Monthly Archives: January 2008
Posted on 30-Jan-2008
Chemistry makes everything better!
Adding a bit of acid, i.e., vinegar, made a lot more curds form. Really, dramatically more. More than twice as many curds as last time. This cheese was somewhat firmer and more squeaky. I was relieved that it didn't taste or smell vinegary at all; its flavor ...
Posted on 28-Jan-2008
The search for the ultimate macaroni and cheese never ends. That's a good thing, too, because it's fun to try out and taste more dishes made of pasta and cheese.
Tonight's version was based on the creamy baked mac-and-cheese by Deb of Smitten Kitchen. The main draw was the avoidance of ...
Posted on 28-Jan-2008
I always thought cheesemaking was out of reach for a plebe(*) such as myself. Then I saw recipes by Mercedes of Desert Candy and Heidi of 101 Cookbooks, and thought, "Hey, that looks easy."
(*)Here defined as someone who has only purchased cheese, never made it. Not meant as derogatory, just ...
Posted on 27-Jan-2008
Why bother rereading books at all? Isn't it like, as Pink Floyd put it, merely "running over the same old ground,"(*) avoiding going forward or ignoring new stories?
Nope, not at all! Reading a favorite book again is like eating one's favorite comfort dish. Something to curl up with and savor. ...
Posted on 19-Jan-2008
Sometimes it's tricky to find a good chicken kebab. Sometimes too tough or dry. Sometimes bland. A recipe on Chowhound for jujeh kebab looked quite approachable and intriguing. Indeed, the long marination with lemon and yogurt results in a very tender dish. Here is a version with my usual mods ...
Posted on 17-Jan-2008
It's that time of the year for another Macworld convention in San Francisco. The Moscone South and West arrangement was confusing, though, with many visitors (such as ourselves) going between the two, trying to find registration and/or not realizing that both buildings contained exhibitors.
Played with the MacBook Air. Oh, my, ...
Posted on 13-Jan-2008
After less than two years of using Gallery 2, I opted for change and have migrated my online photo gallery to ZenPhoto. While powerful and feature-rich, Gallery became too cumbersome to maintain. ZenPhoto, however, is easy to install, use and maintain. It looks and feels refreshingly streamlined. Whenever I work ...
Posted on 08-Jan-2008
I've often wondered why yellow cake with chocolate frosting is no longer as popular as it was in my childhood. I love the contrast between a simply flavored (vanilla) sponge and a rich frosting of chocolate or coffee. But when I'm at a bakery, grocery store or restaurant, what I ...
Posted on 06-Jan-2008
Childhood memories of jaw-achingly chewy, hard caramel bits forever stuck to my teeth persisted for a long time. It wasn't until encountering softer, deep flavored examples did I feel that I properly entered the realm of delicious caramel.
I've wanted to make caramel sauce, but have been discouraged by my fear ...
Posted on 04-Jan-2008
Happy New Year! 2008 starts off with...more hackery. I've spent more time working on backend site stuff, rather than, well, content. (Obviously.)
I've found a WordPress plugin which has greatly eased the ongoing task of fixing broken links with redirects: Redirection, by John Godley of Urban Giraffe. If you've overhauled a ...
