Monthly Archives: October 2018

Pool Salts and Good Friends . . .

I spent most of today at work trying to get a handle on the whole USPS shipping rate thing.

I’ve been working to get all the applicable rate charts on USPS webpage into a format (.csv, .xls) that computers can read. In some cases it’s just a matter of rote copy and paste into a spreadsheet.

Boring and time-consuming, but necessary.

When I left the rig this morning Jan was getting ready to cook up about 5# of Ground Chuck, saving out part of it to make a big batch of her world-famous chili, and the rest to vacuum-seal and freeze for later.

Jan's Hamburger for Chili

But after I got to work, I call her and told her to put it off so we could go out to eat tonight. Going in to work, I noticed that the new Slim Chickens had started their ‘soft’ opening today and thought we’d check them out.

Slim Chickens

We’d first eaten at a Slim Chicken’s last year up in Katy with Brandi, Lowell, and Landon, and really liked it. So we were looking to this new one in our area opening.

Slim’s is kind of like a Raising Cane’s with Chicken Tenders, and sides. What sets them apart is Slim’s wide range of sides. Where Cane’s only had the basic Fries and Cole Slaw, Slim’s had Side Salads, Mac N Cheese, Potato Salad, Homemade Potato Chips, Fried Pickles, Fried Okra (my favorite) and Jan’s favorite, their Fried Mushrooms.

And along with full size salads, they also have Chicken and Waffles!

We both got Side Salads as our sides, along with an order of Fried Okra and Fried Mushrooms.

Slim Chickens Chicken

Really good, and luckily for us, really close. We’ll be back soon.

Following up on yesterday’s pool party up at Brandi’s, one thing nice about their pool is that it’s a saltwater pool. It’s much easier on your skin with little or no pruney puckering.

You don’t have to add chlorine because the pool makes its own chlorine. Using a salt cell, or salt generator, it electrolyzes the salt water, generating hypochlorous acid (HClO) and sodium hypochlorite (NaClO), furnishing the small amount of sanitizing agents need for the pool.

What’s also nice is the extra flotation that the salt water gives, which makes lounging in the pool even more enjoyable.

Tomorrow we’re making a trip back north to one of our old home bases, the Thousand Trails park at Lake Conroe. We’re meeting up with long-time friend’s, Ed and Debi Hurlburt, and Wil and Cyndy Olsen at our favorite El Bosque Mexican Restaurant.

Can’t wait to catch up with old friends.

 


 

Thought for the Day:

Bobby Leach, the second person to survive going over Niagara Falls in 1911 died after slipping on a orange peel.

ghdghg

Pool Party Fun . . .

Looking forward to pool time, we were on our way up to Brandi’s by 11:30 with a quick stop for gas at the nearby Valero for gas now that I knew how to get the gas cap cover open.

We got there a little before 1 and headed directly out to the pool. Lowell was already out there, as well as Miss Piper, who had combined two favorite relaxation activities, coloring and getting some sun poolside.

Piper Coloring At The Pool

Brandi and Landon were off on their bikes on a neighborhood playdate, and showed up an hour or so later.

Eventually everyone was in the pool this time, even Miss Jan.

Jan in The Pool

Group In Brandi's Pool

Later on, Brandi went inside and put the steaks on. Well, she put them under water, anyway.

Brandi Sous Vide 1

The kitchen utensils are just being used to weight the bags down and keep them under the water.

Brandi Sous Vide 2

She has one of these Sous Vide Cookers from Amazon.

ChefSteps Joule Sous Vide

It’s controlled by the cell phone app and the app even notifies you when your food is done.

Sous Vide is a method of cooking by placing the food in plastic bags and immersing it in water heated to an exact temperature. In fact, if you got a steak recently, there’s a good chance it was cooked vis Sous Vide and then thrown on the grill for a last minute sear.

You can learn more about Sous Vide here.

Later our travel agent, Chantelle Nugent, and her family came over for some pool time before we all sat done for steak.

Sous Vide Steaks

Everyone likes their steak at least Medium Rare, so this was perfect. Miss Jan, however, is more of a Medium person, so Brandi put hers under the broiler for few minutes.

All delicious!

Finally, about 6:15 pm, and after a great afternoon, we headed back to Santa Fe, looking forward to another week of fun and frolic.


Thought for the Day: 

“Facts Do Not Cease To Exist Because They Are Ignored.” – Aldous Huxley

hjfhj