Tips and Tricks

And set my fevered mind to wandering ...

I’ll get it later is the photographer’s worst enemy. We ended up returning via a different route, and I wasn’t able to get the photo I wanted. My first lesson learned: never ever think “I’ll get it later”.

This comes from an article on photographing disaster scenes. In this case he (Neil Creek) was shooting the devastation of the recent fires in Australia, but no matter...

This is a fairly easy cake to make, especially if one is willing to invest some time into the mise en place; that really helps speed the mixing process. Oh, and this cake is not my idea. I spied the recipe at Simply Recipes, and have streamlined the process a bit and also made some substitutions that improved the cake—at least in the opinion of the cake’s fans here.

This is a bourbon cake; if you don’t like bourbon you may try substituting other alcohols for it, such as rum, coffee liqueur, or maybe a nice vanilla brandy. But alcohol is an essential component of this cake; if you want a regular chocolate cake, there are many splendiferous recipes out there for your discovery and enjoyment.

A more accurate and "user friendly" term for the process commonly known as taxation.

- NonE

After last year’s garden bust, one might think I’d be wary of trying again. Not so—it was a very important learning experience for me, and I think that even if we had the same sucky, erratic weather, I’d do better this year.

With the pewter skies of winter starting to lighten here at last, and the days lengthening pretty dramatically (if one pays attention, that is), gardenlust has risen in my blood, just like sap in the sugar maples. It isn’t helping that several people are posting their garden progress. Alas, my circumstances are too unsettled at present for me to embark on a full-scale garden this year. But my gardenlust must be sated. And I have found a way to sate it! Best of all, it’ll start producing in very short order.

Lobo and I have done both, at varying times, with both broods of his children. And of course, there are many methods proffered for both approaches—which I originally found a little odd with respect to unschooling, since it’s supposed to be unstructured schooling. It is to this point (or goal, or whatever) that I primarily speak.

Whether one’s new to the magicks of the kitchen or an old hand, it can be useful to take some time to think about the processes necessary to turn ingredients into delectable dishes. If you think cooking is just about tossing ingredients together and mixing, this should help you improve your skills. Not all mixing is created equal—and neither is all application of heat. Shall we head to the kitchen?

It’s a fairly common trick for feuding bloggers or fora to block certain referrers—in English, what that means is that if one clicks a link from one site to the other, which is blocking traffic from it, one will not get the desired content. You’ll get something like a 403—permission denied.

One way around that is to copy–paste the link into a new browser window or tab. But that’s tedious. Firefox can be tweaked to keep all referrer information—viz., the site where one clicked on a link to get to a second site—hidden. This is a permanent workaround for referral blocking (but not IP bans). It’s also a good privacy measure in general.

Over the years I've been asked thousands of times how to decide what to give elderly people for birthdays, holidays and especially Christmas. As a nurse, I had close contact with thousands of elderly people, and most of them received lots of junk they could not use and which was basically meaningless. They don't need more "things." They have all the bath soap, dusting powder, perfume, naughty nighties and socks they would need for another 50 years. This is especially true of the gentlemen.

So, here are some suggestions:

Here's where I went to find out how to put an image in my last post...

HTML Code Tutorial Dot Com

(No more excuses now, Mama! ;-) )

- NonE

My RSS feed just brought me THIS GEM on the wastefulness of most modern electrical devices we often take for granted. As I live "off the grid" by means of solar power (for the most part) I have found that one of the keys to an abundant life is "waste not, want not." Each device that I have plugged into my electrical in-home-grid has a switch controlling it*, and unless I am using that device at the present moment, that switch is turned OFF.

Now that I’ve typed that title, I guess there isn’t much else that’s edible that starts “squ” ... but I’m being specific because I want to reserve “S” for something else. (You may have noticed this pattern in action already. A nice way to expand the alphabet, no?) Although I greatly enjoy summer squashes, my focus today is on the amazing variety of winter squashes available these days. If all you’ve had is canned pumpkin, well, I feel for you ... you really haven’t had pumpkin.

As far back as I can remember, I have adored the flavor of squashes. My mom and I were the only ones who liked acorn squash, so she’d buy one, bake it, and we’d each enjoy half. Other squashes weren’t readily available back then. We lived close enough to the annual Circleville Pumpkin Show to make that an occasional family trip; I enjoyed it a lot, despite the plentiful wasps and bees trying to get some last food set by for winter. That festival was probably my first inkling that more things can be done with pumpkin—and related squashes—than just pumpkin pie. And it is very gratifying to see more pumpkins used as food, instead of just Halloween decorations. Some pumpkins, usually referred to as “sugar pumpkins”, have been bred specifically for eating; these tend to be too small for carving. I’ve cooked larger ones sold for carving—not knowing any better—and just like any other nonprocessed food, have found a good deal of variability in the flavor and texture. So far they’ve all been perfectly usable, especially since I have a trick that hasn’t failed me yet. (I haven’t tried the tiny decorative pumpkins, nor the giants that have been bred solely to be immense.)

Snolf the First’s birthday was the other day, and he requested a coconut cake. I didn’t have one in my repertoire, so I found a good prospect online. The only problem I saw is that it called for a lemon curd between the layers, and I knew Snolf I wouldn’t be too keen on that. Instead, I chose to make pastry cream, and flavor it with a bit of coconut-flavored rum. It wasn’t until I started making the frosting that I realized I had a fundamental compatibility problem.

Longer ago than I care to admit, a dear friend asked me about making pie crust. And since today is that person’s birthday, I figured evidence that I hadn’t forgotten that request might make a suitable birthday gift.

When done well, pie crust is a deep brown, delectable testament to the near-miraculous effect of heat on a few simple ingredients. Tender and flaky, it serves as a perfect embrace for fresh fruits, pudding, or whatever tasty filling a cook can devise. Pie crust can also be intimidating as hell to make, because the quality of those simple ingredients really matters. So does the cook’s handling of them. I am by no means an expert pie baker, but I am adequate and if I had regular practice, I’m confident I could become an expert one. So could you; and here are my tips and an excellent recipe for starting down that path. Let’s head into the kitchen!

It figures—the day after I wrote this, I found a book I’ve had for years that will be a great help in getting my body more toned in fairly short order.