Culinary Bucket List 2014 ~ FEBRUARY!

I love seafood. I would eat it in a house, I would eat it with a mouse. OK, well I probably would not eat it with a mouse but..I love seafood.

If given the opportunity at home..every meal would be made with something from the sea. Oddly enough, in all of my years as a seafood lover, I had never actually made Ahi Tuna Steaks.

After perusing the internet for “the best” recipe and best ways too cook Ahi, I came to the conclusion that simple was best. I’m beginning to think I opt for simple because I just do not have the attention span for more than five steps in dinner creations.

Grocery list in hand, I headed to Sprouts to fill my basket with two Ahi Steaks, one bell pepper, broccoli crowns, scallions (which..btw..did you know are just a fancy way of saying..GREEN ONIONS???) I actually walked around the around the grocery store one time searching for scallions and had to ask the guy in the produce section, “Don’t you stock scallions here”? to which he replied, pointing to the GREEN ONIONS…”Uh, yea..right here”. Of course, I played it off well with a big smile and said “OHHHHH, I can’t believe I missed them..they were right in front of my face”!

Anyyyywaaay..back to dinner! 2 Ahi Steaks, 1 bell pepper, broccoli crowns, scallions..

Next on the list was black and white sesame seeds ~ Sprouts did not have them. They had white roasted sesame but not black. Boooo, that meant I was going to have to make a pit stop to Lee Lees (Asian market around the corner) not a huge deal but I don’t like having to go to two places for one meal..psshhht.. Thankfully, Lee Lee’s came though for me. 🙂

So..this was super easy and I am sure can be prepared a hundred and one ways more delectable BUT this worked for simple and tasty.

In a cast iron skillet: a splash of sesame oil and a splash of avocado oil. Toss in the chopped scallions, broccoli and red bell pepper. Stir fry for a bit. Oh, about fifteen minutes before I started the vegetables I started the rice steamer.

At the same time, I placed the 2 tablespoons of white and 2 tablespoons black sesame seeds in a pan to dry roast. Dont let it get too hot ~ the sesame seeds pop!

Once the vegetables were done, I dumped them into the rice that is done steaming.

In the same cast iron skillet: a splash more of sesame and avocado oil ~ In a separate bowl – big enough to hold the tuna steak – add the toasted sesame seeds and coat the steaks with them. The seeds stick.

Toss the tuna onto the hot skillet for only 45 seconds per side!

I did forget one thing..I forgot to add sea-salt to the sesame seeds BUT…I honestly think it was not needed.

The end product..not pretty because I do not know how to slice. 🙂

I added a splash of fish sauce to the rice ~ soooo good… The Ahi tasted just as it should have. Next time I may find some tasty marinades to try.

What’s for dinner?

I was tossing around the idea of using last nights dinner as part of my culinary bucket list but decided against it. Why? Well, mostly because I have made tomato soup and grill cheese before so it’s technically not anything I have never made before. PLUS…this was just a recipe I found online and not anything I “have always wanted to make” but I HAD to try it.

http://www.thelondoner.me/2014/01/pesto-grilled-cheese-with-roasted-tomato-soup.html

Whatever…this..I promise you..is oh so tasty!

Pre-heat the oven to 375 F

I placed 14 small/medium”ish” tomatoes (on the vine) onto a baking sheet.

** 14 of these tomatoes was entirely too many for just three people — we will be eating tomato soup, every day for ten days ** 🙂

Plopped them in the oven, set the timer for 45 minutes, grabbed the daughter and went for a little jog around the neighborhood. We were going to take the dogs but that is just wayyyy too much work. I do feel bad for leaving them home with the oven and the oven vent fan running..poor dogs are absolutely PETRIFIED of kitchen noises. SORRY dupper dawgs! 😉

Once the jog was out of the way, I got back to business. The tomato’s were still roasting in the oven so I started in on the pesto sauce.

