Saturday, November 30, 2019

Ooops!

     Never have posted anything yet today, have I? 

     Okay, here's something.

     Would a rock & roll tribute band featuring a flutist and composed entirely of condemned murderers in prison be called "Death Row Tull?"

Friday, November 29, 2019

Turducken And Roasted Vegetables

     Tam's photo of our Thanksgiving main course:

     Had leftovers for dinner tonight.  Still tasty, I must say.

Be Vewy, Vewy Quiet -- I'm Making Fried Mashed Potatoes

     Almost-latkes, I suppose, and certainly a Midwestern treat.  I think this dish is from Mom's side of the family, northern Indiana immigrant farmers who came over from Germany late in the 19th Century.  Oh, they might've come from Dad's side, out of the South Caroline/Georgia area by way of Missouri, because Southern/Cherokee/??? cooking is nothing if not unexpected, though a German origin is more likely; but either way, they were an uncommon treat in my childhood.

     I love 'em but I never paid enough attention to how Mom made them (her recipes for anything other than baking were as notional as mine) and I've been pursuing making a version that holds together well for the last several years.

     Hopes are high for the present batch.  Leftover mashed potatoes are rare in my kitchen; there was a cup and a half remaining from Thanksgiving dinner and with a couple of well-beaten eggs and enough flour (with luck!) to get the mix to hold together.  The other variable I'm working on is skillet temperature.

     The first one just came out of the skillet.  Not bad -- needs salt.  I added salt, pepper and a little onion to the remaining mix.

     Update: They worked well!  Very tasty.

Thursday, November 28, 2019

Thanksgiving -- And Cooking

     I'm thankful to have things to be thankful for; there was a time when I had to dig pretty deep, and there are plenty of people far worse off than I was.

     This year was pretty good.  After crazy winds yesterday, so bad they were confusing the automatic garage door, it was cold but relatively calm.

     Calm enough for the grill.  Calm enough to grill a small turducken.

     Not the classic whole bird-inside-a-bird-inside-a bird, but a kind of turducken roll, five pounds of turkey breast and a little dark meat, some duck and chicken, with stuffing and sausage.  I added three strips of bacon on top for luck, and set it in a disposable pan over indirect heat from hardwood charcoal in the covered grill.  The grill reached 325°F rapidly* and I told the household robot to remind me in three hours; I set another reminder for ninety minutes, when I'd need to start cooking.

     There was laundry to do, and scrubbing out the big (but not biggest) soup pan to make the mashed potatoes.  Once it was done, I washed the spare water fountain for the cats, which I'd been putting off since I changed it two days ago.  (And soaking it in vinegar water -- Indiana water is very hard.)  A couple of grill checks showed the temperature steady and the turducken sizzling.

     By then, my ninety-minute alarm went off and it was time to scrub some Russet potatoes and set them to boil in salted water.  I cleaned a couple of ears of corn and set them aside.  Next, I cut up celery, baby carrots, an onion and added a couple of whole cherry peppers, and set them in the microwave for a couple of minutes while I rinsed chanterelle mushrooms; then I put the ears of corn in with the now simmering potatoes.  Back to the mushrooms, which I cut up and added to the vegetables and zapped that for another minute while I hunted up a TV tray, herded  the cats into the back of the house, set up the TV tray outside near the grill and took the vegetables out the microwave and the corn out of the potato water, and carried all that, covered, outside.

     By then there was only twenty minutes left on the three-hour timer.  I opened up the grill, poked the coals up a but, uncovered the vegetables and added everything to the pan around the turducken, the corn last, laying on top.  I closed the grill and peeked through the vent at my oven thermometer:  225°F.  Not great.

     Back indoors, I told the robot to time me a half-hour and got to work frying five slices of bacon; that takes a little while; once done, I let the rendered fat sit warm and ducked back outside: 275°F and sizzling.

     The bacon fat was still warm; I filled a measuring cup with cold water and started sprinkling flour into the bacon fat, stirring and watching consistency and color.  Once it seemed dark enough, smelled right and was thick enough, I began adding water and stirring; I crumbled the bacon into it a half-strip at a time, and when it was all in, turned up the heat to get it bubbling, adding cold water with an eye to thickness.  And there you go, bacon gravy.  (It cannot possibly be good for you.  I only make it once a year.  It can be salty, but it's so good!)  I covered it and turned off the heat.

     Another quick check on the grill: 250°F and sizzling.  I blew on the coals through the front vent until they were glowing.  Had I started with enough charcoal?  (I had, but more might have been better.  The grill is just big enough to hold enough charcoal for this process, since you can't have big coals directly under the pan.)

