NOVEMBER 2021
Sunday 2021.11.28
Thanksgiving Day
Hopefully you had a pleasant holiday, despite the Covid pandemic. I did. For the first time in more than a year I had guests in my home for dinner. There were only two of them, a cooking friend and his wife.
To make things easier for myself, I started food preparation a day early. The plan was to do a Dr. Frankenstein's Chicken — cut up, all the bones removed, then stitched back together again and filled with stuffing. The idea is to have a roast chicken that can be sliced like a loaf of bread. No bones.
And here's something else to be thankful about: For the chicken I prepared a five-pound bird by carefully cutting out all the bones. I saw Jacques Pepin do this in a YouTube video. It took me a while, maybe half an hour, and it was tedious at times, but I successfully did the task without nicking any of my fingers with my very sharp boning knife. The bird required no stitching because I kept the skin whole and all the pieces of meat in place. Just stuff and truss.
Enter the WhackerSpoon
I have a WhackerSpoon. Look it up on Amazon. It's like a well rounded mallet. They're expensive, about $65 now with shipping, but it works beautifully for some tasks.
I sliced four bagels into three slices each, then dried them in a 225°F (107°C) oven for an hour. Letting them go stale at room temperature is not a good idea. The starches crystalize, retaining the moisture. The stale bagel pieces won't absorb as much liquid when making stuffing, for which I use chicken stock. The oven-dried bagels have no moisture locked into them. They absorb that delicious homemade stock.
Cutting the dried slices can be a challenge because they can shatter, sending pieces of all over your kitchen counter. I put my slices, a few at a time, in a ziplock bag and rapped them lightly with my WhackerSpoon. You could use a mallet or heavy wooden spoon. The bagel slices fractured nicely and all the bits stayed in the bag.
I should probably also mention I like bagels for stuffing because they give a more al dente texture. The stuffing isn't as mushy as it might be if made with sandwich bread.
Enter the Mistakes
Stuff happens. I was starting the stuffing. The stock was melting and heating in a saucepan. The bagel pieces were ready. As planned, I poured the hot stock over the bagels, and then thought, "Oh no! Two cups, not four!" I immediately poured the stuffing into a colander over a pan to let it drain. Very little drained out. I tasted it. The bagels didn't seem moist enough. Then I remembered I used four bagels, not two; so four cups of stock was the right amount. What can I say? I'm getting old.
When the stuffing was fully assembled it was heavenly. There was just the right amount of chopped fresh sage and chopped fresh rosemary. If I were to rate it on a scale of 1 to 10, I'd give it an 11.
Enter the Guests
A good time was had by all. The dinner went as planned, and planned it was. Besides the methods of preparation taped to the wall of my kitchen I also had a scheduling chart. Based upon cooking times, I knew when each item had to go into the oven or a skillet. Everything was ready on time. It was all successful.
On the table was the stuffed boneless chicken along with extra stuffing, Brussels sprouts with pearl onions and chopped tomatoes (from my tomato plant), a bottle of wine, roasted vegetables topped with caramelized onion and sautéd mushrooms, homemade cranberry sauce, gravy, and mashed potatoes.
The Day After
The following morning my home was peaceful again. I watched a little football in the afternoon, but with the TV muted. I enjoyed the silence. Even the main avenue outside the trailer park was quiet of traffic, as most people were home for the long weekend.
I did check a few retail web sites for Black Friday sales. I don't look through the bargains. I only check the prices of items I've been wanting. Almost nothing. One counter top appliance that sells for $1,500 (it's actually a commercial kitchen product) was reduced by $1.18. A 10% discount might have been enough to make me take the plunge, but a one dollar savings isn't worth it.
There were two stores that had the item reduced by a ridiculous amount. Sur la Table priced it at 33% off. Walmart was even better, 53% off. Neither store had it in stock. It's easy to offer something at an astounding discount when there is no inventory. Obviously, these were bait-and-switch ads.
So, I bought nothing on Friday.
And, Finally, Leftovers
It wouldn't be Thanksgiving without addressing the leftovers. When I have plenty of chicken left over from a dinner, I make something I affectionately call "Chicken Chop Slop." Chop the chicken, make some gravy in a skillet, and add the chicken to heat it. Meanwhile, either make rice or, in my case, use leftover stuffing. Spread it on a plate and heat it in the microwave, then pour the chicken and gravy on top.
