Andy & Nikki

I just realized that we haven’t talked at all about our time in Wisconsin this year.  I’ll post a few things over the next couple of days as a back-log of that. May as well start with the reason for the trip:

We came into town this summer to see Andy & Nikki’s get married:

Andy was in our wedding party, and jon was Andy’s best man. If boys ever talked about BFFs, I’m pretty sure that Andy and Jon would be right up there on each other’s lists. So you know, it’s really cool to see him happy. Nikki’s such a fantastic person, I’m really excited that we’ll get to be friends for lots of years.

We’re at this age where lots of people we know are starting to pair off and buy houses together, and it’s kind of a wake up call that we’re all growing up. I think one of the coolest things that is happening is that you grow your friendship circle by a bit. You know? Andy marries Nikki and now we can count nikki as friend that will be around until we’re all in walkers and the boys throw their backs out, trying to throw a disc golf. Isaiah marrying Corey – and, corey’s a fantastic chick that I would have never met otherwise. Chris married sarah, and now I have a sister-in-law that I like quite a bit and well, you get the picture. It’s exciting.

This picture was from their rehearsal dinner on Saturday night. Andy’s gramma hosted a picnic in her (incredible) back yard. This picture is so “milwaukee” to me.

Yip!

Dear readers, I have the best husband in husbandtown.

“Thank you for shopping with AT&T. Your iPhone 3G S has been reserved. Your iPhone 3G S will be shipped in 7 to 14 days.”

We’re getting an iPhone. How incredible is that? We’ll never be lost again. And Jon will have immediate gratification that he’s right, when we’re disputing something and i say, “well, I’ll definitely have to wikipedia that when we get home”.

And… there are APPS! Glorious apps. For everything. And videos!  And … well.   I’m just so excited, I wanted to share with you.

Dinner with Cheryl & Michael

My sister text messaged me today. I’m with Aunt Debbie.

For those of you who have been following the Fetzich / Grimord drama over the past five years will understand why this message made my spit water out of my mouth and onto the person sitting next to me. It’s fair to say that Ashley has been cheated out of a functioning family. One with aunties, uncles and cousins that love her. She has… well, she has all of us instead. And I think she’s relatively well adjusted regardless.

Anyhow, Ashley’s only Stateside aunt kind of sucks. This is unfortunate for Ashely because I have another, much cooler aunt that Ashley knows very little about. So this is a small tribute to my way cooler aunt, Cheryl.

Given the choice, Mom would choose Cheryl as a sister over Debbie any day. Even though they haven’t talked in quite some time, I think she likes her way better. It’s unfortunate that families don’t really work that way.

Cheryl and Michael live down in L.A., so it’s kind of a rare treat to see them. Just as Jon was moving up to Bremerton, they bought a house in Olalla – a town about 40 minutes south of where jon works. Pretty crazy coincidence, but it results in me getting to have dinner with them a few times a year. This is the front of it – behind the house there are about two acres of grass, a pond, some deer, and more grass.

They live in what I can only describe as “the country”, even though I know it’s less than an hour away from a majour city. There’s more nature here than anywhere else that we go regularly. There’s nature. And despite it’s lack of wifi, it’s beautiful.

Michael, who I can only picture as an Los Angelite, looks surprisingly at home on a tractor with a baseball cap and a Miller Lite. It’s almost like he was born to not live in the city and he’s just been waiting for his golden opportunity to mow grass and buy rugged guy-toys.

Anyhow, the two of them have always been quick to offer support and advice, and to welcome jon into the family. They rock and I’m happy to have them in my life.

Red Wine Vinegar

Hat Tip to Andreas for pointing me to this resource that talks about making wine vinegar from leftover wine. It basically says you buy a vinegar starter, dump in a bunch of wine and let it site for 3 months while it forms this oozy, gelatinous protective coating. Oh, and don’t forget to feed the mother.

Red wine vinegar takes about 3 months to make, but white for some reason takes about twice that. I wonder if there’s any culinary benefit (aside from colour?) to using red vs. white wine vinegar. I’ve always substituted one for the other based on what was in my cabinet at the time.

This web site goes on to say that cheap zin, cabernet or merlot make fantastic starters for your vinegar (zin vin? hehe).

[note: photo above is courtesy of Gang of Pour]

Seattle Water-Rocks

How great is a city that sells freshly harvested oysters at its farmers market?

I came home last Sunday morning with a two-pound bag in hand, and a vague idea about how I wanted to spend my afternoon.

That afternoon included mixing up my favourite oyster topping, jon shucking, and us drinking a bottle of sparkling wine. Bubbles may just be a must-have for the first oysters of the season.

So. Oyster toppings. Sure, you can just squeeze a lemon over them and call it a day – enjoy the subtle, briny flavours that each differing varietal has, but that’s about as much fun as vanilla ice cream. Or you can douse them with hot sauce and bread crumbs. Or you can put that awful pre-chewed spinach mixture on top (I puke in your shoe if you actually like oysters Rockefeller).

But I love the mignonette sauce. I think it’s delicate and beautiful. Oh, and easy to make at home.

Start with 1/2 c. red wine vinegar (I had to use white because that’s what we had in the cabinet. It’s fine, but you lose the pretty rose colour). I’d really like to try this with different wine-vinegars to see how it impacts the flavour.

And to that you add 1 T black pepper…

and 2 T chopped shallots….

Shake them all together and spoon on top of your oysters. I think if you were to add 1-2 T of dijon or stone ground mustard (or an egg yolk) it would make a really tasty vinaigrette too. Yum!