Two Lunches

Monday Lunch:

Sandwich of
Toasted Sourdough
Bread spread with
Garlic Yogurt Cheese,
and filled with
sliced
cucumbers,
thinly peeled
carrots
and
de-stemmed
spinach.
(Stems went to the chickens)
Yogurt and toasty granola
were a perfect dessert and

kombucha helped it all digest nicely.

Tuesday Lunch:

There was

tofu, lentil, spinach curry

over

basmati rice,

and hot spicy

ginger-flax tea

to soothe my cough and aid digestion.

These are both super quick easy meals that can be whipped up in literally 30 minutes or less. Recipes to come later today. For now, I need to take advantage of the sun outside and bike to the post office in some sunglasses. (Seriously sorry about these pictures. My phone is my only form of documentation right now.)

Support Funding!

Americorps volunteers often spend upwards of 40 hours a week on only a living stipend, a very small amount of money, to help make our communities better places to live. They get healthcare to those who need it, clean up our watersheds, and tutor our kids. The government is very close to erasing this service. Please sign this petition to support federal funding for Americorps. It takes about 30 seconds.

And while you're at it, please sign the petition to stop Congress from pulling the plug on NPR and PBS. Your favorite (and kids' favorite) educational programs could stop. That means no more Arthur! Save both Arthur and This American Life by signing here!

This was a public service announcement for the public services.

Mama Hen Again

I'm eating a big bowl of homemade yogurt and warm, fresh out of the oven granola, looking through the forums on backyardchickens.com and thinking about this spring. We want to take a rooster home, have him mate with the hens to get fertilized eggs to hatch, and then slaughter and roast the rooster. The chicks will be given away to a friend. 

I'm getting that Mama Hen feeling all over again. I get it whenever I visit the hens in the coop. This time, I'll get to watch the babies grow up from egg to egg-laying hen. It just seems like a lot of work and time. Worth it? Yes. I like jumping all the way into things that sound interesting to me, not just getting my toes wet. If Amy in Fly Away Home can do it in a dresser drawer, surely I can!

Ways to Ward off S.A.D.-ness

If you live in a cold dark place like Grand Rapids, Michigan, here are a few ways to beat the winter blue-grays annnnd Seasonal Affective Disorder:

1. Eat Happy Eggs: A recent study posted in the February/March '09 issue of Mother Earth News reports that free range (actual free range, not the imposter) eggs contain 3-6 times more Vitamin D than factory farmed eggs! That's 63-126% of your recommended daily value. The reason some people feel slightly depressed in deep winter is because they aren't getting enough Vitamin D. The main source of this important vitamin is sunlight, but it can also be found in a few foods, including mushrooms and eggs. So when I bite into one of my hens' hard boiled eggs and see that bright yellow-orange yolk, it's basically like eating sunshine. :D

2. Ride Your Bike: My cousin (really second-cousin, I think) came over today and fixed up my bike, teaching me how to do it myself as he always does. He also fixed our constantly running toilet and taught me how to fix that too. Thanks David! Right when the sun was about to set, I hopped on my bike for the first time in about four months. It felt so good! I peddaled fast uphill and all through town. Tears were streaming from my eyeballs because of the cold wind that blasted my face but I loved it. We've had a warm spell here so the roads and sidewalks are almost completely free of snow and ice. Although I generally enjoy winter, I wouldn't complain if spring came a little early this year.



3. Listen to the Radiohead: This world famous band came out with a new album today. They like to call it The King of Limbs. I like to call it fantastic. Scroll almost half-way down and listen to it for free here.



Cheer up now.

Charlie Harper

So there's this pretty great book shop just around the corner from here called Literary Life. The people who keep shop there are sweethearts and if you go there more than twice, you will end up exchanging names, having deep conversations with them, and looking forward to the next time you get to see them. Although the place is small, they have a great collection of books on everything from philosophy to gardening, cookbooks to children's picture books (which are conveniently next to each other at the shop). I maybe pretty grown up, but will always love love love picture books. I'm too visual for these no-nonsense, pictureless, chartless books publishing companies keep turning out these days. If you can't show me what you mean by putting a clear picture in my head, I need a little help.

Well, one day at Lit. Life, a beautiful cover caught my eye. I opened the book and got the feeling I do when I walk into a yarn shop and see all the skeins tucked into their little cubbies, or see beautiful fabrics folded neatly and stacked, or look into my friends' closets at all the patterns hanging right next to each other, or hear a wonderfully embellished yet metered song. Charlie's work is based on patterns and repeating geometrical shapes, but with variance... like nature, with its cycles and rythms, but so many life forms!: mosses to kangaroos, lightning bugs to cacti! And don't forget the bacteria that make our sourdoughs and yogurts and kombuchas!

That last one makes me laugh. Those fish look so comical, like the angelfish just told the sole some shocking news or something. 

Charlie's art is dear to me because he paints in the way that I see the world: patterns and lines in relation to one another in the context of colors, sounds, smells, and textures. Have you seen any artwork lately that hit home? Or connected with a piece of music? Or other sight or sound? I'm curious!

