Life lately has been a blast. Several things have been going great.

  1. I've finally got back into writing after a long break. Expect to see activity on NextGenWar soon.
  2. My two-year-old's potty training is going amazingly well.
  3. I've got the house automated to a level I'm really comfortable with; voice activation for everything from the garage door to casting RTSP feeds from any of the five cameras in the house to any of the five Chromecasts / Google Home Displays. That ended up being a fun side project between IFTTT, TRIGGERcmd and WebCoRE for SmartThings, wherein I learned I can basically do anything I want with some fun code.
  4. I've signed up to run a full marathon in May October, whereas Laura and I are working out daily together; we've turned the garage into a gym. I've already lost all the holiday weight and will probably be back to Fort Bragg level shape fairly soon; five years of being out of shape at headquarters are basically wiped away.
  5. Foodieness is turned up to 11. We've started doing molecular gastronomy in addition to the sous vide'ing and smoking. Basically, Laura and I have gone full foodie nerd. Actual recipes are on tastynoms.menu but it's been a lot of fun. The last two weeks have included:
  • Bacon wrapped (homemade mesquite smoked) scallops (sous vide'd then seared) with mango caviar (reverse spherification method) and spicy red cabbage soup (fresh red cabbage juice, mayonnaise, Dusseldorf mustard, creamed horseradish) topped with red cabbage espouma (made with soy lecithin method) and goat cheese (with fennel and lavender). Totally keto/low-carb.
  • Waygu sirloin (sous vide'd and seared with a German brandy-based wash, topped with goat cheese, served atop a fig infused balsamic glaze smear) and roasted root veggies (carrots and radishes roasted in duck fat and fresh mandarin orange juice). Totally keto/low-carb.
  • Smoked butternut squash puree (double smoked in a blend of alder and mesquite) with garlic scampi and Texas sriracha. Totally keto/low-carb.
  • Pressure cooked chicken (stuffed with homemade ginger candy, lemon peel candy, fresh limes and a blend of aromatics) and a salad made of romaine, spinach, goat cheese, pecans, avocado and topped with a sweet maple and salted caramel balsamic vinaigrette. Totally keto/low-carb.
  • Lamb roast (sous-vide'd then roasted with a sear of pineapple dust and lemongrass and mint infused balsamic vinegar) and asparagus (roasted with parmesan and blood orange infused olive oil). Totally keto/low-carb.
  • Carnitas (homemade) wrapped in cheese taquitos (made of five blended Mexican cheeses with spices) with a dipping sauce (fresh tomatillos, minced garlic and fresh cilantro and fresh lime juice) topped with crumbled cotija cheese. Totally keto/low-carb.
  • Smoked ribs (3-2-1 style, with my own dry spice rub of instant espresso, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder and adobo seasoning for three hours over mesquite at 225° F, then two hours wrapped up in a bath of Four Roses bourbon, my own home-brewed caramel macchiato stout and apple cider vinegar at 215° F, then an hour with Stubb's original sugar-free BBQ sauce at 200° F), deviled egg salad (we just use this recipe and use our own homemade bacon) and a keto cornbread (this recipe was our base, but Laura added some flair...) Totally keto/low-carb.
  • Pork chops (spiced with a heavy mixture of South Asian and East Asian spices, sous vide'd at 135° F for an hour, then washed with plum wine and seared on cast iron in avocado oil for the Maillard reaction) with acorn squash (roasted with olive oil and topped with asiago cheese) served atop a deep fried kale chip. Totally keto/low-carb.
  • Carne Asada (marinated in a mixture of fresh cilantro, olive oil, lime juice, black garlic infused soy sauce then seared on high-temperature hickory smoke at 550° F) with roasted root vegetables (the same as the day with the waygu sirloins; duck fat and fresh mandarin juice - there's a reason this shows up a few times; it's amazingly easy and super delicious). Totally keto/low-carb.

The red cabbage, root veggies, butternut squash, spinach, romaine, pecans, and acorn squash all came from Dagon Produce, a local farm-to-table delivery service I couldn't be happier with. I receive no compensation from them, but am very happy with them and highly recommend them to anyone else here in the Corpus Christi, Texas.

Just some food...