Meal Choices: Things that Work ... and Don't Work ... and Amish Friendship Bread recipe

Meal-planning on Wednesday nights don't always work out well for me. For something I spend a good hour or two cooking on Sunday and 14 meals a week eating, I don't really spend all that much time trying to figure out what I want. But, recently, I found that I don't really need complicated meals or really need as much as I previously thought I do.

Sometimes my best meals come from not planning at all but working with what I have in the freezer. Last week, I used a package of ground turkey. So, after perusing the fruits and vegetables in the store, I found a green bell pepper, a red onion, a tomato, and a fennel bulb to go with it. I diced each item and fried them, and I added the already-cooked ground turkey to that. Served on a bed of rice, the dish tasted wonderful. A smaller meal like this worked very well for me for dinners, but I do need something more substantial if I were to drink wine with it.

The other kick I've been on is the meat/vegetable-fruit mode for lunches. I'll portion some chunk of meat for five days and have either a vegetable or fruit with it. This week, I'm having tri-tip with butternut squash. Last week was pork tenderloin with an orange (of some sort; not a navel orange). Simple. Relatively quick to prepare and get ready for work.

My Amish Friendship Bread run as come to an end. I tossed the rest of the starter in the freezer for later use, whenever that may be. I did develop my own recipe for a plain bread that one can make from said starter. The recipe and variations are below.


Amish Friendship Bread plain "sourdough" bread

2c Bread Flour (regular flour is ok)
3/4t salt
1t baking powder
1/2t baking soda
1.5c Amish Friendship Bread starter
1T water (at most)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Either oil a baking sheet or cover a baking sheet with parchment paper. Mix all dry ingredients in a large bowl. Add starter and mix well. If consistency of the dough is too dry, add the water gradually until the dough sticks together without being tacky. If dough is too tacky, coat hands with flour, sprinkle some flour on dough, and knead dough until dough is no longer tacky but smooth. Roll dough into a ball and place ball on prepared baking sheet. Flatten the ball into a thin disc and cut an "X" into the top with a sharp knife. Bake in oven for 40 minutes or until outside is a dark brown and bread sounds hollow when thumped on the bottom.

Modifications: There are several possibilities with this recipe, but I have tried only the following combinations so far. When adding these ingredients, add them to the dry ingredients and mix well before adding the starter.

- candied orange peel and currants/raisins: add 1/2c to 1c each of candied orange peel and either currants or raisins.

- rosemary and kalamata olives: add about 1c kalamata olives and 1/3c rosemary leaves. Cut kalamata olives in quarters before adding to dry ingredients.

Reflections of: A Fractured Fan Base

Concerts, and the music that generates them, help make me whole. Nothing can replace the awe and amazement when you can hear thousands of fellow fans singing together in unison to a favorite song. The energy and implied comraderie cannot be topped. Venues would fill to capacity the whole night long. And yet, sadly, outside of major concerts, you just don't see a lot of this. Most people seem to stick to the one band they want to support and show up for that band's set only.

Now, granted, the more specialized a scene gets, the more scattered the fanbase can be. There are hundreds of bands in the "metal" genre, ranging from heavy metal, death metal, doom metal, "speed" metal, thrash, and many others. You can have one person who loves In Flames but not At The Gates, and another that's vice-versa. But both of them may love Metallica.

When the band is smaller in popularity, that divide seems so huge that, if the bands share a card at a venue, you may have people show up for only one band and not the other. Not only does such specialized fandom hurt the other bands' chances of gaining a larger fanbase, it also hurts the scene.

I can't say that any particular scene is different from this. I've seen this in the punk, metal, post-punk, and even easier-listening genres. It's like people have become fans of bands rather than genres.

Scattered Thoughts

- Miraculously, I'm making headway through the various mounds of crap in my apartment. Some of it materialized as a part of my attempt to be organized. The file cabinet helps. However, I'm fighting almost thirty years of disorganization. I don't think I put things away in any sort of order except for "it fits there". As you can imagine, that can make it rather difficult to find things.

