Nothing like a picture of raw meat in a blog.  What this actually is is freshly ground chuck that I ground using an attachment for my Kitchen Aid.  I have had the grinding attachment for years, and used it once to make sausage, which was not that good.  A few months ago I thought it would be interesting to grind my own hamburger meat so I would know exactly what I was eating.  So, I purchased a chuck roast and ground it last Friday. 

All that I can say is that it was the best hamburger that I have ever eaten.  The taste was excellent and fresh, and the texture was very pleasant.  Not chewy, but not soft or mushy.  Just a nice consistency that even my wife, who is not really a meat person, commented on.  It is my intention to grind my own burger meat from now on.  I intent on trying different cuts of meat, and blend them when I can.  Thinking of maybe taking a New York steak or two and making some good burgers this weekend. 

As mentioned in an earlier post, I like to make my own bread, and I also now grind wheat for whole wheat bread flour.  My loafs are now entirely whole wheat flour, with a little barley flour, sesame, poppy, sun flower, and caraway seeds, as well as salt, honey, olive oil, and of course, yeast.  The bread is becoming so easy to make that I do not even measure, just add ingredients until it looks right. 

The loafs are heavy and dense, but also light in a way that makes them pleasant to eat.  Below is a strange picture of this weeks loaf, as well as the mini-loaf (which is a bit undercooked) that is always the first to go, and some rising dough.  The bumps in the baked loaf are all of the sunflower seeds. 

In other news, the hot pepper wine is in the secondary and is clearing a bit.  It has the color that reminds me of pineapple juice, so it should clear to a sort of off yellow.  I tasted it last week and it was very hot, with a sweetness that must come from the peppers, because it fermented dry, so the sweetness is not from the sugars.  I think it is going to be good.

I plan on bottling both the Blueberry Wine and the Blueberry Mead this weekend.  They could bulk age for another 6-plus months, but I need the table space for other wines an beers.  I now am resorting to using the floor to hold aging and fermenting items. 

Comments(0)

Went to the Jensen-Olson Arboretum last weekend to see what was still glooming.  Saw this flower and took its picture.  Saw that they were growing hops and have added hops to my list of new plants to grow for next year.  Apparently, they grow well in Juneau, they just may not produce cones as it may not be hot enough.  Or so I am told.

This weekend I had my first beer since 31 December, 1999 – News Year Eve waiting for the end of the world à la Y2K, which apparently did not happen.  Yet.  The beer was quite good (Deschutes Brewery – Mirror Pond Pale Ale and Black Butte Porter).  So, I figured since I make my own wine, I can make my own beer, which I am now doing.

From my local cooking store, which also sells brewing gear, I picked-up a True Brew Bock kit, as pictured below.  Started it on Sunday night, and it was somewhat of an experience.  One thing I now know I need, and have an excuse to buy, is a propane burner type stove for garage and outside use.  I mentioned it to my wife, and she actually thought it was a good idea to get one, probably because she saw the mess that putting a large kettle on the stove makes.  Apparently, smoke from food and oils that may be in the burner trays turns to smoke and other vapors, and deposits on the stove top in an epoxy type formation.  Not fun to clean, though I did try.

The beer kit contained grain and extract, so it was easy to make as a first try.  Roasting one of the grains was necessary, and they smelled quite nice as they roasted.  Tasted good also.  I pitched the yeast prior to going to bed on Sunday, and this morning , as you can see in the last image, things are progressing well.

Opened the fermenter when I came home tonight – smells like a good beer. No off odors, just good beer smells. 

If there are any errors in this post, it is the fault of my new glasses.  Picked them up last Tuesday or Wednesday and I still am getting used to them. 

Comments(0)

Started a batch of Hot Pepper Wine yesterday.  Why Hot Pepper?  Well, it should be a good cooking (and sipping?) wine that can double as Christmas presents along with other wines and baked items.  My new Christmas plan is to not buy presents for most people, just give them food and wine, and what better than something spicy during the cold of winter. 

My present thoughts for Christmas gifts are:  Home made chili sauce, a good hot salsa I make for tacos and chips, a Merlot, Blueberry Wine and a Mead, date nut or banana bread, caramel corn, some type of cookie, and a few odds and ends.  A good combo I think! 

