Scott Elkin

This recipe is taken from the article, Perfection? Hint: It’s Warm and Has a Secret :

Chocolate Chip Cookies Adapted from Jacques Torres

Time: 45 minutes (for 1 6-cookie batch), plus at least 24 hours’ chilling

Ingredients

2 cups minus 2 tablespoons
(8 1/2 ounces) cake flour
1 2/3 cups (8 1/2 ounces) bread flour
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt
2 1/2 sticks (1 1/4 cups) unsalted butter
1 1/4 cups (10 ounces) light brown sugar
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (8 ounces) granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons natural vanilla extract
1 1/4 pounds bittersweet chocolate disks or fèves, at least 60 percent cacao content
Sea salt.

I have had to run through this question and answer list with several friends recently.  Answering these questions will determine which pass you should buy.

2009 Disneyland Annual Pass Options

• Premium (365 days) – $389
• Deluxe (315 days) – $269
• So Cal (215 days) -$174
• So Cal Select (170 days) – $134

Refer to the Combined Disneyland Blockout Calendar I wrote about prior for the large version.

Questionnaire

1. Do you want/need to go on the weekends?

If yes, So Cal Select is out since that is only for weekdays.

2. Do you want/need to go on Saturdays?

Here are all the blackout dates for all Annual Passes on one calendar.

The blockout dates are additive – meaning, the Southern California blockouts are all the blue days PLUS all the yellow Deluxe days.  Therefore, the Southern California Select Annual Pass blockouts are all the orange, blue and yellow days.

(The Southern California Annual Passes are only available for people living in Southern California, hence the name.)

I called AT&T yesterday to add our old phone number to our account so that I can port it over to a new VOIP account I am about to setup.

They charged me $40 for the phone activation, and $7.50 a month as the bare-bones rate to have the phone line.  No matter what I said, they wouldn’t get rid of the activation.

Today I called to cancel it when I realized that the VOIP system I am going to try out, Magic Jack, doesn’t allow number portability yet.

I just bought replacements for the Arm & Hammer Baking Soda for the refridgerator and freezer and noticed a change on their box.

Where as the old box suggested to change every 3 months, now it tells us to switch every 30 days.

Since the boxes and ingredients haven’t changed, it would appear to be an attempt to scam consumers into buying more Arm & Hammer.

I don’t like to feel taken advantage of and will not be buying their brand any longer – even if it is a relatively cheap product.

Notice the red badge on each envelope and the blue lock in the image below? 

The red badge tells me that the person is who they say they are, and the blue lock tells me that the message is encrypted.

Not only is this functionally important, but it really makes their email stand out and appear important.

This is accomplished by the use of a Personal E-mail Certificate, and is pretty easy to make work once you know the basics.

I am in the middle of watching Ken Burns’ awesome Jazz DVD Set.  I never realized the importance of Louise Armstrong had in our music and culture:

Charlie Black, a freshman from University of Texas, happened to go see Louis Armstrong at a club in 1931.  He knew nothing of jazz and never heard of Louis Armstrong.

“He played mostly w/ his eyes closed.  Letting flow from that inner space of music things that had never existed.

He was the first genius I’d ever seen. It is impossible to underestimate the significance of a 16 year old southern boy seeing genius for the first time in a black person.

This chicken recipe consists of making a “compound butter” consisting of garlic, spices and butter and sticking it under the chicken skin while it cooks.

I have made this a half dozen times and each time people are completely blown away on how good it is.

The only problem I keep running into having to watch the video each time to figure out the recipe because for some reason, the I’m Cooked website is broken and won’t email it to me.

Here is the recipe followed by the video where I learned about it:

• 1/2 Stick Butter

Here is a great tip that could save you over $500 a year:  You no longer need to keep a home phone just for internet access.

Costs and Savings

Historically, DSL or “Digital Subscriber Line” worked over your home phone line, which forced us to have to pay for basic phone service in order to get DSL.

Not only is this no longer true, but you would be astounded how much money you could save by eliminating the phone cost.