House Husbandry

We had some pillows on our couch that we've had for about two years.  They'd gotten sort of sad and flat and I was looking at possibly replacing them.  Not necessary!  Pop those bad boys into a dryer for 10-12 minutes on medium heat and you can pull out fluffy, full pillows in no time.  I spent about an hour fluffing all the pillows in the house back up and you can too!

Yes, I can say it works.  Boiling water, a slurry of baking soda, and then make that high school science experiment go with a little vinegar.  I spent 3 hours or so in total clearing the drain and eventually it did work.  I can run water in the second bathroom sink!  I'm so happy.  I think this may need to become one of those things that I just did on some sort of rotating basis.

Been making soups all week now that I'm back from San Francisco.  It was an interesting trip.  Took super-pup Buster along with us for the first time.  Sweetie threw down some Regional upgrades and got us posted in first which made everything all better (for me).  The Boy did pretty good on the trip.  Who's a Good Boy?  The only thing that was odd was that on the way there and the way back there was an uncrated dog in the aisle right behind us.  Good Boy was not thrilled about that, but he dealt.  He barked a little during some turbulence, but it was pretty bad, so I don't blame him.  Other than that he was a real trooper.  I could see trying it again sometime. Started the week with a Hungarian Mushroom soup that turned out pretty good.  It didn't make much so we ate all of that up Tuesday night. Green Soup The gremolata that goes with it Wednesday, I needed some green soup and put together a hearty delight with broccoli ...

This Daly City comfort food staple has reopened after at least a year hiatus to freshen up the interior, and I have to say they've done a mighty job.  I most expected the food to have changed, like the San Francisco location seemed to have done, but it's the same great comfort food that it's always been, but with a much cleaner, more moderb atmosphere.  I was really impressed by how they updated the interior without really changing it.  Gone are the tired red booths replaced with an avocado green that somehow works and maintains a feeling of nostalgia.  The biggest thing they did was to open up some of the walls to let a lot more light in.  The place seemed light and airy and the ceiling had been worked over to really dull the noise in the place. We had some excellent, crispy friend calamari paired with crunchy-gooey arancini.  I had the lamp chops. a Joe's special was had, as well as a meatball sub an Sweetie indulged in a hunk of prime rib with sides of...

We had dinner tonight at the Cotton Duck as a part of checking out the new hood. OMG was this place good. We started with a foie gras mousse that was subtle and divine. Followed that with Duck Scrapple which was so much better than I thought it sounded.  The star of the show though was the Duck Sugo. A trick of flavors, sort of like the lightest barbecue sauce you've ever had with decadent bucatini and an incongruous toasted wild rice on top. So good!  Sweetie had the Bavette steak which, while good, made me yearn for the Sauerbraten. Four thumbs up!

I check www.theflightdeal.com every morning and today it panned out!  $435 RT ORD to NRT this Spring.  I think I paid that much for two tickets the last time we went.  This is too good not to take advantage of, so we're going again!  Can't wait to have an assault on the senses! Time to brush back up on my Japanese.

I've spent most of the day in the kitchen.  After taking the Dog on an epic 4 mile walk, I rested my feet for a minute and thought about what I wanted to do today. Decided I wanted to make some pasta.  I used to do it on New Year's Day for a couple of years in a row, but it's been probably three or more years since I last did it.  I've got the equipment and had bought some semolina back in January, so decided to just go for it. Started by making the dough in the Kitchen Aid. 1 cup Semonlina flour 3/4 all-purpose flour olive oil salt water 2 eggs Mixed that up till it was coming together and took it out and pressed it in shape.  In retrospect I probably should have used a little more water. Then got out the attachment that rolls it out.  Started running chunks through that on the fattest setting.  Fold it, next setting, fold it, next setting ad nauseum.  I really like playing with my food. I got it to the 5th setting today.  The do...