Paul Fischer's Thoughts, Photos, and Audio

Mad Science Experiments In Banana Bread

2009-11-12T15:36:55Z

Anyone who has a baby around knows that they love bananas. You also know babies can't finish all the bananas you buy before they go brown, then spotted, and finally black. I think this child based excess of old bananas was the original source for the plethora of banana bread recipes. Regardless, my solution to stem the brown & black banana tide has been to make banana bread.
My original recipe for this comes from Bon Appetit Magazine. It's called their Best Ever Banana Bread and what makes it best ever is copious amounts of fat and sugar. In our quest for a healthier recipe, I sought out one with much lower fat and sugar. After two false starts I settled on this recipe from Recipe Zaar.

The addition of the apple sauce adds a nice flavor and when I stumbled across granny smith apple sauce snack cups in the store, I decided to give that a try. The granny smith made a huge difference. It really adds an extra dimension to the banana bread, giving it just a little bit of sour taste. So, of course, I decided to punch that up with even more.

I ran into a problem when I decided to add two entire snack cups to the mix. This added a lot more fruit material and liquid. I've been compensating with an extra 1/2 cup of flour and a pinch more baking soda and baking powder. So far that seems to have corrected and made a better cake, but I think I still need to add more of them to make it the best yet.

I also changed the cooking method to cream the sugar and butter first. This made a fantastic difference in texture. The BB is much lighter and fluffier now. I also triple the vanilla. I think everything needs much more vanilla than is in the recipe.

Another option, which I haven't tried, would be to hold back one or two of the bananas, but I think that might change the taste too much. Given the way we go through bananas, I'm baking about one BB a week. So it won't be long before I decide to try another variation.

If anyone knows of a source of granny smith apple sauce that doesn't come in snack cups, please let me know by leaving a comment.

In the mean time, here's the recipe as it stands:

4 very ripe bananas
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup white sugar
2 tablespoons butter, softened
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon + a pinch baking soda
1/2 teaspoon + a pinch baking powder
1 egg
2 Motts Granny Smith applesauce snack cups

Cream softened butter and sugar together in a stand mixer for 5 minutes on medium.
Add bananas into the bowl and mash for another 5 minutes on medium or until pulverized.
Add all other ingredients and mix well.
Pour into a large greased loaf pan (or you can split it in half and use two smaller loaf pans).
Bake at 350 degrees for 50 to 60 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into center of cake comes out clean.

Poached Pears Recipe

2009-08-19T17:16:36Z

Last weekend I discovered I had some Bartlett pears and most of a bottle of wine in the fridge that needed to get eaten. Both were still good, but wouldn't be so for long. Immediately I thought of making Poached Pears. I hit the FoodTV site for a recipe, which I used as the basis for my creation.

The wine was a sweet white from Fiore winery in Maryland. We picked it up at our friends Mike and Nikki's wedding back last year.

I deviated heavily from the FoodTV recipe and the results were spectacular. Here's my version of the recipe:

4 firm Bartlett pears

1 bottle, less 1 wine glass full, Fiore Malvasia Bianca Dolce

1/3 to 1/2 cup of sugar

6 peppercorns

1 vanilla bean

Unlike all other Poached Pear recipes I've seen, I broke down the pears into 1/8 sections. First I peeled and quartered them and removed the core and seeds. Then I cut them across the width to make them all about the same sized chunks. I've always had a problem with the standard recipe because the insides tend to be raw while the outside is falling apart.

I put the pears in a small sauce pan so I could keep the height of the liquid as high as possible. I emptied the bottle of wine in the pan and turned the heat to one notch over medium. I dumped in the remainder of sugar from the coffee service, which is why I don't know exactly how much went in the pot. To this I added 6 whole black peppercorns and a vanilla bean.

I split the vanilla bean in half and scraped out the insides. I learned to do that from Alton Brown. I don't work with whole vanilla beans, and while they're expensive, it made the dish truly awesome. I put the casing and the insides of the bean in the pan and covered until it started to simmer. Then I took the cover off and let it cook just over a simmer. I guess you'd call it a low boil.

After 10 minutes I checked the pears and they weren't tender enough. I checked them again 5 minutes later and they seemed all right. In hind sight, I would have given them another 5 minutes because some of the pieces weren't completely tender. This gives me an estimate of 20 minutes.

Once done I removed the pears with a slotted spoon and put them in a tupperware container which I sealed and set aside. I then strained the liquid to remove the vanilla bean and peppercorns and put it back on the heat. I reduced the sauce to a syrup.

As it turned out, the pears had a expressed a lot of liquid while cooling the the tupperware. When I mixed the syrup back in with the pears it got soupy again. So I poured off all the liquid and reduced it again until I was returning a nice thick syrup back to my cooled pears. You might want to wait for the pears to cool and pour their liquid back into the sauce pan before doing the reduction.

We at these as is, with syrup, and over vanilla ice cream and angel food cake. We tried them hot and cool and both were awesome. The potency of the syrup seemed to fade over the course of a week, so I wouldn't keep them around for more than 3 days. I just can't eat that much fruit in one sitting.

This recipe is awesome. Don't skimp on the vanilla bean. It really makes the whole thing worth while.

I plan on trying this again, but I'll probably double the recipe. It's a lot of work for just 4 pears and 8 pears worth would be better.

Awesome New iPhone Game

2009-06-20T18:20:06Z

My friend, Greg Seidman, has released his first game for the iPhone. Circuits, is a cool game where you rotate parts on the board trying to form a circuit before time runs out. I've been testing the game for months and I really love it. You can find out more about Circuits here.

The game is addictive. I've played it for hours and that's saying something for Mr. A.D.D. Usually I put iPhone games down after a short time. But not Circuits. Give it a try, I'm sure you'll love it.

Baby's First Laugh [updated 2/18]

2009-02-17T20:39:48Z

This is one of the coolest things ever. Eliza is just 4 1/2 months old now, and this is her first real belly laugh. I get choked up just thinking about it.

I made three files so you can download the one that's right for your net connect.

Eliza's First Laugh: Large (50 MB) / Medium (21 MB) / Mobile (11 MB - great for iPhone/iPod)

[Updated 2/18] - I've added a like to YouTube. Some people were having problems downloading the files and playing them. Most notably my Dad. What's the point of posting baby videos if our parents can't see them? Click here for the YouTube version of Eliza's First Laugh.

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Flickr Photo Meme

2008-12-04T14:38:17Z

I usually don't respond when I'm tagged for a meme's. Time is scarce these days, but this one is pretty neat, so I'm making the time. Andy from the Andycast tagged Dani Cutler from the Truth Seekers podcast and Dani tagged me. The meme is you have to go to your 6th page of flickr photos, and blog about the 6th picture. Here's Andy's post. Here's Dani's post from her personal blog.

I have a ton of family only and friend only pictures on my Flickr feed. I chose to use the 6th picture on the 6th page that a non-friend/family person would see. If you go to the 6th photo on the 6th page and don't see this picture, then you're a friend or family member on Flickr, so you see pictures of mine that most people don't see.

Balticon has been an anchor in my life almost immediately from the time I moved to the D.C. area. I has been my favorite con for over 15 years and about a decade ago I started volunteering my time to help run the it. I started out helping CZ run computer gaming, and eventually took over the reigns as his personal life got more complex. When my interest in computer gaming waned I started the podcasting track and the Balticon Podcast.

This turns out to be one of the best things I've ever done. The podcasting track morphed into the new media track and now includes blogs, podcasts, and web comics. I've met and become friends with a huge creative community which enriches my life on a daily basis. I can't remember a time when I've had so many friends all over the world with whom I've been able to create new and better things.

The first year we had the podcasting track at Balticon, someone wanted to have blue crabs. I think it might be Mur Lafferty who made the initial suggestion. Since then a blue crab feast has become a regular event for the podcasters at Balticon.

For Balticon 42, Earl Newton is the one who really made it happen. He got everyone together, placed the order, wrangled the crabs, and found us a place to eat. The large paper bag is full of steamed spiced Maryland goodness.

