more on infusing and wine

So, I'm well on my way to learning about wine and things. I've learned that you can use wine to can stuff up. The canning process creates a seal, which keeps the wine from turning bad. But, if you were to just plop some berries INTO wine, it'd eventually go bad because the alcohol content isn't high enough.

But this is ok, because that means I can still bottle up some lovely blackberries in red wine... Producing this sort of effect:


And we can always keep some berries in regular preserved states, so we can plop them in as garnishment later on.

Actually, I found a lot of good recipes. But, to keep it out of the fridge and to avoid needing to consume it relatively soon after it being made, you have to add alcohol.

In my hunting around, I came across this recipe, which sounds so deliciously decadent that I can't wait for fall so I can try it.

1/4 cup whole almonds

1/4 cup dried apricots, sliced

1/2 vanilla bean

24 ounces chardonnay

1/8 cup sugar

Toast almonds and apricots in 2-quart saucepan for 1-2 minutes or untill you smell aromas. Split vanilla bean down center and add to pan. Add wine and sugar and bring to steady simmer for 5 minutes but do not boil. Turn off heat and allow to steep, or sit, for 10 minutes to let flavors infuse the wine. Add up to another 1/8 cup sugar based on preference.

Yum, and probably not very alcoholic based on the cook time.

I'm still researching lavender water and vanilla water and stuff like that, because I think that'd be neat to make and spray on laundry. Right now we have this rice and shea spray that is so light and wonderful that we use it on laundry. We'll see!

Doggone it, blackberries!

Crud and yay!

Remember yesterday when I said the blackberry arrival date would be around mid-late August? Well, it has been in years past... but this year it's different.

The blackberries are here. NOW.

And they're gorgeous things, 3/4 inch diameter.

They are so good. I guess it rained at the right time or something, but DELICIOUS!

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But now I have to pick them earlier than expected. I'm not going to let a bumper crop of blackberries to go waste. Oh, and they're FREE. Hello!? Of course I'm getting a ton.

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So I think B and I are going pickin' this weekend. Now to find recipes.

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One thing I want to do is make viniagrette out of these just like I'm doing with the raspberries and like what I will do with the currants. here's the recipe:

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1 cup crushed berries

1 cup white wine vinegar

1 tbs honey

1 tbs sugar

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You let it soak for about 4 weeks, shaking or stirring (i have mine in mason jars, so I shake it) once every 2-3 days. I have three quarts of the raspberry mixture right now.

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After 4 weeks, use a cheesecloth to separate out the seeds/pulp from the mixture. Heat it up to the point of HOT but not boiling, ladle it into jars, and water bath it.

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I'm putting mine into 1/2 pint jam jars, that way we can change it up every week or two. I'd hate to have it quart size and then get sick of it after 2-3 weeks.

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I figure 3 quarts each of currants, raspberries and blackberries will give us a good mixture.

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I also want to check out infusing. I've been meaning to read upon this for a while. I really like that idea. Plus, Ikea sells these AWESOME bottles for $2. And, they're reusable (assuming you can clean them). So I'm going to do some exploring as far as making like a blackberry sugar water or vanilla syrup or even a raspberry-infused wine (raspberries in chardonnay?). Plus, I think it'd look gorgeous, all lined up on a windowsill or something. We'll see!

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But doggone it, blackberries. Seriously? 3 weeks early?

Oh dash it all.

Phbbbbt. :-P

I had great expectations for myself. I had 2 flats of currants, 1 flat of raspberries, and 1 flat of blueberries. I had great recipes all ready to go. I even had the ingredients (with the exception of white wine vinegar But wow, you should see my freezer.

We went in on a quarter-share of beef last fall (so we ended up with like 100 lbs of organic, pasture-raised beef. Yum), so that's a LOT of our freezer. And now, there are SO many berries in there, as well as a big bag of cherries that I stuck in there after facing the same predictament last month.

There's just too much going on. Weekends have been spent doing other things, and it's supposed to be hot (for us) this next weekend, so I really didn't feel like being in a hot kitchen, cooking and boiling water. Maybe I'll wait until we're in the new house... we'll see.

