We all love marinades, because they add moisture and flavor to our favorite meats when we're grilling. But buying them? No way jose, that's money better spent elsewhere, if you ask me. Make your own dang marinade! It's not as hard as you think it is.
Marinades typically comprise three things: a salt or an acid (or both!), something sweet to balance it out, and then some spices and flavorings. I bet you're wondering why. Well, I'll tell you why!
1) Salt or acid. Acids denature proteins. What does that mean when it's at home? Well, proteins are naturally folded up in quite complex patterns. Acids disrupt some of the bonds that keep proteins folded. The end result of this process is a bunch of little tunnels through which flavor can seep in to your meat.
If you go the salt route, you're adding moisture to the meat because of osmosis. Because the fluid inside the cells in the meat is less salty than the fluid outside, water wants to flow out of the cells to dilute the saltiness. Wait wait, you say, I thought you said you're adding moisture, and this sounds like the moisture is flowing out. Ah, but the salt then dissolves some of the proteins in the meat's cell structure and the meat's cell fluids become more concentrated, and the osmotic pressure sucks the water back in. (Brining, a related technique, involves immersing meat in a salt-water bath, and is great for such meats as turkey and pork that tend to dry out when cooked.)
2) Something sweet. Now, the first reason is obvious - you've just put a whole lot of salt or acid on your meat, and if you don't balance it out, it's going to taste like straight-up table salt, or taking a pull from a bottle of vinegar. Yum. But there is another reason to put sugar in a marinade, and that is caramelization. That's when sugars under heat turn brown and gain complex flavors. (How much better does caramel taste than just a handful of sugar?) Putting sugar in your marinade helps to give meats (especially light-colored ones like turkey or chicken) that pretty brown crust when it's grilled.
3) Flavorings. Well, you wanted it to taste like something, didn't you?
In case you're wondering what are some good options for these three marinade components, here you go: Soy sauce is a great place to get salt (especially for marinating beef - the flavors go very well together), vinegar (in all its delicious varieties) and citrus juices are nice acids, and you can take your pick of your entire spice cabinet to flavor it (just make sure everything plays well together).
I'll give you a sample of a marinade I just made. I wish I could give you a better idea of amounts, but I didn't really measure anything.
Soy sauce (Salt)
Rice wine vinegar (Acid)
Honey (Sugar)
Orange juice (I squeezed some fresh and also used some orange-tangerine blend.)
Orange zest (about half an orange worth)
Fresh ginger, grated fine
Sesame oil (careful - a little goes a long way! Available at Asian markets and most grocery stores.)
My preferred method for making marinades is to put everything together in one-a-them glass canning jars, because then you can just put a lid on and shake it. Start off with a goodly amount of soy sauce and a goodly amount of vinegar - probably at least half of your regular-size canning jar - because this is the base of your marinade. Then add the other stuff until it smells and tastes right. I went with orange zest because the citrus flavor was getting buried, but I didn't want to wash everything out with too much juice. Orange zest is powerfully orangey, so it worked well.
My favorite way to actually marinate the meat is to stick it in a ziploc bag, pour enough marinade in to cover it (less than you think, because of the next step!) and then squeeze the excess air out. The marinade makes good contact with the meat and it's easy to turn it around for even coverage.
A note on marinating time. If you're marinating pork or beef, you can leave it in there pretty much all day, but if you're marinating chicken or fish, you only need 30 minutes - one hour TOPS! This is because chicken and fish aren't as dense (so they need less time to soak up flavor) and the surface will actually start to be chemically cooked by the acid in the marinade, and the meat will be dry. Go try some ceviche if you don't believe me.
Once you're done marinating, cook and enjoy! See, that wasn't so bad.
ps - I marinated a tri-tip in this, then gave it a post-cook soak in the marinade in a little tinfoil canoe.
Monday, June 08, 2009
Monday, June 01, 2009
Cooking: Raspberry Bread Pudding
This is a pretty fakey recipe but I think you can make it work.
Things you'll need:
Bread (something good and thick, that can soak up a lot of custard)
Half-and-half or cream or milk
Eggs (probably a half dozen by the time you're all done)
Raspberries and some raspberry puree
Sugar
Vanilla extract
First, you get a bowl, and tear up some bread until it fills the bowl. Old bread is probably good here, and you probably don't want to use a sliced loaf because it'll be too thin. I used some old French-ish rolls we had sitting around. Dump the bread in a pan, turn your oven on as low as it goes, and put the bread in there for a few minutes to stale it out (unless, of course, you want to wait 24 hours or so for it to get stale naturally). This works surprisingly well.
Now, take the bowl you ripped the bread into, fill it about half full of half-and-half (or cream, or whatever - we didn't quite have enough half-and-half, so I put some regular milk in it too). Add one or two eggs (depending on how big your bowl is) and some sugar (enough to make it sweet) and a good slosh of vanilla, then whisk it until the eggs are completely blended. Then dump the bread in to soak. Stir it around every few minutes until the bread has absorbed as much custard as it can possibly hold.
So we were making raspberry jam, and I had some leftover raspberry puree with the seeds strained out. Put some of that, about half as much sugar, and enough lemon juice to make it tart in a pan and cook it down until it's syrupy.
Once the bread has absorbed as much custard as it can, dump 3/4 of it in a lightly greased baking pan (size depending again on how much bread you used - I used a 9"x9", I think), then cover it with the raspberry sauce and put some frozen raspberries in there (I don't see why you couldn't use fresh, except maybe they would bake funny), then put the rest of the bread-custard mix on top. Bake at 350-375°F for about 40 minutes or until a knife stuck in the middle comes out clean.
While it's baking, make some creme anglaise (this recipe came out a little bit eggy for me - maybe because I didn't have cream - but you might consider going down to 3 yolks) and put it in the refrigerator to cool. (Actually, it would probably be a good idea to make before-hand so it's actually cold.)
