Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Halloween Trix by Adults

Halloween in my lifetime was always a time for mischief.  Nothing has changed.  We must have some fun as adults.

Except, I turn it back on the kids.  Halloween is a simple annual transaction conducted between 3-6 pm on on the East Coast.  Kids ring the bell, you open the door, they yell Trick-or-Treat, you hand out pre-wrapped candy and wait for the bell to ring again.  Halloween mostly dies between puberty and age 30 since those are the ages obsessed with  "being cool" and declaring their own "independence."  It fires up after that again when one regains a sense of humor.

So.  I always saw greater opportunity to make Halloween less routine.  Here is how it came down today with about 50 - 60 kids and parents in this neighborhood.  We are fortunate to be high and dry.  Many in our area were not and lost a lot.  So the mood in this neighborhood was a celebration that the power was back on as opposed to losing, literally everything.  OK, go with the flow.

SCENARIO:
Doorbell rings.  I look out to make sure it is not FEDEX delivering.

1.  I then have donned my HEADSMANS HOOD (retained from grammar school) and then I bang on the door loudly three times from the inside.  This gets the kids attention on the outside.

2.  I grab my toy plastic beheading axe that is 4 feet long, and open the door VERY SLOWLY.

3.  I stick the axe out first and slowly so it is obvious, without showing myself, this is not going to be a routine transaction.

4.  I present my hooded self and quickly try to quickly gauge the age of the "prospects."  Fortunately, parents are present for this bit of Shakespearian theater most of the time now.  If they are age 5 or above, they seem to enjoy the "full treatment" as do the parents.  See the 4A escape hatch at the end for the younger kids.

5.  I open the door and ask in a deep voice wizard of OZ voice "what do you want!"

6.  The kids inevitably respond CANDY!

7.  I respond, "I bet you do!  But you must pass the test!  WHAT IS THE PASSWORD?"

8. They always look at each other and most come up with PLEASE or Trick or Treat.  I accept any response.

9.  They get the candy and we lighten it up joking with the parents.

4A  ESCAPE HATCH.  If the kids look fearful, I bag the routine, take off the hood quickly and get into silly mode to give them candy.  This only happened with one kid this year that looked about 3.  

A LOT of kids were out this year.  I think a lot wanting some relief from the all too serious events of Hurricane Sandy.  It was fun to participate.  Some parents even thanked me for making it fun.  Let me know what you are doing to make it fun.  I don't want to do the same thing next year.

OBSERVATIONS:


  • More parents with kids this year - good trend.
  • Fewer parents with video cameras.
  • ADD response to the doorbell - if you are not on the door by 30 seconds, they are on to the next house.  Also many kids not always paying attention when the door is opened.  They are looking elsewhere, sometimes 180 degrees.  Hmmm.   I guess they won't become engineers.
  • No strategy for covering the neighborhood.  Strange kids going next door skipped this house.  Never tried for candy.  When I was a kid, we had a simple pattern - hit every house.
  • Better costumes and more sophisticated, far less home-made.
  • Many more kids this year.
  • No Egging.  (Good)
  • Only one bell ring after 6pm (better).

JA



JA Chili Recipe

Chili is what got us through SANDY without having to eat Meals Rejected by Everyone or Canned Soup.  I thought of this ahead of time and it worked.  Chili gets better with age and can be made ahead.  Chili is a year round food that I gravitate to especially in the winter.  It is a bold FLAVOR RIOT done correctly and does not have to have meat, beans or be "hot."  It IS intended to be flavorful and "spicy."

Chili is a secret food in NYC.  Everybody likes it but there is not the culture that surrounds it in the Southwest.  In the Northeast, it is a staple in ski lodge cafeterias and is ALWAYS uninspired and insipid.  Worse, it is frequently an awful afterthought on a hot dog.  Ouch.  "Pearls before swine."

I did not grow up with Chili.  My first real taste was in Grad School when we were all sitting in a Newport, RI restaurant.  Everybody but me ordered the Chili. So I fell in line to see what I was missing.  It was good and I was hooked.

