GarageBand for iPad is a little daunting at first glance, but it eventually cooperates without stimulation from the Bravo Foxtrot Hotel.
Eight degrees. Snow. And a variable wind that exacerbates the least attractive qualities of both.
I’m already sick of winter and it’s not even winter yet.
I think I may have a problem here.
Well, if I do, I’m not the only one. And while this storm system seems to have settled in for a long stay, there are short-term distractions available.
Yesterday I spent the afternoon simmering up a big pot of chicken stock, using a 4-pound fryer and four extra drumsticks, a leek, an onion, a turnip and a couple of carrots.
We used some of the meat for dinner (quesadillas) and breakfast (a simple hash that also involved eggs, potatoes, one Big Jim chile and part of a green bell pepper, plus some chopped scallions, thyme and parsley). Most of the rest will get used this evening in a chicken noodle soup, though I’ll reserve a bit for a mess of chicken chilaquiles tomorrow.
Between stints at the stove, I broke out the old iPad, downloaded Apple’s GarageBand app, and taught myself how to create a minimalist podcast on an iOS device instead of a giant MacBox. This is what I like to call “thinking ahead” rather than “dicking around,” since I usually take an iPad with me if I’m able to escape the weather, the kitchen and the office for a short bicycle tour. It’s nice to be able to handle all the usual chores on the road, though for updating a WordPress blog like this one an iPad leaves a great deal to be desired.
Also, I’d like to try a slightly more elaborate podcast that includes a Skype interview with my old friend and colleague Hal Walter, who still lives up Weirdcliffe way. Hal’s main computer is a Mac Mini, which lacks a built-in microphone, but I think he has an iPad, and Skype, so with a little cultural exchange we should be good to go without resort to log drums, smoke signals or semaphore flags.
Tags: chicken noodle soup, chicken quesadillas, GarageBand, Hal Walter, iPad, podcasting, WordPress
Mad Blog Media 
December 4, 2013 at 5:44 pm |
OG: My mouth is watering………Any recipes you can pass on to us?
Great coupla days coming up for the “trainer” sessions here in Bibleburg….I’ve banged out several already, but 60 minutes is my max….at age 66 I’m starting to lose my short term memory and at about an hour I forget why I’m doing what I’m doing.
Just spent 8 hours brewing a beef stew though…..should be ready in about 30 minutes…….plan to enjoy an O’Dell IPA with it and some homemade bread too!
Bring on the winter!
December 4, 2013 at 5:46 pm |
Now that is funny! But, John, don’t you think good hops should be used to brew a proper pilsner instead of an IPA?
December 4, 2013 at 10:14 pm |
Ska’s Modus Hoperandi is on my “drink every night” list right now.
December 4, 2013 at 7:53 pm |
John, I’ll try to get those recipes posted here directly. Meantime, the chicken soup is from “Dad’s Own Cookbook,” by Bob Sloan (I learned about him from reading Jim Harrison, who is another fiend for food).
The chicken quesadillas are straight out of “The Santa Fe School of Cooking Cookbook,” which is a keeper; it’s the cookbook I use the most.
The hash is actually from an old Betty Crocker grocery-checkout cookbook (I massaged that one a bit).
And the chicken chilaquiles recipe is a lazy person’s variation on the traditional recipe that I found on The Galley Gourmet.
December 4, 2013 at 9:49 pm |
Oh, I had completely forgotten about checkout cookbooks! Used to bug my mother to buy them while us kids waited in line behind her. Casseroles! Cookies! Christmas – themed cookbooks. Lots of memories.
December 4, 2013 at 5:44 pm |
Yawzuh!!! Weather has certainly taken a turn to the dark side. But, since this is the longest ragweed season I have ever endured, all I can say is freeze baby, freeze! We have four nights of below freezing coming down here in SE AZ, and riding the next few days just ain’t happening. Hope “Chez Dog” is stocked and ready to ride out the storm in style.
December 4, 2013 at 8:05 pm |
You too, Patrick? Jeez, this has been the worst year for allergies that I can remember since I was a snotnose in Texas. Lots more Russian thistle about this fall, seems like. I’ve burned through a couple forests’ worth of Kleenex beepin’ the beezer.
December 5, 2013 at 10:51 am |
Re: Allergies and BigHelp. Locate LOCAL honey & start taking 1teaspoon per day in your tea( or? )<start in the Fall–September, Then by next springtime, you ought to have good immunity and be practically pollen allergy-free! This Works !–it eliminated my palo verde beautiful yellow bloom allergy the following May when living in Tucson !
December 4, 2013 at 6:04 pm |
warm enough to ride without gloves over here last night. Won’t last long but I enjoyed it just the same anyway. So when is NAHBS again? CLT right?
December 4, 2013 at 8:01 pm |
NAHBS will be March 16-16 in Charlotte, N.C. That’s a bit of a drive for an old feller in a Subaru. A few kinfolk may shoot at me as I motor through Tennessee, too. Might have to take me the scenic route through Kaintucky.
December 4, 2013 at 7:55 pm |
Surviving the lack of temps with a crock full of chili. Half buffalo, half beef, half Italian sausage. (That’s why no one asks me for recipes.)
Supposedly Kit Carson’s last words: Wish I had time for one more bowl of chili.)
Patrick, got enough laundry chord to hook up two #10 cans between you and Hal?
December 4, 2013 at 8:00 pm |
Haw. I doctored my mom’s chili recipe in similar fashion, using buffalo, beef and Italian sausage (though not quite in those proportions).
Maybe Hal and I should just hang out our windows and holler real loud.
December 4, 2013 at 8:04 pm |
Stephen Colbert had a line about his 8 Meat Chili. Same recipe as his 7 Meat Chili, but he got two of the meats to breed.
December 4, 2013 at 8:04 pm |
Sad to say, I have to adapt O’G’s recipes to the meatless varieties, which ain’t hard when the Punjabi half is here. Right now she is back in Uttra Pradesh visiting uncles and cousins. So tonight I sauteed a Field Roast italian sausage with some fresh garlic, olive oil, italian spices (because I’m too lazy to mix my own), and tossed it over linguini, served it up with a salad and washed it down with a Chardonnay. Living alone, even for three weeks, means re-learning how to cook for humans rather than graduate students.
December 4, 2013 at 8:07 pm |
Uttar Pradesh. sorry…
December 4, 2013 at 8:13 pm |
K, a lot of the recipes in that Santa Fe cookbook are vegetarian. Green chile, beans, posole, all easily made without animal bits. Even the quesadillas don’t necessarily need a dead critter.
But then, you live down around where the real deal can be found. Me, I’m up north in this honky wasteland. Forced to learn to cook due to privation. O, the humanity. …
December 4, 2013 at 8:31 pm |
Good stuff in the Fanta Se cookbook. Right now, the hounds get first dibs on my residual energy when I get home from the Bombe Factorie and then I rummage through the fridge for beer and something to eat.
Still waiting for the frigid wave to hit. It was low thirties, blowing like hell, and snowing on my way home. Cold wave has not hit yet. Supposed to be significantly colder tomorrow. Gotta go read Caulaincourt…
December 4, 2013 at 8:40 pm |
Or if you don’t care for Caulaincourt….
December 4, 2013 at 8:47 pm |
Which reminds me: Today is the first day of Zappadan 2013 — it’s been 20 years since the maestro left us.
December 4, 2013 at 10:19 pm |
Still remember Zappa ripping Robert Novack (sp?) a new asshole on Crossfire a zillion years ago. Few folks got CNN then, and the intertubes were just a glimmer in Al Gore’s eye at the time, so he never got the kind of press Jon Stewart got when he repeated the feat.