Grace

The first time I made this, it was simply a variation on black bean and corn salad which also included watermelon because I had a little bit which needed to go. The watermelon worked so stunningly well in the recipe, adding crisp freshness while totally absorbing the flavors of it, that I decided it was more important than the corn.

This works very well if you have bits of watermelon that are not up to par for eating because they’re insufficiently sweet or have been hanging around in the fridge long enough that they’ve picked up too many other flavors to be eaten plain. Or, if you’re just sick of eating watermelon, but it’s not gone yet.

Black Bean & Watermelon Salad

2 cans (about 3 cups) black beans, drained and rinsed
1-2 cups watermelon, small dice
1/2 med. red onion, small dice (about 1 cup)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp cajun spice blend*
2 Tblsp. lemon or lime juice
1 avocado, diced
1/2 chipotle pepper, minced + ~1/2 tsp of the adobo from the pepper can.
couple of cranks of black pepper
(fresh cilantro to taste)

Throw all this in a bowl and mix ‘er up. Best if it gets a chance to ripen in the fridge for a few hours.

*About my cajun spice blend: I first made this for making jambalaya and catfish, but I cannot speak to the authenticity of it. Regardless, I use it for so many things and have remade it several times since. I should figure out the proportions of stuffs and post it but here’s what it includes: black pepper, cumin, fennel seed, thyme, smoked paprika, smoked salt, garlic powder, and red pepper flakes.

The mama(')s(') (I don't know which apostrophe is appropriate here, because I'm not sure whether I am addressing plural mamas) wedding went off fairly well this weekend. Everyone seemed to get there okay, the brides were radiant, and the pot luck was varied and tasty. The cake Maria made was beautiful and tasty and got almost all eaten up. I got to spend a lot of time with my family - I even won a few hands of poker against my card shark uncles before getting cleared out on a particularly contentious hand of 7 card no-peek (what, I was showing a straight). Also, I learned a few more kinds of poker. Pretty good use of 50 cents - which was my total buy in.

The only thing that didn't go off without a hitch was the music for dancing. This was my department. Ian and I had planned to take turns running music off of my laptop, which would then go through my uncle's PA. Difficulty 1: I ran off just prior to the ceremony to help Maria wrap her sari, and then had four different people call me to ask what the password on my computer is, so they could play the theme for "Hey, look over here, we're gonna start a wedding already." There is no password to log on to my computer. Apparently, no one had tried clicking on the one user name to get in. Immediately following the ceremony, I put on soft music for eating and chatting. That much went well. Difficulty 2: Then we tried to get folks dancing. However, once I started playing music off of the data CD that they'd given me, halfway through the first song, Winamp freezes. I use Winamp 2.9 specifically because it's a little tiny program which doesn't have much in the way of moving parts to get broken. I have never had it freeze (unlike stupid flagellating iTunes, which freezes in a slight breeze). But there it was, hooked up to the PA with people on the floor, frozen and silent. After some poking and prodding and watching the door to my CD drive fall off, I determine that the CD drive has declined to read the disc. The dancing momentum never really recovered after that, even though I got the music going again about 10 minutes later. There were more little things that made me doubt my DJ abilities after that, and I have determined that I never want to do something like that without a proper crossfader and preview abilities. But, honestly, nobody there is going to ask me to DJ their wedding any time soon.

The bread I was making the other day came out wonderfully. I feel a little silly for the number of happy dances I've done over it, but I seriously thought it was going to be a semi-edible brick, and it turned out to be one of the better loaves I've ever made. This baking in the dutch oven thing is pretty cool. The big thing I'd change is I'd actually want it a bit more sour. I swapped half the water for starter, and I was afraid this was going to go too sour. Next time, I think I'm going to do the whole rise out of the fridge instead of half in and half out.

Here's some pictures. Unfortunately, the pictures I have that show the grain of it inside are all kind of blurry.

I'm currently attempting a sourdough, multigrain version of the No-Knead Bread presented in a New York Times Article (11/8/2006). It's an interesting approach. It takes advantage of the fact that, when left to sit, flour and water will create their own gluten strands without a whole lot of prodding and stretching, and also that a longer rise with less yeast makes for a nicer texture and flavor. It also capitalizes on the beautiful crust a wetter dough will provide, and makes the most of it by baking the whole thing in a dutch oven, covered most of the time to maximize the crust-enhancing steaminess. Maria turned out a loaf of this about a week ago and we were both pleased with the results, except that it wasn't big enough. Additionally, one thing I did over vacation was to cozy up with one of Maria's holy books, The Village Baker over the vacation and got a starter going. As yet, I've only made one batch of sourdough, which ended up with the taste I wanted, but a little, well, flat. We'll see how it turns out here. I also added some rye and whole-wheat flour and some cracked wheat berries.

