nuxx.net
Making, baking, and (un-)breaking things in Southeast Michigan.

Category food

iPhone, Amtrak, Bacon, etc.

July 8, 2007

Yesterday I got to play with an iPhone. I think that I would buy one if the following things change:

· Ability to get photos off of it via Bluetooth (OBEX?), or some method other than simply syncing with iPhoto or via email.
· Ability to upload photos via Safari.
· Ability to use the phone as a network device for data access via from another device. Either as a BT modem or network device.

The interface is very very slick, and it’s pleasant to use. Google Maps on it is a dream. However, it doesn’t do the couple things I want.

Danielle and I took an Amtrak train from Birmingham, MI to Ann Arbor, MI. We wandered around Ann Arbor, ate at Zingerman’s, bought a few things, met up with Kate and Ben, and then took the train home. It was $72 round trip for the two of us with business class seats. I have a few complaints about the service, but generally it was all right. I don’t know if I’d go via that route again, but it was nice to see the trip between the the two towns from a different perspective.

When at Zingerman’s I ate a very tasty sandwich plied with some high quality, tasty, smoked bacon. It also included lettuce, tomato, avocado, and green chilis.

Photos of all of this will likely come later.

acquired thingsfoodmoved from livejournaltravel

Fried Dinner

June 28, 2007

Fried Rice-ish Stuff

This is what results when one prepares Near East Curry Rice Pilaf with a can of mushrooms, then tosses it all in a wok and fries it up along with nanami togarashi, a bit of vegetable oil, soy sauce, and an egg.

It was good. Sort of a generic curry pilaf with a bit of spicyness to it. Definitely better than carry-out I’ve had from many places. Oh, and I’m really full after eating it all with a bottle of ginger beer.

Now, to do electronics work.

foodmoved from livejournal

Grilled Cheese & Mexican Coke

June 23, 2007

Grilled Cheese, Wheat Crackers, Mexican Coca-Cola

Here is a photo of my dinner from the other night. It is three small grilled cheese sandwiches made with Meijer-brand bread and generic sharp cheddar, Meijer-brand organic wheat crackers (like Wheat Thins™), and Mexican Coca-Cola (made with real sugar and no HFCS).

foodmoved from livejournal

Fibrament-D

May 22, 2007

13 3/8″ x 17 1/2″ Fibrament-D baking stone in my oven.
(Click for more photos…)

Well, the 13 3/8″ x 17 1/2″ Fibrament-D baking stone I ordered from bakingstone.com arrived yesterday. After my previous sandstone stone broke while baking this pizza I had to get a new one. While I thought I could do without, I soon realized that I do almost all of my bread and pizza baking on a stone, and I’ve been unable to make fresh or frozen pizzas at home!

Following along with the directions packed in with the stone I put it in the oven to temper it. This needs to be done by raising the temperature of the stone 100°F every hour until it reaches 500°F, then holding it there for two hours. This is to dry and temper the stone and get it ready for use. Doing this reminds me of the time I made a stand for my PowerMac G5 from 6061 aluminum and brought it to a T6 temper in my oven (photo gallery retired), except it smells of damp concrete instead of metal.

One interesting thing is that the top of the stone is rough almost like natural stone, and the bottom is textured almost like cardboard, which leads me to believe that it is poured into a form before setting.

The rest of the photos can be seen in my Fibrament-D photo album (photo gallery retired), if you are so inclined.

acquired thingsfoodmoved from livejournal

FibraMent

May 16, 2007

I just ordered a FibraMent baking stone to replace mine which was broken on Friday while extracting a pizza from the oven.

I purchased the 13 3/8″ x 17 1/2″ version, which is US$50 shipped. It should fit nicely inside the oven and provide a (hopefully better than before) platform for baking of bread and pizzas. The stone I had before was around 3/8″ thick, and this one is 3/4″.

acquired thingsfoodmoved from livejournal

Oak-y!

May 11, 2007

French (Toasted) Oak Chips Soaking in George Dickel

As part of making the Simcoak (which I hope comes out good) I’m soaking around 4.75 ounces of toasted French oak chips in a pint glass of George Dickel bourbon. Sure, that’s almost $10 of bourbon, but I’m hoping that it’ll sanitize the chips, contribute to the flavor of the beer, and leave me with some still-good, drinkable, extra-oaky bourbon afterwards.

Also, Danielle and I made pizzas tonight. Below the cut is a picture of the better looking of the two pizzas.

Click for pizza picture!

beerfoodmoved from livejournal

HobNobs

April 16, 2007

HobNobs!

Plain HobNobs, my favorite biscuits.
(Click for more moblog photos…)

Thanks, Jungle Jim’s. I now have plain HobNobs, my favorite biscuit. I wish the normal importers brought them in, not just the chocolate-coated varieties.

Now, to mentally prep for a phone conversation with a recruiter. And do some electronics work.

foodmoved from livejournal

Poutine!

April 2, 2007

Poutine!

Poutine from HARVEY’S.
(Click for more moblog photos…)

Danielle and I headed over to Point Pelee National Park yesterday. I’ll post photos of it later, but for now I wanted to post the photo of an order of poutine acquired at HARVEY’S in Windsor, just before crossing back into the US. This was part of our dinner, where I had a veggie burger (with onions, lettuce, and hot peppers), poutine, and 7-Up, while Danielle had a normal burger, poutine, and root beer.

Also, this was some tasty candy from Friday.

foodmoved from livejournaltravel

Cooking Dinner and Mama, Not In The Same Pot

March 21, 2007

Tempeh marinated in teryaki sauce, tahini, and roasted garlic then grilled in a bit of oil and served on a bun. Two papadoms are used as a side dish.
Tempeh marinated in teryaki sauce, tahini, and roasted garlic
then grilled in a bit of oil and served on a bun. Two papadoms are used as a side dish.

Well, there’s my dinner; grilled tempeh bugers and two papadoms.

As mentioned earlier, Cooking Mama Cook Off for Nintendo Wii was acquired today. It’s pretty good. My biggest complaint is that some of the actions feel a bit laggy, but I think this is intentional. For example, when cracking an egg one makes a motion, then the egg moves and cracks. Move too hard initially and the egg breaks. Move too little and it doesn’t crack. I think the point of this is to get one to make the motion without the visual feedback so that muscle memory learns how to crack eggs and such.

When moving butter around in the pan (to cover it for sautéing) the tilt controls are wonderfully responsive and things work great, along with shaking various pots and pans, and things like that. That leads me to believe the previous behavior is intentional. Also, when chopping vegetables the arrow indicating where to chop isn’t visible if the cursor is directly over it. This was likely done to make the screen less cluttered while playing. However, if the level begins with the cursor already in the right place, it’s a bit confusing as to where one should begin. This goes away with a bit of practice too.

Other than that, Cooking Mama Cook Off is pretty much just like Cooking Mama for DS, except with (obviously) different actions for things, two player games, better / larger graphics, and… Wii-ness. I’d say if one likes the DS version the Wii version is definitely worth getting.

foodgamesmoved from livejournal