Marinara Sauce

Ever since we came back from Italy in July, my daughter and I have been craving for spaghetti with marinara sauce. I just can't seem to copy the same flavor or texture of the sauce in Italy. It must be the type of tomatoes they use over there. I looked all over town and couldn't find any imported cans of tomatoes for sale; Trader Joe's does not have it either.

At the end of the meal in Italy, after finishing all the spaghetti, there is always lots of olive oil and sauce left over at the bottom of the plate. I have tried really hard to reproduce the same. Well, here is my version 1.1 today (version 1.0 was 2 weeks ago and it didn't turn out too good):

2 cans of Hunts peeled tomato each 14.5 oz.
4-5 cloves of garlic
1/4 to 1/3 cup of olive oil
1/2 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp dried oregano
salt, pepper
1 tsp sugar

1. Chop up the garlic into little pieces. My kids like the taste of garlic but do not want to bite into a big piece.
2. Slightly brown the garlic in the olive oil over medium heat. In my version 1.0 of the sauce, I over cooked the garlic and it was slightly burnt and it had a funny smell, so don't over cook here.
3. Add the canned tomatoes
4. Add the basil. My fresh basil leaves left over from version 1.0 were kind of welted and I had to use the dried up ones today. (I used a "rounded" 1/2 tsp) The dried up ones turned out ok and it is easier to keep around.
5. Add the oregano. (I used a "rounded" 1/2 tsp)
6. Add some salt (I did two pinches today and it turned out ok) and some pepper.
7. Add the sugar (the tomatoes in Italy tasted sweet, my wife suggested it)
8. I added a little water (1/3 cup) today so the final sauce would not be too sticky.
9. Bring it to a boil and then simmer for 40-60 minutes over low heat. Stir and mash up the tomatoes as it simmers.
10. 1 lb. of spaghetti should be ok for my family of 4. I cooked too much today.
11. One trick I did today was to scoop up the olive oil on top of the sauce pan and add it to each plate first and coat the freshly cooked spaghetti, and then add the sauce later. This way each person would get similar amount of olive oil.

Feedback:

1. The taste was good, almost there.
2. Too little sauce (use 3 cans next time?)
3. Not enough olive oil left over at the bottom of the plate (use 1/2 cup of olive oil next time?)
4. They like the angel hair better than the thin or regular spaghetti
5. not much protein with this meal though
6. need to remember to get some bread

Overall I am happy with the version 1.1. It is getting close to the real thing. Oh, I need to buy the olive oil/ vinegar dispenser thingy. The one that has both oil and vinegar in one glass holder one inside the other.

Sandwich

parents are getting old
sad to see them change so quickly
not much i can do

sad
don't like being in the sandwich

cried by myself today

Edmund H. Sonnenblick, a Pioneer in Treatments for Heart Failure, Dies at 74 - New York Times

Edmund H. Sonnenblick, a Pioneer in Treatments for Heart Failure, Dies at 74 - New York Times

:(

Heimlich

Did my first real life Heimlich yesterday.

Man, I thought she was going to die and it happened so quick. At first I thought she was just waving at me, then I saw her face turning a dark shade of purple.

I am still kind of in shock.

Stir-Fry Nian Gao

Hey don't laugh, I'm not good at writing down recipes.

version 1.0 - 9/4/2007, my first try was not bad. It was a little salty and the Nian Gao could have been cooked a little longer and softer.

version 1.1- 9/5/07, modified by adding some more water to the final step, and took out extra added salt or soy sauce at the end

version 1.2- 9/10/07, pre-soaking the Nian Gao made them softer, increased the chicken to 3 pieces, and re-added the soy sauce at the end, just a little.

version 1.21- 9/18/07, added Chinese cabbage after taking the chickens out. Tried using 1 1/2 bag of the Nian Gao

Procedure:

• buy the Nian Gao that comes frozen or refrigerated and in a vacuum bag
• 1 bag can serve about 3 people. Use 1 1/2 bag to serve 4 with some left overs
• thaw the Nian Gao in cold water, make sure you kind of wash them a little because I found some hard brown stuff stuck to some. The thawing takes around 15 min
• pre-soak them in cold water for 1 to 2 hours
• defrost 3-4 pieces of frozen chicken thigh, microwave on auto defrost setting 3, turn, then auto defrost setting 3 again
• the chicken is still half frozen and easier to cut
• cut up 1 or 2 "stick(s)" of scallion or green onion into small pieces... *ok, there must be an official word for a "stick" of green onion*
• cut the chicken into small strips and marinate in soy sauce
• put some oil in the pan and stir-fry the green onion for a while, then add the chicken, cook until done
• take the chicken out and set aside but leave the juices
• add some Chinese cabbage now- cut them into thin slices
• add the Nian Gao into the pan and stir-fry a while
• add one can of chicken broth
• add another cup of water
• add a little more soy sauce if needed
• cook until the Nian Gao is soft and most of the liquid is gone
• add the chicken back into the pan and cook together for a short time