On other foodie notes, the garbage disposal bit it over the weekend. Our fabulous landlady has already replaced it, but it also seemed like an opportune moment to bring up composting again, as it would greatly reduce the amount of stress on the poor disposal, which had been chawing virtually all our food waste (or, at least, that which the dog didn't take care of) in lieu of compost.

Anyone know where I can get hold of a used plastic 55-gal drum? For cheap if not free? It shall make a composter par excellence. It may even roll around for proper mixing an aeration.

RPM Fiberworks is still slow getting off the ground, though I have made some sales. Right now I'm trying selling some yarns in smaller hanks, at 50g for $3.50. I had them listed at 100g for $6.50, but I'm seeing how folks will respond to the under-$5 price tag. I also want to redo the pictures. Originally, I was thinking the more natural looking pictures would be fun, but I'm going to snitch some white oaktag from work for a background. I also suspect that things may take off when I get some other kinds of products up - the bags, some prefab stuff (mmm...recycled dish towels), and especially the kits of which I dream.

I'm also still spinning fresh fiber. One of the women from the monthly spinning group at Webs who raises Angora rabbits brought two of her 6-week-old bunnies to the group tonight. We were taking turns holding the bunnies and letting them sleep on our laps while we spun. I love that my phone has a camera.
( I love bunnies. They toil not, nor do they bark. )

So, I finally launched the Etsy shop selling knitting supplies that I've been plotting for a while now.
RPM Fiberworks
Right now, it's just recycled yarn, and that's going to be the primary focus, but I'm also planning on expanding to project bags, some prêt à porter goods, and knitting kits which will include a pattern, yarn, and project bag, with optional needles.

Also, I will soon have at my disposal rather a lot of venison. Any thoughts? Maria and I are already plotting the ultimate Vermont cheesesteak and venison kebabs.

I'll leave you with a ridiculously cute picture of Neko and Isis watching the birdies that are nesting in the eaves of the house.

Somewhere, there are newborn leopard cubs.

http://www.zooborns.com/

Good goulash, are they cute!

Spent most of my afternoon at school playing a rambunctious game of Apples to Apples with a group of boys in grades 4-8, followed by a few quick rounds of Balderdash. Yes, we were supposed to be playing strategy games like Settlers of Catan, but my co-teacher who was supposed to get people going on Puerto Rico (which I've never played) was out sick, as was her son, who was supposed to be the top secret backup plan. I couldn't reasonably shoehorn the whole group into just Settlers and Carcassonne, so we went to plan B and played a big game together.

It's difficult to stay professional playing these games. For example, I couldn't play "Zucchini" on "Manly" in Apples to Apples. I was also struck at how much the age spread showed up while playing Balderdash. The first round, I had them reappropriating the acronym AICP. The fourth graders, uniformly, came up with answers involving cat poop. When you got to the eighth graders, they had gotten to "Australian Industrial Chair Products" and "Anal Inspector Car Patrol." The younger ones also couldn't get past voting for their own.

So, I put to you the same question we introduced ourselves with today:
What is your favorite trump card in Apples to Apples? What is the card that, if played, cannot fail?

I’ve been sick since the weekend, living on mostly brothy soup, tea, toast, and orange juice for several days now. Tonight, I made this risotto along with pan-fried cod, breaded with cracker crumb, tarragon and smoked paprika, and topped with lemon-butter sauce, and asparagus sauteed with lemon, black pepper and salt. I suspect this meal would have tasted pretty good even if I had eaten a proper meal since Saturday, but, tonight, this tasted amazing.

About the rest of the meal I’ve probably told you as much as you need to know (though comment if you’d like to know more), but this risotto was the centerpiece as much as anything. It was a beautiful sweet, smooth foil to the sharpness of the lemon in the other two parts, and was delectibly sweet entirely due to the beet and onion, sauteed together at the beginning.

