winter jewels

the weekend was devoted yeast breads and pomegranates. saturday i made a crusty dutch-oven loaf and a bunch of mini pizzas for dinner, then sunday i woke up and started seeding pomegranates.



didn't stop until the afternoon. faced with the rare event of pomegranate surplus, i decided to make juice, then pomegranate molasses from the juice. i know of at least one recipe that calls for it-- a lovely roasted red pepper walnut dip i attempted to mimic from monica pope's restaurant in houston. it's one of those pricey, seldom-used ingredients that i knew would be fun to make from scratch.

here are a few things i learned:

1. the best tool for juicing the pomegranate seeds in my kitchen is the food mill, with the finest mesh disc. someone on the internet suggested an old fashioned, press-style citrus juicer, which i have, so i tried it. it didn't work. and i really wanted it to work, because i did not want to separate out all those seeds from all those pomegranates. but that is what i, in fact, ended up doing. i'll be dreaming pomegranate seeds.  then we tried the victorio strainer.



works great for applesauce. not so great on pomegranates. i think i might need a grape spiral insert or something, cuz the seeds ended up jamming the mechanism. then we tried the food mill. bam! worked like a charm. since a little of the pulp does get through, i strained it again through some cheese cloth. of course, if you have a juicer, that might be the best option. i don't.

2. it takes about 6 pomegranates to make 1 quart of juice.



3. once your child lays eyes on a bowl full of those sparkling red jewels, freed from their restrictive membranes, pomegranates will become his absolute favorite fruit, and he will want nothing else in the world but pomegranate seeds. thus, you will most likely need more that 6 pomegranates if you plan on making a quart of juice in the presence of a child. 



4. it takes about 3 hours to cook one quart of juice down to 1 cup of pomegranate molasses. not the measly 70 minutes Alton Brown suggests. but it's worth it. this tangy ruby red reduction is to-die-for. color me very pleased.  color my kitchen bright red and sticky.

winter is for winter

it's safe to say that one of my pet peeves is people complaining about winter weather. especially in, well, winter! if it's spring, and you're getting winter weather, okay...i can see how that's disappointing. but in january? and february? in the midwest? it. is. winter.
and i, for one, want winter weather in wintertime.



i grew up in southern california, in the san bernardino valley. not even once, in the 12 years that i lived there, did it snow in my town. the white capped mountains towered over us all winter, and if we were lucky, once the roads were cleared, we might get to take a drive into the mountains, to play in the snow. but i didn't see snow falling from the sky until i was thirteen years old, and we had moved to the midwest. the first time i witnessed it, i was standing in an old, 3 story brick school house, looking out from large, wood-framed, double hung windows (the kind that operate on those sash cords). i remarked that it looked like angels were having a pillow fight.
as an adult, i happily spent a year in fargo, and lived many other places with proper winters.

then, there were those 7 years i spent in sub-tropical houston. while it was an intellectually, artistically, politically and socially exciting time in my life, i never appreciated the weather. there were about 2 months of the year when the air wasn't hot, thick, sticky and stifling.



i am the sort of person who needs four distinct seasons. there is something comforting, and ordering about that pattern for me. waiting for the last frost date to pass, before planting certain crops, is an exercise in patience and planning. those first crisp days in october, when the leaves begin to change, are a welcome relief from a sweltering summer. snow covered fields, and ice encrusted branches are visual delights that i relish. i like having routines disrupted by blizzards. keeps us in our place.



i enjoy the change in family life, too. finding things to do in the colder months can be challenging. but, we have those seasonal holidays to occupy us, and valentine crafting for 30 kids takes up a lot of time!



sledding, and snowball fights are always welcome outdoor activities. on christmas day, we took cosmo's new arrowcopter toys out to the park, and chased them down in the snow.



this doesn't mean that i don't look forward spring. i do. i have already begun sowing seeds down in the basement, under a grow light. by mid march, i'll be antsy to get out there and put my hands in the dirt.



a long cold winter makes the first signs of spring so sweet.
until then, winter is for winter.
i'll savor every snowflake and single-digit morning.

burst of color...

in the dead of winter.



i dug these carrots up from the garden yesterday, and i swear, they are actually growing under there! the ones i dug up a month ago were much smaller.
hard to believe really, when it's overcast and cold for weeks on end.
plants are amazing things.
i cannot get over how crisp and sweet these beauties are.

architecture as play thing

when it's this cold outside, some of the running around needs to happen indoors.



cosmo and one of his pals made good use of a double stairwell in the fine arts building at IU (just down the hall from the beloved friends of art bookshop).



