#62 - Host a Feast of the Seven (or more) International Fish Dishes

It's been two months since completing this item and I don't know why it's taken so long to post.  I quite enjoyed completing it.  It turned out to be a...

 "Feast of the Indeterminate Number of Multinational Fishes." 

I tried, but I simply couldn't weed the list down to seven dishes, but I was proud to have gotten down from the original 25 or so to a nice round eleven.  Well, not so round, but at least an odd number which I understand to be required for good luck.  As to the multinational part, I never intended to try to do all Italian dishes, because I'm sure I couldn't pull that off.  So, there was some Mexican, Italian, French, etc. to try to make it interesting

The Menu

Appetizers

Oysters on the Half Shell

 Nicholas provided the oysters from a local San Diego farmer's market.  Raised locally, at Carlsbad Aquafarm, they were small and delicious little morsels, even if inexpertly shucked by yours truly.  They taste like the sea and I mean that in the best of ways.  Must have more.

 

 

Grilled Shrimp on Rosemary Skewers

 Giant shrimp from the local market, with skewers of fresh rosemary from our own front yard.  These are simple, tasty and easy to prep ahead of time, keeping some of the craziness of course coordination to a minimum.

 

 

Potato Blinis with Sour Cream, Dill and Black Caviar

  I didn't follow any particular recipe, just threw things together including some left over mashed potatoes.  The were fun to make and turned out very pretty, if not particularly tasty.

 

 

 Calamari Friti with Fried Zucchini

One of the several courses where I injected some vegan choices into the menu.  The original plan did not call for zucchini, but I didn't want Tee to starve while we all gorged ourselves on seafood.  The calamari recipe is from Giada De Laurentis on Food Network and they are great.

 

 

Catfish Ceviche with Avocado & Tortilla Chips

I love this one!  Catfish is so easy to get ahold of and we have gallons of lime juice from our tree.  Another dish easily made ahead.

Soup

Shrimp and Crab, Black Bean and Corn Chowder Salad

My original plan was for bouillabaisse, but that's not easily veganized.  I switched to this chowder recipe, which was vegan right up until the shrimp and crab were added.  Served a bowl for Tee, then added the seafood and served everyone else.  This is very good, but could easily be a meal in itself.  A little much when combining with ten other dishes.

Salad

Variation on Nicoise with Smoked Trout

This was a nice idea with poor execution.  I had some butterflied trout fillets from the local market, which I smoked in my electric smoker.  The trout went on to what would otherwise have been a Nicoise salad.  Unfortunately, I was so intent on not overcooking my potatoes that they were under cooked.  A little Irish as some would say, although I've never understood that expression.

 

 

Course 1

Local Mussels in Thai Green Curry Sauce with a side of Kimchi

The mussels also came from Nicholas by way of San Diego and Carlsbad Aquafarm.  The kimchi was homemade and didn't necessarly belong along side Thai cuisine, but I like it and it's vegan.  But then, I don't even know if Tee like kimchi.

 

 

Course 2

Salmon Croquettes

This was another dish that I figured would be relatively easy to prepare mostly ahead of serving.  The croquettes were all assembled earlier before the guests arrived and just had to be fried up for serving.  I normally love this recipe (or not recipe actually, since I don't entirely follow one), but this time I was less than impressed with myself.  Maybe I was just full.  If no one else enjoyed them, at least Leo did; he ended up with the left over salmon skin.

 

-

 

This was as far as the meal made it before most in attendance threw in the towel.  It must have been all those damn vegan sides that filled everyone up.

 

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Course 3

Tilapia Fish Tacos

As it turned out, Jacob and his friend Giovana came in later and requested the fish tacos, so while they weren't a part of the actual feast they sort of made it in as dessert this made me very happy, because they were really good in my humble opinion, particularly the chipotle crema sauce on top.

 

 

Course 4

Spaghetti with Tuna

Alas, this course did not make the cut, even for dessert.  I had strategically saved this one for last, because all of the ingredients could keep.  The recipe uses canned tuna, in this case locally packed from American Tuna.  It is delcious and was worth the wait until we made it many days later once fully recovered from fish overdose.  The recipe I found in Bon Apetite and could not be simpler.

Many Overdue

I continue to be terribly remiss in my duties updating this blog.  I've completed several of the items and have failed through laziness or general boredom or whatever to post a single update in Blog knows how long.

I've also made a number of changes to the list, removed some items that seemed boring, incredibly unlikely or maybe just silly.  In their place I've added a number of things that are significantly more likely and, more importantly, potentially fun.

Anyway, stayed tuned.  I should have some updates shortly.

#25 - Grow Rhubarb

Close this one out.  I have been really remiss in reporting on the progress of my rhubarb and should have posted long ago.

Of the 25 seeds planted back in January, about 15 survived to plant in the yard.  I added two bare-root plants and another potted rhubarb for about 18 total plants.

A couple of the plants started from seed proved to be the best producers.  For no rhyme or reason, some plants sprouted enormous shoots up to 3 feet tall. 

Others remaining delicate little plants with shoots less than a foot.  Throughout the summer I've been harvesting rhubarb off about all the plants. 

I struggled with a rhubarbian dilemma.  I started out trying the Texas method, which called for planting from seed and harvesting the entire plant as an annual, rather than a perennial.  My dilemma was that the plants all seemed to be doing so well, that I thought they might survive and actually establish themselves as perennials.

Unfortunately, as the late summer heated up, some (many) of the plants start dying off.

I'm now down to the potted plant, 1 bare-root and about 5 of the plants started from seed (a couple of which appear to be not long for the world.

The potted plant suffered an early setback; the day after planting it, Leo decided to help us out in the garden by unplanting it.  It's actually survived reasonably well, now protected by a tomato cage.  I think it may actually make it for the long term, dog willing.

All things considered, the rhubarb experiment has gone well.  I've accumulated a bunch in the freezer, donated bags full to Nick and Tee and Tee's family and should be able to harvest more before the plants all die off completely.

I've produced a few crisps (including an abortive attempt using Stevia instead of sugar, bleah!) some rhubarb sauce, but sadly no strawberry-rhubarb pie, because we've only produced about a strawberry and a half from our meager strawberry patch.

