Today started off rainy – nice because rainy days tend to mean more quiet and relaxing than otherwise.

The peak of summer, which we normally have the last two weeks of July and the first week or two of August has already passed and was barely a blip on the temperature radar (drastic change from other years). We sleep at night and can leave the house open all day to let lovely breezes blow through. Naturally my instincts are telling me to start knitting – I seem to have an innate ability to prepare for the cooler temperatures with advance knitting desires. I’m already planning my projects and right now trying to get done a top for myself (summer top, ah well) to free up needle-space for other knitting. I’ve yarn being shipped for a lovely shawl and another scarf, and then I’ll be picking up more cold weather things like hats and mittens and sweaters for the boys. I love knitting season!

Yesterday I put up 4 pint jars of tomatoes. Not a huge amount, to be sure, but it’s something…. and nice. Kinda sucks that we’ll be gone and there’ll be foods from the garden we won’t eat (but others will, so all’s not lost), but I’m glad we’re going.

Today’s also the last day of rest before the travel-crazy-busy starts. There’s the more intensive planning and clothes washing and packing and organizing to do.

It’s going to be a blast, our trip to Maine. The weather looks beautifully perfect, the bugs shouldn’t be too bad (Maine being notorious for black flies), the only day of rain will be the day we head into Boston to visit the big aquarium for E’s birthday (hopefully). The boys are going to *love* the beach, I just know it. Ken worries they’ll get bored after a few days and I think he’s batty because seriously. How do you get bored of the beach? Sandcastles and rock collecting and splashing in the waves and flying kites and there’s places to walk and see and souvenirs and playgrounds… plus sleeping in a tent at night with the whole family. It’s going to be awesome.

They’re ready, and there’s lots, so I’m going to be searching out recipes today.

(that’s the turnips on the left, daikon on the right)

Harvest will have to wait til tomorrow since it’s going to rain today and I need to grocery shop tonight. I’ve pulled one, though, and it’s larger than I’d expected. I’ve found a recipe for turnip curry that I may try for lunch (I do love me some curry!).

Not exactly a New Year’s resolution, per se, but this year I decided to try and bake all our bread. So far so good, as I haven’t bought any bread or english muffins since the start of the year. We’re enjoying the new breads I bake and figuring out what we like.

The homemade bread I grew up having was my Gram’s and was simply delicious. Everything a homemade bread should be – light, fluffy, crisp when toasted and made amazing grilled cheese sandwiches. I have her recipe, but it’s just not the same, somehow. I’ve made Anadama bread for years now, and we like the whole grain flavour and healthy aspect of that, but I get bored of it easily. So the search for “our” bread has been ongoing. Ken prefers the flavour of whole wheat, so I’ve been aiming for that (I like all bread). We’ve found a perfect breakfast bread that’s super easy, so I’ll share.

No Knead Whole Wheat Bread (you’ll have to scroll waaaay down). It’s everything a breakfast bread should be – tender, moist, slightly sweet, and entirely, completely, whole wheat. Also? Super crazy lazy-person easy. (stir together, leave on counter, toss in fridge for the night, bake). The boys, who normally insist on cinnamon sugar sprinkled over their plain toast, eat it with just butter and nary a complaint. Give it a try!

During the Christmas break, for a few days we gave Ethan yogurt cups for his afternoon snack. Two days. Only two because on those two days, after the yogurt, he started acting oddly. Oddly in the “silly to the point of manic”. We wracked our brains to figure out what was going on and we realized that the only odd thing was the yogurt (normally he has crackers or something). We looked at the label and the only conclusion we came up with was that he’s got a sensitivity to red #40. So we went through all the food the boys eat and eliminated that (not hard). The manic thing hasn’t happened since (at home, we found out it has at school though don’t know if that’s from before Christmas break or not).

