Anoopy

Saba Meishi (Mackerel Rice)

One of my top ten rices. It has that Japanese flavor profile I love with a mix of dashi, soy sauce, mirin and sake for the cooking liquid, and just about whatever else you want to put into the rice while it cooks. I used burdock root and carrots (I had these in frozen and julienned form from the Japanese grocery store), some sort of dry mushroom I had in my pantry (I don't know what it is but it was good!), and lots of ginger. This is Saba Meishi, or Mackerel Rice, but I'm sure other fish would work.

Original recipe here

I don't like it when it's overly sticky so I wash my Nishiki medium grain rice quite a bit until it's beautiful. And then I soak the mackerel in the rice washing liquid which apparently removes some of the fishiness.

Ruby Badam Barfi Block

I admit that the only thing I look forward to for Indian festivals like Dhiwali is the chance to make pretty deserts, and this Ruby Badam Barfi is the prettiest one yet. Ruby from the Ruby Chocolate, which is a pink colored chocolate variant I didn't know existed until now (and was thankfully in stock at Michaels of all places). Badam is almond, as this uses almond flour. And Barfi is... well it's Barfi, a desert that some liken to fudge. I topped it with freeze dried strawberries and raspberries, and edible flowers and foil. It looks like a lot of effort, but it took only 20 minutes.

Original Recipe...

(Actually the original original is from Hetal Vasavada's "Desi Bakes" and this desert is the cover image on the book.)

Airport Tow

I finally found out what happens when your airplane breaks down while on the ground at the airport. You call the tower and they send someone from Airport Ops to tow you, and you get to sit in the plane during the tow!

I should clarify that the plane didn't actually break down on the ground. It failed its mag check during runup due to a failed left mag, and I couldn't get it to restart after I'd let it die. My club maintenance was immediately able to get it started (although the mag issue was still present) so maybe I just suck at cranking the starter.

My Bald Spot Solution

One day we will live in a world where I can walk around like this in public but for now I can only play hair clips with my niece.

(That's a genuine Brian L "Weeds and Sardines" t-shirt I'm sporting btw. One day I too will offer Anoopy swag.)

Copycat In-n-Out Burger

I may actually like this more than my copy cat McDonalds burger, and once again it's all about the onion for me. While the McDonalds one uses rehydrated onion bits, this one just uses a slice of onion. With the secret sauce and the tomato and lettuce and crisped up bun, it tasted just like the real thing!

The only mysterious part here is how do they make it so that the onion and tomato always fit the bun perfectly? The center parts of both fit just right for me. So doesn't that mean they'll have to toss out most of the onion and tomato (or use it as scraps for other things?). I may need to take up employment at In-n-Out to find out!

Original recipe

3 Cup Pork Butt

This take on the classic Taiwanese 3 Cup Chicken probably deserves a name minus the "Butt," but the "Boston Butt" part near the collar is apparently best for this sort of braising because of the high fat content, so I made sure and got that cut. Minus the skin unfortunately because my Whole Foods doesn't have the skin on cuts.

The recipe video doesn't have measurements on the three cup part, but for this 3 pound pork shoulder I used 1/2 cup each of mirin, soy sauce (split half dark and light), and shaoxing rice wine.

Excellent with rice with a side of some quickly blanched greens (gailan here -- my favorite green!)

Big Plane Envy Pilatus Edition

I should start a Twitter or Thread or whatever where I just share pics of the big envy-inducing planes I see when flying around in my Cessna 172.

Big Plane Envy -- Piaggio Edition

I've decided that this is the plane I would buy if I could. It's a pusher with a canard and I don't know what any of that really means in terms of flight characteristics, but man is it pretty! This one was sitting on the ramp at Palo Alto as I walked to my tiny Cessna 172 for more cursed flight training.

Here's Owen flying it from nearby San Jose Airport.

Gay Lasers

... are the best lasers it seems! But seriously do these Gay Pride Parade rainbow lasers shoot all the way from Ferry Building down to Civic Center?

Fruity Pebbles

The last time I bought cereal was Cinnamon Toast Crunch three years ago so I could make this dulce de leche cinnamon toast crunch ice cream cake for my niece's first birthday: