tired

You know that you must be tired when you come down in the morning and your first thought when seeing the wedding present you wrapped the night before is; "A present for me!"

Yeah...

7ish steps to DIY Yogurt

When I was a kid I remember learning about how housewives made butter in the 1800's or the the pioneer days using a butter churn. I even dreamed of making butter that way. It never occured to me that you could ever make anything out of storebought milk other than chocolate milk or a milk shake.

Then I found out that you could make your own yogurt. Say what?

I'm still a little fuzzy about why--because with my grass fed organic whole creamline milk it is definitely not a money saver, but then again...exactly how much would yogurt made out of such milk cost at the store?

My friend Rhyme--who is one of the most adventurous cookers I have ever met--made yogurt, which gave me the idea. Then she pointed me to this post by Crunchy Betty. I decided to give it a go.

First: You do not need a yogurt maker. It is a glorified night light for good little bacteria. Your oven will work just fine. If you don't have an oven.......you probably need a yogurt maker. But a box with a lamp (at a safe distance) would probably do the trick.

What you DO need:

• 2-6 jars, depending on how big they are
• 1 qt whole organic milk (because honestly, why else would you make yogurt?)
• 1 single serving plain organic yogurt (you really only need a spoonful, but they don't sell spoonfuls at the store).
• An oven with a light inside (yes, the little probiotics do actually need a nightlight, just not a glorified one)
• A pan with an edge--like a 9x13 or 9x9 pan, this is mostly just to make your life easier transporting your jars from point A to point B.
• A large sauce pan.
• A bowl. (Oh, and utensils like "spoon" and "spatula" but you knew that...)

 Better milk = better yogurt, but may not save you money.

Yogurt is one of those "heat it up, cool it off, mix it up, wait 8 plus hours" projects. Not actually time consuming as far as prep, but you need to be able to work on it off and on in a couple hour time period, and then have a large chunk of time for your probiotics to grow in peace in your oven (with the nightlight on). I'll give you the sparknotes version, but the Crunchy Betty tutorial linked to above is the best walk through I've found (complete with the actual temperatures you need the milk at, presuming you have a candy thermometer by which to gauge these things).

Sparknotes Version:

• Prep: Wash your jars and dry them thoroughly--set them up in your edged pan.
• 1--heat milk slowly in saucepan until almost boiling. Pull it off the heat when it has a dull film across the surface.
• 2--Let it cool. Or make it cool by putting the milk in a bowl (rather than having to cool the saucepan too) and putting the bowl in an icebath in the fridge.
• 3--It should be cool enough to comfortably stick you finger in, but still be warm. If it cools off completely your probiotics won't wake up, and if it's not cool enough they'll get cooked.
• 4--Pull out of fridge and add a spoonful of that organic plain yogurt you bought. Whisk it in thoroughly.
• 5--Pour your soupy milk/probiotic brew into those jars you have sitting at ready.
• 6--Transfer to the oven, turn on the nightlight, cover them with a dishtowel to make them cozy.
• 7--Come back 8+ hours later to view your experiment. Cover your jars and put them in the fridge. In a couple hours they'll be cold and ready to eat!

This batch came out just a little runny--and do you see the creamline? Yum!

And that is how you make plain yogurt. I will say right now that I like plain yogurt, and the yogurt I made with organic whole grassfed creamline milk was by far the best yogurt I have ever had. It lacked the bitter edge that yogurt usually has. That said, it's pretty easy to flavor your yogurt. You add the flavor when it's cool and yogurty--just be careful not to stir or whip your yogurt or it will get runny and liquidy.

Rhyme's Flavor Ideas

Strawberry Rhubarb
1 C chopped strawberries
1 C chopped rhubarb
1/4 C sugar
1 Tbsp cornstarch
Heat on stove until it becomes thick & syrupy. Store in a glass jar and add to servings of yogurt when you serve it.


