Cooking Steak

Actually the steaks I purchased at the local market were much prettier than those pictured above,nice and marbled, good color.

So tonight dinner consisted of baked potatoes, three bean salad, garlic bread and steak.

I baked the potatoes oiled and salted, wrapped in aluminium foil for 60 minutes in a 350 degree oven. They were not done at 60 minutes, so I let them continue to bake while I washed up some dishes and pre-heated two frying pans; one at medium for the well done steak and one heated to medium/high for the medium rare steak. I cooked the meat 12 minutes and 6 minutes each, turning at the half way mark for seasoning with salt and pepper. The steaks were cooked perfectly, his was done,mine was pink.

I was pleased that I attained a lovely grilled look however the fat bloomed and made the steak all deformed and cutting that off was quite beyond my poor under powered steak knife. I guess I should have trimmed the fat off before I cook the meat, but how do you cut out the gristly bits?

I would like to somehow have lessons on how to select the perfect meat from the meat department. I realize I will not be able to purchase restaurant grade beef but criminy I hate to pair that lovely baked potato with the cow that would not die properly. Where is Alton Brown when you need him!?

Mi Casserole es Su casserole

I came across a little book recently called "A Flummery of Food Feasts for Epicures" printed in the UK. (2005) One of the recipes is as follows:

Roti Sans Pariel.

Take a large olive, stone it and stuff it with a paste made of anchovy, capers and oil.



Put the olive inside a trussed and boned bec-figue (garden warbler).



Put the bec-figue inside a fat ortolan.



Put the ortolan inside a boned lark.



Put the stuffed lark into a boned thrush.



Put the thrush inside a fat quail.



Put the quail, wrapped in vine-leaves, inside a boned lapwing.




Put the lapwing inside a boned golden plover.



Put the plover inside a fat, boned, red-legged partridge.



Put the partridge inside a young, boned and well-hung woodcock. (I think they meant aged by well hung).



Put the well aged woodcock, rolled in bread-crumbs, inside a boned teal.




Put the teal inside a boned guinea-fowl. (Stupidest bird in the known universe)




Put the guinea-fowl, well larded, inside a young and boned tame duck.




Put the duck inside a boned and fat fowl ie; chicken.




Put the fowel inside a well aged pheasant.




Put the pheasant inside a boned and fat wild goose. Well, not so wild but pretty cranky.



Put the goose inside a fine turkey.




Put the turkey inside a boned bustard.



Having arranged your roast after this fashion, place it in a large sauce pan of a proper size with onions stuffed with cloves, carrots, small squares of ham, celery, mignonette, (sauce of capers and vinegar), several strips of bacon well seasoned, pepper, salt, spice (?), coriander seeds and two cloves of garlic. (obviously NOT ENOUGH GARLIC!)

Seal the saucepan hermetically by closing it with pastry. Then put it in for ten hours over a gentle fire and arrange it so that the heat penetrates evenly. An oven moderately heated would suit better than cooking on the hearth. Before serving, remove the pastry, put your roast on a hot dish after removing the grease, if thre is any, and serve.

Taken from "Venus in the Kitchen or Love's Cookery Book".

That is SEVENTEEN birds, all to be boned and a few that I am sure are on the endangered species list. Of course this recipe comes from when Passenger Pigeons filled the sky and they were sick of coming up for recipes for them.

And then you cook it at 350 degree oven for TEN hours. I'm guessing it takes at least five hours to bone and assemble the birds. After you send the entire population of a small village out to hunt down the feathered ingredients. Epicure, indeed.

Sure beats the stuffin' out of Turduckin.

The Other New To Me Outfit

I purchased this matching blouse and floor length skirt at Bree's for twelve dollars.

I took it home, the label said wash cool, rinse cool. It had apparently NEVER been washed because it shrunk a good three inches. Crap! Now I won't even be able to wear my twelve dollar outfit!

Er wait a minute,the skirt is now at MY ankle length not the former giantess owner and the blouse now fits PERFECTLY. I even have a waist er rather an implied waist! Well! I inspected the hem and all the collar,shirt front linings and decided to reinforce with iron on tape. Both the blouse and skirt have front top to bottom buttons that I just love.

I wore it to work and shocked everyone as I am your basic pant suit quasi executive.

Got comments such as "Cute!"

I told everyone that I was actually thinking of modifying the skirt into pants and there were shrieks of "NO don't do that!"

So I bowed to popular opinion and left the skirt alone. Because my tailoring skills are very rusty. I also love the girly swirl of skirts about my ankles as I whisk busily about the place at work. I sew on buttons now and then and the poor sewing machine is turning into a really spiffy antique.

I have decided to call this outfit my Parade Float Dress because I look like a parade float in it!