(by the way, my first batch of kombucha is done! it's bottled with a teeny bit of sugar for more carbonation and ginger for flavor and health. one more week and I get to enjoy it!)

Treasury, Too

My wheat glass has been added to a pretty cute wheat-themed treasury on etsy. My mom told me that growing up, she had these glasses, only in a bigger size. Take a peek!

Food Love: Notes on Good Food

What says Happy Valentine's Day better than beets? The red juice they bleed tastes so sweet and earthy you might forget it's a vegetable. Here's what was on our dinner menu last night. The meal took less than an hour to make and was pretty darn good.------->

Tofu fried in curry spices and olive oil, with Swiss Chard thrown in at the end to steam
Beets and swiss chard stems, boiled, and tossed with maple syrup
Garlic Mashed Potatoes, dyed pink with beet juice, and topped with mushroom gravy
Sourdough English Muffins and Michigan Honey
Heart-Shaped Snickerdoodles and Cranberry Shortbread Cookies

It's that time of year again, when my barnheart (read Jenna Woginrich's blog "Cold Antler Farm" for understanding) throbs and pulses. My toes want to squelch in the mud, fingernails want to be worn down by gritty soil, and my heart just want OUT! For a few days now, the sun has come out and 40+ degree weather has been melting the blizzard into streams of water that freeze at night, only to reawaken in the afternoon. Although I haven't visited it lately, I bet that the Grand River is swollen, carrying our blizzard downstream. Between long walks around the city donning only a light trenchcoat and a single pair of tights, I've been keeping an eye on pots of milk in our kitchen. Here's what I'm talking about:

This pot has goat milk in it. In a few days, with only a little bit of time put in, we'll have fresh feta. Keeping warm on the kitchen vent is homemade yogurt and hanging from a drawer pull, cradled in cheese cloth, is storebought yogurt with the extra whey draining out. Feta, yogurt, yogurt cheese, all full of Vitamin D. These tasty cultured foods keep our insides happy and our brains in a better place. Vitamin D wards off Seasonal Affective Disorder you know! While I wait for the ground to thaw, cheese and its cousins are keeping me a little more sane. Thank you sweet goats and happy cows.

English Mu... What?

English Mushrooms. I started a batch of Sourdough English Muffins on Saturday thinking that the process would take as long as making a loaf of sourdough bread. Sunday morning, I found that they would have been ready by noon that day, so I let the unbaked heart-shaped muffins rise for an extra long time. What's the worst thing that could happen? Sour-er muffins? Sounds good to me!

But I was wrong. They rose and hardened. The cute little hearts rose 3-4 times their original size and started to topple, very much resembling mushrooms (which I do think are adorable, but not when I'm trying to make muffins... at least not in this case). Well, I'm no quitter, so I browned them for a bit on the stove and finished baking them in a 400 degree oven, just like the instructions said. They actually turned out! There's more of a cave inside rather than the usual nooks and crannies... all the more space to stuff with a fried egg!

Here's the recipe, taken from *Classic Sourdoughs by Ed Wood

Sourdough English Muffins

1/2 c. cold sourdough sponge**

6 1/2 c. all-purpse flour

1 1/4 c. water

1 c. milk

3 T. butter, melted

2 t. salt

corn meal (I used corn flour)

1. Mix sponge, 1 1/2 c. flour, and 1 c. water. Cover and proof for about 10 hours.

2. Add 1 c. flour and 1/4 c. water. Mix and knead until smooth. Cover and proof for about 10 hours.

3. Punch down. Mix together milk, salt, and butter, and add to dough and mix well. Mix in 3 c. flour, one cup at a time. When it becomes difficult to mix with a spoon, turn onto a floured surface and begin to knead in the flour. Knead for about 10 minutes.

4. Divide in half and form 2 balls. Roll out each ball into a flat oval 1/2 inch thick on a floured surface. Cut out as many muffins as you can using a biscuit cutter, cookie cutter, or round glass jar. Use all the dough by gathering the scraps together and rolling them out too.

5. Lightly grease two bgakin sheets and dust with corn meal/flour. Place muffins on sheets, cover with a clean towel,  and proof in a warm place for 2-3 hours, until they have doubled in size.

6. EDIT: Place as many muffins as can fit on a large griddle on the stove with about 1/2 inch of space between each one. Brown the bottoms of the muffins, then flip and lightly brown the tops. Then, place the muffins on a greased sheet in a 400 degree oven for about 10 minutes. Cool on wire racks.

[*If you like making bread, this book about sourdough and its history is a MUST HAVE. It is wonderful.

**To make a sponge, add 2 c. of flour to two cups of fully active (foamy, warm) liquid culture. Split in half and refrigerate in two jars.]

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Breakfast time has come and gone this Valentine's Day, but this fun, healthy breakfast is delicious no matter what day of the year it is. Or have it for dinner tonight!

