Raisin Wine-Could be interesting

Here is a nice recipe that can be made with some grocery store ingredients. This recipe will make a 1 gallon batch.


* 2 lb raisins
* 1 gal warm water
* 2 lbs sugar
* 1/2 tsp yeast nutrient
* 4 tsps acid blend
* 1 campden tablet
* wine yeast


starting specific gravity should be 1.090-1.095,acid .60%

Chop raisins.

Mix all ingredients except yeast in primary fermentor.

When cool(70-75 deg F) add yeast.

Cover and stir daily for 5 to 6 days.

Remove raisins and press.

Pour into secondary fermentor ,rack in 3 weeks. Make sure container is topped up.

Rack again in 3 months.

Age 6 months

Crock Pot Chicken Vindaloo

1 medium onion, cut into 1/2 inch wedges through the root end
3/4 lb potatoes, peeled, cut into 1-inch cubes
1 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch pieces
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth
1-3 teaspoon Thai red curry paste, can use green
1 1/2 teaspoons curry powder
1 (16 ounce) bag frozen broccoli carrots cauliflower mix
1/2 cup reduced-fat coconut milk

Not the one? See other Crock Pot Chicken Vindaloo (Ww 5 Pts. Per Serving) Recipes

* Indian One-Dish Meal
* Chicken Breasts One-Dish Meal
* Crock Pot One-Dish Meal
* Potluck One-Dish Meal

1. In single layers, place onion, potatoes and chicken in a 5-6 quart slow cooker.
2. Sprinkle with salt.
3. Combine the broth, curry paste, and curry powder in a medium bowl; pour over the chicken and vegetables.
4. Cover and cook until the chicken and potatoes are fork tender, 4-5 hours on high or 8-10 hours on low.
5. About 35 minutes before cooking is done, stir the broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, and coconut milk into the slow cooker.
6. Cover and cook on high until vegetables are crisp tender, about 30 minutes.

WENG WENG RAP

I now introduce you to the great Weng Weng!

Bread Machine Pizza Dough

3 T Oil
2/4 C Water
1.5 t Sugar
3/4 t Salt
2 C Bread Flour
2 t active dry yeast
Spices/Herbs to taste

Quote:

Worrying is like paying a debt you may never have owed

- Charlie Papazian

Relax. Dont Worry. Have a Homebrew.

-Charlie Papazian


DONT PANIC!
- Douglas Adams

Greek Yogurt

Yogurt Cheese

Ingredients:

1 quart fresh plain yogurt (I use fat free)

Cheese salt (optional)

Herbs (optional)

½ packet of Splenda (this is a modification I’ve added to curb the bitterness)


Directions:

Let the yogurt come to room temperature (this actually makes a difference, when I’ve done it with cold yogurt, it doesn’t seem to taste as good).
Pour the yogurt into a colander lined with butter muslin. Tie the corners of the muslin into knot and let the bag drain for 12-24 hours, or until the yogurt has stopped dripping and reached the desired consistency.
Remove the cheese from the bag. Add the salt and/or herbs to taste, if desired. I also add a little sugar/Splenda at this point.
Store in a covered container in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.


Yield:

About 8 ounces

Girls Making Beer

NICE!

Paella Recipe

Since it varies a lot with my mood, I’m going to give you the flexible recipe:

2 C of Arborio rice (short grain)
3 C of water +/-
3 C of stock
Saffron to taste (you don’t need much)
Veggies (and or beans)
Meats
Olive oil

Process:
Cook the meats you have selected and set aside.
Heat the olive oil in a pan, then add the raw rice. Stir the rice constantly until it becomes opaque.
Add the stock and vegetables, and cook uncovered adding water as necessary.
Before adding the last cup of water add the meat back in.
It is finished when 1) the rice is no longer crunchy, and 2) a little bit of the rice is getting browned to the bottom of the pan.

Variations:
Rice: in Telluride, I used the prepackaged “Saffron Rice” that they sell in the grocery store. The disadvantage is that the long grain rice was hard to cook all the way through.

Stock: I usually use chicken stock if I am cooking meat and seafood stock if I’m cooking seafood. I also like to add “tomato stock” which you can find in the Mexican food isle.

Meats: This is where the variety really begins. I’ve added meat balls, chicken bits, shrimp, muscles, calamari, lamb, chicken wings, etc.

