JUNE 2021
Wednesday 2021.6.30
More About that Massive Pileup in the Tour de France
The organizers announced they are suing the woman who caused the devastating crash during the first stage of the Tour. She was holding up a sign in the road, looking the wrong way, as the cyclists approached. One hit her and the result was dozens of bicycles going down. There were injuries, destroyed bikes, and most of the peleton was delayed as the officials sorted out the carnage.
It seems like it would be an easy problem to solve. Place two police cars, with sirens blaring and lights flashing, slightly ahead of the race to warn the spectators the athletes are nearing and to force the people off the road. Had that woman heard and seen the cars, she would have known to step away, or risk being hit by a car.
Of course, not every part of the race can be protected. When the cyclists are going down mountain roads at breakneck speeds, the cars wouldn't be able to navigate the corners at that speed. But along flats and ascents, especially where the streets are narrow and people crowd onto the road to get close to the athletes, cars — maybe even four of them, two on each side of the road — would help push the people back.
Another Squirrel
I'm not sure why the park all of a sudden is becoming overrun with squirrels, although I have a few ideas. I know there are many squirrels to the north of the park on the railroad property. Maybe they're moving into the park looking for food and water, what with the worsening drought conditions here.
A few days ago there was quite a large hole dug at the base of the juniper tree in my yard. It was a tunnel under the sandstone. I have a humane trap for small rodents like squirrels, which I set with peanut butter studded with popcorn. I left it baited all day (I disarmed it at night lest I trap a neighbor's cat or, worse, a skunk), but I never caught anything. I had another plan.
After pushing dirt back into the tunnel, I used my shop vac to suck up as much dirt as possible from around the base of the tree. Then I filled the hole with two bags (0.4 cubic feet each) of river rock. That might not seem like much, but two bags filled the area well. It's a few inches deep.
My hope is the stones will discourage squirrels from burrowing down and discourage gophers from burrowing up. And it looks nice. So far, I've seen no signs of any activity. The wind will blow seeds into the stones and when it rains I'll have weeds. If I clear it often I should minimize the unwanted vegetation.
This week I also learned a few things about those squirrels. They have the right name — California ground squirrels. They move into neighborhoods looking for food. They'll eat almost anything. There was very little rain this past winter and thus there was almost no vegetation growth up near the railroad tracks. Additionally, the railroad company cleared much of the area, removing brush and weeds. So there were few seeds for food. My neighbor's bird feeder is an ideal squirrel magnet because the birds knock the seeds to the ground.
And, Finally, an Announcement
The front yard is finished. I completed it yesterday. And, I used 120 pounds of mortar mix yesterday. That's a new record, 90 being my former one-day record. Now there is only the back yard to do. That might be easier. If the weather continues cloudy in the morning, I can work the back. When the sun comes out in the afternoon, the back is in the shade. So I could work comfortably most of the day.
Sunday 2021.6.27
How About Something Newsy?
I still follow the news everyday, although not with as much interest and enthusiasm as I had during the months leading up to the 2020 election. There were some very recent items that caught my attention and made me want to dig deeper.
The Southern District of New York is reportedly about to hand down an indictment of the Trump Organization. From what I was able to learn, it mostly deals with the use of perks and extra benefits as a way to avoid paying taxes. Someone gets a free Manhattan apartment worth many thousands of dollars per month. The value of that residence is taxable. If a court case decides there was tax evasion, all the back taxes need to be paid, with penalties. It could amount to millions of dollars and probably prison time. One legal analyst on the TV news said "prison time" in this case means spending the remainder of his life in prison.
Allen Weisselberg hasn't flipped yet. He knows more about Trump's business dealing than maybe even Trump himself. If named in the indictment and if he faces the prospect of prison he might sing like a canary, as the expression goes.
Donald Trump held a campaign rally yesterday, the first of many. Some are calling it a revenge tour because he is supposedly campaigning against GOP candidates who were not loyal to him when he was president or, worse, voted in congress to impeach him. It could be effective. I've often said people don't vote for a candidate they like, they vote against a candidate they don't like.
