Early Shades of Fall

Some early signs of autumn, as captured on a recent beautiful Saturday afternoon:

New Canon Rebel EOS Camera

Pictured here on the right is a recent addition to the Roediger House: a new Canon Rebel EOS camera that I got a few weeks ago. The old 4.0 megapixel Canon Powershot point-and-shoot camera I got about eight years ago just didn't cut the mustard around here. And with the daily blogging I've been doing for some strange reason during 2010, I needed to be able to capture sights and sounds of the world of Roediger without worrying about clarity or quality of the shots. That old Powershot left me with too many blurry or washed-out pictures, and its battery was rather lousy, too.

I got a little inspired when my college suitemates were here for our reunion back in August. Several of them had pretty decent SLR digital cameras and were taking a lot of great shots. It pushed me over from my previously-wavering position and I pulled the trigger and got myself one.

And I love it. It's been taking some mighty fine pictures. Some future blog post is going to offer a sampling of some nighttime photos that turned out very, very cool, by my estimation.

Meal No. 156: Biscuits & Gravy

Here's something I've only made one other time: biscuits and sausage gravy.


That was back in the old kitchen, before all this renovation and addition stuff. For the last year or so, I've been getting biscuits and gravy from former student Bradley Phillis, when he has kindly consented to be chef over at his place for a gathering of good friends. This proved to be the right kind of mid-afternoon meal yesterday before it was time to pack and hit the road for work in Virginia.

Meal No. 155: T-Bones on the Grill

Talk about a great sale at the Harris-Teeter: T-bone steaks were on a ripping good deal when I went to the grocery this week. So last night was a perfect ending to a relaxing, beautiful-weather weekend, and a few of us gathered to enjoy good old grilled red meat and a huge side of french fries.


I guess I'm not used to my picture being taken, and I didn't keep my eyes open enough. Sorry if I look drunk or stoned; I promise I was neither.


The T-bone I saved for myself was extra thick:


And this is how much of it was still left when my belly was filled to capacity:

Meal No. 154: Kung Pao Chicken

The Roediger House has a great kitchen now, and it always had a great butler's pantry. So there's plenty of storage. Which is a good thing, because I have managed to accumulate quite a few appliances. Some get used more than others, but it's nice to have the equipment to do whatever job I've got in mind when it comes to whipping up some tasty meals here.


Take, for instance, the electric wok. Asian cooking purists do not think an electric wok is the way to go, but thus far, mine has been easy to work with and has led to some great meals. Above, you can see it working on the vegetables for last night's dinner, which was Kung Pao Chicken.


By the time I added the peanut sauce, I could also sense the heightened awareness of my taste buds, because it was wafting up the best most tempting smells.


Served over fried brown rice, it made a colorful dish. Even better, it tasted incredible.

By the way, happy 10/10/10. There...I said it. Just like everybody else did.

Meal No. 153: Tuna with Tarragon-Mushroom Sauce

Last night's meal (No. 153 in the new kitchen...don't you love my tabulation obsession?) was seared sashimi yellowfin tuna steaks with a tarragon-mushroom cream sauce. It was tasty to chow down on while watching the final episode of the second season of TRUE BLOOD.


This is not the first time I've made this sauce; last time it was the accompaniment to some salmon fillets. That previous meal was also when I tried out my new rice cooker for the first time. Last night was my first time making brown rice with that cooker. It takes considerably longer to cook (almost two hours), but the result was well worth it. I made extra in hopes there will be an excuse to whip up some stir-fry with fried rice before the weekend is out.

Upstairs HVAC Restored to Health?

Friday morning, after my two days on the road, involved an early start, because Webb Heating and Air Conditioning Company, Inc., was back to replace the faulty coil in the air handler in the attic that serves the upstairs.



The serviceman, Keith, was here for about five hours. He had to drain all the freon out of the system, remove the original faulty coil, install the new one, and then refill the freon.



I asked him as he was leaving if the leak above the wetbar that showed up back in August was likely to be from freezing along the chiller lines, when the freon was low in that system. He said that was a pretty reasonable conclusion.

So, the failure of Barnette Heating and Air Conditioning, Inc., of Mocksville, NC, to identify the problem of the leak very likely means that I have mold in one of my new bathrooms. I am currently without use of that bathroom. I have a hole cut in the ceiling of my kitchen while we try to control for any more mysterious dripping water.

If that's what you'd like your own house to look like, then using Barnette Heating and Air Conditioning, Inc., can make all that misery yours.

Meal No. 152: 2 x 2 Soup

After two days of working out of town and with the change of seasons now being felt, it was high time to throw together a pot of my cousin Betsy's Two By Two soup recipe.

Hearty and good whilst the late episodes of True Blood's second season played on...

