Hi all! So, like, any new readers out there now that I've passed 2000 page views? Anyone? Hello... ello... ello...? Hmmmm, nice echo, cool. No worries, I can always write this now so that when I'm rich and famous everyone will be flocking here (like sheep to the slaughter HA HA!).
Back to Alaska; then and now
Then
During my many decades in the frozen north, I was into many sports. I didn't like the team events (although I like watching them for the strategy). For a while I ran (among other sports, more later). I did the cross-country races in high school, and afterwards ran just for the heck of it.
One year, I decided to get in shape to run the Equinox marathon in Fairbanks --oddly enough, held on the fall equinox, Sept 21. So I spent the summer (in Anchorage while tossing freight around for work) getting in shape. I'll spare you the details, with this one exception...
I decided that on one of my rest evenings after work (resting from running) to hike up Wolverine Peak in the nearby mountains. Fairly short (4 to 6 miles, I think), and not that steep (4000 feet, could've been 4500???) so it wouldn't be a problem doing it after work since it was light till almost midnight. Oh yeah, I forgot a water bottle.
After a mile, I got bored with hiking and started running... I ran to the top... not stopping, no water. The rocky, loose sections weren't bad since I'd practically grown up outside. The snowfield crossing was easy, except when a foot would break through and "posthole" in the deep snow --ouch.
The last mile was the easiest since it was along a ridgeline --2000 foot drop down either side! Wee-hoo, keep running!
Anyways, at the top some other folks there looked at me like I was crazy (they were right). One guy asked if I was training for the Mt Marathon race. No, I think I might do Crow Pass though, however I'm training for the Equinox up in Fairbanks, was my reply. Yup, I was definitely CRAZY!
A quick swig of water from one of them, and I was off down the mountain. Fastest miles of my life, that was. Got down to the parking lot, drove home.
Did it again the next day.
Now
Ummmm, I get winded cleaning the pool...
Tour:
Damn those Frenchies! How dare they have a bike race in the middle of the night? Do you know how much fun it is to stay awake (and coherent) till 2 and 3 am for 3 weeks straight (without getting to sleep till noon the next day)? Let me tell ya something: me and mister caffeine are DEFINITELY on good terms. Last night was a rest night, which means I got to sleep --wee-hoo!
I'm more than majorly bummed about Mick's wipe out; he could have won the tour with that breakaway, damn. Also, being a fellow Adelaidian, I wish Stuey a fast recovery from his 9 broken ribs, punctured lung, and broken shoulder blade. Now you know why I don't race!
Like everyone, I don't think the chicken will hold yellow through the time trials, and Cadel is in good position. However: I'm REALLY rooting for Moreau now (a frenchie) cus he's been the only GC contender to actually make attacks! Good on ya, mate!
House:
Did you guess the number of doors (entrances)? SEVEN! Cool, eh?
Did I mention the solid timber staircase at the end of the marble (real marble) tiled entranceway?
Did I mention our master bedroom is 348 sq feet?
Remember, you can't bring your guns down here to shoot me! Nyah, nyah!
Food Stuff:
Sorry, I'm late with this and I've got a dinner to cook for the clan. Next entry will be all about food though, promise!
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Sunday, July 15, 2007
Just a quickie... and a house update
Well, well. A few more days have come and gone, MY how time flies as we get older! My back actually continues to get better, I hope to be able to take real bike rides soon :)
Speaking of bikes... Dave's Le Tour Update: The blokes have just finished the first mountain stage, and a summit finish is up for tonight. We all know that Vino and Klodi are hurting from injuries. In fact, Valverde has said that he and his team want to drop Vino on the last climb tonight (local Aussie time). Ummmmm, Vino has an overall podium finish under his belt, whereas Valverde had yet to even FINISH a TDF. Ah, kid, shut your mouth!
I'd like to think that Vino is playing poker with his injuries, but they do look pretty bad. And it's hard to imagine Klodi riding through the mountains with a broken tailbone: OUCH.
I'd love to see Cadel take the overall, but I think the team has had to do too much work for Robbie the first week. Same thing with Sastre; CSC worked damned hard for Fabian and Sastre isn't a world-class time trialist.
I'll make a prediction here, and it's based on both Vino and Klodi's injuries being bad. Final GC: Levi, Moreau, Mick. Not the 3 I'd have picked if there hadn't been many wipeouts the first week, and I do have good reasons for not picking other favs (involving team politics). They are basically the 3 GC contenders who are the SOLE leader for their team, their ENTIRE team is behind them, and they haven't had any bad spills on the flats the first week. How's that for logic? Oh, yeah: they can all time trial!
Oh, I was very happy with Gerdemann's win, been watching him for a year: Good Kid!
House teaser:
Did I tell you there are FOUR bathrooms? Well, there are! Did I mention that the entranceway just inside the double glass doors is marble tiled? Oh, perhaps I haven't... Well, it is!!!
Go ahead everyone, guess how many doors there are (the double glass entranceway counts as ONE). The person who gets closest gets a virtual hug and a virtual swim in the pool.
Food Stuff:
I've got a recipe for shrooms for you, but that'll have to wait till later. Instead, you get a pic of the finished peanut butter cheesecake with hot chocolate sauce topping, Try not to drool on your monitor, eh?
Speaking of bikes... Dave's Le Tour Update: The blokes have just finished the first mountain stage, and a summit finish is up for tonight. We all know that Vino and Klodi are hurting from injuries. In fact, Valverde has said that he and his team want to drop Vino on the last climb tonight (local Aussie time). Ummmmm, Vino has an overall podium finish under his belt, whereas Valverde had yet to even FINISH a TDF. Ah, kid, shut your mouth!
I'd like to think that Vino is playing poker with his injuries, but they do look pretty bad. And it's hard to imagine Klodi riding through the mountains with a broken tailbone: OUCH.
I'd love to see Cadel take the overall, but I think the team has had to do too much work for Robbie the first week. Same thing with Sastre; CSC worked damned hard for Fabian and Sastre isn't a world-class time trialist.
I'll make a prediction here, and it's based on both Vino and Klodi's injuries being bad. Final GC: Levi, Moreau, Mick. Not the 3 I'd have picked if there hadn't been many wipeouts the first week, and I do have good reasons for not picking other favs (involving team politics). They are basically the 3 GC contenders who are the SOLE leader for their team, their ENTIRE team is behind them, and they haven't had any bad spills on the flats the first week. How's that for logic? Oh, yeah: they can all time trial!
Oh, I was very happy with Gerdemann's win, been watching him for a year: Good Kid!