CNN put it this way: "The efforts to oust the Republicans who crossed him will be one of the biggest tests of Trump's post-presidential power, assessing whether he still has the sway with base Republican voters that he enjoyed during his four years in the White House." People are tiring of his constant complaining and I suspect many Republican voters will eventually dismiss him as old news.
How About Something a Little Closer to Home?
Like, really close. It's going to be close. My most immediate goal is to complete the grouting work in the front of my yard by the end of June. I have only three days remaining, but I've been making good progress. Friday I pulled more Dymondia and cleared the gaps for cement. Yesterday morning I used up another 60-pound bag of mortar mix, the last I had. So during the afternoon I bought another six bags of mix at Home Depot … and something else, but more on that in a bit.
Earlier I mentioned where the gophers are hiding their dirt. They're piling it up under my mobile home. Yesterday morning I had to deal with an area where the vinyl siding was pushed out at a seam, making it look rather unsightly. There was dirt piled up behind it — and more dirt, and even more dirt. I used my shop vac to pick it up. By the time I removed enough dirt to push the siding back into place, the vac was full. I finished by sealing that area with cement. The gophers won't push that out again.
How About a Toy?
I felt like I needed a new toy. When the tree trimmers removed the limbs overhanging my awning, they made a mess. They had leaf blowers. I was impressed enough to want one. Of course, they've been around for a long time. We've heard them disturbing the peace and quiet of our neighborhoods for decades. The workers used gas-powered machines. I wanted one that is battery operated.
I had to go to Home Depot anyway to buy more mortar mix; so I checked out the cordless blowers. I like the DeWALT. It was expensive, but there was an added incentive. At the register they asked if I wanted a $50 discount on my purchase for signing up for a Home Depot credit card. I agreed. I'll probably never use the card. It will be stuffed in my desk drawer and be forgotten about until a newer card arrives. I prefer to use my Costco/Visa card.
How About a Bicycle Race?
Yesterday was the first stage of this year's Tour de France. I really enjoyed last year's race because the pandemic kept most of the spectators home. They can sometimes ruin a race. Yesterday was no exception. A woman was standing in the road holding a sign, not watching the cyclists, and one hit her sign. The domino effect was horrendous. Dozens of athletes went down. There were injuries. There were destroyed bicycles. More than two thirds of the peleton was affected.
And, Finally, How About Some Weather?
This could be an interesting week. The probabilities are low, but there are predictions of thunder showers this week. I'll do what I can in the yard, but I'll watch the weather radar closely.
Wednesday 2021.6.23
Tenacious Gophers
They're trying. Last week I moved a planter a little to one side so that I could prepare the sandstone for mortar. A few days later, when I returned with mortar, there was fresh dirt filling the gaps beneath the planter.
It's in the area at the front of my home. That is popular ground for the gophers because the dirt was mixed with sand. Back when I first started laying sandstone I bought some "slip and slide sand" with the first order of stone. The owner of the company is a true salesman. The sand was a waste of money. However, it was ideal for the gophers because it kept the ground soft, easy to dig. In that part of my yard the tunnels are big and there are plenty of them.
This past winter we enjoyed one really good day of rain. From my front window I watched water streaming down a gopher hole all day. Where it came out I don't know. I am concentrating nearly all my efforts now on getting that front yard finished. That will leave only the back yard.
They're Moving Out
I was inspecting the area behind my shed and noticed gopher mounds in my neighbor's yard. It was never my intention to make my gopher problem somebody else's problem; however, if the gophers want to go live somewhere else, who am I to stop them?
Good News!
A major problem was resolved yesterday. There is a juniper tree beside my deck. There is also an awning over the deck. Some of the branches overhang the awning and they drop debris.
When it rains, the water rinses the debris into the awning's gutter. It's not the kind of gutter that can be protected by those gutter guards advertised everywhere on TV.
As mentioned previously, the trailer park was sold to a new owner. I met him and his wife. They're nice people. One of his projects was to trim (and in some cases remove) the trees along the front of the park. He arranged to have my tree trimmed to remove the branches that cause the problem. The work was done yesterday.
Now I need to climb a ladder and remove the debris that is on the awning. Then I'll rinse out the gutter. Hopefully, when (and if) we have rains this coming winter, the water will drain properly into the gutter and into the downspout rather than spilling over the top of a debris-filled gutter and onto my deck.