Sweet Beet Risotto

1/2 med. beet, washed and grated
1/2 med-large onion, diced
1 Tblsp. butter (or oil, if you want it vegan)
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp dried tarragon
1 cup arborio rice
1 1/2 c water
1 1/2 c stock (pref. mushroom stock)
2 Tblsp. parmesan cheese (optional)
(salt and pepper to taste)

Melt the butter (or heat oil) in a large saucepan over med-high heat. Add the grated beet, diced onion, and salt. Stir occasionally until the onion starts to be noticeably cooked and it starts to smell sweet. Add the tarragon and the rice. Stir this around a little before adding the water and stock. Turn down to med-low heat and stir occasionally to make sure it’s not sticking to the pot (as risotto is wont to do). When the liquid is mostly absorbed, leaving a creamy, tender risotto (30-40 minutes), add the parmesan cheese, check seasoning, and add salt and pepper to taste.

Variation: I actually used a little porcini mushroom powder in this, but I don’t expect most people to have that lying around. If you have a little whole or ground porcini to throw in, awesome, but I doubt there’ll be a horrible gaping hole without it. It’s probably more essential if you’re not adding cheese or mushroom stock, but you can be creative, too.

I like this game. It makes me feel like a crazy alchemist. For the upcoming Project About Which You Shall Hear More Later, I am dyeing a somewhat horrible baby-duck color yarn (a nice color for a duckie, but not for anything adult). My current dyestuffs include "Ice Blue Raspberry Lemonade" Kool-Aid, a little vinegar and the remainder of some jasmine green tea from last night, which was sitting on the stove and seemed like a good idea...I mean, you want green yarn, you use green tea, right? I will, with luck, have some finished pictures later tonight. Maybe I'll photograph my new planter, which Maria and I snitched off the side of the road in the dead of night under cover of a light drizzly fog.

My life is fun. I like spring. Something, possibly a popcorn, sprouted in my spare teapot, and has a shoot headed purposefully towards the spout. This is not just a metaphor.

So, now that the front bumper of my car is nominal again, it's the rear bumper's turn.

On the way home from tutoring on Wednesday, I was pulling off 91-S at Exit 18. There's a separate ramp for right turns, which has a yield sign at the end. There being fairly heavy traffic on Rte 5 shortly before 6, I stopped at the end of this ramp waiting for an opening. Then, someone smashed into the back of my car.

My car is pretty much fine; the damage is localized to the rear bumper: all my lights still work, my trunk opens and closes, and the bumper isn't dragging or anything, just scratched and cracked in a few places. The guy who hit me on the other hand, smashed out all but one light on the front of his car, had his hood crunched up impressively, bumper hanging by a single clip, and the radiator getting too familiar with the more interior parts of the engine. Seeing as his car was a 10 year old Saturn, and likely not worth much to begin with, I have suspicions that his car is totaled.

Short story is that the car insurance industry is going to have this kid by the short and curlies for quite a while. I do mean kid. He's 19 years old (his DOB is on my copy of the accident report from the state trooper), and being 19 and a guy is enough reason for the insurance companies to ask for the rough monetary equivalent of a kidney. To load on top of that totaling your car (at your fault), hitting someone else, and getting a ticket for it (remember that trooper?), puts it more in the monetary range of asking for your first born, and leaving a testicle as collateral.

So, I'm trying to figure out how I should proceed here so as to be as little of an asshole as possible. I need to make sure there's nothing going on with the rear of my car that I can't see, or will screw me later (à la the front bumper). I'm expecting, though, that the damage will be under $500. Does it make sense to get an estimate, then figure out if I should ask him directly or go through the insurance company? Am I thinking way too hard about this? Should I just take the absolutely not my fault pass and tell Mr. Insurance all about it?

So, I'm looking at membershare agreements for a number of CSAs in the area, trying to pick one.

But currently, I think this (which was at $500 when I tagged it) is about the sexiest thing ever, and have vague, fleeting thoughts that maybe it's a better idea than six months of fresh vegetables. That's probably because I can't see the veggies right now. Also, I have the suspicion that even if I could eat the scooter, I wouldn't want to.

