Suburbiography: non-adventures in various undertakings

Lemonade

2011-08-07T21:50:00.003-05:00

Ava has been wanting to have a lemonade stand all summer. And all summer I've been a bad parent and have come up with excuse after excuse to not have one....it's too early/late/hot, we don't have any cups/sugar/lemonade/ice/water. Today I just ran out of excuses and decided to quit being a shitty parent and just have a lemonade stand already. Mom was going to handle baby patrol so Ava and I were free to exercise cool-drink-based capitalism. I had anticipated this somewhat, so we already had makings for the actual lemonade on hand. We lacked cups and ice, so we sprinted to the store and dropped $7 on supplies, returned home and scrawled some signage together, then pitched the foldup table and lawn chairs out front and waited for the masses. And waited. And waited. It was probably an hour before we had our first customer, and he was a cool older dude driving his handyman truck around. We were selling cups of lemonade for $0.25 and he hooked Ava up with a cool dollar bill....keep the change. Thanks man. You've made the last hour sitting in 102 degree heat worth it to make my little girl smile. After that we had a nice steady stream of the same. I still truly believe that people generally suck at heart, but who can project their suckitude on the world when you have a five-year-old girl and sweet cold lemonade on a hot day. The only thing missing was a bottle of gin and nothing to do for the rest of the day. Most people that stopped by just dropped a buck into the cup, or at least threw an extra quarter her way. At the end of the day, we actually recovered my initial investment of $7 for cups and ice, plus the lemonade and sugar we already had. Ava made about $16 total, which I suppose I'll let her keep. Even I am not such a prick that I would take my venture capital out of her day's wages. Call it an investment.

Lately

2011-08-05T19:31:00.002-05:00

Lately I've been trying to HTFU (see Rule #5) and it's been catching up with me. I've been getting up at 4:30-5am and running 5-6 miles or riding 25-30 miles before work every other day or so. At the same time it feels great as I have the exercise endorphines going for a day of work, but then at the same time I'm also wearing myself out for the post-work routine of getting home / make dinner / do laundry / clean house / hang out with kids / do dishes / get ready for tomorrow / repeat. It's exhausting. I keep trying to refer back to the HTFU rule, but I suppose some days that's just beyond me. HTFU is great when it applies to pro cyclists that don't have to take care of their house, watch their kids and otherwise keep a household running. I don't think Jens Voigt has to worry about doing laundry in between stage races or keeping groceries in the house so his kids can eat. Regardless of how I'm feeling, at least I feel like I've been eating healthier, limiting portion sizes and trying to cut back on bad stuff. That said, a man still has to have a vice or two. They've started up Thursday night cyclocross rides at a park nearby, so hopefully I can hook up with the locals and knock out some miles on the CX bike aside from getting groceries...and not get my ass handed to me at the same time. HTFU.

The best 2:48 of your life

2011-08-05T18:49:00.003-05:00

I can't ever explain it. This will always be the best song ever written by the best band to ever exist. Just accept it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmlZD7ZksaY

All clear

2009-01-08T13:09:00.002-06:00

I had my annual work physical this morning and passed with flying colors, with the exception of the spirometry test which I'm always a little lacking. I've never quite been asked if I have asthma or am a heavy smoker, but I'm always having to do them over. I didn't see my numbers but will get them soon enough...

Aside from that, my cholesterol is good and my blood pressure was 100/60. As my lunch was a container of leftover frozen soup from months ago (I can't even remember what it is...) I treated myself to an all-fried lunch from Sonic. Not a vegetable for miles....

This rant brought to you by the annoying chick two tables away

2009-01-05T21:00:00.008-06:00

I've tried to make great progress in not being an arrogant judgmental prick the last couple years, and I think I've done fairly well; even to the point where for the most part, I don't even think some of the things I used to much less say them. My progress suffered a severe setback this evening though and the thought-dam burst was devastating....washing out everything in its path. After a less than successful day back to work after a nearly two-week break over the holidays, I needed to get out of the house. If it hadn't been dark and 20 degrees, a quick bike ride or a run with the dog would've been in order, but tonight I opted to grab a book I've been trying (unsuccessfully) to read and head to the coffee shop (or to Bread Co. which passes for "the coffee shop" here). I got a half hour of distracted half-hearted reading in before this young couple sat down two tables over. I'd already sized them up before they sat down and made many assumptions about their character which only proved to be truer as the minutes racked up.