I do want to go and get some more blueberries, but right now, there's no room in the freezer. So, if B and I pick them this weekend, he gets to lug them home to his freezer. Yay. Actually, he loves blueberries, so I suspect he won't complain. :)

I think I should have the goal of having them all canned up and done with by blackberry season. That's a good goal. Mid to late August... though it will be sooner if this heat keeps up. Oh oh!

On the upside, my co-worker tried a can of my brown sugar cherries that my friend and I bottled up a few weeks ago. She loved them! She used them as a glaze on pork, which is one of the uses I hoped they'd be good for. And success.

My husband

My husband is a man who promises to rescue me when I am embattled by a too-heavy-to-lift-on-my-own rug currently residing in my car.

He's unafraid to personify the cats, even giving each cat a different voice. He also frequently uses LOL talk, like making things plural to sound more cat-like (how'd that ever come to happen?), for example "hey yous. YOUS! Feeds me! I's so hungry. You suck! I has a hunger!"

He's allowed his place to be a storage unit while we go through this transition.

He's actually wants to listen to a stupid song on the radio if it means I am dancing and singing to it. 

He's the man I miss SO much. Every evening I think... "2.5 hours from now I could arrive in his town if I leave now!" Every evening. Multiple times.

He loves it when I'm happy.

He's concerned about me. He gives me soo much freedom, but it's with a caring undertone. Wondering where I'm going to look at a craigslist ad. Asking for me to give him a buzz when I have a long car ride. Not possessive; caring. Loving.

He goes on adventures, tracks down things to make our house a home, and spends his weekend running errands with me. For us. 

I love to hug him. The feeling is mutual. 

How did I get so lucky?

DMV Drama-- Update!

I passed the DEQ test this afternoon. Woo!

DMV Drama

This is my Goldie. Ok, it's a stock photo of her, but you get the idea. A lovely 1997 Camry.

Ok, so she has 143k miles on her. And she has her quirks. But she runs like a new car out of the gate, does what I ask her to, can fit almost anything in her backseat/trunk, and really holds her own.

So this is why it was depressing when she failed the DMV Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) test.

Ok, it wasn't so much depressing as it was infuriating. Goldie's check engine light came on about a year ago, and, being a dutiful car owner, I took her in to the mechanic. They poked around and determined NOTHING was wrong with her; it was just a malfunctioning sensor. I could fix it for a few $100, or I could let it be and basically be no worse off (except that I'd have to be good on tuning her up because now I'd have no check engine light to warn me b/c it was always on).

Fine fine. So I went to the DEQ on Saturday morning (yay weekend open hours), and DUE TO THE LIGHT/MALFUNCTIONING SENSOR, she failed.

Great. So I got to go spend money on a mechanic ($300!!!) just to fix a sensor that was malfunctioning. I get spending the money if the car actually was polluting or whatnot, but for this? But the light caused the system to fail at the DEQ, so, unless I wanted to drive illegally, I had no choice. Luckily, I found a mechanic who appears reasonable and honest. And he loves my car.

However...

There was a blessing in all of this. Two actually. And for these I am willing to move past the stupid DMV for the time being.

First off, my check engine light is off. As I soon face 100 miles of commuting a day (round trip), it's nice to have a bit of warning from a light that something is amiss. I have wanted to fix the light, but it felt like a waste of money. Being forced to have it fixed still feels like a waste, but at least it's off now.

Second (and MORE IMPORTANTLY), the mechanic did an overall check on my car, for free. Now, I'm religious about changing the oil. And every other oil change I have my car overall inspected to make sure all is ok. The punks must have only checked the LEVEL of my transmission fluid, not the COLOR. What the hey, I know. So, what should have been a liquid of reddish clear color was (in Goldie) blackish and gucky.

