Potential Pineapple Vinegar

Wanting to squeeze every last cent of my impulsive pineapple purchase, I was reminded of this post from the Tipsy Baker. Using this recipe, I hope to have pineapple vinegar in as little as two weeks. Sans maggots, if everything goes smoothly. The potential vinegar is hanging out with a one gallon batch of potential s'mores beer.

If I see anything that resembles a maggot, the whole experiment is going into the compost bin. I'm still not recovered from plucking my potential Korean garlic bulbs from the garden two weeks ago. When I uprooted them and turned them around, what should have been roots turned out to be maggots or some other form of wriggly white cylinders. Blech. My Pam Pierce inspired dream of providing for all of our garlic needs were crushed, and the addition of maggots ensures that I won't try again for a long time.

Every night, the boy has been going out with one of his zillion head lamps (really, why does one person need more than one head lamp if he only has one head?) to go snail and slug hunting. Last night, he found 3 snails, 3 slugs, and 1 salamander. When he offered the salamander 1/2 a slug, the salamander bit it, but then decided that it tasted gross and left it there. Lazy, wasteful salamander. I guess I can't train salamanders either to go snail and slug hunting.

I think my squash and zucchini are actually shrinking! Too much water? Too cold? What is wrong? If I can't get a batch of summer squash, it doesn't bode well for an off-the-grid future. We'll have to trade beer and bread for our staples in the post apocalyptic society, but how will we grow the wheat?

Impulse Buys

The pineapple and the puffball: our dinner tonight. Both were impulse buys, and it wasn't until I placed them side by side that I noticed their similarities. Can you tell I've been thinking about a hexagon baby blanket that I need to seam?

The pineapple jumped into my basket after I tried a sample. "Do you like pineapple? Here, try this." And I tried it. I gave the guy a nod, he asked when I planned on eating the pineapple, I told him tonight, and off I went with a 1-pound pineapple in my possession. It's so good and sweet that I am not even going to bake any of it into the yogurt cake I've been making over and over again with summer's fruit.

For the puffball, I think just frying it up with a little bit of butter is the best way to eat it so I don't dilute its earthy, nutty flavor.  I have some English peas that need a good shuck, then maybe I'll make some focaccia or some other grain to go with tonight's dinner. Or maybe a puffball and pea pasta will be dinner. I think half the fun of buying unusual ingredients is planning on what to make!

For the most part, my garden looks the same as the last time I posted pictures. Living in the fog means that my summer vegetable harvest isn't quite the same as the days of my 100 degree summer childhood, but I can grow things like lettuce with ease. (OK, lettuce not as delicious as snap peas, but I'm trying to be positive here.) I think I spied one ripe sungold tomato today, so I'll cut it in half and share it with the boy for tonight's salad. My zucchini and yellow squash plants are the opposite of prolific, but I suppose I can start eating the blossoms. I have some goat cheese and cornmeal all ready to go.

The boy went snail and slug hunting in our garden last night and nabbed 5 critters munching on tender shoots. I've been going after the ivy in our yard (well, more like in our neighbor's yard, but ivy doesn't have a notion of property lines so I have to cut it back aggressively) to destroy more snail and slug habitat. If anyone knows how to train cats to kill slugs and snails, let me know. I still cannot figure out a way for my cats to earn their keep, although they keep me entertained as hat models.

Summer is here!

My first produce of the summer: crookneck squash

Last weekend, we happened up on an urban farm tour given by the farmer herself, Willow Rosenthal. If you recognize her name, it may be because you've read Farm City, visited City Slicker Farms, own a copy of The Essential Urban Farmer, or have heard her speak about food and farming related issues.

The tour lit a fire under our butts because the house on tour has a similar microclimate to our own house, so the next day, the boy and I spent 7 hours building a retaining wall to terrace our hilly front yard. The result is a functional food garden! We carried over a ton of rocks (no exaggeration!) up the hill, severely chopped back some overgrown bushes and trees, and carved out a little space that we hope will provide us with snap peas, blue lake beans, broccoli, beets, carrots, salad greens, and radishes. We already had tomatoes, zucchini, crookneck squash, and limes growing with success, so we hope this will just add more food to the table. (Interesting fact about summer squashes: the first blooms are always male. I thought my squash was defective until I learned that!)

If this garden turns out well, we'll expand it out to other parts of the yard, but for now, our tiny 10' x 5' plot is keeping us busy.

