Cocktail Confessions

Well, It’s finally here.  Part 1 of my long promised “How To” series on smoking a beef brisket.

After my wife brought home a Brinkman smoker from her 10-year anniversary with working for her company, I was chomping at the bit to try my hand at smoking a brisket.  The good news is was that it turned out pretty darn good and everyone who tried it loved it.  Even better, it was a perfect excuse to use my Kodak Playsport and record all the footage from my preparation, trimming, and rubbing with my own spices, to actually doing a time-lapsed capture on the smoker itself and finally finishing it up on the oven.

When it was all said and done, I had enough footage to string together a basic “How To” video series that I’m in the process of editing and posting to both YouTube and here.  I initially thought I could break it up into three videos, but after this first one clocked in at just over 8 minutes in length, I decided to break it up further into 4 videos.  I think most people can absorb interesting information in smaller 4-5 minutes chunks as opposed to fewer and longer 8 plus minute pieces.

So while I understand you may think this eight (8) minute video may be a little long, I promise that the future installments will be smaller in size.  This first segment talks about selecting a beef brisket, what to look for at the grocery store or butcher, a bit of the anatomy of the meat and initial preparation.  Things really start to take shape in Part II (already edited as of this writing) with Parts III and IV on rubs, marinades, injections, wood, bastings and finally the smoking and revealing of the finished brisket itself.  I promise, it gets better.

Anyway, in this video series you will see an amateur no-holds barred, step-by-step instruction of me smoking a 6.62 pound USDA hand picked beef brisket over hickory wood (not mesquite as I mentioned in the video) in my Brinkman Bullet.

Okay, I know it’s been over a week since my previous post of part one, but I’m here now to wrap this puppy up.  So where was I?  I was just talking about the lack of adult beverages, and limited food items, but we had a little something to eat anyways and then went about for more exploring.

Just to the right of the main stage there was an area roped and sectioned off for a small classic car show.  Now how classic cars and Huck Finn tie into each other, I’ll never know, but the closest theory I have is that most people who enjoy Americana and Country music, probably also like NASCAR, and if that’s your bag, I suppose some classic cars can draw attention and bring some additional people out anyway.

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There weren’t too many cars, maybe a total of 15 or so, give or take a couple, but these guys were mighty proud.  I’ll admit I’m missing the ‘car-gene’ many guys seems to have.  I fully admit I don’t know the first thing about carburetors or horse power, but I can appreciate the hard work involved in restoring and showing off your handiwork.  I can also imagine the feeling one can have and the adventures one can enjoy sitting behind the wheel and touring our great land.  These cars just beg to be taken out for a drive in the country, stopping at a malt shop for a classic burger and fries, putting the top down and listening to classic tunes.  Anyway, in the long run it was a nice and quick addition to the jubilee.

There were also some various games taking place at various times and locals within the park as well.  We witnessed some grease pole climbing (ugh, what a mess), horseshoe tossing, axe throwing, egg tossing, and cow chip throwing contests.  There were plenty of other diversions for all ages to participate in staggered throughout the day, but we didn’t participate in any ourselves.

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We did stop at a smaller venue (not the main stage) to sit and listen to a 45 minute concert performed by a quartet group hailing from Arizona named the ‘Hey Boyz’.  They were very entertaining, blending traditional bluegrass and humorous stories and jokes throughout their set.  You could buy CD’s from them as well and they would be performing a few different times throughout the jubilee.  Both Brian and I recorded their concert with our Playsport’s, and Brian even made an audio recording using his Zoom player.  He said it came out pretty good and I look forward to listening to it sometime later.  Maybe I’ll even get a portion of it and upload it as an audio file here on my website.

One of the funniest things we witnessed was this really cheesy 2-man show circus.  It was really low rent, and dated by any standard, but that was part of its charm.  The two guys running it did everything from being the MC’s, changing characters, doing stunts, juggling, performing magic tricks, and selling cheezy coloring books of another circus altogether.  The only animals they had was a very fat and lazy cat who just seemed to care less about what was going on around it, and a few doves used in the magic tricks.  The funniest part to me was that their sound system was basically a tape deck, circa 1980, with way over-warn royalty free crappy circus music that sounded like they were recorded during the sixties.  It was so bad, it was good, and you have to give these two guys a lot of credit for their energy and attitudes.  You can tell they were really there just to entertain the kids and definitely thought their ‘circus’ was much more stupendous than it really was.

