The Eccentric Apprentice

The perfect tripod is a…Monopod?

Howling Violinist — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 02:19:13 +0000

I was recently going on a binge of buying all sorts of photography equipment that I could get my hands on. Started buying better quality gear, new gadgets. and of course I needed a new top of the line tripod. Well turns out I didn’t really need a tripod after all. Manfrotto 561 BHDV makes an AMAZING monopod that can act like a tripod but is even better at how great of a monopod it is. Equipped with a ball head mount this is a photographers dream.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbKh0tEiI54

Making Sweet Crepes!

Howling Violinist — Wed, 11 Jul 2012 01:47:30 +0000

While looking for better pancake recipes I stumbled upon a few great crepe recipes and got infatuated with having French styled crepes that night. Of course it was too late to start making them but the next day, armed with a new de Buyer crepe pan, fresh eggs, amaretto liqueur, I set off to make these wonderful french creations!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtJ4AZk9_7w

Summer Treat…Quick Oranage Sorbet!

Howling Violinist — Sat, 30 Jun 2012 15:12:26 +0000

Be prepared. The summer heat is here and everyone is melting. Thankfully for both you and I, I have come into possession of a ice cream machine. Not just any ice cream machine, but a gift from the gods during those days when the temperatures are over 100 degrees…at night. Needing to test my new machine I made a quick and easy orange sorbet. It’s only three ingredients and needs nothing more then simple orange juice out of a bottle ( though fresh tastes better). Expect more recipes to come!

View the Recipe

Recipe: Quick Orange Sorbet Note: There is a rating embedded within this post, please visit this post to rate it.

Summary: A very fast and easy to make orange sorbet

Cooking time (duration): 10-20

Number of servings (yield): 1-2

Ingredients

1/2 cup Simple Syrup or 1/2 cup water mixed and blended with 1/2 cup sugar
1 cup Orange juice

Equipment

Ice Cream Machine

Instructions

In a bowl or large enough measuring cup pour all the ingredients and mix. A Hand blender works well here.
If you’re ice cream machine uses a freezer bowl take it out and pour the mixture in. For all other machines follow your manufactures directions. Note you can also do this without a machine by freezing the mixture for an hour and breaking it up using a fork and repeating every hour for 3-5 hours.
Mixture should take only 10-20 minutes and serves two wonderful people. Enjoy!

Blueberry Biscuits

Howling Violinist — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 18:32:11 +0000

There isn’t anything like the smell of fresh biscuits being baked on a Sunday morning with a side of scrambled eggs. If you are like my family, you’ve always used biscuits made by the “dough boy” and were happy. Well not anymore! These are simple to make, fresher, and the recipe can be used as a base for other variations of biscuits! Just remove the blueberries and reduce sugar to 1 tablespoon.

View the Recipe

Recipe: Blueberry Biscuits Note: There is a rating embedded within this post, please visit this post to rate it.

Summary: Sweet blueberry biscuts

Ingredients

1/2 cup fresh blueberries ( thawed blueberries are ok also )
1 cup All Purpose Flour ( 158 grams )
1/2 tablespoon Baking Powder
3 tablespoons suger
3 tablespoons shortening
1/2 teaspoon salt
Milk

Equipment

A fork or pastry blending blade to mix shortening into flour
biscuit cutter or Pizza cutter for square biscuits

Instructions

Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.
In a large bowl, mix in the flour, salt, baking powder, blueberries, and sugar. Give a good stir with hands or fork.
Make a small well in the center of the mixture and slowly add milk. Add enough milk to just let the dough combine. If you add too much, add more flour until the dough is still wet and soft but can shaped by hand gently. Don’t overwork the dough.
Place dough on a floured and either by hand or rolling pin flatten to 1/2 inch to 1 inch in thickness depending on how large you want them.
Using your biscuit cutters or pizza cutter, cut the dough into equal sized pieces as best you can and then place on a your baking sheet lined with parchment paper. On each biscuit, using your finger or thumb make a small indention on the tops of each one. If you have a pizza stone you may also bake these directly on the stone.
Check the biscuits in 10 minutes to see how they are doing. They should be almost near done and can be in for another 5 or even 10 minutes if needed to brown.
Pull out when mostly brown and let cool and enjoy!

