recipe

Congee Recipe

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Congee Recipe
 
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I discovered Congee on a trip to China, Bland in taste, it acts as a base for many toppings, including ginger, scallion, soy sauce, sesame oil, fish, peanuts, shrimp, sliced salted duck eggs, and chopped daikon. I enjoyed trying the different mysterious pickled vegtables at our hotel each morning. The recipe is by Rhonda Parkinson, About.com Congee, served with crullers for dipping, is a classic Chinese breakfast dish. This is basic recipe for congee that you can add to as desired. There are no rules about what to add: meat, fish, vegetables, and healthy herbs, shredded lotus root and gingko nuts are all popular. You can also make a sweet version of congee with Chinese dates (jujubes) and a bit of rock sugar. Add the secondary ingredients after bringing the rice to a boil, before turning down the heat. Serves 6 to 8
Author:
Recipe type: Breakfast
Cuisine: Chinese
Ingredients
  • ¾ cup long grain rice
  • 9 cups water
  • 1 teaspoon salt
Instructions
  1. Preparation:
  2. In a large pot, bring the water and rice to a boil.
  3. When the rice is boiling, turn the heat down to medium low. Place the lid on the pot, tilting it to allow steam to escape (the same as you would do when making cooked rice1.
  4. Cook on medium low to low heat, stirring occasionally, until the rice has the thick, creamy texture of porridge (1 - 1¼ hours). Add the salt, taste and add seasonings if desired. Serve with garnishes such as crushed peanuts if desired.
lapsteel

Another Project Idea…

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Guitar building is a great winter activity, I’m probably going to file this one away until it gets chilly out.

Lapsteel guitars are cool low-fi rockstar stuff, combined with the cool Ouija graphics I think it has the potential to be a great furniture guitar cool item. Here’s an image found online that will serve as inspiration:

I started research, scale refers to the length between the bridge and nut. I’ll be building the standard 22.5″

lots of other info here
http://www.bluestemstrings.com/page5.html

food

Mr. Bento

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I found the best lunchbox ever….Introducing Mr. Bento. 4 individual containers that nest in what looks like a large soup Thermos. The two bottom containers are insulated keeps things toasty or chilly. It also has a very fancy stainless steel spork. I really didn’t get the idea until it arrived. The small compartments keep portions in check. Here’s lunch: chicken salad sandwich with pickles, snap peas with miso dressing, almonds, 2 gram crackers and 2pc chocolate for desert

top10

10 Fantastic Daily Use Products That Just Happen to be Green

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(Draft)

I’ve been trying to put a green focus on my lifestyle and in the process I’ve found that I really like some of the technology.


1. Welshi Safety Razor – I recently switched to a safety razor, 1950’s technology that just works better. A blade replacement costs ten to 40 cents and I’m not throwing away a bunch of plastic, and it’s a much closer shave than the 15 blade Gillette titanium wonder shaver I was using before.


2. French Press – I think this 2 cup press is great. No filter to throw away and it limits my coffee intake by design, If I brew a whole pot I tend to drink most of it.


3. Mr. Bento Lunch Box – Another product that is amazing by design. Four small insulated containers encourage you to pack reasonable servings and I feel obligated to fill all four compartments after packing a main course (usually leftovers) I have to resort to things like fruits and vegetables to fill the rest.


4. Plastic Laundry basket – Find one that fits into a shopping cart and take it to the grocery. Loading and unloading the car is easier, and your not adding to your collection of 5000 plastic bags that you always shove underneath the sink in the kitchen.


5. Shave Soap – this goes hand in hand with the safety razor, a puck of this soap costs about $1.5o. The paper packaging is easily recycled. Getting the lather right takes a bit of practice but it’s chemical free composition really cuts down on skin irritation.
6. Aluminum Water Bottle – Rugged, Green, and pays for itself in about a week if your hydrating correctly.


7. Tea Infuser – Not a coffee fan? Try a cup of tea. I like loose teas over their paper laden brethren primarily because they are usually much higher quality product and you skip throwing away all of the packaging.


8. NiMH rechargeable batteries – If you find that your buying disposable batteries, stop and think for a second. A couple sets of good rechargeable will pay for easily pay for themselves, and keep these little toxic nuggets out of a landfill.


9. Handkerchiefs – This is another gem of forgotten technology. I received a package of these from an elderly relative. I’m still packing Kleenex for blowing my nose, but I’ve found lots of other uses for these squares of fabric. Here’s are a few application I’ve used: Wiping sweat from your brow, wiping up spills at work, cleaning tissue for cell phone and sunglasses, . You get the idea, for Macguyver minded individuals this is a handy technology to have around.


10. Messenger Bag – I use a messenger bag for work and it stays packed with the day to day stuff I need. I keep a second empty bag by my door and I’ve gotten in the habit of grabbing it on my way to the store for a few items. For bigger trips I use a plastic laundry basket. I got my second bag at a garage sale for .25, conference shwag bags are great for this application.

nas

Build a 4 terabyte raid 5 nas for under $400!!!!

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Here’s a quick and practical project completed across three days. I spent the majority of my time researching and ordering hardware.