This weekend we had boxed Mac’n'cheese for lunch on Saturday and that afternoon/evening Ethan, though differently, was acting oddly again. Yellow #5, and I think all chemical colourants, are now on the “Do Not Feed The Animals” list, now, too.

I know there was a bit of an outcry against food additives in the 80’s. I’m thinking they weren’t all that wrong and today’s chemical-laden foods need a closer look at them.

At least the yogurt is easy to replace (plain yogurt mixed with jam works great) and we didn’t eat M&C too often, before. I’ll need to find a replacement, though, if I can.

From what I did last year…
1. Built a garden and grew food.

2. Went to Disney Land (without children *gasp* bad mommy!).

3. Expanded our family by 3 (cats).

4. Knitted… a lot (more than accessories – actual clothes!).

5. Got locked out of the house, in winter, with Ethan, by Victor.

That I plan to do this year…

1. Bake as much of our bread as I can.

2. Fine tune the garden plan (make trellises).

3. Exercise more (and drag Ken with me).

4. Finish painting (Ethan’s room, play room.
5. Try my hand at canning (without poisoning us).

Ken’s plans…

1. Get in shape/improve health.
2. Move trees.

3. Start to move mountain.

4.  Make things with wood from last spring.

5.  Work on hobbies (make beer, collect rpg’s, etc)

Kelly’s additional…

6. Convince Ken that his #3 should be done by professionals, despite cost therein, and not by us since it’ll never get done.

I’ve made bread for years, off and on; tried my hand at english muffins (more experimentation needed), but never tried buns.  These are kaiser buns – I grew up eating them and love them dearly and can’t get any good ones around here.  So I figured I’d give it a go.  I tried a few new things – rising the dough in the fridge overnight, for instance (didn’t rise much but allowed me to put them aside til the next day, which was helpful).  I didn’t shape them well, but that’s a practice thing.  I forgot to flip them over (they do their 2nd rise upside-down) until a few minutes into the baking so I hastily flipped them back but the “damage” was done (flattened tops).  I’ll remember, next time.

The result, which I had one for lunch, was a perfectly textured bun.  I had mine as a ham’n'cheese sandwich and it was great!

I’ve another recipe to try, for next time, and a different method of shaping.  I’m very pleased, though, since it’s a very unmessy dough and ridiculously easy to make.  I used a recipe from King Arthur Flour.

Ken and I are foodies, at least in willingness to try new and exciting foods.  We’ve been trying various Japanese dishes to great enjoyment and I’ve been interested in curries recently (Indian, Japanese, and Chinese) as well.  I’ve also started looking around for good Indian and Thai books to try out.

Ken, for Christmas, bought me a rice cooker (bless a man who knows your heart!) and some cook books to help along with it.  Two big tomes on rice, one on thai food, and the one that we tried tonight.  5 Spices, 50 Dishes by Ruta Kahate.  It’s a very pretty book, outside and in, with nice little tales about her childhood and stories about each dish.  Each dish is cross-referenced within the book to help you make whole meals easily (eg “this dish goes well with X on page x or Y on page y” and then X will say something similar but with entirely different references, not just back to the original).  Along those lines I made Spicy Eggplant with Tomatoes which the comment “To create a complete North Indian vegetarian meal, serve with Chapati (page 109), Creamed Farmer Greens (page 35), and Punjabi Red Beans (page 43).” encouraged me to do just that (minus the Chapati because I don’t have a gas stove or open flame but it would have been much better with that, than the rice we had).  The food.was.amazing!  It wasn’t very hard, though the recipes can be challenging to read because of how they’re laid out on the page, and didn’t take too much time to make.  I’ve never had a “new meal” with so many new items that every one of them was a resounding success.  Only slight addendums to the recipes (eggplant teeeny bit too spicy, beans teeeny bit too salty, greens pureed too much – my fault).

