15 June 2026

Busy Week

So far this week, I've been fishing, gone to the dentist, and had my fuel oil topped up for the following year. Mostly everything went okay.

The fishing was fun. I caught a couple of bass each at a couple of spots where I'd expect them to be at this warm time of year. But it was a windy day, and got windier as the day progressed. As little white caps started appearing, I decided it was time to stop fighting for my balance on the front of the boat.

The dentist visit was okay, except they found some decay well below the gum line on one of my molars. Sigh. Good news - not going to lose the tooth (at this time). Bad news - the fix is going to involve cutting back my gum and working on the tooth, then stitching the gum back up. Sigh. Not just yet though, two or three weeks to go there.

Fortunately, the fuel oil delivery was nearly first thing this morning, which is nice given that I'd only been told "Wednesday, sometime." That let me get the dog walked, then run some errands, and visit Nancy and Raven over at the lake for a little while

Suppertime

So, I have a stack of Nueske's bacon cheddar bratwurst, probably four or more 5-packs, from a couple of Christmas bundles. I decided it was time to do something with them, rather than wait until they were freezer burnt and trash. Here's the end result:

For the brats, I grilled them. While those were grilling and the penne pasta was boiling, I sweated a couple of cloves of garlic and a few de-seeded peppers from the garden. Once the brats were done, I sliced them and added them to the pepper/garlic pan and let those flavors meld for a few minutes.

The penne I cooked al dente, then drained and added a couple pats of unsalted butter to season the pasta. Then I tipped the bratwurst/peppers/garlic pan into the pasta and gave it a quick stir. I'll get four servings or so over the next few nights. I garnished the plate with Parmigiano Reggiano and some chiffonaded sweet basil from the garden.

Very, very tasty. I am glad that I de-seeded the peppers - it would have been too hot/spicy otherwise, and all the other flavors would have been masked.