Quick Update

Have not had alot of time to post anything lately. And I had to re image my phone so I lost all of my images from the past month.

Its a blurry picture, but I have been finding these in my chicken coop. They started slowing down production and I found out by asking one of the people at the feed store that have been helping me, that they will lay less eggs when the weather is bad. She advised me to put a light in my coop on a timer during the day to trick them into thinking is it brighter out.

Went to the 2010 Napa Valley Pumpkin Growers Meet-up and got some of these seeds from my friends Pete and Cindi Glasier. One of these will be the big winner this year, I can already tell. They will all be planted, only 2 of them in my yard. The rest are going to be taken by some of my friends who are interested.
Bought another boat. This one is 24' long. It doesn't look very big in the picture, but it is only a couple feet shy of a Yacht. I am purely a saltwater fisherman so I wanted something a little more sea worthy. 4' sides should help. My prediction, is this boat is going to pull alot of fish out of the ocean and tide waters.

Busy weekend outdoors.

So I was drawn for Howard slough for Saturday and ended up going up even though my friend who knows what he is doing, was not able to make it. Overall it was an exciting trip which ended up with a few birds and a quick dinner on the table. I was already tired for the weekend by Saturday night but the fun was not over.
On Saturday night, while calling my brother to brag out my day, he informed me that he is going squid fishing on Sunday. I made an impulse decision to go out with him and it was truly alot of fun, except for the sea sickness of course.
These squid are insane. I was hooking into these anywhere from 700 feet down all the way to the surface. They will follow other squid as you bring them in so you actually pull them closer to the surface. I was so tired after the trip, that I didn't even want to cook them up last night. One day this week I will attempt to make a dent in the 100+lbs of calamari I now have in my Deep Freezer.

Thanksgiving week

Not much went down for thanks giving, but it was much needed time off for mental health.
Here are a couple pics.

I have had my new dog for almost 2 weeks now and she has been awesome. I am stoked that I got her.S.W.A.T. was in the hizzle over the break.


That Happened!

I did not participate in cooking Thanksgiving dinner at all except for working up a spiral Ham (re heating and glazing). It was quite nice to not cook. A very simplistic and awesome dinner with a good beer. Exactly what I wanted.
I did however cook breakfast the next day with leftovers from dinner. Eggs Benedict with Biscuit and gravy. Whaaaat? All from scratch.

Decided to take advantage of Thanksgiving sales and put a couple Turkeys in the Deep Freezer. Also picked up these game hens which I stuffed with two types of rice, onions, garlic, asparagus, cheese, and spices. They were very good, but I will probably not do it again unless they are my own birds. It is just wrong to by these commercial hens.
I also made one of my favorite meals. Pasta Carbonara. I do mine a little different than traditional and follow zia carman's recipe. It is made with hot italian sausage, pancetta, thick bacon, eggs, cheese, garlic, and s&p.

And finally, I decided to get up off my ass and build a coop for my chickens. They were just starting to get too big for their pen. I am going to try to make these birds as close to free run as possible. Put a mat in the bottom to keep them a little warmer while I make their boxes.

This one is for the BIRDS!!

After taking a miss for duck hunting on Saturday because of a rough Friday night I was double dinged this weekend because my humbolt squid trip was also put off on Sunday due to Gale force weather in the bay area. Even after two botched plans this weekend, I was fortunate enough to be invited to go pheasant hunting on Sunday, and I took up the offer.

The day resulted in three birds being taken and a pretty good dinner. I have been trying to read up and completely re design my take on cooking meat including game to make sure that the dishes created are what you would consider a compatible dish. What I mean by being compatible, is to make sure that you are providing a cooking method that accommodates the choice and cut of meat in which you have in your possession. After my current understanding of pheasant, and some research on the bird, I decided to go with a curry that is more southern India in flavor (From what I know, but am not positive). One of the big decisions for this meal, is I could create it without having to go shopping. Luckily I had everything I needed in my pantry except for some plain yogurt I picked up right down the street.
The End Result!!

New Faces around the house part 2.

If you know me, im sure you are tired of hearing how I feel that it is super important to get away from store processed meat. Anything bought from a super market that is not free range or better-yet organic, is absolutely discussing to eat. And for you guys who eat Fast Food like McDonalds, you have no idea what you are putting into your stomach.
Attached is a picture of my new chickens. I am going off the dome piece here so I may not be correct, but the breeds are. Americana, Buff Orpington, Striped Suxxten, and Maran's. These are all dual purpose birds but used mostly for egg laying. I am holding off until these are mature and my coop is separated before I order some chickens to rear for meat.

Some new faces around the house

I have been getting super excited to receive my new dog. She is just now being weened and I hope I will be able to take her home in 2 weeks. I cannot wait......REPEAT: CAN NOT WAIT!!!!
Mine is the one in the Middle. She is the child of my Roommates dog and my moms.

This is how you clean up the remains of a very upsetting pumpkin vegitation.

This is how you do it, when you are not too happy with the results that your pumpkin gave you.
Until next year.