August 2016
Wednesday 2016.8.31
Not Baking Weather
I'm glad I baked the Rustic Bread when I did. The house was mostly cool and the window fans easily exhausted the heat from the oven outdoors. This week, however, is a different story. I was going to shoot a new version of my Chicken and Spinach Pie video, which never made it onto YouTube, but when I checked the weather forecast Sunday evening, they projected hot (upper 80s / low 90s) and dry weather for the first half of the week. That is not baking weather.
Above-normal winds were expected in the mountains, along with relative humidity in the teens (single digits in some areas). They thus issued a fire watch for this region through today. Low humidity means I can use my evaporative cooler in the living room. I ran the air conditioner in the office to keep the computers cool.
Yesterday was okay. The temperature barely touched 90°F and the humidity didn't drop below 33%. Not a bad day.
What with global warming and severe drought here in Southern California, September and October are expected to be dangerous fire months. I don't live in an area that is in danger of burning. Our biggest concern is if fire up in the mountains burns under the high voltage transmission lines. The electricity goes out, sometimes for several hours at a time. I prepared.
On Sunday evening I lit my oil lamps and let them burn for a few minutes. After not being used for nearly a year, a sort of wax builds up in the wick, and that can make them difficult to light. Leaving them to burn for a while gets rid of the wax. If we should lose electricity, at least I can keep my home lighted with my two antique oil lamps. They create such a warm pleasant glow, I almost hope the electricity would go out once an a while.
This is the time of year when I start to become a little impatient for cooler weather. I can already feel it. The evenings are getting dark earlier. I start thinking about making soups and baking breads. And although I don't think of sausages as particularly winter food, they are hearty and therefore they do seem appropriate for cooler weather. I'm about due to make sausages again. And I already started cleaning out my freezer because there is chicken trim in there. I'll be making my winter supply of Chicken Stock for soups soon.
Today the weather continues to be warm, but not as warm as yesterday. I might get by with window fans only. The fire danger warning was lifted at 10:00 this morning. Evidently the overnight winds have died down. The remainder of the week will be cooler — maybe baking weather.
Minute Meal Weather
It was, however, good weather for putting Minute Meal foods in the freezer. I purchased two rotisserie chickens at Costco, which I deboned and portioned before freezing. (The trim was put in the freezer for making stock later.) I also bought steelhead trout at Costco and portioned it, then froze it in little pouches with water added. And I bought two large bags of frozen vegetables — corn and mixed veggies — for portioning and freezing. Lastly, I bought a leg of lamb. I haven't dealt with that yet. Maybe tomorrow. I need to come up with a recipe for a coating, maybe one of my rubs, and then roast it. Then it can be portioned for freezing.
That stocks my freezer for the fall.
On Sunday…
Sunday's Feature Recipe will be another rerun — New England Clam Cakes. The original is "Creative Common" on YouTube, which allows others to freely reuse the video. As I mentioned in an early blog post, one of these was used by someone on their YouTube channel and they were making money from it. I don't mind people sharing my videos. I create them to be enjoyed, and to maybe help a few others become better cooks. But I draw the line at others using them for revenue when they didn't put in the time and money to make the videos.
I won't make the mistake of deleting the original video yet. It currently has more than 21,000 views. Today I finally reached 1,000,000 views on YouTube again. My views took a big hit when I deleted the old Salmon Jerky video. It had more than 30,000 views. On the old Clam Cakes video I'll place a reference to the new one and eventually delete it.
My YouTube channel is currently doing well. It is getting more than a thousand views each day. That will pick up next month and especially during the last quarter of the year. The holidays result in nearly double the monthly views as people look for recipe ideas.
Maybe a Peek Ahead?
If I stay on schedule, September looks like this:
9/4 New England Clam Cakes
9/11 Chocolate Chili Barbecue Sauce
9/18 Chicken Spinach Pie
9/25 Tuscan Sausages
And, Finally, Some Happy News
I've been checking my little citrus trees almost daily. No sign of leafminers. But I noticed something new on the lime tree. It has been one long branch, pointing straight up, with about a dozen leaves since it was given to me several months ago. I've kept it watered. Finally, this week there are many new branches developing. By next year it should look like a fully filled out tree. Small, but full. I might even get a few limes.
Sunday 2016.8.28
Good News
So far, the spray on the leaves of my little citrus trees has been working. I check the trees almost every day and I don't see any leafminers damaging the foliage. Phew! I'll need to spray periodically, maybe once every two weeks, but that's okay. It might not make the fruit worth eating, but I'm not growing the trees for fruit. These trees are ornamentals. Besides, they're growing in large planters, not the ground, so I can't expect much fruit anyway. And if I need lemons, the neighbor up the street often tells me to pick them from her tree.
