I had a little setback this week. Like many people my age, daily medications are the reality of life. In my case, I take a couple of medications to control high blood pressure – it’s a family trait. I don’t like it, but it’s what I need to do.
When I first started taking the medications, I wasn’t quite ready for how my body responded. One night I got out of bed and stood up a little too quickly. I immediately felt dizzy and should have sat back on the bed. Instead, I took a step and put my hand up to brace against the wall. I didn’t get there. Instead, I began to fall forward. To counter this, I took another step, then another. I picked up a little up speed, then fell flat on my face. That was several years ago.
It hasn’t happened again – well, I’ve had momentary dizziness from standing up too quickly after sitting for a period of time, but no falls. That is, until three weeks ago. The night before we left Mesa, I went down in the living room. I took a small chunk out of my nose when I fell, but it was no big thing.
On Tuesday night, we watched a few episodes of Chopped on TV. I was relaxing in the Euro-recliner while I watched TV. I’ll admit I was also sipping on a bourbon on the rocks. When it was time for bed, I stood up and turned off the TV. I felt dizzy, then the next thing I knew I was face-down on the floor, bleeding profusely from my forehead and nose and I could taste blood in my mouth.
Donna was in the bedroom but came out quickly when she heard the “Thump.” My lower front tooth was broken, I could feel it moving like a piece had split across the width of the tooth leaving a front piece that seemed fairly solid and a back piece (lingual) that was moving about. Donna helped me clean myself up and it was off to bed.
Wednesday morning I was worse for wear and appeared decidedly second-hand. My tooth was clearly an issue. Donna texted our friend, Carolyn Ower, and got a dentist recommendation. We were able to get an appointment to see Dr. Vestal at noon.
Wednesday morning
I drove to his office looking like I’d been in a bar fight – except my knuckles weren’t bruised. After checking me over, he confirmed what I thought. The tooth had split with a smaller lingual piece just hanging on. Luckily, it was a thin enough piece of enamel that didn’t expose the nerve. It also tapered down toward the gumline, so only a narrow sliver extended below the gum. He simply pulled it out. He thought it would be best for me to leave it as it is for a few weeks, then decide if I want a crown to repair it.
Broken piece of tooth
I think I’ll be looking worse before I get better. It was apparent by late afternoon and this morning was no improvement. At least my tooth doesn’t hurt and it could’ve been worse. I’ll get over it.
More color by late afternoon
Yesterday Donna went to the community pool and had a good swim. There are numbered lanes and only one person at a time can take a lane. She wanted to swim laps, so this was perfect. This morning she went for pickleball but I stayed home – I need another day or two of recovery.
While Donna was at pickleball, I took my guitar apart for a deep cleaning and did a few set-up tweaks before restringing the guitar. I’m toying with the idea of building a solid-body electric guitar. I think it would be a fun project once we return to Mesa for the winter. I’m thinking a Fender Stratocaster type of guitar with a bolt-on neck wouldn’t be too difficult and it might be nice to have another guitar.
We ended May with a slightly wet day – we had a few showers on Monday – Memorial Day. The temperature reached the upper 70s and has been steadily warming since then. Today we expect a high of 85 and it should reach 90 by the weekend.
Donna closed out the Memorial Day weekend with a couple of outstanding dinners. Sunday she made a chili verde by cutting pork tenderloin into cubes, browning them, then put them into a slow-cooker pot with tomatillo sauce. She served it over pan-fried potato slices with grilled zucchini on the side. We’ve been dining al fresco at the picnic table.
Chili verde
On Monday she made Korean beef bowls. It wasn’t traditional Memorial Day fare, but it was delicious.
Korean beef bowl
She kicked off June with a new take on grilled chicken – Moroccan spice grilled chicken with grilled asparagus. We loved it.
Moroccan-spiced grilled chicken
The chicken breasts came from a whole chicken that Carolyn Ower gifted Donna as a thank you for helping out at the farm. It was one of their hens they had butchered. It was the same size as the whole chickens we’ve been buying at the store (about 5 pounds), but was proportioned differently. The legs and wings were much larger while the breasts were still ample size. And it was less fatty. That’s what you get when hens are allowed to roam versus those that are caged.
