Land of the Lost Surprise

The First Step to Gardening 2012: Inventory

2012-02-13T15:56:00.000-08:00

Its that time again. We've already gotten the catalogs. We've walked slowly past the new seed racks at Walmart or Fleet Farm. We've sat with a Sharpie on a snowy day and circled exquisitely-photographed produce, each more fabulously described than the last (I want that job...I truly do). We've already imagined the ultimate yard, densely framed by beautiful plants which also cut our grocery bills.

Now is the first step into reality. We have to inventory our current seeds (bought in the first blush of idealism last year or 3 years ago) and decide what we really need and what we can actually afford.

Not quite as fun.

First of all, I keep my seeds in old mayonnaise containers I got for free at a garage sale. They're fairly large (gallon size?) and have screw lids. I organized the seeds according to planting time and type: Cold Weather (greens, peas), Hot Weather (peppers, squash, corn, zucchini), Beans, Herbs, Flowers, Tomatoes.

Storage: I've kept my seeds in different places over the years. Usually I keep them in these jars on a shelf in the basement (50-70 degrees F). A few years I kept certain jars in the freezer. If you have a lot of seeds you know you can't use up within a few years (my crazy Tomatoes collection for instance) it makes more sense to keep them in the freezer. They're more likely to be viable when you want to use them.

Next, I sit down for an hour and make a list of what seeds I have with a mark (+, =, -) indicating whether the packets are full, half full, or almost gone.

Finally I look over the list and try to make a realistic list of what I need. We always need paste tomatoes, or yellow zucchini or leaf lettuce. The last thing I do is choose 1 or 2 new veggies to try. This year I'm ordering baby savoy cabbage (dh made dumplings).

So let's get those orders in before Spring sneaks up on us. How are things going? Do you have a schedule for ordering new seeds?

Squirrels Enjoy the Unseasonable Weather

2012-02-09T13:42:00.000-08:00

I live up North. Its not like I can see Canada from my house or anything, but it wouldn't take much to get there.

So generally we have something called Winter. Yes, we use a capital letter. Winter deserves a capital letter W up here.

And in Winter the temperature usually drops and we have something called snow. Its a simple way to keep out the unimaginative or those who simply can't slow down enough for shoveling.

Squirrels don't generally care for shoveling, so some time in December they disappear and usually reappear in March or April with babies almost as big as themselves. Perhaps that's the squirrel version of a twilight sleep delivery.

We have a roosting house. For over-wintering birds.

That's not what she thought. Baby squirrel catches sun on the roof.

Mama tells her to get back inside.

The next day baby was climbing up and in and out and down and up and down and up and in and out and in and out and in and out.

I would blame sugar but I'm pretty sure they haven't even found the sunflower seeds I left out on the porch railing. Being stuck in the house makes some kids crazy.

My oldest tells me the baby has been out since mid-January when she was 3" long. Wow. Its a weird, weird Winter.

Winter Reading: Gardening Books about Shade

2012-02-07T11:23:00.000-08:00

We have a shady, shady yard, so last time we were at the library I thought I'd see what they had on that subject. And since I'm reading them I thought it would be helpful to break them down for those of us in the Shady Yard club.

This was a well-organized book. It spends some time covering shade issues (root crowding, starting from scratch, different kinds of gardens) but then it settles in to its biggest asset an alphabetical listing of the best shade-loving plants with a regular 2-page spread for each. Each spread has photos and specific growing information. Having it organized in this manner makes it much easier to seek out plants or just to browse through the different types to see what appeals to you. Also included are 4 tables with his best shade trees, vines, shrubs, and annuals.

This book was not as helpful as the last. It organized itself by having sections detailing types of plants (rhododendrons for instance, they love rhododendrons) and then a table with specific plants. The sections were dense and not very fun to read and the tables seemed to favor zones 6 and 7 over others. Since I'm in zone 4 there were few plants I could use.

Gorgeous photos cover every page, and a much more in-depth text. From this book I learned to look for shady plants based on leaf size (shady plants needing larger leaves for collecting sunlight). Not organized for browsing, but the photo-based book does give you more ideas of what types of plant work together. In order to learn about those plants you do have to flip around the back index. Entries are separated according to color, which can be helpful, but its not as easy to browse as Growing Perennials or Making the Most.

Another extremely well organized book. It has a chart in the front with each variety, giving quick details such as name (Latin/common), bloom time, longevity, maintenance (low, med, high), years to bloom, and preferred light. The only thing I could say against this book is that its only about the 100 most common perennials, but considering the in-depth care in each entry and the listing and grading of specific genus, this is the best book for the average plant and flower gardener with shade. Most of these plants should be available to everyone.

There are a few other shade books on Amazon, but this was available at our local library. For casual zone 4 gardeners looking to put in some flower beds, I would recommend Growing Perennials in Cold Climates.

Looking outside of these books, I wish there was more information about growing food in shade, even wild food. While a few of these books could tell me that wild ginger and purple filbert (hazelnuts) can grow in shade, I don't know if their produce is edible. No notes were made to point out shade-growing food plants.

A New Way to Toast Nuts and a Computer Tip

2012-01-24T07:40:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year everyone!

I've actually been around. I just haven't been able to find the cord which connects the camera with the computer, and since I got my computer back I need it because EyeFi is not set up.

Sometimes we're not very organized.

But since its getting near the end of January I really wanted to get something in. So I'm using pictures from off of the Internet.

Normally, I wouldn't do this because I have a strong sense of Copyright, but Flickr has a cool means to search photos by their Creative Commons license. In other words, some people hold all rights, but others share in different ways. Sometimes all they want is attribution or attribution and making the photo available to others. The photo at the top here was made available by http://healthaliciousness.com/ and asks only for it to be opened to sharing and attributed by a link back to the site.

Tip#1:

To find open photos, go to www.flickr.com. Find the search box. Next to it should be a link called 'Advanced Search.' Click it. Fill in your keyword(s). There are a few other ways to search, but the most important to this conversation is the Creative Commons box near the bottom. Click on "Only search within Creative Commons-licensed content." The most flexible people tend to allow modification so sometimes I click that too, especially if its a wide category.

When results come up, pick a photo. On the photo page the Rights information is in the column to the right of the photo under License. Click on it and it will give you specifics in plain language.

Tip#2:

And because this is a home and gardening blog, and I have a nicely borrowed photo of almonds, I should get to the point.

You can toast nuts in the microwave. Its easier then doing it in the oven or the stovetop.

Place half a cup of nuts on a microwave safe surface. Microwave in 1 minute increments for 3-4 minutes. Taste after every minute to get an idea of what is happening to the nuts and to decide when you think they are done to your purpose. Move them around a bit on the plate (microwaves have hot spots).

This also works for frozen nuts, but it takes longer.

I like this because if you're working on other things its easy to forget nuts toasting in the oven. I can't tell you the number of times I've burned them. A dehydrator also works, but I keep mine in the other room because its so loud. Again, easy to forget.

Merry Christmas from Us!

2011-12-28T20:58:00.001-08:00

And a very mustachioed New Year.

A Better Buckeye

2011-12-14T20:31:00.000-08:00

Some time in the '80s my grandmother clipped a recipe out of magazine or newspaper. That's as good as my cooking heritage gets, despite having a famous baker for a great-grandfather. It was the only year I can remember her baking cookies. She passed a copy of the recipe to my mother the next year with the title 'that peanut butter candy.'

So we've made it every year since then. It has that perfect blend of sweetness, chewiness, saltiness, protein punch, and a light chocolate crunch on the outside.

When we got the recipe I was horrified to find out it had DATES! in it...ewww..aren't they..like..prunes? or something?

You'll never taste the dates, or the walnuts, but they add a depth to the flavor and the slightest chew to the bite.

Peanut Butter Date Candy

1c smooth peanut butter

1c powdered sugar

1c dates, chopped fine

1c walnuts, ground

2 bags chocolate chips

1. If necessary, chop/grind walnuts and dates with a knife, food processor, or mortar and pestle. You can buy them prepared but they're more expensive that way.

2. Dump everything in a bowl. Mix until well combined. You can use a utensil but hands actually work better if you don't mind getting dirty (or live with children who don't mind).

3. At this point you can either chill it for a few minutes to get some of the stickiness out (recommended) or be impatient and start making little balls @ 1/2" around more or less. Place balls on cookie sheet (this batch requires 2 sheets). See photo above. If you don't chill don't expect the balls to be perfect. You can smooth them right before coating with chocolate.

4. Freeze or refrigerate overnight, or at least 2 hours.

5. Melt chocolate chips in microwave or double boiler. You will probably not need all of both bags, but if you are new to making a chocolate coating it helps to have extra. Also, don't put it all in at once. It can be difficult to roll the balls in the chocolate.

6. Put on some good music. This will take a while. Get two spoons. Here is where I differ from the usual buckeye, I drop a few balls into the chocolate (no more then that the longer they sit in hot chocolate the more they fall apart..keep the other tray chilling). Then I use one spoon to roll it in the chocolate. I roll it onto the other spoon. Then I use the first spoon to cull the extra chocolate off by scraping around the edge. If there are any open spots I 'paint' the chocolate over that spot. Once I think I'm set I put it on another cookie sheet with parchment paper to catch the mess.

7. At this point you can add festive sprinkles if you like, or not.

8. Chill. Store.

These are different from traditional buckeyes in that:

~the dates give it a slight chewiness

~the walnut gives this a protein punch and balances the sweetness

~the chocolate coating is thicker

~there's no spot to make it look like a buckeye nut

Despite these differences, all my Ohio and Pennsylvania friends immediately cry 'buckeyes!!' whenever they see them.

Addictive. Addictive. Especially when you're hungry (protein punch). I have to hide them in the garage freezer.

Christmas Cookies: Review

2011-12-08T11:55:00.001-08:00

I have named December 27th Broken Cookie Day. Coffee, board games, and picking through the ravages of the cookie plate.

This year I made:

mint chip bark

chocolate peanut butter date balls

apple cider caramels

lemon cookies

chocolate-vanilla swirls

sugar cut-outs

chocolate crinkles

pecan fingers

chocolate mint kisses

cardamom shortbread

krumkake

Biggest hits:

mint chip bark

apple cider caramels (when people bothered)

lemon cookies

cardamom shortbread (okay, I obsessed)

Then there's the Alton Brown episode on pinwheels I saw after I made mine.

Krumkake is fun but really more of a fresh treat. And prepare to do a lot of standing around. One minute per side per cookie. Next year I may have Dean look for a second iron, then I'll have a bit more to do.

Holiday Foods: Attempting Lefse

2011-12-03T18:15:00.001-08:00

I am not Norwegian.

Okay, I got that out of the way. I did marry into a Norwegian/Danish family. Lots of talk about lefse (and ludefisk). Lefse is a potato pancake which is buttered and sprinkled with sugar. Its generally made at the holidays. Since I have time this year I thought I'd make an attempt on their beloved lefse. I used an online recipe and tweaked it for my own.

Lefse

10lb of potatoes, peeled and boiled

1/2 stick of butter

1/2 cup cream

1 Tbl sugar

1 Tbl salt

2.5 cups flour

Boil the potatoes. This is a lot like making mashed potatoes until the end.

Rice. Add butter. Allow it to melt. Mix. Chill in the refrigerator for a few hours or overnight.

When you get it out add cream, salt, sugar, flour. Mix well. THIS WILL BE WET. The only thing I could do was add more flour until it was manageable. I couldn't get it off my rolling board. I hear from an actual Norwegian that it should have been rolled out on cloth dusted with flour to make it easier to lift to the grill.

Next time.

The grill should be very hot. 500 degrees Fahrenheit. I have an electric grill that goes to 450 so I set it as high as it went and let it warm up for a good 10 minutes to insure full heat.

Much like any flat bread you will see bubbling and the other side will brown. Flip sides.

You can wrap them in a towel as they come off the grill, or you can butter and sugar them for the hungry hordes.

Tradition seems to have them folded in fourths while stored and rolled like a straw for eating.

A (Mostly) Pictoral Essay on Apple Processing

2011-12-03T17:57:00.001-08:00

A tablespoon of bleach.

Everything in its place (left to right): applesauce pot, apples, sliced apple bowl (for drying), cutting board, tea, compost box.

You can use a slicer for applesauce. For drying I just cut slices off the sides. These apples were from an unsprayed tree so they needed checking for worms and stuff.

Final product. 8 hours in the dryer.

Applesauce. Cooked until soft on the stove then processed.

Easy apple butter.

Its ready when the sauce doesn't leak. It will stay in soft blobs.

Back! and some thinking about a Christmas series

2011-11-14T10:35:00.001-08:00

Hey, I got my laptop back!

Phew, that's a relief.

What you missed:

~drying apples

~making applesauce

~making apple pie

~making apple crisp

Do you see a pattern? It was definitely an apple time for us and I even had a friend come over for Apple Day. That makes it more fun.

There were also 2 birthdays. I made gluten-free coconut cake for L. and buttermilk cake with lemonade frosting for us. Then for D.'s birthday we had chocolate souffle with my in-laws and apple crisp with homemade peppermint ice cream for the actual day. I., my 2nd son, and I whipped the egg whites by hand. Seriously. All 8 of them. It took us at least 30 minutes. I think I got carried away because I had been watching Julia Child's The French Chef, season 1 on Hulu Instant Video (free to Prime users). No joke, she has a giant copper bowl and a whisk as long as my forearm and it only takes her 5 minutes. I am now in awe. I wanted to go grab D and drag him over to watch; it was such an impressive feat.

