Page 28 of 111

October 6, 2023 – We, Records 31-35

October 6, 2023 /

I can say that I finished the book, but no spoilers for you. It was probably silly to break 100 page book up into eight segments, but I did. I only had 18 pages remaining at the beginning of the chapter so I went ahead and finished it. I actually debated on just ending the review here, but I need to time to catch up on some other reading and if I push this forward, it will make me have to start the next book sooner. So, you will have to bear with me.

In these five chapters, you have primarily the internal struggle that D-503 has after agreeing to participate in the destruction of the Invictus. I-330 of course suspected that he would have moral dilemma about following through. The subplots that are happening are O-90 does actually want to go beyond the wall to raise the child and D-503 figures out that U- is an informer to the Guardians. Finally, there is something called the Operation that is going to remove the numbers imagination. Everyone is scheduled to have it performed.

I want to talk about bad tactics and strategy. I think that it is bad strategy to rely on someone that is not completely bought into the idea of participation. I think that it is pretty natural that someone where an idea is just revealed that there may be some trepidation. At the very least, they more than likely cannot be convicted to the cause.

When I was in Boy Scouts, I orchestrated an stunt that failed. I was going to get some scouts to capture some patrol flags in the middle of the night. I had printed up posters with mysterious sayings and had someone there go up early and post them around camp before all the other troops arrived. I even sought permission from the adult leaders to do this. When we went to bed, one scout was supposed to set an alarm and wake us up at midnight.

Guess what didn’t happen, they didn’t wake up to the alarm and therefore we didn’t do it. I was crushed and upset for all the effort that I put in to do this and it failed. I think silently, this was one of those events that led me to feel like I can’t trust other people with something that I really wanted to do. More so than that, it lead me down the path that whatever I really wanted done, I needed to do it myself.

I think in retrospect, this might have been a good thing. It was a little risky as in not really Boy Scout behavior. But, it also changed something in me, not just mindset for a drive to make myself better. I decided to join high school wrestling because I thought that it was the best opportunity to become fit and a better ‘warrior’. I never wrestled because I loved it or was good at it, I wrestled because I thought that it made me tougher and more hardcore.

I never was the even a good athlete, but I became tough and strong. I could outwork most people physically and I had a never give up attitude. I had strong personal discipline based on regimen and denial. I am nowhere near that rigid today, but the one thing it did for me was give me the confidence that I could set my mind to a something and pursue it no matter how hard it was.

OK, so that was a bit of a diversion. What I am trying to get across is that people not fully committed to a cause are going to have moral conflict. Or at least, they are not going to prioritize it to the same point that believers are going to. This leads to a higher degree of failure.

Clearly the resistance had some prior knowledge of D-503. He was targeted for his position with the Invictus project and they had research him and his habits. I think that it is a stretch to think that someone is going to be bought in with limited exposure to what is happening. This is particularly true when they didn’t even explain what they were up to until days before he was supposed to initiate the most critical part of the plan.

Quite frankly, there are lots of times that I agree to something because I think that it is the right thing to do or it would be good for me. That doesn’t mean that it doesn’t have some angst or anxiety or regret associated with the decision. These are not life risking decisions either. I suppose that it wouldn’t be a humanizing story without the element of doubt and risk. Stay tuned to next week for the exciting ending or read ahead to find out for yourself.

End Your Programming Routine: I think that if you are going to belong to a radical group, there is probably some sort of loyalty test that you need to develop if you are going to hinge your revolution on an unknown commodity. I mean, doesn’t that seem obvious. Seriously, I think that it is the same psychology that goes with the saying that partnerships struggle. You never know what the other person is really thinking or if they are totally committed to the endeavor. No surprises here but this is why my wife calls me glass half full. I almost expect failure and success is a pleasant surprise.

October 5, 2023 – It’s War!

October 5, 2023 /

We have become soft, most of us anyway. We live in a mostly sterile and sanitized world away from things that we perceive as icky. It wasn’t that long ago that we more or less coexisted with other creatures. In those times, it was more of a cat and mouse game, I will get you if you are in my space uninvited. After all, why do you think there was Tom and Jerry cartoons in the first place?

