January 2016
Sunday 2016.1.31
Tomorrow Will Be Exciting
I've mentioned before my membership in a World News Discussion Group. Every one of our meetings the past few months has been dominated by discussions of Donald Trump, and no wonder. He has been dominating the news outlets since he announced his candidacy.
Friday evening's Charlie Rose featured several guests from sources like The Washington Post, New York Times, etc. One comment I appreciated was that this year's race is so difficult to predict because all the polls base their analysis on years of polling data. However, this year the race is unlike anything that ever occurred before. The rules no longer apply. One guest said the electorate is frustrated and angry, and it doesn't matter whether they are Republican or Democrat. Both are disappointed with an impotent government. Rather than governing, they fundraise, campaign, or block the other party's attempts to legislate. After more than 30 or 40 failed attempts to repeal the Affordable Care Act, they are still fixated on it.
Although it is unlikely an independent candidate would be elected, a good candidate could disrupt the voting enough to deny either mainstream candidate enough electoral college votes to be elected. That would send the decision to the House and the Senate.
All eyes, of course, will be on the Iowa caucuses tomorrow. Our next discussion group meeting will be on Saturday and by then there will probably be plenty to talk about. And yesterday the New York Times endorsed Hillary Clinton and John Kasich.
Our First Weight Loss Support Group
Wednesday evening was the first meeting of our weight loss support group. Surprisingly, only the men showed up. We had an excellent discussion for two hours. People talked about their efforts to lose weight in the past, what helped, what didn't, and their weight loss goal this time around. We didn't promote any one diet plan, although the DASH diet was discussed more than any other. The most important issues were empty calories (rice, chips, bread, pasta, etc.) and portion sizes.
The moderator of the group likes my Minute Meals idea for losing weight. Although it might be an extreme way to achieve portion control, he used it as an example of devising some sort of system to monitor and control the amount of food we eat at each meal. One of the members wanted an eating plan; so I spent about five hours yesterday scanning and formatting a two-week plan from one of my books, along with all the recipes cited in the plan, and then sent it to the moderator to upload to the web sites Files folder. It was 27 pages. I won't do that again soon.
This past week I have been enjoying salads again. I eat them a lot during the warm months, but in winter I prefer a hot cooked meal. Costco sells a two-pound bag of cooked, "tail off," frozen shrimp. Three ounces is only 70 calories. I heat them in the microwave oven and then add them to my salad. It is surprisingly delicious and satisfying. I'll be recommending this at out next support group meeting.
Rain
Weather.gov is predicting a major, but brief, rain event today here in Southern California. It's about time. Northern California has, so far, received the lion's share of this season's rainfall. They certainly need it, and there is still a long way to go to see an appreciable increase in reservoirs. Here in SoCal the few storms that came this way were light, with only one day with a brief period of heavy rain. Hopefully today will make a difference. Here we are at the end of January and our reservoir is still at less than 15% capacity. There was a slight increase this month, two tenths of one percent.
The storm expected today is a fast moving one, unlike the blizzard that blanketed parts of the East Coast with deep snow last weekend. Our latest storm will again be followed by several days of sunny dry weather. Thankfully there is ground water here, and the county put a new well on line this month. And, as far as I know, desalination is still being discussed.
And As For That Goat…
So far, my friend isn't pressing me about buying and cooking a whole goat. Thankfully, I've been so busy, I can honestly claim I don't have a lot of free time right now. Eventually it will be forgotton, like the Kobe wagyu beef, the saddle of lamb, and the ortolan. I dread to think what it will be next.
Wednesday 2016.1.27
Let's Get Thin
This evening is the first meeting of our new weight-loss support group. I am about as prepared as I can be. I have books, which I have read in part or in full. I have handouts. I have my receipe for homemade salad dressing. And I did something even better.
I Might Be Getting Old, But…
One of the books I'm using for the meeting is an e-book. I purchased it from the Barnes & Noble web site. One problem with commercial e-books is that they are protected by something called DRM, or digital rights management. Think of it as enforced copyright protection. It protects a piece of software, or an e-book, or other thingy, from editing or from being copied and distributed illegally, etc. I don't want to carry my Barnes & Nobles Nook e-book reader tablet to the meeting with me. But I will have my laptop computer/tablet.
How do I transfer a copy of the e-book to my computer? DRM blocks that, or at least blocks it from being opened on another device. Something like that.