This is not an official Shanghai Stir-Fry Nian Gao recipe. It is just my version that can be cooked and ready to eat in 90 min. I like my Nian Gao soft since I don't like to chew.

I'm trying this again next week. Wish me luck.

My Ubuntu Box is Working!!

Well, thanks to HP, I now have Ubuntu working nicely with Skype. I was recently tortured mentally by the incompetent HP Tech Support in India for hours on the phone. My bad experience with HP gave me enough motivation to get the Linux box working with Skype.

My blog about my HP encounters are here, and here. I am so glad that the nightmare with HP is over. I promised myself that I will never buy another HP computer system again.

The problem with using the mic for Sound Recorder on Ubuntu is still not solved, however, the mic is working with Skype and that is what I needed anyway. The trick is to select the actual sound card device under options in Skype and not allow Skype to use the "default device." I'll try to upload some screen capture in Linux in another blog.

Sunday Easter Egg: Google Earth's flight simulator | Webware : Cool Web apps for everyone

Note to self: need to try this someday. 

Sunday Easter Egg: Google Earth's flight simulator | Webware : Cool Web apps for everyone

I am sticking with Windows

Well, my Ubuntu box is running well. I am able to surf the web, write stuff on the word processor, etc. Almost everything most people use and do on the computer are already included with Ubuntu.

I do have one problem, that seems to affect many other users as well. My problem is getting the microphone to work, especially with Skype. I spent many hours today trying all different settings and reading hundreds of forum threads, used 5 different microphones, and concluded it is just not going to work.

My sound card is the Sound Blaster Live! Value from Gateway. This worked well under Windows. For now at least I am able to hear sound coming to the speaker, I just cannot record sound or use Skype.

I am not sure why people are so crazy about Ubuntu. Yes, it is free, but the way Linux works still involves a lot of command line debugging and compatibility is still a problem. I will probably leave Ubuntu on the system and play with it when I have some more time. For now, I am still sticking with Windows.

Disk Partition Setup in Ubuntu

I was messing around with an old Gateway PC this weekend cleaning out the kids' old computers and getting ready for school to start tomorrow. Instead of throwing away the PC's, I decided to install Ubuntu Linux on one of the systems. The latest version of Ubuntu is Feisty Fawn 7.04. The install is easy enough, download the CD image file and it pretty much runs by itself. The problem was trying to figure out what is the best way to partition the hard disk.

The old PC had Windows ME, which is probably the worst version of Windows around, so I decided to use the entire disk for Ubuntu and not install a dual boot partition. There are basically 3 ways to partition Ubuntu:

1. Use the entire disk for Linux in one big partition for all the programs and system files. A SWAP partition will also be added automatically. Total of 2 partitions will be created. This is one of the automatic options.
2. Use multiple partitions for speed and security in the future. The partitions can be /, /home, /temp, /var, etc.
3. The third way and probably middle of the road method is to create three partitions: /, /home, and SWAP. The root partition is the "/", which is used for all the system files. The /home partition is used for all user data, similar to My Document under Windows XP. This is the best way for future upgrades.

The following are a series of screen shots for doing the partitioning task manually. Sorry for the fuzzy pictures. I have no idea how to capture the screen during an install.

The above screen shows that I originally partitioned my hard drive using the automatic method and the installer made 2 partitions only. One is the ext3 partition for all the files and the other a SWAP partition. Here I am selecting to make a "New partition table."


Now all the old partitions are deleted and it showed the entire disk as free space.


By double clicking on the free space line, a new window opens to create a new partition. This is going to be my root or "/" partition. I am giving it a fairly large size of 10 GB. Note that I am using the ext3 format. Why 10 GB? Someone on the net recommended it. It will give me some room for future versions of Ubuntu.

After the ext3, 10 GB, partition is defined, I double click on it again to select "Mount Point." This is where I selected "/" for the root partition.

