f425e94a22dd4a0dba8932749729a698

Fennel & Coriander Vegitable Soup

Thu, 19 Dec 2024 17:51:43 GMT

Leftover Vegetable Soup

So, I had a large bowl of some leftover vegetables I had cut up for Chicken Skewers for the 2024 Army/Navy Game (Go Navy - N31 - A13) and was considering how to best utilize them. Should I simply Sauté them? or maybe roast them? and then the 36°F temperature hit me as I was walking down to fetch the mail, and boom, SOUP, Soup is what was needed on this cold winter day, so, with that I scoured the house and found a few things to get this concoction created.

I gathered up the original bowl of pre-cut veggies (2 types of Mushrooms, some Green and Yellow Squash, and Red Bell Pepper), an extra Green and Yellow Pepper, the last Jalapeño in the fridge, a medium Onion, a bulb of Garlic, a can of Sweet Corn and a can of Diced Tomatoes as well as some Chicken Stock and just 3 simple spices, Fennel, Coriander, and Caraway would pair perfectly with the earthy Mushroom and Squash flavors.

Of course I started with my standard "Mise en place" by getting everything cut, measured and prepared. Then I Sautéed up some Onion, saving a few out for later use and added in all the chopped Garlic until aromatic, I deglazed the pan with a splash of Red Wine Vinegar, at which time I added the diced Jalapeño (seeds and all, you can remove those for a little less spice, but I figured one Jalapeño wouldn't be very spicy in a pan this size) and just about half the other vegetables minus the corn and tomatoes.

and got them mostly soft - probably 7 or 8 minutes.

Once I got the veggies mostly soft, I added a Tablespoon each of Caraway, Coriander, and Fennel, put everything in the blender and blended until nice and smooth.

Once the soup in the blender was smooth and had a nice earthy taste,

I sautéed up the remaining vegetables, adding in the Corn (drained and rinsed), and entire can of Diced Tomatoes until Al dente and mixed well.

Once the large vegetable pieces were cooked a bit, but still somewhat firm, I poured back in the soup from the blender and added Salt and Pepper to taste .. Maybe a teaspoon of each (Mrs. B is not a fan of Salt, so I keep it light in the dish and let folks season at the table).

After letting everything simmer together for about 10 minutes I decided to try a small bowl for quality control and assurance. I was thinking I should put some Heavy Cream in the soup, but not having any on hand, I decided a dollop of Sour Cream on the served bowl would do the trick just fine. Also, I did find the spice level lacking my preference, so I also added a few drops of Louisiana Hot Sauce for good measure, paired this with a nice roasy Oktoberfest and had a Fan-Tastic luch.

Bacon & Egg Potato Salad

Fri, 20 Sep 2024 15:36:25 GMT

The Best Potato Salad you will ever eat

Mise en place (MEEZ ahn plahs) is a French term for having all your ingredients measured, cut, peeled, sliced, grated, etc. before you start cooking – this makes cooking a lot more enjoyable, the food is better tasting by not burning this while chopping that, etc.

Ingredients – for a serving of about 5 or 6

½ pack of CRISP FRIED BACON STRIPS – For this recipe I highly recommend frying the Bacon in a deep Cast Iron Pan and transfer to a paper towel. You could cook it the Oven and Parchment Paper way, but we need the Bacon Fat, so using the Cast Iron will best achieve this goal. Reserve as much of the Bacon Grease as possible, we need it later. Once it has sat on the paper towel and cooled a bit, chop it up, crumble it up, get it into small to medium size pieces.

2 or 3 pounds of Diced Red Potatoes (Skin On). Boil the potato whole to avoid having waterlogged potatoes (the skin will repel water entering into the meat of the potato). I prefer a little firmer potato salad, so constantly try and pierce a potato with a toothpick (I use bamboo skewers) until it feels like something you want – it should slide in but not go through nor break the potato. Immediately submerse the boiled potatoes in an ice water bath to stop the cooking process. Once you can pick them up without getting burned, dice them into 1- or 2-inch squares.

Hard Boil 6 eggs. First, boil the eggs. Place them in a pot and cover them with cold water by an inch. Bring the water to a boil over high heat. As soon as the water comes to a full boil, turn off the heat and cover the pot with a lid. Leave the eggs in the hot water for about 10 minutes – I prefer a little less than full on hard for this recipe. Go 12 minutes if you want full hard-boiled eggs. Peel and chop up. I just use a fork and break the eggs down into ½ or so size pieces. You could throw them in a food processor for a couple of spins, but we do not want egg dust, we definitely want egg chunks here.

Dice up a ½ of a yellow onion.

Dice up 4 or 5 green onions.

Dice up 2 or 3 stalks of celery.

Gather some Salt, Black Pepper, perhaps some paprika, whatever spices you would typically put in your potato salad.

Measure out 1 cup of Duke’s Mayonnaise (It’s Got Twang! – others are too sweet or bland)

Measure out ¼ cup of spicy brown mustard

Assembly:

Warm the Bacon Grease back up if it isn’t still warm. Once it is nice and warm, make a slurry with the Bacon Grease, Mayo, and Mustard in the pan. Add the bacon crumbles and warm the mixture through.

In a Large bowl, add the Potatoes, Eggs, Celery, both kinds of Onions and season well with salt and black pepper. Once this is all mixed, slowly add the skillet slurry with a spatially so as to not be smashing or breaking the potatoes. Taste and update with Salt, Pepper, Paprika, whatever as you see fit.