*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!
We had a fairly quiet night at the Ute Mountain Casino truck lot Saturday night. There was a truck with refrigeration unit that ran a generator all night. To me, it’s just white noise and I don’t pay much attention to it, but for Donna, it’s bothersome. We had a leisurely breakfast at the casino restaurant – we were in no hurry as we were only 11 miles away from Cortez.
We checked in at La Mesa RV Park in Cortez, Colorado around 12:30pm. There was a camp host expecting us and he directed us to site 9. After backing into the site, I confirmed Dish Network satellite reception before setting up. I wasn’t going to stay for a month in a site with no satellite reception. We set up without any issues and I was done in plenty of time to watch the Moto GP race from France at 3:30pm.
Our site backs up to the car wash at the Speedway gas station next door. This can be a little noisy during the daytime, but we haven’t heard anyone at the car wash after dark. When we checked in, I asked about Shiree, whether she still spends much time here at the park. Shiree and her husband, Ames, own this park and one in Springerville, Arizona. The camp host gave us some bad news.
He said Shiree wasn’t doing well. In February, she had some dental work done which involved removing a tooth with an old filling. Apparently, mercury leaked from the old filling and poisoned her. She’s not able to get around on her own and is undergoing chelation treatment to remove the metal. We’re hoping she makes a full recovery.
Over the last week, I’ve been complaining about a sore right knee. I had surgery on this knee about 35 years ago. I injured it in a ski accident on Mount Hood in Oregon. I had a partial tear of the anterior cruciate ligament and a torn medial meniscus. At that time, the surgeon told me he had to trim the torn meniscus as it wouldn’t regenerate. Over time, he thought this might lead to arthritis from bone on bone contact. I was thinking it might have finally caught up with me.
But then a curious thing happened. On Wednesday morning, I went with Donna to the pickleball courts. The soreness had improved so I thought I would give it go with a compression sleeve over my knee. After a few games, I didn’t feel any soreness at all. I thought it would be sore later in the day, but it didn’t happen.
Thursday morning we went back to the pickleball courts. I had the compression sleeve over my knee again, but wasn’t experiencing any pain. I played several games pain free and my knee remains pain free now. I don’t know how to explain it – maybe there’s something to the adage “Motion is lotion” and my knee is well lubricated again.
Pickleball courts at Centennial Park in town
They have six courts at the park and a group of players that show up regularly. We were invited to sign up for a tournament a week from Saturday, which we did. The tournament format is basically a round robin with individual scores tracked. I’m curious to see what group they put Donna and me in – we’ll see how they rate our level of play.
Wednesday afternoon we drove out to Mancos – a little town about 17 miles east of Cortez. The locals pronounce it MAN-cuss. After a couple of wrong turns we found the Mancos Brewing Company and stopped in for a couple of beers on their outdoor patio. They have several good brews on tap.
Other than pickleball, we’ve had a quiet week. I had one small project. The inlet to our canister water filter system was leaking. The inlet has a hose fitting swaged onto a 3/4″ pipe thread. Over time, it had worn where the hose fitting rotates on the 3/4″ pipe threaded into the plastic canister. I couldn’t find a direct replacement, but the hardware store had a short 3/4″ pipe threaded on both ends with the threads oriented correctly to add a hose fitting to it. So I bought those and figured I had it made.
I came home, shut the water off and removed the old fitting. Then I found I had barely enough teflon tape to put one wrap on the pipe threads. I put it back together and it leaked! I made another run into town for a $1.50 roll of teflon tape. This time I double wrapped the threads and put it back together. No leaks at the filter. Job done or so I thought.
Later I saw the area near the filters was still wet. Now the end fitting on our fresh water hose was leaking. I don’t remember how old the hose is, but I suspect we’ve had it for at least five years. I ordered a new drinking water hose from Amazon – it should be delivered today.