I put them about early-mid 20's, dating, not living together and at some point in a taking or in-between community college classes state. But that's irrelevant. Normally most conversations in restaurants or other public spaces are white noise to me but for some reason, perhaps the volume at which the girl was speaking; as if to say "listen to me...what I have to say is of critical importance to our relationship so I'm going to say it very loudly and punctuate my sentences liberally with 'OK', 'ya know' and 'like'".

They hadn't even gotten their food set firmly on the table before she started talking. The guy hadn't even gotten his jacket half unzipped. At least let a man take his coat and hat off, sit down and get his chair in before you start yammering so he can focus on pretending to pay attention to what you're saying. The topic of this particular oral thesis was what she had to eat today. Being the beginning of a new year, she of course had made some unachievable dietary goal which was to be strictly adhered to at all costs and was to be the primary focus of their relationship until six weeks from now when she realizes she hasn't been sticking to it anyway and some new crisis will invariably trump this goal until the next time she sees a new diet book on Oprah or one of her friends reads a new food scare or diet trend on the internet. The goal was simple enough in theory: lose a few pounds through limiting calorie consumption. For a guy, this conversation would have gone something like "I'm 25 and have a beer gut...I need to quit eating bratwurst and pizza six times a week and remember what a carrot looks like. I have some really nice $200 running shoes I bought six months ago that I used once. Maybe I'll try going for a jog some day." And that would be it. End of topic and on to the next equally uninteresting story.

This girl wasn't going out like that though. She spent almost five solid minutes talking about how excited she was that she found her new "favorite" crappy snack food in 100 calorie packs and about how some other processed artificially sweetened not-even-real-food dessert item she adores only has 70 calories. Five minutes may not sound like a lot of time, but it was a freaking eternity, especially to her boyfriend I'm sure. This guy was a champ. He hung in there like a true veteran. I was so unbelievably aggravated by the pointless waste of oxygen and syllables taking place at this table, but I kept hanging on, hoping she'd redeem herself with something of the slightest interest or some insightful gem. Goose egg. My brief and short-lived sliver of optimism this conversation could be revived was squashed. She yammered on...and on...and on.... I found it nearly impossible to not deliver the irony to her that her achievement of limiting calories for the day, and likely for the next day as well, was erased by the bowl of broccoli cheese soup she was eating. My patience was further tested when she started moaning about the carbs in the bread bowl the soup came in. If you don't want the bread, just order it in a regular bowl. Sourdough is for eating, not aesthetics. Eating a meal with this girl has to be the most trying test of patience this guy has to endure each day. It's just soup, please just eat it and be quiet, it doesn't need to be talked about....it isn't that interesting. God forbid you come up with something curious to talk about or maybe even quit talking for 30 seconds so your boyfriend can chime in with something other than "uh huh". I'm sure you already told the same story to your twelve closest and equally uninteresting girlfriends today, so can you take a rest already and get on with life? Does every banal detail of your day have to be shared with all of us in a four table radius? I realize I'm in a public space and that comes with baggage I should be prepared and equipped to handle these aural affronts, but this non-conversation; perhaps moreso the fact that this same non-conversation likely takes place hundreds of thousands of times a day across the country...really irked me.

Maybe I've just been really good for a long time and needed a good session of mental judgement. Maybe I needed to practice my general dislike for a majority of the population to make sure I haven't lost my edge in case it's a skill I need at the end of days. Whatever the case, there was no action on my part to inform this girl of the degree to which I did not enjoy her storytelling. They finished their meal and headed out of the coffee shop, the girl still talking the whole way out the door. I went back to my book, trudged through a half page then got a coffee refill to go for the way home. Lesson learned, next time I'm headed to the library. I hear people read books there.

