Where has the time gone?

I've been very remiss in posting about our kitchen adventures the last year.  Time to fix that.

The last year has seen us taking up pickling --- pickled beets, pickled eggs, spicy pickled cucumber --- so easy, not sure why it took us so long to play around with that.

We also cured our own bacon, next time we'll be smoking it on the Big Green Egg to finish it off.  Lots of smoked meat since we got the BGE including some killer beef brisket.

I finally found the elusive fresh Yuzu I've been looking for and turned that into Yuzu Ice Cream, Yuzu Sugar, Yuzo Olive Oil, Yuzu Salt, and a freezer supply of Yuzu Zest.

And then there were the cocktails.  Thanks to the masterful teaching of Andrew Willett, I have learned an incredible amount about Pre-Prohibition cocktail making and the history of the bartending craft (and why the art went horribly off the rails thanks to prohibition).  Lee and I are amassing quite the bar collection and making everything from classics (Old Fashioned Rye Cocktail, Martini Cocktail, Manhattan, Whiskey Sour) to classed up versions of modern drinks like the Long Island Iced Tea and the Mojito.  And I believe a bottle of real Orjeat Syrup is about to make its way over to the US for some Mai Tais (the real thing is made with the elusive bitter almond which is illegal to be sold in much of the world and makes it hard to fabricate the real liquor).

Pie making, beer making, montreal bagels, cheese.....all the usuals too.  It's been a busy year.  And this is just our spare time hobbies ! ;)