davepolaschek

I have a MicroLux Drum Sander which is a nice little tool for sanding things that are too small to go through the planer. The only problem I’ve had with it so far is that the height adjuster, for the table that wood goes through the sander on, is hard to adjust by hand.

So I had a thought the other day, and decided to make a knob for it. I started with a chunk of hard maple, and cut a 4 inch square by ⅜ inch thick piece. I found the center by drawing the two diagonals, then drew a circle on it. Where the circle crossed the diagonal, I used an inch and a half Forstner bit to take off the corners.

That done, I drilled a ½ inch hole through the center and chucked it up on the lathe. Used a parting tool to make it round, and then sanded a bit to clean up the rough edges. Then I popped a ⅜-16 bolt through that center hole, got it as centered as I could by hand, and drew lines to make a hexagon around the hole.

The nice thing about a 9/16 inch hexagon is that a ⅜ inch chisel is almost the exact length of a side of the hexagon. And the ⅜-16 bolt (and nut) have a 9/16 inch head. When I put my (inch) calipers on the bolt-head in the sander, it told me 35/64 inch, which is close enough that a 9/16 will work.

After a short bit of chopping with the chisel, the bolt fit through the hex hole I had cut.

Next I made the hole a hair larger on one side with a ⅝ inch spoon bit, going about an eighth deep, and cut a short bit (also about an eighth) off the end of a ⅝ inch brass bar I had on hand (which has a hole drilled in the end from when I was making nuts a while back) and put them together.

With that done, I gave it a test. Here it is on the adjuster bolt. You can see that the brass is slightly proud of the wood surface, so it will serve as a bearing. I meant to do that!

And with the table set down, it’s now super-easy to adjust the height of the table. I think the bolt is a M6-1 which means every rotation gives me 1 mm up or down. On hard maple, one eighth of a rotation was plenty to lift the table for every pass through the sander, but I’m not sure how much of a change that is where the sanding drum contacts the wood.

Tomorrow, I’ll pull my new knob out of the sander and epoxy the brass into the maple with as little epoxy as possible. I’ll probably give it a coat of oil too. But in about an hour, I had fashioned a new knob, and I’m much happier with my little drum sander now. Yay!

#woodworking #handyTools

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This was captured by Dave Mackmiller, who spent an afternoon at the Bayon learning how to make Cambodian curry chicken. Kim let him watch and take notes while her husband Boon told him where to find ingredients. He thought he got everything written down correctly, although there seemed to be plenty of leeway on the amounts of the ingredients.

In the ingredients list, a “spoon” is roughly a large table spoon (as opposed to a Tablespoon measure) and are generally heaping spoonfuls.

Curry Chicken Sauce (12-15 servings)

Ingredients

• 1 cup Kachai, chopped
• 1 cup lemon grass stems, chopped
• 1 head of garlic, peeled
• 1/3 cup lemon leaves, chopped
• 1 tbsp turmeric powder
• 3 spoons curry powder (Golden Bell brand)
• 3 spoons red hot pepper powder (optional)
• 1/3 cup oil
• 2 spoons salt
  
• 1 spoon fish sauce
• 4 spoon sugar
• 2 – 12 oz cans coconut milk
• 2 cans water

Directions

1. Place kachai, lemongrass, garlic, lemon leaves, and turmeric powder in blender or food processor, and add water to top of ingredients. Puree.
2. Place curry powder in small saucepan and roast over medium heat for about two minutes.
3. Cook red pepper powder in oil in a large heavy pot for two minutes, then add spices from blender and roasted curry powder. Simmer 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
4. Add salt, fish sauce, sugar, coconut milk, and water. Simmer for a few more minutes. At that point, the sauce is complete, and can be refrigerated for up to 3 days, or frozen for longer-term storage.

Making the curry chicken

Ingredients per serving

• ½ pound boneless skinless chicken thighs, broken up
• 1 medium carrot
• 2 medium potatoes, quartered
• [optional] ⅓ pound bamboo shoots, cubed

Directions

1. Deep fry (or stir-fry) each ingredient separately for about a minute.
2. Place cooked ingredients in saucepan. Add sauce almost to top and a little more coconut milk and water. Bring to a boil, then simmer for about ½ hour or until carrots and potatoes are tender.
3. Serve over rice.

