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tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1459818923032727042018-08-12T01:33:06.035-07:00Boomerang firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-145981892303272704.post-9762481203795586432018-07-30T22:21:00.000-07:002018-07-30T22:39:04.872-07:00Spaghetti al LimoneThe backyard lemons continue to be in full bloom. As in the last post, I am always looking for ways to use up the backyard bounty of lemons.

I got this recipe via email from my Milk Street subscription. What appealed to me were the simple ingredients, quick preparation time (hello weeknight meal!), bright flavors, and the use of a lemon.

With this recipe, I also appreciated the use of starchy pasta water along with a generous bit of butter to thicken the sauce instead of some recipes which call for cream. This leads to a cleaner, lighter, and brighter finish.

This Italian-based recipe comes from the Campania region of Italy where there is an abundance of lemon trees along the Amalfi Coast.

Spaghetti al Limone (serves 4)

Ingredients:

5 tablespoons salted butter, divided

8 cloves of garlic, minced

red pepper flakes, to taste (about 1/2 teaspoon to start then adjust accordingly)

10-12 ounces spaghetti or linguini

3/4 cup dry white wine (plus extra for the chef!)

2 tablespoons lemon zest

3-4 tablespoons lemon juice

1 cup of chopped parsley (or basil leaves)

finely grated Parmesan cheese

salt and ground black pepper to taste

Directions:

Prep lemon zest, herbs, and mince garlic. Preheat 2 quarts of salted water for pasta.

In a large skillet, melt 3 tablespoons butter (I also added some olive oil to the mixture). Add the minced garlic and cook stirring for about 30 seconds.

Add the red pepper flakes and cook for one more minute

Add the white wine and simmer until reduced, about 3 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.

Bring pasta water to a boil. Cook the pasta until 2-3 minutes short of the directions (pasta will continue to cook later in the skillet).

As pasta nears time, ladle of 1 1/2 cup of pasta water then drain pasta

Return the skillet to medium high heat, stir in the reserved pasta water, and bring to a simmer. Add the drained pasta and stir to mix.

Lower the heat until gently simmering.

Add 2 remaining tablespoons of butter, a very generous grind of black pepper, the lemon juice and zest, and the parsley.

Continue to simmer until the sauce has thickened and the extra water has evaporated. This is a key step. You don't want a watery sauce so simmer until the pasta glistens with starch and fat and the sauce has thickened.

Transfer to serving dishes and serve with some grated Parmesan cheese

Garnish with a lemon slice or a sprig of fresh parsley or basil

email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-145981892303272704.post-33035591616788899932018-04-22T20:43:00.000-07:002018-07-30T22:46:13.123-07:00Bee's KneesWith the weather warming up and no more rain in the foreseeable future, it's time to start exploring some warm weather cocktails. Add to that a lemon tree in the backyard bursting with lemons.

I was recently introduced to this drink through a friend who saw the recipe in a recent issue of Food & Wine magazine. Like me, he has a lemon tree and is always looking for ways to use them up.

The drink is a nice balance of tart and sweetness with neither dominating the drink. You can use any type of gin. I opted to use a St. George Terroir Gin that was given to me by a friend.

The first step is to chill a glass in the fridge ahead of time so it's ready when it's cocktail time. The recipe calls for a coupe glass but I didn't have any of those and used a traditional martini glass instead.

Also, honey can be difficult to work with due to its viscosity. So make a honey syrup (not unlike simple syrup) with equal parts honey and water. Either use a stove top or microwave to mix the ingredients together. It will keep in the fridge for a while.

Bee's Knees (makes 1 cocktail)

2 oz. (1/4 cup) gin

1 Tbsp. honey mixed with 1 Tbsp. warm water

2 Tbsp. fresh squeezed lemon juice

Place all ingredients in a cocktail shaker. Fill with ice and shake well. Strain the drink into a chilled glass. Make a garnish of lemon peel and add it to the drink and serve.

Here's a video on how to make it:

https://www.liquor.com/video/how-to-make-the-bees-knees/

Enjoy!

email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-145981892303272704.post-14268989146967250252018-01-03T14:18:00.000-08:002018-01-03T14:18:08.526-08:00Just About Done!The best Christmas gift we got was that our downstairs room remodel is basically done. The final inspection is scheduled for tomorrow. There are a few items on the punch list, but we have begun to move the furniture in. We even watched a football game on the TV with the fireplace below warming the room.

The shelves are mostly empty and there are additional details we want to add but it is finally a usable room. This whole project got started one year ago. Rain delayed the foundation work for months on end which then delayed the interior remodel. But we are finally happy with the finished product.

My New Year's resolution is to return this blog to the topic of food and cooking. I have new cookbooks and new ideas to share in email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-145981892303272704.post-90243910899574215482017-11-04T20:03:00.001-07:002017-11-09T21:10:15.566-08:00Beyond BurgerI recently caught the end of an interview on the radio. It was an interview with Ethan Brown talking about his company, Beyond Meat, and his efforts to create a plant-based protein that can be a meat substitute (though he would shudder at that description). The company makes a burger that is starting to show up in supermarkets. But the company actually started with frozen bags of plant-based chicken.

Brown's philosophy and approach are different from others in this market. Rather than focus on creating a pretty good meat substitute (as I described it earlier), he is setting out to make meat out of plant products. To him, it's an important change of perception. He is not looking to make a meat substitute. He wants to make meat out of plant-based products. Plant based version of the same
ingredients that you find in meat. Wanting to have a legacy of doing good in the world is Brown's main motivation. He also believes that marketing matters. You won't find the Beyond Burger over with the other meat substitute products. Instead you find them in the meat section right next to ground beef. Because, to him, it's meat and it should be in the meat section of the supermarket.

The protein comes from peas. Pea protein isolate, to be exact. The animal fat is replaced with canola and coconut oils.

So after hearing the interview, I kept my eye out at the supermarket. I've had the Beyond burger twice now. Both of the times I've made them I just used a stove-top, non-stick skillet. I haven't yet tried to barbecue them. Like ground beef burgers, everyone has different preferences on how they like their burgers. I can see that this product can be similar. The directions say to cook for 3 minutes per side. This
seemed too short for me. I cooked it a few minutes longer in order to get some browning on the outside. Even though I cooked it longer there was still some pink in the center (courtesy of the added beet juice).

I also appreciated that almost all of the packaging could be composted or recycled.

The latest version, pictured here, was made with melted cheddar, pickles, lettuce, mayo, and mustard all in between a fresh ciabatta bun. Do yourself a favor and skip those mass-produced burger buns and get some high quality bread instead. No matter what's inside.

The Beyond Burger taste is very good and satisfying but not 100% like eating a beef burger (which I haven't had in many years). The appearance and the texture are very close to beef burgers. But after having years of Morningstar, Garden Burgers, and other substitutes, I would say that Beyond Burger is a giant step forward.

Addendum:
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/can-these-mock-meat-entrepreneurs-fool-you-with-a-plant-based-burger

email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-145981892303272704.post-29756222840893285242017-09-30T14:00:00.005-07:002017-09-30T14:00:52.616-07:00Vetrazzo Countertop InstalledThe Vetrazzo counter top was recently installed on the wet bar counter top downstairs on our remodel project.

We have been looking at Vetrazzo for a number of years and have hoped for a chance to find a use for it. Once this part of the redesign began to form in our designer's plans, we immediately jumped on the opportunity to use Vetrazzo.

You may or may not have heard of Vetrazzo, but what attracted us was the use of recycled glass and the sustainability of the product. I will let Wikipedia take it from here:

"Vetrazzo recycled glass countertops were invented in Berkeley in 1996. A materials scientist, Don McPherson, pursuing his PhD combined recycled glass and a cement binder to create a sustainable, polished countertop. The company at that time was known as Counter Productions. The production batches were small and handmade, demanding a more streamlined and repeatable process.

In 2006, a former customer and designer named Olivia Teter was looking for a new project and found the company in financial straits. She, together with James Sheppard and Jeff Gustafson, partnered to raise capital, buy the product formula and assets behind the Vetrazzo countertops, and co-found what is now Vetrazzo LLC.

The Vetrazzo manufacturing facility was located in Richmond, California in a recycled Ford assembly plant. The plant is on the National Register of Historic Places and hosts the Rosie the Riveter Museum. It utilizes daylight, controls air pollution with a special negative-pressure dust booth, recycles water and hosts a 1 megawatt solar system manufactured by building tenant Sunpower Corporation.

In June 2010 Polycor acquired Vetrazzo and move the plant back Georgia where it now shares a manufacturing space with the Georgia Marble company."
We were made aware of Vetrazzo soon after it was invented through an article in Sunset Magazine. We were updating a kitchen in our first condo at the time and seriously considered using Vetrazzo on the kitchen counter top. We ended up going with something else but we have always been looking for the opportunity to use it. We ended up going with the Floating Blue color scheme. It's made of recycled glass, concrete, and composite. We are quite happy with the final product.

firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-145981892303272704.post-52132510769230166512017-09-25T21:57:00.002-07:002017-09-25T22:09:39.761-07:00Creamy Arugula Salad with Pistachios and OlivesDuring the recent Blue Apron/Hello Fresh epic week, we made a Blue Apron dish that had a very unique and satisfying side salad that caught our attention. It was only a side salad on this particular menu but we thought the salad really upstaged the main dish. The salad was interesting, unique, and a great mix of diverse ingredients. We saved the basic recipe and have made it a few times (both as a side and a dinner salad) since the first time. Personally, I'm still tweaking the recipe to get the right proportions but the basics are there.

One of the ingredients is roasted pistachios. I enjoy roasting my own pistachios. You can buy raw pistachios at higher end supermarkets. Roasting at home means you can control the amount of salt and you know they are freshly roasted. They keep in an airtight container for a good long time. Here are directions for roasting at home.

This salad is served already dressed. Which is a bit of a different approach to a typical weeknight side salad where each person grabs a bottle or carafe and dresses their own. But when serving a dressed salad, I've been learning the importance of getting your hands into the mix. Don't rely on salad tongs. When you use your hands, you are able to coat each leaf with dressing and the result is a more evenly distributed salad that has a consistent taste throughout.