I always measure success when a dish makes it into the recipe cards (when I copy it out onto a card and it goes into the file and into rotation).  Typically it takes 2 tries of a recipe before that happens, but when something’s really stellar it goes in right away.  These three are going in right.away.  I’m highly recommending this book if you have any desire to try cooking your own indian food.

Don’t leave the probe in the meat while cooking in enclosed environment (like the oven or grill-with-lid-closed) because you will forget.that.it’s.hot.  2nd degree burns hurt, Kelly, and make it impossible to knit.

It’s been a while since I burned myself… guess I was due?

Aside: grilled eggplant is yummy!

Ok, I haven’t said anything in a few because I’ve been holding my breath against fate.  Not wanting to risk having things change from how they’re supposed to happen in the next few days.  I won’t say anything else, but I’m sure you get the drift.

Also, I just made ricotta cheese (supposedly).  It’s cooling/draining in the sink atm.  We’ll see if it works.  I’m planning on making these (Ken, don’t look) for our bento for Monday’s trip to Dorney Park.  I didn’t have any ricotta on hand, and bought too much/drank too little milk the past two weeks and had “extra” so I figured I’d give it a go.  I have high hopes.  1gal milk heated to 200F + 1/3c lemon juice = about 2-3c ricotta.  It’s unsalted right now – I’ll add salt when I use it.  I’m proud that I did it.  Seriously, I made cheese.

If I’m really lucky today the yarn I ordered (more of) will be waiting down in the mailbox for me right now (need to check).  I’m stuck 2/3rds of the way through the first Christmas stocking and ran out.  Ugh. Right when the interesting part was starting (the snowflake).  As soon as I’m done I’ll block it, photo and show you.  I love the colours and I think the pattern is going to look really nice.

Oh, and regarding the last post wherein I was … down.  I did pour my little heart out to Ken and we talked and I felt so.much.better.  That and the next morning he was informed that a) he would be coming home this saturday and 2) his boss (who was there in China) had been telling the VP (who was also there) good things about Ken.  That’s my man!

I may have my first failed batch of soap. The shampoo bar is just not curing well and any time I try to cut it it’s soft and crumbly. I’m going to leave it a week and try again to see if that helps, but I’m not too optimistic right now. Ahh well. I’ll stick to what’s working: hard soaps.

Over the past two days I’ve made two batches of soap (I’m really pleased with being able to get them done despite Ken not being home). One was a German Chocolate Cake scented Coco Loco soap. The level of chocolate scent is just in.sane. I’ve got them cut and curing downstairs (they cut beautifully, so it’s going to be a nice hard bar) in the basement and it’s a good thing they’re down there because that scent is positively distracting! The bad part is that it’s sitting right next to the peppermint and the two combined are just… wow. I coloured this one a red-on-red swirl that I think looks really nice.

The picture makes it look more pink than it is, but still. Pretty!Last night I made another new batch, a Citrus & Teakwood scented Winter-Sun soap. I haven’t cut it yet but the scent holds nicely and it looks to be another winner. I’ve been trying out colouring and I may have goofed a bit last night and not mixed well enough (so the colour isn’t as good as it could be) but we’ll see once it’s cut later today.

I’ll be picking up some new packaging ideas this weekend – instead of paper/wrapped labels I’m going to go with printed sticky labels on the back of the wrapping. For colour I’ll be picking up some ribbon to wrap around each bar. We’ll see how they look, later.

The worst part of this is, still, waiting. I want to try the soaps NOW, not in a week or more! Especially that chocolate!

So that’s the soap part. Life is going ok. Ken’s been able to come home not too late and I’ve been feeling more productive and less depressed. I even made us bento for today (which is the first thing to go when I’m feeling energy-drained). I’ve got a lot of work to do, but aren’t feeling overwhelmed by it (except for the website programming *le sigh*). Anybody willing to trade soap for programming?

