SOS Linkfest: Tools, Tips, Stuff + Recipe!

It's Still Raining!

For the past few days the upper Texas coast has been slogging through a series of rainstorms.  Today we stayed pretty dry while the system move more over the “Golden-Triangle” area and East Texas, leaving metro-Houston area under a blanket of clouds and light precip.

Great day for couch-surfing and college-ball watching. The Cougs walked away with an upset but ND gave up their battle in the end.

SOS is the Best

It’s no secret that my favorite meal of the day is breakfast.  I’d eat traditional breakfast fare all day long if I could.

However, my most craved “breakfast” dish growing up and to this day is what we call “chipped beef on toast”.  Lavie will eat it though Alvis usually declines.  Old military guys refer to it as SOS.

A dreary and wet Saturday was an easy excuse to whip up a batch this morning.

My recipe variation is dead-simple, super-quick, and feeds me (or me and Lavie).  It is much lighter than this 1910 Manual for Army Cooks version that feeds 60 hungry troopers.

• 2 Tablespoons butter
• 2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
• Pepper (large-grind is my preference) to taste
• Combine butter/flour/pepper in saucepan or medium-sized skillet over low to medium-low heat until melted.
• Stir well (I use a wire whisk) and let get “bubbly” for about 1-2 minutes.  Watch carefully so the roux doesn’t burn, otherwise the gravy will not be white (though still good).
• Take 1 cup whole milk and add to roux.  (to speed thing up, try microwaving the milk first for 30-45 sec.)
• Whisk well to combine and get roux fully incorporated.
• Bump up the heat to medium or a touch shy of medium. (your range may vary)
• Find as much thin-sliced ham or beef lunchmeat as you care for. For me usually two packages of “Buddings” brand does nicely.  “cube” it up into fingernail-sized bits and add to gravy.
• Continue stirring gravy mix now until thickened and meat has had a chance to warm up.

If it gets too thick (my preference is to be able to cling to a spoon held upside down) just add a bit more milk to thin (Lavie’s preference).

While it can be served over whole pieces (shingles) of toast, I prefer to cube up the toast first. Makes it easier to get it into my pie-hole faster!  In the past I used to tear the toast slices but I’ve found that using either of two tools can make fast and consistent work cubing up toast. Like Alton Brown of Good Eats! I like a kitchen multi-tasker.  Try cubing the hot toast with either a pizza cutter or a chopper/scraper.  Both work great!

I don’t add salt as the meat takes care of that to my tastes.  I do add the pepper immediately when making the roux as I think it brings out the oils in the pepper a bit and infuses the gravy better.

Couple this with a few hard-fried eggs and some hot coffee.

Yummers!

Beautiful Gantts

The Boss (the work one) requested that I convert my procedure checklist for our IT ops on opening up a new office (fulfilling and implementing the phones/network/server components) into more of a visual format so it was easier to see how all the different resources (IT staff) could be tracked.

Sounded like the perfect excuse to put it into a Gantt chart.

Among the various project management software items I posted before, I could have just reached for MS Office Project.  Unfortunately, only a few of us at work have MS Project.  I wanted something a bit more shareable.  The freeware tool ΤΙΜΙΟΣ Gantt Chart Designer is mighty easy to use (and portable!) but not really shareable.

I did find this awesome Office move plan (US units) – Template at Microsoft Office Online.  It is Excel compatible and is over the top with views.  I saved it to pick apart later.

Instead I picked through a few other really nice (and free) Excel templates for Gantt charts.

• Project Management: Excel Gantt Chart Template – wook blog.
• Free Gantt Chart Template for Excel – Vertex42 site

In the end I went back to my old standby (and updated to a 2009 release) that is compatible both with MS Excel 2003/2007 versions.

• Manual Gantt Charting in Excel – by David Seah

David’s been hard at work and his Design, Productivity, Inspiration, and Empowerment web-site is now officially “off-the-hook!”

Once I downloaded the Version 2 (2009) Gantt chart and after a few hours had it populated with my project template data and sent off to Boss (dully impressed I must say), I went back and found some great material on David’s site.

• Article Guide: Productivity.

• The Printable CEO™ Series.

• Compact Calendar 2009.

• Emergent Task Planner (Free Version) 2009 Updates.

• Upcoming Emergent Task Planner Print Run Update.

• The Printable CEO™ VII: Resource Time Tracking.

• Adapting the PCEO for IT Departments.

• Adapting the PCEO for IT Departments, Part II.

