Text 35219, 102 rader
Skriven 2013-03-24 01:56:00 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
Ärende: at the house 307
========================
I got to the house, and the first thing Jonathan said was
"thanks for unclogging the toilet." No, that's the second
thing - the first thing was "I wasn't expecting you until
the 22nd," even though my e-mail distinctly said the 20th -
this has happened almost every time for the last year; I
figure he just hopes I won't show up, even though I try
to do so regularly every two to three weeks to make sure
the place is still functioning, which this time it's not,
but this time it's the fault of the water company, which
had a huge main break last week, and it turns out that
someone had reported the telltale signs 6 hours before it
happened - Washington has one of the worst utility
services in the country, and I've seen some bad ones.

Of course, I hadn't known that his toilet was clogged, much
less have the opportunity, inclination, or knowhow to
unclog it. This may be amusing or flattering in some way,
as he seems to attribute godlike powers to me, but what's
going to happen when he returns to blaming me for things
I didn't do?
==
Safeway is having a pseudo-sale, with chuck eye, shoulder,
blade, top round, bottom round, and eye of round all at
the same price, the rather unsalelike $3.99/lb. I got big
slab of my favorite, chuck eye, and separated it by muscle.
I made three things: a South Asianish pot roast with cumin
for the tougher bits, an oven roast a la prime rib (i.e.,
put in a 500F oven and then turn the oven off) for the
eye itself, and a red-cook for the fat and trimmings. The
pot roast and the red-cook were semisuccessful despite the
larder being depleted of about half the ingredients I
thought should still be there, but the oven roast was
wildly delicious, and I ate the whole couple pounds in
three servings spanning under two hours. I recommend the
high heat method of roasting - just remember to take the
meat out when you think it's done, which for me will be
earlier no doubt than for most of you. I gave my little
roast about 5 minutes of full blast and about 15 more
with the heat off.
==
Looking for something to store stuff in I stumbled on a
Ziploc Fresh Shield bag. Can someone tell me in what way
this is different from other Ziploc bags? And if it's
superior, why don't they make all such bags this way?
Speaking of which, I sent my brother a status e-mail at work:
  I got some beef and made two things - pot roastish stuff
  that is in foil and a spicy Chinese-style thing in a
  Revereware. You may have as much of the former as you
  wish, but I would prefer that you left me the bulk of
  the latter.
When he came back he went looking for a Tupperware and
fussed mildly when he couldn't find one in the fridge.
Told me that I'd said Tupperware. The house to the best of
my knowledge has no Tupperware.
==
[another time]
So the kid gets home and is rattling around the kitchen, and
I go down and say hi, and he says, do you want any of this
(it's Bertolli's sausage with ziti from a frozen package),
and I say, no, don't you usually eat the whole package?
(which contains 2 500-Calorie servings), and he says, yeah,
I was counting on you saying no. ... At least he offered.
==
I keep finding stashes of interesting stuff here. My father
loved everything he knew about England, especially marmalade.
My recent discovery was three jars of the stuff, two intact
ones hidden in plain sight, as they say (next to where my
brother keeps the onions when he remembers to replenish them),
one partially used in the door of the fridge. Here's a taste
report. All are supposed to have been made with Seville oranges.
All these are old, as in my father died in 2007. The first is
the one that was in the door of the fridge (still is, fwiw).

Chivers Olde English Marmalade - Mild aroma, jellylike texture;
some rind and soft parts of orange; the bitterest and actually
most interesting of the lot. A-

Keiller's Dundee Marmalade (this being Scottish) - both the
sweetest and sourest, with little bitterness despite lots
of slivers of rind; thick and smooth except for that. B

Frank Cooper's Fine Cut Oxford Marmalade - fresher orange
rind flavor, somewhat grainy texture. Less sweet and in
fact (despite having 68% sugar and 30% orange, the other
2% being citrate buffer and pectin) the least flavorful
of the three - pity as the aroma is very nice. C+

Chivers gives Cambridge as its address of record;
interestingly, it is identified as an Irish company. The
other two claim Manchester (not Dundee or Oxford) as home.

The Internet yields that all three are now stablemates under
Premier Foods. Horrors - a marmalade monopoly in the UK.

Next I suppose I should go find some Safeway stuff, which
the Shipps swear by.

==
Just one more day here, yay.
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