Creamy Arugula Salad with Pistachios and Olives
Serves 2
Ingredients:

Arugula - 2 handfuls

Creme Fraiche - 2 tablespoons

Castelvetrano olives - 10-12 olives, pitted and roughly chopped

Roasted pistachios - 1/4 cup, roughly chopped

White wine vinegar - 1-2 tbsp.

Olive oil - to taste and texture

Salt and pepper

Directions:

Make the dressing in a bowl by combining the creme fraiche and the vinegar with a fork until mixed.

Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Stir to mix and set aside.

With the flat side of a knife, smash the olives and remove the pit. Roughly chop.

Roughly chop the pistachios

In a large bowl, combine the arugula, pistachios, and olives and season with salt and pepper.

Add enough dressing to coat the salad mixing by hand

Let sit for a few minutes before plating the side dish

The pistachios and the olives tend to fall to the bottom, so when mixing by hand be sure to scrape the bottom and pick up the heavier ingredients and get them into the mix.

firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-145981892303272704.post-52648404331122408132017-09-09T16:21:00.000-07:002017-09-09T16:21:49.488-07:00Cabinets and Wine FridgeCabinetry was delivered last week and my contractor got to work right on the northern wall so that all of the cabinetry around the wine fridge would be completed just prior to delivery. For our cabinets, we went with bamboo just like we did for the kitchen. This time, our designer went with a different company from the one we used for the kitchen. Nonetheless, the end result is a very similar look and feel.

The house had a floor to ceiling closet against the eastern wall which was removed during demolition. The plans called for a Murphy wall to be built. A soffit was built out beyond where the old closet doors were. The design called for a portion of the wall to be on a hinge and behind the cabinetry would be a walk-in storage area. The middle portion of the cabinetry will be where we place our TV on top and an electric fireplace below. The idea being that if you just walked into the room you couldn't tell that there something behind the wall. But then the middle portion can swing out. A motion detector turns on the lights as you enter the storage area. The plan is to put shelving on the real wall so that storage boxes can be placed on them.

Another element that we wanted in the redesigned downstairs room was a proper wine fridge. Before, we had an inexpensive wood wine rack held 44 bottles. We quickly outgrew that and it became surrounded with wine boxes. We are club members at three different wineries so we receive regular shipments to our house. Couple that with trips to Sonoma County and the close-by Livermore (and Santa Cruz) wine region, and the boxes of wine were getting higher and higher.

When it came time to clear out the room, I emptied the wine rack into boxes and then temporarily stored the wine in one of the bedrooms. The total was ten cases of wine.

So this week our new wine storage fridge was delivered and set up. It was actually one of the first purchases we made last summer. It was almost literally one year to the day from when we put our down payment to when we paid it off and arranged for delivery. On the recommendation of some friends, we purchased a fridge by the French company Transtherm. Give the amount of wine we wanted to store--and to allow some room for growth--we selected the Prestige Ermitage. Depending on the shelving configuration one can put 182 to 234 bottles of wine in it. At this point, we will go with the 14 individual, pull-out shelves (182 bottles) rather than the maximum configuration of 234 email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-145981892303272704.post-9388961216263264262017-08-23T21:41:00.001-07:002017-08-23T22:18:54.089-07:00Carbon Steel PansMy workhorse skillet has been a traditional 12" nonstick. But with almost daily usage, I find that they last about one to two years and then they need to be replaced. The nonstick components begin to die off. Scratches and other damage begin to take their toll. There always comes a day when you realize that this pan is done and it's time to order a replacement.

While nonstick skillets are convenient, they are treated with the chemical polytetraflouroethylene (PTFE). This surface, while nonstick, is prone to scratching and erosion over time. Plus you have all of the chemicals, perhaps, leaching into your food.

Cast iron is an excellent alternative that will last a lifetime. When well-seasoned, it can offer a similar nonstick experience. But they are heavy and have more responsibilities in the cleaning and maintaining end of things.

So enter, carbon steel pans. I was reading this article (limited access without a subscription) in a recent edition of Milk Street magazine and it introduced me to carbon steel pans. I've peered into enough restaurant kitchens to know that the stack of pans from which cooks draw from are their workhorse--carbon steel pans.

The article, entitled "Toss Out Your Nonstick Skillet," made the case for using a well-seasoned carbon steel pan instead of nonstick. The article and the video below say that carbon steel can offer a similar experience to PTFE nonstick but it will last a lifetime and skips the chemicals.

So based on the article, the video, and other research, I decided to start with Mafter Bourgeat 11 7/8" pan. Here it is as delivered to me from the factory.

Carbon steel pans need to be seasoned before use. The seasoning process helps to build a natural nonstick patina. From the factory, the skillet will be a metal silver color but the goal is, over time, to get it a brownish-black color. Seasoning directions as provided by the manufacturer (reworded):

Wash the pan in hot water with a mild detergent, using a bristle brush, if necessary (as you can briefly see in the above video), to remove factory protective coating. Be sure to get both sides of the pan.

Dry the pan thoroughly.

Over medium to medium high heat, add 1/3 cup vegetable oil (I used canola), 2/3 cup salt, and the skins of 2 potatoes (I used russets).

Sauté, continually swirling the contents around entire pan (including side), for 15 minutes.

After 15 minutes, let the pan cool slightly. Then discard the contents and rinse in hot water (to minimize temperature shock--but still be careful with this step).

Repeat steps 2-5 with another round of seasoning.

Let pan cool thoroughly (I did about 30 minutes).

Rinse the pan under hot water removing all of seasoning ingredients. Dry completely with a towel.

Reheat the pan with a little oil

At around 10 minutes during round one, I noticed that pan began to darken. I don't think you need to be too religious about the 15 minutes, as I was. You can probably do a little longer without any negative impact. Remember that it will continue to darken with ongoing usage, eventually turning black.

Here's the pan after the double-session seasoning.

Like cast-iron, carbon steel pans should never be washed with detergent. Hot water and a gentle brush should be all that is used. Also like cast iron, water/rust is the enemy that can ruin the pan. After the soap free cleaning never air dry these pans. Dry thoroughly and do a quick season with a bit of oil before putting it away.

My pan's maiden voyage was with shrimp and yellow onion. I found the pan to be very nonstick even on its first use. The heavy seasoning that I used created some areas of blackening which I thought would be difficult to clean, but hot water and gentle brush got the pan very clean.

I look forward to continuing to try it out and watching it darken over time--improving the nonstick qualities.

firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-145981892303272704.post-51377494737156723292017-08-12T14:09:00.000-07:002017-08-12T14:10:53.191-07:00Paint, Concrete Polishing, and WindowsThere has been slow, but steady, progress on the downstairs renovation project.

Painting:

We got a first coat of paint in the room. We are going with two shades of grey. Most of the room is a lighter shade of grey but the wall with the new windows will have a slightly darker shade. This is our "accent wall." After the first coat of paint was applied, the painter was reluctant to paint the second coat until after the concrete polishing was complete. He was concerned that dust and scrapes could occur. We agreed with his assessment and had him stop after the first coat. So he still has to come in for a second coat.

Concrete Polishing:

About a week later, we got the concrete polished. When we bought the place, the downstairs room had some cheap, adhesive tile squares on top of the 1956 concrete slab. As the room got demolished, we had the tiles pulled up since, somewhere in the design process, we decided to go with polished concrete instead of carpeting or tiles. The concrete slab that the downstairs room sits on was very intact for being fifty years old in earthquake-prone California along with being in a house with some creeping down the hill. There were no cracks. But there were some new patches that were part of the recent construction where the future sink needed to connect into the main outgoing water/sewer line which is under the slab.

Once we decided on concrete polishing, we began to notice it and study it everywhere. Look at the floors of Costco, supermarkets, stores like BevMo, and other strip mall drug stores.
And you will often find that polished concrete on most of the industrial floors you walk on. Sometimes you will see cracks or patches but the polishing just equalizes everything so that these imperfections--while still there--do not stand out as much. So after studying industrial flooring for awhile, we sought out a concrete polisher and went with a matte finish with no color. Depending on the company, you can get higher levels of sheen and also color the concrete.

For us, the mostly pristine slab did develop some cracks during renovation. this was probably due to us shifting the weight of the house with the piers or the temporary scaffolding while the wall was removed for the La Cantina door installation. Or both.

But we are very happy with the final product. Because of the previous adhesive tile, the concrete still shows some of the square patterns. But, based on our research, we knew that going in.

Windows
This week, the windows were installed. We had already replaced the windows on the top two floors, but didn't do downstairs, specifically awaiting this project. Unfortunately, we were no longer allowed to install the same double pane aluminum-framed window due to California's ever-evolving the Code of Regulations. The standards are updated periodically by the California Energy Commission to allow consideration and possible incorporation of new energy efficiency technologies and methods. So aluminum window framing is no longer accepted under Title 24 so our choices were fiberglass or vinyl. We thought we may paint the framing to match the upstairs aluminum, so we went with fiberglass (although more expensive) because it can be painted. It was also the better choice since we wanted the smallest framing option.

The new large picture window is now one solid plate of glass (the previous window had framing for two openings). The smaller window (which was where the door used to be) is a casement window that opens outward.

firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-145981892303272704.post-57016166090766321362017-06-28T16:23:00.001-07:002017-06-28T17:05:14.421-07:00Hard Steamed Eggs
Hard boiled eggs make for a tasty and a relatively healthy snack. But what if the way you've been preparing hard boiled eggs for all these years was not the best way? We have made the eggs the traditional way--the way our mother's taught us--with boiling water.

Not too long ago, while attending a dinner party where one of the dishes contained a good number of sliced hard eggs in a green salad. The creator of the dish said that he had done some online research and found that it's actually a better practice to hard steam them, which is what he did.

If you research the topic online, you will find a variety of approaches for hard eggs. The most common is to submerge the eggs in water, bring it to a full boil, and then remove from the fire, cover the pan, and let the eggs cook for 10-12 minutes. But sometimes an egg will crack and some of the yolk oozes out creating what looks to be a deformity.

Then you'll find camps that swear that a pressure cooker works best. You will find suggestions that involve baking eggs in an oven. Then, there are whole discussions about the age and temperature of the egg and how that impacts results. There is a lot of thoughts and words online for such a simple thing. But the result that everyone is striving for is a hard-cooked egg that is easy to peel and does not crack during preparation.

