AUGUST 2017
Wednesday 2017.8.30
Dodging a Weather Bullet
During the latter half of last week the National Weather Service issued high temperature warnings for Southern California. Where I live the temperature was supposed to be hot during the first few days of this week. By Sunday evening the forecast had changed. Predicted temperatures were 10 to 15 degrees cooler. It was still be warm, and will continue to be so for at least the remainder of this week, but I had no need for my air conditioners — so far.
Getting Foodie
With the approach of autumn, now only about three weeks away, my mind is turning to cooking again. Summer is too warm for cooking, but already I have put several portions of Real Texas Chili in the freezer, anticipating winter. I make it in my pressure cooker now because it takes a lot less time — about 20 minutes compared to two hours.
This week's feature recipe, Seared Scallops with Chorizo Ragù, got me thinking more about scallops and chorizo. Costco sells two-pound bags of frozen scallops for about $27 (currently). Their brand is "Kirkland Signature." I have always been hesitant about buying frozen scallops because I don't know if they are wet-pack or dry-pack. To explain:
The scallops you often see in the fish case at the grocery store are typically treated with a sodium tripolyphosphate solution that gives them a longer shelf life. The solution makes the scallops hold more liquid (which makes them weigh more so that they also cost more). These are known as wet-pack scallops. When you try to sear them the liquid oozes out and, at best, you can only steam them. Dry-pack scallops are not treated. They sear more easily. Reliable fish stores usually sell fresh dry-pack scallops, but they are expensive.
The last time I purchased fresh dry-pack sea scallops I paid nearly $30 per pound. At less than half the price, the frozen scallops seemed reasonable for an experiment. On Sunday I bought a package. The text on the bag claims these: "Wild sea scallops are hand-shucked immediately after capture and individually quick frozen." The "best if used by" date on the package is July 26, 2018 — almost a year from now. "Quick frozen" is the key. That typically indicates no need for chemical treatment.
The first thing I did when I opened the package was stick my nose inside and take a good sniff. No fishy smell. The fragrance was fresh and sweet. I sealed four (they are individual frozen and therefore easy to separate) in a small ziplock bag and placed it in a bowl of warm water to thaw. Then I heated some butter in a pan and seared them, two minutes per side. There was a little liquid seepage, but not enough to cause problems. They seared well enough. Then I salted them lightly and tasted them. Mild, sweet flavor, exactly what I would expect of fresh scallops. The texture was tender, neither tough nor mushy. These will be my standard scallops for quite a while.
I should probably also mention that scallops are kind of a comfort food for me. My mom cooked them. I grew up Roman Catholic in New England and back then there was a prohibition about eating meat on Friday. I can remember telling the priest in the confessional about my sins, one of which was "I ate meat on Friday." I had a laundry list of convenient sins to confess, avoiding such truths as "a friend and I sneaked one of his uncle's Playboy magazines and looked at the pictures of naked women."
Then I started thinking about making my own chorizo. How difficult could it be? It's only ground pork that is seasoned well. I looked on the Internet for recipes, but the spices listed in the ingredients caused me to think. Why not use a pre-mixed spice blend? I like Pappy's Seasoning, which I buy in the large "Professional Pack" container (28 oz./793g) at Costco. I sprinkle a little on fish when I fry it. I also had about two pounds of cubed pork shoulder in the freezer. It seemed like I had everything I needed for my experiment.
I thawed the pork and placed it in the food processor. Then I measured 1 tablespoon of the seasoning mix and added it to the pork. I processed it several seconds to mix in the spice and reduce the meat to the texture of finely ground beef. (Just thinking about it makes my mouth water like Pavlov's dog.) Then I fried a little dab and tasted it for flavor. It wasn't spicy enough. I find that two tablespoons of Pappy's and one tablespoon of chili powder gives me the flavor I want. I also added a tablespoon of paprika for the color.
The chorizo, by the way, is very mild. I don't like foods with a really spicy flavor. For a bolder chorizo, you could increase the spices, maybe even doubling the amounts.
To finish, I portioned the chorizo, sealed it in plastic pouches, and placed it in the freezer. That yielded almost three times the chorizo that was in the plastic tube I bought at the store. And, best of all, I know what's in it. No lips, no ears, no scraps— just pork meat and seasoning. As I sit here writing this blog I am enjoying my breakfast of scrambled eggs and homemade chorizo.
Uh-oh! The Cops!
