Ireland

The route is planned. . .

~Josh

Some Old Friends

I was lucky enough to reconnect with Larry Ray Smith, one of my roommates from USNA, and John Wagonner, another friend from the Academy. We had the opportunity to throw back a few beers and smoke a few cigars. I'm always amazed at how far we've all come. Larry just started working on his Master's up at NPS and Wags is biding his time for deployment number 10 (?) with the teams. I value the moments I have with good friends. It's always good to reconnect.

"A better part of one's life consists of his friendships." ~Abraham Lincoln

Peppers

The Boys

I finally got around to taking some pictures of the dogs that weren't taken on my phone. Enjoy them; it is rare to find Otto and Hammie so close together. Otto is still a little leery of the little monster who is desperately trying to make friends with him.

-Tina

A New Addition

Tina's 30th birthday present joined us a little early. Introducing Hamish Argyle MacDogall. Yes. . . That's his name. . .

~Josh

My Very Own Bread Recipe

Well, I've been making bread for some time; partly to eat, but mostly to relieve stress. Tina and I end up eating most of it, feeding Otto some (he loves bread like no dog should), and, more often than not, throwing a little bit away. All of those efforts, both successful and, well, not so successful, led me to have a go at it without any books; only a sense of what I wanted. Making bread, the creation of something very solid and tangible from powder and oil and water (and a little magical thing called yeast) is one of the things that I enjoy most as a hobby. So, with the ingredients in the cupboard and an idea of what I wanted, I settled down in our small kitchen and made two batches. The results are pictured below.

The first batch I did as an un-scored boule and the second batch a long loaf, baguette of sorts. We dug into the first loaf (pancetta and meunster paninis with recently harvested heirloom tomatoes) and will break the baguette tomorrow when Brian and Tisha come over for Tina's Bastille Day French meal. I'll let you know how it works out.

For Andre: I use a Canon Digital Rebel XT (http://www.usa.canon.com/consumer/controller?act=ModelInfoAct&fcategoryid=215&modelid=11209) with a 50mm (1:1.8) single focal length EOS lens. I won't tell you how I do the lighting. . .

~Josh

Martinis on the Sixth Floor

Foodie Photos

Tina and I do a lot of cooking and I've been taking a lot of photos of preps and final products lately. Tina was going to put up a post, but didn't have the time, so I'll just throw some of the photos up instead. You can try to figure out what we had.

~Josh

. . .and Today

Tonight, I cooked a couple of recipes from The Silver Spoon, a book that has been used in Italy for years, but was only recently translated for us lowly Americans. It is full of very simple recipes (and some not so simple ones) that Italians use daily. I picked a seared rosemary porkloin cooked in butter and olive oil recipe and an accompanying potato dish recipe for dinner tonight. Some photos are posted below.

Finally, I made good on a recipe that began about a week ago. Tina's birthday gift cookbook, from which I gleaned a pickling recipe and a butter making recipe, also had a bacon recipe in it. The curing took a week and the final step, the smoking process, was completed today. Here's what the finished product looks like. I will let you know how it tastes soon.

~Josh

Dinners Yesterday. . .

Last night, Tina made a wonderful Indian meal: Beef Buffad. It consisted of beef, onions, peppers, ginger, and various Indian spices. It turned out very good. I took some "foodie" style photos of the primary ingredients and have posted them below.


We bought the peppers at a local Indian market called Ker's. It is located in this little pocket of Indian businesses up by Miramar.

I failed to take a picture of the finished product, but you can imagine what it must have tasted like. . .or not.

~Josh