Sausage theory

Unnoticed by me at first is the interesting factoid that yesterday was a two sausage day. There was, of course, the morning pig with mustardo (ummmm, good) but there was also bratwurst and kraut for evening meal. The last time I had lots of tube steak was the 4th of July free hot dogs at Canterbury event. Those following along may recall that for the two or three days after that event I had really strong legs. Today promised to be an interesting experiment to determine if sausage history would repeat itself.

There was a morning shake down cruise. I made another attempt at on the bicycle one handed digital photography, producing this shot of, well, one is not a peloton, but perhaps the breakaway.Blueberry bushes for scale.

I had a leftover bratwurst for lunch and sure enough, started the afternoon feeling like a little recycling. I headed out into the woods where there was plenty of shade and rode there for most of an hour. As I returned to the dune I came across this, one of the two giant dunes.Sunset Bluff is a difficult climb, a two stager, relatively easy on the bottom climb of the foredune but then more steeply up and around a corner to the top. I hadn't been up this year but this afternoon I went right up.

Feeling my sausages I headed down the road towards the other giant dune.Spyglass is also a two stage climb but this time the difficult part is the foredune, a steep and long around a corner climb. Once at the midway plateau it is possible to marshall your strength for the somewhat easier top section. Here is a photo from near the top.I made the two climbs so I guess the sausage theory has been substantiated.

Sausage rulz (especially with mustard).

Cabbage, sausage and noodles.

This is going to be a previously never done, at least by me, triple post.

I am going to post this here today because I am making it here today.

I am also going to ante-post it to the date when the pictures were taken when I made this meal in Michigan in September.

And I am going to post it to the family cooking blog because this is cooking that I did (and am doing today) for members of the family.

So to start with, this is a pretty basic meal for which you might have most of the ingredients already on hand.  What you might not have is a cabbage.  I didn't have one today so I went out and got one.  Cabbage is a favorite here and I am always open to ways to introduce it into the regular rotation.

Here's what it looked like on September 12 in Michigan.  Note the most excellent slicing knife (the black handle) and the most excellent paring knife (white handle).  Good tools lead to good results.

So what we have there is a head of cabbage, a large onion, a ring of kielbasa, olive oil, butter, a couple of cans of stewed tomatoes and some ribbon noodles.

Basic stuff but it IS going to be good.

Start with the polish sausage, the white knife renders it into slices.  The slices go into the big pot with a healthy dollop of olive oil.  What we seek is the traditional "browning".

The slicing knife makes its first appearance to produce large onion pieces, I like my onion pieces large.

The browning has gone on for a bit, the onions are now added.  Here is where I also throw in that half stick of butter.

At this point the big pan is beyond the merely browning stage and is now in the starting to add flavor stage.  At this point butter is good.

The slicer has been busy again (what a great knife!).  About half of the cabbage has been reduced to cooking size.  The polish sausage and onion mixture looks like it could easily support some big pieces of cabbage.

Throw in the cabbage, reduce heat, cover and simmer for 8 to 10 minutes, enough time to steam cook the cabbage.

Time to start the noodles.  I cooked the whole package but I intend to use a little bit less than half.  The rest will have to be consumed in other ways.  Too many noodles overwhelm the cabbage.  You want some noodles but need to keep in mind that this is a cabbage dish.

Time to start throwing it all together.

My experience is that a couple of cans of stewed tomatoes are going to provide just exactly what this concoction needs.

Mix it all together, you can probably turn off the heat at this point.  Everything is warm, it will continue to cook on its own.

I don't have this today but in Michigan we had the ingredients for a highly qualified person to produce a side salad.

Sausage, cabbage and noodle hot dish with fresh salad.

The pictures are from Michigan and today in Minnesota we did not have the salad.

It was really good both times.

Cabbage, sausage and noodles

This is going to be a previously never done, at least by me, triple post.

I am going to post this here today because I am making it here today.

I am also going to ante-post it to the date when the pictures were taken when I made this meal in Michigan in September.

And I am going to post it to the family cooking blog because this is cooking that I did (and am doing today) for members of the family.

So to start with, this is a pretty basic meal for which you might have most of the ingredients already on hand.  What you might not have is a cabbage.  I didn't have one today so I went out and got one.  Cabbage is a favorite here and I am always open to ways to introduce it into the regular rotation.

