Creaky Cogs

Saturday, December 12, 2015

Start breaking those resolutions NOW

No, seriously.

I feel we do ourselves a great disservice by making New Years Resolutions.
Just when we're stuffed to the gills with food and drink, satiated with presents and songs, then January comes.
And.
Nothing.

Yes, from January to April there is a huge hole in the calendar. (Unless you get sucked into Valentines Day, which I do not.)

How can your best intentions survive when you are faced with NOTHING.

Best to make your resolutions before Christmas. I Will Eat Healthy.
Then break them to bits. - Attend every Christmas Party and Cookie Exchange on the calendar.
Now that you've gotten the worst bit - failure - over with, now you can start again in January, all relaxed. You've already blown it, so you can take this round easier. Make better choices. Enjoy your successes without guilt.

I'm making my resolutions now.

1) Write every day.
2) Eat simply
3) Walk, even if it's raining
4) Smile at everyone

I'm hoping that I'll get at least one of the four right and keep it right.

Happy Resolving!

Thursday, November 8, 2012

Spices in Food Storage

November 8th rolled around today and I had not received one email in reply to my question on how people like to use spices in their food storage. I was pretty bummed. My sister Holly tried to make me feel better by saying, "Don't sweat it, nobody obsesses about spices the way you do."

I appreciated the try, Holly, but I don't believe you. OK, yes, I do obsess. But I believe people enjoy a delicious well spiced dish and are concerned about what their food will taste like when they are reduced to eating only food storage.

I'd decided to just write up what I had on spices when we stopped in on Debra T. for Visiting Teaching and she offered up her wisdom on spices. I felt so much better! Thanks Debra!

So... here goes with Spices:

Whole spices will last from 2 to 5 years on your shelves, where ground spices only last 1 to 2 years, so it's worth your while to buy spices whole and grind or mash them yourself. Of course each spice is different - a whole nutmeg can be good for decades where dried parsley is disgusting after two months. Use your best judgement. (Debra freezes her extra ground spices.)

I like to buy my spices at the Indian grocery stores around town. They know their spices and the prices are much less expensive than what you'd find in the regular grocers or spice shops. The turn over is usually good so you'll get fresh spices.

Debra gets her spices at Cash and Carry. Good prices and brand names, plus a nice selection in large plastic jars of both ground and whole spices.

Costco is also a good place to find spices in large size containers but their selection is limited so keep checking to see when different types of spices appear. They also package in plastic.

Winco has bulk spices at very nice prices as well as many interesting spice mixes and dry rubs. However, most of their spices are ground. Their stick cinnamon is probably cassia, not cinnamon, but an excellent price and fine for use especially in liquids. They also sell small glass bottles and large plastic bottles with good lids. While you're there check their Latino section. There is another spice rack hidden on that aisle with spices sold in small plastic sleeves. It's also a good place to get your whole dried chilis.

If you want to go a bit crazy stop into Penzeys Spices in the Beaverton Town Center. They have a fabulous selection and samples of everything for you to smell. I love the way they run their company so often I'll buy something from them even thought it's far more expensive than I can get elsewhere. You might just stop in and browse the shelves to get ideas. They have free catalogs with lots of recipes. Or you can browse their list online. http://www.penzeys.com/cgi-bin/penzeys/c-SpicesAs_Herbs_and_Seasonings.html

There are several other spice shops in downtown Portland with fabulous selections. They all tend to be quite pricey but worth it for browsing and making your lists of "must haves" and "oh do I wish" lists.

My "Go To" Spice List

These are the spices I wouldn't want to be without. Your list will vary but hopefully this will get you started thinking about what you do and don't have:

Whole spices

Savory

Caraway seed
Cumin seed
Mustard seeds (black and yellow)
Peppercorns (white and black)

Sweet

Cardamon (black and green, I prefer green in the pod)
Cinnamon Sticks
Cloves
Coriander
Crystallized Ginger
Nutmeg
Star Anise

Ground Spices and Herbs

Savory

Bouquet Garni
Chili powder (your choice of heat from cayenne to ghost chilis. I like Aleppo or Chipotle.)
Dill
Herbs de Provence
Oregano
Poppy Seeds
Rosemary
Sage
Smoked Hungarian Paprika
Smoked Salt
Thyme

Sweet

Ground Allspice
Ground Ginger
Ground Mace
Lemon, Lime Powder

Some things I left off my list but that many people like

A few of these I refuse to eat dried (cilantro leaf, lemon grass, basil and parsley), some are just redundant (Turmeric, really? who needs it??), some that are too expensive and some I don't care for. However, maybe you'll like something you see here.

Aniseed
Basil
Bay leaves
Cilantro Leaf
Curry Powder
Garlic powder
Lemon Grass
Marjoram
Mustard powder
Parsley
Onion powder
Saffron
Savory
Tarragon
Turmeric

Interesting spices you might try

Sumac - a Middle Eastern spice with a mild lemony flavor. (Related to poison ivy!! but yummy.)
Nigella - a small black oniony flavored seed. You'll find it topping many Jewish breads.
Machalepi - a rose scented Greek spices for breads and pastries. Quite hard to find, but available in Portland!
Fenugreek - great in currys, chutneys and with meats.

Containers

Hands down, glass is best. Plastics are of course convenient, especially when the spices come packaged in them, but be sure to check the recycling code on the bottom. If it's a code 1 or a code 7 you'll not want to keep the spices in the bottle long term.

http://www.ehow.com/how_5004337_identify-good-bad-plastic-bottles.html

I like using small wide mouth mason jars to store my spices, but I've lately started collecting all the used Starbucks Frappuccino bottles at work. Sterilize those puppies and you've got 9 and 13 ounce spice bottles that look like the old fashioned milk bottles and have a good seal on them.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Repurposed-Etched-Glass-Spice-Jars/

Remember light, heat and air are your spices worst enemies, so avoid pop top lids and shakers which let in far too much air. Go for screw on lids where possible. If this isn't an option consider using plastic film to seal the jars over the lids (then just whip it off when you need to dig in). It's not perfect, but better than nothing.

