Winter 14: who needs therapy?

Now that the boys are a year older; we have had our first winter where both Ali and I have been able to get out of the house. Even if it has been the coldest MN winter in 35 years.

Yes, those are lips.....fresh off of the face of a 3 year old

Plenty of outside fun!

Frost Beards abounded.

XC skis were had, and many a weekend afternoon was spent with the Johnsons.

Nothing more pro than taking the holeshot and blowing it in the first corner.

I refrained from any winter riding once we got into the depths of the winter chill. Sometimes its just fun to yell disparaging things at people.

"Why did you bring me to this forsaken place?"

One evening we did pictures of each of the family.

"guess whats in my diaper?"

"You there, yes, you, fetch me that floppy eared dog"

"the child is biting the dog, but I am going going to smile anyway"

We drove to TX in Feb to see Mina and Tanner. with the children and the dog. nonstop. 19 hours. No meltdowns. My progeny are road warriors.

Got to ride a whole bunch of the Buffalo Bayou. Refrained from any serious crime.

Love being able to get produce year round. The Hispanic influence in south Texas means that there are some pretty terrific vittles to be had

I got to defile Mina's granite countertops

We also took the grommets to the Houston "chillins" museum that had the Dr. Seuss display.

Grinchin' ain't easy

 

When Ali's mom was in town we got out on a ski date (it was about -5F)

 But alas, winter is quickly fading, and the snow drifts are receding.

I never know what I will find in snow drifts around here.

 

Dirtbag ice cream

Ok kids, its recipe time. I have been sitting on this one for some time, so I figured that it was time to show you how to make dirtbag ice cream....or at least make ice cream without an ice cream maker and the mess it entails.

Buttermilk Ice Cream 

by Ed Lee (he has a simply incredible cookbook entitled "Smoke and Pickles")

Ingredients:

1 pint Cream

1 Cup Buttermilk

1 Cup sugar 

Seriously, its that simple (even John Waller could do this). Pour your cream into a heavy bottomed sauce pan (even dirtbags should own 1 good sauce pan) and heat over medium low until it takes the chill off of the cream. Begin to stir in the cup of sugar very slowly to dissolve it. You only want to heat the sweetened cream mixture enough to dissolve the sugar, not cook it.  Once all your sugar is dissolved, you can add in your buttermilk. 

The next step is to pour your mixture into a 1 Gallon Freezer bag, seal it, and lay it flat in your freezer (or if you live in the tundra like us, just put it outside) to solidify.

 

Once your solution has solidified, break it up, and put it in either a blender or a food processor until it is smooth and creamy. It will melt and soften while your kitchen device is beating it into submission. This is the really important step, if you do not blend or process the mixture, it will be granular and crunchy. You cannot blend it too much.

Then pour your ice cream mix into a container and refreeze it. Once it firms back up, its ready to consume.

I really like this ice cream by itself, but the truest method of consumption of this ambrosia would be the Affogato (Italian for drowned). 

This after dinner drink is a a scoop of buttermilk ice cream that is dolloped into a expresso.......my dirtbag version is to use 3oz of boiling water to one envelope of starbucks  "via" coffee, and then add in the buttermilk ice cream. You will be exalted by your compatriots. Wealthy petroleum engineers will try to recruit you as their personal chef. They will also try to snatch your children, but thats a story for another day.

Filthy 50 and holiday musing (yes its 5 months late)

So this past fall a couple of us went down to do the Filthy 50.  It was the shortest gravel race I have ever done, and was hands down the fastest. The first 40 miles had about a dozen of us in the first chase group just gnawing stem the whole time. I popped about 5 miles from the finish and cramped so badly I actually had to get off the bike for like 5 minutes. Drew won the Mens race, and Monika rode a flat for the last 2 miles to win the womens race. It was a good time.

Monika, Ben Oney, Scott Spoo and I rode down in the new minivan. tires were getting swapped going down the road! Long live the minivan!

Drew time trialed away to the win.

"I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of triathletes suddenly cried out in terror, and were suddenly silenced. I fear something terrible has happened." Joshua Stamper

Not gonna lie, I like that van.

This dude crushed some souls. Chugging a big ol' gear.

I made a cajun stuffing with andouille sausage, oysters, and okra to go with the yard bird that I brined. Justin Wilson would have been proud.