Notes:

• If you increase the sugar, you can decrease the salt.
• The amount of fish sauce can be increased, to taste.
• Kachai or Krachai is a root that looks like a hand with 15-20 fingers, and may also be known as “fingerroot.”

#recipe

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This started with this Thai Green Mango Salad with Salty Tamarind Dressing recipe, but I’ve changed nearly everything about the recipe, so it’s time to write up my variant.

Total time: 20-30 minutes

Serves: 2

Salad Ingredients

• 3 kiwis, removed from skins and cut into 5-7mm coins. We’re pretty sure grilled cantaloupe will work, but haven’t actually tried it yet.
• ½ Granny Smith Apple, cut into thin wedges, which are then halved
• small cucumber, cut into coins
• 1 tsp amchoor
• ¼ kg shrimp, sautéed in garlic and chile, or a single kebab of chicken, or a couple skewers of barbecued pork, Vietnamese-style (aka Xa Xiu ), or a bit of grilled tofu
• 20g peanuts, roughly crushed

Dressing Ingredients

• 2 T tamarind paste
• 1 T fish sauce, or squid brand sauce
• 1 T lime juice
• 2 T sugar
• ½ tsp molasses
• 1 tsp chile (we use Chimayo chile here)
• 4 T peanut oil (olive oil will work, but…)
• 10g peanuts, crushed

Dressing Directions

• mix all the dressing ingredients in a bowl and whisk until mixed. It’ll separate, and it will separate faster if chilled, so leave it room temperature if you didn’t make it the night before.

Salad Directions

• grill kiwi slices, 5 minutes on one side, undisturbed. They should be brown on the bottom, just beginning to caramelize
• place kiwi slices on plate, browned side up
• if you need to sauté the shrimp, put a little oil and garlic into the pan to loosen the fond from the kiwis, and then cook the shrimp
• place apple slices on plate
• place shrimp on fruits
• drizzle salad with dressing
• sprinkle peanuts on top of salad

#recipe #salad #main

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Just a basic side-dish. The good part is that you can do most of the prep work ahead of time, and then toss them on the grill in order to have something besides meat to eat. They take a while to prepare, but most of that time is spent waiting for something to finish, so you can do plenty of other things at the same time. Also, you can make them hours ahead of time, and they will keep until you're ready to cook.

Ingredients

• 3 medium to large potatoes.
• 1 Cup vegetables (corn, peas, green beans, carrot or mix).
• One medium-size white onion, chopped.
• One bell pepper (green, red or yellow, any will work), chopped.
• One clove garlic, chopped finely.
• Olive oil.
• Salt and Pepper to season.
• ½ Cup shredded cheese (optional).

Directions

• Microwave potatoes for 10-15 minutes. You don't want to cook them completely, just enough that the skin has started to loosen.
• Put potatoes into cold water, and then into the fridge. Let them cool for at least a half-hour.
• If you try to cut up the spuds when they're too hot, they'll crumble. If you let them cool enough, they'll slice like butter.
• Cut potatoes into ¾ inch (2 cm) cubes or ⅜ inch (1 cm) thick slices.
• Set out a 9 x 15 inch piece of aluminum foil.
• Place potatoes in an even layer on the foil, leaving a couple inches all the way around.
• Add vegetable, onion, peppers, and garlic to potatoes.
• Drizzle a tablespoon or two of olive-oil over the lot.
• Add salt and pepper to season. You can also add herbs such as basil, parsley, etc.
• Place a second piece of aluminum foil over the top, and fold in the edges, sealing in all the bits. You should end up with a 6 x 10 inch (or slightly larger) packet.
• Place in the cooler or in the fridge until it's time to go to the ball-game.
• When you've got the grill going, place the sealed packet on the grill. If the grill is at the right temperature for doing hamburgers or bratwurst, they'll take about 10-20 minutes to cook.
• Flip them over a couple times as the rest of the meal is cooking. When they're done, just serve directly from the foil.
• If you want to get fancy, put about a half-cup of shredded cheese over the bits as soon as you pull them off the grill and let them sit for a minute or so for the cheese to melt over everything.

