Cooking Crazy

I went wild cooking this weekend, which, as R will tell you, doesn't happen too often.

This came about from:

• My uncle visiting last weekend and buying us a slew of cool, new kitchen tools (his favorite past-time is cooking so this is our key bonding point
• Feeling fat. I just went to the doc and I'm at the heavier end of my fluctuating 10 pound weight spectrum...sure, roll your eyes, but I have to have a limit to what weight I'll tolerate before I let myself get to the point of no return. So now I'm at my limit and it's time to kick things back into gear.
• Discovering SmittenKitchen and 101 Cookbooks: Both are websites with new food ideas (for me, anyway) that are healthy and have great photos of their creations.
  

Recipes we made this weekend included:

• Huevos rancheros (SK): Now i know what to do with all those leftover corn tortillas when we buy them for one night of enchiladas. It's amazing how much the tortilla and a little mild cheddar will take the taste factor up a notch.


• Honey-toasted Fruit Muesli (101): Breakfast is set for the next week or two. R and I got hooked on the muesli/yogurt combo when we lived in Germany and in a way, muesli is muesli, but when it's homemade? You just can't beat that freshness.
  


• Orange Pan-glazed Tempeh (101): This is similar to another recipe we do over shredded cabbage except for the orange part and it's outstanding. We had some wheatberry salad with dried cranberries and shallots to use up and the citrus flavor went nicely with it. I thought it was going to be a bust because I got navel oranges, but when they boiled down, the juice got a lot sweeter. Can't wait to have this one again.


• Amazing Black Bean Brownies (101): I suspect they put the "amazing" part into its name to convince you it's not going to be sick, because who really wants black beans in their brownie? Well now I do! They're way more fudge-like than cake-like, have a heavy coffee taste, and not a hint of bean. I'm thrilled I can get my chocolate fix and not feel guilty because sugar is replaced with agave nectar as well. And btw, agave nectar is going to change my life.


• Miso Soup (101): This was insanely easy. It literally took all of 5 minutes (without soba noodles) to make and was better than your restaurant miso soups. I suspect I'll probably get sick of this one soon because I'll wind up making it as my new easy meal when I don't feel like cooking (i.e., most of the time).
  

Get My New Posts in Your Inbox

Now I KNOW that many of you who read Kellinahandbasket visit almost every day to see if I posted anything new. And thank you--it's really flattering.

Because I don't post every day, however, I want to make things easier for you. I have installed this handy dandy little subscription form on my sidebar that lets you enter your email, and when I post something new, it alerts you via email. In fact it not only alerts you but you can read the whole damn post in your inbox. It won't be as visually pleasing as the real website (and I'm not sure if images will show up correctly) but if that's the sort of thing that bothers you and you need the bells and whistles, the post link is also included in your message so that you can hop right over to the real deal. And P.S. it's starting to sound like a sales pitch but it's not. From the goodness of my warm, squishy heart, I'm just genuinely trying to make your life easier.

All this courtesy of Feedburner. (Again, just a geek reference point. Not a sales pitch.)

The truth is you really should learn about subscribing to RSS feeds because this is the type of thing that makes us seem really old to teenagers, but if you're resistant I'll provide you with this alternative before I shove an RSS tutorial down your throat.

More on that later.

Review of Jott

So there's this service called Jott that transcribes your voice into text for emails, text messages, reminders to yourself, or as you'll see, to post to your blog. You get 30 seconds to say what you want to say. Though I won't switch my method of blogging to talking into a cell phone and uploading its contents, anyone who knows me knows that I have animated voices for my stories. Therein lies the appeal of Jott for me. Every once in a while I've wished for the ability to put my voice and intonation into a post. And so...curious about the service and its accuracy I tried it out:

What Jott heard: (listen: press on the next page) This is take four on me trying Jott on Blogger, [language of Jott not supported] it would be interesting to see if Jott understands Spanish.

What I actually said: This is take four on me trying Jott on Blogger. Count it. Numero quattro. It will be interesting to see if Jott understands Spanish.

• Not bad. And upon listening to it again, I admittedly garbled my future tense. I wish it would at least ATTEMPT to spell out what it thinks it hears. Could be funny on a tipsy night to see your slurred words spelled out for you.

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What Jott heard: (listen) No body got the blogger connection to fell(?). I'm curious to see how Jott transcribe something like [language of Jott, not supported].

What I actually said: Now that I've got the blogger connection figured out I'm curious to see how Jott transcribes something like hulghhughhugh hughl hyill!

• Not great. And I understand that we have bad cell phone coverage to contend with so that might be an issue, but there's obviously no grammar check to sort of amend what it thinks it might have heard. I'm not opposed to the lack of a grammar check, though.

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What Jott heard: (listen) You know how crazy your Spansih(?). I found because I don't may be I'm a French person, who speak English but don't know I want to use this Jott like every book is.

What I actually said: Now I try zee euhh French accent because euh, I don't know, maybe I am a euh French person who euhhh speaks English, but euh you know, I want to use zeh Jott like everybody else. mmn?

• Now I'm just being a jerk to Jott. At this point I felt like a kid with a tape recorder.