This goes part and parcel with the ever increasing urbanism. The farther we get from the edges of the wild, the less tolerance we have with interaction of the wild (at least on our terms). I don’t like having vermin in my house anymore than anybody else, but it happens. It is my turn again.

I was helping my dad the other day and we were wandering around his orchard picking apples and other things out of the garden as my ‘payment’. He showed me the holes around one tree and we discussed the particular type of vermin it might be. Was it a mole, a vole, a gopher? It’s hard to say without actually seeing it. More importantly, it better not impact the tree, that would be a death sentence.

This wasn’t the only thing we looked at. We saw where the mice? rat? chewed on the power line feeding the shoreline power to his camper. Then we went into the pole barn and saw droppings on top of the boat cover and speculated whether they were from bats or mice. My point with this was that these things are all around us.

I am an advocate for keeping a good, hunting cat. They will police the basic perimeter and do the day to day work of keeping vermin numbers lower. But, there becomes a certain size that they just cannot handle. Anything bigger than a small rat is too large for a cat. I have had my share of rats, squirrels, racoons etc that I have had to deal with over the years.

I can’t say what my exact problem is right now. I have not seen any droppings only some signs that an animal has gotten into some stuff. It almost makes me wonder if it is coming and going. Nevertheless, I don’t want it in and around my pantry goods. I didn’t start the fight, but it is on now.

I have been successful with both traps and bait. The last thing that I dealt with, I never saw. It helped itself to cereal, so I just mixed some cereal into the bait and that was the last time anything got into the cereal. I had an aggressive rat a few years ago. It was eating onions, peppers and dry goods every day. I used rat traps on that one. But, it was big enough that the trap didn’t actually kill the rat. I had to manually dispatch that one.

I have caught mice with sticky traps as well. The problem with those is humanely ending the problem. The solution that I find is quick is two bricks and a total crush. It is over in a split second for the unlucky mouse.

We had a bit of a mouse problem when we first moved in. Because I was renting a unit, I went ahead and paid an exterminator. He said that mice can get in within the space of fingernail. Rats can get in a hole the size of a quarter. Don’t forget that they also come in when the door is left unattended. The point being is keeping them out in the first place.

For bigger pests, the pellet rifle is a good friend. That of course means that you have to see them. The good news is that when they take up residence in your home, they are often around more frequently. I want to point out that many of these critters fall into the game regulations so do what you will with my recommendations. Also be aware that discharge of air powered weapons are likely not legal within city jurisdictions as well. As always, be mindful of the backdrop and your capabilities before doing anything.

End Your Programming Routine: My home is for invited guests only. I don’t say this with pride but I have had to kick out people that were a threat to my enjoyment of my property. That goes the same with animals that I didn’t invite in. It will end for that unfortunate animal at some point, I just have to be patient.

October 4, 2023 – Grape Juice, Method 3

October 4, 2023 /

This was not just a good year for apples but also for grapes. I got plenty of Concord grapes which best use is for juice. I have made wine with it before but the criticism for this wine is ‘grapy’. I concur. If I was to make wine with it, then I would probably use it for mulled wine or cooking. It is really not a sit down and have a glass situation.

If you recall last year, I attempted to use the apple press to squeeze the juice out. That worked, but it also required a lot of cleanup. Several years before, I used the Norpro Juicer. That worked as well but it sure packed the skins into the screen and required multiple stop and clean out operations. I stack rank the apple press over the Norpro but I want something better.

I did do some research on other options. Results I got that I am sort of loathe to try were to put the grapes in a blender or use a potato masher. I decided to try a third option. This was a light simmer.

The knock against this method is that heat potentially kills beneficial compounds found in the raw grape. If you were going to can the juice or make jelly, I don’t think you should give it a second thought. You have to heat those anyway to do those forms of preservation. My plan is really just to make juice to drink, but I am more interested in how easy and the mess factor that is involved rather that the nutrition nuances. Lets face it, if the option is less nutritious juice or letting them whither on the vine, you can guess where I come down on that decision.

