Just as with Brexit, ‘pounding the pound’ is a technique…😂😂😢.
Attempted the usual techniques described in converting a coin to a ring, and discovered that the Mexican peso and the British pound share some similarities with their 2 colored coins!
So, oddly enough, the SD Central library has ended up being a great resource for us as we settled in… The building itself is pretty remarkable, with a huge dome, multiple different levels, lovely architectural details and spaces that accommodate different needs.
As in other places we lived, I signed up to borrow some books (they had an a Jasper Fforde book I hadn’t read, and a few others I wanted to read)… Pretty quickly, beyond databases for researching potential companies, the broad range of things to do was super-interesting: audiobooks, concerts, art shows / exhibitions, presentations etc… so we jumped right in…
One of the resources I came across was just amazing – an Innovation Lab with multiple 3D printers, milling machines, laser cutters and VR googles…! I ended up meeting with the staff, who were very helpful and the lady who oversees similar labs in the library system.
Ever since I saw the IKEA DIY garden and its open-source plans from Space10.com in 2017, I wanted to build it… Unfortunately, back then, it was hard / expensive to find a laser cutting shop that would do what i wanted… So, here was a small laser cutter…. Why don’t i just ‘scale down’ the plans? Great idea! Using Inkscape software, I resized the 12′ globe made of 4×8 plywood sheets into a 12″ globe to be made out of 1/8″ plywood. A quick trip to Home Depot to get a plywood sheet cut up, and we were ready for action!
The library folks helped me get connected to the laser cutter, adjust the parameters for cutting and reconfigured the cutter to accept the plywood sheet feed in from the front. The (very pleasant!) smell of burning wood, somewhat similar to burning books, attracted the attention of library security but, once they knew what we were up to, they were great. With the closed loop fan system on full, I figured out how to get all the 200+ pieces cut, and ferried them back to the apartment to assemble the globe…
Lot of fun – the project was super interesting and I finally got to learn how to use a laser cutter AND build something I’ve wanted to for ages…
So, D remembered that this was the short time window of the year when Seville oranges were potentially available. I had wanted to make marmalade for years, but either remembered at the wrong time or could not find places that sold the oranges
So I scoured the Internet to find out where I could find Seville oranges, checking old blogs and comments and articles, and eventually found people pointing to a company called Specialty produce near the airport. We went there and found an amazing warehouse with lots of electronics and screens and amazing selection of vegetables cheese is spices and fruits. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like it, including a vegetable museum. Had to sign a waiver to go in, And they also do tours. So I bought 10 Seville oranges and a couple of Meyer lemons
I decided to make the first batch with four oranges, Half a lemon from a local tree, and half of Meyer lemon cut into small triangles. Cut and used all the oranges, which were suitably sour, added juice of lemons. Cut the rind into little strips. All the pit and seeds were wrapped in a Muslin cloth that boiled away with the juice and 2 cups of water. After the rinds became soft ~25mins, let it cool until the muslin could be handled, then wring it and scrape off the pectin that seeps out. Decant into a container to see how much fluid there is, and measure about 7/8 volume of sugar
Boil away with the sugar and juice until it starts thickening up and begins to change color. Per the directions, I picked the set point when the drips on a plate formed ‘wrinkles’ when pushed gently… Then let it cool and spoon into jars! Truly delicious!!
In September, we also signed up for the Introductory Ceramics Class at the SDCE Educational Cultural Complex (ECC) near National City, led by the very capable Pamela Kosminska for the past 25 years…
There were lots of older students who had been attending the class for years, and lots of great pottery going on… The class itself was a bit unstructured, and our ‘Wednesday PM’ or WPM group ended up missing some of the formal lessons due to illnesses, closures and other mishaps…
I typically used the class ‘recycled’ clay, and focused on the wheel and throwing… Progress has been slow, and I’m glad I had the classes in NY back in 2016/7… Lots of failed attempts, and at least one instance where the clay I used was not ‘Cone 10’ and all my pieces ended up melting in the kiln – fortunately not damaging others work…
The class allows / encourages donations of work to the ECC, which is eventually sold in November and funds raised for ongoing activity… I was happy to donate and give away most of my pieces, and helped with the sale (boxing / moving / setting up) as well as kiln loading / unloading / cleaning and some teaching…
Check out the pics here:
In September 2019 we signed up for ‘Advanced Bakeshop’ class with SD Continuing Education… Not really sure what to expect, but hoping we’d learn some baking theory and good technique… The class was packed, and I suggested D sit at the table with the more ‘experienced’ looking students…( who already had their gear, and clothing)… and we were split into 6 groups, so our team-mates for the next 16 weeks were to be: Adi, Jesus, Rachelle and Walter, with one other person dropping out. Adriana was the teacher, and once we got used to understanding her, and figuring out when to call her in for questions, it was reasonably straightforward.
The course was fun, with plenty of cake making, and probably more cake decorating and less ‘explanation’ of theory than I wanted, but it was interesting to see the range of creativity across the class as we learned how to make icing, pipe flowers and patterns, mix colors, make ganaches, buttercream, halloween cakes, dias de la muerta cakes, fruit cakes etc etc
Our team was a nice group, with Jesus as the lead joker – in addition to the creaming and folding methods, we pioneered the “Oops” method where we added the right stuff at the wrong time, or left stuff out, or dropped stuff etc… All fun… Walter was the creative expert, and Rachelle the perfectionist…
Check out the pictures: