Category Archives: Life in general

Here’s your heart

There are some days when you’re just convinced that the world is full of asshats. The worst is when one of those people manage to fuck up your evening by being total douchebags. I know I shouldn’t take it personally, but some days it gets to me more than others – when all the cosmic shit going on happens to align just so.

Today did not start as one of those days, but it surely did wind up being one. I still cooked, though.

After putting together the dough for the doughnuts – and more about that fiasco later – I started prepping everything that could be done before the time for dinner actually arrived. One of those things was the assembly of the shrimp cocktails.

I also boiled some shrimp with Old Bay and set aside some to marinate. The latter were sauteed as we were sitting down. Much of cooking for a crowd means getting everything to the table at the same time. This is no easy task if you’re an idiot and completely forget about the asparagus, thus holding everything else and thus letting people start in on the shrimp before everything is ready. But since that was minor and asparagus doesn’t take all that long to cook (nor did the sauce), it wasn’t too bad.

Broiled lobster tails, shrimp three ways with cocktail sauce, ginger dipping sauce, rice pilaf with sundried tomatoes, parmesan, and almonds, and asparagus with a mustard-lemon nappe.

After everyone had eaten all of the food – a bit of the rice was all that was left – it was time for doughnuts. The first batch of dough sucked and I tossed it in the trash, where one of the dogs prompty stuck his snoot in and grabbed a piece, swallowing it down before I could get a word out. Fortunately, while I was kneading the first batch, I realized that it would indeed suck and that a backup batch was in order. I had run out to the store to pick up a couple of things, and picked up some fresh flour as well. It made a world of difference. I knew the flour I’ve been bitching about since we got it was to blame for the bready misfortunes I had been encountering.

The dough had gone through the first rise, was rolled out, and went through the second rise.

While they were resting, I put together the glaze, the ganache, and got the oil heated. Now, most places say 350 for the oil, but I’m convinced that a slightly lower temperature is in order, especially seeing how brown some of the pieces got while frying compared to the lighter, doughnutty color we’re all used to when the oil had cooled a bit. Not that it mattered all that much, since it’s hard not to like fried dough. The Boy handled the glazing duties.

Other people volunteered to handle the sampling duties. Sometimes they go a little crazy while doing that very dangerous, thankless job.

Some had to wait a little longer for their tastes, relying on other species with opposable thumbs to bestow their samples.

The doughnuts turned out very well indeed.

The scraps from the first cutting I kneaded back together, then rolled out and formed into crullers, churros, and vague blobs of doughy things.

I think people were happy.

After all, what’s not to like about doughnuts?

Every day’s a birthday

Saturday night, my uncle said he’d never appeared on the blog. I told him he’d be first up with the next update. Here he is, hanging out by the ribs.

But we’re getting ahead of ourselves here.

The Boy turned 21 the other day. When he was growing up, we thought he might never make it that far.

Since it was his birthday, he got to request the dinner menu. Kebabs, he said, and some corn to go with it. We went with that.

I made bread earlier that day, adjusting the recipe so the dough was a bit firmer than the last time. I also rolled it out a bit more thickly than the last time, trying to keep the raisins contained and the dough from splitting

The final proofing.

Much better than the last time.

All four loaves went into the oven, and came out about an hour later, nicely browned and with the hollow thunk that means they’re ready.

Very pretty. I could pick around the raisins and try the bread, but that seems like a lot of work (and bread’s a hard food for me to eat anyway), so I’ve yet to actually taste the bread.

That evening, we had the kebabs. The original plan was to grill them, but Mother Nature decided to give us some winter rain, so they went under the broiler instead. They turned out well.

My aunt also had a birthday this week. Her party – her 29th birthday! – was Saturday.

Way back at the 4th of July party at her house, she’d suggested ribs and shrimp for the party. Since this party was going to be fairly large, we picked up 27 pounds of ribs – six slabs. I brined those for about ten hours, then rubbed them about an hour before putting them on the smoker. Four and a half hours later, the ribs were juicy, smoky, and ready for gnawing.

I carved them into manageable pieces, put out a bottle of homemade barbeque sauce that I’d made the night before…

…and we were set.

There is more to life than smoked ribs, hard as that is to believe. We also had a broccoli gratin.

This disappeared very quickly.

