Category Archives: Alpine Coach

Who’s Tracking You?

Information is power – and that’s where the money is. How much of your information is out there? Probably a lot more than you think. Since I wrote my last post a few days ago, which featured Japanese kitchen knives, every time I open Facebook now, I’m inundated with kitchen knife advertising. I wonder who’s watching what I’m up to?

I dug into a few of the ads and found another interesting tidbit. There are companies using social media to not only advertise, but spread misleading information about their brands. For example, one brand called Dalstrong wants you to believe it makes Japanese kitchen knives. On their web site, the “Our Story” page doesn’t tell you anything about their story – it’s all advertising copy. Nowhere do they say their products are actually manufactured in Yangjiang, China.

I see ads loudly proclaiming “Japanese steel knives.” Hmmm…does that mean Japanese steel or is it a Japanese knife made in Japan from steel or what? “Japanese steel” in advertising copy usually means a misleading ad. Wasabi Knives are another company that wants you to believe it’s Japanese. Wasabi sounds Japanese, right? Maybe if a Japanese company wanted to be called horseradish they would use that name.

How about Kamikoto knives? They have an office in Tokyo and use Japanese 420J2 steel – an inferior steel not intended for knife blades. It’s usually only found in liners for pocket knives and bolsters or handle tangs. Kamikoto knives is another brand from Yangjiang, China – who knows, maybe it’s the same factory that makes the Dalstrong brand. They want you to believe it’s a quality Japanese product so they can charge $100 for a $10 knife.

Then there’s a company called Cookidea – when you read their ad carefully, you see it says “Japanese design” knives. Why would these companies go to these lengths to mislead? If the products they are getting from China are truly quality products, then just say so. I don’t have anything against a quality item made in China, however there’s a lot of junk peddled from Chinese factories out there.

About four years ago, I bought a pocket knife to break down cardboard boxes for recycling – we get a lot of Amazon deliveries and always seem to have cardboard boxes. I looked around and thought a Spyderco knife was the way to go. I didn’t want to spend much money. I just wanted a good workhorse-type pocket knife. Sal Glesser, founder and president of Spyderco, has his knife designs made in various factories around the globe. He doesn’t try to hide this fact – it’s openly displayed on his knife blade. The first knife I bought from Spyderco was a knife called Tenacious, made from 8Cr13MoV steel in China. It was under $50.

8Cr13MoV steel (Chinese)

I’ve used this knife almost daily since then – we start our day with a cup of hot lemon water while I grind and brew coffee – this knife cuts lemons most mornings. I liked the Spyderco product so much, that I followed with an assortment of Spydercos in different steel types from different factories.

Takefu Special Steel Company VG-10 steel – Japan

Carpenter Technology Steel CTS-XHP – USA

The Taichung factory has a great reputation for high quality with fantastic fit and finish.

Crucible Particle Metal CPM-Cruwear steel – USA

I have confidence in any Spyderco knife, regardless of which factory produced it. I can’t say that about Chinese companies that pretend to be something else.

Last Friday, I tried my hand at a Japanese dish that took me back to the days of my childhood. It’s called onigiri – a Japanese rice ball. My mom made these as snacks for us – nowadays I realize it was probably due to the cupboard being bare at the time. When I was a kid, I thought nothing of it. It’s just what it sounds like, rice packed into a ball shape. I rinsed white sushi rice, then soaked it in cold water for 10 minutes or so before putting it in the rice cooker to ensure a soft and sticky finish.

When the rice cooled, I put salt on my palms to keep the rice from sticking and flattened a handful. I put bits of ahi tuna in the center and squeezed it into a ball. In Japan, I’m told onigiri can be found in delis or convenience stores and is as common there as a sandwich is here. Donna and I each had two for lunch.

Over the weekend Donna tried a couple of recipes from a cookbook she bought here at Viewpoint Golf and RV Resort. It had recipes from park residents and was sold as a fundraiser for a community charity organization called Sunshine Angels.

The first dish was a pork tenderloin with dijon marsala sauce. The sauce was a winner and I’m looking forward to having this one again.

Pork tenderloin with dijon marsala sauce, smashed red potatoes and green beans

Last night, she made a dish called gluten-free lemon chicken Chinese-style. It had a delicious lemon glaze but the recipe was labor intensive.

Gluten-free lemon chicken with brown rice and green beans

I’m pleased to announce I have a new ham radio callsign. The original callsign the FCC assigned to my station was KF0AZQ. This was a mouthful using the NATO phonetic alphabet – it was kilo-foxtrot-zero-alpha-zulu-Quebec. I applied for a vanity callsign – I asked for K7KPR. The number is assigned by region – I had zero before because my official address is in South Dakota. I applied for a seven in my callsign because we spend most of our time in seven land – Arizona, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming are all region 7. My request was approved today – I’m officially K7KPR – much easier phonetically – kilo-seven-kilo-papa-romeo.

The rain in yesterday’s forecast for the week ahead arrived early. We had rain and gusty winds last night. It’s dry, but it’s breezy and cloudy this morning. The forecast calls for more rain and high winds this afternoon with a high temperature of 74 degrees. More rain is expected through the weekend as moisture comes up from the southwest and the thermometer won’t reach 70 again for the remainder of the week – if they have it right.

My back is much improved and I plan to coach the pickleball lesson tomorrow – weather permitting. Donna has really stepped up her games – both pickleball and tennis.

*Just so you know, if you use this link to shop on Amazon and decide to purchase anything, you pay the same price as usual and I’ll earn a few pennies for the referral. It’ll go into the beer fund. Thanks!

Just One More

I got through last Wednesday’s pickleball coaching session without too much pain. I was very careful of how I demonstrated certain drills and techniques, then mostly stood to the side and observed the students. It was a 90-minute lesson and I think it went well.

Later in the afternoon, DHL delivered again. Yeah, I bought another Japanese kitchen knife. I know, how many do you need, right? Well, it’s like cowboy boots – just one more is always the answer. I wanted to have a longer slicing knife to use for brisket and tri-tip off the smoker. A Japanese style called a sujihiki was what I wanted. Sujihikis are usually long and only about one and a half inches (38mm) tall at the heel of the blade. They are ideal for cutting boneless meat into thin strips.

I had sent an e-mail with questions to Japanese Chef Knives and got a prompt rely from the boss there, Koki Iwahara. I placed the order for a JCK Natures Blue Moon kuritsuki/sujihiki. These knives are hand made in Sanjo, Niigata Prefecture, Japan. Japan had a number of well-known blademaking cities, each with its own take on knife making. Sanjo historically was a place where blacksmiths made mostly farming tools. That changed and today there are reportedly around 100 knife factories in Niigata Prefecture. Factory in this sense doesn’t mean what we might think of a factory.