House teaser:
Did I tell you there are FOUR bathrooms? Well, there are! Did I mention that the entranceway just inside the double glass doors is marble tiled? Oh, perhaps I haven't... Well, it is!!!
Go ahead everyone, guess how many doors there are (the double glass entranceway counts as ONE). The person who gets closest gets a virtual hug and a virtual swim in the pool.
Food Stuff:
I've got a recipe for shrooms for you, but that'll have to wait till later. Instead, you get a pic of the finished peanut butter cheesecake with hot chocolate sauce topping, Try not to drool on your monitor, eh?
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Warning: This Blog Is Rated R
Can you believe it??? I get an R rating... huh? Here I am, semi-retired, and I have a blog about cooking, Alaskan stuff, stupid stories, and some pointless ramblings.
Apparently, that site searches your recent entries for keywords, and rates the blog based on keywords.
The keywords that earned my an R rating were: hell, crap, hurt, kill, knife. Well, well, I guess I'm more violent than a Hollywood movie now :)
Food Stuff:
Referring back to yesterdays recipe, to get the frozen cheesecake out of the pie dish, float it in a sink of very hot water. This is why you butter the dish even though it's not being baked. One minute floating in hot water is enough to melt the butter, and the pie (still frozen), crust too, pops right out!
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Back to Alaska (sort of)
Back to ALASKA!!! (and part of the new house)
No, no... I'm not moving back to the "frozen north". The title of this pertains more to the fact that it's been YONKS since I've written anything about Alaska. Now, for some reason, every single person I've met down here in Oz is fascinated with Alaska --many of them think it's part of Canada (if only!!!!). There's also lots of online folk (I'm guessing big city types) that seem to love Alaska.
Whoops, it's now the next day... my how time flies. I'll bet none of you even noticed that 24 break in my typing, eh?
Alaska story: This was on one of my bicycle trips from Anchorage to Fairbanks (360 miles). I was with a good friend of mine, Rich, and we were doing the trip on our mountain bikes set up with road tires (I've ridden knobby tires all the way to Fairbanks, and let me tell ya, IT'S HARD!). It was a beautiful fall day, late August, sunny, warm (by Alaskan standards, bloody-well cold by Aussie standards) and we were having a grand time.
It was also still tourist season... campers and winnebagos abounded --the shoulder was wide and they were all cool while passing, no worries. As we rode up one hill, we both decided to take a short break. We leaned our bikes up against the guardrail and sat down on the six-foot wide shoulder. That's when we noticed the pavement was very very warm :) Since both of us were somewhat lazy, we decided to lay down and stretch out on the nice warm pavement next to the guardrail.
On retrospect, it was not a good idea...
Picture this: Two bikes leaned against a guardrail on a road in the middle of nowhere, and two guys stretched out on the roadside. Now, any Alaskan would drive right past; because they KNOW there are very few chances for Alaskans to work on their tans (we had taken our shirts off). However, after about the 10th kindly, elderly tourist stopping to ask if we were ok, we hopped back on the bikes and continued to Fairbanks.
Moral to this story: What Alaskans think of as normal, the rest of the world thinks is a little bit crazy.
Tidbit (or two) about the new house
Did I mention there is a pool??? Did I? Well, there is! This is an L-shaped pool that's 29 sq meters --that's 315 sq feet, larger than some apartments!!!! Wee-hoo, I'll be spending a LOT of time in it this summer.
Did I mention the FOUR patios and the walk-around second story deck???? Well, I have now! I'm a smug bastard, eh?
Did I mention the parquet flooring and the sunken lounge in the 3rd family room??? Oh.... I can hear the teeth gnashing from here! TTHHHHBBBTT
There's only 5 palm trees dotted around the grounds, and I don't have any grape vines so I'll have to find a neighbor with some vines so I can make my homemade dolmades this season... Gotta have some drawbacks, eh?
The tour! I'm not normally a fan of the beginning flat stages, but HOLY SHIT did anyone see the last 60 k's of stage 3? It was great to see the chase, and even better to see what Fabian was able to do at the end in yellow! Go find a highlight vid, you won't be disappointed.
Food Stuff:
Peanut butter cheesecake with hot chocolate sauce
What you need:
For the crust:
1/3 to 1/2 pound of crunchy chocolate chip cookies
2-3 tbsp melted butter --slightly cooled
1 tbsp milk
For the Filling:
3/4 cup crunchy peanut butter
1/2 cup of cream
1/2 pound softened cream cheese
1/2 cup sugar
For the chocolate sauce:
1/3 to 1/2 pound dark chocolate --chopped coarsely
1 tbsp butter
1/2 cup cream
What you do:
In a food processor, process the cookies until the are a fine texture. Then add the butter and milk; process some more.
Press the crust mixture into a buttered pie or flan dish. Chuck it in the fridge for an hour to harden and set.
For the filling; add the peanut butter and cream to a small saucepan, then mix/whisk over low heat until it's combined. Let it cool. While that's cooling, mix the cream cheese and sugar in a bowl with an electric mixers (you know, the kind with the beaters you licked as a kid?), until it's smooth. Then stir in the peanut butter mixture thoroughly.
Put the filling into the crust (duh), then chuck it all in the freezer overnight.
The next day...: Just before serving, make the hot chocolate sauce. Put the dark chocolate and butter and cream in a small saucepan and heat slowly while stirring (you don't need a double boiler for this).
Then (here's the easy part): slice the frozen cheesecake and top with the hot chocolate sauce.
In case you hadn't guessed, it's rather rich... I'd suggest very very small pieces...
No, no... I'm not moving back to the "frozen north". The title of this pertains more to the fact that it's been YONKS since I've written anything about Alaska. Now, for some reason, every single person I've met down here in Oz is fascinated with Alaska --many of them think it's part of Canada (if only!!!!). There's also lots of online folk (I'm guessing big city types) that seem to love Alaska.
Whoops, it's now the next day... my how time flies. I'll bet none of you even noticed that 24 break in my typing, eh?
Alaska story: This was on one of my bicycle trips from Anchorage to Fairbanks (360 miles). I was with a good friend of mine, Rich, and we were doing the trip on our mountain bikes set up with road tires (I've ridden knobby tires all the way to Fairbanks, and let me tell ya, IT'S HARD!). It was a beautiful fall day, late August, sunny, warm (by Alaskan standards, bloody-well cold by Aussie standards) and we were having a grand time.
It was also still tourist season... campers and winnebagos abounded --the shoulder was wide and they were all cool while passing, no worries. As we rode up one hill, we both decided to take a short break. We leaned our bikes up against the guardrail and sat down on the six-foot wide shoulder. That's when we noticed the pavement was very very warm :) Since both of us were somewhat lazy, we decided to lay down and stretch out on the nice warm pavement next to the guardrail.
