Let the games begin

Our guys tore off the upstairs siding today and will be back tomorrow to remove the old porch ceiling. Any thoughts we had about saving it disappeared as soon as the first pieces of aluminum were removed.

We learned the porch has some rain damage to both the ceiling and a column base. And our roof has some shingles rubbed away by a tree branch. "You guys got a leak?" All this time we thought the water came straight in through the window seal.

Evidence of the Gormaly teenagers was also discovered on a window frame.

Wonder what we'll learn about our house tomorrow.

Grilling in the Drizzle

Just got in this nice meal as it started to rain. Swordfish marinated in a slurry of cilantro, green onions and parsley and then grilled and served with store-bought pineapple salsa, some roasted-on-the-grill poblanos stuffed with mashed potatoes, corn, and a little cheddar, bruschetta, and some nice super-sweet grilled peaches. And I'm takin' the day off tomorrow!

And boy is editing these posts hard! The pictures move with a life of their own.

Our porch needs painting

And we don’t have time to paint it ourselves. I know, let’s get Mikey to do it!

Wait, he painted it in 1981.

Let’s get Janet and Olga to do!

Oh yeah, they painted the porch in 1995 to earn money for gymnastics camp.

I guess it’s time we stop taking advantage of family and hire the pros.

Perhaps while the porch is being painted, they could take down the sliding around the upstairs’ bay and put up shingles. Wonder what that would look like? Let’s take a peek.

Beautiful, let's have the siding removed on the front of the house from the porch up. Our man tells us we can put some great colors around the attic windows. Speaking of windows, replacing the front windows has been on our to-do-list for years. While the pros are here, let have them do it!

So now we are getting the porch painted, replacing the front siding with painted shingles and clapboard and getting seven new windows. Good thing we are structuring the job to avoid scope creep.

Well there is the new beadboard on the front porch ceiling, remodeling our bedroom and creating a large walk-in closet, but those are tales for another day.

Here's our dinner last night. First we had some ripe plum tomatoes roasted for two hours in olive oil with Oregano, a little sugar and a little salt.

Here it is on top of French bread with some aged goat cheese:

Some corn soup with crispy prosciutto:

And with corn, you need more corn, and a few other grilled goodies:

Almost a Ninja

Today I tested for my Deputy Black Belt 2, which is only one belt under (bum bum bum) the BLACK BELT! The testing was great fun, although private, because we don't want all the other color belts to know our secrets. We covered kicking combinations, forms, and one step sparring. Pretty much everything. Then we got to watch assistant instructors get beaten up by Matt Stojak, who is in Hapkido, which is, to me, the art of beating people to a bloody pulp. He demonstrated some of his throws and self-defense techniques, all of which were quite impressive. Black Belts were also testing for their 1st or second star. Each star signifies a belt that they know perfectly; when you get 8 stars, you become a 2Nd Degree Black Belt. Very impressive. The Black Belts,(all of who were in the ages nine to ten range) demonstrated their Korio: the Black Belt form(a combination of kicks, punches, blocks, etc) falling down combo's (so you don't die when you fall) and explained their belts requirements. yes, very impressive. I got my Deputy Black Belt 2 (it's black with a white stripe through it) and an Assistant Instructor Badge. getting an Assistant Instructor badge is for, you guessed it, assistant instructor. I help teach 3 to 5 year old's, essentially holding targets and such, with my best friend Elena, who is now a High Red Belt.
Other people who got honorable mentions were my good friends Ellie and Vanessa, who have held back a few times (by their own choice!) to test with my group Tme they have been waiting to get Dep. Black 2 belts is (drum roll please) 8 months. Ipplaud them. so, all in all, i have gotten m deputy black belt 2, and in one month exactly (31 days) my black belt!

So, all in all, i am ALMOST a ninja.

My Kitchen is Finished

This past weekend I applied three coats of grout sealer to my new tile countertop and now I am declaring victory. After more than two years, my kitchen remodel is complete.

Oh sure, there are drawers to organize and a few spots where I need to caulk or paint, but the last big piece -- the counter around the stove -- is finished. (I only was using sheets of plywood for that counter for more than a year.)






And here's a photo from two years ago.

101 posts

whooooooooh! i just want to say that this is the one hundred and oneth post. jusk like dalmations. but we dont have black spots. which would be nice, but nothing is perfect.
hoorah!
grace

Sean's Graduation, Laguna Beach, and the Lazy Organic Gardener

Last week, Sean graduated from Cal. Hard to believe. Here's a Flickr slide show of the graduation.



Nanette and I and Sean and his mom went out to dinner afterwards, then Nanette and I drove, with her parents to Laguna Beach.

Here are some photos from that trip. Many of them are from a hike I took in the canyons above the town.

Finally, here's a link to my Lazy Organic Gardener blog in Climate Crossroads, the Sierra Club's embryonic online communty. It's been tough being lazy lately, what with all the planting to do and the drip irrigation to set up, but I think I can relax a bit now and let the plants grow.

Test post for embedded audio files

The Cleanest Neighbor in the World
We spy on Ana Romero's neighbor, who never stops sweeping



King Plaza
Angela Griden provides a tour of Martin Luther King Plaza on the West Side.



Quidditch in Marquette Park
A full game of Harry Potter Quidditch, Chicago style, by Kathryn Kaye.