The traditional Spanish meat balls have pine nuts in them. I like to make Italian meatballs w/Italian seasonings and garlic or Greek with mint and oregano.

If you add seafood, it will taste terrible the next day, so you shouldn’t make too much.

Veggies: I add peppers, artichoke hearts, onions, lima beans, butter beans and green beans.

Ginger Ice Cream

2/4 C Sugar
3 egg yolks
1.5 C milk
1 T finely grated fresh ginger root including juice
pinch of salt
1.5 C heavy whipping cream

Directions
Combine the cream, milk, ginger and salt in a heaving pan and simmer for 20 minutes.

Beat sugar and egg yolks until pale yellow. Slowly whisk about 1 C of the hot cream mix into the egg yolk mix, then pour all the egge mixture in the pan and stir. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly until mixture thickens, about 5-10 minutes. Remove from heat.

Strain into a large bowl, pushing against the sides to extract the liquid from the ginger and isolate any fibrous pieces.

Pour into covered container and refrigerate until well chilled (overnight).

Process according to ice cream makers instructions.

Green Tea Ice Cream Recipe

2/4 C Sugar
3 egg yolks
1 C milk
2.5 T powdered green tea
1/4 C hot water
1.5 C heavy whipping cream
1t vanilla extract

Directions
Beat sugar and egg yolks until pale yellow. Set aside.

Bring milk to a slow boil in a medium sized heavy saucepan, turn off heat. Slowly whisk a cup of hot milk into the egg yolk mix, then pour the entire mix into the saucepan. Cook over low yeat, stirring constantly until mixture thickens, about 5-10 minutes. Remove from heat.

In a small bowl, furiously whisk the powdered green tea into the hot water, being sure to blend all lumps. Add to the ice cream base, stirring well. Stir in the cream and vanilla extract.

Pour into covered container and refrigerate until well chilled (overnight).

Process according to ice cream makers instructions.

Ayn Rand's Ideas: An Introduction

The Official Ramen Homepage

What a bunch of weird stuff you can do with Ramen Noodles.

Cowboy's Spaghetti and Meatballs Recipe

Spaghetti Sauce
1 12 oz can of tomato sauce
1 12 oz can of diced tomatoes
1-2 cups of red wine
2-3 T Olive oil
salt
pepper
oregano
basil
cayenne pepper
red pepper
and shit loads of garlic (5-6 cloves)
Simmer 1.5 hours

Meat balls
1 LB Ground beef
equal volume of bread innards soaked in milk
onions chopped
1 T Oregano
1 T Mint

Squeeze the milk out of the bread innards and mix with everything else. Fry in lots of olive oil.

Mix with noodles and eat.

Age of Fighting Sail Ends

I've been reading "Broadsides: The Age of Fighting Sale" by Nathan Miller, so this news is really sad. And Goddamnit, this ship has been in London and I never bothered to visit it. Shame on me.

"LONDON, England (CNN) -- The Cutty Sark, thought to be the world's only surviving 19th century tea clipper and a prime relic of the golden age of sail, was engulfed by flames Monday, causing extensive damage to one of London's most popular tourist attractions."

Dwight as Jim

And a follow up!

The Office -- Playing Dwight Schrute is...Jim Halpert?

Damn this was funny!

The Office New Promo: The Death of Jim Halpert

Ok... this is the last one!

Why Can't We Be Friends

The Office -- Confrontation between Roy and Jim

The Office Heroes

Brilliant

Come Sail Away cartman

Herb Combinations

Fines Herbes:
Thyme
Rosemary
Basil
Marjoram
Tarragon
Chervil

Herbes de Provence:
Thyme
Rosemary
Basil
Marjoram
Savory
Hyssop
(Lavender)
(Bay Leaf)

Italian Seasoning:
Thyme
Rosemary
Basil
Marjoram
Savory
Oregano
Sage

Scarborough Fair Seasoning
Parsley
Sage
Rosemary
Thyme

New favorite search to find my blog...

Someone found this blog by searching for "spanked by lydia"

HA!

Theory of Progression in Life

Today at my toastmasters club I heard a theory of the progression of life through anagrams...

First your are a YUPpie... young upwardly-mobile professional

Then you get married and you're a DINK... dual income no kids.

Then you have a couple kids and you become a sitcom (sitkom)... single income two kids overwhelming mortgage.

I thought that was pretty funny.

When a 3 year old is asked about monsters

Cute!

Potty Training Made Simple

Link

"Naked and $75
Parent(s) stay at home with the child for several days and allow the child to walk around the house naked all day long. The potty is put out so it is constantly available to the child. Parents regularly remind the child to use the potty when necessary. Rosemond argues that children won't tolerate urine and feces running down their legs, and will quickly learn to go to the potty to avoid accidents. The $75 is for carpet cleaning."

I've been listening to a course on integration in human life. Part of the course is on child rearing, which covers teaching children to conform their thinking to reality and this was given as a method for potty training that teaches children to recognize reality very early.

I know this is random, but I have an acquaintance whose 4 year old son is not toilet trained yet. It seems like this is an easy problem to fix, but she hasn't managed to do it.

Cowboy Philosophy

Sir:

I want to thank you for putting "Old Ty" and me out there for everybody to see; and my deep gratitude for the thought and research that went into the article.

I say this in spite of your cursory, patronizing attitude concerning the political beliefs I espouse. THE SILENT MAJORITY OF THE PEOPLE IN OUR NATION ARE BEGINNING TO VOTE THE WAY I THINK and to resent the "care from cradle to grave" philosophy which your articulate liberal-left minority are smugly taking for granted as a way to political power in this country.

John Wayne
Hollywood
Letter to the Editor of Time
10/3/1969

For Warren Buffett fans

A history of value investing: http://www.econ.duke.edu/dje/2000/bierig.PDF

How to make Greek Yoghurt--the video

Link

Gumbo Recipe

Make Roux: 3T Oil, 3T Flour Brown Slowly
Add Shrimp/Sausage Cook Til Pink
Add Chopped Onion 1 Med
1/4 tsp garlic salt
Chopped Green Pepper
Bay Leaf
Chopped Celery
Parsley
Sautee 5 minutes
Add 1 can Tomato Sauce
5 minutes
Add 1 1/2 C water
Simmer 40 Minutes
Add Crab Meat and Oysters at 20 minutes

Cook Frozen Okra Saute until edges brown.

Gore's Personal Inconvenient Truth

Gore isn't exactly practicing what he preaches. His household uses 20x more energy than the average household.

Here's the link.

Trogdor... the Videogame

Check out the Trogdor videogame...

Don't know what the hell Trogdor is... check out the introductory video.

Star Trek vs. Star Wars

Damn... I'm a dork!

Darth Vader orders food

I love Eddie Izzard.

JOSS WHEDON DIRECTS THE OFFICE

Ok... So we did get a little Joss on the office last night.

Buffy Syndrome

This article referred from Whedonesque is what happened to me.

"I use the Joss Whedon series "Buffy" as an example because it describes how I allowed nothing more than a name to rob me of months and almost years of television viewing pleasure, simply because I had the wrong mindset."

I heard from a number of people that Buffy was a great show. I couldn't get over the name. Finally, after falling in love with Firefly I looked into Buffy. Keep in mind... the show had been canceled. Finished. There was no more Buffy. So I watched the entire series on DVD and it turns out that it is my favorite show on TV (if you count syndication).

So the moral of the story... don't judge a book by its cover and don't judge a series by its name.

PS As noted by others, Joss Whedon isn't going to be doing the new Wonder Woman. Damnit Joss, we need our fix... can't you get that... we need new Whedon.... so get on that will you.

Roast Lamb and Potatoes

I visited my friend, Ari, in St. Louis. He's ex was Greek so he's learned to make some great food.

He made the dish captioned above this weekend and I got the recipe by osmosis:

Ingredients:
1 Leg of lamb
3-4 potatoes peeled, sliced
mustard
olive oil
spice rub: rosemary, thyme, salt, pepper, garlic mixed with oil and lemon

Take the potatoes and mix them with mustard and olive oil. Ari bathed them in olive oil, but I think enough to coat them would suffice.

Prepare the spice rub and... well rub it on the lamb.

Put the potatoes in with the lamb on top. Roast in the oven at about 350 degrees F for about an hour or an hour and a half. If you care about how cooked it is, you might get a meat thermometer. If not... wing it.

Last step... eat up.

Mr. Deity

Funny modern take on religion.

Shi Thead

This is a card game my friends were playing. I couldn't keep track of the rules so they wrote them down.

It starts with the same premise as BS, discarding in order. There are some differences...

