Where did the artichoke buy a drink? The salad bar!

I like things made with artichoke (the hearts on a veggie pizza, dips for chips and crackers, etc.), but I really like to just eat them simply roasted as the main feature.
Probably the simplest complex veggie to cook. Here's how I do it and it's perfect every time;

First, you gotta pick out that one best gorgeous artichoke. The thicker the stem, the bigger the "heart" inside the base, just above the stem. Wash it. Admire the purple. :D

Next, you're gonna need a sharp knife. A VERY sharp knife. Because these little suckers are hard to cut.
You're going to cut off the stem, just below the base, and cut off the top third because that part is inedible anyway.

See those little spikey tips of the petals? They're not necessary and kind of bothersome...go ahead and snip them off if you like. I do.

Get out your tin foil and rip off two pieces to make a double thick foil wrap.
Mix a little garlic and a pinch of crushed basil in your favorite olive oil and drizzle that all over, making sure it gets down inside the petal layers.

Wrap that 'choke up fairly tight and pop it in an oven preheated to about 425°F.

Set your timer for an hour and fifteen minutes (add another 20 minutes or so if your veggie is ginormous, or shave off 15 or so if it's really small).

When it's done, and cool enough to handle... unwrap it and plate it. gently pull the petals open and salt/pepper it if you like. This time, I didn't. The garlic was enough.

The petals practically fall away. The edible part is the pearly light color near the base.
You want to put the petal in your mouth and sort of suck that part off...using your teeth to scrape it. Your teeth and tongue will tell your were the tender part is.

Discard the "husk" of the petal. You can't eat that.

You might think, "oh my, that's a lot of work for just the ends of the petals." Well, not really. And there's a zillion of them. But here's the payoff... now it's getting good...
See that round pod that's sort of acorn-y in appearance with the purple-ish/pink-ish curled petal tips on top? THIS is the goal at the finish line.

Use a fork or spoon and lift that "cap" off. you'll see something that resembles cornsilk underneath.

You're gonna remove that stringy looking "silk". It's really easy. Everything is super soft.

Once you have it off, you've just uncovered the Mecca of Artichoke. The Pièce de résistance. The Indian Red of the Crayola box. THIS part is what's in those expensive little jars at the store, marinating in who-knows-what (preservatives and all). THIS is the artichoke heart. Congratulations.
Scoop that up and bon appétit.

Schroeder Bauman Maiden Voyage

Here's the lovely Schroeder Bauman... my Commander barrel on the Officers frame;  

The diamond back cut of the serrations is repeated on the front strap and the mainspring housing.

The mainspring housing is also rounded for a much comfier grip;  

On the full sized grips, the finger grooves were too wide and extended forward too far to be a comfortable fit for me. This compact (3") frame has scaled back grooves that are less prominent and closer together, making the fit better for my grip;

Night sights, Novak night sights, how I love thee;  

Most of her first range work was right about 35ft. Ish.   

I ran about 100 rounds of dirty Winchester White Box through...For those of you who like those "dirty pics" ;)

The trigger is so smooth, it's amazing. There's just a hint...barely detectable...of take up (so nearly imperceptible, I don't even want to call it "take up" but can't think of what other word might fit)...then the sweet crisp of the break.
It's truly a clouds parting, heavens opening, doves descending, harp music playing, sunbeam showering moment...  

It's worth the effort and cashola to get those little personalized areas done to your liking (like the rounded grip, the scaled back grooves, etc.)
I'm a fan of the internal extractor, too.
The diamond back design is cut a smidgen deeper on the slide than on the front/back straps...giving it that extra frictiony feel for slingshot reload.
On a low to high scale of 1-10 where I'd rated my Kimbers at 7s and 8s, and the Sig at a 9... this one gets a 9.9.

I don't know if it's the Holy Grail of 1911, but it's close enough to be my unicorn. 

