::Leader Board:: Ahnko Honu Takes The Lead Chapter 23!

Facebook seems especially annoying right now, I don't need 50 friends telling me how bad Alabama is via regurgitated "clever" memes. Seriously though, if you are going to complain about something, at least make the effort do it in your own words.
 
Facebook seems especially annoying right now, I don't need 50 friends telling me how bad Alabama is via regurgitated "clever" memes. Seriously though, if you are going to complain about something, at least make the effort do it in your own words.

That's why I only like the humorous memes. There are so much more to issues than what a meme can (mis)represent.
 
One tooth less to brush as of an hour ago.

It didn't come out with just a wiggle and a pull. I guess when you are older things get more fused together.
Now gause, antibiotics and maybe some tylenol.
 
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I was still up. Made a cup of tea at 11pm. Accidentally made caffeinated tea so I had a rough night of little sleep.

Unfortunately due to personal reasons I can’t attend this year. I am heart broken.

I will miss seeing you.

Maybe next January? I hope,I hope?
 
So think the key to my losing weight and keeping it off is to stay busy. Over my spring break I gained weight and went up to 237lbs again. This morning I was back to 229. I think it's time to get serious about getting under 220lbs before I go to Hawaii.

I'll have to be better about resisting all my favorites. Last year I cheated quite a bit, especially on salt. I'll need to get a hold on that if I ever plan on moving there. Oh, btw, Mika wants to start looking for a small place over there again. She's already collecting on a state pension and thinks she can swing a mortgage with that money as long as it's not too pricey.
 
So think the key to my losing weight and keeping it off is to stay busy. Over my spring break I gained weight and went up to 237lbs again. This morning I was back to 229. I think it's time to get serious about getting under 220lbs before I go to Hawaii.

I'll have to be better about resisting all my favorites. Last year I cheated quite a bit, especially on salt. I'll need to get a hold on that if I ever plan on moving there. Oh, btw, Mika wants to start looking for a small place over there again. She's already collecting on a state pension and thinks she can swing a mortgage with that money as long as it's not too pricey.

My current goal seems to evolved into staying under 220.
 
Yesterday I showed my culinary classes how to spatchcock a chicken and then broil it for a quick and easy meal and it turned out really well.

I put the chicken on a bed of mirepoix (2 parts onion, 1 part celery, 1 part carrot) and sliced lemon so it wouldn't stick to the roasting pan. I also tossed the mirepoix with a bit of salt to draw out the water.

I broil the inside first because I want the skin to stay crispy. On the mirepoix the steam from the vegetables would make the skin soggy again. Anyhow I broiled skin side down for about twenty minutes (you have to look at it and judge doneness when broiling). When it was the color I wanted, I flipped it to skin side up and went about another 12 minutes or so. The temp read 164*F but the legs were wiggly and the juices ran clear.

I set the chicken aside in a bowl to catch any juice run off and siphoned off the fat to make a roux. I put the roasting pan on two burners on the stove and turned it up to high. I wanted the veggies to get softer. After they were soft enough I used a potato masher to crush the veggies and draw out more juice and added that to the stock I was making from the gunk the give you inside the chicken (plus the backbone I cut out and the wingtips).

When the stock was done I reduced it down to about a cup of liquid. It was super flavorful and the lemon gave it a great brightness. Would have been a good jus all by itself but I wanted to use the chicken fat. So I made a roux with the chicken fat and thickens my stock. It was amazing. Very flavorful with definite lemon overtones.

Kind of just made it up on the fly, but that's going to be a regular Yoshida Family dinner from now on.
 
My current goal seems to evolved into staying under 220.

I want to get there and see how difficult it is to maintain. When I can do that I'll push for under 215lb and then do the same steps again to get lower. I don't want to catastrophically fail by trying to get down but then not know how to maintain the weight aside from starving myself.
 
Yesterday I showed my culinary classes how to spatchcock a chicken and then broil it for a quick and easy meal and it turned out really well.

I put the chicken on a bed of mirepoix (2 parts onion, 1 part celery, 1 part carrot) and sliced lemon so it wouldn't stick to the roasting pan. I also tossed the mirepoix with a bit of salt to draw out the water.

I broil the inside first because I want the skin to stay crispy. On the mirepoix the steam from the vegetables would make the skin soggy again. Anyhow I broiled skin side down for about twenty minutes (you have to look at it and judge doneness when broiling). When it was the color I wanted, I flipped it to skin side up and went about another 12 minutes or so. The temp read 164*F but the legs were wiggly and the juices ran clear.

I set the chicken aside in a bowl to catch any juice run off and siphoned off the fat to make a roux. I put the roasting pan on two burners on the stove and turned it up to high. I wanted the veggies to get softer. After they were soft enough I used a potato masher to crush the veggies and draw out more juice and added that to the stock I was making from the gunk the give you inside the chicken (plus the backbone I cut out and the wingtips).

When the stock was done I reduced it down to about a cup of liquid. It was super flavorful and the lemon gave it a great brightness. Would have been a good jus all by itself but I wanted to use the chicken fat. So I made a roux with the chicken fat and thickens my stock. It was amazing. Very flavorful with definite lemon overtones.

Kind of just made it up on the fly, but that's going to be a regular Yoshida Family dinner from now on.

Only took about 40 minutes total and the only salt I added was on the vegetable to draw out water. I seasoned the chicken with garlic, crushed pepper, parsley and butter and put that under the skin. I don't bother putting seasoning on the leg quarter but I did season those parts with granulated onion, crushed pepper corns and granulated garlic.

