Protected: Silent Nights
Protected: It’s the little things
I finally had to do it.
It was beautiful out last night but the temp in the house dropped below 70 degrees so it was time to turn on the heat.
Protected: Sound Reasoning
Protected: The TLDR Section About Why I haven’t Done More Fun Projects:
Rounding the Corner of the Next Big Project
So we closed on a new house. OK, townhome. We’re the one on the left, on the corner. And that is the fifth green in the background.
It was pretty tough but we were able to move in in just under 30 days. We still have to do a lot of unpacking but we took everything from our old 4br/2ba house and crammed it into this 3/2.
It may not sound like it but this was a major upgrade.
Smoked Sockeye Salmon
For most of the 80’s I was getting ready for a monthly seafood event. There was little in the culinary world of up to the 80’s that was left unexplored for the elite members of Tucson society even well into the early 90’s.
Baked, roasted, broiled, boiled, steamed, braised, pickled, fried, raw, we filled rows of banquet tables with nearly every ethnic, etc. style of food and decorative element imaginable.
Once again, this was the 80’s. I spent the majority of that decade, plus some, at Skyline Country Club. I worked there starting as wait staff, then moved into the kitchen, always working the summers on the wait staff, but gradually expanding my skills in the every other aspect of the club’s services.
I have so many memories of this time that I’d love to share. I’m going to start off with one of my favorite smoked salmon recipes. Like so many things I have a love/hate relationship with this recipe.
Depending on predictions based on the the previous year’s numbers we would smoke anywhere from a ten to a few dozen sockeye fillet’s.
It’s been nearly 40 years but I decided last week it was time to resurrect this recipe for smoked sockeye salmon. It always started with a dry brine. I was gar de mange @ SCC. One part kosher salt and three parts light brown sugar. Enough to coat the salmon about a 1/4″. 12-24 hours later gently wipe the filet clean. Prep the filet to dry age for 12-24 hours.
Skin side down of course.
We broke down full salmon to consistent fillets for days getting ready for the monthly Seafood Extravaganza.
Yikes. The pin bones.
Seriously, think abut the pin bones for 40+ fillet’s.
I had a pair of needle-nose pliers I used to take care of the bones.
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Dry Brined for 24 hrs -
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Mango, Lime, Cilantro, garlic and red pepper flakes. -
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Fresh mango/lime salsa, steamed sprouts and smoked salmon.
Finally
I just couldn’t decide what color to paint the frame when I found a can of white semi-gloss. I grabbed a 4″ foam roller and finally got this thing done.
But first, let’s review what this was meant to be. I have a cheap shelving unit on my Google Meat/Zoom wall that has a bunch of gnarly things on the shelves that I’d prefer hiding. I thought about making doors but I’ve been using a painting leaned against it for so long that I’m kind of used to just having something leaning up against it.
I was at the big orange box store and found a 24″x48″ chalkboard/whiteboard reversible panel for $6. I ripped 12″ off of one end and using a 12″x12″ scrap piece of a white shelf I had laying around made a 36″ square collage of the three parts.
I had some scrap lumber-grade 2″x2″s and routed a 1/4″ channel in them to use as a crude frame for it:
They needed to filled and sanded before I put it together. 
But I had some small batch, 9 yo bourbon instead. 
A couple of weeks later I had it put together. 
But then there was a big brush fire a block or two away. 
Fortunately our local FD are only about a mile down the road and they had it under control pretty quickly. 
A few days later I had all of the holes filled 
But then this view out the back door made me wonder just how long it’s been since I’ve had some braised rabbit with a morel cream sauce. 
A week later all the holes are filled and the panel’s are taped off. 1st coat is done. 
Unfortunately Tru Burger was running late with my to go order. Or maybe I forgot to call it in before I went there, whatever. 
The BLT, Green Chili burger and Parm frys took a while so I wasn’t able to do more than one coat that day. 
Another week and 3 coats later… 
Chamfer & Bevel
Setting up for tomorrow.
1/4″ chamfer on the outside and a 1/2″ bevel on the inside.
Or is it just two bevels, or is it two chamfers?
I’ll schedule a meet late tomorrow. We can discuss it then.
Is everybody OK with Zoom? I can Google meet just as easily.
Let me know.