Fruity
Diced kiwi, mango, and strawberries mixed together. Let it soak in its own juices for a minute or two before eating.

Spicy
Add a dash of cinnamon. If necessary, add honey to sweeten.

Vanilla
Then there's always the vanilla route: Add vanilla extract. Or scrape a vanilla bean into a jar of yogurt.


Probiotic Pumpkin Pie
The latest idea is pumpkin yogurt. Pureed pumpkin, pumpkin pie spice, maple syrup, and candied nuts.

Chocolate
Mix in some grated 86% dark chocolate, or cacao nibs (basically, chipped up cocoa beans) or dark cocoa powder. Add maple syrup or honey to sweeten if necessary. (If you want to read about some serious chocolate, check out Xocai.)


Basically, the sky is the limit. Make what you like. Be healthy. Be strong. Eat your vegetables.

I caught a minnow

I caught a minnow with my bare hands the other day. Not kidding. I was sitting on a rock in a fast river and stuck my feet into the little rapid--my feet were immediately pelted with something that was significantly harder than water!

bridge over the river

I don't know where the minnows were going, but they were desperate to get there. There was a pool of quiet water just off to my right, and it was stuffed with minnows milling peacefully. But my feet were apparently in a superhighway. It's very disconcerting to be assaulted by minnows, so I moved, and proceeded to stick my hands into the superhighway and it was easy to catch minnows. I even caught one one-handed when I was trying to take a picture. That picture didn't come out, Zorro had pity on my and helped.

my minnow

 I was pretty pleased with myself--and then my mind wandered off into childhood memories of books about pioneers, the wild west, or that eastern survival story My Side of the Mountain. I wonder how long you could survive on minnows....

And then....then this fellow turned up:

 Technically he made his first appearance after I caught my first minnow, but before I got a picture. Dad, yes, this is the telephoto this time, not macro. We weren't all that happy to see him, and I have yet to identify the type. I don't think he was poisonous, but better safe than sorry! We kept a careful eye out for him (he was at least 2 feet long, perhaps more) while we waited for these folks to finish their hike:

 It was 90 degrees, so we did half-a-hike before hoofing it to the river where we made friends with minnows and watery snakes:

 I think I managed to tell you a story mostly backwards...I hope it still made sense! That's just the state of my mind after such a busy weekend!

P.S. All the best hikes end with ice cream:

16 - Best Laid Plans

(Episode 1- How It Began. Episode 2-Lavinia . Episode 3-Gambling . Episode 4-Fortune Favors Episode 5-A Little Fire 6-Quill 7-the Gig 8-Southward Ho 9-City of Color 10- Water 11-Dinner for 34 12-The Counsel That Wasn't 13-Almost Eaten 14-Into the Labyrinth 15-Rocks)

16-Best Laid Plans

Quill turned slowly, evaluating the army of chalk x’s that surrounded us. “Wace?” he gestured to the tracker. “Can you tell which is older?”

Wace grimaced and moved from rock to rock, sometimes touching the chalk. Then he straightened and crossed his arms. “They look like they were all made around the same time.”

“What about footprints?” Quill was now scanning the rock tops as if he expected someone to be watching us.

“Whose?”

“Theirs.”

Wace uncrossed his arms and stooped to the ground. “I told you before these…paths…are well traveled.  Every footfall is scuffed into oblivion. Though, I should be able to retrace our steps.” He skimmed along the gray dirt, touching this and that with his fingertips.

Quill and I followed slowly behind. I fingered my daggers and strained my senses.  If I were a bandit would I be able to climb the barely jagged rock faces?  Would I jump on intruders from above? Or perhaps I would have crevices so memorized that I could ambush from anyplace I pleased. What a lovely thought. I loosened Shiharr and Azzad in their sheaths.  What sort of prey did I expect? Was I hunting them from the start or is this happenstance? Did I want them dead, or alive? If dead, would I do it myself or would I pelt them with peaches? I breathed deep. There were thousands of ways to kill rats in a maze. It all depended on why the rats were in the maze and what you wanted to learn about them from the experiment.

Wace scurried before us, bent double to study the footprints. On more than one occasion he turned back and chose a different course. I did not find this comforting in my dark calculations. I don’t think Quill was particularly reassured either.

Wace stopped suddenly, peered closely at a rock and then started muttering curses. He sat down with his back to the rock and threw a pebble against another monolith.

“Wace?” Quill demanded, standing over the tracker.

“This is where we started.”  Wace threw another pebble rather vindictively against the opposing rock. “Where we discovered our little chalk trail meant nothing.”

Quill looked around and I propped my hands on my hips. Neither of us said anything for a moment or two. Wace evidently felt personally humiliated as a tracker—justifiably so—and I was trying to decide whether or not I should panic. We wouldn’t starve—assuming we could catch some of those lizards I’d been seeing—and they weren’t poisonous—but without water I’d lose my mind. It was also getting hot now, in this black stone oven, with any number of things waiting around to kill us. This brought another thought… “Why haven’t I seen any peach trees?”

My question startled both men.

“Shahoyan Raptors love peaches…surely that means there are some peach trees somewhere in this wilderness. And unless they are very carefully groomed they will look more different from one another than these rocks do.”

Quill’s arms were crossed, he studied me. “Regardless, trees need water. Water has to come from somewhere.”

“More importantly, water has to go somewhere,” I walked to the roughest looking rock and tried to gauge a path up. I glanced back at the two men, “All water eventually flows to the sea.”

Quill smiled, “Some water takes the long way,” He moved to my side. “If I give you a leg up could you climb this?”

I grunted. “I always preferred moss laden cliffs as a child.”

Quill crouched and cupped his hands. I stepped into them and in a moment was hoisted high and set to shimmying up the sheer rock. It had been some time since I’d scaled a surface this slick, but my fingertips had not forgotten what a suitable hold felt like. When I reached the top and pulled myself up the view took my breath away. The land truly did look ravaged by some super power. Something had long ago caused the earth to heave and buck in protest. I could see the thin pale strip of the road winding through the madness—I could also see a glittering river at intervals along the way. If we could get to the river, we could get to the road. I swiveled on my perch and noticed bird droppings. My heart quickened. “I do not smell like peaches,” I muttered. I swiveled again. Out of sight out of mind. If I were a bandit, I would need to live by water. I searched along the glittering trail of the river, and finally saw it. Green. There was no doubt in my mind that I had found the outlaws lair.

Now, to get down.

Copyright 2012: The Legend of Zare Caspian is an original story by Abigail Cossette for The Raven's Landing.  If you enjoy the story, please share and link back! Please don't copy it. Contact me if you would like to publish a portion of it in any way, shape or form.

Image Capture and Goodbyes

I discovered the other day that when you put a video in Picasa you can pause it, and then drag the little time measure forward and back to view your video in slo-mo--forwards and backwards.



Uh oh. I'm in front of the vertical, aren't I? It's my hunter jumper background showing...

   This is particularly entertaining when it's a video of a cantering horse. Canter looks very funny backwards. Especially when the horse throws a little buck in just for fun.

kinda looks like we're landing from an invisible jump...

 More important, though, I could drag the timer until I found exactly the fame I wanted as a still image. Cheaters' photography. But hey! I get good pictures out of the deal!

practicing turning at trot, zig and zag

 I gave the camera to the Ham because I wanted video of me riding Navarre. The still image captures were a bit of an afterthought.

 Short of filming the whole work out, you're bound to what you get by chance...and we managed to get a lot of Navarre misbehaving. Horses are something else. Sometimes they misbehave because they don't know better, sometimes because they know they can get away with it, sometimes because they want to see if they can get away with it, sometimes because they are in pain or out of sorts physically, and sometimes because they are just in a mood.  I'm beginning to think Navarre does it for the camera because I rode him the next day and he was great!

Love his canter!

 We were demonstrating his paces for his owner. They came out to see him and ride and seemed to have a wonderful time with him. He'll be leaving June 11 early in the morning with Dusty for a new home 3 or so hours away. We're really sad to see him go. Really sad. The lady who is going to be leasing him seems really excited, she's owned green horses before, and seemed to do well with him the time she came to try him. I have hope that his training will continue, and that she'll be able to enjoy him with all his quirks, smarts and subbornness. We'll definitely miss our beagle horse training project. And of course the adorable Dusty. The worst thing about riding horses is having to say goodbye when they move on.

I was glancing back through notes I've taken over the past six months and it's hard to believe we just found that bit and bridle in early December. It feels so very long ago.

I think Navarre would learn really quickly if he got worked with daily. He does well enough with work 2-3 times a week--but if I had the time to do more! Ah, well.

I've kinda slacked off teaching him lateral moves like turn on the forehand/haunches (just what it sounds like) or leg yield (yielding to the rider's leg and moving sideways). The concepts have been introduced, but not pursued for months. Mostly because we discovered canter, and that's a lot more fun for the kids. Plus, they can canter him without me hanging over their shoulder.

(Did you catch the sneaky stride of trot? I said, "keep cantering," so he gunned it instead of breaking to trot--just a teeny bit of rebellion mixed with that obedience! He's a very opinionated and expressive horse!)

Aren't his mane and tail gorgeous?

Little Tree

This first picture is just for reference, this was the avocado a month ago. Below is the avocado now:

Positioned at the table with Zorro purely as a size reference. It's huge!

On the 7th Day

There is a reason God rested on the 7th day, and it wasn't because he was tired.

I travel some for my job--just two or three weekends in the spring--and it never ceases to amaze me just how much working for a weekend destroys all my good habits and leaves me feeling overwhelmed. It often takes a full two weeks/weekends to recover from the loss of one.

Part of this is probably because I'm an introvert; I recharge when I'm alone and working at a convention means a whole lot of strangers.  It's not that I don't enjoy the work, I just have absolutely nothing left at the end of the day. The rest of the issue is that we're simply designed to need a day of rest.

Before conference season I was working out two or three times a week outside my beloved kickboxing class (Goal=black belt). I was also taking honey, washing my face nightly, and sometimes even taking vitamens. I've gotten the honey habit back (thank you, allergies, for that reminder...), but I'm still working on getting the groove back. Considering the complete fullness of the next six weeks (houseguests, wedding, convention, houseguest/trip, houseguest) I have no idea how that is going to work. It needs to, though.

That's my goal. Get those good habits in good.

I have a couple other goals...little things like "take riding lessons"  and "reorganize my filing system and put it in the filing cabinet" (Novel, I know, who would have thought of putting files in a filing cabinet? Took me months to think of it...). May/June has this habit of being stuffed and overwhelming to look at as a whole. Not sure why, perhaps the mad rush created by the onset of nice weather coupled with conference season?

At any rate, I should make a day of rest a goal for this time, too.

Calendula

Another weekend, please?

This past weekend was the last to be full in a laid back manner. Zorro and I were so wiped out from the craziness of the past couple weeks that our big Friday night plans turned into sleeping pretty much the moment we finished dinner.

On Saturday I made a German pancake for lunch--at least I think it's called a German pancake. Real Simple calls it a German pancake. It's basically 3 eggs beaten, with 1/2 c flour and 1/2 c milk baked in a cast iron pan. It's a nice change of pace.

We ate it with butter and powdered sugar (Zorro used maple syrup, which is actually healthier than powdered sugar...oh well, I was living wild). The recipe suggested eating it with jam or jelly, but when we went through the fridge we discovered that all our jelly had furry friends. Whoops. We don't eat jelly much....
On a happy note, we got to christen our new deck furniture. Target was having a pretty good sale and a friend took mercy on me and helped me get the chairs home (turns out the legs are just too wide to fit into a corolla).

