Our $2.38 Christmas

In the spirit of 2009, we decided to celebrate a thrifty Christmas - no new decorations, (mostly) homemade gifts, and no Christmas tree. What? No Christmas tree?! This wouldn't do.

With coupon in hand, Adam allowed me to purchase the smallest little spruce top I could find at our local floral center. Everything else had to come from our yard. So, here is how we decorated the tree this year.

1. Gather your ingredients: hand saw, pruners, trowel, gloves, container, helpful canine assistant (Fig 1).
2. Dig up a few shovelfuls of dirt from behind the shady north side of the house. Nothing grows there anyway.
3. Place the spruce top in the center of the container (Fig 2).
4. Fill in bare spaces with additional spruce tips, pine boughs, and/or fir branches (Fig 3).
5. Accent with red dogwood, ornamental grasses, pine cones, or whatever else is lying around the yard (Fig 4).
6. Sacrifice a few hydrangea poofs and mountain ash berries for extra color.
7. No need to water. The freezing temps and coming blizzard(s) will hold everything firmly in place.
8. Now you are ready to take the annual Christmas photo in front of the tree (Fig 5).

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

Figure 4

Figure 5

Happy Holidays to all!

Happy Winter Solstice!

We're on our way to spring!

Dear SEGA Superstars Tennis,

Dear SEGA Superstars Tennis,

Do people really still like Sega this much? I sure don't care. I find it funny that a company can prostitute Sonic the Hedgehog into crappy games for years and no one seems to notice. I bought you because you were $4 with free shipping and you sat on my shelf for 6 months. I never even put in you in the Wii because I assumed you were trash even though your reviews were average. Well, your junk stock has finally come due and I will be the happy recipient of 250 points (equivalent to $12.50). Take this time to reflect on why you even exist and don't show up again until you get yourself some standards. Sonic deserves better.

Good riddance and enjoy Hatboro, PA. No hard feelings.

The Brandy Cassis

As you can from the recipe above, I needed a liqueur called Creme de Cassis to complete my drink. Thankfully, I had made my own 4 months earlier. This was the first test of my black currant liqueur. It is a very tasty addition to the liquor cabinet as long as it is used sparingly in a drink. Cinnamon dominates the liqueur at first taste and then the currant flavor becomes apparent. The next time I make it, I will be sure to include only half of a cinnamon stick. The grolsch bottles help make storage easy. Enjoy your day!

Beans, Beans, Beans

My coffee beans came from Sweet Marias. I received my 2 lb packages as expected and the sample pack had some interesting variety.

Guatemala Huehuetengo Finca La Maravilla

Costa Rica Helsar de Zarcero

Brazil Cerrado DP Fazenda Aurea

El Salvador Finca Matalapa

Sulawesi Tana Toraja Ke'pe

Columbia "Platos Fuertes de Huila" Microplot Mix

Ethiopia Cr 3 Dry Process Yirga Cheffe

India Organic Jasmine Estate Yellikudige

The hardest part comes from deciding what to roast first.

Look at the color and size differences between the Sumatra Takengon Classic on the left and the Ethiopia Gr 3 on the right. I can't wait to see what they look like after they are roasted.
On Wednesday evening we roasted some beans from Costa Rica, Columbia, and Brazil.
On Thursday, our house taste tester noted that she was "surprised that the Costa Rica tasted as good as it did" and that she "got a lot of work done that day". Friday's coffee , the Columbian, started well for her, but she ended up drinking too much and got a stomach ache. Everything in moderation people!

No coffee for TJ; no matter how sad you look.

Get Your Roasting On!

Here it is! I choose not to smile because this is serious business.

