JULY 2011
Sunday 2011.7.31
Anticipating an Anniversary
Next month, around the 15th, this site will observe it's first anniversary. For one year I've been faithful about updating the site every Sunday with a new Featured Recipe. I've kept up the blogs. I haven't missed a single update. It has been a fun first year. So, how to celebrate?
This week I had an idea. I experimented, yet again, with making biscotti. I think it is the fourth recipe I've tried. This one was my own creation and it turned out very well. The second recipe I posted on this site was Almond Biscotti, on August 22 of last year. (The first was a recipe for making bread.) I've had "in the vault" a recipe and video for Cherry and Pistachio Biscotti that I made back in April. I decided it would be the recipe I would publish on the anniversary. Additionally, I thought I would publish a new biscotti recipe every anniversary. The one I worked on this week is ready. So that will be next year's biscotti.
Now that I have plenty of free time, I am enjoying cooking for this web site a lot more. At times I felt like I was under pressure, working five days each week and trying to come up with something for the web site on weekends. Now I am much more relaxed. I created a list of recipes I want to video and publish—some from my recipe box, which goes back to my college days, and some new recipes I've been wanting to try. This weeks' Clam Chowder is one of the new ones. The Finger Lickin' Chicken was of the old ones. I've been making it for years.
Life is good. I enjoy the routine. Today I set up next week's Minute Meals in the freezer. I'll need to cook more chicken this week, and maybe more lamb. Tomorrow I'll bake bread again.
And, speaking of Minute Meals, I've been expanding a little. I made up a lot of Finger Lickin' Chicken and froze it in portions. Today I roasted and portioned some banana squash for the freezer. One of my future recipes will be oven roasted vegetables.
So, there is no end of ideas, so far.
Wednesday 2011.7.27
Tomorrow is My Birthday
I turn 60 tomorrow. Turning 50 was difficult. I had changed jobs and, at least initially, it was not a good choice because it took me away from people. I am one of those who really like people. Working only with a computer each day was not healthy for me. Six weeks later the World Trade Center was destroyed in a terrorist attack, along with part of the Pentagon and who know what else might have been attacked if it were not those who stopped the assault on the plane that crashed in Pennsylvania. I almost knew someone on the plane that crashed into the Pentagon. Someone we had hired was on her way to California to begin her new job. I was a mess.
Thankfully, turning 60 has been easy. At the beginning of this month I entered retirement and I am enjoying it thoroughly. My latest project has been modifications to this computer. I want two boot disks. I have a bay in which I can insert a bare hard disk (no caddy needed), but the disc drive gets hot because it isn't wafted by any gentle cooling breezes. I fabricated a frame to hold a fan. It fits in the bay directly below the boot drive. Cooling problems ended. I have XP on one disk and Windows 7 on the other. I've been wanting to experiment with Win7, but I can't part with XP yet because I have too many utilities I need for this web site.
Sometimes it feels like I have entered the final phase of my life. That's okay. Maybe there will be one more phase, when I enter an assisted care living center. That is a long way away because, so far, I take after my father's side of the family. They all live independently to a very old age. My father's mother lived to be 96 and she smoked all her life. My father would probably still be alive if he hadn't been killed by a drunk driver.
If I inherited the lack of longevity that runs on my mother's side of the family, that would be okay too. They rarely live to be 65. Healthy and robust one day, one massive heart attack takes them away in a single breath. It's an easy way to go.
One friend told me many years ago, "Plan as if you'll live to be 100, but live each day as if it were your last." Sounds cliché, but it works.
Having a web site to cook for really helps. I am still having fun. In fact, I am having more fun now because I don't have a boring job to cope with. I planned for the weekends; now every day is a weekend. I used to tell this joke about working, saying I only worked on Wednesdays because:
Monday no work gets done because I'm recovering from the weekend.
Tuesday is for planning what I will do on Wednesday.
Wednesday I do all the work I planned on Tuesday.
Thursday is for recovering from all the work I did on Wednesday.
Friday is for planning the weekend.
