Seared Scallops

Photo from Google Images

These are healthy, delicious and super easy to make. For best results, use "dry" scallops. I actually use the frozen sea scallops in a bag from Costco. They turn out pretty good.

Procedure

1. Dry the scallops with a paper towel. The drier, the better.
2. Spray some Pam into a pan and turn on high heat.
3. Season the scallops. I spray them with a little Pam and sprinkle garlic powder, sea salt and (a little) cracked pepper on them.
4. Place them in the pan one by one, not touching. Do not move them at all.
5. Let cook for 2 minutes, flip them over, and cook for two more minutes.
6. I eat them straight out of the pan. :D

Notes

There are a couple of tricks to searing scallops...

1. You have to dry them as much as possible and cook on high heat; you don't want your sear to turn into a soup.
2. Do not move them once they are placed in the pan; this will ruin the burnt crustiness.
3. Do not overcook them; they are supposed to be rare in the middle.

Driving on the Edge, Part V

Yes, that is me in the black Vette

Highlights

• Past an ACR Viper and Ford GT.
• Past a few people on my "nemesis" list (red Solstice GXP, that mofo is really good).
• My friend Mike sold his C6 Coupe and showed up to the track in a new C6 Z06!!
• Past Mike a few times... :D
• R compound tires do not work miracles.
• I burned through my track pads on the first day and had to put my stock ones back on. :(
• My rotors are cracking. :(
• My friend Jason now has racing slicks on his Z06 and completely dominated the blue group (why is he in blue anyway?!?).
• The yellow group isn't as fast as I thought it would be.
• Mike on being an older guy in a Z06 being revved at by kids, "I used to have a loud car when I was young, now I have a fast car."
• Me on riding in my instructor's full tilt race car, "It's like falling, but I know he's in complete control."
• I did a textbook example of what to do when going off track.
• I did a textbook example of what not to do when going off track (see video). :(

So I had a really bad "off" in the last session of the weekend. I came out of ricochet too fast and put two wheels off and yanked on the steering wheel, then shot back across the track, all while someone was behind me. That is really really bad. Cutting across the track is very dangerous.

I know better than to shoot across the track like that. The day before, I went off track in a very controlled and safe manner, exactly like how it's suppose to be done. So what went wrong this time? Here are my best guesses...

• I was trying to impress my instructor (I had an extremely good session previously driving solo).
• I was not committed to going off track. I thought I could save it.
• We were driving the track backwards so corner worker stations were at corner exits instead of entrances.
• I freaked out because I thought I was going to hit the corner worker station. I lost my head and yanked the steering wheel to get back on track.

You've heard a million times not to do that (pull the steering wheels to get back on track). You've seen other people do it and told yourself, "I won't be that guy." But it all happens so fast. There is no time to think, just react. Unfortunately, I reacted to the panic of hitting something on the left, so I swerved out of control to the right.