Book Report: Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves

Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Another classic Jeeves and Wooster story. Bertie once again travels to Totleigh Towers to try to repair the rift in Gussie Finknottle and Madeline Basset's engagement. Pop Basset and Roderick Spode (Lord Sidcup) think he is there to steal a black amber statuette for Bertie's Uncle Tom. How could things get complicated?

As he reflects on his predicament he says "But I must admit that as I crouched in my haven of refuge I found myself chafing not a little. Life at Totleigh Towers, as I mentioned earlier, had got me down. There seemed no way of staying pu tin the darned house. One was either soaring like an eagle on top of chests [to escape the dog Bartholomew] or whizzing down behind sofas like a diving duck, and apart from the hustle and bustle of it all that sort of thing wounds the spirit and does no good to the trouser crease. And so, as I say, I chafed."(p176)

As Coleridge said, comedy requires the willing suspension of disbelief. While the plots are hilariously complicated, we don't come for the plot; we come for the writing which is some of the best in the English language. That writing always causes me to laugh out loud; I did so at least 3 times on the bus!

One of my life's missions is to get people to read P.G. Wodehouse's stories about Jeeves and Wooster. If you only read 1 Jeeves and Wooster story, read The Code of the Woosters, which features the silver cow creamer. But this is excellent;.

View all my reviews

Fanno Creek Trail

Fanno Creek flows through Washington, Clackamas, and Washington counties. There is a trail alongside most of the creek; it comes within a mile of our house and Carla and I have walked on a few stretches of it. We've never walked north of Hall Blvd because of all the traffic. A few months ago the Tualatin Parks and Recreation District along with the City of Beaverton put a pedestrian crossing across Hall. I thought it was high time to get out along that stretch of the creek. I wasn't gone long because it started raining buckets.

Reflections in the creek.

Denny Rd entrance looking south.

Chili Colorado and Pinto Beans

I've written before about eating burritos at Bob Newlon's house when I was in junior high school. Bob was my best friend in junior high and going into high school. Before we had our licenses, we drove his dad's truck around the undeveloped streets near his house; when we took a turn too hard and the battery fell into the radiator fan. Uh oh. Later when we had motorcycles we drove around everywhere together.

At any rate, his mom made the best pork chili that she made burritos with. I've been trying to recreate that meal for the past five or so years. I haven't been as successful as I'd like; then falling asleep a couple of weeks ago I had an inspiration to use my El Cid chili recipe as a basis. I switched beef to pork, adjusted the liquids, and reduced the spices. You can find my recipe here. The associated pinto bean recipe is here.

If you looked at the El Cid link above you'll notice this is definitely similar. Here is a summary of the changes.

• Substituted pork shoulder for sirloin
• Substituted ground pork for ground beef
• Substituted chicken stock for beef stock (use home made)
• Substituted enchilada sauce and Rotel diced tomatoes with chilies for diced tomatoes.

The line up

 I recommend Las Palmas enchilada sauce over Hatch brand; Las Palmas uses chilies where Hatch has more tomatoes.

Everything prepped; two spice packets in the small bowls.

Sauté the pork in rendered bacon fat.

When done with the pork shoulder, brown the onions with the chorizo and ground pork.

Chorizo, ground pork, and onions

This is why I recommend using a stainless steel skillet to sauté then put the batches into the Dutch oven as they finish. Look at that beautiful faund that we deglaze with the beer. If you only have a non-stick skillet, that's fine. Or if you want to save on dishwashing, do it all in the Dutch oven.

Add the liquids and the first spice set to the meat and onion; simmer for 1 1/2 hours. Make a paste of corn meal and water and add to the mix with a more cumin and other spices. Simmer for another 30 minutes and watch it thicken up real nice.

While the chili is simmering start some beans. If you don't have a pressure cooker start the beans before the chili. Of course you planned a day ahead and brined the beans last night; right?

Pinto bean ingredients - very simple.

Now, I'm still perfecting this recipe for the pressure cooker. The recipe I published is adjusted down to use only 4 cups of liquid instead of 5 that I used for this cook. I had to simmer the beans down for a while to get the consistency I wanted.

Beans after mashing about 1/2 a cup of them and simmering down.

 Dinner is served

Dinner is served

Wood Ducks - New Tenants

Warning! This story ends well, but there is a picture of a duckling that didn't make it. There is other interesting content in the picture so I'll leave that picture small; you can click on it to see an enlarged version if you wish.

