Escaping the Cubicle to the Great Outdoors

Here's your chance to learn the inside scoop on the May family and TechnoRV. Our adventures over the last 4 years were recently featured in an article (Escaping the Cubicle to the Great Outdoors) on CampingRoadTrip.com.

Take a look and if you like it, feel free to pass the link on. A big thank you to Tanushree at CampingRoadTrip.com for her help with the article. Which reminds me, I need to get back and finish the final edits on my book!

Why won't my Road Mouse Work?

Don't worry, it's probably something simple. First of all, let's check the batteries.

Hold the mouse upside down with the front of the car facing upwards. The batteries should be inserted with the left battery positive (the end with the bump) facing down, and the right battery's positive facing up. As soon as you put them in, the red optical sensor light should illuminate. If your mouse is misbehaving, you should also try new batteries as when they are getting low the light still works but it becomes 'jumpy' and hard to use.

If that doesn't fix the problem, let's make sure that you've synchronized the mouse to the transceiver. Put the transceiver (the short black stick) into a free USB port on your computer.When you do so the green light on the end should illuminate. Next, press the button on the transceiver and the green light should blink slowly. Then, press the button on underside of the mouse, normaly located above and to the right of the red light. As you do so, the green light on the transceiver should flash quickly for several seconds, and then return to a steady illumination. Then test your mouse. If its working correctly, when you move the mouse, the green light on the transceiver should flash very quickly.

If none of those fix the problem, try the mouse on another computer. We've had a number of mice sent back that work fine. Sometimes the Windows drivers can get corrupted and need to be reinstalled causing a device like the mouse to appear to not work.

If all that fails, its possible that the mouse is faulty. Contact TechnoRV support (support@technorv.com) with a description of what you have tried and if it's still in warranty (1 year), we'll get you a replacement.

How to Use Locket to Track Expenses

I got this question from one of our Locket users (Lana in St. Louis). She wanted to know how to use Locket to track her expenses.

Good question Lana. The Expense Tracker is actually a summary screen of the transactions that have been entered from within the Asset screen. So for example, let's say that you have a bank account called Wells Fargo in the Assets screen. If you go into that screen, you can enter individual transaction for that bank account, be they deposits or withdrawals. The Expense Tracker screen will then list and summarize those transactions, for Wells Fargo, and any other accounts that you have set up.

To use Locket to track cash expenses, simply go into the Assets screen, select Other Fixed Assets for example, and then create a category called Expenses (for example). Go into that category and there you can enter the transactions which will show up on the Expense Tracker.

Murphy Getting Ready for some Midnight Bone Hunting

Even Murphy Knows Who Makes the Best Reading Lights
www.TechnoRV.com

New Technology from CES 2010

Although it seems like a long time ago, this is the first chance I've had to sit down and write a little about what we saw at CES 2010 (the annual consumer electronics show). I posted some of my photos on the TechnoRV Facebook Fan page, but here's a couple of highlights for you.

AR.Drone
This is by far and away the coolest 'toy' I've ever seen. If anyone has the impulse to get me an early Christmas present, this is it. It looks and behaves a lot like the 'hunter-killer' drones in Terminator 3. It's a quadracopter (helicopter with 4 blades) that uses your iPhone as a control platform, providing a visual view of what the AR 'sees' through a WiFi link and your iPhones screen.... Watch the video, it's awesome.






Samsung Ultra-thin TV
Just got yourself the latest in plamsa TV's? Well, I'm afraid you're already out of date. Samsung's new 50" plasma screen is less than 0.4" thick. Check out the video.

Naan Bread

Naan is a leavened, oven-baked flatbread that is popular in many Asian countries (and the UK!). This is THE bread that you should make to go with the butter chicken. It's amazing and you'll never want rice again! I've tried all sorts of different naan recipes and keep coming back to the one that I got with our Panasonic Break Maker about twenty years ago! You don't need to make it in a bread maker, in fact, it's easier and quicker if you don't.


Ingredients
Fast acting dried yeast - 1 tsp
Strong white flour - 1 lb
Sugar - 1 tsp (I use honey or maple syrup because it's healthier)
Baking powder - 1 tsp
Olive oil - 2 tbsp
Plain yogurt - 4 tbsp
Warm water - about 1 cup

Preparation

1. Add all the dry ingredients to the bowl of a food processor using the blade attachment.
2. Turn on and slowly add the water until the ingredients clump together into a ball and start being 'dragged around'. If your ingredients are still dry and more like flour than dough add more warm water until they clump together, but do it slowly as it's easy to add too much. If you do and the dough is too sticky, add a little more flour.
   
