Riflescope Blog: Expert's reviews, news, notes on rifle scopes, hunting optics, shooting, binoculars, night vision sights, gun accessories, and more
Sunday, August 29, 2010Elk Stuffed Peppers and Smoked Alaskan Salmon
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My last batch of elk stuffed peppers will haunt your dreams like your favorite other fantasies, if you were lucky enough to have tasted them. Ground elk with perfectly cooked rice and our garden cherry 100 tomatoes folded into into it, stuffed into red, green, and yellow peppers from our garden. Cooked in a casserole dish half filled with a mixture of tomato soup and my own sauce made from our plum tomatoes and oregano. Cooked for about 1.5 hours at about 350 degrees, then covered to rest. I fit 13 huge ones into two batches, so I was able to freeze most of them, ready at any time of the year to thaw and relish. Usually with my own home baked bread.
My friend Tom, who provided me with fresh Alaskan fish from his recent excursion to our 49th state, included in my bounty some Salmon. It was vacuum sealed, and whomever did the cleaning and packing sure knew what they were doing. It was supremely beautiful. The flesh was exquisite and colored with flavor. Sometimes with super-fresh fish, I can swear you can tell what kind of water they lived in. In this case, you can almost feel the numbingly cold and pristine Alaskan waters being breathed by each muscular finned creature, on their way upstream to spawn and perpetuate their species.
I skinned the steaks, and soaked them for a minute in equal parts butter and lemon juice, then smoked them over apple wood for about an hour. I made four large steaks, and My Shirley and I ate one apiece last night. We now have one apiece for an outrageous salmon salad in a shell. I made a cucumber dip and a yogurt dill suace that I never got to use. I love them with cold leftover smoked salmon. I actually was counting on a couple of folks coming over today and I could show off my cooking to them, but they cancelled, and that left more for My Shirley and me. Good times.
Today is BBQ chicken pieces. The key is low and slow. An hour at low is a bit conservative. I'll also make corn on the cob in the husk, and bare zucchini wedges in a simple light coating.
Although I'm way too Caucasian to have much of a tolerance for jalapeno peppers, I love the flavor, and grow a lot in our garden for one specific recipe.
Grilled jalapenos: I have a jalapeno rack with 21 holes in it. Cut the tops off and gut 21 jalapenos. Poke a small hole in the bottom for the juices to drip out when cooking. Most of the heat you would taste otherwise is drained through this hole. Note: A potato peeler works really well for gutting peppers. And as always, WASH YOUR HANDS BEFORE TOUCHING ANYTHING OR ANYONE THAT WILL BE BURNT BY THE JUICES! Bake at 325 degrees or grill for about an hour.
There are many options for filling them, but my favorite is as follows:
Take one can of baby shrimp and equally distribute them into the bottom of the jalapenos, and tamp down firmly. Then take a brick of cream cheese and a butter knife and fill the rest of the pepper almost to the top. The last step is to take one or two rounds of pepperoni and insert them into the top of the pepper.
The first bottom bite has the delicious fishy flavor and texture, with a sharp spike of hot from the pepper. Everything is juicy and soft. Then take a bite of the middle, and feel the hot but creamy texture of the cheese, enough to envelop the heat from the first bite like a blanket of dairy relief. The top part has exposed pepperoni slices and they've been toasted and crunchy from the oven. Pop that last part, and crunch it up and mix it in your mouth with the last bits of jalapeno and cream cheese and just sit there and sob because it was so good. These are absolutely decadent. Repeat.
My friend Tom, who provided me with fresh Alaskan fish from his recent excursion to our 49th state, included in my bounty some Salmon. It was vacuum sealed, and whomever did the cleaning and packing sure knew what they were doing. It was supremely beautiful. The flesh was exquisite and colored with flavor. Sometimes with super-fresh fish, I can swear you can tell what kind of water they lived in. In this case, you can almost feel the numbingly cold and pristine Alaskan waters being breathed by each muscular finned creature, on their way upstream to spawn and perpetuate their species.
