It's July in Christmas!

My folks dropped by unexpectedly yesterday morning and had me come outside to help unload the new grill they were giving me out of the blue! My old one was put up for the season but it was on its last legs anyway. I grill so much every summer that I wear grills out every two to three years. The one we have now is three years old and I had to replace the burner element last year and now it is falling apart anyway. It stays under cover all year, it's just that it gets used about five days a week throughout the spring, summer and fall.

The new grill is way nicer than anything I've had before (or would pay for myself! :o). My mom said it was my belated birthday present and when I reminded her that they had given me my birthday present already this past July then she said, "Well, then it's an early birthday present for next year." I've always loved my mother's logic. Whatever, I'll take it!

I had a nice time putting it together today - it's beautiful outside (72°), and even though I still have a sore throat I just bundled up so I could get the grill put up, and it felt good actually being outside for the first time in four days after hanging around the house sick. My throat's acting up for it, but it was worth it.

Here's the three burner beauty in all its assembled glory:

[It's even got a thermometer! Click to enlarge, yadda yadda yadda.]

And here's the inside:

I've already done the initial burn-off (it got up to 625°, that should be good enough for "blackened" chicken! :o). Now I just have to buy something worthy to take it on its trial run.

[And yes, Patrick, it's gas - get over it! The engineer in me loves the predictability and reliability of gas. I can get the smoky flavor from the smoke box Les's dad welded for me. :o) ]

Let the gluttony begin!

Hôtel Lehmer

Table d'hôte

26 Novembre 2009

Dining room opens at 5:30 p.m.

Pickles and olives

Celery, carrots and radishes

Fresh garden salad

Turkey "dry brined" with rosemary and sage

Stuffing with sausage

Boiled red potatoes

Turkey gravy

Sweet potatoes

Green bean casserole

Corn and rice kugel

Curried beans

Pies

Remote control parenting

If you have a technical bent, you may like my somewhat unique approach to implementing parental controls on Internet surfing.

Siamese potatoes

I recently bought a sack of russet potatoes that must've been grown near the Hanford site in Washington. There were lots of large and misshapen spuds, of which the best example is the following. Is it a heart?

Or something else?

Well, all I know is our insides may be glowing now, but it tasted good when I made some hash from leftovers last night.

Light my fire

So, one of the benefits of living in unincorporated county is that you can satisfy your inner pyromaniac and burn things once in a while, greenhouse gases be damned. In our neighborhood lots of people rake their leaves to the curb and burn them in the fall and once every few years when I don't feel like hassling with bagging and dragging them to the city compost heap so do I. Like this last Saturday, a perfect fall day (if a bit breezy). I raked the prodigious amount of leaves produced by our one deciduous tree, an oak in front of the house. And by "prodigious" I mean one year when I bagged them they filled 18 55 gallon contractor bags, even with me stamping down the contents of each bag multiple times. That's a boat load of leaves, friend.

The leaves had been dry for over a week and so were nice and light to get to the curb using the leaf blower and rake. Within 45 minutes I had all the leaves in the front yard in the street:

[Click to enlarge]

In case it's not clear, that a huge pile of leaves - use the rake and shovel in the picture for scale. It was at least three feet deep and longer than the entire front of our house. And that's about half of what the tree produced. Another quarter was on the other side of the driveway, and another quarter's worth was in the backyard (I just mulched that with the mower). And actually another quarter (five quarters?) was still in the tree, since oaks are pretty stingy about dropping their leaves. Anyway, I got the hose out because on a breezy day dry leaves burn fast (every fall I find myself wondering why we don't harness them as some sort of power source) and I didn't want it to get out of hand. Then I applied a lighter to the upwind side of the pile. 15 minutes later, this was all that was left:

20 minutes after that it was basically all gone. I didn't get a picture at the height of the fire because it was burning so hot and intense I was paying close attention to it not getting out of control. But let's just say this - the arsonist in me was satisfied for another season.

Have you burned anything lately?

"Oh, Pa, that song always makes me cry."

[The title is a quote from an old TV show - my mom will get the reference, I'm not sure anyone else will.]

Got any hymns you love but you can't sing, because you always choke up? I do:

• Amazing Grace
• Silent Night
• Jesus Loves Me
• How Can I Keep From Singing

Somewhere in each one, my throat just tightens up, tears well, and I have to stop, even while loving it still being sung by those around me.

What about you? What hymns do you love, but can't sing?