you should give this a try.

Disposal of a Garbage Disposer

We have been a bit of a spending spree lately. February was good to us, and we were able to make some purchases that we have been putting off for a long time, in addition to eliminating our last remaining credit card debt.

When we finally settled down and stopped our spending, of course something broke. While retrieving dish detergent out of under the sink, I noticed that the box was wet. I was not surprised that the leak was coming from the garbage disposer, but I was surprised to see a 2" crack in the side of the unit out of which water was leaking. So, off I went to research garbage disposers, and continue our spending--albeit reluctantly.

Our old disposer was an Insinkerator Badger 5, which according to a quick Google search is notorious for cracking right after it exits the warranty period. Ours lasted just over three years, while the warranty expires after two.


I finally reluctantly chose to buy a new Insinkerator after doing research. The factors which made me choose a new Insinkerator were noise, quality, and size. The Insinkerator Essential I purchased uses stainless steel components where the old Badger used plastic or galvanized steel. It is much smaller that the competitor's products I could have purchased, and it has insulation and a few other items to reduce the noise output of the unit.

So, this morning I installed my brand new disposer which I ordered from Amazon. It installed with not problems, to the existing plumbing, electrical, and sink flange. Hopefully the experience with this one is better than the last.

I suppose the positive spin I can put on this--and the rest of our "spending spree"--is that I am doing my part to boost up the economy. I know this is contrary to what I said in my last post, but I am spending money that I already have, and buying things that my family actually needs (OK, so I am using a loose interpretation of the work need). Through our past two years of budgeting using You Need A Budget we have reached the point where we can absorb some unexpected spending without adverse consequences, and our financial life has been much less stressful.

Two Wrongs Equal a Right?

I find it very ironic that the solution the government and economists provide for resolving the financial crisis is exactly the problem that caused the financial crisis. It seems to me that our current crisis was largely caused by people spending money they didn't have. Whether the money was spent on a $1000 TV or a $500,000 house, people were just living beyond their means.

The irony is that people are now being criticized for being thrifty and budget-conscious. We are being told to spend our hearts out to improve the economy, while at the same time we are told that we must learn from our past mistakes.

Reduced consumerism reduces manufacturing and product design jobs. I don't really see any way around it. The solution, however, is NOT to return to our old ways and spend our way out of the problem. At some point all that we consume must be paid for. We can not expect an economy spending money wisely to support the same manufacturing that was supported by an economy on a crash course with bankruptcy. Those jobs have to be lost. It is painful and undesirable, but sometimes we must get worse before we can get better. When our bodies require work, we do not emerge from surgery 100% better. Our bodies require recovery time to require, and the economy is the same way.

So to this I say, let home prices come tumbling down. Let those who purchased homes they had no prospect of ever being able to afford lose them, and let us all strive to live within our means and live a sustainable economic life.

The excesses of others have made life hard for those who chose not to buy in to the economic madness. The rise of double-income homes, childless marriages, and cheap credit allowed the price of homes to skyrocket of out control. I didn't even apply for jobs in California, because I knew that the lifestyle my family chose would not be possible due to the price of housing.

Two wrongs do not equal a right. We cannot spend our way out of the current mess--unless we are all spending money that we already have. Let us and our country move forward without our blatant disregard for the sustainability of our practices, so that life can be better for all of us.