BiL And SiL

That would be Brother-in-Law and Sister-in-Law, Wife's Brother and his Wife. 

Of all our family, I would say, over the decades, we have been closer with them than any others. Yet it had been a long time since we'd actually been together. They had taken the initiative and asked if they could come visit. We were truly happy they did. 

So what does one do for three days with your close relative that you've not seen for years?

TALK

It is hard maybe for some to understand that we spent an immense amount of time talking. Talking about all kinds of things. It was truly impressive. However, there is a sub-plot in this...the talking relationship between Wife and her Brother. Each evening they would start talking. Often it was about aspects of their life growing up on the farm in Windom, MN with their somewhat dysfunctional parents. After a couple of hours both SiL and I would bail, go to my Library and sit quiet reading while the two siblings went on and on. Honestly, I haven't seen Wife this animated, engaged, and energetic since the November blood clot issue.

COOK AND EAT

Seriously? You think de-I is going to have guests and not pull out the stops cooking and eating?

Our first day, Wife and I had our contractor in and out a couple of times as we have been trying to get the last parts of our remodel finalized. I opted for a simpler meal. I took out a number of last summer's smoked meats (ribs, pulled pork, brisket) from the freezer. I made my crispy not quite mashed potatoes, and slow roasted (a la #1) a butternut squash to crispy outside/soft inside perfection.

Day two was pasta making. I had the lust to make pasta from scratch. My BiL, the curious learner and engineer he is, wanted to watch and participate in the whole process. I had him rolling and cutting the pasta. I made a very meat centric sauce using some goulash I had in the freezer, pressure cooked with pork rib meat. The pasta turned out top notch!

Day three was Cambodian Fish/Shrimp Amok. I showed SiL how to make curry paste from scratch. Another top notch winner.

de-I DIY APPRENTICE

My BiL is an amazing engineer and notorious fix it person. SiL bemoans the fact that if they visit family in their homes, it always turns into a home improvement project. We had small need. Our on furnace humidifier needed its internal canister replaced. BiL was confident we could do this ourselves. I volunteered to be his student not realizing that BiL, being a great teacher, would have me do everything!

Yours truly throwing himself into the task

 Let me tell you how much FUN I'm having

 After we'd replaced the canister, BiL insisted that we open up. It was amazing the amount of mineral deposits on in and on it!

 

 

 Evidently there are a lot of minerals in our water. I am not sure if we should be concerned about the amount of minerals we are consuming in our water, OR if we should be bottling our local water as natural mineral spring water!

Humidifier Canister Replacement Success