Which gave me an idea. On Wednesday I mentioned a neighbor who invited me to come for lunch, and then expected me to provide the lunch. When (and if) he invites me again and asks me what I'm brining, I will say: "I'll pick some lemons from our neighbor's tree and make lemonade."
The herbs I planted are doing excellent too. All the plants I put in pots are thriving well. No sign of shock from transplanting. Some of them are developing little flowers. I saw a show on TV, in which the host recommended pinching off the budding flowers on basil plants to encourage branching. I did that to the Thai basil. I think I mentioned in an earlier blog post that we are nearing the end of the growing season for basil; so I'll see how the plants develop. This is also Southern California. Our growing season for many plants is year round. The arborist across the street says there is no bad time for pruning here.
Rustic Bread
On Friday I started making the Rustic Bread I mentioned in an earlier blog post. It's really simple, only four ingredients — flour, salt, yeast, and water. However, I want larger bubbles in this bread, like I get with my Ciabatta recipe. From my research I learned that the more moisture in the dough, the bigger the bubbles in the bread — not so much water, however, that the dough collapses under its own weight. It should be a fun challenge finding the perfect consistency.
Like many bread recipes, you often need to adjust the ratio of water to flour. Some varieties of flour react differently than others. There might be more, or less, moisture in the flour. Humidity and weather can make a difference. I almost always need to make an adjustment when I make bread, even using the same recipe I've used many times.
I made the sponge, which is like a starter batter, on Friday, let it sit overnight, and yesterday I made the bread. I put in only enough flour to get a moist and sticky dough. Not too sticky, but sticky enough to assure there was the right amount of water.
Another concern was the baking. I wanted to bake it on a heated pizza stone, but what happens when you shake a loaf of raw dough? It collapses. How do you transfer the dough from a pizza peel to the pizza stone without deflating the dough? Answer: Very gently. I used a lot of corn meal on the peel. Very gingerly I slide the dough onto the stone without any mishaps. To be honest, I was expecting a disaster. However, it slid onto the stone beautifully. Then I sprayed the oven and dough with water every few minutes during the first 15 minutes of baking. The result was an excellent finished loaf of bread with a crisp brown crust.
The bubbles in the crumb weren't as large as I would have liked, but the texture was really good. As for the flavor, with only the four basic ingredients, it tastes like bread. If I calculated correctly, the loaf cost me about 15¢.
The recipe and video will be on this web site in coming weeks.
Speaking of Bread…
This week's feature recipe, Doughboys, was done by request — actually, two requests. A few months ago someone suggested I do a video about fried bread dough. This is made throughout the world and is known by different names. Supposedly it is only known by the name doughboys in Rhode Island, which was the second request, to do a video about doughboys. I grew up in Mystic Connecticut, which is not far from the Rhode Island border; so we knew them as doughboys there too. My mom, however, made them by using canned Pillsbury biscuits. I demonstrate her "recipe" in the video as well. Tasting both, I much prefer my own recipe.
Meanwhile…
My pole saw arrived yesterday, the one I bought for pruning the juniper tree in my yard (without having to climb a ladder, or the tree). The box was almost as tall as my livingroom ceiling is high — 7¾ feet. I have eight-foot ceilings. Now, one problem: It's new. It's shiny. I don't want to get it dirty.
And, Finally, Dymondia
A thought occurred to me. I have a few more areas in my yard to fill with Dymondia ground cover. I have also been trimming a few areas where the plant has overgrown the sandstone pavers. Why pay $18.00 per flat at Home Depot? I filled one flat with planting mix, moistened it well, and stuck clippings of Dymondia into the soil. So far, they're staying green. By the time the cuttings fully root (assuming they do) the fall weather will be here, which will be a good time to start planting again. Hopefully we'll get some rain. We need it.
Wednesday 2016.8.24
The Rey Fire
In recent blog posts I mentioned the local Rey Fire. The fire is a safe distance away. There is a mountain range and a broad valley between it and us. And, it is burning away from us, not toward us. Thankfully, there has been almost no smoke or ash in my neighborhood.
What we see where I live is only the upper part of that column of smoke.
Citrus Trees Under Attack
Something is attacking my new citrus trees. The leaves have tunnels in them.
