New Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book

Well, I finally broke down and bought a replacement for that lovely old standby I've used since my college days. Printed in 1981, this has been my go-to cookbook since I can remember. Its not like I have a shortage of active cookbooks, but this has always been the soft spot in my cooking heart.

I was hoping I could just replace that standby with a duplicate in better shape, but after much thought and consternation, I ended up buying a ring-bound 16th edition of the New Cook Book.

I have to say I'm not terribly impressed. The ring binder is nice, but the pages it holds won't stand up to nearly as much abuse as my worn out copy from 1981. And to be honest, the recipes are much vaguer. I want a cookbook to tell me "Put this much of this seasoning in, cook this for exactly X amount of time, etc." I'm not likely to adhere to those instructions, but I don't need my cookbook getting all interweb wishy-washy on me, nor do I need 12 variants of meatloaf. I'll variate my own damn meatloaf, thank you very much!

So, yeah, next picture of my cooking cupboard *might* include the newer New Cook Book, or perhaps I'll find an alternate?

Amazon Echo Unboxed in the Kitchen!

I put in my pre-order for Amazon's new voice-activated, personal assistant speaker doohickie they've named Echo some time back. It finally appeared on my front stoop, and here's what happened:

Damn, that sounded so dramatic and exciting! And I didn't even save pictures of the packing box! LOL! Here is a shot of the internal packaging, with a frosty beverage and a Sharpie to indicate both size of the box and bs level of this particular unboxing.

Anyway, after removing the Echo's box from Amazon's standard shipping packaging, I found a very plain, black box. Very mysterious looking and hi-tech "clean." Upon opening the black box, I was confronted with the high contrast, but still clean packaging seen here. No muss, no fuss. It looked cool and exciting and yes, it got my techie juices flowing...

Inside this lovely package we have the Echo itself, a 9.5"X3.5" tower speaker, a power adapter, a remote control and mounting device for the remote control. You can see a box of Kleenex on the Kitchen table in background of the first shot, this should give you a good idea of this item's size.

Before I move on, I want to point out...the magnetic mounting holder for the remote is one of the most awesome ideas ever! The Echo is very likely to become relegated to everyone's kitchen and making the remote so kitchen friendly was a fantastic idea. The "holder" is magnetic, so it will just slap right on your fridge and stay put. The batteries in the remote make them very friendly to slapping into said holder and staying put. The curves match, the remote fits well. An elegant and simple solution to an incredibly annoying occurrence--who hasn't misplaced a remote?

Anyway, app downloaded, batteries installed in the remote, Echo powered on. Wi-Fi info entered, and my Echo started getting friendly. Voice recognition is much better than expected, without any training. (A brief voice training session is available in the companion app, and continuing corrections are also available through the app:  the app lets you see what your Echo "heard" and make adjustments.) The connection to my home network was very simple, through the companion app. Absolutely no issues connecting to my Amzn account and streaming music nearly instantly.

The sound quality was considerably better than I'd expected, and perfectly acceptable for a small apartment/kitchen listening environment. It won't rattle your windows, and so needs an audio out.

Recognition of voice commands through speaking was phenomenal, Through the remote, slightly less so, but still considerably better than expected.

It's an attractive, effective device for music playback, especially if you are already tied into Amazon's digital economy. (Disclaimer: I am an amzn warehouse employee. I do not hold Amzn stock, though I do receive a percentage of my annual pay in stock. I am not being paid for this review.)

If the Amazon Echo had a line out audio connection, it would completely exceed my expectations and my needs. As is, it's going to be relegated to the furthest remotes of the kitchen, and likely to be forgotten soon...

Winter Brews in the Kitchen, 2014 edition

OK, so I waited until I'd had a couple pumpkin brews before I got around to cooking any up in the kitchen last fall! I will have some tasty pumpkin brews to for this years' Memorial Day picnic!

Anyhow, I brewed up my very first pumpkin ale last September, and bottled it up September 16th. I started out with this Pumpkin Ale Extract kit from Midwest Supplies. Once I got into it, I ended up adding ALL the typical pumpkin pie spices (3 tsp cinnamon, 1.5 tsp ginger, 2 tsp nutmeg, 1.5 tsp allspice and 1.5 tsp ground cloves) right before ending the boil. For pumpkin flavor, I added a 30 oz. can of Libby's while cooking up the specialty grains that came with the kit, then I added ANOTHER 30 oz. can of Libby's pumpkin as I was getting ready to add the spices, right before the boil should have been finished. 60 oz. of canned pumpkin is a LOT of water, so I had to keep the boil going for some time before I reached a decent volume. Eventually all boiled down to a happy volume and I could get back to my normal routine...stove off, water running through the copper wort chiller, and soon into the Spiedel 7.5 gallon. OG right at 1.062 A coupla minutes of oxygen and in went the dry Munton and Fison Ale yeast. Stuff did it's job in well-heeled fashion, as Final Gravity was right at 1.012, so Roll and Tumble Pumpkin Ale was bottled up at 6.56% ABV.

When adding spices, I added amts. appropriate if I'd just been adding to a normal "cooking" recipe rather than a "brewing" recipe: instead of adding equal portions of the additional spices, I probably should have made ALL the spices equal the2 tsp. of spices in the original kit.

As all the brews in the kitchen do, this brew stole its name from a Ray Wylie Hubbard song. Roll and Tumble Pumpkin Ale got its name from "Roll and I Tumble" off Delirium Tremulos. (Like all Ray Wylie albums, it's one of the best ever! Just go buy it! Now, already!)

At first tasting in October, Roll and Tumble was a little rough...that whole "over-spiced" thing, with the medicinal overtones that come with. The overdone spices continue to mellow into the full-flavor pumpkin and it's become one of the better and more popular brews from the Kitchen! :-)

Last August, I bumped into a bottle of Southern Tier's Warlock, and just loved it! Because, like ... Pumpkin Stout! Everything good about a pumpkin ale, softened up by the depths of a smooth rich stout! I've always been fond of a good pumpkin ale, but I'd never come across a pumpkin stout: I was gonna have to try making one of these myself!!!

Baby's New Shoes Pumpkin Stout was the result. I started with a my favorite chocolate stout base kit  I added 30oz. canned pumpkin when I started cooking, and added 60 oz. more canned pumpkin before we were done. Absolutely NO spices added during the cook. After a week of fermentation, I moved this to my 5 gallon Speidel so I cook up my Lemon Zest Coriander Wheat brew. I added 2 vanilla beans and 8 short cinnamon sticks to the 5 gallon fermenter before piping the brew over. (I'd soaked the vanilla beans and cinnamon in cheap vodka to sanitize them enough to prevent any weird bacteria joining the last stages of fermentation.)

Anyhow, bottled this up 11/24/14. I was leaving for NYC and nervous about making my flight on time, so this was a wonderful way to keep me occupied. I bottle the Lemon Zest Coriander wheat at the same time, so that was a big bottling night!!!

The Tambourine Lemon Zest Coriander Wheat beer I've mentioned was straight out kit brew, no additions or goofy ideas cooked up in the kitchen. It got it's name from Ray's "Pots and Pans" "my baby's got a tambourine, she shakes it in my face" Aside from being one of the best lines in a song ever, it fits this 7.6% ABV perfectly. Just straight up, in your face flavor, with some drunkenness to follow.

 Anywhos, those are the latest brews from the Kitchen. Peach Pumpkin coming up soon, and mebbe an attempt at cider? Till next time y'all drop by the kitchen...