mimosa time

mimosa flowers that is. this beautiful tree native to the savannahs and deserts of the world is in bloom in the southeast right now. Albizzia julibrissin is the latin and it is known as the tree of happiness. It heals sadness and meloncholy of the spirit, mind and body. It is a safe alternative for people who cannot take saint johns wort for various reasons. The flowers smell great and just being around them brings happiness into your heart.

Here is Herbalist Will Endres' class gathering the blooms for tinctures using all methods known to herbalist, climbing, ladders, jumping, etc.

happy birthday christinoo!

birthday weekend in asheville


its been a long time since i've been to a guilford jamboree




serious bocce action. simon and i lost.



wild hydrangea on the blue ridge parkway

ole goose gets inducted!

bacon, bacon, bacon, bacon.

well, besides trying to sell all my crap in craigslist, i am also making bacon. not the proverbial bacon, that is neil's job, i just like to eat it. here i am with my pig belly....rubbing it down with maple syrup, black pepper, sugar, kosher and pink salts. I totally messed up the recipe and have about 10x what i need on here. oops. But, it looks cool. I got it down to the right quantitiy and seeled it up in a plastic bag in the fridge for a little more than a week for the curing process.

Then, I rinsed it off and let it dry out in the fridge for a couple days. Forming a tacky surface on the now cured meat is the most important step pre-smoking. I forgot to take any more pictures, which makes this a little boring, but then i smoked the sucker. I used about 7 coals on the webber and a couple hickory chips and a chunk of aged wet cherry tree. I smoked it out there for about 2 hours until the coals all burned away and brought it inside to the oven for the last hour at 200 degrees. I was searching for an internal temp of 150 and found it shortly before three hours were up.

Slicing it thick and frying it. MMMMMMM. this thing is salty. too salty in fact, but it is so good. I love it. the fat tastes amazing and when you slice it how you want, in thick strips or cubed or in lardons you can taste all the salty flavor, the smoke and the real pasture fed fat of great bacon. This was really easy to do, and I highly recommend it to everyone to try once.

In case you hadn't heard. From the Chapel Hill Newspaper:


Published: Jul 20, 2008 09:52 AM

Amy Elizabeth Rouse and Neil Alan Vittum
WEDDING



Amy Elizabeth Rouse and Neil Alan Vittum were married May 31 in the back yard of the Rouse home in Chapel Hill.

Will Endres officiated.

The bride is the daughter of Beverly and Jay Rouse of Chapel Hill. She is a graduate of Chapel Hill High School and Guilford College. She is an herbalist and nutritionist.

The groom is the son of Sally Hunt Vittum and Alan Vittum of Tamworth, N.H. He is a graduate of the White Mountain School and Guilford College. He is an ISA-certified arborist.

Herbalist, mentor and friend Will Endres officiated.

The bride was rowed in on a boat by Steven Cardello, her brother-in-law, and escorted from the dock by her father and mother.

The families attended the bride and groom. Their parents were joined by the bride's sisters, Sarah Rouse of Washington, D.C., and Nicole Rouse of Chapel Hill; and by the groom's brothers, Quinn Vittum of Honolulu, Hawaii, and Alex Vittum of Oakland, Calif.

Jasper Tyll, 3, led the procession as the bell ringer. Stanley Endres, 13, of Hillsborough burned the sacred ceder incense.

Flower babies were Ashyln Tyll, 18 months old, of Hillsborough, escorted by her mother, Jennifer Tyll; and Ruby Mellage, 5 months old, of Raleigh, escorted by her mother, Susan Jelinek Mellage

Ring bearer was the groom's cousin, Ahna Huntwood, 12, of Georgetown, Me.

Friends Peal, Ben, Alex, Scott, Simon, Mary, Miriam, Sarah and Gil played bluegrass waltzes and jigs.

The reception was held at the Rouse House garden, featuring music by friends, local food menu prepared by Amy Rouse and a dedicated cast of friends and family who spent all week at the house prepping food, climbing trees and hanging lights, planning the music, weeding the gardens, setting the tables, putting all the finishing touches on a huge event, camping and filling the event with love and gratitude.

The couple went on a wedding trip to Maui and Honolulu. They plan to move west in the fall.


http://www.chapelhillnews.com/community/wed_eng/story/15702.html

this one was labeled "Lordy, Lordy, 1st 40!"

too much time at the pope house

a couple of pictures i found from the old days.
yet another amy rouse impression, this time done by yet another sarah, cleaver to be exact.





alex helps me out with one of cleave.

wilhelmina rise

quinn and selina's house on the hill
diamond head on the left, and waikiki on the right.

check out their awesome business at www.reusehawaii.org





mountain apples found on a hike


a waterfall and swimming hole found on same hike

kayak

sea kayaking, tandem style
harder than it looks to paddle at the same time.

( i hear this is the beach cameron diaz and oprah live on)


the shaka




twinny twin twins

China Town in Honolulu

Dim Sum, Sashimi, Pecking Duck and lots of packed stalls.

A family business butcher stall.



squids


banana flowers


unloading pigs for the meat counters


squash greens