I skinned the steaks, and soaked them for a minute in equal parts butter and lemon juice, then smoked them over apple wood for about an hour. I made four large steaks, and My Shirley and I ate one apiece last night. We now have one apiece for an outrageous salmon salad in a shell. I made a cucumber dip and a yogurt dill suace that I never got to use. I love them with cold leftover smoked salmon. I actually was counting on a couple of folks coming over today and I could show off my cooking to them, but they cancelled, and that left more for My Shirley and me. Good times.
Today is BBQ chicken pieces. The key is low and slow. An hour at low is a bit conservative. I'll also make corn on the cob in the husk, and bare zucchini wedges in a simple light coating.
Although I'm way too Caucasian to have much of a tolerance for jalapeno peppers, I love the flavor, and grow a lot in our garden for one specific recipe.
Grilled jalapenos: I have a jalapeno rack with 21 holes in it. Cut the tops off and gut 21 jalapenos. Poke a small hole in the bottom for the juices to drip out when cooking. Most of the heat you would taste otherwise is drained through this hole. Note: A potato peeler works really well for gutting peppers. And as always, WASH YOUR HANDS BEFORE TOUCHING ANYTHING OR ANYONE THAT WILL BE BURNT BY THE JUICES! Bake at 325 degrees or grill for about an hour.
There are many options for filling them, but my favorite is as follows:
Take one can of baby shrimp and equally distribute them into the bottom of the jalapenos, and tamp down firmly. Then take a brick of cream cheese and a butter knife and fill the rest of the pepper almost to the top. The last step is to take one or two rounds of pepperoni and insert them into the top of the pepper.
The first bottom bite has the delicious fishy flavor and texture, with a sharp spike of hot from the pepper. Everything is juicy and soft. Then take a bite of the middle, and feel the hot but creamy texture of the cheese, enough to envelop the heat from the first bite like a blanket of dairy relief. The top part has exposed pepperoni slices and they've been toasted and crunchy from the oven. Pop that last part, and crunch it up and mix it in your mouth with the last bits of jalapeno and cream cheese and just sit there and sob because it was so good. These are absolutely decadent. Repeat.
My Little Brother Joseph William Ledin, Age 44
We lost my little brother Joe last Saturday. He had health and other issues most of his life, but it was still shocking and unexpected. His son Andrew just left for Afghanistan, months after enlisting in the army. The Red Cross got him back quickly. Joe left behind Andrew and daughter Ashley, and a grandson, as well as lots of friends and loved relatives. He will be missed. Another life cut short. I'm out of brothers now, having lost other little brother, Chris, a few years ago. They're both with Mom now. Dad shouldn't have had to go through this so many times. He always told me that sometimes there are more negatives than positives in life, and you have to concentrate on the positives.
Joe played football in grade school and rode lots of minibikes and he came with Dad and me often into the bird fields with our dog at the time, Sport.
He had it rough, physically, for most of his life. He is now at peace with God.
I love you and will miss you, little brother, Joey.
Friday, August 27, 2010
Joe played football in grade school and rode lots of minibikes and he came with Dad and me often into the bird fields with our dog at the time, Sport.
He had it rough, physically, for most of his life. He is now at peace with God.
I love you and will miss you, little brother, Joey.
My Shirley and Val, Gen 4 Fishing with ATN NVM14-4 Night Vision, and Frog Gigging with Bushnell 165 Lumen Anthracite LED Flashlight
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My Shirley went on her annual visit to Colorado to play with our friend Valerie, so I and Rad played bachelor for a few days. Val was/is a former love of mine and is My Shirley's best friend. When My Shirley and I eloped, Val was the only one with us. She was bride's maid, maid of honor, best man, flower girl, photographer, chauffeur, and everything else we needed.
Val and her husband John now live in Westcliffe, Colorado with big game in their backyard, their dogs, and rattlesnakes. No neighbors, cell phone service, or stores. Church service is held in a barn. Quite the place for My Shirley to decompress and eat lobster and chocolate cake and watch movies and gossip and play scrabble. Girl's nights out for them now are muchly different than they were when they were teenagers. I know. There was this one time... nevermind.
