August 2021 – Catching Up

Good evening.

My apologies for another long gap. A role change at work had me traveling a bit, some yard work/improvements are still ongoing, and a small problem with the website not linking and loading properly all conspired against me for a while.

In other words… *Squirrel*

I got distracted.

The past couple of months have really ramped up for me, in terms of food and wine. I’ve been exploring Italian options in greater depth, and really enjoying it. On the cooking side, my wife updated the weekly planner to assign Sunday’s to me, and go so far as to label it “Italian” night. Nothing wrong with that. Some samples, mainly from the cookbooks Super Tuscan and Extra Virgin, by Gabriele Corcos and Debi Mazar, as follows:

Meatballs with tomato-mint sauce, paired with Zucchini that were stuffed with ricotta and herbs.

Meatballs a mix of beef and lamb

Braised chicken with wine, olives, and garlic, that was paired with Stuffed onions.

Okay, I may have doubled the recipe-suggested garlic.
Next time, in a recipe deviation, I’ll go for sweet instead of red onions

After that, a Sunday with Pancetta-wrapped chicken breasts, paired with a sweet cord salad.

Recipe originally for a single turkey breast, but I found a great, organic chicken option
A great, natural sweetness in this.

And, following that, some really nice, locally sourced pork chops with an Apple/Fennel slaw and roasted brussels sprouts.

All of them were a pleasure to make, and enjoyed by the family. Also, after a visit with a good friend in Athens, GA (Hello, SMT!), I picked up “A New Turn in the South” by Hugh Acheson, and pulled together a Frogmore Stew.

I did add a bit more shrimp than suggested, but there’s nothing wrong with that…

We had an amazing dinner at Acheson’s famed Five and Ten, so I had to get the cookbook! Great place, if you find yourself in the area.

That brings me back to travels…which makes me recall some of the interesting pics I’ve managed to take, during various flights. Some of them just interesting cloud formations.

I tweaked the color saturation, as my phone just cannot catch the tones and depth of the naked eye…

Some of them a great perspective of the world around us, from an alternate view.

Puget Sound, on approach from the South.

Sometimes just catching the right angle, from the ground.

Also funny that, sometimes, the more striking images seemed to sync up with my mood, the music I was listening to, and the general feel of the day.

We have also had quite a bit of smoke from a couple of fires. Truly sad to see the destruction these bring, but they also highlight the beauty found in that regeneration in nature.

And, yes, I did get a bit of fly fishing in, too…

Great spot for casting…once you laterally scale 30′ of rock wall…
Caddis were well represented on this afternoon.

Again, apologies for the long gap. I hope that everything stays in order and I have a chance to pick it back up, going forward. AQI just passed 220….so I may not be out fishing for a while, at least in this area.

We shall see.

Tight lines…