Pressed for WINE!

Making Wine... part two... just as easy as part one, but from the comfort of our own home!  Our wine has been bubbling (fermenting) away for the last two weeks; we have pushed down the cap every evening since we pitched the yeast.  We rented a wine press from a local winery shop, Heymann Winery, in Centralia and the following pictures show what happened next!
Pot by pot, we added our wine/grape mixture (must) to the press...

As we collected the juices, we (oh so gracefully, no marie didn't almost spill half the wine, what makes you think that???) poured the wine into a 6-gallon carboy.

We cranked down the press to extract as much liquid as possible.  However, we were told that we shouldn't press too hard... We weren't exactly sure where that limit was, but hopefully we did ok for first-timers.

The wine is a gorgeous deep purple color, with pink/maroon highlights.

We were sure  we wouldn't come anywhere close to filling the carboy, but we just barely fit all the wine!  We  both took a little taste test.

Our current gravity reading puts the wine at 12%ABV. Now... we wait for the sediment to settle out... we will rack the wine 3 times over the next year and add oak chips on the last rack.  We will keep you posted of course! 
Patience is a virtue when it comes to wine-making... but we have a few bottles of local wines to help pass the time... We just need some visitors to help. Hint. Hint. HINT!

Sister Time in WA

We were so glad that Margaret had to come to Portland for a work conference... what a perfect excuse for some time with the WA Tuckers!
She arrived Tuesday evening... so after work, we drove down to take her out to dinner at a local brewery, Hop Works Urban Brewery.  It was so good to squeeze our seester.  We were all exhausted by the end of the evening, but it was so worth it to spend a little time together catching up.
Then, Margaret was able to come spend some time with us after she finished things at the conference.  Here is a pic of the boys anxiously awaiting her arrival...

It was a short visit, but we crammed in a lot of love, good food, and fun!
Connor and Mags started things off with a shot of eggnog (non-alcoholic)...

 Then they pushed down the cap on the wine...

 We had planned the menu to try and serve Maggie's favorite foods... chicken with risotto...

 Tiramisu... (Connor prepped this pre-arrival... no recipe to share because he is just a chef genious and whips things like this up off the top of his gorgeous head!)

 Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls...sorry...we forgot to snap a picture.  They are one of Connor's favorites and they really aren't too difficult to make.
Homemade pasta...Margaret helped!

Espresso Chocolate Shortbread Cookies

The cats warmed up pretty quickly... which is definitely odd for Eno, normally he is scaredy-cat!  He looks pretty comfy here!

And here...

Lefty never has trouble helping keep a lap warm...

Margaret and I commented more than once that we felt pretty stinkin spoiled by Connor-Crush... He took such good care of us so that we could just relax and enjoy each other's company.
Can you tell that we like to eat around here??? I think I gained 10 lbs!  And our lovely weather turned cold and rainy just about the time Margs arrived...so we didn't even get to go for a walk.  Oh well. 
It was a great visit... and then we sent our little sister home to get ENGAGED!  We are so happy for her and Matt...and we CAN'T WAIT to be with family for the wedding.

Making wine... a tough job!

Hey Y'all! :) Do you know how difficult it is to make wine?  Ummm. Seriously. It is not. I kid you not. It has been pretty simple so far.
Thaaat's right. Simple!  (Hear that Miss Ash?  You should talk your sweet boyfriend into doing the real deal! Come visit us next year and we will do it together!)
Several weeks ago, we placed an order for 75 lbs of syrah grapes from eastern Washington.  We heard it wasn't a great growing season, but we are hopeful that our grapes will make a delicious wine.  Sunday morning we drove up to our favorite homebrew store, Rocky Top Homebrew, in Olympia.
Here is your step by step breakdown of the experience so far:
Step one - Pick up the grapes at the truck.

Step two - Throw grapes in the crusher (the crusher sorts out the stems and gently mashes the grapes.)

Step three - Add sulfites to the grapes (sulfites are present in small amounts on the skins, but the added sulfites ensure a better fermentation and prevent oxidation and bacterial spoilage)

Step four - Take the crushed mess home. We purchased a 24 gallon bucket... for 9 gallons of crush. We could have done a 12 gallon bucket, but it would have been tight as the grapes fermented and expanded. Plus, we didn't want our grapes to spill all over the truck.

Step five - Take a gravity reading (1.090)

Step five - Add the yeast (after at least 24 hours have passed)

We think the garage smells like goats... Hmmmm. 

Too bad it will be about a year before we can bottle this stuff...  Hopefully we will end up with good wine.  We will keep you posted on the progress... so far it is very labor UN-intensive!

