Tuesday, November 27, 2012
Saturday, November 24, 2012
More Charcuterie
It's getting to be that time of the year. Hunting season and, for us, sausage making season. We did the whole process this morning and ended up with a whole bunch of rings. 145, to be exact on the first run of the season. Here it is, pre-smoke.
I can't wait for it to be done. A good portion, probably around 50 will go straight from smoke into a cooler to dry for about a week. Nothing beats good dry ring sausage. Yum.
Friday, November 9, 2012
Beer Tasting or Drinking contest?
Our big shooting/eating/guy's weekend was a few weeks ago. I know, I haven't posted anything. I'm am ashamed. Each night the guns are put away and the food and drink are prepared. This group of friends happens to be a very beerphilic group. We each decided to bring a few bottles of great beer for everyone to try. Of course, since none of us know what moderation even means, it turned into this:
The only one missing was the one in the refrigerator which happens to be the beer with a perfect score on Beer Advocate, Deschutes, The Abyss. There was a total of 33 beers to try and we had to break it up over 3 nights. Before you say, "oh, that's nothing" there was, of course, other drinks and the average ABV on this group of beers was close to 9%. There weren't any in this group that were poor representations. Most were fantastic, some were just really good. We had a great time experiencing a whole bunch of great beer.
The only one missing was the one in the refrigerator which happens to be the beer with a perfect score on Beer Advocate, Deschutes, The Abyss. There was a total of 33 beers to try and we had to break it up over 3 nights. Before you say, "oh, that's nothing" there was, of course, other drinks and the average ABV on this group of beers was close to 9%. There weren't any in this group that were poor representations. Most were fantastic, some were just really good. We had a great time experiencing a whole bunch of great beer.
Thursday, November 8, 2012
Problem solved with application of high speed lead
Seems a jerk in New Mexico thought he'd tail a woman home and do who-knows-what to some poor, defenseless woman. Wait, did I say defenseless?
Not quite... < --- Clicky, clicky
I have not really been a fan of the idea of keeping your loaded gun under your pillow. There are more secure ways to have it quickly accessible. However, I am not going to fault someone for at least having something somewhere. It worked for her. The great news is that she will hopefully just need to talk to someone to help her through some of the issues from the invasion, but not anything else.
Not quite... < --- Clicky, clicky
...the woman says Sandoval grabbed a knife, put the knife to her chin and told her to take off her clothes. The woman told deputies she then reached under her pillow, grabbed a loaded gun and shot him.
I have not really been a fan of the idea of keeping your loaded gun under your pillow. There are more secure ways to have it quickly accessible. However, I am not going to fault someone for at least having something somewhere. It worked for her. The great news is that she will hopefully just need to talk to someone to help her through some of the issues from the invasion, but not anything else.
Wednesday, November 7, 2012
Some things need killin'
This guy is one of them.
First weekend of hunting season was this last weekend. I culled an older buck with just forks. He needed to go, too. Unfortunately, the nasty bugger above isn't the only one coming to the blind. I'd love nothing more than to get hold of a night vision scope, but those aren't cheap. I guess we're going to have to go old fashioned and use lights. Otherwise, this will be lurking out there tearing stuff up...
...and we can't have that, now can we?
As you can tell by the time stamp, it also means staying up all night to shoot some nasty pigs. That doesn't send the thrill through me like it used to in my youth.
First weekend of hunting season was this last weekend. I culled an older buck with just forks. He needed to go, too. Unfortunately, the nasty bugger above isn't the only one coming to the blind. I'd love nothing more than to get hold of a night vision scope, but those aren't cheap. I guess we're going to have to go old fashioned and use lights. Otherwise, this will be lurking out there tearing stuff up...
...and we can't have that, now can we?
As you can tell by the time stamp, it also means staying up all night to shoot some nasty pigs. That doesn't send the thrill through me like it used to in my youth.
Friday, October 26, 2012
Baking Powder (easy) Biscuits
I love these because they are really good and really easy to do in the morning. Granted, buttermilk biscuits are spectacular, but I tend not to have buttermilk just hanging around all of the time. I honestly think the stuff is detestable on its own. So unless there is a recipe I plan on using it in or I want to soak some chicken or fish for frying, it isn't in the house. On the other hand, I always have the ingredients for a quick batch of these biscuits and they are really good.
