AUGUST 2022
Wednesday 2022.8.31
Summer Arrives Here Today
The summer here has been milder than usual, with temperatures in the low to mid 70s. You'll hear no complaints from me about that. It's one of the reasons I moved to California from Connecticut. The weather is mild year round. It rarely gets hot in the summer and in the winter I can usually go outside during the day without wearing a jacket. The humidity is low.
For a week I've been reading about "Excessive Heat Warnings" in the news. Highs in the low to mid 80s doesn't seem excessive for September, but as I've often said, the temperature where I live is usually about ten degrees warmer. For example, yesterday's forecast was for a high of 76°. I saw a high of 87°. Today is supposed to be 89°; so I might see 100° on my outdoor thermometer.
I live near the ocean here in Southern California. Sometimes at night I can here the waves on the shore. On rare occasions I can hear seals barking on the beach. The proximity to the ocean keeps the temperature cooler than inland locations where the heat is projected to climb into triple digits.
If the daytime temperature here approaches 90°F, I'll turn on the office air conditioner. It helps my computers to stay cool and there is no reason to suffer heat in my home when I have ACs. And, just in case, yesterday I hooked up the living room air conditioner. I hadn't used it since last summer. In a worst case scenario — 80s at night — I also have an AC for the bedroom. However, the forecast is for low 70s at night. The window fan should be enough.
One issue that concerns me this time of year: Warmer and dryer days bring out the arsonists. There will be fires. Hopefully none that will disrupt the electricity where I live. I need the AC.
And one more thing: Short hair is a lot more comfortable on really warm days. So yesterday I cut my hair. It really needed it. However, I needed to wait until the water was turned back on so that I could shower afterward. The park turned off the water without notifying us. Probably another pipe broke somewhere.
And maybe one more thing: I was watching the local evening news and toward the end of the hour they broadcast live the last 20 seconds of the countdown for the Space X rocket launching from Vandenberg Air Force Base. I went outside to see the rocket's flame crossing the nighttime sky.
Another Formula
I like fish. I don't eat it often enough because I prefer more than a simple cooked filet of fish, and Fish & Chips is too much work for a simple weekday dinner. I've tried various coatings and I think I found one I like. To make a small amount:
¼ cup all-purpose flour
¼ cup grated Parmesan or Romano cheese, dry*
¼ cup cornmeal
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon table salt (or seasoned salt)
½ teaspoon ground oregano
1 teaspoon paprika
Mix everything together and pour some onto a plate. Heat oil in a skillet. Coat a fish filet on both sides with the season mix and fry a few minutes on each side until cooked. It's good.
*If ever there existed an excuse to buy the grated cheese stocked in the same grocery store aisle as the pasta and sauces, this is it. Do you remember that green jar? I think it was Kraft. My mother bought that cheese. It was all I knew about Parmesan when I was growing up. When I tasted my first shredded fresh cheese, I never went back. I almost always have fresh Romano cheese in my refrigerator.
I've Been a Bad Boy
I've been stocking my freezer again. I never did eat down the inventory in there. So, once again, I set myself the task of eating all, or most, of the foods in the freezer before I go on another shopping spree. With a Costco store only a few blocks down the street, it's difficult not to come home with too many groceries. And, with a sausage stuffer, it's too much fun to make sausages and freeze them.
One idea for using up some of those foods is making grilled sandwiches. And that leads to a panini press. No, not one of those electric appliances I would need to store somewhere. Instead, I ordered a simple cast iron grill press with a wooden handle for about $15 on Amazon. And that sent me out to the shed to find my grill pans. I have two. One is seasoned cast iron and the other is aluminum with a non-stick surface.
And that sent me onto YouTube to learn more. America's Test Kitchen recommends the Staub 12" grill pan with press, which sells for about $280. Thanks, but no thanks. For my needs, I think my grill pans will work fine.
The plan is to use those square-ish rolls sold at Costco. (Yes, I have some in the freezer.) I can shave a little of the crust off the top and bottom so that I can toast the outside as well as the inside. For filling, I have chicken thighs, which I can flatten in my tortilla press. Add a little cheese (I have provolone as well as Swiss and mozzarella) and grill. I also have plenty of pastrami, which I think would work particularly well with Swiss cheese.
