On a break.

We are losing the internet at any moment, and moving tomorrow.  I will start posting again from our new place when we get internet!

Translating spree and emptying the pantry.

Yesterday, I got a large document to translate.  It is technical, complicated, long...and I often wander away to do other things.  Not packing, though.  I've decided that I cannot pack any more until this document gets done.  This may not be the best plan.

I am finding a few things to go to Goodwill in the meantime, though.  If I haven't worn it in a year, my mother did not make it, and it is not formal, it goes in the box.  I get most of my clothes from second hand stores, hand-me-downs, gifts, or I make them.  Besides wedding-related clothes, I went shopping online three times last year for new things- a dress for a wedding, a blazer, and a few clearance items.  I did get some new shoes, though =)  You can never have too many shoes!

We are also slowly eating down our food supply.  This is extremely difficult.  I keep thinking that I need more, we are going to run out!  What will I bake and cook with?!  I have enough to make bread once more, make a giant black bean veggie stew with a ham bone, and maybe if I'm desperate, brown rice with greens.  I am going to have to get pretty creative to only use what I already have.  This reminds me of an episode of Chopped.  Limitations: good enough for Jon to like it, quick enough to finish this document and pack and sleep.  Lunch time grows near...

I am just incredibly excited about this move.  5 days to go!  It will be stressful, and then calm and I can unpack at my own pace.  I have no idea how often Jon will need to commute back to finish up work, or what he will end up doing when he can't go to his old studio and needs to find more jobs.  We will be without internet until I receive our new Virgin Mobile mifi modem (wireless internet anywhere!).  I might just find some started plants and spend all day in the garden.  There is a huge garden area all ready to go, right next to the house!  My father has also offered a garden space at the farm, and I'm thinking of using that for less needy plants/experimentation...sugar beets?  Oats?  Wheat?  Will I be able to get a Level 1 Homestead License to sell baked goods and jam/jelly?  Will I have enough time to devote to all this, go to a farmers' market, keep house, translate, and spend time with Jon?  I am bursting with excitement about the possibilities...

(Area to the right will be my garden at the farm)

The document is calling, and I shouldn't procrastinate any longer.  Dreams of fresh greens, sunshine, and UNpacking are distracting me.  One step at a time.

Yogurt cheese = cream cheese!

It worked!  I left the yogurt to strain overnight in the fridge, and now I have what looks and tastes like cream cheese!

Three cups of yogurt created one cup of the cheese and two cups of whey.

Beautifulness.  I have enough to make 6 individual cheesecakes.

This is how excited I am right now (actual jumping for joy).

Actual cheesecakes with strawberry puree.
Homemade: cream cheese, yogurt, vanilla, granulated maple sugar, and egg from a friend
Bought: graham crackers, salt, strawberries, butter

Now I just need strawberry season, a trip to the ocean, some extra cream, and a recipe for graham crackers to make this an entirely homemade recipe.  I can see this happening this summer!

Yogurt cheese, violet jam, and a name for the rabbit.

There isn't enough coffee in the world.

I have been incredibly busy.  I sold the two doe kits to a very nice lady with two teenage girls.  She couldn't stop giggling over how adorable they were and I could tell that they would be well loved =)  It was still very sad to see them go!

We named the buck kit we are keeping Tavşan.  His new favorite place is under the dresser between the weights.

He is understandably upset with us for taking away his sisters.  The first few days, he turned from being sweet and cuddly to skittish and sulky.    Today, I was grooming him, and he decided to start licking my leg.  He loves me again!  I gave him some treats while he sat in my lap for a while after that.  He is still not quite himself, but he is getting more trusting every day.  He also requires the lowest maintenance that I've ever needed for a rabbit.  He doesn't chew, go to the bathroom outside his cage, and mostly prefers to hang out with me.  He is curious and likes to climb on little things, but doesn't try to find the highest spot in the room like one of the does.  His favorite toy is an old cardboard box, which he stuffs himself into and peeps out at the world.

I haven't had much time for baking recently (trip to NH, helping Jon build a workbench, helping Jon with a job), but I have been able to do a few projects: 64 oz of yogurt, peanut butter, grapefruit juice, 2 loaves of maple oatmeal wheat bread, granola bars, best cake ever, roast chicken, violet jam...alright...so I have been able to get quite a few things done!