Serve the pudding warm with the cold sauce on it, garnish with fresh raspberries. Yum.
Things you'll need:
Bread (something good and thick, that can soak up a lot of custard)
Half-and-half or cream or milk
Eggs (probably a half dozen by the time you're all done)
Raspberries and some raspberry puree
Sugar
Vanilla extract
First, you get a bowl, and tear up some bread until it fills the bowl. Old bread is probably good here, and you probably don't want to use a sliced loaf because it'll be too thin. I used some old French-ish rolls we had sitting around. Dump the bread in a pan, turn your oven on as low as it goes, and put the bread in there for a few minutes to stale it out (unless, of course, you want to wait 24 hours or so for it to get stale naturally). This works surprisingly well.
Now, take the bowl you ripped the bread into, fill it about half full of half-and-half (or cream, or whatever - we didn't quite have enough half-and-half, so I put some regular milk in it too). Add one or two eggs (depending on how big your bowl is) and some sugar (enough to make it sweet) and a good slosh of vanilla, then whisk it until the eggs are completely blended. Then dump the bread in to soak. Stir it around every few minutes until the bread has absorbed as much custard as it can possibly hold.
So we were making raspberry jam, and I had some leftover raspberry puree with the seeds strained out. Put some of that, about half as much sugar, and enough lemon juice to make it tart in a pan and cook it down until it's syrupy.
Once the bread has absorbed as much custard as it can, dump 3/4 of it in a lightly greased baking pan (size depending again on how much bread you used - I used a 9"x9", I think), then cover it with the raspberry sauce and put some frozen raspberries in there (I don't see why you couldn't use fresh, except maybe they would bake funny), then put the rest of the bread-custard mix on top. Bake at 350-375°F for about 40 minutes or until a knife stuck in the middle comes out clean.
While it's baking, make some creme anglaise (this recipe came out a little bit eggy for me - maybe because I didn't have cream - but you might consider going down to 3 yolks) and put it in the refrigerator to cool. (Actually, it would probably be a good idea to make before-hand so it's actually cold.)
Serve the pudding warm with the cold sauce on it, garnish with fresh raspberries. Yum.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Teaching: Calculators and technology
So someday I want to be a teacher, and so I find myself thinking about teachery things every once in a while. I've decided to record some of these on this here blogomathing.
I had an interesting philosophical discussion with a student in the tutoring center about the use of calculators in math classes - or, specifically, to what extent calculators should be allowed. On the one hand, calculators are fantastic for helping you grind through tedious calculations that sometimes get in the way of actual learning. On the other hand, I was just tutoring a girl who said, and I quote, "I took calc 2 back in high school, but we always did it with our calculators, so I don't remember how to do it" - so sometimes calculators can become a crutch and prevent the student from learning.
So the stage is set - you find yourself on a battleground with the champions of the calculator trumpeting their technological battle-cry on the one side, and the partisans of pencil-and-paper standing defiant on the other. I think that the best solution is, as is often the case, to be found somewhere in the middle, and my views will be explained through the rest of this post.
First of all, I believe in quantitative literacy, and by this I mean that I think people should have a good idea of numbers and sizes and should be able to do mental "ballpark calculations" to get a rough idea of an answer. (This is a skill that will serve you well throughout your life. If oranges are $1.29 a pound, you should be able to figure out whether or not buying a 4-lb bag for $4.79 is a good deal.) I also believe, especially in a math-class setting, in algebraic literacy - you should know about factoring numbers and canceling top and bottom and when you can split up a fraction. These are basic skills that should be a common denominator, if you'll pardon the pun, for all math classes, and I think that this is where calculators turn into a crutch. If you're taking a math class, you should be able to multiply, subtract, divide, etc. by hand - BUT I don't think you should be compelled to. If a class does not allow calculators on tests (and more on that later), then the teacher should be willing to accept unsimplified answers, or at least be appropriately lenient on simple calculational mistakes (especially when that's not what the class is about). It's a calculus class, after all, not an algebra class, and the student should be graded on how well they do calculus, not algebra.
On the subject of calculators on tests, the student I was talking to yesterday had a really great idea. He said, why doesn't the math department get together and come up with a standard calculator that can be used on all the tests (a TI-83, say), then buy 150 of them, nuke the memory, and keep them in the department office? It'd be really hard to tamper with them, but you'd still be able to do all the basic things. And if you wanted more control, I'm sure you could get your friends in the computer science department to write you some new firmware so you could lock out, say, the graphing capabilities on demand. I really like this idea, and I think it solves the problem of calculators on tests once and for all.
Now, with modern calculators and computer algebra systems and so forth, we find ourselves in an interesting quandary. Things that were computationally intractable ten years ago (indefinite integrals, Taylor expansions, etc.) are now easy to do on your plain vanilla TI-89. This lets lazy students type things into their calculators and get answers without knowing the math behind it. The underlying phenomenon is nothing new, and we even have a word for it. It's called cheating, and this kind of thing is easily detectable (if you bother to look at their paper for 3.7 seconds) and doesn't really worry me. What worries me is that these "middle-ground" students are the ones who would probably learn the subject if pushed to do it, but they are instead letting the calculator do it for them.
Instead of dwelling on why calculators can be bad, let's talk about appropriate uses of technology. I think the most powerful thing about technology is the opportunity it gives students to explore. I've learned a heck of a lot about math by dinking around with a calculator. The beauty here is that again, calculators take care of tedious calculations for you, and allow you to see the Big Picture without a ton of needless effort (you ever try to plot a slope field by hand? Yeah, have fun with that). When you play around with a grapher, you can quickly develop your visual intuition for the rough shape of common functions, how polar coordinates work, and get a good handle on parametric equations. It's also super cool to graph a function along with its first five or so Taylor polynomials - you can immediately see how it converges, and what exactly that radius of convergence means.
