AUGUST 2014
Sunday 2014.8.31
Last Day of August
Those of you who are among the most dedicated fans of this web site and blog — all two of you — might have noticed something lacking this month. Two weeks ago I did not observe the anniversary of this web site by coming up with another biscotti recipe. It has been too hot to bake. I've got some exciting ideas to work on, but I need to wait until the weather cools a little. September will be here tomorrow and we'll begin to start seeing a general cooling trend in the weeks to come. Meanwhile, I've been thriving on Minute Meals and cold sandwiches.
While not cooking, I've been focusing some time on other projects. There is always something to do. This past week I lost a bunch of channels on my old flat screen TV/computer monitor. It has been on my desk for years, as a second monitor and occasional TV. Sometimes I like to have the news on while I'm working on the computer. I've lost channels on the TV before. The problem is in the digital tuner. It's old style, one of the first tuners to come along in the digital age. Supposedly it lacks a certain chip set that is required for proper functioning with my cable TV/Internet setup.
So I went to Costco. They have one 24-inch TV/monitor that is also discounted with an instant manufacturer's rebate. I bought it. Voila! After scanning for channels, not only were all the lost channels available again, I picked up a few more. Happy, happy. As I like to say, every silver lining has a cloud. The TV is the same make as the older one, which is now part of my dual monitor system. When I use the remote on one panel, the other panel also responds. A short strip of aluminum foil covering the infrared receptor solved that problem.
I should probably point out that I don't watch much TV. What is worth watching? 12 hours of Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives? I can't tolerate Guy Fieri for half an hour, let alone from noon to midnight. But I do have my ritual when it comes to the news. At 4:00 is France 24, broadcast in English, followed by Journal, which comes out of Germany. At 5:00 is BBC World News America (Washington), followed by the financial news, and finally BBC World News (London) at 6:00.
The problem with USA news programs like CNN is that they only report the most sensational stories as they compete with one another for ratings. A bridge collapses and the American news journalists ask around for the highest casualty estimates. "As many as 200 people are feared dead." Later you find out that everyone got off the bridge safely; but a dog is reported missing. 200 is more sensational. Wolf Blitzer can make split ends seem like a terrorist threat.
I spend most of my time in my home office. If I'm not working on recipes, editing videos, or writing this blog, I'm doing something on the computers, even if only checking my email. I even eat most of my meals at my desk. I have a large TV in the living room, but it is rarely on. I can't do other stuff in front of that TV. In the office I can work on the computer while the TV is on.
And, speaking of videos, I haven't heard yet from the company that emailed me about doing a teaching program for them. Their web site says they respond in five to seven days. It has been two weeks. At this point it is probably safe to assume they don't want my videos; so I'll give them another week and then put the videos on my schedule for uploads to YouTube.
Do You Know What Cherimoya (AKA Cherymoya) Are?
Sometimes I like to grow things, as long as they're legal. Last year someone gave me a piece of fruit that I think was cherimoya. Shiny black seeds inside. I planted one of the seeds. It sprouted one leaf and held onto life tenuously all winter. A month or so ago it started growing new leaves. I did a little reading. Evidently they go dormant during winter, which would explain why it didn't do anything for many months. Whether or not it will ever become a pleasant ornamental to grace my home, time will tell. But I feel good that it didn't die.
Wednesday 2014.8.27
A Good Time Was Had By All, Mostly…
One of the limitations of a trailer park is yard space. We don't have much of it. Clutter it with small trees, planters, a storage shed, etc., and you might have very little space. Ten people for a barbecue is a squeeze. Eleven is nearly impossible.
When I arrived for my neighbor's get-together they were playing musical chairs, trying to decide amongst themselves where they would all sit. No one wanted to sit in the back row, out of the center of conversation. To make things easier, I sat back there. It gave me a private space in which I could take out my cell phone and play Texas Hold'em and text people. At one point someone was choking on a grape and I didn't even notice. I was in my own little world. I wished I had brought my tablet. I could have watched a movie.
The Smoky Pork Chili I made was good, but I committed a sacrilege afterward. I brought the leftovers home, where I had even more leftovers in a covered pot on the stove. There was easily more than a gallon of chili (I made way more than enough). I poured everything into two large ziplock bags and put them in the trash.