On retrospect, it was not a good idea...
Picture this: Two bikes leaned against a guardrail on a road in the middle of nowhere, and two guys stretched out on the roadside. Now, any Alaskan would drive right past; because they KNOW there are very few chances for Alaskans to work on their tans (we had taken our shirts off). However, after about the 10th kindly, elderly tourist stopping to ask if we were ok, we hopped back on the bikes and continued to Fairbanks.
Moral to this story: What Alaskans think of as normal, the rest of the world thinks is a little bit crazy.
Tidbit (or two) about the new house
Did I mention there is a pool??? Did I? Well, there is! This is an L-shaped pool that's 29 sq meters --that's 315 sq feet, larger than some apartments!!!! Wee-hoo, I'll be spending a LOT of time in it this summer.
Did I mention the FOUR patios and the walk-around second story deck???? Well, I have now! I'm a smug bastard, eh?
Did I mention the parquet flooring and the sunken lounge in the 3rd family room??? Oh.... I can hear the teeth gnashing from here! TTHHHHBBBTT
There's only 5 palm trees dotted around the grounds, and I don't have any grape vines so I'll have to find a neighbor with some vines so I can make my homemade dolmades this season... Gotta have some drawbacks, eh?
The tour! I'm not normally a fan of the beginning flat stages, but HOLY SHIT did anyone see the last 60 k's of stage 3? It was great to see the chase, and even better to see what Fabian was able to do at the end in yellow! Go find a highlight vid, you won't be disappointed.
Food Stuff:
Peanut butter cheesecake with hot chocolate sauce
What you need:
For the crust:
1/3 to 1/2 pound of crunchy chocolate chip cookies
2-3 tbsp melted butter --slightly cooled
1 tbsp milk
For the Filling:
3/4 cup crunchy peanut butter
1/2 cup of cream
1/2 pound softened cream cheese
1/2 cup sugar
For the chocolate sauce:
1/3 to 1/2 pound dark chocolate --chopped coarsely
1 tbsp butter
1/2 cup cream
What you do:
In a food processor, process the cookies until the are a fine texture. Then add the butter and milk; process some more.
Press the crust mixture into a buttered pie or flan dish. Chuck it in the fridge for an hour to harden and set.
For the filling; add the peanut butter and cream to a small saucepan, then mix/whisk over low heat until it's combined. Let it cool. While that's cooling, mix the cream cheese and sugar in a bowl with an electric mixers (you know, the kind with the beaters you licked as a kid?), until it's smooth. Then stir in the peanut butter mixture thoroughly.
Put the filling into the crust (duh), then chuck it all in the freezer overnight.
The next day...: Just before serving, make the hot chocolate sauce. Put the dark chocolate and butter and cream in a small saucepan and heat slowly while stirring (you don't need a double boiler for this).
Then (here's the easy part): slice the frozen cheesecake and top with the hot chocolate sauce.
In case you hadn't guessed, it's rather rich... I'd suggest very very small pieces...
Monday, July 09, 2007
The move from Hell, stage Last!
Gosh howdy folks! This is the Move From Hell, stage last.
Before I get to stage last, did anyone watch stage one of the Tour last night? That was the most exciting sprint finish I've ever seen, and Robbie is a damned incredible bike rider. 6 or 7 years ago I didn't like him, but he has matured with age and grown up a lot. If you didn't see it, folks are already calling it a Miracle Finish. Just watch it!
Getting back to the move... I was planning on doing a whole huge long story about it, but I've kinda ran out of steam. So l'll do a summing up.
IT RAINED!!!!! I know that may not surprise many of you, but we've been in a drought for a few years. Guess what? The drought broke, which would normally be good news. I just wish it had waited 10 more days, blech. I had the truck for 9 days --should have been seven, oh well. I got wet but was able to dodge showers well enough that nothing got soaked. Oh, the help I was supposed to have on the heavy and/or bulky stuff didn't materialise --what a shock! Fortunately, I was able to do it all myself... what FUN!
I somehow managed to find space in the new house for everything. That's pretty amazing considering this house doesn't have a huge garage like the last house. However, it does have quite a few features that are very very very very very nice. I'll tell you about that next time --I promise.
Getting back to the Tour. I thought that Fabian's ride in the prologue was incredible and that there wouldn't be any big dramas till stage seven. Boy was I wrong! What Robbie's team did and then was he did in the last 15 k's was the stuff of legend. He's won 178 races in his career and many people are already saying it's his best ever. Go watch the highlights, then see if you can find someone who recorded the whole thing (like me) and watch the last 30 to 40 mins. You won't be disappointed.
Food Stuff
A simple, tasty lamb soup.
You can do this with pretty much any meat, I just happened to have some off-cuts left from a side of lamb the other day. Also, lamb is darned cheap down here.
What you need:
A pound or two of lamb offcuts
lots of dried basil
salt
pepper
water
carrots, peeled and sliced
potatoes, peeled and diced
What you do:
Fill a big pot with a lot of water, put in the meat. Add salt (at least a few teaspoons), ground black pepper, and basil (at least 2 teaspoons).Boil for an hour or so --covered so it doesn't reduce. Let it cool, then strain and add the liquid back into the pot after skimming the fat off*. Pick all the meat off the lamb pieces, toss the fat and bones away.
Put the meat, the potatoes, the carrots, and more basil all in the pot with the broth. Cook till carrots and spuds are done to you liking. Then eat with good fresh bread.
*There are several ways to de-fat broth. Let me know if you are interested, always happy to help.
Oh, this is even better the next day!
Before I get to stage last, did anyone watch stage one of the Tour last night? That was the most exciting sprint finish I've ever seen, and Robbie is a damned incredible bike rider. 6 or 7 years ago I didn't like him, but he has matured with age and grown up a lot. If you didn't see it, folks are already calling it a Miracle Finish. Just watch it!
Getting back to the move... I was planning on doing a whole huge long story about it, but I've kinda ran out of steam. So l'll do a summing up.
IT RAINED!!!!! I know that may not surprise many of you, but we've been in a drought for a few years. Guess what? The drought broke, which would normally be good news. I just wish it had waited 10 more days, blech. I had the truck for 9 days --should have been seven, oh well. I got wet but was able to dodge showers well enough that nothing got soaked. Oh, the help I was supposed to have on the heavy and/or bulky stuff didn't materialise --what a shock! Fortunately, I was able to do it all myself... what FUN!