So using some of the links below, I gave it a try. Add an inch or so of water to the pan. You don't want water coming over the base of the steaming basket. Over the water, place the steaming basket and add your eggs. Turn on the heat and bring to a boil. Bringing one inch of water takes way less time than the traditional way (saving you on the energy bill). Once boiling, turn down heat, if needed, but keep a boil going. Cover and set a timer for 12 minutes.

At the 10 minute mark, prepare an ice bath. In a large bowl create a mix of water and ice cubes.

After 12 minutes, remove the cover, and take the pot off of the heat. Using tongs, transfer the eggs to the ice bath and let it rest there for 10 minutes. When it's time, use the tongs to remove the eggs and let them dry on a towel.

The result? Same tasty egg as the traditional way, but much easier to peel. No more losing chunks or layers of eggs.

Next, I wondered if I could use an appliance steamer. I have a Black and Decker steamer. Because the eggs are further from boiling water and there's more steam escaping, you need to go 25-30 minutes.

Here are a few resources on the subject:

Fresh Eggs Daily - Shows you how to use the bamboo steamer.

Instructables - Step-by-step guide with photos. Lots of comments to add ideas.

Serious Eats - This person really went to town experimenting with a variety of factors.

Give it a firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-145981892303272704.post-5754121791357586922017-06-17T17:02:00.000-07:002017-06-17T17:02:19.062-07:00Framing La Cantina

With the foundation work done, the next order of business is to get the La Cantina folding door installed. Over the last few days, the exterior stucco was removed on both sides of the downstairs room. Then the existing window and studs were removed on the west wall and the frame for the 8' x 8' La Cantina door installed.

Even though it's just the framing covered over with plywood, the room already feels transformed. The west wall will be mostly a wall of glass with a ton of natural light. The two hardy panels on either side of the door framing are visible but now seem dwarfed.

On the left wall, you can see the old door frame (covered over with plywood) and the new foundation cutting through the bottom. We are about to order a 4' x 3' casement window that will fit into the existing door framing there.

On the right, the half bath with some new framing since we moved the door frame to the firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-145981892303272704.post-83007243298862215102017-06-10T17:17:00.000-07:002017-06-17T13:50:56.920-07:00Foundation Work CompletedOur foundation was completed this last Friday; exactly 6 months after the work began in January. That's what happens when you schedule foundation work just as a record-setting rain season gets under way. Once the dry weather returned and the water table lowered, the work was completed within a few weeks.

Hardy Frames on either side of what will be our 8' x 8' La Cantina folding door.

Once the piers and rebar were in place underground, they jackhammered the foundation on the corner of the house. Because were are changing the door placement, they needed to build new forms for the concrete for the new foundation. The rebar from the underground piers also are inside the foundation and then attached to the Hardy Frame shear walls which can be seen on the right and left side of the photo. Hardy Frames are pre-fabricated shear wall structures that provide architectural strength and stability.

HFX Hardy Frame attached to foundation

Hardy Frame bolts

New foundation stem wall cuts through old door frame

Over to the left, where the old door was, the foundation now cuts across it. The old door opening will be transformed into a wall with a window in it.

Outside, the new foundation is also visible. The concrete sidewalk has been re-poured. I fully expected that the concrete replacement would not be a very high quality job and that in the future, we would have to just have the whole thing redone. But, happily, it is looking like they did a great job matching the existing sidewalk.

Outside corner of the house

firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-145981892303272704.post-58805960272241327882017-05-30T08:55:00.000-07:002017-05-30T08:55:02.077-07:00Blue Apron vs. Hello Fresh A number of months ago, a friend gave me a code for a free box with Blue Apron food delivery service. Since then, we have been getting Blue Apron boxes every once in a great while. Mostly, I will order it when there are some interesting menus with new ingredients or approaches I want to experiment with like different seasonings or ethnic ingredients (like Korean gochujang).

My account has us getting three vegetarian recipes per week per week for two people. The price is pretty reasonable when you calculate the per meal average compared to a dinner out.

Recently, I followed an ad on Facebook for a competing service, Hello Fresh. They too had a free week promotional code so I signed up to get the free box and then disabled the account. I cancelled not just to get free food but it seemed that you could not preview the menus until you had selected a date for your first paid delivery. I didn't like that so I just cancelled.

Then, one day, we came home to find both a Blue Apron and Hello Fresh (my free one) box on our front porch. So I decided to look at the glass as half full and have the opportunity to have a side-by-side competition. A food delivery smackdown! Here we go...

Packaging:
Hello Fresh wins on this one right out of the box, so to speak. All of the ingredients for each dinner are in a shoe box sized box. Unpacking is quite easy as you just transfer the three boxes to the fridge.

With Blue Apron all ingredients for all three meals are packaged together in one big box and you transfer all of the labeled individually wrapped ingredients to the fridge. Also, with Blue Apron, each meal has a small paper bag that contain the "knick knacks." This is usually for small items like a small bag of seasoning, or a small vial of vinegar, and so on. I've had two experiences where an ingredient was missing (Last time, I got online and found that you can report missing ingredients and get a few dollars refunded). But I have to give credit to Blue Apron on including recycling directions on the first delivery. With both services, pretty much everything is recyclable.

Both services offer a card stock paper with step-by-step directions and high quality photos. The Blue Apron gives a more detailed description of the meal. Blue Apron also gives a wine pairing and with both services you can purchase wine from them. We have not tried that, however.

Dinner 1: Hello Fresh: Mediterranean Tomato and Asparagus Bake
This was our first experience with a Hello Fresh dinner. Overall, prep and cook time was less than Blue Apron but the servings seemed a little smaller. When I first got invited to Blue Apron through a friend, I was assured that there would be leftovers for lunch the next day. Generally, that has been true. Not the case with this first Hello Fresh dinner.

The preparation process was a bit mixed. The roasted veggies took half the time as advertised. For the browning of the couscous in butter, I took more time than directed so that more browning could occur. Start of prep to serving was about 40 minutes.

The dinner was overall a positive experience. A satisfying meal that consisted of a base of roasted Israeli couscous covered by a layer of roasted baby asparagus, grape tomatoes, scallions, roasted walnuts, and feta cheese. There were no leftovers, however.

Dinner 2: Blue Apron: Calzones with Sweet and Spicy Peppers
This was the first Blue Apron dinner of this week. Prep was about the same as Hello Fresh (not counting the time that the pizza dough sat out to get to room temperature). Calzones were stuffed ricotta cheese, chopped olives (could have been more) with chopped and sautéed sweet peppers and sliced peperoncinis in a tomato sauce. A green salad on the side that also had sliced cucumber and feta cheese. The dressing was quite bland. But during the week you can get online and read what other are saying, so I was able to make the suggestion to others think about adding some ingredients to the dressing. My calzone creating experience is limited so I ended up with oddly-shaped calzones which perhaps affected the competition.

Between these two dinners Hello Fresh had the edge.

Dinner 3: Hello Fresh: Garden Quesadillas
Tonight's dinner featured roasted zucchini, strips of red bell pepper, and sliced red onions all grilled and the added to a quesadilla with chipotle mayonnaise and mozzarella cheese topped with a freshly made pico de gallo. A plain arugula side salad was on the menu but I decided to try to amp up the dressing given the experience of the night before.

Prep was a little longer than the first Hello Fresh dinner. I would say it was more like an hour from start of prep to serving. The recipe was for two quesadillas but six tortillas were provided and there was enough roasted vegetables to spread it across three quesadillas. So we had a satisfying dinner and there was a quesadilla for lunch the next day.

As I prepped this meal, I noticed that Hello Fresh tends to use the oven, where I think, it should be done in a skillet. Here, for example, once the quesadillas were assembled they went back into the oven the melt the cheese and brown the tortillas. Normally, I would have done it in a lightly oiled skillet. With the Hello Fresh method, I found that the oven dried out the tortillas a bit

Hello Fresh nice touch: They threw in a full 2 ounce bottle of Tabasco sauce. It wasn't directly called for but just listed as an extra option if you wanted to add some heat. I, of course, had some open in the fridge so I stuck this one in the pantry for future use.

Dinner 4: Blue Apron: Pickled Beet and Hard-Boiled Egg Sandwiches with Smoky Mayonnaise
This was billed as an Eastern European sandwich. I hard-boiled the eggs over the weekend to save some time in the work week. The beets are cooked in a red wine vinegar and this took longer than advertised. The smoky mayonnaise was made by adding smoked paprika to the provided mayo to taste. Also part of the sandwich was fresh dill and capers. Once assembled, sandwiches were put into a skillet with a dab of oil and the pressed down to combine the ingredients and lightly toast the outside.

The bag a baby kale that was sent for the side accidentally got frozen in the back of the fridge so I just made a mixed greens salad and some leftover dressing from another dinner.

We thought the sandwiches ended up tasting better than we expected. We both felt that pickled beets wouldn't be something we would like in a sandwich, but everything ended up blending nicely and we were pleasantly surprised.

I had some leftover beets and I was able to take a small bit of leftover sandwich in my lunch the next day.

Pitting these two against each other, the advantage went to Blue Apron.

Dinner 5: Hello Fresh: Crunchy Veggie and Lentil Salad

This was a simple salad that took about 40 minutes to prepare. As French lentils cooked, I chopped radishes, carrots, and cucumbers. The dressing was a mix of sour cream, fresh dill, olive oil, lemon juice, along with salt and pepper. Whole wheat pitas were stuffed with feta cheese and then, once again, warmed in the oven where I would have though the skillet would be the better choice.

The salad ended up as a base of cooked lentils covered with dressed arugula and then a variety of fresh veggies. Finally, the salad was drizzled with the creamy dressing. The first bites were pretty underwhelming. But as the ingredients mixed and married it suddenly went to a whole new level. After mixing up the salad, it went from uninspiring to interesting and tasty.

Dinner 6: Blue Apron: Sugar Snap Pea Risotto with Mascarpone Cheese and Mint

This one actually went pretty fast for a risotto. I would say it was about 30 minutes from start to finish. Most of the time was on the front end, prepping the veggies that would be in the risotto. Instead of the usual Arborio rice they provided Carnaroli rice for the risotto which seemed to cook faster and was more forgiving than Arborio. In researching risotto rice online, I have learned that many chefs prefer Carnaroli rice over Arborio. Good to know!

Shocked snap peas and freshly chopped mint leaves were added to the risotto along with cheese, scallions, and garlic.