Sunday 2011.7.23
Adjusting to Retirement
For many years I have been known as a "simple lifer." Living in a mobile home has been an important part of that lifestyle. By keeping my eye simple, I have made it possible to retire before I turned 60.
I know of people who keep borrowing on the equity in their home, using the money to surround themselves with more luxurious posessions. For some, it was the race to keep up with appearances. They, sadly, are now struggling with the idea of retirement. They simply can't afford to retire because of that monthly mortgage payment. They're looking at their situation from every angle, trying to determine if their monthly pension check and Social Security payment will be enough to live on. Living in a mobile home may not be the height of style, but it certainly is affordable.
In recent years there has been an ongoing challenge to the city's rent control ordinance. One family I know sold their home in panic, expecting their rent to double or triple if the battle was lost. Some of us stuck it out, waiting. One of the factors that helped me make the decision to retire was the outcome of the challenge. Last month we got word that the U.S. Supreme Court refused to review the decision of the previous court, which ruled in favor of the city. That was the final nail in the coffin. The city's rent control ordinance is now safe and no court in the land can overturn it.
I do need to adjust my spending a little. Although my pension is more than I typically spend each month, it is still lower than my usual paycheck. One adjustment I decided to make was the elimination of my second car. I don't drive very much anyway. My main vehicle, a 1993 Nissan Pathfinder, has less than 60,000 miles on it. I put more miles on my bicycle. Why do I need two cars? So the second car will be donated to the local chapter of Cars for Causes.
For me, the adjustments are minor. I've been making adjustments most of my life, having chosen to live a simple lifestyle. Therefore, the adjustments are easy. I like retirement. My monthly expenses are low. I have health insurance for the remainder of my life. I am secure.
So, yes, some adjustments are necessary, but so far my retirement has been turning out to be very comfortable.
Wednesday 2011.7.20
In the Heat of Summer
It is really starting to warm up here in Southern California. Last night was the first time this season I left window fans running all night. August and September are yet to come. Those are typically the warmest months. When I first moved to California in 1975 the temperature in September reached 107°F. I kept a bottle of alcohol in the car and used it with a rag to cool down the steering wheel so that I could drive. Temperatures like that are rare here along the Pacific coast.
The temperature makes me not want to turn on the oven. I've been trying to make a lamb and sausage pie, but I find excuses to get out of the house instead. Yesterday morning I went shopping in the city and then met a friend for lunch. Today was set aside for making this pie. I started early this morning and the pie was finished before noon. It's a good pie for summer because it can be eaten at room temperature. Salami pie (Torta Rustica) is even better because it tastes delicious when cold.
The heat not only affects my cooking, I heard from a fan of the site who had difficulty making cats tongues. The butter turned to liquid in the piping bag and he could not pipe the cookies onto a baking sheet. When making cats tongues in summer, I recommend putting the piping bag in the refrigerator as much as possible. The heat is the reason I kept that piece of countertop material in the refrigerator overnight to have a cool surface on which to make the brioche. I've thought of purchasing a piece of marble, but they are expensive, heavy, and I can't imagine cooling the stone in the refrigerator. The countertop material was free and light enough to move easily.
It will cool down again soon enough. I don't complain about the heat. Summer is my favorite time of year. The climate here is one reason I moved to California from Connecticut many years ago. Summer is simply not the time to bake, although I did make two loaves of bread during the weekend. This is the time of year to enjoy cold sandwiches, cold salads, and tall glasses of iced coffee. If I didn't keep forgetting to buy apple juice, I'd make white trash martinis. Maybe tomorrow.
Sunday 2011.7.17
And You Thought I Could Only Cook....
Friday was a very enjoyable and satisfying day. In my home office I have a desktop TV (used as both a TV and a second computer monitor). It had been acting uncooperatively lately. I had to press the power button on the remote several times to get it started. It got as bad as 25 to 30 presses before it would power up. So I had been leaving it on, with the contrast and brightness turned all the way down when I wasn't watching it, because it was so difficult to turn on. Finally, nothing worked.