It looks like something is burrowing into the leaf, snaking its way beneath the surface, sucking the life out of it. And that's what it is. I love the Internet. A little research revealed that these are leafminers, the larvae of a small Asian moth that first appeared in California in the year 2000. It is now widely spread and is common in young citrus trees (like mine). They mostly invade younger, tender leaves, but can get into older, firmer leaves too. And, according to one report, they can defoliate a young tree to the point of killing it. Older trees have enough mature hardened leaves to survive quite well, despite younger leaves being destroyed by the worm.
When mature, the worm emerges from the leaf and wraps an edge of it around itself as a protection while it metamorphoses into a moth. And then onward to mate and lay more eggs.
The various recommendations somewhat contradict each other. One recommendation is to prune infected leaves. I did that because they don't do the tree much good anyway. There are insecticides for clearing up an infestation of leafminers. One of the recommended substances is in a product sold at Home Depot; so I bought it and mixed up a bottle of spray. Between spraying and pruning, I hope to save these trees.
As For That Barbecue…
I mentioned in Sunday's blog I was invited to a "barbecue" that was scheduled for yesterday. It didn't work out so well. There was no barbecue and I was expected to provide nearly all the food and alcohol. The host bought a baguette. To say I didn't feel hurt would be a lie. Oh well; that's how we learn.
This reminds me of an amusing story from many years ago. A "friend" learned I could cook. He invited me to dinner one day, but he didn't ask me to bring anything. "Come early," he said; "we can talk." When I got there the food was raw, thawed, and in the refrigerator. "Talk" meant talking while I did all the cooking. Even worse, guests arrived around 5:00 and he introduced me as his personal chef.
The next time he tried to pull this stunt I said, "I have some errands to run, but I'll get there as soon as I can." I showed up at 5:30. He had to do the cooking. He was not happy at all. And he never invited me again. Objective accomplished.
I'm used to this sort of thing. I can't count the number of times someone asked me, "When can we invite you over to cook dinner for us?" My usual response it to email them a list of expensive ingredients. "You buy the food, I'll cook it, and my price is I get to take half of it home." They never invite me. Again, objective accomplished.
Why do people expect me to provide for them? I've invited guests to dinner. As the host, I provide all the food and alcohol, unless they ask: "Can I bring anything?" I might answer, "Bring a bottle of your favorite wine." If I already have everything I need, I say, "Bring your appetite." I never invited friends to dinner and said, "Bring the dinner with you."
My Italian friend has an expression for people like this — faccia di bronzo. It literally means "face of bronze," but a rough translation would be "someone who never blushes" as they might if embarrassed or shamed. My Chinese friends dismiss them with the disparaging term Shanghainese, which is sort of like country persons expressing disapproval of "city folk." When I lived in Connecticut we sometimes encountered pushy arrogant people and we would say, "New York."
Oh well. Life is full of variety and if not always entertaining, maybe something can sometimes be a little amusing. If invited to a "barbecue" again, I'll offer to bring some paper plates.
Sunday 2016.8.21
First, Fire
Another disadvantage of the drought here in Southern California is that the brush up in the mountains is tinder dry. On the other side of the mountains to the north of here a fire started around 3:00 Thursday afternoon. They are calling this one the Rey Fire. So far no serious damage has been reported. The fire is exanding away from populated areas, burning mostly in unpopulated wilderness areas.
I don't need to be concerned about fire damage where I live. This trailer park is kind of centrally located, surrounded by large residential and commercial areas. When the smoke blows this way, it is better to stay indoors. Electrical outages are my biggest concern. When the Gap Fire burned in the foothills a few years ago, the flames were under the transmission lines and there were daily power failures, sometimes lasting for many hours.
So far, this fire has mostly been a spectacle of smoke.
And according to yesterday's Washington Post, "California recorded 275 wildfires last week alone. So far this year, more than 4,500 fires have erupted." I hate fire season in Southern California.
And speaking of fire, if Donald Trump doesn't win the election in November I expect the headlines to read, "You're FIRED!"
Mom's American Chop Suey
This week I'm uploading a re-shoot of one of my oldest recipes, something I first videoed almost five years ago. This is a macaroni and ragù dish I grew up with in New England. It is known by different names and is made a little differently throughout the United States. I make it my mom's way — she didn't include chopped bell peppers — and I name it how we called it in Connecticut, American Chop Suey, a name that is supposedly still in use in New England today.
Herbs
My little garden of potted herbs continues to expand, and I'm feeling mighty pleased about it. On Thursday I found an excellent glazed ceramic vase in the local Habitat for Humanity ReStore. It was only $25, but not a true pot. There was no hole in the bottom for drainage.
