How Far Would One Go

You know that I travel a fair amount. Between my offices in Chicago and LA that I visit once a month, my kids who are all over the freaking country and the world, my Dad in Connecticut, and Wife and my love of travel for ourselves, it adds up.

I've also written about how important holding a high frequent flier status is for ensuring more comfort and especially protecting you when things go wrong with the air travel system (I know that's a shocker that things ever go wrong with the air travel system).

So a few weeks ago I was reviewing my statements on my primary carriers, United and USAir and I find out I'm up shits creek! I'm not even close to getting my status again. All the cost cutting during the first part of the year has come back to haunt me. What am I going to do.

USAir turns out to not be such a hard one. They're hurting and they need their loyal passengers so they have a promo that allows me to make 3 flights and I get enough segments to keep me in the program.

United is the bigger issue. It's my carrier for all my long trips. And we use those miles for all our big vacations. The business class seats we got to New Zealand were worth many, many, many thousands of dollars. So I don't want to lose this but I'm way short on segments and over 10 thousand miles short on actual miles (you usually can qualify be hitting a target of either segments or miles).

So my brain is working. How can I arrange a trip where I pack in 10 thousand miles of travel in a few days and not cost me a fortune.

I start by researching going from Albuquerque to the West Coast to the East Coast and back. Not enough miles. The US is all that big. I'd have to go West, East, West and back or something like that. Then I'd have to start paying for a place to stay a couple of nights. And all those flights - what if I hit bad weather?

Next I looked at flying to Hawaii. I could crash with my brother there. But it was pretty pricey and I still didn't get enough miles.

Then I thought about going to Amsterdam and crashing with daughter AinA. I found I could get some really good prices - around $900 bucks. Of course the thought of flying 20+ hours both way in coach with a day off in between wasn't very attractive but what the hey, it would be a small sacrifice to remain among the ranks of the exalted and get those miles for our next travel extravaganza.

I mention my plan to Wife who is very good at doing her eye rolling and deep sighing internally. She says, "Have you called the airline? Maybe there is way for you to buy the miles you need and then you wouldn't have to kill yourself like this."

I doubt this but decide it can't hurt. I call the United. United may be a dysfunctional company but almost all the agents serving their frequent fliers tend to be really pleasant, good, and helpful. The agent I get confirms that you cannot buy miles. We're having a very pleasant conversation. She confirms that I'm no more nutty than most of the frequent fliers and it is common for us to be scrambling at the end of the year.

She checks my account and tells me that I've missed some promotion they started in September that gives double mile credit from 9/15 5o 12/15. She puts me on the promotion and tells me it will be retroactive. We calculate the mile I've flow to date plus the miles I'm scheduled to fly and BINGO I'm 55o miles over the 50K target. How cool is that. Thanks Wife.

It would have been nice to see AinA and here husband to be though.

Being Alone

Wife went to Chicago early Friday morning as daughter, Motherrocker, is really close to giving birth to her second child (our fifth grandchild). This is a week earlier than we expected so we were scrambling to figure our how to take care of everything as Wife will now be gone for the entire month of November.

This means a lot of time alone for me. And that's OK. Because it has come to my awareness in recent weeks that I really like being alone. With all the travel I've done over the decades for business by myself, I really got used to it. And as I've gotten older my desires for quiet and solitude have increased.

I never really thought about this too much until few weeks ago when I was having a business lunch with two young lawyers. They were talking about going to Las Vegas and the games they like playing there. When they asked me what I liked, I had to tell them that I don't like Las Vegas because I can't stand all the noise and the people. And I mentioned that I'm pretty much a hermit and love being alone. I might as well said I was cannibal. People are social creatures. Look at all the people that love going to parties, or bars, or shows, or sporting events. I avoid them all. Too many people.

Is it really all that odd? I suppose so.

Slow Roasting

On our trip to New Zealand our last meal featured this awesome lamb dish. When restaurateur told me the cooking process, I was intrigued because I've never heard of it before. It is essentially cooking something very, very slowly over a long period and then finishing it in a very, very hot oven. The result gives you an exterior that is crispy but an interior that is like something that has been braised.

I played around with it for the first time with a pork shoulder (Boston Butt) last week and got good results. This week I attempted a chicken and a vegetable dish.

I started with a simple flavoring mix of salt, pepper and Hungarian Paprika

Put your bird into a large, heavy pot

Rub with your spice mixture.
Note I've turned the bird upside down.
It will give off fluid and I want the white meat that dries out to stay moist.
Add a little bit of fluid...not much at all. I used white wine.

Cover firmly with foil

Then put on the top.
This double seal is important to keep in all the moisture.

