Fermented Beets

So for everyone who has been anxiously awaiting a post all summer (or I mean my two friends who read this blog right now) I'm sorry if you're disappointed that I am posting about....... beets.  But I am just really excited about them!!   When I get excited about new things I dive in head first and have a tendency to get really into it, which may mean it sort of consumes all my thoughts and I devour books and now blogs all about it. Case in point for this summer: Lactofermentation and canning (which is for another post). 
I have dabbled in vegetable fermentation for the past couple of years with varying success, making my own sauerkraut.  It has in the past turned out.....okay, and I may have thrown a batch or two out.  Now, in 2013 all of a sudden it seems to be everywhere I look and after checking out Sandor Katz' (the fermentation guru) famous books Wild Fermentation and The Art of Fermentation I am sooooo hooked.  With just a little bit more understanding of the process I am on a roll and am hoping to make tons of sauerkraut with farmer's market cabbage, kimchi and fermented carrots.... this weekend!  I am also reading Cooked by Michael Pollan (love) and am right smack in the middle of his chapter about his own foray into fermentation, and in his book he includes none other than..... Sandor Katz!  I love Michael Pollan, maybe too much. 
Anyway, one step at a time.  I'm not sure Greg really wants to hear me swoon anymore about the benefits of live culture food and our microbiome and intestinal health as solving all the world's problems.  I know my Dad especially could care less but that doesn't stop me from telling him about it, because he's nice and he'll listen!   (Although actually, Greg was the one who made our first real successful sauerkraut last summer that we are just finishing up in the fridge right now after HE heard Sandor Katz on Morning Edition!)  So.... after all this reading and all this talk I have made (with Greg's help)

Fermented beets!  

Nothing like a beautiful beet!

My basic process came from the above books and was this:
1. Peel and then grate our farm share beets in the food processor using the grate setting
2. Mix them in a big bowl with sea salt (I used the ratio of 5 lbs of beets to 3 tbsp salt - I did not have five full lbs of beets but did the math accordingly... or maybe Greg did) and caraway seeds
3. Pack and push and pound into a quart size mason jar, following Mr. Katz's instructions to be certain the juices (brine) covers all the beets
4. Set a weight on top of a lid (I used a smaller jar lid and put a bag of water on top of that as the weight) and put on a shelf in the basement and forget about it/taste periodically.

Yum!  They tasted good!

The beets needed more brine, so I added some salt water - a ratio of 1 tbsp sea salt to 1 cup water

Not a great photo, but basically a plastic bag filled with water on top of a smaller size ball jar lid to act as a weight to keep the beets submerged in the brine. 

After Greg and I both tasted, we were pleased with their pleasant, pickled taste!  But we decided they could ferment some more, so back to the basement for the lactobacilli to do some more work.  We'll put them in the fridge to essentially stop the fermentation, once we like the taste.  Up next... kimchi!

 

Peonies

Smelling the peonies

A delayed post for sure (I can't believe it's been two months since we went here in June!!) but I did love these pictures of Claire at the peony garden at our favorite spot near our house, the Audubon Center. 

Birthdays and Geraniums

Two weeks ago we celebrated the girl's birthdays with a barbeque at home, just to keep it fun and laid back.  At age three Claire does not do well when the spotlight is on her, even though she was still so excited to have 'her' birthday party.  (Although we kept having to remind her it was Amelia's birthday party too).  This, obviously, is the first year we really had to wrap our brains around the fact that Claire and Amelia have the SAME birthday.  It was different for sure, we made a big deal of singing both of them 'Happy Birthday' the day of and they each blew out their own candle.  I think Claire is still a little confused about the whole thing, especially since she's at an age where she is really just discovering that birthdays are AWESOME and everybody has one to themselves.  Oh wait, except her and her sister, sorry!!

I used the Geranium dress pattern again, by Made by Rae and made both of the girls birthday dresses.  I just love love love that pattern, and I really cranked them out this spring!  I would love to use this pattern to make them a tunic as well.  I didn't get as many great pictures of Claire at the party, hosting people is so busy I barely remembered to get the camera out at all and Claire was so hopped up on cake and ice cream and fun she would not stand still so I got a lot of motion shots.  Amelia, the sitter and butt scooter that she is was much more cooperative.  I got the fabric for Claire's dress at my favorite Alewives, and Amelia's fabric at ZFabric, for both of them I really wanted a delicate, floral pattern, and I love both fabrics. 

 I had this red ric rac which I couldn't resist for Amelia's dress!

 I love how Claire ate a whole wheat muffin for her first birthday, and had no party.  Here is Amelia devouring a sugar-butter-frosting filled cupcake! 

One Year Ago

Since we just had Amelia's first birthday (and Claire's third) I've had a lot of moments lately where I am so vividly transplanted to last summer, one year ago, and how very different our days are now.   It's funny how memory works.... while I can't look at Amelia and see her as a newborn or especially Claire as a newborn, it's more the sensation of what it was like that I feel if that makes any sense, the way a familiar smell can transport us to our childhood so vividly.   The memory I had exactly was that on this day one year ago, Greg went back to work after his two weeks off and I remember seriously wondering exactly how I was going to make it through the day by myself with both kids.  And it happened to be a heat wave and was 95-100 degrees and humid and we had to stay inside all day with the bedroom air conditioner on downstairs.  I guess I can't say I'm necessarily 'nostalgic' for those feelings in those first weeks, although of course there's many parts of having a newborn for which I am nostalgic.  As I make plans for us for the summer ahead, it is just more apparent how this summer is so different from last summer, and the summer before with just one toddler.  There was something about the transition to two kiddos last year that was so intense for me, in a way that was different than having Claire.  Even today I struggle with feeling like I provide both of them with enough attention, but last summer Amelia was such a needy newborn, poor thing, and Claire was such a needy toddler, and of course with the intense sleep deprivation I think I felt very worn, depleted and slightly trapped at home.  It was hard, but good as are most transitions.  Anyway, with all of these feelings from thinking about our lives a year ago, trying to enjoy our life right now and planning for the summer ahead I just had to look through our pictures from one year ago.  There's nothing like the incredible, amazing growth and change done in the first year of a baby's life to make you look back on the past with wonder, and a touch of longing, at how fast it goes.  

