The World of Scott Mindeaux

Better iPhone Pics with Griffin’s Clarifi

Well despite the beginnings of a sore throat and chills, I was feeling a bit better in time for my 5:00 haircut with Lindsey over at the Crew Salon in the Lab in Costa Mesa. 

Apple had a Black Friday sale going on and there was a new iPhone case that caught my attention. It was on sale today for $7.00 off retail. It’s the new Griffin Clarifi. This sleek case is in black and has a removable bottom for docking. 

One of the biggest gripes I had about myiPhone was the inability to take good food shots for my food blog, FoodieInDisguise. All the photos I would take would be blurry because I was too close to the food. But what makes the Clarifi special is the slide lens that gives your iPhone camera a macro lens. You slide over the lens and you get crisper pictures for close-up shots.

With this lens, my pics are better and show more detail at a closer distance. Below are two examples of before and after shots.

These were taken in low light at a height of about 4 inches from the food. Retail of Griffin’s Clarifi is $34.00 available at all Apple Stores and where Griffin Products are sold.

Made Up With a Friend

I had a somewhat emotional Wednesday night, but suffice it to say….I made up with a friend tonight. A close friend and I didn’t see eye-to-eye on recent events and I took the wrong step of alienating him for a couple of weeks. I came to realize that my friendship with him had to go beyond the incident and I invited him over for dinner (I cooked) and we had a long talk tonight.

Glad he’s back…

Thanks Tim.

I’m in the OC Register Today!

I’m in the newspaper today! I won a cookbook and correctly answered last week’s Cook’s Quiz. Each week, Cathy Thomas, editor of the Food & Dining section of the OC Register asks a culinary related question. Last week’s question was to correctly identify the fork that is similar to this one:

Do you what it is? Here’s a cue it about 5″ long and on the original photo there is a fish engraved on the fork.

Give up? It’s a sardine fork! Cathy emailed me and told me I was last weeks winner and that I won a cookbook. I was so excited. I have been entering my answers into the Cook’s Quiz for almost a year now and I finally won!

The cookbook I won is the New England Clam Shack Cookbook featuring recipes from restaurants all over New England. The book will come in handy when I go and visit the NE hopefully in the Spring!

They didn’t mention my blog in the writeup, but they at least got my tagline in: Computer Geek by Day, Foodie by Night!

Top Chef 5.2

Here we go everyone! Week 2 of Season 5 of Top Chef. Last episode Patrick and Lauren were eliminated and we are down to 15 cheftestants. My old friend Carla is still in the running, as is Richard (he is sooo cute!)

Today’s Quickfire Challenge is to work with one of New York’s most favorite foods. So coming around the corner is a hot dog vendor and they have to compete against the hot dog vendor. They have 45 minutes to come up with a unique hotdog. Many made their own hot dogs from scratch, and some didn’t.

Our guest judge this week is renown restaurateur Donnatella Arpaia.

So here is the breakdown:

Fabio - Andouille Sausage with Goat Cheese, Roasted Bell Peppers & Sun Dried Tomatoes
Eugene - Maki Roll Hot Dog with Pita Bread, Boursin Cheese & Red Onions
Stefan - Italian Sausage on French Bread with Wisconsin Cheese & Irish Tartar Sauce
Hosea - Pork Hot Dog with Roasted Poblanos, Jalapeños, Smoked Bacon & Red Vinegar
Carla - Lamb & Pork Sausage with Sauerkraut & Caramelized Onions
Jamie - Pork & Beef Sausage with Bacon, Onions & Cayenne Pepper
Richard - (they didn’t show it - I wanted to see his hot dog)
Jill - Summer Roll Hot Dog cooked in Chili, Soy Sauce and Rice Wine Vinegar
Radhika - Kabob-style Sausage with Caramelized Onions, Cucumbers & Tomato Jam
Daniel - Pork Hot Dog with Horseradish, Mustard, Fried Onions and Garlic Powder
Jeff - (they didn’t show it either - what a jip)
Ariane - Chicken Sausage with Bacon, Celery Seed, Garlic & White Pepper
Alex - (they didn’t his either)
Leah - (didn’t show)
Melissa - (didn’t show)
Angela the Hot Dog Vendor - The classic NY Dog

So Donnatella’s favorites? Radhika’s for the Indian influence, Fabio’s Italian Sausage, Hosea’s Poblano Dog

The worse: Jill - she didn’t make a hot dog from scratch and she didn’t like Stefan’s “World” Dog, she said she wouldn’t travel the world for that dog.

The winner of the Quickfire: Radhika! She has immunity in the elimination challenge.

So we move to the Elimination Challenge: The challenge is to cook for 50 New Yorkers. Develop a three course meal. They divided into teams of 5 and each team was either an appetizer, main course or dessert. They have a budget of $2,500 to spread amongst them and a time limit of 30 minutes inside Whole Foods. What they don’t know until later is that the 50 New Yorkers are New York Chefs that tried out for Top Chef and didn’t make it. They will also be cooking this meal at Tom Colliccio’s Craft Restaurant. They have 2 hours to prep before service.

Team Appetizer: Hosea, Fabio, Jamie, Melissa and Leah

Hosea: Chilled Crab with Citrus Vanilla Dressing, Mango & Avocado;
Fabio: Beef Carpaccio with Arugula Salad, Parmesan & Spherical Olives;
Jamie: Chilled Sweet Corn Soup with Chili Oil & Mint;
Melissa: Grilled Avocado, White Peaches, Nectarines & Balsamic Vinaigrette ;
Leah: Yukon Potato, Seared Scallops with Chives & Green Peppercorns.