I do this with leftover Kentucky Fried Chicken, when I have it, which I call Trailer Park Chicken. Instead of gravy, I add heavy whipping cream and bouillon to make a sauce.
My mom used to make turkey salad sandwiches after holidays — ground turkey, mayonnaise, maybe a bit of diced pickle and/or celery. She didn't toast the bread, but you could.
Among the leftovers was also a piece of turkey breast a neighbor gave me yesterday. She's the one I avoid because she thaws her turkey on the kitchen counter for days. I pleasantly asked a few questions. "This looks delicious. Where did you get it?" The turkey was ordered fully cooked from a local grocery store. So it should be safe.
Wednesday 2021.11.24
Football
I didn't watch any college football on Saturday, instead choosing to work on the yard. However, on Sunday there was an important NFL game.
I prefer college ball. The athletes are younger, lighter and more agile. There is more action on the field. I sometimes wonder if they take more risks, hoping to be noticed by NFL scouts. The better athletes go into the pros.
There is one NFL team I will sometimes watch — the Los Angeles Chargers. Their quarterback, Justin Herbert, was a favorite of mine when he played college ball for the Oregon Ducks. He is one of those gifted QBs who can throw a ball with nearly pinpoint accuracy, and when necessary he can run.
A friend with whom I have lunch on line each week is a big Pittsburgh Steelers fan. We used to work in the same office and we, along with a few others from work, would go out to lunch each week, usually for Chinese food. He now lives with his wife in Kentucky; thus, we eat lunch together on line. That might require a little explanation.
Lunch together might seem a bit odd because Kentucky is in the Eastern Time Zone. I live in the Pacific Zone. There is a difference of three hours. However, he still works for the university here and therefore he operates on Pacific time.
Sunday evening his Steelers played my Chargers in Los Angeles. We watched the game together, both of us sitting in front of our TVs with our laptop computers open and on line. We commented often on plays, good or bad. "Tackle the guy!" "The Chargers supposedly have the worst defense in the League." "That penalty gives them a second chance for a TD."
It was a fun game. It was close. Most of the time the Chargers were ahead by one or two possessions, but the Steelers did take the lead a couple times.
It was also a fast game. Even though each of the four quarters is 15 minutes and there is a break at halftime, a game can easily drag on for two to three hours because of timeouts, injuries, reviews of plays, overtime, etc. This game, although it went the usual time, seemed so much faster because it was an exciting game.
In the last couple of minutes the Steelers were ahead. But then the Chargers scored a touchdown. That ended the game — Chargers 41, Steelers 37.
Thanksgiving
Tomorrow is the big day. I haven't hosted guests for dinner since before the beginning of the pandemic.
The menu is decided. Stuffed Boneless Chicken, Roasted Vegetables, pan seared Brussels sprouts, and Mini Quiches for an appetizer. The chicken had better be good. I bought it Monday and Costco was out of their regular Kirkland Signature chickens. I had to buy "organic." Two chickens cost me $27. The regular chickens would have cost less than $11.
I watched my original video for the chicken. I disassembled it and then put it back together again without the bones before stitching the skin along the back. That's why I call it a Dr. Frankenstein's chicken. I'm thinking I might try the Jaques Pepin method of deboning to have something like a galantine, a classic French dish that is served cold and sliced like a loaf. My chicken will be hot, but likewise sliced.
Yesterday morning I watched my video for the roasted vegetables. I made that video more than ten years ago and my memory needed a little refreshing. I also wrote and printed my MOPs (methods of preparation) so that I would know how to proceed without forgetting anything. I also need to know how to time things so that everything will be ready to eat at the same time.
Here's something to be thankful about tomorrow: I ain't too dumb to do stuff.
The bedroom light switch stopped working properly. Something was wrong with the spring inside. The switch lever would go down to turn off the light, but them pop up when released, turning the light on again. To get to sleep I jammed a piece of plastic into it to force the lever to stay down.
On Monday, as part of my shopping for the holiday, I stopped at Home Depot and bought a new switch. Although I might have been able to replace the switch without turning off the electricity, I decided not to risk it. The replacement took no more than 20 minutes. All is well again. And, I used the opportunity to label the switches in my circuit breaker box so that I know which one controls which part of my home.
Thank you me.
Sunday 2021.11.21
A Welcome Policy Change on YouTube
On November 12th YouTube stopped displaying the numbers of Dislikes given to videos. The Dislike button is still there and viewers can click it, but no numbers will show to the public. I can see the numbers in one of the panels on my analytics pages.