Anyway, I declare the rhubarb experiment a success.  I submit as proof, Nicholas with his Rhubarb-Peach Birthday Crisp.

#19 - Make Cheese

It wasn't much, but I'm going to count it.  Alton Brown had an episode of "Good Eats" on milk and one of the recipes he presented was cottage cheese.  Denise put cottage cheese on the shopping list, so I figured I'd buy some skim milk and make the cottage cheese from scratch.

Below we have the curds separating from the whey.  Kind of a weird and interesting process to watch.  Changes the way you think about milk, that's for sure.

The finished product follows.  It was good, but not your stereotypical cottage cheese experience.  The texture was sort of a cross between cottage cheese and crumbled mozzarella. 

I suspect I may have not processed the recipe entirely accurately, so I might need to try again.  Either way, I'm counting it as cheese.  If I can score some goat milk someplace I may try it with that, bur for now I am checking off #19.

#49 - Rent a Storage Locker and Clean Out the House

Boring yes, but earlier this summer we finally rented a storage locker and while the house is not entirely clean we did get rid of a lot of junk.  This was especially helpful with Nick having moved much of his stuff home from "The Hall" in Davis.

Now that Nick and Tee have a new apartment and Nick's stuff has moved to a new home, the storage isn't so critical.  When I check off #50 we'll be able to move stuff back and cancel the storage rental, but until that time it's a big help.

#39 - Dinner in Idyllwild

The weekend before her birthday, Denise decided that the family should go hiking in Idyllwild.  Just a short up and back hike on the Ernie Maxwell Scenic Trail, 2.5 miles from town up to Humber Park.  It was beautiful in Idyllwild, much cooler than Temecula and quite a pretty hike.

We took the opportunity to have her birthday dinner at the Gastrognome, or more correctly Restaurant Gastrognome, and to check off another item on my list.  Sadly, we took no pictures at dinner, but it was very nice.  Gastrognome was always a favorite spot when we lived in Idyllwild forever ago.  It's still quite nice, although I think their fine Scotch menu is more enjoyable on a cold winter's night.

#76 and #82; Play Tennis and Walk to the Mall for Lunch

Nicholas is back in town from Italy, having returned on Wednesday evening.  I haven't blogged about it, because it was his trip and I'll let him give the update on his blog.

Anyway, he and Tee were here today and decided that we should go down to the clubhouse to play tennis.  We sent Denise to Sport Chalet to buy tennis balls while Tee, Nick and I walked to the courts.  (Leo was somewhat dismayed I think, watching us through the fence as we walked off into the commons.  I'm pretty sure he's never seen us go there without taking him along for a walk.)

Denise showed up with the tennis balls and we smashed the ball around the court for a while, Denise and I versus Nick and Tee.  Denise and I lost (surprise), but not too badly.  I had the most home runs, with two shots leaving the yard.  The best anyone else could muster was a ground-rule double by Tee.

After a full set of doubles we played a little cutthroat, one-on-two, with one person rotating out to the bench each game.  We played to six games, with Nick winning, but I was close with five.

This is a good shot of me.

After the tennis we walked the rest of the way to the mall and lunch at the Yard House.  Mmmm, beer!  Having finished lunch we wasted some time in the Williams-Sonoma store, looking at all manner of cookware too expensive to purchase.  Williams-Sonoma sells a lot of uni-taskers; strawberry slicers, avocado pitters, stuff of that nature.  Alton Brown would be appalled.  We did buy a few items, most notably some espresso to make in the stove top espresso maker that Nick brought me from Italy.

From Williams-Sonoma we moved over to the Apple store, just for a few minutes.  Nick played Angry Birds on an iPad 2 while Denise and Tee went back to the Yard House to use their facilities.

Shopping completed, we walked back to the clubhouse.  Denise, Tee and Nick took the car, and I walked the rest of the way home, probably a mistake since it was now mid-afternoon and pretty hot.  Nick actually met me with a water bottle part way back, which was nice.

So, now I need a ruling.  Can I check off two list items at the same time?  Is it fair to incorporate a tennis match into the walk to the mall?

More to the point, I feel like a single tennis match or single walk to the mall doesn't really meet the spirit of the items.  "Play tennis" should probably mean play tennis routinely; maybe once a week or twice a month.  And "walk to mall for lunch" should maybe be every other month or so?

Oh well, I didn't specifically say they had to be recurring, so I'm checking them off.  I'll just have remind myself to keep going.

#69 - Attend a Concert - Jethro Tull at the Greek

Well, it was just pathetic.  Not the concert, the fans.  There was not a lot of growing old gracefully on display.

There's something surreal about waiting for a Jethro Tull concert, old men with trophy wives, conversations quoting Rush Limbaugh and shopping for Porsches in the theatre pavilion.

At one point Denise commented that I was the cutest person she'd seen in attendance, which I considered a sorry indictment of the Tull fan base.  She and the guy seated next to her were speculating on the average age within amphitheater; Denise went with 60, her neighbor was a little more kindly, coming in with an estimate of 58.

So the good news was that I was not the oldest, fattest, baldest, frailest or stupidest of the assembled masses.  The guy sitting behind me was going all out for the latter title.

Fuckin' A!  "Hot Night in Budapest!"  My favorite!

"Farm on the Freeway!"  This is my favorite!

Oh, my fuckin' favorite!  "Locomotive Breath!"

He was either extremely fickle or not clear on the concept of "favorite."  I'm pretty sure he and his party were all co-workers at JPL.

Cannabis, Lipitor and Flowmax were probably all present in about equal quantities.  There were more than a few people "Living in the Past."

Ian Anderson did make a few jokes about the assembled decrepitude, at one point during a flute finale he was making his trademark gyrations, grabbed his groin and said "Shit!", suffering a mock hernia.

