Winter is the best time of year to have furry pets - I have Wren warming my lap as I type. It is hard to be productive with 1-3 sleeping cats on or around you, but I guess it must happen.
As nice as the holiday seasons were, with the family visits and all, it's nice to be back to peace and quiet. My family visited us for Thanksgiving, and then hubby and I flew to Minnesota for Christmas with his family. It was all quite lovely (and made me wish we could move out to MN some time in the near future!).
More free time at home has meant a whole lot more kitchen adventures. Our counter has been home to countless new concoctions in recent weeks - hubby doesn't even ask anymore, ha. I tried out this
homemade root beer recipe which, despite needing a bit of sugar, actually tastes pretty good. I don't know if I would make this particular recipe again, but hubby drank it, and that is no small feat, but I think I would tweak the drink in the future. My results were not particularly fizzy, so I might try one of the bottles at room temperature for a few more days and check the results. Our house isn't particularly well insulated, so it's probably cooler than ideal temps anyways.
The groovy bottles came from
Fifth Season Gardening Co. in Charlottesville. Hubby knows that when I go to the C-ville area, I'll be coming home with lots of crazy stuff, hehe. They carry seeds from
Southern Exposure Seed Exchange, my absolute favorite seed company, as well as cheesemaking basics (didn't want to pay shipping on pounds of cheese wax!) and all kinds of home brewing necessities. I finally obtained some large glass containers, and am trying my luck at a
homegrown kombucha starter. It will hopefully soon be joining the ever-present water kefir and sourdough on the counter.
If it isn't obvious yet, I've been trying to avoid buying fruit juices. The two of us used to go through a container a week, and while I began watering them down, it seems better to generally cut them out. Thus all of the different fermented drinkables. Today I bottled the most recent attempt, an orange drink similar to the "Orangina" in Nourishing Traditions. I added sugar, which may have been what changed it up, because now I have something that tastes like a dry "orange" cider. It's also a little too salty. I wish I had the tool to measure alcohol percentage because I obviously left things fermenting longer than intended! A couple pinches of stevia and a handful of ice makes it decently enjoyable.
There is a gallon of delicious local milk in the fridge that is begging to be made into cheese, so I think I will try my hand at a washed-rind cheese, namely Reblochon. Wish me luck!
Also I have to leave on this completely unrelated holiday food note - Christmas pudding! I made one for a work holiday party, as I have been dieing to make one, and it makes enough for a small army. It turned out entirely delicious and decently brandy flavored - would totally make again, if only for the show. :)
