Author: Keri

  • Sourdough 5 for 5

    Sourdough 5 for 5

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      So my experiments have been yielding consistent and pleasing results.  The last two loaves I’ve made have weighed in at 1100g, which I think really is a good size for my glass loaf pan. I’ve graduated to using the other glass loaf pan in the oven full-time to get a GREAT rise. I’m still…

  • Sourdough Sandwich Loaf

    Sourdough Sandwich Loaf

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    Okay, so I’m feeling pretty good about this  whole sourdough exercise.  I’ve made a third loaf of sourdough using the 1-2-3 method, and it is now working almost predictably.  This time I wanted to make a sandwich loaf instead of a boule or bâtard. I wasn’t sure how much dough to mix up, so I…

  • The Feels of Springtime

    The Feels of Springtime

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    There’s, like, eight feet of snow outside. We can’t even open the back door. I’ve been digging out the back door by harvesting snow to feed my carnivorous plants (they are fickle and don’t like city water). Meanwhile, INSIDE the apartment, it’s like some kind of freakshow blooming parade! An orchid that bloomed a couple weeks…

  • Ash Wednesday & pancakes

    Ash Wednesday & pancakes

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    Scallion Pancakes for Ash Wednesday?  Awww YEAH. What more a perfect way to bring in the season than allium? They are the quintessential representative of spring.  And I happened to have some sitting in a jar that needed to be used up. Do you know what else I had to use up? That’s right: sourdough…

  • It’s still snowing, but we’ve got sourdough, so we don’t care.

    It’s still snowing, but we’ve got sourdough, so we don’t care.

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    The past few weeks have been trying, to put it kindly.  I’ve decided to stop complaining about the weather, as there’s nothing about it that can be done.  So, fine.  We’ll just do a little bit of indoor stuff, like MAKE THE MOST AWESOME FOODS. I’ve been trying to perfect my sourdough. I’ve now baked…

  • 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…