Well…don’t worry, I’ll get to a political one later this afternoon, but right now I want to talk about the pork shoulder I just made in my instant pot…and the only thing I have to say is yummy, yummy, yummy! Decided to try something new for the cooking liquid and hit it out of the park…easily the best one I’ve ever made and it had so much flavor I just couldn’t believe it….after liberally salting and peppering it, I browned it in the pot with some olive oil on all sides and then took it out and put it on a plate…then I melted some butter and added onions, garlic cloves, and bay leaves along with black peppercorns, some lemon pepper, and Italian seasoning…the I just sweated the onions until soft, then added some chicken broth to deglaze the pot…then added worcestershire sauce along with some soy sauce…put the shoulder back in the pot without the rack so it was in the cooking liquid and pressure cooked it for 90 minutes…damn, it came out so tasty that I couldn’t believe it…have been trying for years to get a flavorful pork shoulder and finally hit it with this one….going to stop even looking for a better way since I can’t imagine making one that tastes better…oh, then I flipped the shoulder to get the rest of it in the cooking liquid and added potatoes and carrots and pressure cooked those for 5 minutes…if I was going to just do the shoulder, I would have cooked it for 45 and then flipped it for the second 45 to get all of it in the cooking liquid…didn’t even need a knife to cut it the shoulder was so tender….can’t wait to make some pork shoulder tacos with queso fresco and some picked red onions a in a tortilla with some lettuce and salsa…another yummy…
Monthly Archives: April 2021
April 16th
Well…that sucked…had probably the worst night of sleep I’ve had since I moved in here with being up and down all night starting at 1:13 after going to bed at 11…and I finally gave up at 5:43 and got out of bed for good…but I don’t feel that bad even with that and my heel and calf are much better today and I’ll take that trade off any day….and that was day 5 of being good this week so that has to count for something…not sure what, but something…I am a little depressed that I haven’t been on the bike for two days but damn, I am so tired of going out in thermasuit….and it’s past half of April and it’s only 33 out there? I think that’s the most depressing part….that we haven’t had any spring yet and I haven’t gotten that first whiff of the smell of spring, either….I wonder how many more springs I have? I did decide to keep the tree trimmer I bought a couple of weeks ago after looking at all of the dead stuff that has to be cleared out of my trees and I just don’t want to have to borrow one when I need it…I know it’s a lot of cash but I think I’ll get enough use out of it to justify buying one…I do have to put some hooks up in the garage to hang it and the new ladder that I’m going to buy next week to get it up and out of the way…and that will complete the tools I need to maintain this place and then I have to start saving like crazy to pay my taxes and car insurance in August…that should be about two grand…or more and don’t want to deplete my cash reserve to pay it….not much to do today…I do have a pork shoulder that I’m going to cook in the instant pot but I think 9 pounds is too big so I’m going to cut it in half and only do 4 pounds or so…can’t wait to make some pork tacos with queso fresco, or Mexican cheese, and the pickled red onions I made the other day….should be yummy….and I am going to get a ride in today even if I have to go out in long pants and gloves…might as well get used to that since it is going to be cold until the end of the month….more later….
Lots of work today…
Well…didn’t take a bike ride today since it was damn cold and the wind was blowing almost 20mph and I just can’t take that anymore…so, I decided to start to work on the inside of this joint and do the deep cleaning that I should have done a month ago…started with cleaning the stove and trying to get rid of the sticky crap that was left all over it and burned on….so I took the top apart and drenched the whole thing in goo gone and let it set for an hour to see if it would remove the crap…it kind of worked and it is much better than it was but not all of the crud came off so I will have to find another solvent to get the rest off…so, that took a couple of hours and then I got tired of looking at the dingy curtains over the kitchen sink and started to clean the window and the sink and faucet..yikes…the faucet looked like it hadn’t been cleaned in years and had build up of black crud and minerals crusted over it so I had to take the handles off to get at the mold under them and it took 4 applications of mineral remover to cut through the buildup along with taking a razor blade to scrape the crap off it….along with taking a toothbrush to the window to get the dirt out of the cracks and then more razor blade work to get the crap off the window that the ammonia wouldn’t cut, the process took almost 2 1/2 hours and trashed the skin on my hands with all of the harsh cleaners I had to use. That’s enough for now…Man U plays in about 45 minutes and I am going to watch that as a reward for finally getting to the deep cleaning that should have been done long ago…I sure like the results but there is still lots of work to do in the kitchen and the rest of the house just to clean it enough to suit me….baby steps….