YouTube's inane policing algorithm flagged my highly controversial cooking video, Seared Scallops with Chorizo Ragù, as too suspect to permit advertising. Maybe "scallops" is a code word used by communist pinkos for advocating the overthrow a democratic government. I don't know. I edited the video, deleting "take a pill" and "Roman Catholic" and then uploaded it to YouTube again. It passed muster. I vlogged about the experience in my Kitchen Vlog. The video is amusing and maybe worth watching.
A friend of mine watched the video and called me a radical YouTube outlaw. We had lunch together yesterday and enjoyed more than a few good laughs at YouTube's expense.
So here is how I plan to coordinate with YouTube's policing algorithm: Saturday is the day for updating my web site. I write part of this blog and I create the recipe pages and home page for my latest cooking video. I can upload the newest video on Saturday, make all the necessary additions, but leave it unpublished. Then wait. Supposedly, if the YouTube police find something objectionable, they'll flag the video within two hours. Why not wait overnight? On Sunday morning, if the video successfully slipped beneath their radar, I'll publish it, along with the latest updates to this web site. That will work well.
Sunday 2017.8.27
Heat Again
We enjoyed many days of cloudy mornings and partially sunny afternoons. The temperatures got no higher than the upper 70s and sometimes the lower 80s. It was pleasant weather. Now we are entering a typical late summer pattern, our warmest time of year.
Although it is rare, triple-digit temperatures are possible here. The National Weather Service issued a Special Weather Statement warning that inland temperatures might reach 105 to 108°F (40 to 42°C) during the first few days of the week. Along the coast, where I live, upper 80s and low 90s are expected. Tomorrow is forecast to be 93°F (34°C), but the heat is usually five to ten degrees warmer than forecast. I'll be watching. I might see 100° (38°C).
I like this warning statement: "There is the potential for significant heat impacts across much of Southwest California including coastal residents without air conditioning." I have air conditioning now. It isn't the most efficient. It won't keep my home at a chilly 70°. But it will keep me cooler and comfortable. This week will be the first test of the season.
And Speaking of Weather:
I've been watching the Weather Channel and the NOAA National Hurricane Center web site, anticipating what might happen when Harvey, the first hurricane of the season to make landfall, strikes Texas. I don't wish for a disaster for anyone, but I've been wanting to see how Donald Trump might handle a crisis. It wouldn't have been surprised me if he dismissed the event with a tweet, "It's their fault for not having insurance."
As expected, the storm system stalled after making landfall in Texas, dropping a devastating amount of rain, flooding streets, homes, and businesses. Tornadoes destroyed some buildings. High winds caused extensive damage. This week I will be watching the news closely to see how Trump responds.
This Week's Feature Recipe
As most people saw (unless they bookmarked My Blog, bypassing the home page), I finally uploaded the Scallops with Chorizo Ragu video. I fully expect to see comments telling me how to pronounce Chorizo correctly. I'm not sure how I'll respond. Delete them? Ignore them? Honestly, I don't really care. As mentioned in an earlier blog, I know I pronounced it incorrectly. I'm not going to shoot a new video to correct it, nor record some pickups to dub in the correct pronunciation.
The worst part about this recipe is the expense. It is not easy to find good dry-pack scallops (see the recipe for an explanation of "dry-pack"). In the video I say the pound of scallops cost nearly $30, and I only got eight of them. But they're worth it. One experiment I want to try is to buy the frozen scallops sold at Costco. Supposedly, scallops harvested and frozen at sea are dry pack. When thawed, they should sear properly.
Another experiment I would like to try is to make the ragù and use it to make a pizza. Chorizo is inexpensive. I buy it occasionally, to enjoy with scrambled eggs. I see a pizza video in my future.
Wednesday 2017.8.23
Monday's Solar Eclipse
The solar eclipse, as expected, was hidden by the clouds Monday morning. I won't name any names, but I did find it amusing to see one neighbor standing in her driveway for half an hour, staring up at the sky, as if she expected to see the eclipse through the clouds. I saw her when I was looking out the window, wondering how dark it might be. It wasn't any darker than it would be on any other cloudy day.
I'm not complaining about the weather. This is typically the warmest time of year here, but we are in a pattern we call June Gloom. The mornings are cloudy and the afternoons sunny. That is a pattern we usually see in May (May Gray) and June, not in August. As I write this (currently 10:00 in the morning) it is cloudy outside. I'm fine with it. The late summer heat, which might stretch into early October, can be oppressive.
Time Away From Cooking
I have been thoroughly enjoying my time away from the video camera. It even worries me a little bit. I am enjoying it so much, I'm not sure I want to go back to making cooking videos. I will, of course. I go through this in summer. I went through it last year.
