Text 21330, 114 rader
Skriven 2009-02-26 16:19:00 av Michael Loo (1:18/200.0)
Ärende: trip 281
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The house tour. When Annie inherited the place she grew up in,
it turned out that the house across the street, which she had
always coveted, was up for sale. So she and her siblings got
rid of the ancestral home, and Annie and Billy sold their place
in Phoenix - just just before the real estate debacle there -
and sunk 200 grand into this place. It used to be a double,
only the previous to the previous owners had converted it into
a single, a bit of an indulgence: 2 living rooms, a large bedroom,
large and small foyers, formal and informal dining rooms, 3 large
pantries, one heated and two unheated, 2 full kitchens, and 1 2/2
bathrooms downstairs; 8 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms upstairs; and a
3000 sf attic in which you could hold a barn dance, including
two servants' bedrooms, plus 3 lofts, including one I discovered
that they hadn't known about. Two staircases and 2 servants'
staircases. Total occupancy: 2 humans, 4 cats. I told them, only
half joking, that they could run an orphanage.

Before dinner, Annie's neighbor Holly dropped by (actually, Annie
had babysat this girl 45 years ago); they traded scandalous and
silly stories about their parents and siblings in the old days.
I think that part of this visit was to see if Holly (about 50
and single) and I would make sparks, which I think didn't happen.
Holly's bright, well-to-do, and cute enough, but, as with Mr.
Pig, when he went to market, I know what I like. We promised to
get together again during the week, though.

The culinary challenge of the day. Baby backs, 3 slabs thereof
for 3 people including Mr. Chemo, who was expected not to eat
a full serving. I was provided as well Salt Lick dry rub and
barbecue sauces. These were exceptionally meaty, and Annie
thought that this was teh awesomes, so I didn't do what I would
normally do and trim off the meaty parts for stir-fry, instead
leaving them on to overcook. I sprinkled the meat with dry rub
and put it in at 275F for 4 hours uncovered, the consensus here
being for firm cuttable ribs, then cranking to 350 for an hour
mopping periodically with sauce - one rack with the spicy and
two with the regular. These were some of the better ribs I've
had that hadn't been smoked, though I found the dry rub just a
bit salty and heavy on the black pepper (I prefer more paprika
or even a dash of hot chile) and the sauces surprisingly
mustardy for their Texas origin. The hot kind had several
varieties of peppers, including a smidgen of habanero or - as
the heat was pretty mild - perhaps datil. The not too sweet
sauces did grow on me, though. We still as of this writing
have 7 ribs left.

Bullfrog Billtown Blonde was good with; it did a creditable
imitation of a Czech pilsner, malty and cereally with fairly
good hopping and a crisp finish.

Bush's Smokehouse grilling beans, slightly smoky and actually
pretty good, went with.

Sweet Sloops for dessert.

We visited for a while, and then Billy began to fade, so we
sort of broke up for the night, and I went to the 1st floor
bedroom, which is 14x18 not counting a walk-in closet and full
bath and with 10-foot ceiling. Didn't sleep exceptionally well,
though the bed was comfy: either it's haunted or the cats were
playing, or both.

- -

Breakfast. 3 ribs for me. As of 11 am, nobody else is out and
about, though, as Annie points out, what goes on on the 2nd
floor is unknown to those on the 1st floor, and vice versa.

Holly's sister Deborah, who is married to the guy who shoots
deer from his back porch, came over to lunch. They had pastrami
and roast beef sandwiches from Wegman's, with Utz potato chips.
I had more ribs, slightly dried out from yesterday.

Yuengling has two light beers. The light lager reminds me of
Coors Light (not so sweet as Bud Light, not so piss-tasting as
Miller Lite). The other has an intriguing aftertaste of cream
of baby cereal; not so awful, actually, just kind of weird.
Both are underhopped in the American way but clean and not too
sweet.

Pecans
cat: appetizer
yield: 1 lb

6 Tb butter
1/4 ts curry powder
1 lb pecans

Melt butter; fry curry powder for a minutes in it, then
add pecans. Stir and cook until nuts are toasted, about
10 min. Serve with cocktails.

Source: moi

The disposal in Billy's kitchen pitched a fit, and Annie used
the dishwasher there anyway. I have bailed a couple buckets of
water out of the sink, with more to come. A big kettle of
water is on the stove ready for pouring down, which may ruin
the disposal but also may dissolve whatever clog is down there.

P.S. It did neither: all that happened was that the water flow
went from the disposal to the dishwasher to the floor.

Dinner: steaks done Pittsburgh, mushrooms, twice-baked potatoes,
creamed spinach. Jacob's Creek Reserve Shiraz 06 was actually
quite palatable, almost made like a serious wine, very smooth,
not sweet at all, muted spice and blackberries. Bill and I each
finished our 12 or 14 oz; Annie had half of hers. Dessert was
some cheap rainbow sherbet from the supermarket. I didn't do it.

___ Blue Wave/386 v2.30

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