The Cowboy Song - Ukulele Chords

At the end of Joe vs the Volcano, Joe (played by Tom Hanks) strums this fun and simple song on the ukulele.  I've read They wanted something Mr. Hanks could easily play on his own, and given it only two chords I'd say they nailed it.  I've seen this written out in a few different keys, but this is the version I play because it's a) easy and b) I think what they played in the movie.

La Vie En Rose - Ukulele Chords

Cynthia Lin Music has an amazing ukulele channel on Youtube with lots of tutorials both for songs and for basic ukulele technique.  Of the online ukulele teachers, she comes across as one of the most professional music teachers, but a very organized approach to teaching from beginners to intermediate work.  (she may have more advanced work but I'm not there yet in my playing).

Here's one of my favorite videos she made:

I made a quick music sheet based on this tutorial so it was easier to follow along and then go practice on my own.

Ukulele Hymn - O God Beyond All Praising

Heard this hymn at church, something I've been hearing for years and decided to try it on the uke.  Not an overly complex song, although some quicker chord changes if you're still a beginning.

Download the PDF here.

The Bare Necessities - Ukulele Chords

I've been playing the ukulele for about a two years now.  One of first songs I learned was The Bare Necessities from the Jungle Book.  Its a fun song and plays very well on a ukulele.  I watched several videos and read chords around the internet and finally made my own hybrid version that I find very playable.  I've made a PDF of the chords available HERE for your download.

Two Factor Authentication

The recent public discussions about the FBI and Apple and iPhone security has caused many people to ask themselves more serious questions about privacy.  Who has access to our correspondence and what can they do with that knowledge? Along those lines we also need to consider security.  This post will not be about whether or not I side with Apple or the FBI, or my thoughts on encryption.  Instead I want to talk about something more important: securing your online accounts. And the best way to do that is two factor authentication.

What is two factor authentication? It is a system that requires you to have two pieces of information in order to log into an account. In general, it’s “something you have, and something you know.” For example, when I log into a Google Account I put in my user name and password as usual. However if it is the first time I’m logging into my account from a computer (say at a hotel, or a friend’s house) I then get a text message sent to my phone with a six digit number I need to enter. If someone has my user name and password, they still can’t log into my account unless they also have my cell phone and are able to unlock it as well. 

Something I have: my cell phone

Something I know: my password

This is a strong means of securing a system. I've been using it for several years and it is neither time consuming, nor confusing.  It does however give me much stronger piece of mind about my accounts,.

Many businesses use two factor authentication, especially in the world of national defense. Employees are issues access cards and a PIN. Its not good enough to just know the PIN without also having the card. Some other business use a rotating access number and give you a hardware FOB (often like a key chain), others may send an email to confirm you are who you say you are.

Many common email providers now offer two factor authentication, including GMail, Outlook, and Yahoo! mail. When you consider that your email address is the means you reset passwords for banks and credit card accounts, your email needs to be as secure as possible.

For a more complete and updated list of providers of two factor authentication, please see this website: https://twofactorauth.org/

How-To: Cook with Dried Beans

Dried beans are awesome. You need to use dried beans instead of canned.  Here's why:

1. Dried beans are much cheaper. Switching from canned to dried beans will reduce your costs by 75% on average. You can buy in bulk and store for years.
2. Dried beans take up less space.  Because 1 cup of dried beans turns into 3 cups of cooked beans, those with limited shelf space should stock up on dried beans in those convenient 1 lb bags rather than bulky cans.
3. Dried beans have better texture and flavor.  The canning process just destroys beans, making them rather mushy, and they can take on the flavor of the can if you buy discount brand beans.  You're also limited to the types of beans you can buy, with the varieties usually chosen for high yield and cost instead of flavor.
4. Dried beans are easily scaled with recipes. When you cook with canned beans, you're usually cook in 14.5 oz intervals.  When you use dried beans you can scale up or down.  You can also blend types of beans to add better color or complexity to your dishes.
5. Properly cooked dried beans avoid gassy aftermath. Beans have natural toxins to protect themselves from animals and incests.  Properly cooking the beans can deactivate and destroy these toxins.  The canning process in general leaves from of these toxins in place, which is why people complain about being gassy after eating beans. I've written up how to properly soak beans to avoid this problem below.

