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This winter Bill and I have become avid tea drinkers. Some of our favorites include: Ginger peach greenRaspberry pomegranate – this one is good, but contains chamomile which puts Bill and I right to sleep, so we don't drink it often. Decaf chocolate hazelnut – this one taste exactly like coffee would if it didn't suck. We looove this one. Decaf earl grey – my morning staple, were out right now though :: pout :: Pink grapefruit green – we've been out of this one for a while actually, we love republic of tea, but the only place we can get it is often out of stock. Blueberry greenJasmine green – I had a cup of the Tazo version at borders the other day and fell in love. But apparently you can't buy it anywhere. Right now I'm drinking choice brand but am thinking about switching to stash, as we've had such good luck with them, and it's slightly cheaper. Green tea with lemonGreen tea with mint - I actually prefer plantation mint, but I can't drink too much caffeine so I switched to the green version. (Were out of this right now, but our cupboard is a bit full so no refill for a while) Vanilla nut crème – Bill likes this one, but I'm not as fond of the flavor, it has sarsaparilla and I think that's what's getting me. Vanilla red – were out of this one too, but our tea cupboard was getting so full we chose the vanilla nut crème over this. I'll be getting another box of this as soon as were out of the other. Decaf Chai – the stash version is good, but just isn't 'chai' to me, Bill likes it, but I'm holding out until we can get more from someplace like Boston tea, which I've had before and loved. African Orange Mango – another red, we really liked this one, but with the full tea cupboard we haven't bought any more in quite a while. Teas we want to try: Pumpkin spice – Bill is in love with anything pumpkiny spicy Crème caramel – another chocolate flavored one, drool! Green with mandarin orange – we've actually had this at my parent's before and the adorable pyramidal tea bag amuses us and it taste really good. Tags: food
Current Mood:  thirsty
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It's homemade mayonnaise today. Bill hates mayo, and me, being a product of my gluttonous upbringing love it. I haven't eaten Mayonnaise since we moved in together, it just wasn't cost effective to buy a jar, when I'm the only one using it, and it doesn't get used that often. I tried making a vegan version using silken tofu a while ago, and while it was ok, fresh ground mustard seeds are in no way a good substitute for mustard powder in mayonnaise. The next day, after the flavors has a chance to meld and strengthen I ended up with something more like strong Dijonnaise. ok, but not what I ultimately wanted. Anyways, we have started eating more sandwiches around here lately, veggie luncheon meats have been on sale a lot, and sandwiches make perfect lunches when we don't have leftovers. And my craving for mayonnaise grew. So to the internet I went, looking for a good homemade mayo recipe that wouldn't kill me with salmonella. And I found it. Actually I found a couple that I kind of mashed together for the perfect recipe. Perfectly scaleable for just one person, a one or two egg yolk recipe is just the right size. And with nuking the yolks first, I can kill all the nasty little buggies. The first time I made it we didn't have any mustard powder, and I knew better now than to add fresh ground, so I tried a few squeezes of Bills mustard. And while good, it just wasn't right so to help redeem it, I threw in a bunch of dried minced garlic. It was ok the first day, not really much flavor at all. But the next day I think I nearly killed myself sniffing it, the garlic had re-hydrated and suffused the mayonnaise with its flavor. Upon reflection I realized I had put about 12 cloves worth into the mayonnaise, and most aoli recipes only call for 3 for the amount I was making. Yeah, that's a lot of garlic. Suffice it to say, I couldn't really put much on my sandwiches before I ended up with garlic breath of doom. But it was yummy. Today though, armed with my experience, I made another batch, larger than the first. We had the proper mustard powder, and I only added 4 cloves worth of garlic. I tasted it before putting it into the fridge, and it is perfect! If you make mayo at home, don't skip the mustard powder, it's what makes it! I can't wait until tomorrow when the garlic flavors have developed, it should be super yummy. Perfect for smmiches! And now... ( on to the recipe )after tomorrow I'll make an edit letting you all know how it turned out, and what changes I would make to perfect it. Tags: food, recipes