- Facebook scares me, but I think it does it in some sort of good way. Just by looking through people's "friends", I found profiles for people I went to school with in grade school and middle school. Some of these people I haven't seen since fifth grade.

My only reason, at first, to check it out was to see if it'd be a suitable replacement of my personal web site. Sadly, it isn't. I decided to have fun with it anyway.

- How cool it had to have been to be one of the militia people in Public Enemy's entourage. Long Live Chuck D! (Un)Fortunately, we won't see anything like Metallica teaming with E-40 on a track.

Local Sightings of Note

My cell phone has become a rather desirable emergency camera. I've had a few instances where I used it when my regular camera was absent. Granted, my current main camera recently came back from the dead (queue "Coming Out of the Dark") and shall be replaced with something that has more than 1MP and can store more than 16 pictures.



The first one I'll present came from a sign next to a local church (see image at left). Sadly, I did not attend said service to see what arguments would be presented. Would I get a different answer if I attended the "classic" service as opposed to the "modern" service? I'm curious as to what kind of doctor they had as a presenter. Sociologist, maybe? I am rather impressed, though: Fremont has this and many other sermons on their web site with audio and possibly video. It's a rather appropriate sermon for Father's Day.



For those who missed it, someone by the name of Michael Jackson died recently. Of course, I taped the memorial service and shall watch it when I can hijack someone's VHS player. My sad little mini-shrine of my "Thriller" and "Dangerous" cassettes sit on top of my entertainment center. I think if I didn't avoid the general media, I would have gotten sick of the coverage like most other people.



While Pam drove around town, she saw a minor tribute drawn on the back of a bus stop (see image at right). I'm sure it'll take time for a group of taggers to create a giant multi-color image of MJ somewhere in America, but I'm happy (for lack of a better word) that someone in town did something here. Pam felt that the erroneously used apostrophe gave the memorial some street cred. I think one could stretch the wording to have all sorts of interpretations. A good placement in a semi-urban setting, the memorial just seemed perfect. I think it appeared not too long after his death, so its urgency bleeds out. The person had good penmanship, too.

I was going to set up a slideshow of the various pictures of booze bottles I have uploaded, but it didn't seem to work for me. If I feel it's warranted or worth the real estate, I'll give it a shot. Otherwise, you can click on the link on the left side of the page. I label each image with what it is and try to leave notes about how I felt about the particular beverage. With some, I may not remember specifics, but I can give a general idea.

Michael Jackson - A Reflection

As a child who grew up in the 1980s, many things marked what it meant to be an '80s kid. Star Wars and its numerous toys. Cartoons like the Transformers. And, of course, Michael Jackson.

I'm not sure when or how Michael crept into my life. My parents listened to oldies stations as I grew up, and I know that station, KHYL 101.1 FM, played (and still plays) Jackson 5 songs. I remember ABC being played. At my grade school, we had school jackets. In 1983, I got one, and it came with a Michael Jackson poster (see image at left). I still have that poster somewhere here. Even though I hadn't started developing my own musical taste back then, I already knew who Michael Jackson was.

By the time middle school came along, FM102 and MTV became the music gods. The latter showcased tons of MJ, and the "Thriller" video was the top video of all time whenever they did "all-time greatest videos" lists. I ended up buying "Dangerous" and "Thriller" on cassette. Sadly, I didn't get much farther, since rock n' roll cemented itself in my love of music. Somewhere, I may have a VHS tape with the original "Black or White" video on it. I think that video was the first sign that something just wasn't right with poor MJ.

My musical tastes have traveled to several realms over the years. Recently, I got into KHYL again, though it's now an R&B and soul station. I won't read anything into me coming full circle with music and suddenly having MJ die, but I do find the timing rather uncanny. In looking over his whole life, I can't help but feel sorrow for him. In many ways, he seemed to live a great life of fame, fortune, and fun. However, I have to wonder what all that really cost him in a lost childhood and a possible reclamation of it in his later life. From what he endured in his youth to the cruel irony of the accusations, hopefully, in time, the truth will come out and can help illuminate us all.