One advantage of living in a trailer park is that there are some really knowledgeable neighbors living close by. Two doors up the street is a friend who recently drilled one of his own ceramic pots to use as a planter outdoors. He has diamond hole bits specifically for cutting ceramics. He gave me instructions — use plenty of water and hold the drill a certain way to get the cutting started — and within minutes I cut a clean 7/8-inch (22mm) hole in the bottom. The vase-now-pot is outdoors, home to a marjoram plant.
Besides the pots on the ground, I am placing them on the railing of my deck too. In case you're counting — there is oregano, tarragon, flat-leaf parsley, sage, marjoram, and rosemary. On the deck I have thyme and Thai basil. I look forward to the day when I can say in a cooking video: "These came from my herb garden."
Meanwhile, I bought an ugly black rectangular planter that I painted with a base coat sealer first, later followed by three coats of clean white semi-gloss enamel. Yesterday I filled it with several sweet basil plants. It is sort of the end of the growing season for basil here, but properly managed during the winter, the plants should produce plenty of good basil next spring.
Another Good Neighbor
Another of my neighbors is a licensed arborist. He's like a tree doctor. I showed him my juniper tree, how it was growing up against my back porch awning. A good wind storm might cause some damage. He's knows I like to do things myself; so he loaned me one of his professional pruning tools — a really sharp pole saw — and I trimmed my tree on Friday, just enough to fill the trash bin for the pickup that afternoon. I'd really like to get one of those saws; so I looked on Amazon and they're a little expensive, about $165, but I put one one my Wish List anyway.
A Belated Happy Day
Those of you who read my blog (all two of you) might remember my disappointment at not receiving a gift card sent by a friend for my birthday. It arrived on Friday. It was postmarked July 28th and was delivered on August 19, three weeks later. And, to make it even more perplexing, it was mailed here in town. It wasn't a gift shipped from Italy, or even New York. If I had to explain it: Our mail delivery persons are notorious for putting mail in the wrong boxes. Mistaking "14" for "19" might be understandable, but many times not even the street name is correct. So, I'll assume it went into someone else's box, they put it into the "outgoing" box, and eventually it was routed to me.
The birthday present is a gift card to BevMo, a popular liquor store here. I occasionally buy wine there and we have a running joke about it. I love the fact that BevMo runs 5¢ sales. Buy one bottle at the regular price and get a second bottle for a nickel. Such a deal! So almost anything that passes between those friends and myself has a nickel taped to it. One evening I invited them to dinner for stuffed manicotti. Their thank-you present was a roll of nickels. We have a lot of fun with nickels here.
Something in the Works
Tuesday all the roads here in the trailer park will be resurfaced with a slurry coat. If we're not out by 7:00 in the morning, we ain't going nowhere. We can't even cross the street to visit a neighbor. Sounds like a good excuse for a party. A friend (who lives on the same side of the street as me) and I are planning a barbecue. I'm thinking of making a pot of my Real Texas Chili. It goes well with hotdogs and chips.
And, Finally, Another Toy
I have an Executive Membership card at Costco. It's expensive, but the rebate check I get back each year is always more than I pay for the membership. And rather than rushing out to buy something with the rebate check when it arrives, I wait until Costco stocks something I really want.
I love headphones. (I have five, not counting ear buds.) In Costco's August sales booklet they advertised "Sony Bluetooth Noise-Canceling Wireless Headphones" at $30 off. Perfect timing. Check in hand, I went to Costco. They didn't know where the headphones were. They knew they were somewhere in the warehouse, but they hadn't located the pallet yet. Thankfully I live within walking distance. Yesterday I went back, bought them, and paired the Bluetooth with my Microsoft Surface 3 laptop computer. They work together beautifully. Sometimes I like to watch movies in bed before going to sleep and these headphones make the experience more enjoyable.
Wednesday 2016.8.17
Computer Status Check
It has been about nine months since I built my new computers. I did the first build on October 30th of last year, but I wasn't satisfied with the cases; so I ordered new ones. That would put the final build in November, nine months ago. So, where are they at?
So far everything is working well. A friend of mine said I should write about the dust filters again because he thinks my idea is unique. They have been working very well, keeping dust out of my computers. I replace them with clean new filters at the beginning of each month.
Earlier today I also shot a video of how I arrange the filters on my computer. I don't think it would work on my Mobile Home Cooking channel. Maybe I'll start a new channel; maybe I'll put it on Curious.com. I need to think about it.
New Microphone
The new headset microphone arrived yesterday. I did some testing — P's popping, breathy speech, and lots of movement. So far, the microphone works great. The sound is good. I used it to make the video about the dust filters. I haven't edited the clips yet, but I did watch them all using my camera's video monitor. The sound seems good.
