Vegan roasted eggplant curry · Tuesday February 18, 2025 by colin newell
Sometimes a damp winter night calls for something warming, nutritious, delicious and comforting.
This eggplant dish meets all of those criterium — and it’s vegan too!
Now normally one would bake the eggplant in the oven, but we opted for 12 minute batches (x2)
in a air fryer at 380 degrees F. The air fryer is quicker and way more energy efficient. I could write a veritable treatise on how we use the regular oven less and less and less in favour of the small, quicker, faster, better air fryer appliance.
Ingredients
4 cups cubed eggplant
1 tsp salt
3 tbsp avocado oil
1/2 large onion, chopped
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1-inch cube of ginger, finely chopped
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp ground coriander
2 tbsp curry powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 cup crushed tomatoes
1 cup coconut milk
1 cup cooked chickpeas
Rice for serving (optional)
Directions
Cut the eggplant into a dice – salt the eggplant for around 15 minutes (for reduced bitterness) and to dry it.
Toss it into a bowl with a tablespoon of vegetable or avocado oil – mixing thoroughly.
Divide this mix into 2 – and cook in the air fryer as indicated above.
Meanwhile, open your 14 ounce tin of diced tomato, the tin of coconut milk and the tin of chickpeas.
Put some vegetable oil in a pot (heat it on low) - take a 1/2 of a large onion – chopping it up.
Take 3 large garlic cloves and finely mince.
Put the onions on into the oil to soften for 2 minutes – add the garlic – add a tablespoon of prepared mince ginger.
Still for 2 minutes. Combine.
Add the spices: Paprika, coriander, the curry powder, pepper and salt. Stir for a minute.
Add the tin of diced tomatoes and coconut milk – stir and let it come to a boil.
Add chickpeas (don’t forget to rinse) - and add roasted eggplant.
Simmer for 15 minutes. Serve over rice pilaf.
Colin Newell is a Victoria resident, coffee drinker and writer and has been haunting the internet since 1995!
We review the XHDATA D-221 ultra-portable AM-FM-SW-Weather radio · Monday February 17, 2025 by colin newell
It has been said many many ways before: You don’t really need something until you don’t have it – and in this world of ultra-connectedness, this could not be more true than the absence of a simple radio during a crisis.
And in this drama filled planet, where we depend on our cell phones, personal planner brains and other assorted cloud based/cell tower dependent gadgets, the battery powered radio has never been more important.
But the average person does not get this concept – for one reason or another – like they have never been in the middle of an earthquake zone, or a country with some unexpected civil unrest or the unpleasant aftermath of some conflagration or another.
And it is during moments like that where panic and bewilderment can set in extra quick when one is 100% in the dark.
Solution: Stay connected. Be connected. Be prepared.
How? With a radio.
And XHDATA was kind enough to send me a radio to play with and evaluate for our technical/non-technical audience.
Let’s dig in: The XHDATA D-221 weighs in at 171g with a standard 9V battery.
It measures 12cm long, by 7cm wide by 3cm thick – meaning it sits in the palm of your (girl or boy) hands just fine.
Usage: If, like me, you grew up in the 60’s, 70’s or 80’s, you know the look and feel of the standard transistor radio – whether it be a handheld portable, discretely pocketable, or something larger for the kitchen counter – or something even larger that you might balance on your shoulders… radios and their usage comes pretty much naturally.
The XHDATA D-221 is no different. It is the model of simplicity: Volume control (with integrated power switch) and tuning control on the right (as it faces you) and band selection switch on the left. Nothing more. Nothing less.
Step by step: Power on. Extend antenna. Select band of interest. Adjust volume and tuning dials.
If you were expecting more bells or whistles, worry not. There are no bells. There are no whistles.
The XHDATA D-221 works very well on AM and FM. During the day, the AM dial picks up all the familiar stations you expect to hear and at night the XHDATA D-221 comes alive with long distance signals from 700 to 1000 km away or more. Not surprising. Any decent AM portable is going to hear distant stations. Our local FM dial is chock-a-block with signals – and all of those signals were present on the D-221 with perfect clarity via the internal speaker or through headphones via the stereo headphone jack.
The Weather-band network of marine stations were all crystal clear at my location near the Southern tip of Vancouver Island.
If I have one criticism, it was, for me, the Shortwave portion of the dial. While I live in something of a shortwave fringe area up here in the Northwest, I am also not really in a high intensity AM zone – but I do have a lot of powerful FM transmitters not too far away. Consequently, the SW dial of the D-221 was a wash of images (or birdies as they are often called) and no evidence of shortwave reception. This could be a bug of this particular sample or a byproduct of my listening environment. Either way, it was not an issue that would stop me from having one in my travel or emergency kit.