Rest in peace, Michael.

Amish Friendship Bread - A Blessing and A Curse

A fellow co-worker offered up some Amish Friendship Bread starter a couple of months ago. Being ignorant of what it entailed, I agreed to take some on and have fun with it. I didn't realize just how much stuff goes into the base recipe, and I felt sad that I wasn't really a bread but more like a cake. With good cooking self-confidence in hand, I set out to create a true bread with this starter and see where I could go.

Initially, I started by stripping everything away from the recipe and start with the starter, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and flour. I wasn't sure what proportions to use, so I sought out a reputable sourdough recipe (much what I wanted to begin with) and started there. Using that recipe as-is didn't work so well. The bread had good flavor, but it didn't rise at all. Given that Emeril's starter contains active dry yeast and my starter possibly doesn't, I needed to add some sort of leavening agent.

On my next attempt, I added baking soda and baking powder. I added less water than before since my first attempt seemed too wet. This one rose beautifully ... almost too much. Or maybe just the right amount? It tasted wonderful, though.

I've made one or two more attempts with this, and I'm getting closer to an ideal recipe. The bread has very good flavor, but getting the desirable rising has been a problem. I checked my baking powder, and it's still ok despite its age. So, I think I just need to increase the powder/soda in some sort of combination. Added water didn't help, so I'm going to abandon that. If I ever get to a point where the recipe I come up with seems optimal, I'll post it here.

Swinging The Night Away

"A Live Wire
Barely a Beginner
But Just Watch That Lady Go.
She's On Fire
'Cause Dancing Gets Her Higher
Than Anything Else She Knows."

- "Dance the Night Away" by Van Halen


I used to be an officer of a ballroom dance club many years ago. Though I probably didn't become as such under the best of scenarios, I took a shot at it and dedicated myself the best I could. We held car wash fundraisers. I made several different fliers to try to advertise. I took over the web site duties and completely redid the club's web site. I attended various dance venues in the area, including The Ballroom and Spotlight Dance And Fitness. I enjoyed a lot of the dances and especially liked the bolero, I think. Due to various factors, I left the school that housed said club and eventually left the scene as a whole. Ballroom became something I could whip out at weddings to semi-impress and never returned to a formal venue. That is, I never returned until last Friday.

One of my old high school friends dates the manager of Midtown Stomp, a swing group who offers lessons and a venue, the Eastern Star Temple, to dance the night away. Right off the bat, the Temple's ballroom looked perfect: good, solid floor; stage that felt like a high school gym; and an architecture that screams 1930s with its seemingly purposely faded and textured paint. Even the men's and women's restroom portals looked perfect for the occasion. I half-expected an Auburn to roll up with someone in a 'coon coat walking up the steps.

Pam and I watched the lesson and practiced a bit. Something I retained over the years is that any dance usually has its basic step, and anything else you add to that just depends on how you execute it. So, once I saw and recalled the basic step, I began to remember other moves as well. Later in the night, I got schooled that we were doing East Coast Swing, not West Coast. Apparently I had forgotten more than I realized, but knowing what I was learning helps me to recall it better.

As the lesson wound down, Jordan and the rest of the gang poured in. We chatted a bit, watched others dance (especially the competition-level dancers), and danced a bit ourselves. For a bit, they played recorded music, but the highlight was the Jive Aces playing live. A rather cool band from England, the Jive Aces, all dressed in yellow zuit-suit type suits, played all sorts of swing and other related music. They didn't restrict themselves to just east coast swing tunes, though; at one point, Pam and I danced a fox trot. Their varied repetoir allowed for all sorts of swing and period dances, and we got to see quite a few of them.

I had fun. I had many concerns going in and left with none. A rather huge crowd attended with a varying range of ages attending. Jordan mentioned that, because of the Jive Aces, it'd be the biggest draw. It's good to see dancing of any sort still alive and doing well these days.

