Pork the One You Love

I mean it. Do it often. It is good.

Tie a Yellow Ribbon

One of our neighbors has a young soldier that came home today from active duty. Another neighbor did a fantastic job of organizing an effort to put yellow ribbons on EVERYONE'S mailbox. This is an image that will be burned in my brain forever.

Thank You, Men in uniform.

My Nuts Are in Your Pie

My nuts in the oven

Home-made crust.

PIE!!!!

Merry Christmas, Festivus for the restofus. My nuts (http://anotherhappyidiot.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-nuts.html) may be in your pie. If you get a black walnut pie from me for Christmas, there is a 100% chance that my nuts are in your pie. You know who you are.

Hooch.

Fugettaboutit.

S V V T - S V V T - S V V T - S V V T.............

That is the sound that my kids' snow pants make when they run. Sorry about the wind noise.

Speka Rausi

I'm working on an old recipe that my grandmother used to make, an old Latvian favorite Speka Rausi. Soft bread rolls filled with bacon, ham, salt pork, onions, and FAT! My grandmother told me that Spek is Latvian for "fat", and Rausi means "roll". Some call them Latvian Pirage. Everyone calls them good. These things are legend in my family.

This is the time of year for it, not much to do outside, and the holidays are a perfect time to share food. I love how they bring joy to my childhood friend, when I share them with him. I love to share them with my brothers... and see their reactions when they taste them. I love to share them with people who enjoy food. I love to share them with my wife, my harshest critic. She drives me to perfection. Her memories of my grandmother's Speka Rausi is diamond clear. When I say, "they are pretty good", she says, "almost." She makes me better.

Anyway, if you look up the recipe, there are a few out there, but none of them yield what my grandmother used to make. She died April 9th, 2007. A few years before that, I started watching her and taking notes. I managed to decipher and document some of her tricks that you won't find in those recipes, and I feel like I get better with each batch. So each batch is different, but always delicious.

Sir Chopalot.

It puts the meat in the dough.

Cut with a high tech cutting device.

Time to eat.

T-bone chows down.

My Nuts

Here are some pics of me washing my nuts in late September.

Fast forward to December. Here is how you set up to crack black walnuts. Materials needed: Arbor Press, Vodka & Tonic.

Nuts Cracked.

Getting the rest of the meat out.

Interesting. As the vodka level decreases, the nut level increases.

Cash Only Means Cash Only

These people are serious.

I took my kids to the Chinese Buffet on Saturday. My wife was out of town. My kids ate shrimp, Cheetos, and ice cream. Dad is great!

Root Canal

I need one.