I've had enough experience to believe it was a bad capacitor (cap). It's a Samsung and a little research on the Internet revealed that Samsung is notorious for using underrated caps in their TVs. I removed the covers, got into the power supply thingy and looked at the caps. The 10V 2200µF cap was bulging and a black shiny secretion had leaked from it. That was obviously the problem. The Internet forums recommend replacing it with one rated for a higher voltage.
Thankfully we have an excellent retailer for electronics components in this town. I got a 16v cap and it cost me only $1.61 with the sales tax.
It took longer to heat up the soldering pencil and solder sucker (yep, it really is called a solder sucker). The sucker is used to remove the solder from the old component. There is a rubber bulb to squeeze and hold, then press the hot tip over the solder joint. When the solder melts you release the bulb and it sucks up the liquid solder, releasing the old component. The new cap took only a minute to solder into place. There are, after all, only two leads, one positive and the other negative. Then I put everything back together again and hooked up all the various plugs and cables.
I fired up the TV and it came on instantly with the first press of the power button. Talk about satisfying! This was important because the Tour de France is on television. I didn't want to miss any of the coverage.
There is another reason to feel satisfied this week. The brioche video is the first one I successfully recorded with my new video camera. This video is one of my favorites so far.
Wednesday 2011.7.13
Learning Curve
One issue with getting a new toy is the learning curve. The more complicated the toy, the more steep the curve. I do have to say that, despite a few challenges, the new video camera has been a lot of fun to learn to use.
The first few test clips were a source of frustration. My video editing software wouldn't import them. There was a generic file error message. I tried all kinds of settings. What made it even more frustrating is that the software is supposed to have native support for importing clips from XDCAMs. Lots of research on the Internet led to solutions, but none of them were satisfactory. Eric to the rescue again. He found that the software hadn't fully installed. It was missing the timelines (his term—I have no idea what he's talking about) for XDCAMs. A fresh install of the software solved the problem.
My first full video (Brioche) was useless. All the clips were washed out. Too much brightness. Either the gain was too high on the camera or the iris was too open. Back to the camera settings. I know about zebra stripes and how to use them; I just hadn't set them up yet. A quick visit to the menu solved that problem.
The second video I shot (Brioche again—you can never have too much brioche in the freezer) revealed another issue. My opening graphic of the trailer was designed for the 720p format I originally worked in. I am now shooting in full 1080p. Resizing the graphic was simple. With that little adjustment made, the video was usable.
Then the first encode, which took about 1 hour 15 minutes, crashed in the last 43 seconds. Several attempts also failed. I can only guess that the file is simply too large. I broke it into two parts, encoded them separately, then joined them later. That worked.
The next video, clam chowder, went almost flawlessly. I think I am up and running.
Overall, not much time was lost. The last of the equipment arrived on Friday, July 8. Here it is the 13th and I already have a second video in the vault. Happy happy happy.
Sunday 2011.7.10
Not a Bummer
It has been my practice every January to schedule all my vacations for the year and turn my schedule in to my supervisor at work. It isn't necessary, but I like having first dibs on vacation times. I typically take the week of July 4th off. So this past week would have been a scheduled vacation and today I'd be thinking, "Oh crap! I have to go back to work tomorrow. Bummer!" Not anymore. I remind myself, I am retired.
I've been busy. I am doing all those home improvement projects that get set aside when I work Monday through Friday. On the weekend I am too busy writing recipes and doing videos. So those projects never get done. There are a lot of them, and some go back years. This week I removed the old screen door from my front entrance, painted the door frame, and hung a new screen door. I bought a really nice white vinyl door. It was expensive, but it should last a lot longer than the cheap metal one that I folded up and put in recycling. I can't complain; that screen door was in place when I bought this mobile home 17 years ago. This week I will build a new entryway porch. Between the termites (gone now) and wood rot, it is in bad need of replacing. I'll build a better one that will last longer.
Exciting news to share: I now have my own video camera! My retirement present to myself was a professional video camera similar to the one my friend Eric has been loaning me. He will probably move away and take his camera with him at the end of August, so the purchase was sort of necessary anyway. Today I am doing my first video with the new camera—Brioche.
