Where Does The Time Go?

     Holy hell, does time fly.  Not long ago it was Thanksgiving and Puddles was trying his damnedest to infect the rest of us with his miserable cold, now here it is Chrismahannukwanza.  Slim's got finals, it's Puddle's busiest time of year at work, and I'm just trying to hold everything together.  I'm brewing when I can and now that I've got a few good IPA's lined up, it might be time to do a nice porter or stout.  I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but I'm really enjoying this White Labs 051 California Ale yeast.  If fits my tastes so well, and I can't wait to see what it does for a dark beer.  I'm looking forward to this winter break, one of the things on Slim's to-do list is head down to the Stone Brewing beer garden for lunch.  I think I can spare the time.

Fermenters Topped Up

     O.K., both of the fermenters are full and in a few weeks I'll be able to put beer in bottles.  There have been little stumbles along the way, like letting my gypsum supply fall low, though none as bad as the thermometer incident. Oh, speaking of thermometers, don't bother with those floating thermometers (BSG?  BGS?) sold at brew shops. It tested out fine with ice water, but after that?  Wildly inaccurate.  In a pinch on brew day I remembered I had an eight dollar candy making thermometer in the back of a kitchen drawer which proved to be spot on across the board.  I'm going to order another lab thermometer online to keep everything calibrated from here on out, but that floating thermometer goes straight in the trash.  Any way, back to the beer.  Both IPAs.  Nugget in both for bittering and Bravo/Denali as aroma hops in one, Centennial/Chinook in the other.
     So what am I doing while I wait for bottling day, besides planning my next beer?  Lots and lots of cooking.  Today it's home made corn tortillas.  I haven't made them in a while, and even though I have two good tortillerias here in town, there's nothing as satisfying as home made.  My grandmother, aunt, and mom made home made flour tortillas almost every day for years before giving into store bought but I never could get the hang of rolling them out.  A tortilla press makes corn tortillas nearly idiot proof.  Fresh corn torts, chicken in chipotle, a few pickled onions, black beans, and some cheese... I'm going to need a bigger hike.

We're Back, And Beer Botched Already

     We're back from Mesa Verde, and while it was a lovely trip I'm glad to be home.  The weather was cold, rainy, then snowy.  We practically had the place to ourselves.  I found some very good beer on the road, but the food situation was a different story.  I think I had some of the worst food I've ever eaten on this trip.  From now on, Puddles is no longer allowed to pick restaurants on road trips.
     Once we were home and everything squared away, I picked up the ingredients for the first batch of beer this season.  It's been a few months since I've brewed, and I was being especially careful.  I caught a mistake in the hop calculations and fixed that even before the grains were in the mash tun, but then it happened.  A stupid mistake with my thermometer and snap, the bulb end broke off in the mash.  How many IBU's does a drop of mercury add to one's beer?  I'll never know, because I dumped the entire mash out.  Fuck, fuckity, fuck fuck.  Well, it's back to the brew shop and a do-over tomorrow.

We're Off

     Slim is going to be holding down the fort at home while Puddles and I are off on his idea of a dream trip.  We  have opposing ideas of what a dream trip might be where travel is concerned, but since he picked the location I got to pick the season and everything else will work itself out, I'm sure.  The only prerequisite I insisted on was that we be able to do a real hike every day.  Wish me luck.

Keeping Busy

     I'm trying to navigate the ups and downs, and feeling like I'm carrying the weight of the world on my shoulders.  Here's one of the things that has gone right lately, a paella with chorizo and chicken.  I did a lot of research trying to put a recipe together and got a kick out of all the differing opinions on what makes a paella an authentic paella.  Since none of the nitwits arguing their case were using snails or rabbits, I think I can safely say if no paella is authentic then all paellas are authentic, especially if they turn out as delicious as this one.  That cast iron pan is an old one, from the 1800's.  It belonged to either Puddles' great or great-great grandmother, we're not sure.  His mom stopped using it a long time ago, and she passed it on to us when she found out I like cast iron pans.  It's one of my go to pans for cooking outdoors over coals or wood, and it was just the thing for this paella.  Anyway, back to the grind.

Blogger Help

    O.K., here's the thing.  I sign in to Blogger and I can comment on other peoples' blogs, access my blog and write posts, but when I try to respond to someone in my comment section it won't go through.  Has this happened to anyone out there, and if so how did you fix it? 
     Oh yeah, after I sign in, whenever I go to another blog or click "view blog" from my home page, the upper right hand corner of the screen indicates that I'm not signed in. 

The Little Things

     Oh my, I've cleared the first hurdle in the ongoing saga of financial house fuckery, and as my reward I received a reminder of why I'm doing all this for Slim.  I was in bed last night when he came home and poked his head into the room, saying, "I brought you a little surprise to thank you for all of your hard work."  Slim had gone to dinner with a friend at our favorite Chinese place and I assumed he saved his fortune cookie for me (I have an irrational love of fortune cookies).  So, I wake up this morning and what do I find in the refrigerator?  A sixer of Racer 5 AND some leftover bbq pork fried rice.  What!?  He's a good boy, that son of mine.  Needless to say, I've been so busy handling stuff for other people that I've fallen behind in my brewing.  I'm down to one six pack of home brew, and this gift is very welcome.  With a long vacation coming up next month, I don't know if I'm going to get a chance to brew anything before Puddles and I leave.  I can't remember the last time the two of us took off without Slim.  Ten years, maybe?  Slim is going to stay and hold the fort down while we head out on a road trip.  Ugh, the finish line is almost in sight. 

ps.  Is anyone else having a problem with blogger comments today?  I've tried posting a few times now in response to your comment, Debra, and nothing is going through.