Tag: cooking

#56 – Strawberry Milk

My favorite treat as spring has spring and summer rolls on has been homemade strawberry milk! As a kid I thought this was something you made with Hershey’s Strawberry Syrup but as I began to learn more about Japan and Korea, I discovered the real strawberry milk. Strawberry milk, banana milk, etc. With real fruit flavor and I had to try it! But there is one problem, I can’t have dairy without making myself sick.

This is why my favorite strawberry treats – strawberries with whipped cream and jello pretzel salad are no longer treats I can enjoy. It’s a bummer but if I make the strawberry milk myself, I am able to enjoy it.

And so this year I find myself happily blending strawberries in a food processor. Straining the seeds with a mesh strainer and spatula over a measuring cup all for a spectactular little treat – strawberry milk!

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#28 – Banchan, Hiragana, and EuroCrash

Have you ever tasted picked daikon? It’s a delightfully vinegary and crunchy root vegetable surprise from a vegetable I’m not sure I would have tried without the pickling. Popular for both Korean banchan and Japanese cuisine – takuan. As my first canning “solo” project, I decided yes this would be a fun place to start. I thought of the stir fry, noodle, and snack opportunities!

I’m so glad Kyle bailed me out because oh my, it was a lot more work than I expected. I was fine with the mise en place. Peeling, chopping, and soaking the radish in salt to extract liquid was no big deal. I find this part of canning relaxing. Where I got in the weeds was the part that involves boiling water.

Making Pickled Daikon Radish

As a clumsy person, placing glass jars into boiling water to sanitize was daunting. The hissing cauldron of steam and water showed me its fury a few times. Once I got passed getting burned, there was the tiny detail of not breaking the jars when placed into the boiling water. Boiling lids to boot.

Now to the second part of canning, I take for granted when working with Kyle – his ability to understand pickle brines. He can find peace in the process where my head is still computing how this all works. Needless to say, I got nervous and asked him to help me with making a safe and accurate pickle brine for these picked radishes (takuan). 🌞

As I mentioned briefly in #1 – Welcome I am studying Japanese, something I plan to share more of at a later point, but with studying Japanese, canning this Japanese dish gave me the opportunity to practice writing hiragana. I chose to label the jars in Japanese to give myself the opportunity to practice not only writing the syllables of the hiragana writing system but to hopefully retain these syllables in my brain by having to read the word in Japanese. It’s a small detail, but I hope to do more in order to commit the language systems and words to heart.

Crosley: A Fine Car

We had a rather big delight dazzle our television on Thursday night – the premiere of The Grand Tour’s Eurocrash special which may be the best one they’ve made on The Grand Tour. I say that every time a new one premieres, but I don’t know, this one just hit a new stride and then topped all my expectations. It’s like the new Ateez album that was released on June 16, I was a fan and then they made the Bouncy (KHot Chilli Peppers) Music Video and I’m fangirling even harder.

I’ve watched Eurocrash twice since Thursday and I’ve laughed as much as I do when I watch Top Gear UK with Clarkson, Hammond, and May. Their creativity continues to surprise me.

I particularly enjoyed the three cars selected for this road trip through Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, and Slovenia. Richard chose the toon-town convertible truck, the Chevy SSR. It looks like something Goofy would drive around Disney World in the 1990s.

Jeremy’s Cruella De Ville car I absolutely loved because I have an affection for cars aesthetics between the 1920s-1940s cars. I love design from that time period and sometimes I wish the shift in car design into the 1950s had been pushed back for a few decades. The Mitsuoka Le Seyde reminded me of the cars in The Legend of Korra actually.

Now James’ car was a whole other ball game, it was an actual 1940s car that aside from the terrible engine seemed almost futuristic to me in that wonderfully nostalgic way of the Jetsons. I think Crosley had some good ideas with it if only the motor was made for an actual car. The hot rod with a specific slogan was their best comedy backup car to date!

I left that special feeling properly chuffed and dreaming of visiting the beautiful countries of Eastern Europe.

#19 – Canning, No Reservations, Gratitude

We had a busy weekend, many canning projects to preserve, and some errands to run. The usual weekend things. I’ve noticed the more hobbies my husband and I take on, the happier we are because there is just something enticing to us about going to bed worn out from the hard work with a smile of accomplishment on our faces. I’ve started to keep a journal of our weekends, how we did the projects, and little details that happened – like little silly things that make me smile or how we put the recipes together. Having that little record of these weekends that otherwise could be a blur of repetition and hard work makes all these moments spent with Kyle, sweeter.