I grabbed a handful and a half of pine nuts and placed them and dry roasted them in a frying pan.

I think I roasted them a little bit too long…they look burnt don’t they? This is what happens when I get sidetracked. Things burn. I did, I walked away from the stove for a little too long. Once they were chopped up though…we could not taste that they had been cooked for too long.

In the food processor, I put a batch of fresh basil, four garlic cloves, a handful of fresh grated Parmesan cheese and poured some olive oil. Sorry, I did not take any measurements, I just used my eyes as a judge….and then ma mouth 😉

WHY…have I NEVER…made this before???? I don’t usually use pesto too often so I have always just bought, either, a jar or made from a packet. Ridiculous..this is SO easy and SO delicious. I think fresh pesto might just be my new favorite thing.

By the time the pesto was done, the tomato’s were done! I took them from the oven, peeled the dried up skin from some of them and ate some of the others 🙂

Plopped the maters into the blender along with three cups of chicken broth, a handful of basil, about two teaspoons of paprika, some freshly ground pepper..blended for a bit on low and high and then low again and then dumped it all into a big ole pot and warmed it up.

While the soup was warming, I buttered one side of two pieces of bread – I used cracked wheat – next time I will use sourdough. The cracked wheat is good but it was a little too sweet in then end.

So, butter on one side and pesto spread on the other..

Slice up some yummy Gouda cheese and place on the pesto side – butter side down on the frying pan. Cook on medium for about two minutes per side.

SOOOOO GOOD!

Bon Appetit!

Culinary Bucket List 2014 ~ JANUARY!

Hey there and Happy New Year! As usual, it’s been a while since my last post..you know..holidays, family and life has kept me away BUT..one of my goals this year is to visit you all more often. 🙂

My friend, Kim, came up with a brilliant idea of Culinary Bucket list for this year. She and I will be making one or two dishes every month this year..each of these dishes has to be something we have never made before. Fun, right?? 🙂 I am excited about this and can’t believe it took me three weeks into the first month to get started!

Check Kims blog out ~ she started with Chinese ~ mmm mmm delicious!! http://tryingforbabys.wordpress.com/2014/01/21/culinary-bucket-list-january/

Me? I started with Swedish Meatballs. I have been wanting to make these bad boys since I read this blog: http://www.thelondoner.me/2013/12/swedish-meatball-recipe.html

Looking at the pictures from this blog you can see why I was so excited to start here! The color and the texture of these photos you can just TASTE how amazing those balls must be!! 🙂

On the way home from the office I stopped at a local butcher shop ( http://site.themeatshopaz.com/Home.html ) I have been meaning to try for the past few months. What better excuse to actually stop in today?? I needed 1lb of ground beef (I opted for the local grass fed beef) and 1lb ground pork (apparently they don’t grass feed the pigs because that was not an option but…it was local pig).

I was greeted and served quickly BUT I was disappointed. The meat was FROZEN! I said, “Oh..it’s frozen, you don’t have anything fresh”? “No, always frozen”.

Noted…

I got home around 17:30, unwrapped the meat, set the meat in the cast iron pan (I was told setting the meat in a metal pan helps defrost meat faster) and waited and waited and waited. While I was waiting, I set the produce and what not on the counter, washed up the potatoes, cut them up and threw them in a pan.

Here’s the meat…STILL FROZEN!

Once I had the potatoes cut up, in the pot of water and set to boil..I decided…”Kiah, do you want to go for a run?”

We went for a run, or rather WOG (walk/jog). Just a short one, we couldn’t go for too long..I was cooking! When I got home the potatoes were done and Jason had taken control of those.

I hate to admit THIS but…he also had to put the meat in the microwave to defrost. THE HORROR!!! Oh well, what’s done is done..

Back from the wog, I washed up and got to chopping up the onion, melted the butter and cooked the onion for a couple of minutes.

