Trip Rpt (includes Food Porn)
Nov. 29th, 2004 12:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pecuniumWe got back last night. It was a decent weekend. The place was interesting. A private property, near Los Olivos (very near where libertango went to school). They've converted the garage (which must have been huge) into a two room, with bath, apartment, as well as having a workroom (where one of them does scrapbooking). Microwave, four beds (all twin) sink, bathroom sink, tub.
The power was oddly done. The breakers were 15 amp, so we accidentally blew a pair of them when the kettle and the microwave were on at the same time. With five people, and only two rooms, it was going to be odd for sleeping arrangements, so Maia and I pitched our tent near the horses (of which we had the entire herd. Four horses, two adult mules, and two mule foals).
Maia and I got there first, which was still after dark on Thus., and drove back to Buellton to Pea Soup Andersen's, were we got dinner. They were out of the lamb supper, so I got the Danish Meatloaf. The crowd, wasn't. Most people, it seems, chose to eat at home on Thanksgiving. The waitress did, because I wanted a shrimp salad (special to the T-day meal) get a whole lot of bay shrimp added to my dinner salad, and found the only Sierra Nevada Pale Ale in the place [hiding behind a sign, when she thought they had been out for two weeks] and a nice tip).
Friday we took the herd for a ride. Five people astride, and three ponied animals. We got lost because the roads are poorly marked. It's a semi-private enclave (if one goes up, a pass code is needed to clear the gate, but if one takes the low road there is nothing stopping one) and so we ended up at someone's driveway, the approach to which had been topped with something slick. Less than fun to ride down on.
After that we dropped the extras off and took a trundle down the main road.
Saturday was misty, moisty and I spent it noodling about the computer, trying to conquer the world, ca. the Roman Empire (I am about halfway there) and reading Nero Wolfe novels. Maia's father spent time in the pastime he has gained since he retired, Music Theory. Pat was ill, and Maia and Sola took the babies for a gambol on the 15 acres of ranch.
Then, all save Pat, took a moonlit ride down the main road. We had dinner, the girls drank enough to get silly (neither of them is much of a drinker, so it was almost trivial) and cards were played.
Sunday was sunny, and we got the right directions, took the back road and enjoyed a very nice four-miles and change, in the greenery of Calif. winter. Open oaks, deer, sunlight and about a mile and half (for me) of no irons, with a pleasant canter in the middle.
Then we packed the beasts, put Sola in the truck with us and got out, 30 minutes sooner than I expected, 30 minutes later than Maia wanted. Sola was flying out of SLO, so we showed her the house, unloaded the horses, got dinner at an Indian place and dropped her off. We were really early, because her flight was delayed.
Actually, it turns out, it was cancelled, which they decided after midnight, when there was no way it was going to make any of the connections in Vegas. So at 0130 I got up, gassed the car, and got her.
This morning Maia was not well, and skipped her classes. I made breakfast.
Omelettes.
Fresh eggs (Pat brought some up from Maia's flock in L.A.)
Small bermuda onions; chopped small, sweated with some butter; to keep a bit of bite, tossed with black truffle oil
Tomatoes from my plants in L.A.: Russian lemon plums. A sauce tomato, like a Roma; somewhat less mealy and with a tangy jelly. Sliced small, tossed with powdered white pepper (I crack it from a mill, and then grind it in a small mortar/pestle).
I had drank a sake cup's worth of beeren-auslese (a sweet wine) with it. Very nice counterpoint to the truffled onions.
Some have asked for the secret of roasting coffee. It's actually pretty simple, but (like many simple things) is not trivial.
Get some green beans. They ought to look smooth, and a bit waxy. They will be a pale, almost plasticky, green.
Get some beans, roasted to a toast you like. Use this as reference.
Take a heavy skillet, small is better. and put a layer of the beans across the bottom. You can use less, but it's harder, because the pan won't heat evenly, and they will tend to not move enough. If you use more, it's harder to judge, so start off with an even layer; later you can be ambitious.
Put a diffuser under the skillet, and set the heat to moderately high.
The beans will start to yellow. They will get localised brown spots. You will think they are burning, and you are ruining them. You will want to turn the fire down. Resist the temptation.
Toss the pan, and use a wooden spoon/spatula to stir the beans
A smell, something like toast, something like popcorn will start to rise. They will get a milk chocolate color, with some dark chocolate spots. You will compare them to the reference, and think them done.
Resist this temptation too.
They will start to pop, bits of papery stuff will begin to show up, the toasty-popcorn smell will get stronger. People will ask what you are burning. Persist.
The beans will start to swell (keep some of the green one for a reference), you may lower the fire.
Keep stirring. When the beans start to sweat, when the paper starts to stick to the tip of the spoon, you may consider turning off the fire. From here out you are looking at the finished level of roast. The darker you go, the stronger the flavor (all the way past espresso to charcoal).
You will not have as even a color as your reference sample, which is fine, it will make the coffee more complex, even at lighter roasts. Recall that darker roasts have less caffeine, if you care.
If you don't go far enough, if you give into one of those temptations, the brew will be thin and bitter. You can predict this if the beans don't swell (which will be 40-60 percent). Underdone beans are hard to grind, and they make a pale brown, gritty, set of grounds, with white flecks (from untoasted hull, which, when toasted, you will want to treat as chaff. I shake the skillet over the sink and blow on it, then I rinse the flecks off my glasses and wipe the counter).
