Filed August 10, 2009 at 6:52 pm under Grog and Salmagundi and Rum Runnin' by TJ
Having lived in the Carribean for some time, my Cuz Tom is always good at coming up with yummy rum drinks, and he has really got me hooked on his “Flavor of the Summer”. Mt. Gay Rum is a rum from Barbados that is aged in Ky. burbon barrels, giving it a sweet, peaty, somewhat buttery flavor. It definetly stands out from all others. So, now without further ado, here’s the recipe straight from Tom’s keyboard:
Use a doubles size glass. Fill it 3/4 full of ice. Slice of fresh lime and sqeeze. Pour the glass 40% full of Mt. Gay Rum (50% for trained professionals) and then fill the remainder of the glass with tonic water. Stir and enjoy!
Filed August 10, 2009 at 6:18 pm under Grog and Salmagundi and Rum Runnin' by TJ
Hey all, I’m back. Triathlon season is winding down, Summer is nearly over, soon countless flocks of hillbillys, your’s truely included, will be flocking to the woods in search of squirrel, deer, turkey and most importantly, guy time around the campfire in Deer Camp. Once the hunt for the day is through, and the air starts to get a chill, one must do whatever necesary to shirk the cool from their bones and enjoy the company in the tranquility of the woods. One of the best “anti-freezes” I have found is a little nip of the White Lightening. There is nothing better than the sweet taste of corn to warm the bones. Just don’t stand too close to the fire while doing so. Not that it’s that flammable (it is), but more from a personal safety issue if you happen to imbibe a bit too much, you just may fall into the fire – the stuff can be that strong. Here’s one of my favorite recipes for making this. Unfortunatly, it requires distillation, which is illegal in most places AND is dangerous if you don’t know what you are doing, so don’t try this at home.
Additional Disclaimer: I am not really talking about distilling alcohol for personal consumption, I am mearly describing the process of distilling alcohol for use as a bio fuel. Yeah, a bio fuel. Anything I mention here is just an educational study designed to explain complex chemistry processes.
In making “Mountain Dew” or “White Lightnin’” the first step is to convert the starch of the grain into sugar. (Commercial distillers use malt.) This is done by “sprouting” the corn. Shelled, whole corn is covered with warm water in a container with a hole in the bottom. Place a hot cloth over it. Add warm water from time to time as it drains. Keep in a warm place for about 3 days or until corn has 2 inch sprouts. Dry it and grind it into meal. Make mush (or mash) with boiling water. Add rye mash that has been made the same way, if you have it.
Yeast (1/2 pound per 50 gallons of mash) may be added to speed up the fermentation if you have it. Without it, 10 or more days will be required instead of about 4. In either case, it must be kept warm.
When the mash gets through “working” or bubbling up and settles down, it is then ready to run. At this stage, the mash has been converted into carbonic acid and alcohol. It is called “wash” or beer and it is sour..
The “cooker” consists of two main parts, mainly the top and the bottom. After the mash is put inside, the top is pasted on with “red dog chop” or some other paste. This is so that if the fire is too hot and pressure builds up, the top will blow off preventing an explosion which might wreck the still.
In the top of the cooker a copper pipe, or “arm” projects over to one side and tapers down from a 4 or 5 inch diameter to the same diameter as the “worm” (one or one and a quarter inch).
To make the “worm, ” a 20 foot copper pipe is filled with sand, the ends are stopped up, and it is wrapped around a fence post. The sand prevents “kinking” of the pipe. The spiral or coil, called the worm, is then cleaned and attached firmly to the end of the arm in such a way that it is down inside a barrel. The barrel will be kept full of cold, running water. Of the water runs in the top and out an opening at the bottom, it can circulate better.
A fire under the cooker causes the spirit to rise in vapor along with the steam. it goes into the arm and then the worm where the cold water causes condensation. This is collected at the end in a container.
The first run off, or “singlings”, is weak and impure and must be redistilled to rid it of water and rank oils.
