A Tasty Brunch in Leavenworth

Its 11:44am and we just finished brunch. I am really enjoying the grill here at the condo. Today I roasted 2 Anaheim chilies, then peeled them, deseeded/deveined them and finally diced them up. I also diced up one of the hot links we had leftover from our lunch at Southern Boys BBQ, half a yellow onion and some of the leftover zucchini that I had grilled yesterday. Seasoned it all with salt, pepper, garlic powder and Italian seasoning mix and sauteed until the onions were well sweated. I then put the one remaining beef rip on the grill to heat up and get some serious bark on it while at the same time in the kitchen I added six beaten eggs to a hot pan that had about a tablespoon of good extra-virgin olive oil in it. After the eggs had set a bit I added the Anaheim's and continued the scramble. About this time I pulled the beef rib off the grill and onto a cutting board in the kitchen. I added the onions, zucchini and hot link to the eggs and continued to scramble until all the ingredients were well incorporated and all was hot. I cut the rib into two pieces and we were ready to eat.

The rib was exceptional. I may have stumbled onto the key to the perfect rib. Smoke them first and baste with a BBQ sauce during the final hour or so. Cool them in a refrigerator overnight and then reheat them on a very hot grill when you are ready to eat. This method created a very tasty bark that was crisp without being tough. I will have to try this a few more times before I can say definitively that this method works but think of all the good beef/pork ribs we'll get to eat during the attempts.

The scramble was good as well. I did not really like the hot link by itself but when diced and added to a scramble it was tasty. We washed all this down with hot coffee while we listened to the kids playing in the park below.

One Of My Very Favorite Pictures

Leavenworth Retreat

Spending a couple of days at a very nice time at Worldmark Condo in Leavenworth. A big Thank You to CJ's Aunt Mary for thinking of us. Very cool.

The condos consist of several buildings, each with four condos, 2 at ground level and 2 second-story units. We were in a second-story unit that had 2 bedrooms and 1 1/2 baths. It has a nice open floor plan with a well stocked kitchen. The balcony is a nice size and is decorated with a table, four chairs and a gas BBQ grill.

We used the grill this morning for breakfast. I prepared grilled beef steak, fried eggs and a grilled vegetable medley consisting of zucchini, sweet potato and tomato. Very tasty. While we were sitting on the balcony we saw four deer emerge from the green belt below the condos and graze at the edge of the city park baseball/soccer fields. They were about 150 yards away and at a down angle of about 10 degrees. It would have been a challenging shot but very makeable. We kept watching and sure enough, as expected, about 2-3 minutes later the buck stepped out from the trees and made a beeline along the treeline for the other side of the clearing. Now that would have been a good shot, moving target with a down angle and a bit of a breeze. CJ said she was glad I had left my rifles at home.

We then hit the streets to get CJ down to the quilting store to get her fix of fabric and patterns. While she was engaged in her passion I hoofed it down the street to a local saloon for a beer. I asked for a porter on tap to which I was told they had none. I'm in a Bavarian village and no porters on tap. The beer gods all frowned deeply from their lofty perches. I settled for a Mac and Jack and listened to the two employees squabble. I was amused but did not make up for the lack of a good porter. I only stayed in this dive for the one beer and not hearing from CJ yet I departed in search of a better watering hole. Two doors down was a restaurant and lounge. I pushed through the doors and was greeted by a well stocked bar which included a good variety of draught beers including a decent porter, Deschutes Black Butte. The very friendly bar maid drew my beer and I settled down to enjoy it while playing sudoku on my NOOK. CJ called in short order and I vectored her in to my position on the bar stool. She ordered a hot buttered rum and we discussed what the remaining portion of the day held for us.

We decided to go food shopping, hit the liquor store and then grab some pizza at a local joint. The pizza place was no open yet so we just sort of meandered out of town and continued westbound on Highway 2 towards her old stomping grounds of Cashmere. By this time we were hungry and after a brief search we went into the Southern Boys BBQ restaurant. CJ found out they did Texas style BBQ which is one of my favorites. When I asked I was told they use cherry wood in their smoker. Stands to reason since we were right smack in the middle of the apple/pear/cherry orchard capital of Washington state. We ate what we could and took the rest with us in a to-go box.

On the way back to the condo we stopped at the liquor store and finally did get a small pizza to go for latter.

Back in the condo CJ made us drinks and we sat on the balcony watching youngsters in the fields below practicing soccer. Ahh, to have such energy again. We are now sitting comfortably in front of fire and enjoying ourselves immensely.

Tomorrow we plan to spend most of the day in the condo reading and writing. Perhaps we will take a walk down the foot trail along the Wenatchee River.

Photo Reflections

I have spent the past couple of days scanning family pictures onto our laptop. This project started as a result of my interest in genealogy. I have been working diligently on my family history for the past 2 years. A great deal of progress has been made on several of the family branches while inevitably I have hit the proverbial brick wall on others. As part of the process of collecting and verifying family information I have been attaching pictures of individual family members where ever possible so that a face can be put to a name. In many instances I have attached multiple pictures of individuals. There remain several family members that I have no pictures for at all. This is what lead me to start my search into the tombs of our personal family picture albums. In so doing, I started creating picture files and scanning pictures into them. It soon became clear to me that I was not going to attach all of these pictures to my genealogy project but it seemed important to continue scanning.

This importance stems from me wanting to insure that these pictures survive and I know from personal experience that regular pictures can be lost or destroyed in a variety of ways. By scanning them onto our laptop they will all be digitized and not susceptible to such loss or destruction. I can then make multiple copies of picture Cd's and scatter them around to various relatives which should multiply the chances of successfully keeping them safe.

This project has made me realise just how quickly time passes us by. In viewing pictures of my two kids from the time they were snappers, through their school years and on up to the present, I have been surprised at the emotions I have been subjected to. I created separate files for each of them and have the pictures organized from earliest to most recent. When I looked at them all together I found myself getting very nostalgic. The images brought back memories I had not thought of in more years than I care to admit. All of those memories were warm and fuzzy and a treat to recall. They took me back to times and places long past but thankfully not forgotten. I look forward to continuing this project.

Fall is in the air

I left the cabin this morning at o-dark-thirty and was immediately greeted by rain. The kind of rain that is between a mist and a real rain. The sky was black, without a hint of either moon or stars. In the time it took me to walk to my truck my sweatshirt had accumulated hundreds of tiny shimmering droplets of water. Not enough to get me wet, just enough to let me know that summer was indeed at an end and Fall was near. The leaves on the alders are changing from green to yellow and the woods will soon be ablaze in color.

I really enjoy this time of year. It makes me think of family gatherings, bon-fires and hunting. I have not been on a deer hunt for a few years now but growing up we went hunting every year. I always knew the exact date of the opening day of deer season and looked forward to that almost as much as Christmas.

Thanksgiving is not too far away and I am looking forward to possibly smoking a turkey this year for the first time. I may even attempt to smoke my cornbread dressing. I have several dried New Mexico chile's on hand and I am thinking of incorporating them into the feast somehow. Maybe some red versus green enchiladas, I'll call them New Mexico Civil War Enchiladas. For those that are not aware, in New Mexico there is a constant war being staged as to which is better, the red chili or the green chili. Families have been divided over their differing opinions on this matter. Don't tell anyone, but I like them both.