EcoCar3 Visits KCET

My son asked me to give his Communications Team Lead a tour of a working Television Station and to talk to our Communications Department, to get some tips. So being an OK kind of Mom, I set it up and yesterday was the day.

I picked them both up at North Hollywood Station and we went to lunch before the meeting. We actually had some time to tour the facility before the meeting and then after the meeting, speak to a few more people who we missed on the first go-round.

When we were in Master Control, the operator (a very good friend of both my son and me) casually asks my son "I am stepping out for a second, you OK with that?" What that meant was that we were the operators on duty for a few seconds. I am sure that made someone's day. :-)

Later on I read that we had actually had a 2 second hit about 15 minutes before we arrived. I wonder if we would have been so calm about it all, if we knew that.

I truly believe that their half hour with our communications team, gave them things to work on and at the same time, showed that they had ideas of their own. Between both things, I am sure they will start this project in September, running, instead of walking.

It is definitely going to be different from last time.

Sour Cream Banana Bars with Browned Butter Frosting

I hate my friend at work!

His wife is an excellent baker and normally I don't ask him for her recipes, but this one was different.

It is not overly sweet and that is a total winner in my book. Obviously, the frosting is sweet, but you can spread it thinner, if you feel the need to cut the sugar.

Truly an awesome cake and with bananas, so that you feel it's healthy. :-)

Sour Cream Banana Bars

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups bananas, mashed (about 3 large)
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon soda
1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Brown Butter Frosting

1/2 cup butter
2 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 tablespoons milk

Directions
PREP 15 mins
COOK 25 mins
READY IN 40 mins

Heat oven to 375°.

Grease and flour a jelly roll pan (15x10 inches).

Mix sugar, sour cream, butter, and eggs in large mixer bowl on low for 1 minute.

Beat in mashed bananas and vanilla on low for 30 seconds.

Beat in flour, salt and soda on medium for 1 minute.

Stir in nuts. Spread in pan.

Bake until light brown, 20-25 minutes. Cool.

For frosting, heat butter over medium heat until delicate brown color.

Remove from heat. Mix in powdered sugar. Beat in vanilla and milk. Mix until smooth and spreadable.

Frost cooled bars.

Shineman Office View Of Lake Ontario

My Water Post For Today.

This is the view out the window of my HCI Teacher's office. He happened to be in when my Husband and I were checking out the floor and taking photos.

With his permission, I got this view of Lake Ontario, from Shineman.

I would love to have this kind of view, especially when weather comes their way. Lake Effect rain or snow, I don't care.

Not great to walk in, but to watch...oh yes!

I hope you enjoy a look at serene (for once) Lake Ontario.

The Games Of The XXIII Olympiad - Los Angeles 1984

Due to this special event, my water post is delayed until Tuesday.

It was 30 years ago today!

Thirty years since the world watched The Games of the XXIII Olympaid take place in the city of Los Angeles.

I was here, living in a mobile home in Canyon Country and working at KCET, of course.

It was a Saturday and we had a wrap party that very day, for a show called The M.A.D. Scientists (which won a local Emmy, the next year). There were puppets, some magic and Dave and Dudley. It ended up not getting bought by anyone, but we wrapped it in style. In the Hollywood hills, to be exact.

The director of the show had a lovely home in the hills, with a wonderful pool, spa and beach house in the backyard. The entire engineering crew who could attend (remember we air 24/7) were there, as well as the cast and especially ventriloquist Paul Winchell. There, we huddled around the TV to watch the opening ceremony in the Los Angeles Colosseum.

We could see the balloons that were let go and the doves flying out the top of the stadium, from our vantage point in the hills. We critiqued the audio (in particular) that NBC was sending out and all around had a great time celebrating our city, our Country (not an easy thing for the post Vietnam boomers) and the wrap party going on.

It was, bar none, the best party and opening ceremony celebration, I have ever had the honor to attend.

The fact that the Olympics made money and did not put our city into debt, were big takeaways. So was the non existent traffic that did not clog our Freeways.

As they say now days...Win!

Nestle's Toll House Cookies

It has been years, or maybe a decade since I have made these traditional Toll House Cookies.

