Author: doug

We had a bit of a whiskey tasting on Sunday.

The bottle in the middle is not whiskey but Malort, courtesy of Steve. It is quite an acquired taste — bitter like strong dandelion greens —  but I kinda liked it so he left me the bottle.

I cooked 9 pounds of beef brisket — using Kenji Lopez-Alt’s hybrid sous vide / grill-smoking method — for my birthday this year.

I think this is the highest number of unopened packages of cheese I’ve ever had in my possession.

These purple long beans actually keep their color as you cook them. Very exciting after the disappointment of purple string beans.

I think tonight’s potato-leek soup is going to be a strange color.

Now that I know how easy it is to make real grenadine, I’m never buying the fake commercial stuff again. But that doesn’t stop me from reusing their bottles.

One of the pleasures of cooking this time of year is stepping out into the garden to retrieve some fresh herbs. Except for this year, when my herb garden is withered by drought and I am reduced to dried herbs like it’s the middle of the winter.

We departed the island from Vineyard Haven today, a day earlier than planned due to the approaching “post-tropical” storm Hermine. Our normal ferry (Island Queen) was cancelled, and even the Steamship Authority was diverting to Vineyard Haven due to high wind.

After dinner we walked along Ocean Park. Approaching Hermine made for a dramatic sky.

Not a bad shot for a 33 year old manual focus lens.The new camera does much better than the old one with this mirror lens.