Small Venue Reflection

In going through a little bit of a return to punk rock, I heard a new track from Rancid. I realized, while listening to it, that I hadn't bought a new Rancid album since "Life Won't Wait". With that rotten egg of an album, I certainly didn't wait for any more good stuff from them. But, with the upcoming album, I may be surprised. Not surprisingly, I may find interest in one or both of the albums I've since skipped.

I saw Rancid once outside of the Warped Tour, and I started thinking about the small venue shows I'd attended. The three I remember most are below:

1995:
dec 9 sat RANCID, Stiff Richards, Pressure Point
at the Grind, Sacramento a/a $10 7pm *** @ $

The Grind was (is?) a skater shop/indoor park in West Sacramento. Definitely a small venue particularly appropriate for the event, The Grind put the band on one end of a room and the small-ish crowd to fill in the rest. We had to contend with a half-pipe behind us. It was the first time I had heard anything by Pressure Point, and I had never heard anything about Stiff Richards after that (who may have MP3s up at this site). I would later see Pressure Point at the For Food Not Bombs benefit at a Davis park and at other gigs. But Rancid was the main and only draw for this one. One could get right up to Tim and Co., sing along with them, and run around and mosh like the best of them. Naturally, there were plenty of "OpIV" calls, with all of them ignored. They had to escort Lars out through the crowd after the show.

1999:
apr 13 tue Dropkick Murphy's, Oxymoron, Ducky Boys, Pressure Point
at Bojangles, Sacramento a/a $8/$10 7:30pm/8pm # *** @

My first Dropkick Murphys gig. Held at a small bar near the freeway, this concert made me forget the 100+ degree fever I had that night. I believe Oxymoron and Ducky Boys started things out, in that order. Pressure Point came out and played an awesome set. They ended their set with some song that had the whole crowd chanting (I think it was "Never Walk Alone"). DKM commented on it when they came on stage, since the crowd was still chanting. There is nothing more magical in a concert than to hear the whole crowd singing along together.

The venue was a small bar with black walls and ceiling. The bands played on a raised platform near the front with everyone standing around in front of that. The bands had very little room to move around. There was no room for stage-diving, but you could get on stage and sing, dance, and have fun with anyone in the bands.


1999:
aug 29 sun Testament, The Haunted, Skin Lab
at Big Shots, Roseville a/a $15 8pm/9pm ** @

I'll admit it: I went to this one mainly for how amazing Testament's "The Gathering" was, and I went to see Dave Lombardo play drums. In the end, I got to experience a great Testament set and got hooked on The Haunted, a great metal band that is partially a spin-off from At The Gates. Big Shots was a pool hall in Roseville that used to host concerts until the locals complained about the noise. If I recall correctly, they had some sort of stage set up on one end of a long room (or it was inset into the wall). I don't remember what they did to clear the pool tables out. A little less accessible of a stage than the other two. They may have actually had security keeping people off the stage.


Thank you The List and this site for the old listings.

A Reflection on KWOD

Many years ago, we had a radio station called 93 Rock (KRXQ). In my most infuenced years, 93 Rock was the station to listen to for current and upcoming hard rock. I listened to it regularly and, along with MTV and Video Jukebox, gained exposure to many of my favorite bands: Aerosmith, Led Zeppelin, Metallica, Guns N' Roses, and many others. I grew to love hearing Whitey Gleason, Pat Martin, and Charlie Thomas talking about the bands, upcoming concerts, and various other bits and comedic sketches.

In 1998, KRXQ changed frequencies to 98.5. I did not realize until later that said change also signaled an end to the station I previously loved. In reality, the station and I had changed in opposite directions. I think the frequency change, at the time, allowed me to move away from the station as its direction had moved away from what I enjoyed. Since then, I've warmed up to it.

During those high school years when I listened to 93 Rock, my rock-listening classmates would be divided between 93 Rock listeners and KWOD (106.5 FM) listeners. In the early '90s, both stations played a distinctly different flavor of rock: 93 Rock with its hard rock or "Album-Oriented Rock" (AOR) format, and KWOD with its modern rock/alternative format. As one friend put it, "the difference is that KWOD would never play Metallica, and 93 Rock would never play the Cure." We each had different senses of what was "cool" and what "sucked."