............................
What Jott heard: (listen) This Jott is more a test to see how long it takes the Jott to post to the blog, because I'm sitting here waiting for my other one and getting kinda bored. Anyway, it is exactly 5:58 PM right now, and I guess we'll know it what kinda post when it shows at the blog.

What I actually said: This Jott is more of a test to see how long it takes the Jot to post to the blog because I'm sitting here waiting for my other ones and getting and uh getting kinda bored. Anyway it is exactly 5:58 PM right now, uum and I guess we'll know what time it posts when it shows up on the blog.

• This was probably the best test because I felt the most natural in this Jott and for the most part it transcribed pretty well. Blogger said that the message posted at 6:06 PM so we're looking at roughly an 8 minute lag time between recording the message and actual post time. I like that it catches "kinda."

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Okay so it's alright. To its credit it also had to contend with crappy cell phone coverage, but on a more practical level this could be ideal when you want to send a text while driving just because it's safer than looking at your keypad. It might not be accurate, but you'll get to live another day. I'll have to test the driving Jott out, though, to be sure.

Powered by Jott

I've Been Cheating on You

When I haven't been here, I've been writing posts for Garrett Photography (where I intern). Anyway I wrote a post yesterday that felt a little more Kellinahandbasket but sweet-i-fied for a different crowd. It feels unfair not to link to it so here's the round-up of all the posts you've missed out on:

• Online Weight Management
• Ramey & Gabe - This is the other part of my day. I color corrected these photos.
• Relevant Reads: What Shamu Taught Me About a Happy Marriage - Don't get too excited about that title. I'm just pointing people to an article.
• Kelly & Anthony
• Vendor Spotlight: Jenna @ The Museum of Photographic Arts (MOPA) - Cool to interview people around town. This post makes me aggravated with Wordpress since Jenna's picture is shoved up against the text. I spent a ridiculous amount of time trying to fix that. Wordpress - 1. Kell - 0.
• Board & Brew
• Alyssa & Blake - More color correction. And I'll take credit. I posted it even though it says Garrett did.
• WPPI 2008 Craziness - I didn't do anything with this post but these are the guys I work with...who ditched me for Vegas.
• Wedding Mapper
• Ramey & Gabe's Engagement Session - another color correction job.

Sometimes people get excited and think that I took those pictures and I didn't. That's the handiwork of Garrett and Jason who are pretty freakin' talented. I rough edit their stuff (meaning I go through the thousands of pictures from the event and start deleting the obvious throw-aways, and it's a hard job because they take such great pictures. It also helps that seemingly the most flawless specimens of the human race flock to them. Anway. I'm going to point you to my other posts in a more timely manner. Or not. I'm not good at making promises.

Add to Any

FINALLY. Easy code that incorporates all social bookmarking sites into 1 freaking button. You'll notice the new button at the bottom of this post--10 times better than the mish-mash of images that ended previous posts:



Thank you Add to Any.

Why is Add to Any better than Add This? Because if you don't see the service you use, a search bar at the top of the pop-up finds what you need, whereas Add This limits you to the services they choose to list.

Fellow blog geeks will appreciate that Add to Any also created code for a feed services button. See the subscription section at the bottom right of my sidebar for an example. And subscribe already. I'm not making money--just trying to make your life easier so you don't have to visit here every day!

Position: Blogger

So the latest, greatest element of my photography internship? Resident blogger for the studio. Ch-ch-ch-ch-ch- ccheck it out.

While I probably won't be writing every single post, I'll certainly have a heavy hand in the content. The lovely irony of writing on a wedding oriented blog? Having had a civil service, myself.

Twittering

Lots of people are seemingly thrown, maybe even annoyed, by this new "Twittering" thing that I've hooked up to my Facebook profile and blog.

The best explanation I've found is here (via Chris Glass). If you see friends on a regular basis, maybe it's pointless, but I really like it for all my out of town friends. I've recently decided to try it out, and thus far it's made me feel more connected with others who are in-the-know of Twitter.

To clarify: it's not an ego thing either - I certainly don't think my life is SO interesting that everyone should know my every last move. It's just for those who care about details. Because I'm a person who cares about details in others' lives, I do it hoping that you will too...because it does start to seem egotistical when you're the only one twittering with no one else to follow.

If it's still annoying you, well...sorry. Adjust your privacy/notification settings, I guess, on Facebook. For me, the convenience of its integration in all of the applications I use is great. This means I don't have to log into Blogger AND Facebook just to say the same thing. Plus it allows me to leave the computer to address those basic survival needs that have fallen by the wayside (like food) from endless weeks of surfing the net. Arguably the internet just invaded my life more, but at least I'm not isolating myself in the stale air of the house. I mean, I should be dead from having breathed up (?) all the oxygen in the house. (Thank you iPhone and now Twitter for getting me out in the sunshine).

