AUGUST 2015

Sunday 2015.08.30

Another Change

It has been a long time since I made any major changes to this web site. The middle of August each year is my site's anniversary. It has been on the Web for five years and a lot has been added during that time — more than 200 recipes and many blog pages.

Recently I have been thinking a lot about my Minute Meals. I was using Lazy Man Meals. The discussion of the name came about during a conversation with somone at Curious.com who wanted to feature my Lazy Man Meals as a ten-part course. However, they preferred a name less gender specific and I suggested Lazy might have too many negative connotations. You might remember this topic from an earlier blog. I started the project several months ago.

To be honest, I really like the name Lazy Man Meals. The Lazy refers to me. I found a way to prepare meals without all the work of cooking and cleaning up. I can literally put a hot meal on the table, from freezer to plate, in under six minutes. Afterward, there is only a plate and fork to wash. I eat like this everyday. I've been doing it for years. I work hard every once in a while to prepare the portions for my meals, storing them in the freezer. But once all that prep work is done, I usually don't need to cook for weeks at a time, unless it is to sauté a small piece of fish.

Together, we came to an agreement that Minute Meals would be the best name. The videos still haven't gone onto Curious.com. They want something different in the first lesson, the introduction, introducing the concept of "meal planning." It's a hot topic right now, along with "macro nutrients" and "trans fats." However, it misses the whole point of Minute Meals, which is more about the minutes than the meals.

I put portions in the freezer — protein portions, vegetables, etc. — not meals. There is no meal planning. The first inkling of meal planning is when I get hungry, open the freezer door, and think, "I'd like some fish, some mixed vegetables, and some mashed potatoes." That's the beauty of Minute Meals. I don't need to plan lunch or dinner. The food is already in the freezer in heat-and-serve pouches. Select the ones I feel like eating, heat, and eat. It's simple. And no pots and pans to wash afterwards.

We're still discussing the project and I'm resisting. I explained to them that this is not my idea of a fun video project. I do cooking videos. I enjoy experimenting with gourmet recipes. My favorite Anthony Bourdain Parts Unknown episode is when he visits Lyon, France and eats some of the most exotic gourmet foods the world will every know. They're incredible. I like that kind of stuff. Lazy Man Meals? They are a convenient source of easy nutrition, but they are not the stuff of gourmet cooking videos. I do want to change the name on this web site though. I'm hoping it will enjoy broader appeal.

Changing the name to Minute Meals, however, is a challenge. I currently have 540 HTML pages in this web site, most of which link to Lazy Man Meals in at least two ways. This past week I began working on the Blog archive pages. Then there is the daunting task of more than 200 recipe pages. It will eventually get done. Meanwhile, both the Lazy Man Meals page and the Minute Meals page will be incorporated into the web site, locally, so that there will be no broken links. When I am finally satisfied that every last Lazy Man Meal link has been changed to Minute Meals, I'll upload all the updated pages and remove the Lazy Man Meals page. The Minute Meals page has all the same information, with a few added enhancements I have collected since the last time I updated the page.

I still like the name Lazy Man Meals and I wasn't sure I wanted to part with it. However, if I can't satisfy Curious, I'll put all the videos on YouTube. They want some connected series of videos from me. I'll need a web page to match the Minute Meals theme.

Summer's Fade

Tomorrow is the last day of August. We're enjoying the final warm days of summer. The heat can become oppressive at times; so I've been using my evaporative cooler everyday. When I feel the heat is too stifling, I lie on the sofa within the breeze of the cooler and read. That and a glass of iced fresh lemonade sustains me. The end of August and beginning of September is always a warm time. When I first moved to California in 1975 the city recorded a high temperature of 107°F (42°F) in early September. It won't be as warm today. All this week daytime temperatures are projected to be in the low to mid 80s. Yesterday it climbed as high as 94°F. It was hot.

A Little Light Landscaping

My neighbor gave me an excellent suggestion for completing my landscaping. There is a thin patch of ground between the edge of my driveway and my home. It has always been covered with river rock pebbles. Grass and weeds grow in it and it has never looked good. He suggested I cut some of my remaining sandstone and fit the pieces into that area. I like that idea. Yesterday morning before the day became too warm I dug out the river rock and placed the stone pieces I cut. It took three hours, mostly because of cutting stone. That can sometimes take a while. I'm happy.

It doesn't look like it should take three hours, but it did take a while. It ain't much, but it does give the area a finished look. Meanwhile, I bought another four flats of Dymondia yesterday. If I were a bettering man I'd wager I've used nearly 30 of those flats so far.

Stats

I saw a good statistic on YouTube this past week. My previous featured recipe, Buttermilk Bread, received more views in seven days than all my other videos had in the past six months. My breads do well on YouTube. French Bread currently has over 120,000 views.

Wednesday 2015.08.26

Pressure Cooker

I found even more reason to really like my pressure cooker. Last month I mentioned using my pressure cooker to cook beans without needing to soak them in water overnight. Properly soaked, they still take 1½ to 2 hours to cook in a pot. I put dry beans in my cooker, with plenty of water, and they were cooked tender in 30 minutes. That saves a lot of time and it makes me look forward to winter to make my Pasta Fagioli soups. In anticipation, yesterday I bought a package of great Northern dry beans. (Why is Northern capitalized? I don't know, but that's how it is in one of my food encyclopedias.)

This week I looked up brown rice in my pressure cooker cookbooks and on the Internet. Brown rice is well known for having more nutrient value than white rice. While in the health program I joined, I learned to look for nutrient density in foods. I like the idea of eating brown rice, but it takes 45 minutes to cook. White rice is so much easier; it cooks in 15 minutes. Well, it turns out brown rice will cook in 15 minutes in a pressure cooker.