Also, I have a front bumper again! Woo...? I'm excited about it. After the more than a grand quotes, I went to a bodywork guy in Vermont that my mom's worked with. I explained to him that, as much as I hate asking anyone to do less than their best work, I didn't need the car to look new again. I just needed it to have a bumper. He did it for $520 and the promise that I would not give him credit. He also got cookies. Here's to folks who listen to you and don't give you lectures about all the shoulds, trying to make you feel guilty for not wanting to always have a mint-looking vehicle. My (now renewed) love for my car is not based on how it looks. I put a lot more stock in the fact that in the nearly six years I've had it, I haven't had to do anything to the parts that make it go that wasn't routine. I'm done dreaming about little Subarus and back to imagining several more happy years with my little anti-Batmobile (so called because it's white and has absolutely no cool gadgets built in, unlike its leading competitor when I was looking to buy a car, which was pretty much the Batmobile as far as my standards, and ultimately was a little too fancified for me). Which brings me to another thought: I no longer have an emblem on the grille, so I'm thinking of putting a Bat symbol in that spot. I don't know what this means in terms of it still being the anti-Batmobile.

Flight of the Conchords likes to claim that they are the fourth most popular acoustic folk-comedy duo in New Zealand, and that one of the groups ahead of them is a Flight of the Conchords tribute band. Now, self-deprecating satire, wherein you take some aspect of pop music down with you—whether a particular song, a performer or simply an archetype—is nothing new. Weird Al has been making a high-profile career out of it since the early 1980s. However, recently there's been an interesting development in the field of parody: The parodies are better than what they're satirizing.

The thought occurred to me a few months ago after seeing SNL's "Jizz In My Pants" bit. Not only was it a quality blend of humor and boom, it put itself musically on par with a large number of overly serious dance songs—without the seriousness. However, what really confirmed the idea was, again, Flight of the Conchords. In their second season, they've moved a little farther out from being merely an acoustic comedy duo. They appear to be writing more for TV than for stage, which is unsurprising, and the last few episodes I've seen (which, since I watch them by intertube, means very little in relation to their actual air date) have seen them also veering into clubby electronics. Most notable here is their "Sugalumps" song (mp3 below). This song is, essentially, "My Humps" with two exceptions: 1) It's about man-lumps; 2) It doesn't completely blow. I will never entirely understand why "My Humps" got popular. I don't think the ironic audience is quite that far reaching. It's possible that people spent all that time listening to it trying to figure out why the hell it was there; it spent the entire time explicating how certain bulbous regions were appealing in ways that made them sound specifically unappealing. I can only suppose that the song was popularized by the far-right abstinence-only lobby which clearly has a seat at Clear Channel. "Sugalumps" on the other hand, is silly, effervescent and pleasantly stupid. However, it's also a better song than "My Humps" by just about any metric: It's sonically less grating and doesn't make the globular body parts in question significantly less appealing. Part of it is the superficial tongue-in-cheekness of of the thing, but measured on the same factors, it's simply a better song.

Of course, "better" here is measured on the scale with other club-dance songs, which is a fairly different scale than most music. Sure, they're all judged against how well they succeed at what they set out to do, but in terms of dance music, this has more to do with moving lumps than being moving. There's any number of reasonable explanations about why this might be, but for now let's salute the satirist who can beat the straight man at his own game.

Flight of the Conchords - Sugalumps (MP3)

I'm totally late with my offering for a mix trade I'm participating in. The mix is actually put together, but haven't managed to make it burn.

Anyhow, the theme for the mix is organs. Of all kinds.

The following organ-related song was cut from the mix for reasonable, if not salient, reasons. However, it was pointed out by the AV Club that all mixes should include this song. In honor of Valentine's Day, which I rather hate, help yourself to some Pussy Control.

Also, for those interested in my discovery from earlier in the week, here is my approach to great french fries:

Take 4 russet potatoes. Scrub them, but do NOT fucking peel them, ye great Southern pansy! (Apparently I'm feeling punchy right now). Cut them into about 1/2" square sticks. Add them in three or four parts to a big ol' pot of hot oil (about as hot as my wussy electric stove throws on 9 - as yet I've been too lazy to get out the thermometer). Cook them for about a minute or minute and a half. They should be lightly golden. Set them on newspaper or paper towel to drain. Sprinkle them with a little sea salt and put them aside for about 5 minutes. Make up a light batter of about 1/4 cup AP flour, 2 Tblsp corn starch, and 1/2 cup water. Coat the once-cooked fries in this and throw them back in the oil (again, in batches) until the batter starts getting lightly browned. Set to drain on newspaper or paper towels and sprinkle with a little more sea salt.