For these reasons listed above, I find myself right in the middle of the road when it comes to technology in math classes. I think both of the extrema, whether it be the "CALCULATORS ARE EVIL" school or the "USE CALCULATORS FOR EVERYTHING" school, are rather dogmatic - and rather silly.
I had an interesting philosophical discussion with a student in the tutoring center about the use of calculators in math classes - or, specifically, to what extent calculators should be allowed. On the one hand, calculators are fantastic for helping you grind through tedious calculations that sometimes get in the way of actual learning. On the other hand, I was just tutoring a girl who said, and I quote, "I took calc 2 back in high school, but we always did it with our calculators, so I don't remember how to do it" - so sometimes calculators can become a crutch and prevent the student from learning.
So the stage is set - you find yourself on a battleground with the champions of the calculator trumpeting their technological battle-cry on the one side, and the partisans of pencil-and-paper standing defiant on the other. I think that the best solution is, as is often the case, to be found somewhere in the middle, and my views will be explained through the rest of this post.
First of all, I believe in quantitative literacy, and by this I mean that I think people should have a good idea of numbers and sizes and should be able to do mental "ballpark calculations" to get a rough idea of an answer. (This is a skill that will serve you well throughout your life. If oranges are $1.29 a pound, you should be able to figure out whether or not buying a 4-lb bag for $4.79 is a good deal.) I also believe, especially in a math-class setting, in algebraic literacy - you should know about factoring numbers and canceling top and bottom and when you can split up a fraction. These are basic skills that should be a common denominator, if you'll pardon the pun, for all math classes, and I think that this is where calculators turn into a crutch. If you're taking a math class, you should be able to multiply, subtract, divide, etc. by hand - BUT I don't think you should be compelled to. If a class does not allow calculators on tests (and more on that later), then the teacher should be willing to accept unsimplified answers, or at least be appropriately lenient on simple calculational mistakes (especially when that's not what the class is about). It's a calculus class, after all, not an algebra class, and the student should be graded on how well they do calculus, not algebra.
On the subject of calculators on tests, the student I was talking to yesterday had a really great idea. He said, why doesn't the math department get together and come up with a standard calculator that can be used on all the tests (a TI-83, say), then buy 150 of them, nuke the memory, and keep them in the department office? It'd be really hard to tamper with them, but you'd still be able to do all the basic things. And if you wanted more control, I'm sure you could get your friends in the computer science department to write you some new firmware so you could lock out, say, the graphing capabilities on demand. I really like this idea, and I think it solves the problem of calculators on tests once and for all.
Now, with modern calculators and computer algebra systems and so forth, we find ourselves in an interesting quandary. Things that were computationally intractable ten years ago (indefinite integrals, Taylor expansions, etc.) are now easy to do on your plain vanilla TI-89. This lets lazy students type things into their calculators and get answers without knowing the math behind it. The underlying phenomenon is nothing new, and we even have a word for it. It's called cheating, and this kind of thing is easily detectable (if you bother to look at their paper for 3.7 seconds) and doesn't really worry me. What worries me is that these "middle-ground" students are the ones who would probably learn the subject if pushed to do it, but they are instead letting the calculator do it for them.
Instead of dwelling on why calculators can be bad, let's talk about appropriate uses of technology. I think the most powerful thing about technology is the opportunity it gives students to explore. I've learned a heck of a lot about math by dinking around with a calculator. The beauty here is that again, calculators take care of tedious calculations for you, and allow you to see the Big Picture without a ton of needless effort (you ever try to plot a slope field by hand? Yeah, have fun with that). When you play around with a grapher, you can quickly develop your visual intuition for the rough shape of common functions, how polar coordinates work, and get a good handle on parametric equations. It's also super cool to graph a function along with its first five or so Taylor polynomials - you can immediately see how it converges, and what exactly that radius of convergence means.
For these reasons listed above, I find myself right in the middle of the road when it comes to technology in math classes. I think both of the extrema, whether it be the "CALCULATORS ARE EVIL" school or the "USE CALCULATORS FOR EVERYTHING" school, are rather dogmatic - and rather silly.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Mmmmcake
The chocolate chipotle cakes turned out friggin' amazing, but I would recommend eating them with vanilla ice cream or frozen yogurt instead of one of the sauces listed. But do whatever floats your boat.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Crowning Moments of Awesome
This is the first in what may become a series of posts on moments in history that are completely, undeniably, and irrevocably awesome.
- The British Double Cross System during World War II, by which MI5 controlled, as was confirmed after the war, all of the spies sent to the U.K. by Germany, with the possible exception of one who committed suicide. The spies were allowed to report such details as insignia on uniforms and markings on vehicles, which, of course, was so accurate that several of them were awarded the Iron Cross - while working for the British.
- The concept of earthquake bombs - conventional bombs that were designed to be extremely heavy, with a sharp nose, so they would penetrate the ground and thus do more damage - was developed by the British engineer Barnes Wallis. One of these bombs was used shortly after D-Day to prevent German reinforcements from moving by train. Instead of bombing the train tracks, which would be quickly and easily repaired, the RAF dropped a Tallboy on a mountain through which there was a railroad tunnel. The bomb drilled itself through the mountain into the tunnel and brought the whole dang tunnel down. The entire rail line was unusable through the rest of the war.
Friday, April 17, 2009
Help me choose my cellphone ringer!
So for the last few months, my cellphone ringer has been a snippet from Weezer's Buddy Holly, but I'm starting to get a little tired of it - it's time for a change. I've got a few ideas, and I want to know what you think. (The following are in alphabetical order because I am going through my iTunes library here.)
