#4 - Go Somewhere Where I Need My Passport

Technically, I completed this one last April with a one-day trip to our manufacturing plant in Juarez, Mexico.  So, the stamp at right was the first to adorn my shiny new passport.

Somehow a quick sprint across the border, plant tour and meeting, followed by a return sprint back to the friendly confines of El Paso did not really seem to meet with the spirit of item #4, so I decided to hold off and see if I couldn't come up with something a little more like international vacationing.

I was thinking that Denise might like a stay at some resort, maybe south of France sort of thing.  Came up with something much better; CANADA!  Kind of like France, French being one of their two national languages, better in that we are in western Canada, where I have a rudimentary command of the language.  By employing my limited vocabulary along with animated gesticulations I seem to be able to communicate with most of the indigenous peoples.
 
As proof of my being in Canada, I submit the following;

Exhibit A: Westjet boarding pass

Exhibit B: Passport stamp from the Canada Border Services Agency

Exhibit C: Canadian beef



Exhibit D: Me, with some woman, at Dutch Creek with Hoodoos in the background

Better than any resort, I am spending the week at the famous Hog Lodge; five-star guest accommodations, excellent cuisine, live entertainment (belly dancers), lattes on demand, kayaking, hiking, Cuban cigars, fireworks (and they don't even lock up their liquor!)

More to come, I'll post a link to the balance of the photos after I've had time to pare through them and redact some of the more incriminating evidence.

#43 - Make Pastrami from Scratch

I took minor liberties with this one.  Having on occasion made corned beef briskets (from our CSA green-fed beef) and reasoning that pastrami was pretty similar, I opted for Turkey Pastrami. The turkey variety is arguably healthier and significantly less expensive than beef, not that that necessarily factored into my decision. 

Using a recipe by Guy Fieri, I started it in time to be ready for the smoker on the Independence Day holiday.  Brined the turkey breast in the fridge for a few days, then 24 hours in a dry rub, followed by several (4 or 5) hours in the smoker on the morning of the Fourth.

My only slight screw up was when taking it out of the smoker, I decided to crisp up the skin a bit on the gas grill.  There's a lot of fat in turkey skin, as it turns out, and it flares up pretty easily.  Consequently I ended up with a sort of Blackened Turkey Pastrami.  Reminded me of Moose Turd Pie (Good though!)

Blackened skin or no, it turned out pretty well.  Sampled it in a sandwich on rye, unadulterated but for a little classic yellow mustard.  Delicious!

#31 - Take a Cooking Class

A few years ago, Denise gave me an IOU for a cooking for my birthday.  Last night I finally collected.

Earlier this week I registered online for a class at the Sur La Table in Carlsbad.  I elected to turn it into a sort of date night and registered Denise as well. 

The topic of last nights course was "Quick Dinners from the Italian Pantry."  The menu called for Quick Parmesan Polenta with Thyme-Scented Mushrooms - Orechiette with Chicken, Roasted Red Peppers, and Pine Nut Pesto - Peach, Prosciutto and Gorgonzola Pizza with Aged Balsamic - Roasted Green Onion and Farro Salad with Fresh Mozzarella. 

I have to say that if I learned nothing else from the class I at least learned that Italian pantries are apparently better stocked than mine.  I don't generally have things like prosciutto, fresh mozzarella and aged balsamic laying around.  I guess I will have to work on that.

The class consisted of about 13 people divided into teams of four or so.  Each team prepared all four dishes, with different team members handling different parts of the prep, chopping, grating, whisking, sauteing, and whatever.  Here we have an action shot of Denise quartering cherry tomatoes for the Farro salad.  Look at those knife skills!  She's not even bleeding.

The instructor/chef and her assistants handled some of the prep to keep things within something like the 2-hour scheduled class time.  For example, the farro was pre-cooked before the class and the pizza dough, obviously, was prepared quite a while ahead so as to have time to rise.

The menu turned out to be very tasty.



Roasted Green Onion and Farro Salad with Fresh Mozzarella



A not at all good photo of the Orechiette with Chicken, Roasted Red Peppers, and Pine Nut Pesto

Another lousy picture of the polenta and mushrooms.

Peach, Prosciutto and Gorgonzola Pizza with Aged Balsamic

Sorry, the pictures were from my phone and the quality kind of sucks...also, in most cases I forgot to take pictures before I started eating.