Serves four

Preparation time: 10-15 minutes of work, about an hour on the clock total

Cooking time: 10-20 minutes, depending on how hot the grill is

#recipe #side #grillFriendly

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Originally from April 2002

Ingredients

• 1 cup wild rice
• 4-6 fresh shiitake mushroom caps (you can use dried, but you'll have to add enough extra water to rehydrate them properly)
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 small onion, chopped finely (about golf-ball size)
• 2 beef boullion cube
• 3 cups water
• salt and pepper to season

Directions

• Wash uncooked wild rice thoroughly in hot water.
• Add to 3 cups boiling beef broth (I was lazy and made it with boullion cubes)
• Return to boil.
• Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 50-60 minutes until kernals puff open.
• Brush mushrooms clean with a pastry brush. Don't wash them if you can avoid it, as they'll soak up the water and get mushier.
• Slice mushrooms into thin slices.
• Sauté mushrooms, garlic and onions in small amount of olive oil.
• Fluff with fork and mix in mushrooms, garlic and onions.
• If you're going to reheat this on the grill, just place it into a foil bag, and refrigerate until you're ready to warm it on the grill.

Serves 2 or 3

Preparation / cooking time: 50 minutes

Reheat time on the grill: 15-20 minutes

#recipe #side

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Grilled rainbow trout are a real treat, and the light herbs enhance the flavors nicely. The only tricky part is flipping the fish without breaking it up. You want to flip them just once if possible.

Ingredients (per trout, 2 trout will feed 3 people)

• 1 cleaned rainbow trout (about ½ lb), with head on
• 6 mint leaves, chopped finely
• finely chopped parsley, same quantity as the mint
• a pinch of finely chopped sweet basil
• 1 tbsp butter
• juice from one small lemon
• salt and pepper to season

Directions

• Chop herbs and mix into butter and lemon juice.
• If you're using salted butter, no additional salt will be needed, otherwise add about ¼ tsp salt to the mix, plus pepper to taste.
• Gently rub skin with a small amount of butter and herbs.
• Fill fish's body cavity with remaining butter and herbs.
• Grill 5-7 minutes per side. When the eye that's down turns white, that side is done.

Preparation time: 5 minutes

Cooking time: 5-7 minutes per side

#recipe #mains

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A tasty side-dish that can be finished on a barbecue grill. You can prepare them well ahead of time without too much worry. Because everything in the stuffing is pre-cooked, you just need to warm that up and cook the pepper on the outside, so they're quick and easy to bake or grill. Originally from August 2001.

Ingredients

• 2 green bell peppers
• 2 small potatoes
• ¾ Cup corn
• 1 golf-ball sized onion
• 4 strips bacon
• ½ Cup mozarella cheese
• salt and pepper to season

Directions

• Wash potatoes and microwave them on high for 4-6 minutes, until cooked.
• Meanwhile chop bacon and onion and fry together until onions have gone translucent.
• Boil corn in water until tender.
• Cut top out of peppers and remove seeds and white innards.
• Mash potatoes with bacon and onions.
• Mix corn with potatoes.
• Use mix to stuff peppers nearly full.
• Top peppers with cheese.
• For bbq cooking, wrap peppers in aluminum foil, for oven cooking, just place them in a baking pan.
• You can test the peppers for doneness by gently pushing against the side of the pepper. It will still feel firm until cooked, at which point it will feel much softer.

Serves: 2 or 3

Preparation Time: 15 minutes

Cooking Time: 15-20 minutes on the grill, 10 minutes in an oven (350F-ish, but use whatever temperature your main dish needs)

#recipe #side

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Stolen from Todd without permission, because he let fibblesnork.com lapse, and the recipe needs to be preserved.

Ingredients

• 1 (one) 32-oz. jar Claussen® half-spears (For top quality, use only Claussen pickles, found in the refrigerator section. Do not use any other brand unless they are uncooked and refrigerated. Cooked pickles are limp and soggy. Uncooked pickles (like Claussen) are firm and crunchy. If you know of any other uncooked refrigerated brands, I'd like to hear about them.)
• 2-3 Habenero peppers, sliced
• 4-5 Serrano peppers, sliced
• 2-3 Jalapeño peppers, sliced
• 24 cloves garlic, pressed or finely chopped (That's not 2-4, as in 2-to-4, that's twenty-four cloves — a whole head of garlic.)
• 1 tbsp. crushed red pepper flakes

Directions

First Day

1. Drain and discard 1 oz. picklewater from jar.
2. Remove pickles from jar, cut into ¾″ slices, and return pickles to jar.
3. Add garlic and peppers to jar.
4. Cover jar (close lid tightly) and shake vigorously for 2 minutes.
5. Refrigerate.
6. Scrub hands thoroughly.

