Category Archives: General

Spanish Paella

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One of my favourite Spanish dishes is paella.  This is a dish that goes back to my childhood – my grandfather taught me all about paella at an early age.  When the missus and I visited Spain the last time we went to Europe, we made it a point to search for authentic paella.  Fortunately we did indeed find the real deal and I took plenty of notes and even bought a couple of books.

The above picture shows the fully assembled paella in the special dish used to cook it.  What is in paella?  Basically it is a rice dish that includes quite a number of tasty items.  Today’s version is a modified ‘a la Valenciana‘ – including chicken, Spanish chorizo and shrimp.  Not any rice will do though: it requires arroz bomba – a spanish rice with a special shape that lends itself to being cooked this way.  A sofrito of bell peppers, onion and garlic is the base and that along with plenty of saffron, alcaparras (capers) and aceitunas ( olives) makes for a very tasty dish.  I cook my paella in a gas grille with the pan on top of the ceramic briquttes – this gives a very even cooking temperature.

What does this all look like when done?  Take a look at the following picture – all the stock has been consumed by the rice and the dish is ready to eat.  The trick to good paella is to cook it for the exact amount of time in order for the rice at the bottom of the pan to cook to a very nice crunchy crust (referred to as socorrat).  It is hard to do:  not enough time, and it won’t get crunchy and if you cook it too long it will burn.  If you get it “just right” though, it is fantastic.  Serve this great dish with a good Rioja or sangria and some good bread to close friends or family and you have a great dinner!

 

General Electric Wind Turbines

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Not far from my cousin’s shop (where bowtie6 was born) is General Electric’s Turbine Assembly Plant in Greenville, South Carolina.  Some very interesting machines are built here.  Among them are the turbines that are used on windmill electric generators.

The generators are huge and pretty much require a special goose-necked lowboy with upteen wheels to properly distribute weight on the road.  Yes, there is also a railroad track that snakes its way into the GE plant and their very own “Blue Thunder” locomotive. Its a sight to behold to see the also specially built railroad car used to transport these behemoths.

Well the subject of today’s gallery is something a little more unusual.  You see, on one of their access roads this past weekend I spotted the above rig.  This is one of three blades used on the windmills.  I found it most interesting because of its shape, size and last but not least the device in which it was being transported.

The Blade

The blade is one of three.  The thing airfoil design is a thing of beauty.  The shape is extremely unusual in the “twist”, curvature and overall design.  I have if from a reliable source these blades are sculptured to the “n’th degree” in order to obtain the most efficient use of wind across their surface.  I am no aerodynamicist but just looking at this thing amazed the hell out of me.  The blade was wrapped in some sort of shrink wrap and when I tapped it, it sounded hollow and made of some high tech composite.  Can you say “big bucks”?

On the photos below you will see different angles of the blade as it was mounted on the transporter.  Interesting thing to note are all the studs sticking out of the root of the blade.  These things are all stainless and again, this ain’t cheap stuff!  Very impressive.

The Rig

The trailer this blade was mounted on is equally impressive.  The cradle was fully adjustable and from the markings on the pad it must have been mounted at some critical, weight-bearing spot on the blade.

The trailer was also a thing of beauty.  Fully adjustable and if you look closely, the rear bogies are steerable.  Not an ordinary trailer!

If you have any more insight on this and/or the blades – drop me a line.  I sure would like to know more about them…  Enjoy 🙂

Farewell Discovery

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I was going through the news this afternoon after visiting some fantastic sights along the way on our week of R&R in California.  After all the amazing things we have seen having to watch the following video made me very sad.

I have my own views, perhaps not exactly “mainstream” regarding our sad shape of affairs.  Having to see the last nail on this coffin is just hard for me to take.  Sad indeed that the nation that “elects to do these things not because they are easy, but because they are hard” (if you don’t know what I am talking about, Google it) seems to be taking a step back.

At any rate, take a look at this video…  It will make you tear up…

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Farewell Discovery, you’ve done well…

On Vacation: California

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Greetings from California…

Headed out to LAX last Saturday for a much needed week of R&R.  The missus and I arrived at LAX, secured a rental and headed out of town.  Sorry but big cities are not my speed.  Instead we are headed to wine country.

