Sssssmokin'

Mr. Logo has been fishing a fair bit lately, ya know, what with the being unemployed and all.
The local river has been running pinks (humpies) and the silvers (Coho) are starting now.
After collecting several of these fish, it was suggested he try smoking them using an Alton Brown method.
After finding the Good Eats episode that featured Alton's make-shift smoker and watching it repeatedly Mr. Logo found all his bit and pieces and proceeded to smoke some salmon.

Here is his smoker.
Here are his salmon filets, all cured, prepped and ready.

Inside the smoker he had a hotplate with a pile of wood shavings heating till they smoked and a small homemade fan to circulate the smoke a little more.
After several hours in the smoker Mr. Logo pulled out some of the yummiest food known to humanity,
smoked salmon. We taste tested one filet and somehow it completely disappeared!!
Mmmmmmmm
A goood man and good food, some of the best stuff in life.

All a-twitter

I've been on Twitter a while now, but quietly.
I try to disguise myself as something less than an attention whore but the fact I blog, and do Facebook, AND Twitter might not support that assertion.

I joined mostly to read other people's witty one liners though, really.
In fact, I've been a member over a year and I've only posted 42 tweets.
Anyway,
one of the people I follow just posts stuff his dad says and it is hysterical.

A brief sampling;

"Sometimes life leaves a hundred dollar bill on your dresser, and you don't realize until later that it's because it f***ed you."
10:38 AM Sep 19th from web

"I turn the kitchen faucet on and the shower burns you, yes, I get it...No, I'm not gonna stop, I'm just saying yes, I get that concept."
8:54 AM Sep 11th from web

"The worst thing you can be is a liar....Okay fine, yes, the worst thing you can be is a Nazi, but THEN, number two is liar. Nazi 1, Liar 2"
12:41 PM Sep 7th from web

"Your mother made a batch of meatballs last night. Some are for you, some are for me, but more are for me. Remember that. More. Me."
8:57 AM Aug 21st from web

"The dog is not bored, it's a f***ing dog. It's not like he's waiting for me to give him a f***ing rubix cube. He's a g** d***ed dog."
10:43 AM Aug 18th from web

This is funny stuff, people.

Blogging and destiny

Check out
www.despair.com

for all your demotivational needs.

Today, September 15th, 2009

is my 19th anniversary.

We aren't doing anything too exciting today, we're saving that for the weekend when we can ditch the kids. But it is a sunny northwest day and I woke up to a cuddle and anniversary wishes from the father of my children and the man that I love, and thankfully, that is all the same guy.
:P






Here are a couple poems for Mr. Logo:

ee cummings

i like my body when it is with your
body. It is so quite new a thing.
Muscles better and nerves more.
i like your body. i like what it does,
i like its hows. i like to feel the spine
of your body and its bones, and the trembling
-firm-smooth ness and which i will
again and again and again
kiss, i like kissing this and that of you,
i like, slowly stroking the, shocking fuzz
of your electric fur, and what-is-it comes
over parting flesh… And eyes big love-crumbs,

and possibly i like the thrill

of under me you so quite new


And then a piece that is quite a bit older;

Set me as a seal upon your heart,
As a seal upon your arm;
For love is as strong as death...
Its flames are flames of fire,
A most vehement flame.
Many waters cannot quench love,
Nor can the floods drown it.
If a man would give for love
All the wealth of his house,
It would be utterly despised.


Love you, man of mine!

You see it all around you, good lovin' gone bad...

Some more of my fav blogs are going on hiatus, some permanently.

This form of.. whatever it is, journaling? digitally hanging out? online attention whoring, whatever,
seems a better fit at sometimes than others for all of us.

I have to say that my mom dying of breast cancer than has metastasized to her brain, and homeschooling, and teaching at our co-op, and having a husband who's been unemployed twice in the last year has made some serious demands on my own time.

Those of you who still manage to make it over for my infrequent and occasionally insipid updates may have noticed a decline in general quality and giddiness around here but I'm glad you come by anyway. Your efforts are noted and appreciated.

I used to blog every single day, even most weekends but that got to be a bit much.

I remember when I first heard about the "blogging without obligation" idea. I quite liked the idea and decided that although I'd started my blog to entertain my friends it was, in fact, my own creation and existed to serve in whatever way I chose.

Perhaps it would be kinder to let this blog completely wither from the lack of attention I lavish on it so abundantly but I am not ready to do that.

So Dog's Life will continue to scrape along in whatever way seems best compatible with my life.

Hold on loosely, but don't let go.

Stir fly, uuuuh, I mean, Stir fry

My peeps know that I am not really the chef around here. Yesterday though, I was at the library and saw this bookbook promising quick, simple, delicious dinner recipes. The photos were awesome and I started to drool on it right there in the aisle. It was a little embarrassing. I checked the book out so I could clean it up later and decided on the way home I needed to have stir fry for dinner. It wasn't one of their recipes, but I was feeling inspired.

So that pic is how it looked just before I threw it over some noodles. It was so pretty.

Also, it was freaking fabulous tasting. Some of that green stuff in there is broccolini which I picked up on a whim and have decided I vastly prefer to real broccoli, at least the stuff you get in the stores around here (which I suppose might not fit the definition of "real" broccoli since it is probably all hybridized, and chemicalized and whatnot. Real broccoli, grown by people who surround it with tender loving care and the wafting scent of patchouli and hemp, is probably far more delicious, with balanced chakras and a happy aura, but I am an impulse food shopper and there was no farmer's market available at the moment).

I am going to stick the recipe here, not because I assume you culinary geniuses around here NEED another stir fry recipe, but so that it is preserved somewhere for the next time I have this whim, although you are welcome to use or alter to suit yourself

Stir Fry a la Logo (not authentic, but still yummy)

1/2 pound stir fry meat (yah, that is right, I bought it already cut, I'm lazy, so what)

marinade in:

soy sauce

rice wine or mirin vinegar

sesame oil

Sriracha sauce or red pepper flakes, whatever

ginger

garlic

Combine to taste in a bowl, throw in meat and go check your blog, or facebook, or twitter, or whatever. Give it 30 to 60 minutes. You will need the last 15 of those to...

Chop up:

Red bell peppers

broccolini

baby carrots,

green onions

mushrooms

Stir fry meat in sesame oil (ok, you can mix half and half with olive oil, or Wesson or whatever but the sesame oil is important) med high to high heat is good, really (this is a reason I love to stir fry, you are finally allowed to cook everything at really high temps, oh, and save the marinade, it is going back in the pan).

When your meat is about 3/4 done, throw in peppers, broccolini, carrots, and onions.

Cook another 3 or 4 minutes, meat should be almost done and veggies ready to go but not get squooshy at all. Throw in 'shrooms and sauce (marinade) and get that bit all hot.

Serve over asian noodles of your choice

(if, like me, you forgot to pick up noodles at the store when you got your stir fry stuff you can totally cheat. Throw a couple ramen noodle bricks into a bowl, sprinkle with one of the season packages and augment with whatever your favorite flavors are from the marinade ingredients above. Pour boiling water over them but don't let them sit in it too long, or they will get squooshy, and we all know squooshy is BAD! After they soften pour off the water and voila, you have noodles).

Answers to life's big questions can be found in the kitchen.

Insalata Caprese
This is proof that God loves me and wants me to be happy.

Next, the sad but true reality,
some things in life just really suck.