Bratwurst with Dusseldorf mustard, hot sauerkraut, and relish; traditional German potato salad; and, green salad
My Oddfellows Lodge holds an Octoberfest dinner every year, cleverly titled, Oddtoberfest. As a Lodge we do a lot of fundraising and community outreach projects, but not Oddtoberfest. For Oddtoberfest we just sit back eat a big meal, drink a lot of beer (which the Lodge brews itself) and eat cakes. It’s pretty great. Oh, we also learn what Octoberfest is all about. Want to give it a guess? Don’t cheat! Just guess… Done? If you guessed it had something to do with the bored, pampered, royalty of Europe you are correct. Give yourself a gold star.
The Oktoberfest tradition started in 1810 to celebrate the October 12th marriage of Bavarian Crown Prince Ludwig to the Saxon-Hildburghausen Princess Therese. The citizens of Munich were invited to join in the festivities which were held over five days on the fields in front of the city gates. The main event of the original Oktoberfest was a horse race. Anniversary celebrations were held annually thereafter that eventually became larger and more elaborate.
Now you know that you and every dumb frat boy in this country celebrating Oktoberfest is a disgusting Royalist pig. Learning is fun!
Anyway, what I really wanted to talk you about today was Dusseldorf mustard. Which until Oddtoberfest 2011 I did not know existed. I don’t know anything about how mustards are made but this was some spicy, tart stuff. Like no mustard I’d ever had before. All I know was that it was delicious and now I have to find some, you should too.
I think the original idea was to have this be a sketch of the Archangel Michael...
I have a couple of half-cooked ideas for blog posts but since they’re not quite down yet let’s critic some of my old art instead. All of it is on paper and with pencil because back when I was drawing a tablet cost around $1000! So digital was right out.
A Tyranid hormaguant from Games Workshop's Warhammer 40,000
As you can see from these first two sketches I wasn’t comfortable with trying to represent objects three dimensionally. Everything is either scene in full on or from the side, anything else and I got confused. Also I hadn’t quite figured out the human skeletal-musculature system. I think in the hormagaunt one I’ve used every single possible shading technique possible in one single image… Also, if you’re having trouble deciphering the face on the angel above you’re looking at his chin, the face is raised skyward… I don’t know how long I worked on that and it still doesn’t look right.
This is just one page of many from an idea I had for a sci-fi world and video game
Also note, that like Rob Liefeld I couldn’t draw feet and so they ended up being these boxy boot like things. I still think that rat hound looks pretty neat, though.I find it strangely hilarious that I was trying to design the optimal ears for this race of post-humans…
some weird looking worms, a sketch of a person behind a wall, and... cloak stuff?
I have pages of quick sketches like the one in the top-left of this image. So much easier to draw when I don’t have to worry about muscles, hands, feet, clothing, etc… I even had a name for these kind of sexless homunculi,”bioderms.” I don’t know where that term came from but I’m sure I didn’t come up with it myself. Notice that as a true artist I couldn’t just cross out the sketches I didn’t like but instead created big “Xs” by crossing two triangles. The worms with the shiny carapace head cap are another thing I drew a lot of. I think at the time I used them as a physical representation of sin/evil. I know I have a sketch somewhere that is merely the human figure with one of those coiled up in the groin region…. Yeah, let’s just move along… The overactive cape/cloak on the figure in the lower-right should tell you that I was far too familiar with and influenced by Todd McFarlane’s artwork. Please note that years before it became cool I was into “tribal” designs.
Every once in a great while I think I should take a stab at drawing again and then I pull out these sketches and see why I stopped. Go ahead and put your criticisms in the comments below!
PS – if you want to see these at full size just click on them, but I’m really scratching my head at why you’d want to.
If only my crap camera and skills did this meal justice!
Everyone loves enchiladas, or they should. My mom makes hers from scratch using a recipe from my dad’s side of the family. My dad comes from the Gila Valley in Arizona; they’ve been there for generations. I’ve asked my Grandma as well as Great Aunts and Uncles where this recipe comes from but no one seems to know. It’s always been around; in pretty much the same form though various branches of the family have tweaked it here or there. These enchiladas are my favorite meal of all time. Growing up we had them about once a month and whenever I visit home mom will usually make them as she knows I love them.
I know how to make these enchiladas. I have the recipe and have done so before. The problem is one of storage. The recipe for the sauce that has come down to us is not small, it makes over a quart of the stuff! If I had a family of four or five that wouldn’t be an issue but, there are only the two of us here. Freezing the sauce does something to it that changes its texture and I don’t have a canner (yet). So, most of the time we go without.
My mom is now canning the sauce!
I went home over last weekend for a good friend’s wedding and while there my mom handed me the can above and asked, “how many pints of this can you carry back with you?” My first response was, “As much as I can fit into this suitcase! I will mail my personal effects home!” She wasn’t buying that line, though… So we settled on four pints of the canned enchilada sauce. I had to check my bags (damned TSA) but eating enchiladas tonight was completely worth it.
The sauce with cooked ground beef added. You can't can it with the meatDon't forget to accessorize!rolling your enchiladas is for the feeble minded. You've got to layer them
I don’t know if this is breaking some family tradition or not… But, I can’t share with you how great this meal tastes and then not give you the opportunity to experience it yourself! So I’m including the recipe below! I warn you it makes a lot and is skimpy on the details, but then aren’t all things that are passed down from generation to generation?
Howard Family Enchilada Sauce
1 cup flour
1 cup shortening
1 46 oz can of tomato juice
46 oz of water
1 can El Pato sauce
1 tsp. vinegar
1 soup spoonful of sugar
1/2 lb ground beef
cumin
oregano
chili powder
salt and pepper
You make a thick roux from the flour and shortening and then brown it (it is easier to thin the sauce than it is to thicken it so you want to error on the thick side here) once the rue has browned you add in the other ingredients, stirring constantly. Once all the ingredients are incorporated you may season the sauce. After seasoning throw in the already cooked beef. Raise the sauce to a boil and then let simmer for at least an hour.
To prepare enchiladas: soften corn tortillas in hot oil, a quick dip in and then out will be sufficient. Blot them if you want to cut down on oil. Layer the tortillas, sauce, cheese, and diced onions (three or four layers is sufficient). Top with lettuce. Be as generous or as stingy as you want with the sauce during layering. I’ve had it both ways and both are good. I usually run generous, though.
Keeping a schedule can be hard work, especially when you’re being hammered by work and have numerous other personal obligations. Spent the end of last week and the weekend back home in the desert where I was a groomsman for my best friend in high school. I didn’t have a lot of time for writing, or anything else really.
So, sorry about the filler post. Except it isn’t filler it’s a short, fascinating video about how camouflage in cephalopods works and how their ability to do it so well reveals that our ability to percieve the world, as it “really” is, is an illusion. Neat, huh?
Back to that wedding story; three piece black tuxedos in 100+ degree weather for over an hour? Not ideal.