Here's what it looked like on September 12 in Michigan.  Note the most excellent slicing knife (the black handle) and the most excellent paring knife (white handle).  Good tools lead to good results.

So what we have there is a head of cabbage, a large onion, a ring of kielbasa, olive oil, butter, a couple of cans of stewed tomatoes and some ribbon noodles.

Basic stuff but it IS going to be good.

Start with the polish sausage, the white knife renders it into slices.  The slices go into the big pot with a healthy dollop of olive oil.  What we seek is the traditional "browning".

The slicing knife makes its first appearance to produce large onion pieces, I like my onion pieces large.

The browning has gone on for a bit, the onions are now added.  Here is where I also throw in that half stick of butter.

At this point the big pan is beyond the merely browning stage and is now in the starting to add flavor stage.  At this point butter is good.

The slicer has been busy again (what a great knife!).  About half of the cabbage has been reduced to cooking size.  The polish sausage and onion mixture looks like it could easily support some big pieces of cabbage.

Throw in the cabbage, reduce heat, cover and simmer for 8 to 10 minutes, enough time to steam cook the cabbage.

Time to start the noodles.  I cooked the whole package but I intend to use a little bit less than half.  The rest will have to be consumed in other ways.  Too many noodles overwhelm the cabbage.  You want some noodles but need to keep in mind that this is a cabbage dish.

Time to start throwing it all together.

My experience is that a couple of cans of stewed tomatoes are going to provide just exactly what this concoction needs.

Mix it all together, you can probably turn off the heat at this point.  Everything is warm, it will continue to cook on its own.

I don't have this today but in Michigan we had the ingredients for a highly qualified person to produce a side salad.

Sausage, cabbage and noodle hot dish with fresh salad.

The pictures are from Michigan and today in Minnesota we did not have the salad.

Here is the final product today in Minnesota.

It was really good both times.

Another tale of sausage

Early predictions are for a bad air day here. At first my reaction was that this is not even possible. There just aren't any cities here. But ozone apparently knows no city limits and actually, Chicago isn't THAT far away. Bad air later in the day calls for an early morning ride.

Here is a view of a rural Michigan roadway, Greenly looking west towards 168th in Park Township. The sun was behind me, the lake is out in that direction, there was still a little morning haze in the air, it just seemed pretty bucolic and pretty idyllic.The ride eventually led past the PSPS, an local landmark not previously photographed this year except for one I took a couple of days ago with my finger and the wrist strap over the lens. I tried harder this time and got a better image.There were pigs. Those who have been following along will have no difficulty identifying which of the sausage delicacies was being consumed by the local and which was going down the gullet of the outlander.Back on the mountain we discovered that Sailing 101 appears to have broken out on the big lake. Local knowledge informs that this event usually takes place on the inland lake but on Saturdays when there is only light wind on the big lake they come on out and play in the big arena.I watched for awhile and there was at least one kid who wasn't getting it at all. He could sail in the downwind direction but when all of the others turned around and started for home he pretty much stayed where he was. One of the power boats appeared along side, probably to shout sailing instructions. I assume eventually he will get home, either after learning at least a little sailing or after being taken under tow.

The day lived up to advance notice, eventually topping out at too warm and too sultry. I recycled, but kept the mileage low and in the shade as much as possible.

After dinner at Tres Lobos MySU and I walked all the way down to the State Park.There is still what looks like a pretty substantial crowd at the State Park beach in this photo but it is a mere shadow of the throngs that were there earlier in the day. Someone cue the Doors, Summer's Almost Gone.

Nicollet Island

We had actual rain yesterday, the first significant rain of the month. I got out for a short walk but honestly probably came up a bit short on that one hour outside every day for a year promise. It was raining.

I am still committed to the idea and intend to get out for an hour on days when it is snowing or when it is cold. But rain? Rain is so . . . wet.

And now the temperatures are threatening to return to normal. Just as we get used to the idea of endless August it appears that October will arrive on schedule. Our overnight low was in the low 50s.

But today was NICE. After a cool start the temperature reached 76 on the thermometer in our front yard at 3:30 as I returned from a nice ride.

I was a little uncertain of wind direction as I started. I knew it was south but southwest or southeast still seemed up for grabs so I took that loop through the Fairgrounds that I have been riding a lot of late, testing the wind in the various directions. It was a fabulous day at the Fairgrounds as there are TWO big events going on over there.

