karma debt's New Writeups

November 23, 2009 (log)

2009-11-24T02:44:37Z

Drew a red shirt today. More later.

Half-sour pickle (recipe)

2009-08-14T18:13:50Z

I was recently loaned a book titled "The Joy of Pickling" and I'm in love. So far I've pickled cucumbers 4 different ways and green beans two ways. If you want to pickle something, this is your book. But wait you're thinking... I came here for a recipe, not a book review. Yes, yes, let me get to that.

A few weeks back I had 30 pounds of pickling cucumbers, several heads of garlic and fresh dill from the farm I've been working at this summer. So I perused this veritable pickling bible and decided that the first recipe I used would be the "Half Sour by the quart" recipe.

These pickles are so ridiculously easy to make. Half-sour pickles are quickly fermented in a low salt brine. They are "half-sours" because they are not fully "sour". I know, duh. All pickles are sour, but that sourness frequently comes from vinegar. These do not use vinegar. John Thorne, author of The Dill Crock describes half-sours as "cucumbers still, not pickles-little cucumbers who have…

HOT DAMN 6! Westward HO (event)

2009-02-05T19:36:48Z

Stop calling me a HO or you'll die of dysentery....

July 2-5, 2009
Oregon Coast

Try taking a journey by covered wagon across 2000 miles of plains, rivers, and mountains. Try! On the plains, will you slosh your oxen through mud and water-filled ruts or will you plod through dust six inches deep? ~ Oregon Trail

Why?

You would think I would have learned after last time or the time before that. But apparently I have a blind spot in my rational thinking when it comes to noders.

When?
4th of July Weekend baby
July 2-5, 2009

We will be at the coast from Thursday through Sunday. You can come…

Forts made of chairs and blankets (poetry)

2008-12-16T19:53:07Z

Under the blanket
warm muffled whispers abound
in our secret world

...

Soup, of the green variety (recipe)

2008-07-08T01:42:44Z

Or, how to make gazpacho without accidentally killing myself aka "Green Gazpacho of DOOM"

I'll admit it. I've become nearly impossible to feed. About two years ago, I developed an allergy to tomatoes. I love tomatoes but they want to kill me. Also, I gave up meat about a year ago, somewhat accidentally. Add on to all this the fact that I love food. So as you can see, I'm basically screwed unless I search high and low and develop my own recipes.

Summer has arrived in Ohio. There are fresh cucumbers and tomatoes galore. It's hot, humid and miserable to cook in. So of course I've been craving gazpacho for weeks now. I've been tracking down and trying various recipes in an effort to find one that I like. Here is the result:

Ingredients:

2 English cucumbers, peeled, seeded and sliced
1/4 cup cold water
1/2 tablespoon distilled white vinegar
1 teaspoons kosher salt
1 ripe avocado, peeled and

…

June 24, 2008 (log)

2008-06-24T19:30:17Z

Being a parent so totally rocks my socks off. I'm still amazed at how awesome it is to watch kids develop their own personalities and senses of humor. Kids do indeed say the funniest things.

Here's a great example. I was riding in the car commenting on the relative ease of getting something done. My oldest daughter, Elizabeth said to me, "That is the exact opposite of the worst named toy ever; the easy bake oven. There's nothing easy about it. It's just hard. They should have called it the difficult bake oven." *smirk*

Then she laughed and smiled so beautifully it felt like the sun had just burst into life.