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Build a 4 what with a huu……. Ok – if you don’t speak geek it translates to “build your own secure file storage system for under $400” A comparable ready made box that does the same thing costs between $1000 – $1800. Cool, thrifty and green because it allows you to use a old pc that would have been destined for a landfill.

Storage is always an issue with a photography business and a passion for media. I’ve been reading about freenas a freebsd based operating system that can give that old pc sitting in the corner new life as a nas (network attached storage) it’s basically a computer that runs headless (no monitor or keyboard/mouse attached) and when connected to your home network gives you a boatload of safe data storage. The system uses software raid 5 (redundant array of independent disks) that saves data across 4 drives so if one fails the other three can rebuild it’s contents. No lost files if a hard drive crashes!

Construction was strait forward. I disassembled an old pc that had been sitting in the attic since we had moved in 4 years ago. After a bit of dusting I moved the motherboard to a new case, insalled case fans, nic, dvd-rom and the cf card as the primary hard drive. I booted freenas from the dvd-rom and transferred it to the cf “hard drive”. The next step was to install the sata controller and mount the 4 hard drives. At this point the hardware end was finished and the rest of the configuration is completed across the network with a html interface. Very cool stuff.

here’s my hardware list:

ATX case $0
celeron 700 cpu $0
256mb ram $0
128mb cf card $0
freenas os $0
ide to cf adapter $11.99
syba pci serial ata host card $31.99
10cm case fan $7.99
sata power adapter cable adapter $2.99 x4
18″ sata data cable $4.99 x2
samsung 3.5″ 1tb sata hd $79.00 x4

all this for a grand total of $393.87 !!!

recipe

Chickpea Enchiladas

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Chickpea Enchiladas
 
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Chickpea Enchiladas
Author:
Recipe type: Entree
Cuisine: Mexican
Ingredients
  • 4 flour tortillas
  • 1 small can enchilada sauce
  • 1 15-ounce can chickpeas, drained and rinsed and boiled for 5 minutes
  • 2 medium carrots julianned
  • 1 tablespoon finely chopped red onion¼ pound ground turkey, tvp, or tofu
  • 2 Cloves garlic minced
  • Zest and juice from 1 lemon
  • Salt / Cumin / Pepper to taste
  • A few glugs of olive oil (go light on the oil)
Instructions
  1. Mix everything but the tortillas and enchilada sauce in a small bowl. Very lightly smash the chickpea mixture with the back of a fork or a potato masher. You’re not looking for a hummus-like puree but something closer to a coarse chop with a few smaller bits to hold it together. Add the glugs of olive oil, mix it lightly. Scoop the mixture into the tortillas and roll. Place in a Pyrex baking pan top with enchilada sauce bake in over till warm (400deg 10minutes)
  2. Serves 2

 

dua

More in the mix

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vox practice amp guts


$5 thrift store ukulele


This is proof that if you ask the universe for something, you’ll find it at the thrift store. A $200 airbrush compressor for $14. A DAY AFTER I BOUGHT AN AIRBRUSH! ……..amazing.

maple neck blank (25.5″ scale. 2-3/16″ heel width) for another music project.

guitar

My Relic Manifesto

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People debate the aesthetic of a relic guitar. Some take offense from an ethical standpoint, battle scars should be earned not purchased. Why pretend to be something your not. There are also those who don’t care for a beat up guitar.

Last year I spend a semester in a class titled “What is Art” and you guessed it, we spent 18 weeks defining and discussing the definition of art. Here’s what I got from the class – two graduate hours I needed for my masters, a bill for $550, an $80 textbook that I’ll never look at again, and a better understanding of the role art play in peoples lives. (I feel like I got ripped off. That’s almost five saga kits). The value of art is personal, when that value is shared by many it can become valuable. So when I think valuable, I think about builders like Callahan and Glendale. I think we can all agree that is artwork with frets . The giggling guy on youtube with an angel grinder and a squire strat has created art, but how many will value it. Once again value is highly personal. If I presented my wife with a blue daisy rock guitar and a butterscotch Glendale tele, she would choose the daisy in a heartbeat, its blue. Its all about value.

Here’s why I value a relic guitar.

I bought a 335 custom shop when I was 19, I cost $1800, my life savings at the time. It was a beautiful and flawless guitar; I was scared to play it for fear of a scratch. I was almost relieved when I sold it two years later. On a shiny guitar a nick in the finish becomes a beacon flashing in my periphery. A relic instrument takes the sting out of a small bump or nick in the finish. I can feel comfortable playing and focus on the music not my proximity to a cymbal stand or a drunk bass player. Reality check here, I should replace cymbal and bass player with laundry basket and wagging dog tail, but you get the picture.

I don’t mind reading fiction. A story doesn’t have to be true to be amazing. Objects, especially guitars, tell a story. A lot of instruments say “I am an exceptional instrument; I was produced by a cnc milling machine capable of maintaining a tolerance of…” I prefer an instrument that says something along the lines of “I was playing in a bar just north of Toledo the night you were born, I broke a string halfway through the second set..”

Ultimately, I just like the patina of old stuff. I live in an old house, I collect antiques. Old things make us think of our history and give the world a little sense of scale.

Ok too much typing I need another guitar to build.