Birthday cupcakes and Honey-do

Ken turned 34 this past weekend. We had a fun, low key weekend. That morning, we met up with a group of friends for a cornhole tournament at a local bar. (Ken fell in love with the game at the Hog Roast. Cornhole is essentially a bean bag game that is played by tossing beanbags into a hole on a board 33 feet away... in the hole gives you 3 points, on the board is one point. We played indoors, but this picture gives you an idea of what it looks like.) Ken and I were partners and we got bumped out in the first round by the team that won the whole thing (also friends of ours). Turns out we scored the most points against them.... in contrast, the 2nd place team got shut out in the finals.

I made cupcakes and brought them to the bar. I learned that chocolate cupcakes filled with marionberry jam are excellent. Especially when topped with cream cheese frosting and eaten for breakfast.

After the bar, we laid low since we were going to a halloween party that night. Ken went as a baby (a friend of ours had a sun tattoo covered up and was explaining how she no longer has her sun... enter another friend who thought she said "son" meaning she lost a baby. Ken decided to exploit the running joke.) I went as Barbaro, the Kentucky derby winner who broke its leg and was eventually put down. I used paper mache to make a cast and horsehead, the latter I left at the bottom of the hostess' bed at the end of the night.

Sunday was low key. Lots of football in the house. I also finished priming the garage doors and windows. The windows are all ready to be hung -- Ken said he'd hang them this weekend while I'm away at my conference. I am excited. I can't wait to see them up. Just a little bit left until the garage is finished. Finally.

Dear Life,

I am really happy. I love my husband. I love my house. My dog. My cat. We have jobs that pay the bills and we enjoy. I can cook pretty well. He can too, but let's be honest, I'm the main cook in the house. Kinley agrees... or at least, I spill more. We have lots of projects. And we've accomplished a LOT this year.

We recounted all of our projects this year over lunch today.... fresh chicken salad sandwiches. Freshly made. Hot and with love on freshly baked bread.

It is late; Ken is walking Kinley before we go to sleep, but I marvel at our life. It is truly the life I have hoped for (despite being so busy).

P.S. The garage doors are hung.

Cocktoberfest

This whole year has been spent curing meats. I made bacon for the first time last christmas and it has progressed from there. Pancetta is my favorite to make since it is expensive in stores yet is so easy and requires no special equipment. Plus it keeps for months in the fridge. Perfect for winter pasta carbonaras at a moment's notice.

But then came Batali's meat class/seminar. And the taste test. Both convinced me that I needed to try more things. Enter Jafo and Natascha. My meat nerd counterparts. They went to the Batali class with me and became hooked, too. And so began "Meat Club" and our first event in honor of "sausage".... Cocktoberfest.

We decided to have a two part event. Class 1 was the quick salami that Batali taught us in class. We started at noon. I made apricot mimosas and had some cheese; Jafo (aka Jason) brought two kinds of awesome meat -- a parmesan crusted coppa and a spicy soppressata (I think). Both were awesome. Here are Natascha and Jason enjoying meat and mimosas before getting started:


First we measured out the meat and fat, cutting everything into chunks before sending it through the food grinder. Here are Jafo and Natascha teaming up to prep and grind the meat on ice:



Tobriah takes a turn mixing in the spices:


And here are Kathy and Jason stuffing the meat into the casing. The meat is supposed to be stuffed into fibrous casings, which you can order online. Jafo insisted on the camouflage ones:


A little later in the stuffing process. 5 lbs of meat produced two giant salamis:



We put the meat in the oven to cook (Batali said a low oven for 30 minutes or until it gets to a certain temp -- but after 45 minutes at 250, it was barely warm, so we kept turning up the temp until the time seemed about right. 300-325 seemed to work. Good to know). While the meat was cooking, we began the first step in making pancetta (curing the pork belly). We mixed up the spices and here is Natascha rubbing it over the meat:


