LEFTOVERS FROM LAST WEEK ~~ A LITTLE SNOW ~~ PARTING SHOT

LEFTOVERS FROM LAST WEEK

Last week I didn't have enough time or room to post everything that I had intended, so I will carry it over to this week's blog. Most likely you are wondering what in the heck those things are in the photo below. They look like some kind of alien pod. You can probably guess that they have something to do with cooking. They are egg cups, which are used for making poached eggs primarily in the Instant Pot. They can also be used to make mini-meatloaves, egg bites (similar to the ones they make at Starbucks), mini-cakes, etc. So far I have just made poached eggs in them, but I will definitely be trying the other options as well.

Alien pods?

One of the presents I got on Christmas was this DIY Fermentation Kit from Em, John and the girls. I currently have a couple of jars of sauerkraut fermenting. I posted a picture on Facebook last week and got a comment requesting a video of the process. Since it takes a bit of time to go through the process, I am just posting pictures instead of a video.

DIY Fermentation Kit

The kit (shown above) consists of a beautiful Acacia wood tamper, 5 glass weights, and 5 silicone airlocks. The glass weights are the exact size to fit into a wide-mouth Mason jar, and the silicone airlock is sized to fit inside a wide-mouth Mason jar ring.

Glass weight and silicone airlock

First thing you do is shred your cabbage and then mash it down with the appropriate amount of salt (according to your recipe) with the tamper. The cabbage will release its liquid after tamping it for a while.

Tamping will build up your arm muscles!

Next, you pack it into a jar and press it down with the tamper until the cabbage is underneath the liquid. You have to put a cabbage leaf on top to help hold the shredded cabbage underneath the liquid. I made two jars and on one I used a torn cabbage leaf and on the other I used one that I cut down to size, just to see how they'd do. One jar has just cabbage and salt, and the other jar has cabbage, salt, and some garlic flakes. After you place the cabbage leaf on top, you put in a glass weight to hold everything down under the liquid. Then you place on the silicone airlock, screw on the jar ring, and you are set to go. The silicone airlock has a slit in it so that it can periodically release the gas that is going to build up in the jar from the fermentation process.

Tiny slit in the airlock to release gas

The jars should be kept in a cool, dark spot for 3 to 6 weeks, at an optimal temperature of 65-70 degrees. I can't make sauerkraut in the summer because it is just too hot in the house for it to ferment. So I plan on making enough this winter to hold me over through the summer. It will keep in the refrigerator for a long time.

You can see a bit of foaming, which means it is fermenting

Another new thing I got for Christmas was a 6" Bundt Baking Pan. It is so cute and tiny! Why on earth would I want a 6" baking pan? Well, it's to use with my Instant Pot (also known as "IP"), of course! I tried baking in the IP with my regular 6" pan, but the middle did not get done, so I got the bundt pan to remedy that. I tried it out for the first time on New Year's Day when I made cornbread in it, using the fresh yellow stone-ground corn meal that my friend sent me from North Carolina. It turned out to be delicious, and went so well with the Hoppin' John and sautéed kale.

Hoppin' John & Cornbread from the IP

Not all of my presents had to do with cooking (although that's my favorite thing), some of them had to do with drinking, LOL! Linda's sister gave each of us one of these cute glasses with elephants on them. Anybody who knows me well (and has seen the display rack in our dining room), knows that I love glasses of all kinds. These glasses really fit the ticket, and we have used them repeatedly for our gin & tonics and also beers.

Pink elephant for Linda, green elephant for me

The big (huge) present of the day was my new computer from my honey! Our old PC is about 8 years old and was starting to act up, so we bit the bullet and replaced it. I am still learning how to use the new set-up, but so far it blows my old PC out of the water! The new one is an Apple computer, so it is somewhat different from a PC, but the basic principals are still the same. You will most likely be seeing more interesting videos posted, as the program for making movies is far, far better than what I had on the PC. I am now able to do my blog without getting frustrated 15 times!

The new rig

I was determined to get outside on a nature walk last week, so we managed to go to the Arboretum for a short walk, even though it was very cold outside. I wanted to check out the bird blind, and I was happy to see that repairs had been made on it and there was bird seed available to feed the birds. I got a few shots of the usual suspects (sparrows, juncos, chickadees), but my best shot was of this squirrel, who posed pretty for me to take his picture.

Munching out

A LITTLE SNOW

We finally got a nice snow this past Tuesday (about 2"), a week late to give us our White Christmas, but we'll take it. It was beautiful to watch it falling. Below is a short video I took while it was coming down. Look closely and you might be able to see the snowflakes. Sadly, it is starting to melt now.

PARTING SHOT

Yesterday while I was learning how to take pictures and videos off my camcorder onto the new computer, I kept getting interrupted by a little fuzzbutt who was constantly meowing for attention. I finally put her outside. She was not happy and glared at me through the kitchen window.

Trying to look pitiful

That's all for this week, see you here again next week!