A First, for Me…
Being a late-comer to the mobile phone world, I started with a well used Side Kick II, which was a hand-me-down from My brother. After a year or three, I migrated to the T-Mobile Dash, which ran a version of windows intentionally designed to slowly delete the available memory, so You would be forced to buy something new, or pay to have it serviced. Both of those devices were garbage! Then, five or so years ago, My sister-in-law gave Me her old G1. The first phone with an Android OS.
The Google Phone is now about a decade old, it still works! I’ve been using it with a pre-paid sim card for quite some time now. The only thing holding it back for basic phone, text and not so snappy(but acceptable) web browsing use, is the lack of batteries available. Sure I could have kept buying batteries, but they aren’t being produced anymore, they’ve been sitting on a warehouse shelf for who knows how long. Thus losing their ability to hold a charge. Two hours, just isn’t enough. So I bought a tablet!
Specifically, the T-Mobile Springboard. Which is a rebranded product of China, the Huawei MediaPad. Certainly not the greatest thing out there, but at the time, pickings were slim and at $100 after the mail-in rebate, I’m happy that I did run with this tablet. It runs most apps with out issue, it’s screen is of great quality, it plays every file type I’ve thrown at it and the high point of this device, the battery lasts 12-15 hours streaming music and occasionally texting, surfing, or wandering Vimeo and Instagram. The lack lustre 5mp camera has consistantly disappiointed though. Having used this smaller sized tablet as My primary device for the last year, I wasn’t able to take calls with it, so the old G1 has still been in use. Until now!! I was able to grab an upgrade with lucky timing. Since the new Samsung Galaxy S III and Note 2 were on sale for $100 and $200 respectively, after a $100 mail-in rebate of course.
One week earlier and I would have gotten the S III phone, because it was $50.. But the Note 2 has a quad-core cpu, larger screen and larger battery. Otherwise they are pretty much the same. So, for $200, I have bought an up to date mobile device. I’ve always had some one else’s old crap, or something cheap and slow. It’s very nice to have a camera worth using, without having to whip out a dslr! The Note 2 has a good screen size/phone size, bigger than most phones, not any thicker though. Fits in any of My pockets, instead of only the back pockets, like the tablet. Haven’t encountered an app it won’t run and this thing powers through all that I have done with it so far, without a glitch. Internet browsing is pretty fast, I’ve always done My web surfing at home, but this is slowly changing.. If it lasts even half as long as the G1, this may be a worth while investment! These new phones are quite versatile, it’s a good time to finally be on the leading edge of the band wagon. Technology can be such a wonderful thing.
An obvious note: These phones are loaded with WAY TOO MUCH BLOATWARE! What a sham having to attempt to disable them, without voiding one’s warranty. You business jokers need to step up Your game and clean it up a bit! Why do You hate Your customers so much? At least give an option to remove the stuff, since most of Your customers don’t want it!
Turkey Day: Part II
I take a lot of pictures, but when someone points a camera at Me, I can’t help but to. .. …
Thanks for snapping these Burd!
Another Glance at Automass
And so, We are on the way…
We know how to eat on a long drive.. Sandwich anyone?
These next two pictures were taken by Kenda with My 450D.
We didn’t really hang out with any friends in Chicago. It was a bit of an ‘in and out’ type of venture. So on our way out, we made a point to drive up Lake Shore Drive. Sarah snapped these two from the car as We cruised along.
The following is perhaps the worst skyline photo in the land. However, it’s the only one we managed to get. Good job Sarah, through the back window of the car, in traffic. .. …
Andor’s Grilled Chicken
Another of My easy and fast grilling recipes! Works just as well with Chicken thighs, drumsticks, breasts, or lower quarters… A solid staple in My non-winter cooking arsenal. Serve it up with things like: buttered greens and corn bread, or fries and green beans, even a veggie quesadilla.. Serves 3-6 people.
Supplies Needed: A Grill and a Baking Sheet for seasoning and transport.
Ingredients:
6 Chicken Thighs
3 tbsp of a Mild Chili Pepper Powder
2 tbsp of Garlic Powder
2 tbsp of dried Thyme Leaves
1 tbsp of dried Terragon flakes
1 tsp of Rosemary Powder OR 8 to 12 leaves – chopped into small pieces
1 tsp of Ground Cumin
1 tsp of Salt
1 or more cups of BBQ Sauce
freshly ground Pepper to taste.
Prep and Cooking:
Spread Everything except the BBQ Sauce evenly over all sides of the Chicken.
Grill, covered, under INDIRECT HEAT for 20-30 minutes, flipping the Chicken at the half way point. Once the meat is almost fully cooked, spread BBQ Sauce on liberally, grill 5 more minutes. Flip the Chicken over and sauce the other side, grill, covered, for another couple minutes until the sauce has thickened up. Making sure You’ve fully cooked the Chicken, remove from the grill and serve.