Many years ago I mixed a little Harissa seasoning mix with mayonnaise for a seasoned spread. It worked well on sandwiches. I have ras el hanout (North African) and garam masala (Indian) as well as a couple other spice blends I don't recognize. I have mayonnaise too.
And One More Thing
It looks like I'm going to be doing this self-catheterization thing for a very long time, possibly the remainder of my life. On Monday I ordered more catheters. This time I requested a 90-day supply — 450 of them. The full retail price is $13.57 each. Do a little arithmetic. That's more than $6,000! My insurance doesn't pay that much; they pay less than 40%. But they do pay the full cost for me. I get them free, thankfully.
Sunday 2022.8.28
College Football Season
Yesterday was the beginning of college football season. I spent a good part of my day in front of the TV watching games. Typically, there are two, sometimes three or more, games on at the same time on different channels. I record the extras on my DVR and watch them later. Or I save them for when the football season is over. When there is nothing interesting on TV, I can always watch a recorded football game.
Yesterday was a little more complicated than usual. There were weather delays as thunderstorms moved through the Southwest.
I've been getting ready. During the past few weeks I watched most of the TV shows and documentaries I recorded, deleting them afterward to open up space for football games. Something amusing happened.
I was watching a CNN documentary about Julia Child. One commentator said nearly all people in the USA who love to cook will have Mastering the Art of French Cooking on their book shelf. A friend sent me a photo of his kitchen, showing the cooking oils he normally keeps in stock. Sure enough, there on a shelf was the two volume hardbound edition of Child's French Chef cookbooks. I have them too.
Beef Sausages
A week or so ago a friend called to say untrimmed beef tri-tip was on sale at a local grocery store. His thought was that the untrimmed meat would provide more fat, which would make good sausages. So I bought a piece, which I cut up into strips and then vacuum sealed in amounts of 2½ pounds (1.1kg) each, which is the best amount to fill my sausage stuffer. I froze those.
On Friday I made my first beef sausages using a seasoning formula I found on the internet. It was all in grams, so I had to convert it to volumes. If you're curious, it's this:
17g (3 teaspoons) table salt
3g (1½ teaspoons) ground black pepper
4.5g (1½ teaspoons) garlic powder
4g (1 teaspoon) onion powder
3.5g (1½ teaspoons) ground mustard
5.5g (2 teaspoons) paprika
1.5g (1½ teaspoons) ground sage
2.5g (1 teaspoon) cumin
I ground the meat after par-freezing it for 25 minutes. Then I seasoned it. For liquid, I added the usual 2½ fluid ounces (74ml) of water. The mixture seemed a little too dry and stiff; so I added more water, a little at a time, until it felt right.
Then I stuffed collagen casings. It yielded 10 sausages, plus a little short one. I also used that fabric piping bag I mentioned a week ago. It worked okay, but the meat mixture was still a little too stiff and therefore I had to use extra pressure to force the meat into the casing. (This was also true for the sausage stuffer.) The fabric bag got soiled with meat and juice, but some careful hand washing cleaned that up.
The flavor was good. I'm not sure how I'll use these. I'm thinking they would be best on a toasted hot dog bun. But there is one issue. I cooked one slowly in the microwave oven because that reduces the possibility of the casing bursting. A LOT of liquid came out. The sausage wasn't as juicy as I would have preferred. Maybe next time I'll experiment with some milk powder or maybe some panko bread crumbs.
Wednesday 2022.8.24
But Is It Economical?
Is it economical to make sausages at home? Maybe. I do like the Italian sausages sold at Costco. I almost always have some in my freezer. The pork shoulder meat at Costco costs more than the sausages. So if economy is the only consideration, it's more economical to buy the sausages.
There is the initial investment to consider. When I bought my stainless steel SmokeHouse Chef meat grinder attachment for my KitchenAid stand mixer back in 2016 it was $169. Today it sells for $219. My dedicated sausage stuffer unit was $60.