If you have any interest in small footprint food gardens, check out The Essential Urban Farmer. There are ideas in there for maximizing your space that were new to us, and that made gardening in my little foggy microclimate seem entirely plausible. The North Berkeley house we visited had enough eggs and produce to provide weekly food boxes to 6 families. 

Eggs from spent grain fed chickens.

The boy is still brewing delicious beer, and I found a worthy home for the leftover (spent) grains. I posted on a community board to see if any neighbors with chickens would be interested in some grain. One person has 5 chickens who love the stuff, and she was nice enough to give me a dozen eggs and some sweet, juicy limes from her backyard! It's such a sweet deal, and no grain goes to waste. There's only so much spent grain muffins I can make and eat.

Corn, pesto, and zucchini risotto

Last week's hot weather, hot for me being in the upper 80's, meant that I didn't want to spend much time in front of the stove top. This is when my pressure cooker really shines! I got on a risotto making kick because my pressure cooker makes the whole cooking process less than 15 minutes, and not only that, but most of that time my burner is set to simmer - a temperature low enough to melt, but not boil, butter. My first risotto was corn, pesto, and zucchini with a (not so) healthy mound of Parmesan. The pressure cooker is also a champ at making quick stocks for the risotto cooking liquid. I save all the veggies scraps, rough chop an onion, throw in a few peppercorns and a bay leaf into the pressure cooker and let it do its thing for 10 minutes.

Mock paella risotto

My second risotto was a paella inspired risotto. I threw some smoked paprika, chorizo, English peas, saffron, white wine, and more zucchini into the pressure cooker with the arborio rice, and the resulting dish exceeded expectations!  I was really craving paella that day, and this curbed the craving. Sure, there weren't any crispy bits on the side and bottom of the pan, but I fixed that the next day by frying up the leftover risotto in a cast iron pan and adding fried egg to the top.

The boy sat and watched me eat it during breakfast, eschewing the savory dish for his boring peanut butter Puffins with cashew milk. He's a little grossed out by my habit of eating leftover dinner for breakfast, and I'm a little grossed out by eating super sweet cereal first thing in the morning. At least we can agree on strong, black coffee.

A Potato Pancake As Big As Your Plate?

Yes, potato pancakes the size of your dinner plate do exist in the magical Czech Republic! If you can stomach the secondhand smoke, something living in no-smoking-indoors-and-near-doorways California did not prepare me for, the pub food in Prague is what all other pub food should be based upon: it's hearty, tasty, goes well with beer, and cheap! Adorning that giant potato pancake are two types of sweet and sour cabbage, and many slices of roast pork.

Although Pilsner Urquell is the dominant brand of beer there, not much of it passed my lips. Us travelers called it "pissy Urquell." Thankfully, there's a strong (and growing!) microbrew movement there, as evidenced by this technicolor beer sampler from the famous Pivovarsky Dum.

The green beer at 3 o'clock is stinging nettle beer. There's also a sour cherry, a banana, and a coffee beer here.

I also sampled many variations of svikova, larded beef with a sour cream sauce that is traditionally served with the densest potato dumplings I have ever had. Every restaurant seemed to outdo itself in the "who can make the densest potato dumpling?" category, but I am not a fan. I was served them a lot in Germany, and I also pushed them aside there. Oh, what I wouldn't have given for a serving of brown rice to sop up all that gravy instead of those blasted dumplings (again, exposing my CA roots).

Showing off my Flaming June in Cesky Krumlov

Chandelier made from human bones at the Sedlec Ossuary

Besides eating, we rafted, walked a ton, visited a creepy ossuary in Kunta Hora, got lost, got found, rode bikes and almost died in Ghent, and made a beer pilgrimage to Belgium. We ended our trip with a (unintended, due to the holiday) 8-mile hike to the Trappist Westvleteren Brewery. Yes, the theme was beer (for him) and food (for me). 

Hiking through the hop fields

I can see the appeal of traveling the world - discovering at least 20 new things each day is addicting, and it makes it very hard to slip back into everyday life. Traveling for an hour and having the language switch from French, to Flemish (basically, Dutch), to Czech was unbalanced, but exciting in an odd way. Too bad I kept on trying to speak Spanish to everyone. Apparently my brain categorizes all foreign language into my Spanish speaking compartment. But, I am happy to be home because of my cats, my dogs, and my washer and dryer.

Happenings

The boy has upgraded his beer operation to 5-gallon batches, which as far as I can tell, means that he washes bottles for hours on brew days. However, now his dream of drinking his own beer at home is a reality. The homebrews' alcohol content have been roughly 3%, so I've been referring to the beers as "Utah friendly." 

