Digital Synchronicity

I was meditating on current events, and decided to check the Planetary Liberation Petition Site.  The number is 16,384.  Does that seem like a Synchronicity number to you?  Well, I'm a Computer Geek, and 16,384 is two to the fourteenth power.  I know this because computers use a binary number system, two to the X powers...

So, it's sort of a personal validation of those strange things afoot...
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/576/357/913/planetary-liberation-now/ 

Homemade Noodles with Mushroom Sauce

Yeah its that good.  I've been working on this Mushroom sauce for a year.  Its simple but nomlishous...

The homemade noodles are also totally simple.  I was looking for a recipe for Wonton wrappers, and was also looking at Pasta recipes and realized that they are the same thing.  Flour, Egg, Water, and Salt, so totally simple.  It is a really hard dough, and it takes a lot of work to knead the noodle dough and roll it out.  I see why they want to use a machine to do it.  So, I made some dough, let it rest a while, and then rolled it out.

Then took a Stainless Steel straight edge and my Santoku and cut it into thin strips.Its kinda like irregular fettuccine.  The recipe said it needs to be rolled extremely thin.  Is 50 mils thin enough?

 If I took the dough and pressed it through an extruder I could get a regular shape like spaghetti, or Rotini.  But the hand cut noodles have more personality.  Granted it takes more time this way, but worth it I think.

 I'll add a little flour to the pile of noodles and let them rest a while, and go start the Mushroom Sauce.

Start with Olive Oil, sliced Mushrooms, diced white Onion, red Chile flakes, and some Sea Salt.

After the Mushrooms cook down a while add three cloves of diced Garlic.

Then add a tablespoon of Flour to form a Roux, and some Black Pepper.

Let the Roux cook a while, and then add a cup of Chicken stock, and that is the Mushroom sauce.

In the meanwhile I have a pot of boiling water to cook the homemade noodles.  They only need to cook for a few minutes.  I noticed that the homemade noodles are a lot softer than the dehydrated Pasta.

The Mushroom sauce is coming up to a boil to thicken.  Noodles are cooking.

At the last moment I'm going to add some rare, Oak smoked Beef strips that are cut across the grain.

Then drain the Noodles, and add them to the sauce.  The Beef is extremely tender.  Totally Nomlishous...

Liberate Earth (Gaia)

Liberate Earth (Gaia) from the Cabal, read this...

http://2012portal.blogspot.com/2013/12/event-developments.html

Sign this...

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/576/357/913/planetary-liberation-now/

Golden Age!

BAM!

THRIVE: What On Earth Will It Take?

Taquitos and Refrieds

I made a pot of Pinto Beans a couple of days ago, and have some leftovers.  I've been craving some Porky Refried Beans, and now seems like the right time to make them.  Ultimately they wound up on this plate of Beef and Cheeze Taquitos with Lemon Cilantro Rice.

I'm not a fan of canned Refried Beans.  Something about the canning process, or the age of the product, fresh Refrieds are always better.  So I start by frying a pan of Bacon, always a good start.  Maybe seven or eight pieces of Bacon, to get the Essence of Pork, the quintessential element of Refried Beans.  Remove the Bacon and eat it at will.

Drain and reserve the liquid from the Pinto Beans, and add the beans to the pan with the Bacon Fat along with some chopped Onion.  Salt this mixture liberally.  The mashed Pinto Beans crave salt in a big time way.  Let the Pinto Beans and Onions cook for a few minutes.

Then I'm going to add about four cloves of chopped Garlic, and then let that cook for a few more minutes.  At this point the Pinto Beans are starting to grab the Pork Fat, and become extraordinarily nomlishous.

 When the Garlic is cooked we execute the act that turns Pinto Beans into Refried Beans, mashing.  Thoroughly mash the entire mixture to the consistency that you want, anywhere from chunky to smooth.  Then add the reserved bean liquor to the pan to rehydrate the mashed Pinto Bean mixture.  I add all the liquid back into the pan, and then cook them to the right consistency.  In the meantime I have prepared White Rice, and Beef Taco Filling.

