The Life and Times of Paul the Dog

One of the earliest photos of Paul, July 2002.

It is with tremendous heaviness of heart that I return to the blog to announce the passing of my beloved dog, Paul. Paul passed on Monday, January 27th of this year. At the time, my life was in a bit of a pressure cooker in many ways - personally, professionally, and otherwise, and it was all I could do to just hang on and deal with things one day at a time. I couldn't bear the thought of a big public announcement, either on the blog here, or on Facebook, where he has had a lot of fans over the years. I imagined an outpouring of well wishes and sympathy that seemed like it would crush or drown me, well-intentioned though I knew such an outpouring would be. At the same time I was counseled by a friend, that "sometimes grief needs privacy." So I gathered all the photos I knew I would want to use for this post when I was eventually ready, and then let it go and moved on in my own way.

Paul was the original Parson Architecture Spokesdog™, and with his passing I felt like I had lost part of my own voice.

So now it is nearly 8 months later, and I finally feel like I have sufficient distance, and I'm ready to pay proper tribute to Paul Baby, who was my loyal and stalwart companion since June 26, 2002, the day I brought him home from the Beagles and Buddies Rescue.

Death of a Crock Pot

It feels like the end of an era.

My trusty old Crock Pot has finally bit the dust.  I don't know exactly what happened, but this morning while putting it away I noticed a hairline crack extending clear across the bottom of the heavy ceramic bowl and up the side.  The crack may have been there for some time, and might even be perfectly harmless, but I'm not particularly inclined to continue using it in its present state.  

It had been on a bit of a slow decline for a while now.  A couple of years ago I made the mistake of putting the lid in the dishwasher, causing the knob to warp. Then the screw that held the (still somewhat functional) warped knob in place, removed for cleaning, went into the garbage disposal, thus dispensing with any further use of the knob. This was provided an unexpected improvement in the form of a steam vent, via the now permanently exposed hole in the lid. I used it this way for a while, until I dropped and shattered the glass lid, sometime earlier this year.  

After that I was using a salad-sized plate for a lid, but now, finally, it's time for a whole new unit.

The Crock Pot was a gift from my mom in the early 2000's. I used it only occasionally before going paleo. After that transition, it became an indispensable part of my kitchen arsenal, and throughout 2011 it got its heaviest workout ever.  At the beginning of that year, I used it to make lots of tendon stew and bone broths while I was recovering from surgery on a tendon in my left hand. Later that fall, it ran nearly constantly, stewing up pig feet, which were the only thing I could get my dear old hound Todd to eat in his final stages of terminal cancer. I nearly threw it out after that, but in time the unpleasant associations with that episode faded to where I could make use of it once again, without being upset by it.

And so now, having properly eulogized my cherished slow cooker, it goes off to the rubbish bin, to be returned to the earth whence its raw materials originated. I will toss it into the black bin with a salute of "Thank Capitalism" in my heart.

I've decided to upgrade with my next slow cooker purchase. The old one was a basic round 4-quart model; I think I will replace it with a 6-quart oval one. I was a bit surprised by all the choices available on Amazon, and after a bit of looking it has come down to a choice between these:

Rival Crock Pot, 6-qt. with locking lid, $37.99 on Amazon.com

Hamilton Beach, 6-qt. with locking lid, programmable timer,
and temperature probe, $49.99 on Amazon.com

Cuisinart, 6.5-qt. fancy rectangular slow cooker, $99.95 on Amazon.com

I suspect I'll end up with the Hamilton Beach, even though it seems like a betrayal to not stick with the Rival Crock Pot brand. I like that it's programmable, with start time and stop time; it has a warming mode to keep your dinner hot without overcooking it; and I really like the temperature probe for roasts and such.  All that for fifty bucks seems like a pretty good deal, and Rival doesn't have one with the temperature probe at all, that I can find. The Cuisinart looks great (a very important consideration in my household), but has almost half as many 1-star reviews on Amazon as it has 5-star reviews, and that's a terrible ratio.

Thankfully, I had just finished a big batch of carnitas when the crack was discovered. I should be up and running with the new 'Pot by next week. As sad as I am to see the old Crock Pot go, I recently discovered nirvana in the form of braised lamb shanks (at the Elephant Bar in Burbank), and can't wait to get my hands on my new, bigger, programmable, temperature-probing slow cooker and give them a try at home!