Cook in a 285 degree oven...that's right 285
The chicken only took 3 hours. My pork roast which was about 4 pounds took 6 hours.
Let the chicken cool in the fluid (breast moisturizing)
Then take it out and let it cool.
(I'm not sure this part was necessary but I was making it ahead of time)

Then cut into pieces.
I nuked the pieces for three minutes just to bring them up to heat.
I put the pieces, skin side up, in a pan that could take high heat.
That's heavy duty aluminum foil with plenty of Pam - No cleaning when done!
Finish the cooking at 500 degrees for about 20 minutes until the skin is good and crisp!

Did the same exact process with potatoes and leeks (one of the last things harvested from Wife's garden)

Leeks have a lot of sand in them so you clean them like the chard I explained last time.
Put them in water, agitate, the lift out of water into strainer. Repeat until water left no longer shows sand.

Into the pan with just salt, pepper and a little canned chicken broth.

Cook exactly like the chicken - 285 for three hours

Here's what it looks like at the end.
The leeks which were very tough came out soft and wonderful.

Finish the same way at 500 degrees. The leeks start browning and getting very caramelized.
Mmmmmmm

Don't waste those giblets!
Put them in with the leftover canned chicken stock.
Simmer for an hour or so and you have the base for a sauce.

This sauce was just the stock from the giblets, a little of the juice from chicken cooking reduced with a little sherry and half & half.

Beauty is Where You Find It

I was in Pasadena California on business and woke up very early on Friday morning. I drew back the window coverings and had a chance to watch this spectacular sunrise.

Two Dishes to Try

We had guests over for dinner on Sunday and I wanted to try something different and came up with a couple of ideas based upon stuff I'd done before or seen on TV with some alterations.

The first was a fish pate and the second was a gratin of swiss chard.

FISH PATE

This is all about making use of what you have hanging around because I made it from with the leftover fish I had from a whole baked fish with a parsley garlic oil that I made for Wife the night before.

Leftover fish

Anyone who made some simple fish fillets and had leftovers could do the same thing (though probably not if they were battered).

I didn't have quite enough fish so I cooked up some frozen shrimp with the same olive oil, garlic and parsley flavoring and then added the leftover fish to meld the flavors.

Fish and shrimp warming up in flavored oil

All you do next is put the whole thing in a food processor and blend with a little half and half.

Blended fish and shrimp

I added some finely chopped onions soaked in water to get rid of the sharpness and put it into a serving container.

Finished product

Served it with french bread and tortilla chips as a nosh before the sit down meal started

GRATIN OF SWISS CHARD

I like making mini portions of things to serve as a first course because it allows for portion control. I like working with vegetables because you can be lighter and save room for the main course. I especially like Swiss Chard. It has a lot of positives of spinach with less of the negatives. It's a bit firmer. Less bitter.

Processing any of the greens is a bit of a pain.

First you wash them real well to get rid of any dirt

With Chard you need to separate the stems and the leaves because the stems have to cook longer

Parboil the stems in a big pot of water for about 4 minutes then add the leaves and boil for another 4 minutes. Drain. Then put into a big bowl of ice water to stop the cooking process. Drain again. Grab handfuls and squeeze out the water. Then chop it up.

This is what you end up with

Make simple cheese sauce by making a roux of flour and butter, whisking in milk, then adding small pieces of cheese - the cheese choice is yours. I like fancy schmancy cheeses but to be honest I'm sure a good quality cheddar would be just fine. Put your Chard into a large bowl and add enough of the cheese sauce so when you taste it it has a nice flavor but is not all soupy. Put it into little oven proof ramekins - in this case these are creme brulee dishes.

Sprinkle with some bread crumbs and olive oil

Bake in a 425 degree oven for 15 minutes

A Wonderful Realization

New Zealand was a fabulous place. So much beauty.

We're back home now and into our day-to-day life. Always tough to get back to real life when you've had a great vacation right?

But as I have been going around town here in Albuquerque, New Mexico, I've looked at our mountains, our vistas, our beautiful clear blue skies, our fantastic weather. And I've looked at the beautiful house we created for ourselves. And I came to this realization. Yes there are beautiful, beautiful places out there like New Zealand. And yes there are lots of lovely, wonderful houses with views and everything out there.

But every day I actually live in one of those beautiful places and get to live out my daily life in it. I live in one of those beautiful houses with vistas and views and everything.

How cool is that?

How wonderfully fortunate am I?

And I feel very grateful indeed.

Blogged Out

After all the intense blogging of the three weeks in New Zealand, I find that I am just not getting to the ole posting page with alacrity. I like to blame it on work and the time I need to focus on that. And I certainly have had things that I would normally write about. But the truth is I think I'm just a little burnt out. I'm sure I'll be fine in a few more days.