u/BCURANIUM

I was helping family in whistler over the weekend. Above their condo, there was what appeared to be a well weathered chlorite schist with small cubes of Pyrite with a large well formed Calcite banding next to it. I noticed that the calcite reacted to 265nm weakly, giving a pale orange in places, and blue in others. I managed to grab a piece of the calcite and chlorite-schist and this morning tried both under a 254nm lamp. The Calcite gives off both hot pink and blue, and the Schist gives off a pale yellow and pink fluorescence, likely as a result of Scheelite (CaWO4) and manganocalcite. There is evidence of pyrolusite in the calcite.

Just thought I’d share my recent attempt at 오삼불고기 (Osam Bulgogi).

This dish is loosely based on Mr. Baek’s recipe. 오삼불고기 is an East Coast Korean specialty from Gangwon-do, especially associated with Gangneung-si. It is a spicy stir-fried dish made with squid and pork belly, along with vegetables and mushrooms, all cooked together on a hot griddle or pan.

The name “Osam” comes from combining the first syllables of ojingeo (오징어 / squid) and samgyeopsal (삼겹살 / pork belly).

Here is my take on this classic Gangneung-style dish:

Ingredients:

• Pork belly: 600 g
• Squid: 2 whole squid
• Soy bean sprouts (~200g)
• Leek / green onion: 1 stalk
• Perilla leaves: 10 leaves
• Onion: 1½ onions
• Cheongyang chili pepper: 1, or to taste
• Red chili pepper: 1.5 * optional ****
• Seasoned soy sauce: 3 tbsp
• Korean red pepper powder: 6 tbsp
• Mirim: ~½ cup
• Garlic: 2 tsp
• Ginger powder: ⅓ tsp
• Sesame seeds: a small amount * add to taste
• Fine black pepper: added to the pork belly
• Sesame oil: 1 tbsp

Overall, it turned out really well. The squid adds a nice seafood sweetness, while the pork belly brings richness and depth. The perilla leaves, chilies, and sesame oil give it that extra aromatic kick that makes the dish really come together.

Here is the end result from the initial post on making 장조림. Note that the 청양고추 will stay in the broth but not put into the separated container when completed. Note, whole garlic cloves and a few chunks of marinated ginger. 장조림 removed from marination at approximately 26.3 hours. Here is the end result.

Yesterday my family made a large batch of 장조림 using "locally" sourced ingredients. recipe is similar to Maangchi's version. I am posting this here for documentation purposes and to share with the group:

• 3 pound beef flank steak (or beef brisket, beef eye round, shank meat, or any beef with a grain), cut along the grain into 2½ x 1½ x ¼ inch pieces - cut after curing
• water
• 1.5 cup soy sauce
• ~20 garlic cloves
• 2 medium/large onions
• 3 green chili peppers, 청양고추 definitely enhances the flavor.
• Boil on Medium/low heat for ~1.5 hours. ( longer boil time on lower heat results in more delicate flavors being released from ingredients.) the smell is pure aroma therapy!

At this point the 장조림 is still in the first stage of marinating, so we haven't cut up the beef or chilies just yet. This needs about 24-48 hours to cool and absorb the broth.

So far a taste test confirmed that it turned out well.

In 2022, I went back to South Korea for three months to visit family. While I was there, I asked our local temple if they had any lotus seeds they would be willing to sell me. They said yes, on the condition that I keep them updated on how the plants did here in British Columbia.

The seeds had been hand-picked in Gangwon-do the previous year, and I was told they were viable and should grow well. Sure enough, that started me down the rabbit hole of trying to grow lotus in a large 110-gallon horse water trough.

For the setup, I used about 12 inches of heavy clay soil at the bottom of the trough, with roughly two feet of water above it. I also inoculated the water with beneficial bacteria to help establish a healthier pond-like environment.

I started the seeds using the standard scarification method. Lotus seeds have an extremely hard outer coat, so I carefully used a belt sander to remove just enough of the seed coat to allow water to penetrate. After that, I placed the seeds in warm water for about a week until they sprouted. Once they had started growing, I planted them directly into the clay soil at the bottom of the trough.

