Hard Boiled Eggs

I mentioned last week about removing the background from a picture of a bowl of hard-boiled eggs, and that's what you see below.  The truly amazing thing is that all twelve eggs are already peeled and are still perfect, which I've never been able to do before.  Since I was making deviled eggs, this perfection added to their curb appeal.  I used the recipe at the link below, which adds eggs to boiling water, cooked for exactly 11 minutes and 30 seconds, and then transferred to an ice bath.  To remove the shell, I first broke the top and the bottom of the egg with a light tap, and then rolled the egg on its side back and forth a couple of times to further crack the shell.  Starting at the top, I just used my thumb to lift the shell pieces from the egg.

I'm not sure if I got lucky this time or if this method is the best ever.  I'll find out next time we're invited to a party.

https://www.southernliving.com/recipes/classic-deviled-eggs

Smoked Cherry Old Fashioned

Hilton Head Distillery is worth the visit, both for its eclectic cocktail options and its friendly bar.  The drink below is a Smoked Cherry Old Fashioned, which is made with rum, cherry syrup, and cherry bitters.  Instead of the normal Solera Rum, I had them make mine with their bolder Ghost Pirates Gold Rum, which has aromas of caramel, warm oak, vanilla, and a subtle hint of baking spices.  

https://www.hiltonheaddistillery.com

Merlin Bird ID

Merlin Bird ID is a cool smartphone app that can identify birds by their image or sound.  As you can see in the screenshot below (taken on Hilton Head Island), using my Pixel 7's microphone, it found four birds, with the American Crow being the most recent it heard, highlighted in yellow.  It also displayed the 222 different birds that Merlin users had identified that day on Hilton Head.  It's available for both iOS and Android, installable from the link below.

Big shout-out to Dan and Grace for turning us on to this awesome app!

https://merlin.allaboutbirds.org

Hot Sauce Vending Machine

Just in case you're expected to bring home a gift after a long business trip or just want to add some heat to your in-flight meal, the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky (aka, CVG) airport has the world's first hot sauce vending machines, one in each concourse.  They feature the award-winning Dude, Seriously brand hot sauce, other local sauces, and other top brands.  The complete list can be found at the link below.

https://www.dudeseriously.com

The Start Of Something Big

Gourmet Chef Elaine is a master at growing indoor plants.  They grow so big that they finally need to be replaced, and she does that by snipping a piece of the plant off and starting a new plant, as you can see in the picture below of her spider plant.  It only takes a week or so for the roots to appear, and then it's ready to be transplanted to a small pot of dirt.  And the cycle continues...

Mortadella

We watch a lot of cooking shows, and occasionally a chef will use mortadella in a recipe, which I've never eaten.  When I noticed our local Meijer's "Grab-and-Go" had prepackaged mortadella, I gave it a try.  While visually different than my favorite lunch meat, bologna, the taste is very much the same.  Mortadella is made using only pork, while bologna can have pork, beef, chicken, and turkey.  The fat in bologna is emulsified into the meat, where pork cubes are added to mortadella to give it the distinctive mottled look you see in the picture below.  They use different spice blends, with mortadella being more coarse and bologna very fine.  More info is included at the link below.

https://www.thespruceeats.com/what-is-mortadella-4777012

Removing Backgrounds

My first attempt to replace the white background in my image with a transparent one (i.e., no background) using my favorite free (I love free) Online Image Editor website could not get every bit of white removed, so I went looking for alternatives.  The one I found worked best was remove.bg, which is at the link below.  I just uploaded the image, and it automatically scrubbed every bit of white away, perfect for my requirement.  The free version provides a lower resolution (576x433) download, but they have paid plans for maximum resolution, and that includes a pay-as-you-go option for $3 for 3 images.  For my needs, the lower resolution is fine.