For the second run off, or the “doublings, ” the cooker is cleaned out and the singlings, along with some water, is heated and run through again.
The first quart will be far too strong (about 200 proof) and toward the last it will be weak (about 10 proof). The skill is in the mixing to make it 100 proof.
If a tablespoon of the liquid does not”flash” or burn when thrown on the fire, there is not enough alcohol left to bother running any more.
To test for the right proof, a small glass vial is used. When the small bubbles rise properly after the vial is tilted and when they set half above and half below the top of the liquid, then it is the right proof. The liquor is then filtered through charcoal and is ready for consumption.
There are many ways of making moonshine. This is just one way. For other ways, check with your nearest revenuer.
 Note/Disclaimer: 100 Proof bio fuel is adequate for your car. Don’t drink this, it is illegal to make, illegal to have in most areas.
Filed October 8, 2007 at 7:03 am under Grog and Salmagundi by TJ
From The Fannie Farmer Cookbook (1990):
Chewy Peanut Butter Brownies
1/2 C. peanut butter
4 T butter, softened (I use real butter, salted)
1 C. brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla (I use real vanilla — not that imitation stuff)
2 eggs
2/3 C. flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt1/2 C. chopped salted peanuts (I just throw in a bunch & don’t chop them)
You can use the recipe’s instructions or just do what I do: Melt the butter in a big bowl & add all of the other ingredients except the peanuts. Stir. Add peanuts. Stir.
Bake in a greased 8-inch square baking pan at 350 degrees for 25 – 30 minutes.
Also good with chocolate chips on top.
The recipe says this makes 16 servings. Yeah, right… You may want to double or quad the recipe…
Enjoy!Â
Filed July 10, 2007 at 8:42 am under Grog and Salmagundi by TJ
It’s about time for a product review, and this is one that I think should be in EVERY household in America. What am I talking about? Well, it’s my Tassimo Coffee on Demand Brewer by Braun. It only will brew 1 cup of coffee at a time, but it is so convenient, and the coffees that are available are fantastic. My favorite is the Henry’s Blend coffee, and the Earl Gray tea is a fantastic afternoon beverage.
The only downfall I see is that when they designed the brewer, they did not account for a tall travel mug. If you want to fill a tall mug, you need to fill a small mug twice and transfer the beverage to the bigger mug. It’s a little of a pain, and you end up dirtying an extra cup, but it’s easier than trying to clean a large coffee pot, or a expresso/cappucino maker. This system is easy to use and the clean up is pretty much non-extistent. I’ll give it a 5 cup rating – I love mine and will never own a coffee pot again. I got mine at Kohl’s, but you can get it online here: http://tinyurl.com/35mxtv
http://www.tassimodirect.com/
Filed June 20, 2006 at 8:56 am under Boring Stuff and Family and Geeky and Grog and Salmagundi and Pirate Info by TJ
I tried to get this update out in May (5/17), as an email newsletter, but I had formatting issues. I’ll refresh the content a little bit, but some of the “news” is a month old, keep that in mind.
TJ & Jaymie Tryon and Family Update
After a few hours of beautiful afternoon today, it has started raining again here in Indiana. I think we have had rain for about 10 days in a row, which is a good thing, as it is not snow. That means that it is spring again in Indiana! Another season and another year, it’s time to give everyone an update on our family.
If you haven’t been by my blarg lately, be sure to stop on by, as I’ve upgraded the software and formatting that runs my server, giving it a new look and feel, and I’m doing very regular updates to it. It’s a great place to stop by and see pictures of the kids, as well as to find out what we are up to now. Sometimes you may even get some useless information that comes out of my head, or my “secret” recipes for things. Any way about it, be sure to stop on by…
For our annual spring break trip, we made the entire Florida loop, with family stops in St. Pete (Jaymie’s Cousin), North Port (My uncle Tab), Ft. Myers (Oma). Both girls and mom handled the drive time quite well. After we were done visiting our families, we had to get back to the islands. Key West was the destination (of course) and we spent a few days in the sun, and enjoying the sites and sounds of paradise. Both Tanner and Teressa got to experience their second Sunset Celebration, as well as plenty of swimming time, and the best of all, the site seeing around town. After a few days, we headed up to Orlando, as Teressa wanted to see the “Rat”. We had a beautiful condo for the rest of vacation, just outside the entrance to Disney. We got to go to Animal Kingdom, MGM Studios, Magic Kingdom and Epcot. Teressa and Tanner had a great time.
