Thursday, January 25, 2007
Wednesday Whatever - January 24 edition
I know I'm a day late, but this time it's not my fault...honest. I tried on a few different occasions yesterday, but the site was really slow or wouldn't let me in.
Pretty sure I told ya'll that I got a smoker for Christmas (Bradley Original, Black, automatic "bisquette" feeder for the wood/smoke). Well, I seasoned it on the 5th, and my first smoke was on the 6th. I did a "bone-in" turkey breast, just seasoned with some seasoning salt mixture on the outside. It was alright, but lacked something, I'm sure a brining would have made it come out better. On this round, I was also going to do a whole chicken, but the one I knew of in my freezer turned out to be already cut up, didn't know in the other freezer we had a complete chicken (well, no feathers or stuff like that).
My second round with the smoker came out a little better, but also a little worse. This time I mixed up a very basic brine (1.5 C Kosher Salt in 3 Gallons of water), and soaked my 2 racks of baby back ribs and 3# pork loin roast overnight. On smoke day, I put them in the smoker with 10 of the bisquettes, which gave me 3 1/3 hours of smoke. My cabinet temp only got to 175 degrees, and at the 5 hour mark, my loin only had gotten to 147 degrees, so I finished the meats in the oven since it was supper time. The ribs turned out pretty good...and bad, if you can believe that. The end of each mini rack (had to cut each rack in half to fit on the smoking racks) was just way overpowered with smoke, and there was a thin membrane of some kind that needed to be pealed off the bottom. From the end bone in, however, the flavor was pretty good, and even had the color I was looking for.
It was hard to do, but the pork loin made it through the night intact, and made awesome sandwiches Monday and Tuesday. Have a little left that should go into a sandwich for me today, but if Dad wants it, I'll let him have it. This loin/roast brought to mind another item I would like to get, and I really didn't have a hard time selling Dad on the idea. Our next purchase will be a meat slicer. Just a cheap basic one for now, to make sure it's gonna work to save us some money on lunchmeat type stuff (maybe other stuff too). Found one that I should be able to obtain for +/- $50 through brylanehome.com, and as soon as I can find that much room on one of my credit cards (I know they're bad for my financial health), I'm going to order it.
It's going to be a little too cold to try to smoke anything this weekend, but I already have my mind made up on what to do next. When Dad and I went to the City on the 13th, I picked up a couple of boneless turkey breast rolls (about 3# each), so I'm going to do one of them. Both if we happen to have the slicer by then. I'd also like to do another pork loin roast...they're on sale at one grocery store for $2.49/lb., but I've seen whole loins in this store for around $1.69/lb., so we'll see what happens. Also kind of had plans to smoke some chicken wing pieces for the Super Bowl party that I'm going to, but I think I'll just do Buffalo wings instead. I don't want to ruin that many of them.
Well, that's about all I have for today. Take care, and thanks for reading.
Pretty sure I told ya'll that I got a smoker for Christmas (Bradley Original, Black, automatic "bisquette" feeder for the wood/smoke). Well, I seasoned it on the 5th, and my first smoke was on the 6th. I did a "bone-in" turkey breast, just seasoned with some seasoning salt mixture on the outside. It was alright, but lacked something, I'm sure a brining would have made it come out better. On this round, I was also going to do a whole chicken, but the one I knew of in my freezer turned out to be already cut up, didn't know in the other freezer we had a complete chicken (well, no feathers or stuff like that).
My second round with the smoker came out a little better, but also a little worse. This time I mixed up a very basic brine (1.5 C Kosher Salt in 3 Gallons of water), and soaked my 2 racks of baby back ribs and 3# pork loin roast overnight. On smoke day, I put them in the smoker with 10 of the bisquettes, which gave me 3 1/3 hours of smoke. My cabinet temp only got to 175 degrees, and at the 5 hour mark, my loin only had gotten to 147 degrees, so I finished the meats in the oven since it was supper time. The ribs turned out pretty good...and bad, if you can believe that. The end of each mini rack (had to cut each rack in half to fit on the smoking racks) was just way overpowered with smoke, and there was a thin membrane of some kind that needed to be pealed off the bottom. From the end bone in, however, the flavor was pretty good, and even had the color I was looking for.
It was hard to do, but the pork loin made it through the night intact, and made awesome sandwiches Monday and Tuesday. Have a little left that should go into a sandwich for me today, but if Dad wants it, I'll let him have it. This loin/roast brought to mind another item I would like to get, and I really didn't have a hard time selling Dad on the idea. Our next purchase will be a meat slicer. Just a cheap basic one for now, to make sure it's gonna work to save us some money on lunchmeat type stuff (maybe other stuff too). Found one that I should be able to obtain for +/- $50 through brylanehome.com, and as soon as I can find that much room on one of my credit cards (I know they're bad for my financial health), I'm going to order it.
