Pics of food from the last few months!!!

Seafood salad with fresh local grouper, shrimp and mussels in Grand Turk




Pear Salad with Dolce Gorgonzola, also Grand Turk




They just happened to have champagne pate and a great selection of meats and cheeses too.




Simple fare, pear topped pork chop, asparagus with parmigiano reggiano and basil couscous




Cupcakes my wife made for our daughter's 2nd birthday.




Curried potatoes for the grill.





Heirloom tomato pizzas




Hello, I'm a leg of lamb stuffed with garlic and herbs. I'm about to be smoked for 8 hours...




Nothing like dirt and worm cupcakes!




Evil vampire watermelon filled with punch - lemon lime seltzer, vodka, watermelon innards and orange sherbet. Yes!!!

I'm 'a bloggit sucka

Okay so I've not written in a ludicrously long time. And I'm breaking that silence with two grammatically incorrect sentences in a row.

All sorts of things have happened in the interim, but the biggest news has to do with our family. We are currently 20 weeks into being pregnant with our next baby! We may find out on Monday what the gender is, the last two ultrasounds were either too early or the wee one was covering it's genitalia with their hand. My wife is happy and healthy and so is the fetus, so all is well.

Also new since last time, I got a fantastic job working in a coffee shop. I know for many people that might not be the ideal career move, but stay with me here. I am making more money than the supervisors at my last company, I work two blocks from my house, and I am one of four employees, two of whom are the owners. I started as the business opened, so I am considered family, (their words) and have an equal contributing opinion on all food or beverage decisions. I was the only one with extensive coffee knowledge, and they realize my value, so it works out for all concerned. This also allowed us to donate our junker car and cut back on insurance, fuel, and even food costs as I get a comp meal with every shift. Overall we're living on a little bit less, but the absence of work related stress for me is more than worth it for our whole family.

Rather than continue with a list of all the crazy things happening in our lives in the last few months, I'll write out an incredibly simple but very good fall recipe, and promise to write more regularly from now on.

Traditional crock pot pea soup!!

One 1-lb bag of split peas
2-3 carrots, chunked up to your preference
1/4 - 1/2 an onion, chopped
4-6 oz pre-cooked ham, diced or a small piece of salt pork

After rinsing peas, (sometimes there are little stones so inspect them well) place all ingredients in the crock pot. Ours is really big, so we usually double this recipe.
Pour in 7 or 8 cups of water.
Cook on low for 10 hours, stir and serve with fresh ground pepper.
This makes quite a bit of food.
This is a very basic version, play around with the proportions to get the consistency and flavor you like. If you want it veggie, put a little liquid smoke in it, you could also substitute smokey tempeh, but I wouldn't put it in until the last couple of hours, as it might disintegrate.

Cheers, I'll post soon with pictures of my latest brews and food that we have made in the last few months. Also I'm changing my brewing process so I'll do a step by step of the next ale I make with pictures.
Thanks for reading!