Many knife makers operate out of a small dwelling – maybe the size of an American two-car garage with one to three workers. This is typical in Sanjo where all of the knife making process, other than the handle, takes place under one roof. In other areas, different steps in the process are contracted out to various specialists.

Typical Sanjo knife factory – photo from Tokyoknives.com blog

Once again, Koki and DHL came through. The knife left Tokyo on Monday and I had it Wednesday afternoon. It’s a 9.5-inch (240mm) sujihiki with a “K” type reverse tanto tip.

I ordered a saya (wood sheath) to go with it. I oiled the chestnut handle and magnolia saya with camellia oil and it darkened nicely.

The extremely sharp blade is made from Hitachi Aogami #2 – also called blue steel #2 – a high carbon steel that’s not corrosion resistant. The blade is san-mai, that is, it’s three layers. The core of Aogami #2 is clad with soft stainless steel on each side, like a sandwich. This gives the advantage of the hard blue steel edge and the toughness of the soft cladding – otherwise the blade would be too brittle and fragile.

Wednesday evening, Donna cooked seared ahi (yellowfin tuna) and I put the sujihiki to test. It sliced the ahi cleanly with one pulling stroke into thin serving slices. She served it over Japanese fried rice with grilled bok choy. Delicious!

Seared ahi over fried rice with bok choy and a dab of wasabi

On Friday, Donna made an announcement on social media that she’s been considering for awhile. She officially announced her retirement. No more articles, newsletters or books to write, no more interviews with magazines and no more blogging. She’s selling her Internet domain name and completely leaving the organizing business. Her days are already full with tennis, pickleball, bicycling and sometimes just relaxing with a book.

I had another delivery and set about doing some regular RV maintenance work on Friday. I had ordered replacement filter cartridges from the RV Water Filter Store for our dual canister water filtration system. I replace the cartridges on a regular schedule – the sediment filter gets changed every three months while the carbon block filter gets changed every six months.

The water here in the desert is very hard with lots of mineral content. Additionally, in December, they replaced the water meters in the park, which undoubtedly released sediment into the pipes.

The 5-micron sediment filter really showed a lot of trapped debris and rust. I like the 5-micron element as it it’s fine enough, but still allows good flow. A one-micron filter would trap smaller particles, but it also impedes flow.

The weather has been delightful – as forecast, the highs have been in the mid to upper 70s with overnight lows around 50. We’ll have a few more nice days ahead, but clouds and a chance of rain are in the forecast by the end of the week.

Yakitori

I haven’t been motivated to write a post in the last week. In fact, I haven’t had much motivation at all. My back problems persisted. I was good for a couple of days, then the sharp pains returned for a few hours. Then I was good again for a couple of days followed by another set-back. I’ve been taking it really easy – resting, reading and not lifting or reaching for anything.

The situation is far better than it was a couple of weeks ago, but I haven’t been able to play pickleball or engage in any real activity. I’m feeling pretty good today and I plan to give my weekly pickleball lesson at noon – I cancelled last week’s session.

One thing I managed to accomplish was making yakitori. Yakitori is a Japanese dish, typically made from chicken and grilled on skewers. It can be made from other proteins though. Yakitori can be seasoned very simply – just salt and pepper – or it can be grilled with a tare (TA-reh) sauce glazing. Tare can also be served on the side with the yakitori.

I made my tare sauce Friday afternoon. It involved combining a number of ingredients including soy sauce, mirin, rice wine vinegar, saki, brown sugar and chopped spices like garlic, ginger, scallions and black peppercorns. I combined the ingredients, brought them to a boil, then simmered them. Before I put the sauce pan on heat, I measured the depth of the liquid by dipping a wooden toothpick in it. The tare stained the toothpick, giving me a starting depth gauge.

I simmered the tare until the liquid reduced by half. This took a lot longer than I expected – close to an hour. I strained the liquid into a Mason jar, removing all of the chopped ingredients and refrigerated it. Tare can be kept refrigerated for a long time – some Japanese yakitori chefs keep adding to their batch of tare and haven’t run out in years!

On Saturday, I boned four chicken thighs. The new honesuki boning knife I mentioned in my last post worked a treat. But, cleanly boning each thigh to produce one continuous piece of meat was harder and took longer than I expected. I’m sure I’ll get better at it with more experience. I planned to make a yakitori called negima.

For this, I cut the thigh meat into squares of about an inch. I kept the skin on about half of the pieces. I skewered it with a one-inch cut of green onion between every other chicken piece. I also rolled up some of the peeled skin to skewer on the end for a crunchy bite called kawa.

Once I had the skewers cooking on the grill, I brushed them with the tare. You need to wait until the chicken is nearly done to avoid burning the tare.

Meanwhile, Donna prepared Japanese fried rice. You may wonder, what’s the difference between Japanese fried rice and Chinese fried rice? Mainly, Japanese fried rice is made from short-grain rice while Chinese uses long-grain.

She also sauteed shishito peppers to have on the side. We plated the food with some extra tare on the side.

My kawa didn’t come out crispy enough. I think I packed the skewers a little too tightly. It’s a learning process, but the meal was delicious. The tare was a real treat – the chicken was tender, juicy and flavorful and the fried rice was nearly perfect. I’ll keep working on perfecting yakitori.

Last night, Donna prepared an Italian dish for dinner. She’s been wanting to go to Cafe Roma, one of our favorite Italian restaurants, but with the covid restrictions we haven’t made it there. Donna made her marinara from scratch, added Italian sausage and served over sausage stuffed ravioli. Delicious!

Sausage stuffed ravioli with marinara and Italian sausage

So, other than food topics, I don’t have much to add at this time.

Our neighbors from Iowa, Dean and Janice, arrived yesterday. We’ve been next-door neighbors every winter for the last four or five years.

The weather has been a little cool, but more than bearable. Our daily highs have been mid-to-upper 60s. Overnight lows are very cool, dipping to the upper 30s or low 40s. We should see 68 degrees today with clear skies. The forecast through the weekend calls for abundant sunshine and daily highs in the mid 70s.

DHL Delivers

In my last post, I said we were planning to drive over to Lotus International Market in west Mesa to buy some odds and ends I needed to learn how to make yakitori. My memory was faulty though. Lotus International wasn’t the store I thought it was. It had mostly spices and ingredients for Indian cuisine. We went to Asiana Market about a mile west on Dobson at Southern Avenue.