Cole slaw, scratch from the vegetables to the dressing.

We also had shrimp and various munchies. I’d also made a chickpea salad and hummus, and at the last minute decided to make some bread and butter pickles, which you can see peeking in at the bottom.

The slaw, assorted crudites with fresh dip, and nuts to snack on.

No birthday is complete without a cake – carrot cake, requested by my aunt and made by my mom.

And no birthday cake is complete without candles…

…which then have to be lit.

Eventually, the fire is put out.

And then, it’s time for the goodies. This is just a sampling.

Let the games begin!

A lot of people showed up for this fiesta.

Continue reading Every day’s a birthday

Yes, Virginia, there is winter in Florida

Winters in Florida can be rather schizophrenic: almost 80 one day can be followed by a 50-degree day with lows at or below freezing.

We’ve had a couple of weeks like that now. A few days of spring-like weather followed by a few days of actual winter weather. The other day, we had a real, hard freeze overnight. So, in come all the plants that could be moved, and we covered up the peas, broccoli, and collards to help them through it. Before covering those, though, we had to have a little harvest.

A handful of sugar snaps.

A bunch of collards.

The next day, we found this on top of one of the storage bins.

That is real, live ice. Thick, too.

Fortunately for all of us around here – where people barely manage to get by driving in the rain we get on a regular basis and couldn’t possibly drive on the ice we get on rare occasions – this storage bin was in the shade. The other ice that had formed overnight melted very quickly.

Wednesday night: spring rolls and quiche.

The longest prep time on both of these is with the chopping and slicing. The spring roll ingredients: cabbage, bok choy, carrots, leeks, red onion, sweet yellow onion, mushrooms, garlic, a touch of soy, a splash of rice wine vinegar, salt, pepper, and five spice powder. All of that was sauteed and then rolled in pasta wraps this time, rather than rice paper, then given a fast fry.

The fast frying ensures that they won’t be greasy, and keeps everything from turning into a shell on which you could break your teeth.

My sister was excited, and did a happy dance for us.

I then turned my attention to the quiche for the rest of us, carnivores that we are. The idea started out simply, with ham and cheese, and perhaps some spinach thrown in. That, however, was just a jumping off point.

Ham, potatoes, mushrooms, leeks, red and yellow onions, garlic, and some Jarlsberg.

That went into a homemade pastry shell, and then was topped with a milk and egg mixture that also had salt, pepper, and a touch of red pepper thrown in.

Forty minutes later, a fabulous quiche with a super flaky crust. It will be just as good in the morning for breakfast.

Back to our menu planning: I asked my mom if we should have hummus or chickpea salad or both. Both, she says, since you’re making it.

Both it is. I’ll be able to make these two on Thursday, and hopefully everyone will stay out of them until Saturday. I also need to whip up a batch of barbeque sauce, since the last batch I made is finally down to nothing, and the rub for the ribs. Oh, and I have dough for four loaves of bread chilling out in the fridges that will need to be rolled, bathed with the cinnamon and raisins, given the final proof, and then baked off. We have three servers coming in Thursday, too, so it looks like another busy day around the HQ for me. Since that is the case, it’s probably also time for me to grab a nap.

Going to ground

It isn’t enough to feed a family of four, but it’s a nice snack.

Those were the first handful of sugar snaps pulled off the vines. The collards remain as yet unharvested, but that’s going to happen soon – they’re taking over the line and need to be eaten.

Friday night, my sister decided she wanted to try a new restaurant. I’m not a huge fan of Indian food – although I love naan – but I’m always interested in other cuisines. The rest of us had also already eaten, but since her planned dinner date was a no-go, The Boy and I went with her.

Authentic Indian cuisine. The restaurant was recommended to her by her calculus instructor, who is himself Indian, so we figured it was a good bet.

We started with some sweet corn soup (right) and paneer pakora (left). The latter was homemade cottage cheese, according to the menu.

Since I can’t eat very much at one sitting, and since I’d already had some hearty soup I’d made, I didn’t order anything and opted to just sample whatever the kids ordered. The Boy, who is not a vegetarian, ordered chicken saagwala.

For my sister the vegetarian, the menu was a bonanza of available items. She choose aloo palak (potatoes and spinach). We also ordered some naan (at the right), as they both chose rice to go with their dinners. We had also ordered a sweet lassi (upper left) so they could taste it.