Thus, the end of an era, and the beginning of a new one.

Strange in a Good Way

For the first time ever, in the entire history of the Universe as I have known it, I have a place outside my house where I can go for no other purpose than to do my own work.

My work.

I can't tell you what a thrill this is.

My friend Ana posted on facebook several weeks ago about an upcoming vacancy at Strangeways Academy. Strangeways is a shared studio-workspace in Chinatown that she started with some other graphic designers a few years ago. It's not fancy; it's a small storefront with 6 identical desks, behind each of which is a single Homasote panel for pinning stuff up on the wall. In the front there is a conference table, but that area converts, via some clever moving walls, into a gallery space where they have exhibitions from time to time.

I had gone to some of their gallery openings and events in the past, and had looked longingly at Ana's previous facebook postings of vacancies there. Finally, the timing was perfect. My work has picked up, and and the summer is turning out to be pretty busy for me. In fact, I'm relatively confident that things are even somewhat secure (to whatever extent that word has any meaning at all these days), probably though the end of the year (fingers crossed). So, when Ana posted about the upcoming vacancy, back in May, I expressed interest.  Then I had to go out of town and the whole thing was back-burnered for a bit.

After a few weeks went by and the workspace was still available, I met her down in Chinatown for lunch one afternoon and we went over the particulars. The next step was a meet-n-greet lunch with the other studiomates, which happened on Friday, June 8th.  The following Monday I moved in.  


Some of the Strangeways folk also teach, and some also have other full- or part-time employment or consulting they do elsewhere, so it's rarely a full house. I generally have the place to myself, especially in the mornings.


I'll continue to settle in there over the coming weeks.  I plan to bring these shelves that I made for behind my desk, and I'll populate my Homasote panel with some inspiring images and such. Even without those things, having a place without the distractions of home, where I can just focus on my work, is bliss.  And, I can walk from my house down to the Highland Park stop on the Gold Line and ride it down to Chinatown, where the station is only a couple blocks from the studio.  From there, I can also take the metro to my gym, which is on the other side of Downtown (although I haven't tried that yet).

Another plus is that Strangeways is dog-friendly, although I haven't met any of the other studio dogs (except for Ana's dog Gus, whom I had met previously).  Paul and Daisy came here with me one evening last week, and I think that Daisy still needs a bit more civilizing before we make that much of a habit. I found a place in my neighborhood with great Yelp reviews for obedience training, so after I return from OCON (woohoo!) we'll get started on that.

Here it is:

Right next to the herbal foot reflexology joint on Jung Jing Road!  Stop by and say Hi!

Creatures of Prometheus 2nd Blogiversary

Today we are celebrating our 2nd Blogiversary here at Creatures of Prometheus!  Hooray!

If you haven't ever read my first post, which explains why I named the blog Creatures of Prometheus, now's your chance. Here's a handy link to make it easy. I just reread it and have to say, it is a fine little piece of writing.  Two years later, it really holds up. Beethoven, ancient mythology, and Ayn Rand, all wrapped up in a tidy little package, tied with a bow.

Last year I didn't do anything to mark the occasion, as I was thrown pretty suddenly into hand surgery in early February, and thus never got to it.  This time around, I want to mention some of the things I've written about, of which I'm especially proud, and in no particular order.

My series on John Lautner still gets tons of hits from Google image searches. I toured some of his houses last summer and wrote about 2 of them. I'm going to revive this series and add to it, because next Friday I'm going to Palm Springs with my friend LouAnne to tour the Elrod House, which ought to be pretty spectacular. I really really really really really hope they let us take pictures!

Back in 2010 I went on an epic 10-week road trip and helped build my greatest residential commission to date: the Tennessee House. Many of those posts are labeled under both categories, but not all of them are.  I'm so happy that I made the effort that I did to document both the trip and project. I will always look back upon that experience as one (of what will hopefully be many) of the highlights of my career.

I'm getting back into a lot more welding and making things here in the shop these days, so I'm looking forward to adding a lot of new stuff to those categories this year.

Studying Objectivism and contemplating its application to my life, and using the blog to work through my ideas and discoveries, gives me a certain type of fuel that is both intellectual and emotional. There are some really good insights in that category, and I hope to continue with more of those in the coming blog-year.

Along with Ayn Rand's work, I really enjoy digging into the writings and work of Louis Sullivan. He was such a profound thinker, it's really hard to overstate the importance of his writings.  I just discovered that all his posts aren't labeled, so I'll have to go in and fix that behind the scenes. My pictures of the Auditorium Building also get tons of hits from Google image searches, which is pretty neat, I think.

And, last but not least, the recipes posted under Paleo Food Intake Strategy also get tons of hits! Hopefully I'll be able to do more writing on food in the coming year also.

It's good to spend a minute going through the blog archives, because it makes me realize how much I've covered on the blog, and how much I still want to do!

Time to get busy!

Cheers!

Puppy Love: Valentine's Daisy Edition

Here it is, Valentine's Day, and I am completely remiss for not posting sooner about the new pup, Daisy. She came home to live with Paul and me (and Roomie) on New Year's Eve, making it 6 weeks that she has been part of our little household. I mentioned her in my 2011 Year In Review post, but that's been about it.

When I first saw Daisy at the pound, I pretty much knew she'd end up coming home with us. This was her mug shot, and a few pictures of her from the pound:

2011 Year-In-Review at Creatures of Prometheus

Let's just say that my 2011 had its ups and downs. It certainly felt at times like I was having way more than my fair share of frustrations heaped upon me, but there were some really stellar moments as well.

Let's go month by month, Rational Jenn Style, through the year.

RIP Todd, 2003-2011

I am very sad to report that earlier today, Todd lost his battle with a malignant nerve sheath tumor that had been aggressively growing on his left hind leg.

Todd was rescued in January of 2004 as a six-month-old puppy, when he came to live with Paul (his brother) and me.

Todd seemed pretty clearly to have a good percentage of Plott Hound in him, as you can tell by looking at the photos in the link.  Plotts are native to North Carolina, and hardly anyone here in L.A. has heard of them.  When we were in Tennessee last summer, however, he was regularly recognized as a Plott by local folk who knew of the breed.

Amazing Gluten-free, High-fat, Semi-paleo Mac & Cheese Recipe

I grew up with Mom's made-from-scratch, baked-in-the-oven Macaroni and Cheese, which was always a favorite in our house. I never even tasted the stuff from the box (that strangely goes by the same name but is almost completely unrelated) until college.

Her basic cookbook, then and now, has always been the 1963 Good Housekeeping Cookbook.

In more recent years, Mom has managed to track down additional copies of that exact same edition...

...and now my sisters and I all have our own.

The recipe presented below was adapted from the "Basic Baked Macaroni and Cheese" recipe from that cookbook. 

Mac + Cheese is one of the things I have missed after going paleo a couple of years ago.  I won't say I never made it again, but I have definitely gotten out of practice, with a recipe that had become something of a specialty. After discovering gluten-free pasta at my local Trader Joe's, I've made it a few times over the past several weeks, and I think I've managed to get my Mac + Cheese Mojo back.

Mid-year Accomplishments for 2011

It's good to stop what you're doing periodically and review the positive accomplishments in your life.

A couple of months ago I posted on how I was finally feeling back to my old self after a period of months of unforeseen setbacks and troubles.  Well, as it turns out, it wasn't as easy as just 'snapping out of it' and going back to my previously robust self.  There have continued to be good days and bad days.  But, overall, I've managed to gain and/or keep the upper hand for the most part, and the stock chart of my life has, in fact, continued in a generally bullish trend.

Now that the year is slightly over half over, and lest anyone (I'm mainly talking about myself here) think the first 6 months of 2011 were a wash, I want to stop, take a timeout, and acknowledge some of my actual positive accomplishments from the first half of the year.

(This is the part where I get all fidgety in my seat and want to go to the kitchen for a snack or bottle of water or something.  Maybe I should go let the dogs out to run around in the front yard.  In fact, maybe the plants on the front porch need watering while I'm out there.  And while I'm at it, the tomato plants on along the driveway need some attention too.  See?  I could just go on all day like this.)

Where was I?  Oh, that's right.  My actual positive accomplishments from the first half of the year.

Let's see.

Night Blooming Cactopodes!

I'm quite pleased about the fact that just earlier today I was writing about last year's spectacular crocosmia bloom; and then, this evening, I went outside and saw the first blossoms of the summer on one of my giant night-blooming cactopodes in the front yard!

