Outside the dugout: What's cooking?

In Wisconsin they have four versions of an Old Fashioned. Two use brandy and two use whiskey, usually cheap Canadian like LTD or Canadian Club. Then there are two schools of thought on garnishes. One can use maraschino cherries and pineapple or pickled veggies like brussels sprouts or mushrooms. The soda is something like Sprite, Squirt or 7-Up.

Also a sugar cube and a couple of dashes of bitters.

 

Tonight dinner is up in the air. My 26 year old son is going to a bar where a party with everyone bringing something is happening, so he might not have dinner with us but we don't know that for sure.

BTW he gave me my Christmas present today. He got his Moderna booster jab.

Two dinners friendly to my son are jambalaya (with ground turkey and sausage) or conventional tacos. I say "conventional" for the tacos to mean Tex-Mex hard taco shells with ground meat and El Paso seasoning and not the others ones I make with carnitas, barbacoa, chili pulled pork and other traditional Mexican fillings with two soft tortillas. BTW, my son is fine with the other kind of tacos I make and actually prefers them for good reason.

The other dinner option is Chinese egg noodles with Thai basil, sesame oil, chopped peanuts, scallions, chili oil, ginger and the usual other ingredients. The recipe I found on-line did not use fish sauce, but I add that when serving a non-vegetarian crowd.

 

Making sesame noodles with chili oil, peanuts, and Thai basil amongst other ingredients. There is a particular brand of Vietnamese egg noodles that is perfect for this dish.

 

Good news!

My new range is scheduled for delivery tomorrow between 3 and 7. Since it is currently in Pompano Beach and I live in Gainesville I am expecting closer to 7 than 3.

But now I can't go to see the Gators in person to kick the snot out of Stonybrook in hoops.

Today I made jambalaya with ground turkey and smoked sausage, mostly for my son. My wife will make risotto when she gets home

 

Dickens said it best: It was the best of times. It was the worst of times.

Every time I think of fish sticks I think of a South Park episode. LOL.

 

Now they are saying between 2:30 and 6:30 so maybe I am the first drop off and then they work their way down state.

Or its constantly changing times and asking me to confirm and if I don't do it fast enough they will reschedule and charge me an extra fee.

 

Well I do and don't have my new range. It is in the garage because I have the old style gas shut off valve and I need to replace that before the new one can be installed.

 

Yeah.

My old shut off is 1/2" and my new range is 5/8". Two ways to go here. Since I only have four burners and none of them crazy high BTU output keeping the existing 1/2" shut off valve and using an adapter to 5/8" is OK and should work fine. It won't ever be starved for natural gas, but that will be a negative in the future when the next owner of the house wants to upgrade. If I was getting a 36" six burner high output unit or a bigger 48" unit I would change the valve out to 5/8" which is the new standard size.

Even though I know how to do this kind of thing and have done it before (not the valve replacement, but the other stuff) I will have to pay a pro to do it so that I don't void my warranty.

A local guy is trying to squeeze me in today if he can. Otherwise next week some time.

BTW when I told him it was a Blue Star he said "Congrats. They are the best of the best."

 

Had a late addition to the guest list so had to drive across town this morning to get some more grouper. Kids will have NY strip steak. I have the KJ ready to light.

Yellow rice pilaf is in the oven.

 

Ducks going on the KJ for smoking in a few minutes.