Hog roast

Mr. S. and I attended a hog roast over the weekend, which is one of the best decisions I've ever made.  As my current boss put it, "There is nothing in the world that tastes like that."  Very true.

We were encouraged to pull hunks of pork off of this.  YUM. 

Mr. S. made French fries for everyone.  It was surprisingly a big hit even without ketchup! 

Pulled pork---the container next to it contained some shredded chicken too. 

Other foods (you can see my homemade white bread in the middle).  Someone brought sushi---strange, but appetizing nonetheless. 

The biggest marshmallows in the world!  :D  One was quite enough for me.

THIS is why I married him...

...so that I could get photos like this.  :D

Blogs I Like: (If You Want to Bake Something New)

Jacquelynn of Lovin' From the Oven is the girlfriend of the most sarcastic guy I know (and I do mean this endearingly).  I first found out about her work while snooping through Facebook, where I saw some gorgeous cupcakes.  As I fail miserably at anything involving frosting, I was immediately impressed and excited when she started her blog.

Lovin' From the Oven features baked goods of all kinds.  You can learn how to make Oreo truffles, pie, or crookies (which I'd never heard of before).  Or you can wish you were at her summer Thanksgiving party.  She speaks very candidly about her experiences with equipment, posts videos of the baking process, and even tells you what she used to make those cupcakes.  :)  Now that she has expanded to blogging about other food, you (my dear reader, all 3 of you) can look forward to more stories, pictures, and deliciousness.

*****
Coming soon: Chicago-ish deep dish pizza, and my experience at another one of Louisville's ritzy restaurants. 

I hiked 8 miles today and had bbq for dinner.

My self-imposed Vietnamese food week abruptly ended when Mr. S. came home and made me homemade pizza on Thursday.  There's no picture of that because I was hungry and it was messy.  :)  We had Panera last night, and also discovered the awesomeness that is Babybel cheese.  Try it if you haven't yet; you will not be sorry.

On Wed., I finally put my $5 thrift store pasta machine to work.  I used the recipe and techniques shown here: http://www.thekitchn.com/thekitchn/projects/weekend-project-make-pasta-073435

Some things that I learned:

-Mixing the eggs in with the flour was hard.  I had some egg running down the sides of my well, which I had to contain with my fingers.  In the end, I didn't use some of the flour.  Mr. S. reminded me that Alton Brown (our hero) also makes pasta in this fashion, but I think a bowl might be easier.  My metal scraper was so helpful in cleaning up the counter.  I believe that every baker should have one, as it also cuts and scoops!

-I would try to use the vise; holding the machine down with my free hand while turning the crank was difficult.  

-Keep the pasta strands well floured.  By the time I was ready to boil them, they were stuck together.

It didn't look this nice for long. 

Made in Italy and solid metal---easily the best thrift store deal I've ever found.  (And there was a $5 ravioli attachment; I can't wait to try that out!) 

The first batch. 

Yield from 2 cups of flour and 3 eggs.  Not bad. 

Boiled and happy.  I will experiment with dehydration or sun drying next time.

Coming up this week are odes to my favorite food blogs.  :)