The Gorillaz have come out with a new record!! Plastic Beach. There's a new video out for the song Stylo, and as usual, the Gorillaz have not only read my mind, but have read my soul. Not only is it a Gorillaz song, not only is it dark and hopeless, but it also contains Bruce Willis driving a red El Camino, and he is bad ass.
This weekend turned out to be a lazy weekend. I had hoped to go to Cedar's of Lebanon and do some hiking, but like I said it was a lazy weekend. Friday night we were watching a movie off the internet that Josh picked out. I was really hoping he was going to pick Law and Order, but he picked Thunderbolt with a younger Jackie Chan. Generally I would love a Jackie Chan movie, but this one was about car racing and that doesn't interest me so much. Luckily (not really) Josh's computer stopped working in the middle of it and I didn't have to watch the whole thing.
Today one of our new IT friends helped Josh fix it. All that had happened was the power cord had blown out, so it was easily and cheaply fixed.
Yesterday around 9:30 or 10:00 Josh was on the phone with a high school friend discussing his computer problems and I was reading. Then I got really tired and my eyes closed and my head fell to the side. I decided I would stay like that and pretend I was asleep and then when Josh got off the phone he would come over and wake me up to tell me about the phone call and I was go "Surprise" and grab him quick because I wasn't really asleep. Then it was 2 hours later.... Josh never came over because, duh, I was asleep, and we all know it's bad news to wake me up if I don't want to be. I sat up and was like, Josh ... What's going on? And Josh was like, you've been asleep for hours. I told him, no I was just pretending.
Great recap.
We then went to another friend's house for a game night where I preceded to fall asleep with my eyes open, but just for 4 minutes or so. Then we played Trivial Pursuit Millennium Addition. This was the most fun I've ever had playing this game. Josh and I were able to answer so many questions right!!! I think it's because we grew up during the time period that most of the questions focused on, and that Josh had just taken 2 history questions.
I watched America's Taste Kitchen or something, and I learned how to make chew chocolate chip cookies. I melted 10 tablespoons of butter and browned it on the stove. Then I poured it into a bowl and added 4 more tablespoons of butter. Then I dissolved the brown and white sugars into it and added the other ingredients. They turned out damn good for the type of chocolate chip cookies they were, but I prefer my chocolate chip cookies to have oatmeal in them and to be thicker and not so sugary.
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Lazy Saturday
What a Saturday. I've been feeling nauseous pretty bad all week, and today I was mostly better, but I'm still trying to take it slow. Heh.
I recently got a prescription for a sleeping medication, but I'm not so sure how much I like it. I mean, I like sleeping and all, but it pretty much ruins me for the whole next day. Even if I take half a pill, which I did last night. I fell asleep instantly and didn't wake up until morning and according to Josh I didn't move at all all night, but snored a little bit. Cute ones. So I got up and fed Ackbar and I swear to you the stove said 9:20. I went and woke Josh up and laid in bed a for a while because it was so comfy. He got up, shaved, got ready for the day, and then I got back out of bed. We lazily made cereal and ate it. Then we puttered around the house for a bit. Then we looked at the clock and it was 9:35. I kid you not. Either I'm going crazy or when we think we are moving slowly we are really moving at warp speed, and when we move quickly we are really moving at a snails pace. So we gained several hours to our day.
Josh had to run an errand in Murfreesboro, so I went with him so we could stop at the JC Penny's there because I had a gift card from Christmas. We went in (avoiding the rest of the mall) and turns out JC Penny was having a doorbuster sale that ended at 1:00!! Good thing we move at warp speed right? So I was able to get a new pair of work pants, grey corduroy, that fit me p.e.r.f.e.c.t.l.y. I'm skinny skinny in them. I also got a red and grey Aaaaarrrgyle sweater to go with them. Then I saw this jacket...it was dark plum coduroy, and it was exactly what I've been looking for for weeks now. It was all on super sale and I saved 66$ and with the gift card it was exactly in our price range. But all of this isn't even the amazing part. The amazing part is that I accidentally stumbled into the petite section, and all of these clothes are petite!!!
