more pre Nicks Fleetwood Mac

Fleetwood Mac -- pre Nicks

Sound thinking regarding global warming

We Visited Important Historical Sites

Mystery Woman in Old San Juan

It was a hot day. A hot day of trudging the tourist infested streets of old San Juan Puerto Rico. Things got interesting when a cool woman in a dark outfit walked into my life.

Actually, she was with me the whole time. Later we took the three kids to a place for some milk shakes.

Limestone

It is good for making caverns:

It also provides just the right setting for a radio telescope:

Modes of Transport

The trip to Bio Bay was so complex it made me feel like I was escaping from behind the iron curtain.

First, we took the rental car to a marina to catch a power catamaran for the crossing. Just to get out of the resort there was one guard and gate for the garage and another for the entrance to the resort. The boat was fast and rough; spray would wash over the front windows and across the top of the vessel. Some passengers felt a bit ill from the violence of the passage.

The crew, in keeping with wife and eldest daughter's observations about young Puerto Rican men, were were attractive and friendly. Also, they plied us with all the free rum drinks we wanted. As one of them said, "This is Puerto Rico, land of rum. If you want tequila, you are in the wrong country!"

After the crossing, we had a pleasant van ride to the restaurant. Along the way we enjoyed the scenery, including that of the feral horses that Vieques is famous for. The meal was served quickly since our orders had been called ahead.

The next mode of transport was by yellow school bus. I was really amazed by what a bus can do. Much of this leg was on narrow--tree branches brushing against both sides of the bus at the same time--and very steep, potholed and muddy.

Finally, there was an electric open top pontoon boat that took us out into the bay.

Returning, it was the same thing in reverse order: Yellow bus, van, high speed cat and then rental car and gate houses.

These nine changes in transport rivaled last year's whole trip to India: Car to airport, Plane ride to New Delhi, Van around Delhi, to Agra and on to Jaipur, Plane ride to Mangalore, Van around Mangalore then to Kapu and on to Udupi and finally Goa, Plane ride to Bombay, Van around Bombay, Plane to USA, Car ride home = 10! A three week trip had only one more transport change than this half-day outing.

Light, Very Distant and Very Close.

On Tuesday we went to Puerto Mosquito on Vieques to see the bio-luminescent display there. So far on the visit to Puerto Rico, it had been mostly cloudy and I was hoping for this to continue since the Moon was slightly more than half full. As it turned-out, the skies were totally clear, but the Moon didn't rise until sometime after we left.

Our guide was an expert on astronomy--at least that part of it involving the names of principle stars and constellations. He had a bright green laser-pointer with which he could point out features in the sky. My red laser pointer only creates a bright dot where the light hits something solid. The guide's would create a beam that seemed to go-off into infinity. I suspect that the higher frequency of his light (green v. red) caused it to have an higher incidence of scatter, also it was most likely more powerful than a usual pointer. In any case it allowed for a planetarium-like experience, which was helped by the very dark skies.

The only light seen from the water was from when a fish would dart about and from where the water was disturbed by the electric pontoon boat we were on. Even as the mechanism of this light is known--dinoflagellates, it was nonetheless quite magical. It got better though; we were able to get out of the boat and swim around in the bay. It was a chilly evening and the water too was cool, but the discomfort was well-worth it. Any movement however small, would cause a glow in the wake of the movement. The guides forced us to wear life-belts, which is totally understandable, but somewhat disappointing from an aesthetic stand-point. It turned-out to be beneficial in a couple of ways: The best bio-luminescent effects were from slow movements and this would be difficult given the need to remain floating. Rapid movements create a kind of milky cloud of blue-green light, slow movements create a much clearer light--sort of like champagne, where the tiny bubbles are illuminated from within and light-up the rest of the fluid. The best technique was to knife your fingers forward, just under the surface of the water. Light and bubbles would form at the tips of each finger and spread in a wake behind each one.

The best effect was from lying still, just floating. What would happen is that one would see small dots of light on your skin. If I recall correctly, these would occur both in and out of the water--so it might be droplets of water on the skin and air bubbles on the skin under water. Possibly, what I saw were individual Noctilucales, which can be 1-2 mm in diameter. Either way, they had the same brightness and apparent size as the stars above. It was odd, contemplating one dot of light coming from an incomprehensibly violent and large object which emitted the light I just saw many centuries before I was born and another dot, much the same in appearance but coming from a little single-celled organism on my arm.

