Yard Work Coming Back
With our recent snowy weather, it seems like winter never wants to end and spring is going to be delayed. But a sure sign that spring has to come soon….I saw one of those lawn care companies spraying my neighbors lawn yesterday. I am not sure if it was for weeds or if he was putting down liquid fertilizer.
As I look at my golden greenish grass, I realize that I better get my act in gear and start the spring ritual of reviving the yard. March is the time to fertilize and prevent crabgrass. I’ve already got a $4 off coupon for fertilizer and crabgrass preventer ready to use.
I plan on buying the fertilizer this weekend, but I might wait another weekend or two before applying it. See, once that stuff gets working and the grass “wakes” up, I will be firing up the lawn mower; and that is one thing I don’t mind delaying for a little while longer!
Home-Fried Potato Chips
The shear slicing power hooked us. At the NC State Fair, probably almost twenty years ago, my wife and I stopped by a demonstration of a slicer that was slicing all sorts of vegetables. Maybe we were hungry, but I ended up forking over the $20 or so for this super duper plastic mandolin.
Honestly for the last 20 years, the mandolin has been sitting up in the cabinet. 
We never used it like the guy at the State Fair did. However, the one use I have found is to slice potatoes into even thin slices. That was the call last night, as at my daughter’s request, I made some home-made potato chips.
The key to my chips is that I fry them twice. I heat up canola oil in a pot to about 350 degrees, put the sliced potatoes in the hot oil and fry until they start to turn golden. That seems like about 5 minutes. I do the potatoes in batches so not to overcrowd the pot. After frying all the potatoes, I put them back in the oil for just about 30 seconds or less as this will brown them and crisp them up. 
Sprinkled with salt they are tasty.
I put the mandolin back up in the cabinet, probably to stay there for awhile, until that potato chip craving hits again.
Spectacular NASA Earth Pictures
My 5 mega-pixel camera takes a decent picture. But usually my subject is only several feet away. I have never tried to shoot a picture several hundred miles away. NASA has been taking photos of our planet from a satellite orbiting the earth at about 435 miles up.
I remember when the Apollo astronauts got full earth shots from space. But these pictures are crystal clear, kind of like a high definition television picture versus the old standard def. Here is the link to where I found the pictures. Don’t forget to scroll down to see the other side of the world and some of those older shots. I forgot to do that at first, because I was so memorized by these pictures. It’s amazing how much blue there is, which I guess makes sense since the earth surface is more than 70% water. I also guess NASA uses more than 5 mega-pixels!
Warning On Specials At Grocery Stores
I usually add blueberries, my daughter likes hers with chocolate chips in the batter. Pancakes can be a very tasty way to start your day. I have a good homemade recipe for pancakes, but lately my family seems to like Aunt Jemima to come over. It’s quick and easy add the water stir and cook.
While perusing the specials in the weekly food circular, I noticed that Harris Teeter was advertising Aunt Jemima pancake mix on sale: 2 for $5. We were running low, so I thought I would pick up a box for $2.50.
While at the store, I found the pancake mixes and found the Aunt Jemima on “special”. I started laughing and pulled out my camera, because nobody would believe me. The regular price of Aunt Jemima pancake mix is $2.49 a box, yet it was on sale for $2.50?!!!! I put the box back and decided to wait until it went off sale. I also might wait until I go to Food Lion where the Aunt Jemima pancake mix was regularly priced at under $2. No, I did not bring it to the attention of the store manager, I was laughing too hard. Here is the picture for the skeptical.
Olympic Hockey, A+
What a game yesterday. Did you watch? I have always loved hockey and yesterday’s game hopefully created new fans across the country.
Yes, I was pulling for the U.S., but if you are going to lose, why not make it dramatic and exciting. To me, sudden death in hockey is the most intense overtime there is. It can be over in an instant or take awhile.
I had the popcorn ready yesterday and even convinced my wife to watch with me. She is not a big hockey fan, unlike my daughter who likes watching hockey. Her favorite part of the game, besides seeing which players are the cutest, is the hitting on the boards. Boy there was a lot of that during the game.
I am just excited for hockey and hope this will provide more interest across the country for the fastest game there is. I hope some of that gold medal magic comes back with Eric Staal and translates to the Hurricanes for the rest of the season.
