Product Review: Snowdrift Cider

Don't really consider this a review, more of a way to point out something you might be interested in checking out.  To be fair, my parents actually were the ones that pointed this out to us, and mostly because they know LJ's love of hard cider after LJ lived with them for three months last spring.

My parents took us to the Snowdrift Cider tasting room (which is also their brewing and bottling area, which is just a nice big shop on their apple orchard) when we visited them a few weekends ago.  The employees couldn't have been nicer even though we were intruding on their family cider pressing weekend.  We got an excellent tour and a ton of knowledge about the cider making process.  For example, cider apples are different than "dessert" or "table" apples, and cider apples are quite bitter in comparison to what you are use to eating.  Also, during prohibition cider apple trees were virtually eliminated from the U.S. because they no longer served any purpose.

Some how LJ and my mom convinced Pa to purchase a whole case.  Laura and I split a bottle with dinner a few nights ago and found it to be wonderful.

If you do go for a visit make sure to have a map or GPS.  There aren't a lot of signs yet and it is a bit off the beaten path.  For a much better review check out this.

Whirlwind Wedding Weekend

This weekend marked the end of a pretty busy, driving-filled October for the House Husband and me. To summarize, we drove to my parent's orchard for a cider pressing party, then to Wenatchee so I could present my graduate research poster at a convention, and then to Spokane for a wedding, all on three different weekends. Our odometer has racked up an unusually high number of miles recently. However, I did manage to squeeze in quite a bit of sewing this month too.

As HH previously mentioned, I made him another pair of wool pants using the pattern I had previously made from his old, worn out pair of jeans. I never intended for them to be "nice" pants, but since he has worn them to a job interview and a wedding, I suppose they now fall under that category. I need to take up the hem a little bit because they are a wee bit too long I don't want them to get worn out too quickly, which is a real possibility considering that HH will probably wear them for the next 10 days straight.

Fortunately I also had some time to sew myself dress to wear to the wedding. A very large piece of taffeta-like fabric had been hiding in my stash for some time, and this was the perfect opportunity to use it up. I decided to make a full circle skirt since I had so much fabric to work with and since I had been wanting to try the style for some time anyway. I made the bodice out of a self-drafted pattern and added lots of topstitching for some visual interest. This was a risky venture since I am not a particularly precise topstitcher, but I think it turned out just fine anyway.


This was also my first experience inserting an invisible zipper, which I completed with the help of my new invisible zipper foot and a tutorial in Threads magazine. I am very pleased with how the zipper turned out, so I think I will be adding some invisible zippers to my stash in the near future.


Here we are together wearing our homemade clothes. From afar you can't really see the detail on my dress, but I sure do like the way the skirt looks! It would look more dramatic if I was wearing a crinoline underneath, but I haven't managed to make myself one yet. Oh, I also found a method for curling my thin, limp hair that actually works. It was even still a little curly the next day, which is amazing considering my hair has never really held a curl for more than an hour at a time. That is, since I stopped getting perms back in the '90s.

Also, congrats to Katie and Andy on their nuptials. We really enjoyed ourselves at the wedding!

A tradition unlike any other: Popcorn

With all my spare time I have been doing some recreational reading and recently came across Michael Perry's books.  He is an excellent storyteller and writes about his life growing up in, and now as an adult who has returned to, rural Wisconsin.

One family tradition he described in great detail was about his mother popping corn in a giant kettle on the stove every Sunday night.  It reminded me of something I'd nearly forgotten.  My family also use to often make a giant bowl of popcorn on Sunday evenings.  I think I remember the general explanation being that it was a way to reduce the amount of work that was done on a holy day.

Now LJ and I don't keep this ritual religiously (maybe because we identify mostly as agnostics), but we do find ourselves often with a bowl of popcorn, pieces of an apple, and slices of cheese as our Sunday supper.  It seems like a nice way to get extra relaxed before a new week (though really all days seems to run together when you are a house husband like me).

Delicata Winter Squash

Another advantage of volunteering on an organic farm, other than the occasional free vegetable that ends up in my bag, is being exposed to new foods.  We have recently been harvesting winter squash and a few people on the farm have been raving about an heirloom variety called Delicata.  I bought one from the farm to see what all the fuss was about and was not disappointed.

I took off the top and bottom of the squash and the sliced it length wise (hotdog style).  I placed it cut side down on a baking sheet and cooked for half an hour in a 350 degree oven.  When it came out I put a little butter and salt on it and that was it.  The skin is so thin (hence the name I think) that you can cut it with a fork and eat the whole thing.  If I can get my hands on another I may do the same thing and then sprinkle it with some brown sugar, broil it for a few minutes, and have it for dessert.