Making Pizza in Summer
Summertime might not be the best time of year to heat a pizza stone to 500°F in the oven for an hour. I prefer to make Skillet Pizza, using a skillet on the top of the stove. However, I've been watching some of America's Test Kitchen's pizza dough recipes on YouTube.
I learned something new. For a pizza dough that gets deliciously crispy on the outside but remains tender on the inside, water matters. More water in the dough makes bigger bubbles, which insulate the inner part of the crust, preventing it from getting crisp all the way through.
One of the drawbacks of a skillet pizza is that it lacks a nicely browned top. All the cooking is done from underneath. However, in one video I saw a skillet pizza made in a cast iron pan. There is no plastic; so it is safe to place under the broiler.
I made a cast iron skillet pizza yesterday. It was cooked on top of the stove until the crust was browning well. Then it was transferred to the oven broiler to brown the top. It was the best skillet pizza I made so far. The bottom didn't brown evenly; it was brown more toward the center and not browned — but cooked — around the edges. Browning on top made it taste better. Next time, I'll try preheating the skillet (or try using my cast iron grill/griddle).
Sunday 2021.6.20
Happy Father's Day
Today we honor our fathers. Get him a nice tie or some cuff links. If he has passed, as mine has, maybe remember him by cooking one of his favorite meals, maybe grill a steak on the barbecue and enjoy it with some Potato Salad, Macaroni Salad and/or Sweet Corn.
And Happy Summer Solstice
Tomorrow is the first day of summer. If you haven't fired up your barbecue grill yet (I haven't even brought out my Sun Oven yet), maybe now is the time.
California Reopens
I went grocery shopping on Thursday this past week. At one store only one person was not wearing a mask. At another store about half the patrons were in masks. Masks are no longer required for those who are vaccinated. I wore my mask, mostly as a courtesy for others, but I'll probably leave it in the car next time. I did wear my "I'm vaccinated" badge on my shirt and I had my laminated copy of my CDC Vaccination Record in my pocket.
Book Two?
As one person said, "You've read so many, you can't keep track."
This week I learned that Michael Wolff, author of the tell-all book Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House has another book coming out in July. It will be his third Trump book. Third? Had I missed one? I looked and, sure enough, there was a second book, Siege: Trump Under Fire. I searched for it and started reading it.
I had no memory of it. How had I missed that one? I later did a search of my e-book library and found that I read it in the summer of 2019.
The new book will be Landslide: The Final Days of the Trump Presidency. It is being released the day before my birthday in July. Meanwhile, I'll keep reading Siege. I'm enjoying it.
Lemonade Time
I haven't made lemonade in more than a year. A neighbor has a lemon tree and she doesn't use the fruit. It falls to the ground and she has to pick it up. She is elderly and infirm; yard cleanup is difficult for her. So she stopped by my space when she saw me working on my yard and asked me to pick lemons for myself.
I stopped going over there more than a year ago because of the pandemic. I wasn't vaccinated at the time and she went out everyday, sometimes several times a day, even when Governor Gavin Newsom directed all Californians to stay home until further notice.
There was one lemon I couldn't resist picking. It was the oddest looking thing I ever saw — larger than a grapefruit and weirdly shaped.
I gave it to another neighbor I hadn't visited in a long time. The normal lemons I kept were very large, much larger than the lemons sold in the store. I used only four of them, but they provided plenty of juice for a few glasses of lemonade.
Compared to a store-bought lemon, the mutant lemon was quite different. The insides were, well, revolting. I wouldn't have tried to use any part of it. As for weight, it was 26 ounces (737g). By comparison, the store-bought lemon weighed 4¾ ounces (135g).
How Are My Plants Doing?
The tomato plant continues to thrive. At last count there were 18 green tomatoes in various stages of development. And it continues to produce plenty of little yellow flowers.
The Italian parsley is the most remarkable among the herbs. It has been pushing up long flower stalks. From the surface of the soil to the flower tops they're three feet tall. There will be seeds soon and those will begin next summer's crop.
The onion flowers are being visited not only by the bees but I also saw a humming bird feeding on the nectar. I'm monitoring those flowers closely because I want the seeds.
