Thursday, December 22, 2011

PRH Paul Richard Heffler

Go about your business, and do what you know best.
Keep yourself in season and know just when to rest.

puffertr

Monday, December 19, 2011

New Blog

This blog will continue to contain entries, especially those I wish to be public. 

My personal blog is now at http://cecmls.wordpress.com

=)

4994317

Monday, October 31, 2011

Chris’s Tasty! Raw Green Drink

I made this one up myself on a whim.  I’ve usually included bananas in my dark green smoothies, because of it’s powerful flavor, but I came up with one today that is every bit as good.  This will be my new starting point for a little while as I explore variations!

Chris’s Tasty! Raw Green Drink

  • small handful baby spinach leaves
  • leaves from 1 small bok choy
  • ~1 1/2 cups Almond milk (home made is best!)
  • 1 fig
  • 1 date (pitted, of course)
  • 1 tsp. Agave
  • 1 tsp. Spirulina powder
  • 1 tsp. Chlorella powder
  • 1 tsp. Hemp protein powder
  • 1 tsp. Maca powder

Blend in a Vitamix until smooth!

Next time I will add 1 tsp. Cocao powder also and see how that tastes.  All the powders I use above were bought from NutsOnline

Monday, October 17, 2011

Lettuce Wraps

INGREDIENTS
  • 2 very ripe avocados
  • 3 tomatoes, diced
  • 1/2 jalapeno pepper, diced
  • 2 tbsp yellow onion, diced
  • 3 cloves fresh garlic, minced
  • 1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
  • kernels from one ear raw organic corn
  • 2 tsp fresh lime juice
  • 6-8 large romaine lettuce leaves

PREPARATION

In a medium sized bowl, mash the avocado.  Add remaining ingredients and stir until well mixed.  Spread 2-3 tablespoons of this mixture onto lettuce leaves and wrap. Enjoy!

As you can see these are simple and great for children to experiment with. We have these quite often and never quite the same way. Have fun!! Try new things!! You'll be amazed at just how talented you can be when you learn to PLAY in the kitchen.

From http://www.rawfoods.com/recipes/lettucewraps.html

Sunday, October 16, 2011

Live Un-Stir-Fry with Cauliflower “Rice”

From http://www.rawfoodhomerecipes.com/2010/07/live-un-stir-fry-with-cauliflower-rice/

OK, this recipe is not the simplest, but it tastes pretty darned good! Chopped cauliflower and pine nuts take the place of rice in this fresh variation on stir-fry.  Recipe by Felix Schoener.

Vegetable Medley
  • 2 cups chopped napa cabbage
  • 1 cup thinly sliced red bell pepper
  • 3/4 cup raw unsalted cashews, optional
  • 1/2 cup chopped red cabbage
  • 1/2 cup thinly sliced carrots
  • 1/2 cup thinly sliced snow peas
  • 1/4 cup thinly sliced green onion
  • 2 tbsp chopped cilantro
Spicy Vegetable Dressing
  • 1/2 cup sesame oil
  • 1 fresh stalk lemongrass, outer leaves removed, finely chopped, optional
  • 3 tbsp raw agave nectar or maple syrup
  • 3 tbsp nama shoyu or soy sauce
  • 2 tbsp umeboshi plum vinegar or raw apple cider vinegar
  • 1 1/2-inch piece peeled fresh ginger
  • 1 tbsp dehydrated onion flakes
  • 1 tbsp tamarind paste, optional
  • 1 tbsp grated lime zest
  • 1 clove garlic, peeled
  • 1 tsp minced Thai or jalapeño chile
  • 1 small kaffir lime leaf
  • Cauliflower “Rice”
  • 4 cups cauliflower florets
  • 1/2 cup macadamia or pine nuts
  • 1 tbsp dehydrated onion flakes
  • 1/2 tsp sea salt
  • 1/2 tsp garlic powder
Directions:

To make vegetable medley, just combine all ingredients in large bowl. To make the dressing, place all ingredients in blender or food processor, and blend until creamy. Add to vegetable medley, and toss well.
For the cauliflower “rice,” place all ingredients in food processor, and pulse-chop to rice-like consistency. Serve topped with the vegetable medley.

Serves 4 - Nutritional Information: Per 1 1/3-cup serving: Calories: 324, Protein: 4g, Total fat: 27g, Saturated fat: 4g, Carbs: 21g, Cholesterol: mg, Sodium: 619mg, Fiber: 5g, Sugars: 13g

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Raw Ravioli

Photo Credit

From https://www.brightearthfoods.com/index.php?src=directory&view=recipes&submenu=Be_Community&srctype=recipes_detail2&back=recipes&refno=1849

This raw version by Alissa Cohen should stick to your ribs. "This is one of my favorite raw recipes," explains Cohen. "I often make these at seminars and events and people go wild over them! There is always one person who continues to ask me through the whole event, 'What kind of pasta is this made from" even after I tell them numerous times that it's turnip not pasta. It's hard to believe these are raw!'"

RAW RAVIOLI

Wrappers (these replace the pasta dough):

  • 4 turnips

Peel the turnips. Slice the turnips into very thin slices, by cutting them in half and then using a spiral slicer, mandolin or other vegetable slicer to make thin round disks.

