Category Archives: Interests

New Marinade, Balsamic Vinaigrette+

08/05/2009 Richard Leave a comment

I like to experiment around with different marinades, yesterday I came up with a concoction that was more than just alright. I’ve used Balsamic vinaigrette dressing before with chicken straight out of the bottle but I doctored it up for our flat iron steak we grilled. I like to use the gallon zip-lock bags to marinade, also we love the “Newman’s Own” brand, the one with Paul Newman’s face on it

This is for beef. For chicken, sub- red wine for white wine, or leave wine out.

(depending of course on how much meat you’re covering,)

pour in balsamic dressing to cover steak well, at least 1 cup
add 4 cloves garlic, crushed
3-4 tbl. sesame oil
3-4 tbl. red wine
mix well, let steak marinade at least a couple hours. Let sit to room temp. for about 20-30 min before grilling. Salt and pepper to taste.

Grillin'

Grilled pork tenderloin

07/15/2009 Richard Leave a comment

Nothing is better than tender pork loin grilled to perfection in the great outdoors, unless of course it’s a beef loin or, fillet Mignon. We bought those large loins and cut them in two or three pieces and freeze them. Most or all I should say, should be tied with butcher string right out of the wrapper, or they’ll fall apart.

We enjoy them many ways, but my favorite so far is marinated in my teriyaki sauce (see link) for at least a couple hours. then grilled:…

with direct heat about 30-40 minutes, or until the middle temp. reads 155°-160° flipping once. Let it ‘rest’ for 15 minutes, this will finish the cooking to correct doneness without drying and keep in the juices.

Remove strings and slice into 1/2″-3/4″ thick medallions.

Grillin'

My Teriyaki sauce

07/15/2009 Richard Leave a comment

We basically grill out year round. I’ve even figured a way to stay dry in a torrential downpour. Summer though it is almost a must what with the heat, we don’t like heating up the house with a stove and especially the oven running for an hour or so. Even left over pizza, we figured out during a kitchen re-model how to warm up pizza on the grill!

The mainstay is my teriyaki sauce I use on almost all meats once in a while. It is “semi-homemade” as I mix pre-bottled sauces to make it.

I use Kikkoman teriyaki and soy sauces as they are a Japanese brand.

1 cup teriyaki
3 tbl. soy sauce
3 tbl. sesame oil (non-toasted)
2 tbl. honey
2-3 cloves crushed-minced garlic
1 tbl. toasted sesame oil
1 tsp. ginger (optional)

I mix the honey in good with one of those ‘springy’ type gravy whisks, mix all good. May be injected as well.

I will be blogging grilled dinners and this is the teriyaki sauce I will be referring to with a link back.

Interests, Trains

Steam Train Decoy

06/15/2009 Richard Leave a comment

Saturday evening, I read in the local newspaper that the original steam engine that ran between Medford and Jacksonville, (OR.) starting in 1891, was displayed in the Oregon 150 party/parade in Jacksonville earlier in the day. The paper also said it will remain at Bigham Knoll school until Monday, when it’s current owners were going to take it back to California.

Sunday, my Wife, her friend and I went to the school to get some shots of it. It wasn’t there, “lets look downtown”. When we got downtown, nothing there either. The kind lady at the Info center, the old Depot, said “They’re sportin’ it around to show it off, try Alba Park, or Hawthorn Park in Medford.”

We looked at Alba Park, nothing there. Went to Hawthorn Parks south entrance, nothing there. “Oh well, let’s go to Dairy Queen”… on the way to Dairy Queen, we went past the north end of the park, my wife says “Look over there, under those trees, is that it?”. about 150 yards away, in the shade, under some trees was a silhouette of a little train we missed on our first pass through the park. “That’s it” I said, just getting a quick glimpse and having only seen a picture in the paper, it was red and black as far as I could tell. But we were going the wrong direction.

