Back in late May & early June, I had posted some photos and stories on my spring trip to Yellowstone National Park.

I finally got all those photos and more posted to my Smugmug account.  Enjoy!

What have I been up to recently?  Getting rid of my cable, thats what.  Oh, I still watch plenty of TV, but I am no longer paying for cable.  I now watch all my TV for free online.

Here is how I did it.  Welcome to my new Mac Mini Media Center (M3C)!

First, I got myself a MacMini computer from Apple.  It’s roughly a 7-inch square computer with a DVD player slot but without a monitor.   My monitor is now my 42″ flat screen TV, connected via a DVI slot on the MacMini to one of the HDMI slots on the TV.  I didn’t get any extra RAM or hard drive space so the basic bottom level MacMini seems to be enough. The basic level Mac Mini is $600. If your not a Mac person, this setup should work just as easily with a PC computer.

For controlling the computer, I have a wireless Mac keyboard and use the AirMouse app on my iTouch for the mouse. Keyboard was $69.

I still have an internet connection (can’t unload all the Comcast just yet) which allows me to access the world wide web and multiple websites where you can access free TV shows.  I was able to cut my Comcast bill from $140 down to $70 (I still have internet and phone).

I can still watch local high-definion quality TV channels through a digital antenna that I got at Best Buy. There are multiple varieties of digital antennas so shop around for the the one that works best for where you live. I live fairly close to downtown Seattle and all the local TV broadcast stations, so an small indoor omni-directional antenna worked best for me. The antenna cost me roughly $50.

With Comcast, I also had a DVR cable box, but I was easily able to get DVR capability without a DVR cable box through the Elgato Eye TV 250 Plus TV tuner and video converter. This wonderful little deck of card-sized box not only performs the tuner function for your digital antenna, it also acts like a DVR recording shows to your Mac Mini. You can even search and set up season passes for your favorite shows much like you can on TiVo or Comcast DVRs and can easily remove commercials and convert shows to video formats for your iPod, Apple TV, or Quicktime player. You connect this tuner between your digital antenna and MacMini computer. This little device is worth every penny of its $189 price tag.

I also have a 1 TB external Western Digital hard drive attached via USB to my Mac Mini where I store all my movies, TV shows, & photos.  Basically, all my media files are stored on this huge external hard drive instead of taking up space on the MacMini.  I like the Western Digital hard drives, but you can pretty much any external hard drive if you want (or you can get a larger hard drive in you MacMini instead).  Since I have had my hard drive for a while now, I am not including it in the price figures here, but memory is fairly cheap these days.

The last piece of the puzzle are all the websites where you can watch TV shows for free.  For most ABC, NBC, and FOX TV shows, get yourself a HULU account and the HULU Desktop.  HULU, by far, has the best setup as far as online TV sites. You can set up subscriptions of your favorite TV shows, choosing whether or not you want new and or repeat episodes and clips added to your queue.  With the HULU desktop, you queue is easily accessible via an icon on your MacMini’s desktop/dock.

For CBS shows, got to TV.com. Their watch list isn’t very usable and there is no way to create a personalized queue of your favorite shows you want to watch like Hulu has, but it is fairly easy to find the full episodes from the previous week for watching.

HULU and TV.com also carry various recently cancelled and older TV series as well as current shows from cable channels such as the Comedy Channel, Bravo, A&E, F/X, and others.

For most shows, they will show up online or in your queue usually the next day.  A few shows show up online a few days to a week later (House & V for example).  And for some reason that Warner Brother produced shows on CBS have never really explained, The Mentalist, Big Bang Theory, & Criminal Minds are not offered online at TV.com at all. For me, that’s where the Elgato Eye TV tuner and recorder come in handy as I make sure to record those shows through that device instead of looking for them online.

