Sunday, November 30, 2008

The woman I'm thinkin' of, she loved me all up, but I'm so down today...

Out on the weekend

For those of you that didn't already know, the SF Bay Area is quite a place, a truly eclectic mix of just about any and everything you could think of and I feel pretty fortunate to have called this place home for almost all of my life.

So I've decided to share my Sunday ramblings with you all today in my little corner of the World. First stop, Fart and Sminal, (okay, well, it's REALLY Smart and Final, but that's nowhere near as much fun to say!) a great place to find stuff in semi-bulk quantities with shorter lines than COSTCO fer sure! Found this sign, and thought it was GOOD advice!








Next stop... the Farmer's Market and I'd like a cup of Kona coffee with a little attitude if ya don't mind!















Let's see what else the Farmer's Market has to offer today... YOW! Buddha's Hand!









And what would it be without a little local entertainment? This gal plays at both of the markets I go to on the weekends (along with a number of other minstrels) She's from South Africa and is legally blind, has a great voice and enjoys performing for kids a lot. She asks their names and customizes standard folk tunes especially for them. Right now she's saving up her donations to fund a trip to see her 84 year old Father in SA. =)









After gathering up a good stash of local Fuyu and Hayachia persimmons, Arkansas Black apples, a jug of cider, some pizza crusts, and that great coffee... time to take a pilgrimage to Berkeley for a dose of fixin' whatever ails you.





















But on the way, a stop at a very somber sight that everyone should pay honor to... the number on this sign never ceases to amaze me, and the gravity of the number of crosses representing our fallen men and women in this current tragedy weighs heavily.











And to end the day on a bit of a brighter note, what could be better than a Canadian Sock Monkey Aviator's hat??


Hope you had some fun stompin' around the Bay Area with me =)

Friday, November 28, 2008

Smokin'... smokin' ...I Feel allright mamma, I'm not jokin' !! Yeah

Smokin'....

Not sure if they do it this way in Boston or not, and I KNOW this isn't what Boston was talkin' about...



But this is how Thanksgiving 2008 went down at MY place.

Brined the '16# guest of honor' overnight and got the smoker up to 220 degrees, added in a good dose of soaked cherry and apple wood chips and away we went for a good 2 hours.



After a nice layer of smoke seasoning coated the hen, she was moved into the oven to finish up for dinner.



Heated the oven to 500 degrees, and then inserted a probe thermometer in the thigh, dropped the temperature to 400 and in she went. One hour and 5 minutes later, she registered at 155 degrees internal and out and wrapped in foil to rest.

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Turkey Time! Make mine SMOKED!!!

You can cook a turkey any day of the year, but there's something special about cooking a turkey for thanksgiving dinner. Those of you who own an offset smoker and have experience slow cooking a turkey know how long this takes... and yo u also know the shortcut method of par-smoking and finishing the bird in the oven (right?)



This involves starting the bird in the smoker, giving it a minimum of 2 hours there, then transferring it to the oven and finishing it using the high temperature "Quick Roast" method (more on this later)

In any event here's the start-up for the whole process. You don't HAVE TO BRINE a bird before cooking it, but once you do, you'll never skip this step again!!! The bird is so moist when brined that you'll wonder why you never knew about this before.

Brine ingredients:
1 cup kosher salt
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 gallon vegetable stock
1 tablespoon black peppercorns
1/2 tablespoon allspice berries
1/2 tablespoon candied ginger
1 gallon cold water
2 oranges, quartered and squeezed
1 lemon, quartered and squeezed

Combine all brine ingredients, except water and citrus, in a stockpot, and bring to a boil. Stir to dissolve solids, then remove from heat, cool to room temperature.

Combine the brine, water, and citrus in a clean 5-gallon PLASTIC bucket. Place thawed turkey breast side down in brine, cover, and refrigerate or set in cool area (like a basement) for at least 6 hours. Fill 2 large Ziploc bags with ice and place these on top of the bird. Turn turkey over once, half way through the brining process.



Remove bird from brine. Discard brine. Let turkey reach room temperature. Depending on the size of the turkey, this may take up to an hour.

Place a drip pan under the grates where the turkey will be cooking to catch the drippings, there is likely to be quite a few, especially if you smoke the bird all the way until it's done. Some people put the bird in a pan, I prefer to put it directly on the grates.



IMPORTANT NOTE: DO NOT STUFF A TURKEY YOU ARE SMOKING!!!!!!! #1, the stuffing tastes terrible, #2 it severely slows down the cooking time.

While the bird is coming to room temperature, begin heating up your smoker and soaking you wood. You can use whatever wood you choose for your source of smoke, but for poultry I prefer apple with a small amount f cherry mixed in. Soak a few pounds wood, because you want a nice coat of flavor to penetrate into the bird.

For a heat source, I use lump hardwood charcoal, because it burns hot and clean. Place about 5-8 pounds in the coal box and start a load of briquets in a chimney. Create a "hole" in the center of your lump charcoal and dump the briquets in to get the coal burning. YOU WILL NEED MORE LUMP COAL before you're done, so check it every 3-4 hours and see how it's doing. If you need to add coal, I suggest starting it in the chimney instead of adding it 'cold'.

