Every time I think it's a bit nippy here, I remember MN is at least 10 degrees colder.
22 thoughts on “January 24, 2021: Chilly”
It’s been a pretty mild winter so far, and 14-day forecasts are showing temps mostly in the 20s and 30s. This is normally when we get the below zero stuff.
My skating rink has been very slow going. Making some progress over the past few days, but realizing that the yard is more sloped than I had noticed.
It was a bit of a rough start for the outdoor curling rink a few of our members created, but this weekend was down in the teens so that helped quite a bit.
Yeah, the last couple days were very good. But today I made the mistake of letting the hose run too high in the rink, and water found its way under the liner, and started leaking out the bottom. I need to be more careful and freeze from the low-point up.
Are you using real curling stones? A friend made a curling rink but made his own stones that are half the weight.
They are real, yeah. The one day me and my friends got out there they had flooded in the morning but it wasn't really warm enough to fully freeze up, so we had to move the hack to to about 2/3 of the sheet. They just ran a spiel over the weekend and were able to do the full sheet though.
My friend cleared his off but didn't get it that smooth. Tried real stones and couldn't even get it halfway. He ended up making his own stones using a large dog bowl, concrete, and an L-shaped pipe. They don't really move right and the ice is a little uneven but it's fun to just get out there. He has lights set up so we'll go out in the evening and play a couple two-on-two games to five (using 4 stones each).
I don't know what the curl was this past weekend, but when we were there it was like an inch and a half. But as you said, it felt great to get out there with friends and do some actual curling. I miss it dearly. (although there was no way I was going to do even an outdoor spiel right now).
Yes. I'm not sure what will happen to our team going forward. We're no longer grandfathered in to the league so we'll probably be on the wait list. I'd really like to switch to Thursday (from Sunday). I'd also like to not be the skip anymore so I guess it will just depend on who else steps up.
Oh, and one of the guys kind of clashes with the rest of us. And we're all neighbors. Gotta love curling politics!
Hell yeah, woohoo for curling politics. Since our club opted (correctly) not to have a season, no one is losing a spot. Part of me hopes we end up shedding a couple hundred members, though, since we had to institute a wait list. There had been talks of expanding, and the seemingly preferred plan was to make it a 12 sheet club, which would just be a terrible idea. If we can get back to under 600 members I'm hoping those talks go away.
My biggest concern is whether I'll be able to get vaccinated before next seasons starts. I don't want to lose my skip spot and the night I play on for our main league (Thursday) is a sought after night. Also, I really want to play again.
Good luck. We SHOULD be able to be vaccinated by fall.
Minnesota was down 5-1 in the second period. Came back to win and go to 2-0.
I got some goat shoulder cuts a week ago from a Bengali running buddy who gets his goat at a Halal grocery store in Manchester, CT.
Tonight I made a tagine with the goat and Israeli couscous. It was fab.
Spices:
coriander
chili
cumin
turmeric
paprika
ginger
fennel
Brown the goat pieces in olive oil with the garlic, green peppers and onion.
Deglaze the goat with some white wine, then add some chicken broth, some honey, then move to the tagine, adding the spices.
Add dried figs, prunes, almonds, raisins, apricots and cinnamon sticks to the tagine.
Cover and cook at 325-350F for an hour. Meanwhile make Israeli (pearl) couscous.
When ready, add the couscous to the tagine to soak up the juices.
Oooh. Sounds fantastic.
Apropos of the CoC post, I made chili yesterday.
1. 1 cup kidney beans, soaked overnight. Cooked in the Instant Pot with chicken stock to cover (10 minutes on high). Reserve.
