The Poet Creek Express - Foamie Hybrid

[GPW]

We’re always joking that the day after Christmas we have to go on the "Lough Derg Diet “ ...

[KCStudly]

The much awaited “Food Porn” episode, but first, let’s get caught up on a couple of build pic’s.

Last Friday was very much like winter. My wife reminded me that it technically was not winter, according to the calendar. I replied that it was past October and there was ice on the ground, er go it is winter.

Small progress that night. 32 deg F leaving work. 27 deg F on hill at Mecca. No wood stove action below. 32 in loft to start. Only got to 37 after a mere 2 hrs work with heaters running. Once settled in I had the oil filled radiator pulled up close to me by the bench and kept the turd close by on the bench as well, hat on, but I had to take my heavy winter coat off because the sleeves were in my way. Switched to a long sleeved over shirt.

My goal was to get the curb side switch plate recessed into the spacer block, and I almost achieved that goal. I spent some time designing on the fly, figuring out the layout and size of the block. Here you can see the light turned on a 45 deg axis so that it will shine down and back (down is on the left and back is down) with the light switch centered in the plate below (the street side will be a mirror image, but will have 2 switches, so I am showing the spacing for that here to make sure that both sides are sort of symmetrical).


Here you can see that I have cut the switch hole out of the block, scored around the switch plate and have gotten about half way done chiseling out the recess. Not shown is that I matched both switch plates to size (one was a little off), and pilot drilled the screw holes that will be countersunk for flat head screws later.


Then it was time to get ready for Xmas. And while I was doing that the weather got unseasonably warm and I just might have been able to progress the polyurethane, but didn’t manage to fit that in (drat).

As advertised, Xmas eve was at mom and Bill’s little antique home out in the country. Vegetable crudité with mixed olives and goat cheese and a basket of pistachio nuts to start.


Bill tending the clock jack rotisserie chicken on the open hearth (hard to imagine that some people do not like beef!)


A round of present opening:
My darling little 2nd cousin, Isabel seemed to like the monster bath towel cape that we got her.


My other 2nd cousins, Juliet and Mia (paternal twins) sporting the hand knit panda and cow hats that mom made for them.


And now what you all have been waiting for, the main course:
Seven rib standing rib roast with an herb crust.



Our friend the chicken.


An arugula salad with nuts (and I think dried cranberries?), freshly crumbled gorgonzola cheese, and real fried bacon bits (on the side… vegetarians were among us). Also note the home made horseradish sauce on the lower left, for the beef.


Hubbard squash, steamed, then topped with a daub of butter and brown sugar and put under the broiler for a few minutes.


Cranberry Jello mold.


This was a fabulous dish! Quinoa and black rice salad seasoned with cumin, fresh lemon wedges, avocado, and chives.


Of course, we have to have Graber olives at a family holiday dinner.


Aunt Sandra did the shaved brussel sprouts sautéed slightly in butter with pecans; there may be some onions or garlic in there, too. (This dish will convert most people who think they don’t like brussel sprouts.)


Here it is on a plate (my plate!). What a wonderful meal!


For dessert, my cousin and his wife brought Argentinian Dolce de Leche from their home in Rio de Janeiro, a milk caramel that she scooped into these little wafer cones; very traditional dessert there. That’s Isabel enjoying the peppermint stick ice cream.


Whew.

I’m now reminded of the lyrics from Jackson Browne’s The Pretender, “When the morning light comes, we’ll get up and do it again.” Xmas day was my turn.

Another 7 rib roast. After pulling it out of the fridge to take the chill off, I made a crust. A whole head of garlic, minced; fresh herb poultry season mix (rosemary, sage, thyme) processed fine in my minichop, a couple three big dollops of prepared horseradish, and enough olive oil to bind. Generous kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper rubbed onto the beef, press the herb mix on top, and smear some peanut oil on the ends.