Mingus, however, is not impressed with the DIY beer. Beer has nothing to do with dogs getting walks or dogs getting food, so he just hides behind our curtain until we pay attention to him.

In a moment of insanity, I decided to walk Mingus to my bank. The walk inflated his ego since two strangers approached him and went nuts petting him. Now, whenever we pass someone we don't know, Mingus assumes that the person wants to give him pets and he veers towards them, something I am not encouraging because not everyone is ok with a wolf-like dog getting into his or her personal space.

I've been experimenting with paella-ish dishes that have less rice than a traditional paella. This particular batch had 2 cups of baby lima beans, 1 head of cauliflower, and 1 bunch of kale. I only added 1/2 cup of raw rice to the dish and only 2 chorizo sausages. It turned out just as delicious as a rice dependent paella, and it didn't make me want to take a nap after dinner. The key to getting all the rice to cook is putting a lid on it for the first 20 minutes.

Fifty-Fifty is still lapping up the sun spots around the house.

And Vespa, ever vigilant, keeps her eyes on Fifty.

Some things will never change.

Easy Microwave Popcorn Without the Bag

Although I love popcorn drenched in butter with a sprinkling of parmesan cheese, I'm a devotee of plain old popcorn. There's something about its crunch that satisfies the part of my brain which thinks all snacks have to make a loud noise when consumed in order to be a proper snack.

Now, microwave popcorn has a bad reputation because of the chemicals in the bag and in the popcorn itself. However, do not despair! You can still eat microwaved popcorn, and it can be healthier and cheaper than the pre-bagged stuff.

All you need is a microwave safe glass container with a glass lid and some popcorn kernels. I buy the organic stuff out of a bulk bin for $1.29 a pound.

Sprinkle the bottom of your container with 1 layer of kernels.

Put the lid onto your container.

Put the container into the microwave and nuke it on high for 2 minutes and 30 seconds. The first time you do this, I urge you to stay by the microwave so you can stop the cooking if the popping between kernels slows to about 1 pop per 3 seconds, you smell burnt popcorn, or you put so many kernels in that the lid is falling off.

Your glass container will be really hot, so don't reach out for the container without some oven mitts or a towel. Be quick about taking off the lid so you don't steam your popcorn.

I love this method because it's effortless and oil-free. Air poppers take up too much precious space and the stovetop method is fussy.

Another crop of babies are in the oven, just when I thought I was done knitting for the last crop! So far, there are 3 itty bitty ones coming to town this year. I visited one baby last week, and I made him a stripy bear hat. It's a little big on him due to the kid being smaller than I thought for his age. (His parents told me that his head is in the 20th percentile, so how was I to know he had an unusually small head?)

Aren't these eggs beautiful? I found another person with chickens, and she gave me four eggs for the spent beer grains I sent her way. Thankfully, chickens don't lay purple or red eggs, or else I'd end up with a chicken or two just for the pretty colored eggs.  (If any chickens do lay purple or red eggs, please don't tell me.)

The boy has 2, yes 2, 5-gallon carboys full of beer-to-be. Although I like the home-brewed beer, I cannot possibly drink any more crappy, store bought flip top beer just so he can use the bottles. Why would I waste my beer calories on that swill when he's making good stuff? So, despite his protests, I went out today and bought 3 cases of new, empty flip top bottles. Problem solved.

Tangerine Dreams and Red Roses

Flaming June is off the needles and on me! Already, I know that I am going to wear this over, and over, and over again. The only problem is that it's so distinctive that people are going to notice when I wear the same cardigan 5 days in a row. Maybe I should knit another one in black and green?

Excruciating details can be found on my Ravelry project page. This fingering weight sweater, as well as a 700+ page library book (Inheritance by Christopher Paolini), was keeping me in my own little world.

The boy's beer hobby has been upsized from 1-gallon batches to 5-gallon batches. Before he could take up space in the house for a 5-gallon set up, he had to prove that this wasn't just a passing whim. I should know better than to challenge him, because since January, he's made 14 1-gallon batches of beer. My waistline can only take 1 beer every other day, so this has been a challenge! Surprisingly, or maybe not so surprisingly, the time it takes to brew 5 gallons is not significantly more time than it takes to brew 1 gallon. Besides the dog-sized pot, we didn't need to buy anything more thanks to his brother who used to brew beer back in the day. Score! I sent out some feelers and got connected with some chicken wranglers, so I won't have to feed our bloated compost bin and red wrigglers any more spent grain (and hopefully I'll get some eggs in the process).

