Smokin'

Am I the last one to try this grilling technique? In case there were more of you living under the rock with me, this is really how easy it is!

I soaked two cedar boards in my sink all day. I weighted them down with a jar to keep them submerged.

Placed the wet wood on the grill started on medium. Closed the lid and let "cook" for 15 minutes. (next time, I will only do 10 minutes). You will see smoking occur - this is supposed to happen.

Because I used two different pieces of meat, I used the wood two different ways.
1. For the salmon (left), I turned the cooked wood over - so the blackened side was the cooking surface. I placed the salmon skin-side of the side down onto the blackened surface (you're not gonna eat the skin). You will hear the sizzle. I topped the salmon with salt/pepper and a few crumbles of brown sugar.
2. Ribeye steak (right), I did not turn the cooked wood over, and cooked the steak on the plain side. I didn't want the meat to touch the blackened wood Don't worry, this wood is still very hot, and will grill the steak.
I cooked the meats for 15 minutes - turning the steak half way through @ 7-1/2 minutes (the steak was "medium"), but left the salmon alone. **I kept a small squirt bottle of water on hand to extinguish any flame ups. **
When cooked, removed the full boards onto a heat proof surface (plate, another board, etc)

OMG, this was delish! For the salmon, you just slip the spatula between the meat and skin (which is cooked to the wood) and lift the meat right off. The steak just lifted off its plank (shown to the right). Discard completely cooled wood.

These were the only size planks I had, but would use wider ones next time. I'm not going to spend gourmet dollars at a cooking store, but go to Home Dept/Lowes and buy the size UNtreated cedar plank I want and cut to size I want - much cheaper!

Makes your mouth water, huh? Super easy clean up and great presentation. Let me know if you try this. Have a great weekend!

Wet behind the ears

I wonder if this little guy will go on to tell stories about The Land of Big Puddles and The Giants?

I saw him splashing in our pond, and losing his battle of treading water. I hollered for Steve to come quick with the net, and get him scooped out.

I had a shallow planter liner near by, so we sat him in there...and hoped for the best. I got a rag for him to sit on - it seemed less slippery. Put him in partial sun, for warmth.....and waited. Bella offered many, many times to "help" him. Yeah, right.

OH, what do we have here? A little flutter? Whew!...what a good sign.

I slowly turned the planter on its side so he could navigate easier. Mmm, warm and dry and fluffy is gooooood!

I think he now notices that the Lady Giant has a camera. When I offered some sprinkled seed outside the planter, he flew away. He soared across the yard and high up in the trees. Fly away, fly away, fly away home!

Hell or High Water

For all of you that guessed Aaron Neville as the concert we were attending - you are RIGHT! He, and his quintet, played with the Columbus Symphony Orchestra last night. The guy to his left (in the black hat) is his brother, Charles Neville. Even feeling like popsicles by the end of the night, it was a super terrific time! Wow, you'd never think that he is 68 yrs old (and his brother is 70).

For some freakish reason, we are having a very cold snap right in the middle of July. It should be near 90, but the temp this evening was 65. We knew it was gonna be a cold evening, and dressed accordingly, but .....we weren't prepared for rain. While enjoying our pre-concert picnic dinner, they sky opened and got us all wet. It passed soon enough, but now we were cold AND wet. But you know what? I finally got to see Aaron Neville in concert. My "Big 3" is complete! (previously mentioned HERE)

As with any concert, there is always a couple of songs you hoped to hear, but I guess when an artist has SO many hits, some get shuffled off the list as time goes by. One of my favorites was missed - Louisiana 1927 (click HERE for a sampling). They did offer a moving version of Amazing Grace, which kinda caught me off guard and made me cry.

The photos are blurry like this for a reason. Not on purpose, but there is a reason. (my non-photography friends can just skip ahead of this explanation). I didn't end up dragging my tripod with me, so I had to freehand it. Then I found out, not only is No Flash photos allowed, but NO CAMERAS AT ALL. Yeah, whatever. I lugged this camera with me, sat in the cold AND rain...I am taking a damned picture at the Aaron Neville concert! So, this meant I couldn't be playing around with all my settings, and had to just wing it on the "no flash setting". (for my photo friends: shutter 1/10s, App f/5.6, ISO 800 and NO tripod...holy crap, I cant believe I even got 'em this good!)

However, this will always be my favorite song that Aaron Neville performs. I would be happy if it was set up on a continuous loop to play constantly inside my head. We played this same rendition at our wedding. Enjoy!

So, just like the Tshirt I was wearing said: "Hell or High Water"...I finally saw Aaron Neville.

includes a sack lunch

We've had a pretty calm and casual week. Bella is continuing to do just great. She seems to be settling in enough that her sense of humor is coming out. She makes me laugh alot!
***PSA: if your dog comes into the room with a shredded tissue hanging from her mouth, its a safe bet there is a mess in the other room you'll need to clean up***

This was a neat moment. She seems startled by her reflections -no mirrors in prison- so I took down a large wall mirror to see what she thought.

"Bella, meet Bella."

"If only my nose was just thaaaat much longer"

In my garden, this Bee Balm bloom had just starting to open up. Kinda looks like a crown to me - and reminds me of the crown that is worn by King Julian, the lemur, in the Madagascar movies/tv shows. (as seen HERE ) I am addicted to the Penguins of Madagascar show on Nickelodeon channel.

