Laundry List

When I went down to put the laundry in the dryer, there was a puddle of water on the floor about a half inch deep at most. There was still some water at the bottom of the washing machine chamber, but it cleared quickly and easily when I started the cycle on the final spin. The washing machine drains into a sink with a lint trap in the drain. One side of the sink and the sink rim above it had bits of red and blue lint stuck to them. The same bits of red and blue lint were in the lint trap of the dryer, which contained a couple bath mats and assorted hand towels.

This all seems to suggest that the bath mats and towels produced lint which clogged either the washing machine, the sink, or, somehow, both. The water in the machine appears to indicate a clog prior to the exit pipe, but that this water later cleared easily seems to negate this hypothesis. The lint on the rim of the drainage sink appears to offer the alternative event that the sink clogged and overflowed.

I suppose further experiments could point the way beyond this impasse, but laziness will likely prevail.

Beet Salad

Last night I made a beet salad with which I'm so pleased that I want to share. :) The beets were boiled, peeled and chopped, with balsamic vinegar poured over them. In some olive oil, I blended a couple cloves of pressed garlic, chipotle chili powder, and a dash of Chinese 5-spice. This mixture was then stirred into the beets. Salt to taste. The "chili powder" was made from whole dried chipotle pods ground up in a coffee grinder. Be careful with the 5-spice. It's wonderful with just a dash, but becomes repulsive (to me) when it's a distinctly strong flavor. The beets went well with buttered brown rice, braised spinach with sesame, and a 2002 Turley Juvenile Zinfandel.

I'm particularly happy about this because these are the sort of flavors I've been trying to blend with beets for years, but this is the first combination that has really worked out.