Gnocchi with Talapia in White Wine, Mushroom, and Roasted Red Bell Pepper

OK, here's a quick narrative of how to make this dish. There is no recipe, just some guidelines.
I sauteed the fresh frozen talapia for 4 minutes a side on medium-ish in EVOO with kosher, cracked, and squeeze of lemon; then set it aside.
Into my already boiling water, I dumped premade gnocchi. After 5 minutes, I drained and set it aside after a cooling rinse.
Then I sauteed mushrooms in olive oil, white wine, cracked, and kosher. After the mushrooms were cooked, I sliced and added in 1 red bell that was from the olive bar at Tom Thumb - roasted and in olive oil.
Next, I added a little more kosher, cracked, fresh Italian parsley, and diced romas, tossed quickly and removed from heat.
Following that, I took out a big as pan, put it on medium, threw in the gnocchi and drizzled with EVOO and sauteed those suckers until they were warm again and not as doughy, threw on the mushroom sauce, then diced the fish and added it in... toss toss toss.
To plate, I garnished with crumbled feta, Parmesan, and some fresh Italian parsley and cracked for looks.
This is a totally made up dish.
After scarfing it down we concluded that I should have added toasted pine nuts and a lemon wheel into the mix.
I think some crushed red pepper in the sauce after the mushrooms would have been spot on!
Enjoy!

Stop Making Mud and Clear Up Your URI

Do you use a custom domain with Blogger like I do? Well I find that the help at Blogger is pretty good. There's info on how to setup the DNS etc. And, if you're like me and wrap your domain with Gmail and Google Calendar then you have email.yourdomain.com resolving for email and cal.yourdomain.com resolving for the Calendar.
However, you may have noticed that while www.yourdomain.com brings up your blog, yourdomain.com (without the "www") does not. What to do? Well if you are on Linux/Apache and hosted somewhere, time to make a quick and dirty little .htaccess file.
Make a text file called htaccess.txt. Put the following code in there:
#chrisbeckworth.com rocks visit often
Options +FollowSymlinks
RewriteEngine on
rewritecond %{http_host} ^yourdomain.com [nc]
rewriterule ^(.*)$ http://www.yourdomain.com/$1 [r=301,nc]
Replace "yourdomain.com" with domain name and tld. Save the file. FTP to your domains directory and uploaded the file. Rename the file from htaccess.txt to .htaccess.
Enjoy.

Wanna Learn Regular Expressions?

I'm a big believer in less is more. To me, regular expressions are the eptitomy of that in slinging code. Finally found a good primer. Now if I can only find the time to read and practice. I have the same problem with my grand piano.

Little Antique Santa

Here's an antique Santa from who knows when or where. My mom came across these when I was 12 or 13 and had packs of them. I remember her using them to decorate the big gifts and hanging here and there about the house for a little more Christmas spirit. They are all my favorites but you can decide which is your as I update the post.

Merry, merry!

Super Fast Curry

This is not one of my wife's favorite rice bowls. But, it is still quick and easy as all of them always are. Combine all of the ingredients in your big rice steamer in the following order:

• 2 cups long grain white rice
• 1 lb diced raw or frozen chicken
• 16 oz (1lb) package of frozen 3 peppers and onions blend (red, green, and yellow bell peppers with onions)
  
• Maybe some corn or brocolli if you like. Snap peas are cool to. Whatever you like
  

In a measuring cup add:

• 3 teaspoons of your favorite curry spice
• 1 cup chicken stock

Stir the contents of the measuring cup then pour over the stuff in the steamer. Now get all the good stuff out by filling the same measuring cup 3 more times so that you add:

• 3 cups of water

To be sure, we've added a quart of liquid to the steamer in total. Also... NOTHING is sitting in the steamer tray. This is all simply piled in together. Now, close the lid, click on the steamer, go do something else.

Enjoy.
--
Chris Beckworth

"Did I do that?" asks Lillie.

