Author: Josh

Pretty straight-forward process. I guess there’s still a part of me that’s used to things being more complicated or cryptic when trying to do something simple on a PC.

Here’s how to print address labels on your Mac using Address Book.

First, select the contacts in your address book (you can create a new Group, or just Command+click to select multiple contacts in your address book):

Next, click File > Print:

Lastly, select “Mailing Labels” from the Style menu, select your address labels from the “Page” menu and click ‘Print’:

After successfully making traditional apricot and prune kolache yesterday, I decided to try something a little more creative and sweeter today. While crème brûlée might seem intimidating, if you look at core ingredients that makeup the creme fraiche, it’s really just cream and sugar (same as ice cream). Add egg yolks and you’ve got crème brûlée!

I used my [now] handy kolache recipe and instead of fruit filling, I made the crème brûlée and, after it baked, stirred it up with spoon to dollop into the kolache.

Bohemian crème brûlée
1 pint pumpkin ice cream (room temperature)
5 egg yolks

Mix yolks and ice cream
Bake in water bath (ramekins, baking dish, etc. – I used a 8″ oven-safe loaf pan) at 375° F for 30 minutes (or until custard firms)

* If you want to make traditional crème brûlée, allow custard to cool, then generously top with granulated sugar and slooooowly caramelize with a torch. [Rule #2 applies here: “You can always add (heat). You can never take away.” Don’t burn your sugar].

And it never hurts to have a 4.5-year-old pastry chef in your employ to do your kneading.

[flv]http://www.janicek.com/video/20101211_ZombieEaterDoughKneader.flv[/flv]

In my opinion, Apple’s notebook designs are usually flawless — except for the plastic MacBook whose palm rest has a tendency to crack. And the cracking and breaking is caused by normal wear (i.e. having your palms on the palm rests). It happened to my first MacBook, and it happened to Elise’s MacBook as well. Of course, she’s dropped hers a couple times, so her MacBook’s palm rests had a little bit more cosmetic damage.

I recently upgraded her MacBook with 2 GB RAM and a 500 GB hard drive, which were relatively inexpensive upgrades, and easy to do after having upgraded the Mac Mini.

While I as at it, and since we were going to take Maly to the mall to see Santa Claus, I scheduled an appointment at the Apple store to inquire about getting Elise’s MacBook’s palm rest replaced. The salesperson told me it was “around $80 for the part and $30 for labor.” In unison, Elise and I sang, “no thanks.” She then said, “Hang on and let me see what I can do.” After some poking around on her iPad, she asked if the MacBook’s data was backed up and if we could leave it overnight. Elise had some photos that she needed to work on, so we couldn’t leave it. The salesperson told us we could bring the laptop back within 30 days and they’d take care of it for us.

When we got home, Elise put the photos she needed on an external hard drive and I scheduled another appointment at the Apple store first thing the next morning. I had to go back to the mall anyway because Maly had left one of her toys at the mall.

I got to the mall at 9 a.m. Saturday morning. By 9:30, Elise’s MacBook was looking good as new. And for free. It’s almost too good to be true how Apple operates their online and retail business as well as customer service. I just don’t think it’s possible to be so pleased by any other computer manufacturer.

The only time I’ve been upset with Apple is when I find myself in an over-crowded retail store. But that’s okay. I want those people to buy, too.

After finally figuring out how to smoke a brisket, next up on my culinary bucket list was to learn how to make kolache (koláče is plural). After a quick search, I decided to try the recipe from the Homesick Texan.

Be warned that they take a while to make (proofing dough 3 times), but on my first attempt, I think they turned out pretty damn good. I followed the recipe verbatim, however, the next time I’m going to make a couple modifications (which are already incorporated into the recipes below) as Elise and I agreed that the dough wasn’t quite sweet enough, and I like my posypka a little thicker, sweeter and crumblier.

So this is my kolache recipe:

Kolache dough

1 package of active dry yeast

1 cup of warm milk

1/4 cup sugar

3 cups of all-purpose flour

2 eggs

3/4 cup of melted butter

1 teaspoon of salt


• 
In a large bowl, combine yeast and warm milk and let sit for 20 minutes. [photo]
• Slowly incorporate sugar and one cup of flour. Cover and let it rise until doubled in size — 30-60 minutes.
• Beat together eggs, 1/2 cup of melted butter (reserve 1/4 cup for brushing on the pastry) and salt.
• Add egg mixture to yeast mixture and mix thoroughly by hand with large spoon or spatula.
• Stir in about two more cups of flour, 1/2 cup at a time. The dough should be soft and moist.
• Knead dough for about 10 minutes on floured countertop. [photo]
• Put dough in a greased bowl and let rise covered until doubled in size (about an hour)*. [photo]
• After dough has risen, press down and pull off approximately 1/3 cup-sized pieces (recipe should make 18 kolache). Roll into balls and then flatten to about three inches in diameter. [photo]
• Brush with melted butter.
• Place flattened pieces on a greased cookie sheet, cover and let rise again for 30 minutes. [photo]
• After proofing, use your fingers to gently make a large indentation (do you like fruit in each bite?) in the center of the dough and fill with a heaping tablespoon of fruit filling (recipe below) and sprinkle with posypka (recipe below).
• Bake in oven at 375° F for 12 to 15 minutes until dough begins to turn golden.
• Brush with melted butter and top with more posypka
 if desired.



Kolache filling


1/2 pound of dried fruit such as apricots or prunes.

Sugar to taste

1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon

Lemon zest




Reconstitute dried fruit by simmering in a pot with enough water to cover the fruit. 
 Add sugar, cinnamon and a squeeze of lemon. Puree in blender, boat motor or mash with a potato masher until you have a puree.



Posypka


1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup sugar

2 tablespoon butter

1/8 teaspoon cinnamon

Mix all ingredients until crumbly.



Yield: 18 kolache

* I proofed my dough by covering and putting in the oven and keeping the temperature around 90° F.

Now that I’ve successfully made “traditional” fruit-filled kolache, I’m going to try something a little more adventurous in the next batch(es).

Photos can be seen here.

Click the image above.

I happened upon a name that I’d unfortunately forgotten about for many years on Facebook the other day. I looked through this old friend’s profile photos of himself and saw one that he’d creatively manipulated. He’d taken multiple exposures of himself in different positions in his living room while the camera stayed steady on a shelf or a tripod. After looking at the photo for a minute, I thought it seemed like a creative project for me to do.

This was my first experiment:

Here are the images that I used.

They ain’t pretty and they ain’t healthy, but they’ll eat!

I wanted to make something like “the ultimate Christmas cookie” because… that’s just how I roll ever since having been stricken with this wicked and insatiable sweet tooth. I did a couple Google searches and nothing struck my fancy, so, I again turned to Anna’s CookieMadness.net! I happened across her recipe for Lake Travis Mud after a search for “Christmas.” I’m not in it to win it but was told a long time ago that if you change 3 ingredients, you can call a recipe your own, so I’ve just made it a habit of doing that (whenever I can) and I modified this recipe as well.

I thought about calling it Bohemian Rocky Road, but I don’t think this recipe quite earns the Bohemian part (don’t ask me why… it’s just one of those things).

12 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips
8 oz butterscotch chips
*
3 heaping tbsp chunky peanut butter*

6 oz dry roasted peanuts*

6 oz pistachios*

6 oz toffee bar chunks*
8 Oreos, smashed*

2 cups miniature marshmallows

* indicates my additions/modifications to original recipe

I created a double boiler by using my handy stovetop smoker (I guess that would classify this as a Bohemian technique ;-) ) filled halfway with water and put an 8×8″ baking dish in the water to melt the chips and peanut butter.

Once chips and peanut butter have melted, add peanuts, pistachios, Oreos & toffee chunks. Let cool slightly and add marshmallows.

Cut to desired shapes/pieces and refrigerate. I’d recommend eating them for breakfast with 20 oz. of Jolt Cola!

Baseball has to be my least favorite sport. It’s looking like it might be Maly’s favorite.

[flv]http://www.maly.tv/video/20101124_Baseball.flv[/flv]

I can finally check “smoke a brisket” off of my bucket list. I have tried, for the past 6 years to smoke briskets, and all of my attempts have failed miserably. I invariably wind up with a dry and tough hunk of meat that I have to chop up and mix with barbecue sauce for chopped barbecue sandwiches in order to keep the whole process and purchase from being a complete waste of time and money.

I like to consider myself a really good cook and over that past 15 years I have developed an in-depth comprehension and appreciation for the balance between the art and science involved in cooking. It’s become second nature for me to be able to plate a relatively intricate protein, sauce, starch and vegetable dish, timed perfectly so everything is at optimal temperature and nothing on the plate has died, fallen, broken, deflated, congealed, separated, et al.

Smoking a brisket requires absolutely no sense of urgency, and I think that’s where I’d always fallen short in previous attempts. And smoking a brisket isn’t complicated once you get over the fact that it’s just not complicated.

Before smoking my first brisket some 6 years ago, I did a lot of research. I got myself caught up in the science of smoking brisket. I tried to rig a complicated smoker out of an existing gas pit, tubing and terra cotta pots. When that wasn’t going to work, I bought a new grill with an indirect smoker box. Then when I tried to smoke the brisket, I thought I had to smoke the meat the whole time, which left us with what tasted like a large gummy ash tray. And I always cooked the brisket too long. I would buy a 4-5 lb. brisket and think that I had to cook it for 8-12 hours.