We were out of desserts in my house the other day and for some reason I had a desire for a traditional cookie. No fancy cookies, no complicated cookies, just a Toll House Cookie.

So I checked the ingredients in my house and found only walnuts missing.

That worked for me.

Toll House Cookies...nothing like them. I found the original recipe HERE.

Nestle's Original Toll House Cookies

Ingredients

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
2 cups (12-oz. pkg.) NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels
1 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Directions

PREHEAT oven to 375° F.

COMBINE flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl.

Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy.

Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in morsels and nuts. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets.

BAKE for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown.

Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

Dinner With A Friend

I have mentioned my ex-boyfriend before. HERE is the post from about a year ago.

He lived in LA for a few years and when he and his wife left the area, they left behind a storage unit. Well, now that he has his home in Upstate New York, he has finally decided to reunite his family with their stuff.

Saving that monthly storage charge looks good, too. :-)

I got an email that he would be in town and so we made plans to meet up. Me, my Husband and my ex-boyfriend. Since it was a Friday night, we did the meet up at KCET. That way he got to see the station, at its new digs in Burbank and we could dine right across the street, at El Torito.

It was good to catch up with him and show him around. I got to totally blow him away with how TV production is now done. We had our production control room setting up for a UFC fight on Saturday and so he saw the empty room (green screen) and yet it was all together in the production control room. The fight was out of Ireland and of course we make it look like the hosts are right there by ringside...via their physical presence in Burbank, of course.

My other New York friend (the one who I went to see "The Last Confession" with) had just left the Country on Thursday, so she could not attend.

Unfortunately for my Husband and I, we had to turn down a trip to the Magic Castle on Saturday. A friend of his got 5 tickets and we would have loved to go. I had to stay put at home for the weekend and so that was that. From the photos and emails I received, he seemed to have a great time. My magic son was not working, so he did not see him, which was sad. I am sure he would have loved to see him in his professional environment. That was the only downside, that I could see.

Glad to touch base with him again.

It Just Feels So Good

I have a pension plan. It is probably the best thing I have going for me. Or at least I hope so.

One milestone on the way to retirement is that at 55 years old, if your company fires you, you can access your pension without penalty. I had some plans of doing that very thing, at a point in time...but life changed for me.

Well, today is the day that I hit the milestone of 59 1/2 and I now don't have to worry so much about getting laid off and not having some sort of income for my family.

It is a good feeling, especially since they keep saying that people should wait until they are 70 years old to "retire" and start taking their Social Security. I am still over a decade away from that age.

I was warned by my tax man to make sure that I don't start taking my pension, just because I can. It will kill you come tax time, he said. So if I am still employed by KCET, I guess I won't be going for it yet.

But it feels good to be able to, finally.

If you want some info, via AARP, check THIS out.

Steely Dan At The Fabulous Forum 7/12/14

As usual, it takes me forever to write up my concert experience. Sorry about the almost 2 week delay.

It was my anniversary and IMHO there was nothing better than a night out to see Steely Dan.

We got the cheapest tickets they had, which meant that we ended up all the way at the top of the Fabulous Forum. It was dark up there (which was an issue with my Husband trying to get to his seat). As you can see, they did add some cool lighting up at the top of the venue. Maybe that was why they kept the lights off. About five minutes before the opening act began, they finally turned on some house lights and our evening began in earnest.

The opening band was The Bobby Broom Organi-Sation. They opened with a wonderful extended version of Stevie Wonder's "Superstition", which I enjoyed. I did not know the other 2 songs, but the band did a good job and didn't overstay their welcome.

A 15 minute reset and the band (minus Donald and Walter and the Danettes) came out and broke into a wonderful song that they used back in 2003, "Cubano Chant". I had enjoyed it the last time and was super excited to hear it once more.

The remainder of the band came out and away we went.

