well that was disappointing.

It might be quaint and charming to infuse your own whiskey, and it might even be a little fun, but from a practical standpoint if I can go buy a bottle of midnight moonshine that tastes a lot better, I'll stick to that thank you very much.

 So let's strain this and see what happens.

 

This actually smelled really good, like an apple pie you would get drunk off of.

This was agonizingly slow.  Thankfully the boy was at his grandparents' house for an overnight so I didn't have to keep him away from it all day.

And finally, it was ready to sample.  Cue the Price is Right "bummer" music.

Nice color, looked good in the glass, but blurg did it taste awful.  Oh well.  Maybe it will taste a little better after a few more days.  Until then I'll just stick with the moonshine, thank you very much.

Current beer-scale: 8.5 Monday you bastard.

It's Monday morning; I wish I was drinking this right now

B/c you can't drink all day if you don't start in the morning.

I've had an itch to try this apple-infused bourbon recipe for a while now so while it was nice on Friday I took a long walk to the Binny's downtown to pick up something cheap to throw together.  I'm already off-book since I picked up Canadian whiskey, not bourbon, but what the hell.  I'm the one drinking it.

Apples, cinnamon, vanilla bean, whiskey, air-tight container.  Good to go.

The vanilla bean was too dry to cut open, it got snapped into little pieces instead.  Looked like little bugs or turds floating around.  Lovely.

I varied the recipe just a little bit more; used about a half less of an apple to try to not use the whole bottle.  95% of the CC ended up in there anyway.  But it already smells good, even if I keep forgetting to shake it.  Today will mark day 3; the recipe said wait at least 4 days, I have a feeling it will be a little longer than that.  The last time I walked to Binny's to pick something up the wife ended up going into labor that weekend, I've still barely had any of the whistlepig.  I hope this doesn't end up being a sign of something major about to happen.

Current beer-scale: 8.1 & teaching until 10.  For fuck's sake.

I've got some time off so...

S'mores cheesecake?

S'mores cheesecake.

Not too shabby. A little busy, and not quite done in the very middle, but seems to be worth the effort.

Now for a pair of interviews. Why are the days off always busier than the work ones?

Current beer-scale: 8.1

More baking

Okay, this is pretty neat.

I only bake these once a year, and it's totally worth it b/c it's not christmas until I've had one of these.  But the google+ gif adding sparkles to the tree just makes it that much better this year.  Here's to watching Die Hard and drinking while baking.

The picture alone is enough to make me drool.

 Current beer-scale: 7.1

Still baking

Trust me, it'll all be worth it when they're done.

Plus, I totally went foodie-blogger and used some tricks to speed things up this year.  Got the dental floss out to save myself some time chopping everything up and it actually worked.  How about that.  

 

Current beer-scale: 6.9 and "Welcome to the party pal!"

*fart noises*

That's more a Thomas blue than xmas, but fuck it, I've got a kid. 

These felt more like a "had to" vs a "want to" for tomorrow's office cookie day but I'll be damned if those aren't the nicest blue and green that I've put together.

Ribs are feeling better but with a few inches of fresh snow down and about 80 cookies plus bourbon balls to carry I think I'll still be on the train tomorrow. Ugh. Man I wish I dip into that bourbon right about now. Oh we'll hopefully in a couple more days I can put away the pills and pick up a tumbler.

Current beer-scale: a post-great weekend 3.5

Done chewing on project no. 1

It took longer than expected,  but as of 5 PM yesterday I can call the backsplash done. Outlets are floated,  grout is on and scrubbed,  the end is bullnosed, and everything is back on the counter in messy fashion. Enough for me to make burgers at least. 

But holy crap that was surprisingly difficult.  Every project guide for a backsplash is 4 or 5 steps,  very simple.  But that's for simple installs.  None of them mention raising outlets,  how to cap an end wall, or getting different tile shapes.  All things I had to work with,  all things that made the actual tiling the easiest part of the project. 

Hilariously,  we were going to see a movie yesterday after taking the day off to recuperate from a wedding.  But the kid put a stop to that having to stay home,  so I had all day to either stare at an unfinished project or just get it done already. I had already installed the end rules and raised the outlets during the bears game so all I was looking at was grout. Sounded simple,  I should've known better. 

The outlets practically drove me crazy Sunday, being hella hung over didn't help either.  But the grout ended up taking FOREVER.  Working on two big walls with a tiny float,  by the time a wall was done the stuff was so dry it work way more work to get things clean than I anticipated.  Sheesh.

But it's done now. Might not be perfect,  but not a bad amateur job, and with the counters so packed it looks fine.  Enough to check it off the list and move on to the next one,  good times. 

Current beer-scale: a still slightly hungover 5.3

when you bite off more than you can chew

the only thing you can do is keep chewing.

After a few trips to Immediate Care the wife and I decided it was time to get serious and find some primary care physicians.  This lead to a whole list of "adult" to-do items, including projects around the house and lots involving paperwork or insurance or retirement funds.  It's funny how having a kid puts a whole new level of pressure on feeling like you've got to have it together.

I'm completely onboard with this line of thinking (is almost the exact same wording I just used in a work email to respond to a condescending professor who I was not at all in agreement with), but the good news was I could pick a project to focus on that didn't require any paperwork or advance research, just the time and patience for several Home Depot trips.

Decided to spend Labor Day installing a backsplash to get the first item checked off our list.  The HD trips nearly ended, me, I won't lie.  Spent a lot of time looking at this:

Partly because we were doing two walls and the little accent tiles we decided on ended up being spread out over 4 stores in a 10 mile radius.  Good fucking times it was not.  But the project as a whole ended up going pretty well and after a day and a half it's 99% done.