I made four sausage videos for YouTube in 2016. Until recently, I hadn't used the meat grinder since then. Six years have passed. The reason? Stuffing sausage casings using the meat grinder was too laborious. It was the purchase of that separate sausage stuffer that made all the difference.
So, is it economical? That depends on how you define economical. Yes, the Italian sausages at Costco cost less and they are already prepared and ready for cooking. However, when I think of the other sausages I've made — bratwurst, chaurice, chorizo, and Tuscan sausages — how much gasoline would I burn in my old SUV driving around town to find those, if they're available at all?
Costco sells bratwurst, which I need to buy to compare the flavor to my own. The others I expect not to find anywhere locally. Chorizo sausages are popular in Spain. I can find chorizo here in the stores, but it is not a sausage product. It's a spicy meat paste packed in a plastic tube.
There is the fun factor to consider.
How much are we willing to pay to have some fun? People spend a lot to go on a skiing holiday in winter. How much for a Caribbean cruise? You get the picture. I like to cook and I think it is fun to make sausages.
Of course, there is also the YouTube factor to consider.
My videos are monetized. I made my first sausage videos six years ago. During those years they earned enough revenue, collectively, to pay for the ingredients and the equipment.
Bottom line: So with YouTube as part of the equation, I would say yes, they're economical.
Some Potential Bad News
I've been doing more research about my medical condition. I might have something called flaccid (or floppy) bladder. The story goes back more than a year.
I was experiencing some pain in my pelvic region. I went to a doctor — a general practitioner — and he said there was nothing wrong. He did not refer me to a urologist. He should have.
Months passed. When I finally decided there really was something wrong, I went to see a urologist. You've read most of the story since then — catheters, surgery, etc.
Back when I was ignoring the pain, my bladder was overfilled with urine. It remained that way for a long time. I was able to empty it some and I thought I was functioning normally. I wasn't. I was only draining off a little excess; I wasn't emptying my bladder. During all that time my bladder was evidently stretched beyond normal and that might have damaged the "detrusor" muscles. Now my bladder can't collapse on its own to push out pee, making it necessary to use a catheter to drain it.
Recovery might be possible, but it could take a long time, maybe a year or two, maybe longer. By emptying the bladder often, five to six times each day and once at night, the bladder might shrink over time and return to normal function. That might be more wishful thinking than reality. What can I say? I'm 71 years old. The body degrades as we get older.
Thankfully, my insurance pays for the catheters. The full retail price is more than $2,000 per month. They cost me nothing. So far I've ordered a 30-day supply twice. Next time I'll order a 90-day supply, as I might be in this condition for a long time. Meanwhile, I cleared a shelf in a closet to store them.
Cookies
Jake, who has been an internet friend for several years, sent me a recipe for oatmeal cookies. It came from an old 1956 Betty Crocker cookbook. (Gee! I was only five years old back then.) I modified it slightly to avoid the shortening, which is trans fat. I adjusted the recipe a little. After rolling the dough into a log and refrigerating it overnight, the directions say to slice it really thin, 1/8 or 1/16 of an inch into raw cookies before baking. However, the recipe says it yields 4 dozen and the log is about 12 inches long. That's four cookies per inch or about ¼-inch thick slices.
Some of these old cookbook recipes are fun to work with. Look for the video in a future upload to YouTube. I also learned something new. The recipe uses the word cooky as the singular form of cookies. It's correct, but I never saw that before.
Jake told me a funny story. One of his friends locked his cookies in the gun safe so that the kids wouldn't get to them and gobble them all up.
As for mine. They came out excellent and delicious.
Sunday 2022.8.21
The End of an Era?
Friday morning an odd thing happened. I opened my video editing software and it said I could no longer use it without paying a monthly fee. I've been using it freely since 2015. Why all of a sudden can't I use it? I've kept this computer permanently off line to prevent this from happening. It's still not connected to the Internet.
I have an older version of the software, but most of my videos during the past seven years were created with the newer version. I can't save backward to an older version. Those video files are therefore orphaned, maybe lost forever.
