Friday, April 23, 2010

Yum Yum

Down in the dumps? Here's a recipe for a quiet, happier afternoon.

Snack:

1/2 cup of unflavored yogurt
1/4 cup of Cascadian Farms Honey and Oats Granola
1/4 cup of Ocean Spray Pomegranate Craisins

Mix together and Enjoy! I like mine with a warm mug of Celestial's Green Tea with Honey and Ginseng.

Grab a good book and some of Myleene Klass's music and your good to go!




Monday, April 19, 2010

Updates galore! Part 2

Oh for the love of butter! Well, Spring Encampment was a blast and my main employment was in the making (and cleaning) of butter. Sam and her sister Marci were my main helpers. Here's how it works.
I churned the butter for about an hour. Depending on the temperature outside, it takes anywhere from 15 minutes to and hour and a half (from my own experience) to make the butter separate from the butter milk.
Luckily, I had plenty of friends to keep me company while I churned. The giant apron I'm wearing was made with the sole purpose of making butter with it. It's wide skirt completely covers my petticoats and the bib keeps the butter cream from splashing up on my jacket front. Making butter isn't the cleanest occupation. ;)

When we finished, I scooped the butter out and ran water over it in the colander, until the water drained out clear. We then filled the bigger mold (in the background) and began to fill the smaller mold which Sam is holding. The bigger one can be seen in the background. The bowl in front is an 18th century pottery colander. We used it to wash the butter.

Pushing it out!

Popping the larger butter cake out of the mold. Marci was such a good helper!

Releasing the first mold. This one was kinda messy as the larger mold wasn't as good quality as the smaller one.
Getting the second layer out of the mold. This one was trickier because the suction was better. Sam's other sister, Vanessa is in the foreground.
Putting the two layers together...
Molding the butter.
Rubbing the two butter cakes together...
Picking up left over pieces of butter to fill in the cracks...
Here Sam explains to Marci how the butter mold works.
Smoothing extra butter around the edges...
Marci learned a lot about churning that day..

TADA! Butter! Here we are draining excess water off the plate before replacing the butter cake.
Getting all the butter off our hands...
Cleaning the butter molds. That's Lee in the background.
Washing the dishes...and ourselves! :D
Drying off our hands on my huge butter churning apron...

Mumsie had made several loaves of bread in the bake oven and between my butter and her bread, we fed plenty of people that weekend! By Sunday, the butter was entirely gone!

Anyways, hope you guys enjoyed that little instruction as to 18th century butter making!


Updates galore! Part 1

So...I have quite a few things to post, but I'll go in chronological order, so bear with me. :D I'm also doing separate posts, because my computer is acting up and wont let me move pics around. Gr.

First off: Baby Jared! Here's some more pics. NOTE: I didn't bother to do my hair in any of these pics, so it looks fluffy and odd. Bear with it. ;) I'm getting it cut soon for summer.

Okay, this has to be my absolute favorite picture this year. XD Jared fell asleep on me first, and then I fell asleep too! After the long drive to NC and then a day out with friends to the movies and mall, I crashed on the couch whilst Janessa and a friend played Modern Warfare! XD
A little dark, but isn't he an angel?!!? Almost always sleeps on his side....
Departure day. His little onsie has a whale on it and says "Little Squirt" !!! How cute!