Friday, Finally

My God! What is that bright round thing in the sky? Oh, I remember now, it's called the sun! So dawned Friday morning... Okay, I confess, it's supposed to cloud up in the afternoon and there's a 30% chance of thunderstorms, but right now, it's glorious!

At lunch, I stopped at Westborn, for next week's veggies. While I usually have some sort of rough idea of the following week's menus, today I did not. So, I know I still have apples and lemons aplenty, and my celery, lettuce, carrots and parsnips are all still good. So, I got some fresh, flat leaf parsley, a container of Brussels sprouts, a huge bunch of beautiful radishes (not sure just what I'll do with these, but they spoke to me!), a pound of button mushrooms and six ears of Florida bi-colored sweet corn. It cost me $18 and change.

When I was home, I cut off the silk on the sweet corn and any long stems and then put them in my medium stock pot, covered with cold water. Then I ate a bite for lunch.

At 5:00 PM, I headed home, banging on that drum! It's now cloudy and very windy. And, the wind is ushering in my biggest nemesis: The cottonwood seeds!

Now my neighbor to the north has cut down his two huge cottonwoods. But my absentee neighbor to the south has one huge cotton wood tree out in the back. I hate these bastards! The fluffy seeds are everywhere, clogging up my air conditioner screens and making my roof look like it snowed! This is the tree my north neighbor has threatened to girdle, BTW (Apparently, the seeds clog up his pool filter).

I checked my email and instant messaging and then moved on to create my grocery list. Then I made the ToDo list: Groan, it filled every slot! I may not live through this weekend!

But, I dragged out the grille and lit a wad of newspaper under the charcoal lighter chimney. Then I took the two remaining flats of flowers and veggies, along with the four extra plants and set them on the back patio. I sprayed them down with a gentle mist and have resolved that they will stay out here until they get planted! I think they need the sunlight!!

Back inside, I divided my ground chuck into two pounds (the other pound went into the freezer). After a little bit of trouble, I created eight quarter-pound burgers. I seasoned one side with Montreal Steak Seasoning, and the other with just salt and fresh ground pepper. I'm getting tired of the house seasoning on my burgers, you see.

I cleaned the grates and put on the sweet corn. When the husks were all burnt, I put them on the cool side of the grille. Then I put on the burgers. I deliberately undercooked them because they are for the following week and when you microwave them to heat them; you cook them a little more. So, to get them medium-rare when you want to eat them, you have to grille them rare. I also grilled some hot dogs and a package of brats.

I left the grille outside and shut everything up. It was already after 8:00 PM, so I fixed myself two hot dogs and two ears of corn for my dinner. Then I watched TV until bedtime.