The reason given by YouTube is that their research revealed there were groups of viewers who went around the platform clicking dislike buttons to artificially raise the numbers. One explanation is that they were disgruntled about some channels or the content creators and had a grudge, a score to settle. I've often said I believe there are viewers who think it's their job to Dislike as many videos as possible.
Occasionally I receive an invitation to participate in a YouTube survey. "Help us make YouTube a better place for content creators like you." I usually participate. The survey is filled with dozens of questions like: "On a scale of 1 to 10 how would you rate YouTube's.…" After clicking all sorts of answers I get to the last page where there is usually a place to leave a comment. I always write the same thing. "Dislikes are only numbers. How do I know what the viewer disliked? To register a Dislike, require the viewer to provide a brief comment explaining the Dislike. Do not allow the comment to be anonymous." I believe fewer people would click the Dislike button if their identity is revealed.
Of course, if someone doesn't like something, they can write a comment on the video. I do read all of those. Often they're useful; occasionally they're inane. However, artificially raised numbers of Dislikes is not a useful metric; it's only an attack. I say good riddance to those numbers.
Maybe a Bit OCD
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. I don't think that's me. I just simply like some things a certain way.
I was able to get an ebook of Jonathan Karl's new book Betrayal: The Final Act of the Trump Show. The following day I was surprised when I stumbled upon the audiobook, read by the author. However, it was one large MP3 file. I prefer an audiobook to have different tracks, one for each chapter. Thankfully, I ain't stoopid. And, luckily, I have a sound editor on this computer.
By looking at the spiky graphical representation of the audio track, it wasn't difficult to see where the chapter breaks were. It was easy to highlight each chapter and export it to a separate MP3 file. The task didn't take long. Then I copied them into my little MP3 player.
I enjoy reading. But I find it even more enjoyable when I have the audiobook so that I can follow along, reading the text, while the author reads the book aloud.
The Last of the Dymondia
For those who might not know, Dymondia is a drought-tolerant ground cover landscaping plant. Several years ago I removed all my lawn and replaced it with pieces of sandstone. In the spaces between I planted Dymondia. When it filled all the gaps it looked beautiful. I was proud of my yard.
Pride before a fall. The gophers moved in. My yard was dotted with gopher mounds and they were killing the Dymondia. Where the ground cover was gone weeds were growing.
I tried several remedies to eradicate the gophers. None of them worked. Discouraged and irritated, I decided to remove the Dymondia and fill the gaps with cement.
It doesn't look as good, but it's less maintenance and it looks a lot cleaner. Although the Dymondia didn't need to be trimmed as often as the lawn, it still required cutting back because it would grow over the stones, eventually hiding them. The only upkeep that will be necessary now is the occasional use of a pressure washer, maybe once or twice a year, to clean the stones. I also have a leaf blower that I use to clean up under the Juniper tree.
I didn't pull up all the Dymondia at once. That would have allowed the weeds to move in. I cleared gaps when I was ready to fill them with mortar mix. On Friday I pulled out the remaining ground cover in the yard. There is still a little of it along the side of my home in a thin strip next to the driveway. That will be the last area to be worked.
My yard is looking like one large patio. It isn't as barren and stark as it might seem. There are six citrus trees in planters around my home. I'll be adding a seventh — a dwarf lime. In one area there are several ceramic pots of herbs that I use in my kitchen. I just bought some sage and oregano to replace two that weren't doing well. I also have a tomato plant. That's in a white five-gallon bucket. The plan is to eventually transfer that to a large planter as well, if it survives the winter and starts producing again in the spring.
And by the way, the gophers are still trying to move in. On Friday when I went outside to do more work on the yard, two new gopher mounds had appeared in an area I had cleared for mortar. But I am happy to report that in all the areas where the stone is grouted with cement, there have not been any gopher mounds. Not even one. That was the plan. They can't dig through cement. Where are the living now? I don't know. They're someone else's problem.
And So, Football or Landscaping?
Saturday is a big day for college football during the fall months. Normally I'd be sitting in front of the TV all day. But I was feeling like I was accomplishing so much in my yard, yesterday I decided to work outside instead. Today I'll be doing more of the same.