I looked through the blog I wrote last August —it's in the archives — to see what was going on last year. I was dealing with leaf miners in my young citrus trees and appreciating how free of dust my computers were because of my idea of putting dust filters over the intake fans.
Citrus Trees
This morning I inspected my trees again. The trees continue to look healthy and flourishing. The Buddhas hand lemon tree had a few signs of leaf miners; so I sprayed the leaves again. That tree is the most unusual. It is producing abundant fruit. It did nothing for almost a year, not even adding any new branches. Now it is the most productive.
The largest of the fruits is beginning to turn yellow. It is finally showing some signs of ripening. I counted eight pieces of fruit on the tree, with many flowers.
The orange tree has one surviving fruit on it. I've mentioned in earlier blogs how that tree blooms, the flowers are pollinated by the bees, and little fruits appear. Then they fall off. One survived. That tree looks the best, as far as shape and foliage goes.
The leaves are speckled with dust and dirt because of the road work happening on the avenue just the other side of the wall from where I live. When I water my trees with the garden hose I try to give the leaves a good rinsing. That construction work is supposed to continue until winter. We're all looking forward to that job finally being completed.
The orange tree also has little white flowers in the bud. Maybe one or more of those will also survive to become a ripening fruit.
The other trees continue to add leaves and flowers, but no surviving fruit yet. The dwarf tangerine is the one I'd most like to see become a productive tree.
And then, finally, the fifth tree. I haven't been able to identify this tree yet because it hasn't produced any recognizable fruit. This is the tree that was badly attacked by parasites eating the leaves. It continues to flower, a lot, and produce little fruits that don't survive.
Computers
Seeing photographs of the insides of my computers taken a year ago inspired me to do another inspection. There is no change. They still look clean inside. My idea of using Swiffer duster cloths and filters is paying off. I feel quite proud of myself for having solved a nagging problem.
Meanwhile…
I continue to watch old episodes of Seinfeld. I've seen three seasons (of nine) and I'm working on season four now. They're entertaining enough to keep me engaged and give me a good laugh often.
And, as planned, I did make the beef chili I blogged about on Sunday. Right now I'm trying to use up the Pork and Bean Chili I portioned and froze about six months ago. It's good, but I prefer the beef Real Texas Chili. I enjoy it spooned over cooked rice.
Sunday 2017.8.20
Tomorrow's Solar Eclipse
It seems like I can't open an Internet news web site these days without seeing something about the eclipse tomorrow. I probably won't even notice it. Maybe I'll go outside just to see how dark it is. If I remember correctly, the eclipse will start around 9:00 in the morning and will reach maximum (about 63% totality where I live) by 10:20. At 63%, it won't be an exciting event, and the weather all this week is supposed to be cloudy with drizzle in the morning, clearing up around 11:00 in the morning. So, at best, at 10:00-ish in the morning it will be cloudy and a little darker than usual.
If I were enthusiastic about the event, I could drive up into the mountains to get above the cloud layer, but I'm not. To be honest, I'm more hopeful about the possibility we might get enough drizzle to water my Dymondia this week. In fact, I've been cutting clippings and dipping them in rooting hormone, then placing them in plastic flats filled with wet potting soil to get them to root. The drizzle will help. When they're fully rooted I will fill in some of the empty spots between the sandstone in my yard, and the few places where the Dymondia died from not getting enough water this summer.
Vlogging the News
Just when I make up my mind to drop the news vlogs, this happens:
"Hey Dennis, love these. Do you know when your next video will be up?"
Thank you Nathaniel. If only a million people felt the same way he does.
It's Odd How We Change
I've seen the TV show Seinfeld before. It wasn't a program I looked for, but if I stumbled on an episode while channel surfing I'd watch it, or what was left of it. I was amused, but I was never impressed enough to put it on my watch list.
Lately, I've been enjoying Seinfeld a lot more. I don't know what helped me change — maybe it is my new 65-inch TV? I find the show very funny now — so much so that I started checking my sources. I have one friend who has many TV shows on DVD. He has all nine seasons of Seinfeld on DVDs.
When I can find them, I like high definition videos, preferably 1080p, but 720p will suffice. My format of choice now is MKV because it can be HD, even UHD (4K), and the Blu-ray player I ordered for my new home theater system easily plays videos in MKV format.
I did some looking and found some episodes in HD. They do not look right. Seinfeld was, after all, a TV show filmed in the 1990's and was intended for the 4:3 TV aspect ratio. For the 720p broadcasts the videos were cropped at the top and bottom and the initially cropped side video was restored to fill the 16:9 frame on modern wide screen TVs. It just isn't the same. Maybe I'm a purist. I prefer the original Star Wars Episode IV that was shown in theaters, not the digitally enhanced version that was later released on disc.