Taquito, or small Taco, is also a Flauta which means Flute, or Taco Doobie.  Warm some Corn Tortillas in the microwave, then take a small amount of Beef Taco filling, and some cheeze, and roll the Taco Doobies.  Use a toothpick to hold them together while cooking.  I am going to Oven Fry these Taquitos, so krank the oven up to 450 F.  Spray the pan liner, and the Taquitos with oil to facilitate the oven frying process.

Then bake the Taquitos for 10 to 15 minutes until they are Golden Brown, and Delicious.  In the meantime I prepare a plate with the Refrieds, and some Rice, and heat it simultaneously with the Taquitos.

I also prepared the condiments which are the Yogurt Ranch dipping sauce for the Taquitos, and some Salsa.  I garnished the Rice with Cilantro, and a half a Lemon.  Finally pull the toothpicks out of the Taquitos, and pile them on the plate.  This was a late dinner plate, and was very filling.  I needed a long nap afterwards. 

Shrimp Fried Rice

Leftover Rice...  Yup...  We make Nomnoms...

This wound up being creamy like a Risotto, and less like a Chinese Fried Rice, where the Rice grains are more separated, and harder.  I started with some chopped red Cabbage and white Onion in a ripping hot stir fry pan, with a couple tablespoons of Olive Oil..

Fried Rice needs to move really fast because its cooked with the Wok Method, high heat, and quick service.  So, everything needs to be prepped ahead of time, and ready to go when the food hits the pan.

Next to go in is two cups of leftover white Rice, and a few cloves of chopped garlic.  Stir the Rice in thoroughly, and keep it moving so he Garlic doesn't burn.  You want to get the Rice coated with the Olive Oil and thoroughly mixed in.  Keep it moving, go quickly...

Then make some space in the middle, and add an Egg.  Give the egg a little time to start to cook, and then continue moving the mixture around.

Next we add some seasoning.  I used Fish Sauce, Sesame Oil, and Rice Wine vinegar.  Again, keep it moving, you don't want to burn the Garlic.  Stir Fries are Kinetic.  Move it, go fast...

At the very last add some cold boiled Shrimp, and just heat it through.  Don't cook it again.

Right before you serve the Shrimp Fried Rice add some chopped Cilantro, and put it in the serving bowl post haste.  I usually serve this with some Sambal, and Soy Sauce on the table.

Glazed Oak and Grillcakes

Ice Storms are so much fun.  Snow Day!  LOL!  Our power was out when we woke up this morning, so that was a little concerning.  First thing I did was to get Harley in the Truk, and trekked out to find come hot coffee.  He loves zooming (riding in the Truk) and today was especially fun slipping around on the ice.  What I noticed when we were out was all the glazed trees.

This is the Oak Tree in the back corner of the yard, its relatively young, so its really bent over right now.

Glazed birdhouse on the fence.

This is a glazed Rosemary plant, this one is pretty neat.

This is the neighbors Crepe Myrtle, also glazed.  Harley and I went for our normal walk around the block on the ice, and its not as slippery as you might think.  We had maybe three inches of freezing rain, and sleet.  The temperature outside was below freezing, so its like walking on small pebbles, krunchy pebbles.  After the walk we were hungry and I had to do some survival cooking to make breakfast, power was still off.

I built a fire in the fireplace to warm the house, and wound up doing some cooking on it.  The wood we are burning is Oak logs that I saved from when we trimmed the big Oak Tree back in the spring.  I had the Landscape Artist cut the big limbs into smoker sized pieces.  I have finally smelled the burning Live Oak, and I will definitely be using it to smoke meats.  I think I like it better than Hickory...  LOL!

To make the Grillcake batter I needed melted butter, and that is what I was doing at the fireplace.  Once the batter was ready I put a cast Iron Griddle on the Baby Q, then made a mess of Grillcakes.

Once I was at it I thought maybe I need some Sausage and Eggs too.By this time the power was back on, but I figured that I've already taken this route, might as well finish it this way.  It wasn't all fun this morning tho.

The ice had built up on one side of the umbrella, knocked over our newly refinished table, and broke the Christmas lights.  The umbrella was already pretty beat up, and I think this Ice Storm has finished it off.