I somehow managed to find space in the new house for everything. That's pretty amazing considering this house doesn't have a huge garage like the last house. However, it does have quite a few features that are very very very very very nice. I'll tell you about that next time --I promise.
Getting back to the Tour. I thought that Fabian's ride in the prologue was incredible and that there wouldn't be any big dramas till stage seven. Boy was I wrong! What Robbie's team did and then was he did in the last 15 k's was the stuff of legend. He's won 178 races in his career and many people are already saying it's his best ever. Go watch the highlights, then see if you can find someone who recorded the whole thing (like me) and watch the last 30 to 40 mins. You won't be disappointed.
Food Stuff
A simple, tasty lamb soup.
You can do this with pretty much any meat, I just happened to have some off-cuts left from a side of lamb the other day. Also, lamb is darned cheap down here.
What you need:
A pound or two of lamb offcuts
lots of dried basil
salt
pepper
water
carrots, peeled and sliced
potatoes, peeled and diced
What you do:
Fill a big pot with a lot of water, put in the meat. Add salt (at least a few teaspoons), ground black pepper, and basil (at least 2 teaspoons).Boil for an hour or so --covered so it doesn't reduce. Let it cool, then strain and add the liquid back into the pot after skimming the fat off*. Pick all the meat off the lamb pieces, toss the fat and bones away.
Put the meat, the potatoes, the carrots, and more basil all in the pot with the broth. Cook till carrots and spuds are done to you liking. Then eat with good fresh bread.
*There are several ways to de-fat broth. Let me know if you are interested, always happy to help.
Oh, this is even better the next day!
Friday, June 29, 2007
The Move From H*ll; Stage 1
The move from hell; stage 1
You know, if I was smarter (biiiig IF!), I should've timed this story to start on Saturday, July 7th. Get it? Prologue? Stage 1? Tour de France???
Oh well, since I'm not smarter...
The last time we moved we had a "moving company" (down here they call them "removalists") move everything we'd packed. It didn't go well, the boss of the company was there and he insisted on stacking stuff in the truck himself (instead of his helper who was much more experienced at it), and much of our bookshelves, desks, etc were pretty scuffed up. Also, he was working at a snails pace figuring he could milk us for around $2500. After 20 mins I saw what he was doing so I grabbed my own hand truck and started running loads to the truck along with his helper. His helper was a very cool guy and a damned fast worker, he was also pissed at the loading job his boss was doing so he and I loaded and unloaded very quickly. All in all, we got away with $1600.
Also, since I had to really hurry for 2 days (3 HUGE truckloads) I kinda tweaked my back; but that's another story.
Anyways, this time we decided to rent a truck. Me, being a former truck driver and freight tosser arounder, would be able to drive it. I also know how to move large, awkward, and heavy things without killing yourself --as long as you don't rush! It turns out they are pretty darned cheap and come with a liftgate, cool! For 10 days of having the truck (see, I told you we wasn't hurrying) it was just under $800. No worries. The truck was also the EXACT SAME MODEL as one that I used to drive in Fairbanks for 4 years.
What could be easier, right?
Famous last words... Stay tuned for stage 2!
Went to the Egyptian exhibit today. It's the one from the Louvre (in France) that's been on display at our state art gallery for 3 months. It was amazing! Unfortunately, no cameras, darn.
Got to see lots and lots of really neat old stuff. There were even sections of The Book of The Dead on the orginal papyrus! Oh the fun I could've had if I could read heiroglyphics! It would've been neat to see that mummy of a cat come to life and terrorise everyone --WEEHOO!
I'll talk more about the exhibit next time, just wanted to get something about it in today.
Food Stuff:
What's that you say? You're making something and the recipe calls for buttermilk? But, you don't have any buttermilk and the shops just closed! Oh, the horrors! What to do now...??? Have no fear, dave is here!
Buttermilk substitute:
250 mils (8 oz (1 cup)) of skim milk
1 tbspn lemon juice or cider vineger*
Mix the first two ingredients together and stir. Let sit for 5 mins. Wa-La! instant buttermilk!
*don't use distilled vinegar EVER, for ANYTHING --you don't want to know what it's gone through or what it started out as (I'll give you a hint: think yummy, scrumptious leftover heavy crude oil). Always use fermented vinegar.
You know, if I was smarter (biiiig IF!), I should've timed this story to start on Saturday, July 7th. Get it? Prologue? Stage 1? Tour de France???
Oh well, since I'm not smarter...
The last time we moved we had a "moving company" (down here they call them "removalists") move everything we'd packed. It didn't go well, the boss of the company was there and he insisted on stacking stuff in the truck himself (instead of his helper who was much more experienced at it), and much of our bookshelves, desks, etc were pretty scuffed up. Also, he was working at a snails pace figuring he could milk us for around $2500. After 20 mins I saw what he was doing so I grabbed my own hand truck and started running loads to the truck along with his helper. His helper was a very cool guy and a damned fast worker, he was also pissed at the loading job his boss was doing so he and I loaded and unloaded very quickly. All in all, we got away with $1600.
Also, since I had to really hurry for 2 days (3 HUGE truckloads) I kinda tweaked my back; but that's another story.
Anyways, this time we decided to rent a truck. Me, being a former truck driver and freight tosser arounder, would be able to drive it. I also know how to move large, awkward, and heavy things without killing yourself --as long as you don't rush! It turns out they are pretty darned cheap and come with a liftgate, cool! For 10 days of having the truck (see, I told you we wasn't hurrying) it was just under $800. No worries. The truck was also the EXACT SAME MODEL as one that I used to drive in Fairbanks for 4 years.
What could be easier, right?
Famous last words... Stay tuned for stage 2!
Went to the Egyptian exhibit today. It's the one from the Louvre (in France) that's been on display at our state art gallery for 3 months. It was amazing! Unfortunately, no cameras, darn.
Got to see lots and lots of really neat old stuff. There were even sections of The Book of The Dead on the orginal papyrus! Oh the fun I could've had if I could read heiroglyphics! It would've been neat to see that mummy of a cat come to life and terrorise everyone --WEEHOO!
I'll talk more about the exhibit next time, just wanted to get something about it in today.
Food Stuff:
What's that you say? You're making something and the recipe calls for buttermilk? But, you don't have any buttermilk and the shops just closed! Oh, the horrors! What to do now...??? Have no fear, dave is here!
Buttermilk substitute:
250 mils (8 oz (1 cup)) of skim milk
1 tbspn lemon juice or cider vineger*
Mix the first two ingredients together and stir. Let sit for 5 mins. Wa-La! instant buttermilk!
*don't use distilled vinegar EVER, for ANYTHING --you don't want to know what it's gone through or what it started out as (I'll give you a hint: think yummy, scrumptious leftover heavy crude oil). Always use fermented vinegar.
