Working on the Dock

Little by little Mike and I are putting this house back together.  This week I will take you back to us fixing our dock.



Mike has to start with replacing any rotted boards:

Ha, ha…big decisions:

Marking the cut around for the poles:

It looks like a good cut:

Filling in with new boards:

Mike had to cut down some of the poles so we don't trip over them.  Whoever built this dock had no idea what they were doing:

Now we will have a full walkway with no pole in the way:

Just another pole that has to go:

Niki resting…it was so much hard work, lol:

All the rotted boards are replaced and now it's time to pressure wash:

My turn:

Mike pressure washing the inside of the dock:

And the outside:

What a difference a cleaning makes:

I painted the edges and Mike rolls the paint on:

It looks much better:

And lastly…cleaning up the steps:

That's all for now.  I'll write again next Monday.

Lisa

Steak Bites

Here is another one of Mike's favorites and it is super easy.  Surprisingly enough Mike saw this recipe on The Pioneer Woman's show, which is very strange that he even saw it.  He was scanning the TV channels and saw beef…enough said, lol.  So thank you Ree for a great recipe.

Only 4 ingredients:
1 pound of sirloin steak or pre cut beef tips
Kosher salt and ground black pepper
2 Tbl butter




The beef:

Cut off any fat and cut in into cubes:

Add the butter to a hot skillet and cook on medium high heat:

Wait until the butter gets good and brown:

Add the meat…it should sizzle:

After only 30-45 seconds(depending on the size of your beef cubes) flip the meat over:

It is finished in another 30-45 seconds.  Put the meat on a plate, pour those buttery juices on top and serve with rice.

Now that is Mike's kind of meal.

Enjoy!!

This and That at the Lake House

Mike and I have been pretty busy doing all kinds of things.  We have been all over the place from cleaning up, to fixing the dock, working on the van, using a new lake weed cutter and adding a cover for our patio.  In order for me to give you a story each week I need to stretch it out.  So let me take you back to some cleaning up, doing more rock, painting brick, and moving a gutter.




Once we got enough dirt in this section we covered it with weed cloth:

  

And put the rock in.  Eventually we will take the sliding doors out, make new walls and add two windows….then we can add some plants:

Now that the concrete is finished we can finally get everything cleaned up.  Mike starts the pressure washing and I follow along and wash all the windows and screens:

Just a little more work….I started painting the curbs.  Last year the curb man matched the wrong color for the curbs….he matched the red brick that is under the windows.  That was definitely the wrong color for Mike and I, lol.  Niki back to her supervising:

I painted the ones on the right and the small one is still kind of orange:

Mike needs to repair the spot on the house where we took the old wall out.  As you can see this house was originally brick and was covered over with stucco.  We don't want to call in a stucco crew and since we can't match it we are going to move the gutter over…for now:

The board Mike is going to use:

The board is painted to match the house:

Installing it:

While Mike works on that I start to stain the brick under the bay window:

Moving the gutter:

And it is finished:

A couple of days later I look out the kitchen window and Mike is messing with the rusted old flagpole that he hates.  He really thinks there is a toilet plunger(ball) on the top of it.  After many trips back and forth with tools he finally got the pole cut.  Now he is pulling on it so that it will fall to the ground…and hopefully not hit him:

Another job well done:

Mike testing out our new hammock that our friends gave us:)

That's all for now.  And a switch up next week…we will be doing some mechanical work on the van…since Mike got ticked at the rip off quote from Dodge.


Have a great week and I'll write again next Monday.

Kaiser Rolls

One of the things Mike and I miss most about NY is good Kaiser rolls and since I got a new Kitchen Aid…I thought I would try to make them.  They are very good and not so hard to make. And when you make them at home you control how many seeds:)


Yum!!

Ingredients:
1 package baking yeast
1 cups warm water
2 tablespoons sugar
1/4 cup canola oil
1 teaspoons salt
3 to 3-1/4 cups bread flour
1 egg white
2 teaspoons cold water
Sesame seeds or poppy seeds if your prefer…or both


Directions:
In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in 1/2 cup warm water. Add 1 tablespoon sugar; let stand for 5 minutes. Add the oil, salt, remaining warm water and sugar and 2 1/2 cups flour. Beat until smooth. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a soft dough.

Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.

Punch dough down. Turn onto a lightly floured surface; divide into 8 pieces. Shape each into a ball. Place 2 in. apart on greased baking sheets. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 30 minutes.

Beat egg white and cold water; brush over rolls. Sprinkle with poppy seeds. With scissors, cut a 1/4-in.-deep cross on tops of rolls.

Bake at 400° for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from pans to wire racks to cool.



Ingredients:

In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in 1/2 cup warm water. Add 1 tablespoon sugar; let stand for 5 minutes.

Add the oil, salt, remaining warm water and sugar and 4 cups flour. Beat until smooth. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a soft dough.

Knead 6-8 minutes:

Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour:

Punch dough down. Turn onto a lightly floured surface; divide into 8 pieces:

Shape each into a ball. Place 2 in. apart on greased baking sheets. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 30 minutes.


Mix egg white and water and brush over the tops:

Sprinkle with seeds:

There is a pretty cool stamp that can be bought to make the swirls in the tops, Kaiser Roll Stamp, or if you don't have one just use a pair of scissors to make a plus sign on the top like I did:

All 8 rolls ready to be baked at 400° for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown:

Cooling and will be ready to eat very soon:

I really liked the recipe a lot.  Mike liked them the first day.  The second day he thought they were too doughy.  Grr…he is so picky…next week I will try one more recipe that has a whole egg in it.



Gives these a try…I promise almost all of you will love them:)