Through the Keyhole

February 2025

Take a break from your day...

Not your typical company OR newsletter

"This ICY Capital City is the world's northernmost whose name means "smoky bay". There are NO McDonalds here after they fled in 2009. In summer, they experience almost 24 hours of daylight and they have really great hot water springs..."

Can you guess the location?

It's still COLD but it's only February...

Ah, February in the Midwest—a delightful grab bag of weather horrors and misplaced optimism. Let’s be honest, at this point, everyone’s a little stir-crazy from months of winter, and the groundhog's “prediction” feels like some kind of cruel joke.

February might only have 28 days, but in the Midwest, it feels like 56. By now, the novelty of snow has worn off, and everyone’s tired of shoveling, slipping on ice, and pretending they enjoy winter activities. Ice skating? No thanks—just trying to walk to the car is adventurous enough.

One day it's snowing a picturesque dusting, and the next it's a slushy monstrosity. Then, out of nowhere, there's a random 50-degree day, where Midwesterners burst outside in shorts and sandals like spring has arrived—only to be hit by a blizzard the next morning. It's like nature is pulling the ultimate prank.

Love is supposedly in the air, but so is freezing rain and an uncanny amount of salt (on the roads and in your single friends’ texts). Those fancy dinner plans? They’ll probably involve trudging through knee-deep snow and arriving looking like a windblown marshmallow.

By February, the Midwestern pastime isn’t football—it’s staring out the window, watching icicles form, and counting the days until you can see grass again. Seasonal Affective Disorder meets Midwest stoicism: “It’s fine. I’m fine. Everything’s fine. Pass the hotdish.”

February in the Midwest may test your patience (and frostbite tolerance), but hey—it’s one month closer to grilling weather. In the meantime, just keep a shovel in the trunk, a snow scraper at the ready, and your winter boots laced tight. Spring has to come eventually...right?

Valentine's Day Plans?

A romantic Valentine’s dinner in Chicago? Bold move in February. You’ll start with a glamorous coat-and-scarf wrestling match at the door, followed by a cozy candlelit meal...while wondering if your car is getting buried under snow.

Nothing sets the mood quite like clinking glasses and whispering sweet nothings—while secretly hoping the Uber driver doesn’t cancel. Classic Chicago romance!

But it's home...

Valentine Delivery Gone Wrong ~ 2 minutes

Need more screen space on your laptop?

These USB C monitors fit on just about any laptop to extend your one screen to 3 of them. Very affordable and useful for any digital nomad.

Give us a call and we will set you up.

Guess the Location Game

Last month the winner of the guess the location game was Jim Peterson who guessed the right answer. I appreciate all of the participation. THANKS FOR PLAYING!

ANSWER: San Francisco, CA

"With a rocky incline, twisting roads, Golden Fog and a famous prison. The bridge pictured should make it easy. Can you guess this location?"

Ah, San Francisco—once the crown jewel of the West Coast, now more of a cautionary tale. From the days of tech-boom glory to today's exodus headlines, the city's decline has everyone asking, what happened?

At its peak, SF was the birthplace of billion-dollar startups and Instagram-worthy skylines. But the soaring cost of living, rising homelessness, and crime turned it into a city of contradictions—Teslas and tents sharing the same streets. Meanwhile, leadership often feels paralyzed by endless committees and well-intentioned plans that never seem to land.

Residents, including big-name companies like Oracle and Elon Musk’s Tesla, are saying goodbye, trading cramped apartments and chaos for Texas suburbs or Miami vibes. The once-bustling tech playground is quieter now, but not entirely down for the count.

The views are still spectacular, the food scene still electric, and maybe, just maybe, San Francisco can reclaim its magic. But for now? Watch your step—those streets aren’t just paved with gold anymore.

~ 2 minutes

Top of the Mark ~ 3 minutes

Well this is Random...

New Budweiser Super Bowl Ad

Sneak Peak ~ 2 minutes

Is the NFL Rigged?

Seems Sus ~ 2 minutes

Mirror Prank - ingenious.

~ 6 minutes

Things your mother should have told you...

1. Take your bananas apart when you get home from the store. If you leave them connected at the stem, they ripen faster.

2. Store your opened chunks of cheese in aluminum foil. It will stay fresh much longer and not mold!

3. Peppers with 3 bumps on the bottom are sweeter and better for eating. Peppers with 4 bumps on the bottom are firmer and better for cooking.

4. Add a teaspoon of water when frying ground beef. It will help pull the grease away from the meat while cooking.

5. To really make scrambled eggs or omelets rich add a couple of spoonfuls of sour cream, cream cheese, or heavy cream in and then beat them up.

6. For a cool brownie treat, make brownies as directed. Melt Andes mints in a double broiler and pour over warm brownies. Let set for a wonderful minty frosting.

7. Add garlic immediately to a recipe if you want a light taste of garlic and at the end of the recipe if you want a stronger taste of garlic.

8. Leftover snickers bars from Halloween make a delicious dessert. Simply chop them up with the food chopper. Peel, core and slice a few apples. Place them in a baking dish and sprinkle the chopped candy bars over the apples. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes!!! Serve alone or with vanilla ice cream. Yummm!

