Last Friday (the morning after Thanksgiving), I fell victim to a recurring & incurable disease: Christmas Fever.  By days end, I was lounging in the living room beside our glorious Noble Fir, basking in the twinkling lights, and sipping hot cocoa with Bing Crosby crooning in the background.  This inspiration board simply poured right out of that luxurious coziness…  fur layered with silks & knits; raw birch next to delicate white petals; warm donuts coated with sparkling sugar.  F0r a winter party, take inspiration from a rustic ski lodge and infuse with modern details.  Layer textures with abandon, and tie them together with a muted and completely cohesive color palette. Set up a fire pit in the backyard and pass out cozy throws to keep guests warm.  Pass trays of hot chocolate shots, and warm guests’ hearts by sending them home with fuzzy mittens as favors.

Images: {Row 1} Cocoa & Chandelier, Style Me Pretty; Wedding Cake, Martha Stewart {Row 2} Paw Gloves, sarahlaglace’s Etsy; Place Card, Martha Stewart; Fur Stole, Carla Ten Eyck {Row 3} Table Cards, Oh Happy Blog; Table Number, Neithersnow; Candles, Style Me Pretty {Row 4} Bride & Florals, Style Me Pretty; Donuts, Cannelle et Vanille.

I shoulda gotten out of bed when my alarm went off, but I slept for 2 more hours instead.

I woulda gone out to hand out resumes in hopes of landing a part time job, but I slept in.

I coulda done more school work today, and actually gotten ahead of the game, but other things were more interesting.

I guess that’s how it goes sometimes, eh?

I started my sleep in day with something I haven’t had in eons – a smoothie!

• frozen raspberries
• 1 scoop vanilla whey protein powder
• 1 tbsp peanut butter
• 1 tbsp cocoa
• milk

I also had an Apple Carrot Raisin Oatmeal Muffin with said smoothie delight.

Even though it was cold and rainy, the smoothie was so very enjoyable. Note to self – do not forget about the smoothie!

I ended up plopped on the couch watching skating this afternoon, and worked on some parts of our group paper. I was trying to foster some discussion, but there wasn’t much input from other group members, so I gave up. I’m just hoping they weren’t near their computers, and not just ignoring the fact that we need to get this done.

I eventually thought about having lunch. I was craving an eclectic salad.

• romaine lettuce
• spinach
• cucumber
• carrot
• hummus/salsa mix
• sour cream
• dill pickles
• tiny bit of leftover roast chicken
• spelt sticks (inspiration from Mama Pea and her sesame sticks)

Mom went grocery shopping, and brought back a fresh, doughy load of sourdough bread, so I toasted up a slice and spread on a little butttah.

‘Twas a delightful lunch.

But as delicious as the random salad combo was (dill pickles & spelt sticks on salad are a keeper!), my tummy got angry about half way through, so I ended up tossing the last third or so. I didn’t waste any of that bread though – simple carby goodness is one of the few things I want when I’m feeling ill.

My sister was off to her boyfriend’s, and my parents had a dinner to go to, so I was left alone for the evening (yay!). And what was the first thing I did? Get dressed and head out to the grocery store. LOL. I had good reason though – mom went grocery shopping, and only bought plain orange juice. Now, I don’t know what it is about plain orange juice, but I can’t drink it. Especially if there’s pulp. Blech – if I want to chew something, I’ll eat the fruit, thanks. I was on a Happy Planet juice mission!

I picked up not just my favourite Mango Peach Party, but another flavour I haven’t enjoyed in quite some time – Tropical Tango.

I couldn’t help but to enjoy a glass right when I got home.

I always forget how awesome the Tropical Tango Flavour is. It has coconut in it, so obviously it has to be good. It’s almost like drinking a Pina Colada…sans rum.

And since I was left to my own devices for dinner, I decided to make a pizza only I would enjoy. We even had a small ball of pizza dough in the freezer, and I managed to spread it out on the pan relatively well. I still have troubles with holes forming in my crust, but I patched those all up.