---

"2 x 2 Soup," from various sources.

Air Handler Can't Handle It

So, the saga of the upstairs HVAC unit continues...

I got a call from Peter LaRoque, my general contractor, while I was at my conference in Florida this past weekend, with an update on his report from Webb Heating & A.C. Company. That's who he called in when Greg Barnette of Barnette Heating and Air Conditioning, Inc., of Mocksville, NC, refused to return and fix the problems with the upstairs system.

The determination by the technician was that the coil in the attic-based air handler was the source of the leak, and that falls under warranty on the equipment. A new coil is being ordered and they'll be coming back probably by week's end to replace the defective part.

In the meantime, I wonder how the management of Barnette Heating & Air Conditioning, Inc., can sleep at night or look at themselves during the day.

Trash Trees & Power Lines

A couple of weeks ago, I got a "Delivery Confirmation" letter from the owner of the property behind the house. It addressed the problems associated with the trash trees that got a foot-hold on the back retaining wall during the years that both his and my property were neglected. In particular, he spoke to worries about the trees growing into the power lines that service his new tenants behind me, an ambulance service called Lifestar 911.



He and I met today to take a look at the problem. I was surprised when he told me that Duke Power did not intend to doing any trimming to these trees, and he hoped that if I (as property owner) would also call them, perhaps they might respond better. I think it was news to him, though, that the way the property line falls, the trees mostly belong to us both. It turns out that they are mostly straddling the border between our properties.

We'll see where things go from here.

Meal No. 151: Hamburger Supreme

After spending time last week on back-to-back trips (one to New Orleans, followed immediately by another to Tampa), I was ready for a meal at home but I needed it to be simple. Simple enough, in fact, that I know the ingredients by heart so that I could swing by the Kernersville Harris Teeter on my way home from the Greensboro airport.

And with the change to fall upon us here in Winston-Salem, why not kick it off with some comfort food?



That brings us to hamburger supreme, a meal that my older sister learned from her first mother-in-law and which has been a staple in the Jones family for 35 years or more. I fixed up the accompaniments that always go along with it for me: corn and applesauce. It was just right for watching the final five episodes of the final season of "Lost" last night.

---

"Hamburger Supreme," from the late Mrs. John T. (Glynn) Johnson of Buies Creek, North Carolina, via Janice Jones Bodenhamer.

Mold Up, Here

Some recent blog entries have detailed an issue with a leak that came from somewhere in the subflooring of the upstairs and worked its way down to the wetbar area in the kitchen. In diagnosing and investigating, my general contractor Peter LaRoque has partially demolished one of the new upstairs bathrooms, the one lovingly referred to as the Van Gogh. Once he saw that mold had formed and was growing, he advised me he'd have to take up much of that bathroom floor's tile to get at it and treat it. He also expanded his cut into the wall between the toilet and the tub so that he could better see the path of the mysterious water but also to get his mold abatement treatment properly dispersed under the tub.



This shot shows that expanded cut-out and some indications of the mold growth on the underside of the tub.

Ray's Seventh Anniversary with RoHo

On this 2nd day of October, it seems fitting to stop and make note of the fact that it is the seventh anniversary since I bought the Roediger House. Yep: it was on this date back in 2003 that I spent time over at Piedmont Federal, signing paper after paper after document after agreement. And of course the representative from FIRST, Inc., from whom I bought it, forgot to bring the keys with her to the closing, so I followed her home after the signing to collect them from her.

It was a sweet moment when I first placed that key into my lock on my new house. It was a great day to begin this fantastic journey of making the Roediger House into a home.

Cut Hair, Cut Grass

Wow, the pattern remains somewhat constant this summer: I get a haircut and I cut the grass. Such was the fun and frivolity of yesterday. Guess that's a sign that often I only have a day or so at home and these tasks had better get done while the time is available to me to do it. I reckon it's getting near the end of this season of grass maintenance, though, what with the inauguration of autumn and the tremendous slow-down in general of all things green.

Webb of da Leaks

When you can't depend on your original installer of your heating and air conditioning system, which in my case was Barnette Heating & Air Conditioning, Inc., in Mocksville, then someone else has to come in and get the problems straightened out.

That's what led to this van (pictured here) showing up at my house early this morning, following my late-night return from New Orleans. My general contractor, Peter LaRoque, called on Webb Heating and Air Conditioning Company, Inc., from nearby Advance, NC, to find out why my brand-new upstairs system that Barnette installed was losing so much freon.



The technician started in the attic with the inside unit, and he said his freon detector was going wild up there. That's how bad the leaking has been. I'm waiting for a report from Pete to know for sure what problem ultimately had to be addressed, but he said something about the coil in that unit being the source of the leak. Then he pumped up the freon supply again (it was less than eight weeks ago that 3 pounds of freon had to be added to the system) and left without giving me any kind of report.

