Music has long been a big part of my life, beyond just my (admittedly waning) guitar playing, I have been an avid collector of music. From my early days of buying LP’s (and kicking myself when several moves in the 1990’s caused me to donate my vinyl collection) to being an early adopter of the CD format while I was still in high school, my collection, while not huge by some standards, remains quite large.
Continue reading →The New Year
2018 is done, dead as the Dodo. Good riddance. Sayonara, arriverderci.
2019 is finally here. Cue the trumpets, the accolades, the … whatever. Regardless, 2019 will be better than 2018. It has to be.
Things I will do to improve myself:
Continue reading →Saying Goodbye to 2018
Upfront Matter: To quote the illustrious Sterling Archer, “2018 can eat a big bag of dicks.” Seriously, this year has been trying by many measures. As I look back, there are some nuggets of positives, sprinkled among the shit-sandwich that was the year 2018, but by and large, I am going to be glad to see it in the rear view mirror. Continue reading →
Basic Pizza Dough
This is a basic dough for the crust of a pizza. It is simple, and if you have a food processor, trivial to make, and gives good results.
I do recommend buying a kitchen scale if you are serious. Especially with flour and baked goods, measures by volume are pretty spotty.
This is from the NY Times Cooking area, and it is my go to recipe for a basic pie. I often make it without the Type 00 flour, and it comes out fine. If you have access to the type 00 flour, your crust will be smooth and chewy. Continue reading →
The Quest for the Perfect Pizza
My earliest recollection of Pizza was Round Table take out in the early 1970’s. At the time, Round Table was local to the SF Bay Area, and it wasn’t a terrible pie. However, it wasn’t inspiring.
Then sometime in the mid 70’s, we had pizza at a local place. I think it was called Anchors, or something similar. I do know it was at the end of Homestead Road where it hit Foothill Expressway. Continue reading →
New Holiday Tradition – un-subbing from spam lists
Ah, Black Friday is here. The time when my email blows up with all the companies and organizations I have ever interacted with by email send me notices of their “mad MAD deep discounts” for the “official” start of the holiday buying season.
Yes, it is a veritable windfall of attention from the furthest reaches of the interwebz. Continue reading →
Bread – a non-Gluten Free zone
Last week, I mentioned how some baking success sparked a new passion, to bake bread. Delicious, full gluten, and wholesome bread.
I did buy some special equipment to assist and streamline the baking. Today, I used it.
The new gear:
- Cambro 6 quart containers
- A Lamé
- An Emile-Henry Potato cooker
- Dough Scrapers Continue reading →
New Hobby – Baking Bread
A poorly kept secret is that I worked my way through college (and after as well) as a chef. Well, I started in my mid-teens as a dishwasher, and rose through the ranks, ultimately being the Chef at a local chain of Italian restaurants. In this time I wen from bistro food, to American classic, to Seafood and Mexican, to time spent in a large kitchen at a country club.
All through that time, I rarely baked. Sure, we had a pastry chef, and there were some fun around making gourmet pizzas, but I never really baked bread. Continue reading →
Funnies – The Chili Cook-off
Another funny from the archives. I remember grabbing this in the early ‘oughts, and it is as funny today as it was then. I didn’t write this, and I don’t know who did, but it tickled me then, and it still tickles me now.
The Chili Cook-off Continue reading →
Funnies – Lucas Electrics
While I was encouraged to be on the university prep track in high school, and I did pursue a STEM degree (physics, thankyouverymuch), I grew up around motorcycles, and cars, and to this day I am jealous of my shop class friends in high school who got to play with the heavy metal, and to have fun.
But, even not being part of that crowd, I had heard of the horrors of English motor vehicles. Whether it was the porosity of their engine castings that led to them only stopping leaking dead dinosaurs when they were bone dry, to the woes of trying to keep a vehicle running with the dreaded Lucas Electrics, a known source for bedeviled trouble on British cars. This is a collection of fun sayings that I captured oh so long ago, and now I share… Continue reading →