After our 20 minute little show, we took a few pictures and opted to call it a day, well at a day at the jubilee.  I wouldn’t have minded spending more time there and hearing a few more acts, but I was with three other people all jonesing for a beer at this point and figured they had seen all that they had wanted to see anyway and were hinting about leaving.

I’m not one for camping much anymore.  Not that I hate camping at all; I did plenty of it as a boy when I was running with the Boy Scouts.  Today, however, I enjoy a clean, comfortable bed, a nice hot shower, and a clean toilet to rest my rosy cheeks on in the morning.  With that in mind, if I were to go camping again, I would for sure try to and stay at Mojave Narrows.  It really is a large and well kept campground with plenty of amenities.

On trek back to Orange County, we decided to stop just on the outskirts of Norco for a beer at some chain Mexican restaurant.  Well, one beer turned into two, which turned into three, and before long we were best friends with the bartender, Ernie.  So much so in fact that he was doling out a few free drinks our way and we had a splendid late afternoon.

Finally after that little diversion, think we were now on our way home, my wife was able to finagle us all into going bowling.  We bowled three games at Norco Lanes, and even befriended some young high school kids the next lane over.  We were all pretty tuned up at this point, especially Brian.  We collected some glow in the dark bracelets from our new found friends and they even offered us some pizza.

Once bowling was done, we made our trip back home with Brian sleeping soundly in the back of my car.

Here is the Earthbox video that was originally going to be included in Part III, but for some unknown reason had numerous issues no matter what video conversion package I tried.  So instead of wasting any more time on it than I already had up to that point, I just decided to go with the raw Kodak .MOV format.  If this portion and Part III were combined as planned, the video would have been closer to 7 minutes long, but instead, bother are closer to their 3 minute and change lengths.

In its raw form, it looks and plays just fine, although the very simplistic editing software that comes with the Playsport doesn’t allow you to do too much in regards to effects or titles.  That being said, the title background is black, the font white and no other altercations have been made. 

Anyway, please enjoy this next installement.  I can tell you that we are using both the jalepeno and anaheim peppers quite regularly now from salads and sandwiches to additional ingredients in side dishes and entrees.  As a matter of fact I’ve been slicing up the peppers and sweating them along with some white onions in a pan of butter over low-medium heat with a little garlic salt, and then using this combination with fresh grilled beer brats on toasted rolls and a little provolone cheese.  Delicious!!

This is part 3 of my continuing series of planting and replanting an Earthbox with my good friend Albert.  This video is a little short (just over 3 minutes) as I was having some technical hiccups with the second portion of this video which would have brought it closer to 7 minutes.  The audio track on the second half is really good, but it appears the video portion is randomly skipping and thus either freezes the video playback, or the lip-syncing is way off track.

I’m also using a new video converter here as well called Prism that I downloaded the trial version over at Cnet.com.  The good news is that that it eliminates the watermark that was in the previous videos, however, I notice it’s slightly more pixelated overall.  It’s always something it seems.  I’m surprised how expensive these downloadable video converters are.  I’ve got about 3 of them now to test, but once the trial version expires, they want anywhere from $29 to about $46 to purchase.  It’s a real shame that both Kodak and Sony don’t have a good converter for their hand cams right out the box, seeing that 80% of the those that are buying them are pretty much using a Microsoft base PC and thus need to convert them to .WMV files.

Anyway, enjoy the 3rd video in the Earthbox series, and I’ll try to get the others up sooner than later.

I’ve been a bit quiet on the blogging front the last few days, and probably will be again for at least a few more, so apologies for that upfront.

The last few days of work have been mind-numbing and soul-sucking to say the least, so the fact I have a very good friend flying in this afternoon from Idaho to stay with me the next few days is a very welcome distraction and the timing could not have been better.

He’s my friend Brett Lotero, whom I met in the mid 90′s through some mutual friends.  As these things tend to work out neither one of us see or talk so much to the mutual friends who once introduced us, but Brett and I have maintained a pretty solid friendship over the years even though we now live close to 950 miles apart.