Where do you ear blue crab? First you go to Maryland because they make the best. Ideally, blue crabs are eaten outside and with beer. A good crowd of friends always makes the meal that much sweeter.

How do you eat a blue crab? Then you get some plain brown paper for a table cloth and a big wooden mallet. You open up the body of the crab like a pop top soda can and get the mustard and good body meat. Then you take the mallet and smash the claws to get the delicious claw meat. If you're a pro, you can get a little meat from the legs. I am not, so I skip them.

Don't bother washing up until you've had your fill. Maryland blue crabs, eaten this way, are messy. Downright delectable, but very very messy.

Our yearly crab feast is always one of the high points for me. I expend so much energy getting the track coordinated and getting recordings for the Balticon Podcast, that it really matters to me that I get to sit down with my friends and peers and just enjoy the company and the meal.

Baby Announcement: More for Less

2008-12-03T15:58:42Z

Martha and I had our first child, Eliza Rose, on Oct 1. Since then we've been sleep deprived and are suffering from Mommy Brain and Daddy Brain respectively. We both took extensive time off from work to be with baby, and are now back at work. And during that time we tried to keep up with things we would normally do around the house as well as baby specific etiquette things.

The most notable etiquette item that stuck in my mind was Thank You notes. The outpouring of kindness and generosity at the baby shower really blew me away. I am still in awe regarding the overwhelming turn out and things people sent to help little Eliza's get a good start on life. I spent weeks writing Thank You notes, signing them, and sending them out. Natalie Morris did a big batch for us, which really blew me away. She's been such a great help.

But after the Thank You notes went out, I got a letter from my Aunt Lenny. You need to know some things about my relationship with her. Where my mom was ADD, my aunt is OCD and as a child I could mess things up or break them the second my aunt's back was turned. Lenny and I have never really communicated directly, most of our conversation goes through third parties. So I was a little surprised and delighted to get a letter from her. Among the other things in the letter there was a simple note written on a post-it sized piece of paper. It said, "When you send out Birth Announcements make sure you include the people on this list..."

Up until this point I hadn't really considered the need to send out birth announcements. I sent out invites to the baby shower, posted the birth on Twitter, and emailed 1/2 the known universe. As you might expect, I'm now consumed with the idea of getting the baby announcements sent out. And so, having learned to avoid anything requiring extensive amounts of time to assemble I set about looking for printable birth announcements on the web.

Most of my original findings were in two classes, neither of which interested me. The first was online printing services which would pre-print your custom announcements. The second was large kits which included ribbons, bows, multiple pieces, colors, and types of papers, and therefore required a minute or two per announcement to assemble. Both of these choices were terribly expensive, ranging from $1.25 all the way up to $4 or $5 each. Since I have about 50 names on my list, and Martha probably has about the same, we were looking at a minimum of $125 for 100 invites which we still had to address. Then we had to add shipping to get them to us and postage to send them out. That would round the total to about $175 minimum.

After much searching and modifying my google search terms, I finally found a site that offers blank cards and envelopes in bulk. My Expression offers a small but nice selection of cards which can be ordered blank in bulk for less. We purchased 100 cards and envelopes for less than $60. That includes shipping. I'll try to post more when they arrive, but they look very nice. Hopefully the picture on the web will meet my expectations.

Once we have the cards we'll be able to print our own announcement text and then print the envelopes. I plan to include a photo of Eliza Rose in the announcement. Once Martha and I select a photo, I plan on using some of the "50 free photos" trial offers that you see from certain shutterbug websites. If I can find 2 such offers I can get 100 5x7 prints to put in with my 5.5 x 7.75 announcements.

I'd rather not pay someone $0.25 per envelope and $0.50 per card to have them print on blank stock, when I have printers at home which can do the same job. I'd rather take that money and put it in an IRA or 529 Education Savings Plan.

Even thought I'm going to be doing some of the work at home, I've limited myself to printing the cards, addressing the envelopes, stuffing the envelopes, and affixing stamps. As much as that sounds like a ton of work, most of it will be done by the old Epson printer I just picked up off FreeCycle. The end result will be a nice birth announcement at less than half the cost with very little assembly work. That's a win-win situation to me.