SHOP LOCAL, KEEP IT GREEN and DRESS PROFESSIONALLY FOR LESS

There is a nifty little shop down town called "Bree's Upscale Resale". They display nice looking previously owned gently used clothing. Sales from the place support Breast Cancer Research (Pink Ribbon). I went shopping today to help boost the local economy,give recycling my business, support breast cancer research and get the Hell out of the house for some fresh air.




These are a pair of brown leather silk lined gloves. When I tugged them gently onto my admittedly stubby digits, they made my hands look elegant. Years ago I watched Eubie Blake play the piano on the Mike Douglas show. Here was this little old dessicated black man sitting at the piano with his stringy clawed fingers poised over the keys. Then he began to play, those black stringy fingers turned into liquid gold, so supple and the ragtime tune was lovely. Those brown gloves turn my hands into Eubie Blakes fingers when he played the piano. Cost? Five dollars.



Paisley lined skirt,fits perfectly, ankle length. There is a side slit to the knee. I will either have to purchase hose or spray paint my leg. Price, six dollars.



Brown fake suede-like jacket. On sale for THREE dollars.



Dug way...WAY back in my closet, dragged out this goldish blouse, the sleeves needed to be shortened and I did that using fabric iron on hemming tape as needles would show EVERY little pin prick. I sewed the buttons on securely. Price? I don't remember it has hung in my closet for several years so the original price has been prorated to negligible proportions. And the necklace draped casually about the neck of the hangar is one made by Susan Howell of Roseburg, ten dollars.

I have an entire ensemble for twenty four dollars. The original outfit sold at Macy's would have gone for minimum one hundred dollars. All righty then, Let's hear it for the Depression saying "Make do, use it up, wear it out".

Today I was challenged to write something....so.......its a re-run from an old Coquille Diary...sigh

Because I read so much Romance I have been tinkering with sex scenes. I thought about inventing a species where the male has two penises; a top one and a bottom one. The top one is half the size of the bottom one. The females have an equivalent receptacle that involves an as yet undescribed method of reproduction.

The story involves a female ambassador from Earth to the planet Vax. She and the Vax ambassador are negotiating diplomatically how they shall reach Ishensa or Vax sex. Vax sex is required prior to any binding agreements, sort of a carnal handshake if you will. Vax generally think Earth men are lacking and unacceptable as Diplomats. However, the women may well be suitable. Our two protagonists are about to find how suitable they are to the act. This would probably work better as a short story, no pun intended.

UPDATE; I have decided that the male Vax has two tongues, I think one will be prehensile, the other for tasting. Boy can this guy whistle for a cab!! I don’t think he needs two of anything else, could get too confusing.

FURTHER REFINEMENT: Hmmm, I think a plot twist might be one where species that do not have compatible sexual equipment may enslave another species to negotiate for them. I can see a whole society evolved to perform Ishensa and of course some of the boys and girls who grow up in this society advocate revolution and advocate purity, Ishensa for Vax only. Must have a power struggle in here somewhere.

JUSTIFICATION: Must also explain why everyone wants to do a Vax deal. The Vax probably have the only available immortality pill made from ingredients found only on Vax. Ruling families own mines that produce the critical ingredients.

Did I say that the immortality pill cures nasty things such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinsonism, and regenerates tissue at the cellular level, which would imply a fairly long and healthy life?

Oh yeah, Earth is very interested in Vax, but Earth has something to trade. Earth has the Bubble. The Bubble is a bit of a misnomer and is really nano technology that envelopes each person with a protective dermal layer (all surfaces internal and external) that can withstand explosions, bullets, radiation, poison gas, vacuum and high impacts such as being struck by another person or object.

The Bubble is transmitted by skin to skin contact, so the Earth, who has been “bubblized” cannot touch the Vax ambassador until the “handshake”. The Vax ambassador cannot agree to a binding agreement unless Ishensa has been performed. Answer? Hmmm, how about a spray-on whole body prophylactic?

The applications of The Bubble are stunning and the social effects unexpected. Some of the effects are that war and the military as we know it is no longer needed except helping during disasters. Medicine devolves to a herbal concoction stage. Surgeons cannot perform surgery. People have to look the way they were born.

Medicare is now worried about the changing actuarial tables of surprisingly health senior citizens and jeez how long are people going to live anyhow? Maybe that immortality pill is a bad thing politically speaking.

Earth’s most historical enemies have been faced with two choices; get along or forget it. I should probably write a sub-story theme about how society has changed due to the Bubble. Long time enemies still exist however the Shiites and Sunni’s have evolved public insulting contests, quite elaborate and beautiful sort of like ceremonial Sumo without the wrestling. The Vax just want to protect their immortality pill. Life...ain’t it grand?

