KILLER KIELBASA

So, I've made something like 50 pounds of sausage over the past year, and I've always thought it was a tasty and fun activity, but I never thought the end product was a huge leap beyond what I could buy in a store.  That all changed this past weekend, when I made Kielbasa with my Dad. Kielbasa is an emulsified sausage that is smoked, then chilled after it is cased. I've never had anything like the homemade version. The emulsification was like a beautiful pink cake frosting. It was light and airy, and once it was cased and smoked, it kept an amazing light texture like I've never had in a store bought sausage. The final product was insanely juicy, tender, and delicious, and this will definitely be in my regular sausage rotation. I followed the recipe from Charcuterie almost exactly, except that I accidentally mixed all the seasoning together, and added it all at once, instead of at different stages, as the recipe called for. They were just a tad too salty, and I would cut the salt in the next batch to two TBS instead of three.

We also made some smoked garlic chicken sausages that are very good, but nothing real special in my opinion....

Here's a picture of the bliss:

PULLING A BETSY

I haven't made as much progress as I'd like, but I am slowly getting through my list. I finally finished assembling and wiring my trailer, and my boat is now sitting on it, slowly filling with rain water. On Saturday, I went out and bought a bunch of really nice boat cover fabric, some sewing machine needles, and thread. I got everything set up, went to sew part of the boat cover together, and promptly broke the sewing machine. Apparently, nothing can sew the fabric I bought except an industrial machine. Luckily, we bought the sewing machine at Costco recently, so it will be returned, and my life will not be ended. Unluckily, I am now stuck with yards and yards of sewing that I must now do by hand. It's hard work! I taped some plastic shields to a gardening glove, and I can push the needle through the fabric wearing the glove, but it's gonna take a while. So... that's where I'll be for the next few evenings... sitting on the couch, getting my Betsy Ross on...

UPDATE

Not a whole lot has changed in the past couple days. I was able to disassemble and dispose of my old tablesaw (I kept the cast iron portion to hopefully turn into something else). I started working on my trailer, but, sadly, I started putting it together upside down, so I'll have to start over. I'm hoping to tackle that beast tonight.

I also tried out the ping pong club nearby, and it was really cool! I've never seen such amazing ping pong players... It was a lot of fun and I'll definitely be going back next week...