one would wait at the top while the other went downstairs. the trick was to walk back up so quietly, that the one at the top would not know which stairway had been chosen--- SURPRISE!



and...repeat.

indoor sports

cosmo started soccer lessons this week, at the city parks and rec's indoor facility. he took to it right away, ran out onto the field with no hesitation, and started kicking a ball around. for most of the other group activities we have tried, he's a bit more reluctant. i guess he is ready now.



they had a number of activities focused on the olympics for the past two weeks at his pre-school, and we watched some hockey, and other sports on tv. as if on cue, our family fun magazine arrived, with an idea for making a soccer field out of a pizza box, and using straws to blow a cotton ball into the goal. cosmo instisted on looking through the whole magazine with me, and every other page he would say "we should try to make that sometime!" the soccer box project looked like one of the easier ones, so we ordered pizza for dinner one night, and i saved the box. i failed to line mine with green poster board, as suggested, but did mark it with some white electrical tape i had on hand. we found the cotton ball to be harder to move, and not nearly as funny as a tiny craft chick (made, i guess, from a snippet of fluffy pipe cleaner, with some little bits glued on to make it into a chick-like-thing).



prior to this construction, carl and cosmo had transformed the dining room table into a make-shift air hockey table. they used a marble instead of a puck, on account of cosmo's fondness for marbles. the edges were lined with blocks.



i hope these indoor sports can hold us over until some true spring weather hits. i am so ready to get back on the bikes, and into the garden.

sick day

• snuggling up in my comfy sweater and fluffy orange blanket
• fever
• cosmo reading sometimes to me (all the way through), as i rest on the couch
• aches and pains all over
• carl's yummy soup, with sprouted chickpeas from stephanie
• shivering
• a beautiful snow on the ground, and in the trees
• wicked soar throat
• carl drawing an extra hot bath for me, including a pot of boiled water
• red wine in a "puck" glass
• seinfeld re-runs + rachel maddow
• feeling loved

winter light

after living for two years in a shoe box of a house, with no space for a dinning room table, we now have a nice open "great room," and a proper dining room table. trouble is, the lighting is all wrong. yes, there is an overhead light, but i typically despise overhead lighting, especially this type, which filled every room of my childhood. my childhood not being entirely pleasant, to say the least, i tend to go for "accent lights," and basically, any form of lighting other than overhead.



the overhead lamp in this room also happens to be offset from where one would probably choose to place a dining room table, or, at least where we chose to place our table (and, what's up with that allen wrench in the fixture?). it would be easy enough to hang a nice pendant lamp over the table, either a swag type, with the cord draped over to the wall outlet, or, i could even conceal a cord in the oh-so-attractive dropped-tile-ceiling . but so far, i haven't been able to locate an affordable pendant lamp that i like the looks of. i've strung white christmas lights in two locations, bracketing the table, which increased visibility considerably, but it is still too dark to eat by without candles on the table, we found that two canles weren't enough.



luckily, i happened upon this candelabra at the goodwill a couple of weeks ago. we may end up spending our entire pendant lamp budget on taper candles, but, by god, we can see our food! plus, all those candles help warm the room, and cosmo gets a big kick out of lighting, and blowing out each of those flames every night.

family dance

only in bloomington would there be a big, family-friendly dance in the middle of winter, right in the neighborhood, in the gymnasium of harmony school. it was sunday afternoon. it was cold. it is not easy to get cosmo out of the house in such weather. but i am so glad we did.



live music, easy, group dances, led by a gentle woman, who clearly knew what she was doing.
the place was packed with adults and children of all ages, sizes and abilities. the repetitive nature of the dances allowed everyone to pick things up at her own pace, and the entire event was about having fun. not about showing off dance skills, or even learning to dance. it was about community, and inclusion, and running around in a big space, in the dead of winter with family and friends.

cosmo was intrigued at the beginning, but didn't want to hit the dance floor right away. after one dance, i pulled him out there, held him, and swung him round and round at the "swing your partner" part. he giggled with glee, and was in for the rest of the time. he clung pretty close to carl and i, refused to partner with anyone but us, but he did participate and declared afterwards that it was "really fun." i know we will be going to the next one (and, i will bring my camera). if you live in town, hope to see you there.

as winter approaches...

the garlic is in the ground. maybe too early? i don't know. it rained for days. the garlic arrived,

the sun came out, i planted the garlic. couldn't help it.