  

Schroeder Bauman Tour

Over the last year or so, I've become increasingly curious about the 1911 made in my own back yard.
I had the opportunity to meet the president of the company and ask him a zillion questions. He's a very personable guy, and invited me for a tour of the facility where they are made. How could I turn that down?
The place is a lot smaller than you'd think, and everything from start to finish is done right here.

I saw each of the cutting machines up and running. 

There's a block with exacting measurements to refer back to.  It's also a quick "go/no go" gauge. 

These are mainspring housing blanks;

 This is a mainspring housing that needs to still be tumbled and polished; 

 Here is a finished blued mainspring housing;   

Cutting billet steel gets hot, so water coolant methods are used often...

These raw frames will be deburred, polished and buffed. Then Cerakote will be metabolically bonded to the rails on top.

These slides will get the same treatment, also having the rails Cerakoted. When assembled, the coated surfaces interface, making for super tight fit while still being super smooth with ceramic sliding on ceramic. 

An "assembly line" usually doesn't mean this anymore, but one guy with a frame will come in this room and (one by one) go down this line, taking one part out of each bin and assembling the firearm by hand... taking care that everything is exactly how it should be. The second set of bins on the opposite wall is almost the last step.

The only parts (other than tiny springs and roll pins from Brownells) that aren't hand cut and made right on the Schroeder Bauman facility are Storm Lake barrels, Nowlin triggers, Novak sights, and Pearce grips. Everything else is made right here. Anything that is purchased for these guns has to pass an intensely critical quality check and has to be made in the USA.

These hammers are the design of one of the SBfirearms employees.

At Schroeder Bauman, the employees are an integral part of every single aspect. Ideas and suggestions share equal footing with the ideas of the president of the company. 

Here is a box of thumb safeties, next to a box of thumb safety blanks, from which they started out life; 

The spring plugs here are on their way to being cut down and polished. The checkering on the front is a repetition of their "Diamondback cut" found elsewhere on the gun (front strap, custom cocking serrations...) 

 Before any firearm is packaged up, it goes through a last check for perfection. Not one checkering line can be off, not one piece ill-fitted, not one blemish on the metal... Attention to detail is the name of this game. Any last minute adjustments are made here. 

After the last check, comes the test fire. An alert sounds and all the workers clear the area. A cart with a clamped rest is placed at a pre-marked 25 yards and a full magazine is fired into a bullet trap, backed by railroad ties 12 feet by 12 feet and 3 ties deep. Most of the guns fired make an initial hole, and the subsequent rounds all pass through that same hole. THAT is the exceptional accuracy of hand fitting and a true "Custom" firearm! 

After the test fire, each firearm is field stripped, cleaned & lubed, and placed in a hard case along with some sweet SB swag...a key chain with a flash light and pocket knife, a bushing wrench, and a Schroeder Bauman T-shirt.

Here is the lucky guy working with my personal Schroeder Bauman firearm (pics to follow with range report soon!). Thanks, prez!

New Addition to the Kimber Family

I did indeed love the little blued Ultra and it sure looked sweet with the "taffy" purple grips on it...
But I found a sweet little Ultra that was more of what I wanted.

• CDP bi-tone
• Carry melt (dehorned)
• Night Sights

I traded in the blued Ultra and came away with this gem to add it to the Kimber Herd.
I guess more custom grips are the order of the day...

Colt CCG and a rainy day

I'm really digging the fiber optic front sight on this Colt CCG (Colt Combat Government).
Did a little indoor zombie shooting, ran them out to 30ft, according to the markers on the wall...

 Smoked me a zombie...he never saw it coming. Or at least he won't now!
I heard him yelling, "You'll shoot my eye out, kid!!"

When you run those targets out on that wire overhead, the thing just never stops bouncing.
I finally just stacked my sand bags, got my sight picture, and got familiar with the timing pattern of when the "eye" would bounce back into line with my front post. Just about the time I thought it should arrive...*squeeze*.
It worked!
Didn't think I'd be lucky enough for it to work a second time, though... when it did, my shootin' pal said, "Girly, before you fire one more round, you better take a picture of that!"