Computers Accumulate!

[Tech - Work]
Having moved a little while ago to Tacoma, I now have a new manager and today was the day of the new team's first meeting. So, a trek from Tacoma to Bellevue (about 75 minutes) and a really long one back (about 3 hours) because of at least one accident. Oh well!
It was really nice to meet all the people that I'd only seen as names on emails up to now - they're a really great bunch and really exhibit the qualities people notice about Microsoft People - very friendly and very bright!

[Tech - Home]
Looking back I saw a blog entry here from October 3, 2010 where the Tech entry mentioned that I'd shed a pair of tower computers and that the household was down to just six computers.Phones didn't really count in those days. Right now we're at a high spot again
In 2010 I would have had a Sony VAIO laptop for home and recording off TV, and a 17" Acer Aspire laptop for work. The Sony, along with another amazingly tiny Sony laptop acquired out of curiosity from a thrift store, are retired but not shed, and the two remaining desktops of that era were shed in 2016. In 2011 I bought a System-76 Bonobo (17.5", 32 GB, etc) - in short, a small server masquerading as a laptop (you'd need knees of steel!). We also have two Windows-based netbooks, an Asus netbox for on-monitor mounting, 3 ChromeBooks (so convenient it's untrue!), and an Acer Switch tablet with keyboard. Very similar to the SurfaceBook from Microsoft that I use for work.
In addition there's a Samsung tablet lurking somewhere, but that hasn't been seen since we moved!
Twelve machines plus two iPhone SEs. Like I say, they accumulate!

[Food]
Salmon, basil, tomato, garlic, and some pepper. Heat and eat!

Well, not quite so simple, but here's how I've been doing it.

Many years ago I owned a contact infra-red grill by a company called Rima. It was a gift from my father while I was away at university. It was a 240v beast, so never made it across the Atlantic with me, and the company is long gone now.
The nearest thing that I've found is the
George Foreman grill (right). Here in the US they cost about $50, but can often be found in thrift stores for $10 or $20. They're fairly easy to clean, being Teflon coated, but unfortunately the plates don'e come off for washing as they did with the old Rima.

Ingredients

1 cup Couscous	1 oz Butter
4 Salmon pieces	Basil
One large Tomato, sliced thinly	Garlic powder or flakes
Pepper	Celery
Plum Tomatoes

Method

1. Melt the butter in a pot, then bring it to a "boil".
2. Add the couscous and stir well so that the hot butter is well coating the couscous.
3. keep this on medium heat for a few minutes
4. Add a cu of water or, better, chicken broth
5. After another minute or two on heat, remove from heat and leave for couscous to absorb the water
6. Prepare the salmon. Mine came frozen in pieces this time, but basically you will need to cut it into pieces each about half of what one will want to eat.
7. If you have fresh Basil then roll some leaves and then slice the roll. This gives you long thin strips like tinsel that are easy to drape onto the salmon. This time I used dried basil from Trader Joe's as an experiment. It came out rather well.
8. Sprinkle the salmon with some pepper and some garlic powder or flakes.
9. Add the basil onto the salmon.
10. Lay tomato slices onto the pieces of salmon.
11. Cook the salmon and toppings in a George Foreman grill for about 4-5 minutes (depending on the thickness of the salmon).
12. Place the cooked salmon on a plate, add the couscous beside it, and garnish with plum tomatoes and chopped celery.

Bon appetit!

TTFN