Click on the picture to view a larger image,
or see the picture galleries at http://www.tjtryon.com/galleries      Â
Let’s start with the youngest… I bet you thought that would be Tanner, well, guess what, you’re wrong. Jaymie is pregnant again, about half way through. This baby is due on October 10th, and we are excited. We don’t know the sex of the baby yet, but knowing my track record, I’d bet on a girl. Speaking of bets, we’ve started a pool for guessing the new baby’s info, which can be found here: http://www.pregpool.com/online/jaymiet/. The pool is a 70/30 split, and each guess costs $10. Be sure to stop on by to register your guess.
As far as names, I think we’ve decided on either Tabytha Rose Tryon or Tobyas Trey Tryon (yeah, I know, it’s the Tryon name game).
Tanner is 1 year old on Sunday. Time just goes by too fast. She’s been walking for several months now, and talking up a storm. Too bad we don’t always know what she’s saying, but if we don’t understand, she’ll point to whatever she wants anyways. Anytime someone walks into the room, she greats them with a big smile full of teeth and a “Hi!”. All in all she’s doing great, and really looking forward to her first birthday party on the 28th.
Teressa is doing great in school as usual. Can you believe she’s a teenager now? That’s right, she turned 13 in March. She’s a great big sis to Tanner, and they get along fantastic. She’ll be up for most of the summer this year, as usual, and I would bet she’s going to be spending most of the time on the lake. Last summer she learned to waterski and kneeboard, and was pretty good at it. She even topped ole’ dad on the kneeboard, as she was able to do 360’s on it. She’s made it to visit quite a few times, as well as us making it to Tennessee as well.
Jaymie wanted to tell everyone she is fat and miserable. We found out Jaymie was pregnant on February 1st, and we are anxious and excited about the new baby, however completely terrified – We’ll have two in diapers at the same time. She’s been planning Tanner’s 1st birthday party, which will have a “JoJo’s Circus” theme, and having too much fun with that.
TJ (Me) – Since it’s warmed up, we’ve been trying to spend a bit of time outside, getting Tanner and mom outside as much as possible. As always, I’m trying to find a way to enjoy being outside and the nice sunny weather we (sometimes) have. I’ve been busy the past couple of months with yardwork, and will be starting a project to extend the deck around our hot tub.
Computer Tip
What is Phishing and Pharming?
Phishing attacks use both social engineering and technical subterfuge to steal consumers’ personal identity data and financial account credentials. Social-engineering schemes use ’spoofed’ e-mails to lead consumers to counterfeit websites designed to trick recipients into divulging financial data such as credit card numbers, account usernames, passwords and social security numbers. Hijacking brand names of banks, e-retailers and credit card companies, phishers often convince recipients to respond. Technical subterfuge schemes plant crimeware onto PCs to steal credentials directly, often using Trojan keylogger spyware. Pharming crimeware misdirects users to fraudulent sites or proxy servers, typically through DNS hijacking or poisoning.
The number and sophistication of phishing scams sent out to consumers is continuing to increase dramatically. While online banking and e-commerce is very safe, as a general rule you should be careful about giving out your personal financial information over the Internet. Here is a list of recommendations below that you can use to avoid becoming a victim of these scams.