Today won’t be a good day for outdoor projects though. After having daily temperatures of 70 to 80 degrees, we have wind and rain today and the thermometer is only expected to reach 62 degrees.
I had another package delivered yesterday. I knew I would come across something that I needed, but left behind in Mesa. I tried to set up my Yaesu FT3DR handheld transceiver to work the local repeaters – one on a mountain top out side of Mancos and the other up in Dolores. But I didn’t have the cable to connect the radio to my laptop to program it. I ordered one from DX Engineering and it was delivered yesterday – but it was the wrong cable. I phoned them and we sorted out which cable I actually need and I shipped the wrong cable back to them. I should have the correct cable in a few days.
I’ll close with a couple of dinner plates. Wednesday, Donna grilled chicken that she simply seasoned with salt and pepper. She made creamed spinach and a baked spud to go with it.
Delicious chicken thigh and wing with creamed spinach and baked potato
Yesterday she marinated a pork tenderloin with her mojo marinade. I sliced garlic for the marinade. Donna asked for thin slices but I made them a little thicker than she usually does. She wondered how that would affect her recipe. It turned out to be an improvement – having the garlic 1-2mm thick added texture with no loss of flavor versus slicing it paper thin.
She grilled the pork last night and served it with sweet potato mash and French-cut green beans. We’ll use the leftovers to make street tacos for lunch today.
Mojo marinade pork tenderloin with sweet potato mash and French-cut green beans
*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!
Packing the motorhome for a four-month road trip was harder than either of us imagined. I’m sure there will be situations where we say, “I wish I had brought XX along.” It’s a learning experience. Before, we traveled with all of our belongings. Now with the cargo trailer gone, we have to be more selective and there’s no reason to try to bring everything we own.
On Wednesday morning, Donna dropped me off at the 202 RV Valet storage facility, then she went grocery shopping. I moved our coach to the end of the row where there was a water spigot and hooked up our filtration and filled the fresh water tank. We planned to boondock for a few nights and I wanted a full fresh water tank. I didn’t take it back to our place at Viewpoint Golf and RV Resort because the only water spigot there is located behind the house at the rear of the property – I would have needed about 75′ of hose.
By the time I filled the 100-gallon tank and drove the coach back to Viewpoint, it was 11am. I had to obtain a 48-hour parking pass to park the coach on the street by our park model home. We began the process of loading the coach right after lunch and worked until dark.
On Thursday morning, we continued the process. Just packing all of the pantry supplies, spice cabinet, refrigerated and frozen foods was a big chore. I also put the Midget up on jack stands and removed the front wheels – I put the wheels in the double-locked storage shed to make it very difficult for anyone to steal the car while we’re away. I loaded Donna’s bicycle in the bed of our Nissan Frontier – I had made a cable locking system for it. I also loaded the Sea Eagle inflatable kayak in the truck, then I assembled the tow bar.
It was nearly 2pm before we were ready to hook the truck up to the coach. Our neighbor came out to help. Honestly, although I appreciated him, I didn’t really want the help. It was the first time hooking up the truck and I wanted to do it methodically and check each step of the process. We got it done and headed out.
Our plans went awry within half a mile. I had driven down the 200 lane and had to make a right turn onto the main street of the park. The person living on the corner to my right had placed a large rock cairn on the corner of their property. Due to a large palm tree in the center median on the street, my ability to drive deep into the street before turning was limited. The truck right front wheel struck the rock cairn. I was stuck. I had to disconnect the truck and move it, then reposition the coach on the main street and reconnect the truck. Not a great start.
By then it was 100 degrees out and 98 degrees in the coach. I fired up the generator to run the roof air conditioner as we drove down the road. Our route took us over Usery Pass to Bush Highway and AZ87 (Beeline Highway). Did I mention it was very hot out?The climb to Payson had me watching the engine coolant temperature closely. Any time it went over 195 degrees, I slowed and geared down to keep the engine rpms up and the load lower. Payson is 5,000 feet above sea level.