It was a very sunny warm day, upper 80's I think, so we had the windows in Josh's car open and the sun was shinning in. I am almost positive, due to several experiments, but the warm sunshine activates the sleeping pill during the day. I get huge yawns that hurt they are so huge and I get a little sick feeling if I don't lay down and take a nap in the sunshine. So the entire time we drove around I had the seat back and was just laying there relaxing and watching the tops of trees, signs, and light posts from the windows. Following, I cannot tell you when the last time was that I was that relaxed. I used to lay back and watch the scenery in the sky in cars a lot when I was little, but haven't in forever.
We ate lunch at this restaurant that looked to be (from the inside and the outside) one of the most fanciest places I've been to in a long long time. Josh promised me that they had an amazing blue cheese dip, that he read about in his school's paper, and I've been craving blue cheese. Well, it wasn't a blue cheese dip, but it was just as amazing. The waiter described it as spinach dip on steroids, and he was right. For 5$ we got enough spinach dip appetizer for 4 or 5 people easy... meaning, it was a much larger portion for what we paid than we were expecting. Then for being so fancy, the lunch sandwich prices were very reasonable...and those portions were HUGE too. I got a side of broccoli (for health and b/c my sandwich was mostly a cheese log), and the bowl of broccoli was easily twice as big as I was expecting. Josh says it's because Murfreesboro is a college town not full of rich kids. They wouldn't get any customers if they priced it higher....unlike Nashville restaurants.
We sat at a table where one side was a booth and one side was chairs, and I thought Josh was going to sit in the chairs, and we accidentally both sat in the booth at the same time, so we sat next to each other and watched the going on's in front of us. Which wasn't much, there was no one else eating in that section. But we did see a server clearing off a table outside and when coming in he dropped and broke a glass. Then the hostess was cleaning the door to the outside there and he flirted with her. Then another couple came in and they were going to be seated in a middle table, but they chose to sit next to each other in a booth/chair table directly across from Josh and I. So we were all sitting there staring at each other. But not for too long, because we soon left.
We got home at 1:30 and both fell asleep. Next thing I know it's 5:00. Yes, a 3.5 hr nap. I woke up, rolled over and realized my arm left itself behind. I grabbed it and shook it and my hand wobbled. I could feel nothing in that hand and I almost freaked out because I thought it had died. The weird part was that it barely tingled at all like it was asleep as I was regaining feeling in it.
I recently got a prescription for a sleeping medication, but I'm not so sure how much I like it. I mean, I like sleeping and all, but it pretty much ruins me for the whole next day. Even if I take half a pill, which I did last night. I fell asleep instantly and didn't wake up until morning and according to Josh I didn't move at all all night, but snored a little bit. Cute ones. So I got up and fed Ackbar and I swear to you the stove said 9:20. I went and woke Josh up and laid in bed a for a while because it was so comfy. He got up, shaved, got ready for the day, and then I got back out of bed. We lazily made cereal and ate it. Then we puttered around the house for a bit. Then we looked at the clock and it was 9:35. I kid you not. Either I'm going crazy or when we think we are moving slowly we are really moving at warp speed, and when we move quickly we are really moving at a snails pace. So we gained several hours to our day.
Josh had to run an errand in Murfreesboro, so I went with him so we could stop at the JC Penny's there because I had a gift card from Christmas. We went in (avoiding the rest of the mall) and turns out JC Penny was having a doorbuster sale that ended at 1:00!! Good thing we move at warp speed right? So I was able to get a new pair of work pants, grey corduroy, that fit me p.e.r.f.e.c.t.l.y. I'm skinny skinny in them. I also got a red and grey Aaaaarrrgyle sweater to go with them. Then I saw this jacket...it was dark plum coduroy, and it was exactly what I've been looking for for weeks now. It was all on super sale and I saved 66$ and with the gift card it was exactly in our price range. But all of this isn't even the amazing part. The amazing part is that I accidentally stumbled into the petite section, and all of these clothes are petite!!!
It was a very sunny warm day, upper 80's I think, so we had the windows in Josh's car open and the sun was shinning in. I am almost positive, due to several experiments, but the warm sunshine activates the sleeping pill during the day. I get huge yawns that hurt they are so huge and I get a little sick feeling if I don't lay down and take a nap in the sunshine. So the entire time we drove around I had the seat back and was just laying there relaxing and watching the tops of trees, signs, and light posts from the windows. Following, I cannot tell you when the last time was that I was that relaxed. I used to lay back and watch the scenery in the sky in cars a lot when I was little, but haven't in forever.
