ness

You got the joke!

Well your salmon patties sounded like s#%t to me, but I had the class to not say anything 😄

Chicago deep dish style pizza tonight. Dough is 80/20 AP and semolina flour blend with butter and oil. Also salt, sugar and yeast. Not at all like a regular pizza dough —lotsa fat. Built upside down: crust, cheese, sausage then tomatoes. Whole milk mozz, dollops of Italian sausage, and crushed tomatoes that were drained for a few minutes. A little grated Parmesan on top. Crust in 9 inch cake pan with about 8 ounces cheese: Finished product: Tomatoes needed to be drained a bit longer—it was a bit wet . but still very good. B+

Yeah, but you've got glasses.

Things do adapt and change over time. It's why you don't look like this

If you read his post you'll see he wasn't too successful and changing flies a lot, including to the same setup the guide was kicking butt on. So my point is worry more about the presentation and less about the fly. Partly just fishing style differences I suppose. Carry on.

I think you know what I meant. Changing flies constantly is a waste of time.

I'd recommend a few things: 1. Just pick a decent fly and stick with it. Then stick with it some more. It's usually going to be more about how you present the fly than having the exact right fly. You'll drive yourself nuts, burn through tippet and generally waste time constantly changing flies. Keep that fly in/on the water. 2. Work on getting a good drift (with that ONE fly you're using ). The fly must be moving along at the same rate as the current or it's just not gonna happen as often. On the surface you can see what's going on. Pick a speck of foam or something else to use as a reference point and keep your fly moving along with it by carefully mending the line/leader on the water up or down. For subsurface, an indicator will be a big help. 3. I almost always use an indicator in faster/deeper water. I like the foam indicators with toothpicks because they can be easily adjusted up and down along the leader, or added and taken off. For subsurface you'll generally need to be very near or even bumping the bottom. Add enough split shot and adjust your indicator to get you down there in your target lane. Occasional hesitations as the fly ticks off the bottom are a good sign. Most of the time the fly is moving slower than the water at the surface either because it's ticking along but also because water near the bottom is flowing slower due to friction with the rocks. Adjust with upstream mends as needed so you're not dragging the fly downstream too fast.

Love a splash of Irish cream in coffee. Got a new one for Christmas. This stuff is really good: Like this local brewery that specializes in German beers. No silly names, just beer style. This is a pretty good one:

Had a few scallops in the freezer. Did them quickly, then had a shrimp cocktail and tossed salad.

Food memories can be some of our strongest. My dad always raved about his Aunt Gertie's mincemeat pie. No other mincemeat pie came close. She died in 1957, and he died in 2004. Lot's of food I remember and associate with family and friends: Mom's beef stew and her vegetable beef soup; that fruitcake with bourbon my dad got a few years in a row; Grandma Vi's pancakes, wilted lettuce, and her strawberry rhubarb, raisin cream and custard pies; Aunt Mary's grape leaves with labneh; Aunt Jo's fried chicken; Aunt Maraland's hot cheese dip. Mr. Galvin's hamburgers; Sandra's baklava (no office Christmas party this year, no baklava). I think I've planted a bit of a seed too. ness 2.3 remembers me making Bierocks 'every Sunday', 2.1 loves Guinness beef stew. 2.2, who's had stomach issues off-and-on his whole life, has a very short list. It includes spaghetti with regular Prego and meat balls. He feels the need to ask, 'Did you add anything else to this, Dad?' before he eats. He also loves pumpkin pie. 'This isn't sweet potato pie is it???'. Nope, pumpkin recipe is right off the can.

They certainly haven't been sharp the last several games. Mahomes has made a few ill-advised throws; some bit us, some didn't. Losing #25 was a tough break. Front line is beat up. Defense is looking better. Glad Butker has his head right now -- that may be the difference. Hope to see backups get some work and starters get rested on Sunday.

I’ve had it, but it’s been many years. I like those flavors. That brand looks familiar to me.

@Chief Grey Bear, tell us about the filling please.

Oregon something or other....

‘Knowledge is good.’ Emil Faber

Love Chet Atkins. Here’s my fave

Spent a chunk of the day doing quick visits with friends and relatives, dropping off shortbread. Just the two of us tonight. Did a small rib roast and was very pleased with the results. Maybe just a touch more done that I wanted -- I was pretty surprised by the amount of carry over cooking after pulling it at 120 degrees. Anyhoo, still delicious. Before: Roasted the veggies in the beef fat. After: Then, grandmother's Date Nut Pudding, a ness family tradition: I hope everybody had a merry Christmas!!

I heard a bump on the window a while back. Went to the door to see what was up and a Cooper’s Hawk had a Grackle in its grip on the back of one of our chairs. Went to grab my camera and when I got back they were gone. No blood or feathers, so maybe the Grackle lived. Or maybe it got carried away and dismembered.

We put garland around our front door each holiday season and every year we get a bird or two take refuge in it. I went to let the dogs out one last time last night and had a house finch fly over my shoulder and into the house. #%^*+! Rigged a fishing net to the end of a broomstick and for the next few minutes we tried catching the poor thing. Dogs sitting outside the storm door watching the fun. Caught and released unharmed.

Mine? Right here: Ingredients 3 quarters butter cut into ¼ inch pieces ¾ cup sugar 3 cups flour Sugar for dusting Directions 1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees. 2. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream butter and sugar on medium speed until well combined, about 3 minutes. 3. Add flour one cup at a time, beating on low speed until just combined. 4. Dust countertop with flour. Place dough onto counter and form into a ball. Dust the top with flour and press into a rough rectangle. Roll with dusted rolling pin to 1/4 inch thick. Using bench scraper, form into a rectangle. 5. Using a pizza cutter, cut the dough into ¾ inch wide strips. Going crosswise, cut into 1 to 1½ inch bars. Reform any left over dough into strips and cut to shape. 6. Using a bench scraper, lift bars onto a Silpat-lined baking sheet and arrange with ½ inch spacing. Place two pinches of sugar on each bar. Place in refrigerator for 10 minutes. 7. Dock each bar 4 times with the tines of a wet fork. 8. Bake at 300 degrees on convection setting for approximately 40 minutes, rotating sheet pan half way through. Color should be slightly golden, not brown. 8. Remove from oven and let cool on the sheet pan for 10 minutes before removing to a cooling rack.

Family friend, sometimes babysitter and pure Scot, Mrs. Gilfedder made shortbread for us each year at Christmas. We all loved it, especially my dad. I've been doing this for many, many years:

Thanks. I know it’s a repeat but not much new going on here. We did beaver the other night but didn’t want to show up anybody 😄

A few recent ones: Steak soup: Cod with a brown butter lemon caper sauce. With roasted parsnips, carrots and taters. Done cod many times but mixed it up some with a light breading this time. Veggies were delicious too. Need to do them more often. Just olive oil and S&P: Wifey makes great chili. With a side of cornbread. A favorite of ours:

I don’t think they’re anywhere near monopoly-still plenty of competitors out there. But the field is shrinking and the current offerings at the big guys sucks. I’m all for free enterprise and believe you’ve gotta have a reason to exist. But I also feel for Sidney, NE that was gutted when BPS bought Cabela’s and shut things down there. I’ve got a great fly shop nearby that would be my first choice if I needed something good quickly. Wish they had a web store.