Although I didn't learn much of anything new in the way of technique, I did come away with some new recipes, some ingredients I haven't played with previously and an opportunity to buy a bunch of kitchen gadgets that I probably don't need.  I especially like my new Pig Molcajete.

You get the class, a four-course meal and a 10% off coupon for all your Sur La Table shopping for the fairly reasonable price of $69/head.  Dinner out would have cost at least that much - but then dinner out would also have included alcohol.  I must sneak some in for my next class - perhaps their Summer Paella Workshop.

#29 - Visit a Civil War Battlefield

I suppose I should have been more specific, as I could have ended up in Libya or Syria or Sudan or God's knows where, but I did in fact mean to visit a United States Civil War battlefield.  And as a result of my most recent vacation I can check this one off.

Attended my nephew's wedding in Pittsburgh, PA, the last weekend in May.  Pittsburgh did not sound the least bit appealing (my only frame of reference being steel mills and Ben Rothlisberger fans) but it turned out to be quite a nice town and well worth a visit even if you're not attending a wedding.  We were lodged in a neighborhood near the University of Pittsburgh (Go Panthers!)  with an abundance of nice little diners and sandwich shops and bars and what not.  Consider (below) the steak sandwich from Primanti Brothers, their #2 best seller.  Foolishly I asked what their #1 best seller was; "Beer."

We even had time for a Reds-Pirates game at PNC Park on Memorial Day.  A violinist played the National Anthem - awesome!  ("Awesome...like a hot dog?"  "Like a hundred billion hot dogs sir!")  Check out the violideo on Facebook.

Leaving Pittsburgh on Tuesday (my 30th wedding anniversary - my wife's too, coincidentally) we headed east toward the quiet southern Pennsylvania town of Gettysburg.  Stopped, inadvertently, along the way at the Flight 93 Memorial site.  Inadvertently because we did not realize we were anywhere near the site.  Just happened to pull off the turnpike for a Denise break and saw a sign directing us to the memorial.  It is quite beautiful and moving.

The remainder of the drive to Gettysburg was uneventful except for the MASSIVE THUNDERSTORM that forced us off the road and into a convenient hilltop bar.  Waited through several Yuenglings for the storm to subside and finally arrived in Gettysburg in the early evening.

Tuesday night we stayed at the Quality Inn at General Lee's Headquarters on Seminary Ridge.  As the name states, Robert E. Lee made his headquarters in a couple of the buildings incorporated into this hotel site.  There's a small museum on site - free to lodgers - and probably more importantly, the Appalachian Brewing Company brew pub is directly next door, serving a perfectly acceptable IPA.

Our balcony on Seminary Ridge

Wednesday after breakfast and a tour of the hotel museum, we spent the entire remainder of the day touring Gettysburg National Military Park.   The visitor's center is beautiful, the museum very nice and the cyclorama, oh, interesting in a Disney-esque sort of way, that is until you realize that it was painted by one guy in less than a year in 1883 - it's 27 feet high by 359 feet around!

At the visitor's center we purchased "The Gettsyburg Story: Battlefield Auto Tour," a 3-CD set guiding you through some 16 different stops around the 10 square mile battlefield.  It is very good and well narrated - parts could bring you to tears, for example "The Wheat Field" (you can listen to the excerpt at the web site.)   Of course, the narration is much more powerful when you are sitting in the actual field.

We spent about 6 hours driving the 3-hour tour - BTW, I can't use the phrase 3-hour tour without hearing the Gilligan's Island theme song rattling around in the open recesses of my cranium - because I felt compelled to get out of the car and run around at every scheduled stop and points in between.

I could easily have spent a week or a month.  It is beautiful and poignant and inspiring.  I won't even try to recount any details of the visit, there are way too many to begin to describe.  The best advice I can give is to visit. 

A small sampling of photos follows...you can view the lot here.

Little Round Top

Confederate Cannon

Near the Confederate "High Water Mark"

A fine long day, eventually we had to move on towards D.C., but not before dinner at the Pub and Restaurant in downtown Gettysburg.