By then, it was after 1pm and we hadn’t eaten lunch. Asiana Market has a small food court where we found excellent Korean style noodle dishes for lunch. I also found what I was looking for in the store. Getting in and out of the Midget didn’t do my back any favors, so I took it easy over the weekend.

Speaking of favors, RV Parts Center did me right by shipping out the TriMark door lock right away. It arrived intact on Monday. The broken entry door lock assembly was bothersome. I had it rigged so I could get it to open the door, but I was a little worried about it not working and locking us out of the coach.

Broken door lock – the handle is out of alignment and barely useable

Removal of the lock assembly was quick and painless – it only involved two circlips and one mounting nut.

With the old lock in hand, I could see clearly how it failed. The pivot point for the mechanism was cast into a pot-metal housing. The metal fatigued and a piece broke off, allowing the mechanism to slide out of the housing rather than pivot as designed.

Installation of the new part was a breeze. The outer handle surround is a little different shape on the replacement part – it’s a more modern look.

I had one issue though. The part that clamps the lock assembly to the door has an arrow and is marked “Keyplug this end.” When I tried to put the clamp in place, it wouldn’t sit right. I flipped it so the arrow was pointing down and it fit perfectly. I assembled it this way and it worked fine. But it bothered me.

I got on the Internet and searched through TriMark’s site until I found engineering drawings of the lock assembly. I found the nomenclature they use for the lock. Keyplug refers to what I would call a lock cylinder. For reasons I can’t fathom, they want the mounting clamp oriented with the arrow pointing toward the lock cylinder. I took it back apart and flipped the clamp – it took a bit of fiddling, but I got it in place. Job done!

Tuesday turned out to be a breakthrough day for me. My back was much improved – I still had a lower back ache, but that’s the thing. It was a dull ache, not the sudden, sharp debilitating pain I was experiencing up until then. I cancelled the pickleball coaching session for Wednesday and I’m hoping another week of resting my back will do the trick.

I was outside reading a book and monitoring radio traffic on two local repeaters when a Jeep stopped in front of our site. The driver called out “CQ…CQ…CQ.” That’s ham-speak meaning “seeking a contact – any station.” It turned out to be Dave and Shannon – fellow RVers we met a few years ago in San Diego. I didn’t know Dave was a ham, but he is. They’re currently at Usery Regional Park, but need to move in about a week and they were checking out Viewpoint. We chatted for a few minutes before they left to look at another RV park.

Our friends Dick and Roxy Zarowny arrived from Spokane, Washington on Tuesday afternoon. They’re two sites down from us. Yesterday, Dick was having an issue with his generator. Previously, he had a carburetor problem and a shop replaced the carb. He was trying to run the generator, but it wouldn’t start. I went over to have a look. What I found was a voltage drop at the generator when he tried to start it,. I suspected high resistance or a bad battery.

We found a lot of corrosion at the chassis battery terminals. Dick took them apart and cleaned them with a baking soda solution. The generator still just clicked without turning over. Dick made a call to someone in Spokane and was told to switch the 50amp connection off. The generator started. I can’t make sense of this – the transfer switch should have all loads disconnected from the generator until the generator is running. It’s puzzling. I’m afraid I wasn’t much help – I was concerned about bending and reaching while checking it over – I didn’t want my back to start acting up again. I still have a dull ache in my lower back.

My current obsession is Japanese style cooking and Japanese kitchen knives. It all started when I bought a set of Japanese kitchen knives for Donna. Japanese knives tend to be specialized for specific tasks. They’re also elegant – my set of J.A. Henckels German kitchen knives seem clunky in comparison. A couple of weeks ago, I ordered a Japanese bunka knife, thinking it would be just the thing for trimming meats for the smoker. It turned out to be a good choice – it makes trimming fat and silverskin easy.

I spent about a week looking for a Japanese boning knife. I settled on a honesuki – a Japanese knife specifically made for breaking down and boning chicken. It also works well for pork ribs and any task other than actually cleaving through bones. After much reading and comparisons, I ordered a Misono 145mm Honesuki made from Swedish carbon steel.

All of our previous kitchen knives have been made from stainless alloys. This Swedish steel is a low alloy steel often referred to as carbon steel – a misnomer as all steel contains carbon. Carbon steel can take a finer edge and be hardened in way that holds the fine edge for extended use. It also is easier to sharpen in most cases than stainless steel which has a high chromium content.

Steel made from iron ore mined in Sweden has been a choice for sword and knife makers for centuries. It was known to have a finer grain and great strength. Now we know why – the iron mined in Sweden has trace amounts of a magic ingredient – Vanadium. Nowadays, vanadium is routinely added to many alloys for greater strength. The big drawback is corrosion resistance – or lack thereof. Carbon steel will corrode and rust fairly quickly if not kept clean and dry or oiled. Since the intended use of this knife is parting and boning chicken or separating rib bones, I wasn’t worried about corrosion. It would be different if I intended to use it on acidic fruits and vegetables. With the intended use, I don’t think keeping it in good condition will be an issue.

Remember the troubles we had with the US Postal Service? Here’s a contrasting delivery story. I ordered the Misono knife from Japanese Chef Knives (JCK) in Tokyo, Japan. I placed the order late Sunday afternoon which was early Monday morning in Tokyo. The next morning, I had an e-mail from JCK telling me the knife had shipped via DHL. Tuesday morning I had tracking info from DHL and expected delivery was between 2pm and 6pm Friday. Wednesday morning I had an e-mail with updated tracking – the knife went from Tokyo to Cincinnati, Ohio on Tuesday. Wednesday morning it arrived in Phoenix. Then I got another update advising delivery would be Wednesday afternoon! I received the knife around 3pm Wednesday. Tokyo to Cincinnati to Phoenix to Mesa – it left Tokyo Monday and I had it two days later!

I’m impressed with DHL Worldwide delivery

Knife packed with blade wrapped in anti-corrosion paper

I also ordered some accessories from JCK. Donna’s santoku knife doesn’t fit in our knife blocks, so we’ve been keeping it in a drawer with the blade protected by a cardboard cover. Keeping knives loose in a drawer is less than ideal. Not only can it be hazardous to have sharp blades exposed, the blade can also suffer damage when the edge is jostled against another hard steel knife in the drawer.

Japanese chefs often store their knives in a wooden saya – a sheath made from wood. I ordered three sayas of different sizes from JCK – one for the santoku, one for the bunka and one for the honesuki. They’re made from magnolia, are light weight and will protect the blades from damage or unsuspecting fingers.

I also bought some camellia oil on Amazon. This oil is food-grade and comes from Japanese camellia seeds. It’s often used as an antioxidant for skin and hair, but it’s favored by chefs and wood workers for preserving blade steel.

