Saturday

Yesterday was a good day. Took the boy to a chemistry program put on by the local science museum. He got to make a batch of lotion, and learned how to mix oils and water, through the use of emulsifiers. He enjoyed it. BASF funded it, and provided all the ingredients, supples, and gave swag bags to the kiddies including an apron, goggles (they will go in the range bag), a notebook, a pencil, and a drawstring bag. Not bad for a free program.

I got a barbecue pit. My wife said it was an early father's day present. It's a plain-old barrel grill with a smoker attachment, which is what I love to use. This will be the third I have owned in a row. I got 6 years out of my last one, and hopefully I can get 6 out of this one.

After assembling the grill, I ran down to Trader Joe's, because they have 6-packs of good beer for cheap. As I was checking out, there was an employee by the registers handing out bags of charcoal. He said the 18lb bags only had about 17lb in each bag. The distributor missed the quality control step on them, and a few pallets made it out to stores. The distributor said it would be cheaper for them to issue credit to Trader Joe's, and have them give away the bags, than to send them back.

So fun with the kiddo, a new barbecue pit, and free charcoal? It was a good day. Now if you'll excuse me, I gotta go prep some ribs for smoking.

The Kidd

My sister and her crew were in town this weekend, and before she left for home, we all went to see the USS  Kidd, a destroyer that served in the Korean War and WWII. It is now (and has been for years) docked in Baton Rouge. It is a great piece of history, and serves as a great reminder of what the navy boys lived in while at sea. If you are ever in Baton Rouge, you should go see it.

Feeding A Crowd On The Cheap

I have a big family. We are close, and do things together all the time. Because of this, a common joke among my clan is that we know how to cook for 50, but can't make a soup for 2. There's some truth to that. While I tend to cook too much for my family of three, I like leftovers, and they save me from eating fast food every day, so it works for us.

That being said, I CAN cook a boatload of food, easily. I have my sister, her fiancé and his kids coming down to see our new place, and since I'm cooking a big pot of food, I invited the neighbors over, too.

I'm going to have 9 people at my house tonight, and sure as it's muggy after a summer rain, there will be leftovers when we are done eating. I'm going to share with yall a recipe to feed 10-15 people for less than $12.

Dead-simple Red Beans and rice.

Wash 2 lb. Of dried red beans. After they are clean, place them in a crock-pot (one of the big ones).-$3

Chop up 2 lb. Of good pork sausage ( buy good sausage. It doesn't matter the brand. I always buy whet ever premium brand is on sale. If you catch a really good sale, like less than 2.50/ lb., buy 5 or 6 pounds and freeze some. This is the most expensive part of this meal. The sausage doesn't have to be pure pork, but you want a good pork content in it for the fats and oils) put sausage in the crock pot. -$5

Mince and add 1 head of garlic, chop and add 2 medium onions. -$1

Next, check your fridge. (These ingredients aren't strictly needed, but I like adding them. I wouldn't make a special trip to the grocery store if I was out, though.) If you have them, chop and add one bell pepper and 3 or 4 sticks of celery. -$.75

Add some salt and pepper, cover everything with water, and let it bump on high for about 6 hours. Check about once an hour and add more water as needed. Those beans are gonna soak up an amazing amount of water. Just don't get ahead of yourself. Only add enough water to cover the ingredients. You don't want the beans getting too soupy.

After about 6 hours, make a roux. (If you don't know how, Google "making a roux". It's an art form, and an entirely different post than this one. If you can find a recipe on making a roux by John Folse, he makes a good one. Mine is different, but you wouldn't go wrong making his.) Add the roux to the pot. -$.50

Make 4 cups of rice. (Again, if you don't know how, Google this. Making rice is as easy as falling out of bed. Screwing up making rice is even easier. If you don't know how to make rice, GOOGLE IS YOUR FRIEND! Find a recipe, and FOLLOW IT. Making rice is not the time to get creative, and frankly, if you don't know how to make rice, you aren't an advanced enough cook to get creative with recipes.) -$1.25

Serve it up, and enjoy the compliments on this genuine cajun-country dish! You just fed 10-15 people for about $12.

A few points:

Start this dish before 10am. That way you will have time to have it ready by supper time.

If it is done before you are ready to feed people, put the beans on warm, stir them about every 30 minutes, and otherwise forget them until you are ready to serve. This dish only gets better the longer it bubbles. Having it ready 2 hours early ain't gonna hurt it. It will just let the flavors blend better.

If you get the beans done significantly early, don't start cooking rice until about 30 minutes before you are ready serve. No sense in having cold, over-cooked rice.

Hiking

We went  hiking in a nature preserve right over the Mississippi  border today. I forget the name, but they had miles of hiking trails, and several waterfalls. As is always the case, we turned around when we started getting tired, rather  than BEFORE we started getting tired, so the trip back to the car through the hilly terrain was quite a slog. We had a great time, though, so some really beautiful sights, played in the water, and spent a day outdoors as a family. It was a fun time.

New City

Well, we moved to Baton Rouge recently, so that my wife can pursue her dream of becoming a veterinarian. I work for the state, so my job transferred with no trouble. We were able to find a decent house in a great neighborhood for a decent price. We got my son enrolled in a good school for next year, and we are overall happy with our situation. For being in a city, I am in a quiet neighborhood, which makes me happy.

There are a lot of great things about being in a city. Art, opportuinty, things to do, entertainment, children's  activities, etc. I have located a brewer's supply store, as well as a reloader's supply store, so I have plenty of things to occupy my time.

We took my son to a electronics fair last weekend, and he had a blast exploring all things electronics related. NASA was there, talking about rockets and Curiosity.

At any rate, my blog had gotten stale in the last year, and I couldn't place why. I think it was because I didn't have much to post about that interested me enough to post. I believe that is going to change, now. I originally started the blog when I lived in Florida, as a way to stay in contact with my family, and now what I moved several hours away from the again, I feel like family things will begin to make more of a comeback on my blog. I will still talk woodwork, leatherwork, cooking, brewing, shooting, reloading, and guns, but I feel as if my blog is going to be a conduit to my far away family, again. Anyone who still reads this thing regularly, feel free to continue stopping by, but expect more pictures of my kid and wife.

At any rate, I think you can count on me posting more often, at least.