Seinfeld: The Complete Series is available on Amazon for $66.25, but I will probably watch the shows only once. Maybe I'll watch them all again several years from now, if I'm still around. So, my friend's DVDs seem like my best option now. And I am delighted. I've only watched the first two seasons, but I am looking forward to seeing the remaining seven.
Cooking Videos
I am sticking with my summer schedule of uploading a cooking video to YouTube every other Sunday rather than weekly. So next Sunday will be the planned Scallops with Chorizo Ragu that I mentioned in an earlier vlog.
And in other cooking, the Smart & Final store up the street again put beef chuck steaks on sale, $2.99 per pound, marked down from $4.99. I couldn't resist. I bought four packages and took out my pressure cooker. I'll make another pot of Real Texas Chili later today.
Wednesday 2017.8.16
Another Anniversary
Monday was the seventh anniversary of this web site. It started in August 2010 with one recipe and no videos. I now have 275 recipes in the Archive and 292 videos on YouTube with 1.7 million views and more than 14,000 subscribers. As the accomplishment of only one person, me, I feel pretty good about my body of work. And I keep going.
Hearing from people around the world makes me feel good too. Earlier this week I heard from someone in Russia who wrote to say he made Ciabatta according to my recipe and it turned out excellent.
On the other hand…
Time to Make Adjustments
I've been through this decision process before. Now, reflecting upon the anniversary of this web site, maybe it's time to make some changes in my vlogging efforts. During the past 28 days my Kitchen Vlog gained two new subscribers and lost five. Each video gets fewer than 90 views and it has been that way since November of last year. No growth. Instead, I've been watching the vlog's popularity slowly decline. And, really, who wants to listen an old man talking about himself? So maybe it's time to read the writing on the wall.
Vlogging the News is doing worse — four subscribed, two unsubscribed, each video averaging fewer than 50 views, a steady decline since March. This makes sense. Very few people are really interested in the news. As I've written about before, I used to be a member of a World News Discussion Group. We could never expand beyond five or six people, and only four of us talked about the news. One or two others would attend to hear what we had to say. And one guy, whom everyone liked, said he never paid any attention to the news. He just liked the association.
I won't abandon my efforts altogether. The vlogs serve as a useful outlet when I feel like I want to talk about something. But I have very little interest in them otherwise. Even the news this week — Donald Trump appearing to embrace white nationalists — was dramatic, but I was too disgusted to talk about it. But a few words about forgiveness:
There has been talk on TV saying we should all forgive. Forgiveness isn't like some holy ATM — you ask, you get. There are scriptures in the Bible (Luke 3:8 and Acts 26:20) that talk about "works befitting repentance." The principle is that forgiveness follows change — a person stops doing what is bad, turns around, and starts doing what is good. To simply forgive what happened in Charlottesville isn't enough. We need to see change first.
I mentioned in Sunday's blog the possibility of vlogging instead about football. It might generate more traffic. My comments about the controversial elimination of Peter Sagan from the Tour de France cycling race because of his dangerous move at the end of the stage on July 4 (resulting in injuries and the withdrawal of Mark Cavendish from the Tour) received nearly 2,000 views. That's certainly not viral, but that one video was 40 times more popular than the others. People love sports, and that video was about cycling. Imagine what a controversial vlog about football might do. Of course, like my cooking videos, maybe it would be another over-saturated video genre on YouTube. There is only one way to find out.
I'm not a big fan of sports, but I do enjoy watching college football. As I mentioned in Sunday's blog, I liked watching Penn State football last year because of their quarterback, Trace McSorley (even though I didn't get my new TV until near the end of the season). Penn State's season starts on September 2nd with a contest against the University of Akron. It will be broadcast on ABC. And with a 65-inch TV now, it will be fun to watch again.
So, I'm starting to feel excited about vlogging again.
Meanwhile…
I have one last vlog on my computer. I uploaded it this morning.
Sunday 2017.8.13
Anticipating Autumn
It is barely mid-August, but already I'll looking forward to fall. In the late afternoon I think about tea. I don't drink tea during the summer, but for some odd reason unknown to me I crave it during the winter months. Maybe it's because the first thing I usually did when coming home from work in winter was to warm myself with a cup of hot tea. I commuted to and from work each day by bicycle and in winter that ride could be cold.
I also like soups and stews in winter. I consider my Real Texas Chili recipe as a stew.