Maybe I'll do some cooking with it later this week. It will depend on the weather. If it continues to be warm, which is likely, I'll wait until later.
Fingernail Thing
I have a thing about my fingernails, or, more accurately, about how to maintain them. I don't think proper fingernail hygiene is essential for good health (unless you eat with your hands a lot), but I do want them to look clean and maintained in my videos. And therein lies one of my pet peeves.
I'm perfectly content to cut them back with a pair of scissors, despite how much the manicurists object to such a practice. I once told a co-worker that a pair of scissors is a complete manicure kit for men. She laughed. I want my fingernails to look clean, especially after I've been potting live herbs in soil, and I want them to look trimmed. I don't bite my nails; so something needs to be done to maintain their length.
Okay, I know we're supposed to file our fingernails, not cut them. But try to find a proper fingernail file. I've tried those emery boards they sell in the store. They don't do a good job and they don't last long. I bought a sapphire file in a drug store and it did well the first few times I used it. However, it soon lost its cutting power. Likewise, I tried a "glass" nail file that I bought in a Bed, Breakfast, or Beyond store (or whatever it's called) and the grit soon came off the glass. I also have a Revlon nail fail, very old, but it is short; it takes a long time to do a nail.
You get what you pay for. I sharpen my kitchen knives with a diamond hone. It cost me $60 on Amazon and I've had it for many years. It works perfectly. A brief explanation: The diamond particles are embedded in a coating of nickel metal on one surface. The base metal is stainless steel. Kitchen knives are stainless steel, harder than the nickel, so as the hone is used a little of the nickel is worn away, exposing fresh diamond particles.
Ergo: What if I were to get something similar for my fingernails? Might that, finally, solve the problem. I ordered a "DMT Diamond Sharpener" from Amazon. It's kind of a small thing, with a long slender blade (the same length as an emery board) and folding plastic "wings" that act as either a case or a handle. The files come in six different grits, from extra extra fine to extra extra coarse. I bought an extra coarse one (60 micron/220 mesh). At $26 it might be a little too expensive for a nail file, but it's the last one I'll buy in my lifetime.
It works beautifully. It does the job quickly. My hands certainly don't look professionally manicured. They're working hands. I know a man who goes to a manicurist once a week and he even gets his nails polished. They're shiny and, to be honest, a little too pretty for a guy. But I don't wish to judge. I only want my hands to look clean and neat in a video. And at 65 years of age, there isn't anything about me that is pretty, and that's fine with me. I lost the last of my vanity more than 20 years ago.
Hair Thing
The hair is another matter. Those of you with graying hair know what I'm talking about. As my hair grays it becomes less soft, more wiry. And that makes it harder to control. To do videos I need to glue it down with some sort of styling gel that holds it in place when it dries. It's a weird feeling, but it works; so I'm not complaining.
Sunday 2016.8.14
Happy Anniversary!
Six years ago I created this web site and started writing recipes. The first recipe was Basic White Bread, soon to be followed by Almond Biscotti. For several years I celebrated each anniversary with a new biscotti recipe. August, however, is not the best time of year to bake. Maybe I should switch to observing these milestones with a new recipe for making homemade ice cream.
This week Southern California is expecting another heat wave, with temperatures above 100°F (38°C) in some areas. Thankfully, in this area the forecast is for daytime temperatures in the high 70s to low 80s. Where I live, the heat is usually a little higher than projected, but days in the mid to high 80s are not unbearable. If the humidity is low enough, I'll run the evaporative cooler in the living room. I have an air conditioner is the office to help keep the computers cool.
And Speaking of Computers…
I have never been good at crossword puzzles. I have a decent vocabulary and my command of writing is good. I've written five books, published three, and I blog twice each week. When I was in college I was a TA (teacher's assistant) teaching English grammar in the Foundations Program, organized to help students with limited writing skills. And, if I might boast a little, this web site has nearly 250 recipes, all of them written by me. Not all are originals; some were created by me and some were modifications of recipes I found and thought I might make better.
This week I downloaded a free crossword puzzle app from the Windows Store. The features are extremely limited and the controls are even more sparse, but the app gives me crossword puzzles to solve and I've been doing very well. A friend of mine has been solving the puzzles for many years. According to him, after a while you get to know the answers to most clues. They are, after all, mostly limited to four or six letters. You don't need to think "hurricane" when the answer is probably "storm".