3. Continue to run the processor for a minute or so to kneed the dough until it is soft, springy and dry, not sticky to the touch.
4. Grease a glass bowl and place the dough into it. I normally swirl the dough around in the olive oil'd bowl as it makes the dough easier to roll out later.
5. Cover and let the dough rise for about an hour. If your kitchen is cold, put your oven on it's lowest setting, then turn it off and use that as a warming drawer.

Cooking the Naan

1. Turn the oven back onto a low setting to keep your cooked naans warm
2. Divide the naan into half, then half, then half (i.e. eight ok?) balls.
3. On a clean, floured surface, roll out each naan into a long oval shape about 1/4 inch thick or less. You can't make then too thin, only too thick!
4. If you have a skillet or large cast iron frying pan, heat it to about as hot as you can, drop in some oil and then the naan. Once the naan lifts and forms air pockets, swap to the other side (be careful of the air pockets - they are superheated steam and REALLY burn if they get you). It will take about 2-4 mins with a hot skillet. If you don't have a skillet, use a very hot, well oiled grill (I use Trader Joe's Olive Oil spray on the grill - it works a treat).
5. Keep the naan warm in the oven while you prepare the remainder.
6. Serve in a dish or bread bowl. I use a clean tea towel on the bottom and fold it over the naan to keep them warm on the table.
7. Enjoy, my mouth is already watering!
   

Butter Chicken with Home Made Naan

Being British, you may not realize it, but our staple food isn't fish and chips, it's actually curry. And the best curry, bar none, is butter chicken (or chicken tikka masala as we call it in England). Butter chicken (or murgh makhani) is an Indian dish from Punjab, popular in countries all over the world. Although both Tracey and I have often cooked Indian food, we wanted to take it to the next level and see how we could make really authentic Indian food.

To that end, we attended a cookery class by Chura Prakash (Fremont, CA). She showed us how to make the most AMAZING butter chicken, and this is her recipe below. It consists of two parts, first you have to make and cook the chicken tandoori, then you make the butter chicken sauce. It's a little fiddly, but it makes a LOT and it freezes very well. You can even make more of the chicken tandoori and save it to have cold with salad or on top of pizza (try it, it's awesome). The tandoori masala and garam masala are available from most Indian grocery stores.

Tandoori Chicken
Chicken - 2 lb
Plain yogurt - 1 1/2 cup
Garlic - 8 cloves
Tandoori Masala - 7 tbsp
Garam Masala - 3/4 tsp
Lemon juice - 2 tbsp

1. Wash the chicken and cut into small pieces. Make suts on the chicken with a knife.
2. Mix the yogurt, tandoori masala, garam masala, lemon juice and finely grated or crushed garlic. Marinate the chicken in it for up to 6 hours.
3. Grill on a well oiled grill for 5 - 10 mins (or you can bake it in the oven)
   
4. Cover and let cool or proceed with the butter chicken sauce
   

Butter Chicken
Cooked tandoori chicken - 2 lbs
Butter - 2 tps
Tomato sauce - 4 x 8 oz cans
Garlic - 6 cloves
Ginger - 1 x 1" piece
Green chili's - 2
Cloves - 6
Black peppercorns - 12
Green cardamom - 4
Black cardamom - 2
Cinnamon - 2
Bay leaf - 2
Cumin seeds - 1/4 tsp
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Red chili powder - 1/2 tsp
Garam masala - 3/4 tsp
Sugar (use stivia or xylatol for a healthier alternative) - 3 tsp
Roasted dry funugreek leaves - 4 tbsp
Whipping cream - 3/4 cup
Milk - 1 1/2 cups

1. Heat the butter in a pan. Add all the dry whole masala (spices) and let them crackle. Add the finely grated ginger, garlic and finely chopped green chili. Saute for a few minutes, add the tomato sauce and cook for 10-12 minutes.
2. Add the red chili powder, salt, sugar and garam masala.
3. Add the cream, milk and dry fenugreek.
4. Cook for a few more minutes
5. Add the cooked tandoori chicken pieces and cook for 5 mins. Serve with hot naan bread.