Both look exactly the same due to the spinach in the dishes. I don’t want to say that they didn’t look appetizing, but it’s not as if they were jumping up and down with an “eat me” sign blaring away. Still, everything was tasty, and the kids seemed to enjoy everything. I suspect The Boy was less enamored of the food than my sister, even though he did like the chicken.

Before we went on our Indian excursion, Mom, The Boy, and I had gone to look at a piece of property, just down the road a bit from the original piece of property that we wanted. The agent listing it said there was a “livable doublewide” on the property. Now, we’re not particularly interested in that, and would have it yanked off the land anyway, but when we reached the property, we wondered just how long it had been since the agent had been there, since the structure was in no way “livable”.

The property is just under 3.5 acres and is overgrown. View to the front of the property, toward the road.

Turning around from that same spot, a view of this “livable” trailer.

We started out around 4 PM to go see the property, but by the time we made a long detour around downed power lines on the main road, it was after 5 PM, and the sun was beginning to sink.

Whoever lived on the property last left behind quite a few things. From old Coke bottles that some collector would probably love…

…to some split and cured firewood (which would have been nice to use to start a fire, as it was getting chilly)…

…to an old saw…

…to a camera that would pique the interest of those who collect such things…

…to an old piano that has seen much better days.

I wonder what sort of tunes someone played on this? Finding views like this makes me think about searching out other old, abandoned places and finding out what’s there.

A view into the neighbor’s property. It was a stunner of a day: chilly, with a piercing blue sky settling into dusk.

The light was fading fast, and we needed to work our way back through the overgrowth to see what else could be seen. One thing was apparently a workshop or shed of some sort, overtaken by the brush.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep.

But I have promises to keep.

And miles to go before I sleep.

And miles to go before I sleep.

Always liked Robert Frost. Anyhow, we met up with a guy from the property next door, who heard us talking – a good thing, since he had a pretty high powered rifle on him, and we could hear doves in the air. Since the growth was too severe for us to make our way further back on the property, he kindly invited us to walk down his property to the back end of the property line and cut through the preserve to an entrance on the property at which we were looking. This tree was one whose branches we could see had been used for target practice.

The sun was dropping further from the sky…

…but still illuminated the trail on the preserve for us.

We found parts of the land that had apparently been cleared at some point but which were now tangled with grass and brush.

And were amazed at how brilliant and sharp things were against the sky.

But finally, it was time to go, as the light continued to fade.

It has potential: it’s far enough out to be in the country, but not so far out that people would refuse to visit. It’s large enough to have elbow room for us and from the neighbors, but not so vast that it is unmanageable.

It’s definitely a possibility.

It’s a blast

Anyone who has to travel through Jacksonville at some point can tell you about the bridges. Usually, those tales are peppered throughout with a great deal of cursing, as getting from point A to point B in this town can sometimes be a mammoth undertaking.

Over the years, though, bridge work has been done, to expand capacity and to do away with drawbridges that interrupt the flow of humanity hither and yon. One of the main bridges, which carries traffic on I-95 over the St. John’s River, was rebuilt at a higher level and with more lanes, parallel to the original bridge. The question then became: what do we do with the old Fuller Warren bridge? Some people wanted to leave the bridge up as a fishing pier, with the drawbridge permanently raised. Some people wanted it destroyed, and quickly.

Since the new bridge has been in place, the old bridge has been undergoing disassembly. This week, after some lengthy discussions about the cleanup of debris, a section of pilings was blown. We took ourselves down to the river, cameras in hand, to watch.

Before:

During:

After:

We also captured some video of the process. The raw, unedited, 50 meg file is here. If you go frame by frame in the video, you can see the flashes of the blasting caps on each set of pilings.

Over the next several months, there are supposed to be more dates for blasting the remaining groups of pilings. We’re hoping to be there for at least some of them.

O sleep, O gentle sleep

My last “day” has been one of Those Days.

All was right with the world when it started, though. It was a beautiful day Sunday, clear blue skies, nice fall-like temperatures, and not a ton of support requests. This not only allowed me to get some maintenance-type things done within the network and on some servers, but let me go out with the fam to get a tree. Mom and The Boy put it up. Crooked, I said. Nah, they said, you’re just looking at it from an angle. Pictures don’t lie, though.

