Enjoying Fermentation

We are into a short heat wave at the moment. Attila is busy watering the garden, as new plants need adequate water to survive. Rain and cooler weather are forecast for later in the week.

I am not a person who enjoys interactions with the health care system. I have good reason to feel this way, and I do not anticipate that this will change.

I’ve been eyeing the month of June on my calendar for a while now, it is going to be a challenging month. The worst of it is a colonoscopy, thank goodness, because in the scheme of things it is only a routine bit of outpatient surgery. However, the preparation is extremely unpleasant. Because I have a “difficult colon”, my surgeon has instructed me to do a one week preparation, which will culminate in the very unpleasant last day of preparation, the same that everyone goes through.

But June isn’t done with me there, oh no. There is blood work, an appointment with the Endocrinologist, an aneurysm scan, and a shingles shot. If I am lucky, all of these interactions will offer me good news!

One of the requirements of my one week preparation is that I will follow a low fibre diet. This will require a complete change in what I eat for a whole week. I am trying to look on the bright side of it, knowing I will have to eat simple carbohydrates, dairy, chicken, fish, cheese. White bread and Rice Crispies will be my indulgences, but my main focus will be dairy, chicken, and fish.

But this week is not my preparation week!

Our green salad ingredients are increasingly coming out of the garden. Spinach leaves, beet leaves, celery, garlic scapes, and radishes. Attila says that by the end of the week the lettuce will be ready to harvest as well.

The first batch of Kombucha was a success, and it grew another SCOBY. Our kitchen is cool, so it took longer than anticipated, but it was worth the wait. To get fizzy flavoured Kombucha a second ferment is required. I’ve decided not to do a second ferment, to just drink it after the first ferment. It is delicious. For added flavour I add about 1/4 cup of cranberry juice to my cup, just before I drink it. The second batch is on the counter bubbling away, and the first batch is in mason jars in the refrigerator.

The sourdough is also a success. A purist would be horrified at how I am making my sourdough bread, and probably would not even call it sourdough bread. I have no discards, I just make sure to leave a tablespoon of the starter in the jar in the refrigerator. The night before I am going to bake bread, I take the jar out, stir in 1/4 cup of flour, and 1/4 cup room temperature water, and place it on the counter overnight. When I make the bread I pour the jar into a two cup measuring cup, leaving about 1 tablespoon of starter in the jar. The measuring cup with started is topped up milk, and the liquid for my bread is good to go. I always use a teaspoon of granulated yeast, which means my sourdough bread is a hybrid sourdough. The rise is not entirely from the sourdough.

Tonight I am making a sourdough pizza dough for the first time. I shall see how that goes.

We are stretching our budget this month to purchase a canister vacuum cleaner, that plugs into the wall. We have a Dyson cordless stick, but the battery costs about $150 plus tax and shipping. There are cheaper ones on the market, but they are an unwise choice, as some of them have been exploding and causing house fires, and personal injury. So we bit the bullet and bought a bagless canister vacuum that plugs into the wall, so there are no parts that need continuous replacement.

The new vacuum cleaner is a Miele. I am impressed. Ginger is the hairiest pet I’ve ever come across, he sheds a solid handful of fur almost every day. The couch has a thick cover to protect it, and that cover collects hair. The new vacuum will remove that hair, when nothing else has worked. Ginger seems relieved that his usual sleeping spot is spotless.

Cleaning the Dyson is a bit finicky, but not difficult. The parts are now cleaned and sitting on the back porch drying before the unit is reassembled. At some point a new battery might make sense, but not right now. I will miss it next spring, because I use it to catch Asian Beetles, flies, and Stink Bugs that get into the house; it is very handy for that.

Worldly

Weather

Updated on Tue, Jun 4 at 5:57 PM
28°C
FEELS LIKE 34
A few clouds
Wind 11 S km/h
Humidity 52 %
Visibility 25 km
Sunrise 5:25 AM
Wind gust 17 km/h
Pressure 101.2 kPa
Ceiling 9100 m
Sunset 8:47 PM

Quote

Never seem more learned than the people you are with. Wear your learning like a pocket watch and keep it hidden. Do not pull it out to count the hours, but give the time when you are asked.
Lord Chesterfield
1694 – 1773

There seems less and less need to pull out that watch, which might be due to where we live, or the times, hard to say.