As the years passed, the differences between the stations blurred. That included 98 Rock's parent company buying up KWOD and a slow integration of similar music between the two stations. With the gradual rise of hip-hip/R&B and the death of rock through the flash of grunge, both stations played the same new music with some crossover of the older stuff. No longer was KWOD not playing Metallica. Even 98 Rock played some songs that probably wouldn't have made it on a previous format. Sadly, it looks like this played some part in Entercom changing KWOD's format. I know there had been quite a turnover in on-air talent and morning shows in the past few years on KWOD while 98 Rock had the "Rob, Arnie, and Dawn Show" that apparently has done wonderfully in the ratings. I have a feeling that KWOD's writing was on the wall for some time.

Though I have never been a fan of KWOD's offerings (when I would have listened to it in the past 20 years or so), it's sad to see a station fade away. The lack of good station choices around here bothers me. With the demise of KWOD, all we have left is KRXQ and 96.9 The Eagle. KRXQ doesn't play enough alternative to keep that segment of society happy, and The Eagle has become more AOR but covering '60s-'80s and hard rock from '80s forward. It concerns me as to what they'll do to 98 Rock to possibly compensate. I also wonder if some other changes will occur that may be more drastic in these trying times. Either way, Sacramento needs a solid alternative presence. Maybe it'll get absorbed into a Top 40, but then the people who want to hear the Cure without having to hear Britney Spears will be out of luck.

I hope a satisfactory solution comes to light. A more-diversified 98 Rock will make it feel too much like JACK-FM. Adding KWOD's stuff to another station may clash too much with what it was already playing. Maybe, like KBMB did, someone will start an underground station that'll better reflect KWOD's glory days in a current form and provide what KWOD's listeners still desire in a station.

Whole Earth Festival 2009

My 16th straight Whole Earth Festival felt a little more fragmented and unfocused compared to prior visits. Pam and I hobbled our way to the quad and browsed through the numerous vendors. The WEF crew most certainly had more vendors this year than in the last couple of prior years. All of them seemed to emphasize the DIY, all-natural/green, or progressive mindsets. The "Jews for Jesus" group on the benches provided an interesting and refreshingly different presence from the Hare Krishna group who usually camps there (if only the Jews had played music...). I had another sighting of the Dancing Usher from the River Cats games. This time he was just walking around rather than dancing his dance with the band. We had only one wildlife sighting this year due to a large yellow-orange lizard. I did not see the chinchilla that someone had carried around a year or two ago. I think I spent about as much time in the Bookstore and Memorial Union as I did in the Festival itself.

Pam bought a small dish in which to place her keys. The vendor's son gave her a "Paint-with-Water" picture that he recently completed. I'm not sure if it was free with purchase, or if he aspires to be an artist and wanted to make his work known. Either way, Pam didn't get his autograph on it; you never know when someone makes it big. My purchases fell fully on drinks. For some reason, the relatively mild heat (~80 degrees) felt rather desiccating. We sat a bit behind the soundboard and caught some of the act on the Quad Stage. One of my friends had designs to meet up with us and bring his new girl, but competing schedules prevented that. Overall, it was a nice time.

My focus, in the past, fell on the booths. When I first started going, they had various cool candle vendors, people selling incense, and some tie-dyed t-shirt vendors among several other people selling various wares. Since then, the incense is gone, the candle vendors sell rather boring-looking candles, and the t-shirt vendors still sell the shirts for seemingly silly amounts. Oh, and I'm 15 years older. I find I have slightly different interests and no Adam proclaiming, "Calm down, Dave!"

I will still go next year. However, I think it's time for me to change my focus. The vendors simply cannot continue to be my focus anymore. So, Pam and I plan on going later in the evening, have dinner there, and enjoy more of the acts that come on stage. We'll still poke through the booths, but I rarely find anything of interest there. Many of the candles I miss I'm able to make myself, and numerous places sell incense. But I think I'd enjoy making the musical and speaking acts a focus and just relax and enjoy the vibe.