Back at the mixing bowl, I added nutmeg, two eggs, cooked onion and sea salt to the meat. I used an electric mixer to whip the meat (I read, using a mixer makes the balls smoother).

After it is all mixed I used my hands to make the meatballs – next time I think I will use an ice cream scooper. I forgot about that tip until just now..

In the cast iron skillet I melted 1 TBSP of real salted butter. Once I the butter was melted I placed the balls in the pan to brown.

It took about 10-12 minutes for me to feel like they were cooked ~ because I mixed pork in the meatballs ~ I felt it was NOT ok to have ANY pink..That’s just me..pork and chicken I tend to over cook in fear of getting sick. Just sayin’

OH! While the meatballs were cooking..I heated the oven to 200F

After the meatballs were done, I placed them in an oven safe (aka another cast iron skillet) pan and placed them in the oven to keep warm.

To make the gravy, I used the butter and fat that was left over from the meatball cook, added 1 tbsp of flour, 10oz of chicken broth, 2 tbsp of Worcester sauce, 1 tbsp of mustard and 1 tbsp of honey boiled and stirred for a few moments and then added a pint of heavy whipping cream.

After a few minutes I took the meatballs from the oven and added them to the gravy.

Voila!

DINNER…is served 🙂

It was good. Not the best I’ve made and will need some practice in regards to spices. My opinion..needs more salt. The meatballs were not as soft as I had expected. I will, one day, figure out how to make them smooth.

Feel free to give me advice!! 😀

The Ultimate Lesson in Procrastination…

Rewind to September of 2012… Take a little read on this. It is a short blurb I wrote a little over a year ago.

When you’re done..let me know and I will continue on.

Homeless in Arizona

Monday night football on the television, I have already lost my fantasy football match, the Bears and the Cowboys I care not to watch so I open the laptop and surf the interwebs 😉

And I come across this…

http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/slideshow/i-have-a-name-project-at-9-gallery-12-6-13-40708274/#9

Click on the link above and you will see exactly what procrastination actually looks like….

Good on the man who put this together but…REALLY?? Really, Kristi?? ** Big sigh **

Trippin’ in Tucson ~

The worst part of each of my days is trying to get out of bed. Now that it is colder (and I live in Arizona and refuse to turn on my heater until at least January..) getting out of bed in the dark, cold morning is an even more difficult task! This Saturday it was a teeny bit easier..The Jason had brought me a cup of coffee and I was a little bit excited to get on the road.

Jason had plans on recording with a friend, Mike from the band Love Mound ~ listen and buy here: http://lovemound.com/lovemound/?page_id=119, in Tucson and Kiah and I went along for the ride so we could piddle around town. We piled into the Jetta..Poor kid barely had enough room to squish in. Jason had his drums packed in there pretty good!

BUT..where there is a will..there is a way and she slept like a champ the entire trip. It takes about two hours to get to downtown Tucson from our place.

Mike was waiting for us outside the studio..they quickly unloaded the drums and brought them into the room..Kiah and I said “See ya later!” and we were off to San Xavier Mission ~ one of, if not THE, oldest churches in the state of Arizona. It was founded in 1692! Here is the website if you want to read more.. http://www.patronatosanxavier.org/
In the meantime, this is what we see from the parking lot. Dont let the amazing blue cloudless sunny sky fool you..it was COLD.

Mike had warned us..the church is SMALL. I don’t think I realized how small until we walked into this room. The next picture was taken from just inside the entrance.

I have no idea who the lady on the right is..I did not get a disclaimer and I hope she doesn’t find my blog and sue me 🙂 OR…maybe it’s a GHOST???

Look how close the benches are to each other…people must have been A LOT smaller back in the late 1600’s ~ I could hardly walk between them and I am a small person..

The top of the door, on this shot, to give you an idea..is maybe four inches above her head. She is 5’1

Little nook for some holy water.

Amazing wood work..