Tempting alternative ingredients: Garlic Salt with Parsley, Celery Salt, Cayenne Pepper

Onion Jam

Sat, 24 Aug 2024 18:10:40 GMT

Leftover Onions make a great sandwich spread

Recently I hosted a work event where I provided a nice hoagie sandwich bar, complete with four or five meats and cheeses, a lot of various vegetables, several dressings/spreads, and more than a few choices of bread. All-in-all it was a fantastic event with everyone enjoying the food quite a bit, apparently, minus the Red Onions, seems nobody or very few decided to put the Red Onions on their sandwiches, which led to two hole thinly sliced Red Onions being left over.

What to do with so many already sliced Red Onions? While I have seen several uses of Yellow Onions, I haven't really seen a lot of folks discussing leftover Red Onion. I suppose they could be pickled, or kept around for sandwiches and salads, they may be good for grilling or roasting, I'm not really up to speed on Red Onions.

With all that in mind, and knowing how much the Mrs. and I enjoy carnalized onions in general, I thought why not try and make an "Onion Jam", not a jelly for a PBJ type thing, but more like the Bacon or Jalapeño jam one might get on a burger. I am thinking an Onion Jam would be just as good and would work for things like Pizza, Grilled Cheese sandwiches, and of course a burger or two. So with that I gathered my ingredients and set out to make some Onion Jam.

The required ingredients should be pretty simple, the Onions (of course), some Olive Oil, Butter, and Brown Sugar to get them carnalized, perhaps some sort of Balsamic or Wine vinegar, and of course Salt and Pepper.

So, I got started by melting some butter and olive oil in a pan under medium heat and heaped in the onions and sprinkled them lightly with some salt to help the sweating process. I let the onions cook down a good 30 minutes, turning regularly and what was once a overstuffed pan of raw onions became a nice warm pile of soft onions. At this point I added 3 tablespoons of brown sugar to get the caramelization going.

After I stirred in the Dark Brown Sugar, I let that cook another 5 minutes or so to make sure sugar was integrated into the onions and they were looking good.

At this point I was thinking I would put in about a 1/4 cup each of Red Wine and Balsamic Vinegar. Unfortunately, I did not have the standard dark Balsamic on hand, so I just went with the White Balsamic and Red Wine Vinegar. Once I got that stirred in, I let the Onions reduce another 10 minutes or so before adding a generous amount of Black Pepper.

Finally, I let the pot simmer on medium heat for about another 30 minutes or so until everything became sort of a thick jell and look like an amazing Onion Jam. I let that cool down about another 20 / 25 minutes and transferred to an air tight jar to put in the refrigerator for use. Research says you could freeze the onions for later, or keep them in the refrigerator for about a week. I will probably grill some pork chops later this week and see how Onion Jam Pork Chops might taste.

OC(D) Laundry Day

Sat, 01 Jun 2024 20:29:00 GMT

Baskets, I see Baskets ...

laun·dry /ˈlôndrē/ early 16th century: contraction of Middle English lavendry, from Old French lavanderie, from lavandier ‘person who washes linen’

I should preface this post with the fact that TWO people live in this house, we have no children and no pets (if you don’t count me as one of each).

Today is “Laundry” day in Orbit City (OC) and let me explain the Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) that is Laundry Day in Orbit City. First, one should note, there are laundry baskets for nearly every color of the rainbow in the Master Bedroom. When I unrobe for the evening, I need to sort my attire deciding does this particular item go into the White Colors basket, or maybe the Red/Orange Clothing basket, perhaps it is a shade of Black or Grey and therefore it should go into the Black/Gray Basket? Maybe it is a shade of Green or Brown and should therefore be deposited into the Green Basket? Perhaps it is some sort of Blue and should be placed neatly into the Blue Basket? Once I Figure that out, I need to avoid placing anything into the “Transporter Basket” used only to move shades down to the Laundry Room proper.

After I have finally navigated the FIVE color coded laundry system of dirty clothes, I can finally place my worn skivvies into the single skivvy basket next to my closet.

In the master bath we have a basket just for used towels, no matter the color, Lord forbid a bath towel enter the improper basket.

Moving down the hall, there is a special basket just for the Guest Bath towels, they can not be mixed in with the local inhabitant towels, the Guests would just not approve.

Side note here, all towels, wash cloths, bed linen all have a specifically identified shelf they must visit between being washed and being distributed throughout Orbit City.

Prior the descending the stairs we’ve already encountered nine laundry baskets alone. That is correct, two bedrooms, two baths, two inhabitants, NINE laundry baskets.

Traveling down to the main living area, one finds a specific laundry basket for the individual hand towels guests must use when visiting the main toilet room. One visitor, one towel properly folded, neatly aligned and swiftly deposited into the toilet laundry basket.

Also on the Main Deck is the well-organized Laundry Room where one can find a neatly laid out beverage shelf for the specifically organized beverage refrigerator just ahead of the Washer and Dryer with their clean and organized Laundry “liquids”. Oh, and just above the dryer one will find the specific Laundry Basket just for Kitchen Towels as Kitchen Towels may NEVER touch another linened object for they touch the dishes we eat off of.

And now we travel down to the Orbit City Home Theater and man cave known as the Burt Gummer Memorial Rec Room where we find yet another bathroom hand towel with it’s well organized and seasonally rotated individual use hand towels, again, one student/guest, one towel, neatly rolled and placed in the hand-made gun guy bathroom towel dispenser.

New Paragraph

Cilantro Lime Chicken Vegetable Soup

Thu, 28 Mar 2024 20:23:40 GMT

What to do with leftover chicken and wilting vegetables ?

