rps

I love this thread! Pool maintenance, Skin So Soft, and Dick Cheney stories, all in one thread! Who can add the dancing elephants?

House guests tonight. Two long time favorites I claim as grandchildren. They brought Leo, who I now claim as great-grandchild. And they loved dinner.

No meal to show for last night. I reheated chicken and dressing and made some queso to serve over it. I say again, fellows, queso over chicken or turkey and dressing is beyond compare. No meal to show for tonight. The beautiful wife is taking me out for a steak to celebrate another decade where I have remained vertical. Today, however, I made a Marcella Hazen red sauce variation to go with a Cannelloni Florentine we will bake Sunday with my sister and our family to celebrate both our birthdays. I also cored, peeled, seeded, and diced eight tomatoes and cut up a chicken European style to prep for a Chicken Provencal tomorrow night when we have guests. Two students my wife and I taught graduated, did the college thing, and got married. Their baby is brand new. The young lady and her sister became adopted grandchildren over the years we were in Eureka. In truth, she is bringing a "great grand child" for us to meet. Pictures tomorrow and Sunday.

Never argue with Grandma

Last was simple all American fare for a guest. Roasted chicken, dressing, cob corn, and sauteed snow peas. Tonight will be different. Creamy smoked salmon pasta with capers and dill. Photo later.

Sometimes the most likely places are not. Keep looking!

All home made. Smoked brisket. Sauce. Potato salad.

It looks good too!

I put a brisket on to smoke. It is stll smoking at 10:188 PM. I will pull it later. We had to eat dinner, so I put together a nacho dish. Good stuff.

Great shots from the air show. The Marcella Hazen five ingredient sauce is difficult to beat. Fast and easy too.

I took some of the hybrid I caught yesterday and chunked it up. I added some chunked salmon and other ingredients and I have fishburgers chilling in the refrigerator. I made a spicy peach salsa to go over the burgers. I am planning rice and seared asparagus sides. The plan worked:

Sometimes luck only barely has anything to do with thing. I don't think the typical trout fisherman equipment would have had the same result, even if they accidentally were in the right place at the right time. Well done Bill!

I was on the water at 6:15. Water temp 82 to 84. Breeze very light. Nothing looked at my topwater so around 7:15 I went looking. I found small schools of bait fish suspended at 15 to 20 feet over 29 to 40 feet of water. I saw no bait fish on or near the bottom. Eventually I found a point into a treed pocket cove with larger marks and some evidence of bait chasing. The fish were on the edge of the tree line. I put a smoke pepper keitech on one of Bo's jig heads and experimented with different times of drop before reeling. The jig was knocked around more than once with no hook ups until I finally got a good hook up. I had forgotten what stripers and hybrids felt like. That fish was the only one of good size. The boga grip scale said a hair over 4 pounds. I caught three more little ones and a crappie of no real size. I came in about 10:30. BTW, Crosstimbers marina has no fish cleaning station. I need to figure out how to deal with that.

Home made chicken strips with cob corn and a crunchy salad.

On Table Rock, only commercial docks - marinas - are protected. Any private dock, even if it is next door to the marina, is fair game, and subject only to good manners.

The brother in law and his adult son are stopping by for a late dinner this evening. The young man had been working in Seattle and is headed back t New Hampshire for a new job. The brother in law is helping him get his "stuff" and car back to the East coast. While doing so they decided to stop in Arizona and Oklahoma to see the siblings. I put a skirt steak into a mojo marinade earlier today and will sear it in the egg at around 650 degrees. I will roast some farmers market red potatoes and slather (a professional chef term) them with home made pesto. I found a luscious, ripe honeydew melon at the market also. That will become a melon Caprese style salad. The brother in law may be coming, but I am looking forward to the meal anyway. 😉

After you peel the avocado half, flip it over and carefully slice a section to make a flat bottom. Flip it again and use the slice to fill the seed hole. Salt and pepper the avocado. Fill the cavity with small diced tomato. Drizzle EVOO over the tomato and then the balsamic.

Sweet Italian sausage done Bolognese style and a balsamic avocado.

Last night was a disaster. Don't think about asking. Tonight was better. Spam fried rice.

Good stuff, Gavin! The wife and I made a little dinner salad tonight.

I understand your point. I do not replace all hooks on cranks or spoons. However, stock hooks on original style Warts and Chug Bugs are no better than the real originals and I have always replaced them. Same goes for Cotton Cordell and some other Pradco baits plus Heddon baits. Many other companies use higher quality hooks and I do not replace them until needed. On a side note - the hooks on Berkley baits are sharp out of the package but seem to bend easily on large fish. Once a hook bends out badly, I tend to replace them before the next trip. All of this stems from my belief that it matters. I think that belief comes from my love for top water fishing. I definitely think sharp strong points matter when fish slap at a bait. If I could fish a jerk bait, I think the same would be true. Even if I am wrong, it gives me something to do and one more way to spend money.😀

Farmers market today. Crowder peas, tomatoes, okra, cucumber, I picked up a good sausage later and braised it with the bounty from the market

It has been a couple days since I visited here. You guys have posted some great stuff! Yesterday I marinated the thick end of a skirt steak in lime juice, orange juice, oil, garlic, and Mexican spices. I char grilled it and served it with oven roasted red potatoes and pan roasted broccoli rabe.