Cheese filling:

  • 1 cup pine nuts
  • 1 cup macadamia nuts
  • 1 cup walnuts
  • 6 t braggs
  • 8 t lemon juice
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • 1 cup parsley

Blend the pine nuts, macadamia nuts and walnuts in a food processor until ground. Add the rest of the ingredients and blend well, until creamy.

Tomato Sauce:

  • 2 large tomatoes
  • 1/2 cup sun dried tomatoes
  • 1/4 fresh basil
  • 1 clove garlic
  • 6 dates
  • dash of olive oil

Soak the sun dried tomatoes until soft. In the food processor, blend the tomatoes, sun-dried tomatoes, basil, and garlic - until well blended . Add the dates and olive oil and blend until smooth. This sauce should be thick.

Directions for Assembling the Ravioli:

  1. Remove a single turnip slice from the batch.
  2. Place a teaspoon full of cheese filling in the turnip slice and fold the turnip over until all the sides meet.
  3. Squeeze the edges together. Some of the filling will ooze out, but this is what will hold the edges together. Just put the excess back into the bowl to reuse. If you don't have enough filling in them they will not stick together.
  4. Place them in a single layer on a large plate and drizzle the tomato sauce on top, allow to sit for a few hours. The turnip will become soft from the tomato sauce.
  5. To serve, scoop us the raviolis with a spatula.

Monday, October 10, 2011

Raw Sun-dried Tomato Olive Crackers

Raw Sun-dried Tomato Olive Crackers

From http://www.rawfoodrecipes.com/recipes/raw-sundried-tomato-olive-crackers.html

Makes: 1 sheet

Crackers

2 cups walnuts, soaked overnight, drained and rinsed
1/2 cup ground flax
1/3 cup sun-dried tomatoes, softened and chopped
1/2 cup olives, sliced
1 teaspoon oregano
pinch thyme
Himalayan salt and pepper to taste

METHODS / STEPS

Crackers
1) Place walnuts in the food processor and pulse until they are ground fine.
2) Add ground flax* and pulse until combined.
3) Add sun-dried tomatoes and olives. Pulse until combined. Do not over mix.
4) Stir in the oregano, thyme salt and peper.
5) Spread onto non-stick dehydrator sheet. Press to 1/4 – 1/8 th inch thick. Score. Dehydrate at 140 for an hour, then 115 until very dry. Mine took about 8 more hours. You will want to flip the crackers half way through dehydration.

Additional Tips

I always use golden flax for it’s mild taste. I grind the flax when I am making the recipe to protect the delicate oils. Measurement is after grinding.

Raw Pizza with Buckwheat Crust

Raw Pizza with Buckwheat Crust

From http://www.rawfoodrecipes.com/recipes/raw-pizza-with-buckwheat-crust.html

Today’s pizza recipe takes advantage of that wonderful seed in it’s crust. I have had many requests for pizza so I finally dug in and made one for you. I must admit, this recipe is a complete winner. The recipe looks long but it you make the crust and mushrooms ahead and it is easy to throw together.

Serves 6-8

Buckwheat Crust

1 cup buckwheat, sprouted
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 cup walnuts, soaked 6 hours, drained
3 carrots, diced very fine
1 teaspoon Italian spices

Marinated Mushrooms and Onions

1 cup mushrooms, sliced
1 cup onions, sliced thin
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup Nama Shoyu
2 tablespoons maple syrup

Marinara Sauce

1 clove garlic
1 cup sun-dried tomatoes, softened
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 lemon, juice from
1/4 cup raisins, soaked
1/2 cup soaking water from raisins
1 teaspoon italian spices

Spinach Walnut Pesto

2 cloves garlic
3 cups spinach
1/3 cup olive oil
1/2 cup walnuts, soaked, drained and dried
1/2 lemon, juice from

Cashew Cheese

3/4 cups cashews, soaked overnight, drained
1 teaspoon lemon juice
pinch Himalayan Salt and pepper

METHODS / STEPS

Buckwheat Crust

1.  Sprout buckwheat: Soak 1 cup buckwheat in water overnight. Drain (the water will be slimy so drain and rinse a couple of times).  Rinse 3 times a day until little tails sprout. Use when tails are the same length as the seed. This will take 1-2 days.
2. Place buckwheat and olive oil in the food process and pulse until a mash is achieved.
3.  Add walnuts and pulse until well blended.
4.  Add carrots and Italian spices, blend well.
5.  Form into 6, 4-inch squares on a non-stick dehydrator sheet. Dehydrate at 140 for 45 minutes. Turn down heat to 115 and dehydrate until the tops are dry. Remove from non-stick sheet to screen and continue to dehydrate until mostly dry. You want these a little soft, not brittle.

Marinated Mushrooms and Onions

1.  Toss together mushrooms and onions. Place in glass container.
2. Whisk together, olive oil, Nama Shoyu and maple syrup.
3. Pour over mushroom, onion mix. Stir to coat. Place in refrigerator for at least 4 hours to marinate.
4.  Remove mixture, drain. Place on non-stick dehydrator sheets and dehydrate at 115 for 4-5 hours.

