Early Spring Chores - Steak & Sea Bass

I got up somewhere close to 730am. I could’ve slept longer but the specter of sleeping in until 8am or after sent shivers down my spine. Once I was downstairs and had the coffee underway I felt fine. It was cloudy when I first got up but appeared to be clearing. The temperature was hovering near 40 degrees with a forecasted high near 50.

I wasn’t in any hurry to get in my run. Instead, I enjoyed the feeling of a leisurely Saturday morning sipping coffee and playing on the internet. Mindy joined me downstairs shortly after 9am. By then it was mostly sunny and in the mid 40s. I took Eiknarf on a walk and then joined Mindy out on the deck for a while basking in the late winter sunshine. Felt really nice out there. The yard was a little swampy but the otherwise pleasant. I let the pug run around out back for a while too.

Mindy and I talked about the feasibility of buying a retractable awning for our sunny deck. The patio umbrella simply doesn’t cut the mustard in the heat of the summer. I don’t know a lot about them, including the cost and reliability. We both agreed that it would be really nice to have more shade out back.

I headed off on my run around 10am. Just before I headed out, Bella was up. I jokingly asked if she wanted to join me. Not a chance. Said she was waiting around for 11am to go find her peeps. Did my usual 3 mile weekend run. Went without a hitch.

Jacob had his last indoor soccer game of the season at 3pm. Jimaken was coming over to take him. I talked about heading to Whole Foods and/or Market District to pick-up something to grill for dinner. I also wanted to pick-up a six-pack of the new Great Lakes DIPA. Before that, however, I planned to take care of a handful of chores, including cleaning, stowing Mindy’s snow skis, replacing the two worn out uplighting sockets, reinstalling the recently recharged battery in the tractor, fooling around with the Toro mower again, and possibly even jumping the BM’er, whose battery went dead over the winter.

I cleaned Mindy’s skis first. That didn’t take too long. Next, I replaced the two worn uplighting sockets. The seemingly simple task didn’t start out so well, but ended well. Got ‘em both replaced in about an hour’s time. Discovered that one of the CFL spots was burnt out and the other loose. Bottom line, both needed replaced, but I didn’t have any spares. I put a stop at Lowes/Home Depot on my list too. Reinstalled the battery in the John Deere next. That went smoothly. Started right up. I left it run while I went to toy with the Toro. Same problem as last Sunday. I could get it to start and run but not reliably. It might run for five minutes and then not want to start again. I’m guessing it’s a fuel line issue.

Jimaken showed up in his brand new Murano to get Jacob while I was monkeying with the mower. I was disappointed that he missed the driveway with his passenger side tires smashing the wet and saturated lawn. I chose not to say anything. I decided that I needed to talk with my dad before tearing into the mower, which is largely unchartered waters for me. After Jimaken and Jacob left, I jumped the BM’er using my new 12volt Black & Decker jumper. Worked perfect! Started right up. Decided to take it on a quick spin around the subdivision. Ended up heading out on Trabue and back down Wilson then back home.

I felt good with what I accomplished in all of about two hours. I headed inside, took a shower and got ready to go run a few errands. Bella left with her peeps to go play at Makayla’s. I asked Mindy if she wanted to come along with me. At first she did, but then changed her mind. Decided instead to stay focused on household chores. As it was, she was washing down all the woodwork (cabinets, banisters, doors) with Murphy’s oil soap. I could see a big difference.

I headed to Lowe’s first. There I bought four CFL spots for the outside uplighting. I’ll use tow right away and keep the other two on hand as spares. Next, headed to Market District. I checked out their beer offerings first. Looked all over for the Great Lakes Alchemy. No dice. I did put a 6 pack of the Unita Hop Notch in my cart then went to look at seafood and steaks. Disappointment awaited in the meat department. Not only did they not have any sea bass, but they didn’t have any nice looking steaks either. I decided right then that I wasn’t going to get anything, especially since my primary purpose was meat. I abandoned my cart and left for Whole Foods.