Quick Notes

You can omit the blueberries to make regular sweet biscuits. These will fluff up more
You can reduce the number of blueberries to give the biscuits more volume, or increase the rest of the mixture.

Variations

Try with other dried fruits like cranberries
Add walnuts or pecans

When you’re bored and there’s a grand piano in the house…

Howling Violinist — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 04:07:21 +0000

Another quick recording I did with the Zoom H1 recorder. Still trying to replicate the clarity I got from the BOSS recorder. Looks like I’ll have to use a different pre-amp to get my good microphones to really shine. Enjoy!

ImprovPiano

Resolution…Music for the new year

Howling Violinist — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 06:58:32 +0000

A New Year and a new day to take the next step forward. They say you do your best work when you are filled most with emotions. Here’s just a random assortment of tones and melodies that express my feelings. It’s a bit long, and very random, but hey, that’s what emotional improvisation is about.

Resolution

Chicken Burgers, not just another chicken sandwhich!

Howling Violinist — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 02:07:35 +0000

Nothing too fancy here, just a simple chicken burger, but this time made by grounding your own chicken. I got a new attachment for as gift for the holidays and suspect I’ll be having more interesting menu items appearing for the new year soon. You can also make this by just buying ground meat and mixing it together!

View the Recipe

Recipe: Chicken Burger Note: There is a rating embedded within this post, please visit this post to rate it.

Ingredients

2 large chicken breast with rib meat
1/4 up chopped cilantro
1/8 cup chopped jalapeno
3-4 cloves garlic chopped slightly
1 tablespoon ground ginger
1 tablespoon thyme
Salt & Pepper

Equipment

Meat Grinder

Instructions

Begin by trimming any excess fat from the chicken breast if you like. Since the meat is extremely lean, you may leave the fat in.
Cut the chicken in to smaller 2 inch by 1 inch slices into a bowl and mix with the remaining ingredients.
Add salt and pepper to the meat. I would start with 1 tablespoon of Kosher salt, or adjust the salt levels to your taste.
Using your meat grinder, ground the seasoned chicken.
Shape into two 1/2 inch thick patties
Cook as you would a normal burger except on lower heat with longer cook times to fully cook the meat and also coat with oil. Since the meat is very lean, higher heats can easily brown the outsides before the insides are cooked. Remember to coat with oil, use lower temperatures, and cook slightly longer then a normal burger. Depending on your equipment you may end up cooking them shorter overall then a normal burger, so keep a watch on the meat.

Theme from a famous children’s movie…

Howling Violinist — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 00:52:15 +0000

Just another quick recording I did off a friends BOSS BR-80 recorder. I used my Zoom H1 earlier which also produced equal results which prompted this recording to see just how good the BOSS version was. In any-case, I think you’ll recognize the theme here. I have a few different versions, but this one just sparkles. Enjoy!

Mystery Theme

A Walk Down Congress Avenue : Pentax Q Photo Shoot

Howling Violinist — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 01:45:02 +0000

On a sunny Saturday afternoon armed with my new Pentax Q, I decided to give it a good workout by doing a photo shoot of downtown Austin along Congress Avenue. Because the Q was so easy to use and switch between color and B&W, I decided to shoot B&W only and see what kind of photos I could get. It ended up being a great photo shoot and I got a lot of wonderful photos and even ran into one of my favorite celebrities.

Pentax Q Review

Howling Violinist — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 12:08:35 +0000

Here is my review of the Pentax Q camera. This is Pentax’s first mirrorless camera and I’m happy to say they did amazing job in shrinking a DSLR down to this tiny compact size while providing all the functionality and quality you would expect. Great camera, and very fun and easy to use.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8q99J-yeA_8