Battery Backup Bulb

When Wendell brought this home from Costco awhile back and told me about it, I barely paid attention.  I humored him and said, "Oh, cool!"

But let me tell you, when you suddenly don't have electricity and are engulfed in darkness, IT IS TOTALLY COOL!  It is a lightbulb with a built-in rechargeable battery.

 

You screw the bulb into wherever you normally have a lightbulb.  While it's in normal use, it is charging itself.    

And when you lose power, the bulb recognizes this and STAYS LIT automatically.  The box says it'll stay lit for up to 10 hours.  We were out for 30+ hours so it didn't last the whole time, but it was so handy in the beginning.  The 6-pack was under $20.

 

Here's the bulb at work in our bathroom.

   

And this is our light in the bedroom.  SO, SO COOL, WENDELL!

  

Cy's Easy Kalbi

 Cy made this for their dinner the other night.  He said that it was super easy!

 

He marinated short ribs in this sauce overnight and then pan fried the next day for dinner.  He bought the sauce from Walmart for $6.44.   

  

Back Up Again

We lost power from Friday afternoon until Sunday morning. 

Landon's power bank thingy saved our food.

 

This puzzle book saved my mind.

 

  

Power Outage

Just a heads up.  Our router got fried from the surges during the outage.  😒

Blogging will probably get delayed until I can get WiFi to my computer. 

Ceramics Class

Erick's lamb was my fave piece this week.  He also made the abstract figure in the back of it.  The ball fits into the pocket.  Both very cool!

 

I made three more bud vases.

  

Beastside Kitchen

To celebrate Kai's birthday we got takeout from Beastside Kitchen.  I loved everything, especially the Pork Belly Bao! 

Garlic Umami Shrimp ($27)

 

Kalbi ($32) 

  

Crunchy Garlic Kimchee ($18)

  

Fried Saimin ($24)

   

BBQ Pork Belly Bao ($23)

  

Kai had Steak and Sweet Potato! 

 

Dd's Garlic Bread Loaf

Didi says:  Dis was da bomb…da bottom gets super crispy from all da buddah and da top is gooey melty yummy !!  😉

GARLIC PULL APART BREAD LOAF

 

½ 6-8-inch round loaf country or sourdough bread

3-4 TB butter 

1 ½ TB olive oil 

2 cloves garlic, finely grated 

Kosher salt 

1 TB Italian parsley, chopped

1 tsp. dried basil 

3 TB Pecorino cheese, grated (can substitute Asiago or Parmesan cheese)

 

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Use a bread knife to cut lengthwise into top of bread loaf,

stopping short of cutting through to bottom of the loaf. Turn loaf and cut cross hatch

pattern; again, stop short of cutting through to bottom of bread loaf (so the loaf holds together).

In a small saucepan over low heat, melt butter. Add olive oil and garlic. Cook, stirring often, until very pale golden, 4 minutes. Stir in pinch of salt, parsley and basil. Remove from heat.

Place large sheet of aluminum foil onto baking sheet. Place bread loaf into center of foil.

Gently separate cubes of bread from top of loaf. Spoon butter mixture into “cuts” of bread.

Spread over cut surfaces, saving 2 TB of butter. Drizzle remaining butter on top of loaf.

Distribute cheese between cuts and on top. Wrap bread loaf in foil forming pocket on top

area of bread, making sure to not touch surface of bread. Bake bread until heated through,

10 minutes. Unwrap foil and continue baking until slightly crisp, 5-7 minutes more.

Serve immediately. Serves 2-4 depending on size of loaf.

Wendell's Easy Sautéed Yama Imo

Wendell found this recipe on the RecipeTin Japan site.  It's pretty much just three ingredients - yama imo, shoyu and butter!  And it came out so tasty that he made it again for pupu for his softball team.

Ingredients 

• 300-350g Chinese mountain yam
• 1 tbsp butter
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• Pepper (optional)

Garnish (optional)

• Chives cut into short pieces

Instructions

1. Peel mountain yam and slice it into 1cm thick discs.

2. Heat a large frying pan over medium heat and melt the butter.
3. Put the yam discs in the pan without overlapping.

4. Cook for 2½ – 3 minutes until the bottom of the yam pieces are browned.

5. Turn the yams over and cook further 2½ minutes until the bottom of the yams becomes browned.

6. Sprinkle pepper (if using) over the yam and add soy sauce.
7. Quickly turn the yam pieces over to coat both sides of the yam pieces with the soy sauce, then remove the pan from the heat.

8. Pile the sautéed yams on a serving plate, scatter the chopped chives over it.

Happy Birthday, Kai Boy!

 Kai is two years old today!

 

We went to Kai's fave place early this morning.  I'm so glad that I changed my mind about not getting another dog after Kona passed.  Kai is such a joy.

  

This is Kai's brother Teru!

Ceramics Class

These are the pieces that came out of our first firing.  I found out that the round flat things with pukas are frogs to put on top of flower vases to keep the flower stems separated.  So clever!

 

These are my pieces.

  

Here are a couple of Cleta's!

And this is what I made in this week's class . . . bud vases.  By special request.