The great weather has continued with blue skies, light winds and afternoon temperatures in the low 70s. The highs are forecast to be a little lower over the weekend – high 60s – but we should be back into the 70s next week. The overnight lows are very cool. The cloudless skies means the temperature drops quickly at night and last night, we had a low of 35 degrees.

Goodbye 2020

Happy New Year! January 2nd already! The new year is always a time for reflection and also for looking ahead. The last 12 months have been interesting, and not in a good way. It’s an old Chinese curse – may you live in interesting times! For us, it started around March as dire pandemic predictions were being made and people reacted.

First, there was the run on toilet paper. Then there were lines to get into stores and new rules for social behavior. Eventually we had lockdowns. You all remember this. It also meant a change in our plans for the year. We stayed here at Viewpoint Golf and RV Resort until the end of April – a little later than usual. We felt like we were fairly isolated from the general public in a bubble here.

Our original thought was to leave by mid-April and head over to San Diego. Lockdowns changed that plan. We decided to stay out of California for a while. We went to the northeast part of Arizona, then headed up through the Navajo Nation to western Colorado. We stayed out west and went up through Wyoming, western Montana and parts of Idaho we hadn’t visited before.

By mid-July we found ourselves in familiar grounds at Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. By staying in rural areas up to that point, the pandemic was less bothersome and we didn’t meet anyone that had symptoms of the Wuhan flu. In western Washington, we visited family and I took up ham radio as a new hobby.

We left Washington in mid-August and came back through Idaho on the west side, staying mostly rural again. We saw some awesome sights along the way and came down to Utah – where we saw more awesomeness. We spent October at Lake Pleasant, Arizona, then Buckeye before settling back in at Viewpoint on November 14th.

We managed to avoid coronavirus symptoms along the way. We stayed at fewer places than we usually visit and only traveled about 4,100 miles in the coach in 2020. We stayed healthy for the most part – until I hurt my back a few weeks ago.

Looking forward, things will change again. We’re purchasing a park model home here at Viewpoint Golf and RV Resort. It’s a small unit – about 800 square feet – on the nine-hole golf course. Our back deck will face the fairway just before the 6th green. There are two golf courses here – the nine-hole and an 18-hole course. There are also swimming pools (four), tennis courts, pickleball courts and shared areas like banquet halls and so on that are currently closed down.

The plan for the future is to travel during the summer months when we can find good weather up north and escape the desert heat. We’ll store the coach and stay here over the winter months.

Meanwhile, life goes on. And it’s not such a bad life. The pandemic is affecting everyone and everything but we aren’t complaining. Donna continues to cook great meals and I still get to man the Traeger for smoked meats. In fact, I cut a two-pound London broil and made jerky a few days ago. Donna thinks it’s my best jerky ever.

We had a couple of setbacks though. Our microwave/convection oven broke and needed to be replaced. With that done, it was only a matter of time before something else came up – Murphy’s Law and all that. A few days ago, the entry door latch started sticking. Then Donna opened the door and said something went “pop” and the handle didn’t feel right.

I took the door panel off and found a broken door latch mechanism. When you pull the handle, a part of the mechanism rotates in the door latch housing. This rotating part is what levers the door lock pin to release the door. The part has a stamped pin/axle that fits in a hole in the housing. I found the housing had broken – a piece of metal separated and opened the hole for the pin/axle so it no longer captures the pin/axle. This, in turn, allows the rotating part to just flop around instead of levering the door latch pin in to allow the door to open.

I found a source for the TriMark door latch and lock assembly at RV Parts Center. But, the catalog was unclear and although I thought I had found the correct replacement part, I was unsure. On Wednesday morning, I called RV Parts Center and talked to John. He thought I had the right part in mind, but wanted a photo of the old assembly to be sure. I was pressed for time. I had re-assembled the door panel and I had to coach my pickleball session in half an hour – and I needed to have lunch before I went to teach the pickleball lesson. John told me if I couldn’t get him a photo soon, they wouldn’t be able to help until next week – they were closing for New Year, Thursday through Sunday.

I scrambled and got him a photo.

John confirmed the part match and shipped the part Wednesday afternoon. It’s scheduled to arrive January 5th, but it was shipped via USPS priority mail. I haven’t had much luck with USPS lately. I ordered cigars on November 28th and they were shipped priority mail. On December 5th, the update just said “In transit.” On December 20th, they were still “In transit.” I called the shipper and they sent me a replacement order, which shipped out on the 22nd. On the 23rd, I received the first order – 25 days in transit! On the 26th, I received the replacement order – four days in transit! So, it’s hit or miss. Donna missed with USPS on Christmas cookies she sent out to family. None of them arrived before Christmas although she sent them on December 15.

Giving the pickleball lesson turned out to be a mistake. I got a little too “hands on” in the session and Thursday I could hardly move without intense pain in my lower back. I’d been taking naproxen to counter the inflammation for a week and needed to stop. Naproxen is hard on your stomach and kidneys. Donna heard about a natural pain reliever called Curamin. A woman here at Viewpoint takes it for chronic knee pain and she swears by it – it allows her to play pickleball pain free. Donna found it at Sprouts Market and bought a bottle for me. I started taking it Thursday evening and it works! I’m experiencing less pain than I had while I was taking naproxen.

Now I just need to rest my back and allow the strain to heal. I’ve been taking it easy, spending a lot of time reading. I read the Knife Engineering book cover to- cover and learned much about steel chemistry and manufacturing. Donna joked that it must be a real page turner! Seriously, I hope I never lose the thirst for learning.

We continue to enjoy good home-cooked meals. This week Donna prepared a delicious chicken dish – spinach and cheese stuffed chicken.

She kicked off the new year with a breakfast frittata that had asparagus, broccoli, tomatoes, ham and Italian cheese with herbs.

Last night we had great Italian sausage lentil soup. Super tasty! She got the recipe from a friend who says it’s a New Year’s tradition in their Italian home to make this soup. It’s supposed to bring good luck in the new year. The soup can also be made with cooked ham or smoked sausage. The original recipe called for ditalini, but Donna substituted orzo.

Today, I think I’ll drive over to west Mesa to the Lotus International Asian market. I want to buy some ingredients for Yakitori – I want to make some Japanese dishes. The weather had remained on the cool side and I’ve left the top up on Midget-San. Our daily highs have just been breaking into the low 60s with overnight lows in the high 30s. Brrr. There’s a warming trend forecast though – we should be back in the 70s in the next week with lows in the 40s.