Ava starts dance lessons Monday

2009-01-03T12:39:00.002-06:00

I'm biased of course, but this is about as cute as it gets. Celia has been running around getting tap and ballet shoes and little outfits for Ava to wear...it's freaking adorable.

Bone marrow revisited

2008-12-27T09:40:00.005-06:00

About this time last year, I tried making roasted bone marrow for the first time after reading about it in a few cookbooks an online foodie spots, seeing TV chefs gush over it as their "death row meal" and other various sources. It's about as easy as easy gets, requires no real culinary skill whatsoever, and costs next to nothing. My first attempt was relatively naive, as I more or less rushed into it without knowing a few hints as to how the dish should be prepared. This time, I planned ahead and tried to make an actual meal of it rather than just a science project to see how it might taste. I procured the bones from the butcher, hand cut to order, and brined them for a few days, changing the water each day in order to draw out some of the blood. I also picked up some good crusty bread and makings for a light salad to cut the richness. If you search for 'roasted bone marrow' online, my dish mirrored most of what you'd find mentioned by Bourdain, Ruhlman, and that set talking about how they've eaten it. Simple roasted bone marrow with grilled bread and a parsley salad with capers, shallots, lemon & olive oil. A bit of sea salt and cracked pepper to top.

Olive knew something was up. She wouldn't leave my side the entire time I was making this. I think she could sense a new bone was in her future...and just a day late from Christmas. The resulting dish was much better than bone marrow v1.0, but I still think overall it left some level of satisfaction unfulfilled. Don't get me wrong, it was still very good....think really rich beef concentrated butter, with a hint of gelatinous ooze. I know that likely doesn't do it for most, but it *is* quite good. I guess for me it's just not one of those things that's over-the-top "death row meal" level for me. I'll still reserve judgement in case I ever have the opportunity to have a real pro make this for me, but for now I think I've done as best I can on this one. You're welcome Olive.

2008-12-21T23:40:00.002-06:00

Lewis Black did this bit a while back about how cold New York was at the time....talking about how it was so cold people couldn't even finish a sentence after walking outside as they'd have to punctuate any statement with a measured profanity of how cold it was. I realize it could be much worse, but I am not, nor have I ever been a creature of cold weather, or of winter in general. Only four more months until Spring... You know, I should really....F*@K IT'S COLD!

2008-11-15T13:05:00.004-06:00

Ava is a big fan of the ABC song. All those times when we just sang it over and over to her before she could even talk paid off. I tried to get an "Old Macdonald" out of her too, but it was strictly one show only.

Most might think this is an obvious statement, but Led Zeppelin is awesome. Admittedly I was never a big fan - mostly because the only thing radio ever played was Stairway to Heaven or some other hit that was recycled over and over again. So, I never really paid much attention to them. Now, Sirius has channel 33 where they're playing nothing but Led Zeppelin 24/7 and I've had a crash course in one of the most important bands in rock'n'roll. I compared it to when I started eating meat again....there was all this great stuff out there I'd been missing all along. Speaking of meat, I made meatballs the other night. I picked up some good bread yesterday and made a meatball sandwich while listening to Heartbreaker. No sauce, just meatballs & pesto.....yo this is really good...

Creating a monster

2008-07-17T12:19:00.002-05:00

The other night, Ava and I were playing in the backyard. Olive kept barking at these two girls riding in the alley behind our fence, so much so that they were scared to ride by our house and turned around. Normally I wouldn't care, but knowing my own daughter would likely be in that situation some day I peeked through the shadowbox fence boards and told the girls it was cool and the dog wouldn't bite them....she just likes to bark. I then found myself engaged in conversation with two 8 year old girls who had apparently long-admired the swingset and other toys in our backyard.

Then they asked if they could come in the yard and play.