As a postscript to our visit, after arriving in our Arlington, VA, apartment, the boys and I spent the remaining nights of the trip streaming Ken Burn's "The Civil War" through Netflix.  I've always loved that, but the experience of the battlefield visit puts the film in a whole new perspective.

#3 - Visit the Smithsonian

Yes, I have now visited the Smithsonian.  Or a couple Smithsonians actually, there are after all a whole herd of Smithsonian museums in Washington D.C. and its environs.

My first visit was to the National Air and Space Museum, Stephen F. Udvar-Hazy Center at Dulles International Airport, new home of the Space Shuttle Discovery. 

Also home of the Enola Gay, Gossamer Albatross, Concord, GlobalFlyer, Mercury, Gemini and Apollo capsules and even a couple Goodyear blimp gondolas.  Very cool!  Pictures to be viewed here.

Next day we spent a bit of time at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History on the National Mall.  Too much to see and too many groups of school children, but we managed to see bits of dinosaur fossils, ancient seas, human history, the Hope Diamond, gems and minerals and the Chilean miner escape pod.  We even had a beer in the museum's cafe.

#8 - Weigh what is says on my driver's license

I may have bent the truth a little bit the last time I had to update my driver's license.  Didn't really lie actually, just didn't update the part about my weight.  The fields for my height (6'-2") hadn't changed nor sex (rarely), so I figured I'd just leave the weight where it was, even though that particular number was well back in the rear view mirror.

Anyway, I've since been a little worried whenever in a traffic stop (which is often) that I may be arrested for trying to impersonate a thinner person.

Short of contracting some debilitating disease or having my broken jaw wired shut, I figured I was never likely to get back to my ideal weight, much less my driver's license weight.  But when the time came to draft my hundred and one things, I decided I might as well throw this one out there.

Once it was on the list I didn't give it much thought again until early this year, with the arrival of the Christmas family photos.  "Good God! Who is the FAT F__K in those pictures?!?!?"  Well, that was me.

So, I started on a diet.  And exercise.  And joined in a little weight loss competition at work.  And I actually started to lose weight.

Today was the final weigh-in at work and actually measured in at 2.2 lbs under my DLW.  So, I'm going to count this one really quick before I put all the weight back on again.

Actually, I have about another 12 or 13 pounds to get to my real target weight, so I'm going to keep going for a while.

Wii is an Idiot
One little side note: the only "scale" we have in the house is our Wii Fit.  (Actually, that's not true...I have a little electronic kitchen scale, but I'd have to cut myself up into little 2lb increments to weigh myself on that.)  I have lately been weighing in on the scale at work and haven't checked in on the Wii for months.  So, just for kicks I got on the Wii the other evening to see how it compared with the readings at the office.

So, I get on and the first thing out of the Wii's...mouth?...as it magically calculates my BMI is "That's Obese!"  No "Hey, haven't seen you in a while" or "Wow, you've lost 30 lbs since last you stepped on me."  No, just calls me obese.  (Actually, I Googled my height and weight and found a site that says I'm just Overweight, so I'm sticking with that.)

So Wii goes on to suggest that a good target weight for me would be 171.5 lbs.  ONE SEVENTY ONE FIVE!!!!  For the record, I haven't weighed 171.5 since I was a sophomore in high school.  When I was in my best shape ever, running 10Ks and doing peak climbs in the Sierras all summer, I weighed about 208.  And also for the record, 171.5 is another SIXTY-SEVEN POINT THREE POUNDS less than what I weighed in this morning.   You do the math.  I'm pretty sure I've eaten meals that weigh more than 171.5.

Anyway, tonight I am going to celebrate with a little Woodford Reserve  90 proof.  110 calories per shot. 

#35 - Volunteer for Habitat for Humanity

I've been meaning to do this for a long, long time and the opportunity finally presented itself this last Saturday.  The timing was bad, coinciding with a brief heat wave and a ramp up in workload at the office,  but I went ahead anyway, not knowing when the next opportunity might present itself.

That's me way down on the end >>>

I should probably back up a bit.  For some time I've been of the opinion that I should probably be more engaged in some mode of volunteerism.  While I think adopting Leo qualifies me for at least a few brownie points, it doesn't probably meet the criteria for community service.

My last major volunteer activity was the Chaparral High School Grad Night, setting up the gymnasium and constructing sets for the all-night post-graduation party.  While it was only a little over a week of construction and manual labor per year, it was a LOT of labor, so I figured it met at least my minimum moral obligation. 