UPDATE; Oh....Noooooooooooo! I just realized I may have to change the name of the planet. Can you imagine a couple space jocks cracking wise over drinks in an intergalactic bar about getting Vaxinated!?

Also thinking about Chocolate. Save Earth, it is the only planet with chocolate. AND read recently about an Indian gentleman who has two penises and wishes to have surgery to remove one of his fully functioning penises so he can marry and live a normal lfe. Hmmm, I wonder if he has considered a career in interplanetary diplomacy?

We had a little excitment here Thursday

Police arrest six in Safeway heist
By Jessica Musicar, Staff Writer
Friday, January 16, 2009

Coquille police kept the parking lot and the Safeway store closed Thursday as they investigated the armed robbery of the store.

COQUILLE — Police have arrested six Coquille residents in connection with an armed robbery at Safeway that injured one man early Thursday morning.

In less than 14 hours after Coquille police received the report from a female employee who had been bound by robbers, Police Chief Mark Dannels said officers arrested two teenagers and three men. Police charged each of them with two counts of first-degree robbery and two counts of second-degree kidnapping.

Yreka police arrested the men — Tod Bailey, 20; Benjamin Fry, 19; and Josh Mikacevich, 18 — at about 6 p.m. in Yreka, Calif., near the Oregon/California border.

Thanks to a tip, at about 2 p.m. Thursday, Coquille officers, with the help of the Coos County Major Crime Unit and the South Coast Interagency Narcotics Team, arrested 16-year-old Francisco Poncho Ferrer and 16-year-old Tony Vetkos, who is also known as Tony Morris.

The two boys are at the Juvenile Detention Center in Coquille and were arraigned in Coos County Circuit Court today. Coos County District Attorney R. Paul Frasier said the charges for the men, including the teens, are Measure 11 offenses.

“Under the provisions of Measure 11, if you are 15 or older you are automatically tried as an adult,” Frasier said.

He added that he is not sure what the extradition process will be for the adults.

“It’s up to them what to do. If they waive extradition, they could be back as early next week,” he said. “If they fight extradition it could be several months before we see them.”

A Siskiyou County jail official said the three men are being held without bail and are likely to be arraigned Monday or Tuesday.

The store closed at 11 p.m. Wednesday. The robbers came out of hiding with their faces disguised by hoodies, sunglasses and bandanas. They overcame the two employees and tied them up. The male employee suffered a dislocated shoulder, the police chief said. A delivery driver found and untied them.

Dannels said the Safeway in Coquille is working to get the store back in order after the armed robbers damaged cash registers and a safe. The market was closed all day Thursday, but re-opened today.

The chief said investigators have learned there were three robbers hiding inside the store after it closed Wednesday, while two remained outside as lookouts. There are some other people who could face charges, he added.

Robbers stole lottery tickets, cigarettes and more. Armed with a search warrant, police went into a room at a Yreka motel this morning and recovered some of these items, as well as a gun.

“Our investigation is still going to continue. We need to wrap some things up,” Dannels said.

He said police believe the suspects were headed to Mexico. They’re all legal American citizens, he added.

The Oregon State Police sent a crime lab team to process evidence at the store.

RETRO COMMENT: I first heard about the robbery at work,one of my co-workers recognized the man being treated in the ER for the dislocated shoulder and with whom a member of her immediate family had worked. (Yep small town all righty).

Further elements of the story are: The three young men hid in the bathroom until the store closed. The police were able to rather speedily identify them from the security camera. The robbers were wearing the same clothes they came in with and then later wore their disguises. Not good planning. They broke into the registers and only got about 200 dollars, they did not have any luck breaking into the safe and they also took some merchandise. What would you grab from the shelves at Safeway when things are going sour and you have to run for the border?

Oil prices down, gas prices up, nursing station, The State of Mom.

Took this picture of the higher gas prices at Exxon on a blazing cheerfully blue day, temps in the mid 50's today. Phew!



This is a picture of the revised nursing station, it was set back six inches from where it rested last week. The guys are now putting down linoleum after pulling up the rug, while less than two years old was very thin in spots.

THE STATE OF MOM:

For some time now I have been concerned with Mom's health. She is now on continuous home oxygen, she has an oxygen machine and a few of the bottles for short trips. She has become very weak, not able to finish a job that she starts such as making the bed, or clipping her finger nails. She has not slept in her new sleep number bed but she did say she was getting tired of sleeping in the lounger. Taking a shower wears her out completely. She does not get fully dressed for the day opting for comfort. She has been relying heavily on a local pizza joint that delivers a pizza to her now and then. She also has frozen chicken patties etc in the freezer. She does not eat as much now as in the past. Her can of soup is good for two meals.