A lesson was learned today. Do not leave your bucket of shredded paper where a 2 year old can get to it.

True Patriots on the 4th

Happy Fourth of July, 2007 Everyone. In the photo, here are Halley, Hannah, and Preston. Three really terrific young people I met on my inaugural July 4th ride; i.e. the first time I can recall riding on the 4th instead of going to a boring party.

Now about these great Americans you see here. What you don't see is that they are cousins. I wish I'd hung out with my cousins more growing up. I hope my son does. He has some great cousins waiting for him on both sides. Make sure your children spend time with their cousins. Family is important. Friends come and go, but family is always there until it's too late. Think about that.

In the background of this photo is an awesome mother holding attention of the other half of the dog you see on the left. I believe she's Preston's mom; maybe not. Either way, good for her and their Dad (who built the lemonade stand). They said that "Dad insisted on building the stand" or something to that effect, but I know what lesson he is teaching. A job worth doing is a job worth doing right. I agree. You can't just set up a card table, sell lemonade and call it a "stand." If you are going to have a Lemonade Stand then build it. I hope for the same tenacity as my children age. Teaching your children values is the number one task of parents.

With the rain, they may have not had the number of customers they should have, but it was a success in many more important ways.

Race to 100

We all make life goals big and small: start a business, win a professional sporting event, make a million dollars, eat an extra-large Gecko pizza all by yourself. One that I've had for a long time is very simple. Do 100 push-ups in a row; no breaks, no stopping. I figured if I could do that I would be in pretty good shape, or at least relatively strong. I always wanted to do this before kids came along. With John Cannon's impending arrival, now is my last chance! To meet this goal I am doing previous day's amount plus 1. Yesterday was 27 and today will be 28.

There is still time for you to get in on the fun. Just check out the schedule below and keep up. Is it silly and nerdy? Hell yes it is. However comma, it is kind of fun. Every night, before we eat, I get down on the ground and do them. Kristina counts. John Cannon kicks. I push. Good lessons learned by all.

Race to 100 Schedule

Siebel eScript Now() Function

There is no "Now()" function in Siebel eScript but you can write your own to return the current date/time off the server. Here's how it goes:

function Now(){
var dtNow = new Date();
var sNow = ( dtNow.getMonth()+1) + "/" + dtNow.getDate() + "/" + dtNow.getFullYear() + " "
+ dtNow.getHours() + ":" + dtNow.getMinutes() + ":" + dtNow.getSeconds();
return(sNow)
}

Note

1. You should use SetFormattedFieldValue() if you are planning to use this on a business component field.
2. This function returns server time. You may need to make adjustments based on local time for the user.
   

Tips for Choosing a Home Inspector

<I forget where I found this but it made sense and I used the questions... for the most part>
= = = = = = = = = =
The home inspection industry is plagued by incompetent inspectors. Most states do not require licensing. (Texas does) Anyone can call themselves a home inspector. Therefore, it is important to screen and qualify an inspector before hiring him. It is well worth the effort to find a seasoned professional. The following questions can assist you.

1. Is the inspector experienced?
2. Is the inspector knowledgeable?
3. Who referred you to the inspector?
4. Which inspector will the inspection company send?
5. Is the inspector covered by errors and omissions insurance and general liability insurance?
6. How long does the inspection take?
7. How much does the inspection cost?
8. What type of report do you get and when do you get it?
9. Is the inspector affiliated with any organizations?


Is the inspector experienced?

A full-time inspector who performs 250 or more inspections per year and has many years experience is most desirable.


Is the inspector knowledgeable?

An inspector must have full working knowledge of every system in a home. Most inspectors had formal training in just one trade. To become inspectors they had to cross-train in all the other relevant trades. The more knowledgeable inspectors started with a degree in a field such as engineering or architecture that provides a broad background in general construction or they were trained to operate as a general contractor. These are good bases to build from. One does not acquire this kind of knowledge by taking a few courses or reading a book. A good rule of thumb is to look for fifteen years of combined formal training and on-the-job experience in related fields.


