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Showing posts with label recipes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label recipes. Show all posts

Saturday, September 18

Essential Urban Survival Technique - Thwarting an Ether Faucet Attempt.

 Any well-traveled trekker | overnighter of the urban landscape knows the feeling well: 

Having happened upon life, as such, as that sleep becomes unfortunately inevitable, at an inopportune time, in an inappropriate locale; that is, might seem as though it’s somewhat the sufferer’s own fault, for grazing in unfamiliar territory. 

 Even so, don’t be afraid, and don’t be discriminatory in where you set foot, about town; simply go about life as a well-prepared individual, well-resourced, well-packed, and you’ll do just fine. 

I’d not done so well, in previous years, but I’m nearing upon age 40, and I’d say that I’d experienced the vast majority of life experiences that I’d possibly come across, in my time, and there’s not much that could be done to me that I hadn’t experienced, previously, as a well-heeled trekker of the Los Angeles urban landscape. Just this past week, in fact, I thwarted a so-called (nicknamed via my own predilections) ether faucet, which is a classic simple petty theft’s criminal’s doing, or perhaps they’d do worse, to a lady, or something like that. 

It happens as misfortunately as described, just prior: a sudden need to fall asleep at an inopportune time, in an inappropriate place; perhaps a poor part of town, infested with tents, cockroaches, trash, rioting going on - that sort of thing. The police are on top of it, or something like that. People have to rest, sometimes, and letting loose an ether faucet will put the freeze on things, so to speak. 

What is ether?

I don’t really know what, or which - (ether) is the particular ether in question, and I’m not going to look it up, either. For my purposes, ether could potentially be a fragrance chemistry industry solvent, (… eh, I won’t elaborate on it - I don’t own any, myself), and ethers are a particular class of chemical compound, aside from that. It’s the sort of thing that could get somebody some unfortunate attention, perhaps, from the authorities, that is. My purpose here isn’t to educate the reader about ether, the drug: the primitive anesthetic that it is, as a basis. I had first learned about it from the drug-lore film, “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas,” in which one of the guys was playing around with it, and look how Johnny Depp ended up - handsome heartthrob, early on, and well in to his later career, yet he’d been beset with tabloid scandal, in his later years, for living out his acting career roles (ostensibly) to a real-life pitch, in the behind-the-scenes sort of lifestyle that inevitably becomes the duty of the actor, playing the part. The other guy, Guillermo Del Toro, (or something like that; this is all off the top of my head, here), ate more food, throughout life. A bit more innocent, as far as analysis goes. I hadn’t caught wind of any poor press about him. Johnny Depp, on the other hand, had recently hit the scandal headlines, with his breakup from Amber Heard, a model, etc. etc.

Anyways…

An ether faucet. A scum bag tweaker’s crude weapon in assailing a targeted victim who stays out too late, or who ventures off in to an unseemly part of town, without imbibing in drug use (breaking bread) with the locals, who’d like to rob or rape the person being targeted, or perhaps it’s some measure of riot and crowd control, implemented by the authorities, following an outbreak of acute societal unrest, in the civic center area, about town. This was somewhat my experience of things, as I woke myself up, out of the narcoleptic, deadening slumber, which happens to accompany an uncharacteristic chill, to the limbs and body; a noticeably chill wind about the air, and an incapable self, as for getting up, waking up, and getting out of the area, for that criminals could easily thwart the individuals defenses, and gain access to their valuables, or possibly kidnap the person, and commit foul things, for a ransom; for example. 

Fortunately, I was well-equipped with an orange flower absolute spray bottle, 

just large enough to hold several dozen sprays, and yet, orange flower absolute: complex enough, to thwart an aerosol-based attack as crude as an ether faucet. I sprayed one spray, after coming to realize that I ought not sleep it off, and be content, and the tiredness was immediately swept away. 
There were intimations of a mockery of me, coming about, in my misfortune, of “some girl” sitting down, in front of me, where I lay, on the sidewalk, saying stuff like “hey, how’s it going?” 😘

That was my opportunity to get up, and get about, on my way, to my standard haunt, which I won’t disclose. The tiredness came and went, intermittently, throughout various parts of town, but my orange flower absolute reconstitution did the job quite well. I used Poucher’s formulation (Poucher was a noted armed forces scholar, in literature and in photography). Here’s his recipe for orange flower absolute, which can also be further researched through Google Books online. 