Marinara Sauce

1.  With food processor running, drop garlic in and chop fine.
2.  Add remaining ingredients. Process until smooth.

Spinach Walnut Pesto

1.  With food processor running, drop in garlic.
2.  Add remaining ingredients and process until a paste is formed.

Cashew Cheese:

1. Place all ingredients in food processor. Pulse until a cottage cheese texture is achieved. Add a little water if necessary.

Assembly:

1. Place crust on plate. Spread a layer of the marinara sauce, then a layer of the spinach walnut pesto, some of the cashew cheese, the mushroom onion mixture and then top with more cheese and onions.

Friday, October 7, 2011

Embedding/Encoding an image with data (jpg, png, gif ..) inside a web page [html]

Supported in IE9+ (not IE8), Chrome 14.0.835.202 m (all I tested with)

<img src="data:image/png;base64,Base64-Encoded-Data
         width="67" height="67" class="logo" border="0" alt="logo" />        

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Spicy Cheese Kale Chips (Raw)

Spicy Cheese Kale Chips

They look gnarly and, yes, they are green, but one little taste of these Spicy Kale Chips and you'll be hooked!

INGREDIENTS

Spicy Cheese

4 c. sunflower seeds (soaked and dehydrated)
1 c. nutritional yeast
1/2 c. wheat free tamari (or to taste)
1/2 c. olive oil
fresh garlic to taste
water
cayenne pepper (optional but highly recommended)

METHODS/STEPS

Grind sunflower seeds to a flour. In a food processor combine all ingredients except for cayenne . Add water as needed to reach a thick batter like consistency.

This amount of sauce is enough for at least two bunches of kale. I can’t tell you the exact amount, because I didn’t weigh it! After rinsing the kale and removing the spine (too tough to eat dehydrated), it loosely filled a very large mixing bowl. Like I said, you can’t mess this up.

Massage the sauce into the kale, spread onto dehydrator trays, sprinkle on desired amount of cayenne, and dehydrate on 105〫F until crunchy. In my home, these barely make it out of the dehydrator and are often nibbled on before they’re done

From http://www.rawfoodrecipes.com/recipes/spicy-cheese-kale-chips.html

Apple-Kale Soup (Raw)

Recipe is from http://goneraw.com/recipe/apple-kale-soup
Originally from The Raw Revolution Diet by Cherie Soria, Brenda Davis, and Vesanto Melina.

YEILD

2 1/2 cups (1 hearty meal or 2 smaller servings)

INGREDIENTS

2 oranges, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup purified water
1/4-1/3 cup sunflower seeds
4 cups (1L) kale leaves, firmly packed
1/2 apple, chopped
1/2 green onion, coarsely chopped
1 tablespoon tamari
1/2 clove of garlic, crushed
Pinch of cayenne
1/2 cup diced ripe tomatoes or 1/2 apple, diced
2 tablespoons pumpkin or sunflower seeds (optional)

PREPARATION

Combine the oranges, water, and sunflower seeds in a blender and process until completely smooth.

Add the kale, apple, optional green onion, tamari, garlic and cayenne and process until thick and creamy.

Pour into soup bowls and garnish each serving with some of the tomatoes and a sprinkling of pumpkin seeds. Serve immediately.

Author Variations: You can use a variety of vegetables in creamy green soups, such as bell pepper, celery, cucumber, fresh herbs, romaine lettuce, spinach, tomato, or zucchini. If you like, you can even add fresh fruits (in addition to or in place of the apple).

VARIATIONS:
I soak the seeds for at least 4 hours, use 1 head of kale, and use 1 tablespoon of miso instead of tamari - the tamari was too strong and salty for me. I typically make the soup for a "hearty" meal and use 1/4 cup sunflower seeds and only 1 tablespoon of the same for a garnish. Then I also garnish it with both chopped apple AND chopped tomato. It is a satisfying meal. I think the pinch of cayenne is really great in there as well, I have forgotten to add it and noticed it was missing.

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Raw Buckwheat & Flax Flatbread

From http://veganza.com/2008/05/08/raw-buckwheat-flax-flatbread/

Posted on May 8, 2008 by ReneeMBM

Decent raw bread recipes are hard to come by. Breads heavy in flax have a very strong flavour and can be a touch bitter, other recipes require you to shove stuff through a juicer as well as dehydrating. I have been trying out more raw food cuisine recently, on a health kick, and have come up with this recipe. This bread has a pretty mild flavour compared to straight flax seed/meal breads, and if – like me – you enjoy the taste of buckwheat, you will probably love this bread.

It’s high in omega oils, fibre, B-vitamins, and several minerals, including manganese. Buckwheat is a seed rather than a grain, and contains no gluten – it’s closely related to rhubarb. Freshly ground meal from sprouted buckwheat groats is best, otherwise buy your flax and buckwheat meal from a health store with a high turnover so it’s fresh, and keep it in the fridge or freezer. It’s also a good idea to keep your seeds in the fridge so the oils don’t break down or go rancid.

Required Appliances
Dehydrator with temperature setting option of 40ºC (104ºF) or lower.