Who referred you to the inspector?

The best referral is from someone you personally know and trust who was satisfied with the inspector's performance. Although many real-estate professionals refer quality home inspectors there is a possible conflict of interest with this type of referral. If you were not reliably referred to the inspector then ask for references from past clients, preferably from several years past.


Which inspector will the inspection company send?

When dealing with an inspection company the reputations of both the company and the inspector who is assigned to your home are important. Request that an experienced inspector be assigned rather than a new one.


Is the inspector covered by errors and omissions insurance and general liability insurance?

It is to your advantage that your inspector has this coverage. Do not be afraid to ask for a copy of the policies.


How long does the inspection take?

Ask how long the inspection will take and how many other inspections will be performed on the same day as yours. If the inspection takes less than 2 hours find another inspector. Performing a thorough inspection is very tiring, so arrange to be the first or second one of the day.


How much does the inspection cost?

This is one area where you do not want to nickel and dime. A well-established, full-time professional inspector is going to be at the high end of the spectrum. Several hundred dollars is a small price to pay to get the best protection you can for perhaps the biggest purchase of your life.


What type of report do you get and when do you get it?

You may want to ask this question since there are several answers. An inspection should include a signed report that describes what was inspected and the condition of each inspected item. Some inspectors use a checklist type of form with stock responses. Other inspectors simply provide a written description of the conditions found. A modern alternative to these are computer-generated reports. The best of these are generated by advanced home inspection software systems and include comments specific to each home.

An important question to ask is, "When do I get the report?" The checklist type and the handwritten type are usually delivered to you on-site. Computer-generated reports are also available on-site from a few inspectors who bring a portable computer to the job. Otherwise, the inspector mails the report . You may want to know up front how long you can expect to wait for it.


Is the inspector affiliated with any organizations?

There are many local, state, and national organizations that an inspector can join as well as many franchises that an inspector can purchase. However, membership in any organization does not guarantee a quality inspector. In the end, the individual inspector's experience and knowledge will determine the quality of the inspection.

My Hero

This is my hero Makoto Nagano. He is a ninja warrior from Japan. A fisherman, he trains daily to keep his strength and be the greatest ninja warrior ever. Some day I want to be just like him. As an alternative, if I could learn a few phrases of Japanese and eat more sushi, I'd probably be ok.

529 Plans By State

Best File Sharing Web Site

My friend "E," has a pulse on the absolute best of 'Net around. I haven't figured out how he manages to stay on top of such an always changing environment, but he just does. I've been to BestSharing, ShareIt, etc. but they are all cheesey and slow. Plus if you want to email the file to someone, the URL is 5 miles long and they recipient has to jump through hoops.



No longer, try www.senduit.com This web site literally has 2 pages. One page for the uploads (the home page) and a second page for downloads. The url is super short. Drawbacks? I could only see one: 100 MB file limit. So what, right? Split the file and be happy.



Here's a screenshot of the upload:



Here's the download URL:

And here's actual download:

Notice how simple it all is. You can see their business model based on Ad Impressions.



Way to go senduit.com and great find E.

Aggregating Your Gmail Accounts

Let's say that you have several domains and that you were smart enough to use Google Apps for Your Domain (GAFYD). Invariably, you end up with at least one account for each domain. What a hassel, right? Well, when you use email from GAFYD, you are essentially using gmail. With that in mind, you can easily aggregate all your accounts into one. You can still store the mail at each account and you will be able to send as, and more importantly reply as, each account. Let's review how it's done.

First you want to set up your "Send Mail As" Setting in the Account from which you want to do all the checking. This is from Google Help: http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=22370

How do I use a different From address to send mail?

