Shoji Project: Are We Done Yet?

By now you're probably wondering, "What the hell happened to you? Did you die or something?". No I didn't die. Work and a faulty memory chip in my brain happened. But there is good news. I finally finished the shoji screen! Pictured below is the finished product. Note that this was a 5-panel screen but the very first panel is folded back due to a lack of space at the time this picture was taken.

To finish this project I purchased an 800 thread count bed sheet. The paper was very tempting but expensive. On the other hand, the bed sheet was available at walmart for 20 bucks. Also, I chose 800 thread count because it was denser and would look a lot better when a light was shining from behind the screen. After taking measurements it turned out a queen would do the trick. Just make sure that the edges are not seamed too far in as you'll be cutting off those parts and discarding them. You will want to subtract the seamed edge measurement from the total area the sheet will cover and make sure it will still get your shoji screen done with a single sheet.

Installing the cloth was easy. Spread the sheet in front of you in a landscape arrangement and mark out the inside of a frame width plus half an inch on the sheet. In my case the inside width was 14 inches plus a half inch. Why the half inch? We have to stretch into the 1/4 inch grooves we routed out earlier and also give our shims something to half on to. 1/4 x 2 = 1/2 inch, get it? Don't worry about the vertical measurement as the queen dimension that way gives us plenty of room to work with. Now start cutting and don't go crooked. Now hopefully you have some of that 1/4 inch square dowel stock left over from your latices. Make a bunch of 1 inch pieces to make the shims. Stand a frame on its side and lay an edge of your cut cloth along the 1/4 inch groove. Remember that you want the sheet to be touching the latices so you have to position the cloth correctly. Position a shim at about the middle of the frame and smack it in with some cloth under it. I used a hammer and a 4-inch piece of leftover dowel stock. It doesn't take that much force and should make a nice tight friction fit. Stretch out in a direction along the same edge and smack in some more shims until you have a whole side shimmed. Get those corners good. Now stand the frame on its opposite edge so the the cloth you tacked in falls across to the other side. Stretch and smack as before but this time you'll be stretching across your latices as well. Don't try to get it so tightly stretched so as the shims you already did would pop out. The 4-inch piece really helps out here as there's less of a chance your hammer will accidentally smack your latices. After you get the cloth nicely stretched and shimmed in you can do the top and bottom. I had some weird stretch patterns at this point and removed and re-shimmed the corners to a nice square stretch. It really makes you appreciate your friction fit shims. Yes I thought of staples but also remembered the holes they make if removal and adjustments are necessary.

Now stand up your first finished frame, take pride and feel satisfation of what you've finished, and repeat 4 more times(for a 5-framer). After you get all of them done just screw all the hinges back together and you now have your homemade SHOJI SCREEN.

Developments at the Ho Wagon

Ho Wagon? What happened to the other name that you used to use? Well as of today, out of respect and Ho's tried and true status, the former name will no longer be used and this place of mobile delights will now be referred to as the Ho Wagon. Also, according to Ho himself, out of 80 something truck inspections in Fremont for this year, he as the only one who passed. Proudly displayed for all his customers to see is city of Fremont's health department approval certificate.



OK, you know I've been trying and finally I managed to get my hands on the coveted chorizo burrito. Judged against the benchmark, Salsa Picante, Ho's handiwork so far is superior. See the earlier review below regarding the benchmark rating. Remember that's "so far". I can't give the full rating until I hit my consistency requirements but my hopes are high.




On another note, I've also had Ho's beef noodle soup twice. That means if I have it once more I can get a rating out. I still haven't decided what I want today or if I'm even going to have Ho Wagon today so just keep checking back. Expect it very soon though. Shout out to all the other foodies out there!

Roach Coach: Take Two

Alright, it's a week later and I bet you're wondering, "What happened to the chorizo burrito?". Well it turns out that Ho was out of stock of chorizo that day and I ended up getting Pho`. Well I should rather call it beef noodle soup. I don't consider it pho` if theres no choice for tripe and tendon. But anyway, the beef noodle soup was actually pretty good. But I'll get to more of that later. Today is all about the second attempt at a chorizo burrito. Update later.