  An ether faucet is a horrible thing to burden, but hey, maybe it averted a worser societal outcome, all in all. Being properly prepared, with a complex aromatic aerosol compound is simply part of the technique in appropriately surviving the threat, coming through, with all valuables and reputation intact. It smells great, for that matter, and it’s a unisex sort of fragrance. Take heed, though, certain formulations of an orange flower absolute could be overly simplistic, or detrimental, in the sort of chemistry involved in what ether is, which I don’t quite know, myself, and I don’t really care to investigate it, online, for that matter. Just order some ingredients, and make the stuff yourself. It’ll assist you in embodying a more outgoing and adventurous self, as the cold months to come, ahead, accommodate the sort of robbery tactic that succumbing to an ether faucet would entail. 

Saturday, August 21

Product Review: New Haul of fragrance ingredients from PerfumersWorld.com.

 It's only been two months since I started doing this stuff (again). (I'd previously, back from around 2008-2012 had the budget to do fragrancing, with essential oils from Whole Foods, mostly). This time around, though, it was serious. I'd discovered online retail and wholesale suppliers of fragrance compounds and aroma ingredients (essential oils and absolutes), and I finally had my living situation and circumstances such that I could muster pulling off some mail order purchases, and develop my fragrance-making hobby successfully. My latest haul was for over $1250 and it got me over 70+ quality ingredients, of my choosing, priced by the gram, as the website www.perfumersworld.com does, as their retail fragrance supply basis, as an e-commerce website and organization, based out of Thailand. 

My summer of 2021 Perfumer's World fragrance ingredients haul - over 70 ingredients of my choice, given 2 months of experience and shopping around, at this point; I had my picks, and I got what I wanted, good and all, for the most part. 

This time around, I was interested in procuring mostly highly-prized standards and classics, such as rose de mai, I got jasmine absolute, jasmine flowers, methyl jasmonate, jasmine sambac absolute, frangipani absolute, indole crystals, for reconstituting these flowers, artificially (by design), and many other classics of fragrances beloved, and the well-known plants, herbs, flowers, and trees that provide these lovely fragrances, as well as some fragrance industry insider tricks ingredients, such as Schiff's Base, which is also used to reconstitute flower absolutes. I also dived richly in to the world of classic musks, of the global fragrance research and design houses; a history of musks, that I'd procured, as you would see, from my listed purchases, below. I also decided to experiment, slightly, with hormonal and mood-altering pheromone compounds, such as truffle concentrate, to see how they would affect the fragrance-wearing experience. 





I made a neat-o fresh, minty, cool, phenolic and narcotic rich floral essences composition out of this, after I had spent some time protecting the shipment, once it had gotten in to my possession, delivered by Fed-Ex. The shipment from www.perfumersworld.com took about a week, or so, to arrive, and I had security concerns over receiving it, since I go out, in to town, to feed the birds, during the day, and there were some delays, aside from that, in various stops that the shipment had gone through, such as being held up in Taiwan, and then the package went to Alaska, and Tennessee, even, before it got squared away in the Los Angeles area, finally. I decided to have the package held at a Fed-Ex location, for me to pick up, at my leisure. I didn't play with the ingredients much, during the initial receipt phase, because I was more interested in protecting it, and keeping the bottles sealed. Opening up a haul of fragrance ingredients produces a vastly diffuse aroma experience that spreads in to the extent of neighboring households, and it draws attention to the fragrance maker, and the goings-on of making a fragrance, which is easily an enviable position to be in, given a standard neighborhood, around town. 

