This Saturday's kitchen creation was Classic Paella.
Shopping for it was a challenge. Needed to find chorizo saugage, shrimp, pimenton, and manchego cheese. We had the chicken and saffron.
It takes a medium effort in the chopping and preparation but quick cooking on the stovetop.
This recipe and story with it were from Christiana Masters on the CS Monitor.
1/2 cup olive oil
6 chicken legs
1 large onion
4 garlic cloves
1 link ( about 6 ounces) chorizo sausage
1-1/2 cups rice
3-1/4 cups chicken broth
1/4 teaspoon saffron threads
1/2 teaspoon pimenton (Spanish paprika)
8 ounces shrimp
1/2 cup grated manchego cheese (sheep milk cheese)
Good substitute is Pecorino Romano.
Red pepper flakes to taste
Salt and pepper to taste
Any or all of the following
2 cups broccolini
1 bunch asparagus tips
2 cups red and green bell pepper
1 cup peas
1 cup baby corn
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Frank's Ham and Split Pea Soup
Yesterday's soup was my own invention: "Frank's Ham and Split Pea Soup."
Found 7 different recipes and decided to combine them all. Has a lot of veggies and a real success.
Here is the total list of ingredients:
Dry green split peas
Ham (in freezer from last Thanksgiving)
Celery
Carrots
Onion
1 large potato
Garlic
Chicken stock
Bay leaf
Cayenne pepper
Thyme
Rosemary
Butter
Flour
Sugar
Salt
Black pepper
Decided not to include the Kielbasa nor the ground pork or turkey meat balls from 2 of the recipes.
The ham was good enough. The others for future experimenting.
The 7 reference recipes were from:
- 2 different Food Club split pea containers.
- Joy of Cooking (1962) by Rombauer and Becker
- Taste of Homes Big Book of Soup (2006)
- 500 Soup Recipes by Bridget Jones, Hermes House publishers (2007)
- Heartland Cookbook
- Found in our soup recipe folder, notes on it (1995)
Found 7 different recipes and decided to combine them all. Has a lot of veggies and a real success.
Here is the total list of ingredients:
Dry green split peas
Ham (in freezer from last Thanksgiving)
Celery
Carrots
Onion
1 large potato
Garlic
Chicken stock
Bay leaf
Cayenne pepper
Thyme
Rosemary
Butter
Flour
Sugar
Salt
Black pepper
Decided not to include the Kielbasa nor the ground pork or turkey meat balls from 2 of the recipes.
The ham was good enough. The others for future experimenting.
The 7 reference recipes were from:
- 2 different Food Club split pea containers.
- Joy of Cooking (1962) by Rombauer and Becker
- Taste of Homes Big Book of Soup (2006)
- 500 Soup Recipes by Bridget Jones, Hermes House publishers (2007)
- Heartland Cookbook
- Found in our soup recipe folder, notes on it (1995)
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Reading Backwards
Ebook by Richard W. Paul, Critical Thinking: Tools for Taking Charge, suggests reading 1 book each month by writers and thinking from long ago. Purpose is to remove your thinking from present day biases and social influences.
1. My selected Ebook for Feb/March 2011 is:
On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin.
- In Chapter 2 discussion about different classes. I needed to see definitions.
These examples show my understanding of the different classes:
Life
Domain
Kingdom
Phylum
Classes
Orders
Families
Genera Walnuts, Hickories, Quercus(Oak), etc.
Species Red Oak, Black Oak, etc,
Varieties
Chapter 4: Natural Selection, competitionChapter 5: Laws of Variation - Laws of intheritance
- Tendencey to reversion
- Hybrids - crosses of species
Darwin writes: It makes the works of God a mere mockery and deception; I would almost at soon believe with the old and ignorant cosmogonists, that fossil shells had never lived, but had been created in stone so as to mock the shells now living on the sea-shore.
Steady accumulation through natural selection result in modifications of structure.
Chapter 6: Difficulties in Theory.
- Upland geese with webbed feet
- Ground woodpeckers
- Diving thrushes
- Petrels with habits of auks
- Metamorphoses of organ functions are possible
- Natural selection will not necessarily produce absolute perfection
- "Natura non facit saltum" = Nature does not take jumps
Chapter 7. Instinct.Instincts comparable with habits, but different in their origin.