She flips it over and I realize that I forgot to cut off the pork skin:


So I get to work removing the skin: (Sidenote: Marsha, I made that cajeta recipe you sent me. It worked really well in a crock pot. It was used for an ice cream topping -- I had a lot leftover and when I told Natascha about it, she wanted to taste it. We devoured it (see white gravy boat dripping with goodness). We learned that cajeta tastes really, really good on sliced granny smith apples with gorgonzola crumbled on top. Yum)


Meanwhile, Tobriah loved the smell of the pancetta spices (bay leaves, juniper, thyme, brown sugar, etc.) on her hands:


We finally get the pork skin off, finish coating the meat with spices and put it in a gallon sized bag to cure for 7-10 days before hanging to dry. As we get finished, the salami comes out of the oven. Jason thinks it's good enough to eat:



In all, we had a great time. It would have only taken 90 minutes or so, if not for that blasted oven. Oh well, a few more mimosas on a Saturday afternoon never hurt anyone.

Fence, check. Driveway in progress.

Here are some updates of the fence and driveway. The fence is now complete (minus 2 boards, which Ken is doing now -- in the pouring rain).

Looking left:

Center from the deck:


Right side. Over in that corner, in time, we'll probably build an arbor/outdoor room:


And far right. Under the cherry tree, you can see my lemon tree in the pot as well as a whole bunch of wooden stakes (marking where all my garlic and shallots are planted):


And here's our progress in the driveway. The dumptruck arrived at 8 am last saturday morning to drop of 5 yards of gravel....just as Ken and Eric were on their way out of town -- he and Eric stayed an extra hour to help unload it before they were on their way. Then Kinley and I did the heavy spreading after Cocktoberfest which took most of the afternoon. It is almost finished. Just a corner left next to the deck/garage. We're farther than these pictures indicate. Kinley stayed with me the whole time. We listened to the radio. It was nice to have company.

One of the piles. You can see the weed barrier we laid underneath. Also notice that this was right where the trench was dug just last weekend:


View from the garage to the street. It is the same pile. This is a typical Kinley picture. Close enough to see everything but not be in the way. I love that dog. He's my buddy. And I'm his -- especially when I'm cooking in the kitchen. He is my "quicker picker upper."


View from the deck. Most of this is covered now, except for the area at the bottom area of the picture.



View of what the (mostly) finished driveway looks like. Dog not included.


Plan for this weekend: Ken's getting the garage hardware together and is planning on hanging the garage doors! I'm finishing the last of the gravel (edit: it is pouring so I am doing all the laundry instead -- it has been weeks since things were put away). I'm also paper mache-ing my halloween costume and smoking some andouille sausage that I made last night. (sidenote: I am very much into curing my own meats right now). Then a semi-formal cocktail party later tonight. So busy but fun.

7:02 pm on a Tuesday

It is dark. I am tired. Ken took Kinley to the park after work. I got home after they left, unloaded the dishwasher and am making dinner -- I have the baked potatoes in the oven while I take a shower. Now, as I type this, I hear Ken hammering outside -- in the dark-- to put up the last of the fence.

The projects continue, woo tang, woo tang

The fence is finished. It goes all the way around the back yard. It is amazing. We just stood back there, under the trees, watching the wind blow and marveling at our progress. It looks really great and it makes the yard feel so much bigger, more private and calming. I've been backfilling the holes and leveling the mounds of dirt. Ken has one little section next to the garage before it is fully enclosed, but the 2 foot section doesn't change the fact that we now have a fence. An awesome fence.

The 7 tons of lifting got to Ken. Or at least his back. He's had a sore lower back ever since we did the retaining wall. He even had a couple of muscle spasms yesterday when he went to the doctor to get it checked out. The good news is that they think it's only a tissue issue. They gave him some high dose ibuprofen and 3 valium to take for the next three nights. They also referred him to a chiropractor. He'll have some rest this weekend, he's going to a football game with a friend on Saturday. Then he'll get to watch lots of football on Sunday.