The trees and other herbs survived the heat spell of a few days ago. I kept them watered. And the new Meyer Lemon tree needs to go into soil soon. I moved one of the trees in an ugly planter to one side so that I could (somewhat) easily transfer it to one of the fancy planters I bought. I'm working around the base of it, finishing the grouting of the stones, before I make the transfer.
Meanwhile, the weather continues to be good for working outside — cloudy and cool.
Wednesday 2021.6.16
Cooking for Ants
Something odd happened this week. It started by watching a few episodes of Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy. In particular, it was the episode about Rome and the people's love of pasta there. One preparation was spaghetti with a little tomato sauce and some fried guanciale, a cured meat made from the cheeks of pigs.
I can get guanciale down in the city, but who wants to drive that far for pigs' cheek? I decided to try frying some prosciutto until crisp, chopping it, then mixing it with marinara to sauce some spaghetti. It was delicious.
The following morning the ants had discovered the fork and the knife, which were left in the sink overnight. I've had a problem with ants lately and that is another oddity. They don't usually come inside during summer. However, I suspect I might have destroyed too much of their habitat with cement. Maybe they're looking for another place to live.
I've set up ant bait jars in the past, usually a bit of scrambled egg and some boric acid powder, a popular way to kills ants. They bring the bait back to the colony and that kills them all. I have protein ants, by the way, not sugar ants.
So on Monday afternoon I fried a slice of prosciutto (and ate most of it) and then scrambled an egg (I ate most of that too) in the same pan and mixed them both with some boric acid powder. I placed the bait where I'd seen ants and discovery didn't take long. Within an hour they found the jar and were swarming inside.
It usually takes a day or two to eradicate the colony. By the following day, yesterday, the ant activity had diminished to almost nothing. Job done.
Heat
The weather has been the main topic of concern the past few days. As mentioned in Sunday's blog, I prepared for this heat wave. The most important step was hooking up my office air conditioner. It really was necessary.
Monday was warm. The forecast was for 84°F. By late afternoon/early evening it was ten degrees hotter than projected. I couldn't even sit outside in the breeze. It was too hot.
If you've been following my blog for a while, you know I have two really good computers in the office. I built them myself. They're not easy to keep cool. One overheats so much I leave the side panel off. It's the video card, which is driving two 27-inch UHD monitors. When it overheats a temperature alarm beeps. It started beeping in the evening. I positioned an external fan next to the computer and that kept it quiet.
Yesterday's forecast was for a high of 96°; so that told me to expect the heat to climb above 100°. I saw 90s, but not 100 yesterday. Still, the air conditioner was a welcome respite from the heat outside.
Meanwhile, I shopped for one of my favorite hot-weather foods — grinders, AKA submarine sandwiches or subs, heroes, hoagies, and maybe some other names. We called them grinders where I lived in New England. French bread cut into two slices, olive oil, salami, provolone cheese, sliced tomato, lettuce, salt and pepper. It's a big cold sandwich, perfect for a day when it is too hot to cook anything.
Naturally, it was too hot to work outside; so I took a day off. I'm pleased with how much I did during the past month, compared to the previous two months. I felt like I earned a little break.
On Monday I bought six more bags of mortar mix. They're 60 pounds each; so handling them is a challenge for me at my age. But six was the most I bought at one time without the help of a friend to load them into my car for me. So that's another example of how my stamina improved since the pandemic winter.
The forecast is for patchy fog and cooler temperatures next week. Working outside will be easier.
Finally, How About Something Boring?
Yesterday, staying indoors, out of the heat, I needed some tasks to work on. I de-pilled some socks. You've seen those little fuzzy pellets that eventually build up on the surface of knit fabrics. When they get really bad on the bottom of my socks, it feels like I have sand in my shoes. I have the Conair fuzz remover sold on Amazon. It's battery operated, easy to use, and I've had it for several years. It works for me.
Sunday 2021.6.13
No Regrets
A neighbor stopped by while I was working in the front of my yard on Friday morning. She said I probably regret doing all the stone work in my yard.
Are you kidding? For six years I've had no lawn to mow. There have been very few weeds to pull. Yes, the Dymondia needs trimming once or twice a year, but otherwise my space is low maintenance. And it has required very little water during this time of California drought. What I regret, sort of, is the gophers moving in.