Instincts graduated.
Aphides and ants.
Instincts variable.
Domestic instincts, their origin.
Natural instincts of the cuckoo, ostrich, and parasitic bees.
Slave-making ants.
Hive-bee, its cell-making instinct.
Difficulties on the theory of the Natural Selection of instincts.
Neuter or sterile insects.
Chapter 8. Hybridism.Sterility of first crosses and hybrids.
Laws governing the sterility of hybrids.
Causes of sterility of first crosses and of hybrids.
Fertility of varieties.
Hybrids and mongrels
Chapter 9. On the Imperfection of the Geological Record.
Absence of intermediate varieties at the present day.
Nature of extinct intermediate varieties.
Vast lapse of time.
Poorness of our palaeontological collections.
Intermittence of geological formations.
Absence of intermediate varieties in any one formation.
Sudden appearance of groups of species.
Species sudden appearance in the lowest known fossiliferous strata.
Chapter 10. On the Geological Succession of Organic Beings.
Slow and succesive appearance of new species.
Different rates of change.
Species once lost do not reappear.
Groups of species follow same general rules in appearance and disappearance as do
single species.
Extinction.
Simultaneous changes in forms of life throughout the world.
Affinities of extinct species to each other and to living species.
State of development of ancient forms.
Succession of same types within the same areas.
Chapter 11. Geographical Distribution
Present distribution vs physical conditions differences.
Importance of barriers.
Productions of the same continent.
Centres of creation.
Means of dispersal.
Dispersal during the Glacial period.
Chapter 12. Geographical Distribution -continued.
Distribution of fresh-water productions.
The inhabitants of oceanic islands.
Mammals.
Relation of inhabitants of islands to those of nearest mainland.
Colonisation from the nearest source with subsequent modification.
Chapter 13. Mutual Affinities of Organic Beings: Morphology:
Embryology: Rudimentary Organs.
- Classification, Natural system.
- Morphology
- Embryology, laws of.
- Rudimenatary Organs; their origin explained.
Chapter 14: Recapitulation and Conclusion.
Dificulties on the theory of Natural Selection.
General and special circumstances in its favor.
Causes of general belief in the immutability of species.
How far the theory of natural selection may be extended.
Effects of its adoption on the study of Natural history.
Concluding remarks.
1. My selected Ebook for Feb/March 2011 is:
On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin.
- In Chapter 2 discussion about different classes. I needed to see definitions.
These examples show my understanding of the different classes:
Life
Domain
Kingdom
Phylum
Classes
Orders
Families
Genera Walnuts, Hickories, Quercus(Oak), etc.
Species Red Oak, Black Oak, etc,
Varieties
Chapter 4: Natural Selection, competitionChapter 5: Laws of Variation - Laws of intheritance
- Tendencey to reversion
- Hybrids - crosses of species
Darwin writes: It makes the works of God a mere mockery and deception; I would almost at soon believe with the old and ignorant cosmogonists, that fossil shells had never lived, but had been created in stone so as to mock the shells now living on the sea-shore.
Steady accumulation through natural selection result in modifications of structure.
Chapter 6: Difficulties in Theory.
- Upland geese with webbed feet
- Ground woodpeckers
- Diving thrushes
- Petrels with habits of auks
- Metamorphoses of organ functions are possible
- Natural selection will not necessarily produce absolute perfection
- "Natura non facit saltum" = Nature does not take jumps
Chapter 7. Instinct.Instincts comparable with habits, but different in their origin.
Instincts graduated.
Aphides and ants.
Instincts variable.
Domestic instincts, their origin.
Natural instincts of the cuckoo, ostrich, and parasitic bees.
Slave-making ants.
Hive-bee, its cell-making instinct.
Difficulties on the theory of the Natural Selection of instincts.
Neuter or sterile insects.
Chapter 8. Hybridism.Sterility of first crosses and hybrids.
Laws governing the sterility of hybrids.
Causes of sterility of first crosses and of hybrids.
Fertility of varieties.