I have the Calibre e-book management software, which is fairly handy at times. I also have Sigil, which I prefer. In fact, my free cookbook, available on this web site, was created in Sigil. Both programs, however, respect DRM and refuse to open the e-book. Some programming wizard — bless him or her — created a plug-in for Calibre that strips the DRM from the e-book.
Now, to be perfectly honest (and stay within copyright requirements), I have no intent of copying the book and distributing it to members of the group. This is Santa Barbara. People here have money. They can buy their own books. However, if a thought comes to mind — maybe I think I remember reading something in the book — I want to open it on my computer and do a word search to find what I'm looking for. To do that, I need to copy the book to my computer. You get the idea.
Downloading the plug-in from the De-DRM web site was easy. The instructions for loading it into the Calibre software were very clear. Getting it properly running was another matter. It took about an hour to figure everything out, but this old brain of mine isn't useless yet. I felt very good about myself when I had finally gotten it right and put the e-book on my laptop computer. It opens fine.
More Door Cam
In earlier blog entries I mentioned the problem I have because I spend most of my day working in my home office, which is toward the back of my home. Several times during the day and evening I hear a noise out front and I can't tell whether or not it is someone knocking on my front door. They knock so lightly sometimes, it's difficult to decide. So I get up, go to the door, and no one is there. I did this many times each day. Solution? A door cam.
I made a sort of mock-up prototype reflector kind of thing. It was made with foam core board and blue masking tape and a pocket mirror. I isn't great, but as a proof of concept it's excellent. For night viewing, I simply switch the porch light on. The camera is a Logitech c920 that plugs into a USB port on my desk computer.
In the meantime, I bought a small piece of sheet metal at Home Depot, which I cut and shaped into the final product. Then I sprayed it with Rust-Oleum primer, waited for that to dry, and then gave it a final coat of black paint. I had a piece of mirror glass that I carefully removed from a hand mirror I bought at K-Mart. This morning I cut the mirror in half — just the right size to fit my door cam's new reflector, attached it, and then mounted the whole thing to the window (after washing the glass well with glass cleaner) with double-sided adhesive strips.
It's done. It doesn't give me more or better viewing. I already achieved that with the prototype. It gives me something permanent, not made of paper and tape that might quickly disintegrate in the rain. I'm happy.
Sunday 2016.1.24
How Difficult Can it Be?
A funny thing happens when you know how to cook and you're known for not being afraid of a challenge…
There is a sort of Russian Jewish Eastern European deli not far from where I live. The parking is a bit tight and, to be honest, it's best to find a place to turn around and come up to it from the other way. But that's not what you want to know about.
I introduced a friend to the deli. I don't want to use his real name; so let's just call him Harold. Harold started shopping there at least once a week. It has many odd things I've never heard of or seen before. They make me want to experiment. Harold was there again a few days ago and he asked the man behind the meat counter, "Do you have any goat?" For the life of me, I can't imagine what would make Harold think to ask such a question, but there you are.
Something to know about Harold: Perseverance might be an apt one-word description. For a while it was Kobe/wagyu beef, a very expensive variety of beef raised in Japan. Then it was saddle of lamb. That was followed by ortolan — a bird "considered since early times to be the finest and most delicate of birds to eat" (Larousse Gastronomique). Harold grips rather tenaciously to his food obsessions. Now it's goat.
"Yes," the man behind the counter said and then he went into the back and brought out a whole goat. It was fully dressed, and I don't mean in clothing. It was properly slaughtered, skinned, and gutted. The man sells them for $80 each. If he is out of stock, he can make a phone call and have one ready the following day.
Harold couldn't resist calling me about it.
How do you cook a goat? We started talking about ideas. The shanks might be used in a North African tagine. The legs could be seasoned and slow roasted, like leg of lamb. The ribs can be cut into racks, like rack of lamb. The shoulder might be braised. Any meaty trim, such as from the neck and saddle, could be minced and turned into curried goat. I checked my refrigerator. If I use up some leftovers and remove a shelf or two, I might fit a goat in there.
It's easy to get caught up in his enthusiasm, and what starts out as amusement is soon perceived as commitment. After agreeing to do some research (I learned the meat is lower in calories than beef, lamb, and chicken because it is very lean) I agreed to go halfsies on the price. And then the buyer's remorse set in.
Buyer's remorse might not be accurate. I haven't spent any money yet. But just coming to an agreement makes me want to "accidentally" drop my cell phone in the toilet — oh dear, how did that happen? — and then agonize for a few months about buying a new one.
