Pocket pcs and smartphones. I love them. I love carrying around a bunch of my favorite books, movies, music, and pictures in a tiny little device that I can also make a call or send a text message on. Oh, and did I mention their magical web surfing abilities? How there are still people out there who haven't eaten up these delicious little devices with a spoon is beyond me. They are miraculous little tins full of joy and wonder, with side-helpings of security and convenience. Yes, there are times they are a bit maddening, just like your pc, but they are such hardy little multi-taskers, in such sweet miniature pc form, it's only fair to give them the occasional afternoon off. Besides, I enjoy the challenge on those rare occasions when one of my devices chooses not to do my bidding. With a bit of help gleaned from online forums written by other loving (or not so loving) users of the same model, I am generally able to encourage my little friend to right its rebellious ways and all is well again.
More posts to follow on: Windows mobile, used devices, and prepaid cell service, including 'Whatever happened to free Yahoo mail for my cell phone?'
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Monday, January 17, 2011
Butternut Squash and it's relatives
Butternut Squash is easy to grow, keeps a long time unrefrigerated, is very healthy, reasonably low in carbohydrates, and produces large fruit with lots of delicious, edible flesh, and very little waste. I don't do a large amount of work growing it, as my husband manages all that, but I can see that he basically puts out the plant along with a few other types of squash, aims for decent soil, and makes sure it can get plenty of sun and water. (Later, I will try to post some information about my husband's terrific reasonably-priced watering system for our garden.)
Most people I know think you have to bake Butternut Squash and then either make some kind of pureed soup out of it, or make a sweet bread. I've done those things with it, and am always impressed with any sweet bread, because I love pretty much all baked treats, but I'm never so pleased with the soups. We ate the soups - I think I like them better than my husband does, but there is always a slight struggle to eat all of it without some going to waste, because it is never quite the intensely amazing soup I envisioned.
So here's a great idea: Butternut Squash benefits by treating it as though it is more like a yam, and then seasoning it in your choice of Asian styles. You can peel the raw squash pretty easily with a good potato peeler. Once it's peeled, a large, sharp knife will dice it up without too much effort. Butternut squash is definitely woody and dense when raw, but peeling it first makes the initial big cuts much easier than you would think.
One of my best methods of using the squash is as follows: I steam my diced squash about 20 minutes until it is cooked, but still quite firm, and dump it in my pan-cooked dish right at the end of cooking, so it doesn't get mushy. Chicken and pork work best with this type of dish, but beef will do in a pinch. A couple times I used pork sausage but don't use much or any curry powder with sausage, in case it clashes. Onions are good in this type of dish, as are a few black beans or garbanzo beans. Whatever vegetables you like or have on hand are great. I add garlic, and a pretty good amount of curry powder, a couple tablespoons of plum jam, or apple butter, or brown sugar, or some apple juice to sweeten it up a bit. I also generally add some raisins and some Sriracha (Red Rooster) hot sauce. Don't put alot salt in it, but rather, serve it over rice with some soy sauce on top and voila! - the best butternut squash dish this side of the Himalayas.
Occasionally I do this spiced more like Chinese food - no curry powder, whole anise seed and fresh, ground ginger at the beginning, ( - okay, sometimes we don't have fresh ginger and I just shake some of the powder stuff in - ), plus white pepper and a pinch of clove powder and a pinch of cinnamon later. Always garlic, and a little Sriracha sauce if you like.
There is also the standard American-style beef or pork roast which you can add big chunks of your raw butternut squash too along with your other veggies - very yummy. If you wait to put the squash in until about thirty minutes before the roast is done, it will be nicer (more firm, less mushy).
I will try to post a picture of one of the dishes with the diced squash, but it will have to wait until next fall, as we just had our last fresh squash from the garden for this past growing season.
I haven't tried processing acorn squash in the same manner yet, but it might work if you can get it chopped first into sections and then peel it. Delicata squash is super-delicious, and not hard to process, but we find the fruit small and the plants a bit fussy to raise, plus the length of time it will keep is shorter than acorn or butternut squash. Spaghetti squash is useful for many dishes, but lame in the one I just described, however, the fruit is generally large and plentiful on each and every plant - it seems the least fussy of all the squash plants we've tried to grow. I often add a bit to Italian tomato-based sauces, but I am not sure my husband is quite as enthused about that as I am. One great thing about spaghetti squash - it is surprisingly low in calories and carbohydrates, less than the other three. The best thing I do with it is add it to red lentils, usually with curry-style spices and serve it over rice. It adds some low-carb veggies to your beans, lowers the calories of your dish, and the flavor compliments the red lentils well.
Most people I know think you have to bake Butternut Squash and then either make some kind of pureed soup out of it, or make a sweet bread. I've done those things with it, and am always impressed with any sweet bread, because I love pretty much all baked treats, but I'm never so pleased with the soups. We ate the soups - I think I like them better than my husband does, but there is always a slight struggle to eat all of it without some going to waste, because it is never quite the intensely amazing soup I envisioned.
