Home Brew

I ordered a Mr. Beer home brew package the other day off of Woot.com because it was inexpensive and I was looking to take a try at making my own beer.

I know a few people that have been brewing beer and although the serious beer brewers scoff at the Mr. Beer package, they all agreed for the price it was a good “starter kit”.

It has been sitting in my kitchen now for a few weeks and because of the nice three day weekend, I have decided to start the brew in hopes that I can maybe have some nice ale before Saint Patrick’s day 2012. I just started the process and right now I have the utensils and brew container sanitizing.

It is a nice peaceful day, sitting here at the dining room table watching the snow fall gently from the sky. It reminds me of how beautiful Minnesota is year round. I find myself reminiscing of all the beautiful colors of the four seasons. Fall in this area is by far the most memorable with its deep browns, reds, oranges and yellows. Winter can get old, but the site of fresh powdery snow hanging over trees and drifts across the yard are beautiful before the dirt and traffic get to them. Spring brings the growth of orchids, daisy’s, grass and dandelions. And summer is green and red with long days that end with the portrait ready sunsets almost every night.

As I sit and write this of course a large hawk or eagle swooped by the patio door into the back yard. I wasn’t sure what it was as I was looking at the screen and only caught the blur of white and brown. I went to look and after about ten seconds I found the visitor at the edge of the now bare woods. I grabbed my flip and tried to sneak back for some good footage of our feathered foreigner, but he left at first sight of me in the window (see video below).

Back to my brew! With everything sanitized I continue with my brew. I added some filtered water to the brew container and then started on the “Booster” concoction. Starting with four cups of filtered water, I slowly mixed in the “Booster” until it was almost completely dissolved. I then turned up the heat and waited for the concoction to boil.

Once the “Booster” came to a boil, I added the Hopped Malt Extracts [HMEs] to create my wort. This was very easy as the HME I was using came in a nice can from Mr. Beer (using the West Coast Pale Ale). Once the wort was created, I transferred it into the brewing container and then added more filtered water to fill the brewing container to the desired level.

Once the remaining water was added, I stirred the brew vigorously to mix the wort and filtered water. Once it was completed, we added the brewing yeast provided. After waiting a little over five minutes for the yeast to dissolve on its own, I finished “pitching” the yeast by vigorously mixing the brew once again. After pitching the yeast the cover was attached and I placed it into an insulated cooler to keep it at the desired temperature and out of the dark for the next two weeks.

The video on the page is a short highlight of the process. I hope to continue the documentation of this first brew in a few weeks (about January 26th) as long as everything goes well.

Kobe’s January 2012 Band Concert

On Thursday the family was treated to our second trumpeting sensation in the family.

All of you who thought it was only Gage that could blow your socks off with the trumpet will be happy to see that Kobe is talented with the fine brass horn.

Here are two videos of our soon to be sensation Kobe.

Part one:

Part two:

El Loro – Burnsville

Having just moved to the area, we feel fortunate to have a large selection of independent restaurants. Coming from western Minnesota/Eastern North Dakota, it is refreshing to have alternatives to the vast amount of chain restaurants that seem to dot every corner in the Fargo-Moorhead region.

Our first review is a Mexican Restaurant that my wife had heard good comments about. El Loro appears to be a small chain of authentic mexican restaurants around the Minneapolis-Saint Paul area. I only say appears because I can’t really find any true link to the various El Loro restaurants, so I don’t want to assume that they are all the same.

It was late on a Friday night and our party was not very large (only four of us) so we chose the Burnsville location because it was the closest to our home. The restaurant appears to be small and the parking lot was full, but in reality the restaurant has plenty of seating. Although the parking lot was indeed packed, we were seated immediately and were brought the standard chips and salsa.

The chips and salsa were nice, but there was a third bowl of white sauce that I can only describe as a “sweet mayonnaise”. Everyone at the table tried the white sauce and the reaction was the same from everyone (ewww).

Our waitress came and we ordered drinks and promptly delivered the drinks, understandably because a few party members still were scanning the large menu. We waited some time after that until my father flagged down another server to retrieve our waitress and take our orders.

We ordered the large Shrimp Cocktail, Enchiladas Poblanas, Yolandas and La Superior. The shrimp cocktail was brought to the table almost immediately.

Andrew Sr. ordered the Shrimp Cocktail which was a nice mix of shrimp, avocado, cilantro, cocktail sauce, herbs and spices and garnished with a lime.

A short time later the rest of the meals arrived.

The Yolandas consists of three chicken enchiladas, topped with ranchero sauce and served with a guacamole salad and a large portion of mexican rice. The enchiladas and rice were good, but were missing something that made the special. Kobe was the one that ordered this and he did not eat the somewhat dry rice, but that is Kobe.

Pauline ordered the Enchiladas Poblanas. The meal is described as two chicken enchiladas topped with brown mole sauce, sliced onions & grated cheese and served with rice and tossed salad. The brown mole sauce tasted authentic and was probably made fresh, but was a little overpowering with the chocolate. The rice was a tad dry and the tossed salad was more of a garnishment then a salad.

The La Superior had a burrito, a chile relleno and a chalupa. The burrito was simple ground beef filling in a flour tortilla with a nice red sauce poured over it. The chile relleno was made with a nice tasting large chili, but had little batter and a large piece of stem which made a few bites awkward. The cheese sauce with the chile relleno was fair, but nothing special. The chalupa was disappointing. After cutting it, I realized it was made with just a corn tortilla and was more of a tostada then chalupa. What was even more discouraging was the fact that the chalupa was cold and soggy instead of warm and crisp.