All three of the girls were similarly entranced by the swim and were reluctant to get out when called.

Short Conversation At A Restaurant

Wife: Returning from the restroom; "I saw something interesting when I was in the bathroom"

Me: What was it?

Wife: Gestures for me to lean towards her so that the kids won't overhear what she has to say; I saw two women kissing in there!

Me: Did S (Daughter who accompanied wife on trip to restroom) see?

Wife: No.

Me: (Excitedly) So, what did they look like?

Wife: You wouldn't be interested. They were not television lesbians.

Me: (Disappointedly.) Harrumph.

Baked Stuffed Fish Recipe

This is a modification of a baked cod dish* my college room mate (and cousin) would make. Any white fish will do, but cod is really good. Haddock is really nice too--the key is good quality fresh fish.

*It has been a long time, but the main differences (that I can remember) are that he did not pre-cook the onion and used bread crumbs instead of cracker crumbs.

First: Make the stuffing by dicing and then cooking one medium sized onion till golden, Then add fresh parsley and/or celery--the leafy top parts are best. This is done in a fair amount of olive oil, butter, ghee (clarified butter) or some combination of these.

Next, cover the bottom of a well oiled metal baking pan or ceramic dish with crumpled (just crush in your hands) Ritz crackers. Choose a vessel just large enough for the fish to fill it in one layer. It is easiest to entirely fill the area available if the fish is cut into roughly 2 oz pieces.

Prepare a coating for the fish by mixing (this is for around one pound of fish) 1/3 to 1/2 cup of sour cream and a tablespoon or two each of mustard and mayonnaise. Coat the fish on both sides and lay gently onto the crumbs in the bottom of the pan.

Crush Ritz crackers into the cooked onion stuffing in the pan you cooked the onion in and gently mix with your fingers. It should take around twice as many crackers for the stuffing as it took to coat the bottom of the pan. Sprinkle this mixture over the top of the fish evenly and then bake at 330 F for around 30 minutes.

You can test if the fish is done by looking to see if the flesh is opaque. The dish should be very moist but not soupy and the topping just starting to brown. Serve with fresh lemon. The mustard and sour cream give a bit of tartness, so you may find yourself using less lemon or skipping this condiment for this dish.

Luxury and Necessity

Everything I did at the start of today was stuff that really doesn't need to be done--at least not by me, but for various reasons I did them anyway.

First, I released the hound. Well, our Caviler King Charles Spaniel, from her crate and took her for a walk. Normally my wife does this as it is primarily her dog, but it is nice for her to sleep-in every once in a while.

While everybody was sleeping, I set about roasting coffee. Yes, I am aware that it can be purchased pre-roasted but it is far better, in terms of the cost of quality beans and freshness to do this yourself. It does smoke-up the house and is a pain and is still well-worth the extra effort.

After breakfast, my wife had plans to make a few ground beef intensive dishes and so I did my part by grinding the meat. Again, it is cost and quality; nice chuck roast is inexpensive and makes a far superior hamburger than what the store grinds for you, also it is fresher when you do it yourself.

There is some definition of luxury as having things done for you and I can see the logic in that. But for me, a more important kind of luxury is having a superior experience; a perfectly cooked meal or a great tasting cup of coffee. Work provides rewards. If you work hard at your job, you will generally make more money, with which you can get more or nicer things. By the same token, extra work in your home life pay off in the same way. The effort of being a skilled cook pays-off in inexpensive yet fancy eating.

Necessity intrudes though. The unremitting snow this Winter has resulted in ice dams and a bit of leakage into the house. Today was relatively warm and drizzly, a combination which will transform the two and a half feet of snow on the roof into an even larger problem. The situation demanded action! Up on the roof I went, snow shovel in hand.

Nothing could be closer to civilization than the roof of a suburban house. Yet, in the thigh-deep snow, I felt like a wilderness explorer. The work was very physical in that it took a lot of strength as well as aerobic effort. It is also a two story house, so mortality was on my mind. As it was, the troublesome ice dams provided a flat surface along the edge of the roof. The slope helps but the huge volume and mass of the snow to be removed has left my body in a jelly-like state almost 6 hours later.

Necessity is reactive and sucks. All the effort is just to avoid consequences which are greater than the effort it takes to prevent them.