Couple some of these materials and David’s productivity and organization tips with many of the life-orienting productivity tips from Zen Habits and you might find a some B-12 for your brain!

Posterous

I’ve been generally happy with Blogger as my blogging platform.  It is solid and I can tweak it to my heart’s content.

Last week I was chasing web-rabbits and somehow ended up stumbling upon Posterous.

Basically it’s a blogging platform that you can manage by sending emails to.  Sure Blogger can do that as well, but the pages have nice design and look and it can handle pictures, videos, as well as text content with some fancy formatting.

You can even add Google-Analytics code to it for tracking.

I’m not planning any switches but I like it and it seems to be gaining a modicum of popularity so I thought I would stake out a Grand Stream Dreams spot just to be safe.

• Claus’s Grand Stream Dreams – posterous edition.

I’ve not really got anything in mind for it quite yet but I do like having a “go-to” option for getting post material uploaded via email on the quick.

Tools of the Trade

I love a good set of tools.  My humble collection fits my needs but isn’t nearly as substantial (and cool) as either of my late grandfather’s tool collections.

While checking my feeds out I was intrigued by this Retro Thing post:

• Retro Thing: 16-Piece Deluxe Watch Opener Tool Kit – price, under $10.

In the past I used to change my own watch batteries but my latest pair of daily watches have the fancy backs that require that special tool to twist off.  This looks like it could fit the bill nicely.

That reminded me (somehow) of this Hard Drive Errors and Replacements post over at SANS Computer Forensics, Investigation, and Response blog.  I’ve got a couple of dead-drives I’ve been wanting to open up to use as objet d'art for my desks.  Only they have that micro-Torx (?) screw head.  So I found that Amazon has quite a few nice micro-bit kits as well: Amazon.com: SMALL TORX SCREWDRIVER SECURITY TAMPER PROOF HOLE T5 T6 T7 T8 T9 T10 T15: Home Improvement, or Amazon.com: 33 pc. Security Bit Set: Home Improvement, or Amazon.com: Maxtech 16521MX 32-Piece Precision Bit Set: Home Improvement.  I’m still going to try the mega-home improvement stores first but these look like a good backup plan.

Do any of the GSD faithful have any recommendations for HDD lid screw bit kits?  I’m open to suggestions!

“9” – Short Edition

I’ve really been intrigued by the trailers for the movie 9 (2009 film Wikipedia link).

So when I found this Geek Dad post 9 Things Parents Should Know About 9 over at Wired! I took the bait and read on with curiosity.

After that I hit the already provided Wikipedia link to get the plot (now spoilt but still sounds good).

Turns out that the full-length version of 9 was based on the short film 9 (2005 film Wikipedia link).

Amazingly, that short-film is up on YouTube in standard and HD versions!

• YouTube – 9 - Shane Acker’s original short film/cartoon now adapted into a full CG movie

It’s just over 10 min in runtime and though it doesn’t give away any of the full-length movie plot points, it is a great film and great to watch for all you steampunk fans.

For Lavie only (OK if Alvis peeks also): New Moon

Yep. She’s a Twilight fan. 

I’ve read the first book and found it fun.  I’ve seen the movie with the girls on DVD more times that I can now recall.

Lavie’s consumed/devoured/gorged herself on all the current books in the series as well as the “official” unofficial release of the first book (Midnight Sun) from Edward’s perspective.  Lavie has also gotten lost in the depths of the Twilight fan-fiction sites now.

I was able to bring her up today for this; New Moon’s latest trailer.

• N to tha M Full Length in HD with No Fan Girl Screaming :) – YouTube HD

Nothing like the rain to bring out the fun.

Cheers!

--Claus V.

Tortilla Soup, for families on the fly!

The most favorite menu item for Lavie and Alvis when we dine out at any of our local Mexican restaurants is the humble tortilla soup.

They both order it with more liquid than vegetables.

I've tried numerous pre-packaged tortilla soup mixes, but none deliver what we are used to in the restaurants...they are all too thick and "beany".

So a month ago, I chanced across PBS's America's Test Kitchen when they were preparing their own version of tortilla soup (recipe here if you don't want to register). As I watched them make it my brain was analyzing the ingredients and preparation method. The result was very close to what the girls like but seemed to take a great deal of work...and for this post-workday cooking dad, that was too much work. But....if I was clever and took some tips from Rachel Ray...maybe....

Thus was born Claus's 20-minute Tortilla Soup recipe which has become a staple in our home.