- Be suspicious of any email with urgent requests for personal financial information
- unless the email is digitally signed, you can’t be sure it wasn’t forged or ’spoofed’
- phishers typically include upsetting or exciting (but false) statements in their emails to get people to react immediately
- they typically ask for information such as usernames, passwords, credit card numbers, social security numbers, etc.
- phisher emails are typically NOT personalized, while valid messages from your bank or e-commerce company generally are
- Don’t use the links in an email to get to any web page, if you suspect the message might not be authentic
- instead, call the company on the telephone, or log onto the website directly by typing in the Web adress in your browser
- Avoid filling out forms in email messages that ask for personal financial information
- you should only communicate information such as credit card numbers or account information via a secure website or the telephone
- Always ensure that you’re using a secure website when submitting credit card or other sensitive information via your Web browser
- to make sure you’re on a secure Web server, check the beginning of the Web address in your browsers address bar – it should be “https://” rather than just “http://”
- Regularly log into your online accounts
- don’t leave it for as long as a month before you check each account
- Regularly check your bank, credit and debit card satements to ensure that all transactions are legitimate
- if anything is suspicious, contact your bank and all card issuers
- Ensure that your browser is up to date and security patches applied
- in particular, people who use the Microsoft Internet Explorer browser should immediately go to the Microsoft Security home page — http://www.microsoft.com/security/ — to download a special patch relating to certain phishing schemes
- Always report “phishing” or “spoofed†e-mails to the following groups:
- forward the email to mailto:reportphishing@antiphishing.org
- forward the email to the Federal Trade Commission at spam@uce.gov
- forward the email to the “abuse” email address at the company that is being spoofed (e.g. “spoof@ebay.com”)
- when forwarding spoofed messages, always include the entire original email with its original header information intact
- notify the Internet Fraud Complaint Center of the FBI by filing a complaint on their website: www.ifccfbi.gov/
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Pirate Yarns
Anne Bonney was born Anne Cormac in County Cork, Ireland. Her mother, Mary Brennan, was the daughter of a servant woman who had an affair with her employer, a lawyer named William Cormac. His wife soon discovered the affair and William Cormac, Mary Brennan, and a young Anne crossed the Atlantic to flee the scandal. They settled in Charleston, S.C.Anne quickly became bored with life on her father’s plantation, and was drawn to a life of adventure. Before Anne was out of her teens she married James Bonney, who was a renegade seaman and sometimes pirate. At this time pirates frequented Charleston. James planned to steal William Cormac’s land through the marriage but Anne’s father disowned her before this could be done. Legend has it that in retaliation, Anne burned the plantation to the ground.
They Fled to Nassau, the pirate haven. In this time it was called New Providence. James Proved a coward and a traitor, then became a paid snitch for the governor. Anne soon distanced herself from James, perferring the company of the island’s notorious pirates and women.
After meeting the pirate “Calico Jack†Rackham (nicknamed for his tacky striped pants) she became romantically involved with him. He had just commandeered a ship full of liquor from his former boss, pirate captain Charles Vane. When James Bonney objected to the affair, he took Anne, brought her naked before the governor and charged her with the felony of deserting him. Calico Jack suggested instead putting Anne up for sale to the highest bidder because she was then considered to be stolen property (an “under-the-table legal practice for divorce at the time). James got a court order forbidding Jack and Anne to see each other. Despite Jack’s rather less-than-romantic proposal, Anne ran away with Calico Jack and joined his ship’s crew, disguised as a man.
The Conclusion: Charles Barnet, a former pirate turned pirate-hunter, attacked Calico Jack’s ship in 1720. Barnet caught Rackham and his crew. Anne is said to have shouted, “If there’s a man among ye, ye’ll come out and fight like the men ye are to be.†When this provoked no answer, they were outraged by the cowardly men. Anne and Mary shot the male pirates, killing one and wounding several others, including Jack Rackham. Only Anne and Mary stood their ground, fighting furiously. But despite Anne and Mary’s ferocity, the pirates were captured.
