The similarity of a galaxy forming and a frozen jar of tea

The similarities between galaxy formations and a frozen jar of tea.

just entertaining myself after finding a frozen jar of tea in the refrigerator.

I forgot the coffee again

A few choice words for an ante meridian disappointment:

i did it again, i thought i had bought coffee the other day 

and sure as hell did not.

i do enjoy going to a restaurant but we rarely go out for meals (once or twice a month). we like to cook and direct resources to our kitchen rather than others. 

coffee is usually stock (an entertaining in the p.m. and personal essential in the a.m.) but the past two times have let the stores get completely depleted before realizing we are out. 

need to slow down and remember not to forget.

Butter licking dogs

Yesterday morning the boys left the butter dish lid off.

when i came back home both dogs were doing their cowering moves so i had to give a quick tour to see what they were going to get in trouble for.

i couldn't find anything, so i sent them out and started to prepare some spread for the banana bread.

and there it was

one of the damn dogs had got on the counter and had their way with the butter stick.

maybe they took turns: "one took the high road and one took the low".

an almost full stick of butter tongue lashed by one of the dogs

we have a pretty good sense of humor here

and just seeing the two main tongue tracks is enough to laugh.

the deed was done.

Mulberry cider

Mulberry tree is in full fruiting.

With this we can make our mulberry cider:

2 quarts of mulberries

2 cups of sugar

4 gallons apple juice

champagne yeast

even careful picking of the fruit will leave the fingers a bit purple.

nothing though that soap can not take care of.

mulberry cider - mulberry fingers

 a quick rinse under running water, then put in a steamer so the mulberries can be brew clean.

i add the 2 cups of additional sugar to the water at the bottom of the steamer. 

when done steaming i will not want to get rid of the mulberry rich water at the bottom.

steaming should be a minimum of 20 minutes.

mulberry cider - steaming the mulberries

 after the steamed mulberries have cooled i will add them to the fermenter.

the order of ingredients to the fermenter:

2 gallons of apple juice, 

 mulberries, 

 mulberry/sugar solution, 

1 gallon of apple juice (to clean the funnel),

yeast,

and the final gallon of apple juice. 

mulberry cider - adding mulberries to the carboy

 i use vodka in the fermenter lock.

mulberry cider - just waiting for fermentation

 bubbling glory as fermentation had been 24 hours active.

mulberry cider - 24 hours of fermentation

in one week we will move to a secondary fermentor.

we will keep 3-4 weeks in the secondary.

Trippel refreshing

The word "refreshing" in action!

tipped trippel, nothing spilled.

Oatmeal with mulberries wonder berries and blueberries

Mulberries from the back lot,

wonder berries from the neighbors front yard,

blueberries from the grocery store

and oatmeal with honey & maple spice.

breakfast

T-bone steak

T-bone perfection from some nebraskan beef.

grill is building up temperature. the wood is from the maple trees in the back.

grill getting ready for t-bones

once thawed, i lightly basted on some tamari and rubbed in some bosari seasoning salts.

(just enough to enhance the flavor)

next, i stacked the steaks on an uncovered plate for a few hours.

this provided some conditioning before cooking. 

a quick heat on both sides, then one last flip to make sure the flame touches the meat.

no additional seasoning is necessary,

what little i put on is near criminal.

Charcoal

When one runs out of hardwood charcoal, just make some more.

and the answer is "yes, i did forget that i had forgotten to get more charcoal".

with all of this forgetting i knew that i would just have to make our own. a very simple process.

i need to say here that i did have enough charcoal to fill up about 1/5th of a chimney (this is a nice cheat that makes it very easy to get everything started and kept going). 

on top of the little bit of bagged charcoal, in the chimney, i packed in sticks of varying size (1/2" to 1"). on top of those packed in sticks i laid a few larger pieces. when the fire had consumed most of the wood, i knew i had a ready to use heat source. i poured the stick/embers onto some small twigs and a few more larger ones (these were for the smoke effect).  

this added about another 20 minutes but fortunately we had started early.

Pencil shavings with or with out cream

i prefer mine with.

As we all have, some weeks are longer than others

and

damn if i am not there.

Plan B

When plans go to crap,

we just need to switch directions.

a week of snow and rain hampered spring"izing" the camper (winter always raises hell on old stock)

(actual moments of blizzard yesterday, rain the days before)

then in a crunch for a weekend of birthday camping for wifey turned into:

two new last minute camper tires,

ALL new camper fuses,

propane line work,

winch not working then back to working,

still no lights.

frances was stressed.

