Coffee talk.

So, how've you been?

Oh fine. You?

Well, since you asked ...

I did indeed go deer hunting. Apparently, though, the deer were being persnickety and I didn't see anything that I could shoot. Others, however, who shall remain nameless, did manage to bring home the, er, venison. Which, over Christmas, I shall be crafting into jerky. Mmmmmmm .... is it wrong that it's only 8 AM and jerky sounds good? I agree. Next topic.

Over Thanksgiving, the fam enjoyed some deeelicious Reubens out of the corned beef I crafted. It wasn't perfect, but it made for a good sammich. And anyway, I learned a valuable lesson for next time. The moral of the Corned Beef Story was: Hey, L, maybe next time, if you're soaking twice the amount of beef called for in the recipe, you might want to think about doubling the REST of the recipe.

Um.

I know what you're thinking. And no, I didn't eat paint chips as a child. In my defense, there weren't any weight indications on the packaging so I had no idea how much meat I was preparing. (Plus, I'm not much good at following recipes all that closely anyway. Hey, that doesn't mean I can't keep trying!! Ha!!)

One thing that I apparently did manage to figure out, though, was a pumpkin spice pie. That pie's praises are apparently still being sung. The only problem with it? One of the 'magic' ingredients is a Seasonal/Limited Time Only deal. NOT FAIR!! I finally make somethin' tasty, but The Man says I can only make it for a limited time!! Guess what I'm doing on my lunch break? Going to Hy-Vee to empty their shelves of that stuff. Hope my dad isn't just fibbing about liking that pie, 'cause I'm gonna be making one every weekend until EASTER. :)

Just joke. Maybe only until like St. Patrick's Day or something.

Why??

Why, oh why, do Best Buy's holiday ads have to be so awful?? I vote that if there really are any children out there who sincerely act the way those Bitchy McBratty-Ungratefulsons do, all they deserve for Christmas is a red arse.

Remember the time that the holidays were about hanging out with your family and that guy called ... oh, what was his name? ...

Oh yeah!

The blog! I promise updates this week.

Opening Day

It's not quite baseball, but it's the same sort of time-honored, sacred rite: opening day for rifle-hunting deer season.

And it is about time. In the past few days, I've been dangerously close to plastering several of the damn-ed devil creatures onto the front of my car. TODAY, on my morning run, I met a textbook-perfect buck who was just hanging out by a creek, about half a mile from the DOWNTOWN area. Maybe I should start running with a rifle slung across my back. :) Yeah, THAT'S a good idea.

Wait. Was there a point to this post? Uh, not really, but I'm gonna keep writing anyway ...

Just down the road from the Broken B homestead, there's a huge Conservation area. Needless to say, during this time of year, the gravel on our road gets ground into a fine powder with all the hunters trying to beat each other to the best hunting spot. It's the only time of year that we actually have to look both ways before we walk across our road - it's like Craftsman Truck Racing meets the hunting channel. (Note to hunters: Slow down. And wave back when we wave at you. It's just good manners.)

So tomorrow morning, the guns'll be a'blazin. And though that particular shade of screaming orange is NOT the most attractive for my complexion, a-hunting I shall go. in hopes of tagging a deer. And if I do manage to get one, I see a jerky craft day in my future. Mmmmm ... wish me luck!

And, happy/safe hunting!

Warning: Flammable.

This commentary says it better than I could. It's a very dangerous cycle we're getting into, with the current frenzy to "save the planet". How long will it be before we've burnt all our food for fuel, food prices are out of reach for the already-strapped middle class, and the left-wingers who began the global warming battle cry are compelled to raise taxes so the government can pay for America to eat. Hey! maybe then the obesity crisis won't be such a problem.

It's a crock.

This weekend, I offhandedly mentioned to my mom that I had a hankerin' for corned beef brisket. As soon as I'd said it, she immediately took me to the Magic Deepfreeze and produced TWO of said cuts of meat. The only stipulation was that I'd have to 'corn' it myself.

Me: Wha? I don't know how to do that.
Mom: Voila! Here's the recipe.
Me: Cool. But I don't have a crock.
Mom: We'll find one.

And so we did. That's one thing about Broken B Farms ... if you're looking for something, it's most likely there somewhere. Truly. If you were looking for a wooden replica of Sputnik that was carved by a man named Jose, using a maple tree that grew in Pennsylvania - it's probably around, you'd just have to look. :)

So we found an awesome crock - yeah, I said awesome - it's just the right size, and it doesn't have any cracks in it. And last night, I corned me some brisket! (see evidence in photograph - am I crafty or what?!) And get this: The 'marinade' has vein-popping amounts of salt in it, so the brisket basically sits in that crock in this salty, spiced brine for eight days! Then, goes into the fridge for six more days!

For as long as this takes, it had better be good. But hey, the bright side? No need for turkey this year, we'll have corned beef brisket for Thanksgiving dinner!!