Anyway, it was Boy's nights out at my place. Rad helped with everything, including hanging a new ceiling fan in our bedroom, which inconveniently threw out my back. I'm writing this in a doctor's office, waiting for my MRI. Good times. My wallet also hurts, still smoldering after paying my deductible.
I got to go out fishing one night as my previous fantasies dictated. I planned to hunt catfish and bullfrogs. Both are delicious, and I have some delectable recipes for them. I went to my sportsman's club where I shoot, to a couple of ponds I caught glimpses of before. The ponds were in the deep woods, yards away from the Kishwaukee river.
The mosquitoes blanketed me. Covered me. Suffocated me. Enveloped me. I squished many between my eyelids just blinking. I ingested scores. They tunnelled into my ears and nose. Beer was involved, and my American lingham was never at such risk to be bitten as on that night. Unbelievable. I kicked them out of the tall grass every step I took. I was so covered with bug dope I had a varnish-like sheen on me. But it worked. Remember to keep the bug dope off of many plastic items, in fear of melting them.
I view fishing gear the same as firearms, meaning, "Buy the best you can afford and use it to its capacity". I do not baby any gear I own. This night I used one of my favorite St. Croix light spinning rods, a bulletproof Ugly Stik, a G Loomis and a Shimano, all with various Shimano spinning reels with braided lines.
My Skum Frog didn't gather too much skum from the surface, and casted well, so that's what I went around the ponds and reconnoitered with. No luck. Not many other lures would've worked.
The mosquitoes were being assimilated into every pore of my skin, and it was a mind game to not let them take over my world. Thank god for good bug dope. And lots of it. Often.
The frogs were too small to eat, but there were a goodly amount of them. If you have never gigged frogs, I highly recommend it. It is easy to do, but sometimes scary dependent on conditions. Sometimes I wade the shore with gig in hand and whatever lights I care to use at the time. Lights freeze frogs. Lights freeze frogs like statues. Be swift and sure and AIM HARD with your gig outfit of choice, bring them in and cut their heads off to kill them quickly. Take the legs and throw the carcasses back in for food. My current favorite gig outfit is a standard four-pronger, but the wooden shaft is from a 12 foot long branch-trimming pole I use to trim trees in my yard. I also usually drill a hole in the end of the shaft and install a large key ring, that I tie to about 15 feet of parachute cord that I tie to my belt loop in case I want to throw the gig and retrieve it again.
I also use a light spinning rod with soft body topwater lures like mice. Big bullfrogs will sometimes hop over lilly pads FAST like flailing aquatic coyotes and swallow the lure in a second. The lure has hooks, but invariably, they are not impaled. They're just stubborn. They fill their mouths with the lure, and sometimes they're not even choosy. They JUST WON'T LET GO! All you have to do is reel them in. The limit in Illinois is 8 frogs, so that's 16 legs. Sometimes each leg is as big around as your thumb, and has lots of meat. This is extraordinary food with myriad preparations available.
My flashlights of choice that night were the Bushnell 165 lumen Anthracite LED flashlight, my bulletproof long term reliable Pelican 2680 Heads Up Recoil LED headlamp, my new favorite small headlamp, the Princeton Tech Tactical Quad headlamp, the ASP Sapphire light with blue LED that I always have as a minimum, and my favorite Browning Tactical Hunter light with the red filter in one of my tackle boxes.
I wore the outstanding ATN NVM-14 Gen 4 monocular for most of the blackest of night. In the midst of the black I was fishing and hiking, walking around in the sticky, stagnant, bug dope dripping, mosquito swarming fetid liquid air with my 12 foot gig and hiking boots and not much else. I could see several hundred yards using the headgear-mounted night vision monocular, since it was clear and the moon and stars were bright. I fished with the night vision unit attached for much of the night. Lots of good surreal experimentation in the deep woods.
I caught four catfish that night, too small to keep. I had so much fun, but missed My Shirley.