Protect Medical Services from Religious Objectors

2008-09-04T19:55:41Z

I thought you may be interested in this Action Alert from the Secular Coalition for America: http://action.secular.org/t/5484/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=25413

The Department of Health and Human Services have submitted proposed regulations that would allow anyone working or volunteering in any medical or research facility which receives any federal funding to refuse to serve patients or conduct research.

The current proposal leaves out any provision to protect patients (e.g. requiring that someone else serve them – even in emergency situations.) The proposal is so broad that it could allow individuals to interfere with medical services in a number of areas.

I believe that medical professionals (whether they are doctors, pharmacists, technicians, or EMTs) are employed in the field of medicine, not spirituality. They have the right to consider their own religious beliefs in determining what medical decisions they make for their own care, but their personal religion should never infringe on the right of a patient to seek products or procedures that they have a legal right to obtain.

TAKE ACTION NOW

Please tell the HHS that these proposed regulations to allow a medical professional to object to performing tasks that they oppose for religious reasons will mean denying a patient the right to medically sound information, products, and procedures.

Mission Style Entertainment Center for Sale - $150 obo - Some Scuffs

2008-09-03T16:29:17Z

I have a Bassett Mission Style entertainment center in good condition with some scuffs. The piece measures 62″ (H) x 48.5″ (W) x 25.25″ (D). We were able to get our 36″ tube TV in it but we had to take the doors off. That particular TV has built-in speakers on each side which add an extra 8″ of width to a normal 36″ TV. The TV that used to go in it measures 29″ (H) x 38″ (W) x 27″ (D).
It has a surge suppresser built-in with 3 outlets and protection for a cable TV cable. It has a cabinet below with two pull out drawers. The drawers had plastic inserts for VCR tapes which we removed and will include.
The unit is in good shape, but does have some scratches and scrapes. If you’re handy with furniture touch-up markers you can make it look like new. There is nothing wrong with it structurally. The original price on it was around $1000.
Pictures can be found on my blog: pfischer.com
Contact me through comments on this post, twitter, or email (see contacts page).

Playing for Keeps book launch today

2008-08-25T12:56:11Z

Mur Lafferty's fantastic super hero novel, Playing for Keeps launched today.

Playing for Keeps on Amazon

Mur is an author, blogger, and podcaster who has provided thousands of hours of enjoyment to us all. Today she needs your help. She's making a run on Amazon.com and asks that you purchase the book now. So stop reading this blog post and click on the link and buy the book.
Now.
Please.
Do it for the Mur.
Give something back to she who has given so much for us.
Now.
I mean it.
Click on the link now. Buy the book. Help Mur show big publishing what we can do as a community.
-Paul

Sekret Projekt Kingfish - We're Having A Baby!

2008-04-23T20:09:47Z

Sometime in early October, Martha and I will be adding a very small person to our household. That's right--we're pregnant. Not quite in the traditional way, but pregnant none the less. We've been working on Sekret Projekt Kingfisher for a long time, and all our hard work is finally coming to fruition.

It's been a long journey of ups and downs filled with doctor's visits, medicine, surgery, grief, and hope. Suffice it to say that we got a lot of help along the way and are still receiving it daily. We'll post more about our surrogacy journey later. For now we present you with a very early portrait of our little human. We aren't even sure what sex he/she is but healthy is all that matters.

Little Blue Herons from St. John’s River Florida

2008-04-11T01:13:10Z

I just posted the first pictures from our trip to the St. John's river in Florida.

You can see them at PFischer.com

I hope you enjoy it.

-Paul

Test from new XJournal

2008-02-26T02:18:18Z

Testing

Buy a Piece of Us - Macs and Stuff for Sale on eBay

2008-01-15T02:30:10Z

Greetings All,

We have a pile of stuff we just put on eBay. Please help us out by taking a look, maybe we have something you need, and you know it's coming from someone you can trust.