The XHDATA D-221 comes in at around $20 – via Amazon, or XHDATA direct or where ever you get your gizmo’s.
Pick one up. Better yet. Buy three and have one in your car, your home tote and send one to a friend. You never know, it might save their life or yours.
Seville Orange and Lemon Marmalade with a twist · Sunday January 26, 2025 by colin newell
I’ll admit it — with an English and Irish family heritage, I am a bit of a marmalade junkie. I’ve been enjoying it since I was a kid – and thankfully have had access to some locally made farm marmalade – albeit with imported Seville oranges.
For some reason or another, I had forgotten about the last batch that I made (a whopping 4 or 5 years ago…) and it was a combo of Seville Orange, Meyer Lemon and Quince. It was epic. Just the right consistency with just the right amount of peel or rind.
About a year ago I had discovered that there was 3 or 4 bottles kicking around. And knowing how diligent I am when preserving (bottling/canning) it, I cracked open a jar one Saturday morning to enjoy with hot, black coffee. What a treat! I was so taken by how delicious this was, that I gave away some of the remaining bottles. That was a smart move as before too long, I was completely out of this previously preserved confiture. Another Saturday morning rolls around and I head for the cellar to see what might be hiding behind forgotten or feared bottles of canned salmon, mystery chutneys and unmarked bottles of what could possibly be distilled dark matter.
Bingo. A bottle of marmalade from one of my wife’s girlfriends “Angie” — while not the Angie from the Rolling Stones song, this Angie whips up a wicked Marm. So thrilled by it I was that I reported it to her — and she said, “That batch is from 6 years ago – why did your wait so long?!” How can I explain… “Hidden behind bottled toxic waste…” Anyway, I was kicked into action!
Anyway. The recipe for my latest concoction!
12 to 14 Seville Oranges (in season from January through February.)
2 to 4 Lemons of any ilk, stripe or varietal.
Have piles of white sugar handy (enough to light up the eyes of your family dentist…)
Juice the Oranges and Lemons with one of the manual juicers shown at right and/or left.
Put aside the spent/juiced rinds of the lemon and orange in a pot.
Put the pulp and seeds into a small pot for a special treatment afterward.
When you have all the juice set aside (in a measuring pot, carafe or what-have-you) put it in the fridge covered.
Take all of the seeds and pulp that you have and put them into a sauce pan with enough water to cover the mixture.
Bring the mix to a very light boil and then reduce to simmer for 30 to 45 minutes. This seed/pulp mix gets this treatment to generate lots of extra pectin (which is key for setting the marmalade. )
Run the pulp/seed/water mixture (which should be in almost sauce form) through a very fine strainer or cheese cloth. The liquid from this exercise goes into your pot/carafe/jug of juice. The seed/pulp remnants go into the compost!
Take your lemon and orange rinds and remove as much pulp as you can that might be left over. Ideally, you want the skins or rind only.
For robust or rustic marmalade, you can use ALL of the rind/skin of all of the fruit but I would advise against that if you are making this marmalade for the first time. Use 1/2 to 3/4 of the skins that you have available.
I tend to cut up the skin/rind into strips that are no more than 1/2” long and as thin as you might think worthy or appetizing. I use a very sharp knife for this — so be very careful! This is where the work gets super risky. Process as much rind as you think worthy of going into your marmalade. I used the rind of every piece of fruit and it the result is: One very thick and rustic marmalade! You have been warned. OK. You have your sliced rind/skin at the ready.
Put all your juice/extract mixture into a suitable pot or dutch oven. Slowly heat while adding 1/2 cup sugar per orange and an additional cup for the lemons. Add your sliced/diced rind. You should have gotten 4 to 6 cups of juice from your lemon/orange juicing combo. If you seem short of fresh juice, you can add 1/4 cup or 200ml (give or take) of bottled organic juice of almost any kind. I used Pomegranate. It’s not too flavour forward but it adds a bit of colour.
Safety note – from this point forward, we are dealing with increasingly hot material. The desire is to bring the liquid/rind mixture to a minimum of 222 to 225 degrees (F) or 104.5 © – at this temperature, these materials if spilled on a human or other living thing can maim or kill. Be very careful.
Common sense here folks: If you have small children, pets or inexperienced kitchen people, keep this in mind – this is a high-hazard activity.
