Cheering myself up is not so hard to do...

I did some Tarot, and it made me feel cheerful. I think there may be some inertia short term, but things will flow eventually.

I also finally hung the Finocciona Stein and I made last week. It is so pale! I think the shoulder-butt we used was really really fatty. I am sure it will make for yummy salumi, but it is definitely not the standard color. I wish we had used the fattier pork for the saffron salumi as it would have showcased the mild yellow color really well.

I also put some hot coppa to cure and used my new "Smoking Gun" to cold smoke the Nduja with some apple and cheery woods. I used Alder last time and I wished for the sweeter wood when I was done, so this time I used fruit woods.

The Smoking Gun works well but it has to be frequently refilled with tiny wood chips. It worked well when I cater-wrapped a lexan and left the gun inside for two bowls full of wood. . . I am curious however how much smoke flavor it really imparts? We shall see!!

The last batch of Finocciona is almost done curing, the beef middle sized ones maybe need another week or two. I am going to mist them with water so they don't dry out too fast!

Bri and I are spending the lazy weekend at home with me getting some loose ends tied up for work. I still need to case the Tusan which means I need to clean and tie some beef middles and set up the stuffer. The problem is it is easily 100 degrees today and not the best weather for stuffing sausages. I will try to get to that early tomorrow morning when it is still cool.

I had a fantastic day on Thursday with Stein and his best friend, who is moving up to the area. We went to the city and dropped off product then out to Napa. Napa is one of the world's most perfect places. Rolling vineyards, great food, goats roaming in pastures... we came home and watched Bottle Shock and drank two bottles of V Sattoui Sangiovese and then we watched Sucker Punch, which I also thought was fantastic. I slept most of yesterday... and was grateful for it.

I have been feeling pretty depleted, but the rest has cheered me up and I am feeling a lot more zen today. I have come so far and I am doing great! It is not my fault my landlord is not very organized and I have enough catering and restaurant business that I should do ok until he can figure it out. I wish things were moving faster, but I need to stop being a spoiled baby about not getting everything I want, the first second I want it. I am pretty sure I will survive this process!