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We here at the platypus nest often shun convenience store bought spice mixes, in favor of making our own with fresh and freshly ground spices. Things taste more vibrant and we have the option of doing a different small batch each time, and customizing them directly to our tastes. Bill makes almost all the spice mixes he uses in cooking our dinners. There are a few he doesn't make, like sambar powder, which has far too many ingredients, (some of which we don't have access to individually) but you would be hard pressed to find any other pre mixed spices in our spice cupboard. In fact one of our staple 'cook books' is the Spice and Herb Bible by Ian HemphillWhile Bill makes the savory spice mixes, I love to go for the things like pumpkin and apple pie spice. We don't use it very often during the rest of the year, so we've had a little container of it, almost untouched from last year in our fridge for a while (we refrigerate all of our fresh spice mixes, it helps preserve them and slow down the release of the vital oils that make them so tasty), but with the cooler weather, apple cider season, and the seasonal pumpkin smoothies in the mornings, it has disappeared quickly this last month. So today I made a nice large batch, as I like to throw an 1/8 of a teaspoon into my apple cider and warm it up for quick mulled cider, Bill throws it in the smoothies sometimes, especially when he makes pumpkin smoothies, and I suspect that he may be making gingerbread soon, which will also use some of the spice, and I plan on making a pie or two for thanksgiving time. Of course I'm a bit of a klutz, so a little of the spices and the mix got spilled here and there, but that’s ok, because not the house smells lovely and autumnal and spicy. ( What was my recipe? )Tags: food, holidays, recipes
Current Mood:  good
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(ok, only one person)MY YOGURT RECIPEKeep in mind that this is completely made up in my head using inspiration from many different sources. (I got the Celsius conversions from some random web site. If you use them, you may want to go through and double check them to make sure I did it right)1/2 gallon 2% milk 1/4 c dry milk powder (optional, it's supposed to make it more 'thick' and store-bought like.) 3 tbsp fresh live yogurt.* (I used stoneyfild farm's plain. Be sure to check the label, it has to say made with live cultures, or something like that. And it has to be plain unsweetened.) Mix milks together. Bring to 180f(83c). (it doesn't need to boil, but it doesn't hurt.) Take the milk off the heat, and let come down to 120f(49c)** (I forgot about it and mine got to 115(46), and it didn't seem to hurt.) Take a little of the milk and mix with the yogurt to thin it out. stir the yogurt mixture into the rest of the milk. Pour into sterilized containers. (ok, all I did was let the containers sit in hothot tap water, I suck.) Keep containers at about 120f(49c)** and undisturbed for at least 8 hours, longer if you want it more sour. If after 8 or so hours it hasn't gelled up, it's not going to, either you got a bad batch of yogurt, or a temp was off somewhere. For me, I filled a small cooler with hothot tap water and let it sit while I cooked the milk. Then emptied it, put in the yogurt containers and filled it with 120f(49c)-ish tap water to just below the lids. Throw on the top, put it gently in a safe place and surround it with towels for extra insulation. About halfway through the 8 hours (that would be four hours in for all you math geniuses out there) I refresh the water to bring it back up to 120f(49c). *only 3 tbsp. A lot of sites I saw online were calling for huge amounts of yogurt up to like, 2 cups! But the Wild fermentation book explained that less is better, because it gave the bacteria more room to play, and more food to eat to multiply leading to a nice fermenty goodness. **The Wild Fermentation book said 115(46), but from what I read on the web, yogurt seems to like the temperatures between 110(43) and 130(54) so 120(49) seemed like a happy medium to me, not too hot, but it would stay in the happy range for longer as it sat. Tags: food, recipes
Current Mood:  chipper