Out of everything you need to work with tile, this tile cutter is your best friend.  It's only about $10 more than the smaller hand-squeezer model we started with that broke immediately.  Lesson: always get the bigger tool.

But cutting was a small part of the project, most of it was shopping then getting things on the wall.  And it feels like shopping took more time than getting things up.  It went from this

to this pretty quickly.

What's still not done?  There's no grout up and the open ended wall needs a cap, and halfway through fitting things around outlets I realized I need to space the outlet boxes to get them flush with the new tile, about a quarter inch higher than they were.  Of course, I can't find the spacers anywhere, so I have to wait until they get delivered.  Oh well.  As long as they're done by our BBQ in two weeks it's fine.  Always good to have a deadline.

Current beer-scale: a weary 6.5

Lunch bell

Despite making the effort to fill many of my unemployed days with attempting a few day-killer recipes in the kitchen, I would not describe myself as a "foodie." I've come to enjoy food more as an adult now that I realize every steak doesn't have to be charred into oblivion like everyone in my family seems to prefer, that pizzas can be topped with more than just cheese, and that sometimes the dirtier the thai place, the better the satay. But my palate is far from refined, and other than the occasional whiskey, it's rare that I find myself desiring to share my impressions of a certain dish or meal.

But my boss just heard about rick-rolling this morning on NPR and has spent the morning researching various memes, so I don't feel pressed into doing anything more than the bare minimum of work today, so here's a little bit on the new frozen pizza I just tried.

Speaking of pizzas with different toppings, Hawaiian pizza is one of my guiltiest food pleasures in life. It's touristy and in no way representative of Hawaii, but damn is it tasty. The wife hates it, so it's pretty rare that I find myself enjoying one. Occasionally if we find ourselves looking beyond Pequods one of our options is Pizza Capri, which has an outstanding tropical pizza that I highly recommend. One great thing about living where I live is that if you're so inclined, pizza is one item you can absolutely become an expert on. That does make it difficult for something out of the microwave to seem edible however.

Looks promising doesn't it?

In reality, things look a little more dubious but the aroma is enticing. I had high hopes for lunch today and I wasn't let down too much.

Hard to believe, but the microwaved frozen ham stood up well and gave the thin crust a little more oomph. The pineapple came out strong as well, if a little too watery at times. I didn't realize the cheese was low-fat until I took the picture of the box, but I didn't think any taste was sacrificed and honestly, if I'm eating an entire pizza for lunch going with a few lower-fat options is probably a good idea.

Calling this pizza thin might be going a tad easy on it. It was thicker than most wood-burning pizzas are, but didn't really crisp up as much as it needed to. Combine that with a sauce that was lacking as well, and the foundations of this pizza needed some help. Thankfully the above ingredients were up for it.

All in all, for a pizza I stocked up with on a whim, I'll happily eat a couple more of these for lunch. Now if I can just get through the rest of the afternoon without getting rick-rolled.

Current beer-scale: 8.7 & about to polish off a whole mess of Coronas when I get home.

This is what I've been doing

So I've mentioned my penchant for using the kitchen to stay busy as I job search before, but I've never actually told an interviewer. Until today. Yeah for phone interviews on Friday where you stopped caring!

I've also mentioned (here, at least) that I am not a rib guy. But that didn't stop me from spending 5 hours making dinner last night, baking a rack of ribs low & slow before tossing them on a hot grill for a few minutes. Any vegetarians reading might want to skip this entry.

To start, a dry rub. I'm not sure what possessed me to do this, other than spending way too much time watching Food Network recently and thinking dinner preparation is a fine way to fill an afternoon. My simple choices? Sugar, salt, pepper, garlic.The thing I like most about trying something new is not always knowing exactly what comes next. This was a monster rib. Rinsing made sense, but after that I didn't know how to start.Lucky for me, two halves fit perfectly into the crappy pan I planned on using so on went my dry ingredients. A little water to line the bottom of the pan made sure that the ribs absorbed as much steam as possible to stay juicy.Next, 275 degrees for the rest of the afternoon. It might not have been the smartest day to have the oven on all afternoon considering how hot it was, but I'm more of an open window guy anyway. Around the 90 minute mark, you could smell the sugar caramelizing and baking in. The rest of the afternoon was filled with a lovely pork smell. Positively delicious.This was at the 4 hour mark. The charcoals went into the grill after 5 PM and while they were lighting I slathered on some bbq sauce. The meat was so tender a chunk came off while I was trying to pick one half up, exactly what I was looking for. I honestly don't think I've ever had ribs prepared this way, since my parents always just charred the shit out of them on a grill. Which explains why I was never a rib person, and why I didn't try this earlier.Making bbq sauce from scratch would definitely fall in line with my "take as much time in the kitchen as possible" approach, but sometimes you've gotta draw the line. Sauce out of the bottle is fine with me. With the grill set, the ribs went on for just long enough to burn some of the sauce and get a nice smoke on the meat. And, the finished product:Unfortunately, they looked better than they tasted at this point. A few more minutes on the grill would have remedied that, b/c they were closer to room temperature than I would have preferred. Other than that, these were pretty outstanding. Tender, juicy, and fall off the bone.
Leftovers this afternoon, that's all that was left. Before or after a bike ride, I haven't decided. It might be a while before I make these again, but I might have to reconsider my stance on ribs in general after eating these. Awesome.

Current beer-scale: 5.8 but running on empty