We ate lunch at this restaurant that looked to be (from the inside and the outside) one of the most fanciest places I've been to in a long long time. Josh promised me that they had an amazing blue cheese dip, that he read about in his school's paper, and I've been craving blue cheese. Well, it wasn't a blue cheese dip, but it was just as amazing. The waiter described it as spinach dip on steroids, and he was right. For 5$ we got enough spinach dip appetizer for 4 or 5 people easy... meaning, it was a much larger portion for what we paid than we were expecting. Then for being so fancy, the lunch sandwich prices were very reasonable...and those portions were HUGE too. I got a side of broccoli (for health and b/c my sandwich was mostly a cheese log), and the bowl of broccoli was easily twice as big as I was expecting. Josh says it's because Murfreesboro is a college town not full of rich kids. They wouldn't get any customers if they priced it higher....unlike Nashville restaurants.
We sat at a table where one side was a booth and one side was chairs, and I thought Josh was going to sit in the chairs, and we accidentally both sat in the booth at the same time, so we sat next to each other and watched the going on's in front of us. Which wasn't much, there was no one else eating in that section. But we did see a server clearing off a table outside and when coming in he dropped and broke a glass. Then the hostess was cleaning the door to the outside there and he flirted with her. Then another couple came in and they were going to be seated in a middle table, but they chose to sit next to each other in a booth/chair table directly across from Josh and I. So we were all sitting there staring at each other. But not for too long, because we soon left.
We got home at 1:30 and both fell asleep. Next thing I know it's 5:00. Yes, a 3.5 hr nap. I woke up, rolled over and realized my arm left itself behind. I grabbed it and shook it and my hand wobbled. I could feel nothing in that hand and I almost freaked out because I thought it had died. The weird part was that it barely tingled at all like it was asleep as I was regaining feeling in it.
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Last Sunday evening/night I was driving home from my friends apartment. They live maybe a mile or two away by back roads! This really makes me happy because it is also one of the most beautiful back road I've ever driven on. It's is very narrow, with hills and twisty curves. There is also zero shoulder and the woods grows right up to the side of the road and has to be cut flat, so it looks like a giant leafy wall. The locals see no reason to go slow on this road. When I say locals I mean the impatient crazies that can't afford to live anywhere else, not the locals who live in the giant old school mansions that populate this back road.
So I was heading home, and up in front of me was the moon! It was a perfect crescent shape, the same as when you stereotype the moon shape so that everyone knows what it is. It was also glowing pure white. The truly amazing part was that it was HUGE! A normal moon is the size of dime, this one was the size of a half dollar or larger.
I only saw it for a second before it slipped farther behind the trees, and I wasn't even sure it was the moon. After a while I doubted what I saw and thought maybe it was a porch light. That moment I saw it though, it was like I was in a Neil Giamen story, like Neverwhere. There were definitely fairies and redcaps about.
The whole rest of the way home I drove slowly sure I would see the moon again after the next turn. I even drove past my apartment complex and down to the gas stations to see if I could see it down there. But I couldn't. I was a little sad because like I said, I wasn't positive it was the moon.
Monday I was driving home from East Nashville around 10 o'clock from visiting some other friends...and I came upon the view of downtown Nashville with it's bar lights and the tall Batman building and there it was!!!! The GIANT crescent moon!!! I got to look at it all I wanted until I went down a hill and it slipped behind the Nashville Skyline. And get this...War Pigs was playing!!! It's only one of my favorite bad ass songs to listen to while I drive my truck! It was one of the most beautiful and perfect moments I've experienced in a very long time.
So I was heading home, and up in front of me was the moon! It was a perfect crescent shape, the same as when you stereotype the moon shape so that everyone knows what it is. It was also glowing pure white. The truly amazing part was that it was HUGE! A normal moon is the size of dime, this one was the size of a half dollar or larger.
I only saw it for a second before it slipped farther behind the trees, and I wasn't even sure it was the moon. After a while I doubted what I saw and thought maybe it was a porch light. That moment I saw it though, it was like I was in a Neil Giamen story, like Neverwhere. There were definitely fairies and redcaps about.
The whole rest of the way home I drove slowly sure I would see the moon again after the next turn. I even drove past my apartment complex and down to the gas stations to see if I could see it down there. But I couldn't. I was a little sad because like I said, I wasn't positive it was the moon.