After looping around through town, probably breaking a few laws, my wife’s friend says “Drive much”, I replied, “This is how I drive when I’m chasing a train.” We arrived at the park, The train was barely visible with people and trees in the way. It wasn’t until I got right up on it that I realized… “Honey I chased a bar-b-que”

Oh well… lets go to Dairy Queen now. I did eventually go back to the school in the evening and get some shots of it. notice the very close resemblance…

They sure look close to me! Here are some more shots of this historic little engine.

Canon S2is, Interests, Photography, Travel

McKee Bridge Day

06/14/2009 Richard Leave a comment

Saturday June 13th was McKee Bridge Day at, where else? McKee Bridge. Built in 1917, it is now a pedestrian bridge only. There is a nice park next to the bridge, and a great swimming hole.

This photo has the history of the bridge.

some more shots:

We enjoyed ourselves. we had a hot dog lunch and homemade root beer floats were also available.

Trains

“Pig Train” in Dunsmuir, CA

05/25/2009 Richard Leave a comment

I got a chance to chase the Pig Train through the Cantara Loop on down to Castella this last week. It’s called the Pig Train because of the Piggyback configuration of the trailers on the flat cars. Back in the ’50s-’70s, Southern Pacific even had special trailers with a cute cartoon pig on them for this service.

These days, it seems, there are mostly ‘Swift’ trucking co. trailers on this service.

1) Azalea Ave

2) Cantara Loop

3) Castella

I have more pics and dialog about this on my updated website tunnel13.com

Family

Meet Minnie

05/03/2009 Richard Leave a comment

We went to the local animal shelter and fell in love with “Mignonette” or Minnie. My wife named her this as she is a dainty little princess. Minnie is what is known as a “Tuxedo Cat” having black and white markings. She is so playful and sweet and a real riot. Our other older cat, “Kitty” likes her well enough too.

She has really taken to us and is comfortable in her new home, as you can see!

(more photos added 05/18/09)

Canon S2is, Interests, Photography, Trains

Train Chasing in Dunsmuir

05/08/2008 Richard 2 Comments

I took last Friday and went to Dunsmuir, Calif. Former major hub for the Southern Pacific Railroad. It is now used by the Union Pacific Railroad. I arrived in time for a crew change…

I later chased this train, a high priority one called the “Z” to train buffs south a few miles and got a couple shots

On the way back from chasing the train, I stopped at the Railroad Park Resort. This place is amazing, there are old cabooses that look brand new, tastefully made into motel suites. There is a resturaunt in some old dinning cars, a gift shop and a very inviting crystal clear swimming pool. All with a magnificent view of the Castle Crags.

More pictures can be seen on my website Tunnel13.com

Do-It-Yourself, Household

Deck Cover Project

04/20/2008 Richard 2 Comments

This project is a little ironic in that, for years I have always wanted to sit on my patio and look up into the shade trees but couldn’t because of an ugly old trailer park-type awning. So, as in my earlier posts, we removed the old awning cover, built a larger deck over the old patio and my dream was fulfilled. Well, after the first season, we realized that the table and chairs were constantly filled with debris and bird poop. We have to keep them covered, or end up cleaning them every time we want to sit to dinner on the deck. An umbrella was out of the question, with our occasional windy days we would have to keep it down. So, a cover was decided, but just a half cover, enough for the dinning table and chairs, but the other half with the Bar-B-Que and Chiminea is not covered, offering views up into the trees and to let smoke drift upwards from the Chiminea and bar-b-que.

Clear fiberglass panels keep us dry, and there is an electrical box for a fan we found, for those muggy windless days.

Canon S2is, Interests, Photography, Travel

Chinese New Year~Year of the Rat

02/16/2008 Richard 1 Comment

Today in Jacksonville, Oregon we went to the Chinese New year parade. The entire town of Jacksonville is on the National Register of Historic Places, and it had a deep relationship with the Chinese in the 1800’s during it’s gold rush. It’s good to have a place like this so close to where you live.

It’s always been a special town to me, growing up and now. As kids we always had a “field trip” to it’s historic museum, sack lunch in the park etc. In 1972 the movie “The Great Northfield Minnesota Raid” was filmed here almost entirely.

These days they host the world famous Peter Brit Music Festival. Musicians consider it an honor to play here.

TunnelBlog!