I took a few pictures of the peppers because they are quite colorful.  The last picture is out of focus and gives me a headache when I look at it, but it is just a nice red, so I included it.

You have to admit, that red is nice!

The recipe:

6 pounds 1 ounce sugar

water to 3 gallons

35 Jalapeno Peppers (3 pounds 6.5 ounces)

4 Habenaro Peppers (40 grams)

4 Mexican Red Peppers (3.8 ounces)

2 Anaheim Peppers (5 pounds, 4 ounces)

2 Poblano Peppers (forgot to weigh them)

1 pound 10 ounces Organic Raisins

3 grams Fremaid-K

4.5 teaspoons Acid Blend

3 Campden Tabs

In 12 hours:

2 teaspoon Peptic Enzyme

In 12 hours (Edit:  Pitch yeast (1116) at 5 PM today):

Yeast – probably 1116 started with with 12 grams Go-Ferm

While this is a hot wine, or at least I hope it is hot, I added other peppers for flavor.  The Mexican Red Pepper had a wonderful smell that I hope translates well to the wine.  I did buy a beautiful red bell pepper, but I really do not like bell peppers, so I left it out.  The starting SG was 1.086. 

In other wine news, I racked my Merlot today.  It is only 10 days old and an accidental taste was very pleasant.  I left it in the primary a few days longer than I intended, but I am glad I did.  The oak is really beautiful in this one so far.

Comments(0)

Hiking this year has been sporadic, but the hikes that I have been on have been great. The picture on the left is of the Mendenhall Glacier taken from the West Glacier Trail.

Did a quick 11 mile trip up the Granite Creek Trail yesterday.  It was HOT.  The temperature had to be at least 80, and I definitely felt it.  My heart rate was somewhat higher than normal and my pace was slower.  Also, I was tired at the end.  But, it was beautiful with clear skies for once and very few other people on the trail.  The only negative was the bugs – lots of bugs.  The worst were the biting flies which are not affected by bug spray.  Every time we stopped we were swarmed by the flies, so we rarely stopped, and when we did it was not for a long time.

Some pictures of the hike:

In order to provide us with fuel for the day, I made some Blueberry Scones for breakfast.  They were great with just enough sweetness that was not overpowering.  Just wish I had some whipped cream with them!

The recipe for the scones is fairly basic, and start to finish took about 25 minutes.

2 cups flour

2 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

2 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 shortening

1/2 cup milk

1 slightly beaten egg

blueberries

Combine dry ingredients and cut in shortening.  Add egg to milk.  Add wet ingredients to dry, and mix until just combined (I mix with a fork).  Add a few handfuls of blueberries and kneed a few times until blueberries are integrated.

Form into a circle about 1/2 inch high.

Glaze:

2 tablespoons milk

2 teaspoons sugar

Glaze by brushing the milk over the dough and then sprinkle the sugar over that.

Cut into 8 pie shaped wedges and transfer to baking sheet (I use a Silpat on mine)

Bake at 450 until done, or about 12 – 14 minutes.

Serve hot.

Note:  By eliminating the glaze and cutting the sugar to 1 tablespoon, this recipe makes a great biscuit for biscuits and gravy!

End!

Comments(0)

 Went for a short hike yesterday, to Granite Creek. The hike was a total of 9.15 miles, with a total ascent of 1660 feet, and a total elevation of 1539 feet (where we stopped).   Because of berries, bears, porcupines, a duck, and a lot of Salmon Berries, the hike took us 4 hours 35 minutes. 

This is our second time on Granite Creek this year, the first being in the early spring, when there was still a lot of snow and ice on the trail.  Looking at my exercise log from last year shows that I was there 14 times by this time last year.  My hiking experiences this year have been very limited unfortunately.  However, I intend to make up for my lack of hiking by changing my gym program from a 5 day split routine to a three day full body routine.  That will give me time to hike after work rather than going to the gym.  This is going to be especially important in the winter.  Last winter we hiked only a couple of times because we were always at the gym.  This winter I intend to hike at least 3 times per week, and also include a few overnight backpacking trips.  Should work out.  Hopefully.

