In Search for Perfect Bread

Perfect Bread

Well not perfect, just normal regular bread. With all the offer in grocery stores it is almost impossible to find a "normal" loaf of bread. If you start reading ingredients these new modern superstore breads have all kind of stuff in them, nothing like what the real bread is.

I am coming from the area of the world where bread is part of each main course. Quality and taste of bread is important to us and regardless of how fancy your main course is, if the bread sucks, your meal sucks. Period.

This entry will probably be a one of many in my path of learning and searching how to make a simple, but tasty loaf of bread.

White Bread Recipe

I found this recipe on a forum where people discuss food from former Yugoslavia. The recipe is simple and it works. I made some modifications just to match the units and ingredients here in United States.

Ingredients

• Around 3 cups of white flour (700g)
  
• 1.5 teaspoon of salt
  
• 1.5 teaspoon of sugar (regular white crystal sugar)
  
• 1.5 teaspoon of dried yeast
• 1 and 3/4 cup (400 ml) warm water (not hot)
  

Optionally, you can add 1 teaspoon of vegetable oil or butter. No mistake with that.
As for the flour, what you need is regular white (sometimes called bread) flour with no bleach or any other additives. One brand that is excellent is King Arthur Bread flour. I also found some organic Members Mark or similar here in local Kroger store that makes great taste, too.
In this case, I used bread maker dried yeast and it worked nicely.

Mixing it together

Put the yeast into half of the water. Let it work ("bubble") in it. While that is happening mix the other half of the warm water with flour, sugar, salt and oil (if you decided to put some). Put little bit of flour on your hands and knead it little bit. Then slowly add the remaining water/yeast into the mix. Knead until it stops being sticky. You can adjust the mix by adding little bit of flour if it is too sticky or water if it is too dry.

Once kneading is done put the mix into a large slightly oiled bowl and cover it with damp cloth. Leave it for about two hours (room temperature). I usually put it in the oven without turning the oven on. If it is cold in your kitchen turn the oven light on. That may help warming the process just right.

After 2 hours it should rise probably to around 3 times the original size. You punch it down, knead for about 2 minutes. Now you can split the mixture into two equal balls. Spread them out little bit. Put some oil on your hands while manipulating the mixture. Roll two loafs and put them into the baking pan. You can slightly oil the baking pan and sprinkle it with flour before putting the loaf in it. Making few cuts at the top of the loafs and sprinkling them with flour from the top won't hurt. Leave everything for about another hour.

Baking

Bake the loafs on 380F (230 Celsius) for about 30-40 minutes. You can see when it is done when it gets that nice golden brown color and tap hollow. One thing I like to do at the and is turn on the Broil (550F on my oven) to make the top of the brad really dark. Do not broil it more than one minute. You will burn it.

Once the bread is out sprinkle the top with water and wrap roll the loafs into a cloth. Leave the wrapped loafs on wire racks to cool down.

Keeping

Do not keep it, eat it. Once cooled you can eat them or keep them wrapped in cloth and a plastic bag. Do not just put the loafs in plastic bags. It will get wet and you might discover Penicillin (fungal developments) on it. You don want to eat that (and no Nobel prize there, already taken).
The bread will be good for a day or two after you make it.


Bread, Lard, and Hungarian Paprika

I know, I know. It does not sound yummy nor healthy. But it tastes great. It was a common kids meal (like peanut butter and jelly here in the US) for us. Original name "Hleba, masti, i aleve paprike". You spread some lard on the bread (preferably warm bread), sprinkle some salt, put some Hungarian Paprika, and that is delicious. Good thing here in Texas is that you can easily buy good lard since it is used in Mexican Cuisine a lot. One from H.E.B. in green/white packages is yummy.


This was my yummy "snack" after one successful bread making. Ouch, that's gonna leave a mark!

Flat bread (Pita bread, "Lepinja")

I do not know word in English for it, but you can make flat spread the dough (same as the one used for the loaf above).


Make few cuts on it and poke it with a fork. Then we like to put lots of salt on it and bake it. It takes shorter time. This stuff is yummy with butter spread or with nothing on it.