I might try this week to get it working again, but if I cannot, I'll abandon my YouTube channels. As for this web site, how much longer before I cannot use that software too? I might retire from blogging and making videos.
But Then…
Something strange happened. I went online to learn how to disable the disabling thing. After following the steps one piece of software in the suite said I could use it on a trial basis for 32,767 days. That's nearly 90 years. I think I'm safe with that one.
What To Do?
There was a time, a long time ago, when I would routinely format my computer's C: drive and do a fresh install of the operating system. I think I was using Windows XP back then, or maybe something earlier. I could do that on this computer and then try a fresh install of the software I use. It probably wouldn't take more than a day or two. However, before I do that I'll see how long I can operate with things as they are.
More Sausages
As planned, on Wednesday afternoon I made Polish sausages. One part of the experiment was to grind the meat first with a medium plate, then grind it again with a finer plate. It took a long time to force the meat and fat through, even partially frozen. Next time, I'll use the food processor. That should take only a few seconds.
The flavor was pretty good, but not as delicious as the Bratwurst I made. I still have plenty of the Polish sausage seasoning mix; so this might be a good opportunity to experiment with some of my own flavoring ideas. How about adding some garlic powder? Or maybe some paprika? I have plenty of dried herbs to play with.
I skipped an idea I learned from watching sausage videos on YouTube. More than one cook recommended adding some dried milk powder as a "binder." It supposedly adds more protein and that can improve the texture of the sausages. I have the powder, but I'm saving that for a future experiment.
Two and a half pounds (1.1kg) of ground meat and fat yielded ten six-inch (15cm) sausages.
After letting the sausages rest in the refrigerator for an hour or two, I wrapped each one in a piece of plastic film, then I froze them for later.
Another experiment is a way to use up the meat still in the sausage stuffer after the plunger is all the way down to the bottom. I tried using a ziplock bag, cutting an opening in one corner and pushing the stuffer tube (or horn) through. Then I put the remaining meat in the bag and tried squeezing it into the last casing — sort of like using a piping bag when decorating a cake. It worked, but the plastic soon burst from using so much pressure.
What if I were to sew a piping bag sort of thing using heavy fabric, put the plastic bag inside, and then fill it? The cloth bag might be enough to keep the plastic from bursting. And the bag is easily laundered. I could even wrap the top end of the tube with some plastic wrap to keep ground meat from soiling the fabric bag. There is a lot to experiment with here. And, it might look good in a video.
And so, I set about to do this experiment too.
It took only a few minutes to stitch a simple piping bag. I used a piece of cotton fabric I saved for "hand rags" during the height of the Covid pandemic when I was washing my hands several times each day. I have a lot of those. I put a button hole at one corner so that I could hang them on a hook next to the kitchen sink.
The plan is to use the ziplock bag inside the fabric bag. That will help keep the fabric clean and the fabric should help prevent the plastic bag from bursting.
The next time I make sausages I'll let you know how well, or poorly, this idea works. I can always go back to the drawing board and think of something else. I have plenty of these hand rangs out in the shed.
And Speaking of Covid…
I've been reading in the news information about dealing with the Covid-19 virus differently. Essentially, it appears the CDC has tossed their hands in the air and given up. Those who want to be vaccinated have already gotten their shots and boosters, those who don't will probably resist until it is too late. If they end up in the hospital, there are effective treatments now. Hopefully they have good health insurance.
Wednesday 2022.8.17
Who Knew?
I learned something new this week. Less is more when it comes to assembling ant bait packets. More than one web site says the amount of boric acid powder should be only 1 to 2% of the total bait in the packet. Too much can actually discourage the ants from taking the bait.
The goal is to encourage the ants to carry the bait back to the colony where it will eradicate the nest. Killing the queen ant is ideal because she is the only one who can lay eggs. Too much boric acid can kill the worker ants before they can deliver the poison to the colony. I noticed some ants dying inside the packet. Too much boric acid? I thought more was better.
The proportion given was ¾ teaspoon boric acid powder per cup of bait. I used one raw chicken thigh, which I estimated to be about a third of a cup. So I used ¼ teaspoon. I ground the chicken meat well in a small Vitamix cup. Then I transferred the meat to a paper plate and mixed in the boric acid thoroughly before sealing small portions of the chicken in heat-sealed plastic packets. I had 13 of them.
