Weekend Report

I know it's early in the weekend yet, but you guys deserve some blog posting.

Happy birthday, of course, to all people whose births took place over the last week. We're glad to have you around. We've had some new happenings around here, too. Yesterday (friday night) we went out to a new Snow Cone shop being opened by a couple of girls at roller derby. We had a few: all quite good, so if any of you ever happen to be in the east side of Austin in search of cold treats, check out Ice Queens. They've got *flavor*. Jess met with a bunch of roller chicks and then skated around for exercise and to pass out fliers. And then she had some snow cone afterwards. I hung out with some of the girls I know from hockey, and then red my book for a while and wandered around the neighborhood a bit with my phone looking for interesting locales. I almost bought a Po' Boy at a shop across the street, but I'm trying to munch less. There was also a store that sold electronic music gear: synthesizers and the like. As if I need more gear.

Let me tell you something about hummingbirds. We've got our feeder up and full and we've been getting a pretty good run of little buzzers coming in and having their fill. They are, of course, very territorial, and we've been having a quite good time watching them swoop up, eat, and then get dive-bombed by one of their rivals. I couldn't quite tell you what kind they are, though I've been looking at backs and throats in an attempt to identify them. I tell you what, though. Nagano has been *enthralled*. Every once in a while he'll spot one and just stare with his huge eyes or make adorable little cackling sounds while pretending he is a vicious hunter.

Jess let me cook salmon for dinner, and it came out pretty good. We got some wild salmon from whole foods (I don't trust the farmed stuff they sell at the regular supermarket) and covered it with brown sugar. I also took a section for experiments: a little bit with BBQ sauce and a little with gingersnaps: inspired by an Alton Brown Ham Glaze recipe. The cooking went pretty well, though I did have some flameups and the board didn't smoke quite as much as I had hoped. I was pleased, however, that I'd saved a bunch of money by just going off to Lowes and buying my own darn cedar board and then cutting off a plank of the appropriate size. First use of my fancy battery-powered circular saw, too. Thanks dad!

Anyway, the food? Pretty spectacular, Jess ate some and seemed to enjoy herself. The Brown sugar went best, though it didn't quite caramelize and get all smokey like I had hoped. Practice practice, I suppose. The BBQ sauce was pretty bland and tasted like, well, bbq sauce and salmon. Which isn't bad, but the other flavors were better. The gingersnaps were actually pretty well received. Right off the grill they gave a nice crunch and good flavor. Unfortunately as leftovers the cookie crumbs got all soggy. Less good. I got to cook salmon, though. Hurrah!

I may come back later and post some random pictures, but our camera is currently on the fritz. Love to all!

-N