Farmer Boy Breakfast

1 soudough english muffin

1 happy chicken egg, cooked any style

yogurt cheese (goat yogurt cheese would be heavenly)

herbs of choice (I used dried oregano and garlic powder

Cut the english muffin in half horizontally and toast. Meanwhile, cook your egg however you like. When the muffin is done toasting, spread with yogurt cheese and sprinkle with herbs. Place egg on the bottom half of the muffin and top with the other half.

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I'm still reading Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder. Almanzo and his brother and sisters just spent a week at home without their vacationing parents, who returned to find the house spotless, and the garden in perfect shape. The Little House on the Prarie series is my favorite-favorite!
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Like today's pictures? They are from my phone, which comes with fun (really cheesy) frames like the one with the oven mitt. They're poor quality but better than nothing.


Happy Valentine's Day!

Ethernet

The best-worst thing just happened! I found an ethernet cable and plugged it into my computer. This means I can now access internet from my house! Distractedness, here I come.------------------>

On the other hand, my business is really taking off (I think) meaning internet is something that is an important tool for me. Example: I dropped by Minty Keen on Wednesday and Angie hung up my garlands right in the front window. WHAT AN HONOR!!! That store is too cute for words. If you're anywhere near Grand Rapids, you should really stop by. Also, I noticed that many more people are reading this blog than a few months ago. Yesterday, 28 people peeked in. Stick around because I have to tell you about my array of summer job and living options that are overwhelmingly awesome and possibly life-changing. ;) Yep. Stick around.

Shop Update

The shop is pretty full right now. There's finally handmade stuff in there, like yarn and necklaces. Go peek!

 

My weekend plans are very exciting. Tomorrow night, we're having a fermented/cultured foods party!! I'm sharing sourdough, feta, and sips of unfinished kombucha, and there will also be homemade yogurt, miso, and sourkrout. On Saturday, I'm going to this conference and learning about beekeeping, strawbale building and other stuff too. Fun fun!

Feta, or How to Make Your Favorite Cheese From Scratch

Has the blizzard hit you?! There's anywhere from ankle- to knee-high snow drifts around here. I'm glad Regina (my Jeep) has 4 wheel drive capacities and the ability to get people through unplowed roads. We took a walk all around town yesterday and saw:
-a woman cross-country skiing down Wealthy Street
-a dog pulling a child in a sled
-a child being pulled in a plastic bin turned sled
-a community of neighbors shoveling their entire street
-lots of very stuck vehicles
-a pick-up pulling a tethered car down the road
-five people flailing shovels running straight at me
--->to help me get my car unstuck
----->it was fine but I'm going to thank them anyways
-lots and lots of very happy people out and about enjoying a day off from school and work
-a dollar in the snow!

It was a good snow day but I was glad to hear the snow plow scraping down the street this morning. Not everyone has 4-wheel drive.
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A few months ago, I made a basic cheese using milk and lemon juice. It turned out okay but the flavor was pretty boring, like eating milk in solid form. Wanting to experience the process of using rennet in cheesemaking, I ordered a small box of 8 tablets to make a batch of feta. The directions seemed straightforward enough so I got started.

The first obstacle came when I realized that our kitchen thermometer didn't go down to 86 degrees Fahrenheit. Most human thermometers don't either so I had to guess. When the milk felt warm (enough?), I added active-cultured yogurt, and later half a dissolved rennet tablet. The pot was now ready to sit overnight undisturbed while mysterious things that I don't yet understand happened.

This morning I removed the lid to find that the curd had cleanly separated from the whey, just like the directions said. After cutting the curd, it didn't hold up like it should have. It kind of just melted into a bunch of tiny curds, like yogurt. Almost ready to dump it all and give up, I did something I maybe shouldn't have. I heated it a little more. Would this make the texture all wrong? Would this turn into a SOLID BLOCK of HARD CHEESE?! Slowly, slowly, curds started to stick! I keep wondering who figured out how cool active cultures are and how they did it. Why would you mix a cow's rennet and milk together? Was it an accident? Making sourdough makes more sense than making cheese. And now the world is addicted.

Everything came together nicely in the end. Tomorrow, the curds get pickled to get their classic salty flavor. Despite a little confusion, making feta was really fun and really easy. It's also a lot cheaper than buying it and one batch makes a lot of cheese. All that's needed is a gallon of any milk, one tablespoon of yogurt, and half a rennet tablet. Buy rennet online at My Spice Sage because they'll give you 1 oz. of any spice you want for free when you go to check out. I bought Himalayan Pink Salt because it sounded fun, and I want on using it for a special Valentine's Day breakfast I'm planning. ;)

Happy Blizzarding Activities!

*Hey guess what?! When you put a bunch of plain yogurt in some cheesecloth and let it drain overnight, it makes cream cheese!!!! Kind of. Like cream cheese but more creamy than cheesy. And with live cultures. It's sooooo good on sourdough with a little salt and garlic powder. :) Do it.