2. 5-6 anchos and 5-6 guajillos, stemmed and seeded, plus a couple dried Serranos from the garden. Toasted in 250 deg oven for 4-5 minutes. 6 cloves garlic, roasted on my comal and peeled. 1 tsp each cumin and coriander seeds,1/2 Tsp fennel seed, plus 3 cloves. Toasted on the comal briefly. Tsp oregano, toasted briefly. 1 tbsp sugar and 1 tsp kosher salt. All into the Instant Pot with water to cover (about 3 cups). 10 minutes on high. Scoop the solids into the blender along with 2-3 chipotle peppers in adobo, plus a spoonful of adobo sauce and about a cup or so of the pepper liquid. Blend until smoov. Should be fairly thick. At this stage, it probably should be fried for a few minutes, but I was lazy. Reserve.
3. Chop an onion. Fry in the instant pot in a couple tbsp of olive oil (or bacon fat if you have it) on saute until it begins to brown. Dump in about 1.5 lbs 80-20 and a lb of hot Italian sausage. Fry, stirring frequently, to break up the meat and begin to brown it. Add 1 tbsp each garlic powder, onion powder, ground cumin, and tsp each smoked paprika, paprika, and your preferred ground chile. Stir a bit to incorporate. Deglaze with the chicken/bean broth, dump in the chile sauce, and add some of the reserved chile pepper water. 10 minutes on high pressure. Stir in the beans and correct seasoning.
4. Serve with shredded chez, chopped raw onion, and sour cream. Maybe some cornbread on the side.
Note: no tomato, because I forgot to add it to the blender when I made the chile sauce. Doesn't need it.
Love the use of Smoked Paprika in your recipe. Might I suggest converting your sour cream topping to a chipotle sour cream. I love sour cream in my chili, but I find jazzing up the sour cream definitely takes it to another level.
thanks, zooms. That's a great idea that I will have to try out!
I'm going to try that this weekend. How's the heat level? My wife is a wimp.
Very mild, Algonad. Lots of flavor, but very mild. Anchos and guajillos are both mild.
Thanks!
Had some tagines in Marrakesh that were amazing - chicken & pear at Café Des Épices and lamb & apricots at Cafe Chez ZaZa that, sadly, I forgot to take a picture of.
It’s been a pretty mild winter so far, and 14-day forecasts are showing temps mostly in the 20s and 30s. This is normally when we get the below zero stuff.
My skating rink has been very slow going. Making some progress over the past few days, but realizing that the yard is more sloped than I had noticed.
It was a bit of a rough start for the outdoor curling rink a few of our members created, but this weekend was down in the teens so that helped quite a bit.
Yeah, the last couple days were very good. But today I made the mistake of letting the hose run too high in the rink, and water found its way under the liner, and started leaking out the bottom. I need to be more careful and freeze from the low-point up.
Are you using real curling stones? A friend made a curling rink but made his own stones that are half the weight.
They are real, yeah. The one day me and my friends got out there they had flooded in the morning but it wasn't really warm enough to fully freeze up, so we had to move the hack to to about 2/3 of the sheet. They just ran a spiel over the weekend and were able to do the full sheet though.
https://twitter.com/cheaptoyJP/status/1347965799823241217
That's pretty sweet!
My friend cleared his off but didn't get it that smooth. Tried real stones and couldn't even get it halfway. He ended up making his own stones using a large dog bowl, concrete, and an L-shaped pipe. They don't really move right and the ice is a little uneven but it's fun to just get out there. He has lights set up so we'll go out in the evening and play a couple two-on-two games to five (using 4 stones each).
I don't know what the curl was this past weekend, but when we were there it was like an inch and a half. But as you said, it felt great to get out there with friends and do some actual curling. I miss it dearly. (although there was no way I was going to do even an outdoor spiel right now).
Yes. I'm not sure what will happen to our team going forward. We're no longer grandfathered in to the league so we'll probably be on the wait list. I'd really like to switch to Thursday (from Sunday). I'd also like to not be the skip anymore so I guess it will just depend on who else steps up.
Oh, and one of the guys kind of clashes with the rest of us. And we're all neighbors. Gotta love curling politics!
