Tastebuds Junior

Yesterday afternoon was our first tastebuds dinner club of the year.  We are beginning our fifth year of adventures in food and friendship and we have lots of plans going forward.  For starters as the kids are getting older, several of them are interested in participating in the food decisions and preparation.  Since we need to plan out the logistics of two sets of cooking, we had a couple of the oldest kids get a taste of it by preparing their dessert.

Sidney and Sam agreed on brownies as the dessert but Sid did not want to use my trusted recipe.  Instead, she went on to pinterest to find the most chocolatey one that she could.  We started about an hour early so the kids could get their cooking done first.  Sidney's only concern about cooking with the kids as a group was that all of them must wash their hands.  As you can see, she enforced that with her brother when he decided to join in.

 I asked if they wanted help, but they thought they could manage without me..sniff, sniff.  As I took pictures, I did interject a few tips that were taken without preteen eye-rolling in good spirit.

They ended up not only with brownies, but a grenache topping that was to die for. A beautiful first attempt, and a great precedent for moving forward into a new era, creating the next generation of tastebuds.  What a pleasure for us parents who so love the art of slow food to have our kids wanting to be part of it!

As for the adults, we chose Alice Waters as our chef inspiration.  Her food was delightfully clean and the recipes simple using few ingredients but exacting the most flavor from them.   As always, we began our new year with Julia's cheese souffle because after all it was she who began this journey for us.

The Up-Cycled Bottle

Over the last couple of weeks B has been experimenting with converting cool beer and wine bottles into drinking glasses and vases.  There are lots of tutorials on You Tube and Pinterest, but what we have found is that no one way seems to work consistently, and many of the suggested methods we could not get to work at all.  I am sure that there is much variation depending on thickness and type of bottle.  What follows here is a method that we have found works for us.

 To begin with B fashioned a homemade glass cutter.  It was really quite simple finding some scrap pieces in the barn, and then attaching a blade.  Using the vice grips to hold the blade in place allows us to adjust the width depending on the bottle size.

 Once he places the bottle on the cutter, he turns the bottle 8-10 times  in order to score the complete circumference where he wants the bottle to break.

Then comes the tricky part, and one that he tried a number of methods on, getting the bottle to break clean.  Take a lighter and gently heat the scored line in one or two areas.  You should hear a subtle pop where that glass expands and then with a gentle tap the rest should break away.  This process should not take too long, if you find that you are holding the lighter against an area for more than about 10 seconds, move it to another area.  If the glass gets too hot in one spot it tends to weaken and then crack down the bottle.

Once successfully broken, you need to do something with the sharp edge.  At this point use a super fine (400) wet or dry sandpaper.  Pour a little water on it and then buff the edge until it is smooth.  If the glass broke with  some divots it may take a little elbow grease to get all of the nooks and crannies, but it is well worth it.

What remains is a cool vase for fresh cut flowers, or a fun drinking glass and conversation piece for your next get together.

Random 5 Friday

1.  When I went out to take pictures of the ice on Lake Michigan earlier this week, I captured this little guy dancing.  It is amazing how calm and smooth the lake was that day!

2.  28 degrees has never felt so good.  Nuff said.

3.  We managed to get a big chunk of the basement cleaned out last weekend, it is amazing how much accumulates over time.  It was like a walk down a memory lane of old kids crafts and garden start remnants.

4. Our chickens are really troopers, perfectly content with their heat lamps in this weeks cold.  Interesting fact...when eggs freeze in record overnight lows, they crack and split.

5.  Speaking of eggshells, we have been saving all of our egg shells to crush and use in next years garden.  This morning I came across an interesting article on re-purposing dried crushed egg shells and using them instead of oyster shell. It is supposed to be just as good and also act as a deterrent for any egg eaters.  Have you tried this??

Happy  Weekend!

Participating in:
 

Fast & Easy Cold Weather Comfort Food

What to do when the weather is bitter and the kids Christmas break is extended by a couple of days?  It takes a village for moms to entertain stir crazy kids who can not go out to play in the snow.  On Monday, I had a couple of friends and their kids over for lunch and more importantly mental health play time for the moms and kids alike.  As an illustration of just how cold it has been, one of my friends provided a loaf of crusty bread to go with the soup.  It sat in her car for 10 minutes and when she handed it to me it had frozen solid!  Talk about flash freezing!

Since I was working in the morning, I made creamy tomato soup on Sunday, and then just added the finishing touches when it was served on Monday afternoon.  I spent some time on pinterest and found a couple of recipes but, ultimately, this one came from what I had in hand and what sounded good.  I must say, it is a keeper!

Creamy Tomato Bisque

Ingredients:
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1/2 Lg onion, finely diced
3 Cloves prepared garlic (if using raw, I'd use 1 Lg clove)
1 C. prosecco
1 C. water
1 Qt. canned tomatoes (I used our roasted ones, if you have time to roast them first it really adds!)
2 C. heavy cream
1 Tbsp. honey
salt and pepper to taste
pesto

Directions:
 In a dutch oven heat olive oil, and saute onion until soft.  Add garlic and cook until aromatic.  Then splash in the prosecco and water and cook until reduced by 1/3 to 1/2.  Add tomatoes and heavy cream and blend with an immersion blender.  Once smooth (or desired consistency), add salt and pepper to taste and stir in honey.  Simmer until ready to eat, or refrigerate for re-heating.  When serving add a dollop of your favorite pesto to the center and serve with crusty bread.

Suspended Animation

Lake Michigan is as smooth as glass today, as calm as I have ever seen it.  The magnificence of the much frozen expanse is a sight.  The ice leaves you with a feeling that everything is in suspended animation.

Moments that show how ferociously the wind and waves could batter the shores and man made objects and then leave behind a little calling card.  A reminder maybe, that something as big as mother nature is not to be taken lightly.

And that something with such capabilities of destruction can also encapsulate the world in a veil of beauty.  That nudge reminding us of the splendor that is ours to take care of.