From Payson, we took AZ260 east. A little more than halfway between Payson and Heber, we found the Mogollon Rim Visitor Center. By the way, Mogollon is often mispronounced. People say “Moh-geh-yon” but the Arizona State Historian says it should be pronounced “Muggy-yawn.” We parked at the visitor center briefly. Donna texted our friends, Mike and Jodi Hall. They preceded us to the area and were meeting up with Frank and Kelly Burk at a camping area about 15 miles into the Sitgreaves National Forest.
I unhooked the Nissan and Donna drove it across the highway to Rim Road, I followed in the coach as we entered the national forest. The road was wide and paved for the first few miles, then it was graveled dirt – the dirt was fine powder, almost talcum like. It was dusty!
We made it 12 miles into the forest and found the cutoff for the spur road where we were told they were planning to set up. I left the coach on the main road and we drove about a mile down the spur road before we decided it was no go for the coach. The road had sharp rocks and potholes that would be hard on the tires and cause the coach to sway excessively – I could imagine everything falling out of cabinets.
We found a nice camp site just off of the main road – I think it was Forest Service 300 road (FS300) at the FS76 spur. Unfortunately, there was no cell service so we couldn’t let the rest of the crew know where we were. We had a peaceful, quiet and very dark night in the woods. Most people don’t envision pine forests when they think of Arizona, but northern Arizona has them, especially on the rim. We were 7,880 feet above sea level. Donna heard a cow elk calling near our site.
Our boondocking site on the rim
We decided against hanging around and trying to find our friends – we weren’t sure we had the right cutoff road or if we did, how far down they might be. We moved out of there at 9am Friday morning. Donna had spent a full day cleaning the interior of the coach last weekend, but now everything had a layer of fine dust, Same for the Nissan. Once we neared the highway, we regained cell service and I had a voicemail from Frank. We were on the right spur road to find them, but they were 3 miles down – too far to go back and forth every day on a rutted, rocky road, even in the truck.
We found another boondocking spot about 90 miles east at the entrance to the Petrified Forest National Park. There are free dry-camping sites at the Crystal Forest Museum and Gift Shop. We were set up there before noon and took the truck for drive into the national park. I have a lifetime America the Beautiful multi-agency senior pass. This got us into the park without paying fees – it’s usually $25 per car. The elevation there is 5,420 above sea level.
The petrified forest and painted desert are both part of the park. We stopped about a mile and a half into the park at the visitor center. There’s a hiking trail behind the center with lots of petrified tree trunk sections. Petrified wood is formed when trees are buried under silt for long periods of time – about 216 million years, give or take a few. The wood absorbs silica and other minerals as rain water percolates through the silt and quartz crystals bond with the cells of the tree – eventually making a replica of the organic tree material details in quartz form.
Giant Logs Trail behind visitor center
We drove through the park 26 miles to the north end, taking note of stops we wanted to make on the way back. The north end of the park has the Painted Desert Inn – a National Historic Landmark – and panoramic views of the Painted Desert. We stopped at Chinde Point where we we had a picnic lunch of the sandwiches Donna made.
Painted Desert view – the colors are somewhat washed out in the photo from the mid-day sun
Our next stop was at a place called teepees. The name comes from the shape of the hills formed from layers of sandstone there.
Teepees
We made the driving loop at Blue Mesa. We didn’t hike much as I have a sore right knee. The last two times I played pickleball, I was rewarded with knee pain all afternoon. The pain persists now when I walk more than a few hundred yards – I’m not sure what’s up with that.
Blue Mesa is named for the layers of blue, purple and gray badlands that make up the area. Badlands aren’t just a place in the Dakotas – badlands describes an area void of vegetation with rock formations.
Blue Mesa badlandsMore badlandsPeople on a hiking trail at Blue Mesa
We made another stop and short walk to see Agate Bridge. This is a natural bridge formed from a petrified tree trunk. It was reinforced with concrete and people used to walk across it. Walking on it is forbidden now though.
