Trip back East

I took a short vacation and flew to Delaware for a few days. There were lots of outdoorsy activities, such as visiting Longwood Gardens, hiking at the Laurel Preserve, and canoeing the Brandywine River. Here are a few pictures:












































































































I also went to see Wilco at Frawley Stadium. They do a really good live performance. I got my fix on a lot of my East Coast favorites which are scarce here in Southern California, including scrapple and eggs, big green forests, and rivers with moving water! I got to see a lot of family at my uncle's 70th birthday party. Plenty of good people in this bunch, both the young...





















...and the young-at-heart.





















There is whole roast pig at said party? Why, yes, I would be interested in that! Turns out that pig cheek really is delicious, but I prefer snout.

Independence Day

Funny how our holidays are no longer representative of anything beyond an excuse to take a day off and party. Just a quick post here about this year's Fourth of July, which of course has more to do with BBQs, parades, and fireworks than remembering America's independence from Great Britain. Even though we may have lost some this holiday's patriotic purpose, it is a good reason to relax with friends and family.













To me, it's all about the food (right?). Scruffy put together a real feast. Pulled pork sandwiches (using slow-grilled, hickory-smoked pork shoulder), grilled ribs and corn-on-the-cob, tostada chips with fresh pico de gallo, watermelon (of course), peach cobbler with vanilla ice cream, and of course plenty of beer. Serious food porn...

I enjoyed some San Diego sunshine on a friend's boat on Mission Bay in the afternoon and later migrated to OB. This is a great spot for beach fireworks. We caught fireworks from OB, Mission Bay Yacht Club, and SeaWorld. You could even see the shows downtown and in La Jolla from a distance - very cool!

Home brewin'

A couple of friends and I bottled some delicious home brew this week. This was the first brew I participated in from start to finish and I can't wait until the beer is ready to drink. It's in the style of a Russian Imperial Stout and so dark, heavy, and fairly high ABV.

Scrombini Imperial Stout
12 lbs dark malt extract
1 lb Simpson's Chocolate barley
1 lb Weyerman's CaraArmona malt
1 lb amber dried malt extract
2 oz Challenger hops
2 oz Perle hops
WLP004 Irish ale (stout) yeast

Steep grains until 165 degrees C and remove. Next bring to a boil for one hour, adding the following ingredients for at the indicated remaining time:
60 min: 6 lbs dark malt extract, 1 lb amber dried malt extract, 2 oz Challenger hops
30 min: 6 lbs dark malt extract
20 min: 1 oz Perle hops
5 min: 1 oz Perle hops

During secondary fermentation, add two 4-oz bags of bourbon-soaked oak chips at two-week intervals. Be sure to soak the wood chips for a couple of days and drain them well before adding.

Original gravity = 1.100
Final gravity at bottling = 1.034
Approx. ABW (before priming) = 9.8%
Brewed April 11, 2009
Bourbon-soaked chips added on June 1 and 15, 2009
Bottled July 1, 2009
Final volume = 4.4 gallons

We also sipped on some of J-rod's Darwin's Rainwater, a double IPA that he put together this year in commemoration of Chuck D's 200th birthday (and made with real San Diego rain). The beer was bottled with some of the leftover hops, making it extremely hoppy, floral, and, above-all, delicious!

















Father's Day was about two weeks ago. And what did my dad get? Only the finest in San Diegan charcuterie. My brother and I shipped a whole cured cabrito (baby goat) together with goat prosciutto (a twist on the Italian classic) from North Park Meat Co., the retail end of the restaurant The Linkery. All their meat is from pastured animals, so that is cool. Plus they roast whole pigs over wood fires right there on the sidewalk. The whole neighborhood smells like savory swine! I can only picture the horror on my mother's face as she unwrapped the package to find this beast:













Wonderful pair of sons, huh? Small goat or chupacabra? I'll let you decide. One last thing... I don't care how old you are - homemade ice cream sandwiches are pretty badass.