All of the pictures taken above were just from the entrance. I started walking toward the front of the church and felt a little uncomfortable..I took one more picture and nudged Kiah, “Let’s get out of here”. She completely agreed..San Xavier is a functioning church. No, there was not a church service going on at the time but there were a handful of people paying respects, lighting candles, leaving flowers and sitting in the pews (I think that’s what the benches are called?) with sullen expressions and full of emotions. I was there for the history, the art, the architecture and felt like I was intruding on these peoples and their special moments.

While walking from the main place of worship to another side alter building Kiah and I both noticed an elderly Native American woman following us, pretty quickly..it kinda freaked us out so we turned around, headed straight at her, smiled and walked the other way. Turns out..she was only headed to the bathroom. We watch way too many scary movies..as I may have mentioned in the past..

To the east of the missionary is a hill with a cross on the very top. Before take the little walk up the hill…someone has to stop and be silly..

Better her than me..after all..I am the mom 😉

While walking up the hill..I spotted something really strange..

Obviously, it had been a muddy day..who is out walking up hills in the rain or mud barefoot?

While we were walking up this way..a nun was following us. Or for a few minutes anyway, we ditched her pretty quickly. It was a nice little walk around the hill and it didn’t take us too long to get to where we started.

This kid was waiting for us on the other side. Sorry for the instagram photo but it was much faster to “shoot” him with my phone 🙂 He was patiently waiting for all of the tourists to get out of his way so he could ride his bike down the hill.

He was kind enough to wait for everyone to clear the path and sped on by never to be seen by us again. Once we were at the base of the hill, Kiah spotted a cute, dusty black mutt dog. She looked like a black lab mixed with another breed, cute pup! Roaming the Missions grounds with a dirty nose and a collar. Kiah was trying to take a picture of the tag to call the owners but the spunky mutt ran down the path and into the little store selling candles before she could get the picture.

We hurried into the store and asked if the dog that ran in here belonged to the church or did we need to find her and call the owners. To which the shop worker replied, ” I didn’t see no dog come in here but if it did..she belongs to the community and might be taking a nap”.

Kiah and I both looked at each other like…”what?” but instead said, “O.K,” turned around and walked back to the car laughing the entire time. It was the statement combined with the accent that made us laugh so hard…you may have had to have been there…but I’m still laughing.

The ride back to downtown was quick. We managed to get a parking space right in front of the studio, parked and walked around downtown.

It was around 11:30 in the morning, on a Saturday and there was only one place open to grab a coffee..Brueggers Bagels. I don’t think I have ever been to a cities downtown area where nothing was open on a Saturday…have you? Hot coffee in hand we set back out to the cold streets of DT Tucson. Kiah spotted a big church down the way so we walked thataway…

Inside, we have a Jesus

And Kiah gives Jesus a LOW FIVE 😉

and a HIGH FIVE to the baby jesus in his golden fleece diapers!

That was the extent of our fun here so..we left and continued to walk the sleepy streets of downtown Tucson.

We met up with Jason and Mike and walked to a local eatery called The Hub Restaurant and Creamery : http://www.hubdowntown.com/

The website is not that great but you can download the menu and see for yourself..good selection!

Mikes wife Karen and their youngest daughter met us there, cheeseburgers all around (with the exception of the one who ordered the veggie burger), we ate, talked and had a nice visit. 🙂

So many missed opportunities at the Hub for the blog. I should have taken pictures of the restaurant, the ice cream bin display, the ginormous mug of coffee, the burgers and our friends. On the upside of that notion..I was fully enjoying myself in the moment and not thinking of my camera or phone or internet..weird 😉

Look out people…I’m not the only cook in the house!

After six LONG weeks away from the Jason and six LONG weeks of my kitchen experimentation…I came home to a night off!

A ridiculous hour and twenty minute ride home…this is what I came home too 🙂

I am not going to claim to know anything about what was going on in this pan. All I know is that the smell was amazing and all I had to do was sit my bum down, have a glass of wine and wait for the magic to unfold.