also dragged the cold frame over from our old yard and plopped it over some beets and leeks that are still in the ground. i had wanted to put in some kale and broccoli starts, but i guess i waited too late because i can't find them anywhere. one of my permaculture friends said it would be worth a try to stick some seeds in the ground right now. apparently, brassicas love to germinate in this kind of weather, and while they probably won't grow much over the winter, i might get some baby kale leaves, and we may have early broccoli in the spring. it was tough finding even seeds at the local nurseries. i finally found some bulk seeds at the farm-and-feed co-op, and went a little nuts. i planted cabbage, broccoli, kale and arugula seeds in the cold frame. so far, the kale, broccoli and arugula have germinated. we had our first frost last night. i got the windows on the cold frame just in time. i'm excited to see how the cold frame works when it actually sits in the sun all winter!

we are still harvesting tomatillas, hot chilies and cilantro (made some yummy salsa verde last night, for our housewarming party). we still have parsley, basil, sage, beets, carrots and LEEKS! most of the leeks are reserved for our most favorite leek and goat cheese galette, but we did harvest a few, and made a simple dish involving a lovely, mustard vinaigrette.



the neighborhood is bursting with brilliant fall color, i'm drying and sorting seeds, and dreaming, already, of next year's garden.

closed for the season

this winter, we participated in project feeder watch, through the cornell lab of ornithology. we registered online, (it costs $15) and they sent us a packet of information about attracting, identifying and counting birds at our bird feeders. so, for two days a week, from early november, to early april, we spend time looking out our front window, and recording what we see. then, we enter our data online, at the cornell lab of ornithology website.


(revised photo of finches on our thistle sock. this is simply a better photo)

the biggest commitment is keeping the feeders stocked. we have one feeder filled with mixed seeds, a suet block, and thistle sock hanging from the dogwood. honestly, it can get a bit expensive, but, worth it for us. bird watching is such a pleasant activity for the wintertime.

the biggest challenge has been keeping the squirrels away from the bird food. they are quite crafty. i thought if i put out some food for them (a corn-based squirrel food that i attached to the dogwood) that they would stay away from the other feeders. not so. they do eat their own food, but still enjoy finding ways to get at the bird food too. carl started greasing the pole (which the main feeder hangs from) with crisco. it worked, and it was quite comical to watch a squirrel jump up, then slide down the pole. but, it does wear off, and needs to be applied regularly. they easily access the suet, upside down. though they aren't supposed to be the main attraction, they can be the most entertaining. check out the video of squirrels burrowing in the snow.


squirrel, eating squirrel food, and attacking the suet block




cosmo has learned to identify many of the birds we see regularly, including downy woodpeckers, cardinals, mourning doves, blue jays and gold finches. he helps us count, and, i think by next year, he'll be able to help record data. i've learned how to distinguish a downy woodpecker from a hairy woodpecker, a house finch from a purple finch (i think), i now know what a cowbird looks like (looks nothing like a cow) but i cannot, for the life of me, tell the difference between a black-capped chickadee, and a carolina chickadee. they both have black caps!



in addition to the packet sent from cornell, we have a sibley's bird book, and a small indiana birds handbook, which is organized by colors. this book is great for finding the names for the birds you see. my favorite bird, of the ones that visit our feeder, is the tufted titmouse. not only does it have a great name, but with it's little dark eyes, and tiny grey tuft on top of it's head, it is just too damned adorable for words. it appears only rarely, and always just one at a time. absence makes the heart grow fonder is a phrase that certainly applies to bird watching. though i haven't grown tired of seeing those lovely cardinals, even though they are the most consistent visitors to our feeder.


tufted titmouse (image taken from http://learningeveryday.wordpress.com)


i noticed that as soon as the warm weather came, our watching time decreased significantly. we're too busy working and playing outside, and spending less and less time indoors looking out the window. we decided that last weekend was our last watch day. we used up the last of the birdseed, and this week, carl took down our big feeder. we'll put a humming bird feeder up in the summer, and come november, we'll sign up for another season of project feeder watch.

whole grain bread

since i can't garden much in the winter (though i DO try...) i've taken to exploring the art of bread baking. i've done some yeast bread baking in the past. a few years ago i discovered that i could make a decent, crusty, sour(ish)dough, baguette with very little effort. it's quite satisfying to pull one of those out of the oven, just in time for dinner. sadly, there's just not much nutritional value in white flour, and my experience with home baked whole grain breads left a lot to be desired. in particular, they seemed to always be too heavy, and too sweet.


some library patron was looking at this book while hanging out with a little one in the playroom at the downtown branch one day, last fall. they must have decided it wasn't for them, because they left it behind, and i picked it up. it was exactly what i was looking for (though i was not actively looking, just vaguely thinking about it now and then): a way to make yummy, crusty, artisan loaves of bread using only whole grain flours. i checked out the book, and started reading it. from the beginning. the famous baker, peter reinhart (well, famous in the artisan bread baking community...), tells the story of his journey to whole grain baking, and my, what a journey it has been.


