4th of July in Colorado Springs

With summer finally upon us, we jumped in the car and made the road trip out to Colorado Springs to visit my sister, brother-in-law, and our little niece.  We are only able to stay for a few days before work and school pulls us back to Missouri, but we’ll enjoy the mountains until then.

Yesterday we had a nice trip to Garden of the Gods and wandered around looking at all the rocks and tourists before heading home for a bar-b-que.  In the evening it was fireworks on base at Fort Carson and enjoying a few beers with friends.

July 4th Cooking

With the July 4th holiday being the first three day weekend we have had in a while, I was really excited to do some cooking outside.  The last few weeks have been rather warm, but it cooled off a bit this weekend which was for hanging outside.  Thursday night we visited friends and had some slow cooked pork loin which was delicious and went well with the plethora of  beer and wine that was served.

Friday we had my mother over and I used a gift certificate that I was saving to Hoss’ Meat Market.  I picked up a couple of 16 oz USDA T-Bones and fired up the grill. For side I cooked some Anaheim Peppers that were split, filled with cream cheese, and wrapped in bacon.  They are a takeoff on the ABT’s made with Jalapeno peppers and slow smoked.  These were great but by the time we got through with the steaks we were a bit full.

After everyone left on Friday evening a fired up the smoker  around 9pm and rubbed down two 9 pound Boston Butts for Saturdays pulled pork.  I used my favorite Carolina Spice Rub that I have been making for a while and that adds just the right amount of heat to the meat.  Using the Minion Method on the smoker of lighting just a few coals and dumping it over a full bed of unlit charcoal, I got the temp up to 225 degrees fairly quick.  The meat went on at 10pm and I set the remote thermometer alarm and went to sleep around midnight.  Unfortunately, strong storms rolled thourgh around 2am and caused me to have to go out a make a shelter for the smoker.  I finally got the temp back to around 230 degrees and fell back asleep.  When I got up and around Saturday I check the temp but the pork ended up sitting at 170 degrees until 4pm when they finally rode through the plateau and hit 190.   Sixteen hours later I had these two beauties below just in time to serve everyone.

It was a great weekend and enjoyed being outside cooking.  Hopefully I won’t have to wait until Labor Day to do it again!

Spring Thaw

After another cold winter I am slowly coming out of hibernation to resume taking some pictures to update this site. The last year has been really busy with another 30 hours of undergrad behind me. Hopefully this time next year I’ll be putting up a few pictures of me in a cap and gown! At Christmas we went to Germany to officially tie the knot in Melanie’s home church and were able to stay for two weeks and enjoy the holidays. Unfortunately, since I was in the wedding I was unable to take any of my own photo’s we did have a great photographer that took pictures all day and night. Below are a few of my favorites, the rest can be found here

Finals Time

In honor of finals at work and at school here is a picture of lovely Memorial Union on the Universtiy of Missouri Campus

Our first year in Columbia is behind us and I think we are finally settling into the academic life.  The summer months promise to bring some free time for exploration around the area and hopefully pictures to help fill this place up.

Sweet Home Chicago

It was just a quick overnight trip to the windy city, but the weather was beautiful and we were able to walk around experience downtown Chicago.  Mel had her first taste of deep dish pizza and we both remembered how much we like city life.

Random Winter Photos

The Big 3-1

Another birthday has rolled around again, and this year I was the lucky recipient of a wonderful cake! I made a joke a few weeks ago about wanting a cake with a Monster Truck going through the mud, and I was presented with one yesterday. It was made of cupcakes so I’m sure I’ll be snacking on this thing for the next week.

Summer in Columbia

Now that we have finally started settling in, we made a trip to Shelter Gardens last week with Max after it had cooled off in the evening. Here are a couple of pictures I took and played around in photoshop with. Hopefully I will be adding some more from the Columbia area as I get out and start exploring.

After the cold front

With the cooler weather that moved through this weekend, I finally went down to the new pedestrian bridge near downtown. It was a great night for taking pictures, and I had a good time just hanging out with my visiting brother-in-law while he is here. Luckily he is into photography as much as I and he didn’t mind traipsing around the bayou waiting for the sun to go down.

Marburg

Saturday was yet again another rainy day here in Germany, but this time a cold wind made it just a little more miserable for outdoor excursions. Not to be deterred in my quest to see as much of Germany as possible in the two weeks I’m here, we set out to visit Marburg about an hour north of Frankfurt. It is a beautiful old city on the Lahn River with great examples of old style German architecture.

After taking the lift to the upper part of the old town, we made our way in the rain towards Elisabethkirche (St. Elisabeth’s Church). It is one of the oldest pure Gothic Churches in Germany.The church was built starting in 1235 by the Order of Teutonic Knights in honor of Elisabeth of Hungary and is said to be the model for the Cologne cathedral. Upon entering there was construction walling of the rear where a new pipe organ is being installed. The front was open revealing the high ceilings and beautiful gothic stone.

Making our way back up the hill toward the Castle, we visited a few shops and I was able to replace my damaged German to English dictionary at the university bookshop. I tried to speak a little German to ask for a copy, but the shopkeeper got aggravated and just spoke to me in English… Oh well, I’ll keep trying. Upon reaching the upper part of old town again we looked through antique shops before making the final ascent to the top.

We reached the top just in time to run inside before the hardest rain shower of the day began. Mel had to stay in the lobby with Max, but Manfred, Ute, and I took the tour. The Castle traces it origins back to the 13th century and is now home to a University and Museum. I enjoyed looking over the artifacts ranging from religious pieces to rooms outfitted with furniture and art from the castle.

After we finished the sun began to poke out of the clouds so we went out and began walking back down the hill. There was a great area in front to see the city below.The path was slippery from the rain and Mel and I slid most of the way down.

As the day in Marburg was coming to an end, we were told that Marc had a surprise for us on the way back to Frankfurt. He had arranged a dinner for our Christmas gift. We meet Marc and Herby in Giessen about 30 km south of Marburg. The restaurant was called the Badenburg which was a castle built around 1350.

The restaurant was located in the lower part of the building, and has been serving food of some sort since 1760. It was a really cool place inside with a heavy smoke smell from the meat cooking inside. After a round of beers we were served buckets of ribs thatwere devoured quickly.

It was dusk when we all stumbled outside into the cool evening air. We walked around the property that is fronted by the Lahn River and tried to walk off some of the extra weight before the ride home. It was a great day filled with a ton of old German history along with a delicious dinner to end the night. Although the rain has been a pain in the ass since my arrival, I’m making the best of it and staying outside as much as possible.