We decided to drive up to Santa Ynez for a weekend holiday wine tour. We left last night in hopes of getting up here in time for the Delta IV launch out of Vandenberg, but it was scrubbed for a technical issue. The good news is that it’s rescheduled for an earlier launch tonight (1006), and we’ll still be up here. The weather is clear, and it should be good viewing of a night launch if it goes. It’s the first time in many months that we’ve traveled just for pleasure, with no business. Back to the grind on Monday.
[Update after the launch scrub]
Well, that was disappointing. We had a great spot on Ocean Avenue to view, a clear sky, and it aborted seven seconds before liftoff. No word on cause yet.
Check in with our friends CT and Jody at the Wandering Dog wine bar in Solvang, should time permit
Sadly, time did not permit. We spent pretty much the entire weekend up and down Foxen, and were staying in Santa Maria. We left to come back to LA about 4 PM today.
Will they have Ripple or Thunderbird at that festival? If not, we can dismiss them as a bunch of snobs.
The 2014 Mad Dog at Firestone was fantastic.
I spent a lot of time there in the years 1982-1985, working on the first 17 flight tests of the Peacekeeper ICBM, and preparing for the Small ICBM flight test program. The Hitching Post in Casmalia was a popular restaurant back then, but it didn’t look anything like the one in the movie Sideways. The latter is in Buellton, and I’ve never been to that one. But both sport Santa Maria Barbecue, where beef (tri-tip is the best) is slow-cooked by indirect heat by a fire of oak chunks. Garlic salt and pepper are the only seasonings. It is amazing. I do tri-tip with oak chips in my electric smoker these days, and it brings back a lot of fond memories. Try it out.
I had tri-tip at Shaw’s last night in Santa Maria (it’s just across from the historic Santa Maria Inn, where we’re staying). But lately I’ve been making it sous vide, then doing a final grilling on it.
Lacking sous vide or smoker, I season tri-tip with Montreal steak mix and grill over semi-direct heat. It’s good medium rare but better to remove it when rare, wrap it in foil and refrigerate it until the next day.
cheap sous vide cooker- basic slow cooker and water temperature controller like:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00Y8T9YZG/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Very nice culinary tips! Thanks, everyone!
Aborting 7 seconds before launch is so much better than 7 seconds after. 🙂
Well, the latter would have been a lot more exciting. 🙂