Here's my signature image for the forums.
19 October 2012
NaNoWriMo Images
I'm going to waste some time trying to write a 50000 word novel again this year. It's fun. I don't plan on winning, but it lets me percolate some ideas.
Here's my signature image for the forums.
Here's my signature image for the forums.
22 January 2012
Poof! No Eyebrows!
For 2012, I have set another goal. I'm going to lose at least 15 lbs. For those of you who know me, you are probably thinking: "You are 6' 3" and disappear when you turn sideways. Wouldn't loosing that much weight be unhealthy?" Actually, loosing that much weight will be quite benneficial to my health, but I'm not talking about loosing body weight.
This year, I'm going to try out ultralight (UL) backpacking. My current pack base weight is about 30-35 lbs. (which isn't really that heavy). So to knock off 15 lbs. will be quite a challenge, but after carrying 60 lbs. of other peoples junk for a week in the Wind Rivers last summer, I'm committed to never repeat that experience again. There are a lot of ways I plan to cut weight that will require some DIY skills, so I'll keep you all posted.
My first area I'm attempting to cut weight is in cooking. Until now I've carried the following:
It seems that all the cool UL through hikers are convinced that alcohol stoves are the way to go. There are a lot of different designs that are super easy for making an alcohol stove and the best resource I found for this is here: http://zenstoves.net/
I made the following stoves:
First, as sort of a benchmark, I simply lit an opened tuna can with fuel and propped my pot about an inch above the flame. It took me approx: 15 min. and about 6 tbsp of fuel to boil 750 mL of cold water.
After reading about the various options, I chose to first make the Basic Top Burner. I didn't follow the instructions very carefully and I ended up with a tear down the outside of the stove and a lot of JB weld all over the thing. I found that JB weld does not work well for these alcohol stoves because it becomes very brittle, and it really, really, really stinks when burned. The little stove weighs next to nothing and functioned very well even out in freezing temperatures. This stove should require a priming pan, but I could get it to light by just dripping some fuel all over it and torching the whole thing. It took about 12 minutes to boil the same pot of water.
The first stove was a little complex so I decided to try something similar to the Super Cat and punched holes in a mushroom can in a similar fashion. This stove did not work at all. The metal of the can was too thick and the fuel inside did not stay hot while lit and quickly went out.
I also tried making a Super Cat stove that I've heard so much about from famous hikers. Similar to my mushroom can stove, I could not get it to stay lit in the cold. I also broke my hole punch and my holes were not very clean cut. I don't know how that would affect the stoves performance, but I felt that the design of punching a bunch of big holes in a can and calling it good was not very effective.
I went back to the soda cans because they are so light. This time I thought I'd get a wider, more stable base and used the 23 oz. Arizona drink cans instead of the regular 12 oz. soda can. This time I also followed the instructions from zenstoves for the Basic Side Burner stove. On the website it claims that no primer pan is needed since the side burners will heat up the fuel as the flames lick the side of the stove. This was not the case. I had to set the stove in a pan with fuel to get the burners to light. Once lit, however, the stove worked like a dream. I boiled the same pot of water in under 10 min. In an attempt to reduce weight and space further, as you can see, I made the stove a lot shorter than in the instructions. This would have been awesome, but I could only get about 3 tbsp of fuel in the stove which was barely enough to bring the pot of water to a very low boil.
My final design also used the wider Arizona cans. I made it a little taller to hold more than enough fuel, I put the side burners as high up on the sides as possible, and also used a 1/16 in. drill bit for bigger burners and a hotter flame. I also used an unopened can top to hold the fuel and JB welded it to another can bottom for a permanent primer pan. The permanent primer pan allowed me to be more exact with how much fuel I needed to use to get the burners lit. I did not test this stove with the same pot of water, but I was able to boil 750 mL of cold water in the aluminum pot pictured above in about 6 min. using roughly 4 tbsp of fuel.
I found the aluminum pot at a second hand store for $.75. I gave it a little sanding and buffing and added a handle and it works great. The sloped shape allows the pot to pick up more heat from the stove as well.
So, to cut weight in the cooking area I will use the following:
A difference of 50%!
The big advantage seems to be that with the alcohol stove, you only carry what you need. My MSR stove is great and if I'm traveling with a group and need to boil 2 L a meal, it is by far the better way to go, but if I'm not carrying anyone else's crap, the alcohol stove wins for trips under a week long. I suppose it might even win out for very long trips because you won't have empty canisters to pack out.
This project was a success. I managed to pinch my thumb with pliers, slice it and puncture it with sharp aluminum, engulf it in burning alcohol, and scrape it with sand paper. Ouch.