Grad Night was a good fit for me as a volunteer; lots of hands on activities, physical labor, not too terribly intellectually taxing, requiring minimal social skills, it provided an opportunity to employ my abundant (but somehow always inadequate) array of power tools and, in the process, bleed on lots of things.  Consistent with the notion that no good deed goes unpunished, one year the Grad Night project even landed me in the hospital.

Sadly, my last foray into the Grad Night space was the year of Jacob's crash, so he did not even attend the Grad Night of his graduation.  (That's coming up on three years ago already, BTW.)  That, as it turned out, was also the last year for the Chaparral Grad Night as we knew it.  It turned out to be too expensive and way too much work for the few volunteers who really ran things, so now they've opted for Disney trips or God only knows what.

So, on to new avenues of community involvement.  Framing houses for Habitat seemed like another good fit.  Let's face it, I'm not the type to counsel trouble youths: "You know Johnny, I've always found that there's no problem too big for alcohol."

My introductory framing session was this last Saturday morning.  Early morning.  6:30AM in Jurupa Valley.  Which meant an O'dark-thirty wake up call and hour drive, which is not a fun way to start the weekend.  The Habitat organizers check you in, collect your waiver of liability, serve up some donated Starbucks coffee, give a brief prayer (that volunteers not bash each other with flailing hammers), issue tools and then offer some brief training.  There are professional framers volunteering their time to coordinate things and keep the volunteers from doing any permanent damage.  It looked a lot like they were herding cats.

While probably necessary given the number of novices swinging hammers, the mandatory hardhats and safety glasses were a pain in the butt.  I'd be bending over driving nails, blinded by sweaty googles, swinging the hammer with right hand and with the left catching the hardhat that was forever flying off my head.

I cannot remember when I have ever driven so many nails, but I have a pair of nice blisters on my hammer hand proving that I participated (and that I am a pussy.)

All things considered, it was hot, sweaty and actually quite enjoyable.  It was pretty amazing actually; big empty concrete slab and piles of lumber at 7:30 and by 10:30 all the walls, exterior and interior, were nailed up and raised.  The site is not too far from my office, so I'll have to drive by once in a while to see how quickly the rest goes up.

Rather than bore you with more of my babbling on about the project, you can check out more info and pictures at http://www.habitatriverside.org/42112-walls-raised-at-crestmore/1368.

The only really weird part was doing all that construction without a single beer.  That is clearly not like me.

Updates on some overdue postings

Another of the several list items that I've finished, but have been too lazy to update in the blog.  Some of these were only marginally completed, but I'm going to count them anyway.

45. Build a media serverWhile probably not technically a media server, I'm counting this.  My old tower PC was about full to the gills with cheesy home video and music files.  I bought a RAID controller card and a few hard drives and now I have a few spare terrabytes to start filling up with even more cheese.

68. Mow the grass with a push mower (don't tell any co-workers) We snagged a push mower from Jackie and Mike's garage sail when they moved to their current (grass free) home.  It has come in handy on a number of occasions, in light of the fact that my gas mower has become somewhat tempermental.  I think the auto-choke is messed up; works fine in warm weather, not so much in cold.

The push mower is fine for our meager front lawn, as long as we keep on top of it.  Allow the grass to get out of control through a couple weeks of neglect and it becomes quite a chore.

75. Dress up and go out
Nothing regular, but I have actually managed a couple occasions that warranted a suit, Christmas parties, weddings, the old play.  Damn, I'm good looking.

79. Listen to podcasts/audiobooks on the commuteI've been doing this, but not as much as I might have originally liked.  Turns out I have a sort of commuting ADD; I lose track of what's transpiring in the book while I'm busy swearing at all the stupid motorists doing the kind of jack-assed maneuvers that I routinely do on my own.  I am constantly realizing that I've missed some key point and having to re-wind (not easily accomplished with my iPod while driving.) 

I'm currently listening to "The Guns of August" both on the commute and at bed time.  At bed time it is an excellent sleeping aid; I must have listened to the first five chapters 50 times, forever falling asleep and then rewinding.  I suppose I shouldn't use a sleeping aid while driving, but oh well.