At this time women had no rights, although it was illegal to execute a pregnant woman, so Anne and Mary, “plead their belliesâ€, claiming to be with child. All that were captured were hanged, except Anne and Mary. After the trial, Anne Bonney disappeared from this historical record.It is rumored she was hanged around a year later, however other rumors were that she was granted a reprieve, some even say that she returned to her father, others say her husband and one myth even went as far as to say that she became a nun.
Links
Last time, I had just finished reading a book who’s story was geographically located in the Gulf Shores/Mobile area, and I included some good links to the area. We recently got back from Key West, and I love the area. There is so much history to Key West, so I am going to include a little story and some links to more info on Key West.
My favorite story is about a drunk mayor, and an overzealouse US Government roadblock effort, in April of 1982, on Key Largo to stop illegal products or immigration:
“Enter a bunch of outraged Conchs, who came up with the brilliant idea of seceding from the USA. They formed the nation of the Conch Republic, whose first act was to secede from, and whose second act was to declare war on, the USA. The third act, of course, was to surrender and request $1 million in foreign aid, presumably for more tequila.â€
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“Well I hope you understand, I just had to go back to the island.†– JB
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Official Web Site of the Conch Republic
Pirate’s In Paradise
Some Key West History
Official Key West Florida Site
Key West Travel Links
Key West Travel Links
Drink of the Week
The Mojito. Very yummy. For a variation, try pineapple or mango rum. I had the pineapple.Mojito
Ingredients:
2-3 oz Light rum
Juice of 1 Lime (1 oz)
2 tsp Sugar
2-4 Mint sprigs
Soda water
Mixing instructions:
Lightly muddle the mint and sugar with a splash of soda water in a mixing glass until the sugar dissolve and you smell the mint. Squeeze the lime into the glass, add rum and shake with ice. Strain over cracked ice in a highball glass. Top with soda water, garnish with mint sprig and serve.
Filed May 22, 2006 at 5:12 pm under Grog and Salmagundi by TJ
I think I’m going to have to make up a batch of these for the party this weekend…Â
Key Lime Cookies
1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg plus 1 egg yolk
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup key lime juice (not regular lime juice, needs to be Key Lime juice…)
1 1/2 tsp grated lime zest
1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar
Preheat oven to 350 F. Spray baking sheets with nonstick vegetable coating.
In a large bowl, mix butter, sugar, egg and egg yolk until creamy. Thoroughly mix in flour, baking powder, salt, lime juice and lime peel.
Spray cookie sheet with non-stick vegetable coating. Form dough into 1/2-inch balls. Place on prepared cookie sheet and bake at 350 F until lightly browned (8 to 10 minutes).
Remove to wire rack. While still warm, sift confectioners’ sugar over cookies.
Makes about 3 dozen.
Sometimes I’ll add white chocolate chips to the mix, and not powered sugar.
Filed April 28, 2006 at 3:56 pm under Geeky and Grog and Salmagundi and Parrotheads by TJ
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Here’s the ultimate accessory for concert goers or any sporting event. Now I’m going to have to find some way to insulate the thing to keep the margaritas cold. I have a bad feeling I’m gonna start to look like Santa at the Buffett shows. More info can be found at: http://thebeerbelly.com/
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Filed April 16, 2006 at 8:42 pm under Grog and Salmagundi by TJ
I’ve given you my Sauerbraten recipe (here), and I’ve often said that it’s it best served with Red Cabbage and potatoe pancakes. I made a 10 lb. sauerbraten last night, and I am getting ready to cook the cabbage, so I thought I’d share how I make it… (UPDATE: I should tell you I don’t actually measure when I am cooking this, I use very approximated amounts)
Red Cabbage
1Â large red cabbage finely shredded
2 tbsp. margarine
4 chopped apples
1 chopped onion (optional – I don’t…)
2 tbsp. brown sugar
1/4 cup red wine
Juice of at least 1 lemon
Melt the margarine in a thick-bottomed saucepan, then add the cabbage, the apples, the onion, sugar, and lemon juice and water enough to prevent burning.