She had to cancel a doctor's appointment in December because no family member was available to take her. However, the appointment was merely to meet with a nurse practitioner who was going to explain the results of her echo cardiogram. Believe me if her ejection fraction was less then 40%, they would have been all over themselves letting her know and making medical decisions.

Her local Physicians Assistant has been very helpful in getting her prescriptions filled and checking on her oxygen etc. Mom is getting the paper work done to get her medications filled for three months at a time through Walgreen, that means her meds will come in the mail.

Also she told me that she applied for a caregiver. A nice 24 old lady with a couple of kids who will help her with shopping, cleaning, etc for 16 dollars an hour, this is through an agency that specializes in care givers.

Mom was able to successfully rid herself of Dish Network. She wants to purchase a digital TV, I coached her through some choices over the phone at Amazon.com but she has decided that she really wants to visit a real store for a Sharp digital television, 19 inches please. Perhaps the care giver can do that with her.

Just in case anyone was interested.

AS SEEN ON INFOMERCIALS

This NOT a commercial endorsement, merely idle curiosity.



Billy Mays is the spokesperson for many products. He doesn't yell quite as loud as a car salesman I remember from Idaho TV years ago but he does get his point across. I often wonder if he speaks in a normal level voice or if in tender moments he is over come and destroys the moment.

My question to you, gentle readers, is just how many products DOES he promulgate over the airways/cable ways of America? I have a list of fifteen. I will post them eventually.

Happy Annivesary and gas prices

Hmmm, just snapped a pic of the latest gas price increase, it is still $1.95 in Coos Bay but well who knows how long THAT will last?



Our 14th Anniversary was Jan 10, 2009. Yep fourteen years ago husband and I met at 2 pm for a civil ceremony at the Barrow Court House. We celebrated by supporting the local economy and ate luncheon at The Broiler. He had sirloin.



I had the Cobb Salad, delicious, it was so big I honestly could not finish the thing. Next time, I will order the small salad.

Husband also rated the bathroom as an 8 on a 1 to 10 scale; one off for not being home and 1 off for difficulty opening the door without having to touch it with clean hands.

And although the waitress prompted us to ask about dessert, we went home and I made blackberry dumplings. Not bad at all.

Gas going up again

Yep, just as the news was recounting that the National average for a gallon of gas was 1.66, the local oil baron elected to raise the prices and I believe OPEC dropped production again.




Here we have a slightly fuzzy close up of the counter at the nurses station end on, it is sticking six inches out into the hallway, which is against code according to the local lady Fire Marshall. So, after much consultation i.e.; gnashing of teeth, finger pointing amongst the architect,the contractor and plant maintenance, it has been agreed that the entire counter and overhead bits will be delicately picked up and slid back six inches to meet code. By the way, the handle bars mounted on the walls outside the patient rooms do not constitute an obstruction.

Just a hint Do try to remember to sign out, Love Me.

remodeling is Hell, buy new drapes and ....

The partitions walling off the nursing station remodel came down Friday, still some stuff to do but it looks like we will be able to swing a cat, why I bet that if we get six nurses, three docs and various allied health professionals milling about in there, no one will get their toes stepped on. Medic!!!

January 1, 2009 activities

I was awakened promptly after midnight by all of the fireworks being set off all over town. Small crackly ones and several very large booming ones. 2009 was seen in appropriately. Slept in until 7:30 am.



About 9 am we decided to run away and see if anything was open for breakfast. Nothing was open in Coquille, so we headed for Bandon and Lo and Behold The Station was open and the parking lot was jammed! Well.

We went in and husband ordered the chicken fried steak, eggs over hard, hash browns and very hearty rye toast. Yummy!



I ordered the sirloin (medium pink please), hash browns, scrambled eggs and sour dough toast. Again, yummy! We thanked them for being open on New Years Day. A couple waitresses responded that it was an all volunteer effort today.

Right next door was a gift shop and we went in and all the Holiday stuff was 50% off so I purchased a few items. We then drove around Bandon a little bit and headed home. The water is very high going by Highway 42 South.




I had been thinking about making noodles so I got out my super duper sized cutting board and dumped flour, made a hole, dropped in two eggs, a touch of salt and mixed dough. I rolled the dough until very thin and sliced it. When we were kids we used to think that noodles came from the bed room because that was where Mom would spread them out on the bed covered with waxed paper to dry.



I let them dry just a very few minutes while the stock pot was heating up with some turkey stock frozen from Thanksgiving bird.




I let the stock come to a rolling boil and delicately dropped each tender noodle into the broth. I let them cook for about 8 minutes. They are now cooling. Yummy Turkey Noodle soup.