Conversions to know:

• 1 lb bag of dried beans is equal to
• 4 standard 14.5 oz cans of beans
• 2 cups of dried beans
• 6 cups of cooked beans

• 1 can of beans can be replaced with 1/2 cup of dried beans

How to properly cook dried beans:

Most dried beans need to be re-hydrated first (the exception here is lentils).  The two most recommended methods are

1. Soak overnight (12 hours before you need to cook them), drain, rinse, drain, cook
2. Bring to a boil, boil for two minutes, remove from heat, cover and let sit for an hour.  Drain, rinse, drain, cook.

Once beans have been soaked, they can be cooked according to recipe.  One note though is that beans should be brought to a boil at some point for at least five minutes.  Standard crock pot can do this on the High setting.

For red kidney beans, where there are higher levels of toxins present, I play it safe

1. Bring kidney beans to a boil
2. Let boil for ten minutes
3. Pour out water and replace with cold water
4. Soak overnight
5. Drain, rinse, drain, cook

Once I've done this I can say I've deactivated the toxins, and drained the water to clear them. 

Final notes:

Always check your dried beans before cooking and serving them.  Because of automation, you will still occasionally find "foreign matter" in your bag of beans.  What I'm saying here is that rocks tend to show up on occasion because the machines have trouble distinguishing.  the minute you take combing through your beans is much better than an emergency trip to the dentist for a cracked tooth.

DIY Magic Bullet

Last year my wife and I started making smoothies a bit more often.  And I considered getting one of those Magic Bullet systems but they're rather expensive, even for the base model.  We've actually had one, and the blades started to wear, and the 250W motor just wasn't always up to the task of grinding through lots of frozen fruits.

I had read online somewhere that you could use a blender base and rig up something, so I did some research.  Here's the results.

Take any reasonably priced Oster Blender. You're looking for the models that have the narrow base with the screw off blade assembly.  Here's one I picked up at Walmart for under $20

Lets try the blender cap on a Ball Mason Jar.

 

Like a Glove!

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Before we go any further, please note that we are not following the recommended usage of this device.

"Use of this appliance for its intended use as described in this manual. The use of attachments not made by the manufacturer, including canning or orginary jar and processing assembly parts, is not recommended by Sunbeam Products, INC. and may cause injury."
If you chose to proceed you do so at your own risk.  I have no had any problems after a year of use, but some people have.  I think most from usuing old, weak, cracked jars, or those not meant for canning foods. Further I only do cold foods to avoid any pressure build up.

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So lets try and make a smoothies

 

All thats left is cleanup

 

Oh and those Mason jars can go in the dish washer when you're done.

The best news here is that mason jars are sold by the dozen. A pint is perfect for a breakfast smoothie, and you can pre-load them in the freezer for the week. In the morning just come downstairs, take out a mason jar with frozen fruits and veggies, add some water, screw on the blade and you're off to the races.

Basic Canning

When Beth and I were still living in a small townhouse, and I was cooking more, I saw rather quickly that freezer space was at a premium.  I didn’t have room for a second freezer (although there was space in the bedroom, beth said that was not going to happen), but I enjoyed making larger batches of recipes and saving some of the results in the freezer.  Look ing over other solutions, the ability to can (to preserve food in jars, properly treated to stop bacterial growth) seemed the best option.
I strongly recommend you visit this site to learn more about canning methods: Selecting a Canning Method
There are two kinds of canning.  This guide focuses on the most basic kind, and kind used by most canners, a Boiling Water Bath. The process is dead simple if you follow directions and dont’ stray from the path until you know what you’re doing
First and foremost, you will need some basic supplies.  I keep things simple and avoid any fancy tools. I’ve provided links to some items on Amazon, just because I think these are some of the best prices around and I take full and complete advantage of my Amazon Prime membership.