Guacamole Recipe

First! This is important:

Juice one lime. Lemon is okay if that is all you have. Juice from the little plastic lemon or lime is NOT okay.

Open two small avocados or one large one. They need to be ripe! Your best bet is to buy them a few days ahead of time and then make guacamole once the fruit yield to a gentle squeeze.

Mash the avocados into the bowl containing lime juice. The reason you do it in this order is that the avocado flesh turns brown very quickly when exposed to the oxygen in air. The citrus juice prevents this.

Add around 1/4 cup of finely minced red or yellow onion and a similar amount of chopped fresh tomato.

Add a jalapeño or other hot pepper--finely chopped or a few shakes of Tabasco Sauce is good too.

Complete with garlic powder, cumin, salt and black pepper. You may also wish to add a couple table spoons of sour cream. Minced crispy bacon is also a nice touch.

The President's "Plan" For The Country (Picture)

Who knew?

Dinner (A couple of nights ago)

Pizza!

Detail...

Sauce, Three cheeses (Mozzarella, Gruyère and Asiago), Hot Italian sausage, Olives, Artichoke Hearts, Red Onions, Jalapeño Peppers, Fresh Mushrooms and Crushed Garlic.

My Daughter Is Evil

Here she is, torturing her cousin.

Sarah Palin: "America's Enduring Strength"

Sarah Palin: "America's Enduring Strength" from Sarah Palin on Vimeo.

3 Rolls

On a whim, yesterday I had my egg, cheese and bacon sandwich on a bulky roll rather than the usual English muffin. The rolls were really fresh, so I thought it would be good and it was.

I worked from home yesterday and went running on my lunch hour. I only had a couple of minutes therefore to put-together a lunch and all we had that was easy was some left-over pulled pork. Naturally, it would go on a roll. Roll number 2.

It was a broken night: Kids had dance lessons, wife had karate etc. The kids ate early and we ate late, like 9:00 PM. So we wanted quick and easy. We always keep frozen hamburger patties on hand, so that is what we had. The rolls were uncut and so this time I cut mine (#3 for the day) into thirds. The middle piece got toasted on both sides while the top and bottom got only their insides toasted. I went for the Big Mac effect with shredded lettuce, diced onions, dill pickle and thousand island dressing. It wasn't a Big Mac, but was Big Mac like enough that I was well pleased with it.

Baking Pasta

We just finished this box of pasta, having owned it for around 20 years. It is not that we don't eat lots of linguine, spaghetti & so forth--Italians will instantly recognize the name of this blog as being from their country after all.

Here is what happened. My wife & I were students living in Pullman Washington and we must have somehow used-up too much of this box to leave enough for another meal. If it had been spaghetti, there would have been no problem--it would have just been combined with the next box of spaghetti. But we didn't often use linguine and I don't like to combine different shapes because then some of it is either over or under done.

We baked a lot then and ever since, and so the box became our source for done-ness testing probes--you stick a toothpick or spaghetti noodle into a baking cake and see if it comes-out dry.

This box made a meal in Washington and provided probes for baking in two homes in Vermont and one here in Massachusetts. Now it is all gone. The end of an era and probably the only foodstuff we still (until about a week ago)owned from our first year of marriage.

Raptors

Yesterday I noted on Facebook that a hawk swooped down and took a gray squirrel from our next-door neighbor's yard. I've seen hawks flying around from time to time and would have guessed that they dine primarily on squirrel flesh, but it is still shocking to see it actually happen.

The same thing happened today!

Or would have: A hawk had a squirrel pinned down in our yard and the dog got all excited by the four of us jabbering and pointing. Naturally, she wanted out. My wife was afraid for the dog's safety as the hawk was really big and our dog is a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel (A breed of small, weak and fairly unintelligent dogs). I let her out anyway and she dashed toward the raptor with either no fear, or more likely--no sense.

The hawk, which had its back to the onrushing dog, was startled and flew away without its lunch. The squirrel was still alive and had wit enough to run up a nearby tree. The dog kept its record of never killing a mammal (she is an insect mass-murderer) though not from lack of trying. As it was, she was very excited and ran around the yard for some time after the incident.

The bird did not go far. It alighted in a tree about 100 feet away and stared at the dog in a menacing way. I am not sure that carnivorous birds can stare in a non-menacing way, so perhaps I shouldn't take too much from this. I imagine though, that the hawk was sizing up our little dog as potential prey.