For those TV shows that aren’t online at one of the above websites, I can usually find at CastTV.com.  The quality isn’t that great as I don’t think it is really designed to watch these on your 42-inch flatscreen, but in a pinch, I can find and watch them here.  This is where I end up watching Top Chef as it just doesn’t seem to be available on a weekly basis anywhere else.

I also like my college football & basketball and without cable I loose ESPN.  However, ESPN has a wonderful website called ESPN 360, where you can watch live, streamed games online.  With cable ESPN, I was only able to watch my GA Tech team every once in a while. However with ESPN 360, I have been able to watch GA Tech football every weekend.  Even if I am busy on Saturday during the game, I can always come back a day or two later and watch the replay of the game.  Love it!

Netflix now has movies that you can watch instantly online for free and you can rent movies immediately via iTunes so you won’t miss Comcast onDemand for your movies watching either.

So for about $950, I save about $70/month.  That means I will pay off the investment in just over a year.

I honestly believe watching TV online is the future.  The technology is getting easier and the availability of  online content is only increasing.  Now if I could just find a better provided of internet, then I can get rid of Comcast completely.

Resource: This post on The Unofficial Apple Weblog and this article at MacLife Magazine were extremely useful to me in learning about TV watching online and setting it all up.

You can have Dublin.  Seriously, there is nothing unique about this city.  It is expensive, dirty, has poor public transportation, and seemed generally full of rude people.  Maybe we hit Dublin at its worst, folks from all over Europe and the world flocked to Dublin in late July for the U2 concerts, but we ran into so very few locals who we nice and friendly.  I can count 4 and all were in some sort of service industry (2 taxi drivers, 1 usher, & our hotel staff).

All my Dublin photos can be seen at my Smugmug Site.

There weren’t any real highlights either to Dublin.  The Guinness factory you say?  Pretty much a carbon copy of other big corporate tour centers like Hershey’s or Coke.  Charge a bundle, herd you through a multi-layer building of exhibits where lines to do anything interesting are long, give you a free sample, then dump you out at a huge store where you have the privilege of purchasing items so you can advertise for free for that company.  Actually quite a brilliant idea on the part of the corporations if you think about it. 15 Euro for a free pint of Guinness….there has got to be some nice profit in that. At least the facility was interesting enough to have a bit of a photography shootout with my friend Alana. I focused more on new photography techniques and less on the exhibits themselves.

What about shopping?  All those unique Irish gifts?  Not likely.  The main shopping district, Grafton Street, while a nice pedestrian street in town, was pretty much no different than the mall down the street.

What about Trinity College and the Book of Kells?  Got to be some history there, right?  All two pages of it.  Trinity college was nice, but again, nothing special.  Some big ‘ol ugly grey buildings with a bit o green grass here and there.  If you wanted to see the Book of Kells, you could wait in a crowded bookstore, be charged an arm & a leg, then be whisked by only two pages of the book.  We had been warned this was a waste of time by several so we were spared.

What about the Irish pub life?  Apparently, tourists are not really welcome, especially if they are Americans. And seriously, in what city would a real pub charge 25 Euro for fish & chips?  In Dublin. With a side order of rude bartending staff. I did learn one thing from a Dublin pub?  That black lights are installed in bathroom stalls so heroin addicts can’t find their veins.  Brilliant!

The Dublin Castle has to be nice and historic?  If you consider an 18th Century palace painted in primary colors surrounded by modern 70’s building historic, then yes.  But compared to other real castles I have been to in England and Scotland, Dublin Castle is a joke.

And don’t even get me started on the Dublin airport where you walk for seemingly miles to get to a terminal with only ONE food shop that is sold out of most of its food.  But you can get an apple and a bottle of water for 5 Euro.  Delightful.

Was there anything I liked about Dublin?  Yeah.  I must say that St. Stephen’s Green, the downtown city park, was quite a nice place.  We hit that on our last day, and it was a pretty place.  Again, nothing special, but after several days of dingy and grey, the sun and greenery of the park were a nice contrast.

