Gobble, Gobble

It turns out that everything worked out fine, timing wise yesterday...the auditions for Rocky Horror were quicker than scheduled, so I was able to get home and get my turkey in the oven in time for dinner.

I follow Alton Brown's recipe, to the letter...the brine, the filling of the cavity with onion, and apple, and cinnamon and rosemary, and sage, then the starting at 500 for 30  minutes, before applying the 'turkey triangle' and finishing at 350.  This was an 18-pound bird and it was done in under three hours, so...yay!

The only not yay about the dinner was it seemed to be a 'fatty' turkey, and we didn't get nearly as much extra meat off it as I hoped we would...just under 5 pounds. I was hoping for closer to a 50% yield...and the turkey sandwich I had an hour after dinner didn't cut into the final tally that much.

With  the turkey, my wife had bought some small white potatoes that were on sale for cheaper than the red's, or even the russets.  Score.  I know that there are different things you can do with different potato types due to starch content variances. One web site I found had these fateful words: Grilling whites brings out a more full-bodied flavor.

What the what?  Grilling potatoes?  After just grilling lettuce a few weeks ago?  Sign me up.

 

 

I thought they came out really, really good...like a smoky French fry.  The secret for this recipe is parboiling first.  Slice the potatoes (about 1/4-1/3 inch), boil for 10-15 minutes.  Drain, and coat with a mixture of 4 parts mayo, 1 part mustard, 1 part garlic, 1 part honey, and I added some ranch dressing too...paint it on the taters, and grill them up.  Since they are parboiled, they only need 3-5 minutes on a side depending on heat. 

 

This is something I will come back to at some point when I need to blow a mind or two. 

Had to zig...will be back after the zag.

Like all good 'preppers'/smart people, when seasonal items go on sale, I buy them cheap...like corned beef, and turkey.  Now, I need to make room in the freezer, so it is time to cook one of the turkey up. 

Turkey takes prep work...thawing, brining...umm...wasn't planning on spatchcocking this one, so...I guess that is it for prep work.  It does mean if you want turkey Saturday, you need to commit to it Tuesdayish. 

Friday night, I was kind of thrown a loop...I found out through facebook, that Columbia Basin College, a CC level school in Pasco, was doing The Rocky Horror Picture show as part of their Summer Showcase...and that Summer Showcase shows are open to everyone to audition for, not just students, as I had always assumed, which is why I was surprised by these auditions, which happened last night, and today at noon.

Poop. 

Well, there is nothing wrong with bringing a turkey longer than 12-18 hours...and once it's cooked, we can always do open face sandwichs for dinner with it Sunday, in case it isn't ready in time for dinner Saturday.  Most of the turkey is going to be made into Ranch Chicken Burrito's my wife makes and freezes ahead of time, with hopefully enough left over after that to justify firing up the pressure canner.

They hope to have casting complete by Tuesday...more to follow. If I must say so, I CRUSHED Heaven on their Minds, from Jesus Christ Superstar, even if I did barely survive the dance portion of the audition.

While Carl Anderson does a great job in the movie version, I prefer Murray Head(One Night in Bangcock), who sang it on the original 1970 release.

Disappointment, they name is Bacon Lovers Sausage.

You can only imagine the way my eyes lit up when I saw new varieties of Jimmy Dean Sausage at the store today: Chorizo, and Bacon Lovers!  With Real Bacon!

Hell yeah I went home with a tube of Bacon Lovers sausage.

And I probably won't again. 

First of all...it was more expensive than normal Jimmy Dean Sausage(I prefer Jimmy Dean Sage, by the way).  Same price out the door, but only 12 ounces of product instead of 16, so 25% more per ounce.

The second, and final negative...it didn't taste worth the extra expense.  I mean...I will pay extra for something if I think it is worth it...this just didn't taste like it was worth it.  On an absolute scale, it doesn't taste bad...it just didn't taste any different than 'normal' Jimmy Dean sausage.

For a 2nd opinion, I offered some to my wife(no reason hogging it all to myself if it didn't taste special), and asked if she could taste any bacon.  She said not really, although there was a tiny bit of smokiness at the very end that could have been due to bacon.  Since she is a genius though, she said that we could probably get the same effect, and maybe even more bacon flavor, by throwing a tablespoon of bacon grease from the fridge.

Man, I love that woman.

So ONE wrong does make a right!

While swinging my coat up onto the hook located on the back of our door, my phone went flying out of the pocket, and hit the ground at the worst angle possible.

Dang-it.  So...the good news is that the phone still works...at least I'll be able to get all my phone numbers and pictures off it, which is much nicer than when my Droid 2 fell in the toilet, and never turned on again, and I couldn't get important things off of it. The bad news is that each time I slide my finger across the screen to open the phone, I worry I'm going to slice my finger open.

The even better news is that now I have an excuse to get a new phone!  Since we switched to a pre-paid plan, there is no 'countdown' to a new phone. 

It won't be here until next Tuesday/Wednesday...but that's not the bad news...the bad news is that my wife is currently outside trying to run her phone over with the Mazda so she can get a new phone too. 

