Blog? What Am I Doing With a Blog?

Hi! – Most of you know me as somewhat opinionated and so I’m making it official. Welcome to “TOMSOPINION.COM”

I’ve had this blog for a while now and, although not widely read, it has developed a small following. I like to try and find really good stuff and comment on it. Good food, household items that really work well and last long, and some hobby type pursuits. If you like it, tell your friends. NOW!

You’ll see my not-so-humble opinions on many of my favorite subjects including, but not limited to, Food, Bicycles, Technology, Cars, and Fixing Stuff.

Not so much about Women, Politics, Religion, and the other 3rd rail topics of the world.  You can scroll down through the start of all the articles, or click some of the New and Update links below.

WHAT’S NEW –

I will try and add pointers to major changes right here once a month. This will let you go directly to the new stuff without having to search or wonder what’s changed.

Also, please read the “Disclaimer”  CLICK HERE (or scroll down a couple of posts).

New articles:

A whole new section on all my bicycle projects is now done. Click on the page heading on the right side index of the front page. Enjoy if you are into old iron.

The Schwinn Twinn Tandem is finally finished. A detailed account is in the “Bicycle” page. Scroll down to the pictures of the Yellow Tandem and read about it.

Oh Boy! I had a once-in-a-lifetime experience in Casa Grande. Hint: I flew! Read about it HERE.

Some comments on Russian Hackers, and some advice for you too……  CLICK HERE.

A recipe for a super-easy and terrific homemade mustard has engaged my affections. Read the story and recipe  HERE.

I have added a new recipe for cooked oatmeal! (What? eeeew!) As they say, “Don’t knock it, ’till you’ve tried it!” Click HERE. No, really, you will be pleasantly surprised. Go ahead, DO IT! (It has nice pictures.)

We finally completed our 7 month house painting project, and now I have a detailed and hopefully educational and informative post about it! With little exception we worked on it almost every day for 3-6 hours and now it’s completely finished. It was more of a “surface restoration” than just a paint job, with wood parts needing replacement and much stripping and sanding and priming and caulking and puttying before we could apply color. Well, it’s done, and HERE is the whole long story!

There is a new toy in my vehicle collection, but the “price” was too high. Read the bittersweet story HERE.

Recent Updates :

I added a new restoration to the old Schwinn’s article – 1979 Continental II. To see a few pictures and the description click HERE and scroll down to the Update.

I updated my Windows 10 experience, and deleted all the really old news from the start of the “Insider” program. Plus a minor “rant”… HERE

I have a really simple new recipe for pork shoulder made in a slow cooker that, with a little extra effort makes its own BBQ sauce at the end. I just made this recipe for the 4th  or 5th time and have changed a few of the seasonings and spices and their proportions as of 9/30/16! It’s even better now! How? Click HERE 

Most of the pictures are “clickable” for a much bigger, more detailed picture if you like. Enjoy!

I have allowed the option for readers to comment on most of the articles. Just click on the heading of any post or click “continue reading —>” and it will take you to that post’s page where you can add your comments at the end.

THANKS!

bottles top S

Security Online – Yes, YOU!

Since I opened this blog, more than 200 attempts at unauthorized logins have been made.

Not just a quick drive-by either; concerted repeated attempts at hijacking the blog. Yup, there are people out there who have nothing better to do than to try and screw with other people’s stuff. I hope that this doesn’t come as a surprise to you.

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Disclaimer

Judging from the title of this blog, it is clear that information presented here is considered to be an opinion, and not necessarily fact. If you decide to take actions based on the contents of this blog, and those actions result in undesirable consequences, you are ultimately responsible for those consequences. The information contained here is provided “as-is” and without warranty or claim of suitability of any kind.

A Dream Takes Flight

Knock This Off My Bucket List

Yesterday, when I attended the fly-in at Casa Grande Municipal Airport, I got the “T” Shirt, and a whole lot more. Primarily, we went because a good friend of mine asked if I’d do the driving, because he wanted to check out a bunch of cool old planes, and meet up with a friend of his whose dad had facilitated the restoration of a 1943 Boeing B75-N1. “A what?” you ask. You might know it as the famous Stearman Bi-Plane.

What happened next is a dream comes true for me.    Continue reading →

Russian Hackers Are Everywhere!

If you are expecting a big exposé on the upcoming administration, I’m sorry to disappoint you, I don’t really know much about whether Putin was instrumental in electing the new Prez, or if glasnost has been replaced by Chernobyl packets, but what I do know is that there are a lot of people with .ru domains that have nothing better to do than to send mountains of spam comments to this very blog.