Ingredients
1½ cup ground (sprouted if possible) buckwheat flour/meal
1 cup ground flax seeds or flax meal
1 teaspoon sea salt
2 cups filtered water
⅓ cup sunflower seeds
⅓ cup whole flax seeds
⅓ cup pumpkin seeds
¼ sesame seeds (white, black, or a mix)
1 tbsp poppy seeds
1 tbsp nutritional yeast (optional)

Method
Mix buckwheat and flax meal in a bowl. Add salt, nutritional yeast (optional), and water, mix until well combined. Stir through sunflower, flax, pumpkin, sesame, and poppy seeds. Spread the batter evenly over 2 dehydrator trays. Dehydrate at 40ºC (104ºF) for 4 hours, flip the bread over, then dehydrate for another 1-4 hours, depending on how dry you want your bread. Cut each tray of bread into 8-9 slices (8 if round tray, 9 if rectangular). Store in refrigerator. Makes 16-18 slices.

Serving Suggestions, etc
+ A great “bread” for morning “untoast.”
+ An awesome raw pizza base.
+ A bun for burgers or sandwiches.
+ You can use different seeds in the bread to suit your own tastes.
+ Add finely chopped onion, crushed garlic, pepper, herbs, and/or spices for fancy flavour variations!
+ You might need to add a little more or less water to the thick bread batter depending on the water content of your flax and buckwheat meal.
+ Instead of water – and for extra tastiness and vitamins – you could use fresh celery juice or a mix of celery and carrot juice.
+ The longer you dehydrate the bread, the dryer it will be, and the longer it will keep – up to two months in the refrigerator. (Well-dried bread is great to take camping or on road trips!)
+ Less dehydration time makes a soft pliable bread with a great texture. It will keep for about a week in the fridge.
+ I use nutritional yeast that contains vitamin B-12. (Note: nutritional yeast is sometimes called savoury yeast. It’s not the same as brewer’s yeast or other yeasts!) While nutritional yeast is not strictly raw, it’s handy if you like to add extra vitamins to your food.
+ Read more about raw food preparation on the FAQ page.

Raw Buckwheat Breakfast Porridge

IMG_8729

From http://ohsheglows.com/2011/07/11/raw-buckwheat-breakfast-porridge/

Yield: Four 1-cup servings.

Porridge:

  • 2 cups raw Buckwheat Groats, (note: this is not the same as Kasha or toasted buckwheat) soaked in water for minimum of 1 hour or overnight
  • 1.25 cups non-dairy Milk (I use vanilla almond milk)
  • 2 tbsp chia seeds
  • 1/4 cup liquid sweetener (use Agave if you want it raw. I used maple syrup), or to taste
  • Pinch of kosher salt
  • 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
  • 1 tsp cinnamon

Optional Toppings:

  • Chopped fruit or dried fruit (banana, Berries, kiwi, apple, peaches, nectarines, raisins, mango, etc)
  • Chopped nuts and or seeds (I used almonds)
  • Nut Butter or ABU
  • Toasted coconut, chocolate chips, etc

Directions:

1. In a bowl, pour 2 cups of raw buckwheat groats (not Kasha, but RAW buckwheat groats) and 4 cups of water. Soak for at least 1 hour or overnight. After soaking, rinse well in a strainer several times.

2. Place buckwheat groats in food processor or blender, along with the almond milk, chia seeds, and vanilla. Process until combined and slightly smooth. Now add in the sweetener and cinnamon to taste (I found 1/4 cup of sweetener was enough, but others might like a bit more or less than that).

3. Scoop into bowls or parfait glasses and add your desired toppings & mix-ins. Serve immediately cold. Place leftovers into fridge and enjoy for the next few days. Makes 4 cups at about 385 calories per cup (using 1/4 c maple syrup, but without toppings).

Monday, October 3, 2011

Easiest Chocolate Milkshake Ever (Raw)

Chocolate Milkshake

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 1/2 cups ice
  • 2/3 cup Brazil nuts
  • 3 large bananas or 5 banana maça
  • 1 cup water
  • 2 Tablespoons cacao or carob
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)
  • Pinch sea salt

INSTRUCTIONS

  • Blend! DONE!

 

From http://uncooking101.com/site/raw-food-recipe/easiest-chocolate-milkshake-ever/

Monday, August 22, 2011

Carrot & Orange Cake (RAW)

from http://therawchef.com/therawchefblog/carrot-orange-cake

Carrot-Cake-WM

3 cup carrot, finely grated
2 cups pecans, ground in a food processor
1/4 cup raisins, roughly chopped
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 1/2 teaspoon mixed spice*
Date paste**
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon orange zest
1/2 cup desiccated coconut

* Mixed spice is a blend of cinnamon, coriander seed, caraway, nutmeg, ginger and cloves. If you’re in the US you can use pumpkin pie spice.

** Make the date paste by grinding 1 cup soft dates and 1/2 cup orange juice in a food processor until smooth.

- Thoroughly mix all ingredients together in a large bowl.
- Shape into individual cakes or press into one large cake, ready to be cut at the end.
- Place on a dehydrator sheet and dehydrate at 115 degrees F for 8 – 12 hours. If you don’t have a dehydrator you can simply place the cake into the fridge to set.