9. Reheat Pizza

Heat up leftover pizza in a nonstick skillet on top of the stove, set heat to med-low and heat till warm. This keeps the crust crispy. No soggy micro pizza. I saw this on the cooking channel and it really works.

10. Easy Deviled Eggs

Put cooked egg yolks in a zip lock bag. Seal, mash till they are all broken up. Add remainder of ingredients, reseal, keep mashing it up, mixing thoroughly, cut the tip of the baggy, squeeze mixture into egg. Just throw the bag away when done easily.

11. Expanding Frosting

When you buy a container of cake frosting from the store, whip it with your mixer for a few minutes. You can double it in size. You get to frost more cake/cupcakes with the same amount. You also eat less sugar and calories per serving.

12. Reheating refrigerated bread

To warm biscuits, pancakes, or muffins that were refrigerated, place them in a microwave with a cup of water. The increased moisture will keep the food moist and help it reheat faster.

13. Newspaper weeds away

Start putting in your plants, work the nutrients in your soil. Wet newspapers, put layers around the plants overlapping as you go. Cover with mulch and forget about weeds. Weeds will get through some gardening plastic they will not get through wet newspapers.

14. Broken Glass

Use a wet cotton ball or Q-tip to pick up the small shards of glass you can't see easily.

15. No More Mosquitoes

Place a dryer sheet in your pocket. It will keep the mosquitoes away.

16. Squirrel Away!

To keep squirrels from eating your plants, sprinkle your plants with cayenne pepper. The cayenne pepper doesn't hurt the plant and the squirrels won't come near it.

17. Flexible vacuum

To get something out of a heat register or under the fridge add an empty paper towel roll or empty gift wrap roll to your vacuum. It can be bent or flattened to get in narrow openings.

18. Reducing Static Cling

Pin a small safety pin to the seam of your slip and you will not have a clingy skirt or dress. Same thing works with slacks that cling when wearing panty hose. Place the pin in the seam of slacks and ... guess what! ... static is gone.

19. Measuring Cups

Before you pour sticky substances into a measuring cup, fill with hot water. Dump out the hot water, but don't dry the cup. Next, add your ingredient, such as peanut butter, and watch how easily it comes right out. (Or spray the measuring cup or spoon with Pam before using)

20. Foggy Windshield?

Hate foggy windshields? Buy a chalkboard eraser and keep it in the glove box of your car When the windows fog, rub with the eraser! Works better than a cloth!

21. Re-opening envelopes

If you seal an envelope and then realize you forgot to include something inside, just place your sealed envelope in the freezer for an hour or two. Viola! It unseals easily.

22. Conditioner

Use your hair conditioner to shave your legs. It's cheaper than shaving cream and leaves your legs really smooth. It's also a great way to use up the conditioner you bought but didn't like when you tried it in your hair.

23. Goodbye Fruit Flies

To get rid of pesky fruit flies, take a small glass, fill it 1/2" with Apple Cider Vinegar and 2 drops of dishwashing liquid; mix well. You will find those flies drawn to the cup and gone forever!

24. Get Rid of Ants

Put small piles of cornmeal where you see ants. They eat it, take it 'home,' can't digest it so it kills them. It may take a week or so, especially if it rains, but it works and you don't have to worry about pets or small children being harmed!

25. Dryer Filter

Even if you are very diligent about cleaning the lint filter in your dryer it still may be causing you a problem. If you use dryer sheets a waxy build up could be accumulating on the filter causing your dryer to overheat. The solution to this is to clean your filter with a toothbrush and hot soapy water every 6 months.

Well That's Random.

More Stuff.

George Michael and Mary J. Blige

Absolutely Classic. ~4 minutes

Edgy.

More Edgy Stuff...

Sake and Soy Braised Pork Belly

Ingredients

2 lbs. skin-on pork belly
2 slices of ginger 1/4 inch think in strips
2 stalks of scallion cut on the bias
4 cloves of garlic crushed
2 pieces of rock sugar
2 pieces of star anise
3 bay leaves
2 TBSP light soy
1 teaspooon dark soy
1/2 cup sake
1 1/2 cups hot water

Directions

Add the pork belly chunks to a saucepan and fill it with water until the meat is just covered. Bring to a rolling boil over medium-high heat and cook for 5 minutes. Remove the pork from the saucepan, rinse with water, and drain. Pat dry with paper towels and set aside.
Heat a heavy-bottomed pot (or skillet) over medium-high heat. Transfer the pork belly to the pot and sear the meat for 1 minute on each side. Use tongs to flip the meat until each side is lightly golden brown and the oil is released.
Stir in the ginger, scallion, and garlic, and cook until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Add the rock sugar, star anise, bay leaves, light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, and sake. Stir well to coat the meat evenly with the sauce. Pour in 1 1/2 cups of hot water, or enough to just cover the meat, and bring to a boil over high heat.
Reduce the heat to medium-low and bring the mixture to a gentle simmer. Cover and braise the pork for 45 minutes, or until fork-tender and the sauce has reduced to a glossy coating without excess liquid. Stir every 10 minutes to prevent burning.
Serve immediately, garnished with finely sliced scallions on top.

Thursday, February 27, 2025