Good morning!!!!

[300UGUY]

I have to admit, I outdid myself Friday for my international guests. A married couple both with their Ph.d's came over for a day of food and letting the dogs run.

We BBQ'd fillets over coals with pecan wood, medium to medium well. Asparagus, garlic mushrooms cooked down with a bit of butter, and huge baked potatoes with all the fixings.

Then came dessert.

I have this old mason jar I had to use to put some cognac into, because the cork had broken off. It was high dollar cognac and still smelled soooo good, I couldn't find the courage to throw it out, so I put it in a marked mason jar. Looks like a big glass of tea. So I had an idea to try and use some of it. Anyway, I hadn't had any flambe fruit in like, forevah, (early '80's at a big steakhouse in Houston), so I started looking into some recipes. I found this one with raspberries, blueberries, and peaches. Well, the cognac did not ignite as mush as I'd hoped it would, but we were outdoors and it was hard to see the flames but they were there. We scooped the flambe onto some Blue Bell Natural vanilla bean ice cream and ooolala, was it ever delicious if I type so myself. Everyone had at least 2nd's and some had 3rds. I should have peeled the peaches, they are out of season, and these were imported from Chile and had kind of tougher than normal skins, but were still very good.

View attachment 501922

here was the recipe I loosely used.
The Ravenous Couple >> Peach and Berries Flambe

Yeah BAby!!!

 

[300UGUY]

the moon last night really was marvelous to see, huge and "right up there"....

rain starting this afternoon and continuing into tomorrow. Warmer but only for a day, then the bottom drops out, and I'm afraid my orchard blossoms will be dropping too...24 and 25 degree lows Wed and Thurs morning.

Minor milestone day for me, 67th birthday. But one is only as old as one feels and you might imagine some days how old I feel... Frankly I'm happy I made it this far. Every day is an adventure, every day is an opportunity for kindness, and life is good.

The pie was yummy...not goopy, the two teaspoons of tapioca seemed to firm things up inside. I can taste the nutmeg a little too much, but otherwise this pie did fine. And since pie only lasts at best two days, well guess what I'm having with my coffee this morning? Too bad pie is so fattening, but at least with sour cherries, lots of vitamin C and good antioxidants. The sour cherry juice I poured off is supposed to be super healthy, puckery but good without any sugar added.

Life is good! I like your attitude.

You never see a store bought pie with that many cherries in it. I should try my hand at some of these things, it would shock my wife.....

I was going to comment on your neighbor, I composed a lengthy reply, but then read what I wrote, and it didn't sound right. I guess at the end, it is just sad.

 

[RedNeckGeek]

Good Morning! 53/f @ 8:00AM. Abundant sunshine. High around 75F. Winds light and variable.

Happy BD, Drew. Nice to have your pie and eat it, too!:laughing:

Been using shellac thinner (methyl alcohol) to start the campfire lately. A friend gifted me with several gallons of the stuff, and I haven't found many other uses. Doesn't burn very hot, and the flames are difficult to see. I would imagine that flambe would look the same, causing the added danger of singing your moustache if yer not careful!:laughing:

If you enjoyed the Will Smith movie Independence Day, you may like the sequel: Independence Day: Resurgence. Smith is MIA, but most of the same actors reprise their rolls, and the aliens are back bigger and badder than before. So are the special effects and non-stop action...

Finished up the headlight mounts yesterday, and will try them on the van when I go into town tomorrow to clean up that intake manifold. May get a start on installing the skylight in the pop top as well, but probably won't have enough time.

 

[PJSprog]

Good morning! 45 and damp. My organ repair worked this morning.View attachment 501855

The professional organ builder in me is always skeptical of lay people poking around in instruments. However, the realist in me is digging the you-know-what out of this. Nice fix, Don. :thumbsup:

 

[300UGUY]

Happy birthday Drew!

Balmy day for us down in the South.

Got my truck fixed and I'm driving it again. The hood is a little dented and doesn't fit quite as nicely any more but it is secured and that's call I care.

My FEL hydraulic parts have all arrived now I have to assemble them. It'll be a "fun" project.

