The Pollacek Home Page

Change is good

Scott P — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 06:16:21 -0600

After 16 years (man I feel old when I type that) we have gotten new living room furniture, and more importantly, new art. What do ya think?

Mmmm bagels

Scott P — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 13:26:37 -0700

This weekend Brenda and I decided we wanted some bagels. So rather than going to buy some, we decided to make them. This was our first time making bagels. I must say they came out great. We will definitely be making this recipe again. We cut this recipe in half for our first try. the result was 8 beautiful bagels, 2 each of poppy seed, sesame seed, onion, and everything bagels. I can't wait to try them again. Check out the Bagel Recipe here.

Ingredients:

2 cups warm water
2 packages active dry yeast
3 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon salt
about 5 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, unsifted
3 quarts water with 1 tablespoon of sugar
1 egg yolk beaten with 1 tablespoon water
about 2 tablespoons poppy, sesame seeds, or onion flakes

Instructions:

Stir together water and yeast in large bowl of stand mixer; let stand 5 minutes to soften yeast.
Stir in the Sugar and Salt. Gradually mix in 4 cups of the flour and mix with the dough hook for 1-2 minutes. Add about 1 1/4 cups more flour to make a stiff dough. Mix with dough hook until smooth, elastic, and no longer sticky, (5 -7 minutes); add more flour as needed to prevent sticking - dough should be firmer than for most other yeast breads.

Place in a greased bowl, cover, and let rise in a warm place until almost doubled (about 40 minutes to 1 hour).
Punch dough down and divide in half. Set half of the dough aside on a floured board; cover with clear plastic. Cut remaining half of the dough into 8 equal pieces.
To shape, knead each piece into small ball and poke thumbs through center. With one thumb in hole (hole should be at least 1/2 inch) work fingers around perimeter, shaping ball into a donut like shape. Place bagels on a floured board or tray and let stand 20 minutes.

Bring water-sugar mixture to a boil in a 4 to 5 quart pan; adjust heat to keep it boiling gently. Lift bagels carefully and drop into water (a few at a time).
Boil gently for 1 minute turning only once (30 seconds each side). Lift out with slotted spoon and drain very briefly on paper towels, and place on parchment lined baking sheet. Brush with 1/3 of the egg yolk glaze, sprinkle with seeds, or onion and bake in a 400° oven for 15 minutes or until richly browned. cool on racks.

Repeat with remaining dough (you may need to punch it down before shaping). Makes 16 bagels.

Nose Job

Scott P — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 07:23:13 -0700

No, not for me... why, do you think my nose is big?... for the Cobra. Just a little project that I wanted to do this winter. I thinkit really makes the front of the car look cleaner. It took just a few hours to make a template out of some poster board, and I cut the actual piece from some old roof flashing I have had in the basement for years. Slipped it in to place, and secured it. I think it turned out pretty good. The pictures don't do it justice. I want to do some road testing to make sure it doesn't rattle, or move at speed, but that will have to wait until we have better roadster driving weather. I took some before and after pics, but the garage is dark and cramped, so they didn't come out great. But here you go.

before:

After:

How'd I do in '09

Scott P — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 07:33:45 -0700

At the end of 2008, I made a list of things I wanted to accomplish in 2009. I tried not to call them resolutions, but more things that I wanted to do. I thoguht that it would be good to look back at what I wanted to do, and see what I actually accomplished... he we go:

Spend a long weekend in Cleveland. - DONE! We had a great time saw a couple of baseball games, and the R&R HOF.
Get a lot more use out of the boat than we did in '08. BZZZT - fail We hardly got out in the boat at all again last year.
Finish the outdoor bar at the lake. I am going out on a limb and calling this one DONE! We made a temporary bar top, and it is at least fully functional. There is more to do to make it everything I want it to be, but I really jsut want to cross this off.
Actually spend time learning to speak Italian. BZZZT - fail Didn't make any progress on this at all.
Go on a vacation away from home. BZZZT - fail that is unless you count the weekend in Cleveland... but I have high hopes for a tropical vacation in 2010
Go visit people we have been promising to visit for a while. DONE! We actually got out a few times to see these particular people. And I hope to see them all again some more in 2010.
Clean out the basement. DONE! I had to clean out the basement to make room for our newest toy!
Take some steps to advance my career. I am calling this one a FAIL... same job, same crap, same same same
Finish the tile project. BZZZT - fail Not even attempted
Generally enjoy life more. I think I did a pretty good job of enjoying life, but I also don't want to say that I am done enjoying life more... I'll always want to enjoy life more.

So there it is... the recap of my 2009 non-resolution to do list. Iaccomplished 5 out of 10. I could probably do better, but I wasn't a complete failure.

I know it's already Jan 5th, I should probably make a new list for 2010... Maybe later in the week.

Sunset 11/14/2009

Scott P — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 08:53:47 -0700

I thought I would post a picture of the sunset from this weekend. I think I'll also make this a new background for the site.

Uninvited Guests

Scott P — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 07:01:33 -0700

It was an interesting weekend! Saturday morning we had a couple of deer taking laps around the neighbors house. They hung out for 10 minutes or so, then headed up the street. We spent the day working on the docks. Building a temporary structure to raise the boatlift out of the water. After dinner we settled down on the sofa, when we heard a unique sound... I'll let the pictures tell the story.

November, already?

Scott P — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 06:29:58 -0700

I can't believe it's already November 4th! Summer was way too short this year, autumn was way too short this year, this year was way too short this year. I guess I am getting old... time is just flying by.