Orange and red have been my theme colors for the past few months. More proof is this little ditty I knit up for a friend's baby.  I've also been making red and gold beet salads, and eating blood oranges with tangerines. Next, I'll be making superhero capes for the cats.

Boredom on a Rainy Day

Mingus leads a hard life

Although my dogs may look big and tough, here's a little secret: they melt in the rain.  Convincing them to use the backyard lavatory is frustrating because they hover by the back door and stare at me like I'm the most evil person in the world. They would rather explode then deign to dip their dainty paws in puddles of water. On weekends and days where I work from home, whatever. Not a problem. There usually is a break in the rain long enough for me to leash them up and perform a potty walk (once they start walking, they just can't hold it in any longer). On days where I'm on a schedule, meaning that they need to be on a schedule, you'll hear me saying things like "Oh, wouldn't it be so fun to go outside and pee? It'll be a blast! I'll give you a cookie! Go, go, go!"

This weekend, it's been rainy. Not as rainy as first predicted, but still a little wetter than normal. Mingus came home and pouted after his potty walk, and that's when I snapped a photo of him. What a spoiled dog. Let it be noted that this spoiling has nothing to do with me.

The boy is still on a beer making bent, logging eleven beers so far with numbers twelve and thirteen happening tonight. Although he's making only gallon batches, this still results in a ton of spent grains that we're scrambling to use.

They might look like my dogs made them, but they are really delicious

He made some cookies for our dinner party last night that I'd say fall into the energy bar category. One cookie is enough fuel to run a couple of miles.  Although it was a vegan recipe, I don't think anyone noticed (my rude assumption here is that vegan baked goods are gross - not always true but oftentimes true IMHO).

Paella is becoming my default dinner party food since I can throw just about anything into it, it's unusual and therefore impressive, and it tastes good. While guests are hovering about, I can have the paella bubbling away as I enjoy a glass of bubbly with everyone.  Last night's paella didn't require a trip to the store since I used up odds and ends (chicken thighs, cod, hedgehog mushrooms, preserved lemons, hatch chiles, and safflower), and it turned out fantastic. I served it with sautéed opo squash, and we also had a blood orange olive oil cake, homemade imperial black pepper stout, sherry fino, a bottle of homemade wine, and the boy's spent grain cookies. In our food and alcohol induced waking sleep state, we had an odd conversation where one person tried to convince two of us that we were mispronouncing "exorbitant" (he was wrong).

I have Flaming June on the needles, and the funny thing here is that I'm knitting it to avoid the last few rows of my never-ending blanket. It's an odd thing to knit a fingering weight sweater to avoid knitting something else, but at least I'll get a cool cardigan out of the deal. I can't fight the way my mind works. I just have to power through.

The designer, Cheryl Niamath of Fetching fame, provides terrific pattern support. I noticed some numbers that didn't quite add up on the pattern, and she thanked me and also sent me her new e-book full of fantastic little knits, Covet! The patterns in Covet are all drool worthy, and I have no idea which one to tackle first. Lots of knits in this book are perfect for holiday knitting.

Ultimate Slouch Hat

When traveling on public transportation or shopping at the produce market, I am overcome with slouch hat envy. Although the weather here doesn't even come close to being in the single digits, folks here know how to rock a hat, and I found it shameful that I was a knitter, yet I sported a naked head. Naked head no more! Introducing the Ultimate Slouch Hat.

$2.99

This hat lays just so thanks to short row shaping at the crown, and since it's knit from bulky Cascade Ecological Wool,  it works up at lightening speed! I think the best part is that I can get 3 hats out of one skein of Cascade Eco, so I foresee giving a lot of these away as gifts. Thanks to my test knitter, Deb!

Needles:

• 16-inch US  #9 circular needle
• 16-inch US #10 1/2 circular needle
• 1 set of US #10 1/2 DPNs or a 20-inch US #10 1/2 circular needle 

Skills needed: 

• knitting in the round
• knitting with 2 circular needles or DPNs
• short row shaping.

Sizes

• Small, 20-22 inch circumference
• Large, 22-24 inch circumference

Gauge

• 15 stitches = 4 inches

Another Wildcat Out in the Wild

Knitserland just posted the loveliest pictures of her Wildcat Canyon Scarf. I love the ripples created between the rows of cluster stitches! If you haven't checked out her blog or her designs yet, what are you waiting for? There's loads of knitty goodness to be found.