I tried something even more interesting. I put a stainless steel riser plate in the bottom of my cooker and then added a cup of water. Then I put 1 cup of dry brown rice and 2 cups of water in a stainless steel bowl, which I set on top of the riser. The riser keeps the bowl off the bottom of the pan to prevent hot spots. I sealed the lid into place and heated the cooker to full pressure. 15 minutes later I cooled the pot by running cold water over the lid. One recipe said to use cold water, another said to let the pot cool naturally. I chose the water. The rice came out perfectly tender with a slight al dente texture I like. The rice grains were whole, not broken up, and they were separate, not stuck together. The cooked brown rice was perfect.

This was an experiment, but I ate the rice anyway. I would make it with my homemade chicken stock rather than water to use it in a meal. One use I like to make of brown rice is to include some wild rice and then use both with other ingredients for stuffing, such as in a goose or duck. I have frozen rabbit pieces in the freezer. I might look up a way to make rabbit with stuffing, maybe preparing it for a video. I think the combination of brown rice and wild rice would be a good choice when using with game meat such as rabbit.

My pressure cooker, by the way is a Kuhn-Rikon Duramatic Top 7.0 liter. It was expensive. If I remember correctly, I paid about $150 on Amazon. Now they sell for more than $200. I had a cheap Fagor I bought at Costco. It was made in China and evidently the pressure regulator was made with plastic that was not heat resistent. After about a dozen uses the regulator started to fail. I didn't take any chances. I removed the regulator and tossed it into the recycling bin. Now I use that old pressure cooker as a large pot, mostly for pasta. The hole in the lid, left from the old regulator, makes an excellent steam vent. I chose the Kuhn-Rikon because the pressure regulator is made of stainless steel. Along with five different safety features in this cooker, this pot makes me feel safe when I use it.

Imperfections

I read a lot of books. I enjoy fiction as well as non-fiction. I'm reading J.K. Rowling's book, The Casual Vacancy. It's a fairly engaging book, but not like the Harry Potter books. It's a book I can put down for a while and then return to later without feeling I've missed anything. If I had to find one complaint, there are so many characters I had to write up a list to keep track of who belongs to whom.

Another book I'm reading at the moment is Dr. Brené Brown's book, The Gifts of Imperfections. I am reading it for a book discussion group I plan to join. Something I appreciated about the book was the passage that says we can speak honestly about ourselves to those who have shown they deserve to hear. They won't be critical and judgmental.

One of the challenges of writing this blog, of even having this web site and a YouTube channel, is that I can't filter those whom I reach. I don't feel I need to. However, occasionally I receive some unwanted criticism, negative comments written more to inflate the ego of the person who wrote them rather than to offer any useful advice. There are people like that. Until a few years ago I had one as a friend. We are no longer friends. I like Dr. Brown's approach to her response when she is the victim of hurtful comments. Her first impulse is to respond with something hurtful in kind, but she lets that first reaction go and then usually does nothing. Just let it go.

I sometimes delete the comment if there is nothing helpful about it. If it is amusing in an unintentional way, I'll leave it for others to enjoy. If the words are distasteful or insulting to a religious or ethnic minority, I also block the person's comments from ever being visible on my YouTube channel again. Of course, if the comment is critical but helpful, such as, "You don't need to use your hands to squeeze cooked spinach; use a potato ricer," I leave those in place and often thank the person for the good tip. I've learned a lot from comments.

Finally, another theme in the book was helpful this week. How to respond to feelings of shame. Here's the story: In last Wednesday's blog post I mentioned making wine glass bracelets as gifts. I made two for a friend and her husband who live up in Washington state. I put them in the mail and the following day I read an email from her. Her husband isn't "Walter." That's someone in North Carolina. Uh-oh. I made a new bracelet and went to the Post Office again. This time I paid extra for two-day delivery so that it would arrive on the same day as the erroneous one. When I got home I read her email again. His name is "Steven," not "Stephen." Another error! I hurriedly assembled a third bracelet and rushed to the Post Office. The package was still in the bin where it could be retrieved easily. They allowed me to open it and exchange the right bracelet for the wrong one. Phew! But I felt like a fool, ashamed even.

Dr. Brown says the best way to defuse shame it to talk about it with someone you trust to listen. I did, even joking about it. "It's difficult enough to sort out all the women in my life without having to remember the husbands too." I still felt like an idiot, having made a dumb mistake not once, but twice, but I felt a lot better after sharing the experience with someone understanding.

We can't be perfect. According to Dr. Brown, to be wholehearted with ourselves we need to embrace ourselves for what we are, not what we wish to be. There is nothing wrong with aspirations and goals. But we also need to see ourselves for what we really are and accept the many imperfections and faults that sometimes get in our way when we try to do good. We are human, after all, and there is no sense in trying to pretend to be otherwise.

Sunday 2015.08.23

Computer Build 2015, Another Step

Some of you, I know, are eagerly awaiting my next computer build. I am proceeding patiently and deliberately, making certain of each step before I proceed. I'll be investing a lot of money here; so I don't want to make too many mistakes.

If you might need a refresher: This time around I am building "dream machines." These will be petal-to-the-metal extreme rigs. I've never done it before. I got eight years out of my last pair of computers (with a few replacement parts along the way). I am 64 years old and these might be the last computers I ever build (but I hope not). So, this could be my one time in life to throw caution (at least some of it) to the wind and go for the biggest bang, regarless of the bucks.

So far I've spent about a thousand dollars on solid state drives (SSDs) and one "mobile rack." To explain that rack thing: I like dual boot computers. My current computers have a rack bay into which I can insert a bare hard disk. Each computer has two. One has the Windows XP operating system and the other has either Windows 7 (this computer) or Windows 10 (the other computer), along with the software I use all the time. Depending on which operating system I might need (I am using XP as I write this blog), I insert either disk drive and power up the computer.

I no longer have any legacy XP hardware. As mentioned in an earlier blog entry, I donated my old LaserJet printer and Canon scanner to a charity thrift store. However, I still have some legacy software, mostly games, that I know will not run on Windows 10 — at least not yet. So I'll keep XP for those.