Finally!....a gold finch showed up to the seed "sack" of finch food I hung for them. As long as they like eating from here, its really a pretty nice deal. The seed doesn't fall out and germinate on the ground, the seed doesn't get wet, and only finches eat there. If you click on the picture, you can see him getting a seed.

Steve and I are off so see a concert this evening (note to burglars: don't bother trying break in, there will be dog sitters present). If you are a follower of this blog, you might be able to guess who we are seeing, with this clue: The artist is someone I have never seen before, and is on the "Top Three singers I would love to see in concert" List. Oh hell yeah I am taking my camera, and maybe even a tripod......there will be pictures soon!

Lucky Dog

Here is a Funny to start your Monday.

Bridgestone: Lucky Dog
by hourigan

Two Weeks of Bella

I cant believe two weeks have flown by this fast! On Friday, someone asked how long we have had Bella - we realized it had just been two weeks. That really put our progress into perspective.

I mentioned previously that we got her through an Adopt-A-Dog program at a state prison. Offered, for $100 you get a dog that is: house-trained, taught heel/down/sit/stay/come commands + whatever a prisoner with time on his hands adds in.
Yeah, pretty much...but, she also has only been around men - meaning she doesn't really understand us women. Oh, but she behaves wonderfully! So, once some initial settling occurred, we thought it might be good to go through some training - with "us" as her new handlers. Well, really the training is for us - not her. Twice, we have gone to restaurants with outdoor seating, and she lies quietly beside me while we enjoy dinner.
When we aren't out training or gallivanting to diners, she perfects her ball catching:

"I can even catch a ball while doing ballet"

"Somebody get me a net to slam dunk this one"

"I love to sneak up behind a bouncer - it never even saw me coming"

"I will even slide in upside-down to snag this dud"

"and I STILL only like the water at the bottom of the bowl"

May we all appreciate the fun in getting there!

Runner-Up and new arrivals

There have been many posts of the big frog (the "mutha") who lived at our pond since its inception. Here is a macro shot I took of him, not knowing I wouldn't have a chance to get anymore... since some hussy She-frog came and lured him away!
Anyway, I took this while laying on the ground, elbows on the pond's edge, while he sat partially submerged on the other side. My camera lens was probably 24 inches away from his face. It was like he was posing! (click pic for a close-up) So I entered it into a photo contest, at the camera store where I recently took classes. There were 93 entries and I was 3rd Runner-up. I'll take that. I am having it framed and going to hang it in our office.
So after this big boy left, we got two other tadpoles to start a new pond family. The picture below is the first time I saw one of the new tadpoles emerge as a frog. Funny enough, the larger frog on the upper right, is the Hussy She-frog I spoke of above - she stayed! She was about 1/2 the size of the big boy who left, and you can see how small the newbie is compared to her.

Here is a better looksie. I haven't seen the second "changed" tadpole yet.

Here is to "New Beginnings". More on Bella soon...

I've been Buzzzzzzy

I felt like a grade school kid on the best field trip - EVER! A friend of mine (holla Mindy K.) keeps bees, and was gracious enough to invite me out to play. I have always been fascinated by beekeeping, and entertained the idea of having some here (oh, can you image how much that would piss off my neighbors?), but not made that jump yet.
On this day, she was taking off a full box (they are called supers), and adding a new empty super. Over top of my bee outfit (wind suit zipped up tight-tucked into socks, gloves-tucked unto jacket, helmet covered with netting-tucked into neck), I had my trusty camera slung around my netted neck...all so I could bring you the show!
Here is a panel (called a frame) that is from the full super. Click on all the pics for larger views, but in this one you can see the cells capped off with bee's wax and some uncapped full of juicy honey.

These bees were SO nice and calm. They were not aggressive, and the only ones that were on me, were on my gloves because I picked them up. Just look at how many honey bees are in this super. Just think, how many bees must be in the whole hive, that is six supers tall!

This frame being pulled is from the lower supers where the worker bees house pupa/babies. We didn't find the queen this day.

This shows one of the full frames from a super that will be harvested for honey. There are eight frames in a super, and that super will yield 2 pounds of honey - which is only about two pints! WOW! Is really is like liquid gold.
***UPDATE: my friend said the harvest brought 1.5 gallons from that full super***

My friend also has some chickens - just for laying eggs. Here is Phoebe and Clara.

This is another hen that was content to stay in her coop, but please notice the lone egg in the box to the right...

...here is a better picture of that egg! Mmmm, a farm fresh egg. Mindy also gave me homemade strawberry jam, that you see here on homemade Amish bread!

And as a final highlight of my Day on the Farm, while sipping a cool drink in the shade, this fluttering beauty joined us.

What a great new summer day memory!

A Colorful Salsa

A friend of mine shared this recipe with me a couple of years ago, and its now the requested pot-luck recipe for me to bring. So if any of you are looking to add a new ultra quick dish, here it is:
COLORFUL SALSA SALAD
2 cans white whole kernel corn, drained
1 can small early peas, drained
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can black-eyed peas, drained and rinsed
2 cans Rotel diced tomatoes w/ chillies
parsley, fresh or dried - add the amount you like
1 16-oz bottle Zesty Italian salad dressing

Mix all vegetables and parsley together in in a large bowl. Add the Italian salad dressing as you like it (I only use 3/4 of the bottle). When in season, fresh diced tomatoes may be used instead of canned.
Dish can be served immediately, or refrigerate to serve later. This makes a nice appetizer snack salsa served with tortilla chips, or by itself as a colorful side dish salad.
May your summer be safe, delicious, and very colorful - enjoy their Independence Day.