Had to make James his favorite garlic, parmesan mashed potatoes to go with the chicken and also steamed some broccoli. James wanted to drink the gravy. He's on this lemon kick lately. I've been making a lot of food with lemons. It's good for me because it doesn't taste as bland as my usual saltless food.
 
Yesterday I showed my culinary classes how to spatchcock a chicken and then broil it for a quick and easy meal and it turned out really well.

What, have you moved into teaching people to become hitmen/hitpersons?

"Yo Vinny, I want that you should go down to the garage and spatchcock the snitch for us."
 
Have had a fair amount of snow in the high country above 9,000 ft the past few days.

Had a gloppy rain/snow mix for a while at the bunker. Graupel even made an appearance for a short bit.

Spring is awesome!
 
Have had a fair amount of snow in the high country above 9,000 ft the past few days.

Had a gloppy rain/snow mix for a while at the bunker. Graupel even made an appearance for a short bit.

Spring is awesome!

We've been having rain. Lots of rain for this time of year. The first day of the storm dropped more than the average for the month. It's been about a week of rain now with one day of sun between storms.
 
What is not awesome is how computerized vehicles have become.

We got a recall letter for a brakelight switch for one of our vehicles. The letter had a short list of "side effects" of the recalled part. Really. One of the potential issues that could result was, "Starting a vehicle equipped with push-button ignition." As in, you couldn't start such a vehicle.

I had been telling Mrs. Spots for a while that I am not a fan of push-button ignitions. I like keys attached to real switches where connections really get connected and disconnected.

So we get this letter in the mail and a week after it comes Mrs. Spots is out doing things on Friday night, you know your typical Friday night stuff like attending a seminar on mountain lion behavior and how to work with them in the back country. Seminar ends and Mrs. Spots is stopping to get dinner to bring home.


And then I get the call... "Um, dearest most wonderful husband in the entire world (that would be me in case you are wondering), I have the food, but now the car won't start."

Now Mrs. Spots is a smart woman. She's already determined that the battery is charged. Has run through some key fob diagnostics steps. Has looked up the various (useless) error codes in the Owner's Manual. And nothing works.

So I head into town to try a few more things. On the way in Mrs. Spots calls and tells me she's pulled out the jumper cables from the spare tire area so we can double check the battery (see, I told you she was smart).

We try the jumper cables. We try disconnecting the battery to reset the ECU. We replace the key-fob battery. Check and replace fuses (no blown fuses). Nothing. Lights light up. Door locks work. Radio works. Engine tries to turn over but computer refuses to let it ignite and run.

We call the Road Side assitance. Dealer is five miles away. Closest tow company is 1.5 hours away. Ah yes, "Life in a Northern Town", but the song doesn't tell you it includes things like this. It'll be midnight. Dinner is now in the trash because it got cold and ruined.

Tow truck arrives and just to make sure we try the "jumper box" the tow truck driver has. Nothing.

Tow truck drops car off at dealership (Friday night remember).

On Monday dealership lets us know they jump started the car and drove it into the bay.

Face palm.


They load test the battery. Battery is fine. No error codes in the computer system.

They replace the brake light switch and everything works from then on.


Yes, all of this thanks to a brake light switch.


But the dealer comes through for us and gets the vehicle brand's US corporate office to cover our towing costs since the tow is the direct result of the recall. We only pay for a routine oil change that was going to be scheduled for the next week.


Moral of the story... Somethings in life are best left mechanical in nature, and always know about mountain lions.
 
My class is driving me nuts. This time of year it's like trying to get a pack of dogs to pay attention in a park with squirrels in all the trees.
 
Yesterday I showed my culinary classes how to spatchcock a chicken and then broil it for a quick and easy meal and it turned out really well.

I put the chicken on a bed of mirepoix (2 parts onion, 1 part celery, 1 part carrot) and sliced lemon so it wouldn't stick to the roasting pan. I also tossed the mirepoix with a bit of salt to draw out the water.

I broil the inside first because I want the skin to stay crispy. On the mirepoix the steam from the vegetables would make the skin soggy again. Anyhow I broiled skin side down for about twenty minutes (you have to look at it and judge doneness when broiling). When it was the color I wanted, I flipped it to skin side up and went about another 12 minutes or so. The temp read 164*F but the legs were wiggly and the juices ran clear.

I set the chicken aside in a bowl to catch any juice run off and siphoned off the fat to make a roux. I put the roasting pan on two burners on the stove and turned it up to high. I wanted the veggies to get softer. After they were soft enough I used a potato masher to crush the veggies and draw out more juice and added that to the stock I was making from the gunk the give you inside the chicken (plus the backbone I cut out and the wingtips).

When the stock was done I reduced it down to about a cup of liquid. It was super flavorful and the lemon gave it a great brightness. Would have been a good jus all by itself but I wanted to use the chicken fat. So I made a roux with the chicken fat and thickens my stock. It was amazing. Very flavorful with definite lemon overtones.

Kind of just made it up on the fly, but that's going to be a regular Yoshida Family dinner from now on.

Huh. Maybe Gary really does know how to cook.
 
Have had a fair amount of snow in the high country above 9,000 ft the past few days.

Had a gloppy rain/snow mix for a while at the bunker. Graupel even made an appearance for a short bit.

Spring is awesome!

A friend of mine lives at about 7000 feet in your general area. He said this morning they have a foot of wet, heavy snow and the power keeps coming and going. Blecch.
 
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