So Cameron came home from school earlier in the week saying he'd been asked to take part in a Variety Show in the school gym tonight, on behalf of the North Queens Junior Girls Basketball Team. Fair enough, so we encouraged him to put a drum solo routine together with, oh, at least a few days to practice.
We went along to set his drums up this afternoon. Only a couple of the performers were school kids, the others were adults, and you could see his confidence slipping as they mostly ignored the wee 10 year old with the drum kit. Well, maybe that's no bad thing as he won't always be the centre of the show... Anyway, he didn't do much practising just tapped timidly in the background whilst they twiddled away.
Come the show, again, he didn't miss a beat but played very quietly almost to the point of invisibility until the intermission. At the interval we spoke to him and he said that he had decided not to play solo. We encouraged but didn't push him. Back to the second half... and no Cam on stage. Jane went to see if he was ok and he was, but none of the adults had invited him back.
Well, we like a bit of country as much as the next Canadian immigrant, but to be honest, there's a limit. The guys playing were ok, but the sound was crap and after straining to hear the 50th song about Mom drinking meths, Daddies lurv, dog leaving on jet plane, boyfriend being called Sue or whatever, people were starting to filter out. Problem was, Cam's drum kit was on stage, so we couldn't go anywhere, but we'd decided to put the evening down to experience at least. For the last couple of tunes Cam came back on.
The M.C. had asked him to do a drum roll to introduce each of the basketball team, so when the other musicians left the stage, Cam stayed. Then Carl, the M.C. said "So Cam, show us what ya got..." - a momentary blank look followed by fleeting panic, we held our breath; what would he do...
Hurhurhur, what he did was shrug - and played a belter! Man, he just blew them away, the place went wild, and he bloody taught them not to underestimate a young lad! The thing is, he is getting pretty damn good on drums and folks were probably thinking he'd done well enough with what he had played - so it was totally unexpected. But he is playing with style and grace and groove, and my heart soared.
As Jane said, this is the sort of thing you want for your kids - the little successes, the tests and triumphs, at least enough of them to balance out the inevitable knocks and defeats. And it won't hurt his cool rating, and the chance to date the better looking girls either.
Of course, because we are crap parents, we had (again) forgotten to take a camera. Thankfully, there was a proper parent in the audience, so hopefully I'll be able to post a photo soon.
Phew! I need a rum... and the skating rink opens tomorrow, so I'd better not be late, but that's a different story. This is Rock and Roll Radio, stay tuned for more Rock and Roll...
Oh aye, and a happy New Year to everyone!
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Bacon!
Wow. I don't really know why, perhaps because we were so disappointed with the bacon made for us last year, but I didn't expect the bacon to come out actually tasting like bacon.
Last year, a friend said he would brine and smoke some streaky bacon for us from the pig that we had bought, he was doing his own and had a smoker etc. so we left him to it. Not sure what wood he used, whether it was sawdust made with a chainsaw, or softwood, or just too long in the smoker? But it was a disappointment.
So we made our own this time. I dry cured it for about 3.5 days in salt, with peppercorns, brown sugar and crushed bay leaves. 2.5 days would probably have been enough, because we wanted to create a breakfast rasher rather than a preserved pancetta. After curing, it was rinsed and hung up to dry for a few days. In the meantime, I realised that I needed to build a smoker!
There are lots of plans and pictures of smoker designs on t'internet - not so many for cold smokers, but the general principle is that you have a smoke source and a smoky box and separate the two using pipe, so that the smoke has a chance to cool down before reaching the smokee. I had a wee charcoal bbq lying around (fairly redundant after Donal and Nicola bought us a propane one!) and once I worked out how to stick a big tin can on to the lid as a chimney, that was the smoke source sorted. You can get away with cardboard box as a smokehouse, but we splashed out a few dollars for a galvanised garbage can, drilled some holes in the lid, other holes in the side to put rods through, and bolts for suspending a rack and a larger hole to put the pipe in.