It's going to be a little too cold to try to smoke anything this weekend, but I already have my mind made up on what to do next. When Dad and I went to the City on the 13th, I picked up a couple of boneless turkey breast rolls (about 3# each), so I'm going to do one of them. Both if we happen to have the slicer by then. I'd also like to do another pork loin roast...they're on sale at one grocery store for $2.49/lb., but I've seen whole loins in this store for around $1.69/lb., so we'll see what happens. Also kind of had plans to smoke some chicken wing pieces for the Super Bowl party that I'm going to, but I think I'll just do Buffalo wings instead. I don't want to ruin that many of them.
Well, that's about all I have for today. Take care, and thanks for reading.
Friday, January 19, 2007
Follow up
Good morning readers. I recently found some information and would like to follow up on something.
Several posts ago, I mentioned a discussion about Weight Loss Surgery, and some problems that go with them. I have been reading a website for about a year, that has a forum to provide information about the Duodenal Switch version of WLS. One of the posts in that forum tackled a question that came up in the discussion I was writing about, that of people that have WLS ending up with bad teeth (or something like that). The following is a copy/paste from the DS/WLS forum that I read that deals with the tooth issue.
He said in recent years he has indeed had a surprisingly high number of WLS people in but that he did not feel it was due to nutritional or vitamin deficits. Rather, he broke it down for me like this:
1. Since about 1999, the number of people who have had various forms of weight loss surgery has gone up over 900%. That's not a typo - nine hundred percent. So there are that many more people in the general population who are post ops, period. It stands to reason that there will be more people going in with dental problems because of this.
2. As we've talked about in the past, many MO people do not take care of themselves. They don't go to doctors as frequently as they should and that includes dentists.
3. He said that our teeth develop while we are still children and into our teen years. Teeth in and of themselves are not affected by internal vitamin or nutritional deficiencies. Teeth are external and therefore are affected primarily by what touches them directly. Like sugar. Or toothpaste (and lack thereof). So when our teeth decay and/or break down, it's because of what they come in contact with, not by things like low calcium.
Now, if we have calcium or nutritional issues, that can affect our bones and our tissue which means it would affect our jaws...the bone structure that HOLDS our teeth...but not the teeth themselves. If otherwise healthy teeth just start falling out, that is indicative of deeper problems.
4. He feels that in addition to the above, the other reason he's seeing more post ops is because our eating habits are changed. Yes, we eat smaller meals but we eat more of them (this might be more gastric bypass than ds). We're drinking a lot more fluids and while we do drink and eat less *sugar*, we're likely still consuming a fair amount of sweet things...just with sugar substitutes and they can be just as detrimental to our teeth. We're also likely using our teeth more as we're eating more protein and fiber-laden foods that require more chewing. He thinks that combining these factors has led to the increase.
After reading that, I gotta admit that I was wrong about the possible causes. But, after reading that post, it makes sense to me, and also hits home. It has been 20 years since my last visit to the dentist, and I don't intend to be going back any time soon.
The DS/WLS forum also tackled the hair loss issue, and has confirmed that it is temporary, and other surgeries cause it as well. I haven't yet found a post that is real informative, such as the one I pasted regarding the tooth issue, though.
Several posts ago, I mentioned a discussion about Weight Loss Surgery, and some problems that go with them. I have been reading a website for about a year, that has a forum to provide information about the Duodenal Switch version of WLS. One of the posts in that forum tackled a question that came up in the discussion I was writing about, that of people that have WLS ending up with bad teeth (or something like that). The following is a copy/paste from the DS/WLS forum that I read that deals with the tooth issue.
He said in recent years he has indeed had a surprisingly high number of WLS people in but that he did not feel it was due to nutritional or vitamin deficits. Rather, he broke it down for me like this:
1. Since about 1999, the number of people who have had various forms of weight loss surgery has gone up over 900%. That's not a typo - nine hundred percent. So there are that many more people in the general population who are post ops, period. It stands to reason that there will be more people going in with dental problems because of this.
2. As we've talked about in the past, many MO people do not take care of themselves. They don't go to doctors as frequently as they should and that includes dentists.
3. He said that our teeth develop while we are still children and into our teen years. Teeth in and of themselves are not affected by internal vitamin or nutritional deficiencies. Teeth are external and therefore are affected primarily by what touches them directly. Like sugar. Or toothpaste (and lack thereof). So when our teeth decay and/or break down, it's because of what they come in contact with, not by things like low calcium.