Thursday, June 28, 2007
The Move From Hell --Prologue
Well, The Move From H*ll is done and finished. The Cold/Flu/Sinus Infection From H*ll is also over...
Does that explain why I haven't been blogging for 2 months? My last post was on friday the 13th, and no, I'm not superstitious about the number 13 --I happen to know why it's considered an unlucky number and the reason is pretty sickening, nuff said.
Anyways... That week we had got a load (2200 pounds) of firewood for the winter (yes, there are winters down here), and we had a call from the real estate agency informing us that the owner wants to sell the house. Now, this we knew cus he told us himself 2 weeks previous. However, the B*STARD also told us we have plenty of time and he is in no hurry. Hmmmm, I guess 2 weeks in his little world is "plenty of time". Our lease was through September, but we didn't want to go through weekly open inspections for 6 months.
Sooooo... "A packing we will go... A packing we will go... Hi Ho the Dairyo a packing we will go!"
The story continues... stay tuned!
Food Stuff
Grilled Cheese sandwich!
Yes, I hear you all (all 2 of you) groan... "Dave, why the hell are you putting a recipe for a grilled cheese sandwich here?"
My answer is: A proper Grilled Cheese Sandwich is an art form, and you gotta learn to do it right.
You aren't going to get any "what you need" or "what you do", we'll just dive straight in!
You'll want white bread for this (I'm a big fan of wholegrain, wholemeal, multi-grain etc breads, but nothing beats white for grilled cheese sandwiches), and cheddar cheese. You can use other types of cheeses, but I've found that cheddar melts at the same time the bread is grilled --very handy.
DO NOT TOAST THE BREAD FIRST!!!!!!!!!! That is THE cardinal sin of grilled cheese sandwich making.
Take your butter out of the fridge at least an hour previous so that it's very spreadable. Do not use margarine or any of that other spreadable crap. Butter one side of each slice of bread only; insuring you get the butter all the way to the crust and have total coverage. Sprinkle a bit of salt on each buttered side.
Slice the cheese, do not grate (it melts too quick if you grate it). Make the sandwich with the buttered side on the OUTSIDE with the cheese slices on the INSIDE (duh). Place the sandwich on a medium hot frypan/griddle pan/grill hotplate. Check the bottom after 2 mins, the bread should be toasty brown and the cheese starting to melt. Flip the sandwich over and grill till the second side is done --the cheese should be perfectly melted at this point.
Serve with hot tomato soup!
cheers,
dave
Does that explain why I haven't been blogging for 2 months? My last post was on friday the 13th, and no, I'm not superstitious about the number 13 --I happen to know why it's considered an unlucky number and the reason is pretty sickening, nuff said.
Anyways... That week we had got a load (2200 pounds) of firewood for the winter (yes, there are winters down here), and we had a call from the real estate agency informing us that the owner wants to sell the house. Now, this we knew cus he told us himself 2 weeks previous. However, the B*STARD also told us we have plenty of time and he is in no hurry. Hmmmm, I guess 2 weeks in his little world is "plenty of time". Our lease was through September, but we didn't want to go through weekly open inspections for 6 months.
Sooooo... "A packing we will go... A packing we will go... Hi Ho the Dairyo a packing we will go!"
The story continues... stay tuned!
Food Stuff
Grilled Cheese sandwich!
Yes, I hear you all (all 2 of you) groan... "Dave, why the hell are you putting a recipe for a grilled cheese sandwich here?"
My answer is: A proper Grilled Cheese Sandwich is an art form, and you gotta learn to do it right.
You aren't going to get any "what you need" or "what you do", we'll just dive straight in!
You'll want white bread for this (I'm a big fan of wholegrain, wholemeal, multi-grain etc breads, but nothing beats white for grilled cheese sandwiches), and cheddar cheese. You can use other types of cheeses, but I've found that cheddar melts at the same time the bread is grilled --very handy.
DO NOT TOAST THE BREAD FIRST!!!!!!!!!! That is THE cardinal sin of grilled cheese sandwich making.
Take your butter out of the fridge at least an hour previous so that it's very spreadable. Do not use margarine or any of that other spreadable crap. Butter one side of each slice of bread only; insuring you get the butter all the way to the crust and have total coverage. Sprinkle a bit of salt on each buttered side.
Slice the cheese, do not grate (it melts too quick if you grate it). Make the sandwich with the buttered side on the OUTSIDE with the cheese slices on the INSIDE (duh). Place the sandwich on a medium hot frypan/griddle pan/grill hotplate. Check the bottom after 2 mins, the bread should be toasty brown and the cheese starting to melt. Flip the sandwich over and grill till the second side is done --the cheese should be perfectly melted at this point.
Serve with hot tomato soup!
cheers,
dave
Friday, April 13, 2007
Greatest EVER Creamy Chicken Soup
Before I get to the food goodness that you all long for, I think I need to remind myself I've promised y'all a few stories. I shall tell you about a leg cast, and also about how I am the nicest guy ever (my bro-in-law may disagree).
However: you aren't getting either of those today. We are going to "Hide In The Woods" for the day and then go out to dinner. A whole day away from the house and the gang... ah... BLISS (insert singing angelic music here).
Speaking of hiding in the woods, remind me to tell you a story later on about that...
Alright. I've got 30 mins to type in the recipe for the Greatest EVER Creamy Chicken Soup. Ready? Hang on!
Greatest creamy chicken soup EVER!
This recipe may strike some of you as rather convoluted, but just trust me on this, ok? You'll also get to learn how to make fresh ricotta cheese along the whey (way).
What you need:
Whey from yesterdays ricotta cheese making
Chicken stock (either fresh or powdered)
4 or 5 strips of bacon
3 or 4 diced pototoes
2 cups (or so) of cream
pinch of flour
See! See??!! Doesn't that sound like a nice list? Very Very simple...
What you do:
To make the whey: mix 4 cups whole milk and 2 cups buttermilk in a pot. Heat slowly till curds form (182 F), let sit for a half hour while curds continue to form. Strain the curds through cheesecloth (now you know why it's called cheesecloth)-- I'll tell you next time about what to do with the curds as I'm running out of time this morning-- You'll be left with a quart or so of whey (the yellowish-greenish liquid after straining). That's the whey to use in the soup!
Ok, on with the show:
Fry up the bacon in the same pot you'll be doing the soup in. Remove the bacon just before it goes crispy. Add the diced potato to the bacon fat and fry for a minute while you get the flour out of the cupboard. Add a few large pinches of flour to the potatoes and continue cooking them (moving regularly with a spatula). After about 5 mins, add a cup (or so) of the whey. Stir well. You'll notice all the cooked on stuff from the bacon and spuds loosens and incorporates itself into the whey --this is called "deglazing".
