BBQ Duck

Some people say wild duck tastes like mud. I have to disagree. I happen to love wild duck. It doesn't help that it was one of our family staples growing up.

Having a couple ducks in the freezer, I decided I wanted duck for Fathers Day dinner. Since it was too hot to roast them in the oven I decided to barbeque the birds. I'd never had bbq duck before. Taking a page from my dad's playbook (Happy Fathers Day Dad!), I cut the birds open so they would cook up through the bone side. It was extra work and next time I will cook them on the skin side for the last few minutes to make the skin crispy. This time the skin came out too tough to eat. The meat tasted wonderful, excellent flavor and still moist and had that great wild duck flavor. Ruth said it was the best duck she ever had. All the kids except David loved it.

I will barbeque ducks again. However, I will cook the breast on the bone.

Next time I will:

1. only cook the breast
2. make sure to cook the skin the last couple minutes.

I won't ever again (hopefully):

1. pluck the whole bird; seem like such a waste of time now. I hate going around the wings and legs anyway.

Here's a video of some of it. Sorry about the poor lighting and background noise.

Thirsty? Have some antifreeze!

I have a love/hate relationship with many of my possessions. Foremost in my mind lately is my 1989 Honda Accord. Is 23 years old enough to call vintage? Many of its features have failed in the 12 years that I've owned it, among them are: cruise control, air conditioning, waterproof cabin, radio, not including anything in the mechanical requirements for the car to actually get from here to there. Living on a bumpy dirt road has been especially unkind to the poor thing.

For a couple months though the car has been losing its temper. It goes through fits of getting hot, then cooling somewhat, then getting hot again. I'm no stranger to overheating problems so I take it all in stride. But it's very frustrating since I've had to deal with cooling problems in this car for most of the time that I've been driving it.

Quite often, which is every other day that it is driven, at least a quart of coolant has to be added and I'm wondering, where does it all go? There is not a lot of places for it to go, I'm thinking to myself. I don't see it running out or hissing when I park the car. So its leaking somewhere into another part of the engine where it somehow contained and escapes unnoticed. Thankfully its not going into the oil. This would be obvious because there would be a white liquid on the dipstick when I check the oil, which I usually check when I fuel up.

After a little pondering I decide maybe the coolant is escaping into the combustion chambers, evaporating, and escaping out the exhaust. A friend from church suggested checking the color of the smoke leaving the exhaust pipe when the engine is warm and running slightly above idle. White smoke would be an indicator of water in the exhaust, blue/black means your burning oil.

What do you know but with the car warmed up, a new thermostat installed, and a weight on the gas pedal, but white smoke is coming out the back. I'm not thrilled to say the least. This probably means a blown intake manifold gasket, which of course I don't want to fix and I don't want to pay to have fixed. We'll see what happens.

As I type this I notice a very bitter taste on my lips. You see when antifreeze is made, a very bitter chemical is added to keep it from being tasty to children or animals, because of its lethal toxicity. Some coolant must have splashed on my face when removing a water hose from the thermostat. Its unpleasant but definitely not as bad as gasoline in the eye!

Update: Turns out that it was a leaky hose. There is still a disturbing vibration though so something else needs attention pretty bad.

New appliances?

We've lived in Clearlake for almost six years now. We bought our home furnished with a small fridge, washing machine, and dryer, which were perks at the time since we didn't really have money to spring for appliances.

I've done repairs on just about every appliance that we own. Some little thing has failed on each of them: the ignitor on the wall oven; the dryer belt; a clogged pump on the washing machine; the rails in the refrigerator door that hold everything in. All of the fixes have had their frustrations and all the malfunctions make little parts of our lives a hassle that we never feel we have time for.

The latest problem was that our washing machine wouldn't allow us to wash with hot water. A daunting problem at first, since my reflex is always "I don't want to spend the money to replace this!" After some research on the internet I concluded that the problem was fairly simple. A piece of plastic to which the water supply hoses connect has a couple electronic valves in it that control the inflow of water. The hot water valve must have failed in the shut position.