The wonderful hardware store in the village, N. F. Douglas & Sons had all the bits, including some flexible hose. It's like tumble dryer hose, but made of a sort of foil, so seems to be heat resistant. Looks like something off a '50s sci-fi B-movie (Plan 9 from Outer Space - anyone seen it?) :-)
Don Kimball, a local furniture maker had given us bags of maple shaving, primarily for animal bedding, and I went and picked up some apple tree branches that we had pruned in early Spring. Using a sharp axe I could make thin shavings and after getting a bed of hot coals from some seasoned oak wood, I put a mixture of apple with a wee bit of dampened maple on top, put on the lid and we were in business.
Half the bacon I sliced unsmoked and the other half went into the smoker for just a few hours. The result is outstandingly good! It really is. The transformation from simple pork to sweet, salty, savoury bacon is only just short of miraculous!
So much so, that we have ordered 2 Berkshire piglets from Ross Farm for delivery around mid-February!
Last year, a friend said he would brine and smoke some streaky bacon for us from the pig that we had bought, he was doing his own and had a smoker etc. so we left him to it. Not sure what wood he used, whether it was sawdust made with a chainsaw, or softwood, or just too long in the smoker? But it was a disappointment.
So we made our own this time. I dry cured it for about 3.5 days in salt, with peppercorns, brown sugar and crushed bay leaves. 2.5 days would probably have been enough, because we wanted to create a breakfast rasher rather than a preserved pancetta. After curing, it was rinsed and hung up to dry for a few days. In the meantime, I realised that I needed to build a smoker!
There are lots of plans and pictures of smoker designs on t'internet - not so many for cold smokers, but the general principle is that you have a smoke source and a smoky box and separate the two using pipe, so that the smoke has a chance to cool down before reaching the smokee. I had a wee charcoal bbq lying around (fairly redundant after Donal and Nicola bought us a propane one!) and once I worked out how to stick a big tin can on to the lid as a chimney, that was the smoke source sorted. You can get away with cardboard box as a smokehouse, but we splashed out a few dollars for a galvanised garbage can, drilled some holes in the lid, other holes in the side to put rods through, and bolts for suspending a rack and a larger hole to put the pipe in.
The wonderful hardware store in the village, N. F. Douglas & Sons had all the bits, including some flexible hose. It's like tumble dryer hose, but made of a sort of foil, so seems to be heat resistant. Looks like something off a '50s sci-fi B-movie (Plan 9 from Outer Space - anyone seen it?) :-)
Don Kimball, a local furniture maker had given us bags of maple shaving, primarily for animal bedding, and I went and picked up some apple tree branches that we had pruned in early Spring. Using a sharp axe I could make thin shavings and after getting a bed of hot coals from some seasoned oak wood, I put a mixture of apple with a wee bit of dampened maple on top, put on the lid and we were in business.
Half the bacon I sliced unsmoked and the other half went into the smoker for just a few hours. The result is outstandingly good! It really is. The transformation from simple pork to sweet, salty, savoury bacon is only just short of miraculous!
So much so, that we have ordered 2 Berkshire piglets from Ross Farm for delivery around mid-February!
Friday, December 5, 2008
Ou est le Grand Saucisson de la Maison?
Il est ici...!
We finally got around to butchering a pig! Well, half a pig - 103lb though. With the help of Hugh and Ray's 'Pig in a Day', we tackled it and to be honest, it was pretty straightforward. I actually found taking the meat off the hand (front leg), was the trickiest bit.
We took off the hind leg, and divided it into a full ham, and a corner gammon - both went into a cider cure...
Then we divided the loin from the belly. We took the tenderloin off, then took some chops from the chump end. The rest, I boned the ribs out of, rolled and tied into a neat loin roast, which we cut in two (skin on, scored, for crackling), and saved the rack of ribs.
There is a small roast to be had from the first 4 ribs of the belly piece, on the bone, leaving the rest of the 'thin end' of belly to be dry cured for streaky bacon. Salt, cracked black pepper, soft brown sugar and shredded bay leaves makes the cure. To be rubbed in daily for three days or so.
