Kimchi. Say what?

A while back, this crock came in to my life. 

I loved it and looked at it quite a bit; it eventually dawned on me that the number 5 in the crown meant how many gallons it can hold.  I ran my hand over the smooth, obviously hand shaped, knob on the lid.  The crock was admired daily, but it basically just patiently sat there while I figured out how I was going to -utilitarianly- use the darn thing.  AND THEN...

I got a little crush on fermentation after reading Sandor Katz's cult classic, "Wild Fermentation".  Suddenly I was throwing anything and everything into that 'ol crock; it is one of my most favorite processes now because not only are the results scrumptious, the concept is so very resourceful!  In the winter, I tend to collect up any vegetable  left lying around each Sunday, roast whatever it is, and then tuck it into the following week's dinners.  Deflated red pepper?  Roast it!  Limp bits of kale and broccoli?  Roast them!  Now, with the warmer months, I turn to my crock: Soggy cabbage?  Ferment it!  Handful of garden radishes from Dad?  Ferment them!

With lots of company coming for Memorial Day, I needed to accomplish 2 things today: clean out the fridge to make room, make a side dish for the weekend.  After assessing what I pulled from the fridge, KIMCHI was the clear answer.  Listen, I barely know how to pronounce it, but it is delicious stuff: healthful and refreshing.  Basically, it's a slaw made of cabbage, carrots, and multiple types of radishes.  The slaw is brined for 24 hours and then fermented with a ginger hot pepper paste for about 1 week.  I'm so over the moon about making it that I even bought the board insert to help make fermentation go that much smoother.  Bonus: it's helpful when I make sauerkraut too.  

You can find kimchi recipes all over the Internet or, of course in Katz's book.  I have found that coarsely chopping the seasonings and then blending them into a paste for the fermentation process works beautifully.  If the paste gets too thick, just add some of the brine from your vegetables to it.  Most recipes call for a heavy hand with the hot peppers, but I prefer to cut it back by half.

The crock hangs out in my pantry and I check on it daily while it is fermenting.  After 7 days or so, I taste it.  depending on the level of scrumptiousness, I either let it carry on another few days, or I transfer it into smaller jars, making sure to add enough brine to cover the vegetables, and then store it in a cool, dark spot in my basement.

Friends, I challenge you: Go peek in at the leftover vegetables in your fridge and show 'em who's boss!

19 month baby led weaning update

You know, baby led weaning has kind of found it's stride in our house.  About 3 months ago, we stopped calling it weaning and just called it eating once Ace could walk up to a cabinet and pick out what he wanted for a snack.  Once he began to open the fridge to imply he was ready for dinner-STAT.  We were just humming right along into the almost a toddler stage (very scientific label) of eating when I realized I had not updated you about our progression.  So, to remedy, a post for all you weaners about where we are with food.

                                       (toast, steak)

Back in September (11 mos), Ace was becoming pretty comfortable with the process of eating.  He handled food best when it was in big hunks that he could regulate on his own.  He was just beginning to grasp the concept of the shot glass and didn't have great odds with getting the liquid in to his mouth.  I hadn't found too much that he wasn't interested in trying: salad greens and sadly, avocados, although he will drink them in a smoothie.

                           (Nutella on homemade tortilla, calcium intake)

 From a year until 14 months he put down groundwork for advanced eating skills.  Hand eye coordination picked up such that drinking and using spoons and forks because much easier- I didn't cringe each time I offered him yogurt or oatmeal!  Cleanup after meal time didn't seem to take forever.  This is the stage in baby led weaning where patience pays out.  Sure, it was messy when we started and we wasted a bit of food if he played with it, or it got eaten by the dog, but now he emerges as a tidy little eater who usually leaves an empty plate behind.  We can even go to the Dairy Barn and he knows how to eat an ice cream cone without dripping it everywhere-  Champ and I are so proud.

                               (muffin, concentrating on pasta spearing)

By 16 months he was consistently in his high chair to share family meals with us, and at the weaning table for most breakfasts and lunches.  It is a bit more difficult getting Ace to understand he needs to stay at the table until he has finished his meal; I think this might have something to do with being the second child.  If Bear leaves the weaning table (I don't call it that in front of Bear by the way!) then Ace wants to go, even is he's not done.  If he sees something at the window, he wants to investigate and then finish eating.  The other difference this time around is that Ace does not always want to wear a bib.  I can see his little brain working: he looks over at Bear, sees no bib and proceeds to tear his off.  Oh the humility!  So, I am trying to be ok with no bib unless it's a truly messy meal.