Speaking of Ian Anderson, this WAS a Jethro Tull concert after all, he was very good.  Can't quite hit the same notes that he once did, 35 or forty years ago, but who can.  Started off with a bit of "Thick as a Brick" and over the course of the evening played all the tracks from "Aqualung" along with other selections.  I read on the Jethro Tull web site that Ian Anderson had broken his finger back around March.  Apparently, he was able to adapt to playing the flute with one finger splinted, but the guitar was impossible.  The band was forced to cover for him.  Fortunately for us, the splint was off last night and he was playing his own guitar.  Lead guitarist, Martin Barre was excellent, as ever.

A funny thing about Jethro Tull songs, and probably more specifically Ian Anderson's voice, is that they were never the sort where one could easily sing along.  Naturally, that didn't stop people from trying.

This was only my second event at the Greek Theatre, the first being a showing of "A Prairie Home Companion" with Garrison Keillor.   I will say that the PHC fans were better behaved and apparently smarter or maybe just less disoriented by the concept of stacked parking.

And speaking of pathetic, I give you the following...

#7 - Eat Chicago-style pizza in Chicago

SCORE!  On the recommendation of Jane Griffin, made a late lunch/early dinner stop at Lou Malnati's Pizzeria in Lincoln Park, Chicago. 

After schlepping luggage through a pair of airport terminals, then from transit station to hotel and then trekking another mile and a half through hot Chicago weather, I was all hot and sweaty and ready for a beverage; Goose Island 312 Urban Wheat Ale, as it turned out. 

Mmmm, Beer!  I quite enjoyed that.

The pizza is not fast food - takes 30 minutes or so to bake - so started off with a Malnati Salad.

After the salad, the star of the show, The "Malnati Chicago Classic."

The sausage; fabulous!  The cheese, cheesy, the sauce, saucy.  The butter crust; awesome!   Yumm.  The only disappointment - we ordered a small, having no convenient way to transport leftovers.

Happily, it appears that Malnati's ships, so I can always order a pie on the web.

We have received other Chicago-style recommendations; Edwardo's Natural Pizza promoted by Denise Haerr and Pizzeria Due, recommended by some helpful Chicagoan on the Red Line.  Actually, I think he was hitting on Denise.

It turns out that there is an Edwardo's just down the street from our hotel and Pizzeria Due appears to be within easy striking distance.  I intend to hit both before I'm done.

#101 - Here's the Beef

OK, we can chalk up another one.  Last night we got the quarter steer I ordered through our CSA at http://www.sagemountainbeef.com/green-fed/.  Ninety pounds delivered to our doorstep.

Our freezer is now very full, with all manner of cuts; top sirloin, porterhouse, flank steak, chuck roast, brisket...the list goes on.  At the rate we have (not) been eating meat, this should last us the better part of a year.

And it should be way healthier than the stuff we previously purchased.  I theorize that it's better to buy locally, sustainably raised meat and encourage the guys who are doing it right than it is to suffer the occasional lapse into Carl's Junior or a Sausage McMuffin

Can't wait to try it.  Maybe a pot roast in the dutch oven this Sunday.  Will keep you posted.

#5 - Finish reading Stephen King's Dark Tower series

Free at last!  As of about 7:00PM yesterday, Monday, April 25, I can say that I have completed Stephen King's Dark Tower septology (imagine taking a trilogy and beating yourself over the head with an additional  four volumes.)  That's right, Volume VII - The Dark Tower, the sequel to the sequel to the sequel to the sequel to the sequel to the sequel of Dark Tower Volume I - The Gunslinger.

I had read the first four volumes way back around the dawn of time, Volume IV probably sometime not too long after it was published in 1997.  After that I pretty much forgot about the series, not really even tracking whether the author had written any other books in the series.

I reintroduced myself to the series when Jake was in Loma Linda, having downloaded an audiobook of The Gunslinger to have something to listen to during those long nights in the hospital.  I never finished it in the hospital because, 1) it was impossible to focus on it - I kept falling asleep and having to rewind my iPod to find where last I was awake - and, 2) because I had forgotten that there is a character of a young kid named Jake who dies (a couple times) in the book.

Anyway, I eventually started listening to the book on some road trip or other and got back into the thing.  I had forgotten nearly everything, so I got the next two installments on audiobook and eventually re-read the paperback edition I had of Volume IV - Wizard and Glass.  Somewhere along the line I got Nick interested in it and ended up buying him the remaining volumes for his birthday.

Parts of the first four volumes were excellent, although when I reached the end of Volume IV this time around I recalled one of the reasons I had sort of dropped the series the first time; it started to get fairly stupid right toward the end.

Anyway, forging ahead, the excellent parts became fewer and farther between.  It was becoming excruciating, in fact.  Saner people asked questions like, "If you're not enjoying it why don't you stop reading?"  C'mon, by the time I reached Volume VII I had invested in probably about four thousand three hundred pages, plus change.  Can you imagine how many miles my lips moved during that amount of reading?  At this point I had to suffer through.

So, I used parts of the 12-hour drive home from Arcata to finish up the final hundred pages or so.

I'm glad I finished it because now that I know how it ends I can definitely say that is was....LONG.

Oh well, it is behind me now and I thank God.

Postscript: In pasting the above link to the official Dark Tower web site I happened upon a frightening piece of news; The Dark Tower - The Movie!  Then OMG!  In 2012 he's COMING OUT WITH A VOLUME VIII!!!!!  Aaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!

#56 - Install an IR remote repeater

OK, this one is pretty boring, unless you are a woman (Denise) who wants her husband (me) to clean up all the A/V remote controls and what not that are piled on the coffee table.

As some may know, we somewhat recently installed new cabinets in our family room and the cable box, Xbox 360, etc. are now all housed inside the cabinets.  I have remote controls for the TV, cable box, sound system and Xbox and need at least three of the four for any given activity.  (Well, that's not entirely true - I only need one remote if I want to listen to my iPod through the Yamaha sound bar.)

Anyway, all of the remotes use infrared, which does not work through a closed cabinet door.  So in addition to the clutter of the remotes all over the room I add the clutter of the open cabinets anytime we're watching TV.

So, this week I bought a Logitech Harmony 700 universal remote control along with a Harmony IR Extender System, basically a set of doohickies with an IR receiver that you mount outside the cabinet and some IR transmitters that you mount inside the cabinet with the AV equipment.  The receiver catches the IR commands from the remote control and relays them to the emitters inside the cabinet and, voila, the equipment responds to your remote's plaintive infrared cries.

