The food thread

Oh this was in the car... WTH is it?

Flying into SoCal in the winter is always a shock. You fly from places that are grey, brown.... dark... then you fly over the biggest desert in North America... then.. WHAM!
In fish news saw an article today about the Main eel industry and how much elvers sell for. Per pound it's huge, per slimy critter less impressive. Eel has gone out of fashion here since we are somewhat short of them these days but pubs round here still have old pictures of the wicker eel baskets from the days they were there to be caught. Anyone an eel afficianado?
We flex biz class from EWR to Warsawa on LOT. I ate the eel for 4 passengers who had never had it.

Eel is the bacon which swims!
 
Bob, you don't need a Dutch oven to make sourdough, but it is a great multipurpose kitchen tool and does great with bread. I use my comal mostly, or even just a half sheet pan with multiple loaves on it. Steel roasting pan on the rack below with water in it for steam. Unless you have a gas oven, DO is the way to go. When you preheat the DO, I leave the lid off and set it on the rack next to it. No need to handle it until the bread goes in. Also, buy Reynolds brand parchment, it makes a big difference over the cheap stuff which isn't rated for 450-500°F.

I need to redo my patio, but thats about $10K in just concrete work. Its 1800sq/ft.
 
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Baking half-sheet pan, plus grocery store one-time-use aluminum roasting pan for Holiday turkey, makes an excellent steam capture vessel for wide, fat, long, 85% hydration focaccia loaves. This combination accommodates much much bigger loaves than the largest available dutch ovens. And the roasting pan costs single-digit dollars, while Le Cruset wants USD350 for their 7 quart, enamelled cast iron Dutchie.
 
Good luck!
Keep water warm but not very hot when mixing flour with starter.
For better results use chlorine-free water.
During the kneading you let the dough rest for a while and repeat the kneading. Make sure to keep the dough covered with a film or a wet towel in between the kneading intervals. Do the same when you have finished kneading and leave for several hours in a warm place until it doubles in volume. For the final process described above, you have transferred the dough to the pan where you are going to bake it. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius. Before transferring it to the oven,make several deep holes in the dough,using a wide knife.Depending on the thickness of the doug bake it for an hour or more.
When the bread comes out of the oven, brush the top surface with water using a pastry brush.
Good appetite!

Great advice! Much appreciated.
 
I see virtually all the small retaining walls around here made of hollow cell concrete blocks. But then almost all of them lean after a few years. Very rarely see a properly built private small retaining wall.

Particularly bad since this area is primarily three river valleys and amazing numbers of poor retaining walls.

Of course in this case it is essentially a fence and not a retaining wall.

The house I own was remodeled in the 50’s with a cinder block garage. Cinder block is similar to concrete block except as part of the concrete mix they use the cinders left from coal fired plants. For every ton of steel made there are two tons of leftover slag and cinders.

I of course got a demolition permit and removed the garage and repaired the damage it had done to the house.

I was surprised to see concrete block being used in earthquake zones of California. They use it a bit differently. Rebar down the open part and then filled with concrete! A bit more solid and requires good planning to get all the plumbing, conduit etc. in place before the filling.

So the only issue I see with using those stylish concrete blocks is how the top will be covered. I just don’t see the cover and block seams lining up very tight.
 
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^

"I was surprised to see concrete block being used in earthquake zones of California. They use it a bit differently. Rebar down the open part and then filled with concrete! A bit more solid and requires good planning to get all the plumbing, conduit etc. in place before the filling."

Yes, concrete block walls are quite common and rather robust in a quake.

There were videos of Ridgecrest with lots of block walls that easily survived the '19 quakes, including a 7.1.

In my neighborhood, the walls between houses are also made of block walls, with rebar and concrete. After 50+ years, most of them are still standing. The biggest issue is not the wall itself but the foundation... sometimes the contractors got cheap and didn't pour enough so with time the wall will crack.

However, I don't recall seeing buildings made with concrete blocks. It's mostly stick wood framing (no balloon), metal post and beam or concrete slabs.
 
