The Coffee House

[JonA_CT]

@ Jon: A big thumbs up on the sausage. Gary recently purchased a grinder for sausages. Maybe later this week Gary will try the grinder. Good chorizo is hard to make. Good luck.

Did Frank gift you a copy of the Food Lab? His recipe/research on sausage is super useful. I have his chorizo recipe resting in the fridge to grind later today. It's not an ingredient that's easy to find here, so I won't have much to compare it to, but I'll let you know what I think.

It's a beautiful morning here. We had a pretty good line of thunderstorms last night that has dramatically cut the humidity for the time being. The only problem is that I'm out of roasted coffee. Such an amateur move.

 

[Frank F.]

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Gary is back from The Cook's walk. Lately, ever since her second ear went out, she's been depressed and really starting to show/act her age. This was the first time in a week for a 'full' walk as opposed to the abbreviated strolls of just around the block or less that she's been approving. The Cook and Gary departed early to minimize the sun, as Cook, being Irish, avoids walking in bright sun like a vampire. But the sun came out and really warmed things up, making the high humidity quite ugly.

If Gary is working he ignores the weather ... but when he has options, he recognizes that heat plus humidity really sucks. (Yeah ... duh ... of course it does ... but usually we don't get the wetness we've been experiencing lately.) The weather people are calling it monsoonal moisture being swept in from the Gulf of Mexico. Must be illegal.

We are exposed to similar conditions here in the Rhine valley. Xtremly wet and hot most of the time so sweat sweat sweat is the rhyme.

Go jogging in the early morning when it is still bearable and all stuff you wear will be soaked if you return. Liters. Literally.

Yesterday internet said 0% rain probability. But we had a light drizzle most of the afternoon.

I did explain that as humidity of 120% , condensating .... Does not make much difference anyway, steam pressure from the inside was higher than water flow from the outside. A rain coat would only have increased the flow of sweat!

 

[Gary A.]

@ Frank: But that is normal for Germany. Dry is the normal here, very very wonderfully dry. Fortunately it gets significantly cool at night for some relief. These monsoonal moisture arriving via an atmospheric river is drowning us in humidity.

 

[Frank F.]

Gary thinks that is very odd. Gary doesn't remember his dreams.

Really, you're missing out some great stuff. The mind in sleep can be very creative. One morning I woke up to a wife that was in seriously mad mode. I racked my brain trying to think what I might have done and kept coming up empty. Every question I asked, she respond to with those terse little one syllable answers (the kind reserved for only my worst infractions). Finally she told me that she had a dream in which I had done some mean things. When I said "but it was a dream I didn't do those things", her response was "but it was so real!".

Sometimes dreams can feel more real than reality. I once sat in a café with friends and closed my eyes for tiredness. Suddenly the same scene opened up behind closed eyes, revealing very different relations between the people. Same scene, deeper truth.

Or as recent as a few days back I did a power nap to regain some strength after a long morning worth of work, but it did feel like anything but sleep. I met a friend who seemed quite rational and friendly for many years but suddenly started paranoid rants via Email, stating eg I was trying to manipulate him and gain power over him by giving him a book I like as a birthday present. I told him, thank you would be the normal answer in a case like that and not read the book if you do not like it, which caused even more absurd accusations. This friend I met in the dream that afternoon and he was drooling and gibbering .... I said: I see you drool but I do not understand what you are saying ....

This felt like freeing my heart from losing a friend ....

 

[smoke665]

Same scene, deeper trut

But interpretation of the truth can be difficult. Yesterday my youngest was telling me about his VA C&P evaluation on his combat disabilities. Last night I dreamed that he was sitting in the back seat of an old Land Rover, the VA doctor was in the driver seat and I was standing at the passenger window, as we all talked back and forth. Strange?

 

[Gary A.]

@ Jon: A big thumbs up on the sausage. Gary recently purchased a grinder for sausages. Maybe later this week Gary will try the grinder. Good chorizo is hard to make. Good luck.

Did Frank gift you a copy of the Food Lab? His recipe/research on sausage is super useful. I have his chorizo recipe resting in the fridge to grind later today. It's not an ingredient that's easy to find here, so I won't have much to compare it to, but I'll let you know what I think.

It's a beautiful morning here. We had a pretty good line of thunderstorms last night that has dramatically cut the humidity for the time being. The only problem is that I'm out of roasted coffee. Such an amateur move.

Yes, Frank did give Gary a copy of the Food Lab. It is in the living room by Gary's chair and he often will pick it up to peruse. Frank is a gentleman.