A day or so later, I wondered if it would remove the background from other photos and was surprised to find that it works pretty good.  For example, I uploaded a photo of a dozen eggs in a bowl sitting on our kitchen counter, and everything but the bowl of eggs was removed.  You'll see that picture in an upcoming blog.  

https://www.remove.bg

Creating Line Art

I've been looking for a way to generate black and white line art using AI (Artificial Intelligence) and found the bigger names (e.g., ChatGPT, Gemini, Grok) lacking.  Then I heard about the Canva app, downloaded it to my Pixel 7, and gave it a try.  Using the prompt "A black and white line art of the words thank you done very expressively", Canva generated the images you see below, of which the first one best fit my needs.  The image had a white background, but I required a transparent background.  That bit of magic will be covered in tomorrow's blog.

Links to the Canva app for iOS and Android are below.

https://www.canva.com/download/ios

https://www.canva.com/download/android

In Plain Sight

The image you see below is from the check-in process for my chiropractor, and I've seen this for more years than I can imagine.  I have dutifully clicked on various descriptors and body locations each time, even though they change infrequently.  But a few appointments ago, I noticed the option to choose "click here if you have no change in symptoms", which is a nice little time-saver.  

According to the Perplexity AI chatbot, this is caused by two phenomena.  The first is "inattentional blindness", which occurs when a person does not see something fully visible because their attention is focused elsewhere.  The second is "selective attention", our brain's way of tuning into what matters and ignoring background distractions.  All part of what it's like to be a human.

Understanding Freezer Capacity

The sign you see below is from a Lowe's in College Station, Texas, that I ran across while shopping for microwave ovens.  I'm not sure if our local Centerville, Ohio, has the same signage, but I'll check it out the next time I visit.  A rancher in Texas probably needs to know that an entire cow will take 40 cubic feet of freezer space, make 210-270 meals for their family of 4, and last for 70-90 weeks.  Certainly, that's nothing I have ever concerned myself with.

Blue Bunny

Gourmet Chef Elaine and I don't eat a lot of sweets, but when we do, we like portion-control options.  We shared the little Blue Bunny Mini ice cream cone that's shown below while catching one of our evening TV shows.  It's enough for 4-5 bites each, and that's plenty to satiate our need for sweet.

https://www.bluebunny.com

Watermelon Margarita

Good fortune was smiling on me at Gringo's in College Station, Texas, when I found out that day was the last day of the year for ordering their specialty Watermelon Margarita, shown below.  I opted for the Tajin rim to spice it up a little, and the larger, chalice-sized goblet.  Things are truly bigger in Texas.

Gringo's has a free (I love free) vanilla and chocolate ice cream machine that's a hit with the grandkids.  They always seem to have some extra room in their tummies for ice cream.

https://www.gringostexmex.com

Nitrogen Pipeline

Another new encounter while walking around the Pebble Creek neighborhood in Texas is the "Nitrogen Filled Pipeline" sign, shown below.  I did a little digging (metaphorically speaking) and found that these pipelines exist to support Texas's oil, gas, and petrochemical industries.  Nitrogen is inert and non-reactive and is injected into oil reserves to push out additional oil, prevent explosions in pipelines and storage tanks, and test and dry pipelines.  A lot of interesting information on nitrogen can be found at the link below.

https://periodic-table.rsc.org/element/7/nitrogen

Bigger In Texas

While walking around in the Pebble Creek neighborhood in College Station, Texas, I noticed they have oversized drainage storm drains, which I measured at ten feet wide.  Texas utilizes oversized storm drains because it experiences heavy rainfall, the ground is generally flat, and the risk of flash flooding is high. The extra capacity is a safeguard against the powerful, fast-moving storms that are typical of the state’s climate.

https://pebblecreektx.com

Easterwood Airport

Easterwood Airport (CLL) is a regional airport in College Station, Texas, serving Texas A&M University and the surrounding area.  Unlike the 171 gates at Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) airport, which will expand to 202 in the next couple of years, CLL has just two gates and is owned by Texas A&M University System.  The airport is named after Lieutenant Colonel Jesse L. Easterwood, a U.S. Navy pilot and early aviator from Texas A&M University’s Class of 1909.  As you can see in the picture below, you can watch as the baggage handlers unload your bags on the carousel, which gives me a comforting feeling that my bag is not lost (or mishandled).  Although small, it's a very nice airport.

https://flyeasterwood.com

Butter And Pepper

The gnocchi pictured below came from a grocery store, which explains why its size and shape are so much more consistent than my homemade recipe.  I made a lot of different sauces for gnocchi, but the simple addition of a little butter and pepper is all it really needs.  Add a little medium-rare steak, a bi-colored ear of corn, and a glass of wine, and this quickly became a meal to remember.