Like all food processing, I start with cleaning and grading. I want to remove all of the split, moldy grapes as well as the insects that came around for the ride. Truthfully, if I am going to heat an pasteurize everything it probably really isn’t necessary but the thought of bird poop in my juice is quite a turn off.

I decided to de-stem all of my grapes. The reason that I did so was to give extra quality control. It allowed me to observe which grapes I was selecting. That being said, this took quite a bit of time. If I was truly looking for the simple button, then I would throw the whole cluster in the pot.

I turned the pot on medium low and set about to prepare dinner. Once the bottom layer started boiling I kept turning down the heat. I was trying to minimize the amount of heating, but I was doing other things so it was a low effort operation. I would say it was on the stove thirty minutes and probably simmering for twenty.

What you see in the picture was about a quarter of a 5 gallon bucket of grapes. That yielded about 1 quart of juice in this method. This took me about 30 minutes to prep and about another 30 minutes of filtration and clean-up. Still a lot of work.

I only juiced part of my grapes in this test. The next thing that I am going to do is try different levels of filtration. I used a hop bag to do this and it was too fine resulting in a lot of squeezing and manual manipulation. I think that it will be faster to do a two step filtration. An initial coarse filtration for the first press followed by a fine filtration for the finished juice. Of coarse, that will make more clean-up work, but I am hoping that the there is less clean-up time than squeezing time.

End Your Programming Routine: I am no juice connoisseur, but it tastes pretty good to me. My observation of the wine industry is that it takes a lot less care and handling with the grapes than I did for the juice. The reason is that it is too labor intensive to do what I did. That being said, don’t worry it will be fine. If you choose not to process your grapes, I wouldn’t blame you either.

October 3, 2023 – My Technojunk is About to Go Overdrive

October 3, 2023 /

I may do some YouTube videos on some of this stuff. It is amazing how bad some of them are. I am smart enough to get the gist and read between the lines. But, I can rely on all of my technical background to supplement the bits of information I get from others. I strongly suspect that if you are not a computer geek or electrical engineer then a lot of this help is just Greek to most.

Since I built my office, I have been contemplating getting a PC tuner card to play broadcast TV on my computer. I planned for it by running antenna wire into my office. I even bought a card that I thought was a steal at $10. I am the one that got stolen from because I didn’t realize that it was a tuner for the old analog broadcasting (and cable and satellite) which kind of defeated the purpose. Ten dollars was a pretty cheap lesson and now I know that the broadcast format today it ATSC Version 1.

I was reading an article that ATSC Version 3 is on the horizon. This effectively means that all of today’s current TV tuners will become obsolete as this new technology. But it also means higher resolution and mobile capability. Probably at some point, this will be integrated technology into everything. But for now, I will settle for just the TV tuner that works.

Looking at used cards, I was wondering about how to get the software. My research has informed me that it is the software that matters unless your computer is frozen in time (disconnected from the internet). The reason being is that you need manufacturer support to ensure these devices keep working as the operating systems continuously upgrade. So, I was reading that I can buy the software as well as a bare card and hopefully get this system working.

The thing that really sold me is that the latest version of the software gives its own IP streaming capability. This means that I can have this program running on one computer and access it from any device on the network. This should mean that I can access live TV from all of my devices which is what I am going for to augment this football season. I don’t really want to sit down and watch a game as much as I want to have it on in the background while I am doing something else.

I am hoping that installing this card is nearly a slam dunk. My next subject is going to raise the roof on things. About three weeks ago, we got a text saying that there were some armed suspects of a stolen car on the loose and running from the police nearby. It turns out that there were five juveniles in a stolen car being chased by the police. Their path took the chase around our house and ended in the neighboring city.

The day after, four were caught and one remained at-large. It turns out that the driver shot at sheriff’s deputies while the foot chase pursued. But, the fact remains that if it wasn’t for that text, we would have not known anything that was going on. That seems to be ignorant. I have been wanting to get a police scanner for a long time but I don’t know or understand all of the technologies.

