Thursday, February 10, 2011
More Eagle Shots
The other day I went down to Edmond's Beach because it was a very windy day and I wanted to see if I could get some cool shots of the waves. When I got down there I spotted an Eagle, but he was already far off and flying further away (and I only had my 50mm lens, no zooming in for me). After a little while I started walking home when I looked straight up and saw it. He flew over toward the south side of the ferry, and I so I followed him. He landed on a post out in the water and I got a few pictures, but he was just a little speck (50mm isn't very close). So I walked to the fishing pier to see if I could be closer there, then he flew within a 100 feet of me. Pretty awesome. Still wish I had the 70-200, these are cropped so he appears closer than the full image. But if I had the 70-200, I could have made him fill the frame almost. That would have been sweet. You should be able to click the photos to view larger.
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Chicken Parmesan
Chicken Parmesan Recipe
So I followed the above recipe and here are the pictures of my process.
All Cooked:
I will post a picture of the finished product before I eat it for dinner tonight. It cooks on low for 6-8 hours depending on if the meat was frozen when you put it in.
I have to admit that I had misunderstood the uses of a Slow-cooker (crock-pot). I thought the meat always needed to be covered in some liquid (soups or marinade). My first really good meal in one was pork chops, I filled the pot up with pork layered with bacon strips, then I filled it up with Bar-b-que sauce. Its good, but it really just is pulled pork style. I want to try a roast soon that isn't covered and see if it can be a little more roast like and less pulled-pork style.
Also I posted a picture of the yogurt at the bottom of the yogurt post, so check out how it turned out.
Edit: It didn't turn out as good as I was hoping. Its just like pulled chicken. I think it needs to cook faster so the bread crumbs can solidify. As it was they got soaked in juice and just weren't very good.I think this dish is better in the oven.
So I followed the above recipe and here are the pictures of my process.
All Cooked:
--2-4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
--1/2 cup bread crumbs
--1/4 cup parmesan cheese
--1/2 t Italian Seasoning
--1/4 t black pepper
--1/4 t kosher salt
--1 T olive oil (to spread out in crock-pot before putting anything in the pot)
--1 beaten egg
--sliced mozzarella cheese
--favorite jarred marinara sauce
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| Chicken goes in the egg |
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| Then into the bread mixture |
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| Then into the crockpot |
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| Then some Mozzarella Cheese |
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| Deb made the marinara sauce last night (or you could use store bought) |
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| Pour it on and let it cook |
I will post a picture of the finished product before I eat it for dinner tonight. It cooks on low for 6-8 hours depending on if the meat was frozen when you put it in.
I have to admit that I had misunderstood the uses of a Slow-cooker (crock-pot). I thought the meat always needed to be covered in some liquid (soups or marinade). My first really good meal in one was pork chops, I filled the pot up with pork layered with bacon strips, then I filled it up with Bar-b-que sauce. Its good, but it really just is pulled pork style. I want to try a roast soon that isn't covered and see if it can be a little more roast like and less pulled-pork style.
Also I posted a picture of the yogurt at the bottom of the yogurt post, so check out how it turned out.
Edit: It didn't turn out as good as I was hoping. Its just like pulled chicken. I think it needs to cook faster so the bread crumbs can solidify. As it was they got soaked in juice and just weren't very good.I think this dish is better in the oven.
Monday, February 7, 2011
Homemade Yogurt
I have been wanting to try to make homemade yogurt for a little while. But it always looked too time consuming. Until I found this website. This lady (who appears to have been on Rachel Ray), has made a blog where for 365 days she cooked in a crockpot and that is it.
The yogurt recipe is on the page for that link, and I more or less followed it. Instead of whole milk though, we used non-fat milk, since that is what we normally drink. Because we used non-fat milk, we added some gelatin to it to help it firm up a little.
So we heated up on low (in the crock pot) a half gallon of milk. After 2.5 hours we took it off the heat and let it cool. (Apparently pasteurized milk is kinda weird, the cook it before it goes to the store to kill all the bacteria, but they kill both the good and the bad, so you have to heat it up again to make sure there aren't any bad bacteria in the milk since there is no longer any good bacteria to cancel it out. I also wonder if this step removes some of the health benefits of the milk (vitamin D, etc).