If you'd like your outgoing Gmail messages to display another one of your email addresses in the 'From:' field (instead of your Gmail address), just follow these easy steps:

1. Log in to your Gmail account.
2. Click Settings along the top of any page, and then select the Accounts tab.
3. Click Add another email address in the Send mail as section.
4. Enter your full name in the Name field, and the email address you'd like to send messages from in the Email address field.

   *Keep in mind that each time someone replies to a message you send using a custom 'From:' address, the reply will be delivered to the 'From:' address rather than your Gmail address. If you'd like replies to be delivered to another account, you'll need to enter a 'reply-to' address. Just click Specify a different reply-to address to enter this information.

5. Click Next Step >> and then click Send Verification to complete the process. Gmail will send a verification message to your other email address to confirm that you'd like to add it to your Gmail account. You'll need to click the link in that message, or enter the confirmation code in the Accounts section of your Gmail account, to complete the process. Once you've verified that you'd like to add the address to your account, you can start sending messages using your custom 'From:' address.

NEXT, you'll want to set up a filter. This is a piece that Google doesn't tell you about. Since you are going to leave the email in your other accounts, you will want to be able to easily identify and delete email from those account that is in your main Gmail (aggregate) account. That way, you don't fill up your main gmail account.

Here's the Google Help instructions on setting up a filter. Read after for my recommendations. The orginal help is at: http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=6579

How do I set up filters?

Gmail's filters allow you to manage the flow of incoming messages. Using filters, you can automatically label, archive, delete, star, or forward your mail, based on any combination of keywords, sender, recipients, and more.

To create a filter:

1. Click Create a filter (next to the Search the Web button at the top of any Gmail page).
2. Enter your filter criteria in the appropriate field(s).
3. Click Test Search to see which messages currently in your account match your filter terms. You can update your criteria and run another test search, or click Next Step.
4. Select one or more actions from the list. These actions will be applied to messages matching your filter criteria in the order in which the actions are listed -- for example, you could choose to Forward matching messages to a specific email address, then Delete the messages.
5. If you'd like to apply this filter to messages already in your account, select the Also apply filter to x conversations below checkbox.
6. Click Create Filter.

To edit or delete existing filters:

1. Click Settings (at the top-right of any Gmail page).
2. Click Filters.
3. Find the filter you'd like to change and click its edit link, or click delete to remove the filter.
4. If you're editing the filter, enter the updated criteria for the filter in the appropriate fields, and click Next Step.
5. Update any actions and click Update Filter.

MY RECOMMENDATION is that the Filter criteria is on the "To:" you should set that to one of the addresses in your "send mail as." Then, as the action, apply a label. The Label can be the email address as well. Keep it simple.

Consider doing the same with your POP Accounts. As a last little tip, if you want to aggregate your Yahoo and Hotmail accounts, simply set them to be checked via POP!

Enjoy

Best Banana Pudding Ever

Hands down, the best banana pudding ever. A couple of tips: beat whipping cream just until it makes little peaks that stand on their own - don't make butter. Also, buy the mini nilla wafers and put a smiley face on top. Kids, young and old, will love it.

• 1 can of eagle brand milk
• 1.5 cups cold water
• 1 small package of vanilla instant pudding
• 2 cups of whipping cream (not cool whip)
• Vanilla Wafers... the little ones
• 2 - 3 bananas depending on size

Mix water, milk and pudding together with a wire whisk. Then refrigerate for 10 minutes or so. While waiting, beat the whipping cream. Then cut your bananas the same thickness as the nilla wafers. Then fold whipping cream into pudding. Now you have 3 things... wafers, nanas, pudding/whipping cream mix. Layer cookies, nanas, pudding . 2 or 3 times. Put extra cookies on top for the hell of it.

Enjoy.

Recipe Mexican Lasagna

Yep. This one is great. You have to be an absolute idiot to mess it up. Also, buy a gimme foil pan, do all the assembly, then cook on site. The first time I had this, my friends wife was all bed rest and couldn't cook for him. I know, you'd think he would cook. Listen, his job (as he told me) is make money and eat... or something like that. He does BBQ, but day to day, that's not his deal. So we had this. A couple of months later, my brother and his wife lost her father. I brought this over amd they were very pleased. Your loved ones will be, too.

