Photographic inspiration

If you like old pictures, take a look at Shorpy - The 100 Year Old Photo Blog. It's a blog that compiles old pictures (not all are 100 years old). There is some truly stunning pictures posted; some are stunning because they show us how things were, some are stunning because of the technical picture quality, and some are stunning because of the artistic quality.

Some of my favorites:
Lady in the Water: 1947
Marcella and Elibia: 1943
Inter-city beauties: 1927
The Cincinnati Kid
The Banana Wagon: 1943
Broad Street: 1911

I hope some day I'll be able to take pictures of this quality. I've got a long way to go.

Whitewater Veggie burgers (modified)

I finally got a chance to make the Whitewater Cooks Veggie Burgers today for dinner tonight. They turned out quite well, if I do say so myself.

Now, I know a bunch of you are probably thinking "Richard - why are earth are you making veggie burgers? I thought you liked real, meaty burgers." Well I do love real, meaty burgers. I'm not turning vegetarian. But that doesn't mean I can't appreciate a good vegetarian meal. I grew up with a vegetarian dad; some of his food I liked (bulgar) and some not so much (tvp in soup).

Anyways - we had these burgers when we were out west and I thought I'd give them a whirl on my own. I've made a few changes to the recipe (for the better I think). This could even gluten free if you can source gluten free bread crumbs. I'm not sure I could make it vegan...

Warning - this recipe makes a dozen burgers! They do freeze well, but if you aren't sure about making them come and ask me for a burger - we have a bunch in the freezer right now.

Whitewater Cooks Veggie Burgers
1 tbsp veg oil
1 onion, diced
3 clove garlic, minced
1 tbsp cumin
2 tbsp chili powder
1-19 oz can beans, drained, rinsed and roughly pureed (blank, kidney, or even garbanzo)
1/4 cup parsley, chopped
2 tbsp sesame oil
1/2 cup almonds, roasted and chopped
1 cup sunflower seeds, roasted and chopped
3 cups bread crumbs
1/2 cup soya sauce
5 eggs
2 cup carrots, grated
2 cup oats
flour for dredging
oil for frying


Method
In a large skillet, sauté onions and garlic in oil. Place in mixing bowl and let cool a little.

Add remaining ingredients.


Mix well and shape into patties. Dredge lightly in flour.


Heat oil in a large pan and brown burgers on both sides (in batches)

Cemetary

I wandered around the Woodland cemetery yesterday. I got there just in time for the clouds to cover up the sun :( . I took a few pictures anyways.

This one has severely been retouched. I removed a garbage can from the center of it. Good thing I'm not a photojournalist.

This one is my favorite from the day

I've also updated my flickr account with some old photos (taken with my trusty Canon Powershot 410).

Fixing blog problems (IE)

A few people of complained that Walk-In Fridge isn't displayed correctly in Internet Explorer 6 or 7. I think I have solved the issue by reapplying a blogger template. If you still have trouble with the site, let me know.

Of course, I strongly recommend you use Firefox, but your choice of browser is up to you :)

My end of the bargain

One of the few work-related blogs I read is by a guy named Eric Sink called Eric.Weblog(). A few weeks ago he put up a post that offered free t-shirts to anyone that asked. The only catch was that when you got your shirt, you had to take a picture of you wearing the shirt and post it to your blog.

I got the shirt this week. I took the picture. And this is the post. Eric - you can do with it as you want.


Eric writes about all sorts of things besides testing. It is definitely worth a read if you are involved in software in any capacity.

Riding at last

It was a crazy busy weekend. Tara's parents were down and we cleaned out the rental house in Waterloo. It was a couple of days of lifting and scrubbing and packing and sorting and fixing.

We did find time to head to George and Carolyn's house for a house warming party (even though it was colder outside than we though it would be).

Before that we were at the barn and Tara got on Lego for the first time. It went pretty well - Tara didn't get thrown off at all (colour me surprised). I took a few pictures - enjoy.

Julie and Pete's Chicken Salad

I told you I would get back to cooking posts and I'm here to make good on that. Tonight I present Julie+Pete's Chicken Salad.


I don't know if it has a real name, but we got the recipe from my sister and her husband, so that's what we call it at home. They're the lovely couple to your right (their left). We make this salad once or twice a month - it should be more really - it's soooo good and it's pretty healthy. It's not ultra quick, but it's 45 minutes quick, which is short enough for most nights when Tara goes to the barn before coming home from school.

I've modified it a little from the recipe we were given. Tara likes it with whole wheat pasta, I like regular white pasta. We usually have whole wheat, but tonight I make it with veggie pasta - mmmm good.

The recipe can look daunting but trust me when I tell you it's not as long as it looks.

Julie and Pete's Chicken Salad

Marinade
1/4 C soy sauce
1 tsp sugar or honey
1/2 tsp mustard
1/4 tsp ginger powder
1/4 tsp garlic powder

Dressing
2 tbsp vinegar (white, balsamic, or wine - whatever we feel like that night)
1/4 C olive oil
3 tbsp sugar or honey
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper

Salad
2 Chicken breasts
3 C cooked rottini
4 handfuls of salad greens
1 C crumbed feta
2 tomatoes , chopped
handful of olives (optional)

To make the chicken
1. Mix together all the marinade ingredients and pour over chicken. Let them marinate for 20-30 minutes.
2. Remove chicken from marinade and cook. I like to pan fry them and then bake them for 10 minutes until done. You could also grill them or just bake them. Don't try to poach them...
2a. You can cook the pasta now, if you don't have any made already. Toss with a spoonful of dressing when done.
3. Let the breasts rest after removing them from the heat and slice them with the grain.

To make the dressing
1. Mix all the ingredients together

To make the salad
1. Split the greens over two plates
2. Split the pasta in two and put in top of greens
3. Put slices chicken on top of greens
4. Put tomatoes on top of chicken
5. Put cheese and olives on top of tomatoes
6. Drizzle with dressing.

The new cook book's here! The new cook book's here!

I've been waiting since our trip out west for this cookbook to arrive. It's been on back order for quite a while, but today it came!

The first thing I am going to make are the Whitewater Veggie Burgers (oh so good) and then maybe the White Chocolate Hazelnut Brownies and then the Moroccan Chicken Phyllo Pie. I'm so excited!

(bonus points for those who know what movie the title of the post is from)