Wednesday 2021.11.17
So Sue Me
People don't like when I do this: I use Serrano ham as an ingredient in cooking. They think it should only be sliced very thinly and enjoyed as such, or arranged on a charcuterie board. They can live their life; let me live mine.
A day or two after Christmas last year I bought a Serrano ham at Costco for a clearance price of $50, half off the original price. I cut it up into 4-ounce pieces, vacuum sealed them, and placed them in the freezer. I still have some left.
On Sunday I made more mini quiches, doing a video, and I used some of the ham, passing it off as diced prosciutto. There is Serrano ham in the local store again and the last time I looked it was $125 for a full ham. There is a better D'artagnan Boneless Spanish Serrano Ham, 18 months aged, on the Costco web site for $179.99, after $50 off.
Serrano ham tastes so much like good prosciutto that I use it as if it were. A true connoisseur could tell the difference, but in something like my Clam Chowder or these mini quiches, I think the ham substitutes nicely.
Plans Are Changing Like New England Weather
On Monday I watched my Mini Quiches video again and it gave me an idea. I thought of my Veal Involtini recipe and video. What if I were to flatten chicken pieces with a mallet or my tortilla press, spread them with stuffing, then roll and tie them? Rather than dusting them with flour I think panko bread crumbs would be better. Cook them in a skillet. Meanwhile, prepare a white roux. After cooking the involtini, deglaze the pan with some of the Chicken Stock I made last week, strain it to remove any loose panko, then use the liquid with the roux to make gravy. That could be a semi-fancy Thanksgiving dinner without roasting a turkey.
Actually, veal wouldn't be a bad idea, but I still want gravy. I like it on my stuffing as well as the meat. Chicken gravy on veal? I don't think so.
This week I'll make the final decision. No more tossing ideas back and forth with the friend who will be here. Besides, I'll need to do the shopping. I like the idea of the involtini because they can be cooked on the stove. That will leave room in the oven for the Roasted Vegetables and a casserole dish of extra stuffing.
Cooler Weather
With the return of cool weather I am able to work outside again. Some areas in Southern California saw record high temperatures during the weekend. The Orange County Register reported "John Wayne Airport records highest temperature in the nation — 98 degrees — on Friday." October 26, 2017, the day I bought my Pedego e-bike, it was 103°F. So although very warm days in October are uncommon here, they do happen.
This week I returned to working on my yard. There isn't much left to be done. I finished the area behind my home.
The remaining areas to be worked are the corner, the easement along the right side (the drainage area), and then finally two little narrow borders between the edge of the driveway and my home. My latest goal is to be done by the end of the year.
Sunday 2021.11.14
I Ain't Complaining
I was planning to return to my landscaping this past week. One reason is that my SUV has to go in for a smog inspection and I didn't want eight bags of mortar mix in the back (and I didn't want to move them — they're 60 pounds each). Cooler weather makes the task a lot easier.
However, summer returned to Southern California this week. The days were sunny and warm with temperatures forecast to be in the low 80s. Despite the forecast, the temperature is usually ten degrees warmer where I live. In the early afternoon on Thursday the temperature peaked at 90°F. It was the same on Friday, etc.
Tomorrow the temperature is supposed to return back to normal. It was wonderful while it lasted.
Preparing for a Thanksgiving Feast
Usually I don't devote much attention to the holiday. Pizza is good enough. One year I did Seafood Fettuccine. My one issue is avoiding an invitation to dinner with a neighbor up the street. She smokes cigarettes constantly, she lets her turkey thaw for days on the kitchen counter, and the one time I ate there, everything, including the mashed potatoes, was cold.
A friend and his wife want to have Thanksgiving dinner with me this year. They usually invite me to their home, but due to some circumstances with people who own the home, and also live there, holiday dinner in that home is currently not possible.
My concern is that he tends to make a big deal of such things. There will be only three of us, but he wants four Cornish game hens, fully deboned but kept whole, stuffed, and with plenty of extra stuffing "because you can never have too much stuffing." He also wants Roasted Vegetables, sautéed Brussels sprouts, and he wants Mini Quiches for appetizers. The latest addition is gravy. Thankfully there is no mention of dessert, yet. His wife likes sweets; so I suspect she'll bring a Costco pumpkin pie.
This past Thursday, two weeks in advance of the holiday, I started preparing. Five bagels were sliced and dried in the oven because I like those better than bread for a more al denté stuffing. I'm using the same mix as for my Roasted Stuffed Chicken.
