Little Pillow

The little pillow in the forefront below serves two purposes.  I'm a side sleeper and I put it under the arm that I'm not lying on to prop it up and relieve pressure on my shoulders.  It makes an amazing difference.  The second use doesn't work 100% of the time, but when I jamb it up against my chin it helps keep my mouth closed it prevents some bouts of snoring.  And that's really appreciated.

Cocoa-Rubbed Flank Steak

Here's a very different rub for your steak, a combination of unsweetened cocoa powder, salt, brown sugar, chili powder, ground coffee, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, and pepper.  Cocoa powder and coffee?  Yep, that's different.  And delicious!

We opted for the easier-to-find flank steak instead of the hanger steak used in the recipe at the link below.  Her Sous Chef (aka me) mixed the spices, covered the steak with it, and wrapped it in plastic for an hour or so.  Chef Elaine then used an oiled cast-iron iron skillet to cook the steak to a perfect doneness (which is, of course, medium-rare), flipping it to give both sides a nice char.

https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/katie-lee/cocoa-rubbed-hanger-steaks-with-balsamic-radicchio-salad-13498841

Purple Bag Project

Our local liquor stores have containers like the one shown below where you can donate your leftover Crown Royal bags and for each bag, they will donate a dollar to support our troops.  They partner with the nonprofit organization Packages From Home whose mission is to send care and comfort packages to deployed American military heroes stationed on active duty around the world.  

https://pack.crownroyal.com/Home/Intro

 

The Bike Yard at Welcome Park

The picture below is a section of the new bike park currently under construction at Welcome Park in Dayton, which is located behind U.D. Arena and Welcome Stadium.  Access to the park is on Hopeland Street, off of West Stewert a couple blocks west of Edwin C. Moses Blvd.  The bike park will have sections for all skill levels and this section is very advanced with jumps and sharp turns.  Scares the 67 in me, but I'm sure the kids will love it.

A grand opening celebration is expected in May of 2023.  See the link below for more details.

https://www.daytonohio.gov/866/Dayton-Bike-Yard

Magic Eraser

The two photos below started out as the same photo on my Google Pixel 2, but the golf cart in the first picture was removed with Google's very cool "Magic Eraser" feature in Google Photos.  It will analyze your photo and suggest things you might want to be removed, or you can circle or brush over specific areas and it removes what's there and replaces it with an educated guess of what was likely behind it.  I now have a way to defeat photobombers or those beach walkers that spoiled a perfect sunset photo.

Sorry, but this feature is currently limited to Google Pixel phones and Google One members on Android and iOS, but I haven't seen the update yet on my iPad.

https://blog.google/products/photos/magic-eraser-android-ios-google-one

Finished Workbench

Chef Elaine thought I should share a picture of the finished workbench...

Just To Get An Outlet

Our workbench didn't have an electrical outlet but had available wiring.  To get to the final result below, I had to rip out the old 8'x4' pegboard because it was nailed in and not possible to remove without damaging it.  I then installed the new outlet, and used two, smaller and lighter, 4'x4' pegboard pieces, cutting off 7" one of them to get the right fit.  Perhaps the smartest thing I did was to attach the pegboard to the studs shooting black screws through some of the pegboard holes.  Not only does the black color make them almost unnoticeable, but if I have to get behind the pegboard in the future, I can do that without damaging it.  The final step was to paint the surface to cover up all the paint spills, nail holes, and other damage that has occurred over the years.  

All of that, just to get an outlet.

Caramelized Parsnips

Chef Elaine bought a bag of parsnips at Trader Joe's and had to look no further than the back of the package to find this delightful recipe.  She cut up the parsnips into finger-sized sticks, sprinkled them with nutmeg, added them to her cast iron skillet, covered them, and cooked them golden brown.  Finally, water was added and by the time it evaporated, the parsnips were done.  

https://www.food.com/recipe/skillet-caramelized-parsnips-490100

1913 Flood

The structure shown below, at Deed's Point, shows the peak water level during Dayton's 1913 flood.  When you stand next to it, look down to the river below and then out to downtown Dayton, it's scary to think that three days of heavy rains resulted in waters reaching 20 feet in low-lying areas.   Even worse, those flood waters were moving up to 25 miles per hour.  The link below describes a little about The Great 1913 Flood Exhibit at Carillon Park.

https://www.daytonhistory.org/visit/things-to-see-do/the-great-1913-flood-exhibit

The Greater Dayton School

The building shown below, located where Great Miami and Mad rivers join in downtown Dayton, will be the new home for The Greater Dayton School, Ohio’s first private non-religious elementary school exclusively dedicated to under-resourced students.  Their core values are defined as:

• Student-first, student-centered
• Dream big; work hard
• Ownership by everyone
• Do the right thing

They look at education differently, starting with how they view success when their students are 27 years old.  Their goal is that at least 80 percent of them are …

• Successful by their own definition
• Physically and mentally healthy
• Living lives of character and integrity
• Financially independent
• Established in a career

Sounds to me like they're onto something and it will be interesting to see if they turn their different approach into many successful outcomes.

https://greaterdaytonschool.org