 Zorro had a game day with some friends (Lord of the Rings Battle Strategy Game, if you're familiar) and I puttered around the house. Among other things, I rearranged my mantel. I like the new look if i do say so myself.

 I also went to watch the Preakness Stakes with my good friend Abigail. The Preakness is the second of three horse races for three year olds, a series called the Triple Crown. Only 11 horses have won all three in a row since all three existed simultaneously. The last horse to accomplish this feat was Affirmed in 1978. No Triple Crown winner is still alive. It's been a long time. I believe they call it the hardest achievement in sports. They aren't lying. There are literally thousands of variables, not the least of which being a 1000 lb emotional creature that can't talk.

via

We ate brownies and ice cream with mint leaves while watching the pre-race coverage with eager attention. Abigail is actually a pretty decent handicapper--I'm too non-committal to make any judgement calls. For this race, though, I allowed myself to hope that the Kentucky Derby winner, I'll Have Another could really muster his speed early enough to win this shorter race. We also liked Bodemiester for second and Creative Cause for third.   You should have seen us. We both started out the race with our knees at our chests, at the turn we leaned forward with our elbows on our knees, and in the backstretch we were hooting for I'll Have Another to just run faster!  We should have placed a bet, because we would have won a trifecta: I'll Have Another, Bodemeister, and Creative Cause, in that order. We were pretty stoked. Bring on the Belmont!

via

To finish out the evening on our last full but relaxed weekend, Zorro and I roasted marshmallows.

 After the fire died down from its 10 foot glory...

 On Sunday we washed our cars and then I took Zorro out to eat--I have no pictures of that. We ate at a British pub to celebrate his graduation. Then we came back and played two hours of Nintendo. I got totally hosed in Mario Kart--but that's OK...I restrained myself from throwing the controller at the TV. ;-)
No, really, we did have a good time. I just don't remember finishing 6th or worse so many times...but taking out Toad and Mario with red shells was extremely rewarding...

That was a good weekend...I'll have another?

barn daze

You know that moment when you realize you haven't been paying attention? I realized I need to start giving more lesson-like-lessons again. Which means lots of reading up for me, and remembering to carry around my sun-bleached-formerly-orange cones to set up figures. Figures to teach bend and roundness, here we come. Also, two-point. And later fences. But mostly bend, roundness and two-point.

The Ham trotted Midas for the first time last week, it went pretty well. Midas is a bit of a bully who breezes through most aids, particularly in the areas he has chosen to misbehave. We avoided those areas, and are focusing on teaching the Ham to post. He only had about 5 minutes of trot total, so that's why it will take multiple sessions to learn to post. 

snoozing in the shade on an unseasonably hot day

I may be trying to make my own dressage letters soon...since the ready made ones are ludicrously priced.

I'm currently trying to determine if Midas' new reluctance to canter (which he's just started doing with the Minstrel) is just a new area to test authority, or if he is ouchy or uncomfortable for some reason (he's unshod behind for the first time in a long time...).


how's my two-point?

 Navarre is coming along with canter. I think he's confused about why there are two leads, and why we should care which one he uses. He's gotten used to cantering now, and really likes it. Trouble is that he thinks "oh, this is the spot they ask for canter, lets go!" with Pinon. He's got a great and comfy canter, but still. Anticipation combined with a sneaky mind...makes for a thinking rider right quick out of pure necessity. I just have to cram the thoughts into her head quickly.


ground work with Charlie

 By the way, the vet has declared that Charlie is not 1.5 years old, but more like 3.5 years old. This means that he can carry a rider this year.


Wellie, supervising

 With the weather turning warm all of a sudden we're going to have to adjust. Our rides have gotten inadvertantly shorter because with the heat you suddenly don't want to ride that long :P


the Padawan and Navarre after some happy cantering




Thornton-lookin' good




Riding double on Midas, he was weirded out, but took it well.