For the frosting

1 1/2 cup cashews
1/2 cup water
2 tablespoons agave
3 tablespoons coconut oil
1 tablespoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon salt

- Blend all ingredients in a high speed blender until smooth.
- Place in fridge to achieve a thicker consistency and spread on cake when you’re ready to serve.
- Garnish cake with nutmeg.

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Going Raw

lg_GirlsWithBanana

Mm mm!!  Makes you feel good!  Is good for you!  Is fun!  It’s the way to go!

If you’re new to it, check out a recent article that discusses what it is, how to follow such a diet, and even side effects.

http://altmedicine.about.com/od/popularhealthdiets/a/Raw_Food.htm

A great book which goes into good depth and doesn’t necessarily suggest that a 100% raw diet is right for everyone is Becoming Raw.  There are numerous good recipe books also.  Two of my favorites right now are Raw Food: A Complete Guide for Every Meal of the Day and Raw Food Made Easy For 1 or 2 People.

Raw Zucchini Hummus

BeanlessZucchiniHummus   monkey

I’ve made this twice now, using sunflower seeds.  Not only is it good, but it keeps well in the fridge for a good 5 days.  We love this stuff.  In preparing this, I started out by blending the zucchini and lemon juice and found that it was a tasty porridge in itself – try it before it gets too smooth and see what you think!

INGREDIENTS

3 raw zucchinis, peeled and chopped
6 tbsp lemon juice
4 cloves garlic
2 tsp paprika
2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp turmeric
2 pinches ground cayenne pepper
1/2 cup raw tahini
1 cup sesame or sunflower seeds, soaked
Extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzle
Fresh parsley, minced for garnish

INSTRUCTIONS

Place all ingredients, except oil and parsley, into a blender or food processor and blend until smooth or to desired consistency. Drizzle with oil and garnish with parsley. Complement it with crudités, raw flax crackers or whole-grain pita bread. You can also spread it on sandwiches, mix it with salads, use it as a dip, etc.…

NOTES

If you’re using a regular blender, I find that it’s easiest to blend the zucchini and lemon juice first.  Then add the soaked sunflower seeds in slowly.  Then the rest.  For the garlic, I suggest using a garlic press and letting the garlic sit for 10 minutes.

I could not find raw tahini, even at Whole Foods, so I used regular tahini.  However, making your own tahini is not difficult and I will be trying that once I get my Vitamix blender!

Friday, June 24, 2011

Wilted Kale Salad with a Creamy Chipotle Dressing

from http://therawchef.com/therawchefblog/wilted-kale-salad-with-a-creamy-chipotle-dressing

470_img_0839.JPG

Chipotle peppers are jalapeno that have been smoked, and so are not raw. However, I love to use them as they have such a great taste and you don’t need to use many! I have provided an alternative combination of ingredients in the recipe as a substitute to using jalapenos that will give a similarly distinctive taste.

This is a real hearty meal with a kick that’s perfect for those cold winter days!

Wilted Kale Salad with a Creamy Chipotle Dressing

Serves 2 – 4

For the wilted kale

2 heads kale (this will seem like a lot but will wilt down when the salt is added)
2 teaspoons salt
1 cup baby tomatoes, sliced
1/2 cup hulled hemp seeds

For the dressing

2 avocados
1 chipotle pepper*
1/2 cup olive oil
1 teaspoon agave
1/4 cup lemon juice
Chipotle soak water as needed to blend

*If not using chipotle peppers, substitute with 1/2 teaspoon each of onion powder, cumin, chili powder, garlic powder and tamari/nama shoyu.

- Remove the stems and then wash and cut the kale into small pieces. Place into a bowl, add salt and start to massage the kale until it wilts and takes on a ‘cooked’ texture.

- Add the tomatoes and hemp seeds to the bowl and mix in by hand.

- Blend all remaining ingredients in a high-speed blender until creamy and mix into kale by hand.

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Karen's Taste-Bud Tantalizing Salad Dressing

from http://karenknowler.typepad.com/living_in_the_raw/2006/04/a_salad_dressin.html

Simply take each of the following ingredients, place into a salad dressing shaker or jam jar with lid, and shake well until fully mixed:

Base: Approx. 1 cup of olive oil + 1/2 cup of pure water (the water makes it less oily and gummy)

Sweet: Honey OR Agave nectar (about 1 Tablespoon)

Sour: 2-3 Tablespoons of apple cider vinegar

Salty: A liberal shaking of a natural flavoured salt like Herbamare

Bitter: The juice of half a lemon

Pungent: Crushed garlic if you haven't used a spicy salt (above)

TOP TIP: Make more than you need as this will last well in a fridge for at least a week - and you'll be glad you did!

The type initializer for ‘System.Net.DNS’ threw an exception.

This error has come up and may be related to a known issue with Microsoft .NET 1.1.  If there are more than 50 bound protocols across all network adapters, this and other socket-related exceptions appear.

