Birthdays, Earthquakes, and the Animal Menagerie

This week there were two earthquakes in San Jose- we didn't feel them at all, but we were discussing the topic with the neighbors at my birthday party this week (here's my birthday pie video for all those that were not able to attend... note Ruben singing from his kitchen window!)

...we all decided it would be smart to prepare for the next earthquake by stockpiling some water and propane for the grill so that if we all have to sleep outside or something we will have water and the ability to cook all of the meat in our freezers. I wish we could stockpile chocolate cream pies too (the one James made me was quite delicious... photo at right).

Apparently James took the earthquake preparation idea to heart- this week he started what I like to call..... James' Ark. On Thursday he bought two Betta fish for his desk at work; Saturday we got two peeping little Ameraucana chickens (in Half Moon Bay while we were at the Pumpkin Festival); and today he decided to get a bullfrog and a slider turtle in Chinatown so that he can display them as invasive species in his giant fish tank exhibit. This wonderful animal menagerie is all stored in our laundry room. ... the kids around here love it and what the landlord doesn't know won't hurt her, right?

The chickies are super cute and I'm getting beyond my initial resistance to taking on more pets that have the ability to stink up a whole city block- they will eventually provide us with 2 eggs a day in beautiful shades of green and blue. I think you will all agree they are cuties.

We need some cute names for these girlies- send us some suggestions!

Animals have actually been the theme of the week. We got back from Bridget and Justin's wedding on Monday to find that Mandela had been locked in our bedroom for 5 days with no food. Thankfully he at least had water because I had left a glass on the bedside table! He had used our bed as his litter box (so much for that $1500 mattress) so we spent a good deal of time getting the mattress clean, bought new pillows and sheets and triple-washed all the blankets.... Mandela seems fine- no residual trauma that we can tell. Doesn't he seem so innocent?

All in all, it was a great week at James and Jess' (AKA Chateau Merde de Chat)...

Justin and Bridget are Official!

What a great weekend! I don't know where to begin, so here's a top-ten of the whole ordeal....

#10 - Five Guys! - After being picked up at the airport by Justin's shuttle service, he brought us to Five Guys Burgers and Fries. Sorry California, In-N-Out just doesn't come close.

#9 - Tim! - I got to see my BFF and joke with him about the girl we fought over for two years. Considering that she once passed out drunk on top of Justin (see photo), it would have been a great addition to a slide show or toast... We got to go to a pet shop too! Tim even shaved for the wedding!

#8 - Hurtin' Bombs & Bacon! - No one can make ramen or bacon nearly as well. Justin's an incredible cook. Bridget, you made a wise decision.

#7 - The Stepping Stone Museum! - What a beautiful place for a wedding. In the distance you could see the Susquehanna River below the hills. The weather cleared up just in time for the wedding under a sunny Maryland sky.

#6 - Nerves of steel! - Just before the wedding, Justin seemed quite calm. Maybe too calm... I decided to try a little experiment using the nifty new pocket watch he'd given me and the rest of the groomsmen. When I started taking his pulse it was actually somewhere around 50, but within the next ten seconds it shot up to about 70. A few minutes later it started at 70 and shot up to 90. Psychosomatic reaction? Nah.

#5 - Jimmy! - His wedding beer didn't come out quite as planned, but he made an excellent toast at the reception... "Bridget, you married a wreck." I couldn't have said it better. Did anyone get it on tape? (seriously though, he put it into context by explaining all of the near-death experiences Justin's become famous for, including the helicopter ride Jimmy had to summon after Tim and Justin flipped their canoe over a dam on the Potomac.)

#4 - Car Decorating! - Justin texted me the next day "You really shouldn't have, James... Really." In my defense, even though I got the keys from him, it was a group effort. Although I did contribute the Spatten mini keg to the cans dragged behind, and the music.

#3 - NY! - We'd promised ourselves it wouldn't be a whirlwind tour like last time, yet somehow we ended up on a bus to New York again, this time at 1am, after the reception. We knocked on mom and dad's door at 7:30... Surprise!

#2 - Five Guys! - One more before heading back West. We really miss Five Guys.

#1 - An all-in-all awesome weekend. The wedding was great. We're really excited for the two of you! Congrats! Cant wait for your visit out here! The cider should be ready just in time!

When life gives you apples...

Squeeze 'em, ferment 'em, and drink 'em up!

It all started at the Garin Apple Festival. I'd been recruited to work the apple-pressing demo. It's probably one of the more popular things for kids to do at all the fall harvest festivals all over the place. The kids toss an apple into a hand-cranked grinder, and then they help turn the giant screw that presses the juice out from the pulp. It's satisfying to see the grins as they taste the fruit of their labor. Of course with all the germ-o-phobic idiocy these days, back East the kids weren't allowed to drink the stuff they pressed. We had to give them pasteurized crud from the grocery store. Blech! On the good side though we got to keep what they pressed. Yay cheap child labor! Last year I used my share to make some very tasty adult beverages.

While it was satisfying this year to have the kids be allowed to taste the apple juice they made, I felt a little jipped. It just wasn't right that I didn't get to take any home this time. I mean really, which is more important? Making a kid smile as he/she has a memorable experience realizing the connection between themselves and the earth, or making yourself some damn good booze?

In either case- that got me thinking... and you know when I think, it is just the very short first step towards doing something...

It started with a quick search on Craigslist. I found an old cider press for $150. Not bad considering most go for 500+. At the very least I could use it once or twice and turn around and resell it for a decent profit. And that's just what I did. Just look at this beauty (right)! It worked great, but I had bigger plans, and it deserved a better life... It's now in the window of some liquor store in San Francisco being pampered and loved as a regularly dusted antique. My 300% markup gave it value and a new lease on life! And it gave me some cash for building my own...

I wanted a more utilitarian press, and while I got a few ideas from the older one I'd flipped on Craigslist, a few searches on the interwebs gave me some big ideas (check this out). Most simpler versions involved some form of a car jack for the pressing mechanism, but the thing I hadn't thought of was how to grind the apples into a pulp! Thus began my project.

Old-fashioned grinders are hard to recreate without good woodworking equipment. I opted to use PVC pipe instead... It works pretty well too (as demonstrated here by our neighbor, Ruben). But on the first run we only got about two gallons from a bushel, which should have been closer to three gallons (the chunks were too big and retained the juice).

Luckily we got those first apples in Chinatown for 5 bucks a bushel! Yay Chinatown!

Next time around we decided to use the food processor to REALLY grind the apples- and it worked so well that the juice just started flowing even before we could press! It takes more time, but brings the yield up to about three-and-a-half gallons per bushel!

We were stoked! We made plans with a bunch of friends to head to an orchard the next weekend. The orchard was given to the Park District by an arborist who collected antique apple trees. There are 175 types of organic antique apples, and they open it once a year to let people pick for $5 for a 5-gallon bucket. It became an all-day cider pressing party!

In all we got over 12 gallons of cider. 10 gallons are fermenting, and will be ready just in time for our very own "Novemberfest." Meanwhile we're collecting and cleaning beer bottles (which is a fun process in and of itself considering that they need to be emptied first)... I think I'll go get another bottle ready right now!