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It came out wonderfully! :: Squee! :: I had two quart containers pluses a little jar worth. So I ate the little jar as a tester to make sure it was all ok. Yep, delish! The quart containers are in the fridge cooling down now. They separated out a bit though, but store-bought yogurt does that too sometimes, and the solid part looks nice and congealed and yogurt-y, so we're doing good. I can't wait until they are cooled and I have an excuse to go eat some! :: drool :: I think this is definitely going to be a regular thing. Tags: food
Current Mood: bouncy
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So in the search of a pistachio cake that did not involve cake mix or lots of little extraneous ingredients I failed. Then the Cake Bible arrived in my mailbox. I opened it up, and it has a recipe for plain old yellow cake. Mixed in a very similar way to box mixes. The butter is mixed into the dry first, then everything else. (most box mixes have shortening or something mixed in at the factory, and then have you add all the other ingredients all at once, its what makes it nigh impossible to over mix them, and still get a nice light texture.) So I said to myself "hmmmm..... What if I take this recipe and add the stuff for a pistachio cake that gets added to box mixes?" So that's what I did, I took the cake recipe, added an egg, about 1/4 c of milk, and 1/4 butter, 1/2 tsp almond extract. And of course pistachio pudding. Which is roughly the ratio of extras that get added to a box mix on top of the normal ingredients. I'm a little worried about the texture of the batter, it was very smooth when I put it in the pans, most time when I make a cake, it's already starting to get little bubbles etc. I'm worried that perhaps the pudding had mucked with the way the cake texture forms, and it smoothed it out. But I have to remind myself that I usually make cakes based on baking soda, not powder, and baking soda reacts almost immediately to any acid. And while baking powder usually reacts right away too, it also has a second reaction to the heat in the oven. But then I start worrying again, because even with gas production, they still need bubbles to fill, and I didn't see much. I guess we'll find out when it's done baking. If it doesn't turn out right I can always just feed it to my family instead of sending it to mom's nurses. And all this just so I could have a St. Patrick's Day green cake that had an actual reason to be green. [edit]whoa, they puffed up hugely. And they are very, very tender.
I may end up having some difficulty frosting the cake, but they smell delightful.
I think next time I'll leave out the extra 1/4 c butter. And maybe up it to 1/2 c extra milk.
We'll see.Tags: cakes, food
Current Mood:  worried
What's Playing?: feilds of gold -- Sting
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I'm collecting the 'classic' cake recipes, you know, chocolate, red velvet, white, yellow, carrot. My mom wanted me to make her nurses a cake so I could practice. And she decided she wanted a yellow cake with custard filling. No problem, I've made custard a million times for work. And how hard can yellow cake be? So I pop online to one of the cake communities I'm on and search for yellow cake. And I come up with "Martha Stewart's classic yellow cake." Cool, I think, this will be perfect. The original recipe calls for two 9x13 pans, so I'll just cut the recipe in half for 2 9 inch round. Nope, must have been a typo, I only got enough batter to barely fill one 9 inch round pan halfway, I mean, I should have noticed by the amount of flour and other ingredients that I wouldn't take that much. But I put my trust in Martha Stewart, and she failed me. (should I really be this suprised?) *le sigh* So now I have to tort the bastard (have I mentioned I HATE torting cakes?) and it won't be nearly as tall as I would have liked. I should have gone straight to the Joy of Cooking. bah :: grump, grump :: Tags: cakes, family, food, rant
Current Mood:  annoyed
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So today Bill and I went into town for provisions. While we were there I stopped by Michaels to sign up for their cake decorating class. I had stopped in earlier in the week, and saw the advertisement when I was looking at stuff for wedding cakes. And thought it would be a neat idea. When I asked at the counter they said I could buy my kit and sign up on Wednesday morning for the Thursday class, and that as long as there was one person, the class would go on. Nope. We got there this morning and the class was already canceled. The girl who was signing me up was confuses, so had be call back later to talk with the person who was doing the class. I bought the kit anyways because I wanted to play around with the stuff. And frankly I can get instructions for most of the stuff online at the Wilton web site. I called her, and apparently there was a change in policy somewhere during the week. No there has to be at least three people signed up, three days before the class. *sigh. She took down my name, and if the promotion for next month involves buying the kit, they will give me a deal since I already bought one. Even with that, I don't know if I'll take it next month or not I really wish I could have taken the class I've been practicing already, but some of the concepts I just cannot grok in writing, and would really like to see them done. Ah well. Tags: artsycraftsy, cakes, food