These are what green, unroasted coffee bean look like. They somewhat resemble lentils and have a coating called chaff, which flakes off during the roasting process.
The popper is set up with the unit tilted back to make sure the beans do not come out. The red bowl is there to catch the chaff. TJ is in position to call balls and strikes and generally keep the process moving at a good pace.
Here is some the chaff that shoots out early in the roasting process. It is yellow in color, but as the beans roast, the chaff gets darker.
The reason why the Poppery II works so well is that the air comes into the chamber from the side vents. When the beans first start out in the chamber they move very little, but by the end of the roasting process they are flying around in it.
It only takes about 8 minutes for the whole process, so you have to keep a close eye, a close nose, and a good ear. The beans will make a very small cracking sound in the first couple minutes. This is called the first crack and isn't all that important. About 7 minutes into the process is where you have to be ready. The second crack is much more noticeable. The beans are expanding quickly and little pieces of the beans are breaking from the main bean. They also start to smell very strongly and you can see a little smoke. The difference between a light roast and dark roast is only about two minutes, which makes timing very important.

As soon as the beans are done, they must be put into a colander and cooled down. Throw the beans around for about two minutes before letting them rest on their own.

See how much darker and bigger the roasted beans are.

It would be fun to run to the grinder and brew these babies up, but you have to wait at least 12 hours to drink. The beans have a lot of CO2 to vent off and if you don't give them the time to do it, the coffee will not taste as good. After 12 hours you can seal the jar up and use at your leisure.

Oh yeah! It's on!

Dear Ghostbusters and Dear Shaun White

Dear Shaun White,

Thanks for being a great game to play with the Wii balance board. Let's face it. There are few games that support the board and so it's great that you decided to show up. I have had you for over a year now and although there hasn't been much interest recently, I did play you in early November for old times sake. Your trick system was incredibly addictive, but I never did like grinding on those rails. It was cumbersome to get onto them and rather boring when finally I made it. I mean, all I have to do is stand there and not lean to get the points? The "trash" collection was also a weird task to advance the levels. Am I really supposed to believe that snowboarders attempt to pick up cans on the mountain? Where did these cans even come from? Maybe snowbladers are sneaking cans of Dew in their jackets in order to get more extreme? It was a strange choice. The half pipes were probably the best levels since you could do more jumps and perform more tricks in a shortened time period. And I also loved flying down the mountain and performing multiple tricks on the big jumps. That was awesome.

It's time for you to leave because I don't see myself playing you much anymore. I do hope to play your recent sequel even though I have heard it is the same game with different packaging. No offense. Enjoy Menlo Park, CA.

Dear Ghostbusters,

I was pleasantly surprised. Although your reviews were positive, I am still a little suspicious of games based on movies. You started out slow, but by the end I felt very satisfied. You really opened my eyes. The comedy was supposed to be one of the highlights, but honestly I enjoyed the proton pack more than anything. At your start, I had very limited functionality with the pack, but as different abilities were added, the game really picked up in quality. Having to determine which stream to fire and then quickly switching them for maximum damage just felt right. It is unfortunate that I didn't get the chance to try your co-op play since it would have changed some of the boss fights. The game also seemed a little short, but I'm OK with that. You helped me realize how good it feels when a game actually ends. A game that can go on forever like Boom Blox or Mario Kart can be more of a drain than anything. I saw everything in the story and now that it is over, I'm more than happy to send you to someone else.

We only spent a few short weeks together, but I won't forget you. Thanks for the fun. Now enjoy Mount Joy, PA.

Can You Smell What The Popper Is Cooking?

On Saturday, Jeremy graciously allowed me access to the wonderful world of coffee roasting. Since he is my mentor, I will take the same walk that he did to find enlightenment.

Now, you can go online and buy a $200 professional roaster, but doesn't that seem a little too easy? Surely the hippies have found a way around this conformist one-appliance-for-one-purpose process. By God, they did it! The West Bend Poppery II was born in 1982 for air-popping popcorn, but it didn't take long for someone to figure out that the design of the air vents, the temperature it reached, and the shape of the machine made it perfect for roasting coffee. The 1200 watt Poppery II and its predecessor the 1500 watt Poppery have been the gold standard for cheap roasting. Since they have not made these models for years, the only way to get one is to hit eBay. Mine is currently in the mail, but we should be roasting within the week. This is what it will look like.

What is a coffee roaster without some coffee? Today I purchased 16 pounds of green coffee beans from Sweet Maria's. They are a renowned coffee bean importer and a great resource for at home coffee roasting FAQs. Coffee is grown in many different countries around the world so I made sure to mix up my regions.

