Leaf Raking Party at Scott and Leslie's

Yesterday evening, we all headed over to Sterling to help Scott and Leslie rake leaves from their huge backyard. They have like a dozen enormous sycamores back there, and the leaves really pile up.

Our reward for our efforts was a delicious dinner of smoked sausages and a great, warm bonfire. As has become the tradition, Scott constructed an elaborate scavenger hunt which kept the kids entertained for an hour or so.

It was a super evening. Here are the photos from the party.

"Sieg Heil!!" Old Emery archival photo from Germany.

Sausage Day

Some may call it Black Friday, but for us, the Friday after Thanksgiving is Sausage Day.

Luke was a big help this year. He helped cut and season the meat, and helped push it through the grinder. He's becoming quite the little sous-chef.

This year, Ed brought down about two pounds of frozen venison. I decided to create my own recipe for breakfast sausage, since I was tired of all the old ones I've been making.

This time I just used the meat and spices I had on hand:

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Scott's Venison Breakfast Sausage

2 lbs. venison
1 lb. ground beef
12 oz. pork ham fat
1 tsp. sage
1 tsp. juniper berries (secret weapon to cut gaminess of wild meat--SHHH! Don't tell anyone!)
1/2 tsp. thyme
1/2 tsp. marjoram
1/2 tsp. rosemary
1/2 tsp. coriander
1/2 tsp. black peppercorns
2 whole red chile peppers (like Serrano), or 1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes
1/4 tsp. mace
salt to taste

Slice all the meat and fat into one inch cubes. Set aside. Place all the spices (sage through mace) into a spice grinder and grind until it is a coarse powder. Rub the seasonings into the meat and grind through a coarse disk. Form one patty and fry to taste the seasonings. Add salt to taste. Grind the meat again through a fine disk. Form into one pound loaves, wrapping each with wax paper, and freeze until ready to cook.

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1. Chop the meat with a sharp cleaver or butcher knife.

2. Place all the meat in a large bowl.

3. For lean game meats like venison, you will need at least a little added fat. This is cured ham fat, so watch the salt when using this stuff. It's pretty salty already.

4. Grind all the spices together in a spice grinder.

5. Then add the spices to the meat.

6. Work the spices into all the cubed meat.

7. Now you're ready to start grinding the meat through the coarse grinding plate.

8. Plops of happiness.

9. Before grinding through the second finer plate, be sure to fry up a small patty to check seasonings. In this case, we added a touch more sea salt.

10. The finished patty. Delicious! A skillet full of love! Notice how non-greasy the patty is. This is healthy stuff, folks!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving, from our home to yours!

This was a pretty quiet Thanksgiving this year. Becky and her mom got up and stuck the turkey into the oven this morning, and all day, we've just been sitting around not doing much, smelling that turkey cook. The boys and I watched a few saved episodes of Mythbusters. Then, later in the afternoon, we opened early Christmas presents with Grandpa and Grandma.

The boys got some nice Matchbox cars, and Eddie got an Indiana Jones Lego airplane, while Luke got a book of whittling projects and a whittling safety glove--because someday, that knife will slip!

I received a new gardening book and a really nice shirt and sweater. Becky received an Iron Man™ running wristwatch and also a sweater. Ed got some Irish embroidered handkerchiefs (just blow right into the shamrock!) and a Donegal tweed hat like mine. And finally, last but certainly not least, Kathleen got a beautiful Irish knitted wool scarf from Dingle and some Burren hand cream.

Very nice gifts for all of us. Sort of an Irish theme this year.






After present opening, we took an adventurous walk through town. Frank was very happy to be scouting out new territory, sniffing everything and peeing on it all. We walked down 21st street, back along the W&OD trail to the post office, and then up to Main street and back through the old town back home. It was maybe a mile and a half, and the day was just gorgeous, about 50 degrees and sunny with no wind at all. It was a super day for a walk.



After our walk, we had a sumptuous meal of roasted turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, rutabagas, green beans, stuffing, pickles, veggies, rolls, ginger-red pepper cole slaw, and cranberry sauce. It was a wonderful feast!

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!