I found my big Chinese skimmer invaluable for loading and unloading things from the hot oil. Watching things fry in oil is far too much fun.

I have made the horrible yet delicious discovery that I make really good french fries.

Note: Grapefruit juice + amaretto = YUM.

This message brought to you by one of this week's featured supermarket specials, wherein you can purchase two half-gallons of grapefruit juice and a 5 lb bag of grapefruits for $5.

So far, this week's going down far smoother than last week, though that's not very difficult.

Currently, I have plans for making a pizza with aioli, roasted root veg (+ brussels sprouts), and spinach. Also, possibly herbed feta, but I haven't yet decided if that's overkill or not.

Also, Neil Gaiman had himself quite a morning.
Tweets sent to me via galateabot

( Marmalade & Surprises )

First estimate on car bodywork: $1585.49

The hell?

My dear little car has taken another swipe at me for the week: It viciously grabbed my pinky and held it fast whilst I shut the door as I was going into my tutoring session. It's really hard to be professional with a red, teary face and a flat, white and purple finger. Especially when you're just coming in to say, yeah, I can't work today. They filled a baggie with snow for me as a makeshift icepack and I left. They were very sweet and offered to drive me wherever I needed to go, but it wasn't wholly practical.

I drove down to my doctor's office and showed off my dented finger, and then waited an hour for the doctor to poke my pinkie for five minutes. I spent most of the time twitching in a chair in the exam room, wondering if it was really worth being there, as the finger in question was more or less numb from being iced for a really long time, and no longer quite so flat. I have a gift for deciding that all of my suffering is subject to choice, include that which involves aggravated nerve endings.

In the end, the doctor splinted it, put a band-aid on the small skin break and then asked when I'd last had a tetanus shot. The upside of getting a tetanus shot paired with something like this is that you really don't notice it.

I suppose the real story underlying the battle with the car is the foul moods I've let it get me into. Although, today at least, ibuprofen and food have done a fair bit to improve that.

And, still, one of the bigger questions remains unanswered: will I be able to knit with the splint on?

Still, this week's scores so far: Car 2, Grace 0

The bumper fell off my car yesterday. I pulled out of the driveway, started heading down the street, and heard a puzzling scraping noise. I stopped to see what might be causing it, and there's my bumper, hanging by two little fasteners on the driver's side. I was just around the corner, trying to get the bumper to sit back where it goes or remove the fasteners so I could take the car home, when people started stopping. I'm guessing this is the last straw on a series of tiny bumps to the bumper (mostly involving piles of snow) over the almost 6 years I've had the car, but I'm not sure why it chose yesterday morning to take the plunge, as none of those bumps are recent.

I'd love for this to be simply a lofty metaphor of shedding, but, as it were, my bumper fell off without a good explanation other than that I drive an oversized plastic model of a sardine can. It's likely not a metaphor, but it may be pop art. History will decide. In the meantime, I will waking my front bumper by driving around with it inside my car, with the badge of shame look on the front.

I had the privilege of watching the inauguration today with the whole school, up on the projector in the all-school space. Not unexpectedly, President Obama's inaugural address was nothing short of inspiring. I realize that speeches don't make things happen, but if there is any measure of the good faith, unity, individual humility and collective ability and responsibility that underlied that speech in his administration, we are, at the very least, pointed in the right direction. My current favorite line: "...Our power alone is not enough to protect us, nor does it entitle us to do as we please."
We'll see what happens as things get down to business.

Full Text of Obama's speech
Reactions from around the world via BBC

The usual business ensues, although my Thursday tutoring was canceled for this month, and I've been enjoying having an extra afternoon with daylight. I've made the decision several times to reduce the amount that I'm tutoring. It's not so much the number of hours or the prep work as it is which hours it claims: those precious hours between the end of the school day and dark. As it is, I work every day after school (except, temporarily, Thursdays). I don't get out to walk the dog (or, possibly more importantly, the Grace) as much as I had or, certainly, as much as I'd like. I feel drained by the time I get home. Although I've made this decision more than once, I haven't managed to follow through. Breaking off with one of the families I work with isn't easy. If I could stack multiple sessions in a single day, I'd do that, but it's not possible schedulewise.