So let me say again: not only would I NOT RECOMMEND Barnette Heating & Air Conditioning, Inc., of Mocksville, NC...I would in fact strongly encourage those who use them to strongly consider whether they too are stuck with hidden problems or are also not receiving the service they thought they were.

Jupiter Shines on Winston-Salem

It has been really intriguing to watch the brightness of an unusually-close planet Jupiter as it rises in the eastern sky of late. I first noticed it a couple of weeks ago as I was sitting on the upstairs porch looking out at the city skyline one evening. A very bright star was announcing itself just to the left of the Wachovia Center tower at the southern end of the downtown area, and I used the remarkable Google Sky app on my Droid phone to determine what it was. As the evening progressed, the position of Jupiter changed and appeared to rise up directly above the skyscraper and eventually move on above the southern sky.



In this picture, you can see it very near the middle of the photograph, above and slightly right of center over the Wachovia building.

Squirrels Are Nuts about the Porch

Something about early mornings on the front porch has become attractive to my yard squirrels. A couple of weeks ago, I found where they had been digging around in a potted plant out there. And this past Sunday, when it was time for some pleasant-weather coffee-drinking, I came out to discover the remnants of a big nut that apparently represented the dregs of a bit of squirrel breakfast.

Van Gogh Bathroom: Floor Tile Removed

As noted a few days ago, one of the new bathrooms upstairs (which serves a guest bedroom) has been partially demolished in order to diagnose the source of leaking water and to abate the accompanying mold that has started to grow on the sub-flooring. My general contractor Peter LaRoque and his assistant Robert were back again this past Saturday to finish taking up the tile flooring and removing the grout dry-set underneath it. They applied mold abatement chemicals to the subflooring underneath.

Pete wanted to go ahead and start patching the places where he has had to cut into the drywall, but because we are not certain about the cause or source of the water that was leaking, this will be delayed until he has a chance to get an HVAC consult on the leak to that system and determine if the water and the low freon are connected issues.

Meal No. 150: Kung Pao Chicken

With a rich sauce bubbling away, it was a pleasure to again take the wok in hand last night to produce a scrumptious meal of Kung Pao Chicken. I feel mighty lucky to have received several years ago a perfect birthday present: a smart wok cookbook that always and consistently gets it right, in part because it guides your steps with the philosophy behind wok-based Asian cooking.



The meal last night (which I made a bit too spicy but that just made the beer taste that much better) was chicken thigh meat this time, along with water chestnuts, red bell pepper, baby bella mushrooms, green onions, garlic, and asparagus. And I spread it all out on top of some especially tasty fried rice, using some leftover white basmati from a rice-cooker meal a couple of weeks ago.

Annual Fiesta Comes to Downtown

Although it was still a bit warm today, it was another perfect day for a happening event to close off the nearby city streets. The Hispanic League of Winston-Salem sponsors Fiesta in the fall, and so the house was again surrounded by lots of festival-goers parking nearby. A mid-afternoon stroll up Fourth Street permitted a small taste of the event, although the intended destination was to check on friends manning the 6th & Vine booth on the corner of Fourth and Poplar Streets.

Photo from Hispanic League's Website

Van Goghs to Hell

The upstairs guest bedroom in the northwest corner of the house is where one of three new bathrooms was added upstairs as part of last year's construction project. That bedroom has copies of Van Gogh paintings and is affectionately known as the Van Gogh room.

That bathroom is where my General Contractor, Peter LaRoque, found water under the floor tiles when he was investigating the source of the leak above the wetbar in the kitchen area below. Last weekend, he and his helper Robert starting tearing up the floor tile to see how bad the water leakage problem seemed to be and to see if a source for it, or direction of it, could be determined.

So here are some pictures of one of my brand-new bathrooms:





And if you'll notice the subflooring in this close-up photo, you'll see the black where mold has already taken hold.

Collision Course on Broad Street

While wrapping up dinner the other night, we heard quite a loud crash and even felt a bit of vibration. A quick dash up the street confirmed that there'd been a good collision of two vehicles up at the intersection of Broad Street and Fourth. With my tripod and camera on timed shutter, I was actually able to capture from up on the porch roof (as it wraps around to the north side of the house) a couple of decent shots in spite of the distance and the low lighting.

No More Shaky Shower Control

When my General Contractor, Peter LaRoque, was here last weekend to continue investigating the leak issue, he also corrected the shaky shower control in the southwest bathroom upstairs, the one serving the bedroom on the parking lot side of the house.

It turns out that the original plumbing subcontractor, Mel Jones (who has gone out of business), used rather a cheap plastic clip to hold the control and pipes to part of the framing, and it had snapped. Pete used heavy-duty panduit plastic ties and he didn't have to cut into the wall or dislodge any tile to get it properly secured again.