The new mobile rack is even better because there are two bays for SSDs. One will be the operating system; the other can be a hot swap bay that I can use to copy something from one computer and load it onto the other. I don't need that feature, but I like the convenience. It's good to know it's there, should I ever need it; so why not incorporate it into my systems? I could, for example, keep one computer 100% safe by isolating it from the Internet. This computer doesn't have virus protection on it because it can't connect to the Internet. I do that because my web site files and my videos are super important to me. Although I keep good redundant backups, I want to feel perfectly safe. Ergo, no Internet. So, I could use that second rack bay as a hot swap bay — copy my web site files and YouTube video to a spare SSD and then insert it into the other computer to upload the files to the Internet. That other computer has redundant virus and firewall protection on it.

This past week I ordered the cases and the power supply units (PSUs), which arrived on Thursday. Although I really like Antec cases, I went with Thermaltake. My current Antec cases have one weakness I do not like. The side panels attach with plastic anchors. Open the cases as often as I do and the plastic things are bound to eventually break off. Some did. The new cases have metal anchors.

This time around I made certain to get "fully modular" PSUs. I have one that is partially modular. There are four long octupus cables for powering motherboards (mobos), two for each board. I have only one mobo in each computer. I've never seen a computer with two. So the extra set of cables has to be pushed aside and buried somewhere inside of the computer to keep it out of the way. That's dumb. The new PSUs will power only one mobo and every cable, even the mobo cable, is modular. I only need to plug in the cables I need. The others get stored in a box out in the storage shed. (Talk about being out of the way!) Whether or not I'll need all the potential features of those PSUs, I don't know. I doubt it. Each PSU, by the way, is 1,000 watts.

This latest purchase cost me about $650. You can buy a computer at Costco for less than that. That's okay though. These are "dream machines" and I'm not going to worry about price this time around (well, within reason — there are enterprise components that cost many thousands of dollars each). I'm not wealthy, but in the past two years I got my three major home improvement projects out of the way — new storage shed, new copper pipes, and new landscaping. Now I can reward myself with some new toys.

Inventing Solutions

Costco used to sell great men's slippers. They were made of sheepskin, with the furry nap on the inside. Soft and warm. The soles weren't very good though. They would harden and break up after a while. But I bought them anyway because they were so comfortable. Sadly, I haven't seen those slippers in the store in several years. I kept one pair in reserve while I tried to keep another pair mended well enough to wear. They look pretty sad now.

However, every fall Costco stocks a supply of women's sheared sheepskin boots. They're similar, with better soles, higher at the ankle, like a boot, but smaller. The largest size, W11, is one size too small for my feet. The box says to buy them a little small because they'll stretch. I tried a pair, but they hurt my feet too much.

One day last year I bought two of the smallest bicycle inner tubes I could find. Using canvas, I fashioned a kind of casing to restrict the inner tube at one end, so that it wouldn't pop when I inflated it. The other end of the casing was left open because I wanted the inner tube to expand into the toe of the boot. I inflated the tubes and put the slipper boots in the back of my closet. Other than checking them occasionally to make sure the inner tubes were still inflated enough, I left them alone.

I could have bought shoe stretchers. Amazon sells them. But it was more fun inventing my own.

This week I wore the slippers around the house. The inflated inner tubes worked. They stretched them at least one full size. They are quite comfortable now and my feet don't hurt at all, even after wearing the boots all day. Costco is stocking the boots again this season. Unfortunately, now the largest size is W10. Oh well. Amazon sells them too.

Revisiting Cookware

In the September/October issue of Cook's Illustrated (CI) the magazine reviewed carbon steel skillets. It's a type of cookware that is very popular in Europe and other parts of the world, according to the magazine, but it never caught on with cooks here in the USA. CI describes a properly seasoned carbon steel skillet an nonstick — so much so, that food will slide around in the pan (with the help of some butter) like it would in any good quality nonstick cookware.

I have a carbon still skillet. It's a "Lodge" brand, the makers of the famous cast iron cookware that nearly every good cook owns. I have one of those in my kitchen too. The carbon steel skillet had gone unused for many months, maybe two years. I bought it as a clearance item from a cookware store and after using it a few times and fighting with food stuck in the pan, I gave it really good cleaning, seasoned it like I do my cast iron cookware (flax seed oil), and hung it in the kitchen to store it indefinitely. CI had me intrigued. They fried an egg with a teaspoon of butter and claimed "the egg slipped around like a puck on an air hockey table." I had to give it a try.

It's true. I fried an egg. There was no sticking. It was easy to turn over and finish the cooking. It slid from the pan onto a plate easily. What had gone wrong earlier? My only thought is that maybe the pan wasn't seasoned well enough in the beginning.

There is a second reason to love it. Nonstick cookware loses its nonstick quality over time. The manufacturers love to burn cheese in a new pan and show you how well it wipes clean with a paper towel. I've seen such demonstrations at Costco when they have a visiting event. The nonstick properties of carbon steel, on the other hand, improve with use and age. It's almost like the pan is getting newer as it gets older.

Now I love this pan. I think it will earn a permanent place on my stove top. I will definitely look for ways to use it in videos. One important point: It is best to use the pan for sautéing and frying. Don't make sauces or soups in it. A tomato-based sauce can strip the seasoning off the pan. It works best when cooking with fat and it performs well with high heat.

Wednesday 2015.08.19

Sugar Free Does Not Equal Zero Calories

I've mentioned that I lost some weight recently. Since April 1st of last year I shed a total of 65 pounds. I want to lose a little more, maybe another 10 to 15 pounds, but at the moment my weight is in the "Normal" range on my Body Mass Index chart. BMI is currently 24.0.

Cravings can sometimes be an issue. I don't usually crave sweets. I like savory. A satisfying snack for me is a hard boiled egg. I make them fresh because they taste better than those I make a day or two in advance, then store. Lately, however, I've been craving things with sugar in them. So I thought about trying sugar-free candies.

