The sausage king of Phoenix!

Inspired by Sherry, Tom went out today and got all the fixins for fresh sausage. This include going to a sausage store to buy "sausage casings" (a.k.a. pig intestines). He made a wonderful pork sausage, seasoned with fennel & garlic (plus some salt & pepper). After Tom loaded about 4 feet of sausage, he twisted the casings into links -- some of which we froze, some of which we will eat fresh (bodes well for breakfast tomorrow), and some of which I hope to smoke soon.

The final product

Here is a picture of Tom's first homemade ravioli (half eaten by me already). The filling was his homemade sausage, with (homemade) pesto & fresh parmesan cheese. I contributed the sauce...

San Diego Vacation

We just had the most wonderful 5-day vacation in San Diego. We visited friends Sherry & Mike, who graciously showed us around the area (Tom hasn't spent very much time there before) and wined & dined us every night. Sherry is a fabulous cook, and Tom was able to take in a few lessons, such as Intro to Pasta & Intro to Sausage Making. We hope that when they come out for a visit that they will be equally as impressed with Tom's special weapon: the smoker!

La Jolla Shores

We had a beautiful first day of beach-touring. This photo shows the sun basking sea-lions (although I remember the location being called "seal rock", not "sea-lion rock"). We had fun watching the surfers and body-surfers, too -- although I must admit that body-surfing into a rocky shore looked a bit dangerous to me!

Mike the Tourguide

I took this picture as Mike was pointing out the San Diego geography to Tom. (We were up on a hill, south of the UCSD campus, where you can see most of the valley.) I must admit, I do miss the San Diego sunsets....

Bringing in the New Year

Sherry & Mike's friends, Arne & Giesela, welcomed us at their New Year's Eve party this year. They celebrated with a group of people that all originally met at MP3.com. I must admit, it felt a bit like being in a Harvey Mudd crowd -- very warm, fun people, and also very geeky! (or perhaps just more technically oriented than I am, which is not difficult.) Tom was very happy about the selection of home brews on tap; I stuck with the cocktail selection, and tried such drinks as a "Ward 8" and a "Blood & Sand."

Our Culinary Tour

Our dining adventures were wonderful! Happily, we have many pictures like this. This picture was taken our first night at Mike & Sherry's: this is pork loin stuffed with "pseudo pesto" (you'll have to ask Sherry) with garlic mashed potatoes and glazed carrots. Although the photo shows a glass of water, we enjoyed our meals with plenty of wine... During our stay we enjoyed this, as well as home-made ravioli, lamb (done in an Indian curry style), clams on the half shell (a new experience for me, which I thoroughly enjoyed), two evenings of fish, in addition to the breakfast feasts: breakfast pizza, Eggs in Purgatory, delicious waffles, and of course the good ol' standby of bagels with smoked salmon... I cannot possibly describe all of the amazing food that we enjoyed.

Ocean Beach Tide Pools

Mike & Sherry took us on an impressive tour of San Diego beach towns. In just a few days we visited Point Loma/Cabrillo National Monument, Ocean Beach, Pacific Beach, Mission Beach, La Jolla, and Del Mar/Rancho Santa Fe. This picture was taken while wandering along the beach in O.B. near a place called Sunset Cliffs. There is a pier there, but the surf was pretty strong (and pounding the pier) so the pier was closed. We enjoyed the anemones, but couldn't find any sea stars.