First Pesto of the Season

Last week we enjoyed our first Pesto dinner of the season. Spring, summer, and early fall is the season for delightful Pesto when fresh basil is available. Here is our recipe. It serves 2 and then a little left over for the next day or extra portions. Serve with fettuccine and a nice chardonnnay wine.
Wash the basil and pull the leaves from the stems. Throw a clove of garlic into the pot cooking the pasta.

Ingredients:
1 garlic clove (see above)
3 TBS sun dried tomatoes (Julienne cut)
1 TBS butter
Combine the butter and sun dried tomatoes in small pan and at very low heat (just need to warm)
Now combine in food processor:
3 cups basil leaves
1/4 cup pine nuts
8 almonds
3/8 cup grated parmesan cheese
3/4 cup Italian parsley (remove larger stems)
1/8 cup high quality olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
Process for a few moments.
Remove the garlic from the cooking pasta just before pasta is ready and place in processor.
Remove and set aside 1/2 of the sun dried tomatoes and put the melted butter plus remaining sun dried tomatoes also into the processor.
Complete processing the pesto for another minute or 2.

Now dish out the pasta and place a nice portion of the Pesto on pasta and then place the reserved sun dried tomatoes on the very top of the Pesto.

Enjoy.

Serve with French bread.

FCC Hearing on Network Neutrality

On April 17, 2008, the Federal Communications Commission held an en banc hearing at Stanford University. The subject of hearing was "Broadband Network Management Practices." A month earlier, the FCC held a similar meeeting at Harvard University. Comcast got embarassed at that meeting when it turned out that they paid people just to fill a seat in order to keep others from finding a seat. Not to worry, there was plenty of available seats for this meeting. I ate my lunch outside the auditorium before the meeting started and listened to the Raging Grannies. They were singing songs all related to keeping a neutral internet and all very appropriate for this meeting.

Chairman Martin opened the meeting by reading a letter from Ms. Anna Eshoo, our local congresswoman. Ms. Eshoo said that non-discrimination and internet neutrality is very important and that we all must vigilent to make sure that happens. All 5 FCC members spoke, each with a slightly different take on the subject. The issue that brought the FCC to Stanford was the report by Robert Topolski, a Software Quality Engineer, that stated Comcast, his ISP (Internet Service Provider) was sending out IP Reset messages that stopped the uploading and downloading of files using BitTorrent, a peer-to-peer (P2P) communication protocol. Comcast along with 20 other ISPs were invited to this meeting, but only one showed up, Brett Glass, CEO of Lariat.net out of Laramie WY. BitTorrent and other P2P file sharing operations work by spreading the files amongst the users as opposed to a central server farm where the data is stored on central servers, e.g., YouTube, Picassa, etc. These operations pay for the connection to the internet. This is where the problem comes up. P2P users do not pay their ISP for service as a server farm. An individual may sign up for a 6Mbit/sec service, but that rate is not guaranteed at all times or an average rate that is close to this 6Mbit rate. Comcast got into trouble because they were sending out IP Resets for specific applications ( an IP Reset will stop a file operation). Their service agreement never mentioned this. It seemed there was a concensus that ISPs should not differentiate amongst the internet applications the user uses. Also resets are not a standard protocol for controlling internet messages and should not be used. The ISP should just slow down the data pipe when the network is too busy to handle the required tasks. This is the so-called Network Neutrality issue. What needs to happen is that the FCC needs to make sure the ISPs keep from locking out certain applications they find with high traffic. It seems that P2P users also need to pay more money for their monthly internet service. The entire meeting can be viewed or listened at http://www.fcc.gov/realaudio/agendameetings.html and then click on the April 17, 2008 item of your choice. Check it out.

DTV is Coming

The United States federal government is going to shut off your television viewing after February 17, 2009 if you have an analog television and receive the signal over the air with an antenna ( rabbit ears or roof style). That's the date that the federal government has mandated that all high power TV stations must turn off their analog signal and broadcast only DTV (Digital Television). And if you have an analog TV (unless your TV was purchased in the last couple years, it is analog) and don't have cable or satellite reception you will need a DTV converter box. The converter box converts the DTV signal to an analog signal so that your old TV can display the picture and sound. The government has set up a coupon program to help defray the cost of the DTV converter box. Your household can receive 2 coupons worth $40 each towards the purchase of 2 DTV converter boxes and all you need to do is go to https://www.dtv2009.gov/ or call 1-888-388-2009. The DTV2009 web site is full of information with answers to all your questions regarding DTV and the coupon program. Another useful web site is DTV. This is an FCC site with lots of information for consumers, an outreach toolkit, publications on DTV, and the rules and regulations regarding DTV.
The FCC and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) are both very concerned that many people in the United States will not be ready for the transition to DTV on Feb. 17, 2009. People are going to be very angry when their TV does not work on February 18, 2009. But that's what will happen unless a DTV converter is installed to receive over the air signals. Anybody with cable or satellite service do not need to do anything, they are all set. The FCC held a workshop on April 1, 2008 where their concerns on the public readiness was raised, you can view the workshop at DTV Television Consumer Education Workshop Focusing on Low Income Consumers and click on the April 1, 2008 item. The workshop is excellent with many ideas for out-reach solutions. Check it out. Please add a comment or send an e-mail with your concerns and questions.