We now have a Smart & Final Plus store in the neighborhood, besides Costco and Albertson's (all of which are within walking distance). I like S&F because they email me their sale advertisement each week, on which they usually have some protein source on sale. This week it's boneless chicken breasts for $1.69 per pound. I watch for beef. The last time they had beef chuck (my preference for chili) it was marked down from $4.99 per pound to $2.99. I bought three pounds.
I also make my chili a different way now, thanks to a suggestion from one of the fans of my YouTube channel. He recommended I use my pressure cooker, which he saw me use in another video. It works great. Rather than cooking for two hours, it cooks for 20 minutes and the beef is melt-in-my-mouth tender. I add a little more flour though because the cooker holds all the moisture inside, which means the liquid doesn't thicken enough. The last time I made it I put several portions in the freezer to enjoy in winter. And the next time S&F puts chuck on sale again I will make chili again. You can never have enough chili in the freezer in winter.
More Movies
I'm still trying to catch up on some of my movie watching. I saw a British two-part made-for-TV series called Neverland, yet another attempt to explain how Peter, the Lost Boys, and Hook ended up in the land where no one grows up. I got through it, but barely. Then I watched an older film I hadn't seen, Network. Brilliant! Oddly, the IMDb web site labeled it a drama, but it is truly a black comedy. I really enjoy good acting and this film featured many fine performances. And yesterday I watched St. Trinian's, another sequel to the 1954 film The Belles of St. Trinian's, which I have, but I haven't watched it yet.
Cold Sore
As I mentioned in Wednesday's blog, another cold sore was erupting. This one looked like it would be quite a battle. Usually a little bump appears first, like a pimple, and that's the warning. This time, however, something that looked like a developing blister started forming. Gross, I know, but it might help explain why I thought I might not do any videos for a while.
On Thursday morning, despite the blister, I did a Vlogging the News video. I used a little powder to hide the slight discoloration, which looked a little pinker than my normal skin. I did a pretty good jog disguising it. I can barely see it when I look closely at the video, and I can see it only because I know it's there. If you're the type who likes to search these things out, it is right above my upper lip, a little toward my right side. However, I wouldn't advise looking.
I was anticipating looking fairly deplorable for a week to ten days, despite my efforts to fight the sore. I've explained the story before in older blogs, but for the newer fans, here is what happened:
Ever since I was a child I've had canker sores inside my mouth. They say they happen because our parents kissed us too much when we were babies, giving us the herpes simplex virus. Nearly everyone carries the virus.
Thankfully, I suffer a sore only about once every 10 to 15 years — maybe even less often. To treat them, a dentist (they specialize in oral issues) gave me a prescription for Kenalog in Orabase, the generic of which is Triamcinolone Acetonide in Dental Paste. It's easy to use. Dry the affected area with a bit of gauze, apply a little dab of paste, and let it be. Repeat two or three times per day. The sore goes away in a few days.
One day I was doing the treatment and I saw a little wet spot on my upper lip. I used the same gauze to dry it, and only realized later — too late — that I had probably transferred the virus to my upper lip. Sure enough, in a few days a cold sore erupted where I had dried the skin with the gauze. Bummer! I've never had a cold sore before, and I was not happy.
The virus, by the way, harbors in the central nervous system, traveling along the neurons occasionally to erupt on the surface. It doesn't spread; it stays in the nerve. And like most viruses, there is no cure, only treatments.
The prescription medication works on a canker sore; so why not on the cold sore if it's the same virus? I tried it and it works. The sore goes away quickly, if it erupts at all. For several days though I walk around with a bandage on my upper lip, holding the medicine in place on top of the sore. A small price to pay for avoiding a full-blown cold sore.
And so I was walking around with a bandage on my upper lip, sipping coffee or water through a straw to keep the bandage clean. Yesterday I went without the bandage. The sore never developed. The blister appears to be healing well. I am looking good enough to make videos again.
As for that Vlogging the News Video
There hasn't been much in the news lately, but I wanted to talk about the perceived threat from North Korea and the F.B.I. raiding Paul Manafort's home and seizing tax forms and bank records.
Future Vlogs?
I had a thought. Last fall I started watching college football on my new 65-inch UHD 4K TV. Brilliant video. I like college ball anyway because the athletes are in better shape. By the time they get into the pros they are a lot heavier and a lot slower.
In particular, I liked watching Penn State because of their quarterback, #9, Trace McSorley. He was an amazing athlete to watch, especially when launching a pass.