Belated Christmas Dinner

I mentioned in my last post our plan to head over to Wickenburg for a family holiday gathering. Saturday afternoon I put the top up on Midget-San. I usually just raise the top without fastening it, then cover the car while it’s parked at our site. We normally drop the top whenever we drive. Donna wanted the top up for warmth on the 100-mile drive.

I put the top up and fastened it in the afternoon when the sun would likely soften the material. Getting the top fastened in place is always a wrestling match. The top material has to stretch slightly over the frame work and clamps to the windshield frame. Driving the Midget with the top up is a different experience. It’s much noisier inside and getting in and out of the small sports car is a little more difficult. With my back troubles, it wasn’t fun to climb out of the driver’s seat.

We hit a red light at Brown Road, about two miles from our site at Viewpoint, then didn’t stop at all over the next 90 miles. Our route took us on the Loop 202 (Red Mountain Freeway), then Loop 101 to I-17 to AZ74 (Carefree Highway). Midget-San with the Nissan A15 engine and five-speed transmission made the drive at 70mph without strain.

Our destination was my ex-wife’s house that she and her husband Jerry recently moved into. It’s north of Wickenburg about 5 miles in a housing tract called Wickenburg Ranch. It’s new construction in a gated community with a golf course. My middle daughter, Jamie and her man Francisco were there and his son Trey. My oldest daughter, Alana, and her fiance Kevin came down from Arlington, Washington with their kids – Gabi and Lainey, our granddaughters – and Kyle and Nick, Kevin’s sons.

The trip to Arizona was a surprise for the kids – they didn’t know anything about it until they were told to pack on Christmas Day. My youngest daughter, Shauna, couldn’t make it. She and her boyfriend, Gabe, returned from a trip to Bermuda, where Shauna will be working soon. On Saturday, they were at Gabe’s parents’ house in North Carolina.

We arrived at LuAnn and Jerry’s place just before noon. LuAnn was the only one home at first. Kyle and Nick were fishing at a pond with Jerry while Alana and Kevin were on the golf course. I’m not sure where Lainey and Gabi were, but we were all together soon enough and started in on hors d’oeuvres.

Charcuterie tray – just a small sample of the appetizers set out.

We grazed on the appetizers, drank mimosas and talked with football on the TVs. Donna contributed a baba ganoush dish with flatbread and brought the mimosa fixings plus chewy molasses cookies she made.

Meanwhile there was a turkey cooking and Jamie brought a ham. Everything was set out on the kitchen island and it was time to plate up!

Granddaughters Lainey and Gabi plating dinner

LuAnn and Jerry are just starting to settle into their place and it isn’t completely furnished yet. We had a variety of chairs to seat everyone around the tables.

I should mention that everyone in the room except Donna and me and LuAnn and Jerry have had coronavirus. And the four of us who haven’t had it have been taking precautions. So we felt that this particular group setting was fairly low-risk, especially since we kept the doors open the entire time we were there and spent some time outdoors as well.

I didn’t want to make the 100-mile drive back to Viewpoint through the desert at night, so we checked in at the Best Western in town. We had a quiet night and I was surprised to find the complimentary breakfast was a hot meal with scrambled eggs, bacon and biscuit. The trip back was uneventful and we were home before noon on Monday.

I mentioned the knife set Donna got for Christmas in my last post. When Cutlery and More (a retailer and online store of kitchen gear near Chicago) shipped her knife set, I received an e-mail notification. The e-mail also included a $25 gift card for my next purchase. I couldn’t resist. I shopped around and decided I needed a bunka-type knife. A bunka is a versatile Japanese knife that could be considered a kitchen-prep knife suitable for anything from vegetables to trimming beef.

I wanted a knife to trim the cuts of meat I smoke in the Traeger. This could mean trimming anything from babyback ribs to brisket. I found a small bunka – five and a half-inch blade length. Most bunka knives are around seven inches blade length. I felt five and a half inches was adequate for my use and easier to handle in a small kitchen space.

Cutlery and More had just the thing and it was on sale for Christmas. I ordered an Enso knife by Yaxell made in Seki City, Japan. With the sale price and my gift card, I was able to get this knife for just $64. The blade on this knife is Damascus – it has a very thin core made of VG10 steel at a hardness of 61-62 HRC. This thin core is hard, sharp and somewhat brittle. To counter the brittleness, the core is laminated with 18 layers of stainless steel on each side, alternating between relatively hard steel and soft steel making the blade much tougher and less likely to break. There are 37 layers of steel altogether. The knife was delivered shortly after we returned home.

I don’t fool myself into thinking a Japanese blacksmith made this by hammering red-hot steel on an anvil. Most likely, this is made from a laminated Damascus sheet supplied by Takefu Steel (maker of VG10 steel), which is ground and heat-treated. The hammer finish is most likely applied by pneumatic or hydraulic hammer machines. No matter, it’s still a high-quality knife with a beautiful finish – and it’s razor sharp. It’s going to be just right for slicing a fat cap down to <1/4″.

I’m doing a little more studying to increase my knowledge of knives. I’m not studying so I can start designing and making my own knives – I just want to gain a deeper understanding and be able to cut through the marketing hype (pun intended). To that end, I ordered a book from Amazon – Knife Engineering by Dr. Larrin Thomas. I was familiar with Larrin’s work from his website – Knife Steel Nerds. He has the rare ability to take complex engineering topics and explain it in a way that a layperson can understand. It’s hard to grasp from his website as the topics range from basic to highly advanced – without a logical progression. His book organizes his writings in a way that takes the reader from basic ideas up to complex applications, each chapter building off of the last.

We had a high temperature of 68 degrees yesterday, but gusty winds made it feel cooler. After dark, a few rain showers came through. We can expect the cool days with temps in the low 60s for the rest of the week – no rain is forecast though. Though my lower back continues to be problematic, I hope I can return to the pickleball courts soon.

German or Japanese?

I closed my last post on Sunday saying I had a few days left to shop for Donna’s Christmas present. This was a bit of mis-direction – I didn’t want Donna to know I’d already selected and ordered a gift for her. She always comes up with something thoughtful and useful for me. More about Christmas later.

On Monday morning, I played in the 3.5+ pickleball round-robin. I played fairly well and had a good time. Donna and I returned to the pickleball courts on Wednesday morning for open play. We played several games, then it happened again. We were teamed up versus our friends, Ginny and Joe. Joe hit a low, short shot in front of me. I lunged forward and bent down to return the ball. Something in my lower back disagreed with the move. I could barely move without triggering jolts of pain. I was done with pickleball for the day.

A couple of people offered to give me a ride home in their golf carts. I thanked them and declined. I thought sitting in the golf cart might be too painful if we hit any bumps. I figured walking slowly might loosen up my lower back. It was a slow trip home. I took some naproxen and put a heating pad in my chair and have done that every day since then. Next week I’ll start working on some stretching exercises.

