Cold Fusion (actually Cold Brew Coffee)

Cold brew

In honor of this being the first week of spring I wanted to start this blog with Cold Brew Coffee. 

 

I originally became interested in cold brew coffee when I came upon a bottle of Chameleon Cold Brew Coffee at the grocery store.  Cold brew coffee is a strong flavorful concentrate which can be used for making iced coffee, mixed drinks, or for use in baking recipes that call for strong cooled coffee. 

 

Original Recipe:

http://www.bonappetit.com/recipes/2012/07/cold-brew-iced-coffee-concentrate

Ingredients
7 cups of cool water
12 ounces of course grind coffee

 

Equipment

Wooden Spoon

Large bowl (8+ cups)

Container (6+ cups)
Pitcher (for storage and serving)

Cheese cloth*

Fine mesh wire sieve
2-3 Basket Coffee filters

 

*Cheese Cloth,  A whole cheese cloth is too large and can be cut in half.   Be sure to open the cheese cloth all the way and cut in half,  then fold the cheese cloth to a size that will cover the sieve. Set the other cheese cloth aside for another time.

 

Brew

 

Place the 12oz of course coffee grounds in a large bowl.  Slowly pour the 7 cups of water over the grounds. Stir with wooden spoon to ensure all grounds are soaked. Cover the bowl with a Cheese Cloth*. Let the mixture stand 12 to 15 hours.

 

 

 

1st Filter

Place the cheese cloth in the wire sieve. Pour the mixture through cheese cloth/wire sieve and into another container.  Gather up the cheese cloth and squeeze out any last drops through the sieve.

 

2nd Filter

Place the paper basket coffee filter in the sieve and pour the filtered coffee through the filter/sieve into a pitcher or storage container. This can take some time. Depending on the size of your sieve you will need to pour, wait, and pour again multiple times. I normally swap out the filter as the it clogs with grounds and sediment.

 

Chill

Place in refrigerator for  4 – 6 hours,  stays fresh in refrigerator for 5 days

 

Iced Coffee

Pour over a glass of ice mix with equal parts milk or water.

Espresso Martini

http://www.kahlua.com/cocktails/inspiring/espresso-martini/ 

 

Brewing up a new blog

I first decided to write a coffee blog when I purchased a new espresso maker.  I then started to research the finer points of brewing coffee. I was curious about the grind, temperature and brew methods. I found a number of interesting brewing methods and ideas which I will explore later in this blog. Ironically it was the process I found most interesting. Please do not misunderstand I Love Coffee, but its more than that.

 

I don’t make coffee because I “need” it to get me through the day, it is not about the caffeine To me coffee is so much more than a drink. To me, coffee is a ritual, which creates moments – wonderful moments.  It is the moment of euphoria from the aroma of freshly ground beans.  A moment when a freshly brewed cup warms and comforts your hands on a cold morning.  It is the moment of anticipation and the sense of possibility that a fresh cup creates. It is about the bliss of the first sip of a prefect* cup of coffee.

Therefore, this blog will discuss different ways of brewing coffee to satisfy a mood and create moments along the way.

Wait. You want me to do what?

So my wife and I were watching “True Grit” and were really getting into the movie. Just as things were getting good my Denon AV Receiver ‘clicked’ and we lost audio. I initially thought the speaker wires might have touched and clipped the amp off, but all the wires were secure, all the inputs were good and the video was switching fine.

First thing the next morning -after coffee, I disconnected everything and tried the Tuner, Analog input, Digital input nothing worked.At this point I did a settings reset to factory default and still no audio. I had pretty much resigned myself to having to send the unit out for repair. So I grabbed the box from under the stairs. Checked the receipt and the unit was still under warrenty so I called Denon.I spoke with Laurie at technical support and she said she knew what the problem was. OK. So I listened. She said that some dust had worked its way into the HeadPhones jack and it tripped the sensors and all I had to do was put some compressed air into the Jack.Worth a shot right? So five quick bursts of compressed air, hit the power switch and presto – sweet music.