Now, if we have calcium or nutritional issues, that can affect our bones and our tissue which means it would affect our jaws...the bone structure that HOLDS our teeth...but not the teeth themselves. If otherwise healthy teeth just start falling out, that is indicative of deeper problems.
4. He feels that in addition to the above, the other reason he's seeing more post ops is because our eating habits are changed. Yes, we eat smaller meals but we eat more of them (this might be more gastric bypass than ds). We're drinking a lot more fluids and while we do drink and eat less *sugar*, we're likely still consuming a fair amount of sweet things...just with sugar substitutes and they can be just as detrimental to our teeth. We're also likely using our teeth more as we're eating more protein and fiber-laden foods that require more chewing. He thinks that combining these factors has led to the increase.
After reading that, I gotta admit that I was wrong about the possible causes. But, after reading that post, it makes sense to me, and also hits home. It has been 20 years since my last visit to the dentist, and I don't intend to be going back any time soon.
The DS/WLS forum also tackled the hair loss issue, and has confirmed that it is temporary, and other surgeries cause it as well. I haven't yet found a post that is real informative, such as the one I pasted regarding the tooth issue, though.
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
What's up?
Hey readers, did ya miss me last week when I didn't post a "Wednesday Whatever"? I really mean to, but just couldn't think of anything to say during the many times I was online.
Went to the city this past weekend to spend the gift cards I got for Christmas and the one I cashed in some hotel points for. Picked up a bunch of movies at Best Buy. The ones I can name off the top of my head are: American Pie presents The Naked Mile, Super Troopers, Old School, Talladega Nights, Tommy Boy, and a couple more that I can't think of right now. We also hit Lowes', Menard's, Staples, PetSmart, Walgreen's, Coyote Canyon for Supper, and Long John Silver's for lunch earlier in the day. Oh yeah, we also hit Super Wal Mart for some grocery type things (meat to smoke one of these days, some chicken wings for the Super Bowl, etc.).
When we left, it was kind of sunny, but cold. Got about 30 miles up the road and some snow was starting to stick to the highway, but there was enough traffic to blow it off. Got to the city and there wasn't really anything coming down any more, but as the day went, it seemed like a very fine mist was starting. We started home, and the first 20 miles or so was fine, then the road just started getting covered. I set a fairly slow pace...maybe 50 mph because I don't like to drive in snow with head lights in my mirror...for the 20 miles back to where the snow had started on the way up, but then got behind somebody who was taking it slower than I was. I wasn't in a hurry so I just stayed behind them until we got to the next town, when they went a different direction. That put me back to the front of the train. By this time, the road had gotten covered pretty well, and wasn't blowing off with the traffic any more, so I just maintained about 40 mph, and figured if people wanted to pass me, they could.
Sunday was pretty boring...just sat around watching football and movies. My ankle was pretty sore since I spend a lot of time on it, with it tilted at a slight angle thanks to my shoe that is pretty worn out and barely stays on that foot. I knew it wasn't going to be a fun day, since I could feel my ankle hurting while laying in bed. I'm actually surprised I could make it upstairs as bad as it was hurting. It got a little better through the day, but was still pretty sore when I went to bed. Fortunately, it felt pretty good yesterday morning, and I haven't felt it since.
Well, I'm out of time for now, might post more this afternoon, or maybe even tomorrow.
Have a great day.
Went to the city this past weekend to spend the gift cards I got for Christmas and the one I cashed in some hotel points for. Picked up a bunch of movies at Best Buy. The ones I can name off the top of my head are: American Pie presents The Naked Mile, Super Troopers, Old School, Talladega Nights, Tommy Boy, and a couple more that I can't think of right now. We also hit Lowes', Menard's, Staples, PetSmart, Walgreen's, Coyote Canyon for Supper, and Long John Silver's for lunch earlier in the day. Oh yeah, we also hit Super Wal Mart for some grocery type things (meat to smoke one of these days, some chicken wings for the Super Bowl, etc.).
When we left, it was kind of sunny, but cold. Got about 30 miles up the road and some snow was starting to stick to the highway, but there was enough traffic to blow it off. Got to the city and there wasn't really anything coming down any more, but as the day went, it seemed like a very fine mist was starting. We started home, and the first 20 miles or so was fine, then the road just started getting covered. I set a fairly slow pace...maybe 50 mph because I don't like to drive in snow with head lights in my mirror...for the 20 miles back to where the snow had started on the way up, but then got behind somebody who was taking it slower than I was. I wasn't in a hurry so I just stayed behind them until we got to the next town, when they went a different direction. That put me back to the front of the train. By this time, the road had gotten covered pretty well, and wasn't blowing off with the traffic any more, so I just maintained about 40 mph, and figured if people wanted to pass me, they could.