All things considered, and that being said, I came up with an appreciably fine(-ish), or notably novel, and "good" fragrance composition, with the inspiration behind mixing which of these purchased new ingredients ought be, being an indole cornmint (I was big on cornmint and hay absolute coming to me), floral fresh narcotic standards of perfumery history-"easy," such as rose de mai, jasmine sambac, and frangipani absolutes being the main fragrance feature components, chamomile, included,  along with a full array of several or more musks, which, this time around, with this purchase, brought a veritable selection of poignant, delicate, nuanced, clean, fresh, and beautiful musks, of the musks of standards established, throughout history, in perfumery - muscone, Macrolide, Helvetolide, Cosmone, Celestolide, Amberfix, and Velvione; I added some Vitamin E, and solubizer, some patchouli, heavy on the pink pepper, and Sugandha Kokila, an Indian fragrance, for some classic and exotic appeal. There was raspberry ketone, ethylene brassylate, phenylacetic acid, lyral, coriander, marjoram, and plenty of oud to it. All in all, I was generally reserved, about how much of each I had put in, and extra-careful, on some of the inclusions. It turned out fabulous. I highly recommend this purchasing list, as a first-resort reference for beginners and aspirants in fragrance composition mixing, and I highly recommend www.perfumersworld.com, for the ingredients purchase. They sell by the gram, and are therefore as economical as need be, while maintaining a high standard of ingredient purity and shipment delivery handling, and customer service. 


Wednesday, July 14

The At-Home Parfumerie - How to mix like a semi-pro.

 After procuring a shelf-rack, or so, of fragrance ingredients of your choice and specialty, it’s time to employ “interval-mixing” in to the creative and manufacturing process.

Jay Ammon’s Summer 2021 Fragrance ingredients collection.
The iPigeon.institute slight return shelf rack of perfumer’s ingredients, essential oils, and aroma molecules.


Making a simple “natural” smelling fragrance is not difficult - just purchase expensive and high-quality ingredients. But, in order to attain the scent profile of a higher-end cologne for men, for example, it requires some ingenuity in the logistics of “what’s going on | in” the fragrance. 

Jay Ammon’s latest workflow setup in fragrance-making (July 14th, 2021).
My mixing palette | my working process. I tried out what I would call “interval mixing,” which capitalizes on the notions of the deeper underlying chemistry behind the individual ingredients.

On one hand, the fragrance ought never quite completely fall out, from the bottom, itself, in to a poor-smelling thing. If you’d done this, don’t dump it - it’s largely against the law, internationally, and it’s poor morals. Instead, just save the fragmented artifact of manufacture, as a token partial that could be returned to, that might slightly fulfill some future need, even it it’s just drops of the stuff.

On my most current excursion and creation, however, I managed to deftly control the flow of creating a fragrance, with a collection number of ingredients totaling about 100, or so, give or take, without having created a poor-smelling product, which had been how many of my attempts to create a distinctly masculine-smelling fragrance product had turned out. I’d been getting some tips, through nightly searches about the facets and characteristics of ingredients, their expected percentage fill, of the entirety of a composition (fragrance or parfum base - which, in and of itself, take up perhaps 15-30% of the bottle, and the rest is water and alcohol (40-50%) and perhaps the rest of the fill is made up of quick notes, nuances, clean-ups, and touch-ups with essential oils, terpenes, crystals, musks, colors, etc.).

I wanted to do a men’s fragrance that was light-feeling, syrupy sweet, yet rich in savory background, such as that it would entice the olfactory sense’s relationship with the visceral and primal urges of hunger, upon encountering it. Easily gourmand, yet imagining a rich and eloquent debouter of enterprise and establishment to follow - picture a starving population, for example; yet many people refuse to eat, when offered food, or when found asking for charity. What could spark and inspire their neglected self-care better than a timely happenstance passersby encounter, on the street? What better disposition could there be, alongside the context being well-fed, in the American way? (or French, in nature, as I sometimes refer to). 


The secret to my creative process, in this instance, was to come up with a decent enough floral base - I chose Narcissus, in this instance, with 3-4 or so full and generous squirts from the dropper, although just 1, to begin with, in a pool of perfumer’s alcohol, in the bottle. 

Then I started to work my way around the fragrance’s underlying inspiration, which would be a light, crisp, and refreshing citrus assertion, for which I used some terpene ingredients, such as Limonene D. There was kumquat oil, as well. After this stage, I went back to tradition and rounded off the composition, as it was, with Lavandin Grosso. Then I grabbed my powders and crystals, to musky up the scent, and ground it, with concentrated force. I employed Ambroxan to ground out this first stage. 

