Inside The Perimeter

Yesterday’s weird experiment was making French onion dip from scratch. I saw this done one a YouTube channel, and having recently finished a jar of Lay’s French Onion Dip I tried to see if mine would be better. Because I had to refrigerate my concoction overnight I’ve yet to taste it, but I will be buying some potato chips today and will try it at lunch.

I also baked a pizza last night. With dough I made? Nope, with dough I bought at Publix. Making my own pizza dough is on my list of things to attempt, however.

Wordle: three, my starter was URINE. Talked myself out of a deuce.

Damn you Jenka and your wish for rain on Saturday!!! You probably willed my Wordle failure that morning as well! Lol

Since I couldn’t ride on Saturday morning I made an attempt at baking hoagie rolls. I think I ended up with something more like ciabatta, edible, but disappointing. I wound up eating a sausage with pickled red onion in a hoagie roll ciabatta for lunch Saturday.

Yesterday YouTube suggested a video of a man driving around our country. In this video he was driving through rural southeastern Iowa. He visited the house in the painting “America Gothic”, which was a spur off of last year’s RAGBRAI route, so I skipped riding to it. Now, I know what I missed. 🙂

I’m a bad German-speaking-wannabe for skipping Goethe Institut’s Frühlingsfest yesterday. However I did get in a good 24-mile bike ride after the rain passed, but subsequently ruined all of the benefits by drinking too many beers.

Wordle: five, my starter was STOKE

The only notable accomplishment yesterday, other than my bike ride, was making a batch of pickled red onions for the first time. This is the first of the “projects” on my list of things to try.

Bob and/or Sal, while perusing the BRAG Ride Guide yesterday I noticed that Sosebee Cycling Park is on route. Will we be following the BRAG route when we ride on 5/24?

Wordle: four, my starter was STRIP

Turned out to be a decent day of choring, grocery shopping making dinner. My mood soured a bit when I went onto the deck and saw rabbit scampering away through WLF. My neighborhood seems to have lost all of its outdoor cats, which is too bad for me since I have no interest in owning one.

It’s good for me to start using my leeks, because I found two had started producing scapes, which makes the leek less desirable to eat. I’ve also learned that next year I need to plant my leeks deeper in order to get more white in the stalk.

Wordle: six, my starter was SNACK

My wild hair plan to practice BRAG camping and getting in some hill climbing riding up at James “Sloppy” Floyd State Park has fallen through.

I have ordered another battery bank for BRAG. I will have enough juice to recharge my bike computer, Apple Watch, and iPhone all week.

I harvested some potatoes on Monday, and will harvest some leeks today. Tonight’s dinner — Potato Leek Soup!

Wordle: four, my starter was REPLY

BRAG is a lot like Halloween, at least back when I hung out with someone who was big on dressing up for Halloween. Each year when it’s over I think “I will be better prepared next year!” and inevitably a few weeks before it I realized that all the things I thought I was going to accomplish, have not been.

I think the eyelid is fixed. Hoping it stays that way.

Wordle: four, my starter was CHAIR

I took another crack at baking German rolls (Brötchen) yesterday. With this batch I was much closer to success. The rolls still need to have a more open structure, and bake to a darker shade of brown. I give myself a grade of B, with hopes that I will get even better next time.

Wordle: three, my starter was CRASH

If I had thought of this more than three weeks before BRAG, I’d be wearing an Eeyore cycling jersey one day of this year’s ride. Dangen! Perhaps I’ll buy it for myself as a 60th birthday present in July, as an incentive to ride BRAG next year.

The new rechargeable fan I purchased for BRAG arrived last night, and unfortunately I think that it’s bigger and heavier than the one I already own. Of course I’ll be packing the lighter of the two.

Wordle: five, my starter was WATER (hard to believe this has yet to be a solution)

I think that I have gotten to the end of Duolingo? The only problem is that I am far from fluent in German. I know, that’s not Duolingo’s promise.

With the conclusion of Duolingo, my morning routine will also be changing some. I’ve recently given up on attempting Connections daily (too frustrating for me now), and after messing my success streak in Waffle, I’m going to take an extended break from playing it as well. The timing for all this is perfect as there is no way that I could keep up playing all the games and doing Duolingo daily during BRAG.

I attended a lecture last night at Trees Atlanta. In looking for a place to eat afterward I discovered that Junior’s Pizza in Summerhill, a place I really liked, closed at the end of last year. The closures just keep on coming…

Wordle: six, my starter was COUGH

In the coming weeks I want to do a test run, or two, of canning tomatoes as sauce. Obviously these will have to be store-bought tomatoes, but I want to be ready when the time comes for me to can WLF’s… assuming the critters don’t nibble on each and every one.p again this year.

Also, I’m doing a tomato planting experiment this year, I’m calling it “Tucking In”. I had too many tall tomato plants, and an area I smothered with leaves, so I dug a trench into the leaves with my hands, laid the tomato plant on its side, and covered about 3/4ths of the plant, as if I were tucking it in bed. It’s been about two weeks and the plants haven’t died, so we’ll see how this goes.

Wordle: three, my starter was COUPE