The right combo of chili and spices is the key and that is an individual's palate thing. At one time getting decent tortillas on the East Coast was not a trivial matter ... Gary think's a good selection of herbs/spices/chilies from Greater Mexico, lands of sun and vivid colors and bold music, may be difficult at best ... and just the right amount of fat so the sausage sizzles' in the pan but not too much to drown the flavors. Gary is salivating. Gary prefers beef to pork, he'll be going to the garden for Fresno, Anaheim and Serrano peppers along with cilantro, herbs and maybe garlic. There was a chorizo in San Antonio which Gary really liked. It was a beef chorizo, but the beef wasn't put through a grinder, it was pulled/string beef. The spices were ground up into a paste and combined with the beef. Gary may attempt something along that line ... but first a look at the Food Lab.

 

[Gary A.]

Same scene, deeper trut

But interpretation of the truth can be difficult. Yesterday my youngest was telling me about his VA C&P evaluation on his combat disabilities. Last night I dreamed that he was sitting in the back seat of an old Land Rover, the VA doctor was in the driver seat and I was standing at the passenger window, as we all talked back and forth. Strange?

Nope ...

 

[Gary A.]

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Thursday is camera ad day in the Los Angeles Times. Samy's runs the largest ads. Today's was only a half page, but they devoted some space to film. Interesting ... Gary doesn't remember Samy's ever advertising film stuff before.

 

[jcdeboever]

My first job other than paper route, was at a meat market. I used to stuff the casing with Belgian sausage (pork) and blood sausage (hearts and liver). Strangely, it was fun. Also did hotdogs (little bit of everything).

 

[Gary A.]

My first job other than paper route, was at a meat market. I used to stuff the casing with Belgian sausage (pork) and blood sausage (hearts and liver). Strangely, it was fun. Also did hotdogs (little bit of everything).

Gary has a grinder and a job for you.

 

[JonA_CT]

Got it through the grinder and cooked a little sample to try. Not super hot, but wow the spices! So much more flavorful than the examples I've had around here. A kick of vinegar and garlic and then the warming spices start in with a really pleasant finish.

I like the sound of yours, Gary. I'd like a version with more of a pepper presence too.

 

[SquarePeg39]

Hey @JonA_CT - how was Rockport? I hope you weren't here during that nasty weather we had.

 

[vintagesnaps]

I remember my aunt using a grinder, one of those hand crank deals for home kitchens. Making ham salad and whatnot. Life on the farm.

How am I so behind on an online class that's only adult continuing ed. no credit - and on Hitchcock? lol Not that I have to take the quizzes etc. but this far along I want to get caught up and get it done. So I better get busy...

I don't feel like doing my homework.

 

[Gary A.]

Gary's pasta dryer has arrived. Gary is happy.

 

[Frank F.]

@ Jon: A big thumbs up on the sausage. Gary recently purchased a grinder for sausages. Maybe later this week Gary will try the grinder. Good chorizo is hard to make. Good luck.

Did Frank gift you a copy of the Food Lab? His recipe/research on sausage is super useful. I have his chorizo recipe resting in the fridge to grind later today. It's not an ingredient that's easy to find here, so I won't have much to compare it to, but I'll let you know what I think.

It's a beautiful morning here. We had a pretty good line of thunderstorms last night that has dramatically cut the humidity for the time being. The only problem is that I'm out of roasted coffee. Such an amateur move.

Yes, Frank did give Gary a copy of the Food Lab. It is in the living room by Gary's chair and he often will pick it up to peruse. Frank is a gentleman.

The right combo of chili and spices is the key and that is an individual's palate thing. At one time getting decent tortillas on the East Coast was not a trivial matter ... Gary think's a good selection of herbs/spices/chilies from Greater Mexico, lands of sun and vivid colors and bold music, may be difficult at best ... and just the right amount of fat so the sausage sizzles' in the pan but not too much to drown the flavors. Gary is salivating. Gary prefers beef to pork, he'll be going to the garden for Fresno, Anaheim and Serrano peppers along with cilantro, herbs and maybe garlic. There was a chorizo in San Antonio which Gary really liked. It was a beef chorizo, but the beef wasn't put through a grinder, it was pulled/string beef. The spices were ground up into a paste and combined with the beef. Gary may attempt something along that line ... but first a look at the Food Lab.

I am a great fan of Merguez - Wikipedia

Not easy to buy good ones, best possibly at a Morrocanian Butcher. I really want to start making my own sausages. Not so difficult to do and you really know the ingredients.

You might find them at Maghreb Butchers in bigger US cities. One of the more refined and complex tastes to experience