1. Something by Beck. Maybe the Speak'n'Spell bit from No Complaints? Or E-Pro?
2. The Bravery - Bad Sun (I'd have the whistling lick from the chorus.)
3. Something by Cake. I'm thinking Commissioning a Symphony in C.
4. Coldplay - Viva la Vida
5. Donavon Frankenreiter - Life, Love and Laughter. (If you don't know who this is, you should look him up.)
6. Jack Johnson? Maybe Hope, or Monsoon, or Bubble Toes, or If I Had Eyes?
7. Led Zeppelin - Black Dog
8. Moby - We Are All Made of Stars
9. Modest Mouse - Float On
10. A little Paolo Nutini?
11. The Republic Tigers - Buildings and Mountains (Another kinda obscure band you should look up.)
12. Snow Patrol?
13. U2. Lots of choices: Elevation, Love and Peace or Else, Where the Streets Have No Name, Pride...
14. The Who - Who Are You. I think this would be apropos. :)
Endorse your favorite or suggest something else!
1. Something by Beck. Maybe the Speak'n'Spell bit from No Complaints? Or E-Pro?
2. The Bravery - Bad Sun (I'd have the whistling lick from the chorus.)
3. Something by Cake. I'm thinking Commissioning a Symphony in C.
4. Coldplay - Viva la Vida
5. Donavon Frankenreiter - Life, Love and Laughter. (If you don't know who this is, you should look him up.)
6. Jack Johnson? Maybe Hope, or Monsoon, or Bubble Toes, or If I Had Eyes?
7. Led Zeppelin - Black Dog
8. Moby - We Are All Made of Stars
9. Modest Mouse - Float On
10. A little Paolo Nutini?
11. The Republic Tigers - Buildings and Mountains (Another kinda obscure band you should look up.)
12. Snow Patrol?
13. U2. Lots of choices: Elevation, Love and Peace or Else, Where the Streets Have No Name, Pride...
14. The Who - Who Are You. I think this would be apropos. :)
Endorse your favorite or suggest something else!
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Things
I am feeling kind of guilty today, because I didn't go in to work because I felt kinda sick (and still do, tyvm). I hate shirking responsibilities. I also felt completely unmotivated to finish my homework properly, and couldn't figure out several of the problems. I also hate failure. (This, btw, is why I am wary of commitment - it's not the commitment that I'm afraid of, it's the failure that happens if I don't or can't follow through.)
In happier news, the new MoTab CD is amazing, and I got two free songs from iTunes, both of which are pretty decent.
Blah.
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Recipe
I friggin' will make this someday.
Boca Negra Chocolate Chipotle Cakes
1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces, plus additional for greasing ramekins
1 cup sugar plus additional for dusting
6 medium dried chipotle chiles (1 ounce)
6 tablespoons fresh orange juice
10 oz Valrhona semisweet chocolate (56%) or fine-quality bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
4 large eggs
4 teaspoons all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
Special equipment: 8 (4-oz) ramekins
Preparation:
Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 325°F. Butter ramekins and dust with sugar, knocking out excess.
Toast chiles in a dry heavy skillet over moderate heat, turning, until fragrant, 1 to 2 minutes. Discard stems, seeds, and ribs, then soak chiles in hot water to cover until softened, about 30 minutes. Drain, reserving soaking liquid. Purée chiles in a mini food processor or a blender, adding 2 to 3 tablespoons soaking liquid as needed to form a paste. Force paste through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl and discard solids. Set aside 1 1/2 tablespoons chile paste and freeze remainder for another use.
Bring juice and 1 cup sugar to a boil in a 1- to 1 1/2-quart saucepan, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Pour hot syrup over chocolate in a large bowl, stirring until chocolate is melted. Add butter and stir until melted.
Add eggs 1 at a time, whisking after each addition, then stir in chile paste, flour, and salt. Divide among ramekins and bake in hot water bath , uncovered, until just firm and top is starting to crust, 50 to 60 minutes. Transfer ramekins with tongs to a work surface and let stand 2 minutes.
Unmold warm cakes directly onto dessert plates (they will be difficult to move once they adhere).
And then you put this stuff on top.
Boca Negra Chocolate Chipotle Cakes
1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces, plus additional for greasing ramekins
1 cup sugar plus additional for dusting
6 medium dried chipotle chiles (1 ounce)
6 tablespoons fresh orange juice
10 oz Valrhona semisweet chocolate (56%) or fine-quality bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
4 large eggs
4 teaspoons all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
Special equipment: 8 (4-oz) ramekins
Preparation:
Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 325°F. Butter ramekins and dust with sugar, knocking out excess.
Toast chiles in a dry heavy skillet over moderate heat, turning, until fragrant, 1 to 2 minutes. Discard stems, seeds, and ribs, then soak chiles in hot water to cover until softened, about 30 minutes. Drain, reserving soaking liquid. Purée chiles in a mini food processor or a blender, adding 2 to 3 tablespoons soaking liquid as needed to form a paste. Force paste through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl and discard solids. Set aside 1 1/2 tablespoons chile paste and freeze remainder for another use.
Bring juice and 1 cup sugar to a boil in a 1- to 1 1/2-quart saucepan, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Pour hot syrup over chocolate in a large bowl, stirring until chocolate is melted. Add butter and stir until melted.
Add eggs 1 at a time, whisking after each addition, then stir in chile paste, flour, and salt. Divide among ramekins and bake in hot water bath , uncovered, until just firm and top is starting to crust, 50 to 60 minutes. Transfer ramekins with tongs to a work surface and let stand 2 minutes.
Unmold warm cakes directly onto dessert plates (they will be difficult to move once they adhere).
And then you put this stuff on top.
Tuesday, April 07, 2009
Ten things that are pretty cool
- Me. (Just thought I'd get that one out of the way right off the bat.)
- Last night, I decided that inasmuch as I was getting a paycheck today, I would purchase a CD that's been going through my head lately. It's a guy named Paolo Nutini, or to Cara, "Italian Guy". It is good musics. Pretty laid-back, acoustic, but with enough rock and pop influences to keep things interesting. I recommend it, especially if you can pick it up for cheap.