Agate BridgeAgate Bridge is 110 feet long
We had another quiet night. The owner of the museum and gift shop doesn’t allow generators after 7pm or before 7:30am. Our Lifeline AGM house battery bank is holding up well – it hasn’t dropped below 12.5 volts at anytime on this trip.
We were on the road by 9am once again. We decided to head back to Cortez, Colorado. Donna talked to Shiree, the owner of La Mesa RV Park there and she could have a site for us on Sunday and we booked a month-long stay. The best route took us back through the national park, we exited at the north park entrance which loops back to I-40. We took I-40 about 20 miles east and hit US191 north. This took us through the west side of the Navajo Nation in northern Arizona. It was much like the New Mexico route up US491, but with what appeared to be sparser population – not saying the New Mexico side is highly populated!
The road surface was great all the way to Chinde, where we had a little incident. I turned off the highway to get fuel at the Speedway station. Once I made the turn, I saw it was a trap. Getting to the pumps and back out of the station looked problematic. I looked at the GPS map and it showed the road I was on circling the station through a small neighborhood back to the highway.
I went down the block and turned right, then I saw the pavement ended a few hundred feet down the road where the road became a heavily rutted dirt road. If we had the cargo trailer behind us I would have just reversed back past the intersection we just came through and drove back to the highway. Towing a vehicle with four wheels down means no reversing. The castor angle of the front suspension would make the front wheel turn to full lock when you reverse and would result in a disaster. I had two choices – unhook the truck and get turned around – or continue slowly down the rutted lane. I opted for the latter and we made it out of there after a few choice words. Phew!
North of Chinle, the road surface deteriorated. It had whoops and rollers so bad that I had to slow to 45 mph on a road with a posted 65 mph speed limit. We eventually hit US160 and passed through Four Corners where we briefly drove through New Mexico and into Colorado. (The Four Corners Monument is currently closed due to COVID-19.) Our destination was the Ute Mountain Casino about 11 miles from Cortez. After about 250 miles of travel, we were ready to call it a day. We lost an hour as we’re now in Mountain Daylight Time. We dry camped for free once again in the casino truck lot – a large paved lot adjacent to the casino travel center. The Ute Mountain Casino sits at 5,880 feet above sea level.
This morning, we had cool temperatures – my phone app showed 40 degrees at 7am. The sun came over the mountain to the east of us and it warmed up quickly. We expect a high of 80 degrees today with the chance of a passing thundershower. We’ll gain a few hundred feet heading into Cortez and we’ll be about 6,200 feet above sea level.
I’ll close this post with a food picture. Last week I had to make my signature Memphis-style babyback ribs. I won’t be able make them again this summer – we’re traveling with just the Weber Q, no Traeger wood pellet-fired smoker-grill.
Memphis-style babyback ribs with green beans and sweet potato mash
*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!
The annual exodus from Viewpoint Golf and RV Resort is well underway. Most of the Canadian visitors have already departed. This morning, our next-door neighbors headed back to Iowa. The neighbor on the south side of us stays here year ’round. We’ll be here through the first week of May.
Things are slowly shaping up in our new-to-us park model home. This week, I hung drapes in the front room. Donna’s been watching the Facebook Marketplace and found some deals on rods and curtains.
New drapery and rods on the front window facing Superstition Mountains
Construction of these park model homes is different from what I’d expect to find in a regular sticks-and-bricks home. When I drilled holes for the curtain rod mounts, I didn’t know what I was drilling into. It turned out the center mount was on a solid header board. If I had known that from the start, I would have drilled smaller holes and tapped wood screws directly into the wall. But, having drilled oversized holes I had to insert anchors. It worked out fine. The end mounts were into thin plywood and required anchors.
The front window is curved. Donna found an articulated rod made for bay windows that fit perfectly. When I installed the curtain rod on the side window on the north side of the front room, I piloted the holes with a small drill bit first to see if I would be in solid wood or thin ply. Once again, the center mount went into solid header board while the end mounts needed anchors inserted into thin plywood.