Not knowing much about the Divine Bowl of Red, I saw a spice mix called Wick Fowler's TWO ALARM CHILI in a store.  There were SEVEN packets of ingredients in the kit, added at different times.  Amazing.  This taught me what went into Chili and how to cook it.  I was in love but had to know more.  

Enter Jane Butel and her book CHILI MADNESS.  No longer just in love at this point, I became OBSESSED.  The JA CHILI recipe is an amalgam of the 35 recipes she featured.

The most important fact to know is that the base Chili pepper is the most important ingredient.  Yes you can buy whole dried peppers, toast them for two minutes @ 350F and put them in a food processor to make the fine powder.  This is a bit of work and you need to watch CLOSELY to be sure you do not burn them.  By the way, these are the LARGE chilis that are not very hot.  You may want to spice up your Chili using the HOT smaller chili spice like Cayenne peppers or powder.  Yes, you can start with a simple bottle of McCormick Chili Powder, just don't expect fireworks or the "Meg Ryan reaction."

Good quality commercial chili powder is available but you need to shop at gourmet markets.  The supermarket variety never appealed to me as I never wanted to make ski slope chili.  In NYC, Chelsea Market has a good powder available at the Manhattan Fruit Exchange.  Dean and DeLuca has good powder as well but at 3x the cost.  What ever route you use, go with 4 TBS of the powder to start and adjust from there for the future.  FYI, the WEGMANS chain of grocery stores has a great selection of whole dried peppers.

Chili is like making Spaghetti Sauce.   Everybody has a different version.  You can leave out the meat for a vegetarian variety.  Have fun with this, this version below is recently updated. I do a different version every time using the basic principles and what is in the fridge.  Hopefully, you don't need a Hurricane as an excuse to cook chili.
JA



JA CHILI

BASE Ingredients
2 lbs of Meat: Beef or Pork, Lamb or Chicken,  Coarse ground is best.

2 TBS generic olive oil for sauteeing onions  (EVO will be overwhelmed)

1 large or two medium onions chopped finely

4 cloves of chopped or pressed fresh Garlic

------------------------------

28 oz can of tomato sauce

1 small can Tomato paste (6 oz)

1 - 12oz bottle of amber or dark beer or stout


SPICES
4 TBS Chile Powder from good dried chilis: Ancho, Passila , Anaheim, California, New Mexico  OR GOOD STRAIGHT CHILI POWDER

1 TBS Cumen

1TBS Oregano

1.5 TSP Hot Cayenne pepper or hot Paprika (to taste) (OPTIONAL)


COOKING
0. Prep ingredients listed in BASE Ingredients above.

1.  In a large 3 quart  sauce pan or Dutch oven,  Saute the garlic and onions till soft (5 min?) medium heat with the Olive Oil.

2. Add the meat to the mix and cook till almost cooked, 5-10 minutes, not bloody.

3. Add all the remaining BASE ingredients and stir .

4. Add all the SPICES and stir, bring to simmering, lower heat

-----------------------

5. ADD OPTIONAL BASE INGREDIENTS  (at the bottom of this page) as you choose.

----------------------

6. SIMMER 30 minutes to one hour, stir occasionally adjust spice to taste.

7. THICKEN at end with 1 or 2 TBS of Masa Harina corn meal (best) or 1 TBS cornstarch.

8. Add  OPTIONAL TOPPING / BOTTOM (below) IF DESIRED and SERVE

**********************************
OPTIONAL TOPPINGS:
-  Sour Creme
-  Shredded Cheddar Cheese
-  Shredded Mozzarella (I like it on Cincinatti Chili)
-  Shredded Fresh Cilantro (Coriander)
-  Raw chopped Onions (Sweet Vidalia) or other

**********************************
OPTIONAL BOTTOM - Serve over
-  Spaghetti (Cincinatti chili)
-  Ripe Avocado Halves

**********************************
OPTIONAL BASE INGREDIENTS to add or substitute to the basics

BEANS: Love 'em or Hate em, use one or more... Makes a version of New Mexico Chili.  Not allowed in Texas.
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chili_con_carne for more on Geographic Variations.
     /   Dark Kidney  /  Mexican Pinto  /  White Canelini  / Black Beans / Garbanzos, etc.