Subsequent Days

1. Shake for 5 seconds every 24 hours.
2. Taste becomes fuller with each passing day.

#recipe #sides

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This is a sauce I made up to put onto pork chops, to avoid the same-old same-old syndrome. It's not quite perfect, but I'm relatively pleased. It's based loosely on a recipe from “Cooking With Fruit” that I originally found on the About.com cooking site (but which redirects to a fish recipe on TheSpruceEats now – this is why I keep copies of my own versions of recipes). Originally from July 2002.

Ingredients

• about a cup chopped rhubarb (½ – ¾ lb)
• ¼ Cup water
• 2 tsp ground ginger
• ⅓ Cup apple cider vinegar
• 2 cups water
• 1 cup finely chopped sweet onion
• 1 green bell pepper, chopped finely
• 1 tsp ground cayenne pepper
• 2 tsp fish sauce
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 4 oz. crushed pineapple

Directions

• Put rhubarb, ¼ cup water, and ginger in a small saucepan, heat and simmer for 5 minutes
• Set rhubarb aside
• Bring 2 cups water and ⅓ cup vinegar to a boil in a saucepan
• Add chopped onion and green pepper
• Boil onion and green pepper for 2-3 minutes
• Drain onion and green pepper, then add them to the rhubarb, mixing well At this point, I started doing things to taste, trying to achive a reasonable balance of hot, sweet, sour and salty
• Add cayenne (hot) to taste
• Add fish sauce, and soy sauce (salty) to taste
• Add lemon juice (sour) to taste
• Add pineapple (sweet & sour) to taste

Preparation time: ½ hour

Smear this on pork chops you're going to barbecue or fry. You could also bake them in a casserole dish bathed in the sauce. When you're adding things to taste, you should try and remember that you're trying to get the four main flavors roughly in balance, so none of them predominates. Start by adding about half of each of the cayenne, fish & soy sauces, lemon and pineapple, and then adjust accordingly. Even with all the other stuff in this sauce, you can still tell there's rhubarb underneath it. You could also use strawberries, raspberries, or a number of other fruits, too. Heck, use whatever's in season.

#recipe #sauce

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To be honest, I’m not sure if this is more Greek or what — the recipe is based on something I whipped together while sniffing the spice mix and trying to decide what else to add. Originally from January 2006.

Ingredients

• One broiler/fryer chicken, butterflied.
• Four cloves garlic.
• One tablespoon fennel seed.
• ½ tablespoon cumin seed.
• One to two tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil.
• One teaspoon kosher salt.
• One teaspoon black peppercorns.

Directions

• Grind the spices together in a mortar and pestle or coffee grinder (but not one you use for coffee).
• Add enough olive-oil to the spices that you have a paste that will stick together.
• Butterfly the chicken.
• Loosen the skin of the chicken, starting from the tail end.
• Push the spice-rub under the skin of the chicken, working it into the thighs and legs with a finger or two. You should get about ¾ of the spice under the skin. The remainder gets rubbed on the inside of the bird.
• Grill the chicken, skin side down for twelve to fifteen minutes — you don’t want to burn the skin, but you want it pretty crisp with good color.
• Carefully flip the chiken, and grill it for about fifteen minutes, skin up, until done.
• Let the chicken rest for five to ten minutes before cutting and serving.

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 30 minutes

Feeds four

The way I test for doneness is to check the joint between the leg and thigh. If that joint “falls apart”, you’ve overcooked the chicken a little bit. Also, since you’ve removed the spine, the leg and thigh may fall away from the rest of the chicken as you remove it from the grill. That’s okay, and it saves you some cutting, too.

The salt and pepper proportions in the recipe are what I start with. I find that many people like their chicken a little saltier, but you definitely don’t want to overdo it. You can always add a little more salt later, but it’s impossible to take it out after the fact.

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