- The story of how I actually got it last night is also pretty cool. I went to the FYE on 7th and 21st (because I thought about it after I had already driven past Graywhale, which is my preferred CD buying location). I'm all about buying used CD's, because I think it helps the CD's feel good about life again, after being abandoned by their previous owners. Plus it's cheap, and I'm cheap. So I checked the used racks, couldn't find it. So I checked the new racks, couldn't find it. Dang! I went up to the counter to ask the lady if all their stock was out, but found myself poking through the alluring 40% Off box right by the checkout line. Lo and behold, the very CD I had wished to purchase! So I ended up getting it for like $10. Sweet.
- Rubio's fish tacos.
- TurboTax online free federal e-filing. Easy, user-friendly, fast and accurate.
- My anticipated $220 tax return.
- Having lunch at Red Robin with my sisters and some cousins.
- Holy cow, the weather today!
- Getting paid to work on your homework. (I watched the desk at the department office for an hour today during a staff meeting. One of my classmates dropped by to give someone something, and we ended up solving one of the problems. Nice.)
- Ice.
- I had sushi for dinner tonight.
- Getting two extra things that are pretty cool for free!
Monday, April 06, 2009
Service
God does notice us, and he watches over us. But it is usually through another person that he meets our needs. Therefore, it is vital that we serve each other....I'm not going to blame you if you TL;DR this one. But that's why I put the most important quote up there at the top. :)-President Spencer W. Kimball
So I've recently decided that I'm going to go to the temple more often, and planned to schedule it in on either Thursday or Friday night, depending on homework alignment. However, last night I decided that I would go to the temple this morning. My first class doesn't start until 10:45, so I figured I'd have plenty of time to catch the 8:00 session in the temple and get out in time for school.
I drove down the ramp into the conference center parking garage and briefly debated with myself about what elevator to park next to. The one is a shorter walk to the temple, but nobody was parked near the other one, so I decided to park there.
Enter the Jamesons. As I was walking towards the elevators, a lady hailed me. "Sir?" (Btw, if you're a stranger wanting to get on my good side, this is a good way to do it. Hence why I say "sir" and "ma'am" a lot.) "Can you show us how to get up to the temple?" I turned towards the speaker and found a middle-aged couple who looked rather lost, and told them I'd be happy to help. "Oh, thank you so much. We're from Texas, and we're chronically lost."
As I helped them navigate through the elevators and doors and crosswalks and going in the right door of the temple, we got to know each other. They were from Austin, in town for conference and to see their son who lives in Provo. They are converts of about 40 years, and today was their 39-year sealing anniversary. They were pretty much the sweetest people you've ever met.
Being from Texas, which is a good 4500 feet lower than Utah, they had some amount of altitude sickness, so we took it kinda slow getting over to the temple. As 8:00 drew nearer, I found myself thinking, even if I do miss this session, I won't even mind, because these people are SO COOL.
We made it to the temple, got changed, and squeaked into the session by the skin of our teeth. During the session, I found myself thinking about how God works small miracles by small means (like giving you the idea to go to the temple Monday instead of Thursday as previously planned, putting a little extra traffic on 600 South, throwing in a red light here and there, inspiring just a little hesitation about what elevator to park by), and how incredibly good He is at this game. I also found myself thinking how grateful I was for all the talks about the temple in general conference, because it was everything all the speakers promised, just like it always is.
Afterwards, I showed the Jamesons back to where they were parked (good luck finding your car again the first time you park under the conference center!). As we shook hands goodbye, Sister Jameson said, "You should come to Austin and stay with us." I said, "I'd love to!" - and meant it.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Comical misreadings, gas leaks, honey and mushrooms
So it's been forever since I updated this thing, and today was amusing, so off we go.
- I was just checking my gmail, and the little link they give you up at the top was from "NYT Travel" with the headline "Hotel Spas Try to Lure Locals". Of course I misread it as "Hotel Spas Try to Lure Lolcats".
- Today I and thousands of other students, faculty and staff were evacuated from the University of Utah campus after crews installing an underground fiber-optic line nailed a gas line with their drill. Oops! The guy whodunit said that Blue Stakes, the local utility line locating company, had cleared the area that morning. Gj Blue Stakes! Apparently they nailed the line so hard that grass was waving and the asphalt was bubbling. You could smell gas as far over as the business loop, a good thousand feet away.
- I just watched an unduly fascinating episode of Good Eats with Alton Brown. It is quite possibly one of the coolest shows on television, because Alton Brown picks a particular food item and tells you everything you could ever possibly want to know about it - chemistry, history, recipes that use it, etc. etc. Tonight's episode was on honey. I knew a little bit about honey's antiseptic and preservative properties, but it turns out that it's way cooler than that - it's strongly hygroscopic, which means it will actually suck water out of the air to help keep foods made with it moist. Alton made a delicious-looking honey mustard thing that could be used as a salad dressing OR a dip for chicken fingers or whatever OR anything else your imaginative mind can think of. Cool. Then I got wikipediaing about honey and bees and stuff and found out that, holy cow, bees are AWESOME. Not only do they make honey, but they do a waggle dance to indicate to other bees how far away and in what direction a particular field of flowers is, they can kill wasps by balling up around them until they die of overheating, and that archaeologists have found sealed pots of perfectly good (if a little crystallized) honey in Greek shipwrecks and Pharaohs' tombs. How cool is that?
- Speaking of random wikipediaing, I learned a lot about mushrooms today. Did you know that there are a ton of edible mushrooms, a ton of inedible mushrooms, and a ton of quite poisonous mushrooms, some of which look rather a lot like certain delicious mushrooms? Did you know that Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI died as a result of eating poisonous mushrooms, and that his death led to the War of Austrian Succession? Voltaire commented, "This dish of mushrooms changed the destiny of Europe." I bet you'll never look at a mushroom the same. Also, I want to kick this.
Sunday, March 01, 2009
Sucks
Do you know what sucks?
I'll tell you what sucks.
In fact, that's the point of this post, as evidenced by its title.
Now, many things suck, but there's only one thing that I'm kind of on my soapblog about today, and that's the relative unavailability of good classical music.
I know what you're saying. You're saying, "Spencer, what are you talking about? There's a whole radio station full of it right here in the good old SLC." And I don't disagree with you - in fact, you've made my point for me, and I thank you, except it's really me putting words in your mouth, and you've not, in fact, said anything (unless you happen to make random catty remarks aloud while reading other people's blogs, in which case you have more serious problems than a relative unavailability of good classical music - but I digress). My point is that there is ONE classical radio station and like A GRAJILLION other radio stations.
Don't get me wrong, I don't dislike the music that these grajillion other radio stations are playing, it's just like, what do you do when you want to hear some classical music? Well, you switch to Classical 89, of course, but what if it's playing something you don't like so much? Like, there's some sort of Bach playing, and you're just not in a very baroque mood today. It's understandable and it happens to all of us. Nobody is in a baroque mood all the time.
So then what do you do? If you've thought ahead, you have a couple of CD's full of classical music you enjoy, and you throw one of those in. Good thinking! But wait - where did you get those CD's in the first place? I challenge you to think of an even slightly obscure composer or piece and walk into your local music store and find a recording of it. Chances are you won't. For instance, good luck finding, say, some of Grieg's lesser-known works, or pretty much anything by Sibelius. And Gershwin? Unless you're looking for Rhapsody in Blue or Porgy & Bess, you're probably out of luck. Which is totally not the case if you're looking for the High School Musical 3 soundtrack, or the latest release from U2.
So thus I appeal to you, my faithful readers - where can you find good classical music for purchase? I'd prefer something local, because supporting local businesses is what all the cool kids are doing these days, and if there's a guy who's making a living selling classical music out of some hole in the wall downtown, I want to hear about it, because I am going to go drop like $40 in this guy's store.
ps - post number 100 on tophatrabbit! I know, can you believe it?
I'll tell you what sucks.
In fact, that's the point of this post, as evidenced by its title.
Now, many things suck, but there's only one thing that I'm kind of on my soapblog about today, and that's the relative unavailability of good classical music.
I know what you're saying. You're saying, "Spencer, what are you talking about? There's a whole radio station full of it right here in the good old SLC." And I don't disagree with you - in fact, you've made my point for me, and I thank you, except it's really me putting words in your mouth, and you've not, in fact, said anything (unless you happen to make random catty remarks aloud while reading other people's blogs, in which case you have more serious problems than a relative unavailability of good classical music - but I digress). My point is that there is ONE classical radio station and like A GRAJILLION other radio stations.
Don't get me wrong, I don't dislike the music that these grajillion other radio stations are playing, it's just like, what do you do when you want to hear some classical music? Well, you switch to Classical 89, of course, but what if it's playing something you don't like so much? Like, there's some sort of Bach playing, and you're just not in a very baroque mood today. It's understandable and it happens to all of us. Nobody is in a baroque mood all the time.
So then what do you do? If you've thought ahead, you have a couple of CD's full of classical music you enjoy, and you throw one of those in. Good thinking! But wait - where did you get those CD's in the first place? I challenge you to think of an even slightly obscure composer or piece and walk into your local music store and find a recording of it. Chances are you won't. For instance, good luck finding, say, some of Grieg's lesser-known works, or pretty much anything by Sibelius. And Gershwin? Unless you're looking for Rhapsody in Blue or Porgy & Bess, you're probably out of luck. Which is totally not the case if you're looking for the High School Musical 3 soundtrack, or the latest release from U2.
So thus I appeal to you, my faithful readers - where can you find good classical music for purchase? I'd prefer something local, because supporting local businesses is what all the cool kids are doing these days, and if there's a guy who's making a living selling classical music out of some hole in the wall downtown, I want to hear about it, because I am going to go drop like $40 in this guy's store.
ps - post number 100 on tophatrabbit! I know, can you believe it?
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Holy crap.
Heh, that subject line is actually really funny, and I think you're about to see why.
I'm seriously considering doing my master's/Ph.D. at BYU.
Inorite? It sounds crazy, but I think it might be a good idea. I think I could deal with Happy Valley and its annoyingly wholesome nature, I think I could deal with the Honor Code and its prohibition of facial hair, I think I could even deal with the idea of going to The School Down South, because there'd be the blessing of being surrounded by Latter-day Saints and not having to deal (_as_much) with the problems of the world.
The one thing I'm really concerned about is, is this a good career move? The U is quite a prestigious math school, and even though I'll probably have to leave it eventually, I don't know if BYU has the same rep as like an Ohio State or a Nebraska or an Illinois.
Anyway, I dunno, just sort of my stream of consciousness from today.
I'm seriously considering doing my master's/Ph.D. at BYU.
Inorite? It sounds crazy, but I think it might be a good idea. I think I could deal with Happy Valley and its annoyingly wholesome nature, I think I could deal with the Honor Code and its prohibition of facial hair, I think I could even deal with the idea of going to The School Down South, because there'd be the blessing of being surrounded by Latter-day Saints and not having to deal (_as_much) with the problems of the world.
The one thing I'm really concerned about is, is this a good career move? The U is quite a prestigious math school, and even though I'll probably have to leave it eventually, I don't know if BYU has the same rep as like an Ohio State or a Nebraska or an Illinois.
Anyway, I dunno, just sort of my stream of consciousness from today.
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Copious free time
I think I'm becoming bored with video games. I don't know what it is. I never really thought this would happen, but I'm toying with the idea of like, not playing video games for an extended period of time. And so I'm looking at my schedule, and all this strange excess free time I would suddenly have, and wondering, what do normal people do with all that free time? I don't think I'm grown up enough to just sit down and study yet, but I don't really know what else to do with it. Take up knitting? Get some clay and throw pots? Become an avid bird watcher? Cultivate *gasp* SOCIAL SKILLS, and use them on *double gasp* MARRIAGEABLE FEMALES?!!