After cutting a small hole in each packet, I put three of them in popular ant places inside my home — under the kitchen sink, in the bathroom and in my home office. The ants swarmed to them. I also taped all the remaining packets to the outside of my home where I saw ants — even in a few places where I saw no ants but which I thought might have potential.
Why heat-sealed plastic packets? I hoped to keep the meat from drying out before the ants could take some back to the colony. One tiny hole was enough for the ants to get in, but not too much air, especially here in Southern California where the humidity is low.
I wasn't worried about animals being attracted to the packets. The amount of boric acid in each packet is so tiny, it is considered harmless to animals and pets. Think about it. One quarter teaspoon divided among 13 bait packets. Ants, being so much smaller than a neighborhood dog, are far more vulnerable.
When it comes to bait stations, more is better. One web site I saw recommended as many as 30 bait stations. My home isn't large enough for that. I live in a mobile home in a trailer park. Ten outside might be enough.
The ultimate goal is to only bait the ants outdoors before they ever enter my home. Thankfully, chicken is inexpensive at Costco.
Invincible Ants
However, I don't know what new specie of ant I am breeding here. There was a time when I would set up a bait station and the ants would swarm to it. Then, 24 hours later, the ants were gone. These ants seem to thrive on boric acid powder. In fact, more than once the ants carried away all the bait in the packet, and still they came back looking for more. I need to think about this.
Yesterday, after another appointment with the doctor about my prostate (more about that below), I stopped at Costco and bought one of those rotisserie chickens they sell for about $5. I used to use part of the breast meat (I prefer the dark meat) for ant bait stations. The plan is to return to that practice again. I'll increase the boric acid a little.
A Little Good News
The Lyonnaise Potatoes video has already paid for itself. As of today, it earned about half the cost of the 5-pound (2.27kg) bag of gold potatoes I bought, which is how much of the bag I used to make the video. The bag cost $5.99, so half that is hardly a down payment on a new car. But I do feel encouraged the video might be popular this fall when people are searching for recipes for the holidays.
Prostate Progress
As mentioned above, I met with the doctor again about my lack of progress. It has been eight weeks since my surgery and I should have recovered by now. I still need to insert a catheter to empty my bladder several times each day.
He said he does not think scar tissue is the problem. Maybe my bladder doesn't work. It worked before. I just couldn't empty it all the way because there were half a dozen stones in there. The stones are gone, but now I can't pee at all.
He wants to see me in four weeks and he plans to put a camera up inside me to examine the prostate and bladder. I told him how much it hurt last time. I was so traumatized, I went home and cried. He promised the next cystoscopy would not be like that. We'll see. If he can't solve this problem soon, I'll seek another urologist.
I did a Kitchen Vlog about my lack of progress.
Any innuendo you might suspect was purely intentional.
Sunday 2022.8.14
Happy Anniversary
Twelve years ago on this date I wrote my first blog for this web site. I have published a blog every Sunday and Wednesday since then. Do a little arithmetic with me. That's 2,288 blog posts. All the blogs are still there, in the Blog Archives. I don't know why I keep those. No one will ever read them. Maybe it's just the satisfaction of looking back at my body of work.
I do occasionally research my archives. For example, if I need to recall when the New England Journal of Medicine published a research paper on the benefits of coffee, I'll find that information in my May 2012 blog.
Next Appointment
I called the doctor's office on Thursday. The surgeon is back seeing patients again after his brief absence because he was diagnosed with Covid. Nothing has changed for me. I still need to do self-catheterization several times each day to empty my bladder. I'll see the doctor on Tuesday when, hopefully, he will schedule me soon for another surgery to remove the scar tissue from my prostate, thus making it possible for me to pee normally again.
Sausages
The Italian sausages I made with chopped fresh basil and sun-dried tomatoes are in the freezer. I'll use those eventually, probably cooking one to eat with a dish of spaghetti or other pasta. My next one will be Polish sausage, using some of the seasoning blend I purchased for that purpose.