Ingredients:

1 10 oz. container of Kroger's fresh black-bean salsa. (in the produce section)

1 32 oz. carton of chicken broth. (I prefer to use organic for better flavor and quality)

16 oz. of water (more or less to taste)

1-2 packages of pre-packaged and pre-cooked diced chicken breasts.

1 16 oz. jar of chipotle red salsa (I use the Arriba brand).

bag of tortilla strips chips. (I find ours in the organic food section of the grocery store)

Preparation:

To a medium-sized stock pot, add the chicken broth. I then add about 1/2 a carton (16 oz.) of water to thin it out a bit. Add more or less water to your taste.

Next add the full container of black bean salsa. This works great as the base as it contains whole black beans, diced onions and tomatoes, a few diced jalapeno's, and whole corn. It is all pre-done for you and adds the perfect amount of vegetables.

Next add the chicken pieces. If your family likes meat, add two packages. I usually get the pre-cooked/packaged kind to save cooking time...but I have also made it with fresh chicken breasts I have diced up...just be sure to simmer long enough for the chicken to thoroughly cook. You may also have to skim some protein foam off the top if you use fresh uncooked chicken.

Now add about 8 oz. (half a jar) of the chipotle salsa. (More or less to your taste). The first time you make this you may want to add just 1/4 of a jar and work your way up.

Bring to a boil...then reduce to a simmer for about about 15 minutes (longer if you are using uncooked chicken!).

Serve with tortilla strip chips and Mexican or Spanish yellow rice on the side.

Diced avocados are great in it as well.

Easy and yummy!

Serves the three of us for about two days. Even better the next day.

I don't know if you will have as much luck finding these specific brands (like in Nicki's Kitchen currently holding court over in Japan), but you can probably find easy substitutes for everything. Just don't substitute away form the chipotle style salsa. Get another brand, but its the fire-roasted pepper flavor that gives the flavor body to the soup. Nothing less will do!

Cooking for Engineers

Although I chose not to join in the family occupation by becoming an engineer, my brother and dad are none-too-shabby cooks in their own rights, and it's fun to tease them as engineers.

So this site Cooking for Engineers has a ton of greatly logical recipes and tips that engineers would feel right at home with, and non-engineers can even enjoy.

And who could beat their recipe flowcharts? Priceless!

Spatulatta

Great videos from some of the most kawaii kids you will ever run into -- Spatulatta: Cooking 4 Kids -- and they earned a 2006 James Beard Foundation award to boot!

Have fun in the kitchen!

--Claus

Cooking in the Kitchen with Blue Lotus and Nicki

I enjoy cooking.

Lavie lets me do the grocery shopping and prepare most of our meals.

I used to do a lot of baking, but with time scare, I haven't had the time to really "bake". Cutting pre-made cookie-dough and popping it in the oven doesn't quite count in my book, even though it satisfies the girls in a pinch.

We have a local "mega" grocery store just blocks away from our home, but the produce quality, well, sucks. It's kinda dingy as well, but the prices are low so because of that and it's proximity, I usually just do all my shopping there. Our Wal-Mart also has a grocery store inside, but I'd rather face a hoard of zombie dead than hit the Wal-Mart crowds.

So, this afternoon I'm going to try a "new" Signature Kroger's store a town away (15 min drive) and see if the prices and quality beats the one in our town. If so, I guess the extra-drive time will be worth it to make it a weekly adventure.

What's in store for the menu besides the usual weekly Valca dinner meal rotation?

I'm going to try to bake up (from scratch) a batch of Pecan cookies from a recipe by Blue Lotus. This girl can cook, Tokyo style. I'm amazed at the photo's on her site.

Nicki from The Japan Years crew blogs a site of her own, Nicki's Kitchen that has some delectable recipes. Which one to add to our list for the week....

Black Beans and Rice -- always a favorite after learning to love it at a local Cuban restaurant (now sadly closed).

Bourbon Pepper Stake -- Yummers!

Bean and Bacon Soup with Cheese Toast -- bring on Fall!

or do I go with a BLT Pasta dish? Hmmm.

I noticed Nicki also posted a new recipe for Purple Cabbage, Apples and Bratwurst. YUMMM! BRATWURST! A meal for a Prussian immigrant's descendant!

I make a kinda-not-so-much-similar dish we lovingly call in the Valca home "Claus's Pot-of-Plenty". Next time I make it I'll have to write down the recipe and share. It's a fall/winter favorite.

Now Lavie's telling me she wants strawberries and angel-food cake as well.

Box or scratch? What do you think?

--Claus