At the northeast corner of the grounds there was some sort of dog show. It was a big enough deal that there was a fair food shack open.

I took this picture of the wind turbine blade that has been pictured here before. I think that the fabulous blue sky behind the blade makes that a good picture without there having to be more content. But that isn't even the real reason why I took the picture.

Nope, that picture is to prove that even as late as today, September 26, it is still possible to purchase sausage on a stick at the Fairgrounds. You might have to zoom in on the photo but you should be able to tell that that stand is open and that there on the white portion of the above the window sign, towards the right appears: "Corn dogs". Sausage on a stick.

At the opposite corner of the grounds there is a big horse show. They have lots of horse shows over there. I ride there a lot, I see it all the time. This one, however, must be one of the largest shows that they have. The parking lots over there are all full of cars and trucks with horse trailers. Here is a trailer preparing to perform its intended task, transporting horses.
Eventually I decided the wind was more southwest than southeast and so I rode a more westerly route, down through the campus. I didn't want to ride the Stone Arch Bridge which is often my choice when headed over there. It was too nice a day, the bridge promised to be overrun by pedestrians.

Instead I detoured down Main Street and eventually crossed the bridge to Nicollet Island. I was absolutely positive that I had never ridden there on my bicycle. After having ridden there today I was struck by the thought that I may never have been there at all. It was a nice scenic ride around the island on the brick street. I have pictured the Grain Belt Beer sign before. Here it is from behind, photo taken from the parking lot of De la Salle High School.I have settled on the Intercampus Transitway as the only route that I am comfortable with for crossing the railroad tracks that I cross using the Dead Man's Curve passage when it is available. I came back from my ride today along that route. At the north end the transitway sort of dumps you onto the Fairgrounds. You could turn right on Como but it just feels more natural to ride to the end of transitway and cut through the Fairgrounds parking lots and circle back inside the Fairgrounds towards a favorable spot for a Snelling Avenue crossing.

I was in the process of doing just that when I spotted a really nice old car from a distance of a couple of blocks. I thought to myself that the car was on the Fairgrounds on the wrong weekend, that that street rod event was at the beginning of the summer. But it was a really nice looking old car so I turned where I had last seen it and tried to catch up. I lost the trail but cutting back through the grounds spotted the car again. The driver seemed to be on a sight seeing tour of the grounds and was driving slowly so I was able to close up a bit. Eventually I was able to draw alongside and confirm that it was a really nice old Oldsmobile 98. I at first guessed to myself 1957 and got ahead of the classic car so that I could turn around with favorable sun direction and get a photo of the car as he passed.The driver slowed to, I thought, allow me to get the picture, a driver proud of his car.

"A '57?", I inquired.

"56", he replied, "Don't I know you?"

"Larrie?", I asked.

So last week I rode through our old neighborhood and talked to Maurice who now lives in Larrie and Kathy's old house. Today I ran into Larrie himself. Larrie confirms that it is a 56 Oldsmobile 98, a beauty, Larrie's deceased father's car, and Larrie had his mother out for a ride in it on a beautiful fall day. Larrie's father was superintendent of the Fair is what I believe he said and he and his mother were out checking out the sights. To make the whole thing even more interesting just about a week ago TOPWLH and I ran into Kathy in the grocery store.

You can leave the old neighborhood but apparently the old neighborhood never leaves you.

This evening in Nantes, FC Nantes improved to four wins in four starts at home with a 2-1 victory over Nimes. Nantes set an all time Ligue 2 record for fastest goal at the start of a game when defender Remi Maréval scored after just 10 seconds of play. Those familiar with football will know that the opening kickoff must travel forward. The usual procedure at the upper levels of the sport is for one player to roll the ball forward for one circumference of the ball after which another player plays the ball back to his teammates to maintain possession. It is one of the set plays used fairly often at that point to have that player send a long kick towards goal while the forwards move in to try to use field position to gain an advantage. Today the ball was played back to Maréval and he launched one towards goal from 60 meters away. The ball somehow eluded the keeper and went into the net.

Nantes again assumes first place in the table based on goal differential over Caen. Just as last week Nantes must await the result of Caen's game to determine if they are truly in first place. Caen, as they did last week, play on Monday night.

Looks like Labor Day means sausage

A week ago a blast furnace, today jacket weather, fall has arrived.