Notes: Grilling times will vary…
I prefer Ken Davis brand BBQ Sauce, from here in Minnesota! It matches up well with My spice combinations.. My alternate is Sweet Baby Ray’s brand, which I beleive is from Illinois. Both tout the northern Midwest, thick, tomato base style.
Bacon, Spinach and Shrimp
I’ve been told, several times, that this is the best thing I have ever cooked.. . A couple of weeks ago, I had some friends over for some bbq chicken and fried rice. One of which hit Me up the next day, thanking Me for serving some “yummy stuff,” which inspired Her to want to make “some bomb @$# food, like that bacon, shrimp, spinach thing You use to do.” So here We are, one of an endless stream of recipes that I had completely forgotten. Having made something like it twice in the time since this conversation, I find Myself wondering how such a recipe could have fallen out of the regular rotation. Why am I not eating this all the time!?
This is in fact, pretty much the same flavor arrangement as ‘Manated Pork with Peas,’ which can be found by scrolling down through this blog. Less the pork and onion, adding bacon, spinach and shrimp! I told You it’s versatile! Although, many ingredient changes, also require a change in cooking method.. I must also point out, that I never measure when seasoning things. To Me, cooking something slightly different, every time You cook it, is a huge part of the joy and fun in that which We call food. Thus, all quantities listed in My recipes are guesstimations, but should provide a solid starting point.. Please do leave some commentary should You give this one a try.
Supplies Needed: A wok or large fry pan, cutting board and knife/you can get by with just a mincer, also a small sauce pan, like You would boil a single pack of ramen in…
Ingredients:
1 pound of shrimps, steamed or boiled lightly
one third of a pound of bacon, sliced or chopped however You like
a bag of spinach, at least enough to make salad for 4 people
Half a bag of frozen sugar snap peas, thawed
4 tbsp of fresh ginger root, minced
2 tbsp of garlic, minced
6 inches or so of fresh lemongrass, at least half an inch thick, cut into 2 or 3 pieces
1/4 cup of cooking sherry
1-2 tbsp of soy sauce
2-3 tbsp of ketcup(optional, but it adds a lot)
1 or so tbsp of sugar, just enough to take the edge off the sour/bitter ingrdients
1 tsp mild chili pepper powder
Freshly ground pepper to taste
Prep and Cooking:
Over low to medium heat, mix all but the peas, bacon, spinach and shrimp in the small sauce pot, stirring as often as possible, until it has thickened into a nice sauce. Remove from heat, toss the chunks of lemongrass and keep stirring until You are ready to add it to the rest of the ingredients. At the same time You begin cooking the sauce, fry the bacon on medium heat in a wok or sizable skillet, remove from the pan once cooked to Your liking. Then, toss the sugar snap peas and a fist-full of spinach into the bacon grease, stirring constantly, adding the spinach one fist-full at a time. Keep it up until You’ve used about three quarters of the spinach and remove from the pan. This should only take 30 seconds to a minute. Turn the burner to high heat and toss the shrimps into the remaining bacon grease, fry for 20 to 30 seconds, depending on size. Remove from the pan and turn off the burner, add the bacon and cooked veggies back into the pan, mixing vigorously. Now You can also add the sauce and remaining spinach, or plate the food and distribute them between each serving. Time to eat!
Notes:
The key to this dish is to privide spinach, in three textures, fully cooked, partially cooked and raw. Hence the process of adding it a bit at a time. Hoisin sauce was not part of the origianl recipe, srirachi works quite well as a replacement. I almost always make this with a nice spicy kick!
You can also mince the lemongrass, but it MUST be broken down very finely. You can also buy lemongrass in frozen, pre-minced form as well as puree’d in a tube. I would use 2 or so tablespons of such options instead of a fresh stalk.
To cook this all in one pan, start by frying the bacon and shrimp, as described above. Remove them and start making the sauce. Once it’s almost thickened up, add the peas and commense the spinach application process. Mix everything back into the pan and You are done.. You’ll have to have thawed the peas for this method, or the sauce will be runny, which is fine by Me. This is the lazy method, the flavors become more of a blur, but it’s still damn good.
July 9, 2013 ***UPDATE ***
Last night I made a variation of this recipe with bak choi instead of peas and spinach. It was delicious. I made the sauce in one pan and stir fried everything else in another, while the sauce thickened. The bak choi stems were a really nice texture and the light flavor helped temper the powerful chunky sauce. I simply fried them in the bacon grease and added the green, leafy parts and some green onions once the stems were just starting to soften. A truely great dinner.
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