I'll make a prediction: Twitter will be the next wave of communication technology. It appeals to those who won't/can't commit to writing a full-blown blog, and that's okay because we don't need a full-blown post on how you're late for work, BUT at least I know something about your stress level today. My best friends have always been the ones I've seen every day. So for pure scheduling reasons, I had/have great friends from grade school and high school. College wasn't the same because everyone's schedules varied so much, but my closest friends lived near by/with me. We didn't have the same classes, but we still saw each other every day and knew the kind of day we were all having. To be able to follow people through daily ups and downs means a lot. Grad school was a return to more of the routine schedule because I had lots of the same classes with lots of the same people. I LOVED that. Many close friends came from that. My point is while Twitter can't replace an actual meeting with friends, it helps. It's made goodbyes seem not so permanent.

*****
I've seen lots of Twitters lately in the pregnancy sphere: when friends have gone into labor, they've used twitter to easily update their status to all the family and friends that want to know what's going on so that they don't have to go through the chain of phone calls. It's been neat to get the excitement and info straight from the source.

Fantasy Stock Market

Hey! In the Fantasy Blog Stock Market, I'm #14 in the "Heidelberg Industry!" Jaaaaaaa!

Two New Additions

to the blogroll:

• fellow grad student and kindred spirit, Jen, explores issues in the writing and teaching of composition and rhetoric as she wraps up the final stages of her Ph.D. Of course, what Ph.D. wouldn't be complete without a little indulgence in the things that procrastinate/keep us sane in acheiving that goal? Therefore expect knitting projects sprinkled here and there amongst the entries of a brilliant and compassionate scholar in On Pens and Neeedles.
• fellow reader of Chris Glass' blog, Ted, saw Chris' entry on meeting me and was led to my blog, where he commented and related our commonalities. Cincinnati, Crocs, and San Diego among them. Mere days after returning from vacation, I run into this guy at the grocery store where we proceeded to talk long enough that I started to worry about my meats. Anyway Ted's Blog, The Gideonse Bible, both thoroughly entertains and informs on a consistent basis (as he works on his Ph.D. as well!). Jen, meet Ted. Ted, Jen.

Was in San Diego, Am in Cincinnati, Will Be in the Mediterranean

Nine months since I've been back to the 'nati and multiple people have reproduced to affirm this precise time frame. Having never seen these people pregnant, I think the babies are taking on this weird Brave New World/Gattaca feel to me. Or maybe because I just saw Gattaca.

Came back for a friend's wedding, which was a blast and high school reunion of sorts, but have gotten much much more:

What's up, Cincinnati? Desdemona Festival? Awesome. Had a taste on Friday with the Sundresses and Ghostface and am looking forward to the Fiery Furnaces, Heartless Bastards, and Walkmen tonight. A scant crowd on Friday didn't seem to bode well for the festival's livelihood in the future, but it's an event worth continuing.

When you read his blog (June 24, 2006 "Desdemona Festival") our story will seem so circular, but in that scant crowd a guy walked by wearing brown Crocs, which caught my attention for several reasons: 1) I own Crocs too, 2) No one seems to have them in Cincinnati, compared to San Diego, and 3) I've recently been struck by how great the brown ones actually look--I had my doubts. So the brown factor had me eyeing his feet to the stage and when I looked up, it was Chris Glass. As in, the guy whose web log I link to in my sidebar because I think it's so darn great, even if it didn't cover my hometown. And because I don't know him, he's something of a celebrity to me, yet he wanted to take my picture?! (Check out his photos, people. This is his forte) Chris is every bit as cool and friendly and beardy as his site would have you think and certainly my odd highlight of the evening. I mean, I was able to ask this guy whom I'd never met how his weekend in NYC was...heh. The web.

Formal Complaint

Scuddie wrote:

I want to formally complain about your lack of blog. I mean, what the fuck? Your partner (howdy!) has one, but he doesn't update it. Shame on the two of you! Shame!

Re: Formal Complaint

Dear Ms. Scuddie,

We here at Kell & Ryan INC. value our customers' feedback. In response to your letter dated December 27, 2004, concerning a lack of blog and our partner's negligence in updating his blog, we'd like to offer our sincere apologies and a little history to help you better understand our situation.

While blogs have been a revolutionary technology that Kell INC. had had her eye on for quite some time, she opted, instead, for a more base tradition of writing in notebooks and outsourced the blog work to Ryan INC. Since Ryan INC. and Kell INC. joined forces in October 2004 to form Kell & Ryan INC. there has been a decline in production as we assimilate our space at our new office in Heidelberg, Germany. Lack of the internet, altogether, proved to be one road block along with a lack of kitchen which, in turn, created a lack of food. Lack of a number of other personal possessions forced us to concentrate on meeting more basic needs for some time. We're delighted to inform you, however, that our basic needs have now been met, and we have the means to address your concerns. Our unemployed and unintentional housewife status, which we prefer to call "domestic personality," however, has also left us often times with a lack of words.

The start of the New Year has motivated us to address this issue. Take this blog as an example of how we take your concerns seriously, you valued customer, you. We can also assure you that we have already met and negotiated with our partner regarding his blog which he has vowed to revisit in the upcoming days.

With best regards and most shamefully,
Kell
Kell & Ryan INC.
http://www.heute-abend.blogspot.com