Seriously guys, you've gotta help me.
for some reason, the word "marriageable" really strikes my funny bone.
Seriously guys, you've gotta help me.
for some reason, the word "marriageable" really strikes my funny bone.
Sunday, February 08, 2009
Wayfaring Stranger
I know dark clouds will gather 'round me
I know my way is rough and steep;
But beauteous fields lie just beyond me
Where souls redeemed their vigil keep.
I want to wear a crown of glory
When I get home to that bright land
I want to shout Salvation's story
In concert with that bloodwashed band.
I'm going there to meet my Saviour
To sing His praise forevermore.
I'm only going over Jordan
I'm only going over home.
I know my way is rough and steep;
But beauteous fields lie just beyond me
Where souls redeemed their vigil keep.
I want to wear a crown of glory
When I get home to that bright land
I want to shout Salvation's story
In concert with that bloodwashed band.
I'm going there to meet my Saviour
To sing His praise forevermore.
I'm only going over Jordan
I'm only going over home.
Saturday, February 07, 2009
Shampoo
One time on my mission, my companion bought this, like, berry smoothie flavored shampoo. On a dare (because when four college-age guys live in the same apartment, you do stupid things on dares), I tasted some of it.
Of course it tasted horrible and soapy. But the fact that over the horrible soapiness, you could just taste a hint of delicious berry blend, only served to heighten my disappointment.
Of course it tasted horrible and soapy. But the fact that over the horrible soapiness, you could just taste a hint of delicious berry blend, only served to heighten my disappointment.
Tuesday, February 03, 2009
For everything else...
New chain: $20
Avenir chain tool: $9
A couple of extra powerlinks (just in case one gets broken): $6
Installing your own bike chain: Priceless.
Avenir chain tool: $9
A couple of extra powerlinks (just in case one gets broken): $6
Installing your own bike chain: Priceless.
Sunday, February 01, 2009
Digging
Apparently, if I dug a hole straight through the center of the earth, I would end up about halfway between Madagascar and the French Southern and Antarctic Islands.
Saturday, January 31, 2009
How can I explain...
Warning: This post contains potentially toxic levels of bike jargon.
So today I decided to do some bike maintenance. First on the list was installing my new taillight. It turns out that my seat post is somewhat larger in diameter than most seat posts, so I have a hard time with clamps that are manufactured for the standard width. Fortunately, they had also included a clamp that attaches to your seat stay (the piece that makes the top side of the back triangle of the bike frame).
Next order of business was fiddling with the front derailleur. It had been rubbing excessively in second and 7 and 8, which kinda annoyed me, and it was sluggish shifting into third. I figured that either I'd have to adjust the high limit screw or tighten the cable. Upon inspection, it turned out that the high limit screw was just about as far out as it gets, so I had to adjust the cable. This is somewhat difficult. The derailleur has a very strong spring that pulls it in, so you have to wedge it out until you get the cable tight. I ended up enlisting the help of my dad for this step, because I didn't get it tightened enough the first time by myself. Now it's a lot better - it only rubs a little in second and eight, and is much less sluggish on the upshift.
My back wheel has been making a sound like the brakes have been dragging, so I decided to make sure it was trued. It was a little out of true, but not badly, and it continued to squeal a little even after I trued it. I imagine the brake pads might be a little toed in or something.
This brings us to the chain. I've been having problems with it skipping every once in a while. I thought it might be a stuck link, so I cranked it backwards, watching for the jockey wheels to jump. It wasn't that, so I decided to clean it a little and see if that would solve the problem. Now, even though my chain has a SRAM master link, which is supposedly easy to open by hand, I couldn't get the dang thing open. I again ended up enlisting the help of my dad, who (unsurprisingly, if you know him) promptly managed to break it. Oh well, you can buy a new master link for a lot cheaper than a whole new chain, so I decided to throw it in some solvent anyway and get it clean.
The cool way to do this is to put the chain in a water bottle, add enough solvent to cover the chain, and shake it all up. This way, the solvent can get in all the nooks and crannies and really get the sludge out. I shook it around, fished it out with a piece of bent wire, and discovered that under the gunk, it was actually rather rusty. Nice.
Flash back to about three, four months ago when I had my bike in for some repairs. My chainrings were pretty worn and my cassette was shot, so I asked them to replace my chain too. It had sat outside with snow on it for about six weeks the previous Christmas, and had gotten a little rusty. They called me back a couple of days later and informed me that they would have to make the more expensive of the repair options we had discussed, but told me that my chain was still good after a good clean'n'lube. I was dubious, but let it slide, because it would save me twenty bucks.
So anyway, yeah, it was pretty dang rusty. And once I held it up straight, I noticed that one of the links was actually twisted, close to an eighth of a turn. No wonder it's been skipping.
I guess my bike has been listening to a little too much Erasure.
So today I decided to do some bike maintenance. First on the list was installing my new taillight. It turns out that my seat post is somewhat larger in diameter than most seat posts, so I have a hard time with clamps that are manufactured for the standard width. Fortunately, they had also included a clamp that attaches to your seat stay (the piece that makes the top side of the back triangle of the bike frame).
Next order of business was fiddling with the front derailleur. It had been rubbing excessively in second and 7 and 8, which kinda annoyed me, and it was sluggish shifting into third. I figured that either I'd have to adjust the high limit screw or tighten the cable. Upon inspection, it turned out that the high limit screw was just about as far out as it gets, so I had to adjust the cable. This is somewhat difficult. The derailleur has a very strong spring that pulls it in, so you have to wedge it out until you get the cable tight. I ended up enlisting the help of my dad for this step, because I didn't get it tightened enough the first time by myself. Now it's a lot better - it only rubs a little in second and eight, and is much less sluggish on the upshift.