They straightened it and we left it naked for the day, as we had to haul out the lights, ornaments, and other assorted knickknacks that make up the season. Mickey went with us to pick out a tree and for a stop at Publix for some steaks. After we returned, we ran him around the yard a bit, then came back in to get the steaks in a marinade. This dog can be really flat when he has a mind to be.

Gandalf is still working on showing everyone just who is boss around here (me, but she has rule of the animals). She is still not very happy, but she has already shown Mickey just who ranks higher on the food chain.

Very late Sunday evening, one of the oldest servers in the network decided that it had had about enough and gave in the start of death throes for the primary drive. After sending out a round of emergency notices about moves from this server to another, I began the quest to get everyone moved and keep the server running. Anyone who has worked in tech knows how difficult a prospect this can be, and the bulk of my time – except for a too-short nap – has been spent moving people and trying to keep the server up so we can move people. An unfortunate fact of life in this world of ours, and I wound up in rush hour traffic headed to the datacenter to get the damn thing back on the air this afternoon. This was done via a Frankenstein-like setup that I hope will last until the last of the accounts are moved off, and for the moment it seems to be working well.

On a brighter note, we went back for the other new member of the family. When we stopped into the pet supply store next to the adoption center, we ran into one of the volunteers from the center, who told us the poor guy whined much of Sunday, even though we’d told him we were coming back for him on Monday. He is a Lhaso Apso (or mix, with the Lhaso predominant), and is currently shaved because they picked him up as a stray and he was matted. This evening he had a bath and will be going in for more grooming as he still has a few knots here and there. The center estimates he’s about five, maybe five and a half years old. Mom and I had been calling him Goofy, because he is, but my sister has decided to name him Newton.

Wet dog!

He’ll be handsome when his hair grows back.

So far, things are going pretty well between the two dogs, and the little cat has gone nose to nose with Newton and sniffed Mickey. We’ll all be one big happy family before too long, I think.

I should also mention that Mickey tried to kill me tonight. I had gone to pick up The Boy from a catering gig, and Mickey went along for the ride. As we came back in the front door, Mickey, being a border collie, tried to herd me. To avoid stepping on him, I allowed it, and he managed to herd me into a stack of boxes containing decorations. This would not have been so bad had Mickey not suddenly changed course, going under my feet again, which resulted in me taking one of those exaggerated steps people take when they’re trying to avoid stepping on a child or small animal. Even this would not have been so bad had Mickey not pushed into my other leg at the same time. All of these together, though, caused me to fall, hard, flat in the foyer. As I was assessing the damage – both knees hit, and both will have spectacular bruising, my right elbow banged into one of the boxes before hitting the floor, my left shoulder jammed as there’s not enough strength on that side to catch my bodyweight, and my right shoulder took a hit as the weight rolled to that side – Mickey was very contrite and came over to lie down next to me and rest his head on my shin. What a smart dog. Except for the part where he then tried to lay over both of my legs, just below my knees. And the part where he peed on the carpet after we’d stayed out front for a few minutes after the car ride home in case he had to go.

Dog days

The “dog days of summer” phrase, for those of us linguistically inclined, is said to have originated because of the rise pattern of Sirius (the dog star) before the sun during the hot, heavy days of summer arrive.

Our dog days, though, have come right now.

My mother, who has said for quite some time now that there will be no more animals in the house, had a change of heart after watching the news and seeing a dog named Paddington (as in Paddington Bear) on the news as one of the featured dogs picked up by City Rescue and available for adoption. During the public service tidbit, the web site was flashed, so of course she had to visit. Where, of course, she found all sorts of cute dogs, including one named Hana, a Lhaso Apso mix. Despite her best intentions, she decided we should go visit Hana and see what she was like. I knew that if she were available, we’d be bringing her home.

When we walked in the door of the adoption center, though, we found that someone else had already begun the paperwork to adopt her. Luckily for us, another Lhaso mix, a five year old male, was also available. We decided to bring him home – except that the center had neglected to implant his microchip and give him the required rabies shot. So, on Monday we’ll head back to pick him up.

I’d told my sister that when we moved to our farm, we should get a border collie, especially if we wound up having livestock of any sort. Wouldn’t you know it, while at the center, we spotted a lab/border collie mix. We visited with him as we had with the Lhaso, and decided against taking him home – at four months old, and with the energy of a puppy, we thought he might be too excitable.