As for the hike.  It was a cloudy day with off and on drizzle from almost the start of the hike.  However, because of the humidity it was best that we did not wear out rain jackets, as we would have been wetter inside the jackets than out.  At least when we walked the water could evaporate.  Our plans were to take Granite Creek to Mt. Juneau, but because of the weather (and because we were hiking so slowly) we decided to turn back early.

On the way back, we saw a bear who was busy eating berries and paying absolutely no attention to us. 

A few more pictures on a foggy, drizzly day:

More pics in the image gallery!

Total hiking mileage for the week of 24 – 31 July 2010:  26.5.

Comments(0)

Look!  A filthy stove!  Actually, this is my hops and amber malt extract that just got done boiling for an hour. 

I have enough wine and mead either bottled or ready to bottle, as well as wine kits, to make about 200 bottles of wine.  So, I decided that it was time to branch out and make something new.  One of the wine/mead books I have is Ken Schramm’s The Complete Meadmaker, and while browsing the book looking for other ideas, came upon a recipe that seemed like it would be an easy introduction to the making of a braggot.  So, off to the cooking store I went looking for supplies. 

At the store I decided that for my first attempt I would forego using whole grains and use a malt extract instead.  I chose to use an amber malt for this braggot (which I am having second thoughts about now), and am using  a clover honey from Costco.  I would really love to use another type of honey, but it is too expensive to get it shipped to Juneau and use it in the quantities I use yearly.  The Costco honey worked well with my blueberry mead, so it should work well here as also. Hopefully, anyway.

Recipe:

3.3 pounds Amber Malt Extract

2 ounces Cascade Hop Pellets

1o pounds Clover Honey

2 tsp. Yeast Nutrient

2 tsp. Yeast Energizer

5 grams Lalvin D-47 Yeast

Specific gravity was about 1.097, or an ABV of 13% or so.  I plan to carbonate it so only time will tell on this one. 

Some pics!  Strawberry-Rhubarb Wine in carboys; Yeast!; a really bad picture of the braggot in the primary:

I transferred my Strawberry-Rhubarb Wine to the secondary(s) yesterday.  There was so much crap, in the form of melted strawberry debris, in the primary that it was difficult to rack it pure, so I transferred the remaining liquid to a one gallon container to let both settle out.  I had the same issue with my blueberry wine and mead, where there were so many seeds that I ended up with a huge amounted of wasted wine.  I will re-rack in about 10 or so days when I see a good degree of settling.

The blueberry wine and mead were back-sweetened yesterday, and I must say that both are pretty good.  I have only been making wine for about a year and a half, so am not sure how home-made wine/mead ages for a long time when bottled.  But if it is anything like my kit wines that I have aged for 6 – 9 months, these two wines should be really great. I plan on bottling both on the 14th of August, which will be exactly one year from the date the yeast was pitched. 

In other wine news, I picked up an RJ Spagnols Grande Vieux Chateau du Roi kit today.  The description is:

The intense aroma of this BIG red features a complex mélange of ripe cherries, blackberries and bell peppers.

I will probably start the Roi next Monday. 

Comments(0)

I really love my Leki Makalu carbon trekking poles, but I have killed my second pair in four years.  I really believe that the first pair was defective, as it broke in a place where it should not have broken and there was very little pressure put on the pole at the time it broke.  I sent that pair back to REI, and they refunded my money (and I ordered another pair) without issue.  The breakage of this pair, however, was my fault, so I will not be sending them back. 

On to my Monday night hike.  Last night we left the house at 1730 for a late afternoon hike of the West Glacier Trail in Juneau, AK.  This trail is about 1.5 miles from our house, so we are usually there 4+ times per week.  Well, not this summer, but in previous summers anyway.  My ankles were somewhat sore from Saturdays and Sundays ankle twisting incidents, but nothing serious.  The trip up the trail took 1 hour 12 minutes, which is a nice speed.  West Glacier Trail is approximately 7 miles round trip, has a total ascent of 1338 feet where we stop. 

The trail is an easy trail with a few exceptions comprising mostly of slippery rocks and a couple of high steps.  There are drop offs, some very steep and high, but you are mostly surrounded by vegetation.  We arrived at what I call the “false” top when the sun had already gone behind Mt. McGinnis. 