Developments at the Roach Coach

Well people, it was inevitable. My ever growing laziness has gotten a firm foothold on me and I find myself taking more and more trips to the lunch time roach coach at my work parking lot. After trying a few different item, including cutom items, I find the food in the "not-bad" to "hmm.. suprisingly good" range. I can't rate anything yet because I haven't fulfilled the consistency requirement to anything but heres a taste:

For a rolling food court the dynamic duo that is Ho and Mei have literally a ton of different foods. Ho in particular is very cool and I have befriended him because of it. Mei, his wife, is always in the truck cooking up whatever people order and I haven't gotten a chance to talk to her at all. Ho has a fricken good memory and his policy is if he forgets your name you get a free meal. And he does that for every location he serves. On top of that he remembers your favorite sauce and how many containers you want of them.
At this point I've ordered multiple sandwich/burger items, chiken, even fish. Next up is the standard of all standards, the chorizo burrito. I wanted to get one this past friday but he was low on stock. We'll find out in a couple hours if he has replenished supplies. Though I'm sure I'll have no problem with the burrito seeing his good record so far. It's like the battle he never knew he was training for is about to begin. And what does that mean for you guys? Hopefully a brand spankin' new review this week!!! I'll try to update this with a picture come lunch time. Stay tuned!!!

Mike, I'd appreciate your ring in for the linguica sandwich you got a while back.

I'm Back!

Sorry for the long hiatus folks. I suddenly got really busy and haven't had time to update. Still, there isn't much new to report. Chillis getting taller, chillis making fruit, etc etc.

Here's one of my ripening anaheims.

Update

Here's an updated pcture of the whole bunch. That tall one in the back corner is the basil. This is the last picture I took of that before I found myself picking off leaves to eat with some vietnamese takeout food. It was gooooood... Anyway, a couple of the anaheims are now flowering. I've hand polnated them so they should be on thr way to pepper making. Meanwhile the spanish spice(pepper) is huge. I think it may actually touch the plant media in a couple days. Then I'll have to suspend t somehow so it doesn't get wet during flood cycles. And by the way, yeah, I know its crowded but I'm still looking for a larger space for me to construct a whole new rig.

Just Cuz

Spanish Spice about 24 hours later.

Update

The Spanish Spice is flowering and peppering everywhere. Here's a cool pic I took of a flower and a starting pepper.


Remember that pepper from a couple post back? Here it in now.

Crowding

Hmmmm... we have a problem again. With 11 plants at least 1ft tall and spreading out, and one set of sprouting Poblanos in the front, the plants are getting crowded. I'm thinking that the best method to resolve this issue is to build an identical frame and stack it on top of the existing one. Of course this new structure will stand on the floor and not the cabinet it is sitting on now. That would make a 6ft tall duplex box with 2 separate light sources. I may even get a large reservoir and have the whole thing stand on that. Or I can even figure out something with some snap together wire shelves I have. I'll update as I get more ideas.

Pepper Sightings

The Spanish Spice is growing at a good rate. Friday this particular pepper was still a flower. Now it's about an inch long. There are other peppers forming and more flower buds growing in.

The Habanero has flowers everywhere but no pepper formation yet. I've even pollinated the bloomed flowers manually to try and speed it along. But it's sort of hard with flowers so small and hanging upside down.

The Anaheims have a whole lot of buds but no flowers yet. I've added some calcium to my nutrient solution to help set flowers. I'll go get some magnesium in the next couple of days for even more flower set insurance.

The Poblanos are in the same boat as the Anaheims.

The Serranos seem to be the slowest to develop. There aren't even any buds yet. It's a little strange seeing that those were the first I planted. Otherwise they look healthy.

The sweet basil spurted out of nowhere. It's about as tall as the Spanish Spice now.

Falafel Etc.: Meat Shwarma Plate

Falafel Etc.

39200 Fremont Blvd

Fremont, CA 94538

(510) 795-7170
http://www.falafeletc1.com/

Alright so I realized I still had a picture of a dish sitting in my phone memory that haven't reviewed yet. Right now I'm sitting around in my folk's house for the weekend, bored as heck, so I've decided to take the opportunity to get the review out of the way.

On another note, I've been sick for the past couple weeks with a stomach thing so I haven't really been able to go check out more a lot of new places. Though there were a couple of note: East Bay Thai Food and World Market Sometingerother.... OK I can't remember the name of the second one but basically it's an asian buffet. And away we go.

