I love the crazy colors this Japanese maple produces – right now its leaves run the gamut from ordinary green through arterial red.
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Author: isaac
I like cats and compost.
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LA to San Diego and back
We went to LA and San Diego to meet up with Mandi’s parents and nephew, go to a wedding, do some work, and whatever else we could fit in. In LA we stayed in Santa Monica so I wandered around there a bit. There’s a nice path along the beach that I walked south to Venice Beach and back. We had beer and other things I don’t remember for dinner at a place on the Third Street Promenade and then more beer and sausage at the Fifth Amendment Alehouse.
We expected traffic on the way down to San Diego, but it wasn’t bad. Somewhere along the way we got thirsty and stopped at a place called Cafe del Sol that’s right off of I-5. I just got iced tea, but the bubbling vats of mystery meat caught my eye.
The iPhone camera isn’t all that great by itself. Fortunately, there are a bunch of great photo apps that can make your photos look better. My new favorite is TiltShift Generator, from the same person who made QuadCamera, another fun photo app. TiltShift Generator doesn’t really turn the iPhone into a tilt-shift camera – what it does is closer to digital “miniature faking” – making regular photos look like staged miniature models. Here are a couple of examples:
…and a couple more from San Diego:
The app makes it very easy to position and configure the sharp spot. There are also color and vignette controls that I like to use to give photos a sort of “toy camera” appearance.
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Tequila chicken
I have most of a bottle of tequila in the cupboard, probably left over from making margaritas a long time ago. Clearly it’s not getting consumed as a beverage, so I decided to try some in a marinade for chicken. It’s excellent mixed with lime juice, salt, pepper, hot sauce, oregano, and cumin. Let the chicken marinate for as long as you can, up to overnight. I’m not sure what it really does, but the chicken seems to take on a nicer golden brown color, and maybe there’s a little of that desert-cactus flavor from the tequila. I first tried it with wings, but it’s great on all bird parts.
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Eggplant dip
Eggplant dip isn’t very pretty, so no photo…it is delicious and easy to make though!
Ingredients:
- 1 big eggplant
- 2 garlic cloves
- basil
- about 2 T olive oil
- about 1/4 cup goat cheese
- about 2 T lemon juice
- salt, pepper, maybe hot sauce
One big eggplant makes plenty of dip for two. Peel and slice it into about 1/2 inch thick discs. Salt lightly and grill or roast until brown outside and soft inside. Put the ‘plant in a sealed container for at least a few minutes to steep.
Put the garlic and eggplant in a food processor and whiz a bit then scrape down the sides. Add some olive oil and lemon juice, whiz and scrape. Add the basil and goat cheese, whiz and scrape. It should look like dip – whiz more and maybe add olive oil, lemon juice, and/or goat cheese if it’s not smooth. Taste and season. Serve with celery sticks, pork rinds, or your favorite dip deliverer.
Lots of the ingredients can be substituted: crème fraîche for goat cheese, lime juice for lemon, different herbs.
Changed my mind, here’s a photo:
