11/06/11 01:04 - ID#55453

Cocoa Butter Vs. Soy Lecithin

Good way to find out if your chocolate is filled with the phony filler substitute for cocoa butter (otherwise known as soy lecithin): Hold it in your hands for around 30 seconds.

If the chocolate starts to melt and smear your hands a bit, it has at least some amount of real cocoa butter (or if you were careful you bought one completely made of cocoa and cocoa butter).

Else, you just bought a chocolate with fake soy lecithin. I wish they had never found this stupid filler. It somehow makes the sugar in the chocolate more prominent than the cocoa. And that is a sign of a bad chocolate.

Permalink: Cocoa_Butter_Vs_Soy_Lecithin.html
Words: 109
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 11/06/11 01:10

Category: music

11/05/11 10:30 - ID#55452

What a piece of transformed crap?!

That was the first expression that came to mind listening to Steve Jablonsky's soundtrack for the 3rd installation of the transformers movie.

I admit that I watch movies sometimes mainly because I like soundtracks so much. Who cares about storylines? I can't keep most of them straight anyways.

The first transformers movie was spectacular on that account. The music was simply spellbinding. I actually watched it in a record time of a week because a friend had booked tickets to Transformers 2 and shocked that I hadn't watched the first one, insisted that part 2 wouldn't make sense if I had not seen part 1. So I did. And the music hooked me in.

But it didn't matter. Transformers 2 was a colossal mess. I swear I had to resist the urge to exclaim "What just happened there?!" multiple times throughout the story. I also had issues about how the main lead got his clothes all torn and messy at the end of the crazy chases and whatnots but that actress who wore an immaculate white get-up did not have a single grease smear or dirt track ANYWHERE on that vast expanse of white even after several tumble-chase sequences down some of the grimiest and dirtiest of pyramids in Egypt. The music was still okay. Not as good as T1 but still pretty good in general.

I caught around 15 minutes of T3 flying from NYC to Buffalo. It just convinced me not to spend any more time on it. I had hopes that maybe the music would redeem T3. Was I ever more wrong.

T3 music is such a careless and horrible recycling of T1 and T2 themes, it seems like an insult to those soundtracks. I bet the crap music set the tone for the rest of the movie. I read that the sequels stop with T3. Thank goodness for little mercies.

Going back to my T1 soundtrack now.

Permalink: What_a_piece_of_transformed_crap_.html
Words: 316
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 11/05/11 10:30

Category: eating in

11/05/11 03:16 - ID#55450

God bless America

and carrots.
and tomatoes.
and squash.
and kidney beans.

Permalink: God_bless_America.html
Words: 11
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 11/05/11 03:16

Category: music

11/05/11 11:09 - ID#55446

Se Florindo Ã¨ fedele...

I am appointing this opera as my signature tune this weekend.

Yeah, those ruins are not the point (Why play Scarlatti/Bartoli over some monastery in ruins?! Beats me.) Someday, I want to enroll in voice training and sing this opera.

Permalink: Se_Florindo_fedele_.html
Words: 43
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 11/05/11 11:29

Category: whine

11/05/11 09:52 - ID#55444

Airline fares

I hate it when I have just booked a ticket and find that I could have got it for $20-$50 less on a competing airline. In this case, the lesson learned is that Delta has cheaper fares coming back from NYC compared with JetBlue. I have seen this so many times. JetBlue is not exactly the cheapest as everyone believes.

I don't like flying and vastly prefer taking Amtrak. But whenever I am headed back home, anxiety trumps dislike and I usually fly. Going to the city, I always take the train.

I just hate all these price differences and deals in a way. They manipulate your thoughts so efficiently without you even realizing it.

Whiny whine.

Permalink: Airline_fares.html
Words: 117
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 11/05/11 09:57

Category: music

11/03/11 07:54 - ID#55435

What if you...