Witness:

Each blossom opens at dusk, blooms for only one night, and then withers as the sun rises.  They generally produce enough blossoms to go night by night for most of the summer, well into late August.  When properly pollinated, they produce bright red fruit, somewhere in size between a golf and a tennis ball.

Witness: fruit from a previous year.

As I stood there admiring the cool evening ambiance and lovely scenery of my garden, my neighbor Mercedes appeared at her front gate and we chatted.  Well, we sort of chatted.  Our conversations are generally along the lines of making benevolent statements to one another and smiling a lot.  Her English is about equivalent to my Spanish.  She is the matriarch of their household, which includes everything from a relatively small, cute baby (her granddaughter), to a handsome Marine (her son) who is now attending the Police Academy.  On more than one occasion, she has shown up at my doorstep, smiling, with a plate full of carne asada or chile rellenos for me. 

I picked a flower and gave it to her, and then there was one left.

Crocosmia Part I

Last year the crocosmia in my front yard bloomed and bloomed and bloomed.  They were gorgeous.  This year we had a lot of rain, which beat them down, and they just didn't look as good.

Fortunately, however, last year I got great pictures.  Somehow they never made it onto the blog.  Today we'll look at some of those.  I'm planning to follow up with a couple more posts on crocosmia, because they're my favorite flower, and I like to talk (and write) about things that merit that distinction.

So, without further ado, here's a quick tour around my little front yard.

John Herman Dersch

My Grandpa Dersch would have been 101 yesterday.  He died in 2005, just shy of his 95th birthday.

Here he is with his first pickup truck.

It is a 1937 GMC 1/2 ton, with 6 cylinders under the hood.  If this was taken around the time he bought it new, that would make him 27 or 28 in this picture.

He was a farmer in Southern Indiana.  The house behind him was their farmhouse where he and Grandma lived, and where Mom and her brother were born and raised.  He was very innovative in the way chickens were raised for market, and along with his brothers, developed a very good chicken business.  Later, he and Grandma built a big chicken house and went into the egg business.  They also had cattle, pigs, and grew corn on their farm.  He and his brothers were well known and highly regarded in that part of Southern Indiana for their innovations.

He could fix anything that broke and do anything that needed to be done on their farm; that had a big influence on me as a kid growing up.  I think of him often.  He was an amazing man.

Happy Birthday, Grandpa Dersch!  I miss you, but I know you would be proud of me today if you were here.

Feeling Like My Old Self Again

Last night I was up until 2:30.

Yesterday I spent most of the day working on a difficult writing project.  I'm having my website, as well as the blog here, completely redesigned from scratch.  When I started the project with John David, I didn't realize quite what I was in for.  Turns out, he's not just a web designer; he's a marketing guy too, and he's chock full of good ideas.  So he sent over this Creative Brief that was a few pages long, with lots of questions written out in italics having to do with my objectives, my audience, and their demographics, and some particularly difficult questions about brand character and the competition (!)

During our initial conversation about the Brief, I had to have him explain the concept of brand equity to me.  After a little simple math, I calculated my brand equity at about $1.95.  So, it turns out there's lots of room for improvement around here in the Online Personal Brand Development department -- and now I have a Pro on the case!  As we wrapped up the conversation, I thought he would be ready to get off and running, but he managed to turn the tables on me at the last minute.  "Why don't you take this document and write out your responses and send it back to me," he said.  It seemed like a completely reasonable request at the time, but in reality it was a challenging assignment, to say the least.

I've been working on it over the past few weeks, sort of off and on, when I haven't been sick with the pneumonia or drowning in student work to grade.  Yesterday was my self-imposed deadline for getting it done and back to JD.  This coming weekend is ATLOSCON, and I absolutely had to get the Creative Brief out of my hair before then, otherwise it would have been 2 more weeks of delay.

My writing-a-difficult-essay process works like this:  I write a bit, maybe for half an hour or so, then get hungry or thirsty.  So I allow myself to go to the kitchen and get some noms.  Then I come back and write some more.  Then I decide to put on some music, but usually have a hard time finding the right thing in my iTunes.  Sometimes I can write to music but  it usually has to be something I'm not that familiar with, or it will distract me too much.  The late Beethoven piano sonatas can be good to write by, as they are more contemplative, I think -- except for the Hammerklavier.  Then I write some more.  I have given up being bothered by my wandering mind's interruptions.  I think my subconscious just needs some breathing room sometimes, and it lets me know, when the flow of ideas gets interrupted.