In the evening we got into the Christmas spirit by watching a movie on NetFlix called Christmas Chronicles. It was a comedy geared more for children but Kurt Russell gave an outstanding performance as St. Nick. We enjoyed it.

About 18 years ago, I bought a set of kitchen cutlery made by J. A. Henckels of Solingen, Germany. I thought they were pretty nice knives and they are decent quality. They’re in a butcher block knife holder along with a mish-mash of other kitchen knives. A couple of years ago, I bought Donna a Japanese Santoku knife. It’s just over six inches in blade length and only 1.8mm thick. It’s extremely sharp. Donna uses it for special cuts – like fileting chicken breasts into thin slices.

About 10 days ago, while Donna was prepping vegetables for dinner, I had a thought. I should get Donna a new set of knives. I did some homework and decided to get a set of Japanese kitchen cutlery. Most professional kitchens are equipped with either German cutlery or Japanese. Many avid home cooks choose one or the other, but honestly I think the average household is satisfied with whatever Chinese-made knives they found at Walmart or maybe a QVC-special Ginsu set.

German knife makers and Japanese knife makers take a different approach in the their knife design and manufacturing. The biggest difference is found in the most important part – the blade. German knife designs tend to be very robust and heavy with thick blade stock. Japanese kitchen knives are thinner, lighter, more elegant and specialized. German knife blades are usually sharpened with a double bevel and the edge angle is 20 degrees per side or more. Japanese knives have various edge grinds but they’re usually a straight grind with an acute angle of 12 to 16 degrees per side. For example, the Henckels eight-inch chef’s knife blade is 3.7mm thick at the thickest part of the spine by the handle. The Japanese chef’s knife – called a gyuto – is typically 2mm or less at the thickest part of the spine.

The Japanese knife makers get away with the thin blades and sharp grinds by using steels that are considerably harder than the typical German knife. A German knife steel is usually heat treated to a hardness of 52-54 on the Rockwell C hardness scale – the abbreviation is HRC, not RCH as you might think. Japanese knife steel is heat treated to hardness ranging from around 58 HRC up to the mid 60s. This is a big difference.

Japanese knives can be made sharper and hold the edge better due to the hardness, but there’s a trade-off. Japanese cutlery tends to be more delicate and prone to chipping or even breakage if abused while German knives are more forgiving and robust. That’s one of the reasons Japanese cutlery is so specialized – they have a different criteria for knife specifications for almost anything you might want to cut in the kitchen.

After researching and shopping around, I thought I found a great fit for Donna. Donna’s hands are on the smaller size, so I looked for lightweight Japanese knives with handles made for smaller hands. I decided on Global brand knives made in Niigata, Japan by Yoshikin. These are unique knives that were considered to be very futuristic when they first hit the market in 1985. They caught on quickly with professional chefs and were also popular in homes with lots of stainless steel appliances.

This was due to the design which uses stainless steel (Cromova steel) exclusively. The knives are made from three pieces of stainless steel – the blade and two sides of the handle. The handle has a hollow portion that’s filled with a precise amount of sand to balance the various blades used – you can’t tell there’s sand inside. The three pieces are welded together, then ground and polished, making the finished product look like it was sculpted from a single chunk of steel. The handles have dimples filled with black paint to make them grippy.

Photos lifted from Cutlery and More webpage

The set L to R – 8.5″ bread knife (pankiri), 8″ chef’s knife (gyuto), 6″ scalloped utility knife,5.5″ vegetable knife (nakiri), 3.5″paring knife (petty)

By the way – stainless steel is a misnomer. There’s no such thing as stainless – it would be better to call it stain-less. It’s less prone to corrosion than low-alloy carbon steel, but any steel can and will corrode.

Donna has used the knives – mostly the nakiri vegetable knife – a couple of times and she reports favorably. She says vegetable prep is much easier and faster with these knives. I watched her mince fresh rosemary, garlic and basil into nearly a powder in a few seconds. These knives are extremely sharp right out of the box. I demonstrated this to Donna by taking a sheet of thin tissue paper the knives were wrapped with and holding it up in my left hand. I sliced through the free hanging paper cleanly without catching or tearing.

Donna bought a goody for dinner on Christmas Eve. She came home from Albertson’s grocery with four lobster tails. She cooked them and served them with Australian style potatoes called crash hot potatoes. She made them by boiling small potatoes, then she placed them on an oiled cookie sheet and pressed them with a potato masher. Then she drizzled with a little olive oil, sprinkled with fresh chopped rosemary, garlic, salt, pepper and parmesan cheese. She baked them at 450 degrees for 20 minutes. I love ’em. We had a dim sum appetizer and ginger carrot soup before the main entree.

Lobster tail, crash hot potatoes and fresh green beans.

Our Christmas dinner was covid compliant – we didn’t go out or join anyone, it was just us. Donna made a shepherd’s pie. The filling included a pound of brisket that I had chopped into small cubes and froze last week. The brisket I made last weekend ended up in several meals. We had the dinner when I first took the brisket out of the Traeger – that’s two servings. Then I had brisket sandwiches twice last week and Donna had two salads with brisket strips – that’s four more meals. The shepherd’s pie is enough for four servings for a total of 10 meals. The $48 I paid for the Prime brisket doesn’t seem like so much now.

I’ve only had shepherd’s pie once before that I can recall. It’s a great dish!

The weather has been great other than some gusty, high winds on Wednesday afternoon and night. It’s 55 degrees outside as I type this morning and we should have a high of around 70 degrees. The skies are blue and cloudless. Tomorrow we’ll drive out west to Wickenburg where we’ll meet up with my daughter, Jamie and Francisco at LuAnn and Jerry’s new house. LuAnn is my ex-wife and Jerry is her husband – Jamie’s step-dad. Google maps says it’s a 100-mile drive each way. We’ll stay overnight at the Best Western in Wickenburg and return on Monday morning.

Good Gravy!

The week since I last posted was mostly routine, nothing too special. At least it was until Thursday. I played pickleball in the morning with the 3.5 group and planned to head to Costco before lunch. I wanted to look for a beef brisket flat. I thought about getting another tri-tip, but Donna thought I should smoke a brisket. She was right, as usual. It’s been a while since I’ve done a brisket in the Traeger.

My last game Thursday morning changed my plan. On the last shot of the final game, my opponent hit a lob to the back right corner of the court. I beat feet from my position on the left side of the court, caught up with ball as it bounced and twisted my body to the left to make the return shot. When I did this, it felt like an electric jolt ran through my spine. I limped home after the game.