Hydrant And Stick

The fire hydrant and stick come to you from Williamsville, New York, a cute suburb a few miles northeast of Buffalo.  At first, I thought its purpose was to alert snowplow drivers because running into one is not good for either the hydrant or the plow.  However, Gourmet Chef Elaine pointed out that perhaps a bigger purpose was for firefighters to locate a hydrant to fight a fire.  Well, either way or both, if the snow reaches six feet deep, even the stick is not going to help.  

70

On this day back in 1955, Earl and Rose Marie Moorman welcomed their second son into the world, me.  They gave me a wonderful childhood, sent me to Our Lady of Mercy grade school and Chaminade High School (which in my senior year became Chaminade-Julienne).  I lived at home during my first three years at Wright State University, allowing me to have minimal debt after graduating.  Mom and Dad passed away way too early, and I've missed them for more than half of my life.  I never thought I would make it to my 70th birthday, much less have all the blessings of family and friends I enjoy so much.  

Draining The Igloo

The only issue we have with the Igloo cooler you see below is that it doesn't have a drain plug, so when it's time to get rid of the water, we have to remove everything in the cooler first.  Or so we thought.  All it takes is turning it on its side, where the hinges are, and the water gushes out.  Never would have guessed that in a million years.

Big shout-out to my brother-in-law Albert for showing us this not-at-all-obvious feature!

Halloween Gone Wild

The display you see below is from a local Home Depot store.  Why anyone would shell out hundreds of dollars on a hideous front-yard Halloween display is totally beyond me.  What's worse is that some neighbors leave their twelve-foot skeleton up year-round, changing their costume to match whatever event is happening at the time, such as Christmas, St. Patrick's Day, or Cinco de Mayo.  Tacky knows no bounds.

https://www.homedepot.com

PB&BJ

A snack of Peanut Butter and Jelly hits the spot just right, and my twist is to use Blackberry Jam (hence the title of this blog) instead of the usual grape variety.  As you can see below, I like to use a little more jam than peanut butter and a thin-sliced, multi-grain slice of bread to make believe I'm being extra healthy.  Of course, the peanut butter is the smooth kind.  I never liked the crunchy kind as a kid, and I still don't now.

Altafiber

It has been almost 2 years since I blogged about Altafiber (the rebranded Cincinnati Bell) starting to run fiber down the major streets, and I've been (not so) patiently waiting for them to begin stringing fiber on the access poles, as you see them doing below.  Now I have to wait until they're ready to offer service to our house and allow us to save $50 per month over our current Spectrum Internet.  Hurry up, folks!!

https://www.altafiber.com

Golf Ball Picker Upper

New to the practice green at Walnut Grove Country Club is the ball sweeper you see below.  You attach an empty bucket to the rear, and as you push it across the green, the golf balls are gathered at the center of the diagonal pipes and conveyed into the bucket.  In under a minute, you can collect an entire bucket of balls without bending over.  This is genius!

https://walnutgrovecc.net

Streaming Cost

Comparing how much I pay to watch "TV" against what others pay is a bit of a challenge.  If I include the total cost of our high-speed Internet access, our monthly total is $191.34, which includes YouTubeTV and Netflix.  That overstates the cost since the Internet is used by lots of other things.  It also doesn't include what other services, for example, HBO, STARZ, and Disney+, that I use for a few months and then cancel until something good comes along.  

At the moment, that includes ESPN Select, to watch certain football games, for $12.89 a month for the next three months, and STARZ to watch Blood of my Blood now and the final season of Outlander early next year.  STARZ's special promo cost us a cheap $29.99 for a year, so I'll be looking hard for more shows to watch there.

