Category Archives: How to

Pruning the Tomatoes

Posted on 05/08/2011 by

It finally stopped raining two days ago after almost three straight weeks. That meant I was able to check on the garden. One of the advantages to raised beds and slightly sandy soil is that excess water drains pretty fast … Continue reading →

Posted in Garden, How to | Tagged , , , | 30 Comments

Braiding Challah

Posted on 04/15/2011 by

The recipe I use is from The Bread Bible and once again it is fairly advanced. I promise the next bread recipe will be far more simple. That said, I like her version because the substitution of honey for sugar … Continue reading →

Posted in How to, Sides | Tagged , , , , , , | 31 Comments

Fillet a Fish

Posted on 03/28/2011 by

No fingers were cut while bringing you this how to. Before you do anything else rinse the fish in cold water. Then cut off the fins as seen above. The easiest way to do this is to trace around the … Continue reading →

Posted in Food, How to, Seafood | Tagged | 12 Comments

Arugula Sprouts

Posted on 03/26/2011 by

After only a week the arugula seeds have sprouted and now it’s time to thin. I will end up doing this probably two more times. Basically I pluck out a certain amount of seedlings to help the ones that remain … Continue reading →

Posted in Garden, How to | Tagged | 12 Comments

Bread crumbs

Posted on 03/24/2011 by

This is a fairly simple idea. Buy a multitude of different day-old bakery breads, dry them out in the oven and store until needed. The store-bought stuff can’t touch crumbs from sourdoughs, pumpernickle, rye and others. It also has far … Continue reading →

Posted in Food, How to, Recipes, Sides | Tagged , | 9 Comments

Starting the Peppers and Tomatoes

Posted on 03/22/2011 by

The first thing I had to do before planting was turn the soil. What that means is basically taking a pitchfork and working the bottom soil up to the top. This helps blend in the compost I covered the garden … Continue reading →

Posted in Garden, How to | Tagged , | 13 Comments

Sowing Arugula (aka planting pesto)

Posted on 03/18/2011 by

I pulled the carrots today to make way for the arugula. I had hoped for a bigger yield and larger size, but the colder winter here in the South hurt the growth. The carrots were an experiment to see if … Continue reading →

Posted in Garden, How to | Tagged , | 7 Comments

Vegetable Soup

Posted on 03/11/2011 by

I got home from work today and discovered a very unhappy wife sick with the flu. When I had left in the morning she was sure that by the middle of the day she would be fine. This was obviously … Continue reading →

Posted in Dinner, Food, How to, Soups | Tagged , | 4 Comments

Smoking Poultry

Posted on 03/07/2011 by

This is the final installment in the three-part series on smoking poultry. Here are parts 1 and 2. Smoking meat has always been something I could do every day. There really is no better way to cook meat when it … Continue reading →

Posted in Chicken, Dinner, Grilling/Smoking, How to | Tagged , | 21 Comments

Brining a Bird

Posted on 03/05/2011 by

This is part two of the three-part segment on smoking a bird. Here is Part one. Why brine? A brine is simply a salt solution. Brining makes the protein trap the moisture in the meat. This helps keep the meat … Continue reading →

Posted in Chicken, Food, Grilling/Smoking, How to | Tagged , , | 1 Comment