The universal remote controls all the devices, automagically selecting the right combination of features for any requested activity.

Want to watch TV?  Push the "Watch TV" button and the remote turns on the TV, selects the HDMI input, turns on the cable box and turns on the sound system.

Switch to a movie?  Push "Watch a Movie" and it turns off the cable box, turns on the Xbox, selects the correct input on the TV and now you're ready to stream Netflix.

An added benefit of the new remote control is that it eliminates use of the game controller when streaming movies with the Xbox.  I felt like a moron controlling movies with the joysticks and triggers and miscellaneous buttons on the controller.  Now I can watch movies with the standard tool of the couch potato trade.

Blow Glass => Rowing Shell

I have changed yet another list item.  I'm not sure my inconsistency is consistent with the intent of the originators of this whole list idea, but I figure I made several mistakes in the drafting of the original, so WTF.

I'm watching "Good Will Hunting" this evening and there's a scene (brief though it may be) with someone rowing somewhere in Boston in some location that my sister Kathy would probably recognize, and it reminded me that I've always wanted to be someplace where I could get up at 0-dark-thirty, haul my shell down to the water and go for a row.

I've liked the idea ever since George Peppard, rowed about in the opening scenes of Banacek, way back in the early 70's.  And just recently I saw The River Wild, with Meryl Streep rowing a shell, probably in the same area of Boston, for all I know.


I originally had "Blow Glass" on my list, mostly because of a mistake.  That was supposed to tie in with the next item on the list which was to learn to make neon signs.  What I should have said was "bend glass" which would have been more appropriate for making neon.  So, I decided to just drop the blowing thing altogether.

As it turns out, rowing a shell may be a bigger challenge than anticipated.  A quick Google search on rowing shells turned up Maas Boats, and a quick search of the product specs yields no boats rated for more than 240 pounds of rower.  A Google search for "rowing shells for fat people" yeilded little worth further investigation.

Damn, I may actually have to lose weight.

#80 and #94, Carpool and Have Knives Sharpened

Quick note that, with help from Nicholas, I can check off #94 - Have my knives professionally sharpened.  We dropped some of them off one Saturday at Kitchen Fantasy (a silly name;  all they sell is cooking stuff - that's not my kitchen fantasy) in Temecula.  Actually, since they couldn't have the knives back until Monday I decided not to leave all my knives, keeping one so that I'd have something to cook with over the weekend.  Nick picked up the sharpened knives and dropped off the extra one on Monday, so by Tuesday or so they were razor sharp.  I have yet to cut myself with them, but it's only a matter of time.

I am also checking off #80 - Carpool.  I have carpooled quite a bit previously with a couple office mates, but let it lapse for most of the last year or so while I was spending almost all my time in El Cajon.  Of course, now that we are trying to pool again I am spending a lot of time at Escondido.  Oh well, I'm pooling when I can.  There irritating thing is that I tend to put about 20 miles on my car just getting to and from the carpool pickup spot.  Oh well, at around 4 bucks a gallon, every little bit helps.

Hopefully I will be able to keep my knives sharpened and my car pooling.  Otherwise I'll need to reinstate them on the list.

List Change - #69 is now "Attend a Concert"

So, #69 was never really a "to-do" item anyway, so I have decided to change that to "Attend a Concert."

Jethro Tull

Convenient, because I just ordered tickets to Jethro Tull's 40th Anniversary Aqualung USA Tour concert at the Greek Theater.  It will be just like old times at Jethro Tull concerts, except that this time I'll have a date and less hair.  Oh, and in the old times a pair of tickets didn't run $200.

#15 Revisited: I Have Consumed the Fruits of my Labor and Lived to Tell the Tale

Well, this was fun!  All three variations are pretty tasty, but I think the salt-cured need to cure a little longer and the water-cured can use a little longer soak in their brine.

The lye-cured olives taste surprisingly olivey and are the clear winner.  Also, they cured the quickest and you can't beat the adrenaline rush of cooking with caustic chemicals.  Any day you have to glove-up to prevent injury from something you're planning to eat is a good day.

Lye-Cured, Salt-Cured and Water-Cured (Kalamata-style)

Having tasted of my olives and finding them palatable, I'm calling #15 complete.  Now if I can just get my olive trees to produce I will be a happy man.

Next up - some Tapenade!

#57 - Remote controlled power supply for our AV

Another one down.

We consume standby power in this household like it was wrapped in cheese.  In an effort to rein in some of that power consumption I bought a Belkin Conserve remote controlled power strip and hooked it up to the home theater system in our living room.

We now have the home theater receiver, subwoofer, DVD player, TV and turntable all connected to the remotely controlled outlets on the strip.  Only the DVR is connected to an "always-on" outlet, since it has to stay on to record programs as scheduled.

In theory, this should help reduce our electricity consumption and thereby our monthly bills.

While I was behind the entertainment center I took the opportunity to install a preamp for my turntable.  I haven't been able to use that since I upgraded the receiver (new receivers not bothering with phono inputs, since CD is supposed to be so much superior.  Pffffttt!)  Now at last I can pull out all those classic Jethro Tull LPs.

Anyway we will see how the next electric bill looks.  And then we'll have to see what we can do about the cheese.

#15 - Cure Some Olives

Last weekend while at the Wilkins' in Los Olivos, I decided to get a start on item #15, "Cure Some Olives, No Matter What Ails Them."

Doug and Sue have some giant-ass olive trees in their yard.  They are beautiful, but apparently the bane of Doug's landscape maintenance existence.  They dump their fruit indiscriminately about the yard creating a big purple mess wherever they splat.

I decided to help them out by taking a few pounds off their hands.  I would post pictures of the harvesting, but I didn't have our camera and Sue's pictures are posted on Kodak's photo sharing site where I wasn't allowed to download.  You can actually see the slide show by clicking on the link, but I am in several of the pictures, so how good can they be.  Anyway, the show features Doug standing on one of his drywalling ladders, stripping olives from the trees and me crawling around gathering them all up.

