Author: Keri

  • All Signs Point

    All Signs Point

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    Oh. My. Stars. My friend, Petra, invited me to go with her, her husband and her sister to Niantic for their annual pilgrimage to the 30% off book sale at the Book Barn.  So first of all: The Book Barn. My first visit to The Book Barn was with my dear friend Eggie a few…

  • The Storm Has Passed

    The Storm Has Passed

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    Well, it is January, and we had a storm. It is New England, after all, and we’ve been pretty lucky with a reasonably warm winter thus far.  I heard the total accumulation was only 18″ or something, but some of our drifts are waist-high, as you can see here: Really, it’s so pretty, that I’m…

  • Kombucha Cozies

    Kombucha Cozies

    So last night I started a 2 new batches of kombucha: one from the baby SCOBY, and one from a forming SCOBY from a GT Kombucha purchase.  This left me with the momma SCOBY, and I left her in the jar with her liquid, hoping she’ll make more babies with herself. I got to thinking: these…

  • Cayenne Pepper Sauce

    Cayenne Pepper Sauce

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    A couple weeks ago I made a good batch of pepper sauce, which we’re still working on consuming. That batch was made out from peppers we found in the reduced-price produce aisle at the grocery store. They’re tasty, but not my absolute favorite flavor. I think Justin would agree that our favorite flavor is cayenne. It’s…

  • Milk Kefir Photo Op…

    Milk Kefir Photo Op…

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    A friend of mine posted a photo of her water kefir grains that she’s brewing in a swing-top wire bale Le Parfait jar. I keep my brewed kefir in a Le Parfait jar, and it’s so meta-perfect, that I thought I’d give it an opportunity to be as sexy as storing milk kefir can be:…

  • Ginger Ale

    Ginger Ale

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    We’ve poured our first batch of ginger ale, and it’s pretty exciting.  We made the wort out of ginger & sugar, then added lemon, vanilla and ginger bug when everything cooled. Because we keep our apartment cold by American standards (60F), we kept the ale on top of the stove so it could capture a little extra…

  • Fire Cider Experiment

    Fire Cider Experiment

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      So a few months ago – or maybe even a year – there was some kind of scuffle going around the interwebz about this Fire Cider business. My favorite local herbalist was in a twist over some company trying to copyright the name “Fire Cider,” which is an herbal remedy spanning way before copyrights…

  • Pomegranate Pluckin’

    Pomegranate Pluckin’

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    I love pomegranates. I mean, I really, really love them.  A good pomegranate is tough to find until about Thanksgiving, and I can see they’re already starting to lose their vigor and it’s only early January. They are the thing that push me to enjoy the darkest days of Autumn, right into Winter. I was…

  • Hot Pepper Sauce

    Hot Pepper Sauce

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    Whenever Justin or I go grocery shopping, we always hit the “reduced produce” aisle. The best thing about the reduced produce aisle is that much of the stuff just looks bad, but isn’t. At least not yet. Tonight, they had a bunch of hot peppers that were all wrinkled and turning red (the best kind!).…

  • Ginger Bug’s A-Brewin

    Ginger Bug’s A-Brewin

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    This last six months or so, I’ve been kind of fascinated and obsessed with fermented things. It started with sourdough many years ago. It moved firmly into kefir  & sauerkraut  this fall and now into mildly alcoholic brews, namely ginger ale. Justin & I gave up commercial soda in August, but occasionally we crave a sweet…

  • Grocery Project Final Tally

    Grocery Project Final Tally

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    Went out to Baja Burrito for lunch $14.02 + $112.63 = $113.65 Whole Foods 1 gallon organic milk  $5.99 sales tax $0.00 Total $5.99   Shaws (from 9/25) 1lb regular lentils  $1.19 seltzer water  $1.19 .77lb kale  $1.15 sales tax $0.00 Total $3.61   Not Just Spices (Indian market) 4lb split red lentils (masoor dal)…

  • Suburbia, Sofritas & Grocery Project 9/27

    Suburbia, Sofritas & Grocery Project 9/27

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    I don’t like suburbia. It makes me sad with its sticky pavement under beige-and-smog backdrop. There is no joy in the suburbs, only heartache. Only traffic. Only box stores and styrofoam columns covered in a thin layer of peeling stucco. Only open- and closed-malls that carry the same things every other suburb carries: broken dreams…

  • Sept 25, Grocery Project & Grape Juice

    Sept 25, Grocery Project & Grape Juice

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    It’s been an incredibly busy week so far, but we still made time for homemade grape juice. We had a bumper crop of Concord grapes at the community garden this year, so Justin & I were able to get just enough to make about a pint of grape juice without feeling too greedy. We brought the grapes…

  • Sept 20, Grocery Project

    Sept 20, Grocery Project

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    Things are moving along smoothly as we make our transition from summer to autumn in New England. The nights and mornings are noticeably chillier; the sun is a bit weaker and sets earlier. I have started bringing my plants in as well as re-potted many indoor plants that had outgrown their homes over the summer.…

  • Sept 18, Grocery Project

    Sept 18, Grocery Project

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    Oh, what a week! We’ve got so many little projects going on, some food-related, many not. The sauerkraut is gurgling away; it has already expanded to the top of the jars. This is all pretty exciting. I’ve been brewing kefir like mad – even made some kefir cheese! I’m taking between a cup and a…