To Aerate or Not to Aerate

Thought we should share some pictures of our, let's call it revelation, on wine aeration. Mom and Dad Ramirez received a Vinturi Essential Wine Aerator for Christmas this year, and Christina and I had the opportunity to experience its amazing powers.

Anybody who drinks wine periodically knows that a bottle/glass benefits from a little time to "breath". When exposed to atmosphere a wine warms; allowing aromas to be more easily released and flavors within the wine, such as latent acidity and tannins, to blend/mellow. More full bodied wines can take several minutes to an hour of "breathing" before they reach their peak of flavor. Well, what wino wants to wait that long? If only their were a faster way...... but wait!!

Christina does not look impressed

The night in question, we were blessed with having the one and only Vinturi wine aerator (crowd roars, angels sing, etc., etc.). This particular device uses quantum physics, thermodynamics, micro biology, and the space aged polymers to fully "open up" a glass of wine the instant it is poured into its respective crystal. Well we just had to place the device in the hot seat and test it.

Jorge preparing to be blown away

Chicky is speechless

Okay, well maybe I'm just bitter because on a blind taste test, I was the only one out of the four of us that didn't choose the Vinturi'd (sweet new word) wine as superior. The true sommeliers in the group could tell the difference; a smoother wine with mellower/fruitier (also....words?)

Even Gidget prefers Vinturi'd wine

Homemade Goodies

I don't have pictures, but Steve & I are still experimenting with homemade goodies - yogurt, mozarella, mascarpone (Italian "cream cheese"), etc.  Our go-to expertise source has been this website - so many things to try!  My favorite, by far, has been the mascarpone (recipe found here).  Mascarpone is the dreamier, creamier, tastier, smoother, yummier version of cream cheese (in my humble opinion).  And it's not cheap.  I think I can find an 8-oz tub in the grocery store for approximately $7-8.  You can use it as you would cream cheese, including cheesecake (yum yum YUM); be sure to find a recipe for mascarpone cheesecake, as I'm sure it has a different liquid/protein/fat content which might change the way it reacts when baking.  I've used a Giada de Laurentis recipe with great success.

And yes, we made homemade mascarpone.  With 16-oz half-and-half, 16-oz heavy whipping cream, & 2 tablespoons of lemon juice, we created an almost identical mascarpone to the store-bought version.  I have yet to use it in cheesecake, but I did use it in a cream cheese frosting & it was DE.LIC.IOUS.  The recipe is super easy & I highly recommend giving it a try.

Christmas Tree Hunting 2010

Christmas Tree Hunting is an epic celebration among our friends.  The tradition began about four years ago, when several of us loaded up the dogs, our snowshoes, Peppermint Schnapps & hot cocoa, and headed up the mountain to find the perfect tree.  Except for one year, we've participated in Christmas Tree Hunting every year - this year was no different.

Last weekend, ten friends and four dogs (only four!) piled into three trucks & spent a good portion of the afternoon having a great time on the mountain.  Only three households were hunting trees but we have so much fun that even those not looking for trees tag along.  We couldn't have asked for better weather - we left a very cloudy & foggy Sheridan, breaking through the fog as we climbed the switchbacks & entered a world of sun, no wind, & mid-20's.  Our backpacks were filled with drink of choice - Coors heavy (pronounced "Kurrs"), Busch Light, buttershots & hot apple cider, peppermint schnapps...  Oh yeah, we also remembered to fill our Camelbaks with water.  :)  We spent the afternoon romping around the trails, laughing, enjoying the beautiful day, & overall madness & mayhem on the mountain.

We capped off the day by having everyone over at our house for elk roast & Italian cream cake...a perfect ending to a perfect day.

She loves snow

Part of the group headed up the trail

Like, really loves snow

One of our many stops

A pup & his bestest buddy

Really REALLY loves snow

WE'RE SO HAPPY!

Curtis, on the left, swears his tree didn't look that big when he cut it down.  Good thing we weren't stopped by tree police - pretty sure he broke the limit of 10 feet.  Georgia, are you pretending to pee on your tree like all our dogs did at one point?

Guinness was tired & ready to go home.

Steven!

The blanket of white fog (Sheridan lies beneath that - the fog is well over halfway up the mountain)

Close up of the fog that we left on our way up & entered on our way down.  It was neat to see it creeping into these draws.

Final product decorated!  It's not the perfect Griswald tree, but it cost us $12 and an afternoon of fun with friends...can't beat that.

Love.