Once the pot is deglazed, add in the rest of the whey and also the chicken stock. If using powdered stock, then 2 tbsp should do the trick, a cup or two if using liquid stock.
Bring it all to a low boil and simmer till the spuds are done to your liking. Add the cream, stir well. Crumble up the bacon and toss that in too.
Ta-Da! Done!
It is incredible, if I do say so myself! Serve with fresh homemade bread hot out of the oven.
However: you aren't getting either of those today. We are going to "Hide In The Woods" for the day and then go out to dinner. A whole day away from the house and the gang... ah... BLISS (insert singing angelic music here).
Speaking of hiding in the woods, remind me to tell you a story later on about that...
Alright. I've got 30 mins to type in the recipe for the Greatest EVER Creamy Chicken Soup. Ready? Hang on!
Greatest creamy chicken soup EVER!
This recipe may strike some of you as rather convoluted, but just trust me on this, ok? You'll also get to learn how to make fresh ricotta cheese along the whey (way).
What you need:
Whey from yesterdays ricotta cheese making
Chicken stock (either fresh or powdered)
4 or 5 strips of bacon
3 or 4 diced pototoes
2 cups (or so) of cream
pinch of flour
See! See??!! Doesn't that sound like a nice list? Very Very simple...
What you do:
To make the whey: mix 4 cups whole milk and 2 cups buttermilk in a pot. Heat slowly till curds form (182 F), let sit for a half hour while curds continue to form. Strain the curds through cheesecloth (now you know why it's called cheesecloth)-- I'll tell you next time about what to do with the curds as I'm running out of time this morning-- You'll be left with a quart or so of whey (the yellowish-greenish liquid after straining). That's the whey to use in the soup!
Ok, on with the show:
Fry up the bacon in the same pot you'll be doing the soup in. Remove the bacon just before it goes crispy. Add the diced potato to the bacon fat and fry for a minute while you get the flour out of the cupboard. Add a few large pinches of flour to the potatoes and continue cooking them (moving regularly with a spatula). After about 5 mins, add a cup (or so) of the whey. Stir well. You'll notice all the cooked on stuff from the bacon and spuds loosens and incorporates itself into the whey --this is called "deglazing".
Once the pot is deglazed, add in the rest of the whey and also the chicken stock. If using powdered stock, then 2 tbsp should do the trick, a cup or two if using liquid stock.
Bring it all to a low boil and simmer till the spuds are done to your liking. Add the cream, stir well. Crumble up the bacon and toss that in too.
Ta-Da! Done!
It is incredible, if I do say so myself! Serve with fresh homemade bread hot out of the oven.
Monday, April 09, 2007
Nanner, nanner, nanner!
Hey! I'm over 1000 visitors!!! Wee-Hooieee! Soon fame and fortune shall be mine... And I'd particularly like to share it all with my 2 or 3 loyal readers (whomever you may be). Huh? What's that you say? They don't give out massive cash prizes for things like this? You mean, I've wasted time hitting the "reload" button for NOTHING? Ah well, shit happens, and usually in large quantities, eh?
Last post didn't have anything to do with my favorite subject: FOOD. Please note, my second favorite is sleeping. Anyways, this post might bore some of you --as if I haven't already-- cus it's all got's to do with food.
We'll start with a recipe, but I'm sure I'll be meandering all over the food spectrum today, so please just bear with my ramblings.
Bananas Flambe --Dave style
What you knead:
Some firm bananas, pealed, and halved lengthwise
At least a half cup of butter
Half a cup (or so) of raw sugar
A splash of high quality rum
Before I start with the "what you due" section, there's a few points I'd like to write about regarding the above stuff.
Bananas vs plantains... Hey, anyone know Don King's phone number? Sounds like a good fight to me.
For those of you knot (not) in the know, a plantain IS a banana; just larger and starchier. Musa paradisica is the latin term for a plantain. Since a plantain is much starchier (I love that word: STARCHIER) than a standard banana --Musa sapientia-- you have to make sure it's cooked longer than a banana. So if you are using plantains in this recipe, make sure you slice them thinly and cook them longer.
Trivia: You've all scene (seen) seens (scenes) of a jungle on the Telly (TV) where banana trees abound --Oh Puuuuuh-leeeeaaaassssseeee try to say that fast! But it may interest you to know (and then again, maybe not) to learn that a banana plant is botanically classified as an HERB. Gotta love them big herbs. Yo, Herb! Is that you dude?
Next topic: sugar... raw sugar is what used to be known as brown sugar yonks ago (a long time ago). It now means ugly refined sugar with ultra-processed molasses added --YUCK! So... Raw Sugar Is Cool.
High Quality Rum: I don't think I need to talk about the fact that 151 from the Windies is best, eh?
Oh crap, almost forgot: what do you get when you heat butter and sugar in a saucepan? You get butterscotch (duh). Guess what? It orginates from the same area as Scotch! You know: Scotland. Traditional butterscotch is a hard candy-like treat; the mixture is allowed to cool, then it hardens, then you eat it. The wonderful butterscotch topping that you are all familiar with that is put upon your ice cream has lemon juice and cream added to it while cooking the mix in a double boiler. Let me know if you want to know how to make your own, no worries.
Ok, back to the recipe:
What you due
Melt the butter and sugar in a fry pan. When it's melted, put the bananas in. Turn them after a few mins so that they are browned on both sides (hey, it's just sugar). Then toss in the splash of 151 dark rum (reserving enough for the cook), then light it (if you have a gas cooker you don't need to light it, it should light itself).
When the flames die down (die flames, DIE), serve it up over vanilla ice cream, making sure you pour lots of the flambeed butterscotch topping over it.
Enjoy!
Last post didn't have anything to do with my favorite subject: FOOD. Please note, my second favorite is sleeping. Anyways, this post might bore some of you --as if I haven't already-- cus it's all got's to do with food.
We'll start with a recipe, but I'm sure I'll be meandering all over the food spectrum today, so please just bear with my ramblings.
Bananas Flambe --Dave style
What you knead:
Some firm bananas, pealed, and halved lengthwise
At least a half cup of butter
Half a cup (or so) of raw sugar
A splash of high quality rum
Before I start with the "what you due" section, there's a few points I'd like to write about regarding the above stuff.
Bananas vs plantains... Hey, anyone know Don King's phone number? Sounds like a good fight to me.