My back wheel has been making a sound like the brakes have been dragging, so I decided to make sure it was trued. It was a little out of true, but not badly, and it continued to squeal a little even after I trued it. I imagine the brake pads might be a little toed in or something.
This brings us to the chain. I've been having problems with it skipping every once in a while. I thought it might be a stuck link, so I cranked it backwards, watching for the jockey wheels to jump. It wasn't that, so I decided to clean it a little and see if that would solve the problem. Now, even though my chain has a SRAM master link, which is supposedly easy to open by hand, I couldn't get the dang thing open. I again ended up enlisting the help of my dad, who (unsurprisingly, if you know him) promptly managed to break it. Oh well, you can buy a new master link for a lot cheaper than a whole new chain, so I decided to throw it in some solvent anyway and get it clean.
The cool way to do this is to put the chain in a water bottle, add enough solvent to cover the chain, and shake it all up. This way, the solvent can get in all the nooks and crannies and really get the sludge out. I shook it around, fished it out with a piece of bent wire, and discovered that under the gunk, it was actually rather rusty. Nice.
Flash back to about three, four months ago when I had my bike in for some repairs. My chainrings were pretty worn and my cassette was shot, so I asked them to replace my chain too. It had sat outside with snow on it for about six weeks the previous Christmas, and had gotten a little rusty. They called me back a couple of days later and informed me that they would have to make the more expensive of the repair options we had discussed, but told me that my chain was still good after a good clean'n'lube. I was dubious, but let it slide, because it would save me twenty bucks.
So anyway, yeah, it was pretty dang rusty. And once I held it up straight, I noticed that one of the links was actually twisted, close to an eighth of a turn. No wonder it's been skipping.
I guess my bike has been listening to a little too much Erasure.
Monday, January 26, 2009
The snowblower
I woke up this morning, stretched luxuriantly, and said to myself, "Ahh, it snowed! Nothing like a morning wrestle with the snowblower to get the blood flowing."
Okay, so that's not how it actually happened.
This morning, my alarm went off, I hit the snooze button, and Mom said I was going to have to run the snowblower before I go. "It's a good thing," I thought to myself, "that I took a bath last night so I don't have to shower this morning."
So I throw my jeans, gloves and boots on and call my dad to figure out just how to get the snowblower running. I follow his precise directions for the careful and proper setting of the many levers and switches (you have to open up the throttle halfway, turn the choke on, pump the primer three or four times, repeat the words "O Yard Machines, swiftly throw my snow" three times, and sprinkle the blood of a young goat on its carburetor) and start yanking on the starter handle. Approximately three pulling-induced aneurysms later, I break down and plug in the electric starter. After five, ten seconds of noise comparable to a trash compactor eating a Hide-a-Bed, the engine roars into life and starts sputtering its greasy carbon footprint out into the formerly pure, unsullied air. I cranked the throttle up and turned the choke off, whereupon it promptly died. Turns out you have to turn the choke off first, and then throttle up. Some more of the goat's blood is, if optional at this point, handy.
This brings me to the next peculiarity of our snowblower. Snowblowers have a little handle on a rod that goes down to a little corkscrew that meshes with slots in the discharge chute, so as you crank on the handle, the chute turns. It's rather ingenious and works wonderfully - until my dad gets a hold of it and somehow bends the rod out a good inch and a half. So if you want the corkscrew to properly mesh with the notches in the discharge chute, you have to bend clear over the machine and hold to the rod with your right hand (heh) while cranking the handle with your left. This I cannot blame on the snowblower itself. Really it's my dad. Really.
It is while I am in the process of cranking the chute around that the sleeve of my brand-new, just-got-it-for-Christmas, $200 parka brushes up against the extremely hot exhaust manifold, and in a split second, before I even notice, there's a three-inch hole melted in it. Freakin' heck. Apparently, I didn't use enough goat's blood to properly appease it.
To sum: Next time, I'm using a shovel. Really I don't mean it, snow blower. Really. I still love you. (mostly)
Okay, so that's not how it actually happened.
This morning, my alarm went off, I hit the snooze button, and Mom said I was going to have to run the snowblower before I go. "It's a good thing," I thought to myself, "that I took a bath last night so I don't have to shower this morning."
So I throw my jeans, gloves and boots on and call my dad to figure out just how to get the snowblower running. I follow his precise directions for the careful and proper setting of the many levers and switches (you have to open up the throttle halfway, turn the choke on, pump the primer three or four times, repeat the words "O Yard Machines, swiftly throw my snow" three times, and sprinkle the blood of a young goat on its carburetor) and start yanking on the starter handle. Approximately three pulling-induced aneurysms later, I break down and plug in the electric starter. After five, ten seconds of noise comparable to a trash compactor eating a Hide-a-Bed, the engine roars into life and starts sputtering its greasy carbon footprint out into the formerly pure, unsullied air. I cranked the throttle up and turned the choke off, whereupon it promptly died. Turns out you have to turn the choke off first, and then throttle up. Some more of the goat's blood is, if optional at this point, handy.
This brings me to the next peculiarity of our snowblower. Snowblowers have a little handle on a rod that goes down to a little corkscrew that meshes with slots in the discharge chute, so as you crank on the handle, the chute turns. It's rather ingenious and works wonderfully - until my dad gets a hold of it and somehow bends the rod out a good inch and a half. So if you want the corkscrew to properly mesh with the notches in the discharge chute, you have to bend clear over the machine and hold to the rod with your right hand (heh) while cranking the handle with your left. This I cannot blame on the snowblower itself. Really it's my dad. Really.
It is while I am in the process of cranking the chute around that the sleeve of my brand-new, just-got-it-for-Christmas, $200 parka brushes up against the extremely hot exhaust manifold, and in a split second, before I even notice, there's a three-inch hole melted in it. Freakin' heck. Apparently, I didn't use enough goat's blood to properly appease it.
To sum: Next time, I'm using a shovel. Really I don't mean it, snow blower. Really. I still love you. (mostly)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