AHH!! Had it continued in Goldie, her transmission could have been done for within the next year, easily. And a replacement like a transmission is a big cost, one which would have seriously made me ponder whether it would be better to replace it or cash her in. * tear!*

So, the mechanic changed the fluid, drove her around, and then changed the fluid again. Thoroughly flushed her system, in other words. I'll take her back into them in about a month just to have them check her out. Fingers crossed no permanent damage was done.

Whew, huh?

So the DEQ fail and the punk DMV ended up producing a good result. Maybe it's karma. Maybe everything happens for a reason. It's things like this that make me take a step back and think "whoa...". As painful as the $400 bill was (2 sensors, transmission flushing and fixing my emergency brake), it beats having to buy a whole new car, or having a massive breakdown on the freeway. It's also made me really ponder pestering B, who likes to think his beloved car will never ever break down. I think an overall tuneup may be in order. Who knows, maybe my experience is an overall kick for me to poke B to take his car in and maybe we'll get the same sort of "whoa..., thank goodness we did that!" that we did from my car. Regardless, he's soon goign to be driving the 100 miles a day also, so I suspect it will be beneficial for him too to start out on a good foot.

Anyway, that was Saturday's drama and Monday's car mechanic trip. More on berries and the rest of the weekend to come....

NEW COMPUTER!!!

Oh lovely.

My work has decided I'm worthy and upgraded me from bulky desktop to lovely sleek computer.

I heart it so much. And this will be especially good for working from home. Everything in one place, new, easy, and if something goes wrong, a tech team.

Joy!

I'm thinking I should name her Della. :)

SOO much from this weekend

There is so much to post from this weekend that it will take several postings. Right now I just got into work and realized a big project was due tomorrow. Doggone it. It'll be ok, just gotta reorganize priorities this morning on what projects get done first.

But, in a nutshell...

Saturday:
* Screw the DMV
* AWESOME garage sale finds
* A few great finds at Ikea (and grumble about their lack of good labeling)
* Great returns and great buys at Crate & Barrel
* Great buy at Bed Bath & Beyond
* Found and bought RED CURRANTS!!!
* Yummy dinner by B while we plucked red currants (seriously,I got about 20 lbs)

Sunday:
* Bought a craigslist rug
* Went to Costco, got a new vacuum and awesome face wipe thingies. Longed for a beautiful couch.
* Got raspberries, walked in farm fields
* Continued on the currants....
* Watched a pretty good movie "King of California"
* Got sad that B had to leave on Monday for the workweek and so stayed up too late pretending that the next day was not Monday.

Ok, yes, no packing got done. Yes, no cleaning or laundry either. And yes, I now have 30+ lbs of berries to go through in the next day. But I have plans for them, and it shouldn't be too difficult. Then, no more crafty things!!!

Today: Gotta go to the mechanic. STUPID DMV.
Tonight: checking out a neat rug. Let's hope it's nice! Yay craigslist.

Plusses for Corgi!

Saw this, and it was just too cute not to post!!

The Anatomy of a Corgi:

Please B? Please? May we get one in a few months? 

Wedding: PAID IN FULL.

As of 2pm this afternoon, our wedding is 100% paid for. We had a few big payments recently (the new place, paying the old place to leave, deposits, etc etc etc), so quite frankly, I'm DONE with having to write big checks.

Seriously Goldie (my car), you'd better not have any issues anytime soon.

While reviewing my statements, there were a few questionable charges. Seriously, who does this? Who thinks it's somehow ok to do this? I don't have a questionable charge every month, but really, every 2-4 months, I usually get a false charge. Someday, I want to meet this kind of person. No humanity. One time, someone started entering my phone number in a bunch of ringtone sites. Do you know a lot of those sites just automatically bill your phone company? Before you know it, $100 extra in fees. That took a lot to sort out.

I see photos of some weddings, and I must admit that it would have been a little nice to have relinquished some control. But then I remember that the extra wine goblet or fancy imported orchid centerpiece or $20 bottles of wine would have added quite the extra tab, and you know what? I love what we did. I like the touches we added, the lack of gushing expenses, and that the wedding was definitely "us." The stress is gone, and really, it's nice not to have to worry about paying this sucker off, you know?