Friday, June 24, 2011

Woah hey, new post!


It's not that I haven't been cooking or that I haven't been cooking interesting stuff...it's that I keep forgetting to take pictures (and let's face it, no one really *reads* blogs, it's all about the pictures) and I keep forgetting to post. So here's hoping this is a turning point. 

For 4th of July this year, the party theme is "put stuff in alcohol that doesn't belong there". What could possibly go wrong, amiright? For our entry, Nick and I are making ginger vodka and mint vodka: 


We cleaned up the counters just for this shot.

These puppies are now aging in the "pantry" (aka, the shelves over the laundry machines on the other side of the kitchen). 

We're also going on an epic trip later this summer that will include backpacking down into (and, fingers crossed, back up out of) the Grand Canyon and parts of Zion. Vegas is involved too. But for the roughing it part, I've been playing with dehydrating stuff. Mangos, papayas, and strawberries were a hit on our Memorial Day adventure so I'll likely be remaking those at some point.

Apparently I have no pictures of those. Hmph. 

Anyway, without further ado, here's the jerky, pre-dehydration: 

Apparently most of the texture comes from the brining action of the soy sauce. Who knew? The cut is short ribs, and this is about 2.8 lbs worth of meat ($9 or so). No wonder jerky is so friggin expensive!