Monday I was driving home from East Nashville around 10 o'clock from visiting some other friends...and I came upon the view of downtown Nashville with it's bar lights and the tall Batman building and there it was!!!! The GIANT crescent moon!!! I got to look at it all I wanted until I went down a hill and it slipped behind the Nashville Skyline. And get this...War Pigs was playing!!! It's only one of my favorite bad ass songs to listen to while I drive my truck! It was one of the most beautiful and perfect moments I've experienced in a very long time.
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
More Money More Problems
Less money, bigger problems.
I just realized today that if Josh does research with a professor, he will not have time for a job. This is okay with me because I always put school and research first, even for Josh. His education is technically more important than mine because he's going to need a very good job to support the non-working lifestyle I want to live.
So I'm trying to think of way for me to make a few extra dollars here and there. I know I can do it because I have more free time than I have ever had before. I'm just out of practice of using it productively.
Here are my ideas:
1. Dog walker
2. Tuter
3. Plant sitter
4. Secret Shopper
5. Personal shopper
6. Car washer/oil changer where I go to the hospital/rich person work place and they pay me to do it right there...I'm told that some coworkers pay $200 to have someone come and wash and detail their vehicles while they are at work. Biggest.Waste.Of.Money.Ever.
7. Muffin maker and seller...I make damn good muffins. You know that to be true! I can even make them mini!
8. Advertise to make something to bring to a potluck for people who don't want to cook something but also don't want to bring something store bought.
9. Teach kids in my apt. complex how to cook
10. Make posters/signs/flyers for people! I can totally do that!
I did not put babysitting on the list because I can't stand to babysit kids I don't know. Not that I've ever really done that, but lets say, you should sell your talents, and babysitting is not my talent. Unless it's an actual baby...I think I've matured up enough to be able to do that.
Most of this I'm only going to advertise around my apartment complex, and maybe the one next door. This stuff is time consuming, and it would be easier if I lived close.
What do you do to make a little extra money?
I just realized today that if Josh does research with a professor, he will not have time for a job. This is okay with me because I always put school and research first, even for Josh. His education is technically more important than mine because he's going to need a very good job to support the non-working lifestyle I want to live.
So I'm trying to think of way for me to make a few extra dollars here and there. I know I can do it because I have more free time than I have ever had before. I'm just out of practice of using it productively.
Here are my ideas:
1. Dog walker
2. Tuter
3. Plant sitter
4. Secret Shopper
5. Personal shopper
6. Car washer/oil changer where I go to the hospital/rich person work place and they pay me to do it right there...I'm told that some coworkers pay $200 to have someone come and wash and detail their vehicles while they are at work. Biggest.Waste.Of.Money.Ever.
7. Muffin maker and seller...I make damn good muffins. You know that to be true! I can even make them mini!
8. Advertise to make something to bring to a potluck for people who don't want to cook something but also don't want to bring something store bought.
9. Teach kids in my apt. complex how to cook
10. Make posters/signs/flyers for people! I can totally do that!
I did not put babysitting on the list because I can't stand to babysit kids I don't know. Not that I've ever really done that, but lets say, you should sell your talents, and babysitting is not my talent. Unless it's an actual baby...I think I've matured up enough to be able to do that.
Most of this I'm only going to advertise around my apartment complex, and maybe the one next door. This stuff is time consuming, and it would be easier if I lived close.
What do you do to make a little extra money?
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Camping
Josh and I went camping yesterday. Just one night...we tried to bring as little as possible. I feel we could have done a better job, but we did play both games we brought. Mostly we brought a lot of extra food...
We didn't buy any food though for our lunch today. I am pretty proud of that...we were going to buy Ritz crackers and fruit, but we ran out of time. What I did instead of just gather all the little bits of snack food and half empty chip things we have and brought those. Then we didn't even eat lunch! What we forgot was eggs and coffee for breakfast. I brought two potatoes though because they are so delicious (Yukon Gold Potatoes) and I just wanted to eat them at some point. This turned out perfect because we had them for breakfast! I sliced them, added some beef jerky, butter, salt and pepper, and left over red pepper and onion we had cooked up the night before as hotdog topping. I wrapped all the food up in tinfoil and Josh made a little fire to cook it over. It was amazing!! Josh and I have decided that any food cooked over fire is the best.