I have known for a long time that many of these frequencies are streamed on the internet. I was thinking, why don’t I setup one of those old computers that I setup to run Linux just have it streaming the scanner broadcast. The computer is just sitting there and it is even on. It would be my own scanner base station.

I started looking around and I have heard of this term Software Defined Radio, but I didn’t realize how simple it was. It is actually a radio receiver that is plugged into a USB port and the computer does what a radio does. In essence, the USB dongle is the radio and the software does all the work. An even better plus, drivers and software can run on Linux so now I can repurpose that computer into something useful. My own software defined radio, hopefully for scanner purposes at a very cheap opening cost.

I am going to take it slow. The one video I half watched said that I actually needed two USB radios to make a scanner. I am not sure why yet but I am going to start with one to get it installed and see if I can pick-up anything. I will work my way up to two and more radio stuff.

Despite my lack of desire to talk to strange people over the radio, I actually think that radios are a perfect blend of technojunk, science and preparedness. I don’t know how deep I really want to go with this but I would like to add CB radio to my pickup to monitor logging traffic if or when I am in the woods on a week day. I also think that it is miles more reliable that the handheld walkie-talkies so talking with others in a hunting party would be much better as well.

End Your Programming Routine: I am doing it. I am taking a baby step into radio communications. I am probably starting on a different end than most people do because the technology wasn’t available when they were learning. That being said, this is a much cheaper entry point for me. I know that cheaper often leads to less satisfaction and more struggle, but I also don’t have much to lose. Stay tuned for more technojunk in the near future.

September 29, 2023 – We, Records 26-30

September 29, 2023 /

This week, we have finally gotten a glimpse on what is going on with the book. In unrelated news, we were picking up some wine last weekend and the owner of the winery asked me if I was willing to lead the Culinary Book club. Of course I said yes, but I feel like the commitment will lead me to prioritize those activities over others. So far, in the past I have always treated it like an active member and not necessarily responsible for making it work. We will see how it goes, I am already a book behind as it is.

It is finally revealed what I-330 is up to. She is leaving the Green Wall and conferencing with some indigenous people. This would be descendants of people that did not migrate to city as a result of the 200 years war. Basically, they are on the outside, in the shadows and unknown to exist (at least to most). They are called the Mephi.

All this talk about D-503’s hairy hands in the book seems to be a reference to the Mephi. It seems that they have evolved as hairy people in order to survive outside of the city wall. His appearance and position is possibly what has attracted I-330 to D-503. In fact, the plan is for D-503 to sabotage the initial test of the Invictus in order to initiate a revolution of sorts.

It is the theory of I-330 that once the Invictus is operational, then the door to the spread of the style of life that the United State represents is about to proliferate and possibly be impossible to contain. We will have to stay tuned to the future to see if he actually does it. There was one other thing that I wanted to talk about this week and that was the encounter between D-503 and O-90.

If you recall a few reviews ago, O-90 came to the recognition that D-503 had fallen for I-330 and their relationship was over. In her madness, she wanted to have an illegal baby with D-503. This is an offense punishable by death. It is clearly spelled out in the book that O-90 has ‘baby glow’ and is beginning to visibly show signs of pregnancy. D-503 tries to offer her a new life by smuggling her outside the Green Wall and she responds that she would rather die.

I want to take a logical look at this. I hold strong feelings about freedom and personal choice. That being said, am I so blindsided by my own beliefs that I am willing to die for them? I guess I say that depends but for the sake of this discussion, no. So lets say that the last vestiges common sense leaves this state. I am already looking at moving to another state but I am not going to go kamikaze to make a point.

Let’s say that moving is not an option because the entire country is no different. I am still not going to sacrifice myself. I believe in a higher power and a better eternity. I would be extremely disappointed that we ruined the best things going, but then I also have to believe that there is a reason and that I have a role. God will tell me when it is time and it would be a direction from God if my actions were justifiable in advancing those values.

