Thursday, November 03, 2011

Classical Music

If you like the music classics, there is frequently a super deal on Amazon for MP3 music -- free of DRM, digital rights management. My last purchase was The 99 Most Essential Mozart Masterpieces which came out at 99 cents [since raised to a still reasonable price]. An added benefit is that Amazon offers to store your purchases and some other music you upload for free. This also allows you to play it on a variety of different devices with access to the internet. I listened to this new album on today's bike ride with my Android phone. Very cool. If you need to add to your digital music collection this is a very attractive alternative to iTunes.


Wednesday, November 02, 2011

A New Stroganoff Horizon

Lynne has been making an excellent hamburger Stroganoff since the days of  being an impoverished student. She can just about whip it up blindfolded. Today, remembering my mother's success in moving up the Stroganoff ladder, I suggested we try an upscale version.

Google's first match was "Beef Stroganoff III" on AllRecipes.com. The ratings were extremely positive, and suggested almost no revisions. This version is notable in that it calls for chuck roast rather than sirloin, and this would generate quite a cost savings compared to moving higher up the beef periodic table.  This sounded like all we wanted for this step up, so we got the shopping list together and put the plan into motion. We followed the script to the letter substituting only canola oil for the stick of butter for health reasons. Next time we will probably add a clove or two of garlic. We had a little left-over brown rice that we warmed in the serving bowl in the microwave. Served with a salad, this was an outstanding meal, and a very pleasant variation from our usual. Clean-up was simple too, in that we had only the one pot that the hamburger version would have required. Highly recommended.