A Challenging Installation

While it rained, we attached our bike rack. By the time we figured it out (3 person hours), the rain was gone, and the sun was shining.

Smooth Sauces Every Time

Here’s two techniques I often use to create guaranteed lump-free sauces. In both cases, the secret is to get rid of water. I wish I had known these methods in my early cooking days. Roux Butter contains water; water and flour form lumps. When creating a roux, I don’t add the flour until the butter stops… Continue reading Smooth Sauces Every Time

Buying Local

Cycled through a neighborhood of locally owned shops. Picked up some veggies at a small, old-fashioned co-op.

Categorized as Cook

Digitizing Slides

With a big snowstorm coming in, it was a good day to digitize color slides before staging them on the floor en route to the garbage chute.

Categorized as Simplify

Pork Carnitas

I’m cooking pork carnitas my favorite way: 1. Place Boston butt in pot; 2. Cover with cold water; 3. Simmer, lid on, 45 minutes; 4. Simmer, lid off, until all water is gone (several hours); 5. Fry the fall-apart pork in its own fat. The flavor is intense.

Categorized as Cook

Relief Boxes

Created 18 listings on eBay to get rid of stuff we don’t use. All proceeds will go to Direct Relief, a charity that improves the health and lives of people affected by poverty or emergencies.

Categorized as Simplify

Traveling with Less

Replaced my 35 liter backpack with a 30 liter backpack. It has plenty room for everything I need for unlimited travel, including hiking boots. I have yet to reduce my needs to 24 liters, the volume of a paper grocery bag.

Freakin’ Cheap: How to Fly with a Pet Without Paying Fees

December 26, 2017, United Airlines 5637, MSP–SAN. The two women in the AB seats in our row had two dogs on their laps for the entire flight. They stowed two collapsible kennels in an overhead bin. United Airlines charges $125 per pet brought on board, and it has to be stowed under a seat in… Continue reading Freakin’ Cheap: How to Fly with a Pet Without Paying Fees