It feels like a long time since I last posted. It's only been 7 days, but it feels that way. So, some quick catch up:

Cooking
I smoked another salmon. This time I used my grandfather's brine recipe and OMG was it good! This was an example of the second time around coming out much better. I've caught the bug. Next time is going to be smoked cheddar and mozzarella.

I made more ice cream. Total production YTD - 6 quarts. This was an example of when the second time didn't come out so well. And neither did the third time around, for that matter. I made a Guinness Stout ice cream (I've had the recipe for several years now, but no ice cream maker until Father's Day). The taste is okay (Heather likes it with Chocolate syrup and almonds) but the texture is wrong. I think the egg yolks cooked funny when I was making the base. They curlded and it made a nasty custard goo.

I then made some more Vanilla ice cream, but evidently I didn't let the tub get cold enough. The ice cream never froze up and got to the right consistency. I hope it hardened okay in the freezer.

I made a Gutsy Pepper Gazpacho from Cooking Light Saturday evening. I liked it quite a lot and it was nice. It fit the day, a warm one, which was kind of a gamble with the cold spell from earlier this week.

Movies

House of Wax. Dumb. If people had a little common sense, horror movies never would happen. Don't poke around people's houses. Don't go into places that have closed signs on the door. When the scary truck comes to your campsite, time to pack up and go. Oh, yeah, and Paris Hilton can't act. And she can't sing either (she doesn't sing in the movie, but she just released an album). I wonder what is next.

Punch Drunk Love. Strange. Adam Sandler can act in a role other than big dumb guy. After watching House of Wax, this was a strange one to watch. As Adam's character (look I'm on a first name basis with him) looks at his world, some times it was hard to tell what was real and what was his imagination.

Wedding Crashers. Pretty funny.

Travel
16 days ago, I was writing an entry from SFO waiting for a stand by flight home. I write today's entry from my hotel room in the Bay Area. No, I haven't been stuck here ever since (haven't you read the other posts?), but I am back. I'm here for the week. I'm sure more will be blogged about my week.

I went to dinner tonight with Mark and Anne. It was great to see them and catch up, since I hadn't seen them when we lived in the Bay Area (I'm not good at keeping up with my friends, but I'm trying). We walked up and down College Avenue in Rockridge (twice, once for dinner and once for dessert) and had an enjoyable evening.

That's all for now. Good night!