SetList at The Fabulous Forum - July 12, 2014

Cubano Chant (Band Only)
Black Cow
Aja
Hey Nineteen
Rikki Don't Lose That Number
Black Friday
Show Biz Kids
Time Out of Mind
Things I Miss the Most
Green Earrings
Dirty Work
Bodhisattva
Daddy Don't Live in That New York City No More
Babylon Sisters
I Want To (Do Everything for You) (Joe Tex cover)
Josie
Peg
My Old School
Reelin' in the Years
Encore: Kid Charlemagne
Untouchables Theme (Nelson Riddle cover)(Band Only)

The personal highlight of my evening, was when they played a song from their final album, Everything Must Go. The song is "Things I Miss The Most", which is about a divorced man lamenting the loss of things in his life, after his partner leaves. I had not heard them play this song since the Everything Must Go tour in 2003, so it was so good to bring that back to the set list.

You can listen to my horrible version of "Things I Miss The Most", HERE. There are now much better versions, out of You Tube, if you feel like exploring.

All in all, minus Things, and "Green Earrings", the setlist was basically the same as last year. I was sorry I did not get to hear "Deacon Blues", this time around...and of course, "Don't Take Me Alive".

You get what you get, with a Steely Dan Concert, but in spite of my disappointments it was a wonderful evening of wonderful songs.

Thanks once again, guys and see you next time.

Pork Meatballs

I was offered Ground Pork for a very inexpensive price, from my Vons Club. Vons is a local market, owned by Safeway.

I had a little bit of pork left from when I made the Pasta alla Norcina and so I went looking for a recipe for meatballs.

I had no problem finding some and this one sounded the best, to me. You can see the original recipe HERE.

Since this was a pound of pork and I had the 1/4 pound of leftover pork in the freezer, it felt close enough for me to double the recipe.

I made my normal Italian sauce instead of boiling them in beef broth, but you are welcome to do so, as stated in the original recipe.

I also fried them in olive oil (again, as I do with a normal beef meatball). You can just drop them into the sauce, I guess, but my husband and I both agreed that they probably needed the browning to stay together in the sauce. By the way, they were a big hit in my house. Try them.

Pork Meatballs

Ingredients

1 egg, lightly beaten
1 slice bread, crumbled
1 garlic clove, minced
1/4 cup grated Romano or Parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon dried parsley flakes
1/4 teaspoon pepper
3/4 pound ground pork
1 can (14-1/2 ounces) beef broth

Directions

In a bowl, combine the first seven ingredients.
Crumble meat over mixture and mix well.
Shape into ten 2-in. balls.
In a saucepan, bring broth to a boil.
Place meatballs in the broth. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 15 minutes.
Turn the meatballs;
cook 15 minutes long or until a thermometer reads 160°.
Remove with a slotted spoon.

Yield: 2 servings (5 meatballs each serving).

Save Colossus!

If there is one thing that has been bothering me these past few months, it has been the commercials running on local TV about the deadline for riding Colossus.

Colossus is a wooden roller coaster that has lived at 6 Flags Magic Mountain since 1978, I wrote about its impending closure HERE. It dominates the land around the park and you can see it from the I-5 Freeway.

It is one of the iconic things about the Santa Clarita Valley.

I just read that there is a petition going around on the Internet and I went right over to sign it. You can find it HERE.

I don't think it will do anything, but it is nice to feel that you took a stand, to tell the park owners that it will be missed.

By the way, you do not need to donate to the cause, to sign the petition. At least I didn't.

Quality Inn Along The Oswego River

My Water Post For Today.

I stayed at a hotel right on the Oswego River, when I visited there earlier this year. The hotel should be nothing spectacular and instead, is quite the place to live. It is a Quality Inn and according to the hotel, it is the best one in the chain. How can you miss with a view out those windows? Seriously, I loved my room with that view.

They have a bar that juts out the side of the building on the 3rd floor and I did take a quick look at it. I don't drink alone, so I did not sit down and watch the water with a drink in hand, but I can totally understand why one would.

I love the water, the sunset and the hotel.

I hope you enjoy.

Improving Blogger The 2014 Edition

Over the years I have mentioned when Blogger adds something worthy, I like to mention it. I know several of my blogging friends use blogger and some frequent this humble blog.

Since I have been blogging on this platform for the past 7 years, I know a thing or two about it.

This past year I added 2 other blogs to my life. The first one was a project for my Integrated Media class and it holds all my posts about Steely Dan. I enjoy having everything I have written about the band, all in one place. My other blog was created with my Integrated Media Project's 50th Anniversary of KCET posts. I made this blog on my own, so that they live somewhere else besides on the KCET website. They are both blogs that I am proud of and of course I feel like linking to them.