After letting it cool for another 2.5 hours we pulled out 2 C of the milk and mixed it with a half cup of plain yogurt (we picked Mountain Dairy because it had 4 different bacteria in it rather than 3 or 2 like the other brands, in the organic section there are some that have up to 7 different types of bacteria). After mixing in the yogurt we dumped the mixture back into the milk. I added a touch of sugar and the gelatin and mixed well (so I thought).
Then we wrapped the Crockpot in Towels to keep it warm and let it sit for 8 hours (so the bacteria can germinate). Then we moved it to the fridge to cool.
This morning I was so excited to try it, and it turned out ok. The gelatin was clearly not mixed in all the way, because the bottom of the pot was extra heavy on the gelatin, the top of the yogurt looked pretty good, the middle was a little runny, not quite as firm as I was hoping. I mixed in some kiwi and banana and a touch of sugar and ate it. It was good. I need to figure out how best to sweeten it (since I have kind of a sweet tooth) and how to get it to firm up a bit more next time. But overall, I'm quite happy with the way it turned out.
Tomorrow we are going to try the Chick parmesan recipe on the blog. Looking forward to that.
The yogurt recipe is on the page for that link, and I more or less followed it. Instead of whole milk though, we used non-fat milk, since that is what we normally drink. Because we used non-fat milk, we added some gelatin to it to help it firm up a little.
So we heated up on low (in the crock pot) a half gallon of milk. After 2.5 hours we took it off the heat and let it cool. (Apparently pasteurized milk is kinda weird, the cook it before it goes to the store to kill all the bacteria, but they kill both the good and the bad, so you have to heat it up again to make sure there aren't any bad bacteria in the milk since there is no longer any good bacteria to cancel it out. I also wonder if this step removes some of the health benefits of the milk (vitamin D, etc).
After letting it cool for another 2.5 hours we pulled out 2 C of the milk and mixed it with a half cup of plain yogurt (we picked Mountain Dairy because it had 4 different bacteria in it rather than 3 or 2 like the other brands, in the organic section there are some that have up to 7 different types of bacteria). After mixing in the yogurt we dumped the mixture back into the milk. I added a touch of sugar and the gelatin and mixed well (so I thought).
Then we wrapped the Crockpot in Towels to keep it warm and let it sit for 8 hours (so the bacteria can germinate). Then we moved it to the fridge to cool.
This morning I was so excited to try it, and it turned out ok. The gelatin was clearly not mixed in all the way, because the bottom of the pot was extra heavy on the gelatin, the top of the yogurt looked pretty good, the middle was a little runny, not quite as firm as I was hoping. I mixed in some kiwi and banana and a touch of sugar and ate it. It was good. I need to figure out how best to sweeten it (since I have kind of a sweet tooth) and how to get it to firm up a bit more next time. But overall, I'm quite happy with the way it turned out.
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| Not a very good picture, but you get the idea |
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Sunset Pictures
This first picture I really like, it looks like the little mountain is erupting. The other ones are pretty good too. Hope you have a great weekend.
Su
Friday, February 4, 2011
Random new links
First we have this one from a friend that has moved away. http://www.dickstaub.com/culturewatch.php?record_id=1266 Its about slowing down and learning to enjoy life. It's really well written and I think it is important to pause and have good reflection time.
The second one is something entirely different. It feels odd posting it with the above link, but tough. The Simple trick that makes millionaires. Great article on how just doing a little bit of work on investing and saving money can pay off big. That you can't get wealthy by spending money (it may look like it on the outside, but inside its just debt).
That being said, also read an article about happy families, and that the key to being happy is to have good solid relationships. To work on them and to keep them sharp.
The second one is something entirely different. It feels odd posting it with the above link, but tough. The Simple trick that makes millionaires. Great article on how just doing a little bit of work on investing and saving money can pay off big. That you can't get wealthy by spending money (it may look like it on the outside, but inside its just debt).
That being said, also read an article about happy families, and that the key to being happy is to have good solid relationships. To work on them and to keep them sharp.
Macro Lens
Found this bug the other day at work while I was looking for bugs with the kids. First real shot at macro. Think it turned out ok, could have gotten a little bit closer. I probably could have cropped him a little bit closer too, both are good crisp images if zoomed in on them.
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Love under Siege
http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/2011-01-25-editorial25_ST_N.htm
http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/forum/2011-01-26-column26_ST1_N.htm
Love is under siege by love.