While that’s getting started in the oven, chop up a pound and a half of Cabot’s “Seriously Sharp” cheddar cheese, boil some elbow mac, mince and sauté some shallots in butter, add flour to make it a roux, add milk to make it a béchamel, add the cheese to make it a cheese sauce, stir in the mac and bake the best mac and cheese you have ever had. Yes, it is that good! Unfortunately I did not get a shot of it all bubbling and brown on top, but here are some process shots.



When the roast comes out, the mac and cheese, and Yvette’s twice baked potatoes go in.

(I was so happy right then!)

Yvette set a festive table.

(Sliced soupy on the left, a spicy cured sausage similar to pepperoni, cheese and crackers, etc.)

Well, as usual, I got a lot busy getting the rest of the meal together, with mom’s help on the green beans (blanched to a sweet crisp then topped with almond slices browned in butter with a touch of maple syrup), so I didn’t get so many pic’s, but I did get a shot of my plate. Sorry, I could not resist tucking into the beef with horseradish sauce (sour cream, LF mayo, brown Grey Poupon, and prepared horseradish… they were using it as a dip for the crackers, too!).

Clockwise from top left: Graber olives, fresh cranberry relish, cheesy twice baked potato, more olives (!!!), beef with horseradish sauce, my BIL Rene’s pork pie, green beans, and in the middle, the pathetically small portion of macaroni and cheese that my wife (who wanted to make sure she had leftovers of this) had dished up for me (I went back and had seconds of that and the beef!)


And then there was the dessert table!


Spritz cookies, Martha’s candy (fudge like chocolate/peanut butter/oatmeal lumps), nuts, and…

Peanut butter balls with chocolate chips


Oatmeal butterscotch cookies with raisins


Rum balls


Lemon squares


… and the piece de resistance… a big slice of my mom’s pecan pie with a wee dab of whipped cream.


Later, after all of the guests had gone, Yvette and I shared our presents. She had gotten me everything on my list, and luckily, I had forgotten much of what I had asked for, so it was a nice surprise.

See my Cast Iron thread here for related presents, like the Lodge lid lifter that my Cat Rocky helped me open.


And there was a big spool of purple 550 paracord.


The big gift is something that I have to pick up myself, so I’ll save that for another time… maybe. Let’s just say that when all of this camper building is over, I will have most of the hardware I need to go play cowboy games.

[Wolffarmer]

I just gained the 10-15 lbs I lost the past 3 months.

I am also sending your address to Eritrea.

Randy

[wagondude]

I think I need a cigarette (and I don't smoke....well maybe a cigar once in a great while). Good eats for sure.

[atahoekid]

Wow, I just got back from a great dinner (seafood restaurant) and my mouth is watering... Good Eats!!!!

[GPW]

KC, I gained 5 # just looking at your pictures .... Mmmmmmmmm mmmmmm !!!

[bonnie]

Wow that was wonderful. Good eats.

[KCStudly]

Thank you to all of my internet friends for joining my family in our Xmas celebration.

As my friend Larry likes to say when he is trying to feed me, "It's too good not to share, I want you to have some."

I can tell you that the beef has only gotten better; slicing off delicately thin shavings, spreading some horseradish sauce on a snowflake dinner roll with a little Gouda cheese and a sprinkle of salt... heavenly.

Today would have been a good day temperature-wise to work on the camper, but I spent it with the wife instead. We went to The Black Sheep tavern for lunch, where we ran into an old acquaintance of mine who mentioned that an old friend now owns an art studio Fresh Ayer Gallery in Old Lyme (the town famous for Lyme Disease ticks).

Before heading out to see the gallery we walked along the Niantic Bay Boardwalk and watched the sunset.

On Thursday we had some tree work done in the yard, but it was also the Engineering Dept.'s Xmas gathering for my work at Little Galapagos Bar and Grill, so it was dark by the time I got home. So on Friday I decided to come home before dark and survey the work that had been done; my only complaint is that there is not much wood to show for the two gangly oak trees that they took down (leaners), just the main trunks cut to length with none of the larger branches left behind. Maybe a cord once it is split.