Drapery on the north side window
Another thing I worked on this week was getting my guitar amps and pedal board set up and working. The amps have been locked away in a basement compartment of our coach for nearly eight years. I’ve really neglected my guitar and hardly played at all for the last couple of years.
I expected trouble with the vacuum tubes in the amplifier. They had to get shaken up on some of the roads we’ve traveled. I was pleased to find my Egnater Tweaker amp fired up with no issues at all. Then I was surprised to find the Marshall 18 Watt clone I built in 2011 worked fine. My luck didn’t hold out on the Trainwreck inspired amp I built in 2012 – it just crackled and made a few really fuzzy tones.
I suspected one or more vacuum tubes were shot. When I was a kid, back in the 1960s and ’70s, you could find a vacuum tube testing machine in almost every hardware store and even pharmacies and supermarkets. Nowadays, these testers are just a fading memory. Without any way to test the vacuum tubes, I broke out my credit card and ordered a complete set – three 12AX7 preamp tubes and two EL34 power tubes (plus an extra 12AX7 to keep on hand).
When the tubes came, I almost switched them all out with the new ones, but then I decided to do one at a time and see which ones were bad. The first tube in the V1 position was a Tung-Sol 12AX7 and I had ordered one of these. These are made in Russia. All of the new production tubes I used are made in Russia or China. Vacuum tube manufacturing completely disappeared from the Americas and Europe as the technology is no longer used in most consumer applications. At one time, every television set had a complement of vacuum tubes and high-quality tubes were made in the USA and western Europe and were readily available. Today, it’s a niche market for audiophiles and guitar amplifiers.
Tung-Sol 12AX7 vacuum tube
After I installed the first tube, I plugged in the amp and tried it. It worked fine. The V1 position was the only bad tube! The Tung-Sol tube was under $20, but now I have three Shuguang 12AX7 tubes that I use in the V2 position of the Trainwreck and in two positions of the Marshall clone. I also have a Sovtek 12AX7LPS and two Ruby EL34s. So I’m set with spares, but if I could’ve tested first, I wouldn’t have ordered $130 worth of tubes.
I have the amplifiers stacked to save space and I can easily switch from one amp to another when I play. I also set up my pedal board and I’m happy to report that all is well with my effects pedals. I’m back to playing my guitar, but man am I rusty.
Top to bottom – Egnater Tweaker, Trainwreck type, Marshall 18 Watt clone and Egnater 1-12 speaker
Donna had her second Moderna COVID-19 vaccine on Tuesday. She got the shot in Fountain Hills and while she was there, she was able to visit two of her friends in the area – a gal she met through her church and a former neighbor, both of whom she hadn’t seen in a few years. She also enjoyed a solo alfresco lunch at her favorite Italian restaurant on the lake before heading to the pharmacy to get her vaccine. She felt fine when she went to bed, but woke up in the night with severe chills. By morning, she had a fever of 101.7 degrees. She was ill all day Wednesday and most of Thursday. She’s fine today and played tennis this morning.
I mentioned in my last post the Teruyasu Fujiwara Maboroshi gyuto I bought. You might wonder why I would want to have two Japanese chef’s knives. My two gyutos have completely different character with their own strengths. The Kintaro forged by Yoshimi Kato has a thin, light blade. The cutting edge of the blade is 215mm long and the knife weighs 131 grams. My TF Maboroshi is more stout – it has a cutting edge 200mm long and weighs in at 195 grams.
The Kintaro excels when slicing cabbage. It seems to float right through the produce like a ghost. But I have issues using it on potatoes. Potato slices stick to the side of the blade like they’re suctioned on – I practically have to peel the potato slices from the knife. The Maboroshi cuts cabbage fine, but it doesn’t have the feeling of just floating through. It’s super sharp though and excels on carrots and potatoes and just about anything. Potatoes do not stick to the hammered finish on the blade.