I brushed a little olive oil on the dough, and sprinkled on some Italian seasoning, garlic powder, and parmesan cheese and pre-baked the crust a bit before topping it. Then I added:

• spinach
• marinated artichokes
• onion
• rehydrated porcini mushrooms
• corn
• mozzarella
• parmesan

The above is pre-cheese, and below is post-cheese & post-bake.

Whenever I use fresh pizza dough, I can never get it to brown – any tips?!

I served myself a couple of slices.

It was delicious. Especially without the tomato sauce base. We didn’t have any on hand, and I’m not really a tomato sauce person, so the simple olive oil & seasonings were right up my alley. Plus that corn – oh, it get so sweet and delicious on the pizza. If you’ve never had corn on a pizza, I highly recommend you try it out.

I enjoyed my pizza while I watched the hockey game (Canucks win 7 – 3!). It didn’t bother my tummy much, so I grabbed another slice (they were pretty small to begin with).

That’s a hunk of artichoke hanging off there, not cheese

My mom came home later on with leftover dessert from their dinner party – cherry cheesecake. Obviously, I had to taste test a sliver.

It got my seal of approval.

Then, despite the rain, we went and soaked out in the hot tub. It’s been quite awhile since I’d gone in (probably because of all the rain), so it was a nice way to relax from my…completely slack day. HA!

And now, it is again much later than I would like it to be, so I shall bid my adieu and hop into bed. Night!

2 Tbsp sugar

2 tbsp cocoa (I used Hershey)

Dash of salt

1 cup milk

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

(got this recipe right off the box for Hershey’s Cocoa mix)

Another personal masterpiece (he says modestly) from the template “Here come the seasons” at ETTC, which we featured last week!

Here comes winter,
Here comes winter,
cold weather, warm clothes
Here comes winter,
Here comes winter,
hot tea, cocoa and biscuits
Here comes winter,
Here comes winter-
warm weather, sunny days, there it goes.

Strange Random Language Fact:
According to Illinois state law, it is illegal to speak English. The officially-recognized language is “American.”

… waiting for Thanksgiving! And for Glee this evening!

Who else is obsessed with Glee?

I can’t wait to eat with my family. and stuff my mouth with roasted veggies and ‘vegetable’ pie.  and share what we’re thankful for.

As a way to show my thanks in advance, I made some Pumpkin French Toast for the bro.

Topped with a dab of butter and cinnamon-sugar pecans from Georgia.

Lunch plate: Apple, avocado, cucumber, carrots, celery, leftover sauce from last night, and hummus!

A match made in heaven.

On account of tomorrow being Thanksgiving, and quite the busy cooking day, I took the night off from making a family dinner. Instead, it was an ‘Anything’ night. I made myself some cream of wheat with vanilla and cocoa powder, topped with 1/4c pepitas, cinnamon and a dash of almond milk. Twas delicious.

Readers,

I thank you all for brightening my day! Thank you for your kind words and fun comments. Thank you for taking the time and visiting my blog  Thank you for caring about food, health and nutrition. Thank you for being truly delightful. Thank you, to my family, for being the light in my life. Thank you, my friends, for making life worth while. Thank you, everyone, for wanting to live the best life possible. Thank you for being you.

THANK YOU!

Have a lovely Thanksgiving, everyone. You deserve it! Fill your tummies with love and delicious food

TubeFlect kann ab heute doch tatsächlich schon mal das Grundlegende, was es können muss: YouTube-Videos abspielen. Das soll vorerst nur als Test laufen, weshalb das Layout auch noch nicht perfekt aussieht. Wie es funktioniert: Man nehme einen handelsüblichen YouTube-Link, kopiere ihn in das Textfeld und klickt auf “Load Video”. TubeFlect schnappt sich daraufhin den Flashplayer aus der YouTube-Seite und lädt ihn im Fenster. Das beste daran: Da er die Elemente rund um den Flash-Player nicht laden muss, geht der Ladeprozess schneller als auf konventionelle Methode – ein Pluspunkt für Leute mit schwachen Internetleitungen.

