30 March 2014  6:16p
"One God Further"

This is my first (and possibly only) polemic.  I'm probably alienating half of the people who have even bothered to open this blog in the first place, but so it goes...

As Richard Dawkins and other New Atheists have posited before, most people are atheists with respect to most gods proposed over the millennia.  Lawrence Krauss, Sam Harris, and Christopher Hitchens (when he was still alive) pointed out that atheists go beyond disbelieving stories of Zeus, Thor, and Titan, and go all the way to those myths that have perpetuated to this day:  Jesus, Yahweh, and Mohammad (though the last can be said to be merely a prophet).

I am, for all intents an purposes, an atheist.  Logistically, I am, when it comes down to it, an agnostic.  At the heart of all atheists (at least the ones I've spoken with), including myself, there is a scientific curiosity and personal modesty that allows for the possibility that there is a Supreme Being (Monty Python notwithstanding).  But such an Entity must be unlike what human religions have formulated and postulated thus far.  Such a Being would have the intelligence and patience to understand the skepticism met by the suggestion of Its existence among at least some of Its creations, especially those which It has endowed with a greater amount of intelligence than others.

How can a Supreme Being find fault with creatures (its own creations, no less) who, when introduced to the notion that there is something that is not observable, express disbelief?  This flavor of skepticism would, at least as far as my imagination allows, make such a Supreme Being quite proud (if It can feel Pride at all) of Its achievement of a logical, rational creation who takes nothing for granted, including the existence of its own Creator.

Enough for now.

29 March 2014  4:45p

Sitting at Peter's at the moment, thinking about the fudge recipe I concocted last winter when the recipe I'd been given and tried had failed:

Chocolate-Orange Fudge

zest of one large orange (recommended: navel [seedless], very large, something like 10-13 oz weight)

juice of half of that large orange

8 oz. confectioners' sugar

2 T butter, unsalted

4 oz. unsweetened chocolate (baking chocolate is good here)

Melt chocolate and butter in double boiler until hot & smooth. Remove from heat.  Add confectioners' sugar, zest, and juice and mix together thoroughly. Pour into foil-lined square dish and cool overnight.

Surprisingly simple, yet delicious.  Not too sweet, either!

...  And, I'm the very proud parent of one Very Smart Girl Who Took the Blue Ribbon for Microbiology at the Greater San Diego Science & Engineering Fair!

27 March 2014  8:24a, PDT (or are we on PST?  I can ne'er remember)

Here is the strawberry mousse recipe we were (supposedly) following in yesterday's class:

2 lbs strawberries, washed and hulled
1/2 c. (3.5 oz.) granulated sugar
pinch salt
1 3/4 t unflavored gelatin
4 oz. cream cheese, softened and cut into small pieces
1/2 c. heavy cream, chilled

Slice enough strawberries to measure 1 cup;  refrigerate until ready to serve.  Pulse remaining strawberries in food processor/blender until they're in large, soft chunks.  Transfer to bowl and add 1/4 cup sugar and salt.   Set aside until juices run out of berries and form a sweet syrup.

Strain strawberries through sieve, or squeeze through cheesecloth (if you want to;  we skipped this step and had a chunkier texture in the mousse) if you want a really smooth mousse.  Measure small amount (the recipe calls for 3T, but I think more like a half-cup would've worked better) juice and sprinkle gelatin over it, allowing it to soften.  Cook all juice over medium-high heat until reduced by about two-thirds, about 10 minutes (you are supposed to have about 3T reduced juice and gelatin).  Add remaining strawberry puree (or juice) and whisk until incorporated.

Using a clean bowl (who on earth would use a dirty one?), whip cream to soft peaks.  Gradually add remaining 1/4 cup sugar and whip until stiff peaks form. Whisk cream into strawberry mixture until no white streaks remain.  Pour into dessert dishes and chill for at least 4 hours (we took ours home still warm), up to 48 hours.  Allow mousse to sit at room temperature for 15 minutes before serving with a dollop of whipped cream and sliced strawberries.

I was glad to have Liz there, as she's also an improvisor, I think, when it comes to cooking, though she appears to be less confident in making changes than I am.  I am very much a "tinkerer" when it comes to cooking and baking!

I participated less in the making of the strawberry mousse; I just heated the strawberry puree and whisked in the cream cheese.  The mousse has a nice pink color;  I'll taste it with my second cup of coffee this morning.

I need to motivate myself to go to the gym for a walk/run on the treadmill (5 km, in intervals of 5 minutes:  to walking, three running), and for some resistance training (weights)...  All that mousse has to go somewhere, doesn't it?

26 March 2014  10:34p

Kat's just going to bed now (or at least she's retiring to her room).  I just listened to several episodes from the second season of The Muppet Show, which as have on DVD.  Kat believes that she has not seen all of the episodes, so I guess we're going through them.

Today, in Pastries & Desserts class, we made mousses:  chocolate mousse and strawberry mousse.  One is thickened with gelatin (strawberry) and the other with a combination of egg white and whipped heavy cream.  My friend, Liz, came with me today, and is considering joining the class, because today she learned some things she hadn't known before, and was able to watch how to caramelize sugar to design decorations for semisolid desserts.

Picked up Kat on the way home.  She's a participant in the Greater San Diego Science and Engineering Fair.  The awards ceremony is tomorrow evening, and we will go to cheer people who win the awards.  There were some downright cool projects.  The topic for the project right next to Kat's was non-Newtonian liquids.  Its name goes from "oobleck" to "goo" to "slime."  The most amazing thing that I heard about, though I did see a photograph of the phenomenon, is the "dancing pancake," achieved at a specific frequency (I wish I could remember what it was) of sound, when the oobleck becomes like a rubbery disk, bouncing on the dish.  Kat told me that they watched a video of the dancing pancake.  Pretty cool.  There was another project that studied bioremediation of petroleum spills.  Kat studied the rates of fermentation using different fruit juices.

Here's the recipe we followed for the chocolate mousse:
6 oz. bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
4 T unsalted butter, chopped into small pieces
pinch table salt
1 t vanilla extract
2 T strong coffee or 4 t brandy, orange-flavored liqueur (like Grand Marnier), or light rum
4 large eggs, separated
2 T granulated sugar
1/2 C. heavy cream, plus extra for garnish

Melt chocolate in a double boiler (we did it this way, because I don't like using microwaves for cooking) or in microwave, then whisk in butter.  Stir in salt, vanilla, and coffee until completely incorporated.  Whisk in yolks, one at a time, until completely incorporated.  Set aside.

Stir egg whites in a double-boiler until slightly warm, 1 to 2 minutes.  Remove from heat, and beat with an electric mixer on medium speed until soft peaks form.  Increase mixer speed to high and slowly add sugar.  Beat until it forms soft peaks.  Whisk in a quarter of the beaten whites into the chocolate mixture, then gently fold in remaining whites.

Whip cream into soft peaks and fold into the mousse.  Spoon mousse into 6-8 individual serving dishes and chill at least 2 hours, up to 24 hours.  Garnish with additional whipped cream.

We went a little light on the sugar because we used the semisweet chocolate instead of the bittersweet, and Liz said it came out fine.  I'll taste it tomorrow when I have my portion of it (I'd brought two portions home, one for Kat and one for myself).

The strawberry mousse used gelatin to stabilize and thicken the mousse.  I'll include that recipe in a future post if I think of it, but I'm a little tired to do it tonight.

Tonight, I looked at our small sack of coconut flour, and thought about subbing it in for regular flour in a recipe for an almond-flavored cookie that includes almond extract.  Might try using almond flour, then for that recipe.  Hopefully, it'll come out fairly intensely almond.  I love the flavor of almonds.

Well, that's about it.  It's time for me to try to catch Peter on his cel, as he's in London this week and it's just about breakfast time.

Returning Home

I'm presently in a window seat over the wing on Southwest flight 3556 to San Diego.  The flight departed SFO on time.  I just ordered a cup of coffee that I can doll up with creamer (dairy or non-) and sugar.  Seated next to me, seemingly asleep, is a woman with her earbuds plugged in and her legs crossed.  This is (almost) the worst kind of person next to whom I could be seated.  Not only does she take up physical space (though she's chosen to limit herself to her own seat, thankfully), but she takes up aural space and rhinal space.  I'm glad the air vent over my seat is on, as there is, at least, a source of relatively fresh, or at least unscented, air pushed in my direction.

This is one of the few times in my life when I could almost (but only almost) wish to be a smoker, since they can't smell (or taste) anything anyway and therefore would not be offended by the scents (and odors) of others.  Perhaps that is why smokers tend to perfume themselves to everyone else's discontent (and my personal disgust).  At least I've been given my coffee, and the smell (and taste) of that keeps my nose occupied to a certain extent.  Well, at least she doesn't smell like a smoker.

Why am I returning to San Diego?  Well, I had just spent almost exactly a week in San Francisco, having arrived last Saturday afternoon.  It is now Saturday afternoon again, finding us departing San Francisco, though with different destinations.  