They have them at the grocery store. I bought three different kinds to see which ones might do better at satisfying my cravings for sugary treats. I should have looked at the nutrition label in the store. I was surprised to see how many calories they have. I expected them to be like zero-calorie sodas. They're not high in calories — about 5 calories each — but that was more than I expected. Nonetheless, they do satisfy; so I'll stick with them for a while

Mock Fasting

There were articles in the news a few weeks ago about the benefits of "mock fasting." I don't know all the science. You can Google it if you want more details. From what I read, fasting resets the body's immune system and may lead to living longer. No one has lived longer fasting who can say, "Oh, yes. If I hadn't fasted, I would have died three years ago." It's not the sort of thing you can test for.

There are other benefits too. "Mock" fasting creates the conditions of fasting that triggers the health benefits of fasting without completely depriving the body of nutrition. If I remember correctly, you start off at about 1,000 calories and then for five days you don't exceed 750 calories per day. At the end of the five days you take a day or two to gently return to your regular eating routine. There is supposedly a formula for macronutrients — proteins, carbohydrates, and fats — that is ideal, but one article said there is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all formula. Better to find what works best for you. For me, my Minute Meals have the right balance of nutrition.

I tried the mock fasting thing this past week and I did okay. I was hungry, but not starving. I ate very little during the day, drinking mostly black coffee and maybe eating a hard boiled egg in the afternoon. In the evening I had my usual Minute Meal with maybe a salad and some fruit. I can't sleep if I'm hungry, so I reserved enough calories for another snack at bedtime and I was able to sleep sufficiently.

Actually, I was surprised by how well I managed on about 750 calories each day for five days. Yesterday was my transition day back to normal eating. I ate light. Today I can eat normally again.

Supposedly the best health benefits of mock fasting are gained by doing the fast once each month. I'll try it for a while. It certainly didn't do me any harm. I did not have the headaches some people complained about. And my weight did drop a little during the fast.

And Speaking of Losing Pounds

There were plenty of news articles about another study that was done to compare a low-fat diet to a low-carbohydrate diet. Under very controlled circumstances (the participants were kept in the hospital and monitored closely), subjects were put on either of the two diets and all other factors were kept the same for everyone to isolate only the diets in the study. After three weeks the low-carb people lost more weight, but the low-fat members lost more body fat. How is that so? Low-carb diets are known for burning the body's glycogen supply first. Glycogen is about 85% water. So the early weight loss typical of low-carb diets is lost water weight. The low-fat diet forces the body to resort to using its stored lipids (fats). Ergo, body fat lost.

Of course, no one can diet under such controlled conditions. The authors of the study merely wanted to isolate the benefits of each diet plan and ultimately they determined that a low-fat diet does better to reduce body fat. However, in their summary they concluded that the best diet plan is one in which the person consumes fewer calories than they typically expend each day. It's the calorie deficit over time that is the best way to lose weight. That's how I did it.

Biscotti

Yesterday was predicted to be the coolest day of the week — 74°F; so I planned to make Pecan Biscotti for the web site, doing a video for YouTube. To gain the fullest benefit from the coolest part of the day, I did all my setup Monday evening, including measuring all my ingredients, setting up my cameras, and preparing my cue card and step-by-step guide. Early the next morning I was ready to bake biscotti. If only we could trust the weather. By early afternoon the temperature outside had risen to 83°. It was 89°F in my home. Oh well. I enjoyed making the video. And the biscotti were delicious. The recipe and video will be uploaded here and to YouTube in coming weeks.

I made the biscotti to give away. I really only want the recipe and video, not the cookies. I sealed them in air-tights packets and I'll bring them as gifts to the World News Discussion Group I attend every other Saturday. I'm on a diet. I don't need the calories in the house. I did enjoy one with a cup of coffee for the final tasting scene and I kept only a few for myself. My recipe makes a total of 40.

And Speaking of Gifts

I'm already planning some gifts for people I know. Have you ever attended a party or dinner, or hosted one yourself, and put your wine glass down somewhere while you went into the kitchen or to use the bathroom? You come back, see a few glasses, and ask, "Which one was mine?" I have a solution for that — wine glass bracelets.

Make them with beads for your dinner guests or friends before they come to visit. You can get letter beads to spell their names. The bracelet stretches over the base of the glass. Put one on the bottom of each wine glass and everyone will know which glass is theirs. If someone doesn't drink wine, get a few water goblets that have stems and bases. And, of course, let each guest take their bracelet home with them afterwards (but keep your glasses).

I ordered a bag of alphabet beads from Amazon, along with some stretch beading cord and crimp beads (to fasten the two ends together). I have some additional colored beads to fill out the bracelet. The next time I drive down into the city I'll stop at the bead store and buy more. These things are easy to assemble and they make a fun little personalized gift for friends or family.

And, by the way, I've washed my wine glass many times without taking the bracelet off. It still looks fine. Of course, I wouldn't run it through the automatic dish washer. I hand wash my glasses. Besides, dish washers tend to etch glassware.

Sunday 2015.08.16

Future Weather

On Thursday morning the National Weather Service released their latest results and predictions for the El Niño condition building in the Pacific Ocean. All current models are now predicting an El Niño equal to or greater than the event in 1997 that brought record rains to Southern California.

Of course, they can't predict the rain yet. That comes later. Past El Niño events resulted in higher than normal rainfall during the winter months, with more powerful El Niños causing heavier rains. The condition predicts the outcome. The latest prediction is that there is a better than 90% probability of a strong, possibly record breaking, El Niño event through the winter months. If that holds, we can expect a high probability of abundant rains. That's the good news (if you accept mud slides and catastrophic flooding as part of the good news).

The bad news is that the situation for Northern California is too difficult to predict. They need heavy snows in the mountains to solve their drought crisis. A heavy snow pack in winter melts during spring and summer, steadily feeding water into their reservoirs. If Northern California gets rain rather than snow, the runoff will flow into the ocean and be wasted.

