a new kitchen project

I got myself a new project - some water kefir granules. What fun! I started them in a solution of sucanat & banana slices (which produced a beverage reminiscent of kombucha) then I moved them into some slightly diluted concorde grape juice and yowza! They like it in there!!! I left them in a little too long and it went a little boozy, but it's still pretty tasty.

My challenge now is to find a sealable, strong container for brewing this so I can get the carbonation to stay in the drink.

In other news, Stirling found a great site with tons of good curry recipes. He made rogan josh, and it was GREAT. Even better was two days later, when all the lamb bits were gone but the sauce remained... I poached eggs in the sauce and we had them for dinner. Really, you have not lived until you have experienced the joy that is poached eggs in curry sauce. It's the easiest dinner on the planet to make (heat curry sauce. crack eggs into sauce. simmer until done.), it's thoroughly nutritious (when served on brown rice) and it's delicious. Rowan gave it her vote of approval by gobbling everything in front of her and then wanting some of Daddy's seconds!

down with talking animals!!!

Somebody posted a poll on MDC about whether kids' TV shows should show eating meat, because some people find it offensive. The issue was brought up when the pollster noticed a rabbit eating ham on one of her kid's shows.

Fortunately, few people are in favour of banning meat eating on TV. Here's what I wrote:

I WANT my children to see meat eating on TV. What bothers me more is anthropomorphized animals. IMO, I think children are SO bombarded with media animals that act human that they do not know how to think about animals as animals. This can lead to some trauma when they start to realize where food comes from (for non-vegetarians), and you end up with adults who, if they eat meat at all, don't want to think about where it comes from - they prefer their meat on a styrofoam board covered in plastic wrap. It's this disconnect between the REALITY of animals and meat consumption that facilitates the hold of big agribusiness on our food production systems and the pervasive and largely unnoticed cruelty to animals in confinement operations. People just don't want to THINK about where their meat comes from because they would rather think of animals as cute little talking things that wear clothes and eat ham (which comes from the grocery store, not a pig of course.) If they don't think about where food comes from, they can't get angry about it, and if they can't get angry about it, nobody will do anything.

I'm going to start a campaign for REAL animals I think. Like the campaign for real ale or the campaign for real milk. REAL bunnies don't eat ham. Down with anthropomorphism!!!

sauerkraut success!!!

My sauerkraut worked really well. So easy! Shred cabbage, toss with salt, pack in jar, stick in pantry for a week or two. Result: delicious crunchy sauerkraut. Must eat more sausages...

I've got some mead on the go now. It's almost ready to go into a bottle to ferment away for a few weeks.

Next project: dilled beets. I think that would be tasty.