The violet jam is beautiful!

I picked 4 cups of violets.  This is about half of what I needed.  I ended up having to use white violets as well, but the color still turned out quite beautiful.

This pictures does not do justice.  I got a total of 10 half pint jars done, in two batches.

Each batch had:
2 cups tightly packed washed and dried violet blossoms (wild, non-sprayed, clean)
1 3oz pouch liquid pectin
4 cups sugar
1/4 cup lemon juice
2 cups water

I blended the water, lemon juice, and blossoms in a blender.  Then I added the sugar 2 cups at a time, blending.  I put this blend into a large pot and got it to a rolling boil, skimming off the white/greenish foam.  Then, I added the pouch of pectin and boiled for 2 minutes, stirring.  The mixture will rise up quite a bit, so make sure that you have a big enough pot!  Then I poured the mixture into sterilized half pint jars, up to about 1/8 in. from the top (I cheated a little here).  The jars were put through a rinse cycle in a dishwasher, but could be boiled in water or for just jam, kept in the hottest tap water in a clean sink.  I put the lids on as tight as I could, then put them upside down to help with sealing.  They need to set for at least 24 hours, then I will check to see if the lids have not popped.

I tasted a little of the jam, and it is marvelous!!!  Kind of like the flavor of rose water, but less strong, and with a more wild flower scenty-taste.  The color is a bold purple.  I am really going to enjoy using this jam, giving it away, and just looking at it!  Violets also have tons of vitamin a and 3 times the amount of vitamin c than an orange.  All for taking the time to pick them from the yard.  Violets are also great fresh, with their leaves, in a salad.  Or candied violets.  The entire plant is edible except for the rhizome.

I am thinking of getting a Level 1 Homesteading license...to sell some baked goods, jam, and jelly at a farmers' market.  I could also bring along some veggies.  The cost of the license is pretty cheap in NH, and I would only need to have the water tested and fill out some paperwork.  Anyone want to go in on this with me?

Today's baking project is yogurt cheese.

I wanted to get enough to make a cheesecake with, but I can only fit 1 cup of yogurt in my strainer.  The web says that 1 cup yogurt = 1/3 cup yogurt cheese (pretty much the same consistency and taste as cream cheese).  I need 2 cups of the cheese for cheesecake.  It also said that it would take 1-12 hours to drain.  I am also thinking up uses for the whey after this is done.  This project may take several days, but I am super excited!  I hope to branch out into other types of cheese, and then ones that need rennet.  Jon should build me a cheese press.

Housekeeping for the lazy.

I am lazy.  But now that I am a housewife, I have no excuses.  I don't have to go to class, I don't have any kids yet, and my job is from home.  If the house isn't clean, that's on me.  My single-style of housekeeping was letting dishes pile up until you couldn't reach the faucet or they were all used.  The bathroom?  Only cleaned before moving in and right before moving out.  The bedroom had a path to the bed, with clothes piled up everywhere, dirty and clean.  I had a hamster cage in the closet for a while.  With a live hamster, Caligula.  I don't even want to mention college.

But Jon is a much neater person than I am.  It bothers him to have clutter around and things piled up.  So I make an effort to keep things tidy, clean, and smelling nice.  This has been more of a struggle than I thought.  When I am motivated, I LOVE to clean.  Especially when I am avoiding other things, like translating.  I go on cleaning sprees that last the entire day and usually end in a few fanatical bruises.  After moving in with Jon, things had to change and I had to start a regular cleaning schedule.

Now that we are married, I try to clean once a week.  It is a real struggle, especially when there are so many wonderful things to bake, bunnies to play with, and the occasional translating job to do.  Besides, I am lazy.  I watch the dishes pile up and dread doing them, so they slowly fill the sink.

But, I am making a real effort now, because I can see how happy it makes Jon to see a clean and tidy apartment.  I do dishes once a day.  I keep the tables clear of clutter.  I fold my clothes the day they are washed, and keep a hamper.  About once a week, I redo the couch coverlet, vacuum everything, mop all non-carpeted floors, clean the bunny cage, scrub down the kitchen, and do my best to clean the bathroom.