When we got home on Sunday I busied myself washing and sorting olives and dispatched Denise to Home Depot (primarily for railroad ties for my retaining walls) with instructions to pick up some lye.  I figured they would surely have it and if not, I assumed she could get it at Albertson's.  WRONG!  Lye is apparently very difficult to come by.  Turns out after a little online research that lye is apparently used in the manufacture of methamphetamine, so many places have stopped carrying it.

So, I gave up, temporarily, on the lye-cured olives I had planned and instead started two batches, one water cured (destined for Kalamata-ness) and the other salt cured.

As with most things, I have no frickin' clue what I am doing, but am forging ahead anyway, in this case with the assistance of a paper on olive curing from UC Davis.

The water-cured olives apparently have the advantage of being ready for consumption in a relatively short time, 5 to 6 weeks.  I started a batch last week (the jar with the reddish-looking ones) and today transferred them from their final water soak and into the briny concoction where they are supposed to remain for about a month.  These are tiny little olives, so I'm guessing they will be well brined in more like a fortnight.  (Is a fortnight anything like a dog year? New York minute?  One night in a fort feels like fourteen days?)  I also started a second jar of water-cured this morning (the black jar in the photo.)

The salt-cured ones will take a bit longer.  I am not truly optimistic about them, but what the heck.  I contrived a small curing container with a 2-liter plastic bottle.  I punched some holes in the bottom so that liquids could escape and lined the bottom with cheesecloth so the salt could not.  It seems like it might be working, although I am using Kosher and not pickling salt as prescribed by UCD.  They are supposed to get a weekly toss to redistribute everything, their first being this morning.  So, I can confuse people by telling them that I tossed my olives this morning.  Should that be cookies?  The olives seem to be coming along.  I hope they turn out to be worth their salt.

Not having given up entirely on lye-curing, I ordered some lye on line.  Sadly, it's kind of a dangerous chemical, so next-day air is not an option.  It is shipping UPS ground and god only knows when it will get here.  I'm afraid my olive harvest will be well past the point where it should have been curing by the time the lye arrives, but oh well, I guess it will wait until next year.  Or, I could always use it to make pretzels.  Or soap.  Or crystal meth, I guess.

Actually, since I've been ordering lye and researching lye's link to methamphetamine, I should be a little careful about those kinds of comments.  I'd be more worried is we were still under the Bush administration, but I suppose there's still some likelihood that the someone from the DEA or Riverside Sheriff could show up at my door.

One last note, as long as you're here anyway, I thought you might like an update on #25 - Grow Rhubarb.  My seeds are doing OK, despite my best efforts to raise them (my best efforts usually being fatal.)  Knock wood.

Look at how cute they are.  Their stems are evening turning a nice rhubarbic red already.

I hope I don't kill them.

#100 - Join a CSA

Last Tuesday (February 8) we received our first produce shipment from the Inland Empire CSA.  A huge array of produce, most of it unrecognizable.

Actually, with a little forensic analysis we figured that we had (spiraling clockwise from the top left toward the center in a whirling vortex of vegetation), green leaf lettuce, carrot-top cilantro, a couple pictures of the whole mass of produce, baking avocado, a bag of arugula, purple & green mustard greens, the box it all came in, some other kind of greens, broccoli leaves, some more greens, red leaf lettuce, radishes, a bag of spinach maybe, green garlic, spring onions, beets, and assorted citrus.  Oh, and there is some regular cilantro in there someplace.

Immediately applied some of the greens to a Sauteed Greens and Potato Gratin.  The recipe also incorporate some of the green garlic and spring onions.

To be perfectly honest, there is a lot of pressure to try to eat this much produce all in a single week.  We've been throwing together assorted sauted greens, salads, pasta dishes, etc.  Some Penne Pasta with Arugula and Pepita Pesto turned out pretty nice.  And Nicholas made a very nice Penne with Greens and Chick Peas.

So, this is fun.  And so far, so good.

#41 - Getting a Start on Brewing Beer from Scratch

I made a first feeble step toward this item today by making a pre-sale order for hop rhizomes from MoreBeer.com.

I ordered two each of the Chinook and Columbus Rhizomes, the web site having claimed that both varieties do well in hot dry areas, for which I'm sure Temecula qualifies.

Next up I'll have to order some barley.

So, now while I wait for the folks at More Beer to receive their order and then ship mine, I'm busy researching Hop Toxicity in Dogs.  Thanks to Lia, a frequent commenter on my Jake's Rehab blog, I'm aware that ingestion of hops can cause Malignant Hyperthermia in dogs.  A good thing that she mentioned that actually, because I probably would have been composting the spent hops from my homebrewing.  It appears that most, if not all, of the documented cases involved dogs eating the spent hops, which makes sense, because they'd be soaked in all that good wort which would likely attract any self-respecting dogs.  It also turns out that greyhounds are particularly susceptible to MH.  Leo is not very greyhound-like.

Interesting factoid: were you aware that there is a National Animal Poison Control Center.  I wasn't.

Anyway, I have explained to Leo that if he eats my hops he will be receiving a gastric lavage, an enema, activated charcoal, IV fluids, cold baths and a sternly worded lecture.  He seems to understand the concept, but I'll be fencing them in (or him out), just to be safe.

He's probably at very low risk: with my brown-thumb there's little likelihood that my rhizomes will actually produce.

#16 - Lost Moon

Thanks to the Temecula Public Library, I've now completed item #16 on the list, having read Lost Moon by Jim Lovell and Jeffrey Kluger.

I have seen Ron Howard's Apollo 13 several (countless) times and always enjoyed it and also always noted that it was based on Lost Moon and always commented to myself, I'll bet that's a great book, I should read it. 

Having read it I can say that it is excellent and depressing.

Excellent because the book brings out all the details and technical complexities and interesting factoids about space flight that the movie can only hint at.  One example of an interesting tidbit is the "PTC roll."  I have never thought about this, but instead of flying straight to the moon, the Apollo spacecraft travelled in a constant 1 RPM Passive Thermal Control roll, designed to rotate the ship through sunlight and shadow, keeping the temperature of craft more or less even.  Who knew; I would have thought you just pointed the thing at the moon and lit the candle.