This year, I'm going to try out ultralight (UL) backpacking. My current pack base weight is about 30-35 lbs. (which isn't really that heavy). So to knock off 15 lbs. will be quite a challenge, but after carrying 60 lbs. of other peoples junk for a week in the Wind Rivers last summer, I'm committed to never repeat that experience again. There are a lot of ways I plan to cut weight that will require some DIY skills, so I'll keep you all posted.
My first area I'm attempting to cut weight is in cooking. Until now I've carried the following:
- Stove: MSR Superfly - Weight: 189 g
- Fuel: MSR Isopro fuel canister - Weight: 393 g (to boil 15 L)
- Pot: Similar to Stansport Solo 2 - Weight: approx. 225 g
- Plate: Marie Calendar's Pie Tin - Weight: approx. 25g
- Spoon: Old metal spoon - Weight: approx. 30 g
- Wind Screen: Weight: approx 10 g
- Cup: Plastic camp cup - Weight: approx. 45 g
- Fish Grill: Weight: approx. 50 g
It seems that all the cool UL through hikers are convinced that alcohol stoves are the way to go. There are a lot of different designs that are super easy for making an alcohol stove and the best resource I found for this is here: http://zenstoves.net/
I made the following stoves:
 | ||
| From Left to Right: Basic Top Burner, Mushroom Can, Basic Side Burner, Arizona Hybrid, Not pictured: open flame, Super Cat |
After reading about the various options, I chose to first make the Basic Top Burner. I didn't follow the instructions very carefully and I ended up with a tear down the outside of the stove and a lot of JB weld all over the thing. I found that JB weld does not work well for these alcohol stoves because it becomes very brittle, and it really, really, really stinks when burned. The little stove weighs next to nothing and functioned very well even out in freezing temperatures. This stove should require a priming pan, but I could get it to light by just dripping some fuel all over it and torching the whole thing. It took about 12 minutes to boil the same pot of water.
The first stove was a little complex so I decided to try something similar to the Super Cat and punched holes in a mushroom can in a similar fashion. This stove did not work at all. The metal of the can was too thick and the fuel inside did not stay hot while lit and quickly went out.
I also tried making a Super Cat stove that I've heard so much about from famous hikers. Similar to my mushroom can stove, I could not get it to stay lit in the cold. I also broke my hole punch and my holes were not very clean cut. I don't know how that would affect the stoves performance, but I felt that the design of punching a bunch of big holes in a can and calling it good was not very effective.
I went back to the soda cans because they are so light. This time I thought I'd get a wider, more stable base and used the 23 oz. Arizona drink cans instead of the regular 12 oz. soda can. This time I also followed the instructions from zenstoves for the Basic Side Burner stove. On the website it claims that no primer pan is needed since the side burners will heat up the fuel as the flames lick the side of the stove. This was not the case. I had to set the stove in a pan with fuel to get the burners to light. Once lit, however, the stove worked like a dream. I boiled the same pot of water in under 10 min. In an attempt to reduce weight and space further, as you can see, I made the stove a lot shorter than in the instructions. This would have been awesome, but I could only get about 3 tbsp of fuel in the stove which was barely enough to bring the pot of water to a very low boil.
My final design also used the wider Arizona cans. I made it a little taller to hold more than enough fuel, I put the side burners as high up on the sides as possible, and also used a 1/16 in. drill bit for bigger burners and a hotter flame. I also used an unopened can top to hold the fuel and JB welded it to another can bottom for a permanent primer pan. The permanent primer pan allowed me to be more exact with how much fuel I needed to use to get the burners lit. I did not test this stove with the same pot of water, but I was able to boil 750 mL of cold water in the aluminum pot pictured above in about 6 min. using roughly 4 tbsp of fuel.
I found the aluminum pot at a second hand store for $.75. I gave it a little sanding and buffing and added a handle and it works great. The sloped shape allows the pot to pick up more heat from the stove as well.
So, to cut weight in the cooking area I will use the following:
- Stove: Arizona Hybrid - Weight: approx. 20 g
- Fuel: Denatured Alcohol - Weight: 935 g (to boil 15 L), or 327 g (to boil 7 meals)
- Pot: Aluminum Urn - Weight: 120 g
- Plate: not necessary - I'll eat out of the pot
- Spoon: Plastic Spoon - 5 gWeight: approx. 50 g
- Wind Screen: Weight: approx 10 g
- Cup: not necessary - I'll drink from my water bottle
- Fish Grill: not necessary - unless I'm planning on doing a lot of fishing
A difference of 50%!
The big advantage seems to be that with the alcohol stove, you only carry what you need. My MSR stove is great and if I'm traveling with a group and need to boil 2 L a meal, it is by far the better way to go, but if I'm not carrying anyone else's crap, the alcohol stove wins for trips under a week long. I suppose it might even win out for very long trips because you won't have empty canisters to pack out.
This project was a success. I managed to pinch my thumb with pliers, slice it and puncture it with sharp aluminum, engulf it in burning alcohol, and scrape it with sand paper. Ouch.
16 January 2012
Week 3: Argentina
Mira Vos!
Beef is always what comes to mind when thinking of Argentine cuisine. "Argentina has the world's second highest consumption rate of beef, at 55 kg (133 lbs) a year per capita. In 2006, livestock farmers kept between 50 and 55 million head of cattle, mostly in the fertile pastures of the Pampas. The country is currently the third largest beef exporter in the world." The Pampas are a humid, lush, green, cattle paradise resulting in healthier cows with no need for growth hormones. Argentine beef has less saturated fat and is higher in omega-3 fatty acids.
Since there is an automatic 15% export tax on Argentine beef and I wasn't about to shell out hundreds of dollars for this meal, I settled from a sirloin from Harmon's. It was great to have my sister and her family over, but I did do this one on the cheap. Luckily I was able to easily find all the ingredients I needed.
The food turned out great and I'm sad that I couldn't explore the wonderful tastes of Argentina in greater depth. As noted on wikipedia, there is a great Mediterranean influence on the foods of Argentina. This was very evident as I explored a lot of the local recipes. My impression of Argentine cuisine is that it is refined and traditional, and focused on good flavor. Here are some excellent websites that I got recipes from:
http://fromargentinawithlove.typepad.com/from_argentina_with_love/
http://www.popular-traditional-argentina-food.com/index.html
http://www.asadoargentina.com/
.
And on to the menu:
- Asado - Sirloin roast cut into stakes - I still don't trust my grilling skills, so I preheated my stakes to 130 degrees before throwing them over the flames - they turned out medium-well.
- Chimichurri - A delicious salsa that can be eaten with anything - based on red wine vinegar and olive oil with a fresh blend of diced greens and vegetables and spices. Absolutely delicious
- Empanadas de jamon y queso - ham and cheese hot-pockets - these were a dissapointment, not because of the recipe, but because I didn't put any effort into them and they turned out very dry. I still ate them for three days.
 |
 |
 |
| Making Empanadas | Mmm, Empanadas | Inside an Empanada |
- Dulce de Leche - A rich caramel sauce that you can eat with fruit or bread. Thanks Tyler.
- Mate - a traditional drink made from an herb of the same name. It is very bitter, even after adding plenty of sugar. This is an acquired taste that also takes skill in preparation to keep it from being too strong.
Kids love the delicious grassy taste of Mate.
08 January 2012
Week 2: Bulgaria
Sdrawei! Gladen sam. (Hi! I'm hungry)
So the second destination on my food adventure was Bulgaria. Cindy did all the research and recipes on this one. We put Bulgaria on the list because their cuisine is generally representative of Southeast Europe. Their food is composed of a variety of hearty vegetables and rich dairy products. A variety of salads are customary along with vegetable soups and meats. There's a good article on Bulgarian Cuisine on wikipedia.
We kept this one simple and Cindy chose the following foods:
 |
| Simple Bulgarian meal |
- Bob Chorba - A very simple soup with tomato base with white beans, carrots, peppers, and onions. Mint sprigs contribute a lot to the flavor as well as paprika, salt and pepper. The soup looked so boring I had to add some grilled pork to it.
- Mekitsa - A basic kneaded bread with yogurt then deep fried like a scone. I assumed that the yogurt would add a tangy taste, but it didn't. So again, just a bland boring scone.
- Ayran - Cold watered down plain yogurt, salted to taste. Milk isn't typically consumed in Bulgaria and this drink is pretty popular and can be ordered at fast food restaurants. This was disgusting, but in the spirit of adventure, Cindy and I both finished our glasses and did our best not to vomit.
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| Yogurt! Yogurt! I hate yogurt! Even with strawberries! |
New Years Eve: Aftermath
Well, I learned my lesson. Never put a pound of kelp and fish shavings down the disposal followed by a whole dish of burnt kale.
It took me about 6 hours of pipe snaking, cutting open a pipe in the basement, and getting mess all over everything to find the baseball sized plug of fishy nastiness. That's the price you pay for good food.
05 January 2012
Week 1: Japan, Denmark, Germany, Spain
Akemashite omedetou! (Happy New Year everybody!)
I'm getting off to a good start for my goal of making global cuisines. For the new year we had about 12 people over for food, games, and celebration. It was awesome. So to kick things off, I wanted to include some foods traditionally eaten for the New Year around the world. I wanted to take pictures of how things turned out and my culinary adventures, but I didn't get around to it so you'll have to take my word for it.