Lately, I’ve been handling the dinner prep – Donna tells me what’s on the menu and what she needs. I break out the cutting boards and prep whatever veggies she needs. This saves her some time and we both participate in the meal preparation.
On Monday, I made Japanese style fried rice while Donna grilled salmon and shishito peppers. It was a great meal.
Grilled salmon, shishito peppers and fried rice
On Tuesday, Donna kept it simple. She sauteed onions and mushrooms and baked spuds while I grilled filet mignon. Donna wrapped the filets with a strip of bacon. The filets were delicious and tender.
Bacon wrapped filet mignon smothered with mushrooms and onions with baked potato and broccoli
Last night, Donna made a new recipe. It was crispy chicken with turmeric-lemon cabbage and peas. It was a labor-intensive recipe that took nearly an hour and 15 minutes to prepare. The meal was great, but I don’t know if Donna wants to put that much effort into making it again.
Crispy chicken with turmeric-lemon cabbage and peas
The hot weather held over the weekend and through the start of the week. It was in the 90s until Wednesday when the high temperature was 87. Thursday cooled to 81 degrees for a high and today we expect 80 degrees. Last night was a comfortable 54 degrees. Looking ahead, we should maintain the highs in the 80s with maybe a day or two around 90 in the coming week.
I found the problem with our swamp cooler. There’s supposed to be a standpipe to drain water if the level gets too high. The standpipe was broken, so not enough water was in the sump. I fixed it and now the swamp cooler is awesome. We haven’t needed to run the air conditioner these last few days – the swamp cooler is doing the job great with just a box fan to circulate air to the front room.
*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!
Donna has a new assistant. No, not for work – she retired, remember? She bought something she’s wanted for a while – a Shark IQ robotic vacuum cleaner. She actually wanted it for the new park model house when we move in, but she’s been using it in the motorhome. It’s an amazing device.
It docks in a charging station – it’s battery operated. When it’s activated, it relies on a number of sensors as it finds its way around the floor. It will transition from hard floor surface to rug or carpet with ease. It can work in tight spaces such as around chair legs or tables.
It stores information in its memory and becomes more efficient as it “learns” the layout of the floorplan. When it finishes the task – about half an hour for the motorhome – it docks itself in the charger to recharge for the next use! Since it’s a Shark, Donna dubbed it Jaws.
Jaws at work around a chair legNo problem transitioning over rug
I don’t think it will take much more time to vacuum the park model home – it’s twice the square footage but it’s also more wide-open allowing longer straight runs without a lot of maneuvering.
You might recall back in the beginning of November that I took our coach to Rocky Mountain Cummins Avondale shop on the westside of Phoenix. When they completed the lift-pump replacement, I felt I’d been taken. They overcharged for the work, including charges for work that wasn’t even performed. I filed a complaint with the Arizona Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Division since I couldn’t get any satisfaction from Rocky Mountain Cummins.
The Consumer Protection Division basically just forwarded my complaint to the Cummins Corporate office. They, in turn, sent it to their legal counsel which responded by writing a letter stating they did nothing wrong. I countered their argument with another filing – their position was not justified.
Last week, a representative of Cummins phoned me and we talked it over. He agreed that a compromise solution should be made. He made me an offer I couldn’t refuse. I just have to go to the Cummins shop in west Mesa and sign a release and they will refund me $606. A good ending to a bad experience.
Last week, Donna made an oven-roasted boneless chicken thigh recipe with a balsamic dijon garlic sauce. She served it over brown rice with French green beans with everything bagel seasoning. It was delicious – I loved the sauce.
Boneless chicken thigh with balsamic dijon garlic sauce
I think I said in my last post that experts, like author Kevin Kent, say most home cooks should have a selection of six knives or so. I’m getting there. I ordered another knife, bringing me up to five Japanese kitchen knives.
This time I ordered a petty. A petty is a small knife, usually ranging from 80mm to 180mm. The shorter size is for paring fruits or vegetables in your hand while longer pettys can used for board work. I ordered a 135mm petty from Japanese Chef Knives (JCK) in Tokyo, Japan.