85. Visit Alpine BrewingOne afternoon after spending the day at work at our El Cajon plant, I went east on a sojourn to the town of Alpine and the brewery therein.  Damn fine beer, (Pure Hoppiness) even when drinking alone.  Bought a growler and brought some home.  I was not going to count this yet, because for some reason it didn't feel like it counted with no one along to witness.  But then again, who knows when I might get back there again.

86. Build music boxes with the movements I've had foreverGot a few done this year at Christmas, one for Tee and one for Denise.  Have another 4 or 5 movements left, but this was a good start.

91. Organize the garage so we can get a car in it and still use it as a workshopWhile not really well organized, we can at least keep Denise's Prius in the garage and I can, for the most part, get at my tools.  Certainly will benefit from more organizing, but the car is in, so count it.

93. Get a new bed
Another one that is not entirely finished, but it does constitute a new bed, so I think it qualifies.  I built a box-bed frame and Denise purchased a "green" mattress to top it off.  We're sleeping on it, so it must be a bed.  I still need to finish the drawers that are supposed to fit in the frame.  They've been cut out and ready to assemble for months, but Denise keeps finding other projects for me.

98. Convert Nick's old room into my office/exercise/reading/media room
I have my computer, exercise bike, Wii, cable box, USB turntable, Power Block weight bench and probalby a few other items all arranged in Nick's old room, organized enough that I can actually use them.  Still a bit of a mess, but hey, it's a man's room.

#61 - Dinner at Cold Spring Tavern

Took me a while, but when I finally finished this one I finished it good.

For four straight weekends last month I worked in Goleta, helping Denise and her sibling's renovate their rental property.

Their renters of the last nine years or so recently departed, so there was about nine years worth of deferred maintenance to be done before putting it back on the market.  Actually, more like 45 years in some cases, because there's stuff that's never been upgraded in the lifetime of the house; single-pane aluminum sliders, dilapidated patio cover, painting galore.

As if I don't have enough projects to do at my own house.  But these projects took precedence, so off to Goleta we've gone.

Anyways, I decided that as long as I was shackled into forced labor I might as well have a little fun.  So, after working our second straight Saturday we took the entire crew (Pam, Paul, Doug and Sue) to Cold Spring Tavern for dinner.  We were joined by my sister, Linda.  Leo stayed back at the Goleta house with Bear.

Unfortunately, my phone's camera was not cooperating much so I have little in the was of photographic evidence.  I do have this fabulous photograph of Doug and Paul, in front of one of the aging trophies.  I will say this - taxidermy is not forever.  So of these various critter heads are in pretty sad shape.

The food on the other hand is delicious.




I love the Cold Spring Chili, so I had it for an appetizer.  Here's a photo.  Well it's a photo of what was left.

For my entree, the bunny.   Actually, Sauteed Medallions of Rabbit in a Marsala sauce of some type.  Fabulous!

 Not one for dessert, I had some Patrón XO Cafe instead (they were out of Gran Marnier.)  Not too bad at all.

Having completed item #61, I went on, in the spirit of beating a dead horse, and had dinner at Cold Spring again two weekends later.  Linda had mentioned that she had some old tools she was getting rid of and was I interested.  Never passing up an opportunity for more tools, I went with Denise up to the top of the pass, met Linda for dinner (the baby back ribs this time, yummy) and finished up the evening by raiding Linda's garage.  I don't actually need anymore tools, but I figure the boys can certainly use them.

Oh, besides the visits to Cold Spring, there was one other benefit of working on the Goleta house; it gave me the chance to use one of my other fabulous Christmas gifts...

"As seen on TV" the magic wrist band magnetic screw holder thingy that Denise saw fit to buy me.  I will say it provided an excellent workout; climbing up and down the ladder to pick up the bolts and nuts that kept falling off the magnets.  Oh well, I suppose I was exceeding the weight rating.  What it did best was too make my wrist all sweaty. 






#62 - Host a Feast of the Seven (or more) International Fish Dishes

It's been two months since completing this item and I don't know why it's taken so long to post.  I quite enjoyed completing it.  It turned out to be a...

 "Feast of the Indeterminate Number of Multinational Fishes." 