References

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;815209
BUG: You receive a "The operation has timed-out" error message when you access a Web service or when you use the IPAddress class

On the above page is a link to a program called enum.exe that will list the bound protocols.  If the list is more than 50 long, you can either try to reduce the number of bound protocols or install a hotfix from Microsoft.  Unfortunately, this hotfix must be requested from Microsoft Support Services; there is no public download link.

http://download.microsoft.com/download/9/3/0/930e1ecb-a6c6-445f-bd79-82fc3e66f009/enum.exe
Link to enum.exe program to list installed protocols.

This can also be downloaded from our website at http://www.ndpcci.com/Downloads/Newtin/enum.zip

Friday, May 20, 2011

Converting a White background to Tranparent (Photoshop)

Here's a great tip if you have to "peel" a white background off an image which is much cleaner than using the magic wand, as the magic wand often leaves either a halo or a jagged/untidy edge.

1. copy the image to a new layer and delete the background layer
2. copy the image to a new layer again and INVERT it
3. copy the inverted layer into the clipboard, and switch off its visibilty for now
4. go back the the +ve image and create a layer mask
5. press ALT whilst clicking on the mask thumbnail
6. paste the inverted image, then click back to the image thumbnail in the layer palette
7. duplicate this new layer until necessary (5 times?) and delete the inverted layer you created at the start
8. merge down the layers one by one (Ctrl-E) choosing to "apply mask" each time

Friday, May 6, 2011

Benefits of Garlic

Benefits of garlic are numerous. Garlic, like the onion, has a powerful effect on healing wounds and is also very good as a disinfectant. The old Greeks placed garlic on stones at cross roads as a dinner for their triple goddess Hecate who was Diana on earth, Phoebe in heaven and Proserpine in hell.

As with horseradish, it is difficult to juice garlic in the machine because of the strong essential oils which can only be removed with the greatest difficulty. So we crush it and the resulting liquid is easily incorporated into juices or taken in small amounts by itself.

In 1936 Caspari demonstrated in the laboratory that garlic can destroy the bacterium staphylococcus and that this might be the basis for the use of garlic as a medicine. Later on studies with animals demonstrated the effect of garlic in improving the condition of arteriosclerosis whilst at the same time bringing down the blood-pressure.

Garlic acts well against cataract, particularly in smokers, and for colds. Like onion juice, one dessertspoonful of garlic in half a pint of warm water (10ml in 275ml water) is a recognized remedy for worms in children. One suspects that children in Mediterranean countries must be well protected against worms, and statistics show that their parents have a lower incidence of heart disease than most Europeans, all of which helps to confirm the therapeutic value of this bulb.

The great benefit from garlic was demonstrated in a controlled trial on sufferers from long-standing intestinal disorders such as persistent diarrhea with accompanying headaches. These symptoms disappeared in the patients having garlic juice, but even more importantly, an entirely fresh and improved quality was found in the intestinal flora, those bacteria which aid the digestion of food.

Garlic juice has been used beneficially for many conditions including those mentioned already plus tuberculosis, entercolitis and amoebic dysentery. It is an expectorant as well as assisting asthma and bronchitis.

Garlic and garlic juice has been used as a medicine for some 5,000 years and we would be misguided not to use it on account of the smell. If you cannot bear to use it with your juices than take garlic in the form of capsules which do not dissolve until they have reached the intestine.

Garlic is by far the best common food source of germanium. Containing around 750 parts per million. It also seems to be better at concentrating selenium than most other fruits and vegetables, supplying 20 micrograms per100g. The exact quantity of these elements will depend on where your garlic was grown as some soils have richer supplies than others. Both germanium and selenium are considered to be important antioxidants.

Thursday, May 5, 2011

HTML5/CSS3 Fonts with @font-face

Embedding specific fonts on a web page, traditionally, has been accomplished using images.  Though IE 5.0+ allowed you to embed fonts on your web page, they needed to be in EOT (Embedded OpenType) format.  Other browsers supported TTF (TrueType) and OTF (OpenType) fonts.  IE9 now supports TTF, OTF and also WOFF (Web Open Font).  To accomplish the task of embedded real fonts into your web pages, use the CSS3 @font-face rule.

Where to get quality FREE fonts for use in web pages?  FontSquirrel is a great place with hundreds of free fonts, including kits that demonstrate how to embed and use them into a web page, plus a generator to create your own.  With the kit, you get the font in all the formats so that you can craft your web pages to support all the major browsers.

As an example, this is how the font Garogier can be embedded:

CSS

   1:  @font-face {
   2:      font-family: 'GarogierRegular';
   3:      src: url('fonts/Garogier_unhinted-webfont.eot');
   4:      src: url('fonts/Garogier_unhinted-webfont.woff') format('woff'),
   5:      url('fonts/Garogier_unhinted-webfont.ttf') format('truetype'),
   6:      url('fonts/Garogier_unhinted-webfont.svg#webfontew0qE0O9') format('svg');
   7:      font-weight: normal;
   8:  }

 

The EOT font is placed first so that IE8 and earlier can see it first.  The users browser will try each one until it finds one that works.  With that done, we can now use our newly defined font-family:

CSS

   1:  body{
   2:      font-family: "GarogierRegular";
   3:  }

 

Free Fonts

Some places to find free fonts; there are dozens more…

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Dan’s Daily Juice

  • Cucumber (1 whole)
  • Kale (5-7 leaves)
  • Spinach (handful)
  • Cilantro (handful)
  • Celery (5-7 stalks)
  • Apple and/or Carrots to sweeten

I would include

  • Beet (1/4 small, 1/8 large)
  • Ginger root (1/2 to 3/4 inch)

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Windows 7 Gadget Development

 

Windows Sidebar

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa965850(VS.85).aspx

A gadget is an HTML and script-based application designed to present the user with a limited set of information or functionality obtained from other applications, controls, or Web sites and services. Gadgets, although hosted by the Sidebar, are not confined to the Sidebar area; the user can undock and move them onto the desktop as desired.