Her yard is full of weeds. There is no grass, just weeds. I'm thankful I don't have her mess to clean up every time the park does a yard inspection.
A part of me actually appreciates the gophers now. Yes, they caused a lot of damage and therefore a lot of work, but they also inspired me to do something different with my yard — cement. Little by little all the spaces between the sandstone are being cleared of Dymondia and filled with mortar, and, occasionally, some pebbles are pressed into the grout to add a little decoration.
I've been outside every day, seven days a week, working on my yard since March 15th. But I'm going from low maintenance to no maintenance. By August I hope to have nothing to do but water and fertilize my potted citrus trees and herbs.
And there is something else I appreciate. I wrote about it before. During most of the past year of pandemic I got very little exercise. When I started working outside I wasn't able to do much. I tired to quickly. One bucket of pulled Dymondia or one 7-pound batch of mortar was enough to send me back inside to rest. Now I pull ground cover three buckets at a time and on a cement day I can easily do an entire 60-pound bag of mortar.
I know I'm not out of the woods yet. My concern will be the first rains of winter. Will the water wash tiny grass seeds into cracks between the stone and mortar? The wind blows them from my neighbors' yards. Will little green sprouts appear? I'm already prepared. I have a squirt bottle of herbicide ready to spray them.
Easement
I've written about it in the past. When I first moved into my home more than 25 years ago I had control of the easement. It's a strip of land between my space and that of my neighbor behind me. The easement is where all the utility lines are underground. I once had poppies in there, then I planted basil toward the back and other herbs toward the front. When the evil neighbors moved in about 20 years ago, they trampled down my herbs when they worked on their lawn and eventually tried to take the space from me. They even tried taking about three feet of my yard. The war was intense, but we reached a compromise, albeit one I did not like. Those neighbors moved away almost two years ago.
The new neighbors are really nice; so I took back the easement without saying anything. You've heard it said: "It's better to ask for forgiveness than for permission." If you ask, what if they say No? Do it and apologize later. You'll end up with something you want. On Friday I started working in the shade behind the shed, laying down stone. When all the easement is covered in stone, it will be fully mine again.
It's That Time of Year
It's going to be a doozy. The weather forecasts have not been encouraging for working outside. Heat is on its way. Tuesday is projected to be 97°F. They're never right. Yesterday the high was supposed to be 76°F. Before the day was done I saw 89° on my outdoor thermometer. I fully expect Tuesday to peak above 100° before this heat wave passes. Tomorrow evening a Fire Weather Watch begins. There is a wind advisory for tonight. The combination of wind, heat and drought gets the arsonists excited. It's time to prepare.
I put the exhaust insert in the window for the office air conditioner. The AC is hooked up, plugged in and ready to go. The possibility of a power outage is low; nonetheless, I brought in my storm lanterns from the shed and put fresh batteries in one of them. I also lit one of my oil lamps to burn off any wax that might have built up in the wick since the last time I used it.
As for the yard, I do what I can in the shade in the morning. Yesterday I started at 7:30 and worked two hours cleaning up an area for mortar. This morning I grouted part of the area with 60 pounds of mortar mix. A little each day.
Another Squirrel?
Friday I came home on my bike from shopping and there was a small squirrel in my yard. It dashed to the corner of my home and disappeared. There are no openings along the ground, but there was an opening in the corner molding that is part of the vinyl siding on my home. I assumed it ran in there. So I closed it off with bricks.
Evidently, it could get from there to under my home. Later, I heard a little chewing noise and carefully went to look. I could see a little of the squirrel biting at the vinyl siding around my utility hookups, trying to get out. So it was trapped, but for how long?
This morning I went to Home Depot and bought a humane squirrel trap. It doesn't kill the animal; it locks them in a cage where they can't get out. I baited it with peanut butter and set it under my home (there are a few access ports). Time will tell.
After I trap and dispose of the squirrel I'll fill that opening in the molding with some liquid rigid foam I bought. Then I'll reset the trap to see if there might be more.