Lotus are surprisingly hardy plants. In South Korea, they can handle very cold winters, even down to around -30°C, as long as the rhizomes themselves do not freeze solid. That part is key. The above-water growth will die back, but the plant can return from the rhizome if it is protected below the ice line. Coldest temperature recorded for the Korean peninsula set in Jan5, 1981 in Yeonpyeong, Gyeonggi-do -32.6c.

It is also worth noting that Canada does have a native lotus species: Nelumbo lutea, commonly called American lotus or water-chinquapin. In Canada, it occurs naturally around the southern Great Lakes region, including areas south of Toronto. Unlike Nelumbo nucifera, the Asiatic "sacred lotus", N. lutea usually has creamy white to pale yellow flowers and lacks the small sharp prickles often found on the stems of N. nucifera.

From what I have seen, lotus usually take around two to three years to reach flowering size from seed. They need full sun ( at least 6 hrs) and warm water ( ~24-28c) if you want flowers. If your main goal is rhizome growth, warm water is still helpful, but flowering is much more dependent on water heat and strong sunlight.

Once lotus get established, they will become very aggressive growers. They will quickly take over a small pond or container if left unmanaged, so rhizome control is important. I would recommend carefully digging up, dividing, and replanting the rhizomes when needed to keep the plant healthy with enough room to grow.

My wife and I went for a light dinner tonight at Papas Box 취홍분식 by Chuihong. Their Mul Naengmyeon hit the spot with the warm, humid weather today. In addition we also had the 참치김밥 and 소세지 김밥. Mulnaengmyon here is served with radish, cucumber and beef shank with a cold beef and radish broth. Delicious.

The main, parent restaurant Chuihong serves some of the best fushion Sino-Korean food going in the lower mainland. It is located in Surrey BC. This post is to appreciate or critique the food at Papa's Box. The Tuna Gimbap made with Tuna, egg, pickled radish, carrot and Kkaennip, it's arguably their best Gimbap in my humble opinion. the Sausage gimbap was also good too. It's my wife's favorite.

4-channel universal push-pin style SAMD21/MAX31856-based thermocouple board displaying real-time temperatures (~29.7 °C during Type-T thermocouple testing).

I originally received this board from Playing With Fusion for use in a cloud chamber project, although the process quickly became far more involved than expected. The included SD card appeared to be either counterfeit or damaged during shipping (possibly due to ESD), and the board itself had entered a locked state via the microcontroller’s FLOCKDOWN protection mechanism after detecting excessive current draw.

The onboard microcontroller is a SAM21D, which uses the FLOCKDOWN bit as a safeguard to prevent permanent damage under fault-current conditions. After several attempts, I was able to recover the board using a Teensy 4.0 running a SAM unlocking utility based on the GSTUB library, along with the BOSSA flashing tool. This allowed me to disable the protection fuses, fully reset the board, and reload the factory firmware. in the mean time playingwithfusion sent me a new board which was kind of them.

Unfortunately, I found the stock firmware unsuitable for accurate measurements below 0 °C, which was a significant limitation given the intended near cryogenic application. As a result, I developed a completely custom firmware solution using the Arduino IDE.

Because the system was designed for low-temperature and cryogenic work ( actually intended for use in a 20x20cm cloud chamber), I selected a Type-T thermocouple for testing and calibration. So far, the system has been tested successfully down to −120.78 °C with an observed accuracy of approximately ±0.15 °C. In cloud-chamber use, I won't be going below -60c. The firmware supports real-time temperature display, updates every 200 ms, selectable thermocouple types (B, E, J, K, N, R, S, and T), and full SD card logging. All settings and controls can be accessed directly from a Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra over a serial connection running at 115.2 kbps wired or via computer. Display temperatures display in deg C , deg F or K on a high contrast 2.42" OLED display of SPI interface.

Here's a lovely "grove" of Phyllostachys Vivax as an architectural accent that brings organic texture, warmth, and structural elegance to a modern design. This used to be part of the Shangri-La Hotel now owned by the Hyatt. Grove concept designed by PFS Studio. Some of the newer culms are 50-60ft now x 5.5in dia. It is growing very very well