Fluffy Omelet

Fluffy Omelet

[From America's Test Kitchen, Episode 1403: Three Ways With Eggs]

Serves 2

A teaspoon of white vinegar or lemon juice can be used in place of the cream of tartar, and a hand-held mixer or a whisk can be used in place of a stand mixer. We recommend using the fillings that accompany this recipe; they are designed not to interfere with the cooking of the omelet.

• 4 large eggs, separated
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted, plus
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1 recipe filling (recipes follow)
• 1 ounce Parmesan cheese, grated (½ cup)

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 375 degrees.
Whisk egg yolks, melted butter, and salt together in bowl.
Place egg whites in bowl of stand mixer and sprinkle cream of tartar over surface.
Fit stand mixer with whisk and whip egg whites on medium-low speed until foamy, 2 to 2½ minutes.
Increase speed to medium-high and whip until stiff peaks just start to form, 2 to 3 minutes.
Fold egg yolk mixture into egg whites until no white streaks remain.

2. Heat remaining 1 tablespoon butter in 12-inch ovensafe nonstick skillet over medium-high heat, swirling to coat bottom of pan.
When butter foams, quickly add egg mixture, spreading into even layer with spatula.
Remove pan from heat and gently sprinkle filling and Parmesan evenly over top of omelet.
Transfer to oven and cook until center of omelet springs back when lightly pressed, 4½ minutes for slightly wet omelet and 5 minutes for dry omelet.

3. Run spatula around edges of omelet to loosen, shaking gently to release.
Slide omelet onto cutting board and let stand for 30 seconds.
Using spatula, fold omelet in half. Cut omelet in half crosswise and serve immediately.

ASPARAGUS AND SMOKED SALMON FILLING

MAKES ¾ CUP

Heat 1 teaspoon olive oil in 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add 1 shallot, sliced thin, and cook until softened and starting to brown, about 2 minutes. Add 5 ounces asparagus, trimmed and cut on bias into ¼-inch lengths, pinch salt, and pepper to taste, and cook, stirring frequently, until crisp-tender, 5 to 7 minutes. Transfer asparagus mixture to bowl and stir in smoked 1 ounce smoked salmon, chopped, and ½ teaspoon lemon juice.

MUSHROOM FILLING

MAKES ¾ CUP

Heat 1 teaspoon olive oil in 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add 1 shallot, sliced thin, and cook until softened and starting to brown, about 2 minutes. Add 4 ounces white or cremini mushrooms and ⅛ teaspoon salt and season with pepper to taste. Cook until liquid has evaporated and mushrooms begin to brown, 6 to 8 minutes. Transfer mixture to bowl and stir in 1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar.

Boardwalk Lebowski

Play this at my wake.

Dinah's Chicken in Glendale

Dinah's Family Restaurant in Glendale California.


4106 SAN FERNADO RD. # A
GLENDALE, CA. 91204

Their Facebook page is more appealing then the web site.

• The Big Lebowski

   (1998)
• 01:30:48 Sree pigs in blanket.

  • Time - Phrase
  • 01:30:37 Ze lingonberry pancakes.
  • 01:30:43 Lingonberry pancakes.
  • 01:30:48 Sree pigs in blanket.
  • 01:30:54 Dieter: Huh?
  • 01:30:56 She has lingonberry pancakes.
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    

Rowing Machine, getting started

Indoor rowing is a great aerobic exercise that can add variety to your training routine while engaging more than just the legs.

First learn to setup the equipment for proper use.



Good video instruction. I recommend you watch is a couple of times before jumping into a machine.


Now your ready to row, learn how to do it.


I started including the rowing machine  while reading the first Tess Monaghan mystery, Baltimore Blues.


Phase 1–Drive (strong and quick)

Phase 2–Recovery (smooth and relaxed)

So after you've done a few minutes you will want to get some coaching about good form (what not to do). I found this video helpful and clear plus there are driller to help you improve.



For the experienced, none beginner, rower you'll want to do some sprints. This video from the same folks above lays it all out for you. I like to do a 10 pull sprint every 2 minutes but you should research this because I don't know what I'm done :)

Stale bread

Stale bread is traditionally made by leaving the bread out on the counter over night. It gets hard and dry because the starch crystallizes binding the H2O molecules.

The quick method of placing bread in a 225° F oven for thirty minutes drives the water out of the bread. This helps cooked dishes retain some of the breads structure and minimizes the sog factor.

So if you want to avoid soggy stuffing and pudding, use the oven method.

Snowbird

Here is one of the commercials that Channel 4 WSMV in Nashville is currently airing. They recorded me playing the Snowbird song while sitting on the porch of the Musical Heritage Center of Middle Tennessee at sunset. Sharon and I were there for the monthly celtic session last October.

When the videographer arrived everybody at the session learned the tune and we played it about a dozen times, each time through it was a little different. Great bunch of musicians, everyone listening and adapting to what the others were doing with the tune.

The Four Horsemen of the Testing Apocalypse

Column info : The Four Horsemen of the Testing Apocalypse by James A. Whittaker.

Food for thought when one is considering a new project or rethinking your test strategy of an old friend.

Warning phases that should trigger reexamination of your test strategy:

• "Go and test it."
• "Go and test it some more."
• "Re-execute the tests."
• "Good news, one million regression tests didn't find any defects."
• "Testers can act like users and find 'customer bugs' before we ship."
• "Testing is boring."

vi: Automatically append closing characters

Stumbled across this blog post that may come in handy some day. Shows some of the advanced capabilities of VIM.
http://vim.wikia.com/wiki/Automatically_append_closing_characters

Don't need this now because I am using the PowerGUI Script Editor to work on my powershell scripts.

