Guinness Red Harvest Stout

Yes, Guinness Red Harvest Stout.

Drink it. It's spectacularly delicious.

Enough said.

Go buy some and drink it.




Hurry up - I'm serious.

Carnage du Jour - 20 August 2013

Smoker bags are wonderful things. If one doesn't have a smoker, whether an outdoor model or a stove/oven type (and I do not), one can still do a fine job of smoking smaller items in the oven with these little gems.

It really came down to what to smoke that day, and - in the end - a pork tenderloin won out. I have to say I'm quite happy that it did.

I cleaned the silver skin off the tenderloin, then added a bit of a rub of white pepper, beau monde, and cumin all around. The meat was popped in the bag along with a nice selection of fresh herbs - rosemary, thyme, and sage - and then the bag was sealed and popped into the preheated oven (about 475F as I recall).

After about 25 minutes, the bag came out, the meat was tested for doneness (it was), and the sides finished up - egg noodles with a creme fraiche and parmesan sauce, and lima beans with butter.

All in all, it was a delicious meal. The meat had just the right amount of smoke to it, and was as tender and juicy as ever a pork tenderloin has been.

Try it, you'll like it. Highly recommended.

Where Were You Ten Years Ago?

If you're anywhere near me, you were probably in the dark.

Yep. Ten years ago today was that spectacular blackout across vast tracts of Eastern North America. (Thanks, Ohio.)

I actually have vaguely fond memories of using a bunch of food from the refrigerator on the grill, along with breaking out the camping equipment and the corded telephones.
Yes - we actually have some phones that work from the power in the phone line alone; no need to plug those guys in just to connect with someone else.

It feels a bit odd to be nostalgic about a power outage, but it was an almost-fun time.

Next Time You're in Fairbanks

be sure to visit the University of Alaska at Fairbanks.

We had a wonderful time - actually times - there.

• Once we visited the Museum of the North. This is an excellent museum of Natural History, culture, and art all rolled into one. Extremely well done and highly recommended.
• Next we visited the experimental farm and botanical gardens. What a cool place! Who knew that by being clever about how to irrigate and warm the soil, Alaskans can grow all kinds of crops - including giant cabbages weighing hundreds of pounds, and still worth eating?!
• Finally we visited the LARS - the Large Animal Research Station - to see their herds of caribou, reindeer, and muskox. Again, fascinating stuff that you won't see anywhere else as far as I know.

 Alaska is an amazing state with beautiful scenery, friendly people, great parks and museums (musea?), and excellent beer. I believe we'll make the trip up there again one day.

Everyone Loves a Mystery

(at least I'm hoping a fair number of people do!)

So ...
what do the following have in common?
Joseph of Arimathea, Perceval, Holger Dansk, Harald Bluetooth, the Ardennes forest, the Varangian Guard, the Battle of Hastings, Leifr Ericksson, dog sleds, Louis Riel, Montreal and Winnipeg, and Jerry Lombard.

I'll take out a bit of the mystery by telling you something that ties together these people, places, things, and events. They were all involved in the moving and protection of the Holy Grail and the Spear of Longinus.

Ah, but the mystery remains - how were they involved in that epic task? (and what about those pesky Templars that H2 is always on about?)
Those questions - and many more! - are answered in A Rune With A View, a novel set in the here and now, but spanning centuries.
Go ahead and read it; I dare you!

Coinage du Jour - 05 August 13

pregurgitate (v)

The act of swallowing something before one is actually prepared to swallow.

"You ever had a hard candy in your mouth, and you accidentally swallowed it before it was really small enough? Yep, that's pregurgitation, and it can hurt."

that is all

Carnage du Jour - 01 August 13 (A Taste of Alaska)

Yes, a taste of Alaska. After all, we've been home so long that it was definitely time to remind ourselves just how good the food was there.

Well well well, no halibut, eh? I suppose a nice bit of wild-caught sockeye salmon will have to do. And quite nicely it did!

With fish that fresh and flavourful, there's really not much reason to season much, so all it got was a bit of salt and freshly-ground pepper along with a nice chop of lemon thyme from the driveway.
Into the hot skillet to sear, then back on its skin and then covered with a bit of vermouth (bianco) to give it a little more herbaceous moistness.

Oh dear, it was quite wonderful, along with the roasted poblano mac and cheese and a salad of fresh greens and such.

Quite a nice reminder of Alaska, but now I have to find a source for halibut.