Last Poster #7

[Steve]

Nope, just salt, pepper, and olive oil in the smoker for about an hour at 300 and then seared on the gas grill for a few minutes to get that nice char pattern. This is actually a little overcooked, I was targeting 120 degrees pre-sear, and then 140 to finish but this ended up around 150.

Degrees matter.

Sous vide is my preferred method now for steak. I like to cook them at 135F for a few hours, to render the fat, and then sear in a screaming hot cast iron skillet for just a couple minutes. Ends up at about 140F all the way through. It's really good for thick cuts, or for something like a t-bone. Don't get me wrong, smoker is great (especially if you use something as convenient as the pellet smoker), but sous vide is a game changer.

Sous vide also opens up some crazy possibilities. For example, I cooked a 5 lbs chuck roast on the smoker for 2 hours at 250F, and then sous vide at 135F for 26 hours. Quick sear at the end, and that chuck roast was as tender as a prime ribeye roast.

 

[Wing Woo Gar]

O

Thank you so, so much for all your kind words and thoughts.... it truly means the world.

Our sweet, beautiful girl is at peace now. We asked to have it done there at the vet today. She died in mine and my partner's arms, with our beautiful vet talking us through the whole thing. Ella was smiling and kissing everyone until the very end. We miss her terrible and are a complete mess... she was the heartbeat of this home and it feels so wrong her not being here. I don't know how we will get through this but one day at a time. It was 100% the right decision, as she was starting to get uncomfortable just breathing, and it would have been more heartbreaking if we kept her till she was suffering. She tried so hard for us. Squeeze your pets extra tight ok guys

View attachment 28105

Oh my god man, I’m so sorry for your loss. Please know you have my utmost sympathy. This brings tears to my eyes. Take care.

 

[granfire]

Thank you so, so much for all your kind words and thoughts.... it truly means the world.

Our sweet, beautiful girl is at peace now. We asked to have it done there at the vet today. She died in mine and my partner's arms, with our beautiful vet talking us through the whole thing. Ella was smiling and kissing everyone until the very end. We miss her terrible and are a complete mess... she was the heartbeat of this home and it feels so wrong her not being here. I don't know how we will get through this but one day at a time. It was 100% the right decision, as she was starting to get uncomfortable just breathing, and it would have been more heartbreaking if we kept her till she was suffering. She tried so hard for us. Squeeze your pets extra tight ok guys

View attachment 28105

The emojis don't convey the feeling.
Last year I lost one of my cats, a true character. I miss her antics.
They just don't stay around as long as we need them (forever) and we are left to do right by them, even if it tears our heart out.
Rest in peace, little one.
As for her humans she left behind
One day at a time.
Allow yourself the grief that is coming.
And when the time is right there might be another little one to step into the void she left, and slowly grow to fill it.
The best gift we can give them is the hardest to live with: A dignified, painless end.

 

[granfire]

Sous vide is my preferred method now for steak. I like to cook them at 135F for a few hours, to render the fat, and then sear in a screaming hot cast iron skillet for just a couple minutes. Ends up at about 140F all the way through. It's really good for thick cuts, or for something like a t-bone. Don't get me wrong, smoker is great (especially if you use something as convenient as the pellet smoker), but sous vide is a game changer.

Sous vide also opens up some crazy possibilities. For example, I cooked a 5 lbs chuck roast on the smoker for 2 hours at 250F, and then sous vide at 135F for 26 hours. Quick sear at the end, and that chuck roast was as tender as a prime ribeye roast.

26 hours?
I'd forget what I was gonna do with it!

 

[Steve]

26 hours?
I'd forget what I was gonna do with it!

You eat it, silly.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

26 hours?
I'd forget what I was gonna do with it!

I'd forget it was in there, entirely.

 

[Steve]

I'd forget it was in there, entirely.

Maybe, but unlikely. What is more likely is that you'd be unable to think about anything else. I think you'd think about it often, because it will be so delicious. It would be downright distracting.

 

[Xue Sheng]

Well...its been a day.....
My entire network, in my house, went down. Got it back, but what was 200mbps was only at 11mbps.... after testing discovered that the modem was bad....and then after replacing the modem discovered the wireless router was bad too.... but that's the good news..... bad news...the 8 foot wide shelf with rod for hanging clothes on, that Mrs Xue uses in the walk in closet....RIPPED off the wall, made a mess and left holes in the wall. Had to go out and buy a new system that is much better and now I'm just waiting for the drywall patch to dry and then I get to mount all this stuff on the wall..... and then once I get the new wireless router Mrs Xue us bringing home...I get to rebuild my entire network.......oh.... and the largest snowstorm of the season is supposed to start tonight...... so much shoveling and snow blowing tomorrow...probably starting around 5:30am so Mrs Xue can go to her office.... it just doesn't get any better than this

 

[Steve]

Well...its been a day.....
My entire network, in my house, went down. Got it back, but what was 200mbps was only at 11mbps.... after testing discovered that the modem was bad....and then after replacing the modem discovered the wireless router was bad too.... but that's the good news..... bad news...the 8 foot wide shelf with rod for hanging clothes on, that Mrs Xue uses in the walk in closet....RIPPED off the wall, made a mess and left holes in the wall. Had to go out and buy a new system that is much better and now I'm just waiting for the drywall patch to dry and then I get to mount all this stuff on the wall..... and then once I get the new wireless router Mrs Xue us bringing home...I get to rebuild my entire network.......oh.... and the largest snowstorm of the season is supposed to start tonight...... so much shoveling and snow blowing tomorrow...probably starting around 5:30am so Mrs Xue can go to her office.... it just doesn't get any better than this

All of those things you describe are things I do for fun.