I also learned how to make homemade lemon curd and chocolate pudding. I'm not sure D. can go back to instant after that. He was really enthused and even went out and bought ladyfingers.

I think after missing apple time and all, I should do some tutorials.

I'm also excited about making Christmas cookies/candy this year. I have the semester off and L. loves baking. So lots of cute tiny baker pictures. He also is trying to convince me that skeletons make great decorations for Christmas cookies. Stay tuned to see if he convinces me.

Short Term Goals Mastered

2011-10-24T07:11:00.000-07:00

We all have things we want to do some day. L. wants to shoot the bb gun without any help.

Last year, I started motivating myself to master a few things I'd never done before:

Cook beans in a pressure cooker (without killing anyone)

Cook beans from scratch (no cans allowed)

Make soup once a week

Eat the soup I make

All things that would help me learn more basic kitchen skills and add more inexpensive vegetarian meals to our menu.

For the last month, without remembering my post last November, I've been working on those skills. I used the pressure cooker once. I made beans on the stove top. I've been making soups from Twelve Months of Monastery Soups by Victor D'Avila-Latourette. It's a great seasonal soup book for beginners and I've been honing my skills.

So I'm unreasonably proud of myself and you all have to put up with back-patting posts like this, and reviews of cookbooks until I can get my computer back.

Sorry about that.

Apple Links

2011-10-20T12:47:00.000-07:00

It's apple season. I thought a few links would be appropriate.

How to make apple cider. Pick Your Own has a lot of great tutorials for canning but this goes a step beyond the standard applesauce or strawberry jam.

How to make apple cider vinegar. A cool skill, but not one we think about that often. Making a vinegar includes changing the fructose to alcohol and then to acetic acid.

My computer is still gone, but I'm keeping busy. The apple lady called. The apple lady is a woman I met 4 or so years ago through a sign she left on the end of her country road, 'Apples for Sale.' I bought all 5 boxes for $20 and D. gave her his card. Ever since, she calls about this time of year if she has extra apples when she's done processing her trees.

This year she had 4 enormous boxes, about 133lb. We paid $25. That comes out to 18-20 cents a pound.

So yeah, I'm busy. If I get my computer back at a time when it's still useful I'll post about my process. I'm drying, making applesauce, and apple butter. If I have energy left after that I may give the links above a look.

One of the best ways to get fruit is to be generous with what you make. Don't be afraid to see who has a tree in their yard. So many people find these things to be more trouble than they're worth. I asked on Facebook and had a few local offers for free fruit too. People eat a few fresh and don't know what to do with a really productive tree. Or perhaps they just have a lot of life stuff going on and don't have the attention to give it.

Inadvertent Sabbatical

2011-10-05T11:35:00.000-07:00

I may be gone for a few weeks.

Don't worry, everything's fine (with me), my computer needs to be sent in for repair. If I can, I'll find the camera cord and continue on the other box.

When I get back I'll talk about my experiment with cornstarch ice cream. I need some pictures first. And more taste-testing of course.

Autumn greetings from Wisconsin!

Painting Yourself a Pick-Me-Up: Kitchen Cabinets

2011-09-29T13:09:00.000-07:00

I was just really down last week. Down and stuck in the house.

By Thursday, I'd had enough. I looked at this...

and said 'Enough! blahblahblah...something has to change.'

So I looked at this. And looked through my leftover paint. And found something I could change about my life.

At about 4pm I started clearing out the cabinets and painting the back-splash of each one. The wallpaper in the kitchen contains blue and yellow. I had yellow, and it seemed like the kind of cheer I needed. You need surprisingly little paint for this project (unless you have a ton of cabinets). They sell trial pints and those work really well. The investment is under $3 as long as you have a brush around the house somewhere.

See how it just pops? Just paint the back...not the sides or shelves.

A little bit of color for my day. And a good reminder that even though I can't change everything in my life there's usually *something* I can.

Plum Kuchen

2011-09-28T07:22:00.000-07:00

Recreational baking, anyone?

I was interested in doing something a little different and some good German baking appealed to me. Oma would be proud...if she'd ever baked anything in my lifetime.

I took a few internet recipes and adapted them. I have some interest in making a more traditional cake with sourdough but this is the quick coffee cake method.

Plum Kuchen (cake)

1/8 lb (1/2 stick) of butter

2/3c sugar

2 eggs

1/2tsp salt

1tsp baking powder

1 1/2c flour

1tsp vanilla

1/2c sour cream

3lb small, ripe plums

cinnamon/sugar

Preheat oven to 375. Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs. Add dry (salt, b.powder, flour). Add vanilla and sour cream. Spray a cake pan or springform pan (you'll get a cleaner line with a springform pan if you want to use this with company). At this point you can do the plums several ways. Halve the plums and remove the pits as best you can. Then you can either push the halves into the pan, or you can slice and make a design like above. Or you could chop some and mix into the batter (the skins leave beautiful red marks) and halve or slice the rest for the top. Sprinkle with cinnamon/sugar or crumble topping. Bake @30 minutes. Do not over-bake! The cake is a simple baking powder coffee cake and it's small so its easy to dry out. Mine was actually done in 20 minutes but my oven was hot. Keep an eye one it after 15-20min.

Side note: You can use 1/4lb (1 stick) of butter and 1/4c of sour cream instead of what's written above. I like the extra sour cream myself. If you don't have sour cream you can use the whole stick of butter and sub milk for the sour cream. Whenever these kind of changes are made it will affect the texture slightly.

Other additions are up to you (nuts? other fruit? apple instead of plum?).

Fall Clean Up

2011-09-26T18:13:00.000-07:00

Harvesting herbs. Oregano ready to be hung and dried. I like to put 10 stalks about a foot long into a group and then tape them in a bouquet. I hang the bouquets from a shelf in the pantry. Culling also thins the plant too, a good idea. Basil leaves sit in a low bowl on the kitchen counter. I crumble the two together in a few weeks when they are dry and easily broken up. I put them in old spice containers and label with a marker on masking tape.

Fall is also the time to order perennials and bulbs. Garlic can be planted. Now is also a great time to thin and divide perennials like I did here. Especially aggressive perennials such as obedient plants or bee balm. Make some space. Fill in other areas with the bounty.

Sometimes plants are too overgrown and need dividing like this sedum.

And my cute little overgrown sun garden is still producing like crazy. I harvested the basil and am on my 2nd leaf growth. Almost time for that too. I purged the limp, yellow lower leaves and the tops started leaving again.

Lots of tomatoes to be harvest and dried in the oven. Cover a cookie sheet with parchment paper or aluminum foil, split tomatoes, a dash of olive oil and salt. The oven should be on its lowest setting. Leave it for 1-3 hours. Remove and use within a week or freeze. Makes great tomato paste or tomato soup base.

And a whole lot of landscaping I may or may not get to before Spring.

Lots more to do. I also cleaned out the shed. Put away some of the tools and chairs. Piled the snow shovels together.

Time for some relaxation and some recreational baking.

Apple Cider Doughnuts

2011-09-20T13:27:00.000-07:00

Most recipes are pretty similar. Last winter I tried this with the Smitten Kitchen recipe. It seemed to lack something (that something may have been my ability to fry things without a thermometer) so I tried a new recipe this time.

I used the Washington Post recipe, but after going through this I think I'd add more flour...more like the New York Times recipe. The 2 recipes are nearly identical (like I said, there's not a wide variety of recipes for these online), but the WP calls for 3.5 cups of flour and the NYT calls for 5.5 cups.

And ohhh, the dough was sticky with the Washington Post recipe. I could roll it out and even cut it out given enough oil, flour, and finesse, but scraping those things off the board in the correct shape was not possible. Go for the extra flour unless you're making amorphous blobs.

I generally don't buy specialty or one-use objects, so I was cobbling together a doughnut cutter. I found a biscuit cutter I found at a garage sale for 50 cents (below right). I was searching for something that made a good hole in that biscuit circle.

I have this adjustable teaspoon/tablespoon measure (liquid and solid). It works great for honey, molasses, salt, etc. It fit perfectly, and the base adjusts to make a nice hole.

This is the part that L. loves the most. I made the biscuits and he cut the holes. What's not seen here? Me, trying desperately scrape the cute doughnuts off the board. Solution? Pull up a few holes to test the oil. Scrape the sticky mess into a pile and add more flour until it accepted it's fate.

I have made these without this (clipped candy thermometer), but in my opinion its worth paying $1-5 if you make these at least once a year. The oil should be between 300-375 degrees Fahrenheit. It is very easy to over-heat or under-heat. Keep an eye on it when it's heating up. Over-heating takes forever to cool down. If you get over 400 degrees F, then put a few inches of water in the sink and cool it down a bit and start again. Otherwise it could be 20 minutes (or more).

I have a digital instant read thermometer but its pain for holding a consistent temperature.

And the cinnamon sugar, that's J's favorite part. He's on topping duty.

And no final product pics. Sorry! There's no way I could keep them in one place that long while I was on fryer duty. lol

Also fun, I grated some apple while we were playing a board game the next day and made apple fritter things. With a light coat of powdered sugar...yum!

Anyone baking anything interesting for Fall?

Golden Raspberries and Stocking Up All the Year Round

2011-09-14T10:42:00.000-07:00

Three this time. That means four so far this year (and two truly tiny ones left on the bush). More than I expected. The Japanese beetles were really bad this year and raspberry leaves appear to be their favorite food.Very mild taste for raspberries. I like the color and fall timing though.

The blackberry also just flowered and is developing one berry at its tip. That could be interesting.

One of the rules I try to live by is stocking up while things are in-season. Walmart had crates on sale for $2 each. They are great for the storage of perishables (food) and inperishables (books, papers, toys). Other stores also have school and office supplies on clearance so it may be time to evaluate your stock of pens, pencils, legal pads, and rainbow colored Sharpies!

Pressure Cooker Explosion Paranoia

2011-09-11T19:22:00.000-07:00

One of the (many) things I've never done is use a pressure cooker.

Several years ago D. bought me one and I looked it over and immediately became confused by the directions and worried by the WARNINGS. Plus my grandmother had one explode on her...no joke..and that's why my mother never even considered using one.

D. was discussing this with a colleague from India and he got a look of disbelief. I guess pressure cookers are pretty common in India and Indonesia so we were considered quite odd.

We probably had that coming.

Anyway, I had 'cook beans in a pressure cooker' on my goal list for the year so I thought I'd give it a try. Feel free to critique my technique because the instructions were pretty vague. I made the kids stay out of the kitchen when I opened it.

1. I had no beans soaked, and it was an hour or so before dinner, so I

rinsed the beans,

brought them to a boil (no cover) for 2 minutes,

and then put on the cover,

turned off the gas,

and let it sit for an hour.

2. With the cover snapped in place I then cooked them on medium heat for @15-20 minutes.

3. This is where the tricky part came in.

I couldn't tell how long I should wait to open. An hour? 15 minutes? Put the whole thing in cool water and open a little at a time? The instructions have each of these options and it seems to depend on what food or food combination is used. They aren't very good at explaining what is a dried vegetable and what is a fresh meat, etc. etc.

I let it sit a bit and then I messed around with the pressure spigot with a long spoon. No burning steam came out so I opened the lid. To be honest, I'm not sure it ever attained pressure. It was a bit like my first time canning. I couldn't say for sure that the jars had ever sealed because I never heard a ping and couldn't tell if the tops looked right.

Eventually the roasted corn/black bean salad was done. D. said the beans were great.

Not sure I'd do this again. It didn't seem any shorter than cooking them on the stove. Andrea Chesman has great stove top directions that don't take any longer than the pressure cooker did. They did seem less squishy though. Definitely more beans from scratch around here.

Westward Ho

2011-09-08T15:35:00.000-07:00

Craving a bit adventure, we threw caution and tomatoes to the wind last month.

We ate birthday cake under a spotlit Mt. Rushmore.

Saw oil rigs on a dusty plain.

Wound our way over some mountains (the Big Horns).

And under others (the Absaroka).

Communed with the past in many different ways.

And played with nature.

Always a new day experiencing something bigger than us.

And a few things that reminded us very much of home.

Sometimes I just had to pinch myself. It was all too amazing.

But we're all glad we're home. Thanks to the family who hosted us on our way.

August 10th Update

2011-09-08T15:12:00.000-07:00

Before we left the Midwest completely on a summer adventure, we were here...baking, swimming, gardening and the like.

As of early August, things were still a little lean (late start on my part).

Luke contented himself with cutting up a lone asparagus (asparagi? just like the way that sounds).

We also found one perfect blueberry low on the bush. The deer never found it.

And the tomatoes were heavy on the branches. I feared they would ripen and rot while we were gone.

Why You Should Go Pick Berries Today

2011-07-29T07:52:00.000-07:00

Blueberries and summer Raspberries are ripe.

Last week I woke up at 6:30am, Dean watched L. and J. and I went berry picking.

1 hour equals 9 lbs of blueberries and a quart of raspberries.

One of the reasons I mention this is not to do a blog diary of my life (although I do sometimes), but because storing food has many benefits.

1. It's cheaper if you do it yourself. Having your own bushes are cheapest, but finding a local grower and picking your own is a cheap alternative. These blueberries cost $1.50/lb. Occasionally Walmart or Aldis will have something similar for a few weeks late in the season, but those products will have been picked early (loosing vital time sweetening) and be on the very edge of freshness (if not well past good eating).

2. It's fresher if you do it yourself. See #1. Growers pick many berries before they are completely ripe and let them color as they travel. Other berries get picked at peak ripeness and then have to travel to market. Nothing is as fresh as something you picked this morning.