Lamb Curry

I'm a little ashamed to post this because most of the work is done by the ingredients of a magic little box, but the results are excellent so it is worth passing along.  You can find the magic little box that is pictured below in most large grocery stores in the Asian or ethnic food aisle.  A single box runs around five dollars, but it makes a lot of food so don't worry.

The back and side of the box provide all the instructions you will need but it is a pretty flexible recipe.  In the past I've used garbanzo beans instead of meat to go completely vegetarian even and it was delicious.  This time around I included potatoes and carrots from the farm, along with some lamb (from the sweet hook up from LJ's parents).

After slicing the onions thinly and chopping the lamb in to small chunks I cooked them until the onions were beginning to brown.

I then added the rest of the veggies, two and half cups of water, covered, and simmered for about twenty minutes until the potatoes and carrots were soft.

Once the veggies were soft, I added the contents of magic box to the pan and stirred it for about five minutes until it had dissolved and thickened in to a sauce.

We eat it over rice with some sriracha and pack up the extras for leftover lunches.

Potato Leek Soup

I really, truly, dislike cold weather.  It could mostly be my dislike of the electric company and their crazy winter bills because I don't remember feeling this way when I was growing up in a house where my parents didn't mind turning on the heat.  However, one advantage of being cold, other than being able to wear my wool clothes, is having the desire to make soup.

Since I've been volunteering on the farm, I occasionally get my hands on some vegetables that aren't quite market quality and would be heading to the local food bank instead.  I was quite excited to get the two main ingredients for potato leek soup from the farm.  I just needed to pull a small package of bacon out of the freezer (LJ's parents hooked us up with some pork and lamb from animals they bought from 4-H kids at the local fair.  Seems like an excellent way to eat local and support kids) and was ready to go.

I had never worked with leeks before but they are just a tubular, mild, onion.  I cut off the roots and the green part of the stem, sliced it in half, and chopped it in to fine half circles.  I then threw them in a bowl with some cold water to let any dirt settle out. (When leeks grow it is pretty easy for dirt to get in the leaves and down in to the stem, which I guess is the disadvantage of a tubular onion.)

Most of the potatoes were small, which is why they were heading to the food bank instead of market, so I only needed to half or quarter them.  I then fried up the bacon in the bottom of my soup pot.

Once the bacon was crisp I added some butter (everything is better with bacon and butter), strained off the leeks, and added them to the pot.  While the leeks cooked I added some pepper, thyme and a couple of bay leaves.  I then added half a cup of white wine and used it to loosen up all the flavor bits that were browned on the bottom of the pan.  After that I added four cups of chicken stock, the potatoes, and simmered for about half an hour until the potatoes were soft.

At this point you could pull out the bay leaves and be done, but I have a kitchen gadget that I use any chance I get.  Originally when I bought it I thought it was a mistake and was having buyers remorse because it seemed like something that may just sit in the cupboard (like my mandolin).  However, it has been the perfect tool for soups as well as fruit jams and butters.  I, of course, am talking about my immersion blender.

 After blending the soup I added half a cup of half & half, seasoned to taste, and snipped some fresh chives on the top of each bowl.

We've already made this twice and my advice would be to use Russet potatoes, if you can, and chicken stock out of the box instead of chicken broth out of the can.  These are both things I should have known already but was reminded the second time I made the soup and it didn't quite reach the high bar that the first batch set.

Fried Green Tomatoes

I've been volunteering at Left Foot Organics for the last few months while I look for a job in the greater Olympia area.  They work with low income youth and developmentally disabled members of the community by providing work and leadership opportunities.  It is a pretty cool organization and it has been a nice way to keep from going stir crazy while LJ is at work.

A few weeks back we had a lunch party at the farm for one of the employees last day.  Someone made fried green tomatoes from the farm and having never lived outside of Washington it was my first experience with them.  They are tough to describe but if I had to try I would go with "deliciously tangy."  They are also incredibly easy to make.

Only five ingredients and I probably could have done without the half and half but since I had it around anyway I figured it couldn't hurt to include it.

I sliced the tomatoes, trying to keep them somewhere between a quarter and half inch thick.  After slicing I sprinkled salt on each side of the tomato and set them on top of a paper towel to draw out some of the moisture.