Again, knowing Ava may be in a similar situation, I told them they had to get their parents for me to talk to. Parents come walking down the alley a few minutes later, we introduce ourselves, no I'm not a felon, yeah it's cool if your 8 year old daughter wants to come play with my 2 year old. 8 year olds ask a lot of questions...things like "do you have a job?", "are you married?", "does your house have a second floor?", "does she have her own room?". It became very apparent why after hearing about how these two girls (not related) respectively are living in very small houses, with lots of siblings and/or relatives, with step/parents who may or may not really give a shit where they are. I have always been one to complain about not having one thing or another, or to want more of this or that. Don't get me wrong, these girls didn't look abused or anything. It was just obvious that they were incredibly jealous that Ava had a dad who played with her, a back yard full of toys, a dog that didn't bite, and her own room to get a peaceful night's sleep in. I hated to kick them out, but it was getting late and we still had a bath, a book, jammies and toothbrushing to accomplish. I may always want more, but that little encounter with those girls made me realize how well off we really are. I have a great job, a huge house, two cars in the driveway, a dog, a beautiful daughter and a wife that loves me (for the most part) and every now and then I get to ride my bike. Life can always get better I guess, but right now I'm pretty thankful for everything I have and for the opportunities I've had to get them.

So apparently the following day, Celia had to deal with the monster I had created. Like clockwork, the girls were knocking on the front door every 15-30 minutes asking if Ava could come out and play.

Spring Sprang Sprung

2008-04-25T21:05:00.009-05:00

Spring is here. All the things that go with spring are starting to make themselves evident. The weeds in the yard, the birds nesting in the crawlspace in our attic, the endless rain keeping our 100 year old basement a dank, musty dungeon-y smell. Ahhh.....yes. Aside from all that nonsense that constantly occupies my every thought, it's actually warm enough to rock shorts and a tshirt, so all is right with the world. We can finally go for walks, bike rides and otherwise exit our four heavily mortgaged walls and breathe relatively fresh sweet sweet Illinois air. Ava is most excited of all, as we picked up a swingset/playground for her around Easter, so she's loving the swing, slide, climbing wall and other features of the Kmart special we picked up. I have officially become my parents - looking not for something better than what I had, but rather looking for that which will satisfy the immediate need, however crappy it might be. That said, there is much wisdom in that philosophy. My 35 pound two year old does not require a $4000 playset that can withstand the second coming. She needs but something to thrust her toddler frame into, and as long as it's rated for greater than 100 pounds, we're golden. Score 1 for Kmart.

As the weather warms (and hopefully dries), we're looking forward to more frequent trips around the neighborhood and general surrounds on the bikes (with Ava in tow in the Burley), and otherwise just being outside. The winter was brutal and cabin fever set in long before we were able to do much about it. I've managed to squeak in one decent bike ride thus far and hope to make a habit out of it. I live vicariously through the exploits of others that have the time and finances to continue racing, riding and otherwise being on a bike more frequently than once ever other month or so.

Tom Erb is getting married tomorrow, so I'm throwing out some good vibes for decent weather. It'll be nice to see some old and familiar faces.

Happy Anniversary

2008-02-13T12:17:00.005-06:00

Yesterday was our third anniversary. So to celebrate, we went to dinner at Erato in Edwardsville. I had read a lot of good reviews on some local food blogs and read how they generally tried to source ingredients as seansonl, local and as organic as possible, and rotate menu items daily. All these things, combined with some sample menus on their website, sealed the reservation. I was glad we were there on a Tuesday as patronage was rather sparse, so I'm sure we got more prompt attention from our waitress, who was incredible. I love when the front of house crowd loves the food as much as you do and it just generally amped about working there and eating. It makes their answers to your questions all the more believable. The only thing that brought down the night for me was that they were out of a couple boutique gins that I was really looking forward to trying. But I wasn't there just for gin, I'm sure I could find that somewhere else, or during a return visit. On to the food...

Armed with an empty stomach and a large Baffert's gin martini, we strategically selected our dinner options. We picked four of the smaller plates to start, then had a fish and steak plate for our mains, and would decide on dessert later.

