Culinary Creations

This is our first food edition of Legends of the Den so that you can see what concoctions we've been coming up with in the kitchen.  We know some of you guys (ahem, parents) have been concerned that we might not be eating properly, so hopefully you'll feel a bit better after checking this out.  We eat well, and sometimes even slightly healthy!  Feel free to be inspired by our creations and let us know if you want a recipe or two!  We will have more food editions regularly, depending on the den's future menus.

This is what happens when you try to make a s'more without any graham crackers.  The marshmallow was freshly made from a local cafe and we roasted them on skewers on the stove.  They're definitely better than the packaged kind.

Moroccan split pea soup with lemon - We made this from scratch with the help of our trusty food processor.  The key is that dollop of yogurt on top... It was so good, the phrase "icing on the cake" has been replaced with "yogurt on the soup"!

Example: What a great weekend! Finding that winning lottery ticket on the ground was really the yogurt on the soup.

This is the first of the four photo "homemade chai" series

Boiling up the spices - those things floating are cardamom pods

Time for milk!  Bryan is the mad scientist of tea.

Steeping the tea bags... When it's done it's really good hot off the stove.  We refrigerated the rest and had iced chai for the next few days.

Spaghetti with white wine sauce accompanied by roasted garlic rosemary eggplant

Veggie burger parmesan on garlic bread sesame seed buns accompanied by homemade potatoes au gratin with onion, cumin and nutmeg

Mexican breakfast for dinner bowl with homemade spanish rice, black beans, cheese, a fried egg, and sour cream (and some hot sauce on Bryan's)

Mixed greens salad with jicama, cucumber, garbanzo beans, boiled egg, homemade garlic croutons, parmesan, and creamy italian dressing (Sasha actually liked this and ate the whole thing... as many of you know, this is beyond shocking)

First Week of Boat School

Hello all! Boat school is a dream come true...here's a quick recap on my first week. I was extremely nervous the morning of, but after a few hours and seeing other students in the same boat (haha), the first day shaped up nicely. Standard introductions, tour, course outlines and tool distribution at the end of the day. I spent the lunch hour sitting on a picnic bench near the boat dock enjoying the view and the delicious lunch Sasha made for me. The other students are always jealous! The classroom and shops are located on the water so it's nice to watch the sailboats come in and out of the bay, and to get in a quick call to see how m'lady's day's goin'.

The second day was a little tougher. There is a two hour lecture every morning then the rest is shop time. We learned about the properties of different boat building quality woods and how to select them, then moved to the shop for sharpening and conditioning chisels and hand plane blades. A properly honed blade really makes wood feel like butter. Sharpening took up most of the day but toward the end we started practicing making cuts with our japanese saws. Those things are freaking sweet.

By Wednesday we were already laying out and cutting simple joints. I got through three variations of the half lap joint by the time school let out and had to drag myself out of the shop. The days really fly by in there!

Thursday morning's lecture was on milling and drying techniques and wood rot. Important stuff for boat builders to know! Then, more joinery. Each project gets increasingly more difficult, but I love a challenge and I literally feel myself improving every hour.

Today was a short day. Hand plane jointing demos took up the morning, and I was only halfway done cutting my mitered bridle joint by noon when school was out. Never enough time! After that we headed home and Sasha whipped up her famous white cheddar mac and cheese for the "friends and family" potluck we just got back from. We mingled a little then just cruised around the school to check out some of the boats under construction and steal some boards from the scrap pile for carving. It was a fun first week no doubt. Monday won't come soon enough, although I'm looking forward to some hang time this weekend with Sasha (maybe a bike ride and a ferry across to Whidbey Island?)

First day, check out my tool bucket!

My new Alma Mater