To do the pros-and-cons thing: Yes, it might make for a few entertaining videos of me and him sectioning a goat into the various cuts for cooking and then preparing meals. No, it wouldn't be amusing for me to watch. Harold is not accustomed to sharp kitchen knives. Where he lives, well, a knife isn't really a knife. It might look like one, but it is better suited (and is often used) for prying off the caps on beer bottles. Harold is therefore in the habit of using brute force to saw through a loaf of bread, leaving gouges in my cutting boards deep enough to stick your fingernail into. Really. I'm not exaggerating.
Then there is the mess. Harold isn't as familiar with the concept of clean-as-you-go as I am. About a year ago I let him cook without any interference from me. I wanted to see how ugly my kitchen could get. Harold doesn't put trim or waste in a bowl, to be emptied often. He pushes it aside. It mounds up. I was appalled. I wish I had taken photos.
So where do I go from here? Tibet? There is no hope of changing Harold's mind soon. Been there, done that, failed. Perhaps in a few months he'll discover hundred-year eggs — cheap, and he can bury them in his own back yard — or maybe giraffe — they're supposed to be delicious. Meanwhile, I'm stuck with inventing excuses. How difficult can it be?
Wednesday 2016.1.20
Polls
I'm not a big fan of polls when it comes to caucuses, primaries, or elections. But they are all over the news networks these days. They are so ubiquitous that we can't avoid talking about them when we get together in our regular World News Discussion Group meetings. People get all fired up about them. Should they?
Yesterday the meetings organizer, possibly upset, emailed me about a poll that claimed to prove that Donald Trump was assured to be the winner, not only in the Iowa caucus but in the November election. "How can they claim such a thing?" His email included a link to the news report.
I read the article and then called his attention to the second paragraph, which began with the words: "Among Trump supporters and campaign organizers.…" And that is the problem with many of the polls. Who are they polling? If they only poll a candidate's supporters, we can't expect the poll results to favor the other candidate. Ask Republican conservatives who will be the next President of the USA, few — if any — would say Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders. Naturally they will say Trump or Cruz, even if they don't like those two candidates.
The misunderstanding on the part of the group organizer is understandable. He claims to read dozens, sometimes hundreds, of news articles everyday. How can he read so many? He says he reads only the first paragraph, because that summarizes the article, which tells him all he (thinks) he needs to know. The fact that the second paragraph began with "Among Trump supporters…" was an important point he missed.
To his credit, he did email us all a link to an aggregate site that combines the most reliable polls into one set of data points to predict outcomes.
Our Weight Loss Support Group
A week from today will be the first meeting of our new weight loss support group. I'm excited. I think I've already said earlier that it will be a free group. I don't intend to promote anything. I want each person to find a book or online program they think they can successfully follow. That's important self-empowerment. My hope is that they will bring to the group new information they learned or some new tips they found useful. We might even share some low-calorie high-nutrient recipes. And, of course, any diet or nutrition topic reported in the news is welcome.
I'm reading three books currently. So far, I like the DASH diet best, as I mentioned in Sunday's blog. There are many books available. I picked up two at Costco. I've also been assembling lessons, 16 of them, to provide us with talking points for each meeting. I envision everyone using part of each meeting to discuss the points of a lesson, then use the remainder of the time to address questions, share topics they learned from their reading, and provide support for those who might be struggling.
I really want this to succeed, and hopefully I'm not setting myself up for a major disappointment. I do that. I pour everything into some project that I desperately want to see go well, and then when it doesn't, I feel let down. Maybe knowing that about myself will better prepare me.
I did learn a new trick this week. I have a habit of snacking too much in the evening. And when do I usually do my activity of walking to the store? In the evening. It's too easy to pick up a snack while there. Now I'm trying to do my walking in the morning when I don't like eating solid food. I'm happy with a cup of coffee in the morning.
Not Much Cooking
I've been so busy preparing for the new support group, I have done almost no cooking. This morning I walked to the store for more mixed vegetables, which I portioned and packaged for my Minute Meals. They've been keeping me sustained. They don't match perfectly with the diet books I've been reading. Those diets, for example, prohibit mashed potatoes, among other foods. I like mashed potatoes. Four ounces once a day isn't going to make be obese again, I hope. Meanwhile, I've been trying to eat more low-fat Greek yogurt and avocados. Thankfully the new Smart & Final store down the street has some excellent sale prices on produce each week.