I pick him up today at the airport at just after noon, and for the next few days we will be having great food, great drinks, and hopefully great memories.  For example, he can’t get ‘In-N-Out’ burgers being out in Idaho, so first up on our docket today is to rectify that with a good ‘ole Double-Double.  We’ll probably head out to Cook’s Corner as well for a few drinks, and maybe BevMo to pick up some nice beers and a good bottle of whisky (for me) and rum (for him).  Dinner is up in the air right now, but I have some ideas.

Thursday should bring us down to San Clemente for a good breakfast, some sight seeing along the coast, and perhaps a drive out to Hells Kitchen off the Ortega Highway, and maybe a stop off at Big Helens on the way back.  But we’re totally playing it by ear, and we may do something completely different.  I hope to record a raw podcast with him maybe this day for future postings.  He’s got a few good stories in him.

Friday brings us to his last full day here.  Not exactly sure what we’ll do yet during the day, but we are planning to have a BBQ that night with some old chums.  I think Cuban burgers are on the menu, so I know we’ll hit the store sometime that day.  We’ll also hit up Daily’s Sports Bar at least once to see if he can run into some of his old co-workers.  Brett finally goes back Saturday afternoon which will give me some time to do laundry myself and other stuff to finish out the weekend.

I’m sure I’ll be giving my Droid’s ‘Four Square’, ‘Gowalla’, and ‘Trip Journal’ applications a workout the next few days, so batteries are fully charged as well as the portable power cables.  Oh, and I also got my new Kodak Playsport yesterday in the mail as well, and that’s fully charged now so I’ll be taking some video’s as well.

Anyway, hopefully I’ll be able to share some of these pics and vids with you over the next few days, or at least this weekend after the festivities.  I’ll also share my recipe for Cuban burgers, and I may even try doing that by video.  Look for a few cocktail recipes, some establishment (read: saloon) reviews, and perhaps a long awaited new podcast.

Cheers!

My Earthbox after just 1 month

About two months back I posted Podcast Episode 17 - Earthbox’s with my buddy Al. If you listened to that episode, you’ll also remember that I shot some accompanying video using a Kodak Playsport flash camcorder and I said I’d eventually get around to posting some videos once I figured out how to convert the raw footage and edit them.

Well, wait no further. This past weekend I was able to download a free shareware version of ‘Total Video Converter’ from Cnet.com to see how hard the process was to covert from native .MOV to .WMV formats.

To my pleasant surprise it was actually quite easy. However, because this is freeware, the videos I converted also have a small watermark which is present in the upper left hand corner of the finished video. If I go ahead and decide to buy the full registered version once I decide on getting my own flash camcorder, then the watermark will disappear.  Once in .WMV format, I used Microsoft Movie Maker to edit them further, adding the credits, transitions, text call outs, and finally splicing and trimming them together.  Now I know this is all nerdy, geeky, tech stuff, but now that I have explained it this first time, I won’t tell you about my future endeavors behind the scenes.

To get to the meat, or in this case, vegetable of the matter at hand, I have included two finished video here’s both totaling an approximate 13 minutes if viewed together introducing and showing off an Earthbox and replanting one.  I think it’s very educational, and in the end I hope to have some really good jalapeno and Anaheim peppers along with some very fragrant cilantro.  You can plant just about anything you want given the right soil, weather, and seasonal conditions.  Albert has planted squash, tomatoes, bell peppers, eggplant, various lettuce, and much more just to name a few.  But you can easily plant flowers, other herbs, or whatever.

In the above picture that starts off this post you will see a top down picture of my actual Earthbox that Albert and I planted together and is the subject of this video.  After only about a month, I can say we use the cilantro quite a bit and the pepper plants have almost tripled in size and have just begun growing their fruit. (i.e. jalapenos).  In a few more weeks I should be able to harvest my first home grown peppers and enjoy them on the BBQ, homemade salsas, and much more.

Video #1: Approx. 5 minutes.  Shows an empty box side by side with one that has finished it’s growing season. 

Video #2: Approx. 7 minutes in length and we look at the plants I am about to use, the individual parts and construction of an empty Earthbox, and the concept on how it works.

Future videos in this series will appear shortly as I need to go through the process of converting and editing them.  Look for parts 3 and 4 in the coming weeks.