I promise to you and myself that I will work on the camper tomorrow!

[Mary C]

Oh my what yummy food , I just thought I wouldn't gain from pictures. I feel full oh, the pecan pie .........now I just don't think I can wait three years........it looks soooo good.


Mary C.

[wagondude]

I'm thinking that once TPCE is finished, your next project could be the Poet Creek Cook Book.

[KCStudly]

Thank you Mary and WD. I have often thought it would be neat to have a diner, or cafe, to be able to create menus and share my creations with other people, but alas, owning a restaurant is an awful lot of work and I wouldn't know the first place to start.

As to a cook book, I suppose that is a possibility, but I would settle for having TPCE done in time to create a meal plan for the trip and do some precooking/freezing of meals ahead of time. Stay tuned. Everything will be documented here, one way or another.

As promised, I got something done on Sunday!

But first, here’s another Xmas gift from my list. It’s a threaded hand knob with key locking feature.


When it is unlocked the hand wheel and brass thread insert turn as one. When it is locked the plastic hand wheel free wheels on the thread insert. I plan to use this to lock my shovel and axe into an easy access rack on the front wall of the cabin.

I think I posted source details earlier, but here’s a pic of the part info in case I hadn’t.


Okay, to work! I finished chiseling out the switch plate recess in the curb side pillow light mounting block and drilled the hole for the wires to come to the back of the light fixture. Here it is with the switch plate trial fit.



I still need to router out a wire channel from the hole to the switch cavity, since there is no switch recess in the wall. I haven’t decided if I am going to build these blocks up a little thicker, or spot drill holes in the walls under the switches (with the flag connectors on the backs of the switches, they are deeper than the blocks are thick).

Next I cut the block to length and rough cut the corner radii on the bandsaw.


Then I hand sanded the radii to the line using the small oak block.


Next I rounded over the top edges on the router table.



Then some more sanding with 220 grit to remove the tool marks and little burns from the router bit.



Here’s a little mock-up with the light fixture screwed in place. In the second pic the switch is perched on a little piece of wood just to hold it upright for the picture, and the bottom of the assembly is to the left.



So the reason I am making these one at a time is because this piece was the last that I had ripped down from a 1x4. The second one would come from the short 1x6 that I bought for the dome light trim blocks, and I didn’t want to cut that down until I was sure I was happy with the design (trying to avoid waste). Anyway, happy with the curb side, I cross cut the 1x6 to the finished length, ripped it to the proper width, then proceeded to make another opposite hand block for the street side.



The difference is the location of the screw holes for the light fixture, they both cant down and toward the rear of the cabin.

Due to the holidays, today was my Tuesday, so no work on the camper, but I do plan on getting something done tomorrow… not sure what.

[bonnie]

Those plates are beautiful. I learn so much from watching you. I, too, hope to get something done on my project tomorrow. It's a great way to spend New Years Day.

[GPW]

Youse’ guys (and Ladies) have any New Years resolutions ... like doing More trailer work .... ?

[KCStudly]

Thank you, Bonnie. I am happy to share! Lot's more work on these "little details" before they are done.

GPW, you guys all joked about gaining weight from looking at the food pictures. Well, I must have actually gained weight! Not a formal resolution, but loosing weight is always on the agenda... sometimes. Well, once all of the cookies are gone and the guys at work stop bringing in goodies to share.

Build effort has kind of slowed down during the holidays. Partly due to the holiday "push" and partly due to the cold weather (17 deg F on way to work this AM). My plan is to get back to 6 days a week and am hopeful for warmer weather sooner, rather than later.

[SLUG36]

I think I am going to have to borrow your idea for switch plates in my build. but, I have some 4x4 red oak I will use. maybe have the end grain showing and find a way to stabilize the wood with epoxy.