I could have portioned it and froze it, but this variety of chili doesn't freeze and reheat as well as my Texas Beef Chili, which is made without beans. The beans are the problem. When frozen and then reheated, they break up into a mush that ruins the texture of the soup. The flavor is good, but the chili sort of looks like something you might find in a baby's diaper. I have the same problem with my Lentil and Sausage Soup. Some foods are better eaten fresh and not saved.
I love these soups/stews and I will be making them again this coming winter — for me.
I was publicly volunteered to host the next gathering. I have rules about that. If you suggest a gathering, you're the host. You can't push the responsibility onto someone else. I politely let everyone know that I am waiting to hear about a potential paid video project that, if it is approved, will keep me busy for several weeks.
I have the room in my mobile home space for a small gathering. My space is the only one with a 40-foot driveway, with additional room toward the back. Mine is a corner space. I could sit 20 people, with room to spare, by parking my truck in front of my home. But, to be honest, I'm not a party planner. Some people are good at that sort of thing. They get all enthusiastic and animated when they're arranging a gathering of people they like. I'm not that kind of person. If I were, I wouldn't be content to sit in the back row and text friends or play games on my smart phone.
I'm a very organized person in my own home. People have commented on how my kitchen looks in my videos. No clutter on the counters. However, being organized doesn't make me a good party organizer. People are not things. They do not have a shelf tag on their back that tells you exactly where they belong in a huge multi-story library. And so the next party is up for grabs.
Virus Scanning
My other computer has been doing a full system scan for viruses all morning. It just finished moments ago. Last night a message popped up, telling me Norton Antivirus had been turned off. I know what that means — an attack. I immediately pulled the network cables and then inserted my Norton disk. A preliminary scan found and removed seven high-risk viruses. This morning I installed a fresh version of Antivirus and updated the signatures. Then I ran a full system scan. It took three hours and found only 32 low-risk tracking cookies. I think I dodged a bullet this time. Usually a virus attack results in a fresh start — format the hard disk and install my operating system and software. It takes two days. Three hours is an economical way to know my computer is safe.
Sunday 2014.8.24
Looking Forward
As the fall season approaches I always start looking forward to cooler weather, perhaps some rain, and winter cooking. Today I uploaded my recipe and video for Scallop Chowder.
This recipe came about because someone gave me a bag of frozen petite Patagonian scallops. I put the bag in the freezer and wondered what I might do with them. They're smaller than bay scallops, and therefore too small to sear. I have been trying to clear out my freezer (it's very near to full, still); so the idea of chowder came to mind. The scallops work well in chowder.
Chowder, a soup or stew, makes me think of winter soups. I'd like to try this recipe again with fish to make a fish stew. Any firm fish that wouldn't break up easily should work fine. A few times in the past someone gave me some perch they caught while surf fishing. I know perch. About the only thing I can do with it is make some sort of fish soup because it breaks up so easily. Perhaps other varieties of perch might be more firm, but the surf perch given to me had a very tender flesh. The only way to fry it was to leave the skin attached to hold it together. It really doesn't work as well in soup as a firm white fish does, but making soup is better than trying to fry a filet, which just crumbles.
The warehouse store has wild caught salmon in the fish case. It seems like a waste to cut up beautiful salmon filets to make soup, but they are large pieces of fish. Perhaps most of the filet could be eaten in a meal, say Blackened Salmon, and the flesh toward the tail, and any leftovers, could be devoted to soup. It's a thought. Another thought is their farmed steelhead trout, the only farmed fish I'll eat. It has a good flavor.
Another reason I am thinking of fall weather is today's "End of Summer Barbecue" at a neighbor's home this afternoon. I am bringing a large pot of my Smoky Pork and Bean Chili. I put the beans in water last night to soak overnight. Later this morning I'll start cooking. In an effort to use up some of the food in the freezer, I'll also add some Italian sausage that I'll cook and chop. It should make for a fairly interesting chili.
And I've been gathering ripe lemons, about 30 so far, from my neighbor's tree to make fresh lemonade. I'll make that while the beans are cooking.
All this thinking about soups and stews has me wondering what this coming winter will be like. The Pacific Northwest has already experienced some severe weather — resulting in floods and land slides. The jet stream that typically brings moist weather to the Pacific Northwest often moves southward during the winter months, bringing tropical moisture into Southern California. When it comes from Hawaii the meteorologists call it the "Pineapple Express." We haven't had one of those in many years, and we have the drought to prove it.
For a while I was hoping to learn something from the ants. I use them as a predictor of rains to come. Up until a few weeks ago I was killing the odd scout ant when I found them here and there. None have been seen indoors lately. No rain again this winter? Some meteorologists are saying we have a high probability of an El Niño event this winter, which usually brings copious rains. However, others are says there is only about a 50% probability that an El Niño condition will result in more rain than usual.
Thankfully water is not an emergency here. We have extra water stored in underground aquifers and there is a desalination plant that can be brought on line to supply fresh water from ocean water. It's expensive, but expensive water is better than no water.
As I've said many times in this blog, winter is my time for eating soups. However, I've been eating soup all summer. The problem has been the freezer. I got a little ahead of myself with the chicken stock. At one time I had more than 40 cups of stock in the freezer, all frozen in individual one-cup blocks. As I said above, my freezer is nearly full. I've been trying to eat it down. That includes the stock.
And, finally, I submitted the proposal for the 11 videos shot in 10 days that I mentioned in Wednesday's blog. They make up a teaching program. If approved, I'll earn my first payment for my video work. I've received a few modest donations from this web site, but a paid assignment would be welcome. I'm keeping my expectations low. If not approved, I'll upload the videos to YouTube for everyone to enjoy for free.
Wednesday 2014.8.20
Down Time
After shooting 11 videos in 10 days, I'm enjoying some rest. I have been watching a few old movies — Mr. Hulot's Holiday, The Man Who Came to Dinner (seen many times) — and a few new ones, like The Grand Budapest Hotel. Hotel really surprised me. I knew it would be good, but not that good. I'm looking forward to watching it again some time. It's one of those movies that might get better with each viewing. It's like the movie Harold and Maude, my all-time most favorite movie. I've watched it dozens of time. My second favorite is A Room With a View. It's near the top of my list because I've read the book at least a dozen times. I try to read it once a year, and I'm probably overdue already this year. Most people think Howard's End is E.M. Forster's best novel. I disagree. I think Room/View is his best. It's my all-time favorite book.
I did do some cooking, but only to roast some chicken for my Minute Meals. My freezer is well stocked with food. I've been trying to eat it down. There is chicken, lamb, pork, fish, besides lots of vegetables and chicken stock. Not only are the LMMs a quick and easy way to eat, they're economical too. I've gone shopping, but mostly to buy a few vegetables and milk for my coffee.
This week I've also been watching the USA Pro Challenge cycling race in Colorado. The race has been a little more interesting to watch this year because most of the big names aren't competing. They're either in other races in Europe or still recovering from the injuries they sustained in the Tour de France last month. It has been kind of fun to see some unknown cyclists winning stages and wearing shirts they probably wouldn't have if the big boys were in town.
The big concern this week is the upcoming gathering on Saturday. I will be bringing a pot of my Smoky Pork and White Bean Chili. Even though it's only Wednesday, I already have the recipe printed and taped to the wall of my kitchen. The one change I'll make is to substitute a bean mix for the white beans. White Northerns would work well, but I like those 15-bean mixes that are available in many stores.
In soup and chili they make for a more nouvelle cuisine sort of dish. I like to use the blend in my Pasta Fagioli recipe. The blend is also more economical than buying genuine cannellini beans, which is the traditional bean to use in Pasta Fagioli.
Finally, as I mentioned in Sunday's blog, my plan is to make fresh lemonade with the lemons from my neighbor's tree. There are currently a lot of lemons on her tree and they are ripening fast as summer winds down. The tree produces fruit year round, but this is the time when the tree yields the most ripe fruit. I already have more than a dozen of her lemons set aside for lemonade. This morning I'll go pick some more.
I'm looking forward to summer ending. Like many living here in California, I'm hoping for more rain this coming winter.
I also always enjoy the end of winter and cold weather, although here in Southern California our idea of cold might be perceived as slightly cool in other parts of the country. We don't see frost and if there is snow, it's up on top of the mountains for a day once or twice each winter. Mostly I look forward to the rain. Which reminds me, I need to get out the ladder and go up onto the roof again to check it before the winter rains begin. Mobile home roofs require more periodic maintenance. Thankfully they're easy to keep maintained.
Sunday 2014.8.17
Time for Lemonade
I mention in some of my videos — those in which I am preparing a recipe that uses lemon juice — that I have a neighbor with a lemon tree. I come from New England and even though I have lived in California for nearly 40 years, it still amuses me that I can pick lemons off a tree in the middle of winter, wearing a shirt without a jacket or sweater (jumper).
