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Margaritas have been the cocktail of choice this summer at the Piehole Estates. I have a love for mezcal that I acquired on a trip down to Oaxaca in southern Mexico many years ago, so margaritas on the patio seemed like the thing to do this summer. If you’re not familiar with mezcal think of it as tequila’s smoky cousin. And Mrs. Piehole and I have a nice urban herb garden going in the backyard this year that provides a lot of inspiration. Plenty of time and ingredients to experiment with this season.
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I reread “Laches” by Plato while I was on the treadmill today. I know: I’m a middle aged philosophy nerd. My undergrad degree is in philosophy, I still read in the subject.
“Laches” is a shortish work, about a 40 minute read. It’s a dramatic dialog Plato wrote between five characters wherein two men raise the topic of “how should we educate our two sons, how do we teach them the things we never learned growing up?”. Philosophy strikes many as some nerdy chitter chatter limited to either idealistic college freshmen or “ivory tower” professors. But I firmly believe philosophy has a lot to teach us. Many of the questions about life we’ve all been asking haven’t changed much in 2500 years. Our need to understand who we are and why we’re here and how to live a meaningful, fulfilling life hasn’t changed. The answers, honestly, haven’t changed that much either.
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Mrs. Piehole went to our local nursery earlier this spring to buy herself some tomato plants for this growing season. While she was there she picked up some kinda random chile plants for me. She knows I enjoy growing a variety of chiles every year, so she just got me some plants I’d never seen before because she loves me. One of these plants she got me is called Portuguese Hot.
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I started this blog several years ago after the sale of my previous company. It was a pleasant side interest for me to write about foods I like to cook, beers I like to make, random thoughts about life that crossed my mind while I was grilling. Grilling is like therapy for me (but much cheaper). The activity keeps my hands busy, takes off the surface static off my mind, allows me the occasional deeper thinking. So this site because a place where I thought I could share some of those thoughts and some of those things that make me happy.
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I don’t start my new job for another week, so I’ve got a lot of free time on my hands. I always loved Rice Krispie treats when I was a kid, and I got inspired to make a grown up version. And, well, I love bacon. And I love bourbon. And I love Rice Krispie treats. So why not bring together all of these things I love into one single tasty snack? I mean seriously, why not? (This is not a rhetorical question. Why not?)
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Mrs. Piehole and I have a rescue dog. A doberman pinscher (her fourth dobe, my third). We adopted him from the wonderful people at Illinois Doberman Rescue almost a year ago. It still amazes me how quickly this guy has become a part of our pack… um… I mean family. We love him like crazy, and he’s clearly become pretty attached to us as well.
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I wrote recently about creating a new milk stout recipe. Yesterday was brew day! I was well prepared: I had a recipe I was excited about. I had a beefy amount of yeast cultivated (strong yeast being the key to any successful beer). I had the grains milled, the hops in the fridge, the hardware all sanitized and sterilized. Show time! Until…
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Also check out Mr. Malty’s Yeast Pitching Rate Calculator app. I use it before brewing every single batch to make sure I’ve got enough yeast cells necessary to successfully brew the style I’m making. Best three bucks I’ve ever spent on homebrew gear.
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Last night I attended a monthly meeting of a local homebrew club here in Chicago. I haven’t typically done homebrewing as a group activity. Not sure why, but I’ll think on that for another day. But I was enthusiastically invited to the brew club by a friend who is a member, so I decided to stop by and see what it was about. The meeting was about a dozen brewers who get together monthly to share their beer and swap stories about how they made it. I really enjoyed the conversations, drank some interesting beers, and drove home thinking on a few brewing tips and tricks I picked up in conversation.
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A while back Mrs. Piehole (my beautiful, super-smart better half) tried her hand at curing her own bacon. Outstanding move, as I’m a huge fan of the stuff. Turns out that curing your own bacon is so simple that any idiot can do it… and I’m the perfect idiot to get that job done!
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