Lost Moon is depressing, because a few short pages into the book you (or I anyway) begin to realize that you are (I am) no rocket scientist.  On my good days I like to think I'm somewhat intelligent.  After a few chapters of Lost Moon I'm pretty sure I'm a moron.

Of course, it's also more than a little sad to think of Jim Lovell and Fred Haise (another interesting revelation, watching the movie I would have just assumed Hayes) losing their chance at a moon landing, but then if they had landed safely they'd be quickly forgotten like most of the rest of the men on the moon.  As it is now, they're immortalized in print and film.  Not that that is probably a fair trade as far as they are concerned.

Anyway, I'm glad the Gumbilist finally forced me to act on my impulse to read the book.  This having gone so successfully I may have to read Gone to Texas, the basis for the film The Outlaw Josey Wales.  It's another I keep telling myself I should read.  And it might be a good idea anyway; if it's bad enough, maybe I will feel somewhat intelligent again.

#36 - Black Bean Burger - Third Time is the Charm

I think we have a winner...a minor variation on the recipe that I've been making all along, as it turns out. Tapioca flour seems to have been the secret ingredient that binds the whole mass together, without turning into a big doughy mess like the vital wheat gluten in early recipes.

Black Bean Burger Patties

• 2 cans Black Beans
• 1/2 cup Bulghur
• 5.5 oz Tomato Juice
• 1 Tbsp Bragg's Liquid Amino
• 1 egg (actually egg replacer in this instance)
• 1/2 cup Italian Bread Crumbs
• 3 Tbsp Tapioca Flour
• Canola Oil (or the rendered fat of a clubbed baby seal, whatever works)

Drain and rinse the black beans.  Bring tomato juice, liquid amino and bulghur to a boil in small sauce pan, remove from heat and let sit for about 10 to 15 minutes.   Reserve about 1/4 cup beans and place remaining beans, bulghur mix, egg and bread crumbs in a food processor.  Pulse until all the ingredients are combined.  Begin adding tapioca flour, 1 Tbsp at a time until the mixture becomes somewhat firm.  Move the mixture to a bowl and kneed in the remaining beans.  If the mixture is too moist add more tapioca flour, 1 tbsp at a time until the mix is the right texture.

Form into relatively thin patties (maybe 3/8 of an inch thick) and fry in oil over medium heat, about 4 minutes to a side.

Serve as you would any other burger.

In our case, we served...

...Black Bean Burgers with Black Bean/Tempeh Chili.

The black bean/tempeh chili was not on the 101, but since sampling it at Stone Brewery Nick and I have been inspired to rip off the recipe.  The first effort was just this side of horrible, but this time we just about nailed it.

• 8 oz Tempeh, crumbled up
• 2 cans Trader Joe's Black Beans with all that beanie liquid
• 4 Tbsp Tomato Paste
• 1 Tbsp Chili Powder (plain old McCormick or whatever chili powder, nothing special)
• 1 tsp Cumin
• 1/2 tsp Crushed Red Pepper
• 1/2 tsp Cayenne
• 1/2 tsp Bitter-Sweet Smoked Paprika
• 1/2 tsp Chipotle powder
• 3 cloves Garlic, crushed or finely minced
• Salt and Pepper

Combine all ingredients in an oven-proof container.  Bake, covered, at 325 degrees for about an hour.  With a stick blender (potato masher, whatever) partially blend up the chili, leaving it nice and chunky.

Nicholas and I are apparently not very bright, or at least have a short attention span, because we were taking photos of the entire assembly process and then spaced on the final product.  So no pictures of the Black Bean Tempeh Chili Black Bean Burgers.  Fortunately, we have leftovers of both the burger mix and chili, so maybe we can sneak in photo a wee bit later.

Serve on a burger with cheese, pickle, onion, tomato, lettuce and yellow mustard (just like Tommy's) or scoop into a bowl, cover with grated cheese and throw under a broiler for a few minutes to melt the cheese.  Tasty!

#26 - See a Play - Spamalot!!!

Another one bites the dust; Spamalot!!!  Saw the Sunday matinée at the Fox Performing Arts Center, Riverside, CA, with Denise, Jean, Joe, Nick and Tee.   I laughed, I cried, it became a part of me.

Followed up the matinée with dinner at Sevilla in Riverside.  Only just fabulous.

I'd write more, but I promised Nick he could blog about this one; http://nickandtees101things.blogspot.com/.  But he's on a deadline; if it's not posted by Sunday, all bets are off.

#52 Well Underway and First Alternate Done!

The first tier of the retaining wall, with Nicholas' help, is pretty much done.  With any luck this will keep our fruit trees from washing off down the hill.  Unfortunately, I can't completely check this one off because we have at least two more tiers to go.

We finished in time to mix up a pitcher of celebratory Margarita's and kick back for a bit.

Tee arrived from NoCal shortly thereafter and we settled on a trip to Aiyara for a dinner of Thai food.  This place has very excellent food (not to mention a cool elephant fountain), but whenever I've been there previously you could have herded elephants through the dining room without trampling anyone.  Last night the place was packed.  Turns out that Saturday is $12 Chang Beer Tower night.  Seemed like a stupid concept to me, but apparently it is striking a chord with Temeculans.

Sadly, I gave Tee a taste of my Massaman Curry w/ Mock Chicken.  Tee, as it turns out, does not have much experience with spicy food and I had ordered this SPICY.  It took an assortment of remedies before she was fully recovered from the burn.

On another note, the first item on my waiting/alternate Gumbilist is done.  Inspired by John Goodman's character in Always (at least I think that's where I saw this) I tried to eat a Twinkie with a straw.  This is easier said than done.  I tried warming the Twinkie in the microwave for a few seconds to get the creamy filling flowing.  Bad idea, because I think warming actually brings out the full flavor of all the nasty chemicals.  This is not something I'll be repeating, but at least when asked I can hold my head high and say that, "Why yes, I have eaten a Twinkie with a straw."

Oh, and again, the obligatory Leo shot, "Lusting for Twinkie!"