During the warm summer months I enjoy lemonade. I drink a lot of it and I find it to be not only refreshing but also rejuvenating when I am feeling listless or tired. Maybe it's the sugar. During the winter months, however, I don't crave lemonade. I want tea, and I take my tea with milk and sugar, not lemon. Her tree produces lemons year round. I'm the only one who uses them and she often tells me to come get the lemons. If I don't pick them, they fall to the ground and she has to pick them up, which is not always easy at her age. Say no more.
Most of the lemons are good, full of juice, and make delicious lemonade because I let them ripen fully on the tree before I pick them. Some, however, are a little strange. I found one odd looking mutant. It looks more like a pepper than a lemon. I avoided picking it for months, hoping it would fall off and be thrown away. Finally the owner of the tree gave it to me.
Additionally, her tree is in need of pruning. The tree sticks out too much. It is difficult to move around. Also — and this was a painful surprise to me — lemon trees grow sharp barbs. I guess they don't like people picking their fruit. More than once I ended up with a bleeding scratch on my arm or hand as I reached for a lemon. One time I poked my pinky finger with a barb and it itched for a few months afterward. Hopefully, with a little pruning the lemons will be easier to get to. Besides the width, the tree is getting too tall. She has an awning alongside her mobile home. The tree is growing up into the awning. In a good wind storm, the branches could cause damage. So I'm doing a little pruning each week. With regular attention the tree can be kept in check.
All this comes about because there is a gathering here in the park this coming Saturday. It won't be a big social affair, one of those meet-and-greet picnics at which we become acquainted with some of the neighbors we've never known (even though they've been in the park 20 years like I have). This one will be a small group of the local friends, the neighbors on this street. We're the core of the West Side.
My neighbor's lemon tree is burgeoning with fruit. I keep picking the lemons as they ripen, but I cannot use them quickly enough. I wait until I have a couple dozen, then squeeze them for juice.
I don't want any to go to waste because fresh lemonade, from ripe lemons fresh from the tree, is a treat to experience. If you've only made lemonade from frozen canned concentrate, fresh lemonade is a little different, like fresh orange juice is different from canned concentrate. The only way I can think to describe it is that it tastes more like lemons. You can really taste the fruit juice. Even the juice I freeze and store makes better lemonade that the concentrate in the store.
I got lucky this week. There is an Italian Pottery Outlet down in the city and when I need to drive down there I usually stop in to check out their clearance items. Most of the plates in my videos are clearance items. The odd thing about them is they don't look good on a table setting, but they look good in photographs. The store had one pitcher, about 2 quarts, that was hand made in Italy. It was simple enough to be elegant, unlike some of the gaudy pottery they sell. And it was only $15, marked down from $65. I grabbed it.
The plan is to make fresh lemonade at the gathering. And, doing a little research, I learned something new. It was one of those "Duh! Why didn't I think of that?" moments. You know how difficult it is to get all the sugar to dissolve in a cold drink. The sugar sinks to the bottom. Make a simple syrup. Heat a cup of water and a cup of sugar in a small saucepan until the sugar is completely dissolved. Then let cool. Transfer to a clean jar and keep it in the refrigerator. It will keep for many months.
So I have my formula, the one I like, 1-1-4. One cup simple syrup, one cup fresh-squeezed lemon juice, four cups cold water. Mix, pour into glasses with ice. If you start with cold simple syrup and cold water, the ice won't melt much for a while. I actually like my lemonade a little milder, a little more water, because I don't like flavors that are too sour. But add enough sugar and I'm okay. (At home I use a sugar substitute. I don't like all the sugar in me.)
Wednesday 2014.8.13
I'm a Culinary Snob
I admit it. I should probably be whipped with al dente spaghetti or punished by other means (like being forced to eat grilled cheese sandwiches made with American cheese — actually I like those), but it's a fault and I'm probably not going to change my ways soon. I've cured myself of many shortcomings, but some I cling to.
The subject came up because I wasn't certain whether or not to put garlic in an Alfredo sauce I was making. Like many of these issues, there is a back story:
I was doing research on the sauce. Some of the recipes used garlic, some didn't. All of them, with one exception, used no thickener. The sauce was mostly heavy cream and cheese. I began to wonder what made the sauce cling to the pasta. The cheese would help, but it seemed like it needed more glue. I dug deeper.