Butt Dial Prevention

There just seem to be select people who butt dial (i.e., an unintentional call) you most often, and it made me think what they must be doing to cause that.  I've concluded that after a call, they just stick their phone in a pocket, where the slightest touch calls you back.  That's even more annoying when it's a group FaceTime or other video calling app.  The article at the link below has several more suggestions, but I think just making sure you turn your screen off (and have a lock code of some type set) before putting it away will solve the issue.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/how-to-prevent-butt-dialing-calls-from-your-iphone

Cowboy Candy

Also known as Candied Jalapenos, this recipe combines the heat of sliced jalapenos with loads of vinegar and sugar.  Three pounds of jalapenos are sliced using a mandolin (and a cut-proof glove), shown in the top picture below.  A sweet pickling liquid takes four cups of sugar, two cups of apple cider vinegar, and some turmeric, celery seed, garlic, and cayenne peppers, which are boiled, the peppers added to it, and simmered.  The jalapenos are packed into pint jars, topped with the liquid, sealed, and boiled for fifteen minutes to kill harmful bacteria and allow for longer-term storage.

The full recipe at the link below (a public link to my personal Google Drive) will take two hours and yield four pints of these snacking delights.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1VDoHTlQMPwEKa7SKPADhZm_orO0FCJNPWlYOCdsmu7o/edit?usp=sharing

Unexpected Costco Moment

One of the three Miscanthus sinensis 'Strictus' (aka Porcupine) grasses we planted last spring did not make it, and I dug it out a few weeks ago.  The plan was to wait until spring and buy another, but that changed when we saw the exact same plant, shown below, at Costco.  We didn't know Costco had plants because we usually come in on a different side than where the plants are, we're trying to get a cart, and I'm fumbling for the membership card.  But this time we came in the other side, and when we saw these grasses were only $18.95, instead of the $50 we paid at a nursery in the spring, we jumped on it.  Paying attention sometimes pays off.

https://www.costco.com/live-plants.html

Gemini Image Editing

Whether AI is good or bad for humanity is certainly a debatable topic; it can certainly be funny.  I uploaded the photo I use on Instagram (on the left below) to Google's Gemini and asked that it give me hair like Pierce Brosnan.  I also asked for a better smile.  As you can see on the right below, it did that and made me look about twenty years younger.  Or it just made me look goofy.  That's also up for debate.

You can try Gemini's image editing at the following link.

https://gemini.google.com/app

Calvary Sunflowers

At the western edge of Calvary Cemetery in Dayton, Ohio, on St. Andrews Drive, are two fields of sunflowers, some of which are shown below.  It's an annual tradition and a stunning display.  Calvary is a great place to take a walk, particularly that western edge, which has very little traffic.  With cooler temperatures on the way and leaves changing, I'm going to follow my own advice and take a hike.

https://calvarycemeterydayton.org/news/sunflowers-in-bloom

Uranus Fudge

Before I start, let's agree that Uranus is pronounced "YOO-ran-uhs".

This thoughtful gift, a box of delicious fudge from the Uranus Fudge Factory General Store and a copy of the Uranus Examiner, comes from Gourmet Chef Elaine's brother and sister-in-law.  The original location is in central Missouri along historic Route 66 in the Uranus Missouri Towne Center.  They now have three locations, with our gift coming from the newest location in Richmond, Indiana, near the Indiana Welcome Sign.  Where they pulled that location from is unknown.  Check out all things Uranus has to offer at the following link.

