It never fails

Ok, so Cooking Channel is running Anthony Bourdain's first travelling chef TV show, A Cook's Tour again, and now once again they promise they're going to air his first episode, A Taste of Tokyo. I waited for Dining with Geishas last time I noticed they were running his first foray into food TV (he later went on to No Reservations, a much better show) and Cooking Channel didn't even run it. I think I got on their case, asking when my TV provider and they would be getting on the same page. Last night it finally happened. I've been waiting to get Bourdain's 2 Japan episodes of A Cook's Tour on tape when I found out about that show.

However, I've had mom's VCR sitting atop the TV on a couple stacks of DVDs since I had it recording The Playboy Club (all 3 aired episodes of it) and was trying to remember to get the new Winx Club episodes Nickelodeon was running.


I hadn't used the VCR in a while, so it really increased my anxiety level when I dump a tape in it and it's making an odd noise. I get the cover off and there's something about the spinning video head on the underside hitting something when it's spinning. I make an analysis and determine the way I had it sitting on the DVD stacks somehow pushed on the wrong spot and flexed it just enough to make the VCR now sound like a film projector when the video head is in action.

It doesn't seem to be affecting recording or playback much if at all, but it's annoying to know this noise is going to be heard when it's playing or recording a tape. I've tried removing the bottom metal plate but I can't find the last screw to get it off. The best I can hope for is to wedge things between that plate and the plastic casing and hope it unflexes back the way it's supposed to be.

It's a decent Panasonic model VCR. If I had to replace it, I'd want the same exact model.

Oh - I did tape that episode in spite of the annoying noise. I did some tinkering and got it to abate somewhat, so this condition appears to be temporary.

Sometimes you don't want to really get info, just a good answer.

Does anyone else get this?

OK, what I'm about to describe will have some people think I'm crazy.

Every now and then, I'll get to listening to some audio and if it has a certain quality in it, I find that my right ear or eardrum twitches while listening to it. And I can get it to stop with only 2 methods: stop listening or plug my left ear. I don't know if it's got something in the audio spectrum that makes my right ear twitch, but I find this annoying. Plugging my left ear stops it for some reason.

Tell me I'm not crazy.
 

Chibi-pop Manga recipe for Beef Bowl

I had this recipe on a Geocities page that didn't get archived, but thankfully I had it saved on an external drive. I had a recent request for it, so might as well put it on my blog, and thoroughly noted.

Gyu-don (aka Beef Bowl)

Source: Chibi-Pop Manga issue V.1 #3, November 1998, from "Ask Takashi" by Takashi Harada, page 42.

Chibi-pop Manga lasted only 9 bi-monthly issues. A sad fate for what was a wonderful publication that wasn't by one of the big guys, it was done in by distributors who weren't paying their bills. But their issues will continue on in my collection. I have added some notes to the list of ingredients to help. Of course, like okonomiyaki and monja-yaki, restaurants in Japan offer gyu-don.

First you have to prepare for "rice". (4 servings)

12 2/3 ounces rice, cooked
14 ounces beef, thinly sliced
1 onion, appr. 5.25 ounces

Sauce
10 ounces dashi (dashi is a broth, like konbu dashi)
2 tablespoons mirin (It's a kind of sweet sake; if you can't find it, go ahead and leave it out)
3 1/3 ounces sake
5 tablespoons soy sauce
3 tablespoons sugar (optional)

Cooking directions

1. Cut beef into 2 inch pieces. Cut onion in half lengthwise and slice thinly.
2. Place all ingredients in a skillet, bring to a boil, add beef and onion, and cook for about 3 minutes.
3. Place hot rice in bowls, and transfer beef topping onto rice.
4. You can add red-dyed ginger on "gyu-don."

Takashi adds you can add raw egg and oshinko. Some people like to dip their gyu-don into the raw egg. And since there's no vegetables in gyu-don, people order the oshinko. Add them to the table when you cook and serve gyu-don!