Back in March we had at least two wood duck pairs vying for the wood box that our neighbor Jonathan Schlueter installed for us.  As late as April we had a pair trying to get in to the box where presumably their eggs were. But they were rebuffed by the resident hen.

This pair was rebuffed in early April when trying to access the nest.

Mama ducks and ducklings evacuated their nests in the neighborhood boxes this past week. We have been worried that a crow got in there in late April to wreak havoc on the nest; but thanks to Jon's maintenance this past weekend we discovered some ducklings survived. I saw Jon out in the hood on Sunday and he offered to come by to check the box and get it ready for

Jon Schlueter climbing up about 20 feet to work on the duck box

Jon found evidence that about 10 ducks hatched and made it out of the box with the hen. One duckling hatched but didn't get out of the box; one duckling didn't quite hatch all the way; there were about a dozen unhatched eggs. The high count indicates that a couple of hens were laying eggs.

Warning: the next picture shows a duckling that didn't survive.

Jon displaying the contents of the box with a dead duckling and many unhatched eggs.

Jay Watson and Jon talk ducks.

 Sunday morning we had a pair hanging out on our deck checking out the remodelled apartment.

Rowena Crest Trail

April 13, 2014

The past couple of Aprils we've headed out the Columbia Gorge to Mosier to have lunch at the Mosier Community Dinner which supports the local volunteer fire department. Mosier is a small town and this dinner at the local Grange hall has a small town feel. The locals make various salads and sides and they have a big smoker full of salmon out front. Seating is community style so you get to meet people who have been coming to this shindig for over 40 years.

Before dinner we went with the Watsons and Lees a bit past Mosier to the Rowena Crest Trail overlooking the majestic Columbia River. It's about 90 miles from our home on the west side of Portland.

We started in Beaverton, way on the left, and headed east 90 miles to get to Rowena Crest

 The only way to get an idea of this expansive view is to try a picture in panorama mode.

Looking north across the Columbia River into Washington.

One of the extra benefits for me is the view of the BNSF rail line running east and west on the Washington side of the river.

Train rolling west toward Vancouver, WA

Overlooking a little canyon with homes just south of the Columbia River

Mt Hood (I think) peeking over the ridge.

John borrowed a camera from me and Jay, a retired biologist with the Fish and Wildlife Service, brought his classification books to identify some of the flora.

John and Jay pursuing their crafts.

Dr. Jay classifying a plant

Karen, Carla, and Mary Ann

The girls hiked around and enjoyed the views. John, Jay, and I wouldn't know if we had a good time until we got home and reviewed our pictures and documents.

Jay didn't need a classification guide to identify this poison oak along the trail. I'm glad he pointed it out; I'm never sure if a tri-leaf plant is dangerous or not.

Poison oak along the trail 

April 2013

I wasn't happy with the pictures I took of Mosier this day, so I'm going to reach back to last year's pictures when we went with the Lees.

Smoker full of salmon in front of the Mosier Grange Hall

Buffet line

Family-style seating.

Carla, Karen, and John enjoying dinner.

After dinner last year we headed up the hill south of Hood River to get a glimpse of the apple trees and Mt. Hood.

A row of apple trees

Mt Hood rises up to the clouds.

Book Report: The Bully Pulpit by Doris Kearns Goodwin

The Bully Pulpit: Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and the Golden Age of Journalism by Doris Kearns Goodwin
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A splendid biography of Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft covering a period of American History, Gilded Age to just prior to World War I, that I've been trying to learn about.

The progressive era may be a "distant mirror" with apologies to Barbara Tuchman. It was a response to the vast accumulation of wealth by a few with little consideration for the poor or even working class. Before the progressive era took hold, the heads of companies stated that labor did not have the right to even request higher wages or better working conditions. All of that was to be held in reserve for the owners. It took a battle over a few decades to level the playing field. Roosevelt and Taft went against the established Republican Pary machines to effect the changes. In fact TR was shunted to the Vice Presidency under William McKinley in order to get him out of the governer's office of New York where he was stirring up trouble for captial. After McKinley was assassinated the common reaction was "That damn cowboy is president" (p 279). It evokes the 1% v the 99% in today's American life.