Having a knowledge of the offending part gives me a lot of confidence as far as tackling problems goes. I just needed to wait for the exact moment when I could approach the machine when a possible delay wouldn't cause a problem. So this morning I decided was a good time. After double-checking with the boss I proceeded to dismantle the washer. Having done this once before about a year ago I had a vague recollection of the procedure and the process went well. A local appliance store even had the part I needed in stock and I acquired that fairly quickly. At home the installation process was slightly more difficult. Putting a washing machine back together is not hard at all as long as you are standing in the right place. For several minutes I tried to put the box back on the bottom frame of the machine without success until I asked Christopher for help. I then positioned myself behind the washer and was able to guide the parts together without assistance.

All told I probably spent no more that an hour actually working on the repair. I felt much better about spending $39 on a part instead of $399 on a new washing machine.

You're going to trip if you don't tie your shoes.

If ropes and knots bore you, keep surfing!

With six young kids, it seems like there is always one child whose feet aren't properly covered. Aaron especially can hardly stand to have his shoes or socks on unless he's outside. They all seem to have trouble keeping their shoes tied.

A couple years ago I read something about runners tying their shoes in some special manner. This made sense to me though I didn't think about it further for a while. Some laces just won't stay tied and last year one particular pair of shoes inspired me to start experimenting by trying different methods of tying the laces. There had to be a knot that was simple to tie and untie that was more secure than the standard bow. After a few months and three? different convolutions, I found a solution inspired by the "Surgeon's knot" which I found noted in the Boy Scout Handbook. It resembles a square knot and consists of a simple overhand knot followed by a reversed overhand knot with an extra wrap for added friction.

This led me to take the shoelace bow and after forming the loops, you simply wrap them around each other twice. In this way it is exactly like the standard bow except that it has one extra wrap of the bows around each other. This creates enough extra friction to keep the knot secure.

It is easier to tie than it sound and it holds amazingly well. It is called the Swiss knot (don't ask me why) and its demonstrated below.



Untying the knot is exactly the same as the bow.

What you don't want to do is leave the shoelace ends shorter than the loops. If you neglect to do this, when you attempt to untie the knot, you can accidently pull the ends through the loops and make a bigger knot. This will undoubtedly lead to mental cursing of the person who tied the knot and of the person who inspired you to try this out.

I taught Rachel how to do this and she loves it. I always use this method when my laces are long enough. I'm trying to get Ruth to use it on the boys so I don't have to untie double-knotted shoes.

Phospates update

The detergent experiment is going well! I've ended up adding additional TSP to the detergent twice now ending with a ratio of 20:1 detergent to TSP. I'm happy with the results, though I'm thinking of trying a detergent tablet when our current supply of detergent runs out.

Give us back our phosphates!

In recent history some state governments have outlawed detergents containing phosphates, and manufacturers have removed the miracle ingredient that makes your cleaning machines work their magic. Since then then the products peddled by you local retailer sport lovely decals which proudly proclaim that they are "Phosphate Free."

Various chemicals such as chlorine, sodium carbonate, hydroxide or zeolite have been added/increased in an attempt to make the new stuff perform like the old stuff. It hasn't worked. I've heard complaints about dishwashers and dishsoaps that no longer do the job. I've seen firsthand myself a wide streak of imitation detergent (read: leftover crud/wasted money) stuck to the inside of the dishwasher door, obviously protesting the wisdom of its use in this manner. Particularly frustrating to me is the redeposited food and the film left on the dishes. Seriously, I would rather wash the dishes by hand then have to rinse them thoroughly, run them through the dishwasher, and then rinse them again.

After my research into this matter I have found two solutions. One is go HERE and buy COMMERCIAL detergent which still contains phosphates. Option two (my pick) is to go to the hardware store and buy an 8# tub, maybe 1/3 gallon, of TRISODIUM PHOSPHATE (TSP). My internet searching did not identify this as the exact ingredient previously in detergent, but some sources made that claim.