In the end, it was fine and satisfying but was bit generic. Nothing jumped out. No interesting ingredients or tastes.

Between these last two, Hello Fresh gets the nod.

So, for the three meal matchup it ended up with Hello Fresh - 2, Blue Apron - 1.

So you might think that this will cause me to reinstate the Hello Fresh account. Not just yet. For now, we will stick with Blue Apron despite the results of my smackdown. I'm sure the results could have been different on another week.

Partly, we'll stick with Blue Apron because we're used to it. Also, we find that Blue Apron offers a more interesting selections and have some unique and unusual ingredients (next week we will be making a pizza that features juice and zest from a pink lemon). We also don't get Blue Apron each week. We pick and choose and on the off weeks we still rely on our CSA box.

But I can say that both of these services offer high quality meals and either one will provide some new meal ideas.

firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-145981892303272704.post-92225461183103753502017-05-26T22:16:00.001-07:002017-05-26T22:16:25.825-07:00Busy Week

What a week! Now that the foundation company is back on the job, things are moving quickly. On Monday, they were here to literally jack up the house on the new piers in order to correct the gradual slide that has been going on. Despite being told that there could be minor damage, so far we have only noticed a few things that are totally fixable.

Once the house was level, they installed shoring in the downstairs room and then proceeded to jackhammer out the foundation and stem wall. We came home on Wednesday to find one corner of our house literally floating over the ground.

By Friday they were building the forms to pour the new foundation. The door is already gone and the security screen door is also now removed. A piece of plywood now covers the former door frame.

Both contractors were here today to go over next steps. We may be done with the foundation work by the end of next week. Then it's time to focus on remodeling the inside of the room.

email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-145981892303272704.post-60452720988021078752017-05-21T15:01:00.000-07:002017-05-21T15:01:30.837-07:00Piers Completed: Work ResumesAfter four months of rain delay, work quickly resumed on the house. The foundation work ceased in January as they were working to establish five deep piers to attach the foundation to. Three piers were drilled and completed. The fourth was drilled and as they were drilling the fifth, it was determined that the ground was too wet.

Last week, we got the call saying work would resume. Quickly, the fifth bore was drilled and both piers four and five were filled with rebar and concrete. Friday we came home to find the concrete next to the house was jackhammered and they dug to expose the existing foundation.

Pier #2 on southern wall

 The next few days will be interesting. On Monday, they will put heavy duty jacks on each of the piers and they will lift the house up. I need to be here to communicate when I think that the house is level. I'm told there could be minor damage. Once in place, they will install some shoring to hold up the house.

Piers 3 & 4. La Cantina bifold door to replace the window.

Then, our inside contractor will come in to install a triple joist above the future door and indicated where the new door will go. Simpson Strong Walls will be installed on either side of the door. The southwestern portion of the foundation will then be removed and replaced. Then the outside concrete re-poured.

Once the foundation company is done, then work on the inside can proceed at a faster pace.

Southwest corner of the house.

email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-145981892303272704.post-25591582821596359682017-03-25T21:45:00.000-07:002017-03-25T21:45:32.638-07:00FramingThe rain continues off and on, so the foundation work remains on hold. Meanwhile, with the furnace venting and the hot water heater both moved some of the bones of the new room are starting to take shape. The original idea was to nestle the venting inside of the existing framing but we were told that they cannot do that. So new framing was constructed around the furnace venting and it sits on top of the existing framing. This will push to wall out about 4 inches.

The soffit framing, which formerly ended at the old closets, has now been extended. A new soffit has been created across the room where we will have our new Murphy wall with shelving and a place for the TV.

The bathroom has also seen some changes. We are shifting the door frame to the right. Originally, we were going to do this so that we could install a pocket door. But it turns out that there is a metal pipe running inside the frame and up to the roof for venting the toilet. So it can't be moved. Right now we are looking into sliding door options. The original sink and vanity was against the wall. The plumbing was also moved to accommodate the corner sink that will be installed in the future.

email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-145981892303272704.post-62681346716147698792017-03-07T20:57:00.001-08:002017-03-07T20:59:12.599-08:00Tankless Hot Water Heater InstallationAs we thought all of this remodeling/foundation repair work through many months ago, we had a certain order in mind. The foundation work would come first, then we would replace the hot water heater, then remodel the interior room downstairs. But given the record rainfalls, we have had to rethink the order of things.

The foundation work is off the table until we get some dry weather. So we are trying move forward on other fronts. Step #3 is now #1 and Step #1 is now #3. You get the idea.

Today, however, was a big day. The traditional 40 gallon hot water heater that was in a closet downstairs has been removed and we have moved to a tankless hot water heater that's now in the garage. A Rinnai RUR98i, to be exact, was installed today. We paid extra for the circulating pump so that we could program it to have hot water on demand during certain key hours--such as morning shower time and evening clean up time. Here's a promo video in case you want to geek out:

But with the old, traditional hot water heater gone, we now have freed up some real estate downstairs. The existing venting pipes you see to the right of the new venting will be redone but will remain. Somewhere in there will be the new wine fridge.

We also had some work done on installing a downstairs bar sink. A chunk of the concrete was cut into in order to tap into the piping coming from the kitchen sink so that the downstairs bar sink can feed into the same pipe and vent. During the concrete cutting, a piece of the original pipe was damaged and had to be replaced. But during that process it was revealed that this pipe was suffering from the equivalent of clogged arteries in the human heart. They recommended getting the pipes cleaned with a pressure washer. Evidently, snaking (which we've had done recently) does not always clear out the gunk lining the clogged pipes.

County inspections are scheduled for tomorrow for the hot water heater as well as the plumbing.

Other topics on deck: concrete polishing, filling in concrete that's been cut away, and getting through county inspections.

email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-145981892303272704.post-56435690514784220882017-02-18T18:09:00.000-08:002017-02-18T18:17:30.949-08:00VentingRain continues to delay our foundation work and even more rain is expected this week. We are starting to think that we may not see the foundation crew back until April or May. Meanwhile, we are trying to get things completed on the inside so as not to lose all momentum.

The most recent advancement was to take care of the venting for the furnace. We replaced the furnace shortly after we bought the place many years ago. We moved it from its original location--behind one of the closet doors that were demolished--to further under the house. But the venting to the upstairs is still in its original place. You can see in the last post a large, dark venting tube feeding into an aluminum plenum. That's the venting from the new furnace into the original plenum. But we want to reclaim that space. So we had a local HVAC company in to replace both the large tubing and the plenum so that an existing soffit can continue.

The large tubing was replaced with a vent that is as flat and wide as they make it (3" x 24"). A new wall will float in front of the vent. The large plenum has been replaced with the three flexible silver tubes that feed into the various vents that deliver heat upstairs. These will be inside the new soffit. Yeah, that's asbestos in the top left and right on this shot. They were careful not to disturb that. The blue tape at the bottom is just my plastic sheeting to cover up the places where the cat could get underneath the house--something we don't want to happen.

I also had a meeting with the inside contractor to figure out what other work could be completed while we deal with the rain. We came up with a plan so there should be more progress in the coming days and email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-145981892303272704.post-34419866066668394432017-01-26T22:16:00.000-08:002017-01-26T22:16:18.839-08:00Goodbye ClosetsIn the last post I talked about drilling five deep holes and pouring in reinforced cement to create piers down to bedrock which will attach to the foundation. Well, I learned later that they only got three of the five completed. This week, after a number of days of heavy rain, they came out to drill piers 4 and 5. Pier 4 got drilled but had to be lined with slurry to keep it from collapsing in on itself. Drilling pier 5 turned out to be too problematic. They encountered a large rock five feet down and the vibration of drilling through it caused the hole to collapse in on itself. The water table was too high so they decided to pull the crew off the job for a couple weeks and let things dry out before continuing. So our first typical construction delay has already happened.

Meanwhile there was still some progress. In the downstairs room, there is an original three door closet structure. The first door (on the left) was a small broom closet. The next one housed the old furnace which we needed to replace shortly after we moved in since what was there was an original from 1956 and slowly dying. We updated the furnace and relocated it further under the house years ago so this one's been empty for awhile. The third contains our hot water heater (more on the relocation of that later). We needed to investigate some venting issues because we have plans to reclaim the space that these closets took up and the heating vent for the room is above door #2. Our inside contractor said that the best way to figure out what will work is to completely remove these closets.

So this evening I came home to find that the entire closet structure was cleanly removed. Tomorrow, there will be an HVAC contractor coming in along with our contractor to take a look at the venting to see what options are available with the venting.

email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-145981892303272704.post-52814815727438555742017-01-21T14:49:00.000-08:002017-01-21T17:23:06.323-08:00New Major Remodel Project UnderwayIf you were to go back to my first post on this blog you'd see that Boomerang Kitchen started out as a chronicle of a major kitchen/living room remodel so that family and friends could follow the progress. I was inspired by our good friends who posted a similar remodel project on a blog for their San Jose house the year before we started our remodel. However, once their project was completed, they no longer posted an entries. But by the time our initial project was nearing completion, I was starting to follow a number of food blogs and I began to consider whether I should stop posting upon completion or if I should post some of the recipes I was making in the newly-remodeled kitchen. I decided on the latter and, hence, this blog still lives.

Well, a number of years later, we have begun another major remodel project on the house (built in 1956) and I have decided to return to the roots of this blog for a few months and share some of the milestones. I will also keep the food content going.

Sloping floor

The latest project's genesis comes from the fact that our house is on a slight slope which is creeping downhill. We started to notice some unusual interior cracks in our drywall which had grown larger over the years.
As you can see in this shot, there is a difference in the height of the floor from the left side to the right side on this closed door upstairs close to the west wall. More evidence that part of the house is moving.

We had some engineers (soils and structural) out to examine, measure, and study everything. The final report's recommended action was to get a structural company out to put piers down into the bedrock, lift the house back up, and redo part of the foundation.

Rebar piers to be placed in drilled holes

The most impacted room is a downstairs bonus room. It's where we have our main TV but it's not a room that is fully utilized. Closets installed by the original owner of the house is where we store a variety of old items, Christmas decorations, etc. We decided that after the foundation was secure we would also do a major remodel of the room to make it into an inviting media room.