Sunday 2016.1.17
Diets
I've been blogging lately about starting a healthy diet and lifestyle support group with a friend of mine. To prepare, I've been reading diet books. The most recent one is something I found at the local Costco store — Always Hungry? by Dr. David Ludwig.
I like his ideas. True, the one formula that has always been proved true is that eating fewer calories than we burn each day will result in weight loss. But it's not that simple. I think everyone would agree that 400 calories of ice cream is not the same as 400 calories of fish and vegetables. I like thinking about the human body as more than a furnace that simply burns the fuel we put into it. We make use of some very complicated chemistry.
I'll test almost anything, as long as I feel safe. I'm trying Dr. Ludwig's ideas. One benefit is supposed to be control of the hunger and cravings that sabotage most diet plans. If I can control my weight, even losing some weight, without problematic hunger, I'll be happy.
If I had to name something I don't like about the book, it's that he says we should never count carlories. However, he promotes starting with plates of food, 50% of which are fat calories. "You'll eat a high proportion of fat (50 percent of your total calories)" — page 106. How are we to know the 50% unless we add up the calories.
I'm also looking into the DASH diet, a plan that was first created to help lower blood pressure. According to the U.S. News & World Report, it is the diet most approved by healthcare professionals.
However, when it comes to weight-loss programs, it's the exercise where I do the poorest. I'm wearing a pedometer right now. What is good? 10,000 steps per day. Here it is 6:00 in the evening and my pedometer shows 1,284 steps.
Good Neighbors
Yesterday evening I went to check my mail and my neighbor was standing at his barbecue, delicious smoke filling the air around him. He was grilling chicken and pork ribs that he had marinated. He and I talk a lot about food. He saw my cooking videos before he met me and wondered if I lived in the same park as him. We met one day and he recognized me. We've been good friends ever since.
So he promised to bring me a plate of food. He is definitely from the South, so along with the chicken and ribs there will be slow cooked cabbage and bacon. And this is why I like to have food in my freezer. I promised him some duck meat ravioli in exchange.
Unlike my other neighbors, I rarely ever bring him food. He's almost never home. When he does come home, it's often late at night.
As promised, he arrived with a plate of chicken breast, ribs, and cabbage. Everything looked perfect. And then something surprising happened — he wanted me to taste the food while he watched. The reason? He regards me as a master chef (I don't — I'm just a cook) and he wanted the gratification of my approval, that he had done something well enough to please a genuine gastronome. Such moments always surprise me. To me, I'm no more special than a plate of macaroni and cheese. But one can never predict the opinion of others.
Wednesday 2016.1.13
Stormy Weather
This is the time of year when I start watching the Rainfall and Reservoir Summaries published by the county. For the first time in more than four years, our reservoir registered a slight increase in water. It isn't much, only one tenth of one percent of its capacity, but it's an increase. It shows that the ground is starting to become saturated and each storm's rainfall results in more runoff into the reservoir.
With capacities as low as they are, it might be doubtful that the reservoirs will fill this winter. Our local lake is still below 15% capacity and the reservoir upstream is below 10%. Our rain to date is only a little better than 80% where we would be in a normal rain year. They've been saying that this El Niño event will be a significant one; however, it is starting later than usual.
The good news is that the late slow start has given cities and counties more time to clean out their drainage channels and otherwise prepare for the winter rains. Although there has been some flooding and a few mud slides, they are minor compared to what might have happened if El Niño had slammed into Southern California full force with many days of constant heavy rain. So far, we're enjoying moderate storms with dry days in between to recover a little before the next storm.
Do You Pocket Dial?
I find it amusing that one of the common practices of cell phones is pocket dialing. I'm sure you know what it is, but just in case — it's when the buttons on your cell phone get pressed while in your pocket and you therefore unintentionally call someone. Everyone gets a wrong number once in a while. Usually the caller apologizes and hangs up. However, there are times when they "leave" a voice mail that is nothing more than a minute or two of odd background noises, like the sounds in a restaurant. Or maybe their baby was playing with the phone because the voice mail I got had a kid making nonsensicle noises into it. It was cute.
More About My Door Cam
I've been mentioning the web cam I set up to monitor my front door because I often hear noises that sound like someone knocking. I check the front door to find no one there. The camera is indoors, pointing toward a mirror I rigged up with a sort-of prototype mockup kind of thing that is stuck to my window on the outside. The thing is currently fabricated out of foam core material and masking tape. It won't take a lot of rain to wilt it to the point of catastrophic failure.