This week I decided to try my hand at smoking a brisket again. This time, I decided to employee the expertise of the butcher at the local grocery store. I told him I wanted a small brisket to smoke. He took me to find a 4 lb. brisket and told me to cook it for a couple hours and to keep checking on it.

I came home, rubbed the brisket and put it in my dad’s “Old Smokey” smoker after letting my coals go white and adding some hickory chips. I let the brisket smoke and cook for 2 hours and 30 minutes and top out at around 250°F. After doing some more “scientific research”, I found a forum entry where I read two things that stood out and made the most sense to me:

1. Cook until the internal temperature reaches 190°F
2. Remove the meat from the heat source and let it rest until it gets to room temperature

I had a hard time regulating the smoker’s temperature, so I pulled the brisket, wrapped it in foil and stuck it in the crock pot at 200°F until the internal temperature of the brisket reached 190°F.

I have long-known that proteins continue to cook after being removed from the heat source, but when I usually cook (especially over open fire) it’s so we can eat immediately. I’ll pull the meat from the grill, let it rest for 5-10 minutes and then serve. I’d done this with all of my previous briskets as well. I wasn’t letting them rest long enough (as in hours).

After I turned off the crock pot, the brisket’s internal temperature continued to rise all the way to 212°F (next time I’ll remove the heat when the internal temperature reaches 180°F). Three hours later the brisket’s internal temperature was still at 130°F.

What I ended up with was a moist and tender smoked brisket. FINALLY!!!

So what worked for me to successfully smoke/cook a brisket:

1. Low & Slow: smoke brisket over coals & hard wood (I prefer oak, hickory & pecan) at ~250°F
2. When brisket’s internal temperature reaches 180°F, remove from heat source
3. Wrap & let brisket rest until internal temperature reaches room temperature

I’ll spare the details and just say that this morning Maly took a pair of scissors to one of the blinds in our home office. I walked into the office just to check on her, and the first thing that I noticed were the blinds hanging oddly. Upon closer inspection, I noticed that one of the cords had been cut. I remembered Maly having a pair of scissors a few minutes prior, so it didn’t take long to put two-and-two together.

I asked, “did you cut those blinds with scissors?”

She sheepishly nodded her head yes. With that, I stormed out of the office in fear of what I might actually say to my offspring should I had let my emotions get to me in the moment. I walked into the kitchen and told Elise what had happened.

Maly got her fair share of tongue lashings from the both of us, but there was still a punishment to fit the crime to be determined. Luckily Elise had errands to run and Maly a play date, which allotted yours truly some time to figure out how this situation was going to get fixed.

I steamed. I took the blinds down from the window and tried to fix them. I first tried to stitch them back together. That wasn’t going to work. Then I tried to “weld” the severed ends together with nylon string. At that point, my attempts to repair would end up costing more that just replacing the blinds. I thought about having the blinds professionally repaired, but that would probably cost close to just buying a new set of blinds. We were lucky in that she cut the cord of the least expensive blinds in the house.

Before I’d even started shopping the replacement blinds, I decided that Maly was going to pay for the replacement. I’d figure out the details later.

After a little shopping online, I found the exact width, length and style blinds for a replacement. With “order processing” and tax, the total came to $54.75, which might not ordinarily be a lot of money, but to us right now, it is, and there’s still the principle that needed to be addressed.

When Elise and Maly returned from their respective outings for the morning, I showed Elise my repayment plan for Maly. She fully backed me on my plan and then sent Maly in to see me.

Maly came into the office and I explained to her that I tried to repair the damage to the blinds. I told her that I decided to pay $54.75 for new blinds, and that she was going to have to repay me. I then sent her to her room to get her piggy bank and completely emptied it in front of her. Then I showed her the calendar I had created, which had jobs for her to do every day (not including school days on Tuesday and Thursday) for the next two weeks. She’s basically going to have to “earn” the money that had previously just been given to her.

I put her money into my own mason jar and set it aside in my file cabinet. I took another old jar and taped a picture of the broken blinds to the front of it. For every job that she completes, she will have to come to me and I will pay her. She will then have to deposit her earnings into the jar for the new blinds.

When I started creating her 2-week repayment calendar, I was trying to associate a dollar amount with every job that she performed. I don’t think she would really understand the value of a dollar over a quarter, or what $54.75 really looks like, so I omitted the commission value of her jobs. I will just pay her some loose change (after I “carefully” count out and pay the coins) for each job she performs so she can witness the stack of coins growing in her repayment jar.