3's require the next person to play a 3 or a 9
9's can be played on anything
7's require the next person to play a 7 or lower
10 can be played on anything and clears the pile
2's can be played on anything (except required above) and restarts the sequence.

Crap... this is complicated, especially when drunk.

Media swapping services

Here are a list of swapping services from a RMN article.

Peerflix - movies

What's On My Bookshelf - books

Book Mooch - Books

Barter Bee - Music Videogames movies

Title Trader - All media

Chipotle @ Home

I'm a big Chipotle fan. Love the stuff. So the other day, I decided to try my hand at making a burrito bowl at home. I had all of the ingredients except the fresh cilantro and pico de gallo.

What I made was good, but tasted nothing like Chipotle. After some research, I found the recipe on google answers. Check it out:

CHIPOLTE'S MARINADE
-------------------

 1 (2 ounce) package dried ancho chiles
 1 teaspoon black pepper
 2 teaspoons cumin powder
 2 tablespoons fresh oregano, chopped
 6 cloves garlic
1/2 red onion, quartered
1/4 cup vegetable oil
 4 chicken breasts or small steaks (6 ounces each)

Soak dry chilies overnight in water, until soft. Remove seeds. Add all
ingredients except meat in food processor. Puree until smooth.

Spread mixture over chicken, or other meats and refrigerate at least
one hour, up to 24 hours.

After marinading, heat grill to about 400 degrees F, or if cooking
inside, heat small amount of oil in skillet or grill pan over high
heat. Salt meat to taste (optional), and grill lightly, turning only
once, until done. 4 minutes per side for chicken, 8-10 minutes per
side for 3/4" thick steak.

CHIPOLTE'S BASMATI RICE
-----------------------

 1 teaspoon vegetable oil or butter
 2 tsp. fresh cilantro
2/3 cup white basmati rice
 1 cup water
1/2 teaspoon salt
 1 Lime

In a 2-quart heavy saucepan, heat oil or butter over low heat,
stirring occasionally until melted. Add rice and lime juice, stir for
1 minute. Add water and salt, bring to a full rolling boil. At
boiling, cover, turn down to simmer over low heat until rice is tender
and the water is absorbed, about 25 minutes. Fluff rice with a fork.

Marketing for Global Warming

Thanks to Day by Day

Berlitz German Commercial

Berlitz German Commercial

SNL Skit --Really?!?

http://hokiestone.net/v/vickreally.wmv

Wi-Fi Spoofing Scam

It seems every time something good comes along someone figures out a way to make it dangerous.

Here is a scam and the way to avoid it.


Hat tip to GeekPress

Circe Link: Live in Japan 'Bluebird Tattoo'

Yeah... I love this woman's voice... and her name is Circe... gotta love the Oddessy reference.

A Tour of Fallingwater

Last time Denver had this much snow 1913 - cool old picts

James Brown Cover Tribute

Coverville just did an episode of all James Brown Covers...

Check it out here.

Three Word Answers

3 word answers!: Not as easy as you might think...
answer all questions with 3 words.

1. Where is your cell phone?
On my hip

2. Boyfriend/girlfriend?
What about her?

3. Your hair?
short and brown

4. Your mother?
smart and scrappy

5. Your father?
fun loving guy

6. Your favorite item?
my new mandolin

7. Your dream last night?:
Don't remember dreams

8. Your favorite drink?
Alcoholic: Jack Daniels

9. Your dream car?
It does everything

10. The room you are in?
My messy office

12. Your fear?
Not your business

13. What do you want to be in 10 years?:
rich married happy

14. Who did you hang out with last night?:
my own self

15. What you're not?
able to answer

16. Muffins?
sometimes, sometimes not

17. One of your wish list items?
Brand New iPod

18. What time is it?
half past one

19. The last thing you did?
finished an appraisal

20. What are you wearing?:
clothes, normal variety

22. Your favorite book?
The Fountainhead, donchaknow

23. The last thing you ate?
potato chips unfortunately

24. Your life?
generally pretty good

25. Your mood?
frustrated with this

26. Your friends?
too far away

27. What are you thinking about right now?
six word stories

28. Your car?
getting old now

29. What are you doing at the moment?:
finishing the quiz

30. Your summer?
sailing, sailing, sailing

31. Your relationship status?
who is asking

32. What is on your tv?:
too much Tivo

33. When is the last time you laughed?
late this morning

34. Last time you cried?
watching TV recently

35. School?
Teaching next week