Last week was an exploration of chicken. I purchased three chicken breasts and decided to create a different chicken dish for three consecutive nights (all three breasts were brined for 24 hours in water, salt and lemon juice, rinsed and returned to the refrigerator). The first night was a stuffed on the bone chicken breast. The stuffing consisted of sautéed chopped trumpet mushrooms and garlic which was added to a mixture of lebni, chopped spinach, chopped slivered almonds, marjoram, parmesan cheese, salt and pepper. The breast was then pan roasted with diced tomatoes and the rest of the trumpet mushroom which was sliced thinly. The sauce was finished with butter to make a beurre blanc. The second breast was marinated in soy, ginger and cornstarch for an hour. It was then sautéed in peanut oil until browned and set on a plate. Over high heat chopped carrots and onions were added to the pan and cooked briefly, Then garlic, broccoli, snap peas and peanuts were added along with a little bit of rice wine vinegar, light soy sauce, chicken stock mixed with cornstarch and peanuts. This was also cooked only briefly over high heat. Once the sauce thickened, toasted sesame seed oil and the chicken were added to the pan and heated through. The final dish was deep fried. However, I decided to do chicken fingers by removing the meat from the bones. Three nice preparations. I did no other cooking for the weekend as we ate out both Saturday and Sunday. However, the recipe of the week is one I will prepare on Wednesday, Steak au Poivre. Steak au Poivre or pepper steak is usually a fillet mignon or strip steak coated with coarsely cracked black peppercorns. The heat of the peppercorns is softened through the cooking process and addition of butter and cream. So, my version of Steak au Poivre, enjoy!

Forecasting Brings Fairness

It seems we are entering another period where the infrastructure and application providers are not seeing eye to eye. According to KPN CEO Eelco Blok, Apple and Google should help to upgrade and maintain mobile data networks since they gain revenues from the existence of the networks but do not contribute to the necessary maintenance and expansion.

"They use our networks without having to make any investment. This is an untenable situation in the telecom sector," stated Blok bluntly.

Apparently, this stems from the usage associated with the instant messaging WhatsApp service which grew dramatically over a period of several months. KPN, the mobile provider in the Netherlands, claims the applications have been adopted by “almost all of our younger smartphone customers” obviously stressing his mobile network.

My initial reaction was Blok protests too much. After all, in most cases, KPN experiences a revenue increase along with the adoption of the new service. However, further reflection did present me with an alternative view. It takes investment and time to build out or expand a network. Carriers use sophisticated models to determine where, when and how much to build. When ASPs, like Apple and Google, release new services that are expected to generate a new wave of traffic without giving notice to the carriers, this can negatively affect all network users. Perhaps, it’s inappropriate that KPN get compensation from the ASPs but it is clearly appropriate for them to receive notice of these new applications.

Executing non-disclosure agreements with the ASPs should protect the business interest of each. Sharing information will improve the carriers’ ability to forecast future infrastructure requirements. Additionally, they would also be in a position to develop new calling plans to better fit their customer bases changing patterns. Upon even further reflection, it would be good for an ITSP, like Broadvox, to know of impending events, services or applications that are expected to noticeably affect traffic volumes and patterns.

Patrick S. Ryan, Policy Counsel at Google, is correct in writing Everyone Already Pays their Fair Share but a little cooperation in providing insight into future product offerings might silence or reduce carrier complaints.