Month: January 2009

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Cal Poly to marry 10 year old girls to older men! you won’t see this on Google, but maybe Yahoo!

Hello again!

Once again the ‘clowns’ at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo are at it again!

Oh, I was just kidding with the title of this blog. I really don’t believe that Cal Poly is supporting a recent position of a Saudi Grand mufti supporting 10 year old girls as eligible for marriage because it wouldn’t be FAIR to the girls not to let them! … but then again, stranger things are happening at Cal Poly! Read Here ( btw, you won’t likely find this article in American papers or on Google… I couldn’t)

Actually, Cal Poly Mufti Warren Baker has decided — we hear — that they will be  going forward with their highly controversial deal with Saudi Arabia in spite of objections from every quarter of the community… except those who support ten year old girls marrying old codgers. Here’s part of an email that we somehow got  that explains a few things:

“we received a new version of the contract that had been reworked to fit a standard format that the Royal Commission uses for procurement contracts. Xenia and others have been working on it to ensure that the content is unchanged (or acceptable) and that contractual and financial terms and conditions are acceptable (some of these changed).”

Well…  we also heard — and it is unbelievable how much we do hear — that Cal Poly will have to ‘front’ the project until acceptable results are achieved!

So, here are a few things you are unlikely to find on Google:

Cal Poly Graduation: Be ‘coul’ dude

Who’s really embarrassing Cal Poly?

Cal Poly & Saudi Arabia: Send in the clowns!

Behind the Cal Poly & Saudi Arabian Green Door

ssshhh… Saudi Arabia is watching you!

Cal Poly degrees for Sale?

I am told this is Warren Baker... but I Cant tell... he looks so young here.
I am told this is Warren Baker... but I Can't tell... he looks so young here.

Roger Freberg

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two apple trees are better than one

our second apple tree
our second apple tree

Interestingly enough, I usually normally never buy trees from those mega retailers… I tend to haunt nurseries… but this one from Home depot looked fun. On the internet they don’t say many kind things about these combination trees … but each tree is a bit of history if you take the time to study them.

My tree has five varieties grafted to it: Beverly Hills, Anna, Einshimer, Fuji and Dorsett Golden Delicious. The Greenish -yellow with an orange red flush Beverly Hills apple is slightly tart that — I suspect — is probably great for apple pies; the Anna apple was developed in Israel and is yellow with a slight red blush; the Einshimer is related to the Anna; the Fuji came from Japan and is wonderful; and finally the Dorsett Golden was developed from the Golden Delicious strain in the Bahamas in 1964 and is an all purpose apple that is crisp and sweet.. So doesn’t this combination sound worthy for any garden?

The main challenge for these varieties from my readings is that most of them need a good cold snap which is no problem here in San Luis Obispo as I also grow Concord Grapes which according to the ‘experts’ cannot grow here!

Laura has already offered to give me the new tree while she keeps our existing tree for her recipes! Ha!

Roger Freberg

Here’s a nice link on everything about Apple Trees

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Mise en bouteille au Château

Bringing you all up to speed, last fall before my daughter Kristin was deployed to Iraq, the two of us decided on something that would take about a year to develop and we could enjoy on her return. We decided to make wine.

The idea came to me after thinking about my grandfather who — with his buddies during WWI — bought a rather expensive bottle of wine that would be consumed and toasted by the ‘last man’ left standing. Well, as it happened my grandfather enjoyed the wine late in his life and reflecting on how much the world had changed since they all made this little wager. As a homage to Pops, I thought it might be fun to make some wine!

So, armed with nothing but raw materials and books, Kristin and I set forth on this fun journey. Obviously, there was much to do after she left… but it has been a fun seeing what the real ‘pirates’ of wine making are up to!  30 plus years ago, I was first involved in wines through a national organization called “Knights of the Vine”… a fun group whose sole purpose was to educate, promote and enjoy wines in America. However, in talking more to winemakers and after a lot of reading… my eyes were re-opened to the wonders of this experience.

After wrestling with a bunch of ideas, I labeled our ‘product’ today and I believe it may just earn my coveted 12 stars designation ( one for each month of aging!) when it’s finished ‘aging.’ I used the colors of Kristin’s Alma mater “West Point” capped with an engineering symbol.

Thinking of you Kristin.

Dad

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friggin cold enough? bake some bread pudding to warm you up!

cold, tired & down? a nice serving of warm breading pudding with a rum sauce is just what the doctor ordered!
cold, tired & down? a nice serving of warm breading pudding with a rum sauce is just what the doctor ordered!

To all my friends who are suffering in today’s cold weather, I wish they would bake a ‘nice bread pudding’ to perk themselves right up. To me, it is a little bit of sunshine in a casserole pan!

Here’s the recipe again!

Having lived a time or two in cold and very cold weather, I saved a few recipes from those days that would always hit the spot… and whether or not is was a soup or a ‘buckle’ it always something bread-like about it or with it.

So, fire up the internal furnaces… things will look better again.

Roger Freberg

PS. the side byproduct of this recipe is a nice cordial

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updating the kitchen

a great knife for any chef
a great knife for any chef

I tend to think that kitchens need to be designed to be functional rather than purely aesthetic. Appliances need to address specific wants and needs and no more. With three freezers having one more in the kitchen is ridiculous and wastes energy. I particularly liked the fact that  this refrigerator boasts an annual energy cost of 48 dollars a year… yes, a year! Frozen food needs — for lower cost and energy conservation reasons — should be placed into a ‘coffin’ style freezer.

Anyway, I love fun equipment and when it comes to knives…  Global knives ... I have so many!

a Global knife - the true knife
a Global knife - the 'true' knife

I guess this is just another example of boys and their toys!

a busy week.

Roger Freberg