Glock 19

Here it is....isn't it beautiful?  I purchased this pistol last Tuesday and have been itching to spread its wings.  I tried to visit the range last week, but the junior division was having a shooting meet, so I settled for last night.  My sweet Lady is visiting her folks in OH, so I went solo to the range.  It was nice, not a sole in the building but me, Glock 19 9mm generation 3, Ruger 1911, and 2 Ruger 10/22's.  This was going to be a nice and fun gun fight!

I shot 2 boxes of 9mm at 25 and 40 feet.  Here is a few clips at both distances.  I love the action Glock has.  This particular one has Trijion night sights, they usually aren't factory issued, but Glock is having them installed on a few models. The 19 is a compact pistol that is easy to conceal.  If you weren't aware of the brand, Glock is the most widely used firearm by US law enforcement.  They really are flawless. 

Next up, Ruger 1911.  I only had about 40 shells so this is what happened at both distances.

Oh, here comes the fun.  Ruger 10/22s are one of the most fun plinking guns to shoot.  Shooting a 25 round banana clip out of this is like shooting a small machine gun.  It only takes about 5 seconds to empty the magazine.  One has open sights and the other has a 4x scope.  Both were shot at 50 feet.  I think I went through about 300 shells in the 10/22.  The top middle target is with the optics, I did adjust the scope slightly and zeroed in on the center.  Both targets were from a standing position.

Want to join me next time????

Got clams?

We do!

Connor cashed in his razor clam date on Sunday.  We started the day with a delicious breakfast and then headed to Pacific Beach.

The weather was as good as it could be for a February day... a spot or two of sun, a little wind, but luckily no rain! 

The coast was beautiful.  We arrived around 2, and there were very few people there.  We piddled around a little and ate our packed lunch before we got started digging.

There are very specific directions for how to dig for razor clams... shovels, guns, etc.  We found that trial and error worked for us.  We still ended up breaking several of our clams (and the shells are razor sharp when broken, hence the name) but within 2 hours or so we had caught our limit (15 per person).  It was a lot of fun...and a good workout (mostly for Connor, he did most of the digging...I was better at spotting!)

By the time we left, the beach was packed!! This was the last evening tide of the season, so lots of people were taking advantage of this Pacific Northwest activity...

When we got home, the joy of cleaning the clams began.

Marie squealed and screamed a few times... those little buggers were still moving around as we cut and scraped them. Gross.

We were able to freeze 6 bags of clams... and we saved 4 beauties for our dinner tonight.

We plan to use one bag each week... clam linguine, clam chowder, clam pizza... YUM! Won't you join us? 

THB Northwestern Pilsner

Well, you probably know where this is going...  THB brewed a Czech-style Pilsner in early January this year.  It's in secondary, getting ready for bottling sometime this week.  If you didn't remember I had some early fermentation problems with it and purchased an extra Wyeast smack pack.  I ended up not using it because the Pilsner did eventually ferment.  However, I took the opportunity to use the lonely smack pack this weekend.  I wanted to brew the Pilsner again, but I wanted a bigger hop profile, not necessarly more bitter, but more fragrant.  I made the malt bill almost the same, I left out the caramel malt and added a little more dextrine to go along with the pilsner malt.  I chose to stick with the same variety of hops, being Saaz. 

THB Northwestern Pils

Pilsner Malt  10#
Dextrine Malt  1#

Saaz  1.5  60
Saaz  .5  10
Saaz  .5    5
Saaz  .75   0
Saaz  1    Dry Hop

Infusion mash  152F  60 min
2000ml  starter
Chehalis tap water with a chlorine filter

I loved my new mash paddle made by my brewther Mark (Hector)
1.25 qt per pound of grain - mash water
.5 gal per pound of grain - sparge water

1st runnings  1.073
runnings after 45 min  1.029
last runnings  1.017  (about an hour)
preboil gravity  1.054
OG 1.062

All an all it was a flawless day in the brewhouse.  Lets hope it has a healthy fermentation!!!  This should be a 3 week primary and 3 week secondary.  Looks like you have to wait till April.

Happy Valentine's Day/Week/Year!

Valentine's Day is Marie's absolute favorite holiday... Number one: because she has so many people in her life that she adores...Number two: hearts are her favorite shape.  How many reasons does a girl need?

