Alcohol and Guns.......

I know I said I was going to post about my family's favorite recipes, this is not one of them, but maybe it will be. I heard that you can make your own vanilla extract, I got curious and googled it, it sounded so easy, and everyone was saying how much more better it is than even the purest highest quality you can buy in the store! The ingredients shocked me, vodka, and vanilla beans!!! That's ALL!!!!! O and a bit of time..... I was told that costco has vanilla beans, but I went there and they said it is only a seasonal thing, then I went to Market of choice, and they had them, FOR $8 FOR 2 SHRIVELED UP BEANS!!!!!!!! So I ordered 25 vanilla beans online at topvanilla.com The type of beans to get are apparently the Madagascar beans, because they are plumper. 

The beans came in the mail today, and I hadn't bought the vodka yet, and I was not planning on going to town today either, but I was so excited, I wanted to make it NOW!! :) I called Bill and asked if he was going to town and he had said he was already been there and was back at the shop again, then I remembered there was an liquor store in Harrisburg, so I asked him if her would get some for me, and he did :) I was all sorts of excited (I have been wanting to make this stuff for weeks!!) When Leon came in, he had his rifle in 1 hand, and a bottle of vodka in the other...hence the name of this blog :) 

He had the gun because he had been wanting to get a certain scope for a long time, and has been patiently waiting, and checking out prices everywhere, and he finally found it yesterday, at a local pawn shop for $100. He told the guy to hold it, until he could bring his gun in and make sure it would fit, and that is what he did today, so tonight was a very exciting knight for both of us!! 

 I had looked up a lot of different vodka to bean ratios on how to make the extract, and I have come to the conclusion that there is not 1 right way, the one I was mostly following said use 18 beans for 750 ml of 80 proof vodka. My beans came in a pack of 25, and I didn't know what to do with the extra 7 beans , so I just used them all.

 First pour out like 1/4 cup of the alcohol first, we had to do this periodically because we didn't think the beans would make the bottle over flow, but it did, and I watched precious tiny little vanilla flakes go down the drain :(  

Slice the bean length wise, then scrape out the pulp, and put the pulp and the whole bean into the bottle. Repeat 25 times :)

 This is a bad picture of the bottle before we shook it up...and below is what it looks like after you shake it up.

 I am going to shake it once a day for 2 weeks, then maybe like 3 times a week for 4 weeks-ish. I really have no plan, but to taste it after week 5 and see how it tastes.I'll keep you up dated :)

 Here is Leon with his rifle, and new scope, trying to get the dogs to all listen and sit pretty so I can take a picture.....

And here is how the picture ended up, 2 dogs playing, and the little black puppy went over to the right and took a nap :)

While writing this Leon discovered some thing with his scope, and said all sorts of wows, and holy cows, he wanted me to see what he saw....I saw really pretty bright red sights, and he clicked a little nob on top, and I said, "oooo, does it change colors?" No it doesn't, he was excited about something else that happens when he clicks the nob, that I don't understand, but it must be something cool :)