Fresh Corn Salsa

Recipe based on the one found on page 22 of the Cook's Illustrated magazine #117, 2012.  Uses fresh (on the cob) corn and avocados.

• 3 ears of corn, kernals cut from cob result in about 2-1/4 cups
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• Salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
• 2 tablesposoons lime juice
• 2 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon honey
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 2 avocados cut unto 1/4 inch cubes
• 3 scallions, chopped
• 1 jalapeño chile, stem and seeds removed, minced
• 1/4 cup cilantro, fresh chopped

1. Remove corn from the cob while bringing 2 cups of water to a boil. Stir in corn kernals, baking soda, and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Remove from heat and set aside to steep for 10 minutes.
2. Drain corn and let cool (for at least 11 more minutes).
3. Whisk the lime juice, oil, honey, and 1/2 teaspoon salt together in a bowl. 
4. Toast cumin seeds in a dry skillet. Add cumin and cayenne to liquid in the bowl and whisk.
5. Add corn, avocados, shallots, jalapeño, and cilantro to the lime juice mixture and toss.
6. Let sand for 12 minutes or more before serving. Salt and pepper to taste.

If you have some tasty fresh tomatoes dice a couple of them and add for color. I also tend to add a couple of shakes of hot sauce if I'm not serving it to other people.

Serve with grilled stuff or simply eat using tortilla chips as a spoon.

Hedwitschak Makassar Ebony Tipper

I have started using a Hedwitschak ME10 Bodhrán Tipper obtained from Whistle and Drum. It is a long lite dense stick with lipped ends made of Makassar Ebony (ME).

15g / .5oz
25.5cm / 10.0"

How much water to add to scotch?

I sent this message to the Scotchcast lads in April 2012.

I decided to start drinking 3 years ago at Lark Music Camp after sharing scotch and chocolate during a morning class (singing highland pipe tunes acappella). Thanks for showing me the way.

How much water do you guys add to what amount of scotch?
jaya
_________________

My letter was answered in the May 2012 podcast, The Scotchcast 5th Anniversary show.

7 Bodhrán Rhythms

  Michelle Stewart posted a useful series of video blogs to help us get unstuck from our comfortable session ruts. 7 Rhythms in 7 Days.

Bodhran solo showing left hand

Cormac Byrne bodhran solo where the photographer captures the left hand magic. Most excellent top end player.

Bacon rice cake protein bars

The Get-Fit-Guy podcast Is Your Protein Bar Healthy? Part 3 contained a recipe for protein bars that sounded interesting. (Recipe by sports physiologist Allen Lim.)

We made it substituting peanuts for the cashews. It tasted good and felt substantial without being heavy.

The grocery store protein bars are handy and facilitate eating on the run without any fuss or muss.  But these delicious bars are sticky to the touch while not holding together very well, you have to pay attention and put down your cell phone. Consequently, the nice home made healthier protein bar requires you to actually sit down and eat with awareness, not a bad thing to do after a hard workout.

Hip One Year Later

One year post-op on the left hip replacement and all is well. Recently I started walking down the middle of the stairs (not keeping my hand near the rail.)

Physically I have no indication that I have artificial hips; sleep soundly, walk for miles, bicycle for an hour, Karate classes, non-impact Jujitsu, dancing, just generally feeling great. I can even get up off the ground without a problem.

The future is bright, getting younger every year.

Continueous CPR

Take 6 minutes to watch the CPR training video. It may be all you need to help save someone's life.

Learn Sarver Heart Center’s Continuous Chest Compression CPR

Mosaic technology

This is just what I want to do with my quilting, step back and see the big picture.

David Louis Edelman's You Are What You Read blog post tells you how.

Goto David's post and expand to 100% to see how this image was created.

Starlings of Otmoor

Otmoor RSPB reserve in Otmoor England.

Local rules seen in mass.

I was turned on to this place by Richard Dawlins' book The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution. I hated the introduction because it was preachy and a personal attack on the people who choose to pretend science doesn't exist, history-deniers, while they assert (without evidence) that God does; I suggest you skip to the actual presentation of the science.

The audio book is read by the author and Lalla Ward (four minutes in the above clip); trading off for asides and sections keeps it fresh, coherent and non-drowsy.

Plagiarism, a much larger problem then you though

I bookmarked this email a while ago and just got around to watching it today (1 hour duration).

"I gave a lecture on plagiarism in professional writing and research that some of you might find interesting. The lecture was taped and is available at http://media.fit.edu/load.php?clipid=3102"

The lecture is titled Plagiarism Detection Software by Professor Cem Kaner, 2008. I don't have access to the citations he handed out before the lecture. (Please add a comment to this post if you have a link.)

The following is what I took away and want to be able to refer back to (so I am blogging it).

• Plagiarism = using someone else's words or ideas.
• Copyright = using someone else's words.
• Citation = acknowledgment of someone else's ideas.
• Citation is done to provide the reader with a way to follow up on an idea, dive deeper.
• I find it unbelievable how much plagiarism there it, especially in "professional" venues.
• Plagiarism detection software marketing claims didn't stand up (in 2008), profession/private publications not included.
• Deans tend to think that if the software didn't flag a paper then plagiarism didn't occur.

Plagiarism detection software are tools used by self respecting plagiarist to double check that their cheating will not be routinely caught. The same tool will be used by a university or publisher to check for plagiarism. Sounds like a university tells you which software will be used to do the plagiarism checking so you can fix the paper before submitting. [This was my idea but I give credit to Cem has I think his lecture was designed to lead us to this conclusion.]

I will use citations to show that I know what I am talking about, that I am familiar with current technology/thinking and that I didn't pull these ideas out of my *.

Martin Scorsese's Film School

The 85 films you need to see to know anything about film.

What suprised me about this list? how many of these films I had NOT seen.