Foreign policy takes center stage…
Well…wow, lots of stuff to talk about on the foreign policy stage today and after the chaos of the past 4 years, we have a coherent policy taking shape that will start to restore our standing in the world. First, and something that went basically unnoticed when it was announced two weeks ago, the US is entering back into talks with Iran on their nuclear program that was discarded by the idiot trump and that lead to Iran advancing it’s uranium enrichment that has been stopped under the agreement negotiated by damn near all of the world that trump crapped all over…now, it’s going to be slow going since no one in the world trusts us anymore after the incompetence of trump and his cronies but at least diplomacy is back and is retaking it’s rightful place in foreign policy. Second, Joe has done what I have advocated for years…he is getting us out of Afghanistan in September after 20 long years of losing our soldiers to a war that has no reason for being other than to enrich defense companies…I know the hawks out there are wringing their hands about it but nothing we can do will change the outcome there…so let’s declare victory and go home. Third, and the coolest thing yet is the announcement of stiff sanctions on Russia, Putin, and his oligarch cronies for their interference in our elections and the hacking of most of the US government last year…and hey, let’s contrast that to the previous guy who had the same information from the intelligence agencies and didn’t do a damn thing since he just loved him some Putin. Joe even went farther than expected when he tied Paul Manafort to Konstantin Kilimnik and stated that Manafort gave information to Kilimnik who then gave it to Russia and it’s intelligence agencies to allow them to micro target our election and install the idiot trump….so, and I know we knew this before, there was collusion between the trump campaign and Russia that got trump elected…and no matter how many times trump chants “no collusion” the truth is the truth…and I hope these sanctions crash the Russian economy and stirs a revolt against the murderer Putin….it is so cool that we finally have someone with backbone as president who will look out for the country and not just himself…go Joe…
April 15th
Well…damn…it is not supposed to snow on the 15th of April…and this damn cold weather is going to last the rest of the month and, as I get older, the wait for spring gets more and more excruciating, like I don’t have the time to wait anymore….is it too much to ask to have some warmth for an old guy? At least my sleep is consistent…not good but consistent with waking up at 3:23 the past three days and then out of bed at 6:13…at least I’ve been good but, as time goes by, I wonder why? Yeah, I know, it’s better for my health but the nights are just so damn boring and my brain just won’t shut off any more and it should be relaxing with having my housing situation finally settled…oh, well….I did get some yard work done yesterday with getting the weed and feed on the lawn and I like the little spreader I bought…it only took three fillings to do my yard and I have a little of the 10K sq ft bag left to take care of the spots I may have missed….and it is cool that I was able to get the mower drive adjusted…I am looking forward to the next mowing if my damn calf will heal….and that is the other thing…being in constant pain and limping around here is starting to get old but I will admit it is a little better this morning with taking two ibuprofens yesterday and staying off the bike…I guess I’ll put the long clothes back on for a ride today and see if that will help my mood….not much to do today…I may take the day off working outside and do some cleaning in here…I do need to get the rest of the weeding done so I can plant my flowers if it ever warms up…have some really cool looking poppies that I can’t wait to see along with the rest of them…the color will look nice against the white of the house…and I’m sure it will make me smile….more later….
It gets worse for the repubs..
Well…damn, the repubs are looking dumber and dumber every day with their efforts across the country to suppress the votes of people they don’t want to vote…like everyone who won’t vote for them. But, I’m pretty sure they didn’t count on their reliable partners in business reacting as they have been…with over 300 more businesses pushing back on these un-American bills by condemning them in just the past day…and all of the big three automakers here in Michigan joining in and schooling them on why they are opposing them…that all people in the US have the right to vote without repub interference by the erection of barriers to any and all kinds of voting. Okay, sternly worded letters are all well and good, but what concrete steps are these businesses going to take to punish this crap? At the very least, they need to stop giving a dime to any repub…and I don’t care about the ones who sit there and whine that they had nothing to do with it…just by being repubs, they are supporting every damn law across this country and they shouldn’t get one thin dime…and all of that money should then go to dems who have proven over and over that making sure that everyone who is eligible can vote without repub interference…only then are these protestations actually doing something that the repubs will pay attention to. I guess this is a start but only a start to getting rid of every damn repub across this country…they have proven they hate this country and they need to go….