The first picture is of the valley, and Mt. McGinnis on the right.  The second picture is of the Mendenhall Glacier, as is the third picture.

We “observed nature” for a few minutes, and then strolled down the mountain.  I suppose I was not paying attention as to where I was placing my feet, so my left foot decided it was a good idea to step off the trail.  This caused my left foot to slip down the slope, and me to lunge forward and to the right so I would not fall off the trail and tumble down the mountain (again).  I did a fairly good job of staying on the trail, but my arm landed on my trekking pole, breaking it as seen in the first image.  A few scrapes on my right leg, both arms, and some neck pain was my punishment for not paying attention.  The rest of the hike went rather well.

Like I said, I love(d) my Leki carbon poles.  I have another pair of aluminum Leki’s, which are OK, and I have a nice pair of Black Diamonds, which I do not like at all.  The Leki’s seemed to have a different vibration to them that I found not distracting, and that is different from other poles.  It also seemed that they were easier to swing forward than other poles.  So, I will probably use my other poles for the rest of the summer, and order another pair of carbon poles when winter arrives.

Today is a rest day, as I have work to do.  Tomorrow is either West Glacier again, or if it is clear, I was thinking of either doing Granite Creek to Mt. Juneau, or going up to Gold Ridge.  Or maybe, taking my bike to the Herbert Glacier – always a nice ride.

Weekly Totals:

Hiking mileage:  13.5

Comments(0)

Finally, now that summer is almost over, and I start work in 16 days, we have started hiking again!  The image on the left is from East Glacier Trail in Juneau, AK.  It is a short, 3.5 mile loop (if you start where we start) that has an approximate elevation gain, as measured my my altimeter, of 679 feet. 

Though it was raining, the hike was pleasant.  One thing I love about hiking in the rain, is that there are no bugs out.  Additionally, all the tourists stay off the trail.  I am really happy that tourists come to Juneau and hike the local trails, but sometimes it is a pain to get around them.  When the tourists are in groups headed by a guide, and if the guide sees us, then things are fine as the guide asks the group to step off the trail until we pass.  However, if the guide does not see us, or if the tourists are alone, then things can get slow, as some people are either stupid, or because they are from larger cities, just plain rude. 

Look, a wet person and some Devils Club: 

The images above were taken on Saturday.

On Sunday, we went back to the East Glacier train and did the loop twice.  The first time we ran as much of it as possible (especially the downhill parts) and walked the second time around. 

I have very flexible ankles, thankfully.  On the way down the first time, by left foot bent inward so the side of the foot was on the ground.  That really hurt for a while.  On the way down the second time, by right foot did the same thing, but this time it bent inward enough to the top of my foot contacted a rock and left a huge bruise on the sop of my foot.  I actually thought I broke something for a few minutes.  But as usual when my ankle does something like this, all returned to normal after a while, and we continued our hike. 

So, about 10 or 11 miles this weekend.  Not a bad start.  Or actually, not a bad start if this were March!  Oh well, I am looking forward to a nice winter hiking season.

Comments(0)

Started a batch of Strawberry-Rhubarb Wine on the 21st.  The rhubarb is from my garden, and the strawberries are from Costco.  The berries that are in the primary have not been chopped up, as they were frozen.  I cut them the next day when they were thawed, and whole strawberries make for a better picture.

The recipe is one that I found on the Internet at Jack Kellers web site, and it looked interesting and easy, so I decided to try it.  The only deviation is that I added only half of the citric acid.  I will add more later when I know the wine needs it. 

This is my ingredient list:

24 lbs. frozen strawberries

12 lbs. red rhubarb stalks

6 cup Welch’s 100% White Grape Juice frozen concentrate

Water to make 6 gallon batch (will be adjusted later)

4.5  lbs. granulated sugar

3 tsp. citric acid (more may be added later)

4.5 tsp. peptic enzyme

3/4 tsp. powdered tannin

5 crushed Campden tablet

6 tsp. yeast nutrient

1 sachet Red Star Côte des Blancs wine yeast

I pitched the yeast on the 22nd and the wine took a day to start fermenting, but it is going quite strong now.  The slow start is partially due to the temperature of the room where I ferment my wine.  I do all my fermenting in my computer room, which is usually at temperatures in the 60 – 65 degree range, a bit cool for starting a ferment.  But it started and now the house smells like strawberries and alcohol, so all must be well. 

