Store-bought extract on the left, homemade on the right. 2 weeks to go, so it looks like it's on the right track. Didn't have two white or two clear spoons and I wasn't sure the metal spoons would show enough, but I think you can see the difference.
Wish I had thought of putting a few drops of extract on a piece of paper each week to get a better record of it, but I think this will do just fine this time around.
Previously:
vanilla extract: six weeks
vanilla extract: two weeks
vanilla extract: one week elapsed
week 0, day 0
Inspired by this, I'm starting a big cloth napkin project so we can stop using paper napkins. Thought I'd start easy, with some precut fabric quarters. Kinda like how the colors worked on this one, will probably get more to make a set (2 or 4?).
Lots of scraps and reclaimed clothing material will be going into future pieces for this project...
day 0, Originally uploaded by kidmissile.
making vanilla extract:
-3 beans, split down the middle, but left intact at the ends
-1 cup vodka
-put in a sterilized jar, swirl around, and store in a cool dark place for 8 weeks!
Could someone please remind me to post a weekly picture to track the color changes? :)
It rained all day, which was sad for the art fair (though our friend said that Saturday is always her busy sales day), but good for our gardens. We spent the day lazing around, cooking (pasta sauce, leek confit, this vanilla extract, and cheddar biscuits), watching TV, and I worked on our new butcher block cart/kitchen island, which we scored at a garage sale last weekend for $30!
( +3 pics of my next wood refinishing project )
To be honest, I'm not the biggest fan of the show (wrt how they go about things and sometimes the finished product, imho Habitat for Humanity does things better overall), but it's an opportunity to get out there and volunteer if you're up for it. =)
And don't get me wrong, I think all the people that I've seen get an EHM house really deserve it and it's totally awesome to give people new homes, it's just that I think many of the recipients would benefit more if things were a little less "Extreme" with the whole production.
On top of that it's going to be another hot one today. Resisting the urge to turn on the air conditioner. During the day I have a fan blowing directly on me and the computer to keep us cool.
I'm swimming over lunch and then we're planning to hit the gym tonight, I can't run or bike outside in this weather. =/
I was supposed to go back this afternoon, but it was too hot and the ground was still wet from last night's rain. I was hoping it would dry out by 5 or so, but then a big downpour right at 5p ruined those plans. More rain in the forecast tomorrow. Maybe we won't get the remaining plants in until Friday or Saturday. That should be okay; after all the delays we're happy to finally get stuff into the ground.
So far 5 cucumbers and 2 tomatillo plants are in. We have 7 green zebra tomato plants and 3 poblano pepper plants ready to go. We also have eggplant, but the seedlings aren't quite ready. After that it will be interplanting: basil, nasturtiums, various greens (mostly for donating), and marigolds wherever they will fit.
With such a big plot, it's easy to cram too much stuff in. But what's out there now looks like it's spaced too far apart, which means that it's probably just about right.
pt beat me in the first game of 301, with a very nice 3 dart closeout combo. I won the next match of Cricket.
( smoked fish )
Re: the garden, we went to the annual native plant sale at our park's botanical garden and scored a few nice things: shade grass plants, crawling sedum, and sunchoke seedlings! Apparently the sunchokes get rather tall, so they're going into the community garden plot, whenever that gets started. (I got a letter assuring us we have plots there, but it's been too wet for them to till yet. Wish they'd send us e-mail, since they specifically asked for everyone's address and said that would be the preferred form of communication. I hate to see our plot rental fees getting wasted for paper and postage. You can tell they're still working with a classic mail merge & print system.) pt also went to another garden center yesterday and got lemongrass and a couple other things I can't remember.
Re: grilling( Read more... )
I want to go riding, but it's still drizzling and I just gave gina a nice bath yesterday. I'll settle for an indoor swim and treadmill workout this afternoon, my back is a little stiff from the yardwork yesterday.
I put together our square foot gardening raised beds this evening. Total cost of supplies for the boxes was about $12.
I added a bunch of compost from our personal pile; we probably don't need to do the raised bed soil mix that they recommend, since the soil in our plot was prepped from last year. Re-tilling the small sections was no problem.
All that dirt you see on the right is the footprint of the old plot. Since we'll have a 24'x12' plot in the Community Garden at the State Fairgrounds this year, we decided to scale back the home operation and reclaim some of the yard for lounge space. =)
- Feelin'?:
accomplished
During our bulb planting frenzy last fall, in my zeal to till and prep the ground, I dug up a whole bed of irises that Kristina had already planted.
So dumb.
She'd planted reticulata and I found a package of histrioides george to replace them. I think these are the ones I planted, I hope some of the original ones come up too.
recipes on the flickr photo pages
homemade butter!
Originally uploaded by kidmissile.
Thanks to paradoxlight for suggesting I try making butter. I used these instructions:
http://www.webexhibits.org/butter/doity
simple breakfast
Originally uploaded by kidmissile.
butter taste test on fresh baked bread (no-knead)
The Queensland butter was a gift from my family, they brought it back from a trip to the Philippines. It's a New Zealand brand of butter, made and packaged in Manila. The Q has a much richer creamy flavor. Yummuy!
I'd like to spread some Q on homemade pan de sal for the full virtual transportation back to the homeland.
Right now: 1°F, -21°F wind chill!
The forecast is for snow showers on Wednesday, I hope that changes before we drive up for xmas.
- Feelin'?:happy to be warm inside
My back has been bothering ever since I tweaked it at Cranksgiving, so I need to do a few warmups first.
I'm neither loving nor loathing the snow at this point, just documenting.
I won't go so far as to say it was enjoyable, but I certainly am not dreading finishing the job.
- Feelin'?:
exhausted
http://www.flickr.com/photos/straighted
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