Filled pier outside of west wall

So just after the start of the year, the work began on the foundation. They cut holes in the cement outside and under the west and south walls (closest to the slope) in order to create five 18-foot deep piers around the southwest corner of the house and attach those piers to the foundation. Drilling went on for two very noisy days. They called the county out for an inspection but by then one of the holes had partially collapsed. So another half day of drilling and the the cement truck arrived around 3 PM and they poured concrete into the rebar-filled piers in the pouring rain until 8:30 that night.

A few days of recent rain has delayed further work but I was told that the crew will be back next week.

Inside the house, the west wall of the downstairs has the sheet rock taken down in order to install some reinforcements which will connect to the piers. The 3 foot stem wall on the bottom will be removed and the foundation redone with another, shorter stem wall foundation. Where the current window is will be converted into an 8' x 8' accordion door. The grey open door on the left edge will be removed and converted into a solid wall.

Meanwhile, we have also been working with a different contractor who will be doing the interior remodeling. We are trying to set other aspects of the interior remodeling in motion so that work on the interior can begin soon after the foundation work is completed. More to come. firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-145981892303272704.post-55167163394857709882017-01-08T21:41:00.001-08:002017-01-08T21:46:31.689-08:00Cream of Broccoli SoupA rainy Sunday here in California. Also trying to use up a backlog of holiday ingredients. All of that meant is was a great day to make some soup before heading back to the work grind tomorrow.

We had three weeks of broccoli from the CSA box and the oldest was getting a bit tired. So I decided to use the oldest broccoli and a good part of the second oldest for a soup today.

But cooking with broccoli reminds me that you also need to be using the stems. I admit to many years of tossing the stems. But more recently we have been discovering the subtle, tender flavor of broccoli stems. They are great in everything you use broccoli florets for. Here's a YouTube video on how to trim the broccoli stems.

One of the original recipes I riffed off for this version called for an additional 3/4 cup of half and half but I don't think it needs it. This is pretty rich already with all of the butter.

Serve it sparingly with other things for dinner or lunch and you'll find it's very satisfying as is.

Cream of Broccoli Soup

Ingredients
Butter - 1 stick (I used salted), softened
Flour - 2/3 cup
Yellow onion - 1/4 cup or more, chopped
Broccoli - 4 cups florets and peeled stems, cut into bite sized pieces
Broth - 6 cups
White pepper - 1/8 teaspoon or to taste
Salt - to taste

Directions

In a large saucepan, melt the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter over medium heat. Add onion and some black pepper and stir until onions are softened. Add the broccoli, along with a pinch of salt, and stir to mix. Cook, stirring often, until broccoli softens a bit and the florets have turned a deeper shade of green (about 6-8 minutes).

Add broth to the broccoli mixture and turn up the heat and bring to a boil. Once boiling, turn off heat and let the soup cool a bit with the cover on.

While the soup is cooling, melt 6 teaspoons of butter over medium heat in a small saucepan. Add flour and stir constantly until the roux is well-blended. Break out the immersion blender at the end to take care of the last of the roux crumbs. Take off of the heat and set aside.

When the soup is cool enough to work with, use an immersion blender to break up the softened broccoli pieces. Return to heat and add the roux. Stir constantly, seeking out chunks of roux to break up. Reheat and stir for about 8-10 minutes or until you think you have no more chunks of roux.

Add white pepper and salt and stir to mix. As the soup nears boiling, turn off heat and move the saucepan to another location to cool a bit. Let it cool enough to taste and then salt and pepper to taste

email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-145981892303272704.post-73832749847921498122016-11-25T23:04:00.001-08:002016-11-25T23:48:02.217-08:00Pumpkin Flan

Let me introduce you to "A Brown Kitchen." This is a featured article that runs in the San Francisco Chronicle and it's written by Oakland-based aspiring chef and photographer, Nik Sharma. He has a food blog at A Brown Table. The SF Chronicle has been featuring Nik usually in their Sunday Food section as a guest writer. He recently quit his corporate job to pursue his passions of cooking and photography.

It was his photography that first caught my eye. He shoots really interesting food photographs and his use of light/darkness and his use of narrow depth of field (Translation: photos where a sliver of the shot is in focus and everything in the background and foreground is slightly blurry) are unique. He is able to capture specific moments in preparing a recipe that make you wish you were there cooking with him. You can check some of his beautiful food photography here. Choose Portfolio and select Food.

I actually spent a chunk of change buying a lens that is f1.8-capable in order to try to emulate his style. My last few posts and this posting have my feeble photographic attempts to incorporate his style.

Then I started to discover his recipes. His heritage informs his cooking. His parents are from two very different parts of India and he takes a unique approach to mixing western and eastern cooking. I've made a couple of the recipes featured in the SF Chronicle (and some are on deck to try).

So each October, we get a Sugar Pie pumpkin (or two) in our CSA box. We typically put it on the porch or window sill to acknowledge Fall and Halloween. After a few weeks it goes bad and we compost it. One year, I did try to cook one but the results turned me off for a few years. Then I recently saw Nik's Pumpkin Flan in a recent SF Chronicle feature. So I decided to give it a try.

The results were quite tasty. There are a few steps that I need to master and improve upon (like the caramelized sugar topping) but we enjoyed the flan and will make it again. This, however, is not your typical custardy flan. Nik introduces some new ingredients that harken to his upbringing. In addition to pumpkin, he adds ground ginger and turmeric. The latter provides a glow of yellow that mixes with the orange pumpkin to create a very Fall-looking dessert.

The main thing about this recipe is that you need to plan out--ahead of time--how you can get a cake pan into a water bath. I did not catch this until I was fully committed and in progress with the recipe. So you need a cake pan and then a larger receptacle, like a full sized skillet, into which you can have the cake pan sitting in a water bath. In addition you need something to raise the cake pan off of the base so that the hot water is directly underneath. The original recipe calls for a wire rack underneath the cake pan, but I did not have a small enough wire rack to fit in my 12" skillet. So I improvised and made it work.

The original recipe is here but you might not be able to access it as it's part of the subscriber-based part of the San Francisco Chronicle.

Pumpkin Flan
Ingredients:

Pumpkin - 1 medium sugar pie pumpkin

Sugar - 1/4 cup

Water - 2 tablespoons

Eggs - 5 large

Ginger - 1 teaspoon ground

Turmeric - 1 teaspoon ground

Milk - 1 cup whole milk

Condensed milk - 1 14 oz. can

Evaporated milk - 1 12 oz. can

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees

Slice the pumpkin in half and remove all of the seeds. Place face down on a foil-lined baking sheet and roast until soft, around 45-60 minutes. When done, remove from the oven and let cool.

Once cool, scoop out the flesh and put it into a food processor and run until smooth. Measure 1 cup of processed pumpkin.

Reduce oven to 350 degrees.

Have ready a 9 inch cake pan.

Place the sugar and water in a small saucepan. Stir and heat the mixture over medium high heat. Stir regularly and in 6-9 minutes the sugar will start to darken. Watch carefully as it can easily burn. Once the sugar reaches a dark amber color pour it into the bottom of the cake pan swirling the pan to distribute it across as much of the bottom of the pan as possible. I was too conservative and did not get the desired brown on my first try as you can see in the photo.

Put the cake pan in the refrigerator until the caramel hardens.

In a large bowl, add the pumpkin puree, ginger, turmeric, and eggs. Whisk until eggs are scrambled.

Add the three different milks and whisk until smooth.

Prepare the water bath. Place the cake pan in a pot and fill it with water so that the water reaches halfway up the side of the cake pan.

Bake for 2 hours at 350 degrees. Make sure the center of the flan is firm to the touch before removing.

Remove the cake pan from the water bath and let cool.

Cover in plastic and refrigerate overnight to set.

Use a knife around the edges to release the flan from its pan. Flip carefully and gently tap to release.

Serve chilled

firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-145981892303272704.post-75291071607644648492016-11-02T17:40:00.000-07:002016-11-02T17:40:17.769-07:00Roasted Carrots with Carrot Top PestoRecently, we got a bunch of Nantes Rainbow carrots in our CSA box. This particular bunch included a gorgeous set of carrot greens on top. More often than not, when you buy carrots in the grocery store, the green tops have already been removed. That's too bad because you can use those greens. They are not, as you might think, bitter, harsh, or grassy but they are mild and have a unique flavor--and they really are edible.

These particular carrot tops were such a lush, verdant green that we looked up how they could be used and I found this recipe and used it as a starting point.

So don't just compost those carrot greens. Use them raw mixed into salads. Or make the pesto recipe and below and once frozen, I have added a cube to soup stock and weekend breakfast eggs.

Carrot Top Pesto

Make pesto up to one day ahead. Freeze leftovers in ice cube trays and store in the freezer for other uses.

Garlic, 2-3 cloves, minced

Pine nuts, 3 tablespoons (macadamia nuts can be substituted)

Basil leaves, 1/2 cup packed (about 12-20 leaves depending on size)

Carrot tops, leaves removed from stems, cleaned

Parmesan cheese, 1/4 cup

Olive oil, 1/2 cup or more to desired consistency

Salt and pepper, to taste

Directions:

Mince garlic into food processor

Add nuts, basil, carrot tops, cheese, and basil and pulse until coarsely chopped

Slowly add olive oil and process to desired consistency

Salt and pepper to taste

Continue to process to taste

Roasted Carrots with Carrot Top Pesto

Carrots, 1 large bunch (with greens)

Carrot top pesto (see above)

Salt and pepper, to taste

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

Clean and peel carrots (cut thicker carrots into halves)

Toss with olive oil on a baking sheet (parchment paper optional)

Coat with salt and pepper

Roast, turning occasionally, until carrots have some browning (25 - 35 minutes)

Remove from oven and let cool slightly

Mix roasted carrots and some pesto (to desired coating) and serve

Optional: add some finishing salt before serving

email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-145981892303272704.post-28726303588845336802016-09-02T22:15:00.002-07:002016-09-02T22:15:39.996-07:00Blue Apron Food Delivery Review - Pan Bagnat-Style SandwichesA colleague was recently describing her experiences with the Blue Apron food delivery program. Blue Apron is one of many new food delivery services that deliver weekly meals. These services vary in terms of what they provide and how they provide it. Some, like Blue Apron, simply provide the ingredients and instructions but you still do the cooking. Other services deliver cooked or mostly cooked meals that you simply plate and serve. Since my colleague was a Blue Apron subscriber, she said she could give me a code to get a free week of meals.