Dog Behavior

Sometimes you're really cold...

Sometimes you really want what your human friend is cooking...

Sometimes you're REALLY HUNGRY...

(I'm reaching for their dog food, kept on top of the fridge)

And sometimes you're really tired after a long day of playing.

DEAD CHICKENS!

No, just kidding.  They certainly look dead.  One of our recent warm days (& probably last for the year), the chickens enjoyed the warm spot in their coop by having a group Dust Bathing Party.  Oh my, that sounds like chicken porn.  Girls!  Behave yourselves!

Dust bathing is a perfectly natural, albeit funny-looking, chicken activity.  Chickens don't have the capability to bathe but they need to occasionally "scrub" to keep mites & bugs at bay.  They're surprisingly clean birds & typically don't pick up bugs (we assist by keeping their roosting area clean & dry), but it's good for them to clean up every so often.  That's where dust bathing comes in.  They lay down in dry dirt & twitch around - it looks like a chicken seizure.  Chris & Sonja have a video of a chicken dust bathing here.

The black chicken is Fosters.  I think she might be developmentally disabled.  She doesn't quite "get it."  Poor thing.  But it's quite alright, we love her still the same.  And we think she finally started laying eggs...which helped her status immensely.

R.I.P Grandpa Lipetzky

Last week, Steve's grandpa, George Lipetzky, passed away.  He had been sick for some time & while it was incredibly sad to lose a wonderful person, it's comforting to know he's at rest & in peace.  George was 80 years old & lived a long, fulfilling life.  He was married to Mickey for 55 years & they had 7 children, 25 grandkids, & numerous great-grandchildren.  A very faith-filled man, it's certain he's entered the pearly gates to be with his Father.  But let's be honest - he's in heaven with his Father, drinking Jameson & playing pinochle (a game I do not understand nor will I ever understand).

(He was so involved with two Catholic churches in Sioux Falls, he had five priests & one deacon officiating his funeral.  I think that gave him a first-class, express trip to the puffy clouds of heaven)

Here's a picture of George & Mickey from our wedding (no, she's not an angry person, I think she was caught off guard in the picture...).  We feel so blessed that George read at our wedding.  Our wedding was the last out-of-town trip they made & the last wedding they attended.

George, I raise my glass to you.  Cheers.

All Hallow's Eve

Our costumes were epic.  I spent hours bent over a sewing machine.  Not to mention the blood, sweat, & tears coming up with our costume ideas.






...That's all a big, fat lie.  We like fun, easy, costumes in this household.  Behold our genius idea for this year:

Steve wore a brown shirt with "Jif" on the front & a "Wonder bread" on the back.  I wore a purple shirt with "Smucker's" on the front & "Wonder bread" on the back.

Peanut Butter & Jelly!

Thank goodness for felt, glue, & easy logos.

We didn't get a picture of us actually in our costumes.  But I think they're fairly easy to picture.  :)

Just keep running

Despite the lack of description in the blog world, Steve & I continue to run on a regular basis.  Neither of us is training for anything in particular at the moment, so we've enjoyed several leisure runs during the week.  We don't always run together because we're usually training for different distance races, but we do enjoy going for runs together.  My goals recently include breaking previous month's mileage, so this month (October) I'm aiming to break 100 miles.  Mind you, that's only 100 miles for the month.  Many professional/super hardcore runners break 100 miles of running in one week.  I think my legs would fall off at that rate.

We've participated in several races over the summer (most notably Steve's 50-miler) & continue to enjoy races when we can get to them (being in a smaller town means we're somewhat limited on local or nearby races).  I was aiming to break 2 hours in a half-marathon this summer.  I came thisclose to breaking it.  My time was 2:00:05.  5 seconds??  Are you f-ing kidding me??  The infamous PR (despite not breaking 2 hrs, it was a Personal Record) occurred at Deadwood Mickelson Trail Half-Marathon & I blame it entirely on one aid station where I unfortunately decided to stop but had to run around the back of the table because the volunteers were BLOCKING the food & drink.  Bless their hearts for volunteering.  But damnit, GET OUT OF THE WAY!

I may or may not still be harboring a slight burn from that.  My ego was stroked a bit this past weekend when we participated in The Link 10K, a fundraiser for the Sheridan Memorial Hospital Foundation & cancer care at their cancer center.  We participated last year, had a blast, & came back in full (pink) force this year!  The 10K (6.2 mi) was actually 6.45 miles & I ran it in 55:13.00 - another personal record!  Steve blew the competition out of the water & ran it in 44:08.00, coming in first place.  Speedy Gonzales!