So, as I prepared for lunch on a cool wet day (45°F light rain), I open the Menulator (aka Orbit City Refrigerator) and see some leftover Cilantro Lime Chicken Sausages and I think, "What can I do with those?", whereupon, I open the vegetable crisper to find the bell peppers, carrots, and celery and not quite as fresh as they once where, just starting to wrinkle and wilt just a bit, so I decide on some Chicken Vegetable Soup. I head out to the Freezer to grab some extra chicken and find a couple of Cilantro Lime Chicken Breasts, "Perfect". I look around and gather up what I think I might need, the Chicken, an Onion, those wilting veggies,

First thing to do, is get everything chopped and ready to go. As a Program Manager I can tell you, failure to plan is planning to fail, you don't want your onions burning up in the pot because you have to peel and chop the carrots. Get everything set up to go into the pot so you can focus on building the flavors.

Once we have everything laid out, let's get a couple tablespoons of Olive Oil nice and hot in the Dutch Oven. First think we need to do is get that chicken cooked (I forgot to grab a picture of that), While you are cooking the Chicken make sure the pan get's a nice caramelization on the bottom to add a little extra flavor to the next step. Once the Chicken is cooked thoroughly, go ahead and pull it out and set it aside for now. At this point we want to throw in the Holy Trinity or Mirepoix as they might say in Culinary School (Onions, Carrots, Celery). Cook those down until nice and tender, I believe I did about 6 minutes. When those are softened up, throw in the Chopped Garlic (I used like 4 big cloves finely chopped). You should only cook the garlic a few seconds until you can smell them, maybe 30 second or so. At this point I put

Now we start building up our soup - add the Chicken Stock and stir well. Let that cook for a bit to transform the stock into something with a bit more flavor, I let it sit for about 15 or 20 minutes, just until I saw the first bubbles of boiling.

Once the Stock had cooked in a bit, I started adding the rest, a tablespoon of Worcestershire Sauce, maybe a tablespoon of Cholula Chipotle Hot Sauce, a tablespoon of Coriander, and Tablespoon of dried Cilantro (since I didn't have any fresh Cilantro to add in the bowl), I put it a dash of Sea Salt, probably a full tablespoon of fresh black pepper, did a taste test, it was missing "something", so I went ahead and put in about 1/2 a tablespoon of the Traeger Blackened Saskatchewan Rub (Garlic and Signature Spices) and, as Emeril Lagasse would say "BAMB!". Then I tossed in a cup or so of Frozen Corn, Peas, and Green Beans, as well as a can (drained and rinsed) of Goya Black Beans. I let this all cook over a medium fire for about 30 minutes or so.

Delicious! Grab a fresh beer, pout that into a glass, and Serve the Soup up in a bowl with a wedge of lime and some Fresh Cilantro (if you have it handy), and of course some nice chopped green onions. It should pair very well with your favorite cracker, be it the Food Lion Vegetable Cracker, the always tasty Toll House Club Cracker (my choice today), or the wonder Ritz. Nothing beats a nice warm bowl of Homemade Soup on a cold rainy day.

#NationalSloppyJoeDay

Mon, 18 Mar 2024 20:04:05 GMT

Sloppy Joes Do Not Come From A Can ...

We get started by gently mixing a Table Spoon of the Meat Church Honey Hog BBQ and a Teaspoon of the Traeger Saskatchewan Rub. Once it is all mixed together, just let that sit and marinade while we get our veggies prepped.

Each year on March 18th the US sits down the celebrate National Sloppy Joe Day. Today we will be creating a nice spicy Sloppy Joe in the Orbit City Kitchen. First, we need to gather our Ingredients. I generally start with a pound of Ground Chuck generally seasoned with some Meat Church Honey Hog BBQ rub and Traeger Saskatchewan Rub to add the perfect smoked meat flavor. We will be tossing in a couple of different Onions & Bell Peppers (Variety is the Spice of Life) and of course some Garlic. We will also be adding in a Jalapeño for some extra kick, and knock that back with just a bit of sweet Brown Sugar. Of course we will need a bit of Tomato Sauce to tie everything to together, spiced up with a bit of Heinz Jalapeño Ketchup. No Sloppy Joe is complete without the Worcestershire Sauce, Red Wine Vinegar, and the ever popular Kosher Salt and Cracked Black Pepper. We will also need some Butter and Oil to get our pan ready and finally some nice toasted Buns to slap our concoction on.

New Paragraph

Now, let's dice half of each Onion and mix them into a bowl. Then we will dice each of the Bell Pepper halves and mix them up nicely, followed by dicing our Jalapeño, and finely chop a few heads of Garlic. The Jalapeño is optional, and you can add or subtract Garlic to your liking (I prefer quite a bit). Bonus Tip: if you slice off the basic plate (hard end), place the cloves into a metal container such as a bar shaker, shake vigorously, they will all but peel themselves.

At this point, I like to stage everything near the pan for easy access and quick delivery. I like to melt a tablespoon or so of Butter into the skillet with an equal tablespoon of Canola Oil to get the pad ready.

First thing we need to do is get all the Onions and Peppers good a caramelized, nice and soft. Sauté them until nice and tender, probably about 5 or 6 minutes, maybe a bit more depending on how much you have in there. At this point you are probably thinking, are we eating a salad or a Sloppy Joe? That is a lot of veggies, do I need tthat much? Probably not, you could do a lot less if you wanted, but Trust me, the next step will probably blow your mind, might just freak you out, but it is soo worth it.