Current Mood: annoyed
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I feel totally gross, I was standing over the stove at class today for way too long making crêpes, and then I had to do pots, I’m all sweaty/greasy smelling, I feel all greasy and filthy, and my hair is a mess. When I get home from work I wanna go take a shower before I do anything else. The computer here is downloading some windows updates it apparently needs. I’m not complaining, it gives me an excuse to stay online and read my LJ and play around. Tomorrow Bill’s coming over and we’re going to hang out and then go to Oswego to meet some friends and see the Vagina Monologues at 7. (Note to self, get to Hewitt Union by at least 6:30 to buy tickets) Hopefully when I get home from work (and after my shower) I can get a hold of Monica and figure out when she’s going to come over and play with all the happy, happy knitting stuff I have acquired. And hopefully put down a time tomorrow when she can come over and quiz Bill. ;) *Happy Sigh* While talking on the phone with Bill last night I realized (again) just how super awesome he is. He cares and even backs up my rants and understands why I feel the way I do about things that annoy the hell out of me in life, and feels the same way about things. And he totally doesn’t belittle or make fun of me for my ideas. That’s one thing I definitely don’t get at home and rarely got when I was with Dave. I still have difficulty believing that this whole thing is real, and that I’m not just dreaming. Everything seems so perfect, more right that anything else I’ve had before. I keep waiting for the shoe to drop and find out something awful or have something terrible happen to make it all go to hell. *sigh* Well updates are almost done downloading, better go install and all that jazz. Toodlies all. Tags: food, friends, platypus, skool
Current Mood:  tired
What's Playing?: Bruce Springsteen - Murder Inc.
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And I don’t have any chopsticks :: pout :: Tylenol is definitely helping my back a little, and proper posture always helps. Today is my long day; I’m stuck here until 5:00. I was pretty much finished with everything I needed to do by 11:00, but I still have to stick around. I keep thinking about Bill I feel so obsessive, but I can’t help it, he’s so sweet and awesome and all that mushy stuff. :D I can’t wait until tomorrow, I get to go up and visit him. And meet the furry people. *squee!* I feel like Kiki on a sugar high. :: poing poing poin gpoing poing poing poing :: Speaking of chopsticks, I forgot to mention in my post about valentines but while Bill and I were at the Thai restaurant I was actually able to show him how to use chopsticks, and he said it was impossible! :: beam :: I feel so special. I am so bored sitting here. There’s really nothing for me to do but sit around and knit. (not that I’m complaining about being able to knit…) Bill’s mother knits, I feel like I already have a foot in the door to his parents liking me. (and they sound pretty cool too) All I have to worry about is winning over the puppy doggy, and I’m stopping at the mall to pick up some doggy cookies before I head over so that should help ;) Snarf came over earlier and dragged a bunch of crap upstairs to the office storage room today. Now the office looks a little better, but there is still a bunch of JUNK in the corner that needs to be cleaned out, and I can’t do it. And then after he left I noticed a pile of bags and a box shoved in another corner that I forgot to have him take up. And the box is way too heavy for my to handle. *sigh, ah well. Did I mention that I’m bored? The internet is dial up here, and painfully slow. *ahem* I MISS BILL!!!! Ok, had to do it, sorry ;) Blech. Think I’m going to go knit or read or something. Toodlies. Tags: food, friends, knitting, owies, platypus, work
Current Mood:  okay
What's Playing?: CCR - Susie Q.