Now repeat the procedure for the next partition. Remember to leave some room for the SWAP partition. The recommended size for SWAP is at least the size of your ram to a max of 2 GB. I just planned to use 2 GB, and made my /home partition accordingly. Don't forget to select /home for the second partition. Use "SWAP" as the type for the third partition, which is around 2 GB in my example. Also note that once "SWAP" is selected, there is no option for "Mount Point."

Once the 3 partitions are created, rest of the install process is pretty simple.

I hope this will save someone a few minutes installing Ubuntu.

My Flickr Photos in a Mashup Photo Stack

The mashup projects are taking a little more time to load than I expected. I am unsure if this is due to the fact that I am getting photos to download or if the slow down is the norm for Microsoft Silverlight.

Whack A Mole with Regina Spektor

Click on the Green Screen to start. The hammer is a little small. Again, you will need Microsoft Sliverlight to see the project.

Regins Spektor Photo Carousel

This is a quick mashup project. You will need to install Microsoft Silverlight to see. Addendum: Mac users and Firefox users will not be able to see this. Apparently the carousel codes are not compatible with the Mac and FF.

Mitch Kapor: Virtual Worlds Are Like A Drug Experience -- InformationWeek

Mitch Kapor is the chairman of Linden Lab. He was quoted saying users of Second Life are bunch of crazy people. I think he is correct in his assessment. I am looking forward to become one of these crazy people.

Kapor, who is chairman of Linden Lab, which operates Second Life, said he realized the potential of Second Life at an in-world Suzanne Vega concert last year. Vega

"What's driving virtual worlds is a shared sense, by a few hundred thousand crazy people, that this is important, and they're going to drop everything and go after this," he said.

Mitch Kapor: Virtual Worlds Are Like A Drug Experience -- Virtual Worlds -- InformationWeek

FDA panel rejects Sanofi-Aventis' Acomplia drug - MarketWatch

Another potentially promising drug, rimonabant, bites the dust.

FDA panel rejects Sanofi-Aventis' Acomplia drug - MarketWatch

In a report prepared by the panel and published Wednesday, concerns were raised about the safety of Acomplia, particularly its effect on users' mental health. Sanofi-Aventis submitted data and analyses on Acomplia for the panel's review late last year.

"Adverse events" encountered during the testing of the drug included "depressive events, anxiety, psychomotor agitation, and sleep disorders," according to the panel's report.

The FDA's Division of Metabolism and Endocrine Products has received a number of "event" reports from Sanofi-Aventis related to Acomplia, the report said, including "4 reports of delusional symptoms, 6 reports of psychotic behavior (including a man who attempted to strangle his daughter), and 5 reports of aggression (including a man who beat his wife.)"

Rimonabant, the generic form of Acomplia, is approved in 37 countries and marketed in 18, according to Sanofi-Aventis.

Blog This for Firefox

Check out this add-on for Firefox and Microsoft Live Writer:

Windows Live Gallery

Description:

The Blog This for Firefox adds a button to Firefox which starts a new Windows Live Writer blog post prepopulated with content and title from the current web page. Blog the whole page, or just selected snippets. Interacts with other registered plugins to parse and structure web content where appropriate. Blog quickly when you find something of interest on the web.

I am trying to write this blog using some of the features of the add-on. Once the page is open, the Windows Live Gallery link was automatically added.

Instant Karma- June 12, 2007

I am just interested in one song...

Real Love

Oh but California

California I'm coming home
I'm going to see the folks I dig
I'll even kiss a Sunset pig
California I'm coming home.

Google Machine and Web 2.0

Lately I have been sucked up by the google machine. Ever since I got my gmail account I have been adding additional google services- blogger, google map, google reader, adSense, picasa, and a few google group subscriptions.

Yesterday, I even got enough courage together and downloaded Firefox. OK, it is not a google service but it goes along with my new trend in non-microsoft downloads.

My new Web 2.0 experiment is actually going pretty well. My desktop is filled with new icons that are changing my online experience.

Installation of Linux is probably going to be next for me or I may try to immerse my alter ego in second life. I am a little late to the party but the web is becoming interesting again for me.

Think Before You Post

Problem staying logged in on Blogspot

If you are having problem staying logged into Blogger under Windows XP and Internet Explorer and have to enter your email and password repeatedly, then go into Tools-> Internet Options-> Privacy-> Sites, and then add www.google.com to the managed websites list. It worked for me.