Ironically,  I saw a post about a similar issue when someone plugged his headphones into his MacBook.  When they unplugged their headphones they still had no sound on their speakers.   I suggested he hit the headphone jack with some compressed air and it fixed his issue as well.So it turns out this is a common problem, so to avoid this issue in the future, I have covered my headphone jack with some black electrical tape.

Regarding Dan Wheldon #4

I am not a gear head or a grease monkey.  I can not quote torque, 0-60 times or who is the current NASCAR points leader.  I  will admit that I follow both Formula 1 (F1) and IndyCar (IRL).  I look forward to Sunday’s during the Spring and Summer because I know I have at least one race to watch or two on a really good Sunday.  My DVR will record F1 on early on Sunday morning when they are racing in Turkey, Japan, Korea or Singapore  otherwise I will make every attempt to watch the GPs live.  With IndyCar I was able to tune into Versus – now part of NBCSports, on a Saturday to catch up on qualifying in anticipation for Sunday’s race.   So as a fan I want to contribute to the conversation around the tragic loss of Dan Wheldon.

While I have never met Dan Wheldon, I tend to believe all of the positive sentiments people have been sharing regarding him as a competitor, a team-mate or a human being.   I watched Dan pretty closely in the 2010 season and was sad he didn’t have a team or sponsor in 2011.   But Dan’s love of IndyCar and the Indy 500 continued to manifest even while he was unemployed.  Most drivers in Dan’s situation would have moved on.  They would have switched to the Australian V8 circuit,  the Rolex GP series or some other event, but Dan’s love was IndyCar and more specifically the Indy 500.

In a year without a job, he continued to spend time in and around IRL.  As a part-time correspondant on Versus you could hear and feel his love and passion for racing in IndyCar.   He worked exclusively for a time with Dallara on the new 2012 chassis  that will define safety and IndyCar performance for future seasons.   Dan also put together a one race deal to drive in the Indy 500, a race which he won over JR Hildebrand who replaced him at Panther racing after a  back pay fall-out.  With no disrespect to JR Hildebrand, #4 is Dan’s number – not #77 that he raced in Vegas or #98 that he won with at Indy.

So with that back story I was excited that Dan was going to race in Las Vegas and go for the $5Million Challenge.  This was a challenge that a qualified and seasoned IndyCar driver could conquer.

I have read a number of  knee-jerk comments that the accidents at IndyCar races were because Indy drivers are not as good as F1 drivers or that IndyCar’s are too fast for oval tracks and should be relegated to street and road courses or that open-wheel / open cockpit cars provide little or no protection for the drivers.  I disagree.

There are numerous IndyCar drivers who are as-good or better than F1 drivers.  They are experienced, talented and understand how to be competitive without being dangerous.   At the same time there are a few drivers in IRL who should not be competing at this level,  I will not call them out here but it never surprises me when they cause an accident and chalk another DNF.   Sadly, I have lost count of the accidents and collisions which drivers safely walked away from; mostly due to the Dallara IndyCar design.  I also think it was this fact that Sunday’s crash at LVMS caught me so off guard.

I started Sunday with eggs, coffee and the Korean F1 Grand Prix recorded from earlier that morning.   After some family time and chores, the 3 PM IndyCar season finale rolled around and after an un-eventful start the crash in the 11th lap caused the second red flag of the season.  Lulled into a false sense of safety,  I watched the drama unfold for 2+ hours completely shocked that  1 of the 12 drivers did not walk away from that collision.

The next day the questions regarding the safety of the cars, the track, and the viability of IndyCar running on Ovals were all questioned.  My wife asked “Which driver caused it?”,  the honest answer was “None of the drivers caused it”.   Draft zones, air pockets, tire debris, anything could have caused those cars to loose down force and cause a chain reaction.    If blame is to be placed it rests squarely with Brian Barnhart, President of Competition and Operations and Randy Bernard, CEO of IndyCar.

Bernard’s necessity to bring NASCAR popularity to the IndyCar brought about dangerous situations like side-by-side rolling restarts, triple wide ovals, and 34 cars in a starting grid.   Just because this formula works for NASCAR does not mean it works for IndyCar.  Don’t get me wrong, ovals are fine but like F1,  I prefer street and road courses.  If races are going to occur on Ovals, then they need to limit the field not just in quantity but in quality.