1. Ball Blue Book - The Blue Blue is the critical item to own if you are going to can.  It is not only full of recipes, but explains the process for canning and provides a deeper understanding thn anything i can give you.  It is owned by every person i know who cans.  I had two at one time just in case i couldn't find mine.
2. Norpro 6 Piece Canning Set - There are some tools you simply won't own unless you can. This is the easiest way to get them. Most critical are the funnel, the magnetic lid grabber, and the jar lifter. you can buy tehse all seperate, but its cheaper just to buy a kit.
3. A Large Pot - I use a Pressure Canner without the lid for water bath canning, but you can use any large pot.  Make sure it is tall enough to fit your jars, with plenty of head space, so nothing boils over.
4. Canning jars and lids - You'll need different sizes depending on what you're doing.  And there are two mouth sizes, regular and wide.  For most of my canning a pint size with regular mouth is perfect.  For pickles I like large wide mouth jars.  For jams and jellies, I like smaller jars.  I recommend you buy your jars at Walmart of the like, or ask people if they have old canning (mason) jars around.  Many people do.  Lids are one time use, so those you can buy on-line in bulk.  the rings for jars can be used over and over and usually come with the jars when you buy new.

Some Option items:

1. Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving - I've switched to using this book.  Its like the Blue Book, but with way more recipes, and also includes stuff on dehydration and freezing.  You could pobably just get this and skip the Blue Book, but I wouldn't.
2. Canning labels - These are nice to use, but usually I just sharpie on the lid. lids are one time use anyway and permanenet marker saves you from mystery meat.

Basic Process
So lets discuss the basic canning process.

1. First all of your jars, and tools need to be clean and sterile. The whole point of this exercise is to make food last a long time, and dirty jars and dirty tools make that impossible.  I usually run everything through the dishwasher, then boil my jars for at least ten minutes.  The good thing about this is that I leave them in the hot water until ready to fil them so they are squeaky clean and if I'm putting hot food in them, I'm less concerned about thermal shock.
2. Warm your lids in hot (but not boiling water) The lids have a soft rubber seal that becomes pliable when hot.  This will help make that air tight seal we're going for.
3. Follow your recipe.  For this type of canning you'll be focusing on higher acidity items.  So tomatoe sauces and soups, fruit based jellies, pickles, etc.  Most (but not all) items you simply make ahead of time and then can when you're happy with the product.
4. Get organized.  Make sure all your tools are on hands and ready to go.
5. Lift, drain, fill, stir, wipe, top, seal.

• When you're ready, use your jar lifter and pull a jar from the hot water, pour out the boiling water (most of this can either go into the pot or down the drain, just make sure the jars will be covered by at least an inche of water when everything is place back in.
• Fill the jar with your product using the canning funnel.  The funnel sticks down into the jar one ich, so do not fill above the bottom of the funnel.  You need to leave room for a vacuum to form.  This is also important to reduce the risk of foam breaking through the lid during the canning process
• Run a thin rubber spatula or similar item around the product to make sure that there are no air bubbles along the walls of the jar.
• Wipe the top of the jar with a damp clothe (or paper towel)
• Use your magnet tipped rod to pull a lid from the hot water and place it on your jar.
• Put on the sealing ring and hand tighten.  Don't go full force here, because we want some small amount of air to escape during the canning process
• Put the jar back into the canner.  Wash rinse repeat.

That's all there is to it.  Let the jars come back ot a boil and cook for the proper amount of time.  In most cases you can't really over boil them and I always err on the side of caution.  Pull the jars as soon as water cools below a simmer na dplace on a wooden cutting board or towel to cool overnight.
You should hear a popping noice a the jars cool.  This means a vacuum has been drawn and the jar is sealed.  If the lid doesn't get sucked down, you messed something up and need to do it over again.