February 2015 – Page 2 – branching out… on a limb

New Menu Monday- Potato Tacos!

I disagree with The Mom-in-Law, I think shredded beef tacos are the ultimate taco goodness. She prefers ground beef. Gotta admit, her ground beef tacos are the best I’ve ever had. Her secret? Simmer the ground beef for a while in a little water after browning with onions and garlic. This turns the beef into a tender, flavorful taco stuffing that is far from any fast food ground beef taco.

But, I like my shredded beef tacos better, and they are quicker. My trick is using leftover roast beef- my roast is more of a tender, falling apart braise than a rare, prime rib style roast beef. It is pretty much shredded when done… that’s how to tell it is done. Does it shred into tender pieces? Yes? Then take it out. A 3lb. chuck roast takes about 3 hours in the oven at 275-300 degrees (here’s a beautiful tip- a frozen roast at 275 degrees and 4.5 hours later it’s happy dinner time).

But, I gave up meat for Lent. So. How about copying our favorite Mexican joint’s potato tacos? We LOVE the So. Cal restaurant El Ranchito… I’ve never had better refried beans. We discovered the potato tacos last year and I loved them, too. Tonight I made a big batch of what we call Camp Potatoes (sliced potatoes fried in butter and oil with sliced onions, garlic, salt and pepper), and fried up a mess of corn tortillas. Cast iron pans are the best, aren’t they? The Husband stuffed them, we cheesed them and after about 15 minutes in the oven, we had a great dinner. We are soooooo making these again.

Onions up, potatoes in the line up... — Onions up, potatoes on deck…

Onions and potatoes frying... Yum. — Onions and potatoes frying… Yum.

Time to stuff the torts. — Time to stuff the torts- potatoes and shredded cheddar.

Tortillas in the oil, onions and potatoes almost finished. — Tortillas in the oil, potatoes almost finished.

Peñasquitos Preserve, Waterfall to the West End

I have hiked in the Los Peñasquitos Canyon Preserve, but always approaching from the east and hiking to the waterfall. By “hike,” I mean easy walk. I knew that the preserve trails continued all the way into Sorrento Vally, just east of the 5 and 805 freeways… by the way, you know how to peg a Native Californian? By how they refer to all highways and freeways as “The + Number,” no matter where they live. My Indiana friends always thought I was nuts to say “The 465,” or “Remember that 4th of July weekend when Bryan’s accident shut down The 65 North to Chicago?” If you would like an easy, but long-ish hike, I recommend this walk. And it was a beautiful day for this beautiful walk.

Looking north, towards Del Mar and Rancho Penasquitos

These two photos are taken from the same spot, I just turned 180 degrees. The south slopes of the canyon received more rain this winter, maybe?

One of the sages that grows in California. Smells soooo good!

This is one of the native sages that grows in California. I mentioned the chaparral in this earlier post- Two Mile Monkey is Off My Back.

Purple Nightshade... don't eat it. — Purple Nightshade… don’t eat it.

Wildflowers, trees and scrub were blooming everywhere thanks to the earlier rains. We passed bunches of Purple Nightshade and Blue-Eyed Grass… fortunately, we didn’t cross paths with any rattlesnakes.

The Headache-Preventing Nice Guy Award goes to.... — The Headache-Preventing Nice Guy Award goes to….

And all of these photos? Taken with my iPhone 5s. Because when I went to take the first picture of the waterfall, with my Christmas Nikon D3300… that’s when I figured out that the battery was dead. Duh. But what a nice guy is The Husband? He carried the dead weight the whole three hours so I didn’t get a headache from having it hang around my neck. What a guy!

View of Sycamore Crossing, looking west toward La Jolla and Sorrento Valley

The walk we took was about four miles starting at the western entrance of the Peñasquitos Preserve accessed on Park Village Road, and ending all the way west on Sorrento Valley Blvd.

West end of the walk. There is parking somewhere around here... look it up. — West end of the walk. There is parking somewhere around here… go look it up yourself. Just kidding. Click on this photo and it will link you to a map of this area, parking, and trails.

The weather was perfect- lots of clouds, some sun and a nice onshore breeze. From the start of our walk to the end the paths were hopping with mountain bikers and other walkers, dogs and horses. It was a beautiful day! The round trip 8.2 mile walk totaled just over three hours. Did I mention what a beautiful day it was? Gorgeous.

Kombucha Coming Atcha!

Kombucha.

God bless you.

No no no. You aren’t supposed to say ‘bless you’ after hearing someone say ‘kombucha.’ My spell checker sure doesn’t recognize it as a word. The Crunchy People have brought us another good-for-you product, that’s all. It’s a drink, kind of like a fizzy, fermented soft-drinky tea-ish sort of thing. Sweeter than plain tea, not as yeasty as beer, practically no alcohol and can be sold to and drunk by anyone. Especially by people who are trying to do new things. The best thing about kombucha is that it is yet another one of the foods you can eat that is really good for you- it is in the same category as yogurt, kimchi and sauerkraut- it’s all in the probiotics, baby, and although kombucha supposedly has a lot, it is also killed off in the pasteurization process.