I have a small piece of sheet metal, called a "steel shingle." I'll use that to make a more permanent reflector. However, I needed a better mirror. The only one I could find was part of a hand mirror. How do you remove the glass mirror from the plastic thing holding it?
After you've lived life a while, you begin to figure out how things work. A lot of glue is kind of sticky when it hardens. It doesn't dry to full hardness like paper or wood glues do. So, with a little patience, you can apply stead light pressure and little by little release the glue. I used some butter knives and just let the handle of each knife work as a weight to apply the pressure. It took more than three hours before I heard a strange noise. It was glue letting go and a knife falling to the floor. The mirror successfully detached from the plastic without cracking.
Next I'll use a glass cutter to get the size mirror I need, and then my Dremel to slowly sand the sharp edges. Eventually I hope to have a permanent reflector outside my window, giving me a full view of my front door and walkway.
Another Cooking Adventure
I finally got around to making Duck Meat Ravioli with the meat that was left over from the Duck with Plum Wine Reduction Sauce.
The flavor of the ravioli? Incredible. I wanted a red sauce, but not too red. So I mixed in a little heavy cream. It was just right — bold enough to match the duck meat, but smooth enough not to overpower it. And for some reason, I though butternut squash would go perfectly with the flavor of duck. They just seem to belong together.
I used up all the left over meat and put 30 ravioli in the freezer. After they finish freezing I'll package them into little packets of 10 each. Then, if guests should show up unannounced, I can ask them, "How would you like some Duck Ravioli for dinner?" They'll think they're getting something special. No need to let them know they're eating my leftovers.
Sunday 2016.1.10
An Empty Mind
I have been sitting here wondering what to blog about. Let's see…
Well, my door cam is working fine. Whenever I hear a noise out front that might be someone knocking, a quick glance at my computer monitor lets me know whether or not someone is standing at my front door.
Let's see, what else…
I bought some quinoa. I want to experiment with it, to see what it tastes like. I haven't cooked it yet.
Ummm…
What do you think of Donald Trump?
Speaking of the election, I have a story to tell, and the facts aren't all that much different now. Four years ago I blogged something about the Republicans, saying that I thought they might be holding back their best candidate for 2016 because the reelection of Obama was statistically guaranteed. I commented that none of the Republican candidates seemed good enough to be elected as president.
I received a rather nasty email, telling me how wrong I was, and "you just wait and see." Obama was certain to lose and the country would be run by Republicans again. The real stinger was something like, "Stick to what you know — cooking."
Well, Obama was elected to a second term, despite the efforts of Mitch McConnell, who said to his party, "Our top priority over the next two years should be to deny President Obama a second term." Running the country, doing the job for which they were elected and are paid, has been getting lower priority for years. Wasting their time voting again and again to repeal the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), knowing full well the effort is futile, rather than governing, is just one example. What is it now? 68 attempts? Something like that. Maybe it's 48. Whatever.
I'm not the only person who feels that way. Several news items published lately say that Trump's popularity is due to people feeling disappointed with their government's inability to govern. Rather than pointless gestures like repealing Obamacare, why not solve the problems the Social Security Administration or facing? How about improving education here in the USA? To its credit, Congress passed a spending bill to fund repairs to the country's highways and bridges. How about more legislation like that?
And here we are again. Is Donald Trump the best the Republican party has to offer? Cruz is despised by most members of his party. Dana Milbank in an opinion written for The Washington Post said, "Cruz, I am convinced, would make a truly awful president." Rubio is too busy raising money to do his job. Bush has all the personality of a shrub.
The convention will be worth watching. And meanwhile there isn't much to do but speculate about what Clinton will do as president. The campaign will be months of Trump fireworks. He's a celebrity and he makes his campaign entertaining.
Yesterday was the meeting of our world news discussion group. As usual, it was a lively discussion and politics dominated. There are groups that avoid discussing religion and politics whenever they meet. Those subjects are taboo. We don't discuss religion, unless it features in the news, such as some announcement by his pontificateness The Pope. I find it very satisfying and pleasing that a group of people can meet on a regular basis — we've been doing it for months — and regularly discuss news and politics without anyone taking offense. True, this is Southern California and we live near the ocean. This is an area I regularly describe as "the bubble" and it is populated primarily by the intelligentsia. We are a university town.
