Thursday, Getting it Done!

I got up with the alarm clock on Thursday. I put on a pot of coffee and some raisin bread in the toaster (BTW, is it just me? Am I the only one who can't find plain old-fashioned raisin bread?) I wrote and posted the Blog entry while eating my breakfast.

I went to therapy and then, on the way home, stopped at Meijer's to pick up a few sale items. It's still chilly with that nasty Canadian wind (weather channel said wind chill is equal to 30 degrees F.).

Back home I unloaded the groceries while heating up the last cup of this morning's coffee. It hasn't started raining here yet (60% chance, though), so I thought I should get at least one of today's outdoor projects out of the way.

One of the pine trees that surround the wild garden is dead. It grew up into the maple tree and I guess it couldn't compete. So, I want to cut it down before it falls down. I don't want it to end up on top of the sailboat or trailer or something.

I got out the 100-foot extension cord and my Sawzall. I was disappointed to find I no longer had that really long wood blade Jake and I used with great success to cut down dead trees (it must have bent and I threw it away or something). But, I figured for what I had to do, the six-inch one would work.

And, it did. I managed to cut out the wedge-shaped piece and then make the single cut to bring it down. I deliberately left the stump tall (I'll get to that in a minute). Once the tree was down, I trimmed off all the branches. Then I measured between the tree trunks around the garden and cut the downed tree trunk into the correct lengths.

The garden sort of self-mulches between the discarded pine needles and fallen leaves, but the grass does want to encroach and I thought this might help to stop that. Also, as it rots, it will give back to the earth that originally nourished it (kind of a "Pay it forward" plan for pine trees, lol). See photos.

Oh, and that stump? Well, when I can pick up a long wood blade for the Sawzall, I'll cut it level. Then, next spring, I'll put a heavy clay pot with colorful flowers on it. I love the wild garden, but colorful, it ain't!

I put everything away and was back inside by noon. I heated up a can of Hormel chili to warm up and ate it for my lunch.

I went back outside around 2:00 PM and took the water lily out of the reflecting pool to drain. Then I got my drill motor, the little pump and a hose and tried to drain the pool for the winter. But, the pump didn't work (I thought I remembered something like that happening last fall). But, it's too cold to bail it out this year. So, I'll have to pick up another drill motor pump at Home Depot.

I did take the water lily inside and put it in a plastic bag. It will spend the winter in my front hall closet, like always.

Then, I started making a soup that sounded interesting, called Cheddar Horseradish (how bad could that be?) Now, I doubled the recipe so I could give some away (if it tastes good, lol), but I'll pretend I made the original one.

I fine-diced two carrots and two leeks, then sweated them in 1/4 stick of butter. When they had softened (but not browned!) I added a pinch of cayenne pepper, some salt, three tablespoons of flour and two tablespoons of dry ground mustard.

Now, I didn't have that much dry ground mustard, but I did have mustard seeds and my spice grinder, so I made my own. Then I added dry ground mustard and mustard seeds to the grocery list. I must admit, I added a tablespoon of dried garlic as well (the recipe didn't call for it, but it seemed this soup was just calling out for that, lol).

Anyway, you saute that, stirring it to cook out the flour taste, for about two minutes. Then you add one bottle of beer, 1/4 cup of horseradish, three cups of water and a dash of Worcestershire sauce. Simmer that until thick (with the double batch, it took a long time to thicken up - I think I should have used room temperature beer and water). Then whisk in two cups of half-and-half and 1 1/2 cups of shredded sharp cheddar cheese.

I tasted it and then added a bit more salt (I was conservative when I first added the salt because cheese is naturally a little salty and I didn't want to overdo it). I turned it off and let it cool down.

You are supposed to serve this with croutons, but I don't have enough of the rustic Italian bread left to make any (and, I'm pretty sure my Oat Nut bread would NOT work!) But, if you had any kind of white bread, you would cut off the crusts and cut the slices (maybe ten or so) into cubes. Put them on a cookie sheet or half sheet pan, drizzle them with olive oil and toast them in a 400 degree F. oven for about 10 minutes. And, bingo, you have croutons!

I went out to get the mail and it was sprinkling. Back inside and the mail sorted, I watched the 5:00 PM news. There was a bizarre story about a 6-year old kid in Colorado who went inside his scientist father's experimental helium balloon. Somehow it got loose and floated away (at times reaching 10,000 feet high). Once they got word of it, the National Guard and various news helicopters tracked it until it started to lose helium (two hours later) and slowly floated back to earth. But, when the rescuers reached it, the boy was no where to be found. The hope is he never really got into the aircraft. The fear is that he did and fell out before the helicopters got it in sight. So, a 90 mile land search is on. I hope to God they find him alive...

At 5:30 PM, I filled up my freezer containers with my soup. The double batch gave me about 18 cups. I'll let them cool off for a little longer before screwing on the tops. I did take the stock pot and fill it with water to soak overnight. The rest of the utensils I had used I did the Jake thing to (either washed them up directly after use or rinsed them and stuck them in the dishwasher). I have to work all day tomorrow and won't have time in the morning to clean up.

At 6:00 PM, I dug out my cast iron grille pan (the first time since, like April, I will have to grille inside) to make some hot dogs. Now, I know what you're thinking: I thought he made soup? Well, as I think I've said before, part of being a good cook is to constantly taste the food. And, I use the Japanese method of filling a small glass bowl, rather than just a soup spoon, so I can really taste it.

Sidebar: LMAO! When it was just adding the beer, horseradish, water and the Worcestershire sauce, tasting it completely cleared out my sinuses. I blew my nose for like five minutes straight.

Anyway, after all that tasting, no way do I feel like eating the soup tonight. Besides, other than chicken noodle soup, I think most soups, stews and chili all improve after a day or two in the fridge while the flavors marry. With chicken noodle soup, however, the noodles tend to absorb all the stock and you end up with a weird chicken stew or something (Jake calls it chicken slop). However, I've heard that the pasta that looks like little ears (orecchiette, its called) does not do that, so I plan on trying that for my next chicken noodle soup.

Anyway, I got the grille pan fired up, cleaned off and re-oiled. I have the vent on and both bedroom doors closed (to foil the smoke alarm ladies - if I wanted to hear a woman yell at me, I would have stayed married!) When it seemed hot enough, I added the dogs (my second-best favorite, Koegel's Natural Casing Viennas - Meijer's doesn't carry the Dearborn brand).

I warmed up on of those small cans of Bush's Baked Beans for my side dish. Let's see, first chili, now baked beans? Oh, the people at work are gonna love me tomorrow!

When everything was ready I plated a hot dog and bun and some beans and went in to watch some TV.

My brother Jim called to let me know they had accepted an offer for Mom's house in New Baltimore (but not the lot next door) and that Waconda would be appraised next week. Thanks for the update.

Oh, story update: I guess the kid did accidentally let the balloon go, but he thought he would get in trouble, so he went and hid in the attic of their house.