Fingerling Potatoes are Here

A couple weeks ago as I was strolling through the produce area at my local Costco looking for blueberries I saw out of the corner of my eye, bags of fingerling potatoes. I just found my blueberries and left. However after thinking about what my eye had seen, I went back and picked up a bag of MountainKing fingerling potatoes and what a find. The price was $4.99 for a 5 pound bag. So far we have roasted the cute guys using 2 of the recipes on the Mountain King web site. But don't necessarily follow the recipes as shown there. We made Rosemary Fingerling Potatoes and Honey-Dijon Roasted Fingerlings. Below is our modified Honey-Dijon Fingerling Potatoes recipe. The main difference is to salt and pepper to taste and double the mustard amount. The original recipe called for way too much salt. The potatoes are very tasty and have creamy nutty texture and very different from using russet potatoes.

Honey-Dijon Roasted Fingerlings (serves 2)
Ingredients:

• 1 pound MountainKing Assorted Fingerling Potatoes



• 2 TBS Olive oil



• 2 TBS Dijon mustard



• 1 TBS honey



• 1 TBS chives, fresh, chopped



• salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 425ºF. Wash fingerling potatoes in cool water, pat dry, and set aside.



• In a large mixing bowl toss together olive oil, salt, pepper, mustard, and honey. Add fingerlings to mixture and coat each potato well. Transfer fingerlings to a 13 x 9 baking dish.



• Place in center of oven and bake fingerling potatoes uncovered 25 to 30 minutes or until easily pierced with a fork.



• Garnish with chopped chives and serve immediately.

Check out the other recipes we welcome comments.

Ordered Your TV Converter Box Coupons Yet?

We received our 2 coupons last week. For those people that still get their TV signal from an antenna (Over the Air) and still have the old style analog TVs such as us, will need a converter box to convert the digital signal to an analog one after Feb. 17, 2009. The federal government has a web site where you can order 2 coupons that are worth $40 each to offset the cost of the converter that you will need to purchase. We ordered ours on January 2, 2008 and received them on March 14th. I went and purchased the Zenith DTT900, the price was $59.95 and so with the coupon the real cost was only $19.95. I hooked up the box to the TV was quite impressed with performance. Some of our TV channels display multipath interference, but with the converter all that distortion is gone. Also there is no 60 cycle interference from power lines. That interference shows up as 2 bars with white spots across the screen. Another advantage of watching digital TV is that more channels are available. With the old analog television, each station had one channel to broadcast on and that was it. But now with digital television, there is the capability to broadcast more channels in the same frequency space. Some PBS stations broadcast up to 5 channels. Commercial stations seem to have a channel just for weather reports besides the normal channel material. I'm sure the stations are doing experimenting just to figure out how to use this new capability. But remember, if you get your TV from cable or satellite or already have a digital TV you don't need to do anything. If you have any questions, just leave a comment.

Michael Clayton

We just finished watching the movie Michael Clayton on DVD. Oh what a thriller it is. Michael Clayton is an attorney working for a law firm, but he hasn't really moved up ladder very much. He is not a trial attorney, but his specialty is cleaning up for clients after they get in trouble. He call himself a janitor. I don't want to say any more, but this a real thriller and never a dull moment. This is the best movie we have seen so far this year. One of the nice features of watching a movie on a DVD is the Extra Features that come with disk. So be sure to click on the Extra Features and turn on the Commentary to hear the director discuss how the movie was made and hear about what the director was thinking for putting the various scenes together. George Clooney plays Michael Clayton and supporting actress Tilda Swinton won an Oscar for her performance. The movie was written and directed by Tony Gilroy.

Blueberry Rhubarb Crisp

Spring is almost here and fresh rhubarb has been available for the last few weeks and with blueberries from Chile, this is the perfect time to combine the 2. Yesterday we put together a recipe for Blueberry Rhubarb Crisp. It is sooo good and better than any strawberry rhubarb combination.
1. Combine the filling in a large bowl.
3 cups chopped (3/8 -1/2in. long) rhubarb
1 1/2 cups washed fresh blueberries
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp mace
1/8 tsp salt
1/4 cup water
Mix well and set aside.

2. Combine the topping in a large bowl.
1 cup flour
1/2 cup rolled oats
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup melted butter
dash of salt
Mix well and set aside.

3. Pour the filling into a 8x8x2 inch dish. Now add the topping and make sure that all the filling is covered by the topping.

4. Place the dish in a pre-heated 350ºF oven and bake for 35 to 40 minutes. You should see the fruit bubbling.

Good eating.