I mentioned in an earlier blog that I successfully loaded some old games that wouldn't play in Windows 10. They do now, thanks to the recent Anniversary Update, and I've been wasting many hours playing. I'll probably get back to business after a while, but it has been such a long time since I was able to play these games (since the XP operating system), it's like having new computers all over again.
The Perils of Gardening
Once again, while working outside in the yard, I sprained my back — and I was sitting down. It's a problem I've had since I was teenager (when I fell down a flight of stairs) and I know what to do about it. Don't go to bed. In bed, my back will seize up and I won't be able to move. The best thing I can do is keep in motion, keep moving around, lightly stretching and using those muscles. They'll heal a lot faster. Thankfully, my problem is not related to a vertebral disk or a pinched nerve. It is only a sprained muscle. It will heal in a few days.
On the sunny side, I've been looking forward to uploading this week's feature recipe — Sun-dried Tomato Pesto. A fan of the web site, Chuck, gave me the idea and I thought it was brilliant. It's logical too. Tomato and basil are often paired together. Think Classic Magherita Pizza (which I make in my 18-hour No-knead Pizza Dough video — use the link to view) and Tomato and Basil Soup. I used the pesto on fish, but it would be excellent on pasta, or served with sliced Italian or French bread for dipping.
And Speaking of Bread…
I received a request for classic rustic bread. That should be a fairly easy one, when the weather cools down a little. I did some research and I found everything for a super-easy dough that requires no kneading to a rather complicated recipe that uses ingredients I might not normally consider a part of rustic bread.
Rustic bread has its origins in peasant cooking and it is sometimes called "country bread" or "farm bread," even "peasant bread." The idea is bread that can be made with simple, easily available ingredients and a dough that does not require a lot of babysitting. One web site says it is a bread that benefits from neglect. It's hardy, filling, and uncomplicated. I think it will be fun to make. So I combined the best ideas from several recipes, but I'll keep it relatively simple. Look for it in coming months.
Wednesday 2016.8.10
An Old Video
I was thinking I might upload one of my oldest videos to YouTube on Sunday. It is one of a few that never made it onto YouTube. It's Chicken and Spinach Pie, and it is one of a small number of original recipes that I am known for here. I get requests for it.
I've been trying to decide whether or not I want to shoot a new video and new photography. The weather here hasn't been ideal for baking. I'm also not in the mood. My birthday was two weeks ago and yesterday I learned a neighbor tried to send me a gift card through the mail. One or more postal workers here have been stealing those cards. I don't know whether the problem exists elsewhere, but we can't mail gift cards here. They almost never arrive. Theft depresses me.
I have fillo (filo, phyllo) dough in the freezer. I'll see how I feel if my new headset microphone arrives later this week. Having a new toy to experiment with might give me the boost I need to shoot a new video.
I watched the original video (made for a different video web site), hoping to find reasons why I shouldn't upload it. I found many. I used my hands to squeeze excess moisture out of the cooked spinach. I have since learned that a potato ricer works better. Some of the camera angles are not what I would have chosen (a friend did the camera work back then). The color is too orange and the video is too dark. Maybe those are the reasons I never uploaded the video to YouTube six years ago. I really should do a new video. I'll see how I feel.
There is one amusing detail. The calendar on the wall is marked with --VACATION-- in two places, a clear indication that I made this video back when I had a job. I retired at the end of June in 2011.
If I should decide not to upload it, I do have a new video of a different recipe ready — Sun-dried Tomato Pesto.
This was another of my original recipes, based on a request from someone named Chuck. He asked me to come up with a recipe for making pesto with sun-dried tomatoes. I thought the idea was brilliant; so I made it. This is a delicious pesto. The flavor of the tomatoes and the basil come through. Those two flavors have long been paired together anyway; so putting them both in pesto seems like a natural combination. It works well.
I made a slightly dry pesto that I put on a piece of sautéed fish. You could add more oil to make a more fluid pesto to drizzle down through cooked pasta. And if you like to experiment, you might try including a few additional ingredients. One ingredient I'd like to try is anchovies. Some people think they are repulsive, but one or two in a dish can add a depth of flavor without announcing themselves as "anchovies!" Some Italian dishes benefit by the addition of them. They are such delicate little fishes, they almost dissolve into the food.
On my list of other YouTube videos to replace with updates are my Mom's Italian Christmas Cookies and a recipe for homemade Bailey's Irish Cream., both of which will be big hits to my number of views on YouTube, about 21,500 and 10,400 respectively. I could cheat. I've been thinking I might change the description to say a newer version has been added to YouTube, with a link to the new video. It might be worth an experiment, at least until the numbers are up. One problem with those old videos is that they are designated as "Creative Commons" on YouTube, which means they are free to be used by others. I've seen at least one added to someone else's channel and they're making money off it. Really, they need to be replaced.