Prior to smoking the bird, place the following aromatics in the body cavity:

1 red apple, sliced
1 onion, sliced
4 sprigs rosemary
6 leaves sage

Once the coal is glowing well, let the smoker rise up to about 200-220 before placing the bird inside. At this time, add in a few handfuls or 'sticks' of your smoker wood. which you will replenish every 20 minutes or so for the first hour.

Now some folks say don't open the smoker once it reaches temperature or it cools down and you have to start over. Personally, I think this is a bit extreme... I agree you shouldn't constantly open it and peek inside, it's take care of the magic all on it's own... but I don't like placing poultry into an unheated smoker. I'm okay with doing this with pork or beef, or other long cook cuts of meat, but poultry or fish, I'd rather load in once the smoker comes up to temperature and then let it rise back up after I close it.

Okay, here's where you have to make some decisions...

Smoker start to finish
IF YOU PLAN TO SMOKE THE BIRD UNTIL IT'S DONE... you will want to insert a remote read, or long cable thermometer into the deepest part of the thigh, but don't let it touch the bone! Also, if you are smoking the bird, you won't want to baste or coat the exterior of the skin with oil, because it hinders the smoke penetration and coloring of the skin.



You'll need to make sure the bird reaches at least 160 internally before removing it. A tip here for people that are afraid of 'rubbery skin' on a bird smoked all the way through. Depending on the size of the bird, this can take 4-6 hours, and if your bird is over 20 pounds, even longer. A thought here though... my personal preference if you need over 20 pounds of poultry is do two smaller birds- they're more tender and the cooking time reduces. You may want to rotate the birds in the chamber before they're done though, and you can get away with a thermometer in one bird only, because they'll cook the same.

Before removing the bird from the smoker, heat your oven to 450 degrees, and when you remove the bird, give it a light brushing of olive oil and butter, then place it in the oven for 15-20 minutes to crisp the skin. And yes, it's likely to start smoking a bit, but that doesn't bother US!!

Remove the bird, let it rest for 15-20 minutes before carving.



Smoker Start; Oven Finish
IF YOU PLAN TO FINISH IT IN THE OVEN, no need for the thermometer while it's in the smoker... you're simply 'smoke seasoning' it =)

Everything else is done the same, except the need to add more coal in intervals. Prior to removing the bird, heat your oven to 450 degrees. At the 2 hour point when you remove the wonderfully seasoned bird from the smoker, transfer it to a roasting pan with a rack and take your bird into the oven. Insert a temperature probe into the thigh, and be careful not to let it touch the bone. Place it on a low rack and cover the breast with a foil tent. Lower the temperature to 400 when you close the door.

In about an hour, turn the bird around 180 degrees in the oven, remove the foil tent, and apply a light basting of butter to the skin. IF THE BIRD STARTS GETTING TOO DARK, replace the foil. The bird should be done in another 45 minutes at most.

Remove the bird, let it rest for 15-20 minutes before carving.

Saturday, November 15, 2008

A life is time, they teach you growing up...The seconds ticking killed us all...A million years before the fall


Can we ever really get even? With life? With ourselves? With fate??

I remember an old saying "The hurrier I go; the behinder I get" and that phrase seems to be catching up with me. Recent changes in the financial picture of the World are impacting most of us, so no sense whining about it... but you can't get too complacent either.

Work is becoming more of a burden for most people as well... you can't find too many people that look forward to going in the morning as much as they look forward to leaving at the end of the day.

Not sure that the seconds ticking are REALLY killing us all... but they are adding up faster and faster.

So how do we get even, or can we actually stop ticking away the moments??


Even taking a drive in the country to get away isn't as much fun when you start out at the gas station and have to gasp at the cost of filing the car.

I'll keep looking for a way. If you find one, share it with me, willya???

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Too young to die....


So I guess that means I have to keep working and paying the toll.... but can't agree with the too old to Rock n' Roll sentiment

Just found out that the medical coverage I've had for 3-4 years and have been paying $350/mo for for me and my family will be going up in Jan to $709/mo, with increased co-pays and prescription costs!! That's $8500/yr for a family of 3!!!!




Good thing Johnny Mack didn't get elected, his $5k tax credit wouldn't have done SHIT for me! It's a pretty sad sign of the times when you see a 110% increase in costs in large part because the son to be former Federal Govt made a decision in 2007 that any sole source contract had to be open bid and that no single entity could bid on the work, that the bidders had to be a Limited Liability Corporation (LLC) to qualify. Our institution (to remain unnamed) was a sole source Contractor for 53 years prior to this and all we've seen is continually decreasing benefits, staff cuts, and worsening salary packages since.

Here's to the good old days... may we drink to forget, lest we remember.

