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On and Around Nicollet Island
I Headed upstream to hang out with a good friend. We spent most of the day walking around Nicollet Island and down to the dam at Saint Anthony Falls. It made Me realise just how long it has been since I walked miles and miles with no set destination. This was such a large part of My teenage years, suddenly it feels like a lost part of who I am has been rediscovered. Unlike in the past when I was up to various mischievous activities, now I carry a camera. Let’s see where this goes.
Shooting the Stars
Last night, My Brother and I wandered out of the city to find a nice view in the country. It was said there would be a meteor shower, or possibly even a ‘meteor storm.’ We headed east of town, trying to get ahead of the approaching clouds. The shooting stars that we were seeking should have been mostly in the northern sky. We roamed the rural roads north of Hudson, WI for a while, finding a lack of northerly views that weren’t spoiled by peoples lights. Then, there was an openning to the south which revealed an awesome array of stars. We parked in someone’s driveway and proceeded to shoot from there for 2 or more hours. In some of the pictures, You can almost make out the edge of the milky-way. I was however aiming directly at I94, Hudson and the Twin Cities, with all the light pollution they emit. So after a few shots I turned to aim up and above the horizon. Which gave Me the awesome star trails, layered up around the Earth’s northern rotational axis. We only saw a couple of shooting stars, but it was still a great time.
The slightly ghost-like picture at the end was aquired with a 10 second exposure, ISO-800 at an aperture of f/1.4. All pictures taken with a Sigma 30mm 1.4 Ex on My Canon t4i.
A Crab Dinner for Burd
About a month ago I noticed a sign at a restaurant near My work. It said “all You can eat crab on Tuesday nights.” I immediately thought of Burd, My Brother’s wife, who is a foodie through and through. She loves seafood with a passion too. I shot Her a text and plans were made to attend this early week crab devouring. The next week, Tuesday arrived, the sign was gone. I stepped inside and asked the hostess if they were still doing it and was told, “no, so few people came that it’s been cancelled.” Our 5 day mental build up to this potential crab feastery was put down, hard.
Last week, was Burd’s birthday. Instead of a long lasting gift and inspired by recent events, I chose to give one that disappears rapidly. I went to a couple of shops around town, as well as surfed the internet. The web in fact led Me to the place which delivered these massive legs and claws to My door. It was slightly more expensive than getting the red king, golden king, or opilio crab legs found locally, but those were all so tiny by comparison.. Having read that the larger crabs tend to have a more robust flavor and sweeter meat, paired with My tendencies to go big, led Me to order 8 lbs of red king crab. Directly from Alaska. The biggest legs I could find were delivered to Minnesota, in under 18 hours.
I had told Burd, prior to Her birthday, that I was going to get Her a hammer as a gift. Which I gave to Her as We were departing a small car dealership in the southern suburbs. She was looking to buy a new car, possibly as a present to Herself? She was struggling to find a way to thank Me for giving Her a two pound mallet. Having arrived there seperately, She headed home in Her car and I headed there with My brother. We stopped at a store along the way and made it to their place before the birthday girl. Who then learned why She was holding a large rubber hammer. A knife works, but is slower and let’s face it, less fun…
I have had crab on many occasions. Nothing quite like this however. So succulent, arromatic and the beautiful color. Tasting of it made one feel so fat, so quickly. It was like devouring small, puffy clouds of sweet, tender, meaty goodness. These huge crab’s legs were just amazing. Without question, the single most luxurious thing I have ever eaten. I hardly even bothered dipping in butter, it was so delicious without any seasoning at all.
Two Hours in Duluth
About a month ago, My brother asked Me if I would keep Him company on a drive up north. He was playing a set at Legacy Glass Works, located in Minnesota’s second lovely’est city. Duluth, 2 hours there, two hours of glass blowing and musical performances by Midway Felix and Kanser Troop and two hours back to Saint Paul..
Pesto, Arugula and Mozzarella Rolls
This, super simple recipe, is just delicious. Pictured above with wadds of bacon and a giant cup of tea, it goes well with an awful lot of things. Yesterday, I served these rolls with My ‘traditional ribs’ and it was a quite pleasant pairing. Plucked from the BBC’s Good Food web site, it isn’t My usual experiment and see what happens kind of dish. Having a mere four ingredients, anyone can whip these up in minutes. I think this is a good one to teach to kids, since it doesn’t require cooking and can be jazzed up with just about anything. If You are looking for a quick, satisfying snack, or if You need something that can be made well ahead of having company over, this one is a winner. Serves 8, or half that many hungry teenagers.
Supplies Needed: Knife and cutting board(if You are using fresh Mozzarella blocks)
Ingredients:
4 – 10 inch Tortillas
1 cup – Pesto
1 – 12oz block of fresh Mozzarella cheese, sliced thinly
6-8 cups – Arugula
Prep:
Lay out a tortilla and spread 1/4 cup of pesto all over it. Add cheese to half and spread arugula evenly. Roll it up, starting from the cheesy side and slice for serving, or refridgerate for later. Yeah, that’s it.
Notes:
Shredded mozzarella nullifies the need for any pre-assembly prep.
The original recipe called for two sheets of lahvash flat bread instead of tortillas.
Adding bacon, thinly sliced pastrami, or some such thing makes this into more of a meal than a snack food.
Experiment! Such a simple flavor combination goes well with a lot of different things.