Recently read both these articles on education reform. The first one I found the most shocking, with their argument that because 41% of kids are born out of wedlock, there is a big problem and it starts in the home. It is a well written article that I think really shows the problem. Child rearing isn't easy when there are 2 parents in the home, and it is only more difficult when there is only one. You can't expect the education system to be able to replace good parenting.
The problem is that here in America we are rapidly loosing our ability to Love. We have tried to replace it with love and we search everywhere for it. We have replaced Love the Verb, with love the feeling. Love is not simply some feeling we chase, it is an action, it is a way of life. We can capture love for a little bit and then it seems to fade. We hope the next time we find love that it will be different, but we are only fooling ourselves. It will always be the same, because Love isn't about what the other person can and should do for me (an entitlement) it is about what I can do for them and about what we can become. We have failed to grasp the difference between the two forms of love, and we think that because we can't have love we are unable to Love. When in fact it is the other way around, we can only find love if we are Lovers. Practicing true life changing, life sacrificing, Love. How will the next generation be able to learn how to Love if all we can teach them about is love? It's amazing that if I do something out of Love for another person, I will (99% of the time) feel more love toward them (now if I do it for love, I often won't feel more love). It is in the act of learning to surrender my will for someone else's that I will be able to experience love. If we can't find it is us to Love a spouse, how are we going to find it in us to Love a child?
This is also about commitment. When kids are born and the parents don't stay together, one doesn't even keep in touch, what does that teach the kids about commitment, responsibility or so many other virtues? It teaches them that its okay to run when the going gets tough, someone else will take care of the 'mistakes.' We will end up with a bunch of kids that quit when something gets tough, they won't know how to stick it out, how to make it better, how to enjoy a hard job well done. We set them up to fail in everything that they do.
We need to get back to learning how to keep commitments even when its hard, get back to Loving those that are around us and when that happens schools will improve.
Love means knowing when to say no and when to say yes to the child depending on what is best (in the long term normally) for the child. Too often I see parents teach their kids that if they complain they will get their way, and that is not Love.
Without this issue being address the education system will not be able to improve, no matter how much money gets thrown at it. Love is not a problem that money can fix. It is a choice that each of us make every minute of every day. Is this going to be a minute that I Love or is this going to be a minute that I choose my way?
The Second article isn't quite as good, but makes some good points. The biggest point is that any reform of the education system that is "safe" isn't going to do much. What we need is a radical change in how we educate our students.
My mom works at a local elementary school and in Kindergarten they have to teach most of the kids the alphabet, how to write their name and (I have many three year-olds in my daycare that can both of those) many other basics that should be required to get into school. I'm convinced that a portion of the troubled kids just get board. This is because the schools teach to the lowest common denominator, instead of being able to challenge students to learn, they have to teach to a lower level so that some kids don't feel stupid. Instead of treating the kids like sheep, we need to be able to teach them at their level. Its a hard balance to walk, we had a kid come to our daycare one summer, third grade, and couldn't read (completely unacceptable). He continued to get pushed to the next grade without this basic skill, and he will continue to fall further and further behind because he can't read.
Reform has to start in the home as mentioned above, but then we need to focus on getting the students the skills they need. Forget grade numbers, students should be in groups where they are able to be challenged at their own level in each subject. Some kids are going to excel in math, then challenge them to excel even more, and some kids will struggle with it. So then we need to find ways to challenge them to (1) want to succeed (half the battle normally) and (2) work with them at their level so that they can catch up. In every subject I think this is the way it should be. You still spend the same amount of time on each subject as you normally would (so they don't get too lopsided), but they get to be challenged in every subject throughout the day.
We have a lot of work to do in reforming the education system to be able to catch the rest of the world in education, and we need people that will be willing to take risks to make the system better.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/forum/2011-01-26-column26_ST1_N.htm
Love is under siege by love.
Recently read both these articles on education reform. The first one I found the most shocking, with their argument that because 41% of kids are born out of wedlock, there is a big problem and it starts in the home. It is a well written article that I think really shows the problem. Child rearing isn't easy when there are 2 parents in the home, and it is only more difficult when there is only one. You can't expect the education system to be able to replace good parenting.
