Some Pasta Basics

Three brands worth mentioning are De Cecco, Ronzoni and Barilla.

Pasta DeCecco_web
Pasta De Cecco

De Cecco is the king of pasta which defines all else as a noodle. It is top of the line and widely preferred by chefs because it retains its ‘al dente’ firmness after removing from the fire.

Pasta Ronzoni_web
Ronzoni Pasta

Ronzoni is an excellent pasta from back east USA. It also retains its hardness and it is noticeably thicker.

Pasta Barilla_web
Pasta Barilla

Barilla being good quality pasta, is a little shy in retaining its ‘al dente’ properties and might be appealing to those who like their pasta a bit softer than al dente. Take Barilla off the fire al dente and it will keep on softening a little more, yet taste better than most other brands.

‘Pasta al dente’ in this case means semi hard.
Italians refer to pasta as ‘pastasciutta’, dry pasta, almost invariably served at lunch in numerous ways as a first course.
For the Italian dinner, pasta may also be the first course but served in soups such as tortellini in chicken broth, minestrone (big…heavier content soup), minestrina (little…light in content soup).
Pastina (tiny pasta) such as Stelline and Acini di Pepe are wonderful for delicate soups.
Pastina in chicken broth, is Dottor Mamma’s No. 1 prescription.

 

Tips:

  • At the restaurant order al dente. In most cases this will ensure your pasta is cooked fresh.
  • Never cook pasta by timing it but by taste.
  • Buon appetito!

The Frugartist

It might be safe to say that when people have more they will waste more. It might be also safe to say that if everyone was extremely frugal, the big companies would have fewer profits and therefore offer less job opportunities. It is a push and pull situation.

Creative frugality might usually stem from the need to accomplish something while lacking sufficient means such as money or resources.
The Sears catalog generated the idea for the toilet paper invention. Frugal peasant cuisine has proven to be some of the best on this planet.
The Creative Frugalista might be a person that practices what is not commonly viewed nor accepted as status quo in their contemporary time frame nor within the culture they live in.
We are from all walks of life and live under different conditions, under different needs, under different cultures, under different believes and under different values.
Let us appreciate and learn from one another or disregard with respect.

Digitizing Slides: A Personal Approach And Solution

The old slides in our carousels are basically dead elephants unless we digitize them.
In the old days they offered the best quality to print from and gave us the opportunity to blow them up on a wall.
Today we can enjoy slide shows more easily on a computer or a large TV. How large a TV? Not really sure but when scanned, the more mega pixels will yield a bigger clearer picture and the actual slides have a lot of quality to offer for that.
In my experience the digitized slides scanned at 5 mega pixels seemed to show fine on a 32” TV.

I could have sent the slides to professionals to digitize, yet that process can be very expensive and in my uneducated view, it might not have been done as well as doing it myself.
I am saying not as good because no matter how careful a person is, film attracts dust and I am convinced that the digitized slides would have come back with at least one unacceptable dust spot.

Depending on your passion, scanning is really not too bad and relatively fast but the final ‘cleaning’ of dust spots off the digitized pictures is much more consuming.
It is a test of patience and nerves.
3,500 slides were scanned and dust spots removed. It took nearly six months of free time here and there but they turned out perfect. Watching TV and listening to the History Channel while working the slides helped time go by.
The overall as a level of complexity was a 3 on the scale of 10.

Suggestions:
Start with your favorites or most important.
‘Save as’ until you get comfortable in what you are doing.
Save the work done to an external drive.
Work from the easiest to fix to the hardest to build momentum.

Tools:
The film/slide scanner used was a VuPoint with 5 mega pixels quality images. It gave me no problems.
If you can get hold of a higher mega pixel scanner, it would be wonderful but at 5 mega pixels the slides produce humongous pictures.
Static master. Mine had expired years ago. They are sold at photography stores and their purchase is highly recommended to brush off dust. A fine bristle paint brush works also but not as well.
Air duster in a can. Costco had the better deals and I believe I used at least 6 cans in all.
Photoshop. My knowledge of this complex program was zero. Not to worry you will need to know about 5 commands or so total and one of them will use 99% of the time.

How I did it:
• The slides were loaded 3 at the time on the slide tray provided.
• They were brushed and air dusted.
• Scanned.
If you do not care about dust then you are done. Otherwise…
• Each slide was then opened in Photoshop.
• Learned to use the ‘navigator’ to get around the picture.
• Learned to use the ‘heal’ command with an appropriate size brush and used it 99% of the time.
The icon for ‘heal’ is a band aid. It is miraculous and almost unbelievable to the eyes!
It blends easily and can be used to also copy and paste.
• When done, I used ‘auto color’ and ‘auto contrast’ under the Image/Adjustments Tab.
• In the Image Tab I sometimes used ‘rotate’ to straighten the picture a couple of hairs.
• All the steps taken showed on the ‘history’ window on the side and undo was a click away.
If the shadows of some of your digitized pictures are bluish go to ‘mode’ in the Image
Tab. Notice RGB is checked. Check CMYK and save as.
Easily explained, RGB and CMYK have to do with colors. After comparing the same slides in RGB and CMYK, most of my slides have been saved in CMYK because they looked better.

Tips:
• The Alt on the keyboard is a very important key to get commands to work in Photoshop.
Your left hand will be on it most of the time.
• Slides in plastic mounts will have much less dust.

My slides were very important to me and I am extremely happy of the outcome.
The actual slides have been retired to plastic inserts and filed away in binders, while the digitized pictures can now be easily burned on CDs as slide shows with Microsoft Windows and then watched on the TV.

Raking the Tomatoes

Tomato season is almost over and the plant shown is not the greatest example of bounty but the idea here is to celebrate the rake.
Considering the high price of some tomato cages, the sawed off rake that would have been tossed otherwise, provided a certain “free range” for the tomatoes to grow with ample air and sun space. Leave alone hand space for harvesting.tomato_2474a_use_webThe small bungee cords never once severed the branches and easily allowed adjusting as the plant grew. The rake never tilted in any direction because the bungee cords were arranged with a sense of balance and the pole set as deep as possible.
The growth of the tomato plant would gradually make the rake visually disappear.
The pole should be embed 2/3 of its overall length to avoid over turning.
So maybe next year instead of buying a couple of tomato cages, for the same money or less you can get the aging rakes replaced, avoid waste and still support your tomatoes off the ground.
Not to mention a refreshing state of the mind for experiencing something new, a witty solution and for supporting the economy.

The Best Deals, Month By Month

As mentioned by Consumer Report and ARRP, some of the best shopping deals in the USA can be obtained during certain and specific times of the year.
The list below is a very efficient tool for planning and saving money.

Shop_TV
Samsung TV

January:
TVs
Linens and bedding
Toys
Treadmills and ellipticals
Winter clothing
Indoor furniture
Sporting goods

Shop_TreadmillFebruary:
Treadmills and elliptical
Digital cameras
Humidifiers
Air conditioners
Indoor furniture
Luggage

Shop_Camera
Sony digital camera

March:
Digital cameras
Humidifiers
Small consumer electronics
Winter sports gear
China and flatware
Gardening tools
Winter outwear

Shop_Mac
Apple laptop

April:
Laptop computers
Desktop computers
Digital cameras
Lawn mowers
Spring clothing
Athletic apparel and shoes
Vacuum cleaners

Shop_Nike_web
Nike

May:
Athletic apparel and shoes
Camping and outdoor gear
Carpeting
Cordless phones
Lawn mowers
Mattresses
Small consumer electronics
Spring and summer clothing

Sony camcorder

June:
Camcorders
Carpeting
Computers
Indoor furniture
Pots, pans and dishware
Small consumer electronics
Summer sports gear
Swimwear
Health club’s memberships
Men’s suits
Tools

Shop _SwimJuly:
Swimwear
Camcorders
Indoor furniture
Outdoor furniture
Kitchen appliances

Shop_Nike_Pack
Nike backpack

August:
Backpacks
Air conditioners
Dehumidifiers
Outdoor furniture
Camping equipment
Snow blowers
Linens and storage containers
Wine

Shop_Mower
Honda lawn mower

September:
Lawn mowers
Automobiles
Bikes
Digital cameras
Gas grills
Shrubs, trees and perennials
Small consumer electronics
Snow blowers

Shop_bike_webOctober:
Bikes
Computers
Digital cameras
Gas grills
Cookware
Lawn mowers
Winter coats
Lingerie

Shop_GrillNovember:
Gas grills
GPS navigators
Baby products
Bikes
Camcorders
Toys
TVs and electronics

Lamborghini Murcielago
Lamborghini Murcielago

December:
Automobiles
Bikes
Camcorders
Gas grills
GPS navigators
Home appliances, large and small
Small consumer electronics
Toys
Tools
TVs