Kombucha! The first try.

I've been drinking kombucha now and then ever since I first discovered it in college in Santa Cruz, but the bottles in stores are pretty pricey. Most people who brew their own, or even just drink kombucha claim lots of health benefits, from hangover cures to cancer cures, from improved digestion to improved metabolism. I haven't consumed it regularly enough to be able to report on it's actual benefits, but I wouldn't mind doing away with hangovers.

About 3 weeks ago, I started my own SCOBY (Symbiotic Colony of Bacteria and Yeast) using these instructions from Food Renegade. Buying one from an online source just didn't appeal to me, but it never occurred to me to grow my own. All I had to buy, in this case, was a little bottle of raw, organic kombucha and pour it into a bowl of sweetened black tea. I put a towel on top of it to keep bugs and dust out, and then put a note on it to keep my mom out.

A week ago, this is what I had:



That white layer on the top is the SCOBY, and it's about 1/4" thick. (I put the tape across the top to keep the towel from dipping down into the liquid.) The instructions I used said the SCOBY would grow in a week, but mine took 2 weeks to get to the right thinkness. I guess it took an extra week because I bought a small bottle of kombucha.

So I boiled one gallon of water and put in two Darjeeling tea bags, then one cup of white sugar. I would have preferred to use pu-erh tea, but I had neither on hand. Next time.

I'd previously bought a 1 gallon glass jar to hold the full batch of tea, so once it cooled down a bit I poured it in there. I waited for the tea to come to room temperature and then transferred the SCOBY into the jar. It didn't feel nearly as icky as I expected! It was a little slimy on the bottom, but very firm, so I had no difficulty moving it. It sunk right to the bottom of the jar, where it is now.

In about a week, I should have a slightly sour, fizzy, apparently miraculous drink ready to bottle. I'll let you know how long it takes for immortality to set it.

Let the games - er, knitting begin!

This year, I signed up for the Ravelympics. (Really, I just had to join a group on Ravelry. seems too easy...) I've never participated in any sort of knit-along, but something about this concept has lit a fire under my butt to finish a project in 2 weeks.



I'm knitting the Aleita Shell from the Spring 2008 Interweave. I think the lack of sleeves makes this a much more feasible 2-week project.

(on Ravelry)

The yarn in the photo looks much more green than it really is. It's more of a dark teal.

I've never been very enthused about the Olympics, or really sports in general, so I'm not participating for that purpose. I probably won't watch the games. But, I like the idea of having a set time and goal, which others can see. I feel more accountable, and I guess this is as good an excuse as any. Maybe I'll even watch the opening ceremony.

Fluffy white stuff that freaks out the cat.

My cat does not like snow. If I ever needed proof of this, it came in the form of digging him out from under the neighbor's scrap wood pile.

Anyway, I think I was away for the worst of the snow this winter, but Wednesday night we got probably about half a foot, maybe a little more. (To me that's a lot.) I didn't get any pictures of it, because I was too busy searching the neighborhood for my neurotic, co-dependent scaredy-cat. (Wouldn't you know it, but as soon as we got inside he wanted back out. He has the memory of a gold fish.)



These pictures are from snow we had last week, which was much lighter.

I think I am now far enough removed from the Porter Dining Hall to give stir-fry another chance.



Thank you Mark Bittman for giving me the courage to think a tasty, non-mushy stry fry possible. I used a recipe from Food Matters. The recipe allows for any kind of meat, seafood, or tofu, but I used scallops, because I thought they seemed like the most well suited sea food to the medium. I could not have been more right. The bottle you see is a Maine Root mandarine orange soda. YUM.

I suppose the recipe might be in How To Cook Everything, but I don't have that with me. It's a rather sizable volume, which is great, but not very portable. I guess that's why I bought Food Matters - to be a portable Bittman. That, and I had a Border's coupon burning a hole in my pocket.

It's a funny story about how I came to own How To Cook Everything. Not "haha" funny, but more like "huh" funny. I was having a kinda crummy New Years Eve '09, and was quite ready to see that year off, when I received an email from Culinate, informing me I'd won a copy of that non-travel-size bible of food prep. I know everyone says this, but I never win anything! I've been reading their blog for a while, but I only registered on the site once I read about the contest. Winning that contest, and a Thin man marathon on TCM made for a much more pleasant NYE than I had anticipated.

Yogurt!

I love yogurt. Loooooooove it. But it's not cheap. My favorite brand is Brown Cow (plain cream top, of course), and I have a lot of trouble finding that brand here in the Northeast. I was able to get it on my way home from work in Brooklyn, but I can't find it anywhere in Plymouth. When I moved here for my internship last summer, I decided to try making it myself instead of buying inferior brands. 

I borrowed my room mate's slow-cooker, using some recipe I can't find anymore. I used a quart of Horizon Organic milk (from Walmart, of all places) and 1/4 cup of plain Dannon yogurt, and it was fantastic. The best I'd ever had. I was so proud of it, I even brought it to work to share, and was told it was the best they'd ever tasted. And it only got better the longer it sat in the fridge. I was enthusiastic to try it again, but it wasn't what I'd come to expect. It was so very watery and sour. I used Stoneyfield Farm's organic milk, and it came out very sour and watery. The next few times I tried it, it was a flop. 

I successfully made yogurt at my parents' house in Orange County over the winter using raw milk (which is very difficult to find in MA, which is a post for another time...) and a powdered bacteria starter from Whole Foods. However, it wasn't as good as my first attempt. 

The last time I tried was a few weeks ago: again with Stoneyfield, and it again flopped. I've considered giving up and just buying my yogurt, especially since I found Brown Cow at Whole Foods in Hingham, but with this article I am newly inspired. I trust Harold's advice. 

I think I will try this next week, while Chris is visiting. I think he'd enjoy the process, and might have more insights into it. 

Globetrotting!

One week from today, I will be leaving the country for the first time. In my life. (I don't really count that weekend-cruise to Mexico. Two hours on a bus being told not to buy trinkets from the kids on the corner does not count as international travel, in my book.) 

I wish I had more than two weeks so I could see everything in great detail, but I am going to approach this as a survey trip. I will remember places I liked, things I enjoyed, and come back and do them again. And again. 

ALways the academic, I am reading two books to prepare: Rick Steves' Europe Through the Back Door and First-Time Europe. 

I was told recently that I seem like one of those "interesting people who has traveled a lot" in response to the admission that I have not, in fact, travelled a lot. I've made it my mission since college to be adventurous in where I live, but all my adventures have been domestic. It's time to go international. 

I really like Steves' "Back Door Travel Philosophy." 

Globetrotting destroys ethnocentricity. It helps you understand and appreciate different cultures. Travel changes people. It broadens perspectives and teaches new ways to measure quality of life. Many travelers toss aside their hometown blinders. Their prized souvenirs are the strands of different cultures they decide to knit into their own character. The world is a cultural yarn shop. Back Door Travelers are weaving the ultimate tapestry.

I'm going with no expectations, so we'll see what I come back with. 

Cal-ee-four-nee-ya

I've been a refugee from the cold since December 20th, and I am delaying my return to the North East for as long as I can. Living back there, experiencing the cold weather, has given me a new appreciation for the Golden State. How could you not love a place with sunsets like this in winter?

And hills like this?

Okay, so that's not the best shot of the hills, and there are power-lines in the way, but they really are beautiful. They make me want to re-read Steinbeck. 

And how about this beach? Don't see much of this in the Northeast, do ya?

I'm sure that by now, no sane person would dare argue with my decision to stay a little bit longer.