Small helper scripts

"laorbtf" (Launch or Bring to Front)


#!/bin/sh

if [ "$(pgrep $1)" == "" ]; then
        exec $1 &
else
        wmctrl -a $2
fi


Needs wmctrl. First argument is command/process name, second argument is window class/name

"laifnr" Launch if Not Running


#!/bin/sh
if [" $(pgrep $1)" == "" ]; then
        exec $1 &
fi


First argument is name of the command/process name

Been a while since I've done one of these. Maybe I'll write down specifically what I did, but I'm still toying with it. The dough is store bought, and the sauce is made from canned tomato puree for those wondering.

Mushroom, Mozzarella, Parmesan on the top.

As of writing this, I have (mostly) finished moving these here forums onto a new server I recently acquired.

For the longest time, this, and pretty much everything else I did was running on an old single socket HP workstation board with a 6 core Westmere-EP Xeon (X5650). It was alright for the little I did with it, but I always felt cramped by the single system, since a reboot for some other project would mean taking /everything/ from IRC to game servers, to the website and db server down.

So, I ended up seeing an HP Proliant DL580 G7 for a good price, and bought it. Oh boy was that an experience. I may do a more in-depth forum post on it later, but I'll at least leave a picture here:



This was a crazy project, which includes 10GbE fiber, cutting and terminating my own CAT6, and even getting 240V outlets wired up. No fires, thankfully, and a lot of fun and I've learned a great deal. The site may go down a few more times while I test things, but should be fairly stable soon enough.

I found a couple racks of ribs at my local supermarket, two for the price of one, so despite being pre-rubbed and seasoned, they were only 7.20 a rack. As had been pointed out, they do have smoke flavor added, but that doesn't mean I can't smoke it myself too.

The smoker used is an electric smoker I got from my local Aldi for 80 bucks. For only 80 bucks, it's been reliable, and delivering of lots of tasty food.
The wood used is willow wood I cut into strips myself. This came from a branch we cut down from a tree in our back yard, of which I saved a few pieces for smoking. As a wood I'd compare it to be similar to maple wood, not particularly harsh, but it's still a very flavorful wood, beyond something like apple.

I did nothing to the ribs until they had cooked a while in the smoker, at which point I applied some hickory flavor Ray's no sugar added barbecue sauce. Everything just as simple as can be.

The sides, as seen in the last picture, are hash browns (frozen from a bag, done on a sheet pan in the oven) and box mac & cheese. The result is as good as it looks, the ribs even had a bit of bark on them. Total smoking time was around four hours, two at 175F, one at 200F, and one at 230F (roughly)

Lots of images, but otherwise nothing crazy. Quarter pounder patties with sharp cheddar slices, topped with bacon and mushrooms, catsup and dijon, served with a side of home fries.

Pasta dishes are always nice, especially when they're just lob things together and make something delicious.

This is penne with chopped fried bratwurst, baby bella mushrooms, condensed cream of mushroom soup, half&half, paprika, GOYA Adobo, onion powder, cayenne pepper, and Worcestershire sauce

As one of my stranger pursuits I've taken up whittling/woodcarving, just as something to do with bits of free time, calmly. Some people just do shavings for the heck of it, but I've been during purposeful carvings, and this is my first creation.

By no means is it any good, and there are more mistakes to count. I could take it further, but I'd rather keep it to contrast with what I do next, and so that I can put more time and effort into a second attempt at some point.

The carving is of a trapped object (a sort of rough cylinder here), in a cage.





For my absolute first time ever carving wood ever, this was a particularly complicated idea, but I'm happy that I was able to do it. There are tons of mistakes, and zero finishing time was spent on this, as while I always want to finish what I start, enough noobie marks were made that I'd rather move onto something else, having accomplished what I set out to do.

I did gain excellent knowledge as to how to control the knife, and what does and does not work for carving, and I'm sure given 1-3 more tries I could get something that looks pretty good. In total this took weeks to make, but I only gave it very occasional attention.

If you are interested in doing stuff like this, the best suggestion I can give right now is get good gloves. Mine are advertised as cut resistant, and out of liability I won't say which ones, but get something that's either very thick leather, or is known to not be easy to cut. If I hadn't worn gloves like that, there would be a time or two my fingers would have gotten it.

The knife I used was a Beaver Craft thing I got off Amazon, out of not knowing anything. There are worse knives, but likely they could be found with the plastic cutlery at Boston Market. It's soft steel (at least my swarmy file could nick it), and holds an edge like someone without hands holds a glass. Despite only cutting soft basswood, there are already small chips in the blade. It's also a sideways knife (not a chisel), meaning a lot of awkward cuts and angles are just not easy to do.

I've thought about making my own blades specifically for this, why not pick up one hobby while doing another, but I'd need to get some equipment for that.

Until then, this was a fun thing to do, and I hope I'll get more carvings. I have plenty of wood blanks, and can always get more.

A bit simpler item today, usually when there isn't a FOTD it's that I haven't eaten anything interesting that day, and recently I've been eating simpler stuff to lose weight.