Hybrids and mongrels
Chapter 9. On the Imperfection of the Geological Record.
Absence of intermediate varieties at the present day.
Nature of extinct intermediate varieties.
Vast lapse of time.
Poorness of our palaeontological collections.
Intermittence of geological formations.
Absence of intermediate varieties in any one formation.
Sudden appearance of groups of species.
Species sudden appearance in the lowest known fossiliferous strata.
Chapter 10. On the Geological Succession of Organic Beings.
Slow and succesive appearance of new species.
Different rates of change.
Species once lost do not reappear.
Groups of species follow same general rules in appearance and disappearance as do
single species.
Extinction.
Simultaneous changes in forms of life throughout the world.
Affinities of extinct species to each other and to living species.
State of development of ancient forms.
Succession of same types within the same areas.
Chapter 11. Geographical Distribution
Present distribution vs physical conditions differences.
Importance of barriers.
Productions of the same continent.
Centres of creation.
Means of dispersal.
Dispersal during the Glacial period.
Chapter 12. Geographical Distribution -continued.
Distribution of fresh-water productions.
The inhabitants of oceanic islands.
Mammals.
Relation of inhabitants of islands to those of nearest mainland.
Colonisation from the nearest source with subsequent modification.
Chapter 13. Mutual Affinities of Organic Beings: Morphology:
Embryology: Rudimentary Organs.
- Classification, Natural system.
- Morphology
- Embryology, laws of.
- Rudimenatary Organs; their origin explained.
Chapter 14: Recapitulation and Conclusion.
Dificulties on the theory of Natural Selection.
General and special circumstances in its favor.
Causes of general belief in the immutability of species.
How far the theory of natural selection may be extended.
Effects of its adoption on the study of Natural history.
Concluding remarks.
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Asparagus Potato Soup
Saturday's Soup was Asparagus Potato, now that stores are selling this season's asparagus crop imported from warmer climates. A really rich thick creamy soup like I have been seaching for. Easy to make.
Recipe from http://allrecipes.com/
2 cups potatoes
1/2 pound asparagus
2 celery ribs
4 cups chicken broth
1/4 cup margarine or butter
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 cup whipping cream
1/2 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
Dash pepper
For garnish:
12 bacon strips cooked and crumbled
3/4 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
Recipe from http://allrecipes.com/
2 cups potatoes
1/2 pound asparagus
2 celery ribs
4 cups chicken broth
1/4 cup margarine or butter
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 cup whipping cream
1/2 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
Dash pepper
For garnish:
12 bacon strips cooked and crumbled
3/4 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
Friday, February 4, 2011
Potato and Onion Family Soup
Soup contains white onion, leeks, shallots and boiling or baking potatoes. Leeks and shallots were homegrown in my garden last year. Leeks were dug out of the snow today from my garden. Soup contains choice of stocks and heavy or light cream. Today we will use chicken stock and skim milk.
To be pureed in a blender or food processor. My family often prefers soup with whole pieces of vegetables. Today we are going with pureed in a food processor. Now the fun begins with peeling and cutting up the onion family and potatoes.
Frank M.
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
WIndows 7 PC Internet Problem
Recently my new WIN 7 64 bit computer can not access any internet websites using Internet Explorer 8 or Fire Fox browers. Problem is intermitment. Tried various solutions suggested by Compuserve Internet Forum. None solved the problem.
Tried an MS suggested solution of deleting Browser History. Appeared OK for 3 startups. But problem returned and now takes 3 or more startups for IE - 8 to kick in. Other things tried were to run IE-8 with no addins, reset the modem, and running the Network Diagnostics tool.
Current temporary solution is to never shut down the PC once IE-8 is working OK.
But that is not a good long term solution.
Any other suggestions will be much appreciated.
Frank M.
Tried an MS suggested solution of deleting Browser History. Appeared OK for 3 startups. But problem returned and now takes 3 or more startups for IE - 8 to kick in. Other things tried were to run IE-8 with no addins, reset the modem, and running the Network Diagnostics tool.
Current temporary solution is to never shut down the PC once IE-8 is working OK.
But that is not a good long term solution.
Any other suggestions will be much appreciated.
Frank M.
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