Labor Day

[notmatt]

Hermes: Labor Day? That fat cat industrialist holiday the government crams down our throats?

Fry: That's the one.

Hermes: Hot damn! A day off!


Turns out it's a really good time to buy stuff for the backyard. We went out on Saturday to buy materials for making a shoebox for the front hall. We thought we'd also maybe look at getting a grill but not too seriously. We ended up with a grill, an outdoor firepit, and a wrought iron and glass table and 4 chairs to match. All for about $230. We went to 4 different stores to find the best deals, but I think we made out pretty well.

There's something very satisfying about putting a grill together. When my job entails working on problems that nobody knows how to solve, it's nice to simply follow a set of instructions for a change. The grill has an easy-to-remove ash tray. Our last charcoal grill had an ash tray that could not be removed without a series of contortions and spillings of ash. It also has a "warming rack" that's useful. I'd taken the one off the last gas grill we had because it effectively blocked access to the rear half of the cooking grate. When you open the lid to the new grill, the warming rack slides back and only overlaps the cooking grate by about 4 inches. It's also pretty easy to raise and lower the charcoal grate for temperature control. Now that we're a t sea level, the charcoal cooks down a lot faster than it did in Colorado. Must be the extra oxygen.

We broke the grill in last night with steaks and skewered fruits. The papayas here are ginormous. Like 3 pounds. Didn't like them as well as the normal sized ones. The pineapple was fantastic. The peaches were a bit overdone. Everything cooks at a different rate. I should have used different skewers for each one. Oh well. Still have plenty of papaya left. Maybe I'll try to make a sorbet.

The table and chairs have the misfortune to be part of the Martha Stewart line, and Martha Stewart is Evil (TM). I'm not talking about the insider trading either; that's got to be the least Evil thing she's done ever in life. But we got the thing at 60% off since the salesperson had to get rid of it by today. Once we bought it, we discovered the table wouldn't fit in the car. There was room in the car, but no opening large enough to accomodate a 4' by 4' square box. We had to run home, put the luggage rack on the car and then return to the store for it.

Brought home some work this weekend, but have been totally unmotivated to do any of it. As a postdoc, I think I'm supposed to work all the time, but I'm not doing that. Typically only putting in 9 hours a day. Oh well, it's not like I get paid overtime or anything.

Comments

[uilos.livejournal.com]

How does one choose a good papya? I see them in the grocery stores here sometimes, but I have no idea how to choose one.

[jameshroberts.livejournal.com]

Develop psychic powers? That's the best way, but not too practical. You want a specimen that's more yellow than green. If it's all green it isn't ripe. But even perfectly ripe ones have some green in them. Also, take a sniff. It ought to smell like a tropical fruit. If it doesn't smell like anything, it probably doesn't taste like anything. Give it a shot. At 99 cents a pound it's not a terrible loss if you get a bad one. The seeds *are* edible, but I don't eat them. They're kind of peppery.

[uilos.livejournal.com]

Well, that seems like a good place to start, and if I can find one on sale (not likely at this time of the year, I may have to wait for next year) I'll give it a try. Do you just cut them open and scoop out the seeds like you would with a cantaloupe?