I mixed the flour and cornmeal in one dish and the egg and half & half in another.  I first dipped a slice into the egg and then into the flour.  I'm a master batterer (sp?) from my time working at Skipper's in high school but if you've never done it the key is to use one hand while working in the wet dish and the other hand for the dry dish.

I dropped the slices in to my trusty cast iron skillet which had about a quarter inch of oil in it.  When I fry vegetables (my favorite way to eat them) I find keeping the heat on medium does the job perfectly.  Frying zucchini in this fashion as well is a wonderful way to get through the summer bounty that always comes.

I sprinkled these with a little bit of salt after resting them on a paper towel to drain.  They were such a treat that I'm already on the lookout for where I can find a few more before all the plants freeze.

Sewing Preview

LJ isn't quite ready to write a post so I thought I would provide this preview of what you can expect.  On Sunday she whipped up these sweet wool pants for me.  She locked herself in the sewing room and by the end of the evening she appeared with these for me to try on.

The shirt I'm wearing in the picture is one of her previous creations as well. It is referred to as the house jacket since it is made out of thick Pendleton wool and is often needed in the winter when I am reluctant to turn on the heat.

The pants are lined so they feel like wearing pajamas even though they look like dress pants (I think someone already beat us to marketing this idea).  I wore them to a job interview yesterday and am hoping to wear them to a wedding we are attending this weekend as well.

One time when I thought I might die: Pickled Peppers

I found myself laying on the bathroom floor in only my underwear.  My head was soaked with sweat like I had run a five mile race in the middle of July even though the temperature in the apartment was under 60.  I had stripped off my wool pants, sweatshirt, and shirt on the way to the bathroom in attempt to cool down.  I had violently vomited in an attempt to remove the poison from my body and now was laying on the cold floor wondering if I would need to call 911.  So ended my first foray in to pickling peppers.

When LJ and I visited my parents over the weekend my mom was in the last throws of cleaning out her garden before it succumbed to the inevitable frost.  The kitchen counter was piled with green tomatoes and the freezer was full of bagged raspberries.  My mom came in the house with an uprooted pepper plant that was full with peppers and asked if I would like any.  She ended up bagging nearly thirty jalapenos for me so I had to figure out a way to preserve them.

When we returned home on Sunday I searched my favorite food and canning blogs and settled on Unfancy pickled jalapeno pepper from Food in Jars.  I liked it because it was simple and something I could use in tacos, soups, and chilis throughout the winter along with giving a jar to my dad who loves both peppers and anything pickled.

I took extra safety precautions by purchasing latex gloves for the slicing of the peppers.  I never wear gloves when I make salsa but I figured since I would be handling so many peppers it would be the smart thing to do.  Plus the last times I made salsa I ended up touching myself in a very sensitive area and I had a burning sensation for the rest of the evening.  I didn’t go to the doctor though because I was afraid she wouldn’t believe me and make be take a battery of STD tests.

After cold packing the sliced peppers in to half pint jars, I poured in the simple brine solution.  I tapped the jars on the counter a number of times and used a chopstick to remove as many air bubbles as possible.  A few pepper slices floated to the top so I pulled them out, secured the warmed lids on the jars, and processed in a hot water bath.

While the pickles were processing I tried one of the floating slices I had pulled from the jar.  The hot brine had cooked it but there was still some crunch in the slice.  The brine provided some salt and sour flavor but it had remained spicy, and with a little bit of a bite, but I ate the first slice without feeling too much.  The real trouble began as I was swallowing slice number two.

My mouth started to burn and I began to have the hiccups, which are both normal reactions for me when I have something a little too spicy.  I suffered as I cleaned up the kitchen and waited for the jars to finish their bath.  By the time I pulled the jars out of the bath and set them on a towel to cool I was starting to sweat, was having trouble breathing, and my chest was so tight that I was afraid I might be having a heart attack.  I took off my sweatshirt while walking to the bathroom and by the time I arrived my hair was soaked with sweat.  I could feel beads on my forehead and neck.  I took off my wool pants and socks as I felt my stomach start to turn.

I am a violent vomitter.  The first time I got sick after LJ and I were living together she was scared I might be in real trouble, instead of realizing I just had one too many beers (which is usually somewhere around beer three for me).  I learned when I was young that vomiting usually makes me feel better, so I go at it with full force and vigor.

After cooling down on the bathroom floor in nothing but my boxer briefs for what must have been a quarter hour, I retraced my steps to retrieve my clothes.  Now I’m a little worried about giving away any of the jars but I’m not sure how I can convince myself to use them.