various and sundries

The Crown has dropped half of the charges against Meaford. You can read more about it here. I hope the prosecuters come to their senses and drop the rest, and that no more firefighters will have to walk in those moccasins.

Tomorrow is the big day . . . or at least the medium sized day. Ontarians get to choose their next leader. I'm not in the mood to talk politics, so I'll refer you to my latest CVFSA blog post, which discusses a survey I sent to the candidates, and their replies.

Moving on to more pleasant topics, here are a few photos of the kids blasting off rockets the Saturday before last.

And here are some cranberries that Erinn and I picked the same day.

Sometimes you just have to enjoy the day and forget the rest.

Moving on to fire related topics, here's a video clip of a fully involved chemical plant in Texas.



You may have seen it already at the Fire Engineering or Firegeezer sites. It would be easy to make a self-righteous quip about proper positioning of fire apparatus, but the saying that you shouldn't judge until you've walked a mile in the other guy's moccasins applies here. I've fought some big fires, but I've never walked anywhere in those moccasins.

This post is wandering aimlessly, not unlike the way I like to wander in the woods this time of year. Sometimes you just have to enjoy the day and forget the rest.

While I'm wandering, I may as well give you my latest psuedo recipe:

Gyoza Meatballs over Rice

1. Remember that your wife and daughter are gone for the day, which means you are on supper duty.
2. Dig through the freezer and find two chicken thighs that aren't enough to feed you and your 16 year old son.
3. Keep digging, and find a half a pack of ground beef that also isn't enough to feed you and your 16 year old son.
4. Decide that the beef and chicken together would be enough.
5. Invent a new recipe to prove that ground beef and chicken thighs can be eaten in the same meal.
6. Put a cup and a half of rice in a pot, add three cups of water, some garlic, chopped ginger, soy sauce, and salt. Toss in the two chicken legs for good measure, and because you can't think of any other way to work them into the recipe.
7. Bring to a boil and simmer for about 45 minutes.
8. Wonder if your 16 year old son (who is now starving) will forgive you if the meatballs you are about to make are inedible.
9. Chop up a bunch of Chinese cabbage (about a quarter to a third the volume of the the ground beef). I used a food processor.
10. Press out most of the liquid and set it aside (I used a cheese cloth, but any strainer would work). Stir some soy sauce and garlic powder into the liquid.
11. Mix the chopped Chinese cabbage with the ground beef, then add soy sauce, some chopped ginger, garlic and onion powder, and salt.  If you have sesame oil, now is a good time to add it. If you don't it's fine, because you've already departed from the real gyoza recipe by using ground beef instead of pork. Mix well.
12. Form the mixture into meatballs and fry them on all sides in a small amount of oil over medium heat.
13. Add a bit of chopped ginger to the pan and fry.
14. Turn the heat down and add the Chinese cabbage liquid mixture. Add a bit of water or broth if necessary.
15. Cover and cook the meatballs until they are nearly done.
16. Chop more Chinese cabbage, and part of a red bell pepper. Add to the pan and cover for a few minutes until the vegetables are bright and still crunchy.
17. Thicken the sauce with cornstarch.
18. Serve over the rice, with the chicken on the side.
19. Breath a sigh of relief when your 16 year old son says you can make this meal anytime.

Note: this recipe is no substitute for real gyoza, but it is much faster and easier to make, (from start to finish, about 40 minutes). Ground turkey mixed with the beef works as well.

Wandering along to yet another unrelated topic, Erinn and the kids ganged up on me for my 50th birthday, and I found this when I came home from work.

I did briefly consider how un-chiefly I looked out there . . . but sometimes you just have to enjoy the day and forget the rest.