I get it, there are others that believe the faster they get to eternity, the better. But, that goes against my beliefs. I suppose to put it more crudely, I think that it is just wasteful slaughter. To put a finer point on all of this, I think that there are people that are so caught up in their emotion, they are willing to go forward despite facts to the contrary.

To use a lessor example: my wife and family went to a college football game a couple of weeks ago. On our walk back to the car I observed a person. It was a sunny day, temperatures in the upper seventies. The person was sitting in the shade at a table outside at a facility termed ‘community center’. I didn’t ask the pronouns but I assume it was a he based on the way he was dressed. He was sitting in the shade with a personal umbrella over the table, wearing long clothes and a facemask outside.

This told me a number of things. He was scared to be exposed to the sun and he was doing his part to protect us all from germs (outside). I freely admit that I am making assumptions without the facts but it illustrates the point that I believe. Some people are so wholly engulfed in a political agenda that they are scared of their own shadow.

These were the former double maskers. When one mask was proven to not work, the recommendation was to double down and add a second mask, that was our social responsibility after all. Once again without data to support the recommendation. I don’t know this for a fact, but I suspect the revolution is going to happen before O-90 gets caught and everything turns out OK. We will see.

End Your Programming Routine: My assessment of the actions of O-90 were reckless rather than heroic or even romantic. I suppose the interpretation is in the eye of the beholder so you are free to disagree. Whether I like it or not, my opinions on freedom and personal choice are becoming a minority of opinion in society. Most people cannot stomach that fact that I support the right to descent from my opinion even if it is to my own demise. I hate it but guess that is my baby.

September 28, 2023 – They Did It… Gun Shows Are Dead in Oregon

September 28, 2023 /

The gun range that I belong to hosts two gun shows a year. By many’s account, this is the best show in the state. I really have nothing to do with it so I cannot claim any credit but it does make me feel good that my peeps know how to do it.

So, why has this been the case? It is really about what is not there as much as what is. I’ve of course been to other shows too. There is the snack man, the Beenie Baby collectors, the Pakistani knife dealer etc. Those have been largely missing from this show.

Today, we had all of those and more. Something new to me, there were at least five custom knife makers there. Don’t get me wrong, they did beautiful work and the prices reflected it at $150-300. I respect that a lot and I am sure the craftsmanship is worth the price, but this is a gun show. I have never seen more than one at this show in the past. The reason to go to gun shows in the past were to 1) find deals 2) see and handle things because of vast selection 3) buy guns. I will address these individually.

There are no deals to be had. This really is nothing new since the proliferation of the internet. Anything can be researched at anytime of the day and everyone knows what the price is. What I actually see is instead of a gun show discount, there is more like a gun show premium. I find things to be significantly more expensive at the show then day to day. Think about it, I pay an entry fee and then I pay a higher price than market.

Speaking of selection, I would estimate that this show only had a third of the tables as firearms dealers. I have never seen this, I would estimate that the last show was 2/3 dealers. It seems like there was table after table of junk. When I say junk, I mean that it looked the tables were full of parts that were removed from personal firearms.

I have plenty of firearms so I don’t really need any old gun. In fact, I should probably focus on upgrading rather than adding. But, because of that I am looking for some niche items like a Savage 99 in 300 Savage from the 1950s. If I do end up buying one, I want it to be in original configuration. I want the steel butt plate and the rear sight intact. It is not a rare firearm but the options are extremely limited when there are half the normal number of dealers. Add to that the gun show premium and I am not really interested in the ones I saw.

Last and certainly not least to buy guns. Since the passage of Measure 114, everyone is holding their breath for the results of litigation (which is happening while I type). Background check results are not less than three days. Under federal law, if you are not approved or denied after 72 hours, the dealer can release the firearm to you. That means that you are not walking away from a gun show with a firearm. If you are lucky, the dealer you are purchasing from is reasonably local. In three days (best case scenario) you can drive to the dealer you paid for your firearm and pick it up.

What has happened? To me, I think that all of the uncertainly around what will happen with Measure 114 has driven dealers out. The buying frenzy that resulted consumed inventory, low margin or small dealers folded. Others decided not to release firearms after the 72 hour hold. When the red flag laws were implemented a couple of years ago, private sales disappeared and now dealers have given in.

They won; we should not kid ourselves anyway. To think that law abiding and freedom loving people are going to withstand a barrage against our rights over generations is a fools errand. The ocean wears down rock, it seems improbable and incomprehensible but it happens. Consequently, I say that the gun show is dead. Yes, it is still physically there, but it has terminal cancer and it is only a matter of time before it is gone completely

End Your Programming Routine: Do you know who I don’t meet? I don’t meet the person that says ‘I am not a gun owner, never will be but I understand and support your right to do so’. I am more likely to meet ‘I am a gun owner and I believe that only these guns should be permitted’. They tend to side with the anti-gunners because they are not going to ban their guns (yet). To be honest, the only reason I went in the first place is that I get in for free and I was already in town for trap. When it is time for the spring show, I am not planning on going unless all the factors align again like this one.

September 27, 2023 – Summer is Over, Officially

September 27, 2023 /

September 23 is the first day of Fall. So we can now officially declare it to be true. Major rain has come and the daylight has hit the less than 12 hours per day. For several weeks I have been working to clean-up things in order to prepare for the season. To me that means brining in the outdoor furniture, hoses and things and get everything off the floor of the basement.

Last week, my wife hired an organizer to redo storage in the kitchen pantry. This of course drove more stuff into the basement that I had to find a home for. Before we hosted the German exchange student and before my son went to Taiwan, he packed up his entire room and brought all that stuff into the basement. Also, moving my gun safe into the shop moved a lot of my tools that I had in the shop into the basement. Consequently, despite all of my efforts last year to get organized, I need to start over.

I think that I mentioned in August that I was gathering stuff to go to the dump. That is still true. I took an entire car load to donate and I am getting close to another. I just feel overwhelmed with stuff. I of course have my specific items but then there are other things. I have to keep thinking that if we do decide to move then we are are going to be needing to do this anyway.

I have decided that the lynchpin to organization is two pronged. One is purging things that we don’t want like the second vacuum, baby gates, coat tree etc. But the other is building the wine cellar. I can not only clear shelf space but also consolidate like items like brewing equipment, the keezer, kegs, carboys, etc.

I need to move the brewing stuff because my seed starting station is in the way to bring in all of the outdoor furniture. I didn’t say that but that is where my tools went when I had to move them to accommodate the gun safe in the shop. Can you see how exhausting all of this is?

There are a number of things that I would like to get rid of. To be fair, we all share the space so as much as I would like to get rid of things, I have to consider others opinions as well. Some things silently disappear while most end up in a conversation about the value and disposition. That makes this process a delicate dance of compromise. All that being said, If or when we move, the changes will more likely go my way then they are going now.

What can we learn from all of this? Well, I am starting to get to the point of thinking before purchasing. I need to know that I have room or a place to put something before I convince myself that I want something. I have also started considering that it is so much easier to buy things than it is to get rid of them. I hate to throw away things that have value, so I want to consider the lifecycle of items.

If you have missed the boat and already have too much stuff like me, then apply the litmus test of usage. Have I used this in a year? Do I have plans to use this? I have three brand new crab traps that I got for my birthday in 2007 when we had a boat. I hold on to them thinking that I would like to have a boat again. But, the boat that I want and the boat that my wife wants have two different purposes and I don’t want to buy a boat that I wouldn’t take crabbing. That being said, I really need these crab traps out of my way and 16 years is way too long on a hope. I do want to get a couple dollars for them though.

You don’t want this process to take all year but you don’t have to do it in a weekend. Set yourself some milestone goals. For instance, I am putting stuff to go to the dump in the back of my pick-up. I need that to be empty before I leave for deer hunting in about two weeks. So, either I will be done with this part of the process or I will be moving more stuff around before I go. Ideally, I will have everything identified and disposed of by that date.