That left the shoulder and hand. I boned out the blade bone for a shoulder roast and the rest went into the box for sausage meat, along with trimmings from all sorts of elsewhere.
I ha'ed ma doots that the hand mincer/stuffer was going to do it, but do it it did, do it, it did, indeed, aye. Jane, Cam and I (Breagh is above such peasant pleasures) took a batch of sausage meat each; Cam's was a fairly plain breakfast banger, mace and white pepper and not much else, Jane's was a supper banger with sage, thyme (both from the garden :-) and black pepper, and mine was an evening of debauchery banger with paprika, chili and garlic. They have come out better than I imagined they might, fan-bleeding-tastic.
We finally got around to butchering a pig! Well, half a pig - 103lb though. With the help of Hugh and Ray's 'Pig in a Day', we tackled it and to be honest, it was pretty straightforward. I actually found taking the meat off the hand (front leg), was the trickiest bit.
We took off the hind leg, and divided it into a full ham, and a corner gammon - both went into a cider cure...
Then we divided the loin from the belly. We took the tenderloin off, then took some chops from the chump end. The rest, I boned the ribs out of, rolled and tied into a neat loin roast, which we cut in two (skin on, scored, for crackling), and saved the rack of ribs.
There is a small roast to be had from the first 4 ribs of the belly piece, on the bone, leaving the rest of the 'thin end' of belly to be dry cured for streaky bacon. Salt, cracked black pepper, soft brown sugar and shredded bay leaves makes the cure. To be rubbed in daily for three days or so.
That left the shoulder and hand. I boned out the blade bone for a shoulder roast and the rest went into the box for sausage meat, along with trimmings from all sorts of elsewhere.
I ha'ed ma doots that the hand mincer/stuffer was going to do it, but do it it did, do it, it did, indeed, aye. Jane, Cam and I (Breagh is above such peasant pleasures) took a batch of sausage meat each; Cam's was a fairly plain breakfast banger, mace and white pepper and not much else, Jane's was a supper banger with sage, thyme (both from the garden :-) and black pepper, and mine was an evening of debauchery banger with paprika, chili and garlic. They have come out better than I imagined they might, fan-bleeding-tastic.
Monday, December 1, 2008
Odd ways to spend a weekend, pt.993
Odd ways to spend a weekend really. "Hey Bud! How was the weekend?", "Well, first I sawed a pigs head into bits and then I helped make a skating rink..."
Pig Processing pt.1
-------------------
We arranged to buy half a pig from friends of ours who raise a few each year for slaughter and sale. Last year we helped with the slaughter (on Jane's birthday!) but had the butchery done by a local aquaintance. This year we didn't have time to go to the slaughtering, but have said that we would cut it up ourselves. That process started with going a collecting all the unwanted pig parts - but it hasn't been terribly successful so far. The children don't like fried liver much, so I made 2 liver pates using our new meat grinder - we'll leave them a couple of days to see if they are any more palatable for fussy children! We saved some kidney for tonight's Steak and Kiddly Pie. Nobody really wanted to eat the hearts (they killed two pigs!), so the leftover liver, hearts and kidneys (the other three), went into a big pan for dog/cat food.
I had them save a couple of litres of blood for making black pudding, but because I wasn't there at time of collection, it didn't get stirred and so ended up as one large unappetising clot - that went on the compost heap instead!
Cam and I spent a fair amount of time and energy yesterday sawing and cutting up, cleaning and brining a whole pigs head, tongue and trotters to make into brawn, but I've just managed to burn the bottom of the stew, ruining the whole thing :-(
So, we're not doing very well so far. We need to go pick up the rest of the carcass in a few days - sausage casings and brine buckets at the ready! I can't afford to waste any more of it though, dammit.