And so, I am considering doing vlogs about Penn State football. Their season starts in early September. I'll try to catch games on TV when I can, and hopefully McSorley won't go out with an injury. I think football might generate more traffic to my Kitchen Vlog than talking about making dust filters for my computers (the vlog with the fewest views, only 51).
As for Today's Feature Recipe
Look at how young I was back then. I shot that video more than five years ago.
Wednesday 2017.8.9
Looking Up / Looking Forward
The doldrums of July seem to have ended. I am speaking (or writing) financially. I graph my YouTube earnings, getting the latest estimate each day.
To explain: The default in Google/YouTube is a 28-day estimate. You can change the parameters, but I stick with the default because it's easier.
The worst period of the year was July 1 - 28. So, seeing the glass as half full rather than half empty, I can say one of my birthday presents (my birthday is July 28) was to see a turnaround in the numbers.
I have seen this before. Summer, especially July, is the slowest period for my cooking videos. July and August are vacation months. They are also warm months when people don't want to spend time in a hot kitchen. (As I write this I am munching on a slice of cold pizza.) In summer I often eat cold sandwiches. And, suffice to say, I don't feel motivated to shoot cooking videos.
Last year I tried a summer schedule of uploading to YouTube every other week. There seemed little rationale for knocking myself out for the slowest time of year. I am doing the same this year. When I do upload, it isn't a video I shot recently; it's a video that I've had "in the vault" but never uploaded to YouTube. This is the case with the current feature, Risotto Primavera, and it will also be true for this Sunday's feature, Scallops with Chorizo Ragù.
To complain just a little, the scallops video isn't one of my best. In particular, I pronounce "chorizo" wrong, a little too hard on the Z. I thus get comments, "It's chor•EE•so, not chor•EE•tzo. Whatever. I usually remove those comments (they don't help anyone to be a better cook) and if the person is annoying enough I permanently hide all their comments from my channel (they can write them, and see them, but no one else will see them, not even me). Okay, enough complaining.
I also need to continue remaking some of my oldest videos. Someone requested that I do a remake of Chinese Dumplings (AKA Pot Stickers). Supposedly, "pot stickers" isn't correct. I didn't research it, yet, but someone said pot stickers refers to dumplings that are boiled then fried, or fried on one side then boiled. My dumplings are only boiled.
And Another Movie Watched
I never saw the 1968 Cleopatra film with Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. It was quite the spectacle, and very long — four hours and ten minutes.
My Latest Kitchen Vlog
This morning I uploaded another Kitchen Vlog video to YouTube. Someone suggested I do a vlog about the landscaping project I completed a couple years ago. In the video I use many of the photographs I took of the project, including pictures of my shed and my home's new copper plumbing.
I will probably take a little more time off from making videos because this morning it looks like I need to do battle with another potential cold sore. I usually beat them before they look nasty, but I need to keep a bandage over the area to hold the medicine I use. I have one Kitchen Vlog video in the vault for use later. Next week might be the time to use it.
Sunday 2017.8.6
Is it Delivery, or is it DiGiorno?
It's definitely not delivery! It's advertising.
Taking advantage of a sale at the local Smart & Final store, I bought some DiGiorno pizzas. They're edible. That isn't to say they're good, but you can swallow without difficulty.
I have my own recipe for Homemade Pizza, for which I'm well known. I remember a friend telling me that he had the same thought whenever he ate pizza: "It's good, but it ain't Dennis'." A good pizza benefits from good ingredients and good preparation. See the recipe, for a picture of my own original pizza baking in the oven.
What was my first DiGiorno pizza like? It didn't heat all the way through, even after 20 minutes. It was warm inside, but not hot. I would have left it in the oven longer, but it was browning around the edges. I was concerned it might burn. The flavor was acceptable, even though it was made with too much sauce.
So what can be done to save frozen pizza from itself? I experimented (and if you saw Wednesday's blog, you know I had enough to experiment with).
1. Forget the freezer. Yes, store the pizzas in the freezer, but let one thaw, still wrapped, in the refrigerator. Overnight works wells.
2. Heat the oven hotter than the package directions recommend. DiGiorno says 400°F (200°C). I tried 425°F (218°C) and I liked it enough not to experiment any further.
3. Use a pizza stone. Let it heat before putting the pizza on it. Some say it should be heated for at least one hour. It doesn't need to heat that long unless it's really thick. I let my stone stay in the hot oven about 30 minutes past the time when the oven reaches full temperature.
4. Use a pizza peel if you have one. Sprinkle the peel liberally with corn meal and lay the thawed pizza on the peel. You might need to help it off the cardboard bottom if it is sticking. Then slide it from the peel onto the hot pizza stone.