{set to the tune of Joshua's Radin's song}
opened a biscuit packet

What if you
found that each was broken

I wonder if you'd try
counting the pieces
it's come to this
so annoying
each one at the exact same place

What if I.. i.e.i,e.I
had bought a better packet!
I wouldn't have had to endure
this ridiculous breakage

Held together by the packet
But when your hand reaches the biscuit
there's nothing you can do
but watch irked as it breaks apart.

Permalink: What_if_you_.html
Words: 92
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 11/03/11 07:54

Category: eating out

11/02/11 09:09 - ID#55432

I hear they are very good.

Me at 7:00 PM: Rushing out of Walgreens with the speculoos.
Buffalo Police on Walgreens duty pointing at Biscoffs: Man, I hear they are very good. Everyone is getting one today. I need to try those...

Me at 7:15 PM: Rushing back into Walgreens because I forgot to get the shortbread I wanted.
Buffalo Police on Walgreens duty pointing at someone else's frozen pizza: Man, I hear they are very good. I need to get that!

Me at 8:00 PM: Back to walgreens for the chocolate.
Buffalo Police on Walgreens duty pointing at twizzlers in someone's checkout pile: Man, it's been ages since I had that! I hear they are sweeter now. I need to try that!

Conversation starter? Genuine interest? Or just massive hunger?

Anyway. Behold, a dinner of depravity.

Permalink: I_hear_they_are_very_good_.html
Words: 130
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 11/02/11 09:26

Category: linux

10/30/11 02:15 - ID#55410

Cloud-backup of files on Linux.

I tried dropbox sometime back for many months. I didn't quite like it because I felt like I couldn't control many aspects. In addition, I ended up deleting many of my files due to some stupid settings confusion. I bet they have more options now, but I don't feel like going back. So I signed up for 25 gigs of free space from... *gasp* Microsoft's Skydrive. I figured if they are giving away this much space in the cloud for free, why not twist it around and use it as a cloud for Linux so that the joke is actually on them.

Naturally, Skydrive doesn't have any desktop synchronization tools for linux. And that is where SMEStorage Sync comes in. All I needed to do was to

Install "Linux Cloud Desktop Tools" from SMEStorage for fedora.
Set up an account at SMEStorage and login.
Go to My Account --> Providers Tab
Add the Skydrive account and password
Set the Skydrive account as default (so all your files will be uploaded and synced to the Skydrive 25 Gigs account rather than the limited 2Gigs SMEStorage-Amazon Cloud. (An index of the Skydrive account is mirrored on the SMEStorage-Amazon 2 Gig Cloud. So the 2Gig account has an index but no real files taking up space.)
Fire up the SME Storage Sync Center on your laptop/desktop
Choose the US SME Server and connect
Choose the local home/system folders to Sync
Press Sync Up any time you want to upload and backup/sync your files in that folder.
You can manually fire up the SME Storage Sync Center everytime you feel like doing a backup or schedule it to do automatic backups at some regular schedule.

That's it! Evil example of using Microsoft's resources to make life on linux easier.

Permalink: Cloud_backup_of_files_on_Linux_.html
Words: 304
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 10/30/11 02:17

Category: eating in

10/30/11 11:58 - ID#55409

Sunday brunch

Dedicated to (e:fing). ;-)

Permalink: Sunday_brunch.html
Words: 7
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 10/30/11 12:10

Category: grocery

10/29/11 09:52 - ID#55406

What produce does $30 get you?

at pricerite?

0.25 lb Jalapeno Peppers
4.54 lb Acorn/Buttercup/Kabocha squash
3.46 lb Zucchini (Green squash)
3 generous bunches of fresh cilantro
5 medium red onions
0.89 lb red bell peppers (2 peppers)
3.79 lb Vine ripened tomatoes
1.00 lb Plum tomatoes
5.53 lb Granny Smith apples
2.61 lb Bosc pears
2.07 lb Black Friar Plums
1 Gallon Skim Milk

Except for the plums, each item on that list came from NY farms. Not bad at all for 13/14* 100 ~ 93% local produce & milk. I checked . That is about as seasonal and local as you can get.

---
Contrast with the sortie at (e:paul,55153)
Blasted thing won't post straight!