Items required at this point include an accurate analog or digital thermometer — ideally a purpose built candy thermometer.
Additionally, you want the marmalade mixture to pass something called a wrinkle test.
To perform the wrinkle test, add 1/4 teaspoon of the “liquor” or “syrup” in the mix (after it passes 222 degrees) to a plate that has been in the deep freezer for a minimum of a 1/2 hour. Put the plate back in the freezer for 5 minutes or more. Remove the plate and run your finger into the small pool of liquor. If it wrinkles in front of your finger, it has reached the critical set point. If it hasn’t, keep boiling!
When your mix is at that magical “set” point, you want to bottle it. I use glass jars with lids and rings. The discussion of this technique is beyond the scope of this blog — but I could create another blog entry. The two photos above illustrates part of the process. Some other “makers” sometimes pour paraffin wax over the top of the jam/jelly/marmalade before putting on a lid. I use the boiling water immersion method because it is time honoured, safe and guarantees a long shelf life.
Once you get the hang of “basic” Orange marmalade, it opens up a galaxy of infinite variety in terms of additional ingredients, juices, spices, fruit peel and on and on and on – if anyone reading this knows something about adding liquor to marmalade batches, please chime in – I like the idea of the flavour of a single malt whiskey — but I have not idea as to when to add it or how much. Thank you!Colin Newell is a Victoria area resident and long time writer on the subject of coffee and food culture. He can often be found taking up space in a local cafe sipping the best brew the World has to offer.
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The XHDATA D-608WB - a radio for every application · Wednesday July 24, 2024 by colin newell
It is not everyday that a radio drops into my lap for the purposes of testing and day to day use.
So it was to my delight when the good folks at XHDATA contacted me with an offer: “Let us send you a radio. You put it through its paces. See what it can do. And put a review on your DXer.ca website.”
Hey! I can do that. So here goes.
The XHDATA D-608WB radio is described more as an emergency radio than a standard counter-top or totable radio.
Its dimensions make for an item that fits comfortably in the hand – at 15 cm long, 7.5cm wide and 4 cm deep it has a place in every emergency pack.
Why should everyone have this radio in their emergency kit?
The radio covers AM, FM, Shortwave and the weather band with impressive sensitivity. I had no trouble capturing all of my regional AM stations — and after sunset, all the clear channel stations were loud and clear – many from over 1000 miles away.
The FM sensitivity was comparable to all of my larger portable.
Sound quality is great for such a small package and is pleasant enough for hours of listening.
Shortwave sensitivity and selectivity was surprisingly good for a radio that appears to try to do everything.
All of my regional weather band stations (within 70 km away) came in crystal clear.
There are hundreds of memories available on the XHDATA D-608WB for your fav stations. The XHDATA D-608WB has auto-add of stations to memory during scanning! XHDATA did not appear leave out any desired features with this radio.
The radio is powered by a rechargeable battery. It can be charged via a USB cable (supplied), via solar cells built into the radio or from a hand-crank generator also integral to the radio! The radio comes with an Tri-level LED reading light (integrated underneath the solar panel array on the top of the radio! The radio comes with a very bright emergency light (or torch as some call it…)
The radio is also a selectable Bluetooth speaker — with great audio quality. So, you can pair it with your iPhone or Android device and any PC, Mac or Linux desktop/laptop! Not only that, when it is paired with your phone you can actually accept phone calls! I tested it. It worked flawlessly!
While watching YouTube on my iPhone (and paired with the XHDATA D-608WB radio, one can fast forward and skip between videos with buttons on the XHDATA D-608WB! What a great feature.
So. Bluetooth speaker – this opens access to unlimited podcast listening.
What’s more, the XHDATA D-608WB accepts the TF card – so fill your boots with MP3 audio and Podcasts! This radio just keeps getting better!
I recently travelled to Calgary, Alberta, Canada (a one hour flight from Victoria B.C. where I live…) and the XHDATA D-608WB radio came along with me. Airport security did not bat an eyelash at the radio — to them it appeared to be just that, a travel radio.
In conclusion, the XHDATA D-608WB is for all intents and purposes, the Swiss Army knife of radios – it does almost everything anyone would want out of a travel or emergency radio. I found no fault in the radio and give two solid thumbs up for this product — and look forward to sampling and testing other XHDATA products!
Stay tuned for a YouTube video on this product on my YouTube channel and a subsequent podcast!Colin Newell in a resident of Victoria B.C. Canada – on the West Coast – on Vancouver Island. His features on tech and pop culture have been featured on national media outlets across Canada and the U.S. since 1995!