A New Video
This morning I uploaded a new version of the Pandoro video I put on YouTube last week. Someone pointed out an error I made. I knew it could be easily fixed; so I shot a quick pick-up for a little piece of audio to stitch into the video to correct my mistake. Then I uploaded the replacement video. I'm a little obsessive about some details.
Sunday 2016.8.7
Clam Chowder
This week's feature recipe is another remake of an old video I did more than five years ago. It is a very simple recipe and I have prepared it many times. This chowder is one of my favorite soups.
Something unique that sets it apart from all the others I've seen is the use of diced prosciutto. I first saw this soup being made by the late Clarissa Dickson Wright in an episode of the BBC cooking series Two Fat Ladies. If I remember correctly, the episode is simply named "Lunch." She described the soup as "American Clam Chowder" because she added potatoes. Here in the USA we call chowder made with milk New England Clam Chowder, as opposed to Manhattan Clam Chowder, which has a clear broth and usually includes tomatoes.
Something new I learned: "Chowder" comes from a French word for a pot used by fishermen to make their seafood stew at the end of a day fishing.
Photographing the soup was a challenge. From a low angle, the soup in the bowl isn't visible. I like to photograph soup directly from above using a shallow depth of field that will blur the background. To get the table far enough away to blur, I put the bowl on a large can of tomatoes. I blogged about this back in June.
More Computer Stuff
I have been experimenting with the latest update to Windows 10, the one they call the Anniversary Update. So far I am very pleased. Three pieces of software that I haven't been able to use since XP are running normally in Win10. The most important one is the game I blogged about on Wednesday. So far, it is working perfectly, actually better than it did in XP.
If you want the boring details: I can begin a new game with a customized playing area. The program doesn't like sizes above 64 by 128. I prefer larger, like 100 by 200. I get a warning, but continue anyway. It usually worked fine in XP, although there were often some areas where the map squares didn't line up properly and on rare occasions the game would sometimes crash. In this new version updated for Win10, the map looks correct, and there haven't been any crashes so far.
I honestly couldn't tell you how many times I have played this game since its release in 1998. Hundreds probably. Every game is a little different, and with the ability to customize the game setup, even more variability is possible.
I still have one computer that is set up to run Windows XP, but I no longer see any need for it. Every program I want or need now works in Win10; so I disconnected that old computer, wrapped it in plastic, and moved it out to the storage shed. More desk space for me. What will happen to that old computer, I don't know. Eventually, I will pull the hard disks, format or destroy them, and take the circuit boards to the electronics recycling center. The metal and plastic from the case can be recycled normally.
"Can You Hear Me Now?"
Yesterday, again, I repaired the microphone I use in my videos. You can often see it clipped to my shirt or apron. The cable I used for the previous repair developed a fault. One of the three wires inside it failed. Thankfully, those cables are almost ubiquitous. I have several of them. It's tedious work requiring some very fine soldering, but after about an hour's work the microphone is working well again — until next time. However, I am trying something new for future videos.…
My lapel microphone causes problems sometimes. When I move, such as when adding ingredients to a pot or reaching for something, the microphone brushes against my clothing, making a noise that can be difficult to edit out — impossible to remove when it happens while I'm speaking. I'm not aware of the noises until I edit the video, and by then it's too late. There are no noise problems when I am motionless, like the people who read the news on TV.
The plan is to use the lapel microphone when I am standing still, talking to the camera, but switch to a headset microphone when the camera is on the food, which is most of the video. Hopefully the sound will be cleaner.
Wednesday 2016.8.3
Here's a Thought
I wake up sometimes from odd dreams. You've probably seen history shows in which we learn that people many centuries ago thought earth was it. One planet with a sun and a moon, both orbiting the earth. The other lights, the stars, were just specks of light in the sky. Then the telescope was invented in the 1600s and astronomers saw other planets, and realized they orbited the sun. The solar system was found. Eventually the galaxy was discovered and for a while people thought that was it. Our one galaxy was all there was to the universe. Now we know there are as many galaxies out there as there are stars in this one, maybe more. But we still think this is the one universe. We can't see far enough.
What if there are more universes than there are stars in this one? What if space is a lot bigger than we imagine? Imagine a huge table, like in a conference room. Really big. Toss a single grain of salt on it. That's our universe. Now take a handful of salt, toss it in the air, and let the grains scatter on that table. That could be a tiny model of a space that is really infinite in size with an infinite number of universes all coming and going at different times, some living longer lives, some shorter. More universes than there are grains of sand on all the beaches of the world.
