Sourdough Starter

I am attempting to resurrect a sourdough starter that I had frozen over a year ago, perhaps a year or a half ago. It is not particularly happy. I am on 12-hour feedings, and finally got around to getting white flour (I had been using what we had at home, which was white whole wheat and a whole wheat/rye mix). Based upon the advice of Sourdoughhome.com, I dumped out the hooch on top, and only used a smidge of starter, mixing it with 1/2 c. flour and 1/4 c. water. In 12 hours, I will feed it again WITHOUT dumping half of the mix. In 24 hours, I will start dumping half when feeding.

Come back little starter! I want to eat you!

Tomatoes

Yesterday at market, we had about 10 pounds of heirloom tomatoes that would not make it another day. A couple Amana Orange, a lighter-colored orange one, some Lemon Boys, and other yellow ones with the odd German Striped thrown in. So I chopped them all last night, and put them in the stock pot. I cooked it for a few hours, covered, and then turned it off and went to bed.

Today, I turned it on and checked about an hour, hour-and-a-half later to see that my oversized lid for my stock pot had leaked condensation all over the stove! Luckily, this stove is electric or I might have destroyed a burner before I realized it.

I removed the lid to let it remove some liquid. I'll let it cook down all day, and add in some onion, peppers, and spices as we go. But I've never made yellow tomato sauce -- I hope it turns out well!

Winter Coats

So I have an angora coat that I got at Goodwill last year for $15. It's boxy and shapeless and designed to be so. It's some weird 90s Montreal fashion designer. Whatever. The point is that it is not what I'd like it to be. And I keep meaning to get around to making a coat, I just also keep not finding juuuuuuust what I'd like. Except when you find just what you'd like.


That is exactly what I'd like! And I need to talk to my friend who raises rabbits and get some rabbit fur for cuffs and a collar and I'll be golden! Well, and I need to get my hands on a copy of that pattern and get nice lining material and... :-P

Closets

So one of the problems with the new apartment is that there is exactly ONE closet, and it's under the eaves, not very big, and only a half size closet to begin with. Not fun. Basically that'll fit Abe's clothes nicely but not mine at all.

While browsing the IKEA catalogue at Meghan's house, I saw what looked like really nice hanging racks for pretty cheap. Having now looked them up online, most of them are either too expensive to be worthwhile, or don't hold enough weight to be worthwhile. The happy medium appears to be the RIGGA clothes rack.

It's only $13 and it can hold up to 77 pounds. That's still a wee bit flimsy, but I think it will be worth it. As it's 43" long, I probably will only need one as well, which is a plus.

Abe keeps talking about how he wants to use bookshelves to hang a pole through and create a closet for me, also using the shelves to shore up the ceiling. I think it will be sturdier if we use a clothes rack and have bookshelves on either end. I have every intention of winning this one.

Smoothies

In an endeavor to eat healthier, Abe and I often have smoothies in the morning. This is also due to his having a blender and my being an expert smoothie-maker. Yesterday, I used the last of the bananas, frozen or otherwise. I figured, this might be a problem, but not a big one.

So today, when I made a smoothie, I realized that not only are we out of bananas, but we are super low on fruit in general. So my options for flavor were frozen peaches, frozen raspberries (always tart) and limeade concentrate (tart as well). I threw in some almonds, some flax seed, almond milk and, horror of all horrors, white sugar. I don't want to waste my good honey on a smoothie and it's just easier to pour some white sugar out of a bag than to scoop the brown sugar out of the jar.

The verdict? Still brain-numbingly tart. I'm eating it with a spoon and barely managing to take more than a spoonful per minute. Good thing I have 30 before I have to leave for work...

Montego Boy Pickles

I last made pickles 3 years ago, and this recipe was the sole winner of the three that I tried. The image is from the last time I made them, so it is a quart jar and not a pint jar.

"Montego Boy" Sweet Chips
-- 4 lbs. small kirby cucumbers, cut into 1/4" slices
-- cauliflower florets (optional)
-- 1 quart + 1 2/3 c. vinegar
-- 3 Tbs. canning salt
-- 1 Tbs. mustard seed
-- 1/2 c. + 3 c. sugar
-- 1 Tbs. allspice
-- 2 1/4 tsp. celery seed (didn't have)

Prepare scalding brine (1 qt. vinegar, salt, mustard seed, 1/2 c. sugar). Bring to a boil. Scald vegetables in boiling hot scalding brine in small batches briefly until skin changes color. Drain. Pack immediately into hot jars. Prepare packing syrup (1 2/3 c. vinegar, 3 c. sugar, allspice, celery seed). Bring to a boil. Fill jars with hot syrup to 1/8" from top. Seal. Invert jars for at least 5 minutes (or until sealed). Stand away from drafts.

Note: I water bath canned these for 15 mins rather than just rely upon the seal.
Old Farm Pickles and Table Preserves

Current Preserving Tallies

On July 27th, Katie and I canned pretty much all evening. Our final count for that was:
-- 8 pints pickles (Montego Boy)
-- 2 jars Peach-Cherry Jelly (not water-bath canned)
-- 4 8-oz jars Blueberry Jam
-- 6 8-oz jars Mixed Berry Jam (White Currant, Cranberry, Blueberry)


What prompted this canning party was the gift of a pint of White Currants, some Peach seconds and a bunch of pickling cucumbers. I also used up the gallon bag of blueberries from last year, some cranberries from last fall, and some cherries from June (all frozen fruits). I did not put as much sugar as the recipes claimed, and they are plenty sweet, but not jellig. The Mixed Berry set fine, but the Peach-Cherry is still goopy and the Blueberry is runny. I let Katie go home with 2 pints of pickles and a jar each of the fruits.

On August 3rd, Katie and I had another canning session. Our count for that afternoon was:
-- 7 pints pickles (Dill)
-- 18 8-oz jars of Spiced Peach Preserves

This session was prompted by a) some sad looking pickling cukes at work and b) the gift of 50# peaches on August 1st. That night, Abe and I chopped up what peaches required chopping that night and froze peach slices into four ziplocks. Katie and I canned half of the remaining peaches, we put whole peaches into two gallon bags and froze them, and had 20 peaches remaining. Today, I made peach pie with four peaches (drizzling it with the Peach-Cherry Jelly) and am currently dehydrating the remaining 16 peaches. Katie took home 2 pints of pickles and 4 jars of peach preserves.

Remaining Frozen Fruit Tally:
-- 2 gallon bags of whole peaches
-- 1.5 pints of whole peaches
-- 8 oz. sour cherries
-- .5 pints cherries
-- 4 pint bags of sliced cherries (to be used in smoothies)