After a bit more writing, I will have a sudden realization about a particular passage in a Beethoven piano sonata, and have to go look up the Wikipedia article to get an answer.  Yesterday's Beethoven distraction had to do with the structure of the second movement of his Piano Sonata #5 in C minor, Opus 10 No. 1. (Wikipedia describes the movement as having sonatina form - meaning a simplified sonata form with no development section.) I've been studying that sonata lately; it's an interesting one because it is an early work, and it foreshadows many of his future compositions in C minor, like the Grand Sonata Pathetique, the 5th Symphony, and his lesser-known 32 Variations in C minor (among others).  Now that I'm sitting here thinking about it, I've had to put on the Coriolan Overture (also in C minor) to see if I can find any similarities there.  (Coriolan always makes me feel like I'm in a spy movie.  It has a dramatic element that sounds like Jason Bourne doing parkour over the rooftops of Berlin, alternating with a tender, somewhat more romantic (but still dramatic) second theme.)

See?  I'm doing it right now.  I'm trying to write this blog post, and Beethoven has me completely under his spell.  Anyway, I finally got through my writing project yesterday, reread and edited it, and sent it off.  Then I shifted gears around dinner time and took the dogs for a long-ish walk over in Echo Park.  We don't tend to go over there for walks, but I like that area, and my thoughts of moving out of this house have returned (along with recent reports from neighbors that the dog that attacked Paul and I last year has been seen loose in the neighborhood again).  So, you could say we were doing a bit of reconnaissance towards the idea of possibly moving, perhaps next year sometime.

All afternoon, I'd been hitting the coffee pretty hard. After our walk, I was pretty excited about all the good work I'd gotten done, and my brain was still snapping along pretty well, so I resumed working on my ATLOSCON talk.  This involved going back through old photos, deciding what images to re-scan, and realizing that I had my own new photographs of Louis Sullivan's Auditorium Building, as well as his Chicago Stock Exchange Trading Room, which was installed at the Chicago Art Institute after the Stock Exchange was tragically torn down in the '60s or '70s.

I just worked right on through until about 1:45, and finally decided I really should go to bed if I wanted to be at all productive today.  By the time I finally got into bed and watched a couple of videos online to help my brain turn off, it was 2:30.  Somehow I woke up at 7 feeling good.  I was expecting to be completely dragged out and hungover feeling, but I'm surprisingly refreshed today.  I even tried going back to bed after feeding the dogs, but it just wasn't working for me.

Since I felt pretty good, I decided to started my day with a relatively light dumbbell workout, which I have done a few times over the past few weeks, now that my thumb has returned to mostly-normal after my surgery back in early February.  Working out first thing in the morning always gives me a tremendous sense of efficacy, and it really is the best way I can think of to start the day.  Perhaps today will mark the start of the return of that excellent habit.

Then I was checking out my Google Reader feed, and saw this excellent post from Trey, on the objectivist virtue of integrity.  It's really a solid, thoughtful bit of writing.  He observes,

The simplest possible definition or explanation of the virtue of integrity that I can offer is this: consistency.  Integrity is about always always always pursuing your values in the same way according to the same principles.

Reading it really helped me resolve a lot of the things I've been wrestling with over the past few months.  Basically, since the middle of January, I've felt completely down and out, first from the hand surgery and recovery, which was closely followed by the bout of pneumonia.  This has definitely been one of the most depressing periods of my life; I think it has rivaled 2004, which I refer to as my Dark Year.  At least this latest experience was relatively short-lived by comparison.

Towards the end, Trey sums up with, "Integrity is about serving your larger goals.  This is why when I stop to think about my career, I am always absolutely ruthless. "  This just completely hit home for me.  

I've had a clear sense over the past couple of weeks, as I've returned to work and seen some new opportunities opening up for me, that the clouds were parting and the sun was coming back out again.  But there were nagging doubts lingering in my mind, just like the cough lingers as your lungs work to get all the junk out after the pneumonia has cleared up.

But today is different.  I'm through indulging in any more self-doubt.  It really is an indulgence that I simply cannot afford any more of, and am no longer willing to engage in.

Today the sun is back out, and it's shining down on me.  And it's the same sun and same blue sky that shone down on Louis Henri Sullivan in Chicago the 1890s when he was at the height of his powers, and it's the same sun and blue sky that shone down on Ludwig van Beethoven in Vienna in the 1790s when he was writing that early C minor sonata that planted seeds for those future masterpieces.  

