Apple Pie

Fred made an apple pie few days ago. The dough he used was kind of old, too cold to spread on the counter, so it tasted fine, but did not look that great. I learned that it is not that hard to make an apple pie.

We decided to make another one some day. We got apples and pie crusts, and have the other ingredients already. Last night I was playing with my iPod touch, and decided to check if there is any recipe on the apps store.

There is! I downloaded the free version (of course), and found few recipes in no time.

So I made a little bit of experiment this afternoon. It turned out great! We put the pie in the oven and went out for a walk. The whole kitchen smells wonderful when we came back. We did not have a quick bite though, but started to make supper and save the pie for dessert. It is yummy!

Recipe:
8 apples, 2 pie crusts, 3/4 cups of sugar, 3 tsp of cinnamon, a shot of lime juice, some ground nutmeg, dash of salt

* peel the apples, remove the cores, and dice them.
* place one pie crust on the pan, put 1/3 of apples on the pie crust, spray 1/4 cup of sugar on top, followed by 1 tsp of cinnamon
* place another 1/3 of apples on, another 1/4 cup of sugar, 1 tsp of cinnamon and the ground nutmeg.
* place the rest of apple on, 1/4 cup of sugar, 1 tsp of cinnamon and dash of salt.
* Put the second pie crust, crimp the edge, cut some slits for ventilation. Bake in 400F for 50 minutes.

Some thoughts:
* The original recipe calls for 1 cup of sugar. I reduce to 3/4 cup and still think it's too sweet after the pie cools down. Next time I'll try 1/2 cup of sugar.
* I'm not sure why the original puts the apples into 3 layers. I don't taste the difference.
* Fred grimaced when I dash the salt. I guess he never had to use it.

iPad

Apple just released their iPad today. It looks just like a giant version of iPod Touch. As of now, Apple has not released Steve's keynote, so I can only judge it based on the video available on their website. I wonder how I'd like to use it.

The swipe to change page on the screen, gesture on the screen, all look so similar. Does that mean there is no really important breakthrough in their software? When Apple released Snow Leopard, one of the main features is that when users drag the application window to the dock, they can use the reflection of the window in the dock. I was wondering why that could be an important feature to brag about, and as it turned out, it is NOT for me. So now, it is fun to see that I can use zoom-out gesture to 'sort of' open the photo album and see what photos are in there, and if I can't find what I want, then I don't have to open it. So for me, I'd rather double click, or whatever, to open the photo album. Why should I keep 2 of my fingers on the screen and manipulate that way? Would that not be too much of an effort to search?

I'm sure Apple's GUI would be very easy to use, but they still don't have found a even better way to use gestures. It's nice to have soft keyboard, however, I can only tap on the hard surface of my iPod Touch for a short period of time. If I need to type a long message or write some documents, I'd much prefer using a real keyboard. It's more ergonomic to use for me, and easier to position my fingers.

With the lightweight feature, iPad certainly is easy to carry around. I know I can hook it up with my iMac to sync up songs, movies, books, but if I make a quick note of the meeting I go to with one of the applications, or if I work on a document in the coffee shop using Apple's iWork for iPad, will that be easy for me to sync up to the computer, so I can use my iMac to continue with my work at home? I don't have an answer to that.

Electronic books are certainly an important feature with its release. The 499 price for the entry level 16G model is certainly enough to kill Amazon's DX Kindle. I guess I have not read enough to actually understand my need for it, but it is definitely the major factor to distinguish an iPod Touch and an iPad. iPod Touch is really too small for reading.

I'm sure with the SDK release, software developer will come up with all kinds of fun things to increase their revenue and boost the sales of iPad. However, so far, I think my iPod Touch is still doing a good job.

A Single Man

Life is not perfect, and it takes me a long time to realize how true the statement is, and I found myself living in denial sometimes still. We'll never know how much a friend's life is traumatized by their recent professional crisis or loss of their loved ones unless they are willing to open their hearts and share, otherwise we shall only see their superficial decency and proper manners.

I now understand how terrible it is to be informed of bad news of the one I care for. Despair may be a proper word for the moment when I felt my brain went completely blank, but still had the instinct to respond to the phone call without hesitation, even though, honestly, I did not catch too much of the phone conversation.

So how much more devastating it could be if one is informed of the death of the loved one on the phone? What's worse is that he is not allowed to attend the funeral because he is not considered a family member. If it were not for the kindness of the cousin, he would not even be told of the car accident, in which his loved one was killed. Colin Firth impeccably expressed the despair, and shows incredible accuracy to depict the last day of the professional. I've watched his movies before, Mama Mia being the last one, but he did not give me an impression. Now he wins a position in my heart as a good actor.

Juliane Moore also stars in the movie, and is also one of the major reason why I went and watched this movie. Her acting is also incredible and impressive. Love her.

Lemon Merinque Pie

I wanted to do something, so decided to make a pie. We had picked up packages for filling earlier, so I just followed the recipe, baking pie crust at specified temperature for specified time, made the filling as per instructions from the package, and whip the egg white, with 2 spoons! Whipping the egg white was a slow and painful process, and as the meringue started for form, it was harder and harder to beat, as the resistance grew.

But anyway, pie crust was baked, then I poured the filling in, and then the meringue. After that, I put the whole pie in the oven to brown the meringue. The pie looks good from the photos, but in reality, the surface of the meringue was not really even. Some of the filling was not properly covered with meringue. So something to improve the next time. It tasted good though. The meringue does not sit on the filling well, so when I cut it, it separates, but Fred said that's the way it's supposed to be, so be it.

Avatar

2012 and Avatar both focus on computer animation, but there is one major difference for me. In 2012, I knew from the beginning that the world will collapse, that the story does not have to make sense, and that all the main characters will be safe. But for Avatar, it is not so clear how the story would end, until I saw the ceremony to rescue the scientist. Another unexpected part is that cool female pilot was gunned down. She is so butch and cool. I really want her to survive.

Other notes:

Maybe flying is a big thing, but that's all I do in World of Warcraft, flying dragon! So tho the whole computer animation makes the whole world so real, it is just a better version of WoW for me. Even the floating islands and waterfalls already exists in WoW.

When the army attacks the planet, the general was drinking coffee while sending out orders. I do not like coffee to be stained in blood this way. The contrast between the leisure of having coffee and the death later in the movie is strong, but cheap.

The first night when Neytiri rescued Jake from animal attack, she said those animals should not have died. I don't think the reason was explained in the movie.

Why does Neytiri have to be a princess? The story is strong enough. She does not have to be a princess. It's so cool to have a female scientist to lead the research. It's so cool to have a female character to rescue a guy and guide him. It's so cool to have a butch female pilot defect the army. So why do we need a princess here?

3D is cool. Since 3D seems to be becoming the in thing, I guess it's time to get a pair of contact lenses for those 3D movies. Having the 3D goggles on top on my glasses is not so comfortable.

Having said all those, I wonder if this post fits better in the complaint label than movies label.

Sweet and Tangy Coleslaw

I normally do not like pickled food, and the good exception is Fred's sweet and tangy coleslaw. We made it today.

Ingredients:

1 cabbagte, finely shredded
2 onions, finely sliced
6 carrots, finely grated

sauce:
2 cups of sugar
3 teaspoon of salt
2 teaspoon of dry mustard
2 teaspoon of celery seed
2 cups of white vinegar
3 tablespoons of vegetable oil

Shred the cabbage, slice the onion and grate the carrots. Put all in a container. Put all the sauce ingredients in a saucepan, and use low heat until all the sugar is dissolved in the vinegar. Pour the sauce into the container and mix well. Let it sit for a day or 2 before serving.