3. It's sweeter if you do it yourself. See #1 & #2. You pick only the freshest, sweetest berries.

4. You choose your favorites. If you only want the largest, most perfect berries for a perfect company dessert...you can have that. Store, and even most farmer's markets, choose which are sold together. You can find the best pack, but you can't pick individual berries.

5. You have healthy, cost-effective food choices all year long. People often say unhealthy foods are cheap, healthy foods are expensive (especially organic or natural foods). One of the reasons for this is that healthy foods are shipped for fresh eating (expensive gas). Another is that unhealthy foods are processed and stored, thus making them cheap for the company to buy in season and produce all year. Become your own production plant! Buy cheap, wash, flash-freeze, and store!

6. Frozen berries are a special treat. For kids that balk at fruits and vegetables, frozen fruit is like a sugar popsicle. Frozen strawberries, juice, and yogurt smoothies make a great breakfast or natural dessert.

So that's my soapbox. Do yourself a favor and pick some berries. Show your kids what ripe berries look and feel like. Eat some. Process them together. Freeze. And Enjoy them all through the year.

52 Books/ 52 Weeks--April/May/June

2011-07-17T08:40:00.000-07:00

I've forgotten to update this (and honestly, through some of these months I've been so busy I've barely read anything that didn't have something to do with my class).

April

The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell...non-fiction science/sociology

"Don't Bother Me Mom--I'm Learning!" by Marc Prensky...non-fiction games in education

May

Theory of Fun for Game Design by Raph Koster...non-fiction how people respond to games

The Terminal Experiment by Robert Sawyer...science fiction

To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis...science fiction Victorian time travel

June

Tom's Midnight Garden by Phillppa Pearce...classic children's novel

As you can see, I have a lot of catching up to do! I'm definitely doing my best this month.

Photo by Amelia-Jane on Flickr. http://www.flickr.com/photos/meeli/

Cookbook Review: Camping & Hiking

2011-07-13T10:00:00.000-07:00

I thought it might be fun to start a regular cookbook review on the blog. Even if I don't check out anything else or have time for reading I usually check out a cookbook to look through for ideas.

Last week it was The Trailside Cookbook by Don and Pam Philpott.

I don't usually bother with camp cookbooks. If you know how to make pancakes, stew, or foil packets you cover 60% of camping cookbooks. They can seem like introductory cooking guides...over a fire.

I was pleasantly surprised at this cookbook. Not only does it go into how to dehydrate using an oven, but it includes recipes which are a bit more complex without being too gourmet. Things my kids might eat. Things I wouldn't mind trying at home. And the snacks section was interesting. Healthy stuff I can make at home.

I'm still looking through it. I hope to offer a favorite recipe soon.

I apologize for the bad photo. I was trying to cut out the library tag for privacy's sake.

Tomato Tub Update

2011-07-12T15:16:00.000-07:00

I'm really amazed at how these have grown!

All of them have flowered.

One even has little tomatoes!!

It has been raining a lot this week, but before that we'd only filled them twice. Once at the beginning and once during a week long dry spell.

July 4th and the Freedom to Find Your Passion

2011-07-04T20:21:00.000-07:00

The other day, on Facebook, someone asked what our favorite art medium was. I said baking...and gardening. I'm glad I have an expression that can be done in limited time with limited supplies.

In a town in central Wisconsin there is an old retired lawyer wearing a large pair of overalls. He cracks bad jokes but he builds lifesize...um...these...

It's called Jurustic Park, and he's always available to give the tour of rehabilitated helicopter, factory chains, and scrap metal magically changed into characters that will remind you of Jim Henson or The Far Side.

Enjoy your passion. Enjoy other people's passions. Happy (US) Independence Day.

Too Much Compost

2011-07-02T17:00:00.000-07:00

You've probably heard me whine about my lack of sun often enough.

Last year we put a raised bed of strawberries in the front/side yard. This year the city dropped off a little too much (waayyyy too much) compost, so we dumped some of it next to the raised bed. I was thinking of my poor ignored tomato plants.

First I planted a few next to the asparagus. I had squash go great-guns there last year.

Then I raked the dirt over and planted in it. Notice the car wheels and basketball hoop right next to it. Hmm, maybe I should rethink this.

Too late now.

This week: plants look good and straight. I think they've grown an inch or two. I haven't lost any of them. I moved the basketball net to the other side of the driveway, and Dean plants..I mean parks...there so I'm not worried about careless little feet getting out of cars.

Time will tell. Perhaps I'll take over that entire side of the yard. Bwahhahahaha.

The Mystery Plant

2011-06-30T21:08:00.000-07:00

I got some window/railing boxes at a sale last year, and Walmart had a clearance sale on coconut fiber bottoms over the winter so I snatched those up for almost nothing.

In mid-May I filled them with dirt and planted out my surviving lettuce...and a few seeds. The seeds were lettuce, spinach, and radishes.

Those aren't radishes.

Actually I'm not sure what they are. Stunted broccoli? Kale? They even flowered before I realized it wasn't just some weird radishes (I've never grown them before).

Well, at least one lettuce made it.

Speed-tainers

2011-06-29T19:58:00.000-07:00

Dean's speedy earthtainers. I'll just call them speed-tainers.

Notice the sandwich baskets work as support.

Some kind of board top. He left the edges open for water/dirt crossover. This may mean too much water crosses over. We'll just do some experimenting.

Additional tubs.

By the way, I just wanted to reiterate that Dean has not read any of the plans for Ray's original design(s). He took my explanation of what I saw and riffed on that. When he read my last post he was a little amazed at how professional Ray's earthtainers look. Considering that he was working from my verbal explanation I think he did a great job.

Also, many people have a personal problem growing things in plastic. I just want to add that you can do this with a 5 gallon bucket made of food grade plastic and other similar materials. I am just VERY CHEAP. These three tubs were made for @$4 each. Some people spend up to $50 making an earthtainer. I'm not that invested, just curious.

Earthtainers

2011-06-27T20:35:00.000-07:00

I'm sorry, it's been so busy around here that I haven't even planted my tomatoes...let alone blog.

I decided to try making homemade earthtainers...a plastic container with a water reservoir underneath. That way I can access more sunlight (on the southern exposure which is paved) while using less water (no hose hook ups over there).

A few weeks ago Dean helped me take some old plastic pots and put holes in them with his drill press to use as wicking baskets. The idea of pond baskets seemed a bit more expensive then we wanted for this experiment.

This weekend we started where we left off. We had to figure the width of the pots where they widen out so we could cut a hole in the water reservoir. We drew a circle around the widest point then we measured how far in it went. We made a cardboard circle pattern. In general this would have been much easier if we used a $1 sand bucket or a pricier pond basket.

Next Dean cut the edges off a plastic container. I got these for $3-4 at Walmart. We tried a few electric tools from a dremel to a saw but they savaged the plastic pretty well. A hand saw worked the best.

So now the lid fits inside the bucket and there's a hole for the water/dirt interchange.

We need something keep the lid from collapsing into the reservoir. We cut up some old gutters we had and stationed them around.

And a hole for the water pipe. We want the water to come up from below..not watering from above. This eliminates some of the problem with dirt diseases and lowers evaporation to almost nil. We used some leftover pvc pipe for this.

Here I fill up the water reservoir before we add the dirt.

Dirt and plants. Usually I think this size does 2 plants but I was a little desperate. The entire operation took a little less than an hour, but Dean did 2 more himself in the next 30-40 minutes once we had everything figured out.

Next time I'll show Dean's additional earthtainers with his tweaks.

I recommend following the links. Ray Newcombe came up with a brilliant idea and instead of marketing it he's offered it free to everyone. I like that kind of do-it-yourself ideal. Plus he continues to use it himself, tweak, and refine it and he welcomes other people to do the same.

Summer Slides in with Blues and Purples

2011-06-06T11:18:00.000-07:00

When That '60s Cabinetry Has Got You Down

2011-06-04T18:34:00.000-07:00

We've lived here for 11 years. The house was built in 1960. There are many things I like about that.

Unfortunately, there was a certain size of refrigerator in 1960. It was under 60" tall. It's kind of hard to find one that size. You can. It's just harder. And it takes a certain puzzle-ability to stock things for a family of 6 in a fridge that size.

Our fridge is making weird noises. Loud weird noises. We've discussed getting a new one but we both felt a little intimidated by the fridge placement and the over-fridge-cabinet we never use.

So I took things into my own hands.

Unseen in these photos I took down the cabinet doors and other hardware.

Dean gets to do the fun stuff.

It feels kind of fun to come home and saw off a part of the kitchen.

And pry up the long nails that hold the bottom shelf on.

Now its all read for me to work my magic. White paint.

All done. Hopefully the other fridge will be large enough to cover the transition between wallpaper and paint. Only a little white paint should stick out.

This is only a small project but it reminds me not to be too afraid to change things. Too often I'm afraid of what I can't finish...or that I will make things worse.

Bat Houses and the Wishful Thinking of a Woman Facing Months of Mosquitos

2011-05-29T19:44:00.000-07:00

Dean found a bat house at the local Bethesda. We have a book about building bat houses, and the intention to (someday) build one but this was too good to pass up.

The slots underneath allow the bats to enter and exit the house.

I like bats, a natural mosquito predator. If they will eat mosquitoes I will pay their rent. Is it so wrong to think this might mean more than 1 minute in the garden without the slide/whack/slide/whack?

Now if only the ticks would go away. Five found so far (two attached), including more deer ticks than usual. I hear they're going to be bad this year.

Another Pea Support

2011-05-29T19:36:00.000-07:00

I'm so far behind that I really haven't planted peas yet. I'm about 2 months late on this one but we were still having snow a month ago so I'm not too worried (maybe).

Instead of my normal structure of dishwasher racks, an old umbrella skeleton, metal shelving, or tripod of random sticks and string I decided to try a different system this year.

First I bought some stakes at the hardware store this week.

Then I bore some holes, 2" apart on both sides of the imaginary fencing. I'm not sure I'll want to use both sides but I did put the holes in. I might use the second set for fall peas.

Sugar Snap Peas. I decided to leave the standard peas off until Fall. I don't know how hot its going to get in June. I'll put in a fall batch in late August/early September.

Pea in each of the holes along the top. Then covered. I'll wait to see how the weather goes before using the bottom holes.

Oh, and my special boring tool, a sturdy stick.

Divide and Plant

2011-05-18T07:49:00.000-07:00

Now that school is over and plants are sprouting its time to check out the new growth outside.

First, my neighbor, who is a Master Gardener, has a plant sale. Between his own yard and the garden he plants along the bike path he has a lot of dividing to do. He uses this opportunity to sell extra plants that are getting too large.

It used to be $1 a plant. This year its $2. Ah, inflation. The money is put back into the garden, new plants, holders, etc. I bought 12 plants this year.

I also bought some bulbs for plants that grow in shade or partial shade. I'm going to turn the garden bed under the trees into a shade flower garden. Along with the flowers pictured I planted pulmonaria, lamium, and dwarf goatsbeard.

I also noticed that the parsley is coming back!

I was really excited because parsley is a biennial and this is the 3rd year I've had it. That means the seeds from the plant last year propagated. I wasn't sure that it would.

Dean and I also divided some of our own plants last night and planted them back into the pots I got from the sale. A friend has moved to a new house recently and could use some perennials. Oregano, strawberry (June-bearing and ever-bearing), bee balm, bachelors buttons, grape hyacinth, black-eyed susan, and lily of the valley. Now if she would only like some Obedient plants. They're taking over the back garden.

One Week Ago (Just Beautiful!)

2011-05-16T07:53:00.000-07:00

Obediant Plants getting a little out of hand. Weeding needed.

Tulips just opened and the whites are already loosing petals!

Blood root with pretty white blossoms hiding underneath.

Two Weeks Ago (Fruit Bushes)

2011-05-14T13:10:00.000-07:00

I've been wanting to plant some fruit bushes for some time. Last Fall, we took out the funky bushes by the front door and I dreamed of blueberry and hazelnut, but because its right under some enormous mature oaks I decided that dwarf lilac, currant, and gooseberry might be better (they do better in the shade).

I bought the bushes at Jungs 3 weeks ago. I choose them in the bare root room. I was looking for buds/small leaves, good thick root structure, and wood stem thickness. This lilac already had leaves. I put the bushes in a bucket of water and left them there (uh-oh!) all week.

As you've noticed with this blog, its been crazy. So this poor little currant sat in the garage all week. He looks pretty good though.

And this tiny gooseberry was at the corner of the house (it has thorns) next to the small pine there.

In the backyard I planted the blueberries (2-Blueray) in a sunny (at least sunny for the backyard) spot next to each other. I checked it this week and its budding. For the blueberries I looked for a good thick root structure since their roots are so near the surface. I have to remember to put a drip hose on these guys.

To prepare for blueberries I dug a very large hole. Then I put in elemental sulfur. Then I filled with oak leaves, added bone meal, added soil, and then I planted the bush on top of that. We'll see how it turns out. I was not able to change the dirt last fall.

The blackberry is budding too. For him, and all the other bushes other than the blueberries (which need acidic soil), I dug a large hole, put in bonemeal, added soil to the desired level, and planted.

The raspberries are the only thing not sprouting or growing. I choose thick canes though. Hopefully they'll catch on soon.

No hazelnuts. Maybe if this works out and I can find another sunny corner.