One item on three of the plates that was excellent was the guacamole. It tasted fresh and had just the right amount of spices, but not too much spice (I need to learn that less is more with good guacamole when I make it).

Overall the meal was good, but the meal overall did nothing really to stand out. The service was fast but the vibe was not friendly. The restaurant was clean and had plenty of seating and was very busy even for our late meal at 8:30 pm. We would eat here again with others, but it won’t be a restaurant that we go out to as a dining favorite.

rating onrating onrating onrating onrating onrating onrating offrating offrating offrating off 6 of 10 stars

Our wrestler injured in Hastings

Gage had a wrestling match in Hastings on Tuesday and during the first match was injured. We were not present at the match, but second hand accounts described the event as horrific.

Gage was being taken down and was attempting to take a defensive position. During the take down the opponent lifted Gage’s leg and began to drive Gage across the mat. Gage had his shoulder and head catch the mat and the opponent continued to drive Gage’s leg causing Gage to get twisted backwards.

His team mates cringed and after a loud audible groan, the match was stopped. Gage was able to move around, but was in a lot of pain. As a precaution, he was taken by “Amber Lamps”[Ambulance] to the emergency room in Hastings. He was looked at by the doctors and after reviewing the MRI and other X-Ray films, they decided there was no damage to his spine or shoulder. Gage however was in a lot of pain.

The doctors confirmed that he had a strained lumbar and although he had no restrictions, he would probably need a few days to let the pain subside. The doctor admitted that from the pain Gage was describing, it he had to have been twisted up pretty good.

We were able to get Gage out of the emergency room and into the truck one tiny step at a time. Knowing that the morning would be an even tougher time for him, he ended up staying home from school as he was unable to get up easily and walk.

It wasn’t until late this evening that we were able to get him off the couch and up and walking. The hope is to get him back to school in the morning and hopefully wrestling early next week.

Anyone wanting to send him “Get Well” wishes can do so by dropping him a line on facebook [http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000976403941]

Walking along the Red River

While back in Moorhead this last weekend, we took some time to walk along the river. My sister owns a house near the river and so we decided after eating so much good Christmas food, we would try to walk a bit of it off.

The river isn’t anything spectacular, but it was interesting to think about just how high the river has gotten the last few years with epic record breaking floods. We showed our relatives from California marks on the trees from high water as well as pointed off in the distance to the dikes. We explained to them how the owners will sandbag on top of those dikes to keep the water out.

As we hiked along the way, we were reminded that the river can be a treacherous place to walk as you can never really know how thick the ice is. A rock or tree just under the surface of the water might create an eddy that hinders the ice from forming as thick as the ice around it.

It was a relaxing trek, that allowed us to reflect on the history of the area and the beauty and destruction that the river brings.

I thought about the walk as I saw this video. It was recorded a few miles north of where we were walking, but was another reminder of the deception the river can hold.

Turchicken Cheddar Tamales

We were afraid we might run out of tamales this Christmas, so we decided to make one more batch. We had some turkey in the freezer from Thanksgiving and some chicken breasts from enchiladas.

So began our first try at Turchicken tamales. We were able to get the first pot of tamales on the stove when we realized we forgot our Minnesota ingredient. We had neglected to put in the cheese.

Fortunately we had enough time to mix in our cheddar cheese and get the last pot of tamales going with the cheddar. I believe our Turchicken Cheddar tamales will be a hit. I only wish we had more then a dozen and a half of them.

Gage Wrestling December 20, 2011

Been trying to find time to publish this, but been a busy few days.

Gage made weight easily thanks to two days with a stomach bug. He said he came in at just over 135 pounds (wrestles at 138 and gets two pounds now, so really is 5 pounds under).

Unfortunately for him, there was no one on the other two teams that was in his weight class. He wanted a match though, so the coach was able to arrange for him to get an exhibition match with a another wrestler at 132 pounds.

Enjoy!

Kobe gets a haircut

Big news everyone. Kobe has finally went in to get a haircut.

For those of you that don’t know it, Kobe enjoys to keep his afro long and although we aren’t agains the long hair, we do have a tough time with him not grooming it.

Apparently after several months of us pestering him to get a haircut, he finally caved and went in with Gage to get a haircut.

The results were stunning. Instead of looking eleven years old, I think he looks at least thirteen. It is a dramatic change that we all like for the best (including Kobe).

Here is some footage right after the cut!

Tamales 2011 [Part 1]

Tamales 2011 [Part 1]

Last year we didn’t have the time or place to make tamales, so it was the first year in a few that we went without. Everyone made sure to let us know how much they missed our tamales.

This year we have the place, but time is short(probably because procrastination is the art of keeping up with yesterday, right?). The meat (a big piece of pork shoulder) was cooked up on Wednesday and we finally got around to shredding it today.

After a trip to three different grocery stores, we were able to wrangle up the ingredients. One new ingredient this year will be a new chili. We saw a few recipes that used the New Mexico chili instead of the traditional Ancho or California chili that we use. We decided to pick a bag up (actually it was the only chili at that particular store).

We are just preparing the chili’s now and Andrew has said that the New Mexico chili is the best smelling chili he has ever sniffed. We hope the flavors are as delicious as the fragrant bouquet of the chili.

So the Tamale 2011 day one is completed. We have two nice big batches of meat prepared and will get to making the tamales tomorrow. If we have time we might try to make up a small batch of beef. We should have all of the necessary ingredients (minus the beef).

After cleaning Andrew has poured himself a large glass of flavored spirits (raspberry rum) with some Sierra Mist. Might have to have a sip of scotch before bed as well.

Time to celebrate

Cheers

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