A flood of these comments, numbering into the dozens per day, have been appearing and require manual filtering, which is time consuming and annoying, to say the least. A quick Google search on this topic assures me that I am not the lone victim, but rather this is a problem that pervades blog admins more or less universally. And yes, there are effective countermeasures that minimize the annoyance, but that doesn’t change the fact that this is an epidemic. You may ask, “What’s the purpose?” and as I understand it, many (some) amateur blogs allow un-moderated comments, which allows the bot or hacker to publish links on a bona-fide blog in the context of their meaningless crap, which point to product ads, porn sites, or entrapment sites, to name a few. Even moderated comments need careful editing to remove the embedded links, if they somehow actually get published. Keep reading for some actual examples….

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Toss A Pebble In A Stream – Updated 1/13/17

pebble-watch

UPDATE – Jan. 13, 2017 – It seems as if the team of Pebble developers and technical people that Fit-Bit hired through their acquisition of Pebble are quite positive regarding the future of the existing Pebble platform for at least the next year and possibly beyond. Rumors abound as to whether a future Fit-Bit hardware product will incorporate everyone’s favorite Pebble Watch features and functions, but it’s my opinion that they wouldn’t have spent the effort and money (rumored to be about $40 million) and hired a bunch of Pebble People if they were just going to let it die. Not much has been updated regarding warranty service or technical support, but there are some aggressive prices on left-over Pebbles on Amazon, so the real die-hards can just buy a relatively inexpensive replacement if their Pebble fails. I any event, it’s no longer the doom and gloom that was first reported and that I detailed in the original posting.  Stay tuned!

UPDATE – Dec. 16, 2016 – Last night around 3 am my Pebble watch woke me with a series of vibrate alerts because it was undergoing an update to V 4.3, and this morning the Android App also updated to Version 4.3.0-1355-904fed2.

In light of the first announcement that all support operations would cease, this seems to be a small ray of hope in an otherwise dark tunnel. Perhaps it was due to the relatively passionate feedback that Fit-Bit received on their user support community blog from discouraged Pebble owners. I understand that acquisitions of this type can be complex and inordinately detailed regarding exactly what the new owners can claim rights to and what they can’t touch. Apparently, actual watch hardware is / was off limits to Fit-Bit as part of this deal. They acquired some of the Pebble brain trust and the intellectual property and the rights to all of the software and development shell.

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Mustard is Cheap! Why Make Your Own?

guinness-stout-mustardSuper Easy and Delicious Home Made Mustard

I recently ran across a really simple and wonderful recipe for those of you that like a really nice robust tasting mustard. I have nothing against traditional American “yellow” mustard, and I actually think it’s the perfect condiment for “dirty-water” hot dogs, and “razor” burgers (which also require a fat dollop of Heinz Ketchup, in my opinion).

But, this mustard is for the heartier meats, like Leberkäse, corned beef, or smoked ham. It’s heavenly on a pastrami or roast beef sandwich too. Additionally, it can be customized with added herbs and spices to focus its flavor toward a particular dish, with addition of honey, powdered rosemary, dill, or horseradish for example.

Read on for the recipe.

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Steel Cut and Kañiwa Too!

Steel Cut Oatmeal with A Wonderful Addition – Kañiwa

Ready for Your Favorite Condiments

Ready for Your Favorite Condiments

 

OK, I know it’s hard to expect that you will all want to make some cooked oatmeal for breakfast for a number of reasons;

  1. You were forced to eat it as a child and hated it ever since.
  2. You have only had either “Instant” oatmeal, or plain rolled oats, or worse, (ughhh) microwaved oatmeal and they were awful.
  3. You can’t imagine taking the time to make oatmeal that takes 50 minutes, start to finish.
  4. You don’t know what Kañiwa is and you’re not into eating stuff you don’t know.

BUT, I am here to expand your horizons, make you more healthy, and experience something new and delicious.

What follows is a recipe with some pictures that will take a while to prepare, but isn’t labor intensive. While it’s cooking, you can read the Sunday paper, check your email, or just enjoy a leisurely cup of coffee watching the sun rise. But, please give this a try; that list of reasons above will melt away with every bite like butter on a hot griddle.

So, continue reading for the whole story….

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High Priced Harley

High Priced Harley

 

road-glide-emblem

My very first vehicle was a Vespa 90 that I bought from a school chum without my parents’ permission and triumphantly rode down the driveway back when the ink on my driver’s license was still wet. It got me back and forth to my job at the bicycle store, took me and my brother down to the pizzeria on Dodd Street to get a “za,” and provided a newfound freedom that let me explore a much larger circle of the world than my 10-speed did.

After that, I bought a Yamaha DT1-B, a very capable street legal Enduro, that I practically wore out as it took me to all those places I just had to go. I remember riding it to my new job at the VW dealer in mid-winter, bundled in my Passaic Leather Coat Company 7-layer police motorcycle jacket and knee high boots. My hands were so stiff when I got to work, I’d wrap them around a drop light to thaw them out before I could grab a wrench.

