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

Two High-speed Efforts at Feeding People

[Food 1]

On Wednesday I get to the ex-wife's at 6 pm, with a 6.55 departure ETA for "Back To School Parents Night" and a hungry offspring (male, 13) to feed. I brought Spaghetti, eggs, and bacon, and the memory of the Spaghetti Carbonara that my wife made from a Ruth Reichl book some months ago (warning to reader: Ruth's page is here: eat before you go to visit there - otherwise you'll suddenly start to feel excruciating hunger pangs). As the Offspring seemed to have no homework I enslaved him and sat back to instruct.

Fill that pot with water, salt it, add a few drops of oil, and put it on to boil. Then open that pound of bacon, take half out and return the rest to the fridge. Put a frying pan on to heat. When the water gets hot, put in the spaghetti. Chop the bacon up into pieces about a centimetre long and put them into the frying pan. Fry somewhat gently until about half-done, and add two large teaspoonfuls of chopped garlic. While the bacon continues to cook, break four eggs into a bowl or measuring jug and beat hard.

When the bacon and garlic are done, take them off the heat and leave them in their pan to keep warm. By now the spaghetti should be just about cooked, so pour out the water and pasta into a sieve, replacing it in the pot with the eggs. Add the spaghetti back in again and start mixing it up to get it coated with egg - the heat of the spaghetti will cook the eggs. At the same time, add in the bacon and garlic mix - just pour the whole pan in! Keep stirring until the egg is just about all solid, and serve!

Time taken - 16 minutes!

[Food 2]

This afternoon I was in BJ and saw some smoked salmon at a good price, so bought a pack. Later, I needed to feed the Offspring and AG. Put a pound of tagliatelle on to cook, and take out about 4 ounces of salmon. Chop the salmon and put it on to gently fry in some butter. I added basil and chives - nice green flecks! When the salmon is nicely cooked (it changes colour) add some milk and some cream in order to create a sauce. Keep adding the dairy to get the right volume, and add shredded cheese to thicken it up.

When it's done, drain the pasta and replace it in the pot: pour the salmon and sauce over the pasta and mix before serving. Again quick, about 20-25 minutes. Enjoy!

[Food 3 & 4]

Thursday night we'd been doing far to much and I didn't feel like cooking in the slightest (besides which there wasn't too much in the fridge to cook!) so we went to Balsamo's for a 16" Works pizza. Definitely hit the spot, as I'd missed lunch (as the AG realised as she watched almost half the pizza vanish in a matter of minutes). Friday night we had the Offspring, and he wanted pizza, so back to Balsamo's for a Conway (lots of ricotta and ham). You'd really think that pizza two nights in a row, with lunch in between, would jade the palate, but not yet.

[Tech]

Today was clear-out day. Two AMD-based towers went off to the computer store for refurbishment and whatever happens to PCs when they retire. That means that we're down to six computers in the house (not counting the fridge or the car), a level not seen in at least three years. Tomorrow is Oracle-study with overtones of PL/SQL until I have to cook for visitors.

TTFN