The problem is that here in America we are rapidly loosing our ability to Love. We have tried to replace it with love and we search everywhere for it. We have replaced Love the Verb, with love the feeling. Love is not simply some feeling we chase, it is an action, it is a way of life. We can capture love for a little bit and then it seems to fade. We hope the next time we find love that it will be different, but we are only fooling ourselves. It will always be the same, because Love isn't about what the other person can and should do for me (an entitlement) it is about what I can do for them and about what we can become. We have failed to grasp the difference between the two forms of love, and we think that because we can't have love we are unable to Love. When in fact it is the other way around, we can only find love if we are Lovers. Practicing true life changing, life sacrificing, Love. How will the next generation be able to learn how to Love if all we can teach them about is love? It's amazing that if I do something out of Love for another person, I will (99% of the time) feel more love toward them (now if I do it for love, I often won't feel more love). It is in the act of learning to surrender my will for someone else's that I will be able to experience love. If we can't find it is us to Love a spouse, how are we going to find it in us to Love a child?
This is also about commitment. When kids are born and the parents don't stay together, one doesn't even keep in touch, what does that teach the kids about commitment, responsibility or so many other virtues? It teaches them that its okay to run when the going gets tough, someone else will take care of the 'mistakes.' We will end up with a bunch of kids that quit when something gets tough, they won't know how to stick it out, how to make it better, how to enjoy a hard job well done. We set them up to fail in everything that they do.
We need to get back to learning how to keep commitments even when its hard, get back to Loving those that are around us and when that happens schools will improve.
Love means knowing when to say no and when to say yes to the child depending on what is best (in the long term normally) for the child. Too often I see parents teach their kids that if they complain they will get their way, and that is not Love.
Without this issue being address the education system will not be able to improve, no matter how much money gets thrown at it. Love is not a problem that money can fix. It is a choice that each of us make every minute of every day. Is this going to be a minute that I Love or is this going to be a minute that I choose my way?
The Second article isn't quite as good, but makes some good points. The biggest point is that any reform of the education system that is "safe" isn't going to do much. What we need is a radical change in how we educate our students.
My mom works at a local elementary school and in Kindergarten they have to teach most of the kids the alphabet, how to write their name and (I have many three year-olds in my daycare that can both of those) many other basics that should be required to get into school. I'm convinced that a portion of the troubled kids just get board. This is because the schools teach to the lowest common denominator, instead of being able to challenge students to learn, they have to teach to a lower level so that some kids don't feel stupid. Instead of treating the kids like sheep, we need to be able to teach them at their level. Its a hard balance to walk, we had a kid come to our daycare one summer, third grade, and couldn't read (completely unacceptable). He continued to get pushed to the next grade without this basic skill, and he will continue to fall further and further behind because he can't read.
Reform has to start in the home as mentioned above, but then we need to focus on getting the students the skills they need. Forget grade numbers, students should be in groups where they are able to be challenged at their own level in each subject. Some kids are going to excel in math, then challenge them to excel even more, and some kids will struggle with it. So then we need to find ways to challenge them to (1) want to succeed (half the battle normally) and (2) work with them at their level so that they can catch up. In every subject I think this is the way it should be. You still spend the same amount of time on each subject as you normally would (so they don't get too lopsided), but they get to be challenged in every subject throughout the day.
We have a lot of work to do in reforming the education system to be able to catch the rest of the world in education, and we need people that will be willing to take risks to make the system better.
Eagle
On Tuesday I went down to the beach to see the sunrise and while I was taking pictures an eagle flew right over my head, I quickly tried to take some pictures of it, but I was on manual settings for the sunrise, and forgot to change/couldn't change them in time to get some of the eagle. However, I went back down to the beach for the sunset that night and while I was getting ready I saw him sitting in a tree a ways away.
After I saw him I went quickly to get as close as I could. After a while of being patient and taking some sunset pictures he took off and flew out over the water. I wish I would have had a bigger zoom lens, these were all taken at 100mm. They are okay, I just wish I could have gotten closer.
After I saw him I went quickly to get as close as I could. After a while of being patient and taking some sunset pictures he took off and flew out over the water. I wish I would have had a bigger zoom lens, these were all taken at 100mm. They are okay, I just wish I could have gotten closer.
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Heather Lake Hike Pt. 6 Proof I made it
Here is the proof that I made the hike all the way to the top. Or atleast that I could do such a good job photoshoping myself in, that it looks like I was there.
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Heather Lake Hike Pt. 5 Doughnuts
I didn't know that doughnuts grew on trees. I would have gotten a doughnut tree a long time ago.
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