As I mentioned before there are some drivers who should not be racing in IndyCar, and should be penalized for some of the havoc they have created over the past season.  This where  Barnhart needs to be schooled.  F1 race control is extremely disciplined and deals it’s penalties consistently and fairly throughout the season.   Brian Barnhart struggles to deal is penalties consistently from lap to lap.  IRL race control also needs to listen to their drivers, the travesty at LVMS and the laughable situation at the Move That Block Indy 225 would have been avoided with a little common sense.  IndyCar needs to remove Barnhart they also need to enforce their penalties and probation rulings and move some of the less qualified drivers down to IndyLights.   Just because Penske, Panther, and Ganassi racing can afford to sponsor multiple drivers it does not mean those drivers are qualified to remain in the series.

The next challenge for IndyCar is lack of engine and aerokit competition.   Since the chassis, wings and engines are all the same make the performance of the cars so similar that cars tend to group up and increase the possibility of accidents.   Like F1, IndyCar is remedying this situation by introducing Chevy engines to the existing Honda power plants, Lotus will be following soon after.

If IndyCar is to survive and Dan Wheldon’s death is not to be in vein then change needs to happen.  Some of the changes for 2012 are a step in the right direction, but much more needs to be done.

USB cable management

Yes.  Cable Management is an oxymoron but we have to try.  Right?

While USB cables have made some interconnections simpler it has not completely removed the mess or reduced quantities of cables.  I have often avoided my desk and worked in other rooms just so I didn’t have to put all those cables away.   Let’s review my cable inventory:

• 1 Mini USB cable for my cell phone, digital camera and / or programmable remote.
• 1 Micro USB cable for my e-reader
• 1 USB headset for my cell phone
• 1 proprietary USB cable for MP3

And like many of you I have more than one of each,  honestly check your desk drawers and laptop bags, these cables multiply while we sleep.

Getting Organized

Finding a cable wrap / tie system that works for you is critical.  Otherwise you will end up with a tangled useless mess. During my photo-a-day photo blog I posted a picture of the Gear Tie.  Gear Ties are great because they are strong and are available in numerous sizes and colors.  They can wrap, hold and organize everything from computer cables, garden gear or camping supplies.  Gear Ties are great because they hold things very secure but they can get expensive and I did not need that level of security at my desk or when traveling.  I do not recall when I  realized that these zipper pulls which are great for extending the size of a zipper on a fleece, a backpack or camera bag, but they are also great for cable ties.  Like the Gear Ties they come in an array of colors but they are very cheap,  you can buy a dozen for under $4.00.

Using a simple wide finger cable wrap, slip the loop of the zipper pull through the top loop of the cable then slip the plastic end of the pull through its own loop.   It works best if you can wrap your cables and have both ends meet at the top of the loop.

Home

At home you can try a few different methods,  for a while I used Lifehacker’s DIY Toilet Paper Organizer.  Luckily my desk drawers are the right height that a TP roll will sit upright, but a nice decorator box on a shelf works well too.

But what if your desk drawers are full and your desktop or shelf space is limited?  If you want to keep your desktop clutter free install some tea-cup hooks under your desk, on either a side panel or modesty panel and use the zipper pulls as hangers.

Travel

As I mentioned above I have at least two of each of these cables so I keep an entire set that I use for travel.  I also bring my ZAGG Sparq 2.0, a USB Wall and Car Charger.  I store all of these in a nice  gadget bag that holds everything I need to charge / connect these devices while on the road.  I recently used my ZAGG Sparq and my travel kit as part of our emergency plans when hurricane Irene came up the coast.   I charged the ZAGG Sparq the night before the hurricane and put my travel kit with our disaster supplies incase we had to leave on short notice.

I hope you find some of these suggestions useful and please let me know some of your tricks as I still have more cables than I know what to do with.

Eye-Fi SD Connect X2 review

So what does a gadget addict do once they’ve exhausted their gadget wishlist? They start a new hobby! That’s what I did a few months ago when I became interested in digital photography.

One of the more interesting gadgets I found for a computer/photography geek is the Eye-Fi SDHC memory card.