Shout-out to Dale and Kim for the fudge and their sense of humor.

https://www.uranusgeneralstore.com

Harrison's

Harrison's is a cute restaurant in historic downtown Tipp City, Ohio, and after considering many of their delicious sandwiches decided on the All-American Gourmet Club you see below.  Layers and layers of turkey, ham, bacon, Swiss cheese, and tomato on an awesome pretzel bun made getting all that goodness in a single bite quite the challenge.  More of their menu is at the link below.

https://harrisonsrestaurant.com

Custom MultiView

Football season just got better with YouTubeTV's new custom multiview feature.  I was able to select the four specific football games I wanted to watch, instead of the old system where they decided which combinations to offer.  When the game I'm mostly interested in goes to a commercial, I return to the four-panel view you see below and catch up on the other scores.  When I see my game has come back on, I select it to watch it again on the entire screen.  Love it!

https://support.google.com/youtubetv/answer/13418774

Deck Lighting

Our deck lighting has a control that turns the lights on, off, or to come on at dusk and stay lit for 4, 6, or 8 hours.  But at this time of year and at the 4-hour setting, it stays on longer than we like.  We wanted the lights to turn off at our bedtime, so I had to get creative.  The solution was to add a TP-Link smart plug between the outlet and the power cord, as shown below.  I created a pair of Amazon Alexa routines, one to turn off the power at 10:30 pm (aka bedtime) and another to turn the power back on at 10:00 am (well past sunrise).  I set the patio control to its 8-hour setting (way longer than needed), and now the lights come on at dusk and turn off at bedtime.  Pretty slick home automation!

Boxwood Blight

Like all the other boxwoods in the neighborhood, ours have been destroyed by a blight that quickly killed the bushes.  With the recent nice weather, I figured I'd get a jump on removing them instead of waiting for spring and having to see their sad, brown carcasses all winter.  I pulled out my handy reciprocating saw and my new badass Milwaukee Wrecker blade and cut them off at the base, which only took a couple of minutes per bush.  I'll wait for some wetter weather before shoveling out the roots.  

Read more about Boxwood Blight at Ohio State's Buckeye Yard and Garden onLine (BYGL) link below.

https://bygl.osu.edu/node/1359

Quick Fire TV Restart

Like every computer I've ever owned, our Amazon Fire TV Cube streaming device occasionally needs to be rebooted when it starts "acting up".  Before learning this tip, I would have to navigate through several menus to find the restart option, or God forbid, get out of my recliner and pull the power out and back in.  The easiest way to do this is to simultaneously hold the select and play/pause buttons for ten seconds, and the reboot will start.  This is demonstrated at the link below.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/gu2pkhp6wMQ

The Silos

I had to include the multiple pictures you'll find below because properly describing The Silos in downtown Dayton can't be done in a single shot.  The Silos is a combination of an inside and outside bar, four restaurants (Nood Bar, Kung Fu BBQ, The Burger Bistro, and Indigo), and outside play areas with various games to play.  This is a very family-friendly establishment, and the menu is sure to please everyone, including those with gluten-free and plant-forward preferences, with options available at Indigo.

https://www.silosdayton.com

Biggee Size

Most Long Island Iced Teas you'll order at your favorite watering hole will be served in a tall glass of 16 or 20 ounces.  But the bad boy shown below is served in a 64-ounce pitcher with an extra-long straw to reach the bottom.  You won't find it on the menu at Jorrge's Restaurante Cantina in Kettering, but George will make you one if you ask.

Locking Total Wireless

A few weeks back, I blogged about doing a Line Lock on my Pixel 7 phone, but I was still trying to figure out how to do the same on Gourmet Chef Elaine's iPhone.  I scoured the Total Wireless website and can't find it, so I'm either blind or it's not there.  Some searching led me to look in the Total Wireless app she had installed on her iPhone, and voila (as the screenshot below shows), that's where the Line Lock option resides.  Learn more about the SIM Swapping threat at the link below.

https://www.tracfonewirelessinc.com/en/ProtectingYourMobileIdentity

Tag For Stupid People

I recently bought a pair of pajama pants, and while cutting off the excessive number of tags (I hate tags), I just had to share the tag shown below that warns to "KEEP AWAY FROM FIRE".  No s#*t, Sherlock!  You don't live very long on the planet Earth if you don't know that 100% cotton fabric will catch flame in a hurry.  If you need signs like this, your life expectancy is very short.

Today's blog is number 2,500, which I started back in 2013 and is still going strong!