OMG, #20 - Strong Ales

I totally forgot to check this one off.  Monday night at 7:00PM, Nicholas and I attended "Strong Ales" at the Stone Brewing Company in beautiful Escondido.  Strong Ales is one of many classes in Stone's Beer University, the tickets to which were Nicholas' Christmas present to his father.

Naturally, since I needed to be in Escondido at 7:00, my meeting at work ran late and I didn't get out of Riverside until 5:15.  Google Maps would have us believe that Toro, Riverside to Stone Brewing, by way of our house, is a 1 hour 40 minutes drive time.  Worse during the evening commute, of course.

I phoned Nick and told him to be standing by with a sammich of some kind, since I wouldn't have time to eat before the class.  With much cursing at the opposing drivers I was home by something like twenty past six.  Peed, grabbed my sandwich (OK, I washed my hands first) and then back in the car and on the road.

Amazingly enough, we were in the door at Stone with almost 10 minutes to spare.

We really did not know at all what we were getting into.  We were like, "Do you think we should run to the bar and grab a beer on the way in?"  But we bypassed the bar and got in line for the class.

Turned out that when we got into the "classroom" which is just the upstairs part of their restaurant, there were long tables set up in a big "U" around the perimeter of the room.  There were chairs and settings for probably 50 people.  There were platters of assorted cheese and baskets of flatbread/crackery sort of things.  A couple of snifters and a water glass at each seat.

As it turned out this was a tasting of and PowerPoint presentation on the several styles of beers chosen to represent the broad range of strong ales.  Our instructor for the evening was "Dr." Bill Sysak, Beverage Supervisor and Certified Cicerone, Stone Brewing World Bistro & Gardens.  Here we have one interesting dude!  (A cicerone, in case you don't want to drill into the hyperlink, is a beer sommelier - thats sommelier like the wine steward, not Somali, like the east African pirates.)

Anway, who knew.

The lecture/tasting included all of the following.  BTW, I'm not going to recount a lot of detail from the lecture because, a) I didn't particularly good notes, b) I was really pretty much out of my element and c) if your interested you can check out the presentation yourself right here.

Sample #1
Fullers Vintage Ale 2010, 8.5% ABV in the style "Old Ale"

I vaguely recall liking this ale, but then it was the first and about the lowest ABV in the bunch; eight samples later, my recollections were becoming a little fuzzy.  The lecture notes re. Old Ales said "fruity notes are often present" and sometimes an "'old school' funk."  Of course, you could tell me a beverage had notes of black swan, yeti and mongoose sweat and I wouldn't know it from squat.  I can say it has a nice bottle.

Sample #2
Stone Lukcy Basartd, 8.5% ABV, American Strong Ale

This was my favorite, not merely because it was from Stone, but because it was the only one that was really hoppy.  Hoppier is bettier in my book.  It was also probably the only ale that I would actually drink for drinking's sake.

By that I mean that most of these have more of a strong port or brandy-like character.  You might quaff a snifter of one with some stinky cheese or some Belgian chocolates or maybe a Canary Islands cigar, since you can't get a Cuban, but you wouldn't sit down and knock back a six-pack.  You wouldn't do that with Lukcy Basartd either, but you could certainly knock back a couple.  And in case you're wondering why I keep misspelling Lucky Bastard, click here.

Sample #3
Dupont Avec Les Bons Voeux 2009, 9.5%ABV, style "Saison"

Saison/farmhouse/season ale.  The main thing I remember about this one is that Dr. Bill mentioned that back in the good old days when they started brewing this stuff the general feeling was the "Water Kills!"  So drink strong ales; sterile, reasonably well preserved by the alcohol content and pretty tasty.  What's more, fish make love in water.  Learn more at the website.


Sample #4
Dieu Du Ciel Rigor Mortis, 10.5%ABV, style  "Abt/Quad"

I can only assume that the name, Rigor Mortis, has something to do with your condition after several of these.

Sample #5
Alesmith Speedway Stout, 12%ABV, style "Imperial Stout"

This was a pretty stout stout.  Normally you get coffee flavors from all the roasted grains and what not, but in this case, the brewers actually added coffee into the mix.  It was good, but I felt like I should be having it with breakfast to kick off the day with a good caffeine rush.

Apparently there's some controversy about what "Imperial" actually means, with everyone using it for marketing whatever strong ale they happen to make.

Sample #6
J.W. Lees Harvest Ale (Aged in Port Barrels), 11.5% ABV, style "English Barley Wine"

This one, from the UK, reminded me of some of that really good scotch that's aged in port or sherry barrels.

Sample #7
Lost Abbey Angels Share 2010 Brandy Barrel, 12.5% ABV, style "American Barley Wine"

This stuff is pretty intersting and really cries out for a cigar or something.  Virtually no carbonation whatsoever, it's very much like sipping a glass of good port.  This Lost Abbey place looks to be interesting.


Sample #8
Lost Abbey Cuvee de Tomme 2011, 11.0% ABV

Bonus, there were only supposed to be seven samples, but we got an eighth, I guess because we were such good students.  I must check out more of the Lost Abbey.   Haven't tried many of their beers in the past, because they were a) expensive and b) I can't recap the bottles for my home brew.  The all have these big tops sealed with champagne corks, and they won't take a standard bottle cap.

Some of these will be good choices for aging to see how well they mature.  Problem for me is that beer seldom are aged more than a week or two.  I don't exactly have a wine cellar.

That about summed up the evening...
...at least as far as my beer drinking went.  The class ended a bit early; scheduled until 9:00 we skipped out about 8:40.  It being Stone and "Meatless Monday" we decided to have a light late dinner.  So, we got a table outside in on their terrace, Nick ordered there Ruination IPA and Cheddar Soup (along with another beer) and I the Black Bean and Tempe Chili, with a water. (Designated driver.)

The chili was the best vegetarian chili I have ever had, smothered in cheese and thrown under a broiler so it was sort of French Onion Soup-style chili.  The waitress gave us a list of the ingredients, but not the amounts and without in some cases specifics.  For instance, the menu mentions five kinds of chilis, but her ingredient list only mentioned chili powder and dried chilis.  So, some forensic analysis or reverse engineering is in order.  I tried a knock off of the recipe on Tuesday night and absolutely aced the texture.  Sadly, the flavor left a lot to be desired.  I think some of my chili powder may have been inching toward rancid or something.  Had to spike the chili with a liberal amount of agave nectar to get it back to edible.  In the end, I think it was a good experiment, so I'll just wish myself better luck next time.