The infamous "blob," an unusual area of warm water in the Pacific Ocean off the Washington and Oregon coasts, is a new factor. It might be due to global warming. What effect will it have? Might it create warm atmospheric conditions that cause rain to fall rather than snow in Northern California? The blob has not been seen before; therefore, it is impossible to predict how it might affect future weather. If Northern California doesn't get the snow they need, Southern California might be providing water to them (assuming we get enough), in which case we will all need to continue our water conservation practices.

Weird Dreams

Occasionally I get some strange dreams that are amusing. Several nights ago I dreamed that I discovered for the first time, at age 64, that I have five fingers and a thumb on each hand. You'd think I would have noticed something like that. During that dream twilight period in which we are still partly in the dream and partly waking up, when the dream still seems real, I counted my fingers. Four, not five.

In the upper left corner, below my camper trailer logo, there is a Donate button. I get one about every six months or so. I've been saving them because in December I need to pay my web site's hosting service. I have enough to cover the bill. A few nights ago I dreamed someone used the Donate button to contribute $10,000. I was shocked and began to wonder. Is it part of a scam? Will I get an email message from someone, informing me it was a mistake and please refund the money? Will I discover afterward that there was never a donation in the first place and now I am out ten grand? In my dream I decided to respond to such a request with, "Seek a refund through your bank." Of course, we all need to wake up some time. As reality crept in, so did the disappointment. There was no windfall donation. It was a fun dream though.

Legacy Hardware

A few weeks ago I blogged about the toner cartridge disaster that soiled my collection of aprons with black toner (all of which were eventually cleaned and back to normal — phew). The printer was an old Hewlett-Packard LaserJet 4100 office printer. I loved that printer because it worked so well for so many years. However, it requires a parallel port on the computer. Most modern computer motherboards are no longer equipped with that port. Modern printers use a USB connector, network connector, and/or WiFi. I have an add-on card that equips my motherboard with a parallel port.

However, several months ago I bought a printer I could attach to my network. So, with that old printer out of toner, I disconnected it and put a plastic bag around it while I figured out some safe way of discarding it.

I thought about ordering a new cartridge, but they're expensive. The last time I looked, it was $184 at Staples. However, I did a little research and saw that Costco is selling a Hewlett-Packard LaserJet printer for $179, marked down nearly 50% through the month of August. It does dual side printing automatically (if set), which is something I do manually to save paper. Something that made it even more desirable is that it is multi-functional — it is equipped with a scanner that is both sheet fed and flat bed. My old scanner, a Canon, can only be used in Windows XP because there is no newer driver for it. That cinched it. I ordered one.

I went onto the Internet to see where I might drop off my old printer and scanner here in SoCal. It is illegal to dispose of them in the trash. Although the recycle company does accept them, we cannot put them in the recycling bin. They must be delivered. There are other drop-off sites in the area, but I read something helpful. If the device is working properly (both are, with XP), donate them to a charity thrift store. Perfect. There is a thrift store only a few miles away. They accepted them, giving me a clear space on my desk for the new printer/scanner, which arrived on Thursday. And, with the old scanner also gone, I now have clear access to my office paper cutter. My scanner was on top of it.

"Duh!" Moment, or Not?

This next bit gets a little technical. If you're the kind of person who falls asleep at the mention of operating systems and hardware configurations, then go get a pillow.

I have, for a long time, been putting up with a printing problem on my other desktop computer. It happens only with one software application. The weird part is that it doesn't matter if I use a newer version or and older version. The problem remains the same. I had the same problem in Windows 7 and in Windows 10. When I try to print, the software tells me that the printer I select is not available. Windows shows they are available. One is set as the default printer. Other software applications print fine. But not the page layout programs.

However, I noticed this past week that when I create a new document, it prints fine. I can even start a new document, then open an existing document I couldn't print, and the older document prints without problems. Huh?

Then it dawned on my. I am using a pair of old templates I created for capturing news stories to present at the World News Discussion Group meeting I go to every other week. Those templates were created back when I had an LPT1 parallel port card in that computer. I removed the card a long time ago when I was able to print to a new printer on my home network. However, the problematic software is still looking for a printer on that parallel port when I use either template. The port doesn't exist. Ergo, no printing is possible.

I created new templates, now that my computer has a new printer/scanner on it, and everything works as it should. And, by the way, I love that new printer. Here is something new I discovered:

When I am researching recipes I often go to my cookbooks. I can scan a page and tell the scanner utility to save it as a text file document. The scanner software OCR "reads" the text and creates a text file, which I can then use to create the pages I need when I am shooting a video or writing a recipe for this web site. It isn't perfect. It doesn't know what the symbol ½ means. It thinks it sees V2. Those errors are easily corrected. The one or two edits I might need to make are a small price to pay for the convenience of building recipes more easily.

Wednesday 2015.08.12

Sources

About a year ago a friend asked me where I get my ideas for recipes. They come from many different sources, sometimes totally unexpected.

I've mentioned being enrolled in a nutrition/weight loss program named Prevent. I've been in the program since March and I enjoy it. This week an interesting challenge was given to us. "Try a new food that begins with the first letter of your first name." Okay, "D" for Dennis. Doritos aren't new for me, and they certainly aren't nutritious. So I headed to the store, expecting to find something easily.

I stayed out of the aisles of chips, cookies, crackers, and candies, lest I succumb to temptation. There was only one item in the Produce section — D'Anjou Pears. They aren't new because I buy them often to slice into salads. I've been eating them for years. I tried the Dairy section and looked through all the cheeses. Nothing. I looked among the specialty grains, like quinoa, and came up empty. I searched through the Deli section. Still nothing. I kept thinking of George Carlin's standup comedy routine in which he talks about there being "no blue food." In desperation, I started down the Liquor aisle, but I thought, "No, this is probably not what the coach had in mind." Finally, among the dried fruit I saw D'Noir Prunes. They aren't new because I used them in a Moroccan dish, Lamb Shanks and Prunes Tagine (and do I really want to eat a box of prunes?). I went home without anything.