This is my first experience with any of these services and there are a variety of options here in the Bay Area. As of this writing, Blue Apron delivers three meals per week for $59 for the two person plan. There is also a family plan (four people) which delivers 2 meals for $69 or four meals for $169. We opted for the two person plan and there was an vegetarian option but I didn't explore too much to see if there was a pescetarian option.

Assured that I could get my free week and then cancel if I wanted to, I signed up. Since we already get a weekly CSA box I was concerned that we might have a glut of food.

I arranged for our delivery to arrive on a Friday but I could have selected from a variety of delivery days. The box arrived on our front porch and was there when I got home from work. Upon opening the box, I found that the ingredients of all three two-person meals were nestled inside a foil packing. All of it is sitting on two large frozen "freezer packs."

Just before the first delivery, I also got an email that detailed their environmental packaging practices. All packaging is recyclable which was nice to hear.

First impressions are everything. So this posting details the first menu I made even though I've since made all three menus. The first meal I prepared was a Pan Bagnat-Style Sandwich with a Baby Kale Salad.

Sitting on top of all of the packaging were three 8.5x11 two-sided, full color description of the meals and the back side contained full instructions with photos for each step.

All of the ingredients are packaged and clearly labeled and were high quality. For the sandwich, it would have been easier to supply some so-so bread. But the bread supplied for this recipe tasted fresh and it was light and airy. Most everything you need is in the box. For at least the first week, all I supplied was cooking oil, salt and pepper, and the pans and utensils.

It is true that once you sign up you can skip weeks up to a month at a time. So, conceivably, you could get it every week or just a few busy times of the year. When you log in you can see the menu for each week and you can swap out dishes that don't appeal to you.

The Pan Bagnat sandwich is a Mediterranean sandwich which features seasonal produce. It is a staple in the Provence and is served in every bakery or through street vendors. The ingredients vary and it often has tuna in it. This is a vegetarian version (but there are eggs in it). Another key feature is that the sandwich, regardless of the ingredients, gets wrapped tightly and given some time for the flavors to marry. The recipe is very much open to interpretation and if you look online you will find a wide variety of ingredients.

So who is Blue Apron good for? Well, if your issue is not enough time to come home and cook a meal then Blue Apron is not for you. You get all of the ingredients but it takes more time than advertised to actually prep, cook, and serve the meal at the end of the day. But it's a high quality, gourmet meal. If your issue is deciding what's for dinner or no time to shop for ingredients then Blue Apron is perfect. With Blue Apron you get high quality ingredients, exposure to new recipes, and plenty of exposure to new ways of prepping and preparing meals. Since I fall more in the latter category, I'm keeping the Blue Apron account alive for now to try it out a few more times but this sandwich was a keeper.

Pan Bagnat-Style Sandwiches
Ingredients:

2 hard-boiled eggs

2 small sandwich loaves

squash (zucchini and other style)

cucumber

1 clove garlic

Dijon mustard

1/4 cup mayonnaise

1 tablespoon capers

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

Directions:

Hard boil the eggs ahead of time.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees

Thinly slice cucumbers and let them soak in the vinegar for at least 10 minutes, stirring periodically.

Thinly slice the squash.

Thinly slice the hard boiled eggs.

Roughly chop the capers and add to a bowl with mayonnaise and stir to mix.

Drizzle the bread halves with olive oil and season with salt and pepper and toast in the over for about 10 minutes or until golden brown.

Rub the toasted bread with the peeled garlic clove.

Lightly brown the squash slices in a non-stick pan with olive oil.

Place sandwich halves on aluminum foil and spread the caper mayonnaise on one side of each sandwich and Dijon mustard on the other.

Add slices of cooked squash and eggs on the bottom half of the sandwich; season with salt and pepper.

Top with cucumbers (leaving the vinegar behind).

Put the top bread on top and tightly wrap the sandwich in the foil.

Place a heavy object on top of the sandwiches; let stand for at least 5 minutes of compression

Unwrap sandwiches from the foil, slice in half, and serve.

email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-145981892303272704.post-34944926564053725132016-07-04T16:44:00.003-07:002017-10-14T15:08:20.865-07:004th of July Potato SaladSpend some time on the internet reading up on potato salad, as I did on this 4th of July morning, and you will find that it is a topic of great passion and debate. You will find recipes that say not to use russet potatoes but the comments below will be full of people who swear by using russets. You will find great debates on whether the best potato salad should be creamy, mayo-based or should it be made with a vinaigrette. You will find that people can be almost religious about their mayonnaise (Hellman's, Miracle Whip, Best Foods). And everyone's mother, grandmother or Nana made "the best" potato salad.

Potato salad is simple and versatile but, in the end, we all want the potato salad that we all grew up with. So I went with a basic mayo-based potato salad. But in my research I did pick up a few tips/tricks:

When boiling the potatoes, start with cold water that is well salted. The potatoes will absorb some of the salt improving their flavor.

As potatoes are cooling, splash a little red wine vinegar over them. Again, they will absorb some of the flavor and it will add a nice contrast to the starchy potato flavor.

Because you will be working with mayonnaise, make sure the potatoes are not hot as you are mixing the ingredients.

Look, as I did, at a number of recipes and create your own with the ingredients that grab you.

4th of July Potato Salad (Updated)
Ingredients:

2 lbs. potatoes - I used two different types of fingerling potatoes

1-2 celery stalks, finely chopped

3-4 green onions, chopped

1/2 cup of relish or chopped pickles - I diced up a half of a friend's spicy pickle

4 coarsely chopped hard boiled eggs

1 generous tablespoon yellow mustard

Mayonnaise to desired creaminess

Salt

1 tsp. black pepper

1/2 tsp. white pepper

1 tsp. celery seed

1/4 tsp. garlic salt

Red wine vinegar

Paprika

Directions:

Start ahead of time by making the eggs. Cover them completely with cold water and then bring the water to a boil. Once boiling, turn off heat and let eggs sit in the hot water for 10-12 minutes. Remove and let cool. This can be done a few days ahead of time. Or hard steam them.

Scrub the potatoes clean.

Cover them with cold, salted water and bring to a boil. Let potatoes boil about 7-8 minutes for smaller potatoes and up to 12 for large russets. Test with a knife to reach the right consistency.

Drain potatoes into a colander and lightly drizzle the potatoes with a splash of red wine vinegar. Let cool for at least 10 minutes.

Chop potatoes into cubes. Peels on or off--that's your choice.

In a large bowl combine all ingredients adding mayonnaise last. Start with 4-6 tablespoons. Stir to mix well. Add mayonnaise a teaspoon at a time and stir to mix until you get to your desired consistency.

Spoon the potato salad into a serving bowl and garnish with a few pinches of paprika.

Happy Summer!

email@example.com


text:
Attali crise
J. Attali explains in the first article that governments should strongly stimulate consumption and investment to respond to the crisis. I will try to explain J. Attali's position by illustrating those two economic concepts (consumption and investment).
As Keynes' consumption equation states (C = a Y + b, with Y = revenue), households'consumption depends on their current revenue. By decreasing the revenue, the rising of the unemployment rate leads to a decrease in consumption. However, other reasons can explain this decrease. Indeed, households' choice between consuming and saving depends on the amount of their current revenue but also on their future revenue (M. Friedman, A. Modigliani). Thus the pessimistic economic forecasts and thedecrease of households' confidence lead households to increase their savings by reducing their consumption. The decrease of the households' consumption can also be explained by their impoverishment: Modigliani's consumption equation (C = a (W/P) + b Y with W = wealth and P = prices) takes into account the wealth of households. The collapse of the stock exchange and the real estate market lead to adecrease of households' wealth (W) and thus contributes to the decrease of the consumption.
The decrease of the demand explains the problem of "surplus of capacity in key sectors" stressed in the first article. Companies don't invest because the anticipated demand is too low. Investment is also linked to interest rates. To stimulate investment, Central Banks decreased their interest rates. Butaccording to Attali, this is not enough. In the article Get Down to Business, he condemns the European low economic stimulus plans. Governments should invest "massively" in leading sectors; "they should accept temporarily targeted deficits to fund these expenditures of the future". Graph 1 and graph 2 illustrate this basic concept: by increasing public expenditures (G), the general demand (D) isstimulated which leads to an increase in production and investment and thus to an increase in employment.
Large budget deficits are needed, short-term, to help create demand and pull the economy out of its pronounced recession. Attali stresses in The Vain G-20 the risks of public debts that "keep on growing everywhere". To stimulate investments, Central Banks have lowered their interest rates. Thehuge amount of public debts make it impossible for the Central Banks to increase their rates again, which deprives them of the power to fight against inflation. Increases in tax and social charges or severe spending cuts to reduce public debts are also unlikely since most participants of the Pittsburg summit have electoral deadlines.
As a conclusion, I would say that Attali's expectations aboutthe G-20 were confirmed. Indeed, there were no plans to implement some declarations of intent promising to overcome the causes of the crisis; nothing either on the regulation of non-banking financial professions; no progress, towards the establishment of a Worldwide organization of Finance; nothing on the public deficits, neither on unemployment, nor on the balance of currencies, nor on the...
Veuillez vous inscrire pour avoir accès au document.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
In the interest of getting my butt out of the house and doing as many interesting things as possible before I am confined to the small world of diapers and nursing, I took it upon myself on a recent Sunday to go with Trish and Miata to the Salvador Dalí exhibit at LACMA.
While there are those who may assert that viewage of such freaky-deakiness while preggers may warp my developing child's little sensibilities, I decided to take a walk on the wild side and go ahead and take in the freakiness in person. I was not disappointed.
Aside from a voluminous collection of paintings, there were also film clips playing of the artist's various collaborations with filmmakers of his day -- in particular, an animated film that the artist worked on with Walt Disney. I got teared up watching the thing, it was just so very magnificent and so sad that it was never before released to the public. It was like watching a Dalí painting come to life for fifteen minutes. Afterward, we sat outside and talked about what we had seen. I don't know about you guys, but after I see something like that, I tend to look at the world a little differently, at people a little differently. Those beautiful paintings existed in that man's mind before they became reality, that regular guy with the crazy handlebar moustache and crazy eyes. And look what he contributed to the world.
Well, I recommend you see the exhibit fast before it is gone. It will only be there until January 6. So get your freaky on.
Los Angeles County Museum of Art
5905 Wilshire Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90036
(323) 857-6000