Team Entreé: Eugene, Stefan, Alex, Jill and Jeff

Euguene: Open Meatloaf Sandwich with Ciabatta Bread, Gouda Fondue & Portabella Ragout
Stefan: Pan Seared Halibut with Micro Greens, Ravioli, Champagne Sauce & Dill Oil
Alex: Pork Tenderloin over Potatoes with Mushroom, Tomato & Beet Demi-Glace
Jill: Ostrich Egg Quiche with Rice-Pecan Crust, Asparagus & Aged Cheese
Jeff: Southern Chicken, Honey Mustard & Chorizo Corn Spoon Bread

Team Dessert: Carla, Ariane, Richard, Daniel and Radhika

Carla: Rustic Apple Tart with Ginger Peach Tea, Apple Cider Reduction & Cheddar Cheese
Ariane: Lemon Meringue Martini with Vanilla Cookie Crunch & Cherry Surprise
Richard: Sandwich of Banana Nut Bread, Peanut Butter & Banana Brulée with Grape Gelato
Daniel: Ricotta ound Cake with Toasted Pistachios & Strawberry/Lemon Coulis
Radhika: Avocado Mousse with Chocolate Wontons & Chocolate Milk Kahlua Shot

Everyone is all tense. The wanna-be Top Chefs in the restaurant were VERY critical and for the most part didn’t like the food. My opinion, Ariane is going home. She was in the bottom two in the last episode. When Padma tasted her dish, she had to spit it out because it was so sweet.

First up to Judges Table: Jamie, Ariane, Jill, Carla, Hosea, Fabio

Carla was up first - Tom loved the crust and it was Padma’s favorite as well (Go Carla, Go Carla!), the other two favorites were Jamie’s corn soup and they loved Fabio’s beef carpaccio. The winner of today’s challenge is Fabio!

Now for the bad news: Ariane, Jill and Hosea were the judges least favorite. They didn’t like the crab in Hosea’s dish. They didn’t think that here martini didn’t stand out. Padma said she spit hers out. Jill’s ostrich egg tasted like glue.

So who do you think is going home. I think Ariane, but it may be Jill. The three return to confront the judges and Jill is going home.

Revelation of a Crush, 13 Years Later

So tonight I reconnected with an old friend that I knew back in DC - we’ll call him D. It has been 13 years since I’ve seen or talked to D and we just spent the last three hours on the phone getting to know one each other all over again. Hearing his voice, I was instantly transported back to 1995. 

We talked about what we’ve been doing in our lives, where we’ve been, we even talked about Illinois politics and government (or lack thereof). He is currently doing his Ph.D in Political Science at University of Illinois in Chicago. 

It was the best three hours on the phone (well make that 2.5 hours on the phone and then 40 minutes or so on iChat). My iPhone died thinking that the beep I kept hearing was incoming emails. Apple has to change that. The conversation moved to timelines again and was just in awe that 13 years had gone by in our lives. I told him that he hasn’t changed a bit in 13 years based on his pic and complimented him. What I didn’t expect from D was a compliment back (yes my self-doubt was in force tonight).  

We talked about volunteer night at NGLTF and somehow I found myself right in the middle of telling him how I felt about him in 1995.

I had a crush on D. 

However, my then position as Volunteer Manager (one of three hats) at NGLTF kinda prevented me from developing something more than just friends with D. D was just dealing with his coming out and was very uncertain about many things in his life at the time. I remembered intense feelings every time I saw D that I wanted to make sure he was OK and safe.

So tonight, the truth came out 13 years later and he said that he was glad I told him. I told D that I felt embarrassed about bringing this up so many years later, but that speaking with him really resurfaced some old feelings. He assuerd me it was good and that he was glad I told him. Life was much different for me back then. I had no fear and at the age of 28 I felt like I had the whole world to conquer! But when it came to asking a cute guy out, I was very shy. To add to the misery, I couldn’t ask D out because of our working relationship.

So it was getting late in Chicago and I had t let him go. I hope that we keep in touch and that we get to see ach other soon. He has expressed intert in coming to SoCal as he has never been here. He will be teaching next semester after Winter Break so maybe he can come visit over the Holidays. Who knows, mabe I’ll go visit him in chicago and have him give me a tour of the city I was born in. I haven’t been back “home” since 1977 when we moved to California.

It was good talking with you D and look forward to the next chat.

Night!

My Parents are Coming Home Soon

Well after almost 2.5 months, my parents will be returning in a few days. They hve been overseas in the Philippines as my dad was waiting for a kidney transplant. This was attempt #2.

My dad’s kidney transplant was a success. He has been recuperating for the last few weeks and it’s time to come home.

Meanwhile, my sister and her husband has been transforming my parents home into their home. My sister and family has been living with my parents, but they have gone to Vegas to gather their belongings and they have started to convert the house to something more livable. Livable you ask? (Long story…don’t ask)

It will be nice to see my dad and mom. I have been using my dad’s Lexus for the last 2.5 months and I will have to return it this weekend. Oh well. Back to the ‘94 Ford Taurus.

I have one more week with the car, so I better make the most of it.