Foaming when pressing down the cap is moderate, though fermentation is quite active.  The image on the right is the berries standing in liquid for a day to defrost.  After the berries defrosted, I cut them with a (really sharp) knife and scissors.  All went well, and much easier than doing it on a cutting board – less juice loss also.

I will transfer to a secondary on the 29th, at which time I will adjust for liquid levels as well as acid.

Comments(0)

Have you ever read the ingredients on the bread that you purchase at the supermarket?  I have, and since then, I have rarely purchased manufactured bread.  So, lets take a look at what is in say, Wonder Bread:

Whole wheat flour, water, wheat gluten, high fructose corn syrup, contains 2% of less of: soybean oil, salt, molasses, yeast, mono and diglycerides, exthoxylated mono and diglycerides, dough conditioners (sodium stearoyl lactylate, calcium iodate, calcium dioxide), datem, calcium sulfate, vinegar, yeast nutrient (ammonium sulfate), extracts of malted barley and corn, dicalcium phosphate, diammonium phosphate, calcium propionate (to retain freshness).

Mmmmm. Nothing like lots of artificial yum-yums in your food.  Don’t get me wrong.  I grew up eating and absolutely love Wonder Bread, especially with peanut butter, but seriously, do we really need ingredients in our bread that we have to get a degree in chemistry to understand?  I am sure, because the scientists say so, that these ingredients have no negative side effects on humans, but neither, according to the same scientists, did Thalidomide.  Well, for a while at least.

Anyway, all I really wanted to say is that I now, with some exception, make all of my own bread, and do not understand why everyone does not do the same.  I know that time is precious when both individuals in a household have to work to make ends meet, but just a few minutes away from the TV (or the beer bottle) each week will provide enough time to make all of your baked goods from scratch.

How long does it take to make bread?  Maybe 15 minutes to find and put all the ingredients in a mixer and knead them.  Another 10 minutes to shape the dough put them in pans.  One minute to put them in the oven, with another minute required to take the bread out.  Yea, I know.  I left a few hours out, but you really have to do nothing as the bread rises or bakes, so you can open another beer and take American Idol off pause as the bread can take care of itself, somewhat like your kids are probably doing.

Mixing, In The Bowl, It Has Risen:

Ready for Baking, Finished Bread:

The recipe for the bread in the pictures is at:  Multi-Grain Bread Recipe

I generally make oatmeal on the weekends.  I heat 2 1/4 cups of water along with one cup of rolled oats (NOT instant), 1/8 cup wheat bran, 1/8 cup Malto-Meal, and 1/4 Bob’s Red Mill 10-Grain Cereal.  When the mixture comes to a boil, I reduce the heat to the lowest temperature, and let sit until done.   The left over’s are used for bread.

I have always wanted to grind my own flour.  I thought about using my Vita-Mix, but did not have a dry blade container until Costco had them for a relatively cheap price last year.  There is some discussion concerning nutrient loss using a Vita Mix for grinding grain due to the temperature resulting from the processing, but I am not sure of the validity of this argument, since I bake my bread to an internal temperature of approximately 185 degrees, and the Vita-Mix processed flour does not come close to that temperature.  Someday I will buy a nice manual grain mill.

Since I started processing my own flour, I no longer use unbleached white flour in the bread, just whole wheat and maybe some barley or soy flour.  The taste and texture is quite different than sore purchased whole wheat flour, with a richer taste and a rougher, but very pleasant, mouth feel.   The mouth feel is different because the grind is not as fine as commercial flour.  Oh, I do not make my bread in the Vita-Mix.  I have tried that using this model, and my older metal one that I gave my daughter.  All attempts resulted in massive fail.  I make bread in my KitchenAid.

I really did not intend to go on and on about this subject, but since I did, I did. 

I just tasted one of the little loafs, and it was perfect.  Dense, moist, rich, and a bit sweet from the honey.

Now, about my head.  It hurts!  Went to the gym today and did a few light (135 pound) bench presses.  The pain returned.  Have a doctor appointment for later this week.  I love old age! 

Comments(0)