Happy Halloween!

BOOOOOOOOOOOO!

We hope you had a fun filled Halloween---we had a lazy one! We started celebrating earlier in the week, and I guess we ran out of steam. Between carving pumpkins with Mo, exciting Haunted Trails with the Ashmore girls, and treats and tricks from middle school kids, we were worn out. Scott got home (actually to my parents since we're renting out house again--yahoo!) at 7 pm and put his pajamas on. So, to celebrate he and I are babysitting Hayes while the Hollis' go to a festive party. Enjoy the pics below.

Beer - My New Hobby

It's been quite some time since I've posted something here, and I actually have about three things to post. This one is top of the priority list because I'm most excited about this subject. About a month ago, Darren Ashmore and I began talking about brewing our own beer. A friend of ours has been brewing beer for quite some time. After tasting a couple of his beers, Darren and I decided that we wanted to get into this hobby ourselves.

We got together one night and began researching home brew kits and found the one we thought would work well for us. The company that sells the brewing equipment also sells beer ingredient kits. So we bought a beer kit at the same time we purchased the equipment. Both Darren and I like a little bit of a darker, stouter beer. We are both big fans of Southern Pecan, which is a product of the only Mississippi brewery. The beer we chose as our first batch should somewhat resemble Southern Pecan. It's called American Nut Ale.

The equipment and ingredients arrived last Tuesday, October 21. We brewed the beer yesterday. The first step is creating the wort.

This is basically all the ingredients that came with the kit, except for the mesh bag and crystals. The crystals actually looked like saw dust.

To create the wort, we started by putting a few gallons of water in a boiling pot and bringing the temperature to just under 200 degrees. At that point we added this mesh bag that was filled with crystals, or flavoring. This picture was taken just seconds after we dropped the bag into the water. So the coloring turned pretty dark rather quickly. After this steeped for 20 minutes, we got the liquid up to boiling. At that point, we added the malt. We had two cans of liquid malt, which looks a lot like molasses and then a bag of dry malt.

The wort has to boil for an hour. During that hour, three separate hops have to be added at different times throughout the boil. So to keep from completely messing the process up, Darren kept a close eye on the recipe.

This is me mixing in the finishing hops toward the end of the boil. Luckily, we didn't have a messy boil over. We came really close to having one, so we learned quickly that we have to keep an eye on the heat. Because we had a sugary mixture boiling, we also took care to stir the mixture often so the brew didn't burn to the bottom of the pot.

Once the wort has boiled for an hour, this is what it looks like. This is basically a non-alcoholic beer. This mixture smelled really good. The only thing missing from this is alcohol, but Darren and I took steps to remedy that.

This last picture is of the yeast just before it is dumped into the wort. This is a delicate step in the brewing process. The wort has to be at an acceptable temperature. Too hot or too cold and it kills the yeast. The yeast eats the sugar and converts it into alcohol. You can see that we dumped the wort from the boiling pot into what's called a fermentation bucket. We took the wort through a double strainer because there is so much sediment in the wort. Last thing we want is to be picking sediment out of our teeth after drinking a bottle of beer. The fermentation process is where the sugar becomes alcohol. Darren and I were really worried about this step because the temperatures on the wort and yeast mixture weren't exactly pairing up. So we decided to dump the yeast and cross our fingers. The bucket has an air-tight lid with a cylinder on top that is very much like a percolator of an old coffee maker. Once the yeast eats the sugar, it produces CO2, which escapes through the cylinder. If the cylinder is percolating, that means alcohol is being created. Darren called me this morning and happily told me the percolator was popping.

We should have beer that is ready to be bottled in about 6 more days. The bottling process will be a bit tedious. We'll have to sanitize all our bottles (the kit should make about 50 beers), rinse them out and then fill them with the beer mixture. By that time the beer will have been transferred from the fermentation bucket to the bottling bucket, and a sugar agent will have been added so the beer will carbonate once it's in the sealed bottle. Once we cap the bottles, they'll need to sit for about two weeks. Though the beer should improve the longer we let it sit, I'm sure Darren and I will not have the patience to wait any longer to taste our first batch. We're already planning what our next batch will be, and we can't wait to share what we hope is good beer with friends and family!

A few pictures...

...to go along with the earlier post.

Scott and John Grisham


Scott and Shepard Smith


I didn't stick around long enough to get celebrity pics--but I am represented in the following shot. I still get butterflies when I see Mrs. Thompson. ha!

Happy Halloween!

Today you get pictures--lots of them! Scott and Mo and I went to the St. Peter's Pumpkin Patch. Each year St. Peter's, the Episcopal church where Scott is a member, has a wonderful pumpkin patch on their side lawn. The proceeds benefit their youth group. The community has really embraced the pumpkin patch, and many families enjoy the tradition--it makes for great photos and is much more exciting to pick out pumpkins from the church lawn than it is from a bin at Wal-Mart!