So, YES, that is a LOT of veggies, so to help with flavor and thickness, I'm going to take about a third of those soft, tender, delicious veggies and blend them into a slurry to put back into the pan as a thickening agent.

Now, pour the puréed veggie slurry back into the pan and toss in your chopped garlic. Mix that all up and cook until aromatic, maybe 40 seconds, maybe less.

Once the Garlic starts to smell, add in the Ground Chuck and cook everything together until the Ground Chuck fully cooked. When you got your Chuck done, throw in your Tomato Sauce and mix everything together, top that with the remaining ingredients (3/4th ish cups of Jalapeño ketchup, a couple tablespoons of Brown Sugar, a Tablespoon or so of the Yellow Mustard, perhaps a tablespoon of the Paprika, and a teaspoon or so of the Cayenne Pepper. Grind in your Salt and Pepper and let that all simmer for 20 minutes or so until it is the thickness you prefer. Although we all appreciate a good SLOPPY Joe, nobody likes a soggy bun.

Some days are better than others and today, the sauce was just not reducing to where I prefer it. When that happens, there are probably a thousand methods for thickening it back up ... some folks talk about a Flour slurry (it's never a good idea to add flour at the end of cooking, flour needs quite a bit of time to cook out properly), there are those that subscribe to the Cornstarch slurry (not a bad slurry, but it doesn't add anything but thickness), if you need to add something in, why not put in a little flavor while you are at it? Some folks use Oats, which is nice, but if you have leftovers, the oats will continue to soak up the sauce and tomorrow you might have to add sauce to get it back to where you like it. There are those that add Mashed Potatoes, ok, but that seems like a lot of extra work .. Personally, I just add about 1/4 of a cup of mashed potato flakes, much easier that making mashed potatoes first, and I almost always have a box on hand to use to thicken all kinds of soups and sauces. Just add a little at a time util everything is the consistency you are looking for.

Once you got the Sloppy Joe exactly where you want it, toast up a couple of buns, toss on a slice of your favorite Cheese (Pepper Jack for me), maybe melt that cheese under the broiler, grab yourself a Cold Beverage and sit down and enjoy.

#NationalSloppyJoeDay

VRRIIS HD EXTENDER

Fri, 24 Nov 2023 18:51:45 GMT

This is a subtitle for your new post

The day we toured this house prior to purchase I saw the potential for this space to become a theater.

And so once we bought the place and go moved it, I immediately set out to convert it to a theater. Purchasing an 86 inch 4K HD TV and six recliners, splashing on Chocolate colored paint and a few movie posters, the room was exactly as I had envisioned it. We were all set to start hosting a few "Movie Nights".

For the first couple of years things went fine, there were six of us once a month gathered together for "Orbit City Gun Guy Movie Night". We would generally pause at some point during the movie for "Intermission" to grab a fresh beer and head the head. Then slowly over time, more of our Gun Club Companions learned of the Movie Night and were interested in joining, so something had to be done about the seating situation, and 13 Movie Theater Chairs were ordered and installed to replace the 6 reliners.

Once we had more seating, a Mug Club and Whiskey Glass had to be procured for each member. And as these things tend to go, the new Mugs would not fit the chair cupholders, so 13 Mug Club cup holder extensions had to be 3D printed.

Of course once we had the new seating and a larger crowd, assigned seating had to be accomplished, so, a personalized hand towel was procured for each "Regular" member and placed on their seat prior to the doors Opening. Because the new chairs did not recline quite as nicely as the old recliners did, individual footstools had to be purchased and cut down and reformatted to fit the space. Also, if you having a movie, you have to have popcorn and with the new smaller seats there was no place to keep the popcorn other than your lap, and so 13 extended cupholders were order to hold the Beer Mug and Popcorn.

By this time, the Movie Night was in it's third year, with a much larger crowd, often requiring two movie nights per month to ensure everyone interested was able to partake. The events usually go something like this ... the Door Opens at 5 pm for drinks, cigars, and socializing. Food is then served around 7 pm with the movie kicking off around 8 pm.

and now we come to the matter at hand. With these larger crowds, intermissions started getting longer and longer as fellas wanted to continue the socializing around the bar and discuss how the particular movie has unfolded so far or what was going on with hunting season or some other topic more exciting than the current movie. Once the intermissions started edging in on 30 minutes I decided we would forego the intermission and just watch the movie straight through. If you're going to skip intermission you'll need to ensure guests can refill their beer mugs and find their way to the bathroom during the show, and so foot lighting, keg lighting, and darken theater curtains were added to improve the overall movie going experience.

And if you are not going to stop the movie for an intermission you must ensure those heading off to the restroom don't miss a minute of the movie and so, the VRRIIS FULL HD EXTENDER was procured and installed. It was thoroughly tested with movies like Master and Commander, the Patriot, and Guardians of the Galaxy to ensure the full HD 7.2 Surround sound continued while the movie was projected into the bathroom and a simple 24 inch Visio Smart TV.

To date we have now watched three movies with the VRRIIS installed and in use and I must say I have been nothing but impressed. In the Theater the movie continues in full 7.2 UHD format while it is simultaneously broadcast to the bathroom for those that may need to get up during the movie for a quick relief.

