Outside the dugout: What's cooking?

The person in the house that is better than you.

 

But didn't you have advanced driving school as a trooper?

I am a decent driver. My older brother raced SCCA when he had his XKE and my younger brother is more into track racing motorcycles. They have much more experience going fast with a motor than I do. But in my prime I would have kicked their asses on a bicycle

But the only moving violation I have is not coming to a complete stop on a bicycle in a state preserve. It was weird. Two cyclists ahead of me stopped and were confused and not proceeding. I stopped behind them and then passed them so technically I didn't come to a complete stop at the stop sign, but stopped maybe eight feet back and then "blew" the stop sign passing them.

I did not argue and the trooper was actually apologetic. It turned out that his boss had a near accident there with a cyclist over the weekend so he tasked him to issue citations to cyclist that ran the stop sign. The trooper found that he could charge me with a county cycling violation with a $25 fine instead of a State violation with a heftier fine and points.

My sole driving blemish.

 

Braising short ribs. OMG my house smells good. I use beef stock with sautéed onion, carrots and garlic with red wine, bay leaf, red wine and balsamic vinegars, some San Marzano tomatoes and thyme as the braising liquid that will eventually be strained and reduced for the sauce. The braise is very slow (250 F) and will take about 5 hours. The four short ribs were very meaty and weighted well over two pounds together.

Pearl onions, mushrooms, carrots, bacon, a splash of vinegar and chicken stock and butter make the veggies that go with the short ribs. All served over egg noodles.

And green beans for something simple and green.

 

Just blanched the pearl onions. It is a simple way to peel them. Boil for one minute and let cool enough to handle. Cut a bit off the root end and pinch the top end. A "peeled" pearl onion is given birth.

 

Only four short ribs and four of us.

The short ribs I got were very meaty, though.

Maybe for some stupid reason my son won't want one.

 

OMG it is good.

Very rich, though, so not to eat very often.

I did take a taste from one. It was hard not to take another one.

 

Smoking a chicken and making a gratin with rajas (sautéed poblano peppers and onion). Just put the chicken on and taken the poblanos out from the broiler and placed in a bowl with a kitchen towel over them.

Also making awase dashi for miso soup. The bonito flakes are steeping right now. I think I will add tofu, mushrooms and scallions to complete the soup. And soybean paste or else it wouldn't be miso. My Asian market didn't have any Japanese soybean paste so I had to use Korean and be careful to get the right one. There are some very spicy Korean soybean pastes.

 

Last night was dinner at a friend's house and the night before was sushi for sushi out for my youngest son's birthday.

Tonight is leftovers. Lots of pulled pork and smoked chicken to eat up.

And I had some cabbage leftover so a bit of sauteed cabbage as well.

 

Tonight is more leftovers: smoked chicken and poblano gratin. Also going to make some rice because there might not be enough gratin.

We did polish off the pulled pork and Carolina slaw.

 

Stubb's Original is great.

 

My wife requested something meatless tonight so I am making Thai green curry with fried tofu, red bell pepper, baby corn and mushrooms over jasmati rice.

I needed two cans of coconut milk and my Publix only had one can left except for lite coconut milk and using that would be like using skim milk when you need heavy cream. Had to stop by our Asian market for a second can.