Since the one thing that blogger doesn't do easily is go to other pages, blogger decided to make a widget.

Say you have a main page on Blogger and you want to bring your visitors to a main website you have, you can do it via THIS widget. I tested it on my KCET 50th Anniversary page and this is how it looks on the right side of the blog. People who want to read the blogger buzz article may have to be signed into their blogger account, to get access.

I guess I could have made a list, similar to the ones that I do for my recipes, but this one seems just a bit cleaner. I wish I could have put a small photo with it, but that wouldn't have necessarily been a good idea.

I may add the widget over to my other two blogs.

A new connection between the three of them...coolness.

Is There E85 Gas In The Car?

When last we saw the CSULA entry in the EcoCar2 competition, it was in Washington, DC.

Well, it is back in LA and it will be attending some events in the near future. My son, as team lead for the new EcoCar3 competition, needs to get the car up to speed, so that it can be street driven. That means disconnecting the electrical (if you remember, they didn't get the electrical drive train to communicate with the original drive train, that runs on gas). You can read about the end of the competition HERE.

So each time they take it out, the electrical drive train needs to be disconnected and brought back to a single drive train mode. (Update: when my son got home, he stated that they don't have to disconnect the electrical system anymore. I am not sure what that means, but maybe they can drive it on the gas and just not switch into electrical.) They spent Friday working on the car and when I inquired when my son would be coming home, he sent me this photo.

The car runs on E85 fuel, which is ethanol made from corn. You can see the E85 pump in the photo.

So now there is plenty of E85 gas in the car, though they had to drive over 15 miles each way (to Arcadia), to get the gas.

Pretty cool.

The King

It has been years since I have mentioned this series. 2007, to be exact. You can read my first post on this series HERE. I also posted in 2008 about a followup book HERE.

The 12th book in the Black Dagger Brotherhood series came out, back in April. I did not buy it, because hardcovers cost too much money. Well, I got a good deal on this book and so I added it to my collection. I am glad I did not pay full price though, because basically the series is losing its focus.

This book was a continuation of the very first book in the series "Dark Lover". It is about the King of the race of vampires and his "shellen" (mate).

This books main problem is the fact that you have the original characters and yet, so many of them never turn up in this book. In the later books (where the next generation are the focus) it is understandable, but when you are talking about the king and his Black Dagger Brotherhood Brothers, they should be turning up all over the place. That was not the case at all and their shellen's turned up even less than the brothers. A very noticeable omission.

I enjoyed the book but I find that after reading each one, I am more and more disappointed in the plot lines. The final insult is I find that I only break down and buy it, when the price is right.

Back in the day, I would have the book on order months in advance!

Is it only me who feels this way?

From what I read on Amazon, I fear not.

Supermoon - July 12, 2014

We really couldn't get a great shot of it, but as we exited The Forum on Saturday night, there was Supermoon, glowing next to the building.

It looked much more impressive than the photo does, but you get the idea.

It lent a magical air to the evening.

If you missed it, there are a few more coming along. One is next month, on August 10th and than another on September 9th.

According to THIS article, the August moon is supposed to be the closest one of the bunch.

Millennium Park At 10

It is 10 years old today!

Millennium Park in Chicago, is a wonderful, small but exciting gem of a park, just a block from The Loop. That means that workers in the downtown area and (of course) tourists are there constantly.

Pritzker Pavilion is a band shell designed by Frank Gehery (the man who made The Walt Disney Concert Hall) and it definitely looks a lot like that earlier structure. During the summer months, there are concerts held there and the concert goers sit on the lawn. It's a low key kind of thing, which adds so much to the vibe of The Loop.

My personal favorite part of Millennium Park is what is called "The Bean". It's official name is Cloud Gate, but absolutely no one calls it that. I took so many selfies of me (before they were known as selfies) and other photos of it with people hanging around it. By the way, that never changes, people are ALWAYS around it.

You can read an article with more information about Millennium Park at 10, HERE.