We stayed at a campground that's about 10 min from where we live, half way to my work. It was built by they Army Corp. of Engineers, and it is by far one of the best campgrounds I've ever been in. It only has 36 sites, and each one is fully surrounded by trees and brush, so you are about as isolated from your neighbors as you can be for a campground. Several sites are right on the lake. I would call it the beach, but it's a man-made lake and there is no sand. We did not get any of those sites, but next time we will. You can make reservations online. The only down part was the bathroom...there were way too many daddy long legs on the ceiling for my comfort.
This morning we went to the swim area/beach part, that costs 4$ to get in or free if you are camping. Except on the day you plan to leave, then you have to argue with a mean old old woman with a blow horn and gold cart, and she says that we have to pay unless we leave before 2:00 when check-out is for the campground. And then she highly disapproves of you going in for free promising that you will leave before 2:00. We left before 1:00!!
The beach/sand part was very narrow (3ft) and the sand was separated from the grass by a sidewalk. It was all silica sand and must have been shipped in and placed there. You could only swim out about 30 feet, and if you swam past the floating orange tube, the mean old lady would drive by in her golf cart and yell at you with your blow horn. We also suspect she highly disapproves of making sand castles and digging too much into the sand as well.
Besides all of this, it was wonderful to be finally swimming in a lake again. I wish we had been going all summer. It wasn't even cold like Lake Michigan or Superior, but perfectly cool. It's a very large, long lake because it is formed from the back up of a river by a dam.
Finally, another interesting part, is that I think Josh and I were the only white people there, everyone else were hispanic. There were large families all hanging out together and having picnics and hanging in hammocks they brought. I wish a little, that my family was like that...but then we would all have to live near together, and my parents should have had a few more kids, and Nate and I should have had kids as well already. Family oriented, etc. But we are not...I would feel trapped.
I missed Ackbar a lot and all the butterflies I saw reminded me of him...because they are so beautiful like him.
We didn't buy any food though for our lunch today. I am pretty proud of that...we were going to buy Ritz crackers and fruit, but we ran out of time. What I did instead of just gather all the little bits of snack food and half empty chip things we have and brought those. Then we didn't even eat lunch! What we forgot was eggs and coffee for breakfast. I brought two potatoes though because they are so delicious (Yukon Gold Potatoes) and I just wanted to eat them at some point. This turned out perfect because we had them for breakfast! I sliced them, added some beef jerky, butter, salt and pepper, and left over red pepper and onion we had cooked up the night before as hotdog topping. I wrapped all the food up in tinfoil and Josh made a little fire to cook it over. It was amazing!! Josh and I have decided that any food cooked over fire is the best.
We stayed at a campground that's about 10 min from where we live, half way to my work. It was built by they Army Corp. of Engineers, and it is by far one of the best campgrounds I've ever been in. It only has 36 sites, and each one is fully surrounded by trees and brush, so you are about as isolated from your neighbors as you can be for a campground. Several sites are right on the lake. I would call it the beach, but it's a man-made lake and there is no sand. We did not get any of those sites, but next time we will. You can make reservations online. The only down part was the bathroom...there were way too many daddy long legs on the ceiling for my comfort.
This morning we went to the swim area/beach part, that costs 4$ to get in or free if you are camping. Except on the day you plan to leave, then you have to argue with a mean old old woman with a blow horn and gold cart, and she says that we have to pay unless we leave before 2:00 when check-out is for the campground. And then she highly disapproves of you going in for free promising that you will leave before 2:00. We left before 1:00!!
The beach/sand part was very narrow (3ft) and the sand was separated from the grass by a sidewalk. It was all silica sand and must have been shipped in and placed there. You could only swim out about 30 feet, and if you swam past the floating orange tube, the mean old lady would drive by in her golf cart and yell at you with your blow horn. We also suspect she highly disapproves of making sand castles and digging too much into the sand as well.
Besides all of this, it was wonderful to be finally swimming in a lake again. I wish we had been going all summer. It wasn't even cold like Lake Michigan or Superior, but perfectly cool. It's a very large, long lake because it is formed from the back up of a river by a dam.
Finally, another interesting part, is that I think Josh and I were the only white people there, everyone else were hispanic. There were large families all hanging out together and having picnics and hanging in hammocks they brought. I wish a little, that my family was like that...but then we would all have to live near together, and my parents should have had a few more kids, and Nate and I should have had kids as well already. Family oriented, etc. But we are not...I would feel trapped.