Cream of Broccoli Soup

Mon, 06 Nov 2023 18:19:21 GMT

Finding Joy in the search

So, once again I find myself home alone as lunch approaches and feeling a little rumble in the tummy. I head off to the kitchen to scour the refrigerator and see what might be available. I instantly spot a bag of broccoli florets I took out of the freezer a few days ago and then got side-tracked and didn't use. I then dig around a little more and find a small handful of cauliflower florets in a bag with some celery, green onions, and red onion. I see we have milk, butter, and I tend to always keep a few jars of various Better than Bouillon on hand as they are easier to keep, last longer than boxed broths, and tend to taste much better as well. Today I see we have a jar of Roasted Chicken Base, Roasted Garlic Base, and Sautéed Onion on hand.

at this point my mind goes instantly to some sort of Broccoli soup. I look around for some cheese and don't find much there, a few slices of various sandwich cheeses, but nothing in enough bulk to make a Broccoli Cheese soup, so then I think well, we have plenty of Milk, Butter, and Sour Cream, surely I can do just a simple Cream of Broccoli Soup in a few short steps and minues.

and so, I grab what I think I might need .. the onion, the broccoli, the cauliflower, the celery, some garlic, milk, flour, and of course no meal is complete without some crushed black pepper.

I begin my roughly chopping everything up, then get some butter melting in a pot and add the Onions and Celery to sauté a bit and make it a bit smoother for blending. Once I can press my spatula through the celery fairly easily I add in the garlic and sauté that just until I can smell garlic. At that point I add in the Broccoli and Cauliflower and warm those up. Next I pour in about 2 cups of boiling water whisked with 2 teaspoons of the Roasted Chicken Base Better Than Bullion and simmer for about 10/15 minutes.

Once everything is soft and cooked together for a bit I transfer this to the Ninja blender and slowly with the spout open to prevent steam build up begin the blending ... running at level 1 until it is all broken down I rotate the speed dial to 3 and let it go at it for 5 minutes or so. While this is spinning around in the blender I look back in the fridge, what I was thinking I don't even know, but I saw a Tupperware bowl of some left over chopped up lettuce from a Blue Griffin class or two ago and thought, it won't change the flavor, it will add some thickness perhaps and help to not waste this lettuce before it goes bad, so I toss that in the blender as well.

After I have the produce all blended up, time to make the "Cream" of this Cream of Broccoli Soup. If memory serves I just need to melt a bit of butter, add about an equal amount of flower, get that mixed then add a couple cups of milk. And just because I could, I put the milk in the blender and gave it a whirl to get all the broccoli out of the blender. I simmer the Cream until it's fairly thick and bubbly. I then combine this into the broccoli and cook for about 3 minutes and give it a taste. Not bad, but it pretty much tastes like eating a broccoli floret. So back to the pantry I go .. what this needs is ... and it hits me right in the face ... Cilantro, Basil, and Garlic Salt. Two tablespoons each of the Cilantro and Basil and one of the Garlic Salt.

Since I am introducing new seasons I figure I better let this all simmer together for maybe another 10 minutes on low eat so I don't burn the milk but get those flavors all combined.

So after maybe 45 minuets from the time I opened the refrigerator to see what was for lunch, I am serving up some rather delicious Cream Of Broccoli Soup. Garnish with a Celery stem, some Green Onions, and perhaps a dab of Sour Cream.

You may want to add some crackers or bread or something like that, but I found it very eatable as is and scarfed down two boles before return back to my office in the basement to finish the workday.

CHOPPED BASKET BRUNCH

Mon, 30 Oct 2023 17:01:01 GMT

Leftover Breakfast Burrito ...

Here it is, just after noon on a sunny Monday morning, the wife is off at work and I am beginning to feel a little puckish. I go up to check the refrigerator for what leftovers might be there and all of a sudden, I get this feeling I have just stumbled upon the next Chopped Basket. A half of cup of cooked ground beef, a couple of tablespoons of leftover mushrooms and garlic from the last Korean meal, as I open the draws I find a half of a Vidalia onion, some loose lettuce from the past weekends gun class lunches, a few cherry tomatoes from the last gun guy movie night and I think to myself, “Ok, I can work with this, let’s go to the Pantry” (as they say on Chopped). I remember that although we have eaten several MRE meals this year, nobody seems to want the Plain or Chipotle Tortillas that come in the pack, so it hits me .. Breakfast Burrito’s ala Leftovers. I grab a couple of eggs, four slices of Pepper Jack Cheese and 2 slices of Bologna to add something not yet cooked to the skillet.

I go to work putting 2 tablespoons of butter and an equal amount of garlic Olive Oil in the pan to warm up. Once warm I toss in the chopped-up onion and let that cook until it is soft and translucent. I add the garlic and mushroom mix and cook for about 30 seconds or so. Once I smell garlic, I toss in the chopped-up Bologna and get that fried a bit and then throw in the ground beef. At this point we’re going to need some seasonings, so I sprinkle in a bit of Salt and Pepper, a tablespoon of Cumin and Turmeric and 2 tablespoons of Smoked Paprika for spice. While that cooks down another 2 or 3 minutes I whisk together 2 eggs and a couple tablespoons of milk in a bowl. I toss the chopped-up Cherry tomatoes into the pan and mix thoroughly and then coat the mixture in the pan with the egg mixture. Once the eggs start to look cooked, I flip it over like an omelet and top it with 4 slices of cheese. I make a small hole near the center and pour in about a tablespoon of Apple Juice to create some steam to melt the cheese and throw a lid on the pan. While the cheese is getting melted, I put one Plain and one Chipotle Tortilla on the grill side of the stove top. After a minute or so I flip the tortillas and scramble up the mixture in the skillet. Once the tortillas are done, I put them on my plate with the burrito mix, top that with the shredded lettuce, some Tostitos Salsa I found in the fridge and a few shakes of Good Old Mrs. Cholula’s Hot Sauce. Paired with a cold glass of Apple Juice and I have myself a Chopped worthy Leftover Breakfast Burrito …

