Outside the dugout: What's cooking?

My MIL feels guilty about me cooking her dinner every night. Usually she would buy Thai take out once a week, but this time she sprung for grouper fillets instead. I like to bake them with a panko/cilantro/macadamia nut crust with lots of butter. Most everything tastes better with lots of butter.

And for those things that don't, usually bacon does the trick.

Simple salad and maybe some broccoli as sides. I usually make a yellow rice pilaf to pair with this but my wife said we should mix it up.

 

I should fry bacon in butter and take some Lipitor some day.

 

I have all the fixings for pork chops with a fig and cream sauce for tonight.

Actually I am missing the shallot, but I can fake it with some yellow onion. Not quite the same, but I can make it close enough.

And a simple salad to pair with it.

 

I give permission for three or four, but not permission to drive afterward. Not even your lawn mower.

 

Tonight we are giving some money to one of our favorite local take out places: Gyro Plus.

You gotta support local small businesses.

 

Today I made pickled shrimp with fennel. My Publix had some amazing huge shrimp that were farm raised in Thailand at a great price.

 

One thing I wanted to do today was mow one of my rental property. Just over half an acre. The v-belt to engage the self-propelled aspect of the walk behind mower was just too worn out to work after I mowed for about 20 minutes, so I got a new belt.

And I am having trouble installing it.

I know that they are normally a b*tch to get on when new, but this one is really difficult.

I will try again tomorrow after it cools down. Struggling with it in the brutal heat of the afternoon was a bit much and I decided to prepare dinner instead.

 

I finally got the belt installed and it works. It would have been easier if the blade adapter wasn't frozen on. If I could have freed that I could have taken off the shroud. Instead I had to work around the small about of space that I had by loosening the shroud that I could not remove.

It also hurt that the belt I installed is not the OEM 21" v-belt. The Craftsman belt is a little thinner than what I bought so it is easier to stretch. The one I have installed is a bit thicker and harder to stretch.

But it works and it is on.

I used my knowledge of removing clincher bike wheels for repairing flats in reverse to make it happen. No PhD in Mechanics knowledge required. I should have taken video and posted on YouTube. It does require a couple of flat blade screw drivers that you don't really like. I did not use any of my Klein screwdrivers.

But by the time I got it installed it was ungodly miserable outside so I will mow tomorrow early on. Being a Saturday and we have youngish renters I will start far from the house first..

And my wife wanted Thai tonight so I didn't have to cook today. I think that she knew how hard I was working on this.

I did have some of the leftover pickled shrimp with fennel for lunch. It is really good. More or less follow this recipe:

Pickled Shrimp With Fennel Recipe - Food Republic

Really good.

 

Making a chopped salad tonight. The request was simple and cool.

And more lawn mower troubles. I think that the self propelled transmission is also bad on this old Craftsman self propelled mower. I bought it used for $25 and have been mowing three 1/2 acres lots for many years so not to be unexpected. It really isn't a commercial grade machine. I will check the gear teeth on the drive wheels as well. If I am going to fix it I might as well do it right. Replacing the transmission and drive wheels is about $100 in parts and only a little bit of aggravation.. The Honda engine seems to be in great shape and the mower deck is solid, so it might be a good investment.

I can mow with it without the self propelled part working, but it is quite the workout.

 

Smoking a chicken today. Yeah I know that you don't have to cook a chicken low and slow but it does taste great that way. You do miss the crisp skin unless you open everything up at the end and finish with high temperatures.

Tomorrow I am making posole rojo. It takes a long time, but is so good.

 

Probably looking for bacon without nitrates.

Bacon is a preserved meat so it will have at least salt. Sodium nitrate is often added as well.

Bacon without nitrates usually cooks up to look grey and not red, though.

If you want to you can first put your bacon in hot water to leech out the nitrates and then cook, but it won't look the same.

But it will taste fine.