An old Amiga 500 (Stunt Car Racer)

Retro gaming

As someone grew up during evolution of home computers I enjoy retro gaming. I never had an Amiga so I got an old Amiga 500 on eBay. This was the first one I got. It came with "Stunt Car Racer", game I enjoyed so much long time ago on my PC 386.


I still have to learn little bit more on how to use Amiga. I am curious about its operating system, programming, etc. Will post more info when I get a chance to play with it more.

References

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amiga_500

HP Media Center PC m7250n Booting Problem

Intro

Since I bought this machine I had some issues occasionally that the PC would "freeze" and only a hardware reset (turning it off) would bring it back. After this happen sometimes machine just boots normally and sometimes it does not boot just produces a continuous beeping (does not sound like BIOS beeping codes).

Symptoms

• PC "freezes" after some time. Only turn off helps.
• PC sometimes does not boot. Continuous beeping that does not resemble BIOS beep codes.
  

Solution

After searching some forums I found that this is usually bad RAM issue. The problem seemed to be solved with removing the RAM card, vacuum cleaning the whole motherboard and cleaning the RAM with alcoholic (do not drink and drive). After reseating the RAM back into the slot the thing worked nicely for last 2-3 weeks without a single freeze. Usually it would freeze once or twice a week.
I also used the opportunity to nicely clean CPU fan and other fans on the case.

Getting and assembling the road bike

At one point I decided to by me a bicycle for recreation. Shopping around I learned that pretty much all you can buy at Walmart, Target, and similar stores is not exactly what I had in mind. Some of the bikes at this chain stores are not bad, but for me it did not feel right to get one of those.

I did some research and quickly learned that little "better" bikes are expensive. I mean really expensive. Finally through some forums I learned about the bikes that fall into the "middle". The place is called BikesDirect. There are similar bikes on some eBay bike stores. I found a decent entry level road bike. It comes half assembled. Good thing is that the most complicated things are already installed.


It came safely in the box via UPS. I unpacked the thing and everything was neatly packed.



The instructions that came with it were OK so I started sorting out all the parts.


After 2-3 hours I had the thing set and ready to go.


The scale there was for me to check the weight of the bike. I think it was around 11kg (23-24lbs). Pretty light. I took it to a local bike shop for them to take a look if I put everything together the right way. The guy at the shop did some tuning of my rear derailer (not sure if I spelled this right), and he was kind enough not to charge me anything. I bought the pump and some spare tubes there.

The main purpose of this entry is to encourage people to explore the options between cheap bikes in chain stores and very expensive ones in bike shops. I have to tell that I strongly recommend checking your local bike shops as sometimes you might find what you need and people there usually know what they are talking about. You might also get some help there with assembling should you decide to buy a bike online.

On my part, I have to admit that it was fun to putting the thing together and learning little bit about tuning. I also have to say it was easier than assembling some of the IKEA furniture., so if you had any experience on that, you are good to go with the bikes.

Reference

http://www.bikesdirect.com

Converting an old mountain bike into a city roadster

Building a City Roadster

This is a little blog on my little experience with this small Raleigh MB20. We pretty much got it from thrash and had some family fun in the garage to turn it into a city bike.


Saving it from garbage

I got this from a student here who was ready to throw it away. It is a good ol' reliable Raleigh MB20. Raleigh makes great bikes. This one was not a very expensive and fancy model, but what I liked about it is that it comes with a steel frame.


As it can be seen, there was lots of rusty parts, flat tires, and pretty much nasty condition. The bike was "parked" outside in bike rack and beaten up by rain and humidity (you got to love Texas).


Major "issue" with "da machine"

The biggest issue with this bike, however, was the fact that the seat post was replaced with a thicker one that was hammered into the frame.


As it can be seen here, there is no screw to hold the seat post. I thought it was not going to be a problem, but I later learned that wrong sized seat post hammered into the frame is one of the hardest things to fix. I found several articles about it on the net.

Suggestions

Some suggested use of penetrating oils such as WD-40. It did not help. A good advice I found is to actually use the seat as a tool when trying to move and remove the seat post. Unfortunately, in this case it did not help. The seat post was aluminum and the frame is steel and it felt like they become one. I read that there are some issues with different types of metal and their thermal characteristics. Honestly, not sure if that was the case here.
Some people suggested use of vice and bike frame as a lever. I did not try that but it did not look like it would work.

Solution

Finally, I found a solution where guy suggested a "radical" measure of cutting the seat post. The "trick" is to cut the seat post about an inch above the frame. Then to cut the seat post vertically from inside. So I got me some tools and started working on it.


Cutting it vertically was not a big deal... the adventure is yet to come...


I started working on the vertical cuts. You need to make at least three cuts and then try to pull out piece by piece. The funny thing is you never know when you really did cut through and you have to be very careful not to mess up the frame.


Little "play" with chisel and "gentle" touch with a hammer. And more sawing. I finally came up with a tool made up out of "standard" parts. You break one metal saw insert in half, screw it to another one and put all that into the holder. This worked nicely for this kind of job.


I never had enough time to work it through in one shot so I do not really know how long it took. I worked on it at least 2-3 weekends 15 minutes there, 15 minutes here. Anyhow, it takes a long time.


I got some help from time to time. These were my high profile "consultants" on the subject.


Finally, the old seat post gave up. Once I took out the first piece it all happened in few minutes.


I inserted the new seat post that was selected to match the diameter. It went in pretty easy.

Preparing it for the paint job

Now came the fun part of dismantling the bike. I first took several pictures just to have a reminder on how to assemble things back. It came apart pretty easily. I bought some paint stripping tools to be used with electric drill. It worked pretty well on the frame and fork.


Finally, the thing was ready for some sanding and and primer layer. gasoline worked nicely for cleaning up the dirty corners. Please be careful with gasoline. Fairly flammable I hear.




Painting

I bought some spray paint at Home Depot. Got 2 cans of primer (one was enough) and 4-5 cans of the color. My family members picked some crazy yellowish greenish tone. I went with their choice.


After the primer, it is good to use wet sand paper to further smooth it out before applying the final color.


I used 2-3 coats of the final paint. I think I did little too much. But it did not look bad so I kept it that way. The last coat I put was glossy finish (no color). I used one can of that for the whole frame and fork. It gave it little more shine and some protection.

Putting it back together

I did lots of searching on eBay, Amazon, and other places for some replacement parts. I got new seat post, seat, tires, and a crank set. Also got new break pads and tubes.


I picked those tires at Amazon. Pretty inexpensive and have cool slick look and are very comfy for regular asphalt roads. I think the tires defined the new look of this bike completely.


We painted all the metal parts ("trim") into black mate finish.


I later decided to paint those rusty screws into black mate finish as well.


I got a small "computer" speedometer at Walmart on sale. That was pretty much the final touch on the machine.


The machine is pretty much ready for the test drive.



Good thing about "tuning" is that online you can find lots of documentation on Shimano. I downloaded instructions on how to adjust front and rear rails.


I did not put much effort in removing the rust from rear gearbox. I cleaned it with gasoline, put a new chain and lubed everything. Now, after few months of use all the gears look much cleaner.

Disclaimer

Kids do not try this at home. At least, not alone. I am not suggesting or implying that all this was easy. However I enjoyed it. Wear protective gear if you playing with tools, be careful with gasoline and other flammable stuff. Blah, blah, whatever, etc...

Fixing an old Commodore Amiga 500 (bad Agnus)

Agnus what?

This entry can also have a title "Being Lucky with This One". I got this Commodore Amiga 500 on eBay. These were one of the most exciting machines back in mid 80s. When I tried to turn it on it would turn green screen, flash several times, then re-boot and a do it all over again. Please note that I did not have any previous experience with Amigas. I had an Atari 520 ST back in the good old days.

Symptoms

Amiga does not boot, it comes on with green screen, screen flashing (I think someone mentioned 11 flashes before reboot), and then reboot. Doing this continuously. After some reading I found that it could be either bad RAM or issues with Angus chip.

First Attempt

First, I tried opening the Amiga, doing some alcohol cleaning of the board and especially PLCC socket and Agnus chip without removing the chip. I tried the thing while still open and it booted properly and asked for OS disk. I put everything back together. Turned it on and got where I was before. No go.


Amiga 500 is the one on the right. On the left is an Atari ST 1040 probably the biggest rival at the time. Although, ST folks (I was one of them back in 80s) and Amiga folks kind of found their way of mutual respect and little bit different interests.

Second Attempt

I purchased on of those PLCC chip extractors. You can see it in the picture above. Me and my assistant (also in picture) opened this Amiga again gently.


Removed the top cover and the keyboard. Please not that to remove keyboard you need also to disconnect the ground wire connected at the floppy. Kids, do try this at home, we are not professionals. Well, I am kidding there, if you are attempting this be very careful and gentle. This is an electrical device (no playing when it is powered on and connected) and any fault play can easily damage it.


And located Mr. Agnus again.

Now, we used PLCC chip extractor. Here you have to be very careful not to damage the PLCC socket nor the actual chip. Some people on net mentioned use of two small screw driver to remove this chip. Never do that with any PLCC chip especially if the socket is old. It will break. We successfully removed the chip. I used some rubbing alcohol to clean the socket and the pins on the chip. I could not see any damage. After good cleaning, we snapped the chip back into the socket.


After half assembly back, we tested the machine while still open. We got the picture on, which was a good sign. My second "assistant" got interested here. One thing my kids learned from me is that old computers are fun, very often much more than the new ones.


We put everything together (keyboard, cover top), popped in a floppy with good old Indiana Jones game and ran a test drive.

Being Lucky

I reckon we got lucky with this one, at least for now. If you have an Amiga with similar symptoms there is a big chance you have Agnus chip issue or bad RAM. In this case, it seems that little bit of cleaning and re-seating the chip nicely into its socked helped.

References

http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=23908
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amiga_500

Personal Desktop Setup with Puppy 3.01

Brief intro

These are just a brief notes on how to install Puppy Linux on older hardware and have decent use from it. These are mainly for my personal use, but someone might find these notes useful or even be encouraged to try to put some new life into old laptop or desktop. The process is very simple in general. If more details are needed let me know I will provide them.

Simple install - Putting Puppy to Work

1. Partitioning of the hard disk:

• boot PC from Puppy Live CD and use Gparted to partition the hard disk
• two partitions are needed: one as ext3 for root /, and another one for swap.
• make swap partition two times size the available RAM or at least the size of the RAM.

2. If needed, after partitioning reboot the PC (recommended).

3. Run Puppy Universal Installer from the menu

• follow the instructions there
• select the internal hard drive setup
• select from CD
• select Full option

4. Grub install:

• select default options
• MBR install

5. First boot (X setup):

• once installed, reboot Puppy from hard drive
• carefully follow instructions for X setup. Check refresh rates, tweak if needed.

6. Additional Software:

• use PET package manager to install OpenOffice, MC (Midnight Commander), GIMP, Firefox, Thunderbird, and other packages.

7. Install MS core fonts:

• download fonts file from http://avi.alkalay.net/software/webcore-fonts/
• unpack and copy TTF fonts into /usr/C11R7/lib/X11/fonts/TTF

8. Java JDK (or JRE)

• download Java JRE or JDK install file (.bin for Linux) from http://java.sun.com
• chmod u+x that jdk*.bin file
• run the bin to extract the Java folder structure (i.e. jdk1.6.0_02), please note that on Puppy you are root (administrator) all the time.

• move the extracted folder to /usr/local/java
• add/create symbolic folder link to /usr/local/java/latest
• modify /etc/profile file to have the following at the end:
  export JAVA_HOME=/usr/local/java/latest
  export PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/java/latest/bin
  

9. Configure Java plugin in Mozilla

• ln -s /usr/local/java/latest/jre/plugin/i386/ns7/libjavaplugin_oji.so /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins/libjavaplugin_oji.so

After this all the needed plugins should be active. In SeaMonkey o Firefox browser this can be checked by opening page "about:plugins".

Comments

I was pretty impressed by the performance with web browsing, email, and especially OpenOffice (here I am using Pentium III, 866MHz, 256MB). I also managed to install NetBeans 6.0 on it with some gymnastics with scripts. However, I would not suggest such an old hardware for NetBeans IDE platform.

References

http://www.puppylinux.org