Ach, at least I did manage to successfully, and relatively pain-freely, change the washroom lavatory faucet (that's the bathroom basin taps to those on the East side of the pond). And we made a good go at Georgie's grand plan to turn the riding ring at the Exhibition Grounds into a large skating rink this year by nailing a bottom board around the rails and leveling the surface. It still needs a plastic skirt tacked to it and it will be ready to be flooded when the temperature drops and freeze-up begins.
Pig Processing pt.1
-------------------
We arranged to buy half a pig from friends of ours who raise a few each year for slaughter and sale. Last year we helped with the slaughter (on Jane's birthday!) but had the butchery done by a local aquaintance. This year we didn't have time to go to the slaughtering, but have said that we would cut it up ourselves. That process started with going a collecting all the unwanted pig parts - but it hasn't been terribly successful so far. The children don't like fried liver much, so I made 2 liver pates using our new meat grinder - we'll leave them a couple of days to see if they are any more palatable for fussy children! We saved some kidney for tonight's Steak and Kiddly Pie. Nobody really wanted to eat the hearts (they killed two pigs!), so the leftover liver, hearts and kidneys (the other three), went into a big pan for dog/cat food.
I had them save a couple of litres of blood for making black pudding, but because I wasn't there at time of collection, it didn't get stirred and so ended up as one large unappetising clot - that went on the compost heap instead!
Cam and I spent a fair amount of time and energy yesterday sawing and cutting up, cleaning and brining a whole pigs head, tongue and trotters to make into brawn, but I've just managed to burn the bottom of the stew, ruining the whole thing :-(
So, we're not doing very well so far. We need to go pick up the rest of the carcass in a few days - sausage casings and brine buckets at the ready! I can't afford to waste any more of it though, dammit.
Ach, at least I did manage to successfully, and relatively pain-freely, change the washroom lavatory faucet (that's the bathroom basin taps to those on the East side of the pond). And we made a good go at Georgie's grand plan to turn the riding ring at the Exhibition Grounds into a large skating rink this year by nailing a bottom board around the rails and leveling the surface. It still needs a plastic skirt tacked to it and it will be ready to be flooded when the temperature drops and freeze-up begins.
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Snow!
First proper snowstorm of the year has dumped a fair amount on us - and it's still snowing.
We weren't absolutely unprepared, but I hadn't put snowchains or the snow bucket on the tractor, so I spent most of the morning doing that before I could shovel any snow. These things are never as simple as they should be!
Because the ground isn't frozen yet, the drive is a bit of a mess. You can't go too close or else you dig up the gravel, but too high runs the risk of it leaving ridges which can freeze and then you're stuffed until spring. Hopefully though, the forecast is calling for it warming up by Tuesday, so we will maybe get another shot at it.
We weren't absolutely unprepared, but I hadn't put snowchains or the snow bucket on the tractor, so I spent most of the morning doing that before I could shovel any snow. These things are never as simple as they should be!
Because the ground isn't frozen yet, the drive is a bit of a mess. You can't go too close or else you dig up the gravel, but too high runs the risk of it leaving ridges which can freeze and then you're stuffed until spring. Hopefully though, the forecast is calling for it warming up by Tuesday, so we will maybe get another shot at it.
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Autumn Frenzy (Get Set for Winter)
We have managed to tick off quite a number of items on the grand to-do list recently, which is encouraging. Most are related to getting ready for winter in one way or another.
That process started with the canning and preserving of a whole range of late summer produce, from cranberries to sauerkraut joining the array of tomatoes, pickled cukes and chutney. We bought half a cow and that went in the freezer with our table birds. We should have half a pig coming this week to round out our meat store. More of the pig when it happens!
The garden and greenhouse are just about cleared and prepared for winter, the strawberries and asparagus are pruned and mulched. We have some experimental greenery in the tunnel, it'll be interesting to see how it gets on, though with Jane's accident, we didn't really catch up on winter planting, so the experiment will have to wait for another year properly. The one and only apple tree still needs to be pruned, but presumably there isn't any rush to do that now. We still have plans to put in a bit of an orchard next spring. We really wanted to have a new propagation / transplant greenhouse up before next spring - maybe we've missed our chance now, but we might get to it yet.