It’s been a few months now since each of these handheld ‘shoot and share’ flash camcorders have been released to the consuming public with plenty of both professional reviews written and video examples available to compare out on YouTube.

Unfortunately, I still cannot decide between the Sony PM5 or Kodak Zx3 to purchase for myself and I have never agonized so much over such a simplistic decision.  It’s not like I’m buying a new car or house.  We are only talking about a sub $175 camera.

From a previous posting I gave what I call a half-assed review on my brief experience with the Playsport and that I was somewhat impressed.  Mind you, I didn’t have a chance to shoot under water (it’s waterproof up to 10 feet), or accidentally drop it (it has a rugged exterior), or do any advanced features such as using the HDMI port.

I haven’t had any luck playing with the Sony PM5 at all.  All the Best Buy’s in my area only seem to have it listed on their websites but not in their stores.  The one I did get to see in person at a local MicroCenter didn’t have the cables or batteries to power it on, so I couldn’t do anything with it other than hold it.

The pricing for both is about a $20 dollar difference.  The Playsport generally retails for $149 (sans SD memory) and the PM5 is $169 (sans memory as well).  Depending on the day of the week, or on pure chance, I have seen both ‘unofficially’ listed cheaper at various websites, especially the PM5.  It’s weird to me that model color seems to effect the price as well, especially amongst the Sony.  Sony models in white and pink seem to be listed cheaper as they are the more unpopular of the flavors.  Not sure why, and I really don’t care if I hold a pink one or a blue one.  I’ve seen the pink one as cheap as $137 online, then jump back up in price the next day,  Same with the white model listing at $145 one day and then back up the next.  The Playsport fluctuates on occasion as well.  I’ve seen a white Zx3 for as low as $127.  Unfortunately none of the major online or retail stores had discounted either one over Memorial Day weekend.  I was fully prepared to commit to one or the other if there was a decent sale this past weekend, but alas, there wasn’t.

Kodak Playsport

I need to make a decision soon, as I could have used one this last weekend when I went to Travel Town up in Los Angeles.  I ended up using the video option on my Motorola Droid phone which worked just fine, but kind of a hassle to get the video off the phone, convert it, and then do some editing before I posted to YouTube (I’ll have those up shortly in an upcoming post so you can see).  I also want to use it for both some BBQ’ing vodcasts and model train builds I’m doing as another hobby.

In examining their features, both have some solid pro’s….and some solid con’s.  It’s a wash to me, but for some reason I keep drifting back to the Bloggie PM5, but just by a hair.  If I can’t find a good deal in the next few days online or in person for the PM5, I may just opt to go with the Playsport anyway, and I won’t be bummed.  See, between my wife and I, and some various engagements coming up with my friends and this very website, I’m finding more and more reasons to buy one sooner than later.  As a matter fact, we are planning to go to Victorville in about 2 weeks time for a Bluegrass and Country festival and I’d love to shoot some content.  I also have a friend coming in town next week, and Id like to use it for some goofing around we’ll be doing ourselves.

So, in no particular order, here we go again:

• Kodak has an edge in both being waterproof and more rugged body. Kodak +1.5 (I have a tendency to drop shit…a lot)
• Kodak has an HDMI port: Kodak +.5 although I doubt I’d use this feature, thus the 1/2 point.
• Both on have built in video editing software that self installs to a PC and both suck.: wash
• Sony has built in USB arm, whereas Kodak needs an additional cable.: Sony +.5
• Sony has a 270 degrees swivel lens for self shooting and protection.: Sony +1
• Both have a 5MP camera, neither have a Macro lens or flash.: wash
• Sony has a ‘slightly’ larger LCD screen: Sony +.5
• Kodak LCD has special ‘glare feature’ saturation filter: Kodak +.5
• Both have 4x digital zoom controls: wash
• Kodak has 1.5 hr typical battery life whereas Sony has 1 hr: Although this data is unconfirmed and a bot sketchy at best. Pricing out additional batteries (you’ll need them for long weekends) shows that the Kodak brand tend to be cheaper.  Kodak +.5
• Sony can use both SD cards (class 4) or Memory Dual Stick Pro: Sony +.5
• Both suck in low light conditions: wash
• Kodak takes ‘slightly better’ stand alone pics due to Sony’s delay between pressing the button and shot being taken.: Kodak +.25
• Kodak files don’t like MAC (I could care less), but Sony mounts three (3) drives when plugged into PC and doesn’t play with new Win 7 without converting the files, meaning extra steps if I move off of Win XP. Kodak: +.5
• In the audio tests I have heard, I think the Sony sounds better.  Both have mono mic’s, and neither has an external mic jack.  Sony: +.5 for personal taste.
• In the video tests I have seen, I also think the Sony has a richer and more saturated color and also sharper picture compared to the Kodak.: Sony +1
• Model color palette.  Kodak has 3 colors to choose from where as Sony has 4.  I could care less.: wash.
• Both shoot in 4 different quality modes: 1080p, 720 & 480 @ 30fps, and also 720 @ 60fps.: wash.
• While both have some internal memory, neither are enough to take anything credible, so expect to buy additional class 4 SD memory for both.: wash
• Kodak is $20 cheaper on all accounts: Kodak +1