Well..of course, I did have to chase him around with my camera letting him know he has earned a highlight spot in my blog. I think he’s trying to show me up..your thoughts?

There was food, there was wine, there was whiskey and as promised…there was George Jones 😉

Happy Hump Daaaayyy my friends!

Kooking with Kristi

If the family would let me..I would eat seafood EVERY SINGLE DAY. Last night I made an amazing clam chowder soup with bread bowl and the time before that was calamari tacos. The man of house, AKA the Jason, told me that although the last few dishes have been spot on…”I need MEAT, not poultry, not fish…MEAT”.

Sometimes we just have to compromise, eh? OK, OK…tonight..it is Hamburger steak with a sweet-onion mushroom gravy concoction.

I found this simple recipe online and manipulated it to my liking. http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/hamburger-steak-with-sweet-onion-mushroom-gravy-10000001723326/

In the large mixing bowl I dropped 1lb of angus ground beef, 1/2 cup of Panko bread crumbs, 1 egg, as much salt as I wanted, as much pepper as I wanted and I think I squished up 4 large garlic cloves…I love the garlic!

I used a broiling pan and put tin foil on it ahead of time..I have been known to just start making patties and have no where to put them 🙂

Wedding rings and fashion rings off, washed the hands and dove in to mix it up!

NOTE! If you want left overs…seriously..you need to double up on the meat I only bought 1lb and it made only three burgers!

After I made the meat stuff into patties, I set them on the broil pan and left them alone while I went on to step two.

Cutting up one medium white onion and slicing of the 8oz fresh mushrooms. You can, of course, buy the pre sliced but my disappointing grocer (as of late) only had whole mushrooms.

In a frying pan, I melted as much butter as I wanted to – probably around 1/2 a stick and then I threw in the onions and mushrooms.

While those were browning, I started a sauce pan for the gravy..yep…I cheated and bought a packaged brown gravy and just followed the directions..after about five minutes I added the gravy to the mushrooms and onions and just let that simmer for a bit.

Turn the broiler on and put the patties on the top rack – cook them for 3 minutes on each side…I wondered off and let the man tend to the broil…I should have stayed..they were cooked a little bit longer than they should have been. Oh well, they were still REALLY good and moist!

and here is the end result! I will NEVER admit to what the side dish is, by the way. 🙂

Just imagine it to be something yummy that goes well with the patties!

Small Town History

I have lived in the town of Weedville, AZ since the later part of the 1980’s. I had no idea I was living in Weedville until one day I posted a status on FaceBook and that status stated my comment was coming from Weedville, AZ.

What the heck is Weedville?? I thought I lived in Peoria. As I was giggling about Weedville..because let’s face it..Weedville is pretty funny….I googled Weedville, AZ. Apparently some Reverend (Reverend Weed) from Nebraska moved to the area in 1911 and named the town after himself.

http://www.azcentral.com/news/columns/articles/0427azhist0428.html

The link above is for any of you who may be interested in reading more..I’m not writing about Weedville today.. I am writing about Peoria. 🙂

As I said, I have lived here for over twenty years. Today was the fist time I have ever stopped at the Peoria Central School in Old Town Peoria. I have driven by this place many of many of times…thought about stopping but just never have. Today..I stopped.

Not only did I stop but I got out of the car and actually went in! 🙂

I was warmly greeted by the volunteers at this facility, “We are open but as you can see, we are in the process of redecorating, renovating and cleaning. You are more than welcome to come in and look around.”

The nice man noticed I was armed with a camera and proceeded to tell me, “and of course you are welcome to take pictures as well!”

I thanked him and proceeded to walk into the first building, this room will be set up as a replica of the old school rooms of the super early 1900’s.