Thought I was visiting the temp Whole Foods sandwiched near the Rusty Bucket, but much to my surprise, the new store was opened – Grand Opening! Cool! It was crowded and the parking lot a little difficult to navigate in an around. No bother. I like the look. Inside, I headed to the butcher shop first where I bought 1.5lbs of Patagonian tooth fish (Chilean Sea Bass) and then 1.25lbs of NY strip. At the other end of the store I bought two varieties of aged sharp cheddar cheese, some hummus, and then looked for the Great Lakes Alchemy. No dice in the beer aisle. However, a kind sales associate indicated that she thought they had it on tap in the mini-pub up in the front of the store. Sweet! I headed there to ask. Had about 8 beers on tap for sale in growlers but no Great Lakes Alchemy. :(

Heading back towards home, I decided to try one more place – the Daily Growler, next to the Big Fat. Inside, I stared at their 4 40” LCDs turned vertically with all their beer offerings. No Great Lakes Alchemy. However, when I shared my quest to find it with John at the counter, he shared that he planned to put some on tap later that evening or possibly the following day. I could only laugh and then returned that, “just not when I’m here, right?” He laughed along with me, but then said if I would wait 5 minutes he’d put another keg on tap. Heck yeah!

While John disappeared around back, I continued staring at the screens. Out of nowhere, I was approached by a somewhat familiar looking woman asking me if I was Jimmy. She had a little kid with her. Uh, no that’s not my kid!  She then asked if Mindy was my wife. Yes. I remembered her but couldn’t pull up the name. I guessed Rene. Nope. Tara. Ah, yes, Tara. She used to teach ED kids at Mindy’s school, but also plays Cello in a few orchestra’s around town. Last we saw her, she brought her new born into Barley’s – Jane. She was standing there with her momma, and looks a lot like her. Very forward too. Eager to meet me. Cute! We talked for a few while John poured my growler. I gave Tara Mindy’s cell # and told her to call. She wondered if we still do Barley’s on Friday’s. Heck yeah!

Called Mindy in route to home. Played the guessing game with her. She couldn’t guess who I’d just ran into. She wondered if I got lost. I’d been gone probably near two hours. Not long after getting home I poured a Alchemy from my growler. Good stuff. We quickly planned our home cooked dinner, Chilean sea bass, steak, salad, and risotto. I started the risotto right away. While I worked on that, Mindy called CBC to see if they had any Bodhi on tap. They did. She left and went after a growler. I think I’ve turned my wife into a beer snob. We planned to ignite the grill as soon as she got back home. She was gone for about 45 minutes.

Now about 530-6pm, we lit the grill. Over the past hour or so the temperature dropped like a rock. While it was in the low 50 earlier, it was currently in the mid 30’s. Mindy grilled the sea bass. She’s perfected her recipe and process, and as expensive as that stuff is, I didn’t want to risk it. As always, she brought the fish in to place under the broiler for the last 5 minutes. While she took care of that, I grilled the two NY strips.

I sautéed the green beans in lieu of dumping them into a saucepan. That added a little extra flair. Mindy had the kids get cleaned up for dinner and we ate between 6-630pm. Dinner was absolutely delicious. Everything was top notch, even the kids concurred.

After dinner I tuned the TV to Palladia hoping for some good music, and more specifically hoping to find Live from Daryl’s House on again this Saturday. It wasn’t. Instead, it was a replay of a live concert from Glastonbury, England. Decent show, but nowhere near as interesting as Live from Daryl’s House.
We watched that until about 8pm.

We searched through all the MOD hoping to find a movie that everybody could agree on. That proved nearly impossible. Realizing that we weren’t going to agree on a movie, I tuned to the Comedy Channel where we watched Blue Collar Comedy. Jacob complained and mocked their southern draw at first, but then it grew on him. Mindy was in stitches.

After Blue Collar Comedy, we watched another show, My Red Neck Vacation. That was funny too. I thought Mindy might pee her pants. It was 10pm before we knew it. Mindy wanted me to come to bed at the same time she headed up. So despite my preference to stay up later, I headed to bed at 10pm with her. She agreed to turn on the bedroom TV where we tuned into last week’s episode of SNL on at 10pm. Didn’t know they did that, but like the idea. Not sure if that’s a weekly occurrence. I might’ve watched 5-10 minutes before falling asleep.