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Tired and exhausted

I spent several hours on a DVD project for my older sister. She presented me with 40 MOV files that usually clock in at a crappy 15 fps and MediaCoder converted a lot of those just fine. But then I'd run into a MOV with erroneous data saying that it plays at 60 or 75 fps. What's strange is that these older format MOV files would not play in VLC, and VLC plays almost anything. Well, to be more correct, it played the audio, but the video caused it to crash. MediaCoder IDed the video as a Sorensen type of MOV stream.

So those that correctly came out at 15 fps, I used MediaCoder. Those that didn't, I had Super force the input frame rate at 15 fps to get an AVI which then I had MediaCoder convert again - mainly because I needed files running at 900 kpbs, and the closest Super will let me select is 912. And I needed stuff in which the audio remained in sync with the audio.

In the end, after finding out each set of clips made for 1 longer clip, I took all those converted pieces into VirtualDub and appended them in groups as designated by their file names and according to content that I saw so they'd be in order. If you've worked with VirtualDub, you know how picky it is that all streams you append be all the same - same resolution, same frame rate, same video bit rate, same audio sample rate, same audio channels, and same audio bit rate. Maybe a few other things I don't know about. But if everything agrees, VirtualDub appends it and works with AVIs only. Very handy in its Direct Stream Copy mode. It even fixes AVIs with bad index tables.


And after looking at the converted pieces, I found 1 extra piece that I didn't need. The DVD took almost 4 hours to generate. It doesn't look or sound all that bad on the TV considering the small 320x240 resolution, nor does it sound bad considering the 22050 hz sample rate of the audio.

Sharing musings from my posting on Facebook

I imagine people have noticed I don't post as much as I used to. It's too easy to get on Facebook and put stuff up there. I will try to gather a few bits at a time and post on my blog so it's around for more than a week, not as ephemeral as Facebook is. I just have to remember to paste in Notepad, edit, then copy and paste here, otherwise I'll post a lot more than I want to.
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Received Lands End catalog in the mail. I didn't request one. I have never ordered from them. My mom did, even when she had no business doing so. Got on their website and stated the same facts.

I've decided to treat hangup phone calls as those from my mom. Some days she tries a lot, some days she doesn't try at all. At least she's trying even if there's no message.

So how does this work? I called an accountant on info I need for permits or licenses I need to start my tiny business, and I get a call back this morning saying they're not taking any new clients. That's not what I called about, but not taking new clients? I don't get it.

I had to look it up

Somewhere I remember writing down what Mom and I usually had on Thanksgiving for the big meal. For some reason, I had to look up to remind myself what all I wanted to get. As it turns out, I had most of it covered or at least got it in order. The last part was the corn casserole. I totally forgot what it was, and online I found people mentioning a Scalloped Creamed Corn Casserole. I looked at one of the recipes and decided that it was the one I made some time ago.

I should have been taking notes all those years at my grandparents' house. My mom's mom made really good food, and lots of it. Somewhere I have her recipe cards and I should do something with them. They were tucked away in a kitchen drawer when I found them. The one thing I won't have is her right there telling me what she didn't write down on those cards.

It's still pretty hard having Thanksgiving and not having much to be thankful for.

PLEASE!! SIGN THE PETITION TO STOP SOPA

Stop online censorship!

Nice display.

I finally made a phone call

I finally made a phone call in the quest to get information for something I've been writing. This is a major thing for me because if I can deal with someone online and through email, I'll do it that way. I had to go the phone route because of trying to get the info I need via email previously and it didn't go anywhere. Why have a business website with email if you're not going to use it? I really hate having to use the phone, but sometimes you just need to. They asked for a few particulars and said they'll get back to me. I don't know when, but at least I'll have my info, probably.

A 2nd phone call to another number got a disconnected message.  So that's probably out of business or just has another phone number. So for that 2nd bit, I need to find another source.

I think there's a 3rd or 4th number I might have to call. Some info I need I was able to find online, and some I have to email people to get it.