Then I looked in one of my food encyclopedias for a "D" food. There were surprisingly few. What caught my eye was "Dirty Rice." I'd heard of it, but I didn't know what it was. So I read about it. The book says it's a Cajun specialty and the common ingredients were listed. The idea sounded delicious because it incorporates some foods I love — chicken giblets and livers (Chicken Liver Pâté), sausage meat, rice, onion, and my homemade Chicken Stock. What's not to like?

I went back to the store to buy the ingredients I needed. Try to find chicken livers these days. The local store always had them. Not anymore. I had to drive halfway to the city, looking in three additional grocery stores before I found some. Finally, prepared with all the ingredients, I made Dirty Rice for a video. I did make one substitution, though. We've been taught to look for nutritionally dense foods. Rather than the traditional white rice, I substituted with a combination of brown rice and wild rice. Some of the recipes I researched used chopped celery rather than chopped green bell pepper. I don't care much for bell peppers; so the celery was the obvious choice. The results were delicious.

The name Dirty Rice comes from the livers giving the rice a dirty color. However, by using brown rice the color looks appropriate anyway. One idea: I'd like to make this again in the future and use it as a stuffing for duck or goose. It think it would be perfect.

Sunday 2015.08.09

Swamp Box Cooler

Every summer I say something about my swamp box cooler, otherwise known as an evaporative cooler. Here's how they work:

It has a tank, which I keep filled with water. With the fan running, a pump steadily drizzles water down through a fabric panel behind the fan. If the day is warm enough and the humidity low enough, the water evaporates. Evaporation is a process that requires a little heat energy, which is pulled from the air. The air coming out of the cooler can be 15°F cooler than the air going in. When the humidity is really low, like 10%, the air might be 20° or more cooler. And that's how an evaporative cooler chills the air. It's a lot less expensive than an air conditioner. It doesn't cool as well as AC, but it works and when the days seem oppressively hot I sit in front of the cooler and enjoy the comfort.

The swamp part of the name can be a concern. Water circulates through the fabric panel and back down into the tank, only to be pumped back up onto the panel again. That circulation can gather dust, concentrate minerals, and otherwise make the water in the tank fairly nasty after a while. I drain mine often, at least once a week when I'm using it, and I even pour a small amount of bleach into the water to prevent bacteria. With that minimal amount of maintenance my cooler has been serving me faithfully for many years. I enjoy it.

I needed it this week. The daytime temperatures were often up into the 80s before noon. Indoors, the temperature can easily be ten degrees higher. However, I was comfortable.

Happy, Happy, Happy

Sitting in front of my swamp box cooler, all comfy, I again upgraded my Surface 3 PC tablet to Windows 10, installing the OS from a thumb drive this time. The process was smooth and painless. I also changed one setting that a fan of my web site linked me to. My PC can be used to help upgrade other computers on my home network, but not on the Internet. Cox Cable imposed a data transfer limit last year. I rarely approach my limit, but I don't want any surpises if Microsoft uses my PC like a torrent site to help upgrade other computers elsewhere. Thank you again, Jake.

So I'm back to liking my computer again and I am still happy with Win10. I still need to install two little software utilities I use. After that, it will be back to normal, as if nothing bad ever happened.

More Happy, Happy, Happy

On Thursday afternoon one of my desktop computers upgraded itself to Windows 10. That makes me happy because it has an OEM version of Windows 7 on it. I think I blogged earlier about OEMs possibly being a problem for some upgrades. Microsoft initially said they would upgrade all Windows 7 installations. Then they backtracked and said they wouldn't upgrade any OEM operating systems, then they sort of changed their mind again. From what I could understand, if the installation was done with a valid Product Key, that key is stored somewhere, like on the motherboard BIOS, and it's the presence of that Key that makes an upgrade possible. Some OEM installations supposedly use something other than a key and that might block an upgrade. I'm not an engineer; so I don't know the details. What matters is that the upgrade worked.

My other desktop computer, the one on which I am typing this blog, is still using Win 7 and I have no plans to upgrade. This computer is kept off line. The network connection is disabled. That's the best way to protect it from viruses. This one has all my web site and video utilities on it. I need to keep it safe. And, because both computers are dual boot, I can always insert the XP boot drive and go back to my tried and true operating system (which I am currently using as I type this).

Something that makes me even happier is that the other computer didn't get along perfectly well with my printer. One program I use a lot would often refuse to print to either the printer connected directly to the computer or the networked printer. I tried more than one operating system and more than one version of the software. It was a problem that nettled me. So far, Win 10 doesn't have any problem. I did a test document and sent it to the network printer. It worked fine. I am much relieved to see that source of frustration gone.

Ahh, Life

Life can be amusing at times. First the back story: A water pipe broke beneath the ground across the street. I've been scooping up water, putting it in a watering can, and watering my Dymondia. I didn't recover much — maybe 60 of the hundreds, if not thousands, of gallons of water that flowed down the street and into the drains for several days. I recycled what I could; no need to see it go to waste. After all, we're in a serious drought situation here in California.

Here's the amusing part: When I upgraded my landscaping I moved more than nine tons of stone during eight weeks. I don't know how many cubic yards of dirt and sand I shoveled. I pulled up hundreds of square feet of lawn and carted it away to a community mulch pile. And I never hurt my back once. However, lifting up a watering can with 1½ gallons of water in it was the straw that broke, actually sprained, the back. Just one of life's little, but painful, ironies. I'll be walking bent over a little for the next few days, but I've been through this many times. I'll be fine in a week or two.

The water was off for more than 24 hours, but I filled two five-gallon buckets to prepare. I also have separate drinking water. So, I wasn't inconvenienced too much. The water came back on yesterday morning and it felt good to enjoy a much-needed shower. The repair was declared successful and we're back to normal, until a pipe breaks again. This is an old park with old utility lines.

