Home brew

Kath and I bottled the first batch of home brew yesterday! It was a pretty exciting morning at The Church St. Brewery as the first batch was a day overdue for bottling, but I have learnt from past experience in these matters:

"Ye who bottles thine brew early doth end up with a dark, sharp and sticky mess on thine hands".

In other words my last brew exploded. In fact not all of it exploded, only about 75%. In my mind that makes what was left that much better, even if it did taste like fizzy Vegemite. After that experience I bought myself a specific gravity tester so that I can bottle according to scientific data rather than my usual she'll be right attitude. By the way the first brew is an estimated 6.0%, so please don't drive after consuming.

The next batch that went into the fermenter on the same day was an India Pale Ale, although it looks more dark than pale to me. After we bottle the IPA I want to try a wheat beer. Kath is somewhat skeptical but I'm sure she'll come around, given my past brewing experience though I understand her skepticism.

So kiddies, look forward to the first batch in a month: The Church Lager

The red necklace I bought the day we saw Uncle ChopChop is the best $3 I have spent in AGES. Even better (I think) than the bottle of tabasco sauce I bought on Sunday.
definitely better than those cheap nasty Ikea photo frames I got last week too.
Although probably not better than your average $3 schooner.

Cauliflower and Barley Soup

1 onion
1 clove garlic
3 stalks celery (more or less, depending what you have)
half cauliflower
1 cup pearl barley
1 litre stock (from stock cube, or real if you've got it)
1-2 litres water
1 tbsp Dijon mustard

Fry the onion and garlic in a little bit of olive oil, butter, lard or whatever it is you use. Add celery, chopped roughly. Then add the barley, and mustard, stir for one minute, then add stock and water. Bring to the boil, then simmer, covered for 1 hour. Add roughly chopped cauliflower (chop small if you don't want to blend your soup) and simmer for 30 more minutes or until the barley is tender.
Blend and serve.

Alternatively,
Don't blend. Serve.

I got spewed on so badly at work today that the boss called a taxi to take me home. Mondo grosso. So much so that the boundaries of what is and isn't disgusting are now completely blurred to me and I find myself asking my 14 year old cousin whether leaving condoms filled with shampoo in my brother's bed is over-stepping the mark.
Actually I know that wasn't. The issue was whether to also add tomato sauce to make them look diseased. We decided that this was also OK. But used tampons=too far.