Question..you see rule number 2? Well now look at rule number 3…How are you supposed to address the teacher if rule number 2 is NO TALKING? Yea, I was THAT kid. 😉

By the looks of these desks, I imagine in the early 1900’s they did not have the problem of child obesity that we have today. Maybe the answer to that current issue is to bring back the smaller desks!! Inappropriate? Well, I’ll save that discussion for another blog then. 😀

This is a piano from the late 1800’s – It looks as though it’s in GREAT condition! Chickering was in business from the late 1800’s and actually got out of business before The Great Depression, or so this website tells me anyway. http://www.antiquepianoshop.com/online-museum/chickering-brothers/

I’m not sure if classrooms were equipped with pianos in those days or not. Most likely not , the museum probably just has it because it’s old and cool and that’s fine but it did make me wonder so I asked uncle Google. I didn’t find anything on music in the classroom in the early 1900’s but I did stumble on this little note. Now, I’m not sure if it’s real or not but it’s cute and kind of neat to think about this little girl sitting at her little desk writing to students 100 years after her time.

http://www.dltk-kids.com/pioneer/school_in_the_1800.htm

To any of you teachers out there…this is a brilliant writing assignment for your students!

Yep, the classroom is even equipped with life size, creepy mannequin teachers. 🙂

This photo was hanging on the wall. I graduated from Peoria High School, the school is 91 years old! The people all look old so I don’t know if this was a graduating class or if it was the staff? I am leaning more towards guessing it is the graduating class..I don’t think in 1938 they would have had that many teachers in Peoria..

The next room looks like they might set it up as a home type setting. Here are some pictures of clothes drying..I like the long johns and the old time picture set up behind them.

I would imagine mom would wash, then squidgy the clothes before she hung them up to dry..

And just look at the art work on this sewing machine! The colors are so vibrant!

In this room was another piano or organ or?? I’m not sure..Anyone know what this is? Who makes it (I forgot to read it when I was actually there and I tried to zoom in on the picture but I cannot make out the lettering..)?

While I was in this room, one of the nice volunteer ladies came back to bring me a flyer for the Grand Re-opening happening November 2nd.

Here she is 😉

And see… there are the creepy, mannequin teachers in the back! Can you tell I am not a fan of mannequins?

After her and I talked for a bit, I walked to the Agriculture room. I didn’t get any pictures of this room because I was actually so engrossed with the stories I was hearing!

When I walked into the room there were two couples, about my parents age, in there. The ladies were sweeping and talking and dusting while the men sat and talked. Hmmm…. hah, I guess the old school mentality still applies here. 🙂

They told me stories of how long they have been in the area, what it looked like in their day and actually.. one of the ladies family had owned the farm property directly behind my house until about five years ago. It had been in her family for around fifty years!

Small Town..

Her and I walked together to the next building which was decorated with old old typewriters, stenographer machines, adding machines and in the corner was a glass display that scared me…In it was an old beauty shop set up..to be more precise it was a perm machine..yep..perm MACHINE..hairdressers would wrap ladies hair up in pin curls and cushions and hooked them up to ELECTRICITY…Check out this little video – about 40 seconds in the scary machine makes its grand entrance…. Sorry, in advance, for the poor quality but hey..I didn’t make it.

On that note..I will leave you for today! Until next time. Get out there everyone, learn, explore, talk to people!

Keep on Rockin in the Free World!

Only ten short days left before Jason packs up and flies a mere 5,747.62 miles from Phoenix, AZ to the Zurich International Airport…to start his rockin’ tour of Europe.

I cannot believe how fast this date has come. Just two weeks ago it felt like we had time to every thing in order. Yet, here we are scrambling to get the last minute details complete.

With the help of our awesome people at the booking agency and friends across the “pond” sure enough…everything is coming together nicely.

The guys, of Hogjaw, will arrive in Zurich on the 4th of September, meet with the tour manager and take an hour and a half jaunt to Berne, CH.

Here they will rest, have fun exploring the city and may even make some time to record a song or two in a local recording studio.