Another Cold, Windy and Wet Day at the Track
The first gathering in ClubFR’s 2014 season has come and gone. As expected, there were not a ton of entries. Even so, for the first time, I neglected to take pictures of every car on the track. Many of the guys were just starting to figure out how to keep their cars sliding. Another thing that I chose not to do so much was to point My camera at cars with missing body parts. After nearly a decade of shooting pictures at drift events, half dressed cars have gotten really boring. Making a day of one, 5 hour lap of the advanced course in the traditional UsaIR, dual track layout. Here is what some of what I got for You.
Please note, in the very last picture, the driver of the red BMW has his eyes closed!
Camping in the Snow
My friend Asha called Me early in the week and asked if I wanted to go camping. She was in need of being surrounded by nature, as opposed to this city-born existence we live. Sharing Her sentiment, I said “hell yeah!” It was a one night excursion in the snow. After sitting in My alley for nearly an hour, calling state parks, browsing the Minnesota DNR website and scrolling through maps, the destination was decided. Wild River State Park, on the Saint Croix River, an hour or so north of the Twin Cities. I had never been there before and google maps gave us useless directions. For some reason, they said the park’s entrance was at the boat launching point, down a non-maintained dirt road, ten miles from the actual entrance to the park. Eventually, we found where we needed to be and effectively had the park to ourselves. One mile of hiking through sloppy snow down the untouched trail, camp was made. It wasn’t actually very cold out. 40’s on Saturday and 50’s sunday, I would guess the temperature at night was around 30 degrees. The snow certainly made it feel like winter, as did the massive slabs of ice floating down the river.
During the day Saturday, there were no clouds in the sky, so I was quite excited to get some pictures of stars, then as the sun set, clouds rolled in. They relented for about 45 minutes and revealed the sparkling sky I wanted to see. Some good practicing time doing something I have long been a fan of seeing others do. Capturing the night’s sky. Here is what I came up with.
First thing Sunday morning, I woke up, snapped the picture at the top of this post and proceeded to go back to sleep for 2 more hours. After that, we shared a can of pinapple chunks and Asha sat down to read in the sun. I decided to go for a walk, hoping to snag some closer pictures of some birds of prey. Half a mile or so down the trail from camp, I spotted a massive bird landing on a tree a few hundred yards away. I did My best to quietly work towards it, but such a thing isn’t possible when You’re walking through snow ranging from four inches to two feet deep. It kept ahead of Me, following the river for at least an hour, flying from one tree to the next. Every time I got within 150 yards, the bird would skip ahead another 300-400 yards. I use a 70-200mm lens on a cropped image sensor and just couldn’t get close enough for the shots that I desired. Which was quite saddening to Me, given this huge bird was actually an owl. I didn’t know they were so active during the day. It may only be this particular type of owl, which I believe was a Barred Owl. The wing span looked to be five, or more, feet. After looking at the two pictures I got of it, I was suprised that I wasn’t looking at a Great Grey owl. This owl’s eyes were not the right color and the greyish brown, with white stripes on the feathers didn’t match either. Included below is this barred owl sitting in a tree and flying directly over head at about 400 feet.
This was an especially awesome weekend for Me. Seeing for the first time, that big owl, golden eagles and turkey vultures. Not to mention the bald eagles, herrons, swans and various varieties of ducks that were fluttering about in large numbers. Just after the sun set, a pair of golden eagles came to our camp site. One landed in a tree about 40 feet from where we were, while the other circled 40-60 feet above us. I was a bit nervous, as well as awe struck. Not as large as the ones I’ve heard and read about, but the wing span was at least 6 feet. It was to dark for Me to get any sort of picture, so I am making due with these long range shots I aquired during the day light hours.
Fancy Feast
Last fall, I headed up to northern Wisconsin with My brother and some friends. During that trip, two of the bunch proposed a monthly cook-off. The original theme was simply ‘make Your s*** fancy.’ What can I say, it was a weekend of drinking, shooting and dirt bikes. The feast idea changed slightly after that and starting this past January, Fancy Feast had begun. Instead of making it a competition, it is a slightly less intense meal making endeavor. Four courses minimum, guests bring a bottle of decent booze as tribute, or declare themselves the next host/cook for the feast.
First up was My friend Keith, who made some beet and cheese appetizers that were quite good. Followed by a lobster and shrimp torta with lima beans, avacodo topped with seasoned cream cheese and an encrusted herby salmon bake. Then, He banged out a lovely candied bacon, puffed cream and brownie desert.
February went to My brother, Chris. Churning out seven dishes and various drinks. I did however neglect to catch a picture of the fresh pumpkin bread desert. Pictured are His mushroom soup, with leeks. Egg cooked in swirling water and hash, a topper variety plate, cold soba and soy sauce, what I think was a chorizo dish and meatballs cooked forever in a pho soup stock.
I called March’s meal. My theme was simply to do something different. So, no stir-fry. No grill, or smoker. No cajun spices, chili blends, sherry, or even soy sauce. I struggled a bit, making multi-course meals that come round after round doesn’t mesh particularly well with My laid back, ‘just throw some stuff together and hope it’s good’ cooking tendencies. I produced the minimum of four dishes. Bacon and baby lima bean soup, spicy sweet potato mash with roasted brocolli and pistachios on toast, fruit stuffed pork tenderloin roll and finished with citrus gratin. The desert was kind of odd honestly, but it had much potential to be delicious. Something to ponder on how to go about improving.
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