Inauguration pictures

I only took a couple. (if you want to see the President or any of that then go look at official news)

The regular No Parking signs weren't good enough. 

It's kinda like a really cold state fair

We all want to go to the same place

Look, I made it!

Because who doesn't want a picture of the police horses?

End of the day, we did have the place dressed up.

I finally made it to Pennsylvania Avenue. 

Don't worry, I wasn't out in the cold all day. The night shots are biking home from Kori's. She made hot soup and tea and we watched the parade on TV.

I made ricotta

Just because it's good. And actually really easy.

My simplified recipe is 1 pint of cultured buttermilk and 1/2 gallon of whole milk. Mix the two together in a large pot. Put on a burner that's no higher than medium-low (and maybe lower depending on your stove) and gently bring up the temperature. It should take at least 40 minutes to get to 180 degrees F (80 deg C) and longer is OK so go do something else and leave the pot alone. Stir very gently once or twice to make sure it's not sticking or scorching on the bottom of the pan (it shouldn't be a problem because you've got the heat on low).

Once it gets to 180 F you should watch more carefully and don't stir much or you'll break up the curds. The final temperature should be about 205 F/95 C. I've started going lower than the original recipe because I think it's more tender. The pot will look like piles of white trying to erupt and almost boiling but not quite. Turn off the heat and let sit for 10 minutes or more. I usually get impatient at this point because my cheese is right there and I want it now.

Scoop the curds into a  fine strainer then pour the whey through to catch the rest. You may want to put the first part in another bowl first. Let it drain to the consistency you want them fluff up in a bowl and add salt to taste. Make your favorite recipe or just eat with a spoon.

Here's the final stages:

Straining the curds

Warm ricotta ready to eat (I like it piled on whole grain bread)

Finally make bread or polenta or porridge out of the whey.
This method is a mashup of recipes from cookbooks by  Lynne Rossetto Kasper and Rikki Carroll. They have more detail but once you've done it a few times ricotta's really easy.

Inauguration is coming

The hordes are starting to descend on the District. Here's a couple of shots of the Inauguration setup on the Mall. There were definitely more people walking around than a usual Saturday in January. 

The Capitol with the West Front draped in flags

Hee hee, it's official Inauguration No Parking signs. 

Lots of fences and porta-potties getting ready for the big day.

Stay tuned and I'll post more pictures next week. 

These boots were made for walking...

...to Stonehenge! I had a wonderful trip to England, visiting Nicole and Erica and seeing a great many sights. It was a short trip, from 8 January to 14 January. (As I thought when in Australia, the European date format makes more sense because it goes from small to large.) I will be posting pictures and daily events, but alas not this morning because I have to get to work.

As a teaser here's a picture of my boots, kissed with the mud of Stonehenge.

These boots walked through 7000 years of English and Saxon (and what comes before Saxon?) history last Sunday.

Super exciting astronomy news

On today's Stardate (http://stardate.org/radio/program/bright-interlopers) there was an exciting comet forecast. We might have a super-bright comet next November. They think it's the first pass of this particular ball of ice and dust by the sun so (if it doesn't completely disintegrate) it will have lots of vapor to burn off and make a fabulous tail. Comets are hard to predict, but it could be bright enough to see in the daytime! That would be so awesome.

The other one will arrive in mid-March and will still be naked-eye bright although at a more normal scale.

Old stuff for a new year

I had a unique New Year's Eve. Yesterday evening Nicole, Elizabeth, and I went to the National Archives to see the Emancipation Proclamation on display. It's written on very flimsy paper and then was kept in a [not climate controlled] file box at the State Department until 1936 so it's really fragile and the original is not out very often.

But today is its 150th anniversary so we could go see it! For those of you elsewhere here's the digital version:

You can see the rest on the Archives website. 

We were proud...geekiest New Year's ever. Although we certainly were not alone in our fascination. We had to stand in line in the viewing room for almost an hour. Brent tried to go see it today and the line was so long he gave up; at 2:00 it wrapped around both sides of the block and if the building really closed at 5:30 then the end of the line wasn't likely to even get inside. 

Also, did you know that the Archives has a original 1297 copy of the Magna Carta? That's right, it is 716 years old. And it's sitting in a glass case 6 blocks away from me. It's in better shape than the Declaration of Independence, remarkably enough. I guess real parchment is pretty tough stuff. 

So have a wonderful 2013 everyone. I hope you enjoy this little trip down memory lane.