Most of the day was cold and wet so sub-optimal for grilling. And one of my ceramic heat deflectors cracked (on a KJ it is a pair of semicircular ones), but my wife is picking up a new set at an Ace Hardware where we ordered them for delivery. I have done some indirect smoking with it, but it is tricky. Tonight I am baking mahi with a macadamia and pistachio nut with panko, butter and cilantro topping. I don't have enough macadamia nuts for the way I usually like to make it so I am stretching it with some pistachios. Another difference is that I like to marinade the mahi with lime juice for an hour, but my wife bought the fish at Northwest Seafood as she was in the neighborhood on her way to her office (she is swamped with work) and won't get home until "go time" for cooking so it will be a quick dousing with lime juice before cooking for the flavor, but not much of the acid "cooking" of the fish like you get with ceviche. Sides are asparagus and rice with datil peppers.
I tell people all the time. Publix isn't that great. Half the time they are out of what I am looking for! /rant
49 here this morning! It was great! But a lot of rain and wind here yesterday - and last night. Power outage twice last night! First one only lasted about 10 minutes. Then it happened again just after midnight, so I just went to bed. Woke up at 4am with still no power. So I went out back (patio) and cranked up my portable generator and ran a line to the fridge and also a table lamp. Then got in the truck to drive around and see how far it went. It didn't - just a few homes close by. Came back and called the electric hotline. Was told they'd get someone out here. Heard the big power truck about 1/2 hour later. Power finally came back on around 7.....2 hours after my call. Must have been more serious than a blown fuse. My generator is great. Dual fuel and electric start. Just move to choke, flip a switch, and push and she starts right up. Not too loud either. Then I called Mom back and helped her by phone get her microwave clock set so it would work again and also get the cable box turned on so she can watch football... From her email: "About the Gator game this evening on the SEC channel. Is that 54? Who knows they might do better. Hope they have a better Quarterback for this game."
My younger brother is a BIG muckety-muck at Cummins Engines. Maybe I should ask him about a family discount for a natural gas generator.
Keeping it simple today-the weather has warmed up some (60*) ballgames on tap and the Taco Soup was awfully good, so it’s a do-over night for Taco Soup. The back porch is open and restocked so it’s good to go at least until sundown. Football Saturday’s are sooo much more fun when we play well! Let’s do this Gators! Life is good in Gator Nation!
Last night 3 of the 4 houses surrounding me all had their "whole house" generators going. Then while driving around and seeing lights on so many other homes - at 4am - I was thinking damn....does everyone but me have one of these? The dead give away are the street lights. If a street light is on - there's power to those homes. My street light was out. We don't get that many power outages so for now I'm good with my portable. Like I said - the electric start, dual fuel option, and the fact that's it's not too noisy (no more than my neighbors' generators) make it very accommodating. I would like to get a power cord inserted through the back wall so I don't have to run it through my patio slider. Have to give that some thought.....
Baz— The quietest portable generator I’ve ever used is a Honda. Driving around at 4:00am……I’m guessing that needs to have it’s own page…
Honda's are quiet indeed but mostly their inverters, which is not what I have so..... And not exactly "driving around" - I was "OAM"! Actually passed a cop going the other way. Both of us at 10MPH eyeing each other over....lol...... You know, I'm not a guy who panics when the SHTF.....I just quietly go about the protocols. I was a Boy Scout!
Tonight I’ll be grilling bone-in country cut ribs indirect over cherry wood smoke-Stubb’s original BBQ sauce on the last two turns. Inside we’ve got a pot of fresh crowder peas and whole pod okra. I will also have a pot of white rice to be topped with Rotel tomatoes. Blue skies and sunshine today—even though this evening starts the 4:00-4:15pm complete darkness (that everyone I know hates) time change. Back porch ice cold longnecks and chilled wine are on hand for your enjoyment. Life is good in Gator Nation!
Stubb's is great for pork ribs and almost everything else I can think of for pork. But Pat's HoMade is awesome for chicken. Pat's is not as intense and a better pairing for chicken.
Tonight we are going to change it up and do breakfast for supper. We will have a Smithfield center cut ham steak with grits, eggs, and biscuits. I am sure that this morning’s 39* start had something to do with the decision of a warm inside supper tonight. Probably go with a tumbler of Elijah Craig late afternoon/early evening. Life is good in Gator Nation!
It was Tuesday and we had an eight o'clock Gator basketball game to attend so tacos were a no brainer. I did make a tomatillo/avocado salsa with onions, garlic, cilantro, serrano peppers, and a touch of sea salt to go with it along with Mexican 4 cheese and minced white onion..
Tacos are a no brainer any day of the week! Festus on Gunsmoke today: "Get your carcass out of here!" LOL....classic!
Baz— Festus is the best! “Fiddle-dee Doc, I got a dollar right here-you want a beer—on me!” Doc-“Festus you ought to invest your money in some land” Festus-“Doc-I can’t buy no land for a dollar” Doc-“Invest it in land I’m talking about” Festus-“Doc are you talking about a lot of land or a little land?” Doc-“Festus I’m talking about…..never mind, let’s go get that beer!”
Pork tenderloin with a teriyaki sesame glaze, sauteed rapini, and rice for dinner tonight. The best thing about making this is using the leftover pork tenderloin for escarole soup tomorrow. Risotto with asparagus will be soon.
Tonight I'll be grilling BBQ chicken halves-a little change with seasoning-still coarse black pepper, Everglades has come out with a new seasoning called Cactus Dust-somewhat of a SW flavor. We will know before too long. Inside we'll have a pot of fresh green beans & new potatoes to go along with some leftover butter peas. The back porch Yeti is restocked and Ms. Jan's chilled wine is ready to go. Life is good in Gator Nation.
Well, the pork tenderloin last night was so good that there were no leftovers for escarole soup. I had to pan fry some pork chops to get the pork. Last night my wife made some nachos for a late evening snack and used some of the tomatillo guac I made for tacos on it. OMG it was delish.
Looking to replace our gas range. It is a GE model with one 13000 BTU burner, two 9500 BTU burners, and a 5000 BTU "simmer" burner. No real problems with the cook top, but the oven doesn't keep a consistent temperature and my wife is fed up with it. One HUGE problem that we have is that the oven needs to be on an interior wall, we have a two story house, and we use the space above the range for storing pots and pans. What I have up there is part of a suspended pan rack that I built a long time ago and cut up and mounted on the wall. Needless to say we don't have a hood and if we installed one that made a turn to the outside we would lose a lot of very convenient pot and pan storage and lose something of sentimental value. Since we have 10' ceilings we have never had a problem with the kitchen getting too hot with our current set-up, so I am thinking that a high quality gas range with 15000 BTU burners might work for us without a hood. While I would really like something with at least one 22000 BTU burner I realize that isn't going to happen. Then a hood would absolutely be essential unless we never used it. (I was shocked to learn that many elaborate kitchens with high end appliances are never used. They are just something to "show off".) Looking at a 30" Blue Star with open burners and a Viking with sealed burners. A lot more coin than I spent getting the GE range that I bought used a long while ago.
