We got back from the Black Hills trip on Sunday. This week we have just been putting around on miscellaneous things. On Wednesday we headed to Bozeman to move my son’s household goods to our storage unit. We got back on Thursday after a leisurely trip, and Friday we unloaded everything. In addition to the furnishings, we also received temporary guardianship of his dog Lexi. She was ours until he took her with him to grad school years ago so we still get along. Even the cats are getting along with her.
I have also been playing more with my Instant Pot. I have finally figured out how to make perfect “hard boiled” eggs! It is more complicated than it should be because we are at 4400′, and all the recipes are for <2000′ and need adjustments. I also bought an IP accessory that holds eggs separately so they don’t bump each other and break. For me, pressure cooking on High for 7 minutes followed by a quick release and putting the eggs in an ice bath for 5 minutes makes gorgeous eggs. The advantage of pressure cooking the eggs is they are always easy to peel, even if I use fresh eggs.
Another recipe I tried was basmati rice. One cup of rice plus 1 1/4 c of water, high pressure for 7 minutes, natural release for 10 minutes makes a lovely rice. We had it with some Trader Joe’s Orange Chicken. Yum.
Want more? Tonight I made ribs. I put 12 spare ribs (just over half a rack of pork spare ribs) on top of a rack in the pot with 1 cup of water. I used high pressure for 24 minutes followed by a natural release. I then made a sauce from 1/2 c. hoisin sauce and 3 T. chipotle paste, basted the ribs, then broiled them on both sides for a few minutes. They were wonderful! I do think I will use 26 minutes next time to have them be more “fall off the bone.” Kevin made grilled corn on the cob, and we had a feast. The basic recipe came from Instant Pot Obsession, one of my favorite recipe sources, but I updated it for elevation. I still have part of the rack of ribs to make on Monday. I haven’t decided whether I want to make the same recipe of try a different variation.
I had one big failure though. I tried to make tapioca pudding, and it came out flavorful but runny. I think I rinsed the tapioca pearls too much. I am going to try that one again since I love tapioca pudding.
On a personal note, I got into the ophthalmologist to check my vitreous detachment. There is no problem with my retina (yeah!), but he wants me to come back in six weeks as a follow up. The floaters are driving me nuts, but he says that will get better with time.
Tomorrow we go see the last Eccles Theater presentation in our season – Dirty Dancing. Next year our tickets will be on Wednesday nights which means fewer stand-ins than our current Sunday night tickets. I guess the stars don’t like doing two Sunday shows – a matinee and an evening performance. We intend on being home until 4 July when we take off for Steamboat Lake State Park on our gradual way to Iowa for my grandson’s baptism.