Later, after a short dalliance with a Yamaha 500cc twin that had a frame too small to ride two-up, I bought my first “big bike,” a red Yamaha XS750 Triple, with backrest and a factory fairing. Oh God, power, power, power! Many miles were gleefully covered, and it followed us on a trailer when we moved here to Arizona. It took us to Havasu, Grand Canyon, Montezuma’s Well and Castle, and many more weekend destinations. But, in 1986, I sold it because with a new job and a new house and bigger and more expensive responsibilities, I just didn’t have much time to ride.

In 2005, I met a guy who would become a great and long time friend. Don and I shared a love for motorcycles, and in 2008, he convinced me to fly up to Denver, rent a big Harley, and ride to Sturgis with him. I hadn’t ridden in over 20 years, and needless to say, I was nervous.

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Exterior Finish Restoration – This Took How Long?

This Took How Long?

September ’15, a guy knocked on the door and asked if I wanted to get an estimate for painting the outside of my house. He said he was a retired schoolteacher, and lived summers in the Northwest, but spent winters here in Arizona. To supplement his income, he said that he paints a few houses while he’s here. Together with his helper, they walked all around the property, looking at everything and pointing and mumbling about a few of the more challenging areas.

Finally, he concluded his inspection and said, “Well, it needs a lot of work, and some places need the drip rail moulding replaced. It’s rotted away in places.” I agreed, and asked how much he would charge to do a really thorough job. He continued, “There’s some places that need lots of scraping too, and some caulk. It needs a lot to make it look nice.” “OK,” I said, “How much?” He paused and thought, and then said, “Well, it’s gonna take us a day to power wash the whole thing, and start the prep. The next day, we will finish the prep, and caulk. Then a day to spray it. I think we can knock it out in 3 days, maybe 4, if we run into any problems.

“I see,” I replied, “How much do you think it will cost?” “We use good paint, you know, not the cheap stuff. Probably need 15 gallons,” he offered. So, by this time, I figured I’d just let him talk, and he’d get around to cost eventually. He continued to describe how they would mask the windows, put down drop cloths, clean up after themselves, and do a great job. Then, finally, the part I was waiting for. “$5500 to do it all. It will look beautiful. And, we can start this week if you like and be done by Saturday!”

Dressed for Work

“I’ll have to think about it. Thanks for taking your time to give me an estimate. Give me your card, and I’ll call you if I decide to have you do it.” “Alright,” he replied, “but if we get busy, I may not be able to fit you in this year!” “Thanks, I’ll call ya.”

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Food Worth The Drive Even If Gas Was Expensive – Cafe 25:35

You may have gathered from some of my posts, I like GOOD FOOD. As much as I like cooking it myself, it is also sometimes nice to let someone else do the work and be waited on. So, I’m always looking for new restaurants to try, and often, I am disappointed by blandness, sameness, and “production line” cooking. Unfortunately, for a variety of reasons, many restaurants don’t even employ a Chef anymore. Not that there aren’t some pretty talented line cooks around, but it seems that the only places that still employ real Chefs are high end dinner places. As for breakfast and lunch, fuhgettaboutit! But, read on, there’s hope!

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Onions Without Tears? Fan-tas-tic!

By now, you know I like to play in the kitchen and sometimes I actually make something edible. Since I have leaned more towards the vegetable based dishes, and try to use meat as more of an occasional ingredient, almost like a garnish, big flavors have to come from somewhere other than browned meat and its juices.

One of my favorite sources of richness comes from adding onions, in their great varieties, into many dishes. Carefully caramelized, even the common white onion adds a wonderful depth of flavor to stews, the sweet mellow sauerkraut I mention in the SMOGG Pizza recipe elsewhere on this blog, and Chicken Paprikash, to name a few. By the way, if you do not know how to properly caramelize onions, you are missing out on one of the most delicious ingredients you can make. It takes patience, but is really worth the effort. Look it up on a recipe site and experiment.

But, many people hate preparing onions because of the tears that accompany the slicing and dicing. Sulfurous compounds in the onion (syn-propanethial-S-oxide) waft into the air when you break the onion’s cells, and combine with the moisture on your eyeball and produce a sulfuric acid. The acid “burns” your eyes, and the body produces tears to try and dilute and wash away the acid. So, you “cry.”

Well, CRY NO MORE, because my sous-chef (wife) developed and tested a kitchen solution that WORKS!

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The BIG “O” (ring) and Many $$

Folks, there’s a lot you need to know about marketing, markup, and money when it comes to maintaining numerous household products found in the typical modern home and yard. Primarily, it’s all about saving money, your money!

If you have a pool or spa, this will be of particular interest to you, but can apply to maintenance of many other household devices and systems. This will give you some insight into a system designed to pry money out of your wallet that you just don’t need to spend.