Hopefully, they will take advantage of the days in Bern because on the 6th they embark on their massive tour…and man alive..this is a serious journey of rock n roll!

Check out this schedule:

06/09/13 Steinen – Switzerland @ Aula
07/09/13 Kufstein – Austria @ Eventhalle
08/09/13 Bartenheim – France @ Caf’Conc
10/09/13 Arras – France @ Blue Devils
11/09/13 Verviers – Belgium @ Spirit of 66
12/09/13 Eindhoven – Holland @ The Rambler
14/09/13 Paris – France @ Nogent Country Festival
15/09/13 Paris – France @ Nogent Country Festival
17/09/13 Llodio – Spain @ Keska Taberna
18/09/13 Lierganes – Spain @ Los Picos
19/09/13 A Coruna – Spain @ Mardi Gras
20/09/13 Cangas – Spain @ Salason
21/09/13 Aviles – Spain @ Centro Niemeyer
22/09/13 Leon – Spain @ Gran Café
23/09/13 Cadiz – Spain @ Sala Supersonic
24/09/13 Estepona – Spain @ Louie Louie
25/09/13 Murcia – Spain @ Sala B
26/09/13 Madrid – Spain @ La Boite
27/09/13 Zaragoza – Spain @ La Ley Seca
28/09/13 Barcelona – Spain @ Rocksound
29/09/13 Torredembarra – Spain @ La Traviesa
30/09/13 Las Palmas de Gran Canaria – Spain @ 3X1
01/10/13 Castellon – Spain @ Pub d’Leyend
02/10/13 Lleida – Spain @ Stones Pub
04/10/13 Weikersheim – Germany @ W71
05/10/13 Krefeld – Germany @ Kulturrampe
06/10/13 Norderstedt – Germany @ Musicstar
07/10/13 Bremen – Germany @ Meisenfrei
09/10/13 Olomouc – Czech Republic @ Bounty Rock
10/10/13 Prague – Czech Republic @ TBA
11/10/13 Isernhagen – Germany @ Bluesgarage
12/10/13 Berlin – Germany @ Wild At Heart

06/09/1

Keep in mind, Americans, the days and months are listed “backwards” 🙂

I hope hope some of you in the blogosphere have an opportunity to catch this great bunch of musicians in their travels.. believe me when I say it’s totally worth while. Not only are they great musically but they are a wonderful group of people!

If you like true, heartfelt rock n roll, southern rock, dirty music..you’ll love it!

Take a visit to their website to learn more about them and hear some of their music. http://www.hogjawmusic.com

Post a comment and let me know what you think!!

Best,

Kristi

Beerfest 9 – 2013

Another great weekend! Every year for the past six years, Jason, Kiah and I join our friends up on the Mogollon Rim (pronounced muggy on rim) for a few days of “getting off the grid”. This Backwoods beerfest occurs the first weekend every August. The guys who started it brought maybe fifteen people up, all close knit friends and they were all instructed to bring a six pack of off the wall beer for every one to sample. When Jason and I hooked up with our old high school friends we went along for the fun back in 2007 or 2008. Now I am not a camper per se..but I do enjoy my time when there. Dont get me wrong I love the outdoorsy stuff but I prefer to camp near a body of water..just my thing. I am never thrilled about going..not as thrilled as everyone else but when I get there it’s just so beautiful and I get such a great sense of freedom and “oneness” with the earth that I do genuinely love these get togethers.

Luckily, Jason is SUCH an organized and experienced outdoors man, he makes it easy for me. Occasionally he will give me a list of things I may need to pickup at the store but for the most part, I am told to get in the truck and we leave. 🙂 I know enough to pack the right clothing!

In the first part of August, here in Arizona, we sometimes have a monsoon season. Sometimes it rains the entire weekend, sometimes it’s dry and hot and other times (like this weekend) …it’s an absolute perfect mixture of the two!

