Saturday, January 24th, 2009
Colleges turn french fry oil into fuel
Students have begun making bio diesel fuel by converting used cooking oil from the dining hall.
Overcoming Information Overload
Daniel Tammet: “Our world is generating more information with more resources and technology now than at any time in history: through TV and radio programs, cell phones, magazines, email, websites, blogs, and other media… Being overwhelmed by a continuous maelstrom of information can be just as damaging to our minds as having too little of it…”
Dark flow: Proof of another universe?
For most of us the universe is unimaginably vast. But not for cosmologists. They feel decidedly hemmed in. No matter how big they build their telescopes, they can only see so far before hitting a wall. Approximately 45 billion light years away lies the cosmic horizon, the ultimate barrier because light beyond it not has not had time to reach us.
Sweden’s Fix for Banks: Nationalize Them
The Swedes have a simple message to the Americans: Bite the bullet and nationalize. With Sweden’s banks effectively bankrupt in the early 1990s, a center-right government pulled off a rapid recovery that led to taxpayers making money in the long run.
War against ivory trade takes to the sea
It’s the “other” ivory. And this week, conservationists in London stepped in to stop its sale. It might not be as well known as the stuff that comes from elephants, but the ivory from the narwhal, the tusked whale of the northern seas, is just as much in demand – and with that demand comes a threat just as severe as the one elephants face.
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Wednesday, October 22nd, 2008
Hey, guess what guys and gals? Yes, I found another beer. Before I begin, please let me know if I ever repeat any of my beer posts. That would be a little embarrassing.
Ok, I was up in Whole Foods this evening doing a little food shopping. I have this great vegetarian cookbook that has the most excellent recipes. Tonight, I made herb pizza. It knocked my socks off, just like my socks were knocked off in my previous post. Tomorrow night, I am making kidney bean and mushroom burgers.
You know, I have often considered writing blog posts describing the things I cook. I am just starting to get good at it, but I would tell you if what I made was bad. I’m honest like that. I will have to think about that one. The problem with taking pictures of the stuff I make is that the pictures would come out terrible. It takes a very long time to set up those real pictures for cookbooks and stuff, and I fear that my singular reputation as a master chef would be tarnished and I wouldn’t view myself as one any more. I would still cook, but it wouldn’t be as much fun as it is now.
Anyway, back to my story. I was food shopping when I passed the beer area, again. I know, I know, it’s my weakness. Don’t worry mom, I don’t drink too much. This beer area was near the bakery. for some reason, they keep the seasonal beers over in this area, while the regular beer is kept over in the beer aisle. I browsed through the bakery beer area for a while looking for something good. There were mainly ales and lagers, which don’t do it for me. I decided it wasn’t my night for beer and I moved over to the cheese area.
I did most of my shopping when I wandered over to the real beer aisle. I chatted it up with some lady who was trying to surprise her husband with a new beer that he hasn’t tried yet. She mentioned that he liked the Sam Adams Oktoberfest. I told her that I just saw some Oktoberfest in the other area, but by a different brewery. Maybe he would like that. She thanked me and hurried off. That was my good deed for the day and made me think to myself that I was an angel. Remember the last time I thought I was an angel?
As I was now looking over the entire selection all by myself (just the way I like it, hehe), I noticed a six pack glaring at me. It said “Chocolate Stout” right on the side. “Hmmm,” I thought, as I was picking it up and putting it in my cart. That’s a much as I thought…just “Hmmm.”
Fort Collins Brewery Chocolate Stout
Check ‘er out.
I finished up and left. When I got back to the house, I unpacked all the food and started up my process. The first thing I always do is crack open a beer before I start cooking. It makes things glide. I took a few sips and decided that this “Fort Collins Brewery Chocolate Stout” is exactly what my next batch is going to taste like.
Did I mention that I am making chocolate stout next? I have all the ingredients. I was thinking about adding coffee to it, but I think I better not. I like to drink my beer at night and I fear the coffee will make me lie in bed staring at the ceiling. That’s not good for my tennis game.