Monday, November 10, 2008

Another good day, mixed emotions



One more competition down, and 2nd place in the division this week! Congratulations to the Marching Ensemble... woo hoo!!! And Jazz Band took 2nd in their division, with Jazz Ensemble taking the Sweepstakes award, so we came home with our buses heavier than when we left!








But mixed emotions because this signals the end of the competitions for my daughter's high school marching career. Her Drill Team didn't place, but they improved by more than 10 points, and that's a MAJOR deal for them... and they looked great!






Very proud of how she stepped up to the challenge this year with a squad of 6 rookies; 5 freshmen and one sophomore, and none of them having ever performed in this type of a situation before. Not only did we see a frazzled Captain learn to be calm, but also learn to work well with a bunch of others and take ownership of making them proud to be a part of the team. Congratulations... YOU DID IT!!





Also bittersweet to see our Seniors graduate, but this year we had the smallest group of Seniors in the 4 years I've been working with the band, so hopefully, we'll have a good crop of incoming freshmen and the band will grown in size again next year.







Job well done, SRVHS Marching Wolves... I'm gonna miss all of you guys a bunch!


Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Don't Stop Believin'

Wow... what a thrill! Watched the returns last night and every time a State turned blue I felt even better... after Virginia and Florida went, it was apparent that the CHANGE HAD COME.




I know there are many out there that aren't easily accepting of this outcome, but I doubt there are that many who were pleased with the way things in this Nation were going. And while this change may seem quite radical for them, it's apparent to many of us that we were beginning to flatline as a Nation and needed a shock to get our heart beating again.






Too many failed policies, abroad and at home, financial crisis and a crisis of culture, and a loss of trust in our leaders. And there WILL NOT BE any quick fixes, because it took 4 years to put us where we are, and 4 more to hold us underwater trying to fight for air.










The sun is shining on a bright new future for our Nation. Finally, after 8 long years, I can once again call the resident of the White House MY President.



Monday, November 3, 2008

It was a good day overall

Alarm goes off at 4:45am on a Saturday and I wake up thinking it MUST be time to get tn the truck and head out to go fishing, but no such luck. Pop into the shower, throw on some clothes and head downstairs and load up the 4-Runner, 'cuz BABY, IT'S MARCHING COMPETITION DAY!!!

Of course, it was raining... well, that might be a bit of an understatement... it's friggin' POURING... Continue loading up food and provisions for feeding a 50 member marching band and supporting parents, and thankfully one of our Alumni parents is bringing their world famous BBQ trailer to the event to grill **18** tri-tips to feed this hungry mob (couldn't have made it through this event without them!) Also many other parents bringing salads and desserts, so it's all good.





Students and bus arrive at 6:15, trailer is already gone, everyone gets last minute instructions and away we go... 58 seat bus and a caravan of parents going off in two directions. Arrive in beautiful downtown Lodi about 7:40; still pouring down rain and setup the pop-ups for the band to change into uniforms. As they begin exiting the bus, we hear a chorus of "What IS THAT SMELL??"... sigh I tell them "It's Lodi.. welcome to the place where some of your food comes from. This is what it smells like before it hits the market." =)

Weather obliges us a bit for a half hour, but before we step off into the competition zone, it was apparent we would need the ponchos, so on they go... everyone but the Drum Major and the Drill Team... not because they're tougher, just because they need to be able to move beyond the constraints of the poncho. Our division has 7 bands in it (based on size of band, not school as in past years) and we're 5th to perform in our division. Everything went off without a hitch, nothing dropped, no one broke formation, percussion sounded strong.



Then the sky broke open and it started pouring... so we skipped the group photos, and loaded in the bus to head to the picnic area for lunch. Fortunately, the weather again obliged us and it stopped long enough for the voracious horde to graze. They sat around all butterflies and fears gone now that comp was over for the week and enjoyed each others company... tough to believe at times that 50 students between the ages of 14 and 18 from all different backgrounds and walks of life with only the Marching Ensemble as a common bond can get along so well. About an hour into it, the sky opened up again and they all ran for the bus while parents cleaned up and packed everything away as if we had never been there... leave only footprints, take only memories, right??



At 1:30 we all piled into the beautiful Grape Bowl Stadium (fortunately photos NOT available) and waited for the announcement of the results... and with 34 bands competing in 6 Divisions, plus Jazz, Orchestra and Middle Schools. believe me this takes a LONG TIME TO GET THROUGH... and it's longer in the rain on aluminum bleachers without backs. Nearly 90 minutes later, we get the Division D outcome and find out it's 3rd Place for the SRVHS Marching Wolves... not bad for our first comp of the season!!



Back to the bus and caravan of cars to head home for what seems like a much longer 90 minute drive than the one this morning... sleepy and tired kids pour off the bus, unload the trailer, lay around on the floor for a quick debriefing and get congratulations from their Directors... everyone gets an Extreme Sour Belt and to touch the trophy on the way out the door.

Practice starts again on Monday Night, and there's a nationally televised football game to perform at on Thursday evening, and another comp in Merced next Saturday... with an even earlier drive off time =)




Great bunch of kids, glad to be able to work with them all.