Enjoy It RU Fans!

Great article about the suffering I've endured over the past 20 years of Rutgers football (and the decades of six packs lost to my brother for the annual Syracuse/RU game)... Click Here.

The "Leonard Leap" by our 5th year senior fullback Brian Leonard:

RU Ranked #23

Hide the kids, lock your doors, bring in the dog... RU football is ranked #23 in the country & is 4-0. No kidding (click here).

Also another classic start to a Steelers' season as they open up 1-2 (for decades they typically start at 1-3). No panic button yet, as long as the Iron City Brewery doesn't close.

Food for Thought v1.0

As much as we love cooking, I thought it might be helpful to pass on some ideas from time to time.

Chicken by far is the preferred main ingredient in many of the meals we cook. About 6 months ago, we tried brining it for the first time. Since we grill at least once a week, the first experiment involved my homemade BBQ sauce (can't stand the store-bought crap) and the brined chicken. All I can say is WOW! What a difference soaking the chicken in a brine solution for 4 hours makes. Now we brine the chicken for all meals, be it taco night, Spiedies, chicken & pasta dishes... you name it! We have not experimented with flavored or spiced brines as of yet, but eventually will.

The solution for the brine is simple: dump 4 cups of cold water into a gallon ziplock, 1 TBS table salt, make sure the salt is completely dissolved, then dump the chicken breasts in & refrigerate for ~4 hours. After 4 hours, remove the chicken & rinse under cold tap water and towel dry. Make sure you dump the solution down the drain as it contains nothing but salt water and meat juice that has no value except to breed some nasty germs. The cooked chicken will be moist and juicy, and better yet have no residual salt taste.

Enjoy!

RU Improves to 3-0

A great Homecoming day for RU football as they improve to 3-0 beating Ohio 24-7.
RU Photo Highlights (link opens in a new window)

Quick Countertop Pics

seems that everything has settled in...

along with the new faucet!

Go RU!

We Think We're Done...

The final chapter in the remodeling occured yesterday, namely the new countertops, sink, faucet & plumbing. In a matter of 20 minutes, the installers had all of our countertops ripped up & removed. Yours truly handled the plumbing & faucet duties and it all seems to work. Pics soon to come...

Shhh... RU goes to 2-0

The Scarlet Knights have improved to 2-0 with their 2nd consecutive win and national broadcast by thrashing Big Ten member Illinois 33-0.

Also keep in mind that for the 2nd consecutive week Syracuse stood out as the only Big East football team to lose. Not to worry 'Cuse faithful, basketball season is only a few months away.

Floors Revisited

Despite the curse of John Madden favoring the Black & Gold, the Steelers prevailed over the Fishies as Nick Saban showed his bocce ball skills with the challenge flag. I just can't undertsand why the Fish mascot is wearing a helmet that has an "M" on it... who's he rooting for? Shouldn't he be wearing a helmet with himself on it?

Just some quick floor peeks...the wood has arrived...

the underlay is down...

almost done...

hello wood!

new stove & microwave are in...

and next week the quartz countertops arrive!

Peace out.

Floors a Success

Outside of a minor molding shortage, the floors were completed last night. Katelyn is excited about the change and couldn't wait to walk me through upon my arrival home last night.

Pics soon to come...

It's September Already?

Wow... Katelyn is in her 5th week of kindergarten already while taking up soccer & gymnastics weekly!


Rutgers led off the first game of the year with a nationally televised game and won! (time to play the lottery)

Steelers clash on Thurs with the Miami Fish (Di's favorite team)... we project a "sick" day on Friday.

Meanwhile a greatly needed remodeling effort of our floors & countertops started today with new flooring being installed... pics soon to come.