No Selfie, On Our Anniversary

We never did find a willing victim to take a photo of the two of us. These two, taken by us, will have to do.

We were just about ready to leave and we wanted a photo.

They are not perfect, but I like The Forum behind us.

Minus the guy at Randy's Donuts, who almost backed into my car and would have made mincemeat out of my front end and the weirdo traffic pattern, leaving the Forum, it was a great anniversary.

At 34 years, we are happy with those small things.

The Waters Of St. Kateri

My Water Post For Today.

It is the feast day of St. Kateri Tekakwitha.

In her honor, I went back to my favorite small town in Upstate New York...Canajoharie.

Just 9 miles from her shrine, this particular photo shows the Mohawk River, where Canajoharie Creek empties into it.

Kateri lived all along this area of the State and it feels appropriate to highlight the water of her home.

The city of Canajoharie has a nice concrete bandstand, for summer concerts right there and I can't think of a better place to listen to music...well, minus the mosquitoes, of course. :-)

In case I have never mentioned it before, Canajoharie in Iroquois means "The pot that washes itself". There is a place called The Boiling Pot, on this small river. There is a circular area where the rushing water keeps the bowl shaped rock formation clean...Canajoharie.

I hope you enjoy.

A Supermoon, A Steely Dan Concert And An Anniversary

I have a million (mostly crappy) photos from the Steely Dan Concert, a very crappy video of a song called "Things I Miss The Most" and a photo of The Forum during Supermoon.

It was quite a day for an Anniversary.

We started out by pulling off the San Diego Freeway and getting some Randy's Donuts, to have for desert after the concert. If you watched the Space Shuttle being pulled through Inglewood, it passed Randy's and I have always wanted to go there. So that is now off the bucket list. Woot!

Then we drove 2 blocks to Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles. We both got number 13, which is a piece of white meat chicken and a waffle. Honestly, next time I am going to get the Obama. 3 chicken wings and a waffle. :-)

We then drove another 2 or so miles to the Fabulous Forum. A venue which just recently opened once again for concerts. It was owned for around 15 years, by a church. Many thanks to the concert promoters who bought it back and upgraded it. It was a wonderful place, with many memories for me. So it was nice to make some new ones.

I had seen the set lists for the first 6 shows, so Steely Dan's set list was mostly as expected. The one surprise was that they did a song that was hardly done during the 2003 tour. Things I Miss The Most is a sad song about a divorced man who misses some of the things married life brings. My Husband has owned the TIMTM tee shirt for the past decade, so that song is a bit special to us.

All in all, a nice date night on our 34th Anniversary.

Emma

I was going to post today about my Anniversary...but I will do that tomorrow.

Yesterday a miracle occurred. A former Walmart coworker of my Husband, had her baby.

Not a big deal you say, it happens all the time. Well this one has a story that sort of follows my own.

The baby has something called IUGR (Intrauterine Growth Restriction). What that means is that her umbilical cord was not delivering enough nutrients to the baby. The Doctors did not figure that the baby would survive and so they allowed the mother to go on an airplane flight during the second trimester. I personally was shocked, but thankfully, the baby made it through that and she made it to 24 weeks and viability.

When things were starting to go downhill this week, I knew it was time. Friday they induced labor and out she came. 2lbs 6 oz and 32 weeks gestation.

I am happy for Carrie, Tommy and for little Emma.

She has a hard road ahead, as I so remember but she has come this far and I know she will make it!

Snow Sheds & Tunnels

While we were riding the train through the Donner Pass, we passed these structures that looked like tunnels made of wood.

My Husband explained to me that in the High Sierra's, they came up with a way to keep the tracks clear during the worst of the winter, by building structures called Snow Sheds. A snow shed protects the tracks by sending the snow that tumbles down an avalanche prone area, past the train tracks and thus, moves it harmlessly out of the way.

I have not been able to figure out what I took a photo of, but part of the track was removed at some point and so this could be a snow shed remnant of that other track bed. You can see we passed right to the left of it.

Once I found out what they are and what they are used for, I got pretty excited. Too bad we had moved on from that summit area of the Donner Pass.

If you want to see many photos of some of the structures, check THIS out.