Did you know? I watched a video by Dan Souza of America's Test Kitchen demonstrating why bread should be dried in the oven rather than left to go stale. The stale bread, even though it feels hard and dry, actually retains too much water. I like to soak the bread with chicken stock when making stuffing. Oven-dried bread absorbs more of that delicious stock.
I put two bags of frozen chicken trim into the pressure cooker (my Kuhn Ricon rather than my Instant Pot) with the usual mirepoix of carrots, celery and onion, along with peppercorns and bay leaves, to make Chicken Stock. I used trim from Costco Rotisserie Chickens because those are already roasted and they'll have the flavor he wants for gravy. It will also be used to moisten the bagels when making the stuffing.
Meanwhile, two Cornish game hens were thawing in the refrigerator because I needed to practice the deboning (see below). He wants them like my Dr. Frankenstein's Chicken. I can debone a whole chicken, but Cornish game hens are considerably smaller.
Maybe worth mentioning: I assigned him the task to debone two hens as well. I suspect the deboning task might be beyond his skill set. If I were a betting man, I'd wager he will show up on Thanksgiving morning with two Cornish game hens spatchcocked (butterflied) and deboned, ready for roasting.
Thankfully, the vegetables will be easy. And hopefully he won't complicate matters more. I already told him I want to keep it simple because this is only dinner for three. I'm not cooking for the White House. However, there is a little dread in the back of my mind that he'll search through my web site recipes and find either Custard Pie or Sweet Potato Pie. "Can you make one of those too?"
Meanwhile, because I had already got started, I used the pressure cooker and more mirepoix to cook up the remaining chicken trim that was in the freezer. I made a total of 5½ quarts (5.2 liters) of stock. Most of that will be for soup this winter.
Deboning a Cornish Game Hen
One word: Impossible, at least not the Dr. Frankenstein method my friend thinks would be a good idea. The skin tears like wet tissue paper. He likes the wow factor. I call it stunt food. He's the one I wrote about in the past who wanted me to roast a whole goat. He gets fixated on these things. For a while it was ortolan, goat, then saddle of lamb, Wagyu beef, now Dr. Frankenstein's Cornish game hens. We did cook some Slow-Braised Goat Shanks at a park and they were delicious.
I sent him email, telling him to start practicing the hens now. He won't do it, I know. I doubt he'll even try.
I ultimately cut the backbone out of the hen to spatchcock it, then deboned it, seasoned it and cooked it in a skillet. It was okay, but to be honest, I can't see the attraction. It's an expensive chicken — $2.99 per pound. I can buy chicken in Costco for 99¢ per pound and I think chicken thighs taste better.
And three birds (he'll want to cook four) is too much food for three people. Half a hen is a generous serving with stuffing and roasted vegetables.
Maybe I Sussed It
This whole deboned Cornish game hen fixation came about from YouTube videos in which some chefs deboned quail. They made it look easy. I suspect my failure was due to the hens having been frozen. The ice crystals might have weakened the skin. The birds used in the videos were probably fresh. My friend and I discussed this and I might do a Dr. Frankenstein's Chicken instead, using fresh chicken (not previously frozen) from Costco.
Wednesday 2021.11.10
Flautas Revisited
Sometimes I wondered if I would ever do a cooking video again. I can't explain my lack of interest. Maybe it was worry about the pandemic. Maybe it was seeing my 70th birthday. Maybe it was just waning interest. However, that might have changed this week, maybe a little.
I mentioned in last Wednesday's blog my surprise success at making flautas with lamb. They were so delicious, and so easy, I decided to do a video.
The video went well. For better interest, maybe, I also made my own tortillas. It was an opportunity to use that tortilla press I purchased recently. Actually, I use it a lot, but I hadn't used it in a video yet.
This video was also important to me. I hadn't produced a video in ten weeks. I needed to prove something to myself — that my time doing cooking videos wasn't past yet. I really pushed myself. I shot the video, edited it, uploaded it, and created the related web site pages all in one afternoon/evening. I was done by about 10:30.
If you haven't seen the video yet, you can watch it by going to the web page, Flautas/Taquitos Revisited, and clicking the green "View the Video" button.
Like Visiting an Old Friend
One of my oldest computer games, if not the oldest, is Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri. It was released in 1999 and soon became one of my favorites. It still is. I later picked up the Alien Crossfire expansion pack. I started playing the game again this week.
Thankfully a company kept the game updated so that it now plays in Windows 10.
