August 23, 2020

Started the day with some Food Network for a little meal time inspiration. The most interesting from the shows this morning was Michael Symon’s eggplant parmigan. I think I have had eggplant maybe once or twice in my life and it never really did much for me. This recipe, however, looks like one I want to try, as it is done outside on the grill, so it will have a little smokiness to it and lots of cheese. Mmm mmm good. He accompanied it with an antipasti salad, loaded up with salami, chickpeas, kalamata olives, grape or cherry tomatoes, aged provolone, pepperoncinis, romaine lettuce, and lots of parmesan grated over the top. He dressed it with what he called ‘campfire dressing,’ which was basically an herbed oil and vinegar with a red onion that had been cooked in coals until it was black and then peeled and diced. As I compose this rambling, I am roasting some hatch chile peppers outside on my Big Green Egg. Last year on our seven state road trip in September and October we spent some time in New Mexico. One of those days was at the Santa Fe Saturday Farmers’ Market, which had by far the largest number of vendors of any market we had ever been to. Hatch chiles are from the Hatch Valley of New Mexico and are a prized pepper when they become available late August to October. There were several vendors roasting at the market and people were buying them as soon as they came out of the roaster. I’m going to use my roasted chiles to make a Hatch Green Chili Colorado with Pork one day this week from a recipe on a blog I follow titled ‘Cooking on the Ranch.’ Fred Meyers has pork shoulder on sale until Wednesday for 99 cents a pound, so I’ll be making a trip to get me some pork for this tasty comfort food meal. I will give you a review later in the week. My stomach is startin’ to growl just thinking about it.

After breakfast we went down to the Hoodland Farmers’ Market and bought some curly kale, swiss chard, heirloom tomatoes, some lemon mint tea, and fresh flowers. The missus, being a retired florist, made a nice flower arrangement with the cut flowers to brighten up the abode. Tuesday we had the carpet cleaned for the first time since we built the house ** years ago (the missus probably doesn’t want me to reveal this) and wow, what a difference. They look brand new. Today I washed some of the front windows and again, wow! Since the peak of our ceiling is 30 feet high, I didn’t get the top set of windows, but will get the extension ladder out this week and try to get the top one done so they sparkle like the ones I did today.

My neighbor just came over and told us that there is a hostage situation in Rhododendron and the bad guy has poured an accelerant around the inside perimeter of the house and lit candles. Her husband is a member of the volunteer fire department and has headed down to drive a second tanker to the scene. The cabin where this is taking place is in a heavily wooded area, so if it catches fire it could be a terrible situation, as well as for the hostages. She said there is a gate that is locked at the driveway and someone from Portland is driving up with a key. SWAT and big fire trucks are already there, so I don’t know why they don’t just pull or knock the gate down. I just turned my police scanner app on and the text says that it was a home invasion that turned into a hostage situation. I can’t get the police chatter because they have switched to a private tactical net. Darn. Anyhoo, I will let you know the result of this situation once I know.

I think I will end this post and take a little drive up the road. Ramble at ya later. Ziggyman