A really wonderful part of our American History. Man triumphs over extreme weather...well, for the most part.

Selfie In Denver

As usual, when I am on a train trip, sleep is intermittant, at best. I do get some sleep, but I end up sleeping during the day, too. So that is why I have some bags under my eyes.

Otherwise, this selfie, is quite amazing. Look at my eyes! You can see colors besides brown, in them. Note that they are hazel, so there are other colors there, but normally that doesn't end up in photos of me.

All in all, I like it.

Tulips In Chicago

It has been over 100 degrees this past week.

To bring me to a better (read cooler) time, I bring you to Chicago in the Spring.

What better way to show off Spring, than tulips planted in the Chicago Loop.

You can see that the trees are just barely coming back to life, but those tulips are just stunning.

Obviously, they had been planted a week or so before, but for the enjoyment they were giving the residents and visitors, they are so worth the expense.

I hope you like them as much as I did.

A Semi-sick Kitty

About 2 weeks ago, I noticed a scab under my cat Makenna's collar. I immediately took it off and didn't think anything more about it.

Minus, checking it out every few days, life went on.

Well, being I am home more this week, due to the 4th of July holiday, I checked it more often.

On Monday I finally decided I did not like how it seemed to be even worse than what it was when I took her collar off.

Off to a very nice vet named Dr. Megan (a classmate of our normal vet, Dr. Traci) and she confirmed that it was not anything like cancer, or ring worm. She believes Makenna is scratching it and making the original small scab, even worse!

So we need to keep her away from the injury and thus a "soft" collar. She is not happy, but so far, it is still on her.

It kind of looks like a dress, if you ask me.

We also have some medicine to put on the scab and hopefully it will get the chance to heal.

The Tree On The Lake

My Water Post For Today.

This is the tree that is at the mouth of Glimmerglass Lagoon, where it empties into Lake Ontario.

I did show off this area of the Lake HERE. You can just barely see the same tree, off to the left of the photo in that post.

Since winter had just passed, you can actually see that the tree is even more bare and the piece of wood on the branches, is now gone. Probably in one of their blizzards.

Not much growing under the tree, either.

As usual, there is the water of Lake Ontario and I hope you enjoy it.

Pine Trees 2014

I have mentioned the pine trees in my back yard before. Here is a photo from 2008, so you get an idea of what they looked like, back in the day.

My pine trees are MUCH bigger this year and that is where I will be.

Dealing with cutting them, again.

If I can get my Husband out of bed, that is where he will be, too.

Photos will probably follow, so stop back, later.

I hate this part of the job. :-)

Update:

As of around 9:30AM the trees in the back row are done.

I still have the ones on the side to do and the eucalyptus tree, in front.

Then I can cut some of the stuff I could not reach with the trimmers, from the back.

I will use the huge tree cutter I have, for that.

Photo shows the before I did anything and than the lower photo, the ones along the back wall that are now trimmed.

I am exhausted. :-)

Pusheen Loves To Blog

I bought a tiny book called "I am Pusheen the Cat". I paid for it with my Discover Cash Back, so I don't feel I used my money.

It has some of the cutest comics of Pusheen and I have already used the book to make a hand made card for a work friend who just bought a house. I guess it has uses beyond just viewing.

The bottom line is, the author did some cute things and one of them is this photo of Pusheen Blogging.

Maybe I should make it my logo. :-)

Happy 4th of July 2014

A very happy 4th of July to you all. It's been a bit of a challenging week, in regard to feelings about being an American, but for today, I will put all that aside and wish our Country a very Happy Birthday.

By the way, this is a photo I took last year, because I wanted to show off the ribbons on the front of the house. Unfortunately for me, I can't find them! So this photo will have to do. :-(

No matter what you do, enjoy the day off.

Jamalot Ever After Begins

It's finally here. Steely Dan began their tour yesterday in Oregon.

The tour is named Jamalot Ever After and the two that make up Steely Dan have given us a hint of what the tour merchandise will be.

Click the photo or go to Steely Dan's Webpage HERE, to check it out.

I happen to think that the shirts and promo stuff look really good.

Can't wait til July 12th, when I will be attending.

I was hoping to have this before I went to bed, but they did not Tweet the live setlist.