Although there are no staunch Republicans in our group, we are all older Americans and therefore there is more conservatism than would certainly be found in a group of college students. But we have developed a cultured respect for each other. Although we commonly get very animated in our various debates over the meaning of news articles, there is always an air of polite respect. We like one another, and that helps. The one common thread that binds us all is that we love following the news and discussing it.
Wednesday 2016.1.6
My Dream of Duck
Monday I prepared the duck dinner according to the recipe I dreamed in my sleep. I wrote about the dream in last month's blog. I made only one change from the original recipe as I dreamed it. Rather than putting steamed carrots on the plate, I grilled the carrots. Otherwise, everything was done exactly as I dreamed it.
The result? On a scale of 1 to 10, this one gets a 10. Normally I am a harsh critic when it comes to judging my own cooking. However, this time the food seemed perfect. I can't imagine anything I might do to make it any better.
The picture on the recipe page isn't the prettiest, and I kind of suspected it wouldn't be. So I pulled one of my most rustic plates out of storage.
I roasted the duck in an enameled cast iron pot. After stuffing the duck with some apple and onion, only to provide moisture on the inside, I placed it on a rack in the pot and added two cups of homemade chicken stock. Then I covered the pot and baked it at 350°F (177°C) for two hours. When done, I transferred the duck to a platter and covered it with foil, allowing it to cool until it would be safe to handle without burning myself. Meanwhile, I filtered the stock and drippings and used it to make a reduction sauce with plum wine.
After deboning the duck and cutting up the larger pieces of meat, I brought water to a boil and started cooking the noodles. While that was happening I had a cast iron grill on the stove and I grilled the carrots. Finally, I mixed some of the duck meat with some of the reduction sauce and spooned it over cooked noodles. Carrots to the side.
The food was delicious. I think the one aspect that pleased me the most is that I came up with this idea in a dream. It turned out perfectly. I could have taken a little more time to plate the food artfully. Other than that, this was a wonderful dish. It isn't easy to make. It's not someting you could slap together when you come home from work in the evening. However, the duck and sauce can be prepared a day in advance and then heated easily the following day.
I have enough duck and sauce left over to make the ravioli I planned and possibly do another photograph of this dish again. The photo needs a little more planning.
El Niño Has Arrived
Yesterday the first of a string of El Niño storms arrived here in Southern California. Northern California has been getting storms, but those were more associated with the Gulf of Alaska. The snow pack in the Sierras is well above normal for the season. Down here in SoCal, however, we were still woefully behind in our average annual precipitation, 40% of normal for the county and down to 15% of normal in the city. Our reservior was below 15% capacity. All that changed yesterday.
It was a slow start. The rain was forecast to begin on Sunday afternoon. Nothing. Then during the night. Nothing. Then during the day on Monday. Still nothing. Monday night it finally began to rain — the first of several storms that would bring moisture toward California from the equatorial Pacific Ocean region. Sometimes it is called the Pineapple Express because the jet stream delivers storm after storm from around Hawaii.
This morning the rain was very heavy at times, with lightning and thunder, overwhelming part of my yard. The drainage I planned worked well though. Within minutes after the rain had stopped most of the water had drained away.
These early storms are typically the safest. The ground is dry. There is plenty of room for water to soak in. It means less water flowing into reservoirs, but fewer mud slides and less flooding. Later, when the ground is saturated, the situation becomes more problematic. The rain can't soak in and must flow somewhere, flooding streets. The water-soaked ground is heavy and can come crashing down hillsides, covering roads and — worse — homes. As one meteorologist said, "Be careful what you wish for." We're desperate for the rain. The drought has been severe. However, with the rains come the disasters.
Personally, I welcome the rain. I live on high ground. No flooding here. No steep slopes nearby. And, I no longer have a lawn. Winter rains meant mowing the lawn at least once a week. Now all my yard is landscaped with sandstone and drought-tolerant Dymondia ground cover. It's beautiful and almost effortless to maintain. I just need to dig up weeds once in a while.
As for the numbers, the county puts a "Rainfall and Reservoir Summary" in PDF format on their Internet site each day. As of Tuesday morning, the "normal-to-date rainfall percentage" rose 10% to 50%. This morning, after yesterday's rain, the percentage rose to 64%. Tomorrow's report will be even more interesting.