The items for sale are:

Apple iMac 20" G5 1.8 GHz

Apple iBook 14" G4 1.42 GHz

Apple Powerbook15" G4 1.5 GHz

Apple 1GB DDR2 SDRAM

Apple 2x 1GB DDR2 SDRAM

Apple 2x 512 MB DDR2 SDRAM

Radio Systems TI-101 Telphone Audio Interface - great for podcast interview or a conferencing setup

Thanks for your interest. Email us through eBay if you have questions.

Wicked Cool Bird Picture

2008-01-06T19:00:18Z

Ravyn sent me this one. I love it.

Link

OLPC - G1G1

2007-11-14T21:40:04Z

Watch the video! I got mine!

Just $400 buys you two, one to keep, one to give. Plus, you get a year of WiFi from TMobile!

Canon EOS Digital Rebel SLR + Lens and Extras for Sale

2007-11-13T19:34:49Z

I have just put my old Canon EOS Digital Rebel SLR camera up for sale on eBay. It works great. I have posted some pictures on Flickr that my sister-in-law took with it last weekend. If you're in the market for a digital SLR from someone you know and trust, look no further.

The Monster Under the Bed

2007-11-13T01:09:12Z

Another great video from your friends at the ADD Cast.

When night falls, the monster under the bed comes out to eat your toes. But what could possibly cause that monster to want to change jobs? Who is the real monster under the bed?

Watch it on Lulu.tv!

Martha and Paul Guest Host Popular Internet Video Show

2007-11-05T14:10:12Z

Lulu TV's hit Internet show, This Day in Alternate History (TDAH pronounced Ta-Dah!), was guest hosted on Sunday Nov 4 by your favorite podcast hosts Paul Fischer and Martha Holloway.

In this episode of TDAH, we report from the World Science Fiction Convention in Yokohama, Japan. If you're a Godzilla fan, you can't afford to miss this one. Great Godzilla questions will be answered, such as what kind of women he like, his favorite recreation, why he really stomps Tokyo, and who is true love is.

Watch it here!

TDAH is up for The Best Video Blog of 2007. Please vote to help our friends at TDAH continue their rise to fame and fortune.

NaDruWriNi Podcast Nov 2 2007

2007-11-01T17:53:42Z

In solidarity with our NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) peers, we will be podcasting at 9pm on Friday Nov 2, 2007. This is for the ADDCast.

We are twisted and incapable of being serious about it. We'll be bringing on people who are drunk and attempting to write anything. This pandemonium will take place over a Skype call, through the magic of the Interweb.

Contact Paul at addcast@gmail.com to sign up for the event. Put "NaDruWriNi" (National Drunk Writing Night) in the subject line.

Typhoon Too Soon

2007-09-08T05:09:03Z

Looks like all the rain is a result of a Typhoon hitting Japan. We're catching the northern most part of it, and it's heading east, away from major population centers. Tomorrow looks like a rain day. Our plan is to find a cafe with bird feeders and try to get some pictures of some woodpeckers coming in for feeding. Failing that, we'll look for an Internet cafe bolted on to a coin-op laundry.

We're looking at 2-3 days of rain. That's most of the rest of our bird watching tour. I could get so many sympathy points if I could get this post online before it was all over. Such is my lot in life. I probably won't be able to post this until we're done bird watching and in Kyoto or Tokyo touring.

Poor me.

Any Day Birding is Better Than a Day at Work

2007-09-08T05:07:50Z

Just got back from our first full day of bird watching in Hokkaido. We went out before dawn and walked around a small overlook. We're in the area of the east Hokkaido marshes and there are Japanese Red Crowned Cranes here. The pre-breakfast walk was overcast and grey with just a little bit of drizzle falling from the sky.

Breakfast at the "Woody Hotel & Restaurant" (the real name, I kid you not) was excellent as expected. Dinner set the pace last night with 6 courses that made me feel like a judge on Iron Chef. Each course was better than the next and they went out of their way to make certain nothing they were serving me would cause me problems. If you haven't been following my blog the only things I can eat are rice, raw fish, and cardboard. Just kidding, but I do have problems with dairy, wheat, soy, onions, and peppers. The first course was a sashimi of Halibut. We also had salad and oysters (raw for me, baked for everyone else). They even made a soup with a poached tomato and a minced chicken meatball for me. Martha grabbed that and I asked for raw oysters. Martha did eat her baked oyster, her first. I'm really proud of her. Then a grilled fish course, which was perfectly cooked. Then a beef stew which fell apart and tasted awesome. Finally dessert, home made soft serve ice cream made with local Hokkaido milk. I got a very nice fruit plate.