One web site said that the sauce was originally thickened with roux. If you're not familiar, it's a simple combination of butter (preferably clarified) and all-purpose flour that is heated for a minute or two to cook the flour. You can heat it longer to color the flour, making either a blond roux, a brown roux (actually reddish; thus roux), or a dark roux by cooking it until the flour nearly burns. I've been experimenting with white roux, in which the flour is only cooked, but not long enough to change color.
The reason for omitting the roux, it was explained, is that the authors of many recipes believe American cooks are not experienced enough to understand a roux. The fear is that we will see the word roux, scream, and then run and hide. The assumption is that the concept of a roux automatically means the sauce is too difficult, too labor intensive. You're going to need some sort of expensive and complicated equipment or an advanced degree from a prestigious culinary academy in Paris to know about roux. In many parts of the world, including the American Deep South, people make roux as easily as they make coffee. (Okay, a dark roux can take a long time, but a white roux is as easy as lowering a tea bag into a cup of hot water.)
I learned something else. Supposedly no true Italian in Italy eats Alfredo sauce. They might eat pasta al burro, pasta with butter, garnished with a little Parmesan cheese, but not Alfredo.
Silly me, I thought Fettuccine Alfredo was as Italian as Pasta Fagioli. Not true; it's about as Italian as chop suey is Chinese. I verified this with my Italian cooking friend. Sometime during the early 20th century, actually just about 100 years ago, a chef named Alfredo, in Rome, invented Alfredo sauce for the American tourists. You know those Americans. They put cheese in everything.
The snobbery arose when I was wondering whether or not to add garlic. There was a TV show I used to watch on the Food Channel. The audience, mostly Americans, always applauded three things — the garlic, the hot sauce, and the booze (liquor). No one ever applauded the parsley, the chicken stock, nor the salt and pepper, even though they might be just as important in the recipe. So maybe the attitudes about us Americans in the kitchen have some foundation in truth.
As for me, I made a pot of simple white sauce, a mother sauce, by thickening milk (actually half and half) with some white roux. Then I divided the sauce into three portions. To one portion I added some freshly ground nutmeg, white pepper, and salt to make a Bèchamel sauce (sauce 1). To that I added some egg yolks, pancetta that was fried until brown and crisp, and some cooked peas to make carbonara sauce (sauce 2). To another third of the mother sauce I added some freshly grated Parmesan cheese and a little chopped fresh parsley to make Alfredo sauce (sauce 3). To the remainder of the white sauce I added a little dry sherry, some ground oregano and white pepper, and a little cheese to make my favorite sauce (sauce 4) for Seafood Fettuccine. If you're wondering why — this was for a video.
I didn't put garlic, booze, nor hot sauce in anything.
And, finally, I did gaze for a while at the super moon this past weekend. I went outside just as it was rising above the eastern horizon. There are so many things about this planet that are beautiful.
Sunday 2014.8.10
The Way They Cook
This week I enjoyed the pleasure of someone else doing the cooking. A friend called me about a dish he invented using Japanese noodles, some chili peppers, green onions, a few sauces, and some chicken. He wanted to make it for me in my kitchen.
The first thing I noticed was the odor of the chicken. It wasn't past its expiration date, but neither was it fresh. You know when chicken has gone bad. It's an odor you never forget. Thankfully the chicken hadn't reached that stage, but it was definitely marginal. I let him proceed for a couple of reasons: 1, a sense of adventure. What's the worst that could happen? I've lived 63 good years. I'm satisfied with enough life. And, 2, for the sake of good manners. He was so looking forward to making this dish for me, I really didn't want to do or say anything that might discourage him.
So then the preparation began. I have never seen my kitchen such a mess. I resisted all temptation to follow around behind him cleaning up his messes as he made them. Again, it was the sense of adventure. How dirty could my kitchen really get with no effort of intervention on my part? You wouldn't believe how dirty a kitchen can get! You get past the point at which with worried brow you think, Gloriosky Louise!, and start to laugh about it. Seriously. I had to see it to believe it. This was my kitchen!
I'm not compulsive about cleaning. I do, however, clean as I go along. If I need to wait for something to cook in a skillet or bake in the oven, I use the time to wash anything that might have made it into the sink — knives, bowls, utensils, whatever. If there's time, I even dry them and put them away. Again, I'm not compulsive, but a little advance cleaning, especially in small stages during cooking periods, can save a person from the long and arduous task of cleaning a dirty kitchen after eating a big meal. You know the feeling. You just want to sit, not clean.