Navarre and Pinon




the Padawan on Maverick, the Ham on Navarre



Interior Design

Yesterday I stumbled on inexpressibly tacky proof that expensive does not equal good.

The UK Guardian has a collection of photos from the luxury villa of an Italian mobster. Their commentary is truly priceless. You can view their gallery here: Criminal? Italian Mafia Interior Tastes Exposed



It was a sort of quirky encouragement to me to keep at the "design on a dime" thing. I got to places like the Inspired Room and Design Sponge for inspiration. But sometimes, as a newlywed, I just don't have stuff lying around to repurpose. Sort of Ironic.

chaise in the "library" entry way

I'm not the world's best thrifter, either. Life's been kinda crazy recently--crazier than usual, I mean--but I'd like to take the time to come up with a project and do it. Since we rent, it can't be anything too drastic. But I sure would like to do something with that mantel of mine...And maybe find some circular somethings to hand on either side of our bamboo wall hanging in the living room....

bamboo-as yet unfinished

fruits of the garden

 Stones for drainage. Dirt and lettuce from the local natural mercantile:

 A few weeks.

 =a happily diverse salad for less:

Right now I've got red lettuce on the back deck, and a mixture of greens by the front door (Zorro says they look like weeds, oh well) and numerous other leafy things to augment our salads. I'm going to be sooo spoiled by the end of the summer.

pot of herbs

 This is the array on the back deck: the big yellow flowers on the left are calendula, and the purple stalks are lavender and blue salvia. I also have peppermint, lemonbalm, chives, onions, garlic leeks, and a variety of herbs. Including curry, which I bought exclusively because of it's lovely silver color and the fact that it seriously smelled like curry. You don't even have to be close to it to smell the curry. It just amazed me.

Next step, get some deck chairs so that we can sit outside on occasion.

Spontaneous

On the road, bright and early last Friday morning

why, yes, that IS a 6 foot metal rooster

pilgrimage to the dairy bar

Mother's day foot soak

I think we soaked for 2 hours...

watching the ruby throated humming bird sitting

I made mother's day dinner-venison

Nick helped too-he cooked the veggies

Flexibility is a gift. I'm not talking about the ability to do splits--although that can be handy sometimes--but just the ability to change plans or make plans or unmake plans as necessary. I'd sort of been planning to do some sort of party last Saturday to celebrate Zorro finally being done with his Master's (and by finally I mean that he's been pursuing his master's the entire time we've been together, which rather than telling you how long he's been pursuing his master's it actually tells you how short a time we've been together--at least in the context of how long we've known each other). I was never able to really pin down an idea, or people, or a time...or anything really. It turned out to be a good thing because my Dad--after asking the doctors for a stress test--had to go in for stents rather than come to see us this past week. Suddenly instead of planning a graduation party I was trying to figure out how worried I was, and how worried I was supposed to be, and why isn't there a "Trust God" button? Zorro suggested that we drive up to see my folks. Love that man. So, we left early Friday morning. We spent Saturday and Sunday with my folks. I cooked Mother's Day dinner--with Zorro's help--we had venison with green and yellow squash and rosemary ciabatta with dipping oil. It was pretty dang good. We showed Mom and Dad Captain America--the only Avenger's prequel they hadn't seen yet. It was a good weekend. Dad is doing great. We were able to help out with some of the literal heavy lifting chores (since Dad isn't supposed to be doing that just yet). The weather was beautiful. We were able to buy ice cream at the Uconn Dairy Bar, we got the last gallon of mint chocolate chip. I think the Lord was saving it for us special. He's good like that. Looks after Dad, and the ice cream, too.

Oh yeah, and we're home safe. We saw a terrible wreck on the way, but it didn't involve us, and was at just a perfect place in the road that it didn't delay us either. God is good.