Chipotle Pepper sauce from a jar, maybe 1 TBS)
Dark Chocolate bar
Almond slivers or other "soft" nuts
1 TBS of Dark Molasses
Liquid Smoke  (go easy)
Pork Sausage
Chorizos
Pumpkin seeds (Shelled pepitas or raw seeds)
Sesame Seeds (4TBS - don't be shy with these or they will get totally lost)
1 TSP Cinnamon ( for more of a Greek flavor)
1 tsp Allspice
Beef Boullion cube
Sauteed Mushrooms



Con Ed distributing dry ice at Staten Island's Great Kills Park

A tidbit that you may want to spread around for those who are still without power on SI and have a melting Fridge and Freezer.
JA

SILive.com

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Con Ed distributing dry ice at Staten Island's Great Kills Park

A wandering resident walks past a fallen pole and street light on Satterlee Street outside of Conference House Park.(Photo by Staten Island Advance/Mark Stein)
Eddie DAnna / Staten Island AdvanceBy Eddie DAnna / Staten Island Advance 
on October 31, 2012 at 6:45 PM, updated October 31, 2012 at 6:51 PM

Staten Island Endures Day 3 of Hurricane Sandy
EnlargeNYPD searching for missing 2 and 4 year olds washed away from thier mothers arms when the suv the were in was swept away on Fr Capodano Blvd below Sand LaneStaten Island Endures Day 3 of Hurricane Sandy gallery (39 photos)
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. --- To aid the hundreds of thousands of Hurricane Sandy victims without power, Con Edison officials are currently distributing dry and wet ice at six New York City locations -- including the entrance to Great Kills Park on Buffalo Street.

Instructions for safe handling and disposal of dry ice will be printed on the bag for residents who make pick up.

Other locations are: Walgreen's at 532 Neptune Ave. in Brooklyn; 1200 Waters Pl., at the entrance to the Hutchinson Metro Center in the Bronx; Union Square East and East 17th Street in Manhattan; 121-10 Rockaway Blvd. in Queens; and Yonkers Raceway at 810 Yonkers Ave in Yonkers.

For more information, click here

Con Ed distributing dry ice at Staten Island's Great Kills Park | SILive.com

http://www.silive.com/southshore/index.ssf/2012/10/con_ed_distributing_dry_ice_at.html


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iPad Mini - Mossberg WSJ

How many of you have never been in a Apple store and not been instantly converted to a kid again?

Isaac Newton was never in an Apple store.  This is why The SONY store in midtown is so boring with all their Windows stuff.  What a miss in understanding human motivation.  Even the two stores 50' away from each other are confusing to describe and differentiate.  They are both not plugged in or fun.  And the STARBUCKS next to ILLY?  Never mind.  Like SELL FOOD AND COFFEE?

Check this out from the Guru: Walt Mossberg.  The iPad has been a major way I present my photography.  But perhaps not from this one.
JA





  • The Wall Street Journal

Depsite iPad Mini's high price, lack of Retina display and HD video, and slightly awkward landscape-width keyboard, Walt Mossberg says it works very well for people who want a smaller, lighter, thinner, yet fully-functional iPad. (Photo: Apple)

The iPad has been a true tech phenomenon. Apple has sold 100 million of the tablets in just 2½ years, even though many people doubted they needed a $500 device that's in between a smartphone and a laptop. No competing model has gained significant traction in the market.

Still, there's been a problem with the iPad. Though it's much smaller than a laptop, at just 1.44 pounds, and 0.37 inch thick, it can be too heavy to hold for long periods of time, such as when you're using it to read an e-book. It typically takes two hands to hold. Its 9.7-inch screen, while a pleasure to use, makes it too large to carry without a thought in many purses.

Apple (2); Google; Amazon

So, on Friday, Apple is introducing a much smaller variant, the iPad Mini, which works exactly like the original and runs all the same apps—the 275,000 tablet-optimized programs plus the rest of the over 700,000 apps available for the iOS operating system the iPad shares with Apple's iPhone.