• 1 lb. lean ground beef
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1/2 cup chopped green pepper
• 2-1/2 cups Herdez Salsa (or some other thick and yummy salsa)
• 1 can (11 oz.) whole kernel corn, drained
• 1 tsp. chili powder
• 1 tsp. ground cumin
• 12 corn tortillas (6 inch), divided
• 1 container (16 oz.) BREAKSTONE'S or KNUDSEN Cottage Cheese
• 1 cup KRAFT Shredded Sharp Cheddar Cheese
• 1 can (2-1/4 oz.) sliced pitted ripe olives, drained

PREHEAT oven to 375°F. Brown meat in large skillet on medium heat; drain. Return meat to skillet. Add onions and peppers; cook until crisp-tender, stirring occasionally. Add salsa, corn and seasonings; mix well.

LAYER one third of the meat mixture and one half each of the tortillas and cottage cheese in 13x9-inch baking dish. Repeat layers; cover with remaining meat sauce. Sprinkle with Cheddar cheese and olives.

BAKE 30 min. or until heated through.

Corn Pudding

OK. This is the bomb. I've had awesome feedback from everyone who has eaten or made this. Today, a colleague told me he made it Thanksgiving, Christmas, and took some to his friend who's wife is recovering from surgery.

Note that if your slow cooker cooks from just the bottom, it may take more time. If your cooker hits it from all sides, do it on high for about 2 hours, low for 2 hours, then keep warm until ready.

• 1 package (8 oz) cream cheese, softened
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 2 1/3 cups fresh or frozen sweet corn
• 1 can (16 oz) cream style corn
• 1 package (8 1/2 oz) corn bread muffin mix
• 1 cup milk
• 2 tbsp. butter or margarine, melted
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg

Lightly grease slow cooker. In mixing bowl, blend cream cheese, eggs and sugar. Add remaining ingredients and mix well. Transfer to slow cooker. Cover and cook on high 3-4 hours. Serve.

Makes 10-12 servings.

The Waffles of Liege

A Quick Intro

This is a little recipe I researched and have cooked a couple of times to perfect. Some background to get you in the know when you serve these to your pals. There are 2 basic waffles in Belgium. The waffles of Brussels and the waffles of Liege. Those from Brussels are the ones we think of when we hear "Belgian Waffles." Fruit, whip cream, etc. The waffles of Liege are a lesser known, but more commonly eaten waffle... at least in Belgium.

I like to tell people that Liege Waffles are basically the Belgian donut. They are hand-held, sweet, require no syrup, and are good hot or cold. They're more dense than their cousin from Brussels, and frankly, I like them better. Cook them at night for an easy desert, and save the rest for breakfast as you walk out the door or when you get to the office.

The Recipe

• 4 oz. (one stick) butter
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup flour
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• Some raw sugar or other kind of large granulated sugar (vanilla, cinnamon, etc.)

Cooking Instructions

• Melt butter in microwave but just barely.
• Mix in sugar, then mix in eggs (seriously - if the butter is too hot the eggs will cook), then add the vanilla. Make sure this is all mixed well. You should use a whisk not a fork. Forks are for eating not for cooking.
• Now, add the flour a half cup at a time. Finally, add the baking powder.
• Plug in the waffle iron and let the batter rest. It's very important to give the batter time to rest.
• Sprinkle raw sugar on the batter sitting in the bowl.
• Coat the iron with some non-stick spray for the first waffle
• Put a plop in the middle (sprinkle side down) but not enough to fill up the iron... just enough to press out to a little irregular square when you close the lid.
• Finally, sprinkle a little more raw sugar on top and close the iron.
• Cook.

Enjoy immediately or cool on a wire rack. Don't store in bags, etc. until they are completely cool.