Got the mower drive fixed…
Well….after mowing the lawn on Monday and feeling like I was doing more work than my new self propelled mower, I got the owner’s manual out that my brother included and tried to see if there was any adjustments included to solve the problem…there wasn’t, so I did the next thing and just did a voice search for it and turned up a video on youtube that addressed exactly the same problem with exactly the same mower I have….so, even though I’ve been working on feeding the lawn and running errands all morning, I just had to try the fix that looked too simple to work…so, I went out and loosened the one nut that the guy showed on the video and moved the cable sheath less than a half inch to take some slack out of the cable, then started it up and tried it…damn, the thing moves now! The easiest adjustment I’ve ever made on a mower that transformed it back to like new…now, next week’s mowing is going to be a piece of cake…just hope my damn calf is healed up by then…it still hurts so much I’m limping and I’m sure it’s from my rubber garden shoes….darn…
April 14th
Well…that was day two of an all natural sleep and it was a little less restful than Monday night…but, it is how I remember my sleep for years so it’s nothing new…and I feel okay so I guess I can live with it…I do feel less sore today and I have been walking okay with my heel feeling better and my right calf not nearly as bad as it was after mowing Monday…so I’m going to hurt it again today with putting food on the lawn with my new spreader but that needs to be done before it rains tomorrow…or snows tomorrow which is possible with how cold it is going to be…I did get out for a bike ride yesterday after helping my brother move a car around for service and it wasn’t too bad even with the wind blowing almost 15….and it was good to get out since I’m probably taking today and tomorrow off since I don’t want to go out in half thermasuit anymore…I did have a surprise when I was mowing out front Monday…the woman I bought the house from pulled up with her husband and we had a nice chat…she just wanted to know that the house she grew up in was going to be taken care of and told me I already have the yard looking better than she could remember…that made me feel good….very nice people and I told her I love the house and will probably live here the rest of my life…and that made her happy…pretty cool…not much to do today…have to hit Aldi’s and depot for food and a plug for the new exhaust fan I’m going to help my son install Saturday back in GR and then need to do the lawn food…I do have to work on the mower since I think the drive belt is slipping some…it just doesn’t take off like it should and I think it’s probably from sitting for a couple of years without use…and I do need to get to know how the thing works so I can maintain it….more later….
Joe Manchin really is delusional…
Well….if you have been following the drama of trying to get anything passed in the senate with dem senator Joe Manchin preening and displaying his delusions for everyone to see, you have to think he must not read anything or hasn’t looked at the repub behavior over the past 20 years. First, he keeps talking an talking about finding “bipartisanship” with the repubs to get the infrastructure bill passed and he continues to look through the horseshit pile that the repubs have piled on this country looking for that elusive pony…one that doesn’t exist…damn, Joe, have you seen the repub votes for the recovery act? Yeah, there weren’t any and that was supported by 70% of the American people. the second thing is that ole Joe has bought into the repub idea that tax cuts create jobs when not one damn study of any tax cut over the past 40 years says it doesn’t…but that doesn’t stop Joe from parroting the repub talking points and holding up more legislation to try to give more tax cuts to the repubs…and that is complete bullshit…damn, Joe…read the study that just came out on the trump tax cuts…not one damn job was created and the only thing that happened was stock buybacks that transferred wealth to the 1%…so, Joe, read something for a change and stop listening to the liars on the right…it’s all they do…geez…
April 13th
Well…that was a little interesting…even with getting my check, I was still good last night and even skipped the sleep aids that have been helping me sleep and it wasn’t terrible…tossed and turned a lot and woke up about 5 times but stayed in bed until 6:13 and I’ll take that…and I’m not a sore as I expected after all the walking with mowing the lawn for the first time…my achilles were howling at me after I finished and I was limping most of the afternoon….so I think I need to get better shoes to mow with than the rubber slip ons I’ve been using…but the yard is starting to come together and I need to get out to Menard’s to get the spreader and weed and feed today…I can get 20K sq ft coverage for about 30 bucks and with the spreader costing 36 bucks I can get out for under 70 bucks….and I can get an 8ft aluminum step ladder for 79 bucks but I have to wait til Friday to get that when it will be warm enough to put the top down and stick it up in the air from the passenger’s seat….and that will be the process for getting the new garage door opener here, too…when I buy it next week…not much to do today….going to do the Meijer run this morning since it is near the bank where I need to deposit the check and I have some staples that I need to make pickled red onions to go with the pork shoulder I’m going to make in the instant pot later in the week….going to make some pork taco wraps and other stuff that will keep me fed for the next week or so….more later…