So now, its back to Go Canes Go, from U-S-A, U-S-A…..
Don’t Trust Your DVR
I figured it in the first period of yesterday’s Olympic hockey game between the United States and Switzerland. You see, I started watching the game around 6pm after taking my usual afternoon nap. The game started at 3pm, so I went to my DVR around 2:30pm and selected NBC’s Olympic hockey coverage for the afternoon. Hit “Rec” and went to bed.
Fast forward to the evening…. as I skipped forward through a commerical break, I saw that only two hours were recorded for the game. What was NBC thinking, scheduling a hockey game for only 2 hours?!
Well the game was great and I did see the US score to lead 1-0 in the 3rd period. With about 8 minutes left in the game, boom, the screen came up blue and asked me if I wanted to save or delete this show. I just wanted to see the last 8 minutes of the game! Would the U.S. hold on? I found out on the news that they won and got an empty net goal at the end of the game for a 2-0 win.
They play tomorrow at the same time, and if I don’t watch it live I will set my DVR for the game and for an extra hour after that!
From now on, I think I will always add time to any scheduled sporting event; just in case.
Hockey Day At The Olympics
It seems that the U.S. Olympic hockey team has captured the imagination of the country. It is great to hear everybody across the country talking hockey.
I have always loved Olympic hockey because it is intense, patriotic, and immediate. For example we are down to the final 8 and it kind of reminds me of the old ACC tournament, 8 teams, lose, and go home.
There are four elimination games today and I will be watching this afternoon as the U.S. take on the Swiss again. However, the big game is tonight when the drama that is Team Canada takes on Russia. The two best players in the world go against each other; and the entire Olympics, for the country of Canada, rests on if their hockey team can win. What drama.
The U.S., if they win, would play probably Finland. And the Canada, Russia winner will probably play Sweden.
U. S. A. U. S. A. U.S.A…………
Raleigh St. Patrick’s Day Parade, Sash Ceremony
I have been honored with the duty of being grand Marshall in the upcoming St. Patrick’s Day parade in Raleigh. Last Sunday at Napper Tandy’s Irish Pub, I got the grand Marshall’s official sash from last years grand Marshall, NC State Head Football coach Tom O’Brien.
The day was for a great cause, the pub hosted the 2010 St. Patrick’s Day Fundraiser for Cancer. Here’s how the sash presentation went.
No Knead Bread
In continuing to strive for an old world loaf of bread that is chewy and has holes in it, just like ciabatta. I have found another procedure from a baker in New York city.
It involves a lot of time, a lot of time waiting, not much time actually preparing. The water to flour content is high which makes the bread very sticky. I mixed 12 ounces of unbleached flour with 1 1/4 teaspoons of salt, and only 1/4 teaspoon of instant yeast. I then added 12 ounces of water, and gently stirred it together, covered it, put in a warm draft free place, and waited…..and waited….and waited. I waited for about 18 hours! This wait will let the dough develop a great flavor.
I added about another ounce of flour to manipulate the dough on a floured board. I folded the dough over itself a couple times and let it rest about 15 minutes. I then formed it into a ball and covered it with heavily floured cloths and let it rise for 2 to 3 more hours.
Meanwhile, the key to this bread is moisture when it cooks. So, I put the dough in a preheated Pyrex bowl and covered it and put it in the oven for 30 minutes. I then uncovered it, and cooked it another 15 minutes. This bread turned out really tasty, probably the closest I have ever gotten to real bakery Italian bread.
The New York restaurant used a cast iron covered pot. I just bought one, to see if my next batch will be even better.
Snow Is Going, Going….Gone
It’s been three weeks since our January snow, and just one week from our February smaller snow. Do you still have snow around? It still exists in areas where people have plowed it into big mounds or built snowmen. This picture is from a shaded yard and the snowmen mainly came from last weekend’s snow.
The leftover piled up snow is dirty. The snowmen need a bath.
I found the last piece of “natural” snow in our yard, near our bushes. This has been untouched by human hands. Some of it was there before last weekend’s snow, so this piece of snow must be what’s left of January’s snow after last week’s snow covered it and must have melted first.
After this weekend, when spring fever will start to be felt, I am sure all the “natural” snow will be gone. And the piled up snow?….If the 60 degree weather doesn’t get those snowmen on Sunday, Monday’s rain should wash them away.
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