Sunday was pretty boring...just sat around watching football and movies. My ankle was pretty sore since I spend a lot of time on it, with it tilted at a slight angle thanks to my shoe that is pretty worn out and barely stays on that foot. I knew it wasn't going to be a fun day, since I could feel my ankle hurting while laying in bed. I'm actually surprised I could make it upstairs as bad as it was hurting. It got a little better through the day, but was still pretty sore when I went to bed. Fortunately, it felt pretty good yesterday morning, and I haven't felt it since.
Well, I'm out of time for now, might post more this afternoon, or maybe even tomorrow.
Have a great day.
Monday, January 08, 2007
Thank you
"Thank you for what and to whom?" you may be asking right now. Well, I guess to the administrator for kicking me off of a message board that I apparently spent WAY too much time looking at. You see, in the month and about a half since I got booted, I've gotten caught up on so much work, it's unbelieveable. And my blog entries...they've been rolling right onto this page.
Granted, some of my "catch up" time could have been caused by Dad no longer being the City Clerk, but we still had almost everybody who normally came in to pay their utility bills here, come in to try to pay them, even into this month.
The increase in bloggage probably comes from this being my only current outlet for what is going on in my head (no, don't try to enter, you'll get lost and never be heard from again).
Don't get me wrong, I do still spend way too much time on the internet. I have 11 blogs that I check 2 or 3 times a day for updates, a message board that I only lurk on because most of the fun people have left for other places, and a quick perusal of horoscope and daily comic sites. I've just learned to close the browser window for a while and actually get something done, rather than reload the board index repeatedly waiting for somebody to post something.
I know I use a lot of sarcasm, but the thank you in this post is heartfelt and genuine. Yes, I do miss conversing with my friends on that board, but I also feel a little happier now than I have for some time. Hmm, maybe some of that happiness came from getting some work done instead of goofing off...nah, let's not get carried away here.
Granted, some of my "catch up" time could have been caused by Dad no longer being the City Clerk, but we still had almost everybody who normally came in to pay their utility bills here, come in to try to pay them, even into this month.
The increase in bloggage probably comes from this being my only current outlet for what is going on in my head (no, don't try to enter, you'll get lost and never be heard from again).
Don't get me wrong, I do still spend way too much time on the internet. I have 11 blogs that I check 2 or 3 times a day for updates, a message board that I only lurk on because most of the fun people have left for other places, and a quick perusal of horoscope and daily comic sites. I've just learned to close the browser window for a while and actually get something done, rather than reload the board index repeatedly waiting for somebody to post something.
I know I use a lot of sarcasm, but the thank you in this post is heartfelt and genuine. Yes, I do miss conversing with my friends on that board, but I also feel a little happier now than I have for some time. Hmm, maybe some of that happiness came from getting some work done instead of goofing off...nah, let's not get carried away here.
Saturday, January 06, 2007
My excuses are getting fewer
For not eating healthier during the day, anyway. Yesterday we set up a little "kitchen" in the office. Just a "dorm" fridge, microwave, and a toaster oven that I bought almost 2 years ago for this purpose.
Provided I remember to bring food in, it should be easier to just come back to the office and fix something for lunch instead of rushing (at the end of my sales call) 12 miles to McDonald's, KFC, Burger King, etc., then 14 miles back to the store...just 8 miles from the business I call on. Should also be cheaper.
Granted, it's not going to stop me from making those trips, I really do like the food from those places, and I'm still going to have to make a run to that town for other things during my sales call sometimes, but it shouldn't happen near as often as it does now.
In other news, not much is going on in my little corner of the world. Tomorrow we're having brunch with my grandmother and aunt & uncle (all on my late mother's side). This afternoon I'm hoping to "season" my new smoker, then smoke a bone-in turkey breast to try it out. I'm only doing the turkey breast this time because I don't want to ruin 30 pounds of meat if there'd be a malfunction or if I dozed off and let it cook for 20 hours (okay, I never sleep that long, just don't want to take a big risk the first time out). All goes well, I might smoke some chicken hindquarters for supper on Sunday.
Have a nice weekend.
Provided I remember to bring food in, it should be easier to just come back to the office and fix something for lunch instead of rushing (at the end of my sales call) 12 miles to McDonald's, KFC, Burger King, etc., then 14 miles back to the store...just 8 miles from the business I call on. Should also be cheaper.