As we drove away, though, we decided that he would be young enough to train properly – this household is not quite the same as some households who get dogs and then don’t really do much with them beyond feed and water them. So we turned around and went back for him.

The training has already started. He’s quite a smart dog, and except for a couple of accidents – hey, he’s a puppy – the training is going well indeed. The cats are not happy with the sudden invasion, but they are cats and hence the rulers of the world, so they’ll claim their rightful place in the hierarchy and everyone will be just fine.

This means that we’ll be a two dog household come early next week. Better find that dream property and get ourselves moved…

The first cool evening

What could be better on that first fall evening where the air turns cooler, the sky is clear and the stars are shining, and breathing deeply fills your lungs with impossibly fresh air than a good pot of soup….

…and a fire in the hearth?

Today we sowed no peas, as the errands this morning took longer than expected before I had to begin work. I did manage to turn over the soil, though, so tomorrow will be a good day to pull the clumps of grass, work in some compost, sow the peas, transplant the collards and broccoli, and in general enjoy some more playing in the dirt.

There are some properties on the “to be seen” list, one of which is 40 acres with a house and a workshop, one of which is just under 5 acres with a house and a barn, and a handful of others in between. Wouldn’t that be a nice way to start off the new year?

The stars at night are big and bright

10/4/2006

I suppose it is quite easy to forget, sometimes, just how large the country is until you’re driving to someplace further away than the grocery store. It probably seemed even further before the days of cars and trains, when people rode in wagons or rode horses or walked on foot from place to place. I often wonder, even as I’m driving around town here at home, just how modern people would have fared without the assistance of roadways and signs, without concrete ribbons leading us from place to place, with trees all around and only the sky above as maps of the world.

These days, though, there are signs that you have arrived at a particular destination.

And in case you’ve forgotten, Texas is the Lone Star State.

We didn’t dally long at the information center.

I know Montana is technically Big Sky country, but on this trip and on this day, Texas could very lay claim to that title as well.

The scenery along the way was much the same as it had been, with cattle…

…and rice fields.

And one unfortunate trucker, who’d managed to get himself off the road into a slight drainage ditch.

Undaunted, we made it to Houston, home of some spaghetti-like interchanges.

Beyond that, Houston was something we saw only from the highway, and like almost any other large city, seemed to be under heavy construction.

We passed through Sealy, home of the Tigers…

…who were out practicing for their next game…

…and continued onward toward our ultimate destination.

Can you guess where we stopped for gas?

Shortly after this point, we ran into swarms of butterflies, many of whom met their demise as they fluttered across the highway. The swarms were huge clouds over the roadway, making it nearly impossible to get any further shots through the front windshield. But we made it to our Point B anyway.

We found out later that due to the very dry summer in the area, the natural predator of that butterfly was not as active as it normally was, and thus the butterflies were far over their usual population numbers. Ours was not the only vehicle providing a testament to this.

The hotel is a Tuscan-inspired design, and in the outside courtyard area, had a wall of fire within a waterfall/fountain structure.

Inside, the suite was roomy and had a thermostat that could be set to 60 degrees, which meant to normal people it was like an icebox, and to my mom was still too warm for her liking.

We headed out in search of a cold drink…

…then wandered up and down the Riverwalk for a bit, trying to decide on food. Since you can’t go to Texas without trying some Texas barbeque, that was the choice for us.

Baby back ribs.

Beef ribs for mom. I had her hold up a knife to provide a scale and show how huge these were. She had ordered them because the menu said three ribs, not quite understanding just yet that everything is bigger in Texas.

There was a bit of a bite in the barbeque – not one that would tear off the top of your head immediately, but one that snuck in on you as you were finishing a bite, making its presence known. The baby backs were not as tender as I expected them to be, but tasted good enough, and the beef was good. In the mood to give them a try on dessert, and since I’m a sucker for it, we selected apple cobblers.

This was good indeed, and we all ate a healthy portion of the dessert.

Tired from our day of learning about the Atchafalaya Swamp, eating, and battling butterflies, we turned in for the night, happy to have reached our destination, and (for those of us playing tourist) excited about exploring the city and what it had to offer.