There is one flavor I want to try — chipotle and bourbon — but Amazon doesn't have it in stock. A note on the product page says they don't know when, or if, they'll have the item in their inventory again.
I wrote to the manufacturer. They have it in stock on their web site. I included a link to my Bratwurst video on YouTube, hoping they'd be impressed enough to offer me a free packet of the seasoning mix. No go.
Yesterday I recorded the voice-overs for the Italian sausage video. I didn't mention the seasoning mix by name. It wasn't spite. I just think I shouldn't promote their product without some recognition in exchange.
How About Some Politics?
Unless you have been vacationing on another planet, you likely heard about the FBI's search warrant to seize highly classified documents from Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. The event happened quickly, but the fallout might take a long time to settle.
Supposedly, agents need to view each document to determine how detrimental it might have been to United States security if it had fallen into the wrong hands. That can take months. The incident is therefore expected to have little effect on the mid-term elections this fall — except, the potential crime of removing highly sensitive documents from Washington by Trump and his minions might help the Democrats somewhat.
I think the greater impact will be on the presidential election in 2024. Trump is already being investigated in several states for his financial dealings and his efforts to overturn the 2020 election, all of which are potentially serious crimes. If Trump is charged with violating the Espionage Act, obstruction of justice, and/or criminal handling of government records, he might not be eligible to run as a presidential candidate.
I doubt we'll hear "Lock him up" chanted at the Democratic National Convention.
If he does announce his candidacy and runs for election, there are doubts he could win, except by stealing the election. His base in 2020 wasn't large enough to get him re-elected. That base is even smaller now.
How About Some Bad News?
The National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announce the La Niña weather pattern is expecte to continue through the remainder of summer and into the winter months. That might indicated less rain for Southern California, extending this severe drought. California supposedly has a huge financial surplus. Why won't the state put some of that money into the building of desalination plants? Yes, the water would be more expensive, but expensive water is better than no water.
Wednesday 2022.8.10
Death Threat
I was amused by my first death threat on YouTube. After calling me a mother fu**er he said he knows where I live and he is going to kill me.
After many months of coping with the threat of Covid, I can understand some people venting their frustration. And now we have Monkey Pox to fear (actually, not*).
YouTube blocked the comment, even from my seeing it, as potentially offensive. I was able to read it after clicking a few links. I was amused. The comment has since been removed.
Maybe this is a good opportunity to explain YouTube's levels of protection. I have a few options for dealing with unwanted comments. First, though, I have all my videos set to "hold all comments for review." Nothing gets published for the public to see unless I approve it. Then there are two steps I can take to remove an unwanted comment.
1. I can simply "remove" the comment. The person who wrote it never knows because s/he can still see the comment, but no one else, including me, ever will.
2. I can "hide" the person from my channel. All their comments — past, present and future — are permanently hidden. They can write as many comments as they like, and they will see them, but no one else ever will.
That second step is one I don't invoke often, but with more than 650 videos on YouTube, I've seen my share of offensive comments. I have a few hundred people permanently hidden on my channel.
*From what I understand, Monkey Pox does not spread like Covid. The Covid virus can be transmitted through the air by being in close proximity with someone who is infected. By breathing in the air they exhale from their lungs we get the virus into our own lungs. Monkey Pox doesn't spread through the air. It is transmitted by physical contact, such as sexual intimacy, or by touching their clothing. I always wear a mask when I go shopping. And at my age, 71, intimacy isn't going to happen.
Someone From the Past
I had a pleasant surprise this week. I heard from someone I thought had passed away about a year ago. I won't go into all the details, other than to say it was something he chose to do. He was a good email friend. He sometimes shared recipes. I knew what he looked like because he sent me a picture. That's something I don't get from people who comment on my videos. In fact, there are a few people I've communicated with many times over the years and I don't know what they look like. They can see me on YouTube.
I am happy he's back. I'm sure I'll get some of the details when he feels ready to share them. Meanwhile, he already sent me a recipe he photographed from an old cookbook. I like those old recipes.