The iPad Mini weighs just less than 11 ounces, and is only 0.28 inch thick. That's 53% lighter and 23% thinner than the standard iPad. It's 5.3 inches wide versus 7.3 inches for its larger sibling.

In shrinking the iconic iPad, Apple has pulled off an impressive feat. It has managed to create a tablet that's notably thinner and lighter than the leading small competitors with 7-inch screens, while squeezing in a significantly roomier 7.9-inch display. And it has shunned the plastic construction used in its smaller rivals to retain the iPad's sturdier aluminum and glass body.

Unlike its two top small tablet competitors, the Mini has a rear camera. And unlike the Kindle Fire HD, it offers optional cellular data connectivity to supplement Wi-Fi. It has very good battery life.

Tablet Wars

See how some of the more popular tablets stack up.

However, there are two downsides compared with the leading 7-inch competitors, the Google Nexus 7 and theAmazon Kindle Fire HD. First, the iPad mini starts at $329, versus $199 for its two main rivals (though the Fire HD costs $214 without annoying ads). Second, it has a lower screen resolution—1024x768, versus 1280x800 for the other two.

I've been testing the iPad Mini for several days and found it does exactly what it promises: It brings the iPad experience to a smaller device. Every app that ran on my larger iPad ran perfectly on the Mini. I was able to use it one-handed and hold it for long periods of time without tiring. My only complaints were that it's a tad too wide to fit in most of my pockets, and the screen resolution is a big step backwards from the Retina display on the current large iPad.

image
image
Apple

The iPad Mini was comfortable for use one-handed, even over long periods of time.

But it's about 30% thinner than the leading 7-inch competitors, the Google Nexus 7 and the Amazon Kindle Fire 7. And it's about 9% lighter than the Nexus and about 22% lighter than the Fire HD. It's very slightly narrower across than the Fire HD, but about 11% wider than the Nexus. I found it easy to hold with one hand, though the width might be a bit too much for some people with smaller hands.

Even though the Mini is thinner and lighter than the leading 7-inch tablets, its larger screen provides about 35% more room for viewing content like books and Web pages. I found it easy to see and read material on the screen and to tap and swipe. My only complaint was that the keyboard, in portrait mode, felt a bit cramped, though it was fine in landscape mode. (I found that, unlike with the big iPad, it was more common for me to hold the Mini in portrait mode.)

In my harsh battery test, where I play videos back to back with the screen set at 75% and the Wi-Fi on to collect email, the iPad mini exceeded Apple's battery life claim of 10 hours and lasted 10 hours and 27 minutes. That was about an hour better than the Kindle Fire HD, but about 17 minutes less than the Nexus 7.

I found the cameras did a very good job. I conducted several clear video chats using the 1.2 megapixel front camera, and the 5-megapixel rear camera produced very good photos and videos. The stereo speakers sounded good to my ears.

So why did Apple, whose large iPad and new Macs boast extremely high screen resolution, choose a lower resolution for the Mini? The company did so because it says there are only two resolutions that allow its tablet apps to run unmodified. One is the extremely high resolution on the current large iPad, which would have boosted the cost and lowered the battery life of the Mini. The other, the one Apple chose for the Mini, is the same resolution on iPad models consumers have snapped up: the original iPad and the iPad 2, which is still on the market at $399.

This makes sense, but it means that, unlike its closest competitors, the Mini can't play video in high definition. Apple insists the device does better than standard definition, if you are obtaining the video from its iTunes service, since iTunes scales the video for the device, so it will render somewhere between standard definition and HD. It says some other services will do the same. But the lack of true HD gives the Nexus and Fire HD an advantage for video fans. In my tests, video looked just fine, but not as good as on the regular iPad.

The cellular models, which will start at $459, will be available in a couple of weeks.

The $329 price may well tempt some budget-conscious buyers who have lusted for an iPad. But Apple believes the lower size and weight, not the price, are the key attractions.

If you love the iPad, or want one, but just found it too large or heavy, the iPad Mini is the perfect solution.

—Find all of Walt Mossberg's columns and videos at the All Things Digital website, walt.allthingsd.comEmail him atmossberg@wsj.com.