End Your Programming Routine: This is the second time around that I have declared this project to begin. This will be a marathon, not a sprint. I may have other projects start before this is finished. My wife is pushing me for several woodworking projects as well. But, believe it or not I needed to clean-up in order to get to my wood pile. I have so much to do.

September 26, 2023 – Goldy’s Kitchen Cookbook: Cooking, Writing, Family, Life

September 26, 2023 /

Goldy’s Kitchen Cookbook by Diane Mott Davidson was the August co-selection for the Left Coast Culinary Book Club. The reason is that it was the co-selection is that our group is going through some trials and tribulations and is a little listless at this time. Unfortunately, two members died last month and we really haven’t been in an organized fashion this year. As a result, two books were ‘suggested’. I will talk about the other one after I read it.

Part of the reason that I like being part of the Left Coast Culinary Book Club is that other people do the work. That is, they are the ones to suggest ‘I think we should read this’. Most of the selections I would never pick in a million years but I like the fact that it provides a diverse view to what I would normally read or gravitate to.

This choice is an interesting one. Diane Mott Davidson is a long time author, publishing a series of mystery books dating all the way back to the early 1990s. Her primary character is a caterer and nearly every recipe in this cookbook has been published in each of Diane’s numerous books. This is a compilation of all the recipes throughout Diane’s writing career.

In all transparency, I have never heard of Diane Mott Davidson nor any of her books. I say that because the idea of this cookbook seems pretty novel to me. Another reason that I mention it is because I came into this with no bias whatsoever.

Another admission, I did not read every word. I read the anecdote that goes along with the recipe and scan the ingredient list. I want to understand the pulse of a cookbook. How much diversity is there within the book? Can I possibly make what is in the book with the ingredients listed? Do I even care about what is offered?

Usually, I pick out a couple of things that I would like to try. And typically those are recipes that are unique. I say this because after reading this cookbook, I don’t plan on making anything immediately. Nearly 1/3 of the recipes are desserts, nothing wrong with that but it is just not a cornerstone in my kitchen.

What is the pulse of this cookbook? Clearly, I would say desserts but I already said that. There is an entire chapter on egg and cheese, think quiche, omelets, frittata etc. This was apparently driven by the author’s editor being vegetarian and asking for more recipes that fit that definition. That was a novel stance as well but I noticed that many of the recipes were different assemblies of the same ingredients.

The author had spent most of her life in Colorado and the cookbook has strong leaning toward TexMex flavors. I don’t have anything specific against TexMex but I have a true affinity toward Mexican food and to me TexMex is like saying McDonalds represents hamburgers. No, it is a derivation and interpretation made for a specific purpose.

Before I am too hard on Diane, she makes a statement early on that says her character is a caterer and that is a business. If a shortcut can be made to get to the end, then it should be considered. I giver her credit that she has done her homework on learning and understanding the business. I think the disconnect is between catering as a business and cooking as a craft.

Just one quick example in the chicken broth recipe. This is the only recipe I have ever seen that uses prepared chicken broth as the liquid to make chicken broth. I subscribe to Samine Nosrat – If you cant use broth you have made, use water. So, I see the broth recipe as more of a hack than an actual technique. I could certainly see this work for catering, like I said it is a business.

End Your Programming Routine: Who would like this or be interested in this cookbook? I think fans of Diane Mott Davidson certainly. But, if you have a sweet tooth or lack a cookbook to make a lot of cookies with dried fruit or chocolate in them, this may be your thing. This will probably be one that I never open again but that is OK. I didn’t know there was a mystery series with hundreds of recipes contained.

September 25, 2023 – The Day I Knew I Wasn’t Normal

September 25, 2023 /

Another introspective podcast. I cant help that the person I know the best is myself. That being said, I am a good mentor and I want people to know that it is OK to be yourself. I would rather have people be happy who they are than something that they are not. That of course does not resonate with everyone, Just like freedom. ‘I want you to be who you are until it is something that I don’t agree with’. That take maturity…