My awesome chopped pork sandwich I had for dinner tonight. I reheated it in a foil pouch in the toaster oven at 325 degrees for 15 minutes. Perfect.
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Sunday, October 24, 2010
I got a new furnace and air conditioner installed yesterday and I'm excited about it for a number of reasons.
1. The furnace is 95% efficient. My old furnace was probably about 55% efficient, so I'm looking forward to lower gas bills.
2. It has a humidifier. In the past if I did not keep a humidifier running in my bedroom I would be miserable with a burning nose and really dry itchy skin, but it got to be a pain by the end of each heating season filling it up with water each night and cleaning it every few weeks. Plus the rest of the house wasn't properly humidified. The new humidifier even has an outside temperature and humidity probe so it can calculate exactly how much to humidify the inside air.
3. I opted for a whole-house electronic air cleaner. Their marketing material says it is 8 times better than the best HEPA room filters, and a lot of the on-line reviews say they noticed big differences in dust and pet hair after a few weeks as well as big improvements in allergy symptoms. The furnace is has two heating stages and a variable speed fan. The fan has a very efficient DC motor and you are supposed to leave it running continuously. Running it for one year would cost between $10 and $30 in electricity. The main benefit of this is it will equalize temperatures throughout the house. In the summer my upstairs was many degrees warmer than my downstairs. I would put a big fan at the base of my steps and blow cold air up the stairs at night. That should be a thing of the past. Another benefit is that the air cleaner we be continually cleaning the air.
The installers were really good about putting down drop cloths on the path from the front door to the basement door, but the tile floor in between still got some mud on it. I pulled out my Hoover Floormate and in under 10 minutes the floor was perfectly clean again. I love that thing. Huge thanks to Tim and Lisa again for turning me on to that a year or two ago. I'd replace it again in an instant.
There was an article in this week's Chicago Tribune that had a recipe for making homemade butter. It intrigued me so I gave it a try. This picture shows it this morning immediately after I separated it from the buttermilk. I still have to chill it and then under running water knead out any remaining buttermilk. I think I will salt half of it, and then portion it out in one or two ounce portions and freeze most of it.
It's been forever since I've had liver and onions, and I happened to spot liver when I was grocery shopping yesterday, so sometime this week I will make liver and onions, a baked potato and broccoli.
I have my first pheasant hunt of the season in two weeks. It will be at a state park that is just minutes from my hunting friend's house which makes it really convenient. I still have birds from last season in my freezer. I want to try making corned "beef" out of a goose. I am also thinking about buying a gas smoker like Tim-in-law. I had a charcoal smoker years ago, but is a huge huge pain trying to keep the coals at just the right temperature. I think smoking is the best thing for game.
I put in a fire this morning while I was having breakfast, working on the butter and reading the paper. Nice. I put logs inside the fireplace around the edges so the fire will dry it out and make it easy to start for the next fire. Good trick. I think I am going to have a chimney sweep come out soon. I have never had it cleaned or inspected. I also might have him put a cap on it.
I took Mitch to get his annual checkup and shots. He became a favorite at the vet's when he was in every week or two for his scratched eye. When I took him in this time all the vet techs poured out from the back and made a fuss over him in the lobby. Seriously, there were 5 people that came out to say hi to Mitch. They always tell me to bring him in if we're in the neighborhood just so they can say hi. He's like a rock star there.
OK, enough procrastinating. I got my laundry done yesterday while the furnace was being installed. I got my grocery shopping done yesterday evening. That leaves picking up dog poop, raking leaves and cutting the grass this afternoon before the rain comes in again. TTFN.
1. The furnace is 95% efficient. My old furnace was probably about 55% efficient, so I'm looking forward to lower gas bills.
2. It has a humidifier. In the past if I did not keep a humidifier running in my bedroom I would be miserable with a burning nose and really dry itchy skin, but it got to be a pain by the end of each heating season filling it up with water each night and cleaning it every few weeks. Plus the rest of the house wasn't properly humidified. The new humidifier even has an outside temperature and humidity probe so it can calculate exactly how much to humidify the inside air.
3. I opted for a whole-house electronic air cleaner. Their marketing material says it is 8 times better than the best HEPA room filters, and a lot of the on-line reviews say they noticed big differences in dust and pet hair after a few weeks as well as big improvements in allergy symptoms. The furnace is has two heating stages and a variable speed fan. The fan has a very efficient DC motor and you are supposed to leave it running continuously. Running it for one year would cost between $10 and $30 in electricity. The main benefit of this is it will equalize temperatures throughout the house. In the summer my upstairs was many degrees warmer than my downstairs. I would put a big fan at the base of my steps and blow cold air up the stairs at night. That should be a thing of the past. Another benefit is that the air cleaner we be continually cleaning the air.
The installers were really good about putting down drop cloths on the path from the front door to the basement door, but the tile floor in between still got some mud on it. I pulled out my Hoover Floormate and in under 10 minutes the floor was perfectly clean again. I love that thing. Huge thanks to Tim and Lisa again for turning me on to that a year or two ago. I'd replace it again in an instant.
There was an article in this week's Chicago Tribune that had a recipe for making homemade butter. It intrigued me so I gave it a try. This picture shows it this morning immediately after I separated it from the buttermilk. I still have to chill it and then under running water knead out any remaining buttermilk. I think I will salt half of it, and then portion it out in one or two ounce portions and freeze most of it.
It's been forever since I've had liver and onions, and I happened to spot liver when I was grocery shopping yesterday, so sometime this week I will make liver and onions, a baked potato and broccoli.
I have my first pheasant hunt of the season in two weeks. It will be at a state park that is just minutes from my hunting friend's house which makes it really convenient. I still have birds from last season in my freezer. I want to try making corned "beef" out of a goose. I am also thinking about buying a gas smoker like Tim-in-law. I had a charcoal smoker years ago, but is a huge huge pain trying to keep the coals at just the right temperature. I think smoking is the best thing for game.
I put in a fire this morning while I was having breakfast, working on the butter and reading the paper. Nice. I put logs inside the fireplace around the edges so the fire will dry it out and make it easy to start for the next fire. Good trick. I think I am going to have a chimney sweep come out soon. I have never had it cleaned or inspected. I also might have him put a cap on it.
I took Mitch to get his annual checkup and shots. He became a favorite at the vet's when he was in every week or two for his scratched eye. When I took him in this time all the vet techs poured out from the back and made a fuss over him in the lobby. Seriously, there were 5 people that came out to say hi to Mitch. They always tell me to bring him in if we're in the neighborhood just so they can say hi. He's like a rock star there.
OK, enough procrastinating. I got my laundry done yesterday while the furnace was being installed. I got my grocery shopping done yesterday evening. That leaves picking up dog poop, raking leaves and cutting the grass this afternoon before the rain comes in again. TTFN.