Skin Damages, Chuck the Vet's Nikon Monarch Binocular, Tom's Halibut, Picking Carrots for my Queen
At our company picnic a couple weeks ago a kid fell and opened the bridge of his nose down to the cartilage. I had my truck with my emergency gear in it and was able to clean him up and bandage him before his parents took him to the hospital.
He needed 5 stitches from a plastic surgeon. This stuff happens at the least expected times, so it pays to be prepared. I recommend every vehicle have some type of emergency medical kit, and, of course, flashlights, a blanket, etcetera. I lost some skin at that party, too. Racing a nubile young gal through the obstacle course. I picked all the scabs off by now, so I'm a bit more streamlined again.
Chuck the vet came over to learn how to clean his optics. He needed a new binocular for an upcoming antelope hunt, and I recommended the Nikon Monarch in a 10x42. Great glasses. He also vaccinated Rad while he was over.
I have an antelope hunt in Wyoming coming up, too. I'll be using a bicentennial Ruger 77 (not a MK II) rechambered to .270 Weatherby. I won't be using my old stash of 150 grain handloads, but I'll be trying some different flavors of 130 grainers. I'll install a Leupold VX3 4.5-14x40 with a CDS dial. You can't get any better, in my opinion, for this application. No parallax knob issues to deal with, and the cartridge shoots so flat I may not even need to adjust the elevation dial at all. But, it's there if I need to go very long.
My Shirley has been kicking my butt in darts lately, and for the first time ever won four out of six on a page. She is my queen and I serenade her and even pick the carrot pieces out of her salad so they don't get stuck in her teeth, and this is what I get. We do play for blood with no quarter asked or taken.
Tom the rep came back from a fishing trip to Alaska and thoughtfully provided me with some halibut and salmon. I had some halibut Saturday, and it was outstanding. You can almost taste the icy cold waters she came from. Thanks, Tom.
Elk Bourguignon, Princeton Tec Tactical Quad Headlamp, Picnic, OP .50, Hunts, Holster Class, and Gardening
A lot of cuts from my elk last year were a bit tough, so I made some elk bourguignon a couple days ago. It was a complicated recipe, and turned out rich and complex. A whole lot was going on with every bite. With some home baked bread and cold cottage cheese salad with fresh sweet 100 cherry tomatoes and chives from our garden the meal was quite special looking, as well as tasting. If you like heady red wine, you would enjoy this recipe over egg noodles. The cabernet sauvignon I used with other ingredients for marinade helped break down the connective tissues in the meat as well as flavored everything. Wonderful meal.
When I'm grilling lately I've been using a different light than my old favorite Pelican 2680 HeadsUp headlamp. It's the Princeton Tec Tactical Quad headlamp. It has three power levels and a strobe, and comes with a sliding red lens for better preservation of your night vision. It's light and comfortable. I've been using it to pick vegetables from our garden at night, also.
My Shirley's garden is having a great year. I've already brought in several baskets of cucumbers, and the tomatoes and zucchini are proliferous. Great weather and My Shirley's hard work is really paying off this year. Thanks, Shirley. Rad helps, also.
We had our company picnic, and it was another resounding success. It's a blast getting together with our co-workers and their families and friends, and well as our vendors and their families. The food was great, and there was good and bad karaoke. My Shirley got her love song and a flower from me again. I am a hopeless romantic for this wonderful woman, even after decades.
I built up a gun I dubbed the OP .50 and hung it in our main display case. This 27 pound behemoth will be gracing our pages soon, and you'll hear more about this awesome giant.
George held four holster classes, and 66 people attended these trainings. They were beneficial to all who attended, and all of the classes are made not just for them, but ultimately for you, the customer!
Hunts this year so far include Iowa trophy whitetail with muzzleloader or slug gun (haven't decided what I'll use yet), a bow hunt in Southern Illinois, antelope in Colorado, and some coyote shenanigans with night vision, among other things. I may gig frogs this weekend. Giant clean frog legs with butter and garlic can make a grown man cry.
Have a great weekend.