And Some Italian Sausages
As planned, I made Italian sausages, despite the heat here. I added some sun-dried tomatoes and chopped fresh basil to the filling mixture. They came out fairly good. They are a bit too salty for my liking; so I adjusted the seasoning mix down to 4 tablespoons rather than 5 when I use it again.
And Some Pesto
A friend wanted to convert his 1-pound bag of fresh basil to pesto. As mentioned in Sunday's blog, I use my Breville juicer. He brought only the basil to my home — not the almonds, the Parmesan cheese (actually Romano), the garlic, nor the olive oil. I wasn't happy. That was unusual for him; he is usually very generous. I suspect he had been drinking.
The Weather
We are entering our warmest time of year here. So far, I only used the office air conditioner once. The living room air conditioner isn't even hooked up yet. Before the end of October I'm sure I'll need it at least once.
Sunday 2022.8.7
Better
On Wednesday I wrote about my attempt to photograph a bratwurst on a bun with caramelized onion — an attempt at which I failed. The food looked messy, not appetizing. I don't mind admitting my failures. But, undaunted, I tried again.
I decided to arrange the onions on the inside of the top part of the bun. To help hold them in place, I folded two small pieces of cardboard and placed them out of sight beneath that part of the bun, keeping it tilted upward. That kept the sausage clean. The result was a photograph I can live with for this web site and for the thumbnail when I publish the video on YouTube.
More Sausages
I ordered three more packages of LEM Backwoods sausage spice blends — sweet Italian sausage, polish sausage, and chipotle bourbon sausage. The last one is currently not in stock, but it should be sent with free-shipping when, and if, it is back in stock again. However, I checked the LEM web site and they have it in stock; so I don't know what Amazon's issue might be.
The two packages were delivered yesterday. One plan is to make sweet Italian sausages with some chopped fresh basil and some sun dried tomatoes added to the seasoned ground meat before filling sausage casings. Meanwhile, I've been defrosting a package of cut pork meat and pork belly in the refrigerator.
Although I am still not recovered from my prostate surgery, and I'm sure I'll need a third surgery, I am thankful I feel well enough to make cooking videos. I'm trying to push myself to get some videos done before I am back in the hospital again.
Fire on the Mountain
Actually, up in the foothills.
When I went shopping on Thursday I saw quite a large amount of smoke north of here. I asked a few people. No one had heard anything. So I checked with local news when I got home.
There was a fire nearby, called the Glen Annie Fire, a little north of the Glen Annie Golf Course. It was small. As of Thursday evening it had burned 75 acres and was 50 to 60% contained. Weather conditions are favorable for fire fighting — little to no wind, temperatures in the low to mid 70s, and nighttime patchy fog.
The following day I couldn't find anything in the news about it. Evidently is was such a non-issue, the news media folks were ignoring it.
Making Pesto
A friend brought me a one-pound bag of fresh basil. He also bought himself one. What can you do with an entire pound of basil? It will spoil before you can use it all.
I have a method for making Pesto. The trick for getting really good pesto is to release the juice from the leaves. Chopping the whole leaves in a food processor isn't good enough. Yes, you get some of the flavor, but mostly it's chopped basil, not pesto.
Pesto was originally made my crushing the leaves with a mortar and pestle. That broke up the leaf structure, releasing the juice. In the past I used my Whacker Spoon, which is sort of like a heavy spoon-shaped thing, made of aluminum, which is used for pounding rather than cooking or serving. Think of pounding a piece of chicken flat for a cutlet. For small amounts of basil, the Whacker Spoon (available on Amazon) is still the preferred method.
Now I use my Breville juicer. It does the best job of releasing the juice from the leaves, and it does all the work. I even crush the garlic cloves along with the basil. After capturing the juice in one container and the basil pulp in another, I combine the two and then add the remaining ingredients — ground almonds, Parmesan cheese, olive oil, salt and pepper.
There was one little problem though. I couldn't get the juicer pieces apart for cleaning. I tried soaking. I tried using muscle. Eventually, I jammed the lower portion in a steel drawer and used both hands to untwist the upper part. It worked. Why it was so stuck I do not know, but I suspect it was because I tried juicing the stems after the leaves were done. The stems are too woody. They jammed the juicer.