The next phase I went in to was to add the primary natural characteristics that would shape the quality facets and natural appeal factor of the fragrance, using primarily essential oils, at this stage. I used Ginger CO2 (don’t ever get a ginger that’s not at least a CO2 extraction - my lesson learned), myrrh oil, tonka bean absolute (lots), jasmine tea perfume extract, citron oil, ylang ylang, cedarwood (atlas), and teak (just a little). Here, in this stage, I found that I wasn’t ruining the fragrance, by this point, so I decided to test out employing my crystals, which smell good, in and of themselves, but I’d read up on their common usage recommendations in a fragrance composition, and it’s typically at the 1%, or 0.1% or less. I have Exaltone, by Firmenich, and Ambrocenide, by Symrise, which I used, in this stage. 

Then, my inner animal 🦔 perhaps, started to perk up, and I thought about the ingredients, and their place in fragrance-making, which is largely based on descriptions of the properties, chemical name, and organoleptic properties of the material. I thought about ketones, which I’d read, are sometimes characterizable as metabolite products of the body. (Wikipedia). Oh, yeah. And just prior, I’d put some stuff in to the mix, like anisaldehyde and oud base, one of which had been touted as “the smell of the bathroom, toilet included” sort of thing. I figured, “well, these things have some basis in how they are created, as by-products of microbial, fungal, or plant life (even animals, in the past mostly), 

but, continuing forward, though, given that the ingredients had an appeal, on top of that I was creating this composition, as my main aspiration, and meanwhile, the fragrance base hadn’t turned bad on me, just yet, I figured that it was time for me to try and encapsulate the essence as it was, in this stage, so I added some musk ketone powder, for the sake of the fact that it (ketones) affect biological processes; I imagined that the oud base, or the dimethyl anthranilate, or pyralone (it was all of these, perhaps, in the end, to be honest; a modest amount of each of them) - these components, and the bacterial sorts of processes of interaction, reaction, or metabolism, of the energy products available, based on the richness of the ingredients, in and of themselves, much different, and more natural-smelling, since I was employing essential oils, mostly, at this stage, (some farnesol, also), and I’d formerly tried to employ these ingredients, of the [toilette] - means to an end (like, eau de toilette), and the mixture would end up getting worse and worse, the more I added to it, from here. 

Now, I didn’t actually add orange flower absolute, but I did do an ad-hoc Schiffs base, although I added the hydroxycitronellol in an equal amount to the iso butyl quinoline (pyralone), because I wanted to emphasize the citrusy character of the composition, and because the source and main composition was so rich in material, to begin with. All in all, at this phase, I threw in a small (mini) scoop spoon’s worth of musk ketone, in to the mix, because I figured that the ketone element, added in to the composition, would detract any ongoing (and eventual) free-radical occurrences from proliferating, and, in turn, I end up with a garbage composition. The musk ketones would keep the developing energetic processes distracted, and meanwhile, I have the buffer of these expensive crystals as the basis of what the mixture [could] eventually smell like, if needed; although it still hadn’t turned bad on me, which is important. 

Then I threw in some Iso E Super, after gently gyroscope-rotating the mixture around, and making sure that the crystals became well-incorporated in to the existing mix - 

Oh yeah! I forgot, at first, I started out with some very primary facet components of many to any type of fragrance composition - rose petals, jasmine sambac absolute, neroli oil, from Morocco, (at some point, in the composition; perhaps later on), and santalol, in modest amounts, each of them, yet somewhat only at the time being, of how small my beginnings were, in creating this mixture, and these ingredients, for having been expensive. (They still are expensive, for that matter, yet they’re quite essential in a fragrance composition, for how the smell’s purpose and character become modulated in to a new olfactory experience, at the command of the hand of the perfumer.

Some small vials of expensive essential oils and rich absolutes.
Having taken on this new, and progressively (intervals-bounded) methodology in manufacturing a fragrance composition, which I’d found somewhat difficult to do, for men’s sorts of fragrances, in the past, I now felt more at ease, in applying more ingredients, such as gurjun balsam, rhodinol, lauryl acetate C-12, para cresyl isobutyrate, nectaryl (to peach sweeten things up), beeswax absolute (for even more, and long-lasting sweetness), as well as two scoops of ethyl vanillin (with the small flat scoop).