(tomorrow i will dig into the power converter to make sure we are getting juice to illuminate good times.)

plan b

a husband-wife date with crazy food flowers and and amazing food and drink.

i do believe we laughed and talked ourselves into a damn good time!

Whiskey marinated deer stew

Tomorrow's Easter dinner will be a whiskey marinated deer stew.

the essential key to excellent deer is marinating, browning, low temperature cooking.

first = cut deer roast into stew bits

next = soak submerged in marinade for 24 hours

next = cornstarch the individual stew cuts

next = in a stock pot get the liquid base with seasonings up to temperature.

next = brown stew cuts in a dutch oven or other deep welled pot (oil dances)

next = on last pieces of stew cuts add onions and garlic. when the stew pieces are done so will be the vegetable sauteing. 

next = when meat is getting close to done then prepare potatoes in a separate pot

next = rinse potatoes and set aside.

finally = when meat is done add potatoes and any other vegetables.

there are a few steps to pass along to the boys.

first is that deer and seasonings go hand in hand. 24 hours is a good time frame to let the deer cure in a salt/seasoning liquor. when done this way deer looses its so called "game" title and becomes a well prepared venison. 

this marinade was soy sauce, seasoning salt, garlic powder, sweet chili sauce and spiced canadian whiskey. 

when browning, we will be addressing two sides of the stew cut meat so we will be dividing the cooking pot into two parts. one half will contain meat being browned on its first side and the other half will contain meat being browned on the second half (or flipped side).

this will allow for a continual flow of production.

another variable to keep in mind is that there will be multiple pots going on. while the oil was heating up in the deep welled dutch oven i had started the broth, italian seasonings and seasoning salts in a large stock pot. later on there will also be a separate pot for the potatoes. 

the pot has been divided into halves. the upper side shows the mead being browned on the second side and the lower half shows meat just added to the pot. when the upper half is done i will put the stew bits into the main stock pot (on another burner) flip the lower half over and moved to the upper half and add more fresh deer to the lower half.

when the last of the stew pieces are in the pot i will add the onions and one full head of garlic.

when the meat is done the vegetables will also be ready for the stock pot.

when the meat is done so will be the onions and garlic

the stock pot has been on a low simmer for an hour and then i start the potatoes in a separate pot. the water from the potatoes is very starchy and i want to keep that away from the stew. 

we just want the potatoes, the garden wants the starch water.

when the potatoes are almost done i will rinse in cold water and set to the side until the meat is done.

when the stew meat is done i will add the potatoes and any other vegetables 

(today it was corn and peppers).

the deer absolutely melted in the mouth!

now the stew will cool and we will reheat tomorrow for dinner.

sitting overnight will really blend the flavors.

Overcrowded workbench

I officially have too many projects going on.

early this morning in the shop,  i was admiring my cup of coffee and for some reason my eyes moved to the mesentery the right and then to the mesentery on the left;

then my intestines cramped up a bit.

at the end of my building session today i will reorganize!

and to make a note, i haven't worked on hammers for a week.

Coffee liqueur bottled

From december 6th post on making the coffee liqueur 

today was time to bottle. 

just under two months of conditioning in the growler.

simple syrup = 4C water 4C turbinado

1/2C coarse grind extra dark roast coffee

3C vodka

this yield came to two 16 ounce grolsch bottles and a 12 ouncer bottle.

had to empty out the copper tea strainer twice from the grounds.

smell was CRISP & CLEAN coffee smell!

drizzle over the top and with each bite dig into the pool of black awesomeness on the bottom.

flavor was perfect for our pallet.

store in the back of the refrigerator.

Square

A simple post

 one that says, if we need an ice cube and i don't wish to cut our own

then 

square square

 square square.

does it even matter? yes it does. 

Tilapia

Tonight was a quick prep.

the meal has two directions. the first is the rice and the second is the fish & broth.

the rice:

i strongly recommend getting out of the doldrums of cooking solely with white and brown rices.

this is a haiga medium grain, white basmati & quick cook wild rice mixture.

the rice will act as the bed for the fish.

the fish:

the fish will be bound in foil, creating a steaming environment.

first rub butter on the foil then lay down some pats of butter and onions.

this layer will allow the fish be above the liquid but close to the steaming butter.

place the fish on the onions.

season with your favorite. tonight we used jane's krazy pepper, bosari salt, italian herbs, sage and some paprika.

after the seasoning top with pats of butter. 

the butter on top will melt into the fish.

fold up the fish into foil burrito. three folds on top will seal in the steam.

oven 350 degrees for 25 minutes. 

one ingredient i did not mention yet is the frozen corn.

the frozen corn was mostly for the boys but will also create more liquid.

we add the buttery herbed broth to the plate. 

lay down the rice, fish, corn & onions and then pour on an quantity of broth. 

damn good!