It'a a CELEBRATION!! Happy Engagement Mark + Amber! Together Forever!

We are so excited... We have exciting news to share with the world. We will share via a poem:

Mark and Amber kissing in a tree...
K-I-S-S-I-N-G
First came love,
Then came a PROPOSAL...

Next comes marriage!
Here is our first pic of the newly engaged lovers.  Aren't they cute? 
We LOVE LOVE. We especially love Mark <3 Amber love.

Cold November Specials

It is a bitter 32 degrees around here in the mornings lately... Yea.  Happy November.  But, we still love taking an evening walk after a long day - even though it is pretty cold, the sunsets have been gorgeous.  Rain is coming...so we are enjoying it while we can.  No picture can do it justice... so you will just have to come visit to see one.  I love the way the tall evergreens look black against the oranges and plums in the sky.  Plus, it gives us time to talk about the day, say some prayers and give thanks for all our loved ones... and it also gives dinner sometime to get ready!  Tonight, we needed a little warm-up. Here are your November 1st specials:
A shrimp po-boy with slaw and pickles (on good bread) plus a side of steamy, sweet, roasted beets:

Not into beets? You totally need to get into them.  They are so delicious and nutritious. And roasting them is soooo easy.  Peel. Chop. Toss with oil, salt, pepper. Wrap in foil. Bake at 400 for an hour+ until tender. Yum.
Next on the menu...
Two fat cats curled up in a mushroom box:

They love boxes... like most stupid cats I guess.  They are especially fond of this one since it is all decked out with a soft blanket.  Most of the time they slap each other around until one wins "the box".  For this picture, they decided to spoon. Sweet.
Come by later for a steamy hot cocoa with whipped cream...

Connor really lets the cocoa warm his soul... and the whipped cream sweetens his stache.

He is saving some for you... Don't worry.
 Hey, don't forget to stop by this weekend for some wine-making fun.  Can't wait to see you...

Sunday... A day of thanks.

Connor and Daryl tested the Scottish Ale today.  This was brewed here and has been bottle-conditioning for a few weeks.  It was very good; nice caramel flavor and a hint of peated malt (smoked).

 We enjoyed a Sunday full of things to be grateful for... Time together, good friends, family, technology, malted barley, semolina flour, and pumpkins.  We will let the pictures do the talking.

This grain is a nice mixture of German and American malted barley...Hopefully it will yield a nice Vienna Lager in a couple months.

Homemade pasta... OMGosh.  It was the best... and the creamy, light mushroom cream sauce was amazing.

A simple crustless apple pie for dessert... from JTB.

Lefty wants in on the action!

The artist and his canvas...

Meet Bubba...

Meet Bubba's daddy...

Bubba had too much pumpkin ale!

A Pumpkin Perfect Saturday!

Today was by far the most beautiful day of the week.  We both had to do a little Saturday morning due-diligence, but by 2:30pm we were free and ready to explore some of Lewis County.  We decided that we should definitely go for a hike.  The weather was a perfect 60F and sunny with blue bird skies.  The Chehalis River runs through our area so we headed there for a hike.  On the way  there we ran into a pumpkin patch. Why not stop for some fun? 
We found a giant pumpkin man made out of hay bales...

A huge field full of gorgeous pumpkins... all grown right here - we couldn't believe it!  The owner said they were planted in June... and cut in early October.

There were so many fun little things for the kiddos to do. I stuck my big kiddo behind a Superman cutout.

Then he found the perfect pumpkin.

We continued on to our hiking spot - the Discovery Trail (part of Lewis County Community Trails). We also went here to celebrate our 2 year anniversary (see a pic of that glorious day here, we used it in our first post in August, even though the pic was from June). It is a gorgeous trail!   The working farm at the end of a road donated the land that cuts through their farm and leads to the river's edge. 

We were able to get right down onto the shore and do some exploring... good thing we were wearing our boots!

The trees were soooooo amazing...Made me remember a favorite poem called Trees by Joyce Kilmer... Imagine Granddaddy Love's recital version... he can tell a poem better than anyone in the world!

And there were Moo-Moos galore... especially little baby moos. Sooooo tute. Wished that Amber was there to talk to them with us!

We finished the evening with a seriously nutritious and delicious fall salad.  I found the recipe in an old Cooking Light... you can find it right here.  I was a bit worried about making it come together, but all of the ingredients tasted PERFECT.  Of course, the Chef did the chicken - it was divine!!! I have never had such delicious chicken... And all of the other ingredients really worked well together.  We shared a glass of local Syrah from Birchfield Winery.  Yum!