Wine Time

March 25, 2022March 24, 2022 — Eclectic, Food — 1 min read

Had some friends over for a 5 o’clock get together. Our house, our wine.

We make our own wine from wine kits. The bottles are collected from friends as is the box and blatter. The great thing is that I “tweak” the kits to what we like. For example for my wife I added strawberries to the primary fermentation of the Zinfandel Blush, while to the Sangiovese I add some wine tannin. While the kit wines can be consumed soon after bottling, I like to age them a year or more so they can mellow out. I also design and print my own labels. I like to joke that I spend more time designing the labels than making the wine. The best part is sharing what we make with friends.

Chili Sauce From Dried Chili Peppers

March 24, 2022March 24, 2022 — Food — 2 min read

For years I bought chili and enchilada sauce, but thanks to the magic of YouTube, I discovered it was easy to make your own and best of all I could make it just how I liked it. I use mostly Guajillo peppers along with some Ancho peppers. After weighing them out I cut the stem end off and then down the side so they will lay flat.

I like a spicy flavor but not a burning heat so I remove all the seeds.

Next they are toasted in a hot skillet. I use the potato masher to get better contact with the skillet.

The toasted inside of the chili becomes lighter in color and an intense flavor that fills the air is released. Into a sauce pan I put the toasted dried peppers covering them with water which is heated to boiling, letting them sit in the hot water for 15 minutes or more.

The soaked peppers are placed into a blender along with garlic cloves that have been sautéed, cumin and Mexican oregano. I have adjusted the amount to give the flavor I like. I also add a little salt after tasting the chili sauce so it tastes like I want it to taste. I have kept a couple of empty jars from my days of buying the sauce in the store, and use them to bottle it. I keep it in the refrigerator and use it perk up different foods.

It Sure Went In Easier

March 23, 2022March 23, 2022 — Eclectic — 2 min read

The “It” is the white topped green Tee Post in the center of the image. Little trees need support, and yeas ago I pounded that post into the ground near what was at the time a tiny tree. I then carefully tied the tree loosely to the post. Poinciana trees are beautiful at times. Unfortunately they are also very brittle and between the hurricane a few years ago and the freak storm last spring, many of its branches and its crown had been ripped off. I just didn’t feel comfortable up on a ladder with that tee post below me, so out it was going to come.

The shovel to dig out the soil from around the tree. The loppers to cut some of the roots growing around the tee post. The trowel to clean out the soil from the hole and the pipe wrench to twist the post when it became loose enough. Tee posts greatly resist being pulled out of the ground. This was my way of overcoming that reluctance using the tools I had at hand. Yes, I could have gotten the jack out of the Jeep and had a far easier time of it. But as the song goes, ‘I did it my way’.

More Than Meets the Eye

March 22, 2022March 22, 2022 — Family, Personal — 1 min read

There is a saying that a picture is worth a thousand words. But not in this case. The picture shows a Casio G-Shock watch in nearly pristine condition, yet it doesn’t begin to tell the story of this watch. Six and a half years ago our son suddenly passed. This was his watch. Recently the watch I have worn for decades finally gave out. (There is a story about that watch also.) I have had this watch waiting as its replacement for those six and a half years. I guess it was fitting the battery had finally given up after all those years. A couple of YouTube videos, a trip to the store to buy the correct battery and it was running once again. Any parent who has lost a child knows you never stop thinking of them, even if the thoughts are few and far between.

Never Give Up

March 21, 2022March 22, 2022 — Inspiration — 1 min read

We have a fabric wall planter attached to one the pillars of our pergola. Each pocket has a drip waterer and the entire system is on a timer watering every other day for a few minutes. Having been gone for 9 1/2 months we were surprised to see some of the plants were still growing. This highly frost susceptible coleus looking worse for the wear managed to survive the deep cold spell that occurred a few weeks before we returned. It reminds us that it just isn’t we who have to struggle through the day at times.