Three Weeks Ago (Easter and Peep Experiments)

2011-05-14T12:00:00.000-07:00

Easter. Peeps. Peep rainbow. Peep mutilation. Strangely I'm in favor of this. The little liquid pools of sugar with eyes.

A few years ago Dean and I started the peep experiments. Mostly using a microwave to blow the peeps up like balloons before they suddenly deflate into pools of melted goo.

Four Weeks Ago (Almost Maple Candy and My Favorite Lunch)

2011-05-12T11:25:00.000-07:00

Just so you remember what it was like almost a month ago. Remember? Good.

My favorite lunch right now. Homemade yogurt, a little maple syrup (if its a bit tangy), and almonds. Add some vegetables or an apple in with this and its perfect. Lots of protein to get you through the afternoon.

I started putting the maple syrup we were making in those .99 cent squeeze bottles. They don't hold liquid very well (you will get a little circle around the bottle edge but its fun to wipe up with a finger) but you can't beat them for lunch-time speed and accuracy.

Which reminds me of the last time I boiled down syrup. It was low, really low, so I switched it off but I went off to change laundry over or something and I came back to this. The syrup had caramelized. I switched burners but it was too late. Residual heat people! Don't forget the residual heat!

The deep beautiful brown caramel sugar burned before I could pour it out in a cool container. I did get a few finger swipes in. Delicious! And I had fun imagining if I had time to go get a patty pan full of snow like Laura and Mary did at the Sugaring Dance.

No worries, I had plenty from previous batches and a soak in warm water broke down the burned mess. It was a good lesson for me. I'm curious now. It would be fun to break it down to granules next year...if I have enough.

...Not Out to Sea Right Now

2011-05-07T22:31:00.000-07:00

Finishing the semester. Long papers, short papers, collaborative presentations.

It will all be done soon.

Then it will be seedlings, fruit bushes, and the new Samuel Thayer foraging book. Fun stuff.

Skittles...or garage sale treasures your kids will turn into fighting arenas

2011-04-13T20:09:00.000-07:00

You probably don't know what this thing is.

It's not a book shelf.

Or a maze for rats.

It came with wooden tops.

And bowling pins.

It's a game called Skittles.

Dean got it at the first garage sale of the season.

I honestly thought he was talking about the candy.

The first thing the boys did when we got home was say, 'these are the control rooms and these two big spaces are the coliseum.

Really.

New Life in the Northern Latitudes

2011-04-12T06:58:00.001-07:00

In my usual muddled attempt at scheduling, I'm only a week or two behind.

For Zone 4b it's common to sow lettuce and broccoli some in the middle of March, peppers soon after, and tomatoes before April clears the snowy mounds left from Spring storms. First I plant them in the small circles that come with the warming mat. When they grow larger I transfer them to plastic yogurt containers or peat pots. (Some things like cucumbers, squash, or other plants that don't like being moved I start directly in a larger container with lots of space so I don't have to mess with their root system).

Similar to Kathi in Minnesota I've found that my basement is perfect for growing seedlings, but not so perfect for warm weather crops (like peppers) which need a certain temperature to sprout. My new gadget last year was a warming tray. Like a waterproof heating pad it quietly brings the temp up to a balmly 60 or 70 instead of the normal 58.

Which brings me to another Blogoversary. Last year I was starting tomatoes on my new warming mat. The year before I was tapping trees. I finished that this weekend. I have a quart of maple syrup and I'm happy. The year before that was my first year. I was suffering from snow-related Stockholm Syndrome and thinking about the Ingalls' family.

This year I'm taking walks in the woods, visiting abandoned farm buildings, making bread, and thinking about the papers I have to write.

And watching the new life springing up under the lights. First lettuce. Then parsley. Over the weekend broccoli sprang up after only a few days in the dirt. Last night I saw one lone tomato seedling raise its head.

It won't be long now. Season officially open.

52 Books in 52 Weeks: February/March

2011-03-28T14:24:00.000-07:00

I am trying to keep up with this.

February

I started out with Blink: the Power of Thinking Without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell. While not as ground-breaking as Outliers, this did have a few interesting tales in the discussion of how people make snap decisions, for good or bad. Next came The Great Railway Bazaar by Paul Theroux. I love travel fiction so this book of a train journey across Asia and back again sounded like a good fit. Instead I found myself slightly annoyed with Theroux, as he was often with the people around him. In February I also finished the Victorian fairy tale Phantastes by George MacDonald. Not as focused as some of his other work, but it had its moments.

March

In March I finally finished Napoleon's Buttons: How 17 Molecules Changed the World by Penny La Conteur. A really informative book on the history of chemistry. Very cool, but not something to read every night. I've been working on this one for several months a chapter at a time. Since I was behind I tried to catch up by reading the Youth novel Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech about a little girl mourning her mother's departure and trying to figure out her new life. Well written with a light tone. Another reason I'm behind is that I've been reading 688 page Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin as part of my January fairy tale celebration. I liked it, the beginning has a lot of magical realism. The second half of the book gets weirder and weirder. I definitely am interested in reading more Helprin in the future.

I have to catch up with at least one more this week!

How's it going? Reading anything interesting this month?

From Snow to Ice to...Mud? Get Those Taps In!

2011-03-17T19:36:00.000-07:00

The front yard looks like moon craters. The walk from the front door to the sap jug is full of peril.

Which brings me back to our last topic. How do you boil down sap?

People do this different ways. People with a lot of trees will have a grill going or a bonfire. I hear that with a lot of sap boiling a bit of stickiness goes into the air with the water vapor. Not everyone wants to clean up after that.

With my measly 2 trees that is no problem.

I fill my dutch oven (any wide-bottomed pot is best...more heat-to-sap ratio). I turn the gas fairly high. I've never had this scorch unless you burn it all up at the end.

That's it. For a long time. I've had a gallon take between 3-4 hours. You can be walking around doing laundry or cleaning. The last hour or so you should be in the kitchen. Do the dishes. Bake cookies. Something.

The reason I say that is because the first time I boiled sap I was close for the first 2 hours. Then I got bored. Boredom is a deadly thing in the world of gas stoves. I burned out the bottom of that pot and smoked up the kitchen, so please pay attention.

Pay attention to what? Well, there are a few signs to watch for. The color will change (slightly). Light brown. There might be a slight sheen on the top of the liquid as some of the sugars form. And of course there's the taste. Sweet, (comparatively) thick, and (to me) a little vanilla-y.

If you need something more concrete you can use a thermometer. Sap becomes syrup at the boiling point of water (220 F) + 30 degrees (250 F). Personally, I can never get my gauge to show this, but I boil such small batches (a gallon or so) that I can tell by sight when its done (it only covers 1/2-1/3 of the pot bottom).

Then I put it in a plastic container and set it in the fridge. If you have a lot of trees you can can it in quarts or pints.

And be proud of your accomplishment, even if its only an ounce. More will come tomorrow.

Things to Do While There's Still Snow, Part 2

2011-03-15T19:34:00.000-07:00

For those in Zone 4 and anywhere the days are above freezing and the nights are below freezing, there is still time to tap your maple trees.

We've had our taps in for a week and today is the first day we had a good run, so I boiled down 2/3 of a gallon.

What you need (cheap version):

tree taps

drill or awl

hammer

empty milk cartons

strainer

large, wide-bottomed pot

something to hold the finished syrup (empty jar, mason jar, plastic container)

You should already have most of these things in your house. What you do need to buy are the taps. They run @$2-3 depending on where you buy them and their size. They're reusable (just make sure they're dry before you put them away). Most hardware stores and some whole food stores carry them.

Once you have the taps wash out the milk jugs with a teaspoon of bleach and a bunch of water. Get it good and rinsed out (no bleach smell or taste). Then drill a hole in the side 3/4 of the way up where it starts to narrow toward the lid. Keep the lid on the container.

Next, drill a hole in your maple (only choose maples over 12-18" wide), no longer than your tap (1" is pretty standard). Hammer your tap in. Fit the hole in the jug over the tap. I promise you it probably won't fall if the hole isn't too big.

Then check it every 24-48 hours. Empty the jug into a pitcher. Boil down.

I'll try to have more instructions about the boiling process and more pictures as we go along.

But get out there and get tapping! There's no knowing how long the weather will stay perfect and the sap will rise to wake the trees from their winter sleep.

Things to Do While There's Still Snow

2011-03-09T12:11:00.000-08:00

Last week, when it was dripping everywhere, I remembered one more thing I needed to do while the weather was cold.

Freezer thaw and clean out.

I don't have one of those new freezers that de-ice themselves. At least I don't think so. (Remember when Mom used to get out the hair dryer to defrost the freezer? I loved that.)

I got it from a neighbor at a garage sale. All her kids have left home and she didn't need it anymore. It's big enough to store a dead body (not that we have any of those) and the top doesn't latch well but the seal is good.

Sorry, I'm not always green when the price is right. Sometimes you have to recycle something older and save up for the efficient one.

So last week I decided I desperately needed to clean this big boy up and get the ice off the front so it would latch better.

First I unloaded all the food and put it in the backyard. In the snow. Out of the reach of the dog (hopefully).

Butter. Cheese. Whole grain flours. Frozen berries. Ice cream freezers. Ice cubes.

Meat leftover from our share. Hamburger. Steaks. That tenderized chunk I never know what to do with.

Then I left it open an hour. To soften a little. When an hour was up the ice was still pretty frozen. Mostly on the front.

So I knocked it off with an ice scraper for the car. After an hour of 'warmth' it sheered right off.

Then I opened the garage door, threw the ice and snow out, and cleaned out the inside with water and vinegar.

Once that was over I plugged it back in and after a few hours put everything back again (after a quick inventory). The outside temperature never rose above 28 so the meat was fine. Luckily no neighborhood predators found it because the garage was a little too warm to keep it that long.

Back to normal. So now that the Midwest has a bit more snow...you know what you need to do. And if you have one of those new-fangled models go on out there and take an inventory. Or do some research into local meat or produce shares to fill it up.

Spring is coming. Gotta get ready to fill that thing back up again.

Time to Gear Up

2011-03-06T20:31:00.000-08:00

They came (last month actually).

I ordered from Pinetree Seeds again. Tomatoes, beans, herbs, garden staples.

I'm going to try to fashion a small cold frame (again) this year. This time with pvc pipes, covering cloth, clips, and garden staples. I'm not terribly excited about all this but with the bug problems I had last year I figured it would be worth a shot.

Have you ordered yet? Got your seeds? Do you go online or local?

I have a few things left, mostly herbs and flowers, to pick up locally. Jung's is local here so I can pick up things I forgot long ago in January when the snow was flying.

Word Pictures

2011-02-28T09:43:00.000-08:00

Wordle word picture of the Lost Surprise blog.

Good...oatmeal...love.

When the World gives you oranges, and you have them too long, make marmalade

2011-02-16T10:49:00.000-08:00

I'm usually not one for lumpy jams, fruit compote, or sauces. I was one of those kids who picked tomatoes out of tomato sauce and left the margins of my plate littered with lumps.

However, I was recently liberated by a very, very good jar of black cherry fruit spread.

This week, caring for sick kids...again, I see that the oranges my husband picked up a few weeks ago are still in their bowl on the table. You don't really want to know about the last bowl of oranges we had sitting out over Christmas. It wasn't pretty and is probably the reason this bowl is still here. Perfectly good but in that almost-too-ripe stage.

Then I start daydreaming about my own fruit spread. Would it be good a piece of ginger? Or with a few lemons? Or with some canned pineapple? I don't think I've tried marmalade since 1983, so there's a lot of room here for innovation.

I didn't get too crazy because I was simultaneously trying to tell I. stories about his grandparents and great-grandparents for an assignment, make L. eat his food, do dishes, and tend the stove. No pineapple. No lemons. No ginger. Just standard orange marmalade with too much sugar.

Orange Marmalade

8-10 'Cutie' oranges (the small ones) and 4 large Navel oranges

I peeled them, then opened them and took the hard white strings out. (Some people shave the orange peel off, soak it in water & baking soda, and then dispose of the bitter white rind. That seemed like too much work to me.) Then I chopped them across the segments. Get ready for a lot of juice. You have to empty the oranges and juice into the pot fairly often.

2 cups of orange juice

You can use water instead but I wanted that orangey taste with a bit less sugar. I put these two together in a pot and let it simmer on low while I was peeling and chopping.

3 cups of sugar

I started with 1 cups, and added more a little at a time. I think 2 cups would have been fine, but it wasn't jelling well so I added a third at the last minute. Next time I'll just trust the process. I would recommend adding a little at a time and seeing what you like first. Usually I like to taste the fruit over the sweetness. This can also work with Splenda.

1 box of pectin (Sure-jell, etc.)

At this point I brought it to a rolling boil. You can add seasoning (ginger, all-spice, anything you like) at this point too. Once it's boiling for a few minutes (stirring well) you can put it back to a simmer and let it simmer for 20 minutes or so.

Then either can or put in containers for the freezer or fridge. It should last a month in the fridge.

Foodalogues

2011-02-11T10:57:00.000-08:00

I was at Goodwill earlier this week. It appears that Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid's book Mango & Curry Leaves is being sold as overstock for $3.99. Amazon retail is $30.

If you haven't heard of them, they're a couple who writes an interesting combination of travelogue and cookbook, with nice photographs and a good variety of authentic regional recipes. They have several books out including The Seductions of Rice, Flatbreads and Flavors (flatbreads from around the world), Hot Sour Salty Sweet (south-east Asia), and The Great Wall (China).

