Simple & Delicious: Arroz con Pollo

As always, the What is dedicated to presenting you with colorful ideas for everyday life. Many of our ideas are food-related, because we love food. Learning how to cook for yourself now that you no longer have your mom or your meal plan to provide your meals can seem like a daunting task. We at the What are here to show you that cooking can be fun, easy, and rewarding by offering up recipes like this from our personal cookbooks. As is the case with most of our recipe-based ideas, this one is simple and delicious, just like us.

Arroz con Pollo

Arroz con pollo (rice with chicken) is one of my favorite dishes. Growing up with Puerto Rican neighbors, block parties would often have this delicious staple. Over the years I have had many, many variations of this Latin American meal and this particular style is one of my favorites. As is the case with many meals I prepare, this is the result of a little bit of research and a lot of experimentation in the kitchen.

Weekly Top Five - 9.Aug.11

In  High Fidelity, the characters compare their top fives in a variety of categories. Being big fans of both the film and novel, we here at the What bring you our Weekly Top Five, a feature focused on five fantastic things that you should become familiar with.

Summer Beers

 

Beer is a wonderful beverage to enjoy any time of the year. Yet I find that each year the two seasons I enjoy a cold one the most are in summer and autumn. The seasonal varieties offered by breweries worldwide between May and November are some of the best beers available. After highlighting some of the best Fall Beers last year, this year I'd like to take a look at a few summer offerings. For more information on each selection, click the link to see their pages on Beer Advocate.

5- River Horse Summer Blonde
This New Jersey beer is light, tasty, and refreshing, just as an ideal summer brew should be. While many places did not give it very high ratings, I enjoyed it several times this summer, meriting its inclusion here.

4- Brooklyn Summer Ale
I can not think of a beer from the Brooklyn brewery that I have not enjoyed. This seasonal is consistent with their regular offerings in its taste. For me, this beer replaced last year's favorite: Blue Moon Honey Moon.

3- Troegs Sunshine Pils
While Victory makes my favorite Pils, theirs is year-round and their attempt at a summer ale was lackluster. Troegs, out of Harrisburg, puts out this German-style Pilsener each summer and it was definitely a hit for me this year.

Grillmaster 101: Cooking With Meat

Summer is slowly coming to an end, but there is still a good two to three months of grilling left, depending on where you live. Over the past few months, the guys and gals at Primer Magazine have given you tips on grill safety, side dishes, summer drinks, and a lot more to keep you going through the heat. Now that we have every other part of the meal covered, it is time to get down to the main course. With apologizes to our vegetarian friends, today’s lesson in Grillmaster 101 is Cooking with Meat.

Mixtape Madness #8: Official Soundtrack of Summer 2011

According to the novel High Fidelity the making of a good mix tape, like breaking up, is hard to do. Furthermore, a good mix is never finished. You never know when you will come across a song that changes the dynamic of the mix you just completed. There is a litany of intricacies to crafting the ideal mix no matter what the mix’s intended purpose should be. This feature is merely a guide on the cosmic highway of mix making, and while experienced, the writer does not claim to be an expert.

Soundtrack of Summer 2011

Each year I put together a soundtrack to accompany the madness that summer brings. Typically I start with one mix, but by summer's end, I move onto a new one. Last year, I put together the 2010 mix in June. This year, I've waited until August. This enables me to include songs that either became popular over the summer or songs that resonate with a particular event. 


1- "Heatwave" by Chiddy Bang
I first heard this song in April and knew instantly it would get steady rotation throughout the summer. Philly group Chiddy Bang take a classic summer song here and make it their own. 


2- "Feel Me Flow" by Naughty By Nature
I really can not think of a song that makes me think of hanging out at a summer block party more than this one. Hearing this song calls to mind riding my bike around as a kid why the adults were chilling on the patio. It's not summer without this jam.


3- "Everlasting Light" by the Black Keys
I was a fan of the Black Keys around the time that Black Snake Moan came out, but somehow missed out on their latest album. For that reason, I didn't hear this song until a ride home after a long night of partying in June. Since that night, it has been on every mix I've made.


4- "Love Is Strange" by Mickey & Sylvia
The first real party of the summer came in the form of a 1960's beach rock dance party. After that fantastic evening and a viewing of Dirty Dancing, I've been rocking a lot of music from that era, including this little gem.


5- "Dance Yrself Clean" by LCD Soundsystem
I am admittedly late to the game on a lot of awesome things. Case in point: I just started watching Arrested Development this week. Unfortunately, LCD Soundsystem is one of those things I was too late for. I first heard this song after a friend showed me the video here. I loved the video (check it out on the right), and loved the song. It has since had a couple of good summer memories attached to it, hence its inclusion here. 

Gentleman's Goal: Accomplished

In May I wrote an article for Primer Magazine issuing a goal for gentlemen worldwide: take a woman on a picnic within the next two weeks. Several readers responded positively to this idea, and I thought it wise to take my own advice and go on a picnic. I have recently garnered a reputation for coming up with creative dates, and the picnic goal fits perfectly in that niche.

Click the image to see the original article for Primer Magazine

In the Primer article, I gave gents two weeks to accomplish this goal. Week one was set aside for planning and preparation, week two is when the picnic was to occur. I broke the preparation into three parts: setting, tools of the trade, and menu. Unfortunately for me, I did not have a setting, the tools of the trade, or, for that matter, a woman. Luckily, these missing pieces all came together quite nicely. Shortly after the article came out, I started dating a lovely lady and told her about going to the Mann Music Center in Philadelphia's Fairmount Park to watch orchestral performances. As it turned out, the very next day she was able to score tickets to one such performance for free. The cool thing about orchestral performances is that the Mann Center allows you to bring coolers, food, chairs, alcoholic beverages, and more. Just like that, the missing pieces fell into place.