I do not use any chemicals, other than 7th Generation Toilet Bowl Cleaner.  At least that's natural.  Otherwise, I use a spray bottle with half white vinegar, half water.  Sometimes I use baking soda or baking powder.  Vinegar does wonders!  And we are still alive with vinegar being our only anti-bacterial cleaning agent!  It even smells good.  Makes me crave french fries.

There really isn't any other need to use a chemical.  I use a natural cold water detergent for washing clothes.  My dish soap is awful, but it was a necessary purchase at a time when I couldn't find anything that I wanted.  The next time I need to buy some, I will get Mrs. Meyers' Clean Day.  I will probably also get their laundry detergent and toilet bowl cleaner.  I house sat for a lady that use their dish detergent, and I was amazed by how well it worked, and how little I needed.  It even degreased dishes.  Did I mention that it comes in basil scent?

So, even though I would rather sit down with a cup of spicy cocoa and watch a Bollywood movie, encouraging myself to clean the entire apartment once a week has been extremely rewarding.  It also helps that I get a treat when I'm done =)
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Tonight's dinner: mussels in a white wine sauce with crusty bread.  I made the bread yesterday, and had frozen cooked mussel meat, so dinner took me about fifteen minutes.  I have barely had any spare time for two days now, and this is my treat for getting a lot of grown-up things done.  Not having a lot of time doesn't mean you can't have a wonderful meal!

Waking up to no gas or hot water. Making grapefruit juice.

Yesterday, Jon got up at 6:30am, and went out to go put the water on for coffee.  I heard a sad 'uh-oh', and practically fell out of bed trying to get to the kitchen.  The gas was out.  The first things that came to my mind were- explosions!  We're all gonna die!  *Sniffing air and smelling nothing* Either we are going to catch on fire or the gas company cut us off for no reason...So I checked the hot water, and there wasn't any.  We pulled out the stove, closed off the gas line, and used Jon's camp stove to make coffee so we could make it through this.  We didn't explode lighting the camp stove, so at that point, my wrath turned to the gas company.  Long story short, it wasn't their fault, they didn't do it, and someone else had turned off both of our lines in the basement.  I can only shake my head.  After spending all day on the phone, running to Jon's parents' to try to make bread but then realizing I should be at the apartment in case a service person came, and still experiencing a cold shower an hour after the gas got turned back on, I still manged to make corned beef with vegetables and a chocolate zucchini cake for dinner.  Oh yeah.

Chocolate zucchini cake is one of the best things in the world.  The shredded zucchini is so invisible that you can trick anyone into eating it.  *evil laughter*

So now that I have the proper tools to cook with again, and a bright, fresh new day, I am making bread and grapefruit juice.  The bread, recipe from Laurel's Kitchen Bread Book, is on its second rise.  I'm thinking of steaming it in a Dutch oven.  We'll see how that goes.

The grapefruit juice is beautiful.

Start off with some nice, ripe grapefruits, USA grown!

Set up a strainer.  You don't want to be drinking seeds, and this catches all the big pulp pieces.

Use a citrus juicer.  I like this one, because it is heavy, doesn't tip over, and the outside is blue.

Put a funnel in your desired juice container.

Be careful cutting your grapefruit in half, especially once you get started and your hands are covered in pulp.  It would probably be a good idea to rise off before using a knife.

And...juice!  It doesn't seem like much, but- no added water, sugar, 'natural flavors'- only grapefruit juice goodness!  Completely worth the 10 minutes it took me, while also watching youtube videos.

-Still haven't found a home for the angora kits.  Anyone out there want one?  They are adorable, I swear!  They are just too much to handle in 3's.  I let them out this morning to run around, and I made the mistake of leaving the room.  I hear a crash, and one is on top of the cage, another is wedged in behind it, and one is keeping a lookout.  I set things right, and leave the room again.  Five minutes later, one is on the guest bed, which is very high up for them, one is on top of a trunk, and the other is again keeping lookout.  They are like toddlers, not puppies, because puppies don't climb like they do!!!

I'm going to go be bad and eat some more chips for lunch.