While Ken's away, this mouse will play. I'm volunteering tonight at a community center to teach a group of teens about their career options in science. One of the plastic head & brain models I'm using has a face that looks exactly like Chuck. Then tomorrow morning, I'm having 5 yards of gravel delivered to redo our driveway. It will be quarter-minus gravel, like we have on the paths. So it is compressable and, according to a website, has a "fine textured look. Best used on top of pre-compacted material. Most people can walk barefooted on 1/4-10." I am excited. The driveway is a mud slip-and-slide right now.

So lots of work and projects, but they're coming together. I noticed the first of the garlic and onions are popping up. It made me happy as I left for work this morning.

Muddy Mess in Progress

Putting up the fence this weekend! So awesome. No more homeless people walking through our backyard or people seeing EXACTLY what I'm doing with every gardening dig.

Ken was home with an excavator friend on Friday leveling the driveway and digging a ditch to install waterproofing on the one side of the house. Then we're putting in a drainage pipe along the house, digging a dry well and finishing the driveway project by putting down quarter-minus gravel. That will be a huge check off the list since our driveway turns into a muddy clay mess in the winter.

Here are some pictures of our progress on the retaining wall, fence, drainage pipe and garage:


Drainage Pipe
Kerry leveling the driveway with his backhoe (before digging the trench):


Another view from farther back:



Ken working on the east-side drainage on Friday night. You can also see the old drainage pipe leading from the gutters to the other dry well in the backyard (farther from the house). He's laying the new drainage pipe (white) in the trench:


Here is a closer view of the waterproofing assembly. Kerry and Ken dug a 3 foot trench along the side of the house. A 10 mil plastic sheet (shiny black) was adhered to the wall using a driveway sealant/adhesive (see black adhering to the wall below). Then the plastic sheet was shaped to fit the trench and a perforated pipe with a "sock" covering (to keep out dirt) was placed down the center (see white pipe on left running along the plastic). After the pipe, gravel goes in to improve drainage. Then a weed/dirt barrier goes over the gravel to allow water to pass while keeping out the dirt (see fabric-looking thing). The barrier and plastic are folded together to create a drainage unit and the whole thing is then covered in dirt.



The drainage connection. The white perforated pipe from above (now shown on left in the picture below) drains soil from the east side of the house. The other pipe (12 o' clock below) will receive drainage from the north and west sides (to be done in the spring since we've run out of time this season). Both pipes empty into a dry well buried six feet below our driveway. This drywell is different from the one that collects runoff from the gutters (which is buried in the middle of our lawn).



Close up of the dry well. A big garbage can with holes that is filled with rocks and the pipe emptying into it.


We had 2 yards of dirt left in the driveway and a yard of rock. Thank you craigslist -- it is now almost all gone (3 wheelbarrows of rock remaining)

Retaining Wall
The retaining wall with fence posts sunk in concrete behind. Each block weighs 65 lbs.


View of the retaining wall looking into our yard.



Ken backfilling the trench of the retaining wall. We dug down a bit to fit the first course of stones. You can see the drop between our property and our neighbors comes to the middle of Ken's thigh.


The Fence
Before the fence. Direct access to a parking lot and close to a busy street.


Here's them starting the work:


View from our back deck of the fence going up. Goodbye busy street and hello privacy.


Closer view of the fence going up:


The Garage
The primed garage we've been working on for months. Still no windows. Sadly, it looks almost identical to what it did before. Only now it is structurally sound. Brick shithouse sound. Ken's ordering new gutters and we have just to paint and install the windows/doors before calling it finished.


[EDIT]: Notice the tomatoes in the picture above. Yes, they are as tall as the garage. Some plants are over 9 feet high. Not a lot of tomatoes due to the cold weather this summer, but still, they are nine feet. Crazy. You can also see them in the picture of the fence from the deck.