Try, try, again

Okay so it's time to give you an update on the ferments.

Lets say it wasn't a success. I think I know what I did to make such a mess of things, so I'm willing to try again and try not to make such a hash of it. 

I set up my jars and did a little tatse testing mid-way through the process. Things looked good, but I'd done too much reading that said I needed to wait for a week or more. Once a week had passed I put the jars in the fridge and waited till the weekend for the reveal.

First up zucchini pickles. They were soft, super mushy, and really pungent but not in a nice way. Definitely not rotted, but just too much for me to eat comfortaby. I think my first problem was the garlic. I used a commercially prepared bottled garlic (because we didn't have fresh on hand). Then I just left it too long. (I guess I was too "slo" on this one).

As I suspected the sour kraut was really salty. It definitely retained some crunchiness and surprisingly enough it was actually a little "squeaky".

Next on the list is another try at pickled vegetables, maybe something less "soft" than zucchini and I have my eye on an "American" kimchee recipe that uses sriracha and no fish sauce.

The definite success recently has been Switchel. It's an old country recipe for a thirst quencher using apple cider vinegar, swetener (molasses, sugar, &/or honey), and ginger. It's sounds kind of off-putting, but it's really quite yummy.

I'll write again soon, as ever,

Slowly,  D 

Experimental food

Okay, last weekend I decided I'd try lacto fermentation. When I saw that word, all I could think of was sour milk or cheese. Well It has nothing to do with milk. It's a fermentation method that uses vegetables salt and water to make pickled foods (think saurkraut).

I happened to have some cabbage and zucchini that I felt should be used, so they were my first victims.

The cabbage became sauerkraut, and the zucchini went in a jar with onions and garlic to become pickles.

Tonight will be the taste test.

I've been checking on them daily and I'm really afraid that they may be very salty, epecially the kraut, because the recipe called for 2-3 Lbs of cabbage and 2 Tbsp of salt. I don't think I had that much cabbage and it has really broken down a lot, 2 TBSP of salt in just over a pint of veg may just be to much. The Zucchini smells really garlicky.

We'll see at the great reveal tonight.

 

Slowly,

D

 

Journey's begining

I have decided to go on a journey of sorts. 

I need to explore things in my life and around me. I aleady like to cook and knit and i'll definitely be continuing with those but I may try to write as a new way to experience them. 

I've also let my exercise drop to the wayside and my health is not as vibrant as it has been in the past. Maybe this could be a way to change things. 

I don't plan on putting my whole life out here, thats what a personal journal is for, but I'll be putting some of the experiences out here where maybe others can share.

So today is the first day of the written journey... Join me?

Slowly, D

Learning Curve

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I’m Baaaack

HI All,

I know it's been a long time since I posted but I figure it's about time. I've been busy since my last post. I've knit a few doilies, ridden my bike, learned to spin a bit of yarn on my spinning wheel, and added new responsibilities at work. It all added up so that I just didn't find time to blog.

Recently HH had a crash on his bike and I felt so bad for him that I felt guilty about getting on my bike so I didn't ride for around 6 or 8 weeks. He's getting better and yesterday he went to the Foot Dr. and got the okay to start riding. (Yahoo!)

When I looked at the blog recently I realized that I didn't get off my bottom, I wouldn't reach my goal of doing a century this year. So to that end I decided to join Team in Training (TnT). TnT is a really neat organization, in that they train you to do an endurance event in exchange for your raising funds for the The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

My event will be the Tour De Poway on October 4^th, 2009.

I did my first team workout last Saturday and I had a lot of fun. We met in Mission Bay and rode around Fiesta Island learning about pacelines and getting to know one another. We did 17 miles and I was thrilled.

I'll get more details up soon but if you'd like to help me meet my Goal of raising $1800 please go to my fundraising page. Remember that everything you donate is tax deductible.

Go Slowly,

D

He spoils me

Have I mentioned that HH spoils me? He's a doll and most of the time I don't think I deserve him.

He gave me a bee-yoo-tee-full bicycle last September and we did a spinning class together. It was great fun , but I didn't ride during the holidays when I went on vacation to see Dad, and then let life get in the way of exercise. Well, I just started another spin class and I'm really having fun. Hopefully this can take the place of running since I don't think I'll be able to run marathon distances anymore.

I'm considering doing some long rides this year. I know for sure that I want to do a metric century (100 km or 66 miles), and I'm considering doing a regular century (100 miles in 1 day). I don't know what draws me to these endurance events, maybe since I know I'll never be fast I might as well be out there longer than most everyone else? We'll see.

If you see someone out riding and they have a knitting bag with them, It's probably me!


Slowly (on wheels)
d

Updates and new projects ...

Time for an update. Back in December I let you know what I've been working on and I've decided that it's time to let you know how things are going.

I finished my philosophy paper, my professor accepted it and gave me an "A" for the course. He was really very generous since I don't think that I produced good work. I hate feeling like I slid by just because I stuck it out and turned something in. I'm grateful for the grade, but I should have done better.

I finished up the pi shawl with a crochet chain bind-off. Now I just need to find the time to block it. I think it will finish up about 3' in diameter.

I only made one of the Ysolda mitts. It's an ingenious pattern, and the hand portion fit really well, but the wrist portion was too tight. I'll try it again, but I'm going to noodle the pattern a little to get it to fit me a little better.

I'm still working on the gansey. I've separated the front from the back and I've decided not to put in gussets because I'm afraid that it would just be too much fabric in a sweater that is already on the thick side since it's being made from worsted weight yarn.

I do have a new project on the needles. I've cast on for Brooklyntweeds Hemlock Ring Blanket. I'm using some Jamieson New England 2 ply wool on size 6 Addis.

I'm also starting a basic pair of toe-up socks. A dear friend of mine brought some lovely sock yarn from Germany. It came in a single 100 gram skein and I've had trouble getting 2 matching socks from a single skein recently, so I decided to try an experiment. I borrowed my HH's digital scale and divided the yarn into 2 (hopefully) equal balls. We'll see how this works out.

Slowly,
d