Perma Del Mar (PDM)

Fri, 13 Oct 2023 19:33:59 GMT

Smoke 'em if you got 'em

Perma Del Mar (PDM) Double Toro 6 x 60. A beautiful dark chocolate looking Trunk-Pressed cigar. I have to admit, I tend to push the box pressed cigars around in my humidor until that's about my only choice left. I find the square shape a bit clunky to smoke, I can't always seem to get a tight seal for a good draw. The PDM, having a 60 ring did not present this problem, right from the start the draw was easy and smooth delivering a mouth full of smoke. Since I decided to start posting a few reviews I researched how/what most reviews describe and talk about in relation to cigars. The Cigar review is typically laid out in thirds. In Maduro reviews I found the first third is generally described with words like dark earth, toasted cedar, and baking spice flavors. In this PDR I could definitely identify the earthy toasted flavor, I'm not sure yet what "baking spice" is referring to? As a cook I would think things like Cinnamon, Nutmeg, Allspice, maybe Clove or something? Anyway I don't think I have a pallet to get that detailed. I am definetly not what you would refer to as a "Super Taster". This first third was earthy, toasted, pretty flavorful. I paired this third with the Aldus Brewing Co. Going Deutsche Octoberfest and found it an excellent pairing.

As I got closer to the center, I finished the Octoberfest and grabbed a Shiner Bock for the increase in depth of flavor I was hoping to get. The PDM flavor began to pick up, getting a little stronger, what a lot of reviewers seem to refer to as black pepper, oaky, deeper, it was getting better, and I was smart in my beer choice, another excellent decision. I was kicking back to Pandora AC/DC Radio and I can say, the music paired as well as the beer did ... ZZ Top, Johnny Cash, Zack Brown Band, The Steve Miller Band, Credence, and of course plenty of AC/DC, the perfect music for this deep dark cigar.

I will tell you, for me, most cigars don't get really good until there's about 2 or 2.5 inches left, the Last Third, and this PDM was no different and not a let down. It was one of those cigars I wanted to smoke until I just couldn't hold on to it any longer. The burn was steady, even, and slow, but it never went out. For this last Third I grabbed the complex chocolate, dark fruit, and roasted aromas found in Bell's Expedition Stout (Imperial Russian Stout), and again, what a genius choice, this beer was exactly what a strong Maduro session should end with. I am not typically a Stout guy, but this was by far one of the best cigar/beer pairing I ever thought to try.

This particular three beer session took all of 2 hours.

Overall, a fine $8 cigar if you have the time. It would be a welcome addition to a Saturday Sporting Clays session, the Gun Club bon fire night, or perhaps if you are a golfer maybe a nice smoke for the back 9?

Orbit City and the Plight of the Slippers

Thu, 12 Oct 2023 12:25:44 GMT

Cute Shoes Now Take Them Off ...

As a True Red Blooded American Redneck I must admit the hardest thing about my marriage to a beautiful Korean-American is learning to take off my shoes and that socks are not an acceptable replacement.

Let me start with the fact that from the day I could walk some 57 or so years ago I was trained to wake up, take a shower, get dressed, and put on my shoes for the day, and those shoes did not come off again until it was once again time to either change in to pajama's or get back in to bed.

Fast forward to 2020 and the purchase of Orbit City for our joint life adventure to begin in earnest and boom the law is laid down immediately "Cute Shoes, Now Take Them Off!" The first rule of Korea, apparently, is no outside shoes in the house, and hey I am fine with that, I have socks on - Oh H*LL NO, not so fast Sock-Boy, the upper (bedroom level) is carpeted and socks are fine, the main living area has hardwood and tile and dust and dirt and so socks are fine there also, just not the SAME socks as previously allowed, and don't get her started on the Blue Griffin classroom where students do no take of their shoes at all, again, socks will be fine down there, just not the socks you wear on the main level nor the socks you wear upstairs, therefore, you will be putting on some "House Slippers" and you will put on a different pair at each level so as not to cross contaminate the levels.

Fine, as long as I don't have to wear Hot, Sweaty, Fuzzy slippers I suppose I can switch out my sneakers for some easy slip in sandals. The particular Blue Norty sandals pictured above were purchased and have never touched anything but indoor hardwood and tile and they are perfectly acceptable inside Orbit City. Great, Easy Enough, Life is Good, Or so one would think. Then there is an awakening, a realization that there are more than one door to a home, heck there are usually several doors to a home, what if you want to go out to the garage for a quick grab in the meat freezer? or perhaps exit the back door to take out a bag of trash?

Turns out, Orbit City has a Front Door, a Back Door, a Garage Door, and even a Basement Door which all need to be delt with. Then there are the carpeted areas between floors and the upper level is mostly carpeted as well.

How does one go about fetching, moving, transfer their slippers if they can't simply take off the outdoor shoes and travers the indoors with stocking feet? The answer to this question becomes painfully obvious as you look around Orbit City and see "His" and "Her" outdoor slippers at every door. Great now I can drop my indoor slippers and slide into a pair of outdoor slippers whenever I am just stepping out and around OC - just remember to come back in through the same door, do not exit the garage and try and come back in the front door, you just left your indoor slippers at the garage exit.

So now it's been nearly three years, we have slippers for slippers, inside slippers and outside slippers, slippers for gardening, and, well, quite frankly, I am not 100% sure how many slippers I am supposed to have at this point.

