A Balanced Sunday

I woke up at 6:30 AM on Sunday. I reheated yesterday's coffee and had a cup while planning my day. First order of business is breakfast.

I scrambled up a couple of eggs and then split and toasted an English muffin. When the muffin came out of the toaster, I immediately put a slice of American cheese on the bottom to melt a little. I put some mayonnaise on the top half and filled the middle with the scrambled egg. It tasted so good I repeated the process with another muffin, another slice of cheese and the last of the scrambled eggs.

I refilled my weekly pill box and called in for two prescriptions I found I am low on. Then I went to work. First I took apart the water fountain until I was just down to the bare tub. I dumped a bag of leveling sand out and, after a long time, had the tub more or less level. Then I put it all back together (the three cement stepping stones, the pump, the river rock and then the fountain. I filled it back up with water and turned it on for a test run. Better, but no cigar. The topmost outer holes still project water outside the tub. So, after I let it drain, I plugged those with caulk. I'll test it once that's dry, but I think I may have to drill more holes to compensate for their loss. We'll see.

Next, I got the retaining stones and built a little wall next to the driveway. I filled it in with gravel, left over from the sidewalk project just down the road. I tamped it down and leveled it. Then I rolled the mailbox over to its new spot (It would have been in the driveway when they pave the road, which would have been a problem).

Next, I used Miracle-Gro and fertilized all the container gardens, including the mailbox. I dumped extra water around the mailbox to help the gravel mix to settle better. By the way, I didn't set it exactly level; I leaned it towards the road a tad, figuring when the rear settles, it will be perfectly plumb.

Then I got the extension cord and the line trimmer and went out back. I trimmed all around the patio, trees, etc. as far back as I could go (well, it would have been exactly 100 feet, lol!). I put everything away at 12:15 PM and got cleaned up. After a shave and a shower, I got dressed and went to CVS for my meds.

Since I was out anyway, I stopped at the quarter carwash and hosed off the car. I parked it in the driveway, went and got a towel and dried it off before I pulled it in the garage.

I cleaned up the sweet corn (trimming off excess corn silk and stalks) and put them in the medium stock pot, covered with water. I had a nice bunch or radishes I was going to clean and serve yesterday, but I forgot those, too. Hey, that just proves I am truly my Mother's son! My Mother was famous for always forgetting "something" out in the kitchen at Holiday meals.

So, I made a variation of that Sweet Cucumber and Radish salad. I cut up the remaining cucumbers and the radishes into mostly the same size chunks. But this time I added 5 nice size scallions, sliced fine. Then I put 1/4 cup of apple cider vinegar, 1 1/2 tablespoons of sugar, 1/4 teaspoon of salt and 1/8 teaspoon of ground pepper in a small pot and brought it to a boil (to dissolve the sugar) and then added 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil, whisked it together and poured it on the cukes, scallions and radishes. I mixed it well and covered it, and then put it in the fridge for tonight's dinner.

It's almost 3:30 PM and I decided to take a break. I never did really take a nap, but dozed here and there while watching TV. I got up at 5:00, got the one-inch thick T-Bone steak out of the fridge (left from that quarter of a cow I bought last Fall), cleaned it up, sliced the fat every inch (so it wouldn't curl up on me) and rubbed in a generous amount of Montreal Steak Seasoning (my favorite, so far). I took the corn out of the water and put it on the dish rack to drip off a bit; I put the oven on "Warm" and started the coals in the grille.

I have about a two-inch layer of charcoal, at on the lowest setting I can go. I add the corn and check and turn it, at first every five minutes, later on more often. I want the husks to be a dark brown (or even a little black) before I pull the corn. I strip off the husks outside (having learned my lessons of the potential mess in the kitchen in the past) and put the corn on a half-sheet tray in the oven on warm to hold it while I grille the protein. BTW, it usually takes about 25 minutes to get the corn just right. If you haven't been paying attention, I LOVE roasted sweet corn!

So, I raise the charcoal up three notches, clean and oil the grille and take out the steak. I also took out another dinner plate (with two pats of butter on it to avoid cross-contamination) and my instant thermometer (I want this steak PERFECT, dammit!) I seared the steak on the one side for about three minutes. I flipped it with the tongs and seared it another three minutes. I checked the internal temp and it was only 120 degrees F. So, I slid it off to the cooler side and watched the thermometer slowly climb until the alarm went off at 135 degrees F (a perfect medium rare). I pulled it off and set it on the plate with the butter. I took it inside, put another pat of butter on the top (this is how the best restaurants finish your steak, if you didn't know), covered it with tin foil and let it rest.

I took the coal shelf down three notches and started grilling some Dearborn Natural Casing hot dogs. These have now replaced my 20-year love affair with Kogel's Vienna hot dogs. They have the same "crunch" but just taste better!

When I had the hot dogs done, I opened up the two dampers (to burn up the coals) and went inside. I sat down to eat. OMG! This steak was delicious!

I did eat two ears of perfectly roasted sweet corn after the steak (with butter and table salt), but I completely forgot about my salad (See! I told ya! I am my Mother's son!) I left the leftovers to cool down and waddled to the bedroom.

Eventually, during the evening I did put the leftovers away in the fridge. Since we still have a chance of thunderstorms, I rolled the grille onto the front porch; if I roll it back into the garage when its warm, the carbon dioxide (or is it monoxide?) sensors in the house go off!

I watched all my Sunday night shows and then shut everything down at 11:00 PM.