Convert Images

I thought it would be easier to save a PNG file as JPG but I failed. I was pretty sure it should be a standard linux command for that. Naive.

Ok, so found something that does the job:

$ sudo aptitude install imagemagick
$ convert pic.png pic.jpg

Greek Baking

I booked a baking e-course for this morning regarding Greek baking. At the end, I had only the instructions and couldnt join the session so I decided to go ahead myself anyway. So it was a nice way to wake up early and start the weekend.

Olive Bread – Elipsomo

Ingredients

  • 400gr strong white bread flour
  • 1/2 tsp garlic powder
  • 1/2 tsp fine sea salt
  • 7gr dried yeast
  • 250g water
  • 30g honey
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 75g olives, pitted and chopped
  • 1 tsp rosemary chopped

Process

  • Pre-heat oven at 80C to help proving the dough later. Let it warm up for 5 minutes and then drop the temperature to the minimum.
  • Put flour, garlic powder, salt and yeast in a bowl and mix well
  • In a small bowl, mix water and honey until well combined
  • Make a well in the center of the flour bowl and pour the water/honey mix. Combine well until a ball of dough is formed.
  • Put the dough in a table and knead for 8-10 minutes. It should be smooth and pass the “window pane test”.
  • Then add one tbsp of olive oil in the bowl and spread it around. Put back the dough, let it rest inside the oven. Be sure it is just warm. Let it be until it doubles in size.
  • Take the dough out of the oven and pre-heat at 220C.
  • Flatten the dough like a rectangle, add the chopped olives and rosemary. This is the difficult part because I wasnt sure what to do. I tried to make a ball again but it started breaking with the olives. Anyway, once shaped in a ball, let it rest for 5 minutes. I need to find a video to see clearly this part.
  • Prepare a baking tray with paper and put the dough. Coat the dough with the last 1 tbsp of olive (I forgot this 🙁 )
  • Bake for 25-30 minutes until golden.

This is the result!!!

Olive Bread

Clearly, I didnt spread the olives properly… It tastes good to be honest. Maybe next time I will try with a mix of white flour and rye.

Honey Cake

Ingredients

  • 100gr brown sugar
  • 100gr honey
  • 125gr extra virgin olive oil
  • 140gr water
  • 150gr self raising flour
  • 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp ground cloves
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 2 medium eggs
  • 1 tsp vanilla paste

Process

  • Preheat oven at 200C
  • Put sugar, honey, olive oil and water in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring to the boil gradually and simmer for 2-3 minutes. I didnt get a syrup, it was still “quite” liquid. Remove from heat and let it rest
  • Put flour, cinnamon, cloves and baking powder in a bowl and mix properly.
  • In a cristal bowl, put the eggs and vanilla, whisk well. Then pour the liquid mix slowly always keep whisking.
  • Then add the flour mix to the liquid mix. Mix well, and taste it!!!
  • Pour the mix into a tin (with baking paper)
  • Bake for 30-40 minutes. It is ready when you poke with a skewer and comes out clean. It has to be moist!!!
  • Let it cold down

And not bad result. Very moist and tasty!

Honey Cake

You can add some icing after the baking but I thought it was not necessary.

When things fall apart

I finished this book last week. I wasnt sure what was about but I liked it. It was a good refresh for keeping back the “peace” of mind. Its focus is Buddhism and mentions often the benefits of meditation while navigating a conflicting world/life. It reminds you to live the present, don’t hope, be groundless. There are a lot stories of main Buddhist figures dealing with different problems like when Buddha reached the illumination when the Maras attacked him, but he welcome them and didnt fight them. Something, as well, very important is to realize the path is the goal. In a so materialistic world, reading parts of the books is like cleaning your face with cold water. So refreshing, and wakes you up!

In general, it is a small book, quick to read and as I tell myself sometimes, I need to re-read some books. It is not the philosophical stone that is going to solve all problems but helps you to focus. This book or similar to be honest.

