Faith, Family, Food and Dogs

Living in Florida you learn to cope with things like mosquitoes from hell, cockroaches, oppressive humidity and an autumnal equinox that is really just an extension of summer and the occasional hurricanes. Last year when Matthew breezed by offshore I was on the east or the "clean" side of the eye of the storm. I got tropical storm force winds and never lost power. Irma was a whole different story. She was weaker than Matthew but I was now on the west or "dirty" side of the eye of the storm. The eye actually passed further away than Matthew's did, but the winds were stronger tropical storm force, but still not hurricane force. At this point I need to interject my thoughts on evacuation. The Governor started calling for the evacuation of the Keys and the Miami-Dade area days before the storm hit. Friends and family were telling me that I should evacuate also, but I have a full time job and I cannot just up and leave. I close and fund loans for a living and I had...

Greetings and salutations. I am sure that we all remember the black thing was supposed to be a Peking Duck from a short time ago. Well this my friends, is my second attempt at Peking Duck. New duck, new recipe, better results but still not what I remember. Anyway,,, Here is the new quacker. This one came in at 4.99 pounds, the recipe said a 5-6 pound duck so this works. Once again boiling water comes into play. But instead of dipping the duck into the water several times you pierce the skin of the duck and pour the boiling water over it. I am good but not good enough to take a photo and pour boiling water at the same time. Once the duck has been doused with the water you let it sit for a few minutes. Next you pat the duck dry and place it in a baking pan on a roasting rack. You would think with all the kitchen stuff I have that I would have a roasting rack, nope. Next you make your sauce. This was 6 tblsps of honey, 6 tblsps of water, 4 tblsps of Chinese 5-Spice powder, 2...