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This has been one of the best valentine’s days I’ve ever had. And we didn’t even do anything valentines-y like. Just a nice date (my first real date ever). First ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) oaksong came over and we hid upstairs while my parents put away groceries, apparently I impressed him with all my books. Then we came downstairs and I made bread (and got very messy) cut up a pineapple, and mom made us pizza. Then we ‘watched’ Mullholand Drive. (Don’t worry Linds and Brandon, I’ll make him actually watch it eventually). After that we headed out to dinner at the most AWESOME Thai restaurant. I would just like to say that I LOVE Thai iced tea. It’s like drinking desert. And the food was excellent. Then we went to the mall and I just HAD to buy a Thai cook book. Then I went over to EB to look for the games Aaron wanted. But I could only find one. :( (Momo, tell Aaron I bought Space Channel 5 for him, he doesn’t have to pay me back, it was only, like $3) Then we came back here and gave Duchess a bunch of loving. (I’m beginning to feel jealous; she likes oaksong better than me.) And tried some of the bread I made. I was slightly disappointed, it was very dense and not all that great. I think I’m going to give up on sour dough breads for a while and try doing whole wheat, and maybe plain Italian. Well I’m sleepy and should probably head to bed, ‘specially considering I have to work tomorrow morning. Toodlies all! Tags: food, holidays, pets, platypus
Current Mood:  loved
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I feel better now. By back still hurts, but after about 1/2 hr of creative stretching, meditating and laying stiff as a board it feels better. And now I’m not quite so headachy and fuzzy headed. Mom wants me to help her with the Statistics test tonight (I have to help he with the online part, I refuse to do her work for her) so I may not be able to go to Bryan’s and watch anime like we had planned. That kind of makes me sad, I haven’t seen him in a while, and I’m going through anime withdrawal. I have everything done here at work. But I still have to stick around until five so I can make up for the hours I missed earlier this week and for the hours I’m planning to miss Tuesday when I go to visit oaksongI keep finding myself being tempted to order something from the Chinese restaurant next door, but I know I shouldn’t because it’s bound to be greasy and bad for me. And I really need to watch my weight, especially with how badly I’ve been eating in my classes. Baking is the worse, all sorts of decedent treats that we have to taste and critique. Yummy. I put a pan full of water on the heater the other day, and have been keeping it full. It’s help somewhat with the dryness in the office, but the metal objects around me are still shocking me far too often. I think it’s a conspiracy. I’ve been listening to my Abba CD a lot lately. My cousin, Tasha gave it to me for Christmas, and I just recently found it while I was cleaning my room. I really want to get the Mama Mia CD now as well. I blame riki_kiki_taco for my addiction. :p My eyes have been acting up a lot lately, making it difficult to wear my contacts. Just another addition to the list of things messed up by my BC. I’m definitely going to have to talk to PP about going on a different prescription or something. A lot of my friends at school are on Depo, but I’m a bit too fond of my period to seriously think about getting it. Although I do have to admit it would be convenient to no longer have to remember to take a pill at the same time every night. Well I guess I’m going to go and read some, or maybe knit until five. Only an hour and 10 min left before I can go home. Weee! Tags: family, food, friends, happyears, owies, skool, work
Current Mood:  calm
What's Playing?: Billy Joel - All About Soul
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Just finished baking a loaf of sour dough bread Yummy! It didn’t rise enough the second time though, it’s a bit dense, must remember to keep and eye on it and keep the oven warm (I use the oven as a makeshift proofer, ‘cus the house is too chilly to let the dough rise properly) I feel so special and accomplished. I am definitely going to be doing this more often. On a side note I didn’t get nearly as much done today as I wanted too. oaksong called and I wanted to talk with him, so I didn’t get a chance to stop by the library. But I can do that tomorrow, one more day isn’t going to cost my much more than the three weeks overdue that I already have. My rooms are nice and neat now though. I love knitting, but I keep getting messy with my yarn and supplies. Also my damned schoolbooks are just there in a pile because I have no place to put them. I need another book case, but I don’t have anyplace to put it. blech. Tags: food, friends, knitting, platypus
Current Mood: chipper
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I just realized I should probably start up my kegel(sp?) exercises again. I stopped when I got the surgery, and haven’t gotten back to them. Hmmm, that may also help with the pain in certain respects... Tra lala! In other new I slept in this morning, no class today because my teacher is out of town. I think I finally caught up with all the sleep I lost from staying up super late talking to oaksong. (not that I’m complaining... :: squish :: ;) Once I take my shower and pick up my room a little, I have to go run a bunch of errands that I never get around to while rushing to or from class and work. List of things that need to be done: Clean room Cash paycheck Put money in checking account Return 3 week overdue book to library Get on knees and beg them to forgive me Ask about donating large encyclopedia set Make fresh sourdough bread Put away sour starter Do homework Go to work early Weeee! I am so happy and bouncy right now I feel like I could FLY. Tee hee Tags: bodywork, bookworm, food, money, platypus
Current Mood:  content
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