Doug's photo blog — originally a photo a day, now not so much
I smoked a small lamb leg roast today, It came in at about the time I expected, around 2 hrs at 250-300F, meat at 140F. First time I’ve smoked over live charcoal, and it went fine with my new probe thermometer. The result was good, but I think next time lamb leg belongs in the sous vide and it’s fattier cuts like lamb shoulder that should be smoked.
We like the sitting wall on our back patio, but just about every year it needs a few stones re-set. This is the first time I’ve had to fix one of the ones that make up the top of the wall. You can see that the original builders didn’t use *quite* enough mortar on this one.
We can’t have a real fire pit. Our back fence and our house are too close together, and both wood. But we can have a tiny fire in an old cake pan.
We wondered if these 3 squirrels who have been hanging out together are a family. Now we know.
(shot through a window; the strange lighting effect is a reflection)
We asked the lovely family who’s been shopping for us to surprise us with some veggie treat that’s not on our list, and they brought us golden beets! So I made ravioli.
The pasta came out a bit thick (done with a rolling pin; I don’t own a pasta machine) but it was plenty tasty.
This morning I pruned a branch that was overhanging our roof. Looks like I’ll be grill-smoking with maple this year.
Homemade ramen with sous vide pork belly.
Our city is taking advantage of less traffic to make quicker progress on re-doing the road & sidewalks through our local village center. I took my bike down there today to have a look.
This crossed-out label on my wine club’s shipping box is about the only non-pain-in-the-ass change to come out of our current situation.
One advantage of being home every day is we get to watch the wildlife in our yard. Two interesting visitors from today and one from yesterday.
First up is a cardinal. We get a few cardinals at our feeder, but what’s interesting is that I am pretty sure this is last year’s chick. We also have seen a pair for the last few years, but this guy is by himself and you can see his plumage is not quite baked.
Next up is a groundhog (woodchuck, whistle pig, whatever you want to call it). He’s awfully cute. Shame they’re so destructive. I am glad we’re not trying a vegetable garden.
Finally, from yesterday, a rose-breasted grosbeak at our feeder! This photo is not the best quality (shot through a screen), but is clear enough for a positive ID. We hope this guy sticks around and finds a mate.