Last winter's manure was tractored to join this year's cut grass in a large windrow compost heap, and we divided the stable into 2 separate loose boxes for the horses - hopefully they'll be easier to manage singly. I made a start brushcutting the rushes and weedy grass in the lower field, where I didn't mow this year - it's wet and boggy down there at the moment, and I thought I would end up with the tractor stuck, but the longer it lies uncut, the worse the tangle will become. I was hoping to cut it all by hand, so the new growth in the spring would be palatable for grazing. We still need drainage though.
When Neal was here, he managed to stack most of this year's firewood, and I have added to that and made an outdoor stack, covered, which may even do us for next year too. For the first time ever, we are actually ahead of ourselves in firewood. I even felled a couple of small trees to make up the cordage.
In the house, we got the insulation done - we have blown cellulose, recycled newsprint into the attic and coombe spaces, which will hopefully make it a little more bearable upstairs for the kids bedrooms. The upstairs bathroom renovation is coming along, albeit painfully slowly. I have stripped the 'den' behind the bathroom. We did the pre-winter chimney sweep, put away the trampoline and the volleyball net and gathered bags of birchbark and kindling for fire lighting.
After a mixed spell of weather, the temperature has announced winter with a vengeance. There are snow flurries today and it has been below freezing all day. We brought the horses in tonight for the first time, and shifted the new chickens into their winter quarters. The latter process involved a cardboard box and a pokey stick - good grief, are we professionals at this?!
So, are we ready for winter? No, it doesn't feel so, but we have managed to do a bunch of pre-winter tasks and that feels fairly good!
That process started with the canning and preserving of a whole range of late summer produce, from cranberries to sauerkraut joining the array of tomatoes, pickled cukes and chutney. We bought half a cow and that went in the freezer with our table birds. We should have half a pig coming this week to round out our meat store. More of the pig when it happens!
The garden and greenhouse are just about cleared and prepared for winter, the strawberries and asparagus are pruned and mulched. We have some experimental greenery in the tunnel, it'll be interesting to see how it gets on, though with Jane's accident, we didn't really catch up on winter planting, so the experiment will have to wait for another year properly. The one and only apple tree still needs to be pruned, but presumably there isn't any rush to do that now. We still have plans to put in a bit of an orchard next spring. We really wanted to have a new propagation / transplant greenhouse up before next spring - maybe we've missed our chance now, but we might get to it yet.
Last winter's manure was tractored to join this year's cut grass in a large windrow compost heap, and we divided the stable into 2 separate loose boxes for the horses - hopefully they'll be easier to manage singly. I made a start brushcutting the rushes and weedy grass in the lower field, where I didn't mow this year - it's wet and boggy down there at the moment, and I thought I would end up with the tractor stuck, but the longer it lies uncut, the worse the tangle will become. I was hoping to cut it all by hand, so the new growth in the spring would be palatable for grazing. We still need drainage though.
When Neal was here, he managed to stack most of this year's firewood, and I have added to that and made an outdoor stack, covered, which may even do us for next year too. For the first time ever, we are actually ahead of ourselves in firewood. I even felled a couple of small trees to make up the cordage.
In the house, we got the insulation done - we have blown cellulose, recycled newsprint into the attic and coombe spaces, which will hopefully make it a little more bearable upstairs for the kids bedrooms. The upstairs bathroom renovation is coming along, albeit painfully slowly. I have stripped the 'den' behind the bathroom. We did the pre-winter chimney sweep, put away the trampoline and the volleyball net and gathered bags of birchbark and kindling for fire lighting.
After a mixed spell of weather, the temperature has announced winter with a vengeance. There are snow flurries today and it has been below freezing all day. We brought the horses in tonight for the first time, and shifted the new chickens into their winter quarters. The latter process involved a cardboard box and a pokey stick - good grief, are we professionals at this?!
So, are we ready for winter? No, it doesn't feel so, but we have managed to do a bunch of pre-winter tasks and that feels fairly good!
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