 

[granfire]

All of those things you describe are things I do for fun.

but not all in one day

 

[Xue Sheng]

All of those things you describe are things I do for fun.

Good, stop by and you can do them... but first.... let me kick you in the right knee so you can experience the same fun I do on the step ladder

 

[Steve]

but not all in one day

True. The closet system would take me a bit.

 

[Steve]

Good, stop by and you can do them... but first.... let me kick you in the right knee so you can experience the same fun I do on the step ladder

Sorry. I forgot about your knee.

You springing for a mesh Wi-Fi router?

 

[Dirty Dog]

Sorry. I forgot about your knee.

You springing for a mesh Wi-Fi router?

I'm looking into options right now.
Internet connectivity where we live is... less than stellar. We have exactly one option. CenturyLink. I have a bonded pair of connections, and theoretically can get a blazing 40Mbps. In reality, I rarely see more than 20, and have never seen more than 30. And it's asynchronous. Upload speeds are more like 2-3Mbps. And there are only a very few modem/router options.
There's a company that committed to installing fiber through the whole area. They've quoted a 1Gbps synchronous connection at $112/month. I expect it'll probably take another year to get the cables run, but I'm looking at options. Obviously a Triband WiFi 6 mesh router is a no brainer, and I'm considering 6e, although it doesn't seem well supported yet. I'm also considering making my own router from a Raspberry Pi. Big advantage there would be the ability to install my VPN there, rather than on a remote server.
If anybody is using a similar setup, I'd be interested in your experiences and gear choices.

 

[Steve]

I'm looking into options right now.
Internet connectivity where we live is... less than stellar. We have exactly one option. CenturyLink. I have a bonded pair of connections, and theoretically can get a blazing 40Mbps. In reality, I rarely see more than 20, and have never seen more than 30. And it's asynchronous. Upload speeds are more like 2-3Mbps. And there are only a very few modem/router options.
There's a company that committed to installing fiber through the whole area. They've quoted a 1Gbps synchronous connection at $112/month. I expect it'll probably take another year to get the cables run, but I'm looking at options. Obviously a Triband WiFi 6 mesh router is a no brainer, and I'm considering 6e, although it doesn't seem well supported yet. I'm also considering making my own router from a Raspberry Pi. Big advantage there would be the ability to install my VPN there, rather than on a remote server.
If anybody is using a similar setup, I'd be interested in your experiences and gear choices.

I have a Motorola modem and the Netgear Orbi router with vpn. I run a Pi-Hole ad blocker on a raspberry pi, too. Overall it works great. I almost never think about it, which is a good sign in my book.

I have cat5e run through most of the house but with the new wi fi it’s all really fast.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

Well...its been a day.....
My entire network, in my house, went down. Got it back, but what was 200mbps was only at 11mbps.... after testing discovered that the modem was bad....and then after replacing the modem discovered the wireless router was bad too.... but that's the good news..... bad news...the 8 foot wide shelf with rod for hanging clothes on, that Mrs Xue uses in the walk in closet....RIPPED off the wall, made a mess and left holes in the wall. Had to go out and buy a new system that is much better and now I'm just waiting for the drywall patch to dry and then I get to mount all this stuff on the wall..... and then once I get the new wireless router Mrs Xue us bringing home...I get to rebuild my entire network.......oh.... and the largest snowstorm of the season is supposed to start tonight...... so much shoveling and snow blowing tomorrow...probably starting around 5:30am so Mrs Xue can go to her office.... it just doesn't get any better than this

Sounds like fun.

On an entirely unrelated note, it was nearly 70 F here today.

 

[Dirty Dog]

I'm wondering if anybody can translate this.

It's in the bottom of a bowl they got at a flea market. They think this is a signature. But since I don't speak or write Japanese, I can't really say more than that.

 

[Xue Sheng]

Sorry. I forgot about your knee.

You springing for a mesh Wi-Fi router?

I'm an IT guy so....yeah
That and I'm tired of hearing Mrs Xue complain about connectivity issues

 

[seasoned]

I'm wondering if anybody can translate this.
View attachment 28107
It's in the bottom of a bowl they got at a flea market. They think this is a signature. But since I don't speak or write Japanese, I can't really say more than that.

Eat at Joe's would be my guess.......but then again I will leave it to someone better equipped at translation.....

 

[Xue Sheng]

Sounds like fun.

On an entirely unrelated note, it was nearly 70 F here today.

On a related note, its 17F here and darn near white out conditions