So based on my completely unscientific rating system the final tally is: Kodak = 5.25, Sony = 4.  Actually that is quite surprising for me and this has been a real eye-opener.  It’s possible that in the long run the Kodak may be slightly easier to run in terms of video conversion to .WMV and cheaper batteries.  While I may never use the waterproof feature, I’m glad it’s there as friends may accidentally spill drinks on it and I won’t be afraid to use in the rain.  I also have a tendency to drop objects, so the rugged casing may be a bonus in my favor and of course the base cost makes it slightly more attractive as well.  I may miss Sony’s superior color and sound and slightly larger screen offerings though, but I now think I’m leaning towards the Kodak.

Taking all this into account, I may now be actually be leaning towards buying a Kodak Playsport.  Tell me what you think below in the comments.  I’ll hopefully purchase something by the end of this week.

One of my closest friends, Albert Ihle, came over this past weekend to help me replant an earthbox he gave me over this past holiday season.  The past few months, this earthbox gift supplied a bountiful and rich bounty of lush and organic lettuce leaves.  With the original four heads that were planted (along with some parsley to boot), Monica and I had tons of green leaves for both salads and sandwiches with left overs to share.  Of course, being organic not only did they taste better and we knew they couldn’t be any fresher from our pickings, but they were chock full of vitamins

However, with the seasons changing from winter into spring, it was time to replant.  Al called me up and asked me what I may be interested in trying to grow this time around, and with the weather going to warm up soon and summer in just a few months away, I opted to go with some fresh chili peppers.  Monica and I enjoy entertaining with large BBQ’s with our friends, and since we also like Mexican dishes, I opted to buy a few jalepenos plants, some anaheim chilis, and cilantro.

It was a perfect 8 am morning roll call when Al showed up this past Saturday and with Bloody Mary’s in hand, we got down to business. What you see in these pictures is a what an earthbox looks like.  Albert and his wife Lisa have been growing many of their own produce for the last three years and we’ve tasted their homemade sweet marinara sauce, had numerous grilled veggies, and of course their own salads.  Click on the links yourself if you want to learn more about this way of planting and growing your own sustainable foods in your garden.

Earthbox example

What’s nice about this episode is that it is a great example of using the portable Zoom H2 recorder out in the field.  I recored approx. 50 minutes of straight audio which I got o edit down for your plreasure, all while learning about earthboxes and plenty of gardening and growing tips.  I also shot some video as well using a Kodak Playsport flash cam at the same time and I’m in the process of editing those for a future posting as well.  So not only can you enjoy this very educational podcast, with a few shots of vodka mixed in by yours truly, you’ll also eventually see some video clips as well.

Bloody Mary’s featured in this episode were made with Snug Harbor mix, winner of the ‘outstanding beverage’ award at the 1998 International Fancy Food Show.  What makes this Bloody Mary mix unique is it’s inclusion and blend of both clam juice and Chesapeake Bay Seasoning.  If you aren’t making a cocktail, try using it as a cooking sauce, maybe even a booster in Mexcian Ceviche.  You can find this online or unique liquor and gifts stores like Home Goods.  The bootles are 25oz in size and retail for approx $8.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (41.1MB)

Since I still have yet to decide on what flash-media camcorder to buy, I am fortunate enough to have my friend Brian lend me his Kodak Playsport this last week for a test drive.  For those that don’t know what flash-corders are, they are basically pocket sized video recorders that instead of using tape or CD media, save the files digitally to internal flash or SD cards.