                                                        (oatmeal and mandarins)

At a year and a half he is not picky about his food by any means, but his taste buds tend toward his father's love of meat and starches.  Champ loves that.  The picture shows a pottery bowl and so here's what I have to say about his dishware: sometimes, I don't use any plates and just put the food on his tray; sometimes I use his wooden bowl and plate, but they have gotten cracked from being thrown a time or two; sometimes I use our usual dishes when I can keep an eye on him because he is pleased by it and he learns how to properly treat the dishes.  And finally, on the dish note, Ace is learning to clear his place when he is finished and to help set the table before we eat.  It can be a real help when I need just one more minute to get a meal on the table! 

no photos allowed

Fact: cameras are not greeted with open arms at dance recitals or Holy First Communions.  This weekend I attended both a recital AND a Communion and found myself bumping against these set in stone rules.  But I hate using flash anyway!  I have a zoom lens!  I'm Catholic and can be discrete in church!  promise.  No matter, neither me nor any other audience member all the day long was going to get a shutter fired off (I'm lucky I got the few shots on the up and up that I did).  

I stewed, but my muttering up in the choir loft easily changed to prayer among all those lilting voices.  I was a better person for it: even without my camera the importance of the day came rapidly in to focus.  I was watching my niece receive her First Communion, a HUGE event for our faith, on the same altar I had delightedly first held her as Godmother.   Later that evening, I would watch another niece dance her heart out- graceful, confident, proud.  It ended up being the kind of day that overflows with bittersweet gratitude.  I barely noticed when the rains began; I almost didn't even miss photographing the weekend's moments as they expanded, billowy and girly sweet.  

A good many years ago Champ and I went backcountry hiking out West with friends. At one point we spent days on end traversing  Canyonlands, mainly in the Maze District.  John Mayer's song, "3x5", was playing on the radio that summer and the pop station had it ingrained in our heads.  Evening after evening we'd heat up our ramen noodles and watch the most fantastical light show I had ever (and have never since) seen.  It would begin at dusk and go on into the wee hours of the night; starting on the buttes, spilling sunset rays into the canyons turning golden as they scooped up the day hot light.  Just when it seemed to end, our eyes would raise and silvery stars would connect into constellations I only knew from books.

Today skies are painted colors of a cowboy's cliche'

And strange how clouds that look like mountains in the sky

Are next to mountains anyway.

Didn't have a camera by my side this time

Hoping I would see the world with both my eyes.  

There was no way John Mayer was singing to anyone else but us that summer.  This weekend he performed an encore.  And today- a Tuesday long after the events have ended?  The pictures behind my eyes are something worth talking about.

Maybe I will tell you all about it when

I'm in the mood to lose my way, 

but let me say

you should have seen that sunset with your own eyes.

Fast and Furious "Hard Baked" Eggs

You can always tell when Spring has arrived in Vermont because every friend and neighbor starts giving you eggs.  Lots of eggs from giddy, quite productive hens.  A stark change from donning hats and gloves to trudge through snowy months begging anyone and everyone for a handful of eggs.

All these eggs gave me room for failure while trying out a method of "hard boiling" I had seen on Pinterest.  But in the end, it didn't fail at all!!  It worked amazingly and now we are eating all manner of eggs from sun up to sun down.

Fast and Furious Hard Baked Eggs 
- preheat oven to 325*
- decide how many hard baked eggs you want to make
- grab a muffin tin, mini muffin tin, or in my case- a cast iron madeline pan 
- place eggs into each individual cup and bake for 25 minutes (or 30 depending on your oven).
- remove from pan, rinse in cold water and store in fridge until ready to use.

And the bonus?  My fresh from the chicken eggshells peel off faster than you can say "DEVILED"!  No more poking at a raw egg with a needle for this girl, thank you very much.

It's the simple things in life that make us feel productive and competent, right?

Have an eggcellent weekend (you knew that was coming) everyone!

The complete Star Wars Cookbook

This cookbook has been getting a bit of use among the Star Wars fans in our house.  The novelty: recipes AND photos with galactic props on each page... Bear is blissed out by it all!  AND many a visitor has remarked on what a good gift it would make for those of THE FORCE ( it certainly was a good gift for us- thanks Grammy!), so I knew it was time to spill the beans.

There is a cookbook out there which you should check out:  "The Complete Star Wars Cookbook" will answer all your Star Wars cooking needs!

Like how to make a:

        *Skywalker Smoothie*

                * Han-Burger*

 

       *Twin Sun Toast*

It's been a fun go of it so far, and there are lots more recipes to try out.  Bear has always been a bit obsessed with his "men", so this cookbook is right up his alley: decent recipes to begin with, all tricked out with props and characters-it sends him digging in his Star Wars toy bin every time.

Not much left to say except that if you are hankering for a "Wookie Cookie", then this is the book to get.