For those of you who want to know what I use to make videos, my camera is a Sony PMW-EX1R with two 32GB SxS Pro memory cards. Eric's camera is a Panasonic, similar in design and output. I shoot at 1080p, edit on my computer, encode for DVD, and then for YouTube I encode the VOBs to XviD at the highest video definition setting. That's why my videos look so much better than most of the others on YouTube.
Also part of the package is a Sachtler tripod (4188) with an FSB 8 fluid head and an extra battery (BP-U60) for the camera. The Sony lavalier microphone system (URX-P2 receiver and UTX-B2 transmitter) was purchased back when I first started doing videos. Total cost of the package? You don't want to know. I rarely spend this kind of money. My last big purchase was in 1994 when I bought my mobile home, and I got that at a steal. I bought it outright and paid only $24,000. As a double-wide it was worth four times that, but I had a good agent. So, yes, the camera is an expensive toy. But you gotta have toys!
Click the picture for the full size shot in all its glory. I took this picture using natural lighting from a window, with two white foamcore boards for background. I used photo editing software to blend away the seam between the two boards.
Wednesday 2011.7.6
Baking Powder or Baking Soda?
I had an interesting question on my Almond Biscotti video yesterday. Why not use baking powder? There really isn't much difference. Both contain a bicarbonate, typcially sodium bicarbonate. Bicarbonate reacts with acid in the food to make carbon dioxide bubbles, which gives the food its rise and texture.
Baking powder includes acids to give the bicarbonate something to react with. Baking soda has no acid, relying instead on acids in the food.
I compared biscotti recipes across several cookbooks and baking textbooks. Both leaveners were equally represented. I don't think it makes any difference. Nonetheless, one of my experiments this week will be to make a batch of biscotti and divide it in half, using soda in one half and baking powder in the other. Then I'll see what difference, if any, each leavener makes in the final texture of the biscotti.
Meanwhile, I'm watching the Tour de France and, now that I am retired, I am getting home projects done. Today I removed the old screen door and painted the frame (base coat, anyway). Tomorrow morning I'll add a layer of enamel. When there are enough layers of paint and the frame has has a thorough dry, I'll mount a new screen door—white this time, to go with the trim on my mobile home.
Sunday 2011.7.3
Ice Cream
I've been looking forward to doing this recipe and video for a long time. I filmed the video back on January 6, but I've been saving it for the July 4th weekend. Winter was the wrong time to publish an ice cream recipe, except for those living in the southern hemisphere. I've been in New Zealand, twice, so I know they enjoy the beginning of their summer weather in January. Rotorua was a fantastic place, as is almost anywhere on the Southern Island. Beautiful landscapes and seascapes.
As for here in Southern California, right on time we saw the breakup of our "June gloom." Here along the coast a marine layer drifts in from the the Pacific Ocean and blankets the days with fog and low clouds. We might not see much of the sun for weeks at a time. Now that we are in July, the days are sunny and warm—real summer weather.
My memories of chocolate ice cream go all the way back to my early childhood. My twin brother liked chocolate ice cream, and chocolate milk as well. I don't know what it is about chocolate ice cream that tastes so wrong to me, but I never liked it. The flavor just wasn't right. So I preferred vanilla ice cream. I like anything with vanilla in it.
Oddly enough, I really like chocolate milk. One day I was drinking a glass of chocolate milk and the solution to bad chocolate ice cream came to me. Why not make chocoate ice cream with the same ingredients used to make chocolate milk? I tried it and it worked beautifully! I supposed I should call it chocolate milk ice cream. Name notwithstanding, I now love chocolate ice cream. In fact, I prefer it to vanilla ice cream.
Another epiphany came to me recently. I like cherry flavoring. As a child I also liked cherry vanilla ice cream. It had those little red maraschino cherries, which I recently discovered is not the best choice. Having tasted dried cherries, I know what I'll be using when I make cherry vanilla ice cream. I'll post the recipe and video here when I get to it. For now, enjoy the chocolate ice cream. It's delicious!