Probably bicycling was possible but at the time when we had to commit the temperatures had not yet achieved much above 60 and with a slightly briskish wind the contrast from even two days ago was too extreme and we couldn't force ourselves into our bike clothes.

No ride today.

Labor Day is almost always one of the last days when outdoor cooking is an attractive option.  We were thinking about red meat or perhaps chicken again but the turn of the tide on the thermometer led us back to sausage.

With a small salad and some kraut that looks like the final meal of summer.

It has been a strange weather year.

The Saint Paul Bike Classic is two weeks away.  I used to ride in that thing and I know that on that mid-September Sunday that a morning ride almost always requires a jacket and full fingered gloves.

*sigh*

Not ready.

Never ready.

Here we go.

One tradition survives

Kevin Cogan crashed from a front row position at the start of today's Indianapolis 500 but pole sitter AJ Foyt made a wily veteran move and managed to avoid the crash in route to his record 5th victory in the Great American Race.

Well, that didn't happen as the race and lots of other Memorial Day Weekend traditions took a year off in observance of the new reality.

At our house one thing at least survived.

On the grill, split chicken breast and sausage, this year we had bratwurst and kielbasa, German and Polish.  The kielbasa was a brand we had not tried previously and it was a huge success, really excellent.  The chicken is always good.

The weather was variable, overnight rain, morning clouds, humid and warm but completely tolerable most of the afternoon.

Everyone should stay safe.

Noon+:40 3.8mi EG59 CB57 WG66

I must admit that I found dressing for 60 to be just a tiny bit tricky just two days after dressing for 40. That's my only complaint. It reached 60 today.

Everyone who lives in Minnesota knows that dressing for the weather here is a matter of proper layering. Today I was pretty close to hitting the right combination on the way out the door. Two judicious adjustments of layers, the first coming at mid-ride, the second coming as I was nearing home and briefly turned back into the wind, kept me first from overheating and second from getting chilled.

It was a south wind again, fairly brisk, but south so I headed down into the city. Any ride down into the city takes me past the Fairgrounds where at 12:40 and about 3.8 miles into the ride I observed the captioned temperature displays.

It looks like code up there, doesn't it?

I also came across this bit of tribute to sausage on a stick.You need the relative desertion of this time of year to notice some of these things, I guess. So Pronto Pups appeared at the Fair for the first time 62 Fairs ago. Who knew?

I am expecting big news at Dead Man's Curve. I rode past this sign yesterday and it proclaimed that the detour would end on November 6. I thought I might get in on some grand re-opening or something.Instead I got an opportunity to take a close look at the detour sign. That "7" is a tape number, not paint. They removed yesterday's "6" replacing it with this new schedule.

*sigh* I will keep checking. Most of the heavy equipment, including both of the two cranes that were there, have left the scene. The barriers are still up, I didn't really check but I bet that rent-a-cop is still around, too.

I wanted to go somewhere I hadn't been lately and somewhere I hadn't ever been this late in the season.I take the water flowing over the edge as evidence that the construction season down in the gorge below the Falls is at an end. It was pretty over there today, and for a not too surprising change, there weren't very many people around.

Most rides into the city are out and backs. The Capitol Loop is a loop but the usual ride is to some destination and then I ride back home the same way I came. Today's ride had one small characteristic of a loop as I rode to the Falls on the Saint Paul side and rode back on the Minneapolis side. While in Minneapolis I rode all the way to Franklin before using that bridge to cross back to my side of the river. I can report that the Minneapolis bicycle path construction seems to be complete even though there is still landscaping going on (men with a loader completely blocking the path south of Lake Street while dumping black dirt next to the path). The landscaping didn't bother me, I was riding on the road.

The point of this lengthy digression is that any to the city out and back takes me right next to the Fairgrounds both on the way out and on the way back.

Noon+2:15 21.3mi EG60 CB58 WG64.

Change of artistic form

The amount of time that needed to be spent on the Tour de France and the weather have conspired to make most of the tourism to this point the viewing of old stone buildings and their interiors. But everyone knows that.

Today we made a break from that pattern and instead looked at paintings.

But first a make up note, here is JQ's dinner last evening.We had walked past a restaurant on the Champs Elysee that was emitting a strong sauerkraut aroma so we set off last evening with choucroute in mind. We ended up at the same Alsatian restaurant where we ate last year. I think he actually has five different sausages there, one is hidden behind the kraut.