If I visit Ireland ever again, I’m skipping Dublin.  I hear the rest of the island is rather lovely.  It’s a shame Dublin just didn’t measure up.

Where did July go?  The end of July seemed so busy with trips here and there and then work picking up, I pretty much had no time to blog here.  And the truth is, I am not sure how much longer I will continue to blog.  I have become a Facebook junkie and have been able to touch base with so many new and old friends there.  Pretty much the same folks who read my blog here are also on Facebook.  Plus, I find Facebook just so much easier to update quickly.  Still thinking about it, but for now I will continue to blog on occasion.

I do have photos & comments from my trip to Dublin to see U2 in concert. Sometimes the expectations of an event are way better than the event itself.  Also, in late July and early August was camping with friends at Mt. Rainier, the annual SeaFair air show here in Seattle, and a fun salmon fishing expedition with some co-workers.  Photos and stories coming soon.

I’m currently trying to stay awake here in grand ‘ol Guildford, England.  No sleep and three movies later on the 8 hour polar flight on Air Canada, I arrived this Thursday morning to more hot weather here outside of London.  Ugh!  I am so ready for winter about now.  A bus, train then taxi ride later, I was at my friend’s Alana’s place.    YAY!

Took a short nap, ate breakfast for dinner, repacked for Dublin and now I am off to bed.  Should sleep well tonight.

After a quick weekend of wonderful camping at Mt. Rainier with friends, I am home for only a few days before heading to London/Dublin.  Can’t wait to see my friend Alana in London and can’t wait to see U2 in Dublin.  Mark another item off the bucket list.

In my post below where I provided the recipe for the yummyliscious zucchini fritters I made for the dinner party, my friend Sarah asked for a main dish to go with these fritters.  Since I first made these fritters in my Mediterranean cooking class, I immediately thought of Lamb.  So, here is a quick and easy lamb kebob recipe to go with the zucchini fritters below.

Marinated Lamb Kebabs
Serves 6

• 2 lbs lamb shoulder, cut into 1 ¼ inch cubes
• Juice of 1 lemon
• ½ cup olive or vegetable oil
• 1 pureed onion
• 8 crushed cloves of garlic
• 2 tsp mint (1 tsp dried) dried mint
• 1 Tsp cinnamon
• Salt and pepper

Preparation:

1. Mix together all the ingredients and taste for seasonings, place cubed lamb in for 1 hour to marinate.
2. Thread lamb onto skewers and cook under a preheated broiler or grill on a well-oiled grill 7-10 minutes, turning occasionally to prevent them from burning.
3. Serve hot with pita and cucumber yogurt salad

*Marinade variations:

• Substitute thyme for the mint
• Add paprika and lemon zest

First, the Zucchini Fritters I posted about yesterday went over really, really well.  Unfortunately I forgot to take a photo of the finished product and by the time I remembered, the platter was empty. Sorry!

But I did remember to take photos of Seattle’s 4th of July Fireworks…. here are a few of them. You can find all the firework photos at my smugmug site.

Work has been pretty busy these last few weeks and since I can’t post photos from work, posts here on my blog have been sparse. Sorry about that.  Working 2nd & 3rd shift took some adjusting so working on photos and cooking have also been sparse.  We were however, given the 3 day July 4th holiday off so I am catching up on things.

I’m also having a small dinner party tomorrow night with a few friends.  I have a pretty good view of Seattle’s main fireworks show so we’ll grill out on the deck then watch the fireworks display.

I started prepping for the dinner today making some delicious zucchini fritters.  Just don’t tell my mom about me eating anything with zucchini in it, cause I will never hear the end of it.  Growing up we always had a garden and by summers end we were knee deep in cucumbers and zucchini of which I HATED both.  So, mom would try to hide zucchini in all sorts of meals and I would try to discover her “creativeness” and then refuese to eat anything with zucchini in it. Yeah, I was pretty bratty back then. But as I have gotten older my tastes have adjusted and I actually kinda like zucchini now.  Strange, eh?

