Is it a Baguette?

It's sixteen inches long by three and a half inches in diameter. It that a baguette or a french loaf or what? Tell me if you know.

I do need more eaters of bread. If Mary and I eat all the bread I make we will expand.

Whiskeytown Falls

Whiskeytown Falls, a photo by Jim Arnold (jga154) on Flickr.

Garry and I walked into Whiskeytown Falls arriving just before 5 pm last evening. It was my first trip there. The falls is much larger than this photo and includes some cascades. You really can't fit it all in one photo.

The lighting was nice but it got too dark pretty quickly. We reached the truck after dark. This an eight second exposure at f22. I used a polarizer and vari-ND filter.

Above this spot and with waders on you could possibly get some good shots of the middle part of the falls. There are signs posted on the railings not to cross though.

Who Are They? Why Do They Come?

This is a snapshot of the visitors to my blog this last week. I know it's not the most visited blog around, but look at where they are from. As I would expect most are from the USA and probably know me. Then Russia? I have been told some Russian visits are attempts to get virus' into our country. I don't know. Hopefully Google is protected well!

What is it with Latvia, Romania, Georgia and Ecuador? How do they find this simple little blog that doesn't sell anything or even say much of interest?

Tender, Flaky, and Delicious

It turned out better than I had hoped for. The crust was tender and flaky. The filling was appley with a hint of cinnamon and held it's shape very well. I would recommend Alton Brown's crust to anyone. Here is a link to the recipe: Alton Brown Apple Pie

I made this recipe about a month ago using caraway as the seasoning and bought-en crust, not bad, but wasn't too crazy about it. For this pie I used Alton's recipe with cinnamon and nutmeg for seasoning. The Applejack is important so gluten does not develop in the crust and make it tough. Follow the recipe! Delicious.

Golden Brown and Hopfully Delicious

Placing each and every piece of apple kind of irks Mary, but that's how Alton does it! The crust was a little scary, rough, but it seems to have worked.

The pie is cooling now so we don't know about it's deliciousness. Smells good - should be good.

We shall see.

Mary's Applesauce

This is the last of four batches of applesauce this year. It made twenty one pints, seven 12oz. jars, and a little leftover. We got our apples (40 pound box of seconds for $18) from Troxell's in Montgomery Creek. They created a good mix of apples and delivered them to the Redding farmers market on Saturday.

I saved a few apples for pies though. Mary is going to teach me how to make pie crust, so tender and flaky. We will be following Alton Brown's recipe though (he puts Applejack in his). It's what's coming up.

Smoking Salmon with Flower Pots

Earlier this summer this was my smoker setup. Salmon was the flavor of the day here with apple wood chunks for smoke. I have an electric burner in the bottom with stainless steel wood pan. Over that I place a smaller grill and an aluminum pot with water in it. I used too large a grill to allow more heat to escape. The smoker only needed to be around 170 degrees.

This flower pot smoker does a nice job but is restricted by size. The grill size is 13 inches diameter. Not too sure if a whole beef brisket will fit on it, but tri-tips and a pork butt roast do fit.

After building it I'm sure I could have bought a cheaper smoker but it wouldn't have been stoneware.