nsfw

FOOD!@!

My birthday was recently. And as per usual my parents visited. The first picture is my mom cooking her signature meatballs in my kitchen. My mom is awesome.

Next is my dish for the SB book club’s monthly iron chef cook off (special ingredient is cheddar).  I made roasted heart attack (aka jalapenos stuffed with Vermont cheddar and wrapped in bacon).

Finally there is the 10lbs organic slab of top round we got in our beef adventure. We threw big party and feasted. Look at that beauty!

Pictures of the Pyronado 2.0.

I began thinking about the pyronado soon after finishing my desk. That was 3 years ago. Originally I used a PVC tube instead of glass and a plastic computer fan as proof of concept. Well the the PVC released extremely toxic fumes and the fan melted almost immediately, but for some reason I figured the thing would work.

Progress was at a halt until about a year later I randomly found a metal fan on eBay. I also found a large pyrex tube originally used in the 80s to bake round loafs of bread.  About this time I thought to name this contraption the pyronado (pyro + tornado). After that I couldn’t possibly not make it.

Essentially, the pyronado is a flame source (kevlar soaked in denatured alcohol) inside of a glass tube (to contain the vorticity), over a fan. The current version has some of bells and whistles, like an adjustable speed fan, and an electrical ignition system.

The first Pyronado was successfully made about 4 months ago. The difference between it and its successor was the lack of an electrical ignition system. Before I would have to light the pyronado by hand, which was a pain. Now I press a button and 120V from an outlet heat up nichrome wire to glow red hot.

History of the Pyronado:

• V0.0: PVC tube and plastic computer fan
• V1.0: Glass tube, metal vent base, and adjustable speed metal fan
• V2.0: Electrical ignition, L-bracket base

In the future I’d like to add multicolored flames, and possibly, but not likely, a continuous fuel supply. I’m also now wondering if I can still bake bread with it.

Oooh baby. That’s a lot of organic grass fed beef! Jordan and I took a trip to Paso Robles to buy meat from PL Bar Ranch. We bought about 70 lbs between us and a few friends, which should hopefully last a few months. Sketchily enough, we met the farmer and his wife at an OSH parking lot to make the exchange. Makes sense. Public place, no good sniping spots. They turned out to be very nice and not secret agents. I had the chewiest NY strip ever last night. Jordan made the classic liver and onions.

We also have a single 10 lbs cut of top round. It’s friggin massive. We’re not exactly sure what we’re gonna do with it, but it will certainly involve many people and be epic.

Fishbon offered fire sculpture classes a few months ago, culminating in a fire exhibition downtown at the International Dairy Cooperative. I showed the pyronado there (a small fire tornado device I’ve been working on). And there were plenty of other awesome toys: a flamethrower; the Primudial (no pics unfortunately); the LED bamboo sculptures that were brought to Coachella and Burning Man, and other random art and fire things.

This is clearly the cutting edge in D.A.N.C.E. technology. Thank you Kevin for introducing me to tecktonik. I am currently trying to organize a dance troupe to take the Santa Barbara music scene by force.