This one deals with India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka and does a good job of including more than just dal and naan. There are many salads and pickles, as well as meat dishes. It also does a good job of showing food by regions. India is a very diverse place with different cuisines.

So if you're out this weekend and you like Indian food...or travelogues...go see if your local Goodwill has this book. I'm looking forward to the ginger pickles myself

Valentine's Day Special: 10 Ways to Show Someone You Love Them

2011-02-08T13:18:00.000-08:00

That day is coming again. The one where we celebrate the maryred priest who supposedly married people in secret but might actually be the martyred priest who died on another day entirely. Oh, or the other martyred priest with the same name, who was killed on the same day, but doesn't seem to have anything romantic about them at all. Whatever the case the middle ages liked the idea of silent crushes and star-crossed lovers and we've kind of devolved into greeting cards, chocolate, and over-priced cards.

But love is good, right? Let's stick with that.

10 Ways to Show Someone You Love Them.

10. Ask. Who is this person and what do they want to do with their life? What's going on?
9. Listen and Remember. Seems easy, but most of us are so full of thoughts, feelings, plans, and to-do lists that this can be incredibly hard.
8. Make yourself uncomfortable sometimes. I don't necessarily mean this literally, but put the last 2 things into action and do something you normally wouldn't consider for their sake, for their comfort or growth.
7. Give a little Grace. When you're annoyed ask yourself if this is a hill worth dying on. Sometimes it is. Often times we just need to let go. Assume the best of people.
6. Challenge them. Just as important as giving grace is knowing when to (nicely) stand up and question something the person says. Create healthy boundaries.
5. Be involved. You can love someone from a distance, but the other person can't feel that love. Put in the time to be someone trusted.
4. Know what makes them feel loved. You can be loving someone in a language they can't understand. Ask questions. Make observations. Learn what works for them.
3. Remember the good times. Nothing ever runs completely smooth. Remember what you like about the person. Be aware of how those things can also drive you crazy. Respect them for who they are, not someone who makes you feel good.
2. Ask for what makes you feel loved. Be specific. No one is a mind reader, and some are more intuitive than others. ASK for what you want. Help them learn how to love you.
1. Say it. This doesn't look the same for all people/all relationships. I love you. Hey, you're cool. I really like how you ____. You're really interesting. Swweeeeet. Good job. Awesome, dude. Use the language that's appropriate and use it often.

Ann Landers hat off.

Stocking Up

2011-01-26T18:35:00.000-08:00

There's a lot of talk about storing food.

I'm not using those words in a survivalist way, although there's nothing wrong with that.

I'm talking to the 90% of us who know bad things can happen, but don't really envision big sudden changes to our society. Those bad things should be prepared for: power outages, unemployment, price changes.

In fact, I'd say one of the top reasons to stock up is to have a steady supply of basic foods ready so that we can wait for lower prices. It's a part of the lifestyle of living with the seasons, not fighting against them.

Anyway, we were low on bread flour and oatmeal so we stocked up on a few things and I thought I'd show you how I store them. Please leave a link if you have a different or special way to store your food.

We have 5 gallon food grade buckets (a few might be 3 gallons).

There are several ways to get them. You can buy them online (pricey). You can ask at local groceries (Walmart bakery for instance) or small food stores (cheese factory, bakery). Many times they will give you the buckets. Sometimes they may charge you a few dollars.

Next the collar. I bought my Gamma Lids at the local Fleet Farm (@$8). You can try at feed stores or order them online.

I emptied out the old flour and oatmeal. Now is a good time to taste the 2 products and compare. For instance, my oats--over a year old--tasted dry and a little sour in comparison to the new oatmeal. So instead of adding the old oats back to the top of the bucket I composted the remains. No more 50lb bags for us. We just don't eat them in time.

And this is our pantry.

50lb bag of red potatoes (local potato farm).
5 gal bucket of bread flour
5 gal bucket of oatmeal
3 gal bucket of AP flour
20lb bag of rice
20lb bag of sugar

The closet is on an outside wall and is 20-30 degrees colder in the winter.

In general I find that stocking EVERYTHING up can be overwhelming. All the dates on the cans. All the organization needed to cycle everything regularly. All the waste when you eat too little of something.

However, a good start is always buying a little more of the basics when the sales are good. Then a little more. A little more. Eventually you get to a comfortable place where your weekly bill is less and the work is not too involved.

It's more about finding what works for you then copying someone else's pantry list.

52 Books in 52 Weeks: January

2011-01-20T11:25:00.000-08:00

I'll try to do an update a month on this. No use trying to keep up from week to week.

13 Treasures by Michelle Harrison

YA fairy tale. New author. Sometimes too much exposition, but does a good job with the plot and the character of the 13 year old girl.

The Secret Life of Houdini: The Making of a Superman

Top marks for research, although I think some of the premises (Houdini as an American spy, Houdini murdered by Spiritualists) are foggy at best. Unfortunately there were so many things I really didn't want to know about Houdini, so this book felt at least 200 pages too long.

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

A decent, although violent, ending to the series. Realistic. Possibly too realistic for preteen and younger teens.

The Mysterious Benedict Society

A fun children's book. Too many times the foreshadowing seemed incredibly obvious to me. I was surprised that they were surprised. lol. But enjoyable in many ways.

Something's Going Around

2011-01-20T11:10:00.000-08:00

10 Things You Can Do When You're Sick:

10. Check out movies or television on Hulu. I recommend How Green Was My Valley on Hulu. Maureen O'Hara, Donald Crisp, a ton of old character actors.
9. Sleep. Always highly recommended.
8. Make a list of things to do when you're better. Then put it away.
7. Darning. If anyone still does that. You have to pin me to the bed for me to get any of it done.
6. Drink a lot of hot tea.
5. Copy and rearrange your recipes. You won't be tempted by every one that looks good.
4. Finish that book your mother/friend/cousin Roger gave you for Christmas
3. Oh yeah, and write Thank You notes to your grandmother, mother, friend, and Cousin Roger
2. Sleep. Should always be listed twice.

1. The number one thing you should do when you're sick, catch up with all your favorite blogs. :)

Felted Oven Mitt--Christmas Ideas for Next Year

2011-01-11T12:07:00.000-08:00

I'm really just using this as a placeholder so I can find this later. It's about felting (kind of shrinking down wool from a used sweater or something) used wool and making oven mitts from it. They look cute, and could be a good Christmas gift.

Book Challenge: a Book a Week

2011-01-11T11:53:00.000-08:00

A lot of people do New Years Resolutions. We don't really do those around here. We brainstorm goals--things we're curious about or passionately involved with--then we see how open we are to developing those things. We try to encourage each other.

It's an old concept with Dean and I but we're trying to bring the boys into it this year. So far they want to play a lot of video games, travel to far off places, learn new languages, and maybe gain a few new skills. Cool.

One of my goals is to increase my reading. Since I do so much school reading it's hard to do this but I'd like to think positively and then try to work around the obstacles.

For the month of January I'm working on:

13 Treasures (YA fairy tale novel)--Done
Mockingjay (YA future dystopia)--Done
The Secret Life of Houdini: the making of a superman (biography)--Done
The Mysterious Benedict Society (YA)
Napolean's Buttons: How 17 molecules changed the world (non-fiction; chemistry)

I think I see a pattern here. Maybe youth novels will help me gain my goal? :) I'm hoping that I can pack a few extra books in this month to make up for busy weeks up ahead.

Doing any reading this month? What's on your to-read shelf? I could use a few suggestions.

Chapter 4: in which I talk about INexpensive things

2011-01-11T11:34:00.000-08:00

I'm not all about the expensive toys. Please don't get that idea.

I did get these for Christmas and instantly fell in love.

I'd seen them in another blog and toyed with picking up a set, but my last matryoshka dolls were such a sensation with the boys that they promptly lost one part or another as they carried them off to participate in their Lego wars. The smallest piece is still lost to this day and will probably stay that way forever.

Anyway, these measuring cups are white, plastic, and cover the basic measurements (1/4, 1/3, 1/2, 2/3, 3/4, 1). They are very sturdy (think toddlers gnawing on them) and food grade plastic.

And cute, did I mention that? I love their little faces. To celebrate I tucked them on to my cookbook shelf with my favorite shiny red bowl, my mortar and pestle, and my lefse roller.

So highly recommended as an inexpensive gift for folks that love to cook. Prices I've seen range from $9-15.

Chapter 3: in which I talk about expensive stuff...

2011-01-09T08:42:00.000-08:00

I don't hate having a near-Christmas birthday. Even though I didn't have birthday parties and I usually made my own birthday cake. No one has ever forgotten my birthday, even if it was a little awkward to celebrate.

Dean decided to make up for all the years I've been slighted. Really, really make up for it...with the kind of useful gift that I love but which I never get for myself.

I had a refurbished stand mixer. Not something I would have picked myself, but that's my overly-generous husband. Shiny. Handy. I put my spoons away and saved my arm for towel-whipping slow kids.

Unfortunately, the Kitchen Aids don't stand bread kneading too well. Our arms are a little better designed. The lock holding the head down broke and I spent a lot of time babysitting it. The boys would all stand and hold it down for me.

This year I got a Bosch. And a food processor. I've never had one of those either. In my house we used knives or a grater. Since I love making bread this made my eyes light up and my brain explode with possibilities right before I freaked out at the cost.

Never fear, I love it. I'm working out some kinks with wet vs. dry..which gets added first (wet so that the dough doesn't creep up over the top). I make triple or quadruple batches and then freeze the results (which also make sit easier for me to portion myself 1 a day--45 seconds in the microwave). And the food processor--which I thought I would never use--makes GREAT smoothies. The engine is so strong that it really breaks up ice (and frozen fruit) better then any blender I've had.

Simple Strawberry Smoothie

2 cups frozen berries (from your freezer or a bag from the freezer section)

1 cup of apple juice

a couple of blobs of plain yogurt

You can add a little sugar to this but the boys liked it this way and I thought it was plenty sweet. We also did blueberries but the skins are stronger so you get tiny skin pieces. Not quite as fun.

Which reminds me...

2011-01-06T13:23:00.000-08:00

Happy King's Day!

Some denominations celebrate January 6th as the day the Wisemen found Jesus. Cake is served with an object inside and the winner is the King for the day.

It has come to my attention that some people just don't like Winter...

2011-01-06T13:20:00.000-08:00

I don't know why.

Winter is full of contrasts. Cold, bright days. Warm, toasty nights. Things usually slow down. More time for sitting around a table playing games, eating hearty meals, and curling up under a padded quilt.

I also have the month off of school, so in between catching up on a long to-do list I READ. In fact, I decided this month is Fairy Tale month.

13 Tales
Phantastes
The Princess and the Goblin
Grimm's Fairy Tales
Leprecaun Stories

Nothing too long or difficult. Just a little fantasy to go along with leftover Christmas cookies, hot tea, and a feather comforter.

What do you do in January? Do you have any January traditions?

Goals, a General Lack of Attention...and Brownies

2011-01-02T13:06:00.000-08:00

It's a new year. I'm sure you've heard. Maybe you saw some fireworks, went out to a bar, or noticed the line at Blockbuster was a little longer then usual.

We had a party. Really. Us. I know this is a foreign concept. It is to me too. Strangely it went well. We played Crokinole and ate leftover Christmas cookies.

I guess it's a little late to add some posts about Christmas cookies, isn't it? Like I told my niece (birthday early December) and my friend's children (celebrating Hannukah), someday Aunt Tammy won't be doing finals during this time of year and I'll get all together.

I do have a great brownie recipe though. I've been working on it this year. Trying recipes by David Lebovitz, King Arthur's flour, and Ina Garten. Most were too rich, some made too much, some too crumbly. I liked Mark Bittman's base recipe so I added some things too it and came up with this.

Brownies

2 oz (I usually throw 2 squares in) unsweetened chocolate

6oz semi-sweet chocolate

8 TBL unsalted butter (1 stick), softened

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1/2 cup flour (a bit less if you like them really fudgey...even down to 1/4 c)

pinch salt

1/2 tsp vanilla

a few handfulls of chocolate chips

Preheat oven (350), grease 8x8 pan (or line and grease foil).

Melt chocolates (not chips) and butter and stir until smooth. Beat in eggs, flour, salt, vanilla. Add to pan. Lightly fold in chocolate chips at regular intervals. Bake 20 minutes or so until set. Do not overbake.

The new year is also a great time to thank about what kind of goals you want to set yourself, what kind of subjects you want to delve in, what you want to learn and do.

So in addition to the whole learn to cook beans and use the pressure cooker without killing anyone I have a crazy interest in ham radio (really!)...and kayaking.

I'm such a geek. If you know anything at all about those 4 subjects (beans, pressure cookers, ham radio, kayaking) feel free to write in the comments section. We'll see how this all develops.

I Haven't Really Forgotten This Blog

2010-12-12T09:21:00.000-08:00

It's just been one long around of holidays, volunteer classroom days, coding projects, group work (which naturally takes 10x longer then solo) and final exams. It should be all over next week some time and I can go back to doing things I like again.

Perhaps a Christmas cookie/candy post is in order.

So Happy (late) Thanksgiving to those in the US (and Canada had their own in there too).
Happy Channukah to those that celebrate it, and many glorious snow days to us in the North whom have had our first blizzard. Work those forgotten arm muscles!

Homemade Tortillas

2010-11-11T13:52:00.000-08:00

I'm not really into Mexican food. I've lived in Wisconsin all my life. And I'm allergic to peppers.

