sunday post-decorating

the decorating for christmas is done, an here's how everyone is spending their sunday afternoon...

studying for the big biology test

reading something math'y probably

playing skyrim

no tree yet

schedules have us delaying the christmas tree set up to next weekend. until then the presents are conveniently being stored where the tree will eventually go.

steamed pork buns

resorting to homemade when the real thing's unavailable anywhere near us...

Cha siu bao

one of mr. sha's favorites

lots of butternut squash

roasting up this massive butternut squash today. tasty.

Two-foot long squash

plentiful and plump seeds

Kale Chips

The last of the kale, tossed with olive oil, sesame oil and fancy ancient sea salt from Utah. I left the stems on the smaller leaves. Dehydrate at 105°F until crispy. Really tasty.

Before Drying

Tastes a little like Korean style nori

Almost Tuesday!

Here are some pictures to make up for missing a day in my updates from home...

Bandit on the long green grass

Hendrix on the stairs up close

Jordan is home from Tucson!

Happy Hendgy

Sweet Bandit

APS

Our Joid is off to his first professional meeting, to present a poster at the American Physical Society in Tucson.

Dehydrators

Some dehydrator thoughts for firstofmany.

I can't say I have too much experience, but I do like the Nesco much better than the old Ronco I had. Key elements are a fan (no need to rotate trays) and temperature control. Ours doesn't have a timer or digital temp change feature, but I don't feel I need it.

Another thing I like is that the heat comes from the top. My old one had the heat at the bottom, and consequently food drips were kind of burning as they hit the elements. This is the source of my Salmon "Sauce-Bearnaise" Syndrome.  I had been making salmon jerky, maybe 1990 or so. Still have trouble with the smell of salmon.

Here are two links.

Amazon for the Nesco we bought (scroll down to customer reviews, very helpful)

DehydratorBook (nice reviews and tips)

Bedtime

i love it when i call to the dogs "bedtime", and they sleepily but happily stagger to the bedroom with me. they can be so sweet.

they are missing their pack though, for sure. when will everyone else come back home?

Grapes

Dehydration continues. Working through the backlog in the fridge, three kinds of grapes.

Green and Purple from Erin (local). Large Red commercial (Cutler, CA).

The local ones have seeds, so I'm juicing them and trying some dried fruit rolls. We have plenty of jam now, and the MathMan isn't here to drink the juice. The red seedless got washed and checked in boiling water. They seem so big, so I went ahead and cut most in half to decrease the drying time. Raisins!

the pre-raisin state

processing in the china cap

Monday Morning (you sure look fine)

Hanging in there here, beginning of a long week. Cool and grey outside, raining. Tell MathMan I shut off the sprinkler system for now. Hendgy, in a fit of unusual neediness, actually came down to me sitting in my room with Pinkman in tow. Placed him on my lap. I don't remember him ever doing that before (although this sort of visit is a daily occurrence with Bandit).

So back to the kitchen for me, keeping busy processing produce, keeping the dogs company.

Apples and Pears for the Dehydrator

Pinkman and Hendrix

Bandit: "I hope it doesn't thunder"

weather is supposed to be sunny and cool today, low tonight 35°F

pups and boy

bandit has one evil glowing eye which refused to be edited out.

do you still have extra eggs?

joid called around 10p to see if he could come get a dozen eggs. i gave them two dozen. and pears, peaches and apples. they didn't seem to want any more habaneros...

Late Night Produce Selections

as kind as summer

"He was... as kind as summer"
   speaking of Elrond, in The Hobbit, Chapter 3

An Elrond collectible fell out of some laundry in the washer (I was trying to clear out some old packed boxes of miscellanea) and he ended up taking Jasmine's former roost on the windowsill. I'm hoping he brings some summer sunniness to the tomatoes there.

Tons of green and partly ripe tomatoes still on the vine. The garden gets little sunshine now until late in the day, evenings are down into 30's and 40's, it's already snowed once. Time is running out.

Set out into sunshine for ripening

Hoping for some late vine-ripening

The Elrond Tomato Ripening Area

Dehydrator Madness

well, the car dehydration method didn't work out. the ambient air here is dry, but it's not hot enough to sustain the drying, the downside to a short growing season, by the time we get tomatoes it's past the best summer heat.

so we bought a dehydrator. it's great! Nesco FD-75PR 700-Watt, it has temperature settings and a top-mounted fan. i used to have a ronco (no temp control/no fan) which worked alright, but this is way better.

*All* the tomatoes for now are done, bagged up in the freezer. It's crazy, but we only have one zucchini squash left in the house (after a super glut of them taking up refridge space), they make great chips (even without oil). I'll be chipping up some yam next, and I'm eyeing the cantaloupe...

Nesco in action (pears within)

Dried and Fresh Pears

Awaiting their turn...

More Dried Tomatoes

we'll see how long this takes...

Dried Tomatoes

What to do with tons of ripe tomatoes...?

