"On my own again..." (Briefly)

[Lu's off visiting again until Wednesday night]

I took the car over to see Sam the mechanic at lunch. In the short (less than one mile) trip to the repair shop from work, it already was overheating!

Sam was, unfortunately, on the road. But, another mechanic looked at it, felt the green globs and confirmed my suspicions: it was antifreeze and oil. He also HIGHLY recommended I didn't drive it in this condition. So, I borrowed his phone and called Enterprise. They (eventually) picked me up and I rented another car. Well, they didn't have an intermediate car on their lot, so I got stuck with a GM HHR (sort of a rip-off of the old PT Cruiser). I don't like it, BTW, but it's a vehicle and, has a radio!!!

Since I now had a more dependable vehicle, I swung by Westborn and got eight ears of Florida sweet corn, some scallions and a watermelon.

When I got home, I trimmed up the corn and soaked it in a stock pot, filled with water. I ate the last of the cut up melons and grapes for lunch, and then headed back to work.

After work, I got home, treated the cats, changed clothes and started some charcoal burning. This time I used two cans. I cleaned the grates and then put the corn on. Meanwhile, I trimmed the scallions so they would fit in a bread pan (this is my method to contain the mess), put them in, drizzled them with olive oil and hit them with some kosher salt. I tossed them around a bit to coat, then got out Jake's bratwurst.

Back to the grille! I had been turning the corn one-quarter turn every five minutes or so and, when the whole husks were brown, I moved them to the cool side of the grille. I put on the brats. It didn't take long until they had the most wonderful color on the casing (Damn! Now that I think about it, I should have taken a picture!)

I moved them to the cool side as well and quickly grilled the scallions. Using my mule-hide work gloves, I shucked the steaming corn. Then I shut up the grille, closed the garage door and went inside to eat.

I buttered and salted two ears of corn, added a bunch of scallions to the plate and one of the brats.

Let's talk about the brats. Both Jake and Carla remarked that they were put off a bit by the taste of the mace the recipe called for (mace is a spice that tastes a lot like nutmeg). So, I tried two bites plain. Hmmm... you definitely do taste the mace, but it's not as bad as they led me to believe (maybe because I grilled them). BUT, I normally eat bratwurst with Dijon mustard. So, when I added that, the mace taste was non-existent!

The texture of the brats was unlike any I ever had. Most brats are loosey-goosey with a lot of grease. These were thick, tight and with no visible grease. I know it was a lot of work for them (took all weekend to make) but I'd say they were a success!

I turned on the computer and started the website backup. This is supposed to be a weekly event, but with being sick, then the cable problems and having a houseguest, it is over three weeks since the last one. My apologies to the Webmaster.

I cleaned up the kitchen and put away the leftovers and then wandered in to watch TV (TV!) I fell asleep just after 10:00 PM, woke up at midnight, turned off the TV and the lights and went to bed.