Gun Vault GV5900 Safe and Fresh Garden Cooking
I got a gun safe delivered to my office the other day. It's a Gun Vault GV5900. A decent product at a good price, made to keep more than honest people honest. I certainly can't get into it without a combination. It's a bit over 200 pounds and can be easily bolted to the floor via the holes predrilled into it. It will hold up to a dozen guns, so there's plenty of room for my toys coming to and from work. The electronic key pad on top is easily manipulated and is easy to set to the combination you choose. It's sturdy enough for my purposes here, and a great value.
Our garden is going crazy. Cucumbers are filling our baskets faster than we can give them away. I'm already tired of cucumber salads with vinegar and red onions, and equally tired of creamed cucumber salad. Zucchinis are the same way. Raw, grilled, made into boats like pizza bread, sauteed, casserole, even chocolate walnut zucchini bread. Yellow squash is coming in now, too. The tomatoes are just starting. The jalapenos are giant and fabulous. Great for grilled poppers with cream cheese, baby shrimp, and pepperoni. Our cilantro is taking over. Our herbs are great, and I already harvested and dried lots of pony tails of oregano. Last weekend I made elk stuffed green peppers just picked from the vine. Outrageously delicious. My thanks to My Shirley and Rad for doing such a great job in the garden this year. Good soil and appropriate rain so far helps a lot.
Weaver Tactical Mounts and Best Scope Values
I've been pretty impressed with the new Weaver Tactical line of riflescope mounts and accessories. I've been suspect of this company since the last couple of owners screwed it up royally. Seems like ATK, the new owners, have really cleaned house and started fresh. The made in USA tactical line is a perfect example. Innovative products, made here, with items that are well thought out and usable. There's an AR Ambi Sling Adapter that does not require you to remove your buffer tube. How come nobody else has thought of this yet? The Rail Mount Sling Adapter is another well made product that is half the price of other go-fast manufacturer's offerings, and sure seems as well made. I just installed an Offset Rail Adapter and an Oversized Trigger Guard on one of my latest project guns and they are the nicest of their types I have seen. Again, they're half the price of other offerings. The Rail Adapter and some of the other parts have such niceties as a screwdriver slot cut into the hex screws so you can use either tool to install and remove them. Look for these folks to dispel old myths about quality and innovation. Weaver is most definitely back in the game.
A friend John from Beretta was in the other day and asked me what the best values were in a scope. The Zeiss Conquests are great values, as are the Bushnell Elite 3200 and 4200 lines, and the top of the heap of best values may very well go to the Nikon Monarch 2.5-10, one of my favorites. I use all these products and those are the top values that come to mind. You can't go wrong with any of them.
A shout out to the family of the guy killed in the car accident in front of my house yesterday. There was nothing I could do as a first responder, and it bothers My Shirley and me quite a bit. Our prayers are with you. It could happen to any of us at any time. Enjoy the time you are given.
Happy Independence Day!
Happy Independence Day! From an old Navy salt to the rest of the veterans, thanks for serving!
Three day weekend coming up for some. More time for projects. Lately I've cleaned and mounted some turkey skulls for Mark the Turkey Hunter, scrimshawed some Alaskan walrus ivory necklaces for a friend's wife and My Shirley, built a 1/6 scale motorcycle for one of our displays, cooked a lot of grand food, and I'm building some elk chili to take to a fireworks party. Took the hog to work four days in a row this week. Working on an AR with everything mounted on it but the kitchen sink for another display. Lots of garden work and our flowers and vegetables are growing heartily. Tilled some ground after clearing scrub and laid some railroad ties. Weather has been beautiful here. Chicago Mayor Daley had his butt handed to him by the Supreme Court regarding the second amendment. He and his squirrels are scrambling to enact odious but legal laws to circumvent the court's ruling.
OPMOD products are moving out quickly, get one soon.
Have a safe and happy 4th of July.
OPMOD EXPS2 EOTech, Pistol Match, and Spiderman Boxer Shorts
The OPMOD EXPS2-2 and EXPS2-0 EOTechs are selling like crazy. These OpticsPlanet exclusive products' notoriety has taken off due to chat on popular gun forums and industry word of mouth. We are actively working on more OPMOD products, as well as a variety of exclusives.