And now, I'm going to go out and be absolutely ruthless.



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5/24/11 Update:  Link added for John David

Thumb Update

Nearly 8 weeks ago, I had surgery to repair the EPL tendon in my left wrist.  This is the muscle & tendon that allows you to make a 'thumbs up'.  I had severed it; just partially at first, in an accident at home.  About a week later, I ruptured it (meaning that it completely severed) when I put too much weight on it, not having realized the extent of the initial injury.

I was in a cast for about a month, and then a brace, which I still wear.  The recovery is coming along well.

There have been a few requests lately, via facebook and twitter, for updates on my recovery.  In response, I made the following video yesterday.  It's my first video blog, so be kind!  I've been having a lot of trouble with my home internet lately as well, so I had to upload a fairly low-res version.  I hope to get switched over to a new ISP later this week, and if all goes well, I'll upload a higher quality version of this and replace it.

Big thanks to everyone who has reached out with moral support during this ordeal.  You know who you are!  It really means a lot to me, and I appreciate your kind words and encouragement.

Thanksgiving Feast: Weber Grill Turkey

For the past few years I have been making my Thanksgiving turkey in the Weber grill.  It is so easy, and makes the most delicious bird ever.

Last year, I was relatively new to Twitter, and decided to live-tweet the whole process, complete with photos.  It was also the largest Thanksgiving I had ever hosted at my house, with 20 guests (plus one infant).  Here are the photos and captions as I tweeted them:

Easy Slow Cooker Chuck Roast

Here's a quick write-up of how I make chuck roast in the slow cooker, presented by special request. 

This is one of my favorite fall/winter dishes and I could easily enjoy it weekly without tiring of it.  In fact, I'll probably be making this again in the coming week, and will update with pictures at that time.

Home Sweet Home

Today was another long day, and I'm beat, and this is going to be a relatively short post.  Sorry, but we'll have to save the major introspective recap for later.

Things started off relatively flat.

At one point I was going about 80 when this guy passed me at a good clip.  That was super sweet.

Later in the day, I passed this power plant, which I had seen on my way East.  Turns out, it is the Escalante Station, a power plant that provides electricity to 250,000 people.

When I got to Gallup, I got off the highway and drove through town.  I stayed at the Road Runner once. That was probably about 15 years ago.

 As I was driving through town, a freight train went roaring past, bound for points west.

Earl's Family Restaurant was welcoming the stuffed bell pepper.  How 1950's of them.

 Next door to Earl's was another groovy restaurant, and I had to get a pic.

Later on, I passed the Cholla Power Plant that I had also passed on Day 2, shortly after leaving Winslow, AZ.

Eventually, we made it to California.  When we got to Barstow, I found a Starbuck's that had free WiFi and wrote this post, on my upcoming lecture in Denver.  Then we made our way to the nearest In n Out Burger, and then on home.

When we pulled into the driveway, Todd howled.  They seemed really glad to be home.  I am glad to be home.  It feels a little weird.  The road trip has come to an end, yet the house isn't finished.  The next time I see it, it will be done.

I'm embarking on a new big adventure, with my lecture in Denver coming up, and all the ideas that has brought to the fore.  I feel like I'm finally ready to seriously take up the problem of architectural theory.  Where will all this lead me?  Impossible to say, at this point.

It feels like I'm at the beginning of a new adventure.

On Atlas Shrugged, Mind-body Integration, and Why I Dislike my House

SPOILER ALERT!  THE FOLLOWING BLOG POST CONTAINS ATLAS SHRUGGED PLOT SPOILERS.

But, I won't discuss anything beyond Chapter 8, so if you're in the reading group and a first-time Atlas Shrugged reader, you won't hear anything about later chapters, so read on!  If you haven't read it but plan to, you might give this post a miss, but I'm not really revealing all that much, and we're only on about page 260 of 1000+ so take that for what you will.  Anyway, let's get on with it.

Last night was Atlas Shrugged night.  Every Tuesday I have been going to a great little wine bar in Pasadena to discuss Atlas Shrugged, chapter by chapter, with a really great bunch of folks from this MeetUp group.  Chapter 8, The John Galt Line, is a really wonderful chapter where you see Dagny Taggart building the John Galt (railroad) Line out in the mountains of Colorado.  Hank Rearden figures heavily in the chapter as well, since it's his Rearden Metal that's being used for the rail and a major bridge on the railroad they're building.