I still struggle to take off the upstairs slippers at the stair landing, travel down the carpeted stairs in my stocking feet, transfer to the downstairs sandals and reverse the process when I need to return from the Man Cave and reenter the Obit City Main Living Quarters. And whatever you do, don't think you can simply take off your shoes and step outside in your stocking feet, that has cost more than one visitor or contractor an eardrum (lol). What is the point of taking off your shoes if you are going to wear your socks outside and then bring the dirt in on them? and believe you me, many Americans struggle with this concept.

We've got shelves of slippers and heck even one of our regular visitors had some Amazon slippers delivered to Orbit City so he would have his own slippers whenever he stops by, while another brought a pair to keep here for his visits.

So, if you ever stop by Orbit City for a visit don't be surprised, shocked, or upset when you find yourself slipping out of your shoes and into some random disposable Spa slippers we've purchased for guests, or putting on a Shoe Condom from the Bin of Shame, it's become a Right of Passage, a Way of Life, a Fond part of Orbit City Living ...

Larceny, Rocky Patel, & the Traeger Grill

Wed, 11 Oct 2023 12:28:17 GMT

an evening fire and grill cleaning session

Tonight we "Clean" the Traeger because apparently "Fire Pots Don't Clean Themselves". Who doesn't love a Smartass Grill?

Before we get started on the Traeger we have to acknowledge the crisp 62°F weather with a nice warm fire and a well made Kentucky Mule. But first, we need to get Google jamming a little Sirius XM "RED WHITE AND BOOZE" on the Deck speaker (Country Bar Music with a Splash of Classic Rock), and for that it's simply a matter of saying it out load "Hey Google, play Red White and Booze on the Deck Speaker". Next, for the Mule I have decided to start with the Heaven Hill LARCENY Small Batch 92 Proof Straight Kentucky Bourbon. This bourbon has a sweet cinnamon smell with plenty of the charred oak you'd expect from a Kentucky bourbon. I found the taste very smooth and mild with plenty of warm spice flavors. To that I added a small sliver of ginger, a couple of lime slices, and some of Reed's All Natural Craft Ginger Beer. I like the Strong Ginger flavor found in Reed's with just a hint of carbonation this ginger beer makes for a great Mule, whether it be a Vodka poured Moscow, a Tequila inspired Mexican, or my favorite, the Bourbon Kentucky Mule. If you like Ginger Beer with or without any alcohol, give Reed's a try.

Once I had my fire going and my Mule in hand, I thought "what a perfect time for a cigar" and so I grabbed the Pressed Rocky Patel Olde World Reserve Maduro Robusto (5.5 x 54). This was/is a Cigar Aficionado top 10 pressed cigar. This is an excellent cigar that burned nicely start to finish without any of the edges loosing fire, it smoked a rich maduro sweetness, very earthy. As the cigar smoked down the flavors gotten a bit bolder and by the end I found the strong bold flavors I really enjoy, just in time to be done (sad emoji). This is a fantastic cigar if you enjoy a robust Nicaraguan Maduro. The 5 and a half inches took just about an hour to get through.

So, fire started, Cigar and Mule in hand it was time to attack the grill. First thing was to scrape down the grill grates. I know many folks will probably say this should be done immediately after each cooking session, but I tend to get lost in the food and end up leaving the grill for a day or two or until I need it again next time. I'm not super particular about a shiny clean grill, I remember fondly the days our parents would load us kids up into the back of the pick-up truck and head down to the Colorado River, find a camping spot with one of those old rusty park style charcoal grills planted in the ground, used by millions, cleaned by none and I don't recall every falling ill to any food borne sickness and heck just about a month ago I received a very good "bill of health" from my physician and I am certain my healthy immune system is a product of my outdoor, barefoot, eat off the park grill childhood. Anyway, getting side tracked, back to the current Traeger and it's smart ass "Fire Pit's Don't Clean Themselves" display. So I grabbed by Traeger All Natural Cleaner, sprayed everything down, kicked back for a few hits on the Bourbon and Cigar while the cleaner dug in.

After maybe 10 or 15 minutes of poking around in the fire and refilling the copper mug with a bit more bourbon and a second Reed's Ginger Beer I grabbed my scrub brush wandy thing and ran it over the grates until all the old chuncks and pieces were gone. I pulled out the drip try and removed the caked on, burnt aluminum foil (sure I could use the Traeger aluminum drip trays which cost three or four times a roll of Reynolds Wrap Heavy Duty Aluminum Foil, but I like measuring and pressing the foil tight up and around all the edges to get that shinny clean look).

Once the drip tray was out and cleaned, I grabbed my little Craftsman Shop vac I keep in the deck box with all my Pellets and woodchips and charcoal for the various grills scattered around my deck. A man needs a good Gas Grill, for those quick evening chicken breasts or Saturday Burger and Dogs, and you can't have great Fajita's if you can't put your Skirt Steak directly on some Hard Wood Lump Charcoal, and of course what's a Brisket or Rib recipe that doesn't involve hours and hours of smoking, so you'll need a smoker as well .. hence the Traeger smoker, Char-Griller Gas/Charcoal combo, and the small little Webber charcoal grill found around my deck.

Once the inside was all vacuumed out, the drip try covered in clean shinny aluminum foil, and the grill grates were all scrubbed down and clear, it was simply a matter of spraying a bit of the Traeger spray on the outside surfaces and wiping them down before placing the cover back on the grill and getting back to finishing my mule and cigar.

Half-Smart Lights

Thu, 05 Oct 2023 15:00:41 GMT

Automation turns off Half the lights ...