Taste:

The shwarma here is pretty good. It's about all I order from the menu because everything else I see here is veggie. Yeah I like vegetable but for a meal I need some kind of meat. The meat is very lemony along with everything else on the plate. Also, that white sauce with green things floating around in it is very good here and I might mention unlimited with a visit to the sauce bar. The humus is pretty good though not the best I've had.

Authenticity:

Uh, yeah, very Mediterranean. I'm pretty sure that 95% of the things served here is authentic, and that's based on the 5% of experience that I've had wth this cuisine. Eh?

Consistency:

They are extremely consistent with the main dish and I haven't seen a skew yet, but the sides are a different story. I'll leave that to your imagination or maybe I just want to make you go yourself.

Cost to Serving:

Not bad... Not particularly good either though. I guess you have to take into account the labor and fresh ingredients. Well let's put it this way, If you've got 10 bucks for lunch and only plan on drinking water, try this place out.

Conclusion:

Even though it is very evident that the place used to be a mexican restaurant (you're all gonna be looking for t now), the atmosphere is nice and it's a nice quiet place to enjoy a meal. Sauce for all, even the hot chili paste.

____________________________________

Price Paid: ~10.50

Price I'd Pay: ~9

Cumulative Rating: 6.75

Take advantage of the lemons in that sauce bar and put a few wedges in that free water of yours.

Habanero News

It looks like the habanero was the first to flower. It kind of suprised me when I came home from work.

Upgraded Enclosure

I told you guys last time that I was going to upgrade my system because my Spanish Spice pepper plant was outgrowing the of one. Now, after minutes of planning, a short trip to OSH, and about 6 bucks later:

Here you can see my new box from the side with a mylar curtain pulled down so we can see inside.

This shot is from another angle looking in from the same side opening.

Here's the shot from the front with the main mylar curtain down. About 95% of the light from the lamp is reflected back into the box but we can still see though the curtain without light spilling out into the room. Isn't that cool?


Same angle as above with mylar half drawn up.


More side window.

Good Excuse for Another Upgrade

My Spanish Spice hybrid plant is getting taller than the walls of my grow... thingy. It's not really a closet or cabinet. I guess it's just pieces of wood with mylar arranged into a box. Anyway, when I closet the lid the top of the plant touches it. I need to do something to raise the top a few inches. I'll probably do something like a table with 4 legs that rest on the existing walls. The light will be mounted under the new table/lid thing. I probably won't use the reflector for the bulb anymore because it would actually limit the spread of light inside the box. We'll see.



Just another progress report: Habanero below has tons of buds. Woohoo!

Sprouts Coming Along

Here are a couple more poblano sprout pictures. They seem to be growing trouble free in the hydro system. Of course I still have to see if they damp off but I don't see it coming from the looks of things.

Sprout!

Poblanos!!! The first 4 seeds I started from the border bowl germinator are now starting to sprout. The picture directly below is one of the my mini pots with 2 poblanos just coming to the surface.


About 12 hours later here they are again. You can see the one that's about a centimeter high starting to unfurl its cotyledons(first pair of leaves).

The media being used for the grow pots is a mix of clay rocks, pea gravel, and play sand, in that order from bottom to top. The seeds were planted at the bottom of the sand layer. That gave maybe a half a centimeter for the seeds to grow through before they hit light. As noted before, these pots were sitting in my full strength hydro system the whole time from when they just had tap roots a few millimeters long.

Even More Germination... and More

I seriously have to order more border bowls from taco bell. When I came home from work today almost all the poblano seeds had tap roots sticking out. There were only 3 left. I decided to use the space left over from planting out the started seeds by popping in some jalapeno seeds I saved. Those seeds are fairly fresh but I hope I get something out of them.

Also the pumice planting media is working out really good! It holds water well without having a wet surface. From what I read on the net chili plants don't like "wet feet" and pumice does a really good job of draining off after absorbing its limit of water.

The anaheims are sitting in coconut coir pots that also help with good drainage but I ran across a problem today. Roots easily grow through the sides of those things and with them hanging out in the light it's just asking for a mold problem. So I just took some square plastic pots and set the coco pots directly in them. Easy fix.