The Eye-Fi Connect X2 is a standard 4GB Class 6 SDHC memory card capable of storing whatever formats your digital camera utilizes. What makes Eye-Fi interesting is the built in wi-fi card and stack. This wi-fi stack allows you to automatically upload your JPEG photos to your PC or the Internet while the card is still in your camera.

Setup and Configuring

The Eye-Fi Connect X2 is very easy to set up and use although some of the concepts were initially foreign to me, I will explain those later.  Once you unpack the Eye-Fi Connect X2 you need install the Eye-Fi Desktop Software which requires Adobe Air.  The software is pre-loaded on the Eye-Fi card under the Start Here folder, so insert your card into your card reader or use the provided SD / USB card reader or download the software from here.     The Eye-Fi Center desktop software serves two purposes,  first it allows you to configure your Eye-Fi Connect X2  preferences and wireless network it also installs the Eye-Fi viewer and helper software.

Once the Eye-Fi Center desktop software is installed you will need to create an Eye-Fi View account,  which is used to upload photos to the Eye-Fi servers as a proxy or configure your settings, store and/or share your photos on the public internet.   Next you need to configure your wireless network and Eye-Fi card preferences.   This is the first decision point for how you prefer to manage the relationship between your computer and the Eye-Fi relationship.   Your Eye-Fi card can behave as either a wireless client, much like your computer or tablet device or as a wireless host.    When used as a host the Eye-Fi card will act much like your home wireless router with a network/SSID and can accept connections from devices such as your tablet or computer.  For first timers it is easiest to configure your Eye-Fi card as a client on your home wireless network.  To do this start in the ‘Private Network’ tab and select the name of your wireless home network from the discovered networks drop down or select ‘Other Network’ to enter your SSID and/or wireless network security information and click ‘add network to card’.  Once your home wireless network is registered with the Eye-Fi your cards configuration is sent to the Eye-Fi server where it is stored.

Next you will need to determine how you want to handle Photos, Videos, Notifications and your Transfer Mode.   Please be aware,  Eye-Fi has numerous products and not all products have all the features listed on the desktop software.  For example, the entry level product discussed here – Eye-Fi Connect X2, only supports JPEG image transfer.  It does not support RAW file types,  encoded video or Geotagging.  Those features can be found in either the Geo, Explore, Mobile, or Pro Models.   These other models also vary in available memory from 4GB to 8GB.

I will limit my discussion to the Photo and Transfer Mode preferences.  From the Computer tab under the Photo tab in the Eye-Fi Center you can select the default directory to store your transferred photos you can also define how the sub-directories are defined.  The folders can be undefined which will bulk drop all of your photos into the default directory or organized by localized or customized date folders.  The date can also be based on the upload or photo creation ‘taken’ date.  Once these settings are defined you are free to take photos and wirelessly have them transferred to your computer.    I took a number of large (4752×3168) JPEG test shots, and in under 40 seconds the Eye-Fi card connected to the Eye-Fi Helper application on my computer  started downloading the images and within a minute or two all the photos were available on my hard drive.

Online options and Relay Transfer

The Transfer Mode tab was the first time I scratched my head while configuring the Eye-Fi card probably because I found the organization and usage of the term Transfer Mode to be confusing.  As discussed the Eye-Fi card can be configured as a client or a host.  You can also choose to communicate with your computer directly or indirectly via the Eye-Fi servers as a proxy.

For example if you have configured your Eye-Fi card as client on your private network your Eye-Fi card will only transfer your photos if both your camera and computer are powered on and the Eye-Fi Helper software is loaded and active.  If you would like your photos transferred from your Eye-Fi card when you computer is off you will need to check the ‘Enable relay transfer for Eye-Fi card’ option under the Transfer Mode/Relayed Transfer tab. This allows your photos to be transferred to the online Eye-Fi servers and Viewer service through your wireless home network then downloaded to your hard drive once your computer is powered on. **Please note that there is little or no security while your photos are being transferred to the Eye-Fi View website. According to information available on the Eye-Fi forums, the communication of the Eye-Fi servers is done via REST APIs but almost always over HTTP not HTTPS.