Somit haben wir schon mal einen Grundstein gelegt für eines der Prioritäten von TubeFlect: Das schnelle Laden von Videos. Den Text und vor allen Dingen die Werbung drumherum, die immer zuerst geladen werden, werden jetzt elegant übersprungen.

Zum ersten Mal kann man jetzt schon die Grundidee von TubeFlect sehen: Das Video im Mittelpunkt. Wie gesagt, alles erstmal nur ein Test, das Layout des Videobrowsers gefällt uns auch nicht Zum Screenshot: Die YouTube-Suche funktioniert noch nicht, die Buttons in der Menüleiste auch nicht. Die letzten Probleme mit der Navigationsleiste sind behoben, so wird sie vorerst bleiben. Der Vollbildmodus vom VouTube-Video funktioniert selbstverständlich und auch maximieren kann man die Geschichte schon. Die 4 Favoritenordner hab ich mit dem Plusbutton hinzugefügt, das funktioniert also auch schon gut.

Wir haben heute zusätzlich zum Browser auch unter der Haube ein paar Sachen geändert. Der Quelltext ist insgesamt kleiner geworden, es wird nicht mehr durch unnötige Variablen Speicher verbraucht. Auf dem Screenshot seht ihr übrigens FileMerger, ein Hilfsprogramm mit dem man 2 Dateien miteinander vergleichen kann. Rechts ist die alte Version des FolderListControllers, links die neue Version.

Zum Schluss noch 2 Sachen: Erstens sieht man, dass wir wirklich nur träge weiterkommen. Das liegt daran, dass wir täglich wegen dem Schulstress momentan nur maximal 2 Stunden pro Tag Zeit für TubeFlect haben. Außerdem bin ich noch nicht gerade der Profi in Sachen Cocoa-Programmierung und Obi versteht nur Bahnhof vom Quelltext

Außerdem möchte ich demnächst einen zweiten Blog eröffnen, der sich nur um TubeFlect kümmert. Ich möchte diesen Blog weiterhin als Privatblog behandeln und nicht mit Changelogs vollstopfen. Ich sage euch bezüglich der Änderung rechtzeitig bescheid.

We arrived in Vero Beach yesterday after spending 3 fun days in Cocao.  Cocao Village Marina is conveniently just a few blocks from town.  They also have washers/dryers for $1!  (I’m totally obsessed with laundry!!)  As we approach Cocoa, Joe (Onward) was planning to anchor on the other side of the bridge but found to his dismay that the bridge height only showed 63 ft–about 1 ft less than his mast height.  He decided to anchor off of the marina and do some research into why the bridges are lower than they were last year.  To keep you in suspense, I’ll report on his findings later…

Bridge too low?

We ate and shopped, shopped and ate for 3 days in Cocoa.  The town is neatly arranged around a center square that houses the “Dog and Bone” English pub.  It’s a favorite stop, not only for the beer but because all manner of dogs are allowed inside.  Bailey met a furry chow, 2 labs and many other varieties while we enjoyed the brew.  Saturday night, we sampled the sushi and thai food at Thai Thai.  Sunday, we had breakfast at Ossorio and then waited until after noon to check out the shops.  We found a neat used paperback bookstore but, although the doors were open and the lights were on, nobody was there to wait on us–strange!  We went back on Monday and met the nice owner who will probably give her son the business for leaving the store unlocked!

The streets of Cocoa village are lined with unique stores.  A favorite find is ‘From Olives and Grapes’ where large urns of olive oils and vinegars are available for tasting before purchase.  The best part was that the owner had 3 shelties and loved meeting Bailey.   After stopping at the Dog and Bone for refreshments, we enjoyed an early dinner of wood-fired pizza at Ossorio.  Joe also let us sample his Brioche–a pastry he always wanted to try.

