Grill cabinet, continued (and more)...

Grill cabinet, continued (and more)...  I got a good six or seven hours in on the cabinet yesterday.  The first of three units is now completely framed out (at right) and another begun.  The unit you're looking at holds a duplex gas burner unit in the opening at top center.  There will be a sheet of 3/4" plywood on the bottom, inset into the bottom of the frame.  The top will have a sheet of 1-1/4" plywood as a base for the granite; that sheet will be attached to the top of the frame.  The three sides that don't butt up against the center unit (this one is the left-hand unit) will be sheathed in 3/4" western red cedar (4" wide tongue-and-groove).  All of that should be considerably less work than this frame was...

This morning I caught an error on my part in the dimensions for the granite.  That prompted some very careful measurements, drawing, and double-checking before I fired off an email to our granite fabricator.  Next time I visit there, they'll probably throw something sharp and heavy at me!

Debbie made her signature broiled scallops for us yesterday, and we both thought they were the best she's ever done.  She doesn't know whether its because the scallops were better, or because she did something different, or both.  Doesn't matter, because DAY-UM those things were good!  She also broiled some asparagus that was excellent.  Afterwards, we drove up to Aggie's creamery and had ourselves some excellent ice cream.  Then we went for a drive in the area round Young Ward, looking for yellow-headed blackbirds – and found them!  That's not my photo, but that's what they look like.  My mom loved this bird; knowing that makes me think of her every time I see one.  We also saw Sandhill cranes, red-winged blackbirds, pelicans, and lots of geese and ducks.

While we were driving, Debbie and I were reflecting, for the umpteenth time, just how crazy it seems now that we were once worried about being able to find good food up here.  Coming from San Diego, we thought we were leaving a foodie nirvana with lots of quality and variety – and headed to a foodie desert with neither.  Oh, how wrong we were!  Those scallops we had today were superior to anything we were ever able to buy in San Diego, on those few occasions when we even found them.  Amazingly, that's true for seafood across the board.  We have prime beef in the grocery store, along with bison.  Our milk is delivered to our door, and it's better than anything we could buy – at any price – in San Diego.  We have three excellent bakeries nearby (and more within 30 minutes drive), so we have terrific bread on our table.  There aren't nearly as many restaurants here as in San Diego, but ... we have about ten excellent restaurants in Cache Valley, and who-knows-how-many more in the Salt Lake City area.  We have great specialty grocery stores (like Caputo's in SLC, and several Hispanic stores in Logan).  It still seems remarkable, but the fact is that on a daily basis we're eating far better food here than we ever did in San Diego...

This morning Debbie spotted the first hummingbird of the year, feasting on the flowers in hanging baskets on our deck.  Spring is most definitely here!