 One of Claire's more loving moments with Amelia.  Always heartmelting.  And Claire looks like such a baby herself compared to today!

 As a labor nurse I really should appreciate that yes, babies are that small, but seriously, she was really that small??

 Never thought my lap would get such a workout over the course of one year

 Reading books.  My continued answer of what to do when both of them are clingy and I am tired.

 I do miss the afternoon snuggly naps

She used to just fall asleep all the time, it was hysterical.  Sooooo different than now, ha!!

Oliver and S Ice Cream Dress

I can't believe it has been almost a couple of months since I made these, took pictures of them and am finally getting around to posting.  I got this pattern a year ago and made Claire her first ice cream dress when she was two, and I really enjoyed the pattern it's adorable.  I love that it has little faux sleeves so you don't actually have to sew sleeves on, it's just a yoke.  And like all Oliver and S patterns it looks so finished and professional on the inside.

 I also really love the double thickness hem, it is very satisfying to sew for some reason.

 Definitely wish I had ironed this better before the photo shoot but I take what I can get!

 I went shopping for this fabric specifically at ZFabric and fell in love with this wonderful Lotta Jansdotter fabric from the Glimma line.  Now I know I said that I didn't really like making the girls matchy match things, but the Ice Cream shirt below actually happened through a cutting accident, where I cut out the pieces for Claire's dress and of course cut out the main body pieces in size 12-18 months shirt piece.  So, I was forced to make Amelia a little shirt which comes with the pattern.  (View C I think).  This is what happens when you trace pattern pieces like a mad woman, forget to label them properly and leave them lying around your kitchen table for several days before finally cutting into fabric at 10:00 at night.

 Now this is actually where I have some problems with the pattern each time, where the yoke and the body get sewn together in the back, and after checking with the Oliver and S discussion forums there were several posts about fixing this. (Sorry for the blurry photo!) I haven't tried any of their tips but have stuck with the instructions to clip into the seam of the body before sewing to the yoke and each time I end up with a few raw edge pieces sticking out, even though I tried backtacking a few times over the area to avoid it.  And I tried hard to 'shove' every last piece of raw seam edge into that stitch line with some luck.  Oh well, it's not perfection but one of those things I think only an experienced seamstress would notice.  I try to just assume that people aren't looking for mistakes either, they are just noticing the overall fabric and shirt as a whole.

I have also been really pleased with how the v-notch in the neckline looks.  (Reminds me of one the neckline options on Rae's Geranium) Although another lesson I learned here is after several washes some raw threads are starting to fray through the bottom of the V, total bummer!  I must have clipped too close with new amazing embroidery scissors.  Oh well again.  Overall, I love this pattern and I love Oliver and S!

A Day in May

I am having a great week so far on vacation!  Today was a perfect day it had the warm, lazy feel of summer.  We started the morning by going to beautiful Kettle Cove and we were lucky enough to have the whole place to ourselves on a beautiful sunny, foggy morning.   It's days like this that make me certain each year that spring is by far my favorite season.  There's nothing like the sweetness of a warm, sunny, nearly hot May day that feels all the more amazing following a wintry March and cold April.
I am so inspired lately to learn all about my new camera and Greg and I both had a great time snapping tons of pictures.  I even tried some in manual mode (!) with a lot of failures and some successes.  Here are some of my favorite photos.

Geranium Dress

Finally!  A Geranium Dress!  I have been eyeing this pattern since it came out last year when I wasn't doing so much sewing as Amelia was a fussy (I mean adorable) little newborn and we were all still adjusting to being a family of four.  I knew it was a pattern I wanted for Claire and Amelia and I was so pleased with Rae's Charlie Tunic and Charlie Dress.

There are so many wonderful options with this dress, and at times I have been known to cripple under the weight of too many choices, I am the person who waffles back and forth in line getting ice cream and then is certain I should have gotten cookies 'n cream instead of strawberry.  I found myself for a moment struggling with the decisions of where to take this dress.... Cap sleeves? Ruffle Sleeves?  Tunic length? Dress length?  But it really is wonderful all the things you can do with this pattern and I have been so inspired by everyone's photos online.  Fortunately, I had this beautiful Lotta Jansdotter fabric in Blueberry that I purchased at ZFabrics.  I love her fabric!  Her colors are so rich, the designs are simple but beautiful and can be used for anything.   Somehow this fabric just made the choice obvious and I was saved from my normal pathetic decision-making abilities.  I chose to make a ruffle sleeve, a dress length and the U shape cut out. 

Bonus is that the bodice is fully lined so I was able to use up a fun complementary fabric I already had, it's always a plus when the dress looks nice on the inside too.  I really love the fit on Claire, I made a size 3T and she definitely has room to grow, but it I think it hangs beautifully.  I am dying to make like a zillion more Geraniums..... tunics, cap sleeve, sleeveless, I am so excited, I have a feeling it's going to be my go to pattern for this summer.  I totally see some late night sewing in my future which is exactly what I don't really need.  What I need is sleep, but Geraniums make me so happy!

Claire was so sweet during the photo shoot outside and she's (sort of) patient as I learn to use my new camera. The novelty of 'photo shoots' hasn't worn off yet!!