Here is my haul:

Sumatra Takengon Classic -2 lbs

Costa Rica Helsar de Zarcero -2 lbs

Brazil Cerrado DP Fazenda Aurea -2 lbs

Ethiopia Moplaco Yirga Cheffe -2 lbs

Green Coffee Sampler- 8 1lb samples -8 lbs

And so begins a treacherous, but delicious journey into the world of coffee enthusiasm. When one becomes an enthusiast, you can no longer be called an addict. I'm like a chocoholic, but for coffee. More to come.......

I fixed the furnace! I fixed the furnace!

On Friday night, Nicole and I had a lovely dinner at The Nova in Hudson, WI and then an educational experience at the Casanova liquor store. It was the start of a very promising weekend. However, when we returned home, the temperature seemed a little low. This was not good.

The furnace had become inoperable and we immediately questioned the future of our checking account. I got on the phone and started to access our options, which were less than ideal. The initial quoted price of $170 for the first half hour and $30 for each additional 15 minutes for after hours service was too steep, and the alternative of waiting until Monday at $130 for the first half hour and $24 for each additional 15 minutes also sounded tough to swallow. That's a deal breaker, ladies!

To The Internet! This family will have heat!

There is actually a wealth of information located in the basement of the Internet concerning demonic possession of furnaces and suggested exorcisms.

It was there that I determined the culprit to be our hot surface ignitor. He decided his filament could no longer heat the world he loved so much and it was time to pass over. It would have been nice if he had reported this to his superior officer, Pickles, before leaving.

Here you can see where his soul escaped into heaven. When the soul leaves a hot surface ignitor, the wings flap so intensely as to leave some of their white feathers on the filament. It's quite beautiful.

Check it out, y'all! Hot air for the hizzie! I wasn't able to get it fixed until the morning, after hitting the appliance repair store, but I fixed it. The part was $53 - which could be overpriced - but I'm definitely pleased, considering the alternative. So now that the house is warm, we can get on with our weekend.

Everything is back to normal.

Sushi Thanksgiving

We followed our Traditional Thanksgiving with Sushi Thanksgiving. It seemed an appropriate celebration for the excesses of Black Friday - although we did score some great deals on a few kitchen upgrades!

It was again a team effort, with TJ working his usual corner. Rob and Jess prepared the crab legs, while Wade and Emily took care of the knife work.

We had a feast! Maybe too much, but now we know for next time. My vegetarian plate (half nori, half spring roll) was delicious, but probably does not compare to the hamachi, salmon, crab, and roe that everyone else prepared. Even Pickles wanted in on those!

Rob and Wade carried us out with a few piano classics, and then we ended our evening with 4-player Super Mario Bros Wii. There is much to be thankful for!

Traditional Thanksgiving

We celebrated Thanksgiving Day with a traditional turkey and cranberries affair at home in Stillwater. Adam prepared the vast majority of the meal, leaving me with only the task of microwaving the stuffing for dinner. For this, I am thankful.

TJ helped where he could. Unfortunately, since Adam was cooking, there were no little bits to hit the floor.

We are so very thankful for many things this year: recent and upcoming visits with family, gathering with friends near and far, and good jobs to provide for it all. Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Halloween from Daunte Dog!

TJ celebrated Halloween 2009 in his usual get-up: Vikings Dog #11 Daunte Culpepper. ("No, he's not Brett Favre. Maybe next year, kids.") Here you can see him looking for an opening to steal all the candy. Or eat the children's costumes. Whatever. He was on watch all night.

We had a total of 55 guests and 1 chihuahua, plus several smart comments from the older set ("Your dog looks like a fluffball! Ha ha!") and a Team Jacob squad. Lights were out by 10:00 as I settled in to eat my enchiladas and watch Dirty Dancing for the 12th time.

After a quick trip to the laundry, TJ took care of the rest of my enchiladas.

Pickles would also like to wish everyone a Happy Halloween from her vantage point. It's so easy to be a cat.