Beet and carrot salad, green tea cheesecake, and roasted chicken

January 8, 2011

beets, carrots, cheesecake, chicken, cream cheese, cumin, green tea, lemons, mint, onions, parsley, rosemary, shallots, shortbread, thyme, tomatoes, yogurt

[caption id="attachment_972" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Cheesecake with green tea leaves and raspberry / mint garnish"][/caption] [caption id="attachment_971" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Beet and carrot salad, with plenty of parsley"][/caption] [caption id="attachment_969" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Before... you can see the chicken in the center, coated with a honey-mustard mixture and surrounded by tomato, red onion, and rosemary and thyme"][/caption] [caption id="attachment_970" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="...and after."][/caption] Between exams, other projects, and travel I hadn’t really been in a kitchen for a little while.

Building a desktop fabricator (3D Printer), Day 5

January 5, 2011

makerbot, makerbot-build

[caption id="attachment_1004" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Soldering."][/caption] [caption id="attachment_1005" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="A properly soldered joint."][/caption] [caption id="attachment_1006" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Everything's completed... technically. Extruder is on the right."][/caption] _ Note 1: This entry is the fifth in a series. Note 2: I am looking for likeminded people who want to work together on building some kind of desktop fabricator business. If you read this and agree with what I have to say, will you drop me a note?

Building a desktop fabricator (3D Printer), Day 4

January 4, 2011

makerbot, makerbot-build

[caption id="attachment_999" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="The setup for building the extruder."][/caption] [caption id="attachment_1000" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="The multimeter. The dial on the top measures current flow, the knob allows adjusting the range that the dial shows. The red and black leads connect to an electrical source."][/caption] _ Note 1: This entry is the fourth in a series. Note 2: I am looking for likeminded people who want to work together on building some kind of desktop fabricator business.

Building a desktop fabricator (3D Printer), Day 3

January 3, 2011

makerbot, makerbot-build

[caption id="attachment_992" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Parts for the Z Stage Assembly."][/caption] [caption id="attachment_994" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="The completed X and Y Stage Assemblies, together with parts to install them in the body "][/caption] [caption id="attachment_995" align="alignleft" width="225" caption="Mechanically complete Makerbot!"][/caption] [caption id="attachment_996" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="For tomorrow..."][/caption] _ Note 1: This entry is the third in a series. Note 2: I am looking for likeminded people who want to work together on building some kind of desktop fabricator business.

Building a desktop fabricator (3D Printer), Day 2

January 2, 2011

makerbot, makerbot-build

[caption id="attachment_985" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="The kit for X Stage Assembly"][/caption] [caption id="attachment_986" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Completed X Stage Assembly. The build platform will slide along those rods."][/caption] [caption id="attachment_987" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="The kit for body assembly."][/caption] [caption id="attachment_988" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Completed body!"][/caption] Note 1: This entry is the second in a series. Note 2: I am looking for likeminded people who want to work together on building some kind of desktop fabricator business.

Building a desktop fabricator (3D Printer), Day 1

January 1, 2011

makerbot, makerbot-build

[caption id="attachment_979" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="The Makerbot box."][/caption] [caption id="attachment_980" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Workstation."][/caption] [caption id="attachment_981" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="The parts for the Y Stage Assembly - structural pieces, bolts, a belt, etc."][/caption] [caption id="attachment_982" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Completed Y Stage Assembly, with the Build Platform in the upper left."][/caption] Note 1: This entry is the first in a series. Note 2: I am looking for likeminded people who want to work together on building some kind of desktop fabricator business.

The Four Seasons' pastry kitchen

December 27, 2010

butter, chocolate transfers, choux pastry, eggs, kitchen, pastry, sugar

[caption id="attachment_963" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="(Very) approximate layout of the kitchen."][/caption] [caption id="attachment_934" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Basic ingredients."][/caption] [caption id="attachment_935" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Piping out the mixture."][/caption] [caption id="attachment_936" align="alignleft" width="261" caption="Chef Hales with the final product."][/caption] [caption id="attachment_937" align="alignleft" width="218" caption="Awesome chocolate decorations!"][/caption] I had the chance recently to visit the pastry kitchen at the Four Seasons Philadelphia. It’s one fairly large room (I’d say 25’x25’), connected to a very small temperature-controlled room where some completed desserts and various chocolate-related ingredients were kept.

Asparagus soup, panade and a pear-frangipane tart

December 21, 2010

almonds, asparagus, bread, cheese, chicken stock, cream, kale, pears, squash

[caption id="attachment_942" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="The frangipane tart (I don't talk about this until the end of this post, be patient!) before baking..."][/caption] [caption id="attachment_943" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="...and after."][/caption] [caption id="attachment_941" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Asparagus soup, with asparagus tips and some feta cheese."][/caption] [caption id="attachment_939" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="The panade, before baking..."][/caption] [caption id="attachment_940" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="...and after."][/caption] I read this recipe quite a long time ago, and while the recipe itself sounded interesting, what made me really want to make it was the possibilities.

Beer me, part 3

December 16, 2010

beer, beer me, hops, malt, yeast

[caption id="attachment_965" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Making the wort from "scratch"."][/caption] [caption id="attachment_966" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Sanitizing bottles with iodophor."][/caption] [caption id="attachment_967" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Completed! We are thinking of calling it "Kirin"."][/caption] _Note: This is a followup to this entry. _ Shortly after arriving in Philadelphia, I decided to try brewing another batch of beer with a friend of mine. This time, to save on materials and on wasted beer (yes, it happens), we decided to brew a half-batch.

Cheese plate generator

December 5, 2010

Following up on this entry, I thought it might be interesting to automate the process of creating an interesting cheese plate. So I wrote this cheese plate generator. Hit the green button, and it will come up with something at random for you, from a list of cheeses and accompaniments. To use: That’s it there on the left. Click the green button. Simple, huh? Cheese plate components will be chosen completely at random for you.