I accompanied my lover, who was on a business trip to the Game Developers' Conference, held at San Francisco's Moscone Center.  Peter had a series of meetings to attend, and was answering questions, both in and outside meetings, about the new technology his firm's introducing to the gaming industry.

I spent much of my time this week walking the small portion of the city between the Ferry Building, Chinatown, the Moscone Center, and Union Square.  Not a very large area, but enough for me to cover on foot.

I spent my first morning looking for the location of a 24-Hour Fitness (I'm a member), located on Market Street.  It turned out to be the further of the two closest ones to our hotel, the closer one being located on California Street.  I sauntered up Market Street to the gym, then walked back towards the Ferry Building, when Peter phoned to ask me to meet him for lunch.  I met him at one of the plethora of Starbucks in San Francisco.

After I managed to find the coffee shop, I saw Peter looking for/at me.  We walked in when I decided I wasn't in the mood for coffee.  We walked across the way to an establishment that served sushi, soup, and tea.  Peter sat with me for a while, tasted a piece or two from my platter of sashimi, and then went off to another meeting.

For me, the highlights of the trip were our meals together.  As I just mentioned, I had sushi, mostly on my own, on Monday.  Peter had not eaten with me because he'd eaten during the meeting he'd just finished.  

For lunch on Tuesday, Peter and I met in South Park, which is located on the other side of the freeway overpass from the Moscone Center.  It was decorated with French-style cafe furniture and signage (though when he ordered a "cafe," they served him drip.

On Thursday morning, I walked to the Ferry Building, where I bought some fresh strawberries at the farmers' market, then went inside to find wine, cheese, a ripe pear, and something for dessert.  I was not disappointed.  I went to the wine merchant, who recommended a couple of reds.  Deciding on the lighter of the two, I walked a couple doors down to the Cowgirl Creamery, where I tasted several different cheeses and chose four to buy, two soft and two hard.  One of the soft cheeses was reminiscent of a brie or camembert, and the other was a plain chevre, as they had a couple that had other things added, like chives, and, after tasting them, I decided that plain would be easier to take in combination with other cheeses, nuts, & fruit.  One of the hard cheeses was quite similar to a Spanish manchego, and the other had more of a parmesan or asiago texture, but a milder flavor than either.  At Farm Fresh to You, I bought a ripe red pear.  To finish the picnic, I picked up some almond brittle with a dark chocolate-coffee coating on one side.  As a last-minute consideration, I returned to Cowgirl Creamery and bought some blanched salted almonds and some dried fruit that had been reconstituted in wine.  Our in-room picnic was very pleasant indeed as we listened to the music put together by the Apple Genius from my music collection on my MacBook.

Before our flight to San Francisco, Peter had bought us tickets to go to a modern dance production titled "Two Room Apartment," performed by a couple, Israeli dancers, who reinterpreted the dance from being about a woman and a man to one about two men.  It was difficult for me to understand at first, because it was rather abstract, but after Peter explained some of it to me, I could understand the context for the motions and the meanings of the interactions between the dancers and the story they told.

After the performance, we caught a taxi to the restaurant where Peter's colleagues had eaten dinner and were enjoying some after-dinner drinks.  The decision was made to reconvene at a nearby bar, just around the corner.

It was louder in the bar, but it was easier to find agreeable drinks for all attendees.

Eventually, Peter and I decided it was pumpkin time, so we excused ourselves and wished everyone good night and a safe journey, since many of them were based in England and would be taking the long flight to get home.

This morning, Peter and I had a nice breakfast in the restaurant in our hotel.  There was a buffet that included baked goods, which we left by themselves, made-to-order eggs and omelets, fresh oatmeal, fresh fruit, and dry cereal.  I took some fresh fruit and spooned yogurt over them.  We were served by a woman who appeared, to me at least, to be disappointed with her place in life.  She was probably about our age, but here she was, a waiter in a hotel restaurant, whereas here we were, guests in same hotel.

We skipped lunch, for neither of us was hungry when we arrived at the airport, just a little after 12.  My flight left at 2:05, Peter's at 4.  After I checked my suitcase, we sat for a little while in the outer lobby, since Peter was flying out of the international terminal and would be enjoying the British Airways lounge after I left him to go through security.  I went through without being accosted and only just had a enough time to open my computer to look at a file when the announcement for boarding was made.

It was an uneventful flight on the whole, though I was sitting next to the heavily-perfumed woman who listened to really loud, high-pitched music on her earbuds.

Enough for now.