Orbit City, being a futuristic setting for the Jetson family is happy to boast some great automation, lots of "smart" devices, and plenty of Google interaction. Once such device is a Geeni TAP smart switch connected via Wi-Fi and the SMART LIFE App which is then wired to our outside front porch lights. This switch is programmed via a SMART LIFE app "Scene" to trigger each evening at Sunset and again each morning at Sunrise. The four outside lights (2 on the front porch and 2 on the garage) turn on automatically each evening, and then turn OFF at Sunrise as indicated in the above image.

If you take a close look at this image, you will notice that the Porch lights are in fact OFF, while the Garage lights remain On. Very strange, all 4 lights are controlled by the same switch, none of these lights themselves are Smart Lights, yet two turn off, while two remain on ?? I believe it was The Police who said "Ghosts in the Machine" ?

and here we see the smart switch is indicating Wi-Fi connected and the switch is on.

So, then I set an "Automation" in the Google HOME app to turn off the switch every morning at 8 am just to see what happens. Sure enough, this morning I get up around 0615 and wait for Sunrise at 0706. Precisely at 0706 the 2 porch lights go out while the 2 garage lights remain on until 0800 when the switch turns off and the remaining lights go out.

Now I will remove the SMART LIFE "Scene" and update the Google HOME "Automation" from 0800 to trigger at Sunrise and see what happens tomorrow (10/6/2023) morning. I will update this post at that time.

Carrot and Celery Soup

Tue, 03 Oct 2023 18:43:49 GMT

Grabbing what is on hand for lunch

Just looking around the kitchen for some lunch, I do not want to go to the store or spend more money on take out or delivery. I found the celery starting to get a bit soft, and we have quite a few carrots, so why not try my hand at a Carrot and Celery Soup? - Warning, this recipe is completely made up, on the spot, by yours truly, I did not consult multiple recipes for ideas or thoughts as I normally do.

I grabbed a few carrots, some celery stalks, a head of garlic, we had a 1/4 of an onion in the fridge, some butter, and then I thought about flavoring .. some Bay Leaves, Basil, and Parsley would probably go well, and how about a little white and black pepper, since I was short on onion, better grab some onion powder and for medicinal and a little brighter coloring why not toss in a bit of Turmeric. Should the soup need thickening I do have some canned potatoes in the panty and I generally try and keep cornstarch on hand. Here we go ..

Melt some butter and throw in the garlic just until you can smell it, maybe 30 seconds, add the carrots and celery and sauté to soften the them just a bit, I did about 6 minutes, stirring every 45 seconds or so. Note 1: If you don't have Potatoes or Corn Starch, you could toss in a couple of table spoons of All Purpose Flower at this point, coating the vegetables and cooking it down. It takes twice as much APF as Corn Starch to thicken soup and it takes much longer to cook out that dry Flour flavor so you have to add Flour much earlier in the cooking process.

At this point we will need to pour in some liquid, Vegetable stock would probably be best, today I have chicken stock, but water would probably work just fine. Throw in a tablespoon of kosher salt and 3 or 4 bay leaves and bring that to a boil, then let simmer until the carrots are soft (30 minutes give or take). Note 2: if you are using a fresh potato, peel and dice it and throw it in now so it has time to soften with the carrots.

Add in the potatoes and blend it until smooth (immersion blender or transfer to a regular blender). It came out plenty thick enough and so I didn't need to use the cornstarch at all. Note 3: If you don't have any potatoes and are going to thicken with Corn Starch, remember to pull a little of the liquid out into a seperate bowl and whisk that with a couple of table spoons of Corn Starch and then pour that back into the soup. Do not add Corn Starch directly to the large pot of soup so you don't get lumps. We might also be able to add a little smoothness later with some Heavy Cream or something along those lines as well, we shall see.

Once it is as smooth as you want it, start adding your seasonings. 1 tablespoon each of Onion Powder, Oregano, Basil, and Parley, and then one teaspoon each of White Pepper, Turmeric, fresh black pepper. Taste and adjust as needed. I might have snuck (sneaked for the grammar Nazi's) in a bit more black pepper, I like my pepper grinder. Remember food is not science, food is very subject to each pallet, add whatever spices and seasonings you like, experiment, try to make it YOUR SOUP. To loosely quote Captain Barbossa (Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl 2003) .. "First, your guarantee of a delicious soup was not part of our negotiations nor our agreement so I must do nothing. And secondly, you must be a Chef for the Chef's code to apply and you're not. And thirdly, the recipe is more what you'd call "guidelines" than actual rules. Welcome aboard Live From Orbit City, Miss Betty Crocker".

At this point, I found it pretty darn good but decided to add a teaspoonish of crushed red pepper flakes for a little heat on the backend. Once you have it spiced just right, simmer for another 10 or 15 minutes to marry everything up and get those flavors all joined together.

At this point you could add a cup or so of Heavy Cream, or, as in my case, once removed from the fire add a dollop of Greek Yogurt to add a creamy smoothness (don't add yogurt to the pot on the stove, it might just curdle, Yogurt and Sour Cream are best served at the table on an individual fondness basis, while Heavy Cream is bessed cooked into the recipe for additional creaminess and smoothness).

Top with scallions, perhaps some fresh parsley, maybe some crumbled bacon bits if this isn't a Vegetarian lunch?, I had a pack of Chick-Fil-Lay Charred Tomato Crispy Red Bell Peppers laying around, which I gladly threw in with a spoon of Greek Yogurt, serve with your favorite fall beer, and Enjoy. Mighty Darn Good if I must say so myself.