Standing Rib Roast

Gourmet Chef Elaine made the 6-pound Standing Rib Roast you see below, resulting in the best prime rib I've ever eaten.  The day before, she coated the meat with kosher salt and put it, uncovered, in the refrigerator overnight.  Using the reverse sear method, she set the oven at 225 degrees and let the meat roast for a little over three hours until the internal temperature reached the medium-rare temperature of 125 degrees.  The roast came out of the oven, and the temperature increased to 500 degrees.  Back in the oven for 7-8 minutes to sear the outside.  Be careful when you open the oven door, as there will be spitting going on.  All the details can be found at the link below.

We bought the roast at our local Dot's Market, where the butcher removed the ribs and then tied them to the roast.  That kept the extra flavor that the bones provide while making it much easier to carve.  Pro tip!

https://www.foodnetwork.com/how-to/packages/food-network-essentials/everything-to-know-about-prime-rib

2002 Château Lafite-Rothschild

I recently had the bottle of 2002 Château Lafite-Rothschild, one of the five First Growths, the highest classification of wines in the Bordeaux region of France.  I've been holding onto this for fifteen years, and the story of how I came into its possession is one of those rare, right-place-right-time stories.  

Back in 2010, I was searching for a 30th birthday present for my daughter, and thought one of the First Growths would be appropriate.  I searched and searched but could not find a bottle at any reasonable price.  Two days before her birthday, I decided I needed a "plan B", but as a last desperate try, I visited one of our local Arrow Wine stores.  I inquired if they had any First Growths, and was not surprised when they said they hadn't carried them for years, as the demand for such a pricy wine was nil.  He asked me if I wanted him to call the other Arrow Wine store to see if they had some. I  almost said "Don't bother", but a little something told me to have them check.  He called the other store and asked.  They said they did.  He asked how much.  His eyes widened.  When he hung up, he told me they had two bottles of Château Lafite-Rothschild for $180 each.  I was shocked and made the drive in record time.  I looked around the store for glass cases, sure they would be locked up.  No so.  I found them on a shelf out in the open, and as I stared at them, I thought to myself, "You have to buy both of them."  One made the birthday gift I had hoped to give, and the one below waited for the right occasion to open, which was this last Christmas family dinner, shared with Elaine's youngest son and his wife.  It's the most amazing glass of wine I've ever tasted.

https://www.lafite.com

XHose Pro

Filling up our hot tub in the winter just got way easier with the addition of a Big Boss XHose Pro that I picked up at our local Greive Hardware store.  It's a twenty-five-foot, expandable hose that comes in a compact, 8.5" x 8.5" x 4" box.  It replaces a fifty-foot hose that is nearly impossible to unwind/wind when the temperatures sink below freezing.  I have one just like it permanently attached to our water heater, making a quarterly sediment purge easy to perform.  It's a really cool invention and I love it!

https://www.doitbest.com/product/702616/big-boss-xhose-pro-5-8-in-dia-x-50-ft-l-expandable-hose-702616

Light Ring

The latest addition to our home office is the light ring you see below, mounted on top of the TV that serves as the monitor for my Mac Mini.  It provides a light shining towards my face, highlighting the entire surface, instead of the natural light coming from the office's two windows, which makes half of my face dark.  This will be very useful for a couple of video calls I take in the office.

The light in the picture below is not on.  I took a picture with it on, and the glare coming through the camera was not a pretty picture.

Thanks to my lovely wife for this wonderful Christmas gift!

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08YJPJLFV

Using AI For Gift Ideas

If you're struggling to come up with a gift idea, AI can help.  The response below was generated from the request, "Recommend 5 stocking stuffer gift ideas for a five-year-old boy."  I like that Google's Gemini chatbot not only came up with suggestions I probably would have never thought of, but also included a brief explanation of why it would make a great gift. 

https://gemini.google.com/app

Bunkers

Bunkers is a sports bar located on National Road (US-40) in Vandalia, Ohio, just east of I-75.  A few months ago, I ordered the Walleye fish sandwich you see below and was greeted with three times the fish needed for the Brioche bun.  I ended up taking the extra fish home, which made two more sandwiches for lunch.  Bunkers is also a relatively inexpensive place to eat, and at least half of their menu is under $10.  They have 42 taps with a rotating selection of beers, also at a great price.  Two thumbs up!

https://bunkersbarandgrill.com

Pub Passports

Shown below are Gourmet Chef Elaine's and my Pub Passports and the source of a recent bizarre experience.  My Passport has been lost for many, many years, and we've searched everywhere we could think of multiple times, while Elaine's has been safely stowed in the small glove compartment of our Infiniti G37x.  Fortunately, before mine was lost, I scanned them into my Google Drive, so when we're asked for our Passports at The Pub Beavercreek, we can bring them up on my smartphone for verification.

We did the Ohio BMV yearly renewal for the registration and tags, and like every year, I put the sticker on the rear plate and exchanged the old registration for the new one, which we keep in a Baggie in the glove compartment (along with proof of insurance).  As I was digging around the glove compartment, I pulled not one, but both Passports.  I was shocked they were both in there, as we've searched it many times.  

My theory is that some Harry Potter magic is the only way to explain it.  It must have disappeared into some magic cabinet or something and only recently made it back into our dimension of time and space.  No way we could have missed it time and again.  No way.

Goat Cubes

I was quite startled when I happened upon 15-pound boxes of Bone-In Goat Cubes during a recent trip to Costco.  Harvested from free-range goats and processed into 2" x 2" pieces, they are Halal-certified.  Halal is an Arabic term meaning "permissible" or "lawful" in Islam, primarily referring to food and drink that adheres to Islamic dietary laws.  You can find a recipe for "Slow Cooker Jamaican Curry Goat" at the link below.

https://thomasfarms.com/products/goat-cubes-1

Lencho Brown

Following up on yesterday's post, another funny comedian I follow on Instagram is Lencho Brown, whose real name is Lorenzo Diaz.  Lorenzo is Mexican and entertains us with his take on how Mexicans use English words with his 'Mexican Word of the Day.'  He is a usually clean comedian, but an occasional f-bomb does occur.  Links to his Instagram feed and YouTube channel are below. 

https://www.instagram.com/lencho_brown_

https://www.youtube.com/@LenchoBrown

Mike Goodwin

I follow a very limited number of people on Instagram outside my immediate family and friends, unlike some people I know who follow over 2,000, which I think is just crazy.  One of those is Mike Goodwin, the handsome fellow you see below, an absolutely hilarious and clean comedian.  One of his best skits is "There Are Only Two Things in Life to Worry About", which you can watch at the YouTube link below.  Below that is a link to his Instagram channel.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/bx1IcND-Kak

https://www.instagram.com/bowtiecomedy