I MADE SAUSAGE!!!

For Christmas this year my wonderful man friend got me the meat grinding and sausage stuffing attachment that goes on my kitchen aid mixer, and I made my very own sausage! I am not going to put my recipe on here just yet, because I want to tweak it and make it absolutely perfect. Don't get me wrong the sausage I made was very delicious and very rustic, but it was my first attempt at sausage making so I can't wait to try the perfected product. I chose to make two types of sausage, including sage sausage and I made a lamb sausage. I absolutely loved the flavoring in both, the lamb was so amazingly earthy. I plan to make all kinds of weird sausages including rabbit and rattlesnake. 


First thing first, find yourself a good butcher, not only is it important for the quality of meat, but I had no idea going to the butcher could be so fun! If you are ever in the Los Angeles area I would highly recommend the guys over at Lindy&Grundy, probably the hippest butcher ever. Although they don't really carry a lot of the exotic game meats that I want to experiment with other than the occasional rabbit, they are still pretty hip. Anyway check out this link and see how awesome they are! http://lindyandgrundy.com/


The key to making sausage is fat and the second key is to keep everything extremely cold, including your equipment. Sausage making isn't exactly the most attractive process and I wouldn't advise it to happen on a first date, unless you are way awesome, then by all means stuff away. I think it is quite funny that a lot of people don't realize that stuff that is shaping your sausage is actually the thin membrane of the pig's intestine. Being elbows deep in that might turn some of you away, so if your prefer you could just make sausage patties which require no casings. It honestly just feels like a balloon and has no smell, so don't be a pansy and try it! it is a very lengthy process, although I am sure with more practice I might be able to pick the pace up. It was a very fun experience and I am pretty proud of myself! I mean, how many people do you know make their own sausage? Follow my journey on sausage perfection, in the mean time enjoy these pictures of the sausage making process!

Hope you enjoyed the photos, I look forward to making more delicious sausage, stay tuned for recipes, and as always I will see you a little further on down the line!

 

Man's Best Friend

As some of you may already know my family dog Jenny passed away yesterday at the ripe old age of 17. She had a special bond with my father so losing her this close to Christmas of course made all of the family feel the loss of our father even more. I chose to look at her passing in a different way. First and foremost, we all die, everything dies, it is inevitable. Jenny lived a long full complete life and my parents spoiled her rotten. I got excited thinking that perhaps my Dad and Jenny had  been reunited for the holidays and were happy. I could just see her sitting on his lap eating a cheeseburger or even a bologna sandwich (my dad always fed her what he ate).
Anyway I was on the way to the beach with Andy and two of our dogs Ellie Mae and Harvey when my brother told me that Jenny wasn't going to make it. Of course I cried, even being so far away from home it is hard because she was such a big part of my life. I was lucky though to have a comforting boyfriend and two very special dogs and the ocean to ease my pain. Andy went off to take some hang gliding lessons and I went down to the water and set up a little spot for myself and the pups to just relax. The dogs absolutely love the water, maybe not so much of being in it too deep but they like the waves crashing on the shore. Ellie Mae is absolutely fascinated by the ocean and also by fire, she stares at it very intently and she is very calm.    
    After we had explored and ran around a little bit I had a father and daughter approach me  and the dogs. The little girl asked if she could pet the dogs and I said yes. Harvey was kind of barking so she was a little afraid of him at first. I found out a lot about this little girl, her name was Alex, she was spending Christmas with her father who said that he would love to have a dog but his place wasn't big enough. Alex told me that her mothers place was big enough but her mothers boyfriend wouldn't let her get a dog. She also said that she always wanted a dog so that when anyone would pick on her, it wouldn't matter because her dog would be her friend. I knew exactly what she meant by that. She was a beautiful little seven year old girl, and for a good 30 minutes her and I chatted and then took the dogs on a walk and running through birds. I was able to capture some beautiful photos. It made me feel great to let this little girl experience the joy of having a dog and to let her father experience the joy of how happy his daughter was. It has to be a great mental image he has of her running and laughing by the water with Harvey. This helped me as well because as most of you know Harvey was originally my dad's dog and I took him after my Dad passed and my brother Ronnie kept Jenny. Harvey has brought me so much joy since I have had him, not a day goes by that he doesn't make me smile. It is OK to be sad, and grieve when someone or something special to you dies, but it is an amazing feeling to be at peace with it and to rejoice the life that was lost, and to remember to keep on living. This story goes out to everyone who has a loved one that they are missing this holiday season, I know personally how hard it is. But you have to remember to keep living, because there are so many beautiful things left to see. I hope you enjoy the photos.