Experiment. Tell me how it goes.
libertango went to school). They've converted the garage (which must have been huge) into a two room, with bath, apartment, as well as having a workroom (where one of them does scrapbooking). Microwave, four beds (all twin) sink, bathroom sink, tub.The power was oddly done. The breakers were 15 amp, so we accidentally blew a pair of them when the kettle and the microwave were on at the same time. With five people, and only two rooms, it was going to be odd for sleeping arrangements, so Maia and I pitched our tent near the horses (of which we had the entire herd. Four horses, two adult mules, and two mule foals).
Maia and I got there first, which was still after dark on Thus., and drove back to Buellton to Pea Soup Andersen's, were we got dinner. They were out of the lamb supper, so I got the Danish Meatloaf. The crowd, wasn't. Most people, it seems, chose to eat at home on Thanksgiving. The waitress did, because I wanted a shrimp salad (special to the T-day meal) get a whole lot of bay shrimp added to my dinner salad, and found the only Sierra Nevada Pale Ale in the place [hiding behind a sign, when she thought they had been out for two weeks] and a nice tip).
Friday we took the herd for a ride. Five people astride, and three ponied animals. We got lost because the roads are poorly marked. It's a semi-private enclave (if one goes up, a pass code is needed to clear the gate, but if one takes the low road there is nothing stopping one) and so we ended up at someone's driveway, the approach to which had been topped with something slick. Less than fun to ride down on.
After that we dropped the extras off and took a trundle down the main road.
Saturday was misty, moisty and I spent it noodling about the computer, trying to conquer the world, ca. the Roman Empire (I am about halfway there) and reading Nero Wolfe novels. Maia's father spent time in the pastime he has gained since he retired, Music Theory. Pat was ill, and Maia and Sola took the babies for a gambol on the 15 acres of ranch.
Then, all save Pat, took a moonlit ride down the main road. We had dinner, the girls drank enough to get silly (neither of them is much of a drinker, so it was almost trivial) and cards were played.
Sunday was sunny, and we got the right directions, took the back road and enjoyed a very nice four-miles and change, in the greenery of Calif. winter. Open oaks, deer, sunlight and about a mile and half (for me) of no irons, with a pleasant canter in the middle.
Then we packed the beasts, put Sola in the truck with us and got out, 30 minutes sooner than I expected, 30 minutes later than Maia wanted. Sola was flying out of SLO, so we showed her the house, unloaded the horses, got dinner at an Indian place and dropped her off. We were really early, because her flight was delayed.
Actually, it turns out, it was cancelled, which they decided after midnight, when there was no way it was going to make any of the connections in Vegas. So at 0130 I got up, gassed the car, and got her.
This morning Maia was not well, and skipped her classes. I made breakfast.
Omelettes.
Fresh eggs (Pat brought some up from Maia's flock in L.A.)
Small bermuda onions; chopped small, sweated with some butter; to keep a bit of bite, tossed with black truffle oil
Tomatoes from my plants in L.A.: Russian lemon plums. A sauce tomato, like a Roma; somewhat less mealy and with a tangy jelly. Sliced small, tossed with powdered white pepper (I crack it from a mill, and then grind it in a small mortar/pestle).
I had drank a sake cup's worth of beeren-auslese (a sweet wine) with it. Very nice counterpoint to the truffled onions.
Some have asked for the secret of roasting coffee. It's actually pretty simple, but (like many simple things) is not trivial.
Get some green beans. They ought to look smooth, and a bit waxy. They will be a pale, almost plasticky, green.
Get some beans, roasted to a toast you like. Use this as reference.
Take a heavy skillet, small is better. and put a layer of the beans across the bottom. You can use less, but it's harder, because the pan won't heat evenly, and they will tend to not move enough. If you use more, it's harder to judge, so start off with an even layer; later you can be ambitious.
Put a diffuser under the skillet, and set the heat to moderately high.
The beans will start to yellow. They will get localised brown spots. You will think they are burning, and you are ruining them. You will want to turn the fire down. Resist the temptation.
Toss the pan, and use a wooden spoon/spatula to stir the beans
A smell, something like toast, something like popcorn will start to rise. They will get a milk chocolate color, with some dark chocolate spots. You will compare them to the reference, and think them done.
Resist this temptation too.
They will start to pop, bits of papery stuff will begin to show up, the toasty-popcorn smell will get stronger. People will ask what you are burning. Persist.
The beans will start to swell (keep some of the green one for a reference), you may lower the fire.
Keep stirring. When the beans start to sweat, when the paper starts to stick to the tip of the spoon, you may consider turning off the fire. From here out you are looking at the finished level of roast. The darker you go, the stronger the flavor (all the way past espresso to charcoal).
You will not have as even a color as your reference sample, which is fine, it will make the coffee more complex, even at lighter roasts. Recall that darker roasts have less caffeine, if you care.
If you don't go far enough, if you give into one of those temptations, the brew will be thin and bitter. You can predict this if the beans don't swell (which will be 40-60 percent). Underdone beans are hard to grind, and they make a pale brown, gritty, set of grounds, with white flecks (from untoasted hull, which, when toasted, you will want to treat as chaff. I shake the skillet over the sink and blow on it, then I rinse the flecks off my glasses and wipe the counter).
Experiment. Tell me how it goes.