We made these in my last cooking class, which was on Mediterranean Foods.  These suckers are a bit addictive, so make at your own risk.  I took a photo while making them today, but I forgot to take one after they were all done.  I will try and take one of them tomorrow before the party.

Zucchini Fritters (Kabak Mücveri)
Serves 4

These little fritters can be served hot or cold. They can be made in advance and reheated.

• 1 large onion, coarsely chopped
• 3 tablespoons vegetable or sunflower oil, plus more for frying
• 1 pound zucchini, finely chopped
• 3 eggs
• ¼ cup all-purpose flour
• Black pepper
• 2 to 3 sprigs of mint, chopped
• 2 to 3 sprigs of dill, chopped
• 7 ounces feta cheese, mashed with a fork

Preparation:

1. Fry the onion in 3 tablespoons oil over medium heat until it is soft and lightly colored ten minutes. Add the zucchini and sauté, stirring, until they, too, are soft and beginning to color (5-10 minutes) remove from heat.
2. In a bowl, beat the eggs with the flour until well blended. Add pepper (there is no need of salt because the feta cheese is very salty) and the chopped herbs, and mix well.
3. Fold the mashed feta into the eggs, together with the cooked onions and zucchini.
4. Film the bottom of a preferably nonstick frying pan with oil and pour in the mixture by the half ladle (or 2 tablespoons) to make a few fritters at a time. Turn each over once, and cook until both sides are browned a little. Drain on paper towels.
5. Serve with yogurt (recipe follows).

Cucumber and Yogurt Salad (Cacik)

Unless it is to be eaten as soon as it is made, it is best to salt the cucumber and let the juices drain before mixing with the yogurt; otherwise it gets very watery. If possible, use the small cucumbers sold in Middle Eastern and Asian stores—they have a finer flavor than the large ones. Cacik is served as part of a meze (appetizer) and also as a side dish—to be eaten with spoons from little individual side bowls—to accompany pies, meat dishes, and rice. It even makes a lovely cold summer soup. Use plain whole-milk yogurt.

• 4 small cucumbers or 1 large one
• 1 ½ tsp salt
• 2 cups plain whole-milk yogurt
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed (optional)
• 2 sprigs of finely chopped mint or dill, or 2 teaspoons dried, crushed mint

Preparation:

1. Peel and dice or grate the cucumbers (squeeze out any extra water), or cut them in half lengthwise, and then into half- moon slices. Unless the salad is to be served immediately, sprinkle with salt and leave for 1/2 to 1 hour in a colander for the juices to drain.
2. Beat the yogurt in a serving bowl with the crushed garlic, if using, and the mint or dill, and fold in the cucumber. Add a little salt, taking into account the saltiness of the cucumber if you have salted it, although most of the salt will have gone with the drained juices.

]]> http://buzztechie.wordpress.com/2009/07/03/dinner-party/feed/ 1 Sarah IMG_1181_a-2 http://buzztechie.wordpress.com/2009/06/14/last-day-in-yellowstone/ http://buzztechie.wordpress.com/2009/06/14/last-day-in-yellowstone/#comments Sun, 14 Jun 2009 15:57:01 +0000 Sarah http://buzztechie.wordpress.com/?p=726 ]]>

Should have posted these yesterday with the other photos, but I was running late and had to get to work.  On our last day in Yellowstone, we had a long drive back to Seattle, but elected to drive through the park one more time to see what would could see. Last Sept when we did this, we had a grizzly walk right in front of our car and saw Big Horn Sheep for the first time.  This time, we were not so lucky; only seeing a mountain blue bird and getting stuck in a rather large Bison jam along the road to Madison.  Since we had the extra time and the extra hour we gained driving west, we took a quick break at the Columbia River Gorge for the wonderful views and pretty flowers near the parking lot (mom had never seen this view in the daylight).

Mountain Bluebird

Columbia River Flowers