One More Time, With Feeling

I'm Back!

Maybe.

Probably.

Honestly, "back" implies that I ever really took a crack at this blogging thing with any seriousness at all before, which is dubious. But I am going to, yet again, try to make a serious effort at writing here regularly.

The ol' ball and chain's been pretty busted the past few days. Why? As with anyone who wants to get back into the habit of writing, you must first re-build your blogging system from the ground-up. Obviously. This time, of course, will be different. Armed with my current favorite crop of technologies (which I will detail below), I'm writing a set of tools let me build static pages (or, in my far-too-literal to HTML5 system, <article>s) in my preferred authoring environment: my beloved code editor.

(I start nerding out right about here.)

I've been writing HTML long enough that it's caused permanent brain damage. I think of all documents in terms of markup, and deconstruct magazines to figure out how I'd float that sidebar just so. Naturally, then, I'm authoring posts directly in HTML. If I'd like a post to look a little different from the others, I have the ability to apply custom CSS and JavaScript. Anything too far afield, I can generate a one-off page that doesn't have to fit into the normal post template.

To aid me in this process, I've called in support from some technologies I've fallen in love with in the line of duty working on my current project at Mozilla:

• Python: While I'd love to do this whole project in node.js, The package and file-interaction capabilities are just better in Python right now. I may migrate later, but getting up to speed quickly was my initial goal, and Python's got my back.
• Jinja: We replace Django's templating engine in our projects at Mozilla with Jinja. The "block" pattern and template inheritance change the way you build markup template to more closely match the object oriented way you (hopefully) program. Fantastic stuff.
• PyQuery: jQuery-style DOM manipulation in Python. Yes please.
• LESS: Once you try LESS or Sass, you'll wonder how you ever wrote or maintained CSS before.

I've got the code to the point where I decided to write this post, including a local server that watches files for changes. I'll be adding features and such (and writing about them here!), but this is my "Hello World".

Hello, World!

There's plenty more where that came from!

I hope.

posted 2012-02-20 #

He

is actually the CEO of Firefox Mozilla.

(see the original)

posted on 2011-04-01 #

Dumbo.

posted on 2010-10-10 #

Cheap Eats- Tomato Sauce!

When I'm not embarking on various food adventures with my culinary partners in crime, I'm a fairly frugal at-home cook. One of my favorite things to make is my own tomato sauce. It's easy to make a bunch at once, it's turbo-versatile, and it freezes well.

My recipe for tomato sauce:

• 1 large (28oz) can of crushed or whole tomatoes in juice/puree
• 1 carrot carrot, diced
• 1 stalk of celery, diced
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• garlic (as much or as little as you fancy), chopped finely
• spices (parsley oregano, basil) to taste
• olive oil

In a large dutch oven or saucepan, heat up about a quarter cup of olive oil (eyeballed, like most of the things in this recipe). Cook the celery and carrot together with a pinch of salt over medium-low heat for about 5 minutes. Then add the onion, and cook for another 5-10 minutes, or until everything is soft, and the onions are translucent. Push the vegetation to the edges of the pan, and add a little more oil to the center. In that, cook the garlic for another few minutes, until it's just starting to take color. Then add the tomatoes and spices, stir, and bring everything up to a simmer. Cover the pan, and simmer for at least 45 minutes- but it will only get better from there.

What to do with it?

• Poach eggs in about a cup of sauce in a small saucepan. Serve with crusty bread or toast.
• Use it as the base for a quick chili- Take a can of black or kidney beans, 1/4 to 1/2 cup sauce, lots of cumin and chili powder, some hot sauce, and bring it all to a simmer. Then, I crush (or stick-blend) some of the beans to thicken slightly, and cook for another 15 minutes.
• Spanish Rice- prepare rice, substituting half the liquid with sauce. Add diced peppers and cumin. Cook normally, being sure to stir often.

What else can you do with it?

Put it on pasta, dummy!

posted 2010-04-17 #