Wednesday 2021.6.9
I Think I Chose Well
I've been reading more about tomatoes. The Early Girl variety I selected gets its early name because it produces fruit early. More important, it grows to a height of around nine feet (2.7 meters). That should give me enough plant to wrap around the tomato cage two to three times. I added another little bit of bending this week, slowly persuading it around the cage. The goal, obviously enough, is for all the fruit to be within easy reach for harvesting.
I also nipped off the end of one of the branches that developed early. If I understand my plant correctly, that will stunt the growth of that branch, allowing the plant to concentrate more on its main vine and its fruit.
Brussels Sprouts
In a recent blog I wrote about wanting to do a video about cooking ribs in my Instant Pot before finishing them in my air fryer. One issue is a side dish. Corn on the cob would look good on a plate. However, I saw an episode of America's Test Kitchen in which they pan cooked Brussels sprouts.
I know no one is indifferent to the them. You either love them or hate them. ATK mentioned a survey in which Brussels sprouts were determined to be America's most hated vegetable. I love them.
And so, equipped with a new idea for cooking Brussels sprouts, I think I'm prepared to do another cooking video. I don't know when. I'm busy working outside everyday. But, eventually.
Is My Life Boring?
Lately I feel like my only focus in life is finishing my landscaping project. A friend calls and asks how I'm doing. I answer with, "I did 90 pounds of mortar mix today."
I wouldn't say I'm consumed with it or obsessed, but I do really want to get it done. My birthday is at the end of July and I told a couple friends I want to complete the task while I'm still in my sixties.
And if that doesn't interest them, there is always the tomato plant, which has nine tomatoes on it and plenty of flowers.
Life is Not All Boring
Lego Masters is airing again. One of my friends collects Lego sets. I should ask him how many sets he has, or how much he has invested. He has bins and boxes of them. We will be having "lunch" together tomorrow, on the Internet. He and his wife live in Kentucky. The show will give us plenty to talk about. We also both watch the Taskmaster TV shows and talk about those too.
Sunday 2021.6.6
Weather Anyone?
I've been trying to think of something to write about. I supposed there is always the weather. Where I live, some people don't like the cloudiness of this time of year. We might go several days before seeing the sun. As I've mentioned before, we call it June Gloom. It causes some people to feel depressed.
The weather forecast is for "Patchy Fog" every day and night for most of the week. We might see some sun later in the week, but for now this is excellent weather for working outdoors. I don't need to find a patch of shade in which to work. And it's cool — so cool in fact that I usually wear two shirts in the morning.
One Less Squirrel
It was odd. I was walking past my shed and I noticed a squirrel almost motionless on the ground next to my neighbor's home. I froze, thinking I might scare it away. I wanted to see if it would dash through a hole under the home. But it barely moved. It was obviously nearly dead. The neighbor said he had put some squirrel bait out.
I couldn't just leave it there. What if it crawled under his home and died there? How would that smell? And what if the local hawk found it? Would it feed its chicks fresh squirrel meat and kill them?
I went into my shed and got some long firewood tongs. The squirrel was alive enough to try to bite the tongs when I grabbed it. Thankfully, the trash bins were emptied yesterday; so I dropped it into my empty bin, closed the lid, and that was that.
Lest Anyone Worry
Some people have been asking me if I'm okay. They don't see any new cooking videos on YouTube and wonder why. There are a couple reasons for my lack of creativity lately.
1. I'm too tired. I've been pushing myself to get a lot done outside in the yard. I feel good about the progress, but at the end of the day I don't feel like doing a cooking video. However, I am considering very seriously of taking a day off from the landscaping to shoot a video about cooking pork spareribs in an Instant Pot.
2. This is the slowest time of year on YouTube anyway. People want to be outdoors in the pleasant weather, especially now that they are getting vaccinated against the coronavirus. They don't want to be indoors cooking or watching videos on YouTube. And besides which, very few people watch my newest videos anyway. My older videos are the most popular.
My health is good, certainly good enough to spend hours each day working outside. Yesterday I used another 60-pound bag of mortar mix, my last one. Today or tomorrow I'll go to Home Depot to buy more. Meanwhile, there is still plenty of Dymondia to dig up.
Wednesday 2021.6.2
A Little Taste of Success
Spareribs are a challenge for me. I've done videos about them and there are recipes here.