This book skillfully weaves the three story strands of Roosevelt, Taft, and investigative (muckraking) journalism that set the stage for many of the social improvements in the early 20th century. TR was a charismatic person who developed a passion for improving the human condition. William Howard Taft was a great second-in-command; a terrific judge, first governor general of the Philippines, excellent Secretary of War, and (I think based on this book) a good president whose accomplishments were overshadowed by the larger-than-life Roosevelt. Sam S McClure's magazine virtually invented investigative journalism; the accurate and compelling stories on the downsides of trusts and the horrible working conditions in the developing industrial age set the stage for the trust busting and improvement legislation and enforcement instigated by TR and Taft.

Roosevelt came to regret his pledge to run for a third term as president; his ambivalence let the public focus on him rather than Taft's campaign. While Taft accomplished a lot in continuing trust busting, his judicial temperament caused him to stay back and react to events rather than shaping them. "Perhaps it was inevitable that Taft's temperament - his aversion to dissension and preference for personal persuasion - would ultimately lead him to work within the system rather than mobilize external pressure from his bully pulpit."(p 587). He waited too long to step in and stop the in-fighting between Chief Forrester Gifford Pinchot and Interior Secretary Richard Ballinger". Taft eventually fired Pinchot, which alienated Roosevelt.

My takeaway is that Roosevelt simply wanted to be president again and, as was his way, personalized the conflict with Taft. Because TR was so enormously popular, he naturally turned much of country against Taft.

The chapters on the work of the Samuel S McClure, Ida Tarbell, Lincoln Steffens, Ray Baker and other journalists were fascinating reads.

Interesting tidbits. Roosevelt created a room at the White House for the press, whose relationships he assiduously cultivated. Taft was responsible for the remodeling of the White House resulting in the creation of the Oval Office. He was the first to throw out the first baseball of the season.

All-in-all a terrific book on a dynamic era of American politics that shaped much of the 20th century.

View all my reviews

Senate Bean Soup

I used Dad Cooks Dinner's recipe for ham with bourbon honey mustard glaze on Easter Sunday knowing he'd likely follow it up with a recipe the next week for the ham bone. Split pea soup is the traditional soup for a ham bone but it's one of those childhood holdovers of food I just don't like. I imagine it was a meal I didn't like and my folks made me sit at the table until I finished. Or maybe not, maybe I'm just not a fan.

At any rate, I was delighted when Mike Vrobel of DCD published a recipe for Senate bean soup. I heard about this soup years ago and it's been on my list of things to try. The Senate has had a bean soup recipe on the menu every day since the early 20th century. There is an interesting Wikipedia article here. This is a very simple recipe and well worth the small effort required; I rate it 4 stars (out of 5).

I was also anxious to try this recipe because I've never cooked navy beans. I'm a fan of smaller beans and navy beans fall into that category. Check out Mike Vrobel's recipe from the link above and compare it to my slightly modified recipe here.

1 pound of small navy beans

 Nine ingredients make this delicious soup. I added a carrot, and substituted 3 cups of chicken stock for an equal amount of water.

A simple set of ingredients

Coarsely chopped aromatics.

Sauté the onion, carrot and garlic in a couple of tablespoons of butter.

Lightly brown the aromatics

Simmering ingredients at the ready while the aromatics sauté.

Dinner is served

I meant to make cornbread to go with this, but forgot until it was too late. But this hearty soup and a salad made a very satisfactory meal.

Grilled Pork Tenderloin with Garlic-Lime Sauce

Oh, the sauce!
I was reading the May/June 2014 Cook's Illustrated while keeping an eye on the Dodgers game. This recipe looked good, the weather was going to be perfect for grilling and I had the day off. It's a straight-forward recipe that can be done after work. While the pork marinates for 45 minutes you can make a salad or prepare a vegetable, and clean up a bit. Cooking takes about 15 minutes including the resting time.  Carla is not a cilantro fan so my version left it out; my copy of the recipe is here.

 Start with two one-pound pork tenderloins. Cut them in half cross-wise and pound down to about 3/4 inch. Make a series of shallow cross-hatch cuts to increase surface area.

Marinade/sauce ingredients. Add the mayo to the marinade for the simple, delicious sauce.

Reserve 1/2 cup of the marinade for a sauce; put the rest in a zip lock bag with the tenderloin steaks and marinate for 45 minutes.

Reserve some marinade for the sauce

While the pork is marinating throw together a salad

 Grill over direct heat 3-4 minutes per side then move to indirect heat until temp reaches 140°F.

Rest grilled steaks for 5 minutes

 Cut the steaks across the grain and drizzle some sauce on top; pass the rest of the sauce at the table.

Dinner is served

This is a simple yet delicious dinner. I rate it 4 stars.