Last year we took Mo to the Pumpkin Patch, just as we did today. It was funny to see him racing through the pumpkins, sniffing out the perfect pumpkin! Last year, he was freaked out--granted he was only a few months old!

2007

2008

2007

2008

2007

2007

Yes, he had a costume--he HATED the spider suit!

2008

Again, has a costume--a fun wizard cape, which he also HATES. Below he is rolling in the hay at the pumpkin patch, trying to get that cape off!

We had a fun afternoon! Before much longer we will carve 1 of the 3 pumpkins we got. Can you imagine what I'll be like when we have kids?!? Just imagine...I mean, our puppy just got SEVEN photos from the Pumpkin Patch posted on our blog!!!

October

I cannot believe it's already mid-October! We haven't posted in quite awhile, which is a combination of several things...mostly because we have been busy and usually without a camera. So, this post will not include many photos (if any!). I did want to update you though...

The most exciting (well, most historical) thing that recently took place in our little lives was the first Presidential Debate of 2008. Ole Miss hosted the Debate, which meant that our town was on the national stage--super exciting for so many reasons. For about a month prior to the September 26 Debate we (Oxford and Ole Miss) were busy, busy preparing and celebrating! Scott and I started a blog dedicated to the Debate, which we will one day post and share our many fun photos.

Another historical (although not quite nationally) event in October was the celebration of my birthday!! I love birthdays, and each year try to do something different to mark the special day. I have found, though, that the "older" I get, the less exciting the celebration is (now, that's no offense to anyone who has helped me celebrate in the past few years...it's just one of those growing pains, I suppose). I mean, it wasn't too long ago that I was standing on a chair in the middle of a "nice" restaurant while strobe lights highlighted the room and "Go, Shorty--it's Your Birthday!" blared over the speakers....and not long before that I was probably standing on a bar! This year was a much quieter celebration which stretched over several days and meals! Thursday night we dined with some of my family (Mom, Dad, Sarah, Hayes, Scott and myself) at The Ravine, a nice, newer restaurant that I had not been to yet but had been wanting to try for awhile now. Friday night we ate at the Alumni Homecoming dinner (yes, it was a working weekend for Scott), alongside John Grisham, Glen Ballard, Shephard Smith and about 500 others. Saturday was the Ole Miss Homecoming game--and the weather was beautiful!! After the game Scott surprised me and we went to Como Steakhouse (YUMMMMMMMY!) and enjoyed a quiet night together. Sunday, Sarah treated me to tickets and a trip to the Orpheum to see Avenue Q. (Thanks Sarah--and Jeffrey--for a nice getaway and a fun play!) To wrap up my weekend celebration, Sarah and I joined Scott, Cindi and Eli and Ford for dinner at Nagoya (the newest Japanese restaurant in Oxford.) I really did have a nice weekend, and enjoyed the slow pace and fancy meals with my family and friends. Thanks to all who wished me happy thoughts this year!

The next weekend, Sarah and I kicked off our new business (which I will definitely blog in detail about soon)....Signed Sealed Delivered. It was a fun weekend---and a good start to something that promises to keep us busy!

And this past weekend, Scott and I had a random road trip....to Tuscaloosa via Starkville. Friday night we stayed at Hickory Hill Bed and Breakfast--which was a nice, quaint little cabin on a farm--overlooking a pasture with at least half a dozen horses! I loved it and wish we had more time to explore the woods and gardens. If you are EVER in need of a place to stay in Starkville, please do give this place a try. This is one place I wish we had a camera to snap a few pictures to share with you. We then went to Tuscaloosa for a VERY quick trip to campus for the Ole Miss/Alabama football game---GO REBS/ ROLL TIDE!! We managed to get some last minute tickets--so rolled into town just before game time and headed out right after. I do wish I had gotten to see some of my college friends (sorry y'all!) and visit longer with those that we did see (Dana, Chris, Robyn, Mrs. Gaye-Bird, Brad and precious Wells Sheheane--who was the highlight). It was so so so so fun to be back in T-town--and it made me realize just how much I miss it! I made Scott go to the Chi O house...even inside to check it out. I cannot believe it, but the downstairs HAS NOT CHANGED ONE BIT since we were there! Still has the murals on the wall in the dining room....still has the white "formal" side of the living room where the girls probably still cannot sit/walk....still has the random Chinese paintings, including the one with the chopstick in the girl's ear (Leigh--I pointed that out to Scott just for you!). I sure hope they have changed the upstairs a little bit. We couldn't go up there, because apparently at one of the games someone went upstairs in another sorority house and stole a bunch of valuables. That's terrible, people. On the way out of town we grabbed a quick bite to eat at Mr. G's (just for Drew!).

Okay, I just realized how long this post has gotten....and with NO pictures! Sorry, y'all. I tried to include lots of hyperlinks so that if you were dying for pictures you could find some...If you've read this much you must really be dying to know what we've been up to (Joint--did you hang in there?)....I promise the next several entries will have lots of pictures!

Miss y'all.