Here’s a link to a good article on the subject: Kombucha- Is It Really Good For You?

The kombucha craze is just beginning to rev up. It is in more stores and you may be hearing of it or reading about this lightly fermented drink with more frequency.

The Husband and I tried three flavors of kombucha being sold at North of the Border Bike Shop on Sorrento Valley Blvd. Doug, one of the owners, was game to selling the stuff, setting up the taps and voilà, kombucha on tap for you to imbibe. And you know what? I liked it. The orange kombucha was my favorite, The Husband preferred the cherry. I’d drink this stuff fresh on tap as is, I’d like to bring some home, and I would pick up a bottle from a store, now that I know I like it. Doug and Mike are even selling small take-home kegs for your drinking pleasure after hours.

*UPDATE* Doug has since said “Please do note, ‘Kombucha Gardens,’ the brand we sell is NOT pasteurized. A benefit of selling on tap. So, you do get the good stuff… probiotics.”

Go for it. Try something new. God bless you.

You know, I like this stuff! Kombucha on tap at North of the Border Bikes — Tasting, testing… aaaannnd… you know, I like this stuff!
Kombucha on tap at North of the Border Bikes

Eleanor Roosevelt and another Eleanor

“You must do the thing you think you cannot do.” Eleanor Roosevelt

Today, I think I cannot fix the Facebook links on this blog. The problem isn’t the problem. It’s the environment.

Mrs. Roosevelt did not know my Eleanor. Sometimes nothing from my To Do list gets checked off when she is around. It’s not that I don’t want her around, quite the contrary… just that it is hard to do what I had intended. Entertaining is her forte.

It’s really hard to fix a blog when The Girl sits down next to you and challenges you to sing along to the Avett Brothers’ “In the Curve” while she plucks out the chords on her ukulele.

Enjoy the original:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qfAEfBSwJI

Boring Post Alert! Learning Camera Controls (Unless You Dig Photos of Shrimp Salad and Freshly Baked Bread)

I played around with my Christmas camera tonight, trying to make some headway into my February project- learn how to operate my Nikon 3300. I swear, I’m going to figure out this piece of technology and I am paging my way through my “Nikon D3300 For Dummies” book to help. Tonight I learned about several different auto and semi-automatic controls, and that I can type the word “exposure” twenty-five times in 30 minutes, and spell it wrong each time. I’m pretty proud of the fact that I can’t spell in three- count ’em- THREE different languages. Go me.

First shot is in Manual Exposure Mode, and I have no idea what I am doing. This proves that the camera is way smarter than I am.

Shrimp Salad... better shot... — Shrimp Salad ingredients… decent shot…

This next one is too bright, but I think I am figuring out how to use the Exposure Compensation button:

Shrimp Salad ingredients, monkeying with the Exposure Compensation button.

Hey, now it is getting better! I think I need a different lens for close up shots, yes?

Manual setting, Exposure Compensation brightening up things

This one I knocked the exposure down a tic or two. Next thing to learn is how to correctly use the technical language of photography… The daylight really looks nice here as opposed to the next few pictures of the bread.

Manual, less exposed with using the Exposure Compensation button... — Manual, less exposed with using the Exposure Compensation button…

On to the bread ingredients. OK, it’s even obvious to ME that the flash should not be used in this type of lighting (kitchen table overhead lighting, after sunset)

Flash with bread ingredients... — Flash with bread ingredients… bad.

All righty then! Not enough light in this, but not too shabby, either. I can’t seem to get the little stuff in focus- like the millet and bulgur wheat (two of the ingredients in the small bowl).

Fully auto focus. Pretty good! But it needs to be focused differently, maybe on the millet and bulgur?

Switching back to the simple auto focus-

Auto Focus... (it smells as good as it looks) — Auto Focus… (it smells as good as it looks)

And with Aperture I got what I expected- better light but lost focus. Guess I need to learn how to compensate for this.

Aperture Priority auto-exposure- good lighting but bad focus?

OK- if I use a better light source, is this the shot I wanted?

Shutter Priority auto-exposure. Too dark, good focus.

And here we have my standard favorite, my iPhone 5s. Notice the lighting is fine, the focus is fine… good depth of field, too, huh? You can clearly see the dirty napkins from tonight’s dinner:

Side by side- Nikon and iPhone:

So, there you have it. My iPhone and I have been doing a great job all along. I can really make it sing. This just makes me want to understand how to use the Big Person’s camera even more. I’m not (too) discouraged. Yet.

S	M	T	W	T	F	S
1	2	3	4	5	6	7
8	9	10	11	12	13	14
15	16	17	18	19	20	21
22	23	24	25	26	27	28