Coffee liqueur

A dash of homemade coffee liqueur on ice cream is a favorite.

decided to try to new recipe:

simple syrup = 4C water 4C turbinado

1/2C coarse grind extra dark roast coffee

3C vodka

will keep it in the cupboard for 4 weeks (next to the cereal/oatmeal bowls).

the only other duty is to give it a turn once a day before i make my breakfast.

nothing against vodka but we only tend to use it for liqueurs and extracts.

Mustard

Weaving a story is best with a straight face.

all parents know of the similarities between mustard and baby poop.

but

what my boys didn't know is that the reason why i dip my pretzels in horseradish mustard.

today, a conversation was started with jack proudly announces that he had green hair when he was born.

i countered with that may not be something he will want to be promoting in public.

after all, his green hair was account of him relieving himself before he made his way out. 

his brothers then started to make fun of him for that (which was funny).

then dad had an opportunity to amuse himself.

"there is nothing wrong with baby poop! in fact, thank you very much, as long as  you mother was breast feeding their poop actually looks just like mustard. (they all start laughing) settle down boys, why do think i dip pretzels in horseradish mustard. it is only because i use to dip my pretzels in your baby mustard poop. now that isn't possible so i had to find an alternative. hence the horseradish mustard.

i had two of the three boys going. 

the oldest has heard too many of these types of stories.

good times.

wife just shook her head.

Turkey perfection

I used a variation of a proven perfect turkey recipe.

we originally read about this recipe in a "cook's illustrated" magazine.

the variation was that instead of salted pork we used 1/4" cut bacon.

we made this change to enhance our drippings stock.

with everyone bringing a dish, an uncle brought a proper giblet gravy that he made before hand. 

this meant that i would have more drippings for a soup stock that some of the left over turkey would go into.

1- pierce the skin with fork

2- insert herbed butter under the skin

3- wrap the bird with 1/4' cut bacon

4- broth, neck and seasonings went into the pan

5- add stuffing, but not too packed

6- cover in cheese cloth, then in foil

7- 350 degrees until the thickest part of the breast was 140 degrees

8- after about 3 hours i removed the foil and bacon and turned the oven up to 425 degrees

9- quickly cut up the bacon into small pieces and added into the pan juice

10- cooked until the thickest part of the leg was 165 degrees. 

i did make one mistake with this bird in that i left the legs tied.

shouldn't of done this. the bird was a bit pinker in the joint than i wanted.

i am not afraid of the modern world so i did a quick microwave fix to just the legs.

the microwave didn't affect the juiciness.  

what is a large meal with out at least one issue.

perfect turkey cooking is always a work in process. a large bird with two distinct meats.

the breasts melted in the mouth and i am already for some turkey stew and soup!

Deer for dogs

What is not for us will be for the dogs.

prepared deer for the dogs.

let them cook a little longer as it is easier to make a week's worth of treats than by the day.

they freak over this treat.

Deer stew

Last season was tough. during any of the deer seasons these days i only get one weekend of one 2 week rifle season to harvest meat. last year was nil. and it showed in the freezer. 

with this year we had deer back on the menu.

and the first menu of the harvest was stew.

the scrap turned to stew meat.

when small cubed i roll in a cornstarch/flour mix. not only will this develop the sear but will thicken the stock during cook. 

just don't let the meat gingerly roll around in the hay, 

get in there. push the powder into the moist fibrous meat.

your results will be tastier. 

the blinding halo is a half round aluminum foil wrap dome that keeps the spatter down.

just before kneading the powder into the meat i added oil to the dutch oven and started the heat.

we will want to seal the meat in a contributing skin that will create AWESOME results.

for all of those pioneers that grew up with deer, this will be a new experience.

my dad will agree with this.

soft tender lean meat that melts in the mouth. 

this is the first batch in a long while so the vegetables will be kept "poor and proper".

if a garden fails, the only veg likely to be sustaining is the potatoes and onions.

maybe "reliable" is a better word than "poor and proper".

the stew ready to go. 

this is great as it is, but i will add a bit more starch to thicken up the experience.

the deer is actually so tender that i want the medium to be thicker. 

served up ready for consumption. this deer stew is all about the deer and deer infused stock.

so damn good that the atheist just may find religion. 

and the results are as i wrote above.

a culinary heaven that fits in our infinite plains-style horizon. 

the bowl is actually a cobalt blue vessel that failed when i made in japan.

 i made it not according to instruction, although i did try.

i was embarrassed at the time but really grown to like over the years.

sort of like the growth and decay line of the WWI trench artists.