Portland, OR setlist - July 2, 2014

Cubano Chant
Black Cow
Aja
Hey 19
Bad Sneakers
Black Friday
Everyone's Gone To The Movies (a very cool arrangement)
Godwhacker
Showbiz Kids
Time Out Of Mind
Dirty Work (Carolyn)
Bodhisattva
Babylon Sisters
Daddy Don't Live In That NYC (Walter singing)
Joe Tex song and band intros (I forgot the name of the song but it was played a couple of years ago.)
Josie
Peg
My Old School
Reelin' In The Years
Kid Charlemagne
Untouchables Theme (Outro)

My First "Job"

My son has hired me to go talk to his Communications team, for EcoCar3. I agreed to take time off from work and drive over there today. I guess it's my first job using my advanced degree. WOOT!

Even though he's getting me for free, it's good for me to see what they have to do and to give them some ideas, for the new competition.

Wish me luck.

Pasta Alla Norcina

I saw this recipe made on America's Test Kitchen and it looked interesting. I didn't think of it again, until KCET Food put up the recipe a few days later. I grabbed it and threw it into this blog (as a future post). I fully intended to make it shortly after I got it, but it must have taken a few weeks until I had a moment to put this recipe together.

Note that it does take a lot of plates, bowls and pots and fry pans, but eventually you get it together and it is good. Salty though, so be warned.

I found the way that they used science to make ground pork into sausage, quite amazing. I can use that tip in other recipes, moving forward.

I did enjoy it, though it did not taste quite like I expected it to. I went a little light on the cheese, to keep the salt down a bit.

This recipe serves 2. I doubled the recipe, so I could use an entire box of pasta and make it for my family.

Pasta Alla Norcina

Kosher salt and pepper
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
4 ounces ground pork
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 teaspoon minced fresh rosemary
Pinch ground nutmeg
4 ounces cremini mushrooms (or regular mushrooms), trimmed
5 teaspoons vegetable oil
1/3 cup heavy cream
8 ounces (2 1/4 cups) orecchiette (or other pasta)
1/4 cup dry white wine
1 ounce Pecorino Romano cheese, grated (1/2 cup)
1 tablespoon minced fresh parsley
1 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice

Grease small dinner plate with vegetable oil spray. Dissolve 3/4 teaspoon salt and baking soda in 2 teaspoons water in medium bowl. Add pork and fold gently to combine; let stand for 10 minutes.

Add 1/2 teaspoon garlic, 1/4 teaspoon rosemary, nutmeg, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper to pork and stir and smear with rubber spatula until well combined and tacky, 10 to 15 seconds. Transfer pork mixture to greased plate and form into rough 3-inch patty. Pulse mushrooms in food processor until finely chopped, 10 to 12 pulses.

Heat 2 teaspoons oil in 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat until just smoking. Add patty and cook without moving it until bottom is browned, 1 to 2 minutes. Flip patty and continue to cook until second side is well browned, 1 to 2 minutes longer (very center of patty will be raw). Remove pan from heat, transfer sausage to cutting board, and roughly chop into 1/8- to 1/4-inch pieces. Transfer sausage to bowl and add cream; set aside.

Bring 2 quarts water to boil in large Dutch oven. Add pasta and 1 tablespoon salt and cook, stirring often, until al dente. Reserve 3/4 cup cooking water, then drain pasta and return it to pot.

While pasta cooks, return now-empty skillet to medium heat. Add 2 teaspoons oil, mushrooms, and pinch salt; cook, stirring frequently, until mushrooms are browned, 3 to 5 minutes. Stir in remaining 1 teaspoon oil, remaining garlic, remaining ¼ teaspoon rosemary, and ¼ teaspoon pepper; cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in wine, scraping up any browned bits, and cook until completely evaporated, 1 to 2 minutes. Stir in sausage-cream mixture and 1/3 cup reserved cooking water and simmer until meat is no longer pink, 1 to 3 minutes. Remove pan from heat and stir in Pecorino until smooth.

Add sauce, parsley, and lemon juice to pasta and toss well to coat. Before serving, adjust consistency with remaining reserved cooking water as needed and season with salt and pepper to taste.