Got my dock light and water line fixed. It turned out I had t replace 400 ft of plastic pipe. Do not ever use PEX for outdoor! Outdoor temperature will cause multiple micro crack and they will spring leak every where. I wound up replace 2/3 of my PEX pipe with large diameter garden hose instead.

Post office gave me a notice that my mail box was too low. It was installed right but the road had been raised 4". I try taking it off the base to I could raise it and wound up breaking the aluminum base. I'll be buy and installing a new mail box today after work so I can receive mail.

Had a friend and his two lovely daughters stayed with us for the weekend. We caught a few fish and fun was had by all.

I live on a gravel road, and the county has very little money to spend on road repairs. So all of us have had to lower our mailbox. The road here is over a foot lower than what it was 20 years ago. At a low spot, they exposed the tops of culverts under the road, they were at least 18 inches under the surface. The county grades the roads regularly, but adds very little gravel, so the road keeps sinking...

 

[300UGUY]

From what I understand, white rice may raise your blood sugar more than ice-cream will, but blood sugar is only a symptom of diabetes. Ice-Cream will actually worsen the ability of your cells to receive the sugar/insulin and therefore is worse for your diabetes over-all than is white rice. Below are two good sites. The first site, mastering diabetes, mentions a summit that my wife attended. It was a week long and included lectures from several doctors who all agree that fat is much worse in the long-run for diabetics than simple carbs (i.e. white rice). I'm not sure if you can still access the summit, but if you can, it is well worth spending the time watching the lectures. The other site, nutrition facts, is just a really good article by Dr. Greger. You probably already know this information, but it is still good and other people may be interested.

Mastering Diabetes Online Summit - Low-Fat, Plant-Based, Whole-Foods


How Exactly Does Type 2 Diabetes Develop? | NutritionFacts.org

"Insulin resistance is the cause of both prediabetes and type 2 diabetes. Ok, so what is the cause of insulin resistance? Insulin resistance is now accepted to be closely associated with the accumulation of fat within our muscle cells. This fat toxicity inside of our muscles is a major factor in the cause of insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes, as it interferes with the action of insulin. I致e explored how fat makes our muscles insulin resistant (see What Causes Insulin Resistance?), how that fat can come from the fat we eat or the fat we wear (see The Spillover Effect Links Obesity to Diabetes), and how not all fats are the same (see Lipotoxicity: How Saturated Fat Raises Blood Sugar). It痴 the type of fat found predominantly in animal fats, relative to plant fats, that appears to be especially deleterious with respect to fat-induced insulin insensitivity. But this insulin resistance in our muscles starts years before diabetes is diagnosed."

Thanks, I'm going to read that today.

 

[sodamo]

66°F and no rain
Gorgeous, orange, full moon just after sunset becoming a bright white orb lighting the night and my mid night puppy excursions.

Back to my electrical.

Be safe
Have a great day

 

[sodamo]

Happy Birthday, young fella. (Drew)

 

[Thomas]

Wishing you many...many more trips around the sun Drew.

 

[hawkeye08]

Seems maintenance items are all coming along..

Toilets either won't fill or won't shutoff, cleaned the main bath valve internals, works like a champ now. Cleaned master bath valve internals, worked great for a hour or two, then would run very slow (not shutting off). Cleaned again, seemed to fix it again, few hours later, running again. Replaced valve internals, worked fine and now running again. There must be an obstruction at the inlet to the toilet that is restricting flow. I don't like taking the whole thing out, makes a mess and is a pain getting in there..

Propane stove gave a few issues with thermostat a month ago, spent time cleaning connections, etc on stove and all worked great until this morning. It is not coming on, have not looked at it to see what is going on..

Hot water heater is making hotter water, usually points to element going out or thermostat issue...

Metal roof on shop has a leak, will need some help getting up there and checking screws and trying to find leak..

Tractor front tire went flat parked in shop. First tractor tire to loose air..

Zero turn mower has a tire losing air (slow leak)

Snow is mostly gone, temps are warming up.