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Sunday, May 30, 2010

Bring it on Podcast!


Stage 2: Bikes, Books, & Beers from Bikes, Books & Beers on Vimeo.


I'm having fun producing the Podcast's. I love the behind the scenes detail of directing Guy & Richard. Enjoying being the camerawoman and loving the post production aspect of it. Yesterday was a cloudy and dark and we had to solve the lack of lighting in our 'studio'. Never fear we have the daylight balance lights available and thank's to our background in photography we rigged up an appropriate lighting setup. Placing the two lights apart and aiming them as high as we could close to the ceiling to evenly disperse the light. It worked well.

After using Vimeo I'm convinced and happy to use it. It took me a while to choose from all the other video providers but Vimeo is simply the best, so easy to use.

They're planning a different setup for the next podcast. I don't know if it's possible. But I do like a challenge!

Monday, May 24, 2010

My Joy of Cooking.


This is my first cooking book. I have a few recipe books & many magazines. Come to think of it, I grew up without any cook books. No wonder my mother was having cooking problems. For my mother, cooking was not a joy it was just another household chore. As long as the kid's were fed...

The book I'm referring to? It's "Joy of Cooking" the 75th edition, probably the most concise reference book every cook needs to have.

I think it's the first book to own when you move away from home. I wish I had this book when I was a college student. Because I never made a roast chicken on my own. I knew how to bake. But I was completely clueless what to do with a chicken. So, my roommate called his mother for help.

This book is a wonderful helper. Although it doesn't have any pictures, it does have a few drawings. I usually wouldn't buy a cook book without imagery. But, this book is so captivating it doesn't need it. Most importantly, you can grab a quick recipe or read about seasoning, basic techniques of cooking. There's in depth articles of everything even menu planning, what to eat with Indian cusine, and which cocktail glass to use with your Pink Lady.

I use this book often in a week. For example, yesterday I had a craving for Greek food. In a few minutes, I flipped through the book and found more than enough information for my Greek meal. I could have made an extravagant Greel banquet but the book also gave me the choice for simple recipes. It was a success. And still is. I have plenty of leftovers.

At the start I tagged all my favorite recipes. Now, I've stopped. There's far too many recipes to be tagged. I love the index. For once, I find an index that works. It's makes looking up for anything very easy. I love this book!

I want to close with this beautiful quote, located at the front of the book, by Mark Twain...

"... To receive the full value of joy you must have someone to share it with."

Thursday, May 20, 2010

My Giro died but the race goes on!

Still no life...

Well it's day six, and I was looking forward to baking with my new sourdough yeast. I thought it was alive. It never did rise. No amount of CPR could raise this yeast  back to life. I declare my yeast decease. 

It's a puzzle to me and I'm disappointed. Giro died last night.

I really thought I got it right. Day three looked very good. Maybe I should've stopped it then.

So at this point I won't do another one. I will take a moment (a few days) to acknowledge what I've done. It looked so easy on youtube and what I've read. Back to the drawing board.

Sunday, May 16, 2010

My sourdough starter called Giro.

Like a weird experiment, so far it's going well...


I have something growing inside my oven...

The story began 10 years ago. I already was into bread but my first attempt at making yeast was a flop. Surprised me. I can bake and cook fairly well. But I could not make yeast. Now, the challenge is back and I'm hungry once again.

This is day two of growing my new pet, Giro. Of course, in honor of the race. I use organic rye flour, natural spring water and honey. The glass jar is the perfect container or environment for the yeast to develop in. And the wooden spoon is a must.  Because a metal spoon would contaminate and kill it.

The suggestion is to leave it for 5 days. So far so good. It's nice and bubbly and I'm keeping the temperature constant at 80 F. Stay tuned for further developments!

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Behind the Podcast.

I love everything about computers. Now, I'm not an expert but I have owned four Macs and I must say a computer is more interesting to me than fashion. Apple is in my eye.

Richard and Guy has a cool podcast on their cycling history and beer. What is it with guy's and beer? Us girl's love it too! Ok I'm starting to rant.

I knew my camera is just a basic digital one. Four years old, the Canon PowerShot ELPH is a little workhorse. I explored the video mode and discovered I could shoot for 8 minutes with a nice definition. Tested it on Richard and used available light and the sound was surprisingly good. I'm not ready to spend 1000 bucks for a better one. My Canon is good, very good for what I want to do.

The approach was simple. A low key casual podcast. Two guys with their beer and books. No tripod used, in fact, I am the camera operator. I used iMovie to insert the text and edit. It was so easy to work with. Good ole Apple, they make their products FOR people. There's talk in the air for part two. I'm so excited for them. Guy is showing enthusiasm and being part of this project, I'm happy.

As easy as it was to edit, it was a challenge to launch the podcast on line. I couldn't go through youtube because the clip was too long. Youtube takes only maximum ten minutes. So, I checked out Vimeo & Viddler... Viddler was too expensive charging for product content. Vimeo was the choice. Easy to use and the best thing, it was FREE up to 500 MB a month. I can do one a week. And it looks like the guy's will go for two per month. But, you know, when it comes time for the Tour de France it begs to have more often.

I'm so proud of Richard and Guy talking about the history of cycling. Happily, I get to play with my computer and learn about cycling history and have the chance to sample a brew!



The Prologue. Bikes, Books, & Beers from Bikes, Books, & Beer on Vimeo.

Thursday, May 6, 2010

Sock it ...to me!



I looked through my stash and I realize that I had left over bits of sock yarn left. Mostly pink. As a knitter, it's sacrilege not to make your own socks. Store bought commercial socks are soo different from handmade ones. The big difference is the comfort & style. I hate boring socks. When you start to wear handmade socks afterwards you don't go back. I have just four pairs of hand knitted socks from last winter. They have a long life to them. There so resistant and very durable. I keep them going by machine washing and hanging them to dry.

My plan is to bring my collection up to at least seven pairs. This is numero five. One things for sure, I say NO to store bought socks. And when it gets too hot I'll go bare feet. After this, I'll have to convince my partner to get rid of his store bought socks. He already owns three pairs of handmade socks so I'll have to get busy.

I love and enjoy knitting socks and have made them for friends. It's a little pleasure of life. Considering each pair takes about 35 hours to make. I would have to charge $350 per pair! That's if I wanted to make a living off it. That's crazy.

For now, I'll have fun knitting socks for myself and a few of my lucky friends!

Sunday, May 2, 2010

Make it Vancouver!

Make It...
The Croatian Center, Vancouver.


Just returned from Make It, Vancouver. A busy/fun selling all things handmade show. Firstly, I'm impressed by the quality from the merchants. And secondly, the diversity of the merchants showing.

This is the last weekend and I'm amazed how the event organizers can pack so many merchants in one small room. I fell in love with many merchants but my favorite was the hand dyed scarfs. I've never seen anything like it before. Very original, well made with a Turkish trim design. Sorry I don't have the pictures but here's the link.

I plan on being part of it in November. And coming back from it was a great experience on what it takes to be part of this handmade show. The merchants and customers all seem to be having a grand time. I do understand that to be part of a craft show is so important. You come in direct contact with your customer and exchange ideas between artisans. It's all very supportive.

Now my task is what to include to sell. November will offer more of a winter theme and Christmas will be around the corner!