     Inside, I got out milk and butter, drained the potatoes, then tumbled them in the pan with the burner on until it was dry. (That last step is the key to getting fluffy, flavorful mashed potatoes.)  I make skin-on mashed potatoes, which about have to be boiled to get the skins soft.  Next step, stir them with a knife until they are in small chunks, adding a little milk and butter.  Once that's done, add a little more milk, a little more butter and go after them with a big fork (my preference) or a potato masher (if you'd rather).  Mash, stir, and add milk until the end result is right -- it will look, smell and feel right.  I add a little salt, pepper and parsley near the end, but very light on the salt -- the bacon gravy has plenty.   The Russet potatoes have the most marvelous smell when freshly mashed -- like Autumn and outdoors, like Sunday dinner and comfort.

     (Yes, I make the gravy and potatoes "by ear."  There's really no other way and it's not that hard; it took me more than a few tries to figure out flour gravy but it's like riding a bicycle once you learn.)

     I covered the potatoes and went outside with a cookie rack (for under the foil pan) and the meat thermometer.  Opened the grill and it smelled wonderful.  The thermometer zoomed right up to 170°F; 165 is done, so it was ready.

     Carried it inside, peeled off the bacon, cut off the netting and began slicing it up and loading plates for Tam and myself.  I had a taste of the bacon and it was wonderful!

     The turducken, mashed potatoes, bacon gravy and mixed vegetables were even better.  And the corn on the cob, steaming in the turducken/vegetable steam, smoked by the hardwood charcoal, was fantastic.

     (Tam took pictures.  I'm hoping she will share one or two.)

     I'm thankful I can afford good food and the means to cook it.  I'm thankful for the skills and attitude about cooking my Mother taught me.  And I'm darned thankful to have a friend to share the meal with.
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* The grill has a small upper rack.  I lay an oven thermometer on it, sitting so it can be seen through the vent.  It's a simple but useful trick.

Wednesday, November 27, 2019

Stir-Fried Jambalaya Rice?

     Why not?  Last night, after putting a couple of hours work on my day off (hey, they pay me, or I get the time back), I made Zataran's "Jambalaya," a boxed mix that's basically nicely spiced rice, to which you add a pound of whatever meat is handy.

     What I had were a couple of Italian sausages, one hot and one mild.  They didn't quite add up to a pound.  What else I had was a little can-replacement box of garbanzo beans, chickpeas.  Not everyone likes them, but I do.

     Cooked the meat, drained the beans, added them, then used the liquid from them and some water to add to the rice mix.  From there on, it's simple: you bring it to a boil, cover it, turn the heat down and leave it to simmer for 25 minutes.

     So I did.  It turned out great.  It also turned out four servings, and there I was, home alone (Tam was off visiting).

     Cooked rice will keep overnight.  Cooked rice that's had awhile in the fridge is ideal for fried rice.  And cooked rice that's been sitting in nice Cajun seasoning with good sausage, well, that's even better.  I fried up the rice, sausage and garbanzos in the wok, pushed it to the sides and scrambled a couple of eggs in the middle.  Mixed it all together and with a dash of hot sauce, it's as good a breakfast as anyone could want.

Tuesday, November 26, 2019

High Hopes

     Another off day.  Though there was rain in the forecast, it started out sunny and bright, and I briefly entertained fantasies opf getting out my motor scooter and going for an Autumn ride. 

     Made breakfast first, and somewhere between starting to mix an omelette and pouring it into a pan, the day went gray and dark.  My headache ramped up into a full-on, pots & pans bangin' throb and I...set my sights considerably lower.

     But the omelette's pretty good!

Monday, November 25, 2019

Firefox Is Very Crashy

     Busy this morning -- took the day off to do more yard work.  Firefox has been crashy today and as a result, I didn't blog much.

     Here's a small can of corned beef hash, with an egg on top and a little flipped over to show the cornbread crust.  Parsley and pepper on the egg.

Sunday, November 24, 2019

Saturday, November 23, 2019

Vindictiveness Is A Bad Habit

     Here and on Facebook, I will sometimes post something that's kind of anti-divisive, or that points out that we don't need to carry the bull-headed stubbornness of our elected servants over into our relationships with our fellow semi-hapless voters even when they're wrong.  Every time -- every single time! -- a certain appallingly large proportion of the commenters use the posting as a launching pad to make points-scoring, nasty cracks about how the other side (whichever side is "other" for them) is stupid, evil, enthralled by foreign powers and/or controlled by Big Money, whilst their own side are a bunch of, if not saints, at least  great benefactors to The Common Man and The American Way Of Life.

     Buying vanilla or a chicken sandwich has become a political decision, completely unmoored from the quality of the product.