And More Windows 10

I read an interesting statement about operating systems this week. Microsoft knows that most people don't buy operating systems. Whatever OS is on their computer when they buy it, that's what they stay with until they buy a new computer. But people buy apps, whether for their tablet, smart phone, or whatever. So by providing free upgrades to Windows 10, and including a link and advertising from the Microsoft Store, Microsoft hopes to earn revenue selling a steady stream of new apps to their users. It makes sense.

Finally, Another Experiment

This morning I saw a recipe for Triple Ginger Almonds in the Huffington Post. Intrigued, I bought the ingredients and made it. Basically, it's Almond Ginger Brittle. Think peanut brittle, but with almonds and ginger. It's quite delicious. I've been walking around the neighborhood giving it to my neighbors. Having lost nearly 65 pounds, I don't need a major setback. I might make the recipe again in a video. I think it's worth it.

Wednesday 2015.08.05

Summer

Summer is in full swing here, as far as the weather is concerned. Daily the temperature has climbed into the mid to upper 80s. I'm not complaining. I moved from New England to Southern California to enjoy this weather. I occasionally hear from fans who report the weather they are experiencing. What with the Polar Vortex in winter and swealtering summer temperatures, I feel blessed to be enjoying the mild weather of SoCal.

I live near enough to the ocean to occasionally hear waves breaking on the beach when they are high enough, which is usually in winter. The ocean moderates the weather, reducing the extremes. It is very rare to see the thermometer register over 100°F. If it happens at all, it might happen only one or two days per year.

It's the same in winter. I might see frost on the ground only once or twice each winter. There is no snow here, except up in the mountains. In winter we get rain, when the conditions are right. In summer, we get sunshine, except when the "marine layer" — a layer of low-altitude clouds — blankets the area. People refer to it as "June gloom" because it is a common pattern that time of year.

We're only in the middle of summer, but already I'm looking forward to autumn. My kitchen will be cool enough to do videos again. I've been doing a few videos lately, but I try to prepare recipes that don't require the oven. The Fresh Tomato and Basil Soup recipe I mentioned on Sunday is an example. One pot on the stove simmering for 30 minutes won't heat up my kitchen very much. That's important when doing a video because I was told a long time ago to look cool and dry on camera. If I look like I've been perspiring, I create the impression that the food was difficult to prepare.

Speaking of Heat…

Occasionally I enjoy some amusing flack. Sometimes it comes as comments on my YouTube videos. If anything about the comment is insulting to an ethic group or minority, I remove the comment and block all future comments from that person. Some comments are amusing enough to leave in place. If people want to make a foolish spectacle of themselves, that's freedom for you. We've lost more than a few of our civil liberties to draconian government in the past several years. So I try to protect freedom of expression for those who enjoy displaying their ignorance in public. If their comments make us chuckle, all the better.

Sometimes they come in the form of email. I wish I hadn't deleted one. I would have posted it on YouTube for her. She complained that her son made my New England Clam Cakes and hated them. My greatest offense was that I used yeast, which I have been doing successfully for decades. I explained it in the recipe, saying that baking powder caused the cakes to develop too brittle a shell as they cooked and they would burst open in the oil, ruining their shape. Yeast solves that problem. She insisted that I remove the video from YouTube. I deleted her email after enjoying the laughter, but I really wish I had copied and pasted it as a comment on the YouTube video. It was too good not to share. Now I know. I won't make this mistake again.

I Like Thinking People

Speaking of ignorance, I'll confess one on my shortcomings. I lack patience for ignorant people. It has always been a problem and I've never been able to overcome it. I have great patience for children. I was visiting a family one time and while I was standing in the kitchen their youngest child saw me as a ladder to the cookie jar up in the cupboard. His parents were surpised as I stood there, registering no concern, as their child climbed up me in his quest for the cookies. But adults? No.

I like it when people know how to think. Case in point: This week's feature recipe is Almond Ricotta Cheese Cake. One of the fans wrote to tell me his cake was in the oven, but he noticed a mistake in my recipe. I specified the wrong cooking time. "Common kitchen wisdom" told him to bake it longer. I fixed the recipe, and I was impressed that he had enough presence of mind to recognize the cooking time as incorrect.

Here I can brag about myself a little bit. In doing all the landscaping in my yard, I unearthed a cylindrical concrete thing that looked important, like it might house some sort of valve for something. I couldn't remove the lid. It was caked in place with dirt and roots. I told the manager about it and the information proved to be useful. There were heavy trucks in the park late last week. They were patching the roads before paving. On Monday morning water was leaking up from the other side of the road outside my home. Evidently the weight of the trucks cracked an underground pipe. I again directed the manager's attention to that cylindrical enclosure at the edge of my space, saying it might be a shut-off valve for the water line.

We couldn't get the lid off, but I suspected water might do it. With the nozzle set to a needle opening, I was able to flush the dirt and roots out from around the cap. A few raps with a mallet was enough to loosen the lid and, sure enough, there is a gate valve about 2 feet below the lid. I cleaned up everything so that the cap would fit loosely and be easy to remove again. When the plumbers come to fix the broken pipe they, hopefully, can use the valve to turn off the water to only part of the park, not all of it, thereby not inconveniencing everyone. You're welcome.

Chicken Suites

If I remember correctly, earlier this year California enacted a law that made egg farmers provide better accomodations for their chickens. The cost of eggs was predicted to rise. I remember when I could buy a 60-count case of eggs at Costco for about $6.00. That's 10¢ per egg. I bought a case this week and the price had more than tripled to $18.29. Okay. It isn't going to bounce any of my checks. But I hope the chickens appreciate it.