He cleaned up most of his mess. I washed a few things only because I wanted them cleaned my way — my wood cutting boards, for example. He really likes, and appreciates, my kitchen knives. So those he handled with care and cleaned well. The garlic press, on the other hand, needed attention after he'd gone home. I know that garlic press. I've used it for nearly 30 years. I know about the few nooks and crannies where little bits of garlic like to gather and hide. Sometimes I use a toothbrush and chlorine cleanser to give it a good scrubbing when it needs it.
Ultimately, it was a satisfying evening. The meal was…interesting. Some people like a lot of flavor in their foods — lots of hot sauce or plenty of spices. I enjoy a little subtlety. Give me a few well balanced herbs and a delicate sauce, such as a béchamel, and I'm a happy man. Soy sauce, plum sauce, fish sauce, hoisin sauce, sesame oil, teriyaki sauce, oyster sauce, all combined with part of a bottle of beer doesn't inspire me to fold a napkin onto my lap and pick up a fork. Those were the sauces he used.
I ate everything on my plate. You can thank my mother for that. We couldn't leave the table until we cleared our plates. So I learned to be a good dinner guest. Leave nothing on the plate. But I do need to admit I was glad to see an empty plate before me. Just knowing there was no more was a reward in itself.
Oh, and the marginal chicken? Not to worry. It was still on the good side. I had no problems during the night and I felt fine the following day. Phew! I feel like I dodged a bullet.
In other news, again, I continue with the videos for the company up in the Bay Area. I shot and edited two more this week. These are fun because they're so easy.
Wednesday 2014.8.6
Miracle in a Jar? I Don't Think So
At the end of Sunday's blog I mentioned kefir. Someone sent me some granules and I started making and eating — more like drinking — kefir. The result was an increase in body weight of one pound per day. The bloating and abdominal pain were not debilitating, but it was uncomfortable. I was consuming only half a cup per day. I did more research.
The number of outlandish claims about the miraculous properties of kefir are astounding. It cures everything from Alheimer's to Zen Buddhism. This includes things like e coli, salmonella, and various forms of cancer. Too bad there is no mention of ebola. The people in parts of Africa could use the help.
One claim was especially amusing. Scientists supposedly introduced animal feces into kefir, expecting to detect e coli after an incubation period. The kefir sanitized the dung.
In Sunday's blog I also mentioned the herb friend who talked me into buying an expensive bottle of something that turned out to be nothing more than a potassium supplement. It was supposed to cure the pain in my wrists, which I later learned was carpal tunnel syndrome. It didn't. At a religious convention (I am no longer a practicing member) I sat next to an elderly woman during lunch. We started a conversation and soon she handed me her business card. She sold herbs. I smiled politely, feigned interest, and promised to think about the herbs. The card went into the trash shortly after lunch.
I don't oppose herbs. I know how beneficial they are. I cook with them and they make foods taste delicious. I grow rosemary in my back yard. I recently made some pesto with fresh basil and some rosemary infused olive oil I had made. The pesto was so delicious I had to stop myself from eating it with a spoon like ice cream. I used it to make my Pesto Lamb. However, I've heard the miracles and I've even given some products a try. No miracles happened in my home.
My kefir experience makes me think of surgery. We are willing to suffer the discomfort and pain after surgery because we know the final outcome will be an improvement in our quality of life. I've never had any serious surgery, like a transplant. The only time I went into surgery at a hospital was to have a small piece of tissue removed from my colon to be tested for cancer. It came back negative. However, that was surgery for a potentially life-threatening condition. Before the kefir I was feeling fine. I didn't need to change anything. Therefore, the discomfort I felt seemed unwarranted.
I have since stopped eating kefir. I know that some people who stick with it eventually adapt and feel better later. However, I didn't add kefir to my diet hoping to cure myself from some sickness. The granules were sent by a fan of the web site and I'm brave enough to try almost anything. I've eaten goat, moose, wild boar — I'd try alligator meat and rattlesnake if I had the opportunity. I tried the kefir. No thanks. I think I'm better off without it.
In other news, a company up in the Bay Area has been soliciting me to submit a proposal for ten short (10 to 12 minutes each) teaching videos around a theme. If approved, the payment would be the most I received from any video project. They've seen my other videos. I gave them ten when they were first starting up a couple years ago. So they know my potential. Yesterday I shot and edited the first video, sort of as a proof of concept. Today I'll shoot another. I might shoot all ten before submitting the proposal. If denied, I can always upload them to YouTube, or just put them away and forget about them.
