Fur, foam and fun

Time for a bath

Lupina got a bath today.  Me too.  The options were to put her into the bath and get in myself which is not the most pleasant experience or to use the hosepipe.  Since the warm weather is still with us, she really needed a bath to help with the shedding so she got a nice lathering with the FURminator deShedding shampoo.  They recommend keeping her lathered up for ten minutes before rinsing off, so doing it outside was a good idea.

Post-bath

The wet dog experience was a good one.  The water was not cold and just in case, I had a bucket with warm water if needed.   The gunk worked well and after ten minutes, the rinsing could start.  I'd set the hose nozzle to create a fine mist so it wasn't too harsh on her.

The lather

Enjoying a rub

Getting foamy

We're in this together

Shake it...

Getting soaked

Water, water everywhere

Hosing myself down

Playful shake time

Off to see Claudia

Here I come

Still coming

Friends again

Spätzle mit Schnitzel!

Ich bin ein Schnitzel - or if I continue to eat any more of them, I will look like one.

The final outcome

Visiting Germany earlier this month to see flickr friends, I was presented with this fine spätzle press and a family recipe for the ratios of the ingredients.  Having spent some time travelling since I got home from that trip, tonight was the first good opportunity to make spätzle and of course, schnitzel to go with it.

It turned out perfectly - the spätzle were of the right consistency and behaved exactly as I was told they would (a little rowdy in the pot at first with some singing, but floating like dead fish ultimately).  A very pleasant outcome.

My love affair with schnitzel began when I was a lad living in Germany in the mid-1970s.  A local restaurant I frequented with my parents did a great schnitzel and I seem to remember it being the dish I always ordered - the variation being whether it had a sauce or not.

To have eaten at Onkel Otto's in Stuttgart this month brought back some of those memories and now with a spätzle press, I can make this fine meal any time I like.  So much better than the stuff in a box.

Making the meal

Preparing the veal (you can use chicken or turkey if you prefer - or pork even).  I'd already procured very thin strips of veal so didn't have to use my nice new meat basher.  Flour, egg and breadcrumb trays ready for preparing the veal.

The preparation area

Having breaded the meat, it's fried in a reasonable amount of olive oil.  Clearly this doesn't allow for the higher temperatures but it's what I normally use.  The tip here is to use a good deal of oil, enough so that the meat can almost float in it.  This way the breading doesn't stick to the pan which is what leads to oily food.

In progress

So here are the final schnitzels.  For this meal, I opted to cook the meat first before tackling the noodles.

Resting schnitzel

Spätzle

Now for the Spätzle - I opted to make 2/5th the quantity in Carmen's recipe since it would be enough.  Her recipe differed a bit from the one that came with the Spätzle Press so I opted to use hers - a more authentic and trusted source.  Flour - 500g, Eggs 5, Water 200ml and some salt.  This, I cut down to start with 200g of flour.

As you can see, it's a firmly bound dough that is stiff.  Well mixed (by fork), this mix literally filled the chamber of the Spätzle Press so it worked out very well.  I used a silicone spatula to clean out the mixing jug.

Spätzle batter/dough

Here it is loaded in the chamber of the Spätzle Press.

Press gang

Strands of the dough extruded through the press into the boiling water.

Extrusion

Nearly ready.... The Spätzle now float to the surface, like dead fish :)

Nearly ready

So that was it.  About 5 minutes preparation time, 10 minutes for the schnitzel frying and about 6 minutes for the Spätzle.

Gold rush town of Bodie & the Yosemite National Park

Bodie - 150 year old gold mining town

Bodie is a historical site located in California just to the east of the Sierra Nevada mountains.  High in the Bodie Hills (8300ft, 2,500m approx), this site was established in 1859 as a mining camp set up by a W.S. Bodey who died the year after.  Yields weren't that great in the early years and it wasn't until 1876 that the Standard Company discovered a significant quantity of gold (which also coincided with the official foundation of the town).  By 1879, the town was home to roughly 5,000 residents and 2,000 buildings/structures.  A prosperous town through the late 1880s, a decline was inevitable.

Fast forward many years to 1912 when the local newspaper stopped publication and the town's depopulation continued.  During the 1940s, an effort to preserve the town started and it received state park status in the 1960s.

As you may know, I tried to visit Bodie early in 2012 however was thwarted by the snow on the ground.  When there is snow fall, the road to Bodie from the main highway (CA-395) is closed (a fact not published on their state park website).  This road starts off with 10 miles of windy paved road followed by three miles of a dirt road.  During my visit, the only hazard was from the dust and stones thrown up by other vehicles.

Town detritus

As a town that expanded rapidly and shrunk over time, there's a lot of junk left behind - pipes, engines, tools, machine parts, large furnaces and the list goes on.  Some "modern", hailing from the 1920s, some much older.

Abandoned engine

It's interesting to walk around and find everyday items as well as odd things scattered everywhere as though some passing giant had emptied out a sack of parts.  There are also several places where decaying hoses can be find and you can clearly see the layers of materials that made them up.

Remains of a mine wheel

Commerce

Bodie, as a well established town in the 1880s had numerous stores selling pretty much anything the miners and their dependents needed to survive.  Mining supplies, household supplies, items for making and maintaining clothing and the normal assortment of odds and sods.

General store

Sewing supplies

Lamps and other items

Boone Store and warehouse

Of interest also is that the town jail was reported to be constructed of wood like most of the buildings, however the company store was built of brick to protect the precious goods that were both necessary to the inhabitants, but also profitable for the Company.  Apparently breaking out of jail was easier than breaking in to steal some beans.

General store

Religion

The Methodist Church was built at the height of the town's prosperity in 1882 (a Catholic Church was also built but burned down in 1930).

Methodist Church

Inside the Methodist Church

Fire!

The Bodie Firehouse was the sole official site for fire containment - although around the town I did see various hydrants.  I suspect these were added much later though (probably late 19th century).

Inside the fire house

Firehouse

Miscellaneous items

Typical town home

McDonald House and the Methodist Church

 The machine in the centre of the picture below was unique as an electrical motor powered by a generator many miles away and thus the first to be powered by electricity supplied via transmission lines.

Museum display

 

Bodie street scene

IOOF Hall, Miners Union Hall, Morgue (left to right)

Yosemite

On the way back to civilization, I drove through Yosemite.  Here's some pictures :)  I didn't stop for long, wanting to get back to the Bay Area quickly.