ness

The deed restrictions have been fixed through language in the title policies I think. Redlining was addressed many years ago through regulation. Lenders have to make loans everywhere, and if a pattern of exclusion is detected you'd better be able to defend it. Of course that means loans get made that wouldn't otherwise get made just to stay out of trouble. Not really up to date on all that -- it's not something that comes up in my world. Banks get to deal with the Community Reinvestment Act now. Gotta lend, invest in your neighborhood, make donations, etc. -- or else. Every couple of years the examiners come in and we have to demonstrate all we're doing to make our communities wonderful. There aren't real hard and fast rules, so you're somewhat subject to the whim of the examiner you get. For me, it typically means I get a call from our compliance folks who say I've got to go out and buy a bond that meets some silly criteria that proves we're 'investing' in the communities we serve. As an example, about a year ago I had to go find a mortgage-backed security that had a couple Buchanan County, MO loans in it. Basically had to buy a several million $ low-yielding security we didn't want for the ½ million in qualifying loans it contained since we have a branch up there. Just the cost of doing business/having an FDIC sticker on the door.

These are delicious.

There's a hunk missing

And...while all this was going on, after a few texts, I ordered a take out pizza 😄

Here's the last couple nights. Linguine with clams last night: Lettuce wraps tonight:

Had to look that one up!

Later, at @Terrierman's garden:

Two signature sites in Kansas City are the Country Club Plaza shopping district and the JC Nichols Fountain near there. One of the main roads through the Plaza is Nichols Parkway. The Plaza and much of the surrounding residential development was done by visionary real estate developer Jesse Clyde Nichols. One of the covenants he incorporated into the deeds of the homes sold in the early to mid-1900s was a restriction against ownership by blacks or Jews. He didn't invent the practice, but he certainly was a proponent and helped the idea spread across the country. So, now it's just 'that fountain' and 'that street' until they figure out something suitable. I know I feel a lot better now that we've cleaned all that up

Stumbled onto this episode of Growing a Greener World today. It's a pretty good show. Craig LeHoullier is a legend in the world of open pollenated tomatoes. Lots of interesting techniques he uses like growing in bags and hay bales are discussed. He's been working on dwarf varieties for several years and many of the varieties they've cooked up are commercially available now. Here's a link for info on that.

C'mon canker sores!

Like so many years in the past I'm looking at the tomatoes in mid-June thinking it's a cinch we'll have tomatoes by the 4th of July, and then the 4th comes and goes. Lotsa nice big tomatoes, and many more coming on, but other than the single one off The Little Tomato Plant That Could none of the big ones are turning yet. Getting lots of cherries though.

Ding ding ding! @Terrierman looky here: https://www.almanac.com/content/why-my-squash-not-fruiting

Love this commercial! It's been on TV quite a bit, but I thought I'd share for any who missed it.

The velveting part is in boiling water with chicken probably ⅛ inch thick. About 2 minutes then pull. Using very little oil in our stir fry.

No heat, no color, no vinegar bite. Scaled up for dinner and added rice. Very good but needed more sauce.

Never grow zucchini so no experience but lots of foliage and not much fruit happens if you over do it with nitrogen fertilizer.

Nice! I need to reverse engineer the same restaurant's Szechuan chicken recipe too. Very good too. Sauce is dark, garlicy, spicy, winey. Interesting -- they use jicama instead of water chestnuts. Much better crunch.

Been trying to reverse engineer a recipe from our favorite local Chinese place they simply call Chicken and Snow Peas. I've had it at other places, so I know it's not a one off. Web searches were all over the board and none seemed very close. So I struck out on my own and got it very close. First step was to 'velvet' the chicken. Sliced chicken thinly and marinated them in a mixture of cornstarch and sherry. Lotsa velvet recipes I saw included vinegar, egg white and other stuff. I figured the cornstarch was the key so I kept it simple. Mixed that in with the chicken and marinated for about 15 minutes. Then I dropped the chicken pieces into boiling water for a couple minutes to get the cooking started then removed. It was very soft, juicy, slightly underdone chicken at this point. Then it was a pretty basic stir fry -- chicken, thinly sliced onion, snap peas (I had a bunch from the garden so I used them instead of snow peas) and garlic. Done quickly -- no browning. Then the sauce. I couldn't find anything that sounded right so I winged it. The ones we've had are pale, almost white, savory, thin sauces. I remember savory, wine, garlic, chick broth flavors. So I went with sherry, a touch of soy sauce, a little chicken bouillon, water and a little corn starch. Threw all that in the hot skillet and let it go a a minute or two to pick up flavors and thicken slightly. Turned out very good -- it's a keeper.

ness 2.1 is healthy after a pretty significant issue that lasted more than a year. 2.2 just landed a great job In his chosen field after a year+ search. 2.3 is doing great and just finished his first year doing a job he loves.

That reminds me of the burritos we'd get at a place in Lawrence, KS called Border Bandito when I was in school. Always ordered the Texas Burrito. Big old shell, loaded with meat, topped with your choice of queso, red sauce, whatever.

On a few visits to the garden lately a leetle rabbit surprised us and ran away. Now worries-the fencing we put up seemed to be working fine. Tonight we were searching the bush beans and noticed a hollowed out section where they were eaten off. Checked the fencing around the bed and found this: darn it!

I’ve posted this before but here’s EZ Shepherd’s Pie. EZ is important to this workin’ stiff. Ground beef, frozen veggies, Pioneer brown gravy, deli mashed potatoes. Guinness and rosemary in the gravy. Potatoes doctored with some cream and sour cream. Darn tasty. EZ. Then you gotta drink what’s in it.

Me too. I was going to counter $250. Oh well, maybe next time 😄

Did Pat put her foot down?