Outside the dugout: What's cooking?

Smoking two chickens today. I think that I will experiment with one and put a tupelo honey glaze on it toward the end.

Also making scalloped potatoes with thinly sliced fennel, rosemary, and garlic.

 

Chickens done about 30 minutes before I wanted them to be taken off the grill to rest and then carved. I tried really hard to get the temperature down to 225 F to 230 F, but it kept creeping up to 270 F. Weird because today was cold, gray, and wet. I usually have that problem on hot and sunny days.

So no luck with finishing with a tupelo honey glaze. Dang. Chicken now wrapped in foil, but not in a cooler. I don't want it to overcook when resting.

Scalloped potatoes about one hour out.

Maybe next time with the honey glaze. I have done that when smoking ducks and it is awesome.

 

I never do that intentionally.

Plying them with cocktails when what I am cooking is not up to my standard is a different thing.

 

It is very well stocked.

 

I am currently enjoying a Toronto cocktail. This is how I make it: 2 oz of rye (Old Overholt is a bargain), 1/4 oz of Fernet Branca, 1/4 oz simple syrup, a few dashes of orange bitters, stirred with ice and poured on the rocks.

 

I would leave the salt out if also using Better Than Bullion. I find that stuff more than salty enough as it is.

And making an Asian style soup tonight with mustard greens, pork, spices (including Sichuan peppercorns), and rice noodles. Soup is comfort on a chilly night.

Added in edit: I wonder if using pig's feet would do the trick instead of necks.

 

Not cooking tonight. I spent the day first prepping the walls in our upstairs bathroom for repainting and they haven't been repainted in a LONG time. Probably close to 30 years. It was looking a little gross.

Over two hours of scrubbing with TSP first and the walls looked a LOT better.

It took forever to cut in with working around the toilet, tub, and sink.

Rolling the ceiling and walls was easy.

Second coat tomorrow and not looking forward to cutting in again.

Semi-gloss paint is hard to work with because you need it to go on smoothly and you need a really flat surface, but in an old house like we have that is the bathroom paint that looks correct. Zinsser Perma-White is what I am using this time. Last time it was some kind of Benjamin Moore latex semi-gloss.

 

My wife got good Thai take-out last night. I have them trained so that when I order Thai hot I actually get Thai hot. I was enjoying it and my wife wanted a taste. Lets just say that she was surprised.

I finished the second coating today with the semi-gloss paint. A lot less work than also washing the walls first, but the cutting in was a pain with a sink, medicine cabinet, toilet, and tub in the way. And getting the roller close to the tile and corners so that most of the semi-gloss surface was roller stipple and not brush stroke from the cutting in was a royal pain.

This afternoon I made some guac with a Florida avocado that my wife bought. Dang, Florida avocados are pretty tasteless. Hass avocados are much better.

Going to make some dirty rice in a bit.

 

I hope that you didn't buy the romaine on the rotten rack.

Is it now safe to eat again?

 

It's been raining in Gainesville since before dawn.

Spent the day washing tile walls and floors that haven't seen the light of day underneath bathroom furniture since the last time I painted the upstairs bathroom. Probably 25 years since then. It was not a pleasant sight or job.

In spite of the rain I am going to grill some pork chops and also wilt some mustard greens with garlic. Probably making mashed potatoes, but maybe rice instead.