I had planned to sun-dry them in my car (on a clean window screen), but the weather turned cloudy and cold. So here they are in the oven at the lowest setting (170ºF)

After 24-30 hours!

asian hair maintenance

a little review of two hair care products (in my search to find something good for 'asian hair')

+Dove Intensive Repair+

The shampoo gives great lather, feels good. Conditioner is very thick and leaves hair super silky and fluffy (and as firstofmany reports, this may cause difficulty in hair tie retention). I like the scent (fresh, not overpowering)

+Kracie Umi no Uruoiso Thalasso Therapy+

Japanese products! Much lighter than the Dove, the shampoo sud is good and the conditioner leaves my hair feeling conditioned softly and definitely not so fluffy. Smells fresh and not as strong as the Dove, reminds me of Suave "Refreshing Ocean Breeze" shower gel. Betty says my hair feels, "nice" and smells like "outside". (When she said "outside" Hendrix's ears perked up, as this is the verbal command for going out into the backyard.)

In summary, I like both products and that I have the option for intensely conditioned vs. a lighter feel. And both products feel acceptable for my hair (no nasty feel anyway, as soon as I apply them).

Here's more info on the Umi no Uruoiso*:

"As we age, our hair retains less and less moisture. Umino Uruoi So ("Gift from Ocean") series contains eleven kinds of seaweed essence to nourish your hair with moisture, leaving it beautiful, healthy, elastic and strong from the inside out.

Features:

Seaweed has a natural moisturizing effect, giving moisture from the core to the surface of the hair. Its moisturizing ingredients are more powerful than collagen or hyaluronic acid.

11 different kinds of seaweed are used to moisturize your hair from the inside out. They are Powell (Hibamata), Kelp, Hizikia, Wakame seaweed, Porphyra tenera (Asakusanori), Mafu seaweed, green string lettuce, Nemacystus decipiens (Mozuku), Tosaka seaweed, Ceylon moss, and Gracilaria vermiculophylla (Ogonori).

Also contains mineral-rich deep ocean sea water to repair, strengthen and nourish damaged hair.

Thalasso beauty essences repair the surface of the hair and lock moisture in.

Imported from Japan, comes with English ingredients and usage instructions.

What is Thalassotherapy?

Thalassotherapy (from the Greek word thalassa, meaning "sea") is the medical use of seawater as a form of therapy. The properties of seawater are believed to have beneficial effects upon the pores of the skin. Thalassotherapy was developed in mainly in France, and well known in Europe from a long time ago. Kracie Umino Uruoi So series contains various Thalasso beauty essences including Marine Collagen, Marine Squalene, Marine Herbal essence, Marine Plancenta, and others."

Use the powers of the sea to repair and manage

your hair from the inside out.

(*Reference: TrueRenu)

BREACH!

it's very windy here and we had two sections of fence break open. where's rick when we need him?!

liam and i were able to brace one section back into place with a steel rod and a 2x4, but the other blew out completely and we can't get it back in. so we made a makeshift fence with economy wire fencing, scrap wood, wire and twine. a few bags of sand and clamps to try and keep it in place. luckily the neighbors seem to be out of town, so we only have to watch out for bandit and hendrix for now.

Cibo Matto Knows Their Chicken

springy

when i stepped outside this morning the first word that came to mind was "glorious". super fresh and bright spring, birds singing and trees budding. these pictures don't really do it justice.

Doo, doo, doo, lookin' out my back door

(Bear River Mountains to the East and Forsythia in bloom)

The Wellsville Mountains across the valley (looking West)

f@%*ing fingerpicks

i've been intermittently playing around with the banjo. decided to try out the DGdg tuning as suggested by Mirek Patek (he's really good, and has some nice instruction at his website)

the fingerpicks are a challenge to get used to, awkward. here's a snippet of cripple creek, very slow...

little more banjo

getting it put together now.

the new tuners have a little metal stud where they seat into the wood on the headstock. i used the dremel to drill a hole for it to sit tight. excellent instructions on how to do this here (although these tuners look more like these "golden gate" brand)

drilled hole in lower right

i glued the bone nut in place and installed the two outer strings. this way the strings can act as a clamp to hold the nut in place until dry tomorrow. next i'll adjust the intonation with the bridge and then add the last two strings.

the bone nut. the string slots are a little big, oh well.

(another excellent instruction, "A New Nut", from frets.com)

here's the bridge set very close to where it needs to be (to get bridge placement, measure from nut to 12th-fret, then double that to get the scale length from nut to bridge)

i had to stop for the evening, my back is killing me. probably from going on a short but vigorous walk with B and the dogs after dinner!

some banjo progress

the heel cap (brown piece in this shot) had fallen off, so that got glued up and clamped overnight. then i put the neck and pot back together.

the head stock is cracked right through, down the middle, but nothing detached. i applied glue to the crack and clamped it. messy. guess i could have waited until someone else was home so there was another set of hands to hold this crazy clamp system in place.

the bone piece has been cleaned up and sanded down to fit, still needs some edges rounded up and then i'll put some string slots in it.