For those of you knot (not) in the know, a plantain IS a banana; just larger and starchier. Musa paradisica is the latin term for a plantain. Since a plantain is much starchier (I love that word: STARCHIER) than a standard banana --Musa sapientia-- you have to make sure it's cooked longer than a banana. So if you are using plantains in this recipe, make sure you slice them thinly and cook them longer.
Trivia: You've all scene (seen) seens (scenes) of a jungle on the Telly (TV) where banana trees abound --Oh Puuuuuh-leeeeaaaassssseeee try to say that fast! But it may interest you to know (and then again, maybe not) to learn that a banana plant is botanically classified as an HERB. Gotta love them big herbs. Yo, Herb! Is that you dude?
Next topic: sugar... raw sugar is what used to be known as brown sugar yonks ago (a long time ago). It now means ugly refined sugar with ultra-processed molasses added --YUCK! So... Raw Sugar Is Cool.
High Quality Rum: I don't think I need to talk about the fact that 151 from the Windies is best, eh?
Oh crap, almost forgot: what do you get when you heat butter and sugar in a saucepan? You get butterscotch (duh). Guess what? It orginates from the same area as Scotch! You know: Scotland. Traditional butterscotch is a hard candy-like treat; the mixture is allowed to cool, then it hardens, then you eat it. The wonderful butterscotch topping that you are all familiar with that is put upon your ice cream has lemon juice and cream added to it while cooking the mix in a double boiler. Let me know if you want to know how to make your own, no worries.
Ok, back to the recipe:
What you due
Melt the butter and sugar in a fry pan. When it's melted, put the bananas in. Turn them after a few mins so that they are browned on both sides (hey, it's just sugar). Then toss in the splash of 151 dark rum (reserving enough for the cook), then light it (if you have a gas cooker you don't need to light it, it should light itself).
When the flames die down (die flames, DIE), serve it up over vanilla ice cream, making sure you pour lots of the flambeed butterscotch topping over it.
Enjoy!
Saturday, April 07, 2007
Watch out for that first step...
Well, well; let's find out if I can post? Hmmmm, yup, old ancient dial-up from Oz shakes hand with blogger and even lets me login this time! Wee-Hoo!
It's not that I've be purposely ignoring the blog (and I've got a great story for you), but there are many times I can't connect to any secure server in the US from here with an old dial-up account. Gee dave, why don't you get broadband? Because we live in one of the very very very very few areas in the Hills that CAN'T get it! Oh, Telstra finally offered the area wireless broadband --at a disgustingly over-inflated price and with only a 50 meg download per month before it reverts to dial-up speeds... JERKS!
I can hear you folks in the US gasping that our broadband is capped each month, you want more megs --then you PAY loads for it.
Ah well, the price I have to pay for living in a year round summer paradise with free health care for all.
Getting back to the Alaskan Dave Down Under theme, I have a story for you. It is the story of the picture a few posts ago. Here is the pic again:
Why Did The Two Idiots Jump Off The Roof?
Remember, the bloke on the left in the red jacket (John) is now a brain surgeon, and the bloke in the blue snow pants is yours truly.
It all started when myself and two friends (they were also my teaching assistants at UAF) were renting a house close to the U. The three of us had the upstairs, and the downstairs was rented by John's girlfriend and one of her lady friends.
Do I even need to bother to tell you that there were some pretty fantastic parties at that house that year? Well, there was! Hey, I can light (and keep lit) the charcoal grill when it's -52 F outside and we had 20 people over for seafood shish-kabobs. But that is another story (along with the 3 gallons of Jim O'Briens Hurricane Punch).
That winter was also one of the heaviest snowfall season that Fairbanks had seen in many a decade! Quite a few rooves in some older houses collapsed, so did many sheds. Over at the party house, the girls couldn't see out of the downstairs windows, and you could practically step off the balcony onto the snow. John enjoyed the shovelling (he's from Alabama), but Jim and I grew up doing that crap so we let him have all the snow shovelling fun --aren't we nice?
One of the nice things about Fairbanks snow is that it is very soft and dry. Heck, you could stuff your pillow with it and it'd be softer than goose down!
Anyways, back to the story... One fine spring day in March, I was actually helping John shovel off the balcony/deck out front. As we puched the snow off the balcony, we noticed it formed a really really nice high pile of soft snowy goodness. Being the naturally inquisitive young blokes that we were at the time, we decided to climb onto the balcony railing and jump into the pile of snow. FUN! WEE-HOO!
We soon noticed that as we extracated ourselves from the pile of snow and floundered through the yard, that the snow in the yard was about SIX FEET DEEP and it was also pure, soft, pristine, powder... Our thoughts then went into overdrive as we looked at the roof at the top of the second story and then at the six feet deep powder in the yard.
Can anyone guess what came next? Let me tell you:
We got the big extension ladder from around back, leaned it up to the lowest part of the roof, and then climbed up. When we got to the roof, we quickly went right back down and grabbed shovels as the snow on the roof was over 3 feet deep. It took us the better part of an hour to shovel out a trench to get to the high part of the roof. When we looked down, we noticed the snow close to the house wasn't NEARLY as deep as the stuff in the yard --that could hurt... So we spent the next 20 mins digging out a trench of the top of the roof for a "run-up".
DOESN'T THIS SOUND LIKE FUN???!!!!??!
When we were finally ready to jump, John and I stood at the edge of the roof for A LONG TIME looking down. It's odd how when you are on the ground looking up the height doesn't seem that high... But when you are up there looking down, it's seems like you are looking off a mile high cliff.
Who should drive by, but our landlord and his wife. Yup, no joke. John and I instantly went over to a section of the roof and started shovelling snow off it in the hope that they'd figure we are doing them a great favor. Guess what? It worked! Ten minutes later they drove off.
John and I go back to the precipice...
By now, some neighborhood kids had showed up to watch (as you can tell from the photo).
John and I jumped...
Freefall...
More freefall...
FOOF!!!!!!
Whiteness everywhere, bright sky overhead, and still the feet hadn't touched the ground! WOW! FUN! HOLY SHIT LET'S DO IT AGAIN!!!! Then spend five mins "swimming/crawling" out of the post hole we each had made in the yard.
Oh, WAIT! Let's get Jim to take a picture! Jim had (wisely) decided not to partake in this pasttime, so we figured he could take a pic or two.
That's the story behind the pic. Second jump of the day off the roof. We did four more jumps each, and then we didn't trust ourselves to not hit one of the existing holes. The neighborhood kids were BEGGING us to let them jump off our roof. However, these were probably the same brats that knocked over one of our 6 foot high snow turrets we built along the driveway the week before so we didn't let them. Ha, serves em right!
