Drive-by posting

Spam message of the day: Lofty bye, considerate friend . Sometimes the garbling takes it to new levels of internet incoherence.

Recipes of the weekend #1: Cheap cornbread mix, the small box that fills one 8×8-inch pan. Added one tablespoon chopped fresh thyme, two tablespoons chopped fresh chives, and a few twists of pepper from the mill. Sprinkled a spice blend on top–chili powder, ground rosemary, etc. Subtle. Thyme works well in cornbread.

Recipes of the weekend #2: grilled salmon that I marinated using the following:

For 2 4-6 oz steaks:

1/8 cup olive oil
1 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 scallions, chopped (2 green onions)
1/2 garlic clove, finely chopped
1 teaspoon fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped

Except…I didn’t have scallions, so I used a small shallot instead. And I didn’t have fresh ginger, so I used a half-teaspoon of the ground stuff. The trick to this was mounting the chopped garlic and shallot atop the salmon when it was on the grill, so that when I turned the salmon over for the last 4 minutes of cooking, the garlic and shallot cooked through until they became brown and crispy. The garlic was actually borderline burnt but still good, but the shallot tasted great. Went really well with the salmon.

Thunderstorms are moving through now, which means restless King which means not much else getting done. For various reasons, the Sunday afternoon crankies have struck early. A bottle of wine may be opened soon. And Season 2 of Sherlock begins on WTTW tonight, so I’ve that to look forward to. Ben Cumberbatch. My Favorite High-Functioning Sociopath.

I’m sick of the cold and the rain. We had that taste of early summer in March, and it’s been crap ever since. I do think I spotted birds I’d never seen before. Gray catbirds–slate gray with black caps. I didn’t see the red patches under their tails, but in other respects they looked just like the pictures.

Oh well, back to whatever else the day holds. Grumpgrumpgrump….