Saturday's Soup

I got up at 5:45 on Saturday. The first thing I did after posting the Blog was to clean up the kitchen. Then I stripped the bedding and started the weekend wash. I warmed up a cup (well, a couple of cups) of coffee and posted yesterday's pictures. I watched some of the morning news (none of it good) and then started my breakfast. I am making more of the steel cut Irish oatmeal Jake bought me a while ago. It's a traditional Irish porridge and I will eat it the traditional way, with buttermilk and a pat of butter. But, I also add a little salt to it.

Next I got out two pounds of dried Great Northern Beans. I found a trick to sort them (for the little stones - don't skip this step, or your teeth will suffer!) but I can't remember where. Anyway, I dumped them on a half sheet pan (or use your largest cookie sheet) and slowly moved them from one side to another. Sure enough, I found four little rocks! Just to make sure, I sorted them again, lol!

I put them in my big stock pot and covered them with 16 cups of cold water. These will sit for the next 10 hours or so. I am planning on making a double batch of the Senate Bean Soup. I love this recipe, BTW. It's supposed to be the soup they serve in the Senate dining room in Washington, D.C. Not sure if it's true, but it's a damn tasty bean soup!

So, I had breakfast, with a bunch left over. You just cannot eat a lot of this stuff, its way too filling. But, I got leftover breakfasts (ready for the microwave) for several days!

Back to the downstairs shower, I got the last wall's masonite removed and then started taking the old caulk off (a pain in the butt). I got out the shop vac and cleaned up all the dust and debris. I got the small fan from the garage and set it up to blow where the wall had been wet. I don't want to enclose mold in the shower, you see. My friend B___ suggested leaving a fan on for a week or so, but that seems a bit extreme. On the other hand, I do want it done, but I want it done right!

I was finished with that (well, as far as I can go today) by 11:00 AM. The sun came out, so I went out and took off the trailer sides and brought them into the garage for the winter. Last year I left them on and created an elaborate top to keep out the water that didn't work at all. So, this year, I'm gonna leave it flat and cover it (when it dries) with a tarp.

Back inside, I got out of my work clothes and took my morning shower. I watched some TV and rested for a bit. Then I warmed up two hot dogs for lunch.

The sun went away before 3:00 PM. It was only like 46 degrees F. outside and the winds didn't stop all day (15-25 MPH). One good thing, the wind was taking down a lot of leaves.

Meanwhile, inside, I turned my attention to housecleaning. By 5:00 PM, I had the bedroom, office, hallway and the living room all swept/vacuumed, dusted and glass surfaces all cleaned. Next should have been to wash the kitchen and main bath, but I wasn't sure it would be dry in time to start on the soup. So, that got reassigned to Sunday morning.

So, at 6:00 PM, I started on the soup. I drained and rinsed the beans that have been soaking for 10 hours now. I put them back in the big stock pot with four bay leaves, two smoked ham hocks and 24 cups of cold water. I added some fresh ground pepper, put the lid on it and set about making it boil.

Sidebar: many of the people who have tasted my food have said, "You should be a chef!" I have always responded (honestly) that, with my leg, there is no way I could do 16 hours on the line in a restaurant. But, this soup also reminds me of something else. 24 cups of water is about 1/3 the capacity of my stock pot. And, I can barely lift it! I don't know how in the hell my brother Carl, who used to be a chef, lifted a full stock pot off the burner, back in the day. But I guess it does explain his impressive arm muscles!

The stock pot began to boil about 6:30 PM. I turned it to medium low and started prepping the veggies I need. Now, remember, kids, if you try this at home this is a "double" recipe, so adjust accordingly. However, for my immediate needs, I diced two cups of celery, two cups of carrots four cups of onions and two potatoes. Well, I didn't have any regular potatoes, so I used six small Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled.

The onion, celery and carrots, I held to a rigid 1/4-inch dice. Does it matter? Hell no, but it's like a game to me, (knife skills, baby!) lol! Then I minced up four big garlic cloves. All of these veggies are in a big bowl, waiting for the stock to reduce. BTW, the smell from the stock pot is both fantastic and overpowering!

I added the veggies about 8:00 PM and took out the ham hocks. Oh, there's a definite problem! Not nearly enough meat on those bones for two batches. I will have to buy a ham steak and dice it, I guess. Broth was excellent, though.

I went in to watch some TV and dozed off. This meant I missed Jake and Carla (or maybe just Jake) who popped in to drop off my air compressor. They never come this late at night!?! Pity, I would have liked to have shown them (or him) the work in the bathroom.

I checked the soup. The onions are a bit strong. So, I decided to simmer it all night. I poured it into the mid-size stock pot (which will fit in the oven), turned the oven on "warm", took out one rack and put the pot in the oven. Then I went to bed for real at about 11:00 PM.