It's Mississippi Belle good

Ah, the simple pleasures in life.

Thankfully despite an initial miscue due to Mississippi Belle being closed last Monday, we finally made it in to the Mecca of Indy soul food last. Of course, Jamie was in tow - along with Phil, Mike, Patty, and Mike's boss from Pepsico. And after a year of buildup, I'm proud to report that Jamie was not disappointed - although when the food was brought to the table, he scooped it all up and ran to the farthest corner table all by himself. Those crazy English.

Puppies are gone

Sad but true, the puppies have left the house :( Venus too.

Although Patrick was out of town, it was probably a good thing that he was gone - already a bit emotional to take them back to the Humane Society and not really know their future - with him being depressed would just make it worse. Venus was especially hard since she's a little more aware of her environment and REALLY didn't know what was going on. Ugh. Ugh. Ugh.

On a positive note, we're glad to get the dressing room back and not be attacked by the furry pirahnas when we get in the room. I guess.

Jamie's in Town !!!

Ah Mr. Dunn returns to the US.

I'm still not quite sure why he was in town, but I think my project was paying for it - no big deal - it always good to have him in town.

Pictured here is the embarrassingly large welcome sign that someone made for him - I hope it's not someone's full time job, because that would just be crazy silly.

Inauguration

It's not everyday a new President gets sworn in to the Oval Office, so since Patrick and I are such political wonks we had to be part of the party . . .

So we headed down to Conseco and got some free tickets for the show. They basically showed it on the big screen. The place wasn't packed, but there were quite a few people. Pretty emotional actually - not so much during, but before as people were waiting it was all kind of sinking in that we were getting a new President.

CHEESE: Emmental

Cheese #4 - right after Halloumi, Mozzarella, and Parmesan. I made some emmental, and it's aging in the basement.

This is one of those heat loving cheeses with some air bubbles thrown in. That means in addition to the thermophilic culture that I used for parmesan, I also used another bacteria to live through the process and eventually make the telltale swiss holes. Still not sure if it worked, but in six months we should have a pretty good idea.

The main issue with this cheese (and any aged cheeses) is the aging. Temperature and humidity have to be pretty spot on in order for the good microbes to grow and the bad ones to stay in the air. Still not sure if I've done that, but we'll see.

More Bonnie Cards

 

I really need to do a closeup of these.

My sister-in-law, Bonnie, sends me special handmade cards each year for birthday, Xmas, etc - and I've saved them all. Some of these go pretty far back, so this past month I put some more up in the dining room. Now the room is surrounded.

Cutting the Cheese

 

So the continuing story of the Irish cheese continues. After having this farmstead cheese age in the frig for a couple of months, it was time to divvy it up. I know the picture looks a little small, but this is a 10 kilo (or 22 pound) wheel of cheese goodness.

This is one of the Swiss styles cheeses (without the holes), so it's working best on some roasted potatoes.

Thanks Santa

 

You can always distinguish one Xmas from the next based on the presents you receive and give.

This year was the year of the rice cooker. Perhaps a strange gift I know, but this one actually makes my porridge every morning automatically. It also doesn't make a bad batch of properly cooked rice. Seriously, if you haven't been to Asia or used a rice cooker, you have no idea how that stuff is supposed to taste.

Skating Party 2009

Ah another year, another skating party - or otherwise known as the most afforadable way to throw a party for 300 of your closest friends and family.

Huge turnout this year despite a last minute time change, and we're still crossing our fingers that the Pan Am Plaza is still open for next year - stay tuned.

Here is the link to the photos.