As usual with any year, if anyone who knows me wants to come along, you're all welcome! There's plenty of good Karma to go around.

Amish Friendship Bread

On the fateful day of April 28, a co-worker gave me some starter for Amish Friendship Bread. Thankfully, she asked first. And, thankfully, I'm wise enough to know to not try to pass this along. At least, not pass it along without asking or ambushing....

The sweet bread recipes that accompany the starter taste wonderful, but it got my creative cooking juices flowing to create something "not sweet". ("Savory" is what my co-worker called it, but I have a different sense of what that means.) With my suspicion of this being a sourdough starter confirmed, I shall take my first aim soon. I'll start with a bread and possibly try other concoctions. Going the route of taking ingredients away rather than adding them should lead me into interesting creations. Hopefully, they'll be edible, too. My first bread tasted decent. I omitted the packet of pudding mix, but the oil seemed to collect at the bottom when baking. Interestingly enough, the rest of the bread tasted perfectly fine. So, I should be able to omit further ingredients, experiment with combinations, and possibly come up with my own recipe that, to me, would be less sweet and taste really good.

The good thing about this large-volume bread starter is the sheer volume itself that you can create. That should allow me to try many recipe options without worrying about running out. If I grow weary of this, I may try my hand at making a regular sourdough. I can keep that in the 'fridge, which would be a good thing given the lack of space in my kitchen. My childhood memories of sourdough pancakes and waffles may serve as my primary motivator for that route. Even if I could make a regular sourdough bread, it would be worth the effort.

Life Approaching a Pixelated World

Digital Stuff and I don't get along. My parents switched to a digital phone service. Now I hear only half of what's said to me (they may say this is an improvement...). The signal cuts out on occasion and comes back in. It's really a rather odd experience. Since I don't have much to tell me if it cut out, I never know if I miss something.

Now digital TV gives me plenty to determine that. With the old analog signal, I could get most stations pretty decently. PBS and NBC were a struggle with the latter being received clearly solely on my 30+ year old black-and-white TV (for now on, I'll call "Ansel Adams"; photos really are better in black and white). Now, with the digital signals, I get all stations rather well. But curse the evenings when a decent breeze blows by. It seems that the winds can disrupt the signal to the point where audio is gone and many huge cubes remain of the video. At least, with analog, I would get the picture rather well and have uninterrupted audio.

I could get a larger antenna or maybe learn how to orient the ears better. The solution is out there; I just need to find it.

Reflections on the Week

I'm winding down a much-needed week off from work. What started out as a grandiose plan to completely rectify all the messes in my apartment and catch up on reading ended up being a semi-relaxed pace towards blissful detachment of responsibility.

Half Moon Bay provided much sun (and wind) to the start. Sadly, the wind prevented me from enjoying a relaxing read on the beach and made wading in the ocean an impossibility. I ran down my towel, though. The wind didn't want anything to stay put. I plunked myself down in the bar of the Half Moon Bay Brewing Company and enjoyed a sampling of their brews. I had their Imperial Stout with their ribs, but I would heavily recommend their Irish Red. A "growler" (a 2L jug) of said Irish Red came home with me. The next day, I checked out another potential inn, bought roses for my Little One, walked along the even-windier beach, and hot-treaded it home.

Since then, I went to one River Cats game (lost 11-1, but gained an ice cream batting helmet) and pretty much vegged. I had confirmation that I do not have gout. I just need to stay off my leg long enough for it to completely heal and not aggravate it (again).

So, now my Little One and I have brainstormed vacation spots for our autumn vacation. Half Moon Bay may be on that list for a repeat performance this year, though Yosemite, Tahoe, and maybe Marin Headlands might pull harder. Whichever it'll be, it'll give both of us another much-needed departure from work and everyday life.

New Features coming soon: links to web site, liquor bottle label pics on Picasa.