This knife is from the Fu-Rin-Ka-Zan line and it’s made from a core of Hitachi Shirogami #1, also known as White steel #1 clad in soft stainless steel. The White steel #1 is a fine grained simple carbon steel without alloying elements and it takes a wicked sharp edge. The stainless cladding is unspecified, but I think it’s likely a SUS 410 series stainless like the stuff used on microwave oven or refrigerator doors.
JCK 135mm petty in boxJCK Fu-Rin-Ka-Zan
This blade was hand forged by Teruyasu Fujiyama in Tokyo, Japan. Teru, or TF as he’s often referred to, is quite a character. He is a fourth generation blacksmith. In the 1970s, he and his father pioneered the art of cladding carbon steel by forge welding stainless steel to it. They had to experiment a lot before they got it right – 80% of the time they failed as the steel either delaminated or cracked. But they eventually got it right. TF is one of the very few blacksmiths that still make san-mai (three-layer) steel by hand forging. Most buy pre-laminated steel from the Hitachi YSS division or from Takefu Special Steel Company.
He makes three lines of knives, ranging from the value-priced Nashiji line to the mid-price Maboroshi and the premium line called Denka. I’ve read a lot about his work and a lot of knife aficionados complain about the lack of fine finish and fitment of handles on some of his work. Then they all rave about the fine heat treatment and geometry resulting in hard, durable blades with incredible cutting ability. It seems TF is rightly proud of his ability to forge great steel, but doesn’t care so much about a few stray grind marks or handle fitment. But the knife-crazy guys will pay upwards of a $1,000 for his top line stuff.
The JCK Fu-Rin-Ka-Zan line is their house brand and the particular knife I bought is sourced from the TF Nashiji line. I used it last night to slice an apple and it does have an incredibly smooth cutting feel. I also ordered a saya (wooden sheath) for safe storage. The simple magnolia wood saya was shown as available when I placed the order, but somehow it was out of stock when they picked the order. Koki-san at JCK took care of me though. He upgraded to the premium lacquer saya at no extra cost – it’s twice the price of plain magnolia!
Premium lacquer saya
We had some rain on Monday and Tuesday as a cold front came through. It was much cooler with the thermometer hovering around 60 for the daily highs. We had Midget-san under cover for a week when we finally had a warm, dry day yesterday. I uncovered it and found a dead battery! Something was drawing current from the battery. I put a charger on it. Then our neighbor, Chuck, brought over his charger with a boost function for starting.
I got the car fired up and Donna and I drove over to Basha’s for a few groceries and we picked up takeout from J&M – our favorite Chinese restaurant in the area. It’s amazing how affordable Chinese takeout is – we both had kung pao chicken with rice, spring roll, two crab puffs and soup for $12.50 per plate. And the portions were large enough for each of us to have a second meal of leftovers!
I got back on the pickleball courts Thursday and again this morning. My back is holding up fine. I planned to rest over the weekend, but they needed a player to fill out round-robin play tomorrow, so I’m in. It looks like we’ll end the month with fine weather. The temperature is predicted to be 70 or higher for the next several days.
*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!
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)
Made in China
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 – JapanMade in Seki-City, JapanCarpenter Technology Steel CTS-XHP – USAMade in Taichung, Taiwan
The Taichung factory has a great reputation for high quality with fantastic fit and finish.
Crucible Particle Metal CPM-Cruwear steel – USAMade in Golden, Colorado, USA, EarthCrucible Particle Metal CPM-S30V – USAMade in Golden, Colorado, USA, Earth
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.
Onigiri rice balls with ahi
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!
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.
JCK kuritsuki/sujihiki
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.
After oiling
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.
Old sediment filter on the right
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.
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.
Yakitori dish
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.
*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!
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.
TriMark door latch/lock assembly
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.
Curamin
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.
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.
Breakfast frittata
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.
Italian sausage lentil soup with cheese
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.
*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!
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 webpageThe 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.
Christmas dinner – shepherd’s pie
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.
*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!