On the way up the hill I was actually “allowed” — no allowed isn’t the word because Jason actually said, “You can play your ipod if you want”..what?? 🙂 Happy girl! It was a crappy drive getting out of the city but once on the road –smooth sailing!

Once we hit Payson we stopped at the Safeway to pickup some Advil — an definite necessity when going to BEERFEST..

On the road again, it started raining…a GOOD rain too. The weather cooled off pretty dramatically..We were coming up from the Phoenix area where we left behind a 106 degree day so when I say dramatically – I might be dramatizing just a little because it was maybe 70 degrees 🙂

The drive up was just beautiful…see for yourself!

We arrived to the camp site around three in the afternoon on Friday. There were already about thirty people there and everyone was pretty mellow – those that had arrived the previous night had whooped it up their first night. I was a little nervous because Jason set our camp up pretty close to the general population and I do not deal well with large crowds and loud shenanigans at night when I am ready to sleep. I rolled with it, didn’t complain and turns out…it was perfect!

After the camp was magically set up (AKA..Jason did everything 🙂 ) we made ourselves a couple of drinks and started making our rounds to say hello and talk to people. I don’t remember too much – I had three glasses of wine — but I do remember meeting some really cool people I had never met before. It’s not often I hit it off well with another female so I was so happy to have met Liz! We sat and talked for a couple of hours and our conversation just flowed so well..

Around 11:30, I looked up at Jason – as he was taking his last swig of MOONSHINE – his eyes glazed over and he said “I’m ready” so I helped him along to our camp and we fell fast fast asleep!

At first sunlight, I’m wide awake, took a hike to the woods for the morning nature call, came back made coffee and relaxed.

Relaxed under this gorgeous view:

I literally could have stayed there all day. It was under this tree I realized, I forgot my laptop…I had no paper..no pen..nothing to write with. This would have been a perfect spot to laze about and write a little something. Oh well, stuck with enjoying mother nature in her entirety. 🙂

Poor Jason was hurting and thankful we remembered to make that pit stop for Advil! He slept until about noon, ate then napped until 2! Around the time he woke up the rain started — thankful our tent and easy-up were in great condition and nothing got wet!! Usually 3pm the beer tables come out and we all bring our offerings – thankful the rain stopped just in time for the festivities!

I am not a huge beer drinker – in fact, I dont even know what kind of beer “we” brought to offer. I drank my wine and took pictures 🙂

Not the greatest shot but you get the gist…

With the amount of people who were there I am happy to say there was……NO DRAMA!

I spent the evening bouncing around from camp to camp talking, laughing and enjoying the neat people that were there. Just before dinner, Kiah’s boyfriend and his friends arrived so her and I walked down to where they were setting up camp to make sure they had everything they needed – they did so I went to bed…Yea..went to bed — I think it may have been 930, ha!

Groundhogs day…I woke up at day break again..took a nature hike, had coffee, visited with our camping neighbors and relaxed. Now I am sitting here thinking…I wonder how many times I have used the word relaxed? I’m thinking alot but I’m also thinking…that’s a good thing!

If you have read any of my other posts you know the hubs, Jason, is in a rock band called
Hogjaw. They used our last day at camp to start video production of their music video for a song called “The Wolf” I can’t wait to see the final production because the scenery, their “costumes” and the song are awesome.

Here a few behind the scene photos:

After the video shots were done – we packed up and headed out. But wait! Flat tire..boooo..

One of the truck tires was about 20lbs light on air..Luck was on our side again and one of our camping buddies came better prepared than we and had a hand held air compressor. It took a little while but we were back in business soon enough.

The ride home was uneventful until one of the dogs threw up on Kiahs feet…then the other dog…oh good lord what did they eat???! It was grody – we cleaned up as best we could and tried to get home as fast as possible without getting pulled over 🙂

Until my next adventure or random thought of the day!

Best,

Kristi