Sunday, December 22, 2013

Raspberries

When L gets mad she makes raspberries. It's hilarious!

Here she wants her hay.
Turn up the sound!

I really wish I could get her to do that on command. But she only does it when she's mad.



Speaking of raspberries. Stuff some chocolate chips inside fresh raspberries sometime. They're a great treat.

Saturday, December 14, 2013

Bison

Up until last night I would have said these salmon fish sticks were the best thing I've had to eat this year. They're delicious. Loving salmon and growing up on Mrs Paul's, finding salmon inside my fish stick is crazy good.

I surf the web looking for recipes all the time. I try to have something new every week. Which is easy enough when you first start playing that game but becomes more challenging as time passes. I came across a grilled bison steak recipe that set the wheels turning. I've had bison but it was so long ago I don't remember whether I liked it or not. I've seen it at the local supermarket but the thought just never occurred to me to buy it.

Because bison has almost no fat it cooks quickly and overcooks easily. You want to sear it but you want less heat than you'd use for beef. These bison medallions are pretty widely available so that's what I decided I'd have.

I marinated my bison medallion (basically it's a loin section) in a chimichurri all day, dried it, seasoned it, skewered it and put it under a broiler suspended across a cast iron pan. Like this:

Skewered, under a broiler, over a cast iron pan

I expected it would be about 3 minutes each side. I probably should have preheated my broiler longer. Ended up taking 6 or 7 minutes each side.

Hands down the *best* thing I've had to eat this year

It was moist and flavorful. A little bit chewy. I like chewy. I was never a fan of really tender beef. Those are little red potatoes roasted in duck fat alongside and chimichurri spooned over the top.

I had a French Pinot Noir with it

I think a Cabernet Sauvignon would have been just fine and I read somewhere that the Presidential Inaugural Luncheon's second course served a California Merlot.

Sunday, December 8, 2013

Time flies...

This year seems to have gone by very quickly. I was shopping for some holiday beer. I really felt as though I was doing the same thing just the other day and I realized - no, that was last year! Last year I got some Goose Island Christmas Ale and while I wasn't crazy about it I thought it was pretty good. I felt it was a little expensive for what it was.

What I was actually looking for was Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale. I look forward to Celebration Ale every year. I think it's excellent beer. In all my life I've only tasted a couple of beers I didn't like. Mostly I just like some more than others. As an adult I discovered I like ales and I tend to favor pale ales although this time of year I like lagers now and then. They didn't have any Celebration Ale!

So I got:


And I like it a lot. I'm becoming increasingly fond of canned beer. There's all kinds of really good beer in cans out there and I really had no idea.

I should do a year in review. Highlights. Lowlights. New things. I have so much on my mind these days I hardly know where to begin.



Between the solar power plant a half mile away...


And this business with the neighbors...

One sign isn't enough?
And I still wonder what's up with this?


The world seems like it's changed more this year than it has in years past.
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