Keeping Busy 🎢

Flowers and Dutch Letters are not my thing, so on Friday night I stayed home while Charlotte and Daphne went to the Tulip Time parade at Pella.

When I have the house to myself, I like to make my favorite meal - grilled steak with onions.

On Saturday morning we went to opening of the Downtown Farmers' Market. It seems like I take this same picture every year.

Daphne and I shared a BLT pita from Breakfast Delights. The greens might make up for my Friday night dinner.

Char kept the Dutch theme going with an order of poffertjes. 

US. Senator and presidential candidate Bernie Sanders was there, too. I don't know what he ate.

After the market, we walked down to the Johnston library for Kites on the Green. We started in the barn where they give you a kit to make your own kite.

Getting some help from Mom.

Finished!

The only problem with Saturday's weather was a lack of wind. That made flying a kite tough, but we tried anyway. The kite did get off the ground.

Char's last level 3 swim lesson was on Sunday, and we squeezed in a trip to Adventureland between church and the pool.

We have been trying to get Charlotte on a rollercoaser for the past four years. Char didn't enjoy her first ride on the Tornado back in 2015, and she has refused to get back on the horse. Until Sunday, that is. Not only did Char willingly ride the Outlaw, she admitted it was fun. She even rode it again, and began discussing the merits of the other coasters in the park. 

Yea! Now we don't have to ride coasters alone while someone waits with Char on the sidelines.

Later, Charlotte received her swim lesson report card.

She passed level 3! Good job, Charlotte Manson!

Her's a link to Char's first rollercoaster ride ---> link

The Bachelor... for one night.

I was alone last night, so I got to make dinner for myself. What's more comforting than a huge slab of HyVee prime steak grilled over charcoals sprinkled with hickory chips? Slices of onion and olive bread from the La Mie Bakery.

Time to toss the mic to the floor and walk off the stage.

20 minutes later...

I've got a date with the couch and some quality time with the Guardians of the Galaxy.

On BluRay...

I'm fancy...

First Snow Party!

On Thursday morning I was driving Charlotte to daycare and I asked her a question, "Char, if you could have any meal in the world, what would you want?"

"I'd want to have it at home."

"Okay, I'll make it at home. But what would you want me to make?"

After a lengthy and serious pause Char answered, "Pink fish."

Unless you are fluent in Char-speak, you might be puzzled, but I know that Pink Fish means Grilled Salmon. To make Grilled Salmon, I'd have to grill on Saturday night. The forecast for Saturday says we're suppose to get our first serious snowfall, and the high is 28 degrees.

Like I care. Let's fire up the Weber!

And let's have a winter grill party!

I didn't get a photo of Char swinging in the winter air, but here she is finding out that a snow-covered slide is too fast.

Luckily, our small sledding hill is just right.

Maggie stood guard.

After 15 minutes on a cedar plank, Char's Pink Fish was ready to go.

Since the coals were still hot, I toasted some rosemary garlic bread for a side. We also had some veggies.

I'm lucky it wasn't windy, and it's good thing I kept the charcoal where I could reach it.

All Up In My Grill Marks

I wrote this yesterday:

Winter won't officially arrive until December 21, but from the looks of the weather forecast for Des Moines, I think winter actually starts tomorrow.

I spent Sunday afternoon getting the yard ready for the temperature drop. I raked and mulched the leaves. I also blew out the garden hoses and stored them in the garage. That means I shouldn't have much to do tonight when I get home. It'll still be near 60 degrees, so I should have one last night this season for one of my favorite activities.

Tonight, I grill!

If I'm outside, I only grill with charcoal, and I only grill with charcoal on a Weber Kettle Grill. I picked up my first Weber grill at a Goodwill (gasp!), and I fell in love with using it. That model was from the 70s, and it looked a lot like this.

I spent one great summer with Ryan and Kiyomi Dughman learning how to put that grill though its paces. If I hadn't moved out of the townhouse and into a condo, I wouldn't have gotten rid of it.

After Daphne and I got married, we lived in that cheap condo for a year, and after 12 frugal months we had saved $15,000 for a house down payment. Before we even moved Daphne bought me a replacement grill, and I used it all the time. Even a snow storm couldn't slow down my Weber. 

Over the course of 10 years the vent covers in that grill rusted, and one broke just one week before we moved to our second house. I should have fixed it, but moving sucks the life right out of you. I left the Weber behind and hoped the new owners of our old house would either use it or give it a respectable burial.

I had a new Weber in the new back yard within a week, but I learned last year not to grill in the winter. I grilled in our old backyard at the bottom of a hill, and the six-foot fence surrounding our property kept me pretty well protected from the wind. Our new place is on the top of a hill, and the winter wind that blows up there is too cutting. Grilling should be fun, not painful.

So, tonight's my grill's last gasp of '14. I was thinking steaks, onions, portobella mushrooms, and olive bread, but then I checked the weather in the afternoon.

Looks like it might be nicer than I thought. Maybe I should go with Iowa Cut pork chops? They take more time...

Three hours later:

When I got in my car at 3:45 the temperature was 60 degrees, and by the time I got out of the grocery store it was 55 degrees. Then the wind picked up, and clouds turned dark. But I was undeterred. I lit the newspaper in my chimney starter at 5:00, and by 5:30 I was grilling.

Too bad I forgot that daylight savings makes 5:30 look like 6:30. I had to use a flashlight to read the meat thermometer, and I think it was closer to 45 degrees when I brought dinner into the house.

The 12 oz rib eyes were great, and I didn't burn the vegetables too much, so the meal was a success. But in a way I'm glad it turned out to be a poor night for grilling. Now when I look at the snow filling the backyard I won't miss my grill as much.

Then again, I can't forget that this is Iowa. There's a chance we'll have a day in December that's 60 degrees. I better not store the charcoal too far back in my garage.