One of the many things I like about playing the game is that each beginning of a new world is blank. All the playing squares are black. You don't know what's out there until you send out an explorer. As it travels it exposes more of the terrain. You need to do the same with ships to explore the ocean squares.
I will admit to doing a little cheating. Another thing I love about the game is that I can customize the planet. The game recommends a world no larger than 64x128 squares. I use 256x256, which gives me a huge area to explore. And I can select massive land masses. That allows me plenty of time for fortify my defenses before encountering possible enemy factions.
I could, of course, start with a small world, say 30x60, in which case war would be quick and inevitable. I've tried it; it isn't as much fun.
So, in a sense, with customization every game is a little different. I never get bored with it. And thus I started playing it again this week. At my age I'm entitled to a little bit of second-childhood fun.
Pizza
Will I ever make pizza again? Here's the thing: Many years ago I tried the Costco pizza sold in their food court. They used cayenne pepper in the sauce and I suffer a reaction to that. It makes me jittery. It's mild, but it's annoying.
After many long years I decided to try it again because I saw an advertisement in Costco Connection magazine — "32 years of Costco-size pizza. Still $9.95." $10 for an 18-inch pepperoni pizza is a really good deal. And it was good. I ate three pieces and saved the others for later. The sauce tasted normal, like that used by other local pizzerias, and I experienced no reaction to it.
Better yet, the Costco store is only a few blocks down the street. I can walk there. I might never make pizza again, except maybe for guests.
Sunday 2021.11.7
Welcome to Standard Time
Hopefully you remembered to turn your clocks back an hour before going to bed last night. If not, you can do it this morning.
I have about a dozen clocks, not counting the ones in my computers, phone and tablets. Most of them update automatically by picking up the radio signal from the atomic clocks at Fort Collins, Colorado. This morning I adjusted the two that require manual changing. There is one I don't bother with. It's the clock in microwave oven. The oven is inside a cabinet beneath my kitchen counter. With the cabinet door closed all the time, I don't see it anyway.
420 Videos Updated
In Wednesday's blog I wrote about links no longer working in my YouTube videos. I won't go into an explanation again, other than to say I looked at the video descriptions and fixed or updated every one of them to the new format. I worked well into the evening, but I got them all done in two days. Yes, it was a lot of work, but those kinds of tasks always make me feel good when they're finished.
Another Kind of Decluttering
I'm not a hoarder, except maybe on my other computer. I download stuff. I have a separate hard disc drive (HDD) named Multimedia on which I store TV shows, movies and YouTube videos. The problem is that I soon forget about those downloads and eventually the HDD fills up. As one example, a while ago I was looking for Dudley Moore films and found Santa Clause the Movie. I thought it might be fun to add to my list of Christmas movies to watch each December, but I forgot about it.
This week I was reminded of the issue when the HDD's capacity was displayed in red. It was nearly full and therefore time to move files to DVD blank disks or another HDD where I store movies. As of this writing I have only two DVD blanks; so it was also time to order more. Thankfully, I had built up enough Amazon Rewards Points to totally pay for a stack of 100 blank discs. It was free.
And Yet Another Kind of Decluttering
When I look in my freezer now, I see some of the back wall. The frozen foods I hoarded during the pandemic are slowly being used up.
If you've seen some of my later videos, especially My Kitchen Vlog videos, you might have noticed a list on the freezer door. That's an inventory of foods, including those stored out in the shed. When I'm hungry I try to look at the list first to see if there might be something I would enjoy cooking for a meal.
Yesterday evening I cooked two pieces of steelhead trout and some mixed vegetables. I don't like cooking fish in my kitchen. Even fresh fish leaves an odor. I have a small — 8 inches (20cm) — electric skillet I move onto my deck railing when cooking seafood. There is an electrical outlet out there. It's easy and the odor of fish stays outdoors. I'm thinking I might have scallops this evening, although that means I might be cooking outside in the dark. Sunset is at 5:00 this evening. That's okay. There is a light out there too.
How About a Weird Dream?
This morning I dreamed I was going to my dentist and I also needed to tell her about a front tooth that was loose. At 70 years of age, I was concerned my teeth might be falling out. Then I dreamed that first dream was only a dream and I was on my way to visiting my former dentist. However, I thought I'd better check the tooth anyway. It was still loose.
When I got out of bed this morning I checked the tooth. It's solid.
