Stefan Didak's Rambling » Travel

Pearl Aday and Scott Ian at the Red Devil Lounge in San Franscico

Stefan Didak — Wed, 12 May 2010 23:02:27 +0000

I might be able to post this before we head off on a flight to Ohio (to retrieve two cats, don’t ask, I’m not going to even try to explain nor will be blogging about it).

Last night we had a great time at the Red Devil Lounge in San Francisco where we were to see Pearl & Scott Ian and members of the Rollins Band perform some great kick-ass rock. It was an amazing performance and it was great to meet with Pearl and husband Scott Ian. Or, as Sallie put it, “she’s such a sweet girl”, and I happen to agree. One that rocks the wood panels off any stage, that is. This is not the first time Pearl gets two thumbs up from me, though. It’s been great to see her go from the “Broken Thorny Crown” album to the improved debut album, “Little Immaculate White Fox”. But instead of writing up a lengthy blog post I’m going to let you decide for yourself instead.

The guys at the Red Devil Lounge were also very accommodating. If you ever find yourself going there and want a guaranteed table, great seats, or bottle service, please do inquire about their VIP upgrades. Trust me, you really should.

Here are a few more videos made by the guy who has his tripod right Kim B’s sweetie who was near our table from the vantage point in the above video; Nobody, Mama, Nutbush, Checkout Charlie.

Expert maker of Sazeracs

Stefan Didak — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 02:11:57 +0000

In 1838, Antoine Amedie Peychaud, owner of a New Orleans apothecary, treated his friends to brandy toddies of his own recipe, including his “Peychaud’s Bitters,” made from a secret family recipe. The toddies were made using a double-ended egg cup as a measuring cup or jigger, then known as a “coquetier” (pronounced “ko-k-tay”), from which the word “cocktail” was derived. Thus, the world’s first cocktail was born!

By 1850, the Sazerac Cocktail, made with Sazerac French brandy and Peychaud’s Bitters, was immensely popular, and became the first “branded” cocktail. In 1873, the recipe for the Sazerac Cocktail was altered to replace the French brandy with American Rye whiskey, and a dash of absinthe was added.

In 1933, the Sazerac Cocktail was bottled and marketed by the Sazerac Company of New Orleans. That same year, “Herbsaint,” a pastis, was made according to a French recipe; “Herbsaint” was so named for the New Orleans term for wormwood – “Herb Sainte.” In 1940, the Official Sazerac Cocktail recipe was modified to use Herbsaint as the absinthe. Finally, in 2000, the Official Sazerac Cocktail recipe was modified to use Sazerac Kentucky Straight Rye Whiskey.

In 2009 I had to change a few things because it was impossible to get hold of a bottle of 18yr old Sazerac Rye Whiskey. Instead I substituted Rittenhouse Rhy andOld Overholt Rye. While not as smooth as the Sazerac Rye it gets the job done and done well! If you need bar supplies and some of the finest ingredients and liquors you could find, you definitely have to try Cask in San Francisco. Also, view the video by Robert Hess on the creation of a classic Sazerac.

My slightly altered version is:

2 Glasses, 1 chilled with ice, 1 empty
1 sugar cube
Place sugar cube over strainer and add 3 dashes of Peychaud Bitters.
Drop sugar cube in glass
Add 3 oz of Rhy Whiskey to the mix
Add a few ice cubes and stir.
Take chilled glass with ice and discard ice.
Add a dash of absinthe and lace the glass.
Discard excess absinthe from it.
Pour the mix from the first glass into the second with the absinthe.
Do not include the ice cubes!
Take a lemon peel, twist, press, and drop into the mix.
And ready you are!

Photography gear, travel and transport, heavy and hell

Stefan Didak — Mon, 25 May 2009 15:28:53 +0000

I’m not going to fill a site with a series of pictures of my photography equipment because there’s plenty of that around in many different and various other places. And all this camera stuff looks the same anyway.

Those of you that know of my past week’s hunt for a suitable transport solution will wonder what I settled on. It’s the Lowe Pro Rolling Computrekker AW Plus. Gee, isn’t that a mouthfull for a product name, eh! The previous Slingshot 200 was just too small and my other Computrekker AW backpack managed to barely fit everything and as a result it was just too much to carry around on my back (especially with airports and scanners and also traveling with a laptop bag with the HP8710w and assorted other bits in there). The Rolling version, which is also larger and has a bit more space is definitely the better solution. Still heavy but I don’t have to lug it around on my back.

Of course I still can’t get all my stuff in there but on my current trips I’m going to bring mostly the professional lenses for a change so I’m leaving various others at home (like the Nikon 18-200mm, Nikon 70-300 VR, Sigma ‘Bigma’ 50-500mm, etc.) and instead I’m going to rely on a two camera solution with, mostly, the Nikon 24-70mm f2.8 and 70-200mm f2.8.