After thoroughly cleaning the juicer, I chose not to fully assemble all the pieces. I can store it with the pieces disconnected.
Making Lyonnaise Potatoes
It has been on my To-Do List for quite some time, and I've written about it before. I saw America's Test Kitchen prepare it in one of their TV shows. It looked good, but I thought I could do a little better.
The challenge was finding Yukon Gold potatoes. I've looked, but no such luck. Finally, I bought a bag of yellow-ish looking potatoes that I hoped would suffice.
On Friday I prepared my home — covering the windows with blackout fabric to control the studio lighting, printing my ingredients cue card and my step-by-step instruction guide. Yesterday morning I shot the video.
There are dozens, probably hundreds (I didn't see them all) of recipes for "potatoes and onions" on YouTube and the internet. I suppose what makes these "Lyonnaise" (besides the preparation originating in Lyon, France) is that the potatoes are sliced rather than cubed and they are cooked in an oiled skillet, not boiled.
Another Happy Birthday
A friend sent me a LEGO kit — James's Bond's Aston Martin DB5 (#76911). It's only 298 pieces and therefore it will be easy to build. The friend is really into LEGO. He even has an online LEGO store. So I'll send him the kit after I'm done playing with it, and maybe include a kit I buy for him. I've sent him five kits already.
Wednesday 2022.8.3
Bratwurst
In Wednesday's blog I wrote about my plans to make my own bratwurst. I did that and I am pleased with the results. I cooked another one yesterday, arranging it on a toasted bun with some lightly caramelized onion so that I could get the photographs I wanted. I didn't get what I wanted.
It looked messy, not appetizing. Today I'll spend some time looking at images on the internet to see if I might find a better way to photograph this sausage. There are still some in the refrigerator.
As for the sausage, it is delicious. Adding the pork belly to increase the fat content was the right thing to do. The sausages are tender and juicy. I served one to a friend on Monday and he approved.
The video turned out well. I finished editing it yesterday. Most of the audio consists of voice-overs. I've done that in the past and I always like the result because I can be more concise, leading to a shorter video. My Chorizo Sausages video is more than 12 minutes long, with only a few voice-overs. The Bratwurst video, which I plan to publish on Sunday, is only 8 minutes. Meanwhile, I continue to work on the written recipe for this web site.
What's Next?
On my To-Do list I still have Potatoes Lyonnaise, which is a simple side dish that I think might be popular for the holidays later this year. My Scalloped Potatoes video always does well as people search for recipes around Thanksgiving and Christmas.
I need to find some Yukon Gold potatoes. I've looked, but the store was out of them. And during this time of a resurgence of Covid infections, I don't feel like I want to spend much time in the grocery stores.
When I do find those potatoes, preparing them will be easy. I saw the side dish cooked in an America's Test Kitchen video, but I thought they made a little too much work for themselves. There is an easier way and I think my method assures a better result.
Hopefully, I'll get to this recipe either this week or next.
More Sausages?
Yes, very likely. There are more of those prepared spice blends I'd like to try. One in particular is Chipotle Bourbon; however, Amazon has been out of stock and there is no expected date when it might be available again.
Covid
As mentioned above, there is another increase in infections lately, mostly the BA.5 variant. I've been vaccinated and boostered — four shots total. I saw in the news an article about cancelling plans for another booster shot this summer in favor of a more improved vaccine this fall. That one will supposedly be designed to target the latest variations of the virus. Maybe that one will include a vaccine for the monkeypox infections I am reading about in the news. Currently, there are no confirmed cases of monkeypox in Santa Barbara county where I live.
As mentioned in a previous blog, my urologist tested positive for Covid the morning I was supposed to see him for the next step in my prostate surgery. I'm still doing the self-catheterization thing. There has been no change in my condition and it has been six weeks since my TURP surgery. What else can I conclude but that another surgery will be necessary to remove scar tissue before I can get back to normal?
Meanwhile, I ordered another 30-day supply of catheters. Those arrived on Monday.