Every invested gourmand would understand, as well, the fascinating combination and compelling novel effect (which I called “mooshy-moo”) that black pepper oil has upon a richly-established vanilla, as the “latest thing.” It’s a quite comforting and warming sensory experience. 

I didn’t want to leave any trails unmapped, so to speak. In intervals, I had planned to do the dump of crystals, such as Nerolin bromelia, as last-stand additions to the mix, yet I ended up tossing some in, a bit before I finished, since the perfumer’s alcohol works fast, yet I gyroscope-rotate the mixture, at this stage, to speed the musk ketone reactions up.

Then I thought, 

Hey, I have some celery ketone, as well! How about that, for the gourmand floral fragrant citrus (petitgrain got it’s own intervallic development ketone-assisted cycle in on it).

That’s about all, for now. 

Except for the onion skeet skeet - just 4 drops, (not of pure onion oil - significantly diluted, a few drops to 2 or so fl. oz.) - for the acrylates (thanks, Calvin Klein, for that tip off [context]).

Oh, yeah, there was Cetalox, as well. Benzyl Benzoate, and I topped off the composition, once I was fairly satisfied with it, with benzyl alcohol, to have a solvent base to incorporate the insoluble oils and water (also added at the end) together in to a miscible solution. I put some Yellow (Lake) and Basic Fuschia (2 drops), for color. There was trans-2 decanol, a tiny bit of humulene, and several drops of cinnamon bark oil. I put a drop of Geosmin into it, as well.






Thursday, January 2

Making ramen more special - with spices, meat slices, and canned sweet yams.

Ramen,  although cheap in the stores,  is also a highly celebrated Japanese form of socialization,  as one would come to understand for visiting DTLA's local corner locality of Little Tokyo at night.  Ramen is a common night out affair for the young adult crowd.

Given that,  restaurant-style ramen is significantly fancier than packaged ramen from the store.  Here,  I've assembled a tasty mock-up recipe of a beef ramen base - it includes thin beef slices and candied yams (canned). Don't use the whole can or two packages of ramen,  of anything like that.  It's a hearty enough meal,  in and of itself.

In addition,  other embellishments I made,  as far as spice-wise - these spices really do the dish bowl justice,  for a meal that otherwise is about a quarter per serving / meal.



The spices I had used were turmeric,  several shakes, dusting the top of the ramen while it cooks. Same with African Berbere, a slightly spicy and richly fragrant substitute for standard cayenne pepper (if still desired,  I recommend just a tiny pinch). The final spice ingredient I used in addition to the standard spice pack is grated dried ginger.



 I cooked the soup over the standard amount of water and some cooking oil.  It comes out great! Very tasty. 

Friday, December 13

iPigeon nutrition moment: eating food from the Eternal Ark of Covenant Parish Food Bank: Buffalo steaks au Françaíse-flambeaux (rare) avéc l'huille de cócó,

At the local food bank, here in 90003, on Broadway, Saturday mornings, there is an overabundant plethora of meats available for distribution to the needy. 

I'm clearing out my freezer and fridge, and I'd been putting off trying out the buffalo. (Now my gas stove isn't working); 

I've decided to go French on this meal, while keeping in tradition with some of the historic methods of preparation of this sort of meat:

I've determined I should coconut-oil spray-flambeaux the round-tipped steaks to a rare-to-medium-rare, which is suitable, according to Yankee Farmer's Market's tips for cooking buffalo meat.

 ... along with a modern-day take on how buffalo has been incorporated (popularly) in our diets, (at least, here on the west coast: as chicken is commonly prepared): with sauce flavorings; perhaps a glaze. I decided to go with a honey-mustard curry glaze, to use the cooking materials I have, at the moment.

How hot is a coconut oil spray flambeaux? I'd consult Wikipedia. 

The Google OmniBox Search Bar in Safari.

Turns out that The Globe and Mail blog has the top hit for this investigation in to Smoke point. I'm going to skip researching smoke point and see what it has to do with flambé.