So here's a great idea: Butternut Squash benefits by treating it as though it is more like a yam, and then seasoning it in your choice of Asian styles. You can peel the raw squash pretty easily with a good potato peeler. Once it's peeled, a large, sharp knife will dice it up without too much effort. Butternut squash is definitely woody and dense when raw, but peeling it first makes the initial big cuts much easier than you would think.
One of my best methods of using the squash is as follows: I steam my diced squash about 20 minutes until it is cooked, but still quite firm, and dump it in my pan-cooked dish right at the end of cooking, so it doesn't get mushy. Chicken and pork work best with this type of dish, but beef will do in a pinch. A couple times I used pork sausage but don't use much or any curry powder with sausage, in case it clashes. Onions are good in this type of dish, as are a few black beans or garbanzo beans. Whatever vegetables you like or have on hand are great. I add garlic, and a pretty good amount of curry powder, a couple tablespoons of plum jam, or apple butter, or brown sugar, or some apple juice to sweeten it up a bit. I also generally add some raisins and some Sriracha (Red Rooster) hot sauce. Don't put alot salt in it, but rather, serve it over rice with some soy sauce on top and voila! - the best butternut squash dish this side of the Himalayas.
Occasionally I do this spiced more like Chinese food - no curry powder, whole anise seed and fresh, ground ginger at the beginning, ( - okay, sometimes we don't have fresh ginger and I just shake some of the powder stuff in - ), plus white pepper and a pinch of clove powder and a pinch of cinnamon later. Always garlic, and a little Sriracha sauce if you like.
There is also the standard American-style beef or pork roast which you can add big chunks of your raw butternut squash too along with your other veggies - very yummy. If you wait to put the squash in until about thirty minutes before the roast is done, it will be nicer (more firm, less mushy).
I will try to post a picture of one of the dishes with the diced squash, but it will have to wait until next fall, as we just had our last fresh squash from the garden for this past growing season.
I haven't tried processing acorn squash in the same manner yet, but it might work if you can get it chopped first into sections and then peel it. Delicata squash is super-delicious, and not hard to process, but we find the fruit small and the plants a bit fussy to raise, plus the length of time it will keep is shorter than acorn or butternut squash. Spaghetti squash is useful for many dishes, but lame in the one I just described, however, the fruit is generally large and plentiful on each and every plant - it seems the least fussy of all the squash plants we've tried to grow. I often add a bit to Italian tomato-based sauces, but I am not sure my husband is quite as enthused about that as I am. One great thing about spaghetti squash - it is surprisingly low in calories and carbohydrates, less than the other three. The best thing I do with it is add it to red lentils, usually with curry-style spices and serve it over rice. It adds some low-carb veggies to your beans, lowers the calories of your dish, and the flavor compliments the red lentils well.
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Dongles
I have just received another useless dongle in the mail. I purposefully ordered this one, as I did all the others, now resting dormant in my special dongle drawer, but by the time I received it, I realized I didn't need it. This dongle is a USB attachment with audio and microphone jacks so you can use Skype or some other internet VOIP service, and just plug your headphones and mic into this gizmo, which goes into a front (or any) USB port. After ordering it, I realized both our pcs have front audio/mic jacks so we will only need this dongle if one of the jacks stops functioning.
I am writing this post, because the word 'dongle', in combination with the many useless 'dongles' I own, is intriguing to me. Did they mean for the word to sound so naughty? It does sort of 'hang out there' from your device in a male manner. I would never use the word in front of my mother.
All the dongles in my dongle drawer are USB types. One is a wifi dongle which seems to work well with my pc but since our wireless router is older, it didn't tie our network together well, and I had to go back to the old ethernet cable for home networking. Another dongle I have is a blue-tooth dongle. I believe I purchased this one to sync a phone that I had no sync cable for. I think I decided I hated the phone, and sent it back, so never used the dongle. I keep them all "just in case". Of course, I will never need any of them until the moment after I have chucked them and the trashman has come and gone.
So, that's it for dongles. I hope to stick with this blog thing and post some useful information on video and audio editing and any other helpful things I have learned in life that might help or entertain someone else out there in cyber world.
I am writing this post, because the word 'dongle', in combination with the many useless 'dongles' I own, is intriguing to me. Did they mean for the word to sound so naughty? It does sort of 'hang out there' from your device in a male manner. I would never use the word in front of my mother.
All the dongles in my dongle drawer are USB types. One is a wifi dongle which seems to work well with my pc but since our wireless router is older, it didn't tie our network together well, and I had to go back to the old ethernet cable for home networking. Another dongle I have is a blue-tooth dongle. I believe I purchased this one to sync a phone that I had no sync cable for. I think I decided I hated the phone, and sent it back, so never used the dongle. I keep them all "just in case". Of course, I will never need any of them until the moment after I have chucked them and the trashman has come and gone.
So, that's it for dongles. I hope to stick with this blog thing and post some useful information on video and audio editing and any other helpful things I have learned in life that might help or entertain someone else out there in cyber world.
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