Other tools

While the holiday sales are on, be on the look out for a small electric coffee grinder. You ask, what would a good little Mormon girl need a coffee grinder for? Yup, grinding those spices! You can buy used coffee grinders at garage sales and thrift stores, but I find that once coffee has been ground I can't get the taste out, yuck! So I suggest buying one new.

Mortar and pestles can be found at most kitchen ware stores now. I've even seen them at Target and there's a great selection on Amazon. These are good finds at thrift stores as they can be cleaned and sterilized easily.

Nutmeg grater. No home should be without one. (At least if you have any Scandinavian or Celtic blood in your veins.)

Microplanes can be good for dealing with very small quantities of the larger spices like star anise, crystallized nutmeg or stick cinnamon, just watch those finger tips!

A few more spice tips

I happen to know that Theresia uses bay leaves to keep pantry moths out of her flour.
You can make a nice cinnamon-honey facial masque for oily skin. (Don't leave it on too long because the cinnamon can be strong and give you a sunburn like redness.)
Cloves, Mace and Cinnamon have been used for hundreds of years to repel moths in clothes. (Moth balls are just yucky.)
I know this is preaching to the choir, but let's say it out loud - never ever ever measure your spices over a steaming pot or above the stove. Keep the jar away from heat and moisture at all costs.
Paint the outsides of glass jars and bottles with non-toxic paint to block out the light.

Wheeew! Thanks for staying with me!

I hope you'll find something here of help to you as you fill out the Spice section of your Food Storage.

Heather

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Woohoo! Sabbatical!

When I left the office today I started my Sabbatical!

Two whole months of doing ... well, anything I darn well please.

I'm going to start by sleeping in tomorrow. Yumm... sleeeeeep!

But not too late. Don't want to waste the day.

We'll head out somewhere for a nice late morning breakfast (pancakes? waffles?), then down to Lake Oswego for some leisurely Deseret Book shopping and a walk around the Temple before heading home.

What to do in the evening? My NEST thermostat arrived today, so I guess we'll turn off the electricity and wire her up!

After that I suppose I should knuckle down and get started packing for my big trip.

Ah, the joys of free time.

Monday, September 19, 2011

FIDDLESTICKS! I missed the Bead Soup Reveal!

Dang it! I thought I had everything so well planned. :(

This past week I've been gone and for a wonderful reason. At long last we took our parents on a well deserved Anniversary cruise to Alaska! It was fantastic being there with family, even though it rained a lot. There will be pictures to follow (beware).

I knew that the Bead Soup Reveal Day would fall while I was on the ship, so I set everything up to automatically publish on Friday night. Problem is… it didn't.

Today I finally got back on the computer and the first thing I saw as a note from the lovely Bead Soup party coordinator threatening to blackball me for not posting my pictures. (I guess I can't blame her, she's worked so hard on this.) Then I saw a note from my wonderful Bead Soup partner who was worried whether I was alive or not.

I feel like a heel. My apologies to one and all.

So, without further ado, I present My Bead Soup Project!

*************************

Can you believe time has flown? It seems like only yesterday that we were assigned partners and my beads showed up in the mail.

I finally decided to use the pink and blue bead collection. If you read my post when the beads arrived you'll see that my partner, Terry Carter, very kindly sent me two sets of beads. It was hard to chose which to use, but I kept imagining a lovely Victorian setting with drippy tea stained lace and lavender ribbons intertwined with the beads. The focal piece would be offset and feature a large lavender ribbon bow… yes, the plans kept running through my head.

Problem was, I couldn't quite make it work.

The focal piece was just too heavy to stay where I wanted it (on the collarbone at the left side) and kept sliding down to the middle. The ribbons where gorgeous, but too thick to string beads on, so I tried beading them but that just didn't look right.

Finally, in despair I called out the cavalry. In this case, my sister Holly.

You should know that Holly is the crafty/talented one in the family. She spins her own yard, knits, crochets, beads… everything.

Holly came in to see what I was doing and just shook her head. What I had in mind would never work. But… ta da! She'd just finished crocheting some lovely black lace that would look great with the colors of the beads and the focal. And if we got rid of the ribbon, and restrung the beads….

Two hours later, and here is the masterpiece. I have to admit flat out that it isn't my work. This is all my sister's inspiration but I love it and don't want to change it. I hope you like it also. It's no longer Victorian, but it's oh so fun.

Drum Roll....

The picture, sadly, does not do it justice. The beads are very pretty lavender, pink and several shades of blue. The lace also doesn't show up well but Holly did a great job on it.

Thanks Terry, for the lovely beads!

I enjoyed being part of Bead Soup this year

To see Terry Carter's (my partner) creationa, go here.
They are amazing!

http://tappingflamingo.blogspot.com/2011/09/caribbean-seas.html

To see the rest of the Bead Soup projects go here:

The Hostess, Lori Anderson and her partner, Manuela Wutschke

1. Aimee Wheaton and Barbara York

2. Alice Craddick and Sandra Richardson

3. Alison Sachs and Amy Severino

4. Allison Scott and Cynthia Abner

5. Amanda Cargill Austin and Charlene Sevier

6. Amanda Davie and Patsy Evins

7. Amber Dawn and Kim Ballor