On Monday we hit the rest of the stores.   Travis Hardware is the highlight for some folks.  If you like several blocks of the oddest, most dusty assortment of stuff, this is your kind of place!  Cocoa village has the same holiday set-up as last year, including a small ice rink.  I didn’t brave it this time (hideously dull hockey skates for rent–ugh!)  The General Store served delicious pulled pork sandwiches for lunch.  For dinner, we tried the Brazilian steak house.  It was okay–not my favorite.  They bring freshly grilled meats out on a skewer and keep serving you until you say ’stop’.  For dessert, they bring fresh grilled pineapple with cinnamon–yummy!

Having seen all of Cocoa, we left early Tuesday for the trip to Vero Beach.  To finish Joe’s bridge saga, he made a bunch of calls to FL state offices, Core of Engineers and the Coast Guard.  No one seemed to know why the bridge height markings were changed.  The person who handles bridge maintenance said that he would look into it.  Fixed bridges on the waterway are supposed to have 65ft clearance at mean low water.  Joe did happen to see a large catamaran go under the bridge on Monday and talked to him on the radio to find out that his mast was 64ft high.  Joe inched his way slowly under the bridge (and the 4 other fixed bridges along the way) with only his VHF antenna hitting.  Hopefully, they’ll find out more about the bridge markings and provide more specific information (e.g. height is at the fender boards–add 2 ft for the center.)  Another boat that arrived the same time as we did ended up going offshore rather than risk losing his mast–not a decision some people would prefer.

Close fit for Onward

Vero Beach is an interesting place to hang out.  They have docks and many moorings where boats are usually rafted 3 to a mooring.  We rafted next to a Canadian boat with Vic and Marilyn aboard.  They were fun to talk to and even took Bailey for a walk when we went ashore to check in and get showered. 

The Thanksgiving feast will be a ‘pot luck’ with cruisers signing up for various dishes.  I’m going to make dressing tomorrow.  I boarded the local free bus this morning to buy groceries.  As I left Publix, a nice woman asked if I needed a ride back to the marina.  She lives in Vero and took some cruising friends shopping.  How nice to avoid the crowded bus ride back!

I’m looking forward to the festivities tomorrow.  There are lots of people here that we met last winter in the Bahamas.  We’re starting to feel like real cruisers!

Cloudy, rainy day before Thanksgiving at Vero Beach

There’s some really nice utility functions in Cocoa that can make life a lot easier. Take performSelector:withObject:afterDelay: for example. It will call a function for you after a specified delay. But beware! It is the amount of time experienced by the main thread, not real time. Say you say to cocoa to call you back in 8 hours, but you put your machine to sleep for 4 hours in that period. In this scenario your selector will be called in 8+4 hours.

The moral of this story? Only use performSelector:withObject:afterDelay: for short delays.

- Möller

I just got an app rejected from the AppStore, because of the use of a call to a private API. I called “setReuseIdentifier” on an UITableViewCell object. My bad

But how does one make sure that your custom tableview cell, created in IB, actually WILL be reused ? I thought the right way, was to do the above. Not …

If you create a UITableViewCell in code, you’ll normally set an reuseIdentifier :

- (id)initWithStyle:(UITableViewCellStyle)style reuseIdentifier:(NSString *)reuseIdentifier

But what if you’re loading your custom cell from a NIB file ? Then the little simple trick is to fill out “Identifier” field in the “Attributes Inspector” :

This way your can reuse the cell in your tableview, as you normally do by calling :

static NSString *CustomCellIdentifier = @"CurrencyCell";

CurrencyCell *cell = (CurrencyCell *)[tableView dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier: CustomCellIdentifier];

I hope this post will be useful for you and save you some time

Jonathan Sterling discusses writing fully native Cocoa applications in Smalltalk with F-Script in "Writing Mac OS X applications in Smalltalk"

What I really wanted was a version of Smalltalk that used the same object model as Objective-C, like Pragmatic Smalltalk of Etoilé, or even MacRuby on Mac OS. Most of all, I wanted it to treat me like an adult: I don't need a class browser, thank you, I'm more comfortable working with plain-old files. The persistent image construct in Smalltalk really makes me uncomfortable. Eventually, I found F-Script, a scripting environment for Mac OS based on Smalltalk. It is not really meant for developing full applications, but with a little work, I was able to make this work. Read more…

My world is forever changed. Banana Rabanda owns my soul

AND.