I also read an article this week that explained why hard boiled eggs are more difficult to peel lately. Maybe you've experienced this: You crack the egg all over, roll it around a little, and then start peeling. There is a layer of skin between the egg and the shell. If you can get under that skin, you can usually peel away the shell easily, leaving a smooth boiled egg. However, these days it seems like that skin sticks to the egg, making it more difficult to remove the shell cleanly. The article said it is because more modern and efficient production methods are delivering eggs to market more quickly. Fresher eggs are more difficult to peel. After a week or two in the refrigerator they will peel more easily when boiled.

When Things Go Bad

I enjoyed using Windows 10 on my Surface 3 Pro tablet PC. "Enjoyed." Past tense. I purchased a HyperX headset (KHX-HSPC) that I could use on my computer or cellphone. It has a neat little controller that plugs into a USB port and then the headset plugs into that. There are separate buttons to control the speaker and the microphone volumes. I bought the set because I want to get onto Google Hangout, sort of like Skype, to take part in some courses offered to YouTube creators. It's interactive, using my Surface's camera and new headset.

Unfortunately, when I plugged in the controller it set itself as my default audio output device. That wasn't bad because you can usually switch to another device later, changing the default. Nope. The HyperX controller removed my computer's speaker as an output device. The only way to hear anything on the PC was with the headset. Internal speaker was no longer an option and the Hardware controller reported it as a problem. I tried various fixes offered through the operating system (OS), but nothing changed. As a last and drastic resort, I chose to "Restore Factory Settings." That fixed the problem, but it also removed any software I installed, my Internet favorites, and Windows 10, returning my Surface to its pristine Windows 8.1 OS. And it took several hours.

I wrote to Kingston to inform them of the problem with their product. I also wrote a cautionary review of the headset on Newegg where I purchased it. Needless to say, I'm not happy.

Meanwhile, I downloaded a free copy of Windows 10 to a thumb drive. My afternoon project will be to install the OS and my software again. I loved my tablet PC. Now, not so much.

Sunday 2015.08.02

Soup

The end of July is not a time when I would usually make soup. I like soup in the winter. However, a recipe intrigued me. It is for Fresh Tomato and Basil Soup. Like many of my generation — maybe I'm assuming too much — I grew up with Campbell's soups. I enjoyed tomato soup occasionally, eating it with plenty of saltine crackers. Several years ago I prepared the canned soup again, but it wasn't the same as I enjoyed in my childhood. It tasted like they put some sort of filler in it to use fewer tomatoes. Some things change, sometimes not for the better, and often there is no going back. So I gave up on the soup.

I found a tomato soup recipe in one of my pressure cooker cookbooks, but someone told me tomato soup tastes better if simmered for half an hour on the stove rather than quick cooked for 5 minutes. I'm sure the idea in the cookbook was a consession to convenience and speed rather than gourmet cooking. I had to give the recipe a try.

I bought fresh Roma tomatoes at Costco. Other than using a regular pot rather than a pressure cooker, I followed the recipe faithfully and cooked the soup for 30 minutes rather than 5 minutes. The formula uses white balsamic vinegar, which seemed odd, and I don't care for the flavor of vinegar, except in salad dressings. However, I used the vinegar and hoped it wouldn't disappoint me. It didn't.

The result was a delicious tomato soup. Not surprisingly, it was much better than the canned soup I enjoyed as a child. The pot of soup didn't last long. I nibbled at it until it was gone. This soup will definitely be added to the list of soups and stews — along with Pasta Fagioli, Clam Chowder, and Texas Chili — that I will make each winter.

I also made Salmon Jerky again this past week. It is difficult to avoid it when Costco has fresh wild caught sockeye salmon in the meat case. It is excellent snack food, delicious and healthy.

A Good Time Was Had By All — Well, By Me

In last month's blog I mentioned that I would be celebrating with pizza because of a few milestones: My birthday on Tuesday and my weight being normal. There are two more dates worth celebrating. July 1st was the beginning of my fifth year in retirement. And August 15th is the fifth anniversary of this web site and my YouTube presence. One accomplishment worth mentioning: In all those five years I never missed a Sunday nor a Wednesday blog entry. Come to think of it, yet another accomplishment worth celebrating was the completion of my landscaping project. I still need to plant more Dymondia, but all the lawn is gone. I no longer need to mow the grass and I did something to help conserve California water. That's worth celebrating too.

The pizza was good. I didn't invite friends to celebrate with me because I used the day to shoot another video for the lesson set planned for Curious.com. It's best to have no one else present to cause distractions. I'll do more shooting today to finish up the video and start another one. I need ten to complete the set. I have nearly eight done and I should be able to complete number nine later today. The pizza recipe I used is my standard thick crust, heavy toppings, Pizza. I ate half of it. The leftovers went into the freezer to be enjoyed for other milestones I might achieve in the next few months. Maybe when the last of the Dymondia is planted. Or maybe the return of the El Niño and the winter rains. I'll find reasons to heat up and enjoy those slices of pizza.

Returning to Videos

Although it really has been too warm in my kitchen to shoot videos, I've had a renewed interest in making cooking videos again. This past week I spoke on the telephone with someone at Google/YouTube. They are encouraging some of their creators to join a project to improve our video popularity on YouTube. They like my videos. The quality and content are, according to them, "excellent." A new team of people there have been studying popular video channels to determine what aspects make those channels successful. Now they are reaching out to other creators to help us take advantage of practices that proved successful for others. It's all free, a win-win situation that benefits us creators and benefits YouTube by attracting more traffic to their site and to our videos. I'm encouraged.

I mentioned above the Fresh Tomato and Basil Soup recipe and video. They will appear on this web site and YouTube in coming weeks. Next I'm thinking of making biscotti again. I usually celebrate this web site's anniversary with a biscotti recipe. I've had a large bag of pecans in my cupboard. How about pecan biscotti? I'll toast the pecans in the oven and make them similar to my Almond Biscotti recipe. It should be delicious. And if it works out, that will be the recipe and video I'll upload here for August 16th, for my web site's anniversary.

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