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08J942JZ7

New Toaster

Our old toaster was fading fast, taking way too long to do its job, so we replaced it with the Elite Gourmet long slot model you see below.  Having enough space to toast four pieces of bread or English muffins will come in handy, as well as the extra-wide slots.  There is a retractable warming rack for warming pastries, buns, etc.  A real bargain at $35 and having the "Amazon's Choice" label, we bought this after seeing a similar model while visiting family in Pittsburgh.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07HYW76FK

Basil Reborn

Among the plants you see below, there are three basil plants.   The one closest is much greener and has wider, healthier leaves.  The reason behind the difference is that after Gourmet Chef Elaine harvested a batch, she placed the leftover stems in a jar of water.  After a week or so, they sprouted roots and she planted those in a pot, where they took off.   It's like getting free (I love free) new plants in the middle of summer.

A Side Of Melon

The smaller-sized cantaloupe this summer has been sweet and delicious.  One of the workers at our local farmer's market stand told Gourmet Chef Elaine about the simple recipe for the side dish you see below.  You spread a layer of ricotta cheese, add cut-up cantaloupe pieces, and top with freshly torn basil leaves.  It's a match made in heaven.

AlvAnother

Our trip to Lake Loramie included a stop for a beer and pizza at The Loramie Brewing Company, also known as Loramie Brew Bank.  It opened a few years ago in a hundred-year-old building that was first a bank (hence the moniker).  My choice from the sixteen rotating taps was the AlvAnother, from Edison Brewing Company in Gahanna, Ohio.  It's a Scottish Ale with a soft, malty, and creamy body, featuring notes of caramel and butterscotch.  I liked the name, a compression of "I'll have another".  

https://www.theloramiebrewbank.com

Lake Loramie

Lake Loramie, at about 1,655 acres, is the smallest of the three principal lakes created as reservoirs for the Miami-Erie Canal.  It was constructed in 1844–45 by damming up Loramie Creek, a natural 40-mile-long tributary that rises in northern Shelby County, Ohio, and traverses southwestwardly (forming Lake Loramie), then continues southeastwardly before joining the Great Miami River in northern Miami County, near Piqua.  It's a beautiful and peaceful place to watch a sunset from a pontoon boat, as you might gather from the picture below.  More information on things to do there is at the link below.

https://ohiodnr.gov/go-and-do/plan-a-visit/find-a-property/Lake-Loramie-State-Park

Select And Print

Here's another example of me doing things the hard way, even though an easy solution is right in front of my eyes.  I wanted to print out the highlighted text in the screenshot below.  What I've always done is copy and paste the text into a document, then print the document.  I never noticed, because I never looked, that the "Print..." menu selection is available in the drop-down list.  There is also a "Save selection to Keep" (Google's note-taking app), which will also come in handy. 

Freezer Hack

Here's an easy way to know if the items in your freezer have thawed when you've been out of town.  It's particularly difficult to know if everything refreezes.  Fill a small jar most of the way with water, let it freeze solid, and lay a coin on top.  If you come home and the coin is at the bottom of the jar, you know you've had an outage and probably need to through everything out.

A big shout-out to our friend Grace for this appliance hack!

Mission BBQ

Mission BBQ opened its doors for business on September 11, 2011, the brainchild of two friends who are patriotic for Our Country and passionate about BBQ, on the tenth anniversary of our world changing forever.  Sandwiches include the Pulled Pork shown below, brisket, chicken, and sausage.  Baby Back ribs, chicken, and salmon headline their smokehouse selections.  The children's menu includes smaller, slider versions.  The food is great and the service top top-notch.  You can view the rest of the menu for the Dayton store at the following link.

https://mission-bbq.com/locations-and-menu/dayton

Cast Iron Griddle

We've upgraded the griddle on our GE Cafe stove with the cast-iron version you see below.  The one that came with the stove was a coated aluminum version, but after making our weekly Oklahoma Onion Burgers, that coating is just about gone.  This griddle was seasoned several times by heating it up, applying oil, and letting it cool down.  It's about twice as heavy as the old one, but it's worth it.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CJV1GNB7