Trisodium phospate is (chemically) a type of salt and used as a cleaner for hard surfaces, especially before repainting. It is caustic and heavy rubber gloves should be worn when using in as a cleaner. There are other warnings a person should be familiar with.

Relying on the recommendation of uncredentialed internet sources I added 1/3 cup of TSP (about 24:1 detergent to TSP) to what dry soap I had, about two quarts. I mixed it in an ice-cream bucket (we go through a lot of these). After mixing I funneled the mixture back into the original box and wrote on it in big letters "CONTAINS TSP."

With the first load the plates, cups, bowls have all come out clean. No food residue on anything. I did notice a little bit of cloudiness on one plastic pitcher that I had to rinse off. So a slightly stronger solution may help. I have since added another 1/3 cup of TSP. Detergents with phosphates vary in their phosphate content from five to seven percent.

I did read about another detergent product that is supposed to work very well, but it didn't interest me enough to try out. I'm not sure its available in my area. And I don't want to buy every brand of soap to find out which ones work or don't. As a warning to people who may follow my example, there are "TSP" products that are labeled as such the don't contain phosphates!

You can do your own research and find out that detergents are not the only sources of phosphates in our waterways and that there are, in fact, ways to remove phosphates from the wastewater that flows to our streams, lakes and rivers. You can bet that if the restaurants, hospitals, schools and industrial facilities are still allowed/going to use the good stuff, the average Joe will, too.

If I don't destroy my dishwasher and dishes in the process of saving time and money on this adventure, I will have achieved some happiness in my success.

PS:Further batches of dishes have emerged with mixed results (as far as deposits go). We still often find a small amount of white powdery residue on some dishes that comes off easily, which is better than before, but still not satisfactory.

Non-alcoholic beverage

So this season with a lot more time at home and Ruth at work I decided I wanted to try making eggnog. I've never made it before and only knew that I didn't want to screw it up, which is my mental approach to most things.

Monday night I showed Ruth the recipe I wanted to try. She dove into it and then I helped her out. Unfortunately the egg cooked too much in the milk and we quit when we saw tiny chunks of egg floating in the mix.

Tuesday after lunch I made my second attempt. Ruth was at work so I put a movie on for the kids to keep them out of the kitchen.

I separated the eggs (6). The recipe only uses the yolks. Then I did my best to remove any white gunk from off the yolks. I also broke the yolks and removed the empty sacs. I didn't want any floaters in the drink.

Started some milk warming (2 c.) on the stove, then whipped some sugar (3/4 c.) in with the egg yolks until they were the right color. Once the milk was hot I poured half of it into the egg and sugar and mixed it well. Back it went into the remaining hot milk to cook until slightly thickened.

Removed it from the heat and mixed in a cup of whipping cream. Poured it through a sieve into a bowl in a cold water bath. Chilled for an hour then added the remaining milk (2 c.). A tiny bit of rum extract (1/4 tsp., store-bought has way too much!) went in and now the drink waits in the fridge. Next we'll whip up the remaining cream (1 c. with some sugar and vanilla) to drop on top and garnish with nutmeg. I can hardly wait.

And the verdict is...

They like it!!!

Even David liked it.

Emily didn't want any at first and asked for a cookie instead. I convinced her to try it. She ended up having seconds.

Rachel asked if we could have this next Christmas. I asked if we should make this a Christmas tradition and was answered by all the kids with a resounding "YES!"

So with this eggnog experiment I learned/came to the conclusion that your eggs have to be super smooth before they begin the cooking progress. I also learned that rum flavoring is precisely what I do not like about commercial eggnog. Maybe if I was a rum drinker I would like it better.

The nog didn't turn out quite as frothy as I hoped but it was still very good. Next time I think I will try to fold in some whipped cream instead of some of the milk.

Lastly, I got the recipe from the internet here: http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/cooked-custard-eggnog. It is obvious I made some changes. But I have to give credit where it is due.