I don’t know if this is the right way to handle this situation, but it feels like it’s right by me. I don’t think punishing her by taking something away, putting her in time out, grounding or spanking her fits the crime. I think this is an opportune time to help her in understanding the value of hard work, money, communal property and consequences.

I probably could have prevented this by paying a little more attention to Maly this morning. I think Elise and I could both tell that she was somewhat starved for our attention, and we got caught up in our own daily goings-on this morning. I think I also learned that this is all part of that circle of life thing. Elise’s and my parents are smiling heartily, and Elise and I, conscious of it are not, are glowingly awaiting becoming grandparents at some point down this ever-curving road of life.

On Friday night Maly and I took our normal stroll to the mailbox (our neighborhood has community mailboxes a few blocks from our house); Maly rode her scooter as I walked. We decided to take the long way home by way of around the block. After we got the mail, I told Maly to ride her scooter all the way down the hill without putting her foot down. “Just ride it the whole way to the end of the street” I told her.

As I watched her, the thought came to my head that she was ready to try riding her bike without training wheels. We’d talked about this new endeavor for a couple months, and I told her that it would take a lot of practice with lots of falling down and frustration. I was psyching her and myself up for for this challenge. When I saw how easily she balanced all the way down the street on her scooter, I just knew she was ready at that point, and I told her as much. And she excitedly accepted the challenge and the date to begin practice was set for this afternoon.

I came home from a meeting around lunchtime today and, as the garage door opened, Maly came barreling out of the house and ran excitedly to me saying, “Daddy! Remember, today we’re going to practice riding my big girl bike with NO training wheels!”

“I know, Sugar. I remembered!”

And with that, I gave her a bag with her new bicycle helmet and pads.

She ran inside and had Elise put her hair up in a pony tail and put her shoes on. She came back out to the garage where I helped her tie her shoes, put on her new elbow and knee pads and adjust her helmet. Then we took the wrench and removed her training wheels.

We made a few practice runs on our street’s sidewalk and that’s about the time I realized that 1) I’m really out of shape and 2) I’m going to get in great shape if I have to run alongside this child without naturally extending my legs while holding the back of her bicycle seat so she doesn’t crash into the pavement. It was after those few runs that I decided it was time to just go ahead and start letting her go.

She’d go five feet balancing on her own. Ten feet. Twenty feet. After a few minutes, I was measuring her distance from driveway to driveway. And soon, I just let her go and jogged alongside her so as to catch her if she start veering toward the street. And before I knew it, she was riding by herself all the way from our starting corner to our ending corner.

What I’d thought (and psyched us both up to think) was going to take weeks only took approximately 45 minutes. Our baby girl proved to be a natural on two wheels. My original plan was to have her comfortably riding her bike on two wheels by the time she turned 5-years-old in 5 more months. Looks like I’m going to be teaching her bicycle tricks before Thanksgiving!

I can’t put into words how proud I am over our little girl. Today was one of the proudest days of my life! Watch the video below:

[flv]http://www.maly.tv/video/20101115_MalySansTrainingWheels.flv[/flv]

(Click here to watch the large version of the video)

[flv width=”475″ height=”281″]http://www.maly.tv/video/20101111_PetSemataryJam.flv[/flv]

Our friend Julie gave us a small, round table at a garage sale this past Saturday. Elise and I were both kind of eyeing the table, and it wasn’t until the end of the sale that we decided to run it across the street to see if we could repurpose this table, that once used to be a children’s activity table, into an end table for our living room. We decided it looked pretty good and would fit really well into our living room with a little touching up and raising it a couple inches. We offered to buy the table from Julie, but she wouldn’t let us. So we got the table at the friends and family discount.

That afternoon, while looking at the table, I decided I would try to build a drawer for it. I jotted down what I thought I needed and Maly and I headed over to Home Depot. We bought a pine 1×12, a 1×4, a couple 1×3’s, a package of 2″ wood screws, a drawer pull, 2 packs of sandpaper, a 20″ drawer slide kit, 4 milled coffee table legs and some rubber glides for the bottoms of the table legs. All of these little things came to a total of $94.98.

I first unscrewed the original legs and replaced them with my new milled legs and took the table from the garage and into the living room. Elise insisted that the table was too short. I lugged the table back into the garage and cut out 1.5″ block “risers” out of leftover lumber to give the table a lift kit to Elise’s specifications. After that I cut out the drawer facade from the existing frame, built a frame for the drawer, attached the drawer slides and then built a 2″ deep drawer (just to store our remotes).

I woke up the next morning and spent the better part of the day sanding and refinishing. After a full-day’s worth of work and $95, we have a nice, new, “free” end table.