All in all, it was a very nice Christmas gift.  In actual fact, in was not really a beer brewing class and as such should not count toward my list item #20, but I'm checking it off anyway on the grounds that at least now I will know what to expect when I attempt a strong ale recipe.  Wish me luck.

Sometime soon, I will have to invite you all over for some Strong Ales.

#25 - Rhubarb Update - Are you ready for some PIE?

Quick update, the pie is almost ready.  Look at them, thrusting upward, ever upward, seeking the light.  I should plant some strawberries.

They're quite cute little rhubarbs; one is even wearing a hat.  He (or she) is still wearing his little seed pod.


Oh, BTW, someone asked about the recipe for my Quinoa and Brown Rice Tacos.  It's in my recipe blog right here.

List Change! #27 Updated

Seems as though the logistics of stalking a celebrity might prove a little difficult, there only being 1001 days to get all this stuff done.

Consequently, #27 is now "Eat a hot dog at Pink's."  I figure Pink's is a popular spot among Hollywood celebrities, so maybe I'll at least see one there.  Probably not, since anyone above the D-list would send a studio flunky to pick up their dogs.

Oh well, I'd rather focus on the dogs anyway.

#36 - Black Bean Burger - Take Two

As Gennifer Flowers said when comparing her relationship to Bill Clinton with Monica Lewinsky's, "Close, but no cigar."

The second attempt at the BB Burger was significantly better than the previous attempt, but still not quite where I want it to be.  This time we tried...

Black Bean Burger Part Deux

2 cups canned Black Beans, drained and rinsed
1/4 cup Bulghur
1/2 cup Vegetable Broth
1/4 cup plus 2 Tbsps Vital Wheat Gluten
1/2 cup Bread Crumbs
2 Tbsp Herdez Salsa Casera
2 Tbsp Braggs Liquid Amino
1 Tbsp Cilantro

Boiled the vegetable stock and stirred in the bulghur.  Let the bulghur steep in the broth for 10 minutes or so.  Put most of the beans in a food processor (reserve about a quarter cup) along with the drained bulghur, gluten, bread crumbs, salsa, Braggs, cilantro and 1/4 cup of the reserved vegetable broth.  Pulse in the processor until everything is thoroughly mixed.  Add remaining beans and pulse in the processor to coarsely chop the beans.  Form dough into patties and fry in olive oil for about 4 minutes per side.

Served the burgers on sourdough with pepper jack, tomato, red onion, jalapeno, avocado, lettuce and dijon mustard.  A little cole slaw on the side.

Very good, not excellent by any means, and still a little doughy.  I believe for my next attempt I am going to substitute nutritional yeast for half the gluten, add some cayenne and maybe some smoked paprika and maybe some flax seed.  If that doesn't work, I'll probably try a little ground beef.

Another One Bites the Dust

Number 24 is history.  As of this evening, I have made corn tortillas from scratch.

Nicholas and I purchased a tortilla press at Kitchen Fantasy (they do not seem to cater to my particular fantasy, but that's another story) in Temecula.  For my first attempt, they was not without some redeeming qualities, although it would have been nice to have known WTF I was doing.  Some didn't want to come off the press so cleanly, thus the disfigured little creatures in the photo, but after some practice they started coming out pretty nicely.

The finished products were actually edible.  Gave them a short fry and converted applied them to Quinoa-and-Brown-Rice Tacos.  These I have made previously, and the fact that I've made them a second time must bode well for them.

#25 - Rhubarb - In Progress

I received my rhubarb seeds from Amazon, so this weekend I will be starting on #25.

Rhubarb does not do well - I should say DIES - in our climate, but I have been reading a website about growing rhubarb in Texas.  Apparently there they grow rhubarb as an annual, planting from seeds at the end of the summer and harvesting in the late spring.

I am obviously getting a late start, this being late, LATE summer, but I'm forging ahead anyway.  I'm hoping to get at least a few meager stalks before they're all kilt by our blazing summer heat.

Need to find a spot indoors for them to sprout and then I'll be transplanting them into the south forty.

Wish me luck.

#17 - Use the public library

January 6, 2010

As of this evening, I  have a card at the Temecula Public Library and checked out my first book since leaving Flagstaff in 1995.  The book in question?  "Bonk" by Mary Roach.  I just finished "Stiff" and enjoyed it so much I plan to have myself composted, assuming that Promessa has a licensee somewhere in the United States by the time that I shuffle off this mortal coil.  Who knows, I could, quite literally, be pushing up daisies.

I have "Lost Moon"  by Jim Lovell on hold, being transferred through the system to the Temcula branch, so I'm on my way to completing #16.

101 Things in 1001 Days

101 Thing to do in 1001 Days

Effective January 1, 2011, I commenced this list of the one hundred and one things to do in the next one thousand and one days.  By my reckoning (actually by the reckoning of www.timeanddate.com) 1001 days from January 1, 2011 will be September 28, 2013.

Saturday, Septemner 28, 2013!  Excellent!  Being on a Saturday, I'll be able to cram a lot of items in on the last day if I'm running late.

This all stems from the fact that over the years I have become increasingly - what's the word - boring.  I used to do some things that were kind of interested, or at least entertaining to myself; rock climbing, backpacking, skiing, waterskiing, bike riding, the occasional road trip.  Lately, between the office and the efforts to forestall the rapid decline of our homestead, all work and no play has made Jim a dull boy.

So, maybe by documenting the stuff I'd like to do and giving myself a deadline of sorts I'll be able to accomplish a few things of interest before shuffling off this mortal coil.  It won't hurt that we should have a little bump in disposable income, what with Nicholas completing his studies at UC Davis.

I'll be posting updates as I check off list items, just to keep tabs on myself.

To review the entire list, click the "The List" link in the upper right cornier of the page.

Wish me luck!