If you regularly upload photos to Facebook, Flicker Picasa, Snapfish or even photo print processing services like Wal*Mart, or Ritzpix you can configure these settings under the Online tab under Photos.  You can also choose to allow your photos to be displayed on the Eye-Fi View website by selecting ‘Upload all items to Eye-Fi View’ under the Eye-Fi View tab.  With the purchase of an Eye-Fi X2 card Eye-Fi View allows you to store an unlimited number of photos for 7 days.  This allows you to access your photos from anywhere that you have web access, you can also select photos and share the link via email, Twitter, or Facebook.   Again, be aware of what you do and do not want available on the public internet.

Via the Relayed Transfer setting I was able to upload 7 Large (4752×3168) images to the online Eye-Fi Viewer. The first image showed up on-line in about 1 minute, and all 7 images were uploaded in about 4 minutes. Waking my laptop from standby the Eye-Fi center on my laptop immediately started to download the images to Eye-Fi center in about a minute.

I have found the Eye-Fi extremely convenient.  I no longer  need to bring the camera to my desk, unpack it from the bag, hook up the USB cable or eject the SDHC card to transfer the images to my computer. Nor do I have to wait for the process to complete to disconnect the camera from the laptop and put it away. With the Eye-Fi I can just turn on the camera when I am in range of my home or connected wireless network and the task starts and finishes un-attended.

Direct Mode

If you are away from home and traveling with your laptop, camera and Eye-Fi card you can configure your card to communicate directly with your computer while disconnected from your home wireless network.  You will need to have your Eye-Fi card inserted into your computer to make these configuration changes. From the Eye-Fi Center desktop software, go to the Direct Mode tab under the Network tab.

Under the Direct Mode tab in the Mange dialog you can configure the Eye-fi to only activate the Direct Mode if there are no known Wi-Fi networks in range.  You can use the sliders on the screen to determine how long the Eye-Fi card will look for a known network and how long to leave the direct connection active.

The Direct Mode SSID and Password will show the necessary information to create the pairing between your laptop wireless card and the Eye-Fi’s wireless network.  The ‘Start Direct Mode Network’ button will turn on the SSID broadcast for your Eye-Fi card and will allow you to configure the wireless connection on your laptop to connect automatically when in active.

Returning the Eye-Fi card to the camera and shutting down my home network my laptop found the Eye-Fi SSID which was configured to automatically connect.  Once the laptop is connected the Eye-Fi helper software found the photos which needed to be downloaded and began its work.

Mobile options

Eye-Fi also has some mobile apps available for both iOS and Android.  These applications make it possible (not easy) to consolidate photos you might snap with your mobile phone or tablet into your larger collection via Eye-Fi. The Eye-Fi mobile app can also act just like your computer and you can direct connect your Eye-Fi card to your iOS or Android device.  Personally, I would only go from Eye-Fi to my mobile device if I wanted to quickly share a photo on the internet when I did not have my laptop  or a wi-fi hot spot available.

Issues

I am sad that Eye-Fi limits the file types that each of its cards can transmit.  Essentially there should be no significant difference between each model of Eye-Fi card you can purchase but if you purchase a low end model you are essentially buying a high-end model that has been firmware crippled.   I would much rather transmit my photos in RAW not JPEG.    I have not specifically tested the speeds but I think when I have RAW images on my Eye-Fi card the performance of the transfer of the JPEG files slows down.  It is very possible that the card firmware is spending cycles looking at the large RAW files even if it does not plan on transferring them.

Sadly, the configuration of the Eye-Fi mobile apps is too confusing for me to articulate here. Maybe another blog post to dive deeper into these capabilities. Unlike the Eye-Fi products which limit the file types based on the product you own the Eye-Fi apps allow you to move photos and videos.

I would also like to see some documentation regarding Eye-Fi’s transfer protocols.  The absence of information and the rumor that the files are transferred without encryption between the Eye-Fi card and the back-end servers moves me outside of my comfort level.  If I knew the communications was protected or encrypted I would probably use Eye-Fi View more.

Overall the Eye-Fi is an excellent device, it truely simplifies image mangement and transfer.

Dinner

New Lens (55mm – 250mm)

Sun catcher

New Roof