I missed Ackbar a lot and all the butterflies I saw reminded me of him...because they are so beautiful like him.
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Risking the Pickles
Now that I am done with school it's up to me to teach myself new things. I find it a lot harder to do now than when I was in school. It's a risk to learn new things because you might fail. Which is funny because of course you WILL fail.
So far I have learned how to knit cables, drive a stick shift, and make pickles. The first cabling project I made I had to restart about 7 times, but I didn't care. Knitting mistakes bother me very little, the only thing you waste is time, and I don't feel it's too much wasted because I knit for the act of knitting, not for the finished product. I was very worried and scared of making a mistake while learning to drive a stick because I was afraid a mistake would lead to an accident and then death. There were some scary moments, but I made it through, and I'm much more confident in my driving now. I'm not so sure what my mistake of making pickles was...maybe that I left the cinnamon stick in the jars so I think I have 4 or 5 jars that taste like Christmas.
Making pickles was the most mystifying. I didn't know really what I needed or what to do. Turns out just some equipment and very expensive spices. I think pickling is one of the easiest things I've ever cooked. Far easier than pie, and more fun than cookies. I even bought and installed a shelf in the laundry room to store all my bread and butter pickles in. I only made that one kind because they are my favorite and my Oma used to make them.
First to make pickles, you cut up the cucumbers and the onions and mix them with canning salt and let them set in the fridge for 4 hrs (or over night). Then you drain and rinse them. Next you combine the spices in a big pot while waiting for the larger pot full of water heat to boiling with the empty jars in it. This is to sterilize the jars. You also boil the lids too. The spices include sugar, cinnamon, allspice, clove, mustard seeds, and turmeric. Turmeric is the worst...all my white tea towels are now stained yellow. No big deal, they were bought with possible stains in mind.
Then you add white vinegar and apple cider vinegar and heat to boiling. I think that at this point is when I would remove the cinnamon stick. The cinnamon, clove and allspice are all added in berry/stick form as well as powdered form. I think the cinnamon stick may be left out entirely. Of course, early (but not too early) in my college career, I had several bad experiences with cinnamon liquor, and I've never really felt kindly to any cinnamon flavor or scent since.
Then the cucumbers and onions are added and the mixture is reheated to boiling. This is one of my favorite parts, I like watching the bland, sorta-lame-in-comparison cucumbers change color and texture into delicious pickles.
In the mean time, take out the sterilized jars and set them on a towel and prepare all your tools. You DO need the wide mouth funnel, it is worth the money to buy. My mom and my pickling friend never heard of the measuring stick, but it came with the pickling kit I bought, and I found it quite helpful. You rest it on the edge of the jar to help measure how high the pickles are filling the jar. There is also a magnetic stick to pick the lids out of the boiling water. I feel this wasn't too necessary and made it harder because it kept on grabbing two lids at once.
Finally you fill the jars with the pickles. First you put in the pickles and then add the syrup sauce after until the jars are full to about 1/2 inch from the top. Then the lids are put on and the pickles are put back into the larger pot and boiled for 10 minutes. My favorite part of it all is next. When you remove them and let them set you can hear the lids pop in and that's how you know you did everything right. If they don't pop in, there isn't a good seal and you have to eat them right away and not store them in your pantry, or laundry room in my case.
The scariest part of all of it is the very large pot of boiling water. I bought the cheapest one I could find at Kroger and I kept vividly imagining it bursting open and spilling boiling hot water every where. I don't think I could ever be brave enough to use a pressure cooker!
So far I have learned how to knit cables, drive a stick shift, and make pickles. The first cabling project I made I had to restart about 7 times, but I didn't care. Knitting mistakes bother me very little, the only thing you waste is time, and I don't feel it's too much wasted because I knit for the act of knitting, not for the finished product. I was very worried and scared of making a mistake while learning to drive a stick because I was afraid a mistake would lead to an accident and then death. There were some scary moments, but I made it through, and I'm much more confident in my driving now. I'm not so sure what my mistake of making pickles was...maybe that I left the cinnamon stick in the jars so I think I have 4 or 5 jars that taste like Christmas.