But with November upon us, it's almost time for Thanksgiving. I'm looking forward to some good turkey this year. We might actually have thanksgiving dinner either at our house, or up to the lake this year. We have done it before with just a few visitors, buit this year it looks like we would have a houseful if we do it. Of course we would break out the Brined Roasted Turkey recipe. There really is no better way to cook a turkey. Not sure what stuffing we would do though. Probably go with a traditional sausage stuffing. My mouth is watering already with 3 weeks to go.

On This Day

Scott P — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 16:00:00 -0600

On this day in history:

1782: Nicolò Paganini, Italian composer is born.

1787: The Independent Journal publishes the first of the Federalist Papers, a series of essays by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay arguing in favor of ratification of the U.S. Constitution.

1858: Theodore Roosevelt, 26th president of the United States is born.

1904: The New York subway system opens for business.

1939: English actor and comedian John Cleese is born.

1971: Some dude named Scott is born.

1997: After a record drop in the Dow Jones index, Wall Street cuts off trading for the first time.

Reflection

Scott P — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 13:12:35 -0600

It's funny how times (people) change?

The Post About Nothing

Scott P — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 03:51:39 -0600

Nothing! That's what I have to talk about. Well it seems that way anyway. I actually have had a busy few weeks, but nothing really seems worthy of writing about. The moose was exciting, but since then I have been racking my brain to come up with something interesting to write about.

Like I said, it's been a busy week, I even made a trip to NYC to see the Yankees in game 1 of the ALCS (thanks Tom.) They won, it was a great game. It was a little cold for baseball, but still, a great game. But other than that, it's just normal day to day stuff. Yard work, work work, getting ready for winter, etc...

Maybe that's it? It's the change of seasons. The weather has turned too quickly from summer to fall. In fact, we kind of skipped fall all together. It's cold! The days are short, and I miss summer already. We are in limbo between summer and winter.

Sot that's it, no pictures, no tale of a trip that we have taken, no witty story about something funny that happened. I've got nothing, it worked for Seinfeld, I figured I would give it a try... Enjoy.

The Moose is Loose

Scott P — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 02:50:18 -0600

Just a quick update. The leaves have changed, and a lot have already fallen. we are past peak up at the lake, but I have a couple of pictures from last weekend when the colors were better.

But the real excitement happened on our way home on Columbus day. We have been going up to the Adirondacks for a long time, and have seen a lot of wildlife over the years, but this was our first encounter with a Moose. I named him Christopher because of the Columbus day holiday. I borrowed a couple of these photos (taken by Ted Merrihew) from the article in the Adirondack Daily Enterprise. Check it out.

It was amazing to see this young bull moose just hanging out by the lake. He didn't seem to care about the 50 or so people stopped along the road gawking at him. I wonder what we will see next? Oh and there are a few more long distance pics of the moose in the gallery.

Baseball at the egg?

Scott P — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 00:47:06 -0600

For those of you not familiar with the capital of New York, we have a performing arts venue that because of it's architecture is commonly referred to as "the egg." It is really more of a sculpture than a building on the Albany skyline. Instead fo trying to describe it, I'll just show you.

Well for my upcoming birthday, Brenda surprised me with tickets to see former Yankee center fielder Bernie Williams perform there this past Tuesday night. You see, Bernie, born and raised in Puerto Rico, is also a classically trained guitarist.

The opening act was a young blues guitarist by the name of Patrick Droney. Patrick's skills on the guitar were impressive, and I look forward to hearing more from him as he grows into his skills a bit more. Then after a short stage reset, Bernie came strolling out in jeans and an untucked shirt, no pinstripes, or baseball glove. Just Bernie, 8 band members led by renowned saxophonist Richie Cannata, and his guitar. The music, a combination of Latin, funk and jazz, was smooth and polished. There was a good mix of instrumental songs written by Bernie, along with a few covers of recognizable tune with vocal accompaniment by Eren Cannata. Bernie explained the inspiration for each of his original songs, and of course the crowd broke out into a "Bernie Williams" chant when he talked about his time with the Yankees.

All in all, it was a good show, and a nice night out. But there wasn't any baseball.

2009 Adirondack Balloon Festival

Scott P — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 03:59:44 -0600

This morning we got up early (4:00) met up with Nickie and Kiana, and headed to Glens Falls for the 2009 Adirondack Baloon Festival. Instead of posting a bunch of pictures today, I decided to make video of our pictures to post instead. I hope you like it.

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Of course the pictures are also available in the Gallery.

2009 Olympic Car Show

Scott P — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 04:33:49 -0600

This weekend we loaded up the Cobra and headed to the lake for Labor Day. It was the first long trip with the car. It was a blast. The curvy mountain roads are what that car was built for. And there isn't a more beautiful setting for a nice drive. It was a little chilly in the open roadster once the sun went down, but that was overcome with jackets, and the heater.

On Sunday we headed into Lake Placid for the 27th annual Olympic Car show put on by the Lake Placid Ski Club, a not-for-profit organization which provides programs that teach children how to ski. These programs take in the beginners through the Olympic skiers.

Summer in Review

Scott P — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 03:34:00 -0600

I know, it's been too long since I have posted anything new. It's been a busy summer. Time really has flown by the past few months. Summer isn't over yet, but I thought I would do a quick review of what we have been up to so far. I'll even include a few pre-summer activities. Of course the review is in photo form, so here we go...