I’m still on vacation, suckas!
So here’s a little ditty R sent me a while ago that I thought was hilarious. I’m willing to bet my left big toe that you will finish none of these sentences correctly.
Get your minds out of the gutter.
FF
We’re on vacation!!
R, D, and I are on our way to one of my favorite places on Earth – Little Pine Isle. It’s the family vacation spot in Canada that I went to every summer growing up and to which I hope to return each year forever. Our cabin isn’t winterized, so our trips are always either in the Summer or Fall, sometime when the weather is warm enough to not need insulated walls. There is a fireplace and a wood-burning stove in the kitchen, though, so during those chilly Fall stays we have fires burning constantly to heat the place.
We’ll be off the grid for the next week (I can’t even begin to describe how happy that notion makes me – no cell phones or emails), so try not to miss me too badly. Don’t worry, I will still be posting to keep you entertained, and then will have a full rundown upon our return. Here are some pictures of where we’re going, in case you’re curious:
Have a great weekend everyone, and a Happy 4th of July (or Happy Canada Day to our neighbors to the north)! We’ll be celebrating our country’s independence in Canada this year. 🙂
FF
One word: sous-vide (or 2 words, depending on if you use the hyphen or not)
Say what? Sous-vide – it’s R’s new culinary experiment, and it was a screaming success. He’s been wanting to test out this cooking method for weeks now, and last night was the debut. Basically you vacuum seal food in plastic bags then cook it in a water bath to your desired temperature. I’ve mainly heard him talk about it for steaks, but I’m pretty sure you can cook other foods this way too. (for reference: sous-vide)
He’s spent a lot of time buying parts to make the temperature control for the water, figuring out which vessel would work best to maintain the water temperature once reached with little variation, and finding the right heating element. I was so happy that this worked, because I know how much effort he’s put into it and would have hated to see it fail and ruin the steaks. Yesterday he got a ribeye and NY strip for himself and 2 filets for me, and last night was our first round of steak sous-vide (part 2 coming on Sunday). Unfortunately I don’t have a picture of the setup to show you what this process looks like, but here you can see the amazeballs final result:
The steaks turned out spectacularly! Every single millimeter of meat was done to exactly medium rare – how often does that happen? It was tender, it was juicy, it was like tasting rainbows bite-by-bite. Apparently the magic of this system is that you can cook the steaks hours and hours ahead of time, and the water bath will keep them exactly at the doneness that you want. Then when it’s time to eat, you take them out of their bags, flash sear them on each side, and voila! Soup’s on! For a side he made twice baked potatoes with more of his homemade lardons on top. Yes please, and thank you very much.
And don’t forget the wine. We paired one of our old go-to favorites with this meal, Bogle Cabernet Sauvignon.
I have totally dumbed-down the explanation of this fine art, mainly because I’m dumb and need simple explanations to figure most things out, especially in the kitchen. But that’s the jist of it, and the final products are outstanding. I’m sure R could expound on the intricacies and whys and hows of it for you, but alas, you’re stuck with me. Keep an eye on TinySausage, though – I’m sure this one will make for a new post soon.
And of course, TGIF!!! We’re meeting up with friends for happy hour today at a new bar downtown, and I, for one, am stoked! This has been a week, and mama needs a cocktail. Have a great weekend, and a very Happy Father’s Day to all you dads out there!
FF
My head is clear from the brain drain. Ahh… Well mostly, anyway. I talked to both R and my boss about the various things that have been making me nuts, and I feel a lot better. I know you’re all very relieved to hear that.
TGIF! For the FF this week I have the long-awaited pictures from our brewery tour getaway this past weekend. There are a bunch of shots here, but it’s only a fraction of the entire album. If you’d like to see the whole thing just leave me a comment and I’ll send you the link.
FF
FF
TGIF!! And especially an F before a long holiday weekend! Everyone pay a little tribute to our honorable vets for Memorial Day (or even better, a big tribute).
What I have for the FF this week are some long overdue pictures that I promised from D’s first Brewers game a few weeks ago:
And just because, here are some more artsy nature shots of water droplets in the gardens. This time they were on my bleeding heart plants.
Have a wonderful 3 day weekend, everybody. I get to go meet our friends’ brand new baby boy, K, on Monday, yay!!
FF
Friday again! And it’s warm outside! Last night while I was doing a little weeding after mowing the lawns, I noticed something really cool in one of the back gardens. On the leaf of one of my tulip plants was the most spectacular water droplet I’ve ever seen. At first I thought it was a drop of nectar or sap or something, it was just so perfectly still and round, but after studying it for a bit I poked it with my finger. Nope, just a really awesome water drop. So the FF this week is my attempt at some artsy nature shots. You can be the judge on how well I succeeded with that.
And here is the great picture frame R got me for Mother’s Day. Sorry for the crappy photo – I took it with my phone since the picture frame is sitting on my desk at work. That’s why there’s a glare and we both look pale as ghosts.