One more thing to check off the list!

Texas Sheet Cake

Sunday night, when some friends were over and I served Not So Cajun Chicken, I whipped up a half-order of Texas Sheet Cake. It's a dessert I used to make all the time--it really takes me back to college when my mother would send me back to UNC with a pan of this in tow--and when I first started teaching at Wake Forest I often made it for my students.

But it had been a while. Maybe I've just lost my taste for it.

That, plus I hate Texas.

---

"Texas Sheet Cake," also known as Scotch Chocolate Cake. Credited to Susie Timmons. From "Popular: Cake Request Gets 22 Responses," by Michael Hastings, Food Editor of the Winston-Salem Journal. Published October 6, 2010.

Meal No. 149: Just Like No. 148

I still had a package of chicken breast tenderloins, and some rice, so my mid-day meal today was to make up another batch of Not So Cajun Chicken. And it was still delicious.

Meal No. 148: Not So Cajun Chicken

Tonight was a return to one of my favorite dishes, the one I would make for company when I used to have folks over less frequently, the first meal I made in the new kitchen once it was completed enough to move into back in 2009...

Not So Cajun Chicken

Not So Cajun Chicken is a reasonably easy meal to prepare, and with chicken breast tenderloins on special this week, it seemed to be the right recipe to reach for. It was a nice interruption to a DVD watching party here this evening. I'll blog about the dessert tomorrow.

Meal No. 147: Ribeyes & Rock-the-Block

I don't think the City of Winston-Salem could have had a finer September day for its annual Rock-the-Block event downtown. With Fourth Street closed starting at Spring Street, it's put a lot of cars passing the house and has filled up the available spaces along Spring Street.




So lots of activity all around the house, and I chose to light citronella candles and burn citronella incense sticks in the backyard so that I could grill up a hellaciously good bone-in ribeye and fry up some steak fries. This was a perfect accompaniment to watching the next episode in the sixth and final season of Lost.

A Find at Lowe's Foods

Here's a word about guilty indulgences:

I rather enjoy settling down for a good greasy breakfast at the local favorite Cagney's, or at the notorious Waffle House. And I'll be guilty of slathering too much mixed fruit jelly from those little individual tubs on whatever toast or biscuits I've gotten. So you'd think with that jelly being so delicious, you could just go to the store and buy some.

But no. I have not found it in any of my local grocery stores. According to the Smucker's website, that item is carried by Kroger as far south as Martinsville, but trust me: I've stopped in and looked there and in Rocky Mount, VA, and in Charlottesville. To no avail. An out-of-state visitor brought me some that was found in a Meijer's in Lafayette, IN. And I hoarded it for a while.

So imagine my surprise to turn around in the grocery aisle on a rare visit to the Winston-Salem-based Lowe's Foods and find a mess of jars of Smucker's mixed fruit jelly on the shelf behind me.


It makes me happy to see that jar sitting on my refrigerator shelf.

By the way, I've only been able to find it in one out of three different Lowe's Foods stores that I've looked in. Seems a bit divine.

The Unplotted Plant

I've got small divots all over the back and side yards, ostensibly from my squirrels in their search for nuts. Which I thought was more of a wintertime endeavor for them. But what do I know? I just put birdseed and bad pecans out and they do their thing.

But I didn't particularly want them doing their thing to a potted plant that a principal in Richmond County, NC, had given me after one of my visits to his school. I do not think it came with nuts.

Since it's a hanging basket, you could reasonably wonder why it's not hanging up. I found I was letting it dry out way too fast way too much of the time. Sitting it behind the column pillar on the porch keeps it where I'm reminded to water it and it doesn't have to take on the direct morning sun.

And yes: the yard still begs for a good landscaping job.

Low and Dry

Not sure if it's just unexplained phenomena, or if the issue of cellar flooding might now be much-contained. But here's a shot of the cellar from a few weeks ago right after Winston-Salem had had a heckuva massive downpour of rain:


I noted back in May 2009, when the gutters on the addition were installed, that I was worried that the downspout outside the master suite would exacerbate the problems I'd already been having there with water getting into the cellar. As recently as March, it was clear that a wet cellar was going to be the rule of the day each time it rained good and much.

The way my general contractor had routed the run-off from the downspout in question meant that water was going to really pile up in the soft ground around the foundation on that south side of the house. I talked about this in a blog entry a few months ago, noting how much washing there was along the side of the porch and across the front yard. That's when I got the idea to try to get as much of that water at least out onto the parking area as possible.

The picture at the top seems to bear out the wisdom of that small adjustment. It's not the permanent solution, but I like the looks of a dry cellar for a change.