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Italian, German, French – SMOGG Pizza

By now, you realize, if you have been reading this blog, that I don’t generally publish recipes for “conventional” food. I like to try and stretch the reader’s palate a little, and encourage you to try foods and combinations that tend to drift a little from what most people are used to eating.

Well, here we go again! I call this SMOGG pizza, and I am really using the term “pizza” in the more artisan, avant-garde sense. Although it’s a bread like base, and it’s covered in cheese, there’s no tomato sauce component, and there’s one ingredient that will, like many of my recipes, instantly discourage a portion of my readership. But, as always, I encourage you, no, I beg you to indulge me and give this a try. Then, if you find it does not appeal to you, by all means, comment. Rip it apart, complain, call me a moron, but do something!

Sauerkraut Pizza6

 

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What the Heck is Gochujang? Oh, You Eat It!

I love finding new ways to use old standard ingredients, and what could be more standard than chicken and rice? This dish is going to make you find new places to shop, try new ingredients, and discover new flavors. I know it looks like a lot of work sorting out the details, but I promise you two things; First, it’s not as complex as it looks at first glance. I made this today in about an hour. Second, whatever it takes, it’s worth it.

Gochujang Chicken & Rice

Gochujang Chicken & Rice

Gochujang Chicken w Shishito Peppers

With Shishito Peppers on Top

 

 

Please continue  and read the recipe. I think you will find it worth every minute.

 

 

 

 

 

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An Exercise in Ethics in the Amazon Jungle

So many things that should be really simple take a little turn and thus complicate our lives in ways that then cost us resources, mental energy, and valuable time. Each, by themselves, may not amount to much, but in today’s complex, interconnected, busy world, they add up fast and raise the energy drain it takes to just stay even.

Of course, one could opt for getting off the grid entirely, or as close to that condition as possible, but the lure of technology and progress is one just too great for me to resist, so I accept, but as you can see, sometimes complain about its consequences.

Here is one such event….

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Going Bananas

This is the first desert recipe I have posted here because we do not make desert very often, but this great Banana Bread recipe might just be the exception. Of course, it’s mostly due to having bought a nice bunch of bananas and then, a week later, having a pair of squishy brown soft ones starting to leak onto the counter.

 

Can You Smell This?

Can You Smell This?

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Oh Deere!

UPDATE:

The John Deere has found a new home in the garage of an old time farmer, who used all John Deere equipment on his farm for 50+ years. He recently retired, and needed a good reliable mower that would double as a fun activity for the grand kids (smart old man, eh?). So, since we had almost all of the grass that was left in the yard covered over with beautiful rustic pavers, the John Deere went on Craigslist, and sold in 20 minutes to the first person who called.

That made me have to bring the 43 year old Toro Whirlwind mower out of mothballs and restore it so I could mow that last remaining 16′ X 16′ patch of grass in the back yard. I bought that mower for my parents’ house back in New Jersey, when I was just a kid, and it came with them when they moved here in 1989 and has been in the shed ever since.

I tore it apart, ordered all of the rubber and fuel system parts from Briggs & Stratton directly, (one of the “O” rings was listed on their site for FIVE CENTS) and had it start on the second pull of the “Easy Spin” starter. It didn’t even need a blade sharpening as my dad used to keep it finely tuned all those years ago.

Toro Whirlwind

Toro Whirlwind

ORIGINAL JOHN DEERE ARTICLE:

When I moved into this house 20+ years ago, the entire front yard was grass. About 6000 sq. ft. of deep thick Bermuda grass that, in the peak of the summer, needed mowing twice a week.

It didn’t take me long to figure out that my old push mower was going to need a major upgrade. I started looking in the local paper for a riding mower, and soon spotted an ad for a 1983 John Deere Model 111 Hydrostatic Garden Tractor with a twin blade mower deck. Just the ticket!

It was in very nice condition, well used, but pretty clean and it started right up and ran smoothly. When I asked the owner why he was selling it, he explained that for his rather large back yard, this little single cylinder, 11 horsepower engine just didn’t have enough power to deal with the tall grass and weeds. He intended for the money from the sale of the Deere to go to a twin cylinder Craftsman. Who was I to argue? I loaded it up and brought it home.

John Deere 111H

A Recent Picture of the 111H

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Perfection Improved

OK, I’m a real geek when it comes to having stuff work right. People who know me also know that I will pay extra money to get an item that does a job perfectly, something that is the epitome of its designed function. Like many of you, I hate stuff that just barely works, is the minimum that some designer or manufacturer could get away with, or is built so that it just lasts until the warranty runs out. The frustration of spending money for an item you “have to put up with,” is just too much for me.

So, although I promised myself that I wouldn’t start posting articles that make me look like I’m selling a particular item or brand, or that I am perceived as a shill for a particular company, I have found one line of products that I feel so positive about that I just have to detail it here. Let me tell you what happened…

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