5. Bake 15 minutes or longer, until the cheese on top starts to brown and the dough around the edges is well browned. 20 minutes works well for me. Use the peel again to transfer the pizza to a cooling rack. Let sit a few minutes; then slide onto a cutting board for slicing and serving.
Although I had some extra ingredients to improve the pizza, I found that they didn't do much good. The original pizza was too flawed to benefit from enhancements.
A Quiet Week
Last week was a quiet week, compared to the week before. I mean quiet in terms of news. The previous week was uproarious. It was difficult to keep up with the daily reports. I had to take notes. This past week was relatively calm.
One think I did appreciate is that Congress is limiting the power of the president. That's a good thing, and maybe we have an out-of-control Donald Trump to thank for that. They limited, among other things, the president's ability to fire special counsel Robert Mueller.
Thinking back to my high school days, I remember learning that the three co-equal branches of government were to prevent abuse of power, a response to King George wielding too much power over the original 13 colonies in America — "taxation without representation," etc. — that led to the American Revolutionary War.
I haven't seen much in the way of "checks and balances" in recent decades, although there are examples — Nixon being forced to resign office rather than suffer impeachment.
An example from the current administration: Although Congress usually leaves for an August recess, the Senate is officially choosing not to adjourn, thus preventing the president from making any recess appointments. With the Senate technically in session, any appointment nominations by the president require the review and approval of the Senate. Another example: Trump's tweet to keep transgender persons out of the military still hasn't been acted upon by the Pentagon.
The United Nations
More interesting was what happened at the UN Security Council. The United States purshed for harsher sanctions on North Korea for its testing of intercontinental ballistic missiles. China and Russia have permanent veto status. Either nation could have vetoed the measure and it would have been dead. Instead, they both voted in favor. That is usual because communitst countries typically protect each other from the UN.
I suspect China voted for the measure because (1) they were coming under criticism for not doing enough to reign in North Korea and (2) they value trade with other nations and wouldn't want to do anything that might damage that trade.
Russia was the real surprise. After Congress voted overwhelmingly for harsher sanctions against Russia for its interference in our elections, Putin ordered several hundred American personnel to leave the country. Then he called Donald Trump weak and impotent for signing the bill. It would have been useless to veto it because Congress had more than enough votes to override his veto; so he reluctantly signed it. Some thought Russia would have vetoed the Security Council's measure. Instead, they approved. I can't explain it.
Movies
So what did I do with my quiet week last week? I watched some movies that have been on my to-do list for a long time.
Four Weddings and a Funeral. A cute, if slightly contrived, romantic comedy. The confirmed bachelor falling in love is an old cliché. The earliest I can think of is Cary Grant in Arsenic and Old Lace. Nonetheless, it was an enjoyable and satisfying film. I like good acting. Speaking of which:
I also watched Much Ado About Nothing. Shakespeare's iambic pentameter in the hands of seasoned British actors is a gem to behold. Other than Keanu Reeves, all the performances were top notch. And a bit of trivia: I played Antonio in our college production many decades ago.
Bernie. This was an odd one. Initially, I thought the pairing of Jack Black and Shirley MacClaine was unusual, but it worked well. The true oddity was that it was based on a true story — a man who kills his benefactress and hides her body in a freezer for several months — but it was filmed as a mockumentary. Weird, but enjoyable.
Foster was another gem. Good British acting is irresistible. I've like Hugh Grant since he appeared in Withnail and I. It was a very engaging movie and I enjoyed every minute of it. The ending was unexpected — I knew nothing about the film when I sat down to watch it. Now that I know how it ends, I want to watch it again to see how all the pieces fit together.
I also watched Best of Show, which I'd seen before. It's such a good comic film, I wanted to watch it again. And I learned something new from the IMDb web site. There wasn't a script; only a 16-page outline. The performances were mostly improvisations. A similar style was used by Rob Reiner for This is Spinal Tap. And writer Christopher Guest also wrote and directed Best of Show.
There are more movies to watch. I am enjoying my quiet summer.
Wednesday 2017.8.2
Is it a Key Lime?
Ever since I was given five citrus trees I have been wondering what they are. I knew one was a dwarf tangerine because the nursery tag was still on it. The other tags were illegible. One I identified as an orange because it produced one piece of fruit, so far, and I tasted it. One had mystery fruit on it that looked like aliens from outer space — and it turned out to be Buddha's hand lemon or lime (I'm still waiting for one to ripen to see if it turns yellow or stays green). One tree has yet to produce any identifiable fruit, although there are some that are beginning to develop. And the fifth tree produced a few pieces of fruit that I juiced and tasted in the Kitchen Vlog video I made on my birthday.