Smallest Audience – TCPLS – ByPass CDN WAF – Packet Generator

A bit of mix of things:

Smallest (viable) audience: Specificity is the way

TCPLS: I know about QUIC (just the big picture) but this TCP+TLS implementation looks interesting. Although I am not sure if their test is that meaningful. A more “real” life example would be ideal (packet loss, jitter, etc)

ByPass CDN: I am not well versed in Cloud services but this looks like a interesting article CDN and WAF from a security perspective. It is the typical example of thinking out of the box, why the attacker can’t be a “customer” of the CDN too???

Packet Generator – BNG Blaster: I knew about TReX but never had the chance to use it and I know how expensive are the commercial solutions (shocking!) so this looks like a nice tool.

Ecosia

I received this blog entry and I decided to try Ecosia. A friend commented about it some time a go but never decided to make a move. Sometimes thought to use DuckDuckGo, but let’s see how this goes.

Galicia

I visited Galicia recently. It was a great trip and with better company!

My main goal was to visit Santiago de Compostela Cathedral. And we spent nearly a full day seeing it inside, outside, in the roofs, etc.

Seeing Santiago Apostol from roof

It is a building with a very rich history starting from a Romanesque foundation to several changes of style in the next centuries. The most impressive part was the “Portico de la Gloria”. I didn’t have much idea about the actual setup of the Cathedral as I thought the external facade would be the most important part. The “Portico” is indoors and you can only see it with a tour. But it is worth it. It is a piece of 12th century and has been under restoration for 10 years: the colors, figures and setup are really impressive.

We visited Combarro and Islas Cies. Really beautiful places. We were lucky at the end in Cies and we could trek the whole island. Pity we couldn’t have a swim.

Islas Cies

Combarro

And by luck, we stopped in Bueu, and saw dolphins! from a very nice terrace.

We swam there!

And food wise, very important in Galicia, I tried “arroz negro” with just squid and its ink. Definitely I need to try at home.

Another thing we discovered was “pan de maiz“, really tasty! I need to try the recipe too.

The last thing we visited and really without planning was the “Monasterio de Armenteira” It was a very peaceful place. We couldnt visit the church due to Covid restrictions but we could walk in the claustro that was nice too. And by the way we discovered a very nice trekking route that we couldn’t do due to time constraints. It was beautiful, very green, following a river and with several water mills in the way.

So very good trip and as usual, with the best company. Can’t ask for more.

Second Foundation

Finished today the third book of the Foundation series. It was short but really engaging. I liked again all the twists, meta-histories, etc around the “mystery” of the Second Foundation from the First Foundation members and others. The planning, the plots, the thrills, move your opinion to every direction but it is nice to follow the flow and hit the end wanting more.

My goal is to read all books of the series(and Dune) without much gap between of them as at the beginning of this one I was a bit lost remembering the earlier book. So I have homework!

The Lost Art of Running

I finished this book yesterday. After climbing, the sport I most enjoy is running. I am not a great runner and I am going by seasons but still there are few things better that a good run (with a good sweat) to feel you alive!

Due to injuries and time (I can’t have it all) I haven’t run as much as I would like but now with more daylight, I want to start doing it again and rest a bit of the bike.

This book is a bit of motivation and improvement. Mainly to run better without getting injured and coping with current ones.

The main idea is the body to move fluently as it was done in the past before we became office / chair-addicted. So it is not just a mechanic system of muscles, tendons, bones, etc. The missing element is the fascia (info1)

So taking that point of view, running takes a different approach. The author uses plenty of examples for natural African runners to ultra runners.

The summary is:

  • Foot Placement: Dont be afraid to using the whole foot. Thing of the tripod position
  • Cadence: around 175-180
  • Stride length: The key is to “cycle”.
  • Posture: Stand tall!
  • The head: look at the horizon, not down!
  • Arms: coordination with body
  • Natural lean: I think this is connected to the posture
  • Breathing: control it for not over-breathing
  • Mind: Some of the points above, need our mind to be conscious to make them happen and as well to remind us we are doing well. And this is very important for ultra races.

So, in my next runs, I will try to put in practice some of these points!