An exception was made today, though, and this Maruchan soft Yakisoba, curry flavour, cooked in bacon grease (rendered from the fat solids, the tissue of which is also in the meal), with white mushrooms. Nothing too fancy, but quite delicious.

For today's lunch we got panfried chicken and mushrooms, seasoned with baconfat tissue (as opposed to rendered grease), Adobo seasoned salt, paprika, onion powder, and black pepper, mixed together with Vigo yellow saffron rice.

Same fries as before,  now with bratwurst. To be eaten with grainy mustard

These are oven toasted sandwiches, Italian bread with mayo, whole grain german mustard, ham, roast beef, corned beef, and butter ontop, along with some fresh baked homefries done with olive oil, seasoned salt (adobo), onion powder, black pepper, and paprika

Starting off with something simple for my first FOTD on these forums.

Three onion bagels with two eggs each, seasoned with pepper, paprika, onion powder, and GOYA Adobo seasoned salt, along with some nice maple ham

Home fries are eastern potatoes cubed, and seasoned with the same pepper, paprika, onion powder, Adobo, along with some Olive Oil. Baked at 415F for a bit under 30 minutes or so

I cook on occasion, and very seldom people ask me for recipes, so here are some of them. Here is the first one

Experimental Stir-fry No. 1

NOTE: This is an experimental recipe with no defined measurements or quantities. Gauge proportions to taste and  best guess. If you're looking for a fool-proof stir-fry recipe, I may not be the best person to ask. This is the first time I've ever attempted stir-fry. Keep in mind you can only fit so much in a wok, and your sauce will only have so much noodle capacity, so try to balance a healthy sauce to noodle ratio such that it's not a soup, but so you don't also have weak noodles.

If you want a more printable version, here is one: https://amperaa.net/cdn/recipes/ExperimentalStirFryNo1.pdf

Ingredients:
- Boneless, skinless chicken thighs
- White, or Baby Bella mushrooms
- Thai rice sticks (or any generic dry rice noodle).
- Bacon grease (or use your favourite lipid)
- Worcestershire Sauce
- Thai fish sauce
- Brown sugar
- Beef bouillon
Optional: (I used them, but if you don't have/like it, don't stress)
- Garlic powder
- Onion powder
- White pepper
Tool(s) needed
A wok, and a stove. Gas is nice.

Instructions:

1. Start by soaking your rice noodles in warm water. Mine requested it, you don't want to leave them in there too too long, such that they turn to mush, but they also should be nice and tender. Use your judgement as to when you should begin and end soaking.

2. Create a condensed beef stock from your bouillon, I did about 2 cubes to 1 & 1/3rd cup of water, but my cubes are small, yours may vary. In general you want it to be a thick broth, but not borderline gravy.

3. Chop your chicken and mushrooms into chunks. Size is up to you, I enjoy larger pieces, but you don't want too big to eat, or so small that they wither away.

4. Ensure you have the appropriate ingredients ready to add. You'll want your Worcestershire sauce and Thai fish sauce bottles ready for adding, as well as a teaspoon and small bowl of brown sugar. if you're adding the spices, have those at the ready too. YOU DO NOT NEED SALT.

5. Begin by placing your bacon grease in the bottom of a wok and turning on the heat. How much is up to you, but add all that you will need now, and keep in mind some of it will cook into your food. You want enough for flavour, but do not add too much, it'll make it unpleasant to eat later.

6. Once your grease has melted, add your chicken, and after a bit of time your mushrooms. Mushrooms can take a lot of heat, as the only way to fuck them up is to burn them, so don't do that. Add your spices in whichever order while frying everything.

7. Once your chicken is cooked and browned a bit, a long with your mushrooms, add your beef stock. Take care to lower the heat so your oil doesn't become Chernobyl #2 along with your house. Add your Worcestershire sauce and Thai fish sauce to taste. This isn't teaspoon quantities, so feel free to add however much you want, but take care, the Thai fish sauce is salty. Also add your brown sugar at this point.

8. Once everything has cooked up a bit, and things have mixed together, add your soaked rice noodles (obviously without the soaking water). Now comes the fun part.

9. Turn the heat to as high as it goes, and start stirring. You'll want to use a wooden spatula, or a plastic noodle fork, or your hands if you enjoy third degree burns. You want to boil off all the water, and fry the noodles a bit, but don't leave it be, otherwise you will burn things. It's done when the noodles are golden brown and your house is not on fire. If you're reading this in the charred remains of your back garden, you've gone too far.

10. Done. Depending on how much you made, you may be able to serve many, or serve few. If your wok is small, you might want to make some again. I'd give a picture, but I ate it before I could take one, so next attempt I will be sure to do so.

Scripts

#!/bin/bash

if [ "$(pgrep jackd)" == "" ]
then
jackd -r -d alsa -r 48000 &
sleep 5
qjackctl &
fi

#!/bin/bash

sleep 3

if [ "$(pgrep pulseaudio)" == "" ]
then
pulseaudio &
sleep 2
pactl load-module module-jack-sink channels=2
sleep 1
pactl load-module module-jack-source channels=2
fi