Because of this culinary loss I have never experienced a homemade tortilla. Some day this year I saw Robert Rodriguez's Meals in 10 Minutes. One of them included homemade flour tortillas and it looked so easy I tried it and have been fooling with it since then.

This recipe from Joe Pastry brought it all up again.

My usual:

2c flour

1tsp salt

1c water

1/3-1/2c butter or vegetable oil (you can use shortening but I never have any)

Roll into balls and let rest under a towel.

Love my French rolling pin.

Preheat the pan. It should be hot when you throw the tortilla in.

Sometimes you need a little help to get them up when they're rolled thin.

They start to bubble up when they're ready to turn over.

I usually just pick it up with my fingers and flip it. Of course a tongs would work too.

That's it. The boys eat them as fast as I can make them. They also reheat (30 sec in the microwave) great the next day. Great with lettuce, spinach, olive oil, and a dash of real basalmic vinegar. Yum. Once you have homemade it's hard to go back.

Using Short Term Goals for Motivation

2010-11-08T12:15:00.000-08:00

L. is in Kindergarten this year. He's not always happy about that fact.

September he would get the urge to leave in the middle of coloring and would quietly walk out.

October he mostly stayed in the class but set up shop in the Reading Tent and would not come out.

November and the teacher and I are both running motivational charts for him. Ways he can make his own choices in certain situations if he learns how to focus and work with people.

While getting out my stickers I realized that I need some short term goals laid out for me, so I feel motivated to learn new things and keep moving forward this chilly season.

So big stickers for me this winter if I:

*learn how to use a pressure cooker

*learn how to cook beans from scratch

*make soup once a week

*try the soup I make once a week (I hate soup)

I'm already started on the soups. I've made butternut squash soup (only I really seemed to like it), vegetable beef, and roasted tomato. I pair it with fresh bread or roasted potatoes. So far, so good.

Now I just need to lose the fear that the pressure cooker is going to explode.

Halloween in the North Country

2010-11-02T19:38:00.000-07:00

We celebrated Halloween on the Chippewa Flowage.

Packets

aluminum foil squares

hamburger (or other meat)

diced potatoes

diced vegetables

pat of butter

seasonings

The important thing is to double fold the aluminum so the butter doesn't escape too much and make the fire flare up. You can either cook these on a grill over the fire or on/under the coals.

Sugaring Skills

2010-10-26T08:16:00.000-07:00

Remember when we went over making caramel? That skill translates into other things.

Like waxing.

The process is called sugaring and has been used for thousands of years in the Middle East. Sugaring is cheap, easy to make, and doesn't stick to the skin like wax does...so if you're into the whole North American hair removal thing it may be worth a try.

Like caramel, sugaring paste is made from boiled sugar. In fact, only the ingredient amounts are different.

Sugaring paste generally has more lemon juice (an acid) and no dairy additives at all, so in essence it is a simple caramel.

Basic Recipe:

2 cups sugar (any kind)

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup lemon juice (lime juice is okay too)

This video is a really good visual. Even if you're making caramel it's interesting to see how the sugar foams up and begins to brown. Unlike caramel the consistency of the sugaring paste really matters. If it's too dark it won't spread well enough. Too light and it won't stick well. Sugaring paste should be COMPLETELY cooled before using on your skin. It can always be reheated! Go too cold rather than too hot.

Also, if you reheat too long in the microwave (longer than a minute or two) the sugar will superheat and melt your plastic container. So stick to a minute or reheat by placing the bowl in another bowl filled with hot water.

The paste can be spread with a knife (test the temperature first). It cools and then can be pulled up with strips of cloth or even your own fingernails. Leftovers can be refrigerated and reheated later.

Results for a newbie can be mixed. If you're new to waxing I'd also recommend a light coat of alcohol or hydrogen peroxide when you're done...in case you've been a little rough with your skin. Then moisturize.

Oh! Get that cooking pan full of water right away. And leave it there for a few hours. The sugar may be frozen hard to the pan but the water will erode it and the next morning a few swipes and everything goes down the drain.

Homemade Caramel Apples

2010-10-24T16:00:00.002-07:00

We don't do the Halloween thing much (too much candy for the Keto diet, too many nightmares for the little ones) but I thought it would be fun to have a little autumnal feast.

Caramel...not that hard to make but it takes focus.

Caramel is always made out of sugar (white or brown). It often has butter or cream in it as well.

I took 2 recipes, one from Rose Levy-Beranbaum and one from Cooks.com, and mixed them up a little depending on what I had at hand.

My Recipe:

2 cups sugar

1/2 cup light corn syrup

1/2 cup butter

a swig of lemon juice (an acid stabilizes the sugar crystal so it isn't grainy)

I heated this on the stove, mixing constantly until it started to foam (btw sugar gets REALLY hot, please be careful). It foams for a long time. When it starts to brown lightly I turn the stove down to check the color and the temp (@240 F). You can also check the stage (soft ball) by dripping a little in a cup of cool water. If it forms a soft ball it has reached this stage. The next stage it forms a hard line (or whatever shape you make) instead of balling up.

At this point you should be stirring. You don't want this to burn. It can also go through this stage very quickly and be very hard to coat anything. Don't get distracted and go start laundry or talk to your spouse. I overcooked my first batch (D. made hard caramels out if it).

While I was waiting I heated

1/2 cup of cream

in a measuring cup. It should be warm/hot. At this point I stirred it right in. If the cream is considerably cooler then the sugar it will foam up a bit when you do.

Everything should be ready at this point. The caramel can set quickly. If you want nuts, chocolate, or other coats all ready.

Leftover caramel can be poured onto a sheet of buttered wax paper. A light coating of salt will really make this just perfect. Cool in the fridge and cut into pieces if you like. Or eat some apples.

The boys loved them. D. and I loved the dip (once you have this salted caramel you'll never go back to supermarket dip), and I think I've found a new Christmas candy recipe!

Stretching the Buttermilk...and Other Types of Dairy Products

2010-10-09T19:05:00.000-07:00

Speaking of cultured milk products...

I've been reading a lot about homemade dairy products this month. It's amazing what you can do with a little milk.

Remember yogurt? Heat, add lacto-bacteria, keep warm (at a temp in the higher range for the lacto-bacteria but which discourages competitive bacteria which would make the milk go bad) for a number of hours, chill, eat.

If you understand this concept a lot of other cultured dairy products become possible.

That quart of buttermilk getting a little low? Fill with milk, shake, and leave in a warm place 12-24 hours. In that time the buttermilk bacteria should have taken over the milk and changed the flavor and taste. Chill. Use in those pancakes.

It should be noted that buttermilk and yogurt use different kinds of bacteria. Buttermilk is actually easier because it just needs to be generally warm (like the back of the stove) for it to eat, break down the milk sugars, and reproduce.

The kind of bacteria used in buttermilk is the same as they use in creme fraiche and sour cream. Creme fraiche? Take out a cup of cream and add a tablespoon or two of buttermilk. Leave in a warm place. Chill. It thickens right up.

Creme fraiche can be used in place of sour cream (sour cream is generally less 'creamy'), but it seems to be difficult to make with pasturerized cream/milk. The difference appears to be that sour cream uses a lighter cream (or added milk) and is lightly curdled with an acid like vinegar or lemon juice, inoculated with buttermilk (or sour cream) and then left in a warm place. I haven't tried to make it yet because sites either use a creme fraiche recipe instead or say its impossible without unpasteurized cream and milk. Maybe some day.

The lesson to take from this is milk curdling.Curdling the milk makes another dairy product--small curd cottage cheese. Cottage cheese is a lot like making simple cheeses, only without the rennet to further harden the curds. Check out the link, it looks very easy. I haven't had an opportunity to try it out yet.

Which brings us to rennet-based cheeses. Soft cheeses like mozzarella seem very easy to make once you understand the pattern of culturing/curdling milk. Mozzarella also doesn't require a cheese press and can be made right on the stove. Rennet tabs (or liquid) can also be used to make cream cheese, another cultured dairy product a lot like creme fraiche (it uses the same culture in buttermilk/sour cream) but with rennet added for extra umph.

Check out the links. Most are from Dr. Fankhouser, a biology and chemistry professor from Ohio. He also has a link to cheap rennet tablets ($1.50 box) for curious folks.

Harvest Tutorial in Pictures

2010-10-02T06:30:00.000-07:00

Greek yogurt.

Fancy corn de-kernaler.

Can be difficult to get the ends.

Must drain.

Packed up.

Our freezer.

Yogurt: the Links

2010-09-29T12:06:00.000-07:00

I've been thinking about yogurt lately and I wanted to document some of my inspiration:

I went to this thread on Chowhound when I started thinking about thick, protein-laden yogurt. One thing I will say about Chowhound, it has a lot of experienced opinion on it. The threads are always worth reading to the bottom.

And for people who want to know how to make yogurt completely from scratch, no commercial powders or starters this thread was fascinating. Don't read if you don't want to hear the words 'ant eggs' used in the same sentence as 'yogurt starter.' That's right, I said ANT EGGS. It makes cow stomach almost sound good.

Last of all, I enjoyed Marisa's post on her experience with starter powders on Backyard Farming. Seeing different ways to do things is always good.

Tutorial: Yogurt

2010-09-22T14:10:00.000-07:00

Yogurt, never used to like it. Thought it was slimy. And sour. The funny thing is that it doesn't need to be either of those things. Yogurt can be thick (such as 'Greek' yogurt) and sweet (either by the addition of sweeteners like honey or by culturing it a shorter amount of time).

I'm kind of on a quest. Thickened Greek yogurt, kind of like Chobani or Fage. It's thickened with dry milk or buttermilk and contains lots of protein, making you feel fuller longer. A nice dish with fruit and nuts can really last you all afternoon.

Here I have a pot with 4 cups of milk in it. (Despite all the bubbles this is NOT boiling..its only on medium here.)

I added 2 cup of powdered milk to it.

I'm adding 1/2 cup of honey here. I'm still experimenting. After tasting I thought 1/2 cup was too much for for the 3 hour processing time. It was a little too sweet.

Now the most important part, the milk must heat until it is 180 degrees F. We want to kill all the alternative bacteria in the milk and other ingredients so there is lots of space for the good yogurt cultures to work! We don't want to go too far past 180 degrees. The pot can get messy (don't forget to stir once and a while too).

~~Let me just say a few words here for an important tool--the digital thermometer. I am kind of a gadget minimalist but I've really used my digital thermometer. Cheap. Handy. Works for roasted meats, yogurt, chocolate, frying oil, even rising bread. Awesome stuff.~~

Once the milk has reached 180 degrees it needs to cool. The fastest way to do this is put it in a bowl (or sink) of cold water. Without the water it can take up to 40 minutes to cool the milk down to 90-100 degrees F. In cold water it rarely takes more then 5-10 minutes.

Once the milk goes below 100 degrees you can add in 1/2 cup of yogurt culture and whisk, whisk, whisk. This culture comes from a previous batch of yogurt, a powdered culture you can order online, OR (what I do) buy a quart of name brand yogurt, use 1/2 cup, and freeze the remainder for yogurt days. I find that Stoneyfield Farms has the most yogurt strains in their yogurt--5. To me that's worth the extra money (happy intestines), but any other kind should work too. Also, plain might be best but if they only have vanilla--go for it!

Okay, so you got it all whisked in. Much like sourdough the cultures need warmth and time to break down proteins in the milk. People do this in various ways. Crockpots on low, ovens pre-warmed, a drawer with light in it, electric pads, insulated coolers with a hot water bottle. I've tried a few of these but since a friend gave me her dehydrator I use that. It has a setting (115degrees F) for yogurt.

The next question is how long. There are many ideas about this. It is said that shorter times equal sweeter yogurt. I've also heard the opposite. It's kind of like making chicken stock. So many opinions.

I'm still early in my experiments. I would say though that longer than 5 hours seems to have a souring quality to the yogurt. It's incredibly creamy and delicious but it definitely needs outside sweetening. I have also tried 4 hours (excellent, faintly sour, fairly firm) and 3 hours (sweeter, slick, not firm at all).

I'm not done experimenting. I will say that homemade yogurt has an amazing consistency you don't see in store-bought. Incredibly creamy. You can also control the level of fat and protein. In the future I'll do a report on draining and creating 'Greek' yogurt.

Vignettes

2010-09-09T11:52:00.000-07:00

Just a few short pictures and thoughts to wrap up my August review.

Community gardens! I've noticed several churches in the area putting together raised four-square boxes. Some raised so that people with disabilities or the elderly can participate. My husband recently stopped at one of these and complimented a woman working there. She was the area coordinator!

So not only am I happy that so many churches and other organizations are creating places for people to garden (and donating much of this food to the food pantry) but the community has found it important enough to ask a volunteer to coordinate these efforts and help get projects started around the area. Cool!

Summer is filled with festivals. Harvest food is a reason for celebration.

Here we're at Fort Atkinson's Chicken and Corn feed. Originally it was a part of the town's self-celebration. There was a parade with the high school band, the lions, and the horse club. There was a small fair with merry-go-round and tilt-a-whirl. And there was the Lion's Club Feed. With all-you-can-eat sweet corn from a special patch grown outside of town.

Even though the founder's day moved, they still kept the Chicken and Corn Feed. We still come down to see family on that day, eat the wonderful sweet corn, and chat over angel food cake at my grandmother's house.

I tried my hand at ice cream cake for I's birthday. Better then last time. The secret seems to be having a mold to hold it all together, and letting it freeze for an entire day. I covered it with ganache. Very good.