Germination and More

Well another seed germinated in my patented Taco Bell border bowl germinator. I forgot to mention in the last post that these seeds are poblano peppers. What, another pepper? Yep, cause I like em. I also checked on the seeds I already planted and moved into my hydroponic system. The tap roots are about twice as long as they were yesterday and growing down into the media(that's a good sign of course). This also means that they're doing fine in the full strength nutrient solution, saving me from having to do more work. That solution, by the way, is at 15-85-55. Yeah that's what it says on the bottle. Seemed crazy to me too but it's been in the system for over 2 weeks now and everything looks good.

The peppers I have now are poblano, jalapeno, habanero, anaheim, and serrano. The habanero has a bunch of little buds on it and i can't wait to make an omelettte out of them.

And here are my anaheims sitting in the upgraded flood tray. I'm trying out a different media with these, pumice. So far so good.

Jack's Brewing Co.: The Knockout

Jack's Brewing Co.

39176 Argonaut Way

Fremont, CA 94538

(510) 796-2036

I've been going to Jack's for a little over a year now. I was surprised a place like this existed and in my own city no less. Before the guys at work took me here I always thought the place was some kind of expensive steak house. Well I was wrong on both counts although they do have good steak from what I hear. Not only is the sports bar atmosphere great, made evident by tables full of die hard sports fans, but it's also a microbrewery. Yeah, they make beer!!!! I love the penalty shot porter and I'd review just that if I could think of a system. Read my review and go there yourself. This place would kick Applebee's ass to the moon.

Taste:

The knockout is the best burger these guys have and is also my usual. Imagine a well seasoned medium burger patty with pastrami and red and green hot peppers on top, all in between 2 sesame seed buns. McDonald's can't come close. One of the key parts on determining taste is the fact that the waitresses never forget to ask you how you want your patty cooked. And these guys seem to have medium down to a science. It's a very good blend of spice, seasoning, and of course meat.

Authenticity:

Now you've seen my burger reviews before and usually I have trouble determining where they lie in authenticity. This is one of those exceptions that you'd take a bite out of and say, "That's a damn good slice of America!" No kidding. And it also helps being surrounded by flat screen TVs and giant beer stiles.

Consistency:

As much acclaim as I give this particulat burger, do notice a little trouble on the consistency. It's a really really really small thing really... really. It's the juiciness. Some days I can have a nice clean burger experience but other times it's all out juicefest. I can't comment on the consistency of the juice itself but it has never affected the taste. I just don't like having to look down at my shirt every bite to see if I stained it. Wow, I have to say I've never had such a spiel on burger juice.

Cost to Serving:

Very fair. There' not much more I can say about it really. You pay for the burger and get a free side of fries and as much sauce as you want. Hint: try the pepper sauce.

Conclusion:

My ultimate review of Jack's knockout is very good. It gets even better with the right microbrew beer. Meat, beer, sports... and yet this place still never manages to turn into a sausagefest, if you get my drift. The staff is like a small family although I don't think many of them are realated at all. Hell, one of the guys at work even invited them to their wedding and THEY CAME!!! And even brought 2 kegs of beer! Go to hooters and see how many of those girls would come to your wedding.

______________________________

Price Paid: ~8.95

Price I'd Pay: ~9.50

Cumulative Rating: 7.5 (but I'm tempted to go higher to avoid beatings at work)

If you thought that a free straw was good, how about a free straw and all you can slather sauce?!

Another Update

Here are 2 completely stained and clearcoated panels. No paper yet. I'll fill you in more as things come along.

Lots of Changes(continued)

I upgraded the flow tray to a 3 gallon transparent tupperware type container. It took me a while to find one that sat perfectly on top of the existing reservoir. Actually I found the same reservoir container at OSH and set different containers on the lid until I found one that was perfect. Sure I got some weird stares from the staff but its not like I cared. Anyway, I drilled straight through the bottom of the flood tray and lid of the reservoir and friction fit a 3/8 vinyl hose with about 3/4 of an inch sticking up from the bottom of the new tray.


You can see where I threaded the hose and attached a t-adapter with short hoses going into the grooves around the bottom of the tray. That groove was an extra bonus and helps completely siphon out the nutrient solution after the flood cycle. Cool points... That second thing sticking up is a second hole drilled and threaded as in the first hose to act as the overflow. It stands about 2 and a half inches allowing a flood to that height.



I sort of regretted placing the overflow so close to the t adapter as it was a bastard working in such close quarters. As you can see below, the flood test was a success!