For our Valentine's Day... Connor surprised Marie with a decadent and delicious chocolate souffle.  Marie gave Connor a "date card" (gotta watch the cheesy Bachelor show to get that reference) for a trip to the coast for some razor clam digging fun this weekend!
Sadly... the busy weeks have made it difficult for mailing Valentine's and care packages... so, if you are reading this, consider it your personal Valentine full of love from Marie (and Connor and the cats too!).  We really do heart you!!! 

Portland Brew-ha Tooo-ur

My work schedule has been extremely hectic these past few weeks, some days last 20+ hours.  Marie traveled to Portland last week for work so I thought maybe I could sneak away for two days and visit her and do some brewpub touring.  If you didn't know, Portland has more micro-breweries than any other city in the US.  Also, Portland being in the Northwest these micro-breweries always have a big hop presence in their beirs. Marie's hotel was in the Llyod District which is East Portland.

I arrived Wednesday evening just in time to take Marie out to dinner.  We looked at a map from the hotel and Bridgeport Brewery jumped out at us.  It was yummy; for an appetizer we had fried chicken wontons.  Marie is a pretzel lover so she had the baked pretzels and I had a Hungarian pork goulash for dinner.  Oh, and we sampled some of their fine beers.  
Summer Squeeze
King Pin (cask style)
IPA

While at Bridgeport they had a brew tour map, I snagged one and mapped out my walking quest Thursday morning.  I was just going to tour places while Marie was at work, they only bummer was that the earliest place opened at 11am.

Lucky Labrador Brewpub (solar powered brewery)
Superdog (flagship IPA)

Cascade Barrel House
Cascade IPA  5.7% 60 IBU
Kriek 8oz  7.1%

Green Dragon (Rouge brewpub and distillery)
Brutal IPA

Migration
Luscious Lupulin IPA 6.5% 77 IBU

Coalition
2 Dogs IPA  5.8% 77IBU

Hair of the Dog
Dot IPA  7%

I was able to visit these 6 brewpubs from 11am -5 pm.  I walked to all of them and I calculated the travels later when I was at a computer and it totaled to 7.8 miles.  At least I was getting a little exercise while quaffing great beers.  My favorite was the last one, Dot.  It was their Imperial IPA

Friday
Descutes Brewery
White IPA

To say the least it was an IPA tour.  If you know me you understand!  Gotta Love the HOPS!!!!! If anyone want to come out and visit and they like beer, then I know a few places to check in on.

Cheers!

When the sun comes out...so do the WA Tuckers.

February greeted us with some absolutely gorgeous days.  We took advantage by going on a nice long hike on Saturday.

See Mt. Rainier in the distance?

The Chehalis Valley

Check out this huge Red Cedar...

 And Connor went out for a fishing trip on Blue Creek on Sunday morning (Marie went to a more traditional church to commune with God...but the river probably would have been better!).  He came home with an empty stringer but he had lots of fun.

We have been cooking up a storm too.  Last weekend, Connor made these delicious Puff Pastry Pot Pies (a Jamie Oliver recipe similar to this) -using his own stout. Marie made dessert - a Swedish Cookie Bar - she used homemade apricot preserves instead of raspberry.

On a sweet/funny note, we keep close tabs on our little nephews in Dallas, Texas.  Looks like little Alex is learning to potty train and he has already figured out the ideal position for the commode.

And here is a breathtaking shot of our gorgeous Leigh Ann with our new nephew, William Samuel Chekanovskiy.

Marie was inspired to make a simple "comfort" food meal on Saturday evening... Consisting of oven-barbequed chicken, baked macaroni and cheese (similar to this recipe), and sauteed asparagus with mushrooms and tomatoes.  Lefty was absolutely howling as she worked in the kitchen... He knew there was chicken on the way.

For SuperBowl Sunday, we (accidentally) got in the spirit of both of the teams playing.  Connor whipped up a traditional New England clam chowder - using razor clams from WA.  Marie made New York style Pretzel Dogs.  (Lefty was clearly interested in our culinary adventures...) For dessert, we have Almond Blondies.

Too much good food... luckily, the weather is fantastic for outdoor adventures.  Our kitties are loving the outdoor days...but they get cozy on their furniture at night... Here they are sweetly sharing the saucer on their new piece of fancy USA-made cat furniture
... Normally they fight for king position. 

Stay tuned... the Tucker House Brewmaster plans to brew a Czech Pilsner next weekend. Lord knows we need it... save us from the Bud Light Platinum sample that Connor brought home from one of his distributors.