Brain Power
I spend a lot of my time in my home office. It's at the back of my home. Often I hear a noise and wonder if someone is knocking on my front door. A couple people here know to call upon me if they need a ride to the doctor or hospital. Yesterday I drove someone to his oral surgeon for some extreme dental work. Anyway, I get up a lot and walk to the front door to check. Most of the time, no one is there.
This morning I drove to Staples to take advantage of a sale. I bought a Logitech c920 web cam and saved $30 off the regular price. I attached it to my laptop computer and then I fabricated a prototype mirror reflector, which I attached to the outside of my office window. Meanwhile, my web cam stays indoors, on this side of the window, protected from the weather. It gives me a clear view of my front porch. With my laptop on and the camera running, I can easily see if anyone is at the front door if I think I hear someone knocking.
It works great! Later I'll fabricate something more permanent with weather-proof material.
Sunday 2016.1.3
A New Year Begins
One of my hopes for 2016 is that I can save some money again. I completed four expensive projects during the past few years — having a new storage shed built, replacing my home's galvanized pipes with copper, removing my lawn and replacing it with sandstone and drought-tolerant Dymondia ground cover, and building two new computers. Those projects are done and the bills are finally paid. Now I want to restore my savings.
A new project I'm feeling excited about is a support group to help people to lose weight and adopt a healthier lifestyle. During the past two years I lost about 70 pounds. Now I'd like to encourage others to do the same. Also, by being part of a group to which I would feel accountable, I'm hoping this will encourage me to continue with my healthier eating habits and not regain the weight I successfully lost.
I'm also feeling excited about cooking again and already I'm building up projects for future uploads to this web site and to YouTube. Not counting today's uploads, I have five projects in the vault. There was a time when I had as many as ten. I'm not sure if I'll ever return to that level of productivity — I am getting older and I am relaxing more in retirement — but I'd like to get enough projects stored away to see me through some of the warmer summer months when the kitchen is too hot for cooking.
The next cooking adventure I will get to this week is that duck recipe I dreamed about. I'm planning two projects for that one — the original recipe as I saw it in my dream, and then reserving some of the duck meat for making ravioli. I'm trying to decide upon a sauce. A marinara sauce doesn't seem quite right, but a white sauce doesn't look good on white pasta in a video and photographs. I might compromise and make marinara and then add cream to it. It would make a more delicate sauce and the visual appeal would be good.
Something I feel rather proud of: Using Swiffer brand dusting cloths as filters on my computers is working very well so far. I changed all the filters yesterday and the gray color on the cloths, compared to new white ones, is a good indicator that they are catching dust that would have otherwise gone into my computers. Time will tell. I'm looking forward to seeing the results coming November, a year after I built these computers.
Too Many Ideas
I have so many ideas for cooking videos (and I continue getting more) that I keep looking for better ways to store them. I tried folders, a three-ring binder with dividers, large envelopes, and now I'm working on a box. Not only do I find ideas in restaurant trade journals, magazines, and new cookbooks, but people send me their ideas as well. And then there are the original ideas I come up with on my own. I can hardly keep them sorted, let along actually use them. I need to do some serious culling of the recipes and slim them down to a reasonable number.
What I really need is ten boxes, each numbered, into which I would sort each recipe based upon how likely I am to ever do a video of it, number 10 being the most likely. Then, when everything is sorted, shred everything in the boxes numbered 1 through 9. It might be the only way.
And So It Begins
This week the El Niño rains are predicted to arrive here in Southern California. Northern California has been experiencing wet weather already. The snowpack in some areas is well above normal. Here in SoCal, however, the rains have been minimal. We have received less than 50% of the rainfall we can expect normally by this time of year. Our reservoir is below 15% capacity. Where I live the rain is at only 22% of normal for the season, and it is at only 16% in the city.
All that is expected to begin changing starting later today. The National Weather Service forcasts rain all this week, every day, and possibly into next week as well. I've been looking forward to the rain. As a rule, I like to be home, warm and dry, when it rains.
The one negative concern is that I am driving a friend up to Solvang on Tuesday, the day we expect to receive the heaviest rain. I'm not concerned about high water or road closures anywhere — most of the driving will be on freeways. However, accidents are likely, and that can back up traffic on the freeway for hours. We're planning to leave early. Hopefully the traffic jams won't begin until after we arrive there. I'll bring my laptop computer to check traffic condtions (hopefully we can find free wi-fi) before returning home.