Granted, it's not going to stop me from making those trips, I really do like the food from those places, and I'm still going to have to make a run to that town for other things during my sales call sometimes, but it shouldn't happen near as often as it does now.
In other news, not much is going on in my little corner of the world. Tomorrow we're having brunch with my grandmother and aunt & uncle (all on my late mother's side). This afternoon I'm hoping to "season" my new smoker, then smoke a bone-in turkey breast to try it out. I'm only doing the turkey breast this time because I don't want to ruin 30 pounds of meat if there'd be a malfunction or if I dozed off and let it cook for 20 hours (okay, I never sleep that long, just don't want to take a big risk the first time out). All goes well, I might smoke some chicken hindquarters for supper on Sunday.
Have a nice weekend.
Thursday, January 04, 2007
Wednesday Whatever - January 3 edition
Yeah, I know I'm a day late again, whatcha gonna do about it? lol. We had a nice little snowstorm on New Year's Eve, causing me to cancel my plans to go 13 miles South and have a Prime Rib Buffet supper. Granted, I could have made it with no problems, but I just thought it would be a bit foolish to go out of town on snow covered roads just to spend $20, eat too much, and come back home to my 3 cats. If there was a date involved, well that may be an entirely different story.
I took a nice drive around town checking out the streets. Never found one that hadn't yet been driven on in the snow, but got to bust a few drifts with my 4x4. For supper I ended up getting a pizza from the local convenience store.
On New Year's Day, I pretty much just sat around watching football, but was briefly interrupted just after the Wisconsin game for an EMS call here in town. The call was for a guy with stroke like symptoms, but turned out to be something like low blood sugar or a diabetic reaction. My job was only to lead the ambulance into town. This was a little different, because I didn't know that the hospital got a new ambulance. As it was coming over the hills heading here, I noticed the LED-strobe light bar, and it looked more like a Deputy coming. As it headed down the last hill (still about a half mile away), I could tell it was taller than the Crown Vic's that the County has, but thought it could possibly be one of the jeeps they use. I have to pull onto the highway when they're about a quarter mile back so I have time to accelerate to their speed, so I just took a chance that it was them, and it was.
We got the call handled, and I was back home in time to see the kickoff for the Michigan game. Pretty good timing, eh?
The Oklahoma/Boise State game had the best ending I have seen in a very long time, if not the best ever....and I wanted Oklahoma to win. Here's a quick recap. Oklahoma ties the score at 28 with under 2 minutes left, then intercepts a pass running it back for a TD. Boise marches down the field and ties it on a classic "hook and lateral" play, sending it to overtime. Boise wins the toss, and goes to Defense first. Oklahoma scores a TD and takes a 1 point PAT. Boise gets a TD, tries the 2 pointer, and makes it.
Tuesday and Wednesday were pretty uneventful, and that brings us to today, and nothing of note has happened yet.
Hope you have a great day/week.
I took a nice drive around town checking out the streets. Never found one that hadn't yet been driven on in the snow, but got to bust a few drifts with my 4x4. For supper I ended up getting a pizza from the local convenience store.
On New Year's Day, I pretty much just sat around watching football, but was briefly interrupted just after the Wisconsin game for an EMS call here in town. The call was for a guy with stroke like symptoms, but turned out to be something like low blood sugar or a diabetic reaction. My job was only to lead the ambulance into town. This was a little different, because I didn't know that the hospital got a new ambulance. As it was coming over the hills heading here, I noticed the LED-strobe light bar, and it looked more like a Deputy coming. As it headed down the last hill (still about a half mile away), I could tell it was taller than the Crown Vic's that the County has, but thought it could possibly be one of the jeeps they use. I have to pull onto the highway when they're about a quarter mile back so I have time to accelerate to their speed, so I just took a chance that it was them, and it was.
We got the call handled, and I was back home in time to see the kickoff for the Michigan game. Pretty good timing, eh?
The Oklahoma/Boise State game had the best ending I have seen in a very long time, if not the best ever....and I wanted Oklahoma to win. Here's a quick recap. Oklahoma ties the score at 28 with under 2 minutes left, then intercepts a pass running it back for a TD. Boise marches down the field and ties it on a classic "hook and lateral" play, sending it to overtime. Boise wins the toss, and goes to Defense first. Oklahoma scores a TD and takes a 1 point PAT. Boise gets a TD, tries the 2 pointer, and makes it.
Tuesday and Wednesday were pretty uneventful, and that brings us to today, and nothing of note has happened yet.
Hope you have a great day/week.