Have been massively distracted by Fallout 2 of late, which, although it's more than 12 years old, I have never played and am rather enjoying. It's set in post-nuclear apocalypse US. The big quest is to find a magic box that will supposedly save your village, but there are other smaller quests and things to do along the way, like becoming a prizefighter, finding lost children, sabotaging nuclear reactors, sabotaging others' plans to sabotage nuclear reactors, guarding cattle, etc. One of the benefits of being totally unaware of computer games is that it's difficult to critique them, and, possibly, easier to enjoy the ride.

I've also gotten one or two opportunities to play Settlers, but it's pretty addictive. I want to make more opportunities to play it.

Uncharacteristically, I seriously looked at a lot of formal wear today. I have a couple weddings to attend in the next few months, namely, Jen and Sean's and my Mom and Sadelle's. Yes, they are finally making it all legal-like. Mom and Sadelle will be the first same-sex couple to be married under the care of Bennington Friends Meeting, which finally, after a more than decade-long process, approved a minute on same-sex marriage. They are planning quite the shindig. I was hanging out with them last night, and we were talking about some of the details and they told me that they were planning on getting salwar kameezes to wear. Alongside the bhangra music they've put on their music request list (I will be DJing the reception), I saw this as an invitation to buy the sari I've been wanting to buy for a really long time. Maria and I were looking them up on ebay this morning, and I found a vintage silk sari with a blue and green floral design. And it will be mine.

Later, worked on looking for bridesmaid dresses with Jen and Jenny. After a fair amount of awkward, half-hearted poking at bridal websites, came across Pin Up Girl Clothing, which specializes in 40s/50s retro style clothes. It was so refreshing after the rest of it: the models have meat on their bones and tattoos, and the dresses aren't made for virginal stick people. Finally.

The weather hasn't really been cooperating with the re-opening of school. On Monday, our first day back since we let out on the 23rd, we had a delay. Today, the sky is pooing slipperiness, and so, nada. Yesterday, we were talking about having today off like it was a foregone conclusion (as it often is right before a snow day), and I commented to my co-teacher, "But I don't need any snow days yet - it's too early in the term for me to be stressed." On the other side of things, when we have the make up days in June, it'll still be light out when I get home from work. Not so much this time of year. This year and last year the early dark has hit me like a herd of angry pachyderms - far more than ever before.

On the other side of things, I have so many lovely books to read, I don't even know where to start. Currently, I'm juggling a collection of Philip K. Dick stories, The Sacred Book of the Werewolf and The White Tiger, and I wish I could balance more without confusing myself.

Also, knitting (the saga of the $1.50 Sweater mark 2 continues, also, crazy psychedelic socks) and spinning (from some of the fibery goodness gifted during the giftin' season) and baking (banana bread and multigrain bread), oh my! Hmm, after that list, I may have to go do something manly.

Also, received the board game Settlers of Catan as a birthday present and looking for folks to play with me. I've never played, but it looks really interesting.

Haha, snow and tea and books.

For a long time, I thought I didn't like brussels sprouts. When I was about 20, I had them not steamed or boiled to death for the first time, and it was a revelation; sauteed briefly with fresh garlic, salt, pepper, and dressed with lemon and olive oil, they were crisp, lightly sweet and had a pleasant light mustardy tang.

This is what I did tonight and I've had trouble not picking at them since.

~1/2 lb brussels sprouts, rinsed and halved
1/4 red onion, med. dice
1-2 tsp olive oil
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1-2 Tblsp. dark beer (I threw in a swig of the Brooklyn Brewery Black Chocolate Stout I've been hoarding)
1-2 Tblsp. turkey stock (came from a well-brined turkey, so the stock has a fair amount of salt)
1-2 tsp balsamic vinegar
a whole bunch of fresh-ground black pepper
few pinches smoked sea salt

I heat up a big cast iron skillet over high heat and added the olive oil. When the oil was hot, threw in the onion and stirred it around until it started to get a little color and a little soft. Threw in the the garlic and the sprouts and tossed those around a bit. Added the beer and stock and covered for 3-5 minutes. Added the vinegar, pepper and salt and commenced picking.

It'd be easy enough to leave out the turkey stock and either use a little more beer or water and salt it a little more, but I've been loving this turkey stock I made. Really, nothing about the cheap post-Thanksgiving turkey Maria and I got has been anything but awesome. We're really getting our $10 worth on this one.