text:
warm, character specialist, bright, cute,
Voice Description
My voice is incredibly versatile-
I am very experienced in character voices (which can be cute and quirky or even distant and aggressive, so long as they're dramatic) in animation.
I am friendly and have a comfortable lilt reading long passages for e-books.
I can read quickly and excitably for commercials.
I attend an Ivy League university and assure you I can sound professional! Or, innocent and childish, or even flirty and low for other types of materials..
Voice Genders and "Ages" I Can Perform
• Child
• Teenage Girl
• Young Adult Female
Language(s) of Which I Am a Native Speaker:
• English - USA and Canada
I Offer my Services for these Recording Purposes
• Commercials
• Promos
• IVR, voicemail, phone systems, and on-hold messages
• Audiobooks
• Videogames
• Documentaries
• TV shows and movies
• Movie and game trailers
• Podcasts
• Adult content
• Cartoon/Animation
Jobs I Am Willing to Take (Union-wise)
• Non-Union Jobs
My Union Affiliations and Memberships
My Recording and Delivery Capabilities
• I will go to any designated studio in my area
• I can record and then deliver the audio files via Email
Pre-, Post- and Production Services I Offer
• I can deliver edited and finished voice tracks
• I have a music library and can add music to any project
• I can add special effects to any project
My Home Base
, New York, United States
Accents, Impersonations, Characters and Dialects
RP, Valley Girl, cute, princess, tomboy, surfer girl, preppy, muppet, nanny, girl next door
My Voice Experience
• E-book narrating experience
• Live theatre experience (Ophelia in "Hamlet," Adriana in "Comedy of Errors," Nurse in "Romeo & Juliet," Catherine in "Proof")
• Freelance commercial ads
• Animation dubbing
My Training
I have taken classes in Voice & Speech at Columbia University. I have 5 years' acting experience at the Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum.
My Studio Equipment
Unknown - Click here to ask Rachel Hsu
Additional Skills
I also do songwriting and improv.
Payment Methods Accepted
• PayPal
• Personal checks, cashier's checks, or money orders in my local currency
Online Payments Via PayPal
Contact Information
To contact Rachel Hsu by email or phone, please click here.
• Currently Rachel Hsu is a Standard subscriber.
Rachel Hsu does not appear to be an active participant of the Voice123 marketplace at this time.
Rachel Hsu was last active on Voice123 more than 365 days ago, OR may not be receiving our email messages.
Rachel Hsu does not appear to be an active participant of the Voice123 marketplace at this time. Rachel Hsu was last active on Voice123 more than 365 days ago, OR may not be receiving our email messages.


text:
Come join the Lake Gardener Improvement Association for a guided, narrated hike of the Powow Hill Conservation Area -- the highest peak on the Essex County coast! During this hike from Lake Gardner beach to the Camp Kent Science Center, we'll explore the woodland alive with birdsong, the gentle rolling hills of Battis Farm, and picturesque Lake Gardner. Capacity: 12
Amesbury is rich with history, and the lake as well as the hill have many stories to tell. Participants will have the choice of hiking up Powow Hill to excellent views of Plum Island, N.H's The Isle of the Shoals, and Mt. Agamenticus, or a more leisurely walk along a former carriage trail.
Special Instructions:
- The duration of the hikes will be between 1-1.5 hours.
- There are steep portions, and uneven footing in places, so be prepared and wear practical footwear.
- All hikes depart from the Lake Gardner beach, where there is ample free parking.
- Gather at 9AM and start our hike around 9:15.
- Part of Trails & Sails 2017
Meets at Lake Gardner Beach
Saturday, September 23, 2017 9-11am


text:
Mandag - Fredag 10-18
Lørdag 10-15
Gratis forsendelse ved ordrer over 100 kr.i webshoppen!
Vis stort billede
Soloists: Daniel Barenboim (piano) Orchestra, Chorus: Staatskapelle Berlin Conductor: Andris Nelson
For the 200th anniversary of the birth of Frèdèric Chopin, the renowned Ruhr Piano Festival in Essen invited the Staatskapelle Berlin to give a truly special program: the rare combination of Chopinës two piano concertos in one concert. For this purpose Daniel Barenboim, the orchestraës principal conductor, handed over the reins of his ensemble to up-and-coming young conductor Andris Nelsons, assuming the role of piano soloist instead. The press raved: ÑStorms of applause for a dream couple: Daniel Barenboim and Andris Nelsons won over the audience [Ö] with their rousing Chopin interpretations. While Barenboim fills the solo parts with pulsating life and dance-like grace, the exciting young talent Andris Nelsons dazzles with his magnetic physical presence and the broad gestures with which he fires on or pulls back his enthusiastic musicians. Nelsons opens the concert with a rousing account of Joseph Haydnís Symphony No. 44, the Mourning Symphony. Chopin wrote the two piano concertos when he was only 19 and 20; they were among the last works that he composed in Poland before leaving for France. Filled with youthful fire and freshness, the works showcase the pianistës virtuosity, and contain much of interest for the orchestral musicians as well, including poignant solo interludes for clarinet and bassoon.


text:
Traditional planning systems like MRP uses item attribute lead time offsets to align supply order due dates with demand dates of need. The ASL providers greater accuracy in making lead time offset calculations during the planning process. You can specify supplier & item specific lead times. This ensures that your orders are placed early enough to provide the selected supplier adequate time to react to your demand for each item.
Setup Steps for the Source
1. Install the source instance patch
Before beginning the functional setup of the source instance(s), a patch must be applied that will create several new concurrent programs, flexfields, profile options, and database objects on the source database. The patch that is required is determined by the versions of the application and database on the source instance.
Org: An organization which this plan should plan.
Net WIP: Select to consider discrete jobs and other production orders as supply in the planning demand/supply netting process.
Net Reservations: If checked, ASCP generates pegging of on-hand supply to sales orders that matches the reservations recorded in the source transaction system.
Plan Start Date: If you have never run the plan, this field displays today's date. If you have run the plan, this field displays the planning horizon start date of the last run.
Plan End Date: Calculated planning horizon end date based on your entries in Buckets and the owning organization calendar.
This section describes how to set plan options. The plan options appear in the following tabbed regions:
Decision Rules
To access the plan options do either of the following:
Go directly from the Navigator
Access the Plan Names form, select a plan, and click Plan Options.
There are some situations in which it makes sense to plan a portion of the supply chain separately, outside of the overall supply chain DRP plan.
Collecting data can take a significant amount of time compared to the time for the overall planning cycle. Oracle Advanced Supply Chain Planning (ASCP) provides a collection method that allows the collections duration to be reduced in cases where information about some - but not all - planning-related business entities on the planning server needs to be updated.
There are three collection methods:


text:
- Visit
- Exhibitions
- Research
- Shop Online
- Collections
- Learn
- Join and Give
You are here
Gallery Talk: The Medieval World at Our Fingertips
February 6, 2018
Meet in Gallery 100
Free with museum admission
Educator Sam Anderson-Ramos guides a walk through this special exhibition of medieval manuscripts to learn about and discuss the early book arts, and the window they open onto a distant time.
To request an accessibility accommodation for an Art Institute program, please call (312) 443-3680 or send an e-mail to firstname.lastname@example.com as far in advance as possible.
Please see the museum's Accessibility page for more information.


text:
SpaceX is an American aerospace company, known to the nerd community as "the cool company that makes reusable rockets that land themselves." You might have noticed that I like space quite a bit, so this was a great choice for my Final Major Project during my Art Foundation.
It began like every other project – thumbnail sketches! Initially, I thought about making producing a short animation promoting their reusable rocket technology, as people were often unaware of the achievements of the company. This was perfectly understandable, as they often remembered the numerous (and dramatic!) failed launches.
Next, I looked into 'retro space culture'. This was an important step in appreciating where our love for space and science fiction came from. Although a curiosity for what's 'out there' has existed for centuries, I decided to focus on the 'Space Race' of the 1950s and 1960s, as well as Kubrick's classic, 2001: A Space Odyssey.
I then had a look at typography from the 1920s and 1930s. Lots of these stayed in style during the period we now refer to as 'retro futurism', hence why they were included in my project.
I produced a test poster based on these styles. The fictional planet that the Dragon capsule is orbiting was created with traditional Turkish marbling (Ebru), while the ship itself was drawn by hand from a reference photograph, scanned, then digitally coloured.
In this case, I used Adobe After Effects to represent the layers in 3D space and make a short animation. This was only a test, but inspired me to experiment with 3D.
I was pretty chuffed at that point – things were coming together well. I then produced two poster to go with the website: one that welcomed and persuaded viewers of the exhibit why the company was worth learning about, and the other to explain the complicated launch process.