For reference (and others googling around for this camera bag and what it can hold) the bag contains:

Nikon D200 + MB-D200 Battery Grip + Optech Strap
Nikon D300 + Optech Strap
Nikon MB-D10 Battery Grip (in the zipped compartment)
Nikon 24-70mm f2.8
Nikon 70-200mm f2.8 VR
Nikon 50mm f1.4D
Sigma 30mm f1.4 DC HSM
Sigma 10-20mm f4.0-5.6 EX DC HSM
Expodisc 77mm (White Balance)
Nikon SB-600 Flash + Diffuser, Stand
Nikon SB-800 Flash + Diffuser, Stand, SJ-800 Filters, 5th Battery Addon
Nikon SB-900 Flash + Diffuser, Stand, SJ-3 Filters + Filter Holder
2 x Nikon EN-EL3e batteries in the MB-D200
1 x Nikon EN-EL3e battery in the D300
1 x Nikon EN-EL4a battery in the MB-D10
2 x Nikon lens and body caps (zipped compartment on top)
2 x Nikon EN-EL3e extra batteries
1 x Nikon EN-EL4a extra battery
2 x Nikon MH-18a (EN-EL3) chargers
1 x Nikon MH-21 (EN-EL4a) charger
4 x Sandisk Extreme III 4GB CF cards
2 x Sandisk Extreme III 8GB CF cards
2 x Sandisk Extreme IV 16GB CF cards
3 x Power cables (for the chargers)
2 x USB Camera cables
2 x Microfiber Lens cleaning cloths
12 x Visible Dust DHAP Sensor Cleaning Swabs
1 x Visible Dust Vdust Plus fluid
1 x Visible Dust Smear Away fluid
1 x Visible Dust Arctic Butterfly Brush

After getting all that through airports and security I don’t plan on taking the rolling bag along at all. For actual shooting I’ll rely on my trustworthy Think Tank modular belt solution. I can mix and match the modules based on what I want to bring along and only take those things along that I need or think I’ll need. Sling two cameras over the shoulders and the Pixel Racing Harness will take care of most of the weight. For simple situations I also have one of those Digital Holster 50’s around in case I’m expecting bad weather.

Looking for ultra high resolution wallpapers?

Stefan Didak — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 23:35:58 +0000

Anyone using dual or multi-monitors knows it isn’t always easy to find nice high resolution background. Often we need to resort to creating our own or altering one we’ve found but isn’t quite ‘it’. The more monitors you add, the higher the resolution of your desktop becomes, the harder it is to find really high res backgrounds that will run seamlessly across your array of screens. If you have found yourself in the same situation then be sure to check out Panedia’s Desktop Wallpapers!

And while you’re at it, why not check out the Panedia website too.

Back from Vacation, Too Much to Catch up on

Stefan Didak — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 16:18:11 +0000

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know. For the past two months I haven’t been keeping up with e-mail responses, haven’t blogged about anything at all, and heard that people assume that I had vanished into thin air or perhaps was obducted by evil aliens (or competitors in my field, ha!).

Alas, Sallie and I were on vacation and spending about as little time with computers as possible and instead spent most of the time going to both a lot of favorite and new restaurants (I’ll save you the review of the spectacularly weird Bacon-Infused Caramel Sauce at Town Hall in San Francisco), taking pictures, etc. You can see most of the picks on my Flickr page where there are several new sets including a lot of pictures from our trip to Chicago, IL and Occidental, CA and some more from Tiburon, CA, and a few new ones from San Francisco, CA, and Santa Cruz where we hung out with friends and their cats as well as a set from Alcatraz.

Now that I’m back there’s a lot of work to be done and in the midst of all that there will be some major overhaul of The Home Office. I’m not going to spoil any surprises with details on what will change except to say that one of the main changes will be that most of the screens are going to be replaced, for other details you will just have to keep an eye on this site over the next weeks. Once I’m done I hope to put up new images and maybe a separate page with pictures of the office going from empty to its new configuration and archiving the current page to show the previous evolutionary stage of the office.

Central Perk in El Cerrito

Stefan Didak — Sun, 23 Sep 2007 22:16:54 +0000

OK, this is not really a restaurant review but it’s a place worth visiting if you’re ever in El Cerrito, California. What do you do for coffee in California? Go to Peets, of course. Unless you don’t care about coffee and how it should taste, in which case, people like that go to Starbucks. However, a rather interesting coffee place in El Cerrito, called Central Perk, is definitely worth a visit. The entire shop is filled with all sorts of toys, fun stuff, decorations, everything including a kitchen sink, basically. And everything you see in the store is for sale. Care to get one of those huge Sully characters from Monsters, Inc., well, at Central Perk you can.