"Toad in the hole": The bacon bread made this dish. I could eat this every day three meals a day and never tire of it. Crispy, smoky bacony bread, perfectly poached egg, delicious ricotta and white truffles. There is so much right about those four ingredients coming together in a single dish. I wasn't at all shy about mopping up the last of the yolk with a piece of crust.

The shitake salad was good, but probably my least favorite; not because it wasn't that great, but because our other choices just blew it out of the water. The mushrooms were fresh and cooked and seasoned well. The greens were dressed lightly and in general, it was just a really good salad.

The pear & proscuitto crostini were awesome. In each bite, you'd chew through the pear, goat cheese and bread first, then be left with the salty, chewy proscuitto to linger. The bite of the reduced balsamic, creaminess of the cheese, sweetness of the pears and salty ham again all came together really well.

They forgot to fire our sweet potato "nachos", but we didn't really care as we were pretty giddy about the food we had already, but within a minute or two, they were at our table. They were a good take on nachos, and for five bucks they were hard to pass up. I'd order again at the bar with a beer.

Our mains came our right about the time we were finishing with the starters, and we were glad they kept the food coming. The red grouper was fresh as fresh gets, cooked perfectly and delicious. That aside, I really thing the oyster mushrooms were the star of this dish. Again, not that the fish wasn't that good, it was fantastic, but the mushrooms really shined. I'm sure adding truffle butter had something to do with that. I was ready to order a side of mushrooms to go with the steak, but got sidetracked trying to make sure Celia didn't sneak in the last bite of mushrooms.

The dry aged ribeye Celia ordered was probably the best steak I've ever eaten. Ordered med-rare, it came out a little less than that, which I was happy about. Steaks really should be ordered and eaten rare and the chef had no qualms about delivering that message loud and clear. I didn't ask exactly what the "house worchestershire" consisted of, whether it was house-made, or if it was a combination sauce of sorts, but I didn't really care. The steak spoke for itself and outshines anything you'd pay two or three times more for at any other place that prides themselves specifically on steaks. Drool.

Right before we got around to ordering dessert, the chef (John) came out to say hello, which is always a nice touch. Given we were one of only 4 or 5 other tables, he probably didn't have much else to do anyway, but still.... I actually knew him from my previous bike racing years at the tail end of the Cat.4 pack, so it was nice to say hello and see a familiar face behind this incredible meal. We ordered a lemon tart with jasmine sorbet and the molten chocolate cake with basil ice cream, along with coffee and port. I'm typically not much of a dessert person, but these were all solid as you'd expect. The highlight though, was the basil ice cream. I will order a double scoop waffle cone of this green deliciousness the next time we go.

This was an A+ dinner outing and we are definitely headed back. The preparations were simple, unpretentious and assembled in a way to let the ingredients stand on their own merit. The philosophy of seasonal, local & organic as possible is a great one by which to create an outstanding menu by which you have no choice but to get what tastes best. They also comped our desserts since it was our anniversary which was really nice.

Duck season pt. 2

2008-01-09T00:45:00.001-06:00

I forgot to post this a while back. Ava got a kitchen set for her birthday, along with this game with little plastic ducks where you pick them up and match the shapes on the underside. A few nights later while I was making dinner, she took some of the ducks and put them in her little stainless saute pan and said "Look Daddy, duckies!" I was very proud.

She tried a little of the roasted duck leg I made the other night too and was actually really into it. I didn't have the heart to tell her she was eating duck, but then again, she didn't ask. It was more of her pointing at my plate and asking "Daddy, I try?"