A gadget is distributed as a .gadget file—a renamed .zip archive—consisting of a collection of XML, HTML, Microsoft JScript, and Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) files. Installation consists of downloading the .gadget file and allowing the download process to install the gadget or saving the .gadget file to the local system and double-clicking to start the installation process.

Users can run multiple instances of a gadget simultaneously. For example, if users want to know the time in different time zones, they can run multiple instances of the clock gadget, setting each clock to a specific time zone. A user might want to view slideshows of pictures from two or more different folders at the same time. This is possible because the gadget platform provides methods to store settings and automatically associate settings with the correct instance of each gadget. All current gadget settings are saved when the user logs out or restarts. If the Sidebar is on by default, then all gadget instances will run automatically upon startup, and each gadget instance will run with the correct settings.

Introduction to the Gadget Platform

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd370867(v=vs.85).aspx

This topic introduces the Gadget Platform for Windows 7. It discusses the evolution of the Gadget Platform from the Windows Vista Sidebar, the differences between the two platforms, and what you need to know when you transition Sidebar gadgets to the new Windows Gadget Platform.

Windows Sidebar Object Reference

The Windows Sidebar and gadget architecture consists of three components. The functionality of these components is exposed through the scripting elements described in the following sections:

  • Gadget functionality, such as Sidebar and gadget state and event handling.
  • System functionality, such as file, network, and operating system information.
  • Presentation functionality, such as gadget background, image, and text handling.

Other Links

Developing Gadgets for the Windows Sidebar - http://odetocode.com/articles/463.aspx
Script# - http://projects.nikhilk.net/ScriptSharp
Authoring Sidebar Gadgets in C# (with Script#) - http://www.nikhilk.net/SidebarGadgets.aspx
Creating Windows 7 and Vista Gadgets (Book Resource Site) - http://www.innovatewithgadgets.com/

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Investing Resources–Company lists for NYSE and NASDAQ

NYSE (New York Stock Exchange) complete list of stocks
http://www.nyse.com/about/listed/lc_ny_name_A.html?ListedComp=All

NASDAQ (National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations)
http://www.nasdaq.com/screening/company-list.aspx

Yahoo links for a given ticker symbol – here using MSFT (Microsoft)

Main Page - http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=MSFT&ql=1

Headlines - http://finance.yahoo.com/q/h?s=MSFT+Headlines

Profile - http://finance.yahoo.com/q/pr?s=MSFT+Profile

Key Statistics - http://finance.yahoo.com/q/ks?s=MSFT+Key+Statistics

Competitors - http://finance.yahoo.com/q/co?s=MSFT+Competitors

Industry - http://finance.yahoo.com/q/in?s=MSFT+Industry

Historical Prices - http://finance.yahoo.com/q/hp?s=MSFT+Historical+Prices

Download Historical Prices

http://ichart.finance.yahoo.com/table.csv?s=MSFT&d=1&e=23&f=2011&g=d&a=2&b=13&c=1986&ignore=.csv

1/23/2011, granularity=d (day), back to 2/13/1969, format CSV (comma separated values)

Friday, February 18, 2011

Apple Cider Vinegar Dressing

From http://www.cooking-mexican-recipes.com/apple_cider_vinegar_recipe.html

This apple cider vinegar recipe is a delicious salad dressing for Mexican food. It seems to blend extremely well with refried beans, spanish rice,enchiladas and especially tostadas.  It compliments these flavors so beautifully that in the restaurant business we used to serve our salads right on the plate with the main meal.  Sure there were a few people who didn't like their salad this way but the majority of people seem to love it.  I still do it this way when we go out for Mexican food. I can be found dumping my apple cider vinegar salad right on top of my beans, rice and enchilada.


Ingredients:

  • 1 cup canola oil
  • 1 cup apple cider vinegar
  • 2 Tbs. honey
  • 1/2 tsp. dried parsley
  • 2 tsp. garlic powder
  • 2 Tbs. water
  • pinch of pepper
  • 1/2 tsp. sea salt

Add all ingredients to a blender and blend for 30 seconds or until well blended.

It would be best to pour the dressing into a bottle that has a top you can shake the dressing out of instead of pouring it. In the past I have used a glass apple cider bottle that had a metal lid. I would poke a hole in the lid with a sharp knife. Other times I have used old plastic dressing bottles that have a shaker top.  This just makes applying the dressing easier. I dislike bottles where the dressing pours out and you end up with a puddle of it on your plate.  The shaker method will distribute your dressing evenly and with better control.  Store the dressing in the refrigerator and it will keep for several weeks.


