Camping!

One week ago Greg and I went camping in the rain! I took these photos during a short time when the rain had paused.

Did you know that there is milk that doesn't require refrigeration? It comes in a box like a juice box, only it is a milk box.

In the background you can also sort of see the lean-to that we got. It was pretty fancy, and also really nice for keeping dry in all the rain. 

Here is Greg in front of the fire he built in the rain. And our tent is in the background. It took 4 days to get it all dried out after this trip was over.

Fish ham and Butter salt

Yesterday Greg made a fabulous dinner. For this week we are one of those families that makes a grocery list for the week and goes shopping for all of it on one day. (Previously life was more chaotic and we only shopped on a day by day basis... or possibly meal by meal... and also bought a lot of pre-made food.)

So Greg decided that one of our meals was going to be fish. I had intended to make fish recently, but ended up making duck when I couldn't find the fish. When we were checking out at the grocery store, the guy at the register commented that the package of fish we got was his absolute favorite. So that sounded pretty good.

And let me tell you! That grocery store kid certainly has good taste! The fish was amazing! We got salmon, which apparently was smoked, although I didn't realize it at the time of purchasing.

Ta Daa! This was such a spectacularly delicious meal. Greg broiled the fish, after putting some things on top of it. I think it was just salt, shallots, and basil? The fish was served on a bed of couscous, with a variety of small tomatoes and a butter sauce.

And did I mention that this meal came with a fabulous salad and a glass of wine?

 

It did. And both were so good. The salad was particularly delightful: greens with half a white peach and a citrus vinaigrette that Greg invented himself. The salad was of dessert caliber.

This was easily the best meal either of us has made since we moved to our new apartment, possibly the best meal either of us has made ever in the world.

We did decide that this meal had an unfair advantage: salt and butter. Basically, any food with this much salt and butter just has to taste good.

We also decided that the combination of a smoked flavor plus salt is the flavor we commonly think of as 'ham'. I ate my first bite of salmon, and it tasted like ham. What?!? So this logically means that ham doesn't really have a flavor of its own. It is simply the combination of smoke and salt.

And now hopefully you have been enlightened on the meaning behind the title of the post.

Font Màgica de Montjuïc

The Magic Fountain of Montjuic

We stopped by this amazing fountain on our way back to the hotel last night. I can understand why this is a highlight of Barcelona. Last night I wasn't up for battling the crowds, so we got this photo from afar using my new superzoom lens. One night before we leave I'd like to try to get closer, but I may chicken out again. We shall see!

Morning entertainment

Alternately titled: Who needs a television when you have a landlord like mine?

My landlord lives next door. Yesterday a large piece of construction equipment appeared in his yard, so I knew some entertainment was in our future. Luckily we were at the barn in the late morning and able to witness the action. I think we were also lucky that our landlord hired someone to operate the excavator, instead of doing it himself (he is big into DIY). Also, that parenthetical note is a huge understatement.

Naturally, we grabbed mugs of coffee and pulled up our chairs to the window to watch.

The above photo was taken just before the digging commenced. The conversation between the excavator operator and our landlord provided some good opportunities for Greg and I to do voice-overs. We thought we were pretty hilarious, but it probably wouldn't be so funny if I tried to repeat it here.

This was taken mid-way through the dig, during a break to measure the depth of the hole. I have no idea what they were digging this hole for, but it was Really deep. Obviously you can't see the hole in this picture, but you can get a pretty good idea based on the tremendous mound of dirt piled up. The digging continued even after we had left, so by now the entire yard could be dug up. There is really no way of knowing.

Stuff and Things as of Late

Recently Greg and I had engagement photos taken. We hadn't originally planned on having any taken, but somehow we came around to the idea, and boy what a good one it was. Not only did we get a ton of amazing photos, but it also gave us a chance to hang out with our photographer before the wedding and get comfortable with having him take lots of pictures of us. Our photographer is amazing and does amazing work. So so happy with our choice. Here is the link to his post with a few of the photos.

In other news, we also bottled up the smokey porter this weekend. The smokey-ness has not really mellowed out as we had expected. The recipe said that the smokey flavor was very subtle. Ours is basically the exact antonym of subtle. I guess that would be unsubtle. Or obvious. Or distinct. Whatever the word, it is certainly smokey. We still have hope that it will mellow out while it is in the bottles though. We want to have homebrew at the picnic on the night before our wedding, so it has some time to come around. And we should have time to make one or possible two more batches, and those will certainly not be made with any smoked malt.

Back to Brewing

Greg and I both thoroughly enjoy the brewing process and the brewing results. Unfortunately our schedules don't really allow for that to happen as often as we'd like. Luckily Red Barn Brewing is back in business! On Sunday night we brewed our third batch of beer: a smoky porter. I am hoping it will be delicious, since a porter is generally my most favorite type of beer. Originally I had wanted to do a caramel coffee porter, but once we found the smoky porter recipe, that sounded like a perfectly good option. Signs of fermentation weren't really noticeable until Tuesday evening, as seen below:

Sidenote: In the background of the first photo you can see the super-sweet beer cases that Lisa and Dustin gave us for Christmas! Dustin made them in the woodshop. The each hold 12 beers (they even filled them with label-removed bottles!) with dividers, and have strong rope handles, and have a bottle opener attached. A very classy beer-transportation device, to be sure.

Our Christmas Tree!

Greg and I both recently returned from (separate) conferences in CA (that were occurring at the same time). This year we had a great plan to get a Christmas tree, since we aren't taking any big trips for the holidays. The Coop was selling some nice trees for $40, but we were both pretty interested in chopping down our own tree, so we figured we would see if the trees at the farm just down the road from Greg's had good tree deals. I know you are really supposed to set up a tree only shortly before Christmas, and then keep it up during the Christmas season (aka the 12 days of Christmas, aka the 12 days starting on Christmas day and extending to the Epiphany (I am under the impression that most of our society is confused by this, considering Christmas music is playing now and will stop the day after Christmas)). But once we both got home I just really wanted to go find out tree, so off we went. First we went to the hardware store to buy some rope. We also bought a strand of Christmas lights. For anyone wondering, one strand of 100 lights is probably not really an appropriate amount for a 5-6 foot tall tree.

Then, after wandering around basically the entire tree yard, we found this beauty!

It was the best one in the lot, and we were both really happy about it (despite Greg's face, which is entirely due to the sun shining directly in his eyes).

Greg let me start the sawing process.

And I let him finish the sawing process.

It would have been really fun to let the tree fall over just after yelling "timber!" or something, but I haven't ever been to a tree farm like this, and I kind of doubt that is part of the proper etiquette. So instead I just braced the tree, and then Greg picked it up off the stump.

Then Greg carried it up to the front, where we paid for it (only $30!) and got it baled by this fantastical machine.

We managed to secure it to the roof of the civic, and when we got to Greg's house we were happy to see it had not shifted at all!

See how we were smart enough to tie it through the windows of the backseat so that we would be able to open our doors and get in the car? Physicists in action.


Now the tree is all set up, complete with the manger scene underneath!

The lighting may be minimal, but the smell is phenomenal! You can't tell it from the picture above, but I am happy to introduce you to our hockey & Peanuts-themed tree. I don't know why it surprised me at the time, but I took a quick tally, and it turns out that Greg really only has hockey and Peanuts ornaments. And those are mainly hockey ornaments, thirteen to be exact.

Thanks for making our tree spectacular Mario!

P.S. Mom, if we have a tree again next year, I might be ready to get my ornaments out of storage in your basement. Then maybe the number of ornaments that are non-hockey will be more comparable to the number of hockey ornaments. :D