Duck season

2008-01-06T08:29:00.000-06:00

Shortly before Thanksgiving, I bought a duck along with the turkey breast I bought to do for T-day. It was your standard frozen duck available in most larger grocery stores, about 6 pounds - seemed like a reasonable price. I'd eaten duck a few times, and each time I was always amazed. My favorite had been a very simple preparation - a breast smoked with applewood and confit leg. Smoking was a no-brainer, but I am reserving confit for another time as it seemed like more work than I was willing to put in at this point, especially considering this was to be the first duck I've ever cooked.Freshly thawed in water over about 24 hours, I prepared for my first duck breakdown. I'd seen enough chickens and other poultry done on TV cooking shows before, and done a few chickens myself, so it didn't seem like too difficult a task. What I mainly remember is to use a sharp knife (preferably a boning knife, but all I had was a 10" chefs knife...) and let gravity work to your advantage.My plan was to lightly smoke everything with applewood, then give the breasts a quick pan searing and roast the legs, wings and carcass.Everything got a light smoking with about 1/2 a chimney of charcoal to keep the temp as low as possible while still getting the smoke I needed. It took about 20 minutes for my chips to give their all, which was jut about perfect. I had a hot saute pan waiting with a little butter in it (I had scored the breasts before going on the smoker), then seared them for about 3 minutes per side. Next time, I'll stick closer to 2 minutes as the duck was a bit more done than I'd hoped - closer to medium than medium-rare. Use a lid - the combination of hot butter and duck fat, while delicious, makes for impressive splattering. The breasts then took a 5 minute rest on the cutting board before serving. The fuzzy photo below is from all the steam coming off, but it was funny to me as it looked like some glamour shots filter.

Legs and wings went into a 425 oven for about 30 minutes to crisp the skin, then about another hour at 350 to finish. The temperature drop is a good point to drain some of the rendered fat off.

The carcass and neck then went into a pot with some aromatics for 4 or 5 hours and I have about 2 quarts of homemade duck stock, plus about 1.5 cups of duck fat that I drained off at various points during the whole process to use in some future application.

I think duck gets a bad shake as being a fatty bird. It is, but it's all on the surface. Much of it was rendered off during the cooking process. The fat left on the breasts can easily be pulled away, but you should try at least one or two bites of the breast with a little fat and crispy skin left on......fantastic. I think leaving the duck sans sauce is the best way to go to. I couldn't find one recipe in any of my cookbooks or cooking mags that didn't have some elaborate sauce to it. Aside from the smoking, I let the duck speak for itself.

During the whole process, I kept flashing back to the Bugs Bunny cartoon where he and Daffy are doing the whole "duck season...rabbit season..." thing. I kept replaying the part where they're both reading off the names of various recipes Elmer Fudd should try.

Bones

2007-12-29T22:30:00.000-06:00

I realize there is a fair bit of irony in a former vegan getting excited about cooking (and subsequently eating) bone marrow, but nonetheless, here we are. This all started with my quest to find a substantial bone/chew-toy for Olive, our pit bull/shepherd mix, who seems to be able to dismantle any store-bought rawhide or other chew item within a matter of minutes. I remembered my mom always giving my childhood dog the bone from a large roundsteak she'd cook up and he always loved it. He was a much smaller dog than Olive though, who would probably swallow one of those roundsteak bones whole. In the process, I've seen and read things on how roasted bone marrow, though it's fatty and can be a challenging (gelatinous) texture, is truly delicious. So I decided to try and please both man and beast in a single culinary act. Olive was, of course, very happy with my decision to attempt this.

I'd seen the episode of No Reservations where Tony Bourdain and company drool over the roasted bone marrow on toast at Prune in NYC. Though I'm sure my preparation was far less glamorous, I consulted various internet sources and my trusty Joy of Cooking, all of which basically suggested to wash, dry, salt & pepper, roast and enjoy. Unfortunately, I overlooked the serving vehicle since I was too excited over just getting the bones themselves. Since the chances of finding decent bread in my town at the unreasonable hour I was preparing this were slim, I had to opt for the multi-grain sandwich loaf I'd bought a day earlier. I figured the bread was not to be the star of this effort anyway, so it shouldn't matter too much, especially on this marrow maiden journey. I essentially took the bones from the package, rinsed them, added some kosher salt and cracked pepper, then roasted at 300 for an hour. Admittedly, the result was a bit underwhelming. I was left with a far greater volume of liquid fat than spreadable marrow. If I have to go into failure analysis, I would list the following as possible contributors:

I am a lousy cook
Poor quality bones/marrow
Excessive cooking time/temperature
I am a lousy cook

Then, there is always the possibility that the "hype" behind this really just led me to believe I would end up with a far different product than I did. Maybe as the father of a two-year old, I just consume way too many fish sticks and toasted ravioli, and maybe my palate isn't what it should be to appreciate the finer, more subtle tastes such as this. Or maybe marrow is marrow and some people just really get off on digging fat and gelatin out of animal bones. This first draft really just netted me a little bit of beef flavored jelly on toast, with a lot of liquid fat I can use later in a sauce or other application. All things considered, it was pretty tasty. My colon-blow whole grain bread had a pretty strong overtone, so that was likely a contributor as well. A more neutral white(r) bread may have let the marrow shine a bit more. I got really excited about eating, so the after photo has a bite out of it......Olive is asleep at this point, but she's going to have quite a treat in the morning.

What's for dinner???

2007-12-08T14:54:00.001-06:00

Sweet sweet short ribs....

- This was 4 beef short ribs, about 1.5 lbs.
- Oven to 375
- Season w/ rosemary/thyme/kosher salt/cracked pepper
- Sear in olive oil ~2min per side, remove to a plate
- Add a medium onion and a garlic clove, sliced to the remaining oil & fat that have rendered out during the sear. Give them a quick saute until just browned & remove to the plate w/ the ribs
- Add 2 cups stock (chicken will do, but I had turkey stock from the smoked turkey I did at Thanksgiving) and 1 cup beer (I used O'fallon smoked porter)

- Bring the stock & beer to a boil, scraping all the browned bits off the bottom of the pan

- Add the ribs & onions back to the pot, cover and braise for about 2 hours.
- Add a few chopped carrots in to the braising liquid about 5-6 minutes before the meat is done.
- After the ribs were done, I strained the sauced, which had greatly reduced and made a thin gravy by adding a little butter, flour and more pepper. Looking back, I would have just kept it as a reduction as the gravy tasted a bit flour-y. But even mediocre gravy is still gravy....
- The white stuff is horseradish mashed red potatoes
- Sorry the photos are blurry. Either my eyes are going or the fact that I was really hungry when making this wouldn't allow me to hold the camera steady...

I'm going to wreck you.

2007-12-02T13:10:00.000-06:00

Yeah, this about sums it up.

Thanksgiving bird.

2007-12-02T12:44:00.000-06:00

This year, we were again fortunate enough that no less than two families wanted us to come over for Thanksgiving. Maybe they just wanted to see Ava, but there is baggage associated with that (Celia and I). As such, we didn't have any leftovers for ourselves. I picked up a smoker at the end of summer and have been toying around with various cuts of meat and flavors, so I decided to smoke a turkey breast the Saturday after Thanksgiving. It was the whole breast "cavity" so there were actually two breast sections, plus the carcass and some other bits left over to make stock.

I stuffed some olive oil soaked sage (from the garden) under the skin and used apples, cider, beer and bay leaves in the water pan. All I had in the wood department was apple chips and hickory chunks, so I started with the chips, then added the chunks about halfway through. The result was really good, given it was the first turkey I'd ever cooked. Really moist with a sweet, smoky flavor. I didn't really notice much in the way of an apple aroma or taste, but I'm sure it helped mellow out the smoke a bit. Rumor has it we're hosting Thanksgiving next year, so I'm really looking forward to coming up with a couple good ideas for turkey and some other animal to cook up.

Ava is two.

2007-12-02T12:31:00.000-06:00

Ava turned two over Thanksgiving. Cliches aside, it's really hard to believe she was just a baby such a short time ago. A woman I work with very generously gave us a kitchen set for her (her grandkids grew out of it), which couldn't have been better timing. She must have played with it for two solid days straight. Now, she's always asking if we want coffee or chicken. She stews the magnetic refrigerator letters in a pot and calls it soup. I'm going to show her the art of braising soon.