So there you go, nothing broken, totally sober, and we even shovelled the roof too.
Hmmmm, that was a pretty lame story dave... anything else? Well, yeeeeeessssss...
THE NEXT DAY:
One of my buddies came over and I told him what we did. He really really really wanted to jump off the roof. But there were no safe landing areas off the side where we KNEW the lawn was bare. Buuuuuuuuuutttttttt on the other side was snow that *looked* smooth, deep, and soft. Needless to say, Al and I clambored onto the roof, shovelled out a trench to the far side of the house, and jumped. Wee-fun! In fact, we jumped a couple more times!
After the spring melt, we found out that we were landing just a foot or so away from a pile of twisted wire and picket fencing. Ooooooo, that coulda hurt --a lot. I think my guardian angel had to work extra hard that weekend. When I showed the pile of twisted wire and sharp pickets to Al a few months later, all he said was, "Wow, good thing we missed that. Wanna beer?"
I'd give you a food post today, but I just want to get this story up, so hang tight till later for more food goodiness.
cheers,
dave
It's not that I've be purposely ignoring the blog (and I've got a great story for you), but there are many times I can't connect to any secure server in the US from here with an old dial-up account. Gee dave, why don't you get broadband? Because we live in one of the very very very very few areas in the Hills that CAN'T get it! Oh, Telstra finally offered the area wireless broadband --at a disgustingly over-inflated price and with only a 50 meg download per month before it reverts to dial-up speeds... JERKS!
I can hear you folks in the US gasping that our broadband is capped each month, you want more megs --then you PAY loads for it.
Ah well, the price I have to pay for living in a year round summer paradise with free health care for all.
Getting back to the Alaskan Dave Down Under theme, I have a story for you. It is the story of the picture a few posts ago. Here is the pic again:
Why Did The Two Idiots Jump Off The Roof?
Remember, the bloke on the left in the red jacket (John) is now a brain surgeon, and the bloke in the blue snow pants is yours truly.
It all started when myself and two friends (they were also my teaching assistants at UAF) were renting a house close to the U. The three of us had the upstairs, and the downstairs was rented by John's girlfriend and one of her lady friends.
Do I even need to bother to tell you that there were some pretty fantastic parties at that house that year? Well, there was! Hey, I can light (and keep lit) the charcoal grill when it's -52 F outside and we had 20 people over for seafood shish-kabobs. But that is another story (along with the 3 gallons of Jim O'Briens Hurricane Punch).
That winter was also one of the heaviest snowfall season that Fairbanks had seen in many a decade! Quite a few rooves in some older houses collapsed, so did many sheds. Over at the party house, the girls couldn't see out of the downstairs windows, and you could practically step off the balcony onto the snow. John enjoyed the shovelling (he's from Alabama), but Jim and I grew up doing that crap so we let him have all the snow shovelling fun --aren't we nice?
One of the nice things about Fairbanks snow is that it is very soft and dry. Heck, you could stuff your pillow with it and it'd be softer than goose down!
Anyways, back to the story... One fine spring day in March, I was actually helping John shovel off the balcony/deck out front. As we puched the snow off the balcony, we noticed it formed a really really nice high pile of soft snowy goodness. Being the naturally inquisitive young blokes that we were at the time, we decided to climb onto the balcony railing and jump into the pile of snow. FUN! WEE-HOO!
We soon noticed that as we extracated ourselves from the pile of snow and floundered through the yard, that the snow in the yard was about SIX FEET DEEP and it was also pure, soft, pristine, powder... Our thoughts then went into overdrive as we looked at the roof at the top of the second story and then at the six feet deep powder in the yard.
Can anyone guess what came next? Let me tell you:
We got the big extension ladder from around back, leaned it up to the lowest part of the roof, and then climbed up. When we got to the roof, we quickly went right back down and grabbed shovels as the snow on the roof was over 3 feet deep. It took us the better part of an hour to shovel out a trench to get to the high part of the roof. When we looked down, we noticed the snow close to the house wasn't NEARLY as deep as the stuff in the yard --that could hurt... So we spent the next 20 mins digging out a trench of the top of the roof for a "run-up".
DOESN'T THIS SOUND LIKE FUN???!!!!??!
When we were finally ready to jump, John and I stood at the edge of the roof for A LONG TIME looking down. It's odd how when you are on the ground looking up the height doesn't seem that high... But when you are up there looking down, it's seems like you are looking off a mile high cliff.
Who should drive by, but our landlord and his wife. Yup, no joke. John and I instantly went over to a section of the roof and started shovelling snow off it in the hope that they'd figure we are doing them a great favor. Guess what? It worked! Ten minutes later they drove off.
John and I go back to the precipice...
By now, some neighborhood kids had showed up to watch (as you can tell from the photo).
John and I jumped...
Freefall...
More freefall...
FOOF!!!!!!
Whiteness everywhere, bright sky overhead, and still the feet hadn't touched the ground! WOW! FUN! HOLY SHIT LET'S DO IT AGAIN!!!! Then spend five mins "swimming/crawling" out of the post hole we each had made in the yard.
Oh, WAIT! Let's get Jim to take a picture! Jim had (wisely) decided not to partake in this pasttime, so we figured he could take a pic or two.
That's the story behind the pic. Second jump of the day off the roof. We did four more jumps each, and then we didn't trust ourselves to not hit one of the existing holes. The neighborhood kids were BEGGING us to let them jump off our roof. However, these were probably the same brats that knocked over one of our 6 foot high snow turrets we built along the driveway the week before so we didn't let them. Ha, serves em right!
So there you go, nothing broken, totally sober, and we even shovelled the roof too.
Hmmmm, that was a pretty lame story dave... anything else? Well, yeeeeeessssss...
THE NEXT DAY:
One of my buddies came over and I told him what we did. He really really really wanted to jump off the roof. But there were no safe landing areas off the side where we KNEW the lawn was bare. Buuuuuuuuuutttttttt on the other side was snow that *looked* smooth, deep, and soft. Needless to say, Al and I clambored onto the roof, shovelled out a trench to the far side of the house, and jumped. Wee-fun! In fact, we jumped a couple more times!
After the spring melt, we found out that we were landing just a foot or so away from a pile of twisted wire and picket fencing. Ooooooo, that coulda hurt --a lot. I think my guardian angel had to work extra hard that weekend. When I showed the pile of twisted wire and sharp pickets to Al a few months later, all he said was, "Wow, good thing we missed that. Wanna beer?"
I'd give you a food post today, but I just want to get this story up, so hang tight till later for more food goodiness.
cheers,
dave
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)