Simmer for two hours, add the wine (or water or stock), and continue slowly cooking until the liquid is reduced to nothing.
Filed March 20, 2006 at 9:49 pm under Grog and Salmagundi and Parrotheads by TJ
I’ve always been a liquor drinker, with my favorites being Rum, Tequila and Wiskey, though after Buffett last year in Indy, the lovely wife has limited my liquor intake to be mainly Rum, and definetly NO Tequila. It’s funny how Tequila will make an ass of someone. I can drink 2 bottles of rum, and be completely coherant and having a great time, though you put a couple of shots of Tequila in me, and apparently I turn into an ass. This post is not about Liquor, it’s about beer.
I do happen to like the occasional beer, but I really limit myself to the good stuff. There is NO “piss water” for me. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll drink domestics, if I have to. I tend to watch my carbs, so I have tried all the domestic low carb beers, but it just seems to cut the carbs by cutting the ounces of beer in the can, or making them taste like Aquafina. I go to a neighbors cookout, and I won’t be ungrateful that they serve Bud Light, and yes, I’ll do the polite thing and drink the free beer, but if I have my choice, I want a beer that has some flavor to it. I want a good dark beer, a good stout or a good ale. Guiness has flavor. Bass has good flavor. Miller Lite? Nope…
My problem, I tend to be carb conscious. Barcadi and Diet please… So, on the occasional chance I happen to want a good beer, how bad are they for you? It’s quite funny you should ask, as I found a great website that shows ya that the good beer really isn’t that bad for ya. It breaks down beer by it’s alcohol content %, it’s calories and it’s carbs.
Here is the best of categories they have:
Carbs – Rhinebecker (2.5g) closely followed by Mich Ultra (2.6g)
Alcohol Content (greatest) – The hands down winner is Sam Adams Tripple Bock (17.5%) almost double the amount of runner-up Bell’s/Kalamazoo Third Coast Old Ale (10.2%)
Calories – No clear cut winner here, pretty much any of the big name “Light” beers were around 95 calories, with the regular beer in the 160-200 calorie range, and the Sam Adams Tripple Bock weighing in at a heafty 340 calories.
You can see the results for yourself at http://www.realbeer.com/edu/health/calories.php While you are there check out more beer info at their home page http://www.realbeer.com/ Did you know, Corona Extra is the most popular beer out there right now?
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Filed March 7, 2006 at 6:43 pm under Grog and Salmagundi by TJ
Damn Moose. He put this thought in my head today. Now I want it…
HAM AND BEAN SOUP
1 lb. 15 bean soup package
Large hambone
Approximately 2 1/2 to 3 cups diced ham
1 med. onion, chopped
2 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. dry mustard
1 bay leaf
Pepper to taste
1 (16 oz.) can of stewed tomatoes (diced) – I usually leave this out
2 qts. water
Soak beans overnight, wash, drain. Add all above ingredients into a crockpot. Start on high and leave at that temperature until beans are well done.
NOTE: 15 bean soup can be substituted by navy beans, lima beans or lentils. Do not use the included ham seasoning package.
SOUTHERN CORNBREAD
2 cups of self-rising cornmeal
2 eggs beaten
2 cups buttermilk
2 Tablespoons bacon drippings, melted, or veg. oil
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Heat oven to 450 degrees. Grease your 9-inch skillet with about 2 tablespoon of shortening or oil (Use bacon drippings instead if available). Leave oil in bottom of pan… Place pan in oven to heat ….
Combine cornmeal, 2 eggs, buttermilk, and the melted bacon drippings. Mix well. I find a whisk does this nicely. Pour into hot skillet. Batter will sizzle.
Bake at 450 degrees for 35 minutes or until golden brown. Serves 6 to 8
Hint: Sprinkle a little cornmeal in the hot pan before adding the batter. It will brown and add a crispier texture.
Sounds Yummy?
