All posts by DungeonMaster

Salsa

Salsa Recipe

2 Comments

I wasn’t a big salsa (as in the food and not the dance) fan until a few years ago.  A co-worker and friend brought salsa into the office one day.  It was far and away better than anything from a jar or even a restaurant.  Gianni was gracious enough to share the recipe.

The basic idea for my version is based on Gianni’s (who was born in in Brasil and who’s parents are both Greek immigrants to Brasil… go figure). His recipe used exclusively jalapeños and habaneros for the peppers (particularly the habaneros if we said it wasn’t “hot enough”). I try to find a balance between bell peppers and hot peppers to find something that tastes good and is hot, but still edible (my son prefers it hotter).  The version I learned this technique from you were in bad shape if you stopped eating … it was less painful to continue eating.

This is largely a guide … not a formula. If you follow it, it will make a very large batch.

64oz bottle of Campbell’s Tomato Juice (brand is important)
4 Bell Peppers (any combination of red, orange, yellow, green)
6 to 12 Jalapeños (seeds make them hotter)
1 bunch Green Onions
1 White or Red Onion
1 bunch Fresh Cilantro
6 Roma Tomatoes
Ground Cumin (to taste … more is better according to my wife)
Olive Oil (not very much)
Black Pepper (to taste)
Salt (to taste)

Pour tomato juice into a large bowl.  Chop the vegetables in a food processor until nicely chopped. Add to the tomato juice. Dice the Romas and add to the rest of the mixture (don’t do the Romas in the food processor or you will have paste). Add the cumin, olive oil, black pepper, and salt to taste. Mix it all together.

It is best if it can refrigerate for a couple of hours. It will last 1 1/2 to 2 weeks in the refrigerator (my guess; not formally tested).

Wear gloves when working with the hot peppers.

Play with combinations of peppers, onions, and tomatoes to get a flavor you like. Other kinds of hot peppers (habaneros, serranos, Thai, Anaheim, wax, and the like) will change how hot it is and vary the color.

You can use other tomatoes if you like. Romas seem to work the best. Hot house tomatoes are a little on the watery side, but that doesn’t make them a bad choice. Regardless of the tomato variety chosen don’t put the tomatoes in the food processor.

You can mix just about anything together and have it turn out right.

windows

Modular Windows

There is alot of speculation that the next version of Microsoft Windows will be “modular.”  ArsTechnica has a fantastic discussion here.  The article misses the point, though.  Microsoft certainly misses the point.

I want a modular operating system.  What’s that mean?  To me it means an operating system that installs just what’s necessary to boot the computer, enable support for all of my devices (like video cards, printers, keyboards, network cards, external drives, …), and provide a graphical framework for my applications to run on.  Graphical framework?  Well, strictly speaking that isn’t necessary to run a computer; but we are in the 21st century and that’s what users expect.  It should povide support for common communications protocols (via libraries) that my chosen applications can use.

Modular operating systems should allow me to install whatever web browser, email client, ftp client, picture software, office software, anti-virus/anti-spam software, or instant messaging client that I want.  An arbitrary piece of software like a web browser shouldn’t be wired deeply into the OS and then claimed as an essential part.  The operating system should provide a simple and well-documented method for any class of software to be installed and provide its services.

The OS shouldn’t come with any “helpful partner” applications to “make my experience better.”  At the very least if it going to recommend some “helpful partner” applications then the default option should not install anything the user didn’t explicitly give consent for (it should be opt-in, not opt-out).  My experience would be better if the OS just worked.

Ok, the part about a web browser being wired deeply into the operating system is an old complaint.  And taking it out isn’t what is being talked about when the term “modular Windows” is thrown about.  I’d like my “consumer” system to be as bare as possible (but with support for all the cool graphical interfaces that can be made).

I know, some of you are going to say “Just use Linux; all your desires for a modular OS will be met.”  Well, I have some installations of Linux floating around.  The problem is:  Linux never “just works” for me.  When Linux attempts to install and can’t figure out my nice, new LCD monitor then there is a problem.  I realize where the “fault” is, but Linux gets the blame because it didn’t “just work.”  I know I can take the Linux source and do whatever I want with it to make as modular as I want.  But, while I am a software developer, that’s just too much work for this consumer.

If Microsoft is really basing the idea of “modular Windows” on what users of their software really want, please, Microsoft, come talk to me.  I have some idea about what real consumers want.

development

Safari / CSS Issue

Recently I’ve been updating one of the web sites I work on in my spare time (www.ralongalumni.org) and testing the updates in a variety of common browsers. Apple Safari on Windows is one of those browsers; Safari on my iPhone another.

I’d been having one tiny issue: some of the typefaces would not display correctly on some pages. The problem was most noticeable in the title in the masthead. The title should be in Copperplate Gothic Bold at .9em, but is instead some sans-serif typeface and is significantly smaller than it should be. Other text items on the page are not set in the correct typeface either.

Safari CSS Problem

The problem wasn’t on every page. Some pages rendered completely correctly. The whole scenario really confused me as it worked correctly when testing locally in Safari and other browsers (like FireFox).

Safari CSS Correct Local
FireFox CSS Correct

The problem only showed when the pages were finished and viewed from the server.

The problem was one stray line in the <head> section of some pages.

<meta name=”copyright” content=”R. A. Long High School Alumni Association” />
<!– this css file doesn’t exist –>
<link rel=”stylesheet” type=”text/css” href=”./styles/navbar.css” />
<link rel=”stylesheet” type=”text/css” href=”./styles/main.css” />

The navbar.css file didn’t exist on my server or on my local system. The entry in the <head> section was leftover from earlier experimental versions of the website. And those versions were built before I had access to the Safari browser.

I “discovered” that navbar.css was the problem by accident. I figured that as long as I was trying to figure out why pages worked in Safari when served from the server and others did not, I would clean up the markup. As soon as I did that, it all worked … magically.

general

First Post

1 Comment

Testing … testing … 1 … 2 … 3 …

Is this thing on? I don’t think this blog is actually on.

Where is the on switch?

Ok, not very interesting for a first blog post. But, hey, it is a first blog posting. There should be many more to follow. Hopefully we’ll cover a wide variety of topics.