A trip to Costco was out. I was afraid if I got into the Midget, I wouldn’t be able to get out. I popped a 500 milligram naproxen tablet that I had left over from a previous injury and sat outside with a heating pad on my lower back. After dinner, I took an Aleve pill and wasn’t good for much.

Friday morning I felt better, and took another naproxen with breakfast. By 11am, I was feeling pretty good and decided to make the Costco run and check out the briskets there. Once again, the Costco foot traffic was fairly light. I didn’t expect this a week before Christmas. I think the lack of snowbirds from Canada is having an effect.

Costco had whole packer briskets in the 16- to 20-pound range and flats cut in the seven- to nine-pound range. This was way more than I wanted to buy – it’s just Donna and me. The brisket was USDA Choice and I think it was $6.79/lb. They had USDA Prime tri-tips, but I passed on them and thought I would go to Chuck’s Fine Meats again and see what he had. I wrote about USDA meat grades in this post and everything you ever wanted to know about brisket here.

At Chuck’s, I found USDA Prime brisket flats. The butcher selected a four and a 1/2-pound hunk of flat (HOF) for me. I don’t recall ever seeing USDA Prime brisket before. It wasn’t cheap at $10/pound. Back at home I found it needed very little trimming – they had already trimmed most of the fat cap to less than a quarter of an inch. I seasoned it with the Kinder’s Blend – salt, pepper and dehydrated garlic granules – wrapped it in cling wrap and put it in the refrigerator. I didn’t do much of anything else Friday. I wanted to rest my back. Meanwhile, Donna played pickleball in the morning and tennis in the afternoon.

Saturday morning, I filled the hopper of the Traeger wood-pellet fired smoker grill with CookinPellets Perfect Mix – a blend of hickory, cherry, hard maple and apple wood pellets – and fired up the Traeger. I put the brisket HOF on at 8:30am on the smoke setting. I mixed up a mop sauce to baste the brisket. I used a base of eight ounces of Pepsi cola and added two ounces of apple cider vinegar and a tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce. I used Pepsi as a base instead of the usual beer because I wanted to add some sugar for the bark. I spritzed the brisket every hour with the mop sauce from a spray bottle.

I left it on the smoke setting for two hours, but I wasn’t getting much heat. The pit temperature was only about 150 degrees, so I increased the temperature to 180 for the next hour. Then I stepped it up to 225 and continued to spritz the meat every hour. At 1:30pm, I checked the brisket with an instant read thermometer in the thickest part and found the internal temperature to be 150 degrees. I checked it again at 2:30pm and found it was stalled at 169 degrees. I pulled the brisket off the smoker and double wrapped it in foil, basted it heavily and put it back inside.

I didn’t open the smoker again until 4pm when I carefully peeled back an opening in the foil and checked it again with the instant read thermometer – I was close, it read 191 degrees. I closed it up and waited another 25 minutes. When I checked it at 4:25pm, it read 201 degrees. Perfect!

Next I bundled the foil-wrapped brisket in a heavy towel and packed it away in the microwave/convection oven. I didn’t turn the oven on, I just wanted to pack the insulated brisket in a confined space so it would hold its temperature for a long while. It would re-absorb some of the moisture in the foil while it slowly cooled. Meanwhile, Donna cooked red potatoes and made southern fried cabbage with bacon. After resting for an hour and a half, I pulled the brisket out of the oven and opened the foil. It was still steaming hot and the bottom of the foil held about a cup and a half of au jus from the rendered fats and collagen.

Brisket HOF with au jus in the background

Donna calls the au jus “gravy.” That works for me. I sliced the thin part of the flat off – I’ll cube it for use in other dishes later – then I confirmed the grain direction so I could slice across the grain. This was the most tender hunk of brisket I’ve ever encountered.

Sliced brisket served with smashed red potatoes and southern fried cabbage with bacon

The brisket displayed a beautiful pink, or magenta, smoke ring penetrating a quarter-inch or more into the meat. It was absolutely delicious and tender – there was no need for steak knives. We cut it on the plate with regular table knives. Donna had a glass of California merlot while I paired my dinner with Four Peaks Kilt Lifter Scottish ale. I have about a cup of au jus leftover and plenty of brisket for sandwiches and whatever else Donna comes up with. I guess the premium price for USDA Prime at Chuck’s Fine Meats is worth it.

The weather has been on the cool side. We’ve had daily highs in the low to mid 60s with overnight lows down to the upper 30s the last couple of nights. A warming trend should begin today and we’ll see mid 70s again if the forecast holds true. I’ll take it easy again today and hit the pickleball 3.5+ round-robin tomorrow.

Have a safe and merry Christmas. That reminds me – Christmas presents. Sometimes I’m at a loss to think of a good present for Donna. I still have a few days!

Pickleball Santa

We’ve been playing pickleball most mornings here at Viewpoint Golf and RV Resort. With the Covid-19 restrictions in place, the round-robin play has been a little different. Round-robin games this year are timed events – we play for 13 minutes, then rotate players. First team to 11 wins, but play continues until time expires. If there’s a tie with less than 11 points scored, the team that reached the tying score first wins.

This is done to prevent everyone from huddling together inbetween games to get the next court assignment and record scores. The real downside to this is the lack of records of wins and points scored. We usually record this info to help establish what level you should be competing in. For example, if your average score with a variety of pickleball partners in round-robin play is five or six, you are probably dragging your partner down and should move down a level. On the other hand, if you average eight or nine points per game, you’re fine at that level.

We’ve been playing at the 3.5+ round-robin on Monday mornings and hold up at that level. Last week, Donna signed up for 3.0 play on Friday. They didn’t have enough people signed up so I told the organizer, Dennis, that I would fill in. I had an unfair advantage – I won all six of my games fairly easily. Yesterday they were short a player again, so I sand bagged again. It was fun. Donna played in a Santa Claus outfit.

I mentioned in my last post that I was going to Basha’s for some pork – specifically a Boston butt, also called pork butt, for pulled pork. I wrote about Boston butt in this post – Boston butt is a name for the upper shoulder portion of pork.

I went to Basha’s, but they were out of pork butt. I remembered a new butcher shop that opened last year on McKellips at Power Road, it’s called Chuck’s Fine Meats. I stopped there and found a super selection of meats. All of their beef is USDA Prime. They had one pork butt left, but it was a nine pound cut. That would be way more pulled pork than I wanted for Donna and me. The butcher said “No problem, what size would you like?” He proceeded to cut the shoulder in half for me.