Thanks to the good folks at Delta, we were quite hungry upon arrival (the stuff they call “food” is for crap – but that is another story).  At any rate, once on Highway 1 outside of LA we happened to find a really good place to eat.  The photo at the left is out view from out nice table.

Once we got a chance to have  a warm lunch we hopped back in the rental and headed to our next destination:  Ojai, CA.

Along the way on Hwy1, we had a chance to see a crapload of Ferrari’s, Aston Martins and Bentleys.  Lucky f%$#r’s!!  Also along the bike lanes many dudes in TRI bikes – looks like Cervelo is very popular in this neck of the woods.

Later in the afternoon we arrive in Ojai, CA.  What a great little town.  Had some great food and on Sunday we headed out to pay our respects to The Great Communicator.  If you ever have a chance to visit the Ronald Regan Presidential Library, don’t miss it.  In a time when we desperately need a true leader, this place was very special to me.

After dinner on Sunday night, the missus and I took a leisurely walk down the main drag in Ojai.  We found a small coffee shop, inside were the owners, three customers and this trio.  We bought our coffees and sat down to listen.  So we sit down and they start playing Ramblin Man.  Only in California.  I almost asked for the iconic “Freebird”, but decided to just enjoy my coffee and let the boys play.  We ended up staying there about an hour!

This morning on the way to a little pastry shop, I happened to catch the following bad ride.  Wow!  It was a VW “pickup”.  It belonged to a local dude, doing some repair work.  I guess if you are going to do your “thang”, might as well do it in style.  This is what the vee-dub looked like from the front.  The paint was layed down flat black with a very tastefully done gloss to highlight the reveals on the bodywork.  The “VW” emblem was done in a very nice light blue.  Porsche hubcaps were on the wheels – which made it look really cool.  This bad boy was slammed on the ground too!

After a very tasty pastry we headed out towards Carpinteria, CA.  That was a very nice drive – only wish I had been driving bowtie6!  There was a very nice road with plenty of twisties and some awesome views.  Once past Carpinteria we headed towards HWY 101 and proceeded towards Santa Barbara and eventually to Los Olivos.  In Los Olivos we found a quite a nice variety of wine tastings and of course we had to partake!  While there we found a little local restaurant that just decided to open its doors to the public on this Monday, April 16.  Food was great!!!

And while we are having lunch, this bad boy pulls up and parks in front of the little restaurant.  Only in California.  Folks here just seem to have a different appreciation for old cars.  As I have been driving I can’t tell you the amount of vintage classic Detroit’s finest I’ve seen along the way.

Today we arrived at Arroyo Grande.  The missus secured an awesome B&B and we pretty much have it to ourselves.  It has an astonishingly fantastic view and could not be any better.  For dinner tonight we went downtown Arroyo Grande and found a great outdoor cafe where we just admired the cars going past.  And of all things, we saw a very nice Pimento Red TR6 go by several times. Good times.

More to come…

The 1940 Census

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For the last 72 years, the 1940 Census records have been locked away by law.  Yesterday, April 2 2012, they finally became available to the public on the internet.

At first the servers holding all this data crashed due to the high demand.  Indeed, I was one of those folks that caused such demand.  However, overnight the powers that be proceeded to stand up a bunch of servers in “the big cloud in the sky” and suddenly things started working.

And things got very interesting…

Today was special…  Not only was it my deceased Dad’s birthday, but I was able to finally access the details of what was on record about my family circa 1940.  My paternal grandfather and grandmother are 59 and 51 years old respectively and my Dad is listed as being 18 years old.  Just a few  years later he would be serving in Europe as part of the 13th Armored Division.

I saved the JPG’s of the census listings on my laptop.  This afternoon, after work I visited with my aunt – my Dad’s eldest sister.  She is my cousin Jim’s Mom and she is 96 years old.  When I showed her the records I had found and start reading the names of the people next to my grandfather and grandmother’s entry, she starts telling me who these folks were and where they lived.  She started telling me all this as if it were yesterday.  This, from a lady that is 96 years old!!  Remarkable stuff indeed.

If you have a little bit of time and some curiosity, go find out about your family.  You might be surprised at what you find. The search engine provided is not exactly perfect: there is no search by name and/or address.  However there are some great instructions online showing how to access the database.  If you are interested, CLICK HERE.  This will take you to the National Archives 1940 Census website.