Tony,

The buildings I install sound systems in are typically arenas and stadiums. Almost all have concrete block walls.

I rarely see construction of residential buildings.

The other interesting bit is that equipment racks are bolted to the floor in earthquake zones as gravity is not trustworthy. In some locations they are also tied to the ceiling!

As California has some of the strictest building codes they also have the toughest contractor licensing regulations. Thus a California license is recognized in most places. However there are a few New England states that don’t recognize California licenses. They accept the Washington state ones. The intent being to give an advantage to the local folks. Doesn’t bother me I have both!

When I did a job in Nashville a local company tried to disqualify me after the job was awarded. The state folks of course accepted my licenses and also determined one was not required for a sound system.

As this is the food thread I should mention working in Nashville many of the workers got lunch from a bar that served food and was located next to the stadium site. Virtually every other construction site the construction management would send someone around to visit all the nearby bars at lunch time. Having a beer or any alcoholic beverage would get you instantly fired and escorted off the construction site. However being in the south there were no nearby restaurants that did not serve alcohol!
 
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Bob, you don't need a Dutch oven to make sourdough, but it is a great multipurpose kitchen tool and does great with bread. I use my comal mostly, or even just a half sheet pan with multiple loaves on it. Steel roasting pan on the rack below with water in it for steam. Unless you have a gas oven, DO is the way to go. When you preheat the DO, I leave the lid off and set it on the rack next to it. No need to handle it until the bread goes in. Also, buy Reynolds brand parchment, it makes a big difference over the cheap stuff which isn't rated for 450-500°F.

I need to redo my patio, but thats about $10K in just concrete work. Its 1800sq/ft.
Yes, well versed in the dutch oven, we used to cook with the real ones that you cover with coals (either campfire outdoors or fireplace in the house) all the time and also had two nice leCreuset ones for the kitchen that were found at a yard sale for $20 each, but when we moved to FL we planned to live on a boat for a couple years while we built our house and hence they were all given to the children before we left. We have a gas stove and the couple that will be teaching us has electric so maybe thats why they thought it had to be in a DO (they aren’t exactly culinary, more hippy granola!)

Good tip on the parchment I just checked ours and its only rated for 400F !

Cal, sorry for the slight derailment! I’ll get some pics when I start building then kitchen portion of the patio…….and don’t worry everyone I don’t build things that fall down! :cool:
 
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and don’t worry everyone I don’t build things that fall down!
We have seen some of your construction Bob. That thought did not cross anyone's mind.
Besides, a block wall is just fine for what you are doing and yes Ed, here in the great white north most block walls are filled. The blocks are ready made forms. Now they are doing it with other materials like polystyrene so it has insulation value. Just a like a Thermos that you might use for food.
Remember food?
 
As this is the food thread I should mention working in Nashville many of the workers got lunch from a bar that served food and was located next to the stadium site. Virtually every other construction site the construction management would send someone around to visit all the nearby bars at lunch time. Having a beer or any alcoholic beverage would get you instantly fired and escorted off the construction site. However being in the south there were no nearby restaurants that did not serve alcohol!
I worked in a die-casting factory on the swing shift, there was a bar right next to the plant. None of the punch press operators had all their fingers!

What a great experience for a college freshman. The plant was on "piece-work" so you had to hustle all the time. There was another college guy working with me and we'd sit on the loading dock at 8:00 PM having lunch. The dock was facing west so we watched the sun go down every night.

When I got off, usually midnight or a bit later, would pick up my sister who worked at a burger joint til 1:00 AM -- for a free midnight burger. She's the brainiac and eventually went to Harvard!
 
Speaking of food...

I just finished a quick workout and went into the kitchen to get a drink. I noticed the smell of garlic. I looked around and couldn't locate it, it seemed to be everywhere. I went into the office and sure enough it smelled like garlic too. I figured the lady downstair must be cooking up a storm.

Nope, 10 minutes later I realized it was me. I was the source of the garlic smell. I had just enough exercise to let it out but not so much that I sweated it out altogether. :rolleyes:
 
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