Mojitos

My favorite summer drink: mojitos! Of course, you know I can't buy the pre-mixed junk, I have to go homemade or go home. So since mint is a key ingredient in the mojito, I decided to grow my own. Every summer I have a nice pot of mint growing on my deck for just this reason!
A couple of springs of mint will fix you up. Grab those and grab your mortar and pestle. I have a nice ceramic one that works great for this. Put the mint in there, squirt some lime juice on it and start grinding. Once the mint is smushed, (is that a word?) pour it into your cup or a shaker. Add some sour, rum (vodka works, too) and some sprite or 7-up. Stir or shake and let's get the partaaaay started, people!!

Smoked Trout

Kevin and Ross went fishing on fishing opener weekend (which is a national holiday in Minnesota) and caught a bunch of trout in the mine pits in Crosby. They have been sitting in our freezer (the fish, not Kevin and Ross) and we have been slowly eating them. Then Kevin's friend Maury called to ask if we wanted to buy a charcoal smoker that his dad had won and of course I said yes. We decided to try our hand at smoking fish up at the cabin in our new smoker.

I thawed the fish in the refrigerator the night before and brined them the next day. For the brine I used a gallon of water, two cups of salt, a cup of brown sugar, a couple of tablespoons of raw garlic, a tablespoon each of garlic powder, cayenne pepper, onion powder and all-spice. I put the fish in a bowl, submerged them with the brine, put a plate on top so the fish wouldn't float and put the bowl in the refrigerator.
To set up the smoker Kevin soaked the wood chips and put them in a aluminum foil packet that he punched holes in. Then he filled up the top bowl of the smoker with a quart of water and in the bottom bowl he started a charcoal fire. When the charcoal was gray, I put the wood chip packet on top of the coals.The racks were sprayed with cooking spray and the fish was pulled out of the brine and washed. It was then put in the frig to dry for a little bit. Once the fire was smoking, I put the racks of fish in the smoker.The smoke started billowing out of the smoker and we closed it up tight with the lid and let it cook for an hour.After an hour we couldn't resist peaking at them. Oh my, they looked good. I pulled them off and we dug in.We had to save some for Karla and Eric because they weren't at the cabin yet and I suggested we eat them all and say the fish hadn't turned out. Kevin didn't think that was very nice so I was overruled. The fish was the best thing I have tasted in a long, long time. It turned out fantastic! Each smoky, salty, warm bite of flaky fish melted in your mouth. It was incredible. I hate to brag but it was so good I think I could eat nothing but that for the rest of my life and die a happy woman. Just another excuse for Kevin to fish more, I guess!

Cabrales

If I could list my perfect day, this would be it.
-Wake up at the cabin in Ely.
-It's a beautiful, sunny day with not a cloud in the sky.
-I have miraclously lost twenty pounds overnight. (ok, moving on)
-I have breakfast at the Front Porch where they have awesome ham and cheese breakfast burritos. (Does anyone besides me wonder why I can't loose weight?) -We hike to my favorite waterfall and feel the spray from the water hitting the rocks.-I discover that Chapman Street Market has opened back up for the summer and I buy a baugette, brie cheese with mushrooms and this wonderful, new, Spanish blue cheese wrapped in maple leaves. It is called cabrales and the woman asks me if I am allergic to penicillin before I buy it. Sweet! -Miss Chocoholic decides that she loves broccoli and never begs for chocolate again. (hey, leave me alone, it's my dream!)
-I find a trashy book at the bookstore that smells like incense.
-I find an amazing, old-as-dirt, handpainted, antique pin at the antique store that only I can love.
-Kevin has bought me a carmael malt while I was shopping and only eaten half of it.
-I peacefully eat the bread and cheese on the pontoon with a bottle of champagne. Hopefully my doctor will prescribe blue cheese from now on. Aren't maple leaves suppose to be healthy?

-I soak up thirty gallons of sunshine. Afterward, there are cheesy ballpark hotdogs just waiting for their chance to be skewered and put in the fire.

What a day! I can't complain.

Boundary Waters wheat beer

I just haven't been inspired lately. I don't know what it is. I haven't made something really yummy and fun for awhile and therefore I haven't done a lot of blogging. There. I'm done apologizing for not blogging and hope I will start being inspired and blogging more.

I decided to make beer this afternoon, Kevin was gone and there wasn't much to do because it was raining and I was on-call for work. This was the second batch of beer I have ever made. I took a class with Paulie and Will this spring and we made a batch of Irish Stout that tasted very similar to Guiness. Kevin loved it and slurped it down pretty quickly. So I decided to try some on my own, bought a fish fryer and spent most of the morning trying to put it together and mangling my fingers. Putting things together is not one of my strong points. But I finally got it all assembled and out to the garage and spent an extemely pleasant Saturday afternoon all by myself brewing beer.

The reason you want to do this outside is because there is a good chance you will boil the beer over. This can be super messy to clean up so a garage is ideal.
I hooked up the propane tank and opened the garage door. Miss Chocoholic was snuggled down in the house with a couple of movies. I pulled a chair over to watch the boiling process, watch the rain come down and think about life.

I made this from a kit I bought online. I have been sticking with kits until I feel super comfortable with what I am doing. Here is the bag of grain steeping in the hot water.The aroma of the beer mixed with the smell of the rain makes my soul happy. Miss Chocoholic came out once to check on me and said, "That smells like hot chocolate!" I think it smells more like homey, comforting oatmeal.

It was time to mix in the barley malt. I had to stick my finger in it and eat a little. It's a wonderful, sticky syrup. I could eat it on ice cream. Hmmm, maybe I will save some next time and try that.After the malt comes the hops. I love the smell of hops. They smell like fresh cut grass or a lawn after a rainstorm. These came in little pellets. There were two bags of hops; one bag boiled with the mixture, the second bag was called finishing hops and was added two minutes before the boil was done. The second bag had more of a fruity smell, kind of like an apple or pear mixed with hay. And then it was just time to boil and relax. I made a mojito and sat there stirring. The neighbors were having a graduation party and I am sure they probably thought I was some weird, modern-day witch with my steaming cauldron but I was happy and for one rainy afternoon, the world was a perfect, peaceful place.