I tried, but I simply couldn't weed the list down to seven dishes, but I was proud to have gotten down from the original 25 or so to a nice round eleven.  Well, not so round, but at least an odd number which I understand to be required for good luck.  As to the multinational part, I never intended to try to do all Italian dishes, because I'm sure I couldn't pull that off.  So, there was some Mexican, Italian, French, etc. to try to make it interesting

The Menu

Appetizers

Oysters on the Half Shell

 Nicholas provided the oysters from a local San Diego farmer's market.  Raised locally, at Carlsbad Aquafarm, they were small and delicious little morsels, even if inexpertly shucked by yours truly.  They taste like the sea and I mean that in the best of ways.  Must have more.

 

 

Grilled Shrimp on Rosemary Skewers

 Giant shrimp from the local market, with skewers of fresh rosemary from our own front yard.  These are simple, tasty and easy to prep ahead of time, keeping some of the craziness of course coordination to a minimum.

 

 

Potato Blinis with Sour Cream, Dill and Black Caviar

  I didn't follow any particular recipe, just threw things together including some left over mashed potatoes.  The were fun to make and turned out very pretty, if not particularly tasty.

 

 

 Calamari Friti with Fried Zucchini

One of the several courses where I injected some vegan choices into the menu.  The original plan did not call for zucchini, but I didn't want Tee to starve while we all gorged ourselves on seafood.  The calamari recipe is from Giada De Laurentis on Food Network and they are great.

 

 

Catfish Ceviche with Avocado & Tortilla Chips

I love this one!  Catfish is so easy to get ahold of and we have gallons of lime juice from our tree.  Another dish easily made ahead.

Soup

Shrimp and Crab, Black Bean and Corn Chowder Salad

My original plan was for bouillabaisse, but that's not easily veganized.  I switched to this chowder recipe, which was vegan right up until the shrimp and crab were added.  Served a bowl for Tee, then added the seafood and served everyone else.  This is very good, but could easily be a meal in itself.  A little much when combining with ten other dishes.

Salad

Variation on Nicoise with Smoked Trout

This was a nice idea with poor execution.  I had some butterflied trout fillets from the local market, which I smoked in my electric smoker.  The trout went on to what would otherwise have been a Nicoise salad.  Unfortunately, I was so intent on not overcooking my potatoes that they were under cooked.  A little Irish as some would say, although I've never understood that expression.

 

 

Course 1

Local Mussels in Thai Green Curry Sauce with a side of Kimchi

The mussels also came from Nicholas by way of San Diego and Carlsbad Aquafarm.  The kimchi was homemade and didn't necessarly belong along side Thai cuisine, but I like it and it's vegan.  But then, I don't even know if Tee like kimchi.

 

 

Course 2

Salmon Croquettes

This was another dish that I figured would be relatively easy to prepare mostly ahead of serving.  The croquettes were all assembled earlier before the guests arrived and just had to be fried up for serving.  I normally love this recipe (or not recipe actually, since I don't entirely follow one), but this time I was less than impressed with myself.  Maybe I was just full.  If no one else enjoyed them, at least Leo did; he ended up with the left over salmon skin.

 

-

 

This was as far as the meal made it before most in attendance threw in the towel.  It must have been all those damn vegan sides that filled everyone up.

 

-

 

Course 3

Tilapia Fish Tacos

As it turned out, Jacob and his friend Giovana came in later and requested the fish tacos, so while they weren't a part of the actual feast they sort of made it in as dessert this made me very happy, because they were really good in my humble opinion, particularly the chipotle crema sauce on top.

 

 

Course 4

Spaghetti with Tuna

Alas, this course did not make the cut, even for dessert.  I had strategically saved this one for last, because all of the ingredients could keep.  The recipe uses canned tuna, in this case locally packed from American Tuna.  It is delcious and was worth the wait until we made it many days later once fully recovered from fish overdose.  The recipe I found in Bon Apetite and could not be simpler.

Many Overdue

I continue to be terribly remiss in my duties updating this blog.  I've completed several of the items and have failed through laziness or general boredom or whatever to post a single update in Blog knows how long.

I've also made a number of changes to the list, removed some items that seemed boring, incredibly unlikely or maybe just silly.  In their place I've added a number of things that are significantly more likely and, more importantly, potentially fun.

Anyway, stayed tuned.  I should have some updates shortly.