     If you are walking around with nonsense like that in your head, the person who writes horoscopes for your morning paper or your favorite news-and-features website knows more about the world and human nature than you do.

     Politicians are as human as you are.  We're all wired up to make patterns from what we see and hear, patterns that we build based on our knowledge, prior experience, opinions and emotional state.  This works really well if you're a savage hunting dinner with a sharpened stick, wary of big cats; you may see a few tigers where none exist but you're all the more likely to return home intact and probably bearing game.  In today's complex, stimulus-rich, BS-rich world, it can make us see lots of things that aren't there -- and miss the big picture.

     If you think your worst enemy are the Democrats or the Republicans, guess again; if you think it's big business or those kids who dress in black and smash windows and heads, bzzzt, nope!

     Russia and China would love to see the West fail.  Uncle Vlad doesn't care who wins U. S. elections as long as he can get us to doubt the validity of the election process.  China snickers at democracy and stamps on it in a manner not seen since Nazi Germany started turning out the lights in Europe. Every time you question the Constitutional provisions of the Federal government, you aid their cause.

     There's a lot wrong in this country, just as there's a lot wrong everywhere.  There's a lot that's unfair.  But the people who wrote the Constitution -- and who made provisions for amending it -- did try to keep from baking in the unfairness so deeply that it couldn't be rooted out.  They left deep flaws in place, flaws that darned near tore this country apart not once but twice, and yet somehow we got through.  Somehow, slowly, painfully, with great tragedy, our better natures prevailed.  One reason this happened was because our basic institutions were able to buttress the good while giving up on the bad.  We didn't have to burn the village to the ground in order to save it.

     We still don't.  No foreign power, no internal conflict can make you do so if you don't go along with it.

     Stop being Putin's chump.  Stop helping Red China make us look like fools.  Grow the hell up.

     Edited to add: And I have a few comments already that repeat divisive and alarmist nonsense, cherry-picked headlines, and slanted intepretations.  You're not helping.  Rush Limbaugh and Rachael Maddow are not sources you should accept without both fact-checking and context checking.  If you won't do your homework, you're not going to be able to keep the freedoms you've got, and will be befuddled by your own paranoia until it's too late.

Friday, November 22, 2019

More Leaves!

     I raked and cleared the front yard, so it's not too bad yet.

     The back yard--  I had cleared the patio and raked leaves off the sidewalk and away from some of the places where they build up.  Now they have covered the yard to the point that they can be mowed up again.  Still very wet.  I'm hoping they will dry out over the next few days 

Thursday, November 21, 2019

Some Basic Truth

     The Oatmeal, on how our minds work and why some things are a lot easier to take than others. 

     It's well worth reading.

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Another Day, Another...

     Another twenty-four hours of people giving the news out of Washington, D. C. a partisan spin -- and before you tell me, "Yeah, yeah, those damn [name of major party here], they distort everything, they lie, the facts are perfectly obvious," stop right there, because I'm hearing it from both Republicans and Democrats.

     My opinion of Donald Trump the man is not flattering.  I think he's an oaf and a boor.  Unlike the Dems, I'm not sure if he's actually up to any really devious criminality; unlike his fellow Republicans, I'm doubtful that he's actually solving anything.  We've had geniuses in the Presidency and they have a mixed legacy; we've had average(ish) men in the job and they varied, too.  The President of the United States is not a king or the Pope.  He's just Some Guy, put in there to do the executive stuff to keep the country running, and to shake hands with Kings and Prime Ministers.  He's the guy who signs treaties -- but Congress has to ratify them. 

     The average citizen, in the course of their average life, commits an average of three felonies a day, mostly without even knowing it.  It's unavoidable.  Does that make those felonious acts any less criminal?  Strictly speaking, no.  However, these crimes rarely rise to the attention of police and prosecutors, and when they do, we expect -- and are Constitutionally promised -- that the due process of law will be followed.  Saint or villain, we get our day in court.  As does anyone, including Presidents. Oh, the court is different; the bar is higher, for reasons the Framers of the Constitution deemed sufficient;* but the idea is the same and the process, while far more exhaustive and partisan than any Grand Jury you or I are likely to face, is not all that dissimilar.

     But all that side noise--  Don't we have Representatives from both parties, to sit at their high bench and make speeches (with occasional question-asking)?  Are there not witnesses a-plenty, to make their ostensibly noble and usually rump-covering opening statements and answers?  Politicians are their own cheerleaders and pep squads and I'm not going to get into spats with people online about hearings that neither they nor I have any direct influence over.
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* They appear to have been concerned about "lawfare," that Presidents might find all their time occupied by minor lawsuits and malicious prosecution; but there clearly needed to be a way to hold Presidents accountable for egregious acts, and thus they came up with impeachment.