Evidence of our pink obsession:

P.S.  I had to make the picture large b/c I'm just so darn proud of how obnoxiously pink we are!
P.P.S  We wore pink wings.  For the whole run.  And super huge pink feathery fake eyelashes.  But because I'm a sweaty meatball, my eyelashes fell off at mile 4.  Go figure.
P.P.P.S  Check out the shirts (Georgia's shirt is under her long sleeve).  We have some HOT WHEELS!  :)

Fun little tidbit...

...About the history of the elusive, illustrious, exalted, prestigious "marathon":

from Runner's World

(Like my use of the thesaurus for those big words?  Thanks www.m-w.com)

Homemade yogurt

Homemade yogurt?  Ummm, really?

You betcha!

Hell, we have chickens & we spent a summer gardening & canning our fresh goods.  Next step is to move onto some acreage & add a milk cow to our family.  Ha!  We've joked about it...but we've actually taken the thought into consideration.  :)  (Cue eye roll from our families)  We're serious about wanting to find a quiet piece of property - to build our dream home & have our own sanctuary away from the hustle of everyday life.  Idyllic?  Absolutely.  Possible?  With hard work.  (It's a very distant future dream.)  And a milk cow named Bessie to add the whole fam damily?  I think I hear "Farmer in the Dell" playing in the background somewhere...  :)

But I digress...  The homemade yogurt adventure started with three things:

1. The price of Greek yogurt (oh-my-expensive!).  I fell in love with Greek yogurt recently & it's a love affair that does not appear to be fading anytime soon.  I was intrigued by the health benefits (super low in sugar, high in protein, & au natural), took a taste, & decided my sugar-filled, fake tasting yogurt days were over.  (Goodness, I sound so very elitist)

2. We love making the food we eat.  Part of that stems from the life-altering Food, Inc.  Oy vey.  It will change the way you think about food.

3. We purchased an ice cream maker (YES!) & would like to try some frozen yogurt - what better than using our own homemade yogurt for homemade frozen yogurt?

We checked out a few recipes & found it's not really that hard.

 Step 1: Freshly opened starter.  This little cup o' goodness provides the necessary friendly bacteria to create yogurt.  We used 0% Greek yogurt.  The 6 oz container cost $1.50.  ON SALE.  Yikes.

 Step 2.  Scald milk.  I had no idea what recipes meant when they said "scald milk," but now I'm well-versed in scalding milk.  Basically, it means heating it to high temperatures w/out burning (constant stirring!) or letting it boil (messy messy).

The rest of the steps we didn't take pictures.  FAIL.

Step 3: Cool scalded milk & add starter.  Milk must be cooled so that it doesn't kill the happy little starter bacteria.  On the same end, the mixture can't get too cool or else the little bacteria guys can't get hot & happy & go to work.

Step 4: Pour scalded milk/starter mixture into sanitized jars.  We used 1-cup jars - our recipe made 8 jars (with a bit leftover).  We used 1/2 gallon skim milk & 1 cup starter.  For approximately $4, we made 8 cups of yogurt.  You do the math.

Step 5: Put jars in a cooler & fill cooler with warm water (don't fill above jar lids).  The warm water keeps the cooler warm internally to avoid cooling too much & negating all the hard work of the bacteria.  Some people have yogurt makers - the only thing a yogurt maker does is keep the yogurt at a warm & steady temp to cure.    The overeager newbies that we are, we covered our cooler with a few layers of blankets to keep it warm overnight.

In the morning, we popped the jar & much to our surprise, had wonderful, delicate, light, tasty homemade yogurt!  We'll experiment a bit more (adding powdered milk can assist in making a thicker yogurt, using a higher percent-fat milk, such as 1 or 2%, can also alter the consistency), but we're very happy with our first trial.

Butcher block

We have a dishwasher.  And it runs well.  It's a good dishwasher.  But our tiny kitchen didn't have a cabinet for the dishwasher.  So it was a free standing dishwasher.  Which doesn't work so well when you open the dishwasher, pull out a drawer of dishes, & the dishwasher falls over.  

Steve has wanted to build a cabinet around the dishwasher & put a nice butcher block on top of the dishwasher.  He found a good deal through Lumber Liquidators & his dad kindly drove the block from Sioux Falls to Sheridan when he came for a weekend of hunting.  Pictures of our lovely & usable butcher block...

New blog!

Test post  :)