Friends: June 2004 Archives

Dropped by St. Louis this weekend to see the parents, do a little bit of shopping, and see people. Ended up Saturday night with Kat and Adam meeting up with Don and Jason at Olive Garden. I ate too much. It really doesn't look like that much on the plate, but I'm told that my stomach is still shrunken from when I was sick a few months back.

House finances are a tiny bit tight, so the house menus for the next week are going to reflect it. Vegetarian, but I'm sure we will find a way to put some protein in there, the beans are an edge in that direction. The menu itself:

spanakopita
pasta - cream sauce and pesto
mac n' cheese
spanish rice with beans
topped baked bread, 3-cheese, olives, canned veggies
vegetarian potato curry

Timing is going to be somewhat random, I'm going to have to make sure that the spanakopita is made when Danielle has a night off, because it's one of her favorites. Dfenster makes the spanish rice (I really should learn how he does it), which is really good. I also need to watch him make enchilada filling sometime.

Everyone will be converging on the Benne homestead this fourth of July as usual. I am going to show up early to hold vigil with Mr. Don as we roast a whole pig overnight, leading into the fourth of July festivities, whereupon Mr. Hippy is working on getting fireworks to go off by electronic command, which should be pretty. I probably won't be leaving there until sometime on the fifth.

I've been working pretty much all day, which is a good thing, as I would like to get a more polished product out sometime soon.

Got into the CS building just in time today. I had to come in and turn in a timesheet today (therefore getting paid and being able to pay rent). I missed a pay sheet day while I was in New Mexico, so I added the hours that would have been on that one to this one and called it fair.

In any case, the sky was looking mildly ominous as I walked out the door this morning. By the time I got to CS, it was markedly more ominous, and as I walked into the door, it began to sprinkle. I walked into a CLC to print out my sheet, when I heard a tapping sound. The building was getting pelted, that was a half an hour ago, and it's still happening. I can hear it it my office, which is rather amazing given the amount of fan noise in here.

Tonight I should buy all of the ingredients for my little brother's birthday present. He's turning 21, and wants a batch of cider. Easy enough. The last one turned out really good. The recipe isn't up yet on the permanent brewing page, but I should get around to that. I haven't done a major update to my pages in about a year, and it's getting to be about the time to.

Update that brewing section with stuff. Get some pictures, explanations, and projects in the metals section, and get some pictures in the pictures section. I'll probably take down the main page, as it really doesn't do anything, and redesign the blog page to take it's place.

Unfortunately, Dad stretched/strained his back before we could play golf on Sunday, so we're going to have to reschedule that. We can probably find a better day for it anyways.

Didn't get much in the way of sleep last night, but I figure on working out before I take a nap, that way I at least feel like I've earned it. Thankfully, weights are relatively pain-free compaired to aerobic workouts. I think I will have more success burning calories lifting, and by making my body's caloric maintenance level higher than by the walking/jogging/biking/etc routine that I can never stick to.

I should also get around to teaching stick fighting to some people I promised it to. I'm not great, but I'm good enough to teach at some level, and it's a great workout too.

This has been your monthly blog posting.
-The Mgmt.

The stars aligned this weekend, with Huck, Matt, and Don all showing up. I barbequed a brisket cut, very cheap, and it turned out very well. Next time, when I have more planning time and space to work stuff out, it will go a bit like this.

Brine for 24 hours. Brine consists of water, salt, and molasses.

Dry rub and let sit for 2 hours. Dry rub is mostly brown sugar and mexican chili powder. Also in the mix was onion powder, coriander, cumin, hot chile powder (not the same as chili powder), a little ground caraway, and a tad bit of cardamon, and some fresh ground black pepper. There's probably more in there that I don't remember, but that's the important stuff.

Let it sit for 2 hours rather than a half an hour.

Smoke for a LONG time. I smoked this cut (A fairly average sized brisket, pretty big,) for 12 hours at an average temperature of 225* Farenheit. I built a small charcoal fire at one of the ends of the grill, and place the meat on the other end, along with the probe from a probe thermometer. Then I put wet chunks of hickory on top of the coals to create smoke. Heat was regulated through oxygen intake, and heat escape manipulation equipment more commonly called "holes in the side of the 50 gallon drum we use as a smoker, stuffed with aluminum foil".

If I do it for longer than 12 hours, it will have to be at an even lower temperature, to prevent over-doneness and drying.

But all in all, quite good and quite worth it, especially for the money.