(no subject)
I know, I know. I never call, I never write, I never even comment. What a pathetic excuse for an LJer I am. Would it make you feel any better if you knew I was reading? I swear I am.
-Thinking about house building stuff. Honestly, it’s a hole with no bottom. And it’s currently complicated by my feeling that we and the designer are talking right past each other. Aargh. He keeps assuring us that he knows what we’re asking for and coming back with solutions that are less than satisfactory. To be fair, I’m sure we’re exasperating him, too. We’re agonizingly slow at decision making, wanting to talk through every step and reason out every stage. And what we want seems to be far from the norm. But it’s still frustrating. I’ve heard that some people enjoy this sort of thing, but honestly? It’s like having several scheduled root canals, one every few weeks. The disruption to my life and my pleasure in life is enormous.
-Family stuff. Inordinately large amounts, several weekends worth. Everybody and their dog is having a significant birthday or anniversary this year. I’m actually mostly fond of my inlaws, but I’ve seen quite enough of them for the next while.
-Gardening. I decided to try some intensive and unusual growing methods this year. I made some self-watering containers out of 20L plastic buckets for the tomatoes and tried putting my lettuce in hanging bags to keep the slugs off it. The tomatoes have been a great success. We’ve already eaten some and it looks like they’ll continue on producing for some time. I gave one to wstockall to put on his balcony, and I think it’s done well, too. The lettuce is a little less successful. The heat made it bolt early, and keeping the bag damp enough for leafy greens has been tricky. I may try spinach next year to see how it does instead.
-Soapmaking. I’d wanted to try this for some time, but finding the lye seemed to be a real problem. Luckily jillybean74 kindly donated me enough that I should be able to make soap until I’m ninety. I made my first batch about a month and a half ago, and it’s turned out very well, I think. If you’re interested in trying some, let me know, and I’ll give you a bar. I’m making more this weekend with my mother.
-Baking bread. Although I’ve made bread for many years, I’ve stuck to a few tried and true recipes. Hoping to expand my horizons a bit, I picked up Beth Hensperger’s “The Bread Bible" and I and mouseman have started to bake our way through it. I’m enjoying the process a great deal. This week I made a buttermilk and honey loaf. It was lovely.
-Cooking. It’s been several years now since I decided that I would improve my cooking skills by trying one new recipe/method every week. This week’s new meal was scrambled eggs with fresh basil and onion garlic cheese curd, and buttermilk and honey loaf with tomatoes from the garden. Last week was a variation on ratatouille and the week before that was rice and lentils with caramelized onions. That last one is a new favourite, by the way.
-Vinegar making. You know how you often don't quite finish off a bottle of wine and feel guilty throwing out the rest? Me too. And so I decided to try and make red wine vinegar. I bought some unpasteurized and unfiltered apple cider vinegar and mixed it half and half with some too-long-open wine. It's currently residing in a coffee filter covered pitcher on my counter. In about a week, I'm hoping to taste it and see what I have.
-Picking berries. The raspberries were extravagent this year, more than I could keep up with, even when I was freezing some. mouseman and I also spent a Sunday morning last week picking saskatoons at a local farm. So the freezer is full, and I haven’t even put in the blueberries that I bought.
-Trying out various junk foods as emergency fuel for my Kelly Kettle. We had a three person panel, 4 different junk foods, a watch and a camera. We judged on how long it took to burn a kettle full of water vs. actual paltatibility. We took photos. We took notes, which became lost in transit. Sigh. Now it will all have to be redone. Preferably in someone else’s yard, as the black smoke and smell of burning plastic is something I don’t really want to let loose in the city limits. I also made a small twig stove out of a large coffee can, some wire mesh, and a coat hanger. I plan to try to cook sausage in a frying pan on it sometime soon. Hopefully I’ll have pictures.
-Hiking. The July long weekend was Aylmer Pass and the August long weekend will be Fryatt Valley. We intend on taking our bikes as far in as allowed, to speed the whole process. This time we’ll explore farther back along the upper valley, rather than peering over the cliffs into Geraldine Lakes, I think. September is Berg Lake Trail again, with a day trip to Snowbird pass. We’ll try and remember the camera this time.