Making pickles was the most mystifying. I didn't know really what I needed or what to do. Turns out just some equipment and very expensive spices. I think pickling is one of the easiest things I've ever cooked. Far easier than pie, and more fun than cookies. I even bought and installed a shelf in the laundry room to store all my bread and butter pickles in. I only made that one kind because they are my favorite and my Oma used to make them.
First to make pickles, you cut up the cucumbers and the onions and mix them with canning salt and let them set in the fridge for 4 hrs (or over night). Then you drain and rinse them. Next you combine the spices in a big pot while waiting for the larger pot full of water heat to boiling with the empty jars in it. This is to sterilize the jars. You also boil the lids too. The spices include sugar, cinnamon, allspice, clove, mustard seeds, and turmeric. Turmeric is the worst...all my white tea towels are now stained yellow. No big deal, they were bought with possible stains in mind. 
Then you add white vinegar and apple cider vinegar and heat to boiling. I think that at this point is when I would remove the cinnamon stick. The cinnamon, clove and allspice are all added in berry/stick form as well as powdered form. I think the cinnamon stick may be left out entirely. Of course, early (but not too early) in my college career, I had several bad experiences with cinnamon liquor, and I've never really felt kindly to any cinnamon flavor or scent since.
Then the cucumbers and onions are added and the mixture is reheated to boiling. This is one of my favorite parts, I like watching the bland, sorta-lame-in-comparison cucumbers change color and texture into delicious pickles.
In the mean time, take out the sterilized jars and set them on a towel and prepare all your tools. You DO need the wide mouth funnel, it is worth the money to buy. My mom and my pickling friend never heard of the measuring stick, but it came with the pickling kit I bought, and I found it quite helpful. You rest it on the edge of the jar to help measure how high the pickles are filling the jar. There is also a magnetic stick to pick the lids out of the boiling water. I feel this wasn't too necessary and made it harder because it kept on grabbing two lids at once.
Finally you fill the jars with the pickles. First you put in the pickles and then add the syrup sauce after until the jars are full to about 1/2 inch from the top. Then the lids are put on and the pickles are put back into the larger pot and boiled for 10 minutes. My favorite part of it all is next. When you remove them and let them set you can hear the lids pop in and that's how you know you did everything right. If they don't pop in, there isn't a good seal and you have to eat them right away and not store them in your pantry, or laundry room in my case.
The scariest part of all of it is the very large pot of boiling water. I bought the cheapest one I could find at Kroger and I kept vividly imagining it bursting open and spilling boiling hot water every where. I don't think I could ever be brave enough to use a pressure cooker!
Thursday, August 12, 2010
There is no such thing as a free lunch...but there is a free breakfast!
Just read my last post. It annoys me. Please disregard it as a lapse in my judgment.
Stay tuned for future posts of backing, cooking and pickling which will include pictures!
I received a free breakfast today from my apartment complex as I was leaving. My first reaction was "What do you want for it? Do I have to listen to you talk about God or donate money or promise to vote online for your cause?" But no, I think I just have to spread the word of my happiness of a free breakfast to everyone I know, then you will want to live at my apartment complex as well. Phew. I almost named it for you, but then I remembered that you are The Internet and according to stereotype and common belief, there is a 97% chance that you are a rapist or child molester. The other 3% are people who look at funny cat pictures.
The breakfast was orange juice (which I'll save for my smoothies this week), an apple, and a muffin. I won't eat the muffin, it's a prepackaged thing, and I don't like mass produced prepackaged and free baked goods.
Oh my new favorite website: Evernote.com
Stay tuned for future posts of backing, cooking and pickling which will include pictures!
I received a free breakfast today from my apartment complex as I was leaving. My first reaction was "What do you want for it? Do I have to listen to you talk about God or donate money or promise to vote online for your cause?" But no, I think I just have to spread the word of my happiness of a free breakfast to everyone I know, then you will want to live at my apartment complex as well. Phew. I almost named it for you, but then I remembered that you are The Internet and according to stereotype and common belief, there is a 97% chance that you are a rapist or child molester. The other 3% are people who look at funny cat pictures.
The breakfast was orange juice (which I'll save for my smoothies this week), an apple, and a muffin. I won't eat the muffin, it's a prepackaged thing, and I don't like mass produced prepackaged and free baked goods.
Oh my new favorite website: Evernote.com
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