Coconut oilSmoke point: 350 degrees F. Use for sautéeing and baking. It's high in saturated fat (86 per cent). The saturated fat in coconut oil raises LDL (bad) blood cholesterol, but not nearly to the same extent as butter.Sep 28, 2015

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Template:Smoke point of cooking oils ... Coconut oil, Refined, dry, 232°C, 450°F. Coconut oil, Unrefined, dry expeller pressed, virgin, 177°C, 350°F. Corn oil ...
The smoke point, also referred to as the burning point, is the temperature at which an oil or fat ... Castor oil, Refined, 200°C, 392°F. Coconut oil, Refined, dry, 232°C, 450°F. Coconut oil, Unrefined, dry expeller pressed, virgin, 177°C, 350°F.

from: YankeeFarmersMarket.com:


Cooking Tips for Buffalo


Buffalo meat is naturally tender and extremely flavorful. However, the taste and tenderness of the meat is directly related to how the meat is cooked.

The buffalo meat should be cooked slowly at low to medium temperatures. Buffalo meat cooks faster than beef. As there is no fat to act as an insulator to the meat, the meat is cooked directly.

Recommended cooking range is rare to medium and internal temperatures should be 135 degrees - 155 degrees Fahrenheit.

Steaks

Buffalo steaks come in a wide variety of cuts, all comparable with beef. Most butchers and/or meat producers will cut steaks to customer specifications (1”-1 1/4” are preferred).

Methods of cooking steaks include: grilling (outdoor or on top of stove), pan sautéing, broiling, and stir frying. Do not overcook; readjust thinking as well as the heat source.

Grilling time will vary depending on the temperature of the coals and whether the meat is placed on or off the rack. An instant read thermometer comes in handy for outdoor grilling. Remember to pull the steak off or out of the heat when it is slightly rarer than you like. The steaks will continue to cook when it is out of direct heat.

Steaks do not need additional liquid, sauces or marinades unless desired. Frequent turning of the meat is recommended. 

I decided that my method of preparation would end up as that I'd need to figure out the amount of minutes I'd need to flambeaux the steaks.

Place the steaks on the grill and cook until golden brown and slightly charred, 4 to 5 minutes. Turn the steaks over and continue to grill 3 to 5 minutes for medium-rare(an internal temperature of 135 degrees F), 5 to 7 minutes for medium (140 degrees F) or 8 to 10 minutes for medium-well (150 degrees F).




hmmm...


???

now I've determined that this actually is a fish, since it did look like a salmon steak, to begin with.








Bigmouth buffalo


From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to navigationJump to search
Bigmouth buffalo
Bigmouth Buffalo.jpg
Bigmouth buffalo male
Scientific classificationedit
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Chordata
Class:Actinopterygii
Order:Cypriniformes
Family:Catostomidae
Genus:Ictiobus
Species:
I. cyprinellus
Binomial name
Ictiobus cyprinellus
(Valenciennes, 1844)
Synonyms
  • Sclerognathus cyprinellaValenciennes, 1844
The bigmouth buffalo (Ictiobus cyprinellus) is a fish native to North America. It is the largest North American species in the Catostomidae or "sucker" family, and is one of the longest-lived freshwater fishes, capable of living beyond 110 years.[2] It is commonly called the gourd headredmouth buffalobuffalofishbernard buffaloroundhead, or brown buffalo,. Despite the superficial similarity, the bigmouth buffalo is not a carp, nor is any other catostomid.

The bigmouth's native distribution is confined to the countries of Canada and the United States of America. In Canada, they inhabit the Milk River which flows through Alberta, and the Qu'Appelle River which flows through Saskatchewan and Manitoba into Lake Winnipeg. Beginning in the northern United States, they are native to Iowa, South Dakota and, Minnesota, more southern states include eastern Texas and Oklahoma. The major drainages where they are found in include Lake Erie, the Ohio River, and Mississippi River drainages. From these drainages, they are found into Arkansas, the Gulf region of Louisiana, and down the Tennessee River into Alabama. The introduction of bigmouth has been largely done for commercial purposes. Regions of reintroductions include some reservoirs along the Missouri River drainage of North Dakota and Montana. Regions of introduction include some reservoirs in Arizona, and within California, they have also been introduced to the aqueduct system of Los Angeles.[7]

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