text:
The Commissioner.
The Directorate of Technical Education, Guindy, Chennai — 600 025.
The Squad Heads
Letter No. R.O. IV-APRIL 2013- 1
Date: 23/04/2013
Sub: April 2013 Board Examination Spot Payment of TA and DA to Staff attending duty verification of disbursement details – reg.
It has been decided to disburse the TA and DA to Chief Superintendent, Additional Chief Superintendent, Hall Superintendent and Cell duty members and Internal and External Examiners (not Technical assistant, Mechanic and waterboy) attending Practical Examination of April 2013 Board Exam Works. In this connection an advance amount will be sent to each Principal for disbursement at Institutes. Instructions for disbursement have been given to Principals (a copy enclosed).
After all the Exams are over you are requested to check the correctness of disbursement made by the Principals and certify.
You are also requested to see that the acquaintance with TA Bill forms (properly stitched) reaches DOTE as per the schedule (later date will be given in the website) after all the Exams are over.
Your Cooperation and Coordination is very much expected.
Prof. P.M. Kavimani
CTE i/c
The Commissioner.
The Directorate of Technical Education, Guindy, Chennai — 600 025.
The Principals/Head of Squad
Letter No. R.O. IV-APRIL 2013- 2
Date: 23/04/2013
It has been decided to disburse the TA and DA to the staff attending April 2013 Board theory & Practical examination duty. If the Principal is happen to be the Chief Superintendent then he/she can disburse the claim to the individuals. If the Principal is not the Chief Superintendent then he/she may disburse the amount that is certified/approved by the Chief Superintendent.
The to and fro travelling allowance can be permitted based on the actual bus/train fare incurred. The claim form is given in Annexiure-I. The pass order should the made by the disbursing officer in red ink in every claim form of the individual in Annexure-I.
The Daily Allowance calculation should he made based on the actual distance between the Head
Quarters and the Exam Centre. The rates admissible are…
For distances of 8 km (or) more —— Rs. 190.00/day
For distances less than 8 kms. –——- Rs. 115.00/day.
The individuals have to sign in acquaintance (Annexure-II). If the amount exceed 5000/- stamped acquaintance is required. Every page has to the totalled and consolidated page total should be furnished at the end of the page duly signed by the Principal with Institution seal.
After all the theory and Practical are over the Principals are requested to submit the claim Forms along with acquiltance with the covering letter stating the following details
a) The TA & DA amount received = Rs.
b) Actual expenditure incurred = Rs.
c) Balance to the claimed / Remitted = Rs.
as per the schedule (will be intimated letter) to DOTE after getting the certification from the flying Squad Head that the disbursement made are as per guidelines. The excess amount paid to the Institution should be returned to this office by means of a demand draft in any nationalized bank favouring Additional Director of Technical Education (Examinations), Chennai —600025.
The following terms & conditions are to be followed by Principal while disbursing the amount. After the disbursement the disbursing officer must certify that the following terms & condition are not violated. The acquaintance (Annexure- II) with claim form (Annexure – 1) bill forms properly stitched and submitted to the DOTE office after all the exams are over. While disbursing priority is to be given to outside staff in case there is short of fund. If there is any audit objection the disbursing officer is responsible for the consequence.
Terms & Conditions:
1. To and fro fare will be incurred one time. (for distances of 8 km or more)
2. No daily allowance would be paid for Government holidays except when the individual stays at the centre, with the stay is certified by the Chief Superintendent / Principal.
Your co-ordination & co-operation is highly expected and solicited for smooth and effective
conduct of Examinations.
Prof. P.M. Kavimani
Source: www.tndte.com


text:
Words containing agnh
Found 2 words containing agnh. Browse our Scrabble Word Finder, Words With Friends cheat dictionary, and WordHub word solver to find words that contain agnh. Or use our Unscramble word solver to find your best possible play! Related: Words that end in agnh
- Scrabble
- Words With Friends
- WordHub
- Crossword


text:
Congratulations to our Colorado Super Lawyers!
SuperLawyers, the Thomson Reuters lawyer rating service, has announced the 2018 Colorado Super Lawyers and Rising Stars lists. We are excited to announce that partners Jeff Kerrane, Heidi Storz, and Alex Nelson, and senior attorney Michael Lowder have been selected to the 2018 Thomson Reuters Colorado Super Lawyers and Rising Stars lists!
BKSN's Trial Team Wins with $200,000 Jury Verdict for 10-Unit Minnesota HOA
The Meadows of St. Francis Townhomes Association, Inc. is a 10-unit community in St. Francis, MN that was suffering from water intrusion at windows and underneath vinyl siding, driveways that were caving in, and stone veneer that was falling off the buildings.


text:
Kasaragod to Mumbai Trains(0 Trains Found)
No trains found
Sorry! No trains found in the selected route. Please choose a different origin and destination & try again
Railway Station
City : Kasaragod
Code : KGQ
Avg Rating :
Wifi : Not Available
Kalyan Jn Railway Station
City : Mumbai
Code : KYN
Avg Rating : 3.9
Wifi : Available


text:
This custom executive concrete home, built by a local builder to North American standards, is located phase 1 of Sittee Point Estates on the Caribbean Sea.
The first floor has a one bedroom apartment /guest suite with kitchen, living/dining, a full bath, a garage and storage/mini garage area. There is also a large covered deck off the guest suite leading to the Caribbean Sea.
The second floor has a large stone deck, a large master bedroom with a sitting area, cane ceilings and master bath, a guest bedroom, a guest bathroom, a laundry room, and a great room with a large kitchen with granite counter tops. All rooms have ceiling fans and split A/C units. All the doors, cabinets and trim are exotic solid mahogany hardwood and are exquisite.
The third floor with vaulted exotic hardwood ceiling, has a large sitting/office area, a second master bedroom with ensuite bathroom over looking the Caribbean Sea, a guest bedroom and bathroom.
Beyond the obvious .. nice floors .. nice hardwood..great patio.. best beach around!
There are a couple of items worth noting about the home
-all glass is laminated- hurricane resistant, all double hung windows are excellent quality, thermo pane and laminated..hurricane resistance.
- ALL door hardware, knobs, hinges, and lock set are solid brass with a black coating that wears off to provide an excellent worn brass patina.
- ALL window blinds are imported and the horizontal slats are wood.
- Kitchens are fully equipped with a great variety of utensils.
- The house is built on 24 deep piles and heavy pile caps.. it went through the "earthquake" a few years ago without a crack.
- Has a 600 gallon water storage capacity.
- The ground floor has never been flooded, and we have had some high water recently.
- There are two sets of linens for each bed and back up in the owners closet.
-History of good vacation rental income
This very well priced custom home, is in brand new condition.
- Owner will consider financing with 50% down to a quailified purchaser.
First Floor: 700 a/c sqft, 700 sqft Covered tile patio, 770 sqft enclosed garage and storage room
Second Floor: 1809 a/c sq ft, 420 sqft covered deck
Third Floor: 693 a/c sqft
Total A/C sq ft: 3202 sq ft
Total Covered Space: 1890 sqft
Total: 5092 sqft
Currently this home acts as a vaction rental for US$500 nightly/ US$3000 weekly.
Note: Lot #30 to the north is also available. This would give you 100 feet of Caribbean Sea front.
Call or contact us today for more information on this lovely home.
All fields with an asterix (*) are required.
NOTE - The information you send to Caribbean Property Consultants will be held in strict confidence. It will not be sold nor will it be distributed to any individual, entity or agency that is not directly associated with us.
Belize Real Estate For Sale - Links
Caribbean Property Consultants


text:
Written by CJ Hurtt, Writer/Content Planner.
It's really easy to paint the Kheïtanni as the bad guys. I mean, look at them. Very angry faces, bones everywhere, weapons always bloody, and they wear the skulls of their fallen enemies on their burnt and disfigured wing nubs. They do not look like heroes. Not like those respectable Lánaraï with their functional wings and flowing robes and all.
Given the history between the two people though (more on that in an upcoming post), it's not fair to label one "hero" and the other "villain". The Lánaraï are not blameless in this. Not at all. But, if we had to put one of the two in the Bad Guy camp, it would probably be the Kheïtanni. Like I said. Look at them!
Writing for villia…let's call them Morally Non-Normative Characters, there's the occasional expectation to make them a cartoony evil. Take all that is bad about people and dump that into a character. They don't have friends. They don't feel anything but hatred. They're not smart. There's nothing remotely interesting about them and they certainly don't have any redeeming qualities. They never win in the end.
I've actually gotten negative feedback in the past (not on DOTT) for allowing a bad guy to be human. To have a bit of charm and frailty. It's odd to me. Who wants underdeveloped characters? This sort of empty boogieman is expected by some I guess, but enjoyed by no one.
So when writing for the Kheïtanni NPCs, I wanted to give their personalities a little more than what may first appear on the surface. Yes, the main purpose of their existence is the utter destruction of their enemies. But they have carved out a home and built a culture for themselves on this almost dead world. They have families and friends. They laugh. When they talk about the cause, they talk about it in a way that lets the player understand that it is a struggle and not some random storm of violence.
They have had everything taken from them. A great many Kheïtanni died due to a messianic mad man that saw people as mere resources. The Kheïtanni got kicked in the teeth. Hard. So, yeah, they have anger over that. They do things that will chill your blood. They kill with no remorse. To them, the war is retribution for crimes against entire solar systems. They do not see their actions as continuing a cycle. To them, they're the heroes and they act accordingly.
While we are dedicated to creating a game setting where the player is in control of their character's lives, we want the full on gut punch of emotional ramifications to be felt for their actions. We want it to be possible for the player to identify with their enemy and to relate to their fellow warriors.
In a few weeks, we'll start introducing you to some of these in-game people and a bit about their history. Also, keep an eye out for the other unique features that we'll be announcing soon.
Follow us on Twitter for more: @dawnofthetyrant


text:
Hoping you can help me with a problem on my laptop. I am running Vista Home Premium
and having a problem with a BHO - iexplore.exe that keeps trying to install when we go
online. I am not sure if this is a problem or not. It has never showed up before until
recently. Spysweeper keeps flagging it as an issue. I am including a HiJackThis log and
an uninstall log.
The favor of a reply will be greatly appreciated.


text:
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Easy Homemade Coffee Shop Cream Soda
5 comments:
Wow! This sounds DELISH!! So, next get together, you have to make some for each of us, right??ReplyDelete
Oh, and love your commentary "...bad on my buns." :-)
Ummm, yessss. I'm so making you all try it. It's amazing.ReplyDelete
I don't think I like cream soda, but I'd be willing to give this a try!! :DReplyDelete
This looks incredibly yummy. I miss Arsaga's almost as much as you girls.ReplyDelete
Sooo, finally gave this a try this evening, and gotta say that it is pretty much wonderful!! When Aaron came home with sparkling water from Walmart, I was like, "I KNOW WHAT TO DO WITH THAT!!" I had gotten some raspberry syrup (already had the vanilla on hand) after you posted this recipe, and I now have half and half in my fridge most of the time. So, it worked out perfectly. Anyway, thanks again for the recipe!ReplyDelete


text:
Product Description
- Craft: Stamped Cross Stitch
- Title: So Many Choices
- By: Dimensions
- Size: 5" x 7" (13 to 18 cm)
Here's a new and unopened complete STAMPED crosstitch kit entitled "So Many Choices." It is a colorful design of four high-heeled shoes. Written above them is the phrase, "So Many Choices, So Little Time!" Perfect for any compulsive shopper or the "shoe-aholic" in all of us!
Included in the package: printed white sailcloth x-stitch fabric, 6-strand cotton embroidery floss, needle and complete and easy instructions including ~ Everything you need to complete this CrossStitch project!
This xstitch kit is from Dimensions, Inc. and is designed by Martha Freeman Glass. The finished size is 5" x 7" (13 x 18 cm).
Kit No. 6861 or 06861 / UPC: 088677068610