Hell yeah, woohoo for curling politics. Since our club opted (correctly) not to have a season, no one is losing a spot. Part of me hopes we end up shedding a couple hundred members, though, since we had to institute a wait list. There had been talks of expanding, and the seemingly preferred plan was to make it a 12 sheet club, which would just be a terrible idea. If we can get back to under 600 members I'm hoping those talks go away.
My biggest concern is whether I'll be able to get vaccinated before next seasons starts. I don't want to lose my skip spot and the night I play on for our main league (Thursday) is a sought after night. Also, I really want to play again.
Good luck. We SHOULD be able to be vaccinated by fall.
Minnesota was down 5-1 in the second period. Came back to win and go to 2-0.
Goat Tagine with Couscous
I got some goat shoulder cuts a week ago from a Bengali running buddy who gets his goat at a Halal grocery store in Manchester, CT.
Tonight I made a tagine with the goat and Israeli couscous. It was fab.
Spices:
coriander
chili
cumin
turmeric
paprika
ginger
fennel
Brown the goat pieces in olive oil with the garlic, green peppers and onion.
Deglaze the goat with some white wine, then add some chicken broth, some honey, then move to the tagine, adding the spices.
Add dried figs, prunes, almonds, raisins, apricots and cinnamon sticks to the tagine.
Cover and cook at 325-350F for an hour. Meanwhile make Israeli (pearl) couscous.
When ready, add the couscous to the tagine to soak up the juices.
Oooh. Sounds fantastic.
Apropos of the CoC post, I made chili yesterday.
1. 1 cup kidney beans, soaked overnight. Cooked in the Instant Pot with chicken stock to cover (10 minutes on high). Reserve.
2. 5-6 anchos and 5-6 guajillos, stemmed and seeded, plus a couple dried Serranos from the garden. Toasted in 250 deg oven for 4-5 minutes. 6 cloves garlic, roasted on my comal and peeled. 1 tsp each cumin and coriander seeds,1/2 Tsp fennel seed, plus 3 cloves. Toasted on the comal briefly. Tsp oregano, toasted briefly. 1 tbsp sugar and 1 tsp kosher salt. All into the Instant Pot with water to cover (about 3 cups). 10 minutes on high. Scoop the solids into the blender along with 2-3 chipotle peppers in adobo, plus a spoonful of adobo sauce and about a cup or so of the pepper liquid. Blend until smoov. Should be fairly thick. At this stage, it probably should be fried for a few minutes, but I was lazy. Reserve.
3. Chop an onion. Fry in the instant pot in a couple tbsp of olive oil (or bacon fat if you have it) on saute until it begins to brown. Dump in about 1.5 lbs 80-20 and a lb of hot Italian sausage. Fry, stirring frequently, to break up the meat and begin to brown it. Add 1 tbsp each garlic powder, onion powder, ground cumin, and tsp each smoked paprika, paprika, and your preferred ground chile. Stir a bit to incorporate. Deglaze with the chicken/bean broth, dump in the chile sauce, and add some of the reserved chile pepper water. 10 minutes on high pressure. Stir in the beans and correct seasoning.
4. Serve with shredded chez, chopped raw onion, and sour cream. Maybe some cornbread on the side.
Note: no tomato, because I forgot to add it to the blender when I made the chile sauce. Doesn't need it.
Love the use of Smoked Paprika in your recipe. Might I suggest converting your sour cream topping to a chipotle sour cream. I love sour cream in my chili, but I find jazzing up the sour cream definitely takes it to another level.
thanks, zooms. That's a great idea that I will have to try out!
I'm going to try that this weekend. How's the heat level? My wife is a wimp.
Very mild, Algonad. Lots of flavor, but very mild. Anchos and guajillos are both mild.
Thanks!
Had some tagines in Marrakesh that were amazing - chicken & pear at Café Des Épices and lamb & apricots at Cafe Chez ZaZa that, sadly, I forgot to take a picture of.
Wow that look's awesome.
Dido! Food pr0n!!!