Seriously. High protein, low fat, good for you. But ugh how to make it taste good? Well, I’ve got two recipes that are great for tofu that I’m going to share today:

Bacon-wrapped Tofu

Firm or Extra-Firm tofu
Bacon

Drain tofu, wrap in paper towel and pat dry. Slice into sticks approx 1″ wide. Wrap in bacon (I use 1/3 piece of bacon per tofu stick). Pan fry, seam side down first, til golden and crispy. Rotate and cook each side the same way. Drain well. Good hot or cold.

Who wouldn’t like tofu that tasted like bacon? This one’s kinda high-maintenance but you can do a bunch in advance and freeze them. I put them in our bento and YUM!

Tofu Parmigiana

1/4c breadcrumbs
1tsp italian seasoning
Extra-firm tofu
garlic powder
salt
1 med onion (diced)
1/4c parmesan cheese
1c marinara sauce
1/2c mozzarella (shredded)

Mix breadcrumbs and seasonings, set aside. Slice tofu block into 4 “steaks”, sprinkle with garlic powder and salt, dredge in breadcrumb mixture. Pan fry onion in a bit of oil til browned and caramelized, set aside. In same pan, fry tofu steaks on one side til browned (3min). Flip steaks, sprinkle with parm, onions, sauce and mozzarella. Cover and cook until cheese is melty and tofu is browned (3min).

Serve over whole wheat spaghetti/angel hair pasta tossed with olive oil (cook this in advance cause the tofu cooks fast). It’s really yummy and really fast!

Lately Ken and I have been indulging and stocked our liquor cabinet up a bit and bought a few mixing books.  Our standard, initially, was White Russians (yum) but we’ve been getting “adventurous” and trying new stuff on and off.  I’m not a straight liquor kinda gal, but I just love Jelly Donuts (Amaretto and Bailey’s).  Amaretto is my new favourite smell, too.  YUM!  Ken tried a new hot drink that’s just the perfect end to a long, cold day.  No caffeine, relaxing, warm.  An Amaretto Sour Toddy.  1oz Amaretto, 1/2tbsp lemon juice, 1/2tbsp lime juice, 1.5tsp sugar mixed in a mug and add hot water.  It’s like a lovely lemon herbal tea with a cherry finish to it.  Not at all alcoholy but more body than tea delivers.  So awesome!  I highly recommend!

I give up. My yearly dip into winter depression is firmly at hand. It’s frustrating knowing that I’ve yet more time to spend in this “funk” and I can’t really do anything about it beyond what I have been (distraction and rest). At least I know I’ll make it out.

I’ve a few things to distract me, these days, which will help. Lots of supplies for continuing Ken’s obento (and soon mine, as soon as my bento box arrives). More soapmaking supplies for a new recipe and some new scents to try out (I can make 3 batches and have 4 scents… decisions decisions to make!). My seeds arrived for the garden, so I can organize when I need to do what and plan plan plan. I’ve got a few books to read. Between all of that I should do fine. Not happy, but I’ll do.

We did our taxes, though haven’t filed yet, and we’ll be using most of it to finish up the bonus room (with some put aside towards the deck or our property taxes, or both).  We are, however, thinking of running away for a weekend.  Ken thinks that flying anywhere for just a weekend is a bit of a waste, so I’ve convinced him to make it a long weekend.  This way we can go somewhere “not here” that is also “warm”.  As he said this morning, “I’m old enough to stop playing the game of whether I can handle the cold anymore.  I prefer the warm, right now.  It’s a preference.”

So I’ll be looking for “brief, but not too brief” and “warm” and, naturally “cheap”.  I’ll do that if I have time, that is.  I got a shipment of asian foods in last night and I’m aching to cook up something yummy!

I’ve recently found a great online source for Asian foods – especially the difficult to find (for me) stuff. I figured I’d share with you Asian Food Grocer. They have realistic, grocery prices and if you go ground shipping it’s stunningly affordable (I had a large order and shipping was only $8!). They carry stuff that I never hoped to find, affordably, online. They.have.hojicha!