Can you believe this? I put up an open invitation for free breakfast and s’nogged coffee at my house last night on my facebook status and sent out 12 enticing text messages this morning and NO ONE WAS AT MY HOUSE TO SHARE IT WITH ME FOR BREAKFAST. It’s okay, I’m not angry… just disappointed. Yeahhh, that makes the lack of Rabanda in your life sting, doesn’t it? Hah! Jerks.

FYI: Your second opportunity arises in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia on December 26th. Contact me for more details.

Banana Rabanda

suckas!

xo.

TFish

Cocoa with Love에 message passing 방식과 virtual table게 기반한 언어의 처리에 대해서 나온 포스트를 링크했었다. 역시 미국애들도 왜 그렇게 좋은 objective-c를 왜 다른 곳에서는 쓰지않는가에 대한 질문이 많다. 이 말은 물론 다른 뜻을 내포하고 있겠다.
이 말에 대한 답을 하자면, 우선 역사를 알아야 하나는 점이다. 그리고 여기에는 일종의 사보타지가 있었다는 것도…

우선 Objective-C는 SmallTalk에 기반을 두었다. 이 언어는 OOP를 구현하는 연구적인 언어의 성격이 강한 언어다.
그러므로 성능보다는 어떻게하면 소프트웨어를 만드는 데 있어서 부품화를 잘 할 수있는지, 실제 소프트웨어를 제작 관리하는데 어떤 기능이 어떻게 필요할지에 더 촛점을 두고 개발이 되었다. 그러므로 80년대 초에 OOP언어가 실제 환경에서 쓰일때는 실제와의 trade-off 즉 성능과 이상적 기능과의 타협이 있어야만했다. 그래서 대부분의 용도에는 C++의 접근이 더 현실성이 있었던 것이다. 하지만 잦은 코드의 변경이 요구 되는 환경에서는 코드의 관리가 중요했다. 큰 프로젝트를 하는 사람들은 느끼겠지만 코드의 유지 보수에 드는 시간과 인력이 오히려 제작보다도 더 든다는 것은 익히 알것이다.
그래서 그런 것이 요구되는 증권사같은 곳에서는 NeXT가 많이 쓰인 것으로 알고 있으며, Web Object와 같은 경우는 NeXT가 없어지는 날까지 아주 호평을 받으며 쓰였었다. (참 아깝다. 지금은 Apple이 web object를 포기했으니 말이다. 아무래도 Apple로 흡수 통합되면서 플랫폼이 생기니 우선 OS와 그 위에서 도는 compiler기반의 것이 더 중요해서였을 것이다. 이때 많이 포기했는데 3 tier binary code라던가 OPENSTEP, White NeXT와 같은 것이 그것이다. )

하지만 점점 더 컴퓨터의 성능이 좋아지고 Java같은 Virtual Machine언어도 광범위하게 쓰이는 판국에 더 이상 Objective-C의 성능은 문제거리도 되지않게 되었고 바야흐로 코드의 유지 보수 관리라는 것이 더 중요하게 된 시점이다.

또 다른 이유는 사업계에서의 정치적인 이유로 알고있다. 산업계는 NeXT의 개발 환경의 우수성을 알고 있었다. Sun, HP, IBM 모두 NeXT의 환경을 받아들이기로 다 협상을 하고 실제 동작하는 것을 가지고 있었다고 한다. 하지만 이 환경을 기본 제공하는 것이 아니라 옵션으로 제공하면서 광고는 전혀 하지 않았다고 한다. 여기에는 그 세 회사가 Steve Jobs를 어떻게 생각하고 있었는가에 그 이유가 있다. 그때 당시 Steve Jobs는 비록 NeXT의 사장이지만 Apple이나 MS처럼 강력하지 못했다.하지만 업계는 이미 그가 Bill Gates보다 더 위험 인물이라는 걸을 이미 경험을 해 보았기에 알고 있었다. 이미 Bill Gates만으로도 충분히 골치가 아프던 업계는 또 한명의 더 지독한 인물이 재부상하는 것을 원치 않았었다고 한다.
그럼 그것을 사보타지하는 게 좋지 않은가? 그래서 Jobs와 계약을 해서 딴 생각 못하게 해 놓고 사실은 그쪽으로 사업을 추진하지 않은거라고 한다.

