DONALD LEBLANC

At the beginning of October, a friend of mine on Facebook shared a post by a lady who had taken an old dollhouse and painted it black.  She added a few paint touches and some moss and made it look spooky.  As soon as I saw it, I was totally hooked and had to make one.

I searched the Facebook marketplace for a couple of weeks and found an old used dollhouse/castle for $10 and picked it up on the way home.

Take the dollhouse apart as much as possible by removing screws and popping out tabs.  Clean each piece thoroughly and let them dry overnight.  They must be fully dry before you apply paint.

Come up with a color scheme and paint the pieces accordingly.  In this case I decided that I wanted the walls black, the roof bronze and all the leftover pieces for the interior copper.  Do not try to spray 1 heavy coat of paint onto everything as it will take forever to dry. They should all get 3 to 4 lights coats of paint with at least an hour wait time between each coat.  Patience is your friend and you will be rewarded for it.

This is the fun part. Once again, come up with a color scheme and paint in all the fine details to your hearts content.  I chose to paint all the roses a metallic red and with light metallic green leaves. The clock tower received silver highlights. I tied the walls and roof together by using the same light silver to highlight the bricks. I used re and blue to paint the birds. I used red and silver on the handrails inside the front doors. The front doors got bronze hinges and silver handles. I used a little of all the colors on the stove.

Put the dollhouse back together by pushing all the tabs back into place and driving in all the screws. Take your time as you do not want to chip off any of the paint.

For the last 3 years I have been asking for Lowes gift cards for birthdays, Father’s Day, and Christmas.  I finally collected enough cards and was able to purchase a Blue Rhino Razor gas griddle. My whole goal for getting this griddle is to learn how to make Japanese food like at Benihana.

My sons and I unboxed and put it together.

Once it was assembled, the older boy and I seasoned it.  We set it to it’s highest setting and let it come up to full heat for 10 minutes.  Using gloves and tongs, I gave it a thin coat of vegetable oil and let that burn in for 10 minutes.  We repeated this step 2 more times for a total of 3.

While the griddle was seasoning, I prepared the ingredients to make Chicken Fried Rice.  I cooked the rice the day before and let it dehydrate in the refrigerator over night.  I softened a pound of of butter, added 3 tablespoons of minced garlic, some soy sauce, and lemon juice.  I diced up an onion, shredded some carrots, and chopped up some green onions.  I also cubed up 4 chicken tenderloins and soaked them in soy sauce and salt.  I cracked 5 eggs into a bowl and stirred them up as well.  Eventually, I want to get good enough to crack the eggs on the grill, cut the chicken, and make an onion volcano.  This was my first time making it so I played it safe and prepped everything beforehand.

I transferred everything to the shelves on the sides and started cooking.  I set the heat to high on the 2 right burners and medium on the 2 left ones.

I started by cooking the chicken first and then moving it to the left to stay warm.  This was followed by the onions and carrots.  I sprayed the grill with canola oil first and then added some garlic butter while they were cooking.

I then poured the eggs on the grill and cooked them halfway.  I then dumped the rice on top of the eggs and thoroughly combined them.  Once flattened out I gave them some garlic butter as well.

I let the rice cook for a few minutes and then mixed in the chicken, onions, carrots, soy sauce, and salt & pepper.

I added in the green onions and cooked for a few more minutes and then spooned them in a bowl for serving.

We had the rice as our main dish for dinner and it turned out as good as I had hoped.  Now that I feel confident with this recipe, I am going to try adding some steak and vegetables to the next meal.

The final step was to bring the griddle back up to heat and clean it with a wet towel and give it another coat of seasoning.

My buddy Dave and I have been attending Knott’s Scary Farm together every year since 1996.  It is an annual tradition.  Some years there are up to 15 people with us and other years it’s just us and 1 or 2 of his sons.  Either way, we always have a good time walking the mazes and watching the show “The Hanging”.

The last 3 or 4 years has seen the number of people attending the event go up, the lines get longer, and The Hanging lose some of it’s edginess.

I have always looked forward to watching The Hanging for it’s numerous pop culture references and bawdy humor.  About 4 years ago, they changed the actor that played the main character, The Hangman, and pretty much eliminated all of the adult humor.  It made the show nearly unwatchable.  I hoped for better the next year and got the same boring show.  Then, last year, they started bringing some of the humor back.  This year they added a new devil character that I really enjoyed.  He is irreverent, politically incorrect, and humorous.  The show is not back up to it’s previous level but they are on a good trajectory.  Unfortunately, the surprise ending may signal the end of the show’s run.  We will have to wait until next year to find out.

We usually attend the 1st or 2nd Thursday of the event as going on the weekend is  always a crowded nightmare.  In years past we were able to go in every maze at least twice and maybe a ride or two.  This year we barely made it through all the mazes once and the log ride one time.  We walked through the last maze at 12:50 am, 10 minutes  before the park closed.

This year, I purchased the Scary Farm annual pass and parking.  This will allow me to attend the event as many times as I want and covers my parking as well.  By my estimate, they will pay for themselves in 2 1/2 trips.  Last year I went 5 times and this year I hope to make it 6 or 7.

I am going again next Thursday and hope that the park will not be as crowded as it was this time.