They generally retail for sub $200 and target people on the go who who want to record video clips or still pictures on the go without lugging around a larger, more professional camera or camcorder.  They aren’t meant to make you the next Cecil Demille, but for those that like to share memories via FaceBook, YouTube, smaller emails and the like.  Features are generally limited and is really meant to do one-touch recording on the fly.  Think social sharing teens, soccer moms, and dads on the hunting trip.  If you understand this, then you should know what to expect and what not to.

The big three are considered to be Kodak, Sony, and Cisco.  All the others are poor imitators, and you get what you pay for, so don’t expect superior quality in both recordings or durability if you go with one of the off-name brands.  Out of the gate, I eliminate all the Cisco ‘Flip’ brands because of the cost factor.  There is nothing that the Cisco ones do any better than the Kodak or Sony models other than cost more.  They may have made it virtually ‘idiot proof’, but with the various Flips, you sacrifice pure 1080p HD recordings and as a reward for stripping down to the most basic features, you actually pay more.  That being said, many people do like their Flips for their simplicity, and no one can argue their marketing machine made a splash as the Flip Mino and new HD Slyde are practically household vernacular…but that doesn’t make them the best.

I’m torn between the lower end Sony Bloggie and new Kodak Playsport.  Both have pros and cons that on paper seem to cancel each other out.  From what I have read the Bloggie has superior video qulaity whereas the Playsport has better audio pickup.  Both have 4 recording settings that are identical, have zoom features, have editing software, have the ability to take 5 megapixel still shots.  Bloggie has a built in USB connection, whereas the Kodak uses a cable.  Kodak is roughly $40 buck cheaper and is has one additional feature that extreme outdoors people may indeed like…it is waterproof up to 10 feet under water making it ideal for the beach, skiing trips, and backyard pool parties.

So now that you get the idea, here are my preliminary findings on the Kodak Playsport:

1) Lowlight conditions do not favor this camera.  We used it once at night in my backyard with the only light source being some tiki torches, bleed over light from the kitchen to the backyard, and some decorative overhead hanging lights.  The Kodak did not fair very well.  I suspect the Sony may not do much better as neither has a flash or floodlight function.  Perhaps too much a battery drain?

2) However filming at dusk seemed to be okay.  The raw format for the Playsport is .MOV files, friendly to Apple and Quicktime applications.  The following video was taken at the San Clemente, CA pier this past Sunday at roughly 6:30pm.  I think the colors turned out pretty well, and the raw playback footage on my PC (prior to YouTube uploading and conversion) was nice, albeit it somewhat shaky (more on that in a second).

3) Now the shakiness.  You’ll note that even with EIS turned on, it stills seems very jerky even though my panning was fairly smooth.  I have heard this from other people as well and that the Sony Bloggie may indeed do a better job at image stabilization.

4) Here is the second video taken just a bit later.  Again, looks good other than a bit shaky:

Miscellaneous stuff: comes with a wrist strap and a very small and somewhat generic manual.  Visiting the Kodak support page, I noticed that a new firmware patch was released in March of this year, shortly after the the Playsport went public.  Too bad I couldn’t find anything at the Kodak webpage that informs users what the firmware upgrade actually does, but here’s to hoping it addresses the EIS and the reported false battery charged readings.  That is, some people are stating that the battery doesn’t seem to charge 100%, or even if the indicator does register that the internal battery is 100%, only minutes after use, the icon shows it’s already 25% spent which may make some users wary how the long the battery life actually is.

The nice thing was that that plugging in the Playsport to my PC via a USB cable, Windows XP detected it immediately and there was no additional software I needed to install.  I was able to go in to the media storage and quickly drag and drop the .MOV files over to my PC.  That was pretty seemless.  I did not have a chance thus far to play with the actual camera for taking still shots, nor did I use the included editing software that is built in to the Playsport to alter my videos.

Now I also created a YuoTube account and uploaded both movie’s there as you see embedded above.  One thing I did note…the raw .MOV files are much sharper than the YouTube videos you see here.  I assume YouTube has some type of conversion and compression process and in the end you may notice a bit more pixelation and muted colors.  That could be because YouTube uses the .FLV format or something else.