이 같은 사실을 어디서 알았는지 궁금해 하시는 분들이 있을 줄 안다. 다 그때 당시에 분석기사들에 있던 것이다. 오랬동안 관심있게 봐왔기에 기억하는 것일 뿐이다.

MS의 연구자들도 같은 생각을 하는 것 같다. .Net을 보면 Objective-C와 Cocoa와 무척 흡사하다는 것을 느낀다. 그렇다면 그냥 Objective-C와 Cocoa를 채택하지 왜 C#/C++ .NET을 만들었는가? 그거야 뭐 당연한 것이고..

By request:

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 4 teaspoons corn meal
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 1 tablespoon white or apple cider vinegar
• 3 eggs, beaten
• 3 1/2 tablespoons cocoa
• 1 tablespoon flour
• 1/2 cup pecans, shelled
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 unbaked pie crust

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Roll out pie crust and arrange in pie pan. Crimp or shape edges.
2. Combine dry ingredients, then mix in the wet ingredients, adding the pecans last. Pour the mixture into the pie crust.
3. Bake at 350 for 50-55 minutes, until pie is set and the crust is browned. Let cool at least 15-20 minutes before cutting, or cool completely before serving.

Credits: Mom!

역시 Cocoa with Love이다.
Objective-C’s niche: why it survives in a world of alternatives
Objective-C와 C++의 compiler 측면에서의 차이가 나와 있다. 더 구체적으로 말하자면 Virtual Table (vTable)에 의한 구현과 message passing에 의한 구현의 차이점이다.

물론 Objective-C엔 이 외에도 다른 장점이 있다. 이젠 C# .NET이나 C++ .NET에서도 누릴 수있는, Category나 Protocol과 같은 것이 그것이다. 참 단순한 생각이 아닐 수없겠지만, 이 두개가 주는 code management와 code를 변경해 나갈때에의 누릴 수있는 자유는 참 어마 어마 한 것이다.

Cocoa with Love에 나와 있는 글은 짧지만 설명이 잘 되어 있다. 한번들 읽어 보시면 도움이 되겠다.

Cocoa with Love에 Objective-C의 장점을 잘 살린, NSHost를 thread-safe하게 구현하는 법에 대해서 나왔다.
사실 여기엔 두가지 기법이 사용되는데, Objective-C의 runtime을 이용한, 이미 있는 method를 새 method로 갈아치우는 법( swizzling이라는 slang으로 표현하고 있다.)과 NSOperation을 이용한 asynchronous 한 동작이다.
NSOperation은 잘 살펴보지 않아서 몰랐는데, 자체적으로 main()함수를 가지고 있을 수있나보다.
예전에 NSOperation 설명서 볼때 못 본거 같은데…..

아무튼 좋은 팁이고, Objective-C를 사용하는 기법을 향상 시킬 수있는 기회다.
(Objective-C runtime쪽은 잘 보질 않아서… Han9Kin님이 잘 하시는거 같던데..)

Hey everyone! The new pin is out! It’s the hot cocoa pin. Location: Coffee Shop

Hope that helps! Icy out.

~Icy6784~

Today is one of those gorgeous days that make me glad I live in Fairbanks.  It’s cold – about  -15F – but there’s not a cloud in the sky.  We’ve had enough snow recently to cover each little twig and branch on the bare birch and cottonwoods, and to leave nice piles on the spruce boughs.  The hills around town look like rumpled white velvet.  Pictures don’t do it justice, but I’ll try to post one soon. It’s just sooooo beautiful.  Sigh.  And, it’s great cocoa weather.  Cheapo powdered cocoa mix from the supermarket can be improved upon very easily – use milk instead of water, and add some honey.  YUM.  Don’t forget the ginger snaps!