Braised Boneless Ribs (which are really only strips of pork shoulder)
Sous Vide Ribs
Air Fryer Marinated Ribs
Pork Spareribs
But what I am really searching for are ribs that are fall-off-the-bone tender rather than (as I told a friend) gnaw-off-the-bone tough. AND, I want them to be easy — no standing at the grill for six to eight hours while the ribs slowly cook over glowing coals. Where does one look?
YouTube, of course. In particular, I researched cooking ribs in an Instant Pot. I learned a lot. Probably the most important detail is to use the Pressure Cook function and cook for 25 minutes.
I did pan-in-pan. I put water in the bottom of the Pot, but I placed the ribs, which were seasoned with a dry pork rub, in a stainless steel bowl. That was arranged on a trivet before sealing the lid in place.
After the cooking time, plus 20 minutes of natural depressurize time, there was liquid in the bottom of the stainless bowl. It came from the ribs. I skimmed off most of the fat and poured the liquid into a skillet. I added a little honey and tomato paste. Then I reduced the liquid down to nearly a syrup. Call that a barbecue sauce.
I placed the ribs in my air fryer (after lining the basket with foil) and brushed some of the sauce on top. Cook for 30 minutes at 250°F (121°C). After cooking, mop again with sauce and let rest 5 minutes. Then plate and brush one more time with the remaining sauce.
The result was really tender and delicious pork spareribs. Now that I know to expect that liquid in the bottom of the bowl, I'd like to come up with a better formula for barbecue sauce. I'll try to do a video, maybe after I get my yard work done.
On Memorial Day a friend slow-grilled ribs all day. He invited me to dinner, but it was late in the afternoon. I had just stuffed myself with a late lunch; so there was no room for dinner. Maybe next time.
How About Some Updates?
Landscaping
If you follow my blog regularly, you know I've been re-doing the landscaping around my home. Dymondia is out; mortar is in. The project has been progressing so well, I feel confident I'll be done sooner than expected. I thought it might take all summer and maybe well into fall. I recently set a goal for myself, to be finished before my birthday at the end of July.
I started slow because, well, I was moving slowly. After a year of lethargy in front of the computer during the pandemic, I could barely pull my socks on without panting afterward. It took a while, but my stamina slowly returned. I started by doing no more than 15 pounds of dry mortar mix per day. Now 60 pounds is normal and more than once I did 90 pounds in a single day.
Some things are still slow, such as clearing the gaps to prepare for the grout. The Dymondia has been in place for six years and where the gophers didn't dig it up it was well rooted. The mortar work goes quickly and I can work outside for four to six hours if I work where there's shade or the day is cloudy.
Tomatoes
At last count, there were seven green tomatoes in various stages of development. I continue to train the plant around the cage. It has been growing more slowly. It either needs fertilizer or I need to cut off one of the branches that are also growing. Or maybe it's because we're in the weather period of mostly overcast days.
Basil
The basil plants I moved to a large planter outside continue to grow, if slowly. They're getting plenty of sunshine (on sunny days) and water.
One clipping in water has been growing roots well. I'm ready to move that to it's own growing cup to develop before moving it outside. A dozen seeds have sprouted so far. I might leave some of those under the grow light to compare their growth to the plants outside. One advantage to the grow light is there are never any cloudy days.
Other Herbs
I finished grouting the area where my herbs once resided. It was time to return them to their place, but I decided to move the citrus trees first, positioning them toward the back near the wall. The herb pots were arranged in front where they will get a little more sunlight.
I'll watch the area closely. If anyone drives over my stone or parks their car there (it has happened before), I'll move the trees out toward the road again. For those who might want to know, my herbs are sage, oregano, basil, thyme, mint, parsley, marjoram and rosemary. In the back between the two citrus trees is a pot of green onions.
Add One to the Orchard
It was sort of an impulse purchase, although I did walk around the store for a while before I put it in my shopping cart. Occasionally, Costco has citrus trees on sale. I've been wanting a lemon tree because my two sources are my neighbors. One has no fruit on his tree and the other, well, I'd simply prefer not to go over there. So I saw some "Improved Meyer Lemon" trees in the store and after thinking about it, I bought one. It cost $25, which was how much I had remaining on my stimlus VISA debit card. Thank you for the tree Mr. President.