TurboScribe: How I use the AI app

 TurboScribe, a speech-to-text AI (artificial intelligence). I use the application, app for short, to strip (extract) the audio out of  an online video or a podcast. However, in this particular recording, my audio will be transcribed directly by TurboScribe. It is exceptionally easy and very accurate. The “Whale” transcriber, which is their top of the line tool on the website, is the only one that I use. 

Treasure Hunting on the Old Hard Drive

Treasure is where you find it.  

In this particular case, my search involved going through every folder on a backup drive.  I felt like a D.O.G.E. investigator discovering the oldsters over the age of 110 yeara who are voting and pulling down multiple social security checks.  /humor 

This post is just a place holding test to see if the account still works.

Ciao!

 Just spent part of the morning browsing the selections at McWha Book Store at 114 Central in Belton, TX.  The store is across the street from the Bell County Courthouse.  Floor to ceiling stuffed with all kinds of books.  I picked up a Texas history book published in 1961.  

Texas Voting - No Mask

In the letter dated 14-October-2020, the Attorney General of Texas, Ken Paxton, restated Governor Abbott's Executive Order No. GA-29.  The Order states that "face-covering requirement does not apply to ...any person who is voting, assisting a voter, serving as a poll watcher, or actively administering an election."  Refer to the Order at page 2, paragraph 8. 

The complete order can be found at the following website:

https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/default/files/images/admin/2020/Press/Texas%20Elections%20letter.pdf

Have a good day and a rewarding experience exercising your right to vote.

22-October-2020

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Cen-Tex Breakfast

 Balancing the outside temperature with some inside heat. 

The Friday special features two local eggs, fermented jalapeño sauce (spicy), fermented pickles, onion, Colby cheese and diced smoked pork/beef link sausage cooked as a soft omelet.  Hot grilled corn tortillas. 

The sour fermented pickled provide a taste and texture offset to sausage and eggs. 

The lacto-fermented veggies were purchased at Halvorson's Hidden Harvest and the smoked sausage was purchased at Green's Sausage House in Zabcikville on State Highway 53 east of Temple, Texas. 

Prep time- about five minutes and consumed in even less time.  The ingredients provided the filling for making six small soft tacos. 

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Mail Box Out of Service

On my way into the post office, I encountered a soccer grandma taking a photo and muttering angrily.  Okay the box is out of service.  Did granny go inside and ask why?  Nope.  She jumped into her Subaru and zipped off.

I went inside the post office and asked why the box was out of service.

The lock is broken and a new box is on order.

More news at eleven.

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Tortilla Fusion - The Sorghum Inclusion

Recently, my snack purchases have centered on tostados and horneadas used as the conveyance vehicle avocado dip or for a scrambled egg. The tostados are lightly fried but have a good corn flavor, while the baked horneadas just remind me of crunchy cardboard. 

I like corn tortillas and am also intrigued by various types of flatbreads that are staples in the Middle East and in Indian food.  It is a complicated mix of formulating the right dough, having the right flour, the appropriate heat, and the cooking surface.  Although I would have preferred to have tried my experiment using a gas stove, that choice was not available.  The electric stove top is a big pain--regulating the heat and not banging an iron pan on the glass surface are distractions. 

My basic corn tortilla recipe is taken from the packaging for corn masa flour:

• 2 cups corn masa flour (see modification below)
• 1 ⅓ cups water (hot water- 180℉)
• ¼ tsp salt
• ¼ tsp baking powder (my modification)

This yields about 12 small tortillas that are 3/8 inch thick when hand-pressed using a plate and two sheets of parchment paper.  

The cooking surface is a griddle, comal or tawa chapati pan.  My pan is flat steel with a handle that is riveted to the cooking surface.  Presently, I am using a steel cooling rack to keep the flat pan off of the glass surface of the electric stove. 

My modification - the recipe hack

In my experiment, I substituted finely ground sorghum flour (Indian jowar flour) for half of the corn masa, making the mix a 50/50 combination.  Again, the water was very hot and I mixed the wet  dough using a silicon spatula that I grasped near the mixing paddle so I could exert maximum force on the steaming dough. 

The dough balls were about the size of a small lemon or cutie-type tangerine. The dough was placed between two sheets of parchment paper, pressed gently by hand into a roundish shape and pressed more firmly using a flat-bottomed plate.  The dough has a tendency to stick, so I peeled one side of the parchment paper. Then, I rotated the wet tortilla so the second side could be peeled. Using the parchment paper in the palm of my hand, the moist tortilla was  gently laid onto the hot griddle (not slapped).  Remember to rotate the wrist and gently lay the tender tortilla on the griddle. The parchment paper will release from the top of the tortilla.  The first surface cooked about a minute and during that time I teased it with a thin metal spatula to release the tortilla from the hot surface. When I could scoot the tortilla around the surface, it was flipped to cook the second side.  Sometimes several back and forth flips may be necessary to get an even bake and small charred or toasted areas. The tortillas were accumulated in a foil pouch and kept lightly covered while the remainder of the batch was cooked. 

These flatbreads are not intended to puff up like a roti bread but are supposed to be flat like a pancake. They are the flat surface on which a scramble egg, avocado or other ingredients are layered.  My flatbreads were firm enough to pickup and did not crumble.  The color was a pleasing golden brown. 

Half of the dough was retained and refrigerated over-night.  The dough was covered tightly in plastic wrap and was moist and workable.  A wet hand may be sufficient to rehydrate the dough on the second day, if it feels dry and gritty.  The day-old dough also worked fine making flat breads. 

I may add a tablespoon of oil to see if I can get a little more pliability. In any case, the recipe worked just fine. 

That is all.  [[end]]

Update for the second batch, I drizzled some peanut oil on the flour before the hot water and added a 1/4-tsp of Tajin lemon chili spice to the masa/sorghum flour.  Before I pressed the dough ball, I lightly dusted the bottom parchment paper with dry corn masa flour. The tortilla released easier from the parchment and did not stick to the griddle pan. With the flat tortilla (tostada), I smeared guacamole dip, an egg sunny side up, and hot sauce.  I call it success when I can pick up that many moist products and not have it crumble in my hand.  :)

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