-Thinking about house building stuff. Honestly, it’s a hole with no bottom. And it’s currently complicated by my feeling that we and the designer are talking right past each other. Aargh. He keeps assuring us that he knows what we’re asking for and coming back with solutions that are less than satisfactory. To be fair, I’m sure we’re exasperating him, too. We’re agonizingly slow at decision making, wanting to talk through every step and reason out every stage. And what we want seems to be far from the norm. But it’s still frustrating. I’ve heard that some people enjoy this sort of thing, but honestly? It’s like having several scheduled root canals, one every few weeks. The disruption to my life and my pleasure in life is enormous.
-Family stuff. Inordinately large amounts, several weekends worth. Everybody and their dog is having a significant birthday or anniversary this year. I’m actually mostly fond of my inlaws, but I’ve seen quite enough of them for the next while.
-Gardening. I decided to try some intensive and unusual growing methods this year. I made some self-watering containers out of 20L plastic buckets for the tomatoes and tried putting my lettuce in hanging bags to keep the slugs off it. The tomatoes have been a great success. We’ve already eaten some and it looks like they’ll continue on producing for some time. I gave one to wstockall to put on his balcony, and I think it’s done well, too. The lettuce is a little less successful. The heat made it bolt early, and keeping the bag damp enough for leafy greens has been tricky. I may try spinach next year to see how it does instead.
-Soapmaking. I’d wanted to try this for some time, but finding the lye seemed to be a real problem. Luckily jillybean74 kindly donated me enough that I should be able to make soap until I’m ninety. I made my first batch about a month and a half ago, and it’s turned out very well, I think. If you’re interested in trying some, let me know, and I’ll give you a bar. I’m making more this weekend with my mother.
-Baking bread. Although I’ve made bread for many years, I’ve stuck to a few tried and true recipes. Hoping to expand my horizons a bit, I picked up Beth Hensperger’s “The Bread Bible" and I and mouseman have started to bake our way through it. I’m enjoying the process a great deal. This week I made a buttermilk and honey loaf. It was lovely.
-Cooking. It’s been several years now since I decided that I would improve my cooking skills by trying one new recipe/method every week. This week’s new meal was scrambled eggs with fresh basil and onion garlic cheese curd, and buttermilk and honey loaf with tomatoes from the garden. Last week was a variation on ratatouille and the week before that was rice and lentils with caramelized onions. That last one is a new favourite, by the way.
-Vinegar making. You know how you often don't quite finish off a bottle of wine and feel guilty throwing out the rest? Me too. And so I decided to try and make red wine vinegar. I bought some unpasteurized and unfiltered apple cider vinegar and mixed it half and half with some too-long-open wine. It's currently residing in a coffee filter covered pitcher on my counter. In about a week, I'm hoping to taste it and see what I have.
-Picking berries. The raspberries were extravagent this year, more than I could keep up with, even when I was freezing some. mouseman and I also spent a Sunday morning last week picking saskatoons at a local farm. So the freezer is full, and I haven’t even put in the blueberries that I bought.
-Trying out various junk foods as emergency fuel for my Kelly Kettle. We had a three person panel, 4 different junk foods, a watch and a camera. We judged on how long it took to burn a kettle full of water vs. actual paltatibility. We took photos. We took notes, which became lost in transit. Sigh. Now it will all have to be redone. Preferably in someone else’s yard, as the black smoke and smell of burning plastic is something I don’t really want to let loose in the city limits. I also made a small twig stove out of a large coffee can, some wire mesh, and a coat hanger. I plan to try to cook sausage in a frying pan on it sometime soon. Hopefully I’ll have pictures.
-Hiking. The July long weekend was Aylmer Pass and the August long weekend will be Fryatt Valley. We intend on taking our bikes as far in as allowed, to speed the whole process. This time we’ll explore farther back along the upper valley, rather than peering over the cliffs into Geraldine Lakes, I think. September is Berg Lake Trail again, with a day trip to Snowbird pass. We’ll try and remember the camera this time.