Lots of Changes

Phew, a lot of changes and additions have happened since the last update. There's so much in fact that I have to separate everything into 2 posts.

This first post shows my Taco Bell Border Bowl germinator. Yes, a Border Bowl from Taco Bell. I used the paper towel germination method in which seeds are placed in between or on top of a folded moist paper towel. As you can see from the second and third picture, the seeds placed on top of the paper towel had a pretty good rate of germination. The third picture shows the seeds placed in between the folds. Out of all those seeds only the one to the bottom right started. All of these seeds have only been in germinator for about a day and a half. They've gone through about 14 hours of darkness and 22 hours of light. I'll give it up to 2 weeks to let the others start up.

After planting the 4 with tap roots I set them in the old ebb 'n' flow.

Shoji Project: Day 5, 6, 7.....??

Alright, as you can see I've finally laid down 2 coats of the sedona red on a panel. This one's ready for the clearcoat. Another panel is propped up in my living room drying its second stain coat. Let me tell you now. Laying stain on the lattices is a bastard. I put at least 3 or 4 coats on those damn things just to get the color to match the color on the redwood frame. I don't foresee using poplar wood in the future unless it is absolutely necessary. Also, I've renewed my hate for oil based stain. It just takes too long to dry and you don't get nearly the vivid color you get from water based. Even the brush cleaning is easier. And even though I'd need to sand one more time to flatten the grain, it's still less frustrating than waiting for the damn stain to dry. At least it gives me something to do. But anyway, the color is very decent and the above picture gives no justice to that. I just hope that the water based clear coat I put on later doesn't react with the oil based stain. I'm thinking that I may have to go water based spar urethane. Oh, and as far as the finish selection, it's most likely going to be satin even though I enjoy shiny things.

Erik's Delicafe: Chicken Pesto Sandwich

Erik's Delicafe

2551 San Ramon Valley Blv

San Ramon, CA 94583

(925) 743-0101

I've been to several of these restaurants all over the place, from Redwood City, to Fremont, to San Ramon. Everything is pretty much the same except for the serving sizes. I may or may not get into that later though. This place is usually packed at lunchtime, which is a very good sign. Almost everything has alfalfa sprouts. I used to hate it but I forgot to ask the clerks to not include it enough times that I got used to them. Here we go:

Taste:

The main flavor in the Chicken Pesto, interestingly enough, is not chicken. Even more so if you get the alfalfa. In which case the main flavor is alfalfa then the pesto. But even without the alfalfa the pesto flavor is very subtle and barely masking the taste of what I "call cold cut chicken juice". Sure that description makes it sound bad but I don't mean it that way. It's like biting into the kind of chicken they put on a chicken caesar salad. I think it would be great with some kind of whole breast and not little chunks of meat. All in all, I like it and it has earned it's way up to my usual at Erik's.

Authenticity:

Uh, an Italian/American hybrid sandwich is my best guess as to the origin of this cuisine. Do Italians use alfalfa? Let's just call it deli for simplicity. Although there's no definite origin that I can think of, this type of cuisine is so common that it has established itself as the originless "Deli". That's good enough for me and a special case for this rating. Yes, very "Deli".

Consistency:

Not counting the different size servings at different locations I think the consistency is spot on. It like they have a deli sandwich making machine back there. Though it is a little disturbing to me that I can't see my cold sandwich being made up front. I don't know, it's just one of my things I guess.

Cost to Serving:

Depending on the location you eat at this rating changes. For example, the Redwood City Erik's gives you a pretty big roll while the San Ramon Erik's, which is pictured above, looks way dinky. I'll just try to average out here. I usually get the combo like everyone else but this one's price seems to be masked by the combo items. Take a look at the individual sandwich prices some time. I have to take in account the chicken to sandwich ratio and exploded size due to alfalfa sprouts.

Conclusion:

If you're feeling extra snobby but want a decent bargain, come to Erik's and hang out with the rest of the seemingly wannabe rich people and businessmen. That atmosphere is as constant as old people at a Buttercup Kitchen, which I hate by the way.

___________________________________

Price Paid: ~7.50

Price I'd Pay: ~7

Cumulative Rating: 6.50

Look Ma, I looks like a business man!