It's been busy here, like normal. Just like poker, I'm all in. My projects are so numerous they seem like schools of salmon swimming upstream against a raging current. Occasionally a bear grabs one. Lately one of the projects is assembling a 1/6 scale Harley for a display. Too many parts!
One of our guys just taught an AR-15 class here and over 70 people attended. Great class. People unfamiliar with firearms just eat this stuff up. It starts at youth. Put a small boy in an empty room with two coat hangers and he'll come out with one shaped into a car, and the other like a gun. Most adults have cars, but don't realize they can have guns, too.
My friend Daryl came in from the kingdom of Norway last week with his wife and new baby, Magnus. We had good conversations about his life there. He said the Norwegian army is kind of for show. There's so much coast line that if they were ever invaded they all should meet in Oslo with their Krag Jorgensens and put their backs together. We were also able to shoot a match set up in his honor at our local shop after hours. I shot my Krebs Custom 1911 and kicked everyone's butt. First stage used a GSG-22 with a red dot sight at 20 yards. Second stage was your choice of centerfire pistol with a reload at about 15 yards, and the third stage was a CZ Cadet at 21 feet strong and weak hand. Fun course, and my thanks to Jim and the guys for organizing the shoot.
My Shirley and I splurged on a new dart board. We play serious darts every night. She kicks my butt sometimes. She's a wicked good player. We got a Winmau Blade III board, the best I know of, and we've had several great boards over the years. We also get to chat about our day when we play. A lot of couples don't get that face time. I recommend it highly. Sometimes, though, I wonder if I'm being taken seriously in my Spiderman boxer shorts.
Cooking has been outrageous lately. Chicken cordon bleu, 5 hour ribs with my own rub, smoked cream cheese jalapenos with shrimp and pepperoni, garlic chicken burritos, smoked wild turkey, beans and smoked ham and cornbread, and the list never stops. It's little wonder I'm not exactly svelte.
HAWKS WIN!!!!! Chicago Blackhawks superstars Bobby Hull and Stan Makita and others used to show up at a local meat market called "Bartucci's" when I was growing up. The last time they won the cup was 1961, the year I was born. This is the start of a dynasty. Chicago went absolutely nuts.
Happy birthday to My Shirley today! Happy first day of Summer!
Keep in touch with your guns.
OPMOD EOTech EXPS2-2 in Stock
OPMOD is an acronym for OpticsPlanet MODification. OPMOD products will encompass our own versions of go-fast products meant for the tactical crowd. OPMOD is a play on the acronym SOPMOD, which means "Special Operations Peculiar MODification". SOPMOD is a kit of various items issued to certain military special forces units to configure their M4s or SCARs to their own wishes by the addition of certain products from the SOPMOD kit.
The exclusive OPMOD EOTech EXPS2-0 and EXPS2-2 holographic sights utilize a single, transverse battery and a cantilevered battery compartment meant to rise above the delta ring on standard black guns. The whole unit only requires 2 3/4" of rail space to mount, leaving room for ancillary items such as magnifiers and back up iron sights. The OPMOD EXPS2 sights will run for up to 600 hours on a single CR123 battery, and is waterproof to 33 feet.
The OPMOD EXPS2 sights differ from the XPS2 sights by combining a single quick release throw lever and side buttons for ease of use. The 7mm raised base puts the center dot above the front sight, resulting in a lower 1/3 co-witness, which many users prefer.
The EOTech holographic sights are issue equipment for our troops, and are battle tested every day. The rectangular screen does not reduce peripheral vision as traditional tubed sights seem to do. It is a parallax free, two eye open, wicked fast sight that can be used for precision shots also, since the center dot only subtends one inch at a hundred yards.
The OPMOD EXPS2 is the first in a series of OPMOD exclusive products designed for hard use in all conditions. The OPMOD EXPS2 is available only through OpticsPlanet.