Speaking of tennis, today was a fantastic clinic. I truly think I am getting better. My buddy and I hit for about a half hour after the clinic and we came to the conclusion that we have both improved considerably. This dude is like a wall at the net, so I don’t mess with him there, but as for ground strokes, we are lovin’ it. Believe it or not, we are signed up for cardio-tennis on Monday mornings now. We’ll see how that goes. I think I’m more into smacking tennis balls than running around, but I’ll get back to you with the verdict.
That’s all. Good night.
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Monday, March 24th, 2008
I know that I have told you in the past how much Laura and I like to eat lunch at the Fife’n Drum restaurant in Kent, CT every Easter. We have been doing it now for about four years. It usually is a very good time. Well, unfortunately, yesterday was our last visit to this restaurant.
I am going to try to keep this short and sweet and not too much like a restaurant critic. Let’s just say that it seems like there is some new management and a new chef at this place.
The wait was very long during each portion of our two course Easter lunch and the food was amateur at best. It seemed like the dish washing dude was back there cooking too. I swear it seemed like there were parts of my dishes that were from a can. To me, “warm potatoes” does not mean potato salad that tasted like it was straight from Costco. A vegetarian dish does not mean boiled vegetables. Oh well, there’s $80 down the drain. We didn’t even stay for dessert…my favorite part. We just left the money on the table and left. During the last 20 minute wait to have our plates cleared from the table, three different waiters walked by and looked at us at least seven times. We kept wondering if our waiter had gone home. Well, as it turns out, as we were leaving, Laura caught sight of this guy eating at the bar. What the hell? If you can’t tell, I am a little annoyed. To think, I still left a tip…A TIP. I didn’t have the patience to wait for any change. I swear, if we had stayed any longer, they would’ve started vacuuming the floor while people were still eating. Yes, we will have to find a new place to eat on Easter.
To simmer down, we went on our traditional hike at Bull’s Bridge. I have a few posts about our previous hikes. It’s a really neat place.
Since we have been down the same trail so many times, I thought it would be a good idea to check out the top part of the trails. Laura might have been a little disappointed because she wanted to go on a real hike. I will have to make it up to her. We took lots of pictures and video. I will upload the video today and post it here.
This is a photo of the front of the Fife’n Drum restaurant in Kent, CT. I don’t even know why I am showing this. Perhaps someone from the restaurant will read this post and mail me a refund check.
This is the monument in Kent, CT.
These are two shots of Bull’s Bridge itself. We got lucky with very good weather.
These are all shots of the river. The water was rushing very fast, due to all the rain we have been getting. We didn’t see any kayakers like we have in previous years. Maybe the water was going too fast. I sure wouldn’t get in there.
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Sunday, October 7th, 2007
My sister, Lauren, asked me recently how our new stainless steel pots and pans are working out for us. I told her that they were doing well. She is considering making the switch, I think.
As I mentioned, we tossed our old Anolon non-stick cookware and upgraded to a T-Fal Elegance 10 Piece Stainless Steel Cookware Set. The Anolon stuff was supposed to be really good. You know, it had all those warranties and guarantees…all that sales stuff. In actuality, the non-stick coating fell off, or scratched off in about a year. In my opinion, all those pans suck. There are so many rules to them. Don’t use metal, don’t use high heat, don’t put them in the dishwasher, don’t look at them funny…you get the idea.
I have never been all that good at handling limitations. My mother still has her set of T-Fal non-stick pans. She has had them for over ten years. I don’t know how she does it. I guess she is much better at behaving than I am.
Ok, so here is my early review of the new stainless steel cookware. In the beginning, everything stuck. I was making mess after mess. Then, I began cooking at a lower heat. I started noticing that fewer items of food were sticking to the pans. Hmmm…this made me think, and you know how much I like to think. Now, I cook at about 3 out of 10 (heat setting) and don’t have a sticking problem anymore. I have also noticed that olive oil isn’t the greatest lubricating agent out there. Margarine is much better. I actually cooked two huge pancakes this morning without issue.
So Lauren, my advice is to get the stainless steel pots and pans. I think they will last a lot longer and, for us, we won’t have to struggle anymore with cooking on pans with no non-stick coating left. For more opinions on this topic, you can visit this website.
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