Ghee, Kinetic Madness, and Buttons

If everything is better with butter, then everything is rosy with ghee. I've been cooking a lot of Indian food lately because I have a pantry full of dried beans, a pressure cooker, and Lord Krishna's Cuisine: The Art of Indian Cooking. My old supply of ghee ran out, so it was time to make some more.

A pound of butter, some low heat, and an hour later, I had ghee! This is a picture of mid-gheeness.


I continue to heat the butter until the solids (foamy stuff you see above) drop to the bottom and start to brown, leaving a nutty tastes to the clarified butter. The strained solids make good Mingus and Vespa treats. Just the tiniest niblet will make Mingus do about 10 doggy push-ups (Sit! Down! Sit! Down!).

This month is considerably more quiet than last, meaning we can go kayaking and hiking on the weekends. Finally! Last month was a blur thanks to a little race in Eureka called The Kinetic Sculpture Race. The boy and his family all work en masse on putting together a machine that can go over asphalt, sand, and water. After a 12-year hiatus, they returned. The craziest part of it all is that they won! Take a look at 2010's Grand Champions! They look regal, eh?

This is the first water crossing across Humbolt Bay.

I forgot how exhausting it is to watch this race, especially when the racers you are watching are so speedy that you never get to stay in one spot for long. Next year, I think I'll strategically watch them in the tricky spots, but soak in the rest of the race a bit more instead of rushing from spot to spot.

Last weekend, I decided to venture into my first estate sale. In our 'hood, there seems to be at least 3 of them going on nearby, but I have enough trouble keeping our stash of stuff at a minimum, let alone buying another person's stuff. However, much to my surprise, I did find a little something to take home.

These wooden buttons will be perfect for my next cardigan! Since I'm going to be crocheting the afghan forever, as far as I can estimate, no plans on what my next cardigan will be.