___________________________________

Stain Selection

Well it looks like I didn't get a lot of support from the poll. Those who did vote ended up evening out. So I went to the store and bought a couple sample stains: Natural Cherry and Sedona Red.

Natural Cherry:


Sedona Red:

After a day of thinking I've decided to go with the Sedona Red. What pulled me that way was the similarity of the shade with my cherry finished futon frame. I've already started staining one frame and I'll get a pic of that up when I have one complete.

Thinning, Separating, Upgrading... Peating

The chili plants have blasted off and some of the pots were getting crowded so I picked up a plant tray at OSH and some of those little peat pellets that expand when you dunk them in water. The latter was because I realized that I didn't have enough net pots if I put each plant in its own pot. One of the basils wilted after I moved it but there's already new growth so I expect it to come back after a couple new leaves form. I also put aluminum foil all over the place to help reflect useful light. I wanted to buy some reflective duct tape but that stuff was unexpectedly expensive.

Shoji Project: Day 4

I woke up at 9 this morning and routed out the remaining frame pieces. After a putting the last 2 frames together and a having a blooper with one of them I'm taking a break. I don't even know if I'll do the lattice work today. I'm bushed after working a straight 5 hours and not getting enough sleep the prior night. Well, at least the Sharks held off elimination again on game 5... Uh, here's the 5 semi-finished frames together. In that picture the screen spans 6 and a half feet.

I don't have enough room in my apartment for me to take a full picture of the damn thing. And I tried every angle, believe me.

Just Something for You to Read

No new reviews today unfortunately. I ate at 2 new places this week which I've yet to build up a consistency rating for. The other 3 days I ate at places I've already rated. What was that Mexican place we at at with Joe and Noah, next to the porn shop, Mike? Bah... Hopefully I can rate Jack's Brewing Co. next week. I can't believe I forgot to put that on the list. Not just good burgers but good microbrew beer as well. Maybe Nations Giant Burger will get a review too. Also I foresee a rating coming up in a couple weeks for Falafels etc.. I like their little sauce bar where you can get as much chilli sauce as you want. But be careful or you'll be singing Ring of Fire the next day. Well it looks like have a meal plan for at least 3 days next week. See? This post was productive after all.

Dual Updates

I have 2 pieces of news to report today, as I watch game 5 of the SJ Sharks and Dallas Stars series. GO SHARKS! Anyway, I just noticed this morning that a few of my chili plants have gotten taller than my basil. The basil was the tallest just a day ago. I had to rearrange my pots so the now taller chilies don't block the shorter plants.

Also, I took a few of those pizza box supports, that you used to use as a kid to hold footballs, to raise the flood trays from the lid of the reservoir. I did this because I noticed that the solution could not completely drain with the surface tension clinging to the bottoms of the trays. Now the solution drains back into the reservoir completely. I always knew I could use those things for more than just helping my pizza and holding up footballs for punts.

System Upgrade

Well I switched out the reservoir with a roughneck bin. I used the existing flood trays and just rerouted the water pump line through the sides so they could be set on top. The solution drains though the bottom of the trays and through holes drilled into the lid of the reservoir. The main water line runs up through the lid and is split with a T-adapter. The system is runs quieter and less light gets though to the solution.

Shoji Project: Day 3

Well, not much of a day at all but it's coming along slowly. All I managed to get done today was the lattice work and pick up some more hinges at OSH. I estimate that I'll be able to get the other 2 panels complete with lattice work this coming weekend. Sure I have 3 panels already and some probably want me to paint, finish, and paper/fabric up the thing already but remember I'm going for cool points. 5 frames = bonus cool points. Plus I still haven't decided whether I wanted to use paper or white fabric for the backing and if I want to paint the thing black or stain it cherry. Well guess what? Yeah, I'm gonna poll it! First up this week is the color. Check the side panel for that.

Spinach Again

Since the temperature of the solution went up over 70 degrees there has again been noticeable growth, this time, with the spinach. The burst in growth, I think, was probably caused by a combination of the warm solution, a new clay growing media, and extra time to adapt to that media.

As you can see, I've thinned out most of the withering leaves. Hopefully the energy being sapped by the dying leaves is redirected towards more leaves.

Shoji Project: Still Day 2

Another update. I just finished another frame. I'll do the lattice work maybe tomorrow. I'm tired. BAH...