Another recipe; simple:

  • 3 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
  • 3 Tbsp olive oil
  • salt, pepper to taste

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

jQuery resources/links

Some resources/bookmarks for jQuery.

jQuery (general)

jQuery
http://jquery.com/

jQuery Documentation
http://docs.jquery.com/Main_Page

jQuery API (3rd Party Documentation)
http://jqapi.com/

jQuery Tutorial
http://www.w3schools.com/jquery/default.asp

jQuery UI
http://jqueryui.com/

jQuery, Learning (book support site)
http://www.learningjquery.com/

jQuery Fundamentals (ebook)
http://jqfundamentals.com/book/index.html

50 Amazing jQuery Examples
http://www.noupe.com/jquery/50-amazing-jquery-examples-part1.html

Visual jQuery 1.2.6
http://visualjquery.com/

jQuery Cycle Plugin
http://jquery.malsup.com/cycle/

jQuery Mobile
http://jquerymobile.com/

jQuery Templates (VS Magazine)

    Setting Up for jQuery Templates
    http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2011/01/26/setting-up-for-jquery-templates.aspx

    Displaying and Filtering Data with jQuery Templates
    http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2011/02/08/displaying-and-filtering-data-with-jquery-templates.aspx

    Supporting Updates with jQuery Data Linking
    http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2011/02/14/updates-with-jquery-data-linking.aspx

Monday, January 17, 2011

Simple Backups with Robocopy

Of course, everyone backs up their hard drives, right?  If your system crashes, how much would you lose?  Most likely, something, but I like to try and minimize that answer – I ‘d rather not answer “everything.”

For backing up my C: drive partition, I use Acronis True-Image Home.  I backup the entire C: drive image so I can rebuild it in the event of a catastrophic failure.

Like many other people, however, I have data drives.  To be a little more specific, I have 1TB partitions for “DATA_HOME” and “DATA_WORK”.  These two 1TB partitions will fit on a 2TB HD no problem, but using Acronis is not what I want to do.  Why?  Because Acronis creates a giant backup file (and possibly subsequent incremental backup files) that I need Acronis in order to use.  In addition, if I wanted to create a new backup, I would (due to space reasons) need to delete my old backup before creating the new one.  This is a small window of opportunity for disaster, but one that I will avoid if I can.  And you can.  Easily.  I very much like the idea of having a copy of my data on a separate hard drive that I can access from any computer, without Acronis.

I did some searching around for a good solution and found a utility from Microsoft called “SyncToy”.  At the time I used it, and still now, the most recent is version 2.1.  SyncToy would create a mirror image of my DATA_HOME and DATA_WORK partitions into DATA_HOME and DATA_WORK folders on the 2TB hard drive.  Whenever I wanted to do a backup, I would stick the 2TB backup hard drive into my eSATA slot and run SyncToy to “echo” my partitions to folders on the backup drive.  All seemed good in the world.

But then I noticed a missing folder.  Two, actually.  So I ran SyncToy again to echo the data.  But SyncToy wouldn’t copy the files.  It turned out there was a lot of missing data on the backup.  SyncToy said it had done everything it needed to do and no errors were encountered.  Yet, I could easily verify that there was 22GB (out of 400GB) that was MISSING on my external HD backup!  NOT GOOD!  I verified that the folders and files would not be excluded for some reason (System attribute set? nope!).  I could find no reason.  And so, my trust for SyncToy was lost.  I could not get SyncToy to copy the missing files.  Time to look for an alternative.

Being a software engineer, I thought I would write something myself.  But being a busy person, I didn’t have a lot of time to do that.  So I looked up an old utility I read about that’s included with Windows Vista, 2003 and 7.  It’s a command-line program called ROBOCOPY and it was written a long time ago, in an office far far away.  But it does just the trick.  I ran Robocopy and the 23GB of missing files moved over to the target folder.  Problem solved.

To run Robocopy, I run it with these options:

image

This would copy my G: drive (DATA_HOME) to the backup folder E:\DATA_HOME.  The /MIR option does a mirror operation – copying stuff in the source not in the destination and deleting stuff in the destination that is no longer in the source.  The /XD option is used to exclude the protected Recycle Bin and System Volume Information folders.

Note: you can use the /L parameter (LIST only) and it will go through the motions but not actually do any copying.  At the end of the process, you get a little report of what it would do (or what if did, if you omit the /L option.)

Here is the final report after copying my DATA_WORK partition.  About 75.2GB was copied and it took 4 minutes 18 seconds to complete.

image

A simple batch file, to copy the folders I want backed up, makes backing up my extra partitions and files a snap.  There is another program from Microsoft out there called “RichCopy”, which is newer offering.  I have not spent any time playing with it.  Also, Robocopy has a GUI front-end that you can download and install.  Just google “robocopy gui” to find it.

Thursday, January 6, 2011

2010, what a great year!!

2010 turned out to be one of the best years of my life; 2011 is looking to be even better!
Such a drastic contrast from drama of 2008 and 2009!
It’s going to be an exciting year!!!