Whiz Kids Learning Center
Lamar Smith wants you to hear the laughter on 67th and California.



Environmental Justice
Come inside the Little Village Environmental Justice Center and see youth in action, by Xochitl Sandoval.

A Spring Evening in the Garden

I'm writing a weekly blog call the "Lazy Organic Gardener" -- for a new Sierra Club online community called Climate Crossroads.




I think I have a readership of two right now, so if two family members go and read my posts, you can help me double my audience. And sign in and post a comment.

I've promised myself to write a new post every week.

Sarasota, FL: Spring Break Destination

Freddy and I had 4 crazy girls come to visit us for spring break. Carolyn and her three friends (Brenda, Steph, and Courtney) drove through the night last Friday/Saturday from Urbana to Sarasota and still managed to arrive full of energy. On Sunday I took the girls to Siesta Key Beach, where there is a drum circle at sunset every week. The girls joined in the festivities by dancing in the middle of the circle, and we came home ready to eat. Carolyn took charge in kitchen, with Brenda as her sous chef. Here are a few pictures of a wonderful meal with very entertaining company.

Degreased bean skin knots ("yuba guitars")

We had nothing to eat. And we were tired. And it was cold outside and we didn't feel like going out. But it was only five p.m. on a Friday and soup sounded better than delivery Thai food, so I decided to see what I could put together.

Okay, we did have food. Five old potatoes with sprouts, two onions, two carrots, half a green pepper, six small colored peppers and three hot finger peppers. If you cut all that up and saute it for 10 minutes, add a box of vegetable broth and two more of water, simmer for 20 minutes, then chop and add a couple of zucchini, you've got yourself some pretty fine soup.

What about some protein? Rummage in the cabinet and find . . . degreased bean skin knots! Also known as yuba guitars, of course. Throw a handful of them in about five minutes before serving, and add the last of the cilantro, now that's soup. Served with frozen alu paratha (indian potato bread), a fine Friday evening meal.

Joining Obama's Day of Service

Apologies to those who are suffering through frigid temperatures in the Midwest, but the Martin Luther King Day of Service event I participated in yesterday in Richmond, California, with Nanette and her kids Lee and Elena, could not have been in a more idyllic setting. The skies were achingly blue, the sun warm and shimmering on the bay, the backdrop of the Bay Bridge and the San Francisco skyline spectacular, and the several hundred volunteers who picked up trash, chopped down clumps of invasive fennel and pampas grass, and planted native seedlings all in high spirits.

"Our new president asked us to serve," said Nanette, "and here we are!"

That's Elena and Lee with me below.

Feeding the spirit.

I’m been feeling rather agitated lately because of certain interactions that have not been going to my liking. If you know me you know what I’m talking about, if you don’t know me, it doesn’t matter. What’s important is I have friends that feed my spirit. Look at the box I found on my desk today, delivered by the U.S. Postal Service.

How fun does this look! I couldn’t wait to look inside where I found many sweet things, Pocky sticks, chocolate “sardines” from France, a dark chocolate bar with cherries and almonds, Lindor candies, Ritter minis, and a bag of Quadratini bite-size cookies from Italy. And there was a card with touching messages from both friends.
Yum! Thank you, thank you, DeDee and Erin!

DeDee, Erin and I were part of a team that worked closely together last year. Chocolate was our drug of choice to ward off bad days. They understood the frustration and anger I’ve been feeling as only someone who has been in the same situation can. Seeing the box on my desk decorated with Erin’s art, DeDee’s science song and some of our inside jokes helped me feel less alone with my frustration.

My spirit is lifted.

Bread details

I could not post a picture in the comments section, so I will just compose a new post. The bread does indeed have a very Italian taste. It is very similar to the hearty Turano loaves. The taste largely comes from the starter dough, which for Italian bread is called a "biga". This started in a very wet version of the dough that rests from anywhere from 6-24 hours at 70 degrees. The temperature of the dough has everything to do with the taste, at different temperatures, different types of byproducts are created by the yeast which is what imparts distinct flavors to the bread. The amount of air in the loaf comes from 2 things. The higher water content of this dough (78% hydration) results in a chewier, more air filled crumb. Also, there are about 5 rises in the process, where the dough is stretch and folded gently to maintain as much air as possible. The final rise takes place in a rising banneton (for me is a colander) lined with a floured cloth. It essentially becomes a big bubble that you have to be very careful not to pop. The crisp crust is created by high wet heat made possible by a pan of ice cubes below the stone. The picture here is the second load which I rushed for the sake of sleep, so it isn't very "airy". To do it properly, it takes about 10 hours, minimum.

The Bread Bible

Freddy and I received The Bread Bible, by Rose Levy Beranbaum, for Christmas from Mom and Dad. Freddy has been making homemade bread for a while now (as blog readers may remember, he made Cuban/French bread for Thanksgiving) but he now admits that he knew nothing before reading The Bread Bible. "I've always wondered," he said, "how breads can contain the exact same ingredients but taste so different. Now I know, its all in the fermentation process!"

The first recipe he decided to try is pictured on the cover of the book, and is an Italian bread from the region of Puglia, which was the home of Great Grandpa Lepore.

Below are some pictures of the baking process. And as you can see, Freddy's loaf perfectly resembles the one on the cover.