Because any advertising is good advertising.

The Mid-Columbia Mastersingers, to which I belong, is doing a fund-raiser this weekend, and like most fundraising event dinners, there will be a silent auction run as part of the fundraiser...but instead of just limiting it to people attending the dinner, the auction is actually being run online, through a website called biddingforgood.com.

Currently there are 76 items up for bid in the auction, and while for some of them you probably need to live in the Tri-cities area, there are a few things you could buy and get shipped to you.

Because my wife and I are not going to be able to go to the fundraising dinner, I wanted to donate something special to the auction, and after talking things over with my wife, we agreed to donate a special wine tasting at our house, which you can find the details of here. 

It's going to be pretty sweet.  A few years ago, I fell deeply, deeply in love with Malbec...a wine variety that is known for being produced in Argentina and California, but also benefits from the hot summers we have in Eastern Washington.  I was lucky enough to be at Terra Blanca one day when they had a 2002 Malbec open for tasting...and it was the best wine I have ever had in my life.  After buying a few bottles at list price, I got even luckier a month or two later when Terra Blanca offered up a Vertical Malbec Special...wines from 2002-2006. 

Well...for this auction, I am offering up something I have been wanting to do from day one, but haven't been able to justify...a blind tasting to see if there is a detectable difference from year-to-year.  So, yeah...it's a little greedy, because I fully intend to pour a splash for myself as well as for the person/persons who win the auction...but...what an opportunity.  If you have been looking for an excuse to come to  the Tri-cities and try wine...I might even be willing to make my guest room downstairs available to the right winner!

Would you like some cheese with your wine?

The answer to that question should be 'Yes'. 

A few weeks ago, by doing some easy 'share' and 'like' stuff on facebook, I won a gift basket from Tucannon Cellars, rapidly becoming one of my favorite wineries(and not just because they give me prizes!)

So, there were some cheeses, and crackers, which are tasty.  And then, there were three boxes of Chukar Cherries, and two very nice Reidel Wine Glasses.  Sadly, the wine was not included in the FREE gift basket, but I included it in the picture as an example of the rather fine wine produced by these folks(2011 Bareback Red:50% Merlot, 25% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Mourvedre and 5% Petit Verdot.)

Perhaps the nicest thing included in the basket was two tickets to a Wine and Cheese tasting that Tucannon was co-hosting with Cheese Louise, a local gourmet cheese and wine shop. 

It was a great time, and an interesting learning experience.  Neither my wife or I had even been to a 'cheese tasting' that was much more involved than sampling cheese on a toothpick at Costco, and we didn't know that there was a 'way' to taste cheese. 

So...you pick up the piece of cheese, and you squeeze it...warming it between your fingers and releasing some of it's moisture.  Then you sniff it, before finally putting it in your mouth...but don't chew!  Let it melt and soften(or if's hard, rehydrate), before kind of 'smushing' it with your tongue.  Then you can chew and swallow.  If you are combining your cheese tasting with wine tasting, you have a sip of wine, swallow, then put the cheese in your mouth, and take another sip of wine as you are getting ready to swallow the cheese.

It's always fascinating to talk to someone that has a passion for something, and Bill Kreiger, the head cheesemonger and owner of Cheese Louise, has a passion for cheese.  He brought a wide variety for us to try...actually about three more than are on this list.

We warned before things got started that not all wines go with all cheeses...most whites, especially an unoaked Chardonnay or a Riesling, go good with most cheeses, but Red's are a bit more difficult to match up do to their stronger flavor.

I was kind of surprised to find out that my favorite cheese of the night was the Glacier Blue, a blue cheese made right here in Washington.  It started out slow, but kind of 'bloomed' in your mouth.

My wife's favorite was the Dry Jack...which I had thought would be my favorite when we first read the descriptions.  Jack cheese rubbed with a cocoa, pepper and olive oil paste?  Sounded like something that couldn't lose...it was just kind of dry for my taste.  I agreed with my wife in that the Dry Jack would have gone good in any soup that had called for cheese as an ingredient. 

It was a good night for smiles. 

Glass Houses and all that...but, still....

After grabbing the mail on the way to the car yesterday, my wife was flipping through the new Field and Stream, when she made a strange noise, and then she asked me, 'So...what is the most you would ever pay for a pair of pliers?'

Like it matters, I asked her is she was talking about regular or needle nose, and she just huffed and said to pick which ever I thought was more expensive, so I think I just said something like $15(which is probably more than I would be willing to spend for one paid of pliers). 

She seemed to consider this for a minute, and then asked me why someone would pay $280 for a pair of these Hatch Nomad Pliers.

I almost ran our car off the road when she mentioned that number.

Folks...I am a hunter, and there are times I have spent more money than I needed to on an item of dubious purpose...either paying too much for something I did need, or buying something I just plain didn't need.  It's how we keep the economy moving as outdoorsmen. 

But, still...$280 dollars?!?!??!?!  For a pair of pliers? 

Holy Cow...and I don't even see how they would fillet your fish for you!