by Kate Djupe
My kids ask at least four questions that I don't know the answer to each day.
There are some questions that are fairly easy to answer.
"What is inside of a starfish?"
Not much, kiddo.
by Kate Djupe
I have finished the "hardest" part (the cooking) of making paneer from Snowville Creamery milk.
And now that loveliness is under 20 pounds of weights and I have to wait.
This is much harder.
by Kate Djupe
We picked 5 different types of cherries:
Sour cherries
Sweet cherries
My favorite changes daily.
These 60+ pounds of cherries =
Plenty of cherries for snacking
Plenty of cherries for sharing
Cherry pit liqueur
Cherry shrub: Version 2
Cherry syrup
Cherry ice cream (possibly a cherry crisp ice cream a la Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams 2008 Bake Shop)
Cherry vanilla blood orange curd
Cherry shiso vinegar and cherry balsamic vinegar
and more pies, cobblers and grunts
I'll update the list as these adventures are documented but from this side of all of that work, I worry that we didn't pick enough.
by Kate Djupe
Preserving is easy. There are so many lists available of the essential equipment, the food safety rules you will want to follow, recipes and processing times to get you started.
The two things that get lost in all of that valuable information are these:
This is my problem. My husband and I (and any friends that want to join the fun) start most of our canning and freezing adventures after the kids go to bed. Around 3am, I am not thinking of labels and recipes. During the night, we are moving things into the freezer or the canner as there is room. During the day, we are shuffling cooled jars out of the reach of curious hands. That means we are moving dozens of sealed jars around in an unsystematic, hurried fashion. Fast forward a few months and we are opening mystery jars. Fast forward a year and we have all of these fresh fruits and no more jars of that very delicious __ that I put up and very little recollection of how the magic happened.
This year, I will be better. And by better, I mean more efficient.
My plan: take photos and make shorthand notes throughout the cooking process. Write a blog post with all of my secrets so that they are no longer kept secret from my future self. And now you.
A big difference between these preserving posts and my normal posts is that I haven't made each of these things dozens of times before I share them. However, I will be updating the posts throughout the year (as I break into my stash) with notes for the next preserving season.
Boozy cherry pie! (a future Twixlen empire product, I am sure)
6 cups of cherries, pitted (2011's bounty included 4 kinds of cherries)
1.25 cups sugar (Next time, try 1 cup demerara sugar)
2 Tbsp Bulleit bourbon
1 Tbsp lemon juice
2 Tbsp tapioca (instant tapioca or tapioca pearls ground in a coffee grinder until it is a powder)
Pinch of Cinnamon
Pinch of Salt
Mix everything. Let the pie filling stand for 20 minutes so that the tapioca can begin to dissolve in the fruit.
If this is headed to the freezer, pour into sterilized jars leaving 1" of headspace. Clean the rim of each jar before screwing your lid/ring on. Label. Freeze. Completely defrost before using for pie, crumble, etc.
If this is headed to the oven, pour filling into a raw pie crust. Place pats of butter around the top of the pie. Top with another layer of pie crust. Cut vents. Place your pie dish on a sheet tray at bake at 400° for 20 minutes; reduce temperature to 350° and cook for an additional 30-40 minutes. Eat.
And if you wanted to eat these cherries straight out of the bowl in all of their booziness, can I suggest washing them down with a little of Boylan's black cherry soda?
by Kate Djupe
by Kate Djupe
Alternative title: you should wear gloves when you make pickled peppers
Every year, I pickle peppers. Actually, I pickle peppers several times each summer. And EVERY SINGLE TIME, I only remember that I should put gloves on when I am about half way through the pepper cutting process. Which means that every single time I pickle peppers, I inadvertently touch my eye, my lips, my nose, my kids... Every single time I pickle peppers, I try to grit my teeth through the inevitable HOURS that my hands are burning with the heat of the Bono Pizza oven. I wash them, I rub them in yogurt, I take advil, and then I stick my hands in just about anything because I am blinded in at least one eye and I can hardly move my lips to ask questions. Not one bit of this is an exaggeration. You can confirm this with all of my accidental victims.
So. The moral of this story is do not forget to wear gloves. Do not think you are smarter, tougher, stronger than me. Do not do that.
Oh, and DO pickle those peppers.
What peppers are you pickling? You could do just plain old green jalapenos or all yellow banana peppers but you really shouldn't. Instead, pick all of the ripe spicy peppers in your garden (let them get some color on them; green is so boring and the flavor is not nearly as interesting) AND then you will need to buy all of the spicy peppers at your favorite farmers' market booths (buy a few (dozen) of all of the types in all of the colors) AND then you should find some of your dried chile arbol peppers or dried thai red chili peppers from last year (or the Mexican grocery store). You should do this because the more varieties, the merrier this jar of peppers will be!
You want crisp, fresh peppers - no limp noodles. When I include dried peppers, it is just 2-3 little ones per pint jar for extra spice.
If you have ignored everything I have said so far and insist on pickling only green jalapenos, at least try this: blister and peel the skins off of your peppers first.
Okay. Here we go:
The peppers are as spicy as you want them to be - if you want less spicy, use banana peppers and a few sweeter varieties and don't use all of the seeds. If you want more, use banana peppers, Joe's long cayennes, red jalapenos, serranos, and keep most of the seeds in the jar.
Note to all bad-asses: DO NOT USE bhut jolokia even if you do not like the intended recipient of your jar. Do. Not. Use. It.
These peppers are wonderful on sandwiches, pizzas, brats, straight out of the jar, and the juice is great in cocktails.
by Kate Djupe
This is our next (and hopefully final) attempt at social media event planning strategy.
Private twitter accounts didn't work...
Facebook friendship didn't work...
Facebook groups didn't work...
We are going to give a private Posterous blog a shot with this whole planning of "open invite to everyone that RSVPs before we reach the maximum capacity of our homes while only privately sharing the personal addresses of our host and hostesses " dinner parties.
There will be at least 2 posts for each dinner party - an RSVP post that announces the theme and date of an event and a menu discussion post for working through your ideas. You will need either a Twitter, Facebook or Posterous account to RSVP and comment.
We will let you know via Twitter and FB one week before the RSVP post will appear on the blog. First to RSVP, first to be invited to the dinner.
So... let's try this, okay? We will be posting the October dinner RSVP post on July 6 at 830pm.
In case you missed the link up above, the blog is cmhdinnerclub. The password (for now) is "freedom" - tell your friends (but only the cool ones that know how to cook and like to eat good food).
Note: (If you want to see more about what we have tried and didn't like: CMHDC v 1.0 and CMHDC v 2.0)
by Kate Djupe
There is a veritable love fest in our house. Everyone in our home loves Callie and Callie only has eyes for Paul.
There is still time for me to win her over though.
by Kate Djupe
Where there is this
there might be this
Those houses were the latest training grounds for the Columbus firefighters.
We know because we pulled to the side of the road to watch. Isn't this what all people do?
They are full of conflicting emotions.
The end.