A friend watched the video and suggested it might be a Mexican lime, known by other names such a key lime. I Googled it and found a good description and photograph on Wikipedia. The photo very much resembles the fruit I harvested from that tree — round, bright yellow when left to ripen on the tree, acidic, many small seeds, and no nipple at the apex.
I had lunch with two friends yesterday. One of them worked in an orchard here in California and he knows quite a lot about trees and fruit. When I described the fruit to him, he said, "Yes, that's a key lime."
The woman who gave me the trees said one was a lime. I was waiting for the more common lime — oval, green, nipple at the bottom — commonly known as the Persian lime. Maybe she meant "key lime". So it appears all the evidence now identifies that tree as key lime. Okay. And with that one identified as the lime, by process of elimination I feel confident the Buddha's hand is a lemon, more accurately known as simply "Buddha's hand".
Four down, one more to figure out. And, as I said, that one has flowers and little fruits developing on it. If they mature, I might finally solve the mystery of the trees.
Tropical Storm Emily
Emily concerned me, for two reasons: 1) my twin brother and his wife live on the west coast of Florida and they are in the area of most rainfall; and 2) it was a storm that appeared suddenly, almost without warning. Could the USA, especially the current Washington administration, be surprised my a more destructive storm striking the nation (besides all the ones currently raging inside the White House)?
I heard from my brother. Yes indeed, they had rain, but no flooding. They live in a newly developed area where careful consideration was given to drainage planning.
As for Washington, I wish I could feel confident the nation's capital is prepared to deal with crises. Should a major earthquake damage Los Angeles or San Francisco, I feel Sacramento will be better prepared to deal with the disaster than Washington. Trump would probably send Jared Kushner anyway. "You deal with it."
Thunder, Lightning, Rain — Oh My!
We are enjoying a rare thunderstorm this morning. My brother says they get them on almost a daily basis this time of year in Florida. When I was a child in New England we would see the storms building toward the north — huge tall thunderheads (cumulonimbus clouds) like columns in the sky. We knew it was time to go home and within half an hour or so the rain would start, with thunder and lightning.
Today the storms are rolling in from the east. It is rare to see rain in summer here. I'm hoping we get enough of it to water my landscaping, although I doubt it. The rain never lasts longer than a few minutes. One heavy downpour of 15 minutes would be enough. If only.
But, with lightning in the sky, I'm saving my work often as I write this blog. You never know. Although it rarely happens, the electricity could go out any time.
Got Pizza?
I normally do not succumb to impulse shopping. I do, however, look at some advertisements and think about the sales. Case in point: The local Smart & Final Plus store advertised DiGiorno 2 Packs of pizzas, normally $9.99, for $7.99 if you buy four boxes. Yes, that's eight pizzas.
A pizza parlor pie typically costs around $17 to $19 each, plus the gasoline to drive there and back, or the tip if you order home delivery, and tax too. At around $4 each for the DeGiornos, I figured I was getting a good deal.
The sale couldn't have come at a better time. My freezer had a lot of room in it — but not quite enough. The directions say to put them into the oven frozen; so allowing one box to thaw in the refrigerator wasn't an option. After several minutes of shifting things around, I succeeded in squeezing the fourth box into the freezer. Phew!
Just in case, I stopped at the grocery store and bought some mozzarella cheese, pepperoni, and Italian sausages. I'm a cook. I'll try one pizza as is, but I am prepared if I think the pie could use a few enhancements. And even if the pizza is good enough without additional toppings, why not add them anyway? If I remember correctly, each additional topping at the pizza parlor adds another one or two dollars to the final cost. Think of it as compounded savings.
My Latest "Vlogging the News"
Last week there was enough news to leave my head spinning by Saturday. I couldn't look away, lest I miss something. And this week its happening again, but, so far, not with the same rapidity. I vlogged about it. I'm not sure that was a good idea. In one day I lost three subscribers. I only had 66 anyway; so losing three was a moderate hit.
And, Finally, Al Franken
I finished reading his new book, Al Franken – Giant of the Senate. In chapter 45 he wrote something that confirmed what I had believed for a long time.
Asking whether the mainstream media had a liberal bias, I argued, was asking the wrong question. Their bias was toward getting ratings. And that meant reveling in conflict and sensationalism. And if that meant putting lying liars on the air, then so be it.
I started another book yesterday — Uncovering Trump by David Fahrenthold. He tries to discover where all the money went after Trump claimed he collected millions of dollars for veterans and charities.