Wednesday 2021.11.3
A Month of Black Friday Sales
Black Friday will be on the 26th of this month. For those in other countries who might not know: Black Friday is the day after the USA's Thanksgiving holiday (always on a Thursday) and is considered the busiest shopping day of the year. Some say it's a profitable day for retailers, black ink, rather than red, on the accounts sheet. There are other meanings, going back several decades. Look it up on Wikipedia.
In the meantime, there will be numerous announcements of Early Black Friday sales events. Everyone wants to make a buck — or save a buck. I don't buy stuff simply because it is on sale at a bargain price. If I don't need it, I don't want it. Besides, storage is an issue when you live in a mobile home. I already have too much stuff, and thus I've been giving some things away to friends who cook or donating items to a charity thrift store.
There are a few things I'll be watching. I have a wish list on Amazon. The induction cooker I'd like to own had one price reduction for a day or two last week, but it was only 3% and the price is now back to where it was. If it went on sale at 30% off I'd buy it. 20% might be enough to make me jump. 10%? Maybe not.
Otherwise, I try to stay out of the stores on Black Friday, except to buy some groceries, maybe, if necessary. I can do without the madness and mayhem.
I Surprised Myself
A friend, with whom I used to cook occasionally before the pandemic, said he was going to Costco. We agreed to meet in front of Home Depot, which is in the same shopping center, so that he could help me load eight 60-pound bags of dry mortar mix into my car. To show my appreciation, I offered to cook him something.
I started by making corn tortillas with the tortilla press I recently purchased. I then very thinly sliced some raw lamb, which I then cooked briefly in olive oil with some garlic. I mixed that with a little chili powder, some salsa verde (green chili sauce), and salt and pepper. I spooned the meat onto the tortillas, added some shredded Monterey Jack cheese, and rolled them up into flautas. I arranged those in the basket of my air fryer, topped them with a little extra cheese, and cooked them until lightly browned on top. I then plated them with a scoop of homemade pesto.
I was surprised at how delicious they were. He wasn't trying to flatter me when he said he was not surprised. "You know how to cook. Even when you don't know what you're doing, you make some fantastic food." Okay. Compliment accepted.
I wrote down what I did, lest I forget, with the plan to video the preparation for my Mobile Home Gourmet channel on YouTube. When I will do it — that's another issue. With eight bags of mortar mix in the back of my SUV, I really need to continue working on the landscaping again. There is still much to be done.
The Curse of Oak Island
Yesterday evening was the premiere of the latest season of The Curse of Oak Island. I've been watching the show since it started eight years ago. I still don't believe there is treasure on the island. The real treasure is how much money those guys are earning by doing the show. Even if they found some real gold or silver or whatever, it wouldn't make any difference. The treasure automatically becomes the property of Nova Scotia. And if there is enough of it, other countries would claim it was pirated from them and demand its return.
For me, the fun of watching the show is the way the narrator tries to make every broken piece of pottery, or wood, or metal, even the rocks, appear to be "important clues" to finding the treasure. It's laughable. And it's definitely a guy show. Women are rare, if seen at all. During one season there was an attractive blond who worked for a drilling company. It's not a nice thing to say, but I couldn't help thinking she was the token blond. Thankfully, she wasn't a bimbo. She might have been an engineer.
I record the episodes, which I will watch again next summer and then delete them.
Meanwhile, CNN rebroadcast previous episodes of Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy. I have them recorded, but I watched them anyway. The next season is being filmed now and should appear on TV early next year.
I Didn't Get That Memo
Evidently something changed on the internet. This gets a little complicated.
The URL for this website is white‑trash‑cooking.com. When I produced some TV shows for a local station, they didn't like the word "trash"; so I changed to Mobile Home Gourmet. I also own the domain name mobilehomegourmet.com. I set up that second URL to refer to this web site. It's a little more complicated than that, but I don't need to go into the depths.
Evidently, that referral now only works to link to the home page. If I use that second URL in a link that includes the recipe page, as in mobilehomegourmet.com/recipes/bagels.html, the link doesn't work. It worked correctly for ten years, but now it fails with a "504 Gateway Time-out" message. Why the change? To improve internet security?
Thankfully a fan of my YouTube channel reported it to me.
I have more than 400 cooking videos on YouTube, but only about 180 of those needed to be fixed. They're done. And this gives me a reason to continue working on the others, which only need a link to the recipe page.