In essence, you see time and again how they put their minds to solving the problems that face them, and then apply their skills to execute the solutions.  Then they triumphantly open the line, ride the first train to Wyatt Junction amid great fanfare, and have a hot (and I mean HOT), romantic (like only Ayn Rand can write) night together at Ellis Wyatt's place.

One of the other people in our group made an interesting comment towards the end of the evening: how one of the themes of the chapter is mind-body integration.  As we discussed that, it suddenly occurred to me precisely why I am so unhappy with the house I live in, here in L.A. 

It's a nice enough house, and downright cute by many peoples' standards.  It was built in the early 1920s and has lots of original features: lovely fireplace, window seat, glass front bookshelves, even a built-in buffet in the dining room with a beveled mirror and glass doors.  It has 2 bedrooms, a sunroom, 1 1/2 baths, and nearly all the woodwork is either in its original finish or stripped and restored.

I used to live next door, but I sold that house in 2006 (timed it perfectly!) and used most of my proceeds to pay down this house and make some improvements here and there.  But, I have had seller's remorse pretty much ever since. 

That house was built at almost the same time and has the same exact fireplace mine has; it has a big open living/dining room, and a much more efficient floor plan.  Even though it is smaller than this house, it feels much more spacious inside.  It is also set up higher and has way better daylight inside.

My current house always seems dark inside to me, and the rooms (especially downstairs) are divided up awkwardly.  It is hard to furnish, although a piano can make many houses hard to furnish.  It has a lot of nice features, but it has poor light, poor connection to the outdoors, and the floor plan is really awkward, I think.  Awkward floor plans are a huge pet peeve of this architect, btw.

Here's why the comment about mind-body integration resonated with me so strongly:  I've been working very hard, for years now, to integrate my life into a complete whole, a multifaceted single unit, where each part supports the and enhances the other parts, as I work to achieve my goals and dreams. 

This house undercuts a major part of that effort.  For all its cool features and charm, it is fundamentally at odds with the type of backdrop I need to live my best life.  Thus, I am constantly expending energy trying to counter-act it, or working to overcome it, without really identifying the problem (except to bemoan that I sold the wrong house, which is water under the bridge at this point, and a further waste of energy and time to contemplate for even one second.)

What a revelation!

Yet Another Homemade Yogurt Tutorial

I have been making my own yogurt for a while now, and highly recommend it.  I first learned how based on this tutorial.  The beauty of this method is in the heating pad.

Usually, yogurt recipes/tutorials tell you to put the warm milk and yogurt starter in the oven, and let the pilot light warm it.  My problem is that I don't have a pilot light on my oven.  And I'm not about to go cluttering up the place with a yogurt maker.

I'm actually kind of looking forward to being able to make yogurt in August and September and just leave it out at room temperature (I live in L.A. and have no air conditioning.  At least yogurt making will give a little bit of productive purpose to all the misery of living in triple digit heat 24/7.)

I have made yogurt by this method so many times that, at this point, it is a pretty easy routine for me:

1. Set it up before bed,
2. Let the yogurt culture overnight,
3. Transfer it into the strainer the next morning and refrigerate,
4. Let the whey separate out during the day,
5. Move it into a storage container(s) that evening.

So, although it takes about 24 hours, it is really just 5 simple steps, as you can see above.  Actually, 2 of the 5 steps don't even involve any action on your part.  Also, I am giving you the instructions for my method of making yogurt.  Feel free to consult any of the gazillion other web tutorials on the topic and mix and match or adjust the method to suit your own needs.  It is really a very flexible process, and those yummy little cultures don't need much more than a little bit of encouragement to do their thing.

Here are the supplies you need:

• A gallon of whole milk
• Optional: extra pint or quart of heavy whipping cream
• A pot to warm it in, with a lid
• A thermometer (although, if you are brave, you could probably get it to work without this - read on)
• Some yogurt starter.  I use a little bit from my last batch, or Greek Gods Yogurt if I need a new starter.
• Optional : a large cutting board
• A heating pad
• A collander
• A lightweight cotton kitchen towel
• A few extra towels
• A large baking dish (a bowl would work)
• Storage containers for the delicious yogurt and whey you are going to end up with.