We know this universe will eventually cool and become a cold dark place. All the energy in the stars will burn away. The entire universe will be dark, scattered with cold dark bits of mass, all the energy dissipated. It will take a very long time, but it is the future. But what if that's not the end?
What if big bangs, expansions, and eventual dissipations are going on all the time — births, lives, and deaths of universes as common as organisms coming and going here on earth? What if the edges of our universe, beyond what we can see, are already expanding into the edges of other universes? What if galaxies are really only huge whirlpools, matter circling and being sucked into the black hole at the center in a gigantic death spiral?
Over huge times, astronomical times, as universes cool and die, the matter is absorbed by black holes, getting bigger and bigger, absorbing other matter and other black holes from other universes, until they become so large they collapse under their own weight into a singularity. And, eventually, BOOM! Another big bang. Another new universe. Maybe as you read this blog there is a big bang happening right now somewhere way out in infinite space, the birth of yet another new universe.
Just as the molecules in your body and in the air you breathe and the food you eat were once a part of many organisms in the past, the fundamental particles — electrons, protons, and neutrons — in your body might have once been in other universes a very long time ago, recycled again and again.
What if this has been going on for an infinite amount of time and will continue indefinitely into the future? An infinite number of universes coming and going in a process that goes on forever.
It's a thought.
A Fruitful Future
This week, when I was watering my new citrus trees, I noticed the petals falling off a little bunch of flowers on the Meyer lemon tree. Last week I saw that the bees had found the flowers and I wondered if they would pollinate them. They did. I looked at the flowers closely and little green fruits are beginning to develop behind the buds.
Whether they will mature and ripen or fall off is yet to be seen. Below one tree, I saw some of the budding fruit on the ground. Maybe the branches haven't strengthened enough to support the weight of the fruit. And here is something new I learned this week: Citrus fruits are actually berries.
A neighbor up the street has a small avocado tree. We often see small avocados beginning to grow on the branches, but they soon fall off. I've seen only two ripe ones on her tree, and the big avacado tree in her back yard never flowers or produces any fruit at all. Her lemon tree, however, produces abundant fruit. She is always trying to get neighbors to take her lemons.
Old Games on New Windows
I eagerly anticipated the Windows 10 Anniversary Update (AU) that installed on computers (running Windows 10) this week. One of the improvements I read about is better compatibility for old, legacy software. My all-time favorite game is Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri. A cliché I've seen applied to Microsoft is: "You can't make an omelet without breaking a few eggs." Every new Windows operating system broke with some of the past.
Alpha Centauri is a very old game, 1998. Win XP was the last OS that ran it properly. I love that game, mostly because I figured out the weaknesses and I therefore can play it with the least amount of frustration. Computer games can be fustrating because the enemies in the game usually have all the advantages. They are always in the best place (for them) at the worst time (for you). And they don't have a learning curve. Meanwhile, you the player must plod your way through the game, learning as best you can. However, play a game enough times and you can find its weaknesses.
You're familiar with the board game Monopoly. Back in my computer infancy (1983) I had a Commodore Amiga 2000 computer. I loved that computer. By today's standards, it would be less than an abacus. Maybe it would be equivent to counting on your fingers. But at the time, it was cutting edge, the first computer truly capable of multitasking (despite what the Mac enthusiasts claimed).
I had Monopoly on my Amiga, and I found an amusing weakness. In the game you need all matched properties to houses and hotels. If the computer had Connecticut and I had Vermont, I could offer to sell it Vermont for Connecticut plus $500. It would trade because it only knew it was gaining an important property; it didn't realize it was losing one too. Then I could offer to sell it Connecticut for Vermont, plus $500. It would trade. Do it enough times and that computer player would run out of cash. It couldn't buy any other properties. Do that to all the other computer players and you would have all the cash on the board and all the properties. Talk about a monopoly! It was good for laughs.
There are ways to cheat in Alpha Centauri (as there are in most computer games), but cheating is not fun. However, leveling the playing field to make it more fair can make a game a lot more enjoyable.
I received the Windows 10 Anniversary Update on Tuesday. Alas, it didn't help Alpha Centauri run. However, in researching the problem on the Internet I learned that a company, gog.com, sells old computer games fixed to run in modern operating systems. Alpha Centauri was only $5.99 for immediate download. It works perfectly. In fact, it works better than the original because I do not need to have the CD in the computer to play the game. Just click and play.
So, I might not have needed the Anniversary Update, but I'm mostly satisfied with it…so far.