Ground Chuck

After “Foraging for Brioche Buns” yesterday, ground chuck took center stage today. Cycled over to our old neighborhood to an actual butcher shop, Lowry Hill Meats. Tomorrow, we grill thoroughly curated(!), hopefully not cremated, hamburgers.

Categorized as Cook

Veggie Paella

My first (almost) veggie paella tasted pretty good, but I need to cautiously work on developing a deeper, more caramelized base crust (socarrat). Used Arborio rather than Bomba rice (I’ll do that again next time), and chicken (rather than veggie) broth.

Categorized as Cook

Minnesota-Grown

Leftover mushroom risotto tasted pretty good: made patties for dinner. The mushroom, lettuce, tomatoes, and asparagus are all Minnesota-grown.

Categorized as Cook

Norwegian Nordic Blu Salmon

Towards the end of my cycle ride, picked up Norwegian Nordic Blu Salmon at Coastal Seafoods, claiming their over 55 discount on Tuesdays. Dwight cooked it to smoky, silky perfection on a cedar board. The foil was an unsuccessful experiment to save and crisp the skin.

Categorized as Cook

Assembling Musubi

Assembled musubi for lunch. Made a glaze for the fried spam with port and shoyu.“I cook with wine, sometimes I even add it to the food.”― W. C. Fields.

Categorized as Cook

Peonies With a Story

Peonies on display in our home from a bush Dwight’s grandmother planted in North Dakota maybe 100 years ago. A few years ago we moved the bush to his sister’s yard near the Twin Cities. It has a pleasant scent, unlike modern hybrids.

Measuring Electricity Usage

Got our electric bill today: pleased with usage compared to last year. This past year, I’ve been measuring electrictricity usage on individual devices, and, in a few cases, making inconspicuous changes to reduce usage. We got a similar improvement last month. 100% of the energy is wind.

It doesn’t Woof

Replaced failed electronics in a powered subwoofer. However, the failure had damaged the speaker, so now I need to replace the speaker. Polk has been great: under warranty they sent me the replacement electronics, and now a speaker is in the mail at no cost.

Ratty Tees

On my simplification journey, it was time to send 6 of my rattiest tee shirts to recycling and replace them with 4 shirts. Cooking takes its toll: olive oil is for ever; holes mysteriously appear when drying sharp kitchen knives on my shirt.