A lot of guys like to keep about a quarter-inch of the fat cap on one side of the shoulder. The theory is the fat will render and keep the meat moist. I don’t subscribe to that theory. I think leaving a fat cap means one side of the pork is unseasoned and can also dilute the seasoning on the rest of it as it drips off. Plus, there is more than enough intramuscular fat on pork shoulder to keep the meat moist. I prepped the pork by trimming it and seasoning Tuesday afternoon. I wrapped it and put it in the refrigerator.

The next day, I put it on the Traeger around 11am, thinking it would take five or six hours to cook. I had the Traeger wood-pellet fired smoker-grill set at 225 degrees to cook the pork low and slow. There’s always an unpredictable point in the cook where it stalls. When the internal temperature of the meat hits 160-170 degrees, enough of the fats and moisture content begin to evaporate and provide evaporative cooling and the temperature quits rising. Pork shoulder should be cooked until it reaches an internal temperature of 195 to 205 degrees – just like brisket.

Some cooks will increase the pit temperature to break through the stall or wrap the meat in foil at that point to reduce evaporative cooling. I don’t like to do this, because raising the temperature too much can toughen the exterior of the meat. Conversely, foiling the meat can leave the surface a bit mushy and ruin the bark formation. I waited the stall out. I ended up cooking the pork for more than seven hours! We ate late, but it was worth the wait.

When I took the meat out of the Traeger, my instant read thermometer registered 195 degrees in the center, away from the bone. A couple of weeks ago I ordered a new utensil from Amazon called Bear Paws. These take a little bit of practice, but they’re great for shredding pulled pork.

Moist, tasty pulled pork – the bone in the upper left pulled away cleanly

The result was tender and tasty! Lat night, Donna made a favorite comfort dish again – piggy mac. This is mac and cheese laced with lots of pulled pork. Delicious!

In my last post,I hinted at something we were working on. After much thought and deliberation, we’ve decided to purchase a park model home here at Viewpoint. This will become our winter residence. We made an offer on a unit with one bedroom and a large Arizona room. It’s about 800 square feet and it’s on the golf course on the east side of the fairway for hole 6 of the nine-hole course. We have a golf course for our back yard! There’s a new deck in back and a large patio deck by the entry. We’ll sign on the dotted line this afternoon, but we won’t take possession until March. Moving forward, we intend to still travel in our motorhome in the summertime and stay here in the fall and winter months.

The weather forecast held true. We had rain on Thursday as a cold front moved through. The thermometer only reached 64 degrees on Thursday and Friday. The forecast calls for clear skies, but the daily highs are predicted to be in the mid-60s for the remainder of the month.

USDA Prime

It’s been a week since I last posted. Nothing real exciting to report. We’ve settled into a bit of routine here at Viewpoint Golf and RV Resort – pickleball in the morning, lunch, then run an errand or two. I usually spend a couple of hours enjoying a cigar and playing with ham radio.

We’re also working on something new, but we’re not at a point to open up for discussion just yet. So, this post will be mostly about the food we eat – we’re not camping out. Full-time RVing is a lifestyle and it can include good home-cooked nutrition.

Last week, I made a Costco run on Thursday. In some states like California and Arizona, Costco sells liquor. Around here, they have the best prices and I needed to restock. I was pleasantly surprised to see that entering Costco was a fairly normal affair, other than everyone wearing a mask. There wasn’t a line to get in. I just showed my card and walked in. In fact, the aisles weren’t even crowded.

While I was there, I spied packages of tri-tip beef (I posted about Santa Maria tri tip here). The packages I saw held two tri-tips with a USDA Choice shield. I thought a tri-tip would be a good idea, but I didn’t want to buy two. Then, in another cooler, I saw single tri-tips with USDA Prime grading shields. Bingo!

What are these USDA shields? The US Department of Agriculture grades commercially sold beef. There are actually eight grades, but consumers generally will only find three grades offered at retail. These grades are Prime, Choice and Select and can be identified by a USDA Shield emblem with the grade on it.

These grades are established by inspectors. They use visual, subjective criteria as well as scientific measurement with instruments to establish the grade. Prime is the juiciest and most tender – it has intramuscular fat (marbling) that makes it so desirable – it also comes from younger cattle. Less than 5% of the beef meets this grade and most of it goes to high-end hotels, resorts and restaurants.

Choice is the next grade down the ladder. It has less marbling than Prime, but it’s also a very good cut of beef. It’s the most common grade found at most retail stores. Select is leaner, less tender and may come from older animals. I avoid Select cuts.

I bought a Prime tri-tip. I also bought a jar of Kinder’s seasoning. This is the perfect blend for Santa Maria style tri-tip – it’s just salt, pepper and dehydrated garlic granules. I seasoned the tri-tip, wrapped it in cling wrap and left it in the refrigerator for 24 hours.

Friday afternoon, I warmed up the Traeger wood pellet-fired smoker grill to a temperature of 225 degrees. I put the seasoned tri-tip in and left it for two hours. I then transferred the tri-tip to the Weber Q which I had preheated to 400 degrees and seared both sides of the tri-tip for about two and half minutes per side.

I wish I had taken it out of the Traeger maybe 10 minutes earlier, but it was juicy, tender and tasty nonetheless. I cut it into strips across the grain and Donna plated it with baked potato and asparagus.

The Kinder’s seasoning was the ticket – it resulted in a perfectly seasoned tri-tip. The leftovers make excellent sandwiches too.

Donna manned the grill on Saturday and grilled her famous honey-sriracha chicken thighs. These are a favorite of ours. She served it with jasmine rice with scallions and broccoli on the side. Another nutritious, delicious meal.

Last night she added seafood to the mix. Donna grilled a wild-caught sockeye salmon filet. This time she made a side dish called breaded cauliflower with sriracha dipping sauce and fresh green beans.

Salmon with breaded cauliflower and green beans

Today I’m going to Basha’s to look for a pork shoulder cut – Boston butt. This will make an excellent pulled pork after smoking it in the Traeger. That will complete our circle of meats – beef, poultry, fish and pork. As I said, just because we’re in an RV, there’s no reason not to enjoy a variety of good home-cooked meals.

The weather has been pleasant – a little on the cool side for Arizona, but not bad. We had a couple of windy days, but it wasn’t extreme. The highs were in the mid 60s for most of the last week. Sunday we hit 75 degrees and had high 70s yesterday. This will continue until Thursday when a cold front is forecast – it may bring rain as well.

Flying The Koop

…from real estate to wheel estate and back again

Category Archives: Alpine Coach

Who’s Tracking You?

Just One More

Yakitori

DHL Delivers

Goodbye 2020

Belated Christmas Dinner

German or Japanese?

Good Gravy!

Pickleball Santa

USDA Prime

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