The Chou Life

Once again our weekend has come to an end. Our glory days are over and I am faced with yet another mega exciting week of machining ceramic parts. Last weekend was awesome. I played xbox and watched movies and clocked roughly 8 hours being a chair potato. This weekend had a similar awesome factor but with more seafood. Abby’s parents came over on Saturday night for a crab boil. We base our design off of the cajun boil at Steamworks in Durango.  We have come close to their perfection in the past.  This weekend was off, but still very delicious.  We had some snow crab, king crab, 41/45 shrimp, beef sausage, red onions, red potatoes, corn on the cob, and scallops.  We grilled everything except for the crab and shrimp….so it was more of  a “groil”.  It was my first time grilling scallops.  I used a honey butter glaze on them.  Quite delicious.
After church today, we went to Garry and Vicki’s house for pizza. They invited several families for a BYOP event. We basically sat around and ate a stinkload of lycopene smothered carbs with protein bits all afternoon. Very awesome and prostate-smart to boot! To top it all off, I drank nearly a gallon of various carbonated soda pop beverages and crammed down white and chocolate birthday cake. Surprisingly, Vicki was able to get all 28 candles onto the cake for Abby to blow out. After that we came home and since Calla missed her afternoon nap, she totally crashed on our journey back to the homestead. We put her down for bed when we got home at 7:30 and we didn’t really know what to do with ourselves. So, we jumped the gun and had a funky cheese Sunday. Kinda catchy but still blasphemous. Nonetheless, we partook of some primo taglio dill havarti and some cracked pepper water crackers. Brian Vanaski pretty much covered it in his review and I would concur with his every statement. Our cheeses were most likely different brands, but I would have preferred just the slightest bit more dill or dill flavor in the cheese. The way I see it, if I get cherry coke, I want it to taste like cherries. However, too much grenadine and your used-to-be delicious beverage is now garbage; cold, very sweet, and in my mouth garbage….with a cherry or two on top. So in comparison, I realize the fine line that primo taglio was dancing on when adding dill into the mix, but I bought dill havarti because I wanted to taste some dang dill. Very buttery and creamy. I too recommend this fine cheese. Oh, and it pairs very nicely with a vintage bottle of Martinelli’s circa 1868. 100% apple juice and no alcohol or added sweeteners, natural or man made. And don’t forget to really smell your cheeses and beverages and get a good feel of the mixture. Do not underestimate the power that your olfactory senses have over your palate.  Happy eating and have a blessed week.

**please click on this last picture and enlarge to show texture**

-Eric

I started a new job about 4 weeks ago. I work at a machine shop where we machine various parts from ceramic. There is so much that I am still learning about my new occupation, but I feel like I have learned so much already. The ceramic we use is very expensive and has differing make up which creates either stronger, tougher, or more brittle ceramics. Our clients range from personal to government and our parts are used in many different applications. Ceramic is chosen often because it is not magnetic; for example, if you need a part that goes into a magnetic field. Ceramic is also not as heat conducing as metal can be so that is also a desirable characteristic. I have never machined metal before, but from what I hear, ceramic is more difficult to manipulate. We must use diamond tools to cut or grind material. Also, we hold very tight tolerances. We measured a strand of my hair with a micrometer the other day. My hair came out to .0034 inches in diameter. So, in case you had forgotten your decimal places…the first place is the tenths, then the hundredths, the thousandths, ten thousandths, beyond this we have hundred thousandths and millionths. OK, so the part I’m working on now is a cylinder with a .080 in hole through it. The tolerances dictated from the print say that I am to make a .080 in hole that can either be .0002 inches bigger or smaller. Apparently in machining we call the ten thousandths place, tenth. So my tolerance is plus or minus 2 tenths. Basically, if you take my hair and cut it LENGTHWISE into 17 equal parts, one of those parts would be the amount that my hole could be off sized. I have worked on parts that had a plus or minus 1 tenth tolerance. Yeah, that’s crazy.

This kinda blows my mind and freaks me out at the same time. Just thought I would share a little bit of what I do for 40 hrs a week.

This is the greatest and best poem in the world…..Tribute.

When I look upon your beautiful face

I am taken to a wonderful place

Not bound by the constraints of time or space

All with just one look, which is usually the case
(more…)

I’m pretty dumb. Here are some pics from stargazing the other night. I actually didn’t get any of the stars because I’m not a good photographer and was not able to capture any decent shots. I did however manage to be a total moron and misspell a simple 5 letter word…several times. I would post a good shot of this if I had one, but I don’t because I gave up after several failed attempts. So, I wasn’t actually trying to make light of severe acute respiratory syndrome. I’m just too stu stu stupid.

It was pretty flipping cold that night too, maybe I’ll just blame the frigid temperatures. We got a little bit of snow today! I managed to crash my spindles again today, so my days without crashing spindles goes back ….uh, stays at zero. I’m also growing a mustache. Well, that’s what it is supposed to be anyways. It’s a first in my life, so if you see me, please be sure to give encouraging and positive feedback. For example, at church, I was told that I looked very Bruce Lee. I’m not sure Bruce had a mustache…ever…or was even physically capable of doing so, but it was a happily received compliment nonetheless. Sorry for being random. There just really isn’t anything else to discuss. Oh, if you or anyone you know has an emergency obstetrics kit or sterile hemostats x2, scalpel, gauze, oxygen tank and stuff like that laying around, please send them our way within the next few weeks.

-Eric

I love fall. Who doesn’t? The fall season is as good as gone here at 9200 feet, but that isn’t keeping me from burning my autumn spice candles and baking pumpkin goodies. This recipe for pumpkin coconut bread is one of my favorites, and it’s vegan to boot!

PUMPKIN COCONUT BREAD
1 3/4 c. flour (spelt and/or whole wheat work great)
1 c. brown sugar
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 c. pumpkin puree
1/2 c. vegetable or coconut oil (applesauce works for a lower fat version)
1/3 c. coconut milk
1/2 c. shredded coconut (optional)

Preheat oven to 350. In large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, and spices. Mix in pumpkin, oil, and coconut milk just until blended. Fold in shredded coconut. Pour batter into a greased loaf pan and bake 65-70 minutes. Remove from oven and cover tightly with foil, allowing to steam for 15 minutes. Remove from foil and place on rack to cool.

-Abby