SLO trip

We went up to see John Prine at Cal Poly SLO. Nice campus, beautiful concert hall, great show. Stayed a couple of nights at San Simeon state beach. Expensive, but good location. We hung out in Cambria, the pier at San Simeon (love those Hearst Ranch burgers), and Morro Bay.

Cohan Center

tide pools, Moonstone Beach, Cambria

public restroom building, Cambria

Morro Bay !!!! so close to shore

put up your dukes

4 faces

fog coming in as the boat goes out. we had a snack on the docks 30 min later and the area where this was taken from was pea soup

Night Sky Photo Tips / National Geographic

good stuff here

Michael Pollan / Gut Bacteria / NYT

interesting article, I should have posted the link when I'd freshly read it as I can't do it justice. it's about the bacteria in our intestines, how they get there, the types of bacteria, the good they do, etc.

the Lama

 epic

Sheens vs. Jordan

 This is freaking awesome. Martin and Charlie Sheen competing against Michael Jordan in basketball skills. The video is in the link. As a Blazers and 90s Knicks fan it's ALWAYS good to see Jordan lose...

a cool Patagonia Ambassador video

Variables with Kimi Werner from Patagonia on Vimeo.

Movie suggestions / OnionAV

This is a link repository for me, and maybe for you ;)

Summer 2013 independent

2012 2nd half of the year, 1st half 

NWC Superheroes

Traves found this, very cool.

Very Cool Geography Game

it involves guessing where a Google Street View picture is from

Scwinn Stingray / NPR

good story, and they end with the Queen song...

Carrizo Plain video

this is nice

Gingerbread Pigs

I think she's got the recipe wrong, but good story

MRIs of fruit/veggies

awesome

Irrelevant Giant

This is a short film from ESPN about a player for the NY Giants in the early 80s. Very very moving. Plus a Regis Philbin appearance...

Figueroa Mountain, April 2013

We went up Figueroa Mountain this weekend. Went up the west side, spent the night at Figueroa campground, went down the east side, then went in to Los Olivos for wine tasting at Qupe. Nice weekend.Full album here.

we went for the flowers, and the green new leaves on the oaks

from the lookout at the top of the mountain

ladybugs not flying away home

fun with the 16mm nikkor

she got a tick, I got a nice photo

Poppies + lupine = traffic jam

rack focus

really sweet pull-off/view point, 16mm

more fun with the 16mm

cows, greenness, oaks along Alisal rd.

Killing Bees

interesting

Pizza Night

Red sauce, cilantro pesto, co-op mozzarella. Red wine from a Newcastle glass...

Piña Colada Ice Cream

'Ice cream' is a bit generous, but this is the closest I've gotten to it. If there's dairy involved I have used either buttermilk or crème fraîche for frozen desserts. I like my dairy cultured. And prefer yogurt in non-frozen form. But crème fraîche is just so darn full of fat it really doesn't make a very balanced dessert. So for this I mixed yogurt with crème fraîche, along with lots of fruit, and it's pretty damn good. Oh, also I used a trick that I read about in Saveur -- you can reduce the icy-ness of  homemade ice cream by reducing the liquid that is available to form ice, and you do this by adding cornstarch so you are freezing a pudding instead of a syrup. Awesome addition to the Sorbet Chronicles.


Piña Colada Ice Cream
1.5 c water

3T cornstarch

1c dried coconut

1c sugar

salt

1 frozen banana

2c frozen pineapple

2c creme fraiche

1/4c sugar

 

2T vanilla

 ~1.5c thin yogurt

Mix water, cornstarch, coconut, sugar, salt; bring to a simmer and cook till it thickens.

Stir in frozen fruit to cool the pudding, chill in fridge

Culture 2c heavy cream with a couple of tablespoons of buttermilk for 24 hours at room temperature

Whip to soft peaks, then add sugar and whip harder

Fold in pudding, vanilla, and the yogurt. Freeze with some stirring, but not too much is needed

Pumpkin Crème Fraîche Sherbet

I made this 3x, 1st and 3rd were great (sugar pie pumpkin and butternut squash, respectively), 2nd time (using a sunshine squash instead of a sugar pie pumpkin) was bad. Awesome addition to the Sorbet Chronicles, when it works... The pic is from the 3rd batch, done early summer when peaches were towards being in season.

Pumpkin Crème Fraîche Sherbet
1 small pumpkin, ~8" diameter
1c sugar
pumpkin pie spice
1t salt
2c heavy whipping cream, cultured with buttermilk to make crème fraîche
1/4 c sugar
1T vanilla

Cut pumpkin in half, scoop out seeds, put in a pot with a little water, cover, steam for 30 min or so
Let it cool, then scrape flesh off of shell
Put in a small pot with 1c sugar and alot of pumpkin pie spice, salt, cook for 30 min or so
Culture the cream with a couple of tablespoons of buttermilk for 24 hours at room temperature
Whip cream to peaks, then add sugar and whip a little more, mix in the pumpkin and vanilla

Tempeh / NPR

nice story