Helping plants out-grow Powdery Mildew

2010-09-08T12:57:00.000-07:00

I hilled some squash, cucumber, and zucchini next to the asparagus this year. While too much rain and slugs damaged some of the little plants the yellow zucchini and cucumber did well.

Plenty of leaves and blossoms everywhere (and several cucumbers and a few zucchini).

Then August comes and with it Powdery Mildew. It's a fungus (a series of fungi actually) that attack plants with a series of white spots over leaves, stems, and buds. The spores spread from leaf to leaf in the wind or rain.

One of the things you can do is remove leaves, creating more air and space and removing sick leaves.

And never compost! Leaves must be destroyed.

Things went very well this year and it hasn't been until the last cold, rain-soaked week that the plants started looking tired and done for the season.

Next I think I'll try spray of water and baking soda to change the ph of the leaves (spraying top, bottom, stems). I hear that makes it hard for the disease to continue growing and releasing spores.

Trying to Find that Perfect Muffin

2010-09-03T13:26:00.000-07:00

One of the problems with learning to bake for yourself is that giant gas station muffins and box kits just taste bad. My husband won't even eat a store muffin anymore because he says they taste like Crisco.

Not that there's anything wrong with Crisco. It has its place.

I'm on a quest. Blueberry muffins. Really good, mostly healthy blueberry muffins.

I've had a few good non-healthy ones. But if you add enough butter and sugar to anything it will form a mini-cake and that's not what I'm looking for.

One of my favorite add-ins has been oatmeal or oat bran. The taste is mild and it lends a bit of crunch to the muffins. Another has been applesauce or a banana. They do different things. The banana has a stronger flavor but really helps hold things together (like eggs). Applesauce keeps things moist without overwhelming with flavor. And although I've heard it's a great sub for oil (or butter) I don't like to sub out all of the oil. The flavor changes even if the texture stays the same.

Don't get caught up in the anti-fat thing. Our bodies need fat. Not the full-pound-of-bacon fat, but fat in our dairy, a little oil in our salad...good stuff. Make good stuff and you'll eat it. Make yourself eat blah stuff and you'll start eying that cake.

Anyway, I'm baking my way through Allrecipes.com. I've had some pretty good muffins and some okay muffins. If you have any suggestions for a really great, sorta healthy muffin please let me know. And I'll keep you informed with my quest.

Home Skills: Pesto

2010-08-17T17:43:00.000-07:00

August is the time for tomatoes and basil in the North. Since my basil was eaten by bugs I get mine from the local Farmer's Market for $1/bunch.

1. Wash the basil. If you don't have time to deal with it right away put it in a glass of water just like you would fresh-cut flowers.

2. Grasp a stalk. Notice how the lower leaves are often dirty, dehydrated, or spotted with brown. Notice if the basil has started to flower yet (at the top).

3. Strip the leaves. Put young, strong leaves in a pile to be cut or blended. Put wrinkled, spotted leaves, buds, flowers, and stems in the Compost. Some people eat flower buds and stems in their pesto. I find the change in texture distracting.

Notice these leaves. The holes don't have to mean anything (other then some bug or slug got a snack). A lot of holes probably means the leaf is not as healthy as the others. Look for dehydrated, floppy leaves. Look for brown, gray, or white spots. Discard these.

Sorry about the picture quality, even with it you can see these leaves (from the top of the plant) are brightly colored, shiny, and they stand up on their own. Good basil.

4. Chop up the basil. There are a few ways to do this. You can get a knife or a other cutter and make small squares. Or you can toss it right into the blender or chopper. You chop it fine and then pound it together in a mortar and pestle.

The three methods will give you different textures in your pesto. Although it is more time-consuming the hand-chopping method will yield a brighter green (pressure changes the basil's color from bright green to a darker, more gray-green). It will also end up with small, individual pieces of basil. The blend method will standardize the pesto so that you can't see the individual ingredients, but it seems more mealy. Still, it's incredibly fast and easy. The mortar and pestle will give you something in-between with chunks that are blended and chunks that were clearly missed.

Pesto where the ingredients have been blended.

After some experimentation I personally like the hand-chopped (but no mortar and pestle) method. I like to feel the individual ingredients on the tongue and to control the amount of olive oil I'm consuming depending on the time of day.

Pesto Recipe:

1c of basil leaves

1/4-8-1/4c toasted nuts (pine, walnut)

1-2 cloves of garlic, toasted (D. isn't a huge garlic fan so we often skip or minimize this)

1/2c olive oil

grated Parmesan cheese (the good stuff) to taste

salt, to taste

This recipe also freezes well. Pour extra pesto in ice cube trays. Freeze. Toss in a baggie.

The cubes can be used in spaghetti sauce, alfredo, salad dressing, bruschetta, pizza. Highly recommended. Get your basil now while its in season and eat off of it until next summer.

2010-08-10T12:54:00.000-07:00

We found this cucumber under a bush. Strangely, it's still pretty good. Enormous, but pretty good. I found 4 slightly smaller then this today as well.

The Excalibur in use.

Raising some Oatmeal Cinnamon Raisin bread.

Yogurt in a mason jar. I'll post a step by step instruction later.

It seemed to set up better when I chilled it for 24 hours before eating.Very, very creamy. Really incredible texture.

This was the first time I'd ever used buttermilk powder in the mix. I'm going to do some new experimentation with that.

Illegal Zoo Experiments

2010-07-13T12:40:00.000-07:00

Playing with my new (or even better new-to-me) 9-tray Excalibur dehydrator. With extra fruit leather tray. No timer...but am I complaining?? No ones complaining here. A lovely vegetarian friend of mine decided it was taking up too much room in her kitchen.

Did you know I can raise dough in here? And culture yogurt and other dairy products?? Awesome.

So I've tried the bread thing. I didn't notice much difference. It's out in the other room so its harder to keep an eye on it and the multigrain loaf was too yeasty (or rose too long?) so I used the rest for flatbread.

Yogurt is on the list for this evening or tomorrow. Whenever my starter thaws out (I froze some Stonyfield yogurt last time once when I didn't have time to make it but didn't want to throw out the pricey stuff.)

I finished off some blueberries (from the 10 qts. D. brought me a few weeks ago). It was an interesting experience. Because they come in so many sizes, and I wasn't sure about drying time. In the end 1/3 turned out too hard, 1/3 were just right, and 1/3 were still a little squishy (even after 3 more hours alone). Must separate according to size next time.

What to do with over-dehydrated blueberries?? Science experiments!!

The boy's occasional babysitter told them that her turtle likes blueberries. We wondered if the tortoise at the zoo would like them. (He didn't notice them.)

Lemurs? Yes.

Pheasant? Sorta.

Chickens? Definitely.

Jerusalem donkey. Yup.

Emu? Ignored us.

Coati? Yum.

Doves? They sorta noticed them being thrown. It made them nervous. We had a theory that the eyes on the side of their heads make it hard to follow the arc of a thrown thing.

Water buffalo? Followed us down the fence.

The boys say that mammals and birds seem to like blueberries. The amount of dry-ness doesn't seem to bother them.

And we got weird looks from the guys doing weed-whacking.

Random photos of Summer Madness

2010-07-11T20:09:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure I liked the title "Summer's Full Swing." Reminded me too much of woozy, midway-filled children at a summer carnival. It never ends well.

Our new space. Usually a 'dump-anything' room. D. has cleared out the desks on the left and has bought wood-working tools at garage sales this year.

Art space. Beyond, on the cabinet is my gardening basket (nylon tomato ties, mate-less gloves, a floppy hat).

E knew Betsy Ross was always thinking of pizza.

Mine. I want to do a tutorial some time. It's thin and crispy.

My mistake loaf. I'm not always a great baker. After the multigrain bread came out dense and yeasty I transformed it into flatbread. Thumbs up. Great with red sail lettuce, a smidge of olive oil, and a splash of *good* basalmic vinegar. So good.

I'm not always that good. I'm not showing you the chocolate, chocolate muffins I made up at 10pm last night.

Summer's Full Swing

2010-07-09T13:54:00.000-07:00

Wrestling on the front lawn.

Water slides at the Wisconsin Dells.

Feathery asparagus.

Wild raspberries.

Homemade pizza in the shape of the American flag.

Sun burns.

Grass that needs to be mowed. Indian paint brush.

Squash that don't know how to reproduce.

Several quarts of blueberries.

Learning to use the Excalibur (9 tray) dehydrator someone so nicely gifted me.

Fixing my baking mistakes.

Planting (more) beans. This time I know where they are.

Pictures to follow. My laptop has keyboard problems which have killed this post (with pics) more than once.

Berry Picking

2010-06-23T13:09:00.000-07:00

We finally made it out to the You-Pick. Barely in time. So ripe a pint I left on the counter fermented within 2 days.

@ 20lb. We paid $1.25/lb.

Strawberry jam. Don't believe them when they tell you you need 4 cups of sugar in 6 cups of strawberries. Yikes. I started with 1 cup and that was almost too much. I also added a box of non-sugar pectin.

And people just can't stop eating it either. It's going fast.

The next day I boiled down some strawberries without pectin or sugar and I'm freezing that for later.

Strawberries were frozen individually and then put in small containers.

Dean even gets to use his rhubarb.

Failure?

2010-06-21T10:58:00.000-07:00

It's always difficult to know when to stop. How important is something in relation to all the other somethings in your life.

Lots of rain here. And in many ways that's good.

But it also means:

strawberries rotted where they touch the ground
limited ability to treat plants eaten by bugs or other pests
some washing out of seeds or plants
mud

I don't want to complain. I have lots of other things to do and gardening, although I love it, is only part of my life.

However, I am starting off the season not only late but with 1/3 of the tomato plants I had before. Bugs are cutting down the beans and basil, and there's that little accident with the peas. (I asked J. to wash the green food coloring from his experiment off the back table he yanked up the pea holders in order to get not 1 but 2 soaker hoses from the far end of the yard. He didn't notice the regular hose sitting right next to the deck. Sigh.)

Despite these set-backs bikes are being ridden, books are being read (Vanity Fair for me), Nerf darts are being shot, strawberries are being picked. It's a good life, even if its a little less green then I like.

Bloggers: 7 Questions to Ask Before Hitting 'Publish'

2010-06-08T11:56:00.000-07:00

For other bloggers, I thought this was an interesting article.

But that doesn't mean I always follow it! Hey, I do my best. Sometimes I'm my own best audience. :)

Drip....Drip....Drip

2010-06-08T11:53:00.000-07:00

It's rather damp in the Midwest this June.

When one talks about the weather it's not unusual to say things like 'but the farmers could really use it so I can't complain.' I've heard this for both rain and snow in rural Wisconsin.

Other, less agricultural, folks mutter about water torture and moving to Seattle if they wanted this much cloud cover.

I like the thunderstorms. They're exciting, and many of them hit after dark. Its comforting to lie in bed at 2 am and know you're dry and warm while the world sounds like its coming apart at the atoms.

And it's nice to shrink our water deficit so early in the year instead of starting out at 'drought' conditions for the greening earth.

Unfortunately, this means I need to use electricity for one of my harvests. Oregano, evil woody monster oregano, needed to be harvested and taught its place. In the past I've picked the stems and left them drying over my greenhouse shelves on the back porch. It's so wet right now that things mold before they dry sufficiently.

This time I dried the stems on an electric dryer, and then crumbled the leaves into a recycled herb container. It only took a few hours.

I'm also busily picking strawberries. At least a handful a day. J is ecstatic. L is on the hunt. I keep telling them red...dark RED. It's interesting to see their interpretation of that statement. If this keeps up we may out-pace J's appetite and need the dryer again.

Trying to Dodge the Rain

2010-06-07T14:12:00.000-07:00

Catching up with a lot of planting out. Everything looks so fragile and tiny!

Here's some basil. And unseen on the right a Cubanelle pepper. Both were planted in beds left empty by mysteriously disappearing tomatoes.

The largest of the tomatoes. I planted 15 last Wednesday. Five survived the hard rains of the week. The other 10 were either eaten or disappeared (washed out?). I may be making an emergency run to Jungs to see if they have any plants left over.

Okay, Okay, I'll Get Around To It

2010-06-07T14:04:00.000-07:00

No one's really telling me to rush.

Something about becoming a parent to multiple children, you never feel caught up with anything. The moment you do someone dirties a dish, drops a toy, changes their clothing, adds something else to the schedule. Then there's the hundreds of things you'd like to do that never even reach your To Do list and haunt your subconscious as you're falling asleep or waking up. Double this if you have a baby, toddler, or a child with special needs.

I did get some beans planted this morning while L. set up some game for himself.

I had the piles all laid out. (Left) bush beans, vine beans, hard shell beans. When I saw how many I had (minus the 2 envelopes L. planted for me last week while I was planting out the tomatoes...I guess its a secret as to where they will pop up) I decided to stick with one category today...bush beans.

First I needed to weed some beds. Lots of grass, violets, and other things. Here's an interesting tool Dean got me. It's a metal trapezoid. You use it as a leg sweep on those pesky weeds. It sweeps them off their roots. I did 2 beds, one under the trees and the other in with the perennials.

Weeds after they've been Kung-fu'd.

I did 2.5 envelopes of bush beans. A good many of the yellow ones are seed gathered from last year. Let's see what happens!

The James Beard Foundations Essential Baking Books

2010-06-05T11:10:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure you're anything like me.

Lately I've been noticing that when I want to make a purchase I'll fly over to Amazon and read the pros and cons of specific books or pans or hammocks. If Amazon doesn't have it there's always Consumer Reports or online forums or my mother or something.