Sunday 2014.8.3
The Dog Days of Summer
Google or Bing "Dog Days of Summer" to learn why we call them by that name. We're in our warmest time of year. Although the days are getting shorter now, the heat is still on more than it's off because the days are still longer than the nights. We'll continue in that pattern until the first day of autumn on September 23rd. By then, the nighttime cooling will be enough to shed each day's heat. After that, we'll start losing more heat than we gain, and thus we enter the colder months — a time for soups and baking.
I haven't been doing much cooking lately. When I need to have the oven on, such as when baking bread, I plan around the heat, setting up my kitchen the evening before so that I can mix, knead, proof, and bake before noon. It's nice when it coincides with a breezy day. I can open all the windows and the breeze carries away the excess heat from the oven.
Lately I've been stretching out my uploads to once every two weeks rather than every week. At that rate of uploads I have enough projects "in the vault" to carry me through to autumn. Besides taking a little time off from the web site and from cooking, it keeps my home cooler. When I was shooting videos every week, the summer months were the most difficult. You couldn't see it, but when the camera wasn't on me I had a band of paper towels wrapped around my forehead to keep the perspiration out of my eyes. I have since changed all my studio lighting from incandescent to LED, which are so cool I can grab the bulb with my bare hands even though it has been on for an hour or two. The LEDs help keep my kitchen cooler when I'm doing a video, but they don't change the weather.
I am once again gathering future projects for the winter months. A few challenges came in. A few of my own ideas are tucked away. I keep a binder of project ideas, separated by priority — high and low. There is no method to the priority. It all depends upon how I feel about the project at the time. The one I am most excited about is the deep dish pizza made without a deep dish. I mentioned that idea in my 7/23 blog. I'm ready for it. I have the tools I need. But heating the oven up to 500°F (260°C) for an hour to get the pizza stone really hot is not a pleasant thought during the sultry dog days of summer.
Bringing Back the Memories
During the warmest times of the year one beverage I make often, besides lemonade, is iced coffee. I got to thinking about my childhood. One of my grandmothers always had a bottle of coffee syrup in her kitchen. We liked it, though we rarely got any of it. I think they thought coffee was only good for grownups and kids should be given something else, like milk.
This week I decided to experiment with coffee syrup. I didn't like the recipes I saw on the Internet (and I admit I didn't research them all — only enough). I put several heaping teaspoons of fresh ground coffee in a small saucepan, added water, brought it to a boil, and then turned off the heat. After allowing it a few minutes to steep, I poured it into a strainer lined with a coffee filter. Then I returned the filtered liquid to the pot (after I washed it) and added a couple heaping teaspoons of sugar and part of a bottle, about a third, of Karo light corn syrup along with ¼ teaspoon of vanilla extract. The flavor, mixed with a little milk, reminded me of my childhood. The syrup is quite good, and I don't see any reason why I wouldn't keep a bottle in my own refrigerator.
And, Finally, Kefir
Someone sent me some kefir granules in a jar of milk. I wasn't familiar with kefir. I've never made it. The granules look like tiny cauliflower florets. They are actually a strain of bacteria. There is good bacteria as well as bad. You might have heard of products like yogurt that are "probiotics." That means they have the good bacteria that our digestion needs for good health. Supposedly there is more good kinds of bacteria in kefir than in yogurt. I read the claims with mild skepticism.
Many years ago a friend who was into herbs sold me a very expensive bottle of green goop that was supposed to be so wonderful it would cure anthing, even the pain in my wrists (which turned out to be carpal tunnel syndrome). Out of kindness, I paid for the bottle and gave it a try. It did nothing. Later I learned it was only a potassium supplement. Another friend gave me a bottle of Liquid Aminos, which turned out to be only soy sauce.
I'm sure kefir is good for us. It's been around a long time. My food encyclopedia says it comes from the Caucasus region of Asia and was once made from camel's milk. I did some research on the risks, including the possible side effects. The important issue for me, however, is that I like it. Mixed with a little sweetener, even the coffee syrup I mentioned earlier, it makes a decent little snack. And it's easy to make. I used to make my own yogurt. Kefir is a lot easier.
I won't become an ardent devotee of kefir. At 63 years old, if nothing has captured my undying faith by now, nothing is likely to in the years I have left. But if it does me some good, is easy and inexpensive to make, and I enjoy it, why not include it in my diet?