I had the other choice, the one with two link sausages, a round sausage and some salt pork. And kraut.

I was out early today just walking around. I wanted to see what the line looked like at the Notre Dame tower tour so I headed over that way. The tour opens at 10am and by 9am the line was about 50 people long. I may not actually make it up the church tower, I may end up being defeated by the line.

But I went inside for a bit when there were still only a handful of people there. I got a better picture of the Notre Dame de Paris.And I got a picture of the baptismal font.But the 10am opening bell of the show we wanted to see beckoned so we set off across the river to see "Paris au temps des Impressionistes, Les Chefs-d'oeuvre du musée d’Orsay à l'Hôtel de Ville". Paris in the time of the Impressionists, Masterpieces from the Orsay Museum at City Hall.

It was a free show and it was absolutely unqualifiedly the best zero euros I ever spent. For openers the exposition room was a large reception area of the city hall and we just don't have anything like that. The building itself was spectacular.

And the art!!!!!

There were a handful of Monets, Manet, a couple of Toulouse-Lautrec, several Edgar Degas, Gauguin, at least two van Gogh, Pissarro and then I walked around a corner and walked right up to one of the most famous paintings in the world, "Jeunes filles au Piano" (Girls at the Piano) by Pierre Auguste Renoir.

I have been in front of some famous paintings before but never without a crowd. I was occasionally joined by others but I had as much time as I wanted standing 18 inches away to go ahead and decide if I liked the painting. I do.

There was a strictly enforced no photo policy at the exposition so I compensated by getting an exterior shot of the extremely spectacular Hotel de Ville.I took a picture of this building across the street. It is a pretty nice looking building in its own right, it looks like it should be significant in some way.The significance is that they are having a big sale. That building is a department store, Bazaar de l'Hotel d'Ville, the store next to city hall.

We took a little sit down and then went out to view a couple of the usually visited monuments which we had not been yet able to visit.We met some people from Nebraska when we were taking the Eiffel Tower picture. I was lining up my shot when the husband standing behind me assured his wife that "they will be leaving soon" assuming as we all do sometimes that because it is after all France and because we don't understand much of what most of them are saying that they probably don't understand much of what we are saying.I took the picture and turned around and asked them if they needed our space. A good time was had by all.

Is the blue glass OK?

Déjà vu all over again

Today's wind conditions were very much like yesterday's and I ended up with a ride for which the route very much resembled the route of yesterday's ride. However, with no infusion of either sausage or mustard there was a change in the quality of my legs, today I completely lacked the bouncy quality that I experienced yesterday.

*sigh* Once again I am returned to the status of mere mortal. It wasn't actually too bad, I felt okay, I just felt considerably less strong than yesterday.

On my way out of the garage I noticed my tax dollars at work as a school district employee mowed the athletic fields next to my house.This appealed to me as a photograph for the fairly obvious reason that it is no longer possible to get a "tax dollars at work" photo with me in it.

I ended up at Minnehaha Park again. I was surprised to find that there were still quite a few people there. The crowd on Monday compared to on Sunday was greatly reduced but there were still several groups of people around the Falls.

Still, with the reduced congestion I felt safe enough to soft pedal my bicycle into an area where I would never consider riding with the always dangerous pedestrians around. I very slowly and gingerly pedalled down to the geology marker at the corner of the twin gorges and got this shot back towards the Falls.On the ride back along the River on the Minneapolis side I came upon some paving activity. It isn't the hottest day of the year but it was warmer today than it has been of late so today was a good choice for laying down some asphalt. A crew was paving the furthest south parking area, no paving yet on the path but there were various pieces of equipment working on the path making it clear that path pavement is soon to come.

There were ominous looking signs up yesterday that stated that Como would be CLOSED on August 24 at 9am. This interested me and as I started out on today's ride I intended to see what was up over there. Well, it may well have been closed at 9am but by 10:30 when I rode through there was no sign of any obstruction. I suspect that the placement of this pedestrian bridge may have occurred at 9am and that that may have been the cause of the closure.That's another sign that the Fair begins on Thursday. That's the "Space Needle" and the building formerly known as the Hippodrome for perspective.

More news on English to Finnish translation tools on the internet. Google seems to have gotten up to speed since I was there the other day and provides this translation of "I love my thumb levers":

Rakastan peukalo keinoja.