getting ready to mix the soaker, getting ready to mix the pre-doughs into the final dough

fascinating, in ways i couldn't have imagined, he goes into the chemistry of bread baking, gluten development, enzymatic activity, delayed fermentation, the purpose of a making a soaker, the difference between a wild yeast starter, and a biga, making a sponge, how to mix your pre-doughs into your final dough, the autolyse method, and oh, so much more. to an experienced baker, it must be a completely different read than it was for me. he explains what happens in traditional methods, and then how his method differs, and why. he talks about all the test bakers that he sent recipe after recipe to, and how he incorporated their feedback, to finally come up with the wonderful recipes included in his book. it took me several renewals, returning, then checking out again before i even tried to make one of the breads. carl was starting to wonder if it was JUST a research project, or if he was ever going to get a chance to sink his teeth into some homemade bread.


before and after shots of the bread dough, proofing in the pan

one day in late november, a woman i barely know, showed up at my door with a healthy, whole wheat, wild yeast starter, that she had kept going for 2 years. i decided to work it into reinhart's master formula for whole wheat sandwich bread, treating it as the mother starter he describes. it worked fine, and the bread was delicious. i made two loves: one in a loaf pan, and one on a baking stone. the loaf pan one was higher, a bit lighter, and, i think, a bit better.


whole wheat sandwich loaf

then the book came due again, no renewals. then i went on a trip. then another trip. i neglected the starter, did not refresh it, or even check on it, for weeks and weeks. when i finally took a peek, it was moldy, and destroyed. but, i had received the book as a christmas present, so, i started again, making my own wild yeast starter, from scratch. in fact, i made two. using two different methods(pineapple-juice-based, and mash-based), to compare. i ended up with two separate mother starters in my fridge. since they need to be refreshed regularly, i have been making bread, often as i refresh a starter, and the results have been exciting. i made two more sandwich loaves, a rye metiel, and a straun, incorporating quinoa and cooked brown rice. the straun was a freestanding batard. it spread out considerably on the baking stone, but was fairly light in texture, and so moist and flavorful.


straun, and a close up shot of a free-standing whole wheat loaf

i couldn't distinguish a difference in the two starters i had going in the fridge. the author says they are interchangeable, and since they both seemed healthy, i let one of them go. next i made a straun using rolled oats and cornmeal. carl and i both agreed that this one wasn't as good as the others i'd made. it had a tangy bite to it that neither of us appreciated, and i found it to be too dry, and too heavy.


sandwich loaf, made into sandwiches, and grilled cheese, with yummy tomato soup (carl made the soup)

i had to admit to myself that all of the breads i'd made from this book, were too heavy for my taste, and i wasn't impressed with the quality of the crumb. i wanted to try a more rustic type of bread-- chewy, with big holes. and, i decided i wanted to try one of reinhart's transitional breads, which means they have some white flour mixed in with the whole grain. i figure this is really the only way i am going to get the kind of bread i'm looking for. so, i tried his transitional country hearth bread. the dough was lovely to work with, and satisfying to knead. one of the complaints i have had about the other breads in this book, is that the dough is very wet and sticky. he recommends wetting your hands as you knead the dough, to prevent sticking. i guess it works, but it is so unpleasant. this dough, by contrast, was soft and supple, and felt so good in my hands. this dough also did not require the wild yeast starter i have in my fridge. instead i made a biga, with comercial yeast, and left it in the fridge overnight, for a slow rise. the dough is more that 50% whole wheat, which is still a lot more hearty than most commercial breads that i like.


transitional country hearth bread

i made three mini baguettes, which puffed up in the oven, forming lovely rounded loaves, with crispy crusts and superb flavor. while this bread was not perfect, it is definitely the direction i want to head in with my future bread baking.

i skimmed through the book, picking out breads that i wanted to try, and found that all of them call for the biga instead of the wild yeast starter. i find that maintaining the starter is a pain in the ass, there is a lot of waste (i have to throw out 75% of it, each time i refresh it), and it takes up tons of room in our small fridge. since i do not really prefer the breads that are made with it, i think i am going to let it go.


my bread journal

i've been keeping a bread journal, to keep track of the various schedules for each bread, what kinds of grains i have tried, and my thoughts about each bread. it's a great winter hobby, warms up the house, and, let's face it, homemade bread, fresh, slightly warm, with butter on it...can't be beat.