My husband does not. He wants to test drive it, compare prices, and go.

Because of this sometimes I find him too impulsive and he sighs and hopes I'm done researching before the deals are gone. Marriage is kinda built on putting up with each others little quirks and the occasional nudge into a more common direction.

Anyway, I like reviews. I like recommendations. I want to read the rants and the raves and the comparisons to other things. Personal experience in quantity is what I crave.

The James Beard Foundation put out a list of their baker's dozen (13) essential baking books, and since I just happened to pick up Dorie Greenspan's Baking: from My Home to Yours this week at the library I found it interesting.

I read a lot of baking books. If you ever notice my list of books at the bottom of the page, you'll often see at least one baking or cookbook. Baking...because I'm good at it. And I like carbs a lot. At one time in college I ate nothing but mashed potatoes or waffles. It was easier to circumvent the cafeteria that way. And if I mess up baked goods no one goes hungry and the birds (or dog) have a nice meal. Cooking...because I'm not just not good at it. Too much pressure.

I was very impressed with Greenspan's book. It walks that difficult line between too technical or strange for a home kitchen and too boring because the recipes are already in every book. There were quite a few things I've never made, but most of them seem within reach and looked delicious. It's going on my wishlist.

While I was doing a search to get the title correct for this blog I noticed this list from the James Beard Foundation. It came out in April.

Essential Baking Books According to Some Committee

1. Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2006).

2. Beard on Bread by James Beard (originally published 1973; reprinted by Knopf, 1995).

3. The Book of Great Desserts by Maida Heatter (Andrews McMeel, 1999).

4. The Bread Baker’s Apprentice by Peter Reinhart (Ten Speed, 2001).

5. The Cake Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum (William Morrow, 1988).

6. Classic Home Desserts by Richard Sax (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2000).

7. Cocolat by Alice Medrich (Warner Books, 1990).

8. The Fannie Farmer Baking Book by Marion Cunningham (Gramercy, 1996).

9. Great Pies and Tarts by Carole Walter (Clarkson Potter, 1998).

10. The Italian Baker by Carol Field (William Morrow, 1985).

11. Martha Stewart’s Cookies by Martha Stewart (Clarkson Potter, 2008).

12. My Bread by Jim Lahey (W.W. Norton, 2009).

13. The Simple Art of Perfect Baking by Flo Braker (Chronicle, 2003).

From these I have The Bread Baker's Apprentice (wonderful for an amateur who's made bread before but wants to take it up a step), and I've read Greenspan's and Beranbaum's books. All well-done. I think I have a challenge on my hands.

Anyone seen baking challenges online lately? People get together and bake through a baking or cookbook and then share their experience. What they liked, what they don't like, what they changed. The gift of human experience. Sounds like something I'd like.

2010-05-31T11:29:00.000-07:00

It's a beautiful weekend in the neighborhood. Sun is shining. Humidity is (mostly) down. Projects are getting done. Strawberries are ripening. Kids are in a (mostly) good mood.

And then the oregano attacked. It's woody contours scratching my legs as I checked garlic and cleared weeds. This week, I will wreak my revenge. We will do battle which will end in lots of dried oregano and a few plants for a friend. There is only room for one Queen in this yard.

Peas are just as bad. They've massed. Entwined together to such a degree that when I brought over the dishwasher racks there seemed to be no hope of disentangling and forcing them to climb up into the sun before blossoming.

And some sad losses. Some squash were not strong and hydrated enough for planting in mounds by the asparagus. When I asked L. with his water lightsaber (no, I'm not making that up they do exist) if he could water a few, he trampled the weakest and managed to avoid the strongest. It's a tough darwinian world out there.

Lots of memories this weekend. Thinking about Grampa Vern, Grampa Sonny, and Grampa Palm. Lots of cleaning. Lots of resting with family and getting in a few games of Factory Manager and Tikal.

Maybe a few friends will come over and I can practice the art of frangipane.

Never Plant Asparagus in your Sandals

2010-05-26T19:55:00.000-07:00

Finally got around to planting the asparagus tonight.

I did the easy stuff; laying, filling compost and covering. Dean did the trenches (and moved a hosta for me). L. helped by trading shovels with anyone when it looked like they were successfully at work.

Jersey Giant, Martha Washington, Purple

30 roots.

I also planted a Hollyhock my mother sent up with me Sunday night.

I gave her a perennial for Mother's day too.

Tomatoes, squash, cucumber, corn, and basil are hardening off on the deck. Our 85% frost date is this week. More on that soon.

Moving Forward

2010-05-24T15:11:00.000-07:00

I need to move on.

I admit...I never did figure out how to set up my electrical timer. It had a set up booklet of more than 10 pages. I recently recycled my articles for school this semester. The pile was larger than my unabridged dictionary.

I admit...I planted out my broccoli in mid-May, not mid-April.

I admit...I did not get around to wintersowing this year and I have 3 boxes worth of plastic recycling for that in the basement.

I admit...it's smack in the middle of my planting week and I only just brought up my small tomatoes and over-sized squash to get used to the sun.

I admit...I still haven't planted my asparagus, and my mother gave me a hollyhock this weekend which is looking sad and dry in its pot.

I am doing my best to catch up on these things, and make up for a neglectful Spring. In order to move forward I thought a bit of organization might help.

And stop hiding from everything.

To start I'm going to make some Summer Goals. These may or may not involve gardening.

Summer Goals:

Relearn Trigonometry (I'm 1/3 through Life of Fred)

Learn how to use HTML (its a career thing, Dean and I will do it together)

Grow lots of tomatoes and basil

Can lots of tomatoes and basil

Try to get squash to grow in my yard

Trim the maple tree so something will grow in my yard

Eat strawberries

Do the opposite of tan

Look for a krumkake iron at garage sales

Do bicycle training and cooking club with boys

Find a library who will teach me something in return for volunteer work

Aebleskiver, or connecting with a heritage that is only mine through marriage

2010-05-18T17:14:00.000-07:00

Aebleskiver~(Danish) apple slices/pieces aka Danish doughnuts or round pancakes

I'm not sure of when I first ran into the concept. It's not a common one in Dean's family. Traditions run more Norwegian lefse, herring, and the very occasional lutefisk. (Dean bought me a lefse roller from the Sons of Norway sale a few weeks ago...so stay tuned for that adventure.)

Anyway, I ran across aebleskiver on the Internet, and fell in love with the idea of round pancakes.
I annoyed a fellow blogger I follow with details of her pan.
I placed the pan on my Garage Sale list.
I scoured the Sons of Norway sale and the All-City Garage Sale.
I followed the term on Ebay.

Finally I just made a jump and bid on a pan. I paid more in shipping (6lb!) then for the pan itself.

Here I'm buttering the pan. That's strawberry jam with the spoon sticking out of it.

There are many recipes on the Internet, but they're fairly similar. Very close to a buttermilk pancake recipe. A few of the boys felt the first one we tried was too eggy, so I dropped the eggs down from 4 to 2 the next time and it was perfect.

2 egg whites
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1-2 tablespoons white sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 egg yolks
4 tablespoons butter, melted
2 cups buttermilk

Whip the egg whites until stiff. Mix the rest and then carefully fold in whites at the end.

It actually didn't take as long to make them as I thought. And don't expect perfectly round. Mine never were (more football or egg shaped). Once the pan is properly heated they cook fairly quickly. I would butter, pour, add filling and then check for turning. Usually they were ready. I would do a 1/3 or 1/2 turn then wait for the full turn. Every time it started to brown I would flip it over a little more. Usually 2-3 turns were all it needed to come around full circle. I used a wooden chopstick.

And they were good! We tried many different fillings;

dipped in butter with rolled in cinnamon/sugar

strawberry jam

frozen blueberries

cheddar cheese

chocolate chips

apple pieces

applesauce with cinnamon/sugar

dried cranberries

I think the jam and blueberries were the best. The dried cranberries weren't very good and the applesauce made it hard to see if they were done inside (although when they were it was good).

A definite hit. Dean was most impressed and even called his Danish grandmother about it.

Of course, now I'm on the hook for lefse.

Up to the Minute

2010-05-18T16:44:00.000-07:00

My corona.

I can't remember what these are. They were bulbs and came with a huge lot of bulbs. The word 'grape' came to mind so I called them my grapes.

Dean got *more* rhubarb. I'm not sure I like rhubarb. Remember our experiment last year? The one in complete shade died. The other two survived but are having a hard time beating out the fast-growing bishop's weed. *More* rhubarb. And he paid for it. I hope he likes rhubarb.

The strawberry are crazy with blossoms. This is one of the smaller ones in the back. The ones in the front have dozens of blossoms. Yumyumyumyum. We're definitely eating them this year.

The lettuce are so cute. Some are ready to have leaves broken off. They seem slow this year though. I expected bigger by May...in many of the plants actually. Strawberry and peas are very happy. Lettuce and tomatoes (inside) are not.

This may be one of the reasons. It snowed a few weeks ago. Kind of magical. A friend has the loveliest pictures of fiery tulips (orange with red tips) covered picturesquely in snow.

I've also planted some garlic behind the oregano (crazy as always). A Master Gardener neighbor had his $1 perennial sale (no more hardy cactus). I decided to put a garden in the front where I usually just have wood chips. I'll document what survives. The asparagus finally arrived by mail (it seems so late). I did the big Spring compost transfer to my main garden bed.

And I know its summer because I sunburned my knees and forearms sitting outside at a friend's house.

Happy Coming-Summer!

Gaming Hoopla

2010-05-13T14:08:00.000-07:00

Finished my last exam and only have to shine up a paper before I turn it in. Time to take a few moments and do an update.

Dean and I went to 2010 Spring Gaming Hoopla last month. It's a board game event which earns money for Relay for Life. This article from Wired explains it well. A set fee to enter, free games, food and raffle money go to the American Cancer Society. It's a very friendly group and there were hundreds of board games there. We learned quite a few new games and joked around with some strangers. They do this twice a year in Southern Wisconsin. It was a nice Anniversary getaway for us.

STaTiC

2010-05-04T10:06:00.000-07:00

Happy Anniversary to us.

With teaching myself statistics, research, final projects, interviews, final papers, and exams it's been a busy month.

I am thinking about this site. A lot. I even took pictures for you all.

However, its just not happening right now. Even the seedlings are suffering a little (2 reseedings) and desperately need to be transplanted.

Up ahead:

*strawberry preview

*pea, lettuce, and radish growth (outside)

*more free rhubarb

*more lunch muffins

*tomato, basil, and squash seedlings (inside)

*my inability to read and set the automatic timer

*$1 plant sale

*memorials

*planting asparagus and garlic

*attending Gaming Hoopla, a board game event for the American Cancer Society

Many of these are done (and being ignored as this blog is) and a few are coming up soon.

School Lunches

2010-04-14T18:03:00.000-07:00

With so much attention going to school lunches this year (Jamie Oliver, the Fed Up with Lunch blog) and 2 kids new to school this year I thought it was time to re-access my lunch technique.

Back when E. first started school he took a pbj with dried fruit, a few chips, and maybe a vegetable. He quickly acclimated and began doing the school lunches except by special request. With a preschooler, toddler, and baby I really didn't mind.

Now that the older 3 are in school for the first time I'm going back to my lunch technique.

I really hate to do sandwiches. While it wasn't so bad with 1 it's much harder with 2 (or 3). Plus they often get thrown away my school lunch collective memory reminds me.

So then I bought individual yogurts. But the boys are getting bored and I'm thinking of how much sugar is in them and hoping they didn't throw away their spoons.

So reading around I decided to follow the idea of some unknown blog writer. This is the first week.

I make a somewhat healthy muffin (applesauce oatmeal, blueberry, etc.), an ounce or so of nuts (cashews, almonds), a fruit (dried fruit, apples, etc.), and maybe a vegetable (usually carrots).

So far it's working. J., the 7 year old, loves it. I., the 9 year old, doesn't say much about lunch. He's an 'okay Mom!' kind of kid no matter what I do (every Mom should have one of those).

There's no telling how long this will last so any suggestions are welcome.

Oatmeal Applesauce Muffins

1 cup oatmeal
1 1/4 cup flour
heaping 1 tsp cinnamon (or to taste)
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda

1 cup natural applesauce
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup brown sugar
5 Tbsps oil (or a few less)
1 egg

Mix the dry ingredients (column 1). Then the wet ingredients (column 2). Fold together. Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes. Cool.

Spring bustin' out all over

2010-04-14T17:38:00.000-07:00

Tomatoes are coming up! A little earlier then usual because of the mat. Powers Heirloom were the earliest (again) I believe.

I had to re-seed @ 8 (All Powers Heirloom and Principe Borghese, and 1 each of Livingston Gold Ball, Guernsey Island Pink Blush, San Marzano, and Tonderia Maremmaro). This heating mat is a learning process. I'm not sure how much water I should use. I generally water from the bottom and replace as it dries. I wasn't sure if that was okay so after I lightly watered and placed the cover I left it alone. While the seedlings on the side got watered by the terrarium effect, the centers did not. Oops. Guess I learned something. :)

And these little guys.

I have this spot by the driveway. I planted a bunch of bulbs there last year, so to cover the late summer I tossed some old herb seeds all over the ground. Lots and lots of whatever I had left over ( mostly marigold and parsley and other things). The thickest mat of parsley grew up. I left it all through the fall and what do I see...new parsley!!! It seeded itself!

I'm so proud.

Despite the short snow and the sometimes frosty nights the peas are loving it.

J. said, "look Mom, my flowers...uh I mean my things grew up!"