The Wandering Minstrel

Image background - Grand Canyon Yavapai Point View - Clickable image.

When I get up in the morning, I consult my list of RSS feeds to see the latest posts. I got to DrJim’s Every Blade of Grass blog and saw that he would be setting up for the annual ham radio Field Day contest sponsored by the American Radio Relay League. I asked The Better Half if she would like to take a drive down to their setup site at historic Fort MacArthur “Topside” in San Pedro and meet up with DrJim - something we have been meaning to do since we found out we’re practically neighbors. So, we drove the short trip down there and finally got to meet up.

In the clickable image above, DrJim and I are chatting about the amateur radio satellite communications setup he was setting up for the contest. When DrJim finishes the setup, he will have a couple of uplink/downlink antennas mounted on the stub tower with full azimuth and elevation control. The satellite communications will allow the United Radio Amateur Club to claim the bonus points for including his operation in the list of stations.

Today, I grilled up a pork tenderloin for today’s entreé along with some chicken breasts to be used later in the week for Caesar salads. The better half grilled up another chicken breast marinated southwestern style for tomorrow’s main meal, soft chicken tacos. After we finished grilling, I sliced the tenderloin up and the Better Half served it with cinnamon glazed carrots, homemade apple compoté and steamed broccoli. A nice heart-healthy low-sodium afternoon feast. Clickable image - warning - drool alert!

The airshow part of this story is a fallout from a P-51 Mustang and P-40 Warhawk flyover made at the unveiling of the long-lost Swamp Ghost, a WW2 B-17 that was recently salvaged from a New Guinea swamp where it crash landed during the big war. Evidently, the original two aircraft scheduled for the overflight were joined by some other war-bird enthusiasts and made several passes over our area - we’re about a mile and a half from the Torrance airport where several war-birds are headquartered. The thumbnail image shows four of the eight aircraft that overflew our house today. Clickable image to see all eight.

It is a beautiful day to spend sitting on the backyard swing and then to grill a beautiful beef tenderloin steak. The Better Half saw this in the butcher case at the supermarket on Thursday and we instantly knew that this pretty tenderloin would wind up on the grill today. We only bought the one steak since it was large enough to feed us both.

Clickable image: Tenderloin on the grill.

The Better Half steamed up some broccoli and made a nice dinner salad to go with the steak on the side. Everything was delicious. Plus, there is enough tenderloin left over that we can have steak salads this week. Our dog was only too happy to have the scraps after we were finished eating.

It was a good day today . . .

Like millions of free Americans, today, The Better Half and I will be barbecuing outdoors. Our menu is ground brisket hamburger patties grilled and topped with a slice of Havarti cheese, lettuce, tomato and thinly-sliced onion, served in a hearty hamburger bun. On the side, we will have macaroni salad.

This cartoon, found at The Patriot Post, says all we need to know about the Memorial Day holiday.

This morning I put a rack of baby back ribs in a crockpot with pineapple and apple juices, peeled and smashed garlic cloves and freshly ground black pepper. The Better Half prepared some low sodium homemade barbecue sauce which I basted on the ribs on the grill for about ten minutes to brown the ribs and get the all-important grill marks and to infuse the flavors of her awesome sauce.

Clickable image - BBQ ribs and corn

About a half hour before bringing the ribs to the grill, I roasted a couple of ears of corn in their husks which had been immersed in water overnight. I shucked the corn, broke them in half and roasted over the fire while the ribs were browning up. I basted the corn with soft butter mixed with black pepper.

We served the ribs and corn with broccoli slaw and BBQ beans. The meat fell off of the rib bones and the sauce flavors defied belief. The corn was sweet and juicy, the slaw was tangy with bits of Gorgonzola cheese and the beans were great.

Please stop drooling.

Wind energy might be a “renewable” source of electricity but the scenery certainly suffers from wind turbine obscuration.

No wonder Edward M. “Dead” Kennedy didn’t want to look at these offshore near his Hyannisport mansion. It’s about time the assholes in charge drop the no-nuke chalupa.

Clickable Image by The Better Half, taken on Interstate 10 near Palm Springs, CA.

I am pleased to report that the new outdoor grill is performing up to my basic expectations. I didn’t make much mention of my pleasure or displeasure the first time I cooked on it, but it seemed to work OK. I posted a couple of photos in a comment I left in response to another comment about the performance of the grill.

Today, we fixed a “hybrid” meal; that is, the ribs seen in the clickable image above went into the crockpot for a couple of hours before getting on the grill. When I prepare the ribs this way, the meat literally falls away from the ribs. They were terrific - we had them with broccoli slaw, asparagus spears and the all-important BBQ beans.

The Better Half made some BBQ sauce from scratch - the ribs cooked in the sauce along with the juice from a couple of fresh oranges and three or four mashed garlic cloves. The better Half tossed a bay leaf in the mix along with fresh ground pepper.

We had to take a nice long walk after the feast today to burn off some of these delicious calories.