I like my yogurt very thick, hence step 4.  If you follow these instructions, you will end up with something in between what you commonly think of as yogurt, sour cream, and cream cheese.  I can typically scoop up a spoonful and turn it upside down, and the super thick yogurt clings to the spoon.  You will also end up with extra whey.  I use mine to make protein smoothies, by blending it with protein powder.  I would like to find something more exciting to do with the whey, so if you have a good use for leftover whey, please tell me in the comments.

So, let's see how it's done!

1. Set It Up Before Bed

This week, I had consumed some of the milk already, but happened to have some heavy whipping cream on hand.  I added it to the milk, and I think I will make that a regular part of the process, because it transformed the yogurt from really really good, to absolutely heavenly.

 

Use low heat.  Heating the gallon of milk to 100 degrees usually takes me 15-20 minutes.  Stir it about every 5 minutes.

Use your thermometer to check the temperature.  I have a candy thermometer that I use:

Like I said, you want the temp around 100.  If it goes over a little bit that's ok.  If it accidentally boils because you are distracted reading blogs in the other room, it's still ok.  You just have to let it cool down.

Here's how I think you could get it to work without the precise thermometer temperature reading:  body temperature is pretty much the same as yogurt culture temperature.  Your body is 98.6 and the yogurt needs to be around 90-100 to work.  So, if your hands are at normal body temperature, and you stir up the warming milk and stick your finger in it, and it feels just barely warm, but not cold and not hot, you are probably close enough to the right temperature.  Also, remember that the real action takes place with the heating pad overnight.  The stove part is very preliminary.

Like I said, the low flame shown above takes about 15-20 minutes, with occasional stirring, to warm a gallon of milk from 'fridge cold' to 100.  I will probably quit messing with the thermometer at all after a few more yogurt-makings.

Then, I transfer the pot of warm milk/cream over to the counter where I have set up the heating pad.  I use a large cutting board and lots of extra towels in between all the parts.  I'm all about protecting my countertop from the heating pad, even though it doesn't get that hot, really.  I set the heating pad on medium.

Mix the starter:
I take the last bits of  yogurt from the last batch I made and scrape it all up with the spatula.  You only need a couple tablespoons, or no more than a 1/4 cup.

Add a cup or so of the warm milk from your pot and mix it up:

Pour the starter into the pot of warm milk/cream and mix it together:

Then I cover it with a couple more towels just to tuck those yummy little cultures in for the night, and then I go to bed.  Or go read blogs for a while.

And you're done with Step 1!  Easy!

2. Let the Yogurt Culture Overnight

When  you come downstairs in the morning, it should look something like this:

My thermometer tells me that we're holding steady at right around 90 f.

And you're done with Step 2 - super easy!

3. Transfer it into the Strainer and Refrigerate

Here's where it gets interesting.  My basic strainer setup is as follows:  I have a large colander, which I prop up on some little supports I made from cutting up a bamboo chopstick.  This is an optional step, but I think it helps the whey drain out more easily.  Don't agonize over it if your colander is just sitting on the bottom of the bowl or dish.  It will be fine.  Trust me.

Line your colander with the thin cotton towel like this:

and then pour in the yogurt:

If I start with a full gallon of milk/cream, it just comes to the very top of my colander.  Here it is a bit below because the gallon wasn't a full gallon at the beginning.  They whey starts immediately streaming out:

Now the whole thing goes into the fridge, and you're done with Step 3.


4. Let the Whey Separate out During the Day

Here's what it looks like several hours later:

Look at all the whey that has separated out!  Oh, and here's an important tip:  tuck the ends of the towel into the dish, otherwise, through the miracle (not really) of capillary action (I think), the towel will wick the whey out of the yogurt and dribble it all over the inside of your fridge.

5. Move the Yogurt and Whey into Storage Containers

Now it's really thick, and at the same time ultra smooth and creamy.  These photos don't do it justice.

Then it's just to transfer it into containers and enjoy!

I have also found some other links on making cream cheese, and sour cream, that I would like to try out.  And here's one on home made ricotta cheese.  I once tried making ricotta from all the leftover whey and it was a massive fail.  These days I make protein smoothies with the whey and some protein powder.  Given how fabulous this super thick yogurt is, it seems kind of anticlimactic to not have something just as amazing to make with the leftover whey.  So, as I said earlier, if you have a way with whey, please share it in the comments.