So, here's the recipe:
Baking Powder Biscuits
2 cups of flour
1 Tablespoon Baking Powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup vegetable shortening
3/4 cup milk
1. Preheat oven to 450F. Lay parchment paper on a medium to large baking sheet. In medium to large bowl, add the flour, baking powder and salt and stir to incorporate it some. Drop in the 1/4 vegetable shortening and use two butter knives to "cut in" the shortening to the flour mixture. This means using the knives in a scissoring motion, drawing them apart to cut the shortening and let the flour mixture coat the shortening. Ultimately, the shortening should be pea sized or smaller and well incorporated. At this point, pour in the milk and use your hands to gently turn the mixture into a dough (nitrile gloves help with clean-up). It will be a pretty solid, dry dough. I sometimes have to add another shot of milk to get all of the dry flour mixed in. A word of caution: work the dough as little as possible. The more you work it, the tougher the biscuits will be.
2. Turn the dough out on a clean, lightly floured surface and press out to about 1/2 inch thick. Some recipes call for kneading here. I don't do this and don't recommend it. You can use a rolling pin if you want, but I find that an unnecessary extra thing to clean.
3. Use a biscuit cutter to cut out the size you prefer, I like at least a 3 inch diameter one (2 inch will work, too). Move each dough round to the parchment lined baking sheet. Press them together for soft-sided biscuits, or apart for crusty sides. You can press the left over trimmings together and re-cut and then press the last bit of dough into the cutter to use it all, but remember to work it as little as possible.
4. Put the baking sheet loaded with the pre-biscuits into the oven and bake for 12 - 15 minutes. I usually set the oven to 12 minutes and check it. In my oven, 13 is the lucky number.. When the tops start to brown slightly, pull the biscuits out. In order to make sure the bottoms of the biscuits stay tender, take them off the sheet right away. If you let them sit on the hot baking sheet, they will continue to cook and the bottoms will be hard and tough. Brush with melted butter if you're into that kind of thing.
This will make about 8 biscuits cut with a 3 inch cutter at 1/2 inch dough round.
Now, stop reading and go enjoy!
Oh, yes... best served covered with sausage black pepper cream gravy. But that's another post.
 |
| Butter, please |
Baking Powder Biscuits
2 cups of flour
1 Tablespoon Baking Powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup vegetable shortening
3/4 cup milk
1. Preheat oven to 450F. Lay parchment paper on a medium to large baking sheet. In medium to large bowl, add the flour, baking powder and salt and stir to incorporate it some. Drop in the 1/4 vegetable shortening and use two butter knives to "cut in" the shortening to the flour mixture. This means using the knives in a scissoring motion, drawing them apart to cut the shortening and let the flour mixture coat the shortening. Ultimately, the shortening should be pea sized or smaller and well incorporated. At this point, pour in the milk and use your hands to gently turn the mixture into a dough (nitrile gloves help with clean-up). It will be a pretty solid, dry dough. I sometimes have to add another shot of milk to get all of the dry flour mixed in. A word of caution: work the dough as little as possible. The more you work it, the tougher the biscuits will be.
2. Turn the dough out on a clean, lightly floured surface and press out to about 1/2 inch thick. Some recipes call for kneading here. I don't do this and don't recommend it. You can use a rolling pin if you want, but I find that an unnecessary extra thing to clean.
3. Use a biscuit cutter to cut out the size you prefer, I like at least a 3 inch diameter one (2 inch will work, too). Move each dough round to the parchment lined baking sheet. Press them together for soft-sided biscuits, or apart for crusty sides. You can press the left over trimmings together and re-cut and then press the last bit of dough into the cutter to use it all, but remember to work it as little as possible.
4. Put the baking sheet loaded with the pre-biscuits into the oven and bake for 12 - 15 minutes. I usually set the oven to 12 minutes and check it. In my oven, 13 is the lucky number.. When the tops start to brown slightly, pull the biscuits out. In order to make sure the bottoms of the biscuits stay tender, take them off the sheet right away. If you let them sit on the hot baking sheet, they will continue to cook and the bottoms will be hard and tough. Brush with melted butter if you're into that kind of thing.
This will make about 8 biscuits cut with a 3 inch cutter at 1/2 inch dough round.
Now, stop reading and go enjoy!
Oh, yes... best served covered with sausage black pepper cream gravy. But that's another post.
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
Ode to the purple shoulder
Here's a little formula for you
(.30-06 + 7mm STW + .30-30 + (.243 x 2) ) x multiple shots to sight in
it's almost time for hunting season
Equals:
Prone shooting makes it more owie.
(.30-06 + 7mm STW + .30-30 + (.243 x 2) ) x multiple shots to sight in
it's almost time for hunting season
Equals:
 |
| Ouch |
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