I'm getting off to a good start for my goal of making global cuisines. For the new year we had about 12 people over for food, games, and celebration. It was awesome. So to kick things off, I wanted to include some foods traditionally eaten for the New Year around the world. I wanted to take pictures of how things turned out and my culinary adventures, but I didn't get around to it so you'll have to take my word for it.
I was reading about Lucky Foods for the New Year and wanted to cover all the bases and have foods from a variety of cultures. As I did my research, I decided that Japan seems to have the profound new year food traditions. I started at the Wikipedia entry for Osechi. From this and other websites, it seemed that soba noodles are a must. I used the following recipe for toshi-koshi soba and followed some of the links on this excellent web site to learn more about how to make authentic Japanese food. I decided to also prepare zoni (just swapped soba for mochi), kuri kinton, and as many items from the Wikipedia list of Osechi that I could come by.
I put my shopping list together and Ocean Mart (previously Super China) was the first place I went.
This store was huge and I couldn't read any of the labels on anything. I was also busy trying to get some Christmas shopping done and only had a half hour to spend there. The prices were rock bottom and the selection was enormous. I'll definitely have to drop in again in the future
I still had a lot of ingredients to find so I went to the Japan Sage Market.
Everything worked out just perfectly. I got the house all cleaned up and was cooking by 4:00. I had my soba noodles and dashi (kelp and fish flakes) stock going and all my vegetables chopped. By the time guest started showing up, my house smelled heavily of fish. Many thanks go out to Laurel Takashima in my neighborhood for giving us some rice and red beans, and some fancy mochi balls. Everyone sort of chipped in to get the food on. Once everyone had arrived I thought it would be best to serve the soup al la carte and I had two small pots going to mix up each person an individual bowl of soup the way they wanted it. Everyone was mmming and yumming and I was really pleased. I finally tried some toshi-koshi soba and it was fabulous. We played some games (including the traditional Dr. Mario) and then set off fireworks at midnight. The final menu was as follows:
Denmark
Japan
Germany
Spain
Denmark- Toasted Kale with cinnamon and sugar(I totally burned it) - Tradition is that eating greens is symbolic of money and will bring you good fortune
Japan
- Toshi-Koshi Soba - Buckwheat noodles in a fish stock with fish, onions, carrots, spinach, shitake mushrooms, and and egg for good luck - traditionally one must not leave any soba uneaten before the new year or it will be bad luck.
- Zoni - Same as the Toshi-Koshi Soba only with chicken instead of fish and mochi (rice balls) instead of soba
- Dadai - Japanese bitter orange (we ate tangerines instead)
- Datemaki - Fishy rolled omlette - I really ruined this recipe so I don't know if it is good or not - represent many future auspicious days
- Kamaboko - Fish paste roll
- Kuro-mame - sweet black soy beans - representative of good health
- Ebi - grilled prawns
- Tazukuri - Dried anchovies in soy - represent a good harvest - these were pretty tasty (they cost me $15) even with the heads.
- Mochi - sticky rice paste balls with filling
- Kuri Kinton - mashed sweet potatoes with spices and nuts
Germany- Pork Bratworst - pork representing fattness and abundance
- Sauerkraut
- Beans - representing coins or wealth
Spain- Grapes - one eats a grape at each stroke of midnight to bring good luck for the coming months of the year.
25 November 2011
Upcoming Projects for 2012
Well, 2011 was pretty busy for me. With the addition of twin boys to the family and going back to school, I really had to throw all my projects on the back burner. Now, things seem to be a bit more predictable and I should be able to revive some projects and finish some of what I started.
Assuming that the world does not actually come to an end in 2012, I hope to first, finish projects that I've started, namely: my survival knife, my glockenspiel, and other. One endevor that I will really try had to acheive is to create at least 52 meals of representing the globe. I've been pretty successful at making some fantastic foreign food and I will expand that to cover at least one country per week. Cindy and I already put a list of about 48 countries together. I'll have to put a few more on the list. Some countries will warrant at least a couple of meals to cover their complete diversity, and my wife says that "Around the world in 80 plates" sounds like a catchier title for this all. I'll post a list once I've got it completed.
Assuming that the world does not actually come to an end in 2012, I hope to first, finish projects that I've started, namely: my survival knife, my glockenspiel, and other. One endevor that I will really try had to acheive is to create at least 52 meals of representing the globe. I've been pretty successful at making some fantastic foreign food and I will expand that to cover at least one country per week. Cindy and I already put a list of about 48 countries together. I'll have to put a few more on the list. Some countries will warrant at least a couple of meals to cover their complete diversity, and my wife says that "Around the world in 80 plates" sounds like a catchier title for this all. I'll post a list once I've got it completed.
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