Thanksgiving food

Joy cooked these food after thanksgiving, because we went to Larry & Michelle's house for thanksgiving. The rib roast was dry age for five days this will add more favor to the meat. Dry age is just removing the meat out of the package and wrapping it with paper towel to remove moisture. Replace the paper towel every day and keep it in the fridge. Before cooking it, leave it out for 2 to 4 hrs to get it at room temperature - this will cook it evenly. We rub it with smoke salt or just pepper & salt. The meat is cooked in a smoker or oven at 325deg. Joy likes it rare at 135deg on the meat thermometer, don't over cook it. I like mine medium, so I sear it on both side in a fry pan with a little olive oil. Dry age is also great for steaks.









These are turkey wings were deep fried and seasoned with lemon salt, its very crispy.

Desert camping on veterans day at Gordons Well

The last time we went to the desert was a couple years ago and I thought we were done. We all forgot its was Veteran weekend and was it very crowned. We parked deep into the desert and the sand was pretty soft at some places. Well, I got stuck on one of those soft sand pit for the first time and it took about five tries to get out. On the forth and fifth try I was towed by a 4WD truck. People at the desert are pretty helpful.

Steve teaching Ariana how to use a clutch. She got it in her second try.









This little guy was camping next to our rv.









Larry used gas to start the fire and this was left of the fire trail. The sand monster.









Fire in the sky.









Brian's dust trail.









Alone!









Tracking a quad.

Butterflies in the making

Last Saturday, I went to Kevin’s house to take some nature pictures. Kevin and Stacey were releasing Monach butterflies they raised. It all started when Kevin planted milkweed seeds in his back yard and grew into a big bush. The butterflies came; deposited eggs … turn into butterflies. Kevin is also raising turtles, frogs, bees, growing a bunch of fruit trees, etc…

Halloween

Playing around with dry ice that Ariana bought from Albertson and Ariana's home made mask.

Popping the cork










Blowing rings










Bubbly
















Pearls










Fog generator











Scary

If you like Mexican food - try this one it's scrumtious!

This is one is from Auntie Chris Martinez recipe which Joy probably made way more then she has and changed some too.

1/2 lb chorizo (the Mexican melty kind)
1 1/2 lbs ground beef
3 16 oz cans refried beans
Salsa (not the watery kind)
Lots of grated cheese (cheddar, jack…or Mexican cheese blend
Optional: sautéed diced onion with diced jalapeno and crushed garlic
Sliced black olives


If you choose the optional mix the chorizo and ground beef in with the onion mix and drain when cooked. Heat the beans with some salsa and Tabasco and a little cheese to make it spreadable. Layer the meat then the bean mix top with cheese and sliced black olives. We use this dish a lot for making burrito lunches and potlucks. Yum!

More memory!

Lately, I’ve been shooting a lot of pictures in the RAW mode and running out of memory. Solution, buy another CF or a portable digitial storage. I bought a USB portable digital storage w/ a card reader VP-3620S at geeks.com and a 1.8” 30GB hard drive Toshiba MK3006GAL on eBay (total cost $125 less than 4GB CF and 7.5 times more storage capacity – that’s a lot of pictures). It works great, a 1GB CF card only takes 5 minutes to transfer and it’s so easy to use. The VP-3620s support most of the memory cards and the USB host can to talk to a PDA, USB Flash drive, mobile phone, or Digital camera (didn't work with my 30d, but it did work w/my Cybershot). It’s also a MP3 player, FM radio and voice recorder. Geeks also sell the VP-3620s with a refurbished 40GB drive part# B-40GBXDRIVE-K2 for $160.
I just like high-tech gadgets.

Waiting for thunder showers.

I went to the beach last Friday to shoot some thunder showers but the thunder never showed up. This is how the weather turn out.

Cabrillo has landed!

Journey back to Sept 28, 1542, when Cabrillo a Portuguese navigator sailing under the flag of Spain, landed here and named it San Miguel which now San Diego. Cabrillo and his men stayed here for 6 days, trading with the native Kumeyaay people living around the bay.

I went to the Cabrillo Monument Park to take some pictures after work and found out that their was a Cabrillo Festival event the whole week. The Kumeyaay natives were dancing at the Cabrillo Monument Park Friday before sunset and Sunday a re-enactment of Cabrillo’s landing began after lunch. I was here for 3 days just taking pictures.

Margarita Chicken

1/2 cup gold tequila
1/2 cup triple sec
1 cup freshly squeezed lime juice (5 to 6 limes)
1/2 cup freshly squeezed orange juice (2 oranges)
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 tablespoon crushed red pepper (chili flakes)
1 tablespoon minced fresh jalapeno pepper (1 pepper seeded)
1 tablespoon minced fresh garlic (3 cloves)
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3 whole (6 split) boneless chicken breasts, skin on

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl or ziplock bag. Refrigerate overnight.
Heat a grill and brush the rack with oil to prevent the chicken from sticking. Remove the chicken breasts from the marinade and grill them skin-side down for about 5 minutes, until nicely browned. Turn the chicken and cook for another 10 minutes, until just cooked through. Remove from the grill to a plate. Cover tightly and allow to rest for 5 minutes. Serve hot or at room temperature.

The river trip storm

The weather was a little cooler than last year and it rained with lighting. Brian and I were taking pictures of the lightning storm that was miles away from our camp site across the river. I looked up for some reason and I saw a beam of light (like someone pointing a flashlight at your eyes) came down with a big boom! but I didn't see were it landed. Brian (Larry and Michelle adopted Marine) said he felt the static on his arms, now that was way to close. We packed up our gear and walked very fast away from the water to higher grounds closer to the RV's were we continued taking pictures. Auntie Michelle was barbequing at that time and saw the lighting hitting close to the outhouse that was several hundred feet away. Here are some more pictures of our trip.

Stay tuned for a margarita chicken recipe by chef Joy.

Thanks to my nephew Blaine 'The Photographer' whom suggested buying a Canon SLR camera and doing a blog. I bought the 30D and I love it. I like the manual mode and takes great pictures. Photography is one of my favorite hobbies, and I'm still learning how to take picures.

Back from Vacation

It was nice to relax, except for Uncle Larry.
Larry, playing an old man with a duct tape umbrella using it as a cane after he injuried his leg skiing on the 2nd day. Larry was in pain the whole week. He also managed too spill baking powder all over himself trying to break his fall. Darrell found him lying down on the floor, with powder on his face, hair, and in his ears. He was not a happy camper that day.
Here are some pictures of our trip.






The ladies are having a mud bath.