After breakfast we started our tour of the marshes in earnest. Chris is our driver, tour leader, and guide. He did an excellent job bringing us to where the birds were. This is major league cool, and much less stress than trying to drive and find our way like we did in Ireland. They drive on the "wrong" side of the road here, so we would have been dangerous to ourselves and others.

We drove from spot to spot and saw some great birds. The best part was actually finding some Cranes. The JRC Cranes are mostly gone now, or living in the marsh, which has 5 foot tall plants hiding them. Still we managed to see 8-10 JRCCs in various locations. For me, the pictures really tell the story. We saw lots of Carrion and Thick Billed Crows, Black Kites, and Stone Chats. We also saw lots of woodpeckers and various types of tits. Yes, tits, that's their name; get your mind out of the gutter.

The downer for me was the cloudy sky. The clouds were thick although they only occasionally dropped rain on us. The real problem was lack of light. The Beast eats light like a Hummer drinks gasoline. There was just never enough light, especially when I was trying to shoot woodpeckers or passerines in flight. Still, any day birding is better than a day at work. Hey, I wouldn't be me if I didn't kvetch a little.

My photos are sunk to my iPod. Now that I have backups it's time to see what I got and delete the ones I don't want.

Sushi and Hot Tub

2007-09-08T05:06:43Z

The Woody Hotel and Restaurant continues to amaze and delight. We had huge amounts of the freshest sushi for dinner tonight. Also on the menu was a crab gratin and a crab egg custard. Sushi was huge. I couldn't eat any more when it was almost done. Then the main course showed up. It was pork, I had a little, but I was stuffed. Mostly I ate the veggies. I have no idea how the pork was cooked, but it was tender, sweet and delicious.

Diner was finished with ice cream for the rest and some of the sweetest watermelon I've ever had. I forgot to mention the African wine I had with dinner was great.

Following dinner we talked some about digital photography. I learned some and taught some. Then we went for a soak in the On-Sen (don't ask me to spell) the Japanese soaking hot tub.

Still full, very relaxed and going to bed soon.

Wed Morning Woody

2007-09-08T05:05:32Z

We flew into Kinshiro last night, no Sapporo. This is eastern Hokkaido. It's the least developed, and the most natural. So far it's been stunningly beautiful. It's very very green and very cool compared to Yokohama. There's also much less humidity.

It's 6:45 am and we're getting ready to drive over to the marsh and look for Japanese Cranes before breakfast. Last night they served an awesome dinner. Bird noise. Gotta go.

Mountains and Marshes

2007-09-08T05:04:23Z

Moves from the marshes of east Hokkaido to the mountains today. Lots of time in the car. Lots of rain and clouds. Saw a few new species, but not many. Still very happy being here. We knew when we booked the tour it was the wrong time of year, so we'll take what we can.

Still it's very relaxing seeing the mountain lakes. We had lunch at a lake as blue as copper sulfate solution. Now we're in our new guest house, nestled in the woods about 200 meters from a crater lake on an active volcano.

We stopped at the tourist place down the road to see what birds were out. There's a natural hot spring right by the boat ramp to warm your feet before and after going in the water. It's a nice reminder that there's still an active volcano under our feet. Sweet.

Just Off The Boat, ah Plane

2007-09-08T05:03:00Z

Right off the plane things were very different. This area isn't very heavily built up or populated. Plus, Hokkaido smells like apples.

Saw a Japanese Red Fox as we were leaving the airport.

Freaked out when I saw the trees. They had these long ephemeral trails coming off their crowns. It looked like some mystical energy heading up to the sky. Since I don't believe in that stuff, I postulated that they were some sort of orchard trees with something like a smudge pot to keep them warm against the cold night.

It turned out they were columns of insects. I don't know if they were hatching or mating, but it was strange and very cool. Pictures to come.