Friday Sunshine

I want to remember those tiny drops of sunshine moments that make life a remarkable story. To slow down and think through those bits of joy sprinkled within the mundane and chaotic. On Friday after work, we stopped by our local Aldi to pick up potatoes and vegetables to preserve and the mushrooms we wanted were in stock and $0.99 a carton. The sun was warm, bright, and revealing the splendor of summer to come. We drove with the windows down listening to Babel by Mumford and Sons – a college throwback.

Moderngurlz posted a banger of a video about Chanel and I spent my late afternoon soaking in the sounds of nature while I wrapped up a panel of a sweater tank. In the golden hour, my next-door neighbor, a good friend texted me and I stopped by for a visit – I love those moments of fellowship and Kpop discussion. Her daughter had a fundraiser for her school and I had the opportunity to participate in what makes communities great – helping each other. That evening we watched round one of the Pro Bull Riding Tour in Everett, Washington. My favorite animal athlete Domino had a good out, and the Cowboys got a few qualified rides but mostly injuries.

Saturday Fluff

I started the day with the newest Bernadette Banner upload on corsetry and a bowl of fresh kiwi, scone, and dairy-free whipped cream. On Saturday, the weather became a whole new season. It was the misty, cool gray of an Irish day. With rain jacket in tow, we went to Walmart which is not my favorite place on a Saturday – because it seems to be everyone’s favorite place on a Saturday – it was the most happening place in town. Despite the crowd, we met the nicest employee who helped us match some paint. Well we tried to match some paint and it didn’t go as planned but those moments of searching for the right color formula for the paint shade “Reindeer Fur” while discussing the quirks of horse hair plaster were a joy. Like watching an episode of Gilmore Girls, the small-town charm peaked.

My favorite place to run an errand is the Agway store. What is Agway? A local feed supply, pet, and garden store that dots the South Western Pennsylvania landscape. It has the garden things that you actually need and knowledgable people, it has the smells from hay, to fish food, to blood meal fertilizer – the funkiest garden smell. It also has bunnies and ferrets! I used to have a pet bunny, and my friend had a pet ferret, I love small furry creatures so this place gives me all the feels. I want to adopt another bunny, yet our current rental does not allow pets so for now I soak up the small moments of bunny cuteness at the Agway. This time did not disappoint! I got to hear the bun nibble on a small snack, flop on her bed and make some teeth purr chatter as she drifted off to a nice nap. I also got to pet a ferret! The employees regularly tend to any animals they have and so while the employee was playing with one of the ferrets she called me over to give the ferret some attention. It did try to bite me but it was still cute.

Later on, the day was a symphony of potato peels, random snacks, canning jars, and episodes of No Reservations. The Ozarks and Heartland episodes. Recently, Domino’s opened a store in my town, one of the only delivery places I can eat at since I have a dairy/beef intolerance. My food of choice is Mango Habanero Wings. Not having to cook was a delight but then our delivery driver showed up in a sweet street-style look with bright orange sneakers and a black and white camo coat. The fashion scene around here is pretty dull, so seeing anyone mix it up gives me a small delight. In the late hours of canning, we caught a live show on Sirius XM The Message from Blessing Offor. His music is uplifting and soulful. Highly recommend checking him out. With a cup of Chamomille tea in hand, the night ended with a Simple Living Alaska video. A great way to end a long day of hard work.

Sunday Steam

A dish I make a lot is Miso Soup, a dish you need a good broth to layer as the base. A pantry staple Kyle and I have wanted to learn is the art of crafting a layered, umami-bomb-style, broth. I’m happy to say, it turned out well! Adding another table to our canning setup made the difference, there was so much counter space this time. We spent the day chopping, stirring, and managing the steam emanating from the kitchen.

I leveled up in my piano lesson book to Unit Five. The short round of the PBR was theatrical to the end. I sewed my sweater tank together and began the final panel. We watched a mix of No Reservations and Hometown. I dreamed of wallpapering a future historical house like Erin and maybe visiting Africa one day, while taking in Anthony Bourdain’s travels through Namibia and Ghana. At the end of the day, I reveled in a bowl of noodles with fresh broth and tried to not think of The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova as we enjoyed the Romania episode of No Reservations. T’was a good weekend.

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