Killer Eatz

After hearing “why have you not been writing lately” for the 46th time today, I decided to get back at it.  I have still been cooking and trying new and delicious as hell things, I just plain forgot to write about anything.  Most things I have made have been photographed by Kendall, who then posts them on facebook but they never got to the blog.

Roasted veggies for one of my recent events

What has been keeping me from writing you ask?  Have I gotten lazy?  Probably.  I started making home brew beer which has caused a slight weight gain due to having to constantly test other craft beers to see if I was on the right track.  So instead of writing on my lunch hour as I have in the past, now I walk 2.5 miles to make my pants fit again.  Also, in conjunction to the weight gain from the brewskis, a lot of things that are very tasty have a lot of carbs so I cut some of those out also, making cooking booring.  You want me to wax on and on about how to sear a grass fed beef skirt steak and serve it with some roasted broccoli?  No! I want to write about DUCK FAT! Duck fat rules and should be added to everything.  For Christmas dinner I whipped up a duck fat potato and sweet onion galette with caraway seeds that was about the best thing I ever stuffed into my mouth.  Served with some prime rib and porcini jus, it was enough to make you wet.  Anyway, I just went there to proove that I have not been curled up in a little ball with writer’s block, just lazy

My latest batch of homebrew. Double Dry Hopped IPA. My pantry looks like a scene out of Hoarders.

I also started taking drum lessons.  Now that will make you feel like a retard if you have not done much of it for 40 years, which I had not.  I played in a high school “rock” band that knew 3 songs and did a couple of gigs at the local high school.  We played those three songs 7 times each.  Trying to learn a 4th song caused the lead singer to OD on Pearl beer so we split up and I went to college and the rest of the band ended up who knows where.  Anyway, I bought a new PDP by DW 7 drum kit and am rocking it out every day locked in the upstairs music room.  Pissing the neighbors off I imagine.  Piss on em. I’m a rocker, I can say stuff like that now.  Ha ha.

More next time.

Killer

One more tom has been added since this picture was taken.

I guess this is a “new hobby” year for me.  I started doing catering gigs as KillerEatz Catering, took up playing the drum set, and now am a home beer brewer.  Don’t ask my why beer, but I have been interested in alcohol for a long time, mainly from the consumer standpoint.  Kendall and I made wine for two vintages (we helped a real winemaker make wine) and still have 4 cases of our 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon in our cellar.  Wine to me is too dependent on mother nature.  I guess that is what makes it so interesting for some people in the production end of the wine business.  Too many variables and chemistry for me.  So I decided to try my hand at at batch of home brew beer.

Beer is made by a recipe, like most of the things I cook.  You use malt extract, grains, hops, water and yeast.  Though it has a few more ingredients than wine (grapes, air, bugs) it is not so dependent on weather and based on my first batch, not as easy to screw up!  I read a book, downloaded some other instructions, borrowed the equipment (thanks Ron) and visited the local home brewer store in San Luis Obispo.  The store owner was very helpful and put together all the ingredients for an American Pale Ale, measured out into individual containers and gave me an instruction sheet.  If you can follow instructions, you can brew beer.

I am not going to go into all the details of how I made my beer, but basically all I did was follow directions.  The art in this is when you decide to experiment with different hops, grains, malt extract and add other flavorings to get a unique individual brew.  That will come with time.  The beer sat for 7 days in a fermenter and is now in bottle.  Two more weeks and it will be ready to drink.

The beer recipe I used yielded 5 gallons of product, enough for 24 large bottles (basically two beers per bottle).  With good craft beer at $8.99 a six pack, home brew is a bargain.  That is until you really get into it and start buying more expensive equipment to make better beer in bigger batches.  This will become a sickness with me and eventually we will have to park our vehicles on the street to make room for the brewery in the garage.  Is that legal?

I’m off to my quilters club followed by a quick test flight for flying lessons.  I may raise a pig in the back yard.  ADHD anyone?

Later

Killer

Killer